Novel CrystalGuardians: GODS Among Us

Synopsis:
There is a larger universe out there and one city is determined to find it. Welcome to New York City, a small city that cut itself from the rest of the world by openly accepting both Magic-based and Science-based abilities in an attempt to understand the universe larger than it self...

Enter Haruko Matsumoto, a boy who can neither perform magic or science based abilities. By all means Haruko, is a failure child the rest of the world would not even look at, but his destiny would change all when on the eve of his 16 birthday he meets a small girl dressed in blue named Aoi, who proclaims that she a ""God"" who very powers ignores the same laws of both science and magic which he tries to understand,he also discovers that there other people looking for her and her power.In one night Haruko Matsumoto life is changed as he is thrown into battle for power that would not only decide fate of one girl but everyone, the city, the state, the world, the universe, and so on... But with the fate of everything on the line can a boy that with no powers change the fate of everything. What will happen when is thrown into the world of GODS as he learns that the Universe is bigger than you think.

Genre: Action, Fantasy.

Tags: Male lead, Classical Elements, Magic, Low Fantasy.

Content Warning: Profanity, Graphic Violence, Sensitive Content.

Hello, GODBreakerDragon here, this is a story that I am currently working on, that is being written in the style of a light novel. This is story is also on Royal Road and Scribble Hub, if one want to read ahead as I spend the next days bringing chapter here.

Note: Chapters as a whole will consist of multiple parts (min. 4, max. 12)

Table of Contents

GODFall Arc

• Prologue Part 1: NEO New York City.......
• Prologue Part 2: The Last Day Until the End of The World.

Chapter 1 Haruko Matsumoto. (The Nobody) Survival of the Fittest.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Chapter 2 The Girl With Eyes of Blue. Blue Eyed Maiden.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8
• Part 9
• Part 10

Chapter 3 Help Me_Help You_To Save You. A Heaven Without A GOD.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8
• Part 9
• Part 10
• Part 11
• Part 12

Chapter 4 The Everlasting kNight: The Moon That Forever Shines Down.

• Part 0
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

 

Spoiler: Prologue Part 1

Prologue: Part 1 NEO New York City........



NEO New York City.

The Bronx.

Queens.

Manhattan.

Brooklyn.

Staten Island.

NEO New York City.

New Amsterdam.

The city.

Gotham.

Metropolis.

The City So Nice They Named It Twice.

The Big Apple.

The Empire City.

The Five Burroughs.

The Melting Pot.

The City That Never Sleeps.

The Capital of the World.

The City at The Center of the Universe.

The City of The Fallen Angel.

The City with Everything.

Just a city.

A small city with a population just over 8.2 million.

Originally founded just like any other city in the United States and named the same way.

NEO New York City is just the same as you would read it in the ordinary history books, with the pages falling apart, pages ripped in a normal school where the building is older than everyone that attends, with the school lawn have a little to or no patches of grass and read by a normal school student who attended an ordinary school in an ordinary building in an ordinary city in an ordinary world that is not New York City.

The City Motto.

"Ad quod obtinendum scientia Universo"

To Obtain Knowledge of the Universe.

The questions: What is out there in the universe? What is the universe? How big is the universe? and the biggest question of them all- If the universe size is infinite, are we the only species in the universe?

The city relies on both Science and Magic for answers to those questions.

It purposes to understand the larger universe and all its properties. It accepts the known and unknown. That which can be explained and what cannot be explained.

The two opposites.

The Yin and Yang of our world.

Two sides of the same coin.

Only when opposites are in unity together can harmony be achieved, or so the saying goes.

This one city surrounded by walls that cut itself off from the rest of the world to obtain the answers it is searching for.

The entire city exists for the that one purpose. It poured all of it resources into constructing the perfect city.

Here in this large advanced technological city with a population of 8,175,133. This metropolis like city, made up of white buildings which give the city the appearance of something out of futuristic sci-fi movie. It gives the New York City skyline an appearance to die for.

A truly amazing sight.

The white city.

Legend has it that the city was founded by a fallen angel, which is why the city has its appearance.

It was just the same.

NEO New York City is its own little, small world,

Within a bigger world.

A much bigger world......................../SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Prologue Part 2

Prologue: Part 2: The Last Day Until The End of the World


In a large room.

"Did you hear?"

A female voice spoke out.

The woman had brown skin with short brown hair. She was wearing a grey shirt that was tucked into her tight black leather pants.

Her high heels clicked loudly on the tiled floor as she walked towards a man behind a bar counter who was wiping a glass cup with a washcloth.

"Hear what?" A middle-aged man had said.

The middle-aged man was wearing a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black dress pants with suspenders. Putting the glass cup down on the counter, he slicked his graying hair back.

"Apparently, the city was infiltrated by one person."

"Why are you telling us this?"

"Yeah, wouldn't this fall to the police?"

"There was that, but you see, there was a bounty given out for the intruder."

"Huh?" the man raised his head slightly.

"Well, that is peculiar"

"Yeah, I never heard of a bounty being placed on an intruder."

"Must be someone very important."

"The bounty was given out to all the magical organizations and cabals throughout the city."

"Who placed the bounty?

The woman looked at the notice closely.

"The Magic Association. They are saying her existence or power goes against the natural order of the law.

"Well, 'who' was the bounty placed on anyway?"

"It only came with a picture and a list of descriptions. Let me see.............Blue and black hair, blue eyes, is four feet tall. That's it."

The woman stared at the picture in her hand.

"This person is a small child" she replied.

"A child?"

"Who would be after a child?"

"Obviously someone who is after what she has in her possession or afraid of her power."

The voice came from a man sitting in the shadows.

Even though he sat in the shadows, his features were well pronounced.

A large man of tan skin and long black hair, that reached down to his waist, with the right side parted above his eye. He had a light stubble over his thick jawline. He was wearing a black suit with a grey button-down shirt and a black tie, which was covered by a black trench coat with white straps.

With red eyes staring at the two below him, he spoke.

"Let's see, the bounty order was given out to all the magicians cabals throughout the city, but what organization is the biggest—the one that would know if there were an intruder in the first place?

"The city?" the woman replied.

"Yes"

"Why the city?" the woman replied as she walked up the stairs to the man sitting on the throne.

"The city exists as nothing more than a testament to one’s strength. One would have been foolish to ignore the power that is dangling right in front of them.”

"...........”

The woman handed the paper to the man, hidden by shadows.

There was silence in the large room as he stared at the bounty. After a few seconds, a slight grin appeared on his stubbled face.

“A power that goes against the natural order of law,” the man started.

“Your Majesty”

“The people of the world believe that magic was founded on the belief that ordinary humans can change the events before them. They get a little bit of power and condemn everything they don’t understand to destruction. The girl is a Crystal Guardian wandering around the city with true GODS power.

“!” The woman's eyes widen in shock. “You can’t be serious, a Crystal Guardian, here.”

“Surely you jest your majesty,” the middle-aged man blurted out.

“That necklace hanging from her neck leaves no doubt to me; after all this time, who would have thought a Crystal Guardian would appear in the world after 5000 years?”

The man stood up from his chair and began walking towards a large glass window overlooking the city.

“A power I once had in my very fingertips, a power I once thought lost to me.”

The man grinned as he looked out the window.

"Then, sir, at long last” the woman said.

The man placed his palm on the glass of the window.

“I will take that girl and her power for myself and reclaim what was lost to me once. I will use this city as a foundation, and with her power, I will rebuild a world better than the one we lost.

The other people in the room kneeled at the announcement.

“At long last, the time has come for our 5,000-year prayer to be answered.”

The man turned around to face his still-kneeling subjects and began walking to the chair.

“Tonight, I will reclaim my Godhood, and as I do, this city and this world will suffer a paradigm shift unlike any other.”

The man sat down in his chair.

“When all of that succeeds, I will meet the founder of the city, our pretender king, with one question.”

"What would the question be?" The woman said, still kneeling, raising her head.

The man smirked.

"What is a king to a GOD?"/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chapter 1.Part 1

Chapter 1: Haruko Matsumoto (The Nobody.): Survival of the Fittest.


Part 1



That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again, is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manner, civility.

Anything.

It's such a powerful force.

-Danny Teenle.

Date: Thursday, May 28, 2009

Time: 6:42:56 P.M.

Location: The Bronx, NEO New York City.



BANG!

A single gunshot broke out that was muffled by the noise outside.

In the early evening, several gunshots broke out in a small underground store in NEO New York City.

On the other side of the room, the obvious target for that lone bullet.

A gray radio that sat on a dresser stand.

The radio, which now had a single hole in it from the gunshot.

"Damn." A voice broke out. "It is a lot harder to hit a small target when a small handgun recoils like that, huh?"

In the small room, the voice came from a man dressed in black sitting atop the store counter. In his hand was a Beretta M9A1 semi-automatic pistol.

A handgun.

To some, a handgun was nothing more than a weapon, but to the man on the counter who fired the ten shots into a small radio, it meant the world to him.

A sign of dominance.

A sign of power.

One man spoke from the other side of the room: “Dude, what the hell is your problem?" The man walking down the store aisle dressed in all black said this to the man sitting at the store counter, waving the gun around, looking for another object to call target practice.

One man spoke angrily, “Hey, did you know how hard it was to smuggle that gun and the bullets into this city without tipping off the police and other authorities?"

"We don't have enough bullets for you to be shooting recklessly, especially at a useless target.”

"I know that," spat the man on the counter as he closed one of his eyes to focus. "Unless you're permitted by the damn city, you can't hold one of these bad teens, let alone own one. I was just getting used to it. We weren't able to sneak that many in to use, so we had no practice with them.”

"So, what of it?" The man in the aisle said, we’ve got a few, and that's all that matters. Would you agree?"

The man on the counter lowered the weapon and adjusted himself to face everyone.

"But why is that? I mean, this city is fixing its population to become super-powered freaks. The city exists for that one purpose. The city tells you what to do, what time to be inside, what rules to follow, and how to follow them, and that's if you are useful to them; if not, you are swept under the rug as an existence not even worth mentioning. When did the majority become less friendly to these super-powered freaks?”

The man at the counter tightened the grip of the small black handgun in his hand and said, "I don't want to live in a city with regulations like that." To the man on the counter, the weapon was a sign of power that could not be denied; to him, it was a part of him to be used in any way he wanted—his own power.

"But what can you do about it, man? Those rules were set up by the higher-ups. Did you forget that most of the population is made up of kids and teenagers?" A voice spoke out.

“No, I did not forget that.” The man at the counter adjusted himself slightly and placed his hand on the side of his face.

"And those are not kids; those are monsters." He continued as he adjusted the tone of his voice.

It was an eerie sight for those watching.

The man's demeanor changed drastically.

"For whatever reason, personal or otherwise, the majority of the population of its city abandoned humanity a long time ago to obtain powers.

"Magicians, spellcasters, fragments, and espers—this whole city exists for them. The city's pride and joy don't make me laugh.”

The man at the counter began to focus on the weapon in his hand.

To the man on the counter, this weapon is his answer to the gap of power between him and the super powered population.

"Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with already.”

The large man headed out the door for guard duty.

Since the underground store was in a mall beneath ground under renovations that were halted by the city, no one should be coming, but the men in the store could not take that chance.

Suddenly, there was a whimper in the store.

The leader turned around to see a family of three tied up on the floor.

"Oh, and what do we have here?"

A small whimper broke out.

The sound came from a child.

A small girl.

The girl was tied up with rope, and her mouth was taped. On her right was her mother, and on her left was her father. All three were in the same situation, bound and gagged.

To the small girl, she had no idea why the five men in the corner store were there, but the parents knew all too well.

Robbery.

The men in the store were going to rob it.

“Awwww, and we were having so much fun.”

The man began to walk up to the tied-up family and kneel in front of the girl.

"You remembered what I said before this whole ordeal—you guys stay quiet and no one will get hurt, right?"

The mother had tried her best to get in between the man and her child, but to no avail, as she could not freely move the way she wanted to.

The father tried to move to the best of his ability, but there was a sound that made even the strongest stop in his tracks.

Clink.

The parents’ eyes opened in horror at what they were seeing.

The man had pointed the handgun at their daughter's forehead.

It was a sight no parent should ever have to see.

The parents tried to move, but they could not. They were right next to her, leaning on her, and they could not do a thing.

The girl looked at the gun pointed at her forehead. In her young life, she had never seen a gun in the hands of regular citizens due to NEO New York City's strict ban on illegal weapons.

The gun was pointed at her forehead.

The father tried his best to free himself. His hands and legs were tied with plastic anti-riot nylon handcuffs.

He attempted to pull his hands apart, thus breaking the cuffs, but as he did, the zip ties would seep into his skin. The pain was unbearable as it was; it felt like the man's hands were being slowly cut off. He could not see it, but his wrist was bleeding.

But he had to bear the pain. Inch by inch. He felt angry as he watched the man point the gun at his daughter's forehead.

If he had one chance, the man would rip them apart and beat them to the ground—all of them. Even if he had to cut off his own hands to do so, he would risk his own wellbeing to protect his family.

The father continued to struggle.

The man smirked as he released the father, who had attempted to free himself. He gently removed the gun from the girl's forehead.

The leader of the group pistol-whipped the father.

I'm sorry; it's just that I was watching you struggle, and I could not help myself."

The father groaned on the floor.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?"

The leader stood over the father.

"Do you feel it now? —to be helpless, to be at the bottom of the food chain, to know that you can't do anything? It’s a tough feeling.”

The father laid there in agony.

He pointed the gun at the mother and spoke as blood poured out of a wound on his head.

"Do you want to be next, ma’am?"



_____________________________________________________________________



The air was cold, not from the spring weather but from the emptiness of the surrounding area.

Because the underground mall was closed off and stores closed, everything seemed deserted.

Lifeless.

The large man stood outside the corner store.

“Damn, this is boring," the large man said, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and putting it in his mouth.

“C'mon, where is it?" The large man said, as he began searching his pockets. "I should’ve swiped a lighter before I came out of here.”

With a cigarette in his mouth, the large man looked up at the morning sky.

Quiet.

Through the silence, footsteps could be heard walking down the steps nearby.

"……. She has a light-skinned friend. Look like Michael Jackson. Got a dark-skinned friend. Look like Michael Jackson. I played Ready for the World; she was ready for some action…”

A voice broke out.

The large man looked down to see a teen walking towards him.

(What is this?)

The teen was getting closer.

The teenager had long, messy black hair with several bangs covering his eyes. He was dressed in a dark, black open jacket. The red shirt he was wearing had a Captain America shield logo on it. He was wearing black pants and red and white Converse. On his back was a large, black backpack. The left side of his hair stood out in a wild, outward fashion similar to a lion’s mane.

"…. I’mma play this Vandross; you gon’ take your pants off.”

The large man looked at the teen.

(Someone, now?) The large man sighed. (Just let him move along.)

The large man took his cigarette out of his mouth and placed it in his pocket.

The teen was much closer now.

The large man closed his eyes.

"Excuse me, can I get inside?” A voice spoke out.

The large man opened his eyes.

The teen was in front of the man.

"Wha…”

The teen took his earplug headphones out of his ear and looked at the large man.

"I’m trying to get something to eat. I just got out of school after a long detention.

The large man stared at the teen.

“Listen, kid, just move along. The store is closed for renovations," said the large man as he straightened himself.

"Are you sure?" the teen replied as he leaned to his left to look past the large man.

The large man loomed over the teen.

"Yes, can’t you see that this whole underground segment is going through renovations? The owners are out now; scram, there is nothing here for you,” the large man said as he got annoyed.

“Hmmm, that's odd," the teen said, straightening himself up. "I could swear that at least this store was open."

The teen looked at the large man.

"After all, I could have sworn this place is where the gunshot and the screaming came from.”

The large man looked at the teen in disbelief.

"Wha…”

 

Spoiler: Chapter 1. Part 2

Part 2



In the store, the mother looked down in defeat.

There was nothing that she could do to help the situation. If she did anything, she would end up in the same situation as her husband, and that would not have helped their daughter.

There was nothing she could do at the moment.

She sat there helplessly.

"Do you see now what this city is doing to us?" The man asked in a calm voice. "Under the pretense of bettering ourselves, this city that we call home only exists for the strong. You can earn a great living if you are born with or develop a great power that is useful to the city in whatever their goal is.”

The mother raised her head to look at the man kneeling in front of them.

"You know the funny thing is that no matter the level of their ability, they are automatically placed above us; it's like they are the next stage in humanity. Only the strong survive is the unofficial motto of the city, so tell me, you know by now that we do not have any powers; if we did, this would have gone a lot smoother.

With that sentence, the woman began to feel anger swell up inside her.

"We are a small gang of those that did not have the natural talents or could develop them, so we decided to form a group that would eventually outnumber those that did have powers.”

The woman had a worried look on her face.

"Oh, you want to say something.”

The man slowly reached his hand to her face and pulled the tape off her mouth.

The woman spoke "If that is your goal, th-then why attack? Why rob us?". The woman wanted answers.

The man sighed.

"You see, the plan that we had sounded good on paper; it happens in nature where hundreds of ants would overpower a grasshopper or a praying mantis. It was all about numbers and how they were utilized. That was where we messed up big time. Given the right situation, it is easy to outnumber and overpower someone. The problem was the prey itself; we jumped the shark on that one and went after whoever. The situation had changed, and the gap of power between us was larger than we ever imagined. It wasn't ants and grasshoppers anymore; it was dragons and ants.”

The man pulled up his sleeves, and then he lifted his shirt.

The woman's eyes widen as she sees the various scars.

"Yeah, it hurt like a bitch, but despite these ugly scars, I'm one of the lucky ones. My section of our gang only focused on low-level reality warpers, but what we had in numbers they had in power, and eventually even their weakest was enough to overpower us by the dozens. There are other sections that attempt to take on the strongest bunch of reality warpers.”

The man chuckled.

"Damn idiots, who the hell chose to fight against those that wipe out an entire city with a thought or a wave of their hand? Some of them lost their limbs, others succumbed to their injuries; they don't even get mentioned, but what can anyone say?

The man lowered his sleeves and began to stand up.

"The funny thing is, when this is all over and both sides part ways, we are left injured and barely alive, and we are looked at as the victims. I mean, it's one thing to get overlooked by the city, but to be humiliated like that when we are supposed to be the aggressors, that was the final straw.”

The woman began to realize something.

Their plan and their whole ideology were ridiculous. Ordinary humans are taking on reality warpers. There is not a single way they can win. Unless a miracle happened and the odds were heavily in their favor, the hope of beating them was out of reach.

The woman’s eyes focused on the gun in the man's hand.

