The bedroom door opened up into a large suite with sofas, a desk, a table, and yet more dirt. The dirt was placed into dips in the corners of the room, stylishly presented. The area was empty and Gerial led me to the sofa.

“Where’s Gold?” I looked around. “Also, I was expecting Amanda to be out here.”

This entire area was more lavish than I was used to. The walls had scattered etchings laced with the colours of the rainbow. They weren’t symbols or regents; they were purely decorative.

I looked closely and saw that the colours in the walls were provided by gemstones.

Gerial shuffled beside me, taking in the area around him as though he was seeing it for the first time.

“First of all, Gold is having the time of his life.” Gerial grinned. “I’m sure he’s missing you, but I couldn’t see it when he was gobbling down all the fish he could eat. I think the church is giving him the spa treatment right now.”

The image of Gold getting a massage and completely forgetting I existed crossed my mind.

That bird had all the luck.

“And Amanda?” I asked.

“Like I said, they’re not sure what happened in the mansion.” He balanced his chin in his hand. “They’re not going to let her wait in the room beside you.”

I took a deep breath. I wanted to clear up the misunderstandings with Amanda immediately.

Gerial’s expression turned serious.

“There are a few things you should know before you see her.” His tone was firm. “Alexis is under watch and care, but he still hasn’t woken up. He likely won’t for a while.”

I tapped my finger on the surface of the sofa as I took in his words.

Alexis was in a coma.

Considering the injuries I’d seen on him, that wasn’t a surprise.

“What’s the damage?” I spoke. “Not just to Alexis. To everyone.”

My heart sank as the words left my mouth.

It would be nice if this was all over, and everything would go back to normal without issues. Looking at Gerial’s expression I could tell that wasn’t the case.

“His closest friends were hit the worst.” Gerial pursed his lips. “The three from our class, Unice, Cresp and Hutton.”

“They’re here as well, healing their injuries.” He continued. “It’s not a pleasant experience for them, but they’re not conscious for it. As far as anyone can tell, they had… Something… Inside them. When Oubliez died, it died. And it was connected to them intimately.”

A shiver ran over his shoulders, and I saw his hand rise to his chest protectively.

“We believe they've lost everything they’ve gained over the past weeks. Their skills, their attunements. Other changes were more permanent. Worse, we suspect a lot of them had parts of their manapool consumed. That will never heal.” He looked at me. “Unice was copying you. Ouros too, but mostly you.”

I nodded. I’d expected something like this when I’d heard the monster’s ‘gift’. Oubliez’ bloodline ability gave Alexis the ability to copy the skills of others.

He’d copied Amanda.

That meant everyone Alexis spread his power to had copied from someone. Unice copying her attunement and other magics from me was no surprise.

“Am I infected?” I clenched and unclenched my hand experimentally.

I didn’t feel any different. My attunement was the same, and I hadn’t been dealt any physical harm. Then again, I was in so much pain when Oubliez had died that I wouldn’t have been able to tell.

Maybe I had been injured and the church had healed me as I slept.

“Others were.” Gerial tilted his head. “Cresp’s father. Ouros. They weren’t hit as hard, but there was a connection between them and the people that were copying off of them. Our information comes from their physical appearances. They're in comas as well."

He leaned back, and I saw weariness cross his face.

“We think your mana protected you. That’s why Unice could only copy the attunement, and she didn’t gain the metal manipulation skill until later with Ouros. The monster's mana surpassed every other element and replaced it.”

I grew quiet.

It was comforting to know that I wasn’t going to collapse or suddenly become injured.

That wouldn’t help the others. Every person had infected someone close to them, copying their abilities. Unice had copied at least two people including me, and one was a family member.

The repercussions on a personal level were something I couldn’t even guess at.

“How many in total?” I folded my hands onto my lap.

I couldn’t change what had happened, but I could know the consequences of Oubliez’ actions.

“Alexis reached thirty people directly.” Gerial’s eyes steeled. “Almost all of them were nobles, and a lot were bloodline inheritors from his class. We don’t know when he got to them, and most were only minorly affected, but each one belonged to a different household, and infected the ones closest to them.”

“Do you think they've all lost part of their manapools?” I was almost afraid to ask.

Gerial was silent, a pensive expression on his face.

