The Hunt For The Ice Queen
Three years earlier, in the Tochigi prefecture of Japan, the gigantic mansion, shown in its immense size, was the Akari villa. It was more than 20 acres in sheer volume and had its own teahouse, apart from the main house. The yard in front of the house was a level of its own; it took up nearly half of the total acres of the house, and could comfortably fit an entire house inside the land.
The Servants walked through the floors of the teahouse, preparing themselves for the eventual grand meeting. One man with a full beard and a scar near his shoulder sat down at a table. He drank from his coffee mug and seemingily waiting for someone else.
Soon enough, a woman with long brown-hair and a slender but voluptuous body eventually entered the room. The man sharply smirked.
"Well, if it isn't the Hirosaki Akari. The current bearer of the Shiroi line."
"Good Morning, Somatoki Rouzan," She said in her lightly coarse but very feminine voice.
She laid on the ground in front of the table, crossing her legs. Somatoki chuckled.
"Well, I'll just cut to the chase on why I wanted to meet today."
Hirosaki aptly waited for him to speak. Rouzan continued.
"As you know, all the bloodlines were created in fear of a syneji artist ever to be greater than Takashimo Rokudan. People just wanted to create one powerful syneji artist, each wielding one fraction of the souls of the founding artist. So when I hear of a child with potential possibly greater than my son, it makes me want to strengthen my own defense."
Hirosaki quickly glared.
"What do you want with Naoko?"
"Whoa, I don't mean any harm. I just wanted to meet with her is all."
Hirosaki quickly froze."What?"
"I'm just interested, that's really it."
Hirosaki thought for a few moments, then clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Naoko!" She yelled out.
A short moment passed, and a little girl entered the room. She was small, and her hair was in a bun. She was very proper, timid, and was very well-mannered. Rouzan gently smiled at her and said.
"So you're the prodigy, huh? I'd never hurt anything as cute as this!"
Rouzan stood up and attempted to approach her, but Hirosaki quickly reached her arm out, halting him in his tracks.
"You're quite excited," She said.
Rouzan awkwardly smiled and let out a small chuckle.
"Overprotective much?" He said as he quickly backed down near the table.
He noticed her sharp glare and commented. He laughed.
"I'm not foolish enough to fight an S-Division syneji artist!"
Akari took a seat next to her mother, swiftly, not saying a word. Hirosaki slightly lightened her glare and replied.
"So, what is it you wish to speak about?"
"I just want to speak with her," Said Somatoki. "Does she go to school?"
"Of course not. She's properly home-schooled and receives a much better education than what any school has to offer."
"Does she have any friends?"
"What is with you and these evasive questions?"
"I'm honestly just wondering."
"Let's end this chat here."
"That was quite fast. Fine, I'll leave," Rouzan sighed. "I got all I needed from you today."
He sat up and groaned, stretching, before making his exit. He was escorted out of the building by several guards, just in case anything happened. Hirosaki looked at Akari and gently hugged her."What is this, mother?" Akari said as Hirosaki embraced her.
"I want you to make a promise," She said. "Never lose to anyone, or anything. I'll make you perfect."
That single phrase constantly rang back in Akari's mind. Even in the current present, it was deafening. It was unbreakable even now. She walked amongst the forest, continuing the exam, like how she was supposed to. She treaded against the mud, like she was supposed to. She shall never conventionally face defeat, like how things are supposed to be.
The loss she faced against that automorph when she and Zenatori were trying to fix the barrier was invalid in her eyes. But it made her realize she wasn't strong enough yet. So instead of collecting the automorphs normally, Akari inserted her own personal challenge; the only way she will collect automorphs is by taking them from others. A showcase to present her unparalleled dominance to her peers. She could only wait for what was going to unfold. "It has been 20 minutes since the exam began," She thought. "It's time I finally get started."
Sheer moments after Akari walked forward, a sudden disturbance was sensed in the air. Akari attempted to move, but for whatever reason, she hesitated. From the shrubs and bushes, a person burst out, only perceived as a sheer blur. Akari is struck so fast she couldn't even react. She slings backward and crashes through multiple trees, flying through the dirt before eventually stopping herself. She stepped back, looking around, and two people emerged from the other set of trees.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
A slim, white-haired boy spoke.
"Let's make this quick, Yajima."
"I agree, Shingen," Yajima said.
