Who said Ryuga is alone?! We are his friends and we are here!” Kirio had arrived along with Clayton and Jau. At the same time, Gordon defended Ryuga and Mearid took out the archers that were on the lookout.

“The Ogre Chief and his niece, a human with a mask, A Low-Class Vampire and a level 3 demon. I recognized each and every race but I didn’t understand your race. The person who they are trying to protect. What’s more interesting is that you have a spirit protecting you.” The moment Alucard said that Ryuga was protected by a spirit, the first thing that came to his mind was, “Could Alucard see Alicia?!” Ryuga looked quite confused and even Alicia was surprised by the fact that Alucard could see spirits. Until Alucard cleared the confusion. “The spirit of the one they called The Untouchable Ogre.” As soon as the term Untouchable Ogre came forward Jau and Mearid both quickly turned their attention to Ryuga. Ryuga felt a little uncomfortable. “Why though? The Untouchable Ogre has been dead for almost 15 years now.” Alucard said to Ryuga. Ryuga looked really confused and sighed, “I don’t know who The Untouchable Ogre is.” Ryuga replied to Alucard. “He's talking about my father.” Jau said to Ryuga. Ryuga didn’t know that it was Alicia and Jau’s father who Alucard was talking about so, “I am sorry, I didn’t know.” He apologized to her.

“It doesn’t matter, tell me what race you are from boy and why would you stop our Mana Killing Ritual. I am a good listener, so, you better give me a good reason.” Alucard says to Ryuga. “But my lord-“ Bin tried to interrupt Alucard and Ryuga’s conversation but Alucard raises his hand to stop Bin from speaking anything. “I am sorry, my lord.” Bin quickly apologizes for her actions. Ryuga walks up to Alucard, “I am glad you are a good listener and I am glad that you want to hear me. Let me make this clear though, I want to save Ellie no matter what and I will do that even if I have to risk my life on the line because if I didn’t, there will be a lost life, an upset girl who couldn’t do anything, a disappointed mother who taught her son to rise and stand for what he finds important, a disappointed father who wants to see his son become a hero and also, a regret that would haunt me for life. A regret that I couldn’t keep my promise. The promise to a childhood friend.” Ryuga smiled.

Ellie who was watching from the window looked at Ryuga as if she was shocked to find out something. “He remembered…”

ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO,

“Hmm? Hiro-San wants you to buy some clay?” A young small cute Ryuga with round cheeks stood in front of a clay shop. He was purchasing some clay. “That’s right, dad said that he's gonna teach me to make a hero statue.” Kid Ryuga looked quite happy. The shopkeeper sighed, “Fine, fine, I will get you some clay but don’t make a mess out of it, alright?” The shopkeeper went to get some clay. Ryuga smiled, “Hero! Hero! We will soon make a hero!” Ryuga looked quite happy.

He made his way home back with the clay he bought from the clay shop. There he saw a young Hiro and young Kaori talking with each other. Unlike the old guy he is now, Hiro had hairs. In fact, Hiro looked quite handsome. Even though, he was in his early 30’s he looked like he was a college student. “Oh hey, look whose back.” Hiro smiled and looked at Ryuga who came back. “It was really easy to find the clay shop, dad! It was just like you said, way too easy!” Ryuga looked quite happy. Hiro smiled and patted Ryuga’s head, “Good job kiddo.”

“Let’s make a hero, dad!” Ryuga was so happy that he hugged Hiro. “Uhhhh…You see Ryuga. There is a guest in the living room. We need to take care of her.” Kaori said with a nervous smile. “Eh? So no making hero?!” Ryuga looked like he was about to cry. “No, no, Kaori didn’t mean that. I have an idea.” Hiro smiled and sat next to Ryuga. “If you help out our little guest, then I promise you that we will make a hero tonight. Alright?” Hiro smiled and asked Ryuga. Ryuga nods with a sad pouted face. “HONEY!” Kaori looked like she wanted to stop Hiro but Hiro stopped her. “I also want an ice-cream.” Ryuga said with a pouted face. “Uh…Sure…But that’s only if you take care of our guest.” Hiro said with a smile. Ryuga smiled and was cheerful again, “YEAH!!!”

