Chapter 76: The Boundary Held
Marek wanted strength more than anyone. Day by day, helplessness gradually, little by little, settled inside him. Although he had advanced to Cycle I, Degree I, it was not enough to match up to Rhovan’s level. Perhaps if he had reached the fifth Cycle as Rhovan did, he could storm through the entire city as easily as breathing on a normal day.
He could easily find them both.
As they continued through the city, he noticed more and more of the planet’s peculiar Awakening. When he looked to the side, a building had been miraculously lifted by a heap of land. Should an earthquake happen at any moment, it would collapse entirely without a doubt.
Clutching one strap of his backpack, he lowered his head. Soon enough, he lifted his gaze. ’Those Thirteen Signs... I wonder if I could find them in the Prime Continuum? Are those signs we can see from here... the manifestation of the Houses? Probably not... the Ophiuchus has no House after all.’
Even though he was quite ambitious, he did not want to advance to a higher Degree just because Rhovan had told him he was more than prepared to do so. Rhovan even had a proud look on his face as he looked at Marek like he was some sort of genius he expected him to be.
"I wonder what happened to the van we left," Dario said. "Somehow, I miss it."
"Missing an inanimate object is a weird kind of kink, I must say," Rhovan remarked while grinning.
Dario’s face turned beet red, and he quickly defended himself. "Damn you! That’s not what I meant!"
Nadia laughed, tears coming out of her eyes. Rafe remained silent. So did Eren and Silas. Kellan, on the other hand, was trying to overcome the drowsiness he was feeling. He felt like sleeping again.
"Could be true, though," Rhovan replied. "Anyway, from far away, I see another place. It could be another lead that could help us find the Ophiarch’s Goddess of a sister... faster."
Marek had his mouth slightly open, but he ultimately did not say anything. He learned that trying to drag on a conversation with this strange guy would either lead nowhere or to something useful.
Apparently, the place Rhovan referred to was previously a cultural center of Linden City. Now, it was converted into something where most of the people were quarantined due to their inability to control their abilities. While it might sound like locking them up, it was also the only way to keep them from harm and hurting others.
The others remained outside the cultural center to watch the surrounding streets. Marek, Rhovan, and Nadia were the only ones who entered the place.
Seeing a group of three approaching them, the volunteers walked up to them. "Are you guys here because you’re trying to find shelter?"
Marek then turned to Rhovan. ’Doesn’t look like he needs one.’
"Not really," Rhovan replied. "We—"
"No, we are just here to find someone," Marek cut him off. He feared that this guy would say something ridiculous again.
"Quick! Quick! Help him!" a volunteer screamed, but his voice switched from a girl to a man, then to a woman.
Many of the volunteers crowded around one volunteer. All three of them went near one cot. One volunteer had a superficial chemical burn across the back of his hand.
Marek’s eyes narrowed as he tried to zoom in on the burn. One volunteer was already flushing the injured hand with water while another moved the open chemical container away. Marek caught the label on its side.
’Sulfuric Acid’
The chemical itself was gone. What remained was the injury it had caused.
Marek pushed through the crowded cot and looked at the groaning volunteer.
"Who’s he?" a volunteer asked, but they ignored him. "Really? No one’s answering me?"
Marek closely examined it. This time, he did not use the Quiet Room, while one volunteer rested his hand over a metal tray with sterile pads, already prepared.
"Simple enough?" Rhovan asked, leaning against a wall.
"Nothing involving my Astral Mark has been simple since it appeared. These weird things keep happening every time. Sometimes, it would throw me off. Most of the time, it would help me resolve problems for people."
Rhovan crossed his arms. "I was just trying to encourage you, oh Dear Ophiarch."
Other volunteers tended to other patients and just left one volunteer who was looking nervously at Marek and Rhovan. "Should I be worried?"
"No," Marek said before Rhovan could answer. ’Who knows what this guy would say?’
His eyes soon focused on the burn. Before opening one of his empty scales, Marek defined exactly what he wanted to contain: the active burn alone. Not the chemical that had caused it. Nor the volunteer himself. Nothing else. The burn itself was the condition he had defined within the Case.
Then, the familiar pull answered. Red light appeared along one broken scale as the burning pain left the man’s hand and entered Marek’s Astral Mark.
"You’re trying—"
"Shut up, Rho," Marek cut him off.
"Oh!" Rhovan’s eyes instantly straightened up, and his eyes glowed bright gold. "Another nickname for me?"
’No, I just forgot your name for a moment and remembered it now.’
Marek just ignored him as he kept on rambling about how magnificent that name was to him—especially given by the Ophiarch himself. In the middle of examining the volunteer’s burn, Marek just accepted his fate. ’This guy...’
His attention fully shifted to the burn. Normally, Marek would have stopped at the point where he’d contain the condition, which was the Red light that entered his Astral Mark. This time, however, he tried to release the condition itself—the contained burn—without allowing the
On the tray, there was a sterile pad. He had chosen it as the point where he would release the burn. When Marek tried to open the scale, he felt something tug back toward the volunteer, but he refused to return it to where it originally came from.
’The injury came from the volunteer, but the burn was the only condition I had defined within the Case. The old route back to him no longer had any reason to remain open,’ Marek thought and touched his Astral Mark through his shirt underneath his white coat. ’It feels warm...’
The red light left one scale. Heat soon spread across the sterile pad, darkening one of its corners before fading. Nothing returned to the volunteer, and the scale became empty once more.
Rhovan watched this entire process and marveled. Then, his face turned serious.
Marek looked at him. "Well?"
"You kept the same boundary you established earlier intact even through release," Rhovan answered.
"That was the point. I tried doing so with the hope to somehow control it. I wonder if this was a prerequisite to advance to Degree II."
"Yes, Dear Ophiarch. As expected from you! You advanced without even knowing you already did!" Rhovan praised him again, laughing as though he was prouder than Marek who had actually advanced.
"So, I’m now at Degree II? Even faster than those detainees?" Marek asked.
Rhovan nodded. "You used what you already had without letting the Case change halfway through."
When Marek looked back at the tray, the explanation made more sense than whatever praise Rhovan was formulating inside his mind.
"Just don’t."
Rhovan’s thinking process was interrupted as he looked at Marek. "I haven’t said anything. What do you mean, oh Dear Ophiarch?"
"I know what you’re thinking already. Don’t even think about preparing a paragraph of just pure praise about what I did," Marek grumbled.
Rhovan sighed. "As expected of the Ophiarch, he doesn’t even need praise anymore to define his greatness. Ahh! What a divine being you are!"
Marek’s face fell.
Meanwhile, Nadia was busy talking to other volunteers within the center.
"What is she doing?" Marek asked after a moment of silence.
"Hmm." Rhovan contemplated before answering. "Perhaps she’s just like you, trying to find a way to advance to her next Degree. But she’s not like you, so it’d be harder for her instead. If you’re a genius, then she’s just trash trying to walk out of a bin."
Marek’s brows twitched. ’He still found a way to praise me. What’s wrong with his brain?’