The Shadow in the World of Magic

by MagicName88

Hikigaya Hachiman's only goal is to find the wife and daughter of his deceased guardian in a wasteland filled with powerful monsters. For him to do that, he must become a knight and bond with others, but the first person he was forced to approach is a noblewoman who wants to do research with the power of science. The biggest challenge for the young mage's adventure begins.[AU]

5. Chapter 5: Amidst The Climb

Recap of the previous chapter: The duel between Hachiman and Terrowin had been full of twists and turns. None expected Hachiman's physical capabilities aside from the few who knew that. Meanwhile, Terrowin's tactics and his wide variety of spells made himself a difficult foe for Hachiman to defeat. With the second round at Terrowin's victor, Hachiman was defeated in the final round. After waking up, he found himself in the infirmary with Yukino sitting by his side discussing their scientific invention. It was revealed that Yukino met Hachiman since childhood while facing a typhon, a serpent monster that could control the minds of beasts and monsters.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Oregairu series as it is respectfully owned by the author and studios.

---

Chapter 5: Amidst The Maiden's Climb, The Stairs Will Slightly Tremble

A few days had passed since the duel between Terrowin Merek and Hikigaya Hachiman which ended in Merek's victory. The young dark mage didn't feel frustrated on his defeat, nor any anger towards the fact he was defeated by a noble. He was calm and just lived the days as if nothing was different. Hikigaya was now in a cave located somewhere in the forest, wearing the signature long brown tattered cloak, a hollowed-out alvarez deer head mask, and the cloth made of grey striped fur with a white back strapped behind his waist. He held a fire torch in his left hand to illuminate inside the dark cave while holding the chipped dirty sword with his right hand. The blade was covered in blood as drops fell, leaving a trail as he walked in the cave. The fiery light brightened the narrow path of the cave as well as the bodies of goblins and bodies of another monster. Different limbs were cut off from their bodies, and some were decapitated or stabbed to death. The same thing happened with other monsters. These creatures were as tall as human adults with their skin red but had no faces. There was also a pile of shattered pieces of masks. These masks looked like skulls and they were all covered in the blood of these monsters.

Hikigaya turned to the right and walked on a clean path of the cave. He suddenly heard grunts and screams of goblins in the dark path and he held his sword firmly and raised the torch forward to see the path in front of him. After a minute of walking, the young dark mage heard several footsteps and he posed a fighting stance. The footsteps got louder as whatever came in his way got closer. After another loud step, it went silent, indicating that the enemies stopped moving. Hikigaya waited for seconds until he tried to approach them with slow steps. From just one step, three daggers flew in front of him, aiming at his head. and he bent backward to evade them. He saw the daggers were held by black hands and then three skull masks revealed themselves to the light of the torch.

"Ah great. Shadow craves." He mumbled in annoyance. The Shadow craven in the middle attempted to stab his abdomen and he chopped its hand the moment it tried to reach. He then tried to stab its face but the mask moved to the side, indicating that the monster dodged the attack. The other two monsters moved on the walls as if they were flying. He couldn't see their bodies nor a single outline because their entire figures were covered in some sort of black smoke. It was as if he was fighting actual shadows with a floating mask.

Shadow craves are monsters that specialize in assassinations. Once they see their prey, their only plan is to slit throats and kill quickly and silently with their daggers. The monsters can survive without food, but they do increase their speed if they eat the mana pools in mages. The faster they are, the more dangerous the shadow craves can become. They can emit black smoke to cover their bodies which made them blend in the shadows and hide the rest of their movements.

Basically these monsters were assassins, and that was what confused Hikigaya. Even if they would become faster, the shadow craves would still hunt prey through surprise attacks. But these three monsters were fighting him head-on. The now one-handed shadow crave grabbed the dagger on the ground with its left hand and attempted once more to attack him. The other ran on the walls and went behind him while the other monster floated above his head. Their attacks were synchronized. Hikigaya dropped the torch and nonchalantly grabbed the wrist from the shadow crave above him, and then turned his body to the left to evade the attack from both behind and front. He simultaneously thrust a kick to the shadow crave from behind and stabbed the one in front of the chest with his sword. The one from behind was knocked away from the kick and the other in front of him had its black smoke disappeared, revealing a human-like creature with red skin and that its head was stabbed while the skull mask floated above him until it fell into the ground as the monster died.

Another thing about shadow craves is that they can control their mask to float in the black smoke to confuse enemies even further to make easy evasions. The masks were made up of organs where the mage's mana pools were located. The mask can be a good ingredient for an enchanted gear and other magical purposes.

Hikigaya pulled the shadow crave from above and into the ground which formed a crater. He stabbed its head while the mask moved downward, attempting to confuse him but it was useless. The last remaining shadow crave which was behind him, ran towards him faster than a normal human He heard its footsteps and turned around to face the monster. It grabbed another dagger on the ground and it began attacking with two blades. The young dark mage effortlessly dodged all thrusts and swings until he raised his guard when he noticed something else came out of the shadow crave's black smoke and blocked the incoming attack. It was another dagger but it was wielded by a small green limb. His eyes widened in surprise and three more green limbs holding daggers came out of the monster's black smoke. It was as if the monster had six arms. The monster began attacking with a barrage of dagger swings and Hikigaya just blocked and evaded all of them with ease. After tilting his head to evade another thrusting attack, he stabbed the shadow crave everywhere in its front with such speed and it fell into the ground. The smoke cleared to reveal the red body along with two dead goblins.

"Did these goblins seriously grabbed onto the shadow crave just so they could become a moron with six arms?" Hikigaya thought while shaking his head. "Still, those were strange behaviors that they'd never do. Two types of monsters working together and became more cunning. It really can't be, can it?"

...

A few days ago, the night after the duel

Hikigaya was in the sewers carried by Hiratsuka on her back. His injuries made him unable to stand up and move, so he asked the teacher to help him carry all the way to the secret entrance to the forest. The stench of this area almost made Hiratsuka vomit and she tried her best to endure as she walked faster to the direction Hikigaya gave her.

"Ugh! I can't believe you would choose this of all places as a secret pathway." She complained with a disgusted expression.

"It was Wylfrid-san's idea, not mine." He said while looking forward with indifference. "It was a good idea anyway. Only a few people come into these sewers, which are either the people who repair any problem that would occur here and the knights should monsters or suspicious people are seen roaming around. Both are rare occurrences since the construction of this sewage is perfect and the security of this city is tight so nothing will sneak in."

"Until Wylfrid came up with this idea," The teacher said with a sigh. "Are you sure you want to go back to your cabin? Who's gonna take care of you when you'll be the only one there?"

"Don't worry, I have someone who can heal these injuries with no problems."

"Really?"

"Yeah, as long as he agrees to it, at least."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Just trust me."

They finally reached the familiar dead-end and Hikigaya touched the wall to pour his mana into the seal. The wall opened and revealed the ladder which Hiratsuka climbed while carrying him on her back. Her pace began to slow down as she struggled to climb.

"You're slowing down, sensei."

"Shut up! We're almost there." They reached the ceiling door and opened it. Hiratsuka climbed on top and they saw the night sky along with the woods. The teacher stood on the grass, immersing herself to the beautiful nature brightened by the stars and the moon. Hikigaya did the same albeit briefly as he noticed something behind the bushes. Hiratsuka also noticed that and she readied herself against the possible threat. Small green glowing lights appeared behind the bush which made Hikigaya relaxed.

"It's fine, sensei. He's just who I was talking about." He said as the glowing lights flew up and a figure of a beast came to the moonlight to reveal itself. It was an alvarez deer. The young dark mage could tell that this was the same deer that guided him to the gogmagog weeks ago. He realized that the teacher was silent and so he looked at her to see she was amazed at the alvarez deer in which Hikigyaa smirk at that reaction.

"I-Is that really an a-alvarez deer?" Hiratsuka stuttered when asking the question. She was in total disbelief that such a beast was standing right in front of her.

"Yeah, first time seeing one?" He asked.

"Of course it is! It is rare for anyone to find a mysterious and legendary beast like this face to face. So, w-what does it d-d-do? You s-said that this beast will help you, right? Right?" She asked him restlessly with excitement and curiosity. The alvarez deer slowly approached the teacher carrying the student which made her flinched and took one step backward. "I-It's coming this way! What should I do!"

