Disclaimer: The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk) is owned by Yuu Miyazaki. Illustrated by both Okiura, and Ningen. The original Light Novels and Manga were published by Media Factory. The anime was brought to you by A-1 Pictures. All rights are reserved to their respected owners. I only own my OC's. Please support the official release.

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! Where the hell did she run off to? I have no idea where to start. I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do. She just left without saying a word to me. She didn't even message me letting me know she was going to be out of school today! Gah, this is so annoying! I thought the two of us were us were friends. I kept running down these halls that seemed to be endless. But a voice echoed through the halls that brought me to a sudden stop.

"Saito, do you want to know why Riessfeld didn't tell you where she was going today?"

"Of course, that's the whole reason that I left class. Well… I plan to find her!"

"I see, you do know how she was before you even came to Seidoukan right? She was cold and wouldn't associate with any of the students here. She was cold to everyone around her, and wouldn't open up to anyone. But then you came along. You were the one who was melting that shell of ice that was around her."

"Then, if that's the case why didn't she tell me where she was going!?" I couldn't explain this feeling myself. I was mad, but not at Claudia. I was mad, but didn't despise Julis for her actions. Am I worried about her? No, I can't be right? I met her long ago, but she doesn't have a clue on who I am. I'm just a shadow in her past, but it's a memory that I hold dear. "Claudia, this world that we live in… it's a pretty one waded place isn't it?"

"Majority of the time that claim would be true. It is indeed a cruel world that we all live in. But I don't believes that is the case in this situation," my eyes widened as she said this. It made me feel at ease. It was hard to describe what she meant by saying that, but it was a light in the dark. "Riessfeld probably didn't want to get you involved because, she feels the same way you do. You're precious to her, as she is to you. I won't say that I completely understand that feeling, but I can say I know what you're going through. Everyone has someone they care about, and it's not something you can let go of. So Saito, I'll ask you this only once, what do you plan to do?"

I couldn't move a muscle in my body. I felt tears beginning to form, but I wasn't sad. Why would they come if I wasn't sad, or hurt? This damn world that we live in isn't fair. No one here is equal, but everyone has a meaning to their life. Something they want to protect more than anything else. I clenched both of my fists, and began to wipe away my tears. I turned my back to Claudia. "Saito, I await your answer." She said tapping her finger.

"President isn't it obvious? It looks like this pathetic Genestella is going to play the hero role again," just as I finished saying this I took off at a full sprint.

"Saito," she yelled from the distance towards me. "I take care of the paperwork to get you excused for the day!"

"Thank you!" I yelled back into the distance. But I wasn't sure if she heard me. The hallway seemed never ending. I kept running through the hall to get to the exit. I finally got out of the school, and ran to the city. There was only one thing on my mind. That was, I'm going to save you, Julis.

0000

[Location, Elevated Lot]

The pink haired princess was walking aimlessly through the dark lot. This was due to the letter that was sent to her by someone. It was calling her out to this location. It was a threat towards her, and she didn't want anyone else to get involved with her business.

"He'll probably be mad at me after this…" She thought out loud. She believed that this was her burden to hold alone. No one else could help her. She was fine on her own. Well at least in her head. Footsteps echoed throughout the empty lot. "Show yourself already." She demanded of the person.

From a few pillars in front of her, a vague shadow appeared, and then one of the people that Lester was with the previous day was there. He was the lanky one with the bowl-cut. It was something that was hard to believe at first glance, but the note was what called her out.

"Silas Norman," she said as she faced him. He has a smug smile after she said this, and didn't look fearful. In fact, he looked fairly confident.

"Impressive Riessfeld, you figured it out. That I was the one who was behind all of this," Silas said as he was looking towards Julis. No one was around the two of them, and there was nowhere for either of them to run.

"It was all thanks to that slip of your tongue."

"Oh, I don't know what you mean."

"In the Business Area, when Kazuya or Saito was talking with you. He told me what you were like from his first impression of you. He said that you were shaking, and seemed to be a little nervous too."

"What if I was?"

"Why would you be nervous when the person who beat me was there, and was just offering you his hand? That didn't make sense to him, and the more I thought about it, the less sense it made to me as well."

