Chapter 1: Nothing is True

Proving Rite: Faith by JT Music

-Tokyo Bay Northern End, Japan-

Kouryou Academy, this academy was a technique training high school located in the northern part of Tokyo Bay, where its students battle each other with weapons known as Blaze as training to become future peacekeepers.

The academy itself was located in the northern part of Tokyo Bay, on an island and could only be accessed through a hanging monorail.

There were Giant Walls surrounding the academy with a single entrance and a giant clock tower can be seen from the outside.

The interior structure of the building of the school and the dormitories are in Gothic style, so some students feel a bit strange about it.

But that wasn't immediately important right now, what was important was the teenage boy who was making his way towards the school in the dead of night.

The boy in question had most of his face obscured by the hood he was wearing, he was a male teen about average height for someone his age. Build wise he is a bit lean and possibly a bit lanky. His eyes were heterochromic—which were blue on the right and yellow on the left—an exceedingly rare treat, but he also had a scar on the left side of his lip, and an eagle shaped birthmark on the back of his neck that's covered by his shaggy black hair.

Lastly, he had a tattoo on his left arm, one that had an oriental line art face tattoo that had an Egyptian eagle at the top and an A in between the eagle's wings that looked like it was styled after an Eagle skull that was just barely visible past his hoodie sleeves and the bar shaped bracers on his arms.

Attire wise, in addition to the bracers, he was also wearing the aforementioned white eagle beaked hoodie which seemed to have red lining, over a black shirt, with faded and slightly worn blue jeans, a red belt and black sneakers.

Lastly he had a silver Spanish Doubloon ring on his right ring finger and a Swiss Tech sling pack that was slung onto his back.

Looking up at the school from ground level, the teen took note of the various entry points that were possible for breaking in if a person wanted to. Windows, balconies, the clock tower, the roof itself—all were valid options.

But before he decided which to go with, his eyes flickered as his vision turned into a dark almost saturated blue version of the world around him.
This was his Eagle Vision, and he was seeing people all around. School staff, faculty and teachers, mostly—not a student in sight on account of the school semester not being in session yet.

Slowly though, his gaze progressively went higher and higher until his eyes locked onto the office window of the principal, Sakuya Tsukumo—who was highlighted in yellow.

"There you are." He nodded, before he ran at a pillar and pushed himself off with his foot, and then began to parkour up the wall to the window.

It didn't take long to climb up, and when he reached it, he gently opened the window in a bid to avoid alerting the woman in question.

As he crouched on the ground and made his way to the back of her desk, he took note of her appearance as she was busy drinking some tea.

Sakuya was famously known for wearing a Gothic style dress, with black hair curled at the bottom part, as well as her having an appearance that seemed to be like that of a 10-year-old girl despite her being twice that age.

She also had dark violet eyes and pale-white skin, and appears to be rather light in weight.

Her dress meanwhile, was covered in black clothing style with white frills at some parts. She also wears a headdress that almost covers her head, with pink rose at both sides of it.

As the boy got behind her, he slowly got up and waited for her to stop drinking her tea, before he grabbed her in a headlock before she could react and deployed one of his Hidden Blades, pressing it to her neck, just slightly starting to graze it.

"Don't even bother calling for help, or I will slit your fucking throat right now." He hissed at her.

"Bold of you to assume I'd need it." Sakuya retorted calmly.

"You seem pretty calm for someone who just got jumped by an assassin." The boy noted.

"You won't kill me, though, because if I die, you'll have a nightmare outrunning security." The short woman told him. "It will be a manhunt if you dispose of me here and now. One that you can't afford, given you're just one against an academy." She added.

"… For how young you look, you're pretty shrewd." The teen said as he moved his blade away and retracted it and walked around to the front of her desk.

"When you're in my position, it's something that you casually pick up." Sakuya nodded. "That said, I am impressed you managed to get to me like you had." She commented.

"Comes as part of the trade." The boy responded.

"I'm sure… Jason." The headmistress nodded with a mischievous smile. "I look forward to how you perform in the coming semester." She added.

"I will try not to disappoint." Jason chuckled.

"I should hope so, but try not to kill anyone." Sakuya told him.

