I Became A Side Character Fated To Suffer-Chapter 38:If You Touch Me Again...

The boy inhaled sharply.

"Your mind is fighting the flow. Stop forcing control and stabilize the anchors first."

A faint ripple of mana spread from her palm into his body.

The effect was immediate.

The violent fluctuations around him softened.The cadet exhaled in relief.

"Good," Aesa said quietly before moving on.

She stopped beside another student whose face had turned pale.

Again her hand rested gently on the shoulder.

"Three anchors," she recalled.

"Head. Heart. Core."

"Link them properly.Don’t be hasty.It’s okay if it takes time."

The cadet nodded and closed his eyes.

The unstable currents slowly settled.

One by one she moved through the semicircle.

Each time placing her hand on someone’s shoulder she guided their circulation with calm instructions.

Some needed only a moment.

Others took longer.

Elderic nearly lost control before she reached him.

His mana surged erratically like a storm.

Aesa placed her hand firmly on his shoulder.

"Stop resisting."

His eyes widened.

"You are trying to overpower chaos. That is incorrect."

Her mana flowed into his circulation like a stabilizing weight.

"Balance it."

Slowly the violent fluctuations began to calm.

Elderic released a long breath.

"...That was awful."

"Then improve," Aesa replied flatly before moving on.

Next she stopped beside Eleanor.

The red-haired girl’s mana was swirling wildly but somehow holding together.

"Impressive," Aesa murmured.

Eleanor opened one eye.

Eventually she reached me, and for a brief moment she simply stood there without saying anything. Her gaze lingered slightly longer than it had for the others, as if she was trying to understand something she couldn’t quite grasp. Then, without further hesitation, her hand came down and rested on my shoulder as she spoke calmly, instructing, "Begin your circulation."

The moment her palm touched me, something happened.

A sharp, electrifying sensation suddenly shot through her arm like a bolt of lightning tearing violently through her nerves, and it spread so fast that she barely had time to process what was happening.

It wasn’t mana, and it certainly wasn’t chaos energy either. Whatever it was, it felt... alive.

The strange sensation crawled down her spine like icy fingers dragging across bone, and within a single heartbeat it spread across her entire body. Her muscles stiffened involuntarily while goosebumps erupted across her skin, and a deep, unnatural chill wrapped around her bones as if something ancient and hostile had brushed against her very existence.

For a brief moment the training hall seemed to vanish completely from her senses. The voices of the cadets faded away, the chaotic mist blurred into nothing, and even the ground beneath her feet felt distant. Her vision trembled and distorted as if reality itself had been pulled away, and then—

A voice spoke in his mind.

It was ancient and deadly.

It did not echo through the room or travel through the air like a normal sound. Instead it appeared directly inside her mind, cutting through her thoughts like a blade dragged slowly across cold stone.

Touch...

The single word slithered through her consciousness like a whisper crawling out from the deepest darkness.

Then the voice continued.

And filled with killing intent so dense that it felt like drowning inside an ocean of blood.

If you dare to touch me again...

I will cut you apart.

The pressure of that voice was terrifying, because it didn’t feel like a threat spoken by a person. Instead it felt like standing before an ancient predator that had just opened one eye after centuries of slumber. The moment that presence focused on her, every instinct in her body screamed at once.

Danger.

Overwhelming danger.

Aesa’s pupils shrank violently.

"Kyaan—!"

She jumped back instantly as her hand snapped away from my shoulder as if she had touched a burning blade.

Her sudden reaction startled everyone in the room.

Several students immediately opened their eyes while the chaotic mist continued drifting slowly through the air around them.

"Miss—?!"

"What happened?"

"What is going on?"

Confused voices filled the room as all attention instantly shifted toward the instructor who had just leapt backward in shock.

But Aesa didn’t answer.

Her heart was pounding violently in her chest, and her breathing had become slightly uneven.

Instead she simply stared straight at me.

At that exact moment I slowly opened my eyes.

Just slightly.

Just enough for her to see them.

Those eyes were frosty and cold in a way that didn’t belong to humans, and the killing intent within them seeped outward quietly like silent fog creeping across frozen ground. There was no visible anger, nor was there any rage burning behind that gaze either. Instead there was only pure, calm lethality.

I looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"Next time... don’t touch me without permission."

My voice was quiet and controlled, yet the air around us suddenly felt heavy as if an invisible pressure had settled over the room.

Aesa swallowed slowly while her throat felt dry.

For the first time since becoming an instructor, she didn’t know what to say.

Her instincts were still screaming because the sensation she had felt a moment ago refused to fade from her mind.

And just as she was about to say something—

BANG!

The classroom door suddenly burst open with a loud crash that echoed through the hall.

Everyone turned at once.

Standing in the doorway with a wide grin on his face was none other than Austin.

"Enough theory!" he shouted loudly as if he had just arrived at a festival instead of interrupting a tense moment.

"Time for practical, kids!"

The entire room froze for a brief moment.

Austin stepped inside casually, moving with the relaxed posture of someone entering a tavern rather than a classroom filled with unstable mana and chaotic mist.

"Get up! Get up!" he urged cheerfully while clapping his hands loudly.

"We need to go practical!"

CLAP!

The moment his palms struck together, a powerful shockwave of mana exploded outward from his body.

WHOOM!

Before anyone could react, every single student in the room was suddenly lifted off the ground.

"WHAT—?!"

"HEY—!"

"WAIT—!"

The next moment the entire group of cadets was sent flying out of the room like leaves caught inside a violent storm.

WHOOSH!

Within a single second the hall was completely empty.

Silence returned.

Only two people remained inside.

Austin looked at Aesa.

She stood there frozen in place while still staring at the spot where Noel had been sitting moments earlier, and her mind kept replaying the sensation again and again.

That voice.

That killing intent.

Even now her fingers trembled slightly.

"...What was that?" she murmured quietly.

Austin leaned casually against the doorframe while watching her with an easygoing smile, and he looked completely relaxed as if nothing unusual had happened at all.

"How can I know?" he replied lazily while shrugging his shoulders.

"You might be hallucinating."

Then he added with a grin,

"Or maybe the chaos energy affected you."

But Aesa didn’t respond.

Because deep down she already knew.

What she felt wasn’t chaos.

And it definitely wasn’t hallucination.