Chapter 27

Yinkong was chatting animatedly with Pei Xi. During the second stage, he had found this lower-district guy intriguing—full of secrets and bearing a peculiar fate.

He could not help but take notice.

Yinkong glanced at his partner and was surprised to see Bai Muqing unusually cooperative, allowing the Cloud Soarers' new face to heal her.

His gaze shifted to the black-haired, green-eyed boy. He had just finished the treatment and was walking toward them with Bai Muqing.

"Your new teammate? Does the lower-district academy even have someone like this?"

Yinkong probed.

Pei Xi helpfully covered for his teammate. "Of course. Zhao Mei is an inseparable member of our Cloud Soarers."

Zhao Mei? For a moment, Yinkong found the name odd to pronounce. He continued scrutinizing the boy, his brows rising in surprise.

Elegant posture, gentle and reserved aura, slender and tall frame.

This person's demeanor and build were very similar to a certain Saintess. If she cross-dressed as a man, she would probably look exactly like this.

Yinkong suddenly curled his lips and chuckled at his own wild imagination. Impossible. She was clearly on the Crown Prince's team and bore a mission from the Pope. Unless her brain was broken, no one would defy the two most powerful figures in the empire to help some rundown lower-district squad.

Unless Ye Zheng also possessed a "fate"-related talent like him and deliberately approached this team destined for greatness—the only one he knew of. But fate was his domain, Yinkong thought arrogantly.

His gaze moved back to his partner. Bai Muqing stood expressionless beside Zhao Mei, but from what he knew of her, her mood was not bad at the moment. She even seemed more comfortable than when she was with him.

Well, Bai Muqing's reaction completely ruled out the absurd possibility that it was Ye Zheng.

Yinkong extended his hand toward the black-haired, green-eyed boy with a dashing smile. "Nice to meet you, healer friend. I get injured a lot, so take good care of me."

The boy, elegant and quiet like a black cat, returned a smile. He briefly shook the offered hand, then withdrew quickly and politely. "Of course. Pleasure working with you."

The silver-haired boy's perpetual grin faltered slightly. He wondered why he felt particularly unwelcome today.

After some friendly exchanges, the two Divine Academy members joined the Cloud Soarers.

Bai Muqing walked at the front, clearly unwilling to talk to anyone. Lu Qi quietly sidled up to her teammate and whispered, "Zhao Mei, are all these people who deal with gods this weird?"

"Hmm, I hear Saintess Ye Zheng is very easy to get along with."

Lu Qi pouted. "The one teamed with that Sykes guy is definitely no saint."

Ye Zheng could not help chuckling softly.

"Lu Qi has a point."

The young group walked together noisily. For a moment, the treacherous and unpredictable Aberrant Realm felt like a casual outing.

With Divine Academy allies, everyone felt much safer. Their steps grew more relaxed. Powerful companions greatly increased survival rates in a realm.

"Ahhh!"

A stranger's scream suddenly shattered the calm atmosphere. The laughing teenagers stopped warily.

Ye Zheng looked toward the source of the sound. Dense buildings lined the street; she saw no figures, only a sword piercing straight into the sky. A gigantic sword embedded in the ground, like a divine weapon left behind by a god, radiating an untouchable aura of danger.

Ye Zheng's eyes shifted. She frowned slightly in puzzlement.

She remembered that spot should have been a clock tower. Now the clock tower was gone, replaced by a massive sword roughly the same height, standing tall.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, she looked at Pei Xi. His expression was unprecedentedly grave. He spoke with difficulty. "That's my ability."

Pei Xi's ability 【Metal Aberration】 could not only transform parts of his body into metal but also metallize any object he touched, turning it into whatever weapon he desired.

But such an enormous blade—who could possibly control it? Even Pei Xi himself could not, let alone his still-immature shadow.

The next moment, she keenly noticed the sword loosening. Even the ground seemed to tremble slightly. Ye Zheng's eyes widened abruptly. Her usually gentle and reserved brows could not suppress shock and anger.

"Evacuate everyone! Get away from the buildings!"

The boy shouted the warning. Amid the chaos, he ran forward more urgently than anyone. The massive sword, as if gripped by an invisible hand, was pulled from the earth and swung horizontally through the air!

Nearby buildings were sliced clean in half by the razor-sharp giant blade mid-air and collapsed instantly, kicking up dust that blotted out the sky. People hiding inside fled in panic and terror, like ants scattered from a crushed nest.

"How is this possible?! Pei Xi's shadow couldn't possibly be this strong!"

Roy shouted in disbelief.

"Telekinesis is the ability of the First Academy captain from the upper district. We're not the only two teams here."

Yinkong's smile faded as well.

"I sense the aura of the divine domain. That's my shadow, greatly enhancing them."

Bai Muqing restrained her eerie white pupils, and an even more terrifying aura emanated from her body. Suddenly, the aura came to a halt. Bai Muqing opened her eyes, staring blankly into the void.

There was one person missing from the team. Where was Ye Zheng?

