Denial

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

!*RING*!*RING*!

!*RING*!*RING*!

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

"..The hell..." I wake up to see a familiar and beautiful face laying right next to my side against the wall, looking back at me blankly through the still clean and spotless fabric that is the cover of my fictional wife wrapped around a very long and soft pillow. "..Shut up shut up shut up.." I roll over to my other side and give my phone a very gentle...WACK!, silencing the very annoying alarm I chose in order to make sure I don't sleep through it.

I rise up on my elbows, squinting my eyes as the light of the morning sun shines clearly and completely unobscured through my window, slapping me across my face.

Which is pretty weird, I don't remember ever keeping that window uncovered, the reason being exactly this.

I slip on a shirt, not bothering to put some pants on since I like to sleep in my shorts, then I grab my phone and stuff it in my pocket as I roll my left foot into a black sock, feeling a sudden rush of mild anger creep up my neck and onto my head, boiling the veins across my brain as I rummage around my room trying to look for the second sock.

I swear on my wife, there has to be some kind of phenomenon or even a curse that is haunting me, because this is the... I don't know, but I'm pretty dang sure this is another morning in a row where I can't find the second sock. "Lucifer where is it."

"....."

*Knock*

**Knock**

I look up from under my desk and onto my room door slowly opening after someone knocked, catching me off guard because I just remembered I've always lived alone since turning 19.

"Are you awake, hun? Pardon the intrusi-" I feel my eyes expand in confused surprise as I watch my mom step into my room, looking down at my crouching position under my desk. "Fufu~ What are you doing first thing in the morning, dear?" She stares down at me with the warmest and most fond smile I have ever seen on her face.

I can't remember my own mother ever bothering to send the signal to her brain in order to move the joints across her face to form a smile at me.

She just continues to peer down at me, covering her mouth and quietly holding back a giggle.

"Uh... I-I.. was just.." I don't know how to reply to her. I'm not even sure how to act around her, because the last time I saw my mother was 10 years ago, when she looked up at me as if I was the biggest regret in her existence as her skin slowly melted clean off the bones from her face, her eyes slowly going pale and lifeless as the fire consumed her and my childhood home.

"..I.. I was.."

*THUNK* I rub the top of my head after I tried standing up from under the desk, and I'm certain I just knocked over the desk fan, or possibly even the monitor from the amount of force I used to stand back up.

"Ohh my deary me! You're still such a klutz, Aleksander~!" She steps up to me and places her hand on my head soothingly as I stumble back on my feet. "I'm sure you're just a hungry slowpoke, now hurry up and come downstairs.." She places her hand on my cheek, delicately rubbing her thumb around my skin briefly, before giving me a last twinkling smile as she separates herself from me and walking out of my room, gently shutting the door behind her.

"..Lucifer, where-" I look down at my right hand, but the slight warmth I always feel on me isn't there.

"...."

Still no response from her as I continue standing in the middle of my room, looking down at my right hand as I feel the chilly morning air invade my room through the wide-open window.

"..I'm stupid..." I look back up, scanning over the bookshelf stuffed to the brim with nerdy and repulsive objects of Japanese origin, then onto the black squared tower that is my mid-tier computer covered in repulsive stickers of Japanese origin, then back down at my wife still laying alone in my bed, which also hails from the distant sea. "..Just a dream, all of it."

My mother never died; I never witnessed her facial structure detangle itself.

I never got butt rammed by a garbage truck.

I never died and woke up in a land where Satan is groping a magical book girl's pages.

None of it was real.

"I'm so retar-" I look over at my door, then I spot it.

My black sock resting under a book just at the very bottom shelf on my bookshelf to the side. "..There you are." How did it even get there?

I always set my socks next to my bed before.. well, bed.

I kneel and reach for it, pulling on the sock until it extracts itself from within the pages of the red book with a single black phrase etched onto its cover.

Find me.

That's kind of weird, I don't remember ever having such a bland red book with no flashy cute anime girl on the cover just like the rest of the degenerate material in this enclosed space.

"Ehh whatever." I toss the red book behind me with a noisy THUD.

