( Hours after. )
[ Divina Tower for Hunter Association ]
The 'Divina Tower for Hunter Association' is a 'Secret Facility'* made by the Divine and the Hunter Association post-Abyss Tower Event, and immediately used during the rise of the 'White Demon' problem. This fortress's location is not visible on any map as the gods and the association only share the exact location with their members.
Also, no photos or any internet activity are allowed in this area. If the person wants to surf the internet, they must use the connection solely provided by the fortress itself and all internet activities are being monitored 24/7.
[ Divine Fortress Gate Dock. ]
* Gate Opens. *
Using the Fortress' Device, the Divine made sure to make the Gate Dock's Teleporter to make many Machine-Made Gates to teleport the residing members.
" Recognized, Aidan Adler, #S02. " said the machine's announcer as Aidan was teleported back into the Divina Tower, his body filled with bruises and cuts while bringing the corpse of the Tusked Awakener with him.
As Aidan arrives, the staff there taken the Awakener's corpse and Aidan decides to get out from the dock and go near the Tower's Lab Section, where he can see the Ruins of the Abyss Tower, the ones painted with blood that were transported from the 'Hunter Association's S-Rank Fortress'.
Aidan sees the paintings, he takes some breathes, while breathing, a memory comes in, a memory of a vision he received during his test with the Matron Supreme. A vision shows a boy who draws the paintings with his blood, perhaps the painter himself.*
" The visions connected us..., regardless of time... "
" You're already seeing too much than you should have... "
" Many had tried, forced, by those..., Sisterhood... "
" Only some of 'em, I've let this far... " Aidan remember what the Boy says in the vision.
" Even with me giving you this 'sight'..., you would be silent 'bout this..., would you? " Aidan remember the boy's last words.
" It must be you who did this..., there's no other way... "
" The familiarity with your voice..., even if you try to make it as mysterious and as shady as you could... "
" I will still recognize it... " Aidan says as he walks past the lab section, as he remembers his vision, he also remembers some memories from Agni regarding the White Demon. This one is from the last time they met.
" Because I know..., deep down inside... "
" That you..., or perhaps the other one inside there..., knows who I am..., Lord Agni... "
" Well, it was deepest my desire..., to be discovered... "
" Hiding things will make things bad for me..., bad for my future intentions... "
" Just letting you know..., everything that you think about me is mostly correct..., I'm sure of it... " Aidan remembers the White Demon's words from back then.
" So there's no denying it, Lord Agni? " Aidan asks Agni within him after witnessing his memories.
" Yes..., it's him alright. The one you've been looking for. " Agni replied.
" Or perhaps..., the one 'we've' been looking for... " Agni adds it.
" By the way..., you made a bold decision to tell Loki about your thoughts... " Agni tells Aidan, reminding him what he did back then after the last White Demon encounter.
" I still regret my choice. " Aidan replied.
" Back then, during my struggle when telling the Lord, it seems he quickly reads my lip's words before I could utter it. Immediately realizing the information that I want to give him. "
" And now..., he has it, some information that would end the White Demon's mystery from now on..., I believe he would publish it right now. " Aidan says but Agni quickly counters it.
" No, he won't! Loki would never dare " Agni tells him.
" Not just Loki, if White Demon himself also decides to publically announce his identity to the public and tell even more. "
" Then, everything will be in catastrophe. " Agni tells his worries to Aidan.
" Then, Lord Agni..., what should we do? " Aidan humbly asks, while deep inside, he begins to worry for the Lord's answer.
" You know what we should do, Aidan... "
" In order to preserve peace..., the only thing we could do now..., is win. "
" And silence..., the Demon, by any means necessary..., even if it means using those related to him. " Agni releases his statement on the next step, while Aidan gets more discontent on hearing the word while walking even further until he arrives in front of a room's door, a room for recovery.
" Senpai. " Aidan says while witnessing the ice sprouting inside from the window's glasses. He met with the Valkyrie guards outside, who blocked his path at first but then, they received a call from the comms, telling them to let Aidan through as they opened the door from him.
" Speak of the devil... " Agni says it as soon as a powerful gust of frost wind gets released from within once the door is opened.
" Just now, I mentioned in using those related to him, didn't I? " Agni says as Aidan comes in, entering the place to see Yukino sitting on her bed, grabbing her knee tight while letting the frost affect everything around her.
* Aidan lid his fire. *
" Senpai. " Aidan calls her.
" Leave... " Yukino says it by decreasing the temperature even more while also releasing more waves of frost winds which challenges Aidan's fire.
" Keurgh! " Aidan grunts as it unleashes, as well as the Valkyrie guards behind him, parts of their bodies and armor are getting frozen as well.
" Senpai..., it's me! " Aidan calls Yukino, but the waves of frost wind then get even harder, and now it begins to be like a blizzard.
" Leave... " Yukino says it calmly despite the blizzard she unleashes.
" I know why you're here..., you want me to do some dirty job you guys planned, isn't it? "
" Especially when it has something to do with 'him'... " Yukino tells it, some words of refusal, which is unlike her.
"( The Yukino-Senpai I knew would jump in first in any opportunity to kill the White Demon. )"
"( But now..., she refuses... )" Aidan thinks of this, but then he remembers what happened to her back then.*
" After I received it, I began to remember much now... " Yukino opens it.
" The reason I was given so much this time..., it was simply because I accepted an offer that I couldn't refuse at a certain time... "
" An offer I accepted with the mind of hatred, I accepted it to change my life for the better next time... "
" But in the end..., I became worse..., now that the truth slowly comes after my 'Soul Fraction' returned. " Yukino utters it, being stranger than usual.
