"What we think he is? He seems like a normal human to me." Mayu turned away from her perch on the roof, her arms outstretched and her feet pivoted inward to provide her with balance. She followed the risen stone that cradled the wire fence around one bend, taking the scenic route toward the stairwell box. "A little strange, of course."

"...Indeed, that's all he seems to be. If that's all he truly is, yet possesses these strange and unnatural abilities for a mortal, it may be necessary we... extinguish his flame before he becomes too aware of what he is capable of."

Mayu froze dead in her tracks, nearly tripping over her own two legs that refused to budge like heavy boulders wedged deep in narrow canyon fissures. The color in her face, already comparable to the tone of milk, paled further until she was a sickly white canvas. "What? Why... Why would we have to do something like that?"

"That boy has been in your company for several months now. He's seen things, heard things, knows things. He's already earned your trust, from what I've been able to gather. Were a Dweller to discover this information, he could become a devastating asset to them. Extraction of information, a possible hostage, even a trap. No doubt his capture could prove fatal to you should you let your feelings get away from you."

Mayu didn't know what to say to counter that claim. Toby was just Toby to her. A simple boy with a few strange quirks who seemed intent on helping people close to him. Sheridan was his life; their relationship more like boyfriend/girlfriend than mock brother and sister. He was, in every sense of the word, human. Strange, energetic, jovial, attentive in the same breath he was aloof and ambitious.

She couldn't tell that she was squeezing her hands tight enough to make the joints creak and the foremost knuckles burn with ache from the considerable pressure she was bearing down on them. She hissed a breath through her teeth and shook her head, defiant to deny that accusation.

"He's just a boy," Mayu commented sternly. "...just a stupid boy."

"... Hm. The extermination of Tobias Aradam is something to be considered seriously. His death will keep us secure and one step ahead of the Dwellers. It must be done."

Mayu's mouth opened, but no words were funneling through the gape. She was horrified by Rin's statement, her eyes swelled, Capra pupil narrow and constricted. Rin wasn't serious, was she? She couldn't be ordering her to do something like kill the boy that had been looking out for her well-being this entire time, was she? Toby... that strange boy that would always laugh and give her looks longer than any other person ever had--the boy who insisted on touching her when she looked down or distant, who would try at every pass to hug her when she came home from school and always seemed so intent on hearing what she'd been up to--who was so interested in her powers and what she was capable of.

...Kill... Him?

"I intend to give him a small portion of my power first. If there isn't any reaction, I'm not making any hasty decisions."

"...If I order you to do it, you will not have a choice. Remember that."

Rin spoke the truth no matter how much Mayu sought to rebel against her. She was bound by a contract; her powers given to her by Rin's own existence. An order was like the strings to a puppet. She would be pulled that direction no matter what.

She grit her teeth. "This is absurd. There's no reason why I can't just le--"

"Mayu!" a voice boomed from the stairwell box. Bursting from the rusted steel door was Kial, dressed in her school uniform from earlier. Of the thousands of girls that occupy the school, Kial seemed to wear the attire better than any other. She was admirably filled out up above, especially for her age, and her legs weren't anything to shy away from. Were she to ditch the glasses and maybe take her brown hair down from those braided pigtails, Kial might very well be the most attractive girl in the entire school.

That one particular rule about beating on her needed to be nixed, still...

"Kial," Mayu answered, bubbly. She was deceptive only when she required to be, able to crush her bad mood for her already dubbed 'best friend'. "I thought you had to deal with the yearbook committee this hour."

"Nah! Since I'm the only one in the club, I unanimous voted recess for the afternoon to find you. Want to catch something to eat really fast before the bell rings?"

She slammed a hand against her stomach. Damn it. Kial must've caught her coming up without anything to eat in tow. If there was something Kial excelled at, it was observation.

Giggling, Mayu nodded suddenly. "Don't you need more than one person to vote like that? ...Y-Yeah, all right. We can get one of those cheese buns. My treat!"

Rin's words remained etched in her brain as she scurried after Kial, taking her hand in one of her own. Kill, dispatch, extinguish, destroy....

Ring. Ring.

Click.

?Orzo. It?s me.?

?Mrs. Sewick has been expecting your call for some time. She is unpleased with the duration of this reconnaissance of yours. Tell me you have something to report back with.?

?Heh, already giving me the lectures about Her Royal Highness? I don?t need you to tell me what that old hag is expecting of me.?

?If there happens to even be misgivings concerning Kial?s ability to act solely as an heir, Sewick Mobile will lose its strength. That would spell trouble for you, as well, Boy.?

?Huh, a condescending tone and ?intimidating? threat to go along with it. You and yours certainly know how to run business. Alas, I?m not calling you just to hear your voice and tell you I?m panting like a bitch in heat over it, Orzo.

?I have the information you?re looking for.?

??go on.?

?It so happens Kial Sewick has been hard at work defying her mother?s wishes. She?s been spending quite some time whoring herself around on the streets with a few new friends of hers.?

??Friends? Wa--Prostituting?!?

?Calm yourself. I don?t mean it in that kind of way. She?s being real close and friendly with a couple of girls and some guy. ?well, maybe that is whoring.?

?Cut the nonsense. Where is she right now??

?Walking with one of the girls through town; the one she?s been spending most of her time with after school. Think Little Miss Sewick could be batting for the other team? ?I mean, she plays softball and crap.?

??Jesus, shut up. Mrs. Sewick has already instructed me to inform you to tail her for the day and see what it is they?re doing.?

?Yeah, problem, Chief. They?re already heading home.?

?What? I thought you said--?

?Yeah, dude. They need to walk through town in order to go home. God, does all that brown nosing turn you into some kind of stupid idiot, or what? Come on, you?re supposed to be the Right Hand Man.?

?God damn, what is your problem??

?Forget about it, I?m just screwing with you. Pulling your balls. Is that right??

?It?s? jerking my cha-- Ugh, good god, just follow the girl she?s been spending time with. When she?s alone, see to it that she understands Sewick Mobile doesn?t appreciate wiling the the heir and her affairs.

?Make sure she gets the idea. Got it??

?Yeah, yeah. ?Make some comment, threaten her and beat the crap out of her with some two-by-four ?til she?s unconscious and bleeding from every orifice.? This isn?t the first time I?ve dealt with the witch to know what she?s after. ?Preserve the family name and keep my daughter healthy? and all that possessive crap.?

??Just see that Kial?s ?friend? understands we mean business, Boy.?

Click.

?Hah, god. It?s so easy to screw with him. What a putz.?

The hour was late. Well past the time when the crows slept and the moon waxed the sky until it was glazed a hazy milk white. The boy that traveled the streets found them comforting; a time when there were no others sans the stray cat poking around in otherwise undisturbed dumpsters in hopes of finding a late night snack. The very same kind of mischief found in a random window here or there as the boy wandered; the lights out except for that pale, dim halo of evidence when a fridge was propped open.

Feasting was on everyone?s mind no matter the time of day, it seemed. Stomachs were prone to growling and guiding the hand of the ones that owned them. There was no escape. Not even for the restless dead.

His face was immaculate, free from the hardships of scorn or age. He wore no frown or scowl of contempt, even when his brilliant blue eyes were distracted by a passing car whose lights could match the radiant desert sun. His hair was boyishly light; near white, if not precisely the shade of powder fresh from the bottle. It was wild, untamed by his dissatisfaction of maintaining it every time errant winds picked up and did with it as it would. Flippant, hostile; those were but two ways he saw his hair, slicked out of his face but hardly out of the way. It was short, the only way he knew boys his age to wear it, but still, a major pain in his rear.

The city wasn?t a new landscape to him. He?d been familiar with the roads longer than he was familiar with the trail of veins on the back of his hand. It wasn?t his home, though. He was far from that; a distant place that no longer shared his interests. A world profuse in wonderment and adventure. That was how he always saw it, full of possibility and a chance at what life couldn?t offer anywhere else.

No, that place was dead to him. It was dead to each and every person exactly like him.

Dwellers.

The Hells didn?t have a purpose. You didn?t exist there with any sense of meaning. That was part of living in an abyss was all about: You are. You don?t do. So when he was thrust into the living realm with nothing on his experience list but being dead, there were many things worth asking himself. Most of all: What do you do now? He was lucky to find himself a way to naturally fit in, picking up a job at a major mobile industry that needed somebody to do more of the ?hands-on? work that any cellular business required in their life.

In comparison to his competition for the job, he was a runt. 5?5?, just barely able to look over the registration counter, and put up against a brute that likely ate tree bark straight off the tree for breakfast. To think he was able to flick the beast of a man in the leg and shatter his fibula. It was an unfair advantage, to be dead and without physical matter, but his ?assimilation? into natural existence was already complete and he could concentrate on his real enemies.

Thankfully, he had an extensive knowledge of the Soul Sector and what it entailed over the course of time he spent there. He knew, in time, the wounds they made in the spiritual plane would find itself healed. That those injured would mete out ?justice,? and they, in turn, would absorb the brunt of hatred. Dwellers weren?t looked on kindly; exposed as evil entities of the Soul Sector?s history and deserving of nothing short of unabated hate. He welcomed it, for he had no other choice.

In a way, fleeing from the spiritual plane and disturbing the natural balance of the universe, they were becoming the very things they knew they were not. But when handed lemons, you make lemonade. He knew. They were all going to make enough lemonade with their new-found freedom to flood the entire damn world.

Most Dwellers didn?t have an exceptional arsenal of weaponry or power at their disposal. Only the innate ability to quench their thirst for Existence: their sustenance. Without it, they could not manifest in the corporeal realm. And, without it, they could not fight their battles against the Soul Sector?s warriors that were inevitably going to seek them out and bring them down.

