The situation all over the Colosseum was a lot worse than they initially thought. Dozens of participants died, the medic team had been obliterated and almost everyone was either severely wounded or on the verge of dying.
Only those tended to by Maria could currently help bring the other injured to Maria. Some tried to use their crystal watch to call for help, but nobody answered their calls. The network system had been blocked.
“Don’t worry. Nothing will go wrong. There won’t be a need for you to bear any responsibility!” Maria said right before shrouding her entire body in a dazzling light.
A halo manifested above her head and semi-transparent wings sprouted from her back.
The dazzling light slowly expanded. It covered Michael’s hand until the dazzling light reached his War Rune.
“Channel more energy into me, and please don’t reject me, otherwise, it might be painful for both of us,” Maria ordered a moment before the dazzling light infiltrated his War Rune.
There was no time to waste with too many dying people waiting to be tended to. Maria couldn’t heal everyone solely with her Soultrait. That was why she had to resort to her Inheritance technique.
As the dazzling light infiltrated his War Rune, Michael sensed that the Sphere of Light and all of his Soultrait Symbols began to light up. He didn’t activate his Soultraits simultaneously, but it felt like Maria reached out to his Soultraits – the storages of his Soultraits’ Soul Power, to be precise.
Maria connected to the Soul Power stored within each of his Soultraits to use it temporarily. That was what her Inheritance technique did. Using Heaven’s Descent allowed Maria to expand her divine light and tap into the Soul Power of those who were willing to aid her in the creation of a miracle.
Michael didn’t like that Maria might be able to sense how many Soultraits he possessed according to the amount of Soul Power residing within him, but if he could save hundreds of prodigies from the Tritan Alliance it would be fine. It was not as if she could find out the power of his Soultraits that way, either way.
He allowed her to use his Soul Power temporarily to boost the power output of her 7-Star Soultrait. Simultaneously, Maria drained the entire energy stored within the Power of Energy Imprint within seconds.
She broke into a sweat, and her veins bulged at the massive amount of energy residing within her body as she unleashed her Soultrait [Archangel’s Grace].
The semi-translucent wings sprouting from her back transformed and became real. Simultaneously, the halo levitating above her head began to shimmer brightly as well. The halo and wings radiated a white light that expanded throughout the entire Colosseum before stretching even farther.
As the white light stopped stretching it gathered in dozens of spots. The white light congregated and formed various silhouettes of humanoid lifeforms. Large wings spread out from their back and halos adorned them all. The silhouettes lifted their left hands right into the air. They conjured staffs out of thin air and gestured downward.
Beams of light shot to the ground where they spread like a flood. But instead of water, the flood spread divine light wherever it passed by. The divine light radiated soothing warmth and dazzling lights that sought the confused and wounded to tend to their wounds.
Once the wounded were located, the silhouettes of Angels used their divine light to release divine pillars in various locations.
The entire district around the Colosseum was flooded in dazzling lights and divine pillars. The wounded were healed and the jumbled feelings of the desperate and confused dispersed. Their pain was eased and their fears controlled to calm everyone.
Michael felt the effect of Maria’s Soultrait and the terrific power of her Inheritance technique up close. His Soul Power was momentarily drained from him, leaving less than 10% for him to use. He felt extremely weak for a moment. However, Michael was not worried. If anything, he was shocked upon realizing how vast the area of effect of the Inheritance Technique was. It was terrifying, yet also impressive.
His mind was put to ease as a divine pillar shone upon him and everyone around him. Michael watched as dozens of dying Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs were healed in a matter of seconds. Their condition improved drastically and they regained consciousness not long after.
Once everyone was tended to, and the energy surging through Maria had been used up, the divine lights dispersed. The Angel silhouettes vanished and a soft groan escaped Maria’s lips.
Michael stared at Maria, his impression of her changing drastically. The young woman of the Seraph family was gasping for breath. Her sight turned blurred, she grew pale like a sheet of paper and her knees wobbled due to the exhaustion soon after. She was on the verge of collapsing, yet a faint smile plastered her face.
“I got them all,” She whispered softly, her hair sticking to her pale face.
“Good job,” Michael said, ready to remove his hand from her back. But just as he was about to pull back, Michael noticed that Maria didn’t have an ounce of strength in her body left. A slight blow of air would be enough to push her around.
While Michael’s Soul Power returned to him, Maria felt extremely weak and drained. She had never used Archangel’s Grace on such a large scale before. It was a first for her, including the use of the Inheritance technique with someone outside the Seraph family.
