~4,484 words

Maria Miranda's POV:

"Maria-chan! We are here!"

Yuki's unusually soft, dulcet voice jolted me awake from my little nap.

The subtle joggle of the car had ceased a few minutes ago so I already knew about it.

I wasn't exactly asleep since I could still feel and hear everything around me, however, the warm and cosy ambiance of the car and the clothes hugging me in a soft embrace made me so weak and lazy that even opening my eyes felt strenuous.

"Mmm~ Yeah, I am awake."

My voice came out much softer than I intended it to, causing Yuki to giggle.

"We can come here tomorrow if you want." She pressed the fingers of both her hands together in a meek way and then parted the base of her palms in a cute gesture. "I feel bad for waking you up now. You were already tired."

The grogginess still stretched over my senses like clouds on a rainy day, but I managed to muster up a spine, placing my hand over Yuki's.

"It's fine." I replied and then removed my hand, stretching my body sideways. My back creaked in protest as another groan escaped me. "And besides, luxury of delaying matters or putting it on hold is something we can longer afford."

"Now that you put it this way…" With a sullen expression Yuki shrank back into her seat, pouting. "…it's such a headache. We are practically doing double the work than we were supposed to!" She complained, her cheeks inflating as she did.

Pressing my palms against my eyes, I tried to blink off the haze drowsiness.

"No use in complaining." I mumbled; my voice croaky.

The car was a decent sized Sedan with neon light on the inside, lighting all four corners in a mix of purple, blue and red hues.

A little bit childish for my taste, but then again, it was not my car. So, it didn't bother me enough to make me not want to travel in it.

Currently I am accompanying Yuki in the city of Osaka, Japan. A Frontier had appeared in this city. While the monsters spawned in Tokyo, the Frontier had spawned 500 kilometres away. It was strange.

The Olaniyans, Dotun in particular and Albert were looking into this matter, however, nothing much came to light. The only other person who could've aided in this whole pandemonium was…

…Arthur.

But anyone who was an heir, except Yuki, could tell that it was of no use.

Olvasens have always been neutral. So neutral that they don't even involve themselves in scenarios in which it's required to. Unless, of course, they have something huge to gain from it.

Sounds pretty bad on paper, but every Syndicate was like this.

"Hmph!" Yuki huffed at my previous statement, cutting through my monologue like a hot knife through butter. "It's not even our fault!"

Looking around in the back seat, I reached out for the small water bottle. I stayed silent and undid the cap, taking huge gulps from it. Once I had moistened my parched throat, I breathed out a loud, informal sigh of relief before wiping the moisture over my lips with my sleeve.

"It's fine." I gently patted her head, ignoring the storm that strengthened and weakened in regular intervals inside my chest.

In a few hours, it was going to be four nights since Arthur went into the shimmer. Along with Michael. And until now there has been no sighting of them.

The reports we gathered was that something took the shape of a dome and trapped everything in hundreds of metres in its radius. Something other than the Frontier's dome.

The Seven Syndicates had gathered to solve this situation, but both Mr. White and Mr. Olvasen had gone missing.

While finding Mr. Olvasen is like fighting a lost battle, Mr. White disappearing is something that is strange.

Unlike the Olvasens, Whites can't hide well in this digital era. Especially due to their Arcanum signature that they leave like a radiation spike in a nuclear fallout area.

Yuki tilted, placing her head on my shoulder. She was like a cute little sister. She was younger than Yui, her sister and the previous heir, and while one would expect she would be more mature than her older sister due to her replacing Yui, it was not true.

She was just as innocent as any normal 15-year-old. It was a breath of fresh air. To sometimes be in the company of someone that wasn't a freak of nature. More so inside the Syndicates.

Patting her head repeatedly, I gently placed my other hand on her shoulder and softly nudged her.

"We should get going."

She clasped both her arms around my waist and started to flail her legs. "I don't want to!!!!!!"

Laughing out loud, I peeled myself away from her. "The quicker we survey the possible area this Frontier could expand on, the better we get to go home."

Yuki let out another agitated, peevish huff before letting go of me. "Fine." She spoke with a smack of her lips.

The world outside the black windows, coupled with the fact that it was almost evening, was hard to see. Letting out an unsteady breath, I placed my hand on the door latch before pulling it.

Without any sound, the door opened, the multi coloured streak of light permeating through the narrow gap.

