Max woke up in bed, he was covered in bandages, one over his forehead, arm, and torso. Looking around he locked eyes with a nurse, who seeing him looked terrified, Max was confused by that, was there something on his face?
"H-How Is this possible?"
What did she mean by that? I mean by his knowing waking up wasn't that hard.
'That was a nice nap, so I was able to find somewhere to sleep after all.'
He smiled.
"I have to get a doctor right now!"
There she goes again, it wasn't such a big deal, she's acting like he woke up from the death or something.
When the nurse returned, she brought a doctor with her.
"Is it true you're awake Max?"
'Do you have eyes? Of course, I am. And how did you even know my name?'
"It's unbelievable."
There he goes ignoring his question, Max frowned
'Can I have an explanation or something?'
"Ah, yes, I apologize. You see, you were brought here by a man, and when we saw you, you were in critical condition, you had lost a lot of blood and were pale as a result, and your soul was about to break. When we started nursing you, but you fell into a coma, I approximated that you would wake up in the exaggerated minimum of two months, but even that seemed impossible, the wounds weren't that bad, but the damage to your soul was."
'My soul was almost broken? What does that even mean?'
'"When someone uses their soul to exhaustion, they collapse but wake up after some time, but if you repeat this in a short period of time, your soul will take damage, and with enough damage, it will shatter and you will die, another method for this is if you do not fall unconscious after using your soul to its point of fatigue and continue pushing."
'I see.'
Max chuckled uncomfortably.
"Speaking of it, which of these happened to you?"
That was not the question he had hoped for, little did the doctor know, Max had taken part in both of these scenarios.
'Um, both.'
The doctor laughed loudly, obviously not believing it.
"Both? Haha, that is amusing, child."
But when he saw Max's unamused expression, he understood he wasn't joking.
"I see... you know you put yourself in a very dangerous situation, not only was your soul damaged, but you were also leaking power."
After hearing the doctor's statements, you would expect Max to feel a sense of shame and regret, but you would be mistaken, killing that piece of crap was more important to him than anything else.
'Hey, you said It would have taken me at least two months to wake up, how long has it been?'
"two days."
Max looked doubtful as if it couldn't be possible.
'Very funny, doctor.'
"I'm telling you the truth, we don't know how to explain it. It must be a miracle...no it must be fate."
'Again with this damn fate?'
Max thought.
"We haven't even started working on repairing your core, and blood is still leaking out."
'Question.'
"Of course, ask away."
'When can I leave?'
The doctor looked at Max, dumbfounded, and said nothing.
"Right now, but only if you can walk."
'Hah, that's easy.'
Max theorized, but he must be correct, right? It's only walking. However, when he placed his food on the floor, he felt a deep pain in his chest, his soul. But he didn't give up, he wasn't going to let this put him down... but it did, literally, he was on the ground.
"Prepare a meal for him, he hasn't eaten in two days."
...
Max had already been in the hospital for five days; he didn't like it, but he didn't hate it. The food wasn't bad, and he had a place to sleep, plus now that he could walk again, he started exploring.
The place was massive, and there was even a pond with animals in it. This was his favorite place. The worst part was that he could not use his powers anymore, the doctor warned him that doing so would break his soul.
To recover, Max needed to meditate and spend time in his soul, so he spent a lot of time with the dragon.
"Max, it's time for your daily meditation."
He heard this every day. It was becoming quite aggravating.
Entering his soul, he was met as always by his dark matter, which was already clinging to him. Max discovered that this wasn't out of love, but because it wanted to devour him, which was... not an enjoyable fact to know.
Instead of being greeted by the massive dragon, he was met by a girl with silver hair, similar to the metal used to make the most beautiful swords, with some black stripes hidden among the silver, black irises, and white vertical slit pupils, so in summary dragon eyes.
She was dressed simply, in a white shirt and black pants. She appeared quite small. The same height as Max.
Max was baffled, he certainly did not expect to see this when he arrived here.
'So, who are you?'
"It's me, idiot, who else?"
'Yes, but why are you a girl, and more importantly, why are you human?'
"Since I am in your soul, I can create a human body that is identical to my dragon form, but as a human of course."
'Are you sure you got it right?'
Max thought that this form looked different from the dragon form, where did the silver even come from?
"Of course, I did."
'If you say so, I think it's time to tell me your name, we have and will spend a lot of time together, so it would be strange not to know."
The girl looked confused but then returned to her usual neutrality.
"Ah, I must have forgotten, you couldn't hear me say my name while fighting the demon. It's Azel Tekase. Azel, the Dark Dragon."
Max had heard the name before, but he wasn't sure where. Ah right, Netami. It's strange to think that the person they discussed is now in front of him.
After that, time passed, as usual, nothing strange happened.
When Max woke up, he was greeted by a familiar face, the guild leader. What was she doing here?
"You're done, that's good, we need to talk."
'Why would I need to talk to you?'
"It is a very special matter."
Very special matter, what could that be?
"You know we have cameras, right?"
Those words caught Max off guard, this was very bad, as it meant they knew about his drive.
"How about you join the guild? It would help you get stronger, and I won't tell anyone about it in return."
Max scowled, this was worse than he had expected.
"I'll give you time to think about it, so don't worry."
She stood up and walked away.
"Oh my, how impolite of me."
She paused in the frame of the door.
"I forgot to introduce myself."
'As if someone wouldn't know who you are.'
She chuckled.
"That is correct, but I didn't mean my status, I meant my name."
Max sighed, all he wanted was to wrap this up.
'Just get it done and go.'
"My name is Faye... Faye Rose."