The Princess With The Jet Black Hair

[Fiore's Castle, Guest room]

"Just bear with it for a while more." Mary grimaced as she focused more of her energy into Damian's wounds.

She then glared at him, who had his face contorted with pain, "Just how reckless can you get?!"

He forced out a chuckle, "Heh."

"Don't you 'heh' me!" Mary shot back as she withdrew her hands from his torso and unrolled the bandage next to her, "What are you?"

"What do you--" He asked but flinched momentarily as Mary got too close to his wounds, "...mean?"

"What I mean is that even though you're this badly injured, I have no problem healing you. Not because I'm good at this, but your regenerating ability is impeccable." She explained.

"Really? Well, I don't really know what am I... I'm just Damian."

Wiping the sweat droplets off her forehead, she sighed weary, "...You're strange. Has it always been like that?"

"Well, probably. But, I rarely pay much attention to it." He replied as he gave his injured arm a gentle rub, "I mean, isn't this normal for us, ability users?"

"No, it's not." Mary shook her head as she grabbed a napkin to clean her tools, before placing it back to her kit, "Yours is insane, probably even better than Beck's. All these wounds you got, would kill even the better ability users. You completely plummeted your a couple of your organs, yet you're still alive. How is any of that normal?"

Damian remained silent as Mary went on, "Be honest with me, do you know the reason behind this?"

After a good few seconds of thinking, he looked directly at her and answered truthfully, "...No, I don't. Look, I know you don't trust me and all, but I am being truthful. I really have no idea."

"Well, he do not look like he's lying..." Mary thought as kept eye contact with him, "I guess, he is speaking the truth."

"Whatever it is, just make sure you get plenty of rest." Mary reminded as she kept her things before heading towards the door.

Just as she was about to leave, Damian thanked her for treating him.

And at last, he could finally sleep peacefully.

[Fiore's Castle, Infirmary]

Ben grabbed a clean bandage from one of the broken cabinets to wrap it around his injured arm. He was not the best at it, so it would probably not stop the bleeding, but it was still something. He then proceeded to tightened it by pulled on one end with his good arm and and the other end with his teeth.

After he was done, he looked over to Erik, who was unconscious. "What should I do with him now? Should I call Jai? Or should I send him to the cells by myself?"

Tapping his chin, he thought a little harder, "I mean we could definitely use him to get information, but shouldn't  I get the permission from the king? Man, I don't know what to do. I'm not used to this at all... I knew killing is the easier option."

"Well, I'll just get Jai then." Ben said out loud as he walked to the door.

Just as he was about to open the door, he felt something holding him back. He turned and looked down. A bloodied hand was grabbing his ankle. "I thought he passed out... Was my blow not hard enough?"

Suddenly, Erik pushed himself off the ground slowly. He swayed left and right before being able to stand upright. He then began to mumble something, "I can't lose now... L...Lillian... I must protect you..."

After saying that, he threw a sloppy punch towards Ben.

Ben put his hand out casually to block the punch, but just as Erik's fist made in contact with his hand, pain exploded through his arm. Ben grimaced momentarily as he moved slightly away from Erik. "Protecting Lilian? Who's that? ...Why is he saying all this now?"

Erik then went for another punch. However, this time it was quicker. Ben bȧrėly evaded it at the last second and Erik's fist ended up hitting the wall behind Ben. At first, nothing happened, but in the next second, a crack sound could be heard, and before he know it, the wall began to crumble, leaving distinct hole in the wall.

"...Wow, that's scary." Ben muttered under his breath. "...Where is he getting all this power from with that body of his?"

After that failed attack, Erik gyrated towards Ben as he continued to mumble to himself.

"Isn't he supposed to passed out? How is he still standing here? Was he like that soldier at the declaration ceremony?" Ben thought to himself as he quickly inspected Erik from head to toes. But all he could see was serious gashes and bruises, no sign of any parasite-like things.

"Alright, he was definitely supposed to unconscious."

In a split second, Erik appeared in front of Ben, which gave him quite a surprise. "...This guy is unusually fast as compared to just now."

Erik gave Ben a kick that was aimed for his face, but Ben blocked it with his forearm and pushed his leg away. In turn, he gave him a kick of his own. Before he knew it, the two of them were in hand-to-hand combat, with neither of them using their elements against each other. The two of them were on par with one another and none of them wanted to give up.

"How can he still move? Is he that strong? Or is it just based on willpower...?"

The two exchanged punches and kicks for quite some time and to be honest, it was gruelling on Ben's end.

But, for some reason, the impact didn't come.

Ben dropped his arms to his sides to see that Erik had came to a sudden halt. Erik's fist was just about to reach Ben's face, but he stopped.

Without any warning whatsoever, he grabbed Erik's hood and pulled it down.

Erik did nothing to stop him, instead he just continue his murmurs.

Ben heaved as his eyes widened with shock when he saw what was under the hood.

Erik's eyes were rolled back, revealing all white. He had already blacked out long ago. However, the only reason for him to continue was solely because of his willpower.

"...This guy." Ben said softly as his shock turned into admiration, "You're one hell of a guy."

He placed his hand over Erik's eyes and shut his opened eyes. "You can rest now."

He then carried him, by the arm, to one of beds, which was slightly less badly damaged than the others

"But... Lillian, huh. What a beautiful name."