With a nervous gulp, I took a step out of the car, as did Yuki.

Three men stood on either side of the car, their hands clasped together.

The sound of cameras clicking and flashes lighting up the place flooded the area behind the men as a few reporters struggled to take a look beyond the huge barricade that the army had set up.

One of the men looked back and nodded his head as the ten or so army personnel carrying rifles nodded back and started to push the reporters away.

Currently we are in Dotonbori, the southern area of Osaka. The Frontier was only on a ten minutes-walk away from where he had been dropped off.

Indian, Japanese and Brazilian governments had decided to cooperate with local armies to mitigate the situations regarding Frontiers.

Strangely enough they already knew about Arcanum.

It would seem like the person who recovered Adam's Battle Armour also somehow figured about Arcanum. That was the reason why it didn't take much time for us to explain everything to the authorities.

"Let's go."

With a nod in my direction, Yuki prompted me to follow her.

A group of 4 other men began to walk in front of us. 3 of them had decent amounts of Arcanum. It was actually surprising. It was quite likely that one or two of them might even have awakened an elemental power.

Elemental powers were the basic magic as shown in stories. Fire, Water, Earth and Wind.

Elemental powers are quite common. Although it depends on person to person. It's like a mystical representation of a person. A hot-headed person has more chances of unlocking fire when compared to a peaceful person.

It's quite simple.

And while we too could awaken it, due to the Blood Contract, we can't manifest anything else. Leaving us with the same techniques as our ancestors.

However, Arcane Arts do evolve over time.

Arthur once said that 'Arcane Arts functionality is directly proportional to our understanding,' when we used to be little. He was quite vocal and loved to associate.

Ahhh- I wonder where that cute kid disappeared~!?

Yuki matched my light-hearted stride as I reminisced about our childhood. When everything used to be quite simple. Much more… pure. There was no hate. We weren't privy of any kind of hidden agendas. No malice.

Just all of us, playing together in the vast forest-like terrain of Fjellborg.

I used to look forward to the Annual Meetings.

Now it's just a mix of bittersweet feelings. A dilemma. A constant, gnawing dilemma.

My mood shifted subtly, and I took a shaky breath.

The air was pure, for the most part. I closed my eyes and walked for a few seconds without looking. Let my natural sense of direction guide me.

After a minute or so, I felt fingers coiling around my hand before fixing themselves in between the spaces of my own. Opening my eyes, I saw Yuki looking up at me with a worried expression.

Now that we had gotten outside of the hidden alleys that served as a shortcut and were walking along a huge canal that stretched for miles on end, I could fully see her.

Her long black hair spilled flawlessly behind her back, stopping right above her hips. A few locks rested on her shoulder and a few of them spilled forward; so glossy and thick and they seemed to reflect the neon lighting of the buildings all around us. Her hair was styled in two buns over both sides of head and symmetric bangs covered her forehead.

Beneath her bangs were a pair of soft, gradient red eyes, the corner of them creased into a worried expression.

She was wearing a casual dress consisting of an oversized hoodie that reached well below her knees. Beneath them she was wearing opaque stockings and leather shoes.

She was dressed quite neatly.

Contrary to myself. I was wearing yesterday's buttoned black shirt which was tucked into a grey skirt that reached up to my ankles and waist length jacket over it to fight the cold.

In my defence, I was really tired!

"Are you really okay? You look like you will fall dead any moment now…"

I lamented to myself. She was already trying so hard to fit into her role. And now my sleepy self was making her babysit me and turn her attention towards me when it clearly should've been towards the mission.

Stolen novel; please report.

"I am, I am. Totally fine. Don't worry about me so much." I patted her head. Her hair was smooth to touch. So much that if I placed it on the side, it might just slip off.

She pouted. "I am not a kid, you know!" She retorted.

Ah, must be the head pats.

Since she was half a head shorter than me, resting my hand and patting it was comfortably nice.

A lopsided grin appeared on my lips as I tapped her head again. "Well, you just joined, so you are a kid to me. Besides…" I stopped and winked at her. "…I am older than you."

"Hey, no fair!" She retorted, trying to push my hand away from her head. "It's only a year!"

As I laughed it off, my mind wandered off again, split into the jolly present and the dark past. "Sometimes one year is a lot." I spoke, my voice trailing off towards the end.

Before Yuki could say anything, a piercing light invaded our senses.

