(Material realm)

The sun slowly rose from the distant east, shedding its new light on the Mega city; Zed. It didn't take long for the city to spawn its busy citizens and hard working technological bots.

Vehicles hovered in the air and students of various educational institutions could be seen picking up their pace in order to affect their punctuality.

In the midst of all the busy bustle, the Hamasaki estates still kept its calm as everyone elegantly but quickly got to their feet to work.

Within a specific room in a specifically grand building, a young lady groggily sat up on her bed.

She scratched her eyes gently and gave a light yawn. The curtains were all down and hence, her room was only dimly lit.

However, that setting soon dissipated as a foreign entity waltzed into the room and lifted all the blinds.

"Wahh! Aku, what are you doing!?", Izumi hid under her blankets.

"You do realize that you're late for school, right!?", the concerned guard held her waist and glared at the lazy girl through the blanket.

"Ngh", Izumi wriggled within her bed. "Lemme just sleep a bit more."

At that moment, Izumi felt the temperature drop all of a sudden as her guard and best friend kept awkwardly silent.

"You don't want me to come get you now, do you?", Aku silently growled.

"Eek!", the young miss jumped off her bed and stood upright. "N- No ma'am!"

"Good!", the expression on Aku's face turned cheerful. "Then go wash your face, brush those teeth and take a good shower. You don't expect me to tell you all this, right??"

"A- Ah, right! Sorry!", Izumi rushed into her bathroom on the other side of the room.

Aku smiled warmly as she saw the clumsy girl's careless movements.

Her smile reduced to a concerned frown as the events of last night played out in her mind.

She had always seen Izumi's reactions to nightmares and so it shouldn't have worried her so much.

But, this time…

The image of Izumi's terrified facial expression flashed in her mind.

It was as if her soul wandered somewhere else.

That expression of fear wasn't normal.

After about thirty minutes had passed, Izumi completed all the tasks assigned to her by her best friend.

She put on her brown blazer which had the crest of an oak tree on the left side of her chest. After adjusting her skirt, she sat on a seat before her mirror.

"So then, what are your plans for today?", Aku calmly asked as she began to brush Izumi's hair.

"Nothing", Izumi replied while looking down at her hands. "I mean, it's school. There's not much to do but to study, right?"

"Hah!?", her best friend paused and stared directly into Izumi's eyes through the mirror. "You mean you still haven't made friends!?"

"I don't really need any, Aku", Izumi smiled. "You're enough for me."

"Aww", Aku blushed. "Still, even though I'm in that school with you… I can't always physically be with you since I'm a grade higher."

The bodyguard finished with Izumi's hair and helped her up.

"It feels nice having to wear the same uniform as yours", Aku smiled as they exited the room. "Know why?"

Izumi raised an eyebrow, "hm? Why?"

"Well", Aku looked up at the hallway ceiling. "It's because I get to feel at the same level as you. Both of us being students, both of us studying for a future… together."

"Huh? What are you saying?", Izumi laughed. "To me, we'll always be-"

Izumi was about to finish her sentence when Aku suddenly stopped and bowed her head.

"Mistress", she spoke with all respect.

Izumi turned her head and was quite surprised to see her mother standing right before them.

She wore a simple pink kimono and her amber eyes glistened warmly under the lights of the hallway.

"Izumi?", Ayame's eyes slightly widened. "I thought I wouldn't be seeing you in the mansion around this time."

"Mother", Izumi's voice lowered as she bowed her head. "I- I'm sorry. My actions during the party last time was-"

"Oh dear, please lift your head!", her mother gently urged. "It's okay. I understand you have something to say concerning your father's decisions every time. However, it would do you good to remember that he is still your father. You should approach him with all patience."

Izumi slowly raised her head, "I understand, mother."

Ayame gave a reassuring smile to her daughter and softly pinched her cheeks.

"Aku", she turned to the bodyguard who had her head lowered. "Take good care of my daughter."

"I will not fail you", Aku promptly replied.

The astute lady nodded and then continued walking down the hallway.

Izumi kept watching her mother until her attention was taken back by Aku as she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Don't forget the fact that we're an hour late for school", the bodyguard smiled sarcastically.

"Oh! That's right! What are we standing here for!?", the young lady hurriedly made her way out of the mansion.

Aku followed suit as she laughed inwardly.

It was funny how stern Izumi was the moment she stepped out through the mansion doors.

At around the time both girls left the mansion, a lone figure struggled to breathe in a secluded room.

Her amber eyes seemed to have lost a bit of their light with each breath. However, the one thing she somehow failed to notice was the black sludge-like entity resting on her shoulders.

"Izumi…", the lady muttered under her breath.

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.

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(Spirit realm - Pristine Forest)

*BOOM!*

"It's been three days", Leticia muttered as she watched the chaos from a hill several feet away. "They're still going at it. That shadow soul is so stubborn. I wonder what uncle told him."

Sitting on that grassy hill were both Zozo, the forest guardian and Leticia, the strange little girl. They had observed Zanetor's training for three days straight and to Leticia, it didn't look like anything had changed.

It was just chaos here and chaos there. She no longer worried much about the trees since Edem's ability to undo the damage proved very helpful.

She did worry about the smaller spirit beasts though.

"Papa, are you really okay with all of this?", she turned to her right.

"Hmm", Zozo closed his eyes. "It's only a matter of time until he realizes it, Leticia."

"Huh?", the little girl tilted her head. "What do you mean Papa?"

