Earlier…

As a proper wife Ezraphel should be with her husband at this time especially since she knew of the illness his sister was diagnosed with. Cancers are unfortunately among the illnesses that earth’s modern medicine has yet to find a cure for. To her credit she did stay with him for a not insignificant amount of time however eventually her Stanley dismissed her citing the want for him to be alone when his sibling wakes up. She should have put up more of a resistance even though she knew it wouldn’t have worked but it was the principle that mattered.

After reluctantly complying with his wishes rather than linger she opted to explore the hospital itself, under an invisibility and intangibility spell of course. At first it was out of mere curiosity without a specific goal in mind however it didn’t take particularly long for that to change as the experience was tainted by the reactions she felt through her empathic abilities once again. It was terrible but not completely as Ezraphel was also made to witness and experience the triumph of modern medicine.

It was one thing to watch or read about it on the internet but another entirely to see a life saving operation or witness the joy and jubilation of someone being cured of sickness. But as much as she admired the wonders of modern medicine and reveled in its triumph over injuries and illnesses that, without the aid of magic, would serve as a death sentence to humans in her home dimension she realized very soon that even that has its limitations.

Her discovery of the morgue and the ‘terminal wards’ later on told her as much. Therefore after much internal ponderings Ezraphel decided to, just this once (but not really), get into the action so to speak. She may not have been willing to join the Medical Sabbath to receive their teachings however there are other healers who were very much willing to teach a Makai Princess. As such while Ezraphel lacked many accomplishments in the field she is a certified healer.

Of course by earth standards she would be woefully unqualified by virtue of her lack of knowledge on the minutiae of modern medicine. Still she felt what knowledge she did possess not to mention her magic would be able to bridge the gap of her ignorance. Admittedly such thoughts started out as wishful thinking and optimism on her part but actually turned out to be true after a fashion.

Pharmacomancy didn’t just develop spells to cure ailments but to also diagnose and gleam intuitive understanding of the patient’s mind and body. In essence it meant that Ezraphel didn’t really need to understand the many technical medical jargons to figure out what was wrong with a patient. Her spells literally made light work of knowing what was wrong with someone with a precision that is comparable or better than the myriad of machines. Though if she were being honest knowing what was wrong was not even half the issue she faced with a number of the more complex issues faced.

Ezraphel was very careful with how she lent her aid. As much as she wanted to help everyone to the absolute best of her abilities that would just draw unnecessary attention and worse alert her Stanley to what she was up to. She didn’t think he would have a problem with her using her abilities to help the doctors. No her Stanley was still leery of her meddling in other people’s business but he wasn’t so callous that he would prevent her from doing this. She just had to make sure that she didn’t make enough waves to alert the staff to what was going on.

By this logic Ezraphel should have been very particular with whom she aided but she ended up aiding damn near everyone she came across in one way or the other. Whether they were in surgeries or comas, had debilitating injuries, recovering from something or the other or just seemed generally depressed Ezraphel helped them. This aid also extended to the staff as well who seemed generally overworked and stressed out.

Ezraphel found herself frequently casting a spell used to alleviate anxiety and bring serenity to the heart. This resulted in a noticeable drop in the overall tension, staff irritability and anxiety. It’s amazing how a simple ‘Medical Healing’ spell could result in an overall positive experience for everyone. Magic truly is wonderful however while she made an overall positive impact Ezraphel made sure not to fall into the trap.

One of the things she learned whilst under medical apprenticeship was that for all that magic is powerful and wonderful it should not be treatment as a miracle cure-all. She saw firsthand that not everything can be cured with magic, even mamono magic. It takes a great deal of knowledge and skill to apply magic where it is needed otherwise it can actually make things worse. Ezraphel didn’t let the lack of mana on earth lull her into a false sense of security when applying her magical treatments. She was taught that due diligence was especially important when dealing with someone’s health.

Having someone’s life in your hand is not something that should ever be taken at face value and so she worked to the best of what her constraints allowed. Eventually her exploration brought her to two sections of the hospital that she had purposefully saved for last if only because she knew she would be more susceptible to distractions whilst exploring them.

The first section was the maternity ward which was occupied by women in various stages of pregnancy. Being in this place had several impacts on the Lilim such as bringing forth her imagination on the possibilities, rousing her impatience on the eventualities that would unfortunately be a while into the future and stirring up her jealousy to new heights. Regardless she aided the women who needed feeling both envious and genuine happiness for them. Luckily there weren’t many occupying the maternal ward and after she was done Ezraphel was sure that every single mother-to-be would have a healthy baby when it came.

The final ward of her exploration was the pediatric ward which provided the most issues for her because if seeing injured and ailing adults made Ezraphel uncomfortable then seeing children in the same position broke her heart. Things only became progressively worse when she found herself a room filled with children with terminal illnesses. It took a tremendous amount of effort for her to master herself calming her emotions and quelling her impulses.

She’d already learned before with their adult counterparts that this was one of the unfortunate instances where her medical magic and knowledge were not enough. Certain illnesses specifically cancers cannot be healed by conventional magical means. It sounds redundant but curing them without resorting corruption required extensive knowledge in Pharmacomancy plus experience in medical research and practice more advanced Ezraphel current capabilities.

