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“ I... l-love you, Kazuma.” A sad soft voice whispered her last words of Trinity Glassfield. He was one with Terumi, he had power to kill those who tricked him into fighting the Black Beast and slaughter the others heroes. He laughed like a maniac as the blood pooled out on the floor from the platinum alchemist. In the mind of Kazuma and Terumi thought it was laughable that she would think that he would have a gushy romantic moment, it made them want to throw up. Terumi can only think that this woman was so clueless to think that he actually liked her. 

“YOU LIED TO ME!” A voice filled with anger and anguish yelled. Locked up in mental chains holding him down was the his wearing uniform from the Magic Association academy. Under his green bangs, he glared with bloodlust in his eyes was Kazuma Kval. “ Oh I completely forgot about that weakling, what did you think of the show?” Terumi said with a grin of his face as he looked to face his prisoner. “ You said that no one trusts me, believe me, LOVE ME, Terumi! You used me!” The young man said trying to move towards Terumi and the “new” corrupt self but failed as the chains got heavy.

Terumi chuckled for a moment before he said this venomously to the pathetic worm. “ Yeah, so? It was your decision to let me help you and give you power.” The corrupted spirit looked at the young man for a moment before facing forward again. “I have no time to focus on worthless puppet like you. All of this was your decision, to accept me, use my power.” Terumi had a evil smile on his face. “ You even killed your best friend.” Before the young Kazuma had time to respond, Terumi beat him to it by saying. “ Don’t you see the blood on your hands?” Kazuma looked down at his trembling hands with horror in his eyes, there was blood. Terumi said “ I told you killed her with your own hands and now you will kill Nine and the other heroes. So sit back and enjoy the show.”

Kazuma felt like he was drowning in guilt and pain. All he could think about was Trinity.

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All Kazuma could do is watch them kill Nine and other innocent lives to find the other heroes. After he murdered Nine, all the young man can see before him was the cold stares of the dead looking at him. Nine’s cold dead eyes were filled with disgust and anger that can rival even the strongest of warriors or her husband. She usually called him a flea, ant, or human scum however, this time she hadn’t said any insult to him. He ignored Terumi and the other person who he couldn’t even believe that it was him. His whole body was in pain as he felt the chains tightened.

”I’m a monster, what have I done!” He whispered to himself as his voice started to tremble from the pressure in of guilt in his chest. He couldn’t give Terumi the slightest enjoyment of his suffering. He couldn’t bear to look at old friend (or crush), what if she looked at him the same way Nine is. Like he should have never existed in the first place. Before he had the courage to look at the phantom of Trinity, Terumi finally said something directed to him.

“Did you wonder why you never had any parents, why your memory vanished, why I decided you would be my vessel?” Kazuma shudder at that question and stayed silent looking down at his knees. Terumi didn’t look at him once as he said with excitement. “It’s because you were made to be my vessel created by associate and your guardian Relius Clover!” Kazuma knew something was off, maybe it was because he was awkward around people sometimes. But it always felt odd that Clover would want to view him for medical  examinations more than once during the semester.

Kazuma shuttered from this revelation, he didn’t want to believe in any of Terumi’s words. He wanted Terumi’s laugh to stop mocking him and as he raised his head, he saw Trinity across from him. Through her glasses, he could see the look on her eyes as a single tear slid down her face. Was the look in her eyes pity? Sadness? He didn’t like seeing her cry as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It felt like someone had stabbed him with a sword, he ignored the pain only looking at the Platinum Alchemist in her pale cloak standing on a puddle of his blood.

Then there was Terumi’s screech. “Nooooo!” 

He didn’t know how long it would take to realize that he couldn’t feel Terumi or his new self in his mind. The chains were still around him however, they weren’t as constricting as they were before. He was alone.... someone must have stopped him. He focused on getting his senses despite the high pitched ringing, he could hear two muffled voices speaking to each other.

“Danger....... Terumi......... lady Rachel .......” A older familiar muffled voice said to the other familiar voice. He could hardly move his body, let alone open his eyes. Kazuma’ s entire body was in pain from his fingers to his legs. The other voice sounded upset and responded with. “...... What...... should.......vessel ?” Kazuma felt his body being lifted from the ground he was lying on a moment ago. In a swift movement, he felt like his body was tossed in a certain as if it was rag doll rejected because it was broken and no longer had a purpose. The muffled voices stopped, Kazuma floated unable to move anything and in unimaginable pain was alone. All he could do was cry in his head, sob about Trinity, Nine and everything from being tricked by Terumi to being weak and useless coward. 

Alone with his guilt as Kazuma sinks into the never ending void.

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Drifting in a sea of darkness in the void made it easy for Kazuma to loose track of time. At first he thought he could keep track, however that didn’t last long. He didn’t  feel the need to eat or drink anything like his body was an empty shell. He learn with practice to move his arms, but never his legs as he floated. He often thought of his memories back at school before he met Terumi. He remembers everything now, the first day he arrived at the school looking as shy and meek among the many other magic users. The day he first had a hard boiled egg there was delicious and how others would give him odd looks because of his taste in food. Trinity, the first time he met her made his heart throb (do I even have a heart?) thinking about her cheerful smile, her green eyes filled with kindness, her beautiful golden hair. She was willing to talk to him, despite her what others thought of him, she would start talking to him about simple things like class, foods and possibly theories for new magic. He was never good with magic sometimes, so she would help him out. With simple spells like fire or lightning however, one time there was a lost crying girl nearby and Trinity cheered the girl up by using her magic to make a little flowers grow out of the ground and made tiny, bright colorful fireworks (illusion spell). She taught him him how to perform these spells too, but he was never as good. He wanted to confess his love to her in class or at anytime, but was too nervous to make the first move. When he is desperate for comfort by his memories, it brought up the day he killed her. He sunk into a spiral of guilt, agony, and pain every day. He couldn’t use any magic because his arms felt like heavy like large stones. 

Sometimes he thought about what would have happened if he lived a normal life at school would have been like, if he was ever going to confess his love to Trinity. Sometimes he dreamt further and thought of marrying Trinity and the two them hiding away from Terumi or anyone who wants to hurt her, and having a child maybe. When he thought of that before he was stuck here or maybe it was before he lost his memories, his would feel his face burn up and look pink. But it always ends with the same outcome because he killed his friend,  nothing he could do can redeem him. As he drifted in the void he saw something farther away in the distance, it was a bright light looking like it was slipping farther away from him. He thought of his friend, the wisdom she shared, the willingness to help those in need and she even helped people who needed a second chance. For a moment he even thought he heard her voice whispering to him to go. He struggled to move towards the light as it got farther away, but that didn’t stop him from trying to move his body towards it. As he got closer his left arm felt lighter as he reached towards the light with all his strength. 

The next thing Kazuma Kval felt was the feeling of being surrounded water, however he realized that was able to breath. He slowly opened his eyes a little bit, his entire was surrounded by light teal green liquid. He looked above his head to see a huge crater like opening through that he could see ceiling of a cave, looking  dark brown dusty. He felt like his body was from the weight it was under before as he swam up towards the opening. For a second he thought he could he voices trying to tell him something, but it was all muffled as he finally reached the surface of the opening. He gasped for breath for a minute or two as he reached out to grab the ground near the crater and struggling to get out.

As he got out he felt like he was going to be sick. He threw up the green liquid that quickly dissolved on the ground as he was trying to stand with very little luck only to still be on the cold ground. He noticed the interior of the cave had many green pods that had the same liquid scattered around the walls of the vast cave. His legs felt asleep and so did the rest of his body as he shook himself awake. He was still feeling out of breath when he finished throwing up. He shivered when he felt a cold breeze flow through his body, and finally realized  was completely bare naked! N-no one was around right!? He frantically looked around to find any article of clothing he, found by the crater his old uniform without any shoes folded neatly on a rock nearby. 

As he got dressed, Kazuma wondered what would be waiting for him outside the cave.

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After getting his old uniform on, Kazuma practiced standing up and trying to move his legs and arms a couple of more times. He stumbled and fell a couple more times on the rocks cold stone surface of the cave. As he wobbled towards the the tunnel leading out of where he was, he could feel the cold light breeze from before coming from that direction. Kazuma used the wall as a support as he walked for the next five minutes in the dark. He felt desperate to escape, to feel the green lush grass under his feet,  hear the sounds of the wind gently blowing through the air and see the bright sun in the beautiful blue never ending sky. With those thoughts running in his mind, he stumbled and struggled for another ten minutes. As he trudged forward, he felt his legs starting to wake up entirely. The process could only be described as if little bits of energy building up and trying to awaken the long time disconnected limbs. When he finally saw an opening, he shuffled quickly towards it as he felt a trickle of wind flow into the cavern. When he made it outside at last, he saw tons of tall trees like oak trees and pine trees. He the first sounds heard was the sounds of crickets chirping in the lush green grass and the sound of an owl in the distance. He moved a little closer to one of the trees and look upwards towards the sky.

His eyes shot up as he looked at the night sky with so many stars, he had never seen this many stars in the sky before it was amazing. He got lost watching the stars with fascination, until he heard the sounds east from where he was. He turned his sights towards where the sounds came from and saw in the distance flickering colorful lights. A town maybe it would be safer to head there in case if there were any dangerous wildlife around here. Kazuma thought as he headed towards town trying not to attract any attention to himself. Ten minutes later as he walked through the forest he heard inhuman growling getting close to him. He scurried and found an old tilted, hallowed, lifeless tree to hide in as the creature’s grew closing in on him. Kazuma peaked through a small hole probably made by a woodpecker and saw the creature as it hunted for him. It looked like it was made of shadow as the darkness surrounding it, but it’s face had some sort of bone white mask. Even the claws had that bony white as it sniffed the air, it’s yellow eyes looking for it’s pray. He shivered as he tried to calm himself down as the wolf like creature approached the tree and swiped at it, Kazuma dodged in time before his eye was damaged and held his breath. The creature looked unsatisfied and left as in the distance he heard a howl farther away from there. Kazuma started to breathe again as he left his hiding spot quickly and quietly before it could come back.

I have never seen such a creature before in any of my books back at the academy. He thought as he reached the small town, hovering above the town was a orb producing some sort of barrier around it. He took a deep breath and as he reached his hand inside the barrier and looked away nervously thinking that he would get shocked or something. Nothing happened, he felt nothing happen to him as he looked at his perfectly fine hand and started to put his other hand inside as well. Kazuma  sighed in relief, as he stepped his whole body through and quickly hid in a stone alleyway near one of the buildings. In a pile of trash, there was a brown raggedy cape with a hood as he put it on to disguise himself from the crowds of people. They were celebrating, people were dancing and singing tunes that were unfamiliar to Kazuma, colorful fireworks were shot off in the sky with sound similar to loud drums as they explode. Families were playing games together like ring toss, there were food stands selling foods that Kazuma had never seen before. The smells made his mouth slightly water and made his stomach growl as he realizes that get needed food. He peered from the pile he was trash he was hiding behind and saw a toddler looking at him, looks like she noticed his stomach growling. Her hazelnut eyes matched her short hair, she wore a red kimono and in one of her hands was a large dumpling the size of his fist while the other was holding one of her parents hands. He shushed her putting one of his fingers near his lip to indicate his point. The girl looked at him and then at her dumpling when she decided to give the young man her dumpling. As she set it down near him, she was dragged away by one of her parents as she shushed him. Shocked by the generosity of the child took the dumpling and walked out on the busy street sticking to the shadows looking for somewhere less busy. 

He arrived at a large construction site of a four floor stone grey building, the building itself looked partially built with the first four floors done and the roof needed to be built. As Kazuma made it to the empty third floor, he sat near the stone ridge edge of the building and looked out at the small town. He took a bite into his dumpling, as he chewed he felt something wet sliding down both of his cheeks. Tears? Was he really able to comprehend feelings after everything that happened and the awful things he had done? Watching the fireworks, Kazuma noticed a large amount of fireworks being set off close to the ground a few block north. Coming from that direction where the the odd fireworks were shot off was a figure in a light orange hoodie with their hood up and a small strange creature besides it running towards the construction site.

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Running inside the construction building, the figure ran up a few flights of stairs until they stopped on the floor where Kazuma hiding. He found a convenient empty wooden near where he was sitting and hid himself in there. The figure with the bright orange hoodie leaned on the cement wall outside where the stairs were. Panting with each hasty breath, the figure stared to slump down wall onto the ground with their back against the wall. They clutching a sword in one hand and they a brown messenger bag equipped as well. With their other hand they clutching a wound below their rib cage as blood started to trickle onto the grey floor cement floor. Right next to her trying to comfort by nudging their right hand clutching the sword was some sort of small flying rodent, or pale lizard like creature.

The stranger shaking hand that was holding their wound was over their head as they pulled down their hoodie that was concealing their face. A girl. Kazuma thought, as he watched her place her hand once again on that wound as a pain jolted throughout her body. She had short brown hair and her eyes squinting slightly through the were in pain. She’s not any of my business, don’t even bother saving her she’s as good as dead. That’s what Terumi would have told him to do, ditch the girl and let her die. As soon as that thought came it was replaced by a soothing and gentle voice from the past.

“Kazuma, I believe in you even if you don’t believe in yourself. You don’t need power to get everyone to acknowledge your abilities. You have your kindness and your kindness can help and protect people.” 

Trinity…  I-I will carry on your will! By showing kindness to others without a second thought, I have so much to atone and I won’t lie down and be useless anymore!

Softly the girl whispered to flying the flying creature, “Kuu… I don’t need your pi-“ As she hears something shuffle in the shadows, and walk quickly towards her. The echoes from the footsteps, didn’t shock her as she tried to stand up only to continue sitting on the ground. Kazuma pulled the ragged hood of his cloak over his head, as he entered the girl’s sight slowly lifting his hands up. Her breathing quickened as she looked at Kazuma with a untrusting sharp gaze. 

“I don’t mean you any harm,” He said softly as he cautiously and slowly approached closer towards her. “Please let me heal your wounds.” She couldn’t even resist, her other arm clutching tightly her sword made no movements towards attacking. As he kneeled down on his knees and held both his hands near her wound as a slight greenish, blue calm light generated from his hands. As this happens she feels a warmth, her pain was that she was before was now bearable and her wound was beginning to slowly close. 