This is why it always pays off to have a recycling bin in your room.

I slip on the black sock and open my room door, stepping out into the hall as I close it behind me, promising to return to my outcast but warm sanctuary.

*VRM* I feel a vibration in my pocket, startling me as I reach for my phone before looking down at the sleeping screen.

I have all my notifications on silence since the sound of an app I already forgot about telling me useless information and reminding me on things I couldn't give less craps about is something that slowly developed into one of my few annoyances.

So the sound of my phone actually giving a single DING and vibrating outside my alarm startles me like a little girl.

------------------

Lily - Heyy.

------------------

"..Who the.." I look down at the single text notification from someone who's name I don't even know, but at the same time feels like something I've seen over and over.

The profile picture is of some girl with long ash-blonde hair throwing up a peace sign.

But I can't tell if her eyes are a light brown.

Or a dark pink.

"Aleksanderrr~"

I hear my mom call out to me from downstairs, snapping me back into the hallway as I tuck my phone back into my pocket, before walking over to the stairs.

My steps immediately slow as I notice the many rows of family pictures and portraits along the wall.

Some of them are of me standing and posing in front of many diverse kinds of scenery.

In front of large canyons and mountains... And there is even a slightly blurry photo where I'm a kid just looking back at the camera blankly as I'm sitting at a table in some restaurant with some goat animatronic mascot next to me as it has its furry arm placed on my shoulder.

There is a red frosted cake on the table, with a waxed number 9 candle lit up on top of it.

Instead of the usual 'Happy Birthday' letters you'd see on a cake, it is instead replaced with a single phrase.

"Aleksander hunn~?"

Before I could read it out loud and make sense of it, I hear my mom call out to me again.

*VRM*

I tuck my phone back into my pocket after it vibrated again, not bothering to check the notification as I decide to just continue down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

As I inch closer to the kitchen across the halls, the smell of something sweet and honeyed invades my sense of smell, spreading a kind of tenderness coursing through my veins.

"There you are.. slowpoke." I peek into the kitchen, leaning against the doorway as I watch my mother pull back a chair, gently patting it with an equal gentle smile on her face.

"Hurry before it gets cold, kiddo." The rough voice calls out from the other side of the table, a face peeking up at me from the newspapers. "You've got heavy eye bags, did they overwork you again?" My dad has his eyebrow raised behind his glasses, looking me up and down as if he's assessing the situation to something he's unsure if he should act on.

"Ohh~ I'm sure he was just up playing his games and yelling over his mic to his online friends fufu~ Hm, Aleksander-dear?" My mom ruffles my hair, blinding me briefly as I lower myself on the chair, still trying to figure out how to even interact with my dad.

"..I-.. I.. don't remember.." I fold my hands on my lap, looking down at my fidgeting fingers as I press my back against the wooden chair, still feeling my hair get turned even more messier from my mother's ministrations.

"..Well, just remember I'm always looking for more muscle, I could use you son, you know that, don't you?"

"Oh stop, darling... Construction isn't something that suits our Aleksander... It's much more charming looking at him work his little fingers on his computer fufufufu~~"

"Ah-Ha-Ha-HaHa..!" I look up then over to my dad just laughing to himself in a typical old and wheezing fashion, removing his glasses from his rough face and rubbing his eyes. "He always was the computer 'scientist' he said he wanted to become. You've come a long way, son."

"Fuhufuhfufu~"

I remain in silence, sitting at the table with the sound of my mom and dad laughing echoing across the kitchen.

I really don't know what to say or do.

"Your plate is going to get cold, hun.." I feel my mom separate herself from me as she walks around the table before sitting down on the chair next to my dad.

I look up onto the table, and then onto the pile of honey-glazed pancakes stacked on one another just below me.

I then look back up briefly onto my mom leaning her head on my dad's shoulder as they share the newspaper in his hands, talking and laughing to themselves.

I reach for the fork, then I slowly sink it down onto the pile of pancakes, cutting off a small piece before digging down the fork and bringing it up into my mouth.

"..It's good."

Were pancakes always this good?

I'm absolutely sure I have never tasted something this sweet, warm, and soft in my life.

