Chapter I

Stranger

Ed Phoenix arrived at the academy secretly, his intentions were merely to battle and lose to Yuki Judai, after doing so, he disappeared on the island. While waiting on the coast for his transportation, he thinks about what Saiou wanted him to learn from Judai.

"There is nothing to learn here…"

A deep sigh, his angered expression aggravates thinking of his hatred for the criminal who took the life of his father, he will find him no matter what. That thought, as if pulling a trigger moves the wheel of destiny.

He reminisces about his last consultation with the friend, when he was about to leave, Saiou dropped a card. He thought it was a mistake. The card revealed the high priestess upwards, and Saiou's expression became dim all of sudden. He asked what it meant, but his only answer was "It doesn't matter, your destiny is still the same".

The sound of dozens and dozens of birds flying away echoes, he turns around, looking back at the forest. A thin pillar of light comes from its depths, unknown to him, from the ancient ruins. How many other people might have seen that?

His eyes squint in confusion, his brows coming together as a consequence. What is going on there? When he turns back to the direction of the ocean, fists clenched, his impatience growing higher, he hears the sound of leaves rustling.

From that direction, faint flakes of light lingers in the air, from in between the trees, he sees a hand grabbing a tree trunk in search of support, as if the light had brought something there, he sees a girl come out of the woods, just like that, out of nowhere.

She seems to have a similar constitution to his, but at least a palm shorter and with defined female features and looks like she is around his age, if not younger. Her unkempt blue hair spikes fluidly to the sides, the bangs are almost falling over the eyes, but good-looking at the same time, her eyes are gentle looking in a coral color that he thinks it's rather uncommon.

She stumbles, touching her head and looks around, seeking for something there, until her gaze finally lands on him. He gulps, what is happening?

"I found you!"

She rushes towards him, the closer she gets, the more strange it seems, his body instinctively projects back when she opens her arms, she then jumps and as if she is floating on the air, he sees her figure hovering over him and with a plop, she drops.

The impact sends them both to the ground. How can such a slim-looking lady be so heavy? He supports himself on his elbows, but not enough to raise his upper body much, her shadow looming above him covers part of his face, with a joyful smile she declares:

"Master, I came to give you a blessing that will change your terrible destiny!"

Holding his face with both hands, she startles him when their faces approach. He slaps away one of her hands and looks above in reflex, opening his mouth to complain about her behavior, but that makes it worse.

Because he changed the position of his face, the kiss that should land on his forehead now lands on his lips, sealing it. His eyes open wide, flickering at the soft sensation. It takes a second until she backs off a bit surprised, slightly blushing.

A rush of adrenaline comes from his brain, without thinking straight, he just brusquely pushes her away, knocking her off of him, she falls sitting on the ground, near his legs with the force he uses.

He immediately gets up, wiping his mouth with an arm, flustered and angered at the same time.

"Just what do you think you are doing?!"

"That was part of the ritual! It is now completed!"

"Ritual? Master? Are you crazy? What are you talking about?!"

She gets up, beating the dust out of clothes, but as soon as she steps forwards he steps five times back stretching his hand.

"Stay right there! Don't come near me! Who do you think you are to jump me like that?!"

"I've had fangirls for a longtime, but not in a million years were they this aggressive, what is wrong with this girl?! Saiou told me something unexpected would happen, but could this really be what he predicted...?..." his annoyed thoughts make his brow twitch.

"Master, did I do something wrong? I was just trying to do my part as a priestess, you could have stayed still..." she lowers her gaze, like a kid that was scolded by the parents.

She stands a few meters away. He analyses her up to down with caution. Her clothing is extremely cringey, a sleeveless white dress that looked like it came out of a movie, the v shaped cleavage is closed with a golden ring that puts the two halves of the cloth covering her chest together; he can see almost half of her breasts vertically from that opening. There is a golden adornment around her waist, even though he isn't any professional, he can tell it's very well made and it could cost millions.

The lower half of the dress opens in a prismatic shape, covering the sides and leaving the belly exposed, her legs are more covered, but he can still see the openings on the sides. There is some thin transparent clothing around her arms and around the lower half of the dress.

There are other gold adornments on her limbs too, rings, a bracelet and a thick choker. Is this girl cosplaying some sort of monster card in the academia or what? What calls his attention the most are the thick fetters with some chains still dangling from it, she has those on both wrists and even ankles, no wonder she was so heavy when they both fell.

Her bare feet are all dirty and he can see some scratches. The more he tries to figure it out, the more his head swirls, it makes no sense.

