Chapter 62: Fire Inside a Chest
After closing his eyes he slowly pulled his blood inward.
The wound on his chest was not simple. Dorian’s Heartfire Lance had not only burned his skin and flesh. It had pushed fire mana deep into the area around his heart. That mana was still there, hiding inside torn muscles and broken veins like hot needles. Every time Lucard breathed, the fire mana moved. Every time his heart beat, it scratched at his body again. If he had been a normal noble boy, he would have already died on the street.
But Lucard was not normal.
He sat still on the chair, one hand pressed against his chest, the other resting on his knee. Blood slowly moved under his burned clothes. It was not fast. It did not look like magic from outside. There was no bright circle. There was no pretty light. His blood simply obeyed him because blood had always belonged to him.
He focused on the fire mana first.
Dorian’s mana was rough, violent, and full of pride. It was like its owner. It wanted to burn anything it touched. It wanted to spread. It wanted to destroy the weak flesh around it and leave nothing behind but black ash. Lucard could feel the trace of House Velkhur’s Ember Core inside it. That bloodline truly had some value. It made fire mana hotter and more aggressive than common flame magic.
Lucard slowly opened the wound from inside.
His face tightened.
Blood came out of his chest again, but he did not stop it. He allowed the burned blood to flow. Then he pulled the fresh blood around it and wrapped the fire mana inside. The moment his blood touched the fire, pain shot through his body.
His fingers dug into the chair.
The wood cracked under his grip.
Lucard did not make a sound.
This body is still too weak.
That thought moved through his mind coldly.
He remembered his old body in Null. Back then, a star could explode near him and only disturb his clothes. Gods had burned universes in front of him. He had walked through divine flames, poison seas, void storms, and soul blades without lowering his head. Now a Rank Four fire mage from a lower world had injured his heart.
The thought was insulting.
It was more painful than the wound.
Lucard pulled harder.
The fire mana resisted. It burned his blood, trying to break free. His body shook once. His throat tasted bitter. He forced the blood in his chest to tighten around the foreign mana. Then he used Blood Absorption, not on an enemy this time, but on the remaining power inside his own wound.
The fire mana entered his blood in thin threads.
His body hated it.
His blood accepted it.
The two feelings fought each other for several breaths. Lucard’s burned flesh twitched. His heartbeat became unstable. A hot line moved from his chest to his throat.
He coughed.
Blood splashed onto the floor.
It was dark red with tiny sparks of orange inside it. The sparks died quickly when they touched the wooden boards. A thin line of smoke rose from the blood.
Lucard opened his eyes slightly and looked at it.
"Annoying," he muttered.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and closed his eyes again.
Outside the room, Peter heard the cough and stiffened. His body had improved after drinking the first half of the high rank healing potion, but he was still not fully healed. He almost stood up to check on Lucard, but then he remembered the order. Lucard had asked for silence. Peter clenched his sword and stayed seated near the inner door.
Jake’s voice came softly from the other room.
"Was that Brother?"
Jenny answered after a small pause. "He is resting."
"He coughed."
"He is still resting."
"People can cough while resting?"
"Yes."
"Can people die while resting?"
There was another pause.
Then Jenny said, "Not your brother."
Jake became quiet after that, but not because he was fully convinced. He was quiet because he wanted to believe her.
Lucard heard them clearly.
Even through the wall, their voices reached him. The old owner’s feelings inside the body moved again when Jake asked if people could die while resting. It was a small pull in the chest, different from the fire wound. Lucard frowned.
"Useless emotion," he whispered.
Yet he did not hate Jake’s voice as much as he wanted to.
He returned his focus to the wound.
The first pull had removed a small part of the fire mana, but much still remained. He could not use the healing potion because Peter needed it more. That decision was still correct. If Lucard was attacked while resting, he could at least struggle. Jenny and Jake could not. Peter needed to be on his feet. The Marovain guards were useful, but they belonged to Marovain. They were not truly his people. A borrowed shield could still be moved by the hand that owned it.
Peter was different.
Peter was loyal to House Vardros.
That made him more useful than two stronger strangers.
Lucard inhaled slowly.
The air burned his chest.
He gathered his blood again and pressed it around the wound. This time he did not try to absorb everything at once. He separated the fire mana into smaller pieces. Dorian’s mana had already lost its owner, so it could not think or adapt. It only burned by instinct. Lucard used that against it. He fed it tiny drops of his blood, let it burn, then pulled the heated blood back into his body.
Slowly, the pain became less sharp.
The fire became smaller.
His skin began to close at the edges of the wound. The burned flesh did not fully recover, but the bleeding slowed. The area around his heart stopped trembling so much. His heartbeat became more stable.
Lucard opened his eyes again.
The room was quiet.
The chair under him was cracked from his grip. Blood stained the floor.