Chapter 60: Healing

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Before Edward could respond anything, a tall man stormed out of the big tent, looking angry. Both soldiers kept their weapons on Edward, but greeted, "General! A Super is here."

The general looked at Edward with a frown, and asked, "I know you, you are from America. What are you doing here?"

Edward slowly lowered his hands, making sure they wouldn't feel threatened, and replied, "I am here to help. If you accept me, then I am under your orders."

The general scoffed, "You? Under my orders? Why would I do that? I don't need a wild card on the battlefield."

Edward explained, "I understand your doubt, but I also understand you won't last another attack. I am myself a great fighter, but I can also help around the camp. I am under your orders."

The general frowned, but after a moment of hesitation said, "Fine, at least you have some guts. I don't need you for now, but if the aliens launch another attack, then I will call you. Until then, I believe the hospital needs hands, so go there."

Edward knew the general was doubting him, and probably expected him to desert before the start of the fight, but he also knew the general was giving him a chance. It was already quite generous of him, as he probably despised Supers as much as every other soldier, if not more.

Edward didn't bother humiliating himself with a half assed salute, and asked for direction to be led to the hospital.

Obviously, it wasn't a building, but more of a group of tents roughly attached to each other, which was already good enough for something built in these circumstances.

The hospital was filled to the brim, groaning soldiers and civilians laying on bed, and nurses doing their best to walk in between the beds.

A few gazes fell upon Edward as he looked inside the tent, but most people continued doing what they were doing, ignoring him.

However, one nurse approached him, and asked in English, a little doubtful, "Are you… Serenity?"

Edward nodded at the nurse, and asked, "Yes. I am here to help, what can I do."

The nurse looked a little shocked as she repeated, "You are here to help us?"

Edward nodded, and she sighed, "I reckon you do not possess medical skills, so you…"

Edward quickly interrupted her, "Although I don't have the medical skills you have in mind, I can heal people with my power."

He squatted next to a nearby bed, where an old man was bleeding from the head, mumbling to himself. He placed his hand on his forehead, and stimulated the old man's Chi with some of his.

Under the effects of his much more powerful Chi, the old man's injury healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in half a minute it had disappeared, and the old man was able to stand up.

The old man looked as shocked as the nurse, and held his head with widened eyes. Edward patted his shoulder, slightly pushing him out of the tent before turning to the nurse.

She gulped and said, "That was amazing, I… I can't make such a big decision. Follow me, we need to ask Doctor Blake's opinion."

Edward nodded, and the two walked through the beds, and arrived in a sealed room. Within, a soldier was laying on a surgery table, his left arm vacant, and a huge gash on his chest. A man was performing surgery on him, several nurses helping him on the side.

Edward and the nurse stopped there, and looked at the gory scene, waiting for the doctor to finish. But after a minute passed, the soldier's heartbeat slowed down to a crawl, before coming to a stop.

The doctor tried resuscitating him, but his heart wouldn't beat. Seeing this, Edward hurried to the soldier's side, ignoring the shouts of protests from the nurses, and took control of the man's body as he forced his heart back into beating with the circulation of his Chi.

Everyone looked at him in shock, so he grumbled, "I won't be able to maintain him for long!"

This jolted the doctor awake, who proceeded to continue his surgery. For the next ten minutes, the soldier played the funambulist on the limit between life and death, but was fortunately saved in the end.

As the soldiers was carried out of the tent, the doctor, the nurse and Edward were left alone in the surgery room. The doctor sighed, "Thank you, if it weren't for your help, we would have lost that man."

Edward shook his head and replied, "No need for thanks, we still have many people to save."

The doctor sent a look at the nurse, who said, "Mr Serenity has the power to heal people, as you have witnessed, so I esteemed you should decide what he should do."

The doctor nodded, and after a few seconds decided, "I guess your ability has some kind of limit, and you use more fuel healing big injuries. It is cruel, but most people with big injuries are probably going to die anyway, so focus on healing as many people as possible to clear the beds, and leave the heavily injured to me. This is my nurse, Jane Foster, she will lead you to the best people to heal."

Edward nodded, and as the nurse, Jane, opened the sealed tent, he asked, looking straight into the doctor's eyes, "You are Donald aren't you? If you are, then head to the grotto as soon as possible."

The doctor looked at him in absolute shock, and stuttered, "How… how did you know?"

Edward didn't answer his question though, and left with Jane, a happy smile on his face. Jane looked confused and curious about what he said, but did not ask anything, and instead said, "I'm warning you, I don't speak Norwegian, so we may have some trouble speaking to the wounded."

