22 - I Healed the Male Lead's Trauma
Episode 22
4. A Senior Needs to Teach a Junior (7)
"First Manifestation and Second Manifestation are polar opposites. The level of danger is different. Let's say you go in there and somehow manage to make contact. If anything goes wrong…"
"I won't just faint, I'll be torn to shreds by his mana. I know."
"Think about the difference in your grades! Even if you do make contact with him? How long do you think you can last?"
I was already well aware of the facts, and his reminder irritated me, so I brushed Kashiel's hand away.
How could I not know?
But reducing the damage until higher-grade support arrived was the best option.
Someone else would have to go in with me, but I could prevent a wasteful situation where lower grades rushed in.
If I were to hold onto any hope, it would be the slim chance that Akteon would end the Second Manifestation on his own.
Also, Kashiel told me to consider the difference in grades between Akteon and me, but my Guiding had already worked on him during his First Manifestation.
"I'm better than someone who has never experienced Akteon. Akteon will be less resistant to my Guiding than a complete stranger. And if he considers me someone close to him, wouldn't he hesitate a little, even if he attacks me?"
I stared sharply, asking if he didn't think so, and Kashiel froze, unable to even retract his rejected hand.
Facing him, I also convinced myself.
'Right. If Guiding Akteon was impossible, it would have already failed during the First Manifestation. If it's because my rapport with him is high… there's a chance it will work this time too.'
I was well aware that it was a reckless act.
But if I could prevent this situation with minimal damage, I should do it.
I repeated this to myself, constantly suppressing the anxiety deep within my heart.
But more than anything.
"I don't want to die either. Don't act like I'm already dead. It's rude to me."
I didn't want to die either, so I intended to survive by being as careful as possible.
Kashiel seemed to have more to say, but he didn't stop me at my cold expression.
Instead.
"...If you don't come back in one piece, I'll do as I please, so you better be careful."
He let me go, getting angry.
Only then could I cool my head a little.
* * *
I never imagined… that I would volunteer myself.
The faculty was busy because of the increasingly uncontrollable situation.
They had already lost a valuable Guide.
A professor had died. This incident would be defined as an accident, but that didn't mean the Dean could avoid the Crown Prince's censure.
I filtered out the frantically busy people one by one from my sight and finally found my supervising professor.
The professor happened to be with the Dean.
"It's become difficult to consider this a simple Second Manifestation. Dean, we need to correct this to a Rampage."
"I know, so be quiet. Have you contacted the Evolved Being Management Agency?"
When the supervising professor nodded, the Dean took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead.
"I don't know how long it will take for them to arrive. For now, you should follow my instructions and list the students. That seems to be the best option right now."
I wondered what they were talking about.
They were drawing up a list of people to send in to Guide Akteon.
When the supervising professor came this way, I approached her.
"Professor."
"Liphy, I heard you collapsed? Are you feeling better?"
"Send me in."
When I got straight to the point without delay, the professor's lips gaped.
She was very surprised.
More precisely, she was frozen.
She seemed to want to say something, but it was difficult for her to do so readily.
"I heard you're going to select people from the students. I'll volunteer."
She struggled for a long time about how to tell me.
She seemed to have difficulty saying what she was thinking, so I added one more word.
"Professor, I've Guiding Akteon Brondearne before."
Of course, I didn't mention that I fainted after Guiding him.
I vowed never to Guide this guy again…
Instead, I'm walking into the jaws of death.
Eventually, the professor reluctantly opened her mouth.
"I'll put you on the list. And two more people will be deployed."
I readily agreed.
Of course, it was safer to have a few other Guides accompany me than to go in alone.
The professor immediately finalized the list and reported it to the Dean.
The other two people who would be deployed were both Grade B, a distant upperclassman and a classmate.
Both had no practical experience but had a high understanding of stabilization.
Soon.
"……."
I saw Kashiel watching me from afar.
Deliberately ignoring his gaze, I entered the main building.
* * *
"No way…. Is this all Akteon Brondearne's mana?"
As soon as I entered the main building, dense mana was floating everywhere.
I wondered how much mana he could possibly wield; it felt like my lungs were collapsing.
The other two, except for me, were surprisingly calm.
'Did these two volunteer separately?'
Either way, it would be good not to cause any friction.
The auditorium where the entrance ceremony was held was located in the most central part of the building, past the first-floor hallway.
The interior wasn't complicated, so I was able to find the open door without taking too long.
"……."
The upperclassman looked back at me and my classmate.
Her eyes were asking, 'Should we go in?' Having come all this way, she seemed hesitant.
She seemed to hesitate, so I raised my hand.
When I said I would go in first, she flinched.
But she shook her head and said she would go in first.
All the upperclassmen I knew treated the freshmen like lackeys and only used them, so where did such a person come from?
At least she was trying to take responsibility as much as she had experience.
But I couldn't just continue with such a carefree impression.
Step.
The upperclassman, who had entered first, surveyed the interior and gestured to us.
It was the moment I was about to follow, silencing my footsteps.
The upperclassman, who turned her head in surprise, shouted.
"Get out of the way!"
Bang!
Almost at the same time as she shouted, a strong force blew her away.
The adult's body, which was so strong that it bounced off, floated like a piece of paper and crashed to the floor.
"Gasp…!"
The horrified classmate quickly covered her mouth, which was about to scream.
There was no time to take care of a healthy person.
