Don't Touch Me
"Don't touch me."
Slowly opening my eyes, I let out a deep sigh at the sight of the familiar ceiling.
"Haa...."
After getting thoroughly thrashed on entrance ceremony day, even this ceiling was starting to wear on me. I'd seen it without fail across all six of my lives, yet this achromatic slab overhead still evoked no fondness whatsoever. Snapping back to my senses, I carefully propped myself up.
"Augh... my whole body aches."
"Count yourself lucky you didn't pass out for an entire day."
"!!"
Goosebumps erupted across my skin as I frantically reached for my side—but my hand sliced through empty air. With not a scrap of mana left in my mana force circuits, I had only one option remaining.
Whoooosh!
"Feisty, aren't you?"
"That's rich coming from the woman who hurled near-lethal magic at a student she'd just met."
"That's why I pulled it back to barely non-lethal, isn't it?"
By that logic, this fist of mine is non-lethal too, so no harm done, right? You crazy bitch.
"Is that meant to be a brag? If you're serious, I suggest you go see the empire's top doctor right now. Actually, since it's your head that's the problem, maybe beg the Magic Tower Lord to fix it with a spell?"
"No need. Whether it's the Magic Tower Lord or a doctor peering into my skull, no one could call it anything less than perfect."
Damn, it's been ages since we last talked, but that infuriating tone hasn't changed a bit. She had to be the personification of shamelessness. Otherwise, she wouldn't be so casually bragging right in front of the student she knocked out.
"So, to what do I owe the visit?"
"To give you a reward."
A reward? Honestly, ever since regressing, I'd blocked this principal's magic every single time. But her showing up personally to hand me one?
"That just makes me uneasy."
"Relax. Rewards are one-sided by nature anyway."
"Pardon?"
I wanted to ask what the hell that meant, but before I could, Skaya placed a finger on my chest.
"What the—"
"Hold still. It'll hurt for a moment, then it's over."
As Skaya's fingernail dug into my chest, I felt mana twitch and surge unbidden into my body. I desperately tried to swat her hand away, but—
"Guhk!!"
Skaya's signature silver mana had already invaded my body and mana force circuits.
"I'm not really sorry, but for formality's sake, I'll apologize anyway."
"What... the hell... are you—!"
"My mana's traits aren't well-known, but it's a bit... temperamental."
I already knew about Skaya's quirky mana from years ago. Normally, a mage had to reach the 5th circle for their unique mana to properly manifest at birth—but hers had been there from the start. She claimed not to know why, but after wielding unique mana myself, I understood clearly.
"You'll probably hurt like hell, but not enough to kill you."
Her mana's attribute was as twisted and overbearing as her warped heart and personality—pure, unrelenting dominance.
Bzzzzt!!!
As the unfamiliar mana invaded my mana force circuits, my body naturally rebelled, spewing its own mana in resistance.
"Quiet down."
But that defiance subsided at Skaya's single word. My mana force circuits and mana were utterly dominated by her will.
"Stop...!!"
"It's fine. This is a special reinforcement technique even the Magic Tower Lord can't pull off."
The Magic Tower Lord wouldn't do something this insane with someone's mana force circuits!!
What Skaya was doing was simple: using her unique Dominion mana to forcibly awaken every unopened mana force circuit throughout my body.
Normally, mana force circuits were part of one's physical aptitude. They didn't explode in capacity from some massage—they grew gradually, steadily.
"Gaaahhh!!!!"
"Relax. I'm layering healing magic too, so as long as you don't go into shock, you won't die."
Not even grand mages would open mana force circuits like this—it was madness. The gap between Skaya and me right now was so vast that my mana and circuits couldn't muster a single rebellion. In my past life, I'd clashed mana with hers experimentally and held my own somewhat, but I'd slacked on training since then. Now, resistance was impossible.
Is this how women feel after being raped by force...? My dignity was being trampled underfoot by Skaya.
"Tha... gahk!!!"
And the maddening part? I couldn't even scream properly. The pain accompanying her breaching of blocked circuits rivaled being hacked apart limb from limb. Hell, she was even finding mana force circuits I didn't know existed and dominating them forcibly. What the fuck was this?
I'd lived six lives and thought I knew every inch of my body's circuits, but apparently not from her perspective.
If you knew, you'd have warned me, you lunatic!!
"Your mana's better than expected... This could work...."
I had no idea what she was babbling about. The pain dulled my senses, consciousness sinking into oblivion. Damn it, my hearing was fading too—her words blurred.... I couldn't miss this, I'd regret it forever....
