Arimane fell into deep thought. It wasn’t like he never envisaged that outcome. He already knew subconsciously that he would have to kill people one day.

 

Either it was because of his Life Hunter disposition which he had from birth or because of his unusual thoughts toward humans, Arimane answered, "Yes, I can."

 

He said with an unshakable determination that even made Tiria speechless. There wasn’t any kind of hesitation. He simply affirmed something. Erin just nodded as if he had already known the answer. The rest of the squad just smiled.

 

"I expect no less from our little genius," Jin commented and everyone started chuckling.

 

Arimane groaned. "I don't feel flattered at all…"

 

Erin smirked. "Anyway, you should rest this week. Be prepared to leave when the time comes."

 

"Yes, yes, Captain," Jin waved his hand and stood up first. Everyone imitated him and started leaving the room. Arimane attempted to leave but Tiria grabbed him before he could.

 

"Let's go, Arimane," she said and dragged him outside along with a group composed of Jin, Farro, Gano, and a girl who was Tiria's friend, Tieria. Those two had been brought to the orphanage in the same day and also have the same age. They were called similarly and were raised as sisters.

 

Their individual personalities were completely the opposite of the other. Tiria was the energetic and playful kind while Tieria was the serene and silent one. Quoting Arimane's words at the time, he was a lot more comfortable with Tieria than her sister.

 

That group of six left the orphanage since they had permission and decided to head to the nearest city. They boarded a black van, seemingly normal from the outside, but it was in fact reinforced to resist even explosions.

 

"Is it really necessary to take a military vehicle to go to the city?" Arimane couldn't help but ask.

 

"It's fine. It's the only car we can use anyway," Tiria casually answered and opened the sliding door before jumping inside the van, followed by everyone else. Arimane sighed and entered too.

 

Then when everyone had sat down, they all noticed something at the same time.

 

"Who's driving?" Arimane asked and everyone looked at him.

 

"Isn't there a GPS guided auto-drive?" Jin raised his voice.

 

"It's a military vehicle, they don't use auto-drive in fear of being hacked," Arimane responded like it was an obvious thing. “Aren’t you the hacker of our team? Are you sure you’re doing your job correctly?”

 

Jin stared at him and grunted. "I'm not a freaking little genius. I apologize I don’t know everything. Anyway, who knows how to drive here?" He inquired and no one answered or commented on anything. That lasted a minute until they all turned toward Arimane.

 

The latter frowned at Tiria's smile.

 

***

 

In the end, Arimane ended up in the driver seat and drove the van toward the city. When they arrived there, he glanced at the streets through the tinted windows. He admired how the city was clean and calm. The circulation had absolutely no trouble as well.

 

You could see some small automates wandering on the streets, picking trash up whenever they stumbled upon some. Arimane observed that modern environment and then his eyes fell on multiple billboards and posters about propaganda, equality, and many others. When he saw that, he clicked his tongue.

 

"The magnificent result from decades of research on technology polluted not by physical trash but human trash…"

 

Tiria laughed when she heard that. "Don't say things like that. People like them are totally different from you, that's all."

 

"Yeah, yeah, as she said," Jin casually said while playing a game of cards with Farro and Gano whilst Tieria was soundlessly reading a book.

 

"You shouldn't worry about that at your age, kid," Farro added without turning his eyes away from the cards in his hands. "Ah!" He suddenly exclaimed and put down a card on the seat of the van.

 

The more Arimane listened to them, the darker his expression became. "Do you all have no shame for letting a twelve-year-old drive for you?"

 

Tiria shrugged. "What can we do? You're the only one who has ever learned how to drive among us. To be fair, we were supposed to learn basic driving of military vehicles three months from now on. You’re the only one who learned it because you were too curious."

 

Arima started cursing under his breath until he thought of something. "Where are we supposed to go anyway?"

 

"Just stop around the center of the city. We'll stroll for a bit. We can do some shopping and visit a café later," Tiria smiled and said.

 

Arima scowled and pressed the screen of the console. He opened the map of the city and directly went toward the center.

 

For the rest of the day, the group walked around the city to pass time. And the one who enjoyed it the most was surprisingly Arimane who ordered five full cakes for himself at a restaurant.

 

Everyone seriously wondered where he was putting that, it broke their understanding of the human body. They also came to know Arimane's love for sweets that day.

 

***

 

Lilis watched the scene patiently then sighed, she touched the water of the lake with her finger and drew a line on the surface. The image on the water started to accelerate and seven days in the rewind passed in an instant for her.

 

***

 

Back to the present.

 

In the Inn's room, Arima was flipping through an empty book and his sigil was slightly glowing. His pupils were also constantly moving from the left to the right as words appeared on the pages of the book.

