Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

"Mayu..." The dark-skinned member murmured, opening his mouth.

With just one hand, she could easily lift Mayumi Haga by the neck. Despite being tall and slender for her age, even somewhat imposing, Mayumi Haga looked as frail as a kitten in her opponent's hands.

Mayumi Haga gripped her familiar's thick forearms tightly with both hands, her neck already emitting ominous sounds, but she couldn't utter a single word.

Her gaze remained fixed on her senior's face, filled with longing.

Then, a calm smile appeared on his face.

"Not... dead yet?" the family member said, revealing the same hearty smile as always.

That smile reminded Mayumi Haga of how, long ago, her senior Urzana taught her to decisively discard any body part other than the core when she was in necrosis, and even to gouge out her necrotic eyeballs with her bare hands.

When she was still a complete novice who knew nothing, she was in so much pain that she was delirious. She struggled desperately in the hands of her senior, but was still subdued by his bare hands.

Back then, what my elders taught me was to "survive".

Even though her senior forgot the content of that lesson later on, Mayumi Haga still remembered it.

Self-healing will leave scars, and parts that are too badly damaged should be discarded... You have to learn how to live on your own.

With her neck being choked like that, Mayumi Haga couldn't speak, but her expression conveyed enough information.

--No.

—I still remember what you taught me: to live an ugly life.

A short blade appeared in Yuga Mayumi's hand and pierced through the back of Urzana's hand.

Chapter Twenty-Eight is a Little Scary

A long time ago.

Urzana received a letter from a friend at the desert inn.

When the messenger handed her the thin letter, she paused for a moment, wiped her hands on her clothes to remove the blood mixed with sand, and then took it.

The small letter felt like a piece of paper in her hand, so she had to tear it open carefully.

In her letter, her friend wrote that she was now seriously ill and would not live much longer, but she was still worried about her daughter.

I know this is a selfish request, Urzana. But I still want to ask you to come to the Far East. I so desperately want to see you one last time, my dearest friend. If, unfortunately, I have already passed away, please take my child with you. Do not let her weep long at my grave.

[She, like you, has become a chosen proxy. I mentioned to you in a previous letter that Little Feather was born frail, and I was always afraid she would leave before me… Now I will abandon her and leave alone, my heart filled with countless regrets, yet I must let go.]

Young eagles must leave the nest, and I too should return to the long river.

Perhaps a hundred years from now, I will be able to meet her again, and you again.

It was a letter from her… Urzana’s mind conjured up the image of the slender woman who always smiled. She blinked, folded the letter, and stuffed it into her backpack.

It's time to change direction.

The giant-like guardian took only a hasty sip of wine—which others might have perceived as a whole barrel—wiped his mouth, tossed down the gold coins, and continued on his way.

She was tall and strong, with boundless stamina, capable of halving the usual travel time.

But she was currently in a vast desert, far removed from the Far East, beyond which lay the ends of the earth. Even with the best efforts to compress the time, she still didn't arrive until two months later.

Upon inquiring, I learned that my friend had already passed away six months ago, and it had only been less than a month since I sent her the letter.

Yes, the messenger's journey wasn't as fast as hers. It took her two months, while the messenger probably took half a year to see her. By the time the letter arrived, her friend had already passed away.

Without much effort, Urzana found the "little feather" that her friend had entrusted to her, still in the village.

The child was as light as a feather, not only thin but also very pale. He was a tiny little boy, not even as tall as his own arm.

Mayumi Haga, that child's name.

The names people here use are indeed a bit difficult to pronounce. When Urzana, who comes from a desert tribe, calls out Mayumi Haga's full name, she always bites her tongue. She also feels that calling her "Little Feather" might remind her of sad things, so she just calls her "Mayumi".

"Mayumi, would you like to come with me?" Ulzana had to crouch down to meet Mayumi's gaze. Even though she tried to keep her voice down, it was loud enough to make the door vibrate.

Compared to the frail Mayumi Haga, he was a colossal beast, like a bear.

This was the first time Mayumi Haga had ever seen someone like this, but the other person claimed to be a "guardian" just like her.

While caring for her seriously ill mother, she fell ill due to overwork and accidentally rolled into the lake behind the village. She thought she would immediately begin the cycle of reincarnation, but instead heard a gentle voice that brought tears to her eyes.

The voice made a pact with her to live, allowing her to become the legendary guardian.

After that, she will live forever and will not enter the long river.

But what does this mean...? After burying her mother, Mayumi Haga was completely unaware of her responsibilities.

She had never left this village since she was a child, never experienced the scenery outside, and her legs were not strong enough for long journeys; she was so thin that she would be out of breath after just two steps.