Ryuga ran inside the house. “Honey, you know that girl is a vampire, right?! She might be dangerous to Ryuga even if she is still a kid!” Kaori looked quite annoyed by Hiro’s decision. “That’s our kid Kaori, even if she is dangerous to her there is no one better than him to deal with her.” Hiro says with a smile. “But she is the daughter of the current Alucard.” Kaori tried to argue with Hiro. “Now, who was the one who rescued that daughter of Alucard again, let me remember…” Hiro was teasing Kaori. Kaori sighed, “I can’t leave Ryuga alone, I am going in to see what he is up to.” Kaori goes inside the house.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

There was a young girl, Ellie Norvich who was looking out of the transparent sliding door when Ryuga entered the living room. “What are you looking at?” Ryuga asked Ellie. She turned around and one could clearly see her elegance. One could see that she is a pampered princess who was bought here. Ryuga sighed knowing that she was a pampered princess. “Who are you, peasant?!” Those were the first things Ellie said to Ryuga. “Eh?!” Ryuga looked around him. He thought that who is Ellie calling peasant. “Why are you looking right and left?! Didn’t I ask you your name, peasant?!” It looked like Ellie was asserting dominance over Ryuga. “Me?! A peasant? Wait, I have a question, what does peasant even mean?” Ryuga looked quite confused by Ellie’s speaking manner. “Hmph! Not even worthy of being a peasant, you uneducated swine!” Ellie swirled her hair with her hand while talking to Ryuga. Ryuga looked away from her. “Dad…Do I seriously have to take care of this complicated lady?” Ryuga asked to the wall next to him.

“What do you mean by complicated lady, peasant?! I am a noble lady and you are a peasant! Do you understand, peasant?!” Ellie continued to assert dominance over Ryuga. Ryuga walked into the room and picked up the television remote, “I will just watch some anime.” Ryuga turned on the television. “You peasant! How dare you ignore me?!” Ellie pulled Ryuga by the collar and kept her leg on the table in front of him almost as if she was a delinquent. Ryuga showed no interest and sighed.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO RYUGA?!” Kaori suddenly appears and slaps Ellie’s hand. Ellie pulls her hand back and leaves Ryuga. “Ryuga, are you alright?!” Kaori holds Ryuga in her arms. Ryuga looked quite surprised, “Why did you hit her mum?! That’s not like you.” Ryuga asks Kaori. Kaori looks away, “That’s because…” It’s almost as if she wasn’t trying to look Ryuga in his eyes. Ryuga moves out of Kaori’s arms and walks to Ellie. “She wasn’t doing anything to me. I was ignoring her so she just wanted my attention.” Ryuga says to Kaori. Kaori looks away. “Are you alright?” Ryuga smiles and keeps his hand forward. Ellie looks at Kaori and then looks away again. “Mum, get out of the room!” Ryuga says to Kaori. “HUH?!!! What are you saying?!” Kaori looked totally bamboozled. “Mum, I will be fine.” Ryuga says to Kaori. Kaori sighs. “Fine, but if anything happens to Ryuga…” Ryuga pouts as he looks at Kaori. “I am going, I am going!” Kaori walks out of the living room.

