Chapter III

Presence

Shido landed on his butt. He was back on the [Fraxinus], but Mitsuru wasn't with him. They were together just a minute ago. Stepping out of the room, Shido was immediately confronted by Kotori and Reine.

(-)

Mitsuru looked around him, troubled by the strange, advanced-looking metal walls. Computers screens on the desks showed endless walls of code. He had been teleported inside a chamber, which he assumed was the teleporter itself.

I did fall for the trap! Why am I so stupid?! Mitsuru walked up to a door, but there was no handle. The door unexpectedly slid open and revealed two people standing right behind it, startling Mitsuru. The boy stumbled back and instinctively raised his empty hands.

"Calm down. We're not like the A.S.T." The person on his right spoke. She had red hair that was tied with black ribbons into twin tails. Her attire, a bold red coat over a white uniform and tie, indicated a strange sense of authority.

"...Ratatoskr?" Mitsuru slowly repeated. That was the group Shido named. His eyes were waiting for sudden movements, but he returned to a normal standing stance soon after.

"Mitsuru! There you are." Shido ran up to the girl with red hair.

It wasn't quite a trap, Mitsuru thought. Also, he noticed that Shido did not end up beside him.

"Where is...here?" he asked, pointing around him yet never keeping his eyes off the two new people.

The girl with fiery red hair answered, "You are aboard the [Fraxinus], an aerial ship owned by the Ratatoskr organization." To the left was a woman with pale blue hair and bags under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in a while. "Ratatoskr aims to deal with Spirits through non-violent means."

Spirit…non-violent means. Mitsuru glanced at Shido. "So, Ratatoskr sent you," Mitsuru pointed at Shido, "to deal with me, a Spirit. That's what I am?" Mitsuru turned his finger toward himself. No one answered. The girl gave a small sigh and then said,

"Come. We're taking you to an interrogation room. Let's continue talking there." She and the tired woman turned around. Mitsuru slowly walked out of the room.

As they went, Mitsuru asked, "So, who are they?" He was still unsure if he was being fooled, but he tried not to lag.

"The red-haired girl is Kotori, my adoptive sister. She's the [Fraxinus] commander," Shido's finger drifted to the woman beside Kotori, who had light violet hair and a cute teddy bear by her bosom, " and she's Reine Murasame, the head analyst. Don't worry. [Fraxinus] dedicates itself to not harming Spirits, and Kotori and Reine are very friendly."

"The commander…" Mitsuru suddenly slapped Shido on the shoulder. "Your sister…commander? Of an airship?" He blinked, bouncing his gaze between the young man and the girl. Shido gave back a shy chuckle.

"It was after the fire five years ago that Ratatoskr recruited her. I only knew about it a few months ago when I first met the Spirits." They stopped in a large room with a big box in the middle. The transparent walls showed an inside resembling a living room. Mitsuru walked around the perimeter, examining the room. This earned him an insult from Kotori.

"You're like a headless chicken. Get back here. We can interrogate you."

"..." Mitsuru was about to say something before dropping his hand and closing his eyes. He reminded himself of his circumstances.

He walked first into the living room alongside Kotori. Inside, the transparent glass panes turned into a beige home interior. It looked like the kind of living room his home had. To his right were a dining table and two chairs. Mitsuru sat on one side, and Kotori sat on the other.

"These walls are soundproof. Well, a console outside is recording our conversation for record-keeping. These walls are only one-way. It should come close to a private setting."

"Yeah, if you ignore everything you just said about one-way walls and recording." He muttered under his breath. Mitsuru sat still, vigilant. He had his own questions but couldn't muster up the courage to ask. He didn't think he was in such a position. Maybe she asks first, then I ask. They are interrogating me. Kotori began talking.

"I'm Kotori Itsuka, commander of the [Fraxinus]." She introduced herself.

"Mitsuru Kano…that's it." He gave a slight bow.

"So, to answer your question earlier, no one is certain what kind of being you are. Spirits are magical beings from another world, but from what we know, they are all girls. Spirits also cause spacequakes upon their appearance, but you did not. Furthermore, [Fraxinus]'s instruments, Realizers, could not gather Spirit waves or emotional levels."

