Chapter Two

Family tree aside it was apparently 1902 so two years before Theresa's death. I never bothered looking at the year. Still can't really tell the day or month, but I'll just call that a five century old thing. After I went back to Babel I knocked on a blanking out Closure just standing in the lobby. She looked at me and made grabby hands at my weapons so I picked the vampire up and carried her off. The vampire girl just simply complained in my arms about how unfair it is that she can't touch my weapons.

She tried stealing some of my armor when I wasn't wearing it and flailed about trying to lift it. Fun fact: when I weighed it my armor weighed 280,706.67 pounds. My weapons are all about 300 pounds. Fucking heavy shit I carry. After dropping the pouting engineer off at her work I left her to sulk after biting her head.

Heh she tries complaining but the little mechanic hasn't stopped me from doing it. Which what fucking day was it again? Because I feel like some days have just slipped by. Stopping by the 'missions room' I looked at the jobs available and the wendigo in me growled inside my head at one mission. Picking it up I looked at the mission, a mission to intercept a walking armored demon with a skull mask bearing the Reunion symbol. Patriot, Buldrokkas'tee. Ripping the mission from its spot I trudged over to the receptionist and all but growled at her.

"Call Theresa, tell her "Grandfather is going hunting." Before I just leave and commence hunting for the rest of eternity."

"Y-y-yes sir!"

She panickly dialed for Theresa and as soon as she said the message the line went dead. Her face looked befuddled at how quickly her boss just hung up on her. Soon footsteps of multiple people and two animals could be heard running down the hallways, way too quickly. After twenty-five minutes Theresa slammed the doors open startling everyone in the room. Her usual blank expression looking at me worriedly as if she'll throw a fit any second. My two companions behind her along with W and Manticore, who looked confused at Theresa.

"Don't hunt him. Stay, you'll get yourselves killed finally…."

"Reason?"

"You aren't thinking clearly, your wendigo just wants to rip him apart because he became infected. Going into the heart of a Reunion army with all their lieutenants likely present will get you three killed. Most importantly…. You would be leaving those you now call family behind."

"You deny a wendigo its bloodbath of the tainted? No, you are right the wendigo is angry, but it knows its new priority."

Looking at the girls the air in the room froze, Loki, Gaia, W, and Manticore had a phantasmal wendigo suddenly towering over them. Looking much like my old world's wendigo. Its lower hidden jaw clicking under its skull mask as it tenderly reached out a clawed hand, stroking Manticore's head. Vulgaris, as my ghostly wendigo is called, is like my second half, given that the wendigo arts and cannibalism revolve around the dead. As his clawed hand stroked her head before pulling away he looked at me, a hiss growl being released from his ghostly skull. Grunting I smashed my fist together releasing a much darker clicking hiss growl. Like that the ghostly wendigo vanished with a surge of air.

"What did he say master Bloodbeast?"

""I will stay my claws from the tainted war general but should we meet he either dies, is cleansed and detained, or we purge the surroundings in a symphony of blood and flesh." For a ghostial side of me he's pretty vocal about stuff."

"Mm but that just shows you have a good heart, crazy but good."

"Oh the great queen has finally said it, I'm bat shit crazy. Eh acceptable."

Theresa just giggled at me while I feigned being hurt by my comment before just putting my hands in my pockets. Looking at her I ask something and when I see her think hard about it I cackle like a mad man.

"So ever wonder where my blood creatures and excess blood collection go?"

"... That is a mystery I've always wondered about."

"Want a hint?"

W was the one who jumped at a hint as she's seen my blood beast and wonders where the fuck they go. Because after she looked away, thirty-four blood beasts and an entire room drenched in blood, was spotless of blood. Chuckling at W I looked at her.

"Where thy walk I have leaft a bloody trail of death in my wake. You can seek my slaughter but you mustn't look down, look down, you'll be consumed."

W looked confused, Manticore peaked at her feat, Loki and Gaia seemed to play it off as something casual, Theresa's eyes dilated. Slowly she looked at the ground as if looking for something but nothing out of the ordinary was there. Holding a hand out as if to pet something, a crimson spot soaked the carpet before worming its way out of the flooring. As the blood strands formed into a bloodhound my hand between its ears. The entire building seemed to shake as if something was saying hi.

"You call me Master Bloodbeast. To others I am the Blood God Mannæta. So I am far from good at heart."

Hearing that name some history buffs and those who learnt the name in passing paused. My bloodhound had long disappeared back into the ground as I relaxed my body. Theresa hearing my second title gently touched my stomach and looked at me with glazing over eyes.

"That's right kid, you've been associated with the WORST person in history. Yet I honestly have always been this way. So yeah how ya feeling about being close to the Mannæta?"

"You killed them but you've always moved with someone in mind. Why did you do it? Please Grandfather."

"A choice. A child or a country. A life or fear. I picked you. Not them. They wanted a trump card and for fear to vanish, forever."

"Thank you… lunch?"

Picking Theresa up like some baggage along with W I watched as Manticore like an acrobat climbed up to my shoulders. The girls chortled at the two older women looking embarrassed at being carried under my arms like baggage in front of a room. Stepping forward I cackled lightly.

"Let's go get some food though I need a fresh corpse."

".... Chocolate cake?....."

"Sure little Core."

