Chapter 116: Healing Time.

There are 4 quests that Ryan had completed during the war.

18. Quest: KickBaal

"Keep the damage on the down low will ya?"

Quest: Make sure the casualties for the war are below 1000.

Bonus quest: Make sure the casualties for the war are below 100.

Reward: Passive Skill Tomes for Wizard (Astral Presence)

Bonus Reward: Passive Skill Tomes for Wizard (Temporal Flux)

19. Quest: CaptainJackSparrow

Film a Snickers commercial with the Hulk. Quality must be good enough to run on TV.

Reward: Arcadia Blueprint

20. Quest: TheGreenMask

Make the Chitauri army dance during the battle. (Song choice: Boom Chiki Boom, Dancing Queen, Macarena, etc…)

Bonus Quest: Dance together with the Chitauri.

Reward: Hermes Boot.

Bonus Reward: Zeus' Aphrodisiac.

21. Quest: Retired Mechanic.

"Language barrier shouldn't be a problem"

Decipher the language of the chitauri and break into their system.

Bonus Quest: Shut down the Chitauri connection to the Mothership for 10 seconds.

Reward: Basic Spatial Technology Knowledge + Basic Spatial Manipulation Knowledge.

Bonus Quest Reward: Mechanical Force sense activation(Copy)

"I think I saw the quest to collect DNA from one member of the Black Order," Ryan mumbles as he reclines in the chair, waiting for Dawn.

The system trading session has been shut down at midnight. He had been chatting, buying healing knowledge and skills, searching for interesting items, and buying them. Although the items are locked in the inventory, he can still use the knowledge and skills.

Now that the session is over, he is just sitting there, doing nothing and mumbling to himself.

"If I've accomplished the Hela Quest and the Country Development Quest, I would already be in tier 3 now."

Even with his penalty of one additional quest, he would have done it today. Being told every day that he is the only one in tier 2 is getting on his nerves.

Ryan takes a look at the reward he got from the quest.

"I managed to clear the bonus quest from KickBaal unexpectedly."

The death toll from the chitauri war is 99 people. Most are public servants that assisted during the war. The media was shocked when they heard of the death toll. The numbers are outstandingly low for a battle of the scale.

The media and the army are tirelessly researching the strategies Ryan uses for containment of the battle. It will be written in history books and also studied in university for related courses in the future.

The more they research the battle, the more solid his 'Oracle' name is. His preparation is almost like he is clairvoyant. When the world knows about it, his status greatly surpasses the rest of the Avengers.

The tomes in the shape of a magic book are locked inside his inventory along with the rest of his stuff. He didn't clear the bonus quest from theGreenMask as it will be impossible for him to dance with the Chitauri.

"The reward is Zeus' Aphrodisiac. I wonder what that is?"

Zeus is a horny bastard. He even got excited seeing cows and horses. He uses the aphrodisiac to have a good time with the other species.

The reward is a formula for interspecies reproduction, not actually the aphrodisiac Zeus used to get his victims. With it, Ryan too can have a baby with the cows and horses. Ryan can do a lot of things with the formula, too had he not known its function. In his defense, the formula name is misleading. Ryan thought it was a Bill Cosby type of formula.

The only thing he can access right now is the knowledge from RetiredMechanic. He had opened the knowledge during the trading session and is digesting them ever since.

"With this, I think I can make a teleporting suit if supplied with the space stone energy. Or I can use the tesseract to open up a portal anywhere I want."

Ryan is excited about the prospect of his new knowledge. Too bad he can't move anywhere right now. He needs to keep using the Divine healing energy, so he can't even use another type of magic. His throat feels parched, and his mouth is dry.

Gwen walks into the room to check up on him and is bringing a cup of water with her. His condition has stabilized although his wound isn't closing.

"Is this the legendary sixth sense?" Ryan said to Gwen. He is staring at the glass of water, making Gwen realize what he wants.

"This is my water. Do you want a cup too?" Gwen asks lovingly.

"Yes please," Ryan answered. Gwen tries to hold the cup for him, but the water dribbles off from his chin. He barely got one gulp from the help.

