"Delia, what are you doing?" Khan asked in a scolding tone.
"I'm checking your bandages," Delia replied, pretending that she didn't do anything strange. "Right, the drinks. I almost forgot about it."
Delia kept her left hand sealed on Khan's wrist and opened the flask with the help of her mouth. Then, she took a short sip before handing the item to Khan, and he seized it while glaring at his companion.
Delia ignored Khan's glare and continued to inspect his right hand. She turned his wrist carefully to study both its sides, but she didn't use the same grace with her legs. She moved them a lot as if trying to make sure that Khan felt them.
The camp had given a clean military uniform to Delia, but that didn't prevent Khan from imagining her firm curves. She had almost ended up naked during the escape, so he recalled what that dark-blue fabric hid.
Khan let her have fun. He took a long sip from the flask before handing it back to his companion. Delia seized the item and pulled herself closer to Khan before placing his hand at the base of her left leg, near her groin.
"You are taking advantage of a wounded man," Khan joked.
"Please," Delia sneered. "I have seen you dealing with a tank, a trench, and six armored trucks when you could barely stand. I wouldn't stand a chance if you decided to push me away."
Delia drank and handed the flask to Khan. His eyes inevitably moved between her legs and his right hand before falling on the item. He took it, but he didn't forget to question his companion. "Delia, why are you doing this?"
"I'm not doing anything," Delia whispered while reaching his left arm and tracing the bandages with her fingers. "You have gone all-out for our sake, didn't you?"
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"I was only trying to survive," Khan explained. "I would have gotten injured even if I were alone."
"Liar," Delia exclaimed as she moved Khan's left arm away to open a path to his chest. "You could have avoided many of these wounds. I bet you could have outrun the first trucks."
"No, they were too fast," Khan admitted.
"You have dodged them while running toward the tank," Delia commented. "You could have dodged them while running toward the allied trench, but you didn't. You stayed behind and fought."
"It has been an instinctive reaction," Khan declared.
"Liar," Delia repeated. "I've watched you. Most of your smiles are fake, and you never tell the whole truth. Why did you decide to fight instead of running away?"
Khan didn't want to answer, but Delia pouted while placing the flask on his chest. He could only heave a deep sigh and drink before explaining his reasons under those unblinking dark eyes. "I've felt weak after the imprisonment. Leaving you all to die would have only worsened that feeling. Besides, I wanted you to survive that mess."
"You as in me?" Delia smirked while placing her fingers on his chest to trace the edges of his azure scars.
"I don't really know the others," Khan admitted without showing any shame for the hidden meaning of those words.
"Can I take that as a sign that you like me?" Delia whispered.
Khan couldn't help but fix his eyes on Delia's smiling face. She was almost ten years older than him, but her age didn't matter in that situation. He could only think about her soft body and bold moves. Her warmth spread on his lap and chest, but the most unbearable sensation came from his right hand that she had smartly placed near her groin.
Delia's warmth worked as a constant reminder of the differences between humans and Niqols. Khan felt that she was too hot, but that wasn't enough to drive him away. He could almost imagine the comfort that she could give him.
Delia seemed to understand the faint feelings exposed by his gaze. A hand went on his right wrist while the other squeezed his shoulder as she bent forward. She was already close to him, so she could reach his face in mere seconds.
However, Khan placed the back of his hand on her lips at the last instant. Delia glanced at the flask in his grasp before raising her eyes toward him. She was about to complain, but she found herself unable to speak when he made their foreheads touch.
"I'm still in love with her," Khan revealed while closing his eyes. "I'm sorry."
Delia tilted her head to free her mouth before whispering in a joking tone. "We can still have fun, especially after what we have been through. We both deserve to clear our minds."
"Do you really want to be my rebound?" Khan asked while opening his eyes.
Delia stared deep into Khan's eyes. The faint attraction that she had seen before had disappeared. She could only see his sadness now, and that sight felt overwhelming. Something told her that she had never experienced a similar feeling in her life.
"No," Delia sighed before laying her head on his shoulder. "I'm too old to get myself into half-hearted relationships."
"You are nowhere near old," Khan chuckled.
"I know, but you don't get to say it after refusing me," Delia complained.
"I'm sorry," Khan repeated.
"It's not your fault," Delia shook her head without leaving his shoulder. "I simply met you at a bad time."
"I still want you as a friend," Khan declared.
"You won't get rid of me so easily," Delia scoffed. "Also, I will know if you start to fool around with other women. I won't forgive you if you end up with someone else after refusing me."
"I'll be sure to put you at the top of my list," Khan teased.
"I didn't mean that!" Delia giggled before adjusting her position and lowering her voice. "That girl must have been amazing."
"She was indeed incredible," Khan sighed.
"Tell me about her," Delia requested.
"I'd rather avoid that," Khan uttered as Liiza's face appeared in his vision and intensified the desperate feeling inside his mind.
"Please," Delia begged. "I might feel better if I understand how amazing this Niqols was. Besides, I couldn't sleep after reaching the camp. A story might help."
Delia shot a begging glance toward Khan before closing her eyes and relaxing. She was sitting on him, but he felt unable to push her away. The escape must have left her with awful images, and he knew how bad that was once the dreams arrived.