As we walked out of the last shortcut, our eyes adjusted to the sudden increase in light and the first thing that caught your eye was the famous "Glico Running Man" sign.

The enormous, brightly lit billboard of an athlete in mid-sprint shone brilliantly, casting a kaleidoscope of colours onto the bridge and the canal below.

"Do you know of that bridge?" Yuki asked, holding at the back of my sleeve.

Smiling at her supportive gesture, I shook my head. "I have heard about this canal…" I pointed towards the narrow canal, "…but I don't know about the bridge."

Yuki hopped in excitement as she got ahead of me and started to walk in reverse while facing me, causing her modestly sized chest to bounce erratically. She was quite well-endowed.

For her age.

"Well, that bridge is called Ebisubashi Bridge. Unlike right now it is always crowded with people taking photos, and since the water is super clean, the reflections in the water—"

She then started to talk about various things related to this place. The lightings induced a kind of a sensory overload and I peeled my eyes away from the buildings that attracted my attention and spent the next few minutes looking downwards.

Animated displays and large screens played commercials, music videos, and advertisements to no one. They just functioned like another cog in a perpetually functioning machine. The water of the canal mirrored the neon lights, creating a surreal, almost dreamlike environment.

The city was eerily silent. Most of the shops were empty, and shutters covered their entrances.

Most of the people had evacuated. This Frontier in particular was dormant, showing no fluctuations in readings. But since the increase in ambient Arcanum led to forced awakenings and eventual deaths as well due to their hearts exploding, this area which was closest to it was what was emptied.

There were still a few houses inhibited by a few people.

Normal people, families… and thugs.

Since it was mostly empty, they were treating this place as their kingdom.

Police have been trying to catch them but the looming threat of the Frontier suddenly opening limited their capabilities.

I was still looking downwards and Yuki was explaining different things.

However, my mind was still fixed on something we had talked about just a few moments ago.

Sometimes one year is a lot.

What had happened to Arthur?

When he suddenly left home for a city miles away from home?

Why did his father allow him to leave? Even when he was 12? I mean, it is quite understandable since it is Arthur we are talking about after all! But still, the question remains. Why?

Did something happen to Arthur in Hammerfest?

Or was he sent there because something happened to him?

A few dozen possibilities spun in my mind, the gears turning and shifting. Nothing made much sense.

A fleeting notion shone like the only star in the sky veiled behind the sheen of pollution.

The girl, Astrid.

Perhaps she did something to him? If a little bit of what Arthur said was true, it is quite possible. She manifested an Arcane Art as soon as her Primary Node awakened for crying out loud!

What's stopping her from doing something so devious that Arthur changed this much!?

Strange.

Very strange.

I clipped my nails together in annoyance, an act I thought I had left behind three years ago.

It was really something to ponder at.

He was not social, yes, and he was unable to express himself properly. But he was never like… this. Not this empty husk of his past self.

Why…just why?

Why did I have to lose him like this?

It was infuriating. Agonisingly so.

I almost cursed out loud as my ears caught the sound of Yuki speaking and I sealed my lips.

As we turned down a narrow side street, we entered what Yuki referred to as Hozenji Yokocho.

The quaint, stone-paved alleyway offered a stark contrast to the neon chaos of Dotonbori.

Traditional lanterns hung from the eaves of the buildings, casting a warm, inviting glow. A series of izakayas (Japanese pubs) lined the alley.

"Hahhh… I could really use a drink right now." I shook my head.

"We can have some Sake once we are done here." Yuki clasped her hands together. "Oh, we should get some octopus on the way back as well!"

"Sure." I replied curtly.

At the end of the alley was Hozenji Temple.

The temple's moss-covered statue of Fudo Myo-o stood out.

"Was this your ancestor?" I asked, pointing out at the statue.

She looked at it and then looked away, her hair frolicking. "Hmph! Probably a Mudblood." She spoke with a crease of her nose.

The Seven Syndicates did not always have a means of communicating. In this era, communication was easy, and due to the technology distributed to everyone, it was easy to pinpoint people. In mediaeval times, there was no technology to spot people with Arcanum.

Hence, there were cases where Arcanum users were revered as Gods and later temples were made in their names.

Well mostly it was just rogue members of Syndicates. Olvasens had a lot of people who diverged from the whole purpose of staying discreet and turned themselves into objects of worship. Norse Mythology. Most of them are just Olvasens.

