Healing

Turning back the clock…

Farhon was hit by the most greatest happiness, but complex anger also rolled into this weird package.

"What are you saying?" He held his head, both annoyed yet filled with joy about what he heard.

"Farhon, just-"

"No." It wasn't sure what they talked about, but there was definitely an overall tension to them.

There was a dark look in the man's eyes when he held her shoulders. Looking into her eyes, saying:

"We'll talk about this later."

Was all he said before leaving her to go check on his son. It made Garcia stand there… Conflicted.

She also went inside to check on him.

"How is he looking?" The voice of Farhon was heard in Steve's room. His voice was serious.

"Stable… He's not in any danger. It's just what people usually go through after their potential is awakened. You went through it too." Diana assured him that there was no need to think too much.

He'd be uncomfortable for a good while, but it'd also get him used to sudden charges in perception.

Improving his body and cognitive functions greatly.

"Thank you… For taking care of him." There was sincerity in Farhon's eyes when speaking to her.

Garcia watched their intimate interaction, but said nothing in response. Even if she didn't like all this.

She didn't want to accuse him of anything when there was nothing to prove anything about him cheating on her. The only thing she could do was wait for her partner to open up as he so desired.

Falling into the standards she herself once rebelled against in the past. Only since it was all she knew.

Moreover, she was ready to kill him if he did cheat.

Although she had left Drakeyol, it didn't mean she had no attachments or love for the Holy Doctrine.

The religion that believed only in monogamy.

Her devout parents had always stressed the roles and responsibility as a wife. Acting as a support.

Which made some amount of internal conflict.

Making her fall on the verge of lashing out at them.

They even trained her in only Healing Artes specifically so she'd grow into a matured woman.

Such bone deep teachings were hard to get rid of.

So she acted out her reason rather than feelings.

Regardless of what it meant to be a 'woman' and his 'wife', she would still be herself in the end.

If he didn't share the same feeling, it wasn't her fault. They'd already made wedding promises.

So she'd trust he'd follow them at the very least.

"Both of you can go. I'll take care of him." Garcia walked in and spoke words that surprised him.

"Why do you want that?" After hearing what she said to him earlier, Farhon was worried for Steve.

Unknowing if leaving them together would be right.

"Let's go." Ironically, it was Diana who trusted Garcia with taking care of the exhausted child.

Since they'd be going separate ways, she didn't wait for him at the door and left to do her job.

Hinting that Farhon should do the same.

"…" He looked at his wife for a long moment, then decided to put faith in the version of her he knew.

Garcia would never hurt a powerless child.

And right he was about her personality.

It was a little early, but any wife and mother of this world had to understand how to take care of kids.

Which included nursing these children in their foundation building period. Making a mind strong

She washed off his sweat when he was having a fever and routinely checked on his current health.

Doing her job to protect him regardless of how she felt. You couldn't choose your children, even if you could choose which child to dote on most… and which one should leave the nest when ready to go.

He wasn't independent enough yet. She couldn't do anything if he was so weak that he needed her.

At least, that's what she thought initially.

How could she have known what one outing could do to him? That letting him leave would hurt him?

Garcia's whole outlook had changed.

She brought him back to her home and sent the rest back too, with the only exception being Miliv.

The child's father had taken charge in tying her up.

Making sure she wouldn't escape.

"You don't blame me…?" Graid asked while he was restraining his corrupted child to her kitchen chair.

Using ropes she personally imbued with her Mana.

"…" Garcia couldn't answer that immediately.

Although she wasn't fully aware of the situation, it wasn't as if she wasn't aware of Graid's situation.

Like him, she had come into contact with Faustus City a number of times. It had changed her heart.

She couldn't see Demons as simply 'evil' anymore.

And knew the world wasn't all black and white.

When she heard the rest of the situation from him and about his 'son', his life became more pitiful.

And somehow similar to her own in some ways.

The only difference was that Graid had to deal with the problem, rather than live with the alienation.

He wanted Miliv to be back to his old self by today.

The silence continued as she checked Steve's condition and tried to use healing magic on him.

'Resting Sanctum' was spread out. An area-of-effect Holy Arte given to her by the Cleric Class.

This was coupled with the Light Arte of 'Dynamic Heal'. Boosting the healing factor of any patient.

The allrounder effect of Resting Sanctum and Dynamic Heal should've been enough to heal any internal damage. Only failing when the patient's regenerative function itself was heavily damaged.

Sweat dripped down Garcia's face.

She scanned him with an Arte again, and found that the problem was that Steve used up life force.

In order to fight without using magical energy, he'd tapped into the latent potential of his whole body.

Moreover, he kept on damaging and healing himself with Evil Mana… making her holy power less effective on him. The near instantaneous healing of Evil Mana was nice, but had a drawback.

Evil Mana was the power of ruination. All aspects and abilities under it 'ruined' something in users.

Right now, that was Steve's healing factor.

To heal himself instantly, he needed to burn away his ability to recover for a certain amount of time.

There was no doubt he took this risk unwillingly.

