I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

The day at the clinic was quite comfortable, after finishing being berated by the head nurse (And embarrassed).

 

Both girls settled into a more comfortable rhythm of not seeing each other faces while going around the clinic helping patient after patient, Rossie checked with her [Diagnosis] spells, and if they could be solved by the use of the rather simple [Heal] of Elizabeth. Then she would move to the next one and leave the blonde girl [Healing] the patient.

 

Elizabeth could work to some degree and may be able to add the [High], [Low] and [Highest] spell prefixes after studying the books the head nurse had given her, but for now she was stuck with a rather above average [Heal] spell.

 

“Thank you Miss [Healer],” said one of the patients to the blonde girl while she was leaving the room of another person after she had stayed five minutes healing him.

 

His wound wasn’t critical work, but it required continued care, it seemed not many wanted to do it since it was deemed low enough in the risk assessment that it wouldn’t matter if they left it for later, and since Elizabeth wasn’t really a [Healer] they threw most of this type of patients her way.

 

‘Even though I am supposed to guard Rossie…’ Thought the blonde girl while walking to the nurse central to search for the patient room where Rossie had gone to, the girl had been going from room to room all morning.

 

While she had been stuck four to five patients behind her, she was keeping the pace with some of the other [Healers] around, even if only because her spell was highly efficient after all the fixes she had done to it.

 

But that only made her slightly above average compared to a dedicated healer, while Rossie…Rossie was in a category of her own.

 

She breezed over the normal patients as if they were simple issues, and moved into the more complicated ones while casting four to five different diagnosis spells, even when she got annoyed for not finding the problem she would brute force it by using [High Tier] or [Divine Tier] spells.

 

Which meant that she was on a deficit of [Mana] since the patient wasn’t obligated to pay for such high-tier spells without a diagnosis…But Rossie had enough Mana to stomach the loss, and if not, she would ask for her Mana…

 

And since the [Spell] she used needed physical contact, that meant that they ended up holding hands quite often, for some reason that got the pink-haired girl somewhat sheepishly…And that in turn made Elizabeth somewhat sheepishly too.

 

They were only holding hands for god’s sake!

 

It wasn’t something lewd or anything!

 

Either way, they spent most of the morning like that, Rossie would diagnose the patient, if it was simple enough (And her mana was recovered to full) then Elizabeth would treat it with her [Heal] spell, if not Rossie would deal with it and then she would use part of the mana paid by the patient to recover.

 

At some point while working Elizabeth had asked “Why do we only deal with Powered and Mages?” to one of the nurses around.

 

The Head Nurse had left after making sure both girls could do their jobs, so they now had a normal [Healer]/ Nurse as supervisor, “Because if either of you doesn’t manage to fully heal the problem, they have more chance to survive long enough to return.” Said the nurse back.

 

“What?” Asked the blonde girl.

 

“I mean, a powered or a mage has a sturdier body, just by the simple factor that a powered has his body infused with mana and a [Mage] usually comes in [Shift] form, so the body you are healing is a [Mana Body]. If you screw it up, the powered can survive long enough so we fix it…And the mage only needs to survive more time with the [Shift] active till we [Heal] him.” Explained the nurse, “A normal human does not have those advantages, so until the head nurse thinks you can deal with normies…You will be in this wing.”

 

And while she understood why they needed to be monitored…She thought it was more about the fact that not enough nurses could use [Magic] around here, so far only the nurse they had been assigned and another one could actually use magic… The other used [Batteries] and [Artifacts] to function.

 

And of course, the head nurse could use magic too, but she was going from place to place in the clinic…She couldn’t detect another [Magic Girl] around right now, but she had been told there were other 2 healers and she was the only [Guard] assigned by the school…

 

And that was up the air since she could use [Healing] spells, so she wasn’t sure if she had been identified as [Healer] or [Guard] by the school, the head nurse had said that she would be labeled as [Guard] since she didn’t have the [Healing Affinity], but the other nurses treated her like a [Healer].

 

Even though her [Healing] was brought by the [Magic Circle] she had built using [Rossie] as an example…

 

At least this meant that when her [Healing ] got reported to the school her evaluation would be further lowered by the fact that she had been extended her studies to another school, so her evaluation would put her further down into the [Overextended] terrain.

