656 Wake Up~

[Wonderul Scion! To think you've found the answers so quickly! It is really—]

"I'm in a hurry," Varian said with an impatient expression.

The conversation with the system happened in his mind and hardly took any time. It wasn't the same case with this library spirit.

[Y-Yes! Welcome to the highest floor of the library! You can access the juiciest gossip from here!]

"Pff!" Varian almost tripped hearing those words.

Gossip?

Shaking his head, Varian threw further thoughts off his head and carried Sia into the sixth floor.

As expected, it was a relatively small room of fifty by fifty square meters.

There was a small table with a pot, tea cups, and two chairs.

The room had a cozy feel to it that the other floors lacked. It's more 'alive' than others.

Varian quickly shifted his gaze to the two chairs. Without delay, he placed Sia on one of the chairs and he sat on the other.

"Haa~" A groan of relief escaped his mouth as a refreshing sensation spread throughout his body.

His mind seemed to be swimming in warm water as it felt very comfortable. Finally, his divine paths…

'Huh?'

Varian noticed their circulation rate improved drastically.

Invisible healing energy entered his body and circled for injuries. Only after ensuring he had no injuries did it leave.

There was also another invisible energy tracing for any hostilities in his body.

"Sia…" Holding his breath, Varian observed her.

"Hmm~" Her complexion improved noticeably. The face which was pale seconds ago now had a rosy complexion.

Her vitality which was on the verge of disappearing was now slowly growing back.

Badum! Badum!

Her heartbeat, which was almost non-existent a few seconds ago now reverberated in the silent room.

"Haa~" Varian exhaled as he felt like a boulder was taken from his shoulders. His chest didn't feel heavy anymore and his heart calmed down.

He looked at her and bit his lips, "S-Sia…".

Slowly, Varian stood up and stood the closest to her he could.

Raising his hand, he carefully scanned the hostile chi in her body.

As expected of the librarian's floor, the chi was heavily suppressed. It wouldn't be able to harm her as long as she sat on the chair.

"Finally…"

A thread of aura shot from Varian and entered Sia. Like a snake, it slithered from her fingertips and reached the area of her chest.

Varian scanned the area near her heart. His face crumpled.

"She...She's really…"

The chi was heavily concentrated near her heart. One mistake and it'd all be over. She was desperately trying to defend herself.

Varian took a deep breath and used his aura thread to catch a bit of the hostile chi.

"Come!"

He pulled it out. He felt like he was playing tug of war. Except his opponent was a wall!

Varian gritted his teeth and threw in more aura threads. With all his strength, he once again tried to pull out the strand of chi.

"Argh!"

If Varian's aura threads could be compared to cotton threads, then the chi was equivalent to a steel thread.

It didn't budge.

Sweat rolled down his forehead as his chest heaved up and down, but Varian didn't stop trying.

He sent more and more aura threads until finally—

"Aha!"

The strand of chi started to move.

Varian's feet planted themselves on the floor and he moved his hands back. He looked like a fisherman trying to drag a shark to the shore.

The strand of chi left her heart, reached her shoulder, and was about to go out when—

"Huh?"

Sia's aura, which was busy fighting the hostile chi finally noticed another foreign aura.

Like a wild animal that fiercely protects its territory, it reached Varian's aura threads with great hostility.

Varian's eyebrows jumped.

If Sia was awake now, she could direct her aura and even help him out. But now, not only was there no help but even resistance.

If her aura really attacked him, then he wouldn't be able to pull out the chi meaning it'd be back to square one again.

As Varian's heart grew nervous, something surprising happened.

"Huh?"

Sia's aura paused on his aura for a second as if it was scanning something. The next second, it actually started helping him!

"Whoa!" Varian was surprised, but he acted quickly and pulled the chi strand out.

Ssssz!

The air turned hotter for a second before an orange light flashed. The room glowed for a moment and the chi mixed with the air's aura.

"Phew~" Varian wiped the sweat off his forehead and rubbed his palms.

"That's one. Only nine hundred and nine-nine remaining."

Varian started a torturous work.

…

Sia felt like she was having a long dream.

It was dark all around.

The familiar darkness that sheltered her when she was lonely.

But now the darkness was bleeding.

No.

An evil red invaded her space.

Like blood flowing, the red flowed to every inch around her.

Sia's face paled as she felt an unbearable pain the moment the red enveloped her.

"I...I don't want to die like this." Sia bit her lips as she fought against the undefeatable enemy.

As if heeding her call, the blackness that almost disappeared started to resist the red.

She tried hard. She gave it her best. Even though when she felt like falling apart, she persisted with the sole belief that she shouldn't end like this.

"I...I braved myself to face him. Va...Varian had to go through so many things because he wanted to meet me. I need to at least talk to him one last time." Sia vowed.

Her resistance against the unbeatable enemy continued but as time passed on, she realized the bitter truth.

It was futile.

'…I want to talk to him at least once.' She felt like crying.

Even the worst criminals had their last wish heard, but she…

As despair clouded her heart, a bright ray of light tore through the menacing red.

"Huh?"Sia felt all her fatigue vanish as she bathed in the white light.

"W-What is this?"

The redness tried to move. It tried to devour her again. But she could see it clearly.

It slowed down.

However, it continued encroaching on her bit by bit. Even with the pillar of white light, her death was just delayed.

But Sia wasn't willing to die. '…Just once! I want to wake up just once and say how much I missed him!'

She kept fighting. If it was any other person, they'd have died over a dozen times already.