[Aria's POV]
"Thirty seconds!" Drake Morrison's voice boomed through the megaphone. "Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight!"
Two hundred fighters surrounded us. An S-Rank leader. Weapons and powers we couldn't match.
We were going to die.
"There's a tunnel," Dr. Elena hissed urgently. "Underground. It leads three blocks away. We can escape while they're focused on the front entrance."
"You have an escape tunnel?" Marcus asked, hope flooding his face.
"For emergencies exactly like this." Dr. Elena grabbed my arm. "Aria, we run. Now. Fighting is suicide."
"But they'll level the hospital—"
"And we'll be gone when they do." Dr. Elena was already pulling me toward a back corridor. "Your life is worth more than this building."
"Twenty seconds!" Drake counted down.
I looked at the five fighters who'd come to help us. At Dr. Elena who'd saved my life. At Marcus and Vivian who'd destroyed it.
Running meant we all lived. Fighting meant we probably all died.
It wasn't even a choice.
"Everyone to the tunnel!" I commanded. "Move!"
We ran. Down corridors, through storage rooms, into a basement I hadn't known existed. Dr. Elena yanked open a hidden panel in the floor, revealing a dark tunnel below.
"Go! Go! Go!" she ordered.
The five fighters jumped in first. Marcus and Vivian hesitated.
"Ten seconds!" Drake's voice echoed through the building.
"Jump or die!" I shouted at them.
They jumped.
Dr. Elena went next. I was about to follow when I heard it—a child's cry. Faint. Coming from upstairs.
My blood froze. "Is there anyone else in this hospital?"
"No, I cleared—" Dr. Elena's face went pale. "Oh God. The supply room. I locked a woman and her baby in there for safety. I forgot!"
"FIVE SECONDS!"
"Go!" I pushed Dr. Elena toward the tunnel. "Get everyone out!"
"Aria, you can't—"
"GO!"
I didn't wait for her response. I ran back upstairs, following the baby's cries. My heart pounded. My system counted down in my vision:
[3 seconds until building destruction][2 seconds][1 second]
I found the supply room. Ripped the door open. A terrified woman held a crying baby, both huddled in the corner.
"Take my hand!" I screamed.
The woman grabbed my hand just as the world exploded.
The building shook. Walls cracked. The ceiling collapsed. Drake's explosion power detonated, exactly as promised.
Golden light erupted from my body on pure instinct.
[EMERGENCY ABILITY ACTIVATED: RESTORATION SHIELD][New Ability Unlocked][Protects all life within radius from destruction]
The light formed a dome around me, the woman, and the baby. Debris slammed against it and disintegrated. Fire touched it and died. The entire building collapsed into rubble.
But inside my shield, we were untouched.
When the destruction finally stopped, I dropped the shield, gasping. My power reserves were nearly empty again.
We were buried under tons of concrete and steel. In the dark. In the rubble of what used to be Dr. Elena's hospital.
The baby cried softly. The woman sobbed with relief.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you, thank you—"
"We're not safe yet." I pulled up my system, looking for the tunnel's location. "Can you walk?"
"I think so."
"Then follow me. Stay close."
I used my power to create small bursts of light, navigating through the wreckage. My hands found support beams that hadn't collapsed. Gaps between debris. A path downward.
It took twenty minutes of crawling and climbing, but we finally reached the tunnel entrance.
Dr. Elena's voice echoed from below: "Aria? ARIA!"
"I'm here! I have survivors!"
We dropped into the tunnel. Dr. Elena pulled me into a fierce hug. "You insane, heroic idiot. I thought you were dead."
"Not dead. Just buried." I looked at the others—all alive, all safe. Even Marcus and Vivian had made it.
The woman I'd saved held her baby close. "You're SSS-Rank. I saw your system screen before. You could have left us. Saved yourself."
"I'm a healer," I said simply. "Saving people is what I do."
"Not just a healer," Dr. Elena corrected. "A Restoration Goddess. Big difference."
We moved through the tunnel quickly. Behind us, I heard Red Claw searching the rubble, looking for bodies. Looking for me.
"They'll figure out we escaped," Marcus muttered.
"Then we stay hidden," Dr. Elena said. "Change locations. Keep moving."
The tunnel ended at an abandoned subway station. Dr. Elena led us to a hidden safe house she'd prepared—a converted maintenance room with supplies, beds, and medical equipment.
"This is it," she said, locking the door behind us. "My backup safe house. Red Claw doesn't know about this place. We're secure. For now."
Everyone collapsed, exhausted. The woman fed her baby. The fighters checked their weapons.
Marcus sat in a corner, staring at his hands. Vivian sat far away from him, her face pale.
"We need to talk," Dr. Elena said to me quietly. "About what happens next."
We moved to a separate room—just a small office space with a desk and chairs.
"Red Claw knows about you," Dr. Elena said bluntly. "They know you're SSS-Rank. They know you're valuable. They'll hunt you until they capture you or kill you."
"So what do I do?"
"You train. Get stronger. Master every ability you have." Dr. Elena's expression was fierce. "That power you used to shield those people? That was new. Your system is still unsealing. The more you use your abilities, the more will unlock."
"How long until I'm strong enough to fight Red Claw?"
"Weeks. Maybe months. You're powerful, Aria, but you're untrained. Raw talent isn't enough against organized military force."
The weight of it settled on me. "So I hide. Train in secret. And when I'm ready..."
"You make them pay. Red Claw. Marcus. Everyone who's hurt you." Dr. Elena pulled out a notebook. "I'll teach you everything I know. Combat strategy. Power efficiency. How to use Restoration offensively, not just defensively."
"Offensively?"
