Chapter 4 - A Sudden Reunion

I opened my eyes once more as I looked over the ceiling.

"What a nightmare…"

After the events at Rocheforte Capital, we came back into HQ just yesterday, now, I still have to work on the Hollow Armor.

Prototype as it may be, it may unlock some potential battle suits for us, since I was thoroughly beaten by the second Angel, I intend to get my revenge by creating a powerful suit that could help me with it.

Yeah, and my hair wasn't originally white, it was the price that I got for trying to use Vulcan's zeroth ability, my body couldn't handle the power.

I faced a certain steel door, on the right-hand wall was the input button, I put over the passcode and with a clink the steel door swiped open.

It was my lab, or rather, my workshop, a bunch of unfinished weapons lay on the desk with labels of the date when I wanted them finished, I'm pretty lazy am I.

Then on the far wall on the right, wall mounted computer screens were displayed with the simulations of the projects, then on the boards was a blue print of the satellite communication array that I was still finishing before the battle against the 2nd angel, the cabinet beside the board was filled with rolled-up blue prints of the finished projects.

Above the ceiling was the holographic projector that I made for virtual fitting of the weapons or other projects. One year into the Guardian Force and I had advanced this much technology into this world, I'm almost happy that I was betrayed, almost, I still hate her, I want to kill her! I should've shot her face on the castle when I had the chance.

I walked over the door leading to the warehouse where the satellites were on stand-by.

Opening it, I saw them, three satellites, solar panels were folded into the body of the machines, they were 10 meters in height, painted in white, and I put over my insignia, my darkish face winking with a peace sign. With these three launched up in the atmosphere, we'll be able to establish limitless range communication along the branches of the guardian force.

On the corner of the large warehouse, if I remember, it was another unfinished satellite project that I put on hold for some reason. I went back to the blueprint cabinet to take a look at it.

Yeah, that was it! The lunar satellite plans! I made it in hopes of creating a Gundam frame in this world, then I'll put up the lunar satellite which was based on the Gundam X's weapon.

"That's it!!!"

A great inspiration washed over me, I gotta start the planning! For now, I'll use the Hallow Armor as a base, then, I'll wing it over and start improving the next generations of battle suits.

Within the next few days, I locked myself up in the workshop working on the Hallow Armor.

Rika Akiyama, 25 years old. A High School Teacher.

For her, being a teacher wasn't just about teaching a subject to her students and making sure they kept their grades and their appearances up. Of course, those things were important as well, but what Rika valued more than anything was being there for her students. More concretely, that meant she wanted to be someone outside of their family that her students could rely on whenever they were in trouble.

Regardless, it was both her creed and her pride to be someone other than their parents that the students could rely on. If she couldn't uphold that principle, then she had no right to call herself a teacher.

Hence why the current situation was one Rika was extremely displeased with. not only had they suddenly been thrust into a different world, while she was still reeling from the shock of such an incomprehensible event, it was her student that had calmed everyone down. Then before she knew it, her precious students had begun preparing for a war despite their tender age.

No matter how she tried to persuade them, the students had already been swept up by the current created from their own determination. Her pleas fell on deaf ears, so they marched off to battle despite her protests.

If I can't stop them, then I'll at least be there to fight by their side! But even that hope of hers had been crushed when she discovered her job was useless in combat. Instead, because of how rare and valuable her skills were, she was ordered to go to various towns to improve their farming conditions and create new plots of arable land. She tried to argue back, but both her precious students and this world's priests urged her to go. And because she couldn't deny the fact that she was the only one capable of doing the job, she ended up reluctantly agreeing.

She spent her days fretting over her students, knowing she was powerless to help. Escorted by the church's templar knights and the Rocheforte Kingdom's imperial guard, she traveled to various towns and undeveloped areas to improve their soil or create new tracts of farmland. Then, when she was finally able to return, she learned that one of her students had been branded a criminal and she could not do a thing to stop it.

Rika blamed herself for not insisting or even trying to convince them. She had gone on about her lofty ideals for what a teacher should aspire to, but in the end hadn't she just let herself get swept up by the flow?

Then a few months after the incident, the students fell in a trap, they were forced to open their eyes in reality. She saw how some of the students had become too traumatized to continue fighting, and that many of the nobles and priests were trying to cajole them back onto the battlefield anyway. She swore to herself that she wouldn't ever let herself get swept up by the flow again, and stood up to the nobles and priests. She used her unique position as a bargaining chip, which served her well as both a sword and a shield when it came to negotiating, and demanded that the kingdom stop pestering her students to fight.

In the end, she was successful. The priests and nobles stopped pressuring the students to return to battle.

Ironically, however, her desperate struggle for their sake only endeared her to the students even more. And while none of them would ever return to the Scarlet Labyrinth again, a good deal of them decided to gather their courage once more and at least guard Rika while she ran around the country fixing its land.

The students wanted to shake off the shackles of fear that had chained them down for so long, so it wasn't solely because Rika had fought on their behalf.

Rika understood this as well, and she was at least glad that some of the students were beginning to overcome their fear and step out of the palace once more.

But at the same time, she didn't want to let them put themselves in danger, which was why she tried to stop them from coming along with arguments like "You shouldn't have to fight," and "It's okay, the knights will protect me," among others. However, her protests only served to fire up the students even more, and they all exclaimed "We'll be the ones to protect you, Ai-chan," in unison.

In the end, she was overwhelmed by their enthusiasm, so she ended up getting dragged into their pace once more.

Incidentally, the knights assigned to guard Rika had also tried to convince the students to remain at the castle, but the students hadn't taken kindly to that at all. There was a reason the students mistrusted the knights. And that reason could be summed up in a single sentence.

"Like hell we're going to let some random nobody, take Ri-chan from us!" The students were more worried about the knights assigned to guard Rika than they were about meeting bandits or monsters on the road. Their fears weren't entirely baseless. Every knight assigned to Rika was oddly good-looking. And in truth, the kingdom was hoping to tie Rika down to their country, so the knights really were a trap. The student that had figured that out had shared the information with everyone else, which was why they'd formed a "Protect Ai-chan from the hot guy troop" defense force.

But the students had made one grave miscalculation. And that was that the hunters had become the hunted. This was what they had told the students when they'd tried to persuade them to stay home:

Templar Knights Commander, Arthur Davis: "Don't worry. I'll protect Rika. I promise you; I won't let even a hair on her head be harmed. After all, she's my ang— Er, my everything."

Templar Knights Vice Commander, Mark Dominion: "I'm prepared to give my all for Rika-san. Hell, I'd even throw away my faith for her if I had to. So, don't worry, we'll keep her safe."

Imperial Guard Josh Augustus: "Meeting Rika-chan must have been fate. How could I possibly let my fated partner die?"

Imperial Guard Conner Jean "I swear on my life that I will keep her safe. Not as a member of the Imperial Guard, but as a man."

