When they got home, Rose faced Aldwin with a fiery look in her eye.

"Why did you have to follow me? Everything was going so well until you decided to show yourself!" Rose raised her voice and clenched her fist.

"You said this morning right, a guardian spirit should know where his summoner went." Hearing that, Rose get even angrier, to the point that she almost slapped him, but her hand stopped before they reached him.

"You wanted to speak right? I don't have time tomorrow so you better speak, now!"

“Who is that man? Why did he acted like that?” Aldwin asked.

“Get to the point! that’s not what you wanted to talk about.” Rose replied.

“Rose… you said you wanted to talk” Aldwin looked directly at Rose eyes.

“Fine!” Rose sighed. “that man is Herman. He used to be a close friend of my dad, but for some reason they became an enemy, and he hated our family since then. Now, what did you wanted to talk about?”

"Why did you call yourself a failure, You also call me an embarrassment, why did you do that?" Aldwin asked, there was no hint of playfullness in his eyes.

"It's none of your business i can call myself anything." Said Rose Irritated.

“Rose..”

“I won’t tell you that! Don’t you get it that I’m mad at you right now! So don’t ask me too many question!” Rose shouted.

"Well, so be it then. I though that you might want to know more about me, your spirit, but i won’t tell you anything if you don’t want to tell me that." Said Aldwin while walking away.

"Wa-WAIT!" Rose shouted while pulling Aldwin hand. "I tell you okay, listen to me."

"Okay, I'm listening." Said Aldwin calmly. The situation was reversed, Rose should be the one that in control, yet Aldwin offered her something she can't ignore.

"My family, Acturus is an ancient family, since ancient time we have been supporting the Heroic Faction for every game of spirit that happened in the past. We also pride ourself with summoning the greatest and most powerful guardian spirit., and not just any guardian spirit, we were always able to summon famous heroes from the past. My great grandfather was the summoner of king Arthur during the first world war." Rose told Aldwin the rest of her family history. It was obvious to him that she held a great pride over her family history and legacy. "That's why i call myself a failure, because i failed to summon the spirit of a hero, and instead, summoned you, a demonic spirit."

"Rose, you know how guardian spirit summoning system works right?" Aldwin asked while looking directly at Rose eyes, but she avoided his gaze.

"Of course i know, the summoning work like a job interview but is reversed. The summoner offer their magic in ritual to show the spirit how capable they are. The larger the amount of magic offered the more likely for you to get a higher ranked spirit. But it's not all about how much magic you offered, your personality also plays a role, a serial killer wouldn't attract a heroic spirit and vice versa. You could also use a certain artifact for summoning a specific spirit, but such artifact are extremely rare." Rose explained.

"Then why did you still blame yourself? it's not like you could choose which spirit you summon right, all you can do was to increase the odd. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself." Aldwin said that and pat Rose on the head. "But if you still want a heroic spirit then i can at least act like one."

Rose blushed, her face became bright red. how could he said something like that. If he said something like that, she couldn’t get angry at him.

"It's fine, you shouldn't change yourself because of my selfish desire." Rose looked away.

"Well, don't regret it later." Aldwin gave a warning. "Also, do you have any particular hero you wanted to summon? You must have your favorite right?"

"If possible, Reinhard" Rose said with a small voice.

"Reinhard? Never heard of that hero before." Aldwin replied.

"Of course not, his existence had only been discovered recently along with the discovery of the lost civilization and the great disaster." Rose explained. "We knew recently that there are something called great disaster 12.000 and 76.000 years ago, and probably also many times in the past. It reset all human civilization to neolithic age, but before a great disaster happened, there exist a great civilization. Recently we discovered about Reinhard and his companion that fight against the great disaster 76.000 years ago. It is said their battle was so great the resulting energy caused the Toba catastrophe, which is long believed to be caused by volcanic eruption."

"He must be a great hero then." Said Aldwin.

“Of course he is!” Rose replied.

“Now that i told you this it’s time for you to tell me about yourself.” Rose demanded.

“Why don’t you just use the scanning spell you used yesterday?” Aldwin asked.

“Didn’t you said that i mustn’t use it?” She asked back. She was actually excited, but she held her emotion back, because she knew that Aldwin would tease her if she shown it.

“Whatever, it’s not like you could know everything about me from a B-ranked spell.” Aldwin answered.

Rose began drawing something in the air with her hand. Her fingertips lighted up, leaving a trace of red light in the air as it moved. She created a symbol of some sort that scanned Aldwin body. After she finished scanning him, she casted another spell that make a hologram of a book popped up. The hologram showed her information about spirit that she had known.

