Chapter 359: Initiation into a Healer (14)

"Guru!" The Shishya shouted, losing her balance as the dust cloud filled her vision. She plummeted to the floor, clutching the stump of what remained of her left arm. She dragged herself, tears streaming from her eyes as she endured her pain, arriving at the centre of the stone platform to see two severed halves of the Divya Vaidya, the head missing in them.

"Ahh…ahhh…ahhhhhhh!" The Shishya screamed, unable to believe the scene in front of her. The scenes of the Divya Vaidya's kindness flashed in her memory, the mangled flesh before her eyes shattering everything.

"No, this can't happen. This shouldn't happen! I'll save you!" The Shishya screamed, her presence boiling as it condensed on her back, the sound of something being fulfilled resounded around her as her back emitted pale blue radiance.

The pale blue radiance erupted with enough force to push the dust cloud a couple of paces away from her. It condensed into a ball, elongating vertically while numerous stumps grew along the sides, numbering three on each side.

They formed into arms, the muscles ripped, seething with boundless strength. The elongated section morphed into a humanoid beast, possessing three heads akin to a demon, with each partly resembling a lion, sporting massive tusks while their mane burned. Its height spanned four times a grown man, a hulking figure with its three pairs of arms.

It was the Hand Beast, symbolised through the activation of her tattoo. The moment it was activated, the pale blue hands that had been hovering on the stone platform were influenced, arriving before the Divya Vaidya as they connected the severed body parts.

A vast sea of memories and experiences surged in her mind, stuff that she had learnt before but had forgotten for some reason, allowing her to control the pale blue hands deftly. A pale blue hand seeped into the Divya Vaidya's stomach, reconnecting the parts.

Five hands brought in pieces of the head, connecting them into a whole before attaching it to the neck. Two of them seeped into it, healing it fully. The figure of the Divya Vaidya looked pristine, without any damage except for the signs of blood covering her skin and clothes. But no matter what, she no longer possessed any signs of life.

"No, noo, nooo!" The Shishya cried, seeing the Divya Vaidya show no signs of life even though she had fully healed her. Suddenly, she felt a sensation on her left as a couple of pale blue hands attached her severed arm. Another pale blue hand wiped her tears and patted her head once.

The Shishya cried even more, watching her arm be reattached, soon able to move it like normal. There were still nine pale blue hands hovering above the platform; eight of them seeped into the Hand Beast behind her, temporarily increasing its pair of arms from three to seven.

The final pale blue hand poked the Shishya's cheek, pointing at the scene around her before seeping into her. A voice resounded in her ears, "Live, and protect everyone."

The Shishya nodded and wiped her tears, watching many shadows flicker around her within the dust cloud. Only now did she realise the sounds of fighting between the four leaders and the Sand-Weaving Scorpion that had drilled out from the ground.

The Shishya looked at the Hand Beast behind her, nodding in understanding, 'Thanks to the Guru's teachings, I am already able to activate my tattoo thrice. In each activation, the Hand Beast possesses 6 arms, meaning, I can heal people six times. It seems that this is how the actual Hand Beast looks. The Guru, for some reason, was unable to exert its full potential.'

'After absorbing the Guru's hands, my Hand Beast has seven pairs of arms in this activation,' The Shishya stood up, her eyes shone with determination, "I'll carry my Guru's legacy as the next Divya Vaidya."

The Hand Beast extended one of its arms, grabbing hold of an injured leader, swiftly healing him. The arm broke into pieces and seeped into him, regenerating the long gash wound on his stomach. The leader was surprised as he stood up, hoping that the Divya Vaidya had managed to survive.

He was shocked to see the Shishya arrive behind him, blood covering her clothes. Seeing him, the Shishya spoke in sadness, "Even though I fully healed the Divya Vaidya's body, I was too late. He was already dead by then."

Noticing the massive figure of the Hand beast behind the Shishya, the leader bowed, "I greet the emergence of the Crimson Desert's new Divya Vaidya."

Three leaders fought against the Sand-Weaving Scorpion that killed the Divya Vaidya, their eyes spewing forth tremendous hatred. It had killed the only existence in the Crimson Desert capable of saving lives. Moreover, the Divya Vaidya had saved a lot of their Clansmen before, so their gratitude towards her was insurmountable.