At that moment, the students had realized their mistake. What on earth happened!? Is it just me or are they the ones that fell for her instead!? They unanimously thought things along those lines.

Originally, they had intended to keep Rika from falling for one of the knights, but after hearing how they'd all fallen head over heels for her, their goal had shifted to a protective desire to keep Rika safe from the knights' advances.

But the students couldn't help but wonder... just what had happened between Rika and the knights for them to become like this? That was too long a story to mention, but suffice to say Rika's natural sincerity, cuteness, and tendency to fall flat on her face whenever she tried to do something played a large role in why the knights were now smitten with her. The tales of Rika's adventures with her merry band of knights were numerous enough to fill a whole book on their own... Quite a bit happened. Quite a bit.

Thus, the students had now been separated into three groups. The hero's group that continued fighting through the labyrinth in order to gain experience for the war to come, the group that chose to remain in the castle, and now the group that would serve as Rika's bodyguards.

The de facto leader of "Protect Ri-chan from the hot guy troop," henceforth called "Ri-chan's bodyguards," was Rin Sonohara. Her friends, Ranko Shibuya and Airi Sakura, along with Tetsuo Akaashi and his friends Nao Nobuaki, Akito Nimura, and Riku Yukitoshi, made up the entirety of their seven-person group. Many of them still hadn't fully recovered from their trauma yet.

It was about a year since the summoning event of their lives.

Currently, Rika's group was en route to the lakeside village of Mizushima so they could improve the soil in the area. Their carriage rattled noisily as it plodded down the bumpy road, each pebble and pothole adding another bruise to the students' rumps.

"Are you feeling alright, Rika? If you ever get tired just say so. We can stop for a break anytime."

"I'm fine, Arthur-san. Besides, we just stopped a few minutes ago. I'm not so weak that I'd get tired that quickly."

Arthur was fretting over Rika, but she seemed to be doing just fine. The inside of the carriage they were in was quite spacious, so it wasn't as rough a ride as it could have been.

"Fufu, the captain's always clucking over you like a mother hen, isn't he, Rika-san? Though up until recently a single day's travel was enough to leave you completely exhausted, so I suppose his concerns aren't totally unfounded... I'm a little worried about you myself, honestly. Whenever you get tired, just let us know."

"I'm terribly sorry for causing you so much trouble last time. That was my first trip in a horse-drawn carriage, and... well, I'm used to it now, so it should be fine. Thank you for worrying about me though, Conner-san."

Rika blushed slightly in embarrassment as she thought back to what had happened the first time she'd ridden in a carriage. Conner fidgeted restlessly for a moment before surreptitiously trying to grab Rika's hand. However, a cough accompanied by a stern glare from one of the students stopped him short.

More specifically, from Rin Sonohara, who was sitting diagonally across from Rika.

Since Rin and the others were still technically "Heroes of Ouranos," the knights had prepared a separate carriage for all of them, but they'd insisted on riding with Rika. They could hardly leave her alone in a carriage full of handsome men after all.

Rin's long hair and sharp features made the glare all the more intimidating. She hadn't been a delinquent back in Japan. In fact, she had been rather diligent student with an unexpected interest in fashion, but her blunt personality had often led her to be misunderstood by others. And she still cut quite the imposing figure with her arms and legs crossed and her eyebrows furrowed. Enough of one that Akaashi averted his gaze, despite the fact that her glare wasn't directed at him.

There were eight people in total inside the carriage. Most of the platoon of knights was riding outside, but the commander and vice commander had argued earlier that they should be riding in the carriage with Rika. A few of the other knights made up pretexts to sit with Rika as well. It seemed none of them wanted to be away from her for even a second.

"Oh my, what an angry glare. A beautiful face like yours shouldn't be marred by such a grim countenance." Connor smiled handsomely at Rin, his teeth dazzling a brilliant white. It was a smile radiant enough to make any normal maiden blush, but Rin only looked at him like he was a particularly putrid pile of trash.

"Ri-chan-sensei's right here and you have the nerve to call another girl cute? Ri-chan-sensei, this guy's obviously a womanizer. Make sure you're careful around him, okay?"

Rika turned the conversation into an opportunity to drive her point home. As far as Rin was concerned, someone who'd call another girl cute when he was in the presence of the woman, he'd fallen for couldn't be any good. Worse, even though they knew it was their duty to seduce Rika, they still used their good looks to flirt around with other girls. In Rin's eyes, they were just a bunch of playboys.

"S-Sonohara-san, there's no need to be so antagonistic. And I'm happy that you're finally calling me Sensei, but could you please drop the chan part? Isn't Rika-sensei good enough?" 

"No. The Ri-chan part is important, Ri-chan-sensei. The students are all in agreement on this."

"I-I don't understand, why? And all of the students agreed to this? Is this what the current generation of students really think? I need to try harder to understand you guys... I must become a teacher who's respected and relied on by the students!"

Rika's self-directed pep talk was so adorable that Rin and Conner momentarily forgot their quarrel. Rika herself didn't seem to realize it was because of moments like these that her students all called her "Ri-chan." The road to becoming a respected teacher looked to be a long one.

Four days after that particular incident...

Even Rika had realized that the knights' aggressive advances must have had something to do with the church or the king's schemes, so she ignored them more often than not. Unfortunately, because of this she failed to realize that a portion of them had actually fallen in love with her for real. In the scant four days it had taken for them to reach Mizushima, there had been an untold number of cycles where one of the knights would try and profess their love, find themselves being glared at by Rin and the others, and then the whole situation diffusing because of something Rika said.

The party began hammering out a plan for fixing Mizushima's soil situation while they rested in the town's inn. Needless to say, even the simple act of formulating a plan gave rise to multiple situations that would have been perfectly at home in a romantic comedy.

Then, when Rika finally got started, rumors of the "Rika the Fertility Goddess" began to spread in the city of Mizushima as well, causing Rika no end of embarrassment. But there was a certain incident that put all of those things in the back of her mind. One of her students disappeared.

Rika began searching frantically for her precious student. Not knowing that a shocking reunion awaited her. A reunion that would end in a conclusion no one wished for.

Asher Guren, Synergist

After a week worth of sleepless nights, missed lunch and dinner, I'm almost dying in the workshop now.

After a quick knock at the door, our resident maid and Will's assistant, the Silver Haired Maid, Bella walked inside the work shop and found my unmoving corpse.

"B-Bella…" I said weakly "What brought you here…?"

"Ah… Asher-sama" she put up a troubled face "Why would you lock yourself in the workshop, at least eat, also you need a bath"

After pointing out a dozen of flaws in my habits and adding some insults in it, she forced me to take a bath and eat lunch which I wolfed down the food much faster than thunder.

