The sharp, shooting pain in Simyon's body was starting to dull down a bit. He was thankful to the earring and its powers for having protected him; otherwise, if he didn't have the uncommon metal body, he already imagined Mantis's hand going right through his stomach that time.
Unfortunately for him, each time he closed his eyes and opened them, getting a few minutes of sleep, the picture would appear in his head. He would wake up covered in sweat as he stared at the ceiling.
"Damn it, why do I keep running into troublesome people? First, it was Ricktor from the Dark Academy, and now that Black Tiger guy from the Demonic Academy."
Having experienced a hit from the Black Tiger, Simyon would have to safely say that he felt like the Demonic Academy student was stronger, but it was hard to say since he hadn't directly fought with Ricktor.
He had just watched as Raze took him apart, and who knew what they were doing now. After that defeat, it was unlikely that they would just stop without attempting to get stronger. Even for Simyon himself, it was after large events like that, one would have a breakthrough and would be able to grow.
Lifting up his sore arm, Simyon reached out toward the ceiling. "I hope this body heals quicker. I need to try and do something... I thought it would be bad just to be a human shield that's good at getting hit, but it looks like I can't even do that."
A shiver started to go through Simyon's body, and it wasn't a shiver of pain. He noticed that it was feeling quite chilly in the room.
"Liam, did you leave the window open or something?" Simyon asked, turning to his side.
"No, I did not, unless you think I can open the window with my eyeball," Liam turned around.
When they both turned, they nearly sat upright at what they were seeing. Safa in the middle, her whole body was shaking. The bed frame looked like it was moving; her trembles were so bad. She was still in a meditative position, but her eyes were firmly shut.n./1n
"Liam, check to see if she's okay!" Simyon shouted, holding his side. "Safa, Safa, open your eyes!"
Liam did as Simyon said and rushed over, jumping on the bed. He scooted forward until he was opposite her and reached out his hands but stopped slightly.
"Hey, is it okay to touch her?" Liam asked.
"Just get her to wake up; this never stopped you before, why are you being all gentlemanly now!" Simyon shouted as he eventually had gotten up off the bed and was slowly making his way over.
Grabbing Safa by the shoulders through her clothing, instantly, Liam noticed something. Her skin, it was cold to the touch. Not just not warm like a regular body, but it seemed to actually produce a cold chill from her skin. Even through the cloth, it felt like he was touching an ice cube of sorts.
"Hey Safa, wake up!" Liam ignored the coldness for now and started to shake her. "Wake up, you're still there, right?"
He shook her and shook her, but her whole body was still shaking, her lips; they were now quivering as well.
Simyon coming over had grabbed Safa's hand and held it steady. Now he could feel the chill that was coming off from her body.
"What is this? Is she really sick, no, the whole room is cold, this is clearly not normal." Simyon was panicking. What should they do, what could they do.
"Hit her!" Simyon eventually said.
"What do you mean hit her? She's already in pain or in a trance or something, and if I hit her, do you think she or Raze would ever forgive me? I'm not having her crazy brother hunt me for the rest of my life," Liam shouted back.
"Just hit her, it might snap her out of it."
"Then you hit her!" Liam replied back.
"I'm weak right now," Simyon then went to gather Qi in his hand, just a small amount, and opened his hand ready to slap her, but the Qi was disappearing; the pain running through his body was making it hard for him to even focus.
"Ah, screw it!" Liam said as he swung his hand and slapped Safa across the face. It was a good hit, and her cheeks turned red for less than a second before turning pale again. It seemed to have no reaction at all.
"Why are you guys always so noisy?" A voice said from behind, with a creak from the door.
The two boys turned their heads, wondering who had just entered the room. If it was someone they knew, they should have heard a knock. The thing was, the person had knocked; it was just that they were in too much of a panic to even hear what had happened.
When they saw who it was, another shroud of terror entered their bodies. Their hearts felt like they were going to stop as the hooded teenager took off his hood.
"Raze... there's... there's something up with Safa," Simyon called out.
Immediately, Raze closed the door behind him and threw one of the sacks he had brought with him onto the floor. Both Liam and Simyon got out of the way as Raze went ahead to take a look at what was going on.
"What happened to her?" Raze asked; he hesitated for a moment as he was about to touch her, but since he was the one initiating the touch, there was no problem as he reassured himself and grabbed her hand, and then placed another one on her cheek, realizing she was completely cold.
"We don't know; she was just sitting here in a meditative state like this, and then she started to shake, no one entered or anything," Simyon explained.
'The cold air, this isn't some type of magic, is it? But the energy that's flowing out of her body, is it hers?'
Raze was truly unsure what to do; even with his magic, did he have anything that could expel this? While in the middle of these thoughts, he could see something appearing on the top of her forehead.
It was a single line being drawn down, liquid, but it wasn't just any type of liquid, due to the color of it and how it was spreading, it looked like blood.
'Wait, cold air... the appearance of blood out of nowhere. Haven't I experienced this before as well?'
Raze remembered when he was in the demonic faction what had happened to him. He had thought it was due to the life and death cultivation technique, but what if it wasn't? What if whatever he had seen, those bloody hands weren't just something he could see, it was Safa as well.
"Before this, was she cultivating?" Raze asked.
"I think so," Liam answered. "I saw her, and she was in the same pose she always was in, but cultivating can't do this, right?"
Cultivating, the Dark Essence technique Raze didn't think could do this, but was it because they were in the demonic faction? Was this strange red-cold-blooded demon creature something that was with the original body and Safa? Almost like a curse.
"Get away," Raze said, as dark magic started to surround his body.
The two boys thought that Raze was talking to them, so they moved further away, but he wasn't.
"Don't touch her!" Raze shouted as his dark magic ignited from his body.
