Chereads / The Mortal's Challenge: Against The Gods And Fiends / Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: Veiled Reckonings

Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: Veiled Reckonings

"Whoa! it's not that her magic circuit is incomplete, it's entirely ... eclipsed??" Alex pondered with a confused look.

"I guess I should observe it from a closer distance and study her condition for now."

As soon as Alex thought about it he immediately vanished from his initial location and appeared outside Myrine's room.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Who is it?"

"It's me big sis Myr"

"Oh Alex, come on in" Myrine answered the knock on the door with a happy smile after knowing that it was her little brother there.

"Big sis, how are you?"

"Ohh! You finally got some time for this big sis" Myrine teased Alex.

"Well, Anyways, I am fine. How about you, are you free from your studies and sword training"

"You know sis, how much I hate those physical activities and is there anything left for me to study."

Both Alex and Myrine indulged in useless banter as Myrine prepared the tea and cookies for Alex to eat as he secretly used his eyes and sometimes casual touch to examine the magic circuits below her knees.

What he found amazed him. It's not that her magic circuits were incomplete but they were eclipsed or rather covered by some strange energy which in a way shadowed her circuits in such a way that they seemed incomplete rendering Myrine a cripple.

Now this cannot be a natural occurrence and this energy being undetected even by his mother caused him deeper confusion regarding this. But before coming to a hasty conclusion he must find a cure or at least identify the cause.

'I guess it's time to meet the evil doctor. ' inwardly thought Alex before resuming to spend his time with his sister.

Time passed by and night descended. It was time for Alex to retire to his room and get back to his work. Suddenly, his appearance changed.

Yes, Alex performed metamorphosis on his own body and now there is a 6 feet tall man standing in his room. He is wearing a black cloak with red stripes and raised collar, just like a Gothic vampire costume. His face is shrouded by the shadows of his black hat giving him an eerie feeling and his voice is husked.

Alex suddenly vanished from his room and appeared in an empty alley in the city. He tapped his feet five times and induced his energy on the ground. Suddenly the ground split open and swallowed Alex as vanished from that alley. The next second everything returned to normal in the alley as if the ground has never split open.

Alex appeared in a dark room which lit up as he appeared. There were tied-up bodies everywhere in the room. These bodies were strapped to a table and in the centre of the table, there were many sharp instruments. It looks like the room of a psycho doctor performing human experiments but actually was a hideout created by Alex for performing his experiment regarding his powers on living targets. Yes, they are all living being but all of them are criminals.

When Alex was three, he learned metamorphosis and tried adventuring during the nights in the capital. Then while he was flying over a dark street he saw a few men kidnapping a little girl. At first, he thought of rescuing her but decided to covertly follow them in order to bust the whole gang. One confrontation led to another and now he had busted or captured the members of an international or rather the continental gang which deals in the underworld, human trafficking, drugs and many other heinous crimes. All of this was led by an Evil doctor known as Garry and their organization was named United Chaos.

United Chaos was one of the head honchos of the underworld crime syndicates. Garry was an important member of the underworld as he provided them with most of the illegal drugs and other related stuff. He was a wanted man, both for his crimes and the knowledge he possesses. United Chaos was operating with its headquarters near the border of Winterhaven Grand Duchy and Arkham Empire. At first, Alex wanted to kill them on the spot but after seeing the lifeless eyes of the children trapped in the headquarters of United Chaos, he decided to repay them what they did to others tenfold. And now, here we are at Winterhaven's capital, at Alex's secret underground basement.

Alex walked into a secret room," Yo! Doctor Doom! haha!" Alex teased him.

"Dra...Dracula!" Garry shouted with a fear-stricken voice.

"What do you want now?"

"Oh, nothing much, but the nightmare gas I concocted using your notes and your lackeys as a subject is working wonders. If they try to sleep they will experience their worst nightmare. They can neither sleep nor remain awake, each and every second of their existence has become literal hell. Ha ha ha" Alex laughed as he explained his latest experiment to Garry.

"You.. you are a demon!!!"

"Believe me, you are selling me quite short. Even Hell was made for my entertainment purposes." Alex's voice deepened as he said those words.

"Oh right!, today I came for another matter altogether. Do you know anything about this energy?"

Alex tried to manipulate his chakra to mimic the energy signature he felt from Myrine's legs. As he formed the energy signature, Gary's face suddenly paled. He shouted, "Keep it away from me! keep it away from me"

Alex stopped the energy mimicry as he looked at Gary for some answers.

