"Give us the way!" Hector's voice commanded some of the students who had heard the whole story and were waiting in front of the infirmary to get out of the way. Deric ran behind Hector and Elizabeth, Mariel's body covered in blood, who was held in his arms, pale and unconscious. Claudia and the others followed closely behind them.
"Treat her immediately." the head nurse ordered the others as Deric placed Mariel's body on the bed.
A special life-restoring potion line was inserted into the main artery in the crook of Mariel's right arm. This type of liquid will help restore and repair damaged organs within the body to heal them even more but if internal organs are torn or perforated, they must be rushed to the operating room immediately.
"The internal organs are very damaged; the surgery is required immediately." the head of the medical team said as he rushed Mariel into the operating room.
The operation took more than two hours, and then Mariel's bed was moved to a special waiting room where only a few people were allowed to attend. As for the others, they had to wait outside or in the waiting room that has been prepared for them.
Times passed; Mariel regained consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on a hospital bed in a special room with the body wrapped in bandages which was not much different from a mummy.
"Are you awake? My dear." Claudia, who was watching at the bedside, immediately hugged her daughter when she realized that Mariel had regained consciousness.
Other people also came to express their concern, including friends in the same class. And seniors who are her friends as well.
"If I knew that Mariel would hurt like this, I'd rather die for you." Senior Ken said in pain.
"It must have been me who was willing to die instead." Senior Jack chided.
"Get lost, both of you. It must be me!" Jerrick said.
"That's enough, all three of you, but thank you for your concern." Mariel said.
Principal Hector and Assistant Elizabeth entered the room, with Bellany, Beatrix Mania, and Mariel's parents remaining in the group. As for the others, the nursing team told them to return to the dormitory because their time to visit Mariel had ended. Only a group of her professors, parents and a few close friends from the same class could stay.
"Are you better now? Mariel." Hector inquired about Mariel's condition.
"I feel better. Principal Hector but there is still some pain all over my body." Mariel replied.
"The condition is that serious. It is very lucky that you have survived." Hector said.
"When you decided what to do later, wait for others at first because you might not be as lucky like this time." Elizabeth warned.
"I'm sorry." Mariel apologized and bowed her head.
"But I admire your bravery. Sacrificing yourself to protect your friend is a key feature that all heroes must have." Hector said.
"I'm really worried about you." Claudia said, leaning her daughter's head on her chest with concern.
"I'm really sorry for all of this, it's all my fault." Beatrix said.
"Don't blame yourself and it's not your fault." Hector turned and said in a gentle tone to her while Mania came to give another hug and encouragement to Beatrix.
Hector then looked through the window into the courtyard in front of the school building and saw the total score board for all 3 grades. He found that in Year 1, Class 2 was ahead of Class 1 by 197 points from the total scores that they had accumulated throughout 1 month.
"Unparalleled courage. There must be something in return for you." Hector said causing the others to look at him with suspicion.
"What do you mean, Principal?" Bellany asked.
Hector turned and smiled softly at Bellany, then he changed to looking at Beatrix, Mania and Mariel at the last person.
"200 extra courage points, room 1!" Hector announced in front of everyone.
A feeling of joy appeared on the faces of the four students in this room because now the scores of Class 1 had turned over and overtook Class 2 by 3 points and there were only a few minutes left until midnight, when the time for collecting scores was over.
"Thank you very much, Principal. And Mariel, thank you very much as well." Bellany bowed and walked over to hold Mariel's hand tightly in an expression of happiness.
"With pleasure!" Mariel responded with a smile.
"Alright, it's time to go back to the dormitory. We'll come and visit you again tomorrow." said Elizabeth.
"See you later." Bellany said, bowing to everyone and then leaving the patient's room.
"See you later and thank you very much for your helping, Mariel." Beatrix came to say and hugged Mariel once before leaving the room with Mania.
"Alright, it's time for the adults to talk." Hector said, looking at Deric, Claudia, and finally Mariel, who was looking on with a stunned expression.
Deric and Claudia's expressions instantly turned serious and turned to looking at Mariel with suspicion.
"Who teach you this illusory form technique?" Deric asked in a serious tone.
"It's…" Mariel tried to find a reason to explain.
"Tell me now!" Claudia asked in an extremely dissatisfied tone.
"I...learned this skill from the Snake God Apophis." Mariel said.
"That legendary snake god?" Deric exclaimed in surprise.
"Does He live near our village too?" Claudia said and worried about this.
"He is in a cave in the deep forest behind the village." Mariel answered.
"I never thought that you wouldn't tell Mom and Dad about this. Apophis is a dangerous person and there are announcements for his arrest all over the cities." Deric said.
"But I..I think he's a good person… I hope." Mariel said.
"He seemed to treat you as though you are gullible kid. In the future, he might use you as a bait for something of his plan." Deric said.
Hector didn't say anything, but suddenly stood still for a moment, as if communicating with someone.
After a while, he used his personal magic wand to create a human-sized warp core in front of everyone. Suddenly, a person slowly stepped out from this warp core and surprised everyone except Hector.
That person was "Apophis". A tall, handsome man with a cruel look in his eyes slowly stepped out of the warp with a smile under an old black long robe.
"Apophis." Hector said.
"Professor Hector." Apophis said while bowing to the Principal Hector who he respected.
"This person is the legendary snake god Apophis!" Deric said.
"He's very tall." Claudia said.
"How do you know Mariel?" Deric asked the question first.
"Do you remember the old man who received money from your daughter in the market? That is my shapeshifter." Apophis answered.
"Then that necklace is yours. I understand why my magic power couldn't detect anything suspicious." Deric said.
"Teaching some skill too dangerous like this. What exactly is your purpose?" Claudia asked with an expression of dissatisfaction.