"I should use a sippy cup for kids," Ryan says in self-depreciation. He didn't like being weak like this. It reminded him of his childhood. Gwen saw the sadness in Ryan's eyes. Her heart is crushed, but she hides it from him.

"Kids won't be able to drink it like this," Gwen says and drinks from the cup herself. She didn't swallow, instead, she kissed Ryan and transferred the water to him by mouth.

Ryan's eyes widened as she bent over to kiss him. The water flows inside his mouth, quenching the thirst in his throat. Not only that, her foreign tongue is invading his mouth cavity after all the water is swallowed. Gwen stayed there for 10 seconds before she separated from him.

"Do you need more?" She asks in a seductive voice while wiping her wet chin.

"Yes. My thirst is barely quenched," Ryan said, a little excited. She smiles as she manages to uplift his mood.

She sips the glass of water and holds it in her mouth again. Gently this time, she transferred the water using the mouth to mouth plus a 10-second make-out session.

The tall glass of water slowly disappeared as they repeatedly shared the water. A few minutes pass, and there is only water for a final mouth-to-mouth session.

"Last one," Gwen said as she drank the water, emptying the glass. Ryan is waiting patiently to be fed like a baby bird. Suddenly, she saw two figures standing nearby where she and Ryan were.

"Pbft" She sprayed out the last of the water onto Ryan's face as she was greatly startled by the sudden visit. Ryan just accepted it without getting mad.

"Dawn. Kai. How long have you been standing there?" Gwen asks hurriedly. Her cheeks flushed as someone caught the embarrassing thing she was doing to Ryan.

"You want the truth or you want me to lie?" Kai asks teasingly. He is in pajamas as he snuck away from his room. Dawn teleported inside his house to pick him up.

Dawn cast wide-range illusion magic towards the agents surrounding Kai's place in Hell's Kitchen and put them all inside a nightmare. How dare they? They are not surveying the others, just Kai. It seems that Shield greatly distrusts Kai.

"The truth," Gwen said sternly as she grabbed a clean cloth. She wiped Ryan's face which was sprayed by her.

"10 seconds or so," Dawn interjected. He had re-wear his Deer mask when he arrived on earth. Walking to the side of MediQuick bed, he put his hand on Ryan's forehead.

"Gwen, why don't you teleport to the island first," Kai advised as he approached Gwen's side of the bed.

"Are you here to heal him?" Gwen asks in anticipation. Her breath starts to quicken and her heart is racing. She knows that Dawn is an extraordinary being. Maybe he can save the love of her life?

"That is the purpose of the visit," Dawn said solemnly as he nodded to Kai. The situation is worse than he thought.

Kai nods slightly and starts to take out a couple of things from his storage ring

"Gwen Stacy. Please go to the island. I will bring him there when he is healed," Dawn ordered.

"Couldn't I stay here?" Gwen asks, puzzled by the need for her to be rid.

"It's better if you didn't. Dawn has to cast a difficult spell. You being here may interrupt the process," Kai explained to Gwen in a comforting and calm voice.

Gwen looks at Ryan and sees that he is agreeing with the people there.

"Okay, I'll leave. But you must promise to come for me the moment you're healed, okay?!" Gwen kissed Ryan's forehead and activated her teleporting ring, leaving only Kai and Dawn with Ryan.

She doesn't want to go. She wants to stay by his side as he gets through his deathly injuries. Her face is sullen and her eyes are red. Desperately, she wants to stay at his side. She looks at the clear sky of the island. It's not even Dawn in New York but it is almost afternoon here. The birds are chirping, the dragons are dancing, and she can hear mythical animal sounds from various parts of the island.

She walks to a field of dandelions and sits- crouching down there, waiting patiently for him to come.

Inside Ryan's apartment.

"If this doesn't work, you are going to be the first to officially die and be resurrected," Kai teases.

"It's better to do this in the living room and lock my quantum room during," Ryan said as he ordered MediQuick to go out.