Garry took some seconds to calm down before adding," As you know, we on Eldera use many types of energy, like Aura, Mana, spiritual, world energy etc. Gods use divine energy while the fiends use Fiendish energy. What you just showed me is the chaos energy. It's a variant of fiendish energy, and although less powerful it is a bane for the mages like us who use mana. It makes our mana go chaotic and prolonged exposure could render us cripple"

"Dracula, I thought you were a mage all along even when I never felt a trace of mana from you, but now seeing you use this chaos energy, I am sure you are a fiend. But why are you defending those humans?" Garry asked.

"That's none of your business. Now tell me if a mage has this energy in their mana circuit, how to treat them?"

"What!!, someone's still alive after having this chaos energy in their mana circuit?"

Alex frowned after hearing his words. He knew Myrine's life should be in danger but since when is she carrying this energy inside her? From Garry's reaction, Myrine should be dead, but she is only crippled by her legs. Guess that will need a little more investigation.

"So how should I treat it?"

"If you are able to absorb the chaos energy out of the body, only then can you treat that person. Only people having divine energy like the Holy Sons or fiends like you who can manipulate chaos energy can absorb it."

"Well, that's all for now. But you know what will happen if I don't get the result." Eerily said Alex as he turned to leave.

"Wait... how is it my fault if it does not work, I only gave you the information I came across, please no...." Garry's pleas fell on deaf ears as Alex simply vanished from that place.

Actually, Alex used his medical experiments on Gary the most, he would amputate his body parts and try to regenerate using his chakra. Sometimes there would be some deformities in the regenerated limb and sometimes he would experiment with multiple stems at the same time. Gary's fear of Alex was imprinted deep within his heart and from that point onwards he swore to never go against his words.

Alex returned to his room and changed back to his original form. He sat on his bed as he pondered about his next move.

'I guess I could simply come out and tell my sister about my awesome powers, but .....' Alex seemed to be hesitating on how to move forward with Myrine's cure. He could cure her right now, but her disability was quite famous throughout the empire and even on the whole continent. Even a healer from the Elven continent was called using his Grandmother's connection but even he was unable to cure her or even diagnose her.

'But this doctor doom is sure one hell of a catch, he can provide me with information which not even the best healer of the two continents cannot provide.' Alex was actually pretty impressed by his repertoire regarding various fields.

Alex's mind whirled with new revelations as he left the secret underground room where he held his dark experiments. The encounter with Garry, the nefarious doctor, had provided him with crucial insights into the enigmatic energy he had discovered within Myrine's mana circuit. As he returned to his own room, the weight of his discoveries pressed upon him, intertwining with the decisions he needed to make.

His initial plan had been to open up to Myrine about his extraordinary powers, but now, with the knowledge of chaos energy's existence, his approach became more complex. He had the ability to heal her, to remove the crippling shadow that had engulfed her magic circuits, but the path to achieving that was fraught with uncertainty.

Sitting on his bed, Alex mulled over his options. The truth had its own allure—he could reveal his powers, prove his abilities, and win Myrine's trust. However, he understood the broader implications. Myrine's disability was a well-known fact, and if he miraculously cured her, it would raise questions, attract attention, and perhaps even draw the wrong kind of interest. Moreover, it could create a cycle of misunderstandings, hidden motives, and secrets.

On the other hand, there was his alternative plan: to heal Myrine covertly, under the cover of night, away from prying eyes. This would allow them to manage post-operation complications discreetly and provide her with a fabricated recovery story. This approach offered a controlled environment to deal with the situation without exposing his remarkable abilities to the world.

The complexity of his decision lay in the implications it held for Myrine's future and the bond between them. Would he deceive her for a greater purpose? Or should he risk openness and potentially alter the trajectory of their relationship? The answers were not straightforward.

Alex knew that whatever choice he made would have a lasting impact. His thoughts shifted between the desire to protect his family and the urge to forge a genuine connection with his sister. He wasn't just wrestling with healing magic; he was grappling with the delicate threads of trust, honesty, and the unpredictable path his secrets could set in motion.

As night settled in, casting its cloak of shadows across the city, Alex made his decision. Tomorrow, he would sit down with Myrine and open up to her about his unique abilities, but he would do so selectively, revealing only as much as was necessary for her to understand the nature of his powers. Another of his motives was to find out how his sister came into contact with this chaos energy.