"Wash yourself," Liiza ordered before Khan could get too close.
"[Liiza]," Khan pleaded, but Liiza's expression grew even angrier as she pointed at the waterfall a few meters in front of her.
Khan could only sigh and approach the falling water. He didn't need to ask what Liiza wanted to gain an idea of her intentions. She was experiencing the same annoyance that he had felt when she cut her palm open.
The waterfall washed Khan clean. Removing all the marks with simple water was difficult, but he made sure to scrub everything away. The entirety of his injuries slowly appeared in the open, and Liiza could see his state when he turned toward her.
Deep red marks covered Khan's front. They created a simple tribal-like tattoo engraved in his skin that went from his forehead and reached his toes. Each line that Liiza had drawn had transformed into injuries that could burn for days if left untreated, but Khan didn't seem to care about them at all.
Liiza's annoyance intensified when she saw Khan waiting for her angry outburst. He cared more about the incoming rebuke than his injuries, and she couldn't endure that sight for too long. She lowered her gaze, but her wounded palm appeared in her vision at that point.
An exasperated sigh came out of her mouth as she crouched to hide her head between her knees. Liiza felt incredibly angry about Khan's carelessness, but she couldn't blame him too much when she had done the same.
"[Liiza]," Khan whispered while coming out of the waterfall and nearing his girlfriend.
His wet feet mixed with the mud and became dirty again, but he barely noticed that. Liiza appeared really angry, angrier than she had ever been. It felt scary to know that he could make her like that.
"Is my mother right?" Liiza asked without raising her head. "Is our love toxic?"
"I have no idea," Khan sighed while diverting his gaze. "Does love have a general meaning? Would our species even share that meaning?"
"Did you wonder if we are good for each other?" Liiza asked while peeking past the white hair that had fallen above her face. "Look at you. My blood did that. I basically forced you to pick the [Blood Vortex]."
Khan reached Liiza and crouched before her. She hid her face behind her knees again, but her glowing eyes peeked at him when she heard his question.
"Do you think I would be better off without you?" Khan asked while wearing a loving smile.
Liiza froze as she reviewed Khan's life. He had nothing, and he couldn't even trust anyone. He had a few friends and a Master, but Martha was still in a coma as far as he knew, George was venting his trauma through booze and sex, and Lieutenant Dyester was in the same messed-up state.
Khan's best relationships existed among the Niqols, and that after being on Nitis for a bit less than three months. It was sad to consider his situation from that perspective. Still, it also felt quite lucky. Liiza couldn't even imagine what he would be willing to do without anyone relieving him from his darkest thoughts.
"I think you would be better without me after a while," Khan honestly revealed while moving her hair away from her half-hidden face. "I can imagine you mending your relationship with the Niqols through me and finding someone who isn't so broken."
Liiza had deep problems, especially among such a sentimental species, but she wasn't hopeless. Her quest toward mental peace didn't require a journey through the universe looking for the Nak. Ironically, she had started to experience traumas similar to those that afflicted Khan's mind only after his arrival on Nitis.
The speech made sense, at least in Khan's mind, but Liiza didn't hesitate to slap him again.
"Is that what you think of my feelings?" Liiza angrily shouted. "Do you think that my mana wants me to use you as a sort of potion?"
Liiza wanted to slap Khan again, but he grabbed her wrist before she could complete the attack. Liiza tried with her other hand, but Khan blocked her again. He had never stopped smiling since the beginning of their conversation, and his expression only radiated more affection now.
"If I'm better without you, you are better without me," Khan stated. "We have both been attracted to each other right away, so our reasons should be similar. Also, you have said that before me. Why am I the one getting slapped?"
"You let my blood hurt you," Liiza rebuked. "You deserve them."
"You hurt yourself for me first," Khan complained.
"You stabbed your own leg to resist my mother," Liiza added.
"You kissed me first," Khan announced proudly, "Which makes everything your fault."
"Paul would have a different opinion," Liiza smirked.
"I won't get to slap you then," Khan voiced a fake disappointed sigh, and Liiza couldn't suppress her laugh.
"You are an idiot," Liiza giggled.
"And you chose to be with me anyway," Khan shook his head. "I'm starting to doubt whether you are as smart as you think."
Liiza continued to laugh before wearing a warm smile when she saw Khan's eyes lingering on the cut on her palm. She couldn't remain angry at him when he was so concerned about her.
"We are a mess," Liiza sighed before pointing at Khan's hands with her eyes.
Khan understood the meaning behind her gesture and let her wrists go. Liiza carefully took his head in her hands, making sure to avoid the injuries that ran across his cheeks, before pulling him between her legs. She helped him turn so that he could sit in front of her without letting anything touch his wounds.
"Is being a mess bad?" Khan asked.
"I don't know," Liiza sighed before leaving a kiss on the back of his head. "I'm just a young girl in love."
"That makes me a younger boy in love," Khan replied.
"When do you become seventeen anyway?" Liiza asked one of the questions that had never come up in the past months.
Khan calculated in his mind before answering and wearing an awkward smile. "My birthday is a bit more than a month. It should match the beginning of the crisis. When's yours?"
"The month after yours," Liiza revealed, "Right in the middle of the crisis."
