Start-of-Semester Evaluation (4)
"Guh...! That hurts like hell!"
I managed to grapple both of Charlotte’s arms, pinning them one to each side. With her limbs locked down, she thrashed frantically, trying to wrench herself free from my grip. Up until then, I had thought I could just hold out like this.
However, as if realizing physical brute force was futile, she began discharging her raw mana indiscriminately. Because of that, my entire body took the brunt of her mana gale—a tempest of razor-sharp wind. My uniform shredded as it was pushed far past its limit of defense, and the skin beneath was abraded, torn, and flayed open. Crimson blood welled from the deep lacerations, weeping through the carved flesh under the onslaught of slicing mana.
Even so, I didn't let go of her arms.
—Grrrr...!
"You want me to let go? Not a chance. I’m not particularly fond of dying either... and running away now would mean my death anyway."
Even as my skin was shredded and blood spilled from every cut, all I could do was endure. The second I released my grip, my battered body would lose the strength to resist, and I would surrender my heart to her claws. And even if a miracle occurred and she ignored me, the outcome would be no different. If Charlotte lost complete control, harmed others, and rampaged across the training grounds, the inevitable result would be a crippling blow to the Principality's forces and the summary execution of a Team Tembris member who had become a murderer.
‘Still... what the hell do I do?’
Enduring like this indefinitely was impossible. How on earth was I supposed to replenish her completely drained mana? There was a hard limit to how long my body could hold out, and according to my estimates, it would still take quite a while for Goden’s party to arrive. Knocking her unconscious and feeding her an elixir brewed from mana grass—just as Goden had done in the past—would be ideal. The problem was, I had neither the herb nor the means to brew it right now.
‘Another way... there has to be another way...’
Inevitably, my mind drifted back to the circumstances of that previous timeline. Normally, Charlotte would have already persuaded the other four to take me along, and we would have been exterminating the giant rats together as a team. Then, after breaking away from that abusive squad, Charlotte and I would have crossed paths with Goden and caught his eye. Calculating the timeline, that entire sequence had taken at least thirty minutes. That meant it would take Noel and John at least another twenty minutes just to fetch Goden and bring him here.
—Krrr, krrrrrk!
The howling storm of mana was making my vision swim. A creeping chill began to seep into my bones, and oddly enough, the searing pain seemed to dull.
"Fuck... Forget twenty minutes, I won't even last five at this rate...!"
If there was no ready answer, I had to rack my brain until I found one. Giving up meant handing my heart to Charlotte on a silver platter. If I didn't want this mana-blinded girl to commit murder, and if I didn't want to be the corpse she made, I had to grit my teeth against the razor storm and think. That was the only path to survival for the man about to die five minutes from now.
All right. What did Charlotte actually need right now? She needed mana, but forcing raw, murky demonic energy from the atmosphere into her would be fatal. What she required was pure, refined mana—stripped of impurities, clean enough to jump-start a human brain.
—‘It’s possible through human skin as well. That is why I seized your wrist, is it not?’
Speaking of mana, a piece of advice I had received during my sparring session with Professor Muniher flashed through my mind.
‘If that’s the case, then even I...!’
It was possible. Raw mana drawn into a living body and distilled into pure energy. Human mana was, without question, refined.
‘Next... the method of injection...’
If I could channel mana into her by any means necessary, I could halt the rampage of this maddened beast. She needed clean, refined mana created by a living body that had processed the ambient energy of the continent. The orthodox method was to have the patient ingest liquid mana down their esophagus. Alternatively, an individual with a matching mana signature could inject it directly to avoid rejection and backlash. Right now, however, there was no luxury to deliberate over orthodoxy or safety. I just needed to force it inside her.
—Kyaark?!
The moment I pushed a sliver of mana into her along the channels I had recently learned, Charlotte’s internal circulation hitched. Her frantic resistance momentarily waned.
"You might feel a little dizzy, but seeing as I have to drop my Mana Shield to do this, we're even. Got it?"
