[Congratulations! Your spells have merged: Synchronization – Refined + Dance of the Savage Gods – Masterful + Wild Art: Grim Battlefield – Masterful + Infinite Harvest of Souls – Masterful - …]

[…Wild Art: Carnival of the Savage Gods – Masterful!]

Percy drew a sharp breath upon reading the notification. His decades-long efforts had finally born fruit, granting him a spell to truly be proud of.

That was when he remembered that his body was a mess.

Glancing down at what remained of his armour, he took a moment to appreciate how pristine it was. It shone in a pale teal colour, unmarred by blood or dirt. In the end, he’d never learned how to draw those fancy self-cleaning runes he’d enjoyed during his stay at the Guild, but he didn’t really need them, as he could just phase his Regalia through the grime.

Storing the components in his spatial seal, his body collapsed like a broken toy without his willpower holding it up. The glowing lines on his skin faded rapidly as mana spilled out of his pores, his muscles deflating in the process.

With a thought, he manifested a bunch of healing potions directly into his stomach, allowing the life mana to spread through his body, undoing some of the damage. Admittedly, his seal partially infringed on the benefits of his ink, as it made drinking the potions just as easy as using the tattoos. That said, there was still value in injecting the mana directly into his skin, as it was more effective that way.

In any case, the first few potions barely alleviated some of his pain, so he had no choice but to drink more of them. It wasn’t until he’d consumed over a dozen that he could even twitch his fingers. That was fine though. They’d brought plenty into the Valley, and they’d never really had to use them before now.

Guzzling them down as if they were water, he repaired what he could. Completely replenishing the lost blood and eliminating the final traces of his injuries wouldn’t happen immediately. He’d have to eat a few meals too, to help with that.

But he’d gathered enough strength to at least stand about half an hour later.

A piercing shriek soon reached his ears, a vast shadow blotting out the azure ceiling as a monstrous bird dove toward him. Percy’s lips curled into a smile at the sight, not worried about the intruder.

Why should he be? This was just his familiar, after all.

“Missed you, buddy…”

Not that they hadn’t kept in touch over the years. Hell, he’d even sent a clone into the bird’s body a bunch of times – there was one currently in there too. But it was different, finally seeing his friend in person again. Free, after decades of captivity.

A cloud of dust rose as the oversized crow landed next to him. Micky headbutted him playfully on his chest, feelings of warmth seeping through their connection. Next, the bird turned his gaze toward the corpse.

The body itself didn’t have a single scratch on it, but Acton’s soul had already dissipated, unable to maintain its integrity after the countless brutal strikes it had endured. His core had cracked too, already starting to break down. But it held for now, as it hadn’t suffered much damage during the actual fight, and its higher grade allowed it to persist a little longer than most.

“All yours.” Percy said.

Micky didn’t need to be told twice, sinking his beak into the man’s torso, crushing the bloody gem before swallowing it. How fitting was it, that the first human Micky ate since receiving the Holy Child’s sadistic command was none other than the Green-born himself?

Not stopping at just the core, the crow continued, devouring the body piece by piece, until nothing remained. By the time he was done, Percy noticed several strands of Green had finally appeared inside Micky’s sternum.

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‘About damn time…’

It felt a bit slow, considering how many cores Micky had eaten over the years. Then again, this was already his first core’s third promotion. For humans, it was supposed to take anywhere from 166 to 1000 years – depending on the type of elixirs they used. Meanwhile, the crow had reached this point in around 20.

The bird would need a little more food to complete the promotion, however. Turning his head to his right, Percy noticed somebody approaching. A single lean figure, dragging her feet along the ground as a large bubble of water floated beside her, six corpses swirling inside.

‘Thank Phoebe she made it too…’ Percy thought as he looked at his cousin.

He would have tried to help her if he could have, but he hadn’t been in any condition to keep fighting. Luckily, it didn’t look like she’d needed it.

