Chapter 10: A little something
"Dead?" thought the girl in the witch hat, frowning, her wand tapping rhythmically against her temple. She sighed in frustration. What an utter waste.
Month—a whole month spent on this boy, and for what? School had already dismissed for the semester, yet she remained behind, tethered by unfinished business with the young man who now looked very much dead.
His entire body was charred beyond recognition. It was only thanks to a high-grade healing potion and a mid-tier restoration spell that he had survived the last fourteen days. But now? Now it was over. She had gained nothing. Not even confirmation if the person who sent him was a high-ranking agent of the Academy, as she had long suspected. He was maddening—infuriating beyond words.
It felt like a months had passed, though it had only been one month. She had tried every method of torture she knew—testing, experimenting, pushing boundaries. She had even used her blessing on him, despite him being unawakened.
Everyone in this world was born with the ability to absorb atmospheric ether. Even those unawakened had that much. But without awakening, ether couldn’t be used—only felt. The ether channels and internal pool remained sealed, untouchable.
That was why her Helix Curse affected him with a hundredfold potency. He had no magical resistance; his body couldn’t form one, as the only path for resistance was locked away. And yet, even with all that—he never screamed. Not once.
At one point, she wondered if he had lost his voice. She shrugged it off.
Right now, she threw her hat across the room in irritation. He seemed dead. He wasn’t breathing. His body was frozen.
But...
She still felt something.
His body—it was still absorbing ether.