It was working. The single anti-personnel tactic at my disposal actually worked. Asking Professor Muniher for guidance had truly been a stroke of sheer genius.
—‘Human skin possesses sensory nerves, does it not? Mana has similar pathways. If I inject my mana into your skin, the flow naturally moves in the correct direction.’
—‘Then... you essentially avoided my attack by injecting your own mana into me and aligning our flows?’
—‘Precisely. Medical practitioners even use this principle, channeling mana through the skin to treat the mortally wounded.’
—‘However, it requires exquisite mana control. Unless the mana signatures are nearly identical, the patient suffers excruciating pain. Though when a life hangs in the balance, one must endure it.’
Anti-Cast.
It was what I had practiced time and time again. Perhaps it was because I was an incompetent failure who couldn't even master proper spells that this was all I had. Yet right now, I didn't regret learning it for a single second.
"It’s true that things ended horribly between us in that party... but I never once wished for any of you to die."
Even knowing Charlotte couldn't hear me, I threw the words out into the tempest anyway.
"So... bear with it, even if it hurts like hell. Charlotte."
I only prayed that our youngest, the little girl who had longed so desperately to become an adult, would suffer just a little less.
—Kyaaaaah!
It was quiet. Charlotte felt as if she were trapped in a pitch-black void where no one else existed. A suffocating terror crept in; she felt that if she didn't maintain conscious effort, her thoughts would snap, her breathing and pulse would fade, and the very rhythm of her life would cease. Yet, in this silent abyss, Charlotte had no desire to leave. For bizarrely enough, the lingering urge to drool at the sight of a human—to rip open his chest and feast upon his beating heart—still clung to her mind.
At first, there had only been rage. She had wanted nothing more than to butcher those four giant rats on the spot, but the prolonged battle had drained her mana dry. She had known better than anyone that if she fell here, none of them would make it out alive. That was why she had been forced to wring out every last drop of mana she didn't possess. It must have been then. The moment her towering fury abruptly evaporated and her body slipped from her control. After freezing the four rats with every ounce of strength left in her, her mind had plunged into total blackness, swallowing every thought whole.
Her limbs had ceased obeying her will. Even so, the fleeting image of that final moment remained etched in her mind. She had craved sustenance. She had hungered desperately for mana to fill her hollow core. With a ghastly, contemptuous gaze that saw a living person merely as livestock—as mere cattle to be consumed—she had targeted the very man who came to rescue her.
Then, slowly, her memories had begun to sever, snapping like brittle film. Ever since arriving in this dark void, it was as though her mind had been hollowed out. All she could do was yearn for mana. From that instant, she went blind to the world.
There was the metallic tang of blood. Somewhere, she had torn out and devoured a heart. Raw mana had tasted exquisite. But it wasn't enough. In the direction of another scent of blood, there lay prey that promised to taste infinitely sweeter. What flavor would burst across her tongue if she ripped open that chest and chewed on his heart?
Her body was already moving. Time and time again she lunged, but her prey proved maddeningly resilient. Yet she threw herself forward relentlessly, already intoxicated beyond reason by the scent of mana radiating from him—the most delectable feast imaginable.
—It’s true that... but I never once... for any of you...
That voice...?
"So... bear with it, even if it hurts like hell. Charlotte."
...
......
.........
No...! Not him...! Anyone but him...!
As her submerged consciousness grasped something from the dark, her mind began pushing back against the ravenous appetite consuming her flesh. Through the narrow breach she managed to carve out, something resembling a silky fluid seeped in through both of her wrists. Wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, chest. And once it poured into her heart, the stifling blockage that had choked her was swept away with a single exhale. Basked in a crisp, soothing warmth, her mind cleared as if a heavy fog had lifted.
Simultaneously, the most jarring, incongruous memories began to resurface.
—‘The others might accept you, but I never will, Sunbae.’
—‘Why are you still lingering in this party when you’re completely useless? You’re doing nothing but holding everyone back!’