It was truly the survival of the fittest. Evolution at its finest. The weak have always been prey to animals that were faster, stronger, and more agile, so they created weapons to combat them. As time went on, threats became more resilient, and weapons became more dangerous to use in combat after going through multiple upgrades in the following centuries.

The woman looked at the handgun in the man's hand; it was a weapon. It was small, but effective. The woman began realizing something else.

The idea of using a gun would be useless against reality warpers since their powers exist to challenge and, in some cases, ignore the laws of physics.

(The money.) the woman thought to herself. She had assumed that they were here for something, but during the whole ordeal, not one of the men asked for the money or any money at all. The woman focused on the weapons in the man's hands.

The woman began to think.

There was no way that normal weapons like that could challenge the strongest reality-wrappers; the only chance they had was to upgrade the weapons they were in possession of. Since New York City had a ban on illegal firearms, the men would have to smuggle in the weapons and ammo into the city, and the resources to pull that off were not cheap.

(But we do not have much money.) the woman thought. They owned a small corner store that wasn't open yet, and it only made enough for the family to live on. At the most, inside the cash register and the safe, there would be less than five thousand in total; if any of the men had asked where the money was, the woman would have told them. But none of the men had asked.

Their goal was to challenge the strongest, but with the weapons they had access to, the men did not have a chance. Their only chance was to even the playing field; if the gang had more money, they could afford better weapons. The woman started to realize the robbery part of their plan: to support their group, they would need the money to do so. Since the group was made of humans with no powers, from the city they would receive the bare minimum in income, which was enough to live on, so the goal was money.

CRASH!

There was a loud sound that startled everyone in the room.

The sound of broken glass filled the room.

THUD!

Something heavy fell onto the floor.

The man began to slowly walk toward the source of the sound. He stops when he sees the large man on the floor, bloodied and bruised.

"What the”

From the broken window, the man heard footsteps approaching the front door.

The sound of broken glass echoed through the small corner store.

Suddenly, there was a ding from the bell as the corner store door opened.

Everyone's eyes focused on the door as it opened.

In a situation like this, in the moment when things seemed the darkest, there was a person who stood at the door. After the incident outside, the person at the door beat down the large man on the lookout.

The person was clearly the enemy of the four men dressed in black in the corner store.

To the woman tied up on the floor, the person at the door was a single glimpse of hope.

The person took a step into the store.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the door.

To take down a large man, one would have to be large, if not larger than the said man.

The person who stepped through the door was a teen.

A high school student.

After several steps inside the store, the teen was completely in the store, and with that, disbelief filled the room from the onlookers.

In short, he did not look like someone who could have taken down the large man outside.

The teen stood there.

Scuffed up.

"Can I get a double cheeseburger with bacon, mozzarella, and American cheese and barbecue sauce and ketchup?” the teen blurted out.

Silence.

There was silence in the store.

Everyone stared in disbelief.

“Ha, you almost had me worried for a moment, kid."

The man walked toward the teen, gun in hand.

The man was a few inches taller than the teen. The teen looked up; his light blue eyes peaked through the bangs covering them. They stood there in front of each other.

The man grabbed the collar of the teen’s jacket.

"So, kid, what can you do?"

“Hmmm, not much; probably this” the teen replied.

With the tip of this shoe, the teen kicked the man in the knee. The man's leg jerked as he lost his balance and fell to his hands and knees.

The teen kicked the gun out of the man's hand and over the counter.

The man looked up and was pissed.

The teen was standing over the man as he lifted his right foot behind him.

"You little bastar-"

His sentence was cut off because the teen had kicked the man in the face. The man fell back on top of a tower of cans and boxes.

The man holding his nose staggered, attempted to pull himself up, but struggled, falling right back to the ground.

Everyone in the room watched the whole ordeal unfold. The man, with his nose bleeding, looked at his crew members and brought his hand to his nose to stop the bleeding.

“Boss!" one of the men shouted out.

"What the hell are you clowns waiting for? an invitation, Get HI-" with a high kick to the face, the teen cut the man off.

The other two men began to converge towards his location, and since the men had outnumbered the teen 3 to 1, taking them all on together was out of the question since he could see that the men had weapons.

His best chance at staying alive was to take them on individually.

The teen had yawned as he placed his hand on his head and closed his eyes.

Since the men were wearing boots, the teen had heard their footsteps getting closer and closer.

The teen opened his eyes, lowered his hand to his side, and smirked.

"Alrighty then, come on."

The teen quickly adjusted his eyesight to the person running towards him—an object in the man's right hand reflected in the ceiling light. The teen could see the glare.

A knife.

If one could take down someone with their bare hands, they would not need a weapon. Since the teen could see the weapon, all he would have to do was focus not only on the weapon but also on the part holding the weapon: the arm.

The man swung his right arm with the knife, slightly cutting the teen across his left check and his hood as the teen barely dodged the attack.

Having dodged the attack, the man attempted to punch the teen with his left fist, but the teen dove under the arm and soon uppercut the man.

"Ugh."

The man staggers back. Dazed, the man thrust his right arm forward.

With both hands, the teen grabbed the man's right arm and kneed him in the stomach. With his right arm, the teen elbowed the man on the side of his head. By sliding his forward foot across the floor and knocking the man off balance, the teen grabbed a handful of the man's hair and slammed the man's face onto the ground.

The man was unconscious as blood was pouring from the man's forehead as it hit the ground. The teen looked up and saw the other man coming.

Since the teen was kneeling on the ground, the approaching man decided to raise his left leg to kick the teen.

The teen caught the man's leg under his right arm, and with all his might, he punched the man's thigh.

The man stumbled as he walked back, grabbing his thigh. The teen began to methodically approach the man but quickly turned at the sound of heavy footsteps running towards him.

Turning his body left, the teen saw a man run and leap into the air.

With both of his feet, the man drop-kicked the teen in the chest.

The teen was knocked back a couple of feet off his feet as he flew back, spine first into the ground.

Grabbing his chest, the teen slightly raised his back off the floor to see the man quickly walk towards him.

As the man approached, he raised his left leg over the teen's body.

With a quick motion, the man brought his foot down on the teen's face but hit the ground as the teen slightly rolled onto his right to dodge the stomp.

Falling over to his back, the teen elbowed the man in the back of his knee with his right elbow, causing him to jerk his knee and fall to the ground forward on both knees.

Not wasting any time, the man attempted to grab the teen, but his hand was grabbed by the teen.

The teen raised his right leg over the man's arm to pin the arm underneath him onto the floor. On the floor, the teen used his left leg to kick the man in the side of his head.

The teen grabbed the man's jacket with his right hand, and with his right foot, he kicked the man in the shoulder, causing the man to roll over to the floor and onto his back.

Using the momentum of the rolling body of the man, the teen lifted his body off the ground to a position sitting on top of the man's midsection.

Using his left hand to pin the hands of the man to the ground, with his right hand, he started to punch the man in the face repeatedly.

With each hit, it caused more blood to pour from the man's mouth.

As the teen was punching away, the man whose thigh he punched suddenly came up behind him and placed him in a standing full-nelson hold, pulling the teen off the man.

The teen started kicking his feet, trying to free himself.

Slowly, the man on the ground began to stand up.

The teen began to claw at the man's face before the man pulled his face back out of his reach.

Shaking his head, the man began walking towards the teen. As he got closer, the man attempted to throw a haymaker with his left hand but was kicked in the groin by the teen.

With the man falling to his knees, the teen brought his right foot up to kick the man’s chin, causing him to fall back.

Seeing this, the man who was holding the teen in the hold began to lift the teen off his feet.

Grunting, the teen raised his foot back to hit the man in the groin, causing him to lean forward. The teen began to attack the man’s eyes with his thumbs.

With both feet on the floor and still being held by the man, the teen grabbed the back of the man's head, holding it close to his. He then jumped as high as he was allowed to and kicked his feet out in front of him as hard as he could.

Using the momentum of his legs falling downward and his body falling, the teen was able to flip the man over himself and free himself from the man's grasp.

The man's body rolled near the other male on the floor as the teen started to breathe deeply.

Putting his weight on his knuckles, the teen began to push himself off the ground to stand up.

As he did, the other two males slowly came to their feet.

One of the men spat out some blood as he stared at the teen.

It was quiet between the trio.

And then-

The man rushed forward, grabbing the teen with a football tackle.

The teen was being pushed back; the man was not that large but very muscular, so he had overpowered the teen. The muscular man was pushing the teen toward a wall, and the teen knew that because of his size, if the man had his back against the wall, the whole fight would be over.

The teen had grabbed the man's arm and let himself fall back. Since he could not overpower the man, he would use the man's size and strength against him.

Wrapping his right arm around the lowered head of the man, the teen placed the man in a front-face lock.

The teen kicked the man's knee, causing the man to fall forward.

As the teen fell back, still with his arm wrapped around the man's neck, he used the falling man’s momentum to slam the man's head into the ground with a DDT wrestling move.

The teen let go of the man’s neck and rolled over to his side. As the teen got up, he was immediately hit on the side of the arm with a baseball bat.

The teen fell against the wall, holding his arm.

The man swung the bat horizontally, and the teen spun around to dodge the hit of the bat. Since the bat was a weapon that was an extension of oneself, the teen had to keep his distance to avoid being hit.

The man tried to close the gap between them and began to swing wildly, trying to hit the teen.

The teen dodges the hits by spinning around, ducking, and rolling around the area the man had cornered the teen into.

“Whoa, that was close!”

The teen knew that he could not keep this up forever, as he would tire himself out.

The teen needs to get the man into a small area where he cannot swing the bat around so wildly.

The sound of broken glass filled the room as the man began to hit various objects to get to the teen.

As the man swung the bat to the teen's midsection, the teen raised his left arm to catch the bat. The bat had hit the teen in the waist as he caught it, and it took everything for the teen not to roll over in pain from the hit.

Grunting, the teen was now holding on to the bat in between his arm and waist. The teen punched the man in the nose, hoping that the punch would cause the man to lose his hold of the bat.

The teenager kept punching his face.

The teen tightened his hold on the bat and swung the man around into a corner.

The man had hit the teen in the ribs with the butt of the bat. The teen had kneeled over, and the man had kneed him in the face to get the teen back up to his feet, where he could hit the teen in the head with the bat.

The man had swung the bat in a horizontal direction; the teen ducked under the swing and spun around the man. The teen had performed a backward leg sweep to trip the man. On the floor, the man had swung the bat, catching the teen on the side of his knee.

As the teen fell, the man was back to his feet, trying to kick the teen's head off.

The teen had rolled out of the way to create some distance between them.

Fighting him head-on was out of the question; he had to think of something else.

The teen started to run.

He was not surrendering, but finding a closed environment to fight in. Inside the store, the teen ran towards a small corner. It was not big, but one would not be able to swing a bat freely. A glass bottle was thrown at the teen, and he barely managed to dodge it.

The man came running towards the teen.

The teen breathed as he began to get himself ready for this close-quarter combat session.

As soon as the man was in range, the teen grabbed the man's shirt collar and threw him into a corner of the pipe.

The teen had hit the man with punches and jabs. The man had pushed the teen away with his foot, causing the teen to fall back onto the floor. The man had swung the bat downward to hit the teen.

"CLANG"

The bat had hit something; it was not the teen.

The way the man had swung the bat caused it to get stuck in between the row of pipes attached to the wall nearby.

The teen had smirked.

The man was trying to free the bat from the ceiling.

"Wha-" The man was silenced by the teen's fist striking his face.

The man had fallen to the floor and did not move.

The sound of the teen panting filled the room. The teen began to walk out of the room, holding his arm and panting.

"STOP!”

Someone had yelled out, followed by the sound of a female screaming.

The teen turned his head.

Standing there was the leader with the gun, and in his arm was the woman he had taken hostage, as he was holding a gun to her head.

"Don't move!" the man had yelled to the teen as he stepped out of the small room.

"Your power"

"What?"

"Your ability; explain it now. What is it?”

The teen's eyes narrowed.

"What in the blue hell makes you think I have an ability?"

The man started to get really annoyed.

"You took down my men with little effort; you must have one. With the way you fight in hand-to-hand combat, is it precognition or mind reading?"

The teen places his hand on this side of his head.

"Precognition and mind reading are two interesting abilities by themselves, but they will not do much in a life-or-death situation. Precognition is the ability to foresee future events, and telepathic perception is the ability to perceive another person's thoughts.”

"What are you going on about?"

The teen snapped his fingers.

"Case in point, if you knew about an event that would happen depending on the vision itself, you only had two choices: to change it or to accept it. If one wants to change their 'fate, it would not be that easy because you do not know how to prepare for that said event. The same can be said for a person with telepathic perception abilities. Sure, reading one’s mind is great and all; in a fight, it would allow you to dodge an attack, but if you don't know how to dodge or can’t dodge fast enough, then it's pointless. More than just moving out of the way, you would have to train your body and mind for something like that."

"What are you saying?"

"You asked if I had an ability like that; one would assume that I would, but I have to say I don't have either. Well, let me rephrase that: I don't have any ability of the sort.”

"Wha…”

The man could not process the teen's answer.

"But the fighting ability you possess"

"Just training and really, really good reflexes.”

The teen winced as he wiped his cheek, covered in blood, with his right thumb.

"Well, mostly really, really good reflexes.” the teen said as he stared at his blood-covered thumb.

"I don’t understand. You talked about ability in a life-or-death situation. You mean to tell me that you took the time to learn to fight? What good would your fighting skill against reality warpers be?”

"I never thought about outright fighting reality warpers.”

"Then join us.”

Blank.

"Huh?"

"Hear me out; according to the city, someone of your nonexistent level of power is not even worth mentioning, so your only logical choice is to join someone who is the same as you. Gangs start out when society treats them like crap, and then they try to justify their existence. Surely you must have felt the injustice this city dished out to us; would it not feel great to dish out this same feeling to those less than you?"

The teen stared at the man.

"Sorry, hell no, not interested. I am the same as you guys; I have no power to show there are no lies about that, except that I don't go around waving a gun at people in a poor attempt to justify my existence. You're weaker than the people you push around. Not sorry. I might be weak compared to the overpowered reality warpers, but I still have my pride as a nobody.”

The man was surprised by the teen’s answer.

"So that is your answer?"

"Yeah."

The man raised his arm to point the gun at the teen.

"Well then, kid, let's see where your training and reflexes get you now.”

The gun was now set on the teen.

Despite how good his hand-to-hand combat was, there was no way he could outrun a bullet, especially in a confined space.

"Do not blame me for your death, kid; blame yourself for your own weakness. I will give you credit where it is due; despite your weakness and total recklessness, you tried your best to save this family, but it seems that fate is smiling down upon me.”

The man squeezed his arm around the woman's neck, causing her to wince in pain.

As the man said that the individual that the teen slammed into the wall began to come to his feet. On the other side of the room, the man in the small room began to walk out with the bat in hand.

"Let’s end this, shall we?"

In a second, the woman had bitten the man's hand.

The man had let you yell, and with that, the situation in the room had changed.

The teen rushed forward.

"You little bitc-"

The man was silenced by the teen punching him in the face.

The man fell back onto the wall. The teen had run up to the man, and with his foot, he kicked the gun out of his hands again.

"Damn you"

As the gun landed on the floor, the teen stomped his foot on the gun, sliding it across

The man grabbed the teen and spun him around into the wine cellar.

The man rushed in.

As the man entered, he tried to punch the teen; his arm was grabbed, and the man was spun around until he hit a wall.

The sound of wine bottles crashing on the floor filled the entire room.

The man swung his right arm, and the teen blocked with his left arm. The teen punched the man in the gut, then elbowed him in the face.

"Raaaaagh!" Holding his nose, the man yelled and dashed towards the teen.

The teen dodged and let the man fall over.

He walked down the wine cellar towards the kneeling man. The man attempted to punch the teen with his right hand, but the teen ducked and spun around a full 360 degrees to kick the man in the gut. As the man knelt over, the teen slammed his right elbow into the man's face, causing the man to stumble back.

Soon after, the man with the bat came rushing into the room, ready to swing.

While running, the man swung the bat left, and the teen dodged the hit by ducking. With his left elbow, the teen hit the man in the back of his head, causing him to slump over the glass.

Suddenly, the teen was caught in a reverse bear-hugging grapple.

“Da-Damnit" the teen said, trying to free himself.

The teen was picked up off the ground.

Struggling, the teen placed his foot on the glass wall of the cellar and pushed himself back, causing the man to crash into rows of wine bottles. Pressed up against the wall, the teen slammed the back of his head into the man's nose.

"Ugh, stay still, you little bastard," the man said as he tightened his grip on the teen.

"I’m not little; I’m a good 5’10-11’ on a good day!” the teen shouted.

Still off his feet, the teen bends his leg to attack the man's groin. The man had released his grip on the teen a little, enough for him to slip through his arms.

Still facing the opposite direction of the man, the teen grabbed the back of the man's head, jumped into the air, and kicked the other man, pressed against the glass wall, in the face.

As the teen landed back on his feet, he elbowed the man behind him repeatedly in the gut and in the chin.

The man with the metal bat swung low to hit the teen's leg, and the teen raised his left leg to dodge the swing. As he did, the teen kicked the man in the side of his face.

The teen yanked the man up by his collar and spun him around so that he was lined up with the man pressed against the glass wall.

The teen placed his foot on the man's stomach and, with all his weight, tried to push the two men through the glass wall—to no avail.

Instead, the teen was pushed back into the wall behind him, bumping into the wine bottle hanging on the rack, causing the bottles to fall, crashing onto him and the floor.

Leaning up against the wall, the teen ran towards the two men. Halfway into the run, the teen leaped forward into the air and rammed his knee into the man's face.

The glass wall behind the two men shattered at the force of the attack, and both men fell to the floor.

The teen stood there as he tried to catch his breath.

"Look Out!"

The voice came from the woman.

Something tackled him.

There was a loud thud as he was slammed into the ground. The leader grabbed the teen's jacket collar and punched him in the jaw.

"Enough of this.”

With that statement, the leader began to strangle the teen. The wine cellar became filled with gasping sounds as the teen struggled to breathe. He was clawing and scratching at the man's hands.

Struggling on the floor, the teen began sliding his hand across the floor and cutting his hand due to the broken shards of glass on the floor.

Without the teen looking, he grabbed a long-broken shard of glass, and without a second thought, the teen stabbed the man in the shoulder. There was a slight twitch in the man's upper body as he removed his hand from the teen's throat. The teen started taking deep breaths. As the man tried to pull the glass shard out of his shoulder, the teen grabbed the man's jacket collar and head butted him in the nose.

“GAHHHHH!!!" the man said as he backed up, his nose bleeding.

