Chapter 11: Awakening

A light, a light that suddenly illuminated the endless darkness.

My eyes weren’t open, in fact, I had no sense of existing at all, but I could see, I could see everything here.

At first, it was just light, then a faint human silhouette.
Though it was just a silhouette, it gave off a feeling of greatness, like a reliable elder, or perhaps… a father?

I couldn’t see my own body; in fact, I couldn’t even feel its existence.
My vision couldn’t move either, the scene before me seemed to be imprinted directly into my mind.
Just a point of view, without even a soul-like body.

What the hell is this place?
Didn’t I already go to heaven?
Then what is this, an audience with God?
An audience for my eyeballs?

That silhouette really was like God, full of majesty yet also full of kindness, like a father, like the father of all things in this world.

…The father… of all things in the world?

The silhouette moved again.
“He” gently opened his arms, and with just this simple motion, the light exploded.
For a brief moment, my vision was filled with a dazzling light, and after the light dissipated, what appeared before me were the vast stars.

Shock, only shock remained in my heart.
What was unfolding before my eyes was the birth of a world!

With just one motion, a world was created!

The boundless stars were mysterious and beautiful, but there was no time to be immersed in them.
The edge of this “world” suddenly cracked as if it had been struck.
The moment the edge cracked, the entire expanse of stars rippled like a reflection in water, and countless stars within it dimmed and abruptly disappeared.

Wh-what… an attack on the “world”?

As if its rhythm had been disrupted by that external force, the changes of the stars were completely irregular.
If I had to describe the scene before me, it was like a video with its progress bar being dragged around randomly.
The chaotic changes of the stars were dizzying, making it feel as if the entire world was shaking.

But this “world” was obviously not just for show.
A portion of the stars suddenly began to shine brightly, the cracks at the edge were healed, and that external force could no longer be felt.
It seemed as if, with ease, the “troublemaking” force had been expelled.

But after expelling that force, the “world” seemed a bit at a loss.
It was a very strange feeling.
I couldn’t say why, but I just felt that the “world” didn’t know what to do, as if what it was originally supposed to do had been disrupted, leaving it at a loss, not knowing what to do now.

…Why do I suddenly find this “world” so cute?!!

But soon, the “world” found something to do.
Two human figures formed from light gradually appeared.
I couldn’t make out any physical features, but I could tell that one was male and one was female.

From the moment these two figures appeared, a warm feeling welled up from the bottom of my heart.
It was a warmth I had never felt before, a feeling of being able to rely on someone.
Something that had been missing from my heart for a long time seemed to be filled, and all my confusion disappeared.

Father?
Mother?

I didn’t know what I was feeling, or rather, I had completely lost all feeling.
I just looked at those two figures of light, without any thoughts, without any emotions.
Perhaps I had once thought about how I would react if I could find my parents.
Would I cry my eyes out?
Or would I show my truest smile?
Would I treat them like strangers because I had lost my memories?
But now, facing these two figures of light, I couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t do anything.

But there was always a faint warmth, surrounding me.

Ah… is this what it feels like to have family?

The male figure suddenly shattered into specks of light, in a time so short I couldn’t react.
The largest fragment floated down in front of the female figure, and she raised her hand to gently catch it.

…Eh?

I couldn’t understand what had happened.
That warmth was still there, and my thoughts couldn’t switch over.
The female figure held that fragment and suddenly “looked” this way.

It was just a subconscious feeling, a feeling that she was looking this way, a feeling that she was smiling.

「It’s a real shame I can’t be by your side. You must grow up, my child」

I couldn’t explain it.
No sound came, but I felt those words.
After conveying those words, the female figure “smiled” and turned into specks of light.
The largest fragment floated in front of the fragment left by the male figure, and the two merged together, becoming a crystal of light.

The “crystal” rushed over, floating at the source of my vision.
My vision was already occupied by the “crystal,” and the increasingly bright light obscured everything.
But my vision seemed to be blurring, and darkness was spreading from the edges.
Before my entire vision was obscured by darkness, I seemed to see a strange black energy rush into the crystal.

And then, a feeling of falling.

Exhaling, Stephen rubbed her forehead and struggled to get up from the floor.

The woman had never looked so disheveled: the band tying her hair had fallen off, her blonde hair was scattered messily, her white coat had slipped down to her elbows, and the bloodstains on the front of her shirt were shockingly conspicuous.
There was still an untended smear of blood at the corner of her mouth, and her face was terrifyingly pale.