“Why are you helping me?” She asked him as the light from his trick reveled his face slightly from his cloak and the shadows of the night slightly. He faltered slightly but continued to heal her as her breathing slowly went to a normal breathing pace. 

“I couldn’t let you bleed out and die.”  He said determination in his eyes as he continued to heal the young girl. She sighed as she sat up and stared to try to stand up as she looked away from him and out at night sky as the last few colorful fireworks faded. She stuffed whatever she had in her other hand into the brown bag and used her sword to help support her. “Please don’t stand, I haven’t finished-“ Kazuma was cut off as he heard the sound of pieces of cement were crashing on the ground outside of the building as something climbing the side of the building.

“You need to leave. Now, before they arrive.” She said her back to him as a large towering figure leaned through the cemented ledge of the giant opening and came inside. As the clouds in the air slightly part away so the moon can shine on the mysterious figure who appeared to have another figure on their left shoulder. The towering figure even though covered by the night has a reddish hue skin and short black spiky hair. His partner had a gave a cold chill down Kazuma’s s spine even though he can’t see much of her. Her long hair due to dark was slightly darker shade of reddish pink and wore glasses as shine of the moon masked her eyes.

”We finally found you, there’s no where left to run.” The partner said to the mysterious girl. “Give up the keystone, if you don’t we won’t  have you leave so bloody as the last time. You may have gotten the best of us with that stunt at the firework shop but, I managed to fix up Tager as you were trying to recover or whatever.” She noticed Kazuma even though she hasn’t seen his face from under his cloak, she had a sick feeling in her stomach that reminded her of a certain snake.

“I won’t give it up to you.” The hazel haired girl said as she began to draw her sword out of it’s sheath as the blade reflected a tiny bit of the moonlight.

”Suit yourself, looks like we are going to have to do this the hard way.” The large figure identified as Tager said as he lower his partner off of his shoulder and standing next to him, preparing for a fight.

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Kazuma clutched his ragged hooded cape trying to mask himself into the shadows of the building as the flash of fireworks revealed more in more detail who Linne was facing off. The giant figure looked like a machine yet he looked more like a red demon or something with short black spiked hair, he’s wearing a dark red-colored uniform with orange goggles covering his eyes. What terrified Kazuma was his partner who was set down off on the giant’s shoulder, holding her wounded left arm staring at Linne with her golden yellow eyes. Her long pink hair was tied back with two pink tuffs sticking out and in her mouth she had a lollipop. Her jacket it’s reminds me of something I was reading a long time ago about certain clans.  This is no time to be thinking of books! Yet why do I get the feeling dread. He thought his legs shaking , barely noticing Kuu landing on shoulder. Within a seconds the battle began in the cement construction building as the sounds of fireworks distracted the citizens when Linne strikes with her sword  at red giant only for him to block the swift attack.

The giant pushed back at the girl as she staggered back and realized that her opponent had a smug smile on his face. Against her will she is pulling towards him as  he punched three electric-like his attacks from his gauntlet. She was able to guard his first two blows however the third on was able to hit her as she stood her ground clutching her sword as it slightly trembled from the electrical attack . She huffed and spit out some blood, her eyes bore merciless and cold as she delivered a quick flurry of blows towards the giant’s torso, head and large gauntlets. There was a slight pain crawling below her ribs, as landed back on the ground from a quick electric attack by the giant. 

Damn it! She thought clutching her wound slightly before continuing her fight. At this rate…. Her thoughts were interrupted by a blow to  her stomach and the giant followed up with a barrage of electrical attacks, she swiftly dodged them all as she gritted her teeth. As the battle raged on, his pink haired partner was watching with interest at the battle as noticing her partner’s movements were slower. 

What do I do? There’s no way I can take on that guy alone. Think Kazuma think! He thought as he watched the battle and looked at his surroundings for anything useful. Still staying in the shadows, he finally noticed the odd looking white creature known as Kuu on his shoulder.   He was about to scream in surprise until he noticed it looking at him and then towards the ground indicating something to him, on the ground was the brown messenger bag. It must of slipped off as she got up. He picked up the bag and opened it, inside was a shining diamond like stone slightly glowed inside the brown bag. As he looked at it he felt something unexplainable and decided to shake off this feeling to focus on a plan. Is this what they want so badly? Did she steal this or something? He looked back between the battle and the girl in the light orange hoodie fighting for her life.  Then looked around at the the giant’s partner and then at Linne as he swung the bag on his shoulder. I only have one shot to do this, let’s hope this works. 

Another harsh electric blow got Linne on the grey cement ground, her body slightly tingling from the electricity from the last attack. With leg she pushed herself upwards panting and holding onto her sword like it was a crutch. Before she can move to fight against the red giant, she felt the wound from before stinging in pain. “Give it up kid. Your only hurting yourself by continuing to fight with injuries like those.” The giant said to her, unable to read his expression as she gritted her teeth in frustration. 

Before anything else could be said or done, there was a sudden fiery ball headed towards the red giant’s partner. Two more fiery balls  were blasted after the first one as the red giant quickly ran to defend his partner. “Lady Kokonoe!” He yelled as stood strong in front of his partner, he blocked all three attacks. However, it left his gauntlets quite beaten up as he knelt down after the attack. They looked ahead  around waiting for the smoke and dust to clear up, thinking that there will be another attack. As the dust settles and they can see clearly now, the girl and the attacker were gone. “They fled, lady Kokonoe are you alright?” He asked her as she stepped forward to spotting something on the ground.Leaving behind the brown bag as Kokonoe went to pick it up. As she opened it a smug smile appeared on her face and closed the bad as quickly went to Tager’s side with tools in her white and backpack.

She huffed and gave a slightly annoyed look before ”I’m okay, nothing that I haven’t been through before. However, you on the other hand need several repairs. The fireworks stunt that girl threw at us before slowed your some of your functions.” She sighed before she gave a big grin lifting up the bag. “At least we got what we came for, Tager.” He gave a slight smile as set the bag down next to her and pulled out a silver circular radar. She looked at it as she noticed on the pocket watch like screen the tiny blinking  blue light. They didn’t trick us at least. She thought before she noticed something on the screen, her eyes were wide and tighten her left hand into a fist. On the screen was another blue blinking light moving away quickly from where they were, heading north. “No way it’s impossible, how could there have been another keystone here when we already scanned for one a few hours ago!” She said in shock as she crunched down on her lollipop. I need to think about this later for now, Tager needs to be repaired before we move out. She thought to herself as  the fireworks from the festival ended in one large colorful explosion behind them.

”Let me go! Don’t you know what you have done, you idiot!” Linne yelled at the young wizard carrying her over his  his shoulder, trying to struggle as he flew through the starry night sky. Kuu was flying besides him as with his other arm held her weapons. She tried to kick him in the chest, even though it sort of worked, he didn’t let go.

“Of course I do, I saved your life.” He said slightly dizzy from the amount of spells he performed. As he continued to fly in the air carefully and quickly. 

They flew for another  ten more minutes seeing nothing but woods until Kazuma spotted a river with very small waterfall and a grey pebbles surrounding the river bank. As Kazuma glided them towards the ground slowly, the injured girl had stopped try to kick him and instead hit her fisted hands on his back. Landing on the smooth pebbles the almost shined in the moonlight, he noticed she stopped hitting him. “You could have run away before the fight, so why did you save me?” She asked as he gently set her down on the ground. He ripped his white uniform sleeve from his left arm and quickly raced towards the river and dabbing a little bit of water on the ripped up fabric. He didn’t notice that his hood once protecting his identity slid back as he went back to the girl with a worried and nervous expression on his face, despite the bangs of green hair covering his eyes.

He dabbed the wet cloth on her sweaty head as he placed it on her, he raised  both of his hands near the wound. “I promised myself that I would change for the better. I couldn’t leave you to face the two of them alone and hurt.” She slightly smirked thinking of someone else  before it slipped away watching the warm green light flutter in his palms. He was at his limit, but he didn’t care about that as the girl’s breathing became stable. 

Linne’s sight blurred as she slowly let her eyes close reluctantly. She looked peaceful as she rested underneath green tree branches loom above her. Tiny bits of moon light casting some light only to be blocked by the strong branches and leaves from the tree. When the wound looked closed up, Kazuma dragged himself towards the tree his back on the trunk as he scoots down onto the ground. His breathing was uneven as he began to loose consciousness. Only hearing the sounds of grasshoppers and the waterfall as he drifted asleep.

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Everything is static, her body couldn’t move as if it was turned into stone. All she could do was watch as her brother walks away from her, crimson blood dripping off of his sword onto the ground. ‘BROTHER!’ She yells to him, still ignoring her as the his white cloak hides flaps slightly remaining obscured. There was nothing she could do or say to change his mind, as hands dipped in shadows grab hold of her current vessel dragging her away. Pervious versions of her made of ice watched her with their cold gaze as they melted making the puddle of blood grow.

As her vision slowly darkened, the figure that was supposed to be her brother finally turned to her. It wasn’t him, it was another boy one that she knew too well and entrusted him to cut her down. Hyde stood there stone faced as he uttered. ‘You have doomed us all Princess of the Night.’ As everything blurred together, there was a bit of pain before it disappeared.

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Hazel eyes open as Linne starts to wake up, she hears the sounds of birds chirping and the sound of a slightly small or medium sized waterfall. She feels discomfort when trying to sit upwards, looking down at her orange hoodie at the source of this pain she remembers the night before and the unexpected intervention in the middle of battle. The wound doesn’t hurt as much as it did before, was it because of that guy? She thought noticing a cool sensation on her forehead, she reached up to find a semi medium piece of ripped clothing a little wet with water used as a towel on her head. Beside her was Kuu watching her as she observed her surroundings towards the waterfall and forest in front of her , she checked her hoodie pocket to find a silver pocket watch. She opened it and pressed a tiny button on the top of the watch, the front of the watch turned into a black radar.  That guy-

She turned her head the other side to find the mysterious green haired young man, unconscious under a tree nearby. She noticed his that one sleeves were torn and that his clothes were different from anyone from the city. With support from the tree to stand up, she carefully walked over towards him hoping he wouldn’t wake up. As she moved towards him she noticed the time has changed  as the sun peeked through the leaves of the tree casting shadows as well as tiny spotlights of light. She finally gets a better look at him, after one quick moment she moves back and quickly got into a defense ready stance. 

Isn’t that… but he looks the same as- could this be a trick? But he looks younger, and he was able to heal my wound. I can’t take any chances. She thought looking down at her pocket watch to notice something on its radar that was in front of her.

Did he lie about giving the keystone away or something… no that can’t be right otherwise we probably would have been chased down. He was desperate to leave and give them what they want to  help me. She thought to her self as she stumbled and grabbed No Name off the grass nearby. I will have to wake him up to get any answers … he didn’t know the value of the keystone, was he an idiot or did he not know about the hunt?

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‘Kazuma, are you excited this event isn’t supposed to appear again in another thousand years. And I found the perfect place where we can watch it together.’ The blond alchemist said cheerfully,  in her school uniform to him as he walked with her in the middle of the night. The farther away from the school, the more nervous he got. What if they were caught by one of the teachers or something, Trinity noticed his uneasy look on his face and stopped walking.

‘Don’t worry Kazuma we won’t get caught, this is supposed to be out boundaries of campus near the town. It’s in the middle of the two so we can have enough time and get back to the dorms before anyone notices.’ She reassured him as she kept moving forward.

The cool night air made him shiver slightly as they kept walking down a slightly beaten old path, hearing the crickets soft chirping in the night. ‘Okay, how did you find this place if I may ask?’ He asked.

’I was working on a certain formula one day when a brown bird snatched my paper. I chased after it and when I finally caught up to it, It was building a nest using my paper near that tree over there.’ She said pointing a towards an old willow tree that looked like it was millions of years old.

‘I didn’t want to ruin the nest so I started over and sometimes I come over here to help clear my head when the Library is crowded.’ 

As the stopped by the willow tree, they sat down on the grass close to it to watch the night sky. Trinity had a kind smile as her green eyes twinkled with wonder and excitement, it made it him feel something warm inside himself. She scooted closer towards his side, eyes on her inside of the sky. She made him feel things he has never felt before, his mind would get blurry and all he thought about was her. Was it her warm genuine smile, the sound of her beautiful voice, and her kindness towards others? He didn’t know how someone like her would ever be friends with a nobody like him, but here they are together away from the prying eyes others.

’Kazuma! Look it started!’ She said nudging his thoughts away to look at the night sky. In the sky, some stars started to fall, some of them had a pinkish aura around them as they shot down.  Even through his green bangs, it was a marvel to watch this magical moment. Kazuma felt something warm on his hand, looking down for a moment to see Trinity’s hand on his. Kazuma blushed for a moment, Trinity was amazed her eyes sparkle with wonder.

‘’Kazuma look!’ She spotted in the sky an orangish gold aura around one of the stars falling. ‘Hurry make a wish.’ She closed her eyes and Kazuma followed as well, what felt like an years was only a minute or two. When he opened his eyes, looked at Trinity who was looking at him. He couldn’t believe it that shooting golden luck star was real, it was amazing even if it was only for a few moments. 

‘What did you wish for Trinity?’ He asked her. She slightly blushed and looked up at the sky then back at him. 

‘I wished that I would help people after the Black Beast was defeated and that … you and I would stay together a-a-as friends for a very long time.’ Even if it was slightly dark, he could kinda of see the blush on her face. ‘What did you wish for?’ She asked him looking at him as if his hair wasn’t in the way of his eyes. 

He felt his face heat up, all he thought at that moment was about her when they made the wish except of a certain fear he had. He thought about the fear and if anything he would want her to at least find someway to be happy, even if it wasn’t him who made her truly happy. ‘I-I-I-I wished for you find to happiness.’ He took a deep breath and continued noticing his shift in expression to a more serious one. ‘ And I don’t want to disappear and lose everything that has happened so far.’ He had a dream a couple nights before, it was an awful dream where he was wicked and showed no compassion or remorse for anyone.

She looked at him with a worried expression and scooted closer towards him that their shoulders were next to each other. She lifted his one hand with both of hers and as if a lightbulb went off in her head, she had a small sad smile on her face. ‘How about we make a promise?’

