His gaze...
His gaze was haughty. Superior.
A strange dignity and majesty almost forcing me to salute him...
The gaze of a ruler.
Even though her wasn't even looking directly at me, her was. Focused on his wounded son...
His gaze flickered with anger for an instant...
An immense pressure fell.
I felt my fingers sinking into the earth. My whole body spasmed as hot blood rose up my throat!
I was about to pass out with my insides churning and would never wake up again...
My consciousness was hanging by a thread...
But just as suddenly, the pressure vanished when my wretched feathered friend sank into the ground, spitting blood onto the floor. His choked squeak caught the ruler's attention.
Hehehe...
I let out a muffled laugh, loving the ruler's reaction.
... I spat out the remaining blood in my mouth, momentarily realizing that my blood wasn't spreading but slowly returning to my body. Strange, but then...
Of course, if there were an "after," I'd think.
"Hey! You bastard, I think you're smart enough to figure it out, right?"
I called out to the big guy with difficulty, despite my deliberately provocative tone.
Come on, Lucca. Don't ruin everything...
Sure, he was smart enough, but he didn't seem very good at hiding his emotions. His gray gaze, dignified yet nervous, shifted between anger and hesitation as he looked back and forth between me and his son.
He certainly understood the situation, but something seemed to be stopping him from accepting it. Fear? No. Pride? Maybe.
Concern? No. Helplessness? Hehe.
... Never mind. That was good. He was clearly hesitant...
"You're too indecisive to rule, man," I teased at his delay. I worried for nothing.
Intelligence only made him hesitant and indecisive, it seems.
Using my feathered friend as a hostage was a gamble from the start. After all, they're still animals, but...
Welcome to the club. That's what it means to have "humanity"...
I closed my one eye, satisfied for a moment.
My face twisted the next instant.
Look at that loser, haha!
I flinched again when the son of a bitch brought his weight down on me once more.
"Damn it! Don't you get it yet, you fucking cuckold? If I die, he dies too!" I screamed desperately, feeling something snap in my throat. He really tried to kill me now, silencing the son's feeble squawks.
That cuckold... I flipped him off, glancing quickly at my feathered friend.
The pain seemed to be something totally new to him.
Just look at him, squirming over a little scratch like that. Looking at his father will make all the difference—it sure will.
"You still don't believe me?" I asked. Was he really that indecisive? My time is limited!
I don't even know how or why I'm still alive, but it doesn't matter; I had little time to keep the big guy in check anyway. It wouldn't take long for my friend's metabolism to digest me completely; maybe I still had another seven or eight minutes at most, or less.
I'm going to have to speed things up...
"Look closely then," I smiled, making the big guy focus on me. A hint of fear forming at the back of his gray irises.
I was about to stick my fingers into the cut on my arm, but unexpectedly he stopped me...
Only to accidentally cut off two of my fingers.
"Idiot…" I couldn't say anything else when I saw two deep cuts splitting the kid's wrist!
His horrifying scream of pain made the big guy tremble. Clearly not knowing what to do.
Me even less. Even though I was almost completely numb from the pain, now I was losing blood too.
Well, I should have been losing blood for a while now, anyway...
Three minutes was all I had left, more or less.
That bastard.
... I didn't even see him coming.
Well... I think I'm asking for too much now. See that thing? Let's keep our ego in check, Lucca?
Anyway...
"Now you believe me, don't you?" I asked, giving the big guy's wing a light tap.
"If I die, he dies. So, what are you waiting for? I've only got about three minutes left to live," I smiled, speaking nonchalantly, still tapping his wing.
And I have to say, what fluffy feathers… A pillow. It would make a great pillow.
... Shit, let's not think about sleeping, okay, brain?
Without even looking at me, the big guy took flight and disappeared. Yeah, he finally understood... Or rather, accepted it.
Oh man. How fucked up am I?
Leg out of commission? Okay.
Amoeba arm? Okay.
Guts spilling out? Okay.
Blood loss? Okay.
Poisoning? Okay.
Deep cuts? Okay.
Missing fingers? Okay.
Eye gouged out? Okay.
Pierced ribs? Okay.
At least my lungs are intact... I think. Maybe a little dissolved by the poison, but okay.
What a mess, huh? Not to be a pain, but how the hell am I still alive?
Not that it's a bad thing, but this isn't me, no way.
"It's you, isn't it?"
I asked, staring up at the sky.
[Yes.]
"Got it. Thanks for the encouragement."
After that, I stayed silent, counting down the seconds. With about a minute left, the big guy came back.
He was carrying some shiny stones in his beak...
"..."
... Why is my luck so shitty? That was condensed mana! So that's what made them evolve so fast, but here I am, trying to rebuild my little body with this...