When was the last time I even had pancakes let alone seen pancakes?

There's just no certain way I never had pancakes before.

Life is too short to not try something this benevolent.

*CLANK*

"Sniff.."

"..Oh my... Hun-.. Aleksander.. what's wrong?" I feel my mom and dad's stares immediately on me after I dropped the fork against the plate as I start to wipe at the warm sensations dripping from my eye sockets.

"..My bad." I bring up my arm and wipe at my eyes, still feeling the warm dripping feeling melting down my cheeks.

I can't stop the sensations.

I feel it dripping down my cheeks and pooling at my chin, combining into drops. "..I just.. got some honey in my eye.." I feel my eyes start to swell from the roughness of my skin scraping against my sockets.

"Son." I look up, then onto my dad looking at me with a small smile on his slightly wrinkled but hardened face. "We missed you."

"..What?"

"What your father means to say is... We miss having breakfast with you, dear.." My mom reaches across the table and places her hand on top of mine, giving me a firm but affectionate squeeze. "It makes me very happy you decided to step out of your own little world to remember you have a mom and dad to spend your mornings... and your life with.." She starts to rub her thumb around, feeling my skin against her finger. "..Thank you for remembering you have parents, and for never letting go, we're proud of you.♡"

"..Wait.. what? My own little..?"

*VRM*

Once again, my phone vibrates and releases a loud DING, snapping me out of my daze as I look down at the screen and onto another text message from the same person as before.

But the name is different now.

Instead of 'Lily' it now says 'Lillith'.

And the profile picture is of three red 6's in a black background.

------------------

It will do you more good than bad

if you put a stop to your very rude

continued refusal of acknowledging

my messages, you know...

[Sad emoji] [Pleading eyes emoji]

[Broken heart emoji] [Broken heart emoji]

------------------

How do I even respond to this.

I might just have to resort to my last resort I hoped I didn't have to resort to.

------------------

Aleksander - [Skull emoji]

Seen✓

------------------

"Ooo~ Is that Lily? I'm sure she wants to see you today as well fufu.." My mom stands up from her chair and walks around the table then over to me, placing her hands on my shoulders and leaning into my right ear. "I still remember how you two met... You had the biggest smile on your face.."

"Remember how quiet and shy he was at first?" My dad rolls up his newspaper before holding it like some sword and reaching toward my left hand resting on the table. "You were like a shy little schoolgirl, son." He starts to lightly tap his makeshift weapon against my hand with a sneer on his tone and face. "Not even your first and new girlfriend was a nervous wreck with you, it was as if you two were complete opposites Ah-HaHa..!" He starts to wheeze to himself again along with my mom, all while smacking me over and over with his newspaper sword.

"..Chill." I reach over and yank it from his hands, before unrolling it and spreading it. "What are you even read-... Huh." I look down at the newspaper, then onto the infinite number of the same phrase repeating itself across the newspaper.

Find me.Find me.Find me.Find me.Find me.Find me.

The same phrase repeats over and over across the white paper.

Top to bottom.

*VRM*

I look back down at my phone and onto the new text message.

But it's from a different user.

The profile picture is blank.

------------------

Mr. Spect - You're living a lie.

------------------

Well, at least I got to eat pancakes.

"Oh, what's wrong, hun? Finished?" I peek up, then onto mom still to my right, looking down at me with a somber smile. "You barely ate anything... Are you unwell?" She slowly and gently places her hand under my chin, tilting my head up to look at her. "Are you sick? How do you feel..?"

"Disappointed." I push my chair backwards, before standing up. "But not surprised."

*VRM*

I look down at my phone a final time.

------------------

Lilith - Find me, Alek~ ;)

------------------

"Son..." My dad stands up from his chair, his palms placed on the table as he and my mom watch me walk towards the front door. "Don't do this..."

*VRM*

"I don't even know what it is I need to do." I look over to the stove as it suddenly lit up, burning low and faint flames. "But I'm not staying in a fake world."

