Fantasy Assassin in a modern world

Chapter 134: Oath to the heavens

At first, Michael was able to control the thing contaminating Mollie Fletcher but as time went by he found out that his mana was being drained too fast. Michael couldn’t allow himself to lose any more mana as he needed a bit of it to make the potion that could cure Mollie Fletcher. Still, if he stopped inserting his mana into Mollie, things might turn from bad to worse real fast.

‘Any ideas?’ Unable to think of any solutions to his problem Michael turned to the only being that he knew could help. The voice of the Spirit of the Akashic Records responded in his mind.

‘Hmm, this will be a gamble. Normally I would suggest simply drinking mana potions to restore whatever mana you lost, but that’s not an option at the moment. If that guy was here he could have shared his mana with you, but seeing as he isn’t here that’s also out.’

‘How about you stop listing the things that I can’t do and tell me what I can do!’

‘Fine, there’s only one thing you could do right now, and like I said at the beginning it’s to take a gamble.’

‘What kind of gamble?’

‘You need to stop using your mana and concentrate on restoring a bit of it. So that when the people you sent out bring the things you need, you can properly make the potion.’

.....

‘Then what about Larry’s mother?’

‘That’s what the gamble is, you need to hope that she can last long enough for you to make that potion of hers.’

‘Is there no other way?’

‘None that my current self knows of. So you either use up your mana now and hope that you have enough to make that potion, or you save it and hope that she can last long enough for you to make that potion.’

‘... This isn’t my decision to make...’

Michael stopped using his mana on Mollie, he then looked at the worried Larry. Seeing the expression on Michael’s face Larry became even more anxious.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Larry I’ll be honest with you. Currently, whatever drug was injected into your mother is spreading faster and faster. Based on what I sensed it’s only a matter of time before the virus inside her will be incurable with the means I have. The mother you know and love will become nothing more than an empty husk at that point.”

Larry stumbled towards Michael and grabbed hold of the other’s hands. Larry’s look of desperation was heartbreaking to see.

“Are you saying that you can’t help?! That there’s no way to save my mother?! Please, I’ll give anything, please just save her.” Larry’s eyes were getting redder as tears came down his face.

“I’m not going to lie to comfort you. Right now your mother is in a very precarious position. So I’m giving you a choice. The thing I was doing a while ago was stopping the spread of the virus inside your mother.”

“Then you should continue doing that!”

“Calm down and listen. If I continue doing that, I may stop the virus from spreading momentarily but once the materials to create the medicine arrive I might not have enough energy to make it. On the other hand, if I preserve my energy your mother might not be able to hold on until I make the medicine. So I want you to think this through, do you want me to gamble to see if my energy will last until I make the medicine, or will you gamble to see if your mother can endure by herself until I make the medicine?”

Hearing what Michael had to say, Larry looked at his mother who was sleeping soundly on the sofa sits. She didn’t look like she was hurting, but Larry knew the truth. Larry approached his unconscious mother and held her hand. After a while, he whispered something in her ear and stood up and looked at Michael.

“Alright, I decided. Please preserve your energy and quickly make the medicine. My mother is a fighter, I know she can hold on until you can make that medicine.”

“Okay then, Shin can you contact your people and tell them to find those ingredients faster.”

Shin took out his phone and sent a message to all his men. Michael then went into the kitchen to make preparations. He looked around and got the biggest pot he could find and started cleaning it. He got out all the items he would need and started cleaning those as well.

While Michael was busying himself, Shin went out of the restaurant as for some reason watching Larry and his mother made him feel something weird. On the other hand, Larry was holding his mother’s hand trying to stay strong.

“Mom, please don’t you dare give up on me. You never gave up, even when your parents turn their back on you, even when dad died, even when you lost your job, even when you struggled to raise me, you never gave up. So you don’t you give up now, you’ve got to fight this, I still need you. I need you to be there when I graduate, I need you to be there when I find my first job, I need you to be there when I get married and have children. I need you to be there so I can repay everything you have done for me, so please don’t give up.”

Larry’s hands trembled as he spoke his heart out. The more he spoke, the more he felt his bravery increasing. He needed to be strong not just for his mother, but for himself as well. As he continued to encourage himself and his unconscious mother, Shin’s men finally arrived.

“Bring everything to the kitchen,” Michael shouted within the kitchen. Shin’s men moved in an orderly manner as they placed every ingredient in the list on the table. Shin also entered the kitchen curious as to how Michael was going to create this so called medicine.

“Alright, you can all leave now, this next step is the most crucial and I don’t want any of you to stay here and ruin my concentration.”

Shin’s men did not say a word as they left the kitchen, Shin on the other hand remained.

“That includes you, Shin.”

“I was the one who paid for all the materials in this kitchen so I should at least see what you do with the things I bought.”

Seeing Shin’s expression Michael sighed as he nodded his head.

“... Fine, but I need you to promise me that you wouldn’t tell another soul what you see here... No, I want you to vow on your pride that you would never speak of what you see here to anyone else.”

Shin stared at Michael’s face and saw a very firm expression. This was the first time he has ever seen Michael show such an expression.

“It’s that serious... Alright, I vow on my pride, honor, and to the very heavens that I will not speak a word of what I will witness today, and if I break my vow may my body and my soul shatter.”

Shin spoke while using his inner energy and thunder could be heard in the distance. This was the oath to the heavens that no martial artist would say lightly as it truly placed a sort of restriction on the person who made the oath. Even the government wouldn’t force a person to take this oath lightly, as the moment you break your vow, you will die body and soul. During the war against the Empire, this was used against enemy martial artists, but at the end of the war, this method was deemed inhumane and was considered a crime to force anyone in using it. Michael who knew what this represented was stunned.

“... Shin, I just wanted you to make a promise you did not need to say the oath to the heavens.” Hearing what Michael said Shin simply shrugged his shoulders as he responded.

“It doesn’t really matter as I will never break my promise anyway. So how about you do what you need to do. You did say that Larry’s mother doesn’t have that much time.”

Michael nodded his head and no longer said anything as he started making the potion.