"Well, well… I suppose that sure was careless of me wasn't it?" he said as he was giving different hand gestures. "But you're saying that Saito was playing detective to figure out who did it."

"That's more than likely the case. But Kazuya is that type of person. Even though we just met he still goes that far for someone who's basically a complete stranger to him."

Silas was rubbing his chin before he replied. He seemed like he was thinking, but wasn't very deep in thought at the same time. "I see, well when I'm done here he'll be the next target I suppose." But he began to look back up, and wore that confident look once more. "He'll be a real problem indeed when it comes to targeting you."

"You bastard!"

"I know, I know! You were aware of that the whole time weren't you? Isn't that the main reason on why you came here? Let's make a deal. If you withdraw from the Festa, then he'll be left alone."

"I cannot comply with that demand," Julis said right before she started to reach for her Lux. As the pink blade began to appear in her hands she continued. "That just means that my only option is to strike you down right here and now!"

The tip of the pink blade was pointed directly at Silas. But he didn't lose his composure from it. He still had that smug smile that he had from the start of the encounter. But to Julis's surprise, an unexpected guest entered the lot.

"Silas is what you just said true!" the voice demanded. It was the ring leader of the group: Lester. Julis was shocked by his presence, but was disappointed too. For some reason she hoped that it was the one who she was trying to protect.

"Oh Lester, I've been waiting for you to come," Silas said.

"I came her once I heard that Julis had finally accepted my duel. So, Silas after her duel with Saito, you were the one who attacked her!?"

"I'm pretty sure that he was hired by some other rival academy. Probably a plan to take out the frontrunners for the Festa," Julis said.

"You sold out the school!?" Lester demanded.

"School, student, you can't be serious can you?" Silas said as he began to laugh at Lester's remark. "Everyone here is the enemy. There is only one winner in the Festa so, what's the difference from doing this, or that?"

"Silas, before you're beat to a pulp, I'll ask you, why did you have me come here?" Lester said to his old friend.

"Isn't it obvious? It's so the both of you can fall together."

After Silas said this Lester quickly took a stance with his feet spread wide apart. In his hands was a lux, but not like the ones Kazuya and Julis used. It was an axe. Lester let out a battle cry as he charged towards Silas. With two hands he began to strike down on his old friends. But before the axe could make any contact a hooded man fell through the ceiling and caught the blade.

Lester stumbled back with the axe readied in both hand. With a snap of Silas's fingers more of his "Comrades" came down from the ceiling too. "These are my dolls, and they're here to play with you two," Silas said as her began to back away from the battle field. All of these dolls threw their capes of and had a dull gray finish to all of them. Their joints lit up with a faint purple color.

"Automatons!?" Julis questioned in shock. This was the type of Lux for the Genestella who were two cowardly to fight on their own. Rather than dirty their own hands they have automatons, or puppet do their bidding for them.

Lester let out another battle cry as he raised his axe once more. The blade got even bigger then it normally would, or even should be. With the strike downwards a blast of Prana attacked the three automatons that were right in front of him. The burst was strong enough to send all three flying into pillars. But they weren't done just after one hit. "Damn, "Lester said as he seen the one moving again. As he proceeded to walk towards the automaton, more of them came from behind. These ones were carrying guns, and fired at Lester with no disclosure.

"Lester," Julis called out to him. But as she did that even more automatons came from all over. These ones were carrying dagger, and sword type luxes.

"Oh Riessfeld, did you think that I forgot about you? Maybe this will keep you company for the time being." As Silas said this the automatons began to surround Julis.

Julis gritted her teeth at the situation, but there was nothing that she could possibly do to change it either. She was cornered, and there was nowhere to run.

"To think that you of all people would play with such dirty tricks," Lester said as her was facing Silas.

"Looks like my dolls didn't play with you enough," Silas said as he snapped his fingers once more. More and more automatons came falling from the ceiling. All together they could form a small army. Each one carried a different type of weapon too. It guns, to swords, to axes, and everything in-between the bunch.

These automatons didn't only surround Lester, but Julis too. "Just how many are there? It's like he raised an army of these cowardly weapons."

