A few days have passed since Hikari's small sparring session with Leia. The idol decided to keep a close eye on him now, knowing the true dangers of an uneducated individual like him. How? Why, by enrolling in his class of course.
"Hello everyone, from now on, I'll be in your care."
While everyone was more than happy to have the idol in their class, Hikari was quite the opposite.
"Guh."
For him, it felt as if he was under surveillance again. It just brings him back to a few months ago before he escaped the facility he was created in at Veritas. However, the only difference this time is that Leia can't follow him EVERYWHERE. Which at the very least gives him comfort.
What didn't give him comfort though was the feeling of her staring at him from behind. This feeling persisted throughout the whole day. When it was time for him to go home, that feeling finally disappeared. At the very least Leia was willing to give him privacy at the comforts of his own home.
Setting down his bag on the couch, he went to fetch a drink on his fridge. Leaning on the table, he took out his phone and started to scroll down on a social media site called "Linked". Aster gave him the idea to create an account on this site, saying that it could help him with his hollowing life, whatever that meant.
"What is with this world…"
In just a few days, his faith in humanity declined. A lot. From their dumb views on how fictional characters should be treated, to their inability to understand the shape of the world they live in. Bit by bit, Hikari lost his faith in the very thing that he's supposed to protect. Almost akin to an AI gaining sentience and going against its programming. Now he's starting to wonder how Viola and the other homunculi who had freedom were able to keep their faith in humanity.
"...Or maybe that's the difference. They've been with humanity for long enough to see redeeming qualities while I haven't."
While scrolling, he found something alarming. A post showing a picture with the caption being "What is that thing?". The picture contained an almost humanoid version of a Wolf Rift Beast. While the comments had their own theories, most prevalently saying that it was a prop for filming, Hikari knew the whole truth. They really are evolving at a fast rate, but he can't shake off the feeling that something was weird with this specific one.
"Why does it look like it was just created? How is that possible?"
Rift Beasts come out of the rifts already being a few days old, so for one to come out into their world while being newly formed is weird. Not only that, it seems it didn't even mutate to that humanoid state. It was born as a humanoid already. Or rather, created as a humanoid already. Just when he thought he could rest for a bit since now even Leia was here to take care of the more difficult Rift Beasts.
"There are still S-Rankers in this country… but with there only being ten of them, I don't think they can survive a full on invasion of humanoids."
And so, Hikari began to think of a way to make this world ready for the now inevitable arrival of the humanoids. After all, he can't really stop natural evolution, only slow it down. He feels like he could just end this entire universe though. "Wouldn't that just solve all of my problems?"
"Whoops, my inner-voice came out a bit." Shaking his head with a chuckle, Hikari placed the cup he used on the counter and went towards the bathroom to take a bath.
-x-X-x-
"Tch… Who knew humans could be so resilient?" The goddess that rules a portion of the Rift Beasts said. She clicked her tongue once more as she removed her hand-turned-blade from the chest of a B-Rank Drifter. "Is it because my vessel is weak?"
After she created that humanoid Rift Beast, it consumed a lot of Celest from her and she even had to open a rift just so she could use "that place's" Celest instead. She wouldn't want to feint in the middle of a forest after all. However, of course the humans detected the sudden surge in energy. They sent out one B-Rank Drifter to patrol, but that was a mistake.
"Still though, their skin is still as soft as butter." The goddess said as she smiled sadistically. She then licked the blood on her hands, savoring the taste of her dead enemy. "I wonder if he'll taste better."
Regardless of whether he tastes better or not, she'll be sure to savor it.
"Child," She said in a commanding voice as the humanoid wolf appeared beside her. "Find him."
"Yes, mother." The wolf said, copying the rugged voice of the B-Ranker that the goddess just murdered. With that, the wolf disappeared, leaving a trail of dust behind as it rushed directly towards the city.
-x-X-x-
"Something's off." Viola said out of nowhere.
"Hm?" Leia questioned her as she continued munching on her sandwich.
They were both currently eating at a family diner since Leia couldn't really follow Hikari back to his apartment. It would invade his privacy after all. They were also eating at a place like this since there weren't that many people, considering Leia's identity and all.
"I can't help but shake off the feeling that something horrifying entered my country…"
"Oh~! Is that the territorial sense that I've been hearing about?"
"That's a weird way to put it, but yeah. I can feel if something is a threat to my country as soon as it enters our borders. Just goes to show how prepared Hikari was to enter though, considering I didn't even sense him."
Leia chuckled at that. Hikari was certainly an interesting person. Aside from the overwhelming powerhouse that he is, his personality is also unique. Or rather, his lack of personality. He was all over the place, sometimes acting like a normal person then sometimes being cold. Leia couldn't blame him on that though, knowing that he was isolated his whole life without anyone humane enough to interact with. If anything, she was surprised that he could even hold a conversation with a normal person that doesn't relate to killing Rift Beasts.
He kind of reminds Leia of her cousin actually. An enigma of sorts. But her cousin was just a social weirdo. How could royalty even be like that?
"I asked Constantine about it, but he said that he didn't feel anything like that in his country."
"Seems like it's only here."
"Anyhow, should we tell him?"
"You decide, because either way, he'll get dragged into this one way or another." Leia replied in a sad tone. She really pities the life of that man.