•••

-Within the Sealing Cube-

Above Delia's head, there were flashes of brilliant golden light clashing against an insidious hellish red, creating shockwaves that seemed to affect everything within the Cube besides the two actually doing the battling.

Delia lost count of how many times she had flinched because she was sure an attack was coming for her. And that was likely the case because Belron had made it clear it wasn't averse to using Aurelius's care for human life against him in their fight.

Still, knowing she didn't have a chance defending against that attack, and being occupied with trying to revive Caius from the brink of death, Delia couldn't quite afford to care. The best hope she and Caius had was for Aurelius to be able to keep the attacks from hitting them. And maybe kill the fucking Fiend while he was at it.

Delia had Caius's left hand in hers, and she let her consciousness flow into his ring, as though she were assessing her own storage ring, but it repelled her. She knew why of course; it was a security measure to keep out snoopers and thieves.

Still, Delia knew she had to try to get through. With no potions in her arsenal, Caius's only hope of survival was in his ring and he didn't seem in any shape to retrieve anything himself.

She had tried three times already. Each failure had caused a significant rebound that hit her mind as hard as a hammer, giving her a splitting headache. Insisting and trying to push past the Ring's defense forcefully would surely damage Delia's brain permanently.

Still,

'What other choice do I have?'

Belron hadn't hit her as many times or as hard as it had hit Caius but that one slam into the ground earlier had shaken her to her core. It had overloaded whatever defense the protective Vest was supposed to have and she had felt her ribs crack.

When she attacked Belron after that, she had been in quite a good deal of pain. Hell, the pain had fueled her genius to compress her lightning and deliver it into the Fiend's body. Still, as much as she was ignoring that pain to focus on resuscitating Caius, she was still suffering.

And getting her mind broken was worsening that pain. Her mind was doing a lot of the work but every part of her body was involved.

"Fuck…" she said as blood welled up inside her and she couldn't help spitting out more than a mouthful onto the ground.

She went pale but she kept her grip on Caius's hand and tried again for maybe the last time before fatal brain damage.

She let her consciousness flow toward the ring, seeking forceful access.

At that time, a groan escaped Caius's lips and he flicked his index finger. The movement was tiny but it had purpose. And so, where Delia expected resistance, she found acceptance. Like a door she had been trying to force open was just thrown wide to let her in.

For a second, she was gripped with fear.

One of the sure-fire ways to break security on a Storage Ring is the break its connection with the owner. This is achieved by killing said owner. If she were allowed in now, Delia worried Caius may have finally succumbed to his injuries.

But when she looked up from his hand, she saw his chest rise and fall slowly. It was weak but he was definitely still breathing. With relief, Delia dove into the ring again and began to look through, ignoring all else except the potion vials. She retrieved a couple of different types and then realized another problem;

None of the vials was marked.

Because Caius had refined them himself, he knew which was which and never had use for labels.

So now, while his life hung in the balance, Delia had to start uncorking various vials to try and catch a whiff of rejuvenation.

Fortunately, mending potions always have a tell. And after a few whiffs, she arrived at a possible candidate. To be sure, she raised the vial to her lips and downed the potion, hoping the contents didn't smell of rejuvenation just to trick her.

She sealed her eyes shut in suspense and then felt relief flow through her. Some of her wounds internal and external were mended and she became less pale. Her bronze skin appeared more lively than it had a few seconds ago.

With a smile, Delia retrieved an identical vial and fed it to Caius.

A second later, he turned his face to the side, his mouth open weakly as he spat out a handful of blood.

"N-No— No, No, No," Delia cried out with wide eyes as she stared at the vial, wondering if she had chosen wrong.

She retrieved another and was about to feed it to Caius when she paused. For some reason, she became very aware of what she had seen a while ago;

The Red eyes. The fangs. The claws.

They were no longer visible but she knew what she had seen.

With that in mind, Delia shifted her consciousness from the vial of potions to other things within the Storage Ring. She saw a canister and something about it made her retrieve it, opening it up to be met with a strong metallic scent. The liquid giving off that scent sloshed all about the inside of the canister.

Delia tipped it and poured a bit on the ground. Just a tiny bit and she confirmed what she had already suspected.

"Blood…" she said in a whisper and looked up at Caius's ever-paling face.

She held his head up then and placed the canister to his lips, causing the blood to flow into Caius's mouth. As soon as the blood touched Caius's tongue, his complexion became better.

Despite him still looking weak, the way his body eagerly accepted and welcomed the blood wasn't at all normal human behavior.

'Because he's not human…' Delia thought. It wasn't a question.

What had been a guess when she had the 'crazy idea' to feed him blood, was now practically confirmed.

When the canister was empty, Caius looked a lot better than he had seconds ago but he still looked to be in pain and he was still weak. His eyes also remained closed.

"More…" Delia said, "He needs more…"

She looked into his storage ring again, searching for another Canister but there was none.

"There's no more," Delia said and then her eyes widened like she was making a discovery as she said in a louder voice,

"I have Blood!"

She was bleeding already but decided she needed to open another wound to better nurse Caius back to health but before the idea could fully form in her head, Caius touched her wrist.

"Potion…" he said in a voice so low, Delia wasn't sure she had actually heard it.

"What?"

"Potion— In my ring," Caius said in that same low whisper but Delia had lowered her head to hear him better.

"I fed it to you. It didn't work!" Delia said urgently, about to get on with her earlier idea.

"Another—" Caius forced himself to say, "There's another— Blood… Potion…"

At first, Delia just looked confused and then it clicked in her head. If Caius was—she couldn't bring herself to say it and she also wasn't entirely sure yet—whatever he was and liked blood then maybe the potion that would work would be made with Blood.

Was that even possible?

Well, she had learned a lot today so what was another?

Within the ring, Delia found a separate batch of vials, kept with especial care that actually made them not catch her eye earlier. When she pulled one out, she pulled off its cork and caught a whiff of rejuvenating energy mixed with an iron scent and other things that were not all that pleasing to her human nose.

There was no time to sniff different vials or taste this one to confirm it wasn't deadly. Delia just had to hope it didn't kill Caius as she placed it at his lips and fed it to him.

She waited a minute and then watched as smaller wounds on his body began to stitch together.

"Thank you," Caius said to Delia earnestly and opened his eyes to nail her with his dazzling purple orbs as he requested gently,

"I need more."

"Which ones?" Delia asked. Guessing it right one time was lucky enough and she didn't want to push that luck.

Caius flexed his fingers weakly around her wrist as he said urgently, his purple eyes boring into her stormy grey ones.

"All of it."

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