Aether had channels that it could flow through like blood does through vessels.
But unlike blood, Aether could leave the body safely if it wasn't forcibly pulled out of the channels lining the entire body due to something like the Gravitator's core.
There was just the problem of supply.
'This is taking more out of me than I thought.'
Warding was by no means an easy thing to do as evidenced by the super low percentage of people able to ward in the first place. and of the few that were able to do it in the first place, they A, either didn't have the skills to do it toolless, or B, didn't have enough Aether to supply the maintenance of wards.
This case was the latter one.
Feeling the Aether within his body drain as it supplied the weakly flickering wards floating above the black tar in the soon to be Corrupted's chest, Ester frowned.
"Eva, battery me."
[S-Say Ahhhh.]
Ester glanced upwards at the smug looking Eva.
"I dislike you you know that?"
[Say Ahhh.]
"...Ahhhh."
[Good e-enough.]
Knowing damn well that Eva was grinning at his situation as she placed the battery looted from his arm in between his teeth, he shot the slum rat a look.
"If you shell anyone shabout this..."
Hurriedly nodding at the not so subtle threat, Ester, now mollified, sucked the Aether out of the battery placed between his teeth.
It wasn't the most efficient way of going about things but there really weren't that many choices.
And they ere on a time crunch after all.
Directing the energy down his throat, through his heart and then to his hands, the weak flickering light emanating from his fingertips disappeared, replaced by a steady flow of soft blue light.
Stasis, Enhance, Regulate Aether, Purify Aether, Death to Bacteria, Ambient, Gather.
Drawing curved line after curved line with newfound efficacy, the wards strobed with blue light, unleashing their effects upon completion.
Finishing the final Restriction ward with a flourish of his finger, Ester pulled the battery out of his mouth.
Eyeing the ward scheme slowly set in around the torso area, blue light strobed over the half man's chest as the numerous wards within unleashed their effects.
Aether rippling within the ward zone, the black tar creeping on his chest at a pace visible to the naked eye pressed against its cage, unable to go forwards by even a milimeter.
'But it's just treating the symptoms without treating the source.'
The black tar signaling the beginning of Corruption might've stopped here for now, but it was like cancer with a 200% mortality rate, needlessly persistent.
And considering that the removal of Corruption was needed for Velux's big bro to survive, they were still far from their goal.
"I have the curse you asked for."
Looking up at Velux's voice, Ester soon locked eyes with the bloated, furry and weirdly adorable blob currently locked in a cage made from a shoulder guard and a hand.
He didn't recognize the exact specimen of this moving ball of slime since this place was a breeding ground of new diseases.
But from how bloated it was, Ester could tell that it was on the verge of splitting into another slime ball.
And by the looks of the subtle discoloration separating the bloated thing in two halves, it was a new strain of body ruining bacteria.
That fact wasn't as important as the fact that two cores able to cycle Aether were now being created.
'Two is always better than one... Unless it's a Corrupted.'
"You did good."
Taking the trapped slime ball from the kid, Velux carefully prodded.
"Um... What are you going to do with those curses... mister?"
Pausing at the strangely polite tone, Ester glanced at Velux and noticed his gaze locked onto his grey hair.
'Ah.'
Once again realizing what a reputation that the Gravesmith had left behind, he held the cage over the black tar as Eva reached over to tap at the ward surrounding the black tar.
"What else do you think?" Ester said as he watched Eva let blue light filter out of her fingers, carving a hole in the ward surrounding the Corruption.
"We're taking the Corruption out of your big bro."
Instantly withdrawing her fingers as a black tendril swiftly lashed out at the place where her hand was, it slowly slithered back when its target of attack wasn't found.
Bubbling at the mouth of the hole as it chewed at the protections, before it could get that far in breaking apart the ward, Ester brought the cage towards the mouth of the hole.
*Snap!
It was a very effective distraction.
A bit too effective.
Hurriedly steadying his arm as the black tendrils attempted to pull the cage closer to the half man half corpses chest, Ester called out to Eva.
"A little help here?!"
[How a-about you say-] "How about you stop trying to extort me and help me!?"
Glaring at Eva, what remained of her face formed a smug look as she grabbed the cage by the twisted wrist piece, preventing it from falling into the black tar now
Because why would it stick to a body that was hindering its efforts in corruption when two new bodies were waiting for it?
Not that it was going to be abandoning the body it was birthed in anytime soon due to being the greedy little shit it was.
Which was why Ester was now going to encourage the Corruption out of the body.
"Don't panic about what I'm going to do next otherwise your big bro will die for realsies okay?"
Looking at the slum rat hurriedly nodding his head as if he was trying to shake it off, Ester bit onto the Aether battery and punched his big bro in the side.
"Wha-!?"
Instinctively raising a hand to try and stop him, Ester shot Velux a look, freezing him in place.
Seeing that Velux wasn't moving, Ester punched his big brother again, eliciting a twitch from him.
Feeling a pinch of pity for the kid who had no idea what was happening, Eva's voice box crackled.
[V-Velux.]
Velux's teary eyes turned to look at Eva.
[S-stop looking a-at what E-Ester is doing a-and l-look at where he-he punched.]
Following what she said, he blinked in confusion.
"The Corruption's... moving?"
Staring at the places where Ester had punched his big bro, distinctly fist shaped patches of skin devoid of the black tar formed.
Staring blankly as Ester continued to punch his big bro, Velux's eyes widened when he spotted the black tar slowly trying to fill back in the spaces it was just forced out of.
"The Corruption-!"
"Hyust wait"
Interrupting Velux, Ester took in an Aether plus Pollutant filled breath as he brought his finger down.
Dragging his finger over the ward, it cut through the Restriction ward, forcefully shrinking the size of the area the Corruption was able to play around with.
Repeating these actions several times underneath Velux's complicated gaze, eventually the black tar was limited to just the area where Eva had cut out the initial hole.
And what of the Corruption that previously filled the Half corpse's body since it couldn't just disappear?
Well it was currently entangled with the two curses currently being held up in Eva's hands.
Unleashing a final punch to the twitching body underneath a teary gaze, the Corruption that was surprised at the bodies surprising resistance to its intrusion turned to the path of least resistance.
Final strand of black tar slithering off through the crevices of the cage as it tried to consume the two curses currently struggling against the antithesis of Aether, Eva's mechanical voice pierced through the din of several creatures still slamming on the door.
[M-Mind helping your very t-tired about to k-kill someone (Preferably herself) S-sister.]
"I'm going to ignore that last part and just choose to help you."
Sucking in some more Aether and lung destroying pollution, Ester firmly grasped the ward scheme still flickering over the now breathing chest.
Ignoring the sound of his skin cracking from the amount of Aether instantaneously surging through the channels, Ester deftly twisted the ward around the cage currently engulfing the corruption.
Smoothing the rough edges created during the transfer, with a final flick of the wrist that locked the wards securely into place, Eva could finally place the cage down on the ground with a hiss of relief, rubbing her sore arms in the process.
"Nyot dun hyet."
Ester pointed at the man wheezing out a choked breath every now and then.
"Hwe still hyave to fix yhis."
Eva glared at Ester before letting out a hiss of resignation.
[L-Let's get this o-over with.]
---
25 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER FIRST FIRED ITS FLAMES
13 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER FIRED ITS FLAMES THE SECOND TIME
13 DAYS SINCE THE CORRUPTED OF C-POINT BEGAN 'HER' HUNT
+++
Tree that got into the university that they wanted with a 50% scholarship.
Bloody hell.
(Tree that's also trying to get back to normal schedule)