With his foot, the teen pushes the glass deep into the shoulder, and with his other foot, the teen pushes the man by kicking him in the chest. Both men had rolled away to the opposite side of the room.

Both men were panting.

The teen wiped the blood from his lips. The man pulled the glass shard from his shoulder; his entire left arm was covered in blood. Slowly, the man began to make a fist with his injured arm, wincing in pain.

They both look at each other.

Then it happened:

Both men had run toward each other. With his right arm, the man swung his arm to punch the teen. The teen ducked under to spin around and elbowed the man in the face.

He backed up and stumbled as the teen walked forward.

Calmly.

Both the man and the teen stood there.

The man attempted to kick the teen with his right leg, which the teen blocked with his left leg. As their legs met, the teen dragged his leg down along with the man's leg. The teen kicked the man in the chest, causing him to stumble back.

Without using his hand, the teen then flips forward, with the heel of his foot crashing into the man's face.

There was a "thud" as the man fell to the floor.

The teen looked at the man lying out on the floor.

The teenager looked at the man lying on the ground and walked away towards the exit of the wine cellar.

Only the sound of crunching glass beneath his shoes could be heard.

"Five against one," the teen said to himself.

The teen hobbled across the unconscious bodies on the floor.

"It's been a while since I had to fight like that. I think I've gotten a little rusty.”

The teen started stretching his hand upward above his head.

This battle was his, and this victory was his; no one could deny that. He walked out of the hole in the broken glass wall, and the sound of glass crunching under his foot filled the room.

Despite still being in the store, it felt like a wave of fresh air hit the teen as he walked out of the cellar. The teen looked around the store.

The store was a mess, like a hurricane.

Broken glass and spilled cans and bottles everywhere.

The teen grabbed a water bottle and poured its contents on his cut hand to wash away the blood.

As the teen walked over to the family, he wrapped a loose rag around his bloodied hand and rolled the father on his back.

"If you do not mind me asking what happened to him?"

"He was hit in the head with the gun.

The teen parted the man's hair aside.

The teen looked at the woman.

"I’ll take a look at him; you should probably deal with the little one.”

The mother left to untie her daughter.

The teen turned to the father.

"How are you holding up?"

"I’m good, I think.”

The father was up against the wall.

"Just a little beat up.”

"You sure"

The teen looked at the father.

"No headaches, no nausea, no blurry vision; you are not hearing any ringing in your ears.

The father looked at the teen.

"Just a headache right now.”

"Oh, this was something I read about in one of my aunt's medical books.”

"Don't try to move too much, alright; you may or may not have a concussion.

The teen stood up.

"Tha-thank you”

"Huh."

"Thank you for stopping the men and saving us."

"No problem”

The father looked at the teen.

NEO New York City had one goal: to understand the larger universe, and to do that, they would need someone who stood at the top, the strongest. Someone who understands the vast universe and can manipulate said universe. It was a mad scramble to the top of the throne; one could call it a dog-eat-dog world where everyone looks out for themselves.

"I’m not one for bullies. I did not train to hone my martial arts skills to beat down bullies; that would make me no different from them. I do not want to hurt anyone, and I guess I cannot turn my back on people in need. Sometimes those two cross paths with each other, but since you guys are safe, someone will be able to smile when this is all over. I guess this is what you would say, 'The end justifies the means' huh?"

"Your hurt."

"It's alright, this isn’t so bad.”

The teen looked at the clock. It was almost seven.

The teen looked at the mother.

Suddenly there was a long groan, followed by the sound of crunching glass near the entrance of the store door.

The teen turned his attention to the noise, only to see the large man picking himself up and using the shelf beside him.

Blood was pouring from his mouth and nose.

The teen stood up.

"Well, look at this; you’re a tough one, aren't you?” the teen said.

Crouching over, the large man stared at the teen.

Slowly, his face became redder in anger.

He started to breathe heavily.

The large man took one step.

His vision was beginning to become blurry.

Another step closer.

Despite his blurry vision, only one thing was on his mind.

One more step.

Slowly, everything started to become clear.

He glanced at the teen with intense anger in his eyes and his face.

The large man clenched his fist.

"Yo...u." the large man said to a pained gasp.

One step with his right foot.

Another with his left foot.

More and more, he began to pick up speed.

The teen lifted his arms in a boxing stance.

As he began to focus, something in the corner caught his light blue eyes.

It was shaped like a black single sling bag; it appeared very similar to the one he owned, but this couldn’t be his.

His eyes widen.

The large, heavy bag had a red zipper strap along the sides as it flew across the air.

-But-

The teen examined the bag closely.

-It could not-

On the strap was a large item.

-Be his bag that was flying right now.

The item was a faint gray-colored upside-down pentagram. On the pentagram was a crude image of a skull with an X behind it.

The Deputy Soul Reaper Combat Pass from the manga BLEACH.

The teen lowered his arms in disbelief.

The item.

It was a simple item that made his bag stand out to him, but it could not be his bag.

“What!!!” The teen shouted out.

This was his bag.

As the large man got closer, the flying bag hit the back of his head, causing him to fall face first to the floor with a loud thud, knocking him out.

It took a few seconds for the silence to kick in.

In that silence, a look of worry slowly crept onto his face.

He quickly made his way, stepping past the unconscious bodies on the floor over to his bag.

There was silence as the teen stared at his bag on the floor, which was now surrounded by broken glass and spilled cans of food.

With a sigh, the teen spoke.

“Did you really have to throw my bag?” The teen asked as he looked at the broken window. “What would you have done if my school textbooks got damaged?”

"Well, then, I guess that wouldn’t be a problem for you." A female voice stared to speak out. “It’s not like you use them anyway.”

A young female teen revealed herself outside by walking in front of the broken window, looking in the store.

The young female had long black hair that reached her waist. She was dressed in her school uniform, which consisted of a black vest over a white-sleeve button-down shirt. She was also wearing a black skirt that rested above her knees, black thigh-high socks, and black dress shoes.

Her purple eyes glanced at the teen before drifting away to the rest of the store.

Everything was a mess.

Shelves were knocked over.

“Hey now, is that any way for the sophomore student president to talk?” the teen grinned.

Emi Takahara.

“Don’t try to change the subject; what you did was reckless running off like that; just look at you and this place.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know." The teen started to say, before reaching down to grab the handle strap of his bag and picking it up from the floor, “But it’s not like I could just leave them.”

The teen said as he looked back at the family.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 1.Part 3

Part 3



The scene was chaotic, to say the least.

Police and ambulance lights and sirens blared out.

A group of people started to crowd behind yellow caution tape, overlooking the entrance to an underground passage.

Officers were walking around the area.

Several handcuffed individuals dressed in black were placed into the back of a police van, and a father was being taken in a stretcher into an ambulance.

A woman holding a young child's hand was talking to a paramedic before being waived inside and stepping in the back of the vehicle.

Next to board the back of the ambulance was a small child.

As the child was being picked up by the mother, she saw something in the corner of her eyes.

Beyond the crowd that gathered, there was a person standing there, watching everything unfold.

A high school student.

Haruko Matsumoto.

That wasn’t the name he was born with, but at this moment, it was the least of his concerns.

He stood across the street, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his left foot on the brick wall behind him.

The teen stood close enough to watch the ordeal and stood far enough not to stand out of place.

The child, seeing the person who saved him from the bad guys, waived at the teen.

Noticing this, the teen went wide-eyed at the gesture.

The teen did not know how to react in response to the waving child.

“Um…” the teen mumbled to himself.

Haruko scratched the back of his head.

Suddenly, he turned his head from side to side, looking for a way to handle what was happening.

Not figuring anything out, the teen then sighed before cracking a small smile. Weakly raising his right hand, the teen waved back.

The teen watched as the child was carried into the ambulance.

There was silence as the back doors to the ambulance were closed.

Slowly, the ambulance drove off.

This whole ordeal was over.

Exhaling, Haruko folded his arms and rested his back against the wall behind him.

(What do I do now?)

As Haruko stared on, he felt something touch his left cheek.

Something soft.

Something fluffy.

Something light.

Small.

Slightly wet.

It didn’t feel like much, so he paid no attention to it at first.

Then suddenly there was an intense feeling—not from what was touching his cheek but from his body reaction to it.

It was an intense, burning, stinging sensation that caused the teen to flinch and quickly back away.

“Ouch!!!!” Haruko placed his hand on his cheek. “What the fucking hell do you think you’re doing?” he said, pointing his right index finger to the young female beside him.

Emi Takahara.

In her right hand were tweezers clutching a small wet cotton ball; in the other was a brown bottle that read Hydrogen Peroxide.

An antiseptic.

“What am I doing? Shouldn't that be obvious?" Emi said as she began walking closer. “The bleeding from your cut has stopped, but the cut still needs to be disinfected.”

“Don’t you think that you’re doing too much?” Haruko said as he restrained her forearms.

"Whatever you could possibly mean, if you are uncomfortable with this method, I also have alcohol wipes if that would suffice," Emi said in a cold tone in her voice.

"Woah, are you angry at me?"

Emi brought her face closer to his.

"Angry at you, what gave you that impression?"

The two were struggling for a bit.

"Ah, this must be that young love everybody is so hung up about.”

The sudden outburst caused the two teens to stop struggling.

Haruko turned his head to the source of the voice—a person sitting on a nearby bench.

There sat a black-haired individual, dressed in the school uniform, with his button-down school shirt unbuttoned, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath.

His eyes were closed as he moved the straw from the smoothie; he was bringing it closer to his mouth and taking a long slip.

He opened his eyes, staring at the pair.

Red eyes.

Dark red eyes.

It was his most defining trait.

Alistair Michaels.

With a frown appearing on his face, Haruko released his grip on Emi's forearms and then walked up to Alistair, which caused him to stop sipping his smoothie.

“Where were you earlier?”

“Enjoying life and this soft drink,” Alistair said nonchalantly.

“That’s your excuse for bailing out on me. If you and I were together, we could have made short work of those guys.”

“Yeah, no. The way I fight is not suited for heroics. Which is why I advised you against rushing in blindly.”

“That wasn’t an option.”

Alistair glanced at Haruko.

Alistair's red eyes met Haruko's blue.

“A lot of things aren’t an option for you, which unfortunately makes you easy to read.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you're too predictable." Emi said, walking up behind Haruko. "Honestly, this might have been the most reckless thing you have ever done.”

“Now, don’t be too hard on him; after all, there is nothing more uncertain than tomorrow, plus the day is not over yet for this one.”

Emi turned to Alistair.

“Don’t go and give this idiot any more ideas, and you…” Emi exclaimed before shoving the plastic store bag into his chest, full of bandages and alcohol wipes. “I think I have had enough of you and your foolishness for one day.”

The teen grabbed the bag.

“Use that to clean yourself up; I am heading home.”

Haruko stared at Emi.

“You’re heading home now, this early.”

“Yes, between you and myself, one of us has to be a responsible person,” Emi said as she started walking away.

Haruko watched as she walked away.

“It seems that someone is upset, but with your relationship with her, it is kind of hard not to be." Alistair chastised Haruko before standing from the bench and walking towards him. “Honestly, with the way that you’re going with all the trouble and fights you get into, you might end up saving the world from some supernatural threat.”

Blank.

Haruko just stared at Alistair.

"What? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m kidding,” Alistair said as both stood shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. “It’s hard to tell what's going on in that head of yours, so I won’t stress the small details about the absurdity of what you just did. A family was saved, so I guess one can be happy with that result.

Alistair placed his right hand on Haruko’s left shoulder.

“Just don’t let it go to your head.”

 

Spoiler: Chapter 1. Part 4

Part 4

Location: Burnside Ave., The Bronx, NEO New York City

Time: 7:24 P.M.



The Bronx.

NEO New York City.

A city closed off in its own little world.

Dusk

The sky was orange, turning lavender as the night sky started to show.

The white city

The city of white buildings is enclosed in its own little world.

The sun was setting in the walled-off city, and as it did, the light reflected off the white skyline buildings, turning them a bright orange.

"Damnit"

The voice came from Haruko Matsumoto as he was walking down the street, kicking a soda can along his path.

After his detention and that crazy ordeal, he was finally walking home down a quiet street.

"Fuck, I thought that would never end."

As Haruko continued walking and kicking the soda can, a small robot came and swept it up, which caused the teen to frown.

"Way to kill the fun, buzzkill bot." The small robot paid no attention to the teen and scurried away.

"Yeah. You better run," Haruko whispered to himself.

Everything around the teen was quiet as he stood in his quiet neighborhood. Haruko reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to check the time.

The time was 7.25 p.m.

The teen looked up at the darkening sky; he could see the distant stars, the moon, and a blue magic sigil in the sky. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold. As nightfall approached and the day was almost at an end.

The teen kept staring at the sky.

"You know, if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings, you can walk into traffic.”

The voice broke his concentration.

"But I don't have to be the first to tell you that, my dear.”

Haruko lowered his head and turned his body left toward the source of the voice.

His elderly neighbor.

She was sitting on her porch, reading a book.

"Pretty late out even for you, wouldn’t you agree?" The voice came from an elderly woman.

"Yeah, I know; it's just that I just got out of detention late, and now here I am," Haruko replied.

"You know how Reiko feels about you racking up detentions." The elderly woman began to rise and walk to her house.

That statement caused Haruko to grin.

"So, did she happen to leave by any chance?"

"Yes, she left a little while ago.”

"Oh, alright, then I guess I will see you later."

"Alright, don't be out too late; people tend to act crazy at night during a full moon.”

"Thanks for the tip, but I don’t plan on doing much tonight aside from staying home.”

"Alrighty, then good night." The elderly woman entered her house, closing the door behind her. The porch light quickly turned on after that.

(A full moon, huh?)

The teen looked up at the sky.

(After everything that has happened today, I doubt that my night can get any crazier.)

Lowering his head, Haruko began walking to his home.

The quiet night.

The Matsumoto residence.

A small, two-story house.

Three rooms.

Two bathrooms.

Entering through a brick fence with a black gate. Haruko Matsumoto opened the front door of the house.

As he entered, he took off his shoes to switch to his black house slippers with red stripes on them and walk into the dark living room.

(Huh.)

Barely visible.

In the living room, all the lights were turned off.

Haruko took off his jacket and placed it on the coat rack.

Everything was dark. The only light that came into the room was from outside the large living room window.

Haruko began walking into the living room and turning on the lights.

It was still quiet.

Haruko placed his bag on the hallway floor and began to walk out of the living room.

"You intruder"

It was a small voice, but Haruko could hear it.

"Huh"

"You will rule the day you decide to break into the Matsumoto house.”

The voice was getting a little louder now.

Haruko attempted to turn his attention to the source of this voice but was kicked in the back.

“Gahh!!!" Haruko blurted out.

Haruko was kicked off his feet and fell to the floor.

Pain.

On the floor, Haruko looked up at his attacker.

She stood there.

"This house is protected by a mage in training. Alexis Matsumoto!"

Blank.

Alexis Matsumoto

Haruko’s twelve-year-old sister.

A young female with bright blue eyes and black hair that came down to her shoulders, with a slight ponytail on the right side of her head.

Pain.

"Oh, it's just you," Alexis said as all the excitement died down in her voice.

"What……the….hell…..is…..your…….problem, you witch?" Haruko mumbled as he looked back at her. "Why the hell did you attack me?"

She placed her hands on her hips.

"I wasn’t expecting you back this late.”

"Wasn’t expecting... I live here.”

Alexis stood over Haruko.

"Hmm, why are you so late anyway?"

"I had to stay for detention," Haruko said as he began to pick himself off the floor.

Alexis walked into the kitchen.

"Ow my back."

Now on his feet, Haruko wobbled to the couch in the living room and began to lay down on his back.

Haruko could hear noises from the kitchen.

"I’m on cooking duty tonight, so what do you want to eat?"

Haruko took off his slippers and laid there on the couch.

"What is there to eat?"

Alexis opened the refrigerator.

Um, there is leftover chicken, chili, eggs, tortilla shells, and ground beef. There is other stuff that you probably won’t eat.”

"You know me so well, little sis."

(Wait.) Haruko thought.

"Hey, what cheese do we have?"

Alexis picked up the shredded cheese bag and jar.

"Four Cheese Mexican and Salsa con Queso”

Haruko sat up on the couch.

The answer was clear to him.

"How about burritos tonight?"

"Fine, I’ll make you burritos. Consider it your birthday present.”

"The whole thing—you’re not going to have any?" Haruko said as he laid back down on the couch.

"Nope, not tonight. I’m staying over at a friend's house down the street for a study group. The Mage Association entrance exams in England are coming up. The new semester starts in September.”

Haruko stared at the ceiling in the living room.

"You’re going to enroll."

"Yup"

"Between you and Jayden, you guys are really moving up, and me..”

Haruko stops himself.

"……and me"

Nothing.

While Alexis was a spellcaster and Jayden was an Esper, Haruko had nothing.

Not speaking, Haruko just stared at the ceiling.

Haruko," Alexis's calm voice spoke out.

She was standing next to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?" Haruko answered back.

Alexis looked at him.

"You’re not depressed because you don't have any powers, are you?"

There was silence in the living room.

"Wha-of course not; why would you say that?" Haruko quickly replied as he turned to his right, facing away from Alexis.

"You’re sure"

"I mean, it's not that I’m depressed that I don’t have any abilities. When I was younger, all I would think about was watching the both of you and hoping that I could be like you two."

Haruko laid there.

"Jayden is one of the city's strongest espers, and with the way you’re going with your studies, you’ll probably do well. I just-"

"Haruko"

Haruko took out the red ponytail scarf, undoing his hair, and looked at it.

"I just have to find my own way in the world.”

Haruko stared at the world on the ponytail scarf, written in black.

NEVER GIVE IN.

Those words were spoken to him.

‘Plus, if you two start slacking off and I take my studies seriously going forward, it would be you two watching me. Haruko said as he grinned, still facing the sofa."

With Haruko lying on his side and his hair mostly out of the way, Alexis had noticed something.

A bandage.

‘Haruko, what happens to your check?"

"Oh, this Haruko touched the bandage on his check."

"I got into a little altercation after my detention."

"An altercation."

"It was more like an armed robbery."

Alexis grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it on Haruko.

"What were you thinking? You could have been killed."

"I wasn’t thinking,” Haruko said as he turned on his back.

Facing the ceiling, he glanced over to see Alexis angrily staring at him.

"I know what you’re going to say; it's probably the same thing Reiko would have said. That I was being reckless and that I was thinking straight.”

Haruko sat up on the couch.

"People were in danger and needed help, so I helped them. I would rather not waste any time deciding whether I should or should not help someone. I don’t have any abilities, but I’m not completely useless, and aside from this cut and the damage to my jacket, I pretty much walked or ran away unscathed."