“Yes, but that’s not what everyone is worried about.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “A lot of them had begun awakening their bloodlines, just like Alexis. The ability was copied, but it could only be done by someone that had the potential to be a bloodline inheritor in the first place.”

“We’re still checking, and so is the city and its hospital, but it’s possible that their bloodline symbols themselves were being cannibalized, just like their manapools.”

“Oh.” The single word escaped my lips.

That was bad.

A manapool was one thing. If you had some mana, then you had the ability to cast spells.

It wasn’t the end of the world.

If Oubliez had been cannibalizing their symbols, it meant her magic was replacing them, or keeping them intact.

A bloodline was a symbol. It had to be completely intact to have a hope of working. It didn’t matter if it was only consumed partially, once it was damaged at that kind of level, that was it.

They had no chance to inherit or pass on their bloodlines.

Most monsters were defeated that way, and it was one of the reasons why their intact symbols were so rare. Reaching and stabbing a bloodline inheritor in the right place was a difficult task. The symbol had ways of protecting itself from outside interference.

“Do they know it was Alexis?” I asked.

Thirty noble children had been infected by him. That meant that there would be up to thirty pissed off noble households. That didn’t include the families of the people those children had connected to and copied abilities from.

The households that had potentially lost their chance of their children inheriting the family bloodline would be out for blood.

All of them would be.

Their children had been harmed, and the damage was permanent.

“Not yet.” Gerial shifted his gaze towards one of the doors. “They will, eventually.”

He gestured at me, and we stood up, making our way down the building.

I was starting to absorb the information he had given me.

Amanda was in a lot of trouble.

None of this has been caused by her, but she was still at the centre of the issue. Alexis was her brother, and if people couldn’t get to him, they would go through her.

I could see Gerial’s discomfort as thoughts crossed his mind.

He was hiding something from me.

“What’s got you squeamish?” I put on a smile.

My attempt to lighten the mood didn’t work, but I did see his features relax.

“The secret behind bloodline inheritance is that each bloodline is gifted to the inheritor.” Gerial spoke slowly.

I nodded. It was the biggest secret of each bloodline household. Only they knew what being had given them a bloodline, and how to contact them.

“Not all monsters can give humans bloodlines, and the church isn’t sure what makes it possible.” Gerial tilted his head. “But when they die, their bloodlines don’t die with them. They only die out with time, after generations of inheritors not reaching their potential.”

My foot pressed against the ground, and I skidded to a halt.

“Are you telling me Alexis still has his bloodline?” My voice rose.

I’d thought that with Oubliez’ death her bloodline would die with it.

“And the Mitra one.” Gerial nodded. “His hair is still on fire, and his manapool is intact, if damaged. He won’t be as strong as before, and physically his body will need more than just time to recover. But once he’s awake again, he’ll have the full power of the monster’s bloodline.”

That would be a dead giveaway that Alexis had been at the centre of this entire incident.

There was no harder proof.

“Are you sure it's a full power bloodline?”

“No. He might only have parts of it because the monster’s mana was integral to connecting to others and hiding his abilities, even from himself.” Gerial’s pace picked up speed. “We can only check that once he wakes up.”

“That’s not good.” I responded simply.

Alexis’ bloodline ability was powerful, but it wasn’t powerful enough to protect him from the enemies he’d made.

He couldn’t hide like Oubliez could.

“He’ll be lucky if he comes out of this with only a social death.” Gerial wasn’t sympathetic. “Even if he didn’t know what he was doing, he angered every noble household in Koshima and their future heirs. I don’t see him having a place in this city anymore.”

We passed through several corridors, and I could see staff members with one eyed masks walking around us.

Gerial was completely visible, but none of the people around us seemed to mind.

The occasional person turned their head to look at him when they thought he wasn’t looking. Some also made the symbol of prayer with their hands as he walked by.

None of them gave me murderous looks.

We stopped in front of a door with a single eye carved into it. It stared down at us as we approached and Gerial stood to the side.

“She’s in here.” He gestured with his hand towards the door. “I suggest knocking.”

I looked around.

From what Gerial had said, Amanda was still under suspicion. I couldn’t see any guards, and none came to stop me from entering.

I stepped in front of the door and knocked.

The sound of footsteps echoed out from behind the door, and it opened, just a sliver, and I saw a crimson glow escape from the gap.

“Hello?” Amanda’s voice called out.