Name:

Aldwin

Master:

Rose Acturus

Class:

?

Subclass:

?

Original location:

?

Spirit Rank

A+

PARAMETER

Health(HP)

900

Mana(MP)

700

Strength

D

Magical Power

C

Agility

D

Luck

A

Endurance

C

Signature Power

?

Physical Resistance

C

Magical Resistance

D

"Wait, you're an A+ ranked spirit?" Rose asked, her eyes widen in amazement. She never thought that Aldwin was an A+ ranked spirit, maybe a B+ or A. but not A+.

“Well what do you think would happened if you use such a huge amount of magic during the summoning ritual Rose? With that amount of magic you’re almost guaranteed to summon an A+ ranked spirit.” Said Aldwin.

"Wait how could you be ranked A+ with this mediocre stat? Your parameter are mostly D and your HP and Mp aren't that special either, also why are there still a lot of unknown information about you? " Rose asked.

"My skill of course." Aldwin answered with a smirk on his face.

Individualism: A

Able to act independently and act againts its master wishes. Unable to be binded by binding spell that is below A rank.

Presence Obscurity(Passive): A

Most action make no sound. Movement is obscured. Harder to see from medium distance or farther.

Information Obscurity: A

Reduce the effectiveness of scanning spell and scanning skill below rank A. Increase the possibility of giving false information when scanned with scanning spell below rank A.

???(Unknown skill)

"Information obscurity rank A, so that's why my B rank scanning magic couldn't get much information from you... and there're even chances that some of it were false information."

“Well Rose, it’s already late tonight. You should rest now, tomorrow you have to go with that Arthur kid right.” Aldwin told her.

She looked at the clock and noticed it. She left the living room and headed to her bedroom. She looked at the photos of her father. She changed her clothes and laid on the bed. She hugged the pillow tight.

“What would you say father? My spirit, he’s without a doubt a demonic spirit. But he’s strong. And i’m going to make you proud. So watch me father.”

The next morning Rose woke up exhausted and with a pain on her stomach. She was never a morning person, but that day was different, even opening her eyes took a lot of effort. She pushed herself up to a sitting position.

She opened her clothes and saw a scar near her belly button, a fresh scar that made a key shape. She had seen it before somewhere, yet she couldn't remember where. She doesn't know what caused it, but since it is not that painful, she ignored it.

When she came out from her room, Aldwin was watching the morning cartoon like yesterday. He doesn't wear his usual apparel, but used a casual T-shirt she gave him yesterday.

She took a shower and prepared herself to go to the magic association office.

"Aldwin, you're going to follow me?" Rose asked as she opened the front door.

"Not interested." She left without thinking about his answer any longer.

She took the subway to the office. Her house wan't that far from her destination, but she just doesn't have that much energy today.

When she arrived she was surprised to see how much bigger the building have become since she last saw it. What more amazing is the number of people there, the parking spot were full and people were queuing in the front office. Since magic was revealed to public 20 years ago, she doesn't expect people to accepted it that fast.

Normal people who can't summon their own guardian spirit in their house were facilitated by the magic association to summon it here for a low fee. Of course most were only able to summon a low ranked spirit since the amount of magic provided there was small, but most people don't mind it. Most people use their guardian spirit as pet, guard, or as an assistant for their job, since most spirit below B- rank was an animal.

Arthur has already waited for her there, in the front door. He used an elegant shirt that made him stood upfrom the rest. They went inside together and they were welcomed by a man in suit. Damien, the head of this city Mage Association. He welcomed them with the usual full of bullshit heartwarming words, but Arthur cutted to the point, he wanted to see the summoning hall today. He had a feeling that something amazing would happen today.

They took the lift to the top floor and walked to the observation room above the summoning hall, where they could see all the participant for today summoning. Among hundreds participant, Rose saw someone she knew, Rein. That year was Rein third try in summoning a guardian spirit. Last year and the year before, he failed to summon any spirit.

The Association allowed you to try once every year, but most people who failed usually don't even bother to try again, but he doesn't give up, even as other people mocked him for being a failure, he still believed that he could do it.

As expected, this year he failed again, Rose almost feel bad for him, but he probably would try again next year.

After that it's another person turn. Rose also knew him, that person always hang out with Rein whenever she saw Rein outside on weekend, they were best friend for sure. This was his first try to summon a spirit. Rose saw him as another person who would summon a C or D rank spirit, but Arthur expected something great, even if Arthur was a complete stranger to him.

Arthur was right. After he finished his summoning ritual, the whole room was filled with light and the building was shaking. After the light dissipated not one, not two, but three beautiful woman stood before him. Everyone was shocked. Even Rose hang her mouth open in amazement.

