Chapter 19
Methilia looked at her hands.
There had never been an instance of mana resistance or output failure in her entire career.
She had been a very diligent student in her academy days and had received direct tutelage from Theodore, her professor at that time and recieved immense praise for her hard working attitude atop her talent.
She improved rapidly, by leaps and bounds, and earned herself a place in the Magic Knight Brigade by the graduation time.
She fought and earned recognition. But the harder she fought, the more difficult it became. The more comrades she lost, the deeper her sorrow grew and it fueled her deep dedication to further improve herself.
Sometimes she even wondered if it was truly possible to end this never ending fight.
Asher smiled when charging ahead always pulling out a joke to release the tension before a confrontation.
They were always lame but always made her laugh.
The echo of his laughter was still ringing in her ears when his dead body came back.
His whole head became a bloody
mess, not even recognisable, they only knew by his hands and last spell his fingers were forming refusing to let his friends get hurt even in death....
how Mary the quietest person shrieked loudest when she self destroyed herself with a whole encampment of monsters so they could get away from imminent death.....
It was like a piece went missing everytime she lost someone dear to her...
When the task to research monster corpses was announced, she volunteered and became the first researcher in the academy, completely focusing on the task.
She believed it would bring change to their fighting methods and that they wouldn't have to fight losing battles anymore.
She worked herself to the bone, believing in her path and in herself, because her comrades had placed their trust in her. The principal had granted her the important task of changing the fundamental way they fought black magic.
She barely took her classes seriously anymore, focusing entirely on her research.
But maybe because she had been exhausted or overworked, she had been sleeping more recently.
She had been forgetting things and mixing up details—and
today for the first time she felt her hands tremble when using mana to contain that abominable thing, like it was
hesitating.
It had never happened before,
or was that how it really happened??
she stretched her hands, a spell formed
making her a bit confused.
she had blamed it all on her relentless workload and sleepless nights.
Sevile had even scolded her to take it easy.
Ashvile always checking on her and making sure she was eating and getting some sleep.
She smiled gently. That fellow sevile always appeared strict, but he worried deeply for his friends.
And ashvile didn't talk much but her actions always showed deep care.
But something had been tugging at her mind.
She was forgetting something important.
Or maybe not?
Her mana output.
She felt it wasn't the first time this had happened.
Then when was the first time?
She tried to remember—but before she could grasp the memory, it slipped away.
she shook her head helplessly.
Now was not the time to dwindle on minor things.
she had to find a weakness to those damn monsters, otherwise she will have to watch more people die.
If she couldn't find the solution then that means she will also be responsible one for causing their deaths.
Like her friends who had to die so she could live.
her vision blurred.
maybe she really was exhausted.
Theodore watched silently from a distance.
No disturbance was noted.
Although he had his suspicions, the mana-sensitivity barrier hadn't detected anything.
Cardinal Magnus had examined everything Methilia possessed—yet nothing abnormal was found.
They had reached a dead end.
The only option left was to consult the Pope.
Theodore glanced at the barrier surrounding the academy and returned to his office.
Before he could even sit down, Diaz rushed in with a hurried knock.
He was the professor in charge of Azek's surveillance.
"Principal!" His voice was urgent.
Theodore immediately headed toward the infirmary.
Azek had woken up.