The two remained silent for a few seconds before exploding into a loud laugh. They weren't even sure about the reason behind that reaction, but they couldn't stop themselves.
"[I'm so glad we found each other]," Liiza whispered as she immersed her face in Khan's hair. "[I didn't believe I could be so happy]."
"[Thank you for saving me]," Khan said in a sweet tone while making himself comfortable between Liiza's leg. "[I love you]."
The two reacted almost instinctively to the Niqols language. Their eyes soon met, and their lips touched. Khan even began to turn, but Liiza suddenly stopped him by pushing on some of the spots on his chest that didn't have injuries.
"What am I doing?" Liiza scoffed. "No sex until you are healed. You even need to meditate to absorb the mana gathered with the [Blood Vortex]!"
"But we were so in the mood," Khan groaned.
"What mood?" Liiza scolded while making Khan turn and forcing him to sit between her legs again. "Mediate again before I slap you again!"
"The current generations also are quite kinky," Khan sighed dramatically.
Liiza laughed before nearing Khan's ear to whisper teasing words. "Finish quickly so that we can move to the kinky stuff."
Khan found himself inside the meditative state as soon as he heard those words. He began to move his mana as usual, making sure to expand it in areas of his body that remained unaffected by that energy.
Mana flowed out of his nape and generated painful sensations when Khan's flesh tried to oppose its expansion. Still, something peculiar happened when it touched the energy gathered through the [Blood Vortex].
Khan inspected that energy mixing with his mana and dispersing through his body without causing any backlash. His mana didn't even lose intensity. It seemed to condense the foreign energy before accepting it in his insides, but the training was smooth except for that.
The meditations mainly had two limits to how quickly they raised the attunement with mana. They caused pain that a soldier might be unable to endure, and they could only use the mana that the mana core released.
Khan had grown used to the pain rather quickly, but he still had to face the second limit. The other recruits and soldiers had access to the synthetic mana to quicken the process, but Doctor Parket had made him lose interest in that training method. However, the [Blood Vortex] could have the same effects and provide normal mana at the same time.
The higher amount of mana inside his body made him increase his attunement with mana faster than usual. Khan was unaware of his current level, but he knew that he had crossed the forty percent mark. He even believed it to be quite close to fifty percent but confirming it was troublesome without scanners or doctors.
The meditation right after the [Blood Vortex] went so well that the injuries caused by the Niqols' old method almost healed completely in a single session. Moreover, he remained astonished when he studied how much his mana had advanced and compared it to his regular training. He had obtained effects that were five to six times better than usual.
'I might become a first-level warrior during the crisis at this pace,' Khan thought as determination filled his mind.
Liiza had fallen asleep while Khan meditated. He found her lying on his back, with her head on his shoulder and her arms on his side. She had hold back from hugging him out of fear of touching his injuries even if she clearly wanted cuddles.
'I went through so much,' Khan sighed in his mind as he inspected Liiza's sleeping face. 'How can I even feel so lucky?'
Khan moved silently, making sure not to wake up Liiza. He turned and pointed his feet on the ground before sliding his arms behind her back and thighs.
Liiza didn't wake up when Khan lifted her softy. His warmth enveloped her, so she felt as if they were in their usual bed. He could bring her inside the cave and lay her on the blankets before reaching his robe nearby.
Liiza whined when she felt the warmth leaving her, and her eyes started to open, but Khan promptly caressed her cheek and left a kiss on her forehead.
"[I'll come back soon]," Khan promised.
"[You never do]," Liiza complained while showing a loving smile. "[Give me a kiss and try to hurry. It's cold without you]."
Khan smiled and kissed her before Liiza turned to the side to make it easier for him to leave her there. He moved to the waterfall while wearing his trousers, and the dull knife soon appeared in his grasp.
The weapon had many marks on its edges and center, but they didn't appear as often as before. Khan was getting better at the Divine Reaper. The perfect executions even caused far less damage to the null-grade knife, but it would eventually break anyway.
The Global Army had given Khan another null-grade knife, but he would use the first-grade once the daylight arrived. It was pointless to hide his power during a worldwide crisis, and fighting with a better weapon would allow him to avoid injuries when committing mistakes.
The main problem with the Divine Reaper was that Khan had never gotten the chance to blend it with the Lightning-demon style properly. He had found and learnt a few moves during his training, but he didn't perfect them in an actual battle. His instincts still relied mainly on his legs. He had to think to recall the knife, and that was a problem in a deadly situation.
The innately sharp first-grade knife would help while Khan developed a fighting style that relied on both his martial arts. Still, he had to make sure to approach the daylight with a decent proficiency level. He didn't dream about reaching the competent level so soon, but having a success rate in the perfect executions above eighty percent didn't sound bad. The problem was arriving at that level of expertise with only a bit more than a month left to train.
'Mastery beats unstable performances,' Khan repeated Lieutenant Dyester's words in his mind often while swinging his knife at the waterfall.
Khan completed his exercises for the Divine Reaper before moving to the Lightning-demon style. He didn't forget his foundation, and the competent proficiency level was nowhere close to the peak on the path to complete mastery, so he had to continue practicing.
The moves that fused the two martial arts came afterward. Khan repeated everything methodically before calling it a day. He had someone to warm up for the rest of the night, and he didn't know for how long he would be able to enjoy those moments.
