Aria is the avatar of the dark spirit.
And right now, the light of Luminous is seeping into her body, intertwining with the dark spirit that made up Aria, leaving her unable to utilize her original regeneration abilities.
Luminous probably designed it that way.
Of course, no matter how powerful Luminous is, nothing in this world is eternal. If left alone, Aria would eventually recover over time, but right now, the situation is urgent. It wouldn’t be strange if Aria died in just one minute, so expecting her to endure until she naturally recovers seems impossible.
Yet, trying to take action requires a perfect guideline.
Darkness is Aria’s very flesh.
Just because she looks human doesn’t mean they can treat her like a human when it comes to magical procedures. Since light and darkness are intertwined, if they carelessly chop away, it could lead to disastrous consequences.
“Didn’t Aria help with the research on dark magic at Iron Grave? I’ve examined her body hundreds of times back then. I know exactly how to return her to her normal state.”
While shooting arrows at enemies rushing from the alley, Lavina declared.
Gradually, Plona’s eyes regained their vitality.
The dwarves’ underground city, Iron Grave.
Come to think of it, the solar eclipse was also the magic that Aria and Lavina created together back then, wasn’t it?
It was Aria who proposed the kind of magic they wanted to create, but it was Lavina who realized it.
If she could create unique magic only for Aria, then it wouldn’t be strange for her to know all the information about her physical structure and the properties of spirits and magic.
Of course, just because she knew it in the past doesn’t mean she remembers it perfectly now. However, Lavina, an exceptional elf among the new generation with a keen brain and a fanatic obsession with magic, wouldn’t forget the information about Aria, who had been her greatest interest in recent years.
“But I know about dark spirits, I don’t know about light spirits and holy magic. So the removal has to be done by Plona.”
“Ah.”
At that moment, Plona realized what method Lavina was proposing.
Plona carefully examined the remnants of the holy magic left in Aria’s body once more.
The intense aura it radiated was incomparably stronger than the holy magic she had seen in the church when she was a knight, but if you look closely, the basic structure itself isn’t so different from the church’s holy magic.
While it wasn’t a very familiar form, it was not so incomprehensible that she couldn’t interpret it; it seemed to be worth taking on as a challenge.
“…I must.”
To create an antidote, one must know the poison.
To put it metaphorically, Lavina knows the constitution of the target for the antidote and the components that could cause side effects, but she doesn’t know the poison itself.
On the other hand, Plona knows what the poison is but has no idea who the medicine is for.
But if they combine their knowledge? As long as there’s even the slightest chance, Plona couldn’t afford to give up.
“I’ll do it.”
Thinking she might accidentally take her sister’s life if something goes wrong left her breathless, and her heart ached unbearably, but she had to do it.
If by any chance she failed, she decided to take her life and follow her sister.
“Then let’s begin right away. Eleonora! Can you protect us until it’s done?!”
Lavina shouted loudly enough for Eleonora, who was charging ahead with a dagger, to hear.
Eleonora nodded without hesitation.
Given safety, it would be better to get completely away from Rusher and return to the main camp in Randell, but considering Aria’s imminent death, every second counted.
Plona and Lavina quickly set Aria down in a suitable spot nearby and sat beside her.
As they removed the cape wrapped around her torso, the horrific wounds were revealed, and blood spurted forth immediately. Lavina, swallowing hard from the tension, spoke.
“Let’s start.”
*
The surgery, or more like an operation that wasn’t quite an operation, lasted over two hours.
In anticipation of Aria’s life force dwindling, several blood transfusions were also conducted.
Of course, a blood transfusion here simply meant Lavina stabbing her wrist with an arrow and forcibly making Aria drink her blood. But surely, for a vampire, there’s no better remedy than blood, and it had a meaningful effect.
Though with her stomach half-ruptured, it was a mystery where the blood was being absorbed, but for now, as long as the results were good, questions were unnecessary.
Through Lavina’s blood, Aria’s life force was replenished several times while also leaking out through her wounds.
Even though pouring water into a bottomless bucket didn’t improve Aria’s condition, it definitely slowed down the rate at which she was dying.
