What shouldn’t be in the blood was dirt. And stone. And viruses. Bacteria. Bone and wayward spiderlings. Other inedible bits. Myself. Other living things in general. Parasites. Parasite eggs. Other things eggs. Rocks. Plants. Shell and meat pieces.

  I focused on the skill drawing in just what I thought should be in the blood and I pictured it filtering out the rest and letting slide harmlessly away. At the beginning, it was fairly tough with the combination of me using the skill in a new way and the shuddery control of Gluttony hopping back and forth between our shared space and here as he got things ‘set up’ as he had told me. I just ignored it for the most part choosing to focus all my attention on gathering all of the monster’s blood and only the blood, filtering out everything else.

  Eventually, his main control of things steadied, and he seemed to be pleased about something. I ignored that too. I vaguely felt him move around the room as the blood was collected to make things easier, I think. When we got to the hole I had made in the shell, there was the most god-awful noise as the skill pulled the blood from it. It was a gurgly cross between liquid diarrhea and someone deflating a wet balloon.

  It reminded me all too uncomfortably well of the one time I had the stomach flu and had it coming out of both ends. Only this was worse and a much larger scale. I pushed the thought aside and prayed for it to be over soon. It wasn’t but it was a relief when the skill finally ended.

  ‘i hope you don’t need me anymore?’ I asked mentally exhausted by the whole ordeal and more than ready to sleep for a week.

  “Not in particular. Unless there is something you would like for me to do for you? We have the time now that the most urgent matter of collecting the blood and preserving it is done.” He replied and looked pointedly up at where he could see what I assumed was Silky. She had come into the control room and was perched on top of the console looking into the containment room. I got the impression that she was worried.

  And I really could use a bath too.

  ‘a bath would be nice.’ I told him and quickly amended when he opened the skill’s maw to lick me with its tongue.

  ‘Not with a tongue! I want one with water!’ I scolded him, knowing full well that he knew that I had a water type item. He could see it where it was in the control room with his weird ‘food sense’. The cocky bastard just chuckled.

  “If you wish.” He replied with amusement before climbing up the side of the dead monster’s shell so we would be closer to the control room’s ‘window’.

  Even with the added height and Gluttony’s possession and control of my body, it was almost a near miss for the two of us. He was able to get my fingers on the edge though and from there, hoisted my body up over the stone console. That part was easy, but Gluttony had forgotten about certain… ‘tender bits’ that some of us mortals tended to have and made the mistake of not using the proper precautions when getting into the room.

  Suffice to say, he needed a minute.

  Also a few swears too, I think, but I didn’t recognize the words used and, having not heard him or other people from this world swear before, I couldn’t be certain.

  It was still amusing even though I had a share of the pain.

  ‘heh, not so easy being ‘mortal’ now, is it?’ I prodded and I got an annoyed hrumph in return.

  “Hush, human.” He replied before straightening and limping over to where my items had been dropped when I was teleported.

  Silky, meanwhile, had been staying out of our way and… watching us, I think. Either way, I was paying more attention to her than what the demon was doing with my stuff. I know, I was being a bit too trusting of him not to eat my stuff, but I was hoping he had some standards and boundaries when it came to that sort of thing. As it was though, I was the one who noticed her waving her feeler legs at us and, when I focused on them, I hear words.

  ‘samuel safe?’

  ‘what?’ I mentally muttered but the demon noticed.

  “You object to something, Samuel?” He asked. He was about to take a bite out of one of the mana rats with my mouth when I distracted him. Judging by how many were still on the ground and the lack of any kind of taste in my mouth, I’d say I caught him just in time.

  ‘What!? Don’t feed me that! At least cook it first! Who knows what it could be carrying!’ I scolded him and he snorted.

  “Do not worry so much, Samuel. Mana beasts do not carry diseases.” He replied with a smirk.

  ‘what about shit?’ I shot back. That made him grimace and it was my turn to snicker.

  “They do have bowels so that would be a yes, I suppose. I will save these for you then.” He told me and put the rat away in my inventory. At least, that’s what I thought he did, I didn’t actually see him do it, but I did see it disappear from my hand. After that he went over to the stone console to look back into the containment room.