She couldn't believe her eyes, not only that he was able to summon three spirit which was usually impossible, all three spirit were a heroic spirit she knew. Well, knew is an understatement, she admired them, and wanted to summon them, The 3 companion of the hero Reinhard.

"Well, well. Looks like my intuition is not wrong." Arthur was elated. One look at his face and Rose knew, he would invite him to the Heroic faction.

Rose looked down to the summoning hall again. It was amazing, the one in the middle was a knight with a golden plated armor and a golden hair was Fear. To the left is a mage with long purple hair, Uriza. To the right is an assassin with a short grey hair, Eliel.They were incredibly beautiful, that made even Rose envious.

When she realized it, Arthur had walked away. Suddenly he stopped at the door and turned his body to face Rose. "Go to the warehouse before sunset, tonight should be the night the game start." Rose nodded. She wanted to follow him, but what happened in the summoning hall was something she didn't want to miss.

Rose looked back to the hall. Even though Reinhard himself wasn't the one summoned, it was still a sight to behold, but she noticed something, the man that summoned them was on the ground, unconscious. Suddenly a familiar voice came from her right.

"Oh! So that is the companion of the guardian spirit you wanted to summon. Not so bad i guess." Aldwin said .

Rose doesn't realize his presence again because of his skill. Of course now she realized it because he was speaking. She was startled by him, but tried to act like she was not.

"W-why did you come here? Didn't you say you're not going to come?" Rose pouted. Aldwin was following her all along.

"I said i'm not interested, not that i'm not going to come." Aldwin made a half smile.

"Also why did you say they are 'not so bad'? each one of them is as strong as you, an A+ ranked spirit." rose complained.

"Because unlike me, they got an amateur summoner. They can't use their full power. Right now they probably as strong as a B+ or an A- ranked spirit. I could probably defeat all three of them right now." Said Aldwin.

"PRO-BAB-LY" Rose was mad. Of course she wanted her spirit to be stronger than any other spirit, but she doesn't want him to think he was able to defeat them easily, they were the spirit she admired after all.

Looking at her all mad like that made Aldwin laughed.

She arrived at the warehouse with Aldwin right on time. The base looked more completed than yesterday, they were watchtower and reinforced perimeter now. She walked into the warehouse, everyone was already prepared to go whenever they wanted, but before it, Arthur told her to watch the news.

The news was mostly the same for the last few days, there was a killer on the loose that had been mutilating its victim, and the body count increased as the day passed. That day there were some extra announcement, any activity should cease before 9 PM tonight, and no one was allowed to go out after that.

"That's the signal?" Rose asked.

"All the faction are going to meet at the town square tonight at 11,then the supervisor are going to tell us the rule." Arthur answered.

When the clock showed 10 PM, they drove to the town square. They only sent a few member as the meeting tonight was supposed to be a secret from public.

It was still 10.30 PM, yet they were the last to arrive. All other faction, the UN representative and even some independent participant have gathered there. Even if this was called a meeting, it was more appropriate to call this a mexican standoff. Everyone was keeping their distance, the air was tense, and everyone was silent. Everyone was hiding their guardian spirit. Of course, no one wanted their spirit to be known to their enemy before the fight even began. Rose told Aldwin to stand guard not too far from there, where he could watch the meeting without being noticed.

Suddenly a shadowy figure popped up in the middle of the square. He spoke in a grandiose manner.

"LADIEESS AAND GENTLEMEN" The shadowy figure started to take form into a man in a tuxedo that was wearing a mask. "WELCOME! To this century Game of Spirit! The Rules are simple, there are 7 person in this city that in the past few day have received a scar on their body that looked like a key. You may have seen it, or you may even have it yourself. To win this game you simply must collect all 7 keys and bring them to this square. There are 2 ways to transfer the key. The first one is to kill the bearer, the key would instantly transferred to the one who dealt the finishing blow, if it's a spirit that dealt the finishing blow then it would transfer to the master of said spirit. The second way is for the owner of the key to give it to someone, However both parties must be consent to the transfer for it to happen. It does not matter if you bring 7 person each with one key, or if you bring one person with 7 keys inside their body. Any method is of fighting is permissible as long as you don't fight openly in public, anyone whose fight is known to public shall receive a penalty. Finally and most importantly THE PRIZE. The prize this century is most grandeur indeed. It is the SOURCES, some call it the God power, some call it the devil heart. It does not matter what people call it, what sure is the source will grant the winner an unlimited source of magic. Anything is possible with the source, any magic is possible even the forbidden, and any wish can be granted. Now, before we start, any question?"