"Now, I'm going to enjoy watching all of these one hundred and twenty-eight dolls of mine rip both of you to shreds." Silas said as he stood from a safe distance away from the actual combat.

Lester was in complete shock from this. The army of two students, versus a small army. The numbers just didn't add up at all. If they did the math then, it would be sixty-four automatons for each of them to deal with.

"Yes, that look is what I've been waiting for!" Silas said as he was looking towards Lester's face that was filled to the brink of horror. "Farewell 'old friend'," Silas said with a smile on his face. The army of automatons slowly marched and closed the distance on the both of them. It wouldn't be false to say that their end was near either. Within a moment the army charged, and Lester was their first target. Immediately a bunch of the automatons smothered Lester under a pile.

"Lester," Julis cried out. But as she did the automatons were closing the gap on her at a steady pace. "Silas you need to stop this!" She called out to him, but he didn't do anything. The automatons were still marching forward. Prana started to emerge from the ground as Julis lifted her lux towards the ceiling. "Burst into bloom – Antirrhinum Majus!" Julis called out. A bird of fire appeared out of thin air. It charged towards the army of automatons and wiped out a good number of them in one swoop.

"I must say, that's quite impressive Riessfeld. No wonder you were able to make it onto the first page." Silas said as he witnessed the fire birds attacking power. "Even so, you're still the one who's outnumbered here," he said. Once again with a snap of his fingers the army of automatons charged into battle to do his bidding.

They all began to charge at Julis. But each time one of them would swing she would block then a parry their attacks. After taking on the four that were originally around her she began to advance on the battle field. She began to cut them down one-by-one. One of them, she stabbed through the chest area, and rendered it in a sill state for a few seconds. But that stab didn't render anything useless on the automaton. It began to walk further into the blade to reach its target.

While Julis was preoccupied with the automaton, Silas ordered his firing squad to fire at will. Julis was able to think quickly enough to have the fire bird take the damage for her. But that wasn't enough to stop all of the rounds fired. Some of the bullets still managed to pass though, and one hit her. It made contact with her upper thigh, and created an open wound. Julis began to stumble back and fall to a knee.

She wasn't able to hold the prana output in her lux so, the blade began to diminish. She was completely defenseless, and open to any attack. Two of the automatons quickly took advantage of this opening of hers and charged in grabbing her by the arms. They pulled her along and slammed her against the wall.

"Riessfeld you truly are deserving of the title of a prodigy." Silas said as he walked towards the girl who was pinned against a pillar.

"Really, well I learned something here myself!"

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"You're working for Allekant aren't you? There the ones who are puppeteers here aren't they!" As she finished saying this, Silas's smug look diminished, and he was starting to break a sweat like he once did when Kazuya was talking to him. "They're the only ones who can produce the type of armor needed to withstand our attacks!"

Silas began to close the gap between the two of them. "Quite the detective aren't you? But now that you found this out, I'm afraid that I can't let you just walkaway now," he said with that smug smile returning to his face. He lifted his foot, and kicked Julis's open wound.

"Gah," she yelped from the intense pain. This was enough to make her tears fall to the ground. Suddenly, there was another intrusion followed by constant panting.

"Hey scumbag," the voice called out. "Kicking a girl really is a scumbag thing to do!" He yelled at Silas. Julis slowly lifted her head to see the light brown haired boy that she has been trying so hard to protect appear right in front of her. As he looked directly at her, he gritted his teeth, and clenched his fist as he watched tears fall from her face. "Silas, now I'm really pissed! You made her cry, and I can't allow that! I promised that I wouldn't ever let her cry before, and now you're going to see just how mad I am now you asshole!"

Kazuya's POV [10 minutes before finding Julis]

"Damnit, where the hell is she, no matter where I looked I just can't find her." I said as I was walking around aimlessly through Rikka. Julis just wants to run off without telling me and expects me not to go crazy looking for her. I don't know who she thinks I am, but I can't let her face danger alone.

*Gun shots*

It was a sound that reminded me of the duel I had with Lucas. That was the sound of a gun-type lux. It was rapid fire too from the sounds of it. Not only that, but there had to be way more than just one of them firing too. "No, don't tell me that she's there!"

