“Die!” She turned away to storm off but stopped abruptly for some reason. Turning back to us, she muttered, “Okay, I didn’t mean that exactly, but you guys don’t want to?”

Wow. I almost felt bad for her.

I said, “Yeah, why not?”

Jasper agreed. “Yeah—oh, she reached!”

He grew suddenly excited as he rushed to Louiest, who wandered around on a massive red bear-like anima.

She spotted him moving from us to her and first said with genuine happiness, “Have you made friends?”

His excitement faltered a bit and was replaced with slight confusion.

“Eh…?” he voiced out.

He then scratched his shoulder in slight embarrassment as he asked, “What made you ask that?”

She jerked her chin towards us.

He crossed his arms and clicked his tongue, trying to seem cool. “Sarielle? Yes. She? She is more of an… an acquaintance. She is strong, so why not, I guess.”

Louis tilted her head with skepticism.

Yeah, he was definitely bullshitting.

He then called to us, “Hey guys. Do you… Do you all want a ride to the Temple of Kama?”

Definitely! I don’t mind walking and all since my body makes sure my muscles don’t stay too fatigued for too long. I wish I was immune to sleep, though.

Louis then said blankly, “Whoever said I was going to give them a ride? Walk.”

Oof. I thought she was friendlier.

Jasper shrugged towards us and worded, “Welp,” and then ran to hop on the bear, but before he could get on it, it moved to the side.

“Huh…?” Jasper was baffled.

Louiest tapped the bear, causing it to walk away. She waved him as she said, “Walk with them.”

“Huh?! Why!”

“I said so.”

Before she left, she gestured to me, which I complied. I assumed it was going to be about Jasper.

She said, “You have grown considerably stronger in a few months—especially after what happened to you.”

Wait a second. How does she know that?

She figured out what I wanted to ask by my facial expression.

She had a slight smile. “Don’t worry about it. I have big ears.”

Ah, whatever. I always thought she looked a bit mischievous anyway.

It’s so daunting to me that she pays such attention to me. To be honest, I got a nasty feeling that she knows I have silver hair and is simply waiting for the right time to take me away from Zaphael.

That's just my theory though.

Yet, I asked her, “Why are you helping me so much?”

“I am very interested in the type of person you will become.” She then handed me a card with letters and symbols I couldn’t understand in a line. “Use it when you need it.”

She then turned away, coughing into a cloth before departing.

Eh...? At least tell me what this thing is.

I showed it to Jasper to ask him, “What's this thing?”

He looked at me for a bit longer than I expected before answering, “Contact information. It’s used for report disks.”

Did I have something on my face?

Tokushuna rested her arm on my shoulder. “Crazy. So when are we leaving here?”

“Am I your elbow rest-er?”

“Yep.” She nodded.

Jasper walked forward first, gesturing for us to follow him with a wave of his hand. “Let’s go.”

“To war.” Tokushuna made a stupid expression.

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

On our way to the city, and in the city, we didn’t talk at all. It was weird. During all that, Tokushuna would just look up at the sky, staring at the crows.

Strangely, there were more of them outside the city than usual. Please don’t tell me something big is going on. Like foreshadowing for some bullshit.

Nothing happened yet, and I hoped it stayed that way.

We finally reached our destination, the massive temple.

Mounted very high on it was a statue of a woman who had very long cylirases and a very weird eye design. Her hair was floating up too.

Stolen novel; please report.

Something about her reminded me of System. I don’t think it's simply because of the hair or the eyes. System did have odd eye details which is something I never really pointed out.

Was it because of the color of the hair that was painted? The type of red glow definitely reminded me of System’s white hair.

Kama, huh... Is System actually Kama?

Hmmmmmm. What are the chances? Nahhhhhh... But, she is a mysterious being.

I don’t know.

While overthinking, other slayer candidates walked in.

Right, I had gotten distracted.

I walked inside; they had doors that towered over me. It made me wonder what the true purpose of it was. Is it simply for aesthetics? Actually, I am pretty damn sure that's what it’s for.

Imagine if Kama is actually a giant, though? And the door is for when Kama comes back to Earth.

Hahahhah. I am not sure why, but thinking something as dumb as that made me laugh out loud.

When I entered, an attendant there, dressed in red, asked, “Your certificate, please.”

Ah, right, those.

I handed it to him. He looked at it for a couple of seconds and then handed it back to me.

“Okay. Please enter room 10.”

“Ight.” I answered as I walked in. Fortunately, they had names on the rooms deep inside, which I followed.

While walking in, I noticed a lady with light blue skin.

She was dressed in the same red and had an extremely powerful and cool-looking scythe on her back. It had odd modifications that looked like it was augmented with technology. Other than her skin, she had all the features of a reaper.

“Ah... another one,” she muttered as she looked at me before going along with her business.

She had a very different accent. When she said ‘a’ and ‘e’, it was much heavier.

I desperately wanted to scan her level, but I didn’t want to be disrespectful.

