Bam!
Before Gerald even knew what happened he was already on the floor, the punch from the cloaked man so strong that it almost knocked him out. But that was just the beginning. Punches and kicks came raining down on him from all sides. The leader and his two helpers kept punching and kicking while laughing and cursing at Gerald.
"Where did you get the sword, boy?!"
Punches to the back, as well as kicks to the head and stomach, came fast as lighting, giving him no time to react. They were mercilessly beating him up with no intention of stopping.
Gerald could already feel the warm blood running from his arms and legs, and a few of his ribs also cracked, stabbing him in his lungs. He tried to defend himself, however, it was all in vain. He was completely defenseless against his attackers.
"Guards are coming!"
Just as he was about to lose consciousness the warning came from the last guy that was guarding the crime scene. Fear could be seen on his face and he was ready to leave immediately.
"Tsk. Lucky guy. You better not land in my hands again or I will rip your tongue out!" hissed the leader and gave Gerald another good kick in the gut before running away with his companions.
"Cough, cough." Gerald tried to prop himself up, but he suddenly started coughing out blood and weakly collapsed to the floor. His stomach and chest felt like it was on fire, and he could barely feel his limbs.
His joints started to swell up which made it even harder to move. Somehow he crawled with the last remaining strength until he reached the main road. Sera was already done with shopping and was looking for him.
"Gerald!" When she saw him on the floor and bleeding heavily, she quickly ran towards him and helped him stand up.
"What happened to you?" she asked him in a worried voice.
Gerald tried to answer but all that came from his mouth was coarse coughing and fresh blood. With the little mental strength he had left, he figured that he had at least a few broken ribs, that pierced his lungs. And from the pain and stiffness in his stomach, he could assume that he also had some internal bleeding in his abdominal area.
He knew that injuries like these needed immediate care or they could be life-threatening.
From the fact that Gerald was bleeding so much and also from the fact that he went limp from time to time, like slipping in and out of conciseness, Sera knew that this was extremely serious. If something was not done quickly Gerald would probably die in less than an hour.
She quickly carried him on her back to the only place she could think of under stress. The Guild. She burst through the front door with Gerald on her shoulders and ran to Luna for help.
"Help! I need the strongest potions you have! He's bleeding out!" Sera screamed.
Luna needed just a glance to see how serious Gerald's state was. She quickly brought them to a side room and they placed him on a bed. Luna then quickly took out a potion from the wall cabinet and gave her to Sera.
"I have just this mid-grade Healing Potion," she said apologetically.
Sera just nodded and quickly made Gerald drink all of it. She then bandaged his head and bleeding arms. She did the best she could, but it didn't seem to help much. Gerald was getting paler by the minute.
Sera was nervously biting her nails, not knowing what to do. This world relied too much on potions, that's why they didn't really know how to do operations to stop internal bleeding. There were no doctors of that kind in this world.
Gerald weakly opened his eyes and indicated them to come closer. Luna and Sera bent closer to his mouth, listening to his hoarse whispers.
"I… Heal… Magic…" They were only able to discern a few words, but they understood what he meant.
Luna shook her head and sighed, "Healing magic is extremely rare. There are no such magicians in this city, I'm sorry," she said with a sad face. Even if she just met him today, looking at a dying person was not a pleasant experience.
"Tell…me…healing…magic.." Gerald whispered again. This time slower, giving emphasis to every single word.
"You want to know healing magic?" Sera asked in a helpless confusion and then turned at Luna with a begging gaze.
Luna sighed and shook her head. In her opinion, healing magic was extremely difficult, and mages usually used up to a decade just studying the human body to be able to use it. Still, she answered his request.
"As far as I know, healing magic requires three Elements: Water, Earth, and Light. Apart from that, you need to know the body in detail before you are able to utilize it. As a for the words of power… Usually, they just say 'Heal' I think. I can't tell you more than that." Luna told him as simple as she could.
"That's it?!" Gerald roared and scared the two girls. Immediately after, he started coughing blood again and he had to lay back down, trying to calm himself. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his mind. He immediately called forth the three Elements.
The blood on the bed suddenly became attracted to Gerald and started to flow backward. The walls started to lightly shake, causing dust to fall down. Also, the light in the room started getting brighter.
Trying to use a new spell so quickly was not easy, so of course, some Mana leaked into the surroundings and created this weird effect.
"What is happening?" asked Sera and grabbed Luna's arm.
"I don't believe it…" Luna was just looking with her mouth and eyes wide open, waiting for what came next.
"Heal!" What came from Gerald's mouth was like an order from a mighty king, ordering the energy in his body to do his bidding. With an extremely clear picture in his mind, where every single organ, bone, vein, and muscle were in a most pristine healthy state, he mobilized every single drop of Mana, to mend back his ruptured organs and heal his bones and restore his body to perfection.
The two girls were just staring in shock as the blood stopped flowing and the wounds on his skin started to slowly close at the speed that a naked eye could see.
Gerald fainted during this, from the exhaustion. The skin healed relatively quickly but the bones and internal organs needed much longer to mend. He also immediately ran out of Mana but combined with the potion, the life-threatening crisis was gone.
Sera and Luna just looked at each other in shock, and they both knew that that person on the table was an absolute monster.
Light, Water, Earth, Fire, and Space. Five out of six Elements in a single body. That has never happened before in the Kingdom of Myrtana. And how he used healing magic seconds after he was told how to do so, it was absolutely insane. If someone now told them that he could use all six Elements, they wouldn't even be surprised.