"Who are you? And why did you do this?"he clicks his tongue. She smells like a problem.

"Grey-haired master, I am Zara the priestess of the Great Pharaoh's temple!" she smiles blissfully "I came here to help break your terrible destiny!"

Just the "grey haired" part she pronounces in her annoying voice is enough to make a vein pop out. Can she be more vanilla than that? Then, something clicks in his mind.

"Wait… Do you not know my name? Why are you calling me grey-haired? It is very rude to call people like that."

"Pardon me, I don't..." she sits on her legs and bows down in apology, as if she is apologizing to royalty "B-But I saw the master before. I swear!" her face raises and she fidgets trying to explain herself.

"Is she talking about magazines? Or an interview? She must be crazy to be acting like this, if she wanted an autograph, she could just have said so and let me be." his eyes squint in distrust. "What are you doing bowing like this? Look at me when I talk!"

His angered voice shouts an order, she flinches and gets back up looking into his eyes with some sort of fear, enlacing her hands together.

"Ma-master… I saw a terrible destiny falling upon this world in a vision. This is why I came. I must assist you in changing that destiny!"

"Destiny…? This world…? She is talking like Saiou, no… It's different… She wants to change destiny? This is bullshit." his brows frown even more, an uprising tone fills his sentences:

"Stop calling me master! Don't you know who I am? My name is Ed Phoenix! I am a pro duelist!"

Her eyes display an intense sadness after he introduces himself. She looks upon the sky, whispering a prayer.

"This world is about to suffer greatly and this will lead to destruction. In your destiny, you will succumb to the darkness too… This is why I came here, to help change the horrifying destiny looming above all of us."

What is she talking about? Succumb? Him? World destruction? This is just getting worse, what in the world is this girl…

The sound of the helicopter that came to pick him up echoes closer and closer. She feels a strange presence coming from the forest. Flakes of light float in the air, as if something approaches. Her steps are gracious, her feet look so light as she runs closer to him.

"I told you to-" His words halt in his throat as he looks at the scared expression, urging him to listen.

"Master Ed, you must get out of here immediately!" she clenches both her fists "T-They are coming for me..." she looks back nervously and a drop of sweat rolls down her face "They may sentence me to death, but they must not find out who you are, you need to run now!"

Sentence to death? just how long is she going to be into this character? Run from who? He is disgusted with her whole behavior at the minimum movement of her hand, he reacts in reflex, slapping her hand away, she screams in high pinch, closing her eyes tightly.

The fetters on her wrist crack, he hears the sound of the metal crumbling and the fetter breaks down, falling to the ground. There is a heavy thud. Is she serious that it is indeed pure metal?

He is even more shocked upon looking at the hand he just slapped, she holds it close to her, with a pained expression, her wrists have purple marks, more than that, there are scars of older marks like this there.

Where exactly did she come from? Who was her? Was she really imprisoned? For some reason, he feels dizzy, the whole world is turning around him, he loses his balance, stepping back, almost stumbling. What is this feeling?

His eyes switch from the ominous forest where the pillar of light appeared and then to that strange girl in front of him. What is he going to do now? With a drop of sweat rolling down his deeply troubled expression, the decision is made. He can't just ignore it, can he? He wouldn't be able to live with himself like that.

Not long after, her dress flutters with the wind that blows, upon the sight of the chopper, she drops to the ground, sitting down and putting her arms in front of her body, screaming again.

"Have mercy, please!"

The helicopter comes close enough and lands, the wind is so strong, but it doesn't bother Ed who has experienced that multiple times, on the other hand, the girl acts as if she had seen the god of death in person that came to pick her up.

"What are you fussing about? This is not gonna kill you, it's just our transportation."

He looks down on her, still slightly bemused by the entirety of her behavior in those few minutes they met. She opens her eyes wide, there is certain curiosity in it and amusement as she looks at the vehicle.

"Trans…portation…? Ours?" she is even more confused "Master Ed, am I not going to be punished now for what I did wrong?"

"You… Just what are you…?" He gasps "Ah, whatever, you are coming with me."

"Phoenix-sama, we should depart soon to follow your schedule." The pilot shows his head to alert the teen.

"We are going."

Without a ceremony, he grabs her free wrist and drags her to the vehicle, she struggles and tries to get free, not understanding a single bit the situation, he stops and looks into her eyes, in a half bothered and half compassionate tone:

"You said someone is coming and if they get you, it means death, right?" She stops her strive against him "Do you want to stay here and die, then? I am trying to help you."

