Chapter 20: It Seems We Are Even
"Make it circulate," Luna murmured behind him. "Do not keep it in the same place. Make it rotate throughout your whole body then gather it in your heart."
Daemon concentrated, imagining the chi inside his body. His body became warmer and warmer, to the point where he started sweating.
The hours passed. Daemon did not count them, too busy circulating the chi that was invading him.
"Your palms have become cold, Master," he said suddenly.
"Do not turn around." Luna’s voice was weaker than before. "Concentrate on the circulation of the chi."
Behind him, Luna discreetly wiped the blood flowing from her nose. She felt her body draining of its energy, but she did not stop.
She wondered why she was going to such lengths for this idiot. Her clan had participated in the massacre of her tribe. Logically, should she not kill him for revenge?
’Ah... I am cold.’
She wiped the blood from her nose again. Her hands were shaking while her body was exhausted. But she continued. She had to give Daemon the maximum chance to become powerful.
A few hours later, Daemon felt the energy surge into his chi core.
"I have never felt so good..."
He turned around.
Luna’s face was extremely pale. Her lips were bluish, with dried blood staining her upper lip and chin.
"Master..." Daemon reached out and touched her face. Her skin was ice cold. "Master, you really gave everything."
Luna wanted to say something, but only a cough came out of her mouth.
"Your incompetent disciple is really ashamed. I am sorry."
He stood up abruptly. He grabbed all the furs he could find in the room and piled them on her. Then he lit the brazier, threw several logs into it, and stoked the flames until they rose high and strong.
He sat down next to Luna, embraced her through the blankets, and held her against him.
"Let me go, idiot," she murmured weakly then closed her eyes.
Daemon stayed awake all night watching over her. The moth that had been on his shoulder for a few hours flew away. It crossed the counties, flew over forests hundreds of kilometers away... It slipped through a window left ajar and landed gently on the finger of a certain blind girl who was daydreaming on her balcony.
This blind girl saw better than most people, but not in the usual way. In reality, she could not distinguish the real world. Instead, she perceived a vast mass of Chi, the grotesque shapes of what surrounded her, and above all, she read the emotions of living beings through the intensity of their Chi.
For her birthday that day, her mother was absentmindedly brushing her long golden hair.
Indeed, this young girl was born on the same day as Daemon: January 9, 1531. A coincidence not so strange considering how their existences were linked long before they met.
And obviously that evening, she was alone, because even the other witches could only see her from afar without ever daring to approach her under the orders of the Great Witch.
"I think of myself, therefore I think of you..." she murmured while turning her blind gaze toward the moth resting on her finger.
She emitted a thin stream of Chi from the tip of her index finger, and the moth began to glow with a golden light before splitting into two. The two creatures fluttered around her for a moment.
"I wonder when you think of yourself, do you think of us? If only you knew the truth..."
Luci’El sighed and let her fingers caress the air, transforming the butterflies into dust.
...
*Two months later, Twelfth District*
Conrad Nikmar’s office was located in a manor on the outskirts of the Twelfth District. From his window, one could see the docks where goods were piled up, the merchants’ warehouses, and in the distance, the sea of the thirteenth district.
Conrad was sitting behind his large desk looking at a communication crystal.
"The Spear Clan mountains are quite isolated and the head of the Winter family is still there, without any protection. You know what to do..." he said, ending the communication.
Conrad remained motionless for a long moment, his eyes fixed on the window.
’I have nothing against you, Daemon,’ he thought. ’But I am sick and tired of being Markus’s underling.’
"If I have to eliminate you to get help from that Eater..." Conrad clenched his fists on his desk. "Then I am ready to do anything."
He stood up and approached the window. In the reflection of the glass, he saw his own face. He was only twenty-three years old, but he looked ten years older.
Conrad was the son of a servant. His mother had been a chambermaid in the Summer family domain, and she had become pregnant after a night of weakness from the old chief. No one had ever officially recognized him, but the blood flowed in his veins, and he had to work twice as hard as his half-brothers to earn his place as heir to the twelfth district.
He had spent his childhood training while the others played. He had spent his adolescence studying... Fighting for every square meter of respect he could wrest from this hostile world.
But he had eventually noticed a bitter truth: because of his birth, he was condemned to remain the subordinate of the Summer family. Markus would never let him take his place. No one would ever let him take his place. And that, he could not accept, not after all the sacrifices he had made.
So he was ready to sell his soul to the devil. If the devil could give him the power to break his chains.
"You will have what you want, Lord Vamp," murmured Conrad. "And I will have what I deserve."
...
*Mount Sandalphon, Two days before the duel*
"I think we can put an end to this, Daemon," she said while packing her bags.
Daemon turned around. He looked at her for a long moment. Luna’s chi core was completely healed, and her power now approached the Second Sense.
"I have finally mastered the First Sense of the Sword," said Daemon. "And you have healed your chi core. It seems we are even now."