The unknown object was on the move

"Where are we going?" Axis asked.

"We're leaving," I replied, "we're going back to Eskor."

"You mean right now?" his eyes widened.

"Is that a problem?" I inquired, "I thought it was an emergency."

"No, no, it is! The sooner the better! I'm not sure when they'll leave after all, but," Axis marked a pause, looking at me, "won't you get into trouble if you leave like that?"

I squinted my eyes at the young boy. He had so desperately tried to convince me to help him I had not expected him to worry about things like this.

"I will," I told him.

"Huh?! I-I thought so…"

As the boy's voice fell silent, I gave him a half smile.

"Which is exactly why we're not leaving through the main gate," I explained.

"Cotton is leading us to where the barrier is the weakest. If we leave the Academy there, no one will know about it."

"What about your classes?" Axis inquired. "Won't people notice it if you're gone?"

"It's the weekend, Axis," I pointed out. "And we'll be back before Monday."

"You think so?"

I hope so. The Agraal kingdom wasn't located that far away from the Academy. In fact, it was one of the closest nations. However, while the kingdom had a vast territory, most of it was uninhabitable. From the steep lands to the sloughts and dense forests, only a very small part of the entire territory had been converted into settlement lands, so travelling across the kingdom was not an easy task. A few roads had been built for carriages and horses, but most of them simply skirted the inhospitable lands.

With so many detours, it was only natural that a journey there would take at least two weeks. It was even longer than a journey to another, further kingdom. However, I don't intend to use one of those landscaped roads. We won't be taking any detours, we will go in a straight line towards the capital. Besides, we won't be going by carriage. We'll go by unicorn. It can not only go through steep paths, it is also much faster. Much, much faster. Axis said it himself. He took less than a day to arrive here. So if I feed the magical beast some of my mana, it should take even less time. That is still a risky bet, though. I don't know how much time it'll take me to find Axis' parents, so it is best to leave as soon as possible.

"Sorry," the boy muttered as he did not receive a confirmation from me.

"It's fine," I told him. "I needed to go home anyway."

Yoko's letter was really concerning me. I wanted to use this opportunity to make sure mom was alright, and it wouldn't hurt to go check on the Whitehearts either.

As we reached the edge of the school grounds, the forest became thicker. It was hard to notice the metal fences amidst all those bushes and trees, but they were here.

"How are we going to go past these?" Axis worried.

"We jump."

The boy drew his head backwards at my unreasonable reply. The fences were really high, at least two meters tall. It was unthinkable for a normal human being to jump above, not to mention that if they failed, they could easily impale themselves on its spiked railings. That's what he thought, at least, until Cotton proved him otherwise.

With a swift jump, the fox girl bounced back on a tree trunk above the railings, landing on the other side of the fences with ease. Naturally, I wasn't going to let Axis' try that. Without leaving him the time to be impressed, I lifted the boy up in the air with wind magic and tossed him next to Cotton, before joining them in turn. Disoriented at first, Axis quickly understood that whatever happened, it was my doing, as he saw me levitating right after him.

We were now officially no longer in the school grounds.

Cottontail looked around her, seemingly looking for something. When she finally found it, she extended her arm in front of her.

"It's here," she said, as the atmosphere seemed to deform itself at the touch of her hand.

The fox girl took a step forward, disappearing into the invisible wall.

So this is where the barrier's weakest point is, huh?

"Let's go," I told Axis.

Intimidated by the unknown magic, the boy still gave me a nod. To make sure he wouldn't get lost behind, I took his hand before following Cotton through the barrier. Maybe I'm getting used to it, but it wasn't as bad as when I first experienced it. A sudden gust of wind simply blew hot as the air around me changed. I could now see Cotton again. On the other hand, turning back, I could no longer see the Academy.

Escape successful.

Poorly tolerating the sudden change of atmosphere, Axis threw up a little.

"I'm okay..." the boy muttered, once his retchings subsided.

I extended my hand in front of me for him to take it and helped him up. Axis was still a bit shaken when he realized the scenery around him changed.

"Do you recognize this place?" I inquired.

The boy hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

He probably won't be able to guide us to Harri's unicorn then. Well, that's fine. It's a magical beast after all. And if there is one way to attract a magical beast, it's mana.

