Chapter 183

[Third Person's PoV] 

After Akane finished explaining the signs of an awakener, the door opened, and another person entered the room. He wore a lab coat and glasses, bearing a strong resemblance to Akane with his black hair and eyes—features common among many Japanese people.

"Onii-sama, what are you doing here?" Akane asked curiously.

"I heard you came back injured from the camp with survivors. Did you really think I wouldn't come to check on you?" 

Akane smiled awkwardly. "Oh... As you can see, I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

"And these two are...?" Akane's brother asked, turning toward Minoru and Zelda.

"These are the ones I owe my life to, Minoru and Zelda," Akane introduced them. "Minoru, Zelda, this is my brother, Akira Nishino."

"I see. So, you two saved my clumsy sister. Thank you," Akira said as he shook their hands. He held Zelda's hand a bit too long, causing Minoru's eye to twitch and Zelda to subtly pull her hand back.

*"I don't like them... That woman and this man rub me the wrong way. Something's suspicious about them,"* Zelda shared through their mental link.

Minoru inwardly chuckled. *"They do, don't they..."*

"If you're strong enough to save my sister, then we at Messiah would be more than happy to welcome two powerful Knights," Akira said, attempting to sound friendly.

As Akane got up from the bed, she turned to Minoru and Zelda. "Come on, I'll give you a proper tour of Messiah."

"You should be resting, not moving around," Akira said with a stern expression.

"I'll be fine. I'll just walk this injury off," Akane replied, motioning for Minoru and Zelda to follow her, which prompted Akira to sigh in exasperation.

As they walked through the halls, Akane noticed Minoru giving her an odd look. "What?" she asked, suddenly self-conscious.

"You don't just 'walk off' injuries. Pain, maybe, but injuries? You should be resting," Minoru teased, causing Akane to blush slightly.

"Sorry, I just can't sit still for long, which is why I'm always out fighting monsters."

"If you're constantly fighting, you should at least enhance your healing rate with your mana. That way, you'd recover quickly," Minoru advised.

"I can do that?"

Minoru and Zelda stopped in their tracks, staring at her in disbelief. "You haven't been doing that?" Zelda asked, astonished.

"Well, we all have a natural healing factor thanks to mana, but I didn't know I could boost it further. We've only had mana for three years, so we're still discovering its full range of effects, aside from enhancing our physical abilities."

"Here, give me your hands," Minoru instructed. Akane shyly placed her hands in his, and Minoru began to guide her mana, teaching her how to rapidly and effectively heal most injuries in her body.

"Wow, I feel amazing—better than ever, honestly," Akane said, amazed as she stretched her body.

"That's because you had hidden injuries you didn't even notice," Minoru sighed.

After Akane thanked him, they continued walking. Minoru then asked, "Hey, can I ask you a strange question?"

"Sure," Akane said, eager to help.

"What do you remember from three years ago?"

Akane looked at him in confusion as he elaborated. "You see, when the world went to hell, I was at home when everything collapsed on top of me. I was trapped for days, digging my way out. When I finally got out, everything was already in ruins."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been tough for you. As for me, three years ago, I was walking home from school with some friends when suddenly cracks began to appear in the sky. 

Everyone thought the world was ending, but as the cracks widened, they started to appear right in front of people. From these cracks, demonic creatures emerged and began wreaking havoc, destroying everything in their path.

I still remember standing there, frozen in fear, as one of them attacked my friends while I did nothing… That's one of the reasons I can't sit still anymore. If I do nothing, more people will die when I could have helped."

'Girl, I didn't ask for your life story. Just the details of the event, not your personal trauma…' Minoru thought, a bit exasperated.

"Ah, sorry for making you relive that. That was my bad," Minoru said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Akane chuckled, shaking her head. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't get sidetracked. At the same time as the cracks appeared, mana began to pour into every corner of the Earth. When people were bathed in it, they started to grow stronger and fight back against the creatures. However, that was only the first wave of monsters. 

After the cracks came the portals, and from those portals, more creatures spilled out—creatures unlike anything we had ever seen. No one knows where these portals lead or what lies beyond them. All we know is that with each new wave of monsters, more and more lives are lost.

People began to lose hope as the monsters kept coming, each wave stronger than the last. We tried to keep up, but it felt like we were constantly falling behind, with barely any time to catch our breath," Akane recounted with a tired sigh, her voice tinged with exhaustion.

As she spoke, they passed by a group of survivors who bowed to her in respect, their eyes filled with a mixture of gratitude and despair.

"Well, I'm not sure how much you know—maybe you know this better than I do, given how hazy my memories have become thanks to all this magic. But when mana first emerged in this world, it was a foreign research institute that discovered its existence. They announced that they had trained 'Knights,' individuals capable of wielding magic to fight back against the beasts. That's when Japan joined the study of magic.

And then, the first official Knight of Japan was born. They say she was a beautiful girl with golden hair. They called her the Original Knight. She struck down the beasts and monsters, protecting everyone in her path.

Naturally, people began to rally around her because of her strength. By her side, they built the last utopia, a large fortress they named Arcadia. Within its walls, people returned to a semblance of normalcy and peace. The Original Knight became a symbol of hope for Japan…

But that was before she went on a rampage, slaughtering the population of Arcadia. They say she was consumed by her own overwhelming power, losing her sense of self before she vanished, never to be seen again.

With the symbol of peace gone, hope crumbled, and the world fell into despair and chaos once more," Akane finished, her voice heavy with the weight of the past.

'One thing that confuses me about all this,' Minoru pondered silently, 'is where are the Rulers in all of this? I don't detect a single trace of their presence here or in anyone. Normally, when a Monarch is involved, there's a Ruler to oppose them. Hell even I think Akane would be a great Ruler's vessel, I would have assumed she would have been picked as one. But all I seen inside her is an abundance of Mana waiting to be unleashed'