"Emotional levels?" They tried to monitor me earlier? He realized that it was likely when he met Shido. But why emotional levels? Shido's explanation of Ratatoskr's goals played through his mind.

'Ratatoskr aims to deal with Spirits through non-violent means.' Like some kind of diplomacy?

"So while Shido and I were running around, you were watching and trying to set up your instruments to monitor the conversation," Mitsuru concluded, partly shaken from the realization.

"Well, you caught on to how we operate. If only my idiot brother could catch on to things as fast as you. Yes, we handle Spirits by sending in Shido to…negotiate with them while the [Fraxinus] crew monitors from above."

"And what is this negotiation? I mean, he doesn't seem like an extraordinary guy. How does he convince these supernatural beings?" Kotori smirked.

"My brother has the ability to seal a Spirit."

"Seal?" Mitsuru straightened up and leaned forward. There was no way Mitsuru had stumbled upon the answer to his most pertinent question. "Does he have the power to take away these abilities?"

"He has to gain their trust. We monitor that using our Realizers. You might have heard of them being used in classified military operations. The public thinks they know what Realizers are, but the leaked info means nothing." Mitsuru slowly nodded up and down. He couldn't understand Kotori's strange, slightly sly expression. "Then, when the Spirit has his trust…he kisses them. Like lovey-dovey."

Mitsuru's face remained vacant.

"Huh?" It wasn't immediate, but his mind's gears turned. He had to close his eyes to process the explanation faster. Connecting the dots in his brain led to one conclusion. The whole time he was talking to Shido, Shido was trying to–

"But you said that all Spirits were girls! Then you said you couldn't monitor me for emotion and Spirit waves. So how do you deal with me? I can't be a Spirit!" He stood up and fantastically waved his arms around.

The commander across the table was amused, laughing with her mouth covered. "I can't believe how flustered you got trying to prove that. It's okay. We have nothing against you if you are actually g–."

"You better not be prejudiced!" Mitsuru stood up and made a flicking gesture with his hand. "But no, I'm not. End of story."

"Besides that, you're right. You aren't detected as a Spirit, so we aren't sure if sealing you is even an option," Mitsuru tensed his face with reprieve, "but that begs the question of how we caught onto you. At first, we detected a Spirit, but that reading disappeared. Anything you know about your powers would help us a lot. It'll be beneficial for you too. You want answers as well, right?"

Mitsuru held his breath slightly, hesitant. His flustered grin faded. "Okay, so where do you want me to start?"

"Five years ago. You hinted that you got your powers five years ago. You were involved in the fire? When you got your powers, were they given to you?" Mitsuru looked at Kotori strangely when she asked that. The question was specific and loaded.

"No, I wasn't given my powers, I think. I didn't truly get them in the fire. I got them...after the fire." Mitsuru quietly uttered the last part of his sentence, emphasizing a reluctance over something. Kotori noticed that his eyes drifted away from her and to the walls. He was deeply thinking about something, anxious.

"So those two events might be related…Did your powers just appear out of nowhere?"

"Uh…uh…I don't really…uhh…can I think for a second, please?" he politely asked. Like before, he seemed to be thinking greatly about what to say. Kotori was intrigued, ready for his response. Mitsuru began tapping his fingers, then said,

"About that fire. There wasn't an after for me…no. Please believe me when I say that…I died in the fire. Falling debris, I think. Then…" The room went silent. Neither of them moved. While Mitsuru looked anxiously, Kotori's eyes widened with horror. She quickly stood up from her seat.

"Stay here." She abruptly ordered and then left the room. Mitsuru merely sat and watched her exit. Her reaction left him unsure of how to react himself. He saw a mix of disbelief and horror but hadn't expected her to leave. He nervously sat in his chair while keeping his eyes on the door.

Kotori felt her chest tighten as she hyperventilated. Shido had rushed to her side the moment she stepped out.

"Kotori, are you alright? Why did you suddenly–" Shido, having heard Mitsuru's revelation, understood the reason.