*VRM**VRM*

"..Alek-Sniff.. A-Aleksander.." Mom reaches out, creeping towards me. "..How.. how could you say that? ..We're.. your mom and dad.. How could you call a morning like this fake..?" She looks at me with mix of disbelief and dejection, bottom lip quivering lightly.

"Doesn't matter anyway." I'm done denying.

*VRM**VRM**VRM**VRM*

"Son." My dad pushes his chair back, taking his glasses off and setting them on the table as he begins to slowly walk around it. "I promise you." He walks over to my mom, extending his arm around her and gripping her shoulder in a comforting manner. "We would never give you a fake life. We could never stomach a scheme so abominable.."

His expression is neither one of sadness nor anger.

He looks at me with a dispirited look.

A kind of look after witnessing a fatal catastrophe you could never prepare yourself for.

The look you would make to yourself while looking at a mirror.

Persuading yourself you'll get through it.

Knowing it's all ineffective.

Pointless.

"Neither of you were there." It was even stupid of me to deny my life of slaying things out of a fantasy. *VRM**VRM*

"You never gave the attempt." I don't know why I tried so hard to deny it all. *VRM*

"You're not real." Part of me knows the answer, but the other part of me, the side that has been exhausted since the beginning, it's still trying to deny it. *VRM**VRM*

"You're not my parents." I don't know even know how I let myself get this far into denial.*VRM*

"Your love isn't real." But it's clear. *VRM*

"Fabricated love isn't love." It got to the point where the exhaustion drained me of everything.

"It's all just a joke." My resolution got taken away. *VRM**VRM**VRM*

"You." I had nothing else to do but wonder what a perfect life would look like.

"This place." All I could do was yearn. *VRM**VRM**VRM**VRM*

"You're all a joke." But that ends here. *VRM**VRM**VRM**VRM**VRM**VRM*

I look down at my phone, gripping it with both hands.

* S N A P *

I put a stop to the loud dinging and the vibrations, dropping the discarded pieces onto the carpet.

The fire from the stove that grew to an unstable size begins to spread, tainting the soft yellow wallpaper and the various assorted family pictures in a bright orange, traveling and swallowing the entire house, leaving only the dining area.

"I'm not sorry, and I never will be."

I look down at the doorknob on the front door, twisting it as I'm met with resistance.

I look over my shoulder one last time, then onto my 'dad' and 'mom' embracing each other in a tight hug as the flames reach their feet, traveling upwards and slowly consuming them and everything in a light that rivals the sunset.

I don't bother reaching for the lock, I ball my fist before forcibly thrusting it to the door, shattering a hole that pulls me into a void of pure darkness as I close my eyes, feeling myself falling down another abyss.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"GASP"

I open my eyes after feeling like I fell in reverse, panting intensely like I just woke up from a nightmare that felt real.

There is an unbearable pain in my chest, and I feel a very agonizing throb.

*CLNCK* The chains hanging from the ceiling suddenly break, dropping me face first onto a highly rough and sharp surface.

"..Fricking.. OUCH man.." I stand up, the motion causing the pain in my chest to increase.

I then unbutton my disheveled coat that has a long gaping hole on its center, before fully shrugging it off and lifting up my brown fabric shirt. "..Oh that's really nice.." I look down at the small scar near my heart area, and then onto the long gaping hole in my stomach slowly closing itself in small but bright red sparks.

I tuck my shirt back down, then I stand up to look at the dungeon-like room I'm in.

This whole place looks like some kind of torture chamber.

There's a wooden table in the middle with small nails impaling what looks like human skin flat across it.

There are also various chains hanging from the ceiling.

"..Lucifer, I beg you... Tell me I'm not in Limbo..."

"..."

Yeah, the silence confirms it.

I grab onto the only torch illuminating the room in a dim red, then I walk over to the only thick wooden door in the chamber.

*click*

You know, for some reason I thought it wasn't going to be locked.

It's locked by the way.

"Bruh."

I turn back around and look back at the table in the middle with the human skin thing.

I then approach the table and pluck out a single small nail from its burrowed spot before returning to the thick door.

*clng*

I pretty much just lock picked it like the kleptomaniacal genius that is me.

It's worth noting I have no experience with lockpicking.

