1

The horns of the busy cars and the noise of the bustling crowds on the street near Regalis Shopping Complex greeted Kazuki the moment he disembarked from the train station.

"Third storehouse, huh?"

Kazuki looked at his phone to see that he had arrived just ten minutes early from the appointed time. He blended in with the weekend crowd while moving toward the shopping complex.

The trip to Amagi's went without much problems.

At the very least, he was glad that she thought that it was all a dream. He knew that he would be having a hard time explaining everything if the girl had thought of the whole experience differently.

Paying no more heed to the crowds as he passed the coffee shop where he first encountered Uehara outside school, as well as one of the many gates to the shopping complex, he found himself turning a corner in order to face three large structures.

Standing thrice as tall as a person, those white houses were the storage areas for the shopping complex's numerous goods. Normally, people were not allowed inside, and the doors were kept shut.

The only way in was through the driveway for large trucks, but even those had chains blocking the way in most situations.

As expected, the doors to the first two storehouses were locked shut, and a chain prevented vehicle entry to both of them.

When he arrived in front of the third large structure, there was only one guard on duty. The main doors were inaccessible, and so was the driveway.

"How may I help you?" asked the guard, who approached him out of initiative.

"Ahh... Just looking around. Someone wanted to meet here."

To that, the guard had a puzzled look on his face and furrowed his eyebrows. "That's a strange friend you got there. Why here out of all places?"

Kazuki shrugged. "I dunno myself. He's a weird one."

The moment he gave that answer, Kazuki stopped.

He failed to describe his feelings in simple words, but he surely felt it. It was not as threatening of a presence as the one he had last night, but it was nonetheless there.

A Fragment was nearby.

"Well, I'll go round that corner and just wait for the guy to show up," said Kazuki, pointing at the other end of the storehouse.

"Yeah sure."

Moving on to the corner of the storehouse, the sensation grew even stronger. It slowly crept towards Kazuki, and it only intensified the closer he got to the supposed entry point of the Fragment.

He faced the wall and raised his hand. Moving it from left to right as if uncovering something, he finally found it. The veiled portal slowly came into view.

First, it was translucent. Then, it became clear as day.

The portal which signifies the entrance to Mu, the veiled gateway, stood in front of him.

At this point, he was not yet sure what the thing looked to regular humans. For all he knew, the disappearance of some guy who walked right through a wall could be the news this very evening. Luckily, not a lot of people pass by this way, and after a quick inspection of the surroundings, he confirmed that no one was indeed watching.

"Here we go then."

He touched the veil with his hand before walking straight through it like before.

As before, the world around him transformed as he found himself falling through a misty tunnel. It kept going on and on, and before long, he landed on ground.

It was a soft landing like before, but his eyes caught a more startling detail. The ground was not made of rough rocks. Instead, it was of smoother material, more similar to asphalt. In addition, the air in this Fragment did not weigh him down in any way, unlike his previous trips to a Fragment.

Instead of a ruined city, the whole place looked more contained.

Pillars surrounded him on the sides, and with the overall structure of the place, it registered to Kazuki as a throne room, and he was standing on its walkway.

There was really something different in this one. Could it be because it was not caused by a Nullity? Come to think of it, there was no presence of such monsters in this area.

More questions began overflowing in his mind one at a time, and he struggled to attend to all of them before something in front of him caught his attention.

In front of him, seated on the throne, was a hooded figure. Around as tall as he is, the hooded figure took notice and opened its arms wide in welcome as it got up.

Kazuki eyed the figure carefully. Nothing seemed too different to distinguish him from the usual hooded robe figures that he had seen in all sorts of media. Plain robe with diamond patterns at the hems, oversized hood, and...

The hooded figure wore a necklace that dangled a mostly green jewel around its neck. The polygonal jewel shone in multiple colors, giving the impression of a kaleidoscope.

The hood hid all hints of the person's true identity, but an indistinguishable voice came out of where its face was supposed to be. It echoed just like a voice that's gone through a lot of machine alterations.

"Welcome, Kazuki Arata. I've been expecting you."