I quickened my pace, and broke out into an all-out sprint towards the sound that was echoing throughout the area. No one else seemed to hear, but me. Either that or they were ignoring it. It did seem like the slums so maybe it was a normal thing to hear this, but how can someone adapt to this? It doesn't make sense how they can just ignore someone getting hurt.

But after a few minutes I made it to what seemed to be a parking lot, but it was abandoned. The place seemed like it could collapse any minute now.

"Gah,"echoed throughout the area. It was a girl's plea, but I was able to break that claim down even further than that to it being Julis's voice.

Without a second thought, I ran right into the building, and up the countless steps to reach her. But that didn't matter at all in this case. I promised myself that I would save her! I don't want to see her cry either! I finally made it up to the floor that she was on, and she was pinned up against a pillar. That same bowled hair cut was in front of her.

"Hey scumbag," I said as I looked at Silas. It quickly got his attention. "Kicking a girl is really a scumbag thing to do!" As I said this, Julis slowly turned her head to look at me. I could explain the rage that I felt as I seen her with tears flowing towards the ground. I clenched both of my fists to the point where I thought that it was going to break skin, and gritted my teeth together.

"Silas, now I'm really pissed! You made her cry, and I can't allow that! I promised that I wouldn't ever let her cry before, and now you're going to see just how mad I am now you asshole!" I yelled at him, and he snapped his fingers just as I finished.

Some of the automatons that he had were coming straight towards me. I didn't have either of my luxes out at the moment, and it would have taken too long to draw out the blade from the start, but they were moving in slow-motion from my stand point. No, it wasn't that, but it was the same feeling that I felt when I had my duel with Julis earlier in the week. It's the feeling where all of my abilities were heightened to their peak.

I started to put one foot in front of the other, and began to walk towards the automatons. Each and every one of their movements seemed so slow. As one of them slashed downwards I was able to slide past them. I don't know how I did it, but my body just moved on its own. It was kind of like back then when I first was trying to protect her. The automatons that originally were after me were still going in the direction that I was in before. Silas had a look of shock. I drew one of my luxes out and held it in my right hand.

Silas began to stumble backwards, and the automatons that were holding Julis let her go. It was relieving, but I wasn't done with him just yet. He seemed to be focusing all of his attention towards me, and Julis seemed to be out of the picture. He formed a wall around him of automatons, and stood in the back.

"Silas, you know that you a cowards right? You hit a girl, and then protect yourself when things start to go south for you. You're a complete and utter coward."

"Sh-shut up! You don't know anything damnit! Everyone on this damn island is the enemy you're just too dumb to realize it!"

"I suppose that, that logic is true in some sense, but that isn't a reason for you to go around, and hurt people!"

I continued to walk, and stopped right in front of Julis. I bent down and faced her completely ignoring Silas, and his army. I don't know why I felt safe with my back turned to the enemy, but I felt like if I had to protect her, then I'd be just fine.

"Julis, this will be over quick, okay. So, just sit tight until then," I said to Julis. She couldn't even respond to what I said, but only nodded as she wiped away her tears.

I pulled out my other lux, and walked forward. In his front line, Silas had automatons that were holding a gun-type lux. They immediately began to open fire, but just like the ones earlier they were firing slow enough that I was able to avoid the rounds. I started cutting them all down as I got to each one. They fell to the ground with each one slash. Their bodies were separated from their legs, and they seized to function.

From the looks of things, there were about sixteen automatons that he was controlling. All of the other ones had a robotic movement that followed them. They had patterns that would only be noticeable if payed close attention to. But sixteen of the entire army of his stood out. Their movement didn't follow a specific pattern, and were freer.

"I think that I figured out your trick. You can only control about sixteen of those things at a time right," I said as I was slashing through each individual one. I was slowly making my way towards the control tower. "All of the other ones move in a more robotic fashion. They all have specific patterns that they're following, no?"

Silas began to stumble back by words alone. It wasn't something that surprising either. He's a coward, and his only weapon is using automatons to fight for him. "How did you did you figure that out?" He demanded from me.

