Pain

Sathya returned to her dormitory immediately. Now that the Sacred Mutiny had lost the Chaos Core, it couldn't cause any waves, and Ulrich likely wouldn't be able to stir up much trouble either.

Outside the window, flashes of light flickered—seemingly a magical clash. This was because many teachers and students had been gathered at the Holy Church Building, and at this moment, Ulrich's subordinates were responsible for drawing their attention.

But those poor fools, fighting to the death or being captured, had no idea that the Sacred Mutiny had already fundamentally failed.

Tina yawned. Just then, several spells clashed in the eastern sky, triggering explosions in midair.

Shortly after, a golden, hemispherical barrier instantly sealed off the entire eastern campus.

It seemed the academy had acted very quickly this time.

Perhaps someone had given them an advance warning.

Could it have been Sathya? No, she probably wouldn't reveal these things to the people of the Church.

“Time for a bath.”

Tina changed her clothes, walked into the bathroom, and turned on the shower.

Warm steam rose from the tub, filling the small bathroom. She relaxed and let her body sink into the hot water, her pale skin seemingly enveloped in a soft halo the moment it submerged.

Suddenly, Tina felt a dull ache in her left arm. It felt like a sudden slash, reminding her of being wounded by Sathya just a few hours ago. She lifted her arm and examined it closely. Miasma was seeping from the scar on her skin, as if countless invisible threads were pulling it open, making the deep, terrifying darkness grow even larger.

In truth, wounds contaminated by the power of chaos were not entirely uncommon.

However, Tina suspected that this might be a special “mark.”

At the moment she left the central area, she felt for a split second that Sathya had lost her intent to kill. Otherwise, she would have continued to find a way to pursue her, rather than just standing by.

In other words, did Little Ya have confidence that she could achieve her desired goal this way...?

She was about to call out to the System, but then she remembered that the current System couldn't check her physical condition at all. At most, it would report Sathya's status or mutter endlessly. Tina had already developed a resistance to the System.

“Maybe I should ask Miranda later?”

Tina muttered to herself before submerging her entire body in the water. She rarely had the chance to take a bath.

But once she lay down on her bed, she realized something was wrong.

At first, she felt an unbearable itch in her wound, which was soon followed by pain once more.

This was not an intermittent pain, but a steadily intensifying, burning, and tearing agony.

She immediately used magic to block the sensation in her arm, but it didn't help in the slightest.

“A c-curse...?”

Tina was already drenched in a cold sweat.

Clutching her arm, she curled up and took deep breaths to calm herself down.

But the moment she closed her eyes, she was plagued by hallucinations of her arm being torn to pieces.

“Little Ya, you dummy... that was so harsh...”

Tina murmured softly.

She tried pinching her own body to distract herself, and even channeled her mana to alleviate the pain, but at best, it only helped her maintain her composure.

When she opened her eyes again, the sun was about to rise. Unlike when she had first broken out in a cold sweat, Tina now felt nothing but a deep, biting cold.

She endured it like this until dawn.

In truth, not much time had passed, but just as she was about to head out, she discovered that the wound on her arm had worsened to a terrifying degree.

Originally just a straight scar, it had now fractured into crack-like patterns that extended across her entire forearm.

“Haa... haa...”

Crimson energy surged within the wound, as if it were absorbing the strength of her body.

Clearly, waiting had not brought any improvement to the wound.

And what drove Tina to even greater despair was yet to come.

“Knock, knock, knock...”

There was a knock at the door. The visitor was none other than Sathya.

“Yesterday evening, Velrose said you went home. Your body is doing fine, right?”

“Sister Tina?”

Tina originally didn't want to make a sound, pretending she wasn't there. However, her soft groans seemed to catch Sathya's attention, causing her to ask anxiously:

“Sister Tina, what's wrong?! Are you feeling unwell?”

“...”

“Sorry!”

With a crisp shattering sound, Sathya's magic broke the door lock.

She rushed into the room, immediately finding Tina's bedroom, and placed the porridge and soy milk she was carrying on the nightstand.

The girl before her was curled up under the blanket, her face pale as she panted heavily.

She was in terrible shape.

“Sister Tina!”

Sathya immediately rushed to her side, kneeling on the floor. She slid her hand under the blanket and tightly held her right hand.

Fortunately, it wasn't her cursed left hand.

Fortunately, she didn't discover the wound on my left hand...

A curse and its “master” would resonate, allowing the magical beast to know the hiding place of the cursed person.

But Tina had already blocked the flow of the magic circuit in her left hand, so Sathya couldn't detect it.

“I'm fine.”

“But you're in so much pain...”

“I just... didn't expect there to be, ugh... well, aftereffects.”

But even though Tina said this, Sathya insisted on staying.

Her expression was complicated, but mostly she just gently caressed Tina's hand.

That was all.

Thinking back, when Sathya was still a frail and sickly girl, every time she was bedridden, Tina would hold her hand and comfort her.

This curse was nothing, but she absolutely could not tell her about it.

After holding it in for a long time, Tina only managed to squeeze out two words.

“Dummy.”

But for some reason, Sathya seemed to look even happier?

Does she think I'm praising her...?

“Sister Tina, did anyone come looking for you yesterday?”

“Who?”

“She wore a maid outfit and had blue hair. I can't remember the other details clearly, but if you find her, you must contact me.”

Tina was momentarily speechless. Wasn't that just her when she was pretending to be the Demon King?

She didn't respond, only continuing to bury herself under the covers. Since there was a risk of exposure, doing nothing was the best course of action.

Sathya was certain that this was all the Demon King's doing.

Is the Demon King warning me? Did she curse Sister Tina too?

“Damn it.”

Sathya stayed by Tina's side like this. Once the sun had fully risen, she began searching the cabinets for medicine and various magical tools. She even contacted the dormitory manager, asking her to help fetch some medicine from the medical scholars at the Tower of Stars.

Tina blankly watched her busy figure, one hand hidden under the pillow beside her, and the other clutching her heart.

Why is it that the one who saved me is you, yet the one who hurts me is also you?

I love you so much, so much, so much...

Just then, the buzzing in her ears started again.