And that brief respite bore fruit after a blood-soaked struggle.
“It’s done! It’s done! The light spirit left in Aria’s body has completely disappeared!”
Lavina, who had become noticeably pale from losing too much blood compared to two hours ago, jumped up but immediately grasped her temple and staggered.
“…Did we succeed?”
Eleonora, rushing over like the wind, caught her and set her back down while asking with eager eyes.
A face smeared with blood and dirt, and clothes torn and ripped signified her struggles.
Lavina nodded and looked around.
Having focused so much, she hadn’t even heard the sounds around her until now, and as a result, she had forgotten that a battle had continued right next to her.
At some point, the number of people had significantly increased.
While Plona and Lavina were performing the ‘surgery’, it seemed the remnants of the Allied Kingdom troops retreating in this direction had joined under Eleonora’s on-site command.
“The light spirit has been completely driven out. Plona is wrapping things up, but aside from that, her life force is nearly depleted, so we need to replenish it as much as possible right now.”
Eleonora, without hesitation, grabbed the arrows that Lavina reached for and pierced her own wrist.
Smack.
“Ah.”
The arrowhead failed to penetrate the skin of the dragonkin and crumbled.
Eleonora’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected it to turn out this way herself.
After about three seconds of contemplation, Eleonora threw down the arrow and approached the lying Aria and Plona.
“Sensei?”
“Ah, Eleonora.”
Plona, who was awkwardly shifting around above Aria, raised her head slightly.
Just as Plona’s posture was disrupted, a spurt of blood was sprayed onto Eleonora’s face.
Eleonora’s eyebrows twitched.
Now that she looked closely, Plona had a wound on her carotid artery, apparently torn to about the size of a thumb.
“Ew,” Plona quickly lowered her posture.
To hinder her own regeneration, Plona had inserted her left hand into her wound and, with her right arm supporting her body, aimed the stream of blood gushing from her carotid artery at the hole in Aria’s chest, lightly drenching her heart.
“…Is it okay with your blood, Sensei?”
“I’ve heard that other lineages of vampires don’t lack nutrients, just that their blood doesn’t taste good, but I’m not sure about elites. But this isn’t for replenishing life force. I thought the power of the True Blood left in my sister’s heart was diminishing, so I wanted to see if this would help even a little.”
The concentration of True Blood mixed in Plona’s blood was far higher than that of ordinary elites.
When Aria turned Plona into an elite, she injected far more True Blood than merely needed to transform a human into a vampire.
Thanks to that, Plona’s blood is quite close to the original True Blood of the progenitor, and she is currently gradually returning the source of her power back to its original owner.
Perhaps due to completely removing the light spirit.
Aria’s heart reacted like a thirsty little animal being given water. Plona could distinctly feel Aria’s heart, which was only half-there, absorbing the splattered True Blood.
Thump! The heart, which had stopped, weakly throbbed once.
“My heart beat!”
Seeing the blood pumped out again, Plona shouted.
Just once. However, it was a clear pulse of life that had never been felt during the time of pouring water into a bottomless bucket.
Eleonora quickly knelt beside Aria’s head.
Carefully pressing Aria’s cheek with her right hand, Eleonora opened Aria’s mouth and pressed her left wrist against Aria’s fangs, applying pressure.
Sluuurp—
Eleonora’s skin, which had previously been unable to be scratched by an ordinary arrowhead, was pierced, and the strong life force of the dragonkin began flowing down Aria’s throat.
“Lavina!”
The change was dramatic.
Thump! Thump! Slow but steady, the heart began to beat in an even rhythm.
The gaping hole began to gradually fill. Flesh filled in, and skin regenerated.
From the severed elbow, bones began to reappear and muscles stuck together, soon finishing regeneration on the wrist, palm, fingers, and nails.
After about ten minutes, a pair of breasts slowly began to rise and fall.
“Yes, it seems to be a success.”
Lavina let out a sigh of relief, brushing her pale face.
They had successfully brought Aria back from the brink of death.
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