I took a deep breath to relax myself. I looked around me before replying. It was prana coming out from around me. The lustrous blue that I wasn't familiar with began to engulf me. It was like the time when I saved her, and the time that I fought her. It was that same feeling that I came to realize. I'm stronger when I have something I want to protect, but isn't that the same with everyone? "Like I said earlier, majority of your 'dolls' are moving in a robotic pattern. It's kind of like a chess board. Probably those sixteen are the only possible threat. The rest here are all pawns. So, Silas give up now."

Silas broke out into an evil laugh with his arms spread wide, and looking towards the ceiling of the lot. "You think I'd just give up after coming this far? What a joke! Like hell I'll do that! For what reason do I have to do it either, what because, you asked me to stop?"

"Then don't say I didn't offer," I said as I walked towards the army in front of me. An automaton with a two handed axe swung downwards towards me. It became locked within my two luxes. The X like shape that they formed blocked the axe from making contact with me. Normally this would be a piece of cake at the moment, but currently I'm surrounded at all sides, and am under fire to add.

Before the next automaton came in close enough to slash I kicked the axe wielder with my fight foot, and sent it tumbling towards the ground. I turned to quickly block the incoming attacker, but there were too many for just two swords to block. Without even noticing myself, I was able to do what I had done to the first two attackers from when I first came to the lot. I slid past the group of automatons that were surrounding me, and put enough distance between the army and I.

"Julis," I said trying to get her attention.

"Yes?"

"Are you able to walk at all?"

"Not really, the wound on my thigh would let me put any body weight on it so, I'm can't more at all."

"I see… then it looks like I can't run from this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm outnumbered, that's a given here. Sure I feel stronger then I normally do, but the question is how long can I make this last. But if try to fight them one-on-one then I'll get surrounded again. So this isn't looking too good right about no-," I was saying before I was interrupted by Julis.

"Kazuya, look out!"

As I turned my head to see what she was talking about there was a barrage of bullets coming towards me. "Shit… I can't dodge this," I thought. I crossed my arms, and covered my face with them, but they still sent me flying towards a pillar that was behind me. "Gah," I yelped as I hit the pillar. My two luxes went flying from my hands.

"What happened to you playing hero, Saito! Weren't you going to make me pay from hurting the princess over there? Welcome to reality! Nothing is going to go the way you think it would go. This isn't a damn fairytale! There's no such thing as a hero who'll save the people in danger." Silas started as his automaton army was marching towards me. "Wake the hell up! You're not going to win this by playing hero! That's not how war is won. It's won by dirty tricks, and, man power. I have both so, I was going to win from the start!"

"You know Silas, you're probably right," I said, and he began to speak after I said this.

"Of course I am," he started before I interrupted him.

"But, that doesn't mean anything!" I started as I was pushing myself up, and grabbed my two luxes. "I made a promise to myself that I would never let her cry. You made a liar of me, and I cannot accept that!" I said as I was putting prana into the lux in my left hand. I slashed it horizontally, and a huge wave of prana came out of it. It cut down the army, but at the price of the lux being destroyed from the amount of prana that had been forced into it. "Silas, I don't want to make a liar of myself. You lost your army, and now you have nothing to protect yourself with. Surrender now, or face the consequences!"

He had that evil laugh once more. "Impressive, quite impressive! You took out the whole army with one slash. But I'm not out of the game yet. I still have the King piece!" He snapped his fingers, and a automaton that was bigger, and bulkier than all of the rest crashed through the ceiling. I'm surprised that this who place didn't collapse yet. "It's the Knight of White against the King of Black! Let this little chess game of ours begin!"

Was he calling me the Knight? Whatever, that doesn't matter right now! I put prana into my remaining lux that was in my right hand. At first I started to walk towards his, "King", but that lead to an all-out sprint. My lux was right by my side. "Okay Kazuya, let attack first, and focus on countering him." I thought to myself. His King threw a left punch towards me, but I stepped away in time. The ground began to shake from the impact of the punch, and the ground began to crack.

I slid between the Kings legs, and stabbed my lux into its left legs ankle joint. Once I pulled it out, the almighty King collapsed. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Just as I finished saying this, Silas began to panic. He ran straight towards the pile of automatons that were lying on the ground and flew away on one.

