-Vol 5: A New Life-

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After coming out through the gate, Kenshin saw the whole place was cordoned off with military and other hunters preparing to do something. Normal civilians were long evacuated to somewhere safe. But he didn’t have time for this, he used the darkness as the cover to run away from there. Arriving at an empty alleyway, he used his [Burrow] skill and left for Mito.

Close to half an hour later, he finally arrived near his house. Coming out of the ground, he pulled his phone out from his inventory and gave Joy a call. But his phone was switched off, so he tried Chiba’s phone.

“Kenshin? Where are you? Are you alright? Joy has gone to look for you and yet to return…” Chiba sounded very anxious and fired questions after questions. Kenshin was surprised to find that Joy had gone to look for him. Remembering the state that dungeon was in, he shuddered suddenly. He immediately dismissed that thought, after all, there might be a chance Joy wasn’t there. Even if he was, he wasn’t a pushover or weak character, after all, he might have run away unscathed.

“Chiba! Are you update with the news? What happened with Mito’s dungeon? And yes, I am alright, don’t worry.”

“Thank god!! Ah…about Mito’s dungeon, it's currently airing on the news. A dungeon that was there for countless years suddenly vanished to thin air after a huge thunder fell upon it. This had caused a sensation all over the country with countless hunters both experienced and influential, making their way there. Wide variety of speculations were going on with varying theories thrown into the air. It's very messy over there.” Chiba spoke about everything she heard from the news. After all, this case was just too big to not care about. Besides, Mito was Kenshin's home, that’s why she had put some extra attention to it.

“I see, thank you, Chiba. Now do one thing, after Joy returns you guys immediately come to Mito. I am already on my way to there. We will meet at my home.” After that, Kenshin hanged the phone and looked pensive. At the same time, he thought of everything that had to do with Core. He always thought something’s not right with Core, but never knew his plans were something like this. Moreover, that one sentence from his series of notifications that startled him much.

“Exactly what the real reason behind the existence of these dungeons? And how come disappearance of Core spelled the dungeon’s destruction? What are these dungeons for?” there were many questions inside his heart, but none was there to answer them. Kenshin was even doubtful that anyone in this world would know of these answers.

Then he dialed Yuki’s number to give her a call, but no one answered it, and the phone stopped ringing. Putting the phone in his pant pocket, he ran towards where Ekal’s garden was used to be. Due to the incident regarding the dungeon, the whole Mito was in high alert. All the civilians and low-level hunters were asked to not leave their homes until further instructions and that they should always be ready to relocate into nearest Disaster Houses.

As a result, Kenshin found a very empty street to run with his full power. Despite not yet seeing his stats, Kenshin could feel the changes that had already happened to him. His agility, endurance, and even the usage of magic had become so much smoother that it was incomparable to before. Especially his magic usage, Kenshin now felt using skills had become so much easier than before.

Moreover, he was running at his full power, but he could still feel that he can go faster. But he didn't increase his speed anymore. Pushing down the impulse to see his stats, Kenshin made his way towards Ekla’s garden. Right now, he didn’t have time to get excited over his stats.

When he appeared on the familiar place, for a second, he couldn’t recognize the place. Gone the antique looking shopping mall, now replaced with a deep trench that could even fit a huge skyscraper. The whole place was cordoned off with military and hunters guarding it. A long line of cars parked to a side, just in front of the office of the DCB. But Kenshin wasn’t looking at those, he was intently staring at the deep pit where the green flashes of thunder could be seen every second.

“So it was really destroyed…” Kenshin mumbled to himself as he came closer to the trench. Suddenly a hand stopped him.

“Excuse me, unauthorized people aren't allowed to enter the premise.” It’s an old man in a black suit. He was giving off a very powerful aura, no doubt he was a hunter and a very powerful one at that.

“AH! Sorry. Here, this is my DCB id. I am actually working in this place…can you tell me what happened here?” the old man suspiciously accepted the ID and checked it thoroughly and even inspected the hologram behind the back. Then he handed it back to Kenshin and started to speak, “So you are a magic skill user. Forgive my rude behavior. About this, I just recently came here and am unsure of what happened. But what I can tell is that a huge thunder pillar came down from the skies and destroyed it to smithereens. Not a single piece of rock was remained unscathed after the incident. You can go inside the office and get more detailed information on this matter.”

“Thank you. Take care.” Waving his hands, Kenshin rat at DCB office. Flashing his ID card, he easily gained access inside the now heavily guarded office. On the way, he heard that a lot of bigshots came today from all over the country, which included both hunters and theorists.

“Mr.Kenshin! here.” Suddenly someone called his name. Looking back, he found a young man wearing glasses as he held a cup of coffee in his hands and was calmly sipping on it. He was sitting in the recreation area of the office.

“Akito? You are here? Then who is handling Suguro’s work right now?” Kenshin smiled and greeted the man. This young man was someone he knew very well. He worked as Suguro’s personal assistant. Due to their similar ages, Kenshin, and he would often talk for a long duration of times.

Although Kenshin would rarely ever come to the office.

“Well, Mr. Suguro is in a meeting right now with a lot of bigshots. He didn’t need me right now…or more like I am not allowed to be among them…that’s why I am taking a break now. Haha…want some coffee?” Akito offered to bring another cup but was rejected by Kenshin.

“Say, What really happened? How can such a thing happen?” Kenshin asked.

Hearing his question, Akito sipped from his cup and then started recounting everything from a sudden rise in radiation levels to the thunderflash that destroyed everything related to that dungeon.

“And that is what happened…don't you think its creepy? Its as if God couldn’t tolerate the existence of such vile things and destroyed it…you know, religious people will be having a field day soon.”

“I see…so this happened. I was out of town when I heard this. You won't believe it, but I ran all the way here, fearing what might have happened.” Kenshin sighed and leaned back on his chair.

“Haha! You don’t have to shoulder the burden this time. With Mrs. Aoi here, nothing can go wrong.”

“Eh!” suddenly an explosion occurred inside Kenshin’s mind when he heard a certain name. A name that was attached to his new life’s history from the very first page. It’s a name that held a deep meaning for Kenshin’s life.

“Mrs. Aoi! Do you mean Yamazaki Aoi? What is she doing here?” Kenshin asked bewildered and a little excited. Of course, it was for a different reason than others.

“Yes. It's her, she volunteered to come here and inspect the situation personally. Right now, she is in the conference room with other bigshots.”

‘So she is here…I wonder if she remembers me!’ Kenshin was having his own train of thoughts.