356. The 'Universal Flame's' blazing existence, hidden in the shadows.

[The Founding Flame: Arc 16]

A 'GINKEN' a weapon which consists itself out of 'Spirituality' and extend another human's power.

These weapons are created upon a Human's birth at which point they're then known as a warrior with a title of 'Spiritual Duelist'.

Over centuries over millions of 'GINKENS' have been born and over a consistent lifespam, these weapon have became known as a tradition that many people end up knowing, their existence requires a strong body, a strong mind and a well durable body and only if a human manages to reach these specific 'importances' the 'GINKEN' will reveal itself and connect upon another's wielder Aura, which is built out of 'Spiritual Force' or in simple ways 'Pressure'.

About 75% of the world's population remain alive with such weapon and 3% of them are known to have Demon Blood, the main source that embraces up a 'Half-Demon'.

In current timeline, a woman - a Godess and the enhancer of the first 'GINKEN' appearances named 'Zero' lurks around the World with 98% of the people unaware about her, and with it, people believe that the World's finally been cleared of Demons, however many of the early-arriving Demons are still standing among the World.

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - Guild (Bedrooms) - Monday, 3:00 p.m.]

A pile of papers were slammed in front of Tim's face, once towering up. "Shinkaku, please if you fill all of these papers, we need them as soon as they are ready, understandable?" Questioned Shin, when constantly piling them up, making Tim's eyes to become squiggly, while a sweat slowly began to drip down his forehead.

"They invole many needs that the 'Guild' has to make and these few papers were needed to be filled by everyone. It piled up due to you not being back here for almost two months." Tim heard another number of papers slamming on top when his body hopped a little, when Shin reached for his pen and leaned it next to the paper.

"... Uhhhh ... How many papers is this exactly?" Tim wondered, with his left eye flinching. "H-How many exactly is that?" But the moment that he anticipated a lower number, Shin spoke. "There's around 2450 papers, it is necessary for them to be filled."

"2450- W-What?! Are you out of your damn mind?!" Tim peeked from aside the corner. "So why don't Codey and Elliot have them? What have I done to deserve this?" Tim questioned, almost breaking out. "You have been unconsciouss, those two have already filled them in one day, now go on then, start the work." Claimed Shin, stepping aside when the door shut behind him and made a whirlwind, which spread the pile of papers on the floor.

"Are you shitting me?!?"

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - Guild (Cafeteria) - Monday, 6:00 p.m.]

The dinner was already ready, while everyone and the students were free to eat and also finally finished with their daily work. "Is Tim still filling the papers?" Elliot wondered, biting into the spaghetti. "Y-Yeah, it passed 3 hours, and he only filled like 20% of them." Claimed Codey, picking up the glass of juice and drinking it.

"Boy. I feel bad for him. He only wanted to provide 'Holy Arches' with aid..." Kanji sighed, and everyone looked at him. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's just gotta fill them and the moment he's done, he'll be free to do whatever he'll need." Ayuka spoke, when reaching for the salt. "Hopefully. But, he's probably going to finish at around midnight, possibly sooner." Claimed Codey, smiling.

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - Guild (Bedrooms) - Monday, 11:57 p.m.]

Ayuka exit the shower room with her sleeping kimono, once stepping toward the mirror and grabbing the fan, drying her hair, with her white sleeping kimono covering her thighs. "It's actually quite nice being back here, considering the 'Holy Arches' where there's not much to do, or get yourself ready." Ayuka spoke, when grabbing a brush and softly brushing her hair, which were hung in front of her left shoulder.

But at last, she stood up once untying her kimono and dressing her sleepwear, when walking toward the light switch, turning the lights off and walked for her bed, in which moment she sat down, and prepared the alarm, when suddenly the door opened.

"Waaaaaah?!" Her hair vibrated due to getting surprised when turning around, seeing Tim standing in the door. "T-Tim, w-what are you doing here?" She questioned, when Tim's eyes were extremely tired. "Food..." He walked toward Ayuka, like a zombie.

"H-Hey! W-What are you doing?" When Tim reached forward with his arms, making Ayuka feel embarrassed and uncomfortable, when covering her eyes and looking aside, when getting scared that he'd grab her, but right in that moment, she heard a flop when opening her right eye, followed up with her left, when looking at Tim, who passed out on her bed.

"Uh... T-This is not your bedroom... T-Tim? H-Hello?" She softly poked the top of his head, but in that instant he opened his mouth when biting into her arm. She made squiggly eyes and after a scream she quickly pulled the arm back. "What the heck?!" She called, backing toward the window, but while Tim bit into her blanket, he munched it like a dog. But in the next few seconds, he stopped munching and fell alseep, with his legs, hanging over the edge, seeing his abnormal actions, Ayuka blinked several times.

"You really hadn't have food for a while, huh..." Ayuka sighed, when walking toward the mirror and dropped her phone, when walking for the closet and grabbing a blanket and a pillow, once throwing them on the floor.

"May as well leave you then..." She sighed, closed the door and finally dropped onto her blanket.

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - Guild (Bedrooms) - Tuesday, 12:05 p.m.]

Tim was making a sleeping bubble, when it popped, making him to wake up, an saw the window in front of him. He sat up on the bed and looked around, blinking several times. "W-Wait, this is Ayuka's room. W-What am I doing here?" But right in that instance his face immediately became embarrassed when looking at her bad, seeing that he was covered by her blanket when he hopped up from the bed and looked to the front, seeing the tray near the mirror, when another blanket and a pillow on the floor.