"If it weren't illusory form from me and the Heavenly Resurrection Fruit, Mariel would have definitely died." Apophis said.
Deric and Claudia immediately kept quiet because what Apophis said was almost completely true. As for Hector, he waited for both sides to be quiet before asking Apophis.
"Okay, it's considered past, but I have questions to ask you, Apophis." Hector asked, his expression immediately becoming serious.
"Anything, Professor Hector." Apophis replied.
"You trained Mariel in this technique. What exactly is the purpose?" Hector asked.
"Everyone should know that I have never accepted anyone as a disciple in my entire life and I never gave knowledge to anyone but there is something special in Mariel." Apophis explained.
"Like Victor." Hector said.
"Professor Hector really are clever. She might not be on par with Victor, but there something's still interesting in her." Apophis said.
"But I don't think it's just this one thing?" Hector asked as he knew Apophis's intentions.
"Of course, I plan to use Mariel as an assistant for my future plans for revenge." Apophis said.
"In the story where you were chased." Deric said with confidence.
"That's right. I was betrayed and became the scapegoat for somebody's planned. Therefore, this revenge must be settled." Apophis said.
"You aren't sending Mariel off as a sacrifice, right?" Claudia asked worriedly.
"I certainly wouldn't do anything like that, I promised." Apophis said.
"I have a question." Mariel asked, immediately joining in the conversation.
"You can ask me, Mariel." Apophis said.
"When I died and came back to life, is it because of the Heavenly Resurrection Fruit that Lord Apophis made me swallow?" Mariel asked.
"That's right. This fruit only helps to revive life and it doesn't restore your Qi or heal the wounds on your body. By the way, your body was very badly injured, and you were still unconscious. This has the effect of causing the illusory form within you to temporarily control your body." Apophis explained in detail.
"Fight with instincts." Mariel said.
"That's right. It is your ultimate skill now." Apophis said with pride.
"But if... I can control this illusory shadow form. So, I can become stronger like you?" Mariel inquired further.
"Most definitely. You must practice more and when you can control this illusory shadow form. Finally, your power will increase enormously." Apophis said.
"Thank you for helping me to be survive once more time." Mariel bowed once again in thanks.
"No problem. let's just say when you are ready for my revenge mission, then I will contact you again." Apophis said.
"If it's a dangerous mission, I'm afraid that I definitely won't let my daughter go with you together." Deric stood up and said with a serious expression.
"Me too." Claudia said, standing up to support her husband's words.
"The perfect family. Well, if you want to go with us, that would be a pleasure. My mission for vengeance will be just that much easier." Apophis said with a smile.
"Ok, that's enough for today. Mariel needs to get some more rest." Hector said.
"Before we leaving, can I ask you two things? Mariel." Apophis inquired.
"Yes, Lord Apophis." Mariel replied.
"First, would you mind sending me supplies more often? Lately, I've only eaten hunted animals, so I'm bored with this monotonous food." Apophis said pleadingly.
"Ok. From now on, every week I will cook food for you but how can I send it to you?" Mariel asked.
"I will send you the pick-up point where keep out of sight of the city and I'll come to pick it up by myself." Apophis offered.
"OK, what about next question?" Mariel inquired further.
"I want you to keep this." Apophis said, taking a small metal box and handing it to Mariel.
"It is.." Mariel said and she was curious.
"When you' re 17 years old next year, we'll meet again and then open it together because I've sealed it for now. You have to wait for it." Apophis said.
"Ok." Mariel responded.
"It's innocuous, right?" Claudia asked worriedly.
"Don't worry. It will be a gift to my disciple." Apophis said.
"Okay, let's end this conversation. Deric and Claudia, no need to worry. I will further order more security measures." Hector said as he opened teleport warp for Apophis.
"See you later, everyone." Apophis said goodbye to everyone and walked through the warp, then it closed.
"Get a lot of rest, my dear." Claudia said, kissing her daughter's forehead with care.
"If there's something wrong with you, contact us immediately." Deric reminded his daughter, then they left the room. Now, there were only Hector and Mariel left in the room.
"Sleep well, Mariel." Hector said goodnight, turning off the lights and closing the door.
While walking down from the patient's room, Hector's eyes instantly became angry. As soon as he walked out from the building, he immediately opened the teleport warp to some place.
A one high-ranking nobleman who has fat body, he has short brown hair and wears glasses. He also wore a red bodysuit while sitting on the chair and drinking alcohol with some restlessness.
Suddenly, a loud noise sounded in the center of the room, causing the desk and other things to scatter everywhere.
"What happened?" The nobleman tried to brush the dust out of his sight.
"Long time no see, Ramus!" Hector greeted him angrily.
"How can you come here? Hector. Is there a problem with me?" Ramus shouted.
Hector didn't answer but used his left hand to boost his strength and strangle Ramus until his body floated off the ground.
"Ah, I can't breathe...don't do this to me!" Ramus tried to beg and plead with Hector.
"If you think about sending one more killer to attack any of my students again, the next corpse will be you!" Hector threatened.
"Wha, what? The Killer failed?" Ramus couldn't believe that such a mistake could happen.
"This is the last warning, I don't want to bother you about the past, but for my students. If you dare to kill them once more time, don't say I didn't warn you!" Hector said and threw Ramus so far that he hit a large bookshelf, causing him to fall to the ground.
Hector looked at Ramus with disdain in his eyes before walking into the warp and instantly disappearing.
"It's not over yet!!!" Lord Ramus shouted in the room with vengeance.
In the patient room, Mariel lay down and thought about the many things that had happened today. It's like the miracle that she's survived. This experience taught her more than ever before.
"At least I successfully protected Beatrix. We'll see each other again tomorrow." Mariel said, then she slept with exhaustion.