Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Inari sighed in relief after all the men were taken care of, though unfortunately, a couple of their numbers were heavily injured in the process. Blood and gore stained the floor as she saw Leroy sitting, leaning against the wall.

"Others will come," he said, "Get ready to sneak out as soon as you can. There is a vacuum just below this floor which will release you directly to the sea. Though it will be a difficult order to follow, it is better than staying on the ship."

Inari frowned. "You are not coming?" she asked and got a shake of the head from him. She then looked at the other few of the group. Four of them could come with her if she wants them to come, but the other two would need time to heal. Moreover, she could not determine if she could save them against the current of water, nor did they have more suits to ward off corruption from their mana system and mind.

Noticing her gaze, a couple of the few nodded, getting a non-verbal agreement. Inari did not know what to think of it, so gave Leroy a look who recuperated his mana leaning against the wall. Her attention got to the suit Leroy gave her before. It was currently bloodstained, though in fair state to use. She did not have time to wear it before and since her state of mind was already getting corrupt; she did not delay this time.

Without cleaning the blood dirt off her body, she covered herself with the suit, leaving her head open.

Devarians have magical healing effects, and could regrow part of their body, but it was not immediate. Leroy had torn off his arm to free himself, not because he was a lunatic, but he knew it would regrow in time. Perhaps in a week or two he could do basic things with it. As for the others, her eyes drifted off towards the two with a bitter expression on. They have not lost any part of their body, but one's things were too badly injured to even walk, and the others' were injured in the side of the stomach.

Inari did not know what to make of the two of them, though she had something on her mind. It was not just her that knew what to do from here, but for some selfish reasons and survival instinct, they were not opening their mouths.

In the end, Inari shook her head and stood up. "Let's pool our Blessing of Recovery," she said, striding towards the wounded.

All devarians had this blessing of recovery which lets them heal all kinds of wounds, and moreover, they can share it within themselves, though it would leave them weak for times, considering what kind of wound they would be healing. If Inari used all her blessing on even one of them, she would be barely left to walk for a couple of hours, and would not be able to heal even herself within the next week, that was why she proposed to pool their blessing together.

Since they all have Devarians blood, the process will be smooth as well. Now all she needs to know is how many of them will give their blessing to heal the two. Even she was feeling uncomfortable on that part.

"Is this the right thing to do in our situation?" one of the fellows said, "considering we are still in the enemy ship, what if something goes wrong and we will have to fight again?"

"There is no what if in it, something will go wrong, I am sure of it," another one who regained their voice spoke up. These two have resemblances and could be related. well, they all are related, but these two could be siblings. Then again, that was another outreigeous things to do. Breaking their code once was already punished with the death penalty, and even if one gets away with it, they would surely executed him on the spot, if found about such cases. "We won't be safe until we free ourselves from their clutches."

Great, she said inwardly. "So we should abandon the two?" she asked them, glaring daggers with her eyes."

The two fellows who spoke looked away before one of them came back. "I am not saying that," he said. "What if we leave them somewhere safe for time and rescue later?" his eyes wandered off towards Leroy, who was recovering his mana. Since they all will flee from the ship and Leroy will not, he was the only one who was capable of that feat.

"Out of option," Inari said, and pointed at their collar. "I don't know if you are just dumb or forget in crisis. We won't get away from the clutches of the slavers if we don't free ourselves from these collars. We might get the time to remove it if we fled far away from them, but they won't have it if we leave them behind."

The two squinted their noses together, as she continued, "What I am asking is not to heal them entirely, just leave it so that they could walk on their own. Like all of you, I fear for my survival as well."

The two exchanged glances with each other before nodding reluctantly.

"Alright, let's finish this quick," Inari said and crouched down near the two wounded. Exchanging glances with the other two, she found the ones that argued with her were looking at Leroy. "Rest it. He already lost his palm. He will need every bit of his strength and blessing after how much effort he invested in freeing us."

"No, I was thinking something else," one of the two whispered. "He's that Leroy right? The one abandoned by the clan a couple of years ago?" As his words completed, the others stared at Leroy, meditating closed-eyed with reverence. Even Ellora—her half-sister did not have this much effect on half-blooded devarians than Leroy. Well, that very well be because Leroy was a half-blood like themselves, and infamous for the deed he had done.

Inari frowned at his design, but nodded. Leroy was not just disowned by the clan, he was actually meant to be dead if Ellora and a few others did not get involved to save him, but not many knew about, especially those of the half-blood. "What are you designing?"

"Just think for a second," the one continued in a whisper. "What if we pool our blessing to recover his palm first? He will be able to fight with his full strength and perhaps will reconsider to come with us. As we all know, we won't be free until we free ourselves of these collars. Gaining his companionship should be the best of our options."

Inari raised an eyebrow. She had to admit, this plan was far more tempting for everyone here, but unfortunately, she knew it wouldn't bear any fruit.

"What do you think, Lady Inari?"

They all looked at her, asking for her approval. And she could only shake her head. "If you heard any rumours about him, you should all know. He will never consider leading us. Much less leading, he will do everything to stay away from us."

They all became silent, hearing her, and Inari nudged her with one's hand to start the process of pooling their blessing. They all crouched, besides the two wounded and kept in contact with hand-holding. Exchanging a nod to all of them, they focused on pooling their blessing to heal the two wounded.

Golden lights glitter from their arms and drift towards the two wounded. Among the four who were donating their blessing to the two, Inari's palms were beaming the most, noting she was one with the most potent blessing among the few. Well, why wouldn't it be? Ignoring the diluted human blood that she got from her father, her mother's position was once top of the clan. That was, until she was born. After they find out her mother had broken the rule, many things changed in the clan. She could proudly say, there were not more than a couple of hundred devarian who had a more potent blessing in their blood than her. Tainted or not, she was one of the very best their clan had to offer.

But she hated it. Why wouldn't she? For this blessing, her mother had to die.

The wound on the thigh and the side of the other fellow closed up in naked eyes, and they stopped the blessing curtly. After all, they will be needing it for themselves. The healing was not fully, but the two could walk freely and run with a little discomfort.

"Incoming," Leroy said abruptly as he lurched up. Inari frowned and found even she was feeling the disturbance approaching towards them. On the first assault, it was already difficult for them to get away safely, and in the second assault, they should be sending more men.

"Get ready.. I'll stop them while you all getaway."