Chapter 114: Healing Exildra.
The chamber was silent.
Healers lined the edges of the room, their robes faintly glowing with prepared spells, yet none of them moved. Claude stood with his arms folded and jaw tight, while Henut watched with sharp, calculating eyes.
At the center of the room lay Exildra.
Her skin had lost most of its color. The cloth bandage around her ruined eye had already turned dark from the blood it had soaked earlier, though the healers had stabilized the wound as best they could.
Even so... the real battle wasn’t the injury.
It was what was inside her.
Bahamut knelt beside the bed. He inhaled slowly, steadying his breathing. In his left hand rested the pale white flower they had risked their lives to obtain. The Life Rose glowed softly, its petals releasing a faint warmth that spread across his palm like gentle sunlight.
His right hand hovered above Exildra’s chest.
For a mont, he didn’t move.
Then the system spoke in his mind.
[The Life Rose will serve as the catalyst.]
Bahamut nodded faintly.
He carefully placed the glowing flower against Exildra’s chest, resting it just below her collarbone, where the parasite’s corruption had been detected the strongest. The petals trembled faintly as they touched her skin.
Imdiately, the glow intensified. A faint pulse spread outward from the flower like ripples across still water.
The healers leaned forward slightly.
[Next step: establish a life-force conduit.]
Bahamut’s brow furrowed.
’How?’
The system answered plainly.
[You need deep contact to share life force.]
[I would suggest the best thod at the mont: kissing.]
Bahamut’s lips twitched faintly beneath his blindfold.
’Just assist ,’ he replied. He leaned closer to the unconscious girl. A few strands of her blonde hair had fallen across her face. He brushed them aside carefully, revealing her pale features.
For a mont, his hand paused there.
Then he exhaled slowly.
’Let’s do this.’
The system responded instantly.
[Initiating life-force channel guidance.]
Bahamut placed one hand lightly on the side of Exildra’s neck.
He leaned down, and their lips t. At first, nothing happened. Then the Life Rose flared. A burst of soft white light spread across Exildra’s chest, the petals slowly dissolving into streams of glowing energy that sank into her body.
Inside Bahamut’s mind, the system spoke calmly.
[Relax.]
[Do not resist.]
[Allow your life force to flow naturally.]
Bahamut felt it imdiately.
A strange warmth stirred deep inside his chest. It began moving outward, flowing through his body like a river breaking free of a dam. The sensation was overwhelming.
Life energy surged from him, pouring into Exildra through their contact.
The Life Rose acted as a bridge, amplifying the flow and guiding the energy toward the parasite buried inside her.
Suddenly, Exildra’s body jerked. Henut’s eyes sharpened. Claude stepped forward slightly.
Beneath the skin of Exildra’s chest, sothing writhed violently. A dark shadow squird under the surface like a trapped serpent.
The parasite. It reacted instantly to the invading life force. Inside her body, the ghoul’s corruption lashed out viciously, trying to consu the incoming energy.
But Bahamut’s life force was different. It carried the dense vitality of beast energy. Exildra’s body trembled violently on the bed as the parasite began to burn. The healers prepared their spells, ready to intervene if sothing went wrong.
But Bahamut didn’t move. He simply allowed the energy to flow. Inside his chest, the warmth grew stronger. It increased rapidly, growing so strong that it ford a blinding light barrier around them.
His breathing faltered as his life force was sucked rapidly. But that was the least of his problems. The ghoul parasite hadn’t been fully burned. It was still fighting back, and sensing his weakening pressure, it tried to enter him.
The world began spinning slowly around him. The system spoke again, its voice distant now.
[Life-force transfer reaching optimal threshold.]
[Parasite suppression: 50%]
[Aggressive parasite action! Comncing... ERROR!]
[Concept Interference!]
His body suddenly jerked as a dark green presence which was even visible to the spectators, attacked him.
"The parasite!" Henut exclaid in shock and fear. "It is changing hosts!"
Her hands glowed with a green light, but Bahamut raised his hand, stopping her from acting.
"I’m okay..." he said in a weak voice with his mouth still sealed on Exildra’s lips. His skin had turned pale...
Then sothing happened. A heavy pressure descended in the room, almost forcing everyone to their knees. A dark aura radiated from Bahamut, transforming into a shadowy being with long cow horns and deep violet eyes behind him. But that wasn’t all. Above him, a pair of eyes, red and bestial, stared down with a dangerous glare.
Everyone could feel its bloodthirsty malevolent glare, but it was directed at the parasite, which began shrieking in a shrill, sickening, loud voice. It was so unnerving and loud that so of the healers bled from their ears and collapsed.
The parasite had turned tangible now, a dark green slimy blob that shrieked so loud that even Sel and the others who were outside could hear it. Claude made to intercept it, a faint golden energy glowing around his fingers, but a glare from the two pairs of eyes stopped him. It was like they were saying, "You are weak. Step aside."
The parasite’s shrieks had gotten too loud when the dark, shadowy being with cow horns stretched a shadowy claw at it. It turned tangible and grabbed the slimy parasite, and squeezed it tight. The parasite let out one last, loud shriek and went silent.
The shadowy being disappeared afterwards, followed by the being above. The mont they disappeared, the heavy pressure also disappeared. The spectators heaved huge sighs of relief simultaneously, unaware of the breath they were holding in.
[Parasite suppression successful.]
[Host body beginning recovery.]
Bahamut barely heard it. The warmth draining from him suddenly beca a crushing emptiness. His strength vanished all at once.
The room tilted, and the last thing he felt was the faint pulse of Exildra’s heartbeat growing stronger beneath his hand.
Then... darkness swallowed his vision.
Bahamut collapsed beside the bed, unconscious. Claude and Henut rushed towards them at once. Green light encapsulated Bahamut imdiately.
They watched in awe as his pale expression rapidly gained color, while Exildra’s condition improved so fast that it was shocking that she was very close to dying or worse, transforming into a ghoul just monts ago.
"Just what in the four realms did we just witness?!" Claude was at a loss for words. It didn’t even take more than five minutes, but it felt like they’d been watching for days.
"We just witnessed the creation of a cure for ghoul infections..." Henut comnted silently. "This thing must stay a secret... to protect them. I know Exildra won’t have troubles with protection, but I doubt Bahamut would be the sa."
"Don’t worry. He’s our benefactor and most likely family. His relationship with Exildra is clear to all." Claude said with a chuckle and watery eyes.
"I’m relieved at that..."
...
Sel and the others exhaled softly when the weird cry stopped. They didn’t know what was happening but they all knew Bahamut had happened. It beca even clear when Elder Iset and Elder Silvia walked briskly into the room.
"He really did it.." Sel said with a chuckle and closed his eyes.
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