And there was no way it was done unknowingly.

Diana must have definitely told him about the power of ruination in their lessons. So why…?

The answer was behind her.

That child, Miliv, was strong. She'd not only injured her father, but forced Steve to take so many risks.

One wrong move would have killed him…!

"Please don't hurt him." Graid noticed the change in her expression and checked the boy himself.

Then seemed to figure out something from his condition, which mellowed out Garcia's anger.

She bottled her emotions and straightforwardly asked in a bland tone: "Can you fix him up?"

"Alone, it would be difficult… but this should work out if you're here." Graid didn't hesitate to answer.

But she wasn't going to believe him just yet.

There was a chance he was lying to save his own son. Even though doing that was useless here.

Once Farhon and Diana returned, there was no doubt the latter would attack him for Steve's sake.

That woman was less understanding than she was.

"Do you even know what condition he is in?" Garcia tested the waters to see if he was telling the truth.

And Graid didn't hesitate to ease her worries.

"Overusing my son's Evil Mana and drawing out his life force atrophying his insides. Your healing magic is working, but this is more similar to 'aging' than being injured. There's no 'normal' solution to deal with this." His words were completely accurate.

But that only made her more suspicious.

"If you know that, then what do you need me to do to heal him?" Garcia wanted her child to be safe.

"Growth correction." His reply sounded difficult.

"You want me to do what exactly?" She couldn't quite understand what he was getting at by this.

Graid pointed at the coil on his arm, then explained exactly what they were going to do in more detail.

From what she found out, the coil on his arm had several years worth of compressed Wood Mana inside. He had been saving it for an occasion where he would need a big Arte to escape his pursuers.

But seeing Steve's condition, and knowing that it was his fault… Graid decided to sacrifice it here.

Wood Mana touched on the concept of vitality rather than regeneration. It could probably renew broken organs and dulled senses, but wasn't that good at regenerating lost limbs or sicknesses.

Since vitality was similar to life force, releasing a high amount of it into Steve could heal him up.

The only problem was the density of Wood Mana.

He had no idea how much would be needed to reinvigorate the boy's body. Nor how to heal it.

So that would have to be left to Garcia.

Her role while he was sending his power would be circulate and correct the regeneration of his body.

After understanding their roles, Graid and Garcia immediately did the surgery before Farhon came.

Leaving Steve injured like this did no one any favours. They needed to heal him up here and now.

"I'll start." After laying him nicely on the table, Graid spoke while putting a hand on Steve's forehead.

The coil on his arm started to unlock.

He controlled the stream of vitality going down his arm and into the child. Ready to guide the power.

But something unexpected happened.

'Huh…?' Graid was shocked when he felt a lack of any excess power leaking out. It felt so restricted.

The more power he guided into Steve, the more he became aware of the mystery of the boy's body.

'These are… Artes Lines?' Graid had a hard time believing what he was seeing. It was too absurd.

Wasn't he too young to have created them?

Moreover, what was this density?

Normally, Artes Lines were created like branches in order to hold and release magic outside the body.

But this was different.

The Artes Lines that Steve created has become a blanket covering his body. Keeping all things inside.

This included the Wood Mana he was sending in.

Making the effect even stronger within him.

Graid wondered if this was why Steve was able to take on the healing effects of Evil Mana so easily.

He quickly threw out his distracted thoughts.

'I need to focus.' Graid concentrated and adapted his flow of energy, but the situation had changed.

Once opened, the coil wouldn't stop expelling the stored energy… until all of it had been emptied out.

He tried to move his hand away, but even a small alteration in guidance altered the wooden table.

Causing a small branch to grow out of the edge.

'How is Garcia doing?' Graid looked towards the woman who had been doing most the heavy lifting.

She didn't seem to be as tired as he'd expected.

Almost like Steve's body was correcting its own growth even without the guidance of Garcia.

Steve's body glowed as the density of Wood Mana went over what was supposed to used to heal him.

'What will happen now…?' Graid didn't know himself. He'd never heard of this kind of situation.

The only thing he could do was watch as the power he sent was endlessly being swallowed into him.

As if the boy was an empty lake.

As there was no Base Quality for the Wood Mana to attach to, it could only over-vitalise Steve's body.

A state that was worse than being injured.

'Over Healing' existed in all forms of Healing Artes and could do permanent damage to an opponent.

Wood Mana type Over Healing was the Arte to injure the vitality of an opponent. Breaking them.

The exact opposite of what they were intending.

'I should not have rushed.' Things wouldn't be this bad if he had checked the circumstances first.

Graid's mind was faltering, not knowing what to do.

Beads of sweat fell down his face from fear. He knew Farhon would never forgive him for this.

It was at that moment the Wood Mana seemed to have been magnetised in a certain direction.

'It… is altering him innately. Why? How is this even happening?' Graid felt an unknown force at work.

That external influence was changing the direction of the Mana from healing to improving the body.

Planting seeds within the boy's physical potential.

After a long while, the Wood Mana he sent fully vanished within Steve. As if it was never there.

Colour had returned to the boy's skin…