Alexis looked at him worryingly.

"You got lucky this time, but..”

"I won’t be so lucky the next time," Haruko finished her sentence.

Haruko cut Alexis off.

Alexis was shocked.

"You got lucky a few times, and you're already thinking of next time. You almost died awhile back; don’t you remember that?"

Haruko stared up at her and looked away.

Yeah, I remember. It wasn’t the wrong choice to help then, and it wasn’t the wrong choice now.

Haruko sat there.

"There is no getting through to you, is there?" Alexis said as she slowly removed the bandage from Haruko's cheek, but stopped when Haruko placed his hand on hers.

"Don’t go removing people's bandages.” Haruko said.

Alexis looked at the cut on the cheek.

"It doesn’t look too bad if you want; I could probably heal the rest.

"Heal the rest….how are you going to do that? Are you going to kick the cut off my face?"

Alexis chopped Haruko in the gut.

“Gahh!" Haruko yelled out as he laid back on the couch, kicking his legs.

Alexis walked to the kitchen and grabbed an apron from the rack.

"Now I’m happy you don’t have any powers; God only knows the stupid things you would get into.

Haruko grinned as he laid down on the couch.

"To be fair, if I had any powers, just one, protecting others is exactly what I would do every single time.”

As Haruko lay there on the couch, he grabbed his ponytail scarf.

"I’m going to take a little nap; you can put my food in the fridge for when I wake up."

"Alright, no problem," Alexis said as she put on the apron and turned on the stove.

Haruko stared at the backside of the scarf and at the words.

NEVER GIVE UP.

(Every single time.) Haruko thought to himself as he drifted to sleep.

_____________________________________________________________________



In the living room of the Matsumoto residence.

Haruko Matsumoto's eyes opened as he woke up.

It was quiet.

Most of the lights were off.

Haruko sat up on the couch. Glancing outside, he sees that it has gotten dark.

Taking his hair out of his mouth and wiping his mouth free from drool, Haruko began to stand up. As he did, he began yawning and stretching.
Haruko looks at the clock.

8:35 P.M

"Reiko will be back in the morning, and Alexis didn’t say what time she would be back."

Haruko walked into the kitchen.

"I pretty much have the house to myself.”

As he walked into the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and took out a can of orange soda and a plastic container of food. When he grabbed both, he closed the door with his foot and headed up the stairs to his room.

The master bedroom

Haruko Matsumoto had the largest bedroom in the house. Originally meant for Reiko since she was the renter, she switched to Haruko because she felt the room was too wide. The room had its own walk-in shower and walk-in closet.

Haruko walked inside the room and placed the container in the microwave on top of a mini fridge. He soon started the microwave for three minutes.

Now that he was in his room for the first time in a couple of hours, he had time to look around.

"Holy shit, this room has gotten out of hand."

Quite frankly, the room was a mess.

There were clothes spread out across the floor and empty soda cans.

Haruko sighed.

"I better get this room clean, or I’ll never hear the end of this," Haruko said as he grabbed a trash bag and started cleaning.

After a while, all the trash was cleared and collected in the bag. Haruko threw his clothes into a pile on his bed. As Haruko was finishing up, he heard the microwave ringing, and he knew the burritos were done.

"Finally."

He picked up the clothes on his bed and dumped them in the hamper.

The room is much cleaner now.

Haruko walked to his microwave, took out the container of food inside, and placed it on the kotatsu in his room. He then walked towards the black curtains on his wall and pushed them aside, revealing the huge balcony outside.

He opens the sliding window to let some air into his room.

Another perk of the master bedroom.

Haruko paused as he stared at the skyline of the city.

He could see the bright light of the skyscrapers of Manhattan, the mountainside, and the walls of the city.

"A really peaceful night."

Haruko looked to the sky to see the bright full moon glaring at him.

Among the endless number of stars and the magic symbols in the sky, the moon looked really nice tonight.

Haruko could smell his burritos.

"I better get to my food before it gets cold," Haruko said as he turned around to head back inside, leaving the balcony door open.

Boom!!!!

He took a single step inside before there was a loud sound.

The entire balcony shook.

It was close.

Haruko turned back to his balcony when he saw it.

Something had landed there.

There was smoke all over his balcony.

"What the hell?"

Haruko saw it.

It.

Somewhat.

Through the smoke, I could see two small, bright lights at the center of what Haruko would see.

Haruko could see the silhouette hidden in the shadow.

It was large and beastly in appearance.

Its eyes were glowing white, brighter than the moon.

The smoke slowly started clearing out.

Haruko could see horns on top of her head. Its arms are long and thin, with spikes coming out of the elbows.

The large figure swung its tail, and the rest of the smoke cleared out with a shockwave.

Haruko could see the creature in its entirety.

A monster of legend.

A creature of myth.

Something that should not exist.

A dragon.

"What the..."

Haruko had seen plenty of manga and anime to know that the creature before him was a dragon.

Something that shouldn’t exist but was now in front of him.

The dragon's body was blue, and its chest and arms were black, with small pieces flaking off and dispersing in the night sky. The dragon’s wings were pitch black with glowing blue markings.

"So, this is where the smell is coming from.”

A distorted voice broke through with a reverberating echo.

It spoke.

It was a female voice.

"Wha...."

Before Haruko had a chance to comprehend, the creature's body twitched.

The creature's limbs started to peel away.

It has claws, then hands, then arms.

Next were its feet, and then its legs.

All the arms and legs disappeared.

POOF!

The head had split down the middle and disappeared, revealing the head of a small girl.

A girl.

A petite girl is now kneeling on his balcony.

She looked no older than Haruko.

Her eyes were closed, but Haruko could tell she had thick eyelashes.

The girl had brown skin that complimented the moon in the sky.

Her silky, dual-colored hair was blowing in the wind. The front and top of her hair were blue. The rest of her hair was black and had reached the floor.

Slowly, the girl stood up to her feet.

The girl opened her eyes and stared at Haruko.

Blue eyes.

The same color as the blue part of her hair.

Her feet touched the floor.

"Mortal"

The girl spoke. Her voice without the echo.

Haruko was quiet as he watched on.

"Mortal, I am a GOD, and I demand that you feed me."

"Huh?"

 

Spoiler: Ch2. Part1

Chapter 2: The Girl with Eyes of Blue.Blue Eyed Maiden. Part 1



"What we don’t understand, we fear.

What we fear, we judge as evil.

What we judge as evil, we attempt to control.

And what we cannot control….we attack"



Part 1



Date: May 28, 2009

Time: 8:55 P.M.

Matsumoto Residence, Bronx, NEO New York City.



Night.

It was as if time stood still for eternity.

On the balcony stood a teen and a small girl.

The girl

Her hair was long. Her hair was dual-colored, black and light blue. Really light blue, but because she was standing on the balcony, the moonlight reflected off her light blue silky hair, which appeared as a light grayish white. If one were to see her hair out in the open, one would believe that her hair was dyed. Her blue streaks of hair reflect off the moonlight.

Blue.

It was as if she had an affinity for the color blue.

Her eyes were a dark blue, staring at him.

Piercing into him, an unmoving gaze.

They stood there watching each other, neither talking.

Or did she?

(What did she say? something about God and food.)

He stood there watching her, mostly her face and lips.

Her lips moved, which meant she had said something.

Haruko was too spaced out to comprehend any of what was happening.

He kept staring at the girl.

Her outfit—well, what could be considered an outfit—was barely covering her body. Her arms and legs were peeking through the ripping and flaking outfit. The parts that were flaking off were scattered in the wind.

Mortal, feed me some of your food that I smelled earlier."

The girl looked at Haruko, waiting for a response.

(She had said something again.)

Haruko looked like a deer in headlights.

She was getting upset. She placed her hands on her hips.

She was getting visibly annoyed.

POOF.

There was silence.

What was left of her crazy outfit had disappeared and been blown away.

A bush appeared across her face.

Haruko's eyes widen.

She was standing there, naked, on the balcony.

Haruko watched on with a growing blush on his face.

With a cry, she quickly covered herself and turned away from Haruko.

Still looking on in disbelief, Haruko stepped back inside, slowly closing the sliding window and closing the curtains, leaving the girl there by herself on the balcony.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 2

Part 2



On the quiet streets of NEO New York City, a middle-aged man was walking, holding a gray metallic briefcase. He was wearing a black business suit with a white button-down shirt.

To the outside world, he looked like a father who just got off work.

There was nothing that was too special or that would make the man stand out if he wasn’t there.

House by house, he was walking past houses with no end in sight.

"Based on the faint trail of energy, it should be somewhere around here," the man said in an exhausted tone.

As he was walking down the street, he saw it.

BOOM!!

He heard a faint noise in the distance.

The man raised his head.

Something had fallen out of the sky and landed on the second-floor balcony of a two-story house down the street.

"There," the man said in an exhausted tone as he began walking to the house. "There is where I’ll put an end to this long nightmare.”

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/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 3

Part 3



With the sliding balcony door now closed, Haruko was leaning his back on it.

(What the hell is going on right now?)

Exhaling, Haruko rested the back of his head on the glass window as he looked up to the ceiling.

He slightly moved the curtains and glanced outside the window. Haruko could see that the girl was still out there on the balcony. The girl was crouched over, facing away from the window.

(She hasn’t moved from that spot; well, not like she could go anywhere looking like that.)

The girl was naked.

She was doing her best to cover herself.

Haruko quickly turned away.

There were a lot of things going through his head, but he could not shake one.

He could not leave her like this.

Not like this.

(It doesn’t look like she has much. No clothes, no money, and most likely no home either.)

Haruko could hear her mumbling outside.

(I guess it wouldn’t be too bad to help her.)

With a grunt, Haruko pushed himself off the wall and walked to his bed. He grabbed a loose bed sheet out of the pile of clothes and walked back to the balcony window.

The girl was crouched over, trying her best to cover her nude form.

"This is the worst. All alone in this city with nothing, it was a mistake to come here.

She was all alone on the balcony.

Tears were slowly forming in her eyes.

Suddenly, the balcony sliding window opened, which startled the girl.

"Please don’t come any closer," the girl said, trying to cover herself.

The girl heard footsteps approaching her.

I’ll leave and won’t bother you anymore.

She stopped talking when she felt something being thrown at her.

It was soft.

The girl was surprised.

As the cover wrapped around her body, she looked up at Haruko.

She could not get a read on him.

"You are going to get a cold if you go around walking with nothing on. I don’t understand what is going on with you, but I have a feeling, one I cannot explain, that you need help.”

That statement surprised the girl.

"I'm not going to hurt you. For some reason, I can’t turn you away like this. I couldn’t live with myself if I did."


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 4

Part 4



The middle-aged man stood in front of a gate that led to a two-story house.

The street was quiet. The streetlights were turned on.

He was following a girl who had led him to this location.

"A simple gate lock," the man had said as he inspected the gate.

He placed the suitcase on the floor.

The man stared at the two-story house.

"Disperse."

The suitcase began to melt away as if it were peeling apart.

As the pieces began melting away, they began floating in the air. Soon, the scattered pieces of metallic liquid began to attach to each other, creating a round object no bigger than a basketball.

"Unlock."

The metal liquid ball began to shrink and stretch itself thin. It wormed itself into the keyhole of the gate.

There was silence, followed by a clink from the gate lock.

"Disperse," the man said in a calm voice.

The liquid metal began to worm itself out of the keyhole. The man held out his palm as the metal began to form into a sphere.

The man pushed open the gate to the house.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 5

Part 5



The girl stood in the large master bathroom of Haruko Matsumoto's bedroom.

Black sink counters and white tiles.

A large walk-in shower

She looked around.

Haruko had left some clothes on the counter for her, mostly one of his white t-shirts and a pair of black gym shorts to change into.

Right now, he was on his balcony, sweeping up the debris and cracked tiles.

(How in the hell am I going to explain this to Alexis and Reiko? I don’t know what's going to be harder to explain: the condition of the balcony or the girl.)

Haruko had stopped sweeping.

(The girl.)

He looked at the bright skyline of NEO New York City off in the distance.

The peaceful city.

Those thoughts were soon interrupted when he heard his bathroom door open.

Haruko exited the balcony and went into his room. As he entered, he saw her standing there in front of the bathroom door.

The girl.

Haruko looked at her.

She was wearing a white t-shirt. She handed the cover to Haruko, who took it and placed it in the hamper.

"I think there is a pair of house slippers somewhere around here. I try to find them, so you don’t have to step on the cold wooden floor."

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Oh, uh, no problem," Haruko replied, rubbing the back of his head.

Haruko was nervous. It had been a while since he had anyone in his room, let alone a girl in his room.

The two of them stood there, watching each other.

Neither moving.

What was either of them supposed to say?

There was a noise that broke through the silence that had alerted Haruko.

It sounded just like a growling stomach.

"Huh," Haruko stared at the girl.

The girl then lowered her head.

"If you don’t mind me asking, do you have any food that you can spare that I can eat?"

(Oh, right, she said something about food earlier.) Haruko looked at his kotatsu and saw the food container on it. Haruko sat near his kotatsu.

"Um, yeah, I've got several burritos that I don’t mind sharing; just have a seat.”

Aoi followed after.

They both sat there at the kotatsu on the floor.

Haruko opened the container, and her face lit up like a dog expecting a treat. He grabbed one of the wrapped burritos and handed it to her as he grabbed one for himself.

She grabbed it and began inspecting it as if it were a foreign object. She then started sniffing it.

"Are you okay?"

She did not answer him as she opened her mouth to eat the burrito that was still wrapped.

"Whoa, hold on there," Haruko blurted out.

She paused with her mouth still open and looked at Haruko.

"You may want to take the wrap off before you start eating.

"Wrap?" she questioned.

"The thin paper on the burrito is like this." Haruko removed the wrap from his burrito.

"Oh," she said, then copied Haruko, removing her wrap.

To her nose, the burrito smelled much better now.

She took a large bite and started chewing for a few seconds.

There was silence that filled the room.

"Mmm, this is so good," she said cheerfully as she took another bite of the burrito.

She was lively.

"So, what is your name?" Haruko said, resting his face in his palms. "If you don’t mind me asking,"

The girl stopped eating and swallowed.

"Aoi," she answers softly.

Blue.

The color blue.

"And yours?"

"Haruko Matsumoto."

She pouted.

"That's too much; make it shorter," she whined.

Blank.

"What?”

Haruko lowered his hand from his face.

"So...." Haruko trailed on, "Why did you crash-land on my balcony?"

The question was direct and to the point, and the aura in the room changed.

Aoi placed the burrito in the container on the kotatsu.

"I’m really sorry about that; it kind of happened by chance. I smelled your food and landed here without a second thought."

Haruko sat up and said, "By chance, what do you mean by that?"

"To tell you the truth, for the last couple of days since I arrived in this city, I have been searching for something. I haven’t been able to find it, but I know that it is here within the city.

Aoi looked at her right palm.

"I'm not good at sensing things, so when I got here, I didn’t know where to start, so I was searching blindly to no avail, running around in circles, if you would. It is of the utmost importance that I find it."

The answer was odd.

(She arrived in the city; is she a visitor?)

A tourist—no, she was more than that.

(A couple of days, searching for something. Is she one of those artifact finders?)

But she had nothing.

No money.

No clothes.

Nothing.

(Nobody would come to a city without clothes or money. The border agents would have certainly stopped her.)

"If you don’t mind me asking, how exactly did you get into the city?" Haruko asked.

With her empty hand, she pointed her finger to the roof.

Haruko looked up.

"Through the sky," Aoi said as she took another bite of the burrito.

Blank.

He paused.

"Through the sky," Haruko repeated slowly, trying to make sense of what he was saying. He then slammed both of his hands on the kotatsu.

"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?"

The girl looked at him.

"It's the truth," she replied to him.

"And I am supposed to believe that."

"I never once asked you to believe anything."

He paused again before calming himself down.

"So, let me get this straight."

Haruko looked at her.

"So, you are illegally in the city, with no clothes or money. You have been running for days searching for something you can’t find, but you’re so certain that it is here."

"Yep," she replies quickly, smiling without a care in the world.

"That would make you a criminal."

"I suppose so."

Aoi closed her eyes and smirked.

"Rules have no meaning to GODS like me."

Blank.

(There she goes, proclaiming here a god again.)

Haruko looked at her blankly.

"What is with this God crap you keep going on about, and why do you keep calling yourself a god?"

Abilities weren’t a rare thing in the world. He had seen plenty throughout his young life.

"But I am a GOD, over one of the elements of the universe, water, and I can prove it to you."

She stood up.

Fetch me a cup of water, and you’ll see me as the god that I am, mortal," she proclaimed proudly.

Haruko paused.

(Mortal.)

He began to look around.

A prank. This had to be a prank. All of this had to be a prank.

"What are you doing?" Aoi asked as she looked at Haruko with a puzzled look on her face.

"There has to be a camera somewhere because there is no way."

Aoi began to stare at him across the table. "Do you not have a cup?"

Haruko sighed and picked himself up from the floor.

"Fine, you know what? Fuck it; I’ll get you your cup."He said this as he headed to his bathroom. "But when you can’t prove that you are this so-called god, I am putting you in a calf crusher."

He walked into his bathroom and walked to the sink counter to open the mirror cabinet.

Haruko stood there, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

(A god. Natural elements, natural elements She has to be crazy. This is starting to sound like some bullshit.)

As he stood in front of the large mirror, he noticed that the bandage on his check was beginning to peel off.

"I guess I should see how the cut is coming along. I can probably start working out a lie for Reiko."

Fidgeting with the bandage Haruko managed to peel half of the bandage off, wincing as he did.

"I've got to shave when I get the chance," Haruko said as he looked into the mirror.

He paused.

The cut was gone.

"What the hell?" Haruko said as he rubbed his check.

(Did Alexis heal my cut? Why did she leave the bandage on, and how in the hell did I not feel this?)

He pulled the rest of the bandage off his cheek and threw it in a trash can nearby.

Haruko grabbed a cup from the bathroom sink.

As he was filling the cup, a sudden realization came to him.

Spellcasters, magicians, espers, and fragments all use their surroundings to use their abilities. If he brought the girl a cup full of water, she would use any one of those abilities as proof.

No.

She had claimed that she was a god.

He needed a way to prove her wrong without a shadow of a doubt.

He empties the cup.

(Am I really going to shatter this girl's delusions? I am no better than parents who tell their kids that Santa Claus or the tooth fairy do not exist.)

Haruko sighed.

(No, no, she is going around with no clothes on, claiming that she is a god; it is best I deal with this now before she hurts herself.)