Confused he could only listen to what she said next to him. ‘I promise that before and after the Black Beast has been defeated, that I will-‘

“Wake up,” a booming voice echoed out, drowning out Trinity’s words. The landscape started to crumble beneath Kazuma as he reached towards his friend as they drifted apart into the void. His voice could not reach her once again and all he could do was watch her drift away screaming for him with tears in her eyes. He is pulled by a light underneath him and the last thing he saw was Trinity floating into the nothingness.

—————

Jolting awake the young man awakens with taking some frantic breaths, as cold sweat dripped from his head. There’s a sharp pain searing at the back of his head and sees the young girl with the orange hoodie watching him a few spaces away from him with her cold and yet curious eyes. The sun shining down even though it was blocked by leaves and some tree branches, still manages to blind Kazuma for a moment before realizing that he was in a forest.

Ah I remember now, last night’s fight and those two strangers. She was injured, and I healed her. Wait healed? I thought that healing magic was extremely rare, and out of pure luck I did the impossible? But first-. Kazuma looked at the girl hold a pocket watch in one hand in the other was a folding knife. “Good morning, a-are you feeling any better?” He asked her as he used the tree to drag himself up, she gripped her knife and remained on guard. 

Is this some sort of trick? Linne thought watching the young man trying to stand. She looked down at her watch radar, she saw a blue dot on radar screen right where her located. It was right in front of her. Even when she looked through his pockets while he was sleeping he had nothing, could it be…. When he finally got up, she said something to him. “I’m alright, thanks.” Watching him walk towards the river and kneeling down to splashing some cold water on his face. “If you don’t mind I have some questions I want to ask you.” She said stoically with an expressionless look on face as he standing back up. When they both hear a growl come from her stomach, the moment became awkward as she blushed slightly and turned away slightly so he doesn’t see her face.

“Maybe we should have something to eat first.” He said trying to move along through the awkward moment. 

It took a while to catch some fish in the river and collect some branches or twigs to start a small fire. As they roasted some by the small fire, Linne notices how nervous the young man looked as he tried roast his fish. She gave sigh at how clumsy he was at fishing before and now he looked slightly frightened of touching the warm orangish yellow of the fire. His fish was slightly burnt, but he had no problem eating it trying not to flinch or react in disgust. Once they finish eating, Linne gives him a  cold expressionless with her glare. 

“Okay now we have gotten that finished, I have lots questions to ask you before you ask yours.” Kazuma says to her, as Kuu hovers near her. 

“It seems we both need answers to questions about this new world.”

“New world? What do you mean?”

Linne gave a quick sigh and continues speaking. “About a year or two ago there was a strange anomaly that had happened, certain people from those worlds who had skills in combat had to fight others who had been summoned for the keystones to return home to our original dimensions or make a wish. Originally there were four keystones, probably representing our four dimensions. Whenever four of these skilled fighters get together the System triggers and two must pair up to fight as a team. System was the one who created started all of this and is still around when ever there’s a fight with two teams of two. Once after all the keystones were combined, it turned into a disaster however, we all got home for at least a few days. However, the System apparently brought us back after all the hard work we had all fought and created a new ‘game’ with new faces and deadly ones too. After that crap, apparently we couldn’t get back home because the System didn’t have enough energy to do that. So the only way to get more energy was to fight, maybe it was two or four months till we thought we had enough energy that System to send us all back.” Linne paused looking at the ground for a moment, in that moment she looked stuck in her own thoughts before she looked back up at him.

“We were wrong, instead of taking us back home it created a new world by combining our dimensions together and other ones as well, bringing people who have no means of defending themselves here. I was told by System that in order to return home or get another wish we have find sixty keystones across this land. Only a select few are able to participate in this hunt, while familiar faces protect small villages or help us find any information. As a means of finding any keystones, everyone was given a radar in the form of a pocket watch.” Linne lifts the pocket watch in front of her by the chain so Kazuma could see. “There’s still so much we don’t know about this world and the creatures cloaked in shadows with masks of bone, those are Grimm from the world of Remnant. With those creatures it’s difficult sometimes to get from one place to another. In the end it has been nearly a year since this happened but, what I do know is that if someone with ill intentions got their hands on all those keystones then the worst is yet come. There are a total of 60 keystones hidden.” Kazuma looked slightly shaken and speechless trying to soak in all the information he had just learned .Linne placed her pocket watch in her pocket and waiting for Kazuma to ask anymore questions.

He truly doesn’t about this, his hands are even shaking. Maybe it wouldn’t be best if I told him that the radar is reacting to him at this moment. She thought to herself watching him calm himself down.

“I have a three more questions if you don’t mind?” He asks her.

”I might or might not answer them. Go for it.”

”The magic here is different from where I came from and when I performed that healing spell before, it was pure chance that it worked. Is there a different law of magic or magic system in this world?” He asks seeming very interested in magic with a small smile. 

“I don’t know, there isn’t enough information just yet to tell and also I don’t care. It has nothing to do with what’s happening nor does it concern me.” She said taking her folding knife twirling it in her hand effortlessly.

 Kazuma eagerness deflated as he took a deep breath in and then out. “Why did those two keep trying to fight you when you were clearly alone, didn’t you say that has to be four people to split into groups of two?”

“Things have changed since the creation of this world.” She paused for a moment and continued. “There was no rule to attack anyone who is alone, only when are four individuals who are deemed as ‘competitors’ by the System will be when the triggered tag-battle will begin.” Kazuma nodded understanding what she meant. 

“Lastly, I never got your name? I don’t want to be rude or anything by calling you a kid but, you seem much wiser then you look when we were roasting fish and when you fought yesterday that you knew what you were doing.” 

“….” Does it even matter that he knows my name? It doesn’t matter anyway.  “My name is Linne and this is Kuu.”

It was her turn for questions as she sat up straighter. “Who are you?” She asked.

—————

Who am I… who am I? My whole life was engineered by Relius, I was only born into world to be Terumi’s vessel of chaos and evil. I was so desperate that I even allowed him to take over my body, I wanted so badly to ask for help from anyone or Trinity but, there was a huge fog I couldn’t get myself to remember. By the time I finally remembered, it was too late. Now I have a chance to right those wrongs, to do something good. He thought to himself.

”Kazuma. Kazuma Kval.” He said with confidence reaching out his hand to shake hers. This is my first step towards not becoming like Terumi and being my own person. He was slightly surprised when felt a warm hand shaking his own. 

They let go, Linne stares at him for a moment before asking him anymore questions . “Do you have siblings?” 

“N-no, I don’t have any siblings, I don’t think so.” Slightly caught off guard by the question.

“It’s just that you look similar another one of the ‘competitors’. Never mind, what are you going to do now?” She asked him. If he is a keystone or has some sort of connection to it, then I shouldn’t let this opportunity go to waste.

”I-I-I don’t know.” He said utterly confused then an idea popped in his head. “Can I come with you? I promise I won’t be a burden and I can help you find those keystones please.” I don’t think I would have chance of surviving in this world especially if people from my world are around here… Especially Nine… the person yesterday she reminded me of her for some reason I can’t put my finger on it. But if Nine was here then I would definitely be roasted alive o-o-or w-w-worse.

Silence, nothing was said for a moment except for the birds chirping and the water rushing from the waterfall. She gave a sigh and stood up turning away from him in silence as Kuu hovered nearby. Just when he thought she was going to say no and leave him there, she said walking towards the forest slowly. “You can follow me, just try not to get in my way. Alright?”  

Kazuma nodded understanding her, “Okay, and thank you.” As he followed behind her into the shaded forest.

—————

???

It was dark in the musty old temple as if it had been there all along with moss and large overgrown trees. Green direct eyes scan the lifeless area, clutching katana’s blue waiting in silence. All around the person were wolf like Grimm peering looking at their next pray. When one Beowolfs decides to attack all the others rushing with it forming a circle to block their prey’s escape. The sunlight slightly shines through the over grown trees to see the cold Hero of the Ice Blade, Jin Kisaragi who scoffs at his weak opponents.

As it’s claw got closer, in one swift movement the one Grimm was sliced in half as two more Grimm charged at him from behind. From the ground two ice spikes grew behind him and piercing the two Beowolf through their mouths. As another Beowolf tries to attack at Jin’s side, there was a quick slash as a woman with scarlet red hair in a beige colored uniform swiftly decapitates its head from its body with her whip, that turns back into a blade. All the Grimm were gone only leaving the two of them alone.

“Let’s go Tsubaki.” Jin said walking towards the temple as Tsubaki follows behind him. Walking through the entrance as unexpected eyes watch them. Jin turns around abruptly towards the entrance and signals Tsubaki to get move closer behind him. “I know your here, quit hiding and show yourself or else.” At the entrance two young woman stand there ready for battle, one in a school girl uniform with silver hair and a large battle axe. The environment didn’t bother her robotic features didn’t as for her partner, she wore a black dress with a white buttoned up shirt holding large blue sword. 

“We got here first! Sure I got stuck on a couple of the vines-.” The silver haired robot spoke up hotheaded and ready for a fight.

Her partner calm and collected said, “Labrys, you were tangled up in vines for three hours.” Before anyone could act Labrys pushed her partner , ES from both Jin and Tsubaki away as the temple started to rumble. Outside the on top of temple entrance was a giant bird monster with a loud screech of challenge towards the two young women. 

“It seems we have a uninvited guest, ES let’s teach this guy a lesson or two.” Labrys says getting  fired up. ES simple nodded as the two go up against  giant bird with a malevolent aura surrounding it as it charges towards them. 

Chapter Text

It had already been three hours since they stopped after yesterday’s battle and now they are tracking a keystone through the forest. The sky was slightly cloudy only covering a bit of the sun, letting it peek out to shine a little light. Kazuma was walking behind Linne following her lead as Kuu hovering next to her. He never questioned what that was but, honestly with all the information about this world was something he was more concerned with at the moment. 

Would this mean timelines from the same world intersect with each other? Wouldn’t that affect the world as it is or would this System make a new timeline according to the fusion between all these worlds. Kazuma lost in thought, not realizing that Linne has stopped walking holding her folding knife while she placed her pocket watch in her hoodie pocket. She stops Kazuma from walking any farther, she can sense that they were not alone. The sounds of birds chirping accompanied by the unnerving silence shifts to see three shadowy monstrous forms with bone like armor of sorts. 

The largest one looked like a giant scorpion with a golden stinger as one of its  pincers lunged towards Linne. She swiftly dodged the incoming attack with ease  as Kuu flew quickly behind Kazuma. The other two shadowy creatures looked like wolves with bone-like spines, the creatures reminded Kazuma of the creature he encountered yesterday even though he didn’t get a good look at it. He sensed the same malevolent energy from those creatures, it reminded him of the Black Beast from his world that showed no mercy for anyone or anything. “Those creatures are Grimm, if you don’t attack they will kill you.” Linne says as she dodges another attack.

Linne avoided the golden stinger by jumping back from the attack, the two wolf-like grimm realize the weakest link as Kazuma. As one charges to attack Kazuma, he quickly mutters something under his breath. I hope this works! He thought as he shouts raising his hand against the target. “Ice!” Kazuma’s hand felt cold for a moment as a icy shard shoots towards the charging grimm. It had hit the grimm’s front leg, stunning it momentarily as the other grimm takes the opportunity to attack with its claw. The slash tore at a part of his mage academy uniform, giving it a three slightly bloody slash marks on his side as he tripped on a rock, knocking him on ground . The other grimm that was stunned broke out of the slightly cold annoyance, ready to attack the young green haired mage.

”Barrier.” Kazuma whispered as the grimm who attacked him tries to leap forward towards hi, only to bounce back from his and land of it’s feet snarling. The other one that was stunned charges towards Kazuma. Linne on the other hand, had sliced one of the pincers of the grimm scorpion during that time as she swiftly blocks the other pincer. She looks to her left to see the young man trying to fend for himself and getting himself cornered. 

Looks like I have to end this quickly before- she thought as she turned her attention back at the giant grimm. Kazuma tries to shoot two more ice shards only for the grimm to dodge the attacks. Come on Kazuma, get yourself together! He thought as he dodges another swipe towards him while the other wolf-like grimm was preparing to pounce on its prey. 

As it pounces, a shout from above him catches him off guard. “LOOK OUT BELOW!” As pink flash with a hint of silver smashes the Beowolf, only leaving a crater behind. There in the crater, a teenage girl with short fiery orange hair had a huge smile on her face hold a silver unique sledgehammer. “Alright who’s next?” She said confidently looking at the other Beowolf who backs away from the sudden appearance of the new challenger. 

“Nora!” A young man’s voice yelled from behind as a raven haired young man appears along with two more young men. One was dressed like a knight with white chest armor, he had blond hair and carries a sword and a shield in the other hand. The other young man looked younger then the two other challengers, he had hazel brown hair and tanned skin with freckles on his face. The raven haired young man took out a pair of unique green sickles that shot the Beowolf during its retreat. The grimm vanished as the shadowy ashes from where it was spread into the air. 

On the other side Linne has cut off the scorpion’s golden stinger and quickly runs to slide down under the giant grimm, using her long sword to slice a pair of its legs. The dust settles as the grimm that tumbles from being unbalanced, she then sees the orange haired teenager run towards the grimm. With all her might she slammed her hammer down, leaving larger crater underneath shattering the bone-like armor. 

Taking a few quick breaths, the blond knight quickly walks towards Kazuma looking a bit out of breath and kneeling down to his side. “Are you alright?” The blond knight asked holding out both of his hands as light glow shines from his hands onto Kazuma. Kazuma’s body felt warm as his close and that were recent grew into weeks old wounds. It felt different from his or any healing spell, it didn’t feel like magic or alchemy. Kazuma nodded confirming that he was alright, slightly nervous about the four strangers. “I’m Jaune, the one with the hammer and lots of energy is Nora.” Jaune said standing up and extending a hand to help Kazuma up from the ground. Kazuma reached for his hand as Jaune pulls him up, he notices that the younger teen with the freckles held a uniquely crafted cane rather then a sword or something like the other members of his group. 