"Just relax, he won't hurt you as long as you don't do anything stupid."He reassured her and the deer was a feet close to them. It lowered its head and the glowing antlers touched Hikigaya's head. He glowed green as the deer healed his injuries just like last time. Hiratsuka just stood still while she closed her eyes, preparing for whatever was about to come. She waited for a few seconds, and she slowly opened her right eye to see if something happened. She only saw the alvarez deer stepping back and stared at both of them.

"Sensei, you can let me go now." He said with indifference.

"Are you sure?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. The young dark mage nodded in response and the teacher complied. She let him down and he stood straight. He stretched his limbs until he sighed in satisfaction.

"Much better."

"Did the deer healed you?"

"Yeah. Alvarez deers are perhaps the first beast to wield magic."

"SERIOUSLY?!" She asked loudly which made both Hikigaya and the deer flinched in surprise.

"Y-Yeah. They can do basic magic and elemental magic. The alvarez deers are quite powerful so don't mess with them."

"That's amazing... They're not legendary for nothing." She said in awe while staring at the beast. Hikigaya grabbed his things and then jumped on the deer's back.

"You should head home now."

"Eh? C-Can I at least ride the deer?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No. Besides, I think there is trouble in the forest since he came to me and healed me."

"What kind of trouble?"

"I don't know. That's why you should go back while I deal with this."

"Hey wai-" Before she could respond, He rode the deer and ran fast. "I'll tell you the situation if it's serious!"

And with that, Hiratsuka was left alone in the middle of the woods near the secret entrance. She scratched her head in frustration towards her student's behavior, thinking about what she should do next. After holding her chin, She concluded as she shrugged her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Hikigaya rode the alvarez deer at full speed. His mind was full of possibilities of what kind of situation was he about to face. Could it be more hunters like those lightning mages? Or another monster wreaking havoc in the forest? Two possibilities, none would be taken lightly. Suddenly, he made a look of realization as he touched his own face.

"Ah shit, I forgot my disguise..." He vented in his mind as he hit his face with a palm in frustration. "What if this is a human problem, they're going to see my face, damn it! Well... I guess it wouldn't matter since I have someone to shake their minds a bit. But still."

The deer stopped in an open field which interrupted his thoughts and he looked forward to seeing dead goblins lying on the grass on top of their puddles of blood. Hikigaya slowly got down from the alvarez deer and approached the corpses. He also noticed two massis wolves injured and exhausted, as well as blue birds with feathers that glowed purple at the ends. The birds hung into the branches upside down using their sharp claws. There were so many goblins in the area, he almost thought a goblin army came to invade the forest only to be killed by beasts. There was another massis wolf stood in the middle of the corpses in which the young dark mage recognized the beast.

"Tenro?" He ran towards his friend, stepping on the dead goblins' bodies without care and hugged the beast briefly before focusing back to the scene. Based on the damaged trees and small craters, it was a surprisingly tough battle for them. Goblins were one of the weakest monsters but they were dangerous in numbers. Hikigaya knelt down to analyze the scene until he suddenly heard a whistle behind him. He quickly unsheathed his sword, only to see Hiratsuka staring at the corpses.

"That's a lot of goblins," She said nonchalantly until she heard growls from the massis wolves. They glared at her as the beasts were unfamiliar to her scent which made them think she could be an enemy. HIkigaya stood up and walked in front of her to face them and shook his head. The massis wolves calmed themselves and sat back down on the grass.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a little hint of annoyance.

"Well, I thought about what you said earlier and I said to myself: 'Why should listen to a dumbass who's younger than me?'. And so, here I am." She said while forming her biggest grin on her face to annoy him even further which it worked as one of his eyes twitched and veins appeared on his forehead. Tenro looked back and forth between the two, appearing to be confused by their interaction.

"How did you even get here so quickly?"

"I flew." She answered casually and Hikigaya raised an eyebrow at that as if he couldn't believe what she just said. Hiratsuka was annoyed by that and raised her right hand sideways to summon a red magic circle on the ground. A glowing large red bird creature made entirely of mana rose on the magic circle and it shrieked loudly. It's shriek echoed throughout the forest and it emitted a force of wind that lightly blew the trees and everyone around it, including Hikigaya. The ziel puppet stood straight and its height "This is my ziel puppet. I call him, Magus Vermillion!"

"...Why do I have a feeling that you ripped that name off from somewhere..." He stared at the teacher with a scrutinizing gaze. She laughed nervously and tried her best to act natural. only to fail as her smile twitched every second and her eyes moved to the side.

"What? Pfftt... No! T-That's ridiculous."

"You're right. You just changed the words of that name with synonymous words. Is this a Jo-"

"ANYWAY!" Hiratsuka shouted to interrupt him and then walked past him to check the scene as the ziel puppet faded away. The bodies of goblins disgusted her. she looked around to see what happened and how did this occur. She closes her eyes for a moment and opened them wide as she cast a clairvoyance spell. "I see traces of mana around here. It's more like they were killed by magic attacks."

"Then the alvarez deer must've joined in the fight." Hikigaya suggested and looked at the deer who nodded in response to confirm him. Hiratsuka looked around more with clairvoyance and saw something behind the woods. She walked towards it and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hikigaya, you need to see this." She said as she grabbed the object. The young dark mage complied and also saw the object. It was a rope. He looked forward and saw ropes hung into the branches with some tied into a loop and others were ripped apart. Some ropes looked like nets when they were tied together. There was also a pit that was surrounded by leaves and twigs. Blood was also spilled everywhere although they couldn't tell whether this was from goblins or the massis wolves.

"These look like traps." He exclaimed while approaching the pit and looked down to see something tragic. At the bottom of the pit, a dead massis wolf was impaled in large wooden spikes attached to the ground. Its blood spilled the spiked and there were leaves and twigs around the beast, indicating that the goblins tricked it into falling for the trap. Hiratsuka also looked down to see the fallen beast, holding her chin as she analyzed all of the pieces presented to them.

"Goblins aren't that stupid," She commented. "They have basic understanding in human survival and tactics such as setting an ambush or use one of their own as bait to lure their prey into a hideout. But they're not smart enough for craftsmanship like this."

"What are you suggesting, sensei?" Hikigaya asked in a serious tone. He knew where she was going with this, but such an idea was too ridiculous for him to believe.

"I'm saying that this could be the work of a mage."

"There's no way that a human can tame monsters."

"Well, I'm not suggesting that this mage can tame monsters but can possibly brainwash them with a magic spell or some sort of enchanted item."

"I see..."

"Besides, I don't think the possibility of a monster tamer is not that far off. After all, you can tame even the wildest of beasts."

First the gogmagog, now goblins. What does that mage want?"

"I don't know, but it may have to do with your massis wolves. Hmm... Is there anything special about them?"

"They have enhanced smell, teeth stronger than metal, and turn their golden fur in daytime to black at night."

"Is that all?"

"Their physical characteristics and behavior change depending on the time. In daytime, the golden massis wolves have tougher muscles in which they can withstand more heavy attacks and can charge through walls. They also act more aggressively against their prey, preferring to do a more direct approach and face them head-on. The wolves' eyes are covered in white layers because their sight is sensitive to light so they rely on their sense of smell to move around. At night, they're on the stealthy approach, sneaking up on their prey and find the right opportunity to pounce based on their instincts. Their bones can become soft which makes them able to pass through narrow spaces. Also, their red eyes are open to see the dark better."

"Interesting, The mage must want something from the massis wolves. Either he wants to kill all of them or something else. Right now, the knights need to investigate on this matter."

"Right, and I'll be doing my own investigation."

"What?"

"I know every corner right down from the tiniest leaf of this forest. And this is the forest protected by the guardian so it is my responsibility to fulfill my duty." He said with obvious resolve in his voice and expression. The teacher closed her eyes to think of his suggestion. She didn't doubt his overall abilities, but to her, he was still a child who needed to learn more and get even stronger. He was a special kind of mage who still required time to become a full-fledged knight. Her thought process must have taken more than seconds since she noticed his patience was running out. "Trust me. I can take on whatever is going to hit me."

"That doesn't mean you're invincible, Hikigaya," Hiratsuka argued. "But you're right. You know the woods than even the greatest scouts trained by the knight forces. I'll trust you but be careful and don't get too cocky. You still got a long way to go, remember that."

"Yeah, I will. You can count on me."