With that thought in mind, Haruko walked out of the bathroom and into his room. He saw Aoi at the kotatsu, eating another burrito.

As she was eating, Haruko walked up and placed the empty cup on the kotatsu.

"You’re a so-called god, right?"

She looked up at him, puzzled.

"If you are a god, as you say, then you shouldn’t be bound by the limitations we mortals’ are bound to. So, fill the cup with water with no tricks; a god like you should have no problem with that, right?"

He was taunting her.

Aoi placed the burrito down and stood up.

Haruko was watching her closely now.

She just stood there.

Alright, how is she going to do this? Chants, sigils, maybe bring water from somewhere else, through a portal.)

Haruko clenched his fist.

(Watch closely,.)

She closed her eyes.

There was a soft exhale from the girl.

There was silence in the room.

(What the hell? She's just standing there doing nothing,.) Haruko thought as he watched her closely.

As he was watching her, he noticed something floating in the air.

Small.

A small drop of water.

(Huh.)

Then there was another drop, much larger, that appeared again, floating in the air.

(What the….hell is this?) Haruko thought as he watched more drops appear.

Suddenly more water droplets appeared in the room; it was as if it were raining, and the droplets froze in the air.

(Where the hell is all this coming from?) Haruko thought as he began looking around.

Haruko turned his attention to the girl.

Aoi was still standing there, not moving.

The room was filled with floating water droplets.

Her hair began to sway.

Large amounts of water began to swirl violently around the girl, creating a huge gust of wind. Everything in the room was shaking.

Haruko was trying to shield himself from the wind. It felt like he would be blown away.

Shockwaves rippled across the room.

And still, throughout this vexing chaos, the girl did not move. Her eyes were still closed.

Her facial expression was calm, as if the outside world had no effect on her.

The water spiraling around her became more intense and started moving in an unnatural way. There was no way to explain it. Water was flowing around the room. Out of the spiraling water, a head began to emerge.

A dragon’s head.

Sure, the abilities in the city and the world were amazing and allowed for some incredible feats, but this was different on every level.

Haruko was frozen in fear as the head was staring at him.

"I have the ability to create and manipulate water at its highest level without any limitations, natural or manmade." Her soft voice spoke through the chaos in the teens room.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, and the dragon's head roared, creating a shockwave. She stared at Haruko with an intimidating expression on her face.

"So, do you believe me now?"

Haruko lowered his arms.

"What the hell?!!" Haruko shouted out.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 6

Part 6



A barrier spell.

He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it.

It had surrounded both the yard and the house. It was the first line of defense for the residence.

The man stood in the yard but did not take a step forward. He could feel that something was off.

"Locate."

The floating metal ball began to melt and drip into the ground, spilling out on the floor. Out of the liquid that had spilled on the floor, gray rats began to emerge from the puddle.

The small metal rodents began to spread out in various directions. They were small enough not to trip over the barrier. The man stood there as he let the pest move about through the yard, looking for the barrier seals.

"Squeak"

A small noise broke through the quiet night.

Even though the mouse had no organs, the metallic mouse was squeaking at the man. Several mice are surrounding a potted plant.

"They found a seal."

With no organs or bones, the metal mice slid under the potted plant and pushed it to the side.

There was a small symbol engraved into the stone. The mice began to converge on the stone tile, clawing and chewing at it. The pressure of the rodent’s assault broke the stone tile into several small pieces.

The man took a step forward into the yard as the mice began to look for their next target in the yard.


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 7

Part 7



"So, like an actual god, really," Haruko had said as he was cleaning a puddle on the floor. "No bullshit?"

"Yup, so do you believe me now?" Aoi said this as she was sitting on Haruko's bed, swinging her feet.

Haruko wrung out the cloth into a bucket on the floor.

"I guess," he said, then walked over to another puddle. "I’m kind of afraid of what you would do if I said no."

"You don’t have to be afraid; it was by mere chance that I found you. I am just looking for the others," she said, placing her finger into a puddle on the floor. Soon after, the puddle disappeared.

"Others?" Haruko asked as he turned to the girl.

"Yup, in total, there are six elements. Fire, earth, air, life, death, and..." The girl stopped talking and held out her hand.

"Water," she said, as all the remaining water on the floor began to flow to her hand.

Haruko watched in amazement.

Aoi was playing with the water in her hand. Moving it around as if the liquid were a snake. She clasped her hands on the water and pulled them apart, revealing three small birds made of water that started flying across the room.

She pointed her finger at the bucket near Haruko, and the water birds flew into the bucket.

(To be able to do this is amazing.)

Haruko squeezed out the cloth, emptying the water into the bucket.

~The sun goes down. I feel the light betray me~

The sound startled Haruko.

"Shit my phone."

~The sun goes down. I feel. The light betray me~

Haruko began looking for his phone.

~The sun~

He later found his phone in the bathroom and looked at the caller ID.

Alexis M. (Baby Sis.)

~It's like I'm paranoid, lookin' over my back. It's like a whirlwind inside of my head~

"What's going on now?"

Haruko swiped up on the phone and brought it to his ear.

"Hey Alexi-"

"HARUKO WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW?!!!" Alexis screamed into the phone, causing Haruko to pull the phone away from his ear.

In the bathroom, he heard her voice echo throughout. When he heard the phone go silent, he brought it to his ear.

"Have you calmed yourself down yet?"

"Is there anyone else in the house?"

The question surprised Haruko.

"Um…..I…."

"Just answer the question."

There wasn’t a way he could answer the question plausibly.

Haruko stood there in the bathroom.

"Yes, there is a girl here; it’s kind of complicated now. She kind of landed on my balcony. We’re both in my room at the moment.”

There was a pause on the other side of the line.

"You’re both in the room right now," she asked, concerned.

"No, we are not doing that, if you must know. What with the questions, Alexis?”

"Haruko, please listen to me," Alexis said, causing Haruko to stop what he was doing.

She sounded serious.

"Someone or something destroyed part of the protection barrier seal around the house."

"The what seal?" Haruko said as he walked out of the bathroom.

He was confused.

"It's a barrier magic spell that—listen, that's beside the point—two of the five seals are destroyed. If three or all the seals are destroyed, the house will be defenseless."

That statement surprised Haruko.

Alexis, do you know where the seals were destroyed?" Haruko said, speaking into the phone.

Aoi was sitting on the bed, watching Haruko.

There was silence on the phone from her side.

"The front gate and the entrance door"

(The front gate and entrance door.)

"Are you su-"

Shrrrrrr

There was a faint noise that echoed throughout the house, which surprised the two in the room.

"What is going on?" Haruko said.

Aoi had looked up at the ceiling.

Suddenly, there were letters and magic symbols appearing on the wall, fading in and out.

(What the hell?)

The words and symbols started disappearing from the walls.

"What is going on?" Aoi said as she got off Haruko's bed.

Looking around, Haruko placed the phone in his ear.

"ALEXIS, SOMETHING HAPPENING, WHAT GOING ON?" Haruko shouted on the phone.

"The spell has been broken completely."

"Wha-"

"Haruko, listen close; the seals are not important; what is important is the anchoring point. It is the main part of the spell that keeps it together. That part of the spell in the kitchen"

Haruko's eyes widen.

Haruko ran towards his entrance door.

"Hey, what is going on?" Aoi shouted to Haruko.

"Stay there." Haruko opened his door and headed down the hallway.

"Keep the door closed."

(If the anchoring point or whatever Alexis said was in the kitchen, then...)

As he was running downstairs, he jumped the last few stairs and landed on the floor with a loud thud on the wooden floor.

(Whoever destroyed the spell was in the kitchen.)

Haruko began looking around, and as he did, he saw something floating in the living room.

A gray metal ball: if he wasn’t on edge, he would have missed it.

It was shiny and looked no larger than a basketball.

Haruko walked up to the ball, examining the object.

(What the hell is this?)

He could see his distorted reflection off the ball.

The ball began to float upward toward him.

(Huh.)

Haruko raised the phone to his ear.

"Hey Alexis, Are you sure you got your information right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I’m in the living room, and the only thing here is this wired gray ball. Did one of your spells go haywire?"

"A ball," Alexis replied over the phone.

"Yeah, a ball," Haruko said as he began walking around the object.

Haruko poked the ball, causing the outer surface to ripple and vibrate.

It felt soft to the touch.

Mmhhhh

"What is the ball doing?"

"Nothing; it's just floating here."

Haruko turned his attention away from the rippling ball.

"So, what the hell do I do with this thing?"

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A loud buzzing sound broke out coming from the ball, causing Haruko to turn his attention back to the ball.

"Hey, the ball is doing someth-"

"Perforate"

Haruko heard an almost quiet voice.

"Where did that voice come fro-"

Haruko was cut off as gray spikes erupted from the ball and began to converge on the teen.

The spikes were approaching fast, so the teen did the only thing he could think of.

Haruko crossed his arms, covering his face, as the spikes began to converge on him.

There was a loud noise as he was slammed into the wall, rattling several of the picture frames.

Pinned against the wall, Haruko struggled to move but couldn’t.

His breath seemed heavy.

The spikes had pinned him to the wall. Cutting through skin and clothes alike.

Still covering his face, he could feel cuts and blood pouring out across his body.

"Haruko, Haruko, what's going on? Please answer Haruko."

The phone was nowhere near his ear, but he heard his sister screaming on the other side. He placed the phone on his ear.

"Haruko, what's going on?"

"Hey Alexis…. I’m going to have to call you back." His breaths sounded tired.

"Haruko, wait, don’t hang up, Haru-"

Haruko removed the phone and swiped right on the screen to end the call with Alexis.

There was silence.

He heard footsteps.

"So, there was someone here."

A male voice broke out.

Haruko couldn’t see the source of the voice due to the spikes blocking his vision.

"Disperse."

The spikes began to vibrate, causing the teen to wince.

Slowly, the spikes began to retreat, dropping the pinned boy to the floor.

On his hands and knees, Haruko was struggling to catch his breath.

His blood was dripping on the floor. There were cuts all over his body.

Haruko looked up.

A middle-aged man.

"Sorry about that earlier."

The middle-aged man dressed in a business suit. His gray hair was slicked back. As he walked closer, he was fitting a glove over his right hand.

He looked like a professional assassin, the type you see in video games and movies.

"I was cautious because of the barrier spell that surrounded this house, so I assumed a spellcaster or a magician was here. So, I sent my elixir to scope out the place first. It was a risk I couldn’t afford to be wrong about after I had come this far.

The man placed his palm under the metallic ball.

Bruised and bloodied, Haruko stood up, his eyes never leaving the intruder.

(Who the hell is this guy?)

"My name is Eduard Andrejs." Haruko's thoughts were interrupted when the man spoke. His voice sounded tired and exhausted. "I seek no quarrel with you; I just want to put an end to this long nightmare. I just want the girl that is here."

(Aoi, why does he want her?)

In the living room of a two-story house stood Haruko Matsumoto and a man.

Neither one made a move.

The man stood there, his wrinkled face staring daggers at the teen.

For Haruko, it was an unnerving feeling.

(Is it because of her power? If so, then I have to get rid of this guy somehow.)

"There is no girl here," Haruko lied.

The man sighed.

"Kid, you don’t want to do this—to play hero. There will be nothing good that comes out of your self-righteousness to shield her for whatever reason."

Haruko paused.

"You can just go on with your life and pretend this night never happened, and you would be better off. You don’t have to die here tonight."

"You’ll kill me."

Haruko had fought plenty of people over the course of his life that, if they had ended badly, would have ended with him dead.

But this was different.

The teen stood there.

"Just stand aside."

Without thinking, Haruko had rushed the man by running down the hallway. With his right arm damaged, he attempted to attack with his left.

"Shield," the man said. His tired facial expression never changed.

The boy let out a yell as he approached the man.

The metal ball had changed shape and began to spread out to the man's left arm.

As the teen approached, he swung his fist down with all that he could.

The man raised his left arm as the metal was still wrapping around it.

Klang

There was a loud sound as both the man's arm and the teen's fist collided.

Only that, the teen’s fist did not collide with the man's arm.

"What the hell is this?"

Haruko's fist had hit a large object that was almost as large as he was.

The man was now holding a metallic shield.

(How did he create this?)

Not waiting for a response, the teen began attacking the shield.

A punch.

A kick.

A backhand.

Another punch.

Each move had caused the teen pain.

Nothing.

Nothing Haruko did seemed to break the shield or dent it.

"This is getting tedious." The man said this as Haruko kept attacking the shield. "Disperse"

As Haruko was attacking the shield, it had begun to tear apart.

The man held out his right arm and thrust what was left of the breaking shield towards Haruko, hitting him in the chest.

"Impale."

The metallic liquid began to move toward his right hand.

An object began to form in the man's hands.

Haruko grabbed both sides of the shield, attempting to push it off his body.

The man's eyes widen as he sees Haruko grab the broken shield and push it aside. He closed his hand around the object until it formed.

The object wasn’t done forming, but he had no choice but to thrust the baton-shaped object into the boy's shoulder. The teen winced in pain as he felt the object hit his shoulder.

Haruko fell back to the wall behind him and grabbed his shoulder. "Damnit, that hurt."

He removed his hand from his shoulder to take a look at it.

Nothing.

Beside his open, bloodied cuts, there was nothing coming from his shoulder.

(It was the same as the metal from the spikes before, so why did it do no damage now?)

"You’re thinking too much." The man began speaking as the weapon he was creating was finished forming. The shield was gone.

A spear.

"What with that metal of yours?" Haruko questioned.

He wasn’t expecting an answer.

"To answer your question, it is my magic—transmutation magic, to be precise."

Haruko was confused.

"Disperse," the man said in a calm voice as he held the spear forward.

Like the shield before, the spear began to melt away.

"Alchemy was the ancient practice that sought to transform regular metals into gold."

The man held up his palm, and the metallic substance began to slowly creep towards the center of his palm.

"By using a particular metal, I can use my magic to both shape and reshape this metal into anything I so desire."

The gray metallic metal began to form into a ball the size of a basketball.

"Perforate."

With an unnatural speed, spikes began to burst forth towards the boy.

(It's fast.) Haruko thought as he rolled on the floor to evade the spikes.

`You dodge well,"

Breathing heavily, Haruko looked back at the spikes that pierced the wall behind him.

(What the hell kind of attack was that? For just a small ball, both its speed and its range are crazy.)

"Disperse."

The man's voice interrupted the teenager's thoughts.

Suddenly, the metal spikes began to retreat back into the ball in the man's hands.

(Its retraction speed is insane, too. I need to find a way to get past it.)

"For you to have evaded my elixir twice is very commendable, if I must say. You are probably looking for an attack pattern or a weakness to use in your counterattack.”

"!"

"I detest long battles. The more drawn out they are, the more both sides reveal themselves and their weaknesses."

"Cleave."

Still holding the metallic ball, it began to drip into the man's palm and started to spill onto the wooden floor beneath him.

(What the hell is he creating now?)

The liquid started to rise from the floor.

Haruko watched for a couple of seconds as the rising metallic liquid began to harden.

Slowly, a large broadsword began to form.

"I hope you won’t mind if I end this here with this weapon."

The man grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it out of the wooden floor.

"Now then, shall we try this again?" the man asked the teen.

If there was no way out, then he was going to fight. Haruko picked his bloodied body up.

Haruko glared at the man.

As he was about to take a step, a large amount of water shot past him towards the man.

The man jumped out of the way to avoid the water approaching him.

Haruko turned his attention to the source of the water.

Aoi.

She was standing on the stairs with her arm out.

"You."

She looked worriedly at the bruised and bloody teen.

"What happened to you?" she said as she stopped blasting water.

"It's a long story," Haruko replied weakly. "Why in hell did you come down here?"

"I was-"

Aoi was cut off by the man stepping forward.

"You are the girl I have been searching for. I kindly ask you not to make things difficult from here on out and that you come with me."

Haruko turned his attention to the man and stood between the man and girl on the staircase.

The man noticed.

"You are not my concern at this time, child."

"Child, I’m fifteen, and you broke into my house."

"My point is that this does not concern you, only the girl," the man said as he raised the sword. "If you would kindly step aside,"

"Yeah, and you could go fuck yourself."

"If you insist," the man said as he ran towards the teen and the girl.

Aoi raised her arm with her fingers spread out.

The man stopped when he saw the water on the floor begin to rise.

(No chants or materials.)

The water began to fly towards the man, causing him to try and block it with his sword.

As he did, the girl closed her fingers into a fist, and the water began to surround the man.

Haruko watched as the man desperately tried to cut through the rising water. As soon as the water was fully above him, it started to harden.

The man looked up and saw that he was being sealed in a cube-like structure.

(No.) The man thought as the structure trapped him inside. There was a silent shockwave as the structure was fully complete.

Haruko turned to Aoi, then back to the cubed structure.

(Is it over?)

Haruko walked up to the structure.

Haruko placed his left hand on the wall.

Neither cold nor hot.

It felt warm to the touch.

He could see a faint silhouette of the man on the other side of the structure.

(It isn’t ice, just solid water. Could such a thing be possible?) Haruko thought as he lightly knocked on the wall.

Haruko turned to see Aoi walking up to him.

"That should keep him at bay for a while."

Aoi looked at the bleeding and heavily bruised teen.

"Are you okay?"

Haruko fell back and landed on his butt.

That brief fight took a lot out of him.

"Yeah, I think."

Aoi ran up to him and stood between the wall and Haruko. She got a good look at his injuries.

Blood and a lot of cuts.

"I can try to heal your wounds."

Haruko looked at her.

"Listen, you need to run."

"Wha-?" she started to speak, but Haruko had cut her off.

"Hey, that guy is after your power. If he knows about it, then there is a good chance that others know about it also, and they will come for it too."

Haruko spat out some blood that landed on the floor.

"Leave through the front door and try to find somewhere to go or to hide. I can try to hold him for as long as I can. That should give you enough time to get as far away from her as possible.”

Aoi looked at him.

"You would do that for me."

Haruko stared at her.

"I told you that I would help you in any way I could. God or not, I don’t abandon those in need, and I won’t start now."

Beaten and bloodied, his resolve never wavered.

Krrrrrr

It was a small noise, but Haruko heard it.

The sound of glass cracking.

Krrrrrrrrrrrrrkrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Haruko began to frantically look around the living room, but he couldn’t find the source of the noise.

Krrrkrrrkrrrrrkrrrrrrrrkrrrrrrrr.

He looked at the solid wall of water and saw it.

It was a small crack.

Krrkrrrrrkkkkkkrrrrrrrrrrkrrrrrrrrrrrrk

More cracks appeared on the wall of the structure.

Haruko looked at Aoi.