After hearing about the prize everyone was excited. The sources was said to be the most powerful artifact this world possess. However it never taken form before and only exist in theory.

"What if the key bearer died of natural causes? what is the area limit and time limit? Also what if the key bearer get outside the area limit ?" Arthur asked with loud and clear voices.

"Good question. If the bearer died of natural causes, took their own life, or went outside the boundaries area, a random person inside the barrier will be chosen as the new bearer. For the limit, there is no time limit and for the area limit is a circle with 50 KM radius with the point i'm standing on as the center. So the forest, the sea, and the mountain surrounding this city is a possible battleground." Rose couldn’t see behind his mask but she felt that the person speaking was smiling broadly. "NOW THE GAME BEGIN!"

Suddenly, a footsteps was heard from somewhere else. Everyone immediately looked at the source of the sound. Rose was shocked, she couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. Someone she knew that is not part of any faction, an innocent bystander appeared. He looked as if he doesn't know what he was getting himself into. Moreover there was a key mark on his neck.

"REIN! RUN!" Rose scream. Rein was still dazed and doesn't know what to do. When he realized what was happening and started to run, a spirit from the hunter faction and the devil faction were already chasing him.

"Rose, you seems to know him. Call your spirit and protect him at all cost! We will hold anyone who would sent another spirit." Arthur commanded her.

Rose called Aldwin using her telepathy. If Aldwin was following her order to stay hidden he should be close, but if he doesn't, he should be even closer. She ordered him to fight the spirit from devil faction, while she chased the one from hunter faction.

The one from the Devil faction wore a black robe. its speed was inhuman, as he almost catched Rein who is far from him in matter of second. A hail of arrow rained down upon him, he stopped and jump backward. He looked up and saw Aldwin on top of the skyscraper, jumping down.

Aldwin landed 10 meter in front of him.

"A B ranked spirit huh? I thought i was going to catch some big fish but whatever, a nameless mercenary is good enough for warm up." Aldwin complained.

The spirit opened his cloak and show his face. He wore a white turban, and his clothing showed that he was a spirit from middle east. "This mercenary name is Saad, and he's going to kill you." He stared at Aldwin while Aldwin looked down on him with a smirk.

Aldwin sprinted, covering 10 meter in an instant. Saad drew his twin sword to block the attack. Aldwin strength was not that impressive, as he repelled the attack without much effort.

After being pushed back Aldwin made a whirlwind attack. Saad dodged back a little, he had seen Aldwin sword and he knew its exact length, there was no need for him to dodge too far...He was wrong.

He stepped back. Sharp pain assaulted him, his cloak was bloodied from the wound in his chest. Aldwin now held a spear, his sword nowhere to be seen. Aldwin Smirked, he advanced and thrusted his spear multiple time. Saad parried it all.

He felt something amiss, his enemy is strange. The spear advantage over sword is in its length, so why did his enemy closed that distance, abandoning his advantage over him. He abandoned all thought, there was no need to overthink during a fight. If his enemy wanted to die, so be it.

Aldwin thrusted his spear at close range. Saad sidestepped it and slashed at Aldwin face. Aldwin dodged it and smiled. Shiver ran down his spine, the spear that was thrusted beside his head was no longer a spear, but a greatsword. Aldwin swung his greatsword at Saad face.

"So that's it, your power is weapon transformation. That’s why your fighting style is unusual." Saad said while wiping the blood that was dripping from his forehead.

"Well you're fast, your agility must be B or A as your head should be rolling on the ground right now." Aldwin complimented him. Aldwin transformed his greatsword into a twin short sword, similar to that of Saad.

This time Saad took the initiative. He sent a barrage of slashes at Aldwin. Aldwin counter it with his own barrage. Aldwin was not as fast as Saad, but his attack is much more precise and controlled. Every attack was aimed to kill, if Saad failed to parry just one of Aldwin attack it would be over for him.

Saad jumped back, sweat began to cam out from his skin.

“Impossible, your strength shouldn’t be this high.” Said Saad.

“Do you think just by receiving my attack once, you would know how strong i am?” Aldwin asked. He transformed his twin sword into a pitch black sword. He swung it so fast that Saad couldn’t see it. All Saad knew was his twin sword was destroyed by his attack.

With no way of defeating Aldwin, he ran away, but Aldwin won't let his prey get away. He transformed his sword into a bow and shoot Saad from far away. Aldwin arrow pierced the back of his head and came out between his eyes, sending a torrent of blood into the ground.

Rose spirit catalogue updated, but she doesn't have time to checked it.