 

"So, what are you doing?" Night asked while scrutinizing the big pile of blank books on the side.

 

"Can't you see? I'm writing," Arima replied and closed the book he was working on. "I'm just recording my lectures on paper, both general and detailed parts. I'll make a book of each then I will duplicate them and give them to my students. I'll also give one of each to the academy for them to reproduce it."

 

"You're surprisingly very dedicated," Night commented and took the book Arima just put away and flipped through it. "Yeah, it will certainly be useful, it's more detailed and organized than if it was said orally," he concluded and watched Arima as he started the second book.

 

After a few hours, Night who was quietly reading the books and Arima who produced them, both suddenly froze and a few seconds after that, the earth quaked and the furniture in the room shook a bit.

 

It lasted for around five seconds and Night frowned. "Was that what I think it was?"

 

Arima smiled and resumed his work. "Yes, probably. The gate is being constructed. Well, it still should take another few days though," he said and finished another book; the one about space.

 

"Do you know what will happen when the path is completely formed?" Night asked. "How will the summoning take place?"

 

"Well," Arima mused. "It should be something like a huge portal appearing in the sky, I guess," he answered with an unsure tone, to which Night sighed. He then continued to read without any other comment.

 

***

 

The next day, as always, Arima went to the PA. When he arrived at the class with Night, he instantly spotted Lanya and Karma, calmly playing a chess game.

 

Night was shocked by the sight apparently; his reaction was totally translated on his face.

 

"What are you so surprised about?" Arima glanced at him and asked.

 

Night pointed at Karma with a trembling finger. "How? She actually can concentrate on something so seriously..."

 

"Come on…" Arima smiled wryly and went to his seat. The class was still empty and no one had arrived except Lanya and Karma.

 

"She's even winning…" He heard Night's muttering voice as he sat down and he almost laughed.

 

"Night," Arima called. "If you continue to treat her like that, she will definitely tease you even more."

 

Night looked back at him with a blank look, then his expression turned as hard as a stone. Arima finally laughed and got the attention of the two competitors.

 

"Oh, you're here," Karma exclaimed when she realized they were in the room. It was necessary to mention that Arima and Night had both the habit of concealing their presence at every moment, if Karma was lost in her game, of course, she wouldn't be able to sense them.

 

While Karma turned around to greet Arima, Lanya still continued to stare at the chessboard with her eyes burning with fighting spirit. Then, she smiled and moved one of her pawns. "Check."

 

"Eh?" Karma turned back and looked at the game and her eyes widened. She inspected the pawns very closely and was sure that Lanya hadn't cheated. This time it was her turn to ponder very intensively.

 

"Hello, Arima, Master," Lanya said after taking her eyes off the board.

 

"Lanya, you really should stop calling me like that. I mean, Arima is already more a master for you than I am, definitely," Night responded and Lanya wryly smiled.

 

"Sorry, I was just used to it," she nodded. "I'll try to change it, Night.”

 

Arima listened passively while reading the books he had written at high speed, searching for possible mistakes. Even he could have lost concentration for a second and made a mistake, so he was checking it.

 

Night glanced at him. "I know it's necessary to re-read yourself. It's really important to avoid any mistakes. Yeah," Night nodded. "But the problem is," he paused and stared at Arima. "How the hell didn't you find one already?"

 

Night uttered and Karma laughed. Lanya chuckled and moved a pawn, silencing her. Arima shrugged and continued to read. His ability to focus was far beyond what a normal human could even imagine, he hardly could get mentally tired as well, it was rare for him to make mindless errors.

 

In the next hour, the students arrived and sat down. Some of them also spectated the chess game between Lanya and Karma. They were going for so long now that they were very close to a tie.

 

It was only after Lanya won that Arima announced the start of the lesson whilst ignoring the sulking Karma. The happy winner of the game obediently sat down on a seat and Karma followed her with rounded shoulders.

 

Arima sat down on his desk and Night made himself comfortable on the chair. He waved his hand and a pile of books appeared in front of every student.

 

"These books are my lessons completely written and detailed. Only the Berserker’s Path is not transcribed," Arima explained to his students which brought a great shock to them. They all picked the first book of the pile and flipped through it. It was perfectly organized and detailed. There were even images to describe some theories.

 

"Is it really all right for us to take them?" Ofia asked.

 

"Sure," Arima nodded. "You can take it and even share it if you want. I plan to give one set to the academy anyway. "

 

Ofia looked at the pile of books on her desk and nodded. She was already impatient to read them.

 

"Now," Arima clapped. "We’re here to talk about the three spiritual forces. Then after that, I'll follow with the original magic I discovered."