A fatty that was standing behind them charged at me.
A body that moved awkwardly as if it had never moved other than to eat.
In contrast to him, I had diligently trained my body to try and overcome my disability.
I swiftly turned my shoulders to dodge his crude punch and struck his bloated abdomen.
Hit! Hit!
“Kugh, uh…”
He collapsed to his knees while drooling.
Wasn’t this fatty a baron?
How unsightly.
Whatever.
If I cared about that, I wouldn’t have started this.
I quickly recovered my fist and turned to face my next opponent.
It was then-
“You─you bastard! You dare to hit me?”
“Did you just…”
Ben Polt.
The one that got his nose crushed was now standing up, his hands held above his head.
There was a hint of madness in his eyes.
Bluish mana started twitching around in his hands.
It was the motion of casting.
A little flustered, I looked at the scene and muttered,
“Lightning Bolt?”
Had he gone insane?
It was only normal that casting spells outside of set training classes and places was forbidden.
Disciplinary action would be taken if this rule was broken.
On top of that, if the spell was aimed at a person.
It was reasonable that they would be expelled.
However, this guy looked like he had decided that none of that mattered, shouting as he gripped the twitching lightning.
“You insect-like disabled bastard…”
“……”
“Dieeee!!”
A feeling I’d never felt before dominated my body.
My senses started working at double the speed, yet as if I were frozen, my hands and feet refused to move.
An unfamiliar feeling.
This was definitely… fear.
Fear of death!
But before I could even register the fear, the flashing blue light in front of me bounced up.
…uh?
“Stop this right now!”
I could hear Professor Hydel’s shouts from somewhere, but my body was already floating in the air.
In an instant, my vision turned 180 degrees.
Flop!
As I hit the ground, I lost consciousness.
* * *
You’re the incarnation of the Draka, Destroyer of Worlds.
Artifact “Player” has activated.
Restriction lifted on Status Window.
* * *
I had a dream.
Someone with a robe covering them was looking down on me, his eyes burning bright.
I didn’t know why, but when he stroked my head, I felt solace.
It was as if he had looked after me for a very long time.
It felt like he was asking me,
“Are you ok?”
“……Ack!”
My eyes opened.
As I woke up from my dream, I was greeted with a marble ceiling.
The face of the man vanished, a blonde woman in her 30s taking its place.
“Are you awake?”
The high-ranking healer of Ignit Magic Academy.
I opened my closed mouth and managed to squeeze out a sound.
“Where─where am I?”
“You’re in the recovery room. You’re safe now, so don’t strain yourself and stay lying down.
“……”
The recovery room of the academy.
I was laying on a bed, a dot-like stone with healing making inscribed on it next to my head.
I rubbed my eyes.
‘Did I… pass out?’
Just a moment ago, it looked like I fainted after I got into a fight with Ben Polt and hit by his magic.
I asked Helen, the healer,
“How long was I out for?”
“Half a day… no, closer to a full day.”
“Ah…”
“It’s a relief it was only this much. You were really lucky.”
Helen continued talking.
That it was a miracle that I took a Lightning Bolt head-on and survived.
That Professor Hydel quickly applied healing magic and brought me to the recovery room.
“How’s… my body? Am I ok?”
Helen tilted her head, seeming confused as she answered my question.
“We’ll have to check a few more things but… for now, you’re doing fine. No, you’re unnaturally normal for what happened.”
“What?”
“Ah. Don’t misunderstand. It’s just, for someone who got hit by Lightning Bolt directly, you are completely normal. No wounds, no damage to the body, no burns, no internal damage either. There’s nothing wrong. This is the first time I’ve seen this.”
“……”
“If it sounded like I wanted you to be hurt, I apologize.”
Helen was telling the truth.
My reflection in the window looked normal. Like I’d just woken up from a nap.
‘How did this happen?’
Lightning Bolt was, in principle, a spell that melted flesh and ruptured organs in an instant.
A dangerous and terrifying spell.
The healing magic cast on me by Professor Hydel was only at the level of first aid, so it didn’t help in recovery at all.
Especially against deadly burns.
However,
“No, No. Don’t move your body too carelessly.”
I tried spinning my arm around, bending at my waist, and even stood up on the bed and started jumping.
It was all normal.
“No, this doesn’t make sense…”
I looked over at Helen, speechless, and she laid me back on the bed.
“Even though you look fine, you need to calm down for now. Ok?”
“…Ok.”
“I called for Professor Hydel, so until he gets here, please rest.”
“Thank you.”
I pulled the blanket all the way over my head and slowly closed my eyes.
What just happened appeared clearly in my mind.
As soon as they mentioned my father, my eyes went blind with rage.
A fight that happened because I couldn’t contain my boiling anger.
A thrown fist.
And then… Lightning Bolt.
It was an accident that was blown out of proportion.
And at the same time, I experienced such an intense fear for the first time.
‘I nearly died.’
Death.
I thought it was far away.
But I was too naive.
Death was always nearby…
So close that you’d never know when or where it could get you.
‘A report would’ve been sent to my father…’
A report was definitely sent.
Ah.
My head was getting filled with complicated thoughts.
‘Helen is right.’
Helen was right that what I needed the most right now was to stay calm…
I wiped away my thoughts and closed my eyes again.