"No, I…"

"Then, stop making problems and come with me!"

Without getting a proper answer, he drags her into the helicopter, and closes the door, giving the signal for the pilot. He pushes her softly onto one of the seats and sits on the opposite side. She is scared when the flight starts, holding herself on the seat and panics, looking around.

"How are we flying? Does your servant know magic?!"

Not only does she act as if she knows nothing about the world, but she says the oddest things he has ever heard. She didn't even put her seatbelt on, he gets up from his seat and puts it on for her, getting back to his place and putting his own.

"How cumbersome. Do you not know you need this? And call me by my name!"

"Master Ed, why are you tying me?" She is terrified "I knew it! Master is taking me to the punishment chamber, isn't he?"

"What are you talking about, this is for your own safety!"

He shouts in a controlled tone, clenching his fists. She is so infuriating, why is he bringing her along again? Perhaps, she shouldn't have bothered, however it is a fact she had marks as if she was tied somewhere and most likely imprisoned. Just what crazy things were they doing on that island?

Ignoring her voice and treating it as background, he calms down and ponders deeply, forgetting about the world around.

"Should I call the police when we land? No, considering her words, they'd just take her to a psychiatric clinic deeming it as an unnecessary investigation… But I want to know what really happened…Perhaps a particular investigator? That would have the discretion I seek. Though, why was she on that island in the first place? She does have the age of a student, nonetheless, we can check the students records another time, seeing those marks on her wrist, it might be better to first rescue her, then hear her story… To think something like this was not in Saiou's predictions, I am impressed."

"Master Ed!" She looks outside the window in awe. "Are we in heaven? I can see the clouds from so close…"

His brows furrow obtusely and twitch, he crosses his arms impatiently and gives her silence as an answer. Her shoulders drop slightly in disappointment, but thanks to his unapproachable behavior, she stops questioning and spends the rest of the ride admiring the outside.

She swings her bare feet in excitement, the cuts on it have stopped bleeding, but many of them seemed recent. His frown increases. He decided to take her out of the island not even knowing who she is, nonetheless, she seems harmless, if anything, it is questionable how she was there on the island and how she got so hurt.

"My D heroes should be changing destiny, not saving damsels in distress..." he scolds himself mentally.

Every time he decides to play the hero, he gets a headache for that. It doesn't seem like this time it will be different.

As soon as they arrive at the city, they land on the special heliport on the top of the skyscraper. There are a few people there to greet him, they don't even spare a look at her, she just tags behind, looking around as if it's the first time she has seen any of the world.

He calls someone on the phone while watching her tag behind, his expression is rigid and unfriendly.

"Can you come to my apartment immediately? I want a full check-up on someone."

After finishing the call, he initiates yet another one, this time, a different number:

"Get me an appointment with the best private detective you can find in your agency."

Finishing the second time, he enters the building, grabbing her wrist and going downstairs.

"I may need to pay someone to take care of her… Such a pain…"

He thinks to himself, glaring in distrust, startling the girl. She seems reluctant to go downstairs, stepping back, panicking for no apparent reason, she runs and grabs the hem of Phoenix's suit, he is tugged back by her gesture and turns around with a raised brow.

"What are you doing? I will arrange everything for you. I don't have time to be here."

"Why are you taking me to the dungeon?"

"Dungeon…?" He is at loss for words, are they speaking the same language? "I don't get what you're talking about, we are just going to my apartment. We can't stay up here."

"A… Apart…ment?" She seems to have difficulties in pronouncing the word "What is an apartment, master Ed?"

"I told you to stop calling me like that."

He grabs her wrist and pulls it away from him, fixing his suit before continuing with an annoyed expression. The surroundings are frightening to her, the style of the building, the passersby that cast weirded looks, raising their eyebrows.

He opens the door, the insides of the apartment are simple, but so different from what she knows. It scares her to be there without a single familiar face. The walls are yellow and the first sight is the living room with a couch.

He carefully grabs her shoulders and sits her down on that sofa, she stares curiously at him when he speaks.

"Someone will come to take care of your injuries. He is a doctor and I already gave permission for him to come up, don't fret over it and listen to him. "

He turns around, but rewinds his action after hearing the sound of her standing up. With a deep sigh, he waltzes on the corridor and stops by a door. She walks slowly, observing everything around.

"Here, you can wait in the guest room." He opens the door politely, inviting her to enter "Don't go out of it until I come back. I will return in no time."

