A full day had passed since all the commotion, and Derb had been acting like none of what happened had affected him. But it had affected him mentally in the biggest way possible. Apparently, the constant healing had burned away his reserves for and had started using his own body in the healing process. All the wonderful muscles he worked for since the beginning had gone away. He was back to being his extremely lanky self. The only solace he had was that his body looked like cut diamonds, but that went away the next morning.

It only ever truly showed when he was training, but it was still nice nonetheless. He traced his stomach, he had regained a bit of flab when he was bulking to build muscle but it was all gone now. He almost wanted to cry when he saw himself in the mirror, it’s as if he lost a precious child he’d spent years training… err, raising. At least he didn’t seem to lose any strength in his swings, something he just chalked up to ”Otherworldly bullshit magic.”

He looked at his incubus, obeying his orders to hide in his bed under the covers. He had to make sure they thought he was sleeping, else he’d never hear the end of it. He picked up his trusty sword and sneaked outside. Apparently nearly dying meant he had to stay inside for a week but he didn’t have the patience for that. He couldn’t even pass the time eating because he couldn’t taste anything. That might have been his fault, but so what?

The moment he made it outside he sprinted towards the giant tree in the distance. It had apparently made its home in the field because it didn’t seem to be dying. It made a really pretty landmark since it soared above all the other trees in the area. He activated the rabbit spell and jumped, soaring through the sky at incredible speeds. He activated the power of the boar moments before he ungraciously hit the ground, making it so he didn’t even receive a scratch. He kept doing this, even catching his balance on the way down sometimes.

All in all, he got there at about the same speed had he just run, but he had way more fun doing so. So it was a win. The snake had been disposed of, Derb only keeping one of its eyes, Deitre the other one. Something about a trophy of glory or something. They’d both been taken to preserve them and he had no idea what happened to the rest. Even the blood was gone, something he felt too scared to ask how it was done.

He leaped up the tree, gripping its thick branches by his fingertips. Eventually, he made it up, a good 30-something feet off the ground. He left his sword against the tree in the bottom since his magic didn’t work on it. He was still a bit woozy so he didn’t want to push himself too hard. Yeah. With a small intake of air, he used the boar and the rabbit to jump in a huge burst upward, canceling the boar soon after. He soared almost a hundred feet into the air, the world around him looking so beautiful.

Although there was nothing but trees in every direction he knew he’d see the world someday. Someday soon he hoped; before he turned twenty ideally. For a moment every one of his problems faded to the back of his mind. He didn’t feel like distracting himself nonstop. No need to train until his brain was mush. This was the first time he was this grateful for something of his. He’d make sure to treat Connor well, later.

And then he started to fall, and it was exhilarating, feeling the wind brush past his face as he headed headfirst into the ground. He hit the ground in a second, using the boar to protect his fall. It still hurt but in the same way falling from your bed hurts. With a whine and a groan he pulled himself up, completely fine but extremely dirty. He went to get his sword but heard the last thing he wanted to hear behind him.

“What do you think you’re DOING!?” Tiffany yelled while running towards him. He groaned and jumped up the tree once more, trying to run away. “Get down from there! At least let me heal you, you look hurt...” She looked at him with the same worried eyes he’d been seeing for the past 24 hours and the guilt and annoyance set in. He didn’t give in, however. “You said that last time and I got tied up. A man’s gotta spread his wings and fly, Tiff.” He said, still trying to climb higher and higher. “You don’t even have wings, you idiot! Derb! Don’t do it please… you’re gonna get hurt...”

He knew he shouldn’t look down, that if he did he’d see those goddamned tears that he wondered were on purpose. That he’d come down the moment he saw them. But he did, and he did. He came down carefully, however. Making sure to stay out of her reach. “Look, I just wanted to train a bit, not even enough for you to be around.” He flexed his right arm, showing how skinny it was. “I messed up badly and I need to regain my weight.”

She didn’t look like she’d budge, so he resorted to his final method. “How about this, you can stay behind me while I swing. I haven’t been swinging mana-less lately and this’d be a good time to do it.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. “I won’t even chop down trees, I promise, just some sword practice.” She scowled at his offer but eventually caved in when she saw his sad face. He felt bad taking advantage of her guilt but he needed to move.

