"Ah, damn it!" Zed cursed, his head throbbing with pain.
"By the wildness, you're finally awake."
The words hovered in the air as Demon rose to his feet, his gun shifting comfortably in his grip.
Zed was in pain.
The ache made it a task to even open his eyes. But when he finally managed to, the blurry figures before him gradually sharpened into focus, revealing a tent that was unfamiliar, a departure from the one he had been in before.
"Ok, I'm in Bloodline's camp? Demon brought me back?"
Zed mused, his mind frantically assembling the jigsaw of what happened. He had been duped by a band of thieves, led out of the safety of the city walls, where he stumbled upon a peculiar bell adorned with enigmatic patterns... The Bell!
A realization struck him like lightning, causing him to jolt upright.
"When you found me, did you see anything else around?"
His sudden movements sent a sharp lance of pain through his shoulder, causing him to wince. It had been a long time since he had felt this feeble, this vulnerable. He didn't know the time, but he prayed it was night.
"Did you seriously go solo camping in a minefield in the dead of night?"
A voice, chilly yet melodious, cut through the silence. Just as Zed attempted to sit up to address her, a cold hand gently pushed him back onto the cot.
Out of nowhere, she materialized and seated herself beside him.
With her other hand, she toyed with a delicate tiny bell attached to her fingertip, identical to the bell Zed had seen before.
Zed immediately knew it was Lucy who had saved him again.
"It's you, Lucy... I knew Demon would be too forgetful to realize something happened to me."
"Who's Lucy?"
Demon scratched his head, his small eyes filled with big curiosity. He had already taken off his cap always with him, and Zed now realized this guy was probably in his late twenties but with a lot of beard.
Zed didn't explain much and simply pointed to the girl beside him.
"My fiancée."
Lucy's grip on Zed's forehead tightened almost imperceptibly as she tucked him into bed, enveloping him in the comfort of the blanket.
Demon watched as the bed frantically tidied itself up, and bell rang itself, his eyes and mouth gradually widening. He pointed at Zed's side but couldn't utter a word for quite some time.
"Ah..." Zed was about to suggest he breathe before he suffocated when Demon finally broke his silence.
"I understand now. So it was Mrs. Zeppeli! She has been leading us to find you."
Saying that, he stiffly stood upright, bowed towards Zed. After working under Zed for some time, he had already noticed his boss's strange ability, like telekinesis.
Zed reclined, cradling his head with his hands.
"You've got it all wrong, she's right behind you."
The jest sparked a glimmer of mirth on Lucy's face, causing her to tremble ever so slightly. But as Demon prepared to do it agian, Zed stopped him, grinned and told him to take care of some matters.
"Speaking of which, Demon, you have the power to start fires, right? I want you to go to where they found me and incinerate everything. If anyone shows up, slip away quietly and then find some boys to help me locate a father and son with blonde hair driving a pickup truck... I'll tell you how they look later."
Zed paused for a brief moment, his lips pulling into a tight line, before adding:
"In the near future, I might enroll in the academy. You should register with me."
"Absolutely, sir," Demon responded, his laughter carrying a sense of sincere joy.
In fact, he had been wanting to register at the academy for a while, but the tuition fees and his commitment to developing their influence in Newford under Zed's guidance had prevented him from finding the time. Well, perhaps his age could also pose some issues when it came to sorting the classes...
But the moment Zed mentioned it, all those problems couldn't be called problems anymore.
The more Demon followed in Zed's footsteps, the deeper his unwavering trust in this yong boss grew. Zed exuded an aura of mystery.
As he was about to leave the room, Demon stood up straight, placed his right hand on his left shoulder, and nodded his head gently.
"Thank you."
Once he had left and they were alone, an uncomfortable silence filled the space. Attempting to dispel the awkwardness, Zed cleared his throat with a couple of dry coughs.
"Cough, cough...Lucy, it was side effects of... you know, sometime I have to use it under the sun, and Rai is my beast, I promise..."
"Rai, is that how you call her!"
Lucy's voice rang out, a clear note of annoyance echoing in the room as she turned her back on Zed, her curvaceous figure on full display. With a forceful flick of her hand, she rattled the bells, their sharp chimes filling the air.
Zed found himself speechless. Despite having lived two lifetimes, he was clueless when it came to matters of this.
He would rather dissect a horde of brutes, their bodies might teeming with parasites, left in the wilderness alone at 2 a.m., than fathom the labyrinth that was a woman's mind.
He knew one thing for certain, if either of them fail you are fucked.
"I feel cold," Zed suddenly announced.
At this, Lucy's shoulders twitched subtly, and she whirled around, an angry retort on her lips as she smashed the bells against Zed. The resulting noise reverberated through the room.
"You're cold? Well, I'm hungry! I couldn't care less about you!"
Lucy looked so pissed, delivering a swift kick to the edge of the bed before walking away.
"Lucy..."
Brushing off the bells from his chest, a flash of red light, Zed let them roll onto the floor, continuing to emit their piercing sound. However, he couldn't concern himself with that. As he had previously thought, Lucy was his only family now.
Since his rebirth, Zed had approached everything and everyone around him with a mindset of self-interest, except for Lucy. She was the exception.
With Struggling, Zed pulled himself up from the bed and staggered to his feet, then began to follow her, step by step.
As he pushed apart the tent flaps, the blinding sunlight instantly seared his skin. It felt like a legion of flaming blades carving through a block of ice. His weakened body responded with a chorus of crackles.
"Oh my... I haven't even used any power today."
His lower body seemed to grow more distant with each step, as if his legs were being pulled by needles designed to drain his strength.
The harsh red warnings etched into his retinas glared back at him, pulsating in rhythm with his pounding heartbeat.
[Your body is extremely weak, with 0 blood reserves remaining. Please feed immediately.]
[Your body is extremely weak, with 0 blood reserves remaining. Please feed immediately.]
[Your body is extremely weak, with 0 blood reserves remaining. Please feed immediately.]
...
Zed swiped his arm in front of him, as if trying to erase the physical gap separating him from Lucy. His vision began to blur, succumbing to a haze of white. For a moment, he whimsically wondered if winter had arrived prematurely, draping the world in a soft blanket of snow.
Just as his skin began to blister and smoke under the harsh sunlight, he reached Lucy.
Even though he couldn't feel any physical presence, he held her as tightly as he could, fearing that loosening his grip even slightly would cause her to slip away.
The wild divers from the surrounding watched in shock as their leader's leader stood in the winter sunlight, emitting smoke. They dared not approach until demon's loud shout drove them back.
In Zed's embrace, Lucy remained motionless.
"Today is our birthday, Lucy..."
*****
At the same time, in Newford City...
Vic clenched his shirt tightly, his face twisted. It felt as if his heart would suddenly stop beating. Outside the door, countless high-level awakened beings shared his unease.
The bell sound, though inconsequential to ordinary awakeneds, was an alarming chime that heightened their desire for battle. Some had already rushed out of the city to slaughter brutes. If they didn't kill something, the crazy heart rate might lead to their death.
Beside him, Larry wasn't faring any better, though a faint smile of annoyance remained on his face.
"For God's sake, make him stop! You win! I believe you now..."
Vic withdrew his spatial bomb and shook his head, his tone heavy with resentment.
"Just tell him I want a meeting! Enough with the chimes. It's not healthy!"