Why did I join the Virtues? Well, I just didn’t really fit in with the other knight orders. Lorelai wanted me to become the Principalities’ captain, but…if I did, then I’d just be her replacement. As much as I love her, I’m my own person too you know? I didn’t want to be just a subpar copy of her. I wanted to do something that only I could do—a specialty of my own. So, I decided to become a healer. Even heroes aren’t invincible—her scars more than prove that—and if she must be our nation’s guardian, then I hope my aid will be able to alleviate her burdens even if just a little bit. For all her talk about unity and togetherness, I know she’s the loneliest of us all.”

Surasha of the Virtues

———

Surasha

“W-What was that!?” Surasha gasps, pushing the blackened husk off of her body. Giant pieces of rubble and bodies fall around her as the Virtue knights desperately lunge out of the way. The room becomes enveloped in a dusty haze—Powers and Virtues both equally disoriented from the sudden collapse.

Surasha kicks the black chunk away and attempts to rush to the injureds’ aid, but before she can leave, a sudden force grabs onto her ankle.

It’s a hand. A crumbling, roasted, and charred hand.

She screams.

“O-Ow,” a voice grunts. “Surasha, are you trying to finish me off?”

“Wha…Cain!?” she says, quickly turning him onto his back. “Just what in Cosmos’s name happened to you?”

“Well, I was dealing with one of Nokron’s monstrosities. Since I can’t use the sun’s power here, I had to endure a little heat to create my own. Got the bastard in the end, but um, this is the result.”

Cain suddenly jerks up. “Wait, dammit this isn’t the time for this. Weren’t you dealing with one of those things too?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

She points to the pulverized remains of the creature, its body completely crushed under the rubble from the ceiling. In the end, its massive size led to its undoing—unwieldy bulk unable to escape from the collapse. The only discernible feature left is a singular spike half-detached from its body.

“…oh.”

“Heh, I was having a lot of trouble since it was immune to my toxins, but it looks like you came to my rescue just in the nick of time.”

“G-Glad to be of service,” he chuckles. “Now, think you’d be able to patch me up? These burns hurt a lot.”

“I can try, but not without getting that armor off of you.”

“That might be a bit difficult considering it’s practically welded to my skin right now.”

“I wasn’t asking. Clench your teeth.”

“Wha-”

Without a word, Surasha grabs onto his helm and rips it off, tearing the outer layer of his skin along it. He screams in agony, hands clutched to his head as blood pours out from every pore, and begs for her to stop. His eyes are bloodshot, hair completely scorched, and naught remains of his skin but a fleshy-charred surface. Despite his pleas, all he gets is an irritated glance.

“Oh, calm down you big baby,” she sighs as she moves onto the chestplate. “You brought this onto yourself when you decided the only way to win was to burn yourself alive. You know I can’t heal you unless your entire body’s bare.”

“I-I didn’t have much o-of a choice,” he gurgles amidst the pain.

“Then stay still already. Here-”

Surasha splashes a numbing tonic over him. “This should help a bit with the burns, but the pain’s going to be a lot worse from here on out. You ready?”

“I-If I have to.”

“Good boy. Now, open up those pearly whites of yours.”

While tonics and sorceries are useful for superficial wounds, they can only help with speeding up the body’s natural healing process. A wound that appears to close up in seconds only does so because their cells are forcibly proliferated which rebuilds the damaged tissue. However, with Cain’s wounds, it’s impossible for his body to naturally recover. The burns are too deep; any cells capable of rebuilding have been completely torched.

It’s a miracle he’s still able to talk considering every single organ, vein, and nerve is completely fried to a crisp. His body’s natural aura is able to protect his vitals, but he’s pretty much akin to a living corpse at the moment. The only method of healing left is to salvage the good, or at least functional, parts and to replace everything else anew.

And to do that, Surasha must offer a part of her own body in exchange.

She takes out a small, serrated dagger from her belt and slashes her wrist—blood flowing onto her hand—and holds it over Cain’s mouth, steadily letting it drip down his throat.

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“O’ divine mother, I offer to thee my blood, my covenant, and my plea,” she chants. “Pray grant thy tortured child your boon, and deliver onto him the strength to rise again. Renewed, and reborn.”

Her blood travels through every corner of his body, planting itself firmly around the tissues beyond repair. It’s absorbed—assimilated—and soon, the damaged flesh and sinew are pushed out by the newly-growing mass.

“Asclepius’s Blessing.”

Cain trembles. His face sinks. In an instant, he rises from the ground—jaw slacked and eyes rolled back—and unleashes an ear-piercing cacophony of tortured cries as his body is ripped and torn asunder in the ‘midst of his rebirth.

His bones shatter, pops and cracks drowning out his screams. Each broken fragment cuts into his flesh, digs into his throat, before being vomited onto a bloody pile on the ground with bits of discarded organs and flesh accompanying it.

The eyes swell up—ballooning into big, red sacs—before falling onto the ground with a loud squelch and dissolving into a clump of putrid sludge. The sockets remain empty for a minute, a small trail of red leaking from beneath, until eventually the holes are filled once more with an uncharred set of pupils still colorless from the sudden birth.

