Meanwhile, back at the dojo, things weren't looking too great either.

"Ngh… I can't… hold on any longer…" Elder Hua gritted her teeth as she held on to what was left of the demolished walls, praying to whatever god she believed in that this feeble piece of wood didn't get torn off.

Unfortunately, whatever she was praying, it clearly didn't work.

A crack appeared in the wall, and the chunk she was holding onto was torn off.

"AH-!"

Unable to resist the immensely powerful gravitational pull of the massive shock sphere, she was forced to turn around and stare death straight in the face, namely the field of high-speed debris she was about to crash into.

'Ah… how long has it been since I've felt true fear?

Am I really going to die at the hands of a young kid like this? My own student, no less?

… How pathetic.'

She was frustrated, but deep down, she accepted her fate. Closing her eyes tightly, a single tear flowed out of her eyes.

'I'm sorry… to everyone I was harsh to in the past…'

'… I'm sorry.'

She spread her arms and welcomed death to take her.

…

"… Eh?"

Right before she was about to hit the massive shock field of rubble and electricity, everything stopped.

The rotating torn chunks of wall and ceiling, the thunderstorm, her—

—Everything stopped.

The massive electric black hole Finn had conjured disappeared; the dark clouds looming over the horizon vanished.

Then, it was as if time began flowing once more, and everything levitating in mid-air began crashing back down to the surface of the earth.

"K-KYAAAA!"

Elder Hua shut her eyes tightly in fear and shrieked as she fell… but in the end, she landed on something soft.

Hesitantly opening one eye, she glanced down to see none other than the one who caused this all — the man known as Finn Thresher, soon-to-be Legendary Ghost Hunter.

"You… little… BRAT!" Elder Hua screamed, lifting Finn's body and shaking it back and forth. "YOU ALMOST GOT ME KILLED!"

"…" Finn didn't respond.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU! JUST AN APOLOGY ISN'T GOING TO CUT IT, YOU KNOW!"

"…"

"Grrr…"

"U-Um…" Iris hesitantly crawled closer to the destroyed doors. "Elder Hua… I think he's unconscious."

"… Huh?" Elder Hua looked to her, then back down at Finn. Indeed, he was showing no reaction. But since his eyes were closed all the time, she had no way to tell.

"Tch… he ran out of mana, I guess."

"Still… what the hell was that?" Octane cried in confusion.

"By the way Elder Hua is acting, I doubt that was supposed to happen," Fanatic analyzed calmly. "But if that's the case, then how did Finn pull something so destructive off…?"

"That was most definitely not supposed to happen," Elder Hua confirmed, folding her arms and glancing up at the now-open ceiling. "I have no idea what that was either, but… I know someone who might. For now, you guys, take him to the infirmary."

"Um… about that," Iris scratched her cheek awkwardly, averting her gaze. "My wheelchair… it got sucked into the chaos just now and broke… I'll need a new one."

"Again?!" Octane shrieked in surprise.

"You broke it the first time," Iris said coldly, shooting him a dead glare. "I don't think you should be talking."

"Guh… I guess that's true."

Elder Hua sighed. "Use your wings for now, then stay at the infirmary as well while I work on getting you a new one. As for the other three… after dropping Finn off, ask the other Hunters around about the library and go there."

"Got it," the three of them said in unison.

Then, glancing down at Finn, Iris smiled warmly.

'It's always been you carrying me, Finn… why don't I carry you instead this time around?'

*****

In the end, with some spectacular struggle, Iris managed to carry Finn to the infirmary all by herself using her wings. Octane and Fanatic offered to help, but she insisted on doing it by herself.

By the time they arrived, Iris was exhausted. The nurse them eyed them awkwardly upon seeing them, like 'again? Seriously?'. They had been here for not even one day yet, and they've already visited the infirmary twice. That was not a good sign.

"… What is it this time?" She asked, exasperated.

"You didn't see what happened outside…?" Octane asked, confused.

"Of course not," Fanatic cut in. "She was inside the whole time."

"Oh, I guess that's true."

"… Hold on. What happened outside?" Nurse Yang interrupted, a frown on her face.

"Um… before that, can you treat Finn…?" Iris asked softly. "He completely ran out of mana and ended up like this."

Nurse Yang glanced down at Finn, who now lay on one of the beds in the room.

'This boy again… I thought he was something special since he could resist Elder Hua's attack, but he can't even watch his own mana…?'

With a sigh, she pulled a blanket over Finn and injected some serum into Finn's body using a syringe to help stabilize his manastreams, then went to wash her hands without even bothering to check whether or not he was really out of mana since she was so eager to learn more about the events that occurred at the training dojo.

"It's all done. He should wake up soon. Now then…" Nurse Yang turned to Octane, Fanatic, and Reaper. "You three, who can still move. Mind showing me what happened 'outside'?"

*****

The nurse followed Octane, Fanatic, and Reaper out of the infirmary, leaving Iris and Finn alone. Since their beds were right next to each other, Iris was able to get a good glimpse of Finn's sleeping face.

"Hm… he even keeps the same expression when he's asleep," she giggled cutely, then hesitantly reached over to his forehead and gave it a gentle flick.

"Ow."

"…!"

Iris quickly backed off in surprise. "F-Finn… you were conscious this whole time?!"

"Yeah," he responded stoically without even turning his head.

"That means… you didn't run out of mana?"

Finn nodded. The truth was, Zelestria had told him he was about to accidentally kill someone, so he had quickly canceled the Ability.

In order to prevent anyone from becoming suspicious on how he was able to tell, he just pretended to have ran out of mana. In reality, he still had plenty left to spare. He tried asking Zelestria why she told him to use such a dangerous Ability, but she told him she'll explain later tonight in the reality rift as it was easier.

"Wait… if you didn't run out, then why did you stop?"

"I figured it was enough to destroy the iFrame," Finn replied, making up a lie on the spot. "And as for why I didn't say this from the very beginning, it was because I wanted to take some time to rest anyway."

"E-Enough to destroy the iFrame… it was enough to destroy the whole building, Finn…" Iris couldn't help but giggle lightly.

"My bad."

"You're going to have a lot to answer for once Elder Hua knows you're awake, you know."

"I'm aware."

Iris sighed deeply. "Having conversations with you is so boring, Finn. But I do it anyway. Isn't that weird?"

"Yes."

"Hehe~ maybe I just like having boring conversations."

"Maybe."

Then, suddenly, from outside, Nurse Yang's voice could be heard.

"He WHAT??!"

"Um… I think she's referring to you," Iris whispered awkwardly.

"You think so?"

"Yeah…"

"… Hm."