Chapter 3: An alliance

I clenched my fist, and underneath my skin, liquid metal around my arm began to form, a silver liquid metal that turned into solid armor immediately, with multiple sharp edges and spikes.

"Ah…" She exhaled, stepping back.

I didn't need to claw at her; I only needed to do this! Locking my fist at her, the armor on my hand broke off as it shot forth the spike at her.

Clang.

Huh… With both her arms extended, clad in silver armor with numerous pins all over it, she blocked my shot.

She could also use that?!

She pointed her finger at me. "Let's not make dumb decisions. We can work together, or do you want to take your chances?"

… If she could clad herself that fast, she must have also been practicing it in secret. All I ever saw her do was sleep.

Was she meditating while acting like she was asleep…?

I knew how important meditating was, but I needed to cross my legs and clasp my hands to do it properly. I couldn't do that without losing balance. Things were not playing out how I wanted them to.

I withdrew my hand in her direction. There was another issue; the amourite that was over my arm couldn't be turned back into Qi.

"My kids are beautiful; you will be surprised by how much they look like me!" The woman who gave birth to me excitedly told someone.

That meant they were approaching quickly!

The only way to remove amourite was by just letting it drop off, but I couldn't do that! Physically, I could, but it would be a bad option. The lady would see damn baby arm-size armor in the cradle. Then she would scream, saying her child was cursed or possessed. Wait… the other reincarnator here also had amourite on. She was in the same boat as me. I could put the blame on her—

With a swing, she threw her arm pieces near me. …

"Y-you!" I dashed at her, but she stood still with her hand on her waist.

She pointed at the amourite pieces. "I don't plan to get you killed, but you are going to have to team up with me."

"I refuse." She didn't say anything. The door creaked open.

Panic flowed in my bones, and I quickly changed my answer. "I agree!"

She moved her hand for a handshake, one finger having an amourite ring. Shit… I did the same, making an amourite ring, and we shook hands.

She gave an oath, "I, Etherna will never betray you, and we will work together." I swallowed my pride as I said, "I-I Resian will never betray you, a-and you wewe will w-work to-gether."

I hoped speaking in such a faulty manner would ruin the oath.

Our rings fitted with each other, and then a very yellow string of energy was formed between us. Until we die, we will have to follow those oaths.

A soul bound…?

Based on the memories of Braxen, he never once experienced a soul bound or saw it before. He only ever heard of it; about some guy who could force soul contracts.

Now that I thought about it, a lot of stuff didn't add up about her, like how much she knew, despite just being a reincarnator for a couple of months. The fact she knew how to cultivate and cultivate to such a degree. The fact she could use both Ki and Qi, and turn Qi into armourite.

Sure, she could have my same cheat skill… as much as that hurt to think, but that only gave me mastery over life energy, not the power to learn techniques that I had no idea existed rapidly. There was only two possibilities, she also possessed a body with memories of this world or she got reborn into this world and then died, and was reborn again.

As I kept thinking, I noticed she moved quickly to the armourite pieces and clasped her hand as she took in a deep breath; the next moment she vomited over the pieces!

"Ouch…" She muttered.

The pieces' shape was bending slightly, becoming softer. She then fitted everything into her mouth, folding it to enter, and swallowed.

What the hell?!

Two footsteps were approaching us, but she was only a quarter of the way done.

A woman's voice I never heard emerged as she asked, "Are you sure they aren't awake, and I will be waking them up?"

"Yeah, I am sure."

Tch! Etherna was taking too long!

She made a gagging expression as she finished eating everything. The light that was shining on us was soon covered by a shadow.

Slowly looking up, I saw a woman with white hair and white skin. She had green eyes and was dressed like a mix between steampunk and the medieval period.

She was nearly identical to the woman who gave birth to me. The only difference was that, unlike this green-eyed lady here, the other one had crimson eyes and looked a little older. 

This lady was hot. Very hot. I could feel my face turning red just looking at her. She was so pretty… I wish she would pick me up already.

The woman smiled at us. "Hellooo, my cute little nephew and niece."

Eh. Wait, what?

No way in hell did I just hear that properly.

She is my aunt?!

Ah, gross. Any kind of excitement that was starting to build up in this little body faded away. I didn't care anymore.

"Argh…" Hm? Oh, Etherna was holding her stomach in pain. What did she expect after eating that?

The green-eyed lady called to my crimson-eyed one. "One of them appears sick."

"Huh?" The crimson-eyed lady rushed over, checked both of us and then saw Etherna's pained expression.

She picked her up and asked her, "What hurts you?"

I think we were a bit too young to speak. Well, if we did speak it would seem abnormal anyway.

I wonder, would she die? It would be a funny fate for her. Imagine forcing me to make some oath for you, then meeting your demise soon after. What a loser.

Then the green-eyed woman looked at me and chose to pick me up. I stared at her. What the hell did she want?

She made various facial expressions in the hope of making me laugh, yet I simply stared. Her eyes moved to my neck, and her playful expression warped into great shock.

"What the..." she muttered.

What was it?

She placed me on her shoulders as she walked to the bathroom, where the sounds of vomit were coming from.

Oh, Etherna was vomiting the soft metal? I wonder how she disguised it so that the woman wouldn't know it's a material that seems like metal.

As soon as the green-eyed woman entered the bathroom, she leaned over to look at Etherna's neck, which also had the two black dots.

It seems those dots were a big deal. I wondered what they were. Were we actually vampires? Or some kind of undead? Did she make a contract with some devil to resurrect her stillborn twins?

The crimson-eyed woman turned back to her sister, a bit confused. "What is it?"

The green-eyed woman hesitated before she asked, "Those kids; the black dots on their neck…"

Upon hearing that, the crimson-eyed woman, who was attending to Etherna, paused and slowly turned her head towards her sister, robotically. "Don't worry about it."

I felt fear develop in my chest. Just what the hell did she do?!

Her sister sighed and shook her as if disappointed. "It better not be what I think it is."

"It isn't."

"Whatever." She gave up with a shrug. "You got any snacks to eat? I am starving."

"Nersar, what do you think? Yes, I do."

"Cool." She nodded and then walked out of the bathroom along with me. She held me near her chest. This honestly felt like a violation of some kind.

Moving from the room to the hallway, she entered the huge kitchen which had many brown huge cabinets. There was even a stove, well something that functioned as a stove anyway and looked close to it.

The only difference is that it was triangular shaped, and the burners were like sinks that heated up whatever was in it.

Oh. She was going to cook me alive to kill me, wasn't she?

My eyes cautiously studied her movement. I needed to know the right time to make my escape.

To my surprise, she didn't go near it, instead; she opened a pantry and took a long snack. She opened it and she ate the chocolate biscuit in it.

While eating, her eyes were on me, filled with pity. "Poor little guy. He has no idea what his life is going to be like…"