Sora opened his eyes shocked and stood up while panting. He was filled with sweat from the sleep. Yui was sitting in a chair nearby and she was looking at Sora.
"Oh, you are finally awake!"
He looked around and sighed.
'I am home, what a relief. But what was that?'
Yui looked at him worried.
"Is everything alright Sora?"
He looked at her and nodded positively. Sora stood up and stretched his hands.
"Come on, what are you waiting for? Today we are going to learn what happened to that kid"
Yui was shocked.
"You are right!"
She shouted and stood up.
"Get ready, fast!"
'Wow, that's how someone's mood change in some seconds'
After some time, Sora, Yui and Kosumi were sitting around the bed that the young boy was lying on. Sora saw him with a cold look on his face.
"What's your name kid?"
"H-Haruki…"
Haruki seemed uncomfortable and Yui slapped the back of Sora's head.
"Ouch, what did you do that for?"
"Don't be harsh to him, he is only a child"
Yui pouted irritated.
"Ok, ok…"
She looked at Haruki and smiled warmly.
"May you tell us what happened to you and we found you like this?"
"Three years ago… I was living with my parents a normal life, but my father started playing gambling games. Several weeks after he started, he was owed a massive amount of money to some people, but he couldn't pay it… They came and took his and my mother's life. I was nearly eight years old, so they decided to take me in as a slave. Yesterday, I managed to escape from their prison in one piece, but I found a herd of wolves. After some running, I found you guys, and thanks for what you did, I appreciate that."
Haruki smiled warmly.
"Some of the adults came and took a friend of mine… He never came back…"
Yui stood up and hugged Haruki.
"I know how you feel, it must be hard, right?"
Haruki slowly started tearing and she patted his back lightly.
"There, there"
Sometime later Haruki stopped crying. Yui left him and walked in front of Sora. She got on her knees and lowered her head down to the floor.
"Please Sora, I need your help"
"Hm?"
He retorted coldly.
"I know it isn't what we agreed, but please! I need your help, countless children are dying in those prisons. Please, I'll do whatever you want in return"
Sora sighed.
"Ok, ok"
Yui stood up with her face filled with happiness and hugged Sora. Kosumi seemed angry while looking at them.
"But we won't fight them. We are still pretty weak with only fire abilities. If we find a mage with countermagic we are done for"
She laid back and smiled.
"I understand, this will have to wait"
Yui sat in her seat.
"Haruki?"
He got surprised and looked at Sora.
"Yes Sora"
"Any clues to where we are going to find it?"
Haruki put his palm under his chin.
"I think northeast, about 3 kilometers behind where I came. After some time, you are going to find a big road. Follow it, because it's going to lead you in the prison. The prison with the other children should be at the bottom of the mansion."
"I see, I'll make sure to keep that in mind"
Sora and Yui stood up.
"Let's go Yui"
"Yes"
Sora looked to Kosumi.
"I am leaving the kid to you. It's almost certain they will come to silence him, so keep him company"
"Understood."
Sora and Yui left the room. They made it to the road Haruki was talking about. They were walking inside a forest that was surrounding that road, so they won't get spotted. Some time later, they saw a big building with many guards around it.
"I think we arrived"
They were hiding behind some trees and bushes.
"Ok, let's go around and find a safe route inside."
They found an unguarded wooden door behind the building. It was covered with moss and had around many trees.
"That's the perfect spot Yui, we are getting through here"
Sora walked up and put his palm facing the door. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. He visualized a small room with three people inside.
"Alright Yui, there are three people. You run for the one on the left, and I'll take the other two down that are in the other side of the room, with comets, so we won't put the place on fire"
Yui nodded positively. Sora moved on the left and she went in front of the door. Sora opened the door and Yui rushed on the left. The guard quickly drew his sword and put it on top of his head. She raised her sword and cut through the guards while hitting him on his head. The guard fell in the ground and a pool of blood surrounded him. Sora came in and opened his book. Suddenly, two red circles appeared in front of him and two fire spheres came out hitting the two guards on the other side of the room. Yui looked surprised.
"Wow, when did you learn to use your spells without reading them?"
"Well, actually I tried to use what the old man told me. I thought about the name of the spell I want to use and the times I want to activate it. After that, the circles appeared and the guards were on the ground. Alright, let's continue before other guards come."
They moved to the door that was on the other side of the room. Sora put his hand facing it, but he didn't see anyone.
"Ok, we are good to go."
Sora opened the door and they were in the middle of a corridor. They ran to the left side when they saw a turn.
"Danger, two guards incoming."
"Roger."
The guards scooted on the corridor where Sora and Yui were. Yui jumped and hit the first one with her sword while it was covered in fire. The guard's body fell on the ground and Yui stooped. A circle appeared in front of Sora and a fire sphere hit the other guard.
"Perfect, we are all clear."
