章 85: Waking Up
Arata opened his eyes slowly. He felt that his body was quite weak and tired. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light in the room. He was lying in his bed in his room. He felt something touch his foot as he quietly looked at the foot of the bed. There he could see two figures, half on the bed and half on the floor, sleeping quietly. Arata smiled as he looked at his Shadowguards sleeping comfortably.
"Don't be too happy with them. They have just been getting in the way of your treatment."
Arata turned to see a young boy with messy hair staring at him with a half grin. He faked an exasperated look.
"About time you woke up. You ruined my hibernation."
Arata chuckled at Visha's comment and exaggerated acting. A slapping sound was heard, followed by Visha rubbing the back of his head. Akari walked around him as she rolled his eyes.
"You're so lazy. Seriously."
Akari glanced at Arata, a look of relief and joy in her eyes as she saw him awake. She smiled.
"I'm happy to see that you decided to rejoin the living."
Arata smiled sheepishly, scratching his head. He looked at the windows, seeing that it was sunny outside. Ryouma and Damien began to stir from the foot of the bed. Damien looked up to see Arata awake. He jumped and bolted to Arata's side.
"C-Captain!"
Damien was full of energy, his eyes tearing up slightly seeing that Arata was OK. Arata smiled warmly as he reached out to place his hand on Damien's head. Visha and Akari's eyes widened in panic seeing Arata going to touch Damien. Damien flinched slightly in fear, but soon found that nothing happened. Arata could feel that he had a large amount of control over Damien's Energy. Damien felt the crystal in his palm pulse, sending a soothing warmth through him. This feeling was familiar and reminiscent to when he was with his mother.
Damien looked up in shock at Arata. Arata nodded.
"She helped me finalize it."
Damien smiled, a tear rolling down his cheek. Ryouma stood behind Damien, a look of relief on his face as he looked at Arata. Arata glanced at him, a serious look on his face, his demeanor changing completely.
"How long have I been out? What happened after?"
Ryouma scratched his head, glancing awkwardly at Visha and Akari. Arata shook his head.
"It's fine for them to know. Speak."
Seeing that it was OK, Ryouma nodded and spoke.
"Mas.....Senior Eamon was able to bring back most of the teachers and students from the bottom 5 floors. Teacher Mei was able to protect and preserve the students and teachers on her floor with only minor injuries. As for those on the top 2 floors..."
Ryouma went quiet. Arata gave a grim look.
"How many?"
"3 teachers and 11 Inner Court students, Captain."
Akari gasped. Visha sighed, shaking his head. Damien remained silent. Arata clenched his fist. That Bastard! Arata took a deep breath, calming himself down. Seeing Arata calming down, Ryouma continued.
"Sir Hyosuke brought you over to us, telling me to tell you this when you woke up. We were to look after you. But.....that isn't either of our specialties."
Visha cut in.
"So he came to me. I was able to stabilize you but your Energy was weak, so I knew that you need a rush of Light."
Arata turned to Akari.
"So they brought you in."
Akari nodded.
"Thankfully, I was still wide awake. I was nervous to know the outcome of the mission."
Arata nodded. Akari knew about the mission, but was not allowed to participate, as ordered by her Father. Arata turned back to Ryouma.
"So how long have I been out?"
"2 days."
Arata sighed. He had guessed about that much. From how powerful the spell he had cast was, he knew that his Elemental Reservoir would be immensely drained. Also, with the experience he had in his Mental Realm with King, he guessed that some time would have passed. While he was unconscious, King spent some time to explain a few things to him. Although he wanted to think those things through, he knew that it was not the right time. He needed to regain his strength and report to Young Master Eamon. He looked to Visha and Akari.
"Either of you have a Silver Grade Spirit Refreshing Pill?"
Visha grinned as he turned to Akari.
"Told you so."
Akari rolled her eyes, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a pill. She threw it to Arata who caught it with a grin. He ate it and began circulating his Energy. As he closed his eyes, he spoke to the others.
"Give me 30 minutes. I'll just process this, clean up and I'll buy you all a meal as thanks."
Visha nodded, turning and walking to the door, stretching as he went.
"I feel like meat. I'll go have a little nap to prepare my stomach."
Akari shook her head as she followed Visha out.
"You should seriously try doing something other than sleep. You could be a bonafide expert if you just...."
"Blah blah blah. I'm already at the top of my game. Why put in extra, unnecessary effort. Too much work. No thanks."
As the two argued, Ryouma nodded to Arata, chuckling as he followed the other two. Damien stood before Arata, not knowing what to do or say as there was just so much going on within him. Arata could sense Damien's emotions and gestured to a chair by the bed.
"You can stay if you want."
Damien smiled, nodding happily, as he sat crossed legged on the chair and began meditating. Arata nodded his head as he closed his eyes, entering a state of meditation. He began noticing how weak his body was, yet he noticed that it was mainly fatigue. As he was unconscious, he couldn't properly direct his Dark Cells to heal himself, or direct his Elemental Reservoir to replenish itself, so he was currently doing that now. But he noticed that his Elemental Reservoir had grown slightly, probably from Hyosuke and his Father's Energy plowing through him.