"Bella, what's wrong? It's quite rare for you to come and take care of me"

"Yes, that is quite right, however, Master William is concerned for your well-being, both Master Hime and Stella are worried and said that you were ignoring them"

Did I? I can't remember whether they came to the workshop or not. Is that why she resorted to forceful methods?

"I understand your enthusiasm for acquiring the Divine Relic, but please look out for yourself, at this rate you will die in overwork"

"I'll keep it in mind. Oh yeah! I need to make a new batch of Spider Webs; I'm almost running out"

"Asher-sama!"

"!!!"

I flinched over by her forced voice, I guess, it was considered work too…

"sorry…"

Bella gave me a warm smile afterwards "As long as you understand"

"Oh! He's alive!"

Stella walked in the dining room with an obnoxious comment, did they considered me dead after not showing up for a few days?

"Don't write me off dead already, I'm still planning on going home!"

"Where? Back to your world?" Stella sat down on the chair beside me, Bella then prepared her some tea.

"Why don't you just stay here? Its fun being in this world, right? If you stay, who knows, maybe we can get married…"

She seemed to caught on what she was saying by now, she turned red and flailed about like the idiot she usually is.

"AH!! I'm not saying we should get married or anything!! But everyone knows that you're still a single unattractive virgin and all! It's no surprise that no one would want to marry you, so, in that matter, you better be grateful cause I'm kind enough to accept you in marriage!"

"I'll punch you"

Not only did she fail on denying her not so secret attraction towards me, but she also added insults straight on my face like usual.

"You two, you're at it again!" Captain walked in the room, again with a problematic expression "Mr. Will is calling us, right now"

"Is it a new mission?" I asked

Captain nodded

"EH!? Another one? We just came back!"

She always whines with just about everything.

"Those who don't work…"

"EH?!"

With the Captain's quiet angry smile Stella was forced to accept the mission. Hah, this girl better gave up on being a lazy idiot, she's got nothing to my beautiful Captain.

"A Ruin?" Stella asked

"Yes. Our intelligence had gathered some information about clues leading to a ruin"

After being called out to the meeting room, Will started our briefing about a potential ruin that had been found somewhere.

"How reliable is it?" I asked

"50 percent, we weren't able to confirm the location because monsters have overrun the vicinity"

So, it's not completely reliable, still it's much better to find another Divine Key.

"Houkai?"

Will shook his head, it seems the monsters weren't confirmed whether it was the Houkai or regular Monsters.

"the location of the ruins is in the mountain ranges near the lakeside town of Mizushima. I want the third squad to investigate the ruins and secure the divine key sealed away inside the ruins"

The three of us saluted crisply at Will and was about to leave but I forgot to tell him something.

"Will, the Communication satellites, they're ready for launch"

Will smiled at my news "Understood, I'll prepare the launch site immediately, we'll begin the launch within the week"

I nodded at him. With the satellites up in the atmosphere, we'll be able to establish better communication. After all, Information is the most important asset of war.

"The Aircraft is waiting for you three, also about the monsters…"

"Yeah, yeah, we know." I said "Our mission is to protect the world, right?"

Hearing my answer, Will relaxed on his chair with a weak smile.

"You're really becoming a good leader…"

"Who said I'm a leader? I'm just a Synergist"

For this time, it is I… yeah, I piloted the aircraft this time. Considering that this mission is to retrieve a Divine Key, there's no need to hold back.

"So, what's the plan?" Stella asked.

"For now, let's fly over the mountains and see if there are any signs of a Ruin"

"Roger" I replied.

Then again, flying at Mach 1 was basically like looking through a video with 32x forward speed, so I highly doubt that they'd see anything.

After a while, three hours of scouting mission, we've seen barely anything but trees.

"Ah… I'm getting tired of trees!"

Like usual, Stella was the first to complain.

It would be great if we had other instruments to look for the ruins, unfortunately radar isn't helpful in ground search. Sonar isn't even functional on ground.

"Let's take a break for now, Ash, could you land somewhere near the town?"

"Roger" I said "The optical camouflage should be enough to hide the aircraft in plain sight"

After finding a suitable landing area, I opened the back ramp of the jet and set up the camouflage, then I got out, as long as I have the key, we'll be able to find it.

"A Captain wait for a moment, just let me launch this"

I was holding a three-foot long rectangular box.

"What's that?"

"L.A.O.S. with this we'll be able to do a search even on break"

"Ahaha!! As expected of our synergist! Good job!"

"Weren't you calling me stupid the other day?"

Stella step back in displeasure, captain simply smiled at our light banter, anyway, I pulled out the wings of the L.A.O.S. I pushed the button turning it on and gave it a push, the thrusters activated and it lunched up.

L.A.O.S. simply stands for Low Atmospheric Observation Satellite. Yeah, my acronym is good at this one, anyway, it will transmit a live feed on the control terminal that I have, it runs on solar energy, so as long as there's a sun it would run efficiently.

Funny cause I could completely use magic to solve its problem by using levitation magic, but as a man of science, I refuse to back down and rely on magic, though I did rely on them on a few inventions of mine.

"Now, we just have to wait for it"

We went for the town, surprisingly, it had pleasant looking buildings, although the downside was that there were no walls surrounding the town, but I guess that also part of the town's appeal as a tourist spot.

Since, this town was still part of the Rocheforte kingdom, I pulled up my hood to cover up my hair, people might recognize me in anyway, but I guess one year had passed, maybe they already forgot about the criminal hero…

It was quite hot for me today, even though this was a lakeside town, but I guess part of it was because I'm wearing a black jacket.

"What happened to the brown one?" Stella noticed that I wasn't using the usual jacket that I had. But there was a reason to it.

"It got burnt when a part of the Hallow Armor's new armament exploded"

"Hmm… well, I think that black one suits you more"

That was an unusual compliment, normally she'd teased the hell out of me.

We worked our way through the town a bit of sightseeing until Stella's stomach started growling like a lion.

The bell clanged loudly as I opened the door on the inn. The locals said this was the best inn there is in town, the Undine Inn.

The first floor of the inn served as a pub, and it apparently serve some rice dishes, which was pretty nostalgic. While the interior wasn't exactly ostentatious, it was evident that a great amount of detail had gone into decorating, and the magnificent tables and bar counter gave the room a dignified atmosphere. There was a modest yet tasteful chandelier hanging from the ceiling, adding a slightly elegant touch to the room.

"Ah… I'm hungry…"

"Hey, Stella would you quit whining every five minutes? Captain and I are also hungry so we know"

"Now, now, Ash, Stella is a growing girl after all, eating just about every time is a good thing"

"Ah!! Captain! I'm not eating every five minutes also I don't want to get fat!"

I imagined the look if Stella ever got fat.

"Oh, it wasn't bad, Stella, why don't you gain some weight, maybe it will give some boost on your modest chest"

Stella quickly made an effort to hide her chest.

"Perv! Just you wait! Once my breast got big, I'll suffocate you in it!"

