Sleep little hare

I was floating through an endless sea of black. As time lost its meaning, I didn't know how long I had been here. With my formless mass of consciousness, I felt salvation once more. With no ability to feel happiness or anger, joy or sadness nor stress or relief, all I had left was serenity.

'Did I die again? Wait, what happened?'

As what could only be defined as instincts akin to thoughts, my non-existing brain still kept on producing its trademark inquiries, supposedly defying the logic of nothingness.

'What was I doing? I think I was at the... where was I?'

With my memories eluding me, my mind kept trying to find the answers I was looking for. Strangely, the harder I tried to grasp my past recollections, the more they eluded me. As if my remnants were the air around me, I could feel them but it was impossible to capture them.

'I hope the other.. the other what? What was I? Who was I,'

As my memories also started to dissipate like air, sinking and melding into the vast sea, I could feel my very being slowing down. Just like the feeling of falling asleep after a long day, my soul started to fade, slowly following the same road as my emotions and thoughts.

'I'm tired...'

With that last notion, my core accepted the comforting darkness. Just as I was about to get extinguished, a purple mass appeared. I gazed, without eyes, as the purple concentration of energy started to squirm, forming a different shape.

*Crackle*

A purple figure, in the image of a small boy. Seemingly made up of pure electricity, my deaf ears picked up the crackling unheard sounds coming from it.

Although I knew who it was, I couldn't remember him, even though I looked at it, I couldn't see it, and even if it let out sounds I couldn't hear them. Even with this, couldn't help but feel a sense of longing for the crackling youth, infused with the raw force of nature.

Confirming our untold connection, it reached out, what I somehow knew was, its hand towards me. My empty shell started getting filled once more, my senses slowly returning, and thoughts once again emerging, constructing an immediate conclusion.

'He is me and I am him. I need him and he needs me.'

With this, one, simple judgment, I took his hand.

When we connected, the dam broke. All of my suppressed feelings and senses washed over me. Anger and shame filled my being, creating an inconceivable feeling of disgust towards myself. At the same time, a tinge of excitement started to bloom as I got more and more in tune with my, what I could only assume to be, internal lightning.

'This is my power... Although I might be weak now, this will be how I grow stronger.'

As our connection reached a climax, I was filled with seemingly endless potential and energy. Fully fused, It had gotten to a point where I felt like a God. With every passing second, my power increased. Roaring thunders and fulminations created by the slithering of purple lightning, static coursing through my veins, and electricity firing up my synapses.

In time, I had been congested to the point where I could feel a slight pain, almost comparable to having eaten too much. It was uncomfortable, but eclipsed by the euphoria of becoming powerful, my core kept being filled by the purple energy.

That being said, when the pain continued to increase, my euphoria slowly got replaced with a sense of dread. Stress accumulated, clouding my already dimmed mind, pushing my earlier elation away. At some point, my small stature couldn't handle the power anymore.

*CRACK*

My very being shattered. The lightning-nature energy, which had been imbued in me, started to spread out. Putting the black sea on fire and with roaring winds creating a storm It thrust my soul into disarray. Accompanied by a soul-breaking pain, my breathing got robbed. Tormented by my soul getting destroyed, my thoughts raced.

'Fuck! I'm gonna die! I don't want to die! Why do I have to feel like this?! Why do I have to be tortured like this!?'

As my suffering culminated my brain started to slow down.

'I just wanted another chance. A possibility to attain love, and the prospect to live. God... if you do exist... Don't give me another chance if this has to be the result...'

With that, the thunderstorm stopped, and with it, my mind.

****

[Mike's Pov]

'What is happening...'

Staring at the lightning-covered demon in front of me, I felt as if I was caught in a net. Even with my brain knowing I was a lot more powerful than the young man, still holding his hand on the mana orb, I couldn't move. The overpowering presence had already forced all of the students to their knees, even making the young Arthur Pradd lose his consciousness. All students except for one.