He?d heard rumors of others that were capable of causing a terrible stir in the corporeal realm. Enmerkar and his followers were the most exceptional; some saw them as the true threat to balance. Albrecht and his manipulation techniques to create puppets, Tersha and Orsha, the twins of Fortune and Misfortune? he couldn?t exactly remember them all, but they were there. He felt them like beating hearts.

Well, all but Albrecht now. A shame.

Lesser Dwellers were no less a threat than the better known ones from his memory. He knew their need to feed put the world?s stability in jeopardy were they to be careless. A false move could unravel the fabric of the universe; ending their permanent vacation a bit earlier than they were hoping for. Those events were rare, but when they occurred, he almost loathed it as much as when he got a call from a man that called himself Orzo and spoke with an uncanny arrogance that belied his self-conscious beady-eyed look and balding head.

The boy cut through a seedy alley in town in hopes of cutting the time needed to reach his destination. Rather than find peace and quiet, as he had for so long tonight, he instead came across two gentlemen. One was round, enveloped in a fiery blue fire. He was bald, inked with several different patterns and glossed in sweat and blood. His shirt was shredded worse than grated cheese, his chest mangled like a rabid dog had gotten to him, and was fighting a losing battle with a man that was dressed neat in a pale blue suit. His hold on the man?s throat was indomitable.

His white hair said more to the boy than anything else. Too much for his own liking.

?H-Hey! Kid! C-Call for help!? the chrome top shouted, surrendering his relentless barrage of punches at the wrist of the clutching hand.

?Hmph. Interrupting a late dinner, kid? Your parents didn?t teach you any manners.?

He didn?t mind being considered a kid. He looked more like a younger brother to the offending Dweller there with him than anybody else possibly could. It always brought a strange smile to his pale lips.

?Jeez, already talking smack and I just got here,? he said, his hands up at his shoulders in a shrug. ?Look, why don?t you just put the guy down. I can already sense you?ve had your fill for the night. Now you?re just being a glutton.?

?Eh? What?re you talkin? about, kid?? His grip loosened, enough for the bald man to find means of breaking free. He collapsed to the ground, sputtering nonsensical profanity. ?You some kinda wizard ?er something to know what I?m up to??

His utter lack of knowledge told the boy he wasn?t anything other than a lesser Dweller, possibly a mere Servant to one. He sighed, annoyed, and slicked his hair back before it got the upper hand on him and fell over his eyes.

?Look, just get out of here before you piss me off. You can?t just consume Existence at random when you?re already at your fill.? His mouth curved into a frown, pointing at the sky with a pinky finger. ?Those damn Soul Sector wenches are going to find you and then we?re all in a lot of trouble.?

The Dweller took one step closer to the boy, leaned in, and laughed like he lost his mind. His wild eyed expression accentuated his unnerving, rattled state of existence. ?Whatever, kid. Mind your god damn business! Why don?t you run home to mommy before she gets all worried about?cha!?

The boy?s frown remained. It hurt to maintained, but his mood was already too soured to stop it. The hazy outline around the bald man?s body meant he wasn?t in danger of being feasted on. His existence remained safe inside his body. ?I hate amateurs,? he uttered, his sharp blue eyes lifting high as they rolled in continued annoyance. ?No seal, no clear evidence you were going to make a Flare out of him? you?re definitely too stupid to keep around in this world.?

The Dweller?s laughter continued, clutching his stomach. He wasn?t subdued. ?Ha! Hah! Maybe you?ll be a little better to eat than this fat slob!?

His eyes tinged a lighter shade of blue, phosphorescent as ice bathing in sunlight. The already cool air deepened its chill as a powerful tempest swelled around the boy, oxygen solidifying into pure crystal as it temporarily entombed him. ?Begone.?

The vortex of air and ice stirred slumbering gravel that littered the ground and marred the brick foundation of the adjacent buildings, cutting through it easier than scissors through sheets of paper. The energy of the elements overlapped each other, creating a torrent of power that expanded through the alley?s narrow hall and slammed into the Dweller at its full strength. It exploded out the opposite end with such fervor, a series of car alarms sang out in robust displeasure over being disturbed.

When the turbulent surge of soothing ice and razor sharp air calmed, only the glinting sparkle of crystal remained; the Dweller absent, as was the balding man that the boy was, in some regards, out to save.

?Damn it. That was a little much for a low-key Dweller like him. ?and the human, too?? His shock was warranted only by himself, slapping himself in the face. ?Ugh. Well, at least he?? His voice croaked in his throat as a sudden wave of immense pressure surged through him, momentarily paralyzing his body and silencing his mind.

Pressure to a Dweller, or any spiritual being, was like dipping fingers in hot water. It?s there, it?s hot, it hurts. Its source is known, its reasons exist. It?s something to consider in the future and possibly avoid or adjust as needed. To the boy, pressure like this could only be from one potential source: Another spiritual entity.

Its robust energy was too outlandish to be another Dweller. Dwellers had a peculiar wavelength to them. It?s like trying to forget the scent of a skunk. You simply don?t.

??ah-hah? this must be? what a Divine Maiden?s power must be like. ?if that?s the case, then??

The boy shared a smile with himself, devious and sinister.

?Resembles? Kial?s friend. Huh? I guess this girl is pretty interesting??

He left the scene of his assault faster than traveling air itself; gone and away toward the immense source of spiritual power that filled the city.

Mayu Tsuzuki! ]

The seconds ticked by, feeling like years. And all he saw were the stars glittering between the dark cloud cover overhead. He looked left, he looked right, each prolonged moment playing a steady baseline of anxiety in his chest.

Finally, he dropped his gaze to Mayu and he found her staring back at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Didn't you hear anything I said? Schmo's? What do you want for dinner?"

She didn't blink. She didn't twitch. Her plush mouth didn't part, no words came from her throat. She just stared at him with eyes as blank as slate. Her whole body seemed petrified, like someone had pushed her own personal pause button.

"Mayu?" He blinked, waving one hand before her vacant gaze. A frosty tingle of apprehension coursed down his spine.

"Mayu, what's the matter? What happened?"

Nothing.

What could have had the power to do this to her? And from so far away? He would have been able to sense something by now. Especially something this strong. There couldn't have been any way he would have missed it.

"Hey!" he shouted, right in her face. His hands clasped the outside of her shoulders.

It was then that her head snapped up.

And it was then that one of her small hands was on a direct course for his throat.

As her hand closed in on Toby?s neck, it froze suddenly. The color of her finger nails dimmed faster than lightning can strike; a dulled, pale blue. What began as an overwhelming numbness was gone, the aching burn of Rin?s infallible power beginning to make her wrist throb. Had Rin suddenly had a change of heart? Was she willing to listen to rational logic and spare the boy she was in the face of?

Her mind pined for answers and, before long, got one. A swath of pressure surged through the atmosphere all around them, gravity itself increasing over twice its normal ratio. It made her hands tremor and strained her legs. She hesitated as she looked past Toby?s auburn hair to the star riddled sky. Dark tendrils twined together in an impossible to track pattern, stitching together at a neck break pace. Spools of shadow concaved and transfigured into stained ruby; soiling the grass an ash white.

?A seal,? she hissed, her sneakers striking the earth as she drove back from Toby. Remaining close to him? she?d rather be dead right now.

?This pressure is unfamiliar to me,? Rin?s voice bled through the chaotic embers of fire and ice of Mayu?s necklace. ?A Dweller. Be on the lookout. It?s much more powerful than our last foe.?

He could still feel the iciness of her oncoming touch, like the threat of a blizzard at the end of October, long after she had withdrawn. He had no idea what that was... A new form of training? One to make him think that she had completely turned on him, to force him to make split decisions? If so, he failed miserably. There hadn't been a single thought in his head beyond the vicious need to breathe and the sudden reality that he might not be able to very soon.

He stumbled back from her at the same time she pulled away, his own hand clutching his neck for protection, the wildness in his eyes directed to the now inverted world. Even he could feel this, the sudden urge to collapse and let his body be pushed into the ground. His knees trembled and he stiffened his legs, only letting one bend to meet the ashen grass to support him. "Another one?" He knew the day had to come, but he had to admit he relished the thought that it never would. "I can't even get up!"

As the seal completely consumed their surroundings, Mayu?s hair flared gold. Embers sparked from nothingness, an embodiment of her soul?s exposed power, and her eyes flashed a soothing cerulean blue. It was a side effect of being bathed in the seal--that which merged the soul word with the living world. She was exposed.

Not willing to let it bother her, she circled around Toby, effectively putting herself between him and the source of power that was causing the disturbance. ?Good. Stay down,? Mayu commanded, well aware that Toby?s mortal body wouldn?t allow him to do anything else. A Dweller?s soul pressure, much like her own when it was called on, was like living on an entirely different planet. It manifested itself in such a way as to push others down. The more immense it was, the stronger it got. She?d never witnessed such a power that had her dropping to her knees before, but if this sudden appearance was any indication, she was quickly finding her anticipation severely lacking.

Her eyes roamed in the direction of the convenience store. Sheridan and Emerill were already displaced in the seal. It was too late to worry about them. She extended a finger down to Toby. ?Whatever you do, don?t move. If you don?t, maybe they?ll think you?re locked in the seal and won?t bother with you.?

"Like I have a choice," he muttered darkly, his voice straining. Even getting enough air inside of him to speak was a challenge. The best he could manage was a tight grimace. His fingers dimpled the flesh of his throat, working between muscle and tendon. But his eyes still worked fine and he sent them around, trying to see as much as he could without moving his head. His house loomed beside them, flat and gray as a slab of concrete. It was an eyesore.