"Ho~ that's quite an honor, dying in the bosom of a woman is much better than being mangled by a monster"

"DAH!!!!!"

Stella squealed in frustration; you're not throwing me off my game anymore girl! I'm more than prepared!

"You two, would you quit it, we're disturbing other people"

We sat down the chair at the corner of the pub, it's been a while since I've eaten something with rice, as a Japanese, it's got to be rice!

Now, Good Reader, you might be wondering why I have a Western First name but I have a Japanese last name, my mother was actually a foreigner who married my dad, it was her choice to give me such a unique name.

Meanwhile, after I've placed my order, I took out the control device of the L.A.O.S and started looking for some traces on the ruins, if I don't find something, I'm gonna have to write up an algorithm for searching the ruins.

"Any clues?" Captain asked.

"No, not yet. We might be stuck here for a while searching for that ruins"

"Couldn't you use the Void Archives to search for the ruins that once stood here?"

As usual, Stella would just throw mindless suggestions at us.

"Listen here, just because I possess the knowledge of the previous era doesn't mean I can easily solve anything, first of all that ruin is underground, and we're in the present era, the name might have changed, so if I try to search it, I'd just end up wasting my scarce mana pool into the Void Archive"

After a while, our food had finally arrived, this is it!! Curry!!!

"I've missed this so much!!"

"Ash, you're tearing up" Captain commented.

Stella wolfed down the curry without regards for the surrounding, soon enough, someone came to our table with a shocked expression.

"Guren-kun!"

She stood only 140 centimeters tall, with a baby face and her hair kept in a neat bob cut. I can clearly remember who she was, Rika Akiyama, my social studies teacher, but why is she here? No! no! I cut off everything from those bastards!

"You know her?" Stella quietly asked

I shook my head; I did my best to ignore her and focus on my food.

"Guren-kun… it's really you, right? You're back! You're alive… you're still alive…"

"Uh no, you must have mistaken me for someone else. Bye"

This was a goddamned miraculous reunion with my teacher, so they thought I was dead, I think that's a good judgement considering the said student had gone "criminal".

Tears sprung from Ri-chan's eyes. "What were you doing all this time? What happened to you? I'm so glad you're alright!"

"I'm sorry, but who are you? Sure, my name is Guren, but do by any chance I may know you?"

I just have to keep playing dumb in this, otherwise she'll pester me in everything, I still have a mountain of things I have to do, I can't have my teacher and classmates meddle with my life again after they so gratefully throw me into a lion's den.

"Wait just one minute! It's definitely you, isn't it? Guren-kun? Why are you playing dumb! There's no way you could be anyone else!"

"No, really, I have an amnesia recently, I don't remember you or anyone else, prior to now, this is our first meeting miss"

"Eh? Didn't you just regained fragments of your memory- ah!!!! Blood!!"

Before Stella could do further damage, I threw the fork aimed at her forehead which bled magnificently

"Ah! See, you're trying to play dumb! You do remember me!!"

Ri-chan grabbed both my arms as she pressed for answers. It seems like Ri-chan caught on, her hearing is much better than a normal person, it's all because of that loud mouth!

"Tch!"

"Did you just click your tongue!?"

It seemed like my fate is already sealed at this point, my head proposed three choices at this point, "Run Away", "Keep playing dumb", or "Kidnap Ri-chan"

Honestly, the last part was a bit troublesome, the first two probably won't work either considering how persistent this teacher is.

Fortunately, my beautiful goddess came into my rescue. Not the loud mouth glutton, but the caring onee-sama, Hime walked over, wrapped me in a gentle embrace, and tried to pull me off Ri-chan's grip. The knights that was with Ri-chan glared daggers at my goddess.

"Please, get off, you're bothering my subordinate"

"Wh-Who're you? I'm in the middle of a very important discussion with my student…"

"Then, please calm down first"

Ri-chan faltered a little in the face of Captain's stare. There was a large margin of height difference. It would've looked like a mother scolding a little girl, Ri-chan always acted like she was much younger than she was, while Captain always carried herself in elegance and maturity.

Trying to maintain some semblance of dignity, Rika straightened her back and squared her shoulders… but the effect was less than impressive. Seeing this, the Captain backed down and went back to her seat as she pulled off the embedded fork on Stella's head.

"Sorry, you're right. I let myself get a bit worked up. Anyway, it really is you, right, Guren-kun?" Ri-chan spoke quietly, but with conviction. Her gaze was focused solely on me.

I guess this is checkmate, huh. I scratched my head, sighed and told her the truth.

"Yeah, I'm unfortunately still alive"

"It's really, really you… you were alive"

I just shrugged my shoulder as I went back to eating, meanwhile, Captain was wrapping a bandage over Stella's forehead.

"After you guys abandoned me and threw me out in the shitty world, I remained alive fighting for my way home"

"Thank god. Thank god you're alive"

Well, I guess, I owe Ri-chan some, she did try to speak up when I was being judged.

"Ash, are these your friends from your old world?"

I shook my head "Miss, you idiot. I only had one friend back there"

Stella tilted her head in confusion.

"Listen, if we were friends, would you throw me in a den of lions?"

"No, I'm not that kind of person" Stella said "Would you?"

"If it's you, without question"

"AHH!!! Captain! Ash is being mean again!"

"Quite the big words, don't you think Guren?"

I looked over the one who said it, it was Nobuaki, this one had the guts to speak up, huh. Quite surprising.

"Trying to assault someone then playing the victim"

"Nobuaki-kun!" Ri-chan tried to stop him but it was already done, he'd said what he wants.

Captain and Stella put up confused looks, of course, they would, I haven't told them anything about my circumstances after all.

"Ash… what is he saying?"

"Oh, you don't know?" He said, his voice got louder "he tried to sexually assault one of his classmates, don't you know?"

This guy just runs his mouth whenever he wants huh!

"You two should be careful, he can't control his sexual drive after all"

I stood up and faced Nobuaki, the knights put their hands over their swords and was ready to apprehend me if I try something. Nobuaki faced me confidently, he thinks I'm still the same after a year, huh?

"What? You wanna fight?"

"Move" I said quietly

"Heh, scared?" He mocked

"Move!" I yelled

He didn't move. I really hate them, all of them would just run their mouths whenever they want without even listening to my story.

I grabbed Nobuaki's collar and belt, kicked his feet off balance and let him spun hitting the ground in a painful thud. The knights drew their blades, the other students stood up in alert, but I was faster. I drew one of the Vulcans and pointed it at Nobuaki.

"Do anything funny! And I'll kill him and massacre everyone in this room!"

I roared, Captain and Stella stood up in panic.

"Ash! Put down Vulcan! That's an order!"

Captain yelled.

I looked once more at their terrified looks, Ri-chan was unable to say anything.

