MaeveMcCarthy
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Chapter XLVIII
🕑 Added 2023-12-10 19:52:37 +0000 UTC“What?” The [Healer], a grizzled man with scars and gray blisters over his face from years of involvement in the frontlines, looked Gentiliana right in the eyes and then skeptically at the tall girl by her side. “She’s what?” His tone mixed disbelief with a hint of mockery as if he had heard one too many false claims in these desperate times.
“She can clear the plague,” Gentiliana stated firmly, her voice cutting through the tense air in the tent. She turned to her niece, her expression softening. “Aurora, darling, would you mind showing them?”
They were gathered in a tent that, until a few minutes ago, had been filled with the rasping breaths and fevered moans of sick children. Lily had already healed a couple dozen of them, an act that had nearly drained her Mana reserves; Gentiliana, however, had quickly offered her a small vial whose liquid glowed with a blueish hue.
With her Mana replenished, Lily stepped forward, extending a hand to the middle-aged [Healer]. The man, still sporting a look of disbelief and annoyance, hesitated. His eyes flickered to the children on the cots around them, some of whom had started to stir, showing signs of recovery beyond what his years of experience had taught him and, most importantly, the complete disappearance of the gray buboes.
“Alright,” he said finally, his voice edged with challenge as he took the girl’s hand. “So, what—”
In that moment, Lily activated her skills.
[Death Touch]
[Lesser Mandala of Eradication]
A subtle glow enveloped her hand, and almost instantly, the small blisters dotting the man’s arms and face began to flake away, turning into dust before the very eyes of everyone present.
The man’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief, his mouth agape as he frantically examined his skin, now clear of the plague’s deadly marks. A stunned silence fell over the tent, the weight of the moment palpable. The other [Healers] and [Templars], who, until that moment, had been watching with folded arms and skeptical eyes, now looked on in utter amazement. Whispers began to ripple through the tent as they realized the impossible had just been achieved.
One of the younger [Healers], a woman who had seen too much suffering for her years, stepped forward, her eyes glistening with a mix of hope and incredulity. “How... how is this possible?” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else.
The [Templars], trained to maintain their composure in the face of the extraordinary, exchanged glances, their stoicism faltering. Even they, who had stood guard over the sickest, could not hide their surprise. A young girl, seemingly unremarkable in the grand scheme of their war against this plague, had just done what no potion, prayer, or procedure had been able to achieve.
As the reality of what they had witnessed settled in, the tent that had been filled with doubt and despair moments ago now buzzed with a new, tentative sense of hope. Gentiliana, observing the shift in the room, allowed herself a small, knowing smile.
“We should start setting up a new tent,” Lily said. “I can only heal one person at once. First, I’ll clear every one of you from the disease and run checks after to see whether re-infection is a concern. Then, we’ll start triaging.”
…
“My goodness, child, you have grown so much,” Gentiliana hugged Lily tight to her bosom, almost squishing her to death as yet another patient walked out of the tent, healed. “Your Mana control is incredible.”
“Thank you,” Lily said, trapped in her anaconda-like embrace. She was now a good twenty centimeters taller than her aunt, but the older woman was no less imposing than she had been when Lily was three years old.
Gentiliana, switching from a hug to wrapping an arm around Lily's shoulder, led the way to the outside of the tent. All the [Healers] and [Templars] had been immediately cleared of the disease to make sure they could work at their best, and everyone smiled at the scrawny blonde girl, knowing it had been her that saved their lives.
However, what most caught her attention were two burly guards she had never seen before standing at attention in front of them.
“They are Rafael and Daneium, darling, your guards,” Gentiliana said. “They will keep you safe—they have been working for our family for generations.”
“Thank you,” Lily smiled, looking at the two men. “We might need a few more [Templars], too. People won’t believe or know that we can heal people now. We need to get the word out.”
“Let’s go parade you around then,” Gentiliana nodded.
The older woman felt guilty for putting this much work on her niece’s shoulder, asking her to effectively parade around the city to make sure everyone knew there was hope now.
Lily nodded, feeling a pang of worry in her stomach.
[Cardinal] Atticus has most likely already heard of this. The [Pope], too.
There was no way she could just heal tens of thousands of people and not get her presence leaked to the high spheres of the clergy. She might as well not even try to hide it anymore. That’s why she was wearing all the garments Lumius had gifted her years ago—as the boy had said, they had stretched magically to accommodate her new growth spurt.