It was a target.

"Mayu, whoever's doing this is packing enough power to--to make *you* shake. They're going to know something's up with me. It doesn't help that I'm not in black and white." His constricted voice was far from scolding or reproachful, but gentle, the touch of a hand on one's shoulder for courage.

Damn it. He was right. He was wriggling more than a worm out of the dirt. The color on his face was equally a dead giveaway.

A seal?s construction drained such things from living beings; used to prevent the corporeal realm from knowing what was transpiring in the spiritual plane. Only those that were from Shamanista, or those who were given specific privileges by a being from there, were allowed to live and breathe inside of it. To a Dweller, a seal was more of a tool to keep their prey from moving so they could feed on Existence in peace. It also momentarily displaced somebody like her, a Divine Maiden, from realizing there was a feeding frenzy taking place.

Stepping away from Toby, she centered herself in the yard in the direction of where the immense pressure was originating from.

?He?s here,? Rin issued darkly.

The seal?s circumference wasn?t wide like normal seals were. It extended just past the yard where the street intersected with the convenience store itself. It circled past the fence of the backyard, clearly intending to keep them and only them within it. It was why, up until now, Mayu hadn?t seen the source of power physically.

A boy with slicked back white hair and stunning blue eyes pierced through the seal in a casual stride. He wore a white, sleeveless haori loose around his shoulders; a fashion statement even Mayu begged to question with her large, bright blue eyes.

A pair of blades were sheathed over his left shoulder, their grips thick in leather and puffy white cotton. The hilt was an unblemished copper, maintained and well taken care of. His eyes drank in his surroundings: the lone tree in the yard, the single doorway leading to and from the convenience store. Even those that were residing within.

Then, his eyes fell to Mayu; a pulse of pressure surging wide through the seal?s confines.

?Hmph. I was expecting to see somebody of importance here. Instead, I find a brat girl. Where?s the Divine Maiden I sensed a minute ago??

This Dweller wasn't making any sense. Tamashiken--it sounded like a fake word, a jumble of syllables smashed together. It could have been the name of the boy's sword and he was just toying with her, saying something to confuse her so that he would have the upper hand.

He was convinced when the boy vanished. The one second's hesitation had been enough. It wasn't her fault. Had it been him, he would have been just as confused. "Where'd he go?" he yelled alongside Rin.

Almost like the world decided to take it upon itself to answer his question, the next thing he knew he was staring down a blade, at the end of which were a set of eyes burning with a cold fire.

His body was too heavy, six steps behind his mind. He had the notion to pitch himself backward, but his arms and legs wouldn't listen to him. His breath stopped cold. Like everyone, he had wondered what it felt like to be stabbed, but it was purely academic. He never wanted to feel it.

Her kick was enough to draw out the wind from an elephant. The Dweller was no exception, even when he parried her blow with the flat of his sword and got dragged back several yards. He strained his lungs, giving himself a chance to note the earth that was stirred up from her attack. His face resembled intrigue. ?You fight with your body rather than with a weapon? Then? you don?t have a Tamashiken.?

He kept repeating it as though it would suddenly make sense to her. She snarled at him, ?I don?t need a weapon to stop anybody. So quit saying that!?

His intrigue continued, glancing at Toby?s mashed body like it was more a tool than a person. ?A Divine Maiden protecting a human? you?re all kinds of interesting, aren?t you, girl? I?ve never heard of a Divine Maiden going out of their way to protect another.?

Mayu?s mouth opened, but nothing came out of it. She was being called on something she couldn?t explain despite her heart?s awareness. Her eyes fell to Toby briefly before the serene blue grew ruthless with anger. She didn?t like the Dweller?s focus on him.

?Unless?? the boy continued, trailing off. What was meant to just be idle scrutiny turned into calculating observation. There, in the pit of the boy?s stomach, was an apparent fire that burned with the rage of a forest set ablaze. It was a mesmerizing blue, licking away at his innards like a recently awakened hearth. Realization struck him harder than a punch from a heavy-weight prize fighter. ??he?s not a human at all.?

Where Mayu was hesitating from uncertainty, the boy was quick with intention. He disappeared from their vision, the pressure in the atmosphere fading only until he got back in reach of Toby. Mayu?s feet left the ground as an unseen blow cracked her in the stomach and launched her several feet away. In the same instant, a powerful grip clutched Toby by the throat--enough to squirrel away his breath and make his eyes bulge.

The veins in the boy's clutching arm illuminated blue as he squeezed at Toby's throat, funneling a tiny ounce of a foreign essence into him. Fast acting, it returned to the boy after a quick pass through Toby; enough to give him what he wanted.

??Opes?? the boy murmured at him. ?You?re a treasure-bearer? Now it makes sense to me??

He felt dirt and bits of grass hit his face, his hair blown back from his forehead in the aftermath of Mayu's kick. If she had been one moment later...

He turned his head, several aching moments later, the boy was done speaking by then. Not human at all.

He wasn't the only one that had made that observation. Rin, too, had voiced her opinion, but she didn't seem to have any idea what he was. That thought was a bit more frightening than knowing--Rin knew everything. And if she didn't have a clue...

Never before had he felt so cumbersome. A single, sharp bellow began and died in nearly the same instant that he found his feet off the ground, all the weight off his body, a fresh set of digits around his throat. He caught the tail end of Mayu's journey backward, all of the terrified, wild animal light in his eyes focused not on the boy's face immediately before him but on her. It took too much effort to lift his legs to even attempt a kick. One single hand managed to find a semblance of purchase around the Dweller's wrist and he held on, willing, hoping, praying that she'd get up. He couldn't hold his breath for long.

When the Dweller addressed him, his gaze shot downward. Opes was as foreign to him as Tamashiken had been to Mayu. (s)"Opes--" he croaked.

But blood was trapped in his head, thundering with each racing beat of his heart. Breathing was becoming a pipe dream. He didn't have enough mental faculties to figure out what the heck the boy was talking about.

She wasn?t a cat. Couldn?t fathom how agile and deft they could be at a moment?s notice. Yet, somehow, she managed to land on her feet following the Dweller?s attack without a fumble in her step. She balanced herself, her arms out, fists balled. Whatever had struck her stung worse than frostbite, her stomach and chest tight from excruciating pain.

?D-Damn it,? she uttered, an eye closed as she collected her focus. Toby was in a dire situation. She didn?t have time to stand around and reel from an unseen attack. ?Toby!? she screamed at the top of her lungs, enough to disturb the Dweller. He might?ve only spared her a glance. Even if it was only a moment, it was a single moment spent on not hurting him.

?Mm? You?re still standing? I could have sworn that attack was enough to deal with a brat.? He sighed, disappointed in himself. ?Perhaps I should have gone all out and ended your miserable existence here. At least I could have a moment?s peace with this Opes here.?

He was rambling on like one of her teachers at school. They never knew when to shut up. Moments like those, she always relished in being able to doodle out a quick, albeit poor, picture of something and daydream about melonpan and doughnuts. This time?

A demon?s hellfire spit up from the ground and engulfed her in a hot aura. The campfire embers in her hair shivered and splayed all around her like sakura petals during their shedding. With her hands outstretched before her, she pulled at the power that freely lashed around her. ?Demon Arts: Segue to Hell. Blaze of Glory!?

?No matter, I?ll dea-- Hrr?? The Dweller blinked at the Divine Maiden as she started an incantation, his eyes wide with shock. And fear. ?Hellfire? Divine Maiden?s don?t have?!?

A pinpoint of red appeared directly between the Dweller?s eyes. He didn?t have time to finish his thought before the spell expelled from the girl?s spread hands. A raging inferno, compacted into a narrow beam of energy that had the same deadly precision as a well-trained pitcher.

It struck him in the head with so much force, his grip on Toby released. Propelled by the attack, he swung back into the wall of the convenience store, shaking it at its very foundation.

His name on a scream shook him to his core. It excited him and that in turn terrified him all over again. He would remember that sound, replay it over and over again, like some sick recording because in that single moment, he had been the only thing on her mind. Was that worth dying for? Being killed for?

Opes. There that word was again. That's what he was, he wasn't a human, he was an Opes. But that didn't mean anything to him without knowing exactly *what* it was. It couldn't have been anything special. A cool power would have shown up by now, he would have transformed, he would have been able to contribute something to this other than being the ragdoll that everyone tries to strangle to death.

The shock on his purpling face matched the Dweller's. What the hell was she doing? What if she missed? What if her attack was too big?

His stomach floated up somewhere in his throat, cutting off his squawk when the Dweller's fingers were ripped from his throat. He hit the ground with his shoulder and skidded backward, staying motionless save for the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Breathing was the best invention of existence. The outer corners of his mind registered the crunch of wood and stone. There was only one structure around.

The store. Sher. --Dad.

It took as long for him to turn over and rise to a single bent knee as it did for them to talk. By the time his head came up, the buzzing in his ears tapered off, and the mismatch-colored world to solidify once again, he heard what sounded like the final line of a wager. It was easier to refer to himself as an Opes than he thought it would be. There was a certain comfort in finally having a word to use instead of something as vague as 'non-human.'

His eyes whisked from the Dweller and his pointed sword to the weapon now in Mayu's grasp. It looked at home there, much like the bokken did earlier. But deadlier, and somehow not as childlike. "*Take* me? What the hell am I, a *thing*?"

A cobra?s smile spread evenly over the boy?s mouth. It was deadly, riddled with self-importance and snobbish ?know-it-all? attitude. ?Indeed, Opes. You are a thing. You are not a person, or even something worth grieving over should you die during this little? exercise.?