"Even if I try to explain myself, no one would listen…" I said coldly and turned to Ri-chan. "Sensei, the student you cared about, that Asher Guren have already died months ago. This is the me now, you should give up on taking me back"

"Guren! Put away Vulcan" Captain ordered once more.

"I'll be in the Aircraft if you need me, Captain"

I put back Vulcan on my holster and walked out of the inn. Ri-chan tried to call me out but I didn't turn back.

I don't want to be anywhere near them anymore, I need to find that Key fast and find my way home.

Rika Akiyama, Teacher

After the incident, Asher left the Inn, Stella and Hime followed him then.

Tetsuo and Akito helped Nao back up.

"What's with that guy? Thinking that he's some big shot"

"Nobuaki-kun!" Rika called out sternly "You gone far over the line!"

"But Sensei! I'm just stating the truth!"

"We don't even know if Guren-kun really did something like that!"

Ranko and Airi sat down trembling in fear, just as the three other boys sat down, all the strength from their legs was sapped out. Asher displayed a different kind of bloodlust than regular monsters. It reminded them of the day they almost die in the Labyrinth. Only Rin seemed to have composure at the situation, her gaze at the food was a mixture of confusion and a hint of sadness.

"He… That one had turned to serve the darkness" Ranko muttered.

"Who knew that he'd have that much hatred towards us…" Airi said.

"I… I still haven't thanked him from last time…" Rin muttered.

Rin's conflicted expression stemmed from the time Asher helped her defend against a Rihorn. Unlike the others, who had hated him, she'd been worried that he still hadn't thanked him for that time, to top it off the guilt that she didn't try to listen to his story.

"Sonohara-san…" Rika didn't know what else to say to her.

She had been too shaken by the rapid pace with which events had unfolded, and Asher's drastic change to be able to stop him from leaving. Rika wasn't sure what she could say that would reach Asher now.

Their food had long since gone cold, but no one had any appetite now anyway. Everyone stared at the plates of cold food, thinking about Asher's struggles all while.

That night.

It was midnight, and everyone was so mentally and physically exhausted from the events of the day that they were fast asleep. Only Rika was still awake.

Her room was a small single. It was furnished with a wooden table, a chair, a bed, a small fireplace, and a leather sofa. In the winter the fireplace would be crackling merrily, warming its guest.

But right now, it was empty. Rika was staring into the cold ashes as she thought about the day's events. The inside of her head was a whirling, disorganized mess.

There were things she had to think about, things she wanted to think about, and planning for the future that she needed to be done. Her brain was so overloaded that she couldn't think straight. She was happy that her student was still alive, and angry at his indifference towards them.

She had caught a small glimpse of his power when he'd dispatched Nobuaki. It was possible that he had needed to change that drastically to survive, but that only made it harder for Rika when she thought about how he must have suffered, and how she had been unable to save him. She let out a long sigh. On the other hand, she remembered how he'd talked to those two girls, and was happy that he'd found comrades he could trust.

Suddenly, a voice called out to her, despite the fact that she should have been alone in the room.

"You make some interesting expressions, Sensei"

"Huh!?" Rika jerked her head around. Asher was sitting on the window sill, his arms folded across his chest. Shocked, Rika stammered.

"G-Guren-kun? Wh-What are you... how did you…"

"If you're asking how I got in, I swung from the window"

"But I locked…"

"I'm a Synergist, remember? I've break in too much harder places before"

For a few seconds Rika just sat there, dumbstruck. Finally, she managed to calm herself down and glare angrily at Asher.

"It's rude to come into a girl's room so late at night, especially without knocking. You even picked the lock... Why?" The words "night visit" flashed through Rika's mind, but she dismissed them instantly.

How could you even think something like that about one of your own students? Asher absorbed her rebuke and cut directly to the heart of the matter.

"Sorry, I guess. I didn't want anyone else to know about my visit. There are few things I need to tell you, Sensei, but I couldn't with those knights hanging around. They'd probably get violent if I mentioned it."

"Something you need to tell me? But didn't you say you don't care about us, Guren-kun?"

Rika's eyes glimmered with hope. Perhaps he really would come back to them after all. Regardless, listening to her student's worries was the job of a teacher.

Sadly, Asher's next words dashed her hopes.

"Yeah, no chance in hell am I going back, so please don't look so expectant…  Anyway, I wanted to tell you because I think you'd be able to handle it the most calmly, Sensei. You're free to do what you want with the information after I tell you."

With that preface, Asher launched into the story he'd heard from Will, also from his experiences working with the Guardian Force, the true enemy of the world, and the crazed god that controls the world.

There was a reason Asher had thought to tell Rika all of this.

He doubted those insane gods would let Hayato and the others return to their original world even if they did everything they asked. "Save the humans from the devils," was what they had decreed, but this entire war was just a part of those very gods' mad game. And they surely wouldn't want to let go of a piece as interesting as a hero. In fact, they'd probably want to make the hero an integral part of their next game too. Releasing the full force of the Houkai and the Angels into the world.

Of course, Asher had no intention of tracking Hayato down just to tell him that. He really didn't care about what happened to the others anymore, and to be quite frank, taking a detour to go to him would just be a pain. Besides, even if he did tell Hayato, Asher doubted that ball of misguided justice would believe him anyway.

It was obvious who the other students would believe too. Between a criminal classmate who had drastically changed and the hero everyone relied upon, it wasn't even a contest. Chances were he'd just be branded a heretic for slandering the "Great lord Ouranos." For all those reasons, Asher did not want to seek out Hayato.

However, by sheer coincidence, he had run into Rika again. Asher understood her quite well. Rika was always thinking of her students, so she wouldn't be easily swayed by the pope's honeyed words like the students had been, and do what was best for them. And because of her overwhelming popularity, he was sure that her words would have more of an impact on them than his would.

Just how much of an influence that would be, he didn't know.

Though if Hayato and the others started straying from the gods' plan because of this, they would surely draw the gods' attention.

Eventually, tales of Asher's divine key conquest would spread, and he was certain the gods would eventually do something to intervene. So, by having Hayato stray from their plan, Asher hoped to delay the gods' interference in his own business, or at the very least split their attention.

And the very faint hope that they too might start searching for an alternative way back home after learning they couldn't rely on the gods. Lastly, he knew that the Previous Era resistance had been defeated because the gods had manipulated the people and turned them against them, so in order to avoid having that happen with his former classmates, he wanted to plant the seeds of doubt early.

Though this was all something Asher had just come up with after seeing Rika again, so he wasn't exactly expecting much.

Asher hold a very particular grudge toward his old classmates, but he also didn't really care about them. If they could be of use to him, he'd use them, and if not, he'd leave them alone. He'd found a way they might help, which was the only reason he bothered to pass this information along.

Rika was stunned speechless after she heard Asher's tale. She wasn't even sure how to process it. Frankly, it would probably be some time until she'd managed to digest it all.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. That's what I learned at the bottom of the abyss. What you do with that information is up to you, Sensei. You're welcome to believe it or not as you wish. I don't care."