“That’s Oscar, and over by Nora is Ren.” Jaune said pointing at Ren lecturing Nora. “So what brought you guys here in the middle of the forest?” Kazuma didn’t know how to answer that, but Linne did as she stepped forward towards Kazuma’s side. 

“Thanks, but we must be leaving now, we traveling to a town four days away.” She said as Kazuma’s stomach started to grumble. He blushed a bit scratching his head in embarrassment.When Nora quickly appeared in the front of Kazuma and began to speak quickly with excitement. 

“Hey now don’t leave yet. Hi I’m Nora nice to meet you.” She took his hand and shook it. “You guys look like you haven’t packed any food or supplies on the road. You guys should stop by Remire Village, it’s a few miles away from here.” It was definitely hard to say no since Kazuma felt his arm start to get sore as she let go of his hand. He nodded his head and Linne gave a sigh of annoyance as Nora cheered. “By the way, what’s your names?” 

Kazuma felt a bit reluctant to give his name however, since there is a high possibility that they didn’t come from his world. “Kazuma.” He looked to Linne who just gave a sigh.

”Linne.” She said uncaringly.

This is going to be a long day, Linne thought to herself. As she and the rest of group began to follow Jaune to the village.

———————-

It had been thirty minutes since they met the group of teens, Nora chattering about how this village had been recently built and is still tying to thrive. The group had stumbled upon the village when traveling to look for their friends , it was under attack by Grimm. The people couldn’t defend themselves, buildings were on fire as the screams of terrified citizens were heard. The huntsman fought the Grimm off until they retreated, however the town was in shambles and many people were injured. They have been helping out for five months with rebuilding the town, fending off the Grimm and helping the locals with certain tasks like farming. 

“I was by another town, there was giant crystal floating above the town. Why doesn’t this village have a crystal or any means of defending itself?” Kazuma asked as the group continued forward through a rough forest path nearly tripping on some roots a couple of times.

“Those crystals are important, they are meant to repel Grimm or monsters that are in the surrounding areas. They are extremely rare to mine and only towns that can financially afford them are able to acquire them.” Ren said walking in front of Nora as the number of trees surrounding them began to deplete.

Oscar looked ahead and pointed out to the group a clearing. In the middle of that clearing were wood and stone, only a few were made of brick buildings, some that were under construction. Men and women were helping each other build houses, others were outside a few miles away on the other side of the village there were farmers planting crops into the recently plowed soil. “Here we are Remire Village, it’s not much but its getting there.” Oscar said with a smile. There were people posted in out and some were patrolling the village with guns or spears. 

Two men with spears gives the group a nod as they approach the village. The man stopped Linne and Kazuma from entering however, Jaune stopped one of the man from using his spear to block the newcomers from entering. “Whoa, don’t worry.” Jaune said “They are with us. They helped us get rid of some Grimm in woods.” The man nodded and pulled his spear back letting Kazuma and Linne in. 

As they entered, an old lady with curly white hair walked up to Ren with a warm smile. “Oh hello Ren, thank you for your help yesterday. I couldn’t have found my where I placed my quilts without you.” Ren gave the woman a smile back as he followed Jaune’s lead towards a two story inn made with stone and wood. 

“Hey Jaune!” A little boy with brown hair, wearing a striped shirt and grey shorts ran towards Jaune with two other children behind him. One was a girl with blue hair wearing a green dress that reached to her knees, while the other was a dark skinned boy with a prosthetic metal leg with slightly curly black hair. “How did the trip go? Did you fight any Grimm?” He asked the huntsman with admiration for the teen. Jaune scratched his head feeling a tiny bit embarrassed by some of their fans. 

“Yep, the trip went pretty good actually we did fight some Grimm while we were patrolling.” Jaune looked back at Kazuma and Linne as a woman with brown hair walked out off the inn. She wore blue jeans and a hand knit green sweater, she approached the little boy with both her arms on her hips. 

“Miles, I told you to do your chores hours ago.” She sternly said as the boy huffed walking over to the front of the inn and picked up a broom. Mumbling about how it wasn’t fair or something. She turned around to face the group with a nervous and yet embarrassed look on her face. “Sorry, Mr. Arc, my brother didn’t finish his chores today. He can be a bit of a handful sometimes.” That’s when she noticed Linne and Kazuma behind him. “Well, hello there welcome to Remire Village. Are you friends of Mr. Arc?”

“They helped us take care of some of the Grimm we tracked a couple days ago.” Jaune replied.

Linne spoke up and said to the innkeeper. “We are just here to spend the night and get supplies for a trip that’s all.” The innkeeper understood with a nod. 

“We should have a celebration, Rhea, for our guests in town. They did help beat some Grimm.” Miles said loudly so others could hear. Some citizens nodded in agreement with the boy. More people started to crowd who had listened voicing their opinions of agreement or disagreement with the idea.

Rhea shook her head upset. Before she could say anything Nora in her perky energetic self voiced her thoughts. “I think that’s a great idea! With the constant patrolling and the decrease in Grimm attacks, this would the perfect time to celebrate.” 

————————

That evening people of the town were creating a bonfire and setting up food tables, Miles and his friends had finished the chores by then and have started to to collect twigs to add. Linne was watching as the Rhea took the torch and lit up the bonfire. There were some citizens with guitar, trumpets  and drums playing music for people to dance to. Many of them danced around the bonfire such as Nora and Ren, while others clapped along with the upbeat rhythm of the music. Oscar watched with a smile as Linne in a sour mood dance with Miles and his friends since they kept asking her to. 

You know Oscar, this town has really grown since we arrived.  That’s true Ozpin, ever since the attack people have been trying to keep their hopes up for a better tomorrow. Nora and Miles were definitely right about this celebration, it’s something light hearted and fun for our guests. Even if Linne isn’t looking like she’s enjoying herself. Oscar thought as he observed Linne mood shift to tolerating the groups attempts of joining in the celebration. When they didn’t see Kazuma anywhere near the celebration it was a bit suspicious, however when he looked at the new roof of the inn he saw Kazuma watching the festivities from above. As Oscar was about to head towards the inn, the older being in his head spoke. Oscar, this is the time to relax a bit. With all the hard work you put forth with the farmers and reconstruction nearly every day, you need a break. Besides I have a feeling that our friend there will have some company. 

He didn’t argue with Ozpin feeling a bit of worry Kazuma. The sun had gone down and the stars in night sky shined, the fire still burning with a majestic orange and yellow glow. Kazuma watching from above saw the festivities continue, smiles, dancing and joy of the people. Did he deserve this? To be happy or dance with others after everything he has done in his world? Did he truly ever have any of these feelings or were they not real to begin with? These thoughts plagued his mind, not noticing the sound of footsteps behind him.

“Is there room for one more?” A voice said behind him as he turned to see Jaune without shield and instead carried a cup of water. Kazuma scooted over to make room for Jaune as he sat next to him handing the water to Kazuma. Kazuma accepted it and looked towards the festivities.

“Shouldn’t you be celebrating down there?” Kazuma asked.

“I should ask you the same thing? Unless you’re socially awkward as well. ” Jaune said as Kazuma turned his head to look at Jaune.

“I guess I am socially awkward, always have been.” Kazuma sighed. “Wait does that mean you are socially awkward as well?” In surprise almost spilled his water.

”Yup, one of the most helpful and kinda popular guy with the kids here is socially awkward too.” Jaune chucked then looked down with a melancholy smile. “I wasn’t always this confident, there was someone who was a part of our team before Oscar joined… she meant at lot to me. She gave me the confidence to be a real leader, she was a skilled warrior and a very smart person. She trained me even when  I doubted myself, she held out her hand. ”

Kazuma took a deep breath in and out. “You had someone too? Someone who can clear up the worst of days when others push you down?” Jaune nodded yes after Kazuma asked his question. He never opened up to anyone about his personal life besides Trinity until he lost his memory. “I-I had someone like that, she had a kind heart that was stronger than gold. She gave me confidence whenever I felt upset or was pushed around by our peers. Because of my appearance, people thought I was shifty and not only that I wasn’t really talented with my abilities. She didn’t see me that way.” Kazuma choked back the urge to tear up. “Her name was Trinity.”

“Trinity,  that’s a beautiful name, she must have been an amazing friend.” Jaune said. “Pyrrha, that was her name. She helped me move forward even now.” He looked up night sky as the stars gleamed and Kazuma looked up at the stars. That night, he wished with all his might that he could find someway to apologize to Trinity and make things right. But deep down, he knew that she would never forgive him. 

Three Months Later

“Hazama, I won’t be fooled by you any longer. No matter what you say it won’t change the way I feel. After all the awful things you have done to our world and to this one. I hate you and I wish that you never existed!” The woman in a white cloak with round glasses and blond hair said.

The green haired sorcerer in shock trembled, bare except for his ragged torn up to the knees black jeans. In his left hand was a katana, the blade red as blood and the hilt dark as night.  He moved the katana in front of him now holding it with both hands. The woman across from him waiting for his strike against her. But it never came, she saw the splatter of blood as he drove his blade at his stomach, sticking out from his back was the edge of the blade. He muttered something to her, a long forgotten promise that was even lost to her.

Tears started to form as ran towards him, calling him in shock and fear. “KAZUMA!”

Chapter Text

It wasn’t the first group of people who seemed to stand out from this world to Linne. Clearly they came from one of the other worlds that merged. However, her thoughts are more focused on the mysterious young man she had recently met. Since Kazuma didn’t even understand the concept of keystones or the current circumstances, why does he have a keystone? Or maybe….  Linne’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps walking towards her from the side. Oscar approached her with a smile as people were eating and dancing. “Are you enjoying the party?” He asked her as if the people around them weren’t even there. The bonfire where couples and children danced around not disturbing them as Oscar moved to be next to her. 

“I’m not one for parties.” She said crossing her arms and still waiting for anything to strike. If anything these people are basically calling the Grimm here with this. She looked away from the party, out at the woods. The moonlight may help see somewhat , but unfortunately for Linne, the Grimm weren’t looking to prey on the small town tonight. 

“Really, I couldn’t tell.” Oscar joked. “Besides if to ease your worries the Grimm numbers here are low most of the time.” Linne turned her head towards the bonfire with unbothered and emotionless expression on her face. Watching as the villagers danced, their shadows following their movements against the light of the bonfire. The fire crackled as someone threw more wood into the fire, tiny embers floating up towards the night sky. The moon finally peaking out of the clouds it was once hiding from. Oscar stared up at the moon with a smile as Linne herself felt indifferent even if it was another world, the moon remained the same as several other worlds hung up whole, dimly glowing against clouds. She didn’t know if there was a sudden breeze or if she actually looked up at night sky as embers float only for to extinguish, but something was different about Oscar. She caught his eyes as he turned his head towards her, his eye color shifted from a greenish gold to brownish golden hue. “The moon looks very different in our world. It’s oddly comforting seeing the moon whole after thousands of years. Yet it’s not the same moon that hung among the night sky as if this world is trying to blend what we believe is right and what is wrong to keep us from leaving. ” Oscar said, but his voice was different. It sounded more wiser, slightly more distinguished and it reminded her of an undeniable fact. “Or maybe it’s the world trying to comfort us before we start to forget ourselves in this world.”

She narrowed her eyes as she spoke quietly. “You’re not a participant of this game are you?  Your friends don’t see the whole picture besides protecting a small village.” There was an undeniable moment of silence that between the two as “Oscar” shifted his head to see Jaune and Kazuma on the roof of the inn talking. 

“No, I’m not a participant of this so called ‘game’. Only a select few remember their original worlds, other than that even history and memories have shifted for those who were brought here.” “Oscar” spoke as his gaze shifted towards Nora trying to get Ren to dance with her. “ Sadly, none of them remember the strife in our world. They only remember as far back when they first met Oscar. While our other friends only remember a time before.” His eyes shimmered, shifting from what they previously were before, his expression shifted sadly as he watched Nora finally getting Ren to join her dancing with a cheerful smile that illuminated her face. “My other friends from my world didn’t know who I was. It was if I were speaking to different people who had the same faces as my friends.” He softly spoke ending with a sigh. His voice had shifted back and as the young farm boy looked at her, she locked her gaze upon Kazuma and Jaune before she shifted her gaze towards the inn.

“Besides getting caught up in all of this, you are also tied down by a destiny that you never wanted. Even if your friends recovered their memories would they even accept what remember?” She said looking at the ground, taking a quick deep breath before sighing. Oscar scratched the back of his head and replied with a smile. “That’s why friends are there, to remind them that even with bad memories, we also have good memories and that there are opportunities to create more good memories with others.” Linne didn’t say anything as she kicked the ground lightly and a small cloud of dirt withered away as soon as it was created. 

That’s what I thought before two years ago… Linne stared ahead towards the inn and said to Oscar before she started to move towards the inn. “Although we may find ourselves in the same situation. You have your own approach to this world and your friends to stick together and work as a team, while I have mine.” 

Oscar watched her walk away as the festivities continued. Oscar, I know you want to tell the others. But for now let Ruby and the others know after Linne and Kazuma are there resting that met another participant and their new mystery traveling companion .  ‘Your right, Ozpin. I hope Ruby and the others are okay.

——

Elsewhere

That night, in the middle of a barren land with sand stretched across that’s shaded by the night. Two hooded figures cloaked in tan walk along not minding dust that drifted towards them along with a cool, yet warm breeze. One figure to the left was shorter than the other on the right, to right’s waist. The right figure under the cloak raised their hand in front of the both of them as tiro stopped, holding a dark grey pocket watch with a symbol on it. The radar had them both of them standing as two purple dots as the ground started to tremble with pebbles near rocky structures in the desert began to shake or fall off. The shorter one on the left spoke up as the ground shook. “Looks like it noticed us in its territory. Better now then when we find the keystone, wherever that may be in this place.” On the radar there was a green speck quickly heading towards them as the ground shook violently. Near where the figure are, from the shaded sand there’s a burst as a giant brown centipede like monster with a tan underbelly. It screeched at the intruders as it spat them, both narrowly dodging the attack as a cacti behind them began to melt because of the acidy green saliva. “Shit, ditch the cloaks.” The left figure warned the right as a piece of their cloaks began to disintegrate upwards. The two figures removed their cloaks as they dodged another blast. 

