CHAPTER 455: CLEANSING HEAT

His eyes fluttered open, but his vision remained blurry while his ears couldn’t process any information.

Henry and everyone else stared at him in curiosity. They waited until the man gathered himself. He looked very confused about the state of everything.

"What the fuck is going on? Why is the Captain floating, also why does my entire body hurt?... Wait, I regained control? Does that mean..."

Realization set in the General’s eyes, and a small chuckle escaped his lips. However, he soon glanced towards Valerie with concern.

"I don’t know how you removed the parasite, but do it with Captain Valerie too. We’ll need her to take back our ship!"

The Prince walked up and leaned closer to General Bryce. He stared into his dark eyes, trying to see any signs of brain damage. His dark blue eyes glowed as he activated past vision.

He focused his mind, so he saw only memories from the past few hours. It showed everything from Bryce’s perspective, which meant Henry felt the General’s despair and hatred, while he couldn’t control his body.

The visions soon ended, but Henry gained no new information, so he opted for a different solution.

"Will! Could you examine the General’s brain superficially, to make sure he hadn’t suffered any permanent damage?"

The annoyed man with dark blue hair and beard stepped forward. He placed his hands on General Bryce’s head, then concentrated on him.

The General didn’t move. He understood perfectly what they were trying to accomplish, so he complied with all their requests.

Will concentrated and searched through the General’s mind. His brain worked well, neurons firing off at regular intervals. His motor functions and nervous system didn’t suffer any lasting damage either.

A few moments later, Will’s eyes opened, and he took a step away from Bryce.

"The General’s perfectly fine. The lightning strike didn’t cause any permanent damage to his nervous system or brain function. His brain is healthy as any old geezer’s."

Henry nodded with a thoughtful expression, and they all turned towards Valerie’s floating form.

Bryce’s narrowed his eyes in outrage and disbelief at how disrespectful Will was, but soon his eyes went wide.

"Wait! Lightning strike?! What do you mean, lightning strike?!"

They all ignored his questions as the group of four prepared to cleanse Captain Valerie of her parasite.

"Let’s try one lightning strike first. The parasite either gets flushed out, or we’ll hit her with more."

Sarah nodded and summoned a cloud above the reverse time sphere. The cloud spread along the office’s entire ceiling, darkening the surroundings.

A light appeared deep within the cloud, but before the lightning struck, Henry gave a pointed glance to his fiancée. Vicky nodded in understanding and teleported the General into a different room.

The lightning struck at the edge of the reverse time sphere with enough force to penetrate its surface. Its speed vastly decreased inside, but after a few seconds, the electricity struck Valerie.

A soundless scream escaped his mother’s lips as the thunder loudly echoed inside the office. Soon, the lightning disappeared, and tendrils of smoke left Valerie’s body.

Henry released the reverse time sphere, while Vicky teleported Bryce back to the leather chair.

He didn’t question the sudden teleport, since he could hear the thunder echoing throughout the ship.

Valerie fell heavily on the floor, and the Prince wasted no time. He jumped on her back and brushed away his mother’s long, dark silver hair and saw the tiny parasite wriggling under her skin.

Another quick incision later, he held the disgusting tick-like beast between his fingers. It shrieked and wriggled, yet Henry just stared at it with an emotionless expression.

The screech became louder until Henry had had enough and squeezed the creature. A small pop cut the shriek short, leaving his fingers bloodstained.

"Now we just need to wait until my mother wakes up—"

Henry’s eyes went wide as the body below his feet moved faster than anything he had ever seen. Two overly buff and long arms wrapped around his body, pulling him into a suffocating, loving hug.

"What do you mean, you need to wait? You think that little lightning strike was enough to knock me unconscious? Please, I had bee stings that hurt more!"

Valerie chuckled a bit madly as her arms crushed her son’s ribs and spine. However, he didn’t mind the suffocation. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the massive woman too.

Vicky, Will and Sarah smiled with joy at the reunited mother and son, while the General breathed a loud sigh of relief.

"Good, she’s back to normal. I was afraid the parasite might make her less weird."

The three friends glanced at Bryce with confused eyes. Valerie didn’t seem too weird... A moment later they realized what the General meant...

