Chapter 924

KatE didn’t have any problems freeing Yang once prompted. She had much greater control over her physical form then Kat did. Simply turning her arm into a blade and slicing Yang out of the ice with a few swift strikes was enough. Yang dropped to the ground and coughed, inhaled, and coughed again. This pattern repeated a few times as she struggled to take in the air she was sorely lacking. KatE didn’t even spare her a second glance.

Xuena was cut down next. Dropped straight into the snow completely naked and then ignored by KatE. At this point she wasn’t even trying to act normal. Lilly had given her a command vaguely disguised as a suggestion, at least in ‘her’ mind and was carrying it out. Little things like dignity and respect were far from her thought process at the moment. The idea of leaving a naked girl in the snow was no more concerning to her then letting a piece of trash blow away.

Xiang was a little more difficult to ‘free’ if only because KatE was unsure of how best to go about it. After a bit of poking though, and Xiang’s lack of reaction to said poking, KatE simply ripped the swords from him bundles at a time, giving very little thought as to the blood loss that should be occurring at the moment. Xiang... well he seemed somewhat fine? Especially his shadowy side. That was healing up quickly as soon as the spears were removed. The other half... less so.

While the swords were being removed Yang rushed over to Xuena and rushed to get her friend into some decent clothes, thankful that Xuena had bothered to bring spares at all. Once Xuena was proper Yang carried her friend over to a stump and got to work fixing her up properly and examining her injuries. Once again, the dragon half of Xiang was... just sort of ignored.

Once all the swords were free, Xiang collapsed unconscious and he returned to a more human form. The half that had been covered in dragon scales was one big bruise but seemingly lacked any major complications. Though... despite it simply looking like bruises the chance Xiang’s cultivation and meridians were unaffected was miniscule. KatE didn’t know, and didn’t care. Xiang’s other half was fine enough looking otherwise. He had a large tattoo now, a wing shape over his entire torso. That was no concern of KatE though.

Lily watched KatE starting to just walk away from a collapsed Xiang before ordering, “No, take him over to Yang. Don’t just leave him in the snow!”

KatE froze mid step and looked over Lily for a moment before nodding and delivering Xiang over to Yang. She just dropped him on the log awkwardly with a thud before turning around and rushing up to Lily like an overeager puppy. Eyes screaming ‘did I do good?’ with hints of lewder thoughts as well of course.

.....

Lily just groaned and gave KatE a quick kiss on the cheek, a sort of half reward. The carrot and the stick. She’d done the task, but not to anyone’s satisfaction. Perhaps Lily’s ‘teaching’ method would work, perhaps not. That was something to worry about in the future. Instead, Lily moved over to Yang to see how everyone was. “So Yang... how is... everybody?” asked Lily hesitantly.

Yang growled, “I want to know what the hell Kat was thinking! If she could take the fucker so easily why let us get so close to death? Some sort of sick amusement? Because it wasn’t ‘stated in the contract’? I don’t know what you think you’re doing with this ‘how is everybody’ shit. My meridians are freezing and I can’t deal with that properly for now. Xuena is unconscious with massive holes in her body that have partially frozen over, and Xiang... fuck I don’t even know how he’s still alive!”

Lily hissed back like the angry cat she was, but KatE was happy to answer, unconcerned by Yang’s anger. To her mind, it made perfect sense... and wasn’t something to worry over either. “I completed an upgrade mid-fight much like Xiang in truth. Well... it is more accurate to say the process started with the snake I think. I was pushed to my limits and then events kept building up after that.

“My control was weaker, flames were leaking more often. There were a few attacks that I launched at about double the intended power and just played off. Xiang may have received some sudden enlightenment or just a desperate move for a powerup but my transformation was going to happen soon regardless. Then again... a fight to the death is a wonderful motivator isn’t it?” KatE cheered with a big smile on her face that Yang couldn’t help but find creepy.

It did blunt much of her anger though... “Right so... what the fuck is this new creepy ass form? I couldn’t exactly see you in the ice though I’m still kinda pissed at you for making out with your girlfriend first,” grumbled Yang as she pulled out some bandages and started to work on... shoring up the wounds Xuena had sustained.

“Well... I’m not actually Kat. Or I am... and I’m not... think of me like Kat’s cultivation deciding to go walk abouts? I don’t really understand. I mean, I have Kat’s, or KatH’s perspective so I can make guesses... but... I just don’t have the same priorities. I had no issue leaving you all trapped until Lily requested I free you all. Then it became a top priority!” explained Kat with a pleased expression, as she turned her gaze to Lily, begging for another kiss. ‘I did good right? Explaining to the minions?’ screamed the look on her face.

Lily rolled her eyes and gave KatE a kiss on the nose. Closer, but... yeah not quite. Yang just stared at the bi-play for a few moments before returning to the bandage work. “Right... um... huh... I can’t say I’ve ever thought about the idea of sentient cultivation... is that... normal for demons?”

“Nope. Never happened before I think. Wait D.E.M.O.N.S?”

**User... Error... U-.... Uss... E-e-rrror. Error. Valid Question Invalid U-u-. Error. Question: Has demonic energy manifested before similar to User Kat? Answer: Yes. Files revolving individual in question are locked to higher clearance.

“Booo... I thought I was super special! I guess not... maybe just pretty special?” grumbled KatE.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lily sighed and left KatE to her rambling. She carefully took in Yang and asked. “Right... um... so I don’t know how you’d want me to politely phrase this but... I do still want to know if the others are alright...?”

Yang cast a slow glance over Lily searching for some sincerity... and apparently finding it. “Yes...” said Yang slowly. “Or... actually... Xuena... she should be fine... I think. This place is flush with ice qi and I’m sure once we’re not running for our lives we can find some great alchemy materials. It might be tough to turn them into something exceptional, but for healing ice inflicted wounds on an ice cultivator? Xuena could probably manage that in her sleep. As an ice cultivator freezing a wound shut is standard practice... normally you’d do that to yourself but well... needs must...

“Um... Xiang though...” Yang looked over at Xiang’s awkwardly placed form but made no move to stop wrapping Xuena up properly. She was nearly finished but Xiang was a... secondary concern. “As for Xiang... I really have no idea. I’m not trained to diagnose... well much of anything really. Plus... I... I don’t understand half of what happened to him. He seems to possess two bloodlines that worked in harmony? Or perhaps reluctant co-existence? I didn’t really get a good look...

“I just... I have no idea if what he did was good for himself or bad or... I just don’t know. They were... I’m surprised you couldn’t feel it but both of those bloodlines were oppressive. Xiang may have been weaker then Ozen but... for a few moments Xiang seemed like the scariest thing in the world. He just... he shouldn’t HAVE that sort of thing right now. Dragons and whatever the fuck his other half was... dragons are all born at least Rank 5...

“I don’t know if that means he was crippled... or if to do that he was burning precious heart blood from his bloodline, or if he didn’t do that he’d have just exploded at some point... I... I’m really at a loss here. That’s... that’s not even getting into the extent of the wounds he suffered. Half of him looks fine but... that sort of damage would have killed literally anyone else, even Ozen... so... I just... no. No look, fuck it I don’t know. Xuena will... she’ll live but fuck I don’t know what’s going on with Xiang and frankly I’m not sure I really want to.”

Yang finishes up Xuena wounds and lets out a pained sigh as she looks over Xiang. “Do I wrap his side? Probably not? Bandages don’t help with that sort of bruising right...?