Fear of Death
"Anyone lend me a shoulder?" Nox sheepishly requested.
"Anything for our hero!" Tione joked as each of the two amazoness sisters slung on of his arms over their shoulders and helped him move along.
"Anything eh~?" Nox teased and the two sisters laughed, taking it in stride.
"What happened?" Finn asked.
"I obliterated the damn thing at great personal cost." Nox replied as the two amazons helped him walk.
Ais, Riveria and Lefiya looked over him with undisguised worry while Tsubaki was just happy he return and clapped for his great victory.
"Good!" Gareth simply praised.
"I'm going to need some serious recovery time though." Nox sighed.
"Are you okay?" Riveria softly inquired.
"I chugged a few vials of Panacea and still can barely walk so . . . Yeah, I've seen better days." Nox revealed, shocking everyone.
A single vial of Panacea could bring a recently dead person back to life! How bad does Nox's current state have to be if chugging several vials still left him where he was barely capable of walking.
They walked back to the fortress town on the 50th flood and settled down. Finn gave a brief overview of the situation to Familia Members that came with before convening with the main strength of the expedition party to discuss how they would proceed.
After the main party members that faced the Demi Spirit gathered in the main castle, the discussion began.
Nox was floating in a Panacea Tank. He originally made in case on of his girls died with their bodies too damaged for resurrection in order to restore them. Never would he have though he'd have t use it himself with all of his healing power.
While Finn made the rounds and the rest of the party relieved some tension at Nox's insistence, he had done a thorough analysis of his current state.
As it turned out, he was not exactly injured in the true sense of the word. He was simply worn out, but to an obscene extreme.
Not only his transformation but the repeated use of Divine ENergy he was not at all ready to manipulate had worn his body and even his soul to the point it wouldn't be strange if they collapsed any second.
If this happened, there would truly be nothing left of him and no method to save his life, something which left Nox extremely fearful.
After coming to deeply enjoy his new life in the fantasy world of Danmachi and forging true bonds with the people that lived in it, Nox of course gre attached.
As such, being faced with the reality of his own end deeply frightened him. although this was something weaker adventurers had to accept, the fragility of their lives, it was something an absurdly talented Nox that was not only obscenely strong but also could recover from being smashed in mush rarely to face before.
Certainly not as close as he had come to his end today.
In fact, if Nox didn't chug a few Panaceas as soon as he acquired his ability to move, he might have truly perished. His last burst of energy being just a moment of clarity before death.
Realizing this, Nox began to wonder that perhaps the Dungeon was not healing him but rather granting him comfort before his untimely demise . . .
It was either way out of character for the will but something to think about nonetheless.
"I assume you won't be getting out of there for a while?" Finn inquired.
"Afraid so. I am much closer to death than I originally thought." Nox thought he should reveal.
He was soon drowne in a torrent of questions.
"Relax everyone, I got it handled!" He exclaimed to assuage them.
"What happened?" Riveria questioned.
"Well, to put it simply, I made use of a power that worn out my body and soul for strength and I used it far to much." Nox revealed.
"I warned you to respect the dangers of magic and not mess about but you never listen!" Riveria chided.
"Well, to be honest. If I didn't use that power, all of us would have been killed so . . ." Nox defended himself.
"What exactly did you do?" Finn asked.
"Sorry captain. That's something I can't share." Nox staunchly replied.
"What? You don't trust us?" Tione questioned.
"Tione . . . I have people bound to me by a magical contract that will obliterate their souls if they try to betray me and I still elected not to reveal that power to them. That's how serious it is." Nox responded and the amazoness quieted down.
"So how long do you need to stay there?" Tsubaki asked with worry.
"I honestly don't know." Nox replied.
"That bad? What will I tell Hephaestus?" Tsubaki worried.
"Just tell her I got held up doing something and hope I'll recover in the meanwhile." Nox suggested.
"You want me to lie!?" Tsubaki questioned.
"It's not like you don't know how Hephy's reaction will be." Nox pointed out.
*sigh*
"I guess you're right." Tsubaki relented.
"Hephy?" Tiona suddenly asked what everyone was thinking about.
"Yeah, I'm pretty close with her. So what?" Everyone but the ones in the know were left speechless but decided to move on.
"I don't know if we can wait for you to recover before leaving for the surface." Finn pointed out.
"Oh I know, just get going. I'll be fine in my little castle." Nox shrugged.
"I'll stay with you, just in case." Riveria immediately said.
"Glad to have you! Appreciate it Veria!" Nox responded.
"Veria?" Tiona once again asked.
Nox just chuckled while the high elfess actually blushed.
Once again, everyone was left speechless but Tsubaki who clamored "Nice catch!" as she clapped.
"I'll stay too." Ais suddenly voiced her self.
"Ais?"
"Ais-san?"
The others were surprised, not just at her words but at the resolve they sensed behind them.
Finn went quiet for a bit but eventually came to the conclusion the rest would be enough to protect the lower levelled members as they returned to the surface so he acquiesced. to the Sword Princess' request.
And so, Riveria and Ais stayed behind with Nox as the others started their trek back to the surface after saying their goodbyes.
Soon after though, Ais came to Nox with a very surprising talk.
"That contract you made with Riveria . . . I want it too."
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