"He…he died in the fire that I caused." Kotori was the Spirit, [Ifrit], who caused the fire in Tengu City five years ago. Origami believed that it was Kotori who killed her parents. That accusation made her freeze up, even in the face of certain death. It was only the fact that Shido convinced Origami that it could have been the fault of another mysterious being, [Phantom], that Kotori was still alive. Now, the commander faced the reality that her uncontrolled power had led to someone's death.

Kotori clutched Shido tightly as he comforted her.

"I'll go inside," Reine said as she stepped towards the door. "The crew can help if Kotori's emotional levels spiral. Stay by her side, Shin."

"Are you going to tell him?" Shido asked, with Kotori close to him. He hugged her tight, feeling the guilt his sister had to carry.

"We'll see. If we can understand what happened to Mitsuru five years ago, maybe a way to seal his powers will come up." Reine said before entering the room.

When she saw Mitsuru, his head was slightly raised, but his eyes followed her as she sat in Kotori's place. She was suspicious of Mitsuru, no doubt. Having no data to work with was ahead analyst's worst fear, but she was more than [Fraxinus]'s head analyst.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mitsuru murmured.

"No, she was caught off guard by what you told her. I'll take her place for the rest of this. To continue, you said that you died in the fire five years ago. Was this the cause of your powers?"

"Ah, uh, maybe. There's more to it than that. When the fire started, I saw it way off and all the noise, right? So I tried to get out, but I stopped to help a mother who was trapped under rubble, then…" Mitsuru struggled to recollect, fiddling and waving his hands around to remember. "Right! This wooden beam just flew through the air. I didn't see where it was coming from–and just…" Mitsuru made a whistling noise with his mouth as he used his hands to visualize the wooden beam falling right over him.

"So that's how you died, but you are here now. How is that?"

"I just opened my eyes like I woke up, and everything around me was black. Then this Voice was talking to me out of nowhere." Reine readjusted herself. "The only thing I know is that he was the only one there. That was about three years ago." Mitsuru spoke like a storyteller. "So for the next three years, I would step in and out of that empty place. Not even the Voice knows why I'm like this. About my powers, the only thing I can do is make weapons, or anything, appear if I think hard enough about it–" Mitsuru went dead silent.

"Did something happen?" Reine asked as she looked around. Nothing was out of place.

"...Something cold in the air. Do you feel that?" Mitsuru's eyes flew around as he anxiously spun around. He pointed right. "It's somewhere outside. I don't feel good about this."

At the bottom of the staircase, both of them were suddenly enveloped by a bright yellow sphere. As the light faded, the boy with curly brown hair looked all around him as he stepped out of the teleporter, leaving behind a black mass, free to roam the [Fraxinus].

Kotori drank the cold water from her cup.

"There's nothing that can hide me from what I did. Because of my powers, Mitsuru died." She looked at her reflection in the cup.

"But that was when they were out of control, when [Phantom] gave you your powers. It's true that your powers caused the fire, but it's not like you wished for it."

"But, still–"

"It wasn't you!" Shido cut her off. "If he figured it out, Mitsuru would understand!" He would never believe that Kotori, his little sister, would ever kill someone. Kotori only glanced back at Shido before she finished drinking.

"Mm. I should get back. You can go, Shido. I'll stay back for a little while longer."

A loud banging sound emanated outside the room. Both of them ran to investigate. The visage of someone large stepped around the corner. Turning that corner, they found nobody.

(-)

Mitsuru peaked his head outside, stressing, "Ms. Murasame. I promise you, I think something is coming for me."

"That's impossible. No one else is on board besides us and the [Fraxinus] crew." He only shrugged, keeping his eyes on the door as he stepped back. Reine could see that the initially relaxed teen was on edge again.

"It's really close–"

The wall behind them was shattered as a large black sword punctured through. On the other side of the wall was an inhumanly large knight clad in black raven-like armor covered in ash. The moment it spotted Mitsuru, the knight quickly turned around.

"Get away from the door. It's coming around." As soon as Reine spoke, the knight's large, jagged greatsword ran across the wall, slicing into Mitsuru's leg.

"Gah!" Mitsuru collapsed to the ground. Reine rushed over to help him onto his feet and slung his arm over her shoulder.

