Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?

Chapter 51 – The Aftermath

Chapter 51 - The Aftermath

“Arghhh!!” The child screamed into the night like a crazed beast and fell to the ground. As the three finally returned to who they were.

The fight had only lasted for a few moments. A slaughter of everything that stood in her way, and that denied their happiness.

The child was no longer the short nine-year-old; instead, her body was permanently changed.

Anna gripped her head as it ached.

Cough!

She coughed a portion of sickly black blood filled with unstable mana. 

In the grand scheme of things, it was only for a moment. Their hearts and souls resonated beyond simple trust, bending and morphing around one single desire. The elimination of one of the ones they hated.

Now that was over, they have split again.

[Errgh… We need to…] (Syrus)

[Argh…] (Luna)

[Aerrraa….] (Eva)

And they absolutely despised the experience that occurred within them during the brief encounter.

Syrus tried to stand up, but her knees wobbled as she was unable to put her strength into them. 

Their body had taken substantial damage throughout the small encounter. Not only from enemy attacks but also through the actions caused by a combination of instinct and intelligence. 

“W-h..ere’s Dad… Wher-s Mum?!" Eva cried as her hands grabbed the dirt as she tried to drag herself forward.

Luna also tried to move forward along with Eva, while Syrus tried to circulate blood through their body and sort out the damage.

There was no time to talk; they just had to find their parents.

Their mana supply was already near empty when the fight was over, but now that the fight was over, it had dropped even further. 

Luna already knew she didn’t have enough mana to use her Moonlight to heal themselves. Syrus, on the other hand, could still use her Blood attribute to administer minor healing, but not only that, she needed to expel blood from their body that contained traces of other attribute mana as it was damaging them.

The bloody Anna, after a long and hard crawl, made it back to their house… They examined the area where her parents were last seen, but there was nothing but junk and parts of houses scattered around.

She then made it to the doorless entrance of their home. The fire that had attacked it had stopped before it finished destroying everything. Perhaps it was the cool breeze or the fire-resistant wood used, either way, all it meant was that Syrus didn't have to stop it.

It was partly burned down, and parts of it had been thrown around. 

Eva coughed more blood and screamed, “MUM!” "DAD!” “Where are you!?”

Luna as well, “Please! Where are you!?” 

Syrus held back from yelling anything as the sight of their burned home shook her.

They crawled around their broken home for minutes and found nothing. They went back outside to where they were before. Then back inside, then out again.

Luna finally gave up and said, [Let’s rest… We need to heal ourselves.] 

Eva nodded with their body and just went silent. She didn’t enter their Soul Space, and instead just sat there quietly.

None of them talked to each other. Each could feel that the others were hurting.

Syrus continued to repair the body by circulating the blood and improper mana out. It took a while for Eva–who was lost in their own thoughts–to realise what Syrus was doing, but when she did, she helped by using Manipulation to drag out the leftover mana they absorbed out of the body. 

Once they had recovered enough mana, Luna used Moonlight to properly start the healing process.

Whatever happened when Anna fought in that state, they wouldn’t be able to replicate it now. The process of using external mana from other sources made only basic theoretical sense to Eva, but any practical practice of it was insane–ignoring the fact that their body with instinct and theoretical knowledge alone somehow made an impossible feat possible.

While they kind of knew what they did while in that state, the issue was that, at best, the sequence of events was a vague recollection.

As such, the leftover mana that the body took in but wasn't able to absorb properly was still lying in the body, causing damage.

The body also started feeling the aftereffects of the stress from the rapid growth. During the fight, a large amount of mana was used with Syrus’s Blood attribute to keep the body moving properly despite the rapid changes.

After some time, they were finally able to stand up again. Syrus spoke, “Now… let’s

[That seems to be everything.] (Syrus)

[Besides clothes, nothing of mother's…] (Luna)

[Don’t say that. We still have her most recent gift.] (Syrus)

Luna nodded, Syrus was right, there was the manipulation book Jen made, and it was still safe along with her notebook. 

[Okay, now at least we need to get out of here… We need to find a place to stay that’s outside the village in case any more attackers come back.] (Syrus)

[Once we do… we need to talk with Lilly.] Luna's concern for Lilly was huge; she didn’t want her to fall back into a depressive state again. And maybe, in the process, she would stop herself from falling.

[.............Yes…] Syrus agreed, but for the first time in her life, she was afraid of having a conversation.

Before leaving the village, Syrus closed the basement door and blocked the path to it again when she hopped back down. Just in case anyone came back looking. After a quick debate, they decided to try and travel through the tunnel.

However, as Syrus feared, after a few minutes of travelling, they began to collapse from exhaustion.