Arms wrapped around my middle before I'd fully given into a fiery end. I was tugged back as the demon's distorted scream quieted.

[Notice] Congratulations! By some fucking miracle, you have completed your Mission [Kill the Demon Drolgizal]. Your Soul Class has increased by 1. Your Stats Cap has increased from 50 to 100. Reconfiguring your Stats based on your new Soul Class. This may take a while, so try not to die on me while you wait...

"Tryg!" Danio was hugging me tightly from behind, so I couldn't see him but I could tell he was crying. "You promised you wouldn't die!"

That was true. I patted his arms, my body aching more by the moment. I couldn't keep hold of [Synchronize], and as soon as I deactivated it, I was on the floor. Muscles shredded and nerves yelling for reprieve. Bones cracking from being pushed past their limits. Pain like a billion needles all over my body slowly burrowing into me.

The edge of my vision blackened and telescoped as Rajal squatted next to me and Danio maneuvered my head into his lap. I tried to reach for one of the healing potions I had hidden in my clothes, but I could barely move. Absolutely not the way I wanted to die for the seventh time.

"Make him drink that. Every drop. And then probably five more." Rajal passed a healing potion to Danio. I wasn't sure if it was mine or if he'd been carrying his own. As he cast an ice spell to put out the fire burning the demon's corpse, he grumbled, "Why'd you set Drolgizal on fire?"

"Are you sure he should have that much...?" Danio asked. He uncapped it and tipped the bottle to my lips.

That was when every joint in my body locked, my muscles cramped painfully tight, and something deep within me started convulsing. My vision flickered between the ceiling of Danio's bedroom, his terror-filled eyes water as he shouted my name over and over, and the ceiling of the last place I saw in my original life, the ceiling of the execution room.

My first death. By electricity. Should've been over in a second but that second had lasted eternities. I'd had time to think back to every moment of my life and ask what went wrong, to accept that who and what I was hadn't been what got me killed. What killed me were people afraid that they'd be punished for their wrongdoings the same way I'd punished my sister's murderer and dozens like him.

I closed my eyes so I could fall into my seventh death nice and easy. Hopefully also permanently.

[Notice] Mastery of [Lucky Number 7] has increased by 5%. [Notice] Mastery of [Silver Tongue] has increased by 1%. [Notice] Mastery of [Synchronize] has increased by 1%. [Notice] Mastery of [Demeot Eyes] has increased by 2%. [Notice] Stat reconfiguration complete. Do you want to check your current Stats? Wait, you probably don't have the mental capacity to make decisions right now, so I'll pull it up for you. How kind I am.

Name

Gerard Viscoti

Primary Class

Noble Assassin

Secondary Class

Mage

Soul

E-Class (Stage 1)

Strength

46

Cunning

30

Perception

70

Energy

30

Skills

Lucky Number 7 [15.50%]

Silver Tongue [2.60%]

7-Lives-Bloodlust [5.00%]

7-Times-Returner [1.01%]

Synchronize [3.01%]

Demeot Eyes [5.56%]

Every fiber of my being burned now, the pain increasing until it was concentrated only in my eyes for a split second. Then I took a big breath and opened my eyes again. Not dead. Still in pain.

"And he's back," Rajal said. "Two more potions I think."

"No," I said, reaching for where I kept my own. "Tastes like shit. Use mine."

"Oh, did you pay extra so they'd taste good?" Rajal swatted my hands away from the potions and retrieved them himself. He uncorked one and sniffed. "You really fucking did, didn't you?"

I couldn't manage a sneer. "Just fucking give it to me."

Rajal handed the bottles to Danio. "Keep helping him drink it, kid. He's still too pale."

"Tryg..." Danio's eyes watered more. "You didn't have to save me... What if you'd died?" He sniffed and wiped his face on his sleeve, then grabbed the bottles from Rajal. "I'm not worth dying to save..."

"Of course you are," I said. I laid back against him, resigned to being babied for now if it'd make him happy. "Potions."

"Okay!" He did as told, gently tipping the bottle so I could drink a manageable amount at a time.

Rajal ran his hands over my legs and arms. "Nothing seems broken. The healing potions should at least keep you from being bedridden for a week, but whatever Skill you used, fucked your body up real bad. You're still just a kid, too."

I wasn't but how could I argue that right now?

"Don't give me that look," Rajal quipped. "No matter how many times you say you're older than you look, you're still in the body of a 17 year old."

"Barriers?" I asked.

Rajal clicked his tongue. "Already did that. I'll even fix Danio's door and wall once I know you're not going to die. You paid me good money to be your housewife, and I'm going to be a damn good one, obviously."

I managed the sneer this time. "Do you know any healing spells that'll get me on my feet by tomorrow morning?"

"Tomorrow morning?" Danio asked. "Not to make me breakfast, right?"

"Sure, it'll just be real painful for you." Rajal stood and offered me a hand. "Let's see you walk?"

"Don't make him get up yet," Danio whined. "He just finished the potions! He's not ready. He--he can just sleep on my lap! I'll make sure he doesn't move too much and re-injure himself or something. Oh! My blanket on my bed... can you get that for me? We can cover him with it. It's a nice blanket!"

"Help me up." I reached for Rajal despite Danio's continued protests.

My legs shook like I was some newborn animal. If I had needed to leveled up [Synchronize] again to kill that demon, I wasn't sure I would've even been able to stand. Rajal shouldered the majority of my weight but said nothing, bringing me to my bedroom.

Danio followed and helped from my other side when I tried to take a seat on my bed. "Do you want a snack?" he asked. "Or some water? Or beer? I can run out and get you anything you want to eat? Do you need anything?"

I needed him to shut up.

"Danio," Rajal said with a chuckle. "Why don't you draw a bath for him? I don't think he wants to sleep in his own bed this bloody. Maybe throw in some essential oils. He looks like the type who'd throw some in. Always smelling good."

"What?" I asked.

"Okay!" Danio sprinted to my bathroom. He had a huge grin on his face, clearly happy to be helpful.

Something wasn't clicking here. He'd just been nearly killed by a demon. He saw me kill one right in front of him. He'd watched the demon burn. It was like he hadn't seen any of that. Did he have no questions about the demon? Where the demon had come from, how the demon had possessed that man, or if there were more of them seemed all like very natural questions.

But maybe his response to it all was to pretend none of it happened or even to substitute the demon for the man he'd possessed. On the other hand, given how little demons seemed to register on anyone's radar, my fear was that the World System was influencing his interpretation of what had just happened. What could he question if the System presented it as unquestionable?

My theory before about why Garta seemed to register the Demeot as a threat fell flat here. I'd thought it was because it'd been personal. He'd seen the possession happen, been there to witness the aftermath, and as far as I could guess, was working to get stronger so he could fight the demon who'd taken his uncle from him. Maybe that was more of an exception than the rule.

Because it couldn't get more personal than what happened to Danio. A man had summoned a demon to kill him. That man had sold his soul to kill him. That demon found him here, alone. I had no idea how long Danio had been hiding behind a barrier in his room, but it had to be more than a few minutes. Yet he had no questions. He had no fears. All he cared about was that I hadn't died and that he could make me a bath.

Rose had said her father had ordered investigations into people who were too interested in the Demeot, but clearly there were easy, quick, and inexpensive ways to learn how to summon one. So that meant interest really meant someone who wanted to learn why they were here and not how to bring more here. King Enosh XXI was suppressing the information that could save his own people.

Then again, the likelihood that he was a demon was pretty much 100% at this point.