'You should have atleast tried to convince her, I mean she is your spirit after all "Max suggested as he made modifications to the machine Ayame is in connection to.

"That's not the point here, why is she magically active?" Mel asked, wasting an opportunity to consolidate.

"Maybe she is related to a rogue mage" Max speculated.

"Even so, the circumstances to find out her magical activity was non existent up until a month ago" Aoki said.

"That is, if she ever was in the first place" he added.

"You know what guys, I'm going to be late for the data submission, Mrs Ayame's blood report could be... up by now" Max explained and left the room. The tension between Aoki and Mel was mildly frustrating for him as both of them steered away from every obvious patch up he was trying to set.

The machine connected to Ayame buzzed in the background, drawing  their attention. Aoki noticed that the sky was clearing up.

The curiosity was unsettling, for the both of them.  Aoki recollected the conversation from yesterday to find anything to latch on to, he suddenly remembered something.

"And...I'm going to be late to school!" He said.

"No!...No! Never, we are going nowhere until you come clean, we should talk to Tarou" Mel shouted,

"Clearly,. You're not thinking what I'm thinking" he said.

"Im literally connected to your brain Aoki" she pointed out

"Then trust me on this, we'll figure this out" he convince her and left the room.

***

The reverberating thump of every dong drove away the pigeons from the vicinity of the bell, which further echoed down the clock tower to every corridor and ally of the very familiar academic infrastructure, Successfully seeking everyone's attention and reminding them of the time and their duties. Every bystander began to walk, late comers picked up pase and classes were refilled drastically, it's a morning rush once again; A typical Monday at Itachiyama junior high

Aoki stood infront of the gate looking down at the metal rail on which the gate runs horizontally to open and close, the line that he loathed to cross. He was dressed in his wrinkled school uniform which now was tighter around the biceps and the crouch area, the pant was also short and tight at the calf muscle. He kept staring at the line and then looked up.

A huge stretch of play ground was  bordered by cherry blossoms and bushes. Surrounding the plantation was a compound wall, from the gate terminal around the fecility to the watchman's cabin, which was the only opening to the institution. The gap to close the gate; the main entrance.

Beyond situated the tall bell tower accompanied by two five storied structures on either side with four cubicle on each floor. The bell tower was presented as the symmetrical centerpiece and had the entrence to the establishment at its base. The premise was hearty and welcoming, but not for Aoki.

He imagined himself with his tidy uniform walking steadily; head down, clinching the straps of his bag, as paper balls and pen caps flew at him from multiple directions. This place is the representation of his life long humiliation and embarrassment, his solitude grabbed the attention of bullies, his tolerance encouraged them, and was taken down and annoyed at every chance. He saw taunts and laughter everywhere, when he looked up from his sorry state, he saw cruel and ignorant eyes all around him, but only one pair... looked different, it had mercy in them, helplessness at the same time, but they were sparkling with grace, they were the next kind eyes he had ever seen after his mother's. Mayumi eyes.

"Aoki?" Mel alerted him

"The last time I crossed that line, I was a completely different person, but I don't feel much has changed, I'm still scared to go as always, there is still a hesitation" he Said.

"Okay, so...going in or no?" Security asked.

"Oh, umm sorry, no" he replied awkwardly and turned around, the watchman returned to his cabin.

There was just too much trauma, he wasn't ready.

"You don't have to do this" Mel said.

"AOKI!!" A female voice from behind.

He knew exactly who it was, he turned to find Her standing on the porch.

Clouds by the time was fully cleared. Rays of light reached the earth and slowly spread across the ground, eventually covering her with a warm magical glow, her purple silky hair shimmered but failed to outshine her purple eyes, she smiled excitedly at the sight of him, jogging forward whilst waving her hand.

"nothing has changed indeed" he whispered.

Mayumi stopped midway, her excitement slowly turned into surprise, her waving hand fell short and weak.

Aoki felt a presence, no - not a presence, blood lust.

"Stay on gaurd, get ready to teleport" Mel advised.

Aoki's neck began to twist, but even before that, an arm rested on his shoulder, locking him into a grip.

"Would you look at that, shitoki is back to school again" Kiske said without moving his jaws.

Aoki flinched at his sight.

Mel was speechless. She did not expect him, it was odd to see him alive but also. relieving.

