Providence

It wasn't just Zeke's Healer's Garb he was sensing; Ugo also felt the dark power of Gill's Garb swelling. The two were fighting.

"What do we do?" Naomi asked, eyes filled with panic. "Should we just use a Fetch Spell to bring them all to us?"

"But we don't know if they've found Kimberly," said Ugo. "Somebody could be close to her, and us just pulling them out could ruin everything."

"So what do we do?"

The TV Head raised a finger, and the woman on its TV screen said, "Connect with them via a Mind Channel."

Ugo sighed. "I don't know how to do that… it's hard." Creating a Mind Channel to communicate telepathically with others was an ability reserved for those with great affinity with Mind Spells, like the Neurologist. "I've tried to learn them by reading the books in the library, but learning spells more in line with my style of magic was just easier, so I focused most of my time on that."

"I wasn't speaking to you," the woman on the TV said, her smile widening wickedly. The TV Head pointed at Naomi as the camera on the TV panned over to the man. "I was talking to her." The audience on TV applauded and cheered. "You're part angel, remember?"

"I've never tried that before, though…" Naomi said.

"Here's hoping beginner's luck is not just a myth."

And the laugh track went off.

"Usually, angels communicate telepathically with souls nearby," Naomi said. "Long-distance communication is used by high-ranked angels—"

The TV camera moved back to the woman, who clapped. "You can do it, Naomi."

"What about the mind block that me, Zeke, and Aida have?" Ugo asked.

The TV Head turned back to Ugo as the woman on it said, "Healers of the Tainted Generation possess a mental barrier in the form of an encryption charm—Absolute Block that prevents entities from reading their minds. It works even without Mana in the system. But Naomi can bypass that barrier if you consciously remove it and let her in. If you focus on your other Tainted friends, she can use you as a conduit to connect to their minds."

"And how do you know this?" Ugo asked.

The camera on the TV panned out, showing the man and the woman on the couch as they exchanged looks and laughed as if it was the funniest thing they had heard in their entire lives. The woman said, "There have been thirteen different iterations before you." And then the man said, "You think the information of how Tainted souls function is still a complete mystery after all the centuries that have passed?"

Ugo had another question ready to fire at the TV Head but was forced to cease when Naomi moved up to him, close enough that their chests touched.

A shock ran from the bottom of his feet to the brain. Ugo stepped back and looked away, but Naomi's hands claimed the nape of his neck, and turned his head back to her, forcing him to direct his focus on her big red eyes.

"Please, Ugo, let's try it. We're running out of time," said Naomi.

The tingling sensation on the back of Ugo's neck had him shaking, and he wished to scream in Naomi's face to remove her hands… before he started to really enjoy it.

"Ugo," Naomi said in a sharp tone. "Focus on Zeke and Aida."

He knew her hands were cold and rough due to the demonification, so why did they feel so soft on his skin?

When Naomi closed her eyes, Ugo was entranced by what was filling his vision. Her beauty was amplified with closed eyes. Perhaps it was because of her big eyes being out of the way he was able to notice the other alluring features of her face.

Was her nose always that cute? With its thin bridge and rounded tip, slightly tipped downward. In what way did the demonification actually change her face?

Were her lips always that plump? Was she puckering her lips? It had to be Ugo's desperate imagination exaggerating things. Then, his mind played the cruelest trick on him by suggesting that she was going for a kiss.

It just checked all the boxes. Closeness? Check. Hands on him? Check. Closed eyes? Check. Leaning forward? Check.

Naomi dipped her head and then forced Ugo's to dip as well, pushing it down until his forehead touched the top of her head. Her grip was strong but soothing.

"Ugo, are you thinking about them?" Naomi said.

Ugo clenched his eyes shut quickly, and behind his eyelids, he saw Naomi's perfect sleeping beauty face. The image slowly morphed back into her non-demonic form.

For the love of all that is good in this forsaken universe, why did he think she was going to kiss him? Why would anybody do that?

An ethereal being like Naomi wants to make out with you out of nowhere? Yeah, right, Ugo!

"Ugo?" Naomi said.

Ugo clenched his eyes even harder. He needed to focus on Aida and Zeke, on the connection they shared as being Tainted, not on delusions of experiencing those things with another girl.

Come on, Ugo, just get used to it. Conform. Conform. Conform. Conform.

Ugo pulled away, screaming.

"Wait," he said and summoned his surgical knife.

Focus on this, you moron, Ugo thought, stabbing his right hand.

"Ugo!" Naomi cried, running up to him.

He pushed the knife deeper until the blade was almost all the way through his palm and then pulled it out. Ugo grabbed his wrist wet with the blood trickling from his wound and looked at a concerned Naomi with a widening smile on his face as the endorphins released and his head got quieter. "Let's try that again."

