Medusa's Tears

"… What just happened?" Blake muttered as he looked at the departing figures of the medics, Frank and Lyon.

"A casualty. It's to be expected from a battle," Ronnie Quentin answered leisurely while hiding his own shock and curiosity behind a façade of calmness.

Naturally, as a child from a powerful family, he knew many things others didn't and also his dabbling in seeking out hidden information on DAUN made him well informed.

The poison Hank was suffering the effects of was an alien poison which was not found on earth. It was an alien concoction which was being traded around races and planets and it was called Medusa's tears by those on earth.

It was very difficult to acquire and had serious effects which would be fatal to all those at the Domain realm and below.

At the very best, Hank would come out with stiff limbs and occasional pain when moving which though didn't seem serious would be extremely fatal if he was fighting as his body and joints could instantly get paralyzed in the middle of a fight for a few seconds.

Battles between awakened ensured that even a momentary lapse in awareness would be all it took to be seriously injured if not killed.

Worst case would be that some of Hank's mana vessels would be petrified, preventing him from channeling mana through that hand of his freely with the mana node in that hand even being destroyed completely!

This meant that Hank's hand would become close to useless and with the loss of a node, his mana capacity would be reduced and he would suffer to easily channel mana due to the poison.

It was an extremely ruthless poison which had indirectly caused the death of many awakened or even crippled most of their power outright!

For someone like Hank who was just an Advanced realm awakened, the scales were tilting towards the worst case scenario.

Someone really had to hate him to acquire such an expensive poison to use on a mere Advanced realm awakened.

Ronnie Quentin's eyes subconsciously narrowed as he pondered over something.

From the look of things, Hank and probably his brother, had offended some people and were suffering the consequences of it.

Not that Ronnie cared about it. He had plans of his own.

The only reason why he was truly interested was that even with his connections, he wouldn't be able to easily acquire Medusa's tears.

Not without unnecessary attention and scrutiny.

He had to get it covertly without alerting anyone.

He wanted to find a way to contact Jonathan and see if he could also get his hands on Medusa's tears too.

"I'm leaving. Stay here and continue to monitor the battles," Ronnie commanded his lackeys and he left the colosseum.

**

"Frank! Frank! Wait up!" Damien called as he rushed over to Frank and Lyon. 

Frank was in a daze as he walked but Lyon turned and spotted Damien coming and nudged Frank. "Your little buddy's coming," he said.

"Huh?" Frank blinked in confusion and lifted his head.

By that time, Damien had arrived near them.

"Hey, nice to meet you Damien," the purple haired boy nodded at Damien in greeting and Damien returned his nod.

He then turned to look at Frank who also nodded at him absentmindedly.

Wordlessly, Damien followed them as they trailed the medics and the pod Hank was in.

Frank was in no condition to talk. He kept walking in a daze and muttering under his breath. Lyon was more composed but the worry was evident in his eyes.

"Who are you?" Damien asked.

Lyon turned to him and gave him a strained smile. "I'm Lyon. Hank and Frank are my friends," he said.

Of course Damien long recognized one of those ranked in the top ten but couldn't help asking.

"Why is Hank in such a state?" Damien asked.

Lyon shot a quick glance at the absentminded Frank and shook his head before turning to Damien. "Poison. Jon poisoned him," he replied.

Damien's eyes went wide in shock.

Poison?!

For a small scale duel?!

But why?

"I'm just as confused as you are," Lyon said, noticing Damien's shock.

"Aren't poisons banned?" he blurted.

"Nah. Ol' Agatha Monnet removed that from the rules," Lyon sneered.

Lyon was an easygoing person but if there was one person he didn't like; it would be Vice Chancellor Agatha Monnet.

Not only was her disdainful attitude towards the wellbeing of students disgusting, the apathy she had when it came to matters concerning students was depressing.

To the Vice Chancellor, what mattered the most was strength. 

She couldn't care less what the students did as long as they had strength.

Had it not been for stipulated rules by the government which prevented killing in awakened academies, Vice Chancellor Monnet would have transformed the ranking battles to death matches.

One other reason why Lyon had an intense dislike for her was that even though she knew the truth about the Dusk Organization, she was one of their most zealous pursuers.

Because of her they had suffered many losses.

Unfortunately, Lyon was powerless to do anything about it and could only swallow his grievances.

"Was there a grudge between Hank and Jonathan?" Damien asked as they finally arrived at the medical center.

Lyon shook his head. "None that I know of," he said.

Damien nodded and they quickly followed the medical personnel into the humongous white building which was the healthcare center.

Inside the center, people in white lab coats rushed about their various tasks and paid no attention to Damien and the others.

Frank was taken to a room with a large transparent pod filled with green liquid.

The doctors quickly stripped him naked and transferred him from the pod he was in to the pod in the room. 

Tubes were attached to various parts of his body even as he sank to the bottom of the pod.

"How long will it take for him to recover?" Frank asked, looking at the medical personnel.

The man sighed. "I don't want to give you false hope. He's in a very serious condition and we need to stabilize him. 

If we do stabilize him he would be out of here in a month."

"A month!?!" Frank exclaimed while Lyon and Damien's mouth fell agape.

"Minimum," the man nodded.

Frank slumped against the nearest wall as if all life had been drained out of his body. He held his head in his hands as his back leaned against the wall.

"I'll live you here. You'll be sent out after an hour elapses," the man said to them and left.

Lyon nodded to him in thanks but Frank barely reacted.

The medical personnel sighed and shook his head. He had seen this scene too many times ever since he started working at the medical center.

Technically, he wasn't supposed to allow them to stay in the room but he decided to make an exception.

In the room, Damien and Lyon sat on either sides of Frank solemnly, not disturbing him.

Frank sat with his head lowered for a full half hour before he sighed and lifted his head. His eyes were red from silent tears.

"It's all my fault," he muttered.

"Frank snap out of it. If it's anyone's fault then it's Jonathan. He did this to Hank," Lyon said.

Frank didn't respond though and let out another sigh. He took one last look at Hank and turned to Damien and Lyon. "Let's get out of here," he said.

The two of them followed him out and went over to their residence.

All throughout the journey, Frank hadn't uttered a word. 

He went to the fridge, took out a bottle of water and sat down on the sofa.

Opposite him, Lyon and Damien sat.

Damien finally broke the silence. "Do you know why Jonathan did this to Hank?" he asked.

Frank opened the bottle and took a swig of water before breathing heavily. He looked both Damien and Lyon in the eyes.

"It's related to the Underworld," he said.

At the mention of the Underworld, Lyon nearly fell out of his seat as his eyes bulged out of his sockets.

"Fuck!" he cursed aloud.

"Underworld? What's that?" Damien asked cluelessly.

Whatever it was, it had to be very bad based on the intense reactions of Lyon.

Lyon took in deep breaths and looked at Damien. "Are you sure you want to hear this? It would be very dangerous for you to know," he said seriously.

Frank was also looking at Damien.

Damien looked at both of them as he thought rapidly. Hank was his friend and a good guy. He had to find out what had happened to leave him like that.

Besides, this was an opportunity to access information which was otherwise forbidden. How could he possibly leave?

Damien nodded. "I'm sure."

"Very well," Frank said.

He emptied the bottle in three gulps and placed it beside him.

Damien and Lyon were waiting patiently.

"… It's like this," Frank began.