Chapter 70: The Doctor’s Power *

The battlefield had fallen into an eerie, suffocating silence.

Heavy gray smoke drifted over the shattered southern wall, carrying the sharp, acrid scent of burned chitin and scorched blood.

Hundreds of Zerg bodies lay scattered across the churned mud, their thick black armor untouched while the internal energy sustaining their monstrosity had simply vanished.

Raviah stood in the middle of the devastation, her palms still faintly glowing with a translucent, pale light.

The luminescence slowly faded, leaving her skin looking ghost white against the backdrop of destruction. She looked down at her hands, where a fine, uncontrollable tremor ran through her fingers.

"What... am I?" she murmured under her breath.

She had spent months believing her Root was a standard Healing Root. It was the only logical assumption when her power first awakened, healing torn muscle, stabilizing failing circulation, and keeping dying soldiers anchored to life.

Yet what she had just unleashed across the southern breach was nothing like standard medicine.

Stepping forward, Raviah crouched beside the massive corpse of a fallen Zerg warrior. She extended two trembling fingers, pressing them firmly against the cold, glassy surface of its carapace.

Her Root surged outward, slipping past the hard shell and sinking deep into the creature’s internal biology.

Instantly, a complex mental map expanded inside her mind. She wasn’t just sensing flesh or dead cells. She felt the pathways linking its organs, nervous clusters, crystalline channels, and the hollow chamber where its Core rested.

She could feel every point where its biological systems had failed, but more importantly, she realized she could alter those pathways at will.

Raviah’s eyes widened as the sheer reality of her power settled into her chest.

"I can manipulate biological structures..." she whispered, a sudden chill creeping down her spine.

Her Root could repair human tissue, but it could also suppress lethal mutations or violently scramble the biological functions of hostile organisms.

Her eyes drifted toward the dark, twisted silhouette of the distant forest. If she could alter the biological flow of a Zerg, she could likely interfere with another human’s Root as well.

The sheer weight of that realization was terrifying.

Before she could process the thought further, her knees gave out. A sudden wave of dizziness hit her like a physical blow, and she barely caught herself against a jagged chunk of concrete.

The edges of her vision turned dark and grainy. Deep within her chest, the energy reservoir of her Core had dropped into a dangerous void, drained almost completely dry.

A single surge of this biological manipulation had consumed more energy than hours of ordinary surgical healing. If she pushed it any further right now, the backlash might permanently damage her Root.

"Raviah!"

Rhyder’s deep, authoritative voice cut through the heavy silence of the ruined defense line.

She forced her head up to see him striding through the fog. His dark military uniform was shredded along the sleeves, stained with slick black Zerg blood, but his dark eyes were locked on her.

"You’re done," he said, his voice leaving no room for argument as he closed the distance between them.

Raviah shook her head, forcing her uncooperative legs to straighten. "No."

"You’ve already used too much energy," he countered, stopping barely two feet away.

"There are still wounded soldiers near the breach," she insisted, gesturing vaguely toward the groans echoing near the wall.

"Your medics can handle them," Rhyder said coldly.

"Not all of them," Raviah argued, her jaw tightening. "Some of those injuries require specialized energy stabilization that basic first aid can’t touch."

Rhyder took another step, blocking her view of the ruined wall. "Raviah."

She tried to step around him, her gaze sweeping the field where several frontline defenders lay bleeding in the mud. "I can help them."

"You can barely stand," he said, his tone dropping an octave.

"I can still channel my Root," she snapped, taking a stubborn step forward.

"No," he said flatly. ℯ

A frustrated frown creased her brow as she met his sharp gaze. "You don’t get to decide that for me."

"I do when you’re about to destroy yourself in front of my division," he replied without flinching.

Raviah stood her ground, her posture stiffening despite the exhaustion dragging her down. "I am a doctor."

"And I’m the General responsible for keeping you alive," he shot back, his jaw setting hard.