But the exhaustion from before and the fresh agony conspired, and I blacked out.
Yes. This goddamn principal had knocked out the student she'd already felled—less than ten minutes after he'd woken up.
"Life really is one big fantasy."
Having lived it so many times, there was never a dull moment. Mostly because of shitty reasons, which pissed me off to no end.
This time around, I just wanted a life sweet as strawberry cake, not bitter as coffee beans.
"Yeah, sweet cake and coffee are an inseparable combo anyway."
They say cake tastes even better after bitter coffee... so I'd endure.
Sitting up again, I realized this wasn't the infirmary I knew. Still, I'd blocked her properly enough. It felt like less than a day had passed, so escaping the infirmary in one day was progress.
Wonder who dragged me here. Skaya sure as hell didn't.
As I slowly raised my still-throbbing body, glorious sky-blue hair filled my vision.
Ah.
"Young master!!"
Right. That happened.
In past lives, Skaya always knocked me out, so this naturally followed.
"Are you alright?"
Lianne stared at me, eyes brimming with tears....
"Urk!!"
And nausea hit me.
The pain in my mana force circuits was nothing compared to the flood of memories churning my mind.
It was always like this. Whether my first time at the academy or when I lived for others instead of Lianne—she was always there beside the principal's victim. Always teary-eyed, gazing with mild reproach, asking warmly if I was okay.
I had fond memories of her treating and healing me every time....
But now, it was utterly repulsive.
"Young master?!"
As I dry-heaved, Lianne urgently reached for my back, stroking it like one would a baby's.
I wanted to shove her away. But I couldn't. The arm I'd overexerted blocking Skaya was limp as dead weight.
Don't. Don't touch me. Don't touch me with the hands that held another man's face, hands, back!
Memories resurfaced like a rusted blade being sharpened.
Lianne's cooking. The meals she'd prepared. The cleaning she'd done. The smiles she'd given me. The hands she'd held for others. Falling for another duke's patriarch and betraying me. Leaking info to ruin our house as she went to him.
"Ah... uwa... aaah!!!"
Rage—a fire I'd already unleashed once—whirled in my chest again.
The Lianne in my memories might differ from this one. Her actions varied with each changed life.
But my body, memories, soul—they all rejected her.
If not for Rain's request, I wouldn't be in this mess with Lianne. The thought wouldn't leave my head.
The face I'd once longed for now felt like watching an enemy thrive in glee.
Please... don't touch me!
"Do... n't... tou..."
"Pardon?"
Damn mouth wouldn't obey. Was it the pain? No, the lump in my throat from boiling fury wasn't pain. Anger choking my voice to the scalp?
"Lianne, hold on!?"
Bam!
The door flew open with a bang, Rain bursting in with her signature red hair flying, instantly wedging between Lianne and me.
Was it Rain separating us? Or her entering the room? Either way, my quickening breaths began to steady.
Right—this life was different from the past. Rain was here.
Ridiculously, that alone eased the tension from my body, my inexplicably trembling hands settling calmly on my thighs.
"Lianne! That just makes things harder for the young master!!"
"N-no?!"
"The principal said his condition is awful after forcibly opening his mana force circuits—didn't you hear? You have mana too, so direct contact could... He could be in danger from even that much!!"
Was that it?
Checking my mana force circuits, I sensed not just the principal's Dominion mana, but faint traces of Lianne's mixed in.
I should've probed them like this. My agitation might've been partly mana-induced.
This situation aside, her mana seeping in and unconsciously mingling had revived memories and emotions.
"Haa, anyway, the principal said to avoid using mana as much as possible."
"To what extent?"
"Probably until that Dominion mana in your mana force circuits? vanishes completely."
Dominion mana was thickly scattered everywhere in my circuits. Naturally breaking it down with mana would take at least a month....
And with Lianne's mixed in, mere contact with anyone would suck their mana into my circuits in this bizarre state.
Worse, it got absorbed by the Dominion mana shortly after.
If I could control Skaya's Dominion mana, I'd extract it—but....
"As if."
They didn't call it Dominion for nothing. It wasn't something my current self could handle.
Every bit of mana I converted, it devoured ravenously, bloating its volume instantly.
Even action couldn't budge it.
Why leave it, though? Someone like Skaya could extract it as easily as breathing.
Why?
No point suspecting—I'd never guess a lunatic's motives. A normal guy like me couldn't fathom it. In the end, I'd just have to leave it be.