"Shin? Where are you and Kotori? Something is on board the [Fraxinus] and attacking us in the interrogation room. We need assistance immediately." The door was kicked open as the raven knight entered, standing twice as tall as a human. In its left hand was a gigantic sword that looked like a sharpened slab of slate. It was about the cleave Reine and Mitsuru before a loud pop rang, and the raven staggered back, sparks of lightning coursing in and out of its helmet.

"Ms. Murasame!" Mitsuru tugged on her. She immediately got up, and they both ran past the knight. She looked at Mitsuru's hand. In it was a hefty, rusted, yet intricate crossbow with three sets of arms loaded with lightning bolts. Once they fled the room, the door behind them shut and locked.

{[Fraxinus]'s emergency protocols are active. They should buy you time. Get to the medical wing.} Kotori spoke through Reine's earpiece.

"Roger." The doors behind them slowly crumpled open as the knight pursued them. "The medical wing is close by. Do you know who that is?"

"I don't know. We don't have to go to the medical wing. I think my leg is good." Mitsuru let go of Reine. His leg was completely healed, and Mitsuru could walk normally again. A particular stench lingered in the air. "Hot hell." He muttered. "Yeah, I can repair wounds quickly. I don't think I need medical care now. Where do we go?"

"We should be close to the main control room. A barricade there should be able to hold it off." As they passed each door, they quickly noticed that the sound of shut-off doors being ripped apart had faded.

"Did he stop following us?"

"..." Mitsuru got a quick shiver down his spine, and his mind screamed. Look left! A tear in the wall separating reality from a black void ripped open, and the blade of the raven knight thrust through.

Immediately, Mitsuru thought of a shield, and the same immense stone shield that had barricaded the door in the warehouse earlier dropped right in front of him. Mitsuru braced himself as the knight's blade slammed into it. The force was so strong that it knocked the shield back, sending Mitsuru down. The shield then fell over Mitsuru and pinned him.

The raven knight slowly stepped out, first resting its hand between reality and the dark abyss, then revealing its hollow helmet. Once fully out, it was so tall that the knight couldn't even stand up straight. With a single hand, it pried the shield off Mitsuru and grabbed him by the throat. He wriggled futilely, trying with all he had to pull at least a finger off his neck. "I…can't…breathe." The knight began to turn around. It was bringing Mitsuru back through the portal.

"Hyah!" A girl shouted and jumped out of nowhere. A mighty sword with blue lines running through it struck down and wedged itself right into the shoulder armor of the raven knight. It grunted hauntingly, letting go of Mitsuru, who collapsed, coughing. The person who had saved him was a girl with dark plum hair. Her attire was a fusion of civilian clothing and a strange, purple dress armor.

"You're that girl from the park!"

"You were the guy on the bench!" She pushed her sword against the knight but jumped back when the knight suddenly reached for its sword, swinging it horizontally. It went straight into the wall. "What is that thing?"

"I have zero idea what the hell it is, but it's after me." Mitsuru backed away as the knight retrieved its sword from the wall. Ignoring the girl, it turned on its knees and slashed the sword at Mitsuru. "Alright, so in this situation, what would I do?" The knight was slow. He could outpace it if he needed to. That crossbow… Looking behind the knight, Mitsuru saw it by the plum girl's feet. Maybe I can think it back into my hand. Mitsuru willed it to happen, and it appeared that it was, but when it was supposed to fall into his hand, the raven knight thrust its sword into the forming rift and shut it. The crossbow remained on the other side No go. I still need that crossbow.

"Mitsuru, we can turn back. We'll meet with Tohka in the bridge room, and you can get your weapon." Reine advised. They began backing up as the knight began to lurch towards Mitsuru. Besides the cling of the black armor and the crashing of the blade, no sound of life was in that knight.

"Tohka. Alright! Bring that crossbow with YOU!–" Mitsuru dodged another slash from the knight, almost tripping as he turned one-eighty and bolted down the hall alongside Reine. The knight followed, sinking into the ground.