 

That would make her identity as [The Shadow Empress] shine more brightly and further difficult for anyone to ever think about linking both [Personas]…Not that her [Identity] as [Alice] was even close to her…

 

Especially now that she couldn’t even feel the shadows…

 

“[Warning, Villain sighting en route. Security forces prepare for combat.]” Blared an alarm in the speakers of the hospital.

 

The nurses immediately went about comforting the patients and getting them to sit down back, some seemed more at peace than others, but overall not many needed much convincing after the second alarm flared.

 

“[Villain Identified as A-Tier threat, Shadow Aligned.]” That made most of those sit down immediately, their wounds suddenly [Flaring].

 

That made Elizabeth smirk, half of those didn’t want to fight a [Tainted] and the other half didn’t want to fight an A-Tier Villain, she wasn’t sure who was worse in that.

 

“[Elemental Weaver] you aren’t required to fight the [Threat] as we have deemed you a provisional [Healer].” Said one of the nurses to the blonde girl, “But as a [Guard] you can either stay here and help keep the order or go to the reception and be ready for work.”

 

She…Wanted to stay, not only because Rossie was here and she might need protection, but because she didn’t need the spotlight as [Elemental Weaver], but something else made her want to go and see…

 

“I will go to the reception and see if they need help, might also work as impromptu [Healer] there if needed.” Said the blonde girl while answering to the nurse, then before the pink-haired girl said anything she added, “You stay here and help prepare for the wounded [Sylphie].”

 

She got the feeling that Rossie might want to go with her, so she didn’t give her an out, “Stay safe [Weaver].” Said the pink-haired girl, she seemed to want to say something else but stopped from saying so.

 

In the end, the blonde girl didn’t find out what the pink-haired girl had wanted to say, and since the alarms flared again she rushed to the elevator and pushed the button for the reception floor, so she would need to ask her later, maybe at their [home]?

 

It wasn’t something important…Probably, if it was important she would have said her, right?

 

“…AND GET THE CIVIES OUT OF THE WAY ALREADY!” She arrived at the ground floor listening to the screaming voice of the head nurse.

 

She tried to nudge herself out of her line of sight…Alas…” DON’T THINK I DIDN’T SEE YOU [Elemental Weaver]!” She wasn’t fast enough…Also maybe being dressed in full Magical Girl Regalia wasn’t good for being a wallflower.

 

“Hello Head Nurse…Fine day we are having, right? I need to go…” Started saying the blonde girl while searching for someone that looked like he was in charge of the defense.

 

“Straight back to the floor I left you is where you need to go, young lady!” But the head nurse wasn’t having anything from her.

 

She couldn’t help but groan about that, but she was in luck today!

 

“Is she a [Magical Girl]?” Asked one of the administrators at the reception desk.

 

“Yes…?” Answered the blonde girl before the head nurse could say anything.

 

“…Here it is, [Elemental Weaver]…Graded at least C-Tier…” Started saying the woman at the reception desk, she looked like someone more important than the usual reception clerks.

 

And by the face the head nurse was making, she was probably someone with the power to command here, “Great, we don’t have enough [Guards] and you were listed as one so it means you have the means to defend yourself.” Smiled the woman at the reception desk, “Go outside and guard the clinic with our [Guards], if you end up wounded the clinic is willing to give you…Some degree of discount.”

 

“SHE IS A CHILD!” Said the head nurse, then when the woman raised her eyebrow at her, the head nurse centered herself and continued, “She is assigned as [Guard] to one of our student [Healers] so she must protect her.”

 

“She is protecting the building that [Healer] is, so she is fulfilling her duties, unless you know of another [Magical Girl] in the building that is rated for combat ?” Asked back the woman, the head nurse seemed to think about it before deflating.

 

“I will be fine, trust me!” Said the blonde girl, somehow she couldn’t imagine a [Shadow Aligned] Villain as someone dangerous. Not after her experiences with [The Hydra’s Fang].

 

They all seemed nice after all…Even the girl at the arena wasn’t that bad since she didn’t make them do something outrageous.

 

So this wasn’t as dangerous for her as it would be for others, besides…Maybe this could stimulate her [Shadows] back to life after whatever weird thing had happened to her?

 

“I will be back ★” And on that note the blonde girl walked to the outside, searching in the skies for the presence of the other [Guards] she had been told about.

 

She found none in the skies, well, perhaps they didn’t have flying-type spells or skills? She turned to see around the clinic, waving at the normal security forces of the clinic, they were well equipped but in the end, were mostly normal people.

