"His Spirit Container has no traces of a Nature..." Boul Brimgan muttered in a daze once he concluded his inspection on Orakha, frowning as he stared at Blola, "Say, if his Spirit Container had been surgically removed, would it affect his revival?"
"No," Blola shook his head, "It's still his power. So, when I revive him, he'll be revived with his Natures. It's just that his Human Avatar will be empty, since I'm not filling it up. But if all the necessary minerals are in my access, I can revive him at the peak of the Body Stage, with a complete Human Avatar."
"None of the damage will be counted, since I'm reviving them in their natural state of being, as their Prana dictates." Blola explained, "That's why I'm puzzled, since it seems even his Prana has been affected to the extent it feels as if he never had a Nature in the first place."
'If the revival process can ignore damage as Blola states, then it makes no sense why Orakha is in this state.' Boul Brimgan thought before asking, "Maybe he was extensively tortured?"
"Even that cannot explain it fully." Blola shook his head, "Prana is a fusion of the energies of the body, mind, and soul. So, as long as Prana flows through his body, any damage done to his mind would also heal over time, until he returns to his natural state of body, mind, and soul."
"But that natural state has been changed here. From what I know, even a Minor Treasure cannot do it." Blola expressed in worry, "That's what I'm perplexed about."
"Uncle..." Ruvva crouched before Orakha and stared at his eyes, tearing up in response, "He has been broken beyond the point of recovery. Just...who could have done it?"
"There's only one person with the motive and capability to do that to him." Boul Brimgan didn't even hesitate to spit out in anger, "It's that traitor of the Free Humans!"
"That woman?" Ruvva raised an eyebrow as she recalled the painting of Yarsha Zahara that she had seen on a scroll. Veins popped on her forehead as anger gradually spilled forth from her being, making itself known through her billowing presence. 'She dares?'
"Are you sure it's here?" She calmed her nerves and asked Boul Brimgan, "Do we have any proof?"
"A bit over six years ago, I felt that I could condense a tenth one..." Boul Brimgan said and condensed ten Kinesis Felines beside him, "Yarsha Zahara stole the tenth one when the Major Treasure of Attribute revealed itself. She had been controlling it all along. But now, I could make a new one once again."
"That still doesn't prove anything," Ruvva frowned as she gently seeped her Prana into Orakha, retracting it in a hurry when his body spasmed violently in response.
"Argh!" For a moment, there was a shriek of terror from Orakha before he reverted to a deranged state.
"I promise to figure out a way to heal him. I'm capable enough," Ruvva stared at Blola. Her expression then became tense as she whispered to him in a hurry, "Hide him!"
Her figure spun and turned into a spinning ball that flashed towards the throne room's entrance, stopping as she stared at a girl walking past, dressed in frilly clothes. "Yo!"
"Mother! I was searching for you everywhere!" The girl, aged a bit over nineteen bubbled her way towards Ruvva, "I made a new game today. Today is the day I defeat you!"
"Hoh? Are you that confident?" Ruvva gradually flexed her arms as her expression became one of interest, "You're a hundred years too early for that."
"Hehe, you'll see." The girl flashed a board game for the fraction of a second before hiding it in her sleeve. She laughed and was about to run away when she noticed the figure of Blola in the throne room, focusing on the spherical bundle formed by the vines extending out of his left hand, "Eh? Mother, why is that person's hand looking like a tree?"
"Mother?" Blola stared at Ruvva in shock, "You have a child?"
"How old do you think I am?" Ruvva raised an eyebrow, "I'm thirty-four."
It had been 34 years since the Second Major Disaster ended, which was the same as her age, for
she was born at the same time the Major Treasure of Attribute revealed itself.
"34? You're that old already?" Blola blinked in confusion for a few seconds before commenting with an awkward laugh, "Man, time flies."
"Mother, who is this tree person?" The girl asked as she stared at Blola, expressing curiosity, hoping to touch the vines.
"A dangerous criminal." Boul Brimgan said with a parodying tone of caution.
"Oh please, I'm not a kid anymore." The girl rolled her eyes. She then inched closer to Blola when Ruvva held her back.
"That guy eats Pranic Beasts for breakfast," Ruvva said and glared at Blola, communicating through eye contact.
"I do...? Eh? Ah, y-yes, I do eat them for breakfast." Blola didn't know what Ruvva implied but played along with the lie as he condensed a carnivorous mouth from his right hand, "Hehe! I eat them with this!"
