Chapter 3: Chapter 2

Shino pov

"What are the chances of such happening?" Allan said, clasping his hands.

"It's not uncommon for humans being born with souls too strong for their body to handle, but they are usually born into renowned martial families even so none of them had gained one of such pedigree,"

Florin continued to pace around the room. "Then I am assuming she is a fragment."

Florin then looked at me. "Why are you telling me this?"

"The seal on her mana channels as well as her own body can't keep up with her growth," I said, looking up to him.

"Her mana is the purest I have seen, but her body is weak. I am surprised she can even use magical arts."

"The seal I placed on her needs to be revised, but I'm not all that good with rune lore or glyphs."

"So I'm coming to you, the renowned Runemaster himself, the best at Procyon academy."

"Humph, you know that alright," he said as he puffed out his chest

"But this is a tall order you have given me. I can't just slap a rune on her and call it a day, something like this won't take just a few days to get down either, I'll need not only to examine her body I need to know how it reacts to the different seals I place on her."

"Not to mention I need to path all her mana channels as well as anatomy, hmm basically what I'm trying to say is this will take several months of trial and error and close supervision."

I adjusted my sitting position, I knew very well what he meant. Him staying here to monitor Atsumi was out of the question as he had his own duties to attend to meaning he will have to take her with him.

"I can understand your reluctance, but as it stands now I can only do so much. I have already sworn to complete my duties in Procyon and I can't just up and leave."

"I need time to thi..."

Just then, there was a ripple in the air, and the hairs on my body stood. Something is off.

"You ok?" He asked tilting his head.

"Something is wrong with the gate."

It's faint, but I feel a presence moving through the gate.

As the Gate guardian of this Temple, my duty is to watch over those who enter and exit. If anything malevolent attempts to pass through, it is my job to exterminate it.

These gates are found all over Gaia and connect other worlds to this one and those worlds to others. It's a shared knowledge that long-dead civilizations created these gates but no one knows for sure, all that I know is that they are a major role in this world as they not only bring death and misery but riches, power, and glory alike.

Together with florin, we race to the main temple running and running ...

"What the hell is this?" He said looking around. "Didn't we just pass through this area?"

"Damn, this isn't good."

It's obvious we are caught in a trap made to keep us here. Now I am sure something is wrong and what makes it worse is that this is not a coincidence someone planned this.

"We seem to be caught in a bubble dimension that repeats itself as we near the end," Allan said as he scanned the area.

Everything seems fine inside and the fact it has dampened my connection to the gate this much means that whoever is doing this is no ordinary mage.

"Magic on this scale, why is someone of this level targeting the temple?" Allan said, still contemplating his next actions.

"I could only think about that cultist group."

"So they have started moving again then," Allan added

I stood pondering why they would attempt anything at this time and that's when I thought about Atsumi.

That shouldn't be the case, as they don't know of her existence. I made sure of it. Even if they knew about her, she would just look like a regular human to them.

So why…

"Oh, it seems that in their haste to trap us they seem to have left a few cracks," Allan said, as if he had figured out something.

"Or maybe they never intended to trap us for long," he said, pulling out his staff

"Come this way, I sense mana flowing out from this area."

I followed along and with a wave of his hands, symbols appeared in thin air. This was an advanced level of Runelore.

As soon as the spell runes manifested, cracks formed and out of nowhere a minotaur cryptid burst out through the crack.

"Shit,"

We both jumped out of the way as the Cryptid charged us.

I summoned my Odachi and faced the monster

It charged indiscriminately at us as I readied my sword, but this monster.... it was slow and its movement haphazard. "They dare send this pest to stop me," I Said aloud

"Wind burst forth," with the wave of my hand, a screeching wind blew through the Cryptid, shredding it to pieces. I needed not dirty my blade.

"Well, that was kind of disappointing," Allan said, holding his chin.

With that, whatever had entrapped us crumbled, and I immediately felt the countless beings wandering through this crimson hellscape before me. I sensed the presence of the ones responsible. Wasting no time, I dashed ahead.

"There in the armory," I said to Allan who was running beside me.

As I neared the scene, I felt them scurrying like rats. They know we are coming.

"They are giving us the slip. We won't make it in time," Allan said, as he pulled out a long sword.

With that, I channeled my mana to my arms and grab my odachi.

"Verdant Crescent,"

A  wind slash in a crescent shape shot towards the building. The attack cleared the half-a-mile distance in a matter of seconds. The building was destroyed in a massive windstorm, only it did not seem to hit its targets.

