As he wiped the nervous sweat off his face, Noele withdrew from the half-dome and stood at a distant spot from the King Lizern.
"Noele! What are you doing? Help us beat this thing!" Vinny, Carra, and Felly continued attacking the King Lizern.
"W-wait a minute! I don't know what's happening!"
Noele pointed his palm downward and exerted as much as he could to let out a water jet.
At first, it worked, the water jetting out of his palm and digging through the earth. However, from time to time, the water was cut off. The frequency increased over time until a moment when Noele couldn't spurt water from his hand anymore!
"What? Did I overdo it? Crap..." Noele bit his lip.
In his head, he had long been imagining all the possible prospects of his newfound power. He could see himself coming to the annual Menst family gathering with his head up high amidst all of the talented in his generation.
Maybe, he could even claim the title of Menst family head!
By then, he wouldn't be restricted by his family's stupid rules anymore.
Suddenly, that image began to shatter in Noele's mind.
"Come on... come on! Grrraaa!"
Noele exerted as much as he could once more to let out a water jet-- no, to let anything out of his palm, whether it be flame, water, wind, dirt, leaves, anything!
Megna widened her eyes. 'Why is the Mana Suppressing Pill taking effect in the middle of the battle?'
When she saw Noele using his mana even after she made him drink the water, she already branded the Mana Suppressing Pill as useless, and cast it aside in her mind. Now, it turned out that the effect was only delayed!
'This won't do. He's in the middle of the battlefield, he might get hurt!'
Beside her, Felum was simply confused and not concerned. "What is Noele doing? Why is he zoning off? Ms. Reece? Megna?"
Felum looked beside him. "--! What the hell! Why are you running towards him?"
From what he'd been seeing this day, he had the impression that Megna was weak and helpless. If so, who gave her the guts to charge right into the battle? He immediately chased after her!
Noele breathed heavily. He could feel it-- a sliver of mana flowed out of his palm just now. 'A little more. A little more effort, then it'll break through!'
Inside of his body, a battle was taking place. It was a battle of dominance between his mana and the Mana Suppressing Pill.
There were myriad types of elemental mana inside Noele's body, most being dominated by the Mana Suppressing Pill. However, there were two that held their own against the pill.
One was golden and mysterious. While dormant, it easily suppressed the pill's effects against it. Meanwhile, the other was dark and erratic, slithering through Noele's body and fighting against the pill on equal terms.
It was trying to break through as per Noele's will!
In his palm, Noele could feel fluctuations of mana, like a great war was happening inside.
He could not hear Megna's screams, obsessed over regaining his power.
"Noele! Noele! Watch out!"
Megna sped up her pace as a King Lizern headed towards Noele's unmoving body. As she arrived right beside Noele, she pushed him away from the direction of the King Lizern!
And as Megna pushed Noele, the elemental mana that fiercely fought against the Mana Suppressing Pill saw a brief opening and sneaked past the pill, escaping through Noele's palm!
"Y-yes! It worked!"
Noele snapped out of his daze. His eyes widened as he watched the King Lizern smash its gigantic head against Megna's fragile body. His ears caught the crackling of her bones as she flew through the air.
He turned pale as he hurriedly ran towards Megna, trying to activate his Air Boots that just refused to function.
In the end, Megna crashed onto the ground headfirst, freezing Noele's footsteps.
"Someone... Someone's collapsed on the ground, bleeding!" A student almost shrieked as she pointed at Megna's body.
The teachers, who were barely on equal footing with the King Lizerns, could not afford to turn their heads.
Felum clicked his tongue as he arrived beside Megna. Even after boosting himself with the flames, he still couldn't catch her.
"Hey. Hey, Ms. Reece, stay with me here!"
Felum examined Megna's body. Not only was blood pouring out of her head like a broken dam, the clothes on her torso were also stained with blood.
He quickly looked for her pulse.
'She... She's gone, just like that?'
There was no pulse to be found anywhere on her body.
Although Felum was not close with Megna, even a little hostile with her, he could not help but feel a sense of grief.
Meanwhile, Noele started to hyperventilate. He turned to look at the King Lizern that struck Megna. It now seemed to be after him.
The King Lizern charged towards Noele. In response, he pointed his palm out.
Noele bit his lip in rage. "Die!"
As he spoke, pitch black lines stretched out of Noele's hand and surrounded the King Lizern like a net. The darkness swallowed up the King Lizern, leaving nothing behind.
The black lines went back inside Noele's palm as quickly as they came, leaving him dumbfounded.
However, he quickly got over it as he rushed towards Megna's side.
"M-Megna!" Noele kneeled beside her body as he grabbed her hand and pulled it close. "She's still hot! We need to take her to the hospital!"
"..." Felum sighed. "Her pulse is gone. She's bleeding through her head and chest."
"Th-that... Then we need to take her to the hospital then! Call an ambulance already!"
Felum pursed his lips before taking out his phone and calling an ambulance.
Noele looked at Megna's lips which had begun to become blue. The dainty fingers in his hand quickly drained of color as he held it close to himself.
"This... You can't die like this! This is too sudden!" Noele suddenly raised his voice.
"You told me just the other night that you wanted to learn how to cook! In that state of yours, how exactly are you planning on doing that?
"How will you face your parents like this? You told me you wanted to escape from their grasp!
"How will you achieve your dream like this...? You always droned on and on about your dream, but you never even told me what your dream is!"
As Noele's rant continued, his mana started fluctuating once more. This time, instead of the black, erratic mana making its exit, it was the golden, mysterious mana flowing out of Noele's palm and into Megna's fingers.
Felum put down his phone and glanced at Megna's corpse once more. He shook his head. 'She should be barely older than us high-schoolers, maybe 2 or 3 years older. So young, haah...'
At that moment, Felum found out about the frailty of life.
He looked at Noele, who still seemed to be in disbelief as he rambled on and on.
'...So they were this close, huh? Why else would he know so much about her?'
All of a sudden, a golden glow briefly appeared on her head and on her chest.
Felum looked a little closer, but the golden glow was gone. However, what he ended up seeing shocked him to the core.
Megna's color started to return. Her blue lips went back to a bright red, as did her fingers. The fatally large wounds on both her chest and head started to close at a rapid pace.
Felum looked at Noele once more, who was still rambling. 'He... He doesn't notice it?'