Chapter 33 - Shot In The Dark

Noctus Iraheta found himself in the dimly lit confines of the college's medic's office, a place shrouded in secrecy, as obscure as the mist that had enshrouded the campus earlier. He had come here under the pretense of seeking treatment, his pride wounded and his body trembling with pain. But his unease grew as time continued to tick by as he laid upon one of the medical beds.

The medics, clad in their crisp white coats, moved around him with practiced precision, their expressions inscrutable. Noctus had expected them to tend to his injuries, to mend whatever damage Daron's unexpected skill had inflicted upon him. But as they examined him, their verdict was clear.

"There's nothing physically wrong with you, Noctus," one of the medics said, his tone clinical and detached. "Your body shows no signs of injury or trauma."

Noctus's frustration and confusion mounted. He had felt excruciating pain during the duel, pain that had brought him to his knees. How could there be nothing wrong? Why couldn't the medics find anything?

Another medic chimed in, her voice equally devoid of sympathy. "Sometimes, pain can be deceiving. I thought you'd experienced that already, intense discomfort without any physical injury, from your fight with Julian Parker. In your case, it seems that's what happened again."

Noctus's hands clenched into fists as anger welled up inside him. To be made a fool of in front of the entire college, and not even be injured from the fight? What kind of an embarrassment was that?

"But...but I felt it," Noctus protested, his voice wavering. "I felt the pain when he struck me, it couldn't have been fake. Surely some Ability Domain has a similar effect, maybe you just haven't picked up its traces yet."

The medics exchanged a glance. "We understand that it felt real to you," the first medic replied, "but there's nothing we can do to treat it because there's no physical injury to address. And Julian Parker is the only one at this college with an Ability Domain that is like that. We shouldn't even be giving that information out, but you probably wouldn't stop asking."

"Also, based on the information that's come to us, the student you fought doesn't have an Ability Domain at all. He has a Physique based on healing." Another medic added.

"What? How...? Then how?" Noctus looked at the ceiling.

Noctus's pride was wounded more than ever. His reputation as someone to be feared, a formidable opponent, had been damaged. But now, not only had he been defeated, he was told the other person didn't even have an Ability Domain?

"You should leave now. You're disturbing the other patients. Make sure to close the door on your way out," the medics looked at Noctus with icy eyes.

Getting up to leave, Noctus couldn't help but to feel like he had been played. He slammed the door open, rushing outwards, running into someone on the outside, but not stopping to pay attention to who.

Unfortunately, that was a bad decision for him, as that was Daron, who he had just let into the medic's office.

Closing the door behind him, Daron walked further into the room, as he was greeted by one of the medics who saw him.

"Who might you be?" The medic asked in a cold voice.

"Excuse me, I'm Daron Finley, I-"

"Ah, the one who just beat Noctus Irritate?"

"I'm sorry, I-irritate?" Daron raised an eyebrow.

The medic coughed into his hand, "Sorry, Iraheta."

"Right, yes, that would be me."

"Are you injured?"

"No, I'm not but-"

"If you're not injured then you should leave we can't have any information leak out of this office," the medic responded.

"Like how the students who went up against Noctus are experiencing Energy Path Blockages?" Daron glared at the medic.

The medic closed his mouth as all the medics in the office soon turned toward him.

"How do you know that?" another medic asked.

"Since you seemed to know who I was so soon after the fight happened, I assume you should have some information on me, yes?" Daron asked.

"Daron Finley, no Ability Domain, extremely potent healing Physique, special power unrelated to both Physiques and Ability Domains. Under the teaching of Mr. Gail, you won your high school's competition. You had gotten a technique from him prior to the competition."

"Yes, that is all correct. My special power is a type of system, it helped me in the fight against Noctus as it has certain safety protocols, say if there's an Energy Path Blockage, it will employ a method to prevent it."

"So what? Why are you here?" Another medic asked.

"Tell me, can you help these students?" Daron stared down the medics.

Silence filled the medic's office after his question. There wasn't any precedent for college level medics to be able to heal these kinds of injuries. They were only trying their best to delay the inevitable.

"Are you saying you can?" A medic who looked to have the most authority there stepped forward.

"I'm not promising anything. But if there's any shot in the dark, I'd say it's with me. You mentioned the technique Mr. Gail gave me before. It's called Aspect Combination and Supplementation, though I've only learned a mere twelve percent of the total technique, I believe the parts I have learned can help here. Especially, I am intimately familiar with how Energy Path Blockages work, as I needed to work around them and with them to learn a certain part of the technique."

"Even if that's so, you have a Physique, not an Ability Domain, can you use Energy like we are using it? To heal people using energy?" The head medic asked.

"I might not be able to use Energy exactly the same as an Ability Domain, but I can use Energy outside of my body. Most likely, I'll have to insert my healing aspect Energy into the patient's Energy Path and fix the blockage. Obviously, this would be supervised by all of you."

The medics looked at each other and then at the head medic. "What do you think?"

The head medic closed his eyes to think for a moment. "You're right, it is a shot in the dark, but we don't have anything better to try right now. Even at higher levels, it's difficult to find someone who can heal Energy Path Blockages. If you can truly do this, on my honor as the head of the medic's office, you'll have a position as medic in this office. As that kind of ability would mean you'd be able to heal many other things as well. Of course, you'd still be a student first and foremost."

"Yes, thank you for giving me the chance." Daron said.

"Oh, to to two above, please hand us a miracle," the head medic prayed.