Zeke was inside the giant ball of red and blue veins he conjured with a struggling Gill entangled to the front.

The ball accelerated backward as it reached the staircase, rolling over the hole made by Yuri's radiation blast.

Gill's bones cracked and crunched every time he was rolled to the bottom of the vein ball ride. The thought of the unbearable pain of the weight of the clump of blue and red pushing onto his backside as his frontside was pressed onto the stone steps of the staircase made Zeke smile from within his tangle of veins. They made it to the top of the stairs, and the ball's rolling speed increased as they went through the corridor. The symphony of bone cracking didn't let up. What was already crushed was being smashed into even tinier pieces—the greatest outcome of the ordeal Zeke wanted for the Demonologist was for him to be left in a body filled with crumbs of bones akin to a bag of sand.

The torturous ride that would slap a big sadistic smile on the face of any medieval executioner reached its end when they hit a metal door, and the ball exploded.

Zeke and Gill burst through the door with blood splashing in all directions and pieces of metal and snapped veins flying through the air with them.

The two landed face-first on the floor with yellow hexagonal tiles.

Zeke was the first to get up and scan the area quickly—it was a lab. Several demons in lab coats, masking their faces with purifiers, stood around by their tables, staring dumbly.

Gill slapped one hand onto the floor and pushed himself up, sitting on his knees. His no longer bespectacled face was a bloody, mangled mess. "For… your… information," he said and grunted, followed by spitting some blood to his side. "I have Violet locked up in the Netherworld Prison—"

Zeke interrupted the Demonologist with a direct Black Magic-charged punch to the nose. "Good! She belongs there like the rest of you!"

After Gill blasted onto his back, the demons decided to stop acting like deers before headlights and began to act.

Zeke formed two small vein balls in each hand and bolted for the destroyed door. He made the balls swell to their maximum capacity and threw all four of them at the incoming demons before he exited.

They exploded, pushing the demons back and drenching them and the room in even more blood.

As if his body just remembered his ankle was still healing, a jolt of pain shot up to his thigh, and Zeke fell on his stomach. He outstretched his hand, and a blue vein shot out of it. It took some time to stop extending, but eventually, it latched onto who knows what. Using one hand at a time, Zeke pulled himself across the floor—stained with a trail of Gill's blood and bits—toward the end of the vein rope he had made.

He pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled...

A vibration struck his head, making him jerk to the side and stop.

"Zeke? Aida?" Naomi's voice ringed in his head.

Zeke raised his brows. "Naomi?" he asked out loud.

"Naomi? Is that you?" This time, it was Aida's voice.

"Naomi just created a Mind Channel for us." Ugo's voice joined in.

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"Oh, wow, I didn't know she could do that!" Aida said.

"Me neither until now!" Naomi replied. "Are you guys okay?"

Zeke clenched his teeth and continued pulling himself forward. "I'm sorry, guys. It was my fault. I let Vesklepios' energy out for a moment. It was long enough to alert the entire hospital and have Gill reach me. I was able to get away… for now…"

"Don't worry about it," Aida said. "I found Kimberly. She's in the Infirmary right now with AJ."

"Yes, good job, Aida!" Naomi said.

"So, let's all get out of here already and meet back in the Infirmary," Ugo said.

"Roger that," Aida said.

"I'll be right there," Zeke said.

"Okay, see you there," Naomi said.

The connection was terminated.

Finally, Naomi let go of Ugo, giving him time to back up and try to forget the sensations he felt from her touch. Again, he had to remind himself he was undeserving of such luxury.

Ugo breathed loudly as he paced about and stopped when he noticed Naomi staring with concern. He looked down at the bloody wound on his hand. It was radiating with Black Magic. He overdid it with the output.

"I'm good," he said with a deranged smile.

"Why did you do that?" Naomi asked.

Ugo held her worrisome look and didn't answer. He turned and approached the door. "I'll draw the sigil. It's about time we got out of here." Then, he halted before the door and looked at TV Head.

The TV showed just the woman's face as she laughed and put her hand over her chest. "Oh, would you like for me to close my eyes? No need, honey. I'm about to take my leave anyway."

"Can't you come with us?" Naomi said, stepping toward TV Head.

"Naomi!" Ugo's shout had her stare for a second and then disregard him.

TV Head grabbed her hand and raised it to chest level. "You need to exit this Circle via River Lethe, cross the Netherworld Sea, and access River Styx to reach the Third Circle: Nessus." The entity produced a TV remote and placed it in Naomi's hand. "Get to Clattigana and find Gageriel in the Netherworld Ministry of Infernal Planes."

