The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

It was a mistake to be distracted during a fight. That was something Aisha had learned a long time ago and had carefully avoided doing ever again.

Honed by her years of surviving alone, this was the first time she had been caught off guard.

Aisha’s heart tensed. She knew it was her fault for taking her eyes off the match for a second. Without hesitation, she activated her ability.

The energy that was about to blast against her was slightly hindered, yet the effect was almost noticeable.

Because—

It no longer advanced towards her!

Aisha released her guiding ability and formed a mental barrier around herself, fortifying it until it formed a ball around her.

A white light shimmered over her, nullifying Sabel’s attack completely. Not a single scratch was left on her body.

Not only that—

A shockwave of force that came from her own psychic energy rebounded into Sabel’s body, causing her to lose the strength in her arms and legs, trembling at the unexpected damage.

At the same time, blood spurted out of Sabel’s mouth. The rebound of her energy had somehow caused her internal organs to be shaken.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that severe and she hadn’t used a lot of her psychic energy. What was a miracle was that she never thought of Aisha as her real opponent and thus, there was no hostility nor intent to kill when she used her powers.

Thus, the damage was bearable.

Still...

"How did you do that?" Sabel gasped, wiping the blood from her lips.

Kane and Vesper had also reached their side and stared at Aisha with stunned expressions. They also couldn’t believe what had just happened or even anticipate the turn of events. It happened so fast that neither of them could stop the attack, even if they worked together to get there quickly. Even Vesper had only reached their side and stopped Sabel’s hand. But that wasn’t enough to block the energy from escaping.

Yet Aisha was able to think and do something against that attack. This was beyond being prepared and far from what an ordinary guide could possibly do!

In just a flash—she was able to build a mental barrier around herself and even hurt Sabel. That was something no guide of her age and grade could think of.

Kane could only stand there, speechless, unable to fathom the absurdity of the situation.

"Sorry, that was a bit too much of me." Sabel apologized first before Aisha could reply to her previous question. Finding her earlier question ridiculous and not right, Sabel walked over to Aisha and asked her instead, "You froze in the middle of our fight just now. Did something happen?"

Vesper stepped forward to examine Sabel and nodded. "Yeah, what’s wrong with you? Suddenly stopping like that before a sentinel’s attack. I don’t think you’re in a hurry to die, so why did you?"

Aisha blinked. For a moment, she thought about revealing what caused her strange behavior just now to them, but she held back at the last second.

She smiled wryly and told them, "I also got scared just now and froze. I sensed that it was dangerous, so I stopped to think of a way to defend myself from the attack."

It was a reasonable explanation. If she truly stopped just to think of a way to protect herself from a direct attack by a sentinel, then she had done quite a good job, albeit dangerously. Still, they could not deny its success.

"But wasn’t it because of your terminal buzzing around?" Sabel expressed her doubts. She had seen Aisha lower her gaze to her arm.

Since personal terminals attached to their bodies are meant to be seen only by the wearer, she didn’t see what Aisha saw. But Sabel was certain that Aisha had looked down where her terminal was located.

Aisha was stared at by them, and she thought of an excuse immediately.

She spoke calmly, "My terminal just notified me of the time. It seems that the food I cooked has met its perfect time to eat."

"Huh—?" They looked speechlessly at her.

But Aisha didn’t look flustered at lying to them at all. "It’s just a timer I set earlier. The reason I froze earlier was really because I was thinking about how to defend myself. You know that I excelled in academic classes, right? I just used my brain to think of a way to do it."

Inside, Aisha’s guts twisted around with embarrassment for vaguely calling herself an academic genius. But it wasn’t far off from the truth anyway because Aisha Novalis was a top student.

"Anyway, why don’t you continue training and I’ll go ahead inside to prepare our meals?" Aisha looked at each of them calmly. "I’ll also rest a bit. I think I drained myself after that spar."

The training room fell into silence briefly.

Then, Vesper patted her shoulder and nodded. "Alright! Don’t worry, I’ll keep these two busy and tired so that the moment we finish training, we’ll be so hungry!"

Aisha gently looked at him. Vesper was increasingly becoming more pleasant in her eyes. Already thinking about giving him more meat later, Aisha turned around.

"Are you really fine?" Kane stepped to her side. "Taking that attack head-on, even with a mental barrier, must have exhausted you a lot."

A small smile appeared on Aisha’s lips. "I’m really fine. You should worry about yourself instead."

She glanced at the sentinels behind them.

Kane sighed. He nodded and told her, "Alright. I’ll have my hands full here while you get some rest. Tell us if you need some help in the kitchen!"

He turned to walk back to Vesper and Sabel.

Aisha stared at them for a few seconds before turning around, heading toward the door.

The moment she closed it behind her, every trace of emotion or gentleness in her eyes faded.

Right now, Aisha’s face turned as cold as winter ice.

She looked down at her terminal again and read what Theon had sent her minutes ago.

[Have you seen, Zenick? You were with him before you went to the imperial palace.]

[He’s not answering my calls or messages.]

It was the same as what happened to the messages she sent to her older brother. There didn’t seem to be anything strange about this at first.

However—

[You’re probably not going to reply or care anymore. But I thought I’d let you know this.]

[The merchant ship Zenick brought back with him was destroyed.]

[Brother is missing.]

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