"W- Wha! Let go of me!", the black-haired girl exclaimed as the other faceless students moved in to pull her off of the screaming man.

She tried to muster all her strength to try and break free but it felt like she was pulling a concrete wall. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to break free.

The sight of both Zanetor and the mysterious man slowly seemed to fade into a darkness that crept into the frame from nowhere.

She was being dragged into it, the eternal black.

But, she wasn't going to let that stop her! Even if her arms or legs were restrained, there was one thing she could still use!

"Zanetor! Zanetor, can you hear me!?", she tried to squirm away from the mass pulling her back. "You have to break free! Find your will again! Else… Else this time, you'll be gone for good!"

…

There was no response

"He can't hear me at all??", the girl was about to say more when a black tendril covered her mouth. "Mmph, urg, hey-"

All she could do now was watch as some sort of blackish thing slowly engulfed Zanetor's body.

A huge grin suddenly appeared on the man's formerly faceless face as the black thing surfaced.

Desperate, the girl kept screaming muffled words as she was pulled further and further into the dark abyss.

Was her voice ever going to be heard?

The girl couldn't help but feel utterly useless. Well, she always felt that way, but this time… it was different.

There was a weight on her heart ever since a particular event happened. A weight so heavy, it remained after all those years and now somehow and by some strange means, she finds an opportunity to express herself to her potential weightlifter.

Yet no matter how much of an opportunity she had coming her way, she couldn't grab a good hold of it.

Maybe it was a sin that could never be forgiven

A sin that would torment her until she died.

Maybe it was best to let things be as they were…

'No', she thought to herself. 'I can't let him go. Not like this. Zanetor…'

A ray of light suddenly shot forth from within the obscure mass that had completely swallowed the girl and soon, every single bit of it was blown away.

"Zanetor! Give me a chance!", the girl pulled herself towards the awkwardly familiar scene. "Please hear me out! Not just for me! But for both of us!"

The expression on Zanetor's face remained the same; confusion, fear, surprise all at the same time.

"Zane-"

*Slam! *

A dark tendril shot forth, grabbing the black-haired girl and throwing her onto the floor.

However, she didn't stop speaking.

"Zanetor, it's not just for me or you", she smiled. "But for your mother as well."

Just then, Zanetor's eyes widened and the entire classroom turned pitch black. The only visible entities at that point were Zanetor, the strange man and the girl.

"HUH!?", the man moved a step back, but then a force grabbed hold of its throat before it could flee.

Zanetor stood up, his eyes as fierce as a blazing furnace. He tightened his grip on his opponent's neck as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Cut the crap", he growled. "Who do you think you are? Asking yourself questions and expecting me to be the one to answer them? On top of that, this heart does not belong to anyone but me."

The man gradually began to turn into a murky substance in an attempt to flee.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"You're sad", Zanetor muttered. "But I've long gained command over this place. Now… Begone!"

An incredibly bright light flared up from within Zanetor's chest and immediately swallowed up the world of black.

The light got closer to the girl until she remembered something important.

"Uh, no wait!", she staggered in an attempt to stand. "Zanetor! Don't go! I haven't said what I wanted to say yet-"

Before she could even complete her sentence, she felt an invisible force shove her farther away from the light.

The force kept pushing her away until all she could perceive was utter darkness.

Zanetor found himself in a space that was nothing but pure white. Before him were both the ice and water structures, floating ominously as if they were both calling out to him.

The young boy stretched forth both hands and took a hold of the water sphere and ice shard.

"If these two are what exist within me…", he tightened his grip. "Then I have the power to own both of them."

At that moment, a burst of light filled the entire space and the shadow soul's vision was completely obscured by the intense light.

During the same instant outside Zanetor's inner self, lights began to erupt from his motionless body.

"H- Huh?", Leticia covered her eyes. "Where did this light come from all of a sudden?"

Edem simply kept his smirk printed on his face as he silently observed.

Zozo was equally as silent.

The lights began to reduce in intensity and soon, the image of Zanetor slowly returned to view. However, there was a slight change.

He was no longer donned in his tattered uniform as it seemed to be replaced by a blue black trench coat that faintly glimmered as if it were reflecting the light that bounced off of it.

The young boy, who still seemed to be in a state of unconsciousness, slowly motioned to a fall as the runic circle that surrounded his feet immediately dissipated.

A golden circle then appeared from thin air, hovering right behind the shadow soul. The circle gently vibrated and soon Zanetor's fall was impeded. His body was slightly slanted as the circle seemed to stop him in mid-air.

It was then that Edem noticed something on Zanetor's left arm.

It was… a silver chain of some sort?

"Could this be…", he muttered to himself. "A contradiction?"

The chain was tightly wound around Zanetor's arm and if one was able to carefully inspect it, they would be able to notice that it occasionally loosened and re-tightened itself.

Leticia took a few steps back, "His spirit energy got even more unbearable."

The forest guardian closed his eyes for a brief moment and then faced the opposite direction. The little girl noticed something about Zozo's demeanour and then walked to his side.

"Papa?", she began. "What's wrong?"

Zozo began to contemplate a few things.