With his dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes, he faced the sea falling on him with a pained expression. When the other students fell, he stood tall while still holding his gaze focused on Miren. With a powerful step, he moved forward towards the force of nature in front of him. Taking a shallow breath, he shouted.

"Miren! What are you doing?! Stop it!"

Another step forward, he motioned his arm to his left, trying to show Miren their classmates' suffering.

"Look around you! Can't you see they are suffering?! I don't know what is happening but you have to stop! Don't let your thoughts devour you!'

'He really is a strong kid, isn't he... Maybe he will be the key for Miren to survive in this harsh world...'

Having switched my focus to James, my head was filled with conflicting thoughts. Contrasting arguments were being formed in my mind.

'I don't know if I should stop this or not. I want to respect James's strength and resolution... but if this continues it might get dangerous for real..'

At this point, most of the students had already fainted with only Lindsey and Bayyan desperately trying to keep themselves awake. On their knees with their hands on the ground, with their survival instincts screaming, they tried their hardest as to not let go of their consciousnesses.

Seeing my niece like this tore my heart, but I still had to follow the principles of the academy. Resolving myself I made my decision.

'They can only rely on themselves. I will save them if there is a danger to their lives, but other than that I have to let them create their own fates.'

"Miren! LISTEN TO ME!"

With a powerful shout, James started to shine. Yellow energy enveloped the tall figure, creating an almost holy appearance. As he took yet another step towards the little fiend his eyes also started to emit a complementing blue glow.

"I CAN SEE THAT YOU ARE IN PAIN! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE, BUT THIS ISN'T IT! THERE IS NO WAY THAT THIS IS YOU!"

....

'Didn't you meet just yesterday...?'

Now standing just a meter from Miren with lightning almost licking his body, James prepared himself for one final attempt at waking him from his wake. As he took in a large amount of air Miren's presence faded a bit.

"Huh?"

'Huh?'

With me and James both being dumbfounded at the anticlimactic ending, the display behind Miren started changing.

[RE-CALIBRATING MANA GRADE]

The screen acted as a trigger for the submerging pressure to once more appear, stronger than ever and continually increasing. Looking at the screen I was stupefied. The little demon's mana grade was changing.

*Mana grade rank II [Lower]->Mana grade rank II [Middle] ->Mana grade rank II [Intermediate] ->Mana grade rank II [Intermediate]->Mana grade rank II [Higher]->Mana grade rank III [Lower]*

In an instant, Miren's mana grade had reached rank III and James fell to his knees, thrown off by the sudden increase of the waterfall of mana pushing him down.

'What the fuck is actually happening here?! Is he literally a demon-kin?! No, the principal wouldn't be so stupid... there must be something else in play here.'

With the ever-increasing pressure quickly surpassing even some of the experts on the academy, James desperately shouted at the little hare.

"MIIIREEEEEEENNNNNN!!!"

Yet, he was met with nothing. Not a single attempt from James had worked, this one included. Instead of calming the boy down, it seemed like he only got more agitated, proved by the accumulation of mana permeating the room.

*Thud*

As the screen showed a mana grade rank V [Middle], it got too much for James to hold on. Though the other students had fainted since long ago, Bayyan and Lindsey included, he had held on. Even while standing right in front of the natural disaster he had struggled to stay awake, but now his body gave up and fell to the floor.

I had already walked up beside James, with him not noticing because of the urgent matter in front of him claiming all of his attention. I had already let this go on for too long.

"You did well kid but you should let the adults clean their own arses."

Struggling, I made my way to Miren, painfully walking while being bitten by lightning. When I got in front of him, the screen already showed an impossible for a 16-year-old, mana grade rank VI [Middle]. With my right hand getting torched by the purple energy I took his hand off the mana orb and in a gentle voice I told him:

"Sleep little hare, you have worked hard."

With a sharp attack to his neck, he collapsed like a doll having its strings cut down to the floor.