Chapter 94 - Hercules Method

The next day, Caum would eventually arrive on the mountain side with Grammi and her daughter, Brandish. Finding a rather extravagant mansion and soon the two went out from the carriage before leading Caelum to the mansion where Grammi was immediately recognized by the maid that were attending the garden. 

They immediately flocked towards them greeting Grammi since she had been gone for quite some time. The old maids were happy to see her and noticed how her daughter had grown from the last time they had seen them. Eventually, they noticed Caelum who had been quiet and surprised to see a rather tall and muscular man with their old friend.

"My my, did you finally get a new man?"

The old maid teased her by making Grammi blush a bit from the misunderstanding. Caelum saw this and find it rather adorable but decided to go along with it to tease her.

"You can call Caelum Mercer or Caelum which you prefer."

"It's nice to meet you, Caelum. We are counting on you to take care of our little Grammi."

"Sure sure. No need to worry. She's in good hands."

"Wait wait! It's a nice big misunderstanding."

Grammi couldn't take it anymore and jumped in trying to fix the misunderstanding, explaining how they met and were saved by Caelum along the way. They all grasped from the story telling her that they are glad that nothing bad happened to them. 

"Where is Lady Layla?"

She quickly asked when the opportunity arose and made everyone fall silent making her heart sink asking to lead her to Layla which the old maid happily did where Caelum followed them telling his reason for surprising everyone. He showed the quest giving confirmation and was soon guided to a room where upon opening the door would find a large victorian bed and a beautiful blonde woman in the bed where she looked pale yet didn't diminish her look in the slightest. 

"Lady Layla!"

Grammi shouted running towards her friend where the blonde woman, Layla turned to look and her eyes went wide seeing her friend arrive who quickly burst into tears apologizing for what she had done. Caelum walked closer with Brandish and found another young girl the same age as Brandish and looked exactly like Layla if she was younger. 

"Grammi, you don't need to apologize for anything. It was my decision, not yours. Why don't you sit down?"

She softly calmed down her friend who sat down close to her bedside while Layla looked around to see Caelum that made Layla smile.

"I can see that you went ahead and found a new man before me."

"Not you two!"

Layla giggled despite the pain it caused while Grammi complained before a smile was formed.

"Is this Brandish? She has grown. Well Lucy, why don't you introduce yourself and play with her a bit?"

Lucy nodded introducing herself to Brandish who did the same as she went outside to play leaving the adults in the room. Caelum had been listening and confused at Layla's statement about finding a new man concluding that her husband is likely dead and she's the only one taking care of lucy. Not to mention, his [ Harem Parameter ] told him the answers he needed. 

This factor always interferes in truly embracing what he desires, resulting in his alignment being disrupted and making it difficult to use the [ Almighty Magic ].

"This person right here is Caelum Mercer and the one who saved us while travelling."

"Oh my, I'm glad you didn't sustain any injury. I thank you, Sir Caelum, for saving my friend."

"No problem, I couldn't just ignore their scream for help can I?"

"He mentioned that he's here to heal you."

"Heal me? Can I still be saved?"

Layla couldn't let go of hope, refusing to leave her Daughter and her ancestor Anna, couldn't just take care of Lucy since her existence is extremely delicate and would bring trouble for Lucy.  

"Yes, However, I have to examine your body first."

Caelum said sensing a spatial distortion from her body that ruptures her soul and would likely not reincarnate if she were to die. Whatever, she did to open the Eclipse project it caused more than she initially thought and would have lived an endless loop. The [ Tensei Rinne-sharigan ] allowed him to see the energy fluctuating violently but didn't show any sign beside her depleting health. 

"I understand, I'll do anything for a chance to be with my daughter. I don't want her to live alone in this mansion."

Layla isn't worried about their wealth and knew that the people in her mansion were kind people that would take care of Lucy when she's gone but didn't want to just give up and accept her fate. Caelum smiled hearing her wish and desire having a will to refuse in giving up. The key in saving her life. 

"You're quite strong willed. A fine trait for a beautiful woman like you. I can see why you're friends with Grammi."

He complimented Layla making her smile, thanking him for his kind words and felt drawn to Caelum as her strangely heartbeat despite her weakening body. She asked what he needed to do and answered telling Layla to hold out her hands and she did as Caelum went to touch it. 

"This is going to feel strange but bare with it."

Layla nodded before Caelum spread his energy into her inspecting if there were any cracks in her soul making the blonde woman moan and became flustered, surprising Grammi who quickly asked if she was alright and Layla struggled but managed to say she was fine. Caelum didn't have to all of this but he wanted to be sure since it would be ashame if she suddenly died from his neglectances.

'Her soul is too damaged and there is a curse that is barely noticeable….'

He was able to see the space and time curse that was rapidly depleting her life forces. Norway, using one's life force only deplete a small amount and would stop depleting any further but for Layla it was killing her making weeks into days and years into months. She likely lived past a hundred but because of the curse it caused her to erode and die. 

'It seems I have to visit from time to time and ensure that she is perfectly healed but for now let's remove the curse and fix her.'

