- Yvere and Death -
Once all the enemies were confirmed dead or gone Death turned back into his usual form. His body was riddled with third-degree burns. His robe was more burnt holes than cloth.
Yvere rushed to help, but Death stopped her.
"I'm at no risk of dying. Help your team first."
Sabu and Elijah had received minor healing from Yvere. She wanted to restore them completely but they both argued that Lucifer would probably need more attention than both of them combined.
Yvere felt frustrated that everyone seemed to deny her help. She knew why, but she couldn't stand watching everyone, covered in injures, act tough.
'Maybe it's an age thing. Then again, Elijah's younger than me.'
After all of that was sorted, Death and the others went to where Lucifer had crawled under the rubble. Yvere was carrying Lao, while Death carried Peter, and Heinrich carried Mira. As the group approached where Lucifer was hiding they couldn't help but stare at Cytus's and Azriel's corpses.
"I can't tell who looks worse," Yvere said.
"Luce! Come out! We won." Peter shouted in a delirious tone.
"You don't think?" Yvere asked, not finishing her question.
"Not fer a second," Peter responded.
Death looked around and eventually saw the spot Lucifer would most likely hide in. He walked over and threw the large pieces of rubble to the side.
Underneath the debris was Lucifer, palm pointed at Death. His eyes showed that he was barely conscious.
Death put Peter down by a wall and lifted Lucifer up out of the rubble.
Yvere nearly dropped Lao when she saw the state Lucifer was in. She calmly lowered Lao to the ground and sprinted over.
"You look worse than the corpses!"
She placed her hands on his scarred, punctured, slightly melted skin and started healing.
The pain caused the barely conscious Lucifer to reflexively swing his fist at Yvere. She made no attempts to block the attack, solely focusing on healing him. Death stopped the fist before it connected.
"I'll hold his hands while you work. There's a good chance he'll keep doing that."
"You need healing as well. The punishment you upper ranks can take is always astounding to me." Yvere kept looking down at Lucifer's chest, watching the damage slowly revert.
Elijah and Sabu had serious injuries of their own. As they watched Yvere heal what most would think is a corpse they forgot about their damage.
"How long before they can move again?" Death asked.
"Lao should be good in an hour." Yvere's hands were shaking as she healed. "Peter...I don't know. He rarely ever activates his contract."
Lucifer's body attempted to struggle out of Death's grip multiple times. His body was clearly still moving on pure reflex. He even attempted igniting his arms at one point, but the flames barely lasted a second.
"If I wasn't afraid he'd die I would just knock him unconscious." Death said.
"Can't you at least give him medicine for the pain?" Elijah asked.
"Can't," Yvere responded without looking up. "Archangels have an annoyingly high tolerance to medication. It would use most of our medicine just to take the edge off."
"I know it sounds cruel, but trust that if he was fully conscious right now he would be refusing the medicine."
Elijah wanted to say "Who cares what he wants, this is what he needs" but didn't. He was still new to the group and didn't want to overstep in a situation he didn't fully understand.
Yvere started panting. She had restored Lucifer's chest to normal and was now getting ready to work on his back.
"Fl...Flip him over." She said through heavy breathing.
Restoring Lucifer's body was almost like regrowing an entire torso. Yvere felt her body nearing depletion.
"You clearly need more mana." Death said, turning Lucifer over.
Death turned around and lifted his hair up, exposing the nape of his neck.
"I know it taste awful but please use my mana."
Yvere didn't argue. Lives were always more important than her personal preference of blood flavor. She bit down on to Death's neck, restoring her mana to full. She stood up and walked a few feet away before vomiting.
"Ugh. I-" She held her stomach. "I'll be fine. Let's continue.
She sat back down and started healing the various injuries on Lucifer's back.
Lucifer's back was far less damaged, which was more of a testament to the severity of his chest than a pleasant surprise.
Yvere finished healing the back injuries. She looked up at Death.
"Your turn now."
Death lifted Lucifer up and placed him next to Peter. He walked back to Yvere.
"Really, you can heal the others first." He assured.
"You don't get to, ugh" She burped.
'I've had way too much blood today.' The burp nearly made Yvere vomit again.
"You don't get to look like you just crawled out of a volcano and say that. Stand still." She said, putting her hands on Death's chest.
"I know my mana tastes disgusting and I don't want you to have to suffer. I'll be-" Yvere reached up and knocked him on the head with her knuckle.
"Just shut up. I'm sure it will be seen as a mark of honor among my kind that I drank your blood."
Yvere slowly traced her hands along Death's body, fixing the various burn marks. As she healed him, his robe started to return to normal as well.
"You can heal clothes?" Elijah asked.
"Life weave," Yvere said without turning around. "The clothes mimic the skin. If I heal him, so long as he's wearing his robe, it will be restored as well. It's an extremely valuable material."
"You have any idea how many robes I used to go through before getting this?" Death joked.
Yvere could feel her mana getting low again. She groaned.
"I need to top up." She said with a frown.