With those cold, inexpressive words, he incentivizes her to enter the room with a push and leaves for his duel. Casting a last glance back as a drop of sweat rolls down his face, She will stay there until the doctor comes, right?

His eyes spy the outside from the car when they drive to the stadium. His mind retains the scenes from before, how that girl came out of nowhere and all the things she said… Not that he believed her fully, but certainly there was something off about that. Why was she in the academy? Why did she have those awful and unsightly marks and scars? And what was all that desilusion about changing the world's end. She couldn't be part of the destiny Saiou predicted, right?

His head starts aching just by thinking about it, was the academy having some strange business going there? Or was it a crazy girl that escaped the asylum? His meditation is cut off when they arrive, he puts his thoughts straight and concentrates on the duel, he is a pro after all.

His duels for the day end exactly as predicted by his manager, he wins all of them. On the way back, he receives a call from home.

"What is it?"

The voice through the phone has a worried and nervous tone, his eyes open wide and he jolts on his seat.

"How do you mean you won't leave until you speak to me in person? And why did the guest room she was in get damaged?!"

Frowning profusely, he puts his fingers on the wrinkles in between his eyebrows, a headache surges from inside.

"How can it be…? I just left for a few hours..." ending the call, he orders in an irritated tone "Speed up the car!"

"R-right, Sir!"

The driver complies to the commandment and steps on the accelerator, driving wildly through the city till the mansion. He jumps out of the car and stomps his feet to the floor he lives in, very high up in the building. Opening the door of the room with a bang. The doctor turns around, startled and adjusts his glasses, getting up.

"What happened? Why did you need me here?"

"You, get out" he calls the assistant with a brusque gesture sending him away "Close the door behind, please."

The calm, but grave tone of the man gave him the feeling it would be better to not question it, he wanted to be discreet as much as possible. The assistant of the doctor leaves the scene, only the two of them are left there.

The room is a mess, there are bed sheets on the ground and broken glass. Closing the door and even locking it, Phoenix glances at the worried doctor.

"We are alone now."

"Phoenix, I don't know where you got this girl from or what you were doing with her, but this is completely unacceptable." he crosses his arms "I might be forced to call the police, but I want your explanation first, because I have known you since you were a kid."

"Wait, what? No, you're misunderstanding it, I didn't do anything bad, I don't even know her! I found her lost somewhere… And I thought it might be better to call someone given her odd state..."

"If that is it, I am relieved it was not you..." he sighs alleviated.

"Doctor Williams, you know me… I called you here because I trust in your service. Tell me, what did you find out? Is it very serious?"

"She certainly comes from a very abusive household. Wherever she was, they were binding her, multiple times. She has marks on both ankles, wrists and neck that prove she was tied up at some point. I had to remove the fetters surgically with a solder."

"Is she fine…?"

"Well, you can see that for yourself."

Behind the doctor, there is a bed that he was standing in front of, his body blocking the sight up till now. He steps aside, showing the unconscious girl lying on the bed with her back upwards. Her long hair covers her open back partially, the dress doesn't seem to cover her back, only from the waist below. From that opening he can see innumerous scars. He is utterly shocked.

"You see the scars? They suggest she was whipped many times long ago, it never healed properly, I must have ripped apart her skin. Judging by the methods they use, she was tortured and imprisoned countless times, the wounds on wrists and ankles are very new, and there are older wounds from the same type of constraining method. I don't know where you found her, but you'd be doing her a favor by never letting her go back there. She was living with some very ancient torturers that seemed to take pleasure in physical abuse."

"Why is she sleeping?"

"I had to give sedatives to her. She wouldn't let me see her condition and overreacted to the exam. I can understand why she'd be afraid, but I had to check on her for her sake too. After we calmed her down, I could remove the chains and examine properly. My ultimatum is: she will be fine with some rest, but I would certainly testify to the police against whoever did this to a girl this young…"

Ed has a ponderatie stance, his gaze on the ground, but unfocused as if his mind is drifting to another world.

"She seems to be your age, but I will need more exams to know better. Also, I am waiting for the results of the blood test, but it is likely she was starving for a few days, her skin was abnormally pale. Otherwise, she looks healthy, but she might need a better diet than she had before or it may cause problems to her health. Do you have anything else to ask?"

"No… I just..."

"I know it is astounding, but she will be fine as long as those people who did this never see her again. I can't say I am not curious, but seeing how you decided to bring her here instead of to the police station, you probably had your reasons. I will trust you will know what to do."