Light blue skin, huh... Hmm. I am going to ask Jasper about that as soon as I'm done here.

I proceeded into the room.

During this, Tokushuna also entered, but she showed him a card. Holding it, he muttered, “Oh... so you are…”

I didn't hear what he said after that, but it was something that caused Tokushuna to look at him roughly.

Hmm... Maybe I shouldn’t ask her about that. I don’t want to get involved in her life.

I entered the room, closing the door.

The person inside suggested, “Please remove your shirt. It is necessary.”

I assumed it was for the same thing Zaphael looked at. I did as they said.

They were flabbergasted. “What the hell?”

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

That’s... disappointing.

I walked out of the door and met up with Tokushuna and Jasper who were waiting outside for me.

Jasper asked, “So? All good?”

I looked at him and responded a little later than I would have preferred. “Absolutely.”

I displayed a wide grin along with a thumbs up.

Tokushuna cocked her head.

Jasper was extremely skeptical. “That is not your personality.”

Well, shit. I forgot myself.

“Yeee.” I dragged my words.

“I see…” Jasper said sympathetically. I didn’t fully get what he fully meant by that. Was he a mind reader now?

After every other slayer candidate was done with the ability/divine talent blessing,

they bundled together, excitedly chatting with each other.

“Dude, I am going to get such a high-grade ability.”

“Ha... same.”

Though, some grieved.

“If my brother didn’t die during that test, he would be so excited to see what my main ability would be.”

“Yeah... my friend too. We used to talk all night about the cool stuff we would be doing.”

It was sad. It made me think of Kaoi, and his dream to become a hunter...

And Lilan, someone who wanted to become a nurse for her mother.

Now... none of them will achieve that dream. Kaoi is dead, and Lilan’s mom is also dead.

If... no, when she does wake up, she wouldn’t have the incentive to chase that dream anymore.

I am also extremely worried about her scars. How will people treat her? I want her to make friends... but I know how kids are. They probably wouldn’t want to be around her at all.

Now... how would that also affect her self-image? Damn it, man... I am going to have to account for those things in the future and just hope for the best.

I will also have to make sure no one finds out about her past. People are wicked shits. Those who will dislike her for whatever reason will definitely use it to hurt her.

Protecting her physically sounds simple; all I need to do is get stronger, but protecting her socially? That’s one that is much more difficult. It’s not like I would be able to tell her not to make friends.

While thinking about this, I started scratching my forearms.

How will I do that...? I will filter out the friends she will make. That’s for sure. It would be better to select kids for her to hang around with but secretly...

My pace of scratching increased. It was frustrating. Knowing I had to get stronger to protect her, despite there being many powerful beings in this world, was enough damn stress that led to me being addicted.

Of course, protecting her wasn't my sole reason for that happening, but all my goals are connected to gaining power. But... it sucks that strength isn’t the only thing that is needed to protect her.

My scratching led up to my neck. I didn’t know why, but I had weird itches again.

Then Tokushuna, for some reason, danced her long fingernail in my vision.

“Aye aye aye aye. What the hell is going on with you?”

…

“I think... your fleas jumped onto me,” I said rudely.

Her expected expression faded into annoyance. “You are not funny.”

“Hah. Really?”

“Yes.”

I rested my arms by my side, and soon after, a state slayer showed up to gather our attention with a clap.

“You all can now obtain great power! That’s something to be especially happy about!

Uh-huh.

"But, of course, there is a lot of stuff to it that your investors will inform you about. Either way, even if some of you gained your abilities instantly or not, you will not be allowed to use those powers unless you are in a training setting with your trainer or another slayer. And obviously, in case of self-defense. That’s all. Have a great day!"

After that was done, the three of us walked out into the city. Tokushuna smiled as she spread her arms wide. "The night is still young."

She was doing some act.

"Cool," I said dismissively.

"I am tired," Jasper yawned.

She didn't care for it. So she suggested, "Let’s go for some snacks."

When we were on our way to the temple, she was quiet, but now she was talkative? What's with the change?

"Ugh... If you want to," I answered. I had no idea why, but I went along with what she wanted.

Jasper agreed, "Um, as long as you pay."

"Damn, really?" She was disappointed.

"...Yes."

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask him about the blue-skinned miss.

"Aye Jasper."

"Yeah?"

"Light blue reapers, are they... natural?"

He looked at me strangely, then made an expression like something was obvious.

"I didn’t expect you to be racist too, but you're a north and pink reaper, so I guess it makes sense."

What now.

"Bro, what? What are you talking about?" I think I was more species-ist than racist. Also, I'm guessing that blue reapers are a thing.

"What? You asked a weird question."

"I didn’t mean it like that! I didn't know they were a thing."

He tilted his head away from me. "...Doubt."

"Whatever."

I learned what I wanted to know anyway. Though, judging based on what he said, it seems pink reapers didn’t like the blue ones. They also must not be from the North.

Tokushuna didn't care to engage in the conversation.