...No. This might actually be the perfect opportunity.
I had to crush it here. The unstable factor. The psychological shackle that kept getting in the way of her true potential.
If her trauma was the problem, then right here, right now, I would force Elisha to confront it.
I can do this.
It wasn't going to be easy. Overcoming deep-seated trauma required immense effort, both internally from the victim and externally from someone pushing them. If I couldn't buy Elisha the time she needed externally, we were both going to die in this room.
But I had grown stronger since the Academy.
In the original timeline, the protagonist Kael was the one who broke her out of this panic attack with a heroic, self-sacrificing speech. I didn't have a speech, but I could at least mimic the tactical pressure.
"Wake up on your own, Elisha!" I shouted, keeping my eyes on the horde. "I'll hold them off as long as I can! I expect cover fire, and I expect you to pay me back for that damn coffee!"