"Wait, did you just agreed with me? Usually, you would go and say 'whatever' or 'I'm better than anyone so this is nothing'."

"Well, what you just said is true. I still got a long way to go. I need to get strong enough to beat someone like Merek... and strong enough to beat you once and for all." He declared with a smirk and she responded with a smirk of her own

"Is that so? Then, I guess we'll end it at that. I'll notify the knights about this as soon as I get back to the city."

"Okay," And the two parted ways with Hiratsuka going back to the secret entrance and Hikigaya going to the deep woods followed by the beasts. That was until she stopped for a second and turned around to call him.

"Uuhhhh... Hikigaya?"

"Hm?" He turned around to face her, wondering what else she was going to say.

"Where's the secret entrance?"

"... You can't be serious."

"I just followed you while flying and I didn't even know we were going this far away!"

...

"A human who commands monsters to kill massis wolves..." He said while walking further deep into the cave. So far, he didn't encounter goblins, shadow craves, nor any monster. He speculated that they might have set up an ambush for him, or those monsters he fought back there were the last. Still, caution was necessary as the uncertainties in this situation grew at every strange phenomenon he witnessed. His mind suddenly went back to the time he and others fought against the serpent monster. In that memory, it was a difficult battle that it took everything they had to defeat the monster. Things could be different now, but whether it would be in his favor or to the unpredictable circumstances, was unknown to him.

"Are we going to fight something even worse than that typhon? Possibly. Whatever happens, I'm ready for it."

---

Next day

It was lunchtime in the academy and Hikigaya was eating in the usual empty classroom located in the abandoned area of the building. After a week of investigation, the only things he found was a group of goblins and shadow craves working together in a cave and more dead massis wolves inside. It became even more mysterious to him because the wolves' skins and furs were peeled off. Only the flesh and bones remained with no traces of blood. Did the mage plan on making enchanted gear out of their furs? Or for pieces of clothing? The culprit's purpose was unclear.

"I'll talk to Hiratsuka-sensei about this. She might know something." He mumbled and took a bite of goblin meat. The silver lining for him was that he got food supply for himself which consisted of goblins and shadow craves. With the right ingredients, he could make goblin meat edible and it would be the first time for him to cook shadow crave meat. He already wondered what it would taste like although he quickly knew that it would taste terrible the first time he would cook it. Before he could think further of his food, he heard footsteps in the corridor which echoed since this area was empty and rarely anyone approached here. He then heard doors being opened and closed. Footsteps grew louder which indicated that this person was getting closer to him. After a few more opening and closing doors, the door to this room opened to reveal Yuigahama looking around until she saw Hikigaya as if she found who she was looking for. She smiled and then ran towards him.

"I finally found you, Hikki!" She said with excitement in her voice."I checked every abandoned classroom since I know you prefer eating alone because that's how you are, y'know? I opened and closed a bunch of dusty old doors, only seeing nothing but empty classrooms with webs and creepy crawlers and-"

"What do you want?" He asked, interrupting her before it would get any longer.

"I want to eat lunch with you, that's all." She answered with her smile growing bigger.

"You went all that trouble looking for me just so we can have lunch together?" He asked in disbelief and doubts.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" She sat beside him and opened her basket to reveal sandwiches as her lunch. She took out one to eat and she enjoyed the taste. She noticed how Hikigaya was staring at her and pulled out another sandwich in her basket. "Do you want some?"

"No. This is all I need." He said as he raised the green meat for her to see it. She stared at the meat in curiosity and looked back on her sandwich to think.

"Can I try that?" She said while pointing at the goblin meat.

"What? Of course, I won't. This is mine and mine alone. You already have your food."

"Come on! We'll trade. I'll give you one of my sandwiches for that meat."

"Do you even know what this is?"

"Nope, but I can tell that you like it so I'm curious how it tastes."

"... alright then."

"Reall? Then you can have this." They traded each other's lunch and took a bite. Both were surprised at how delicious the food tasted although Hikigaya didn't show it in his stoic expression while Yuigahama giggled in delight. "This is great! It looks weird but it tastes so good!"

"The sandwich isn't bad. I like it."

"Really? I made it myself."

"You? Made this?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's kind of improvement from your cookies a week ago."

"Well, it's more like the chef in our home-cooked the ingredients and I just put the sandwiches together. Hehe!"

"Then you didn't make this at all. And here I thought you improved since you gave us those burnt cookies."

"At least I did something! And I'm really trying my best in practicing!"

"Is there any progress at all?"

"Well, I tried cooking curry three days ago and the chef said it was too salty and the ingredients weren't chopped properly. He also said something about the sauce being more jelly than liquid."

"So no progress."

"There is! He told me that I at least got the idea of how to cook the curry so I practice more by myself!"

"He practically gave up on her," Hikigaya thought with a sweat dropped on his head. He actually felt pity for her since she was fully determined to learn cooking only to end up failing so many times that the teacher subtly told her to practice all by herself. He took another bite of the sandwich and chewed slowly. "Well, this trade is worth it. I don't want to trade my delicious meal for charcoal."

"Hey! Stupid Hikki!" Yuigahama turned away and pouted in anger. She took another bite of the green meat and then gazed back to Hikigaya who was eating the sandwich. "What is this by the way?"

"Hm, you want to know?" He asked with a smug on his face. The orange-haired girl nodded in response while chewing, curious to know what this food was. "It's goblin meat."

"I see... Eh?" She stopped chewing and looked at him in bewilderment.

"I said it's goblin meat, more specifically goblin breasts."

"PPFFFFFTT!" She spat all the contents in her mouth and coughed. "Gross! That's too gross! You're eating monster meat!"

"It tastes good, right?"

"Taste won't matter when you know the stuff is gross! Goblins... You make me eat goblin breast even. Bleh!" She stuck her tongue out in disgust and drank a cup of water.

"You people worry about the most useless details. If you don't want it then give it back." Hikigaya said and she complied. She gave back the cooked goblin meat and he attempted to give back the sandwich but she insisted that it was for him. They talked for minutes about mundane activities although the young dark mage only listened to her stories while inserting his own comments and short answers in between. Despite the confusingly comfortable atmosphere for him, the thoughts of those monsters still lurked within his mind. The uncertainties and unknowns to the mystery added more problems to his circumstances than he already had with the nobles. However, Oliver told him yesterday that the next test would be next month so Hikigaya had more room to investigate the forest although he did mentioned something about research. He asked the wind mage what was the research about, but Oliver didn't know aside from forming a research group that was decided in the night after their duel. The young dark mage suspected that the research plan was born from his duel against Merek since the timing between the aftermath of the duel and the decision of that plan was too much of a coincidence for him.

"If the research was decided in the night after the duel, then the research must be something about me. About what? I have no idea. Are they interested in my dark magic? Or did my physical capabilities interest them? No, I think the big question on this topic is what are they going to do for research. Are they gonna take to some testing room and-"

" $&%$!#* ^ the eyes."

The memory of a certain painful past resurfaced in his mind. The anxiety from when he was first told of the noble families' plan for him was slowly returning followed by the nightmare he had at that night he slept in Hiratsuka's home. He didn't fully show it though as his expression remained indifferent, pretending to listen on Yuigahama's ramblings. His anxiety was more controllable compared to last time but for how long he could endure was unknown to him. He breathe deeply to calm himself which was noticed by the orange-haired girl.

"Hikki, are you okay?" She asked with a worried expression. He exhaled deeply before facing Yuigahama with his usually stoic face.

"I'm fine. Just tired from training, that's all. " He answered while finishing his sandwich. Yuigahama looked down at her eaten sandwich, thinking about something until she spoke.

"Yeah, I'm having a hard time in the exhibitor lectures too."

"What's the problem?"

"I haven't made a single Ziel puppet yet. I just don't get what sensei was talking about."

"What did your teacher say?"

"He said 'Use your imagination to define an aspect of yourself. From your positive and negative emotions to the desires within your heart. Find an entity that connects to any of your aspects and shape it into your favored Ziel puppet'," She said while lowering the tone of her voice to imitate the teacher and then pouted. "What does that even mean!? It's like he's telling us to find a painting in our minds!"

"Aren't there any like, basic Ziel puppet or something?"

"We have basic exhibitor spells, but we are on our own when making Ziel puppets."

"Huh. I don't know if I can help you with that since our lectures are different." He said while drinking a cup of water.