There stood a girl with long raven hair and a black bow on her head in battle position. Pulling out of it’s sheath as the grey wakizashi began to shift into looking like a gun and began shooting at the monster.  While on the other side is a cat on its hind legs in an orange hoodie that looked too large for the feline, however is still able move around in it as it holds the sword in it’s paw as if it weighed nothing more than a feather as he is able to slash the one of the large insect’s eyes as it screeched in pain. That didn’t stop the teenage huntress to try to go for a blow, using one of her clones created by her semblance to get her in the air to attack the creature. The ground began to shake again as the feline yelled to her. “Blake, it’s calling for help. Fallback!” As another giant centipede monster bursted from the sandy ground near the other monster to swallow the young huntress. As soon as the huntress was in its mouth, a large explosion caught the new challenger by surprise as it wailed in agony before collapsing sideways. There still on the ground, the real Blake continued to distract the target. “You shouldn’t turn your away. That’s your first and last mistake.” He said as he swiftly decapitated the head easily with his blade and landed on the ground.

As Blake carefully approached the feline sword master, she felt in her pocket something vibrate. She retrieved her scroll from her pocket  and activated it. A message from Oscar, I’ll read it in a moment for now I should focus on that… thing with Jubei. Hopefully, Yang and the others are okay. 

Jubei examined the monster and looked his own pocket watch. The radar pointing at the creature itself. “Great work kid, I thought it would take longer to get the keystone. Hope you don’t mind helping sort out where in this thing’s stomach or digestive system the keystone?” 

Although it took part way through the night and the both of them reeked of the strong smell monster intestines, they found both the slimy keystone undamaged.  

Chapter Text

After the long night, Rhea asked them to to stay the night as the town began to clean up and head into their homes sleepily after the celebration. Linne insisted  that they need to stick together, despite Rhea’s concerns about the two sharing a room together. Linne got to sleep on the bed as Kazuma had to sleep on the small couch with a spare red blanket with a few patches stitched with similar shades of orange to blend in with the red. After the long eventful day, Kazuma began to drift slowly to sleep. Looking back at Linne who was still awake on the bed as the moonlight peaked past the clouds and slightly illuminated the room. She was looking at something in her hand, but could only make it out to be a photograph of some sorts. “Night.” He muttered to her as she quickly shoved the photo in her hoodie pocket.

”Goodnight.” She said as her eyes once more look through the window at the moon, away from Kazuma. 

————

He found himself somewhere had only been there once in the Mage’s Guild Academy, it was where the Ten Sages met. The marble flooring, the columns of decorated stone holding the top of the circular roof that had a marvelously painted mural of magic and alchemy swirling around the beings. The attention to detail was eye opening as he could almost thought saw the mural move, it felt like a lifetime of watching the mural before the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted his mind from being entrapped by the mural once more. There in front on him was an enchanted wide wooden large table in a c shape facing him, carved to match the elegance of the room as windows had blue draping with a golden lining at the end.

In front of him, ten carefully crafted chairs and equally important people sitting on them casting their glare upon him. Of course Two, would replace one in their seat, as he stroked his brown beard looking at Kazuma with a no fury and holding himself in a regal fashion. All of the Ten Sages (expect for One whose chair was empty) wore purple witch-like hats as a sign of their position. Who replaced Two’s seat was unknown to him, they wore a grey hooded cloak with silver looking vines at the edges. Their lower half of their face had a neutral expression as the cloaked figure had a younger looking face, even younger than Konoe. Three her teaching uniform looked at Kazuma with sad and forlorn expression, she hated conflict and was the most kind hearted of the all the Ten. Her elderly look fooled many, but she is one instructor that Kazuma had really encouraged him when he struggled to cast a homing spell. 

Next to her was Four who also had a neutral look on his face, but in his brown eyes; the thirty year old looked disappointed.His auburn brown  mustache matched his short pulled back hair. As tall and quite as he may be, Four was a stern instructor as he pushed his students to grow with even combat against monsters that he could take out with a single wind spell. Of course he has never met five and six, but from what he sees they are replaced by two new figures. Both unfamiliar to him, one was a man with snowy white hair with cold hazel eyes watching the young man as his tan drum softly on the table. The other who replaced Six, had purple left eye and a red right, wearing teal cloak that covers her aqua green dress. Her long hair was the same color as her left eye, put up with a silver ribbon as she looks at Kazuma with a stern expression. 

Then there was Seven who stared at him cold light blue eyes peering through his sleek rimless glasses. He wore his usual attire of a white button up trench coat, with white jeans and formal black shoes. His long shoulder length blond hair along with purple hat. He conspired with Eight to go against Nine and use her sister as a weapon to end the Dark War. Across from Seven was Eight herself holding herself calmly with a devious smirk on ruby tinted lips on her pale face. Her appearance still sent a chill down his spine, her shoulder length turquoise hair with the witch like hat, the golden necklace that had red and purple jewels on it, and by her shoulders her white fur that connected just beneath her cleavage. While her demeanor looked calm and collected, he had a feeling that if the other Sages weren’t here; she would end him herself.

But not before the person across from her would let because Nine would want to be his executioner, as Nine stares at Kazuma with a burning anger that is felt even as he knelt down on two legs overwhelmed by the magical energy that she directed at him without saying a word or casting a single spell. Her eyes burned in anger like some of her strongest fire spells that if she waited long enough he would become ash. However; next to Eight was a man with long shoulder length white hair, wearing an open red collared shirt with a black blazer. Black trousers that match his jacket and something at the center of his chest, his eyes are emerald piercing green just looks at him unamused by Kazuma. 

“The trial of Kazuma Kval shall begin. Bring up the first witness.” Two said as his voice echoed a bit in the room. There were footsteps behind him as Celica Mercury in her school uniform appeared  With a serious look on her face, hardly acknowledging his presence. “We promise if he tries anything he will be swiftly bound.”

“It was one night.” She spoke to the Sages with confidence. “I was worried and thought of my father, I only knew his whereabouts of him from memories from so long ago. Then Kazuma appeared, he suggested I leave the island and search for my father. I always felt this uneasy presence whenever I was around him, I didn’t know that by me leaving that I helped him turn into that monster, Terumi. It was m-m-my fault that so many people died.” Tears began to form in her hazel eyes as her hands gripped tightly into fists

“None of it was your fault, I did that. The blood is on my hands.” Kazuma mumbled quietly.

Nine stood up her eyes sadly looked at her sister as she gestured her sister to leave. Cecelia spared no glance at him as she left.  Nine was about to speak when Eight stood up from her chair with a devious smile. “Since he merged with Terumi, he offered me and Seven the chance to continue a certain project that Nine didn’t support. Although it was our choice to align ourselves with him, it doesn’t mean that it was a good idea. The plan didn’t work anyway as it was ineffective and was doomed to fail along with keeping me and Seven distracted.” Eight spoke as Nine gritted her teeth as Eight spoke properly. Eight and Nine were still at odds with each other, even with Kazuma here. 

Nine turned her attention back to Kazuma and spoke with destain and venom at him. “When I casted the Mind Eater spell so that The Six Heroes were able to control Terumi. I knew that he couldn’t break the spell since he couldn’t match my magic, so I thought we had him on a short leash. But were deceived as the ant was still another person sharing the vessel despite fully merging. He played us all like fools, he manipulated Trinity Glassfield to setting that scum free, Terumi. He then killed me and Trinity with no mercy, in fact he enjoyed our deaths. He killed many to hunt down my daughter after Terumi was free to slaughter hundreds of lives. It wasn’t until the rest of the heroes were able to stop him that they were successful.” 

“Then I ask our final witness to speak before we judge him.” Two said as the sound of footsteps from behind Kazuma began to sound closer and closer. There was a sound of something dripping hitting the marble floor with some steps. He couldn’t look behind him, it was like he was frozen as the he saw the white cloak flutter slightly behind the figure as drops of crimson stained the shirt worn by Trinity herself 

I can’t do this, please! He didn’t expect for her look back at him, her eyes once full of life now devoid of any of the joy he once saw beaming from her stunning green eyes. A knife jabbed straight into her heart as a lone tear fell from one of her eyes onto her cheek. As she spoke lifeless and unemotional. “ Kazuma, he was once my best friend, I even had feelings for him. But then he lost his memory and became suspicious of me, he didn’t think off me as a someone who could help him get his memory back. He didn’t trust me even when I reached out to him because I was worried about him. Then he disappeared for a long time until he returned to end the Dark War, we reconnected I thought my friend was being manipulated by the Mind Eater spell, I didn’t care to see him as Terumi, but as Kazuma Kval. He manipulated me, he infected me his lies that I was too late to realize my biggest mistake. That the Kazuma Kval I once knew was dead and that the devil had possessed him. Then I died, knowing I confessed my love to someone that I thought still existed.”

Kazuma shook with grief and sorrow as he voices began to muffle around him, and lowered his head down as tears rolled down his eyes. “Guilty.” Two spoke that one word that made him raise his head. As the Ten Sages except for the cloaked figure in Two’s old seat,  stood up and began to chant. “Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.” Their voices began to get louder with that word repeating echoed in the room as cold harsh winds began to blow around. The Sages unelected continued to call him names and repeat that word as Trinity slowly walks towards him, as the knife in her heart digs deeper staining her white shirt with crimson. 

“Kazuma.” She said reaching for this cheek with her pale hand and a sad smile on her face. Her pale hand was cold as it caressed his cheek to kneel down at eye level with him. He couldn’t do anything but cry as the feeling of his chest began to constrict his breathing. “Thank you… for letting me use your body without you I would have never made it this far.” A sinister smile formed on the alchemist’s face as her eyes glowed like a small bonfire past her glasses.It reminded him of Terumi, this made look at Terumi with pure hate.  “At least this body will be a good substitute. Then after that maybe I’ll dispose of it or better yet leave it in an ally for someone to find. Kazuma, you can’t- Kazuma.” As his body shook one way then another before-.

————-

Finally waking up to a concerned Linne, as he bolted upward in a cold sweat. From the look of her, the almost noticeable bags under her eyes that she didn’t sleep all night.

Chapter Text

Linne closed her eyes as she drifted to sleep for a moment. A familiar darkness surrounded her as she began to let her body relax and dream, falling and falling until she stopped. She stopped, she saw a familiar scene around her as she saw herself inside a large storage house. She was on a flat metal bridge with thin railings, in front of her was a curved, stylish  woman she knew with a black and white dress. She had long blond hair that reached to her ankles, with both different colored eyes looking at Linne. She began to sinisterly laughed as Linne noticed the young man between them, he was exactly like Hyde except his duo hair look had reversed with the raven hair in the front and the blond bleached part of his hair in the back of the young man’s messy hair. He wore a black coat that seemed somewhat small for his size with a stab wound in the midsection. There she saw his normal katana covered with blood with fresh blood splatter on the metal runway. There by his dress shoes were a pair of dark rimmed glasses on cracked on the ground until Linne saw the lookalike crush it with a crunch. He picked up a large black top hat and ripped the a chuck of it that had a cartoonish rabbit on the brim of the hat. That’s when Linne moved her body to the left side of the railing and looked down to see a body of a young woman clad in black with long pink hair impaled on an old chandelier. Her eyes only had a little life left as she struggled to say her last words loud enough. 

“D-d-damn you Hilda, y-y-you bitch.” She then looked from Hilda to Linne. “K-k-kick t-t-that miserable w-w-wench’s ass.” From those words her complexion began to pale and her eyes faded from life itself. Linne picked up nameless and charged at towards Hilda with furious speed. She was blocked by the Hyde lookalike before she could strike at Hilda’s neck, he pushed her back and began to an onslaught of strikes that made her defend until she was pushed into a corner.

“Damn it, where is he! Where’s Kuon, Hilda?!” She gritted her teeth as she began to parry some of the strikes from the lookalike while other slashes landed leaving bloody slashes on her orange hoodie. “You would sacrifice your own group members just to test this clone’s powers?”

“Yes, Uzuki was just another sacrifice for a greater purpose for Amnesia. She had no value for what is to come, and besides she betrayed the group anyway out of spite for me. Tsk, how childish of her to think that she could try to take my position if she worked with you and your little friends.” Just then the clone backed away as the real Hyde ran out and slashed at the clone. “Looks like the star is here to save the day, too bad we have other plans.” Linne felt a presence behind her as she looked to see another clone, but it wasn’t of Hyde. It was other her brother, twisted by into some void monster as it reached toward her with inky dark claws. It was fast as it held Linne by the throat and began to choke her. 

“P-p-p-please stop, brother.” She tried to plead, even if it was just a clone she had to try. Its eyes once red and cruel turned to a reddish brown. 

“S-s-s-sISter?” It spoke in a mutated voice that combined her brother’s own voice with the being of the void. The being dropped the young girl as she coughed trying to regain herself. “SIster?” It spoke one last time with concern before she saw a blast of energy from behind her blast the clone dead at its heart. She looked back to see Hilda looking disappointed at the clone as Linne got back on her feet. 

“Such a disappointment of a clone, lucky for me that your brother hardy thinks like that anymore.” Hilda spoke taunting Linne. “Isn’t that right Kuon?”

She didn’t even sense or notice anyone behind her as a sharp pain stabbed into her back. Linne turned to see a figure in a white cloak with a sword stabbing her in the back. Why Kuon? 

————-

She woke up wiping the tears from her face as she looked around at her surroundings. It wasn’t real, it was only a dream. She thought as she shook her head. After a couple of hours of looking at the night sky through the window as the moon peaked from behind the clouds. That’s when she saw Kazuma, trembling and muttering to himself. She knew that it wasn’t any of her business, but he is connected to the keystone one way or another, as she walked up out of bed to check on the green haired mage. She heard plead for something to stop and she began to shake him out of his own sleep.

”Kazuma.” Once didn’t work. “Kazuma, wake up.” As he jolted upward in a cold sweat from the nightmare he had and stared Linne heaving to catch his breath.

