Reaction

By the time Rethys reached the halfway point to the ritual wing's entrance located in the farthest western fringes of the catacombs, he had already seen plenty of Sevi's powers in action, and the sight reaffirmed to him most of what he had previously noticed and theorized.

It seemed that the Blood mage's powers were, to no one's surprise, fueled by blood. The element of Blood as well as the physical stuff flowing in living creature's bodies. And this confirmed that Rethys had indeed been feeding her element's powers for the past three weeks of his stay in the catacombs, what with bringing creatures to her regularly.

She often let him take care of any ethereal creature using his element. But the moment he so much as approached a flesh and blood creature, she'd take it upon herself to "help" him kill it.

She did this by casting some Blood element spell that would completely annihilate the creature's innards in an instant. She would then siphon and transform its blood into a strange matter, a kind of pseudo-ethereal material that Rethys likened to the very potent magical ingredients he rarely saw his master Fulgrith working with.

As for what she did with that energy, and how she managed it, the lack of her characteristic dark sword meant the need for improvisation, which was where Rethys came in.

Coming face to face with a large, Light-wielding creature, he paused for a second, waiting for Sevi's magic to take root.

The creature before him was a large one, standing at roughly three meters tall, and was one of the stronger creatures that Rethys used to avoid. It was tall yet had none of the emaciated or bloated weaknesses that characterized many like it, its body brimming with might. It also had numerous patches of skin glowing with the yellow of the Light element, which were able to shine very bright light that would stun regular catacomb dwellers, adapted to the dark as they were.

None of its abilities or strengths mattered however, as the moment it moved towards Rethys and shined its light on him, it stumbled and fell limp to the ground. And as the dazzling light that covered its form faded away and visibility was restored, he saw its body beginning to seize violently before it died from extreme organ trauma. Its blood then flowed out and then pooled above it before beginning to shift into another material.

What truly grabbed his attention however was how the creature's soul was released due to its extreme death. It seemed that Sevi's spell affected its body so violently, that any spell or magical effect present in it was brutally shattered, and the creature's soul then simply slipped through the cracks.

After he was done studying the creature's soul, however, he was left with a floating, swirling globule of glowing red that began approaching him.

"Is this really necessary?" He asked as he flinched away from the stream of fluid slowly floating towards him.

He didn't appreciate being used as a tool to serve Sevi's magic. But most importantly he couldn't stand just how vile and disgusting this process seemed, especially combined with what he knew of the catacombs' creatures.

"Of all the things in this cursed place, why is the most helpful power you could ever have prove 'too much for you'. This is nonsensical Rethys, cease your squeamishness immediately. I have already told you that your physical body would serve as a replacement for the blade. If that is not enough, you yourself are already attuned to the element of Blood by proxy and will have to learn to use it in the coming days." Sevi explained.

"Do you have you any idea what's in that stuff? Because I do, and it's all wrong." Rethys retorted.

"And pray tell, my dear partner, how is it wrong? Are you even capable of enunciating in clear terms what about this process conflicts with your magical practices and principles?" Sevi asked in a mocking tone.

"No, but-"

"Not buts. Their blood, however vile, is very ether-rich, meaning that it serves as an excellent source for the material that I use to fuel my magic. The magic that would be helping you survive, I might add. And that material does not even inherit the properties of its ingredients, it is simply pure magic. You should try to cease your stubbornness and default to my superior knowledge and experience." The Blood mage chastised.

"I see." Rethys grunted in response.

"Rationality and pragmatic thought would see us out of this place in due time Rethys." Sevi explained. "We must use any resources we can get our hands on in this place."

Nodding and accepting the magic inside him, Rethys saw as the glowing veins dotting his body subsumed the magical material and their glow intensified. His senses also informed him that the second heart now housed in his body was where the energy was stored.

"The more of this we gather, the more I would be able to show my magic's powers, and the safer we are. It is our backup, as you say it, in case all else goes awry." The Blood mage further elaborated.

And so, the duo continued expanding their arsenal of dubious magic all the while slowly making their way across the catacombs.

The walk was slower than usual, much slower in fact, due to Sevi's insistence on hunting as many creatures as possible.

And eventually, she herself noticed something wrong with their trip, and didn't hesitate to voice her doubts.

"You told me that you take the northern route when traveling west, why are we moving through the southern stretch?" She asked as the duo entered a collapsed region.

"You'll see." Rethys stated briefly.

He was heading towards Kithil, both to see if he could release her with Sevi's help, and to test the Blood mage's reaction to such an extreme scenario.