I carried basically everyone by T&I to steal a dying criminal, my tail impaling their stomach as I dragged them away. We eventually went by the canteen which seems to be having a café theme today so the girls liked it. Though everyone didn't like that, three of us were eating a corpse getting bodily stuff all over the floor. Fucking cowards its just our lunch. W looked at me and the girls amusedly while drinking a chocolate parfait. Manticore nibbled on a chocolate cake slice with a slight blush when she noticed my grin.

Theresa calmly and elegantly drank some tea trying to not laugh when Amiya suddenly flung herself at my neck, and crawled onto my shoulders. Loki dazed a bit as she relished in eating some prisoner liver. Gaia playing with a leg a bit like a kitten with a toy. I just slowly slurped and nibbled on the prisoner's heart. It's a pretty relaxing lunch honestly. Suddenly the flip phone I had been given rang, so I fished it from my coat pockets and opened it. Answering the call from Silence. Holding the heart as if it was a coconut drink.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Cartson, it's Olivia. Can you help me with something? Ifrit is seeming off and occasionally emitting smoke. None of my colleagues seem to know anything about this phenomenon."

"She's a Fire Spirit Sarkaz essentially Olivia, they're rare and in some historic lore they're judge and executioner. However, if she is seeming to be in a daze and emitting smoke trails. Then I must ask what has she done and where has she been?"

"She… she went to get some medicine from the cold storage when we got attacked by some Reunion members. She got locked in when the lock was damaged…. For six hours. We've warmed her up but she's still seemingly not better after four hours. Is there anything that should be done?"

"Fuck… you lot probably got shit all for powerful flames so I'll be heading over. See you soon Olivia, keep her above a hundred degrees. Any lower, she'll go critical."

Hanging up abruptly I closed my phone and put it back in my coat pocket. Looking at the others I get up from the table putting Amiya down into my now empty seat. The girls got up and stretched a bit as they looked at me.

"Code Furnace."

Loki's eyes seemed to narrow and she grunted, flames puffing from between her lips. Gaia looked at me with a bit of apprehension, but the white flaming electricity arcing off her was an answer. Which is weird remembering that these two basically are magical now, didn't ask for it but Death gave them these power ups to help them fit in. Death was kind to think about the small details. Heading out of the canteen with a small wave we calmly hurried to the Rhine Clinic.

Upon arriving at it forty minutes later we headed on in finding Olivia cradling a burritoed Ifrit in a hug. Hearing us enter I stop her from talking vand grab the little firecracker with my tail from the blankets. Giving the girls a look before heading back outside. Once outside I sat her in the middle of the street, soul flames slowly creeping out from my form. Loki takes up a corner ten feet away with Gaia doing the same.

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"We're going to warm the little firecracker up completely. So if you got ice or water staff best get them to set up a cooling barrier. Because this is going to get HELLISH."

Olive seemed to take my last remark seriously as a few staff and regular patient's gathered around. Flaring my soul's flame out the air ignited with ghost fire, focusing on Ifrit I waited. Loki and Gaia seeing me ready both released a full on block erasing belch of flames at the Sarkaz child. Moving my soul's burning flames a flaming dragon rushed forward, turning into a swarm of a thousand little dragons guiding the girl's flames.

As a constantly shifting river of flames flowed and spun around the young Sarkaz. A flaming Oni materialized carrying a blacksmith hammer. The flaming blacksmith with confidence in its stride walked forwards the flame river. Raising its hammer it struck the flaming river causing a heat surge, its hammer working a rhythm as if forging. Two more flaming figures emerged from my soul's flames, a Wendigo Sarkaz and a Sankta with eight wings. The two new figures strode towards the flame river and began their own form of prayer with a hand against the river.

"What is this? It's unheard of…."

Hearing the question I kept my focus and eyes tracking the situation. Raising a hand and swiping a finger as if tugging a string, a section of the dragons fixed a bulging flame section of the river.

"This is the Soul Forge, a technique this old Chimera created for people like Ifrit. It's meant for severe cases of Heat Sink which is what is up with the kid. If a person like Ifrit who's very attuned to fire gets a severe case that steam constantly leaks from them. They only have at tops four days before they start Cold Cracking… then it's Ash Fall two days later."

"W-what is Cold Cracking and Ash Fall exactly sir?"

"Cold Cracking is when skin and organs start slowly cracking due to the cold as the body's fire tries to reignite to save itself. It causes a case of cracking due to how cold the body is at that point and it's extremely painful."

"And Ash Fall…?"

"The body starts crumbling into ash close to volcanic ash… it's a death sentence there's no help then…."

Even though my lips curled in distaste remembering a whole fire based Sankta and Sarkaz village just Ash Falling… six hundred people… only six survivors amongst an ashed village… I kept my focus on the Soul Forge. Reeling an arm back I swung it forward causing the blacksmith to pound a dangerous build up flat at a quick careful speed. The surges of heat are getting a barrier of ice and water to contain it. After a grueling eight hours of heat that has melted a twenty layered glass crater into the street.

As my flaming races disappeared the dragons guided the fire still left into crystalizing into six tri-colored crystals. Crystals which were gently brought to my outstretched hand. Looking at them I notice the amber red, white cyan, and pure white coloration. Picking one up I studied it closer and extended my senses to it. What I felt was the flames reacting violently in a volatile manner.

Looking towards Olivia I asked her something that got a collective startled surprise. My voice left no option for rejection.

"Find me a suitable crafting spot and get me the best flame resistant ingredients and materials. I'm making a very special item and weapon for the kid, it'll help her quite a bit."