-Masa perspective-
From the corner of my eye, I see where the door once was, now covered by steel, starting to be cut into a rectangular shape. As the cutting finishes, the newly formed rectangle, now resembling a door, is kicked in at lightning speed.
A lanky guy nonchalantly enters the room. He's wearing big round glasses, his blonde hair is messy, and his face looks like he hasn't had water in three days. His baggy sky-blue t-shirt has a childish dragon drawing on it, and he pairs it with pure white baggy pants.
Kajiwara and I turn to the mysterious lanky man while Aimi has already passed out from thinking she's going to die from Ignara. Even Ignara stops firing at us.
Still more concerned about being turned into burnt steak, I look up at Ignara and notice her scared expression. She takes a step back, away from us and the mysterious man, and the ground still burns wherever her feet touch.
"Hi guys, am I late for the party?" His voice is raspy like Kuroyami's, but without any murderous intent.
His eyes scan Me, Kajiwara, and Aimi before moving to Ignara and finally the masked woman on top of Ignara and her unconscious brother beside her.
"Oh hey, is that you, Ignara?" He starts to slowly walk toward her, waving with a big smile. "How have you been?" he asks.
Ignara whimpers and runs to the corner of the room.
"What's wrong, Ignara?" the masked girl asks, confused. "Come on, kill that guy now!" she orders angrily.
Ignara has no choice, so she shakily brings her hands to her chest, making the same diamond shape she made before attacking us.
The mysterious guy sighs loudly and, somehow, starts to float mid-air, slowly ascending to Ignara's eye level, locking eyes with her.
"Who in the potato is this wacko?" Kajiwara says, his jaw dropping wide open.
"Couldn't you pick a better word than 'potato'?" I facepalm.
"Well, you can't hurt your old buddy, can you?" The guy casually pats Ignara's forehead. Maybe 'wacko' is the perfect word for him.
Ignara screams and starts firing randomly in fear before returning to her orb.
The masked oni and her unconscious brother fall to the ground. She lands on her butt and rubs it. "Owie…" she mutters, then recollects her thoughts. "Ignara, you better get your ass back here!"
No response comes from Ignara, and the Wacko slowly descends back to the ground, his feet gracefully touching the floor. "I think it's napping time for Ignara."
"Whatever, who needs her anyway?" The masked oni girl gets up, brushing her knees and readying herself to attack.
"Well, I have no use for you either." The Wacko points his index finger at her, and in an instant, she collapses, as if a thousand pounds have been placed on her.
"You… you… aren't…" The oni girl struggles under the sheer force pressing down on her, unable to finish the sentence.
"All good, you can finish whatever you were saying in the interrogation room." He lays his palm out flat and lifts it up, and it seems like the air around him picks her up.
He starts to walk away to the entrance he made himself.
"So, mister, what about the other guy who's unconscious?" I point to the oni girl's brother.
"Oh, yes, my bad. I forgot." He rubs his forehead and smiles with his eyes closed.
He goes back, doing the same thing as before, lifting the oni girl's brother with no effort.
Kajiwara and I stand there dumbfounded, trying to process what just happened.
As the Wacko passes us the second time, he stops and looks at us. "Good work holding out this long. Sorry that no one could come earlier to help." He starts to walk past us but stops and exclaims, "Oh yeah, by the way..." He walks backward. "Tell Aimi I said hi."
He walks past us again. I think to myself that he might come back for a fourth time.
"Who are you?" I ask, surprised, but it's too late. He's already left through the entrance he made when he first came in.
Kajiwara goes to Aimi's unconscious body and shakes her. "Do you need your knight in shining armor to wake you up, puddle princess?" he says in a slightly louder tone.
No response comes from Aimi, her head slumped to the side.
"I've waited long enough!" Kajiwara takes his wand out and says, "Earth Magic: Aimi Awakener!" A massive boulder rises from the place where the ground was decimated by Ignara, and he positions it above Aimi's face.
"KAJIWARA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE GONNA KILL HER!" I tug on Kajiwara's arm with my only free hand while my other arm is still broken, stopping him from dropping the boulder on Aimi.
Aimi slowly opens her eyes. "Have we passed into the afterlife?" she asks somberly as she fully wakes up and lies on the ground.
Kajiwara drops the huge boulder when he sees Aimi awakening. He then creates a tall stone pillar under Aimi's body, sending her flying into the air and causing her to land face-first into the dirt, which was once concrete. "Think again, dumbass!" Kajiwara yells.
I sigh. "No, Aimi, we're still alive," I say in a gentle tone.
Aimi lifts her head from the dirt and gets up. "What? Where's that huge fire lady? The masked oni? Did we win?"
"Well, I wouldn't really call it a win, but we survived. Some crazy lanky wacko dude came and saved us." I pause shortly and continue, "He was incredibly strong. I think he was using Air Magic, and he didn't even need a wand!" I say, still surprised.
"Apparently he knows you," I add casually. "He told us to say hi."
Aimi's eyes widen in disbelief. "Don't tell me that was Sora!"
"Who the hell is Sora?" Kajiwara and I ask in unison.
Aimi visibly facepalms. "Sora Aozora! He's the newly appointed hero of the kingdom. The last hero from the Aozora family retired. He's also
Kajiwara and I stare in shock. "That guy… is a hero?" I say, shocked. It makes sense, given his insane power. I don't even think he was serious. I wonder what the other heroes from the Tsubakiyama and Minazuki families are like.
"How do you know that wacko?" Kajiwara adds.
"Because my older brother and he are good friends and train together frequently," Aimi replies.
Suddenly, police sirens can be heard outside the school.
We all look at each other and we make our way to the entrance Sora made.
We leave with my broken left arm dangles by my side, Aimi's rests one hand on her stomach and Kajiwara huffing and puffing.
My eyes squint as I try to adjust to the hundreds of police lights flashing outside of our school.
Then a woman comes up to us in a blue uniform and our kingdom, Aethoria's symbol on her left shoulder. "Kids what on earth happend? are you all right?" She asks concerningly.
"Well we are alive so I guess we are alright." Aimi replies, she catches her breath and continues "We were here after school and suddenly were attacked by a group of cult members and they were sucessfully steal some artifact from the Artifact Room.
As my left arm is dangling I clench my left fist. Of course they were able to steal something. We are so weak that we couldn't even defend our school.
"I see, well we are going in to conduct an investigation. You kids get yourself to the Magic Hospital, thanks for trying your best." She says sofly and gives us a salute.
We barely manage a smile at the officer.
After tending to our injuries, my arm is placed in a sling.
I arrive home at midnight once again. Before I walk through the front door, I wonder how I'm going to explain this to Mom.
I take a deep breath and enter the shack, where I see my mom cleaning the table. "Masa, you're home! What took you so long?" she says, her voice filled with concern.
Mom turns around and gasps when she sees my arm. "Eeek! What happened to your arm, sweetie?" She drops her cleaning towel and rushes to my side.
"Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine," I lie, even though my arm feels like it's pierced by a thousand needles. I continue, "Our school was attacked after hours. My friends and I tried to fend them off, but we were too weak." I say, disappointment clear in my voice.
"Thank heavens you're alright!" Mom hugs me tightly, then pulls away to check my face, making sure I'm okay. As she tugs down on my uniform to check for any more bruises, my Black Orb becomes visible.
Her expression shifts from worried to horrified as she sees the orb hanging ominously against my chest, its dark surface gleaming malevolently in the dim light, secured by the string around my neck.
"M-M-Masa, when did this turn black?" Mom's voice quivers as she stares at the orb, her hand shaking. "So you've finally awakened its powers, just as Dad said."