Mayu?s steps were quick, stepping between both Toby and the Dweller. Eyes on her--not on him. ?Fine. I?ll play your game.?

Rin?s voice crackled through the raging inferno that conquered the icy hue within it. ?You are playing on an uneven field. He will win this battle under these conditions.?

?I know what I?m doing,? she said down to Rin. ?All the while you?ve clearly been keeping secrets from me. I don?t think I?ve learned this much about myself before.?

Rin didn?t respond.

?Delightful,? the boy remarked, his blade up and at the ready. In an instant, he was gone, closing the distance between himself and Mayu before her eyes could perceive he had moved. A hazy outline of him was all that appeared before her when his blade came down in a vertical cut for her head.

She didn?t know what to make of the outline, only that there was a weapon coming at her at a pace faster than her arms could muster the speed to follow. She stumbled backward, her arm flailing upward to parry the strike and send the sword away from her. Her feet danced irregularly beneath her, her legs uncertain whether they were supposed to be retreating or sidestepping.

?Hoho. You parried it. Delicious,? the boy cackled, his voice swirling all around her. He was already on the move again? Her head snapped to the left, then to the right, vying to pinpoint his location.

He was moving too fast for her, still. What did Rin call it? Flash Step? She could see why. He was faster than lightning at this rate--easily able to take advantage of every single defensive flaw she had.

A shimmer of ice sparkled to her immediate left. Taking the initiative, her arm swung out; causing a roar of flames to consume her weapon. It sliced at nothing but air, and warranted a laugh as a result.

?Silly Divine Maiden,? the Dweller cackled. Before she could recover from her attack, she felt a sharp pain envelop her right shoulder. Blood sprayed the air as an unseen strike tore into her, caking her school uniform in a mixture of sweat and blood and ice. She stumbled away from nothing at all; the boy already gone.

?Nngh!?

?A Divine Maiden who doesn?t understand the principle of speed isn?t exactly a spectacular Divine Maiden, now is she? I feel bad for your little contractor. She?s going to bare witness to your death!?

Rin?s voice sang loud in Mayu?s mind. ?You are a fledging in his field of combat. Do you understand me now? You have power but not the experience to wield it. You are going to die, and that stupid child is going to die with you. I will not let these beasts take a treasure right out from under my nose. Silence yourself, girl.?

As Mayu stumbled to get a feeling of her balance, she felt her body lock up again. She couldn?t muster the strength to lift her arms or even blink her eyes. Rin took control over her body again. Why now? Was she planning on fighting the Dweller for her? Was it to stop another incident like Albrecht?

Her eyes turned to face Toby, who was still floundering for his own sense of balance. Why was she looking at him? The Dweller was still circling all around her like some kind of icy tornado.

?wait?

She felt wind plume and strike her face sharper than the sword that sank into her shoulder. She was moving--quicker than she could even perceive. Toby?s body was rapidly coming up on her; hunkered down there like some kind of defeated doll who didn?t have the strings to move on his own.

?WAIT?!

?Begone, Opes. I never want to see you again,? Rin?s voice blared through Mayu?s mouth, her empty hand shooting out to strike Toby clear in the chest and eradicate him where he stood.

A warm, blinding light exploded the moment she struck him; her hand sinking deep into his chest without any form of resistance. There were no ribs to contend with, nor was there fleshy muscle to fight through. Only an empty husk of a boy.

As her fist drove deeper into Toby, the light expanded, dissolving the entire seal in a foul white light. It exploded with the same terrible force as TNT, enough to shake the girl?s entire body. Her brilliant gold hair evaporated in the light, her strange, colorfully blue eyes decaying into a lackluster gray.

She vanished into the light; as they all did.

The boy spoke with such conviction, Toby felt his mind falter when trying to refute his claims. The Dweller didn't know him from a hole in a wall, an ant on the ground. There was absolutely no reason why he would lie.

It was exactly as he feared, ever since that day five months ago when he had been pulled aside and given a grisly wake-up call.

He wasn't who he thought he was. He was nothing at all. Just an echo, pieces of flesh and bone that had somehow been fashioned together to replace a life that had been taken away. His memories were wrong, his life was a complete, nonsensical occurance. Probably a mistake. Worst of all, if it hadn't been for him, the two people in the house nearby wouldn't be in this kind of danger.

His throat worked through a gulp, he shook his head hard. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about stuff like that. What was unimportant now would still be unimportant later.

Suddenly, he found himself looking up at Mayu's back, her length of now golden hair lashing wildly in in his face. Sparks erupted brilliantly against the blackness of the seal's perimeter, showering him in light. He didn't want to feel safer, using her like a shield.

"Mayu--" She was really going to fight for him. But was it because she wanted to save him, or because this Dweller just wasn't supposed to have him? Was it worth throwing her life away for his? Something so insignificant as to be referred to as a 'thing'?

But whatever her reasons, she couldn't fight here. There was already too much damage done to his home. He didn't want to think about how much debris was littered inside, or what kind of shape his family was in.

"Mayu, get him out of here! We can't risk any more attacks this close to the store!!"

His whole body jerked in response to the clash of swords. That sound made it all the more real. This was an actual battle, one where people could get hurt. People could die if they lost.

But Mayu wouldn't lose. No matter what Rin said. He wasn't exactly sure how much he could trust what Rin said anymore anyway.

He heard an unintelligible hollar grate his throat when he saw blood fly, making the decision right then and there to get up, no matter how hard it was or how much effort it took to keep standing. He wasn't helpless even though he'd spent the entire fight on his knees, barely able to breathe. He could do something. He could run. If the Dweller was truly after him, he would follow and let Mayu be.

Leave his house undestroyed.

The battle raging around him was a blur of white and gold, blustering winds and flashing steel. He focused all of his attention on his legs, pulling at them to bolster their strength.

"Come on, come on damn it! Move!!"

"Begone Opes!" came the demand from a voice he never expected to hear it from. He shoved his head upward in surprise to see Mayu's form barreling down not on the Dweller, but on him. "I never want to see you again!"

"MAY--"

An unbelievably hot fire exploded within his chest, momentarily drowning out all sensation. And then the agony began.

His body couldn't contain whatever Mayu's attack had been. He felt every muscle strain, pull and shred, the pain flowing deeper, down into his core. His spine arched in a feeble attempt to escape. His eyeballs sizzled, streaming tears. Sweat poured over his skin in sheets. His cry was lost in the massive detonation that began within his own body.

The last thing he knew was shimmering white. White hot energy, white hot pain. Merciful nothingness followed.

His risen hand slashed down toward the ground, which had turned into a solid sheet of frozen ice the moment the raging torrent of frigid temperatures arose. As if answering his beckoning call, a solid mass of ice swelled from the sheet of ice--a wave that was over twenty feet in height and with a diameter that exceeded the seal?s circumference.

The sounds of broken glass and shattering ice was widespread, drowning out the boy?s final words as she unleashed the swell of icicle force upon his opponent and his cradled companion.

?You better get down if you know what?s good for you, kid!? a modified man?s voice called from behind the seal?s bubbled border.

He might have already been a couple steps ahead of the--cat--the single arm around Mayu shfiting to better support her upper body while the other hooked beneath her knees to bring her legs up into his grasp too. She was small enough to fold up against him, an origami doll, and he hunkered down with his back to the Dweller and the oncoming tsunami of ice.

The source of the voice slid through the seal like a hot knife through butter, leaving a streak of dark black and violet purple in his wake. He made a delicate landing just feet in front of Toby and his charge without so much as even sliding on the pane of ice at their feet, standing at a measly five inches tall and, at most, nine inches long. It wasn't a man, or even a human, but a proud member of the short-haired, domestic breed of cats. Sporting a luscious black coat dabbled in amethyst streaks, he was the personification of ?stylish? by his own standards. His ears were drawn back, his desaturated ruby eyes narrowed with intention, and in his mouth was a katana blade broken six inches in the blade--gripped tight between its back most teeth to keep it from jarring loose by the hilt.

His tail curled low, taking as much of a defensive posture as a cat his size could from an oncoming wave of solid ice.

?Shīrudo!? he commanded, his voice only slightly mangled by the sword wedged in his mouth. The shattered blade, in response to the call, erected a vibrant amber force field that pieced itself together in segments; first forming a layer of barrier in front of the black short-haired, then a second barrier formed instantly afterward around Toby and Mayu.

By the time the barrier was fully constructed, the wave?s impact was imminent and struck against the barrier with enough of an impact to make the ground shiver in protest to the destructive forces being unleashed. The wave collapsed on itself from the sudden shock it took, the uppermost spires of frozen waste buckling and raining over the small battlefield; embedding themselves in the earth and tearing apart the lone tree that was caught up in the brunt of the battle.

The remaining segments of the attack soon followed, rippling and collapsing into the sheet of ice that layered their feet.

The Dweller looked on with a sadistic, murderous grin that was immediately erased. ?What the? HELL.?

The cat hissed at the Dweller from behind the shield that was undamaged from the attack. ?Two on one, pal,? he said around the hilt of the broken blade in his mouth. ?You sure you want to tangle with those odds??

?A friggin? CAT?? the boy answered. ??no. I?m? sensing something else out of you, too?? He studied the shielding for a moment before he relinquished his Tamashiken?s ice power. It evaporated inside of him; the plumes of jagged ice dissolving into nothing more than a watery mixture that pooled at his feet.

?We?re not through, Opes. When I see you next, you better have an idea of what you?re capable of. Because I won?t hold back, and none of these Soul Sector wenches will be able to do a god damn thing to stop me.?