"What did your teacher tell you?"

"Something about becoming one with an object and pour any emotion or pieces of my soul into it. I honestly don't understand that whole thing so what I just did was pouring my mana into my sword and cast an Enziel spell and that's it. I guess that whole 'put your soul or emotion' whatever is for creating original Enziel spells."

"Do you have an original Enziel spell?"

"I'm already working on one. I'm still not getting the right effect but it's almost there."

"That's amazing, Hikki!" She praised him until she wore a downcasted expression. "I wish I can do that..."

"You know, downgrading yourself is starting to get old," He complained as he rubbed the inside of his right ear with a finger. The young dark mage looked at her with an annoyed expression. "Keep that up and you might set the record of being the most pessimistic woman in Villfalt."

"Hey, that's mean!"

"Let's see... Well, if you're gonna connect with your own self, you probably need to know about yourself."

"About myself?"

Yeah, ask yourself things like 'what's my name?', 'what are my likes and dislikes?'. Simple things like that. Then use that information as a reference to your desires Ziel puppet."

"Okay... Umm... My name is Yuigahama Yui. I'm sixteen years old. I live with my mom in the central part of Alexander City in the Villfalt Kingdom. I like... cakes, sushi, cute things like dogs and cats. Oh! But dogs are my favorite. and uh, I like sword sparring! And I like my earth magic and...uhhhh, and-"

"I hope this won't take a full day for her to list her likes before going to dislikes." He said in his mind with a little regretful feeling in helping her. He looked outside the window to see the time by analyzing the position of the sun. Judging by that, they had ten more minutes before lunch break would end. It honestly didn't bother him that much since he treated his time with the orange-haired girl as a way to pass the time. Hikigaya didn't fully enjoy his interactions with her but at least it wasn't boring either.

"I don't like staying up all night because I will get dark bags under my eyes but I still did it often because I'm training hard right now and studying at the same time. Obviously, I don't like gross things like those Bunset frogs and that monster meat you just gave me. "She said that while cutely glaring at him. "And... AAAHHHH!"

"W-What is it?" He said while being genuinely surprised by her sudden loud voice.

"I got it! I know what I want for my Ziel puppet!"

"Is that so? Well, it's good you found it seconds before the bell rings. Come on."

"Ah, wait for me!"

Hikigaya grabbed his pouch bag and cloth-covered sheathed sword while Yuigahama picked up the basket and just as they exited the room, the sound of the bell reached their ears.

"We're gonna be late!" She ran in an attempt to reach the class in time until she stopped and looked back to see the young dark mage walking slowly without any care. Yuigahama ran back to him with a frightened expression as she thought of what kind of penalty would the teacher give the two students. "Come on! You don't want to get in trouble!"

"You go on ahead," Hikigaya answered. " I'll be behind you."

"But why?"

"Because I don't want anyone to know that you're with a dark mage like me so go."

"But..." She mumbled, trying to oppose his suggestion but couldn't do it. She feared the idea of being ostracized by her peers. Despite her determination to help him, to be by his side, and become a strong knight for him. And yet, she was afraid of the suffering that he already experienced on a daily basis. It was because Yuigahama adapted the lifestyle within the comfortable position of the social circle where she could talk and make friends with almost anyone. She did have moments in her life that made others looked at her strangely and times of being teased and possibly harassed, but her mother and the people of the kingdom developed her to be the present Yuigahama. The guilt would weigh on the orange-haired girl and that penalty was acceptable for her. All she needed was time and effort to repay the debt to him, even if it would grow in each passing time.

"Okay, Hikki..." She complied with an expression of guilt as she turned around and walked away to the classroom. She stopped to think for a moment and turned to face him with a smile. "Thanks for helping me again!"

"Yeah, sure," Hikigaya said with a bored tone and she giggled before running as fast as she could to the classroom. After a few seconds, he sighed and walked slowly, going in the same direction as Yuigahama was. "That's a minus trust point right there, Yuigahama. Well, I did give you an understandable reason, but it was still your choice whether you comply or refuse. It's gonna take a while for you to earn my trust... Trust, huh?"

"Come *$(*#^-ith me."

"#$#*&^*#$ Follow m #$#%$^$%."

Hikigaya put a hand on a wall to keep himself standing as his legs shook. He clutched his chest tightly and his breathing became erratic. He closed his eyes to breathe deeply once more, trying to slowly remove the anxiety that he tried with all of his willpower to suppress it. After taking one last deep breath, He stood straight, his calm and collected self returned.

"This might start to become a habit. Not good. Am I really not over it?" He shook his head and walked forward regardless.

---

Two Hours Later

In a room that only consisted of a blackboard on a wall. Various students stood and paid attention to the lectures given by the teacher. There were no chairs, tables, nor any furniture in this room. The students were the same year but in different classes. The reason why they all gathered in this room was that they had one thing in common: Enziel magic type.

This is an Enziel classroom. No matter what kind of Enziel magic, the classroom will only have a blackboard, and students will either stand or sit on the floor, depending on the activity they will be doing. The Enziel classroom's only purpose is to learn Enziel spells and develop them. The room is twice as large as a normal classroom so the students can cast spells without the worry of tight spaces and safety issues as long as they're disciplined enough to obey the teacher, rules and have self-control.

"Alright! For those who already have a Ziel puppet, come forward so you can go to the next step while those who still don't have one, keep at it until you got one. Any questions?" Hiratsuka said with a serious tone, displaying her capabilities as a teacher. This was an Exhibitor classroom which was what her Enziel magic type. A male student from the back raised his hands to get the teacher's attention. "What is it?"

"Umm, what happened to our professor?"

"Didn't I already tell you?"

"I was absent for a few days because of a cold, I apologize."

"Oh, well Mr. Morphis got into an accident so I will be his substitute while he is recovering."

"I see..."

"That's not what really happened though," Yuigahama thought with sweat dropped on her head and wore a forced smile. "Yukinon told me that Hiratsuka-sensei went violent in the faculty the night after the duel and she injured three teachers."

"Now if that's all, we can begin the lesson now. Those with Ziel puppets, come here." Hiratsuka and some of the students engaged in a lecture while the others with no Ziel puppets sat on their meditation circles to create one. There were only about 10 students who still had trouble on the first step, but Yuigahama already came up with what the Ziel puppet would look like and what it would represent in her soul. She sat down at the center of her meditation magic circle and breathe deeply.

"Words... words... what are the right words to chant for this Enziel magic?... Hmmmm... This is hard! And I already got my perfect image too!" She scratched her head in frustration and returned to focus on her objective. "Uhh... what do I want from my Ziel puppet? Umm... I want someone loyal, can protect me and other people, Hmmm... strong, can come to my and my friends' side quickly. Just like what I want to be as a knight... To be with Hikki..."

She suddenly glowed golden as the magic spell began to develop. She poured her desires and emotions into the spell and quickly formed the right chant for it. The orange-haired girl opened her mouth to say it but she hesitated for a moment, afraid that it would not work. However, she shook her head to remove all of her doubts and began her chant.

"As you stand and appear before me, my loyal friend, just your presence will protect my beloved. Through the farthest lands, the highest peak, and even the deepest pits, you will stand beside me at the moment of my call." The golden light around her glowed even brighter which caught everyone's attention. The light gathered in front of her, forming a golden orb until it shook and slowly turned into some sort of figure. First, there was a leg of an animal, then the ears, and now the head. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes to see her Ziel puppet. It appeared to be a huge dog with a height that would reach Yuigahama's chest, rounded ears that were high on its head and carried so the front edge framed its face. Its mouth was big enough to bite an entire human arm off with those sharp teeth. The glowing gold fur blazed as it was made entirely of mana and the long tail had a glowing orb floating at the tip. The dog's eyes had blue flames and they were focused on its master who was still sitting at the meditation circle. Hiratsuka and the classmates were astonished at her Ziel puppet and surrounded her.

"It's amazing!"

"Such a wonderful radiance!"

"Enchanting!"

"This is... my Ziel puppet?" Yuigahama said in disbelief.

"That's a strange question right there," Hiratsuka said with a light chuckle. "You're the one who created it with your imagination, right?"

"It's just that he looks a lot prettier than I imagined." The orange-haired girl stood up and slowly raised her right hand in front of the golden Ziel puppet. It leaned its head for her to touch its chin and she caressed it all the way to its cheek until she hugged the golden dog with a smile.

