Nalrond observed his mana moving from somewhere near his solar plexus and then through his body until it reached the hand wielding the Forgemastering wand. He focused on the flow, following it until its point of origin.
'I did it! I found my cores. Now I only have to stimulate them as I do with my mana and my life as a monster will be over! Anything is better than being stuck between two worlds yet belonging to neither.' He thought while trying to Awaken.
Nalrond carefully stirred the two cores at the same time and with the same intensity, starting with small rhythmical beats no stronger than the heart of a newborn. His mana flow increased dramatically as the color of his cores became brighter.
Waves of world energy flooded his body, giving him an exhilarating feeling of power like he had never felt before. Then, it turned into pain. His human body was incapable of handling the two Awakened cores and to make matters worse, their flows were discordant.
Each tried to push the impurities against the other, tearing Nalrond apart from the inside. Blood started to seep out of all of his orifices instead of impurities as the agony became so intense that not even darkness fusion could keep it at bay.
He switched instinctively to his still healthy Rezar body, yet in the space of a few seconds, it turned into a bloody mess as well.
"Damn idiot!" Faluel tuned into her Hydra form, combining mind and body casting to wave several spells at once.
A healing array enveloped Nalrond who kept shapeshifting between his two bodies, stopping the bleeding. At the same time, several tendrils of Spirit Magic reached his cores and poisoned them.
They went from bright to just blue, but she didn't stop until they became deep blue with shades of cyan. Lastly, she used Lifestream to put all of Nalrond's impurities back into their place, stopping the deadly tug of war between his cores.
"You are lucky that your body is fighting the Awakening process instead of enabling it, otherwise nothing would have saved you." Faluel used the Hands of Menadion to remove every bit of world energy from around the Rezar, isolating him.
His breathing technique was now useless and the only energy he could use to heal came from his own cores. The combined effect of the mana poisoning, the impurities, and of the Hands brought the cores to a stop, making them dormant again.
"Congratulation. You mastered Second Life and you almost killed yourself. What the fuck were you thinking?" None of those present had ever seen an angry Hydra and they found it terrifying.
Each stomp of Faluel's feet made the ground quake, her heads shone like seven suns each of a different color and her necks whipped the air with the fury of a storm. Her bared fangs dripped a venomous acid that burned both rock and magic and the seven mouths yelled in outrage.
"Did you really believe that none of the werepeople ever managed to Awaken? That you are the first to have ever had an Awakened teacher? Guess what? You are wrong! They simply died.
"It's not that you cannot fuse your bodies until you Awaken, quite the contrary. You can't Awaken until you fix your situation, you idiot!" Faluel's blue head came so close and quickly that Friya thought she was about to eat the Rezar.
"I'm sorry." Was all he managed to say before fainting.
The pain from his injuries and his poisoned cores was too much even for an Emperor Beast.
"I guess he's out of the mission." Lith checked Nalrond's pulse and vitality, discovering that Faluel had already replenished it.
"No, he is not." Faluel went back to human. "Nalrond needs to pull his head out of his ass. If he stays home, he'll drown in self-pity and things will just get worse. I trust you two to keep an eye on him."
She pointed at Protector and Friya.
"Why us?" She asked.
"Because you are a beast who found his place among humans while you are a human who befriended a hybrid." Faluel replied. "Didn't you notice how Nalrond never turns into a Rezar unless he has to fight and how he refers to his condition as a problem?"
"She got a point." Protector nodded. "Nalrond rejects his beast half to the point that until recently he considered it the source of all the rage and bloodlust he feels. If he doesn't accept himself first, no matter where he goes, he'll never belong."
An awkward silence fell into the room. No one else had actually cared enough to notice.
"Some friends you are." Faluel said with a scoff while examining the bone weapons. "Solus, your work is excellent but it could have been better if you had more magical power. The next time, either renounce keeping your stone form or conjure the Hands.
"Protector, your mana perception needs work. I suggest you to work in Lutia for a while as a healer. Friya, your ignorance about arrays is limiting your potential. Once you get back, I'm going to make you practice Forgemastering circles until they become second nature to you.
"Now go back home and rest. I want you in perfect shape for tomorrow."
"Great! More work is just what I needed. Selia is going to kill me." Protector grumbled on his way back, carrying the unconscious Rezar on his shoulder.
"Are you kidding me? Being a healer is a well-paid job with fixed hours and no risks involved. She'll love it." Lith replied.
"I'll trust your word. My only problem is if the people of Lutia will trust me enough to let me treat them. They are a wary bunch, especially the new arrivals."
"Don't worry, humans are hypocritical creatures. As long as they fear their illness more than they fear you, they would let you treat them even if you kept your Skoll form.
"On top of that, if anyone asks you for references, send them to me and I'll kick their asses." Lith replied.
"You mean that you'll vouch for me, right?" Ryman furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Same thing."
"Lith, how did you deal with your condition as a hybrid?" Friya asked.
"It was really hard, especially back at the academy." He replied with a sigh. "I considered myself a monster as well and I was always afraid that my family or you guys would chase me away if you discovered the truth about me."
"Yet I already had Solus, and she always accepted me for who I am. Things got much better after I revealed my nature to Phloria and she didn't care either. Yet the moment I really made peace with it, was after sharing my secret with Kamila."
"Yeah, I heard about that." Friya nodded.
"What do you mean?" Lith said with a puzzled look.
"I've always been curious. How does the Princess and the Demon Lord exactly w-"
"Where the heck did you hear about that?" Lith cut her short, turning beet red from embarrassment at the mention of one of the role plays he had invented with his ex.
"Women do a peculiar thing called "talking" and it's not like Kamila had anything to be ashamed of.." Friya replied.
