"...Hi, fancy meeting you here."

The moment those words left Nathan"s mouth, Isabell hugged him tightly and broke into tears.

"I tho..ought you weren"t going to wake up."

"Nathan?"

Lilith and Leon also awoke from Isabell"s loud sobs. Their appearance told Nathan that it hadn"t been long since the dungeon of trials event.

Lilith"s flawless skin was sickly pale and had rashes resembling patches of pinpoint red and purple spots. The signs of blood loss were still evident. Leon was worse. With disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, it looked like he hadn"t slept for a few days.

All three of them had dark circles under their eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

"…I"m okay."

Seeing them, Nathan"s brows knit. The atmosphere didn"t feel right to him. Sure he had been unconscious, but it was only because of ether exhaustion. With how all three of them were acting, Nathan felt something was wrong, especially Leon.

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"Why does he have such a guilty expression?"

"Nathan …can you move your hand?"

"Yes? What are yo…"

Slowly, Nathan stopped speaking. Feeling something amiss with his movements, he raised both of his hands.

,m "…."

His eyes widened in horror.

…he couldn"t move his left arm.

Trembling, he removed the blanket on his left side. Seeing his arm, his mind was plunged into chaos.

His entire left hand was entirely numb and black like charcoal.

Nathan repeatedly opened his mouth and closed it, unable to form words.

"Nathan."

Only when Isabell placed her palm on his hands did Nathan come out of his stupor.

"N..no this can"t be happening."

He hurriedly used every ounce of energy he could muster to move his left arm, but nothing happened.

He used his right arm to support his left arm and move it, but nothing happened.

But he didn"t stop. He tried again and again and again.

….but nothing changed.

"Stop it."

Not being able to see Nathan in such a condition, Isabell tried to stop him. But Nathan, not even lifting his head to look at her, smacked her hand away.

Nathan still hadn"t given up

…he was desperately trying to deny what he was seeing.

-THUD!

Nathan"s left arm fell back on the bed.

His eyes held on emotion in them as he stared at his arm. No matter how much he tried to move his left arm, he couldn"t do anything.

He only lifelessly stared in front.

"Nathan, I..I"m sorry."

Nathan ignored Leon"s apology. No, it was better to say he couldn"t even hear Leon.

"If only I had defeated the demon earlier, this wouldn"t have happened."

Blood flowed from Leon"s clenched fists as he bowed. According to the doctor, Nathan"s left arm had been corrupted beyond repair. He would never be able to move it again.

"Leave…"

Nathan wanted some time for himself. A little bit of time to sort his thoughts. But Leon shook his head.

"I will not."

Leon himself had gone through the depression of losing something precious. The only reason he was able to get out of it was because of his master. If she hadn"t persisted after him, Leon will never have been able to recover again.

This was why Leon understood that Nathan needed support. Nathan could hate him as much as he wanted, but Leon wasn"t going to leave him alone.

"Leave…"

"No. This only happened because of me so I-"

"I said leave!"

Nathan grabbed Leon"s collar.

"Why are you here? Pity? This happened because of you? Get down from your high horse. You are disillusioned. Do you think you are some kind of messiah? Or do you think you are superior to others? This happened because I was weak! It has nothing to do with you."

All of them flinched at Nathan"s sudden outburst.

Leon could only open and close his mouth under Nathan"s glare. Finally, Isabell spoke.

"Let"s give him some time to sort his thoughts."

-CLICK!

Nathan watched them leave before moving. Without speaking another he stood and walked to the window.

Supporting himself, he stood at the windowsill and ...jumped.

-PHZZT!

Nathan"s feet landed on the cold metal of the sword flying in the air. Crouching, he coiled his leg muscles to the maximum and jumped up.

-PHZZT!

Constructing another sword under his feet when his momentum ended, he continued moving to the top of the building.

***

-THUD!

I plopped to the ground while breathing heavily.

WOOSH-

Cold air brushed against my skin, but I couldn"t even feel anything from my left arm. Sitting on the hard floor, I looked at the scenery in front of me.

Three moons shined in the night but the light coming from the buildings was even brighter. I could see tall buildings everywhere I turned my head.

Standing on top of such a building, the people on the ground looked like ants.

A hollow chuckle left my mouth as I recalled how hard was it to climb here. I only had to construct swords and keep jumping until I reached the rooftop. Even if I was exhausted, the activity wasn"t very strenuous.

But I almost fell several times because I couldn"t even maintain my balance.

Laying on the floor and kept staring at the night sky.

What was I supposed to do now? I had an idea about my condition but I wanted to deny it at all cost after all it meant that I...

(Have you calmed down a bit?)

I nodded my head in response.

(I told you. Every action has a consequence. You can forget about being able to heal your arm.)

"Thank you for the encouragement."

After answering back in a voice oozing with sarcasm, I stopped speaking altogether. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes.

Suddenly I realized something.

"Do you know what happened to my left arm?"

(It"s as you think. The curse that the demon was supposed to use on Tia was used on you.)

I covered my face. It was exactly as I feared. In the story, the demon left a curse on Tia before dying. Using that curse, it was able to partially take over her and make her the main antagonist of the semester-end event.