"Name..." A deep male voice echoed in her mind which startled her. Yuigahama looked at the dog's blue flaming eyes in wonder and the voice echoed once more. "What is... my name?"

"Name? Hmmm..." She touched her chin with a finger in the thought of what name would she give to the Ziel puppet. After a few seconds of thinking, she looked back at him with a beaming smile. "Sablè!"

"Sablè... My name is Sablè." The golden dog named Sablè bowed his head to Yuigahama and he glowed even brighter, blinding everyone until his light shrank back for them to look again.

"What did you do?" Hiratsuka asked in curiosity.

"I gave him a name," She said nonchalantly. "Is... something wrong?"

"Well... There's nothing wrong," She answered. "It's just that it is unusual for a Ziel puppet to shine like that after being given a name."

"Really? What does it mean?"

"I don't know but," Hiratsuka put a hand on Yuigahama's right shoulder and grinned as she pointed at Sablè with her thumb. "But I can guess that you're going to be even stronger with your partner around."

Her words encouraged The orange-haired girl. Many classmates approached Yuigahama, all were amazed by her magic and so they tried talking to her and giving her a barrage of questions.

"Ms. Yuigahama, do you feel any different?"

"Eh? Well, not really. I'm the same as ever." She answered nervously as the pressure from her classmates' question began to slowly overwhelm her.

"What was that glow just now?"

"I... honestly don't know. I just gave him a name and he suddenly glowed like that."

"Just from a name?"

"What could that mean?"

"Perhaps its the meaning of the Ziel puppet's name that made it happen?"

"Possibly. What does Sablè mean?"

"It doesn't really have a special meaning," She answered while chuckling nervously. "It just means 'sandy' in the kingdom of Gaul's language."

"Your puppet doesn't look any sandy at all."

"I just love the beaches. It suddenly just popped in my mind and just translated it into Gaul which is my favorite language." She said while puffing her chest. Others laughed at her ridiculous answer and immersed themselves in a friendly chat while some were still speculating on her magic. Hiratsuka sighed and clapped her hands to gain the students' attention.

"Alright! Enough fooling around and let's get back to the lecture!" The teacher shouted and looked at Yuigahama. "And you, get over here. You're ready for the next step."

"Ah, okay!" Yuigahama walked towards the others who had different Ziel puppets with Sablè following behind her. The rest of the students went back to their meditation circle in an attempt to create their own Ziel puppet after seeing Yuigahama's.

"A Ziel puppet made from the imagination full of love," Hiratsuka thought as she looked at the orange-haired girl conversing with other classmates. Sablè just sat on the floor beside his master while others wouldn't stop staring at him in awe. "Kinda sound like it's from a romantic novel but it's still sweet. Hikigaya, she may not be your strongest ally but she will be your most trusted one."

---

Meanwhile

"Today, our next spell for the day is weapon transformation," A male teacher spoke loudly to his students standing in front. This room was for augmentors with the purpose of students learning spells to control, empower, and use objects in their purest forms. At the very back of the room, there was one student who was ostracized by all classmates and minded his own business. He already sat in his meditation circle to create his Enziel spell and wasn't interested in the lecture. Although the concept of object transformation would aid him in combat and increase his versatility, he thought he could learn that at another time. His classmates gave him odd glances and secretly glared at him for his attitude in the class but he didn't care.

"I'm this close. Damn, I can't find the right words for the chant. This is a lot different than making an original dark spell." Hikigaya scratched his head in frustration and focused while holding his sword. Ever since he had the idea of his original Enziel spell, he tried many times in searching the right words that would connect with each other and flow well in a magic circle but so far, there was no progress."Then let's try...

Past

Strength

Blade

Action.

With the time of the past, My grasp in this blade will become stronger. The time of all my actions will become strength as I swing one more time, stronger than the last." He chanted and the sword glowed white, only to fade just as quickly. Hikigaya sighed at this failure and tried to think of another one. "So that one is no good either, huh? Then what about-"

"Mr. Hikigaya!" The male teacher noticed the young dark mage not paying attention to his lecture and so he shouted at him in anger. "What on earth are you doing in the middle of the lecture?!"

"Just trying something, that's all." He answered with indifference. He had no intention of telling anyone what he was up to until he finally succeeded in creating the spell.

"Is that 'something' more important than this lecture?"

"Kinda, yeah." His answer made the teacher flinched in anger with a vein popped in his head while all of his classmates gasped at his behavior. The teacher sighed and calmed his anger. He then took a chalk and wrote something on the blackboard.

"And here I thought your duel with Mr. Merek would remove your arrogance. Fine, if you can do this, you can do whatever you want here." He drew a small magic circle only for illustration and some words that enumerate the parts of it. Hikigaya could tell what that illustration was and what sort of challenge was the teacher going to give. "This is a magic circle for the object transformation spell. The way this Enziel spell works is that you must understand the object you want to cast on. From the materials consisted of the object to its purpose and functionality, understanding the object is like understanding a part of your body, as Enziel magic involves becoming aware of oneself and use it into power. After that, you must imagine what transformation you desire, but it must be within the limit of the object. Meaning, your desired transformation must have the same properties as the original like its mass, proportions of the materials, etc. For example, you cannot transform a small knife into a broadsword because the knife is too small and lack the number of materials embedded into it. The rest is obvious, do you think you can do it on the first try?"

"That sounds more like reconstruction than transformation. But I think I can do it," Hikigaya nodded in response to the teacher's challenge and walked towards him with a sword in hand. His classmates stepped aside to make way for him and they whispered to each other. He drew the magic circle for object transformation on the floor and sat down, already pouring his mana into the circle and the sword. The whispers from his classmates didn't irritate him to some degree, but it did slowly break his concentration on casting the spell. He glared at them to indirectly tell them to be silent and worked as the students looked away in fear. The young dark mage was about to return his focus on the spell until he noticed something odd. The teacher smirked for a moment until he stopped when Hikigaya set his eye on him. The young dark mage felt something odd about that and tried to think what the teacher was planning. He looked at the magic circle and it seemed normal and it was as he remembered in the textbook. Same thing with the chant so he wondered what he was plotting until Hikigaya recalled the teacher's explanation about this spell.

"From the materials consisted in the object, to its purpose and functionality, understanding the object is like understanding a part of your body, as Enziel magic involves becoming aware with oneself and use it into power."

"Why do I have this feeling that he didn't explain everything?" He thought as he looked down on his sword which was glowing white. "Understanding the object like understanding one's body. I feel like there's more meaning to that. What if I..."

Hikigaya closed his eyes and concentrated on the spell. The sword glowed until the light fully enveloped it. The shape of the sword distorted and stretched long. The blade looked a little shorter by just a few inches, the hilt and guard stretched along and turned into a pole-shaped part of the transformed object. Only the middle part of the pole materialized into two separate metal covered in shagreen along with the blade at the end which was dirty, chipped and floating on top of a small white orb floating on the shaft.

It was a spear made of parts of his sword and mana.

Both the teacher and classmates gasped at the transformed weapon as Hikigaya tested by spinning it around and did a few thrusts. He stopped and nodded in satisfaction at how comfortable and usable it was.

"Huh, not bad." He said indifferently. "So the object transformation spell allows you to pour mana into an object and materialize that mana to turn it into a 'different object'. I think I can turn these white materialized mana into a real material but not without practice. But is this to your satisfaction, teacher?"

"Y-Yes, it is very impressive," The teacher stuttered and slouched in shame. "As promised, you are free to do whatever you want."

"Thanks," Hikigaya's "spear" transformed back into a sword and he walked back to his spot of the room. The teacher coughed loudly to have his composure return and receive the students' attention.

"S-So yes, what you saw in Mr. Hikigaya's performance is the Object Transformation spell. It is a spell that involves understanding the object's entirety and must adapt to the object in a certain way. As he explained it, the transformed object will become a combination of reconstructed materials and the materialized magical energy. It is possible to turn the materialized mana and making it appear into an actual physical material. However, the materialized mana will not have the properties of the transformed material. For example, a materialized mana turned into wood will not burn like a normal wood nor will it have the same inside characteristics of it. You can transform an object regardless of the size, but the bigger or smaller the desired transformation is, the bigger the mana expense."

"Sir? How come shrinking the object also costs an amount of mana?" A student raised his hand and ask.

