In the boundless and suffocating darkness, Helos felt like a drowning person.
Fear flooded in from all directions like icy seawater, overwhelming her reason.
She flailed her hands desperately, trying to grab even a single straw.
But soon, a warm and broad sensation pierced through the layer of cold darkness, tightly gripping the young girl’s small hands flailing in the air.
It was Julius’s hand.
That hand carried rough calluses from years of holding a sword, and the warmth transmitted from his palm was so blazing that it instantly dispelled most of the chill in Helos’s heart.
Julius’s firm, steady voice echoed in Helos’s ears, carrying a power that compelled unconditional trust, calming the girl’s panic.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m here. I’m right beside you.”
Helos gripped his hand back fiercely, her nails almost digging into his flesh.
“Julius…”
Her voice trembled as she spoke.
“I can’t see…”
“I really can’t see anything anymore!”
Julius gently patted her back with his other hand, his tone as soft as if coaxing a child.
“It’s okay. I’m here.”
But when he raised his head and turned his gaze to the ghost floating midair, who was watching with her arms crossed and an amused expression, the tenderness in his dark eyes vanished instantly.
Replacing it was a murderous coldness that seemed to freeze the air itself, along with the holy light already gathering madly in his palm, emitting a humming sound.
Boom
Without any hesitation or wasted words, Julius released one hand and fired a full-power holy light blast directly at the woman called Sylvia.
The golden pillar of light, like an enraged dragon, instantly engulfed the ghostly figure still posing midair.
“Aaaah!”
A piercing scream of agony instantly echoed throughout the Rose Pavilion lobby.
“Hot hot hot! It’s burning me to death! No, wait—I’m already dead!”
Sylvia was caught off guard by the sudden holy light, falling straight from midair, tumbling messily on the offering table as she tried to extinguish the holy flames that flowed like molten lava over her.
“You lunatic! Stop!”
She jumped and dodged within the light, her voice distorted.
“Do you want me to vanish into thin air?!”
“What did you do to Helos?!”
Julius showed no intention of stopping.
He stepped closer, and the holy light in his hand not only didn’t diminish but grew even more dazzling and blinding due to his anger.
His stern face was etched with fury, every word squeezed through gritted teeth.
“What happened to her eyes?! Didn’t you say the potion had no side effects?!”
“Oh! I already told you there are no side effects! Wait wait wait—put that holy light away first!!”
Sylvia cried out, clutching her head and scrambling to evade. She felt her soul about to be scorched dry.
‘He attacks at the slightest disagreement! And he uses high-level holy light specifically designed to counter undead! This chosen one is nothing but an unreasonable brute!’
“No side effects?!”
Julius laughed in anger.
He pointed to Helos, who was still blind behind him, her eyes vacant, and demanded harshly,
“Then what about her now?! You call this no side effects?!”
“Are you stupid?!”
Sylvia finally got cornered.
She leaped up from the table, ignoring the holy light still burning the hem of her skirt, and pointed at Julius’s nose, cursing loudly,
“That’s the effect of the potion! You illiterate fool!”
Hearing Sylvia’s justified roar, Julius, who was about to unleash a second wave of holy light, froze.
“…Huh?”
Even Helos, still panicking behind him, was stunned into a momentary pause by that shout.
“Effect?”
Julius frowned, pausing his movement for a moment, but remained on guard.
“What do you mean? You’re saying… the potion’s effect is to make people blind?”
“Obviously!”
Seeing that he was finally willing to listen, Sylvia quickly took the chance to hide in a shadowy corner where the holy light couldn’t reach, panting heavily.
As she resentfully examined her arm, which had been burned somewhat transparent, she roared at them in an extremely bitter voice,
“Human eyes are the most deceptive organs! You rely too much on sight! As long as you can see, you instinctively ignore all other perceptions!”
She pointed at Helos, speaking with a tone of disappointment,
“I told you! This potion is for ‘seeing’ mana!”
“The function of this potion is to temporarily block vision, forcibly cutting off the host’s field of view! But as compensation, it greatly enhances the body’s perception ability!”
“It’s called survival through adversity! Only in absolute darkness can you learn to ‘see’ with your heart! Use your instincts to sense the flow of mana around you!”
“This was a secret medicine that countless mages in the old days begged for to strengthen their perception! I’m the only one who still has the Recipe!”
Sylvia grew more aggrieved as she spoke, her voice on the verge of tears.
“I kindly take out my prized treasure for my disciple to use, and not only do I not get any thanks, I get burned by this ignorant big oaf with holy light!”
“And!”
She poked her head out from the shadow, stomping angrily,
“If I really wanted to harm her, why would I call you here as a witness?! Do I have a death wish—poisoning her right in front of you?!”
This speech was well-reasoned and logically airtight.
The anger in Julius’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by a hint of embarrassment.
He looked at the holy light still lingering in his hand, then at the female ghost cowering in the corner, and finally turned to Helos behind him.
“Helos, how do you feel now?”
He asked softly.
“Feel…”
Helos blinked her eyes, still without any focus.
***
After the initial panic passed, she forced herself to calm down.
As her vision faded, she found that Sylvia seemed to be right.
Her other senses were becoming incredibly sharp at an astonishing speed.
She could hear every rustle of the wind blowing through the leaves outside the window.
She could smell the faint scent of soap and rust on Julius.
Most importantly…
In that pitch-black world, she felt she was indeed sensing something different.
“I think… I do feel something.”
Helos hesitantly reached out a hand.
“Even though I still can’t see, I can sense now… that you’re right here.”
“Like a… very warm furnace.”
“See! I told you I wasn’t lying!”
Seeing this, Sylvia immediately perked up again.
She floated out from the shadow, dusting off her clothes.
“This girl has great talent to begin with, and with my divine potion, it would be strange if there was no effect.”
Julius was silent for a moment.
Although the misunderstanding was resolved, he still felt a bit displeased.
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”
He stared coldly at Sylvia.
“If you had explained the potion’s effect beforehand, we wouldn’t have…”
Sylvia, who had been so confident just a moment ago, suddenly faltered at this question.
Her eyes wandered, she stammered for a long time, and finally, under Julius’s increasingly dangerous gaze, she could only whisper the truth in a small, guilty voice,
“Well… I just wanted to see…”
“See what kind of reaction this girl would have…”
“…if she suddenly found herself blind.”
The air fell into dead silence again.
Julius stared at the female ghost with a blank expression.
Helos silently clenched her fists.
‘This irresponsible old thing!’
‘So her being almost scared to death, and Julius almost going berserk—all because this ghost wanted to watch the fun?!’
“Do you think that’s funny?”
Julius raised his hand again, and the holy light that had just extinguished flared up once more, even more blinding than before.
“Wait! Wait! Let’s talk this out! Don’t attack!”
Sylvia shrieked in terror.
“I was also testing her mental fortitude! It’s part of the special training! Really! Aaah—”
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