An additional person just appeared. I had not even sensed their presence. They had blocked my magical arts and was now conjuring what seemed to be a portal.

By the time we arrived, they had already escaped.

"Damn, they got away," Allan said.

I entered the destroyed armory and took the stairs that lead to the underground chambers.

"Weird they don't seem to have taken anything, wait Mirion's blade."

The runic blade that Mirion had used in his prime hid in a special place that only I know of. It's still here. This is odd, were they not able to find it or were they looking for something else?

I wouldn't know for sure.

I turned toward the others and scanned the area. I sensed timothy who seems to be with a muscular guy. Atsumi was not with the main group, and she was unconscious. I needed to hurry.

"Allan, let's go. We need to help the others."

Atsumi pov

I came to in an unfamiliar place. It was bright out but looking through the window I could see it was nighttime. The room I was in was strange. All around me were walls of glowing white material. Upon closer inspection, it was like some sort of crystal.

I ran my finger across it and it glowed more brightly where my finger was placed. Curious I got up from where I was sitting and walked out of the room, I then found myself in a single corridor with multiple doors adjacent to it, the last door which was straight ahead seemed to head outside.

I followed the corridor and exited the building. This place gave off an eerie feeling. It wasn't at all scary, just unsettling.

I saw my mom just outside the exit, who seemed to talk to someone I had never met before. She had two pairs of snow-white wings and draped over her shoulders long beautiful golden hair that had pink highlights at the end.

"Mom, where are we?"

"Oh, you're finally awake," they both said in perfect sync

"She's been wanting to meet you all this time. let's go see her," the other woman said.

My mother nodded enthusiastically.

We started walking down a single pathway. I looked around and all I could see was a vast white landscape with stars in the night sky above it. There were few noticeable features apart from a few towers, and anything smaller was hazy and difficult to see.

We came to a place that seemed to be somewhat of an oasis, a lake surrounded by bamboo trees.

We approached it, and I could spot a young woman in a long dress. She was completely pale, and she danced elegantly on the lake. A veil covered her face.

Upon noticing our arrival, she approached me and held her hands out.

Her presence was strange. It was as if she was alive and not at the same time, but it was also majestic and regal.

"Would you like to dance with me?" she said while removing her veil and reaching out her hand.

Before I could take her hand I looked up at her face, and I Froze.

It's not like she was ugly or beautiful, it was as if she had no face or more accurately I couldn't make sense of what I was even looking at, then the moment I recoiled my hands I awoke looking up at yet another unfamiliar ceiling.

"A dream?" I muttered as I got up from a nursing bed.

I had awoken in a small room; the air here was much cleaner than the miasma I was in before I fell unconscious. Bandages cover most of my body. My arms had numerous tendrils that spread up to my elbow. They were gray and gave off an ashy residue.

It was a clear sign of mana burn were intense mana flow that not only fry your mana channels but burn and scar the body.

From what I understood, tempering your body through immersion in ambient mana as well as physical training helped increase your tolerance for mana.

Even though the Murasaki shrine which is where I lived was rich with wind attuned mana, my naturally weak body makes it quite difficult to adjust to high concentrations of mana. Not to mention my mana being as volatile as it is. I wonder if I will ever overcome this issue.

"Ugh." I heave over in a coughing fit. My throat feels as if I had swallowed hot sand.

The attendants standing outside on hearing this come to my aid.

"Lady Hoshiko, you're awake," they said as they rush into the room.

"Some water please," I said, my throat feeling like it was on fire.

"I'll go get the master," said the other attendant.

I gulped down the jugs of water presented to me, not paying attention to the lone attended who was staring intently at me. I thought about telling him to stop staring, but this water was too good. I couldn't bother with anything else.

Shino arrived 5 minutes later. She came in and sat next to me, concern on her face as she scans my body. She then looks at my face almost timidly; I then give her the where have you been look which prompts her to speak up.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"My body hurts all over," I said, almost in a joking manner.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't there. This is my fault. I should have been there to protect you," she said as she placed her hand on mine.

"What happened to the shrine?" I asked.

"One moment I was walking to the shrine, next thing these things came out of nowhere."

"It was a gate breach," she answered.

She explained the situation to me and how she was unable to make it in time.

"I will take responsibility for falling for such a simple trick. I am unbecoming of a gate guardian."

"It's fine," I said. "What happens now?"