Yui stood up and they continued running. Sometime later, they managed to get to the place where the children were imprisoned. Yui broke the door and they ran to the railings. There were no guards around the room and they only saw a little girl with bunny ears and a fluffy white scut.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Yui shouted to the girl and cut the rails. She was wearing a big brown shirt and her black hair was all messy and full of dust. She stood up and ran to Yui and hugged her. The girl started crying and Yui patted her back lightly.
"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine"
They got outside of the cell but three people were waiting in front of the door. They were two men and one woman. One of the males was clapping slowly. Meanwhile, Kosumi was in the town's street walking with Haruki.
"So, Haruki what do you want to eat?"
"I don't mind, I can eat whatever you offer me"
"Alright then, we are heading to a good place nearby"
Suddenly, Kosumi and Haruki heard a male's voice.
"Stop right there"
They turned behind them and saw three armed men, one with a big axe and two with swords, standing near them.
"Handover the kid, and we won't harm you, understand?"
Haruki hid behind Kosumi's back. He saw Haruki's frightened face and remembered Sora's words.
'It's almost certain they will come to silence him, so keep him company'
'Those must be the people that came after Haruki to silence him.'
He started thinking.
"Come on, we don't have the whole day"
Kosumi saw Haruki and winked at him. He turned his look to the people.
"Ok, ok, he is all yours. I'm out, see ya"
Kosumi started walking the other way, leaving Haruki behind. One of the men holding a sword approached Haruki. He was going to touch his shoulder when a needle flew and was stuck in his palm.
"What the?"
Some more needles flew his way and hit him in many body parts. His eye, leg, arm, belly, and more. The man fainted in front of Haruki and the needles got teleported back to Kosumi's belt. He smiled.
"As if I would let you kill a child"
Kosumi disappeared and appeared behind the other man with the sword. He threw needles in his body and he fell unconscious. The needles teleported back to his belt and he appeared next to Haruki.
"Damn you brat!"
The man raised his axe and hit the ground. Suddenly a big wave of fire came to Kosumi's and Haruki's way. He exhaled and threw a needle in front of the fire. The fire extinguished and the needle passed through while hitting the man's arm. He was unable to hold the axe and threw it on the ground. Kosumi appeared in front of the man with needles in his hand.
'He was able to surpass the fire with only a needle and aim for my arm's weak point? Who is he?'
"Go tell your friends in hell that you were eliminated by the Phantom's hands. You'll soon come to understand that many people there will say the same"
Kosumi threw some needles in his face and walked away. The needles teleported back to his belt. Haruki seemed shocked.
"W-W-Wait, y-you are THE Phantom? The S class assassin fighting with a pack of needles?"
"Um…"
"There are so many things I want to ask you! Please tell me what happened there!"
"I—"
They were sitting on a table while waiting for their food.
"So, so?"
Haruki seemed so excited.
"Um… where should I begin?"
"What was that speed, and how your needles always hit its target, and how did a needle manage to pass through his fire?"
"Oh, that's an easy one. My passive ability is wind. I can enhance my needles with wind magic and make them faster while cutting through the air. This can never put me at a disadvantage. I can enhance my body as well and make it as light as a feather. After some training, I can move pretty fast. Then… I always hit what I aim, because I trained that way. Like with the air cutting skill I don't have to train in multiple types of situations, the basic one is enough. And last, I used a lot of mana in the last air cutting that cut the fire around as well and hit his arm. He lost concentration, and his fire extinguished itself."
"Wow, so cool! But, then, how did your needles appear back to your belt?"
"My active magic is teleportation. I can only teleport objectives though, the bigger the object is, and the larger the distance is, the more mana it takes from me to do it."
"I see, it makes sense why you fight with needles. You are smart, you find a very good wait to maintain your mana and fight at the same time."
"Well… it took me a hell of a time to do so…"
"I've heard you retired from your job, why is that? I mean you are a living legend"
Kosumi looked at a glass of water he had near him.
"A year ago, I was on a quest with some friends. Long story short, it didn't end up good. A monster killed them and only I managed to escape. I was filled with regrets and despair and decided to start working in this town as your everyday magic identifier. I learned the art of this and now I opened a shop where people can come and find out their magic."
"I see…"
A waiter came holding some food.
"Your food sir"
Sora and Yui were looking at the people that were standing in front of the door. Her legs and hands were shaking out of fright.
"S-Sora, I think they are too strong for us. Maybe we can find a way to get out?"
"Yui, tell me something. You want to take revenge, right?"
"Y-Yes, why?"
Yui looked to Sora and slowly stopped shaking.
"Do you think I am not scared? Do you think I am ok and ready to battle? Of course not. But the only way to get stronger is to face your fears straight on, running from them will just drag you back to the beginning."
"R-Right"
Yui clinched her hands with the sword.
"We won't back down, we are going to win today Yui"