Megna fell into darkness.
The last thing she saw was Noele's distraught expression and the bright blue sky above her. After that, everything went black.
'Did I... die?'
Wherever she was right now, she could not see a single thing.
She felt like she was falling for a long time. Eventually, she reached a pool of viscous liquid. Her body felt heavier and heavier as she descended into the depths of the pool.
The pressure surrounding her gradually increased, until she felt like she could not take it anymore. At any moment, her body's defenses would collapse and she would explode into a thousand pieces.
In the midst of this darkness, a small light appeared. Golden as it was, it couldn't match the darkness that surrounded her. And so, it flickered away.
As she sunk deeper, another orb of light appeared, this time a little brighter and bigger. Still, it was not within arms reach, and so she had no choice but to let it pass by.
All of a sudden, the golden light reappeared once more. This time, it was right in front of her, taking the form of a hand waiting for her grasp.
Without hesitation, Megna grabbed onto the golden hand that appeared out of nowhere. She began rising up, pulled by the golden hand.
'This hand... It's made of mana like mine. Time mana.'
When she saw this hand, she figured out what was happening. 'I must've died... and Noele is bringing me back, reversing time. This is how it feels to be on the receiving end, huh.'
Megna rapidly rose until she made it out of the viscous pool. Still, she continued going upwards... until she opened her eyes.
"...and what about that stupid song, huh? You told me you'd get me to like it by forcing me to listen to it 1000 times! And that necklace that I gave you for your birthday, you still haven't found it! Who told you not to wear it anyways?! And also..."
Megna pulled her hand away from Noele and covered her ears. "Stop talking."
"--!" Noele stopped talking almost immediately. All this time, he had his eyes closed, not wanting to see the state that Megna was in.
Now that he had heard her voice, he slowly opened his eyes. "...Megna? You're fine?"
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine." Megna sat up with a smile.
Hearing that answer, Noele turned his head down. He took a deep breath, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"What are you smiling for?! You stupid f*cking idiot!"
"...Eh?"
Noele vigorously shook Megna, letting out his anger and annoyance. "Who told you to go and push me away, huh?!"
Megna sighed as she just let Noele shake her body. At the same time, she saw the ground beneath Noele getting wet from his tears.
"You're so presumptuous, who told you I needed your help?"
"Yes, sorry..."
"I don't need your help! You can't even help yourself!"
"Yes, sorry..."
"Honestly, what the hell were you thinking?"
"Sorry..."
Megna slowly wrapped her arms around Noele as the latter turned quiet, resting his head on her chest. She pat his back gently.
Meanwhile, Felum looked at Megna weirdly. For someone that just got resurrected, she was too calm.
'...She's too mysterious. I need to be wary of her.' Felum marked her in his mind.
"Ahem, I hate to cut your cute little session short, but have you forgotten about the crisis that we are in right now?"
"Shush, Felum. They can take care of the rest. Noele has already defeated 3 of the 6 King Lizerns that came to visit.
"The teachers and students are also getting used to working with each other and has defeated one already. At this rate, they will finish up within 10 minutes."
Felum observed the battle and found Megna's observation to be believable. Just like Megna, he simply waited for his schoolmates to clean up the enemies.
"Oh, by the way, why do you seem younger?"
"You're hallucinating."
"...Felum's right. Your boobs got a bit smalle-- ah, ouch!"
In the midst of the battle, a man standing on a slab of earth flying in the sky arrived. The man wore a black robe lined with green and brown. As he took off his hood, the man revealed his spiked black hair and his big silver earrings.
He posed with a V on his fingers, winking as he said, "Yahallo~ It is I, Deass Cetyr, the Master Earth and Plant Elementalist~!"
"Mr. Cetyr!" "The Master Elementalist is here!" "Finally..."
The teachers and students heaved a sigh of relief.
Noele wiped off his tears and watched the Master Elementalist along with everyone else.
Deass grinned as he descended to the ground and blocked both of the King Lizerns to let everyone else evacuate.
"Hmm!! These King Lizern corpses on the ground... You defeated them by yourselves~?"
"Er, uhh..." The teacher froze by the sudden question.
Before they could answer, the two King Lizerns destroyed the earthen barriers that Deass put up.
"Aiya, what is this? They're persistent."
Deass's playful eyes disappeared as he faced the two pests behind him. With a grin, he snapped his fingers.
From the earth rose two humanoid figures, the top of their 'head' full of grass.
The teachers widened their eyes. "G-golems?"
"You two, take care of them."
The two golems nodded as they faced one King Lizern each. Soon enough, they started fighting.
It was shocking to the teachers. It took a group of them to take on a single lizern, yet a golem could take one by itself!
A teacher in front asked, "Mr. Cetyr, are those real golems? Do they have their own... intelligence?"
Deass turned his gaze and stared at the teacher who asked.
Mr. Herriot slowly turned his head down with every second Deass stayed silent and continued to peer into his eyes...
"Pfft! These golems, intelligent? Hahahaha!" Deass guffawed as the golems continued to pummel the King Lizerns. "Anyone knows that you need to have a high mastery in the element of Life in order to make an intelligent lifeform. Although Yours Truly has a certain level of mastery in that element, I have yet to reach a level where I can inject life into anything. I can only control a few trees or so."
"Eh, but... how are those golems moving?" Mr. Herriot pointed behind Deass.
The two golems used different moves as they completely suppressed the King Lizerns.
"Ah... I am controlling them as we speak. Look, they're waving~"
Everyone turned to look at the golems, and like he said, they were both waving while dodging the King Lizerns' attacks flawlessly.
"Okay! That's enough of that."
The golems went back to fighting the King Lizerns.
"That's... but you're talking to us! How can you control two extra bodies simultaneously while talking at the same time?"
"Master. Elementalist. That's the reason (LOL)."