Conan arrived where he left Liam, feeling perturbed. It seemed Arness didn't just push him down a slope but took both of them far away from Liam through a dimension with sloppy terrain—hence teleportation.
Right now, Liam was in the deep crater, Sitting with his gaze on the cloud. Not directly at the serene drifters because he was in a trance.
Bright yellowish flames danced energetically around him, as they are up whatever eatable they came across. Liam on the other hand seemed depressed.
The bruises on his face hunted the reason behind his depression. His nostril was bleeding slightly, and there seem to be a fairly deep cut on his cheekbone.
Although Conan knew it was more than that, the form-shifting armor had covered the other wounds.
Conan went down into the crater and knelt in front of Liam. A solemn air hung above the two, especially for Conan, not knowing what might have gone wrong with the mind of his dear foster son.
he snapped twice in front of Liam's face, but the angelic dragon doesn't seem to hear. Conan continued and called his name but to no avail, Liam didn't snap out of his trance.
Not until a crisp slap landed on his cheek. A neat and smooth smack sounded on impact causing Liam to jolt back to awareness with a start.
"Ol'father..."He sighed and rested his back on the floor of the crater. He seem depressed about something, which was understandable considering that he lost to the Estries.
".. They took something from my heart."Liam continued and palmed his chest "From my bloodline vessel, the draconic vessel to be exact."
"It's okay... You don't have to whine over it. Your defeat should be something that motivates you. Not a depression or discouraging factor."Conan said and ruffled Liam's yellow and locky hair.
Of course, he wasn't going to tell him that the Estry took blood from his heart—bloodline vessel— also.
"But... I felt so weak. Especially after they took the blood from my heart, It made me feel so weak."Liam said in an affected but soft tone. His countenance only showed how devastated he had become "Now my draconic blood doesn't pump with as much vigor as in the Citadel."
He raised his hand and displayed his flame. The bright yellow flame danced on Liam's palm, its base contacted Liam's fingers like the roots of a tree.
"Even my flame seems weaker..."
Conan smiled at how silly Liam had become. He then told him "...Your draconic vessel never pumped energetically, even as an immortal, if you were to go to the dragon plane, I don't think you can stand a chance against a nascent."
"So as a mortal, I will be able to fuse my two bloodlines? And I'll become an Angelic dragon? Will I be accepted in the dragon plane then?"Liam's depression seemed to lessen and a ray of hope shone in his yellow eyes.
"If you prove yourself worthy. That's why I brought you here remember? To improve your being." said Conan to him.
Liam remained silent for a while before he chortled "...Those girls, I wish they could be my harem."
"What?"Conan frowned and wondered if all that he had said was just a waste of words or if Liam was just too intoxicated by the Estries.
"They're strong, confident. They're beautiful and saucy, especially since they took rounds to kiss me and draw the blood from my vessel..."He dazedly said, looking at the clouds.
Conan looked at Liam blankly, it seemed like the latter was the case.
Liam looked at Conan and continued with admiration in his yellow eyes. He touched his lips and gasped dramatically "Ol'father, can you believe my lips were disciplined thrice tonight?"
Conan in return sighed and facepalmed. He was getting irritated already. Not only that but he was also getting bad premonitions.
"Liam, let's go home..."He softly said, to which Liam shook his head.
"I can't walk right now, I'm injured..."Liam lazily said and for the first time, his expression changed to express pain. He made himself comfortable on the earth and closed his eyes.
Conan didn't reply, nor did he let him protest as he carried him over his shoulders. He then shot to the sky and glided towards the Duchy Tavern.
"Even their scents make it hard to concentrate on fighting."Liam's voice came out as they moved towards the Duchy, hanging on Conan's shoulder.
The difference this time was that as Conan glided in the air, his figure started blinking as he manipulated space.
He did what he didn't want to do from the start, simply because he didn't care anymore. He wanted to get to the Tavern as soon as possible because the unsettling feeling was starting to choke him already.
In little to no time, they reached the tavern. Conan latched onto the ceramic window frame and gingerly slid the window upwards, opening it wide.
Liam who had changed his position and was now on his back like a baby came off and used Conan as a platform to enter through.
He landed on the tiled floor with low grunts, his feet made no sounds and his face was full of delight. Delight in what still lay as a mystery.
Conan stepped in after and sighed in relief. Finally after thousands of ...
He sighed and facepalmed. This night alone was longer to him than the days he used at the citadel. Full of surprises.