"G-Guren-kun, does your journey have something to do with those... crazed gods?"

"Well, in a way, yeah, in a way, taking down the Angels and finding a way home was virtually the same. Besides, I want to protect this world for the people I care about"

They both fell silent, and that silence stretched on for a few minutes. Finally, Asher turned back to the window. He'd told Rika everything he'd come here to say. The words Scarlet Labyrinth had stirred something in Rika's memory though, and before he could leave, she called out.

"Nishimiya-san still hasn't given up on you, you know"

"…"

Asher stopped; his feet was resting on the window sill. Rika continued talking.

"everyone else believed that you assaulted Nakamura-san, but she didn't give up. She believed you weren't that kind of person. Even now, she's trying to convince everyone that you didn't do it"

"…I see" Asher said, after a long pause. Seeing him unconcerned for someone else somehow hit Rika pretty hard.

"That's all? Aren't you worried about her? Nishimiya-san was your friend, right, Guren-kun?"

Rika's tone was stern and concern. Instead of responding to her question, Asher turned around and said.

"We're not friends, it was a one-sided forced relationship, also, I didn't ask for her to clear my name, it will only make matters worse… if you guys exchange letters, you should let her know, Nakamura is someone who'll betray them"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I don't care if you would believe me or not, but let me tell you, Nakamura set me up, he made take the fall as the criminal so he could get in Atsushi's good graces"

"Then…"

"Yeah, I hate her the most out of anyone else, tell Nishimiya to be careful of that bitch, she betrayed me once, who knows when she'll do it again"

"Wha?!" Rika paled at his words.

After saying his words, Asher released a web from his wrist and swung out of the room.

A sudden chill crept into the room, and Rika wrapped her arms around herself. One of her precious students had framed a classmate. For Rika, who wished to believe in all of her students, it was a hard pill to swallow, but she had no reason to believe Asher had lied to her. Her desire to believe in her students, and her belief that her students were all good people were warring with each other.

Rika knew she wouldn't get any sleep that night.

Asher Guren, Synergist

The next morning, dawn.

Captain and Stella dragged me out of the Aircraft back to the inn. Now I've finally woke up after telling Ri-chan about the truth of the world last night.

Considering the mission at hand, the algorithm I wrote up yesterday worked well, L.A.O.S. finally found something worth checking out.

I was still sleep deprived, hell, last week I just spent countless hours of working, I barely slept last night, the three of us made our way back to the jet.

Only captain seemed wide awake, I was still yawning, Stella was slouched, I think she's sleep walking too.

We went for the north gate which was were the jet was located close by. The sounds of a town waking up could be heard as we headed down the main street. After a few minutes, we finally reached the north gate.

And by Odin's beard am I not happy about it.

As we approached, I sensed a few people standing by the exit and narrowed my eyes. They weren't moving.

As the mist cleared… I saw Ri-chan, Sonohara, and the other five students.

"I think I can guess what you're here for, but I'll ask just in case." I glared at Ri-chan.

She faltered at my gaze, but she stood her ground. A few feet away the students were stroking their horses and talking about something. They noticed us walking over to Ri-chan.

"We're coming with you. You're looking for something in the forest, right? It's better to have more people looking, then"

"No thanks. If you want to come with us, you're welcome to, but we're not going together"

"Wh-Why not?"

"Because of the difference in our speed. I'm not going to match you slow pace, Sensei"

I pointed over the horses standing behind Sonohara. From the looks of the horses, I doubt they could even handle having people ride them, but I didn't say anything. Even if they'd been the fastest horses in the realm, they couldn't hope to match the speed of the jet.

At my words, Sonohara looked around, then tilted her head in confusion. As far as she could see, there wasn't any other means of transportation in sight.

"You're saying, we're too slow, but… hey, Guren. You're not going to say something crazy like you can run faster than these horses or anything, right? Just because you hate us doesn't give you the right to lie to us, you know? And if you really can run faster that's even worse… honestly, that crazy bloodlust you released yesterday was like that too, it's like you've stopped being human"

I was taken aback by her bluntness. Was she even scared of me? I'd like to consider myself as a super soldier or something, and I could probably run faster than a horse? I don't know, I haven't tried yet.

I met her glare. I don't know whether she was trying to antagonize me or something, I can't tell, but I let out a deliberate sigh. Even if I explain it would be too much trouble.

Wordlessly, I pulled out the key for the Aircraft and deactivate its optic camouflage. Behind them the VTOL Quinjet revealed its position, with the wings folded and the engine silently whirred as the back ramp opened up.

Everyone's jaw dropped open as they saw the Aircraft appear in thin air.

"Get it? Even if they sound like lies to you, they're not. Hell, maybe I can run faster than those horses. True that I hate you guys, but I'm gonna do something as troublesome as lying. There literally is that much of a difference in our travel speed"

They were shocked by the Jet's sudden appearance and its otherworldly, at least as far as this world is concerned.

Finally, Akaashi spoke up, he quivered with excitement in his voice.

"D-Did you make that yourself too, Guren? It looks like the Quinjet!"

I guess he's a fan, huh.

"Yeah, anyway, we're going so get out of the way"

I made my way towards the jet, but Ri-chan, as always stopped me. She looked determined to join us by any means possible.

I saw the bags in her eyes, I guess she didn't really sleep last night.

"Guren-kun. As a teacher, I have to know more about what you told me last night, so until you agree to sit down and have a proper talk, I'll never let you out of my sight. And if you do manage to escape, I'll chase you to the ends of the earth. I'm sure you'd like to avoid that, right? It can be while we're traveling or searching even, but I need you to make time to talk. If you do that, then I'll be willing to say our farewells once your job here is done... for now."

Somehow, I'm starting to regret having told Ri-chan about the information last night. She was stubborn to a fault, if I run now, she'd just chase me around, and maybe, possibly, she would organize the knight corps of the Kingdom to search for me.

I looked over the sky, the light was growing brighter. I don't have time for this, and we still need to investigate the monster overrunning the mountains.

Well, I guess my fate was already sealed the moment I met Ri-chan, also I reap was I sow.

"Fine… Captain, can we take them with us?"

Captain simply nodded, "Well, we'll be going for a search, I doubt anything dangerous would happen"

Don't jinx it, Cap.

"Captain gave a green signal; I doubt there's anytime we could talk anyway"

"That's fine. There's just some things I want to confirm with you directly."

"Haah, you just don't give up, do you, Sensei? No matter what you do or where you are, you're still our teacher."

"That's right!" Ri-chan proudly puffed out her chest. Seeing that negotiations had ended favorably, Sonohara and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Stella, if anyone cause any trouble personally throw them of the jet"

"Eh? Wasn't that going too far?" Stella asked.