“Hey, it’s me, Andross.” My tone came out softer than I’d intended. “I’ve come to visit.”

That was a stupid thing to say. It only occurred to me once I’d spoken the words. I’d crushed her brother with a rock and brought her family into the spotlight of the entire city.

I wasn’t responsible, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she blamed me.

I waited patiently outside the door.

She was quiet.

“Do I have a choice?” She finally responded.

“Always.”

The door opened. A smooth and swift motion that held no hesitation.

Amanda was standing there, a white robe draped over her body, and her features pale. She motioned me inside, her voice silent, and I walked into a bright white room.

It reminded me of the hospital rooms back on Earth, except far more spacious. I closed the door behind me and took a look at my surroundings.

There were a couple of chairs, and a bed. A large window was covered by a curtain on the wall. I could see daylight peeking through it onto a pile of books sitting on a bedside table.

Then I heard a chirp from my side and turned to see Agni looking down at me from a perch. She flapped her wings happily and let out a small puff of flames.

A smile crossed my features and I waved.

When Gerial had said that people's bloodlines were damaged, I was worried that Agni had been part of that.

I looked at Amanda. She was pale, but her hair still blazed with flames, and her bloodline seemed intact.

Was that a good sign, or would the noble households see it as preferential treatment from Alexis?

Only time would tell.

“You can stop staring. I know I don’t look my best.” Amanda’s tone was short.

Then her expression softened.

“Sorry, I’ve had a lot to take in recently.” She sat down on the floor and laid her back against the bed.

I sat next to her. My shoulder blades dug into the mattress, and I felt the material give way like a marshmallow. It was beyond comfortable.

There was silence as I waited for her to talk. I didn’t know what Amanda would say, but I had an idea.

She knew about my Mark.

I knew she would have questions. Maybe she would want to know things I couldn’t tell her, like how I had received it.

She could ask for help. Or benefits.

There were a lot of things that a Marked one could do for somebody’s reputation and status.

“My mum is alive.”

The words broke through my thoughts.

“I saw her when they looked through the mansion. She-” Amanda faltered. “She wasn’t good.”

I looked over to my side and saw that Amanda had brought her knees to her chest, burying her head into them, and covering the rest with her arms.

She raised her eyes towards the wall, and I caught a glimpse of her expression.

There wasn’t a scheming person that wanted to use me for my status, or a manipulator that was planning the next move.

There was just a girl that needed help.

Not the kind of help a Marked one could provide. What she needed was a friend.

I remembered my ordeal with Eli. The stress I’d felt and the helplessness that had overwhelmed my being. My parents and I had taken a long time to work through that.

My healing had started with a conversation.

I opened my mouth to respond, and nothing came out. I didn’t know what medical technology this world had. I didn’t know how badly her mother had been hurt, and if she could recover from this.

Alexis was in a coma after collaborating with a monster, and Amanda and her father were the only members of her household to take the blame.

Where would I begin?

“Thank you for saving her.” Amanda’s voice drifted towards me.

Amanda wasn’t looking at me, she was gazing at thoughts only she could see.

She wanted to be heard.

So, I listened.

It took a bit of time before the conversation truly started, but once it did, we fell into it naturally. Minutes passed, and then they turned into hours. We talked about her brother and the fear she’d held when she thought she’d attacked her mother. Then we spoke about the battle.

It had happened in an instant during the moment, but the emotions and memories had stayed with her well after the fight was over.

I saw the colour return to her face as we spoke.

It was gradual, and slight, but it was there. When the light by the window began to grow dark, we finally ran out of things to say.

We sat there, a comfortable silence falling between us.

By the time I left there was drowsiness in my temple and my eyes were drooping, but I had no regrets.

“How did it go?” Gerial was standing outside the door as I left the room, a book in his hands. “Did she want anything from you?”

I paused, and then I smiled.

“No.”

I’d forgotten the reason I’d gone to talk to Amanda in the first place. We hadn’t even talked about my status as a Marked one.

“I’m not used to giving orders.”

I looked up into the air.

“If you keep her here a second longer than she wants to be, then I’ll be angry.”

I looked at Gerial. I wasn’t sure if anyone had heard me.

“It worked.” He grinned. “That threat is a lot scarier to them than it sounded to you.”

I smiled.

“Good.”