Chapter 334 - Aftermath

Mercury crouched down and held Julia in his arms as the world seemed to end around them, the ground shook constantly as the meteors hit the ground, a few minutes the ground stopped shaking and he breathed a sigh of relief before he quickly asked Julia

"Are you okay, Julia?"

Julia was shaking but still answered after a bit

"I-I am okay…"

Mercury nodded then he looked around and spoke to the around 10 people that were with them in the basement of the inn

"Anyone hurt?"

The people gradually answered that they were okay or unhurt, Mercury heaved a sigh of relief before he stood up and walked over to the entrance to the basement where he found it had been blocked by debris, Mercury sighed before he muttered

"Sorry but I ain't in no asking mood"

Then he stepped up on the last step and tried lifting the debris, luckily the stairs were the solid rock kind so they could hold the weight rather well, the debris shifted slightly before they were outright lifted up by Mercury that then threw it aside and looked around, then he jumped onto a crashed meteor and looked around, the devastation was complete, there was no single standing building left

"Shit…"

He quickly jumped down and returned to the basement of the inn where he helped the people out of there before he helped Julia out from there, she let out a gasp when she saw the devastation before her face hardened and she spoke

"Finding the others comes first…"

Mercury nodded, then the two of them began navigating the destroyed city, tragedy was everywhere as the smell of fresh dead bodies began to rise from the ruins, Julia gradually turned paler and paler, as for Mercury he showed no emotions on his face. Soon the two of theme reached the former lord's mansion, now a ruin, Mercury tapped the ground with his feet and a cane made of rock formed, then he grabbed it in his hand and began tapping it as he walked around the ruins of the mansion with closed eyes, then once he had made a round he opened his eyes again and stomped his feet against the ground and numerous stone pillars rose from the ground lifting the debris with them, then he walked around the destroyed building again with the cane tapping against the ground before he stopped in the same place again and stomped his foot against the ground once more making more stone pillars rise lifting the debris, then deep within the ruins a morn of pain sounded out, Julia recognized the voice and called out

"Marie!"

Mercury held her back from running into the ruin as he spoke calmly

"I haven't stabilized the entire thing yet if you rush in now you'll only put yourself and the survivors in danger"

Julia looked up at Mercury and noticed that his eyes were red and tears spilled out from them, she steeled herself for a moment before she asked

"How bad is it..?"

"It's bad… I can't feel Terak… And Marie is…"

Julia covered her mouth as she was about to cry out, she lost the strength in her legs and sat down on the spot, Mercury wiped his tears before he closed his eyes for a moment and walked around the ruin another 2 times before he dropped the cane and walked into the ruins, soon he reached the area that used to be the workshop where he found Marie, she lay on her back and looked blankly up into the ceiling as she breathed slowly, her eyes moved over to Mercury when she saw him and showed a slightly strained smile as she spoke

"Hey…. Mercury… Am I… going to… die?"

Mercury showed a slightly strained smile as his eyes gazed at her, she looked fine, but Mercury could feel it through the earth pules he had sent out, her spine was broken, shattered, in multiple places, with the medical technology of Alfan she would be crippled, thankfully Mercury was a living god

"No Marie, you're not going to die..."

Mercury opened his hand as he spoke

"Purchase [Living metal]"

Then with the chunk of living metal in his hand, he kneeled down and slowly purred it over her stomach area before he spoke

"Assess damage"

[T3-6 shattered, mild damage to T1, 2, 7, 8]

Mercury helped Marie's hand as he spoke

"Repair damage, reinforce the entire spine as a whole, reconnect nerves on my go only…. And build a UTPC"

[Processing... 3 minutes until competition]

"3 minutes… That's only slightly slower than I could do in my prime… I think?"

At that moment Julia came walking into the ruins, she quickly ran over and held Marie's other hand before she asked

"Does it hurt Marie?"

Marie closed her eyes or a moment before she opened them again

"Not at the moment… I can't feel my lower body…"

Julia's eyes were soon filled with tears again before Mercury spoke

"Don't worry, you'll be fine Marie"

[Completed… waiting on your go to reconnect nerves…]

Mercury took a deep breath before he spoke

"Now… This is going to hurt Marie, I need you to take a deep breath before, then grit your teeth for me"

Marie looked at Mercury for a bit before she took a deep breath and grit her teeth before she closed her eyes, then mercury spoke

"Reconnect now"

Marie let out a muffled scream as she arched her back, a few moments passed before she relaxed again, Mercury heaved a sigh of relief before he stroked Marie's hand and got up

"I'll go see to the rest now, Julia, would you stay with Marie?"

Julia nodded, then Mercury walked deeper into the ruin while ignoring the heavy smell of blood that came from in between the rubble…

In the end, Mercury managed to save 3 servants, the two crusaders, and Naila, as for Terak he recovered his body from the rubble, after that Mercury worked without rest for a week, trying to save as many people from the rubble as possible, he had also set up some earth shelters for the people he had saved on the edge of the destroyed city, after searching the ruined city for survivors for the entire day Mercury returned to the campsite with another 3 survivors, Mercury had deep dark circles under his eyes and seemed to be muttering something as he walked into the camp, then he stomped his feet and made a stone platform which he jumped up on and spoke

"Gather around please…I have something to say..."

The people nearby quickly gathered, they looked at Mercury with eyes that showed admiration, they were all rescued from the ruins by Mercury, deep in their gazes they also showed hope, hope that Mercury would return with their loved ones from the ruined city, this was a hope Mercury was about to crush

"There's no easy way to say this, so I am just going to say it… Out of some 15.000 souls that called Ode home, you are all the survivors"

Silence followed then came a quiet sobbing, Mercury lowered the platform again and returned to the earth shelter he had made from Marie and found her and Julia were chatting, Julia looked over at Mercury once he entered the shelter and asked

"How was it?"

Mercury shook his head and spoke

"There's no more survivors"

Julia nodded, so did Marie that still were bedridden, Mercury walked over and sat down at the end of the bed where Marie lay before he began massaging her legs as he asked

"Still nothing?"

"There's a little tickling… It's better than yesterday"

Mercury nodded

"At this rate, you'll be able to start walking training in about a few days…"

Even though the living metal had reconnected her nerves the brain still needed some time to recognize the new connections, still, Marie had lots of will power so the whole process was going smoothly, Mercury finished his massage before he asked

"How's Naila?"

Julia shook her head before she spoke

"She's still grieving"

Mercury nodded and spoke

"Help from Juliantia should arrive soon… Once they've taken in the refugees I say that we continue our travel east and return to Ingrid"

The two nodded before Julia spoke

"Ben and Jey should be able to travel with us, though I'll ask them if they want to return to Juliantia"

Mercury nodded, then he laid down on the bed beside Marie and hugged her close, when he didn't say anything for a few moments Marie poked his head before she asked

"Hey, Mercury?"

A few moments passed before Marie sighed and concluded

"He's out cold"

Julia nodded

"That he is…"

Then she stroked his hair for a bit with a smile on her face before she spoke softly

"He must have been tired to just pass out like that… You've done a good job, Mercury…"

Marie nodded before she spoke

"He is amazing, this man of ours…"

"That he is… I'm just worried that he'll snap under the pressure…"

"Yeah… Me too…"

[Message from the administrator, title: [Savior] granted]