Lied and Zaccharias hurriedly left the alley where they were hiding, the boy ran with the crow perched on his right shoulder.

“Hey, Zaccharias, there’s something I haven’t told you yet. I have no memories of my childhood. The desire to uncover my forgotten past is one of the reasons that led me to give up the trivial life I had…” Lied was saying.

“…You want to know if awakening the Spirit Mode will help you get your memories back” Zaccharias said.

Lied nodded.

“The mind might forget, but the spirit won’t. It's just a hypothesis, but it may truly reawaken the sleeping memories buried deep inside you.”

“That’s great.”

“Lied, I noticed that some properties are familiar to you.”

“Yeah, I used Sensitivity in one of my meetings with the Illuminatus.”

“Feel your surroundings.”

Lied closed his eyes and sensed three guards looking for him. A few seconds later, he made use of Sensitivity once more and saw them splitting across the perimeter as they blocked the duo’s ways. Zaccharias pointed to a back alley and they both hid themselves.

“How can they be so fast?” Lied wondered.

“It seems that enough time has passed” Zaccharias said.

“Time?”

“…That is, you’re already fully adapted to your movements. You may not have noticed it, but you’re faster than when you first arrived in Mictlan.”

“Seriously?”

“Lied, this is your first challenge: go out there and defeat the guards.”

“H-Huh? I didn't even learn the Spirit Mode!”

“You don’t need the Spirit Mode to beat those walk-ons” Zaccharias giggled.

“How can you be so sure? If you’re wrong and I end up arrested…”

“Lied. Believe… in your spirit’s potential.”

“Now that I think about it, I took his word even though I didn’t know him at all…” Lied thought.

Bearing in mind his distinctive character, the boy normally interacting with a stranger was a phenomenon. He gazed at the bird, those golden eyes… he believed he had seen them somewhere else.

Lied sighed. The lad didn’t allow himself to smile.

“…Alright. Don’t take your eyes off me.”

Lied came out of the alley and walked to the center of the corridor. He stared at his hands, raised his head up and then looked at the buildings around him. Lied moved his body back and forth before leaping over the building.

“It’s true… incredible” the teenager glanced at the horizon “I can’t see from here. All that’s left… is to feel them.”

Lied tried hard to cover hundreds of meters, going beyond his natural limit with Sensitivity. He spotted the guards who were getting close to him.

“Usually, the best strategy would be to split them up and fight them one at a time.”

Never had Lied felt so fired up, he was itching to start fighting.

“But then it wouldn’t be a challenge!”

Lied jumped nimbly from roof to roof as he tried to get their attention. His plan? Simple, defeat all three at once. Only in such terms could it be considered a real challenge.

“THERE HE IS!” one of the guards shouted.

Lied arrived forthwith at the place where he planned to fight. The trio at last caught up to him.

“We shall arrest you and turn you in to Mictlan-sama!” the middle guard said.

“I still don't quite savvy what I got myself into. Nachash… I felt a shiver run down my spine when I heard the name. It’s like I know him. Not just him. Eve… and Adam…”

He recalled the conversation he had with Xanthus while each of the guards invoked their own spiritual spear.

“I see… they, too, are people I forgot. Characters from my past…”

“And this fight… is a fight to remember! Them… and myself!”

Meanwhile, Zaccharias flew to a rooftop near the battlefield. The teacher was also looking forward to seeing his student in action.

The eager guards took the initiative and hurled themselves at Lied wielding their spears, however he successively dodged. Lied stepped back and remembered Zaccharias’ teachings…

“Visibility is what allows us to track the opponent’s movements (…)”

He wondered how big the difference would be… between merely dodging with the body and using the property. Surrounded by spears, the kid avoided the sharp poles beforehand. Zaccharias detected signs of improvement on Visibility, which was Lied’s least developed property in comparison to Sensitivity.

The battle was dragging on for too long. Lied threw a knockout punch at a guard who flew away. Whilst attending school, Lied often taught those bothering him a lesson…

“I know how to punch” Lied said.

“W-What’s going on?!”

Judging by their reaction, the guards were unaware of the spirit’s properties. The second guard acted in haste as Lied didn’t even require the properties to sidestep him and deliver another powerful blow with the fist. Lied didn’t take it easy and belly kicked the last man. A perfect victory.

Lied found himself tired despite not having suffered any injuries, a side-effect of fighting with the spirit.

“N-No soul can leave the Underworld from the moment it enters. It’s useless. Y-Your resistance… will be in vain…” the defeated male said prior to losing consciousness.

“Liar. There was one that left. Nachash…” Lied said.

Zaccharias flapped his wings rapidly and landed on a fallen body.

“’Mictlan-sama’… who is it?” Lied asked.

“The lord of the Underworld, known as ‘the God of Death’” Zaccharias replied.

God of Death or “Shinigami”, as they used to say in Japanese.

“What now?”

“Before explaining how we’re training, I need to check your SSL.”

“SSL?”

“’Spiritual Synchronization Level’, the percentage of synchronization between the physical body and the spirit – the more synchronized the two are, the more spiritually advanced is the person. As you might assume, the spirit evolves with the occurrence of several events, such as the death of a close friend or the necessity to become stronger in order to overcome an obstacle.”

“Understood.”

“It’s divided into stages: Stage 0 or ‘initiation point’, which is when the spirit awakens; followed by the 1st Stage as the spirit goes through a recognition of itself, the very first period of its development. It’s numbered from 0% to 20%; the 2nd Stage, the first stage of Spirit Mode, marking the beginning of a new cycle. Between 20% and 40%. There are four more stages, but it’s of no importance for now. For the purpose of viewing the SSL, the property Density is necessary.”

Pretty curious, Lied couldn’t hardly wait to find out his stage. Without further ado, Zaccharias hovered next to Lied’s chest…

“10%. 1st Stage” Zaccharias said.

Although disappointed, the chap knew there was still a long way to go.

“Isn’t it too high anyway…?”

“You aren’t taking into account everything that drove your spirit to grow.”

“Chasing using Sensitivity…”

“Not just that. In your forgotten past you must have improved your SSL.”

Whatever his past was, Lied’s spirit did grow and that fact by itself craved him to recover his memories…

“What about you, Zaccharias? What’s your SSL?”

“See for yourself.”

Zaccharias asked Lied to come closer, the kid then connected himself to the talking crow.

“…Wasn’t it supposed to show a number?”

“When nothing is shown, it means that the spirit has already reached its peak.”

“Hold on, then…?”

“Yes. 100% spiritual synchronization.”

A thought poured into his mind: if Zaccharias was so strong, how did he die? Disease? Or… was he killed? By someone more powerful than him? The crow sat on Lied’s shoulder and they went back to the first corridors.

“It’s a policy in Mictlan that every spirit must go through trials, challenges that touch upon regrets left by the dead while alive. Merely a spirit reconciled to oneself can reincarnate. As I said earlier, the spirit tends to evolve under pressure, which is why I think these trials are perfect for awakening the Spirit Mode. Listen carefully: any damage you suffer will be inflicted on your physical body, disjoined from the spiritual body. Knowing that your life will be at stake, are you sure you want to carry on with this?” Zaccharias explained.

“No matter. These trials… I’ll surpass them!” Lied said.

“Well said! Come on, we have to return to the reception area.”

Lied clenched his fists and prepared himself mentally.

…