With a sample like this, corruption was contained inside a low-level heart, and the guide removed the corruption from the heart.Using a known factor would help them evaluate a guide’s skills on their own—they’d be able to see how well the guide did compared to others without the bond or esper playing a part.
It wasn’t that pleasant, of course, because removing corruption from a sample was more work, required more effort from the guide.
The heart was small and cube-shaped, appearing more like a piece of dull obsidian.
A guide stumbled away from the cube, a civilian catching him before he hit the ground.
Yeah, not a wonderfully good time.
The civilian escorted the guide away before another nurse in scrubs met my gaze, then gestured for me to approach.
I used the armrests of the chair to push myself to my feet, then followed her order.Someone else traded out the cube with a fresh one, this one humming with corruption.They used gloves, then set it right into the space carved out of the metal structure.
Civilians didn’t react well to corruption, so they tended to avoid it when possible.
“Your records show you’re an S-Rank, right?”
“Yes, S-Rank.”
She nodded, tapping her fingers on the screen of the tablet.“Any recent changes to abilities?Any problems with guiding?”
“No.”
She ran through the questions with an ease that said she did it often, that she was used to this work.Some nurses and doctors specialized in guides or espers, and that seemed to be the case with this one.
“We’re going to use an S-Rank sample for you.Now, if you aren’t S-Rank, there’s a risk to doing that.The corruption could overwhelm you, so make sure you’re honest.”
I almost laughed at her warning, as though I hadn’t been through this enough to fully understand the risk.
A lower-level guide couldn’t handle as much corruption, meaning they could accidentally take in more than they could filter.It wouldn’t usually do long-term harm, but it would knock them out and it wasn’t all that pleasant a recovery.
However, despite all my flaws, all my problems, there was no doubt as to my rank or abilities.
It was one of the few things I could manage.
And at least this time it was just a sample, which meant I didn’t have to worry about the whole ‘no-touching’ thing.
“Go on.An average time would be five minutes to clear the corruption.”
I nodded and walked up to the heart, the sickening sense of corruption thickening as I neared it.I could smell it, feel it in the air.It was worse than an esper, since this corruption felt stagnant, as though it had festered and rotted.
However, it was just a cube, and that reassured me.It was nothing more than a rock capable of holding corruption inside of it.
I shook my hand once, then set it on the side of the cube.A beep signaled the start as the nurse pressed a button on her watch.
A timer, no doubt.
I pulled the corruption from the cube quickly, allowing it to rush into me.It was easier in some ways than guiding an esper—less complicated, at least—but I had to do all the work myself.I drew that power into me, feeling my body already filtering it, changing it, absorbing it and rendering it harmless.
Five minutes?
A joke.
The corruption slipped into me, comfortable in a way that unnerved me, easy in a way it shouldn’t have been.It almost felt like the corruption was rushing from the cube to me eagerly, as though it knew exactly where it wanted to be.It terrified me how easy it really was, how little effort it took.
The words in my head came back to me, the fact I was ruined, that I was bonded withhim.It made me remember what he’d said, made me question that.
Was it because I really was broken?Had what happened altered me so much that I wasn’t normal anymore?
