Chapter 126 — Hospital I

The hospital room was sterile white, filled with the soft beeping of medical equipment monitoring Damian’s vital signs.

He lay on the bed unconscious, his body wrapped in bandages covering the numerous wounds from the demon battle.

His breathing was steady but shallow, face pale from blood loss despite the emergency treatment he’d received.

The air shimmered near the window.

Kuro materialized from the shadows, having just completed his own breakthrough to C- rank while Damian had been fighting for his life.

Yes. The raven was undergoing his breakthrough as Damian was traveling home, so he wasn’t able to help Damian during his fight.

The raven’s red eyes immediately locked onto Damian’s bandaged form.

For a moment, Kuro just stared, processing what he was seeing.

His bond partner, his companion. The human who’d fed him death energy and trained alongside him and accepted him without question.

Broken, battered and covered in wounds that spoke of desperate, brutal combat.

Something that might have been panic flooded through Kuro’s enhanced consciousness.

His intelligence had grown significantly with the breakthrough, bringing with it more complex emotions than the simple instincts he’d operated on before.

He could understand now, really understand, what it meant that Damian had been injured this badly.

He could have died! He might still die if the wounds were severe enough.

The thought terrified him in ways his previous simpler mind couldn’t have comprehended.

Kuro flew to the bed and landed gently on Damian’s chest, careful not to press on any injuries.

His head lowered, rubbing against Damian’s face with frantic, desperate movements.

Tears formed in his red eyes, actual tears, sliding down his beak as he made soft distressed sounds.

’Wake up. Please wake up. Don’t leave me alone.’

The emotions were overwhelming, flooding through their bond connection even though Damian was unconscious.

Damian’s eyes fluttered open slowly, consciousness returning in gradual stages.

Everything hurt... Every muscle, every bone and every cell in his body was screaming protest at the abuse it had endured.

But the first thing he registered wasn’t pain.

It was the wet sensation on his face and the distressed sounds of his companion.

"Kuro?"

His voice came out hoarse, damaged from screaming during the battle.

The raven’s head pulled back slightly, his red eyes wide and wet with tears, his entire body trembling.

Understanding dawned in Damian’s eyes despite the pain and exhaustion.

Kuro had broken through while unconscious, missed the entire battle, and woken to find his bond partner nearly dead.

"Hey, it’s okay. I’m alright. We’re both alright."

Damian’s hand came up slowly, every movement costing effort, and gently stroked Kuro’s feathers.

"You broke through to C- rank, didn’t you? I can feel it through our bond. Your Aura is much stronger now."

Kuro nuzzled into his hand, still making distressed sounds, clearly not reassured.

"I know. I know I look terrible. But I survived, Kuro. We both survived. That’s what matters."

The raven gradually calmed under the gentle stroking, his tears stopping, though he remained pressed close to Damian’s hand.

’He seems more intelligent now and more aware. Which means more capable of fear. That’s the price of consciousness, isn’t it?’

Damian smiled slightly despite the pain.

"Come on, let’s get me healed up properly so you stop worrying."

He pushed himself into a sitting position with considerable effort, his broken ribs protesting every movement.

Kuro hopped to his shoulder, staying close, his talons careful not to dig into damaged flesh.

Damian closed his eyes and activated his self-healing skill, channeling his Aura through his body systematically.

The skill had improved significantly with his breakthrough to C- rank.

He could feel it working faster, more efficiently, directing healing energy to the worst injuries first.

Broken bones began knitting back together. Torn muscles started repairing and internal bleeding slowed and stopped.

It wouldn’t heal everything immediately. Some damage was too severe for rapid recovery. But it would stabilize him and reduce recovery time from weeks to days.

He was maybe five minutes into the healing process when the hospital room door burst open.

"DAMIAN!"

Luna practically flew across the room and crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him in a desperate hug.

The impact drove the air from his healing lungs and sent fresh pain through his injured ribs, but Damian didn’t push her away.

He just held her, one arm coming up to wrap around his sister’s trembling form.

"I’m okay, Luna. I’m–"

SLAP.

The sound echoed through the hospital room like a gunshot.

Luna had pulled back and struck him across the face with enough force to snap his head to the side.

Even Kuro scrambled away in shock, launching from Damian’s shoulder to perch on the window sill, his intelligent eyes wide with confusion.

He could sense this girl wasn’t a threat. He could even feel the immense love radiating from her toward Damian through some instinct he didn’t fully understand.

So why had she hit him? What was happening? Is this how love is shared among humans?

Damian stared at his sister in complete shock, his hand going to his stinging cheek, his long crimson hair falling across his face.

Lyandra and Alaric entered the room behind Luna, stopping just inside the doorway as they witnessed the scene.

The image was eerily familiar.

The Norrington incident. When Luna had tried to sacrifice herself to save others from the terrorists.

When Damian had saved her and then slapped her for the first and only time in his life, scolding her for throwing her life away so carelessly.

Now she was returning that slap.

The symbolism wasn’t lost on any of them.

"You... you HYPOCRITE!"

Luna’s voice shook with fury and fear and desperate relief all mixed together.

Tears were streaming down her face, her silver eyes blazing with emotion.

"You scolded me back then! You slapped me and yelled at me for putting my life on the line for strangers!

You said I was being stupid and reckless and that my life was worth more than throwing it away for people I didn’t even know!"

Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

"And now you do the EXACT SAME THING! You stand there against seven Demons – SEVEN DEMONS, Damian! – to protect people you’d never met!

You almost died! We all watched you almost die on those live streams! How is that any different from what I did? How are you not being even more foolish than I was?"