Alex continued to scream in pain as he went unconscious and his throat went dry. He collapsed on the floor as the rest of the chain slowly bonded to his body, swirling around him like a metal serpent.
It no longer made violent screeches but the clanking of chains was still scary to listen to since even Alan didn't know when it would lash out suddenly.
It took several minutes for the chain to finally assimilate with Alex's body which was covered in blood. Alan sighed in relief and waited a few more minutes to make sure it wouldn't change its mind before quickly releasing the bunker mode in this room and grabbing Alex and taking him out.
"Sharla you got a patient in the training room." Alan spoke into another communication ring that he had.
Less than a minute later the training room door was thrown open and Sharla off the stairs and floated down just like when he almost died last time.
"Can't you guys warn me when you enter my room?!" Emma yelled out to her mother as she barged into her room.
"Sorry sweetie but it's an emergency!" Sharla responded still interested in why her daughter was wearing something so risqué but quickly shook her head and focused on her patient.
She furrowed her brow as she felt Alex's weak aura similar to when he was almost killed by Alan before.
"Why are you always trying to kill him?!" She growled at her husband who put up his hands in defense.
"Not me this time, it was and Ego."
"AN EGO?! Are you an idiot??" She paused and looked at her idiot husband with wide eyes.
"You know how dangerous they are! Why on Nova would you even think of giving this child something so dangerous?!" She slapped her husband before reaching down to Alex's wounds.
She was intrigued by these weird chain tattoos that suddenly appeared on his body. On his forearms and shins, the tattoo was a coiled chain all around those parts of his body. On the backside of those limbs, the chains led up his limbs until they reached his torso.
The chains on his arms reached his shoulders and followed his upper back and neck muscles until they ended with several sharp blade designs just below his hairline. The chains also followed down the sides of his ribs until they met up with the chain tattoo from his legs and met at the middle of his lower back.
At the point of connection on his lower back, there was a group of 6 blades that interlocked with each other and the chain design around it. The rest of the chain went down his butt and followed to reach his legs.
Sharla narrowed her eyes as she saw the remnants of the Ego. She wasn't sure exactly what they had done, but she was frightened at what Ego could make such damage. There were only a few weapons there that could even threaten her husband who was also covered in blood but was in much better shape than Alex.
"What did you make him bond with." She glared at Alan who avoided her gaze.
*mumble* *mumble*
Alan spoke so low she couldn't hear him so she raised her voice again at him.
"It was the chain weapon." He pouted and turned away.
"YOU WHAT?!" Sharla paled thinking of the weapon that almost killed her husband before.
"Why would you ever think he could tame such a monster without essence?! Are you asking to get you both killed?" Sharla started tearing up remembering the horrible state her husband was once in.
"He's fine as you can see, he bonded with it so no harm done right?"
"Shut up! There is clearly harm done as he almost died again!"
Sharla noticed the same thing happened again where his stats went down until they were in the single digits before pausing like something was preventing him from dying.
While no one was aware, this was another hidden effect that came with Alex being the Goddess of Life's avatar...
Sharla put her hands on his stomach as she could feel several of his organs ruptured by probing him. She also felt a dangerous aura connected to his own and she paled at how strong it was!
She slowly began pouring her essence into her skills and directing them into her hands that were on her patient. Suddenly she heard a loud screech and a chain appear out of nowhere and lashed out at her.
She screamed in pain as she was hit in the face and fell back. Alan widened his eyes and instantly appeared in front of the chain that suddenly came out of Alex like an octopus sticking its limbs out of the water and fighting back against it.
"Are you okay?" He turned to look at his wife while fighting back.
Sharla slowly sat up a bit dazed with a deep gash on her forehead. She held her head in pain and a bit dazed from a concussion and saw her blurry husband fighting against a giant clump of chains floating above her patient.
Alan was unsure why the Ego suddenly lashed out but it wasn't the time to ask. He paled as he kept watching his wife to see if she would be okay. She was way more important to him than Alex so he wouldn't hesitate to leave the man to die if he needed to.
Sharla slowly got back to her feet and came over to her patient and began healing him again. The chain apparently didn't like this and got angry, lashing out at Sharla harder but Alan moved extremely fast around her to defend against the strikes.
He gained his own wounds again but he noticed that the Ego was a lot less strong, maybe because it bonded to Alex who was a low Ring evolver right now. Alan let his wife quickly work and when she was able to heal all his major wounds so he was stable, he quickly grabbed her by the waist and got out of range.
The two of them panted and he quickly checked his wife's head wound, not bothering with his own, much worse wounds. She giggled at how sweet he was but assured him she was fine, blushing slightly. Banging her head a bit wasn't going to kill her.
She healed her husband's major wounds and he stopped her at the smaller ones. He made her heal her own wound before he took her up the stairs as she began falling asleep. He sighed as he looked toward Alex who was sitting in a pool of his own blood with a giant chain monster floating around him.
Alan wasn't sure why the chain was trying to protect him even though Sharla was healing him, not attacking him. This wasn't the normal behavior of an Ego and he was worried he made this young man take something truly dangerous that will end up killing him, instead of helping him.
