Kill The Old Ones!

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Richard Heartveil woke up and stretched on his bed, then yawned.

He opened his eyes groggily and stared at the ceiling. His mind was still hazy, but if there was anything he knew, he felt good. He slept so good and well that he couldn’t even remember the last time he experienced it.

Then, he frowned. For some reason, his instincts were telling him that he was experiencing something strange.

He rubbed his eyes and opened them once more. To his surprise, his eyesight was actually good—no, better.

Richard wasn’t wearing his glasses, but he could see the ceiling clearly as if it were literally just in front of him. He could see the grooves, the cracks, and the aging wood it’s made of.

That was strange. Because even with his glasses, he knew that his vision wasn’t this sharp and clear. It had been, once upon a time, but after that injury, not anymore.

This is where he noticed more strange things within him.

He feels good. So good, actually. His breaths were deep, full, and comfortable. The usual prick he felt whenever he breathed in was gone; even when he tried to breathe in deeper, he didn’t feel any soreness or pain. Just the comfortable stretch of his diaphragm, lungs, and stomach.

The usual lethargy and imbalance he endured on a daily basis was gone. His chakra flowed smooth and easy, not stagnant and bloated in some parts. He feels warm but also refreshed. He felt light, solid, and...real, for some reason.

Then, the memories started returning. He recalled his injuries flaring up before he lost consciousness. He collapsed in the middle of an important meeting.

That got him up out of bed. He felt panicked and urgent. His thoughts whirred to life, and he started figuring out how long he’d been out.

"Good morning."

Richard’s soul nearly jumped out of his body when he suddenly heard a voice in the same room as him.

There, he saw his only daughter. She wasn’t even looking at him; her attention was occupied by the threads she was stitching to a cloth.

"Lily? Why are you here? No, uh...how long have I been out? What happened after I collapsed?"

Lily finally raised her head and met his gaze. Richard was caught off guard for a moment because he noticed that his daughter feels...different, somehow.

Not in a bad way, per se. Lily still looked the same as the last time he saw her. She still looked like her mother. She didn’t even inherit a single trait from him—a fact that used to bother him a lot, but not anymore.

That said, Lily’s difference comes from the way she carried herself and even from the way she held eye contact with him.

She doesn’t feel stiff or restricted anymore. She doesn’t look like she’s trying to balance the weight of the world on top of her head while maintaining a graceful posture because everybody expects her to be that way.

No. She looks better. She feels...lighter, confident, and at ease, for some reason.

"Three months, Dad," Lily finally said, something that caused Richard’s eyes to go wide. "You’ve been out cold for three months. You gave us quite a scare."

"T-Three months!!?"

Richard couldn’t believe it. He searched for his phone to check if Lily was telling him the truth and discovered that, yes, she did. He had been out for three months, indeed.

"What happened? How come? What happened to the family while I was away?"

His concerns were valid. Richard knew that being away for this long could prove to be really dangerous for the family and more specifically, for his daughter.

"You regained what you lost, Dad," Lily sighed. She returned to her stitching but continued, "You should check the state of your own body. Look inside. You’d be surprised."

Her cryptic answer confused Richard for a bit, but he followed anyway.

And when he did, he gasped in surprise. He was so shocked that his focus was broken and the scene he saw faded.

He froze for a bit, simply because he couldn’t believe what he saw. So, he tried again. This time, he focused and did his best to not break the connection.

What he saw was the immaculate state of his body—which he still couldn’t believe was his. This shouldn’t be the case, and nobody in this world could argue with him about this.

He knows what happened to him.

The Nightmare Beast’s dark erosion melted his left kidney and a portion of his lungs and damaged his diaphragm. This extends to his chakra network as well and is the reason why he stagnated at his current martial realm.

This injury left him traumatized. He nearly died. Only luck saved him. Each time he breathes just a bit deeper than he should, he would feel a prick that would remind him of what happened.

Hell, the injury never stopped hurting. He couldn’t even sleep on his side because putting pressure on the scar leaves him in pain.

If it weren’t for the emergency and on-site surgery that was done to him, he wouldn’t have been alive to see Lily grow up.

Hell, he wouldn’t have been married at all.

He had this large scar on his abdomen, one that looked as if a large drill tried to punch a hole through him. It’s ugly, unsightly, and a constant reminder of the day where he was one step away from dying.

But now, all traces of it were gone.

The scar? Nowhere to be seen. His abdomen looked smooth and flat. Not a single trace of the scar was left. Hell, it didn’t even look like he ever had it in the first place.

His left kidney, the portion of his lungs, and stomach on that side that was gone were there. They’re real and functioning as intended as he looked at them. His chakra network also returned.

He regained everything he lost from that day. He didn’t feel pain, didn’t see any reminder, and didn’t feel afraid that he was inching one step closer to his grave with each breath he took.

"H-How is this possible!?" Richard couldn’t believe it.

He touched his stomach just to make sure that what he was seeing was real, and it was. He pinched himself to confirm if this was a dream or not, and it’s not.

He’s healed. Truly healed. Whoever did it made it look like it never happened at all. Which made it all the more inconceivable to him.

"You’ve got [REDACTED] to thank for that," Lily answered. "The doctors said that the reason why you collapsed was because you were healing."

"You were regaining parts of you that you’ve lost. The Green Lotus Core Technique was the reason for that because that’s what it does."

"However, because your body adapted and learned how to function and to sustain your life without that, the signal that reminded them that you’re regaining what you lost caused your mind, your body, and your chakra to prioritize that instead."

"Moreover, you were at the point where the Green Lotus Core Martial Physique was about to germinate on you. However, you collapsed before you could start supporting it, so we had to transfer the chakra you need instead."

"But even with the 300% boost in healing and recovery with your new martial physique, it still took three months for you to regain everything back. That’s why you’ve been out that long."

Lily raised her head again to look at him.

"How do you feel, by the way? Good, I hope."

"Better than good. The best I have ever felt in decades," Richard hollowly replied, still unable to completely digest his new reality.

Everything Lily told him made sense, but actually experiencing it still left him speechless and in disbelief.

Was it really that simple? Was he really that lucky?

He knew that he had been abusing his body before all this. He was trying his best to find a way out for his daughter because he knew that his time was running out. Lily wasn’t getting any younger, and the family’s pressure was mounting even more.

Once he’s gone, Lily will certainly suffer. He couldn’t bear the thought of that, so he had been doing what he could to ensure that Lily would have a way out once he was dead.

He could even remember feeling regret before passing out. Saying that he’s not ready yet to go.

But it turns out that that’s not what happened. It turned out to be a good thing after all.

He’s back and better than ever.

"That’s good," Lily smiled, genuinely and relieved. "Don’t be in a hurry to return to your office. Get used to having everything back first."

Lily then stood up and began walking out of the room.

"Don’t worry about the family. Everything went well while you were out. No problems at all. They’ve handled everything well. I also involved myself a bit to cover for you."

Richard felt that her words sounded ominous, but he’d been having mixed feelings since he woke up, so he quickly forgot about it soon enough.

He figured that he should do as he’s told. He’s still a patient, after all.

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