Even though she was twelve, she stood at 175 cm tall.
The two burly guards took up positions on either side of the young girl, effectively shielding her from any potential threats. Behind them stood a small cordon of [Templars] who had been brought along just in case things got heated. Rafael and Daneium continuously scanned the surroundings as they made their through the place, their hands never far from the hilts of their weapons.
Gentiliana's voice dropped to a whisper, "It's gotten even worse. [Merchants] refuse to sell their wares to the Church now. We are experiencing a reduced food supply outside of here—the rest of the city is beginning to go through a famine.”
Lily walked slowly and nodded, her mind racing as she thought about the best way to tackle this. Was [Death Touch] going to be enough to really build immunity? Would they allow the healed ones to get out of the slums once she cleared them?
This is a nightmare. It would be ideal if they just let me stay at the main entrance of the wall and let people out as I healed them. But no one’s going to trust me with that.
She had already asked.
…
As soon as they started approaching the poorest part of the slums, where the most diffident people resided – those who weren’t willing to believe someone had come to cure them – she felt a physical barrier of stench hit her right across the face.
The whole atmosphere shifted.
Everything reeked of all kinds of bodily odors. The dead on the ground were just strewn all about without any care in the world—and most didn’t look fresh. As for the living, people lay sprawled wherever there was space—on the edges of roads, in alleyways, and even upon makeshift beds in the middle of the street. Their eyes darted towards the group, looking for something... not hope, not peace... just something.
Tattered cloth banners hung from the upper floors of buildings, scribbled with prayers, pleas for help, and sometimes, just a name — perhaps a way for families to find each other, or more grimly, a marker for where a loved one had last been seen.
“We need to burn them,” Lily said to Gentiliana. “If the disease is what I think it is... we can’t have water and food supplies get contaminated by the corpses. Have the [Templars] round the bodies up into carts and bring them to the largest square there is here.”
“Darling,” Gentiliana said with a frown, “they won’t be happy touching the dead. Some [Templars] have gotten infected because they had to break up mobs and stop thieves and murderers.”
“Tell them they can come to my tent every night for a check-up. All those I’ve already healed should be clear for the future—they should develop a resistance to the disease. But I can always double-check every night to placate their fears.”
“That is... very wise,” Gentiliana nodded after a moment of hesitation.
Lily’s gaze swept over the wretched scene before her, the sight of suffering etched into every face and corner of the slums. The men and women who lay sprawled across the squalid streets looked up at her with eyes that had long since lost the light of hope. They were people who had been forgotten by the world, now reduced to mere shells of their former selves, waiting for the inevitable grasp of death.
As Lily stepped closer, a palpable tension hung in the air. The distrust and fear were evident in the wary glances thrown her way. Skepticism was written all over their faces, a natural response to countless disappointments and false promises of salvation. They had been let down too many times to believe in miracles anymore.
Among them laid a man by the side of the road, his breaths shallow and labored. His eyes, clouded with pain and resignation, briefly met Lily's before flickering away, as if afraid to hold on to the glimmer of hope she represented. Gray blisters marked his skin all over, ravaging his body.
Lily’s heart ached at the sight, but her resolve did not waver. She knew what she had to do. Approaching the man, she knelt beside him, her presence drawing the attention of the onlookers. Murmurs began to rise among the crowd of onlookers.
She placed a hand on the side of the man’s neck, feeling the faint beating of his heart as it was about to be extinguished. Her skills flashed softly; their flashy display muted by the amulet at her neck. Soon, all the blisters disappeared and only some minor wounds remained on the man’s body.
[*Ding!* Skill – Death Touch level 52!]
“Auntie,” Lily nodded at Gentiliana, taking a step back and letting the shorter woman do her thing. Soon, the man’s face was rosy again, and his breath steady.
“You can find us in St. Cassandra’s square!” Lily shouted. “We have a tent set up and we are triaging for the sickest cases! We can heal this!”
As they moved away from the man on the side of the road who was slowly coming to his senses, many approached him with wide eyes, noticing that the buboes that had riddled him were gone now.
In that moment, hope infiltrated the slums again.
And it had a name.
“She’s Aurora Claudia,” Gentiliana told them. “The daughter of Lucianus Claudius—and she’ll be the best [Healer] any one of you will ever meet.”