“Yeah! Catch up.” With that short remark, he grabbed his sword and swung, no mana made it a bit heavy but not enough that it’d be heavy with two hands. He crashed the sword into the ground and was happy to find he could slash right through. He started working on combos, swinging in ways that made the flow smoother, something that had fewer openings. He wished that the snake tattoo would work on his openings because he had no way to know how he was flawed at the moment.

He knew from his fights with Deitre that swinging the sword faster didn’t mean better, if he went too far he’d overthrow his strength and wouldn’t be able to control its direction. It just had to be a constant threat. He tried not showing his back as much, unlike his mentor, only using those moments to try to deal a finishing blow. After weeks of spraining his wrists, he finally figured out how to keep a semi-steady flow while swinging face first.

It was annoying and slow but it allowed him to use the sword against smaller targets. It was useless against Deitre or bigger monsters, however. The sword flowed more steadily in his hands. Derb’s thoughts were starting to fade, leaving only the mindless repetition of training. His sword went faster and smoother, no longer tearing through the dirt but slicing. Tiffany was watching him with a worried expression, she saw his breath become ragged and his arms turning red.

Usually, she’d let him work himself to death to have him end training sooner but she couldn’t ignore his pain, not after what happened before. She sighed and trickled in her healing from a fair distance, and she saw his arms bulge with strength once more. She sighed, he’d gotten bigger to the point where he almost looked normal, all for him to lose it all immediately. He was back to looking so skinny and young.

She wanted to be there for him, especially since he was a walking time bomb ready to blow himself up. She kept the stream going, her magic had improved leagues above what it was before yesterday. The poison in his body was both plenty and potent. If she had gotten there any sooner she wasn’t sure she would have even seen him alive. She shuddered at the thought. She was angry at Deitre for bringing the snake to fight him but Derb seemed to think it was fine.

It wasn’t for her or Hannah though, and Hannah herself said she’d tell Gerald the moment he came out of hiding. She didn’t want to go against Derb’’s wishes but this was going too far. He went so far as to meet him for sandwiches yesterday! Without her! Now that she thought of it she’d been too complacent about everything done to him… How many times would he have died without her help!? Why do so much to him? He was family!

She was so lost in thought she didn’t realize her healing magic was bursting forth like a beam, washing Derb in a beautiful white light. He didn’t notice or didn’t care, just swinging his sword with that stupid serenity he seemed to always have lately. He was usually so erratic and mischievous… and fun. Since yesterday all he’s wanted to do was get away from them all. She blamed it all on the venom, all on Deitre, all on herself. Something had changed him and she wanted him back.

An hour had passed before Derb stopped training. “Tiffany, let’s go get some food, I'm feeling really hungry.” He patted his stomach and gave her an apologetic smile. She reeled at the words, no whining, no complaining. Not even a joke. She wanted to run forward and hug him but she knew he wouldn’t want that. “Yeah...” She whispered, barely even acknowledging his plea. “Go on ahead without me, ok? Make me sometime before I get back.”

With a nod, she was off leaving Derb to silently watch over the forest. He realized that his snake power didn’t just work on living creatures, he realized he could use it on any moving object. Made sense, since even an unmoving creature still moved and breathed with life. With just a small focus on a leaf his entire perspective changed, and he knew he could even catch it with his tongue if he so desired. It was mana intensive but he had plenty to spare.

He was honestly more tired mentally than physically or magically. Tiffany’s constant worrying was getting to him and he was getting guilty having worried her so much. He made sure to be careful around her, any complaining would just put more stress on her, and now that he let out some steam he was able to be patient around her again. He ran back, enjoying the freeing motion of weightlessness that only came with his new superhuman strength and agility. Even without his magic.

He wasn’t hungry, he couldn’t taste anything after all. He knew he had to eat, however. His body demanded it. “Christ, I wanna eat something tasty for once.” On his way back he saw Hannah riding Adalia once more. She’d really taken to that wolf. “Hannah! Scoot!” Hannah looked back to see Derb charging at the two, with no warning he jumped at the two. He used his snake eyes on Hannah to properly mount the wolf. It was pretty disturbing to see all the ways he could… incapacitate her, though.