The months of confusion and sadness passed quickly, and a woman as big as a mountain, who was said to be a friend of her mother, came to the village.

The other person showed her the letter her mother had sent, then displayed the "blessing" as a guardian, and asked if she would like to travel with her, promising to train her to become a guardian capable of standing on her own.

In this era, it was very simple for someone like Mayumi Haga, who had nothing, to leave her homeland; all she had to do was pack her bags.

After quickly packing her luggage, Mayumi Haga followed Urzana and left the village where she had lived for more than ten years.

"...Self-destruction? Is this your blessing?" Looking at Mayumi Haga's tiny arms and legs, Ulzana's face showed disbelief and a headache. "Is this something you can just use casually?"

Mayumi Haga, carrying a backpack, looked up at her blankly and asked, "Is there a problem, senpai?"

At this time, Mayumi Haga was just a skinny little boy who couldn't lift a finger, his combat power was almost zero, and he had never used his blessing before, so he didn't have much of a concept of it.

"Forget it," Ulzana sighed. "You should just focus on practicing your swordsmanship. Self-destruct skills hurt a lot, you know. Save them for when you absolutely have to."

The little guy in front of me hasn't experienced much hardship, so I can't just use my ultimate weapon right away; I need to proceed step by step.

Let's wait until they get used to the injuries and pain before we start teaching them further.

For Urzana, the years she spent taking care of Mayumi Haga were the time since she became a Guardian when she could most clearly perceive the passage of time.

Mayumi Haga learned everything very quickly, and her height also increased rapidly, soon reaching her waist from her thighs. Because she learned to hunt, she ate more meat, her complexion became much rosier, and her body became stronger.

In the seventh year of mentoring her junior, Mayumi Haga, Urzana received guidance from the world's consciousness, directing her towards the Wizard Village.

So the two went together, but were ambushed by bandits who were oblivious to their own mortality halfway there.

These small fry posed no threat to Urzana, and she intended to give Mayumi Haga a chance to train, so the latter was surrounded.

Mayumi Haga was too soft-hearted. Despite her overwhelming strength, she spared the bandit leader's life during the battle. The moment Mayumi Haga lowered her guard, the leader leaped up from behind and plunged the short dagger in his hand into her eye socket.

The guardians will not die from this, but they will still feel pain.

Yuga Mayumi had never suffered such a serious injury before, and she tried to heal herself despite the pain, but was held down by Urzana with one hand.

“Not all injuries can heal on their own, Mayumi. The body’s recovery won’t always go exactly as you expect. Bones shatter and heal again and again. Even the slightest mistake can deform your body,” Urzana said, holding Mayumi’s head firmly in place with her large hand.

She could feel the slightly warm body temperature of Mayumi Haga in her palm, and the damp sweat. The child was trembling with fear, like a panicked little animal.

"In such cases, it is necessary to simply discard the completely necrotic parts."

As Urzana moved, Mayumi Haga gritted her teeth, but still managed to let out a few muffled groans.

It was only a few seconds, but it felt like hours.

After being released by her senior, she gasped for breath, her chest heaving violently. Instinctively, she touched her left eye, her finger lightly touching the blood on her eyelid, and then feeling her bulging eyeball through her eyelid.

Mayumi Haga struggled to open her eyes, and her vision became clearer and clearer.

She saw the sky, which was as blue as ever.

"If you're so afraid of pain, you're still a long way from being able to stand on your own," senior Urzana teased her.

Mayumi Haga just stared blankly and laughed along, "After all, it's still a bit scary."

Main text: Chapter Twenty-Nine: There is No Hope

Let's go back to the present.

Pulling herself back from her distant thoughts, Mayumi Haga realized with a start that it had actually been a long time since she had fought Urzana.

In fact, including the time after she was resurrected by herself, this was the second time Mayumi Haga had become an enemy of Urzana, who had taught her.

If it weren't for that blow, Mayumi Haga might have been quite startled when her senior was resurrected...

But right now, her feelings weren't actually as intense as she had imagined.

Holding the short knife, she had to exert tremendous force to make the sharp blade pierce through Urzana's rock-hard skin, then through muscles so tight they could bite into anything, blood vessels breaking in the process, and finally the knife hitting the bone, making a teeth-grinding scraping sound as Haga Mayumi pulled it.

Ulzana's race possesses an innate advantage in physical attributes, surpassing that of ordinary people. Her bone and muscle density are several times that of a normal person, making her move like a charging rhinoceros—thick-skinned, incredibly strong, and powerful.

Actually, it would be easier to deal with the senior if he were resurrected in my body... but it doesn't matter for now.