"No promises." He told her as someone walked into the office, it was one of the teachers.

"Mr. Koroko here will take you to the infirmary to receive your Lukifer. We'll be expecting you when school starts in three weeks' time." The woman told him, gesturing to the man in question.

"Noted, thanks." The Assassin boy nodded as he was led to the infirmary.

(Timeskip)

Fast forward to three weeks later and Jason was returning to the academy, this time dressed in an academy uniform, but still having on his hoodie rather than the standard dress coat and also still having his ring.

Idly, he took time to enjoy the cherry blossom petals falling through the air, which made the atmosphere more enjoyable to him. It was nice.

Though as he continued to make his way towards the school, the sound of bells jingling caused his ears to perk and prompted him to look in the direction of the sound to try and find the source of the sound.

"Where's…" He uttered before spotting the jingling bells on someone.

That someone was a petite girl with long white hair and fair skin wearing the girls' uniform of Kouryou Academy. He couldn't see her eyes because, well, she wasn't facing him.

Something in his brain seemed to fizzle upon seeing this girl, he wasn't sure what, but it felt like it was innate, almost seemingly instinctual…

And then she turned to a direction where he could see her eyes, and she could meet his—her deep red eyes—and almost instantly—there was some kind of spark or crack or thump or… something neither of them could describe between them, before both quickly looked away from each other after realizing how long they'd been staring.

'What the fuck was that?!' Jason thought as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"Oh, so that's what they mean by pretty young thing." A voice said behind him, causing the boy to turn and see another girl standing behind him.

It was a girl his age with fair skin, ginger hair, green eyes and was wearing the girl's uniform.

"Who're you?" Jason questioned.

"Oh! I'm Imari Nagakura, I'm new here too, though I suppose you already figured that." The girl replied, introducing herself. "And who're you? A transfer student?" She asked.

"Yeah." The hooded teen nodded. "Name's Jason." He told her, shaking her hand. "Jason Miles." He added.

(Later)

After a bit, Jason was sitting among a bunch of other hopefuls that wanted to join the academy. There were a lot of them, too. Glancing around, he saw the white haired girl from before elsewhere in the gathering.

As he and Imari sat together, Sakuya eventually made her way to the podium, and then she turned around and addressed the students.

"Welcome. I am Sakuya Tsumoko, headmistress of Kouryou Academy." The short woman began. "All of you have gathered here today for the initiation. If you will turn your attention to the person next to you, take note that they are your partner." She continued, causing Jason to look at Imari.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're about to be put into a forced combat sequence…?" Jason muttered, seeing nothing but red flags even without Eagle vision.

Right on cue…

"When the signal is given, you will all fight your partners." Sakuya told the applicants, who were surprised before protests erupted.

"Called it…" The boy muttered, pulling his hood over his face. 'Seems these things weren't just common in the past, the Animus was full of these too.' He thought to himself as the hall became filled with confusion.

"Only the victors will be accepted here. The losers will have their Lukifers removed and will be asked to leave the premises." The woman told them. "And I should also note that if your battle isn't over in ten minutes, you and your partner will fail." She added.

"Well shit…" Jason sighed as he glanced at Imari, seeing her looking at him. "Guess this is where I get a workout." He mused.

"Now do battle! You are heaven chosen children, prove that you are worthy of entering our hallowed halls!" The principal told them as everyone stood up.

Jason stood and Imari—hesitantly—did so as well while everyone else summoned their blazes.

'From top to bottom… From bottom of the top…' The young assassin thought to himself as he stood there, arms open as his hood covered his face—giving him a visage not unlike that of Ezio Auditore, his ancestor. 'History may have forgotten, but I'm—somebody who will not.' He thought as he snapped his fingers. "Blaze on." He said.

In a flash of fire his arms were engulfed in flames and two black bracers formed on them, not unlike the ones worn by assassins long past, but they were made of the same material as the other blazes and had white and red flames on them that looked they were in the shape of eagles.

"Bracers?" Imari blinked, now wielding a katana.

"Half right." Jason replied as he flicked his wrists and deployed the blades in his bracers and getting into a stance to wait.