My classmates suddenly had a horrified looks on their faces, I guess they'll take me seriously now.

The jet flew up high over the mountains in a straight path. there were barely any seats inside the aircraft, first of all it was supposed to act as a mini base for the third squad, so, the Quinjet was divided into three parts first was the main body, which was where the pilot seat is located and the main ramp was on the back, aside from that another seat was facing on the instruments in the near wall, the right wing and left wing were left empty with pull up seats for passengers, aside from that our staff was put up in the racks.

Ri-chan sat beside me in the floor, while I piloted the jet, Captain was on the instruments monitoring the coordinates of the ruins, the three boys was on the left wing area, while the other girls were on the right wing area, for the first time in since knowing her, Stella was uncomfortable with Sakura and Shibuya, who kept pestering her with her relationship with me, it was amusing to listen on Stella doing her best to answer their questions despite being overwhelmed by Sakura's questions, Sonohara on the other hand seemed uninterested at first and kept glancing at me.

"Captain, what's the coordinates again?"

"164 degrees north, 47 degrees west."

I punched up the coordinates for in the computer and put the jet on auto-pilot. I turned back to Ri-chan and continued our Very interesting conversation.

She gleaned as much information as she could from me. I guess the more she learned the more she believed that I was framed, but still, she's teacher, she didn't want to believe that.

Then again, I have no intention of having her clear my name, I don't care about that anymore, all that matters, is me defeating the Houkai then go home.

After a while, Ri-chan's head drooped forward, and fell asleep. Perhaps the overload of information and lack of sleep made her tired. I guess this is my fault to.

I walked over the right wing and grabbed my pillow and laid it on the floor and propped up Ri-chan to lay down.

"That's rare for you to show compassion towards other…" Captain commented.

"Maybe… she's my teacher after all"

Captain gave me a wry smile, ah, my beautiful goddess, if only she could smile all the time.

Not long after reaching the fourth mountain of the mountain ranges, I landed the jet down at a clearing, we were still a few distances away from the ruins. Ri-chan finally woke up from her slumber, the other guys walked out of the ramp, Stella, Me and the Captain were left while taking out some of the items that we might need for excavation.

The ruins is really a pile of rubble by now, some of the structures that was still intact was covered by ground, but like usual, a divine key isn't really locked inside the ruins, so, we don't have to excavate or blow the whole place up just to dig up the treasure room.

Stella held up the Houkai scanner out on the area as she looked over it, well, me and captain were also doing the same, the others were just watching us do our stuff seemingly confused

"Hey, Guren, what are you doing? You won't find something by waving that thing around" again with the bluntness, Sonohara spoke up.

Unfortunately, for her, searching for the divine is exactly waving this thing around.

"Listen here, just shut up and watch, this job is way above your pay grade, okay?"

She seemed annoyed and was about to speak up but then Shibuya spoke up.

"Dark one, would you care enlighten, this ignorant me, upon your predicament?"

As I remembered, Shibuya was one weird girl, she had this chuunibyou style of talking and yet, she has friends, it's annoying to see much difference between us and we're almost the same.

"Hey, did you just call me dark one?"

"Ah!"

She suddenly blushed and hid behind Sonohara, Shibuya was a girl with a dark gray hair tied in a small twin tail, she had a cute face and crimson pupils, and she wore something similar to a gothic Lolita dress, which is quite a rare find in this world.

I sighed as I explained her the mechanics of the Houkai detector.

"Basically, this device would search for strong Houkai Energy reactions which the Divine Key emits most of the time"

They all tilted their heads in confusion, as I figured, they wouldn't understand.

"Captain, Ash! I think I found something!" Stella yelled.

I rushed over a Stella who was pointing her device at thin air beeping strong.

Ri-chan and the others were putting up confused looks

"There's nothing there…" Akaashi pointed out.

"Ah… shit!" I cursed; I hate this kind of things.

If it's in thin air, this just means it's in a pocket space, I hate pocket spaces.

"That explains why we haven't encountered any Houkai beasts yet" Captain said.

"Um, excuse me? Would you care explaining it to us too, Guren-kun" Ri-chan said.

"The Divine Key is in a pocket space, and now we have to break that to get it"

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that a 50,000-year worth of Houkai energy would explode and cause a Houkai outbreak, then attract Houkai beasts here"

Stella was drained off enthusiasm added "Last time we had to fend them off three days straight… it's a pain in the ass dealing with pocket space"

"Fret not, Dark One, Ri-chan protection squad shall assist you in your endeavors" Shibuya enthusiastically said.

But that was the thing, even if they helped, they'd just end up getting in the way

"You can't" I said

"Hah?! What's that supposed to mean? Just because your stronger doesn't mean that we'll get in the way"

"He doesn't mean it like that Sonohara-san" Captain gently said.

"Then… what does it mean?"

"As the Houkai Energy isn't regular mana, it will affect you and corrupt your mind and turn you into a zombie"

I clenched my fist, the expressions on their face were pure terror. I've seen many of our comrades fell and got corrupted by the Houkai, every time.

"isn't that dangerous? Also, why are you not dead yet if you're facing those kinds of things!" Sonohara asked.

"Someone has to do it," I said "just like you all blindly accepted that unreasonable request to help the kingdom at their war, someone has to step up and protect the world from what truly threatens it"

As my words rang over, guilt washed over their faces, yeah, they all agreed to join the war against the devils because Atsushi said so, they turned a blind eye on what a war really is, now they're traumatized by the fact that they could die in this world.

"Wh-what happens to those who turned into zombies…?" Akaashi asked.

"We killed them."

Shocked, it was the only thing that I can say as I watched their expression, no one said a word, the only thing that moved was the trees as wind swept by.

Finally, a tiny voice broke through the silence.

"H-How… how could you take a life that easily…?" Sonohara said.

"easy… huh…? I guess that's pretty insensitive"

"How so? You took away people's lives like they were a game! How many of them had families and friends that were waiting for them!!"

Sonohara kept mumbling about sentimental and friendships, bonds and a bunch of other stuff.

"Pretty big words, don't you think? You guys who let me be framed as a criminal, thrown out into the world left to die? Didn't you think that I have a family waiting for me too?"

"That's…"

Sonohara suddenly stopped, but I was already on a roll here, I'm gonna let out everything here!

"You think it's easy!? Bullshit! Those were our friends! Every time one falls its blood on my hands! We mourned for them; their faces haunt me every night! When I came back to the HQ their families waiting in worry that their loved one would come back only to know that they'd fall at battle! So, yeah, if anyone is insensitive here, it's you guys. You threw me out, abandoned me, now you're gonna talk about what's right? Don't make me laugh!"

"Ash…" Captain held my hand, Stella also to the other.

"Calm down for a minute"

I gritted my teeth and turned back

"Go now, get back to the jet, the last thing I want is your bloods on my hands"

"Guren-kun…"

"Ri-chan… please"

Although reluctant, they turned back and walked off.