The tall Ethereal jumped to her feet and placed her son gently on the floor. She then stretched her toned muscles, and with a sudden clap brought everyone’s attention to her grinning face.

"Thank you, everyone, for saving me! Escpecially Henry, who paid attention to my words in both timelines! Luckily, I kept those memories out of the parasite’s grasp, so you could beat kill it without issue!"

Henry’s eyes went wide at his mother’s statement. He didn’t know others could remember past timelines, but it seemed Ethereals had enough inherent essence to remember. The stronger ones might even interfere!

He needed more time to ponder these issues. His new power wasn’t even under his full control, and its exact depth and properties remain unknown. He really wanted to test his power’s limits, but for now he needed to win a war!

"Those parasites are pesky little creatures. They loathe the coldness of the Abyss and hate the warmth of human bodies. First, we’ll take back the generator room, then we’ll remake the generator and raise the temperature in the entire vessel!"

Valerie finished her stretches and glanced around her messy office. She clapped again and chuckled, which made her seem insane.

"However, before that, I need to reorganize my room! This disorderly look is unacceptable, especially while entertaining guests!"

The Captain took a deep breath, causing Henry and Bryce to curse under their breaths simultaneously. Vicky and everybody else just felt confused as Valerie opened her mouth wide.

Her throat trembled, and her vocal cords vibrated. A beautiful melody filled the room as Valerie began singing.

The song had no lyrics, yet each note carried a meaning deeper than any words could describe.

Loose papers began stacking themselves. Relics floated to their desired locations. Broken or misplaced furniture moved back to its place.

The enthralling melody soon came to its end, as everything around the office regained its usual order... At least, order from Valerie’s eyes, which meant the office remained chaotic...

"Now that everything’s in order, would you please teleport us to the generator room? We’ve a ship to cleanse after all!"

Valerie’s beautiful voice still rang inside Vicky’s head, so the tall woman’s request felt like an order.

A large portal soon opened, and everyone stepped through to the freezing facility. The icy floor crunched beneath their feet, and the General began trembling immediately.

Sarah summoned warm summer air out of the clouds, which followed them through the portal. It began melting the surroundings, but the heating issue couldn’t be solved so easily.

The generator room stretched for a few hundred meters in every direction, revealing complex machinery.

Even Henry and his friends marveled at the sheer magnificent engineering needed to make such an amazing power source... Or at least it would’ve been, if the entire machinery wasn’t a frozen mess...

The air felt thin and freezing, as if the machine used up the heat from its surroundings. Without Sarah’s shielding breeze, a regular human, like General Bryce, wouldn’t have survived for longer than a minute.

However, that didn’t stop dozens of people from working around the generator. Their bodies looked frozen, yet they moved comfortably.

"Those are the engineers who repaired the generator before the parasite attacked me. It seems they got infected too!" Said Valerie as she began clearing her throat, like a singer preparing for her performance.

"Then shouldn’t we help them by removing the parasites? They could reverse the generator, so it would heat everything again!"

Will’s suggestion wasn’t bad, yet he overlooked a crucial fact... They had an Ethereal...

Ethereals were extremely rare on Earth, even more so after Harold locked them away. For Vicky, Will and Sarah, this is the first time meeting one in person.

The power difference between a Transcended and a Stellar was huge. However, the irregulars like Sera, Vicky, Lucy, etc., can overcome this difference. This wasn’t the case with the difference between Stellars and Ethereals.

The scale of power widened so much that it’s simply impossible to overcome by anyone. Even the strongest Stellars were mere insects in the eyes of an Ethereal.

And Valerie stood higher than most Ethereals...

She turned towards Will with a small grin. "That won’t be necessary. I can fix this machinery myself!"

With that, she stepped forward, away from the rest of their group. She cleared her throat again and opened her mouth wide. Her vocal cords trembled as her singing echoed.

The metal and frozen surfaces resonated with her beautiful melody. There weren’t any lyrics again, yet the notes carried warmth and a single command within... She ordered change!

Valerie showcased the power of an Ethereal perfectly. Even Henry, who had seen his mother in action before, could only watch in awe as the entire generator room... No! The entire ship and surrounding waters began changing!