I leaked out a bit of my magical power, inviting the legendary beast to come over. The unicorn wasn't the only magical beast around, so I made sure not to let too much of my mana flow out. I didn't want to attract all the monsters of the area after all, I only wanted Harri's unicorn. Considering its rank, I had no doubt it would be the first one to react to my mana. It was the mount of an Original God after all, it was used to divine magical power.

As I had expected, after only a couple of minutes, the unicorn appeared before us. The stallion emerged from behind a tree, its white coat shining in the darkness and its pinkish mane flowing in the air like flames. It was ridiculously sparkly, as glossy as silk. I'm not an expert when it comes to equines so I can hardly distinguish different horses, but I'm pretty sure this is the same unicorn I saw with Harri when I first met him. It's hard to forget such flashiness after all. I had hoped it would be a different one… I repeat, but this one looks like Barbie's horse.

Axis, who had completely recovered from his vertigos, widened his eyes at the sigh of the magical beast.

"How…?"

"I called it," I explained, before he could finish his sentence. "That's the unicorn who brought you here, right?"

The boy nodded.

"Alright, get on."

The stallion was by no means small in size, and with no saddle or bridle to help him, Axis wouldn't have been able to get on it if not for my help. Using magic, I lifted the boy in the air, just enough so that he could climb on the unicorn and grab its mane. Once I made sure he was properly settled, I turned to Cotton.

"Can you transform back into a fox?" I asked.

"Of course."

There was no way I could leave Cottontail behind. She just arrived and seeing how comfortable she is with wearing clothes, she is clearly not familiar with human customs. Besides, it may be because of the contract, but she already seems quite dependant on me. However, if I wanted to bring her along, she needed to become smaller. Cotton wasn't that big. She was the size of an average ten years old child, barely smaller than me. However, if the three of us are going to mount the unicorn, we better lighten its load as much as possible. It'll also make the journey more comfortable as we won't be all cramped on the magical beast.

According to my request, the fox girl shrank back to her fox form. I picked her up in my arms as Axis' jaw dropped on the floor.

"Huh?! How…?"

This time, there was no need for me to interrupt him as he cut his question short himself. At this point, he's probably getting used to abnormalities anyway. He's already seen a unicorn, how much more shocking can it be to see someone transform?

Letting the boy recover from his surprise, I joined him on the unicorn. I placed Cottontail between us, to make sure she wouldn't fall off. The little fox comfortably settled in, snuggling against me.

Yeah, she's adorable. Is this what it is like to have a pet? I've always wanted one. Although it wasn't exactly planned, I don't regret forming a [Contract] with her.

"Are you ready?" I asked Axis, who still had troubles to adapt himself.

"Yeah..." he mumbled in hesitation.

"Alright, let's go."

The magical beast erupted into a sprint as I supplied it with mana. I had expected its sudden start, but it was still more brutal than I thought. I had to hold on its mane very tightly so that I wouldn't fall off, and the fact that I had never ridden a horse before didn't help me stay still. Axis seemed much more comfortable than me.

As the thundering sounds of its hooves broke the silence of the forest, the unicorn galloped through the trees at breakneck speed. It was almost unreal how easily it advanced into the woodland, seemingly not minding the uneven earth. In no time at all, it had reached the high plains. Without any more obstructions on its path, it became even faster. I had to create an air shield so as to not let the wind whip our face.

Did Axis simply bear with it on his way here?

I didn't really know how to interpret a horse's body language, but its ears flat back and its hooves tearing into the barren earth, the unicorn seemed happy to have the landscape streaming past, as it let small snorts out his nostrils. I wasn't sure if it was going in the right direction though. It just started racing as soon as I gave it mana, before I could even direct it. It was most likely running back to Harri, but I needed to make sure of that. We can't get lost in the middle of nowhere after all.

[Map].

I inspected the map who just appeared before me, and the unicorn was indeed bringing us back to Eskor. And it was doing so very fast. If it keeps up at this pace, we'll probably arrive in a few hours.

As I studied the map more carefully, however, trying to calculate precisely how long it would take us to reach the capital, something suddenly caught my attention.

In the northern continent, there was a marker, a cross. It indicated the emplacement of the unknown object which appeared a few weeks ago, crashing the [World System]. It had been there for quite a while now, so seeing it didn't surprise me. No. What surprised me was its emplacement. So far, it had stayed at the exact place, somewhere in the middle of the North Continent. But now, it was further in the south.

The unknown object was on the move.