"YOUR WALL IS BREAKING; YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW," Haruko shouted at the girl.

Aoi quickly turned to the wall.

There was a boom, and the wall broke and collapsed completely.

Shunk!

Something had landed on the floor near the left side of Haruko. Whatever it was went through the wooden floor and was sticking out.

Haruko lowered his eyes to it.

The object looked like a gray javelin spear.

There was red liquid dripping down the object.

The teen drifted his eyes upward, following the javelin. As he did, he saw more red liquid dripping down the spear.

Several solid pieces of water landed on the floor with a heavy thud.

His eyes crept up, and he saw it.

Blood.

Haruko's eyes widen when he sees the source of that blood.

Aoi.

The blood was coming from her.

As she stood there, a javelin pierced her lower midsection. Blood was seeping into the white t-shirt and dripping down her right leg.

"It was a good idea to slightly move when you did."

The man appeared, looming over the small girl in the hallway.

"I would have hated for this weapon to actually have killed you." The man grabbed the end of the javelin that pierced the girl.

With a grunt, the man lifted the spear and the girl off the floor. Haruko watched as her feet left the ground.

"To build a new home, we need you in one piece and alive."

The man swung his arm, and the girl's body flew off the spear, hitting a wall in the hallway with a loud thud.

Aoi's body had bounced off the wall and fallen to the ground below.

Haruko attempted to run to her but was stopped when he felt a stabbing pain in his right leg.

The man had stabbed him with the spear.

The pain had caused him to fall to the floor.

"You really don’t know when to give up, do you?" The man said this as he pulled the spear out of the kid's leg.

“Gahhh!" Haruko yelled out in pain as he grabbed his leg.

"Disperse."

The spear began to melt away, returning to its ball form.

The man then turned his attention away from the teen and began walking toward the girl.

Haruko watched as the man got closer and closer to the laid-out girl.

"Wait... get away from her, you bastard," Haruko said, struggling to pick himself up.

The man looked at the teen, and without a second thought, he kept walking towards the girl.

The teen wasn’t his target.

The girl was, and more importantly, her power was.

The man keeps moving forward.

"I'm not going to let you take her," Haruko said, standing up.

The man stopped walking and slightly turned toward the teen.

Haruko tensed up.

"You won’t let me take her. Pride and arrogance will always be the ends of the foolish. You can’t protect her, let alone yourself."

The man began to walk toward the girl lying on the floor. Each step creaked across the wooden floor in the hallway.

"You’re struggling to stand up; you're nearly out of breath. You have taken more damage than you would like to admit.”

You're very close to death’s door."

"…………."

"You're free to run away if you want; despite our transgressions earlier, I will give you my word that I would neither pursue nor cause any further harm to you should you choose to leave."

Haruko stood there.

A way out.

Haruko glanced slightly at the door behind him.

"I'm pretty sure you have a family and maybe even a couple of friends—people you care about who also care about you. Do you really want to die here? For them to discover your dead body, and for the girl you just met. A foolish way to go out, if I were to say so."

Haruko glanced down at Aoi's body on the floor. Her chest was still moving, which meant she was still alive. He was watching her breathe.

The man was watching the teen closely.

"Think very well about the course of action you are planning to take; you would not get another chance as good as the one I am offering now."

The teen looked at the girl on the floor.

The teen clenched his fist.

His answer was clear.

"No."

"Excuse me."

"I am not running now. I’m going to beat you and save her," Haruko proclaimed.

The man sighed. "You’re really going to throw your life away for a girl you just met."

Haruko stood in the hallway.

"It's not really throwing my life away if I beat you."

"There are no abilities you have that you can speak of; you are hanging on by a hair's breadth, and you think you can save her, let alone beat me."

Haruko clenched his fist.

"Even if, by some very slim miracle, you were to beat me, you would never truly be able to save her."

"What do you mean by that?" Haruko asked.

The man turned to him.

"Do you really think that I am the only one who knows about this girl and her abilities?"

The man reached into his suit and pulled out a piece of paper, which he tossed to Haruko.

"From the moment she entered this city, this notice was put out to all magic cabals within the city."

"Notice?" Haruko said, looking at the paper. "What is this?"

"It is a bounty designation. Since magic was introduced to the world on a global scale, certain rules and regulations were implemented to keep it in check. Those magicians or spellcasters whose very existence or abilities deviate too far from the natural laws of order have their lives forfeited."

Haruko stood there, staring at the bounty notice. There were a bunch of thoughts going through his head, but he couldn’t shake one.

"Her power isn’t magic based, so why would anybody from a magic society cabal or whatever deem her life forfeited?" Haruko asked the man, who stood there, not moving. "ANSWER ME!"

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea why such an order was permitted. That order exists for whatever reason, but I couldn't care less. That is not the reason I am after the girl; my leader has his own reasons for wanting the girl."

"Wha…"

"As long as that order exists, she will always be hunted down. If not by me, then by others. But if you really intend to pay no heed to my offer, I will eliminate you here and take the girl."

Haruko tossed the paper aside and raised both of his fists in a boxing stance.

"N…….no…….." A quiet, faint voice broke out.

Haruko looked past the man to see Aoi struggling to pick herself off the wooden floor. There was blood pooling under her. She looked at Haruko, and he could see that blood was pouring out of her mouth.

"Please….don’t….after everything you have done for me since I've been here, I can’t let you throw your life away, no matter how noble you believe your reason may not be for me. You have no part in this."

Haruko stood there, unable to respond.

But-

"I’m not leaving you," Haruko said.

He was stubborn.

Aoi paused, looking at the teen, then closed her eyes.

"Please forgive me," she said as she weakly held out a hand toward Haruko.

She then opened her eyes with a glare of ferocity, which had startled the teen.

"What are you doi-" Haruko was cut off as a huge blast of water hit him.

"Nghhh!" Haruko tried his best to stay connected to the ground, but his body flew back into the entrance door of his house.

The girl never taking her eyes off him increased the pressure of the water blast, causing him to slam into the door, breaking it off its top hinges as Haruko was blasted out to the front yard of the house.

The blast of water stopped as Aoi lowered her hands.

"So that's what you were doing, protecting the fool." The man said this while watching the event happen before his eyes.

Barley stood heavily injured and bleeding, and Haruko attempted to run back into the house to protect her.

Before he got to the door, Aoi held out her hand, causing all the nearby water to form a wall. Suddenly, she closed her fingers into a fist, solidifying the water.

Haruko slammed his shoulder into the hard wall of water.

The man heard the teen hitting the wall and yelling.

"I commend you for not dragging the boy into this." The man said this as he turned his attention to the girl. "As such, I will give you my word that I won’t make any attempt on his life, but for you, I will make no such promise to you."

The man began walking toward the girl on the floor until he was looming over her.

The girl looked up at the man standing over her.

Suddenly, a blue-colored light began to emit from under her, mostly under her hands and feet.

The man was watching her.

"What are you doing now?"

The light began to surround her body.

Not waiting to see the end result of what the girl was planning to do, the man brought his spear down to try and stab her in the leg.

There was a ‘ting’ as the tip of the spear hit the floor, stabbing into the ground.

The girl had vanished.

"What the"

There was a flickering blue light on the other side of the room. The man turned his attention to the light.

(Was that teleportation? No that was..)

The light completely faded out, and there stood the girl. She was leaning on the wall with her arm. Her other arm was pressed against her midsection to stop the bleeding.

She was breathing hard.

The man pulled the spear out of the ground.

Light began to surround the girl's feet.

Aoi angrily started at the man and ran out the sliding window, leaving the man inside the house.

"It seems she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Disperse."

The spear began to melt back into its ball form.

"Hunt."

Floating in the air, the ball began to expand. The man had no intention of what was being created. There was a loud growling sound as he started out the window. The man turned back to the beast he had created using his metal.

A large gray metal dog with the appearance of a golden retriever.

The large dog sniffed the blood that was left behind by the girl. The dog looked at the man.”

"Let’s go."

With that statement, both the man and the large dog left the house through the sliding door in pursuit of the girl.

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/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 8

Part 8



Thud.

A sound broke out.

"Break!"

Thud.

A sound broke out again.

"Break damnit!!"

Thud.

Over and over, that sound repeated.

Outside the Matsumoto house, Haruko was attempting to break the hard wall of water. He had tried everything to no avail.

A solid wall of water.

Haruko was breathing heavily and exhausted.

"Damnit"

He hated himself at that moment. If he were just a little bit stronger.

He was unable to break the wall in front of him.

He was unable to save the girl in front of him.

He was unable to do anything.

"DAMNIT BREAK!!!"

Haruko," a female voice broke out, which startled the teen, causing him to turn around to see the voice calling out to him.

Alexis Matsumoto.

She stood there, standing at the front gate, staring at Haruko worryingly.

"Alexis, what are you doing here?"

Unable to break through the wall, Haruko slowly wobbled away from the wall towards his sister.

Alexis walked into the yard and looked around. She saw her broken seal on the ground.

As Haruko was walking, he fell to his hands and knees. Alexis ran up to him.

"I left as soon as you hung up the phone, Haruko. What happened here? What happened to you?"

Haruko sighed.

"Long story short, a god fell out of the sky onto my balcony, and some guy was chasing her."

"……What" was Alexis response.

The story sounded ridiculous.

"Just trust me, alright."

"Where are they now?"

Haruko weakly pointed to the solid wall of water.

"Inside the house, I think she blasted me outside so that I wouldn’t get involved."

"You tried to get involved." Alexis yelled at him. She was angry that he would do something like this.

Haruko was dejected.

Alexis looked toward the house.

"Well, we'll worry about the house later. We can call the authorities when we get a chance. We need to get you and your injuries looked at."

BOOOM!!!!!

Off in the distance, there was a large noise that surprised both the brother and sister. From where they could see, a large amount of water exploded.

It looked like the largest geyser had just erupted.

"Water..." Alexis questioned.

Haruko watched on. That amount of water in one place—he knew what it was.

"That her, that Aoi’.

Aoi," Alexis answered back, looking at Haruko.

Haruko began wobbling in the direction of the erupting water, holding himself up against the gate.

Alexis looked at him.

Both stood there, looking at each other.

She knew what he was about to do; it was all over his face. She grabbed his bloodied arm.

"No, Haruko, you can’t. Look at you!" She was trying to reason with him.

There was silence from Haruko.

He clenched his fist.

Haruko knew what he had to do.

Without a second thought, Haruko ran off to the erupting water.

"Haruko!" Alexis yelled out.

"JUST WAIT FOR ME RIGHT THERE; I’LL BE RIGHT BACK," Haruko said as he ran off, leaving Alexis there.

(You better not die on me, goddess.)

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/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 9

Part 9



There was a flickering blue light weaving through the trees in the dark.

Aoi was running.

Her hair was flowing behind her.

She didn’t know where to go, but she knew that she had to escape the man following her. Aoi had her hand firmly placed on her midsection, trying to stop the bleeding. She could feel her blood seeping past her fingers.

‘If I could find somewhere to hide, I could take care of my wounds."

She glanced back and saw something coming toward her.

She was running away from two metallic Labrador retrievers.

If it could be called that now.

The dogs were not normal.

No matter how much she ran, the dog would catch up to her.

She couldn’t find a way to stop the ‘dogs’. She was sure she had destroyed the dogs. It had always reformed itself. When she cut the dog in half, it separated into two smaller dogs.

"There has to be a way out somewhere."

As she was in her thoughts, the two dogs ran up beside her to try and attack her. With all that she had, she placed her foot on the ground and crouched down.

The ground beneath began to illuminate a blue color.

Aoi exhaled.

Like a rocket, she shot up into the sky, creating a shockwave across the ground. As she flew into the sky, she created a foothold using water.

To anyone else, it looked like she was floating in the sky.

She couldn’t see the dogs or the man who was chasing her.

There was silence.

Her eyes darted around, looking for her pursuers.

The sound of breaking tree branches broke her concentration. There was a gray metal ball flying towards her.

She quickly extended her arm as the ball closed in on her.

Aoi created a wall of water to shield her. There was a buzzing sound as the ball hit the wall of water.

The ball began to increase in size.

"Wha……."

Before the girl had an opportunity to comprehend what was going on, spikes had emerged from the ball, grazing her head.

Aoi let out a scream as the spikes hit her.

The attack had caused her to lose concentration, and both the foothold and the wall of water broke apart, causing her to plummet to the ground.

Hard.

As she fell to the ground, her body bounced several times before coming to a complete stop.

She landed in an empty, open park.

She tried to pick herself up, but her body had taken too much damage.

"If anything, you only have yourself to blame for your current predicament."

Aoi slowly turned her head to the source of the voice.

The man appeared to be walking through the trees nearby.

"If you had come with me from the start, you wouldn’t be in such pain."

He was walking with a gray ball floating beside him. He kneeled beside her.

"Humor me if you will; like you, our leader also possessed great power. Things were much simpler then. The world changed. New species began to emerge, and with them came new abilities and powers, but even more important was a new way of thinking about how to operate in the world. Over time, we began to lose our place in the world we called home. The only thing that kept us going was our leader's power. That godhood of his powers that couldn’t be denied."

The man stood up and patted his knee.

"Then one day our leader lost that great power; he was cast out from the heaven that was created for him. My people are now at the bottom of the totem pole in a world that has moved on from us. So, we came here to a new place. For the last 5000 years, we prayed for the day we, our leader, and our people would reclaim that glory that was once lost to us."

The man held out his arm.

"Cleave."

The ball began to drip onto the ground.

The girl looked at the man.

"I have no idea why you are here, but it is thanks to you that our 5000-year prayer will be answered, and a new world will be made."

Aoi closed her eyes as the man pulled the sword from the ground. She could hear the man's footsteps approaching her.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and there was silence.

"Those that deny God's blessing will always find themselves at the judgment of God."

The man turned.

"Do you not agree?"

He wasn’t talking to her.

There was someone here.

"It looks like I got here just in time."

Her eyes opened when she heard the voice.

Aoi glanced over at the individual the man was talking to. Her eyes widen when she sees the person standing there. A person she didn’t expect to see again. A person who showed her kindness and fed her. A person who said that he would help her no matter what.

Panting, the teen stood up straight.

"How many times do I have to say it to you?"

He clenched his fist.

Haruko Matsumoto.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!!!"
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap2. Part 10

Part 10



Aoi laid out on the floor on her stomach and saw him as he stood there.

A teen.

Beaten and bloody, he stood there.

Haruko Matsumoto.

He had no abilities to speak of, but he stood there by himself to save her.

"Get away from her." Haruko's voice broke through the silence.

The man looked at Haruko.

"And if I don’t?"

"I had already decided that I was going to kick your ass; do you really want to make this even worse for yourself?"

The man stood there in silence, stunned by the boy's answer.

"Oh, is that so?" the man said as he gripped the handle of his sword tighter. The man had raised the large sword to point the tip at Haruko. "I have entertained you for far too long.”

The teen did not move his feet.

His feet and resolve stood there in front of the man, not wavering.

The man sprinted towards the teen.

Haruko could see the man approaching him, but with his body so exhausted, he could hardly move.

(I have to time this right; don’t dodge him; dodge the weapon.)

The man thrust his sword forward.

(Move.)

Haruko moved his head and body to the side.

He had dodged the attack.

The man had sped past him.

(He dodged it.)

The man had spun around to attack the teen again.

He raised the sword overhead.

(Now that I think about it, there was nothing special about the metal or magic he was using.)

The teen began to think harder.

(He is only able to manipulate the metal by giving commands; if I get past that weapon and attack him before he can react and switch to another, then…..)

The man swung the sword, and Haruko dodged as he jumped back.

(Then I can beat him.)

Haruko rushed the man.

The man swung his gray sword horizontally, which caused Haruko to sidestep and throw a punch.

A weak punch.

A punch that would never have hit the man, and that was his plan.

The man swung the blade down, and once again, Haruko dodged.

The blade slammed into the ground and buried itself in the dirt. Haruko then stepped on the buried part of the blade and attempted to uppercut the man.

He overshot the uppercut, missing the man's head.

(Now.) Haruko thought as he threw a couple of jabs, trying to hit the man as he dodged. The teen was trying to push him into a corner and keep him on his toes.

The man quickly pulled the weapon out of the ground as he backed up to dodge another weak jab.

Both men stood there.

The man rested the tip of the blade on the ground.

"It would seem even now that all that bravado was all for naught. You evade well, but your attacks lack speed, accuracy, and power. With all that working against you, it would be foolish to think that you could win, let alone hit me."

The teen stood there.

"Huff, huff," the teen calmed his breathing heavily and grinned. "That was the plan, dipshit," he said as the teen held out his injured arm and opened his closed fist to release crumbled-up pieces of paper.

"….What?" The man said it out loud as he watched the teen drop the papers to the ground.

The man looked around on the ground; there was paper spread out around him.

(These are talismans.)

The man slowly backed up.

(Magic, but how?)

It was almost as if the man's heart had stopped.

"What the hell are you doing now?" the man said as he turned his attention to the teen standing before him.

With his left hand, the teen grabbed his injured right arm.

"Bear with me a bit; I didn’t want to use this earlier. [Dusk to Twilight, Dawn to Sunset]

The man stood there, shocked.

(A magic incantation. He can use magic. I made a mistake. I should have been more on guard because of the barrier outside the house.)

[The heavens cries and the earth buries. That space in between rage and serenity—the point of no return to the edge of the abyss—

The boy continued to chant.

The man needed to escape and regroup. If he could get out of the rage of this teen spell, he should be good.

He attempted to run away.

"You can try, but you won’t get far."

The man stopped when he heard that.

"This spell range is the whole park."

The man paused.

"W…what how?"

"There was a reason I was late to this ordeal here. I've been to this park a couple times in the past, and I know all the nooks and crannies of it, so placing these around the park was no problem."

(He set this up during the time I was here.)

Haruko closed his eyes.

[From the moment we take our first breath, we must come to the realization that we will also take our last.

"What kind of spell is this?"

The teen turned his attention to the man.

"It is a spatial manipulation spell," Haruko replied. His voice was calm and without fear. The spell creates a barrier, and within that barrier, space will become violently distorted, ripping us apart and using the mana within the barrier to create an explosion blasting us away."

The man's eyes widen in shock.

(That impossible. There is no way.)

(Why is he doing this?)

"You would die to protect a girl you just met," the man yelled out with fear in his voice.

There was a calm.

"Of course, without hesitation. I already told you that, didn't I?"

There was fear creeping over the man.

[So please do not cry. So I offer the space to you.]

The man began to tense up.

[Rip].

Haruko spoke again.

Fear.

The man began to look around, trying to find a way to escape.

