15

"Found you"

Ichigo materialized his katana on his left hip, he holds unto it and jumps right into the center front of the Cavalry that faced the Bandit's magic attack circles

Charlotte von Refrixia, the General of the Cenarian Army asked furiously the bandits

"Hey! Do you know what you have done?!"

Ichigo stopped her from going anymore closer with her horse, he nodded to her- a no sign.

"Just so you know, I've been fighting a lot in this days. So I'd really appreciate it if we can talk this out"

Charlotte jumps down from her horse, whispering "You stupid? You're giving away your weakness!"

Ichigo didn't respond.

The circles was colored in red, meaning an offensive type magic. The creators definitely made it appear like that huh.

Each circle has three small circles on triangle formation with an effect of switching places when charging/chanting. Once completed, the desired spell will be released.

Ichigo remembers Rio saying , "Staffs are rifles. Magic Circles are the mage's barrel. Mana is the gunpowder, the Spell is the bullet. All forming Modern Magic."

Thank you for that lesson, Rio-san

Let's see, from their faces, they look like they're having problem with their magic.

He looks to his back left and saw Kaede with a white magic circle, clearly showing Debuff magic.

Ichigo materialized his right katana, his coat's leg area blew slightly with magic, shocking his opponents

"At first, i thought you were just a samurai, but it turns out that you're something else ah" said by the bandit, he sounded like he's on his 30s

Samurai? Oh, seems that demi human tribes has some reputation here.

"I'm not a samurai, just a mere demon hunter"

I didn't do anything to reveal the bandits on their cloaked form, must be Kaede's work then.

"Boss! The spell is ready!" said by the bandit

If i kill them, it'll end up the same way as i did on my first night in this world. I don't want it to happen again. Damn it, i shouldn't took this as a game at first!

If this guys has their own families, they'll end up the same way as Ri, Lith, and Nio.

Am i being naïve? Or just weak?

"You're not going to attack, Commander?" asked by Kaede

"I'd rather gouge out information out of them than killing them, It'll be a waste" he said enthusiastically

"Fire!" The bandit captain ordered the go signal, a burst of white light like stream of energy was released from the three circles, rushing towards Sen.

"You fell for it" he said

Ichigo unsheathed his two katanas simultaneously, forming a small x, he chanted softly

"Sword Art: Jil Krazen"

The sword's runes that reached the tip of the blade, glowed as the magic stream hits. Ichigo slashed the attack in it's center with breeze, absorbing the attack onto his blades.

"What?! That can't be!" Shocked, the bandit captain muttered

"That was a high level spell, there's no way he could have survived that"

"That spell, it involves releasing all mana directly to the circle, concentrating it to form a ray. A type of highly destructive spell yet so unconventional, only mages with high mana can bear to do it." explained by Kaede

"Took you long enough to hack of their circles, well as if I'd be needing it now" said by Ichigo

Kaede pouted

The magic circles of the bandits slowly faded and dissipated as small crystals

"Hack off? Wait- what?" the circles from their hands broke into tiny pieces like glass shard

Ichigo stretched out his arms and his radiating sword into the air and said

"Well, since that I've literally absorbed all your concentrated mana, thank you for that!"

But his katanas were pitch black and radiated mana, it vibrates with a high frequency sound that made Sen's hands bleed blood

He replied "Though, since I didn't absorb the excess mana, it got left out in the sword and needs to be dispersed elsewhere, meaning i can't sheathe it." he laughed with a sad stone

Kaede laughed as so the soldiers. Charlotte lets out a small smile as she sheathes back her sword.

"If I don't disperse it, my mana will run out and the sword will break. If that happens... well, 'boom' i think"

The bandits were terrified, they tried to run with their tails on their backs but was blocked by civilians and soldiers.

Well, i can only use this once a day and it completely makes me dizzy for a minute. Damn. And with the excess mana being stored in the sword, this thing is literally more durable than before.

He walked to the bandits and threatened

"Right now, my hands are shaking due to the force given out by this sword. I wonder what'll happen if i disperse this directly into one of you?"

A bandit came from the back of the captain and unsheathed his sword, he charged and yelled, Ichigo slashed the iron sword, cutting it in half, but the sword vaporized due to it's mana release.

The rest of the bandits backed off with terror. But Ichigo looked to the captain with a fierce gaze, indicating that he didn't want to do it. The captain was scared, his knives trembled as his hands shake, although his eyes was as fierce as Sen/Ichigo's

"We surrender" The bandit captain dropped his sword and drops with his kneels, heads to the ground

"C-captain?!" asked by the bandit

The captain followed "Someo-" He looked his left and saw a boy sitting on the side of the rooftop. He saw a phantom of his son wearing a black school uniform. The boy turns to a shadow and morphs into a bird and flew to the bandits. He landed and said with his voice "You still going to fight?" He slightly unsheathed his Ninjatō, showing a threat

The other bandits dropped their knives as soldiers apprehended them.

