d at me, her voice deforming again, “Well I can’t anymore, so run. It’s taking me over.”

I raised my hands, “You sure you’re not just letting it? Have you ever tried controlling it before?”

“Of course I have. I can’t do it. It runs over and spills out. I spill out.”

In the back of my mind, I found a flow of mana coming in from her mana crystal. It channeled her excess mana into my armor without any issues. Armed with that knowledge, I crossed my arms,

“There’s nothing spilling out. My armor’s handling it.”

Torix pressed the sides of his temples, “Althea, you’re telling me that your control of your own mana is so poor that just a normal amount overwhelms you? I’ve heard of mana devolution but never with someone owning Blood Magic. Have you never lived without sedation before?”

Althea’s eyes shifted in color, her voice a grating drone, “Not since my change.”

Torix dragged a hand down his face, “I suppose I shall contain it for you then. I do wish I could spend my time studying the runes instead, but, alas, you’ll devolve if I don’t contain you any longer.”

Knowing that added time to finding Michael and Kelsey, I stepped up, “Wait a minute. Let me handle it. I’ll keep her detained until she gets a grip. You just study the runes.”

Torix gave me the look of a skeptical librarian, “That’s quite the undertaking you’ve decided to take upon yourself. Aren’t you supposed to be leveling?”

Obliterator’s constraints changed my priorities, giving me some free time. Althea shivered as her arm finished deforming into a tendril of meat and sinews. I walked up with my fists clasping, “I have enough dungeon cores for what I need. I’m not trying to level up right now either. Just think of this like it’s training my combat skills.”

Torix eyed me up and down before giving me a slow nod, “If..If you are willing, I shall not refuse your good will. Do as you wish.”

He stepped over towards the runes, creating another mana chair. After erecting a barrier of energy around himself, he shouted, “Do let me know if she overwhelms you?”

“I will.”

Althea’s other arm trembled into a rack of spikes and bones. Skin split and blood gushed as it did, and she howled out in agony. She spread her arms, her mana overwhelming her. Althea roared before charging at me, pulling herself forward with engorged arms. I raised my hands, “You’ll get your senses back.”

I grimaced, “Whether I have to beat them into you or not.”