[Deny and distort. I offer this confined space to you, and in the swirling chaos of distortion, I pray you find calmness.]

The man was scared.

If the area of effect of this spell was as wide as the teen stated, then escape would be impossible.

In all of his thoughts, one came to him in his panic.

If escape was impossible, he could find a way to protect himself from the spell.

The teen was risking everything, even himself, to beat this man; both would be victims of his spell. A suicide pact.

He was so close to his goal.

(Nooooo!.) The man gripped the handle of the sword tightly.

He was shaking.

The man suddenly yelled out with a roar, which surprised the teen.

"I will not fall here to the likes of you." The man's facial expressions were almost mad. "If you want to die for such a worthless cause, then so be it, but do not drag me down with you."

The man held his sword forward.

"I just have to survive your attack, even if just a little bit, and then I am good to take the girl."

The teen looked at him.

"We will see." Haruko slammed his right palm on the ground.

"Disperse."

Suddenly, the tip of the gray sword began to peel away as if it were being melted by an invisible force.

"Shield me entirely!"

(Now.)

The man was creating a shield.

The teen rushed forward towards the man.

Haruko slapped the man's left arm, holding the still-forming shield away.

(…What.)

Haruko then grabbed the man's robe by the collar with his left hand. Gathering himself, the man swung what was left of the melting sword at the teenager's head, hoping to hit him and allow him to regroup.

As the melting sword connected with the teen's head, it completely collapsed on itself and did no damage to the teen.

Haruko glared at the man with such ferocity that it shocked the man to the core. He crouched down.

With the man's face wide open, the teen thrust the right side of his body upward.

The man didn’t have time to react as the teen's right fist came into contact with his chin.

An uppercut.

Haruko hit him.

For the first time since this battle, he was able to hit him.

The man's head cocked upward as blood and saliva came out of his mouth. The uppercut knocked the man off his feet and back into the ground.

As the man lay on the ground, he grabbed his chin.

"I think I've finally gotten the hang of you and your magic figured out. Through your vocal commands, you're able to create a wide variety of weapons, but you're limited by which objects you want to create and the time you have to switch between objects, meaning you can’t switch effortlessly. You attack in rapid succession to throw people off that fact."

Haruko was speaking more assertively now.

"When I had closed the distance between us earlier, back at my house, you immediately created a shield to protect yourself. That wasn’t what surprised me; it was what happened next when you went back on offense. Since you couldn’t attack me with your shield, you created a weapon that could: a spear. When you attempted to stop me from attacking, you jammed the weapon into my shoulder. That weapon wasn’t done forming, so it did no damage."

Haruko started walking towards the man.

"Do not think that little stunt you pulled earlier that allowed you to hit me will work a second time," the man said as he kneeled on the floor.

Haruko grinned

"I don’t have to; it was enough that I managed to hit you."

"If you want to call that a hit," he said, standing up.

"It was enough, Haruko replied. Now that I fully know how your magic works, I’ll give you one more chance to come at me with everything you've got."

"What?" the man said as he was trying to process what the teen had said.

I’m giving you the chance to create one more weapon-"

"What do you mean?"

"Will you shut the fuck up and let me finish?" The teen said this, getting angry.

Haruko held up his index finger.

‘"Now one more chance, one more weapon. This weapon you create better be enough to finish me off, because if I survive even by a mere fraction, I will not give you a second chance again; no do-overs. You failed to end this fight on your terms; I’m ending it on mine.

"DISPERSE," the man said loudly.

The shield began to peel away.

The man was now in a conundrum. He needed a weapon.

As insignificant and minuscule as the man who found the teen was, he was putting up a much better fight than he expected. He managed to dodge most of the weapons he created. He was able to hit him.

Aoi watched as a liquid ball began to form.

(That ball is almost like...)

The man watched the teen.

"What's the matter? You’re taking your sweet time. Wasn’t it you who said you didn’t like long battles?"

The man gathered himself.

"Punish." His voice was calm.

The liquid ball began to stretch itself thin.

A long whip.

The man grabbed the handle of the whip, and without giving the teen a chance to respond, he swung the whip towards the ground, which had spilled open.

"Fancy weapon you got there."

"Thank you; this is the most versatile of my weapons I am allowed to create."

The man cracked the whip.

(Regardless of how great he thinks that weapon is, if I stay outside his range and find a way to close the distance, I should be good.)

Haruko dodged the incoming assault by sidestepping left.

The man swung again, and Haruko ducked, which caused the trash bin behind him to split in half horizontally.

Haruko looked back at the damage.

(What the hell kind of whip is that?)

Haruko's thoughts were interrupted as he heard footsteps approaching behind him.

"You must be thinking you have evaded my attacks. Well, I am afraid not. Allow me to try this. The man spun the whip overhead and brought it down towards the teen.

(Follow the weapon, not him.)

Haruko was assuming the whip was coming down overhead, so he sidestepped out of the way. As the thong of the whip hit the ground, it bounced up in an unnatural way and wrapped itself around Haruko's right arm.

(How?)

Shiink

Barbwire emerged from the whip and cut deep into Haruko's skin.

"What the hell!" Haruko shouted as he tried to remove the whip from his arm.

The man yanked the whip forward, causing Haruko to be dragged from his feet into the ground face first.

(How was he able to drag me like that?) Haruko thought as he began to pick himself up.

The man raised the handle of the whip, and Haruko was then lifted a few feet in the air by his arm as the barb wire cut into his skin.

(What the hell?) Haruko thought as his body rose into the air.

The man turned around and swung the handle down toward the ground. The teen's body flew across the sky, being dragged by his arm. There was a loud thud as Haruko was slammed on his back into the dirt.

Pain.

That's what Haruko was feeling at this moment. He was struggling to breathe, and it felt like his back was on fire. He could feel himself coughing up blood.

"Your reflexes allowed you to dodge my earlier weapon. But this whip is not like the other weapons"

The man began walking toward the teen on the floor as he watched him roll over.

"You may believe that the whip's striking power is the most dangerous part of this weapon, and you would be correct to think so. But that is not true; think of the throng and handle as two different weapons. Anything that is bound by the thong can be manipulated by the handle. Regardless of its mass or size, I swing, and the handle and the thong correct itself. Case and point...."

The man raised the handle to the sky, lifting both the thong and the teen into the air. Haruko grunted in pain as he was yanked into the air by his arm.

As soon as Haruko was in the air, the man began spinning the whip around as if it were a lasso.

He was being swung in the air like a rag doll.

The man swung the handle down, slamming the teen into a green park bench and table. There was a sickening noise as the teen's body impacted the table and bench that echoed through the empty park.

Aoi watched as the teen's body lay there on the ground. He wasn’t moving. She wasn’t even sure that he was alive. As she lay there, she felt all hope die within her. This was what she wanted to prevent.

The man slightly swung the handle, and the portion of the whip that was wrapped around the teen's right arm unwrapped itself, dropping his bloodied arm to the ground.

The teen's body still didn’t move.

The man watched the teen as he began wrapping the whip over his shoulder.

"You would give me one more chance; don’t make me laugh. As I stated, Pride and arrogance will always be the end of the foolish."

The man turned to the girl.

Aoi still had her eyes on Haruko's body as he laid there.

The man began walking towards the girl.

"Please do not worry about him; through his own actions, he chose this. I gave him every chance to walk away, yet he persisted on his own accord."

The man kept walking towards the girl.

"If anything, I spared him. Guys like him believe that there are righteous beliefs, but because everyone's beliefs and justifications are different, there are no correct beliefs. The only thing in this world that can’t be denied is absolution. That is what our leader believed. People can resist and deny all they want, but the one thing they can't deny is absolute power."

The man stopped walking.

"I will not give you any false hope and say that what our leader has in store for you will be pleasant, but-"

There was a slight rustle.

"……and you say my attacks lacked power."

A voice rang out.

To say that he paused was an understatement; to be frank, he froze.

(No.)

The man turned back, surprised.

The teen he was sure he had beat was starting to stand up.

Then he took a step.

The teen was slowly approaching the man.

"Was that your best shot, because if it was, then I am going to be upset?"

"……how?"

The man was at a loss for words.

"Why do you keep coming back?" The man yelled out.

The man did not understand why the teen kept coming back. Why did he keep going this far?

Haruko did not answer the man's question.

A single step forward.

The man unwrapped the whip from his shoulder and swung it towards the teen.

The teen dodged the whip thong and sprinted toward the man.

Grabbing the whip, Haruko yanked it. The pull pulled the man off balance.

Haruko ran towards the man.

He was close.

To close for the whip to be useful to him now.

He needed a new weapon.

A weapon that would end this long debacle.

A weapon that, if possible, would cut this teen in half.

A sword.

Without a second thought, the man held his hand out, holding the whip forward.

"Disperse."

The whip began to melt away, floating in the air.

"CLEAVE!!!" The man shouted out.

The man was attempting to create a sword.

The metallic liquid floating in the air began to merge at a single point.

The man grabbed the still-forming handle of the would-be sword.

Haruko was closing in on the man.

Slowly, the metallic liquid began forming the sword. Each piece is coming together. He just needs time to make it solid enough, and then he could cut right through him this time.

Just a little more time.

And then-

Nothing.

The metallic liquid detached itself from the handle.

"What the…."

The liquid was floating in the air.

Haruko stopped himself in his tracks.

(Is this another one of his tricks?)

"What's happening?" The man said this as he was getting visibly annoyed. "Form the weapon."

The man was arguing with the metal as if it were a misbehaving child.

Still holding the sword handle, the man began to yell out, "Do something." The metal did nothing but continue to float in the air.

"WHAT IS GOING ON? THE SPELL WASN’T NULLIFIED, SO WHY CAN’T I USE MY ELIXIR?"

The man could understand what was going on.

"It is perplexing, isn’t it?"

A weak voice spoke out.

The man turned his attention to the source of the weak voice.

The girl.

She had not moved from that one spot.

Still sitting on the ground, exhausted, she had her arm raised out in front of her.

"It is an amazing technique; that spell was it."

Her arm was struggling to stay in the air.

"I wasn’t able to see how exactly the core of your spell worked earlier.……"

She soon coughs as blood starts pouring out of her mouth.

"The ability to change one form of matter to another is truly remarkable, but…."

The girl was now glaring at the man.

"But amazing as it is, that spell has one huge weakness: before a change could happen, it reverts to a liquid state.

Her voice was clearer and more assertive now.

"To anyone else, that information wouldn’t matter, but I am a GOD, ruling over the element of water; all water is under my control, even yours. Liquid in its purest form is no different, regardless of what method you use to create it or how you use it."

The man’s eyes widen as the girl’s words finally sink into him.

"If it exists, I can control it."

With that statement and her arm reaching outward, Aoi pointed her index finger down, causing the floating metallic liquid surrounding the man to fall to the ground.

"My magic…..what is going on?"

Haruko clenched his fist.

A single step.

The teen dragged his foot along the floor.

The man turned his attention to the teen, who was slowly approaching him.

Another step.

Fear.

His magic was gone. He had no method of attack or defense to protect himself from the approaching teen.

One more step, followed by another.

The teen was now running towards the man.

"Perforate" The man had roared, hoping that the liquid on the floor would impale the approaching teen, but nothing happened.

"Skewer, impale, crush, reap,..."

Nothing.

The man could not use his magic.

All he could do was watch the teen approaching him.

"Hey dipshit, let's try this again, shall we?" Haruko yelled out as he leaped forward.

Rushing towards the man, the teen was going to end this battle the only way he knew how. It had hurt to move his right arm, but his next attack was going to hurt the man so much more.

He brought his arm and his fist as far back as they would allow him to.

A punch. A simple attack that was nothing special.

Shield!" the man yelled again, hoping to create a shield to protect him from the teen's oncoming assault.

And once again, nothing.

There was nothing to protect him now.

With everything he had and a yell, Haruko brought down his fist and slammed it into the man's face.

The force of the punch had sent the man back several meters, and he had rolled across the dirt.

Eduard Andrejs was unconscious.

This fight was his.

Haruko Matsumoto.

Aoi watched as he stood there, breathing heavily, beaten, and bloodied.

He looked so much like a hero who went to hell and back. A hero who survives the worst onslaught by a single hair.

Haruko began wobbling toward Aoi as she was on the ground.

As he was, he lost all strength in his legs and fell face first into the ground.

Exhausted.

He couldn’t fall here.

He picked himself up on his hands and knees.

"Are you okay?" Aoi said as she stood up.

It hurt to put pressure on his arms.

"Okay," Haruko chuckled. ‘If anything, I should be the one asking you that, don’t you………think?"

Haruko's words slowed down as he raised his head and looked at her face.

There were tears streaming down her face, and her lips were trembling.

She was crying.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"You……… .were the first person that was kind to me since I got here. It was the reason I didn’t want you to get caught up in this, but... but you-"

"Keep coming back; yeah, that is sort of my thing," Haruko grunted as he stood up.

"I’m not worth all this trouble, the carnage, and the death. I’m…I’m….."

"……you”

Haruko's answer had surprised her.

"I don’t know what exactly is going on with you—magic, wizards, bounty notices, or whatever—and I won’t pretend that I do. I told you I had a feeling that you needed help and that I gave my word I would help you."

"You’ll help me." Aoi looked up to him. ‘You heard him; there are multiple people after me, after my power. They will never stop coming after me."

"And is that supposed to stop me?" Haruko said, closing his eyes and folding his arms.

"They’ll come after you too."

"And I’ll fight them too," Haruko said, not caring about the repercussions.

"Why, you don’t have a stake in this nor any reason to get involved."

She didn’t understand him.

A vein appeared over Haruko's left eyebrow; he sighed and uncrossed his arms.

"…… No sane person would go this far for a person they just met. To go into the deep end of the abyss. To travel into hell and try to find hope just to save me..."

THWACK!!!!!

A loud thud broke out.

In an unprecedented move, Haruko brought his fist down on the top of the girl's head.

"Ouch, owowowowow." The girl whimpered out in pain as she placed her hands on the top of her head. "You hit me."

‘Yeah, I’m sorry about that, but it felt like that was the only way I was going to get through to you."

Haruko turned his back to her.

"I……" Haruko exhaled, "I don’t care how many people are after you, whether it's a few dozen or the whole entire world; I said I'd help you. I don’t give two shits if they come after me because I decided I was going to help a girl, and the world made its enemy. For me, that’s all the reason I need to help you."

Aoi stopped rubbing her head and looked at him.

"And if this girl or anybody else was in hell or the deep end of the abyss where the idea or hope that she can’t be saved exists, that is pointless to try."

Haruko turned to face her.

"Then tell the devil to make some room, because I’ll join you in the abyss at the end of it, and I’ll pull you out of it."

Aoi stared at Haruko.

"What is a devil?"

"Wait…..what?" Haruko said as he turned around to her.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap3. Part 1

Part 1


Date: May 28th, 2009

Time: 9:35 p.m.

Matsumoto Residence Bronx, NEO New York City.



For her, it wasn’t a pleasant night.

At the moment, she was bored.

Alexis Matsumoto, the young witch in training—that was what Haruko called her.

“Oh, where are you?”

Her older brother, Haruko Matsumoto, had not returned.

She was over at a friend's house when her barrier spell surrounding her house was destroyed. When she came back home, her brother looked like a mess and ran off.

Outside in the yard of the two-story Matsumoto residence sat Alexis Matsumoto.

She sat there on the steps in the yard she had played in and walked in thousands of times, but now there was nothing to do.

Haruko had left her there by herself and ran off to God knows where. He told her that a god came down and someone was after her, and before she could comprehend anything, he ran off after her.

(That stupid brother of mine always runs off and gets himself into crazy situations.)

Alexis sighed.

She was waiting for him to return.

She glanced over to where the erupting geyser once was, but now at this moment there was nothing.

No water, nothing.

That is where she assumed he was after he ran off in that direction.

(Is he okay? He hasn’t called or texted; is he even alive?)

She sighed as she stood up from the steps.

(No, no don’t’ think like that; he is your brother. He always manages to pull through, but he looked terrible when he left. What if he is badly injured or, worse, dead?)

She gasped and shook her head rapidly to rid herself of those thoughts.

Alexis calmed herself down and began to look around the yard.

The yard was a mess.

Tiles were broken, dirt was all over the place, and several ornaments were scattered about on the ground.

“Reiko is going to have a fit about this when she gets off work.”

She walked to the broken door that was hanging on its broken hinges.

Alexis placed her hand on the door and closed her eyes.

“I should probably fix what I can.”

“Dusk to Twilight, Dawn to Sunset. Both heaven and earth offer the space between calm and serenity, the moment we find ourselves. At the moment we take our first breath, until the moment we take our last. We bare our emotions and this space to you."

She exhaled.

"Reject and rebuild what is here. I offer this area to you, and I hope that you find calm."

The door began to fix itself and reattach itself to the hinges on the wall.

The manipulation of reality, at its core, is what magic was.

“So that is the full and correct chant.”

Alexis jumped when she heard the voice.

“You are not going to believe what I said and thought that chant did.”

Alexis turned around with tears in her eyes to see Haruko opening the front metal gate. As he entered the yard, he walked under the yard lamp, causing Alexis to get a good look at him.

He was a mess.

“Uhmmm” Alexis did not know what to say. “What happened to you?”

Covered in blood and dirt, mostly blood. Haruko stood there without a care in the world, as if he didn’t almost die. He looked even worse than when he left.

Alexis just stared at him.

“You okay?” Haruko said as she blankly stared at her.

As she stared at him, something caught her attention.

The way he was standing, she could tell that he was carrying someone on his back.

The person had their arms wrapped around his neck down to his chest, holding her legs in his arms.

“Who is this girl?” Alexis said as she walked up to Haruko.

“This is the one I told you about; her name is Aoi.”

Alexis moved to get a look at the girl hanging off his back.

"Hello,” Aoi said weakly to Alexis.

Alex stared at the girl.

"Hi, um, hello,” Alexis nervously replied to Aoi.

“Hey, I’m going to put you down for a bit. Alexis, can you get a pair of your slippers that she can wear so that she isn’t stepping on the ground? Oh, and a few bandages if there are any left.”

"Alright,” Alexis said as she ran into the house.

Haruko sat Aoi down on a bench in the yard with her back against the gate wall. He crouched down in front of her and exhaled loudly.

“Holy shit” Haruko blurted out.

A feeling of relief washed over the teen.

For the moment, they were all clear. Now that the magician was defeated, they needed a new plan, and they could not stay here.

Haruko stared at Aoi with a worrying look on his face.

(What am I going to do now? I was barely able to defeat the last guy. I need to find a way to get her somewhere safe. More importantly, I need to get somewhere that can get her wounds looked at, but where? I can’t drag any more people into this.)

