The Extra's Return

[An Enlightenment phenomenon is occurring.]

[Further identification is possible if you approach the target.]

I strengthened my body with Mana.

Slowly but surely, I walked closer to Jeanne's body.

The Mana Explosion from Jeanne's body was still emitting strongly.

Even with Mana enveloping me and strengthening my body, I still had a hard time getting close to her.

With every step I took forward, the more the clothes I was wearing slowly began to tear. The more the clothes I wore were torn, the more the bare skin on my body was exposed to the air.

I was putting my hands in front of my eyes so that no excessive light would interfere with my vision.

Each person's enlightenment process was different. Some seemed ordinary, but there were also those who created amazing phenomena.

It seems that her enlightenment process was the category that created amazing phenomena.

I still remember that the Enlightenment process I experienced in my previous life was just an ordinary Enlightenment process. I just felt as if I had woken up from sleep. There was nothing else.

Unlike me, considering that she was the main heroine, the creation of a powerful phenomenon when she experienced Enlightenment, was a natural thing.

Not long after, I managed to get close to Jeanne.

The first thing I did when I saw Jeanne was a surprise. I was surprised by the sadness that radiated from her.

Drip!

She appeared to be kneeling with her face up. Tears of sadness seemed to be escaping from both of her eyeballs. The tears flowed heavily from her cheeks, then evaporated in the air due to the explosion of Mana in her body.

Her gaze looked very empty.

[Would you like to see the system messages related to the target's state?]

[Yes/No.]

"Yes."

The moment I touched her shoulder, a system message like that appeared.

[You will receive system messages related to the target condition.]

[The target's consciousness is in past memories.]

[If it continues, potential damage to the brain will be very likely.]

As I expected, her consciousness had really flown into the past. Hence she had been kept shedding tears from both eyeballs.

I could slightly guess the meaning of the tears that came out of her eyes.

Although it was told briefly, I still remember that she was the character who had the most tragic past among the other characters in the novel.

I guess that her consciousness was now in a tragedy that had happened in her past.

'What should I do to restore her consciousness?'

As I wondered, it turned out that the system message that had appeared earlier was not yet over. There was still another series of system messages that appeared next.

[Potential target being eyed by God of Wrath.]

[The process of granting God of Wrath's blessing is in progress.]

[The target body's acceptance limit is almost reached. If the blessing process continues, the target's body will most likely explode.]

System messages are becoming increasingly aggressive.

Instantly, I widened my eyes as I read what the system message said.

Things seem to be getting more and more dangerous. I didn't expect that her situation would be like this.

At first, I just thought that she would increase her stats. But who would have thought it would turn out like this?

'Do I have to take responsibility now?'

Regardless of her circumstances, I had other things to worry about.

A message saying that the blessing was related to a god made me worry even more.

God of Wrath.

"...."

When I read that name, I was speechless.

Subconsciously, I looked at the back of my left hand, but I quickly shook my head.

God.

Was there not only a God of Light in this world but there were other gods as well?

There was no information regarding the existence of gods, even in the novel Demon Lord and Hero of Light.

Removing the context of the existence of gods that there was no information about, there was actually the phenomenon of giving blessings in this world.

A blessing could be obtained by all of the creatures, including humans, elves, dwarves, beastmen, or other creatures.

Including Jeanne as well. She would indeed get a blessing someday, but that would only happen in the future. I didn't expect that she would get a blessing now.

In the story of the novel Demon Lord and the Hero of Light, Jeanne was depressed because she felt like helping Jullian more.

Therefore, when facing despair due to her lack of strength she had, she suddenly received a blessing.

However, the timeline where she got the blessing was when she had increased her physical strength.

Whereas, currently, the stats she had were clearly very low compared to the timeline where she should have gotten the blessing.

A blessing was a blessing given to those who were chosen. Only when a being experienced a special event would they receive a blessing. However, because it was so rare, there was no term to describe the phenomenon.

In fact, it had been told that Jeanne had misunderstood. She thought she had experienced ordinary Enlightenment for the second time. Only the narration in the novel mentions the word blessing.