"Scary!" The girl shrieked a little and ran behind Ruvva, her footsteps having a mild spin to them, mimicking the way Ruvva moved.
"The adults are talking, so be a good girl and wait for me in your room, alright?" Ruvva said and nudged the girl, sighting as she closed the double doors once the girl was out of her sight.
"Who is the father?" Blola asked.
"He's dead, don't ask." Ruvva shook her head, expressing that she didn't wish to go into detail about it. She then approached Orakha after Blola unfurled the vines wrapping him and lifted him up, "I'll focus on treating him."
"Bring him to my ward," Harla Brimgan said as she got up, "The Brimgan Empire owes him a lot. That's the least I can do. Besides, it'll be safer with me on standby next to him."
'It seems I made the right decision to bring him here.' Blola thought in relief as he watched the Emperor and Grand Minister express genuine concern for Orakha's well-being. 'Those fragmented memories did hint that there was some deep cooperation between the two sides.'
Blola didn't know all the details, but from the fragmented memories he got from the Transcendent Eater, he understood that Orakha was valued by the Brimgan Empire. Moreover, since Ruvva was the Empire's Guardian and cared about Orakha a lot, he brought the latter
here.
Blola had a barebones relationship with Orakha at best. They weren't even on the level of colleagues, forget being friends. The only reason Blola wanted to save Orakha was to conserve the strength of the Mystic Path.
The loss of the Orange Mystic Path's strength meant a higher chance of their defeat at the hands of the Celestial Boar. That was pretty much the reason he cared about Orakha.
"I'll get going then. My job's done here." Blola said and turned around to leave, pausing for a moment before he smiled wryly at Boul Brimgan, "Do inform everything to Virala when he comes here."
"Why would he arrive here..." Boul Brimgan paused for a moment before grunting in annoyance, "You told him too?"
"I sent a body to the Dralh Sea while I made my way into the Brimgan Empire." Blola smiled wryly, "I wanted to inform everyone who cared about him, which is two people."
He stared at Ruvva, "First is you, and second is that guy..."
"Virala."
"I never expected him to have such a trait, but from what I've found out, Virala seems to genuinely consider Orakha as a friend," Blola said and took his leave.
[Let him leave, mother!]
Boul Brimgan contacted Harla Brimgan through an Information Slip upon feeling the latter's
concern.
[We need to at least figure out where he's heading towards.]
In response to her words, Boul Brimgan shook his head, aware that Blola had no enmity with
the Brimgan Empire. So, he had no reason to expend time and resources to keep an eye on Blola. After all, as the Blue Mystic Path, Blola would be focused on killing the Celestial Boar.
[We don't need to exercise unnecessary caution and antagonise Blola. Let the Mystic Paths and the Celestial Boar kill each other. We're the ones growing stronger from the sides!]
"Ensure that she doesn't meet Virala, even by mistake." Boul Brimgan said a few minutes later, addressing Ruvva, "We can't risk exposing her identity."
"Her identity is that she's my daughter. Even if we're alone, don't speak otherwise." Ruvva relayed a word of caution and took her leave, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Uncle Emperor!"
"Yeah, yeah, go, go." Boul Brimgan waved his hand, reeling from a headache as he subtly raised the level of defence within his Spirit Weapon range, protecting the Capital City and its surroundings better.
With a thought from him, a Kinesis Feline condensed at an altitude of twelve kilometres above the ground, positioning itself at an open spot uncovered by clouds as it stared in the direction of the Dralh Sea, silently observing the target location.
Two weeks later, in the dead of the night, a reddish-purple radiance billowed out of the Dralh
Sea, from the headquarters of the Mystic Humans. The radiance was a sizeably large dot in the Kinesis Feline's vision, considering the sheer distance between the two regions.
'Blola's body finally reached Virala.' Boul Brimgan thought in response, watching through the
eyes of the Kinesis Feline in the sky as he noticed a small reddish trail form on the Cooter- Brimgan Channel, rapidly speeding towards the Brimgan Empire.
Four days later, the figure of Virala stood in the Brimgan palace, his expression incensed,
"Where is he?"
"Control your emotions and I'll bring you there." Boul Brimgan said as a streak of sweat dripped down his forehead, feeling the sheer forces radiating maniacally from Virala. If he hadn't used his psychokinesis to protect the place, there would have been some serious
casualties.
After all, Virala had lost his cool, his shout reverberating across the place, "Where's Orakha?"
"WHERE?"