"I might have to go into the gate. I'll let you know what I will do later," she said, looking away.

"For now, just rest. I will return to discuss with the others," she gives me a gentle smile and puts her hands on my cheek before exiting the room.

<Shino pov>

"Seriously, when we could finally secure funding after so long, this happens," said one of the masters named Sanje.

"With this, our progress is reset. We don't have the resources or manpower to enter the gate. Is there no way we can wait this out?" another said.

"Unfortunately, we can't whatever these bastards did caused a rather strong cryptid to bind itself to the gate, as of right now our only option is to get rid of it, we potentially risk this issue getting worse if we don't deal with it."

"A pity, with the lack of manpower and funding, we need help. I think we should just contact the elders in the capital."

"What are you talking about?"

"We don't really have a choice," said Hashibara, another master.

"They should be able to gauge the danger level of this being, we also risk the chance of running into the culprits that caused this whole mess in the first place and if they are as dangerous as Shino says we need at least adept level fighters," Kinoku interjected.

"Adept? What makes you think those old bastards will just hand us skilled explorers and fighters like that for free?" Sanje rebutted.

What he was saying was, true, even though the Emperor and the governing bodies in idai had more than enough manpower to assist, they have been trying to gate all gates present in Haakuni to integrate and fall in line for the new emperor. If we accept help, there will most definitely be strings attached.

Gate sites themselves have always operated separately from their governing body. Of course, basic laws must be followed, but they can't dictate how the shrines and temples containing the gate operate. But lately, they have started heavily taxing shrines that either remained neutral or downright refused their rule.

We, who were once one of the most prosperous shrines in Haakuni, were now reduced to the state it is in now. Explorers now rarely use our gates because of this.

"I have no choice then, all that are in favor of accepting help from the capital say I?" Hashibara said, as he raised his hand.

Four of the master followed suit, including kinzoku, all with a resounding "I."

I and Semei were the only ones who had not agreed. Even as the guardian where all my votes counted by two, there was still a majority. There was nothing I could have done.

"Then we shall prepare for the expedition," Said Hashibara.

Later that day, the meeting had already passed. We had taken refuge in the village located to the south side of the mountain. The temple was basically unlivable because of the miasma that still lingered there.

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I headed to the Elf man with green hair. He was listlessly sitting on the branch of a tree, looking into the distance. On my approach, he turned around as if expecting me.

"I have made my decision."

3 days later

Atsumi pov

It has been a few days since the breach and I have resigned myself to a small river. It had been a few days since the breach and my body has somewhat recovered thanks to healing magic, even though I still had a few fractured ribs.

Shino had requested I meet up with her today. I was on my way there until I met up with timothy who seemed to head in the same direction.

"Hey how are you?" he asked, a solemn look on his face.

"I'm ok." I replied.

"Really, you looked like you were gonna die a few days ago," he said, as he let out an awkward laugh.

"I'm fine really, no need to look so sad," I said as I place my good hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I guess there's nothing to worry about now. Where are you heading?" he said.

"I was called in by master."

"Oh, I'm actually heading there right now."

We both crossed the river and visited the chief building in which Shino was staying. Miss Maria, who was standing at the door, was holding a tray of liquor gave me a gentle smile and we greeted each other. On being let inside, I could spot Shino sitting upright, taking a sip of whatever she was drinking.

She gestured for me to sit. She was beside Mr. florin who seemed to take his time eying me down. It was as if he was studying me, which made me feel very uncomfortable.

"You seem to be recovering well," she said firmly.

"I guess heh heh," I said jokingly.

"Let's cut to the chase," she said, clearing her throat.

"There will be a party assembled to enter the gate. The purpose is to exterminate the Cryptid that has attached itself to the gate and cleanse the miasma present."

"It will obviously include me, so because of that, I won't be able to watch over you."

"therefore, I will leave you in Mr. Florin's care," she continued.

"I trust him more than anyone I currently know, so I want you to trust in him as well."

"When he is to depart for Atlantis, you will leave with him and timothy."

My eyes shot open and I could feel my heart rate increase. I tried my best to hide my excitement.

Shino, seeing my futile attempt to not show my excitement, spoke again.

"At first I thought I should let you stay with him for several months and have him return you after he has created the new seal, but I think I'll let you experience the world for yourself. As of right now, you are too young, but starting next year I am allowing you to attend Procyon academy but that will depend on if he can provide the seal."

