"Huh? What? Erika insisted? Why? That makes no sense," Akira asked in confusion. He knew his friend well, and he didn't think she had the heart to do something like that.
"Well, I suppose this battle opened her eyes to the real dangers of the world. You all almost died, after all. Maybe she just wants to be stronger now," Yuki said with a sigh.
"I hope she's alright," Akira murmured, letting out a sigh of his own. The fight had been dangerous. He had managed thanks to the harsh training he received from his mother, but Erika had grown up almost like a normal girl. He could understand how traumatic it must have been for her.
"Relax. You did your best in that situation. You even used Stellar Radiance. If it had been me at your age, I wouldn't have handled it as well as you did," Yuki said, trying to cheer him up when she saw the sadness in his eyes.
"No, I still messed up in the end." Akira let out a long sigh. "What happened after I passed out? Did you guys save me? And my heart, what happened to it? I cannot feel it beating anymore." He asked in confusion. He knew his heart had been destroyed, and even though he was alive now, something felt wrong. His chest was unnervingly still, yet he was fine, confused by how that was even possible.
"Well, about that." Yuki folded her hands in her lap. "I have some bad news and more bad news. Which one do you want first?"
"What about good news?" Akira stared at her. "Isn't it usually good news and bad news?"
"I mean... that depends on your perspective, there might be some good ones, I guess.", she said with a smirk.
"Just give it to me straight." Akira groaned, but braced himself for whatever ever coming.
"First, you got lycanthropy", Yuki said with a smile.
"Wait, what? But he didn't bite me", Akira was more confused than shocked.
"Hoolay crushed your heart, you know. He's not just any werewolf, he comes from a powerful bloodline. Normally, even a single scratch from him is enough to infect a regular human. You could've resisted as a magician, but you were out cold and completely drained of mana, so maybe just bad luck?", Yuki explained.
"His name is Hoolay, seriously, that's his name", Akira asked in shock as he remembered that name from a game he played, about space travel, but he could be a different guy with the same name.
"Anyway, I can remove the curse if you want," she added, looking at him curiously, as if curious about his choice.
"What? No way! I just got werewolf powers! That's so cool, why would I give them up?" Akira said, eyes sparkling like a kid who just got a new toy.
"I had a feeling you'd say that. But you do realize the dangers, right? When a human is cursed with lycanthropy, they lose control and turn into a werewolf under a full moon," Yuki sighed, as if she had expected this.
"I mean, you can remove the curse any time, right? And if I can control it, I could transform into a werewolf whenever I want. It's just a curse, right? Every curse is like a virus, if we understand how it works, we can control it," Akira said confidently.
"But if you make a mistake, who knows what it could cause? There is a chance that it even spreads like a zombie virus if you tinker with it badly", Yuki cautioned him.
"How about it, you give me a week and I will get all its power without any of its adverse effects, and remove the curse myself, if I can't, you can remove it, just please give me a chance mother, please, please, pleaseeeee", Akira's begged to his mother like he wanted some ice cream or something, if it failed, he even planned to use 'puppy eyes persuasion' to defeat her.
"Sigh, Fine. I expected this anyway." She coughed lightly. "Now, about the next bad news. During the fight, your heart was destroyed. And now… You no longer have a heart."
"I know my heart got destroyed, but what do you mean I don't have it? Didn't you guys regenerate it?" Akira asked. But he realized his heart wasn't beating. "If I don't have a heart, what's keeping me alive?"
"A Sacred Gear."
"…Wait, a Sacred Gear? I have a Sacred Gear now?! Are you serious?", Akira was practically glowing with excitement. Sacred Gears, also known as God's Artifacts, were powerful abilities bestowed upon humans and human hybrids by the God of the Bible.
Ever since he discovered this world had High School DxD elements, he had always wanted one, and now, he finally got his wish.
"Is it a Longinus, but I never heard of a heart-shaped sacred before? Is it a new type? How does it work, what about its balance breaker….", Akira kept on bombarding his mother with questions. Honestly, it's really rare for Yuki to see him excited, too.
"Relax, calm down, I hate to break it to you, but it's not yours." Yuki dropped a bomb just like that.
"...Huh?" His grin froze, now he is more confused. "What do you mean it's not mine? Then whose is it?"
"It belongs to Erika."
He blinked. "What do you mean…"
The door burst open.
"AKIRA!!!"
Erika ran in with a worried expression. It seemed like she had rushed over the moment she heard he'd woken up. But as soon as their eyes met, her blue eyes turned crimson. She dropped to her knees, trembling, her face full of panic.
Bloodlust.
When a vampire doesn't drink blood for a while, they go on a rampage. Right now, Erika was in the early stages of that.
"Erika, are you alright… huh?" Akira got up from bed to see what was wrong, but something happened. His heart tried to do something, like sending a signal or maybe a command. Akira, being a powerful mage, resisted it, but it was still unsettling.
Yuki stood and said calmly, "Well… that's the next bad news."