Seraphine collapsed forward, blood spilling from her lips.
Lucius caught her before she hit the ground, his arms wrapping around her shoulders. "Seraphine!"
Her eyes rolled back, showing only whites. More blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, dark red against her growing pale skin.
His heart hammered beneath his chest in rapid bursts. "No, no, no, stay with me. Come on!"
He lowered her carefully onto the forest floor, his hands moving on instinct. Years of wandering as a soul, watching humans survive and die, had taught him the basics. And now, with his enhanced perception, every detail stood out sharp and clear.
'The ABCs. Ehhhh…..what was it again?...yes Yes, it was airway, breathing, and circulation.'
He tilted her head back gently, checking her mouth. There seemed to be no obstructions blocking her airways. Her airway was clear, no blood pooling in her throat, no swelling either.
'Breathing.'
Lucius leaned closer, his ear near her lips. He could hear her shallow breaths, quick and rapid, like her body couldn't get enough air from the environment. Her chest rose and fell in short, stuttering movements.
Not good, but at least she was breathing.
'Circulation.'
His fingers found the pulse point on her neck. He gently pressed against it, counting the number of beats per second.
'One. Two. Three. Four…..'
Her pulse was slow. Her heart was struggling, and the rhythm was weak and irregular.
"Damn it." His hands trembled as he pulled back.
He pressed his palms to her forehead. Heat radiated from her skin, and the fever was intense and climbing, too. The backlash from the ritual was worse than she had let on.
Lucius moved quickly, positioning her on her side in the recovery position. Left arm extended, right knee bent, head tilted slightly forward. If she vomited more blood, it wouldn't choke her.
He grabbed his scorched shirt from where he discarded it earlier, folding it into a makeshift pillow and sliding it under her head. Her platinum hair, streaked with red, spilt across the fabric.
"I'll fix this," he muttered, more to himself than her. "Just hold on and wait a bit for me."
He sprinted toward the stream quickly.
The forest sounds crashed into his enhanced hearing all at once, the sound of birds calling, leaves rustling, his own footsteps pounding against the earth. But he smartly filtered it out, like Seraphine had taught him, he focused only on the rushing water ahead.
The stream came into view, clear and cold, flowing over smooth stones. The moonlight reflected off its surface, casting silver patterns across the water.
Lucius knelt at the edge, plunging the wet clothe she had used on him earlier back into the current. The cold bit at his hands, numbing his fingers.
He held the cloth underwater, watching the current tug at it. Small fish darted away from the disturbance, silver minnows, maybe six or seven of them, flashing in the moonlight before disappearing beneath a rock.
The water was genuinely clean here. No algae, no murky sediment. Just crystal clear mountain runoff, cold enough to make his teeth ache. The smell was fresh also, mineral rich, carrying the faint scent of pine and wet stones.
He wrung out the clothes partially, leaving them damp and cold, then a thought landed in his head.
'Wait…..'
His system.
The shop functions in his system. It had saved him before, back on that balcony when Aurelius's divine lance was about to end him.
'The healing potion, could it work for her too?'
Lucius pulled up his status window with a thought.
[STATUS WINDOW]
Level: 3
XP: 45/100
HP: 150/150
MP: 85/120]
He had forty-five XP, which was enough for one moderate healing potion.
But that was almost everything he had. Every bit of experience he had gained from killing the sun god, from absorbing the warriors, from clearing the mine. His entire XP reserve.
If he used it now, he would be back to 5XP. He would now be vulnerable and weak.
And if they encountered heaven's forces again, he would literally have no emergency options left to save him.
Lucius stared at the number….forty five.
Then he looked back toward the camp, where Seraphine lay bleeding and sick, her heart slowing with every passing second.
She had taken his pain for him. Literally absorbed half the agony of divine integration into her own body, knowing it would hurt her. Knowing it might kill her.
And now she was slowly dying because of him.
The decision wasn't that hard to make. It was just him wasting time to choose.
"Damn it," he whispered, closing the window.
He grabbed the soaked clothe and ran back to the camp.
Seraphine hadn't moved since he left her. Still on her side, still breathing those short, rapid breaths. Her skin had taken on a greyish tinge, blood loss, and fever combining into something dangerous.
Lucius knelt beside her, carefully wiping her face with the cool cloth. Blood came away in dark streaks as he cleaned her mouth and her neck, working gently.
Her outer robe was blood-stained and restricting her breathing. He hesitated, then carefully undid the ties, opening the garment to expose the simple white undershirt beneath. Not removing anything else, just allowing air to reach her skin and letting her breathe easier.
The fever was worse up close. Heat radiated from her like she had swallowed the sun, which she somehow did…
He laid another damp cloth across her forehead, then one on the back of her neck. Her breathing eased slightly, the rapid gasps becoming marginally slower.
But her pulse, he checked again, was still weak. Lucius sat back on his heels and opened his system.
[SHOP]
• Minor Healing Potion - 20 XP - Restores 50 HP
• Moderate Healing Potion - 45 XP - Restores 100 HP, clears minor status effects
• Antidote - 15 XP
• Stamina Elixir - 25 XP]
He stared at the price of the moderate healing potion, which glowed faintly in his vision. 'Forty five XP?'
'How and when did it become 45XP?' He stared in awe. 'This wasn't the price before. Did it increase by 5XP?'
Noticing that Seraphine's breathing was slowing and he wasted time trying to understand what had just happened to the pricing of the potion, he sighed inwardly and accepted his fate.
'I guess it increases per 5XP with every use, which means that's a problem for future me to take care of. Here goes my last XP. I hope it's genuinely worth it.'
He selected the option.
[Purchase Confirmed: Moderate Healing Potion - 45 XP]
[Current XP: 0/100]
[Item Added to Inventory]
A small glass vial materialized in his hand, filled with glowing red liquid. It pulsed faintly, warm to the touch.