Kazuki was not sure what to make out of this guy. He planted his feet firmly, and raising his left arm in the air, he felt the burst of energy that signaled the summoning of his large shield.

"You're the one who contacted me last night, huh? You sure know me a lot, but I do not know who you are. Mind introducing yourself just to make things even?"

The hooded figure stepped forward, one step at a time, until he finally reached the bottom of the steps leading to the throne. "There is no need for that."

Rubbing his hair, Kazuki voiced his displeasured reply. "Come on now, isn't that a bit unfair?"

"Life isn't fair."

"Point taken."

"However, I will tell you everything you want to know, under one condition."

"And that would be?"

The hooded figure put his hand on the necklace before lifting the kaleidoscopic jewel. "Face me in battle and grab this jewel from me. Disarm me off my Armament, and you shall find the answers you seek."

So that's his Armament? I wonder what kind of powers it has. Judging by the look of it, it probably would allow him to shoot lasers or something...

Kazuki never took his eyes off that polygonal jewel. He was several meters away, but he tried his best to get a clear look on what it looks like.

"Taking something by force is not really my style though," replied Kazuki as he began walking toward the figure. "Nor am I really interested in that thing."

He paused, then stretched his hands upward. He also gave off a yawn of disinterest.

The very next moment, he broke into a dash. Putting all weight behind his feet, he kicked off the guard and jumped straight forward.

"However... if that thing will get you to spill the beans, then be my guest!"

He had intended to catch the figure off-guard. With only several meters separating them, a sudden dash while showing disinterest should be able to give him a head start. Now, it all came down to how fast this strange person can react.

With his right hand, he reached out in order to grab the jewel in a snappy motion.

He only caught air.

The whooshing sound of the hooded figure's movement beside him barely registered in his ear when he took another wild swing, this time using the other hand. With the shield slightly weighing the hand down, he also caught air, a whole second too late.

"You're naïve to think that such an amateur technique would work against me."

Kazuki shrugged. "Never know unless you try, right?"

"I like the way you think."

"Don't mention it."

"Of course, I cannot let a test end before it starts, can I? Now, can you handle all of us?"

Following that, the hooded figure put both of its hands on the jewel. It shone in response, and for Kazuki, it gave off the impression of an ancient artifact resonating with power.

"All of you?" wondered Kazuki. Does he have allies?

The figure then spread its arms apart. "Yata no Kagami!"

Bright light along with a high-pitched sound engulfed the world of red, and Kazuki reflexively put his shield up in response.

When the light subsided, Kazuki slowly put down his shield, and he cannot believe what the saw.

The hooded figure remained in front of him. Then there were two, and three, and four, and five.

The hooded figures multiplied rapidly, splitting from the middle into new copies, until there were finally eight.

Eight of them standing in front of him.

"Yata no Kagami," the eight figures all talked in unison, "my Armament's ability. Nifty, right?"

"I..." Kazuki bit his lips as he said his thoughts out aloud. "... honestly think that's gonna be a pain in the ass to deal with."

"Come! Which one is the real Armament?" echoed the hooded figures before they scattered in different directions.

2

"Illusions? So that's his Armament's ability?"

Kazuki looked at the eight hooded figures that now circled around him, gliding in sync with each other. To the confused youth, the figures seemed to float due to how smoothly they moved across the room's floor.

"Ten minutes," said one of them. "That is the amount of time that I would give you."

"Should you not get my Armament off my neck in that allotted time, I would have no choice but to forcibly send you out of here," said a second one.

"Oh, I'm being timed now. How cliché."

"Think whatever you want of it," answered the one right behind Kazuki. "That does not change the fact."

"That ten minutes..." continued the one at Kazuki's left.

"...Is the most you get in a real battle."

Kazuki sneered at the last one to talk, the figure to his right. "And what's in store should I fail?"

The eight identical figures moved around, sliding and shuffling each other's positions. The one to break the silence was the one who stood in front of Kazuki.

"Your memories of this place. Your memories of Mu, your encounter with Sayaka Uehara, and your knowledge of Nullities. Say farewell to them."

