Healing

(A/N: The upper part of the novel is slightly dark and gruesome.)

"Keke~ Riittooo-chaaaan♪ Where do you think you are going?~"

Rito's breathing was heavy as he kept in running inside a dark space. There wasn't a shred of light in this strange place, but he felt in his heart that he was in danger.

He tried to access the system but no screen popped up. He suddenly felt a slight shiver and he barely had any courage left to look back.

He simply ran as the ghostly cackles called out to him again and again and again. To him, this voice was nothing more than a nightmare that continued to haunt him for so long. The effect of this voice was so much on his subconscious that it even followed him to his new life.

Whoosh

Rito suddenly felt something grabbing his legs as he fell down.

He looked towards his leg and found that it was one wrinkly old hand that sported off-white nails on the finger. There was a circular tattoo on the back of the wrist that had been slightly deformed because of the wrinkles.

The moment he looked at the hand, his body shivered unconsciously and he found that he wasn't wearing any clothes. A tonne load of pain suddenly wracked his mind and he felt various slash marks opening up in his body.

Alongside the slash marks, he saw burns of various degrees forming on his hands and his eyes started tearing up and he could only curl into a ball and tried to control his fear as the ghostly armed gripped on his legs tightly.

"No... please no!"

He immediately recalled his [Mind Reading] skill and used it.

To his pleasant surprise, he was able to affect this place and even the arm on his leg flickered.

But before he could feel relieved, a green light burst out of the arm and the whole nightmare stabilised once again!

Not only that, various visions became even clearer.

The body that was attached to the wrinkly arm started to form. Under Rito's fearful eyes, the arm slowly formed a wrinkly old woman that was quite obese. When she smiled at him, he could see her yellow teeth and her greasy hair was completely messy.

Not only that, under her gentle smile, Rito could feel that she was a predator, preying on Rito.

His old injuries on his body flared up slightly and his expression twisted.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He wanted to break through this hellhole and he suddenly felt something breaking inside of him. His mind started to see the true image as this was only a nightmare, but it couldn't control the thing and his whole body started to go berserk because of his subconscious will of breaking through.

He broke his limiter!

***

"AHHHH!"

Rito opened his bloodshot eyes and suddenly sat up from the bed. Immediately, he felt his mind exploding with the pain produced by his right arm while a feeling of extreme pleasure coursed through his body.

The extreme conflict of pain and pleasure racked his mind suddenly, causing him to hold his head tightly. But the moment he tried to move his right arm, the sensation increased exponentially and he felt like his mind would simply explode.

He wanted to ask for help, but he could barely grit his teeth as his eyes were almost rolled up and saliva had started to flow out of his mouth.

It was at this moment a warm sensation enveloped his head as his left arm, that was slowly inching towards his head, finally stopped.

"Shh... try to calm yourself. You are safe right now. Focus on my voice and slowly take deep breaths, alright. Just keep on listening to my voice."

A warm and gentle voice reached his ears as his body tensed up momentarily, but then, Rito started to adhere to her instructions. He tried his level best to simply hear the beautiful voice that saved him from his mental torture and started to take control of his body slowly.

He started with the pleasurable sensation in his body. The moment he thought of this, he actually felt a cool substance flowing throughout his body from inside his brain as he could completely suppress the side-effect of [Agony Lover]. Even though he was surprised, he did not overthink his situation and started to ignore his pain.

To his pleasant surprise, he was able to suppress his pain, too. Even though he still had injuries, it felt like he had taken a strong dosage of pain killers as he didn't feel anything.

"Good, you are very brave. Now slowly try to lay back down. You still have some time to heal."

Rito finally felt the warm hands rubbing his head as the gentle and mature voice soothed his mind.

He looked around from his squinted eyes and found that the location seemed slightly familiar.

"... Thank... you..."

Rito whispered slightly as he closed his eyes and laid back down with the help of the same pair of hands assisting him.

Meanwhile, Ryōko looked at the boy who had finally calmed down and then looked at his arm.

"It won't take more than fifteen minutes to heal the hand on the surface."

She muttered and placed her hand on Rito's forehead gently.

"Try and relax. I will wake you up once you are all healed up."

She spoke gently as she felt heartache for the little boy. All this time Rito had been muttering 'Sorry, please leave me alone!' or screaming out 'No!' again and again.

"This doesn't look like Tatsumaki's work at all. What the hell happened between both of them. And to be beaten down so harshly, was there a villain in the vicinity?"

Ryōko finally had second thoughts about the whole situation.

She thought for a while and placed her hand inside the pocket of her lab coat and took out a piece of black rock.

She placed the rock near Rito's pillow and finally sat back on her chair and she started to write some complicated stuff on a notepad.

"Including Eve, there have been many sightings of other extraterrestrials associated with dark organisations. Even though the Pro-Heroes are handling the situation, and with All Might getting healed up, the scene is finally balancing."

She muttered and looked outside the window.

"But it will only take a few years before everything changes once again!"

She looked at the peaceful society and felt that it was quite a pity to move to another planet once again.