Oh no, I'm going to faint. What's up with Shino? She basically just said go out and do whatever you want. What's with this drastic change? The Shino I knew would lose her shit if I as much as left the temple without her permission. Now she is letting me go on a trip with a guy I barely knew. I'm not complaining, but holy cow, this is awesome.

"Don't get too excited if you aren't performing. I'm going to drag you right back here so don't slack off," she said with a sly grin.

"Now onto the other matter,' she said as she got up and rolled up her long sleeves.

"Turn around."

She then instructs the attendants to close the blinds and leave.

"Undress your upper body."

I did as instructed and exposed my upper back. The seal placed on my neck visible once you shift my hair to the side.

Mr. Florin then walks up to me and together they place their finger on the seal. I could feel both of their mana enter. At first I felt the seal reject florin's mana. This caused a sharp pain to spread across my neck, which caused me to jerk my head forward and tense up.

"Sorry forgot to mention that it will sting a bit, but don't move too much," Shino said in a soothing tone as they continue to drag their finger across the seal. The pain subsided and I could relax my body again.

"With this, Allan should be able to open and close, make modifications, or even remove it."

"I am assuming you know what will happen if you open or remove the seal unprepared," she said to the elven man.

Mr. Florin, who has been silent the whole time, examines the seal some more and, with a deep breath finally spoke up.

"No need to worry."

Shino returned to where she was sitting.

"Alright Allan, can you let me speak with Atsumi alone for a bit?"

Upon hearing this Mr florin nods and exits the room.

"Atsumi, is it ok if we speak for a moment?"

"Sure," I said.

"For what reason do you learn magic? No, for what reason do you learn to fight?"

Her question made me tense up for a moment. The gears in my head started turning as if to answer her honestly. I have been learning magic since I awakened it at the young age of 7.

Since then, I had learned how to utilize it in everyday life, including in battle. To really think about it now, apart from a deep fascination with how magic worked, I never really had a reason to learn it.

As a disciple of the gate guardian, even if I was kept at arm's length by most people here, which would often make me feel pretty lonely, my life here was pretty ok. Maybe it was the feeling of freedom it gave or maybe the fact that it helped me remember my mother, I can't really say. The only factor I could think of was...

"I want to be an explorer just like my mother," I replied.

Shino sighed as if she expected this answer. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes, and started speaking authoritatively.

<Shino POV>

Hmm as I thought, maybe it is better to just keep her here and live a normal life, but I don't want to force her she will have to make that decision on her own, not to mention I need the ticking time bomb nestled deep within the depths of her soul to be tamed or sealed away, as her chances of losing control increases as she gets older.

"Is that so? Let me tell you half-assed resolves won't get you far in this world, so you must ensure this is what you really want."

"This world is cruel, vile, and will steal from you even if you have nothing left."

"If you have nothing of value to offer, you will be forgotten and thrown aside."

"And that in your case, it will be worse because you are human."

"I have tried my best to harbor an environment of mutual respect here, but in this reality, humans are seen as an inferior species."

"They, no we, don't live as long. We don't have as much innate mana as the so-called higher races, and even though we are larger in number, we still fight amongst ourselves."

"In some nations, we are kept as slaves and have no rights,"

"As a half-human half yokai, I am often told by others that it is because of my yokai lineage that I am able to be where I am today."

"Even those such as your mother and father, who broke through the realm of what was thought to be unattainable by humans, are told to stay in their place."

I went on giving her no time to catch her thoughts or her words. I wanted to make sure she understood.

"Humans are born with weak souls and weak bodies. We lack the absolute authority over mana and Qi the other races seem to have."

"Have you heard of fragments?"

"No, I haven't," she replied.

"Throughout history, there are human children born with souls so powerful and mana so dense and pure that their weak bodies can't handle it. These children are called fragments of the untainted. I believe you, Atsumi is such a child."

"These children throughout history have been heavily sought by all races and have led to kidnappings, deaths of entire towns and even wars. What I am saying for a fact is that most of the time, tragedy follows close behind these children."

"Why are we sought out aren't we useless if we can't use our own power," Atsumi asked

"For many reasons, some used as batteries, some as objects of worship. I have even heard of rituals where the souls were ripped out and placed in an unborn fetus of the desired race, basically a forced reincarnation."

Atsumi looks at me wide-eyed, as if she thought such things weren't possible. She seemed unsure of what to say next.

"I am telling you this, not to scare you, but to implore you to be very careful where you tread."