"That is because you use magical energy to compress the space of the embedded materials. Manipulating space via Enziel spell takes more practice than materializing mana to 'increase' the object. Anyways, the condition for the object transformation spell is that what you want to transform are objects that you are accustomed with. They must be at the same level as the original object or the spell will not work. Now then-"

"Conditions?... Of course, I didn't put a condition in my Enziel spell. How in the world did I forget something so important!" He sat back down in the previous magic circle and attempted to concentrate on the spell. "Conditions... conditions. What kind of condition should I put in this... Maybe something strict? Probably, but I don't want to increase my weaknesses that way. Then again, the stricter the condition, the stronger the spell might be. Let's see what I can do..."

---

An hour and a half later

Yuigahama ran in the corridor as fast as she could while carrying her shoulder bag. She had a look of desperation as she made a right and reached a door. She panted for a moment to recover from running and from the training she had at the Enziel class. After one last release of exhausted breath, the orange-haired girl smiled and opened the door.

"Yahallo! Sorry, it took so long for me to get here! I got too distracted on my Enziel class that I didn't look at the time! But I'm here and I want to show you something. This is really amazing and cute, I bet you guys might-" Yuigahama was about to begin her signature endless chattering until she saw the state of the room she entered. It was basically a mess with all different kinds of materials and tools littered on the floor and the condition of the two science members. Both Hikigaya and Yukinoshita laid their heads in the same table full of smoking substances that smelt burnt and various other substances on very small cups made of clay. Yuigahama was worried about what happened in the True Science Institution and she quickly approached the two slouched members. "Yukinon! Hikki! Are you alright?!"

"Yuigahama-san?..." Yukinoshita struggled to raise her head but still succeeded and stared at Yuigahama with weary eyes. "Why are you here today ?"

"I uh... just wanna see you guys. What happened here?" Yuigahama asked while looking around the room to see more mess. She heard Hikigaya grunting and he sat up straight to stretch his neck.

"We were just mixing stuff to get something for our invention," He explained while grunting in pain from stretching. "I think we tried every combination of substances and so far, no good results. Most of what we mixed was only burned slowly not like a sudden explo- wait, what's that on top of your head?"

"Ah, you noticed!" They all looked upon the orange-haired girl's head to see a small gold glowing dog just lying on top of her head and he barked in response. "This is Sablè! My Ziel puppet."

"A dachshund, I see. Interesting choice," Yukinoshita said as she stared at the dog in curiosity. "It is small, but I do feel strong mana it is emitting."

"A lot smaller than I thought but I guess that'll do for you." Hikigaya commented while turning around to read a paper.

"Ah, Sablè is much bigger than you think. He just shrank so he won't gain unwanted attention or something."

"He shrank? As in he shrank his size by himself?" The Ice Queen asked with calm disbelief which made Yuigahama confused.

"Uuhh... yeah?"

"Is there something strange about that?" The young dark mage asked with curiosity.

"Yes, this is the first time I've heard of a Ziel puppet doing things on its own without the caster's command."

"Is it also weird that he's talking to me in my head?" Yuigahama asked as she pointed her head with a finger.

"It's communicating with you right now?" Hikigaya asked as he stood up to get a closer look at Sablè.

"Well, yeah. He asked who you guys are! Sablè, this is Yukinon, and that's Hikki."

"Oi, introduce me with my real name, not that." He said in annoyance.

"Yes, I may find it troublesome if you are going to introduce other people by nicknames, especially when introducing to strangers." Yukinoshita agreed while folding her arms.

"Oh, well then. Sablè, this is-"

"Yukinoshita Yukino, youngest daughter of the Yukinoshita family. A water mage, a friend of master's."

"I... think he already knew who you are."

"Seriously? Can he read minds or something?" Hikigaya asked.

"Or maybe it is reading her thoughts instead." Yukinoshita speculated.

"Hikigaya Hachiman, the child in the forest. Master's lov-"

"UWAAAHH! PLEASE DON'T!" Yuigahama grabbed Sablè and held him in front of her face with red cheeks. The young dark mage and the Ice Queen looked at each other in confusion to her reaction. He just shrugged while she held her chin in thought until she shook her head.

"Anyways, what business do you have here? Another request?" Yukinoshita asked with a calm tone. "If it is, then we apologize but we do not accept requests at this time as you can see, we are busy with another matter."

"Nope, I just wanna see how you guys are doing!" Yuigahama answered while giggling.

"Master's emotions formed jealousy from the fear of Yuki-"

"AAAAAHH!" The orange-haired suddenly shook the golden dog up and down which left the two science members even more confused with a mix of worry. After a few seconds of shaking the shrunken Ziel puppet, Yuigahama stopped and panted from exhaustion. Her face became even more red but she tried to wear a faltering smile to act as natural as she could be while Sablè looked dizzy and could vomit any moment. She then walked towards the table with the pieces of unrecognizable substances. "S-So yeah! What is all this?"

"I told you, we were mixing chemicals," Hikigaya answered. The orange-haired girl grabbed a paper with names that she didn't know. She then noticed the labels written in small papers attached to the small cups. "Then let me try! How do you do this?"

"Put each substance of whatever combination written in that list in one mortar, and then grind them with a pestle until it turns into a fine powder for ten minutes or longer."

"Okay," Yuigahama looked at the list of combined substances and thought hard on what to choose. She then nodded to herself as she began to grab the ingredients and put them in separate mortars. "Charcoal... sulfur, and some... saltpeter?"

"Don't look at me," Hikigaya said when she turned to him. "She's the one who brought all this stuff."

"We do not know the right mixture of this chemical you speak off, so I just brought everything and substance that are flammable and mixing it with random materials. This process will take both trial and error, and long steps of experimentation. This may take more than months until we find the one we're looking for..."

"How come you're good at building things but not at this? Isn't this under your 'true science'?"

"I spent my childhood more on building machinery than on chemistry."

"Hey, so what's next after this?" Yuigahama asked as she began grinding the substances together with a wooden pestle.

"Place them all in one mortar, moisten it, and then grind them together for about perhaps ten minutes and you are done."

"Can do!"

"Maybe we should consult an alchemist for this issue. At least an alchemist in the Scholar course." Hikigaya suggested which Yukinoshita responded by giving him her signature icy glare.

"I will not accept that suggestion."

"The alchemists know a lot more of materials and mixtures. Maybe we can-"

"They only know about mixing materials into enchanted gear and potions. We will not use any kind of magic."

"No, we're not. We're just going to use the alchemist's knowledge and whatnot as a reference for this current objective."

"I doubt they will help us. Not when they would continue their mockery towards this institution."

"Did something happened between you and the scholar course students?"

"I swallowed my pride once. There was one time when I asked one of the top students in the scholar course for advice towards a certain project without telling her what the project was about. The moment she saw me, she laughed at me for doing something as 'ridiculous' as my ideal true science."

"Huh, so what happened to her?"

"Same thing I did to other imbeciles like her. I made sure she knew her place and that laughter was the last at that time." She answered in the most menacing tone with a chilling smile. Hikigaya gave her a deadpan look and sighed until they heard small popping sounds in the room. Yuigahama fell back in surprise from the sound and retreated away from the table. Hikigaya knelt down to check on her to see if she was alright while Yukinoshita looked at the mortar Yuigahama used to grind all the ingredients as it was still on fire.

"Are you okay?" He asked while putting his hand on her shoulder. His face was one foot close to her and she couldn't help but look away in embarassment to hide her blush.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm good." Yuigahama stuttered. Yukinoshita stood up and faced the orange-haired girl.

"What did you do?" The Ice Queen asked with bewilderment.

"Eh? Well, I just followed what you said, that's all. Then I lit the mixture with the flint and steel and-"

"It spontaneously combusted... Hikigaya-kun, it seems I was wrong with my prediction of completing this objective. We have finally found the chemical."

"But how? I was doing the same things you guys did." Yuigahama asked in confusion.

"Did you put everything as I told you?"

"Y-Yeah, but there was little charcoal and that sulfur thing left so I put them all in."

"I see, of course," Yukinoshita said with a look of realization. "It's the proportions. We didn't measure the right proportions of each ingredient."

"Is that really all it took? All from just adding a smaller amount of ingredients than normal?"

"I mean, it's the same with cooking!" Yuigahama stood up and explained. "Whatever amount of ingredient you put in the food will change the taste."