"Forests and other purely natural habitats in the Spirit realm contain incredible amounts of spirit energy since these places act as storage for residue spirit energy throughout the spirit realm", the forest guardian slightly opened his eyes. "Normally, a newly awakened soul would spend months before noticing the surge of energy… it should be nearly impossible for a shadow soul, but…"

Deep within the forest, at the locality of the raging mammoth-like monster, a sprinting figure weaved its way through the small spaces between the thick trees.

"In order to move the energy", Zanetor muttered as he swiftly slid underneath a large root right before the creature crushed it. "I have to put all my focus into it. Focus on what exactly??"

ROAR!!

The maliciphant's blood curdling roar caused the fleeing Zanetor to lose his footing, leading him to a fall.

"Tch! Damn it!"

One of the spirit beast's trunks grabbed hold of Zanetor's legs and instantly raised his entire body into the air, proceeding with a powerful throw.

It was then that a realization came to Zanetor in mid-air.

"Of course! If the source of the spirit energy is in my soul core and my soul core is the very thing that houses my every emotion then-"

*Crash!!*

Zanetor's body smashed through a few thin trees until hitting a thicker one with a painful thud. He fell to the grassy ground below.

However, he forced himself back on his feet.

He probably didn't notice the numerous scrapes and scratches on his body at that moment.

"My spirit energy should react to my feelings. If that's the case then there's just one thing I need", his fierce eyes focused on the creature that sped towards him. "And that thing is nothing but desire!"

*Slam!!*

The maliciphant crashed into Zanetor, dragging him along and breaking the trees in its way with brute force.

Blood spilled out from the shadow soul's mouth as the beast rampaged.

Yet, he forced his consciousness awake.

At that point, he felt something within his chest. It was as if a drop of water had fallen into a vast ocean.

A smirk appeared on his face, "I guess the part where I focus is simply that part where I decide what to do with this desire. In this case, it's a simple thing."

The rampaging beast suddenly stopped in its tracks. It looked around, turning left and right. One could easily tell how confused it was.

Its prey suddenly disappeared!

"Hey, big guy!", a familiar voice sounded from above the beast.

It was Zanetor!

He stood on the highest branch of the closest tree with a confident expression on his face.

The maliciphant shot all three of its trunks at the smirking boy, but he disappeared moments before impact.

Zanetor reappeared a few feet away, "It worked! I did it!"

Edem silently watched from high up in the sky and a slight smile graced his lips.

"He figured it out", he muttered. "So he used the desire to get as far from his opponent as possible. How typical of his heart."

Several explosive sounds rang throughout the area as the spirit beast resorted to simply destroying everything around it.

Its prey suddenly became extremely fast and now it was becoming troublesome being able to hunt it down.

Zanetor's body constantly moved around swiftly at a high speed, but then he seemed surprised about something.

"That thing still has a hunch about where I might be", he looked back at the speeding monster. "It's probably using my spirit energy like some kind of marker or something."

In Zanetor's vision, everything seemed to be drenched in black except the trees and the creatures which all seemed to have white outlines.

Whenever he wished to move faster, droplets of water beneath his feet would lightly glow. In fact, anywhere he placed these droplets of water could be used like some kind of spring by him.

"Alright then!!", a familiar voice echoed throughout the forest. "Time out!"

A large golden circle appeared around the rampaging beast, bringing it to an immediate stop.

But then, on Zanetor's side…

"Huh!?", his eyes widened as he saw what lay before him. "Another cliff!?"

The young boy leapt high up into the air, gazing upon the vast canyons that seemed to surround the incredibly expansive forest.

"That's the edge of the forest?", Zanetor muttered to himself.

His body then stopped mid-air. It was so sudden that he didn't have the time to question what was going on as an invisible force pushed his body down at a great speed.

*Boom!*

Large dust debris erupted into the air as Zanetor crashed into the sandy ground.

"Ugh, the hell", he got up while rubbing his neck.

"Congratulations!", Edem violently slapped his palm on Zanetor's shoulders. "With that, you've learnt your first spell! A movement technique known as the Serene Swift!"

"Okay, first OUCH!!", Zanetor took Edem's hands off. "Second, really!? Serene swift…"

"Yes", Edem smiled. "It's a characteristic movement skill noted among souls with an affinity for water."

"Water? Does that mean-"

"Exactly, your base attribute is water", the cloaked man interrupted. "Of course, that's what we know for now. Remember that you're under a contradiction."

"R- Right", Zanetor stared at his right palm and then clenched it into a fist. "Still, I feel like I'm a step closer to finding my mo-"

The Shadow soul was brought to a stop as Edem suddenly gestured for him to move back. The jovial air that wafted around him before had suddenly disappeared as an incredible ferocity took hold of his eyes.

"Who are you?", Edem coldly said.

Confused, Zanetor looked in the same direction as Edem.

Someone emerged from within the dust. He seemed a little bit shorter than Zanetor and it looked like he was donned in some kind of black turtleneck uniform. Streaks of blood red lines surrounded the edges and the symbol of a flame was imprinted on its collar.

The stranger was male and his eyes were a clear scarlet.

"Good afternoon guys!~", he cheerfully saluted. "Spirit warrior under the Blade of Fire, Kekeli at your service!"

"Spirit warrior?", Zanetor whispered. "Wait, don't tell me."

"I have come with one job and one job only!", he continued as a black cat appeared on his left shoulder.

He then enthusiastically pointed at Zanetor.

"And that's to bring your head along with me, fresh and neat!", the stranger laughed.

Just, who was this foreigner!?