Outside the living room, Hiro was waiting. “I told you, let Ryuga handle her. Even if she is a vampire, she is a child and who would be a perfect person who can understand her? Ryuga, right? Ryuga would be her friend, he can help her recover from all that trauma.” Hiro says to Kaori. Kaori sighs, “I am worried about him, though. You do understand, right? Dark Vampires are also a thing.” Kaori says to Hiro. “I am sure that this little girl hasn’t killed a human or any other species. So, don’t worry about it. Killing someone…Is hard. You should know this better than anyone, Kaori.” Hiro says as he walks upstairs. Kaori stands contemplating what she did.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Ryuga smiles and applies ointment on Ellie’s hand. “Eek!” Ellie feels a little bit of burn from the ointment. “Man, mum’s strong. She just slapped your hand it caused such a bruise.” Ryuga says as he applies the ointment to Ellie. “Your mother, she doesn’t like you with me. You should leave me alone or else she might hurt you as well.” Ellie says to Ryuga. She felt sad that Ryuga was helping her. “Pffft!” Ryuga starts laughing. “Why are you laughing?!” Ellie looked quite confused at Ryuga’s response. “My mother would never hurt me. In fact, my mother and father, both won’t ever hurt me. After all, they love me more than anything else in this world and the same goes for me. They are my precious mommy and daddy.” Ryuga says with a smile. Ellie looked at Ryuga with a sad smile, “You are…Quite lucky.” Ryuga looked at Ellie who was smiling sadly. “Hmm?” Ryuga looked quite confused. “I am a Vampire. Well, I am actually a Princess from the Land of Vampires.” Ellie shows Ryuga her small fangs.

“I am only seven years old but I was born with a great amount of power. So, mother and father both kept me locked in from the outside world. They even bought a private tutor for me. They made sure that I grew well but suddenly, my father’s behavior changed. He started to become rude to me and our relationship of father and daughter began to fade and that’s when I came to know that I was going to be a sacrifice. I am supposed to be used as a sacrifice because of my immense mana capacity but your mother and father saved me. They said, that they will win against my father and save me but they still don’t trust me. They only saved me because my sacrifice would have created an imbalance in nature. So, you see, even your mother and father aren’t big fans of me…” Ellie says with a sad smile. “You know I didn’t understand a thing you said.” Ryuga said to Ellie. “Eh?!” Ellie looked confused. “Half of the words you used, I don’t even know the meaning of them. The only thing I understood was that you were going to die and mum and dad saved you. That’s all.” Ryuga says. Ellie chuckled. “Seriously, who uses hard words like imbalance and capacity and immense. What do those words even mean?!” Ryuga asks Ellie.

Ellie smiles, “What’s your name?” She asks Ryuga. “Aragi Ryuga.” Ryuga replies. Ellie smiles, “I see, your Japanese. Which means, your second name will be your name and your first name will be your family name.” Ellie says to Ryuga. Ryuga nods, “That’s right.” Ellie introduces herself, “I am Ellie Norvich, I will call you Ryuga and you call me Ellie, alright?!” Ellie says with a smile. “Yeah, I don’t call anyone with their family names. Don’t worry. Also, I am surprised that you will not call me peasant anymore.” Ryuga says. Ellie looked quite flustered, “Just focus on bandaging my wound, you peasant!” Ryuga chuckled at Ellie’s flustered expression.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

After Ryuga was done bandaging, Ryuga kept the medical tool back in the cupboard that was in the living room, “Hey, how much longer are you going to stay here?” Ryuga asks Ellie. “Umm…I think your father said that I will stay here for today. I can return tomorrow.” Ellie replied to Ryuga. Ryuga nodded, “Alright, let me show you around the town. What do you say?” Ryuga asks Ellie. “Is it alright to go out of the house?” Ellie looks to be quite cautious. Ryuga grabs Ellie’s hand and takes her with him. “Let’s get going.” Ryuga says with a smile as he pulls Ellie out of the house with him.

Ryuga takes Ellie around the town showing her the shops around his house. He didn’t have much money but he had enough to buy Ellie a soft drink. He bought a lemon pop soda and bought himself an orange drink. He also had a bunny strap which he got from the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper that Ryuga bought the juices from was a good friend of Hiro. So he gives Ryuga some free things from time to time.

