WAV 14

chapter 14

Aston, whose face had turned completely black, looked at herself in the mirror and seemed deeply shocked.

Unlike yesterday, she didn’t try to heal herself right away. She didn’t even pretend to pinch her nose.

Shock and fear filled her eyes.

Without a word, I held out a handkerchief to her.

“……”

Only then did Aston come to her senses. She took the handkerchief from me and pressed it to her nose to stop the bleeding.

But the blood didn’t stop easily.

The small white handkerchief soon began to turn black.

“Are you… going to report me to the Security Bureau?”

As if she didn’t understand the situation, Aston said something completely useless at a time like this.

“My little brother… my little brother had a seizure and bit two villagers.”

“……”

“Lady!”

It happened just then.

Thud!

“I’ll do anything you tell me. I’ll do whatever you want… just please, don’t report me!”

Aston suddenly dropped to her knees at my feet and started begging.

I looked down at her quietly and answered,

“Even if I don’t report you, you won’t be able to hide your rampage.”

“If I’m not there, my brother will be burned to death by Count Frederick…!”

Frederick?

The name sounded familiar for a moment.

But I had no time to think about it.

Drip… drip…

Blood that the now-black handkerchief couldn’t absorb began spilling onto the floor.

At the same time—

“Those awful people. Bastards… They knelt and begged me to save their families….”

“……”

“And now they’re going to report him just because my brother bit someone? How could they…!”

Aston began muttering strange things, her eyes losing focus.

Hallucinations. Delusions.

Abnormal anger and emotional outbursts.

Classic signs of an impending rampage.

I checked the number floating above her head and calmly tried to soothe her.

“Aston, calm down.”

“Why did I even help them while being corrupted by demonic energy? I should’ve just let them die. If I hadn’t wasted my healing power on them, I could’ve saved Theo.”

“Aston.”

“Theo is the only family I have left… Why did another gate open? Wasn’t it enough that it took Mom and Dad?”

No matter how many times I called her name, it didn’t work.

Her head was hanging low now, and her body trembled.

Slap.

The hand covering her nose fell weakly to her side.

The blackened handkerchief dropped to the floor with a wet sound.

Drip… drip…

Dark red blood poured down like a faucet had been turned on.

‘Damn it.’

I bit my lip and watched her closely.

I had only meant to give her a small warning.

But it seemed I had touched her deepest wound.

“Why am I the only one who has to be miserable? I want this to stop. Just because we’re awakened doesn’t mean our powers are unlimited!”

“Fine. I promise I won’t report you. Just stop, Aston.”

“My head hurts… Everyone, just shut up, please!”

“Aston!”

“Why are you tormenting me like this? Why, why, why—!”

She started clawing at her hair and screaming wildly.

‘At this rate, she’s going to rampage!’

I glanced nervously at the door.

If the butler heard the noise and brought people, it would be a problem. If he didn’t, that would also be a problem.

‘They might find out I’m a purifier.’

That is, if I could even use my ability.

If I couldn’t…

‘I’m dead for nothing!’

If I failed to purify Aston’s demonic energy, there was no way to stop a rampaging awakened.

There was an S-rank awakened, Ethan, in this house, so the damage might be less than in other cases…

But I was standing right in front of Aston.

I would die first.

“…?”

Just as I was thinking that, I realized it had suddenly become strangely quiet.

I quickly turned back to Aston.

“L-Lady…”

She had stopped screaming and was staring blankly at me.

Her pupils were wide and completely black.

Black veins bulged across her face, especially around her eyes.

Black liquid ran not only from her nose but also from her eyes.

Anyone could see she was fully corrupted by demonic energy.

A rampaging awakened, right in front of me.

‘I’ve only seen this in photos and videos before…’

When people are too shocked, they say reality starts to feel distant.

I was staring at her, speechless, when—

“R-run… away… urgh!”

With the last of her sanity, Aston forced out the words.

And then—

97%

98%

99%

The number above her head shot up rapidly.

“No!”

Dying to a rampage right after transmigrating here? That’s ridiculous!

‘Why is this happening to me instead of the female lead?!’

At that moment, Aston let out a strange groan and slowly stood up.

“Ugh… kuh, kraa…!”

“Your voice is too loud.”

I reached out and tightly covered her mouth.

Then I whispered,

“Purify.”

At that instant, I felt all the blood in my body rush to my hand. My palm burned as if it were on fire.

Whoooosh!

A burst of green light exploded from where I touched her, along with a cool wind.

A low humming sound filled the air.

Black energy rose from Aston’s face like heat haze, as if it were being absorbed into my body.

Instead, green light poured from my hand and gently wrapped around her.

The smell of rotten food and the scent of a fresh forest alternated in the air.

“Ugh… urk…”

My head spun, and I felt sick.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Honestly, I wasn’t confident.

I didn’t know if I could use purification.

Even if I could, I wasn’t sure it would stop a rampage.

In the novel, the female lead had an amazing S-rank purification ability.

Compared to that, mine was so weak it was embarrassing to even call it purification.

No matter how much I trained, I could barely clean a single book.

All I wanted now was to delay Aston’s rampage.

Just a few minutes. No—even a few seconds.

‘Please… just give me enough time to run away…!’

But then—

99%

95%

87%

I forced my eyes open.

The number was dropping rapidly.

“…Huh?”

Even in my dizzy state, I couldn’t hide my shock.

“This actually works?”

I couldn’t believe it.

My purification ability—or rather, this body that had never even been awakened—was releasing such powerful energy.

‘So I transmigrated and became an S-rank awakened? Or maybe a revived villainess who’s an S-rank purifier?’

Ridiculous modern-style titles came to mind, and I almost laughed.

“Ghk… cough…”

Thankfully, Aston began to calm down quickly.

The black blood pouring from her eyes, nose, and mouth stopped.

The black veins across her face slowly faded.

‘I don’t know if I should be happy about this or not…’

Still dazed, I stared at the number above her head.

82%

76%

71%

The rampage level had already dropped close to 70%.

Flash—

I finally pulled my hand away from her mouth.

It was enough to stop the rampage for now, and I was too dizzy to stay conscious any longer.

Even after I removed my hand, green light continued to flow for a while.

It seemed I couldn’t control my power properly yet.

“Haa… ha…”

I was catching my breath and staring awkwardly at the light when—

Thud.

A dull sound echoed.

Aston had collapsed, finally losing consciousness.

Now that the raging demonic energy had settled, her face looked much more peaceful than before.

“Ha… seriously, what a mess.”

I pushed back my messy hair and let out an irritated sigh.

In just a short time, the room had turned into chaos.

A healer who came to treat her employer had fainted.

Sticky black liquid stained the floor everywhere.

‘At least none of it got on me except my hand.’

Just then—

Knock knock knock!

“Miss! It’s me! Is everything alright? I heard a loud noise…!”