The commotion caused by Master Amos "disciplining his student" was loud enough to draw Isis over after she returned from training with Instructor Altman.
Altaïr had expected Master Amos to tell Isis everything, but to his surprise, Amos covered for him instead, brushing the matter aside with excuses about "special training."
Isis naturally believed every word Master Amos said. She had also returned from Instructor Altman's training bruised and battered, so she gave Altaïr a sympathetic look before trotting off to refuel.
Once Isis had left, Master Amos snorted and tossed the Max Potion back to Altaïr.
Altaïr looked up at the Old Hunter, uncertain.
"Ten seconds, no more. If you haven't deactivated Devouring Demon voluntarily by then, I'll knock you unconscious with my wooden sword.
"If that happens, forget about taking part in tomorrow's Arena Challenge. I'll speak to the Guild Manager myself and have Isis take your place. I doubt he'll object.
"That should keep you from running wild in the Arena and losing control again."
Altaïr could hardly hide his surprise. "You're actually letting me try?"
Master Amos let out a heavy breath. "If you're truly determined to try, you can activate Devouring Demon anytime and anywhere. Do you think I can watch you twenty-four hours a day?
"Rather than let you sneak around and do something reckless, I'd prefer to have you attempt it under my nose. At least I know I can knock you unconscious in an instant and forcibly stop the technique."
Looking at Master Amos's furious old face, Altaïr could not help grinning. "Heh, you really do know me best, Master Amos."
Unable to restrain himself, Master Amos swung the wooden sword at Altaïr's thigh again, but Altaïr quickly dodged.
"Get over there and prepare! Keep the Max Potion in your mouth! If you can't control the technique, I'll tell Isis everything, including the fact that you asked to enter the Arena Challenge yourself!"
Altaïr's face stiffened.
The old man had seen through everything? Altaïr had fed Isis plenty of excuses over the past few days. If the whole truth came out at once, she would probably be furious enough to punch him several times on the spot.
When most girlfriends thumped their boyfriends in the chest, it was playful flirting. Isis could literally send someone flying with a single punch...
Absolutely determined not to fail, Altaïr picked up a wooden sword, walked to the center of the Training Area, and took his stance.
Master Amos moved behind him and held his wooden sword poised, ready to deliver a heavy blow at any moment.
Altaïr rubbed the back of his head, which already ached in anticipation, then popped the Max Potion into his mouth, wax seal and all.
He steadied himself and gathered his blood and vital energy.
"I'm ready," Altaïr said quietly as he opened his eyes.
"Mm. Remember, ten seconds at most."
"All right."
Altaïr carefully reviewed every principle of the training method to ensure he had overlooked nothing. Then he gave a low shout and ignited his blood and vital energy.
A thick blood mist erupted from every pore. A scarlet fighting aura, far darker than the aura of Demon Mode, flared to life and grew fiercer by the moment. In less than two seconds, it enveloped his entire body.
"Huff..."
The scarlet aura exploded outward, leaving only a thread of blood and vital energy, so dark a red it looked almost black, flickering within his wooden sword and deep in his pupils.
Devouring Demon, activate!
The air reeked of blood. This was no illusion; his blood had literally ignited.
The murderous urge to slaughter everything flooded his mind. Prepared for it, Altaïr immediately suppressed the impulse, clung to reason, and kept firm control of his body.
Yet the agony that followed, as though his very flesh and blood were burning away, was beyond what sheer willpower could endure. He could not help roaring.
"Two... three..." Standing behind him, Amos frowned as he silently counted the seconds.
This was the most dangerous aspect of Devouring Demon. If a practitioner could not enter the true Devouring Demon state by slaughtering prey, the agony alone could burn through their reason within moments and leave them completely unable to move.
Just as Amos wondered whether he should knock Altaïr out early, Altaïr abruptly stopped roaring.
He lowered his head and stared in shock at his hands, where beads of blood still seeped from his pores. "The pain... it's gone? No... it's weaker..."
"Six! Seven!" Amos raised his voice, his louder count warning Altaïr that his time was almost up.
Snapping back to his senses, Altaïr hurriedly focused his mind and calmed his blood and vital energy. He finally managed to deactivate Devouring Demon just before Amos reached "ten."
As the blood-red vital energy faded from his eyes, Altaïr's head swam and his vision dimmed.
Those were symptoms of blood loss.
Amos lowered the wooden sword and snapped, "You managed to control it. Now hurry up and drink a Potion!"
Altaïr quickly removed the precious Max Potion from his mouth and put it away, then accepted the Potion Amos handed him and gulped it down.
As the Potion took effect, he felt much better.
"What's with that expression? Still not recovered?" Amos asked with a frown when he noticed Altaïr staring distractedly into space.
"No... it's strange." Altaïr came back to his senses and looked at his hands. "When I first activated Devouring Demon, my entire body hurt so badly I could barely endure it, but the pain quickly eased.
"It didn't disappear, but at least it won't interfere with combat..."
Amos returned the wooden sword to the rack. "It sounds as though you entered the true Devouring Demon state, which would mean you fully activated the technique through slaughter.
"But you were only standing there. How could you possibly have entered that state?"
"Could my constitution be especially well suited to this technique? Maybe I can suppress the side effects of Devouring Demon to some extent without killing anything?"
"Nonsense. The intense pain probably made you deactivate Devouring Demon without realizing it."
Amos gave Altaïr, who looked as though he had been dragged from a pool of blood, a disgusted look. "Don't get cocky. You haven't even grasped the basics of Devouring Demon.
"A proper activation should not cause obvious bleeding. At most, a small amount of blood mist will erupt with the aura when the technique first activates.
"At the rate you're bleeding, you'll lose consciousness from blood loss in thirty seconds at most. Boiling your blood and vital energy is not supposed to mean bleeding yourself dry. Control is everything.
"Otherwise, the technique has no value as a trump card. It becomes nothing more than a way to kill yourself."
Hearing this, Altaïr finally had his answer. "So you've trained in Devouring Demon too? If I'd known, I would have come straight to you. I took the long way around for nothing.
"By the way, if Isis asks later, can I say I learned it from you? Then she won't think I deceived her about the prison visit..."
Amos's face darkened. He waved toward the exit. "Get out of here and take a shower. Stay out of Isis's sight. If she sees you covered in blood, I won't cover for you again!"
Altaïr left with an embarrassed smile.
He slipped past Isis, who was stealing food in the kitchen, and hurried into the bathroom.
As he stripped off his blood-soaked shirt and the rest of his clothes, something struck him as odd.
His clothes were soaked through, but when he looked down, there seemed to be far less blood left on his skin than he had expected.
Had the heat of his boiling blood and vital energy evaporated it almost at once? Or had the bleeding merely looked terrifying without his actually losing that much blood?
Altaïr flexed and shifted, carefully taking stock of his body. The dizziness from blood loss was gone as well.
Hmm... perhaps he really had not lost that much blood. No matter how effective a Potion was, it could not instantly replace all the blood he had lost.
Altaïr stood in silence. He knew there was another possibility.
But that possibility was too absurd. The moment it surfaced in his mind, he scoffed at himself and dismissed it.
What kind of nonsense was he thinking?
Altaïr picked up a dipper, scooped clean water from the tank, and poured it over his head.