The chilly storm of ice swept up around him and, faster than an anxiously beating heart, he was gone.

The cat studied the whorl of air and ice as the boy was whisked away, remaining vigil until he was certain there was no reason to remain on the defensive. As his posture slackened, the shielding around them cracked and shattered like glass under heavy strain, manifesting into particles of beautiful amber basking in summer sunrays. The seal was still intact, for better or worse, but the same couldn't be said about the yard they occupied. It looked like a dump site for broken ice; an unexplainable event horizon. He circled on all fours and faced the boy holding the girl's protective grip.

"It isn't going to be safe for you to remain here," he said around the destroyed katana. "It would be best for you to come with me."

Nothing, so far as he was concerned, existed outside of the circle of his arms and who was within them. His nose pressed flat against the crown of Mayu's head, he stared at the blades of grass flapping in the torrents of wind set off by the Dweller's attack. He felt nothing. No anxiety, no debilitating fear, no uncertainty. Only the fierce want, the need, to protect, to stand firm and use the power he somehow knew was inside of him for that very purpose.

"It'll be alright," he said down to the pair of ears that undoubtedly wouldn't hear a thing. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Not one moment afterward, the noise behind him ceased. His ears ringing in the new silence, he slowly raised his head to look, but became confronted with a feline stare. He took in the cat's words, the heaviness of them, and in the far corners of his mind, a switch clicked. Wordlessly, he nodded, and rose to his feet with Mayu in his arms like she weighed less than a feather. The weapon in his hand was held a safe distance away from them both, ready to be used if he had to. He had no doubt that, right now, he could cut down anything in his path.

"Lead the way."

Turning away, he bounded away from them toward the perimeter of the seal, his striped tail flicking to-and-fro to trigger the seal's primary purpose: repair. While their own small world remained bathed in perpetual crimson so long as they remained inside the bubble of shadowy tendrils, a dull white light pierced the floor of the earth. Not enough to blind them or even register in their minds that its volume was increasing without looking down at their feet. Just enough to begin to play the events that occurred in reverse. Specifically, the events of damage that had been caused.

Sheets of ice crumbled and melted into pure pools of water and flooded the ground, chunks of disturbed soil turning over and filling gaps. The foundation of the building that the boy crashed into even stitched back together with the craftsmanship of an expert mason--stone congealing into a solid, new figure that showed no sign of damage or possibility of collapse.

As they bled through the seal's pressurized seal and returned to the living world where light shone naturally and the distant buzzing of passing cars could be heard sloshing snow along the roads, the cat realized something. Something dire and unnatural that wasn't accounted for before the seal's natural power shrank away and disappeared into the spiritual plane.

He forgot to do something about that blasted tree that had taken a considerable brunt of abuse from the battle he only barely laid witness to. Bark was stripped, leaving its hull bare and mangled and splintered to bits, branches sliced clean from blocks of ice and roots turned up from incredible kinetic exchanges. A lightning strike wasn't capable of doing such extensive damage to one piece of Mother Nature's beauty.

There was nothing he could do about it now. He'd have to hope the owner of that lonesome tree wouldn't ponder its reasons for very long.

"No, I suppose I shouldn't.? Hell, she probably didn't want to hurt my feelings."? He flung the blanket off of himself and began to gather his wayward limbs beneath him.? Dust and bits of dead grass clung to his jeans, the denim torn in several places.? It was only after he got one foot down that he spoke again.
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"So that's what I am, huh?? A dead guy.? Not even a guy, a dead..placeholder.? Just special, because of whatever's inside of me.? Do you know what it is?"? He glanced to the links of silver on his wrist.? A treasure wearing a treasure.? That was ironic.

The boy summed it up with less flourish than he would have personally been inclined to.? His head shook with a hint of wariness.? ?No.? Not without opening you up and taking it out.? While not all treasures are considerable threats to the overall balance between the realm of the living and the spiritual plane, some are? unorthodox.? A Pandora?s Box.? Everything could unravel simply by disturbing it.??
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His tail flicked to Toby?s abrupt movement.? Unexpected, but with a look of relief.? He was quick on the rebound, faster than the cat would have expected from a mere Flare-slash-Opes.? He rose to all fours.? ?It most likely arrived in you solely by chance.? That is how they are transferred from one Flare to another.? When the original host dies, it is ferried at random.?? He would be willing to praise the boy on his luck? This wasn?t such a lucky break for him.
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?However,? he adds after a pause of consideration.? ?Something else has me intrigued.? I felt it the moment before I arrived outside the Fuzetsu.?? The cat hopped onto the flatbed, pawing through the sea of rumpled blankets like he would tiptoe through shallow water.? He leaned close to Toby, his nose twitching a mile a minute, working overtime.? ?You?re? leaking pressure that is usually only emitted by a Divine Maiden.? Considering you are not a woman??? He looked up at Toby, his scarlet eyes narrow in accusation.? ?Did you happen to take that girl?s power at some point during your battle??
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"Ferried at random?" he grunted, feeling like every muscle in his body was cracking into pieces.? His teeth met and clenched together.? "If that's the case, why not take me alive?? Why risk passing whatever's inside of me on to someone else?"? He slid another look over to Mayu, but didn't let it linger.? If Ayane saw it the first time, the cat would definitely see it again.? Instead, he focused his attention on the feline's nearing face.? The need to get far away from it overwhelmed the pain he felt when he tried.
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He was at least glad with everything else he was, that he wasn't a girl.? Boobs would be the least of his worries.? "I don't know," he said flatly, in a tone that implied a shrug.? "She never said anything about that.? All I remember is that she came at me.? I guess she wanted to kill me before the Dweller did.? Maybe she planted a bomb inside me and that's what you're feeling."? His voice couldn't be drier, even if he swallowed a desert.

The cat's ears twitched, picking up on distant sounds that only a feline's set could pluck apart from the mundane, every day song of outdoor activity. He glanced away for only a moment to assess its source. "The process of death and transference is not instantaneous when it comes to an Opes.? The residue of Existence lingers shortly afterward, allowing for extraction.?
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Ayane?s look was incredulous as it could look for a cat.? ?A bomb.? Inside of you.?? He was not convinced.? He hopped off the bed after completing his sightless inspection, returning to the floor in a sprawl.? ?If you didn?t do it, then she must have volunteered her power to you willingly,? he said grimly.? ??such a thing is taboo where she?s from,? he adds.? Shaking his head, he disregards his own comment.? ?Nevertheless, I?m sensing that the powers she gave you is reacting in an extremely peculiar, harmonious way with your treasure.?
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All of his hopes that the Dweller had been lying were so far out the window, he couldn't even see them, barely remember that he'd even hoped them.
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Everything he had been afraid of--had turned out to be right.? Whenever his past self was killed, this version, he, had taken his place.? He wasn't real, his existence just made him think he was.? That was the truth.? But that explanation still didn't account for how other people saw him, and his family--their intact memories.
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"Why would she do that?" he asked without thinking.? Even though Ayane seemed to know all the answers, Toby doubted he'd know this one.? "And how is it that you know all about this, anyway?? No offense, but you're a cat."

?That I do not know,? he answers with a dash of concern teasing its way into his modified voice.? ?To even consider it is dangerous for one such as her.? To actually carry out the action??? He ventured the notion out there exactly how dangerous it was for that girl; both times veering off the path of enlightenment.? ?Her motives are unknown to me.? It was not by accident.? I can tell you that.??
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He sighed at Toby, having expected he?d ask a question about where this set of knowledge came from.? ?When you?ve been around for as long as I have, you tend to pick up on things that go on around here.??
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There were plenty of ways the cat could explain how he knew of things.? Those were things Toby would come to understand all on his own.? He no longer had the delight of choice in such affairs.? The girl, broken and wrapped in bandages at his side, made certain of that.? Perhaps it was her intention, her hope, her wish that Toby would directly be involved.? Perhaps her reasons were so he could be safer and with a fighting chance.? Opes were not considered fighters, most of the time.? The strongest he could remember were but drops of water in a vast, endless ocean.
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"I guess I'll just have to ask her when she wakes up."? He really didn't want to.? Saving the life, no, the existence of a thing was mind-boggling to him.? It was like his sister throwing a fit when she was twelve and flying down the stairs to get her set of curlers out of the trash because throwing them away would hurt their feelings.? Curlers didn't have feelings.? They didn't know they were being used or tossed away.
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Things were things, and that was that.? So, with this treasure inside of him, and, apparently, Mayu's power, he felt like a glorified sock drawer.? A place to put things, nothing more.
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Finally, he straightened up and, testing out his legs, he stagger-stumbled toward the paper door secluding him from the rest of the house.? Unbeknownst to him, bits of cyan crystal fell from his flesh, shattering on contact with the tatami underfoot.? He took a deep breath of air before he realized that was pretty pointless too.? "My family is alright, aren't they?? The fuzetsu took care of everything and there was enough power to? repair anything that was damaged?"? He'd seen the after-effects for himself, but for the life of him he couldn't ever recall being concerned with anything but the want to fight.

