Chapter 46: Same Infirmary, Different Situation

The infirmary smelled the same as always. Antiseptic, clean linens, and the faint bitter undertone of cheap recovery potions brewing in the back.

Damon had spent enough time here to recognize the nurse’s footsteps before she even rounded the corner.

"Persival."

The same gray-haired woman who’d tended to him after the Banshee stood at the foot of his bed with a tablet in one hand and a vial of something pale green in the other.

"You’re not quite at the record, but you’re getting close."

"I’m aware."

"Drink." She pressed the vial into his hand. "Medical grade. Stronger than whatever you’ve been buying from the alchemy students."

Damon downed it without argument. The familiar warmth spread through his chest, dulling the sharp edges of his ribs and easing the throb behind his eyes. His system pulsed faintly at the edge of his awareness.

[RECOVERY DRAUGHT CONSUMED - C-RANK (MEDICAL GRADE)]

[SYSTEM OVERRIDE ACTIVE]

[MODIFIED EFFECT: ACCELERATED HEALING - 8 HOURS]

[POTION EFFICIENCY: +30% EFFECTIVENESS]

"I’ve been told I heal fast," he said.

"I’ve noticed." She made a note on her tablet. "Your ribs are bruised, not broken. Your lip needs a stitch or two. And you’ve got a mild concussion. Nothing life-threatening, but you’ll be sore for a few days."

"I’ve had worse."

"Everyone in this academy has had worse. That doesn’t mean you should aim for it." She set the tablet aside and fixed him with a stern look. "Rest. No training for at least forty-eight hours. That means no portals and no dueling. If I see you in here again before the week is out, I’m filing a formal complaint with your advisor."

"Yes, ma’am."

She left him alone, her footsteps fading down the corridor.

Damon lay back against the pillow and stared at the ceiling.

Two beds over, Matthew Voss lay unconscious. His chest was wrapped in bandages, his right leg elevated on a pillow, and his arms were marred with angry red burns where the electricity had concentrated. The steel sheen of his Shell was completely gone.

A pair of mana-suppressing cuffs had been placed on his wrists, standard protocol for unconscious B-Ranks whose abilities might trigger involuntarily during recovery.

Damon watched the slow rise and fall of Matthew’s chest for a moment, then looked away.

The door at the end of the infirmary swung open, and Lena burst through with Sera close behind her. Lena’s eyes found Damon immediately, and her expression cycled through relief, anger, and exhaustion in the span of a heartbeat.

"You," she said, marching toward his bed. "I leave you alone for one morning. One morning."

"Technically, you didn’t leave me alone. You weren’t scheduled to—"

"Don’t. Technical. Me."

Sera hung back, her staff absent for once, her arms crossed.

"Heard you shattered Matthew’s Shell. The whole academy’s talking about it. Apparently, you used the floor as a conductor. That’s clever, even for you."

"I had a plan."

"Clearly." Her gaze drifted to the bed where Matthew lay unconscious. "Is he going to wake up anytime soon?"

"Haven’t asked. Haven’t really cared."

"That’s cold."

"He put me in this same bed a month ago. I’m not feeling particularly sympathetic."

Lena had already pulled out a small kit from her satchel and was dabbing something cold and stinging onto Damon’s split lip.

"Concussion, bruised ribs, second-degree burns on your palm. What did I tell you about coming back in one piece?"

"I’m in one piece. Mostly."

"Mostly isn’t one piece. Mostly is several pieces held together by stubbornness and recovery potions." She finished with his lip and moved on to his blistered palm. "You’re the most reckless resonator I have ever met."

Sera pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed, glancing once more at Matthew’s unconscious form. "The other students are already talking. Some of them are impressed. Others are calling you a nepo baby."

"I heard."

"Doesn’t that bother you?"

Damon considered the question. A month ago, it would have. A month ago, every whisper had felt like a knife.

But he’d spent a month climbing out of a hole two years deep, and the opinions of people who’d never believed in him in the first place had started to lose their weight.

"Let them talk," he said. "I didn’t do any of this for them."

Sera nodded slowly. "Then who are you doing it for?"

Damon thought about it. The answer had changed over the past month. At first, it had been about proving himself. Then it had been about catching up to his father. Then it had been about the people who’d stood by him when no one else would.

A mix of everything would be the honest answer.

"Myself," he said finally. "And the people who got me here."

Lena’s hands paused for just a moment on his bandages. Then she kept working, her expression unreadable.

Sera leaned back in her chair. "Good answer."

Lena finished wrapping Damon’s palm and stepped back to inspect her work. "You’ll live. Again. But the nurse said no training for two days, and I’m going to make sure you actually listen this time."

"I wasn’t planning to train."

"Good." She packed up her kit with practiced efficiency. "Then you can use the time to rest. Actually rest. Not rest while secretly doing research or rest while planning your next portal run.’"

"You know me too well."

"Unfortunately." But she was almost smiling. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Sera stretched her arms overhead. "Well, since you’re grounded, I guess I’ll handle the C-Rank portal solo tomorrow. Someone needs to keep our tribute and exp flowing."

"C-Ranks, not D-Ranks?"

"Thanks to you, I’m already strong enough." She stood, patting her chest. "The solo D-Rank run I did gave me enough confidence."

"Don’t test it."

"No promises, but I’ll be careful." She headed for the door, pausing to look back. "Rest up, boss. We’ve got a main city to visit once you’re healed."

She left, and Lena followed shortly after, extracting a promise from Damon to actually stay in bed. She paused at the door, glancing back at him with an expression that held too many things to name.

"I’m glad you won," she said quietly. "But try not to end up here again."

"I’ll do my best."

"That’s what you always say."

She left.

The infirmary settled into quiet. Outside, the sun had fully set, and the lamps along the walls flickered to life with soft golden light. In the bed two spaces over, Matthew Voss remained unconscious, his breathing slow and steady.

Damon closed his eyes. The recovery draught was still working, warmth spreading through his chest with every heartbeat, soothing his pained body.

But this time, he didn’t find himself counting the hours until he could leave the infirmary.

He was just... resting.

[SYSTEM STATUS – RESONATOR: DAMON PERSIVAL]

[CLASS: STORM SOVEREIGN (HYBRID)]

[LEVEL: 5]

[TRIBUTE: 288]

[RECOVERY IN PROGRESS]

[ESTIMATED FULL HEALING: 36 HOURS]

Tomorrow, Sera would run the C-Rank portal. The day after, Damon would be back on his feet. And after that, the main city awaited.

"Having two women watching over me... probably won’t be long before I get another nickname added to my list."