Ezraphel knew her limits and unfortunately the medical field was more of a passing curiosity she ended up sticking with out of stubbornness than something she wanted to truly pursue. They would need a certified Medical Sabbath doctor or even Greilia Little herself to cure something like cancer. All she could do was offer a magical balm to their suffering where applicable. Eventually she moved on to the final section of her wanderings which was thankfully an overall lighter affair.

Present…

This was how Ezraphel found herself hovering in a room filled with the tiny, swaddled, loudly wailing or sleeping forms of newborn infants. If it wasn’t already obvious Ezraphel adored children beyond even her natural instincts and inclination towards child rearing. Looking at each and every one of those bundles she could imagine her and Stanley’s daughter lying down sleeping peacefully or wailing loudly.

‘But not here though’

Here as in the nursery she meant.

As a Mamono and on an individual level Ezraphel couldn’t fathom how a mother would allow herself to be separated from her recently born child. The Chief God herself couldn’t make Ezraphel separate from her newborn daughter but that’s just her. Generally speaking she understood the reasoning behind why a hospital nursery existed for newborns.

Unlike Mamono humans have complications before, during and after childbirth. Not just the mother but also the baby in some instances. She’s actually witnessed the latter with a baby being stuck inside some machine as a means of preserving its life. Of course Ezraphel used her magic to help it recover, she would be Dark God damned if she allowed a baby to suffer in her presence.

Even with those thoughts in mind and allowing herself to be immersed in ensuring that every infant has a clean bill of health her thoughts went back to the previous ward where those children were basically waiting to die. It rankled the Lilim something fierce that she couldn’t or rather wasn’t allowed to do anything about it beyond easing their pain.

‘Maybe Stanley could make an exception?’

The thought was dismissed as fast as it came because she knew well her Stanley while not nearly as cruel and selfish as he came off wouldn’t sacrifice their secrecy for strangers, even if they were innocent children. She was also very much aware that having a group of terminal children suddenly become healthy would draw much unneeded attention and the children have already been through enough without having to be scrutinized further.

Frustration didn’t even to begin to describe how Ezraphel felt right now. To be the most powerful being in the world, capable of creating miracles with but a wave of her hand yet constrained by her very nature and the rules set by a higher power so to speak. She could break said rules however the consequences would not be worth the short term gain.

‘Is this how mother felt?’

There are many who proclaim Lilith to have ascended to godhood. She hasn’t and has gone out of her way to condemn such notions. Unfortunately despite her best efforts the rumors of Lilith’s supposed godhood has taken root somewhat in the minds of mamono and for good reason. Over the course of her time as the Mamono Overlord Lilith has amassed more than enough power to challenge even the most powerful Gods. This was proven when she (with the help of her husband) repelled the Chief God herself following an attack by the deity centuries ago.

The attack itself came as a shock because the Gods have rules that prevent them from directly interfering in the mortal plane. Thing is these rules have exceptions and the exception that allowed the Chief God to launch her failed attack was the fact that Lilith’s power had broken through into the realm of godhood even if she lacked the spark of divinity. She’d become too powerful to be ignored and her movements are now being scrutinized by the gods themselves because of it.

It’s the reason why she chose not to take the field and instead use the Makai army and her daughters as proxies of her will to fight the Chief Gods own proxies in the Holy Order. Rather than risk inciting a confrontation with the Chief God and her divine allies which would result in death and destruction on a massive scale she opted to remain in the Royal Makai Realm instead, devising a means of inducing natural male birth in mamono which in Ezraphel’s opinion is the only thing preventing all the major mamono powers from really committing to ending the war.

‘So if I can’t break the rules, what could I do?’ she thought to herself.

She already had the answer to that.

Subvert the hell out of said rules.

Now how to go about that was something she would need to figure out…later. At the moment Ezraphel was acting as the beacon to a spell that saw a wave of calm gradually wash over the room filling the babies with content that had them drifting off into a calm slumber. As the last baby fell asleep the Lilim nodded to herself a job well done and just in time as she felt a sharp decline of her Stanley’s emotional state through their bond.

In the next instant she teleported to his location still invisible and saw him march into the men’s bathroom. Once again she resisted the urge to follow him inside and instead cast a spell to give him privacy while she waited. Once the coast was clear she dropped the concealment spells save for the one that kept her nondescript and her natural supernatural charm on tight leash.

The result only had people giving her second glances as opposed to gawking and ogling. She suspected the reason for this being that not a lot of beautiful women would be hanging out by the bathrooms for no reason. Luckily her Stanley did not take too long and as he stepped out he turned his head to the side to meet her gaze. While waiting she leaned her back against the wall with hands behind her back and feet crossed.

Upon meeting his eyes she spoke “you seemed like you needed the privacy.”

Her Stanley raised an eyebrow but ultimately nodded his appreciation before he walked off. She fell into step beside him a moment later and together the two walked back to Natalie’s room.

“Where have you been?”

“Here and there” she answered vaguely.

At this he sighed “what did you do?”

“…I aided the patients and staff” she answered.

“…” he said nothing but gave her a side eyed glance.

“I made sure to be subtle and used the non corruptive elements of my healing magic.”

He hummed at her words and Ezraphel thought that was it but then he added “good job.”

Her eyes widened a bit at the praise but before she could comment they arrived at his sister’s room.

“Stay out here for a bit until I call you in.”

“Okay.”

Then with a deep breath to, as he would say, ‘psyche himself up’ Stanley walked into the room leaving Ezraphel alone once more.