Nico stood across the field, his chest rising and falling in even rhythm, hair damp against his temples. The static of his lightning faded back into his skin as his breathing steadied. He watched the last of the embers vanish, dissolving into the dim noon sky.
A breeze stirred ash across the field.
He turned toward the city.
It’s not unraveling.
Unease pulled his attention back to the swamp. A lone figure stood at the center of the ruin. Zhou’s silhouette was easy to recognize, but right now it felt unfamiliar.
Nico watched it waver, for the first time.
***
With the silence pressing in, the pressure he had held back throughout the fight overcame him all at once. The mana backlash hit him low and heavy in the chest, throwing his heart off for a beat.
He lifted his gaze.
〢||?fliction:Ashbrand ▌[15% man〢|||??〢
〢|??|?〢|??|??〢|??|??〢|??|??
His vision narrowed and brightened at the center as a dense veil overtook his eyes; the edges of the world smeared and dimmed into vague silhouettes. One eye shut to stop the spin; the other kept watering.
Fuck.
Another surge burned up his arm, soldering his nerves as it seared past his chest and struck behind his eyes. The smell of ash and burning flesh overtook his senses. He blinked repeatedly, as if forcing the watering out would strip away the veil.
He still needed to test—
A series of piercing, shrill chimes rang inside his head, grating enough to make his teeth ache.
"? ? ? ? System notification. The text to speech feature has been activated! You currently have two status afflictions."
“…”
‘I swear to god if the last thing I see and hear is Aster’s ugly face and this stupid fucking jingle—’
Heat flushed across his face and fled just as fast, causing his eyes to tighten closed, leaving a cold that prickled his skin. His hand shook with a fine, stubborn tremor as he clenched it around the Ashbrand burning into his palm. The caustic aura emanating from it felt disgusting as it writhed against his skin, threatening to invade his bloodstream. He clenched his jaw, barricading off the filthy aura with his own mana.
"? ? ? Status Affliction Update. Ashbrand has been suspended."
The message played in a high-pitched voice that drifted in and out of his head, making his mana waver with each throb. He bit down on his tongue and continued to contour his mana to the Ashbrand. Sweat gathered at the base of his neck and ran down his spine in a cold thread. The rot of the sage skill numbed his fingers as his mana pressed against it.
He needed to know if he could manipulate its aether.
Another sharp flash of white rammed into the back of his eyes, pitching his stomach once, then twice. He forced his mana steady regardless; it was just threatening to empty for the sake of emptying, exasperated by the wrenching smell of his own corroding flesh. Zhou swallowed it down, his violet mana bloating out of his control as he did. Another ding struck his head, deforming his sense of balance.
"? ? ? You have activated the Nullification Skill. You have two new status updates. Status affliction update. Mana backlash has increased by two hours. Status affliction update. Ashbr--"
Sound pulled away, as if the world itself had stepped back from him.
Fuck. What did it do?
He needed to know. He was going to kill Aster twice over. Corrode his flesh an inch at a time with his own skill because that’s what—
Another flash struck inside his head, making him double over as more white circles pressed into his vision. He lowered to his knees to brace against the fall and pressed a palm to the floor, needing something that held still.
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Because that’s what he deserved.
He felt the world invert. Mana numbed, sound pulled away, the field folded into a single point of tension behind his eyes.
As his legs lost strength, he prepared to—
“..."
A warmth found him and steadied him. It slipped beneath his arm and braced his weight as it wrapped around his back, keeping him from folding to the mud. He allowed his eyes to drift shut and let the dull roar fill his head, riding it out until it lost its edge.
Skin brushed his nape and pressed closer, adjusting carefully to accommodate his balance. He let his weight press into him. Close enough to feel the warmth of his breath.
On instinct, his lungs contracted, forcing a sharp inhale of air, each shallow breath coming faster than the last, trying to elicit panic. He forced the breaths longer, counting four for the rise and six for the fall until his ribs stopped fluttering. Each inhale scraped; each exhale dragged, carrying the tremors away only for them to return again.
A deep inhale. He focused on his breathing.
A slow exhale. Then on how the breeze shifted the grass around them. He opened his eyes. They were unable to discern the blades, but could catch their swaying motion.
Inhale. How the wind was carrying out the smell of ash.
