"You're still standing, boy, your persistence towards me is truly perplexing," Alfia's voice drifted over slowly.
Rayleigh's vision blurred several times.
Even though the Blut Vene was powerful, facing the Magic of a Level 7 like Alfia—even just the lingering echoes of it—had inflicted severe damage upon him.
Moreover, this Blut Vene wasn't perfect.
The moment it was released, unbearable pain shot through every part of his body!
After struggling to hold on, Rayleigh's thoughts began to wander.
In his previous life, he's the same age like Alfia.
Coming to this world wasn't something he had chosen willingly, it was simply fate playing tricks on him.
He was very fortunate to have a second chance at life and had managed to retain his original sense of self.
Although reincarnation existed in this world, the person after reincarnation was always someone entirely different.
"Huff."
Rayleigh used Blut Vene to withstand Alfia's lingering echoes.
He took a heavy step forward, walking toward the cloaked woman.
'Persistence, huh?'
He had to admit that was true.
After all, he had always been very fond of Alfia from reading the sacred text in his past life.
"You ask me if I can guarantee that I can heal you? To be honest, I can't. But I also can't guarantee that I won't be able to heal you. There's only one thing I can promise: I'll do absolutely everything in my power to heal you. If I fail..." At this point, Rayleigh paused.
He took a deep breath and said, "Then I'll join you in death."
The ruined area suddenly fell completely silent.
After a long while, Alfia asked uncertainly, "Was I just confessed to?"
"Rather than a confession, I think it's more like a declaration," Rayleigh corrected her.
"Do you think this is enough to convince me? In my eyes, you're just a mysterious boy I've only met once. Your words can't move me at all," Alfia replied, her tone still completely cold.
Rayleigh asked, "Don't you want to take revenge on the One-Eyed Black Dragon?"
Faced with this heavy question, Alfia opened her eyes.
Her heterochromatic pupils fixed entirely on the boy standing before her.
"You really do know a lot, don't you?"
Everything....because of the Black Dragon.
That dark calamity had indeed taken everything she once possessed.
In that terrible battle, neither she nor Zald had been able to participate.
As a result, apart from the two of them, their entire Familia had been wiped out.
Taking down the One-Eyed Black Dragon was, for her, a necessary form of revenge. But for someone with so little time left, it was an impossible task.
With her strength alone, she couldn't defeat the Black Dragon.
This deep wish was something she had intended to entrust to Orario.
After her death, the new generation of Adventurers would challenge the Black Dragon once more.
But if she could somehow survive... Personally slaying the Black Dragon was indeed one of the things she most wanted to accomplish in her life!
"My name is Rayleigh. I can declare with absolute certainty that the one who will ultimately slay the Black Dragon will be my blade!"
Alfia remained silent.
By now, Rayleigh had reached Alfia's side.
He raised his hand and gently grabbed her wrist. Surprisingly, she neither dodged nor resisted him.
No.
She was completely unable to dodge!
Her body... it felt like cracked glass covered in deep invisible fissures.
The situation was dire, was this the terrible price of her unmatched "talent"?
Through his physical touch, Rayleigh sensed the frail condition inside Alfia's body.
He activated Kaidō
He poured all his remaining Reiatsu into the technique.
Spiritual energy flowed warmly into Alfia's body, slowly repairing her tattered soul and failing flesh.
"What is this?"
Feeling the subtle change within herself, Alfia widened her eyes.
She felt it.
Though it was only a little, it could even be described as negligible.
But she still sensed the soothing effects of Kaidō.
'Healing Magic? Could it really be effective against my illness?'
"Live on," Rayleigh whispered.
He exhausted all his spiritual energy, falling into a state of complete mind depletion and losing consciousness on the spot.
He collapsed forward toward Alfia, falling right into her embrace.
Watching the boy who had pushed himself to the point of mind depletion collapse into her arms, Alfia silently and gently held him, then slowly sat down on the ground.
She tried to pry open the boy's hand.
But his fingers were clenched far too tightly around her wrist.
If she forced them open, she might accidentally break his fingers!
'Who exactly was this boy? To be willing to go this far for a stranger like me?' (A simp.)
At this moment, Alfia's frozen heart wavered.
She looked at the boy's furrowed brow, which hadn't relaxed even after he fainted, and pressed her slender pale fingers against it, gently massaging his forehead.
'Live on, huh.'
Alfia maintained this quiet posture for a very long time.
...
When he finally opened his eyes again, what greeted Rayleigh's sight was a somewhat unfamiliar ceiling.
He stared up at it for a while until his eyes felt dry, then blinked a few times.
Pushing aside the warm blanket, he sat up in bed.
Rayleigh looked around at where he was, feeling that the room's architectural style seemed somewhat familiar.
And when he pushed open the door to the hallway, he was immediately startled.
Outside the door, the long corridor was filled with injured Adventurers lying haphazardly on the floor.
They were all unconscious.
Even so, some of them groaned in pain in their deep sleep.
Without exception, these were all severely wounded individuals.
In such a chaotic situation, he had been sleeping soundly in a private room all by himself?
What kind of strange plot development was this?
Right! What about Alfia?
Rayleigh suddenly recalled exactly what had happened right before he lost consciousness.
He had used Kaidō with all his remaining strength, and then his memory just cut off entirely.
"Ah, Rayleigh-san, you're awake!" a surprised voice rang out.
Rayleigh looked toward the sound and saw a boy who seemed like the pure embodiment of ordinariness.
He was carrying a washbasin and handing out fresh water, apparently busy with logistics and helping to treat the wounded.
"You are... Raul?"
"That's me, indeed." Raul smiled, seeming somewhat honored that Rayleigh knew his name.
Rayleigh asked, "You've worked really hard, Raul. Do you know why I'm here? Sorry, my memory is a bit fuzzy right now."
Raul's expression turned serious.
He set down the water basin and explained, "It's like this. It was the Captain's direct order."
"The Captain? You mean Finn?"
"Yes." Raul nodded and continued, "Lady Riveria found you unconscious and brought you here."
"Um, you've been oddly respectful to me from the start. What's going on?" Rayleigh asked curiously.
He and Raul were very close in age, and there wasn't much difference in their current levels, so he didn't understand why Raul was being so excessively humble.
"Ah, that's because you're an amazing person. I feel like you're the kind of hero I truly admire, someone I can really look up to," Raul said excitedly.
"You single-handedly took responsibility for the entire second stronghold. Thanks to that, the Adventurers had the extra leeway to deal with Evilus's traps. And you saw right through their evil plan, saving several Gods in the process. These aren't things just anyone can do!"
'Gods? Right.'
"How is the current battle situation out there?" Rayleigh asked.
"This... still isn't very optimistic," Raul admitted, looking worried. "The enemy has unexpectedly recruit an extremely terrifying figure."
"Who is that person?" Rayleigh asked nervously.
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