"Also, I will emphasize that you do not use your mana in front of those who are called "Aspects" they will see through the seal right away. You will recognize them by either a Rune on their cheek or forehead or by their eyes. Aspects all have special eyes. I don't need to explain it as they all look different from each other, but you will recognize it when you see it.

"There are very few aspects in this world, so your chances of running into them are low, but just in case, be careful about who you show your magic to."

"Saying this will you promise me to do these things. I know it sounds hard, but that is my condition for letting you go out into the world."

"Oh, I almost forgot, here." I handed her a golden blade.

"This sword once belonged to your father. It is called the Blade of Runic Echoes and it is an A class Crystal sword made from ore and pure mana crystals and it brings about aberrant magic, namely Thunderterra. Though I must warn you can only use it a few times before the mana leftover from your father runs out."

"Why is it here?" Atsumi answered.

"He doesn't need it anymore, so he left it here," I said with a shrug.

I could see she had a storm of thoughts swirling in her head.

"Is there anything you wish to ask me?" I said to her.

Atsumi seemed unsure most of what I have told her was new to her and maybe she hasn't fully grasped everything I have just said. With a look of curiosity and worry, she spoke.

"You have given me my father's blade. I still don't know him all that well and I know he doesn't want to meet me, but I would like to go meet him at least once."

I expected this. Atsumi thinks her father has abandoned her and Mina, but Mirion thinks they have both already died. Although Mina, who was Atsumi's mother, died because of a curse placed on her, Atsumi was still alive.

I know it was cruel I had lied to both of them but I wanted Atsumi to have a normal life away from the one he had brought upon his self.

A life of constant fighting and death. I believed that Atsumi who was a full-blooded human had a high chance of being an average person but I was completely wrong, Atsumi had awakened wind magic at the age of 7 and then lightning at the age of 8, and then Water at the age of 9. This on its own separated her from most of the children her age even amongst the other races. Then it happened at the age of 10 when her fate soul fully blossomed to life and her innate magic sprang out. The peaceful and ignorant life I had hoped for her was shattered. It was a once in a millennia type awakening that was so intense it almost killed her at that moment.

"Master?"

Atsumi becoming impatient breaks my trance. I raise my head to meet her eyes.

"When you graduate, I will allow it. I will even bring you to him."

And when that day comes, I will apologize to both of you.

Atsumi, somewhat satisfied with that reply, didn't push any further. Instead, she asked me another question.

"I know you are reluctant to answer this next question, but after saying that I am one of those children I need to know, what is my soul fate?"

This question, too, was inevitable. Each person is born with a unique soul. The purity of one's soul dictates the purity and density of their mana, and as the purity increases, so does its rarity.

"Do you know all the fate soul rarities, Atsumi?"

"Hmm I think so there are Common, uncommon, rare, super rare, epic, legendary and mythical."

"Correct but you are missing the last three, which are Planetary fate, Stellar fate and Celestial fate and residing within your vessel is…...," I Paused contemplating if I should even tell her-

"Is a Celestial Fate soul."

With this, Atsumi's eyes widen at this revelation.

<Allan POV>

I sat on a balcony overseeing a small yard. Shino was next to me.

"You seem out of it. The girl hasn't even left yet and you already look like you miss her."

"I'm just worried. Honestly, the girl is sometimes too reckless. Hopefully, you keep her in check," Shino said, glaring at me.

I let out a breath and looked toward the night sky.

"I want her to live her own life, but I also want her away from the ugly politics that's about to unravel here,"

"Is that, so I replied?"

"This place is no longer safe, not to mention those Idai Bastards are bound to set their sights on her eventually, and when it came to that point, heads might roll." Shino said.

I never expected her to think that far ahead, it's a common tactic for this new governing party to take young maidens and relatives of gate guardians as either concubines or as bargaining chips to keep the respective gate personnel in check. Atsumi, who was closely related to Shino, would be especially at risk of being targeted.

Not to mention she had the potential to become quite attractive, just like her mother, and when that happens, they won't hesitate to snatch her away.

Shino weighed all the options as well as her emotions and chose what she thought was best for Atsumi. I couldn't help but grin a little.

Looking at Shino and seeing her worried face. I felt somewhat sad.

"Damn, I better make this work," I whispered

"Hmm, what was that?" Shino asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"Any way It has been a stressful few days and frankly I am exhausted, goodnight Allan."

"Goodnight."

Shino then got up and went to her room.

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