…
Every few meters now, after healing that man, groups of people or lone souls would reach out to the guards or Gentiliana. Some begged for food, others whispered prayers, and still others simply held out their arms, showing off the dark, swollen blots that marked them as infected, hoping to be touched by Lily. Each time they passed someone with clear symptoms, the guards would make a mark on a piece of parchment—a grim tally of the afflicted.
As they approached a larger square, the cries and moans grew louder. A smaller makeshift tent had been set up in the middle, following Lily’s orders. The [Healers] and [Alchemists], distinguishable by their cloths wrapped around their mouths and noses, moved frantically between patients. Boiling pots of water sat atop open fires, and various medicinal herbs lay scattered around.
A healer, noticing their approach, jogged over. "Lady Gentiliana," she bowed slightly, her voice muffled by her makeshift mask. "We weren't expecting you back so soon."
Gentiliana nodded, "It’s time to get to work. Have you set up an examination table in the tent?”
“Yes, milady.”
“Good, Aurora?” Gentiliana checked that her niece was ready.
“Let’s go,” the younger girl replied.
...
Lily found herself alone in a tent, waiting. She had been waiting for the triage to really kick in. But then, the muffled cry of a child pierced the heavy air. She opened the flap of the tent.
A woman, barely more than a skeletal frame, approached her, her cheeks streaked with dry tears—she had probably cried herself to the point of dehydration. She held out a tiny bundle, wrapped in a soiled blanket. "Please," her voice rasped, "help my baby."
Rafael, who had immediately appeared beside Lily, gently took the bundle, checking the infant and offering the mother a comforting word.
Daneium cleared his throat, the scenes visibly affecting even the hardened guard. "Miss Aurora?”
“Please bring the child inside the tent. There are not that many people yet. Miss, please, wait here.”
The woman, not even paying attention to the fact that such a young girl was talking to her and taking care of the baby, simply sat on the ground with a catatonic gaze.
Damn it, Lily swore internally, gesturing for the [Guard] to bring the baby with her.
“Put it on the table and bring me a piece of parchment, a pen, and my godmother.”
“Miss Aurora, maybe you should—”
“I said,” Lily snapped, “get me all these things and leave the baby! There’s no more time to waste!”
The [Guards] looked at each other and nodded. Rafael gently placed the baby on the examination table someone had scrounged up for her and went out.
She pored over the bundle and gently opened it, finding a barely breathing baby with swollen gray blotches covering his face and limbs.
She gently placed her hand on the baby’s chest and took a deep breath, tenderly touching it.
If the pathogen is Yersinia Pestis, or something close to it, I need to focus on the bacteria’s cell walls. I don’t know if the Necromonarchy made a magical version of it, but this is my best guess. So, let’s focus on the parts of the [Lesser Mandala of Eradication] I made to kill bacteria.
She needed all the Mana she could spare. Even with her talent, it wasn’t enough to let her run her spells inefficiently hundreds of times a day.
She visualized the mandala in her head, imagining the magic latching onto the structural components of the cell walls, making them brittle. Unlike with Brother Hadrian, she had to be much more precise. The bacterial cell walls could become unstable once her magic got to this degree of detail: the bacteria would be unable to withstand their internal pressures, but... they'd rupture.
And she couldn't stop there.
The child's immune system might have still been overwhelmed by the remnants of the dead bacteria, causing a sepsis. So, she imagined her magic encapsulating these dead cells and dissolving them completely.
She prayed that Death Magic would be enough.
She felt much less magic than usual going into the spell, and she muttered a silent prayer to no god in particular.
...
A minute and a supplementary healing spell from Lily’s aunt later, a strong and healthy child’s cry, as if it had just been reborn, erupted from the tent.
[*Ding!*Skill – Death Magic level 52!]
[*Ding!*Skill – Death Touch level 53!]
[*Ding!* Adjunct Skill – Lesser Mandala of Eradication level 21!]
...
The sickly, malnourished woman hugged her now seemingly healthy child while crying profusely, sobbing, bawling, and screaming praises to the Lord. Lily watched in silence from the edge of the tent as all [Healers] in the camp looked at the barely twelve-year-old who had just performed yet another miracle.
It was beyond them how this could be possible. How could one so young succeed where everyone else had failed?
“Aurora,” Gentiliana looked incredulously at the young child in his mother’s embrace. “Is he ok?”