"That's correct. Well done, Yuigahama-san." Yukinoshita genuinely praised her while writing on a paper. Her praise made Yuigahama giggle and Hikigaya looked at the orange-haired girl with a deadpan expression.

"You know that but you didn't apply it to your cooking practice?" He said while staring at her.

"Sometimes, I forget the right amount okay!"

"Well, at least you saved us from forcing ourselves to waste months to get the chemical." Hikigaya smiled in satisfaction and relief as he said that. "Now the only thing is the machine."

"Right, of course," Yukinoshita grabbed her shoulder bag and pulled out a rolled-up paper and put it on a clean wooden table. She unrolled the paper to reveal an illustration of a tool or machine with various parts and labels pointing. "This is my idea of our invention. I took the mechanics of a crossbow and then added a few twists here so it is more suited for this function. What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know much about this stuff so I have no choice but to trust you on this." Hikigaya shrugged with an indifferent expression.

"I think it looks amazing!" Yuigahama said loudly with enthusiasm.

"Very well. We will begin tomorrow by gathering materials. For now, it is time to leave school." Yukinoshita said while packing her things and Hikigaya followed her actions as he cleaned the room.

"What? But I just got here." Yuigahama said in a dejected tone.

"I apologize, Yuigahama-san, but it is time for us to head home." The Ice Queen apologized as she carried her bag.

"Same here, I have something working o and I need to finish this now or at least in three days." Hikigaya agreed while walking towards the door, but before he opened the door he gave Yuigahama a head pat. "But hey, you helped us a lot in this so thanks."

"Mou," The orange-haired girl pouted in dissatisfaction. She was disappointed that her time with them today lasted shorter than she wanted but she packed her things regardless. "Then you two got to make up to me tomorrow!"

"Sure, sure. Just don't be too annoying about it." The young dark mage answered as he exited the room, leaving Yukinoshita and a still pouting Yuigahama behind. He resisted the urge to walk faster and run on the corridor. He felt that every second he was far away from the forest, the culprit would kill hundreds of massis wolves. He resisted the urge to release all of the bloodlust and magical energy suppressed inside of him. The only thing he couldn't resist was his face forming into an expression of contempt and anger. Once he returned to the forest, his investigation would begin in a heartbeat. He hoped that he would find something other than monsters and dead massis wolves hiding in caves but that would be up to how he searched the forest.

---

"Stupid Hikki..." Yuigahama mumbled while still pouting. She was in a fancy carriage with Oliver who sat across to her and raised an eyebrow at her light angered voice.

"Is there something wrong?" Oliver asked in curiosity.

"Nothing. It's just about this friend of mine." She said while looking out the window.

"I see. I heard that you finally created your Ziel puppet. Many students passing by the corridors kept talking about it."

"Oh, yeah! Wait," She closed her eyes and raised a right hand forward. She concentrated to gather her mana to her hand and a magic circle was released from her hand. "Sablè!"

Sablè appeared before them in his small form.

"Huh, I heard that your Ziel puppet was very big." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"He just shrank. He is actually this big!" She answered while spreading her arms wide to show Sablè's size as he jumped on her lap and sat down. Oliver couldn't help but stare at the Ziel puppet in wonder. "Isn't he cute?"

"It shrank its own body at his own will?" Oliver asked.

"Yukinoshita wondered the same thing, too. Is it really weird for a Ziel puppet to have a mind of its own?"

"It is not only weird, it just never happened since the beginning of magic. Perhaps the image of your ideal Ziel puppet manifested a consciousness? Or did your own consciousness created-" Oliver got interrupted by the carriage suddenly stopping? The two betrothed heard the loud voices of citizens outside and the startled sounds of the carriage's two horses.

"What's going on?" Yuigahama asked as she opened the curtain to look outside the window. She saw a person covered in a black hooded cloak on her knees, blocking the way of the carriage. The coachman dropped down from the driver seat and approached the hooded person in a panic.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" He asked as he knelt down to check on the person. Yuigahama exited the carriage to also see if the person was fine.

"Ms. Yuigahama, wait!" Oliver tried to stop her but it was too late. The moment she took a step forward towards them, a sudden chill spread through her entire body. The orange-haired girl couldn't understand what it was, but within her subconscious, it felt that a few steps closer to that person would force her to face danger. Her small golden dog growled in anger which made her carried him in wonder.

"W-What's wrong?" She asked the Ziel puppet whose blue flaming eyes flared even brighter.

"There is danger..." He said telepathically and she looked back at the hooded person. The coachman reached the person a hand to help and the mysterious danger raised a right hand in response. Yuigahama noticed something odd about the hand. It looked all white and emitted a purple smoke. She didn't know what that was but she could tell that the hooded person planned to hurt the coachman or worse.

"STOP!" The moment she shouted, Sablè escaped from her grasp and ran towards the coachman in the blink of an eye. The ziel puppet turned into an aura of light and surrounded the coachman on it. He flew away from the hooded person as if he was pulled by a mysterious force before the hooded person released a huge amount of that purple smoke. The coachman dropped down next to Yuigahama and Sablè went back to her side.

"T-Thank you, young mistress!" The coachman, noticing the threat, thanked her.

"Did I really do that? I haven't learned a single Enziel spell yet..." The orange-haired girl thought as she stared at Sablè who was growling at the hooded person. The person mentioned stood up and raised a left foot that was also all white and bare. The hooded threat stomped on the ground and spoke in a female voice.

"Earth Magic: Ground Pull." An orange magic circle appeared under her left foot and the land around her was pulled like a vortex. Yuigahama fell backward from the ground shaking and pulling her towards the hooded woman. Oliver quickly exited the carriage and jumped while inhaling deeply. He cast a magic circle that appeared in front of his face

"Wind Magic: Breathing Darts!" He blew through the magic circle and the hooded woman moved, stopping her earth magic in the process. She ran and jumped to the side before the ground she stepped on earlier exploded, dodging the attack. She jumped around in a zigzag maneuver to evade the invisible projectiles coming at her as some of the projectiles hit the ground that created small craters.

"She evaded all of my Breathing Darts?! Does she have a way to see them?" Oliver was bewildered by the enemy's evasive maneuvers. The hooded woman ran quickly towards Yuigahama with the same right hand raised, attempting to touch her with the mysterious purple smoke emitting from it. Yuigahama who was still sitting on the ground slammed her right hand down and an orange magic circle was released under it.

"Earth Magic: Terra Prison!"

After one step, pillars rose from the ground, surrounding the hooded woman and they twisted to form into a cubic prison. Yuigahama quickly stood up, slowly backing away from the prison of earth until she heard a crack. The prison was immediately broken into pieces and the hooded woman did not hesitate to charge at the orange-haired girl. The enemy noticed Oliver running towards Yuigahama while appearing to be casting a spell. And so, the hooded woman cast an orange magic circle under the ground on one of her steps. A line of spikes rose from the ground and trailing towards the son of Seerwind who responded quickly by jumping back high before he could get impaled by the attack.

"Ms. Yuigahama!" Oliver shouted in desperation. It was too late. The hooded woman was in Yuigahama's proximity and her hand was a foot away from the orange-haired girl's face. In the nick of time, Sablè, who still stood by his master's side, immediately transformed back into his large original form and bit the hooded woman's pale arm. Before he could bite it off of her, the enemy stomped her pale right foot to cast an orange magic circle. Two large hands of earth rose from the ground and grabbed the Ziel puppet, restraining him. The hands were big enough to hold an entire human body. They squeezed Sablè painful enough to make him release her arm from his mouth, but a huge blue glowing hand made of mana hit her from her left side which knocked her away into a nearby wall from a building. Yuigahama turned to her right to see Oliver with his glowing right hand raised forward.

"We must escape and let the knights handle this." Oliver suggested as he used the large glowing hand to break Sablè free from the spell. He then noticed the hooded woman stood up quicker than he expected and ran towards them while holding something in her left hand. Whatever it could be, he guessed that it was something dangerous and they need to retreat. Before any of them could move, the hooded woman cast another earth spell under one of her steps and the ground beneath Oliver's and Sablè's foot shook until it exploded, sending them flying away from the orange-haired girl. Yuigahama heard the sound of gathering footsteps and saw the knights running towards the scene. All of them wore different kinds of armor from full-body iron armor to traditional samurai armor.