I don't even know the first thing to the way of a kleptomaniac.

All I did was stick the nail into the keyhole and wiggled it around.

And it worked, as you just saw.

Want me to do it again?

*Thunk*

I shut the door again, then I stick the nail back into the keyhole and repeat what I did 6 seconds ago.

*clng*

It opens, again.

I actually don't know why I wasted another 6 seconds doing that.

Probably because I'm still astounded that I did something only a master klepto king would do.

*CrEeeEeeek...*

The wooden door lets out a distracting creek as I slowly open it, peeking my head through the small gap to do some scouting to make sure I don't get jumped by some dungeon creature camping in a corner like they want to ruin my killstreak.

It's just another medium sized room with another wooden door at the end, as well as an unlit lamp in the very middle.

I slip past the door and close it behind me,

because the idea of leaving doors open

triggers one of my few autistic itches.

I approach the lamp, red burning torch in hand.

*FsShh..*

The lamp then lights up in a haunting red after I touched it with my torch, half expecting that to happen.

I then approach the wooden door and stick my small but very hard nail into the keyhole firmly.

There's no time to be gentle, I need to find Lucifer and get out of this place before I get nauseas from the strange feeling of being in a place where time doesn't exist, apparently.

The door creeks open as I pull it open, revealing a very,

very,

large,

long, dark hallway that looks like it stretches to infinity.

The hallway sort of resembles what I've seen in the dream realm, but this place feels more grotesque and ghastlier.

There's the many rows of thick wooden doors plastered onto both sides of the dark-yellow bricked walls, with occasional unlit torches along the dungeon walls.

Pretty much the opposite of the glossy ornamental place that is the dream realm.

I wonder why Lucifer designed a place to look so dreary.

Maybe she was in some kind of phase when making it?

I begin walking forward, the sound of my boots roughly clacking against the sharp dark-yellow bricked ground echoing across the seemingly endless hallway being the only thing I hear.

Also the dark ambience you would hear when being in a long forgotten and abandoned place.

And also occasional distant screaming someone would make as if they were getting their innards pulled out and tied into knots by cartel members.

Seriously, the screams may sound very muffled and distant, but jeez. "..Chill out."

I'd like to say my problems seem to significantly outweigh theirs.

As I walk forward through the dread halls, the unlit torches along the hellish dungeon walls light up, which is pretty convenient because it'll let me know where I've been.

Good thing this place isn't a maze and is just a very stupidly long hallway, so there's just no way I'll have to do any backtracking and all that jazz,

right..? "..Haha..ha.."

I then get hit with a wave of curiosity, so I decide to walk towards a door to peek inside it.

It'll only be a sec; I just want to see what kind of stuff I'll see in comparison to the dream king's mistake of a dimension.

The door creeks open, and I take a shy little peek into the room.

The room lights up in a dim red as I peek more of my face in.

I can now see a rotting corpse hanging by chains inside a tall human sized cage.

"Boooring."

I shut the door and resume on my merry way.

I don't really know what I was expecting to see in a place like this.

I want my 4 seconds back.

This place blows.

I continue my hike through the dread halls, only to stop as I realize I reached the end of it.

Just kidding, there is no end.

But I did reach an area where the hall splits into MULTIPLE hallways.

"Tits balls and ass." I think we might be here a while.

|==================|

------------The-------------

D E A T H B E A R E R

--------Chronicle--------

=======6=======

This novel is a work of fiction.

That's it.

|==================|

________________________

<[ December , 732 A.B (After Balance) ]>

________________________

(3 Months Later...)

"Can you hurry up? I'm already sick of waiting for you."

"H-How uncouth! Do you n-not know this is because I haven't h-had my morning tea yet?

S-s-simpleton!" Gwynalice narrows her annoying eyes, shivering as she stops walking, placing her hands on her hips as she looks at me the same way she does when she looks at something disgusting, tedious, un-lovable, un-cute, or me. "S-s-so do not raise your t-t-t-t-tone at me so early in the morning, hmph!"