Left in silence, Kazuki stood in place. He took a deep breath and dulled his senses for the meantime.

Eventually, he found himself unable to contain himself and let everything out in a laugh.

"You know, your consequences sound really good. I swear, if it's just some random guy being put in my place, half the time he would have just surrendered on the spot!"

He laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

Ignorance is a bliss, they say, and he knew that the past him would have just accepted the option to surrender in a heartbeat.

A chance to forget it all, go back to his ordinary school life with Amagi and Shiki, a chance to start anew... Who wouldn't want that?

However, he felt his heart beating wildly with excitement. He clenched his fists and pointed at one of the hooded figures.

"Fortunately for you, I have committed too far in my new life as an Awakener, so I intend to play along with your silly game. Here I come!"

He charged at the random hooded figure he pointed at, intending to hit it at with his shield. It was an attack that blew the head off of lower Nullities and knocked a Class B off for a while.

No way would it kill the hooded guy outright if he guessed right on his first try, right?

"Raaagh!" he shouted, intending to put his entire force behind this one attack.

He was not sure how fast he really was because time slowed to a crawl when he prepared his attack.

Unfortunately for him, at the last second, the figure in front of him disappeared. Instead of swinging at air, his attack crashed at the next object in its way – one of the pillars holding the throne room up.

Kazuki recoiled as he felt the impact of the tough pillar meeting his shield head on.

He found himself seated on the ground as the eight figures looked at him from all directions.

"It's my turn, then," said one of them.

Almost in unison, the hooded figures clapped their hands over the individual Armaments. They separated their two clapped hands right above the hexagonal jewel hanging from their necks and manifested a short sword each.

The sight of a sword appearing like that would have been enough to make Kazuki tense, but seeing eight of them at once was a bit too much for the youth, who stared on, wide-eyed and in awe.

"O-o-oi... You serious?"

It was the whirling sound of one such sword slicing through the air that finally snapped him out of the funk, and he was able to quickly get back to his feet, narrowly avoiding the downward swing by moving out of the way.

Not even three seconds after he got to his feet did he feel a force shake his body following a clang.

He knew that had he not instinctively pulled his shield up, he would have been hit by the second figure that came at him from the left.

"This seems unfair, don't you think?" he now complained as he pushed the attacker away and quickly stepped to the side.

"Didn't I tell you? Life is innately unfair," answered another one that took a swing at him from behind.

Kazuki narrowly dodged the attack from behind and parried a follow-up attack from another figure coming from his left.

He blocked this attack perfectly, and in addition to the force of impact, he felt something course through him.

It came from the point of the impact on the shield, and it flowed like water all over his body. It must be the outpour of magical energy from the clash of two Armaments.

He had little time to compose his thoughts before having to dodge another attack, this time coming from the right.

The smell of blood then made its unwelcome entrance, and Kazuki stepped back to look at his arm. It was then that the pain began to register from the slash by one of the hooded figures.

Fighting the temptation to nurse that cut and leave himself open to more attacks, Kazuki focused and parried another attack. With his perfect timing, he once again experienced the flow of magical energy.

This time, it was a different sensation. While the first one was of water that freely flowed, this one felt more similar to a small shock, a small jolt of lightning that tickled him from within.

The clanging of sword and shield echoed once again as Kazuki blocked yet another follow-up attack. Now, the felt the sensation of coursing water once more, only much stronger and intense.

Pushing his assailant off, Kazuki found himself back in the middle of the throne room and carefully eyeing the eight figures who have seemed to pull back on their attack for the meantime.

"That's it," he said triumphantly. "I'll just have to find the one that gives off the strongest sensation!"

"Five minutes remaining," said the hooded figures in unison.

Great, now to add to the time pressure.

Now, Kazuki realized that he had another problem in his hands. He could eventually find the real target, but how would he get past eight swords at once and reach his goal?

"I do not know if it's just me, but my shield here could be the answer to defeating you in your own game."

"Oh?" responded three of the hooded figures.

"I guess all that's left for me to do is to go on the offensive!"