Edward waved his hand and told her, "Don't worry, I speak Norwegian. But I'm curious, what are you doing here if you don't speak Norwegian? Ill timed vacations?"

Jane sighed, "Yes, Dona… Doctor Blake and I come from New York, and we came here to relax. Who knew this would happen… What about you?"

Edward shook his head and replied, "No, I just arrived to help."

Jane looked a little shocked, before saying, "That's very brave of you. And somewhat foolish. Although, I guess someone had to come."

Edward nodded, and as he treated another wounded he inquired, "Do you know anything about the current situation?"

Jane shrugged, "Bad. The aliens took over the city, but there are rumours saying they are about to leave the city and make another attack. Many fear they will come attack this camp, as we are midway between Trondheim and the next city."

"What about the army?"

"The army? They are more than overwhelmed here, and reinforcements will only arrive by tomorrow morning."

"That's… terrible. I don't see the Kronans waiting in the city for the entire night after a crushing victory. So the night is going to be a hectic one."

Jane looked at him with surprise, and asked, "You still intend on going to fight? Aren't you scared?"

Edward shook his head and replied, "It is not a matter of fear. What if I don't go? The soldiers hold absolutely no chance on their own, and will be crushed ruthlessly."

"And you think you can make a difference by yourself? Against an army of dozens of thousands of alien soldiers? I do understand you are a Super, but as far as I know, you aren't god."

Edward snorted, "Funny you say that… But indeed, I am not god, I can't face them all by myself and win. But I can hold them off. With the military's help. Long enough for a game changer."

"A game changer?"

"Yes, the reinforcements from the army or… something else."

Jane looked at Edward funnily, because he was sounding mysterious, but didn't say anything, attributing this to his job.

It took some toll on Edward, but he managed to heal many people in the following couple of hours, so much that beds actually started freeing up.

Edward's results had been outstanding, and the best part was that it didn't even require much effort from him, only a slight stimulation of his Chi, a tiny bit of Spiritual Energy he could recover in a matter of seconds, and the job would be done.

So Edward did not stop because he was tired, but because something came up.

A soldier had entered the tent, and with a deadpan face announced, "General Foss has summoned you."

The soldier looked indifferent, which was an improvement to the general hateful stares he was getting from the soldiers. It seemed his healing had somewhat made up for the bad reputation.

Anyway, since what he had been waiting for finally came around, Edward followed the soldier without hesitation.

As they arrived at the tent, the same two soldiers were standing in the same spot, on the lookout for any kind of threat to the people inside the tent. Their eyes trailed on Edward, and he could see a hint of surprise in their eyes, but this quickly vanished.

As he entered the tent, Edward saw a large map spread on a table, with several men in uniforms surrounding it. All of them held high ranks in the military, they were officers, and the highest among them was General Foss, whom he had seen earlier.

The same surprise as the one shown by the guards earlier was seen in these men, they clearly expected him to have fled, but he didn't.

A look of approval flashed on General Foss' face as he said, "You did not flee. Good."

Edward was somewhat surprised by the general's bluntness, but he didn't say anything and merely nodded.

General Foss turned back toward the table and explained, "Now that everyone is here, it is time to deliver the news… The aliens have left the city."

Grim expressions appeared all around the table, their fears had unfortunately come true.

General Foss ignored that though and continued, "They are moving on foot, and are marching alongside the fjord… meaning they are coming for us. If they aren't stopped, they will reach this encampment in less than two hours."

None of the high ranking officers said anything, and simply looked ready to accept their death, but Edward wasn't so he asked, "How many men do we have? And what means can we use?"

General Foss wildly swung his arm to the side, obviously on edge with the situation too, but still replied, "We only have a brigade of 5000 men. We only have five tanks, but we have plenty of ammunition, as well as some artillery. As for the aliens, there are at the very least one hundred thousand of them, probably more, they fight with cold weapons, but are much deadlier than any firearm.

"They have fierce warriors in the front capable of shredding a tank apart, but they also have archers in the back capable of firing arrows from hundreds of meters away. They don't have a great accuracy, but their number is more than enough to make up for it. And finally, their fiercest troops, the ones in the back, magicians."

Edward wasn't surprised by this, Earth wasn't the only planet in the universe capable of wielding magic, but fortunately for him, the Kronan magicians weren't very strong, they were only capable of tribal magic.

Edward processed the information he was given and studied the map for a minute before finally forming a plan in his mind, which he proceeded to explain to the military officers.