I desperately tried to support the heroes from behind.
Thinking I would first eliminate the mysterious person who had tried to kill Kanna, I swung my sword, but perhaps I was too focused on that, or maybe that mysterious person deliberately rushed at Kanna—either way, she was once again fighting another mysterious person.
The problem was that I realized this too late.
By the time I turned my head with the flow of the explosion, everything was already over.
Just as I was cornering one mysterious person, the one who appeared to be their leader had taken down numerous heroes.
Among more than twenty people who collapsed helplessly, only one girl managed to stand up.
She stumbled briefly but rose again, which made me feel both touched and saddened.
Clank, click. It sounded like heavy metal hitting the floor.
And Kanna stood up.
As if to reveal that what had been attached to her limbs until now weren't her original ones, she tore off her limbs and created new ones in front of everyone watching.
Her prosthetic hand fell through her blazer, and a new hand found its balance.
The prosthetic leg she had hidden under her stockings was torn away along with them.
She stood on snow-white legs and raised her snow-white arms.
Then, as she blocked the mysterious person's attack with her arm, she screamed and collapsed.
Believing the heroes would finish off the mysterious person here, I approached Kanna.
"Kanna...!"
As I called out her name and went to help her, Kanna spoke in a voice that sounded half-resigned.
"Ugh, Y-Yoon Ha-min..."
No, don't use that voice.
I, I don't want to give up on you.
There must be a way somewhere.
"Become a star."
Before I could shout "What does that mean?" and before my ability could reach the mysterious person, a monster falling from the sky pounced on Kanna first.
Crunch.
At that sound, I stopped, wearing a blank expression.
Among the fallen heroes, only Kanna, standing in the center, was attacked by the monster.
Are they all dead? No, they're still breathing.
Perhaps they just lost consciousness from the explosion.
After a moment of calm thinking, I immediately turned my gaze.
"Aaaaargh!"
I swung my sword toward the mysterious person.
Other heroes also seemed to regain their senses and rush in after assessing the situation.
But the mysterious person lightly jumped backward, as if they had finished what they came to do. Unlike their aggressive behavior earlier, seeing them retreat made me angry.
"Fight...!"
Just as I swung my sword to activate my ability, I felt something approaching quickly from the side.
"Student! It's a mysterious person...!"
Then I'll just cut that down first.
My sword emitted light so bright that its shape was barely visible.
I felt a hot sensation. I gripped the throbbing feeling in my hand that seemed ready to explode at any moment.
I swung my sword toward the mysterious person lunging at my right side.
But that mysterious person opened their mouth with a grin.
"Yum."
"...?"
My eyes widened.
The moment I swung my sword, the light flickered out, and I failed to cut the mysterious person's body.
Since my ability didn't activate, the sword merely sliced through the air without reaching the mysterious person who was outside its range.
"Delicious."
After saying that, the mysterious person smoothly approached the one who had attacked Kanna.
I couldn't properly feel the power of the stars.
This feeling was a first for me, and I couldn't hide my bewilderment.
It wasn't that I had become powerless, but I felt like I couldn't be of any help, so I froze in place.
After that, I heard the voices of other heroes.
"Don't let them escape! We need to kill at least one more mysterious person this time. Otherwise, next time, ten or a hundred might come charging in!!"
Everyone who was conscious was urged to advance. They all raised their weapons at that call.
They rushed to catch the mysterious persons trying to escape beyond the Wall.
Monsters tried to block their path, and the heroes fought through them, swinging their weapons toward the mysterious persons.
I could only stare blankly at their backs, unable to follow.
I felt a hand grip my shoulder.
"Yoon Ha-min, snap out of it."
"What?"
It was Sela's voice. Awakening from my daze, I turned my head, and she pointed to where Kanna had been until just now, as if I had a separate task to attend to.
"I'll check over there, you go back."
"No, no... I'll, I'll check too."
I wanted to know what had happened to Kanna.
I had been devastated by the fact that a large monster had crashed right into Kanna, but thinking it might not be too late yet, that I shouldn't give up, I followed Sela.
Only stragglers remained among the monsters inside the Wall.
Except for the monsters rushing in to block the mysterious persons' escape route, it was fair to say the battle was almost over.
Whether they could catch the mysterious persons was now up to the other heroes.
By that logic, my role, along with Sela and the other heroes, was to check for survivors here.
Leaving the other heroes behind, I ran toward Kanna, whom I judged to be in the most critical condition.
The monster that had rushed to devour her wasn't moving at all, perhaps having died on impact.
