Eva’s heart dropped as she watched the poison spread faster.
Her hands shook as she held onto his ankle. "You can do this... you can do this," she repeated, her fingers shaking violently. She tried to use her powers, but only water droplets appeared in her panic.
Her heart pounding loudly in her ears, her surroundings falling silent as she tried to summon her energy, "Please work...please." Her eyes blurred, the bite mark growing darker and spreading up his legs.
"Work, dammit!" Eva tried to force energy out, but the water droplets fell onto Julian’s ankle, and a sizzling sound made Eva freeze in place.
Looking down, she noticed the water droplets were neutralizing the poison. She frantically controlled one, wrapping it around the wound and watched as it drew out the black liquid from the bite marks.
Then a thought flashed through her mind. When she spontaneously created those clouds, the rainwater from them could cleanse impurities from the body—so why not poison?
Her eyes lit up, her heavy heart lifted, and her tense shoulders relaxed. Eva watched the poison leave his body and the wound close. She collapsed onto the bed in relief—and at that mont, she noticed everyone else struggling to sit up.
Their gazes were filled with fear when they glanced at her—Eva had shattered the assumption they held about energy manipulators.
They were always seen as stronger than a healer but still weak compared to other power users—they were shocked that Eva absorbed their energy without breaking a sweat.
Eva ignored them and stood up after casting one last glance at Julian. She intended to use this chance to search for the snakes that had slipped in and see how many had died during the process.
Every person she passed froze, almost shrinking into themselves in fear—Eva’s expression almost twisted in anger.
’The hell is their problem?! Do I look like so kind of monster to them? ಠ ل͟ ಠ Shesh... I only absorbed their energy without harming them,’ Eva complained inwardly, crushing a snake’s head under her foot as if venting her frustration.
Ten people had died from a snake bite. Eva looked at their corpses with calm indifference, unable to muster any pity.
Eva brought her beast out from her space; surprisingly, it could still remain there even after the three‑day limit had passed. She was honestly envious of it.
"Foxy, guard Julian. If anyone cos within an inch of him—except Blaine—kill," Eva ordered coldly.
Foxy nodded in response, clearly understanding her words, then dashed toward Julian, transforming into its small form, and curled up at the foot of the bed.
Eva looked away and dragged the corpses to the edge of the do to bury them later.
Outside, Ethan and Aaron were barely holding on. The fire user panted, sweat streaming down his exhausted face. The intensity of his flas had waned, showing he was nearing his limit.
Eva scanned the dense snakes still trying to crawl in and their tired faces, then made a suggestion.
"Ethan, open your ice do and let through. I can use that energy blast to cut their numbers and give you guys so breathing space."
Eva noticed Ethan and Aaron getting ready to refuse and quickly interrupted them.
"If you’re worried about their poison, you don’t have to be. My water droplets can neutralize it. Let out for a mont." Eva’s tone was firm this ti, showing she wasn’t going to concede.
Ethan was silent for a mont, looking into her determined gaze, before reluctantly agreeing, but not before adding with a concerned tone, "I’ll drag you back in the first chance of overdrawing your powers."
Eva nodded, cringing slightly at the sight of the dense, crawling snakes. Ethan opened a small gap, and so snakes rushed in—only to be frozen solid. His lips pursed in a deep frown as he watched Eva stride forward.
Eva covered herself with a green do and strode calmly into the night—seeing a human, they turned their necks in unison and rushed forward.
She felt her skin crawl, but she didn’t stop and made sure she moved far from the do.
The snakes that tried to attack her felt their energy drain. They reared back, nodding in confusion, before realizing this human couldn’t be hard and crawling back to attack the do.
Eva closed her eyes, calming her breath; the harsh hissing fell silent. She sensed the humming energy in the air—her power core, resting close to her heart, thrumd in perfect harmony with the surrounding energy—before taking charge and beginning to absorb it.
A green hue was drawn from the surrounding snakes. She moved further into their nests, passing snakes that flipped belly-up, shrinking as all their energy drained away.
Eva didn’t just absorb the energy but condensed all the surrounding energy into a ball-sized beam that humd and sizzled with intense pressure.
Ti passed, and her body started to feel the toll of her actions—sweat slid down her chin, veins bulged in her neck from the strain of holding back the compressed energy from exploding.
"Not yet... have to go further..." Eva muttered through heavy pants. She stared at the beam hovering in the air and instantly knew the blast was going to cause nothing but destruction once released.
Ethan’s eyes were fixed on her figure, which seed smaller under the night sky. His fingers clenched tightly at his side—barely holding back from rushing to her—but he knew it wasn’t yet ti, so he watched, heart in his throat.
"I should bring her back," Aaron muttered from the side, already moving toward the edge, but a hand stopped him. He looked up to et Ethan’s worried yet restrained gaze.
"If you go there, you would beco a burden to her; she would have to protect you from the blast." Ethan refused coldly, knowing this blast was going to be different from the last one and wasn’t going to let Aaron cause problems for her.
The air grew tense—one eager to reach Eva, the other barely holding himself back.
But before anything could happen, the ground beneath them trembled as if an earthquake were about to erupt. A blinding beam of light shot across the desert, illuminating the surroundings for a split second, before a resounding boom shook the area.
The shockwaves shattered Ethan and Aaron’s do into tiny shards. The force pushed them back, but they recovered quickly and created another do to protect everyone.
Sand pits were scattered across the desert, the destruction stretching as far as a football field. Ashes of snakes littered the ground, and the force had thrown back those that survived.
Once they recovered, they retreated without hesitation, fearful that the humans might launch another devastating attack.
Eva fell face down on the ground, completely drained of her energy. She wasn’t hurt at all by the energy blast; she just needed to rest and regain the energy she lost.
"Haa... my back, my chest... (╥﹏╥) I nearly felt like those unlucky protagonists... ugh." The thought of being one of them almost made her gag out of fear.
She wanted a soft life—no heroism, no responsibility, none of those big words. Being a passerby was the best. The female lead of this story might be in a situation worse than mine. That thought brought her a strange sense of relief.
"Eva!" Ethan’s worried yell jolted her out of her thoughts.
"Here." Her voice was soft, too tired to shout. She hoped he heard her—or she’d have to sleep in this pit tonight.
Ethan didn’t hear her, but Wolfy rushed toward her using her scent.
He found her face down and jumped into the sandpit, which was already showing signs of returning to normal—carrying her in his hands, he t her tired eyes.
"Hi." The words slipped from Eva’s lips, making Ethan chuckle. He hugged her tightly, and the tension in his body lted away.
"You scared to death," he whispered softly into her ear before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Hmm... it worked... the snakes... won’t..." Eva’s words drifted off abruptly. Ethan glanced at her, a helpless smile curling on his lips as he heard her soft snores.
Aaron jumped down from his crow and rushed toward Eva with a worried expression when Ethan made a shushing gesture.
"She’s sleeping," he mouthed, then lifted the slumbering Eva onto his wolf and left the sandpit.
"She’s alright, just tired," Ethan explained when he noticed Aaron’s worried gaze—his words made Aaron’s hanging heart settle back in his chest.
They quietly walked back to the do, their eyes taking in the aftermath of the destruction. The sand was already healing itself, the pits gradually closing, burying the ashes of the snakes.
Though shocked by the destructive power of her new technique, they hoped she would never use it again. They needed to improve their ranks quickly; who knew what dangers lay ahead?
User Comments
0 comments from readers