Ch49. Suicidal urges?

The 'curing' of the old Gremorys went off without a hitch and both Tom and Natasha now sported new 'bloodlines'.

Tom called it bloodlines because that's what devils believed them to be but frankly, they were more of special abilities passable by blood... which basically meant bloodlines... but bite him. The workings of these abilities had nothing to do with blood or genes.

Neither Natasha nor Tom had any physical changes. Same as with the connection to the Concept of Destruction and Natasha's body, they simply gained some 'new sense' inside of them rather than have anything changed in their body.

It came natural and instinctual to them and Tom noticed his control over mana improved drastically.

Really... this bloodline was indispensable for him as a magician. It was totally worth risking to anger Lucifer for it.

Fortunately, the weakness of the old Gremorys was deemed to be due to their long sleep, and not the fact Tom siphoned a whopping ten percent of their already weakened magic and life energy. Tom wondered how they would feel when they tried casting magic and realized their superb energy control was no longer reality, hehehe.

Oh, well, he guessed the Sleeping Sickness would be ranked up in viciousness after that comes out.

Tom couldn't make himself feel bad about it, though. He saw a bit of their past with his Sacred Gear and he wholeheartedly believed these kinds of people should have stayed unconscious or better, dead. Sure, they were Gremorys and cared for their family like nothing else but everyone else was a free game for them.

Some of their acts made even Tom shudder. He really didn't know if it was worth it to look at the past of the devils through his Sacred Gear anymore. He started to be a bit afraid of what he would see. Especially with the old devils.

Things like mind-controlling a father to force himself onto his daughter...

Or starving out a human only to serve him his wife as a meal...

Or making a kid slaughter his parents...

And that was only the 'games' they played. There were still their demands for fulfilling the wishes of people. Not only did they take the soul of the poor idiot who agreed to such a thing, they usually even made him do some unsavory things before that.

Very, very unsavory things.

Let's just say that once upon a time, the devils were very, very bored animals and had no restraint. Good thing that supernatural wars started otherwise humanity would have a hard time surviving their boredom.

Tom wasn't some idiot spouting human supremacy but he was a human nonetheless. Seeing the devils regard his race as playthings, amusing themselves in his race's suffering and forcing them to do disgusting things just to make them despair... Let's say he was not amused.

He would not paint the devils with one brush as they became seemingly more civilized since their Civil War. He knew the old devils who did these reprehensible things were still alive and enjoying their life but it wasn't Tom's business. He was no batman. He felt no desire to punish them for something they did hundreds of years ago. Something that had nothing to do with him.

For example, Sarael. He seemed like a nice guy and Tom regarded him as a friend. But he didn't want to know what skeletons the man was hiding in the closet of his past. Just... no.

That's why he decided he would simply view the other devils he would be 'curing' as livestock. Just sources of magic and life energy for him and Natasha. Level up mobs. Exp sacks.

There was no room for pity or doubt when taking their magic and life energy. It was simply a business transaction in Tom's opinion.

...

Tom finished his last rep with a barbell and sighed as Natasha helped him to put it back onto the ledges and his hands instantly felt the reprieve from Natasha's training session.

"A few more months and you will be ripped." Natasha tried to cheer Tom up, but he lay on the bench and she stood right above him so it wasn't hard to notice how the corners of her lips were quivering as she tried to hold back her laughter.

Tom's eyebrow twitched. He was no Rambo, alright!?

"Months?" Tom sullenly clicked his tongue and muttered, "Fuck this bullshit I am out."

Unfortunately for him, Natasha heard him and put her hands on her hips, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes at Tom. "Well, unless you have a magical way to get ripped, then no, you are not quitting. Remember that it was you who said you need more stamina."

Plus, the results were already showing a bit and Natasha was delighted with Tom lasting longer in bed. Not that she would ever tell him that her reasons for being strict with him were not exactly all pure.

Hearing her firm admonishing tone, Tom couldn't help but smirk and turn his head away. He was always an advocate of working smarter, not harder, and if possible, cheating his way through obstacles.