"Ugh."
I heard Sela groan.
It was because of the horrific sight revealed after removing the monster from Kanna.
They say a person's neck can break even if hit by a water balloon dropped from a height, and that description was fitting—Kanna's neck was bent at a 90-degree angle.
Her head was cracked somewhere, with blood and some unknown liquid diluting it seeping out.
Sela covered her mouth, and I fell to my knees in front of Kanna.
"Kanna..."
I didn't know where to place my hands.
I wanted to move to face her head, which was turned in the opposite direction, but I wasn't sure if I could bear to see her face at the brink of death, so I just stared at the back of her head.
My breath trembled.
I wanted to cry out, asking how this could happen.
Of course, not everything could have gone well.
There would have been limitations as a student, and it might have been difficult to explain to others.
But still, did the reward for her best efforts have to be this?
I trembled, my fists tightly clenched.
"...ugh."
What did she mean by "become a star"?
I could only frown, unable to understand the meaning.
At least I needed to arrange her body, but with my mind in disarray, I couldn't bring myself to touch her.
The limbs scattered around Kanna.
As I stared blankly at her prosthetic hand and leg, I looked again at her snow-white arms and legs.
I couldn't understand by what criteria this happened.
With the sudden explosion, Kanna ended up like this...
She must still be alive, her pulse is still beating.
It was an explosion of unrefined mana, and since Kanna endured it before, she should be able to endure it this time too.
The Wall hasn't been sealed yet, and unrefined mana is still flowing out through the gap.
Please, it has to be that way.
"Yoon Ha-min?"
Ignoring Sela's call, I reached out with trembling hands.
I tried to touch her broken head, but I was afraid to do so hastily, fearing it might fall off.
What should I do? I wish someone would tell me.
"Yoon Ha-min! Snap out of it!"
Surely, surely it was an explosion caused by unrefined mana.
If that's what caused Kanna to regenerate her limbs, if she could regenerate her body with just unrefined mana like the mysterious persons, then couldn't Kanna do the same again?
I had to fix her quickly, before her heart stopped, before her brain was damaged.
"T-totem, I need a totem. That, that might save Kanna..."
There was no guarantee that taking her outside the Wall would help.
That's why I needed to find something called a totem with concentrated unrefined mana, but Sela beside me kept trying to stop me.
"This is already..."
"She's, she's alive. She must be alive."
I declared to her, wanting to assert it, and so I spoke with even more determination.
Leaving behind my desperate plea for her not to die, I stood up.
I couldn't touch Kanna. I was afraid she would crumble if I did, that her weakening pulse would disappear...
Seeing Kanna with blood streaming down, I could feel that I didn't have much time left.
Too much blood is flowing. I need to stop it somehow.
With that thought, ignoring Sela's cries, I turned and left.
When I finally found a totem on the battlefield and returned, Sela groaned.
"Yoon Ha-min, where did you..."
"Just a moment."
Leaving Sela behind as she checked the pulses of other heroes to see if they were alive or dead, I brought the totem I had in my hand to Kanna's body.
"You, that...!"
Sela recognized what I was holding and cried out in shock.
But even that surprise was overshadowed by the greater shock of seeing the totem-like object enter Kanna's body.
With Sela speechless behind me, I swallowed hard.
Please heal. Please, please don't die and live.
You're definitely a hero who saved people properly this time.
You saved the people around here.
Even if not these heroes, you've saved countless lives.
So you're a valuable person. No matter how low your grades are, no matter how much others laugh at you. Because you move to do what needs to be done despite all that...
As I prayed desperately, I heard a creaking sound.
Sela beside me, as well as the other heroes, were watching the scene.
Her neck, which had been bent unnaturally, moved with a crack in the opposite direction.
Then it returned to the position of a normal person's neck.
"Kuhak!"
She seemed to cough instinctively, but she didn't appear to have regained consciousness.
Still, I was relieved that she hadn't died and was alive.
Time had been of the essence, and if I had been even a second late, Kanna would no longer be in this world...
"Yoon Ha-min, what have you done?"
Before I could sink into my thoughts, Sela grabbed me and spoke in a sharp voice.
"I, I wanted to save her. She looked like she was about to die..."
"Do you even know what you just gave to that child...!?"
"..."
I worried about how my actions might appear to others.
But more than that, I didn't hesitate because I wanted Kanna to live.
Sela exhaled a "Huh" as if dumbfounded and couldn't say anything more.
Then, another hero approached and spoke.
"...I can't overlook what I just saw."