First thing he learned about going through the memories of his ancestors—always wait for a counter kill.

Seeing that Jason wasn't going to attack first, Imari decided to go on the offensive, charging as she poised her Blaze to strike.

However, the second she did, Jason's Eagle Vision kicked in and her body started slowing down, highlighted in red.

In addition, the tells of her body's intended movements (a twitch of the eye or a tightening muscle) were becoming much more obvious to the assassin, allowing him to deflect her initial attacks with glancing blocks with his blades—and when his eyes got trained on her—her movements began to become visualized in the form of precognitive after images that allowed him to anticipate her moves.

Imari, meanwhile, was experiencing minor frustration since she couldn't land any hits on Jason. No matter what she tried, he always outmaneuvered her.

"Why. Won't. You. Stay. Still?!" She shouted as she kept swinging, only for him to dodge and block.

"Because I know your moves before you even make them." The boy stated rather candidly before he weaved an overhead slash, grabbed Imari by the arm, locked her in, and twisted her wrist to make her drop her Blaze—before hitting her with a combo (Headbutt, gut check, knee blow) and then a Sparta kick to her diaphragm—sending her crashing to the wall—before her rushed her with a Tekken Rage Art style combo.

Imari cried out in pain as she hit the floor, her entire body shaking from the beating it just took. She tried to get back to her feet, but Jason's precise strikes had left her unable to even try and push herself up.

The teen gave a small nod as he walked away, pulling his hood back over his head, obscuring his face from those who were watching.

But the girl from before saw him, and her heart seemed to jump when she saw his face again, and just like before—she quickly turned away.

'What's with her?' Jason wondered before shrugging as he continued on his way. Though he also felt a similar heat rush to his face when he saw her again, though even with his extensive knowledge with feelings from reliving the lives of his ancestors—this particular feeling was completely alien to him.

What was this?

(Timeskip)

The next day, classes began and Jason was on his way to his first year classroom.

"So, heard you're the new transfer student here." A voice said, causing the assassin to turn around and see a shorter teen his age with brown hair and glasses behind him.

"Yeah. And you are?" He questioned.

"Aoi Torasaki." The shorter teen replied. "So you also here to act as Sakuya's lab rat like the rest of us?" He questioned.
"No, and what are you even on about?" The Assassin boy questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come on, she gave all of us those Lukifer things without so much of a hint of conditions, if you ask me that means there has to be some kind of ulterior motive." Tora stated as they kept walking. "Fact is we're basically just a bunch of lab rats in Sakuya's experiments." He stated.

"Clearly you've never seen how bad Abstergo can get…" The dual color eyed boy muttered with an eye roll.

(Later)

After getting to his first period class, Jason found himself next to the very girl that was making him feel funny.

And rather frustratingly, every time he tried to talk to her, she'd quickly look away and similarly, every time he looked away, he could feel her gaze almost boring a hole into him each time.

'What is her deal?!' He thought, his eyebrow twitching.

As he thought this, a woman with faux bunny ears on her head wearing a more provocative version of the female Kouryou Academy uniform (or a maid outfit, Jason couldn't tell which) walked in and to the front of the room.

"Good morning class! My name is Rito Tsukimi, but I insist you call me professor Bun Bun!" The woman beamed, hopping on her heels.

'More like the Energizer Bunny's wife.' Jason quipped in his head.

"Huh? Why, what's the matter, class?" Rito questioned as she looked at them in confusion. "Oh! I get it! You must be taken off guard by just how gosh darn cute I am!" She exclaimed.

"Keep telling yourself that…" Jason murmured lowly enough to go unheard.

"Okay, now onto business!" The energetic woman chirped. "If you'll turn your attention to whoever you're seated next to, you'll find your new partner!" She continued.

"Wait, what?" The assassin boy blinked as he looked at the girl sitting next to him… Who was still not looking at him. "Oh great…" He groaned.

"Now, these partnerships are known as Duos, and both here at school and later when you graduate, both you and your duo will be doing everything together." Their teacher explained. "Additionally, your school ids also can act as credit cards, and each month you'll also get ¥100,000 to spend however you want." She added.

