Blake blinked his eyes as he stared up at a stone ceiling. He was unsure if he was alive or not. He turned his head to see Lillia next to him, sound asleep. She was currently hugging his arm with a smile on her face. "You are awake…."
A voice filled Blake's ears. He turned to see Ishtar and the others standing at the end of the bed with tears in their eyes. "I'm alive?"
"Yes… But it was risky." Noa answered.
"Mmm…. We all had to work extra hard…." Ishtar replied before walking over to the other side of the bed, reaching out and slapping Blake in the face as tears began to rain down from her eyes. "Are you stupid!? How stupid can you be to tie your life to another!? No matter how much you love someone, you need to think of the others around you! I removed that shitty bond you have with her. No matter what, that is never a good thing! You could have killed the one you love just now. You could have died and left all of us here without the man we love to rely on! Do you know how hard it was for me to even accept my feelings for you!? Such a bond will shorten both your life spans. It ties your life with hers and hers with yours. But the intricacies of the bond are even greater. Even if you are close to death, it will affect the other. It will reduce any chance of reviving you if it is possible!"
Blake stared at the teary eyes that were looking down at him. Ishtar's aggrieved expression and huge confession made him blink quite a few times. "So you finally admit your feelings."
"Shut up! I am talking about how stupid you are!" Ishtar spat out as she glared at Blake. Noa and the other girls giggled as they wiped their tears.
"Blake, she is right. You and Lillia almost died. If you had not taken in astral energy in on time, we would have lost both of you." Although this was not entirely true, Gemini knew for a fact that it was not easy for Ishtar to keep them both in this world.
"My bad…." Blake sighed. "I created the bond between Lillia and me to show her my love for her was eternal."
"We know. We also did not know about what the bond did either. If we did, at that time, we would not have let you form it." Mina said as she flew over and landed on Blake's forehead, and began pulling on his eyebrows. "Don't do stupid things anymore. If we lost you both, how would Destiny be able to handle it? What about the other kids? Each one of them loves you dearly."
"You are right…. At that time, I truly just wanted to show my love to Lillia and was not thinking of anything else, but now look where this got me. Being scolded by my loved ones and almost taking Lillia's life. Ishtar, thank you for breaking the bond."
"Humph! Next time you make a bond with anyone like that, I will…. I will…. I do not know what I will do, but I am sure you will regret it!" Ishtar stomped her feet, causing the girls to giggle again.
"Alright. I promise I won't do it again. I do not want to have whatever it is to happen to me." Blake replied with a chuckle. He then looked around. "Where is Joy?"
"She is…. She is having issues. " Noa replied. "We will have a lot of work ahead of us when it comes to the other girls as well. I am not sure if this is a one time occurrence due to her racial mix or what, but Joy has yet to leave her room since she took in the servants. She is eating and drinking. All the plates of food and water we bring her are returned sometime later by one of the servants. But the servants seem to be worn out as well…."
Blake sighed. He did not know what to do about this… Ishtar poked his cheek as she said: "Don't stress about it too much. I already sent five more in to give them shifts. The girls I have sent all tell me they do not mind it, but it does get tiring without a break. I was also told that Joy does not drink their blood much as well. She will drink the blood supplied to her. So she is restraining herself to a point."
"As long as the girls you brought are not being harmed." Blake let out a sigh of relief. "She is still young and is in her puberty phase, so this might be an ongoing thing for a while. How long have I been out for anyway?"
"Two weeks," Josline replied. "You and Lillia took in a lot of astral energy. It formed a cocoon around you, and Ishtar had to regulate the amount you took in so you would not explode."
"I see. I am sorry for troubling you all, and thank you." Blake slowly sat up all the way and gently pulled away from Lillia before getting out of bed. It was only then that he felt his body was now brimming with power. "Mm… not bad. I can feel that I have grown much, much stronger."
"You are no stronger than an infant here in the Astral Domain, so do not think too much about your current power." Ishtar was not trying to pour cold water on Blake's happiness, but she wanted to remind him that he was still weak in this world.
"I understand. At least now I can slowly grow stronger as well. We will take a break for the next few days before you girls take your turn…." Blake looked down at himself and realized he was completely naked. He then looked up at the girls with a questioning gaze. "Where are my clothes?"
Destiny blushed and looked away. Her Papa was standing there naked! Noa pursed her lips as she turned and pulled out a set of clothes for Blake. "Yours and Lillia's clothes burst off during your rebirth. We did not know if it would happen again, so we did not put new clothes on you. It also made it easier to give you both sponge baths."