Chapter Text

Kazuma looked at himself in the mirror of the tiny bathroom on the upper floor that Linne and himself were staying in for the night. His hands trembled as his mind thought back to nightmare that he had earlier. It was his fault for not trusting his friend when she only tried to help him through his memory loss. Looking at himself now still reminded him of the evil entity that had tricked him, he splashed cold water on this face from the bathroom sink in front of him. He couldn’t help the way when he saw his eyes through his bangs to almost flinch back in fear. He thought for a moment that Terumi’s greenish yellow eyes were starring at him from the mirror. Fear that Terumi still had control over his life as he shook off the cold fear that was there. He allowed Terumi to take and he became a monster. He sighed before an idea formed in his mind while he was looking his clothes then back to his normal self. He was still wearing his Mage Association uniform although this torn and dirtied from the past two days.

He left the bathroom after wiping off any leftover dirt that still hung on his clothes after a few minutes of cleaning. He walked down the hallway towards the door across from the room he had slept and knocked on it lightly. He heard the sound of someone snoring as the raven haired huntsman answered the door already dressed. “Kazuma, good morning. Did you sleep well?” 

Kazuma shook his head as he scratched the back of his head feeling somewhat nervous about talking to Ren. “No, neither did Linne apparently.” Linne had decided to train for a while outside the inn while Kazuma was getting ready. “I wanted to ask you, Oscar, and Nora a favor before me and Linne leave this morning.” 

“Sure, what is it?” Oscar asked as he walked towards the door with a smile. Kazuma took a deep breath for moment, with his hands still shaking. Then let it out as he spoke truthful to huntsman in front of him. A long time ago, Kazuma would have never trusted them since it would take lots of time to gain his trust. Yet after being rescued by them and having that party with the village, something inside had changed when he and Jaune were talking about Pyrrha and Trinity. They spoke a lot longer than he thought as they both talked about their worlds, aura and magic, even about the school Jaune had spoken about made him wish to learn there as well. Jaune’s stories about his team and their battles against the Grimm. They put their faith in each other because they had each other’s backs through the worst of times. Kazuma wanted to learn to trust in good people, just as Trinity and Jaune had done with him.

This is a new step for me, I want to be able to surpass myself. I have to carry on Trinity’s will, no matter what happens. Kazuma thought as he spoke with confidence. ”I need your help, you see I wanted a new look for myself and I thought you guys might help?”

In a puff cloud from the bed to the front door fully dressed was Nora standing there with a big smile and a twinkle in her blue eyes. “Don’t worry, we got your back, Kaz.” Kazuma gluped for a moment as he instantly regretted his choice for a moment when Nora asked. “Now do you only want the outfit done or dyeing your hair and giving you a new haircut.” He saw her holding a pair of scissors as Ren took them from her hand. “Alright, you can do the hair Ren while I go on a shopping spree with you.”

Ren sighed as he placed the pair of scissors on the desk inside their room. “So extensions or keeping your hair short with a new style.”

——————-

Linne waited outside of the inn as she drank some of her black bitter coffee in a glass mug. It was already mid-morning and she had told Kazuma that they were leaving two hours ago. It has been three hours and by now she was getting impatient. She twirled her Nameless in her hand as Kuu chirped up at her to look the other way. “Is anyone sitting here?” She looked up to see Jaune Arc his own mug of coffee, in his armor.

”By all means.” She muttered as she tried to forget the dream she had the pervious night about events that took place before being summoned to this world once again. She knew Hilda was here along with the some of the other members of her organization, but now things have gotten bigger with more dangers in this world besides Grimm. There’s the monsters guarding the keystones or difficult puzzles meant to challenge the contenders. She thought she had seen Kazuma with Jaune’s friends as she was jogging around. “So are you guys staying here until this place get a Omni Crystal?”

Jaune smiled as he sat next her on the wooden patio near the inn, drinking some of his hot beverage. “That’s the plan for us for now.” He set down his cup as he smiled at some of the children running around playing tag. “Their old village was attacked by monsters that caused nearly half of population to be slaughtered. I couldn’t stand by and watch people suffering.” He smiled as he looked at Linne. “Lucky for me Ren, Nora, and Oscar felt the same and we decided to help.” 

Linne looked her dark hot beverage for a moment before looking at the smiling children who were running around. “Your friends are lucky to have someone like you. It’s hard to find people who are willing to risk their lives for a small population of people with Grimm, monsters, and bandits around.” 

Jaune looked at her with a confused look as he spoke. “What do you mean? There are still people who do that even if it’s not apparent at first. It’s not always easy to spot the helpers or even to learn to trust one another. But, not everyone has some sinister motive or reason to do the things others can’t quite understand.” 

Linne sighed as she heard a set of footsteps headed their way. She saw Nora, Ren and Oscar as someone behind them trailed behind them. Nora was the first to speak up with some pep in her step. “Hey guys!” She said with a smile on her face as looked from Linne and Jaune to the cups of coffee. “Aw man, I missed my second cup today. This is going to interrupt my coffee schedule.” Ren coughed for her to stay focused as she focused back to Jaune and Linne. Jaune looked somewhat confused while Linne didn’t seem bothered. “Well we wanted to apologize for being a little late, but we do have a surprise.” The three moved out of the way so that the person behind them can be seen. Linne’s was trained on the man who she had met the day before. “Ta-da!”  

Chapter Text

”Ta-da!” Nora said with a happy smile as she steeped away to reveal Kazuma. He wore a long sleeved dark blue shirt with a short neckline. She saw his new long dark gray pants with the ankle cuffs rolled up neatly above his ankles. His hair was still the same green although it looked slightly shorter, his bangs only covered halfway to expose the lower half of his eyes. On his feet he wore brown sturdy shoes. Rather than the tattered rags he had found that he used as a cloak from before, he wore a gray cloak with silver lining at the edges. In one of his hands, he held a finely carved quarter. On his bag that held his new and old clothes inside.

“Nora, Ren, and Oscar helped me, sorry that we ran late.” Kazuma said as he walked over to Linne and faced the group. “Thank you all for your help.” Jaune nodded as Ren, Nora, and Oscar smiled at each other before looking back the trio. “I know your offer last night was tempting Jaune. But I want to redeem myself of this guilt.” He spoke with an air of confidence. 

The magic user looked back at the young mature girl who had finished her coffee at this point as he walked over to stand next to her. She gave him a mild annoyance and emotionless expectancy on her face as she addressed the Huntsmen. “Thanks for your help yesterday. I apologize if we seem to be in a rush, but we must get going.”

The young Huntsmen nodded with understanding as Oscar spoke up. “Good luck to you both.” He said with a smile. Linne didn’t feel that odd presence from the boy this until his next set of words. “May your journey lead to the redemption and new friends along the way.” Linne diverted her attention from the odd young man. It almost seemed like that he was just like her, yet not really.

”Bye Kazuma! Bye Linne! It was great meeting you both.” Nora said as Ren walked over to shake Kazuma’s hand. Kazuma felt relaxed with Ren for some reason and feeling grateful for Ren help with the clothing and keeping Nora from going overboard.

Kazuma looked to Jaune with a friendly smile said to the trio. “If you guys ever stop by the area again, you should stop by and visit.” Kazuma nodded as Jaune continued. “I’d love to hear about the crazy adventures you guys have gone on together.” 

Linne and Kazuma both began to walk to the south entrance of the small town as citizens began to wave at the travelers who had arrived the day before. The children from yesterday ran to follow the strangers, yelling at them best wishes and saying their goodbyes. Kazuma waved back to the children and the huntsmen before realizing he was falling behind as Linne walked ahead with her sack. The sky was partly cloudy with the sun peaking from the clouds to shine it’s light as Kazuma quickly speed walked on the dirt path to catch up with Linne.

”Let’s go, we are two days away from the next keystone.” Linne said as Kazuma panted for a moment giving a nod of understanding after catching his breath. 

————

A little girl with long blond peach colored hair wearing sleeveless white shirt with buttons and blue lining laid on a grassy hill as she rests. Walking down the hill was a teenager with brown eyes and long straight black hair. The older teen wore a school uniform skirt with a red sweater cardigan. A few miles away were other teenage girls arguing over their campfire meal as a horrendous smell emanated from the unholy creation made. Another girl about the same age as the blond girl, she also had a school uniform although different from the other teen. She had short pink hair and red gloves as she tried to calm the young lady in a dark grayish blue dress that reaches to the bottom of her legs.

The dark haired teen spoke up as she got close to the snoozing blond haired girl. “Luna! Sena! Dinner’s ready!” The girl hummed as her eyes opened lazily as she shook off her drowsiness. She blankly dazed at the blue cloudless sky for a moment as the birds chirped in the background. They had decided to this as a big group rather than teams of two, to keep an eye on each other. Yukiko Amagi thought this was a great plan since if they split up in pairs of two then they can all meet up somewhere and reconvene. Platinum looked to the raven haired girl as the girl’s stomach began to rumble with hunger. 

A pink blush appeared on her face as the magical girl stood up quickly and began to run to the group. “Wait, save some food for Luna!” She said as another voice, more meeker and timid sounding spoke through. “P-please.” Unbeknownst to the two children sharing a body, the other inhabitant smiled for their child who had meet such kind people. 

If monster’s and Grimm haven’t been stealing keystones from other participants, then we would return to our world. Trinity the Platinum thought as she reflected on the events that caused them to here. Hazuma had broken into the Alucard Castle then none of this would have happened. I know I shouldn’t, but I’m grateful for this world so far. Everyday I can feel my power returning to me, yet at the same time I wonder why I should ever be grateful to that man. She pondered for a moment before returning her thoughts, back to the group. Mai was complementing Noel on her cooking as Agies watches with a smile. Celica handing out dishes and silverware with Yuzuriha who served the mystery curry onto her plate. I won’t let them confront my mistakes, I swear that the both of you will be safe.

Something tickled the thoughts of the alchemist’s soul as a memory washed over her. She saw a young man with green hair out by a willow tree during a lovely spring afternoon. He was reading a book with a dark red cover as he noticed her presence when she called out to him. He gave a kind smile as he closed the book walked over to her. The young man in her memories reminded her of all the pain  that she caused to others. Hazuma, if I get back my true power and body. I won’t hold back anymore. The Kazuma I knew was already dead the moment he lost his memory. I won’t let you hurt them. 

_____

Kazuma walked next to Linne as a light breeze as his light green bangs swayed slightly. So far it has been almost an hour since they left the Remire Village. He looked out at the endless blue sky ahead as he moved at a steady pace. Here begins his new start at being Kazuma Kval.

———————

The endless expanse of the forest covered the sun hanging the sky. A girl with long white hair in two ponytails and dark crimson eyes blankly stared ahead as she followed the armored swordsman towards their destination. The tall swordsman’s armor looked to be a blend between a cyborg and a samurai. On the top of his white horned helmet, he has a long silver hair tied at the back. Two slits from where the mouth, there is nothing. The eyes also looked almost the same as the mouth.  The tween girl wore a black dress with a white collar. The collar, her sleeves, and dress are ruffled. She wears black dress shoes and neckerchief with white trimmings as she floats barely touching the ground itself. On her head, she has head gear to cover her ears as a soft breeze drifted by in the wilderness. It caused some of her white as snow hair to sway lightly to reveal the red gem on her forehead. 

The swordsman kept walking as nothing can be heard in the forest besides the sound of his own footsteps. The girl hovered behind as an eerie dark red light barely emanated from her dress. The cyborg swordsman looked down at the pocket watch as the radar detected something in the area on its screen a few miles north. The two were silent the entire ten minute walk until they reached a small village. The village was completely silent as the wind made one of the wood man made house creak. The door left ajar as the silence spoke volumes. To break the silence the emotionless girl spoke as she scanned the area. “I don’t believe there was a struggle here, and yet there isn’t a single person here.” The swordsman nodded his head in agreement about the ghost town as he knelt down to see a rag doll on the ground. 

He noticed how it had been dropped in the middle of the dirt pathway. He stood up and began to look around the for the barrier crystal that is supposed to be there. He approached the center of the village where a stone well built. The swordsman noticed that a misshaped hole of a diamond was empty from the center of the well. He looked down to see pieces of the shattered gemstone on the ground, with no signs of magic. His focus turned to his partner who had floated into one of the houses while he investigated the well. Someone had broke the barrier from the inside. The swordsman thought back to the shattered crystal as he looked at the ghost town. Yet the Grimm haven’t stormed in. Why? He paused as his partner floated out of the house she had been investigating. “What did you find?”

The tween girl looked at him with an emotionless ruby red eyes  and a long piece of hair that twirled like an antenna as she answered his question. “Mr. Hakumen, I found the bodies of three lifeforms inside. All dead, yet for some reason they didn’t have any wounds for a cause of death.” She paused for a moment as  she thought about the bodies huddled on the couch. The two larger and taller bodies embracing the smaller one who had sunken dead eyes. The corpses were recent although the flies that hovered around looked otherwise. “The inhabitants of the house, they weren’t fed anything poisonous nor were there any signs that would led to self termination.” The almost robotic girl said as she reached a conclusion. Autonomic Nerve couldn’t understand the prosperities that are exhibited through monsters and Grimm, yet it must be the cause one or the other. “I can’t determine if a creature had managed to sneak past the barrier through pathways or finding a weak spot.”

Hakumen nodded grimly as he looked at his pocket watch’s radar. “No, the barrier had had been working perfectly. Although I suspect there are some tunnels underneath the village.” He closed the watch as he turned to walk away. “Someone broke the crystal on purpose. We find the keystone shard before it can be taken by the wrong hands. Let’s go, Vatista.” She watched him walk ahead and yet  she hovered still for a moment as she thought about the family inside. Hyde wouldn’t have been satisfied with leaving the corpses of the villagers to be propped up this way. He would have suggested a burial for them if once they got the keystone. However, whatever creature had done this could be lurking nearby. So she followed the swordsman to focus on the main objective close the outskirts of town.

They moved ahead towards their destination as nothing but the sound of Hakumen’s steps and the wind was the only thing they heard. He held the stopwatch in his hand as the light blue blinking on the watch tracked a turquoise circle. The silence was almost unnerving as the young girl floated behind before pointing an old somewhat medium sized cabin. It had a well small flourished garden with different vegetables on the left and on the right a blue pickup truck.  “Wait I hear something.” The girl spoke in a hushed tone as her partner began to quiet his movements as they stealthy get closer towards the cabin. They can get the sound of wet bashing as the sound that resembled the sound of twigs snapping. Along with the sound of angry grunts that sounded human.