He sighed and put it off for now. He couldn't get close to him without getting hurt and Alex was currently out of danger at the moment. He was more worried about his wife so he went into his daughter's room and quickly to their own room.
Emma paled when she saw the condition of her father, a man in the 6th Ring and her mother who was out cold. She quickly got dressed in something more appropriate and took a peek inside the training room to see the chain monster dancing around Alex.
'What the hell is that thing?!' She paled and quickly locked all the locks on the door, barricaded it, and ran away to join her parents.
She didn't want to be one room over from something so scary and dangerous that even her father got hurt by it. Even with a pale face, she still made a knowing smile.
'Looks like he might be staying a bit longer.' Emma giggled to herself knowing that he wouldn't be in good condition to start a journey right now.
It only meant more time to plan for her.
- - -
The next day, Alex woke up covered in dried blood and a painful body. He struggled to open his eyes to find a giant mess of chains floating above him.
"Holy shit!" He tried backing away but he couldn't move far with all his pain, plus the chains followed him since they were attached. Looking at his arm, he saw that there was a chain attached around his elbow.
He turned his arm over to see the chain that entered his body connected to a tattoo of a similar-looking chain! He widened his eyes in shock and looked around his body to see more of these chain tattoos.
'Did it bind with me?' Alex thought and the chain seemed to react as it swam around the air clanging its chains that sounded more like windchimes rather than its normal screeching.
'Was it happy?' He thought and it responded the same way. He stared in shock at this once monstrous weapon that was now calm and chiming happily around him. He was alone in the room and noticed that his clothes got ripped to shreds.
Thankfully his passive healing skill helped heal him otherwise might not have been able to stand up. He stretched his sore body and felt really hungry. He looked around the chain that floated around him happily.
It really did act like a child. Alex couldn't help but chuckle and thought about how he could get it to disappear into his skin again. He wasn't a fan of how big the tattoo on his body was but there wasn't anything he could do about it.
'You can go now.' He thought and the chain seemed to understand. Its clanking almost sounded sad as it reluctantly began to get sucked back into his skin and reform his tattoo like it was being printed onto him.
When it fully disappeared he sighed. This thing was a scary thing to deal with. He had a mild fear of it and wondered if an Ego could turn on its master. He put those thoughts away for now and slowly went up the stairs.
He tried to open the door but it didn't budge. He frowned and tried knocking on it and waited a bit longer, even knocking a few more times before sighing. It seemed they locked him out.
Just as he turned around to go back to the training room, the locks began to move and the door soon opened up.
"Alex?" Emma asked carefully just peering through the cracked open door.
"Yeah its me. Why'd you lock me out?" He asked confused.
Emma looked down with a complicated gaze.
"T-That chain thing attacked my mom when she tried to heal you. I didn't want it to decide to leave so I locked this door and my room."
Emma seemed frightened about it so he looked down at his chain tattoo a bit pissed off.
'Don't attack anyone unless I tell you to.' He thought and hoped the chain would hear him.
His chain tattoo seemed to swim in his skin in response but it was a trippy thing so he wasn't sure if it was real or if his mind was playing with him.
"I'm really sorry about that, I had no control over it." Alex sighed.
"It's alright, it's not your fault. Mom only got a concussion so she's okay now." Emma opened the door wider for him to enter.
Alex entered and then she carefully came in front of him and gave him a hug. She was still frightened of the chain in his skin but his warmth helped to soothe her.
"Are you alright?" He asked feeling her shake a bit.
"I'm better now." She smiled away from him.
Alex soon broke off the hug to her dismay.
"I should go see your parents." He said and began walking to the door.
Before he could get too far, her arm held him back and he looked at the pretty redhead who now had a smirk on her face. He didn't like that look and he had a good reason for it as she seductively walked up to him and ran her fingers along his naked chest.
"You know~, I think you deserve a reward for taming such a beast." She teased and brought her lips close to his.
"I really shouldn't stay." Alex tried to leave, knowing this redhead would only bring him to ruin.
He tried to run but would Emma let him? The answer was no.
"Don't run away, you've been flirting too and now you're paying the price." She glared at him and dragged him over to her bed.
He paled and she giggled.
"Don't worry, my dad's out working right now and mom is asleep so we have plenty of time."
They got to her bed and she pushed him down on her bed. She smiled as she slowly started giving him a strip tease, slowly moving the shoulders of her dress down while lifting up the hem of her dress to reveal her silky smooth legs.
Alex felt his dragon stir and he gulped as she slowly revealed the lingerie she was still wearing. She had been wearing it all night, waiting for this moment. She knew she would be the first to know when he got up and wanted to take full advantage of that.
Her white lingerie contrasted nicely with her red hair and Alex's pants threatened to rip as he reached full mast.
"I can't wait to see the beast you have here now~"
She teased as she placed her pretty hand on his dragon. She untied his leather pants and his dragon flung out, hitting her in the face. She made an O-face in surprise at how huge he was!
"Wow, it's huge! Can this actually fit in me?" She giggled and began stroking his head with her soft fingers.
"You know," She continued with a smile, "My mom taught me basic medical techniques so I'm quite proud of my soft touch."
Her teasing made him twitch and he widened his eyes knowing something she didn't necessarily know.
'Like mother, like daughter.'