A few days passed since I started trying to understand Soul Magic and training with Super-Demon, and right now I was resting at home with Nicole. We had been going to the Academy to test Super-Demon’s magic a few more times, but so far, I had gained nothing from it besides the knowledge that it could be blocked with other powerful magic, and that it was able to shake something inside of people when being directly hit by it—their souls, most likely.

I hadn’t realized it while doing these things, but what Nicole pointed out was that what I was doing was like trying to learn how a blade works by being struck by it, when what one needed to do was to hold it and carefully inspect it, even going as far as knowing how they are made if one wanted to know how a blade works, and the same thing could be said about Soul Magic.

However, a blade was a thing that could be held, and the other was magic, which was difficult to grasp a lot of times, and more so when the person doing said magic wasn’t able to properly convey how they were doing it or what they were feeling when using it.

I sighed and shook my head. Time was running out, and I was no closer to figuring out a way to cut off Eletha from the Holy Gods. My best option now was to drag Super-Demon to the mission and give him an opening to attack Eletha, hoping that his magic was enough to do something about her connection without killing her. But even then, there was a possibility that the amount of Soul Magic we needed to do this was so high that it could just kill her.

“Still worried about that thing you have to do?” Nicole asked, her face turned to me and away from the movie we were watching as she paused it. I had hardly been paying any attention to it.

I nodded my head, but kept my eyes down on my hands. “It seems like the only option that we have is to kill that girl.”

“Eh… Really? Couldn’t we just capture her and then figure it out?” she asked, tilting her body forward and her head to the side so she could see my face clearer.

“I’m not sure that she’s going to allow such a thing. The Holy Gods are always watching, so if something like that does happen, They might just tell her to end herself,” I said with a shake of my head.

Nothing like that ever happened to me, but the me from that time would’ve followed any order like that without any hesitation, as long as it meant doing what was best for both the world and Them.

“I-is that so…?” Nicole asked, turning her face away with a hum, as if she was thinking of something. “Is there really a problem if… she just dies…?”

With raised eyebrows, I turned to look at Nicole. I never expected her to say such a thing. “We don’t know what might happen if that’s the case. The Holy Gods might just have some form of strange magic attached to Eletha that might tell them where this world is with her death, or there might be a breakdown of something in this world that allows them to just come here like they did ours… Or there might be something that we’re completely missing. We just can’t risk it with this girl.”

“Are you sure?” Nicole asked, pouting slightly. “I mean, if her death could bring Them closer to this world, wouldn’t They just ask her to die? Couldn’t it be that you’re just overthinking things?”

I opened my mouth to argue back, but I didn’t have a proper response to her, so I just closed it and opened it again a couple of times, before turning to look away from her. She was right with what she said, but… there were so many things that I couldn’t see when I was Their Hero of the Holy Gods, that I couldn’t be certain about anything. “I just can’t help but think about the things that I can’t see, or the things that I might be unaware of.”

“Is that so…? Then would you rather leave it up to someone else to do this?” Nicole asked, “The Emperor seemed to not really care if you joined the mission or not, and the people that came from China also seemed like they are going to do it regardless.”

“But this is my duty. This is something that I have to look over and make sure that the things from the past don’t repeat themselves, and I have to—”

“Is it really?” Nicole interrupted, a thoughtful look on her face when I turned to look at her. “Didn’t Salrak say a bunch of times that you’re free to do whatever you wanted? I think that you’re just carrying the guilt of the past and allowing yourself to be pressured by others to do this. I might like Asteora, but I think that you have no duty to her, and the Emperor seems to just want to use you for his benefit. You really don’t have any responsibility for this.”

I deeply frowned when she said that and her expression turned awkward from it, so I softened my look and turned to see elsewhere. “It’s not that simple. Even if Salrak says that I’m free, or even if everyone else wants to use me, the fact still remains that it was through my actions that everyone—from both this world and mine—has been affected, and that even if I wanted to forget about it and leave it all behind, the very buildings of this world, the magic that gets used, and the people all around me, are going to be a reminder of what I did. I can’t sit idly by and allow the mistakes of my past to forge the future of this world.”

With a sigh, Nicole placed a hand on top of my head. I looked at her with widened eyes, but she just softly smiled. “You’re being too hard on yourself. It’s not like you did all of that to destroy the world. You did what you thought was the best, and sadly, you got taken advantage of by those Gods. I think you should follow Salrak’s advice and just do whatever you want.”

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I looked away and considered what she said while allowing myself to be caressed by Nicole. Never before had anyone besides my mother done that, so it was somewhat difficult for me to properly think about what she said; however, the thought that I had to be responsible for what I did still remained in my mind despite the distraction. I still had to deal with anything related to the Holy Gods, even if nobody else was forcing me to do so.

“No… I’ll do whatever I want whenever I can make sure that the Holy Gods aren’t a problem for anyone anymore,” I said with a shake of my head.

Nicole removed her hand and looked at me with a tight-lipped smile. “Well… if you say so… Still, I’m going to help you regardless, so I’ll be right behind you!”

I smiled back and nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be looking over you as well.”