Through her eyes she saw Derb leap and clutch the wolf’s mane, gently pushing her aside and landing graciously behind her, properly steadying her when she almost fell from shock. “Heh, how was that? Pretty cool right- oh god my head.” He’d used the power too much back then, doing something this concentration heavy had him clean out of mana and left him weak. With a dizzy “Uh oh” He fell from Adalia and went tumbling into the merciless ground.

“...Let’s go get him, Addy,” She said, sighing at the almost cool display. A few seconds and they were back to his body. Corpse might have been a better name for it, however. He was covered in cuts and rashes with some bruises already showing under his torn shirt. He couldn’t activate the boar because of his mana withdrawal so he just had to take the blows, what a nostalgic feeling. “What are you doing you idiot...” Was all Hannah said after a soft kick to his leg.

“Hannah… is that how you treat an injured guest?” He picked himself and threw himself onto her for support as if he couldn’t walk. He made sure to get her as dirty as possible too. “You have fancy healing magic, right? Could you do me the honors of healing this poor dirty peasant?” She couldn’t help but smirk at what he said. He always had a knack for saying what she wanted to hear. “Fine, just get off me, you’re dirty and you reek of sweat.”

He leaped back gracefully, landing two feet away from her on the balls of his feet. “A bit jumpy for a man who was just using me as a crutch.” She snarled, just noticing how dirty he got the left side of her clothes. Derb just waved away her accusations. “I needed a few seconds for my mana to come back. I’m nothing without it.” He looked at her with a smile, charming and devilish at the same time. “I’d feel much better with your help though, pretty please?”

She looked at the charming display with disgust, she wondered how many people he’d screw this way if someone allowed him, it was lucky she knew him before he became somewhat competent, or she’d be on his hand and foot. “Just look down and don’t speak.” He frowned at the lack of hospitality, whimpering and whining whenever she touched a particular wound. They bantered a bit more before he realized Tiffany was staring at them.

“How did you get hurt again while I was gone?” He straightened his back and jolted forward, shocking Hannah out of her healing. “I was just playing around with the wolf a bit and it got a little rowdy. It doesn’t even hurt.” He rubbed his arm full of small cuts, all thanks to Hannah's hard work. Hannah looked a bit shocked but Derb moved in front of her, hiding her from view. “I’ll be home in a bit, could you make sure Connor isn’t eating my food or anything?”

She stood still for a second before nodding. “Y-yeah, I’ll go do that, make sure he’s healed up, ok?” Hannah nodded, still confused at the strange tension between the two. She ran off while they continued the healing process. A minute passed before Hannah couldn’t resist asking.“So. Uh. What the hell was that?” He groaned, expecting she’d get the hint and leave him alone. “You saw how tired she was after the whole near-death thing. I don’t want to put her through that anymore.”

He buried his head into his hands. “I’m not gonna trouble her any more, even if it kills me. Ah, wait. Not so hard, ahh...” He looked back to see her shoving one of her thumbs into a bruise. “Hey, wait...” She pushed harder and he stopped talking. “You’re basically saying you don’t want to be close to her. If I was treated like that I’d have beaten you up, you’re family and you treat her like a stranger?” She punched his bruise, it didn’t hurt, he’d felt worse after all.

“You treated her like that before you saw me, right? She saw everything, I just didn't realize I was basically rubbing salt in the wound healing you.” She shoved him away, no longer willing to heal him. “Go ask her, and ask her the way you usually would. She’s not the type to say what’s on her mind so you need to speak first.” He nodded, not sure if she was right, but she knew her better so he didn’t distrust her. He set off to leave but found his feet firmly planted down by vines.

“...Hannah?” He was scared for his life, especially considering the situation. She was facing away from him, which meant he didn’t know if she was angry. “Don’t… do that to me, ok?” The vines released him and he set off, too confused at the situation to answer her. She watched him run, nuzzling deeper into Adalia’s mane. “He’s a real idiot, he might just end up running away the moment we let our eyes off him.”

Adalia wrapped her head worriedly around Hannah, whimpering at the thought. “Hahaha… don’t worry, we can always just capture him. He can’t run away if he doesn’t have legs” Her smile caused the wolf to hide its eyes under its paws. If it had to choose a fight between master or the girl she’d choose her master, at least then it’d be a quick and merciful end.