"Well, I think it's time we give it a shot, what do you think?" Hathor asked, while she helped straighten up Shurry's vest. I do think it's possible to have some effect now.
"Mother, how long has she had that injury?" He asked, putting his status sheet away in the triple heavy duty safe lock box.
"A very long time-"
"If you say it's been a very long time, that means a lot. I don't know if I can heal her, but I can try…" He said, then before an answer… He spoke again. "Why didn't you let me kill him? What's the real reason?"
"That… I don't want to see you hunted down in heaven. Gods can hold grudges, so you must be absolutely certain before you commit to something like that. I know you've seen Kali kill Resheph, however, it's very different for you. She as a goddess has the power to back up her actions, you do not." She explained. "Simply put, I do not wish for you to carry such a heavy burden. And I certainly don't want to see you get cursed by an angry god."
"So, as long as there's an orichalcum clad reason behind it. Fine, I'll try to hold my temper, even if he is a cowardly piece of garbage. Damn demon."
"Pfft, he does come off that way. He didn't act this way while in heaven. Something's changed, or maybe he's just accepting something bad, so he can achieve the goal he'd have."
"Like what? Kill more people?"
"Exactly. He's a god of death, they're meant to manage the judgement of souls, and send them through the reincarnation process with a fresh slate." … Hmm, that really could be his goal. That pathetic idiot, I wonder if Shurry can figure it out… Seems like he did, just now.
"That proves it, how could he be a god with a rotted brain like that?" Shurry's jaw clenched with anger. "Is there a limited number of souls, or something?"
"No, all souls are created from the infinite chaos. There is no reason to assume there is a limit, as infinite means just that, limitless. Even compared to us gods, of infinite power, even we are nothing more than a pebble compared to it."
"No! You're more than a pebble! You're mother!"
"Alright, let's get going on our little walk, the others will be safer if we aren't around." Hathor giggled, and put her mask back on.
The two left the house, Shurry making sure to give the guards a little healing beforehand. Down the street, they walked holding hands, mother & son. Hathor seemed to be getting a lot more attention lately, something about her new status, but mostly the cute son she was seen with.
"If this keeps up, I might actually manage to make that reverse harem." She said with a teasing giggle.
"Humph, not like I care. But they have to be dad material, or I'm not calling them that."
"Alright, alright. That heavily limits my options." She sighed.
Each place they went, was checked for the scent of evil, Shurry finding none in any of their familia's businesses. And just like the many times before, Shurry would be treated to a bunch of different things. He learned performance schedules, all the best places for fun in the city, and even got a vip spot for each of the venues. Eventually, they reached Hephaestus familia's shop, specifically arriving for their scheduled meeting with Hephaestus herself.
There she stood, the foremost forge master gazing out the window with her one eye trained on the forging district. Her familia's new captain standing beside her, curious what this hasty meeting was all about, when She noticed the old crinkled mission in Shurry's hands. But she noticed something else, something that terrified her to her core for a moment, even forgetting to breathe.
"Hathor, this better be important, I'm quite busy these days." She sighed, then her eye trained on the boy. "What's your reason for coming here with a level 6… Wait, level 6?"
"I knew it! How'd you do it Moon Pup?"
"Huh? Wait, they can tell my level just by looking at me?"
"Once you reach level 6 it becomes really hard to contain the pressure you give off. So much so, I feel like we need to rewrite the different classes of adventurers. Level 6 should be the minimum for being a 1st class. Anyway, let's get to the reason why we're here. Hephaestus, I want you to remove that patch so my son can try healing it. He just got Healing Power, on top of his other abilities." She stood there proudly.
Hephaestus let out a long sigh, and slumped into her chair. "You know there's been many others who've tried. Even the ridiculous healers of their familias couldn't pull it off. Besides…" She took an overly dramatically long pause looking at the seemingly excited Shurry. "It's not exactly a kind sight to see. It's disgusting, and grotesque. Not something a child-"
"Oh yeah! Is it worse than seeing your big brother cleave in two!" Shurry yelled back, borderline to tears.
Shit… That's right, the official story the guild put out wasn't true in the slightest… She sighed, and slowly removed her eye patch, revealing the horrid injury.
Shurry was stunned, and then made an expression that truly shocked Hephaestus.
"It's really bad, I know. I shouldn't have shown you."
Shurry's eyes narrowed, making a face like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, and hearing. Then he face palmed, and finished with a certain straight faced expression. "Are you serious? That's nothing. Why's this so hard to heal?" He jumped up and sat on the desk, looking at the injury real closely. "Oh, that's why it couldn't be healed. Your Arcanum was preventing it, Slow changes like healing are completely suppressed. Huh, Seems even under a seal it's still crazy strong. Let's try it anyway."
Shurry smirked, and began glowing.
"Is that, Afterglow?"
"Yes, it's not a boost to attacks, it's a boost to everything. With this, my new development ability, and my base healing ability, coupled with my magic power, this is a highly concentrated level 9 spell, making it much closer to 10, than 9. If this doesn't make it budge at all, then there really is almost no hope of healing it."
"A healing spell that high?"
"I probably could have saved my big brother had I been close enough to heal the injury as it happened. But, if I was that close, he wouldn't have been killed by that ugly oversized boar."
And then…