Exhale. How warm the person to his side was.
Inhale. How calming it was to listen to his heartbeat.
Exhale. How simple it felt to lean into his aura.
Inhale. And how it meant he didn’t have to meet the backlash alone.
The rhythm of his breathing steadied. After a few more cycles, the fox’s voice broke the stillness.
“You’re low on mana.”
The veil over his sight lifted slightly. Edges came back, not sharp but present. He stayed where he was for two more breaths before finding his voice again.
“Yup. I’m aware.”
“….”
Zhoumin tilted his head slightly, directing his gaze at the fox, doubtful his veiled vision could catch much detail. But he caught the outline of the long fox ears and how one of them twitched at his terse response. Cute. It made him want to push it.
“What? Are you going to bully me?”
“Depends.” The fox’s voice trailed off, how it usually did when he didn’t know how to phrase what he had to say.
Zhoumin couldn’t look at the response this time; he had to lower his head once more to wait for the worst of the tremors to be resolved. His blood pressure tripped over itself, then surged too hard, hammering against the inside of his ribs.
Mana backlash always punished him this way, daring him to see how long he could resist.
Nico's voice came in again. “I’ve heard Serifs can absorb ambient mana… Including from other people. What about you?”
Zhoumin tried to hide the aftershocks by folding his fingers into a sleeve now. “Not sure.”
“….Have you tried?”
He could hear the annoyance in the pause. But with his own annoyance surging, he wasn’t nearly as patient as the fox was.
“Do you go around trying to absorb people’s mana?”
“No, but—”
“When you’re tired, do you try to absorb people’s stamina?”
“…No.”
“How do you know if you haven’t tried?”
“Okay. Sorry.”
The apology came faster than expected. Zhoumin turned his head again; the veil across his vision caught the outline of the fox’s ears shifting back and downward and a small, broken sound scratched out of his throat.
Ah, that’s right. The fox was sensitive when he was concerned, even when no one asked him to be.
The fox held his ears upright through exhaustion, through irritation, and especially through anger. They flicked quite often, but rarely moved beyond that. But now they dipped back, pressed low. A posture of worry he probably only revealed because he assumed the veil shrouded it.
“..."
He didn’t want the fox to beg.
A mass of mana concentrated in front of him; his eyes could still catch the gold shimmer in their haze.
“I’d like to try,” Nico spoke carefully.
Zhoumin instinctively hesitated. But it was hard to imagine the fox would do anything in bad faith to him.
“…”
He lingered on how naturally that thought came to him, then set his hand into the one offered to him. In a gentle flow, the mana spread from the fox’s skin into his own, flooding through the burn the Ashbrand left and washing away the residual rot. The gold mana pressed against his palm with a steady heartbeat— warm, consistent with who he was.
He focused on keeping his expression still.
Nico kept the connection steady even though Zhou’s labored breathing didn’t give any sign of stopping.
A notification appeared before him, barely legible between slow blinks
|〢|?tus Affliction Update: Mana Back|??〢
[ 1:28:20 / 3:00:00 (▼1:00:00 ) ]
‘…’
The fox had used a lot of mana during the battle, so it wasn’t like he had much to spare. But if left to his own discretion… he had a feeling the fox would give him all too much.
Zhou took back the weight resting on the fox, lifting away the arm that had been supporting him.
Nico didn’t stop him but hovered close, as if ready to catch him. “You okay to go back into the city?”
“Yeah. Thanks. I’m fine now.”
The Sage straightened and stepped forward on his own. Nico followed a pace behind. The marsh was quiet now, grass heavy with damp heat, air thick with mana ash. Through it, a breeze carried the scent of jasmine as it passed between them.
Zhou’s head was angled slightly downward, his steps finding the firmer weave of soil where the grass thinned; following the texture rather than sight. His gait stayed steady as his breaths came shallower with effort. Each step adjusted by half a fraction to keep his pace even, fingers hidden in his sleeves to mask the tremor while mana exhaustion veiled his eyes.
Nico watched the rhythm of him. Noting how his hair caught the noon sun in quiet strands, silver glossed with bronze where the light bent across it.
Ahead, the city rose, its skyline catching bright in the glare. The sun pressed warm at their backs, stretching their shadows long before them, side by side on the ground.