"That's the white-haired boy I saw on the bus earlier," Akari quickly assessed. "I don't recognize either of them; they're likely in a different division. Why did I hesitate right there? How is that boy so fast? What's going on?"
"Yo, Shingen, she's a bit tough," Yajima said.
"Yeah, I'm quite surprised she wasn't affected by my strike," Shingen said. "It doesn't really matter how lucky she got; it won't happen again."
Akari suddenly felt a throbbing in her head that felt like a mental attack. Shingen rushed at her, crushing the dirt beneath him, but Akari intercepted the blow perfectly. Before she could capitalize, Shingen quickly followed up and struck her again.
"Why am I silently hesitating every time I attack?" Akari thought. "Why isn't the white-haired one fast anymore? What is going on?!"
Akari slid back from the force of the blow, and Yajima finally struck her in the side. "He's not as strong as the white-haired one," Akari thought.
She then drove her fist at him to counter, but as it approached, the reluctance only grew before she fully stopped. It gave Shingen time to strike her square in her stomach, causing her to fly backward through a tree, sliding across the grass. Shingen went for another blow, but Akari grabbed his fist, then attempted to hit him, and the reluctance intensified further. Shingen struck her yet again, clipping her across her face, causing her to slide backward.
As Shingen rushed at her again, Akari took a head-on approach and intercepted his attempt during his strafe. The blow connected to his face, causing him to spit up blood and fly backward. Shingen turned to Yajima, and suddenly, blood trickled down Yajima's nose.
"Whoa, you're pushing yourself this much already? Do we need to retreat?" Shingen said.
"Her soul is a bit stronger than I thought," Yajima said, flicking the blood off his nose with his thumb. "It doesn't even look like she's taking damage. Let's get out of here."
Akari briefly analyzed.
Shingen looked at Akari motionlessly."Alright, we'll fight her later. Hit me," He said to Yajima.
Suddenly, Yajima struck Shingen with all of his might. The blow connected, but it looked like it missed, due to Shingen not flinching at all. Shingen then dashed by Akari, leaving nothing behind. She glanced at the dirt momentarily, thinking about everything that happened.
"Interesting," She mumbled. "Does the white-haired one have the ability to store kinetic energy? Hm. It's great that I didn't use any isotonic force during that engagement. Furthermore, I didn't sustain much physical damage."
She walked to a nearby pond, looking at her reflection.
"I don't have time to ponder," She said. "Next."
Akari walked on to finish what she started. Her challenge. While she did that, Akikyo Yachi had formed her temporary alliance with Masahiro.
"Look," Murata Yuugen said, as his short raven hair swayed through the air. "I'm not sure what you two are after, but I'm not looking for a fight."
Yachi slightly lowered her guard.
"Huh?" She said confusingly. "Then what are you doing here?"
"Who I'm looking for is that mundane-looking kid. You know, his hair is black, and parted in the middle a bit."
Yachi suddenly froze.
"What do you want from Zenatori?!"
"I was ordered to stall him, teach him a lesson."
"Even then, how do you intend on passing the exam?!"
"That thing? Well, I don't really care what happens. I ain't got much of a future as a syneji artist anyway."
Masahiro stood back, perplexed, lowering her guard. Yachi thought for a moment, then looked at Masahiro."Do you know what's going on?"
"No..?" Masahiro responded.
"I'll tell you what," Yuugen exclaimed. "Do you two know of Suda Katashi?"
"He's our classmate," Yachi said. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm paying a debt for him, which is the reason I'm even trying to stall you. Akikyo Yachi."
"What else do you know?"
"He didn't tell me anything else. But, if he manages to get first place in the exam, it will probably be over for us all."
"What?!" Yachi yelled.
"I don't want to even imagine what he'd do with that popularity from getting first-place. He's so enigmatic that you can never know what he's up to. So I'll tell you this, if you manage to help me defeat him, I'll call off trying to beat that Zenatori guy."
"Seriously?" Yachi exclaimed. "Okay then-"
"But," Yuugen said, "if the two of you can't beat me in a fight, then there's no point in anything I said."
"So you want to see if we're worthy? I didn't know Katashi was such a menace," Masahiro said.
"Precisely. I'll give you two about one minute to survive my onslaught. After that, consider me a part of your team."
Yachi raised her fists back in a defensive position, cracking her knuckles. Masahiro did the same. Yuugen had a slight smirk form on his face, making the two feel uneasy.
He yawned, "Let's do this," Yuugen said.
