[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 23 - Sneaky

“Madam—ack! Please,” Freddy begged as the sharp, claw-like nails drew blood.

Madam pulled him over the table and threw him at the wall.

He was seriously starting to hate being thrown at damn walls.

Whether it was through her life affinity or her mysterious talent that she never publicly disclosed, it was clear that she could read either his mind or his subtle physical reactions. How much information she could extract from such signs, Freddy didn’t know, but he felt that one thing was quite certain.

‘I’m fucked.’

But it wasn’t yet time to panic. Freddy had spent much time daydreaming about escaping situations where lying seemed impossible. One of those scenarios he entertained most frequently was, ‘What would I do if faced with someone who could always tell whether I was lying or telling the truth?’

While the specifics of whatever method Madam was using were utterly unknown, he had no choice but to default to his two-step plan.

‘Step one: Say nothing but the truth.

Step two: Don’t allow questions you don’t want to be forced to answer.’

“Madam—! Please wait!” Freddy continued his pleading.

“Do you know what I hate the most?” She asked him as she took a firm step forward. “Idiots that think they have the right to offload their personal problems onto me. I am an entertainer, Freddy,” she said in a way that a pacifist definitely wouldn’t, “and I don’t enjoy conflict.”

“I swear to you, Madam, I swear to God,” Freddy said, “I had no idea that someone was after me!” He spoke the truth, and as soon as he did, Madam paused.

“Then why did you—?”

“I remembered some—” he interrupted her intentionally but paused to see whether she would let him speak. It was best to talk before she asked, lest she ask something that would immediately reveal that he was bullshitting.

She merely remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.

“Alright,” he said, sweating bullets. “Back when we talked about this, I told you about the man who approached me.”

She squinted at that.

Freddy continued, “Well, I remembered something, or rather, I realized that I misinterpreted something he asked me. While he was interested in my clothing, I don’t believe that that was the target of his first question. Because the first thing he asked me was whether I had seen anything bloody in the netherecho.”

That made her eyebrows raise slightly, and she gritted her teeth. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but Freddy cut her off before she could do that, “I believe he was looking for a unique vestige! Given that this other blood arch is after me, it’s likely that it hasn’t been found yet and that I’m on the list of suspects that might be hiding it.”

“Well,” she said, “Are you hiding it?”

There was no way to stop reflexive reactions to such a question, but as soon as Madam opened her mouth, he was already doing his best to heighten his panic and hopefully disguise his reaction as a part of his overall frightened state.

“Am I hiding a unique vestige!? You said you have an idea of who came after me, so tell me, do you believe that I, a completely new arch back then, had any chance of concealing something like a unique vestige!? I would have absolutely no idea how to hide it!” Intentionally, that was.

“Speak truthfully, Freddy Stern,” she said, her voice colder than ice and sharper than a dagger. “A simple yes or no will suffice. Are you hiding a unique vestige?”

If there was any one thing that would shoot his plans dead on the spot, it was being forced to answer a yes or no question. Or, rather, it would if he had to answer one he didn’t want to answer.

“No!” He denied with a yell, fully confident in his words. Because Madam had unknowingly fallen into a trap Freddy had set. Indeed, he was hiding no unique vestige. Because he was hiding a unique remnant.

It was likely that she wouldn’t even entertain the idea of him hiding one since containing a remnant was difficult even for those with the tools to do so.

“I am going to ask you one more time,” she said, and Freddy was sure that something about how he reacted had prompted her to rephrase her question.

Droplets of blood flowed from his neck and trickled down his shirt, with every drop marking a second closer to his demise. It all depended on what she asked next; if she asked the wrong thing, that would be it for him.

“Did you,” she started, “or did you not, know or hold any suspicion that you will bring enemies to my door by signing a contract with me?”

“I didn’t!” He denied.

“Very well. Next question. Are you, or are you not, hiding something important from me?”

It was game over. Not even a moment passed until Madam’s claw was inches from his neck, and he yelled, “Wait!”

The claw stopped.

“I’m—I’m, wait, please, let me elaborate.”

“You have one chance.”

“Alright,” Freddy said, nodding frantically. “I discovered the other day that my soul construct can extract essence from wisps!”

While Freddy was confident that she had complete control over her body, including her outward reactions, he was sure that the look of incredulity was genuine. “Hmph—” she scoffed as she retracted her claws. “Impressive, but none of my concern. Anything else?”

“I— Well, that depends. I have been hiding a few things because I didn’t want to reveal something that would cause you to try to kidnap or harm me.”

“Do you believe I’m someone who would—?”

“Yes,” he answered honestly before she could even ask the question.

She smiled at that in response. “Well, you’re wrong.”

Freddy couldn’t help a soft scoff from escaping his lips.

Madam shook her head. “I wasn’t going to kill you before I could fully conclude that you were innocent. I apologize for my methods, but if you knew the trouble you just brought me, you’d understand why I had to do what I did.”

Had to do? Freddy didn’t even try to hide his anger at what she said.