“To think something like this would happen… it’s just a child, why would she have such terrifying mental power…”

Stephen’s ability was “Mind Interference,” which, to put it bluntly, was the attack and use of mental power.
The mental power of ordinary ability users was not strong, as it was only used to control their abilities.
But the ability of a psychic-type ability user was the use of mental power itself, so their mental power, compared to that of ordinary ability users, was like the difference between an ocean and a stream.

‘Could this child also be a psychic-type ability user? But that powerful mental power was like a vast universe. Just an unconscious defense made my soul tremble, and my mental power was repelled, causing me considerable trauma. Even an S-rank ability user couldn’t compare to this level of mental power, right?’

Looking very seriously at the child on the bed, Stephen was at a loss for what to do.
Her ability was more effective against humans than against the less intelligent Aberrant Beasts, so it was often used to treat mental illnesses or repair severely damaged mental power.
That’s how she got the title “Light of the Heart.”
Right now, this child had given up the will to live, or in layman’s terms, her heart was already dead.
To save her, she could only use her ability to invade the depths of her soul, find the reason, and give her the will to live.
But now, she couldn’t even probe with a single shred of mental power, so how could she save her?

“Forget it, Shun left it all to me. If I can’t save her, where will I show my face!”

Gritting her teeth, Stephen, despite her injuries, activated her ability again, intending to give it her all one more time.
However, just as she activated her ability, the person on the bed suddenly sat up with a cry.

“Don’t!”

This sudden turn of events left Stephen stunned in place, still maintaining a very chuunibyou-looking power-up pose: legs spread like in a horse stance, hands pushing forward, and her long hair as messy as a madwoman’s, truly possessing the air of a “master.”
And at this moment, countless thoughts flashed through the “master” Stephen’s mind, a hundred emotions mixed together, finally converging into a single sentence.

‘Are you messing with me?!!’

It was like a doctor encountering a terminally ill patient, who, after working until they coughed up blood without a cure, was about to make one last desperate attempt, only for the patient to suddenly shout, “Wow, I’m all better!”
Anyone in that situation would probably lose their temper.

“You brat… well, it’s good that you’re awake. I have a few questions… Hey! Are you listening to me?”

The girl who had just sat up was stunned for a few seconds, then her trembling hands touched her throat, and then she frantically touched her face and hair, as if she were possessed, completely unresponsive to Stephen’s words.

Stephen rubbed her temples, took a deep breath, and spoke again, “Calm down first, you’re still alive. This is Central City ‘Xia.’ I’m Stephen from the ‘Guardians.’ Can you tell me about your previous experience?”

“…Who… I… I’m not dead… This is… no… who…”
The girl still ignored Stephen, unconsciously muttering broken words, her emotions seeming extremely unstable.
And along with those jumbled words, an unusual fluctuation that only ability users could perceive emanated from the girl’s body, causing Stephen, who was standing beside her, to cry out in alarm.

“Mental disorder, ability out of control?!”

An ability user’s ability was controlled by their mental power, so once an ability user’s mind became disordered, their ability would basically go completely out of control.
A completely out-of-control ability might erupt directly, or it might mutate, turning the ability user into a “humanoid Aberrant Beast” along with their disordered mind.

No matter which situation it was, it would bring about a devastating blow, and Stephen could not let it happen.
But this child couldn’t die either.
If that was the case, then she might as well take a risk.

Rushing forward and grabbing the girl’s hands, ignoring her unconscious struggles, Stephen infused her mental power into her voice and roared, “Calm down! Xia Lixing saved your life! He didn’t save you so you could become like this! Right now, Xia Lixing’s life or death is unknown, and you’re the only one who knows his whereabouts! So you can’t have anything happen to you! Do you understand!”

The roar, infused with mental power, finally reached the girl’s ears, reached her consciousness.
Her unconscious struggles gradually subsided, and the light returned to her unfocused eyes.

‘…Xia Lixing? Right… my name is Xia Lixing… I am “Guardian” Xia Lixing, but this body…’

‘This life was saved by Xia Lixing? Has my body become like this… so no one recognized me, and thought I was a stranger who was saved.’

‘Life or death unknown… it seems that my original body has indeed become like this. Or perhaps this body was not transformed from my original body, and my original body has already turned to dust.’

‘Does this count as becoming a different person? Or do the memories in my mind belong to “Xia Lixing,” and not to “me”? Have “Xia Lixing’s” memories entered my mind?’

‘No, it doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that I am an ability user, a “Guardian”…’

‘I am still alive!’