The image of Arthur wearing the same clothes as Zeus and holding a thunderbolt flashed into the back of my mind.

A warm blush extended on my face as I shook my head a few times.

"Maria? What are you doing?"

"Eep!" I almost squealed and then peered over my shoulder to the back. "Eh, nothing. Hehe. Don't mind me."

Yuki suddenly grinned, the corner of her lips reaching to her ears. "Hohoho, are you perhaps thinking about someone?" She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Perhaps someone special? Someone near and dear~?"

Near and dear… huh?

The creeping warmth didn't help me as my mind went blank. "N-No. Not at all."

AHHH! I stuttered. That's a dead giveaway. What am I even doing? Getting flustered over something that doesn't even have any relation to anything in reality.

"You're not being very convincing here, Maria chan~" She gripped my shoulder and pulled me down, cooing in an oddly elfin voice.

Taking a deep breath before talking and calming my nerves, I replied. "It's nothing. As I told you."

She narrowed her big red eyes, and then laughed, her dulcet voice echoing through the empty roads. "Teasing you is so much fun." She spoke, poking her finger into my cheek.

Her eyes suddenly turned dark. "You're blushing."

Pulling the muffler up, I spoke through it. "It's just the warmth."

"Praise the Lord!"

"Praise the Lord!"

"Praise the Lord!"

"Praise the Lord!"

The sound of a string of prayers and the smell of petroleum and ash broke the chain of continuous teasing from Yuki.

As we collectively turned our heads towards the source of voice, we saw a group of around 50 people, laying down on their bellies. Their foreheads were touching the ground and their hands were clasped in a praying gesture over their heads as they continued mumbling some inaudible things.

"What is that?" I asked, tilting my head to get a better view of their lip movement.

Yuki removed her arms from me and flicked her hair back. "I have no idea, actually…" She spoke with an uncomfortable pause. "…I never heard of such a religious group or people who pray like this. Not in Japan. Or anywhere in Asia as far as I am aware."

"Yeah, me too." I replied, keeping my eyes at them.

Ahead of the laying, prostrating figures of the people was the road that stretched for around 50 feet.

Cars lined the roadside, each one ablaze with roaring flames. The fire crackled and hissed, sending up tongues of flames that danced wildly in the shadows against the buildings.

Thick, black smoke billowed from the burning vehicles which curled and twisted into the sky. The air was filled with the acrid stench of burning metal and rubber, and the heat from the inferno-ish could be felt even from where we were standing.

The tires let out an occasional pop as more and more gas burnt.

Guessing from the state of the cars they had not been put on fire for a long time. Just recently.

What are the authorities doing?

"Seriously, these stupid police and army!" As if reading my thoughts, Yuki complained with a frown.

Not replying to her and keeping my focus on them, I followed the direction in which they were bowing. Far ahead, hidden beneath the shroud of black clouds was the Frontier. Its translucent sheen hummed with a subtle static of Arcanum.

I looked back at the people.

"Worshipping something that could spawn thousands, if not hundreds of what had appeared in Tokyo." Yuki exclaimed in a condescending way. "They are Foulborns for a reason."

An uncomfortable feeling lodged itself into the back of my mind. I was not really used to hearing the word too much. Since even my father, Rafael Miranda, rarely uses it.

"Desperate times." I whispered. It wasn't intended for Yuki to hear—albeit she heard it anyways—nor was it something like a mental note. It was more like an agreement to their situation. As if I understood them.

It was wrong. Because people lost faith in our patron Gods and turned them into ridicule-worthy folklores, our world is now at such a threat. But even then, I can't bring myself to blame them.

It is not theirs, but our fault.

There were so many ways Arcanum could've been monopolised without just uprooting the mere memory of Arcanum. It was saddening. But this was our reality now.

"But this is just stupid." Yuki voiced, her fingers twitching.

Leaving the worshippers there, we walked over to the Frontier's surface.

Its surface was pulsating but there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was still dormant. I placed my hand over it and it crackled, making me withdraw my hand immediately afterwards.

"What was that?"

"I… don't know."

It was confusing. I had this thought for a while now.

The Frontier in Seoul had not manifested. Not yet.

How did Arthur go inside? Did he brute force his way into it?

No, that doesn't sound like him. Michael perhaps?

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" I spoke out loud, turning my head towards Yuki.

