Blood Everywhere, Bad-Tasting Broth, and Good Stew

I tried to pull him back, but it was too late. His sword arced through the air, and the tip sliced from her right shoulder towards her left hip, cutting through her robe, skin, and muscle. A grating sound was heard as the tip scratched across her ribs.

I pulled back on the garrote so hard that the thin wire sliced through his neck, like how a cheese slicer works. His head rolled to the floor with a thud. Blood spurted from the headless body, spraying everywhere as it fell to the ground.

"Luna!"

Still sitting in the chair, Luna looked down at herself as her blood ran out of the long, deep gash. Shock was written on her quickly paling face. Her robe had fallen open, revealing the wound below where bone could be seen. She wouldn't even live a minute if something wasn't done.

She looked at me with a regretful expression. "At least kill them for me still."

"Kill them yourself," I said as I rushed over while purchasing a grade 5 recovery pill from the shop, hoping it would work on others besides myself. I stuffed it into her mouth a few seconds before she lost consciousness.

'Please work. Please work. Please work,' I silently prayed as a few tears fell on the bloodied fabric of her robe and I tried to hold the wound together, waiting anxiously for the result.

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably at most a second or two, I could see the wound rapidly closing up. It wasn't perfect, but it seemed she wouldn't die now.

'Kitty, will she be ok?'

[Probably, although everything in her will be used up to heal that wound just to the extent she will survive, so she will need to recover her body's store of energy, or she might not wake up because she won't have enough energy to maintain consciousness.]

'How do I help her?'

[For a normal human like her, she needs food to recover the energy that would be normally stored in the cells but was now all expended by the recovery pill to heal.]

'She can't eat while unconscious.'

[Even the unconscious swallow a little bit; make some liquid like broth you can give to her a few drops at a time.]

I picked her up and pulled back the sheets on her bed to place her there, but decided if I put her there now, they would just be covered in blood from all of it on her and soaking her clothes. Instead of immediately placing her in the bed, I gently laid her on the floor so she wouldn't fall off the chair while I wasn't looking.

After ensuring she'd be fine for a minute, I activated my devour skill on the corpse's dantian so as not to have the energy dissipate more than it already has. Thankfully, it seemed the dissipation of those at the core condensation realm is very slow, so I didn't lose much if any.

I purchased some broth and honey for extra calories1 from the store, then warmed the liquid over the fire in the kitchen and mixed in the honey to dissolve. I tasted it to make sure it was warm but wouldn't cause burns and make more damage. The taste was horrible, but that didn't really matter.

I put the mixture into a bowl with a spoon and placed it next to her head, pouring a few drops into her mouth every time I saw her swallow. I guess this is like the super slow version of a modern IV.

I also purchased a new robe for her that looked the same as her now ruined one. I debated a little about whether or not to clean her up because she'll definitely try to kill me when she wakes up, but I soon realized with the shape her current one is in, I could see everything, so she'll try to chase and stab me with her sword anyway, so I may as well clean her up.

I stripped off her robe, doing my best not to think about the beautiful naked girl laying in front of me. I alternated between washing the blood that had now started drying to her skin and dripping the broth in her mouth.

After there was no blood left to wash off, I carefully picked her up princess-style and placed her on the bed. I shook my head as if warding away the intrusive thoughts. After dressing her in the new robe, I covered her with the first sheet, trying to make sure she wasn't too cold or too hot, as she would have to expend more energy to regulate her temperature then.

Now I have to clean up the huge mess of blood, her old robe, and the furniture. First, I emptied all the pockets of the tattered magenta robe, only finding a small martial arts manual for swordsmanship and about 100 astrals. After putting them next to the bed, I broke down the old robe and the furniture into its base energy. Now, I started on the blood covering the walls, floor, and ceiling, alternating between cleaning and feeding her more broth.

It's kind of ironic how, in a bid to save a smaller mess, I now have to clean up a much, much larger one.