"The first time I saw Liiza, she was riding an Aduns, which is basically a big eagle," Khan began to speak, and his story soon reached funny events or situations. He avoided the most important details, but Delia still giggled and voiced short comments from time to time.
Khan failed to notice when Delia fell asleep. He had been too caught in his story about Liiza that he didn't see when his friend stopped listening to him.
Delia slept peacefully on Khan's shoulder. She appeared incredibly cute under the dim white light of the habitation. The sensations radiated by her body were also hard to refuse, but her warmth made it easier for him.
'She didn't even bother to remove my hand,' Khan cursed in his mind before pulling back his right arm and placing it under her legs, paying attention to avoid touching the metal structure on his hand.
Khan stood up and lifted Delia. The woman didn't even try to wake up, so he could carry her around his habitation, dropping her gently only when he found a bed.
Delia whimpered a bit without waking up when she felt Khan's warmth leaving her, but he promptly placed a blanket over her. When she calmed down, he left the room and started inspecting the rest of his habitation.
The house had a living room with menus on the walls that could work without his phone, a bedroom, a bathroom, and an empty area with darker surfaces compared to the rest of the structure. Khan only needed to touch those walls to sense its familiar properties. That metal was resistant to mana.
'This shouldn't break so easily,' Khan thought. 'Good.'
Khan immediately sat at the center of the room and fell into his meditative state. He planned to perform a few tests with his spell after focusing on his injuries for a bit, but something strange happened as soon as he tried to increase the influence that his mana had on his body.
After becoming a first-level warrior, the energy that came out of the mana core only intensified the halo that filled his body. The same happened now, but the color of the aura turned out to be different. Khan saw red-purple strands coming out of his improved parts and starting the usual improvements originated by the mediative state.
Khan snapped out of his meditative state instantly and wore a shocked expression. The recent event made no sense. Even when it came to other elements, the mana gained different features and colors only after becoming part of a spell. He had seen that happening on different occasions. The Niqols' energy also retained its original azure shades before going through manipulations.
Khan tested the process again. He closed his eyes and focused on his mana core. However, the energy that came out of the organ was still red-purple for no apparent reason.
'This makes no sense!' Khan shouted in his mind. 'Even the Nak are azure. What is even happening?'
Khan initially looked for his phone, but he quickly recalled that he had yet to get a replacement. Still, he quickly disregarded the idea of finding answers in his device since the training program for his element didn't mention anything similar.
Another idea appeared in his mind, and he didn't hesitate to test it out. The knife had been in his pocket the whole time due to the lack of a sheath, and he quickly drew to create the membrane required by the Divine Reaper. His weapon ended up glowing with a red-purple light even if he didn't do anything different from usual.
Khan kept the membrane active for a while to study it. The sharpness that filled his mana when he performed the techniques of the Divine Reaper was still there, but he sensed something deeper now. His base energy had gained properties that he felt unable to suppress and barely noticed unless he paid close attention to them.
The barrier remained in its place until Khan noticed that the mark on his knife began to expand. He immediately dispersed his energy and inspected his weapon to check its condition. It was still virtually perfect, but the dent on its surface proved that his mana had gained destructive properties that damaged what it touched.
Khan reactivated the barrier and stabbed the knife on the floor. The metal couldn't do anything against his weapon. The blade created a perfect hole, and he didn't feel any hindrance during his attack.
The mark on the knife didn't enlarge during the few seconds in which the barrier had been active. It seemed that the weapon could survive his new energy as long as he limited its use to short amounts of time. Yet, that discovery didn't satisfy him.
Khan stood up and threw his knife toward the corner of the room before placing his right arm behind his back. Then, he pointed his left hand toward the wall in front of him and activated the Wave spell.
Khan took every possible precaution. He made sure to aim in the opposite direction of the bedroom as he focused on his desperation. However, the spell created a spherical attack that expanded everywhere.
The reinforced room was quite large, and Khan had previously decided to stand at its center since he had predicted a similar event. Yet, his mana dug the dark walls a few seconds after touching them. Even the floor revealed a smooth hole when his attack ended.
Khan quickly checked his right hand. The metallic structure was fine, but the same didn't go for the bandages on his left arm. A few aspects of his spell remained unclear. It almost seemed that the edges of the red-purple sphere carried its true destructive power, but he couldn't feel sure about that for now.
Moreover, Khan couldn't explain why his spell was so different from what he had seen on the training program. He felt unable to complain in front of that destructive power, but he remained annoyed by his inability to control its trajectory.
Khan wore a resolute expression and stretched his left arm again. He felt ready to test his attack all night if needed, but a tinge of hesitation eventually appeared in his mind.
His current habitation wasn't ideal for those experiments. Khan had already damaged it. Also, Delia was sleeping only a few walls away from his position. Testing his power so close to her was too risky. He didn't even know what effects the Wave spell could have on the metallic structure on his right hand.
'Knowledge, knowledge,' Khan repeated in his mind before picking his knife and sitting back at the center of the room. 'There must be something about this in the records of the Global Army. I might have to rely on Captain Clayman if the topic involves classified information.'
The heavy thoughts that filled Khan's mind didn't prevent him from falling into his meditative state. That process appeared unaffected by the changes in his mana, and his body also confirmed that theory.. Actually, the intensity of the halo felt stronger than before due to the vigor gained by his energy.
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