Return of the Demon Sovereign (Book 1) [Version Discontinued]

86. Assassins (4)

Leo and Skadi stopped in the middle of the camp. Astra and the Captains were first to appear, the healers next. Leo jumped off and Skadi lowered herself to the ground so he could pick up Erebus.

Astra let out a cry when she saw the massive amount of blood all over the trio but when she saw Erebus, she dropped the mug she was clutching tightly before, letting it shatter on the ground.

His hair was matted with blood and clung to his face. The black was a drastic contrast against the extremely pale and sunken face. His eyes were still covered with a torn up cloth. His clothes were ripped to shreds, and needles were embedded in his skin.

There were ten Water Cultivators from High Serpent who were familiar with wounds and blood, but still faltered when they approached him. They had never seen such extensive damage before. The only one who kept his calm with Rhys.

"Stop gawking and help!" He yelled.

This was enough to get them all moving. They carried him to a separate tent, Leo, Astra and the Captains following closely behind.

The healers tore off the scraps of clothing, leaving him with just his underwear. They pulled out the needles and used water to wash away the blood, but when the wounds were revealed it caused more chaos.

A couple of the healers had to run out and vomit when they saw his condition. Astra who had forcibly held herself together had silent tears running down her face while Leo clenched his jaw tightly.

Erebus' body was a twisted mess. His muscles were taut from being overused and consistently quivered under the hands of the healers. He was bruised almost everywhere with signs of internal bleeding. Deep gashes covered his body and puncture wounds were abundantly scattered on him.

However, the most concerning wounds were the places where his arms seemed to split and the puncture wound on his side. His arms looked like bloody lightning crawling up his arms and up to his shoulders. And the stab wound in his side that went straight through has ripped open further because of his battle with the Assassins.

They carefully took off the strip of cloth from around his eyes and breathed with relief that there seemed to be no damage to his eyes.

They didn't stop using their mana and worked on closing the more serious wounds. Leo, Astra and the Captains took turns feeding Erebus their mana to help strengthen his meridians and core.

It took an entire night a day to bring him from the brink of death and taking him out of critical condition. At that time, they just needed two healers to go through the other wounds and bruising.

They continued this for two weeks until his body was healed to a decent state. However, he hadn't woken up.

Rhys would come multiple times a day to check his condition, but Astra refused to leave his side. She would sit with him and wipe his body down to clean him, brush and wash his long hair, and fuss over his Phonoi Heart marking that became much darker.

Leo was next in command and had to work overtime to keep the troops calm and focused. They were deep in enemy territory and he was on edge after dealing with the assassins form before. He could tell that they set up a trap specifically for Erebus.

****

Erebus' consciousness was in the Phonoi Heart's world, sitting in a lotus position. He had not moved or said a word this entire time. He was focused on circulating his energy. His meridians were badly damaged so he needed to repair them. He debated for a while, and focused his mana to complete another meridian cleansing. The pain was unbearable and chaotic. It was the main reason why he hadn't woken up this entire time. He also knew that someone was healing him, so he took advantage of the healers watching over him. With the constant healing and cleansing, his meridians were becoming rebuilt and stronger than before. He was surprised to find that they rivaled his old meridians from the Warring Era. He had to admire Eri's body and how it was built for his type of cultivation.