First things first, that shadow soul wasn't like any other soul he had met before. There was something about him that was far too different from an ordinary shadow soul as well as other soul types.

What worried him was…

That difference, was it going to be something that would breed good or bad?

The forest guardian groaned, "Edem, you and that shadow soul have only four days to stay within the forest."

"Don't worry about that", Edem smiled. "We may even leave before that."

There was a brief silence as Zozo quietly walked towards a certain portion of the hall's walls and strangely, passed through a part of it.

"P- Papa! Wait!", the little girl followed suit, disappearing just as the guardian did.

Edem turned to the unconscious Zanetor and silently said to himself, "Hm, even I'm surprised at the decent turn of events."

A mischievous glint appeared in his heterochromatic eyes.

.

.

.

(Material Realm - Hamasaki Mansion)

(9:23 pm)

Briskly walking down the softly lit hallways of the astute Hamasaki mansion was a lady who seemed to be in some form of formal attire. The sounds of her heels echoed within the hallway as she quickly approached a particular door.

"Ugh, that security meeting lasted way too long", she muttered to herself as she fixed her short brown hair. "I hope Izumi doesn't get mad at me."

She finally reached the door and sighed deeply as she readied herself to confront her best friend.

After a brief moment, she rapped her knuckles on the door gently and then waited for a response.

…

…

…

But there was none.

Confused, she knocked a few more times and waited for yet another few minutes.

"Did she fall asleep or something?", she raised an eyebrow. "Huh, that'd be new."

The young lady took a few steps back and then looked down at the base of the wooden door; there was light still peeking out from the slit at the bottom of the door.

Her eyes narrowed the moment she noticed the light.

Izumi never slept with the lights on.

With swift, professional movements, she slipped closer to the door and carefully placed her ears on the door. Her hands motioned to a certain part of her shirt where she pulled out a small cylindrical device from it.

She waited patiently to see if she'd be able to hear anything from behind the door.

The minutes crawled by and she was beginning to reach the conclusion of barging in and getting rid of the imposter.

The amount of experience she had received from her training as a professional bodyguard had made her highly accustomed to situations like those. She could clearly feel the presence of someone behind the door and that 'someone' was definitely NOT at one place.

*CRASH!*

Just then, the sound of something shattering boomed from the other side of the door.

She was going to move in!

The experienced bodyguard barged into the room and then pressed a hidden button on the cylindrical object, causing it to suddenly reform into a small pistol. Blue streaks of light occasionally moved from one end of the weapon to the other as it slowly began to charge.

"Stop right there! Whatever you do, don't-", the lady's words suddenly died down her throat at the sight before her. "Huh?"

Standing right before her was a girl whose long silky black hair reflected the lights from the chandelier. She stood right next to what looked to be a shattered vase.

"A- Aku?", the black-haired girl silently uttered, her eyes seemed to be filled with tears.

Aku quickly walked up to the young girl, "I- Izumi!? Are you okay? What the heck happened?? Why didn't you answer the door??"

"I- I-", Izumi slowly sat on the extravagant four poster bed behind her. "I'm so sorry. I…"

Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she found it difficult to speak. Her voice consistently wavered everytime she tried and it was beginning to break Aku's composure.

The concerned bodyguard disarmed herself and then sat next to the distressed girl.

"It's okay, just relax", she calmly said as she gently stroked Izumi's hair. "Once you're good, you can tell me what happened."

Izumi closed her eyes and then wiped her tears, "I wasn't able to do anything… even though I had another chance."

"Huh?", Aku's eyebrows rose in confusion. "W- What do you mean by that? What weren't you able to do?"

"I met him again. I'm not sure how, but somehow I did…", Izumi began. "But then, there were these strange black tendrils and it was as if he couldn't hear a word I said. Whenever I tried to tell him…"

She slowly stopped speaking and a broken smile appeared on her face.

"Izumi?"Aku tilted her head.

"H- Hah, you probably think I'm going crazy at this point", the black-haired girl clenched her palms into light fists and shut her eyes tight. "I- I'm telling the truth! I wouldn't just make up things like this for no reason!"

'It's as if she's trying to convince me that she saw a ghost or something', Aku thought as she continued to gently stroke her best friend's hair. "Izumi, maybe you should get some rest and clear your head."

Izumi looked up, "I…"

She was about to speak when she saw the look on Aku's face. She knew that look all too well. It was the one that said 'Really? I'm used to your weird-ass self so just listen to me'.

Izumi knew very well that her friend would try her very best to understand what she was going through. There was a strong feeling in her chest at that time too.

She nodded quite reluctantly and before she knew it, Aku had helped her tuck into bed.

"I'll stay here and keep you company", Aku smiled and then laid right beside Izumi. "I'll try not to sleep until after you do!"

A few minutes passed and the sounds of snores could be heard in the room.

A blank expression appeared on Izumi's face, "She's already long gone."

She then looked up at the canopy of her bed.

The feeling in her chest

It seemed to agree with something that kept repeating itself in her head.

'Zanetor is somewhere', she thought. 'I know, I know we'll meet again.'

Izumi kept staring into space for what felt like an eternity until she realised the reason why she was still awake.

She groaned, "The lights are still on."