—‘It’s your fault... It was all because of you!! This entire party was dragged down and destroyed because of one incompetent dead weight like you!!!’
Words she had never spoken in her life—yet right now, those were the only memories Charlotte could recall. And from within her trance, she parted her trembling lips.
"N-no..."
Why not? You're starving. All you have to do is eat.
"No... I’m not hungry... I’m...!"
Liar. If you're not hungry, why are you in so much agony? Just eat, and you'll be happy. You'll go on living. Don't fight the natural order. Eat him. You must devour that man...
"Ah...?"
In that instant, Charlotte felt the sickening sensation of warm liquid splashing across her skin. Was that the smell of what had spilled over her? The distinct, coppery stench of fresh blood filled her nostrils.
"Hey... I’m in no condition to use magic right now. How could you throw something like that at me...?"
Hearing the man’s hoarse voice once more, the memories that had been engulfed by madness steadily returned. Immediately after, pure, gentle mana entered through her skin, tracing her choked conduits and circulating throughout her entire body. As the volume of mana coursing through her circuits swelled, control over her limbs slowly returned. At last, once she was filled with clean, untainted energy, the murky haze that had clouded Charlotte's eyes dissolved, restoring their crystal clarity.
"God... it hurts like hell..."
Contrary to the man’s breathless groan of agony, Charlotte had not felt the slightest twinge of pain while his mana was flowing into her. Emerging from the darkness, Charlotte’s eyes fixed upon the blood-drenched, swaying figure before her.
Thud.
"..."
The man whose hands had gripped her wrists collapsed limply. Snapping back to her senses, Charlotte fell to her knees and gently caught him in her arms. Seeing Junon lying there, eyes closed and covered in gore, she tremblingly brought a bloodstained hand to his nose. A faint tickle brushed against her crimson-smeared fingers. Faint as it was, his breath had not stopped. Pressing herself close, she felt the stubborn, frantic beating of his heart against her shoulder. His heart had not given up; it was still pumping life through his veins.
The breath that had caught tight in the young girl’s throat finally tore free in a shuddering gasp.
"Thank goodness... Oh, thank goodness..."
He was alive. The man who had shielded her from the demonic beast. The man who had held her down when she lost control of her own power in her desperate fight against the monsters. The man who had finally brought a wild beast back into humanity.
Junon. I'm so glad... so glad you're alive.
Choking out his name, Charlotte carefully rested his battered head in her lap. Yet his body was anything but comfortable. The warm, sticky fluid drenching him on all sides distressed her to no end.
"The blood... there's so much blood..."
She pulled out a handkerchief and tried frantically to dab away the blood, but the wounds crisscrossing his body were far too numerous; the cloth was soaked crimson in an instant. No matter how desperately she pressed the soaked fabric against Junon's wounds, it only smeared the red wider. Even though Charlotte had never witnessed a person's death with her own eyes, she knew all too well that if left like this, his life would slip away.
"Stop... Please just stop bleeding..."
Praying that the gashes covering this battered man would tear open no further. Praying that the crimson tide draining from his flesh would stem. Praying that the gentle warmth of the man who had saved her would not turn cold alongside his spilled blood.
"Someone... please help..."
She pleaded for someone, anyone, to come. And her plea was answered not long after.
"Over here! This way!!"
"There they are! She went completely wild earlier, it was insane—huh?"
Noel and John arrived in the nick of time, leading the rescue party right to the scene.
"Please... I'm begging you, please save him...!"
There lay Junon, bleeding from countless lacerations until his original skin color was nearly unrecognizable—and beside him sat Charlotte, drenched in his blood, tears pouring down her cheeks like rain as she desperately begged them to save his life.
Thus, the Joint Practical Training drew to an end, with the two rescued and tended to by the members of the newly forming party. There were no fatalities. Once five minutes had elapsed, the screams echoing throughout the testing grounds subsided. While there were numerous injuries, not a single student hovered on the brink of death.
With the exception of one solitary man.