But now, they were angry, angry at their delayed reaction and angry at the beast that had killed their benefactor. Without care for their lives, they threw themselves at the Sand-Weaving Scorpion, controlling their tattoo beasts to bite and tear it apart.

Suddenly, the hooved beast of the Meka Clan Chief arrived and rammed into the Sand-Weaving Scorpion, piercing a massive hole on its sides. It swiftly attacked the head with its horns, dealing damage, working in tandem with the other leaders.

The fourth leader joined the battle, eliciting cries of surprise from the others. They had assumed he was on the verge of death after suffering from such a massive injury. Now, seeing that he was fine and even battled, they had a faint glimmer of hope that the Divya Vaidya had survived.

The leader knew what went on their minds, shouting, "The Shishya is the new Divya Vaidya. He was the one who healed me. Don't leave this Sand-Weaving Scorpion alive."

"Dammit!"

"No!"

"Damn you!"

The leaders bellowed in fury—one realising that their hope was shattered—and further increased the flurry of their attacks, stacking damage on the Sand-Weaving Scorpion when the Meka Clan Chief's hooved beast pierced its horns into a chink in its head armour, peeling it off. It then pierced them into the soft flesh underneath, puncturing the brain, killing the Sand-Weaving Scorpion.

No sooner had it killed it did the Meka Clan Chief's hooved beast rush towards the battle against the Shield Beast. Without the presence of the hooved beast, the four Chiefs were in a precarious state, with most of them suffering from grave injuries.

They barely held on, trying their best to no longer get hit, after all, that would be the end of their lives. The Shishya felt her sight becoming clear, able to easily focus on the battle far away. Four hands left the Hand Beast behind her and swiftly flew towards the battlefield, entering the bodies of each Chief respectively, healing their injuries.

The Shield Beast gazed in confusion at how they were able to recover again, glancing towards the spot from before to see the Shishya stare at it with hatred. In the instant it was distracted, the Meka Clan Chief—his strength renewed—slid underneath its head, pointing his scimitar towards it as the radiance of his tattoo condensed within.

"Take this!" A long horn condensed and swiftly moved forward, piercing its shell. He had aimed at a spot that had been weakened after repeated attacks. The moment he activated his tattoo, the horn pierced its head, impaling it.

The Mosali Clan Chief condensed a massive claw and slashed it at an arm joint, severing it. The Odatha Clan Chief unleashed his serpentine beast to coil around the Shield Beast, tying up its legs. The Raga Clan Chief slashed his spear while condensing the radiance from his tattoo into the blade, creating many overlapping blades, cutting off the Shield Beast's tail.

Finally, the winged beast used its claws to clamp the eyes of the Shield Beast, exerting strength to break the cracked shell. It flapped its wings and peeled off its shell, leaving the soft muscles underneath bare.

It then pecked with its beak, ripping out the flesh from within, mauling the brain with a flurry of attacks. The Shield Beast thrashed a couple of times before letting out its last breath. No sooner had it died did the four Chiefs collapse from exhaustion.

The Meka Clan Chief muttered weakly, "That was my last tattoo activation. Thankfully, we managed to kill it."

Seeing the death of their leader, the Sand-Weaving Scorpions tried to flee. But, after such a long battle, they were significantly damaged, lacking the strength to flee. They were ganged up by the warriors and eventually killed. If not for the assistance of the Divya Vaidya and the Shishya—who had now become the Divya Vaidya—through their healing powers, it would have been a pyrrhic victory.

"Huff…puff…finally, it is over." The Shishya gasped for breath, plopping on the sand, her legs lacking the strength to stand. She had already activated her tattoo thrice and even used up the last of the pale blue hands, no longer possessing any more energy.

"Guru…" She heaved ragged breaths, looking at the battlefield full of death and destruction before her, "I tried to save as many as I can. But, I only focused on the Chiefs and the leaders to heal, so that they could conclude the war faster. Did I fare according to your expectations?"

As she gazed at the scene, red mist gushed out of the sand, looking like vapours of blood as it formed a tornado, drowning out everything before her vision blanked out.

It was a meadow, the chirping of birds resounded, the sound of a brook flowing, its waves crashing into rocks along its path, the warm sunlight complementing the floral scent, and a gentle wind that brushed past, causing the grass to tickle the skin as they danced.

It was a paradise when compared to the previous scene of war. A tree branch swayed, dropping a fruit on a hand that caught it and presented it before the individual. "Congratulations, you can now wield your boundless strength."

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