Healing System-Chapter 266: The Price of Power

"Now why would I do that, she’s lying on my feet like a bug, why wouldn’t I crush her head?" Michael provoked, hovering his foot over the fallen woman’s head.

However, that only seemed to make Astraea angry, and at the same time, he kind of began regretting his actions a tiny bit.

After so long of not interacting with anyone, his idea of a joke might be a little... off.

But he did not need to wait for long to receive an answer when all of a sudden, a white sphere headed toward him.

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It seemed to be able to negate mana, or completely turn it off.

Just what he remembered from the Evangelists, who Rebecca was also a part of.

Of course, that mere orb was not able to do anything to him, as it merely passed through his body before being absorbed by his mana core, which, after a bit of deep thinking, Michael decided to begin calling it the God Core.

"Emily is not for your foot to rest upon, monster," Rebecca said, approaching from the shadows.

But that made him even more confused.

Why is everyone calling me a monster these days?

"Do you think I wouldn’t know if an Eldritch being approached? Huh? What do you want from us?" Rebecca stated, walking to Astraea, standing in front of her and seemingly shielding her away from Michael.

He felt a little hurt, considering she was unable to recognize him at first glance.

I mean... I didn’t change that much... The only thing that changed was my appearance, golden hair... golden eyes. Michael froze as he looked at the makeshift mirror he had made.

One eye was green, while the other was golden.

When did this happen...? he thought, concerned.

But it did not take him long to piece two and two together.

He absorbed mana like a sponge by merely being near it, and since he spent such a long time inside the eldritch realm, it was natural he had undergone some changes.

Strength-wise, he did not feel like he could use the Eldritch mana yet, but it was an interesting prospect.

"Listen, I’m not here to form a contract or anything, I’ve only come here to talk." Michael tried defusing the situation as he felt like his earlier stunt backfired a bit.

"Then talk," Rebecca shot back.

"I’ve come to check up on you two, it has been several years now, after all," Michael stated, a proud grin on his face.

As he stated that, he was half-expecting them to jump into his arms out of happiness to see him.

Since that alone, coupled with his voice and slightly changed appearance, was enough to give them an idea of who he was.

However, Rebecca merely tilted her head. "Am I supposed to, you know?" she turned toward Astraea. "Ring any bells?"

"It doesn’t," Astraea nodded in response.

And in the same instant, Michael froze.

After getting used to his eyes, he was able to tell when someone was lying and when someone was telling the truth.

In this case, he could tell neither of them knew what he was even talking about.

"I’m Michael, remember?" he stated. "Rebecca, you took me into the orphanage, and as for you, Astraea, we met in this same forest a couple of years ago."

"I don’t know what kind of tricks you are trying to pull, Eldritch monster, but impersonating someone who doesn’t exist is not very smart," Rebecca said, before walking closer. "I’ve never heard of a ’Michael’ existing, let alone in the orphanage. And trust me, I have great memory."

"I only met a kid who had been running away here. Orin is his name," Astraea explained.

Their memories of me... They disappeared? Michael thought, his heartbeat increasing rapidly.

None of what they had said were lies.

"Could I...-" Michael was about to stretch out his mana and try to check their brains.

However, Rebecca shot him down, severing the connection in an instant.

"I don’t know what you are trying to pull, monster, but we are not interested in your contracts." She narrowed her eyes. "So kindly, fuck off."

"..." Michael was speechless, glancing between the two women and expecting some kind of other response to come.

A joke, somehow they managed to avoid his Tier 17 self from detecting their lies.

But no such joke came, as the only thing he was met with was animosity.

"But... No, wait... Rebecca, Astraea, you don’t remember me... Not at all?" Michael approached, a look of despair on his face. "Rebecca, we met again when I freed you from the Evangelists’ control, don’t you remember that?"

"You are pretty informed," Rebecca raised her brow. "Their magic broke down due to the demons we have contracted with, mine just so happened to clear the mind control."

These memories... They were implanted into them...

But just as he thought that, another presence closed in.

It was a tad bit stronger than Rebecca, a Tier 12.

However, it was nonetheless extremely familiar, simply because it was Amanda.

She looked the same as usual, just this time more mature.

Added to the fact that she was also glaring at him with hatred, made him not want to be here anymore.

If everyone forgot about me... Then what about my father...? A look of horror appeared on Michael’s face.

"Please think about what I said, I am Michael, and we all met some time ago, think, for my sake and your sake as well," he informed, before vanishing and appearing on a faraway mountain.

Nonetheless, since he was on this peak, he decided to close his eyes and stretch out his mana to maximum capacity.

And after what felt like hours, he had finally found a green and blue planet several galaxies away—Earth.

It wasn’t as far as he had expected, but it was there, not destroyed and looking just as when he left it.

Nonetheless, Michael focused as hard as he could and used Sanctuary, before slowly traveling over to Earth.

It took almost the same amount of time as it did when he traveled from the training room, just this time, there were barely any restrictions.

Eventually, he arrived, overlooking the entire planet from space.

In the faraway distance, he also spotted the space shuttle, neatly floating around, and inside, a couple of people.

Just as he’d expected, they did not have mana.

Please... Please tell me he remembers me. Michael prayed in his heart as he floated down from the sky, his wings in full display.

He passed by a few planes, watching as the passengers took photos of him.

But Michael did not care. Why would he care?

Finally, he arrived above New York City, Manhattan, overlooking its liveliness as per usual.

He missed this sight, the normal life.

Yet here he was, floating above all of them like some sort of god while the humans took pictures of him.

Nonetheless, Michael slowly floated down and reached Times Square, seeing as the advertisements vividly flashed on each side.

But with that also came the distant sounds of sirens and all sorts of other emergency vehicles.

Military, police, ambulances, even the secret service had made their way over to him, as his wings seemingly covered half of the sky for these people.

"Y-You! Hands up!" One of the guards ran up to him and shouted.

He was holding a gun, and his hands were shaking greatly.

It was almost like, even if he wanted to, he could not pull the trigger.

"I-" Michael turned toward the guard and was about to speak.

However, what he received in turn was a bullet straight to the head, which, of course, did not even manage to reach his forehead before it melted into nothingness.

—God descended!

—Oh my god... Record this!

All sorts of panicked voices rang out, some of course, were of reverence.

But that was not on his mind.

Michael walked over to the guard and picked him up by the collar.

"It would do you best if you remained here quietly," Michael stated coldly, and as he did, the guard seemingly pissed himself.

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...Come on, my fucking shoes. Michael grumbled and gently tossed the guard into the crowd of people, who of course, did not attempt to catch him.

Nonetheless, Michael waited patiently, and after less than a minute, the big boys arrived.

Police and military, with all sorts of advanced technology were aimed at him, none of which was revealed to the outside world.

Rail guns, strange mech armor, and all of the stuff he’d expect to see in a fantasy world, which he already had of course.

However, he was not here to fight, therefore, he waited for a particular buff old man to approach and stretch out his hand.

"Welcome to our world."

Michael chuckled, accepting the handshake. "You’re a bit more accommodating than the guard over there."

"Apologies for his behavior... It’s not every day something like this happens," the old man grumbled, before pointing to a luxurious limousine that had arrived before them. "Please, could we talk elsewhere?"

Michael stared at him for a few moments in silence, causing the unease to grow further in the air.

But soon, he accepted.

"Sure."