"… kill me."
On the third day after Sarah was given life and saw the world with her own eyes, her maker Phillips gave her an order that she could not disobey.
Even though Sarah still didn't understand anything at the time, the alchemical pattern deeply engraved in her soul still drove her to stand up, grab the sharp knife on the table, and accurately slit Phillips' throat.
…
Death is painful. Regardless of whether the death is intentional or not, the pain it causes will not be alleviated in any way.
Therefore, the scene of Phillips holding his throat with a ferocious expression and blood gushing out from between his fingers has clearly remained in her memory from that day on. Even though everything in that scene has gradually faded with the passage of time, in that almost black and white picture, the dripping blood will only become more red.
"Phillips is paranoid. His heart has long been occupied by alchemy and can no longer accommodate anything else." Sarah, who was sitting on the floor hugging her knees, lowered her head and said softly, "After I was born For three whole days, he was walking and thinking—he was wondering what the soul was like and how he could construct it using alchemy."
Just as she was talking, Sarah suddenly raised her head and glanced in Maka's direction.
"On the third night, in the hotel room, he suddenly came up with an idea, that is, he wanted to experience for himself the details of the soul."
"So, under his command, I killed him in the formation formation he drew..." She elaborated silently, "The stripping of the soul was successful, but the formation formation failed to keep him. "
After saying this, Sarah lowered her head again, letting her hair cover her face - just like it did many years ago.
"He died by my hands and by his own hands."
After hearing Sarah's story, Maka couldn't help but sigh secretly.
There is actually no essential difference between the research of alchemy and the research of other magics. Some extremely esoteric things actually have various problems. Before those problems are solved, only by classifying them as "taboo" can we prevent some bad things. things happen.
Just like the girl in front of him, how should her existence be defined? A new life? Or something else
"According to what you just said, you have no emotions? But I think you have had many... "
"After so many years, I just don't want to learn. Many expressions and reactions from others will naturally be imprinted on my body." Sarah hugged her knees and said, "Now, just like this - I think I am now It should be lonely, and when talking about these past events, it should also be sad... But what does loneliness and sadness feel like? I don't know at all."
"So, the help you want me to help is related to this?" Maka nodded.
"Yes, in fact, I have been looking for wizards who have studied soul magic, but there are too few people who study this knowledge..." Sarah said calmly, "Originally, I wanted to find the wizard from your British magic circle. It belongs to Voldemort. I once heard that he found a way to be resurrected after his death. I think that should be related to some kind of soul magic."
She paused for a moment before continuing: "But before I could find him, he died again."
"Then, it didn't take long for you to appear... At first I didn't expect that you also researched souls, but you appeared in front of me several times, making it difficult for me not to pay attention to you."
"So, after hearing some stories about you from Noah, I found someone to find out about you. And after testing you personally, I decided to enroll in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Perhaps because she planned to confess to Maka tonight, her expression became much less intense when she spoke. But as she just said, some "emotional expressions" have been integrated into her body. Although it is as plain as clear water, the occasional frown still seems to be trying to convey the troubles she should have at the moment. .
"My situation? What have you investigated?" Probably because he was tired after standing for a long time, Maka simply sat down on the floor and asked casually while considering whether to help.
"For example, for a long time, your behavior has been a little abnormal." Sarah glanced at him again, "It seems like it started in the second grade? In short... I think you seem to have lost your proper emotions. , I became indifferent to many things. I’m afraid no one understands this feeling better than me, so I quickly got an idea.”
"The person you found investigated carefully enough, didn't he?" Maka shook her head, but did not deny it.
"No, at least compared to other information about you, these things are not difficult to know," Sarah said calmly, "You have too many secrets. The more I know about you, the more I feel that I have not understood anything. There are even more problems. It’s just that except for that point, I’m not very interested in other things about you.”
"Okay!" Maka spread her hands, "Thank God... there are so many people interested in me. It is a blessing for me to be able to reduce one person."
Sarah was naturally not interested in his complaints, so she did not take up the topic. After pausing for a few more seconds, she used two questions to summarize the topic she just talked about.
"So, your emotions recovered later? How did you do it?"
Although Maka had an answer to Sarah's question, his answer could not solve any problem for Sarah.
"Unfortunately, you made a mistake about one thing." Maka explained, "During that time, I did not lose my emotions, it was just blocked and covered up by certain forces. And the person who unlocked the unknown seal was A powerful shock to the emotions.”
Luna used her body to block the sharp blade that was supposed to fall on Maka. It was the girl's behavior that made Maka feel a shock from the bottom of her heart.
And when the emotional seal in his soul was torn apart by that violent impact, he not only recovered the long-lost emotions, but also gained the unique ability to sense magic with his soul.
Unfortunately, although this has a lot to do with the soul and emotions, it is fundamentally different from Sarah's situation.
"In other words, you don't have any clue about the connection between emotions and soul?"
Sarah pursed her lips. Even though she didn't know what the so-called "disappointment" felt like, the expression on her face was involuntarily telling Maka that she should be disappointed at this moment.
But at this time, Maka shook her head again.
"Although there were errors in your investigation, which led to a decisive gap between your speculation and reality..." Maka hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "However, I have to say that you are lucky. For emotions and Emotion, I happen to be conducting research in this area... "
His research is actually still ongoing, and it is foreseeable that this research may continue for a long time.
"But-"
When Sarah heard that Maka was studying, she couldn't help but want to say something, but Maka suddenly reached out to stop her.
"I know what you want to say," he said. "Yes, many wizards have studied emotions and emotions since ancient times, because most magic is closely related to them. However, my research perspective is not quite the same as others. Same... If you are not in a hurry, you can wait at Hogwarts, and I may give you the right direction to solve the problem."
"Can't you tell me now?" Sarah asked immediately.
But Maka just thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head.
"There are too many terrible facts behind this research, and we can't just talk about it now," he said quite frankly this time. "However, since your needs and my purposes are not in conflict, I should help you." I will still help... After all, I did owe you once, didn't I?"
As he spoke, he pointed to the bald old man beside him, indicating that he had acknowledged the help Sarah had given him at the cost of breaking an arm.
Hearing this, Sarah opened her mouth slightly, but quickly closed her jaw again and did not dwell on this matter any more. After that, she slowly stood up from the floor, seemingly planning to leave first.
This time, Maka didn't keep her anymore. He had other things to deal with!
But when Sarah walked to the door, she turned around lightly as if she remembered something. At this moment, her blue eyes looked in Maka's direction again, as if there was something extra in her eyes.
"Professor MacLean, since you are willing to do this for me, does that mean... you think I can be regarded as your 'friend'?"
Maka really didn't expect that she would ask such a question, so she couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, but then she smiled again.
"Who knows? I think you can think about this question by yourself," he shrugged. "If you can find the answer by yourself, maybe it will be of great help to you in searching for emotions!"
In fact, doing this favor for Sarah was partly because it had no conflict of interest with Maka, but more because it was beneficial to Maka's ongoing important research.
As for the question of "are we friends?"... This seems simple, but in fact it is surprisingly complicated. Maka herself may not be able to understand it.
After Sarah left the door with doubts again, Maka put aside what she was thinking and moved her eyes to the old man on the ground.
"Let me see!" he muttered, "What kind of stuff is hidden in your head that makes you rush to Hogwarts to mess around..."