Chapter 40：Battle between Souls (1/2)
Lotus Stalk Hospital, doctors hurried across the cracked hallways, scurrying to and fro, carrying patients and transporting all the medical apparatus outside the building. Artisans and builders, dressed in coarse clothes rushed in, carrying building materials, proceeding to mend the cracks.
Pieces of concrete fell along the hallways; splotches of paint peeled off, revealing the coarse structured cement within. In the flurry of activity, a nurse pushed a berth affixed atop rollers, pushing it through the hallways that were beginning to cave in. Behind the nurse ran a man, using his psychic energy to keep the berth afloat, trying to prevent it from toppling over due to the uneven ground surface.
”I can barely support this weight,” Hancent shouted, his voice drowned out amid the flurry of chaos.
”The damage is primarily concentrated on this floor and the floors above. It is safe starting from 3 floors below. We'll first travel there before deciding on our relocation.” The nurse replied, using her psychic energy on the patient sleeping atop the berth, using it to stabilise his posture, lest the vibrations from their movement affected him.
”Kyaak,” The nurse screamed in surprise as the floor beneath her suddenly disappeared, making her lose her footing. She hurriedly roused her psychic energy, infusing it in her clothes, lifting her body. Hancent timely reinforced her, keeping them afloat.
The weight they had to carry was greater than what they were capable of, leading to a steady fall. Suddenly, another stream of psychic energy rushed to their aid, lifting them up. It brought them safely outside the building, bringing them to the rooftop of an adjacent building.
Hospital berths carrying patients were lined up in order; nurses flashed to and fro between them, hurriedly connecting the life-sustaining equipment to their bodies. Soldiers rushed to the rooftop, carrying extension cables to support all the machines. Everyone rushed, completing numerous tasks to ensure the lives of patients weren't affected.
Hancent, the nurse, and the berth carrying Jyorta landed, joining the row of berths. A doctor hurriedly inspected the condition of Jyorta, heaving a sigh of relief. He then commanded the nurse, giving her a set of instructions, rushing towards the collapsing building of the hospital to save the others.
A soldier approached Hancent, performing a standard military salute, ”Sir, I was informed that you were at the scene that was the cause of this destruction. Please follow me to give a recount of the events.”
”Sure, give me a couple of minutes. Let me first ensure the well being of my son.” Hancent replied, cursing the day for being a disaster to him. He spoke with the nurse, helping her attach some support machines to Jyorta, keeping his body functioning for the time being.
He followed the soldier, his back sulking, lamenting at his fate. The nurse watched the scene in a daze, her back drenched with cold sweat as she recalled the aura confrontation between Madam Mary and the old man that had accompanied Hancent.
'Who the heck was that man? To be able to provoke Madam Mary with a couple of sentences, do they share some history?' The nurse thought, continuing with her work. Many nurses arrived at the rooftop, carrying their patients. Some were strong enough to carry one on their own while others were assisted by their colleagues.
With a rumble, the top half of the hospital tilted, reducing its angle to the ground. Large blocks of concrete fell down, crashing onto the ground below. The glass exterior shattered, the sounds high pitched, piercing the ears of the people present nearby.
Hundreds of Espers took off to the skies, the standard doctor's coat wrapped around their bodies, fluttering in the air in response to the dense psychic energy fluctuation radiating off their bodies.
”Doctors,” A Doctor that looked like the eldest of the present shouted, his voice reverberating across the surroundings, ”Try your best to keep the damage to the building to a minimum. There are still patients trapped inside. All nurses, hurry inside and evacuate the remaining patients.”
In response to his shouts, all the doctors raised their hands, infusing their psychic energy into the collapsing half of the building, trying to slow down its fall. Veins popped across the foreheads of all doctors, their eyes red as they shouted one by one, increasing the output of psychic energy to their utmost limits.
As if their conviction fell upon a fault, the top half of the building, weighing hundreds of tons continued to tilt, finally falling off when the beam structure beneath it crumbled. Like a piece of rock pushed from a terrace, it fell, bringing with it the doctors who tried to hold it in place.
”Aargh!” A doctor screamed, blood dripping from his forehead; his eyes had burst out from the exertion. Like a kite that had lost its strings, the doctor plummeted. Seeing him fall, a doctor near him diverted a part of his strength, hurriedly bringing him to safety. But, as a result, their exertion further increased, leading to many doctors screaming as they fell, one by one.
The blue soul connected to the ears of Jyorta, listening to everything that occurred around them, getting a gist of things from their conversations. It then noticed the condition of Jyorta's soul, looking like a blob of messy fluids, emitting a putrid stench that was stronger than before.
A dense fluctuation of psychic energy appeared in the surroundings, propping up the falling building, just 5 metres before its impact to the ground. The remaining doctors looked at the source of the energy, their bloodshot eyes filled with a sense of relief.