Ugo would've commented on the random TV remote given to Naomi if he didn't hear the end of TV Head's sentence. "I'm sorry, did you just say: 'Netherworld Ministry of Infernal Planes'?"

Again, Ugo was ignored.

"What's this for?" Naomi asked, pointing at the TV remote as TV Head backed up.

"You'll know what to do with it when the time comes," The woman on the TV said and moved to the side, making space for the other man as he emerged from the side of the screen. Just like the TV Head, the couple began to wave.

TV Head's body vanished in a snap, and the retro television crashed to its death. The screen cracked open, and the dials and buttons popped out.

Naomi wrapped both hands over the remote, close to her chest, as if it were her child. Then, she turned to Ugo. "Let's get back to the Infirmary."

After a long, strenuous effort, Zeke reached the staircase and saw the end of his blue vein wrapped around one of the horns of the demon head mounted on the right wall.

Looks like it had other uses other than almost making him piss his pants.

Zeke's Mana ran out, and the vein dissolved into nothingness. His Garb also decided to take its leave. Now in his besmirched demonic lab tech disguise, Zeke reached forward, grabbed a step, and pulled, allowing his body to tumble to the end of the staircase.

The panting Diagnostician pressed himself against the wall on his right and forced himself to get up, putting most of his weight on just one leg with the good ankle. Zeke did his best to keep purchase on the vertical wall supporting him as he hauled his other ankle across the floor like a paralyzed limb. He slogged down the corridor, dragging his side onto the wall as he moved, removing his lab coat along the way (just a sweat-drenched long-sleeved tunic covered his torso), passing over demonic faces carved into the wall, and then the drastic drop in temperature made him halt and recollect himself. He inhaled, exhaled, and kept moving.

Finally, he reached Yuri, who was lying on his face on the flagstone flooring. His strange wings were gone, and a puddle of blueish-green slime ringed around him. Zeke nearly collapsed beside him, avoiding falling into the small pool of God-knows-what, and then used the wall to help himself up.

Thanks to the help of his elbows and, surprisingly, willpower, he could still find within. Zeke was leaning onto the wall, knowing that if he dropped, his body would've never let him get up again.

"Yuri…" he said, and then he scoffed, knowing what had to come next. He stood up straight on both feet and screamed with his mouth closed as weight was put on his partially healed ankle. He grabbed Yuri's arm and hooked it over the back of his neck.

"Zeke…" Yuri drawled.

Zeke looked at Yuri's exhausted, bloody face. "Yeah?"

"Did you like how I… winged it?" Yuri laughed weakly.

Zeke groaned and shook his head. "Just shut up. We're going to treat you." He said and moved up to the doorway of the gold room. He closed the door, and then Yuri spat out some blood that splashed onto Zeke's hand.

"Did it hit you? Sorry. I don't even know how I did that with most of my organs missing and all…" Yuri laughed and then started coughing again. "Listen, you don't need to focus on helping me, okay? My body can fix itself. Who's important here is Kimberly. Just Kimberly."

Zeke used the blood on his hand to draw the Infirmary's sigil on the door. "She's at our Infirmary. She's safe." He pushed open the door and looked at Yuri as relief took over his face.

Yuri smiled. "Thank you."

A strike to his senses had Zeke halt before the doorway to the Infirmary.

"Is that…?" Yuri started.

It all happened so quickly that Zeke barely understood the actions he took in that split second. He pushed Yuri into the waiting room of the Infirmary and took the impact of the big-mouthed monster called Bittie at full force.

It was like rockets had been attached to Zeke's ankles post-collision. The speed of his flying suddenly broke as he landed on the back of his head, making the rest of his body curl forward.

Zeke rolled back onto his stomach and got up on one knee. More in shock, he didn't break his neck than what he saw growing in front of him. Not that he expected the Demonologist to stay down for good, but at least long enough for him to feel good about it.

The smooth, rounded-headed monstrosity with a single yellow eye doubled in size and opened its slobbery maw. Gill, armed with new glasses and clad in a black pinstripe suit with his Garb over it, lunged out of Bittie's mouth and hit Zeke up the chin with what he had once heard it being referred to as the "goal kick."

Halfway through the ascent after taking the attack, Gill grabbed the side of Zeke's head and did another sports thing Zeke had heard about—"dunking" the side of his face onto the flagstone. The impact area split and Gill refused to let go of Zeke's face, pressing it harder onto the flagstone as if trying to crush a walnut.

The pressure stopped as soon as Zeke started screaming as if trying cruelly to give him a false sense of mercy before turning up the agony. Gill granted Zeke an extra helping of pain as he stepped onto his chest and then crouched while on top of him. Bittie had vanished.

