Chapter 57: Burn!

"..I'll follow," Ha-young gritted her teeth and leaned against the wall, struggling to sit upright.

Aria, glancing at the girl, could only hide the unexplainable thoughts she embedded inside her mind.

"Are you sure? If you get yourself in deep trouble one more time, I can't guarantee that I'll save you the same way," Aria said, testing her.

Ha-young was obviously no longer in a condition to fight. She was struggling to even keep herself awake.

Aria ordered Dianthe to administer further treatments, but Dianthe did not have a superb healing capability. She was restricted to only being able to refresh and treat superficial wounds, but not on a deeper basis.

Even if Ha-young was completely determined to follow her, she would need help with the smallest things like walking or even sitting down.

Aria had an internal debate on what her next response would be. The other team members stayed out of this discussion and left it for Aria to make the final call.

"...Do I need to show my proof?" Ha-young gritted her teeth, getting back up to reach her back pocket even though it pained her to do so.

She took out a knife. A small pocket knife.

Aria frowned. What was the girl planning to do?

In the next second, she got her answer.

Ha-young wielded her fire magic and began heating up the knife, gulping her saliva as she felt the nervousness build up inside her.

Cauterization. The technique of burning your wound to destroy the tissue around it, which would mitigate the bleeding and prevent unwanted infection or growths.

Ha-young's magic was powerful. Within seconds, the knife was sufficiently heated.

Ha-young had only learned of this technique in theory, with little to no practice.

But in this case, she was willing to resort to measures like this if it meant that her determination was going to be proven.

Her heartbeat was speeding up like a rollercoaster as she brought the heated knife closer and closer to the wound.

Immediately after the knife came in contact with her skin, she screamed.

She was overwhelmed with the pain. She did not use medically approved equipment, and not even anesthetics. She only used a simple knife which she burned and placed over the serious wound. Not to mention, she did it on herself.

She had never been exposed to such a painful scheme.

She squirmed and latched on to the wall behind her, but she didn't throw away the knife.

Even as her forehead became drenched in sweat, and tears started dropping down like waterfalls, she didn't quit her treatment.

Her head became hazy because of all the pain she was bearing.

Aria looked at the scene and had mixed thoughts. What Ha-young did was basically the extreme form of self treatment that should only be done in life threatening situations.

In this case, Ha-young had the perfectly fine option to leave earlier, going back to the outside on her own.

After looking at it for a few more seconds, Aria couldn't take it anymore.

The way Ha-young did it was actually right, but it wasn't done perfectly.

"Stop. You are doing it wrong," Aria said.

Ha-young stopped and looked at Aria with tearful eyes.

She sighed. "Are you really going to do this?" she asked one more time, making sure.

"Heh. T-this is nothing," Ha-young stuttered, trying her hardest to keep a calm countenance.

"Then.. let me do it. I have experience," Aria took over, taking the knife from Ha-young. "Burn it again," she instructed.

The knife was burned by Ha-young's flame. Aria knew the steps to properly cauterizing a wound due to her past experience, so she immediately stopped Ha-young when it was the prime situation.

It only took a few seconds.

"Stop," Aria said.

Following her word, Ha-young put out her magic. Aria was assuring with her words and the calmness she displayed. She was very convincing.

Aria shook the knife a couple times to let the heat reduce a bit before beginning the cauterizing round.

Ha-young had already done it halfway, and Aria corrected any mistakes, sealing off everything perfectly.

The girl was put under extreme suffering, and she kept on screaming to no end.

Aria's brows were tightly knitted, but she did not mind Ha-young's screams. She had asked the girl multiple times, and her final decision had been made.

Ha-young was going crazy. Her pain receptors were going off like no other time, telling her that she needed to stop, or else.

However, she couldn't bear to refuse the treatment. Because she still wanted the second chance. The chance to prove her worth. It would also be a form of apology towards Aria. The one she had misjudged, the one she held prejudice towards even without confirming the truth.

She was misled, but she wanted to redeem herself. Such was the way of life: making mistakes and trying to fix it.