Ellie takes a sip of the lemon drink. “Yuck! This is so sour!” Ellie looks quite unhappy with the drink that Ryuga bought for her. “Is that so? How about this? Try the orange one.” Ryuga says to Ellie. They trade drinks even though both of them already drank from their cans. Ellie takes a sip of the orange juice but it seems that she liked it, “This one is sour too but it’s good. It’s sweet and sour unlike that lemon one which was sour but I couldn’t feel any sweetness from it.” Ellie kept on complaining. Ryuga looked quite happy that Ellie finally was opening up. Ryuga at that time thought, “Maybe, she is not that complicated.” Ryuga smiled.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Both Ryuga and Ellie completely emptied their cans. “Hey, Ellie.” Ryuga said as he threw his and Ellie’s can in the trashcan. “You said that mum and dad saved you, right?” Ryuga asks Ellie. Ellie nodded. “But that’s only for 10 years. 10 years from now, that ritual will take place again, and…I won’t survive then. I am sure that your mother and father won’t come again to save me.” Ellie looked quite sad. “10 years from now, right? That’s not a problem!” Ryuga says with determination. “What?!” Ellie looked confused.

“Ellie, you know, I want to be a hero.” Ryuga looks at Ellie with a smile. Ellie looked shocked, “You said hero…Not Ghost. I thought humans referred to heroes as Ghosts.” Ellie said to Ryuga. “Ref-ferr-“ Ellie looks at Ryuga’s lost mind. “Referred means that you humans call the Heroes, Ghosts.” Ellie says to Ryuga. “Does it really matter? They are the same thing. I find heroes cool, so I call them heroes.” Ryuga says. Ellie chuckled.

“Anyways, you know, there are heroes I want to admire but there is a certain hero I admire the most. Her name is Athena. She is said to be the most powerful hero in the whole world. Even the other worlders are afraid of her. That’s how strong she was. I want to be like her and 10 years is more than enough for me to get stronger. In 10 years, I won’t be like her but I will definitely be strong enough to protect you. That’s when, I will save you and you will not know me as Ryuga than, that’s when you will know me as the Hero that they will call Hope.”

Ryuga gave the bunny strap to Ellie, “This will be my symbol of the promise to you. Keep this with you. Always. 10 years from now, I will definitely save you. That is my promise to you.” Ryuga said with a smile. That’s when Ellie for the first time felt the light of hope in her heart.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Ryuga and Kaori stood in front of Erina and Ellie, “Thank you for taking care of my daughter.” Erina said to Kaori. Ellie held Erina’s dress and Ryuga hid behind Kaori’s back. “I will have to make Ellie strong enough to fight back or else she won’t be able to survive the Mana Killing Ritual 10 years from now and I will have to come back to you again…” Erina says with a sad face. Ryuga holds Kaori’s long skirt tightly and calls her out, “Say it, mum!” Ryuga says to Kaori. “Fine…” Kaori sighs. “You don’t need to worry about your daughter, Lady Erina.” Kaori says to Erina. “What do you mean?” Erina asks Kaori. “10 years from now, the person who will save your little daughter won’t be me but my little boy over her.” Kaori smiles and looks at Ryuga. Ellie shows Ryuga her smile. Ryuga smiles back. “Interesting, the son of Madman and the daughter of Alucard have developed some kind of special bond, huh?” Erina chuckles. “Mother! That’s not it!” Erina flusters. “Right, right, you are still kids. There is nothing between you two.” Erina chuckles. Kaori looks away from everyone, “I don’t want a blood-sucking daughter-in-law please.”

“Anyways, our time here is up. If we ever meet again. I want to have a good chat with you about my daughter and your boy.” Erina chuckles. “Yeah…Sure…Lady Erina. Let’s have a long chat about that.” Kaori says with a nervous smile. Both Erina and Ellie leave. “Bye!” Ellie waves Ryuga goodbye. Ryuga waves her goodbye, “Bye!”

PRESENT DAY,

“He remembered…He remembered…He remembers our promise.” Ryuga looks at Ellie who is crying. Ryuga sighs, “Not gonna lie, I didn’t want to save her at first but now, she is the one whose eyes are asking for help. The light of hope that she had back then, that light has lit again.” Ryuga says to Alicia. “That’s the Ryuga I know!” Alicia says with a smile. “Let’s save her!”

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~