”There are three small lifeforms underneath that table hiding.” The red eyed girl said peering through the window as the armored swordsman saw through the window two children hiding underneath the table, with the younger little girl holding a while bundle. Hakumen could make out the children fearfully shaking, trying to stay quiet like a mouse. In the far back near what appeared to the end of a stairway leading downstairs, a man with auburn short hair wearing a tan t-shirt was repeatedly beating a female figure on the ground. He had dark green work pants and black boots. The girl who held the bundle had a lighter shade of brown hair while the older brother had a darker shade of brown similar to the man. 

The girl wore a blue dress plain that reached her ankles. The boy wore dirty green overalls with a brown shirt. Hakumen noticed the two suitcases left on the ground disturbed along with the worn backpack on the older boy’s arm. Vatista had seen many things about humanity, and learned much about it from Hyde and Yuzuriha. Yet seeing it almost made her think of the Hollow Nights, how it was her objective was to exterminate the Voids. How the weak willed themselves if bitten turn into a Void themselves bent to consume existence. Since arriving in this world, there have been no Hollow Nights or Voids to battle. Yet she is still activated and operating once again without any commands. 

They heard the man yell at the unmoving body on the wooden floor as blood began to pool from the woman’s body. “YOU THOUGHT I WOULDN’T NOTICE!” Another blow from his fist collided with the woman’s unmoving body. A inhuman snarl from the man made the children cower in fear as they tried not to make a peep. Hakumen noticed that something was dripping from the man’s mouth, a black liquid that dripped onto the wooden floor and the man’s irises looking an unnatural yellow. “Did you think I was stupid enough to believe your TrIck.” The man’s voice got huskier on his last word as he breathed heavily with hate and fury. The children whimpered when they heard the man kick their mother’s body. “I wOn’t leT anyoNe TAke whaT Is MINE. Not YOu, not them. NoBody!”

From the bundle a small cry is heard as the two children try to keep the baby quiet. Hakumen examined the man as he turned around towards the table. The left half of his face’s skin flaked off as a white substance had taken it’s place and began to form a small solid mass that resembles a mask on the side of his chin to his cheek. The dark tar like subsense from his mouth had dripped onto his arms as it began to weave into his skin. “NoT even you BRATS!” The man who was once their father flipped the table over with ease as the children scramble get off the floor. Except they were frozen with fright as the man’s right hand that had been now full covered by the dark tar began to morph into a claw to match the man’s monstrous appearance. The children screamed as Hakumen drew his Demon Slaying sword Ōkami.

He saw the older brother shield his little sister and the baby. It reminded him of something he had done so long ago, when he wasn’t Hakumen of the Six Heroes. When he a boy he ignored his caretaker as she was stabbed and burnt to death, he thought it was his destiny to kill his brother and thought nothing of her. Yukianesa had cost the life of someone who cared for him and his siblings like her own children. The older brother shielding his younger sister as the infant cries with tears running down its cheeks. Hakumen charged through the window as the sound of glass shattering is heard inside the cabin.

Shards of glass feel onto the ground as the swordsman swiftly aims to cut the inhuman man diagonally. The claw was swiftly taken cared of as it dissipated into ash. However, the blade got stuck on the man’s shoulder from where Hakumen was trying to slice. Hakumen yelled at the children who stared with fright and shock. “Get out of here! Vatista protect these kids!” The kids bolted as the door was quickly opened and slammed shut. Hakumen can still hear the infant’s cries from outside as he watched the once father grit his teeth with frustration at the intruder.

Hakumen noticed the blood of this man has been replaced by the black tar like liquid from the father’s mouth as it bubbled and infected the man’s skin into the dark substance. The man’s claw had regrown as it grabbed his sword, the foolish man trying to break the divine blade with his impure power. The man snarled at Hakumen as he was somehow able to push the swordsman back instead when breaking his sword didn’t work. “DIE!” The man spoke in a grated tone as his other arm turned into claw and swiped at Hakumen. Unusual for Hakumen is that the man was actually keeping up with Hakumen’s movements for some reason, dodging his swift and powerful attacks at the right moments. 

Meanwhile outside the children huddle around the tween with long white hair as she looked emotionlessly as the very frightened children. Vatista noticed something as she tried to speak. “Please silence that child and head into that vehicle to hide.” She directed them as they did what she said without saying another word. She can see a dark mass head from the small ghost town headed this way. “Grimm.” She said as the uncanny features of the Grimm had been one of the many threats in this new world she had recorded in her memory. However, this type of Grimm almost look human like with their bodies with deformed faces, yet still monstrous as the hoard moved closer and closer. There’s more than I pre-. Vatista’s calculations were paused as a long dark slender hand had burst through the cellar which was by the garden. More of these skeletal Grimm had slowly appeared from under the house, as Vatista prepares to protect the children hiding in the car. “Mr. Hakumen, there’s more Grimm than I thought. We need to retreat.” She said loudly as her one of the blades from her crimson wings sliced into the nearby Grimm.

The attack barely did anything as it stared at the Autonomic Nerve with its crimson eyes. She noticed another figure walk from the cellar as a person with brown overalls and muddy boots slowly stepped out. Vatista noticed the human’s skin color being an unnatural pale color as red veins ran webbed across this young man’s face. Its eye’s were completely dark, void of any color that was once there. She tried to slice into the Grimm more until it was completely pinned three of her red blades on the wooden surface of the cabin. Her focus turned to the human who moved slowly towards her as she prepare herself to attack. “W-why?” The man spoke with lost expression just as the one of her blades tried to cut his head off and stopped at the nick of time.

She didn’t know why she froze her blade at that time since it was clear that this man had been possessed by some kind of Grimm. Yet she thought a second later to put this man out of his misery. “I’m sorry, we didn’t arrive here sooner.” She said as she thought of what might Hyde say at this moment. “Rest,” she said coldly as she sliced into the man’s neck without hesitation this time. The man fell forward, limp on the ground as dark blood oozed out from the wound. “Target eliminated, next target-.” She was cut off by an ear piercing screech from the Grimm she had pinned. She looked from the hoard of same looking Grimm approaching and the pickup truck with the three children inside. “Refocusing on prime directive.” As she floated quickly towards the pickup truck.

Hakumen wasn’t having an easy time as he tried slashing parts of the Grimm mutant man’s body that might hold its weakness. The shoulder, nothing happened as it only fueled the corruption and tore the shirt that the man once wore. He tried its throat, only to be met the white substance spilling from his wound only latch on the lower half of the father’s jaw, sewing into the flesh. The swordsman quickly dodged more quick and rapid strikes as he heard Vatista call out to him from outside. He blocked the next claw swipe as he focused on what other areas to focus and where his target might be. Could it be? Hakumen thought as his mind clicked with the location of the keystone. There were only three other guesses he could make about the keystone’s whereabouts, as the swordsman dodged a quick attack once more aimed at his armored torso. 

With that he quickly moved to seize his chance, as the demon killing katana pierced where the father’s heart would have been. The black tar oozed and flooded out as the man gave an inhuman screech that sounded akin to a desperate monster. Hakumen tried to pull back his sword, only for the man to swipe at him with his claws. Leaving his katana stuck inside the father’s chest as the former man’s rib cage showed through to be the same pronounced white substance as the mask that began to form a skeletal face. This was his second theory to where the keystone might be located in the man’s body as he tried to pull out his katana. It wasn’t easy to pull out as it felt like he was trying to pull his sword out of quicksand.

Blade free Hakumen stumbled back on purpose, as the beast went for another strike. However the strike never landed as the katana pierced into the former man’s stomach before it moved to the right side, leaving the monster to stumble back with another ear splitting scream. That’s when Hakumen saw the faint glow in the corrupted man’s stomach, as the swordsman knew he had the perfect opportunity. With elegance and precision, the white armored swordsman used his divine blade to swiftly pull the keystone shard out of the man’s body. One of its shaking claws tried to snatch the keystone, however with a quick maneuver Hakumen was able to catch the keystone. 

The monster that was once a man fell backward as its dark blood gushed onto the floor. Hakumen then noticed that the woman’s body that had been there was holding onto something in her hand. He moved quickly to check the body, as the sounds of battle still raged outside. The woman’s skull had been bashed and her ribs were broken, signs of a struggle were also seen by the bruises on her wrists. It was a car key in her hand as Hakumen unfolded the lifeless hand to pick up the small item. You only wanted to do what was right, didn’t you? The white swordsman thought as looked up to see a family photo of the three children and both parents. The children smiled happily as the light brown haired woman had a kind smile while holding her baby. The father also looked happy in the photo as they all stood by the cabin on a clear afternoon. 

Without a second thought he took the photo and began to head towards the door urgently. As he ran out to see Vatista fending off the Grimm, from inside the cabin; the sound of bones shifting a cracking is heard. Hakumen rushed towards the vehicle as he sliced several Grimm that tried to reach towards him. Vatista saw her partner rush out the cabin while she was fending off the swarm of Grimm with the 6 Crimson Wings she possessed. She shot out an energy blast the ran a red beam through a portion of the Grimm, however when one has fallen another seems to appear in it’s dark hoard. 

Hakumen ran to the pickup truck and opened the drivers seat quickly. “Get on quick.” He yelled to Vatista who shot a a large red beam of light, slicing half of the Grimm before more can join. The white swordsman looked at he back view mirror and began to start the truck. He saw the children looking completely hopeless in the backseat as their eyes were glazed over void of any hope or willpower. Not even the infant was crying anymore as Hakumen finally felt his willpower beginning to waver and struggled to keep his identity  Hakumen of the Six Heroes. His willpower is stronger now, he isn’t going to be controlled once again by anyone or anything. He saw Vatista flip backwards to over at the back of the pickup truck as he backed the truck and turned it around to face the empty woods. He stepped on the gas peddle as the truck sped out of the range of the Grimm. 

Vatista noted from the back of the pickup that these Grimm moved slower unlike any other she had recorded so far. Yet they are also a dangerous type that can drain the willpower of its victims. She also notice something akin to the Grimm appearing from inside the cabin leaving to join the hoard that fell behind in pursuit. If my calculations are correct then there is a 95% chance that the keystone can have different effects on people in this world. She stopped hovering and landed in the back of the truck as Hakumen drove farther and farther away. She can barely see the cabin when she decided to shoot one last horizontal beam through a large cluster of trees. There might be a chance that other Grimm could try to join the hoard to chase them, but for now they weren’t until they left these woods and return to civilization.

Chapter Text

Kazuma and Linne have traveled a day or so since leaving the village, since then he hasn’t really asked any particular questions about this world yet. He did buy two travel small sized notebooks and some pens besides the usual supplies for food and sleeping mats. The first notebook with a greenish gray color would note the changes in his magic and the many things he might need to record about this strange world. Since he arrived here, he noticed his magic had become stronger for some reason as he battled compared his magic back in his world. The second notebook had a reddish color that caught his eye while shopping, he promised himself to keep a diary to record his thoughts and information that seemed important.

Kazuma looked to his side to his partner as they walked together down the path out of a small patch of trees that they came across. Her calm and cold demeanor made it difficult to strike up a conversation after a day or so of not speaking. But there were some questions that confused the mage as he finally spoke up. “Uh Linne, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.” She said hardly noting the sound of birds chirping in the morning sky. Kuu hovered behind her as she kept up her usual pace.

”What exactly is Kuu?” Kazuma asked as it had been itching at mind for a bit, wondering if the creature originated from here or somewhere else. 

Linne’s eyes looked at her small flying companion and then back at the dirt road. “Kuu is a cross between a Void and a small dragon.” Kazuma gave a confused look as Linne sighed. “Kuu is meant to watch over me, if you can call it that.”

Kazuma gave a puzzled look to Linne as he spoke. “Uh… what is a Void? Are they from your world like Grimm?”

It seems I need to do some explaining. Linne thought to herself before answering Kazuma’s question. “Grimm aren’t from my world, you remember Jaune and the other’s in his group seemed proficient in fighting Grimm.” Kazuma nodded with understanding as Linne continued. “Grimm had originally came from their world, known as Remnant. Voids, on the other hand are from my world in a country called Japan.” Kazuma nodded with understanding as he listened to her explanation. “Voids only appear on Hollow Nights and they can take on many forms. If someone normal is pulled the Hollow Night or attacked by a Void during that time then they are able see the Voids. If they are attacked by a Void, there is a possibility that they can turn into a Void and all their memories of who they used to be will disappear. Turning them into a humanoid zombie, later on they can take other forms too. Their whole purpose of being is to consume all of existence or the Source of All Things.” 

“I see, so then why is Kuu not trying to do the same?” Kazuma questioned, as Linne sighed. 

“Kuu, is different thanks to my brother.” Linne said as she tried not to think of her older brother. “What about you, what’s your apocalyptic monsters in your world you had to deal with?” 

Kazuma sighed as he remembered the threat that once gripped his world once. “It was called the Black Beast, it plagued the world with destruction. Its colossus serpentine beast that had eight heads and red terrifying eyes. It can even make parts of itself smaller to make an army of remains. They were smaller versions of it.” He didn’t want to recall the time he had been possessed by Terumi and became a completely different person. He wished he could forget all the scheming and plotting to get revenge on the Six Heroes. “That’s what I remember about my world. Sure there were other threats, but at the time people didn’t know about the true threat.” Maybe that was why he had been targeted by that assassin. 

Linne nodded her head in understanding of the great threat. Amnesia and her brother were tied together as she shoved those thoughts out. “Well at least we don’t need to worry about Voids or the Black Beast in this world.” Kazuma agreed with her statement as they walked together.

Linne thought back to two nights ago along with the pervious afternoon. “So do you use magic? Or is it something else?” Is this the keystone’s power inside him? 

Kazuma felt reluctant to answer her question at first as he thought about his boost his magic. “Yeah in my world we had magic. I’m not even sure how was able to use healing magic since in my world magic is extremely rare. Only those who were born with the uncanny ability to control life.” Linne nodded with slight understanding of the magical system of Kazuma’s world.

“If you weren’t able to heal before then how did you heal me before?” Linne asked as Kazuma tried to remember how he was able to heal the brown haired girl. His main motivation was that wanted to help her, to honor his best friend. 