"I'll stop him!" Julis yelled.

"No Julis don't! There are people outside that are waiting for him. So, don't waste your ener-," I started, but collapsed mid-sentence.

"Kazuya! Kazuya! Get up!"

[Time Skip]

I honestly don't know how long I've been out for. My body lost all feeling in it, and it collapsed on me. I opened my eyes. At first my vision was a bit foggy, but it cleared up shortly.

'Kazuya, you're finally awake. You worried me quite a bit." The pink haired girl who was hovering over me said.

"Sorry, I think I pushed my body over its limits. But I should be fine in a little bit."

"That's good to hear. Kazuya, do you mind if I ask you something?

"Ask away."

"Have you ever been to my country before?" This question caught me off guard. "I ask this because, when I was younger I remember a boy who came to the castle. I dragged him throughout the city, and we got caught up in a gang of adults. I remember being captured by them, but that boy still saved me. There were three of them, and he still was courageous enough to save me. Kazuya, would that boy happen to be you?" Julis asked.

"So, you finally remembered that? Yeah, I did save you back then. I remember every last detail from that moment. That was the first time that my power was used. Then the duel made it the second time. Now this was the third. But it was me. That was why I was surprised when I first seen you at the school. I wasn't sure if it was a small world after all, or just fate. But it made me happy when I seen you."

"Idiot… you really are an idiot. Don't you know that?"

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"But… it's what makes you the type of person that you are. The type of person who jumps into danger without a second thought. The type who is always trying to make others happy, and protect others. It's not something that I dislike though."

"I suppose that, that doesn't sound too farfetched."

"Kazuya, why won't you enter the Festa either? I asked Enfield, and she told me that you didn't have any interest in partaking in it," Julis said. It then all came together. Claudia knew that someone was willing to team up with me because, Julis asked about me. But she wouldn't tell me to have Julis tell me herself.

"Damnit Enfield… Well I would want to partake in the Festa, but I never saw any point on joining just to weigh someone down in it. There's something that I want though, but I assumed that no one would partner up with me so, I kept my mouth shut.

"What would that be?" Julis asked. I made a face because, I didn't want to talk about it, but I felt as if I could tell her this. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want too."

"No, I don't mind telling you," I started by taking in a deep breath. "After my business trip with my father he shortly lost his job after it. He never told me why. My mother was killed in a traffic accident shortly after that. Dad turned to drinking, and it was only my little sister, and I. I was the one who had to watch over her only being so young at the time. She's two years younger than me. After our grandparents found out about this, they took the two of us in, and became our legal guardians. But my sister has an illness that has kept her hospitalized for a long time. It took effect during her second year of elementary school. She has been hospitalized ever since then."

"Is there a way to treat it?" Julis asked out of concern.

"Currently there is an operation for it to be cured, but they can only do it in Rikka. My family lacks the funds for the operation though. But that's not even the worst of it. My grandparents are having trouble paying the hospital bill for her stay back in Japan. So, I want them to have the operation on my sister. That's what I want if I win the Festa."

Julis didn't look towards me at all. She just looked into nothingness. But she finally opened her mouth. "Kazuya… what's you sister's name?"

I didn't expect her to ask for this, but I didn't really mind her asking either. "Her name is, Inori Saito."

Author's Note: Hey guys, it's me again! I don't really know what to say this time, but I tried my best to write this, and now I can focus on making this stray more off of the original story. I needed to get to this part so, Julis could remember who Kazuya is. But now I'm going to try my best to make this more original so I hope you all enjoy what is to come of this series, and all that good jazz.

I'd love to hear what you all thought of this chapter, or the story as a whole. It's really helpful to know what you guys think so I can progress further, and get better than I am now. So, I hope that you all stick through until the end of this story!

Kyuubi Gear: Perfect work, This was very well done. S-Rank achieved my friend. Keep it up. – Thank you so much! I keep giving it my best, and that's all I can do. But good luck on your stories too!

Alright, well… that's pretty much all that I have to say. So, I'll see you guys around, and hope you enjoy this.

-SaberAoi