“Do not worry,” she said. “I understand the nature of what I’ve done, and I’ll ensure I adequately reimburse you for this.”

“Reimburse me…?” Freddy started but cut himself off.

“Darling, it should be evident enough that I am not your enemy. If I were, I’d simply hand you over to Kraven, and that would be it,” she said unapologetically. “But I can’t afford to become such a person. I want others to be happy to work with and for me. You should be thankful that I went out of my way to prove your innocence.”

It must have been clear to her that that statement didn’t sit well with Freddy. Innocence? From what!? Being the rightful owner of something that was his!?

Madam tsked at him and shook her head. “If you must vent, you have a convenient blob of flesh sitting right over there.” She turned to the door and began walking out. “I’m rather busy these days, so I’ll send your gift through Matt. Have a lovely evening.” And with that, she walked out and slammed the door shut.

And Freddy, as Madam had suggested, crawled over to the mass of flesh and pummeled it. But his anger didn’t go away. Instead, with every punch he threw…

He only felt more pissed off.

***

Freddy appeared at the gym the next day, only to find Mark with his arm wrapped in bandages. “You ok?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mark confirmed. “I got caught off guard yesterday and got injured. Not a big deal.”

Given how many scars the young man had lining his body, Freddy was sure that this was little more than a plus one to a long series of injuries. Although Freddy didn’t envy Mark’s inability to swiftly recover, he did think that his scars were cool. No matter how tough Freddy got, outwardly, he would always appear smooth as polished marble.

Freddy consistently broke his personal records through that entire training session and by quite a considerable margin.

Mark was clearly impressed. “You’re on a roll today, damn.”

“I’m feeling it,” he said. Feeling deeply frustrated, that was.

If he had learned anything yesterday, it was that Madam’s umbrella didn’t guarantee safety from the storm. He contemplated telling her to cut the contract more than once but held himself back. He had yet to fulfill his contractual obligations, and if her frustration was any indication, he was in deep shit with that Janhalar guy.

The list of things he could do to improve his odds of getting out of this situation alive was short, to say the least.

While Madam had ‘promised’ to figure something out, he wouldn’t take her word for it. For all he knew, her solution would be to offload him to someone else who would then have to deal with the problem. And they might not care about their reputation as much as Madam did.

Mark’s advice was still the best choice he had. Get as strong as he could, fast, and hope he could sneak into the expedition before someone got a hold of him.

***

Mark headed home with Freddy once they were done since his injury prevented him from training. They headed down the street, and before long, they were back in their building.

Freddy turned to Mark. “Hey, do you want to—?”

“No, sorry,” Mark refused. “I already have lunch prepared.”

“Hahaha, well, that’s not a big deal, right? Just grab the lunch and come over to—”

“Freddy,” he interrupted him. “I… I have to deal with a few other things. We’ll have lunch tomorrow or maybe dinner tonight. How does that sound?”

Freddy nodded at him and patted him on the shoulder. “Okay, chief, you’re the boss. I’ll see you later, man. Rest up.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Mark headed into his apartment and locked the door behind him as he entered. With a shaky hand, he pulled another pill out of his pocket, shoved it into his mouth, and headed to the toilet.

Taking the bandages off, he winced at the pain but endured. He couldn’t help himself from panicking once he saw the wound.

A grisly, deep gash spread from the back of his hand to his elbow, stitched shut at the clinic. Even the basic treatment set him back over $10,000, and it hadn’t even been enough to stop inflammation.

He poured the disinfectant over the wound again and cleaned it, wincing at the pain as he squeezed a few bits of pus out. Seeing that made him panic harder, and he wiped it off with a sterile rag, applied more disinfectant, and bandaged his arm back up.

It was fine. No, it would be fine. It just had to hurry up and heal. And he had to hurry and return to his work.

With deep breaths, he returned to his room, lay in his bed…

And did his best to ignore the burning sensation as he tried to get some sleep.

***

Freddy finished his lunch and was getting ready to head to the forest when his door rang. It was Matt, as expected, carrying a small box.

Pushing the door open, Freddy held his hand out and received the box and a small piece of paper. A cursory glance revealed that it was an invitation. To a party, at that.

Freddy glanced at Matt and tried returning the invitation, but the man held a palm up to stop him. “Your participation is mandatory, as per Madam’s statement.”

“Tell her I refuse.”

“I am not here to negotiate, Mr. Stern. The gathering is on Friday. Please be ready to leave at 7:30 PM at the latest. Have a good day.” And with that, he turned around and left.

Freddy’s hand dropped to his side, and he shrugged. “At least I tried.” He turned around and headed to the living room.

A small part of him was afraid to open the box for fear of it being something dangerous, but it wasn’t like Madam needed to use underhanded methods to harm him. Freddy pulled the numerous hatches open and peeled the seal off. The small lid was flipped open, revealing a tiny, thoroughly wrapped-up piece of meat.

