In the corridor, next to the doorway of Room 024, Jennifer was furiously punishing the unconscious Mr. Jones. She delivered blow after blow, her breathing ragged.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
"You rapiest monster! You tortured Annie a lot. That all happened because of you, old lusty creature." Jennifer furiously says.
"Jennifer, stop now, you will kill him. And Johan, why do you block me via mana?" Arthur tries to stop Jennifer, but Johan made a mana cage around him.
"Who wants a disturbance in their chilling time?" Johan asked lazily, lowering his hand, sitting on a bench.
"Johan… You two are not kids anymore. " Arthur asks with anger.
"Oi! Ask the person who is killing. The people know her as the brand ambassador of justice," Johan replies, nodding sarcastically toward Jennifer.
Suddenly, a mana ball of swirling silver light erupted from the floor near the wall, creating a portal. Johan feels a familiar, sharp aura—the scent of someone he loves.
Freya stepped through the portal, her dark robes momentarily swallowed by the swirling light. Jennifer stopped punching instantly, her fury replaced by a profound wave of relief and emotion upon seeing her friend.
Freya rushed toward them. In Johan's mind, time snapped to a halt. The corridor, the beaten in anticipation."Is she coming for me? Does she love me?"
Johan, typically the image of cool composure, reached out instinctively to hug her, his heart surging with unspoken affection. But his delusion ended as abruptly as it began.
Freya rushed past without a glance at Johan, her arms wrapping tightly around a stunned Arthur.
"Arthur! You're hurt! Are you alright?" she cried, checking him for wounds.
Johan's arm, left awkwardly suspended in the air, slowly drops back to his side. The sudden wave of hot disappointment hits him. He quickly disguised his disappointment with a smile.
Jennifer, however, has witnessed that.
"Johan, what just happened to you?" Jennifer asked, a sly smirk playing on her lips.
"Noting, nothing, just pain in my hand," Johan replied curtly.
"Well! Well… At least I always caught you lying. Dr. Johan," a new voice drawled from the portal.
CLOMP! CLOMP! CLOMP! CLOMP!
A man stepped through, his attire impossibly charming—a bespoke coat that seems too clean. He is Richard Jurin.
He offered a confident, easy smile. "Hey, did you two remember me?" Richard asks them
"Oi! If I forget everything, I still remember you," Johan says, his tone shifting back to his usual sarcasm.
"Why do you come here?" Jennifer asked him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Richard shrugged,"To clean this mess. Freya told us everything. We are here to recover everything."
As he finished speaking, the corridor walls flickered with sudden light. Multiple portals erupted silently, and through them stepped nearly a dozen Order personnel. Others in ripped and bloodied shirts and vests, mimicking the appearance of police or emergency responders. Use their mana and wake all of the possessed people in there. Those who had collapsed earlier slowly began to stir, their eyes blinking in confusion.
Jennifer looked at Richard, her suspicion hardening. "Are you still in the Order?"
Richard's confident smile never wavered. "Always in order but time in New Word Order."
"Johan, Jennifer, you two did a great job tonight. Thank you for saving Anni, Arthur and everybody" Freya thanks them for their bravery tonight.
Richard asks them, "Will you rejoin the Order?"
They thought for a short time, then together replied with a gentle smile, "Yes, we are back to the Order."
Johan and Jennifer go outside the hospital. The morning light is just beginning to break, painting the city skyline in muted shades of pink and orange. They sat side by side on a wooden bench outside the hospital, positioned along the edge of the footpath. The air is cool and quiet.
"Are we going home on foot?" Jennifer asked Johan, shivering slightly in the morning breeze.
"Wait for the carriage," Johan replied, closing his eyes briefly. "Now relax."
Jennifer fidgeted, tapping her fingers on the bench. "But I have a question in my mind."
"Ask away, Doctor."
Jennifer leaned in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "I was possessed multiple times by their powers tonight. Even I felt the residual effect of Arthur's Timeless. Why are you completely immune to all of them?"
Johan opened one eye, giving her his signature half-smirk. "I… think I am special."
Jennifer's expression turned sceptical. "Did you practice your powers in all those years?"
"No! No! No!" Johan replied quickly, raising his hands in mock innocence.
"Johan…" her voice laced with anger.
Johan sighed, his evasion dissolving. "Okay! Okay! I used my powers to cure some patients."
"How dare you do this? If Richard knows this, the Order can arrest you!" Jennifer whipped the words out, looking frantically around for eavesdroppers.
The Order strictly forbade the use of Mana in humans.
"Oi! Arthur also uses his power in surgeries and cures his patients. It's part of the cover. But we use our powers in the medical sector; Richard uses his powers to flirt with girls. And… welcome, Dr. Jennifer, just now you also used your power to cure Anni," Johan revealed, exposing their secrets, his tone laced with mischief.