True Sight: B

Able to see great detail from far away. Able to see even in almost complete darkness. Able to see through through illusion and disguise below B rank

???(Unknown skill)

While Aldwin was fighting with Saad, Rose chased the spirit from hunter faction. She was surprised at how Rein could ran fast enough that a spirit didn’t caught him instantly. It would be possible if he enchanced his feet using magic, but used none.

She noticed from the spirit way of running that it was a woman .

She followed them through the main street,a park and finally they ran to an alley. When she got close, the spirit from hunter faction suddenly ran away. When she looked at the alley, Aldwin was standing there beside Rein dying body, he was the one who drove away the hunter spirit. She checked Rein body.

Rein has no hope of surviving, even if the attack didn't pierce his heart, it severed the main arteries.

"Should we kill him? If he's about to die anyway at least we should be the one to get the key." Aldwin asked with a cold voices. He hovered his sword above Rein neck.

"No! We are only tasked to protect him." Rose answered quick while she walk away. She knew that what Aldwin said was right, but she doesn't want to end him here. She may not know him well, but she knew him enough to know that he won’t give up even at times like this, killing him right now would betray his way of life.

“At times like this you shouldn’t show hesitation Rose, but if that is your order then i have no choices.” Aldwin raised his sword and it turned into a black smoke.

Rose looked at Rein one more time over her shoulder. She couldn't believe he was still smiling after all that. That was not a smile that he used to look tough, it was a genuine smile. Even after all that tragedies, he still enjoyed it all. Rose left the alley with Aldwin following her from behind.

Rose noticed that something was amiss after she got out. A foul stench, and a bad feeling was oozing from the alley before. She ran back , but when she looked at the alley, not even a single drop of blood was left. As if something ate the body and licked all the blood off the street and off the wall. The air in the alley was cold and stagnant. Rose was frozen in place and Aldwin came to inspect the alley.

"All that left is this foul stench huh? So i was not wrong after all." He said after inspecting.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I doubt it at first, but that kid was surrounded by a dark magic, a curse, and a strong one that is." Aldwin answered. "There's nothing we can do now, his presence has disappeared completely. We should just report to Arthur… also i believe his bodies wasn’t taken by some enemies. He is still alive Rose, if it matter to you."

They ran back and reported what happened to Arthur.

“Rose, for now we retreat. Tomorrow you search for that man. Our prime objective now is to gain as much information about other faction and key holder, we must keep the bloodshed to minimum. If you find that man, bring him to the warehouse. Understood?” Rose nodded.

Rose and Aldwin walked back to their home since the subway wasn't operatioal after the announcement in the evening. The night was dead silent, and the moon was shining bright over their head.

As she walked, she felt that something was following them, something that lurked in the shadow of night. She turned her her face, but she saw nothing.

“Something wrong Rose?” Aldwin asked her.

“Nothing, nothing, maybe i’m just still tense from what happened before.” She answered.

She continue walking, and as she walked the feeling returned.

When they arrived at their home, Rose increased the house magical defence and improved the surrounding surveillance. Noticing that Rose was in a bad mood, Aldwin made her a tea.

“Oh, so you can be nice after all?” Rose asked. Aldwin took back the tea he gave her. Rose stood up and stared directly at Aldwin eyes.

“Fine, you won.” said Aldwin while giving the tea back to Rose. “You like that kid that much, for you to be grieving like this?”

“it’s not that i like him.. It’s just…. seeing him right now make me feel bad, from what i see he only wanted a peaceful life, now he is dragged into this hell. ” Rose sipped her tea.

“Well rest well for tonight. Tomorrow we’re gonna find him, if you really don’t want him to fight, just convince him to give the key to you and keep him under the heroic faction protection.” Said Aldwin.

“Yeah you’re right.” Rose agreed.

“Oh yeah Rose, do you have any computer i can use? I also need the internet.” Aldwin asked.

“There’s one on the second floor. Do you know how to use it?” Rose replied.

“Well, we spirit kind of get the general idea of the current age when we were summoned, so yeah i know.” Aldwin answered.

"Use it all you want, but don't forget to stand guard. There's a possibility of someone spying on us."

"Yeah, Yeah."

Rose leaned back on the sofa and looked at her hand. Her hand was shaking, she had prepared for this day all her life, but the tense air in the square and the sight of a dying body is still too much for her.

She closed her eyes. The soft feeling of an expensive sofa made her a little bit better.She placed her hand on her stomach and remembered, she hasn’t told anyone that she was a key holder.'Well i'll tell Arthur tomorrow or something' she thought.

She wanted to get up, but exhaustion assaulted her. Her body was exhausted, and her mind too. She tried to get up again but her body won’t move. Her muscle was as stiff as stone, and her eyelid was heavy….She fell asleep.