Seeing his reaction, Natasha facepalmed, "You do have a magical way of how to get ripped, don't you?" She rhetorically asked in a fed-up tone, staring at Tom, not knowing whether to cry or laugh at the absurdity of her lover.

She was both happy and dismayed.

Since the cat was out of the bag, Tom just nonchalantly shrugged. "I am working on it, Natalia darling." He pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Don't darling me. I am upset with you." Natasha sullenly said as she sat behind him, snaking her arms around his torso and resting her chin on his shoulder.

Her man hated sweating so the smart idiot instantly cleaned away his sweat with a spell the second he sat up. Natasha sniffed... and rolled her eyes. He smelled of roses. No doubt he was fishing for a reaction from her. His spells were getting more and more ridiculous by the day.

Natasha didn't comment on his 'not-so-manly' fragrance. She just nuzzled his hair...

"No, you are not upset." Tom mirthfully chuckled, "If you were upset with me, you wouldn't have been trying to meld into my body like this." He could feel her soft chest pressing into his back and he had to say, he quite liked it.

Natasha didn't care, though. Roses were her favorite smell and he definitely knew it!

When Natasha stayed quiet and didn't rebuke him, Tom just silently shook his head, realizing he would not get a rise out of her as she was in her own world right now.

Tom put his hand on her thigh, slowly but gently dragging it alongside it while applying slight pressure to somewhat pull her back to reality, "Want to hear the good news or the bad news?"

Natasha contently sighed, enjoying his touch. "Give me the good news first."

"It will not only make my body stronger but also increase my stamina a lot. And I mean really a lot." Tom said in a teasing tone, instantly feeling Natasha's hold on him excitedly tighten.

"Mhmm, sounds delicious." She sensually whispered into his ear, "You should hurry up and finish it then."

She was about to lick his earlobe to advance their foreplay but Tom abruptly patted her thigh in a sign to stop and pulled his hand away, destroying the mood, much to Natasha's confused ire.

"The bad news is that it's only possible thanks to my Sacred Gear so you will be unable to do it." Tom's tone turned from playful to serious. He didn't want her to get her hopes up and...

"Doesn't matter." Natasha instantly replied, also shifting into serious mode. But she didn't stop hugging Tom from behind. After all, he still smelled of roses and her nose liked it. "You have already done enough for me."

Natasha appreciated everything Tom had done for her. She now had the memories of Sirzechs combat and training experiences and the Gremory Bloodline. Her Power of Destruction training picked up and while she would not be destroying cities anytime soon, she was rapidly gaining proficiency in wielding it.

That's what happens when you have the same advantages and can learn from the mistakes of someone who can turn into an incarnation of destruction. She was definitely learning much quicker than Sirzechs did.

And yet, despite all that, she was years away from being able to catch up to his skill level. But Natasha was nothing if not patient and determined.

"What exactly are you going to do? It's not dangerous, is it?" Natasha worriedly asked Tom. So far, his schemes were all dangerous in some way. She would have really loved it if he didn't try to deceive people who could snuff them out of existence with a sneeze but she couldn't argue it brought benefits.

But due to his track record, Natasha didn't have much hope that this new method of body improvement will be safe.

"Er..." As expected, Tom eloquently answered, and Natasha sighed once again.

"It is dangerous." She gave him an unamused stare.

Fortunately for Tom, he could feel it but couldn't see it since she sat behind him so he was fully able to ignore it, pretending it didn't exist.

"Only a bit. I am progressively emptying my life energy pool and merging it into my body." Tom truthfully explained.

It was dumb, to be honest. He knew that. But lying to her and assuaging her worries was not an option. While it was a nice short-term solution, he planned to spend his life with this woman. Honesty was much better, even if it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"So you are basically killing yourself, pumping your life into your body." Natasha clutched at the sides of Tom's torso as she put her forehead on his shoulder and groaned in exasperation. "Now he has suicidal urges too. Just great." She mumbled under her nose in dissatisfaction, barely loud enough that Tom could hear it.