The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

Sometimes life just keeps punching you in the teeth, no matter how many times you get up.

Aisha heard this saying from an old woman trying to survive alongside her at a shelter. At that time, Aisha had just started to get used to living in a ruined world and still held onto the wishful thinking that many young people had died clinging to—believing whatever had fucked up their world would go away and they would return to how things were.

When she heard the old woman speak, she inwardly thought that there could be hope at the end of their journey.

It was a big mistake.

The next night, after she had entertained that wishful thinking, another horde of mutated animals attacked the shelter. The old woman ran faster than anyone else and even pushed Aisha back, planning to use her as bait for the mutated animals so she could get as far away as possible.

Many died on the spot. Others were separated from their lovers and family members. The shelter that had once contained a thousand people was completely abandoned and overrun by mutated animals. The other shelters nearby had also suffered a similar fate.

Aisha lost not just a temporary home, but everything she held precious in her heart.

Transmigrating into another world didn’t make it better. It only made things worse for her.

Here, she was no one and nothing but a ghost. A specter whose origin was unknown. A soul who had invaded and taken somebody else’s body, posing as them.

Thus, finding herself in a world painted in white didn’t surprise Aisha.

Perhaps this was the real place she should have ended up upon dying. It wasn’t Heaven, that’s for sure. Aisha doubted the Heavens would welcome her so eagerly into paradise. Not after the number of lives that had bloodied her hands.

Out of curiosity, she tried taking a couple of steps inside that white world. No matter how much she believed she’d soon reach a wall, the path before her stretched endlessly.

She stopped.

Just when she thought that there was nothing and nobody in that place except her, she noticed something emerging from the floor. It wriggled and twisted before finally coming into view.

A tiny worm with silvery patterns lay there.

”... Nibbles?”

As if it heard her, the spiritual creature propped itself up on its tail and looked up.

”Guruu...”

Aisha smiled. ”What are you doing here? Were you the one who sent me here?”

”Guru... Guruuu.”

The spiritual beast shook its tiny head, suggesting that it didn’t send Aisha to this place. That made Aisha even more curious about this place.

”Then, are we trapped here?”

Nibbles shook its head again, then started to crawl toward her. Aisha wouldn’t just allow this tiny creature to work up a sweat trying to climb onto her foot, so she picked it up in her palm and felt its slight weight resting on her hand. She looked down at it.

”Nibbles, have you grown a bit bigger?”

The last time she saw it, it wasn’t even as long as a finger. Yet now, it had almost filled her entire palm, and there was even a strange new pattern on its body. Aisha rubbed the pattern to see if it would come off. Unsurprisingly, it stayed there. So it wasn’t dirt.

”You got a new pattern here, Nibbles.”

As though proud of itself and trying to show off its new change, the new silver pattern suddenly shone.

Aisha widened her eyes and waited for an extraordinary effect.

Yet, three seconds later, nothing happened.

Could it be that the pattern’s sole purpose was to make her spiritual beast look slightly more regal than an ordinary silkworm?

As if sensing her thought, Nibbles hit her palm with its head twice. Aisha found it adorable and allowed it to complain, since it didn’t have the ability to speak to her like a human being.

However—

”My new mark allows me to speak to you in your language.”

Aisha blinked.

She thought she was hearing things, but she was sure that the childish voice had come from her palm. And it wasn’t just that. The spiritual beast wasn’t just speaking to her like a human being, but it was speaking in her language—the language from her previous life!

”...You aren’t by any chance speaking to me, right?”

Still, she had a hard time convincing herself that the voice had indeed come from it.

”Yes, why?”

She stared at it with incredulous eyes.

It really could talk. How was this possible... Then, Aisha remembered what her spiritual beast had told her just now.

”Was it because of the mark?” When Nibbles nodded, Aisha felt pleasantly surprised. ”Why haven’t you spoken to me like this before?”

”No... time...”

”What?”

The silver mark on Nibbles’s body started to sputter.

Realizing what that could mean, Aisha felt as though she had to do something. But without knowing what had caused her spiritual beast’s change, she couldn’t do anything to help it keep its new silver mark sparkling.

As it continued to flicker, Nibbles’s voice rang out in her head.

”You need to wake up... That human... he’s...”

The voice disappeared, leaving her with words that didn’t reveal anything more to her. But Aisha understood clearly. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Being in this world had cleared her mind, almost making her forget why she went through all the trouble of sneaking inside the Association, killing people again, and forcing herself to use her hidden power.

That’s right... Zenick.

She hadn’t saved him yet from whoever had taken him. If she had to guess, his life must be in extreme danger if even her spiritual beast had to warn her.

To be frank, if this was Aisha of the past, she wouldn’t even think of moving a finger to save Zenick. There were too many variables to think about and troublesome matters that would involve her. That alone would dampen her desire to save someone’s life.

Zenick wasn’t even her real brother. Her true brother had died in her previous life.

And yet... looking into this body’s memories and seeing how Zenick had treated her as preciously as a pearl held in his palms, she couldn’t bring herself to ignore him. Not when she could see herself doing the same thing he had done when she took care of her younger brother.

Zenick was like her in the past. Someone who would do anything, even give up his life for his younger sibling, if that meant they could live longer and better.

Perhaps that wasn’t reason enough. But it was enough for Aisha to decide to save him and give purpose to her actions.

Now it was time to get out of this place and save him.

Aisha woke up to pain. Her brain was slow and confused, as though it had been shaken into a slurry. Her mouth tasted metallic, and whenever she tried to open her eyes, she only sank deeper and deeper into the murky depths of pain and sleepiness.

She knew this was a sign of the side effects of overusing her ability. It wasn’t the first time she’d experienced it, but this time, it was far worse than it had been before.

She clenched her teeth and fought through the pounding in her head. Aisha felt something stir beside her, but because of the dizziness, she couldn’t quite figure out who or what it was. She could only hope it wasn’t the guard from earlier—

”It’s bad for you to clench your teeth that hard.”

A low, husky voice spoke close to her ear, near enough that she felt the warmth of his breath before she registered the words. A hand—cool, careful, almost too gentle for how large it felt against her jaw—tilted her face toward him.

”Come on. Open your mouth for me.”

Aisha opened her eyes slightly. The room was strangely dimly lit, the edges of everything blurred and soft, and she couldn’t tell if that was because of the darkness or because her vision was failing her. She felt sick...

”Urpp...”

Bile rose to the back of her throat, bitter and metallic, but her jaw had locked shut and refused to let it through.

A hard object suddenly pressed against her lips, coaxing her to open them. But her teeth remained clenched shut.

Aisha shook her head, trying to pull away from whatever was touching her, but the hand on her jaw held her in place. Then the hard object pressed against her lips again, forcing its way between them and prying her mouth open.

Finally given an opening, Aisha puked on the floor. There wasn’t anything to vomit, honestly, only acid and blood that had built up inside her mouth. It took a long time for her to stop dry heaving.

Aisha knew she must look wrecked right now. Tears had stained her face, and droplets hung from her eyelashes, while sweat clung to her skin and saliva slicked her chin.

But the hand on her jaw didn’t pull back. If anything, it stayed exactly where it was. Neither did the hard object that had kept her mouth open.

Just when she thought everything was over, Aisha felt something wet enter her mouth.