(Powerstones Pwease, our goal is 500 PS)
(A/n - Slight Gore Warning)
Kirsch's expression grimaced as he saw Akeru's condition.
A fist-sized hole could be seen in his stomach, with burn marks all over his body.
Not only that, one of his calves had a similarly sized hole with muscles and bone visible.
A point-sized hole in Akeru's lung would have gone unnoticed normally; however, it didn't escape the perception of a Vice-Captain and a healer.
Before either of the siblings could say anything, Julius beat them to it.
"Don't worry, he's alive. In this sphere, time is still. I'll be taking him to one of the best healers in the kingdom."
Julius turned his head to Kirsch. "Kirsch, transport the kids to the nearest town and wait for the next orders." With that, Julius disappeared from the scene.
A middle-aged man could be seen at his desk reading something.
The sudden appearance of someone in his room startled him.
"I told you to quit doing that," the light-haired man said to Julius.
"My bad, I was in a hurry. Can you look at him?" Julius asked as Akeru's form became visible to him.
Owen's face became serious in the next instant as he analyzed Akeru's condition through his eyes.
His grimoire lifted into the air as various forms of aquatic animals made of water materialized around him.
"You can cancel your spell," Owen said, and the blue sphere disappeared. Akeru's figure was caught by a water octopus.
However, due to Still Spectator being repeatedly used inside the never-ending loop, Akeru became unconscious from his brain consuming a lot of energy.
"How did he suffer such severe injuries?" Owen asked with a frown as he inspected Akeru and started healing him.
"He was fighting a very strong opponent. If the opponent had decided to take him seriously, he would have died instead."
Owen hummed as he determined the most efficient way to heal the boy in front of him.
"So, what's the extent of his injuries, and will he make a complete recovery?" Julius asked.
"He has suffered major damage to his left lung, his stomach is almost a thing of the past, and whatever's left of his right leg's muscles and bones has expanded weirdly due to intense heat. Not only that, his nerves have been fried, which I believe is due to lightning—though this is mostly in his limb areas, which makes me suspect that it was his own spell. Fortunately, he was brought in immediately in the same state, so he will make a complete recovery. I'd say it will take about a month," Owen concluded his analysis.
"That's a relief. I'll talk to you later," Julius said before disappearing.
Since Julius had left the meeting room, it was in chaos.
Yami wanted to know the location of the fight, along with some other captains who had decided to support him.
This created a conflict between the groups as they debated whether to send a small team of captains to the location while the rest remained in the capital.
The room went silent as Julius returned shortly.
"The devil is dead. No magic knights were killed," Julius said while taking a seat.
Though he said all that in a calm tone, the older ones in the room who had known Julius for a long time could tell that he was angry.
"Was someone injured?" someone asked.
Though nobody in this room was dumb—it was an indirect way of asking the extent of injuries sustained in the battle.
"The boy did suffer some major injuries, but Owen says he'll recover in one month. Apart from that, nothing major."
Though they didn't know the exact extent of his injuries, they could guess, given the amount of time Owen said recovery would take—a very rare case.
Julius suddenly placed a register on the table.
He slid it toward Fuegoleon, who was nearby.
Fuegoleon opened the register and skimmed through it.
The temperature in the room increased drastically.
Everyone in the room became curious.
Fuegoleon closed the register and slid it to Nozel.
The temperature in the room dropped drastically.
The others felt a strange combination of slight cold and heat at the same time.
One by one, everyone looked at the register.
They were staring at the results of their inadequacy.
Akeru regained consciousness after a long time.
"Where am I?" he said, though it felt unfamiliar hearing his voice sound so different from how he was used to it.
'Though I don't really speak that much, my voice shouldn't sound this different from how I imagine it. Did it get injured during the fight? But I don't even remember my neck or any other area being injured like that,' Akeru thought instantly, considering various scenarios.
"You're finally awake. Though you might find your senses, specifically your sense of touch, dulled due to anaesthesia. Here, have some water."
In Akeru's blurry vision, a man appeared and gave him water.
'???'
The man didn't give him water in his hands but directly thrust a ball of water into his throat.
Akeru would have done something to prevent this if he had sensed a red line or any kind of ill intent from the man.
After gulping a decent amount of water, Akeru realized the reason for his different voice was due to his throat being dry.
"So?"
"So?" the man mimicked his question.
"Where am I?"
"You're in my clinic. I work directly with the Wizard King," Akeru's vision finally cleared, and after a few seconds, he realized this character from the canon.
"Oh. How long will it take me to heal?" Akeru didn't ask about the devil or anything else, which caught the man off guard.
"That brings me to a question: How did your nerves get injured? They are almost damaged beyond repair. I sense lightning magic was used, and due to the area where it happened, it's highly likely to be your spell."
"I was backed against a wall. What else could I have done? At least I'm alive," Akeru said with a shrug.
"What if you're not able to use your arms and legs again for your life?" This question didn't surprise Akeru.
Being the user of the spell and having delved into anatomy to learn lightning enhancement, he clearly knew the risks.
"Though that was the worst-case scenario I expected, it would be a bummer, but I'll learn some other spells to negate this disadvantage," Akeru said calmly.
He didn't hide his emotions, as he felt completely composed.
'As long as I live, every disadvantage becomes pointless in the long run. I'll just change my focus to wind magic next. That should help me move autonomously even without my limbs,' Akeru had thought about this when he created the upgraded version of Orion's Mischief.
His answer and demeanour left Owen speechless.
Being very experienced, he could clearly see that Akeru's emotions were genuine, which caught him off guard.
The sight of a boy undeterred by challenges he could overcome with time.
'Julius did say that he fought a life-threatening battle and could have died. Is it due to that, or was he always like this?' Owen thought.
Akeru, after realizing he would survive, knew that as long as he had time, any challenge could be overcome.
"I was just joking. You'll make a full recovery in about three weeks," Owen said with a sigh, returning to heal Akeru's nerves.
"Oh, that's cool," Akeru smiled.
It would save him months of training to learn wind magic first.
"Will you be disturbed if I use a spell while you work?" Akeru asked.
"Depends on the type of spell," Owen raised an eyebrow.
"It increases my focus and affects one part of my brain."
Owen hummed while stroking his chin.
"That's fine, as long as your mana reserves don't fall to a dangerously low level and you stop when I say so," Owen said in a strict tone.
"Thank you," Akeru's smile widened.
'I can hide the mana method by taking breaks as usual. At worst, he'd think I have a high mana recovery rate.'
A small grimoire attached as a pendant to an accessory lying on a table beside Akeru's bed started glowing, and its pages began flipping.
'Bystander's Magic: Still Spectator.'
'It's time for me to continue my grind,' Akeru grinned.
End of Volume 1: The Grind Never Stops.
***
And, that's the end of the first volume, Looking back, I would say it was fast-paced, and it would have been better to elaborate more on character interactions, I think I did okay in that regard. The next volume, that is the upcoming one, is going to be more about character interactions, though still fights would be present, but this time epic fights, as you would cleary see the motivations before and during the battle of each party along with their emotions, I am going to experiment with that, so wish me luck.
***
Join my Patreon to support me and get up to 20 advanced chapters:
- DESIRE96
(search it up)
Check out my other works too.
Join my discord to talk to our community, link in the synopsis.
Also, if you don't mind, do drop some reviews for this fic or any complaints you have about the story in the comment box, It really gives me a perspective to consider.