Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 216: Soul Fracture

Chapter 216: Soul Fracture

[ Acceptance into Marta Kowalski’s territory pending...]

[ Acceptance into Marta Kowalski’s territory pending...]

[ Acceptance into Marta Kowalski’s territory pending...]

[ Accepted! ]

From carrying bags of groceries in the middle of the Nebulous Bazaar to his surroundings changing and shifting. Kazi kept a firm hold and appeared at a girlish room with yellow walls nailed with posters of musicians, many of them whom came from the 90s and 80s. A desk was tucked into one corner, cluttered with textbooks, notebooks, and pens. Beside it, placed without consideration, was a dining table.

"Ah, Kazi! You’re here! Thank you!" Elena went and took the grocery from his hands, hurrying to the left side of the room, the kitchen. Down the middle of the room was a division between the kitchen and the personal resting space.

He watched the brunette hum and get to work, like her motherly instincts had been roused. Her hair set in a side-ponytail, wearing a small smile and getting out a chopping board as well as a sharp knife, she made lunch. The meat Kazi was supplied was that of an Amphiptere, costing over ten thousand points per pound. Ordinarily, kotlet mielony—or Polish meat patties—would have been impossible to make with a normal knife. Luckily, Elena’s bakery was top-notch and the owner was more than happy to supply her with one of their best knives.

Kazi’s gaze shifted from the left, the kitchen, to the right. In the right-side corner was a medium-sized bed where she lay. Not a word was said. Kazi wore a fresh smile and came over. "Marta, hey. How are you doing?"

Her blonde hair was sprawled on the pillow, almost straw-like in texture, and her blue eyes stared into the ceiling. She didn’t move or so much as glance at him. A half-full cup of black coffee lay at the side-table, stained and forgotten. Her body, no, her will, all of it had lost strength. Her eyes were dim and full of a misery he couldn’t possibly understand.

"I managed to convince Father Philip and Commander Cedric to come this evening," Kazi said. No response. He kneeled down to her level and added, "I got you those salty chips you like. Oh, and medium roast beans."

Still nothing. He looked her over one last time. He had spent the first week following Gate 10 working on one thing and one thing alone: her prosthetics. It took a lot of study and medical understanding but he successfully built titanium prosthetics for all four of her missing limbs. But they hardly worked. Not because of the prosthetics themselves but because of Marta herself. She just...couldn’t do it.

Marta tried and tried and failed every time and the tenacity that once fueled her withered away.

Now she lay in bed, mute and unmoving. He didn’t blame her. How could he? This wasn’t a single arm or a single leg—this was everything. Everything she had done up until now was amputated. Her power, her mentality, her magical skills—Jack had ripped it all apart. No amount of magical healing could fix it.

But still, he had to try and the only person with the skill to do what Kazi could not was the greatest healer of the Templar Order.

Hours passed and Commander Cedric arrived in the same black iteration of the Templar uniform he was known for. Elena had readied dinner at this point and while Father Philip appreciated it, the Commander strode right past the offered meal. His eyes narrowed as he slowly approached Marta.

"Jack," Commander Cedric muttered. "I sense his magic."

Kazi didn’t. Even with his newfound eyes, seeing the particles of magic that Cedric was seeing was impossible.

"Mind if I touch your prosthetic?" The Commander of Healing asked.

In return, he received the smallest of nods. His fingers traced up the prosthetic arm, going up to her shoulder where flesh finally appeared.

"These prosthetics are amazing," the Commander noted. "Who did this?"

"I did," Kazi supplied.

The Commander gave a curious look. "Were you a doctor in life? Engineer?"

Kazi shook his head. The Commander looked impressed. He looked prepared to give an offer. Kazi hated it. He hated that look. ’Please, for the love of god, stop talking about me.’

So before the Commander could say anything, Kazi asked, "What do we do? I’m a builder, not a doctor, so I can’t give a thorough analysis." Kazi specialized in autopsies, the status of a body after death, not during. Although he could do everything a normal doctor could too, in a world of magic, he was a fish in a pond. He scarcely understood the conditions of magic at this point.

A faint white-yellow glow appeared under the palm of Commander Cedric’s hand as it hovered over Marta’s heart. Mana coursed through her, slow and meek, letting it mingle and merge with what she already had. Letting Marta’s nerves and inner mana system steal and absorb what it craved.

Suddenly, the mana increased and Commander Cedric jump-started the flow of mana. His eyes narrowed deeper. He did it two more times before his lips set into a firm line.

"Marta, you...you siphoned your soul to use your spells, didn’t you?" Marta didn’t give a response. Another faint glow from the healer’s hand. "You fool, don’t ever do that again. Using your life energy to fuel your spells will lead to soul fracture. It is much, much worse than mana break. There is no recovery from it, no treatment. When it happens, there are two end results: an unhealable physical disability...or death."

From the side, Elena gasped. Father Phillip muttered a prayer and offered the woman a look of solace.

"The effects this time around are weak, probably due to the freshness of your magical soul. If you had been any older, you would have..." Commander Cedric suddenly trailed off, his hand going over to her forehead. The white-yellow glow appeared one last time. His brows furrowed and his hand went down to brush the hair from her left eye. "You can’t see from your left eye...can you?"

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