"You healed those survivors earlier. But healing can be reversed, right? Your Death's Touch ability?" Dr. Elena's smile was dark. "Let me show you what that really means."
She led me to another room with medical dummies set up. "Practice on these. Show me Death's Touch. Not on a person—on these practice targets."
I hesitated. "I've only used it once. On that man who tried to steal my power."
"Then let's see what it does when you really try."
I placed my hand on the first dummy. Instead of pushing golden healing light into it, I pulled back. Reversed the flow.
The dummy aged rapidly. Its plastic skin wrinkled, cracked, turned to dust. In ten seconds, it completely decomposed.
"Holy..." Dr. Elena breathed. "That's not just aging. That's accelerated decay. You literally rotted it from the inside out."
"Is that useful in combat?"
"Are you kidding? Touch an enemy and their body falls apart. No blood. No mess. Just instant death." Dr. Elena's eyes gleamed. "Try it on the next dummy, but faster. Like you're in real combat."
I practiced for hours. Death's Touch became quicker, more controlled. By the end, I could rot a dummy with just a brush of my fingers.
"Good," Dr. Elena approved. "Now combine it with healing. Heal yourself while attacking enemies. Multi-task."
I spent the next week in that safe house, training constantly. Dr. Elena pushed me relentlessly. The five fighters taught me hand-to-hand combat. I learned to use my powers while moving, while dodging, while under pressure.
My system notifications came regularly:
[Power Unsealing Progress: 35%][New Ability Unlocked: Life Sense - Detect all living beings within 100 meters][Power Unsealing Progress: 40%][Ability Enhanced: Purifying Light range increased to 50 meters]
I was getting stronger. Faster. More dangerous.
Marcus watched my training sessions with hungry eyes. "If you'd just share your power—"
"Never," I cut him off. "Go away, Marcus."
He did. But I saw him whispering with Vivian. Planning something.
"Keep an eye on them," Dr. Elena warned. "Desperate people do stupid things."
On the eighth day, everything changed.
I was practicing Death's Touch on a new set of dummies when the woman I'd saved approached me. The one with the baby.
"Excuse me," she said nervously. "I need to show you something. Something you should know."
She held out her phone. On the screen was a video.
Marcus's face appeared, talking to someone off-camera.
"Yes, I can deliver her," Marcus said in the video. "The SSS-Rank healer. In exchange for your protection and S-Rank power crystals."
My blood ran cold.
"Who's he talking to?" I demanded.
"Red Claw," the woman whispered. "He's been contacting them. Trading information about you, about this location, in exchange for power and protection."
"When was this filmed?"
"This morning. I followed him. I thought he was acting suspicious." The woman's face was apologetic. "I'm sorry. I should have told you immediately."
I looked at the timestamp. Two hours ago.
Which meant Red Claw knew where we were.
Right now.
As if summoned by my thoughts, explosions rocked the safe house. The walls shook. Alarms blared.
Dr. Elena burst into the room. "We're under attack! Red Claw found us!"
"How?!" one of the fighters shouted.
I looked at Marcus, who'd appeared in the doorway. His face showed guilt. Fear. But also defiance.
"You sold us out," I said quietly. "You told them where we are."
"I made a deal!" Marcus's voice cracked. "They promised—"
"You traded our lives for power?!"
"I traded YOUR life!" Marcus shouted. "You're the one they want! The rest of us can live if we just hand you over!"
The safe house door exploded inward.
Drake Morrison stepped through, his S-Rank power radiating off him like heat. Behind him, fifty Red Claw fighters poured inside.
"Hello, little goddess," Drake smiled. "Thanks for the tip, Marcus. Your reward is waiting outside."
Marcus grinned with relief. "Thank you. I—"
Drake's hand moved faster than lightning.
An explosion erupted in Marcus's chest.
Marcus's eyes went wide with shock. Blood poured from his mouth. He looked down at the massive hole where his heart used to be.
"Did you really think," Drake said coldly, "that we'd reward a traitor? Traitors betray everyone eventually. Better to kill them first."
Marcus collapsed. Dead before he hit the ground.
Vivian screamed.
I stared at Marcus's body, feeling... nothing. No grief. No satisfaction. Just empty.
"Now then," Drake turned to me. "Surrender peacefully, goddess. Come with us. We'll treat you well. Or resist, and I'll kill everyone in this room except you."
Dr. Elena raised her hands, ice forming. The five fighters prepared to fight.
All of them ready to die for me.
I looked at Drake. At his fifty fighters. At the power radiating off him.
Then I looked at my hands. Glowing gold.
My system pinged:
[Power Unsealing Progress: 45%][Emergency Quest: Protect Your People][Warning: Current power level insufficient for victory][Recommendation: Surrender or flee]
But I was done surrendering.
Done fleeing.
Done being afraid.
"I have a counteroffer," I said calmly.
Drake raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"You leave. Right now. And I let you live."
He laughed. "Little girl, I'm S-Rank. You're SSS-Rank, yes, but untrained. Inexperienced. You can't beat me."
"Maybe not." I let my power flare, golden light filling the room. "But I can make you beg me to kill you instead of letting you rot alive. Death's Touch works on any living thing. Including you."
Drake's smile faded. "You're bluffing."
I touched the wall beside me. It instantly decayed, crumbling to dust.
"Try me," I said softly.
The room went silent.
Drake stared at the rotted wall. At my glowing hands. At the absolute certainty in my eyes.
Then he smiled wider. "You're magnificent. No wonder they want you so badly."
"They?"
"Oh, did you think Red Claw was the real threat?" Drake's laugh was cruel. "We're just the scouts, goddess. The real power? They're coming for you tomorrow. And when they arrive..."
He leaned close, whispering so only I could hear:
"They'll make Red Claw look like children playing war."