The nurse beside Buddhist Hand raised his head and stared at Elias, his eyes narrowing with assessment. "Arrogance," he muttered. "Those born with S rank and above that are tailored for battle usually exhibit this delusion of owning the world. But if he is fortunate, the world will teach him its harsh lessons early and change that mindset before it's too late."
Buddhist Hand sighed deeply. He believed Elias was just another arrogant young talent, but he couldn't deny what he had witnessed during the battle. The memory replayed in his mind with crystal clarity.
Elias' ultimate skill had shattered the bleak atmosphere the Calamity Beast had created—a feat only Rank 2 hunters and above could achieve. More telling was how the Calamity Beast had turned its full attention toward Elias, giving only him and Sasha the focus needed to disrupt their attacks. It hadn't recognized them as the true threats.
'Still,' Buddhist Hand thought, his weathered face creasing with concern, 'that arrogance, if he maintains it, will bring him nothing but suffering in the future.'
"In that dream place, talent is not meant to react," Buddhist Hand said aloud, his voice carrying an edge of curiosity. "How did yours respond?"
Elias didn't fully understand it himself—yes, he hadn't felt his talent stirring within that otherworldly space. A faint smile crossed his lips, masking his uncertainty. "Mine affects it."
Buddhist Hand sighed again, looking down at his emaciated hands. This was the result of his defiance. "You should never have surrendered your mind to a beast just to lure it out. What if it effect is irreversible? What if you had died? What if your talent couldn't save you?"
The gravity in Buddhist Hand's voice made Elias's stomach churn. "I won't do it again," he promised, then clutched his abdomen as a wave of nausea swept through him. "The revolting feeling I felt when that... thing was removed from my chest is something I never want to experience again." The memory alone made his skin crawl—that foreign presence that had nestled within him.
A heavy silence fell between them before Elias asked the question that had been clawing at his mind since he'd awakened. "Where is Sasha?" His voice carried forced lightness, desperate hope. "That strong girl should be fine!"
"No. Actually..." Buddhist Hand said, his gaze shifting to somewhere behind Elias. The tent wall that separated them from the adjacent space kept Elias blind to what was happening.
"She is... kinda suffering," he added, his typical stoicism cracking.
Only then did Elias notice how the tent walls trembled sporadically. Rising from his bed, he approached and pressed his palm against the solid fabric. Through it, he sensed frantic movement and heard muffled groaning that turned his blood to ice.
His heart skipped a beat, then hammered against his ribs as he stepped back. A slithering spark of current suddenly ran across the fabric wall, forcing him to retreat further. The presence he sensed behind it was overwhelming—far stronger than Sasha had ever been.
Elias rushed out of his tent just as the entire Clinic Tent shuddered violently.
"Stay with me, Sasha. You are strong!" A man's voice—her brother's—carried through the thin veil separating the spaces.
"I...m. Arghhh!" Sasha's voice came, trembling and broken, before morphing into a guttural growl that belonged to no human throat.
"Do not fear it," her brother urged. "You are stronger than it. You are stronger than me. Don't feed it your fear. Resist, you are better..."
Elias stood frozen, rage and grief warring within him. Though the tent obscured his view, his mind painted a vivid picture: Sasha's body covered with black veins, the beast attempting to seize control, possessing her from within like a parasite devouring its host.
Through a tear in the tent's fabric, Elias glimpsed her brother pressing lightning-charged fingertips to Sasha's temple. The electrical jolt seemed to momentarily clear her consciousness, her eyes flickering back to normal for just a heartbeat.
"Bro... I'm sorry..." Her voice emerged weak, a whisper barely clinging to humanity. Her body convulsed violently, one eye clouding with murky blackness while the other maintained its natural hue—the visual manifestation of her internal struggle. Another spark to her temple freed her for precious seconds, but her body twisted into unnatural angles that made Elias's stomach lurch.
"I'm sorry I didn't wait for you," she continued, words spilling out in the brief moments of clarity. "I thought I could do it. I thought I could make you proud of meee...arghhhh!" Her final word dissolved into a scream that didn't sound human.
"That's not important," her brother insisted, his voice steady despite the tears streaming down his face. "You are strong, you are fearless, you are brave..." His words echoed through the tent as he continued sending pulses of lightning to her temple, desperately trying to keep her conscious, to keep her responding, to keep her herself.
Elias staggered back to his tent, overwhelmed by the complexity of emotions crashing through him. Sasha's anguish resonated within him as if it were his own suffering.
But worse was witnessing her brother's desperation. The man remained outwardly strong, but Elias could see the truth in his eyes—if he lost Sasha, something fundamental would shatter within him, something that could never be repaired.
Flashes of lightning from the Sasha's brother tore through places in the tent as emotions overwhelmed him. He found himself weeping, his composure crumbling as he shouted, "Don't leave me alone, Sasha! I can't live alone. All I did, all I'm doing is because of you... please. Don't leave this pitiful brother of yours."
Through the torn fabric, Elias caught glimpses of Sasha's deteriorating condition. Her body had gone limp, her hair saturated with murky liquid that seemed to pulse with malevolent life. Her eyes filled with the same viscous darkness, and black veins adorned her once-smooth skin like cultist tattoos. Most disturbing was her face—twisted into a grin of sadistic pleasure that belonged to something other than the girl he'd come to respect.