"Huh. If I'm right, that's 694 American dollars." Jason muttered, doing the math in his head. "Hell of an allowance." He nodded.

"And if you boys don't know what to spend all that dough on, I also accept tips! Tee hee!" The woman smiled.

"Good luck with getting tips from me." Jason snickered quietly.

"Oh, also, while the dorms are co-ed to accommodate Duos, so that you'll be seeing a lot of your partners. The dorms are also no place for infants, so no funny business!" The woman teased, causing Jason to blush as a tick mark appeared on his forehead.

"Don't make me kick your ass!" The boy barked, his eyebrow twitching.

"Now, what else was there…?" Rito questioned, tapping her chin, clearly ignoring the barbs thrown at her by Jason. "Oh! I almost forgot! I introduced myself but you guys haven't yet! So why don't you do that before we call it for today?" She prompted.

(Later)

After almost everyone else had gone…

"Name's Jason Miles. Why I'm here is none of your concern." Jason stated as he went to introduce himself.

"Oh that's right! You're the irregular that everyone was talking about in the faculty room! You've been quite the talk of the staff so far!" Rito noted.

This caused everyone to look at him, prompting him to pull his hood down over his face.

'So much for hiding in plain sight…' He thought to himself as the girl next to him stood up.

"My name is Julie Sigunta, it's nice to meet you all." She told the class with a slight bow. Her voice caused Jason's heart to nearly jump from his rib cage.

'Dear god she sounds as cute as she looks!' The boy thought as his face turned red as she sat down. 'And her name, it sounds like it's Scandinavian, wonder what she's doing here?' He mused to himself before noticing that she looked at him again.

And this time, when he met her red eyes with his blue and yellow eyes—that same feeling from before hit both of them.

Julie, for her part, also felt her face turn red and heat up like a bubbling pot of tomato soup, before she quickly averted her gaze, her heart pounding just as hard as Jason's.

The two of them had one shared thought: What was going on with them?

(Later)

After everything was said and done, Jason and Julie were in their dorm getting situated.

Well, Jason was getting situated, when he arrived at the dorm Julie initially wasn't there—but one use of his Eagle Vision revealed to him that she was in the bathroom taking a shower.

'Nope!' He thought with a blush as he immediately turned his Eagle Vision off. He had zero interest in using his bloodline for something like that, thank you very much!

That said, at least he knew where she was.

As he got settled, he decided to get ready to take a shower after Julie was done, so he started getting his things laid out and put away.

One thing in particular was a portable Animus unit that was stolen from Abstergo. It was basically like a foldable gaming chair mat that could be laid out on any surface and included a headset for experiencing the simulation.

"Maybe this could shed some light on Julie's ancestry." He mused, but had no plans to do that today as he slid the device under the bottom bunk, the bunk he chose.

As soon as he did, Julie came out of the bathroom, looking like she just got out of the shower, with steam coming from the bathroom as she opened the door.

The only thing she seemed to wear was a white button up shirt that was big enough to cover up her body.

"Uh…" Jason uttered, dumbstruck… which caused him to not even notice the fact that his nose had started to bleed, causing Julie to tilt her head in confusion. "… Huh?" He muttered before quickly wiping his nose, finally coming to his senses. "Julie, what the hell are you wearing?" He questioned.

"My pajamas." She responded matter of factly.

"I'd hardly call it that." Jason deadpanned.

"I wear them when I sleep, so that makes them my pajamas." The short girl defended calmly.

'… Okay oddness aside, it's hard to argue with that logic.' The boy thought to himself. "Well, if you're done, I'm gonna go ahead and take a shower as well." The assassin told her.

"Alright." Julie nodded as Jason grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom.

When the door closed, the white haired girl climbed to the top bunk and started to think about why she was feeling so strongly about Jason. She never felt like this before… So why now?

What was going on?

(Elsewhere)

After getting into the bathroom, Jason almost immediately slid down the door to the floor as soon as he closed it, huddling briefly to get his composure back as he nearly started hyperventilating.

He just saw Julie, the same girl that he was dangerously close to confirming he likely was developing some form of a crush on—he'd experienced the act of falling in love through the eyes of his ancestors so even if he wasn't sure if this was exactly the same, he knew the signs—almost completely naked.

