"That…"
Isabella's voice trembled as she tried to fill in Natalya. However, words failed to come out of her mouth as her throat was feeling sore from the helplessness she had felt before.
However, Evelynn was calm enough for the moment that she first arrived before Natalya and calmed her by hugging her. Only after she did that did Natalya's rage quell. But as her eyes witnessed Davis prioritize Mira over his wounds, she remained full of worry.
"What's going on? Please tell us..."
Iesha also came out as she worriedly looked at Davis. She was also excited to receive some praise from him, but he was injured here unexpectedly, which made her heart feel pained. She didn't wish to see her lover wounded or hurt in any way.
Her heart clenched in pain.
"…"
Evelynn sighed, "It's just..."
"I'll explain. Wait for a few minutes."
Davis blandly spoke, causing their attention to turn toward him. Despite the grave-looking injury, he didn't seem to give two spirit stones about the pain and continued healing Mira.
Hearing Davis's firm voice, Natalya was finally able to put her worry to rest somewhat. However, her eyes widened. Not only hers but Iesha's as well.
Only after they calmed did they finally notice that Tyriele had cracks all over its cauldron body, and Everlight was also injured. She was limping in the distance, having her flesh lacerated and her bones crushed while her white fox body and azure fur patterns were covered in her blood.
"Everlight…"
Natalya could hear Everlight's bated breaths that were filled with pain. Unable to take it, she quickly flew towards her and performed hand seals before she used her yin energy to try and ease the pain Everlight felt. It couldn't heal, but it could at least take away the pain somewhat.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEverlight couldn't help but smile as she nodded at Natalya. Her life energy could heal, but pain mitigation wasn't something that it was proficient in, unlike Davis's. With both their energies, she was able to concentrate on healing herself more.
As for Mira, her life energy wasn't up to par as it failed to reach their level at the moment.
After seeing all this, Natalya and Iesha could guess what had happened.
"Mira went berserk."
Davis suddenly spoke up, causing Natalya and the others to turn their gazes to him.
"How?" she asked.
Davis first reaffirmed that Mira was out of the death zone as he saw her body's vitality become somewhat stable. Her drained blood circulation was also returning to normal as the Blood Essence Orb continually supplied its natural essence to her.
He saw that Mira's body was able to make perfect use of it like a greedy refiner, causing him to smile.
Only after confirming that Mira was safe did Davis open his mouth again.
"How you ask? It's normal to go berserk when your instincts tell you that you're going to die. For an Emperor-Tier Immortal Beast like Mira, her instincts naturally took over her mind and caused her to leap out of the cauldron and its restrictions, almost destroying Tyriele before she jumped at me to retaliate from having her blood essence taken anymore."
"But… it's not possible for her to be capable of harming you."
Natalya lightly shook her head, causing Davis to nod.
"Indeed, she certainly wasn't in a state capable of harming me when she was utterly weak from having her blood essence taken two times. The point was… she was already weaker, and there was a high chance that she would die at the slightest forceful restriction or defensive force… so I merely let her bite me to death with her dragon teeth, but it wasn't like she was capable of eating my body quickly, so I was not harmed."
"How can you say that when she ate half your left shoulder!?"
Natalya wasn't even angry at Mira but at Davis for his self-harming nature. How could he stand there and let himself be devoured?
Davis looked at his botched shoulder from the corner of his eyes but shrugged. With his chaotic-tempered body, he really was finding it difficult to feel pain, or rather, his pain threshold had significantly increased. The control of his body also increased. As long as he tightened the individual nerve endings on the gruesome spot, he had little to worry about.
"You…" Natalya felt like she was going to cry at his insensitive thinking about his own life.
Why doesn't he treasure himself more?
However, knowing that her questions would only seek to upset him more if she questioned his decision again and again, her shoulders drooped.
"What about Everlight? How come she was harmed?"
Hearing Natalya's question, Davis couldn't help but turn to look at Everlight with a complicated gaze.
