From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 79: Doctor Vibes

"Is everyone okay!?" I yelled.

"How in the juice gods did you do that?" Coco said, his body still frozen where he stood. His eyes were wide as he stared at me. "The serpents were really scary, and you finished them as if they were paper figures."

"I’m fine!" Kira yelled from the top of the bunker, leaning over the edge to look down at us. "The other two serpents fell in a different direction, so I’m okay."

As Kira finished her sentence, two silhouettes slowly appeared from the right side of the bunker. Phinyx was using Finn as support to walk, his arm draped over Finn’s shoulders. His left leg dragged slightly behind him.

"We’re not so good..." Finn said with a grim expression as he reached the bunker’s entrance. He tightened his grip to keep Phinyx steady. "Phinyx hurt his foot after he saved my life."

"It’s nothing." Phinyx said with a comforting tone, waving one hand dismissively even while leaning on Finn. "I can use my vibes and it wont hurt at all, we can keep on walking toward the next outpost."

After I got close enough and the dust cloud around us settled I was able to see his wound.

His right foot was slightly facing outward at an unnatural angle.

It was probably broken.

"You won’t be able to walk at all with your foot like that Phinyx, it’s broken." I said while crouching down to examine it more closely. "But don’t worry, I might be able to heal this with Mend."

"Mend? The spell that made you sleep like a baby?" Kira asked as she climbed down from the bunker, brushing dust off her clothes as she approached us.

"Yes, that one. It accelerates natural healing... we just need to straighten the foot first." I replied, glancing around the group. "Who feels capable of doing that? Anyone with a strong stomach and no mercy?"

"I’ll do it." Phinyx said without hesitation.

He slowly lowered himself onto a nearby rock.

"I’ll create some doctor vibes and analgesic vibes to get it right." He finished with the same casual tone he always used. Like he was discussing tea preferences instead of bone realignment.

Phinyx sat on the rock and took a slow breath before placing both hands around his right foot.

"Analgesic vibes, doctor vibes, foot vibes."

His fingers tightened around the ankle.

Then.

Trck.

The sudden movement echoed through the clearing.

The sound of bone scraping against bone made everyone freeze.

Phinyx’s expression lost its usual zen radiance, and for the first time I saw his eyes open completely. Open in a way that suggested his soul was briefly considering early departure. His analgesic vibes might’ve been good, but not enough.

"That... I did..." Phinyx murmured weakly.

Then his body lost its rigidness.

He collapsed.

His consciousness gone.

But his right foot was aligned perfectly. His doctor vibes, as absurd as that sounded, worked.

I approached him and started forming the sphere with hundreds of details in my mind.

Mend.

The swollen ankle and the red hue around the area slowly faded.

The skin relaxed.

The joint returned to normal.

"Woah." Finn expressed, staring at the foot in disbelief. "You really cured him."

"I just used a spell." I replied while standing up again. "He was the one that got it back in place."

Then I tasted something metallic in my mouth.

Blood.

I’d used Quickstep multiple times, Pulse and Mend in a small interval of time, so it was obvious that I’d feel some backlash.

"I feel like I also need to rest now." I expressed, steadying myself slightly. "Kira, please grow some vine beds inside the bunker. Coco, dark water doesn’t do anything to the serpents, but still do a perimeter to keep Corruptors out of here."

As I finished giving orders, my sense of hearing swayed slightly. I could see them moving their mouths and still understand them, but everything felt distant.

I needed some rest.

I had to be at my best.

Who knows if more serpents would show out of nowhere.

I carried Phinyx inside the bunker and as soon as Kira laid some vines on the ground I went for a nap.

And similar to the time when I overused Switch in the caves, I had a dream.

I was inside the warehouse again, moving boxes. Going from the loader to shelves. The movement felt natural and comforting, but this time I didn’t feel my energy depleted.

"You’ve been using Switch a lot." A voice that came from inside my mind resonated in my head. "It barely consumes any energy, that vow came in handy for you."

I kept stacking boxes while listening to the voice. After all, it had helped me back when I didn’t know about the ability backlash.

"That’s right, I wont be dealing with backlash from switch for a while." I said, placing another box on the shelf with satisfying precision. "By the way, who are you? Because if you’re going to keep appearing in my dreams, I should at least know your name. Or your preferred pronoun. Or if you’re just a manifestation of my own subconscious, in which case, hello me, nice to meet me."

"It doesn’t matter, I’m just here to help you understand Switch." The voice said calmly. "You finally used it in a different way when fighting the snakes. Keep on developing your skill..."

The voice went silent for a moment.

Then it returned.

"Those hibrem spells are nothing compared to Switch, polish your actual weapon and you’ll be unstoppable." The voice said with a final tone.

I was about to question what he meant by that.

But the dream ended abruptly.

I woke up suddenly.

Slowly I sat up and looked at my hands.

’Hibrem spells? To polish my weapon? What does he mean by that, without Quickstep I’d already be dead...’ I thought. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

But somehow it made sense. Learning spells was not something unique. The Ones of the past were able to learn them, even Damian... but no one had ever killed a Corruptor before.

Now awake I looked around me.

There were four vine beds and one silver bed.

Everyone sleeping.

Since I now felt perfectly fine I decided to get up and practice a little on how to use Switch. The two boxes I created in my mind when dealing with two serpents at once was something I came up with in the moment, but it was really efficient.

Dealing twice as much damage in the same amount of time would be really beneficial, so I started practicing.

There were some big rocks around the place I could train with. I created a mental box with both the object I was touching and the other object.

Switch.

The rock I was touching got cut the way I imagined, but my aim with the other rock was completely wrong. I didn’t switch it into the middle section at all.

"Thank god I did it right back then, or someone could’ve died." I murmured to myself, reflecting on how inexperienced I actually was when using Switch.

I had thought of it like a weapon that would always kill and never miss.

Maybe that was why I had grown overconfident in it.

I had a lot of practice ahead of me. And plenty of rocks.