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『Hey, wait a second! Although the plot here is about the strong uniting, and you don't have much screen time, running off randomly isn't good!』

『The system said urgently. It couldn't understand why Ye Zheng had suddenly run toward the enemy zone that had already become ruins.』

The manga panels are all focused on the protagonist group. Even if you want to add combat highlights for yourself, you shouldn't recklessly come here!

The smoke and dust from the continuous collapsing buildings had not yet dispersed. Ye Zheng's eyes welled up with physiological tears, the corners slightly red.

In contrast to her disheveled face were her methodical movements. Ye Zheng crouched down on one knee, her fair and beautiful right hand unhesitatingly supporting herself on the dirty ground. Clear water flowed and spread from beneath her hand, consciously dividing into countless tiny streams.

The aftershocks had not passed; the surrounding buildings were still teetering, occasionally dropping dangerous stones and beams. The system watched with trepidation.

『This place is too dangerous. Your defensive abilities aren't great!』

Ye Zheng gave a perfunctory hum.

"But ordinary people are far more fragile than me."

Ye Zheng closed her eyes. The tiny streams carried her consciousness as they drilled into the crevices of the ruins, then touched bodies that were still warm.

She heard a little girl's intermittent pained groans. She regulated the water flow to slowly climb onto the girl's legs, which had been smashed into a bloody mess, bringing cool and comfortable relief amid the stifling bloodiness.

The distance was too great; Ye Zheng couldn't precisely control the water to move the fallen objects, but she could alleviate the injuries and race against death for time.

There were more people affected. The water continued to delve deeper...

『Outside, Pei Xi and the others are already fighting the black shadows. This place could easily get caught in the crossfire again.』

『Ye Zheng, the manga panels won't record anything you're doing here. The hot-blooded, intense battlefield outside is where hot-blooded shonen manga characters belong!』

『Go out there and show the powerful strength you're displaying now. Your popularity will definitely double!』

Outside the ruins, the sounds of fierce fighting were incessant. Even with eyes closed, one could imagine how those young prodigies were unleashing their unparalleled talents, stirring the blood.

Ye Zheng kept her eyes closed, her expression calm, fine sweat beading on her dust-covered forehead.

"To you, this is just a manga."

"To me, it's an utterly real world."

She wasn't living as a character in "Throne of the Aberrant Realm." She was a resident of this nation, the saintess of the Church, the daughter of a certain middle-aged woman, the granddaughter of a certain old lady... These countless social ties supported her existence as Ye Zheng.

"Don't worry. I'm far stronger than you imagine."

Strong enough to bear all this.

The boy appeared frail in build and soft-hearted, but what the system didn't know was that long before it arrived, Ye Zheng was already very skilled at this.

As the saintess active in the lower district, she didn't just heal those injured in aberrant realms. She also led knight orders to proactively enter them. Though Ye Zheng intentionally concealed her strength, in the shadows she often silently struck to destroy the cores.

The aberrant realms she entered always had the fewest casualties. Even though upper-district people always thought she was just a little princess protected by the knights, mentioning the saintess only for her outstanding beauty and impeccable etiquette.

There weren't many people buried in the ruins, but attending to over a dozen simultaneously wasn't easy. Ye Zheng's brows remained furrowed.

Suddenly, her brows relaxed, and a slight smile of relief appeared at the corners of her mouth.

Holy specks of light fell on her shoulder. A mysterious power surged from the depths of her soul, and she didn't reject it. With the divine domain's blessing, Ye Zheng expanded her ability's range further, surging like an ocean without limits.

The system had been wrong about one thing. Coming here to care for ordinary people didn't mean she couldn't join the protagonist group's battlefield.

The water is gentle and formless, yet endless. Ye Zheng had already sensed the positions of the black shadows outside. Unnoticed fine water streams had wrapped around the steps of several black shadows.

Speaking of which, destroying an aberrant realms required eliminating the core, which was usually the strongest monster in the domain.

So, should she kill Pei Xi's shadow or Bai Muqing's shadow?

"System, if I want to slay the core, will the manga's laws stop me? I don't seem to have enough action points to steal the male lead's spotlight."

The system fell into a strange silence.

『Slaying the core isn't Pei Xi's highlight moment. It wouldn't take many action points... You could try, provided you're sure you're strong enough.』

『The core of this aberrant realms is something even the protagonist is helpless against. If you can take it down, you might gain enough popularity to steal the protagonist's spotlight.』

『I must remind you again: Outside the original plot, your safety isn't protected! You'll bear the consequences alone.』

"Mm-hmm."

The girl gave a vague hum to the system's words. At that moment, exclamations erupted from everyone outside the ruins.

"Wait! Where did this massive flood come from?!"

"The black shadows got washed away! Damn it, I'm about to get swept away too!"

A roaring flood surged through the entire street like mountains collapsing and seas overturning. Strangely, the buildings on both sides of the street seemed isolated, unaffected. It was as if the vast, mighty waters had come solely to cleanse the chaotic main road.

"System, is it mentioned in my character setting?"

"Actually, what I'm least skilled at is healing."

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Authors Note

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So many new readers have discovered this story. I'm super happy! I originally wanted to update more, but my eyes got inflamed today. I'll try to update more in the future!