Chapter323 – Getting infected?
“It is poison,” someone said grimly. Abundant resist toxins. If he was still like this after being healed, this was serious.
Urgency slammed into them all.
“His temperature’s skyrocketing!” Millers shouted as he pulled Axel into his arms. “He’s burning up!”
“We need a high-level healer—now!” someone shouted. “Mr. Finnegan, does Ebonveil have anyone who can handle this?”
Finnegan’s face darkened. “Anyone who can stabilize him would need to be at least a Level Five Awakened. Unless you’re insanely lucky and run into a top-tier wilderness hunter…”
Gideon stepped forward sharply. “Captain Vince, Axel’s combat ability already surpasses most Level Fives. We shouldn’t gamble. I know someone who can help.”
“Who?!” Millers was drenched in sweat.
“Riley of Poison Master. Level Six Awakened. She specializes in both poisons and antidotes. She’s based in Everton. If she can’t save him, no one can.”
Everton.
“Call in a helicopter—now!” Phoenix said immediately.
But Millers shook his head hard. “No. Axel won’t last that long in this condition. I’ll take him myself.”
With that, the shattered armor on Millers’s body flared with dull light. His feet slowly lifted off the ground.
“Millers!” Vince called out urgently. “Can you even fly in your condition?”
Millers looked like death warmed over—torn armor, blood still seeping from wounds left by the Shikigami.
“I can,” he said, forcing a crooked smile. “I’ll get him there.”
Twin jets of flame burst from beneath his feet. Carrying Axel in both arms, Millers shot into the sky.
Axel’s face continued to shift between deathly pale and fever-red. His body jerked with violent chills and burning heat. Millers clenched his teeth, whispering hoarsely through blood and pain:
“Hang in there, brother. Don’t you fucking dare die on me…”
Blood dripped from Millers’s unhealed wounds as the flight system screamed under the strain.
“Master… backup power nearly depleted…”
“Activate emergency reserves…”
Millers’s vision swam. He bit hard into his tongue to stay conscious, tightened his grip on Axel, and pushed himself even harder toward Everton.
......
Inside the haze of half-consciousness, scorching heat and bone-deep cold tore through Axel’s mind in waves. His vision was a blur of shifting colors—his own skin flashing through sickly hues before his eyes.
Am I… getting infected?
Unbeknownst to Millers, Axel weakly opened his eyes and, with trembling fingers, slipped a small fruit into his mouth and swallowed it without a sound.
Millers never noticed.
His gaze stayed locked on the distant lights of Everton, faith alone dragging his battered body forward.
“In the past… you saved me,” he muttered hoarsely. “This time… it’s my turn to save you.”
.......
Flights were prohibited directly over Everton. After Millers landed and flashed his credentials, an emergency transport immediately rushed them toward a secluded courtyard.
“I’m looking for Riley—Riley of Poison Master!” Millers shouted as he stumbled forward with Axel in his arms. “My brother’s been poisoned—he’s dying!”
He pounded on the door like a madman. His clothes were in rags, his once-handsome face smeared with blood and ash.
“Don’t panic,” a calm, gentle voice replied from within. “He’s not in immediate mortal danger.”
The door slowly opened.
Millers froze when he saw the woman standing there.
“It’s… you?”
The moment the words left his mouth, the last of his strength vanished. His knees buckled, and he collapsed backward.
“It’s you?” The woman repeated softly.
She wore a simple white dress. Her beauty wasn’t the striking kind—but it was mature, composed, and quietly commanding.
She caught Millers before he hit the ground, then signaled to her assistant. “Carry the patient inside.”
Taking Axel herself, she brushed her fingers over his blood-soaked arm. A warm, gentle current of power flowed into him.
Then—her nose twitched.
Her eyes snapped to a tiny pinpoint on Axel’s arm.
A needle mark—so faint it was almost invisible.
“Set that one down first,” she told her assistant. “I’ll examine him personally.”
As her hand passed over Axel’s arm again, the tiny puncture vanished without a trace. She laid him onto the medical bed, and a pale green light slid from her palm, flowing through Axel’s nose and mouth and into his body.
