My Servant System

The Demoness clicked her tongue as I got her to stop, her golden eyes threatening to bore into my soul as she glanced at me before finally relenting and taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself lest she do something stupid.

What had once been a landmark of this city’s culture and a hub of commerce was now little more than a field of rubble and a testament to how strong Fiend’s could really be, and it was a frigid wake up call to how sudden life could be taken away, especially the life of someone who had an incredible amount of strength, talent and potential.

So many had died here, both ’friends’ and foes alike, but none of them truly mattered to me more than the Vampire standing nearby with a slightly hollow look in her eyes as she stared at the broken red ring on her finger.

The Death Jackals were gradually making their way back towards us in various states of hurt, and one of them wasn’t able to walk anymore, because their body had been ripped in two; only one of the ’elites’ in this fight had perished on our side, but the damage was still great. Everyone had suffered wounds here, with a few of the Death Jackals somberly holding parts of themselves as they began to treat themselves, and those that weren’t severely wounded were still nursing broken bones or torn muscles as they slowly healed themselves.

Anput was amongst them as she cradled her mangled arm against her chest, the Jackalkin biting her lip as she clicked the bone into place before running her mana throughout her arm, setting it and preparing it for some real healing.

Her tanned face was caked in dust that settled onto her sweaty skin, while her hair was matted and tangled with various pebbles and blood; we were all that way, honestly, and after a few moments I stumbled over to Leone and grabbed her arm, forcing her eyes away from the ring.

Those usually brilliant rubies were duller than normal as she swallowed once more, unable to comprehend - or more accurately, unwilling to - that she had been so close to dying, and honestly... as I stood there with her, I felt the same as well.

Some random arrogant Fiend had almost taken away one of the most important people in my entire world with some backhanded, random attack that they pulled from seemingly nowhere?!

How was I supposed to just continue on like nothing happened after that?!

I tried to put a comforting front on for Leone, but I was just as shaken up as she was, mainly from her brush with death but also because I was just so exhausted and battered that trying to put on an act felt impossible.

That was why when I felt the familiar warmth and had the all too familiar scent of my owner washing across me I almost cried, and since Jahi had pulled us both into her chest, I could tell that Leone actually was.

The Vampire Princess’ shoulders were shaking as she buried her face against Jahi’s cuirass, and although the metal was bent, cool and splattered with blood, dust and sweat that didn’t belong to her, we both had no issue at all clinging to it as she hugged us closely.

Anput joined us a moment later, and we all just stood there for a minute, in a pile embracing one another as we tried to come to terms with what had happened, only to have each passing second pick away at my heart like a vulture scavenging a corpse until only the bare minimum was left behind.

Even though we were partaking in this closeness to one another, I still felt cold as Leone continued to shiver slightly in Jahi’s arms, and the occasional sniffle and whimper cut through me the same way a blade would as I screwed my eyes shut and tried to maintain my calm. The silence was almost deafening as we embraced, though eventually the whooshing of the winds over the edges of this cratered section of the city brought us out of our anguished reverie, so with great reluctance I pushed away from Jahi’s muscular, warm and reassuring arm as I turned around and looked at the damage the Fiend had dealt.

So many had died here, and all we managed to do in return was kill a single Fiend, one that we had no real idea on where it stood in the pecking order of the Fingers, or if it was even some Fiend we needed to have worried about in their grand scheme for the desert.

Was this a blow to their plans or barely a hiccup that they would just brush aside and continue forwards with, not giving a damn about the Bloodletter perishing at our hands?

That was something that worried me, and if this was a Fiend that barely had any significance to their plan - either as some really high quality muscle or as an integral piece to something they were hoping to achieve - then I was scared of what the other Fiends might be like.

Breathing in the dusty air, trying to ignore the metallic scent of blood and the revolting charnel stench that clogged the area around us, I decided that the best thing to occupy my mind at the moment was to take stock of the ’spoils’ from this fight, which were resting in a pile nearby, oozing blood.

Honestly, I just needed to be doing something instead of sitting here thinking about it, something that was opposite of the Demoness since she still couldn’t help losing herself to her thoughts whenever something happened, though I’ll be the first to admit that she had gotten better.

What made me happier about being able to do something right now was the fact that I could take a great deal of pleasure from desecrating this Fiend’s corpse and turning it into materials to be used in the fight against its peers, and it also allowed me to alleviate some of my distress by doing something I liked doing.

Retrieving the short sword, I started carving the Fiend up and extracting the crimson bones as I left the other three to themselves, letting Jahi comfort them for now as I found the way to deal with my stress for the time being, and as I began to create a pile of usable flesh, bones, organs and more, I noticed that a few of the Death Jackals were watching me closely, their eyes glued to my blade as it sliced through the flesh.

Beckoning for those few to join in, we were able to disassemble the Fiend in a shorter amount of time, and although we were coated in viscera from this task, it was cathartic to have turned this once mighty and terrifying Fiend into little more than its base parts, separated and sorted based on importance.

When everything was getting bundled up and we were sufficiently cleaned, Jahi, Anput and Leone were finally coming away from the group hug, and although Leone was clearly still shook by what had happened, she was better than before, even if it was just barely.

Progress was progress, and while I was reluctant to admit it, I knew she needed to come to terms with it herself before she opened up about it or was willing to accept more help from us, and that was alright even if it made me feel useless.

Besides, as we gathered our things and made our way over to one of the nearby buildings that was still standing, it would seem that we were all on the same page; we stumbled over to what looked like a bar or some kind of restaurant and went right on inside, occupying the empty space and sinking into the seats as we allowed ourselves to relax.

Guards and other fighters came rushing into the crater after a few minutes, and the best of the Death Jackals - by that I mean the least injured and most awake - sat out front and had the various soldiers spread the news for us as we began to rest and recuperate.

That looked different for everyone, and as soon as we found ourselves someone who was capable of cooking a large meal that wasn’t currently exhausted, we threw them into the kitchen and prayed there were enough ingredients for us to devour and turn into energy; otherwise, the real discovery had been the various bottles of alcohol around the place, which we helped ourselves to.

Very quickly we settled at our own tables and began to drink and eat to our hearts content as we tried to overcome the stress that had threatened to consume us whole, and it was then that I realized how badly this had effected the Vampire since she too was picking up a bottle.

It wasn’t the healthiest way, but right now I was more than happy to join her as we crowded around our own table, picking at the food brought to us before washing it down with some aged liquor that burnt away the bile that continued to pervade the back of our throats.

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