chapter 39 : Sense of Duty part 2

I was in a state of extreme concentration and was not aware of myself. Then, a sharp pain shot through my palm, as if an invisible dagger had been stabbed into my flesh.

"Aaargg..."

The scream escaped me without warning. My fingers twitched involuntarily, and the sword slipped from my hand, falling to the ground with a thud. My body staggered, and blood splattered all around, the sweat that had begun to accumulate on my arms now running in thick drops, soaking the entire floor.

I looked at my hands, trembling. My right palm was marked, with a wound I did not fully understand, as if an invisible blade had made contact with my skin, as if the price of accessing that state of unconsciousness was immediately claimed. Blood began to slide down my fingers, but it was not just the physical pain that disturbed me. There was something else, something in the air, a growing tension, as if the same energy that had guided my movements before had now turned against me.