Fate To Fake: Loved by the Fallen; Fated to Kill the Divine
Chapter 81: You haven’t changed at all... Leo

Chapter 81: You haven’t changed at all... Leo

Leo stopped in front of a particular ICU room, his footsteps slowing until they came to a halt.

The fluorescent lights above flickered slightly, humming with that sterile, constant buzz that all hospitals seemed to have.

The hallway was silent, eerily so, with only the distant echoes of footsteps and the occasional muffled page over the intercom breaking the stillness.

His tired eye settled on the small, circular window embedded in the ICU door. The glass was slightly fogged from the difference in temperature between the icy hallway and the warmer interior, but it was just clear enough to glimpse the scene beyond.

Inside, under the dull yellow wash of ceiling lights, a figure lay still on the bed.

The body wrapped in thick, white gauze—looked more like a mummy than a living person.

Almost all of the skin was hidden, sealed beneath layers of sterile bandages. The few parts that were visible were swollen, bruised, and discolored.

Even the face was barely recognizable—deformed, caved in some places, misshapen in others.

Leo’s jaw clenched as his gaze lingered.

’Exactly the same... like the day I saw her a few days ago... no change at all.’

Behind him, Ophis tilted her head. She tugged slightly at Leo’s sleeve.

"Leo, what are you looking at?" she asked, her voice quiet but puzzled. She was too small to see through the window.

Leo didn’t answer immediately. He looked around the hallway first. There was no one nearby—no nurses, no visitors, no staff. The corridor was empty.

But then his eyes caught a tiny red light blinking from above—a surveillance camera.

He turned to Ophis and muttered lowly, "Can you do something about that camera?"

Ophis frowned slightly, following his gaze to the mounted device. With a small scoff, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The camera’s red light flickered violently, then dimmed completely, the mechanism shutting down in a faint mechanical whirr.

"There. It’s blind now," she said, brushing her fingers off like it was nothing.

Leo gave a slight nod before reaching into his coat and pulling out a plastic ID card. He pressed it against the card reader beside the ICU door.

Beep!

The lock clicked open with a mechanical groan, and the heavy door parted slowly.

Both of them stepped into the room.

Beep... beep... beep...

The steady rhythm of machines greeted them, each beep a soft reminder that life still clung to the fragile body on the bed. The room smelled faintly of antiseptic.

Wires extended from the woman’s chest, arms, and legs—dozens of them, maybe more. Tubes were inserted into her mouth and nose, helping her breathe. She looked like she was barely hanging on, as if one tug could unravel her entirely.

Leo stood beside the bed and stared at the woman.

Ophis stepped closer, her voice curious.

"Who is she?" she asked, tilting her head.

Leo paused. His lips parted, but no sound came at first. He seemed lost in thought. Then, he finally murmured under his breath,

"A stranger... but a good stranger."

Ophis blinked.

Without another word, Leo slipped his hand into his pocket again, this time retrieving something that shimmered slightly in the low light—a golden ruin stone. Intricate runes danced along its surface, pulsing faintly with stored power.

Ophis stepped back instinctively, watching him with alarm.

"Wait... Leo, you’re not seriously—"

But Leo didn’t hesitate. He placed the ruin stone gently on the woman’s chest and then, with deliberate force, crushed it under his palm.

Crack.

Golden light burst from the broken stone, flooding the room like sunlight after a storm. The golden glow wrapped around the woman’s body, seeping into her skin, into the bandages, into the flesh underneath.

Ophis shielded her eyes. "What the... Leo, are you insane?! Do you know how many people would kill for that?!"

Leo still didn’t answer. His gaze remained fixed on the woman as her body began to respond. Slowly, the blackened, dead-looking skin started to recede.

New skin, red and tender, grew in its place. The swollen tissues deflated. The bruises faded. Her chest rose more naturally, breath more stable. Her face—once a shattered mess—gradually molded back into something human.

Beep...

The heart monitor beeped once more, but now the rhythm was stronger, steadier.

On the monitor, healthy vitals now appeared, displaying numbers and graphs that any doctor would associate with a perfectly stable patient. But hidden behind the monitor was something far more subtle—an embedded camera.

It silently zoomed in, lens adjusting automatically as it focused directly on Leo.

.... Far away, deep within the hospital’s restricted wing, in a dark surveillance room filled with flickering monitors and mechanical humming, a video feed played in real-time.

Onscreen: Leo. Ophis. And the miraculous healing of the ICU patient.

A figure stood before the display, long hat hide their face. They remained silent, eyes narrowed as they watched every movement on the screen.

"You haven’t changed at all... Leo,"

The figure murmured, voice calm and nearly fond, like speaking of an old friend.

the figure watched as Leo, after seeing the janitor fully restored, turned and left the room. Ophis followed without a word. Neither of them looked back.

"Heh,"

The figure turned slowly, stepping toward a nearby workstation covered in glass tubes, ancient books, and metallic machines. The setup looked eerie—alchemical tools merged with modern tech. One of the machines slowly dripped with crimson.

Almost similar to Dracula.

Leo’s blood, still fresh, flowed into a filter, coursing through tubes and gears before being processed into... a thick, golden liquid.

It dripped slowly into a small vial. The liquid gleamed, radiant and almost divine—pure beyond reason, glowing so brightly it lit up the workstation in soft gold.

The figure glanced back at the monitor, which now showed the woman—the janitor—sleeping peacefully. Her breathing was slow and calm, like someone in the middle of a pleasant dream.

"Hm... I guess I’ll need to hide her for now. No one would believe it," the figure said, folding their arms. "Someone who was practically on death’s door... now perfectly fine? Especially Raphael... that woman would lose her mind."

The figure chuckled softly.

"You’re making me work a lot these days, Leo. Hah..."