Death knelled down and exposed his neck again. Yvere drained more mana and held her stomach in this time.
Death stood up with a curious look on his face.
"What exactly does my mana taste like? You're not the first vampire to drain me, but I feel like I get a different answer every time."
Yvere started healing the rest of Death's body.
"There's a rite of passage among vampires called "Husking". When a vampire reaches the age of twenty we're given a vial of husk blood to drink." Yvere held in another burp.
"Husk blood is considered to be the most disgusting blood there is, at least as far as we can tell."
'I'm sure eldritch blood would taste awful as well.' She thought before continuing.
"It taste like how a corpse smells. Most throw up when they drink it. Your blood is inoffensive, but your mana is something else."
She finished healing his injuries and took her hands off his now fully restored body.
"It tastes like if someone poured charcoal and rotted flesh into a glass of water and let it sit for a few days."
Death wasn't too surprised by the description. He had been told various things such as "It taste like a burning body" or "If someone mixed piles of salt with ash" so he was used to the comments.
"Alright. Let's get the uništi and make camp for now." Death said.
The group picked up the unconscious and went back to the uništi.
"How are they unharmed?" Elijah asked.
"No point in attacking them. Uništi are valuable, so maybe they had plans to sell them if they won." Death answered.
The group loaded Peter, Lao, and Lucifer into the empty cart. Death held onto Mira.
"It would be best if I keep holding her in case she wakes up."
"Ya should tie her to the back of cart an' let the uništi drag her." Peter said in his delirious tone.
The group walked back to their original campsite, making note of the destruction along the way.
- Lucifer -
Lucifer woke up a few hours later clutching his chest. He was in immense pain. He started looking around, unsure of what the situation was. After noticing Peter next to him he made a sigh of relief.
"Everyone still alive?" He asked.
Peter gave a thumbs up.
"I'm guessing you activated your contract? You won't be able to move until tomorrow."
Peter, just happy to see Lucifer awake, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Lucifer hopped out of the cart, stumbling as he landed. His chest pulsed agony throughout his body with every movement. He noticed Mira in a stone chair. She was conscious and not bound by anything.
"I was waiting for you to wake up before we started." Death said, standing to Mira's left with his scythe by his side.
Sabu was behind Mira. He had a knife in his hand with his arm ready to throw.
Heinrich was to her right, along with Elijah and Yvere.
"I appreciate that." Lucifer turned to Heinrich. "Heinrich, if you have the mana, can you make me a chair as well?"
Heinrich nodded, creating a small chair that would put Lucifer at eye level with Mira.
"Thank you. Where's Lao?"
"Lao is sleeping in the supply cart," Sabu said.
Lucifer's eyes glanced at Elijah's bandaged hand.
'How many hands are you going to lose before this mission is over?'
Lucifer rubbed his right eye while keeping his left looking at Mira. He was still shaking off a bit of grogginess.
"Let's make this quick." He said, no longer rubbing his eye. "Why did you and Azriel do this? Are there any other angels who hold similar intentions?"
Mira looked at the ground, shaking. Seeing Azriel's corpse had filled her with regret and grief.
"I-I"
"EYES!" Lucifer yelled, clutching his chest again.
Mira flinched at his voice. She raised her head and made on-and-off eye contact.
"We wanted revenge for the angels you murdered. I don't know specific names, but it wouldn't be unlikely that other angels hold the same opinion as me and Azriel."
"I want names," Lucifer said, giving a hard stare to Mira. "You and Azriel would have tried recruiting as many as you could. I'm sure most of the ones you tried getting on your side didn't join."
"Maybe it was out of fear, or they didn't want to go against Michael's wishes. Regardless, I know you know more."
It hurt Lucifer to speak. Every breath felt like hot nails in his chest. He didn't show this to Mira though.
"You won," Mira's voice shook. "Azriel's dead. You really think more of our kind will come after you after what you did?"
"WHAT I DI-" Lucifer's shout was cut short by his pain. He took it as a sign to remain levelheaded.
"Yes. Yes, I do. Not this year, or even this decade, but I fully expect this problem to still exist. I. Want. Names."
"Just kill me," Mira begged. "Torture me. Whatever you're planning, I'm not betraying my family."
Lucifer stood up.
"We still need information." Death said.
Lucifer pointed his hand at Death.
"I know, just listen." He glared at Mira.
"Did you know Cthulhu owes me a favor for putting Cytus down? He's wanted to kill that parasite for a long time now."
Death could tell where Lucifer was about to go with this.
"So, give me the names, or I'll drag your limbless body to R'lyeh and ask Cthulhu to rend the information from your mind, and once he's done doing that I'll leave you to be consumed by the nightmares of that land."
Lucifer was bluffing. Truthfully Cthulhu didn't owe him. The vessel's information had helped the group find out Mira's treachery, potentially saving some of their lives. On top of that, Lucifer wasn't completely certain that Cthulhu could even extract information from someone.
Mira didn't know any of this though. The bluff worked.
Shaking, and in a fearful tone Mira spoke.
"Okay. I'll tell you."