"If you're that cold just go back to your dorm already... Only one member is needed remember? Your shivery stutters are getting unbearable." It's not even my fault, I don't know why she always dumps the blame to her setbacks on me. But somewhere down the line, I've already grown accustomed to her bitchy attitude, enough to just barely tolerate her presence.

I could never tell her that though.

At least not yet.

I'm also not entirely sure how she's this cold even with the long white cloaks we're required to wear within the Pale Inquisition, these things tend to heat up pretty quickly once its absorbed enough body warmth.

"Y-y-y-y-y-you zip that ungracious mouth of yours!" She starts to pick up speed, walking towards me like she's about to slap me the moment she reaches me. "I m-m-merely chose to accompany you just to s-s-see you get dragged along the g-g-ground by a cursed book..! O~hohoho!"

"You're the scum of the continent."

I really wish we didn't get chosen to accompany the King's Will to Fortuna.

After somehow making it back, our platoon had to accompany Draken to Luthran castle to give our individual reports to Phardwin, casualties included.

I don't understand why the atmosphere in the room grew so bleak the moment the death of one of their Knight's was announced.

It was just one death; the guy wasn't even in the Order of the King's Will.

Are these people just not used to seeing someone die?

There are deaths practically every day.

There was nothing special about him anyway, the chump wasn't even armed, what were they expecting?

I heard he ranked Paladin though, which is the second highest rank in St. Shaye Divine Knight Academy.

How someone so dull achieved high ranking makes me wonder just what it is you need to do to climb the ranks in this primitive Kingdom.

Since our platoon managed to not just actually do something for once, but also come back from such an assignment, it was enough to earn us a bronze medal.

Our first bronze medal.

As a result, our platoon is now eligible to begin fulfilling what I like to call 'Crap Gigs', which are just side tasks we can do to earn extra evaluation.

They range from the lesser optional one member tasks such as investigating murder cases relating to The Order, to the more practical tasks of venturing out of the walls for search and rescue operations, all the way to the mandatory all-member tasks of going into infested sectors to do some 'cleansing.'

Thankfully, our platoon will ever get to do infestation cleansing, since a platoon is required to have at least 1 gold medal to be seen as 'capable'.

The requirement might seem steep, unfair even, but that may be because infested cleansing has a high mortality rate out of any other task.

I was fine before with just dwelling within St. Shaye Academy to give half-assed tips to lesser knights, but that bronze medal is unfortunately going to be the start to everything that is about to further ruin my days in this dreary Kingdom.

"Hurry up Gwyn, this task has a time limit, idiot." I don't know why I'm choosing to take this crap gig so seriously. Maybe a part of me wants to see just how far our shitty platoon can get, but the other half continues to groan at me to stay in bed.

Sadly, a platoon needs to fulfill at least one task within the span of a week, or they will begin to lose evaluation score.

What's sadder is 9 out of the 10 times, it's always me that has to bust my ass just to complete one task all alone.

Crowella is still as useless as ever, taking supplementary sorcery classes to work on her mana issues.

Emilia is too busy with student council things, along with another issue relating to the student council president's dismal state.

And Gwyn is Gwyn.

The only person that barely makes an actual effort is Akane, but she's only good for things that don't involve muscle work, which is 1 out of 10 tasks.

I haven't seen her in over 12 hours though, I wonder if she's still sulking the casualty we faced in Fortuna.

So, someone has to make sure we don't lose evaluation and risk getting our platoon disbanded and getting thrown out into desolation, that someone being me.

It still surprises me Gwyn decided to accompany me this time. Her reason of wanting to see me get violated by a spectral hand is downright detestable, but at least progress will speed up slightly more than normal.

"D-d-d-d-don't you rush me, imbecile!" She eventually catches up to me, pressing herself close enough that our shoulders bump.

"You're too close.."

"You t-t-t-t-t-think I want to seek warmth from the likes of you..!? Be q-q-q-quiet and still..! At least until we arrive at the archive.. And stop looking at me like that.." She glances at me with a glare as I'm already glaring back at her.

The headmaster chose platoon 7 out of every other platoon to fulfill Mira's task in the grand archive, probably to rub salt in my wounds or to give us extra opportunities, I don't know, but I've heard this is a recurring issue that happens every so often.

