“A miracle! What kind of terrifying mental willpower could forcibly seize back control of the body like this? Are you really just an ordinary child? Even countless veterans never achieved such strength of will!”
Even with Makarov pressing against his temple and his eyes half-covered, Harper’s voice could not hide his excitement.
One phone call from Leighton, and the police received word that the school was conducting a safety drill in a rented house, which forced the police deployment to stand down.
The border prosecutor belonged to the Suvir Federation.
Naturally, he would never personally come to Detrian, nor acknowledge the mercenaries’ existence.
So the matter would most likely be left unresolved… but that didn’t mean Elin would let the two of them off.
Willpower, huh?
Elin found that answer absurd.
Herself… perhaps she did have some willpower.
But nothing close to the resilience of a soldier.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be hovering between life and death now.
That couldn’t be the answer.
Could it be because… she had crossed over?
Thinking it through, that seemed to be her only unique trait.
If it was as Harper said—that when a supernatural host collapses or is mind-controlled, they enter the Elephant’s Foot state—then maybe her doubled mental strength gave her greater resistance.
At least, unless exposed directly to psychic radiation, she hadn’t felt much abnormality while inside radiation zones.
“Reversing the Elephant’s Foot state has never happened before, Miss Elin.
You are a miracle!
An absolute miracle!
I was right—only those already mad will not fall into madness twice.
What kind of mental state allows such a thing…”
Though Harper looked refined, his rambling madness and the fervor in his gaze toward Elin were nauseating.
“Shut up and heal.
Say one more word and I’ll break your teeth out, one by one.”
Elin growled wearily.
Her body now was weaker than after opening the “Ha Domain.”
Fortunately, the strength to pull a trigger was the same whether in a baby or a giant.
“Fine, I understand.
But even leaving the Elephant’s Foot, your body has absorbed a massive dose of radiation…
Don’t act like it’s nothing—this is genuine radiation damage.”
“Chernobyl’s radiation is twofold: physical radiation and psychic radiation.
The first is what people normally know.
The other… comes from the ‘Domain of Knowledge’—artifacts.
Supernatural entities carry both.
When psychic radiation runs wild, physical radiation does as well.”
“A normal human can house one supernatural entity, after which their body becomes far more sensitive to radiation.
But just now, you were like someone who housed two entities without radiation medicine.
Radiation tore through your organs, cutting your lifespan short.
But to recover from the Elephant’s Foot? That kind of damage is nothing.”
Shortened lifespan?
Elin only shook her head faintly.
She didn’t care.
She already stood beside death itself.
But Harper seemed to know a lot—so she didn’t mind probing further.
“So you’re saying… with continuous radiation medicine, I could fuse with another supernatural entity?”
At this, Harper paused—then smiled gently.
“That would be suicide, Miss Elin.
Physical radiation can be countered with drugs.
But psychic radiation is lethal.
Those who step into radiation zones as carriers of supernatural entities experience hallucinations, and their chances of being mind-controlled rise dramatically—unless their willpower…”
Here Harper stopped.
Willpower—yet the girl before him had already proved her own.
Willpower strong enough to awaken even from the Elephant’s Foot.
“Like mine.”
Elin chuckled softly, finishing his thought, her mind already calculating.
If necessary… it was time to seek a second artifact.
One had already made her like this.
If she had two… might she even live on?
Even if for fewer years.
“But then the physical radiation becomes the real issue.
Miss Elin, your life expectancy is now about fifty.
If you add a second artifact, even if you resist the psychic radiation, your expectancy drops to thirty.”
Harper’s voice suddenly grew serious—like a street hypnotist abruptly turning into a hospital doctor.
“Mm.
A thirty-year shelf life for a beautiful girl.
At least you won’t see me grow old.
Sounds fine to me.”
Elin nodded cheerfully.
She wouldn’t call it wasted.
With this life and her past one, she’d already broken even.
“Ha, Miss Elin, you really are carefree.
Indeed, with such high-level radiation, cancer won’t even have a chance to kill you.
Most die of acute radiation sickness.
But—I have drugs that can help stabilize your condition.
If you undergo regular medical checks, we can at least delay death’s arrival.”
“And you needn’t worry about being mind-controlled again.
My ability is called ‘Beast in the Heart.’
It comes from the ‘Mica’ artifact.
It releases controlled psychic radiation—not harmful, more like gentle enthrallment.
It can induce hypnosis and heal psychic trauma.
If not for Mr. Leighton giving me false information, this tragedy would never have happened.”
“So no, you don’t have to fear me attacking you, Miss Elin.
I’m not suicidal.
If the Elephant’s Foot activates, the entire city becomes a radiation zone.”
Harper glanced at Leighton.
The principal now lay slumped in the corner, his expensive suit soaked with blood and cold sweat, face ashen as a corpse.
His bandaged leg still leaked faintly.
Terror, pain, and despair had wrung him dry.
Hearing his name, he instinctively shrank his neck, his clouded eyes filled only with fear of the gun-toting girl before him.
Elin took a deep breath.
Her lungs flared with familiar stabbing and burning pain, triggering a violent cough.
She forced down the iron-sweet taste in her throat…
Harper was right.
Her insides burned with invisible fire, her strength draining rapidly.
Even the hand holding her gun trembled faintly.
Slowly, she walked to a chair that was still mostly intact—Harper’s examination chair.
Then she sat down, weary to the bone yet radiating unquestionable authority.
The heavy AS Val rested across her lap, its muzzle still vaguely pointing toward Leighton.
The gesture brimmed with exhaustion, yet exuded an oppressive aura—
As if it were no chair she sat upon, but a throne.
“Principal Leighton.”
Elin spoke, her weak voice rasping but crystal clear.
“It’s time we discussed compensation.”