CHAPTER 130: INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Glory Academy.

Three days had passed since the devastating assault within the pocket world—a violent ambush led by demonized humans that left trails of destruction and blood-stained memories across the cadet battlegrounds.

By the time Nero collapsed beside Khione, his blood mixing with the snow-covered plains, help had finally arrived. Through the fracture in the sky, instructors clad in glowing robes and enchanted armor descended like divine messengers. Arcane magic surged through the air as emergency protocols activated.

Without delay, they retrieved the fallen cadets, their forms battered and broken. Nero and Khione were barely conscious—Nero’s body scorched and torn from invoking Dragonification far beyond his limit, and Khione pale and unmoving from blood loss and magical exhaustion. The instructors swiftly extracted them from the pocket dimension and teleported them back to the real world.

Back on academy grounds, the situation was grim.

Seven cadets had perished during the battle—mutilated, consumed, or struck down by overwhelming force. Several others suffered light to moderate injuries, but four stood out among the survivors—not for their strength alone, but for how much they had sacrificed to protect others, well only the Princess and Lux, though.

Elreth, Nero, Khione, and Lux.

Each had pushed themselves far beyond their threshold, their bodies worn and frayed like paper soaked in flame. Though the academy’s elite Healing Mages, those who mastered the sacred Law of Light, began treating them immediately with high-tier regeneration spells, it wasn’t enough. Their injuries went deeper—internal, spiritual, magical. They needed time. Time to restore not just muscle and bone, but the very essence of their life force.

Thus, they were admitted to the Intensive Care Wing—a specialized section of the academy’s infirmary, an enormous complex known to all as the Sanctum of Restoration.

°°°

The Academy Infirmary – Sanctum of Restoration

The Sanctum itself was a towering, dome-shaped structure located at the rear of Glory Academy’s eastern district. Made of silver-blue celestial stone, its architecture glowed softly even at night. The walls shimmered faintly with runes of purification and healing, and its gates stood tall—etched with the sigil of Seraphis, patron of healing arts and divine intervention.

Inside, the halls were wide and sterile, illuminated by floating orbs of soft white light that hovered above enchanted chandeliers. Magic scrolls drifted lazily along the walls, and spectral servants—beings of light created from pure prana—floated about, checking vitals and adjusting flow crystals that monitored the patients’ conditions in real time.

Each Intensive Care Unit was its own sealed chamber, reinforced with soundproof barriers and magic wards that adjusted the environment based on the patient’s needs. These weren’t mere rooms—they were sanctuaries designed to aid in cellular, magical, and spiritual recovery.

Unit 001: Princess Elreth.

Her chamber was bathed in warm golden light. She lay on a crystal bed, her right arm—once severed in battle—now fully restored but still weak. Lux’s healing had repaired the limb, but her nerves and muscles needed time to recalibrate. Her breathing was slow but stable, her body wrapped in enchanted silk designed to promote cellular regeneration. The faint heartbeat of her magical core pulsed gently on the nearby monitor.

Unit 002: Khione.

Her room was cooler, tinged in frost-blue hues. Ambient snowflakes floated lazily in the air, keeping the room at a subzero temperature to soothe her frost-aligned mana circuits. Her vitals were weak—magic depletion had nearly killed her. She had suffered internal ruptures, minor organ damage, and complete core exhaustion. Tubes of pure mana connected to her arms pulsed faintly, restoring what her body had lost.

Unit 003: Nero.

Nero’s chamber was the darkest of all—lit only by deep red runes along the walls and a single, low-hanging orb above his head. His condition was the most critical. His body had been forced to accommodate partial Dragonification—an ancient transformation that placed unimaginable stress on his organs, tendons, and nerves.

Even after healing, his muscles twitched involuntarily, his veins glowed faintly with residual dragonic energy, and his breathing came in ragged intervals. His core had overloaded—his secondary core, which regulated his elemental control, had cracked under the strain. Specialized sealing runes had been etched into his chest by academy elders to keep the draconic energy from destabilizing again.

He remained unconscious, locked in a healing sleep—his dreams filled with roaring flames and ancient instincts.

°°°

Though Lux had also sustained injuries, his natural affinity for the Law of Light granted him a much faster recovery. As a healing mage, his body was already attuned to restoration magic. Within a day, he was able to stabilize, and by the second, he discharged himself—returning to his duties with a solemn expression. Yet he remained close, often visiting the infirmary with a silent prayer on his lips.

The princess, however, had not left.

Even after recovering her arm, Elreth chose to remain—her eyes often lingering on the chambers of Nero and Khione through the magic windows embedded in the hallway wall. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit it aloud, but she hadn’t expected the other two to have been ambushed, their enemies more stronger, above everything her team still lost, Nero’s team won by 100 points, 702 pts while the princess’s team fell second with 600points.

’’Sigh! I need to train more. Now that I’ve awakened my connection with the mystical guardian spirit I have to train, to summon it more often.’’

There is so much to do, Elreth closed her eyes, reviewing every single fight she went through, replaying and replaying, this way she could see what she did wrong and learn from them to grow stronger. She could do better next time.

Three days passed.

The academy, still reeling from the incident, was placed under partial lockdown. Investigations were underway. The instructors held emergency meetings. A public memorial was organized for the fallen cadets.

But inside the Sanctum of Restoration, time moved differently.

There, in the silent glow of magic and machines, three warriors slept in healing stillness. The storm had passed—but what waited ahead would be darker still.

And they would need their strength.