"Thank you for your services." he handshakes the doctor.

"I need to go now..." he adjusts his glasses "Once I get results on her exams, I will contact you then. I may also ask for more exams to make sure everything is fine inside her body as well, since it was not possible to do a full checkup here. I hope you'll take care of everything until then."

He nods, crossing his arms and the doctor excuses himself out, taking his suitcase and hat with him. Ed stays in the room longer, in silence, looking at the bed in which she sleeps.

"Just who in the world are you…? All the strange things she was saying… Was someone really… Was there really a villain who would do such things on that island? On top of that, how can she have so much energy despite this condition…? I don't know what to think anymore..."

He approaches the bed, getting sight of her again. Her wrists are bandaged and she is half covered, she seems to breathe soundly, but those scars on her back... With a frustrated expression, he turns around.

"So unsightly..."

Coming out of the room in a rigid manner, he makes a call and orders:

"Bring me some sets of clothes for girls, bring many of them, sets of underwear too, all in different sizes. They absolutely must cover the back, neck, wrists and ankles. The address is..."

The person on the other side of the line is surprised with the demands, but they happily concede and he can finish the call. Putting a hand to his head, he leaves with no further explanation. How many times has he done that in a single day? He sighs deeply and goes to his room. He doesn't immediately sleep, in fact, he is not even on the bed.

Sitting at the table near the glass window from which he can see a big part of the city, he looks into the small stretch of sky in between the buildings, with a concerned glance. Then, he checks his deck.

"My D heroes… They are still incomplete… When will I find the last card? So far everything went according to Saiou's predictions, but he said something could change… My destiny… What is it that I must do to find that man…?"

Closing his eyes, he gathers the cards and puts them inside the chest of drawers beside his bed, locking it. His sleep is not peaceful, among nightmares and memories, his mind has no time to rest.

When morning comes, he is awake, but in a bad mood. Covering his eyes with one of the hands while his hair drops to the face.

"Again… Those nightmares..."

His tranquil morning is interrupted by a loud noise coming from the corridor, he sits down and slowly slides his legs out of the bed while listening attentively, trying to identify the problem. A sound of glass shattering echoes and he hears the very girly and familiarly annoying scream.

With an annoyed frown, he opens the door of his room with a thud, peeking outside, still in his pajamas. The girl from before stands on the corridor with bubbly eyes, she dashes to his side upon sighting him, arriving fast like a flash of light, hiding behind him.

"Master Ed! I need help!"

"So early in the morning… What is the cause of such a ruckus?!" His irritated tone makes her uneasy.

"T-The grey walls of the room just moved and an illusion appeared! Sunlight came in!Y-Your home is affected by magic!"

Her desperate tone makes it sounds like something surreal happened, but it was just about the automatic blinders going up because of the timer he set? The annoying pulls she exerts on the sleeves of his pajamas just aggravate his bad mood.

She is still wearing the same clothes from the previous day, the fact that she is clinging to him makes him feel unnecessarily uncomfortable. Why did she not wear the set of borrowed clothes he left on her bed? The seemingly ignorant behavior of that girl gets on his nerves.

"Don't cling to me like this!"

He pulls her arm away and puts her in front of him with a scolding glare, she is even more scared.

"I told you to stop calling me master! I don't know where you come from, but in this house, you need to follow rules! Starting by treating people accordingly! How can you be ungrateful and bothersome to the people who are trying to take care of you..."

"Mas..." she can't bear looking into his intense glare, averting her eyes down, in shame "Ed Phoenix-sama, I was scared the magic might be harmful… If something is wrong, I need to perform a ritual of protection..."

"You can do it, but don't cause problems in my house! Look at that!"

He shows the vase that she just broke by running around and tumbling, her figure shrivels with the scolding. He opens his mouth to spout more irritation, but stops himself, sweating worriedly. Breathing deeply, he turns around, about to enter his room again.

"I will have someone clean this mess and give you the meals of the day, but you should stop being so oblivious to your surroundings. Whether you came from a different world or not, don't be so careless like this."

He takes his phone and makes a call, closing the door with a bang. Not even a moment the young girl dares to raise her eyes again. She stands a few seconds in front of the closed door, a shadow covering her eyes with panic.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Ed sighs feeling troubled. Was there a need to vent his bad mood like that? Maybe not, but she had it coming, right? He knows absolutely nothing about her situation, maybe he should ask when he has time, however, it is hard to talk to someone who clings to their delusional fantasies about being a priestess.

