A New World Awaits

~Ch 17 - A small situation~

Suddenly, the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. That's when I had realized what actually happened. The noise shot a fireball straight at the tibia muscle on my left leg, which was now stinging with excruciating pain.

"Urgh!" I  fell to the ground, clutching my leg in my hands tightly.

"Haruka!" 

Momoi came up to me as she sat down and took a look at the spot where the fireball had hit.

"No, it's worse than I thought. That attack burnt almost half the skin off. She won't be able to battle right now..." Momoi informed the others.

"No, it's okay... I-I can still fight, I just need to know how to fix this wound..."

"No, Haruka, you are going to rest. I'm going to use my powers to heal it but it's not guaranteed a full recovery."

"Bu-"

"Haruka, a part of being a hero is to know when to fight and when to stop. You have to stop."

"Fine..." 

 "O sacred water, mend this wound with thy cleansing power. 'Sanatio Aqua'!" While Momoi chanted, pure, clean water flowed from her staff and enveloped my leg.

"W-Woah... It almost feels like nothing ever happened." Amazed, I stood up with ease.

"Well, that's because this spell uses the element of water to mend injuries. The magic prevents wound infections since it cleanses the cut internally then heals it. But like I said, you still need to rest." 

I was still feeling reluctant to stay behind but eventually agreed, "Okay, I don't think I have a say in this now... But, you guys need to hurry up and beat that noise."

"Alright and make sure you don't do anything dumb while we are busy." Tokiya spoke those words before he and the others headed off in the direction of the noise.

(Wait, was he saying that because he's concerned about me? I guess he has changed a bit, huh?) 

Thinking that thought, I couldn't help but smile.

Tokiya's POV

(I don't know why I felt bothered about Haruka being left by herself right now. I guess, my feelings are slowly starting to change, huh? But why...? Well, I need to forget about it now, I have to be focused if we want to succeed in completing this mission.)

As I tried ignoring those thoughts, we managed to arrive in the noise's territory.

"ROARRR!!!!!!" 

"Can't you ever shut up for a while? Well then, I guess it's about time someone taught you a lesson... Hyaaahhh!!!" I yelled as I jerked forward, dashing to the noise, and used my sickle to injure its leg.

"Woah, nice shot!"

Just when I had thought the noise was hurt, I glanced at its leg once more and witnessed the wound close up within a matter of seconds.

"What...?"

Not a single scratch was shown.

"Tch...! The reapers were right, five-star noise are a pain... Guys, this thing has regenerative abilities! It's going to be a lot harder to defeat than I had thought." 

"Awe seriously? What are we meant to do now?!" 

"We have to try attacking it with a different strategy. Fighting it directly won't aid us in any way, we have to try injuring it from the inside."