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Chapter 82: Staff Of All Things IX
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"Ughhh," Ian lied. He was severely hurt. His bones felt like they were shattering and crashing against each other at every second.
He had bruises on several regions of his body, especially his back. Slamming into the wall with such a force certainly did its toll on him.
The feeble crime lord did his best to raise his upper body until he became seated on the bed, albeit a bit stiffly.
"God, it's been a while since I experienced such pain... Good memories huh," The strange person he was, he found it natural to reminisce about all the months or even collective years he spent in hospitals due to his no so rare injuries.
"But it's worth it... like it has always been," Ian's control of his life force has become spectacular across the last few months to the point that he found himself having a clear sense and visualization of all that is within it.
So when he manipulated into one of his rings, a specific black Rose, he clearly sensed and even saw what's within... Imogen.
'Hmm? Still alive? I know there is no oxygen in the black Rose dimension, but she's an angel, so oxygen shouldn't be needed for her.'
The pocket dimension was certainly strange with several different sections, one with his collection, another containing a bizarre sea of fire, and lastly a vacant space where Imogen found herself, hardly able to move.
'Interesting, so the black Rose dimension is indeed hard to traverse as I intended. I was starting to think otherwise with how freely Trigon's fire spreads within.'
Ian left the angel a prisoner inside and started reflecting on the previous incident, 'Well, I'm quite weak, and if my deduction of myself is right, then I will remain just as weak. My power or I seem to refuse any external influence. The question is to what extent?
Also, the time required to bring out my staff from my dimension is less than a second though it took me way longer than that to bring Imogen inside, about twenty seconds, so it's not applicable in combat unless in similar circumstances.
Most importantly, I've acquired the angel. I just have to study her. Prepare a blueprint for what I want, and it should all go well. I just need to acquire a bit of blood, Constantine's blood.'
Ian's plans were well in motion, and he kept thinking and double-checking their success rate a while more.
Then he brought out his staff yet again and started caressing it with appreciation, quite the piece of work, and it indeed looks different than how it was at first.
It now has a very slight change. Thin translucent veins or lines diverging throughout the staff, not many but Ian noted that they're multiplying by the day, all due to him.
'The concept of give and take. If I provide anything my life force, I give... A side effect of giving is rejuvenation, being energetic, but that doesn't seem to be what I take... I have an idea of what I take,'
The effect of give and take was also affecting all of the black Roses though interestingly, it doesn't seem to affect Selina, or if it does, he saw no signs so far.
"For now..." For now, he focused on providing the staff with his life force. He's not only interested in seeing the end result of the give and take concept, but he's also using it to heal some of his wounds. After all, everyone knows that if you lose your life force, you'll start healing at an accelerated rate.
His power truly makes very little sense. He used to believe it was just a death immunity, but it became much more than that. He knows he isn't lucky because he faced so many unlucky incidents in the past which is why he learned to manipulate the odds to his side.
As he once remarked, luck is his bitch. That in itself is a clue to how broken his power is because it can even manipulate that, and perhaps even something more.
Ian noted something across the next few days, it took a while for him to heal. In contrast to the first time when he had skin contact with Ivy, this time was very slow. It took only several hours before but now it took a few days.
'Is it perhaps because Ivy is capable of sucking a lot out of me? She seems to have a talent in that regard. I also seem to release more life force when in similar special circumstances in contrast to now.'
Soon, however, Ian shrugged his shoulders as he put on his vest, adorned in his new favorite clothing, almost imitating what he remembers Lucifer wears in accordance with his knowledge.
He then walked out to the strangely assessing eyes of Raven, "I still don't get it. How did you recover so fast?"
"It's simple sweety, the world loves me. When I give it, it gives back."
"No, it's definitely just fast regeneration. I still firmly believe that despite your denials." Raven however believed none of that.
She expected some kind of rebuttal from him, in consonance with their usual bickering, yet he just smiled at her, "What?" She questioned, a bit weirded out.
Instead of directly answering, Ian just reached out and ruffled her hair, "Thank you for taking care of me for the past few days. I know I can be a bit of a dumbass sometimes."
"Huh?" Shock would be an understatement for Raven's feelings at the moment, "Are you okay? And what do you mean sometimes?"
She did indeed take care of him, simply by watching over him and bringing as much medicine as she could from a pharmacy, and by that, I mean she cleaned the pharmacy out in panic.
She's still a bit kind, and Ian could see that. She wouldn't have gone with his plan to capture Imogen discreetly if he didn't tell her she was evil beforehand. Even then, she waited for the fallen angel to act just to make sure.
Yet despite that obvious kindness in her, she still cleaned the pharmacy in its entirety, in an illegal way that is.
She realized too late that such a jumble of medicine wouldn't help without knowing what Ian needs exactly, so she came to him in shame, and requested his aid in aiding him... At least she returned most of the medicine.
"Hmm, yeah, I'm just joking. You were of no help at all. You're still a child after all." Ian quickly turned his face without any shame.
"Also, have you thought that perhaps if my actions seem dumb to you, but they end up working out miraculously, that there is more to them than meets the eye? Remember, as long as it works out, then the process doesn't matter... With a few exceptions of course."
Raven didn't find it in herself to rebut, knowing what that entails, an unending abyss of nonsense spelling out of Ian's mouth until she gives up. She still took his advice to heart though.
"Anyway, let's get to work We let them wait long enough. Also, pay attention to when it happens."
Despite Raven always stressing that she doesn't for him, and won't listen to his orders, she still found herself strangely obeying him. Perhaps she started seeing things differently and saw the benefits of Ian's team.
The team only took shape not long ago, but it was already functioning spectacularly. To a certain extent, it was operating in a give and take kind of way.
Certainly like his relationship with Constantine... Right? The latter spent the days while Ian was recovering fixing the repercussions of Imogen's actions.
Using a fallen angel's feather to heal people wasn't without consequence as many of the said people turned into ghouls, mindless zombies that he and Zed had to take care of. A bit of chaos and a lot of moving around did the job.
Ian joined them soon enough and resumed their harmonious working relationship. In fact, he made it even more harmonious to get what he wants quickly.
Constantine also was a gentleman enough to reciprocate the kind gestures as he tried to send Ian to his death in a manner that made one believe that he was speedrunning reaching a third digit number of near-death experiences... Until one day where... Constantine spilled blood?
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