There was a small paper detailing a rudimentary recipe for the meat’s preparation. Apparently, most he was allowed to do with it was put a light sear on it, and even that ‘reduced the meat’s efficacy.’

Freddy couldn’t be bothered to do that, so he decided to eat it raw. A small part of him was still afraid that it was laced with something like a truth serum or some other bullshit, so before digging in, he prepared the knife and approached the flesh blob, preparing himself to start stabbing the instant he felt something was off.

He peeled the plastic off and gingerly grabbed the tender piece with his fingers. As his teeth reached the fleshy substance, he bit, eating a small chunk of it. Immediately, the knife fell out of his hands. The next beat of his heart was like a gong being struck by a meteorite, and before long, he was violently shoving the treasure down his throat.

A soothing yet ravenous power flooded his body, seeping into his soul and nourishing his bones. His ether star nearly doubled in size, and he could swear that his bones felt stronger than tempered steel.

“What the fuck was that!?”

Apparently, she was more aware of how much of a bitch she was yesterday than Freddy presumed. Hell, if he could expect gifts such as this one, he’d offer himself up for another beatdown without hesitation.

He licked the fingers he grabbed the meat with, and even that sent a pulse of power into his body. He even licked the plastic wrapping.

The emptiness of the box suddenly felt heavy, and upon realizing that there was none left, Freddy felt almost as disappointed as when he woke up to find his adoptive parents gone. His state was so strange that he had to stab the flesh blob a few times to ensure he hadn’t been drugged.

It did not improve his situation, meaning this treasure was simply that good. Well. At least she knew how to apologize. Although he hated to admit it, he was much closer to forgiving her after a bite of whatever that was.

Then, it was only a matter of testing it out.

***

Freddy was bewildered at how drastic the increase in his essence reserves was. And it wasn’t just a matter of overall capacity. His Essence Extraction soul construct power slowed down the closer his reserves were to full. This was a matter of percentage, meaning that with the doubling of his capacity, the speed at which he recovered had nearly, but not quite, doubled.

As he realized this, he began contemplating another possible motive for why Madam might have given him something like this. Perhaps it was just a preemptive measure to qualify him for the expedition.

This most certainly didn’t patch things up between them, but he wouldn’t be turning on her any time soon.

***

Freddy returned to his apartment later in the day, and the first thing he did was knock on Mark’s door. He rang the bell, too, but the man wasn’t answering.

‘Probably isn’t home,’ Freddy concluded, feeling slightly betrayed.

He went into his apartment and walked over to the kitchen. After dinner, he pretended to nap on the table while his projection crawled out to visit his favorite skeleton.

“My liege,” Bloodshed greeted him as it bowed. “Do you require my servitude?”

“As a matter of fact, I do, my loyal minion!” Freddy declared dramatically.

Back when Bloodshed suddenly appeared, Freddy overlooked an important detail. How did it know where he was? So, he proceeded to ask it precisely that.

“It is simple, my lord,” Bloodshed answered. “No matter how far you are, I can sense the true direction I must take to reach you. For that is the only path that lies ahead of me.”

Freddy would cock an eyebrow at that if his projection had any. “Do you think that would work, let’s say, if I entered a passage?”

“That is irrelevant,” Bloodshed declared unhesitantly. “Distance and realm are no barrier to my loyalty.”

Even if they didn’t know the answer, personified ether constructs couldn’t say something untrue. Which meant that it could track him down even if he was somewhere in the interspace.

While that was a bit spooky, it also revealed a possibility to him.

“Say, Bloodshed,” Freddy started. “Can you keep track of time?”

“I can always tell when a day has come and gone.”

“Can you count to seven hundred?”

“I can.”

Freddy wondered if the inside of the shadowy hood covering his head had revealed an outline of the shit-eating grin he flashed at that moment.

He didn’t have a way to reliably hide Bloodshed. As it stood, the only reason it hadn’t been discovered was because Madam and Matt didn’t consider the possibility that it was perfectly loyal to Freddy.

Hiding a remnant in an ordinary grocery bag was otherwise impossible, as it wouldn’t simply obey and stay inside.

This meant that he was on a timer. Either he found a way to hide Bloodshed before the six months were up, or he would lose it. There was no way to get an ability to tier two in such a short time, meaning that he had to keep Bloodshed hidden. Either way, if given the ability to consume it, Freddy wouldn’t want to do so.

It was Bloodshed, after all. It was his loyal minion. What kind of cruel master would devour his own subject?

His reasoning definitely didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Bloodshed could possibly evolve into an eidolon that was still loyal to him and thus allow him to hunt other uniques that had evolved into eidolons.

Nope. Definitely had nothing to do with that. Although hypothetically speaking, such a scenario could result in as many affinities and crazy powers as he desired and would probably make him the single most powerful human alive by quite a margin.

Fantasizing about something like that was way ahead of what he needed to do at that moment. What he needed the most was to find a way to keep Bloodshed hidden.

And with what he had just learned, he was confident that he knew the perfect method to do so.