Aoki tilted his head up and looked into his eyes, both, had subconscious trauma, but knew nothing of it. Aoki was still scared of him.

"Don't give in, you can literally make him explode, what are you afraid of ?" Mel said.

Aoki sharpened his look forcibly, his magical projection leaked out, his eyes glowed green.

Kiske slowly loosened his grip, he was unable to break the eye contact.

He saw the tree in his eyes, the silhouette of the horned creature tied to it.

"That's enough" Mel whispered.

Kiske breathed heavily as he completely withdrew his hands and stepped back from him.

Aoki blinked and the glow faded away.

"I'm glad you came Matsumoto" Mayumi said as she walked closer.

Kiske was quite for a moment and Aoki was worried, so was Mel...mostly for what happened a month ago, Even Mayumi didn't know what to say.

"Ok, I don't know what's going on here, but you either go in or out, decide!" The security said with frustration. He then noticed Aoki's face and frowned.

They entered the compound and the gate was closed behind them.

"Hey...You're that flying kid aren't you?" Security asked suddenly

Aoki stopped and looked back."Yes" he replied.
Mayumi waited, but kiske kept going.

"I heard some scientist abducted you" the security said.

"Unfortunately not" kiske said and walked away, shoving his hands into each of his pockets.

Aoki rubbed the back of his head and bowd awkwardly.

"Come on let's go" Mayumi called.

"This was a bad idea Aoki, but I think we might be on to something, not only with Mayumi, with that boy as well" Mel said.

"I felt it too" Aoki whispered

"What?" Mayumi asked.

He forgot of his company, he shook his head with a phony smile.

"He's changed you know" Mayumi said.

"I hope you'd say the same when he confronts me with his friends later" he said.

Mayumi agreed with a subtle sigh.

"You've changed too" she said.

"Well... When puberty makes you fly, change is a given" he replied. Mayumi smiled wider.

They entered the building, first hour had begun and the place was empty, kiske had taken a head start up the stairs, they also began to ascend.

The gut-wrenching feeling resumed, it emanated from the floor above, Aoki stopped.

"You feel it too don't you?" Mayumi asked.

Aoki looked at her, he didn't want to play dumb anymore

"Yes" he replied.

"Nobody else does, it's odd; you have it too, and sometimes I hear two voices coming from you, I know that this sounds crazy, but...I can feel things, strange things" she explained.

Aoki frowned.

"You guys coming or what?" Kiske yelled from upstairs.

"We'll talk later" Mayumi said and moved forward past him.

Aoki was struck by her response.

"she has began to notice, we should be very careful with her" mel said.

"Please!, I've known her my whole life" Aoki said.

"Still you know nothing about her" Mel pointed out.

"That's...wait..., Let's just talk later" he said and  followed them.

***

A pigeon nested in the gloved hand of a man, the other hand devoid of glove rubbed the pigeon's back. He crouched on the top of the bell tower, the man smiled and kissed the pigeon.

"Three little manglets unknown of their own powers, what a jackpot" he said and released the pigeon with both his hands.

The Bird flew for a short distance and started to deform into something demonic, to the point where it couldn't bare its own weight, it fell on the ground and died midway transforming into a tiny goblin.

The man on the bell tower streched and yawned,

"Time to work" he said and disappeared.

A broad expanse of coast. Plane green filed of Grass meeting the lashing waves of the sea at a cliff. It was an elevated land stretching far and wide marking the border between sector 99 and 100. The cliff was uneven and pointy at places; a perticular section protruded beyond the average invagination of the entire coastline, that stretch of land also had an incline, raised towards the sea. At the edge of which was a tower, crafted from black ecorfyln stones resembling a lighthouse but on top of it was a statue of a raven instead of a spotlight. The raven had an arrow stuck in its head, going through one eye hole and out the other, the bird held a weighing scale by its beak, the symbolism was suggesting an unbiased justice to all regardless of the race.  This was the core emblem of the restraining and reinforcement division of Supreme Province. Upon closer a look, the tower was incredibly detailed and had chiseled art work all around, portraying modes of punishments. The sculptures represented a narrative of unjust events, followed by their repercussions; all ending in death, these sculpting were clearly representing the ways of justice in the Existron era of the Supreme Province, the tower is known as the Underhive. It is the entrance to a deep underground prison, rated second for imprisonment of powerful individuals, first being the Coral drench.

