Chapter 102: The Man Who Couldn’t Save Everyone

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: The Man Who Couldn’t Save Everyone

Felix had never liked long meetings, and he liked them even less when they went on for hours, had dozens of leaders arguing about problems they didn’t understand, and finished with massive piles of paperwork.

Unfortunately, the Continental Association wanted to do all three in a single afternoon.

By the time he walked out of headquarters, the sun was dropping behind the tall buildings. The drive to the airport was totally quiet. For once, he didn’t feel like joking around.

He leaned against the seat, shut his eyes, and let his body go limp. His energy had recovered a lot since yesterday, but the deep tiredness was still there.

Healing more than a hundred badly hurt hunters in one afternoon had drained something out of him that a quick nap couldn’t fix. It wasn’t because his body was weak. His new S-rank physique was much stronger now, and his mana pool was far bigger than before his breakthrough.

Healing wasn’t just dumping magic on a cut until it sealed. He had to look at dozens of broken bodies at once, figure out who could be saved and who was already gone, hold shattered organs together, and spread his mana thin enough to keep everyone breathing at the exact same time. Even with his healing field covering entire hospital rooms, it took everything he had.

And people still died anyway.

He opened his eyes, and a painful memory popped right back up: a young hunter crying on his knees beside his captain’s body, blood soaking right through his armor.

*Please, he’s an A-rank, he’s strong, he promised he would come back.*

Felix remembered how desperate that kid’s voice sounded. He remembered checking the captain for even a tiny spark of life and finding nothing.

The man had kept one promise, he threw himself between his squad and the beast, and broken the other one, the promise he made to his daughter.

Felix had regrown missing arms. He had fixed ruined organs that normal doctors had given up on. He had pulled people back from the very edge of death.

But he couldn’t bring back the dead. No amount of magic could change that, no matter how strong his healing became.

He looked down at his own palms. They were clean, completely ordinary, without a single scratch on them.

He let out a long, quiet breath.

He couldn’t let it break him, though. He took this job knowing he couldn’t save every single person. If he let every loss eat away at his mind, he would become too scared of failing to do the job at all. That wasn’t an option. He could mourn. He could remember their faces. But he had to keep moving forward.

---

By the time he got back to his city, the sky was completely dark. He unlocked his apartment door, took off his official ID card, loosened his shirt collar, and stood in the quiet hallway for a second.

Total silence.

"Finally," he muttered, letting out a big sigh.

He opened the fridge, took one look at the empty shelves, and shut the door again.

"Takeout it is." He ordered some simple food on his phone, put on a comfortable black shirt and loose sweatpants, and flopped straight onto the sofa.

His phone vibrated.

*Aria.*

Aria: You made it back home, right? Tell me you’re in your apartment.

Felix: Home safe. Alive, mostly working, open to free food donations.

Aria: You spent yesterday saving dying hunters and today sitting in a massive meeting. Tell me you aren’t doing anything crazy tonight.

Felix: Actually, I was planning to fight a very dangerous enemy.

Aria: ??

Felix: My dinner. It might have broccoli in it.

Aria: I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.

Felix chuckled. That was his team leader, brave enough to stand right in front of an S-rank monster without flinching, but constantly worrying about her friends.

He texted her that he would rest and tossed the phone onto the cushion next to him, happy to enjoy the quiet room.

Then it started ringing. He figured it was Aria checking on him again.

The screen lit up:

*Seraphina.*

He swiped to answer. "Hey, Sera."

"Felix." Just his name, short and quiet, like she just wanted to make sure he was actually on the other end.

"I’m back home," he said easily, cutting off her interrogation before it could start. "Made it through the door ten minutes ago. Alive, entirely unhurt, and currently glued to my couch."

There was a short silence. "Are you completely sure you aren’t hurt?"

Felix tilted his head back against the cushion, casting a lazy glance down at his arms, chest, and legs. "Unless someone broke into my apartment, swapped my body while I blinked, and put it back in these exact clothes... yes, Sera. I’m fine."

"Felix." Her tone dipped half an octave, her classic warning note.

"Alright, alright," he chuckled softly. "No fractures, no burns, not a single scratch. My vitals are boringly stable. Satisfied, Captain?"

She paused again. "How much of your mana have you recovered?"

"That’s an oddly specific question."

?"You used way too much yesterday," she said, her voice turning softer. "You healed three people in critical condition without resting. You once told me that when your mana gets low, you stop feeling the pain until you finally rest. So tell me the truth."

Felix felt his smile soften. Hearing her sound this gentle was rare.

?"About forty percent," he admitted. "A good meal and some sleep will fix it."

"Have you eaten yet?"

?"I was going to order takeout."

?"No junk food. You need proper food with mana herbs."

Felix was just about to reply when his phone buzzed sharply in his hand. A second call popped up on the screen, beeping urgently over Seraphina’s voice.

?Felix pulled the screen away from his face and looked down.

?Incoming Call: *Liora Morven.*

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