After delivering the clothes to Iris and carrying her to her room, Finn headed back to the main entrance by retracing his footsteps, where Archon sat in his office.
"Oh, Ivis is all done?" he raised an eyebrow and asked, placing down the telephone.
Finn nodded. "I took her back up to her room."
"And you didn't try anything with her?" Archon teased, laughing boldly. "She's quite cute, you know. If I was twenty years younger, I might be in love."
"I can't see her anyway."
"Yeah… that's true. Just now, I asked Phantom Slayers HQ to send us a new wheelchair for Ivis, and also inquired about your eyes while I was at it to see if they could treat them. There was a method, they said, but even if we pooled all our money together, we wouldn't be able to afford it… sorry, kid. "
"Maybe now. But I will eventually gather enough," Finn replied emotionlessly, despite knowing full well he could just treat it through Zelestria — which, hopefully, would be much easier.
"Yeah… but the good news is, what you did today earned our Squadron quite a bit of money. Apparently, that Titan-class has been on the guild's radars for a while now — it's just no one managed to find out where it was hiding all this time."
"How much in particular?"
"10 grand," the middle-aged man laughed. "And that's for you and Iris alone. The rest of us will all get 2 grand. In other words… you're already slowly starting to get there, kid. Won't be long now. Besides, we'll all pitch in to help ya."
Archon smirked before continuing, patting Finn's shoulder. "You saved those three idiots today… they might not seem like it on the surface, but they ain't the ungrateful type. They'll definitely help you heal your eyes."
"I heard. You saved Octane in the past, and that's why he's here now, repaying his debt, right?"
"Mhm…" Archon glanced out the window in the distance, where the rain and fog created by Storm had dissipated. "But, that's a story for another day. For now… let's get ya cleaned up."
*****
After taking a shower in the mens' bathroom of the manor, Finn headed up to his own room to get some alone time at last. There, he sank into his bed and leaned on the bedboard, adopting a sitting position.
In his head, he called for the mysterious 'A.R.X.A.' lifeform, also known as Zelestria.
[Seems you've grown a bit stronger since the last time we spoke.] She remarked inside Finn's head. [Why don't we speak in the reality rift, to make things easier?]
Finn did as told, lying down in his bed and pulling the sheets over himself to make it seem like he was sleeping in case anyone walked in uninvited.
In an instant, his dark surroundings shifted into the familiar vaporwave-style sunset he was now used to seeing.
"Welcome back," Zelestria said, hovering in the air with a light and playful grin tugging at her lips. "How was it? Your first Ghost kill."
"It was easier than I thought," Finn replied. "Though that is to be expected, given the powerful physical enhancements provided by the Ghost blood in my body. And, of course... the consumption ability it possesses."
At this, Zelestria blinked a few times in surprise, then smiled seductively.
"Ara ara~ you figured it out, huh?"
Finn snorted. "I thought you could tell what I was thinking at all times."
"I certainly can..." Zelestria descended from the air and walked closer to Finn, footsteps as light as a feather. "But you know... that's work, and I dislike work. Nonetheless, I'm impressed. I wasn't expecting you to discover the blood's secret this soon. I'm starting to like you more and more, fufufu..."
Finn ignored her flirty remarks and returned to the topic at hand. "So... consuming other people's Angelicas grants me that Angelica. But what does consuming the blood of other Ghosts do? Give me their power, or something?"
Zelestria folded her arms beneath her ample breasts, bouncing them slightly on purpose in an attempt to tease Finn. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Correct," she said with a wink. "For instance, that Titan-class Phantom you defeated had quite the interesting anatomy. I'm sure you felt it during your fight with it too, did you not?"
"You mean how the blades on my gloves went straight through its head?"
"Precisely. You 'consumed' that power of its by defeating it. The fact that you didn't take any lasting damage from its blood getting on your skin was just an added bonus — you are essentially immune to the blood of that Phantom type now, Finn.