Two gaurds were stationed at the entrence of the Underhive, fully armoured; holding a spear, on each side of the arched door.

"How long will it take?" One gaurd asked the other.

"Who gives a shit? Why do they have to even consider letting a half blooded basterds beyond the finite verses" the other gaurd said while he smoked.

"Maybe he's that good"

"Shut your ass up, Zenbara's been bribing, for sure. The council of supremacy is rigged, I won't be surprised if they didn't conduct the selection at all" the other guard yelled.

"Zenbara sama was his excellency's disciple... "

"So was the man inside this hole... Him and his pinear devil killed 16 men, tried to kill 2 lieutenant class mages on prime earth" he justified.

"You're being Harsh, both of them had their...own reasons on contrary to the province ofcourse, But that doesn't make them bad people"  the other gaurd argued.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Who the fuck takes responsibility for all the dead?" He said sucking the cigar harder.

"The elf, who else, they've always been murderous bastards"

Suddenly a female mage in a cloak appeared at a distance. The gaurd threw the weed roll beneath his feet and stomped on it.

She approached and glanced at them, her hood was down, she remained anonymous and  attempted to walk in but they crossed their spears, she exhaled.

"Only Osakii sama is allowed inside the Underhive"

She smiled and grabbed the spear. The iron spear got increasingly shinier from the point of contact, the metallic shimmer spread across both the spears and on to the men.  Their hands started to solidify, becoming stagnant and immovable progressively. They struggled and cried, but eventually were completely turned into metal statues, she lifted her hand off and went in under the crossed spears.

She made her way down a spiralling stare having cuboidal stone footholds allong the wall. The inside was a huge tube leading underground. The middle was hollow and displayed the depth of the pit.

She was frustrated after a couple minutes of descending and jumped off the stairs into the pit. She fell for quite a bit and the place got increasingly brighter as she fell.

She started to notice the ground and positioned herself pointing down while showing her palm to the ground. She closed her eyes and concentrated with seconds to spare as the ground came at her.  As soon as she made contact with the floor using her palm, the surface liquified and she passed right through as if she was driving, submerging her completely into what was a rigid and solid ground a millisecond ago. There was no splashes of any sorts, but few ripples were visible.

The end of the stair was a small circular area where she fell, connected to it was a hallway. The entire place was lit by torches of fire stuck along the walls. The hallway had an arch entrence from the floor of the stairs and the whole structure was lined with black stone bricks.

Her head popped up away from her landing point when she walked through the ground slowly lifting up as she moved forward. She appeared as if emerging from a pool of water onto land. The sight was uncanny as she caused rippling effect on solid ground, similar to how water forms resistance around an object trying to navigate in it. She was also noticeably dry. Her body was fully out of the ground after some distance and she continued on into the tunnels of the Underhive.

The place was humid and steamy. The hallway was well plastered with neatly arranged bricks and occasional accents of ecorfyln stones. All the cells in the hallway were empty, infact prison beyond rank 3 are rarely at use, but considering the prisoner, chained anklets and barred cages may prove useless.

She made her way through the hallway and arrived infront of a prison with a considerable grandeur, a big jail holding the master of massacre. The prison cell of Kamitori Kyoten.

She approached the Bars, struggling to find him in the darkness.

"To what do I owe the pleasure" Kyoten asked.

"I'm hoping you know what has happened" she said.

"Where are my manners, please come in" he joked.

"Your slave escaped" she said after a sigh.

Kyoten showed himself to the light, he had already freed himself off the chains and shackles.

"Now that's what I call unexpected" he said and smiled.

***

Ernesto was hiding behind a tree within a forest. The darkness of the late night aided him on the same. He was in a white prison suite which was visibly dirty. The remains of his shackles acted like a bracelet and clacked whenever he moved. Amongst sweating and panting he was also trying to cut himself with a small shard of glass. He heard noises of the search party and peeked to find them entering the forest on horse backs holding lanterns.

He was successful in cutting his left palm and squeezed the same to draw out blood. Pulling his right sleeve back revealed a tattoo of a winged horse. He dripped his blood on the tattoo which made the outline of the horse glow in a fluorescent radiance. He tore the same sleeve and covered his wound after the glow faded. Moments later a Pegasus ascended from the starry sky and landed in front of him. He flew away on the beast, miraculously unnoticed.