However, whether the mistakes would be fixed or not would be up to your own choices and decisions.

Perseverance. The will to go on.

Ha-young took deep breaths in and out as she felt like she was going to collapse any time soon. She resorted to clawing at the stone walls, which made the tips of her fingers bleed from the excessive force she was using.

She was usually positioned at a safe, secure position as a mage. This was the first time she received such a harsh wound and had to be treated with a style this primitive.

Thankfully, she soon felt better after Aria concluded the treatment. The burning pain lasted for quite a while, but it soon became tolerable.

"..Thank y-you," Choking up, Ha-young no longer cared about her appearance and was fully immersed in the pain she was facing.

"You should thank my spirit instead. If it wasn't for her, I would've refused this treatment," Aria replied, objecting to Ha-young's words.

It was precisely because Dianthe had already done prior treatments that Aria could confidently cauterize Ha-young's wound.

Dianthe's aid extended quite far, with not only cleaning the wound, but also soothing it. Through the soothing, Ha-young's wound was actually already quite calmed down, but the bleeding still couldn't stop.

If Dianthe could utilize her water powers and control it to form ice, the cauterizing process wouldn't have been needed, but this time, the fire served as the final seal to protect Ha-young's wound for the time being.

At least until they got back.

Ha-young looked at the water spirit that was still floating behind Aria, following her master around. She gulped, thinking back to the time she saw the spirit treat her wound with an unhappy face.

It was because Dianthe worried for Aria every second she was away from her master.

Even so, because the spirit received an important order, she chose to focus on treating Ha-young's wounds. She made sure to not be too aggressive, so even Ha-young was able to get through the treatment without much distress.

Even if she wasn't completely on with the plan, Dianthe still performed her job spectacularly, doing the best she could.

Such a loyal and talented spirit, Ha-young actually found herself quite envious of how Aria was able to obtain this companion of hers. Only, the envy this time was in a good way and not of malicious intent.

"Thank you for saving me," Ha-young looked at Dianthe, displaying a smile for the first time after she spiralled down into her negative thoughts and met such an accident.

"And.. I apologize for acting out of my line," Ha-young averted her gaze to Aria, bowing her head to convey her guilt.

When the girl looked back up to meet her gaze, she displayed a pair of innocent eyes that was seeking for forgiveness. There was also traces of uncertainty masked behind the pair.

Aria couldn't help but snort lightly at Ha-young's sincere apology.

She was actually quite used to troublesome children due to her previous experiences, so Ha-young's actions didn't actually anger her to the point of hatred.

It was just that she criticized how Ha-young managed to act unprofessional when she is supposed to hold the conviction of betting her life at every single battle she went through.

Whenever she taught people in the past, Aria always made sure to hammer the difference between real fighting and normal battles.

In a real fight, every single one of your mistakes would be a perfect loophole for your enemies to take advantage of and pummel your winning chances to the ground.

What was being distracted? It was something that could potentially disrupt an entire lengthy operation like in teams they were in.

"I'm sorry.. for getting carried away and not doing my job well," Ha-young whimpered, lowering her head to not only Aria, but also the surrounding members.

The one that was most affected by Ha-young's incident was Aria, but Yan also got the brunt of it since they were supposed to deal with their side with two people. Luckily, Yan was quite talented in multitasking and managed to clear off the fight.

Aria was noticeably disappointed in Ha-young for the deeds she committed.

Even so, Aria tried to understand. This was the modern world, and Ha-young was once a normal person with no knowledge on how to fight at all.

Aria was a seasoned fighter with years worth of experience. Compared to that, Ha-young only had a few months worth and hadn't learned the ways of fighting from an expert.

Sighing, she had no other choice than to admit that the difference was there. The significant difference.

Aria would always be a step farther than all of them in terms of skill because she had reached the pinnacle in the past.

Not only as a Summoner, but also as a master of other styles and fighting ways.

"We all learn," Aria said. "We all learn, make mistakes, and grow from them. As long as you

"You sound like an old expert!" Ha-young replied, breaking into a laugh.

The tension had dropped and they could transition into a happy atmosphere now.