"You're too close.."

"I s-s-s-said stop looking at me like that..! I'll hit you!"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"My! You kids are awfully early.." Mira greets us in her usual soft motherly voice as we enter the ginormous circular building that is the Grand Archive. "Oh, is it just you two? I had so hoped to welcome everyone of platoon seven.."

"But of course~! What kind of pale knights would we be if we chose to abandon such a meager task!" Gwyn smirks to herself as we follow Mira up the enormous spiraling staircase.

"I just hope we don't have to keep doing this over and over."

"Ah, I assure you, Hero.. there will be plenty more opportunities for the troublesome books to fall off their shelves again.. enough to score your platoon another bronze medal, fuhuhu~" Mira peeks over her shoulder and offers me a smile and a wink, whether to mess with me or not is beyond me.

"..Whatever."

We eventually reach a section near the top of the dimly lit archive that is just absurdly stacked with books after books knocked on the ground, piled on each other like a pack of leaves in autumn.

"Here we are~" Mira stops as we step over by one of the many small balconies overlooking this place. "Try not to peek into these cursed books, you may see something you may not like very much.." She looks over to me and Gwyn as we stand right behind her, waiting for her to give any other instructions.

"Yeah, got it.. Anything else?" I'm just waiting for her to give some kind of annoying condition to turn this task into some kind of high mortality one.

"Nnnnnope!" She winks at me, again. "Juust.. do try not to peek too much into the contents, and of course, if you do get grabbed by a hand... Don't let it hang onto your skin for too long or you'll risk amputation~" Before I can voice my complaints, she suddenly turns her attention over the balcony and down onto the lobby. "My, is that Yukki? It appears as though she is looking for me.. Pardon me, I will return in ten minutes to check on your progress, until then, be careful, my little knights~" She gives one small wave before walking past Gwyn and I down the stairs.

"Well now, I'll be having my morning tea now, don't get dragged without my supervision o~hohoho!" As I expected, Gwyn walks past me down the stairs, laughing to herself as I'm left to do everything by myself.

I hold back a groan, since this is just the start to my day, and I'll need to save all my groaning for later.

I step deeper into the top section of the archive then over to the endless number of bookshelves that are missing half the books.

I look up and can see a small hole with some morning sunlight peeking down at me.

It seems as though they didn't fully seal whatever kind of damage the ceiling sustained.

*RaAaAaghh..*

I already feel something cold digging itself on my right leg, and I look down to see a ghostly hand protruding from a book wrapping around my ankle.

"Tch." I kick if off me, sending the book rolling across the ground before it hits against a bookshelf, knocking a void-black book from its top shelf onto the ground. "..Perfect."

I walk over to the bookshelf, not because I want to, but because I have to put that book back on its spot along with the rest of the scattered books around if I want to complete this mess of an errand.

Alone.

I kneel to pick it up, but before I can slide it back to its original spot on the shelf, a name on the void-black book catches my attention. "Agamemnon..?" The letters are engraved in a faded gray, but the other slightly bigger letters engraved in a gilded red on the center of the book grounds my interest.

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----------The-------------

Spawn of Calamity

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----Agamemnon----

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"What an absurd name for an author!" I nearly jump as Gwyn suddenly peeks her face over my shoulder, looking down at the book while holding her mug of tea along with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't just appear out of nowhere like that.."

"I get to decide when, where, and how I appear, thank you very much." She steps back and raises her usual white mug with red roses carved onto the glass material up to her lips, sipping loudly like she always does. "Ahem, and why have you not started on this mess? Could it be you have been waiting for the assistance of your companion~?" She sets her mug down onto the small plate in her other hand, giving me the faintest hint of a smirk.

"If you'll actually help, yeah."

"Well, I am sorry to say you will get your ample support when I finish my tea." She brings the mug up to her lips again, taking an extra longer sip as if to mock me.