"Don't ask that, Natalya. I'm a fool..."
Everlight tried to cut off Natalya with an embarrassed expression, causing the latter to blink.
"She is indeed a fool. She dared to jump in front of me to defend me against Mira's instinctive actions. However, Everlight is also a healing-type beast. She instinctively understood that if she made a move or even defended against the weak Mira, the latter would die, so she simply froze on the spot. If I hadn't made a move to put myself ahead in time, she would've died."
"After all, even if Mira is weak and a dying immortal beast, her desperate attack is not something Everlight could handle at her cultivation base."
Davis's voice echoed with a bit of anger, causing Everlight to tremble and lower her head in both fear and shame.
"I… I… master… forgive me..."
"It's fine. The fact that you froze and didn't attack to defend yourself is marvelous, Everlight. That speaks volumes of the control you possess over your body as your instincts didn't take over."
Everlight became stunned at Davis's gentle words. Was he not going to scold or punish her as she had almost ruined this endeavor?
But his gaze became solemn at the next moment.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Next time, don't be stupid enough to throw yourself in front of me. You carry all, if not most, of our lives with you. I will not allow you, my woman and trump card, to appear in front of danger ever again. Do you understand?"
"…"
Everlight was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say other than nod her head. She felt like she had heard something so important that made her heart thump, and yet, it didn't seem relevant to the current moment that she was stumped.
Davis nodded back at her.
At that time, his heart really leaped out as he thought Everlight was going to die from Mira's desperate and berserk attack. However, he moved to endure the attack, which really did nothing to him other than give him some scratches but after that, Mira, with her dragon body, locked him with her claws and bit down on his head, or at least she tried before he moved his head out of the way, causing his shoulder to be munched upon.
However, he didn't harm her but waited until she regained her mind while bits and chunks of his flesh went into her stomach. He was literally being eaten, perhaps because her body instinctively craved his blood, which was beneficial to her.
Davis didn't mind much as he felt like he was sharing pain with Mira as he was the one who made her go through the cruel process of having one's blood extracted. Strangely enough, it made him all the more bond with her suffering, but that gruesome sight was different to other people.
Isabella and Evelynn were horrified watching Davis being eaten. They moved to stop Mira, but he stopped them by simply raising his hand at them in silence.
As for Mira, realizing what she had done after exiting the berserk state, she returned to her human form to conserve energy and blood but was full of remorse. She was in denial over what she had done and apologized but fainted soon enough.
Inspecting what they had gone through, Davis's eyes flashed as he looked at the others.
"No one is to blame Mira. She was skillful and almost perfect in suppressing her instincts to retaliate most of the time. Only after I extracted the blood essence two times did she relax, but that relaxation caused her instincts to take over as it might've thought I was going to completely refine her. Considering the cruel process and the pain inflicted on her body and mind, that fear must've taken root inside her heart. Poor Mira…"
Once Davis relayed his thoughts, the others also held no animosity for Mira. In fact, Isabella and Evelynn blamed themselves for even having to do this in the first place. It was because of them Mira had to go through immense suffering while still young. It was because of them that they had to see Davis being harmed.
They were unable to forgive themselves.
But at this moment, two vials carrying crimson blood arrived before Isabella and Evelynn. Its aura was as heavy as the colossal mountains and almost as oppressive as the heavens.
These vials contained none other than the Emperor-Tier Immortal Blood Essence of Mira!
"Mira's sacrifice is because she loved her mistress. As for you, Evelynn, I will take the blame on myself as it was my idea. Although a few chunks of my shoulder wouldn't forgive this cruel act, it would at least soothe my heart. Therefore, there's no need to blame yourselves over this matter. Do my two beauties understand?"
"Husband…"
Isabella and Evelynn were no longer able to hold their tears back as they witnessed his pale smile. They couldn't help but think that he was too understanding for them to deserve him.