World's Last Hope-Chapter 44: Heartbeat

The body of Eric lay helplessly on the ground as a pool of blood formed around him and Olivia.

Before Aria could even think, she was already by Eric’s side and had placed her hand on him.

Before, healing him would have been impossible as a master,

But she wasn’t a master anymore... Now she was a Grandmaster.

The moment her hand touched Eric’s body, Aria’s eyes shined a lighter shade of blue as her golden hair seemed to dance in the wind generated by the energy.

Using her miracle, Aria poured healing magic into Eric.

Suddenly, his bones began to piece together, his nerves and tendons began to regenerate.

His muscles that had been burned away reappeared, and his skin regenerated.

His eyes were healed, and the hair on his head grew back.

Aria then placed her hand on Olivia.

The next second, Olivia gasped as she looked at her hands in disbelief.

"I am healed..." she muttered in awe.

Placing her head on Eric’s chest, Aria silently prayed,

’Please, please!’

She held her breath as she waited, and then she heard it.

It was faint, almost impossible to hear, but it was there.

Eric’s heartbeat.

He was alive.

Not realizing that her eyes had begun to tear up, she sat back and sighed.

"Thank God!"

Seeing the relief in Aria’s expression, Olivia immediately understood that Eric was alive, and she too let out a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Aria asked, shifting her gaze to Olivia.

Olivia took some time to explain the details of the fight between the guardian and Eric.

’I see... so she used that weapon. No wonder she was so beat up,’ Aria thought as she looked at Olivia.

"I understand... but one thing doesn’t make sense," Aria spoke as her gaze shifted to the unconscious Eric.

"To have been chased by so many monsters at the same time... is it possible?"

"Yes," Olivia interrupted, "We saw the guardian manipulate space, but not once did we see it manipulate time... meaning—"

"That it had used its powers solely on Eric?" Aria concluded.

"Most likely. While for us it has been a few hours, Eric must have been running for more than a week straight. To have so many monsters chasing him... he must have cleared the whole forest of any monsters..." Olivia added.

Silence fell over the cathedral until, suddenly, Olivia spoke.

"How does it feel? To be a Grandmaster?"

Aria glanced at her hand before answering, "Stronger... like I can make a change..."

She glanced at the closed gates of the cathedral where, beyond them, the guardian was slowly dying from the Soul Flame of Eric.

"But still not strong enough." She gritted her teeth. Despite being a Grandmaster, she knew that she still wouldn’t have a chance against the guardian, so all she could do was wait for it to die.

Silence fell over the cathedral again.

"You know it’s not good to stare too much... your face is getting red," Olivia teased.

"Wha—" Only now did Aria realize that the entire time, she had been staring at the unconscious Eric.

Due to the inferno he had passed through earlier, his armor had entirely melted, leaving him completely naked.

"Wha—what can I say? He just looks good naked," Aria stuttered as she forced herself to look away, her face turning red.

"Relax," Olivia responded. "I get it. He looks good. Plus, I’m pretty sure he steals glances at our bodies every chance he gets, so as long as you don’t rat me out, I won’t either."

Aria chuckled softly as she whispered, "Deal."

Now all they could do was wait for the guardian outside to die.

After a few hours—which were totally not spent staring at Eric!—he woke up.

He gasped for air, grabbing hold of his head, clearly in pain.

The girls knew the reason, he hadn’t desummoned his sword. After running for more than a week, his desires must have overwhelmed him beyond belief.

"Eric, desummon your sword!" Aria spoke, preparing to restrain him in case he attacked them or himself.

But to Aria and Olivia’s surprise, he somehow managed to stay sane.

"I—I can’t." His voice was weak, and his eyes were unfocused.

"Desummoning takes essence, and I..."

He looked at the window that was always open, displaying his essence.

-----

[Current Essence: 1]

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"I have only one, so I can’t desummon it," he said, curling into a ball and trying to limit his senses as much as possible.

"This is bad," Olivia muttered. "If all his senses are amplified, he’ll sooner or later go completely insane."

The girls were lost in thought as Eric gritted his teeth in pain. He didn’t even dare to look at his companions, fearing what he might do since he couldn’t control himself.

Finally, Aria spoke as she pointed to the door leading to the center of the cathedral, where the pool was, though Eric couldn’t see her hand.

"Go there, to the center of the cathedral. There’s a room with a pool. It has some kind of healing quality to it, so it may help your mental state."

Eric, as quickly as possible, shot towards the door. He burst them open and entered.

"Quick, quick," he whispered, clutching his throbbing head.

He jumped into the pool without hesitation. However, it was much shallower than he expected, just barely reaching his waist.

As he stumbled, his feet bruised against the bottom, but he couldn’t be bothered by the discomfort.

"Breathe, breathe," he muttered, trying desperately to keep himself sane.

Entering the pool helped a little, but Eric was still under immense pressure.

Ever since he had begun running, attracting the monsters of the forest toward him, he had been holding his sword.

If he could just focus on something, whatever it was, he could probably endure the pain.

But now, as his mind was no longer focused on his survival and was free to wander in every direction, it felt helpless.

He couldn’t stop himself anymore as he let out a beastly roar—a cry for help.

But Eric knew there was nothing and no one who could help him in this moment.

All he could do was grit his teeth in pain and wait for the guardian to die. Once it did, it would reward him with essence, and he would finally be able to desummon his sword.

Of course, he had no idea how long it would take.

"Shit! It hurts!" Eric cried in agony. Even when he had passed through the inferno produced by the guardian, he hadn’t felt much pain—his pain receptors had all burned away.

But now, his mind felt like it was splitting into two, no, hundreds... thousands of pieces.

Despite the situation, he still managed to chuckle. "Ah, I really am alone..."

An eternity passed, or perhaps just a few seconds, it all felt the same to Eric.

Until he heard the door of the room slowly open and the faint echo of footsteps produced by bare feet.

He tried not to, but his desires forced him to look in that direction.

Suddenly, the majority of the pain was gone as he shifted his gaze.

He stared in awe as he asked, his voice weak and trembling,

"Aria... why are you naked?"