[Arc II-Royal Hunt]

The time was 21:46.

I was very tired from the events that happened on that day.

On that single day, I did not have the chance to take any breaks. I just kept walking and walking just to find a place to rest.

A minute had passed and I found an alleyway. I decided to head in there so I can hide away from the crowds. When I was walking further in slowly, I became even more tired.

All of a sudden, I fell down. As I fell down, I looked up at the starry sky with the full moon at the left side of my view. The blood from my head flowed down to my left eye, covering the view of the greyish moon into a crimson moon.

I wondered to myself whether I did the right thing or not.

"I...don't know anymore." I said as I was depressed with a monotone voice while my breathing was slow.

"Rin was brought into this mess...is it because...I left the village? Is that the reason why these events are continuously occuring?" I asked myself slowly and softly as my fatigue was getting worse.

"I guess.....it's okay to sleep...right...Mom...."

As I fell asleep in the middle of the alleyway, a mysterious person dressed in black coat with a weird design of a mask that was in white and yellow colour. The person approached to me carefully as they were being cautious around me.

When the mysterious person gotten near to me, they took out a throwing knife and went straight for my neck but...

Before it reached to my neck, a wind that was shaped as a spear, was thrown to the person's right shoulder. Apparently, Rika was the one who shot it.

-Rika's Side-

---Few Hours Ago---

During the morning class, the teacher told us that Sora and Machiyu...Rin were no longer at the corridor. The teacher was suspicious about it and told us to do self-study and went to look for them.

Two hours had passed and I grew suspicous about it until our homeroom teacher came into our class. She told us that Rin was hospitalized. I was worried about Rin but I needed to find Sora first to know what happen.

When school ended, I instantly went out of the classroom and proceeded to find him. I kept looking around the town as I did not have a single clue on where his whereabouts.

"Damn it....where are you..."

Three hours had passed, I checked the time on my watch and it was 21:02. When I was thinking on where Sora could be, I decided to check around town again. As I almost arrived to the shopping district, I saw Sora fighting three people.

I wanted to help but something about him was a bit terrifying and it became even more terrifying when I saw the weird looking rods around him. I just stood there silently and watched him fight.

When the fight nearly ended, I saw a girl that was crashed into the building twitching a bit. All of a sudden, I saw a shadow quickly took the girl and disappeared. I was worried for a while but I couldn't do anything as the speed was extremely fast.

The fight ended and I saw Sora walking into the alleyway. When I finally build a bit of courage, I stood up and rushed over there and as soon as I reached there, I saw a person squatted down.

I instantly summoned a gust of wind compressed into my palm and made the shape into a spear and threw it to the suspicious person's shoulder. That person got hit by the spear and leapt back.

"Tch" The mysterious person said.

"Who are you?" I asked with a cold expression as I created compressed wind single-bladed swords.

"......"

"No response..." I said as I took my fighting stance. "Then...I shall eliminate you."

"......"

The person took out three throwing knives and threw it at me. As I dodged its attack, I threw one of my swords at the person. The person successfully parried it as he or she instantly dashed towards me and attempted a slash.

Fortunately, I threw my other sword and leapt back as his or her slash got off course. As I leapt back, I jumped up in the air and used .

is a move where I made the flow of the wind reversed and compressed it into my palm and becomes a star shaped orb.

I threw the orb up to the air and the moment where I landed on the ground, I threw the other orb towards the person. The orb that was heading towards him or her became a circular blade.

The person dodged the circular blade but the orb at the air combust into sharp spikes made out of wind and came falling down while the circular blade combust as well and ricochet around the walls of the alleyway.

The moment the orb at the air combust, the person instantly looked up and I took that chance to rescue Sora before the spikes reached to the ground or hit him.

My intention was to rescue Sora. I tricked that suspicious person from the words that I lied about it. Luckily, that person actually believed it. I did not look back to see how was the mysterious person doing. I was too focused on rescuing him and nothing else.

I kept jumping from the building roof to roof. Around 22:00, I reached to the dorm and Tadokoro-san was at the front door. Apparently, she was waiting for Sora to come back.

"Oh my! What happen to Amane-san?" Tadokoro-san said with a very worried face.

"I...think he's extremely tired. Though we have to clean the blood off first."

"Obviously. Come. Bring him to the infirmary, Tachibana-chan."

"Okay."

After around 30 minutes, Tadokoro-san finished treating Sora. He had some bruises and slashed wounds on his body but it wasn't many.

"Hope he'll feel better tomorrow." I said with a worried tone.

"Don't worry, Tachibana-chan. I bet he's very strong so I doubt those injuries would be fatal at all." Tadokoro-san said with a confident look and a smile.

"You're right" My face was no longer tense and had a bit of relief.

"Ah! Since you're here Tachibana-chan~"

"Hm?"

"Do you mind me asking you continue teaching me about Advants now?"

"Ah... Is it fine? I have class tomorrow."

"I'll make a sick day for you then~"

"Deal!" I instantly replied.

Tadokoro-san would ask me about Advants since I was very knowledgeable about the species and she was very interested about it. We would always have lessons in her room.

Inside her room was filled with all kinds of books. I was surprised when I first came in. It was like a medium sized old library. Tadokoro-san was tidying up her room for a while.

When I walked up to the study table, I noticed a book about Astrals. Specifically, it was about {Gates}.

"Tadokoro-san. You were interested in {Gates}?" I asked with a curious tone.

"Ah! Yes~" She turned behind and replied.

"{Gates} huh. I'm sorry that I'm no expert when it comes to {Gates}."

"Ah~ It's okay, Tachibana-san~ Learning about it was extremely difficult. But then, I found something truly interesting about it~"

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever I looked up about Advant's ability, I always see the word 'gates' in it. So I decided to research about that word and it led me to that~"

"Hmmmmm...I still don't get it. Though it is very interesting."

"That's not what the most interesting part, Tachibana-chan~"

"What do you mean...?" I said as I looked at her with a very curious face.

"Advant's ability was apparently originated from Astral's {Gates}!"

"What...." I was extremely shocked as the books that I was carrying fell down with my eyes wide opened.