Chapter 174: Aftermath (2)

Aisha stopped to stare at him.

He narrowed his eyes. He felt a familiar wave of aura radiating from the house and almost immediately blurted out, "You’re staying in Zeke’s residence?"

Aisha didn’t know how Nykos had found out. She sighed. "Temporarily."

There was a brief silence. Nykos looked at the house again, and his expression became even more displeased. Aisha almost asked what was wrong with him. Instead, Nykos quietly muttered, "I should find you a better house."

Aisha blinked. "What?"

"Nothing."

His gaze returned to the house, though somewhere in the back of his mind, another thought had already formed. One day, Nykos would find a place where Aisha didn’t have to stay in a house belonging to Zeke, preferably one where he could live with her. He immediately decided he disliked the idea of her staying in Zeke’s house even more.

"Commander?" Amar’s voice pulled him back.

Nykos turned to him.

"We need a doctor."

The doctor arrived not long afterward. He was one of the few people Nykos trusted enough to examine someone without the information being leaked outside.

The man immediately became serious the moment he saw the patient. He scanned Zenick’s body several times with a miasma scanner after a rough examination. Each reading produced another warning across the holographic screen, and the doctor’s expression gradually became grim.

Aisha stood beside him. "What is it?"

He hesitated, then turned toward her. "It’s a miracle your brother is still alive."

Aisha’s fingers tightened. "But?"

"But his body has changed." The medic continued carefully, "The miasma isn’t merely contaminating him anymore. It has merged with his physical structure."

Aisha stared at Zenick as the medic continued, "There are several different types of miasma inside his body. Some have already integrated into his cells and nervous system. Others are still moving independently. They’re competing, merging, and reacting to one another. He won’t be able to live as a normal human being anymore."

Aisha’s voice tightened. "Can he be purified?"

The doctor shook his head. "Not in any practical sense."

"What if a higher-ranked Guide purified him?"

She thought about doing it herself. Although she was registered as a D-rank, Aisha didn’t think that was her real rank. Not after seeing what she could do that no ordinary D-rank could’ve done.

But the doctor pressed his lips tightly. Then, he sighed. "Sadly, even an S-rank Guide might not be able to do it."

Aisha’s expression froze as the doctor lowered his scanner. "He would need repeated purification every day, potentially every hour, for years. Even then, we don’t know if all the different types of miasma inside him can be removed without destroying the body they’re already merged with."

Aisha closed her eyes tightly. "Will he... will he wake up?"

The doctor’s expression became even more uncertain. "There’s no guarantee."

"And what if?" she forced herself to say.

The room became quiet. The doctor looked uncomfortable, but he continued. "If he wakes up... there’s a possibility he will no longer act like himself. He may suffer permanent physical and psychological changes. Or... the miasma may influence his behavior."

Aisha felt a chill spread through her chest.

"If that happens, he may no longer act entirely according to his own will. The miasma inside him has already become too deeply integrated with his body." The doctor looked toward Zenick. "Someone in this condition would become a target for immediate execution."

Her mind immediately returned to the Outerworlder woman, to the twins, those two children she had seen beside her. They had been alive, but they hadn’t seemed entirely human anymore. Their bodies had been altered by miasma.

Aisha’s hands tightened until her nails dug into her palms. A surge of anger rose inside her so suddenly that even Nykos noticed the shift. Holden... Her breathing changed as that man’s name appeared in her mind.

Aisha suddenly pushed herself away from the wall. "I need to go somewhere."

She needed to find Holden and make him pay for this. He could be on his way to escape now that the Association had discovered that place. They would start an investigation and learn everything. But it would be too late... Holden would have already gone somewhere far.

I can’t let that happen.

She still hadn’t given him what he deserved. Aisha swore to torture him with far more pain than he had ever caused Zenick, even if she had to dedicate her entire life to making sure Holden would rather wish for death than stay alive.

Nykos, who had been standing nearby, immediately turned toward her as Aisha’s eyes became frighteningly cold. His frown deepened, and he stepped forward. His eyes remained fixed on her, his expression sharpening as he noticed how pale she had suddenly become.

"I’ll make him wish he was dead."

Her anger had barely surfaced when another wave of dizziness struck. This time, it was stronger. Her fingers twitched at her sides as she tried to remain standing, but the floor beneath her feet seemed to shift.

Suddenly, the room tilted.

She froze as a violent wave of dizziness crashed over her without warning. Her vision blurred, and she instinctively reached for the nearest surface to steady herself.

Her hand missed the edge of the table by an inch. She staggered, and her shoulder struck the wall instead. The impact barely registered before a strange pressure suddenly built behind her eyes.

Then, something warm ran from her nose. She lifted her hand and looked at her fingers. Blood. Before she could process it, another warm sensation trickled from the corner of her eye, and her heart lurched.

In the midst of this, Nykos’ voice suddenly sounded distant.

"Aisha!"

She saw him moving toward her, his silver hair blurring beneath the morning light, his figure rushing closer, but her vision was already fading.

She tried to focus on him, but his face kept slipping in and out of focus. She could hear footsteps approaching, but they sounded as though they were coming from somewhere far away.

She tried to stay awake. But she couldn’t.

And the last thing she heard was Nykos shouting her name before darkness swallowed everything.

At the same time, a buzz came from Aisha’s terminal.

Kane has sent her a message.

[Are you still coming for the duel tomorrow?]