There were many things to keep track of the moment Toby moved.? The way the stale air flowed around him was entirely different from any other being he?s ever laid eyes on.? It shivered when it merely touched him; split when he cut through it during his unsteady gait.? It was like nothing the cat had ever seen before with his own eyes.
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It reeked of potential.? Of strength.? Unwavering and frighteningly so.
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?Your family is fine,? he said, rising and following after him.? ?If you intend to heal, you need to remain down for tonight.? You both do.?? Mayu didn?t appear ready to spring to life.? He took up stride alongside Toby.? ?If you go back out there or do anything of the sort, all you?re going to do is attract unwanted attention from all kinds of unkind people.? You won?t stand a chance against them if that happens.?
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He had no idea.? The world felt the same to him.? Maybe a little more two dimensional, like he was a paper cut out in a world-size diorama.? The colors were bland, the air smelled like wet smoke and a closet that hadn't been opened in years.? He felt like he didn't need to be where he was instead of something supposedly very important and very dangerous.
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He nodded at Ayane's answer, hearing it doing something to loosen the knot of anxiety in his throat.? After he finished, Toby looked down, incredulous.? "Then what do you propose I do?? Remain down for the rest of my life?? Unlife?? I have a job, I have responsibilities.? I can't just lock myself up because I *might* get hurt."? He found his gaze inching toward Mayu.? ...She could have killed him, and she didn't.? But she seemed like she wanted to.?

?Don?t be ridiculous,? he answered, stepping around in front of Toby.? Without showing any sign of trouble, the door opened to his silent beck and call.? ?Staying here won?t do you any good than staying out there.?? He padded out into the hallway that was joined to the room they were using.? ?As I said before, you?re leaking pressure.? As in, emitting a kind of power that they will be able to track easily.?? He didn?t stride down the hall either direction, remaining in place and unwilling to let Toby wander.? ?All souls of your kind emit such a thing.? The more pressure you feel, the stronger the presence is.? In your case, it?s considerable.? Certainly enough to attract a Dweller or other beasty-nasty if you weren?t quite so injured.? Because you are, it?s lessened to some degree.? Enough for the dojo we?re in to keep it shielded.?
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?He knew the shield wouldn?t last.? It?d shatter under the weight of the Divine Maiden power inside of him.? They?d make for one hell of a target and be hit before they could even fathom the idea of defense.
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?I would love to simply erase these powers inside of you and give them back to their source.? Problem is, you can?t really do that sort of thing.? A transfer of power like she did can only be reversed by completely eradicating the person that has it,? he explains, intentionally blunt. ?Since you?re an Opes. I?m not really in favor of that choice.? Not to mention? a Divine Maiden?s power has the potential to cause the entire realm of the living to completely collapse if it?s not used correctly.? And, now that she did give you her powers, she doesn?t have anything to help counteract that, which complicates things just a little bit around here?
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?So, I?m going to train you to use these new powers of yours.? Otherwise, you?re going to get attacked.? Annnnd, if you panic, you?re pretty much screwing us all over.? I?m not really fond of that route.?
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So he was a beacon, a floodlight in a pitch black darkness.? That character in a horror movie that he always found himself screaming at because they always went up the stairs, they always opened the door, they always yelled something absurd like 'Billy?!' to announce their presence.
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His fingers curved tighter and tighter around the edge of the paper door the longer he listened.? He didn't ask for this, he didn't want her power.? He didn't want anything.? He, like Ayane apparently, wanted to scoop it all out of himself and give it back.
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But if Ayane was right, it wasn't just him that was a target.? If he was really that important, coveted, they wouldn't just go for him.? They'd go through who they had to to draw him out.? They'd take out a powerless Divine Maiden without even batting an eye.? It was up to him, and him alone.
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And he wasn't sure he could handle it.
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"--What will happen to Mayu?? Will she ever get her powers back?? Will they ever get out of me?"

?What will happen to her?? he repeats, valuing the question and his concern equally.? It quieted the cat?s thoughts, made him feel an ounce of peace where none had been, and had him quietly respecting the idea that the boy would continue to value another?s life over his own so soon after discovering what his fate had been.?
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He was a rare specimen.? Perhaps it was what gave him the strength he sensed deep down in the boy?s inexperienced body.
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?I?ve only ever encountered a single Divine Maiden in all my life.? She, too, lost her powers, although for entirely different reasons,? he explains, sadness welling in his voice.? ?When a Divine Maiden loses the powers she has, one of two things happen.? They gradually begin to rebuild what was lost inside of them, forced to be time?s pawn until they recover.
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??Or.? They continue to lose their powers, suckling on the teet of their own spiritual energy until they die out from absorbing their own selves.?? He leers past Toby at the girl strewn out on the bed under the heap of blankets Toby tossed aside.? ?From what I can see of her right now in this present state, I cannot even begin to tell you which of those will befall that girl in there.?? He looks up.? ?As for you, I do not know what?ll happen to them inside of you, either.? As I explained before, the power is reacting with the hougu inside you.? It?s immense.? More potent than the energies I felt when the Divine Maiden activated her soul power during battle.? ?It has me curious, and why I?m even outstretching an offer to help teach you what this power is about.?
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He turned after a final, long moment of consideration.? ?For tonight, stay in this room and do not come out.? You?ll have much to do tomorrow that requires your speedy recovery.??
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He traipsed down the hall, silent and slender.? The hall?s dull, sparse lighting didn?t help keep track of the jet black cat, fading away out of plain sight the further he wandered away.

I watch the gaping darkness of the hallway even after Ayane disappears. The house, or wherever we are, is silent, but not with the same kind of silence that rings deep in my ears. It's a silence like being under a blanket, somewhere small and warm.

Somewhere hidden.

But I don't want to be hidden away in a place that I didn't choose. That's the same thing as being a captive.

I want to run.

I want to follow that damn cat.

I want to get out of here.

But it isn't like I have anywhere to go where this problem won't find me. And I know that if I'm honest with myself, I'll feel bad about turning tail and running and leaving Mayu here in this strange place, weak and all alone.

Even if she knows Ayane. And even if she tried to kill me.

So I slide the paper door along its track, listening to the muffled thunk of its frame hitting home, and turn around.

She looks even more like a doll now than ever before, with her hair fanning out from her head like a dark halo. Her skin is even paler in the yellow light, her eyelashes curling like down feathers against pale, porcelain cheeks. Even her lips are white, without any color or gloss, plush but dead like petals freshly detached from a wilting flower.

I stand at her side, my hands in my pockets, staring down at her.

She looks so insignificant lying there. So unimportant, so--small. Hardly anything like I remembered her.

With her golden hair and blazing eyes, she had been an ember storm come to life. Her face when she looked at me is something that I can't get out of my mind no matter how hard I try.

Revulsion. It twisted her expression. Like she couldn't stand the sight of me. I knew I wasn't making much progress with our training, but I never thought that I would have been in her way so much that she needed to kill me.

"Begone Opes! I never want to see you again!"

"Agh!" I grumble, screwing up my hair. My fingers get stuck in the bandages circling my head, sending a lightning bolt of pain all the way through my skull. I pull on them until they come loose in my hands.

I expect to see bloodstains, either fresh or darkened with time, but these bandages are clean like they've just been unrolled. A crushed, turquoise powder coats the linen's surface where it has been touching my skin. I assume it's some sort of exotic first aid ointment.

I throw the bandages across the rumpled covers of my bedroll and turn my back on the room. There aren't any decorations, the walls stripped of anything, even color, and there is only one paper door set into the wall across from me. Ayane never told me I couldn't go in there. It must be attached to this room.

Not that I need a damn cat's permission to do anything--I'd just rather not get yelled at. All that can do is make my headache worse.

I move toward it, my whole body creaking and groaning like the limbs of an old tree, and slide the door open.

A surprisingly modern bathroom greets me.

A chipped porcelain sink stands to my immediate right, a dark mirror the size of a poster suspended above it. Four naked lightbulbs flare to violent life when I touch a switch. I have no idea how the electricity in this place works if the walls are made of paper.

A towel rack with two threadbare towels is mounted on my left. Straight ahead of me is a shower, its opaque glass doors standing open. There's a dingy toilet to the right of the sink that looks ready to fall apart if someone sits on it. I step inside, closing the door behind me.

It's cool in here and it smells like flowers and standing water. I turn to the sink, reaching for the faucet handles and freeze at the sight of my face.

It doesn't look like mine.

It does, but it doesn't.

I look--angry.

Everything is sharp, like the slanted edge of a knife. My nose is longer, thinner. My mouth is parted in astonishment but still seems to form a line. If my cheeks were any more concave, I would be a ghoul.

But my eyes. They stand out like two perfect disks of ice, pale, almost silver with just enough blue so that I still look alive. They're narrow, nearly squinted, probably in distaste.

Those aren't my eyes.

This face isn't the face I know.

Even my hair is different, instead of auburn and dark, it's as bright as an orange, violently jutting in every conceivable direction.

I look like--I look like my father. A grotesque mixture of him and me, blended so close together I can't tell where he ends and I begin.

I move my eyebrows, trying to break their perpetual scowl. I suck in my cheeks. I pull on my eyelids and I stick out my tongue and the face in the mirror copies my every move. I pinch my cheek and a red mark shows up on my skin.

I was just fine with how I looked before.

My body had served me pretty well for the past seventeen years.

Was trying to kill me not enough? Was forcing her power, her problems on me not enough for her? She had to go and change what I looked like too?

I slam my hands into the edges of the sink with the sound of stone crashing against stone, and feel it rattle in its foundation. A sharp pain zings up through my arm from my palm. Hesitating for a moment, I turn my hand over.

A cyan frost of crystal coats my palm to the point that I can't even see my own skin. Light catches, splintering in minute rainbows off every sharp angle. Right before my eyes, the formation crackles and breaks apart, bits of precious stone clinking around in the sink's basin before they slip down the drain. Chunks of porcelain are missing from the edges of the sink where my hands had rested, damaged by that simple movement. An outburst of frustration.

It didn't even have any strength behind it.