  “I suppose I should take the intestines out of that first to prolong the carcass's freshness. I am not looking forward to accepting those.” He commented with a depressed feeling.

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  ‘do you have to? i mean, accepting to keep them. can’t you just turn them into dirt or something and give them back? you are doing something similar with the blood and you already did something like that with the heart.’ I pointed out and he turned thoughtful.

  “Perhaps but I would need more room than what is currently available to me in our shared space in order to store them until I can.” He told me.

  ‘can you, like make it bigger somehow?’ I asked him

  “Not really. That would require an expansion of your Fate’s power which in turn requires tributes that I can actually keep and use.” He answered.

  ‘really? you can’t turn it into a giant stomach or something? it would certainly ‘fit’ whatever your thing is.’ I pointed out. Again, he turned thoughtful.

  “That may work. But you would have to surrender complete control of it over to me and it will take quite a time for it to become neutral once more. If I do take it over and turn it into a ‘stomach’ like you suggest, chances are, it will not be safe for you to enter for a while or, at the very least, until I am able make a safe space for you. There may also be other side effects as well.” He explained.

  ‘i’m not going anywhere and i doubt i will be up to visiting any time soon either.’ I replied.

  “Fair. Then I will take you up on your offer. It might take me a few moments though.” He told me before noticing Silky waving her feeler legs frantically at us while ‘safely’ out of reach from her spot on the control room’s ceiling.

  “You may want to attend to your…. friend’s(?) needs while I am gone. She looks very frightened by ‘your’ uncharacteristic actions. It may help to distract you from my absence.” He pointed out to me. There was a brief flare of anger at what he almost called her, but I let it go since I didn’t really have it in me to keep it around.

  ‘yeah, i will. ‘friend’, huh? are you learning or…?’ I asked.

  “More like remembering and actually making an effort to do so. It has been quite a long time since I’ve had to… change my mannerisms in such a way. Most demons and… demonics, either don’t care or expect me to be like that and accept it. It is mortals like you that actually take offense to it.” He replied.

  ‘ah..thanks for the effort, i guess?.... i’m…. really not going to like you being ‘gone’ am i?’ I commented.

  “No, you will not. I will try to be as quick as I can, and I will ease you into your ‘release’ as much as I am able to, so it is not so much of a shock to you.” He tried to assure me.

  ‘alright. ready… whenever, i guess.’ I replied.

  He nodded once and I felt him sort of flow out of me, taking the skill and his steady strength with him. The skill going felt weird as heck but, without his control supporting me, I immediately heaved up a few mouthfuls of bile onto the stone console. I, thankfully, didn’t heave again and was grateful that I had stopped him from feeding me that mana rat. I definitely did not want to be tasting that again.

  The demon had similar sentiments and I felt a sympathetic mental pat and he moved me to a spot away from my vomit before setting me down and finished leaving. It was a good thing he had because the moment he was completely gone, I’m fairly certain I would have collapsed. I also started shaking uncontrollably in fits that I was familiar with when it came to being horrendously sick.

  I blinked once while I was sitting like that -- or at least thought I did -- and when my eyes opened, I saw Silky sitting on one of my knees and waving frantically at me with them.

  ‘samuel! samuel!’ repeated a little voice in my head when I focus on her.

  “Yeah, Silky?” I asked her once I was able to muster up the strength and will to answer her.

  My voice sounded rough and crackly to my ears unlike when the demon had been in control. My words seem to surprise her, and she pulled back her feeler legs to press the ends of them to her mouth. After a moment and moving them much more calmly she brought them up above her before swinging them to her sides and lowering them.

  ‘samual safe?’ the voice said in concert with the movements. I was quiet with thoughtfulness and let her repeat the question a few times before answering her.

  “Yeah, I’m safe. I don’t feel great but I’m safe as far as I know. At least for now.” I replied and she brought the ends of her feeler feet back her mouth in what I was starting to assume was her thinking motion.

  ‘samuel… okay?’ the voice went as she brought her legs up for my name and spread them just a little before lowering them.

  “Sorry, but I’m not okay. I am very far from okay right now. I feel like I’ve been squeezed out of a trash compactor.” I told her and I got an impression of confusion and concern from her as she didn’t understand the comparison. I chuckled and gave her a weak smile.