F-Rank Soul Eater-Chapter 155: Finding A Healer.

Soren saw this.

His instinct was telling.

Ding...

His wristwatch chimed.

He looked at it.

[You Have Been summoned to the Admin block.]

[Failure to comply within allocated time will result in Punishment in the Detention center]

Then he remembered. The instructor for Neuralink 101 class had said to meet her.

This summons had no name attached to it.

Was it from her?

Soren tapped on the message.

It was a literally map to the Admin building—an office in particular.

Immediately, Soren remembered the plan about shutting down the previously postponed Winter Games.

This might actually be a good opportunity.

"Uh... I’m sorry guys, but i have to go. Something has come up."

Both women looked sad.

"Don’t look at me like that, its not like I am dying or anything."

"Well... You do nøt have a habit of getting close to it." Bloodshine commented with a smug.

Unsurprisingly, Cynthia nodded in agreement.

With difficulty, Soren stood to his feet—grunting.

"Do you need any help?" Bloodshine asked.

Soren shook his head, "don’t worry, I got this. You guys let Pencil know i have already paid for his meal."

One step at a time, he moved towards the exit.

It was not as if Soren did not want their help. It was just that he had a feeling they woukd be more useful here.

The last time Soren had sneaked past the Admin building with Polystar and Vass, it had been fast, swift—with respect to timing.

But now, it felt like a pilgrim trek.

His chest burned. And even warming up with Vass’s Shade ability felt a chore.

No matter how he tried, he coukd not use fir more than ten five seconds at a time.

He was truly in an unfortunate state.

—maybe that was why they were tailing him.

Yes, through his Blackfield, he could tell that he was being followed.

Maybe it was his experiences so far, or just the pain—but his Blackfield was no longer at the fifty meters radius.

It was now at eighty meters radius.

Two people.

One person from his back and the other person high up on the buildings.

Soren was not sure why they were tailing him or what they wanted to achieve, but he prayed in his heart that it was just Goldsworth’s sympathisers curious about him.

If not then—

"Shit!" He cursed.

Something was coming, his Blackfield could sense it.

But... it was just too fast. And he was too wounded.

Slush...

[You died]

....

Soren’s eyes opened.

Grrrrwwwwwl....

Pencil’s stomach grumbled.

All eyes turned to him.

Pencil turned waving with a forced smile

"Please dont mind that. Its just a little stomach ache..." he coughs awkwardly, "yes, that’s what it is."

Soren looked at his hands.

Wait a minute, that’s not right.

Soren thought to himself. And he was not wrong.

But what really bothered him was not the fact that he died—rather, it was weee the reset began from.

If he remembered correctly, this was at least—he looked at his wristwatch—an hour ago.

Soren had looped thousands of times. By now, he lnew the rules of the reset by heart.

If he died, he would go back to the beginning of the same day.

This was the first time he had died and only went an hour back.

—then he remembered Doctor Kaya’s words. "If you are that wounded, the its the same thing for your shade."

Soren remembered the time he was wounded. He remembered Chronovore’s scream. He also remembered when he had fallen in that space weee he saw the shades battling one another.

He remembered the long scar on the body of the white serpent.

His Shade was wounded. And as a result of that wound, it could not use its power to the full extent.

This was a problem.

Images flashed in his head.

"Ahhh!" He grabbed his wounded chest.

"Soren!" Bloodshine hurried to him, pulling everybody’s attention from Pencil.

He coughed up a bit of blood.

However,when Bloodshine insisted that he be taken to the hospital, he raised a hand, rejecting the offer.

After all, it was not like they could do anything to help him right now.

The reason was because Soren knew tge source of the problem.

The images that just flashed in his mind.

The battle in that mysterious space had gotten worse.

The other Shades were attacking Chronovore with more vigor.

Soren was not dumb. It must have been the looping back.

Chronovore was forced to take him back while it was injured.

It was like a wounded dog still trying to bark and bite.

—the effort required was a lot.

From the look of things, Chronovore still had the upper hand.

But Soren had a feeling that if he continued looping, they would win against his Shade, and he will die.

Slowly, with difficulty, he raised his head, "I need to see Doctor Kaya." He muttered, blood leaking from the side of his mouth.

....

As Cynthia and Bloodshine rushed him back to the Doctor’s lab, Soren could not help but look around, eyes searching for his murderer.

But he did not sense any danger.

Of course, the attack on him raised other questions in his mind.

For example; who was it that had the guts to kill within the school premises?

And why him?

Then again, Soren could mention a few off the top of his head.

After all, he had made a couple of enemies.

Notwithstanding, this was the Imperial Soulforge Academy.

Battles and even death were only allowed if it was the gauntlet.

Any other and it was greatly frowned upon.

From what Soren had learnt, even noble families won’t dare.

Unless—

Another thought came to his mind.

They were using the Shade Stealer case as an excuse.

Also, the fact that those that attacked him waited till he was alone was evidence that they were probably not very strong.

At least, they feared Cynthia.

Soren sighed.

.....

"You know, all the other cadets go to the sick bay whenever they are in any kind of medical trouble." Doctor Kaya stated as she removed the bandage from his chest.

Soren grunted.

From the reflection on an equipment, he could see his chest—the long diagonal line stretching from his lean waist all the way to his collar bone—stopping just short of his pendant resting around his neck.

It looked like giant fingers had dug into his chest to open it, but stopped mid way.

In a simple word, it looked...

Ugly.

Little drops of blood fell from the sides.

Truly, a human being should not survive such a wound.

Soren had thought of using Slacker’s flesh molding ability on the wound, but right now, that was a bad idea waiting to happen.

He could barely make use of Vass’s heating ability at the moment.

One wrong move and he might end up making the hole deeper—if he did not kill himself of course.

"It has barely been a few hours since you left, what did you do?" Doctor Kaya asked.

"Nothing.... I swear." He replied.

She looked his way, "well, this does not look like nothing. The wound got wider—"

—Memory flashed.

A Shadow like creature ripping into the wound on Chronovore’s body.

Soren frowned.

That explained that...

"I think you are right. My Shade is wounded." Soren spoke up.

"No bet." She replied, not looking his way. "The same Shade—not in your Glassheart or anywhere on your person?"

Soren did not answer.

"How do I... help it heal?"

She paused. Looked his way a bit. She could tell he was serious.

"Shades feed on Negative emotions. As long as you are filled with a significant amount of them, no matter the injury, the Shade will be all better in no time."

That reply was stright forward and precis.

Soren wanted to say it.

—That he did not think his Shade fed on negative emotions, but he swallowed back those words.

It would be very abnormal to say.

That was like say rabbits did not feed on carrots but rather meat.

Very abnormal.

But this was his reality. He realised this the moment he achieved his first form.

Hopes and dreams were the feelings Chronovore accepted for allowing him the capability to be able to use the First form.

With what was happening in that mysterious space, Soren doubted that would be enough.

Doctor Kaya noticed his silence.

"There are other ways. If you can find a Healer."

"A healer?" Soren raised a brow.

"YES. She nodded. "Shades with the ability to heal other Shades. They are a rarity, and are very valuable.

At most three come in every year amongst the thousands of cadets recruited.

Because of the series of unfortunate accidents that wiped out most of your course mates, you guys don’t even have one.

Sadly, because of their lack of combat abilities, many of them don’t even make it to graduation."

"Oh..." Soren thought a bit. "But are they any within the school right now. I mean amongst the repeating second years and third years?"