He was convinced that she was oblivious to the powerful creature's presence, as she would have warned him about it to keep him alive. Kithil also showed herself capable of becoming invisible to his Origin sense of all things, so he guessed the possibility of simple scrying finding her to be nigh impossible.

But in the end, all of this was simple conjecture, and he couldn't know any of it for sure. Sevi could've just as easily realized the surface daemon's unique nature and still had Rethys run into her, if only to give him a scare and discourage him. And so, this also had the added benefit of gauging her scrying capabilities.

Eventually, the duo neared the broken hallway that Kithil lay inside. And Rethys kept approaching it while trying to make it seem as inconspicuous as possible.

Then it happened, the surface dweller's aura suddenly made itself known, Rethys trying his hardest not to jolt backwards in reflex even though he knew its source.

As for Sevi, well, it only took a fraction of a second for the Blood mage to snap into battle mode. She didn't have the Origin element's ability to sense souls and their power, yet the change in the ether around them was nothing if not jarring.

"A Mirage Revenant!" She muttered; her whole being overtaken with such sheer terror that Rethys could vividly feel it. "Move!! NOW!!"

At that moment, Rethys felt his whole being flooded with levels of might and energy he had never experienced before. He felt all the blood stores that the two gathered in the past few hours instantly disappear as they were infused into his body. His muscles tensed and his blood boiled, and he felt as though his fists could cleave a house in twain.

"Release all of your magic! We need cover, those things can use scrying!" The Blood mage yelled.

Yet Rethys did not move. He simply stood there, calm as a rock, before then voicing a few words.

"It's fine. She won't do anything. Oh, and let me do the talking." He explained

Sevi didn't say anything in response. The extreme situation as well Rethys' peculiar response to it must've shocked her beyond words.

The silence that followed was deafening, and Rethys could feel in it the Blood mage's extreme anxiety. Eventually, however, a voice resounded in the halls, breaking the quiet and delivering some much-needed answers.

"Boy... you return..." A raspy voice sighed out.

"Yes." He briefly replied as he approached the skeletal daemonic remains that trapped the poor woman.

He could withstand its aura now, probably thanks to the changes Sevi wrought on him. Yet the surface creature's power remained far too great, and he instantly realized that, despite it all, the daemonic aura would still kill him given enough time. He had to finish his task fast.

No further words followed, as there was work to be done. And laying his hands on the giant onyx rib cage, Rethys felt a shiver of pure, unbridled wrongness run through him, and he immediately set to releasing the soul within.

Kithil offered no resistance, unlike the magic casters in the ritual wing and even the regular creatures wandering all over. Rethys' magic flowed freely into the willing recipient, and before long, her soul was freed.

"...thank... you..." The humble stonemason exhaled her last ethereal breath, a last sigh of relief leaving her non-existent lips.

Seeing the tortured soul floating upwards and away, Rethys felt satisfied. He didn't for a second think he solved this place's issues with this single deed, but at least he fulfilled his promise. After all, it didn't feel right to be looking for a way out before first doing this.

The terrible aura imposing itself over him was gone, the only remaining vestige of the daemon that was Kithil being the giant ebony bones strewn about. Those bones still bore some of the power of their owner, yet the aura they radiated assured that nothing would so much as approach them. There was also the blade, but Rethys doubted anything could dislodge it from the stone it was stabbed into.

"My, that was quite the spectacle." Sevi commented, her voice showing nothing but irritation. "Care to explain to me why you saw fit not to warn me of that?"

Rethys paused, slightly frightened while he weighed his words to figure out what to say. His plan had worked flawlessly, netting all the best results he wanted. Yet for all his own scheming, he didn't think of the aftermath.

"You know what Rethys? Never mind. You gave me a fright so profound I felt it in this rock, but I suppose I had it coming, is that not so..."

Calmly backing away from the daemon's remains, Rethys thought of what he could do to stifle the storm he knew was coming. But in the end decided to just weather it as best he could.

"You will seek as many daemon hosts as necessary for us to completely inundate our stores of energy, and you will do it now. Who knows? There is always the possibility of us running into some other greater daemon that we have no chance to survive against otherwise. We already found a Mirage Revenant here, what's to say a Bone Colossus would not be lurking around the next corner, or perhaps a Slagblade would lie in wait there instead.

"Now let us get going, shall we?" The Blood mage concluded, ending her spiel with a deathly glare at Rethys' very soul.

"Yeah..." He awkwardly managed as he resumed his walk.