It was then that the paramedics and peacekeepers swarmed the scene. But Levi noticed none of the changes around him. The only thing his two eyes could see was the precious treasure in his embrace, and the jarring crimson liquid gushing out of his mouth.
The cacophony of footsteps, voices, and sirens blended into one. People were speaking, yet he could not understand a word of what they were saying. Familiar faces appeared in his peripheral vision, but he could not recognize a single one.
Then someone put their paw on his darling's back, and Levi nearly attacked them in response. Only at the last moment did he realize that the person was a healer and redirected the attack force to pass by them like the wind.
Levi didn't remember much of what happened after that. The only thing that he remembered clearly was that from beginning to end, those amber eyes he longed to see did not open even once.
At some point, his mind, that had been stretched to the brink of collapse over and over again, shut down.
But even then, he refused to let his baby out of his arms.
His subconscious mind couldn't rest. It only knew to protect the treasure in his embrace.
***
When Noah's elder sister and Levi's fiancée, arrived at her lunch date destination to find the area closed off by the law enforcement with a bunch of people lying on the ground spewing blood, she nearly spewed out blood too.
Bloody hell! What kind of a bad luck streak was this?!? Was there a deity out there plotting how to work her to death?!? Couldn't she get a single day off?!? Just one! One day!!
(ﾉಥAಥ)ﾉ ┻━┻
And sure enough, one of her colleagues soon spotted her among the crowd and called her over, "What are you doing outside the tape? Quick, follow me, we need you at ambulance 3."
The unfortunate sister and soon-not-to-be-wife: "…" QAQ
What was she supposed to say? Sorry, I'm not here on duty, I'm here for a lunch date??
She could only look towards the sky with her desolate eyes and swallow down the metaphorical mouthful of blood. And then, ultimately, follow her colleague with a smile while internally crying a river.
What else could she do, ah? Of course, she could do nothing else but send another "Sorry" message to her fiancé, and run in to heal, heal, and heal all day long, like a fucking priest in an MMORPG.
○|￣|_
***
When Noah's eyes opened again, an indeterminate amount of time later, the first thing he saw was a familiar… bedside table.
He blinked his amber eyes in bewilderment several times, but no matter how he blinked, the scene didn't change. He was lying… on his bed, in his room at the Cordia manor?
But how was that possible?!
"Blackie! Blackie! How is brother-in-law? What about Trey? Fynn? What happened?!" Noah hurriedly interrogated the system inside his head.
"Everyone is fine," Blackie responded in a disinterested tone, "More or less…"
Just when Noah was about to pop a blood vessel from how unhelpful Blackie's response was, a stream of images popped inside his head instead.
Blackie, as an advanced AI system, was always awake and remembered everything he saw and heard with perfect clarity. He was like an Ultra HD video recorder that was on 24/7. And as an entity using Noah's soul as its host, it took nearly zero effort on Blackie's part to just transfer those memories to Noah directly.
Thus, with great jubilation, Noah found out that…
His system actually wasn't worthless! Hurray!! (ﾉ*^o^)ﾉ*
Alright, so he also found out why he was currently lying inside his own bedroom.
So here is what happened:
Noah's last-ditch effort to save Levi had succeeded in stabilizing his condition. Noah's idea of using his body's natural passive soothing field to continue soothing Levi even after losing consciousness was also a success.
As soon as Levi's power rampage started, Fynn had immediately voice dialed 101, explaining the situation and passing down specific instructions. Due to his call, both the peacekeepers and the paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes. Even Shaw was mobilized, and his accurate diagnostics significantly sped up the treatment of the victims.
Due to their timely intervention, though the damages to property were comprehensive and considerable, there were no human casualties. The pressure exerted by Levi's power decreased with distance from Levi; thus, the ones with the worst injuries were those who had been the closest to him - Trey and Noah.
Fynn, this lucky dog, besides a bit of asphyxiation, suffered no injuries. As soon as Levi's power rampage stopped, this god of luck jumped back on his feet and started handling the matters accordingly.
Trey, as a healthy and strong man in his prime, suffered only minor internal injuries, a few cracked bones, and a concussion. He was currently resting in a private ward of the central hospital and would be back on his feet in three days. The healing prowess of Healers was really admirable; if it weren't for that concussion, he'd already be on his feet.
What really surprised Noah was actually the list of his own injuries. At the time, Noah was running on adrenaline, so his sense of pain was numbed to begin with. Add in the fact that he was preoccupied at the time with soothing Levi and not suffocating… well, he really didn't notice he had suffered so much damage!
Noah had never been afraid of pain. He viewed it as a natural part of being alive. He didn't like it, but it wasn't unbearable either. Thus, although the incident was not a pleasant ordeal, Noah honestly didn't think it had been that horrible either.
So, what was with this long list of injuries? How was it possible for every single part of him to be damaged in some way??
Ah… looking back at it now, having a lack of oxygen in his brain could be considered as good luck! How bad would it have hurt otherwise? Just look at this damage report; it was longer than the list of Aris' suitors! Yet he barely felt a thing, ah, he really got off easy!
Lucky! ╰(*°▽°*)╯
Ahem, ahem, so what actually happened to his body? Well, due to the high pressure he had been subjected too, not only did his eardrums rupture, so did the blood vessels in his lungs. From the images Blackie showed him, that was some nasty pulmonary hemorrhage. The only good thing about it was that his lungs didn't entirely collapse, so with a minute of intense healing, he was able to breathe again, albeit with difficulty. A few more minutes and his lungs were as good as new.
Ah, the beauty of a high ranked Healer! Look at that, they could even regenerate lost organs, let alone something like heavy internal bleeding.
Well, to be completely honest, they could indeed regenerate lost organs, but… whether you'd manage to remain alive long enough without the organ for them to finish regenerating is another matter entirely.
Luckily, the rest of Noah's injuries weren't life-threatening. Thus although they took a long time to fully heal, he had no trouble living through it. It was just a bunch of cracked bones, bruises, and muscle damage.
Apparently, that thing Blackie did back then to allow him to successfully tackle Levi, was not a miraculous magical intervention. The black-hearted system just temporarily shut off the human body's natural limiter!
You know, that thing? The thing that exists for a very good reason? The thing known as 'the thing that prevents people from doing things their body can't handle'?
Yeah, that thing! He fucking shut it off!!
(ﾉಥAಥ)ﾉ ┻━┻
Pulled muscles, snapped tendons, crushed… you get the picture… healing Noah really worked those Healers to the bones, ah! Luckily, he was a rich and powerful young master of Concordia, so of course, the Healers pumped him full of their healing until every little thing was 100% healed. 👍
Ah, the beauty of being a rich second generation!