How the hell was he not supposed to start hyperventilating after an experience like that? If anything, he was honestly relieved that he was able to keep his composure for that long.

'Cold shower, I need a goddamn cold shower.' The boy thought to himself as he walked over to the bathroom sink and started pulling out his stuff to help calm himself down by focusing on something else.

The stuff he bought were all in a canvas shaving kit, and were all from brands that were easy to grab in stores to avoid his enemies tracking down his location and getting to him.

These ranged from store brand toothbrushes, readily available toothpaste, equally basic mouthwash, and simple shaving products like Barbasol shaving cream, a single edged razor to keep him from having to buy new ones, and a simple bay rum aftershave. Hygiene wise his choices were also simple and easy to get, typically either handmade natural soaps, deodorant and hair care products he could get from small mom and pop stores—or Dr. Squatch products as it was both easy to get in stores and online through use of fake addresses and so widely used by a male audience that it gave him plenty of plausible deniability.

The stuff he was using now was of the latter, specifically the Pine Tar scent, and as soon as he got everything put away that needed to be in the vanity cabinet, he then put his bath supplies in the shower quickly undressed before turning on the cold water.

This was by far one of the wildest thing he's gone through in years…

(Later)

After Jason finished his shower and got dressed in his own pajamas—which was basically just a pair of grey pajama pants, a white shirt and his hoodie—and then walked out of the bathroom and saw Julie looking at him from the top bunk.

"Are you okay, Jason?" She asked, climbing down to meet him.

"More or less." Jason nodded, his flusteredness having long since dissipated. "Been meaning to ask, why were you staring at me all day?" He questioned as they both sat down at the room's table.

"Because there's something about you that makes me feel funny. In a way I like." The short girl replied as she crawled towards him, causing the boy to look down at her. "Also, your Blaze… I've never seen anything like them." She added.

"I'd tell you where they come from, but then I'd have to kill you." The boy stated, intentionally keeping his gaze away from her to keep from getting flustered again.

"No you wouldn't." Julie retorted calmly.

Then she crawled even closer to him—causing the boy to back up until she had him pinned against the wall.

Now Jason's heart was starting to race again, and it didn't help that his legs now had an exotic beauty between them in a very compromising position.

"Um… Wh-What…?" He uttered, unable to form words correctly.

"The way you fight… It's like you're several different people wrapped in one body." The girl noted, showing how deceptively observant she really was. "How is that possible?" She wondered.

"… Trade secret." The teen deflected, again averting his gaze so he didn't have to look at her.

"You'll tell me when you're ready… Right?" Julie asked gently.

"... Maybe." Jason sighed, still averting her gaze. It was at that point he noticed the girl was starting to look ready to fall asleep. "Jet lag?" He asked.

"Ja, I think it's the time difference catching up to me…" The girl nodded as she started wobbling.

"Okay, let's get you into bed." The boy nodded as he picked her up (while trying to ignore his racing heart) and placed her in the top bunk. "Good night." He whispered before he stretched one last time and got into his own bunk.

It was time to finally let this long day end.

ThermalsniperN7: Absolute Duo is still a side topic, but it is slightly enjoyable for what it is… I guess. I mean, it is easy to mix with other media if we think it'll fit.

Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. I mean it's a pretty standard 'Harem not harem' anime but at least it has enough good parts to make it a good story when given a few slight tweaks. Speaks to how good it is overall. Anyway, this story for all you Assassin's Creed fans takes place in a slightly altered version of the canon timeline. The specific alterations will become apparent later, but all we'll say here is, you know the Abstergo underground project that was mentioned in Black Flag, Rogue and Unity, Project Orpheus? Yeah. Jason is more or less a byproduct of this specific project and is—essentially—our relationship for the Semi-Canon Elijah Miles. Again the specifics will come later.

ThermalsniperN7: Yeah there's a lot to plan. But hey, when you have an anime with little to no story (if what I've heard about Absolute Duo is true) and a story rich game series like Assassin's Creed, you have a lot to experiment with. Who knows where this'll go? Anway, see you guys next time.