She placed her index fingers on her temples, twirling it as she tried to put pressure on her mind. After a while of pressing her fingers into her temples, she opened her eyes as she had suddenly understood everything. "Yep!"

Good to know she understood without me telling her. Even her elder sister was like this. Well, it was also because we were childhood friends but I never needed to explain things twice to her.

"Nothing. I got nothing!" She added, throwing her hands up in surrender.

Eheh…maybe not.

Clearing my throat, I started to voice out my thoughts.

"I was just wondering… how did Arthur go inside it? I felt like my hand would burn away when I touched it. And the Seoul Frontier has not even manifested."

She tilted her head. "Now that you mention it…maybe they broke through it?"

"It's not possible." I replied and brought my finger upward. "Take a step back."

Yuki nodded and hopped a few steps back. The people behind us were still laying down, muttering different phrases like "Praise the Lord" and "We await your arrival."

Ignoring them, I focused on the Arcanum inside my body.

The Arcanum spilled from my primary node and into the mould inside my brain, powering up the Arcane Art. I felt my eyes glow, followed by a sudden clarity in my sight.

The few joules of stored-up energy manifested like a blue ball made of ethereal aura over my index finger. Tendrils of pure, stored potential energy swirled, moving towards the epicentre and increasing its radius.

Arcanum shaped the energy like a careful parent scooping their baby and placing them in a cradle as it formed a perfect sphere.

Pointing it at the Frontier, it shot like a bullet. Leaving a thin column of blue behind it, it whirred towards the dome before colliding with it and dispersing. I tried to reach out for the energy that formed the sphere but it had already been absorbed by the dome and disintegrated, rendering me unable to make it mine again.

"That was a waste of precious energy." I mumbled.

"Maybe we just need more force." Yuki spoke as she stood straight.

Arcanum spilled out of her and her hair that rested on her shoulder rose up. Her eyes started to glow in a lighter shade of red as her irises flicked in every direction at a pace that looked no more than a blur. After a few seconds, her hair fell back on her shoulders and she shook her head.

"There are no…odd of us in succeeding to go inside." She whispered.

I was about to talk but she spoke again. "And even when it's not dormant, we can't go in."

Then how did they…?

"Perhaps either of them have something? Something we don't know? An artefact perhaps?"

I shook my head. "The Whites would rather share them with us, or just totally break them than share with Olvasens. At least Mr. Lawrence is like that."

Throughout the multiple centuries, it has always been a looming threat.

A full-blown clash between Whites and Olvasens.

It wasn't "exactly" because of hatred but rather the competition at the top. That was what caused constant sparks to fly between them. It has grown mild a lot over the past 200 years or so with none of them falling into a physical altercation due to the suspicious rise in Arcanum levels and the weakening of the seal.

But it still doesn't change the fact that before the 1800's, most of the deaths amongst Whites and Olvasens resulted from skirmishes. And while the main families had some sort of dignity to maintain, branches never hesitated into tearing each other apart.

"Hmmm. I guess we will have to wait." She took a weary breath. "If they return alive, that is. Which I don't think is possible."

"Arthur will return back." I blurted without thinking, my voice ringing in the stillness of the approaching night. Realising what I had done, I added. "And Michael."

She grinned, and nudged me with her elbow. "Is that how it actually is?"

An unknowing warmth crept up my face again but I kept my features as flat as a stone. "You are reading too much into it."

Yuki pouted and looked away, mumbling something to herself before turning back to me. "We should go back. It's not like this place is going to be subjected to Merger any time soon."

"We still need to get a rough estimate of the 'second dome' or 'shimmer' that will surround the Frontier. Seoul one was 10 times the size of Frontier."

"Hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" She breathed out aggressively, before latching herself on to me.

Her arms snaked mine as she rubbed her cheek against it. "Let's go hooomme~ I don't want to do thissss~"

I guess we can take turns babysitting each other.

Hehe.

Patting her head—which she didn't deny this time—we moved towards the Frontier to estimate its size. I also left a message for the authorities to evacuate the practitioners as well. Since this whole 'magical' process can't be trusted.

But I still couldn't remove this gnawing feeling from my head.

Is Arthur actually ok? Is he alive…?

I mentally reprimanded myself.

He has to be. He has to be.

I repeated in my mind, as if doing it will bring that reality to fruition.

Should I go there? Go to the Seoul Frontier?

I have a really bad feeling about all of this. Somehow.