The water came splashing down once she reached them, the corpses landing in front of Micky. Elaine gave the crow a huge hug with her remaining arm, before letting him resume his meal. Then, she turned to Percy, embracing him too.

“Are you alright?” he asked with a frown as he noticed her bleeding stump.

“It hurts like hell, but I’ll be fine.” she replied.

Percy nodded. A severed limb wasn’t enough to take a Blue out. Nor was it a permanent injury – especially for a member of House Avalon. Then again, it wasn’t something a bunch of healing potions could fix – certainly not when separated by three grades. She’d probably have to return home for this…

“How’s Nesha?” Elaine asked.

He sighed, bringing her up to speed. Unlike his cousin, it hadn’t been difficult to catch up with his girlfriend after taking Acton out, as she had a clone with her. Apparently, she’d won too, having eliminated all five of her opponents. Micky had watched over her, staying by her side until she replenished most of her mana.

Though she’d told him to fly back by himself, to get to the Blue cores sooner, before they degraded. Everyone knew the luxurious meal would most likely be enough to finally catalyse his evolution, so they didn’t want him to miss it. It was the least he deserved, after all the shit he’d gone through.

As for Nesha, she was currently walking back by herself. She was still a few minutes away, having travelled pretty far while getting chased by the Greens.

Micky let out a loud screech at some point, drawing their attention.

The corpses were already gone, the crow’s core having completed its promotion. A Green star now burned brightly inside his sternum. Micky’s body shuddered, his flesh squirming, demanding more food for its evolution.

“Need help?” Percy asked.

“It’s fine. I’ll manage.” Micky shook his head.

Next, he took off, probably scouring the land for any unlucky beasts he could find. It had already been a few days since the last shipment, so there hadn’t been too many to begin with, but he was bound to find some.

Leaving his familiar to do his thing, Percy helped Elaine stitch up her wound to stop the bleeding. He handed her a pile of potions too. They didn’t do much, other than closing the wound a little and relieving some of her fatigue.

Nesha arrived too after a while. Her eyes fell on Elaine first, staring at her stump in concern. The Blue just waved her worries away, telling her the same thing she had told Percy. As if remembering something, she then took a bunch of cubes from her robes. Six of them – one from each of her fallen opponents, as well as the two who had died at the start of the battle. Nesha followed suit, though she only had two of them.

“The other three didn’t survive my spell. I’ve already stuffed what elixirs I could salvage into the other amulets,” she explained.

Percy nodded. Walking up to where Acton’s body had been a while ago, he picked up the final cube from the ground. The guards they had killed outside Goldenfield town hadn’t had too many elixirs on them – only a couple weeks’ worth. They had probably intended to restock their supplies upon reaching Twilight City, though they never got the chance.

This was different, however.

According to Micky’s intel, the Root gave everyone who entered the Valley enough to last a decade. Whenever they ran out, they had to get more outside the Decree. Acton’s guards were already on their third batch, and they should still have over seven years each!

Meanwhile, Femel’s men had carried even more, since they had entered the Valley more recently. Not to mention the Holy Children themselves. Tallying everything, the trio counted about 38,000 doses in total!

Adding that to their current stash, they already had enough for nearly six years of Aurora Dew for everyone! That said, only about six months were already brewed, and Percy would have to leave the Valley before he brewed the rest.

Still, having more storage space than they knew what to do with, they had bought a ton of secondary ingredients too before leaving the city. Right now, they had everything they needed to not worry about elixirs for the foreseeable future.

“All that’s left is to deal with the mess we’ve just made…” he said, eliciting a round of sighs from his companions.

Well, that was tomorrow’s problem. Today was a day for celebration.

After all, they’d achieved everything they’d set out to do. They’d rescued their friend, advanced their cores, improved their spells, and even got a bonus stash of elixirs in the process. Piling onto the good news, Micky returned less than an hour later, his evolution complete.

Suffice to say, he looked very different than he had just minutes ago…