Chapter 631: is there a fix?

"Did Rheanne tell you?"

Ravene’s forehead rested lightly against his shoulder for a second before she pulled back just enough to look at him properly.

"...What are you talking about?"

"I just want to run some tests. You’ve been gone five hundred years. Of course I’m curious about what changed. That’s all."

She leaned in and pressed another quick kiss to his lips, trying to steer the mood back to playful.

"Why would Rheanne need to tell me anything? I’m your wife. I can examine my own husband whenever I want."

Brandon kept looking at her, "Ravene."

She clicked her tongue and turned her face away slightly, still clinging to him.

"You’re being paranoid. I didn’t hear anything. Maybe you’re just imagining things because you’ve been carrying too many secrets lately."

Her fingers played with the hair at the back of his neck as she spoke, but the usual easy confidence in her voice had a thin crack in it.

Brandon sighed and gave her ass a light squeeze to make her look at him again.

"You’re a terrible liar when it actually matters."

Ravene’s lips pressed into a thin line. For a second she still tried to hold the bluff, then her shoulders dropped just a little.

"...Tch."

She pecked his lips and spoke "Fine. She told us. After you carried Camille upstairs."

She stayed quiet for a moment, then muttered under her breath, "...Your body is deteriorating."

"She said even becoming her Apostle didn’t stop it. The world consciousness rejected you when they tried to push you into Lesser Divinity. And whatever those experiments did to you back then... it’s finally catching up."

Her fingers curled tighter into the back of his shirt.

"I didn’t want to believe it. Your body’s always been ridiculous. I ran tests on you before and everything looked fine. But I am scared now... so letme run some tests, Kael."

Brandon exhaled slowly "So that’s why you dragged me here as soon as you can and even Charlotte let me come with you."

Ravene gave a small smile "Partly. The other part is that I really did want to climb you."

She leaned in and pressed a softer kiss to the corner of his mouth, staying there for a second before pulling back.

"But mostly... I need to see it for myself."

She finally unlocked her legs and slid down his body until her feet touched the floor.

Even then she didn’t step away. One hand stayed on his chest, "Shirt off. Sit on the table."

Brandon watched her face for a moment longer, then reached up and pulled the rest of his shirt off, tossing it onto a nearby chair.

He walked over to the examination table and sat down on the edge.

Ravene moved around the lab with quiet focus, activating the main scanning array and pulling out a few specialized tools.

She walked back over to him, stepped between his knees, and placed both hands on his bare chest.

Her palms were warm.

"I’m going to start with a full ether pathway scan," she said quietly.

"Then cellular integrity. Then we’ll see how bad the deterioration actually is."

Her thumbs brushed once over his skin "...Don’t joke about it right now, okay? Just let me work."

Brandon looked down at her and gave a small nod.

"Alright."

Ravene held his gaze for another second, then leaned in and pressed one more firm kiss to his lips before turning toward the controls.

"Good. Stay still."

Ravene moved to the main console and activated the primary array.

Soft blue light bloomed across the examination table as multiple rings of ether-sensitive projectors rose from the floor and ceiling, forming a loose cylinder around Brandon.

"Stay still. Full-spectrum scan starting now."

Thin streams of luminous particles drifted out from the rings and washed over Brandon’s bare torso.

Within seconds a large, high-resolution holographic projection of his body materialized in the air between them, rotating slowly.

The outer layer showed his physical form in clean anatomical detail.

Then Ravene flicked her fingers across the interface, and the hologram peeled open like layers of glass.

First the muscular and skeletal structure appeared, highlighted in soft white.

Everything looked dense and powerful.

Then the ether pathways lit up.

Hundreds of glowing channels spread through the projection like living circuits.

Ravene’s expression grew serious.

She zoomed in with a gesture.

The hologram expanded until only his torso filled the space.

Cellular structures appeared into view with clusters of adaptive cells regenerating at visible speed, knitting microscopic damage almost as soon as it appeared.

Yet beneath that constant repair, something else was happening.

Tiny black motes drifted between the cells, slowly increasing in number.

Wherever they gathered, the regeneration slowed, and the tissue took on a faintly brittle quality.

"...There," Ravene whispered.

She isolated one section near his heart and magnified it further.

The holographic cells enlarged until they were the size of fists.

The adaptive regeneration was still working, but each cycle left behind faint scar-like residues that the body couldn’t fully clear.

Over time those residues were stacking.

Brandon watched the display in silence with his elbows resting on his knees.

She stepped closer to the projection, one hand hovering near the flickering pathways around his heart.

"Your regeneration is still monstrous," she said quietly.

"That’s why you don’t feel it yet. The adaptive system is fighting constantly... but it’s fighting a war it’s slowly losing. The deterioration isn’t spreading fast. but every time your cells repair, they leave behind a little more instability."

She turned her head to look at him as the blue light of the hologram reflected in her eyes.

"Rheanne was right. This isn’t a normal injury or illness. This is... something else."

"Your body is decaying in the truest sense."

With a slow nod, Brandon woke up from the table and twisted his wrist a little, testing the joint.

He already expected this outcome.

He wasn’t idle during his time in the Divine Realm; he was also trying to find ways to get rid of this problem.

He even went to civilizations that are technologically more advanced than the current earth but found no cure.

’I am... not supposed to exist in the first place. I am a flaw in this world.’

’A man who was born by himself in a paradox where he is the reason for his own creation.’

’I wonder if that is why world consciousness is refusing to accept me as a Lesser Divinity. Because I am against the natural order of things?’

Ravene stumbled back a step and the chair behind her caught the back of her knees as she sat down hard.

"Damn it..." she muttered.

The holographic projection of his body continued to rotate slowly between them.

She stared at it, "I don’t... I don’t even know where to start with this."

"Your body is repairing itself and destroying itself at the same time."

Her hands clenched on her thighs.

"I thought if I could just see it clearly, I could find an angle and some weakness. But this..."

She shook her head. "This is structural. It’s written into you."

Tears gathered at the edges of her eyes and blurred the blue light of the hologram.

"I hate this," she whispered. "I finally get you back and now I have to watch you quietly fall apart? What am I supposed to do with that, Brandon? Tell me. What am I supposed to do?"

She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, but more tears kept coming.

"I’m supposed to be the genius here and fix things. And right now I don’t even know if a fix exists."

Brandon watched her for a moment. The blue light of the hologram still moved slowly between them, painting soft shadows across the lab.

He stepped down from the table and walked over.

Her shoulders were tense, and she kept wiping at her eyes.

He stopped in front of her chair and rested a hand on top of her head, gently patting her.

Ravene let out a short, frustrated breath.

She finally lifted her face, and her eyes were red at the edges "Do you even care? You look like you already accepted it."

Brandon’s hand slid down to her cheek, and his thumb brushed away a tear.

"I care. I just stopped expecting the world to make room for me a long time ago. That doesn’t mean I want to leave."

Ravene stared at him "Then don’t act so calm. It makes it harder."

He gave a faint smile "Would you rather I panic?"

"Yes," she muttered. "Just a little. So I don’t feel like the only one who’s scared."

Brandon crouched down in front of her "I’m scared."

"I just don’t show it. I’ve had five hundred years to get used to the idea that my existence is a problem."

Ravene’s hands came up and gripped the front of his pants, holding onto him.

"I’ll find something. Don’t worry... I’m not losing you to some decay."

Brandon stayed quiet for a second, then kissed her cheek.

He closed his eyes for a moment. ’This is why I didn’t want Rheanne to tell them everything. Now Rave will take this as a burden on her.’