From the outside, the blessing did not have much difference from ordinary Enlightenment. Blessings could increase one's strength. They were also sometimes in the form of skills.

I didn't know why the narrative in the novel used the word blessing itself. However, looking at the system's message, it seems that it was related to gods.

'What should I do to overcome this?'

[The Stigma of Darkness began reacting to the Mana explosion that overflowed from the target's body.]

[Do you want to let the Stigma of Darkness absorb the Mana blast that overflows from the target's body?]

[Yes/No.]

Huh?

I suddenly felt a nostalgic feeling.

'Isn't this case almost the same as the time when I first killed people? Where the Stigma of Darkness absorbed Death Mana?'

Without waiting, I agreed.

"Yes."

After I gave my answer, suddenly, the petal-shaped symbol of the Stigma of Darkness, which was on the back of my hand, began to glow.

Duun duun duun...

Was it just my imagination? I thought that something was creeping out from inside the Stigma of Darkness.

I didn't know what it was. Not long after the light came out of the Stigma of Darkness, I could feel Mana, who had been exploding in the air, slowly calming down.

I felt that the Stigma of Darkness had begun to suck up the Mana in the air.

[The process of absorbing the excess Mana in the air is in progress.]

[The target's consciousness is starting to travel back to reality.]

[The potential danger to the target's mentality is starting to diminish.]

[Potential harm to the target's physical body begins to decrease.]

As if things were getting better, the system message reported that Jeanne was no longer in danger. I saw that her expression became calmer. The tears that had been flowing had also stopped.

"Fuhh."

This way, I can be a little calmer.

I didn't want the main female character in this world to die at the beginning of the story. Especially if it's just because of my careless actions.

[The target's consciousness has returned to reality.]

[All potential danger from the target's body has disappeared. The target is asleep.]

"Hm?"

Suddenly, her body fell right into my arms.

It seemed that her body relaxed so much that she dropped her body unintentionally. Well, she was sleeping, so it was a natural thing.

Since things were getting better, I started to pay attention to my surroundings.

Slowly but surely, the light from the Mana explosion that was so bright earlier began to subside. Finally, all the blinding light disappeared.

All that was left around me was the ruins of the building. The roof of the orphanage had broken through the clouds.

I wanted to put her body on the floor, but I heard something suddenly.

S-tep… s-tep-

The sound of little clattering footsteps could be heard entering the inside of the orphanage. From their footsteps, they must be the children who were outside earlier.

"Hey, is this okay for us to go inside?"

"Stupid. We should at least confirm their situation, right? If possible, we should also help them. Moreover, aren't you guys worried about Sister Jeanne's well-being?"

"T-That's true, anyway. But, what if-"

"Stop complaining."

I started to see their faces as they went inside.

The boy in the front row was Colby.

I understood that they were anxious, and that's why they dared to go inside.

Because I looked at them, they also looked at me.

However, after their anxious faces, they suddenly changed their expressions into embarrassed expressions. Their faces turned as red as a tomato.

"What's going on with all of you?"

"A-Ah, sorry to interrupt."

They covered their faces with their palms. When they did that, they were so compact and simultaneously together.

Some of them opened the gap between their fingers to peer at me.

"Oh."

Did they misunderstand what I was doing?

I guess their education about relationships between men and women was too high for children if they could feel embarrassed just from seeing me and Jeanne in a hugging pose.

Naturally, they misunderstood because I was hugging Jeanne with my upper body almost completely exposed. The clothes or robe that I wore before was almost left only very little.

Meanwhile, Jeanne still had an expression of sadness on her face. The remnants of tears that evaporated were still in her eyes.

'Hah. Let them think what they want to think.'

[The process of sucking up the Mana that exploded in the air has been completed.]

[The Stigma of Darkness can only suck in Mana that the target's physical and mental body cannot withstand. Therefore, the process of granting God of Wrath's blessing will not be interrupted.]

[The process of granting God of Wrath's blessing to the target has been completed.]

[Due to various factors, the power of the blessing has been reduced.]