After a while, we've set up the containment field once the Houkai energy breaks out, it will attract Houkai Beasts at this position.

I held up Sumerbrandr, I can't use the Sword form of Vulcan for something like this after all.

"You know the plan" Captain said. "Ash will break the pocket space. Stella will watch out for Houkai Beasts and hurl them up together, I will grab the Divine Key once it appears."

Stella and I nodded.

It's time for Sumerbrandr to show its power, I pulled the trigger on the handle of the sword, the mechanism on the false edge started activating and gathered the Houkai energy at the surrounding, the edge of the blade started to glow red hot from the compressed Houkai Energy.

It will take some time, but the principle of the Sumerbrandr is basically the same for Vulcan's sword form, Gather and Release. The mechanism on the false edge will gather up the Houkai energy and compress it on the blade then I can release it in one powerful slash, or use it to boost my body.

The reason why, I got strong the same for the others is because we use Houkai Energy to enhance our physical abilities, but it doesn't mean were immune to it, dozens of our comrades had already fallen from this method, but this is the only way we can fight the Beasts.

So, using both Vulcan and Sumerbrandr who had a principle of gather and release was a double edge sword that affect me the worst.

The Blade was all charged up, "Captain, I'm ready"

"Okay, Stella, get ready for it"

"Roger!"

I pulled the trigger once more on the handle and swung Sumerbrandr in one wide arc, followed by a violent burst of flames tracing the arc.

At first nothing happened, then out of thin air, a crack appeared and spread out like a broken mirror collapsing.

Boom!

We were overwhelmed by the sudden burst of Houkai energy.

"ngh!!!" Stella groaned "What is this?! There's too much Houkai Energy!"

"This is bad! The containment field won't hold up!"

The mechanisms that we placed on the trees started sparking and exploded, this is really bad!! Without that containment field it will affect everything in the mountain, including Ri-chan and the others…

What the hell am I thinking? I thought I hated them, but here I was worrying about their safety.

I pulled the trigger once more in hopes to gather the Houkai energy in the air. The mechanism on the blade started a boot up sequence.

[Massive Houkai Energy Detected. Initiate Ambient charging… energy reserves now at… 100%... limiter removal initiate. Charging overdrive reserves…]

"Ash! What are you doing!?" Captain yelled

"Ash, Stop it! Your body won't hold up on that!"

[150%...]

"I can't! if I don't absorb the Houkai Energy it will reach Ri-chan and the others…! I… I can't let that happen!"

"Ash!!"

[200%...]

[250%...]

[300%...]

[Power Limits Removed. Sumerbrandr ready!]

Funny, this might kill me, but I'm awfully calm.

"Sumerbrandr! Prometheus Burn!!"

I released the power of Sumerbrandr in a straight slash, the large burst of energy split the ground in half as well as the clouds, the ground shook upon impact.

I think, I just annihilated a mountain…

"H-Houkai Energy readings are falling!" Stella announced

Great… that's great.

I kneeled on the ground, the strength in my legs were gone, my breathing was ragged, my vision is getting fuzzy. Purple pattern marks appeared on my hands… ah… I guess this is my time.

I can't feel anything… I just wish I could see Cecilia once more...

"Ash! Wake up!! Get a grip! You can't die here!"

I could hear Stella shouting: we have to get that Divine Key… the Houkai Beasts are probably coming by now…

"Captain! Ash needs a neutralizing serum!"

"I know, we need to bring him to the jet immediately!"

All of if went black.

Rika Akiyama, Teacher

Regret filled Rika's heart, Ash had convinced them, he was guilty of killing people… perhaps what he said about the old Ash being dead was true after all. But somehow, when she listened to his words, she could feel a tinge of sadness and regret from him.

"What's with that guy?" Nao complained "I knew that he was just a scum bag trying to take advantage of Nishimiya's kindness"

"You said it" Akito added "once more, he proudly admitted that he killed a lot of people"

Sonohara was somehow devastated, it was true that she had no right to say that it was easy killing people, but she felt Ash's emotions then, every time he had to kill someone, he never forgets them.

"You three, shut you mouths, did you not listen to the Dark One's plight? Even in darkness he dwelled, he regrets taking lives of those he knew"

"Don't be swayed Shibuya!" Nao said "That guy's a hypocrite! Did you think that he would actually feel guilty about those things? He tried to assault Nakamura"

"Stop!" Rika yelled "Stop fighting!"

Rika only wanted to believe in her students, but this rift of disbelief towards one of their classmates is too much, Rika couldn't bridge it to make them be friends again.

"What was that?!" Sonohara stood up in surprise.

Just after settling inside the Quinjet, Rika and the others had suddenly heard a loud explosion from somewhere.

"I'll check it out!" Sonohara made a run for the ramp button, but before she could open the ramp, it opened itself.

Just below the ramp, Stella and Hime were disoriented and in a hurry as they carry the unconscious Asher.

"Wh-what happened?!"

"Houkai Corruption!!" Hime said, she laid down Ash on the floor, Stella ran over the left wing and into the medicine box searching for the serum.

Asher was a mess, his breathing was rugged, purple lines started manifesting in his body, he was in a critical condition, his clothes were also burnt.

Rika was shocked to see Ash in such a state.

"Just what happened?" Rika asked.

"Asher pushed himself and absorbed all of the Houkai Energy!"

Stella handed over the serum, Hime injected it on his neck.

"Hah! Look at him in such a state, trying to be a hero!" Nao still managed to voice out his contempt despite seeing his classmate in such a life and death situation.

Stella grabbed him by the collar and pinned him by the wall.

"You shut your mouth!"

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes "Didn't you know, Ash pushed himself to the point of dying for you!"

"What are you…"

"he knows you guys have no resistance against the Houkai Energy, so, he absorbed it all just to save you guys! So, don't you dare say that he tried to be a hero! If he died here… I'll kill you myself!"

Nao looked at Stella who was brimming with anger, he always hated Asher since Kaede had taken a liking at him, but that was maybe flimsy, Asher wasn't really noticeable at class, he would often disappear at crowds, but when Nao had heard that Asher tried to assault someone, he just couldn't forgive the guy, he didn't even listen to Asher's story and just blindly held him in contempt.

"Stella! Stand down! This isn't the time to be fighting!" Hime hurriedly checked for vitals, tears were streaming down from her eyes, yet again, she'd failed to stop Asher from being reckless. The first time they'd fought the 2nd angel, she'd also failed to prevent Asher from being reckless, she considered herself a failure as a leader, but still Asher would always follow her even if she's not worthy of such hardworking subordinate.

"This is my fault…" Hime muttered "I'm a failure as a leader…"

Rika held her shoulders, "Ms. Hime, it's going to be okay, Asher would be okay"

"Dark One…"

"Guren…"