(-)

Tohka ran through the halls as portals opened up around her. The black knight's sword thrust outward, always trying to knock the crossbow out of her hand. At first, the knight clearly turned towards Mitsuru and Reine, but Tohka quickly deduced that it didn't need sight to track her as its sword emerged from any surface it could. Even from her room in the Spirit Complex, Tohka felt a shocking aura hit her. She didn't know whether it was from the boy or the knight. Both seemed to emanate that same unknown presence, but when it hit her, Tohka immediately sprung from her head. The large blade thrust from the wall in front of her

(-)

"Jesus!" Mitsuru screamed. He narrowly ran past the raven knight, appearing from the ceiling with its blade going straight through the ground. Those portals look just like mine. "Where is the bridge room, Ms. Murasame?!"

"We're almost there." As they passed by a door, the raven knight's blade burst out from behind it, blocking the way. "He can appear through portals, but only one at a time. Can you summon any other weapons?"

"No, I'm not fast enough, so the bastard gets to it quicker than I do. It's like he knows." The knight's blade was stuck. The metal walls bent in a way that kept the blade from being pulled out. Mitsuru stepped forward, seeing an opportunity to turn the table. If he could grab the blade, he could temporarily turn it against the knight, maybe even kill it. It looked impossibly heavy, though. Give it a try. Those words echoed in his head.

"Ms. Murasame, I'm going to try to push away the knight's hand. Then I'm going to try to grab the sword. It might give you time to run. Is that alright?"

Reine was skeptical of the idea, warning, "If you fail, you might be captured, and only you know where that place is. Are you sure that you can do it?"

"Well, you can never be so sure." Mitsuru braced himself with one foot back, ready to sprint. Knock the arm out of the way. Then grab the handle and pull up. Easy. Mitsuru dashed, first running into the warrior's arm. It lost grip of the blade, trying to swoop him off his feet. He jumped right over the arm. Wait, that worked. He then grabbed the handle with both hands and pushed it upward. Reine ran past him, reverse-roundhouse-kicking the knight's arm from grabbing him.

With the most amount of physical exertion he had ever given in his existence, Mitsuru pulled the blade from the wall. It crashed onto the metal floor. The knight pulled back its arm into the room as the door was ripped open. Rushing out, trying to grab him, Mitsuru brought the sword up and thrust it into its gut. The knight howled ghoulishly in pain, being flung backward. Oh, my God. It worked! Mitsuru dropped the blade as he and Reine escaped.

Now, the sword was imbued with red and black flames.

(-)

"[Sandalphon]!" Tohka's Angel manifested again in her hand. The knight's sword plunged from a portal into the floor, and infernal orbs flew out before honing onto her. [Sandalphon] sliced through them. Though quickly extinguished, the flames were so hot that Tohka mistakenly believed that her skin had been scorched on multiple occasions, even in her Limited Astral Dress.

"Where did these flames come from? I can't sense any Spirit power from them." Tohka entered the bridge room.

Shido ran up to her, relieved, as they hugged each other. "Tohka, I'm glad you're safe. I'm glad. Is that Mitsuru's crossbow?"

"Yes. He dropped it, but the knight kept him from getting it." Kotori brought up the many cameras in the halls. On the center camera, the one right outside the door opposite where Tohka entered, Mitsuru and Reine ran down the hall. The knight hauled itself from a portal on the floor and swung its blade across. Reine slid under as Mitsuru jumped over, the flame grazing both.

"Where is it?!" Mitsuru hollered the moment they barged into the room. Tohka tossed him the crossbow. Right after, the door entered, and the knight rushed in, standing at full height with its sword over its head. Mitsuru aimed and fired. With thunderous bolts in its face, the knight stumbled back onto one knee. Its blade fell to the ground. The wound Mitsuru inflicted earlier was visible, showing a hollow nothingness. One more time.

The [Fraxinus] crew cowered, standing back and spilling questions.

"What is that thing?"

Mitsuru tightly gripped the blade and dragged it before the black warrior. As it slowly began to regain footing. Mitsuru brought up the flaming slab of rock, his eyes narrowing into its abdomen. The raven knight cried out one last time, trying to grab for its sword as Mitsuru pierced into its stomach.

