Chapter 56 — Scheme I

"...You seem to get injured a lot."

A tall woman with distinctive white hair and matching white eyes, dressed in a pristine medical coat, spoke to Damian as she finished tending to his various injuries with practiced efficiency.

When Damian and the massive group of wounded students had arrived at the Medical Wing earlier, the entire clinic had become an absolute madhouse of organized chaos.

Doctors and healing specialists rushed between beds, Aura glowing from countless hands as they worked to stabilize and treat the seemingly endless stream of injured students.

Damian had been given anesthesia along with the other most seriously injured students – those with broken bones, severe internal damage, or dangerous head trauma.

Since he’d been feeling completely exhausted anyway, both physically and mentally drained from the day’s events, he’d allowed himself to drift off into unconsciousness.

He’d just now woken up to find this unfamiliar woman standing over him, examining him with sharp, analytical eyes.

"Have we met before?" Damian asked her directly, studying her face for any sign of recognition.

"When you fainted during your body training class a couple days ago, I was the one who patched you up and got you stabilized."

The woman replied with obvious tiredness visible in her eyes and the slight droop of her shoulders.

She and her colleagues had spent the last several hours working nonstop, taking care of dozens upon dozens of injured students without rest.

It had been absolutely exhausting work.

Looking at the clearly tired doctor, Damian felt a genuine stab of gratitude and expressed it sincerely.

"Thank you for helping me that time, and for this time as well, Doctor...?"

"Isabelle. Doctor Isabelle White."

Isabelle replied as her eyes continued scanning Damian’s exposed torso carefully, checking with professional thoroughness for any remaining scars or injuries that might have been missed, before continuing.

"Last time when you were here, you left in such a hurry that you didn’t let me properly remove your scars.

This time, I made absolutely sure to spend the necessary time removing everything completely. You should really take better care of your skin, you know.

That particularly long scar across your face took an especially long time to heal and erase properly."

"...Did you remove that one as well!?"

Damian asked with sudden alarm, immediately reaching up to grab a small mirror from the nearby medical tray.

The reflection showed a handsome face with mature, almost scholarly charm – long crimson hair framing sharp crimson eyes.

His features were starting to lose that last trace of childish softness, becoming more defined and angular.

Looking at the completely clear, unblemished white skin, he realized with growing dismay that all the scars on his face and upper body had been completely removed without a trace.

Every single one.

"Yes, naturally. I removed all of them. They looked quite ugly and unprofessional in my medical opinion."

Isabelle put on a genuinely confused look on her face as she stared at what appeared to be a despairing expression forming on Damian’s features.

’My cool scar... A man is defined by the scars on his body, the battles he’s survived... There goes my entire intimidating look... And I haven’t even wiped out that damn Shadow Council yet.’

Damian remembered vowing to himself – swearing on his brother’s memory – that he wouldn’t remove that long scar across his forehead until he’d completely slaughtered the Shadow Council, until every last member was dead and gone.

It was supposed to be a reminder. A promise carved into his flesh.

"Sigh... Forget it. What’s done is done."

Damian sighed deeply, forcing himself to let it go and shift his focus to more important matters.

"Thanks for treating me so thoroughly, Doctor Isabelle. Are my friends doing okay? The others who came in with me?"

"Yes, everyone is recovering well. For some of the more seriously injured students, full recovery may take a few more days of rest and treatment.

But their ability to perform daily tasks won’t be significantly affected starting tomorrow."

"I see. That’s good to hear."

"You should rest here for now. I’ll go check on the others and make sure everyone’s progressing as they should be."

Isabelle turned to leave, satisfied that Damian’s injuries were almost fully healed and required no further immediate attention.

As soon as she disappeared through the door, Damian got up from the medical bed and walked over to the large window, opening it to look outside.

The sun was already setting beyond the distant mountains, painting the sky in brilliant oranges and deep purples as the moon began its slow rise.

Cool evening winds brushed against his face, carrying with them the scent of flowers from the Academy gardens below.

He stood there looking at the beautiful view, his mind processing everything that had happened today.

His breathing technique activated automatically, almost subconsciously at this point.

The Aura in the surrounding area began flowing toward him in visible streams, being absorbed and refined with each controlled breath.

By the time he finally snapped out of his deep thoughts and returned his awareness to the present moment, full night had already fallen.

The moon hung high and bright in the dark sky.

Without hesitation, Damian climbed onto the window ledge and jumped out, disappearing silently into the darkness below.

****

In the eastern garden of the Academy – a secluded area rarely visited by students at night – one figure could be seen standing perfectly still, looking up at the beautiful moon.

Which appeared crimson for some inexplicable reason tonight, as if stained with blood.

As the figure stood there in complete silence, the ambient Aura around the entire area visibly gravitated toward him like iron filings drawn to a magnet, creating subtle distortions in the air.

"I see everything went according to your plan..."

Another figure approached smoothly from the shadows beneath the garden’s ancient trees, his footsteps making no sound against the grass.

The newly arrived person possessed a strikingly beautiful, almost ethereal face with distinctive purple hair and matching purple eyes that seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight.

"...It did."