“Yes. Do use [Major Healing] on him to make sure that all his organs are okay, but he’s disease-free for sure.”
“Miss,” Lily talked to the woman after, “please, follow me into the tent with your child. I’ll run my skill on you as well.”
...
Lily looked at the [Healers] who had lined up in front of her. One was currently attending to the woman and the child, giving the mother water and food to make sure she could produce more milk for her newborn. Starvation, otherwise, would have killed both. Thanks to the normal [Healers], the woman, albeit still quite skeletal, was already looking much better.
The disorganization of the camp had irritated her, and now, she stood outside of the tent, with all the [Healers] and [Templars] gathered around her.
“Hi,” Lily cleared her voice, “I don’t have a class, so my Mana reserves are small. I can’t teach you the skill, or I would have already done that. That’s why I will need your help to make this work. We’ll start by triaging, as I’ve already said: first, we’ll cure everyone in a near-death condition. Then, everyone else. The ones that are showing signs of infection but are still healthy should be employed as searchers for the sickest ones—we need people going inside the buildings as well. Many might be laying there, half-dead. If someone’s unable to move... we’ll see. I might have to go there personally.”
“Miss Aurora,” Raphael, the [Guard], spoke from the side. “I don’t think you should move from here. There are too many desperate people who might try something.”
“I understand your concern,” Aurora nodded. “There are [Templars] around, right? As I’ve already told my aunt, tell—no, order them to build field stretchers to help carry the ones closest to death to me. As soon as I’m done, the sick will be taken to the other [Healers]. We still don’t know for sure whether they might re-infect or not. I suggest dividing them from the rest of the populace and placing them under a preventive quarantine in an isolated spot. Questions?”
“Aurora, I’ve already sent word to [Cardinal] Atticus,” Gentiliana said. “He’s sending the best Mana potions we have and said he wants to speak to you as soon as you can.”
“There are lives to save,” Lily said gravely. “Tell him I’m glad he sent the potions, but he’s not my priority.”
...
Lily was sitting on the ground in the tent, waiting for the [Healers] to finish gathering people. She had [Meditation] active and was fully immersed in the wild sensation of the first step of the [Seven Worlds of the Soul]. She was still in the same environment as before—the black mountains marred by the howling wind. However, after gaining more levels in [Meditation], she managed to move around even more. Now, she was sitting atop the cliff where the Ouroboros had once rested, in the most uncomfortable spot, trying to keep her mind free from everything.
The one benefit of meditation that the [Monks] seemed to ignore was the rather scaryincrease in Mana and Health regeneration. At level 100, she was regenerating Mana at roughly five times the normal rate by her math. The downside was that she couldn’t move, and she was almost completely unresponsive while the skill was active.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes.
“Aurora, the next patient is here.”
“Send them in,” Lily got up and brushed the dust off her dress.
[Templars] brought a man who was barely breathing. They left him on the examination table with the stretcher and just stared at Lily.
She placed her hands on the man and immediately activated her skill. She visualized the same process she had used for the child and soon, the pale man regained color and his breathing stabilized.
[*Ding!* Adjunct Skill – Lesser Mandala of Eradication level 22!]
“Next!” She shouted and the [Templars] came to replace this man with another one. This one, however, was not breathing.
Lily examined him briefly before flinching.
“He’s dead!” She cringed, feeling her throat constrict.
But the quiet [Templars] took the man out and brought another one immediately.
In this concert of death and pain, there was no time for an intermission.
...
After around a dozen of extremely sick patients had been restored to health, Lily was pleased by the increased potency and efficiency of her leveling skills, but she was almost tapped out. She had told her aides to wait outside and not disturb her.
She was, again, meditating.
And soon, that became her routine.
[Meditation], at its current level, didn’t act as a complete substitute of sleep, but it was more than enough for Lily to simply keep healing all around the clock. Sleep was a luxury she couldn’t afford unless she wanted more and more people to die.
She only paused to either drink one of the expensive potions that the [Cardinal] apparently sent her way, or to meditate. Otherwise, only asking for food or taking a quick bathroom break would interrupt her. Anything else was superfluous. She had even meditated on getting a bucket for her bodily needs, but that had seemed one step too far when the latrine was barely thirty steps away from her tent.
The grim truth, after a whole forty-eight hours had passed, was that there were simply too many people. Lily’s Mana reserves had been strained time and time again. Now, she could feel her reserves expanding in response to this great stressor factor, but she could also feel her stomach refusing to get any more food or water down. A terrible nausea had assaulted her and didn’t want to relent.