But in that event, Susan was also fighting with everyone. Thus, they were able to handle the corrupted Tia.

It was only when another clone interfered and merges with Tia, completely taking control over her did the situation worsen.

It was at this event that Leon was supposed to awaken and ultimately defeat Tia.

"But this isn"t how it was supposed to happen."

The curse was supposed to be undetectable, unlike how my arm was.

(Your body had almost no ether left after you forcibly conjured the spell. In that state, Nether easily corrupted your arm, making you susceptible to the curse.)

Was this the price I had to pay for forcibly using Ether?

Normally I shouldn"t have been able to use a spell in that state when my ether reserves were rock bottom, but I had a grimoire.

A grimoire forcibly channels the mana inside one"s body to complete a spell.

When I used the grimoire, it channeled every bit of Ether, even the Ether my body was subconsciously using to support my bodily functions, to complete the spell.

This was why I was unconscious for at least a few days, contrary to the norm of being unconscious for a day at most.

(But..)

"But?"

(You don"t need to worry about the curse. The curse on you won"t work on you. The only fact is that your arm will remain forever like that.)

"..How do you know that?"

Only now did I notice that he knew too much about my condition.

(The demon told me.)

The demon told him!?

Before I could speak, Eth continued.

(The curse is Caim"s unique ability. He can move his soul inside one of the beings he has corrupted and devour the being"s soul to take the body"s control. However, he can"t do that with you.)

"Why can"t Caim do that?"

From how Eth spoke, it seemed Caim was that Royal Demon"s name.

(That …Forget it. Once you reach Proficient mastery, you will be able to look inside your soul. You can see for yourself, then. Till then, just know that Caim can"t do anything to you other than what has already happened.)

"Stop trying to be so cryptic!"

Unknowingly, I shouted. I was getting into a frenzied state, as I had with Leon. Back then, I had no reason to shout as I did.

Realizing my mistake, I asked again, but calmly.

"Tell me what it is. Why can"t Caim take over my body?"

Eth answered in a confused voice.

(Because he is …chained?)

My brows knit. Chained? Was that supposed to be some sort of code? What did he mean by chained?

(I can"t myself understand what is happening in your soul. Only that he can"t take over you. You should focus on more productive things. It will only take you a week or two at most to reach Proficient mastery. After that you can see for yourself.)

"Okay"

Truthfully, I should be doubtful of Eth from the way he was answering. But as I had said, for some reason, I knew Eth wasn"t lying.

"Meow!!!"

"Whoa!!"

The sudden voice almost made me fall from the roof. Turning my head, I looked at the reason for my fright.

A small black cat with red eyes was sticking to my left arm. A sigh escaped my lips.

"Who are you and when did you reach here?"

I had lost all senses in my left arm. Naturally, it included the sense of touch and pain, too. That was why I didn"t notice when this "cat" latched onto my left arm.

I tried shaking the cat away, but it didn"t budge an inch and kept chewing my left arm. It stuck like a koala to its mother.

I could only look, trying to see what it was doing.

"Are you hungry?"

The cat stopped its chewing and looked at me. Seeing the cat"s reaction, my eyes widened.

"A beast that has a semblance of intelligence? Should I say as expected of Ward?"

After the First Disaster, all animals evolved. The unintelligent species that weren"t from Earth are called monsters, and those that are from Earth are called beasts. There were more differences between beasts and monsters, but that depended on the Stage of the monsters" habitat.

Anyway, it was a given that this wasn"t a cat but a beast similar to a cat. What was surprising was that it seemed to have a semblance of intelligence from the fact it understood my words.

"Let"s feed you something."

Picking the cat with my right arm, I jumped from the roof.

***

"What should I do?"

Leon"s voice quivered as he thought back to how Nathan acted.

"Why is he always thinking about others?"

Leon was aware of how he looked now. But never did he think that Nathan would notice that moment after waking up.

Wasn"t that why Nathan shouted at Leon? To make him think that it wasn"t his fault.

That Nathan"s condition was Nathan"s own fault.

"He could have said it isn"t your fault. But he said whatever happened was because of himself."

Leon bit his lips when he realized that Nathan was trying to take the blame on himself. Nathan didn"t want Leon to feel responsible for what had happened.

Nathan was rescued near the central room. On medical check-up, it was found only his left arm was corrupted. This meant one thing: the demon never controlled Nathan.

"Nathan met someone and upon hearing someone was going to fight the demon, he came to help."

This was what all of them believed. This was why Nathan crossed the hordes of minions and came to the central room when he wasn"t being controlled by the demon.

This meant Nathan wouldn"t have gotten corrupted if he hadn"t come near the central room.

"Don"t blame yourself."

Isabell spoke to Leon.

"Nathan…he always helps others, but he flips when it comes to himself. He shuts anybody out who is trying to help him. …It"s been the same since that day."

Looking at Isabell"s sorrowful eyes, Leon realized that maybe there was a reason behind how Nathan acted.

"Can you tell us more about him?"

"Hmm"

Isabell had seen that Leon, after waking up, never once left Nathan"s side. Lilith also came regularly, leaving her rehabilitation, to check on Nathan.

Watching both of them, Isabell realized that they truly cared for him. Unwillingly, she nodded her head.

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