Strong and the weak [3]

[Sarah's Pov]

*Thud*

"Arthur!"

Seeing Arthur's body once again fall to the ground as James dissipated into nothingness my legs faltered as I tried to get to him, making me fall onto the stage.

"Arthur... please..."

Despite having cried so much already, my eyes still didn't seem to have been emptied of tears as another salty stream came pouring out.

Looking at everyone's bodies lying limply around the floor that was covered in holes, with everyone's blood painting everything red, I wanted to at least try and save Arthur. And yet, my legs still couldn't move.

"Someone... anyone. Help me... Please help!"

Bellatrix, Adriana, Sebastian, and even Sophie. No one had been spared from the absolute violence that James had exposed them to, freshmen, sophomores, and third-years alike. So even though I didn't know how or why Arthur was able to stand up, or what he and James talked about, I knew I had to try and at least save him.

'So why can't I move?!'

"Sniff... please... Theia, please..."

"Haaa... He really overdid things, didn't he..."

Suddenly, from behind me, I heard a voice. A voice that I had heard so many times before that there was no doubt who had somehow managed to come here.

Turning around, I couldn't help but cry even more as I saw the man I had looked up to for so long, as always clad in his white lab coat.

"M-Mikael...!"

Walking over to me, he got on one knee and put a hand on my head.

"Yeah. That's me"

"Sniff! H-he... E-Everyone..."

"Don't worry."

Suddenly, my teacher and mentor stood up, and weirdly enough, his face didn't carry the panic or anxiety that should have been present, seeing as he walked down from the stage, into a room filled with death.

"M-Mikael?"

"They aren't dead. Not yet, at least."

"...huh?"

I wasn't sure what was more absurd; the fact that he claimed that after that hellish ability, that ungodly display of power, everyone was alive, or the fact that his face was still not showing even a hint of surprise.

"T-Then... can't you save them?"

"..."

For some reason, he didn't answer me, instead just walking over to the pink-haired girl who had been the first to try and stand up to James.

"[Invigorating Vines]"

Raising his hand, several green tendrils surged forward, connecting him to Sophie. And then, as the vines started glowing with a green hue, I could see Sophie's complexion slowly return to a more healthy look.

"Mikael...?"

Then, with a slight nod, as if it was good enough, he withdrew the vines, walked over to Arthur, and repeated the process. And though I should have been happy to see him save my friends, it didn't stop the growing sense of alarm in my stomach.

'Something's wrong...'

I wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about my teacher, something about Dr. Smith that just wasn't right. Unfortunately, it also didn't take long until I got to know what it was.

Having now healed Arthur as well, he finally turned to me, wearing a sad smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but this is all I can do. With some luck, the others might survive as well."

"W-what do you mean... Mikael?"

With the few remaining drops of blood draining from my face, I still didn't quite understand what was happening.

"I'm saying that I will not heal anyone else. And... I'm also sad to say that you will not be seeing me anymore. Because of that, I wish for you to live a healthy life. Goodbye, Sarah."

"Wait! Mikael, please wait! WAIT!"

Despite my desperate shouting, the mentor that I had known since I was but a child kept walking away, departing through the large hole in the side of the wall. That was when I realized what was going on.

"No..."

A moment later, he was gone, leaving me behind with a feeling of absolute dread. Because now that I looked around, I didn't see my dead comrades anymore. Now I could only see my friends who I had to save.

And I wasn't sure if I was able to do so.

Putting strength into my legs, I tried to get up, struggling to not think about the fact that I had lost yet another loved one. To not think about the fact that yet another of the pillars of support in my life had left me.

'Move...'

Even if had now lost both James and Mikael, I still had a chance. If what Mikael said was true, then I still had a chance to save my friends, to save the ones that I had slowly started to trust again, the ones that I thought I had at one point lost.

'Move...!'

Still trembling, I somehow managed to use my staff to get up on unsteady feet, ignoring the tears that kept streaming down my face.

Despite seeing the bloodied bodies across the floor, I forced myself to face them head-on,

'I... I will save them... I will save them!'

Raising my staff into the air, I began to move my mana, not caring about holding back at all.

"[Healing Winds]!"

The green winds flew forward and down from the stage, with me trying my best to make them surge through the entire room.

'More... I need more!'

"[Healing Winds]!"

Another surge of mana escaped my body as I once again desperately tried to envelop everyone with my magic. Yet...

'It's still not enough...'

No matter how I tried, I already knew that I was too weak to be able to heal them.

"Sniff... [Healing Winds]!"

I already knew it was useless, but I still didn't allow myself to stop.

"[Healing Winds]!"

I had already lost so much, and I didn't want to lose anything else.

"Sniff... please... [Healing Winds]..."

And despite that, it didn't matter. Because I was weak.

"Guh! Please...please...PLEASE! PLEASE LET ME SAVE THEM! AAAAHHH!"

Falling back on my knees, with my mana already gone, I screamed. I screamed so much that my throat got sore, so much that I began to feel the taste of blood in my mouth.

"Why! Why is this happening?!"

I just wanted to live a normal life, and yet, life just never stopped throwing these kinds of tragedies my way.

By now, the reality of the situation had fully taken hold of me as Mikael had brought me back to reality, only to then mercilessly rip away the hope that he had given me.

'-Do you want the power to save them?'

'Huh?'

Out of nowhere, a male voice rang out in my head, speaking with a soft but polite tone.

'-I asked of you, Ms. Lindt, do you want the power to save them?'

'I do... I do! I want it, I want the power to keep my friends alive!'

'-Then, Ms. Lindt, I will lend you a bit of my power, the power of Asclepius. However, this also means that you will have to struggle a lot more in the future as well.'

And then, a miracle happened.

****

[James' Pov]

"Are you done?"

"I am. But don't you think you should have gone easier on them? I could see that you tried to make sure no one died, but..."

"There wasn't, Dr. Smith... No, Zero. Now, we have to move."

Mikael had returned to me after accomplishing what I had told him to do, more specifically, healing Arthur and Sophie. Despite my best efforts of trying to not kill anyone, I still wanted to make sure that Arthur and Sophie made it out alive.

I already had too much blood on my hands after a single day, and even though I wanted to imprint a sense of dread into them, to try and open their eyes to reality, I was still not too keen on claiming more lives for no reason.

*BOOM!*

And with the fight that was still going on above our heads, I also knew that we didn't have time to wait for him to heal everyone.

Looking up at the crazy beings up in the air, going at each other's throats while sending out massive amounts of mana into every single attack, I couldn't say that I wasn't a bit nervous thinking about what I was about to do.

I had already told Mark to get the others to the portal room, which meant that I also didn't know when the principal and the teachers would move from the training room now that our troops had departed.

On top of all of this, I also knew that my body couldn't handle much more.

It had been one thing to use the ability, which in and of itself took quite a toll on me, but to try and control it to the degree where I minimized casualties had completely wrecked me.

"Get to the portal room with the others and get back to Jotunheim."

"What about you? What are you..."

"Just go. I will see you later."

"...alright."

Seeing Mikael running to the building containing the portals, I flared my wings with a sigh.

"Haaa... this is gonna suck..."