 

They of course waved back and some even thanked her for the help, so she did the polite thing and greeted them back, thanking them for standing guard around, but after circling around the area she started to worry since no powered or mage was around.

 

“[Villian at sight, confirming identity…]” And the warnings from the speakers came blaring, she could barely hear them, but a second after a magic circle flared near her eyes giving her the update from the speaker systems.

And then, she got really worried, she hadn't found the other [Hero]'s or [Magical Girls / Guardians] around yet, and she was in front of a veritable A-Tier threat, she had the power of a D-Rank...At best, she could be considered C-Tier if she used all the points she had stockpiled from the latest Level Up fest...

 

Maybe if she tried to trigger another of those?

 

She had survived some events that should give her some experience towards the next levels...She focused inwardly and pinged at the [Status] skill, it showed there was a backlog of notifications waiting for her input, it seemed that the [Skill] had deemed her state of mind before giving the deluge of notifications, and unless it was something truly important it didn't show them to her. But if she was to fight a veritable [A-Rank] threat...

 

"[Guardsmen] am I the only [Magical Girl] in the site?" She asked one of the nearby guards.

 

"Yes ma'am...The closer [Magical Girl] is [Lunar Shade] do you wish to ask for reinforcements? She is a [Tainted]." Said the guardsman, at that the blonde wanted to facepalm...The guard against the floor.

 

"Yes guardsmen, please signal [Lunar Shade] for reinforcements." Said the girl trying to not let her annoyance leak into her voice, it wasn't good for her [Image] if the guards thought of her as someone irate.

 

"Magical Girl [Lawbringer Sentinel] is en route, are you sure [Lunar Shade] is required?" Asked the guardsman once more while fishing his communicator's frequency.

 

"Unless you think a sole C-Tier and [Lawbringer Sentinel] are enough...Then yes, call [Anyone] that can come." Said the blonde girl while activating her [ZephyrWings] spell and flying to the roof, she would need to see from where the [Villain] was coming.

 

But before that... "Release the pending notifications..." She intoned inwardly to her [Skill].

 

And sure enough, another deluge of notifications came at her, half of them were for smaller stuff, with only an important one, the one that had garbled text.

That gave her just barely enough to arrive at level 25...how did she know that she had made it barely?

 

She wasn't sure, but something in her gut told her that she was barely at the cusp of getting to level 26, and that something was waiting for her there...But she wasn't sure what it was. Either way, she welcomed the boost to her base stats, five points across her different status meant that she was that much more powerful...Even if that wasn't that much in the great scheme of things...At the very least she had over 200 points to place across all stats...

 

Even if her [Skill] had been somewhat wonky...The status hadn't been taken from her nor had she been penalized even when the [skill] threatened her before, she wasn't sure what was interfering with her [Skills], maybe the [Taint]? Maybe someone else?

 

She didn't know, but either way, she would sit in those points till she needed them...Or till she decided what path she would follow, since she wanted to be successful as [Villain] right now, perhaps putting them into the physical status was the way?

 

But she needed the power right now if she was to survive an encounter against a Villain...And while she trusted in [The Hydra's Fang]...She hadn't gotten a good vibe from that particular villain...

 

"Well, well, well...Look what the [Council] spat my way..." Said the Masked villain finally showing up, he had walked from one of the alleyways and the shadows trailed behind him, all moving as if alive.

 

And they were probably alive...

 

Under some kind of effect from his skill...Actually, what was his skill?

 

"[Identify]" Intoned the blonde girl pointing her awareness towards the [Villain].

 

"So [Magical Brat], I'm following a [Shadow Sign]...Either give me the [Tainted] or get out of my way." Said with finality the [Villain] while behind him the shadows fanned out, extending all over the place with glee in their eyes.

 

She could make up the form of the shadows and how they had demonic-looking eyes and maws...Was...Was this how she looked while summoning the [Shadow Dragons]?

 

That was a scary thought...The fact that she was 45 levels below him...Was also a scary thought...And the fact that one of his [Skills] was literally called [Shadow Taint] and that was at 80% was...Even worse, wasn't he getting cleaned of the [Taint]?

 

This...This would be hard...But at least she only needed to hold him back while [Lunar Shade] and [Lawbringer Sentinel] arrived...And maybe someone else to help?

 

No way she would end up fighting an A-tier villain alone right?

 

She would die!