As Haruko was deep in thought, there was a soft, dripping sound that was picked up by his ears.

“What the….”

There was a soft, dripping noise coming from the girl sitting on the bench, more like under her.

Haruko peeked under the bench, and his eyes widen when he saw blood pooling on the ground under the girl.

(Shit,.)

Haruko quickly turned his head toward Aoi.

Aoi was slumped over with her eyes closed and was breathing heavily. She had her right hand over the side of her midsection. Haruko could see the blood pouring out between her fingers.

"Aoi!” Haruko shouted out, but she did not respond. Haruko moved her hand to check the bleeding and immediately paused. "Hey, stay with me!”

Her hands were cold to the touch.

The more Haruko looked at her, he could see that her skin was starting to lose its color.

She was losing blood.

Alexis ran up to him with slippers and bandages in her hands. She got a good look at the girl, and she could tell that she was not doing well.

"Haruko, is she okay?”

“I’m not sure; she was attacked before, but I am not sure how bad the injuries are now.”

Haruko grabbed the end of the shirt and slowly lifted it up to check on her wound. As he did, he paused.

“Eh.”

There was a long silence.

Slowly, a blush appeared across his face as he held the shirt up.

Aoi was wearing nothing under the shirt Haruko loaned her.

“….Ummm”

Haruko did not move.

As he remained there motionless, he heard a growling noise behind him.

“Huh”

“Would you stop looking at her and lower the shirt?" Alexis yelled at Haruko.

He didn’t have time to react as a slipper came down on his head.

"Oof,” Haruko blurted out.

"Yeah, I guess I deserved that,” Haruko said as he rubbed the back of his head.

(Fine, I guess I’ll try this way.)

He grabbed her wrist and gently placed it at her side.

Haruko stuck both of his index fingers into the hole in the shirt near her mid-section. With a near-quiet grunt, Haruko slowly ripped the shirt front and back open until he got a good look at her wound.

“Oh, this is really bad,” Haruko said in a deadpan tone.

On her midsection, there was a dollar-coin-sized hole with blood slowly pouring out of it.

Aoi slowly opened her eyes as she felt the shirt rip open.

“I’m guessing you don’t have a spell that can heal her injuries.”

Alexis looked at the girl's wound.

“Nothing that could heal puncture wounds like this.”

Haruko lowered his head and sighed.

“No, I figured not.”

He needed a miracle now.

Haruko turned his attention to Aoi as she rested on the bench. She had a tired look on her face. One thought that he couldn’t shake from the back of his head.

(How the hell is she still alive?)

It has been some time since she was stabbed with the spear in the hallway of his house. Her body was small. He didn’t want to have any negative thoughts now.

(Giving her body size, she should be bled out by now.)

But by some miracle, she was alive and breathing. If one could call what she was doing breathing, her breaths were shallow at best. He knew that she couldn’t stay like this. But still, she was still alive, and Haruko wasn’t going to waste this opportunity to save her.

He needed a way to stop the bleeding. Even if they had somehow stopped the bleeding, she still had a hole in her that needed attention.

(What am I going to do?)

“If…..if you can take me to some place where I won’t be attacked, I can probably heal myself using my abilities.”

Her voice sounded dry.

Haruko's face had lit up with hope but lowered when he realized.

There wasn’t anywhere he could take her.

That was the main problem.

There was nowhere that he could take her that would not get her attacked. There was no guarantee that one or more magicians would come to the house and attack again, so staying at the house was now out of the question.

“Haruko, we should take her to a hospital,” Alexis said as she watched Aoi.

That was Haruko's first thought; it was pretty much his only thought. There, they would have been able to help her more than he could.

But-

“She is not from here, so she has no papers.”

NEO New York City was a sovereign city-state that was closed off by walls. Travel in and out of the city was heavily monitored by two organizations. The hospital would treat Aoi to the best of their abilities without any questions, but then questions would arise.

“Plus, if we do bring her there, we don’t know if other magicians will come after her.

Alexis looked at Haruko.

"A magician, that who attacked you?”

“I think so. I have never been attacked by or fought a magician, so it is hard to tell. What does this have to do with anything right now?” Haruko turned back to Aoi.

“I was getting to that, if you would let me get to that.”

Alexis straightens herself.

“One of the magic laws within the city prohibits magic from being used within certain parts of the city; in simpler terms, they would be called safe zones.”

Haruko paused.

“Safe……. zones, safe zones." Haruko pondered that sentence, then quickly turned to Alexis. "Wait, you mean like in a fucking video game?”

Alexis held up her index finger.

“Yes, there are no conflict areas in the city where magic is forbidden to be used. If we take her to a hospital, there is a good chance that she will not be attacked, which is better than nothing."

Haruko turned to Aoi.

(Wait.)

It was a small idea.

(A hospital.)

There was a chance.

It’s worth a shot.

He couldn’t go to any hospital; they would start asking questions about the girl. Questions he was not prepared to answer.

(Reiko.)

Haruko quickly turned to Alexis, which startled her.

“Reiko works at a hospital, right?”

“Umm yeah” Alexis trailed on but stopped when she realized what Haruko was getting at. "Haruko, no, you can’t bring Reiko into this.”

“There is no other choice; Reiko is the only person I can trust with this. If I can explain the situation to her, I am pretty sure she can help us."

He was dead set now.

Haruko turned to Aoi.

“Hey Aoi, we're going to try to get you somewhere safe so you can try to heal yourself, but we can’t travel with you like this. You’re the god of water; you think you can stop your bleeding long enough and try to keep it inside of you. We can get you there.”

Aoi looked at Haruko and placed her fingers on her midsection. She closed her eyes, and soon the blood stopped pouring out of the wound.”

Alexis stared in amazement.

Haruko gently placed the gauze on the open wound, holding it in place. With his other hand, he was fumbling with the band-aids.

(Come on.)

Alexis placed her hands on the gauze, surprising Haruko.

“The band-aid.”

“Right.”

With both hands now free, Haruko unwrapped the bandages and began placing them on the edge of the gauze and her skin.

"That's the front.”

Haruko leaned Aoi forward on the bench.

(Now for the back.)

He repeated the same process with the gauze and bandages. After he was finished, he placed her back leaning against the bench.

“That should hold for a bit.”

Aoi looked at Haruko.

“This will only be half measure; my blood will only stay inside me as long as I physically and mentally control it. I have taken more damage than I would like to admit; if I lose consciousness, I won’t be able to keep my blood from pouring out.”

"That's not going to happen; I won’t let it.”

Haruko turned toward Alexis.

"Here, watch her for a bit. I’m going to get my jacket off the rack in the hallway,” Haruko said as he grunted to pick himself up. “Oh, if you are able to, can you have a cab pick us up? I don’t have money to pay for a ride.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t have any money at the moment because I sort of spent it on breakfast this morning and tons of comic books.”

Alexis began scowling at Haruko.

"What? I did not expect her to literally drop out of the sky.

Alexis placed her fingers on the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“Just go get your jacket so we can leave.”

Haruko walked to the front door.

“I made up my mind that I’m going to stay with her for as long as I can. You should probably leave while you still can. I don’t want you to get caught in the crosshairs of this."

Alexis stood there as she heard that statement.

“Not a chance; just look at what you get into when no one has their eyes on you.”

"Heh, you’re still going on about that; if you were hoping to keep me out of trouble, you are a few years too late for that.”

Haruko unlocked and opened the front door. He slowly exhaled before going inside. The wooden floor creeks with every step.

He looked around.

The living room and hallway were a mess. The scene where Haruko fought a magician. There was blood and water on the floor, and the walls were punctured.

It was hard to believe that a fight took place here.

“Man, Reiko is going to kick my ass for this. I may be looking for a one- or two-week punishment at best.”

He grabbed his jacket hanging up and put it on. Haruko shuddered when he felt the sleeves rub over his open cuts on his arms.

As he was getting ready to leave the front door, he heard a buzzing noise coming from the floor. He looked over to see what it was.

A small black phone.

(Shit my phone. I almost forgot about this.)

Haruko walked over to the phone, lying in a small puddle of blood.

The phone started to vibrate again.

He picked up the phone off the floor and clicked on the notification on the screen that alerted him that his birthday was in a few hours.

“Oh, right, I’m going to be sixteen soon.”

As Haruko stood there, he rubbed his fingers on the holes in the wall from the spikes that pinned him against the wall.

(Not really how I thought I was going to usher in my sixteenth birthday.)

"Haruko, are you almost done? The cab is going to be here soon,” Alexis yelled out.

He placed his phone in the jacket pocket and began exiting the house. Haruko locked the house door and turned to see that Aoi was standing up, leaning on Alexis.

"Hey, how are you doing? Are you alright?" Haruko said, jogging up to them.

“I think I’m fine for the moment.”

As Aoi stood under the yard light, Haruko couldn’t help but notice that the entire right midsection of the shirt she was wearing was covered in blood.

There was no way they could travel like this and not raise any suspicion.

Without a second thought, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around Aoi. As he was zipping the jacket up, a white four-door SUV pulled up to the house outside the gate, catching his attention.

“That’s our ride?” Haruko asked.

“I believe so,” Alexis said, looking at the vehicle.

Haruko exhaled loudly.

“Alright mission: save Aoi now in full effect,” Haruko proclaimed as he slammed his fist into his palm.

There was a loud groan.

“Please don’t go around saying that,” Alexis said as she looked at Haruko with embarrassment on her face as they began walking toward the vehicle.


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap3. Part 2

Part 2



Night.

A light breeze began to pick up, scattering leaves and small garbage alike.

In an open park where the battle to decide the fate of a girl was brought to an end, a magician began to wake up.

Eduard Andrejs groaned as he began to pick himself up from the dirt.

His head hurt, and everything was a blur.

He began to look around.

Defeat.

It was quiet all around him.

The man looked around the open park. The girl he was chasing and the teen he was fighting were nowhere to be found.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

“So, you finally woke up, Eduard?”

A female voice broke through the silence, surprising the man.

The man turned around to see a woman with brown skin and brown hair sitting on a bench, tapping her foot on the floor. She was wearing a dark black open jacket with a grey shirt underneath that showed off her cleavage, and her shiny black leather pants reflected the light nearby.

Her emerald eyes were staring at him.

"Elora, what are you doing here?” He began questioning her.

The woman stood up, her black heels clicking on the floor.

“His majesty has sent me to what was taking you so long on your mission.”

The mission was to retrieve the girl.

Elora began walking towards Eduard.

“So, imagine my shock when I come to find you laid out on the ground with no girl in sight,” she said in a mocking tone.

She placed her index finger on his left shoulder.

“Broken and defeated, you have a lot to answer for.”

Eduard turned to the woman.

“Some kid started interfer-” Eduard blurted out but was silenced when Elora placed her index finger on his lips.”

“I’m not the one you need to explain your failure to.”

She lowered her arm and began walking past him.

“Come now; his majesty is waiting for us.”

“Of course,” Eduard said, having begun following her.




/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap3. Part 3

Part 3



The time read 10:13 p.m. on her touch-screen phone.

Relief.

She was on her break.

She sighed.

It has been a hectic night for the woman sitting in an outdoor dining area at the hospital.

Reiko Matsumoto.

Her table was a mess, consisting of scattered food wrappers.

She was wearing red scrubs and black sneakers.

She worked as a certified nursing assistant. The core task of her job was attending patient calls, determining the best method to treat patients, checking vitals, helping patients with hygiene, transporting patients throughout the hospital, and so on, but right now her attention was elsewhere.

Haruko Matsumoto.

Her nephew.

Reiko was fidgeting with her phone.

“Why won’t he pick up?”

She was trying to get in contact with the teen; she knew he was up, but now he wasn’t responding to her calls or texts.

She seemed to become much more annoyed by the second.

“Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Matsumoto.”

A voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her to look up at the source of the voice.

“Lovely night, is it not? Do you mind if I take a seat here?” A man walked up to her.

The man had fair white skin and shiny back hair. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt with his sleeves rolled up and a black tie. He was wearing tan pants with tan dress shoes.

On his coat was a small clip-on badge that read Medical Director.

Antonio Russo.

The appearance of elegance and excellence.

“Oh no, help yourself." She replied in a nervous manner. In a mad dash, she scrambled to clean her trash off the table.

“Something is troubling you, Ms. Matsumoto.”

She frowned and placed the phone on the table.

(Maybe he could help me understand Haruko. It could be worth a shot.)

She turned to him.

"It's about my nephew, Haruko.”

Antonio stared at Reiko.”

“Haruko…..Haruko, he is the one that is always in and out of the hospital with injuries."

"Um, yes,” Reiko replied as she lowered her head in shame.

There was a slight popping sound as Antonio opened his food container.

“He isn’t answering the phone now. I just worry about him because of all the stupid and dangerous stuff he gets into.”

“There could be plenty of reasons as to why he is not answering, but you are dead set on a possible reason, I believe. If you don’t mind me asking, what would you consider “stupid and dangerous” regarding him?”

“He goes around getting into fights under the guise of helping others. Just a few hours ago, I got a text from Alexis saying that he got into a fight with some armed robbers.

Antonio stared at her.

“That was not something I was prepared to hear; while a few fist fights are troublesome, no doubt it could be worse, don’t you think?”

Reiko stared at him.

“What do you mean by worse?”

"Well, he could be getting into world-ending events or running around saving the world.”

Reiko felt she lost a few brain cells listening to that statement and just stared at him.

She sighed.

“You read too many books.”

"It's a good way to pass time.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like him.”

The phone that was placed on the table began to vibrate as a call came in.

She picked up the phone and noticed that it was Haruko calling her.

“I have to answer this." She turned to the man, grabbed her bag of trash, and walked a few feet away.

Sighing, she answered the phone.

"It was about time you answered!” Reiko said loudly into the phone.

“H..hey Reiko, what a wonderful night, is it not? How is everything going with you?”

It was Haruko's voice.

A part inside of her calmed down.

“We sort of need your help; you still have access to one of the rooms in the hospital that is currently under renovations”

Reiko paused.

“……Why.”

“I don’t have time to explain fully in detail, but we need to. What is the word? It is on the tip of my tongue…com….commun….commandeer, there we go. We need to commadeer one of the rooms.”

"What?” Reiko said as she stood there. "Haruko, what is going on? What are you talking about?”

She held the phone to her ear, waiting for a response.

“Promise you won’t get mad,” Haruko pleaded.

"Haruko!” Reiko yelled out into the phone.

“Okay, okay, long story really, really short. A girl landed on my balcony, and some guy was chasing her. Yada, yada, some magic was involved, yada, yada, and I managed to save her, but she is in really bad shape. I was hoping to com….oh crap, what was the word again? Take, borrow. I don’t fucking know the word. I could give two shits about the word now.”

“Those rooms are off-limits; if she is injured, just bring her to the emergency entrance. We can take her from there and get her treated."

“No, no, that is not possible; this whole plan to save her relies on the fact that no one knows that she is here."

Reiko paused as she heard that statement. It had sounded like Haruko had gotten himself something big.

“What did you get yourself into?”

“It’s a long story I can tell you later, but I need to get her help, and time is not on her side.”

Reiko stood there.

An ambulance started its siren behind Reiko as it left the parking lot of the hospital. Reiko paused when she heard those very same sirens on the other end of the phone.

"Haruko, where are you?” She asked, looking around the courtyard.

“You know the alley between the pharmacy and the part of the hospital has scaffolding on it; that is where we are.”

She turned her head to the right and saw the pharmacy.

Reiko hung up the phone and began walking towards the pharmacy. Antonio watched as she left the courtyard.

As she walked into the alleyway, the first person that came into her view was Alexis.

“H-hey Reiko.” Her voice was shaking as she weakly waved at her.

"Alexis, what are you doing here, and where is your brother?”

“Right here, she decided to tag along, and I really couldn’t leave her at the house." Haruko's voice came from down further in the alley behind a metal trash bin.

Reiko slowly walked to where she thought she heard Haruko's voice.

There was a flickering light nearby on a wall.

She walked down the alley and saw that he was kneeling over a girl who was slumped over the wall, unconscious.

She noticed that Haruko was covered in blood and dirt, holding the girl's front and back midsections. There was blood seeping through his fingers.

The girl was in bad shape.

In such an instant that she could not tell if it was instinct or not, she immediately rushed and kneeled down near the girl. She placed her fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse.

"She is alive; she just took a few bad hits, lost a lot of blood, and has a really bad wound.”

Reiko removed her fingers from her neck and grabbed her black walkie-talkie hanging from her right pocket.

“Hold on, I can call someone and have them bring a stretcher here and-”

“Wait don’t’’ Haruko shouted to her as he couldn’t move; he moved his hands from her midsection. “No one can know that she is here.”

Reiko looked at Haruko's right hand, which was on the girl's midsection, and she saw that blood was pouring past his hands.

"Haruko, she is losing blood rapidly; she will go into shock if he isn’t treated, regardless of what your reason may be.”

Haruko paused.

“The reason no one can know that she is here is because people are after her; someone chasing after attacked me and her at the house. If other people find out about her, there is no telling who will come after her next.”

Reiko looked at Haruko and then turned to Aoi. She didn’t have the strength or time to question his story. She turned back to Haruko.

"Haruko, she is bleeding out; how do you expect to have her treated if you don’t want anyone to know about her?”

“She said that she could heal herself.”

“And you believed her,” Reiko shouted to him.

“I don’t know what to believe right now. An hour ago, I woke up from a nap, and the next thing I knew, she fell out of the sky and some guy was chasing her. None of this seems real to me, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened and that she needs help now.”

Haruko turned to her with pleading eyes.

"Please, Reiko I really need your help.”

Reiko looked at Haruko.

She didn’t know what was going on right now, but she didn’t have time to understand, and neither did the girl, who was bleeding out and slumped over on the wall. She could not leave her out like this; it was her duty to help.

Reiko exhaled and stood up. The girl was not going to get help like this with them arguing outside.

“Fine, there are a few unused rooms that she can use, but you better hope that you know what you are doing.”

Reiko took off her badge and placed it on a scanner near the wall.

There was silence, followed by two beeps and the sound of an electronic door unlocking. Reiko turned the knob and opened the door.

“This way and hurry before anyone sees you.”

Haruko picked up Aoi in a bridal carry and began walking towards the door, Alexis following behind him.

“Just hold on, Aoi.”

The door behind them closed silently, shutting them out to the outside world.

A sigh broke outside as the door closed, coming from the edge of the roof a couple of blocks away, coming from the medical director watching the previous event unfold, his lab coat flapping in the wind.

“It seems my night is going to be a little more hectic.”
/SPOILER]