Chapter 189: Awakening
Enji swallowed hard, his eyes shining with unshed tears of profound gratitude. He nodded fiercely, standing up. "Follow me. But... you know the condition. No one is allowed to see where I am taking you. Your eyes must remain closed."
"Fine," Hide agreed without hesitation, letting his eyelids fall shut.
Enji led him out of the room. Hide followed the sound of Enji’s footsteps, navigating a dizzying labyrinth of descending stairs and twisting corridors. After what felt like ten minutes of walking in the freezing underground air, the heavy grinding of a massive vault door echoed in the dark.
"You can open them," Enji whispered.
Hide opened his eyes and found himself standing in a sprawling, pitch-black medical room, illuminated only by a single, open skylight in the roof that filled the center of the room with brilliant moonlight.
At the exact center of the moonlight, Risa’s naked body lay inside a massive glass machine. Hide’s breath caught in his throat.
She was hooked up to a myriad of invasive sensors, intravenous pins, and thick wires pumping artificial life support into her. It was a horrific, unpleasant sight. Most of her veins were now swollen, bulging against her sickly pale skin in thick, necrotic dark-purple webs.
Hide didn’t waste a single second. He summoned the crystalline vial from his spatial inventory and shoved it into Enji’s chest. "Give it to her. If she can’t drink it, inject it with a syringe."
Enji scrambled to the machine, popping the glass hatch open. He tried to part her lips, but Risa’s mouth was clenched tight, locked in an agonizing spasm. Cursing under his breath, Enji grabbed a pneumatic syringe from a nearby tray, transferred the glowing silver liquid into the chamber, and injected it directly into the swollen main artery on her neck.
Hide saw through true sight, his blue eyes glowing vibrantly in the dark room.
The ethereal silver liquid flared like a miniature sun beneath her skin. It traversed rapidly through her circulatory system. But then, it did something completely unexpected. The liquid gathered at the center of her body, swirling and condensing exactly where the Core of an Awakened human should be.
Hide narrowed his eyes in deep confusion. Risa was not awakened. She had failed her assessment at sixteen, meaning her genetic structure was biologically incapable of forming a core.
But what he saw meant something else entirely. The medicine wasn’t just curing her; it was acting as a flawless foundation, forcefully drawing her latent, suppressed mana.
After collecting and refining into a perfect, pulsing sphere, the medicine once again coursed through her veins. Wherever the silver light went, it ruthlessly ate the dark, corrupted mana creeping through her body. The physical metamorphosis was staggering. The necrotic purple veins dissolved into harmless steam.
The residual shockwave of the purification process hit her hair, violently draining the dark color out of the strands until they turned as white as milk. Her once sickly skin became flawlessly pale, shimmering beautifully under the cascading moonlight.
The frantic beeping of the life-support monitors steadied into a calm, strong rhythm.
Slowly, her eyelids fluttered. She opened her eyes.
A massive weight had just lifted off Hide’s chest. A wave of overwhelming, profound satisfaction washed over him.
Risa blinked, her hazy vision adjusting to the moonlight. She slowly turned her head, her gaze falling upon the young man gripping the edge of her capsule. Enji had completely broken down. The stoic clan leader had given up to his emotions and was silently crying, heavy tears streaming down his face.
After thinking something, a weak, incredibly tender smile touched Risa’s lips. She weakly raised her hand, brushing her pale fingers against his cheek.
"Brother," she whispered, her voice fragile but clear. "You are not supposed to be crying."
Enji let out a wet, broken laugh, grabbing her hand and pressing it to his forehead. Risa smiled softly, her eyes drifting past her brother to the tall, lean figure standing in the shadows. She squinted, taking in the blue jacket and the familiar, yet completely changed face.
Her smile widened into something unbelievably warm. "Hide... your hair have gotten so big. I can’t even see your eyes."
Hide chuckled softly, running a hand through his silver bangs. "You don’t look much different yourself, snowflake," he replied, his voice thick with an emotion he absolutely refused to let show.
Risa tried to sit up, leaning heavily against Enji. As she looked around the massive, empty medical bay, her smile slowly faltered. She looked around, somewhat frightened, her voice dropping into a small, anxious whisper.
"Where... where is father?"
Enji stiffened. He exchanged a quick glance with Hide before gently wrapping his thick, dark coat around her naked shoulders. "He is gone on a mission, Risa," Enji said softly. "Somewhere far away."
The words seemed to physically take the breath out of her. Her milky-white eyes widened in panic, her hands trembling as she clutched the fabric of the coat. Hide watched her reaction, his brow furrowing.
He found it odd that she would ask about her father. But maybe he was wrong to think she didn’t care. Family was complicated.
"Come on," Enji said, gently lifting her into his arms. "Let’s get you out of here. Hide, shut your eyes."
Hide closed his eyes once more, following the sounds of Enji carrying Risa back up through the winding labyrinth. When they finally reached a warm, lavishly decorated room in the main estate, Enji told Hide he could open them.
Enji set Risa down on the soft futon, immediately pouring her a glass of water. She drank it greedily, her hands still shaking.
"I’ll have the maids draw a hot bath for you, and get you dressed—" Enji started, acting the part of the frantic brother.
"No, wait," Risa insisted, lowering the glass. She looked up, her expression haunted. "I... I want to say something. Something I saw."
"You need to rest, Risa," Enji insisted gently.
"Let her speak," Hide interjected, stepping closer to the futon. He looked directly into her eyes. "What did you see, Risa?"
Risa swallowed hard, her milky-white eyes staring blankly at the far wall.
"I... I dreamt of my father," Risa started, her voice trembling. "He was drowning. There was endless water around him... and something from above was casting a large shadow. Something big enough to make him feel like an ant."