“I wanted to help you.” Kazuma said as he thought of Trinity’s kindness. “I thought about someone I knew who would have done the same without a second thought.” He tried to change the subject to explain his world’s magic. “ Mana which is part of magic is connected spiritually by the user’s willpower. Although sorcery can be connected the Magical Element with those who are able to use magic easily.   It’s rare to find someone who is able to perform magic.”

Linne needed to reaffirm something that had been bugging her. “So what you’re saying is magic and sorcery are different in your world?” 

Kazuma understood her confusion since it took him the first few days to wrap his head around the system. “Yes, It’s meant as a way to defeat creatures within reason.” He felt the urge to ask about how Linne fought against Voids. “What about you, how did you fight back against Voids in your world?” 

Linne saw this coming as she tried to sound informative rather than annoyance of explaining. “In-Births, they are neither alive or dead and can be created through injuries by Voids or Shadows. There is an ability EXS that benefits the user in combat for In-Births, although there is a cost overusing such power. It may lead to them to face an alternate version of themselves that can transform them into Voids.” Kazuma listened with slight confusion as Linne knew what he was going ask.  “Voids that were once human are a shell of their former selves. Only retaining a faint echo of their former lives, unable to be turned back to their former selves.”

”Did you ever have to fight someone you knew that got turned into a Void?” Kazuma asked as Linne looked eyes focused on the path.

”Yes, there were rarely few who I knew turned into Voids. I know that they wouldn’t have wanted to suffer aimlessly to hurt innocent civilians.” Linne commented as she remembered those who used to get close to her. During her third life, she couldn’t save the children who tried to become friends with her during that vessel’s childhood. She couldn’t get to a weapon, it was on the way home when she was small. She had no choice to run that day as she was proclaimed to be the only survivor by the police. Kazuma seemed reluctant to ask any more questions, yet it seemed she knew what he was going to ask. “I have a group of allies, they can hold their own in battle and some have even arrived in this world.” She thought if she should say this just to clarify where her friends were.“We decided to spilt up to cover more ground.”  From her hoodie pocket, she pulled out photograph and handed it to Kazuma.

He noticed Linne in the photo looking the same with her orange hoodie with Kuu hovering behind her. Next to her seemed to be a very annoyed young man with messy hair and red eyes. He had bleached blond hair in the front while the back was a raven black. The young man wore what seemed to be a dark school uniform jacket and pants with a white button up shirt. He seemed slightly annoyed as a blank looking tween with long white hair and a black dress blankly looked at the direction of the camera. There was another young man with short raven hair, although one-fourth of it is white on the front of his left side. This other young man’s face was partially hidden the high-collared double-breasted black coat that covered the lower half of his face. A big hulking man with white hair and dark skin and long metal like arms with sharp claws at the end. He had a smile on his face while the out of one other person that none of the others smiled. The other person who smiled was a young woman with long pinkish-red hair and wore a fuchsia camisole with her belly button and stomach exposed. She had dark pink flowers at the end and on the ends of the sleeves that hang on her shoulders from the light pink on her shoulders. She was next to the red eyed boy in the photo as Kazuma noticed that the group were in front of a old temple.

Kazuma handed the photo back to Linne as he asked to her. “Your friends seem nice. Do you think you can tell me more about them?” 

Linne was reluctant about giving information about her comrades since the last time she had seem Hyde had been several months ago. “Maybe later,” she said to him as Kazuma seemed to respect her privacy. “What about you?” After a long moment of silence between the two.

”Pardon?” Kazuma said.

“Do you have friends or anything?” Linne asked. Kazuma sighed as he looked at the endless blue clear sky with the sound of the wind blowing lightly against the grassy fields. 

“I did, I had my best friend. She was far better at alchemy than any other student and would always talk to me even when others bullied me.” Kazuma thought as he was reminded of the time before Terumi had ruined everything. After he stabbed Trinity, Nine rushed to save her friend from him. Only for a brief scuffle to cause both his crush and Nine to fall into the caldron. When the hero, Hakumen stabbed him, he begged for them in his mind to dispose of his body as he and Terumi were chucked into the Boundary with Hakumen keeping them from escaping. The other thing he remembered as he drifted in the void was when he had first fused the malevolent spirit that he had heard voices talking about him. 

“I see, she sounds like a nice person.” Linne commented as he followed her along this path to the next unknown place destination that they would uncover the next keystone. 

————

Out in a large prospering city coated with a large green barrier crystal to keep the city safe. The normalcy of one part of the city is interrupted by a disruption happening on the pavement of the less crowded streets. Two young ladies out of breath stare at across from one another. In background, people stare at the brawl, holding their Scrolls and recording the confrontation. A small ramen stand that didn’t blend in with the gray and light blue buildings of the city stood in the away from brawl. The old man with gray hair who wore a red apron and dark green t-shirt hid behind the red counter as the dust settled between the fighters. 

“Hah” A teenage girl with light brown hair shouted as she kicked her opponent back. She wore a green athletic jacket with two yellow lines where the zipper was. The lines were also along on her sleeves as well. On her high collared jacket there were three different colored buttons. She wore a dark mini skirt with shorts underneath that matched in color. The brown haired young lady wore brown school shoes with black socks that reached her ankles. Behind her was a figure floating in an astral like state was a being with a bizarre appearance that was dressed similarly to a samurai with black and white armor. Her opponent kept their stance as their long golden curly hair shifted back from the impact of the blow.

The teenage girl with the golden hair smirked as she wiped away the dust on her tan jacket that shows off her midriff. She wears a light yellow shirt underneath with a dark emblem that resembled a burning heart on her left breast. The blond haired teen stared down her opponent with her purple eyes. She wears pair of tight black spandex compression shorts that reach her upper thighs, along with brown boots with orange long socks. Her infinity orange scarf shifted as the blonde gave a fiery stare down. On her arms were two yellow gauntlets, one of them clicked as a single red bullet shell dropped onto the ground from the left gauntlet. Decorated on the gauntlets were red and orange bullets as she positioned herself for the next attack. “I’m not gonna go easy on you, Chie. Just give it up.” 

The other teen smirked as she readied herself in a battle stance. “Nor am I, Yang. I won’t backdown!” The two clashed with each other as Chie tried to hit Yang with a series of kicks along with an attack from her Persona. The kicks were less difficult to block, but the red spear held by that Persona was another problem as Yang barely managed to avoid the spear. That’s when the martial artist kicked the huntress in training in the stomach, causing the blond to slide back once more. A fiery red hue simmered in Yang’s eyes as a light burning light surrounded her. 

“Wait stop!” The two teens turn around to the who had interfered in their battle. An oversized cartoon bear like-mascot with blue fur yelled out as a young man with auburn styled hair with an ahoge poking at the top was dragged along by the bear. The bear wore a red and white jumpsuit with blue fur. The young man ran behind the mascot bear, he wore a black short sleeved jacket with black jeans. He had red fingerless gloves with a red guards. There a strange yellow symbol above a cross symbol on the back of his jacket. The bear ran in the middle of the brawl as the young man stopped to catch his breath. “Why are you both fighting?” 

The young ladies stopped fighting as Naoto straighten up and approached the three. “Teddie!” Chie said with excitement as she ran to her friend. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. You should have let me know through your Scroll.” 

Naoto sighed as Yang walked over to him. “So what the hell happened that caused you two to fight.” The young man asked as Yang gave a grin.

“Whoever lost the brawl,” Yang said and pointed back at the ramen shop. “Would have to pay for lunch.” Naoto gave a dumbfounded look as he looked from the ramen shopkeeper to the other participants.

“Alright, how much for four bowls?” Naoto looked to the ramen store owner who gave a nervous nod. The group of four walked over to ramen stand as the old man took out a notepad and a pen. 

————

On the outskirts of this town, a small traveling troupe in had finished setting up their last dark blue tent. “Alright, everyone great job.” A young slender man who donned in a pink and red kimono with his shoulders exposed. He had violet long hair tied in a bun with red lipstick on his mouth. He wears black shorts and red platform sandals as he walked to his comrades with a smile.

A child with blue eyes and blond hair wearing jam jar glasses sighed as he took off his purple top hat by the blue tent. The boy wore clothes that resembled the high class of standards of attire in the 1800’s with long white sleeves that were rolled up with a short purple cape. Behind him was metallic woman floating beside him. She wore the same color purple as the boy wore with a dress and headgear with identical to the boy. “Sister says we should take break.” As the boy looked to the metallic woman he called sister. 

“That sounds like a good idea Carl.” The ringleader said as he looked at the other three recruited members. A strong tan man with an x shaped scar on his face with ninja like attire with a green open jacket. He had auburn hair tied to keep it out of the way, and a red scarf wrapped around his neck. The other member is a tall woman with long raven hair, tied back and on top of her head is a small panda. She wears chinese doctor uniform with long white sleeves, a yin and yang brooch ribbon, a red vest, and a skirt dress that exposes her thighs. She wears a red unbuttoned vest that exposes her black bra. She raised her purple eyes as she stretched her arms with a sigh and a smile.

Litchi watched the small group happily chat about what to have that afternoon. She couldn’t help but turn her neck at a dark circus tent way in the back. Don’t worry Roy I will cure you. I promise. The doctor promised to herself as she went to join the other members for lunch.

Chapter Text

The journey onwards had lasted for a day before Kazuma and Linne stopped on a dirt pathway as the sun was setting in the sky. The blue sky faded into a orangish hue blending in with the pinkish yellow that now inhabits the view. “Let’s stop for today,” Linne said bluntly as she turned to her left towards a small grouping of trees a little bit aways where they had stopped. He turned to follow her as she walked over without a worry. They had already camped outside yesterday and yet to Kazuma, there was plenty of information that hadn’t been at the forefront of his studies back in The Mage Association. Like catching fish, starting a fire without magic, and roughing it out in the world. 

“It’s getting late, we need to get going and build a fire. Can you help grab some sticks and any old leaves, while I scope the area for Grimm or monsters that might be around.” Linne commented as she stopped at an opening patch of land. “This will do.” She said as she quietly moved to survey. Kazuma set his bag down on the ground and began to look around and collect sticks and branches around the declared campsite. He found a couple good medium sized sticks of them and began to tuck them under his other arm before setting them by his bag. 

After a few more minutes, he began to set up the campfire sticks neatly to look like a fire pit. The green haired sat down on the ground and began to take out one of his notebooks and a pen. He hasn’t written in this notebook like he did with the personal diary. Pressing the pen onto the page, he began to remember the days prior when he used magic.

Day 2: Magical Observations

From the past few days since I awoke from the mysterious cave, I have noticed the world has an abundance of seithr compared to my own. Not only that, my mage craft has gotten stronger from both battles between the Large Red Devil and the Grimm. What’s unusual about this is that somehow I’m able to use healing spells like Celica did, but not the same level as her. 

Kazuma paused as he thought back to the cheerful young woman, her kindness genuine. It was like she had no evil bone in her body. He tricked her into leaving the Mage Association, that he caused her to travel by herself when the Black Beast still wreaked the world. If only he had the memories of the past seven years, would that have made a difference in fighting back against Terumi? Would it have allowed him to resist and prevent Trinity from dying by his hand? Trinity. His mind goes back to when he was younger, when he had entered the Mage Association with Relius Clover as his guardian. When Trinity had stood up for him.

———

“Hey creep.” One of teens of three said using a spell that caused his ears to ring as he crumpled to the ground. Robin, Valois, Toya were three mages who often beat up Kazuma for his strange mannerisms and almost perfect dedication to class. Toya had short curly raven with his uniform on minus the cloak with teal blue eyes. He perfected and experimented on reworking old spells to make them more powerful. Valois, was a larger fellow with tan skin and amber brown eyes that matched the earth. He specialized in alchemy though currently he wasn’t using it for the right reason now, as a large column of earth straight into Kazuma’s stomach from the ground. This sent the green haired mage flying up for a brief moment before that ringing started again as he fell on the ground.

Robin had blonde hair that was pulled back with blue confident eyes and boastful grin on his smug face. They were in school grounds and yet the bullies were smart to pick what time to go after him. Kazuma couldn’t even cast a spell in time as a foot kicked him at the side of his head before a gust of forceful wind caused him to hit a tree outside the training grounds. “Oi, we aren’t done yet trash.” Robin said with a sadistic smile as he lifted Kazuma’s head by his hair. Black spots surrounded his vision as his heart raced in his chest with fear. “You think that you can just point out something so reasonably valid in class as a mistake and think you can walk off like you didn’t piss me off.” 

The theory that Robin had presented in class was a mistake, as it would have seithr had can continue mutate creatures from long ago like griffins. That the stories from long ago could be at an age where the seithr began to change the environment. “Well?” Robin said visibly annoyed as his group looks down on the beaten Kazuma. “Gonna share it with the class or are you going to keep your mouth shut?” Robin threatened as rushed footsteps were heard behind the boys. 

“Stop hurting him!” Trinity yelled when Robin turned to see the tearful Trinity holding her wooden staff, ready to strike. She gasped when she saw Kazuma’s beaten and tattered and then heard Robin start to chuckle. “Leave here now or else.”

“Trinity Glassfille, I thought someone of your great prowess would know not to pick a fight? Really now, you being concerned over this creep.” Robin began to say as he slammed Kazuma’s head roughly off the ground before standing to turn his attention to the young woman. “Unless you’re here to join-.” He was interrupted when a spear flew past the bully in a terrifying speed as it had pierced one of the trees behind the group. They knew that they couldn’t beat her as the young men ran away. She ran to him immediately and began to help him with some herbal remedies.

——-

“Kazuma.” Linne spoke interrupting Kazuma’s thoughts as he lifted his head up to see the auburn haired young girl and Kuu. 

“Yes?” He answered as Kuu flew over and plopped onto his head. He didn’t find it annoying, just a bit odd that it has done that.

“Do we still have some rations that Jaune and the others gave us?” She asked him as he moved to pull them out. A couple of protein bars, two canteens of water, some cans of beans, dried meats and other neatly packed supplies.  

“I don’t think the Grimm are attracted to food, right?” He asked as he tried looked over their supplies. 

“No they aren’t.” Linne replied as she turned to get the fire started.