She widely smiled, before looking over the movie and turning it off. She then gazed at the window and the already setting sun, before standing up and taking out her phone. “It’s getting pretty late already, and I think that—Oh?”

“What is it?” I asked, standing from the couch to pick up the few things that we had been drinking.

“Hnngg… There’s another riot at the National University and it seems like buses aren’t able to move…” she said with a pout. “It looks like today they’re going harder than before.”

“They seem to riot a lot…” I said, putting away some plates and quickly cleaning them with a bit of water magic.

There were always news each week about that place ‘throwing rocks’—as they said. Apparently, they would do so whenever the government did something that they didn’t agree with, and this time, they were acting based on military spending. Usually, it would clear out before night time, so if Nicole waited for a while, she should be able to go back home without having to use magic, which would get her in trouble if she did use it.

“Meh,” she carefreely blurted out, putting away her phone. “I don’t think I want to go home so late. Mind if I stay here tonight?”

“It’s not a problem,” I replied with a nod while putting away the few plates.

“Thanks!” She exclaimed, plopping on the couch and turning back on the movie that we were watching.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her. Perhaps she just wanted to continue watching the movie. Though, it didn’t really matter, it wouldn’t be the first time that she stayed here, and probably not the last time, so once I was done on my side, I went back and sat with her, waiting for the day to pass.

* * *

The sound of my phone ringing woke me up early in the morning. I had always been a light sleeper as someone that had to always be on the lookout for anything, so I didn’t waste any time picking it up.

While I was doing so, I also noticed that the sky was still dark, and that it was still going to be a few hours before the sun came out, so with a frown, I looked at who was calling. It was from the Ministry of Magic. Odd, but I quickly answered it so it wouldn’t wake Nicole, who was sleeping over at the couch.

“Hello?” I whispered, my eyes on the sleeping young woman a short distance away.

“Is this Althea Sanctus?” asked a woman’s voice from the other side.

I nodded as if she could see me—a habit from the past—before realizing my mistake and answering with my voice. “That is me.”

“There’s an emergency summon from the Ministry, which includes the team that you've been working with over the past few months. We request that you present yourself as soon as you can and that you let everyone else that you need to come here with you,” the woman said with a serious tone.

“Is there a reason for that?” I asked, frowning deeply.

“Sorry, I am not privy to the details. All I can say is that it’s an emergency,” the woman said, “If you need instructions on how to get here, then you’ll find them in your messages.”

“Okay… then I’ll get ready,” I said, removing the blankets off me.

“Thank you for your attention, and again, please come as soon as you can,” the woman said, after which the call was cut off.

I looked at the phone for a moment with the temptation of asking Salrak to tell me what he knew about it, but the fact that I was called at this time meant that whatever it was, it required a quick response, so I put the phone to the side, stood up from the bed and walked over to Nicole’s side.

I crouched and looked at her sleeping face for a moment, before reaching my hand to her shoulder and shaking her slightly, causing her to wake up with a frown on her face. “Hnggg… Althy… What is it…?”

“There’s an emergency,” I said with a serious tone, “We need to get ready.”

Her groggy eyes quickly snapped open as she raised her body from the couch while looking out the window. “Eh?! This early?! Don’t tell me someone else died!”

She was about to fly from the couch but I held her by placing one hand on her shoulder and shaking my head. “I don’t know yet. It was from the Ministry of Magic and they’re asking for all of us.”

Nicole calmed down slightly after I said that, but the frown and the pout on her face didn’t fade. “Could it be that they’re already starting their operations into that last Followers of Leyfall base…? I’ve heard that the military likes to do things really, really early.”

“I don’t know,” I said, walking away from her and to the bathroom as I removed my clothes. “But we have to get ready as fast as we can. So if you’re hungry, I suggest you eat something.”

“Okay…” she said, slowly standing up from the couch and walking over to the kitchen side of the apartment while I closed the door, and unlike her, got myself ready as fast as I could.

* * *

The sky still remained dark, the streets were mostly empty, and the cold of the night was causing both me and Nicole to see our breath as we moved. It didn’t take long for us to get to the Ministry of Magic building, which was located not too far away from the Presidential House.

We also met with James when we got there, and shortly after, both Super-Demon and Reeta joined us. Reeta seemed confused, and judging by the way that Super-Demon was fidgeting, he also appeared to be just as confused.

I had called them since I needed them for the next mission, but since I didn’t know what this was about, all they could do was trust me. Thankfully, neither of them ignored me and made their way here even before I got here.

There was no time wasted as we were let inside, quickly identifying with a woman in military uniform that sounded similar to the one that called us, and who even ignored Super-Demon’s lack of identity when asked for it as she led us to another room inside the building.

I was surprised to see Feng Liu and his team were also there already, and inside, there were both the Minister of Magic and the Minister of Defense. Without wasting a beat, the Minister of Defense stood from his spot and looked seriously at all of us.

“Thank you for coming here so fast,” he said.

“What is this about?” I asked back with my arms crossed.

“Yes. I would also like to know what happened,” Feng Liu followed up.

The Minister looked at us just as seriously, and after a moment, he answered. “We’ve been attacked.”