"Take care though, as you'll only be able to consume the abilities of Major, Boss, Baron, Emperor, and Overlord level Ghosts. The most commonly found Minor ones don't have any special powers, so naturally, you won't be able to gain anything from them."
"I see... but this power seems quite strong. Almost... too strong," Finn narrowed his eyes, frowning in thought. "All attacks just automatically go through me...? Or will I have a weak point on my back as well?"
"No no, that's not how it works." Zelestria shook her head, then turned around to face the sunset.
"Since you are not completely a Ghost, the consumed abilities won't be the exact same as the original ones. In this case, normal weapons and physical attacks won't work on you, but specially-enchanted anti-Ghost weapons made with the Blacksmith Angelica still can. Similarly, Ghosts and Angelicas can still harm you as well."
Finn blinked. "... All of a sudden, this ability feels pretty useless."
"Well... it is your first one. You shouldn't have expected it to be very powerful in the first place. Oh, and also... if someone were to, for example, grab your arm, they would still be able to feel you. This ability will only work against attacks like punches or kicks."
Finn sighed. "Is there no way I can... improve this ability, somehow?"
Zelestria paused briefly, before smiling mysteriously. "There is... but you haven't reached the requirements just yet. When you do, I'll explain more."
"Huh... how do I reach those requirements?"
"Just keep doing what you've been doing — slaying Ghosts. Every time you take one down, their Soul is consumed by your blood, empowering it further. As this progresses, you should be able to unlock new powers... powers that even I have yet to discover."
As she finished this sentence, she suddenly remembered something else.
"Oh, and one more thing — your Ghost Blood also lets you detect Ghosts near you to a certain degree. At your current stage, you have to really focus to be able to do it, but it's quite helpful."
"Is that the low-frequency humming I can hear but no one else can...?"
"Mhm~" She nodded airily.
"I see... but what about you? How can I help you recover quicker?" Finn asked stoically.
At this, Zelestria stoped and blinked a few times in surprise, a blush creeping up her face as she stared into Finn's eyes lovingly, walking closer and cupping his face.
"Ara~ what's this? You care about me this much~?"
"No," Finn replied without any hesitation. "You said you could heal my eyes once you recovered, so."
"Hmph... how cold," she pouted slightly, though Finn could tell she wasn't seriously mad. "Well, luckily for you... collecting Souls will help me recover too. You see, in a way, I tethered myself to you, so..."
"Without my permission?"
"What~? You don't want a beautiful and sexy goddess like myself to be bonded together with you?" Zelestria teased, pressing her chest against Finn's.
"..."
The two stared into each other's eyes. At this close distance, Finn could truly admire the divine beauty of Zelestria's facial features and body. He could feel the sweet and tender softness of her breasts against his chest, but strangely didn't feel stimulated at all. His member did harden in response as a natural bodily reaction, but he felt no lust in his heart.
Ever since that fateful day, it was as if he had lost nearly all his emotions. Happiness, sadness, pity... all that was left was a burning desire for revenge and dark anger forged of hatred. Whether this was a side effect of the Ghost blood in him or simply a human's natural reaction after suffering such trauma, he didn't know. Perhaps, it was a bit of both.
"... I should go," Finn said at last, pushing himself away from Zelestria, who sighed and shrugged in disappointment.
"Aw~ too bad... but you'll be mine one day, Finn."
As Finn was pulled out of the reality rift and sent back to the real world, Zelestria giggled wryly.
"He's truly lost all his emotions... everything is going according to plan. Though perhaps, there is some way of getting his lust back... fufufu."
As much as she didn't want to admit it on the surface, Finn's words just now had struck a chord in her heart. How long has it been since someone has shown care for her? How long has it been since she was forsaken, forced to become... whatever the hell she was now?
Even if Finn didn't hold any actual kindness in his intentions, Zelestria was still enchanted. She had been trying to hide the sadness she held deep within her every time she interacted with Finn, but just now, she had let her true feelings slip a bit with the blush.
Twirling her beautiful long pink hair around, she smiled.
"One day, Finn... one day."
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