C113: Aftermath, Paternal Care p1.
Overall Word count = 1065 on 7/14/2024.
Raikou brings Axel back inside. They walk past the group of Freya executives who are now bandaging their wounds. With the pregnancy seemingly over, Height Velvet comes out and begins to heal them as well. They had worked hard on stalling Tiona away from the birth room. Axel ponders on how to reward them when he enters the patient room.
Syr is lying in bed, very weak as she seems to have lost tons of blood from the whole procedure. Raikou sets Axel down on the seat where He takes Syr's hand. Freya and Airmid are not in the room but he does hear something in the other room along with splashing water.
"How are you holding up?" Axel asks in a gentle tone, Syr musters enough strength to turn her head towards him and her gentle smile turns into surprise as she sees him so bloody and bruised. "What happened to you?"
"Heh, such a talented baby to be born, that the world couldn't accept it. The regular world ending threat came knocking. Everyone is fairly beat up. Property damages done, the regular when it involves me. On the bright side, my clothes are not torn to shreds." He mixes truth and jokes together which makes her giggle a bit but she is fairly tired after the 3 hour pregnancy. Syr regains her smile before she tells him.
"It's a girl"
"Oh really! I'm sure she is already more than a match for you in terms of beauty." He raises an eyebrow and scoots in closer to caress her cheek. They stay in that position for a little while until they hear a clatter coming from the other room.
Axel grunts as he gets up and walks over to the washroom where he finds a confusing situation. Freya and Airmid on their knees and panting, their cheeks sunken as if from exhaustion. Meanwhile Raikou is trembling as she is holding a naked baby girl in her hands and bringing her to be set down on a towel as it seems she was just washed. Axel expertly moves toward. He uses both hands to take the baby and set her down. With there being no more contact between the two. Raikou collapses on her butt just like the other 2.
"She is definitely your child. A little glutton just like you" Raikou breathes out though there is a hint of amusement in her tone.
'Ah, I'm getting too weak nowadays. Need to restart my own training and meditation. I'm getting old and falling behind' Her personal thoughts are full of intent but also with a hint of exhaustion and annoyance.
Axel himself doesnt originally notice any sort of drain on him but he can tell the air around him is moving towards the child, providing it with plenty of energy. As for why Axel didn't notice is because he put a small layer of energy reflection so that he could have interacted with Syr without draining her due to his own gluttony.
"Little glutton, is that what your name is?" He comments as he takes over the baby drying before wrapping her up in that same towel. His actions are gentle but meticulous as he doesnt want the baby to become sick from being wet. During this time, Freya regains enough strength to stand up as she guides him on how to properly hold the baby. She also tells him how to wrap the towel which forces him to unwrap it then rewrap it.
The vortex flowing towards the child starts to ramp up, this has been consistent and comparable to Axel's own 30 (out of the now 100) layers.
(The layers increase with each level up. We were level 7 when the layers were first established and it was 50 then. So 25 layers per level as we are level 9 now).
Axel returns to Syr with baby in tow. Freya lightly walks but she has to sit down in a chair soon enough. Airmid takes a seat inside the bathroom as she is not nearly strong enough to walk yet.
'Haaa, no more babies. Pregnancies are always such a hassle. I hope Dian Cecht doesnt burn my ears off with his complaints when he arrives. They probably made a mess for some reason.' Airmid mentally complains about her workload and how much everything would be delayed due to any repairs that would need to be done.
Raikou is the last to leave the bathroom but she also faced the strongest and longest exposure to the baby's gluttonous force. Granted she is mostly hiding her weakness through controlled usage of mana burst.
Syr's face lights up upon seeing her baby wrapped up so snugly in her towel. Axel takes his seat again as he shows off the baby to her. He hands over their child but he can luckily extend at least one finger to keep contact to maintain the barrier around the baby.
Syr soon frowns as she interrogates Axel, "Why can't I feel our babies warmth?" Axel feels a bit guilty as he explains how the child has his skill which siphons the strength of others for themselves. He tells her how he is keeping it in check with another skill.
"Ill turn the skill off if you wish to kiss her but I don't think she can be away from me until she learns how to turn it off herself. " He proposes a positive arrangement while telling her some bad news as well. Syr smacks him upside the head which he just takes as he can understand why she would be upset. She had a long and supposedly tiring pregnancy for a few months to grow and nurture their child and must now be separated from that same child because of Axel and his skills.
An hour passes as the executives heal their wounds while the others regain their stolen strength, at least enough to walk now. Syr has had a chance to process the situation and plant many…many kisses upon the baby where she experienced the truth of how powerful the drain is. Nevertheless she is saddened that she has to be separated from her adorable little baby.
The duo of Axel and Syr also had a chance to finalize the name for the baby.
Sabrina Gram