All-the-while his torched skin begins to shed and peel off, accompanied by a sickly-black fluid of bile and grime excreting from his pores and joining the pile of filth below. Nails are ripped off; teeth wrestle free from his gums; and flowing strands of fiery-red hair sprout out from his once-torched scalp.

Finally, his rejuvenation is complete. All it takes is complete, utter reconstruction of everything that makes up his being. Needless to say, the pain is excruciating. It’s agonizing. It’s beyond the imagination of those smart enough to avoid requiring such treatment, but to his credit, Cain is taking it quite well.

“U-Ugh.” He collapses, still recovering from his body’s reconstruction. “That hurts a lot more than last time. I think I’d rather prefer being burned alive.”

“If you’d stop finding new ways to destroy yourself, then we wouldn’t have to do this in the first place!” she snaps back. “Almost every damn thing in your body was scorched to a crisp. Of course it’s gonna hurt when I have to rebuild everything from the ground up.”

He roars with laughter, face enveloped in child-like amusement. Not really the most appropriate of places for such a display considering the current situation, but Surasha likes this face much more than the one before, when wrath dominated his features. It’s a lot nicer now.

“Haha, thanks by the way. I appreciate it.”

“…Haah, you’re welcome I guess. Just stop trying to be the martyr. I don’t like slashing myself anymore than I have to.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good. Anyways, even though your body’s recovered, your aura isn’t and we don’t have enough magi right now to help refill it. Plus-”

She points to his bare…everything. “Unless you want to fight while completely naked, I’d recommend going back to Lorelai’s camp.”

Cain blushes and covers himself with some rags nearby. “Yeah, good point. I’d probably just be a hindrance in my current state against Nokron anyway. I’ll leave the rest of my knights under your care. Be nice to them please; they’ve been through a lot.”

“Eh, I’ll try.”

“I suppose that’s the best I’ll get.” He calls over his division and instructs them to follow Surasha’s order. The Power knights are still a bit shaken from watching their comrades be consumed alive, but they’ll persevere. Their resolve is strong, just like their captain’s.

“Ah, by the way, why aren’t you with Ascalon and the others?” he asks. “I thought the plan was for you all to charge through the main entrance.”

“That was the plan, but that’s because Lorelai was expecting a large number of Nox soldiers to intercept us. We rushed in, all tensed and ready for battle, but…there was nothing. No soldiers or people anywhere, just empty halls and mechanical hazards. Well, I can probably guess what happened to them.”

She walks over to the creature’s corpse and pokes it with her urumi. “So Lorelai told us all to split up and cover more ground. Dismas went with Deborah and Ascalon’s roaming the fortress by himself.”

Cain sighs and picks up his hammer. At least, what remains of it. “Lorelai, how’s everything going? Can you reach anyone else?”

“Deborah and Dismas are still obscured, but I have been able to connect with Ascalon,” her voice transmits. “He encountered the same type of creature you and Surasha faced, but he has already slayed it and is currently navigating the area.”

”What about Simon and Abel?”

“Currently engaged, but I was able to obtain their whereabouts before they became cut off. Do you want to go support them?”

“Nah, they’ll be fine. I had to go all out since there wasn’t any sunlight, but there’s nothing limiting Abel here. He’s stronger than me anyway, so I’ll just get out of here and meet up with Joshua.”

“Understood. How is Surasha’s condition?”

“Still raring to go!” she says. “I’d probably be a goner by now if it weren't for Cain’s timely rescue. These things are completely immune to my toxins, so it’s probably for the best if I join up with one of the other groups.”

“As long as you traverse through the smaller passageways, you should be able to avoid any additional encounters with Nokron’s creations. They seem to be placed in larger rooms due to their size, but still try to maintain caution. It’s possible there are different variations of the creatures that we haven’t encountered yet.”

“Gotcha. I’ll be careful.”

Surasha turns around and pats Cain on the shoulder. “Sure you’ll be fine escaping by yourself?”

“I’ll just retrace my steps. Even if I’m out of aura, I’m still a captain y’know.”

“Heh, alright then. It’d be embarrassing if you went out and got yourself beat up after all the work I’ve done. You sure that hammer’s even usable?”

“Probably not, but…”

Cain walks over to the creature’s corpse and plucks the last, undamaged spike from its body. “At least I won’t be defenseless. I’m all for using my fist, but better safe than sorry.”

“Good thinking. Now get out of here already and get some rest.”

“Haha, by your word then.”

Cain dashes out of the room and disappears into the winding halls. Although Surasha’s still a bit worried about him, it’s for the best if he leaves by himself—unburdened of his responsibilities as captain to take care of the others. Now, he can focus entirely on getting out.

He’s always trying to sacrifice himself for some reason. It’s a bad habit he inherits from Sarathiel, among other things. It’s annoying, but she can’t help but dote on those types of people. They’re idiots obsessed with the lives of everyone but their own. Just like Lorelai. Just like Ascalon.

The whole damn kingdom is filled with martyrs. A healer’s work is hard indeed.

“Alright!” She slaps her cheeks and turns around to greet the faces of her new underlings. “Everyone, let’s move out!”