That’s when she asked for the bucket.
But vomiting and Mana problems were not her biggest concern yet.
Something had happened throughout the city.
A fickle candle of hope had been lit in the vast, bleak darkness that had surrounded all the apartments. And now, with hope rekindling despair and fear for one’s life, a great mob was making its way toward the make-shift clinic.
...
Lily heard many angry shouts but ignored them, thinking that someone was probably complaining about the triage system. It was, after all, the [Templars]’ duty to take care of it. However, as time passed and the crowd’s noise only became louder, she finally got out of the tent. A veritable wall of sound assaulted her, and she saw barely a handful of [Templars] trying to contain hundreds, hell, perhaps thousands of angry people, most with gray eruption over their faces or arms.
“In the name of the God of Light, [ORDER]!”
[Templars] had started shouting crowd-control skills, but the people, sickened and desperate beyond belief, started throwing things. There were basically no fighter-classers in the crowd, and most people were too low-level to do any damage to a bona fide [Templar] in full-armor, but it was enough to threaten [Healers] with low stats in the physical department. Initially, at least, they were only throwing harmless utensils, like a spatula, a piece of rotten meat, or some eggs.
However, the chant that started a few moments later didn’t promise anything good.
“Heal us! Heal us! Heal us!”
It was a death-march-like chant that they were praying or, based on interpretation, threateningwith. Soon, the cacophony rose to a fever pitch, drowning out all reason and rationale.
Lily's heart raced as her eyes darted back and forth.
I can protect myself, but...
She had exchanged a lot of knowledge with Hadrian, revealing essentially all she knew about medicine, biology, and anatomy... and her training with him had made her hard to get and even harder to kill.
She swallowed, hoping that things wouldn’t take a turn for the worst, that somehow, the situation could still be resolved without casualties.
But people were desperate to live. And that was the worst type of desperation one could ever experience.
The [Templars] struggled to maintain a perimeter around the tent. But they were vastly outnumbered and couldn't possibly hold the line forever.
As the shouts grew louder, the first stone was thrown, landing close to Lily's feet. The crowd surged forward, breaking past the [Templars], who hesitated before turning their weapons at the civilians.
"Heal us! Heal us! Heal us!"
The chant grew louder, drowning out all thoughts, all pleas, and all reason.
Lily saw a burly man, riddled with the plague, amble toward her, anger painted all over his face. She felt adrenaline pump through her veins and bit her lower lip.
Don’t come closer, please, she thought while widening her feet into a fighting stance.
She saw the man getting closer and closer, her ears ringing as the world reduced to only herself and this man apparently ready to take his anger out on a random girl. He raised a hand with a stone in it.
Fuck, Lily was about to duck and attack when something else happened.
Just as the situation seemed to spiral out of control, the deep, rhythmic thud of marching feet broke through the chaos. At first, they seemed distant, but they grew closer and louder until the ground seemed to tremble beneath their weight.
From the opposite end of the street, a new column of [Templars] had emerged. They moved in a tight formation with their shields raised, and the citizens were forced to make way, pushed aside by the sheer force and discipline of the advancing army.
The leading figures were two [Templars], taller and seemingly more imposing than the rest. They marched with purpose, making their way through the throngs of people. Some people were literally thrown into the air by the sheer force these [Templars] carried.
Even the man holding a rock in his raised hand was hypnotized by the scene, his gaze soon turning into fear as he realized what he had been about to do.
The [Templars] pierced the crowd like a hot knife through butter and their leaders jogged – which meant they sprinted, thanks to all their stats – toward Lily.
The two templars, with precision and speed, blocked the man, one gripping him while the other shielded Lily. In a swift movement, they pushed the man back, knocking him unconscious.
The female templar then stepped forward, removing her helmet, and revealing a face Lily instantly recognized – Ligea. She was followed by a male templar, who also removed his helmet to show another face she hadn’t seen in years, Alexander.
"Aurora!" Ligea exclaimed, her face etched with both relief and sternness. "Are you alright?"
"I am?" Lily responded with a question, her voice trembling.
They are...
Alexander and Ligea.
Elysium’s parents.
Comments
BAAAB The Blood God
Thanks for the chapter !
Steven Lamb
Loved this chapter thank you 👍👍