"Heroo~" Mira's voice echoes from down the long-spiraled stairs before she eventually climbs the last step back to us. "There you are! You are needed back at the acade-" Her smile then gets replaced to one of surprise the instant she looked at the book still in my hands. "Oh dear... Where did you get that, hm?" She starts to walk over to me, passing Gwen still sipping her tea loudly before standing in front of me with a nervous smile. "It's best you forget you ever saw such a thing, alright?" She reaches for the book and gently but firmly grasps it away from me, holding it up against her big chest.

"I.. I guess, but who's this 'Agamemnon' guy? And what kind of book is this?"

"I'm afraid that is classified information, do find it in your charming little heart to forgive me, promise~?" She brings her gloved hand up to my cheek, giving me a small squeeze.

"Pardon? Classified?" Gwen jolts up, her look is of pure fascination as she walks over to us. "But we are of the Inquisition! Is our position not valid enough to warrant permission for such a scrap of paper!?"

"A-Ahem.. Please forget I said that, n-nothing is classified..! This book is merely.. Well it was written by a madman that has caused great transgression is all, nothing a pair of kids like you two should be concerned with. Please place your trust in me, it is nothing worth contemplating about fufu~" She now begins to lightly pinch Gwyn's cheek.

"Then why is it even stashed in here-"

"Now then!" Mira sets the book down on the aged wooden table behind her, before she wraps her arms around both me and Gwyn, urging us down a different section of this ginormous library. "Hero, you are needed at the Academy, the Headmaster has requested your presence, you too Gwyn~"

"How bothersome this morning has become!" Gwen begins to loudly sip her mug again, letting herself get dragged forward.

"Hah.. we're needed already?"

"Aww, don't make that face~ Think of it this way.. Your recent feat has been significant enough to earn the Headmaster's personal trust! I have no doubt great things are to come to Platoon Seven should you continue striving for the Kingdom's greatness~" She squeezes my shoulder, before suddenly letting us go. "Now, off you go~" She gives us one last wink before turning away back to the previous messy area.

"I cannot say I believe a word she has said about the book with the imbecilic name.." Gwyn looks at me as we begin to descend the spiraled staircase.

"Neither do I. It doesn't make sense to keep something written by an apparent transgressor.."

"I did find it quite odd she decided to dismiss its 'Classified' status as well, that only makes it all the more scandalous!"

"Well whatever, now do me a favor and stay here."

"Hah!? And why should I do such a thing let alone for someone like you!?" I look over my shoulder and see her standing still, glaring at me while still holding her half full mug.

"Just stay and finish this task, it's better if we split up and kill two birds. I don't want to have to finish whatever the Headmaster requested only to come back here.. You wouldn't want that either, right?"

"You absolute dopeheaded simpleton! Hmph.. Have it your way! I do agree I would rather not skip my evening tea for this dust-flooded place.." She sighs to herself, looking at me as if I stole her pride.

I give her a small nod and turn away from her, resuming down the stairs to whatever hell awaits me.

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Grand Archive Glossary

History of Sorcery #1

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The Magic Arrow

Saint Bishop Rellonia discovered there was a way to 'Punish Foes' in the most non-sinful and

un-savage way was to not directly harm and cause physical trauma to a mortal body, but to directly damage their soul in the hopes of 'Putting down a life in the most righteous way God would approve of', resulting in the creation of the first ever offensive sorcery spell.

The magic arrow is cast with the mind, using mana to channel one's aura to give form to a blue arrow of pure light.

The arrow would then pierce through a being's spirit, damaging their inner essence until it eventually exhausts, resulting in a clean bloodless death.

The practice of using one's mana to allow them the ability to give shape to a spiritual projectile was a long and difficult one thought impossible and non-existent.

However, Relonia would soon find the use of a catalyst would turn this dream from fiction to fact.

A catalyst of any shape or form would be required to absorb mana and allow the exchange to take effect, albeit weakly.

The revelation that a catalyst would require a jewel with high magical properties to allow it to absorb one's mana effectively would soon come to light, allowing one to begin the path to Magehood.

From then on, many scholars would begin experimenting with Relonia's theory, incorporating their own techniques to form their own spells, eventually creating the many spells of common sorcery to be shared to the continent.

Relonia's theory would then be documented in the first ever grimoire.

'Apotheosis of the First Mage'

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