After half an hour, he opened his eyes. Although he wasn't fully healed, it was good enough for today. He stretched as he sat up. Damien opened his eyes and walked over. Arata smiled.
"I'm gonna go clean. You go clean up too. Which dorm do you stay in?"
Damien chuckled.
"Yesterday, I beat the guy who lives in the room next to you, so I live next door."
Arata laughed as he nodded. He walked outside of his room, and instantly saw claw marks around the door of the room next to his. The students in the corridor saw Damien and seemingly flinched. Arata turned to Damien, who shyly shrugged. Arata sent Damien to his room as he went and had a shower. As he headed to the front of the South Dorm, Ryouma and Damien followed behind him. By the door, they could hear Visha and Akari arguing.
"But that doesn't make sense. How could you not enjoy Magical History? The adventures and stories that led to the Kingdom of Kakuso as we know."
"Boring. Who wants to hear what a bunch of old, dead people did? They did stuff, whoop dee doo."
"But what about the people that helped invent the techniques and recipes that you use for your Poison Enhancements?"
"I know what they did and how they made their stuff. Not that interesting. The properties of ingredients are more my cup of tea. I don't know why that's a saying. I don't really like tea."
"How do you not like tea?!"
Arata was laughing inside, doing his best to remain stoic. He coughed as he approached the two. They both turned to see the three of them walk over. Arata walked past and headed to the cafeteria. After they finished eating, and he had paid for their meal, Arata headed to the Central Dorm with Ryouma and Damien. Eva was standing at the entrance, clearly waiting for them. She felt a pulse of relief, but didn't show any emotion as she nodded and turned around, the three boys following her. As they entered Eamon's room, they immediately saw him looking out of the window.
Eamon sighed as he turned around, staring at Arata, who could see pain in his Young Master's eyes. Arata approached him, bowing before him.
"Young Master Eamon. It was not your fault."
Eamon looked down at Arata, smiling at the gesture.
"Get up. I was in charge of the mission. The casualties and the deaths are on me. I was over confident in my ability to protect everyone's life force if something bad happened. I didn't expect such a powerful Demonic Spell to come from one of the High Ranking Demon's. I over estimated my ability and that resulted in the deaths of teachers and students. It is my fault."
Arata rose slowly, seeing the guilt and sorrow within Eamon's eyes. Eamon went and sat down on the couch, Eva sitting next to him. Arata sat down on the opposite couch with Damien and Ryouma on each side. The 5 of them sat in silence. A solemn mood filled the atmosphere. Eamon glanced at Arata, his eyes glowing softly.
"You seem to be in a much better condition. Your Elemental Reservoir has grown slightly. I can also see Young Damien's aura attached to you now, as is a given now that he is your Shadowguard."
Eamon's eyes turned back to normal as he blinks. Arata, Damien and Ryouma went ahead, detailing what had happened that night. Arata walked through the battle on the roof and the spell he had cast as he slammed into the ground. Eamon nodded silently.
"OK. The cloaked man was the only Demon that survived. Your Father is interrogating him. The Institute has sent messages to the families of those that have died, giving them a simple description that they died defending the school in a mission, and were given a large payment. The students were only told that there was an attack that was defended. We are trying to keep the information of the night kept to a minimum. The Class Ranking Tournament is continuing so the students are all distracted by it, a good way for us to cover everything. We were also able to remove all of the bombs in the stadium, the Sato Clan are currently taking them a part and seeing if they can find any clues from them."
Eamon stopped. He seemed like he had aged a lot since that night. He took a deep breath as he looked at Arata, a slight smile on his face.
"You did extremely well, Arata. You far exceeded my expectations. If it wasn't for you, the death count would've been higher if you didn't banish the Energy. Thank you, Little Arata."
Arata shook his head.
"No, I only did what was required of me. I wish I could have done more.."
The two boys went silent as they looked at each other. Eva cleared her throat. Eamon and Arata looked towards her. Eva gave Eamon a hard look. He began to chuckle.
"My sister seems to think that we are both too hard on ourselves. And we should stop being so depressing. Accept reality and move on."
Arata glanced at Eva, who looked back with a stern look. Arata also chuckled.
"Your are right. Thank you for your concern, Young Master Eva."
She nodded her head. Eamon stood up stretching. He shook himself a little, breathing deeply before looking at the three boys with a grin.
"I have a way that I can think of us getting out of this 'depressing' slump we are in. The Class Ranking Tournament ends in 2 days. Then, the Student Rankings will resume. You are all a part of my team, so naturally, I think we should train together and strategise. I think it's time for us to shake things up in the Institute."
Arata grinned.
"That sounds good. What do you have in mind?"
Eamon smirked.
"I want to use the Sato Clan's Shadow Claw Formation."
Arata's eyes lit up. He nodded.
"We will need a couple more people. And I think I know of one person that fits the bill."
Eamon nodded, standing up as he stroked his chin in thought.
"I also know of someone. In two days, meet me at the Central Dorm Training Room and we will get to work. And then, we cause some chaos."
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