Mephisto, Ryan's friend in the group chat gives him two theories about why his condition isn't improving.

"First, D'Spayre had put a beacon inside the wound, so that he could cross the dimension with a lighthouse leading the way."

'That wasn't it,' Ryan thought when Dawn checked his condition before this.

"The second theory is that he had left a part of him in you, to kill you. Demons like to nip the problem in the bud. If they see you're a threat, they don't hesitate to kill you even if they have to pay a price."

The second theory is more plausible when Dawn is checking.

"Do you still have the hide of the shadow dragon?" Dawn asks.

"I have a meter of it in my secret room," Ryan replied. Kai is moving quickly into the room and takes out the wooden box that has the hide.

They need to trap D'Spayre energy into a material that has a similar affinity.

"Gorgon eyes, Imp tail, and tooth, Goblin balls, Fire Shark Fin, Horn of Succubus," Dawn takes out a few materials and casts an incantation. Glowing green runes surrounded the entire living room, encircling Kai and Ryan. The electricity is short-circuited because the magic wave fries the electronic circuits.

The materials melted into the shadow dragon hide, transforming it into sealing parchment. Runes of green and red are glowing from the hide in a circular circuit.

Kai uses his companion beast to create fiery walls around Ryan. The fire can burn the excess demonic energy that escaped Ryan's body after the incantation. The fire became the source of light around the trio, other than the glowing Elder Futhark Runes.

"Ready?" Dawn asks as he takes the lead. Ryan is becoming weaker by the minute. They need to act fast.

"I am always ready," Ryan said jokingly. He took a deep breath and steeled himself.

"Same here," Kai takes out his sword as he stands guard. He needs to protect the others, just in case.

All three of them are nervous. They are dealing with a Satan-class powerhouse. One wrong step and Ryan could be pulled to a hell dimension.

Kai held his staff made from the leaf of Yggdrasil and pointed it to Ryan's chest. Slowly, he guided the runes to enter the patient body.

"AARGHHH!!!!" Ryan let out an otherworldly scream as his soul was in pain.

"Endure!" Kai yelled to Ryan who is starting to float from the chair he is sitting from. A surge of demonic energy comes out from Ryan. Kai burns all of the energy as he gritted his teeth. He can barely contain the energy with his legendary companion beast form - fire of hell.

The Exorcism continues. Ryan is seizuring unwillingly as he floats mid-air. Black sludge comes out from his body, and is being led to the shadow dragon's hide.

"Endure!" Kai yelled again. Ryan shouldn't lose consciousness during all of this.

A few minutes passed, and Ryan kept screaming. His voice turned hoarse and gravely as his throat was in pain.

Dawn has cold sweats underneath his mask. Beads of condensation flow from his forehead toward his eyelashes. He violently takes off the mask and throws it to the side. The wooden mask produces a click-clack sound when it is thrown away, but the sound is drowned out by Ryan's screaming.

If Ryan didn't sculpt sound-blocking magic on his walls, cops would have already swarmed his house.

"A little bit more," Dawn mumbles. He is at the final stage of exorcism. He switches his stance and throws an angel feather. The feather glowed in a warm golden-sunlight hue. Quickly, it disintegrated into black dusk as it touched Ryan.

The intangible thing that D'Spayre put inside of Ryan is turning into a tangible mass.

From Ryan's chest, a huge black spike is seen penetrating Ryan at 5 different locations. Dawn controlled his spell and pull the spike out slowly from Ryan's body.

The spike is more than a meter long. The process is long and painful. Ryan's body is in seizures and the blood vessel in his eyes pops up, making him shed tears of blood.

The sky in New York is changing color as shades of orange are lighting up the dark sky. The first break of light is seen as dawn arrives.

"Dawn, Hurry!" Ryan yelled to Dawn. He couldn't hold it much longer. His consciousness is fading.

"Almost there!" Dawn yelled and increased the strength of the pull. The black spike is finally removed from Ryan's body after an hour.

Ryan dropped into the MediQuick from mid-air and is huffing heavily. He controlled the Divine Healing Energy that has been circulating inside his body and his wound is closing up with a speed that can be seen using a naked eye.