It was almost noon the next day before I was finally finished cleaning up; my control over the devour skill had also reached new heights.

I repurchased the chairs and table, placing one of the chairs next to the bed. I sat down holding the bowl of broth mixture and kept feeding her a few drops at a time. The color had slightly returned to her face, so it seemed to be slowly working.

It was another day until I finally could sense her stirring and trying to move. She didn't even seem able to open her eyes.

"Hey, don't move, let yourself recover first. I'm going to sit you up and feed you some broth, all you have to do is swallow."

I sat on the bed with my back against the wall and pulled her up next to me. Her head lolled against her chest, so I wrapped my arm holding the bowl around her so my upper arm was behind her back and leaned her head back against the wall.

I spooned the broth into her mouth and could see her trying not to swallow, probably from the taste.

"Swallow it. I know it tastes bad, but it's good for you."

After swallowing, some ran out of the corner of her mouth, which I wiped with a cloth, then spooned another spoonful in. This went on for a few minutes before she fell asleep again.

The next time she awoke, her eyes slowly opened and looked around. I started giving her more to eat. I could tell from the look in her eyes she was mad at me for making her eat this stuff.

"Just eat it." I didn't give her any time to think more before pushing another spoonful between her lips.

There was nothing she could do about it as I kept giving her more again and again until she fell asleep again.

A few hours later when she woke up, I tried to feed her more, only to be met with a decisively closed mouth.

"Open so you can eat."

"Don't feed me; I'll do it myself!" Though she tried to sound strong, it came out in a whisper and sounded more like pouting.

"Cute. I don't even think you can pick up your own arms, let alone hold something." I brought the spoon up again, but she still didn't open.

"At least give me something else," she whispered in defeat.

"If you can talk now, next time you can probably chew, so I'll go buy some good tasting stew, how about that. Eat this one more time, and I'll go get stew for the next time you wake up." I feel like I'm bargaining with a child to eat their vegetables.

Her mouth opened slowly, and I started feeding her until she slept again. I laid her back down onto the bed and took her house keys to lock the door when I left. I was a little worried about someone breaking in while she was defenseless, but there was nothing I could do except hope for the best since I promised better food.

I changed my robe out of the Blood Moon Sect's robe and into my navy blue one since all the Blood Moon Sect probably left already. Not that it should cause any problems, but I wasn't taking any chances. You never know what happened the last few days we were at the house.

After leaving, I locked the door and walked toward the restraint owned by the Dark Sect. After arriving, I saw there were a few families eating at the tables; it looked just like a normal restaurant. I ordered 4 bowls of stew in to-go containers and paid the 12 astrals before leaving. When I arrived back, I was relieved to see nothing had happened.

After entering and re-locking the door, I sat back on the bed and pulled her up to be sitting in the same manner as before. After a while, she woke up again.

"I have stew, just like I promised."

She gave a small smile until I tried to feed her, then it turned to a scowl.

"I can do it myself now, look." She held up her hands like they were holding a bowl and spoon.

I gave her the spoon in one hand and set the bowl in the other, which immediately started shaking. She stared at it, willing it to stop. If she wants to feed herself, I can let her and just offer assistance. I placed my hand under hers that was holding the bowl, stabilizing it.

I could immediately tell she was about to complain, but i quickly said, "I think you can do it yourself, but the soup is too expensive, just in case you spill a single drop, it would make me feel bad."

We both knew it was bullshit, and I was just giving a way out, but she didn't say anything and started shakily eating. After finishing the bowl, I set it off to the side.

"Ok, it's night again. Go back to sleep. Eat more when you wake up again." I patted her head.

Her cheeks turned a little red, and I thought she would say something, but she didn't utter a single sound before falling asleep.

It was strangely comfortable holding another peacefully sleeping person in your arms with them leaning against you, something I'd never experienced before. A small smile spread across my face as I also fell asleep for the first time in many days.