I lift my head, meeting the set of eyes that are and are not mine. There's only one question in my head, on my tongue?

"What did she do to me?"

I open my eyes and I can't tell if I'm blind or not.

White.

Everything's white.

The floor I stand on, the sky above me. The air I breathe. And the back of my eyelids.

It is warm here, but not unpleasant. Like high noon on an early Spring day.

This light has to be the sun.

I turn in place, my eyes straining, squinted to slits and I see nothing.

"Hello?!" I cry, my voice echoing around me exponentially, gaining in power and reverberation with each passing second.

Nothing answers me. But when this world falls silent again, I hear breathing.

A steady inhale, exhale.

Not like the rhythm of someone sleeping, but of someone standing right behind me.

I ball my hands into fists and turn around a final time, and there is a man facing me, not ten feet away.

He's taller than I am and thin, but not without a coating of muscle beneath his tan skin. He looks like he runs. He looks like he's run from several things in his life.

He stands the way I do, with his hands in fists at his sides. Something glitters around his left wrist. Bangles.

His mouth is set in a firm line as he stares me down. His pale eyes are narrowed to a knife's width, glinting madly over dark circles of fatigue and anxiety. His orange hair slices around his fierce expression even though there is no wind. A golden earring shines in his left ear.

It is my face. Only older. Sharpened with time, with experience and with sorrow.

"Toby," he says, in a voice that's so soft I'm not sure if I heard it at first. But the word, the sound of my name, resonates within me like the aftershock of a beaten gong.

"Who, who are y--" I begin, but he cuts me off.

"Don't make the same mistake I made," he says, and turns his back on me. His figure, easily above six feet, vanishes and in its place stands a smaller figure.

I know it the instant I see it, even before its wealth of ocean dark hair fans out behind her in the same phantom breeze.

She turns, the rippling waves of her hair concealing her expression. I see her nose, I see the crest of one cheek. I lurch forward toward her, my hand outstretched, my mouth parting around her name--

And I wake up.

Morning glared its way through the singular two-pane window that sat over Mayu?s bedroll, igniting awareness in her she hadn?t felt in several days. The glint of sunrays magnified dancing dust molecules, that obligatory existence that made asthma victims wheeze and allergy sufferers sneeze. Mayu never suffered from such things, even as a living breathing girl. She enjoyed getting her hands dirty at the sandlot back home. She preferred the pollen in the air during spring, and savored the dropping of leaves during the fall. Such times always made her smile her brightest.

Sitting up, she tossed the bedroll?s blankets away, giving herself a once over. Her clothing was folded neatly on the side of the room, and in exchange, wore a flannel one piece suit that didn?t do her any favors. It was much too baggy, falling loose around her shoulders and waist. They were over a third her size, the pant cuffs low around her toes and keeping them concealed in a bed of warmth. Did the cat put her in these? She narrowed her eyes and looked at the door. Just how in the hell could he manage to do that? Better yet, why as a male cat dressing her for bed?

Standing, she hurried over to the door, her hair dragging limp around her feet and always trying to trip her up, but stopped short of pulling the handle open. ?Where are you going?? Ayane asked behind her.

?BAH!? She stumbled over her pajama bottoms as she turned to face the source, her eyes wild with surprise. Combined with the disheveled way her hair sprung up all around her skull, she looked like a mental patient on the loose. She was never her prettiest in the morning, but the lovely curve of her full cheeks and the diminutive way her lips curved into perpetual smiles always showed an underlying beauty that no single person could deny. In a way, combined together, it accentuated her girl-like belle. ?W-What are you doing here!??

?I came to check on you.? The cat appeared from a corner of the room closest to the door. Once close, he sat and looked up at her. His scarlet eyes were unsettling; more odd than the way hers resembled bewildered sheep. An indolent yawn revealed his assortment of sharp teeth, a tiny tongue trenched between the ?U? shape curve of his mouth. ?You were still sleeping, so I was going to leave. I guess I don?t need to now.?

?You guess,? Mayu repeated, slapping a hand to her forehead and pushing away the jagged lumps of her bangs. Her forehead was usually covered by a veil of shadows her hair naturally supported. It was a tinge lighter in shade from the rest of her face, smoother along the hairline, and without the incessant worry lines that usually was found in company of the zone. Along the temple, nearest the line where dyed green hair began, were a pair of beaded, dark dots that resembled freckles. They usually never warranted more attention than a glance. ?Mn. I guess we?re still on for whatever it is you were wanting to discuss??

?Indeed,? Ayane confirmed. His tail tipped at the door. ?Follow me and we?ll get things started.?

Mayu nodded with reluctance. She wasn?t the sort of girl that discussed matters with others. Her mouth was usually reserved for eating when she was alive, and for detailing answers to questions that she felt like indulging others on when it happened to occur. She rarely plotted, and rarely wanted to be social with others. This time was not a particular exception.

Shoving open the door, she stepped out into the narrow hallway of the dojo. To her left and right were L-shaped corridors that all seemed to branch to the same source. Various doors around the perimeter of the building resembled the one she had come out of. She assumed they were bedrooms, as well. The hallway was a dull brown hue in accordance to the wood that stabilized it. What few bulbs the building had were dim, working on their last legs. It certainly didn?t help Mayu ward off her fear of the dark.

?This way,? Ayane directed, stepping between Mayu?s bare feet and hanging a left. He wandered down the hall and followed it to the back. Mayu followed with some attention to detail of her surroundings.

A shōji door separated them from a single staircase that lead to a basement. Once Mayu pulled it open, Ayane bolted down the flight of stone stairs that lead into an abyss of utter blackness. ?Hurry, now,? Ayane called over his shoulder.

Mayu didn?t move. ?Are you kidding me?? she called in hysterics, her voice rebounding off pure stone walls. Was this some kind of cavern? Mayu couldn?t tell past the blanket of shadow. ?I?m not going down there!!?

?You have to,? the cat called back to her. His voice felt like it was seconds away from her, but she couldn?t tell. His coat matched the ambience. ?It?s only a few seconds to the bottom. Everything will be better once you?re there.?

Believe him she did not. She?s seen the movies back home where a girl wanders into a dark corridor and is taken hostage by a wild assortment of purple tentacles. Did she want to mimic those scenes and become a prisoner to a weird alien hell-bent on having sex with small school girls? Her eyes narrowed. ?There?s a huge alien waiting for me, isn?t there?!?

Seconds passed where there nothing but complete silence greeted her. Rather than answer Mayu outright, Ayane appeared at the landing of the stairs around a blinding haze of sunlight with him as the black focal point. Seven stairs awaited the girl?s descent. Looking back at her, he said, ?What are you talking about??

??? Muttering, she stomped down the stairs after him.

The light that blinded her came from a single door that overlooked another flight of stairs that seemed to spring from nowhere. There was no support around them. No guard rails that would stop a person of falling off the edge. As she stepped through the door and peeked out, a warm rush of air plumed around her, reminding her of what summer felt like. The landscape was barren, composed mostly of dirt with some shards of grass here and there along a mountainous growth of rock. To her, it was like walking onto the scene of a world that?s yet to be populated. Nothing existed. Descending the stairwell and looking above, a tear existed, reality yawning long enough to give the stairs a starting point for them to climb down. Beyond that, blue sky. RhyDin?s blue, Earth?s blue, she couldn?t tell the difference. Puffy clouds loomed and whorled, softer in appearance than freshly baked marshmallows.

?What? What is this place??? she asks, unable to tear her attention away.

Ayane followed Mayu down to the bowels of the world, his steps much lighter than Mayu?s drag. ?Seinaru Tamashī no Guraundo. The Holy Ground of Souls. It is constructed based on --? He stops himself, leaping past Mayu to land on the turf that dimpled from the weight of the stairs they were on. ?Never mind. Details are not necessary. All you need to know is that this is training grounds meant to help those who are still unfamiliar with their powers.?

?Training Grounds?? Mayu repeats, following Ayane to the ground with a much less enthused hop of body. Her knees recoil from the impact, surprised to notice the ground is as firm as tried and true soil. ?It all feels so real??

Ayane chuckled. ?It is real. Everything here is no different than the ground in RhyDin. We haven?t moved at all.?

?You mean this whole thing is your basement!?? she asks, her voice an octave higher.

The cat slinks ahead, approaching one mountainous rock formation. While they were few and far between, Mayu could see for herself that they easily trumped the six-story apartment complex she sometimes visited when wanting alone time. ?It is.?

?But?? Mayu?s pace quickened to keep her close to Ayane. ?This place is so? expansive! It?s like being outside! How--?

Ayane interrupted her, clearing his throat. ?As I said. The details are trivial the overall scheme. You are unfamiliar with your powers, correct??

Mayu looked down at the cat. Being so caught up by her marvel over the world, she?d forgotten all about why they were here. ?Oh. A-Ah? yeah. I should say I?ve never fully understood everything about my own powers. I know how to manipulate Existence, how to construct seals. I know how to kick things and make them break. ?that?s it.?

The cat sighed, looking disappointed by what he was wearing. ?I?m surprised they let you out into the real world with so little experience.?

?I have some,? quickly amended, hands in the air to ask Ayane to wait. ?I spent a total of six weeks being isolated from anybody and anything to tend to an undead army lead by a skeleton king.?

?A skeleton king, you say?? intrigued. The cat chuckled. ?Then you?re referring to the ?Rainbow Warder?, the only undead denizen who is without a natural form. ?it is a common practice for a Divine Maiden to undergo his ritual.? A fond smile lifts around the cat?s mouth, whiskers shivering. His serious tone breaks whatever serenity he was experiencing. ?That is not training, Divine Maiden. It is a test to judge if you?re capable of being alone in the world. You passed due to your ability to be in solitude, not because of strength.?

