My eyes began to adjust to the glow being emitted from her eyes, “Is something wrong?” she provokingly asked me. ‘This is the same glow that manifests when people use their abilities…’

“…you aren’t holding a crystal, yet you can freely use your ability. Are you blood-bound?”

Her smile faded quickly when she heard my question, she let out a big sigh right after. “This is a term not many people use anymore, honestly everyone should stop using it,” the atmosphere changed drastically as she seemed to complain about how I used the word.

“But to give you a straight answer: I am indeed blood-bound. The old practice of merging our blood with traces of crystals to free ourselves from needing external sources of power, meaning that we can use our abilities whether we have a crystal at our disposal or not,” she explained with a very serious expression, but then she began to smile once again, “The drawback is that generating this much energy within our bodies can be harmful if done in excessive amounts. Because of this, the practice was made illegal by the Starry Alliance.”

‘No, there is another reason for that…’ I thought at that moment, but she replied to my thought as if I had said it out loud: “Correct, they were afraid that people with overwhelming amounts of power would eventually cause an uproar, but what caused the law to pass was the events of three years ago, concerning none other than your dear friend, Aoi Angelite.”

This was an unpleasant surprise, if there were ever things, I wish would never be brought up again, this one would be at the very top of the list.

I laughed at her. “So now you can see the past too?”

‘But there was one thing she did not get right; what caused the law to pass wasn’t because of Aoi, it was due to the repeating efforts of a certain girl to prove that the practice was harmful to people. Aoi just happened to get involved in this mess, and something horrible happened to her because of it- But I will fix it… I have to.’

“Thank you for confirming something that had been in my mind, Oracle-san. And now I humbly ask you to back down, I just figured out a way to defeat you. If you can predict the future then you probably know your odds of succeeding,” I had already seen her personality and her real intentions, if she were to back down on her own then It would have worked out for both of us.

“Hm? I wonder where all this your confidence comes from, or maybe you just don’t want to fight someone who is bound to their abilities by blood. The selling point of this practice was to free Stars from the crystals we carry around, but we ended up being slaves to our own abilities,” she shouted as she ran towards me, for the first time taking the initiative.

‘She’s fast! Faster than I anticipated.’ My thought was interrupted by a sudden strike from her, I tried to dodge her attack but she had already predicted this outcome, it hit me just below my waist, causing me to lose my balance and kneel.

“But to be honest, you could have already won if you tried, with your ability; beating my predictive powers would be a breeze, yet there is no instance in any of my eleven predictions where you activated it against me,” she began circling me as she spoke.

The pain was echoing throughout my entire body, this was not nearly enough to take me out though. It took all my mental strength to finally stand back up and reply to what she had said:

“I don’t need any ability to defeat you, these are just reminders of how much we became reliant on technology- when was the last time that you relied on your strength to solve your problems? Think back on how much you used your ability to benefit yourself, and what would you do if they were suddenly taken away from you?”

She gazed at me in awe, even I could tell that she did not see this coming. While clenching my right fist, I kept my eyes fixed on hers as they ceased to glow. My other hand slowly reached for her uniform and pulled her towards me.

“Oracle-san, never forget that we are human before anything else; we may put up a facade or wear a tough expression on our faces, but we are still fragile creatures in the end. We fear the unknown, the unexplained, and as for us, the people who call themselves Stars; we are terrified of losing our powers.”

I let go of her uniform while shoving her away from me, all I could see was her laughing expression as my right fist swiftly closed the distance between us. “I see,” she suddenly exclaimed and quickly was able to block my attack by grabbing my hand just before it hit her, she squeezed my fist and pushed it to the side.

“It’s true that most of the Stars use their powers as if it were a normal trait, and who can blame them? For the rest of humanity, these powers are something to be feared, or downright evil, but for us, these powers are all we have ever known,” she spoke with a serious expression.

‘It’s not like I don’t get where she’s coming from.’

Her eyes abruptly flashed with the same glow from before, she turned her head to the right, facing the main building of the academy and stared at the top of the building through the bullet-proof glass for a few seconds before turning her head back to me.

“We are being watched,” she told me. ‘Watched? Where from?’ I tried to turn my head and look over to where she was looking but she suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled on it. “Don’t stare, they aren’t normal students… they are members of the strategic center, tasked with keeping the peace and order within the academy. Not that they would normally intervene in our matters, but you can’t predict these people.”

‘So, there are people even the Oracle is cautious of.’ She looked at me with a smile that quickly faded away. “They once tried to recruit me into their group, from the very first time they spoke to me, all my precognitive senses were warning me of danger. Just like in a video game, all predictions led me to a game over.”

She closed her eyes and said: “Let’s just say you won this duel, the best outcome possible only happens if you leave this area immediately.”

I didn’t get the whole extent of the situation, but I nodded my head in acceptance.

“If you ever need something from me, come to this fountain… I’ll be waiting in advance, but next time you will have to pay the full price of knowledge. You’ll understand when the time comes.”

She climbed back on top of the fountain and closed her eyes while keeping her head up as if staring into the bright light of the artificial sun above.

‘…The price of knowledge; where have I heard this before?’