"What the hell was I doing here, anyway?!" Tim wondered, when feeling uneasy, he hurried to call her, but there was no voice, when Tim stepped toward the tray, and noticed a paper, picking it up.

- Good morning, sleepy head, I've prepared you a morning meal for when you wake up, it shouldn't be cold since it was prepared a few minutes ago, bon appetit and dig in -

With a smiley face at the end, Tim turned the paper while trying to understand how he ended up in her bedroom. "Morning meal? W-Wait, what's the time anyway?!" Tim quickly looked at the alarm, when his eyes almost popped out. "12 past morning, how long have I've been sleeping in her bed?!" Tim wondered, when shaking his arms up and down, but at last he heard his stomach growling, and by sighing he couldn't wait any longer.

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - Guild (Living Room) - Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.]

Ayuka was sitting at the sofa, next to Sakami to where both of them were reading the same book, once Tim came stepping from the door of the door and seeing that them, instantly feeling embarrassed. "Oh! Tim, good morning!" Ayuka smiled, while Sakami raised her head next to her.

"Hope you slept well." She smiled, allowing Tim to speak.

"U-Um, Morning... Ayuka, would you explain to me just to why was I in your bedroom." When Sakami heard so, she felt heated in the face, when Ayuka giggled. "Oh, you've came to my bedroom alone, you fell asleep, asking for food at around midnight. And because you wouldn't move, even when I tried to wake you up, I just left you alone. Guess those papers really did tire you out, huh?" When Tim heard every single word, he was overwhelmingy embarrassed.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you! Please, just forgive me!" Tim called, while holding his hands together. "Don't worry, everything's all right. Just glad you managed to sleep at all." Ayuka dropped the book on the coffee table, when suddenly somebody dashed from hallway, sliding through the door and slamming his elbow into Tim's body, when squeezing him at the wall.

"Tim! Oh, morning, Ayuka, Sakami! Have you seen Tim?!" Codey wondered, when holding his phone, when Ayuka became unamused. "I don't think it's hard to miss him..." When she spoke, Codey looked to the left and noticed that Tim's body was squashed at the wall. "Sorry. Hey, Tim look at this! I found something that might interest you over the web!" The moment Codey claimed so, Tim looked at him in discomfort.

"What is this even supposed to be?" Questioned, Tim sighing. "Fire." But as Codey spoke so, everyone stayed quiet for another few of seconds. "Okay? So what do you want me for?!" Tim wondered, when Codey turned the screen into him. "I'm not sure, it may got to do something with mythology, but no idea. This fire is possible to inherit, I thought we might go visit the place and try to reach it, so that you could receive it." Smiled Codey, giggling.

"Are you joking me?! Why would I need that, if I already have what is basically it?" Questioned Tim, once Ayuka and Sakami stood up. "Hey, let me look at that." Ayuka said and then Codey confirmed and gave them the phone. "Basically, Tim. This is known as the 'Universal Flame', it's supposed to be hotter than your ones... If we get this huge boost to our units, we can almost guarantee safety for the people. Could help us out in the future, but there's this one problem-" Codey began to circle his fingers, while the rest looked at him.

"Which is?" The three raised their faces.

"We would kind of need to go visit the 'Underworld' again, this monument and the fountain are down there, so there's that. Which means, we would need to open up a portal again, somehow..." While he was saying and a bit shy, Tim became concerned. "I thought the 'Underworld' was destroyed!" Due to Ayuka not hearing the news either, she nodded. "Oh, right. You two have yet to hear the news, grandmaster Tomio mentioned something about it. Apparently the 'Underworld' hasn't been completely erased since many people believe there's another 'Demon God' alive, so I thought, we could go down there and give it to you. I'm sure it'd be possible, somehow, hihi." While Codey listened, Elliot bounced next to him.

"We really would need to go there, just for this one 'ability' or a 'skill'. Come on, Codey. There's no way we can get down there in the first place. We could ask Zero, but we don't have any communications with her." Tim explained, leaning onto the door handle. "I mean, maybe Ayuka could do it." Ayuka froze on the spot.

"Oh, hold on. You see, there's a promise I made, and mustn't be done. But- I came back to Earth for no other reasons, however... I'm not allowed to use anything that involves the 'Holy Bloodline'. So, I can't do much, sorry." Ayuka spoke, when Tim and the rest began to think.

"I forgot about that. But if you open up the portal, is that really usage of the 'Holy Bloodline' abilities? Not like you would use it to fight..." Codey claimed, holding his right shoulder. "It technically is, as it requires 'Holy's Spirituality' to activate it..." The moment she mentioned it, her friends became confused. "The hell is a 'Holy's Spirituality'... Seriously, girl. What have they taught you in such a short time?" Wondered Codey, as his arms were hanging down.

"They've told me about it, 'Possible Risks' how to control this ability, trained my physical capabilities, 'Holy's Bloodline' connections, 'Holy Bloodline's' drawbacks and-" But that moment, Tim reached for her mouth, when stopped her.

"Alright, alright. They told you a lot, no need to tell us everything." Tim spoke, when softly moved his hands, in which moment Ayuka blinked twice. "Well, alright..."

"Well, either way. We're doing this and I don't care. There's no way around it, got it." Codey spoke, being confident.

"... If you know a solution, sure ... but can we really be sure that I'd be able to control it?"

To be continued...