Caelum's only way of perfectly saving her is to nourish her soul via the [ Soul Warming Lotus ] and patch any spiritual wounds received from her curse. He peers through before grabbing a glitching and fluctuating energy then using [ Absolute Devourer Ammutseba ]. Caelum observed it using his Divine sense feeling a sense of familiarity before absorbing it without hesitation.

[ You have been cursed by Chronos ]

[ Cursed had been devoured ]

[ Space-Time had Energy been added ]

He paused feeling the energy churn within his Dantian that began to rapidly form a vortex violent spun the energy inside and used his [ Compression Art ] to hold a much of it as possible thanking a long time until he successful in stabilizing the energy where he'll cultivate and refine them later bringing back his attention to Layla.

[ Side Mission! (Accomplished) ]

[ Description: After using the Eclipse Gate that allowed the creation of a tunnel between the past and present had caused Layla Heartfilia to contract  the Magic Deficiency diseases. Heal Layla.

Rewards: 3 Random Rewards. 

Failure: Layla dies

Time Limit: 1 Year ] 

Caelum ignored the notification and kept healing Layla's soul thoroughly until he stopped since she started to feel uncomfortable from his action. He slowed her while Layla was panting and drenched in sweat that was wiped by Brandish. 

"What did you do to her?"

"There's a bit of things I discovered but everything is fine now. I've healed most of the damage from her body and just needs to be healed daily by me."

"Haa…you're saying that I'm cured?"

"More or less. I just need to heal you for a bit."

"How do you feel, Lady Layla."

"I told you to just call me Layla. As for how I feel, I….I feel a bit better and can breathe much easier than before…."

Layla thanked Caelum for saving her and so did Grammi feeling relieved that her close friend won't face any tragedy. 

"Well, I'll just head to the town and rent an inn-"

"Wait, if you're going to heal me, please stay here. We have plenty of spare rooms for you to stay."

Caelum was about to refuse but decided to accept and soon gave up. Layla asks if she can try standing up making Grammi try to stop her but Caelum confidently says that it would be fine since he restored nearly everything, only a part of her that is unnoticeable that needs healing. She was reluctant but helped her friend stand, taking a few minutes until Layla was on her feet and felt indebted to him who merely shrugged it off scratching the back of his head telling her that he was just doing his job. 

The three soon outside where the servant was shocked to see their head lady was standing and regaining her complexion. Everyone was in a cheerful mood making Layla laugh at them and smiling realizing how many people would grieve if she were to die and look at Caelum intent who had his arms cross notice her gaze gave him a wide grin. 

It filled her warmth, thankful for Caelum giving her another opportunity for life. The maids began to prepare a feast while Layla asked where his daughter was and pointed at the garden where they looked at the window and saw Lucy with Brandish playing with dolls. 

They went to surprise Lucy where they headed down into the garden when Layla called out for Lucy's name causing her to stop and look at her mother standing before her making her eyes to open wide. 

"MOOOMM!!"

She quickly ran out to her where Layla opened her arms giving Lucy a tight hug while tears began to fall from those two. Caelum was reminded of the time where he healed his mother and how he felt overwhelmed by emotion upon seeing them again. Grammi held Brandish who cried watching the two. 

Few minutes later, the two finish where Lucy thanked Caelum for saving her mother who only said to take good care of her from now on and received a determined nod. Layla and Lucy stayed with Grammit and Brandish to catch up while Caelum was guided by a butler to the guest room. 

He thanked the butler looking at a decent room and sat in the bed. Caelum quickly went to a lotus position trying to stabilize the energy advancing even further in the quality. He was just in the bottle neck because of the [ Compression Art ] reaching the level where it can't compress his energy anymore making the best thing he could do now was to settle the energy to be evenly distributed throughout her body. 

'Cereza can you show me what I got from the mission?'

[ Here you go, Darling. ]

[ You acquired Viltrumite Physiology ]

[ You acquired Saiyan Bloodline ]

[ You acquired Hercules Method ]

Caelum raises his brow in surprise seeing that he gains the famous Saiyan physiology believing that it would make him [ Primal Genesis Ki ] with better control and power while Viltrimite would be a fine addition to his physiology. He believes that having Saiyan and Viltrumite fused together with his Primarch race.  

'But I don't know what the Hercules Method, Cereza can you give tell me what it is?"

[ Give a moment, Here ]

[ Hercules Method ]

[ Description: Sometime during several millennium BC, Cain killed his younger brother (Abel) and discovered the mastery of the flesh through murder. His new-found knowledge from the event changed him drastically, and Cain began to see the world in a whole new light/way. As new perceptions were opened for Cain and he embarked on a new path of enlightenment in life.....he began documenting (simply at first, such as pictures and diagrams on parchment for example) what was to become known as "the method" which continued for apparent centuries.

Cain discovered an underlying and universal truth to life: we are all meat for the slaughter and that was basic human nature. Understanding of the human body (and anatomy), understanding of the way of life (human behavioral patterns and psyche), and ultimately understanding of how to end an individual's life any way possible (physically and as violently as possible), was eventually archived by Cain himself and passed down to others (through teachings) who would become his followers.

This methods allow the person to have perfect control over their body by Bringing The Body, Mind And Soul Into Alignment The Physical Enthusiast Can Bring Them Under Conscious Control ]