For several long moments, neither of them moved, trapped in a silent contest of wills while smoke swirled around their boots.

A sudden, agonized cry from a fallen soldier broke the deadlock. Raviah reacted on instinct, turning toward the sound to rush forward.

Rhyder’s hand shot out, his calloused fingers locking firmly around her slender wrist. "Stop."

"Let go of me, Rhyder," she demanded, twisting her arm to break his grip.

"No," he grunted, holding fast.

"I said let go!" She pulled back with all the strength she had left, but her exhausted body gave her zero leverage.

Rhyder stepped into her space, closing the distance until she had no choice but to look up at him. "Your energy is dangerously low."

"I don’t care," she spat back, her pride flaring.

"I do," he said.

Raviah froze at the tone of his voice. The raw weight behind those two words caught in her throat, leaving her temporarily speechless.

His fingers tightened slightly around her wrist, warm and unyielding against her cold skin.

"You think I didn’t watch you out there?" Rhyder asked, his dark eyes searching her pale face. "Every single time you expanded that translucent field, your internal aura plummeted."

"It was a temporary strain," she countered defensively. "I can recover with a few hours of rest."

"Maybe," he allowed, glancing sideways at the corpse of the giant Zerg before looking back at her. "Or maybe if you keep forcing your Root past its limits, you destroy your Core permanently."

Raviah’s jaw clenched tightly. "There are people dying on this field!"

"And there is one person standing directly in front of me who is seconds away from collapsing," he replied, his voice deadly serious.

Before she could form another sentence to fight him, Rhyder moved. He yanked her wrist forward, stepping past her guard and wrapping a thick, muscle-bound arm securely around her waist.

With effortless, overwhelming force, he lifted her right off her feet, dragging her bodily away from the frontline toward the fortified command bunker.

"Rhyder!" she gasped, her hands instinctively grabbing his broad shoulders for leverage.

He ignored her outburst, keeping his steady stride through the debris.

"Put me down right now!" she demanded, hammering her fist uselessly against his armor.

"No," he said simply.

"I can walk on my own!"

"You weren’t walking," he noted dryly. "You were stumbling."

"I was fine!"

"You were shaking like a leaf," he retorted, his grip on her waist remaining ironclad.

Raviah opened her mouth to unleash another furious retort, but Rhyder suddenly pulled up short near a concrete barricade.

The abrupt halt threw her off balance, forcing her to plant both hands against the center of his chest to steady herself.

He set her feet back on the ground, but he didn’t release her waist. Her palm rested directly over the torn fabric of his vest, feeling the solid, unyielding heat of his body beneath the fabric.

They were suddenly standing inches apart, their faces so close she could see the flecks of amber in his dark eyes.

Neither of them moved.

The background noise of the post-battle chaos, the shouting officers, the crackle of burning supply crates, the distant alarms, seemed to mute into background hum.

Raviah could feel his breathing, heavy, steady, and warm against her forehead.

Rhyder stared down at her, his stern, command-focused expression softening into something unreadable and intense. For the first time since the siege began, the immovable General seemed at a loss for words.

Raviah’s fingers slowly curled into the fabric of his shirt, her own breath catching in her throat.

She had spent the last two hours immersed in absolute violence, listening to the roar of artillery, the shrieks of dying monsters, and the sickening tear of flesh.

Yet right now, standing in the shadow of the ruined wall, her senses narrowed down to a single sound.

A pulse.

Her pulse, hammering wildly against her ribs.

Her eyes widened slightly in realization.

Why is my heart racing like this?

It wasn’t the lingering adrenaline of the battle. It wasn’t the terrifying strain on her Root, nor was it the near-death experience of facing a swarm.

She looked up into Rhyder’s steady, protective gaze, feeling the absolute security of his arm holding her close.

In that quiet, suspended moment, the truth hit her with violent clarity.

Her body wasn’t reacting to the danger of the apocalypse around them.

It was reacting entirely to him.