'The piling lies… they're suffocating.'
Senna looked at Iris and Verus who was now surrounded by people who were curious at what Ophiuchus did and specifically stared at Verus' blood-drenched chest where a large and fatal wound should have been present.
"That was a feat definitely of divinity." The red-haired lady voiced out her thoughts. "Humans need mediums to perform magic but you did it with your bare hands and even going as much as changing your life's energy to suit your patient."
The lost angel focused her vision on the doctor's eyes and reached out her hand to touch his left cheek.
"You're hiding something." Before Senna could touch him, an engraved memory, reminiscent to what the angel was about to do, flashed before him. He instinctively grabbed her arm and gripped it with sheer force.
"I don't know what fairy tales you're reading, but as you might not know, I am Ophiuchus. The most talented doctor ever to be born in this decaying city you call Ark!"
After hearing the doctor's proud defense, almost everyone diverted their attention to the almost quarreling pair.
The room was filled with silence. The kin of the patients never expected the doctor to have that kind of attitude. In their perspective, he was probably the most gentle and kind person to have graced his appearance on the lower districts. They all concluded that the red-haired lady, he was talking to, definitely said something to upset the great doctor.
All eyes were on Senna. Still, the pale-skinned lady, looking innocent and proud at the same time, nonchalantly eyed the doctor's grip and said, "You're hiding it…"
Ophiuchus lost his breath as he listened to the lady in front of him. He regretted touching her.
"…It's faint but I can feel it: a power whose origin is not of this world."
The doctor clicked his tongue. He couldn't lose in this verbal tassel. He forcefully threw away Senna's hand and retorted.
"Before you poke your nose into other people's business, you should worry about that bottomless empty vessel of yours."
'It's empty?' She wondered at what the guy in front of him was saying. 'How could it be empty?'
"Human, do you know what you're sa—"
Before Senna could finish what she wanted to say, a big basket came flying towards Ophiuchus face that was followed with a soft rustling of the weaved osiers as it fell on the ground.
"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING! This is why I hate it here!"
Senna followed the source of the voice that was playing in between being husky and high-pitched.
It was from a skinny teenage boy standing among the crowd whilst crumpling a bunch of herbs.
"What are these filthy people doing inside our house?!"
The teenager had almost identical facial features compared to Ophiuchus with his darkly shaded brown hair, a set of deep brown eyes and sharp nose. But, still, he gave of an entirely different vibe. Compared to the doctor, he was neatly dressed and well groomed. He also had a fierce and intimidating glint in his eyes that seemed to be looking down from a higher pedestal, different from the doctor's innocent and solicitous gaze.
"You're giving these low lives treatment for FREE when you could be charging GOLD in the second district!"
His voice echoed through the whole room.
No one objected.
It was true that the people beyond the sixth district didn't ever give anything in return. In the midst of an unknown epidemic, the best doctor was giving them treatment out of pure charity. For the marginalized people, it was an act they couldn't even fathom.
"The food here is disgusting!!"
"Dabit!" Ophiuchus declared. "STOP!"
The boy Ophiuchus addressed as Dabit clenched his teeth and fist in frustration.
Iris attentively watched the teenager vent his anger towards the doctor.
"Who's he?" Iris whispered to a random stranger sitting with knees bent beside him.
"He's the doctor's brother." The man answered. "He's always causing trouble ever since they moved here."
"Shut your mouth, livestock!"
Dabit gave a penetrating side-glance with his downgrading remark.
"Why do I have to put up with these?" Dabit started.
"Dabit…"
Ophiuchus walked closer to his brother.
"What does it have to do with us? What difference would it make if these pigs die out, huh?!"
"Dabit, I said stop!" The doctor said with a hard and imposing but calm tone as he got near the teenager.
The boy clenched his fists harder and looked downcast at the white ceramic floor. The moment he saw his brother's feet, he started to shiver and said with extreme loathing, "Yes… that's right."
"…?"
Everyone waited in silence as Dabit paused for a moment.
"These people should all just go die like the burden they are…"
Dabit's words were followed by a loud thud as he came falling unto the floor.
Ophiuchus punched him so hard that one side of his lips started to bleed.
"I don't remember raising you to be like this."
"Raised? What do you know about it anyway? You got tired of the praises you were getting from the second district and now you want to act like some kind of messiah with these low lives to get more recognition?"
Dabit took a long pause then raised his head to look at his brother eye to eye.
He wiped the small amount of blood in his face and spit out the ones inside his mouth.
With all hatred, he added, "You're sick…"
Everyone was shocked by the teenager's voice. But before the people could gossip among themselves, the air shook and the ground trembled.
Successive explosion like sounds came following afterwards.
The barrier Ophiuchus made was under attack…