"First, ya show up here without an appointment, and now ya wanna leave without being properly discharged?" Gill said. "Looks like you're way more American than you look, huh, mate?"

Zeke searched within himself for some reserve of Mana he could tap into. It wasn't going well.

"Blimey, forgive me for taking too long after that cute attack of yours," Gill said. His mangled face was healing before Zeke's eyes. "You getting all that blood on my lab coat reminded me of just how uncomfortable it was, so I had to change." Gill outstretched his free hand and waved it up and down at his outfit. "This is a nice suit, innit?"

Zeke found some Mana within his soul, but only enough to remind him of how much of a disadvantage he was in.

How the hell does he still have so much Mana left? Zeke thought to himself. Gill's output's intensity suggested that the Demonologist was ready for rounds two, three, four, and so on.

The speck of Mana he had found dissipated, and once again, he was back to fishing for scrap. Zeke knew that Gill was oblivious to the internal chaos he was going through and was actively choosing to because, to him, he wasn't a threat. Just a minor nuisance. As Gill prattled on about something concerning his shoes, Zeke continued searching for more Mana and found something that felt wrong... but also so right. It was cold, and numbness began to take over his senses upon touching it.

His mind raced back to Violet. As it often does. This time, it was when he last saw her—the fight they had in the sewers. Something had happened during that fight that allowed him to use Mana even though there was none in his system.

Intoxicating and dark. It was just like that last time.

He let the darkness in and do its thing.

Zeke's Garb returned, and a matted mess of black veins shot upward, pinning Gill to the ceiling. The veins spread in various directions like malevolent plant roots with a mind of their own.

Gill simply laughed. "Holy hell, you've lost the plot, mate! Tainted Mana? Really?"

Two of the Taste Buds emerged from Gill's Garb, pushing their round heads through the black veins and chomping away at them. One of the Taste Buds bit off a good chunk of the middle of the veiny structure, and it fell apart. Gill landed on Zeke's gut with his feet, getting him to expel a good amount of black blood. "Your lass did the same. What a pair!" He chuckled along with his Taste Buds, who then returned into the Garb.

Black veins wrapped around Zeke's hands and swelled to a massive size, coating with Mana that took the form of horribly jagged lines of silver-black electricity. Zeke forced Gill back with a push.

Zeke got up, and his Garb slightly changed color. Taking on a new dark green shade that was nearly black (one side half of the Garb was darker than the other). A nefarious, devilish energy was rushing through Zeke's soul, giving him the will to propel himself forward and fight with his enhanced fists.

Gill stopped Zeke in his tracks by grabbing him by the throat. "No, this isn't going to go how you want it." He shoved Zeke to the side and gave him a beating of his life.

Fists were swung with the speed and power of a boxing legend, Gill connected his Black Magic-enhanced knuckles with every spot on Zeke's face, and then he used powered-up kicks for his gut.

Zeke pulled himself away from the onslaught, splashing the endlessly leaking black blood everywhere, and let out a war cry. His newfound Tainted power swelled, the silver-black electricity jolting around him in a hectic manner. The veins around his left hand vanished while the one on the right doubled in size, focusing as much of the Tainted power on his fist.

"I don't believe it. Are you taking a piss?" Gill said. "You're trying to out-power me in Black Magic energy? You are a riot, mate!" He pulled back his fist.

The immense Black Magic layering Gill's fist was daunting—the skin was graying, and black streaks were sprawled all over it while dark smoke flowed and jagged black electricity boomed.

Gill threw his fist forward. Zeke did the same, and their fists met in the middle. A clash of Black Magic energy followed, blowing in the opposite direction of each fighter.

Zeke could see it in the dumb smile on Gill's face.

He wasn't going to win.

The black veins that covered Zeke's hand snapped and unwrapped. Gill's fist drove into Zeke's, and then everything… everything… from his knuckles to his shoulder shattered. An explosion of Black Magic turned Zeke's left sleeve into dust particles and sent him flying.

Zeke landed roughly and awkwardly on his shoulder. He saw his enemy emerge from the ash clouds of Black Magic energy. Gill was still good to go. Zeke took one look at his crushed, purpled arm and knew his time to meet his maker had come—that's if he didn't end up in the Netherworld… or whatever happened to the other 9 Healers.

The world flashed white.

And then Zeke was staring at the concerned faces of Naomi, AJ, and Aida looking down on him. To his side, Ugo was smearing the blood-drawn sigil on the entrance door to the waiting room, while Yuri was left slumped in a corner like a forgotten toy.

Ugo slammed the door shut and joined the rest of the Infirmary team.

"Mano, you okay?"

"Kah—" Was all Zeke managed to say before his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and a full-blown seizure episode took over.