Bloed watched the scene with a complicated expression. He did not know if to admire Aya's determination or to criticize her rash actions.
He could see Aya trying to stand up, using the wall as support to force her shaking legs to stand up.
Eventually, Aya stood up and put on a defensive stance.
As though feeling Aya's desire to continue fighting, the training dolls moved towards her.
As golems, they were programmed to stop when their enemy gave up. However, the current Aya did not seem to have the intention of giving up, and in that situation, the training dolls were not going to stop.
Bloed furrowed his brows. He could not help but think this was dangerous.
With a thought, he got Leto out of his storage device and put it in standby just in case.
Meanwhile, the golems moved again to attack Aya.
Aya breathed heavily and crouched, evading a punch coming towards her chest. She then kicked the ground and jumped away, avoiding another doll.
A doll attacked her figure while she was in the air, but Aya counterattacked with a dagger, making use of the doll's strength to launch herself away from the dolls encirclement.
However, the strength of the dolls was not something she could shrug easily, much less when she was tired.
A grunt of pain escaped Aya's lips. When she landed in the ground, her body staggered and her face turned pale.
At that moment, another doll arrived in front of her, throwing a punch towards her chest. Unable to evade, Aya could only cross her arms to receive the attack.
"Ugh!" Aya took several steps back and grunted in pain. A bit of blood slid down from her lips, showing she had received internal injuries.
The training doll did not care about it, though. Taking another step forward, it unleashed a second punch.
Aya tried to stop the attack with her daggers, but suddenly, her vision turned blurry, her face turned pale, and her body lost strength.
'Move!' Aya shouted in her mind, but her tired body refused to obey her.
Despite her wishes, her body refused to move.
In the next second, her blurry vision turned dark.
The last thing she remembered was a flash of blue stopping the doll's attack.
…
After stopping the attack of the dolls, Bloed rushed towards Aya and caught her unconscious body in his arms.
The training dolls did not stop their attacks, though. Now that Bloed was here, they recognized him as a new enemy and attacked him instead.
Bloed snorted and ordered Leto to entangle their legs. It was impossible for the metallic wolf to hold back five peak B-Rank and stronger enemies for long, but it could easily hold on for two or three seconds.
And that was enough for Bloed.
Using the time Leto gained, Bloed rushed towards the control of the array and turned it off.
As soon as Bloed turned the array off, the training dolls stopped moving.
Bloed sighed in relief and looked towards the cat girl in his arms with a complicated expression.
"This girl… She sure is rash…"
Training dolls were programmed in a way that it was virtually impossible to die while training with them.
The prerequisite, though, was to follow the proper security measures during the training.
And obviously, Aya was not following them.
In fact, if Bloed did not stop the training dolls during the last attack, even if Aya did not die, she would have been gravely injured.
And that was not something Bloed wanted to see.
In the end, Aya could be considered his friend.
Bloed stared at Aya's unconscious figure again and sighed. This troublemaker girl.
Although thinking about it, Bloed understood the reason behind her rash actions.
It seemed that her defeat during the selection had affected her more than he thought.
Bloed sighed again. "What should I do with this girl now?"
After hesitating briefly, Bloed decided to take her to the infirmary.
During the way, though, Bloed felt Aya stirring.
Aya opened her eyes in a daze. The first thing she saw was Bloed's face.
"… Bloed?���
For a few seconds, the car girl seemed confused by the strange situation.
Soon, though, she remembered what she saw before falling unconscious and her face turned completely red.
Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.
"Are you alright?"
"… Yes… I'm sorry…" Aya replied with a mosquito-like voice, obviously embarrassed.
"It's alright. You should be more careful, though. You could have been gravely injured."
Aya nodded silently.
She then forced herself to look at Bloed and spoke with a red face.
"… Can you release me, please."
Bloed smiled and helped Aya to her feet. However, when Aya tried to stand up by herself, her legs gave up and her body fell to the ground.
Fortunately, Bloed reacted in time and caught her up.
Bloed could not help but look at Aya with a strange expression.
"How long were you training like that? For a B-Rank like you to be so tired… Could it be, you did not sleep last night?"
Aya lowered her head embarrassed.
Bloed was speechless.
"… Let's go, I'll take you to the infirmary."
"No." Aya shook her head softly. "I'm alright."
"Stop being so stubborn," Bloed said irritated and carried her on his arms again. "You should not do anything like that again. Although I understand your desire to become stronger, forcing your body like that will be counterproductive instead."
Embarrassed, Aya nodded her head shyly. Bloed could not help but notice that even her ears were completely red.
'Now that I think about it, I think I planted another flag, huh…' Bloed smiled bitterly to himself.
'Could it be I'm innately suited for a harem route? If Regina knows about this, she will be mad.'
Trying to shake off the terrifying thought that appeared in his mind, Bloed carried Aya to the infirmary.
When he reached the infirmary, he met a healing mage that checked Aya's condition. Fortunately, the healing mage said Aya was just tired, and she would be alright after resting for a while.
"That is good. You heard him, Aya. You should rest for now."
"Mm." Aya nodded and looked at Bloed hesitantly. "… Thank you… and sorry again."
"Don't worry about it, we are friends after all. Try not to behave so rashly again, though. I was pretty scared this time."
Aya nodded silently with a tinge of red in her cheek.
"… Tomorrow… I'll go to see you."
Bloed was surprised by her words, but then, he smiled.
"Is it so? Wish me luck then."