“…Strange.”
Her brows slowly drew together as if something defied her understanding.
She withdrew a testing device and swept it across Axel’s body. Her expression grew increasingly grave with each reading.
“The child from Western Bridgeport…” she murmured. “So it really is him.”
She put the device away. The flow of her Force gradually receded.
Just then, Axel’s eyelashes fluttered.
His eyes slowly opened.
Their gazes met.
Axel stared at the woman’s familiar face. His heart jolted violently.
“Clarissa…?”
The woman smiled faintly and patted his shoulder with calm reassurance.
“That’s my sister. My name is Riley,” she said gently. “You’re not in good condition right now. Go back to sleep.”
She raised her hand lightly.
A wave of drowsiness swept through Axel. Combined with the raging temperature fluctuations inside his body, he slipped quickly into deep unconsciousness.
Inside the adjacent room, several assistants were treating Millers. Riley walked over to him quietly.
“How is he?” she asked.
A young female assistant stood up respectfully. “Master, his Force is completely drained and his injuries have worsened. He’s extremely weak.”
Riley nodded. “You may leave. I’ll handle the rest.”
The assistants rose one by one, bowed, and withdrew from the room.
The lights on the medical equipment flickered softly. Sunlight slanted through the courtyard windows, washing over Millers and Riley in pale gold.
Riley sat silently at Millers’s bedside.
“Angelica… Angelica…”
Hearing his hoarse murmur, a faint smile surfaced on her lips. Her thoughts drifted back to the first time she had met him.
“My name is Axel…”
She glanced from Millers to the adjacent bed where Axel lay unconscious. Something in her eyes softened. Gently, she pulled a thin layer of gauze over Millers’s head and tucked the blanket around him. Only then did she return to Axel’s side.
The room itself was small and sparse—just a few beds, humming medical machines, rows of reagent bottles, and vials of multicolored solutions.
Riley’s smile slowly faded.
She closed her eyes, replaying the single word Axel had spoken when he awakened:
“Clarissa.”
And the look in his eyes at that moment—how it had shifted from instinctive wariness to sudden calm.
Why was he wary first? she wondered.
She crossed to the computer and tapped lightly on the keyboard, every movement careful, silent, so as not to disturb either of them.
Axel’s information quickly appeared on the screen.
“A prodigy…” she murmured. “No wonder the Saints went after him. He may see her in the Landscape Scroll.”
Riley turned away and went alone to the second floor. Inside an antique-style study, she locked the door, took a book from the shelf, and pressed a hidden button on its spine.
The entire bookshelf slid silently apart, revealing a narrow concealed chamber containing nothing but a single bed.
She casually lifted the black helmet resting beside it, lay down, and closed her eyes.
Moments later, the bookshelf folded shut again, sealing the room as if the hidden space had never existed.
.......
In a boundless, pitch-dark void…
Upon a frigid black throne, a figure cloaked in shadow slowly emerged.
A majestic voice echoed through the emptiness.
“It’s because of Axel, isn’t it?”
Starveil’s voice answered calmly. “Aurelion, he’s the child who retrieved the Heavenly Spirit Fruit from the Abyss, isn’t he? Truly exceptional.”
Aurelion paused. “How is he?”
“He’s stable. But something puzzles me—he was struck by a Saint’s Blood Needle, yet the damage was minimal.”
After a brief silence, Aurelion said gravely, “The Blood Needle leaves residue in the body. Make sure you remove it completely. Fortunately, it wasn’t the Blood-Burning Needle that creates Infected. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it to you at all.”
Starveil inclined his head. “That danger’s already passed. He had additional Heavenly Spirit Fruit on him—I could still sense the residue in his blood. I removed every trace of the needle. The effects of the fruit will fade within twelve hours. No one will notice anything abnormal.”
“The Blood-Burning Needle can drive a person mad,” Aurelion said slowly, “but it also massively strengthens the body. It turns the victim into a brute-force monster. The fact that he endured it means his physical resistance is extraordinary.”
Aurelion gave no further comment.