Liam yawned "Home sweet—?"But paused on hearing sounds coming from the girls' bedroom.
His head turned in that direction and so did Conan who had a deep frown on his face.
As for What was going on in the girl's room?
...
The girls couldn't just rest in bed with all the wounds on their bodies. Although the texture of the bed is paradisiacal, it didn't do a thing in alleviating the pain.
It got worse as time went on. This was especially for kitty, who had difficulty breathing, kudos to her broken and caved-in ribcage.
She tossed and turned on the bed until she suddenly rushed to the side of the bed and started puking blood, away from where Zoe would see her.
"Hey, can you help me..."Zoe bit her lip as she looked at her leg which was now swollen red at the ankle area. Not knowing how to put her words she paused and frowned.
The wound was supposed to have healed, what won't she frown for? Even if they're just mortals, their being cultivators didn't change the fact that it should have at least started healing.
"Y-yeah sure..."Kitty accepted, knowing what she was asking for even when she didn't ask. The gaze she felt on her had said it all.
She stood up and looked at Zoe, her face was red. She didn't look good at all. She was practically naked, with nothing except for The Empress wrapping up her full bosom and her underpants on her.
'She looks pitiful' kitty thought and then looked at herself. She was even more pathetic.
She donned a white strip corset which clung to her pert bosom. It also covered her ribs, the foot-shaped bruise and how caved in it was.
The white fabric was bloodied and her mouth was the same, she walked over with just her underpants and with gritted teeth. Her eyes were weak and the wound on her left eye caused her to open one eye as the blood overwhelmed her left eye.
It made one wonder if the left was damaged or not. As it was no more glaring blue.
"Ew..."Zoe muttered in derision.
But Kitty despite hearing Zoe didn't reply but trudged towards her with her hand on her ribs. She bent and held Zoe's dislocated leg.
Zoe was surprised by Kitty's actions. For the first time, kitty didn't refute her provocation and even continued to help her.
It made Zoe's stony heart molten. She looked at kitty's serious expression and saw her in a sisterly light.
The light however dimmed and the impression she had of kitty was thrown out of the window the moment she heard a frightening crack come from her leg, followed by immense pain that assaulted her mind.
A scream of agony came out of her mouth, she couldn't even suppress it even if she wanted to. Kitty in her pain looked at this with a sadistic smile.
Zoe's mind was blank, she didn't even know that she had thrown her head back to scream to the roof with her eyes closed tight and tearing up.
She opened her eyes and glared at kitty who flicked her eyebrows at her in mischief and twisted her already broken leg sharply at a wrong angle.
The bone cracked from the pressure exerted and Zoe's scream intensified. She gripped the bed sheet tightly that it tore under her strength. She shouted at kitty's face with veins popping on her reddened face.
"Arrgh... Sh- stop!"She screamed at top of her lungs with veins bulging on her flushed neck. Her speech even seems affected by the pain.
But kitty seemed apathetic. She expressed a dramatic innocent face that would have fooled many but not Zoe "...but I'm just helping you. Wait just a bit more."
She did the trick again but this time, Zoe's scream didn't just intensify.
"I said!"Zoe screamed, her pain numbed by anger and she sent out a punch toward Kitty's face "Stop!"
The punch tore through the air and hit Kitty's already wounded eyes, the force slamming her head onto the bed frame.
Kitty held her wounded eye which started to bleed even more as a result of the punch. Crimson blood streamed down her cheeks and crawled its way from her jaw to her corset underwear. Further staining it with organic red.
Both of the 'sisters' stood up at the same time and glared deep into each other's eyes. The rivalry seemed to develop into sworn enmity at that moment.
Until Zoe closed in and punched Kitty in the ribs making her gasp out loud and spit out blood. But except for groaning, kitty didn't make much sound as she glared at Zoe grimacing while looking down at the hand which she had used to punch.
It was her left hand and it was the hand that was punctured by a bolt, hence the pain when using its punch. Blood poured out and dropped to the ground, forming a puddle below their feet.
They both glared into each other's eyes again but not for long, kitty closed in and threw a hook and Zoe defended with her arm and shifted her weight on her good leg.
Alas, it was a feint. Her broken leg was hit by such strength that threw her off her feet and made her cry out in pain "arghh! You crazy?!"
She gritted her teeth with her eyes almost popping out of her socket. She sat on the bed and wanted to cradle her leg but kitty didn't give her time to do so.