Maria felt Michael’s warm hand pressing against her back to support her. She glanced at him and noticed something from the corner of her eye. Maria’s eyes widened in surprise and confusion. The next moment she began to chuckle, looking at the back of his right hand.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect it to be that troublesome…” She mumbled right before collapsing, taking him down with herself.
Michael caught Maria, one eyebrow raised at her comment but the unexpected weight of hers threw him off guard and he smacked his back against the ground.
‘Troublesome? What was?’
Michael tried to position Maria a little bit better to help her get up. However, she was not conscious anymore. Her head bobbed against his chest and she would have smacked her head against the rubble if Michael allowed her to slip away. She was oblivious to his plight and the tension bubbling inside his chest while Michael was slowly trying to get up from the ground without accidentally hurting her.
At last, help arrived. A group of Champions consisting of several Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs arrived at the remnants of the once glorious Colosseum. Following the Champions, human helpers arrived as well. Michael saw Kaleb, Lincoln, and Zeke. They found him and began running in his direction. But then their eyes fell on the young woman who had her head resting upon his chest. Their eyes widened and they slowed down visibly.
Just as Michael was about to call them out he noticed that Jirah appeared next to him.
“Can you help me out a bit?” Michael asked as Jirah stared at him.
“I…can’t…” Jirah said, “Not like this…”
A frown appeared on Michael’s face. He then looked down at Maria to see that some of her clothes were see-through now that she was drenched in sweat.
lightsΝοvεl ?οm ‘It wasn’t like that before. Using her Soultrait, or her Inheritance technique shouldn’t have turned her clothes see-through though…Weird…’ Michael thought, accessing his War Rune to retrieve a bunch of blankets. He put them around Maria and looked over to Jirah once again.
“Is it better now?”
“As long as I don’t have to touch her it will be fine,” Jirah said, staring at Michael as if he was an extraterrestrial lifeform.
‘Wasn’t he her fan and a childhood friend? What is the problem with helping her? He didn’t look like someone with OCD.’
Michael decided to not bother thinking about it. Instead, he helped Jirah pick up Maria to bring her to the nearest medic, who could observe her condition.
But just as Jirah was about to take Maria away he noticed something shining on the back of Michael’s hand.
“Shit.” He blurted out, taking Michael by surprise.
Michael was just about to ask something when he saw Jirah pressing his lips together in a thin line. He looked at Michael again and stared even longer at the back of Michael’s right hand.
“This is very troublesome…” He said, repeating what Maria mentioned earlier.
Michael tilted his head, but Jirah left in a rushed manner. It was almost like he didn’t want to be connected to him, as if Michael was a disease. He eyed Michael with concern and mumbled a quick “Sorry for the trouble,” and disappeared.
“What the hell was that?” Michael asked, only to notice that more members of Maria’s loyal fan club were staring at him.
Some stared at him in fury, but Michael predicted that they simply hated him for confronting them earlier. Their anger was normal. It was something Michael could understand and file away into the section of ‘arrogant Descendant, who cannot deal with no names confronting them’ of his mind. They followed the clichè lifestyle of the Young Masters that were mentioned often in some of the books he read when he was younger.
But the others, those who eyed him with mixed emotions, confusion, and even jealousy- Michael couldn’t understand them.
Were they jealous that he talked with Maria, or that he touched her back? That was not impossible given that none of the fan club members must have been able to approach her that closely. They must have wanted to make sure to keep a polite distance from their idol. That would make sense – somehow, in a twisted way.
But Michael couldn’t understand the puzzlement and the other mixed feelings that he saw in their eyes.
“What are they so confused about?” He murmured, not noticing that Kaleb, Lincoln, and Zeke arrived next to him.
“Why was the Saintess leaning against you?” Zeke asked straightforwardly.
Michael looked at Zeke and tried to read his expression.
“When the Perses Missiles impacted, many sustained heavy injuries. I brought them to her, shouted at the crying pseudo-Descendants, and commanded her fan club to start helping out. Then I channeled more energy into her with my Ring Artifact since she was getting tired. After that, she used Heaven’s Descent. You probably witnessed the rest. Maria’s Soultrait is really powerful. I understand why everyone is so interested in her,” He summarized within a few sentences.
Michael thought nothing special of it, but the three Descendants stared at him like he was some sort of alien.
“So you could touch her just like that?” Zeke asked.
“Wait…so she used her family’s Inheritance Technique WHILE you touched her?” Lincoln added.
“And you gave her permission to use your Soul Power…and it worked without giving you a backlash…” Kaleb’s voice grew increasingly frantic with each spoken word.
Listening to each other, the three began to stare at the back of Michael’s right hand and cursed out in unison.
“That is troublesome…”