As Mayumi Haga pondered, she projected herself as the guardian downwards.

Her hair rapidly lost its color, becoming translucent and appearing snow-white. Pieces of dark Guardian armor emerged, enveloping her body, while her face peeled away like plaster from a wall, revealing horrific scars.

Finally, in her dark eyes, a brilliant golden light began to spread rapidly from her pupils, as if igniting her soul, or as if molten gold was flowing within them.

It was a color completely different from the golden eyes of ordinary people; it was unlike ordinary people, more like the jewels inlaid on a sculpture.

I never imagined that I would have the chance to meet my senior again.

Mayumi Haga didn't know whether she should be happy; she did have a lot to say to her respected elders.

Talk about what happened after you came into this world, talk about the calamity invading this world, apologize to your seniors, and say that you were unable to protect anything.

There were so many things I wanted to say, but they all turned into a deep silence and a focused, cold gaze.

The current Urzana is not the person I remember.

It is merely an empty shell eroded by calamity, operating by borrowing the operating mode of the body's original owner.

So, just like the day Urzana taught her how to cut off her tail to survive, Mayumi Haga gritted her teeth and swallowed all her words.

She wasn't so naive as to believe that Urzana would regain her senses after coming to this world.

That is impossible.

In terms of self-healing, the Guardians can be considered perpetual motion machines, at least Mayumi Haga herself is like that, she can still heal infinitely even after coming to this world.

Therefore, she was prepared to wait until she had completely crushed the opponent's guardian core before stopping the battle.

This is the rooftop of the teaching building, not a vast plain where she and Ulzana can fight to their hearts' content. Besides, the power she uses isn't magic, and the damage it causes probably won't automatically repair itself. They must finish the fight quickly and discreetly.

After all, Ulzana is enormous, and the blessing she used caused quite a commotion; it wouldn't be good if it damaged the school building.

More importantly, Mayumi Haga did not want anyone to come and disturb her.

So, she activated her [Blessing] without any hesitation.

At the moment when Urzana slammed her to the ground like a rag doll, Mayumi Haga did not roll backward to avoid it.

If we consider their fighting style from their last meeting, Mayumi Haga would indeed do that. Her forte used to be agile dodging and using her airtime to enter bullet time and unleash combos, capable of headshots whether using melee weapons or bows and arrows.

But after doing so, Urzana would usually follow up with a punch that would shatter his ribs.

After all, the other party is a guardian with strong physical abilities, capable of breaking through all laws with sheer force.

Therefore, when facing Urzana, Mayumi Haga used the simplest tactics.

【An Eye for an Eye】—A special blessing that allows you to deal true damage proportionally by splashing your own blood on Ulzana.

In the process of blood transfusion, no one can compare to Mayumi Haga, whose self-healing speed is beyond reason.

He plunged his hand deep into the wound he had dug open in Ulzana's body, and in that instant, he activated his right hand's [Self-Destruction]!

The blinding white light briefly robbed them of their sight. If you were to slow down the scene at that moment, you could vaguely see the flesh on their palms being peeled away inch by inch by the strong wind and heat, the flesh turning into spray, and the bones being broken and shattered by the enormous impact.

The power of the explosion was 100%, and even though it was released right next to one's face, it showed no mercy.

Urzana's hand and wrist were connected by only a little muscle and skin, while Mayumi Haga was in even worse shape. Because of the close-range explosion, her body, which was even more fragile than Urzana's, almost had her skull blown off as well.

Yuga Mayumi is no longer the novice who needed half a day to recover even when replacing body parts. For her, any attack that is not aimed at the core can be ignored.

She was slammed against the wall by Urzana's immense force, and the sound of her ribs breaking could be clearly heard.

"...cough, cough."

The blood of the half-giant had already stained half of the white-haired guardian's face. In just a breath, her blood-stained eyes became even sharper. She half-squatted down, lowered her damaged left arm, and stared intently at Ulzana's movements.

Successful.

I never imagined that I could inject all my blood into my senior's body so easily.

Seemingly puzzled by her fighting style, the familiar's dark whites combined with her dim golden eyes showed a human-like expression of confusion: "...Where did you learn this fighting style?"

The expressionless face of the family member suddenly softened. It seemed that she had only wanted to scare Yuga Mayumi, so she had been putting on a stern face. But now that she saw her junior had grown up to be like this, she couldn't help but let it out.

That familiar face revealed a nostalgic expression, and her tone seemed no different from before. Urzana slowly approached Mayumi Haga, her words becoming increasingly fluent: "It seems you've been through a lot while I was away, Mayumi."