" 'Soul Fraction'? "
"( Does she mean 'Fraction of Souls'..., from the Gourd. )"
"( I see..., this is her..., awakening? )" Aidan says while the blizzard is getting wilder as well as the frost effect around the whole place.
"( She is just like back then..., in the Previous Timelines... )" Agni tells Aidan.
"( Her Blizzard, despite it blows snow and freezes everything, the rage of it's wind is like that of a raging fire... )"
"( Back then, she could do even more..., and not to mention, this strength of hers is also inherited to her descendant..., her granddaughter to be exact, based on the Previous Timelines. )"
"( A granddaughter..., whose father born from her collaboration with a certain man. )"
"( I told you this before..., didn't I? )" Agni asks Aidan as Aidan immediately replied.
" You mean the 'Divine Hero'? " Aidan says it with his mouth, in front of Yukino in her Blizzard Rage. Yukino, who hears the word, pauses for a second, struggling emotionally, before she raises her Blizzard again.
" That being is Senpai's granddaughter, right!? with... " Aidan stops as Yukino shouts.
" I don't want to hear it anymore! " Yukino rages but as things begin to be more fatal.
" Stop. " a word was spoken, a word so loud, especially to Yukino's ear.
The word is so loud, but instead of increasing her anger due to its loudness, the word itself made her do as it says... as if it was a command for her. Stunning her, making her faint but with her eyes open.
* Yukino stops, her Blizzard slowly dissipates. *
" To think you would be affected this far... " said the voice as his physical body appeared in the room while he fixed his golden horned crown.
" You... " Agni says as he sees the one who solved the problem..., it was Loki.
" She will not awaken... " Loki says as he looks at Aidan and Agni.
" If she awakens...then, she will be lost into madness, filled with bullshit memories from who knows where. " Loki says while looking at Aidan's frozen body, for the ice had been spread around it, a continuous effect of Yukino's power.
" Ah, Aidan..., it seems you had a hard time dealing with her despite your Avatarhood. " Loki tells while Aidan is still frozen, he's stunned.
" But this is expected..., from one such as Yukino here. " Loki says while looking at the sleeping First Position S-Rank Hunter as he puts his palm over her head.
Yukino sees this, she moves her eyes while struggling to move any of her muscles to flee herself.
"( No... stop... )"
"( Don't come near me... )" Yukino begs within her heart.
" You're as beautiful as Snow White. " Loki mentions the renowned princess character.
" Skin as beautiful as snow and hair so black just like her depictions in every timeline. "
" Just like her, you seemed to be aware that things will go well if you stay to our cause, thus you rebelled, secluded yourself in an unending blizzard... "
" But sadly..., instead of me just entrusting you to a huntsman, that'll surely make you find some dwarves and the prince... " Loki says while slowly conjuring some orb made of his power as well as some malevolent energies for some reason.
" It'll be wise for me to skip that part and give you the 'apple' instead. " Loki says as he gaged the conjured orb into Yukino's mouth, making her shaken as whatever he gave him began to affect her body.
" This time..., may the Snow White and the Prince never meet again... "
" Isn't that what you want...? " Loki chuckles as Yukino's eyes slowly turn black because of it.
"( No..., no... )" Yukino struggles as before her visions clouded by the darkness, she sees a vision of a certain old man, whose face turned into different versions, smiling at her in joy.
"( I... I... )" Yukino's sight is fully darkened as the visions pass.
...
...
( Meanwhile. )
[ Realm of Candida Aeternitas. ]
Sal, who foresaw the realm within Yukino right now, sees the once bright white realm slowly descend into the dark.
" Tsk tsk tsk..., Dear Yukino... "
" You refuse my words and look, you made another bad choice. " Sal could only sigh on Yukino's condition right now
" It seems old habits die hard..., always rejecting the words of those closest to you and accepting the words of those above, who want you for something. "
" Not to mention, it seems she never learns to increase her awareness over something, tsk tsk... " Sal could only comment about this.
" Reminds me of the Nun I knew, I mean 'Monk', as history prefers it. "
" Damn, how much history have they fabricated? " Sal asks while he sees the effect on his realm done by Loki.
As things happened to Yukino, something else happened to the her-supposed destined one.
< Notification.. >
< Scanning Area. >
< Location: Unknown Realm. >
" It's still not 'Sanctuary'... " Ragna says as he enters a different realm after teleporting through his
*
" We've been wandering around for hours, lost as we teleported into different realms! " Ragna Hundred comes out, in his Black Shadow Form.
" Are you sure to activate 'Water Gate' the right way? " Hundred asks.
" We're sure. " Ragna Twelve also comes out with his Black Shadow Form.
" When opening the Gate, Ragna Current here and I made sure that we're going back to the 'Sanctuary', our current Realm. "
"But why...? " Twelve wonders while Ragna who listens to the quarrel, begins to look back, ignoring his two predecessor variants as he approaches a nearby water pond, a large water pond. Looking at his shadow, that turns into a bigger and blacker shadow unfit for his current size.
* Ragna mysteriously mutters to the shadow reflection, conversing with it for some reason. *
" Really? you pick this particular time to warn me? " Ragna asks first before listening further.
" Why are you telling me this? What happened? " Ragna asks the reflective shadow as it tells him even more.
____________________________
Extra:
* 'Secret Facility'.
The term was used in a recent Chapter of this Volume.
* ...a memory of a vision he received during his test with the Matron Supreme. A vision shows a boy who draws the paintings with his blood, perhaps the painter himself.
See Chapter 402: "End Of Day -1: Aidan's Test".
* Aidan thinks of this, but then he remembers what happened to her back then.
See Chapter 411: Awakening? Part 1.
...
BTW, this is September 6th. So technically this is Ragna's Birthday, so Happy Birthday Ragna Kent (All variants).