Aurora felt grateful for the first time that she had transmigrated as Aurora, who owned light magic, instead of other characters. This was because light magic was the only element stronger than darkness magic, at least in terms of basic elemental interactions.

If she had transmigrated into someone other than Aurora, she would have been forever stuck in this never-ending nightmare, unless Nova decided to release her herself. Just the thought made Aurora feel terrible. However, with light magic, she should be able to destroy the darkness magic that was affecting her right now, in theory.

Of course, if she hadn't become Aurora, she might not have had this problem in the first place. But that was just a possibility. As an unknown object in this world, she would attract attention either way, and attention meant trouble.

And of course, Aurora didn't really need to think about all of this. The "what-if" scenario was pointless anyway. She would be better off just thinking about her actual situation. But she needed to think of something else; she needed to distract herself from the creepy imagery in front of her right now.

She now knew that whatever was happening around her right now was nothing more than just a dream. But still, she couldn't pretend that she didn't care when she looked at all the dead bodies around her. They had died in a pretty grotesque manner. This obviously bothered Aurora, especially because some of them were familiar faces.

Aurora sighed.

Ignore it, Aurora told herself. Even the foul smell bothering her nose, ignore it. Even if her feet felt cold and disgusting because she stepped on flesh and blood, ignore it.

She closed her eyes, trying to summon her light magic. This was easy to do before she was stuck inside this endless dream, but for some reason, she had been failing at it for some time now.

Every time her light magic started to resurface, she felt a pain in her chest, right in her heart. Her focus was broken, and her magic disappeared. The same thing was happening right now.

Aurora sighed in pain. Was this because of Nova's last attack? Had she really stabbed her in the heart?

Aurora was obviously angry with Nova, yet she wondered why she had trapped her inside this endless nightmare. Why hadn't she just killed her once and for all? Did she just want to make her suffer?

Maybe.

Once again, Aurora was thinking about pointless things. She should ask Nova herself to find out the answer. Thinking about it alone wouldn't take her anywhere.

"Forget it, I should try again instead," Aurora reminded herself.

And once again, she tried to summon her light magic.

***

Ruby refused to leave Aurora's side even for a second. She sat beside Aurora's bed, staring at the blue girl, hoping for her to wake up.

Even after several check-ups by different people, nobody really knew why Aurora had been unconscious for so long.

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Ruby believed that this was Nova's doing. Unfortunately, she had no proof that darkness magic could cause something like this. And the problem was that even Nova had experienced the same thing. She had been unconscious and had not yet woken up for some reason.

Did that mean Nova had done it to herself? No, Ruby didn't think Nova was stupid enough to use some magic that would end up hurting herself, but thinking that someone or something had attacked them didn't make sense either. Who could do that and why?

Ruby had no idea.

Right now, Ruby deeply regretted leaving Aurora's side that time. If only she had stayed behind, she might have had a clue as to what had actually happened. Even better, if she had stayed, she might have been able to prevent this from happening in the first place. Although that was a bit of wishful thinking, she might not have been able to do anything even if she had stayed. Still, staying sounded better than what had actually happened. Probably that's why she stubbornly didn't want to leave Aurora's side, because of the guilt eating away at her.

Or probably she was just too scared to leave, thinking that if she failed to keep watching, something worse would happen to Aurora.

Outside the room, people were buzzing. Lyra and Marina were busy distributing potions that Aurora had prepared to anyone who was hurt. Sera was holed up inside the library trying to figure out what might have happened to Aurora. And after bringing back Aurora and Nova, Ruby let Rita and the group of adventurers help the teachers to defeat and capture the remaining rebels.

Ruby also heard people talking about the news that the snail monster that had attacked the town was finally defeated by a group of adventurers hired by Viscount Starlight. Although they took a lot of time compared to how Rita had handled it, they didn't have the luxury of a super powerful sword, so it was all fair and good.

And the same attack that had happened at the palace was successfully stopped too. All the rebels were captured except for the leader himself, the second prince. That guy was crafty enough to still be able to run away, it seemed.

But neither of those things was important to Ruby. Sure, it was good that things were mostly resolved. But what did any of that matter if the most important person ended up in this situation?

Ruby had heard some suggestions that if Aurora was really affected by darkness magic, then the best way to handle it was with light magic. Ruby wanted to scream. But nobody else had light magic besides Aurora, not even her father!

So it all depended on Aurora herself? That just made Ruby feel even more useless.

Ruby was so deep in her own thoughts that at first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. But that wasn't the case. Inside the dimly lit room, she saw a small light coming from Aurora's chest.

She jumped from her seat and immediately looked at Aurora's face, but unfortunately, she was still unconscious.

Ruby then immediately grabbed Aurora's hand and started calling her name.

"Aurora," Ruby said, "Hey Aurora, can you hear me? Please wake up! Please!"

The light around Aurora's chest grew bigger, and Ruby started to feel the warmth from it.

Ruby wasn't sure what was happening, but this should be a good thing, right? Yes, it should be a good sign.

Yet, Ruby wasn't sure what she should do with it. All she could do was keep calling Aurora's name, hoping that it would help somehow.

But then, the light suddenly disappeared.

"No, no, no, no," Ruby said. "Please come back!"

But the light just disappeared completely.

"No..." Ruby could only manage to say.

When all hope seemed lost, Aurora's body suddenly jolted as if she had been punched hard in the chest, surprising even Ruby. Aurora's eyes opened wide, her breath was uneven, and she looked around confused.

"Am I back...?" Aurora said, barely above a whisper. "Or... am I still dreaming?"

Unable to contain her emotions, Ruby immediately hugged Aurora and cried.

"Ruby...?" Aurora said.

The warm hug from the small girl made Aurora feel truly awake. She must have already succeeded in getting out of that nightmare prison. After all, it didn't make sense to let her feel this warmth and comfort if she was supposed to be suffering from nightmares.

"Thank God, you're finally awake," Ruby said, still crying. "You really scared me, you stupid."

"I'm sorry for worrying you," Aurora said, wiping away Ruby's tears. "But I'm fine. See?"

Ruby nodded and their eyes met. Her eyes were still wet, but Ruby was no longer crying. Aurora smiled in response, but for some reason, Ruby kept staring at her without blinking.

"What?" Aurora asked. "Something on my face--"

Suddenly, Ruby kissed Aurora. Their soft lips intertwined with each other. It was so sudden that for a second, Aurora didn't register what had happened. But then she immediately pulled back.

Realizing what she had just done, in a panic, Ruby quickly apologized, "I'm sorry! That was... I just..."

Ruby's head was blank. She didn't plan to do that, of course. It just... happened.

Her head was spinning as she tried to find an excuse. Something, anything, to explain what had just happened. But nothing came to her mind, and in the end, all she could do was run away from there.

"I'm sorry!" Ruby said before fleeing.

Meanwhile, Aurora remained stunned, her face burning hot. After a while, she looked towards the door and realized that Ruby was already gone.

Aurora slowly touched her own lips, the sensation still lingering.

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

Aurora said that, but she kind of had an idea. It's not like she was stupid. Of course, she noticed Ruby's affection toward her a little too much for a friend. She just refused to acknowledge it and pretended that she didn't notice.

That's because she didn't want to deal with what might happen next. She was scared.

***