"Earth Magic: Scattered Shot!" Yuigahama smacked her hand on the ground, casting the earth spell and rocks floated and flew towards the enemy at such speeds. The hooded woman threw some sort of small pink crystal into the ground in front of Yuigahama and a huge pink magic circle appeared on the ground. Both women were inside the magic circle and they suddenly disappeared along with it. The knights arrived at the scene too late as the only thing they saw was craters, an empty carriage, and Oliver trying to stand up while resisting the pain. Two knights came to his aid while the others split up searching for the kidnapped girl.

"Forget me. Save Ms. Yuigahama..."

---

"Where are we?" Yuigahama asked herself as she looked at her current surroundings. She was in the middle of the woods with the sun steadily descended to illuminate a bright orange light. She was alone. Alone with the enemy. Yuigahama kept her guard up yet fear slowly plagued her mind. "What should I do? I'm all alone in the woods with this person, and I can only do one or two more earth magic before the equal feedback happens. What would Hikki do in a situation like this?!"

"Finally..." The hooded woman spoke. "Alone, at last."

"Who are you?..."

"My name... deserves no attention."

"Then... what do you want from me?"

"Your... demise..." The hooded woman answered in a menacing tone and revealed her yellow glowing eyes. Yuigahama shivered in fear. She needed to think of a plan to escape from the enemy, but she couldn't think of any.

"I... I just got my Ziel puppet and only started practicing an Enziel spell. I literally don't have anything against her..." She thought as the hooded woman slowly approached her. Yuigahama looked around in a panic to find at least something to defend herself, but still nothing. Her legs shook in fear and stepped back each time the hooded woman went closer to her. The orange-haired girl then ran away into the deep forest, hoping that someone would save her. The enemy only walked after her with an aura of confidence as with each step released earth magic circles under it. Several huge hands of earth rose and tried to crush Yuigahama into the ground, but she jumping away from them the moment each of the hands came down to her. The trees fell down from being pushed by the rising hands of earth and the birds standing on their branches flew away. Yuigahama ran as fast as she could, not bothering to look behind her as she evaded another huge hand of earth that attempted to catch her. A massive wall rose from the ground and blocked her way.

"Submit and... accept your fate!" The hooded woman began running towards her with her hand emitting the same purple smoke. Yuigahama slammed her hand to the ground and cast an earth spell.

"Earth Magic: Mother's Impalement!" Massives spikes of earth rose from the ground and trailed towards the hooded woman and she responded by stomping her right foot and an orange magic circle appeared under it. She countered the attack by surrounding herself with her own massive spikes of earth and then continued to run. Yuigahama's hands and legs shook in pain and her fingers were becoming white and swollen. She could only do one more elemental spell before the equal feedback would occur. She was cornered. "I ran out. How come she's still casting more earth spells without getting the equal feedback? This isn't good. Am I... Am I going to die here?"

Tears ran down in Yuigahama's eyes and the hooded woman saw her despair.

"Weak-willed..." That was the only response from her before she attempted to deal the killing blow. Yuigahama closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to befall on her. However, she was suddenly enveloped in a golden aura but that didn't stop the hooded woman from attempting to finish her. The golden aura circled around Yuigahama and the enemy was pushed away by it. The aura manifested into a head of a large golden dog and it flew towards her.

"Sablè?!" Yuigahama was bewildered by her Ziel puppet's appearance in the nick of time. The rest of the golden aura transformed into his entire large body and he pounced at the enemy. The hooded woman who fell down, slammed her fist into the ground to cast two more large hands of earth, and grabbed Sablè's opened mouth before he could bite her.

"This thing... is too persistent!" The hooded woman's voice sounded irritated, and Yuigahama was sure that she was gritting her teeth. The golden Ziel puppet destroyed the hands by biting them and the enemy slammed her fist once more to cast rising spikes of earth under him. Sablè was impaled and dissipated into nothing. She stood up and noticed the orange-haired girl was nowhere around. It seemed that Yuigahama ran away the moment Sablè appeared. This irritated the mysterious woman even further which made her emit huge amounts of purple smoke. Her yellow eyes glowed brighter behind the smoke and the sound of her gritted teeth grew louder. She screamed in anger. "You... Frail weakling!"

Her voice echoed throughout the forest and reached Yuigahama's ears. The orange-haired girl ran even faster due to her growing fear. She went through the bushes which tattered her clothes and dirtied her skin. The sun descended into the horizon and night arrived with all the stars in the sky, illuminating the forest. Yuigahama didn't know where to go, nor did she care, what matters was that she needed to escape from the mysterious enemy, or else it would be the end of her. However, the equal feedback slowed her movements severely as with each step she took, the pain intensified even more. Despite the beautiful scenery of the woods under the night sky, it didn't help in diminishing the terror she was trying to escape. The sounds of giant footsteps and trees falling were heard, and two gogmagogs jumped towards her. The gogmagogs landed in front of her as they left two giant craters and more trees falling from the impact. One of them had black fur, claws, and legs of a dog while the other only brown muscular skin with long messy hair, yellow dirty human-like teeth, and holding a massive rusty sword.

"Submit... and die..." Standing above the normal gogmagog's head was the hooded woman, looking down at Yuigahama with scorn and frustration. She jumped down inches close to her prey as her yellow eyes pierced through the orange-haired girl's hope.

"Why me?..." Yuigahama asked while sobbing.

"Why not you?" Her response was cold and showed no emotion. "You... killed my-"

"GRRAAAHHHHH!" The normal gogmagog suddenly screamed in pain, surprising both women as it fell down on its back with huge amounts of blood dripping on its neck.

"What?" The hooded woman stared at the fallen monster in bewilderment and noticed a person standing in the middle of this chaos. He wore a black kimono with its right sleeve completely torn off, revealing his muscular right arm, plain black, hakama, a long brown tattered cloak, a hollowed-out alvarez deer head mask, and the cloth made of grey striped fur with a white back strapped behind his waist. He held a dirty and chipped sword that was covered in the blood of the giant monster and he stared at the mysterious hooded woman.

"So you're the culprit..." He said in a calm tone. Yuigahama felt relief and cried because of the arrival of her savior. No one knew who that person behind the mask nor even behind the title of "The Guardian" except for her.

"Hikki..." She mumbed between sobs.

"It's you..." The hooded woman's voice turned menacing and full of anger. It seemed she also knew who he was as well.

---

TRIVIA: Yes, Shizuka's Ziel puppet is a motherfuckin Jojo reference of our boy Avdol's stand "Magician's Red"

Hello! It's me with another chapter of this fantasy story. How are you all doing? I hope you guys are okay in this time. As for me, it's the same boring routine as usual, but writing this kept me occupied and a little bit happy. Well, there's nothing else for me to say other than thank you for reading this chapter. I'm glad that there are so many of you enjoy this.

Now unto the reviews!

Turchetti: Is it an OC? Or is it a character that I changed his/her background? You can find out by reading more of this!

Guest 1: We be going for that MILF route, bro! XD

dragonbot089: We all don't like main characters losing but we don't like the absence of development either.

Johnny Not Goode: Yaoi route unlocked? Hmmmm?

Guest who: Eh, that may be cool but I don't think it's in my image on dark magic but I'll keep that in mind.

tisobyn: Yeah, power levels in this story might become more confusing as this goes on. I'm making the action focus more on strategy and tricks than just clashing Kamehameha beams, and that chapter was me practicing that aspect. There will be more like that in future chapters. As you can see on chapter 2, 8man didn't won because of his strength but he used his surroundings to his advantage, and in chapter 4, he lost because Merek has more utility than him.

yubiyubi: Nah, that doesn't fit his character well. Just one loss isn't enough to make him a crybaby.

Guest 2: It's only name with one "o". Although he was known to be the father of typhoons (or dangerous winds)

Hachiman fan: Watched the first episode. Kinda stupid but still enjoyable XD

Deutzieg: Thanks for reading. I'm glad you enjoyed the story so far!

And that's the end! The plot thickens with the appearance of a possible antagonist. So yeah, I guess this is focusing more on Yui but I will try to balance with more Yukino scenes. For now, it's Yui's time to shine (Maybe). What do you think of Sablè? Is it weird that I changed him (or her? What's the dog's actual gender?) into some sort of familiar than an actual animal? Or I should've done it differently? Let me know in the reviews!

Thanks for reading this fanfic. Please leave a review as your opinions will help me make this story better.