An instant feeling of pain surged throughout my right palm, overwhelming my body's pain receptors and dazing me.

My mind raced, not a coherent thought forming, while blood seeped out of my lips as I resisted the urge to let out a scream.

But, only visible to me, my right arm began shining a dark purple as countless dots flooded from my heart and through it, toward the source of my pain: my bleeding palm.

As the metallic taste of blood flooded through my mouth, I bit even harder and slowly moved my sword to my right arm, using the last of my strength to clench my hand around its hilt.

Eventually, I would become accustomed enough to mana to do the process normally, but for now, this was my only way.

In front of me, a light-white hue exploded, as a bowstring shining a perfectly untainted white appeared.

Sealing.

Any person shot by Carissa's pure-white arrows would be temporarily stunned and locked in place.

Snapping back to reality, I looked down at my palm, now covered by the crimson-red substance, and slowly watched the purple particles travel up my fingers.

I knew how to do this; I had written it.

The skin barrier; I had to get these particles through it.

Forgetting every part of my body, I closed my eyes.

I put myself back in the painting.

Except, there was one difference.

The pond's surface was frozen...and I was below it

I had to break through the ice to get air and survive.

Desperately, I slammed my fist upward and attempted to break through forcefully, but my hands simply bounced off the ice, not making a dent.

Because I was never supposed to break out of the ice.

Allowing my body to sink into the seemingly infinite, pitch-black pond, I opened my eyes, gazing at my surroundings, which were devoid of any light.

At that moment, a light-blue particle flashed across my vision, and as I tilted my head upward, I saw a small blue light orb descending toward me.

Mana isn't like blood; it isn't yours and yours only, of course, excluding blood transplants.

Mana is sucked in by humans from the outside world; it belongs to the outside, not one single person.

No matter how much corporations try, just like oxygen, it can't be privatized.

That simple understanding is what allows people to move mana in and out of their bodies.

The belief that mana comes and goes, and simply put, there is nothing you can do about it.

As I blinked, closing and reopening my eyes, I was immediatly blinded by an ocean-blue light.

It was right in front of me.

As my entire body trembled uncontrollably, I watched as most dark-purple particles simply left my body...and vanished into the air.

Yet, some entered the hilt of my sword, sucked in like a vacuum, and moved up to the blade, causing a blue hue to surround it,

The ocean-blue color did not perfectly cover my blade; some metal was still visible, but it was clearly visible.

It contrasted perfectly with my blood-red fist.

Standing still, literally unable to move my body, I heard countless mutters enter my ears.

"w-who is that next to Serena!?"

"b-both of them ddid it!"

"But h-how did he do it!? He's a rank 1900, isn't he!? The dancer!?"

A soft voice snapped me out of my trance.

"Do you know what attribute it is?"

At the voice, my mind instantly faltered, and the blue hue surrounding my sword immediatly vanished.

I fell backward, but before I could hit the ground, a green vine suddenly appeared beneath Professor Lily and soared forward, going around me.

The vine caught my back and slowly pushed me forward, forcing me to make eye contact with Lily.

Lily's jade-green eyes met mine as the vine slowly retreated to her feet, leaving me standing.

"Do you know what attribute you possess?"

Instinctively, I shook my head, prompting the Professor to stare blankly at me for a moment before moving on to Serena, who was holding a crossbow with its string colored a dark purple.

Of course, I knew, but revealing it was a different story.

I could feel it...Yet understanding it was a different story.

Tide.

If I touched an opponent with my glowing blue blade, they would be pulled toward me, like a tide coming to the beach.

Besides, Serena's voice suddenly sounded.

"Don't know either."

Professor Lily shifted her gaze toward me as if I were a criminal, at Serena's words, before sighing and walking away, not writing anything on her clipboard.

"You two are free to leave."

Turning to face me, Serena narrowed her eyes before pointing at the mark on my hand and mouthing, or I presumed her to be mouthing.

"Don't say anything or you're dead."

With that, she walked away, prompting me to follow.

With the potion's help, I had been able to unlock my mana sword, and perhaps with some practice, I could do it without the potion at some point.

Yet, as I exited the coliseum, I found a familiar white-haired figure waiting under the shade of the tree.

Her complexion was much better, a light-red color, her usual pale cheeks, and her eyes were...not as emotionless as before.

It seemed that her mask had finally been broken, with the diary incident over.

However, letting out a dry cough, Carissa suddenly approached me as I left the coliseum and laid out her two hands, revealing a bandage.

"ah..."

Graciously taking the bandage and applying it to my right hand, I tilted my head awkwardly and thought for a moment before muttering.

"You don't owe me anything...I was just doing what I had to do."

Looking at me dumbfoundedly, Carissa simply answered after a brief moment of silence.

"...? I'm just doing what I want to do, then."

With those words, she narrowed her eyes and left, walking ahead of me and catching up to Serena.

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