That day he has his duel with Kaiser sealing yet another destiny intertwined with his. There was no need to be cruel, but his unstoppable anger, he just made everyone around him feel miserable by coming across him.

His next three years are also clogged with duels, there is no space in his agenda for more. For some reason, he also entered academia, even though he is already a Pro, he wanted to meet Judai again and see what was so special about him, his wish was granted in the next couple days, but unaware that his deck was imbued with a supernatural power, he wins, destroying Judai's spirit and sealing off his ability of seeing spirits.

Coming back to his house, he is greeted coldly by the workers at the entrance of the residential building again, that apartment is compact, but contains all he needs. There is nothing there besides the few pieces of furniture, full closets and himself. He looks at the food, lt's right next to the door of the apartment. Untouched again.

On the ground near the couch at the entrance, he sees many bags with clothes as he ordered, but they're all neatly positioned as if no one touched them after they were placed there. He didn't stop at home much for a couple days and had to travel suddenly, maybe he should have cancelled it and given more attention to her.

"Did she cause more trouble?" He wonders, looking around, but his living room is completely void.

He raises a brow, he doesn't even want to imagine what she is up to, but if left alone to her own devices, he can imagine the room burning, in a hurry he proceeds there. Opening the door on a whim. She isn't anywhere to be seen. His eyes open wide. Did she escape somehow?

Running around her room, he steps on a pool of water. Taking his feet a step back, he analyzes the scene, the pool trail leads to the bathroom. It can't be… Without a second thought he almost breaks open the door, his heart accelerated in a disturbed rhythm.

"She couldn't have…!"

She is there, her long eyelashes demark her features. She's still in the same clothes as before, inside the waters of the bathtub, kneeling there as her clothes float. He can feel the elegance in her posture, perhaps she was really trained to do that, her hands are laced together in prayer and despite the cold water, her body seems stable.

"What are you doing?!"

He breaks her composure. Her eyes open in a blink and she feels a shiver run through her body, embracing her shoulders, entering the real world again.

"Master Ed!"

Her roundy eyes are quite surprised with his presence, a nerve pops out on his face, he swears if she calls him that again…

She comes out of the water, her body trembling like a massage chair, nonetheless she has that silly smile as if there is nothing wrong, this is all so infuriating. He can see the shape of her body under that dress completely glued to her skin, his blood flows to the head.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

He quickly grabs a towel from the side and puts it around her, flustered and abashed. She wraps herself more in the towel smiling happily for the help given. Does she really not have a pinch of understanding? Is she that naive?

"Worry not, I did not touch anything but the water maker! I came here to meditate and strengthen my powers, the water helps!"

"And when will you finally stop calling me 'master', I don't recall hiring someone dumb like you to be my worker."

She flinches with his annoyed response and looks down in sadness, bringing her hands together.

"But… You are a master at duel monsters, aren't you? I saw in my visions, you can control them, the monsters… You are talented..."

An electric current crosses his brain. This whole time he thought she refers to him as master in another sense, but in truth she was calling him that because of his profession…?

"Aren't you talking about professional duelists…? Yes, I am one, but…"

"What is a professional?" she tilts her head "Master Ed can control the monsters at his will, he can defeat other people that control the monsters with ease."

"I… get it..." he puts a hand to his head, how can she not know anything in the world? "But stop calling me master. People will interpret it wrong, even more if you walk around doing your strange stuff. Just call me like people normally would."

"I would dishonor my ancestors if I did not pay the right respects to the chosen ones."

"Chosen ones…?"

"Masters, like master Ed."

"Just… Just Ed is fine, stop with those insane formalities already, it bothers me to the core."

"It bothers…?" Her gaze is somewhat saddened by the words and conflicted "Is this why master… was angry with me before? Did you come to punish me?"

"Punish…?"

He is even more stunned at her words as she joins her hands in a plea, with a scared expression.

"What are you even talking about…? I'm not gonna punish you, more like you are the one foolishly punishing yourself by staying under cold water like that..."

He sighs harshly, feeling troubled again, just what in the world is wrong with her? Given the scars, is it possible she was raised by very unorthodox people who are still living like in ancient times? He can't figure it out yet, but this is why he came here, he needs to ask questions. Will she willingly tell him the truth? Or will everything she says make no sense again?

From the moment she entered his life, he'd known she would bring only trouble. How exactly can she help with his destiny or the world's destiny? At a loss for words, he listens to the silence in the room, thinking of a way to find out more about who she truly is.