A test? Solitude? These things were unnatural to Mayu and she looked at the cat with a quizzical tilt of head. ?I was told that defeating the skeleton would prove I?m capable of wielding the powers of a Divine Maiden.?

?Nonsense,? the cat hissed. ?There are far more involving things beyond dealing with a skeleton in order to grant you the permissions of being a Divine Maiden. ?did you undergo any of the rituals before contracting with Rin??

?Trials? Other than?? Unable to answer Ayane, she shook her head.

?Impossible,? he said, aghast. ?You have no formal--? His eyes lowered to Mayu?s waist. ?You do not even possess a Tamashiken of your own. I? should have realized then that you?re an incomplete specimen.?

?In-- Hold on,? Mayu?s hands lowered her hips. ?Who?re you calling incomplete? I have the powers necessary to do what I need to!?

Mayu inched back a step and invoked the spiritual powers required to awaken her Divine Maiden status. The very instant a swell of internal spiritual pressure collided together like a pair of orbiting suns, her hair blazed to life, golden electrical currents surging through each thread. It wavered underneath an unseen energy source that resembled a torrent of hurricane-strong winds. The ground cracked from a downward thrust of kinetic force, imprinting her feet in wasteland soil until the molecules that made it solid broke apart into fine powder. A zigzagging pattern of shredded earth tore under the cat?s paws, making it hop to the side to avoid being struck by a slicing plume of spiritual energy that was as sharp as a steak knife. He hissed in contempt at being unprepared.

The cat looked on, hiking up to all fours but unwilling to back itself in a corner. His hair bristled, stood on end at the beginnings of Mayu?s release.

Simultaneous as the spiritual power was invoked, her dark hair streaked blonde, enveloped in a phosphorescent flaxen hue that flaked ashen embers from a burning campfire. The girl?s viridian jade eyes stared down at the cat, the color within roiling and collapsing; alternating into a brilliant sapphire hue like unpolluted swimming pools. The contradictory sheep-like pupils swelled for a brief instant before going slender.

As Mayu?s transformation completed, the cat?s ruby eyes were slightly wider than they?d been, overtaken with a strict sense of awe and amazement over what he was seeing. His tail was up on end, fine hairs remaining bristled like he?d stuck his tongue in high voltage wiring. It took what power his small feline form had to remain upright, his spine dipped like it was under a colossal weight. The insides of his body twisted and ached, making him feel like he needed to retch just to alleviate his pain. ??interesting?? he said in a strained voice that struggled to sound relax. It was unconvincing. ??your characteristics are unlike the first contractor?s? but this is no question the power of a Divine Maiden. ?strange, yet? this is your power after being nearly exhausted. I?m? at a loss! What you must be like with all your powers available to you??

Mayu watched the cat, her lips curved but not into any cohesive emotion.

Finally, Ayane took a single step back in hopes it?d assuage the immense power and how it was making his entire body react. He didn?t stop until his hind legs were pressed against the rock formation. ??I do not doubt you, Divine Maiden, or your power. ?it is surely incredible, more powerful than I?ve ever experienced. ?why, though, do you not have proper training??

A billowing aura of golden flame, jagged and untempered, surged around Mayu?s lithe form that radiated like the star over their heads. It emanated closely, resembling a silhouette mold of herself. ?I don?t? I don?t know,? she answered, her voice taking on the qualities of some ethereal essence--an otherworldly being from the afterlife. ?After my training with the skeleton, I only remember being here. I? my memories are incomplete, though. I don?t remember everything that happened, or how I got to RhyDin in the first place.?

?I find it hard to believe even Rin would allow you here without training. Perhaps your memories are simply altered so you?ve forgotten what you are capable of?? A sharp intake of air calmed Ayane?s voice, and his body became more fluid under the weight of Mayu?s intense power. ??I suppose, as I?ve already told you several times, the details are trivial. You possess the power necessary to actually be taught what I have to share with you.?

Mayu didn?t diminish her powers, remaining a bright torchlight in an already bright environment. Clashing with the sun?s brilliance, she nearly bleached the land an almighty hue of pure white. ??but? what can I do, now?? My powers are nearly gone. Other than transforming, using any kido would deplete me entirely??

?The boy used something that is known as Flash Step. You remember, yes?? Ayane shook, smoothing out his black coat. ?A basic skill that I am surprised you are unable to perform yourself. It is one of four basic necessities as a soul in order to properly combat. To move faster than eyes can follow. To mask your spiritual presence and strike another down before they can react. It is a most deadly skill--if you can master it.

??I will teach it to you. So that, when that child comes at you again, you will be the one that moves faster than he.?

My head feels like it's underwater. I move my eyes and they stick to my eyelids. White light gets beneath my eyelashes and stabs my brain.

"?couldn't be helped. You saw what happened out there."

"It's just as we feared. You're right, it couldn't be helped. It seems the Hunter Chaser was just the beginning. Where's the Divine Maiden now?"

"In the chamber."

"Heeey, look who's awake!"

I moan and abruptly start coughing when the weight of something impossibly warm lands on my chest.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Opes," Ayane's voice warbles in my ears. "Oh, by the way, I wouldn't suggest moving entirely too much. Should you not give your body a significant chance to heal, the weight of your own spiritual pressure will tear it to shreds and then we really will indeed have a problem on our hands."

"You'd better do as he says. Have you ever tried to cough out a hairball that was put there by a cat? Dooon't recommend it."

"Ngh." My body is lead heavy. I try to sit up but only manage to weakly roll over.

"Mind telling us what your great plan was?" says the second male voice that I don't know. He sounds like he's teasing me, or trying not to laugh at Ayane's black mass still on my ribs.

"Mmph."

"Not much of a talker, eh? Well that's too bad because I think you owe us at least that much." I finally get my eyes open in time to see a large hand wave through the air. "I mean you did nearly cause my entire dojo to be destroyed, not to mention yourself which would then, in turn, potentially have rent the world asunder. Know what I mean? You've got a lot to answer for, Mr. Coward."

My hands curl into fists. I press them into the mat beneath me and feel soft blankets. Did they bring me back to my room?

"What could've been sooo important to you that you were willing to risk the world and the safety of everyone living in it, hmmm?"

The pressure of both their gazes weighs on me. I feel like laying back down and going to sleep. I've never been this tired before, this drained. Like something had gone straight down into my insides and sucked out all the energy I had.

"This situation doesn't just include you," the man says. His voice is surprisingly low and serious. It hurts my throat to listen to. "From what I sense within you, your Treasure could have the potential to save this world or ruin it. The time for indecision has passed us by. Right now? You need to step up to the plate that the world has dealt you."

"What do you know about it?" I ask. "Just tell me. What do you know about what I have to do? What I can't do? What I'm allowed to do? You don't know anything. You have no idea what's going on with me!"

"You're right," he says, and it shocks the anger out of me. "But neither do you. You really don't understand anything right now, and you're in no position to be making any rash decisions."

I look up and my head feels too heavy for my neck. The half of his face not darkened by the shadow of his hat is younger than I thought it would be. Uneven stubble coats his jaw. His hair is a pale but dirty blond. His dark eyes are faraway, but compassionate.

We hold each other's gazes, but I'm the one that looks away first. "What--what was that thing from earlier? Another Servant?"

"COH-rreeect!" the man says, all seriousness gone in the blink of an eye. He puts one finger up in the air and a goofy smile possesses his mouth. "Servants are naturally drawn to large quantities of the Power of Existence and from what Ayane's told me so far, you're lucky to have survived this long without getting the ever living snot whacked from your nose.

"But now that this city's Divine Maiden has transferred all her abilities to you, she's doubled the size of the target on your back. What you saw earlier was just the first of several Servants that were lining up to mount an attack. The seals on this dojo keep it hidden and protected, but cross over them, and you've got trouble."

Ayane sits down in front of my nose, his black tail twitching to and fro. "Which is precisely why I told you to lay low and stay indoors. The combined reiatsu of all the Servants presently mobbing the perimeter is but a drop in the bucket compared to the power that you are leaking right this very minute. The moment you set foot outside the seal, you disrupted its flow and it disintegrated within seconds. All of that energy became a beacon."

"Basically, you nearly got us all killed. But it's no big deal." The man waves his hand again.

After what feels like years of shifting around, I finally manage to sit up. I brace my weight with my left hand, putting my right on my face. I feel hot, sweaty. "Sorry."

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry," I say again, louder.

"You're forgiven!" he yells. The palm of his hand meets my back and I lurch forward against my knees. "You're all lucky that I'd gotten my shopping done early and decided to head back. So long as you realize how much danger you're in, everything is just fine."

I run my hand back through my hair.

Was that really what I did? Was I so ready to leave, was I so mad, that I could have nearly killed everyone?

They were right. I was in no condition to defend myself against a fly let alone a Servant, or worse a Dweller. I could barely get myself out of the dojo on my own to start with. What would have happened if I'd been caught?

What would have happened if that Dweller came back?

Without any powers, Mayu would be dead. And I would be too because I didn't know the first thing about what to do with them.

What would have happened to my family?

"What happens now?"

I feel Ayane padding around near my feet but he doesn't say anything. The other man does.

"Now, you recover. You're absolutely useless to the world, let alone yourself, in the state you're in. Rest, regain your strength. Once you do, we will begin."

"Begin what?" I lower my hand from my face.

"Begin your training. Just because you're an Opes doesn't mean you can't protect yourself. And without an active Divine Maiden watching over the city, you're the best we've got."