Fighting the fatigue and the itching sensation from the cut on his right arm, Kazuki charged at another hooded figure at random.

In response, he saw the figure raise its sword. Not only that, but he also noticed two clones coming in from both sides.

Before getting any closer to his initial target, Kazuki hit the brakes and hopped back. The clones coming from the side were slow to react, and he found himself easily squaring up against the one from the right.

He put his shield up, catching the descending sword straight in a deadlock. He felt the similar sensation of electricity, but it only grew stronger and stronger. As he was caught in the deadlock, Kazuki felt his vision distort at the sheer power of the impact.

Is this it? Is this the real one?

He found himself overcame with emotion that his random guess proved correct. It was a one out of eight chance, but he might have lucked out this time.

"Gotcha!" he shouted triumphantly as his right hand reached out, aiming to grab hold of the Armament to end this game.

It was not meant to be.

The edge of his eye caught two more incoming hooded figures with their swords coming upon him. He pulled his hand back just before it would have gotten sliced off by the sword. The same went for his left arm, which he pulled back in order to avoid the other attack.

"With that level of hesitation, you will never reach me!" boldly declared the one figure that had been tagged as the real one.

Hesitation?

Kazuki went through over the sequence that just happened. He was running out of time, but a sudden idea popped up in his mind. At this point, there was no idea too crazy to be attempted, and he set his heart to follow this strategy through.

"You sure want to give your answers away just like that?" he asked smugly.

He had figured out a possible out to this hopeless battle. It turned out to be easier than he would have expected.

He got nothing for a reply to his question. Instead, two hooded figures came at him with their swords.

With two swords bearing down on him, Kazuki exhaled.

He let his arms down, and he let all feelings of stress out. Closing his eyes, he found himself in a state of meditation as he gave up all semblance of resistance.

By all means, he would have been hit and possibly been sliced in the most gruesome manner, but the pain did not come.

When he re-opened his eyes, he did so at just the right time to see the two swords phase into non-existence and the illusions wielding them disintegrating.

"That's it! How devious of you," smiled Kazuki as he pointed at the real opponent. "Yata no Kagami does not produce illusions."

He knew he had seen this before from his video games. It was an unorthodox ability disguised as another, and he finally connected the dots.

"Yata no Kagami toys with the enemy's senses. It was never you who were responsible for the illusions nor the fake sensations. It was me all along."

Following that revelation, Kazuki ran straight at his target.

"Your Armament allows me to make real what I think will happen. I got cut, and my shield blocked your illusion's sword all because I expected those to happen. Your last sentence before activating your Armament's ability was a clever trick. For a moment, I got tricked to fighting a battle with the numbers advantage."

He completely ignored the two incoming illusions in his mad dash.

"What's more, you prepared this confined space possibly due to the limitations of your ability. I have to be a certain distance from you for your ability to take effect! Did I get it right?"

With the first two attacks phasing through him, there was nothing stopping Kazuki from continuing. One, two, and three more swords phased right through him as he saw the corresponding illusions fade away from the edge of his vision.

He stretched his hand out at the one he had his eyes for, which had its sword raised.

If he continued on, he would surely catch the vertical slash head on, suffering intense injuries if not outright getting bisected. With this one presumably being the real thing, perhaps he would not be able to phase through the slash.

Kazuki shut off all those thoughts away from his mind. He was going into the fight against the Nullities head-on, and he had a little over thirty seconds to get the job done, so he might as well risk it all in this last attempt.

"You're miiiiine!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He had leapt forward, not even bothering to put his shield forward to block.

Seeing the sword come down on him did not make him flinch one bit. Instead, it was the hooded figure that seemed surprised, twitching in place just as its downward slash phased right through Kazuki. With his best chance appearing in front of him, Kazuki reached out with all his might, and he did so until he felt the jewel on his hand.

Landing face-first onto the ground, he tumbled forward and bounced across the throne room. Rolling for a couple of cycles, he finally stopped and lay sprawled on the floor.

His right hand opened to reveal the Armament on top of his palm.