"Do we get that f*cking Annabelle?" Ryan asked Dawn while cursing. The shadow dragon hides wraps outside the spikes made from D'Spayre's claw, sealing the corrosive energy that has been killing Ryan.

"Not only Annabelle, but we also got the Conjuring ghost, Chucky, La Llorona, and the Nun," Dawn said in an exhausted voice. The process almost drains out his mana.

Kai stops the fire and retracts it inside of his body.

"Some of it manages to escape, but it is not harmful. At most, a little bad dream," Kai said.

His little bad dream will be a nightmare for a lot of people in New York today. Luckily the day is breaking.

Ryan is panting heavily, half-naked. The wound had closed up, but the scars are still there, leaving a reminder that he almost died because of his mistake.

"I should go, if Skye and Doreen wake up and see that I am not there, there will be chaos," Kai said as he gestured politely to Dawn.

Dawn scoffed and dragged his tired arm to teleport the magically crippled man back to his house in Hell's Kitchen.

" A glass of water please," Ryan said to Dawn.

" Do you want me to feed you mouth to mouth too?" Dawn said as he conjured a glass of water for the hoarse-voice man.

"Piss off," Ryan said.

Dawn smiles as Ryan is returning to his former self. Ryan rested for a while and jumped off the chair.

"Okay, let's go," He said to Dawn.

"Go by yourself. She is at the dandelion field," Dawn said to Ryan as he teleported away to his quarters on the island.

Ryan's face is stoic and he teleports to the island where Gwen is. He desperately wants to see her that he forgot to wear a shirt.

Gwen is sitting facing the ocean. Ocean waves crash on the seaside. The gentle breeze shakes the dandelions, making them sway. Her green dress has patches of red from her lover's blood when she nurses him to get better.

It's been over an hour. She is still waiting patiently for him. Thoughts about something going wrong appeared a few times, but she won't let them stick with her. A life without him is too painful for the imagination.

Her face drops toward the dandelions as she is trying to wipe the tears before it falls.

"Gwen…" A low voice is calling to her, making her turn to her side.

"R…Ryan," She said in a shaky voice as she looked at his exhausted face. She got up from the ground and ran to his arm.

"Do you know how worried I've been," Gwen lets her tears fall this time, as they are her tears of happiness.

"I am sorry," Ryan hugs her tightly and pulls her closer.

"I thought I am going to lose you," Gwen cries loudly.

"I am sorry," Ryan said as his heart was being torn apart from her tears. He feels disgusted by himself as he makes her worried like this.

Gwen hits his bare chest lightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again…" She scolded him and continued with a low tone "...please…."

Ryan closes his eyes and thinks back to the memories he has with Gwen.

Their hateful first encounter.

Their first laughs.

Their first kiss.

The first time they told each other they love one another.

When she looks at him, he has never felt so alive and happy.

Every day, he thanked god if there is one, that he allowed him to be with her.

He pries himself away from her and holds her hand.

He takes a close look at her face full of tears.

Even crying, she is still pretty.

A sudden strong breeze from the sea hit the land, making the dandelions fly to the sky.

Gwen lost sight of Ryan for a moment as the sea of dandelions was blurring her eyesight.

When it was cleared, her eyes widened as she saw the sight in front of her.

Holding one of her hands, Ryan is kneeling on one knee.

His heart beats even quicker than when he fought a fear lord.

He had hesitated a lot in making decisions in life, but not this one.

Taking out a ring with a green diamond embedded in it, from his pocket. He holds the ring to Gwen.

"Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy…will you… marry me?"

His heart almost stops as he is waiting for the answer.

Gwen cusps her face and wipes her tears away, even though it is not stopping. She nods furiously as she smiles at Ryan.

"Yes. I will. I will marry you," Gwen hugs Ryan who is kneeling on one knee forcefully. Ryan falls backward with Gwen on top of him. She locks eyes with Ryan, and inches closer to his face.

She kisses him passionately in the field of dandelions, as today, both of their dreams come true.