I immediately ran to the upperclassman and lightly checked her body, starting with her arms and legs.
'Left wrist, legs are bruised but doesn't seem broken… No, are her ribs broken too?'
"Ah, ugh…!"
She wriggled her body even when I touched her upper body slightly.
"This won't work. I'll go in, so can you check if there are any other injuries?"
To ensure she receives treatment safely… it's urgent to get Akteon to come to his senses first.
But there was no answer.
I turned around to ask for first aid again.
At that moment, I met the eyes of the classmate who was backing away.
"I… I can't do it…!"
The guy who stammered and ran away.
It was the direction we came from.
…I understood his feelings.
'I can't blame him.'
However, that didn't mean I could condone abandoning the injured.
As I was trying to control my anger, the upperclassman, who had just opened her eyes, spoke.
She seemed to have guessed which part of her was injured.
"Be, be careful. He attacked as soon as he saw me…."
"Attacked?"
"To be exact, it seemed like he was trying to keep me from coming in."
The upperclassman explained in detail the scene she had seen in a flash.
The more I listened to her, the more miserable I became. It seemed like Akteon was trying to keep anyone from coming near him.
Ah, damn it.
I remembered Akteon, who was about to collapse.
'Don't come.'
He was saying it was dangerous to come to him now.
He was pushing them away so they wouldn't get hurt.
Because he couldn't control his mana properly.
I bit my lip tightly and asked her.
"Can you stay here alone?"
"...The pain is severe, but there's no bleeding…. Are you going in?"
"I can't get out until there's some kind of result. I'll be back."
Even after saying that and getting up, I was worried and couldn't take my feet off the ground.
But stopping now wouldn't be the best option.
It was better because the task at hand was clear.
I carefully stepped into the auditorium and calmly looked around the interior.
Surprisingly, the inside was almost the same as before.
Except for the mana, which could now be seen with the naked eye.
The blue mana rippled and hung like a faint mist throughout the space.
'I felt it when I came in, but as expected of the protagonist, his wielding power is terrifying.'
It was at this level.
Akteon must have drawn all the mana from this area.
Just considering the amount of mana, it would be half the school grounds. Since he had already converted the natural mana into his own, there would be almost no mana left for other Transcendent Beings to wield.
As I entered, I didn't have to worry about being bounced off like that senior.
The mana, which rushed in like a gust of wind, didn't chase me away, as if it sensed a familiar energy.
"...It's quieter, so I'm more anxious."
There's nothing else, is there?
I imagined it for no reason and goosebumps appeared, so I stroked my arms. I passed the seats arranged in a circle and stepped on the black carpet.
As I went further inside, Akteon appeared, leaning against the large glass window.
Outside, the sun was setting and it was already getting dark.
Beyond the window, which occupied an entire wall, a lamp made of mana stone flickered.
"...Akteon?"
His body was still without movement, but even without touching him, he seemed to be suffering from a fever.
It's too smooth. Can I proceed like this?
Just as I was half-doubting, I put my hand on his cheek.
Thud.
"...What?"
Without even a warning, my vision changed.
While blinking blankly, a strange woman appeared before my eyes.
* * *
"Akteon. I'm giving you advice because it seems like you'll Manifest like me. Listen carefully…."
"...Claire."
"Don't trust the Guides. Don't entrust yourself to them. After all, they can't handle monsters like us and will die."
Grades don't matter either.
You know it too, right?
That we're not people who can be classified by such standards.
A man holding a strange woman in front of him exploded and died.
The woman, without letting go of the dead man, smiled as if her own vitality had died.
"I'm sorry. You followed Aren like a real brother more than Kashiel. I took him away."
And soon, the woman covered in his blood cried towards 'this side' and said coldly.
"Don't forget what I said. We're monsters."
No one can handle us.
And the woman aimed the gun in her hand at her head.
A gunshot rang out.
* * *
What was that just now?
I suddenly returned to my original vision as if I had been pulled out of the water.
Since when, my chest was also rising and falling rapidly and loudly like someone who had fallen into the water.
'Was Akteon seeing that just now?'
Something similar happened during the First Manifestation.
That phenomenon where his emotions were conveyed to me as they were.
I didn't know what was going on, but in the circumstances, it was clear that the same thing was happening.
'Is he seeing this all the time while he's unconscious?'
I don't know what's going on.
But I knew who that woman I just saw was.
Claire Brondearne.
She was Kashiel's twin who was already dead.
Only then did I understand why Akteon had reacted like that back then.
It was because he had already experienced it once.
The experience of seeing a Guide die in front of him.
Moreover, a death that no one wanted.
'He was projecting. Because of what Claire said, the same thing would happen to him….'
The one who was family took the one who was like family with them.
And he branded himself as the same monster.
It was then that Akteon, who had no movement, reacted.
Twitch.
His long eyelashes fluttered and his eyes, immersed in a daze, appeared.
I was still catching my breath, keeping my eyes on Akteon, who showed an unusual sign.
Crack….
I heard a sound of something unknown cracking somewhere.
Or, a sound of something hardening. It was a sound that made my spine tingle.
Blink, blink.
Even during that time, the mana stone outside continued to flicker.
Every time that uneasy light flickered.
"How do I calm that down…?"
Crack.
I could see the process of his mana being shaped like a jewel in real time.
The crystal, which contained the reflected light, sparkled purely white, or perhaps purely blue.
Towards me.