Stillness. The knight's arm went limp. It stumbled back and fell on its knees, kept up by the handle.

"How are we going to dispose of this?" Kotori said as she cautiously stood up to see the limp corpse from the front. A black cloud exited from the knight's wound and rushed at Mitsuru. It jumped onto his hand and up his hoodie sleeve.

"What the–Where is it?!" Mitsuru howled and patted all over, but it seemed to have disappeared. The knight's arm suddenly flinched as it weakly began to reanimate.

"Again?!" Everyone in the room cried out. Mitsuru and Tohka drew their weapons. The knight, now standing again, slowly grabbed the giant sword embedded in its stomach and dislodged it from its stomach like nothing. The edge slammed down, but the black fire was gone. It lifted its barren gaze at Mitsuru, and he looked back tensely. Dragging its blade behind it, the knight turned around toward the door. It slid open to a black nothingness, crouching over and disappearing into the void.

"He's not attacking us. Shouldn't he be angrier after you did that, Mitsuru?" Shido questioned him as he approached the portal. It emitted dangerously cold air.

Tohka let her blade disappear and reverted her attire to her civilian attire. She wondered, "Maybe it accepted defeat, but it looked strong enough to continue fighting to continue fighting." Mitsuru didn't reply. He only looked deep into the portal. Something was calling out to him. He felt drawn in to chase after the giant.

"Wait. Get back here!" Mitsuru dropped the crossbow and followed the raven knight through the portal before it closed on him.

"Here is what I propose. The Spirit, [Princess], is under the guise of a Japanese high school student! With that being the case, my secretary, Ellen, will go and capture her within the next few days."

"What is your plan? How do you expect to deploy a Wizard to kidnap a girl at school?" Board Member Roger Murdoch scoffed at the idea Westcott brought up.

"Simple. The school plans to take a trip. Through our subsidiaries, we can arrange a travel offer that the school will not refuse. Arubi Island should place [Princess] in an isolated position. Any further explanation is not necessary for the greatest Wizard in history." A smirk and sly gaze were imparted onto the director's face.

The door to the conference room unexpectedly opened, yet nobody entered. Everyone turned towards the door, and even Westcott gave a glance. One by one, the board members on one side of the table unexpectedly felt a chilly wind go past them. When Westcott's eyes moved down to the table, there was a note in front of him. It wasn't there before. Ellen, standing beside him, grabbed the note and read it. As she read, her eyes narrowed with suspicion, then widened.

"Ike, you have to read this," she quietly said, handing Westcott the delicate note.

On it was a message:

Sir Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott

Director

Deus Ex Machina Industries,

For your and Deus Ex Machina's well-being, it is wise that you hold off on this capture mission of the Spirit, [Princess]. Arubi Island and all Spirit activities within it will be under my administration. There is no longer business for you with Spirits.

I will only make this warning once, Mr. Westcott. End your futile efforts. Abandon your dream as you should have 40 years ago.

If not, prompt and utter destruction awaits any and all you send.

Instantly, Ellen angrily pointed a finger at some of the board members. "How is that possible? Was it one of you who wrote this?!" They looked at her, perplexed. The members whispered amongst each other while pointing at the mysterious slip of paper in Westcott's hand.

Forty years ago. Only Ellen, Westcott, her sister, and Elliot knew about that day. No one else…

Westcott let the paper fall out of his hand. A light chuckle left his mouth and soon turned into a maniacal laugh that overpowered all the sound in the room.

"Very well! Ellen, prepare to launch the [Arbatel]. Paddington will be the captain in case our friends at [Ratatoskr] get their hands on him. Use whatever resources you need to capture [Princess], and many times that. Prepare for an amusing surprise."

"A surprise from who?"

"Someone we both know from 40 years ago. Let's show how much we've grown since then, Ellen." Westcott ominously declared, spinning around to meet her gaze.

On the other side of the room, a shadow was cast onto the wall, one that did not originate from anything in the room. When the sun moved to cast its light over the wall, it disappeared.

Author's Notes:

This time, I referenced:

-Fume Knight - Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Old Iron King

-Avelyn - Dark Souls series

-Havel's Shield - Dark Souls series