"What? You all are psychos!" Jennifer stares at him.
"I just improved my profession," then Johan looked up the road with a shrug. "Look, there is a carriage coming."
A black carriage pulled by a single horse appeared from around the corner.
Jennifer stood and called to it. "Hey! Hey!"
The carriage stopped right in front of them. The Coachman, a kindly-looking elderly man, peered down. "Yes, madam, where do you want to go?"
"45 Street, Jardin Paisible," Jennifer replied, gesturing for Johan to join her.
"Oh my god! Are you injured? There is a hospital nearby, and I can take you there," the coachman says, noticing the bloody and torn in Jennifer's clothes.
"No, I am a doctor. I'm coming back from the hospital," Jennifer quickly fabricated. "There was an accident, so they called us in."
"Oh! That's why you are going to the Jardin Paisible, to call Dr. Johan."
Johan, who was stepping into the carriage, couldn't resist. "Ah! By the way, I am Dr. Johan."
The coachman's face lit up with awe. "Wow! You are the miracle, great doctor. It is a pleasure for me to give you a ride." He bowed slightly from his seat, clearly honoured.
Johan settled into the plush seat next to Jennifer. The carriage resumed its smooth journey, the rising sun now directly ahead. After half an hour, they reached the imposing, yet quaint, gate of Jardin Paisible. Jennifer stepped down first, then Johan followed.
"How much to pay?" Johan asked the coachman, reaching for his wallet.
"No! No! No! The ride is free," the coachman insisted, waving his hand. "My son was one of your patients. He was addicted to drugs at a young age and went to jail multiple times. I took him to multiple doctors, but nothing worked. But you were our last hope. After your therapy, he fully changed, and he has never taken drugs again. Now he is in a normal life, working in a bakery on Harvester Street. Thanks to you."
"I took my payment already, so I can't take any other benefit from you," Johan said, holding out a handful of currency.
"The price is 20 Aether. Why do you give me 35 Aether?" the coachman asked, puzzled by the excessive amount.
"Just take this. I don't have retail Aether," Johan replied, pushing the Aether into the driver's hand and stepping back to the gate.
The carriage began to move, but the coachman was overwhelmed. Tears came from his eyes, What a kind man he is!" he marvelled at the generosity of the great Dr. Johan.
When Johan opens the lock of the gate. Jennifer asks her, "Can Oneirons transform them into a beast?"
"No!" Johan replies.
"No," Johan replied, pushing the gate open. "Oneiros is a Groken word which means'Sleep Magician. Their inherent ability is sleep Mana. I think that creature... he was a Skinwalker."
"That means multiple races are using their powers to harm humans." Her face grew pale as the realisation hit her. "Wait! I guess Skinwalkers are from the World of Life."
"That means many races from other worlds are working together for something," Johan said grimly, locking the gate behind them. "For Satrin."
"Don't say that name ever in the home!" Jennifer snapped, shuddering visibly. "Go take a bath with holy water immediately."
Johan looked at her with amusement. "Since when do you believe in that? Did you get these superstitions from Scarlett?"
"Shut up, or I will immerse you in the Blood River ", Jennifer warned him.
"At least that breaks my sleep, Aaaah..." Johan is tired and yawns.
Johan enters his room and jumps into bed. "Aaaa… Heavenly."
"Have you changed your suit?" Jennifer asks.
"I threw it away because it was torn and there was blood on it.", Johan replies.
"Okay, may I use your bathroom. I can't go to my room. Because kids can see me like that. They will be scared by seeing blood on that. Even Joseph will know we went there. I will also dump my suit outside," Jennifer says.
"Yes! Yes!" Johan allows her.
Just as Jennifer turned to leave the room, Johan's voice stopped her."What happened with Anni… it is all because the Lord of Knowledge is gone."
Jennifer froze, her hand hovering over the doorknob. She turned back slowly. "H-how? Why do you say that?"
Johan stared at the ceiling, his eyes dark. "Most of the races from the Knowledge World despise humans. The Lord of Knowledge was the only one holding them back, the only one who saved humanity from them. But yet… he is also the one who destroyed the other two worlds."
"Don't speak of him like that," Jennifer said, her voice trembling with disappointment and hurt. "He is our brother. Now he is Joseph, not the Lord of Knowledge."
"Yes, you are right, he will still be Joseph, our little brother. He will always be our brother. Mother gives him a new life to change," Johan says, his eyes closing with the weight of that hope.
On the nearby stairs, Joseph stands, concealed in the shadows. He has listened to everything. He is shocked.
"What am I?" Joseph asks in his mind.