The bandit captain muttered to himself softly " sorry son, daddy did something bad again. Forgive me"

The soldiers apprehended them as Charlotte says her thanks to Ichigo.

"I think i went to far with my death threat" grieved by Ichigo

"At least you held back" said by Mitsou

"Now then... where do i disperse this mana?"

"Can you just let the mages harvest it?" asked by Mitsou

"His sword absorbed the excess mana, but still, its excess. We can't harvest it unless released." said by Kaede

"Then, Ichigo, why don't you put a mana crystal in it so it can store more energy?" said by Mitsou

"No. Never. That'll ruin my Japanese aesthetic like katana"

"Ehh? You prefer your aesthetics than efficiency?"

"Well, Mitsou-kun, this sword is already made up of mana gems, adamantite-mithril alloy, and runes casted by a god messenger himself. Basically, I don't need to add a crystal to enhance it's Absorb power"

"Oh, Mitsou weren't yours also made up of the same materials?" asked by Ichigo

"Yeah" Mitsou replied with a soft voice

"Then why did you choose the Ninjatō instead of the Katana? We could have been partners if you chose this instead."

"There were no historical records of the Ninjatō used by ninjas so.. Hmm, okay okay. I'll upgrade my Ninjatō to Katana"

Kaede bumper him in the arms and cheerfully said

"And use a shuriken instead of cards you cardboy"

I looked to her and saw her appearance.

She's a girl with a nicely formed body, she wore a traditional a white uniform with grey outliner. Her blonde hair reached her arms length and a few hair in the front. Just like the rest of the girls, she wore bangs, but slightly different especially from Rio. She's probably the second most cheerful girl with Kei on the lead.

A familiar yawn was heard, it was Masao

"Heyyy, when are you going to disperse that power?"

"The Gate is behind you, get going"

"Thanks, Masao"

Ichigo walked into the purple gate, leading him into the Crimson Valley where he dispersed his excess mana

He stood in a mountain, his feet was thorned by the sharp black rocks. On the front of him was a cliff, on his back was a pack of werewolves waiting for him. Wind of Demon Dust slightly burned his cheeks, and said

"Hey Demons, it's me.."

"Ya boy"

He held his right katana forward and rubbed it using his left katana, sparking mana, causing a concentrated release of energy towards the demons, annihilating them.

He returns to the town and was greeted by Hiroki's head slash. He rubbed his head and said "Ouch! what was that for!?"

"Jil Krazen!" said by Hiroki

"It's one of the Western loot that i received, similar to your Southern origin Unique skill 'Plunder' "

Hands on the hip, he pointed to me

"You copied it, didn't you?"

"No. It's only a self defense skill. It can't absorb all matter unlike your Pole Skill Plunder"

"I attributed it to Spear, so don't call it Pole, you idiot!" said by Hiroki

"Jeez."

"Ichigo-dono? don't you find it strange? When we've remained contact with Cenaria, the Devs just left us out in the dust." said by Kaede

"Ichigo-dono?" she asked her out of my gaze

"Uh.. yeah. Feels like we're beta testing for this world. After all, the first batch was called Alpha Testers, we might be called as Betas."

"Phew! So that means we're already working at this age?"

"Yeah.. but the things is, we don't have any clear objectives."

"Huh? We don't have clear objectives? Isn't saving the world is our objective right now?"

He smug, and looked to Kei

"Is saving the world really the objective, Kaede-kun? Or maybe.." she walks to Kaede and whispered a word

"Fixing it?" said by Kaede

"The gods are playing with us, I can't even say for sure that my privacy is still safe. What if they're looking at our eyes directly?" said by Mitsou

"This simulated world of Terra. Once you've looked in, it'll gaze back. An abyss of simulated reality. It might be not real, but it's real."

Yuki turned her back, and looked to Ichigo

"Sen-dono, that qoute.."

"Yeah, the same one said by that guy on the TV five years ago."

"You still remember it? Well, since it's rather connected to your father's disappearance." said by Kaede

Father...

Ichigo replied

"Once you've gazed down, it'll gaze back. A reflection, a reflection of reality"

"Ahh. I guess I'm ripping apart that saying; This World Is Not Real and changing it into; It's Happening So We Gotta Do It"

"Took you long enough"

For another set of ride at carts, we've arrived at our guest mansion. It was big, and was colored in white.

A path of ceramic like tiles ran to a fountain, there were small stairs that led to the a pair of big doors, we opened it and saw another set of stairs led by a red carpet.

There were two rooms on each side of the wooden corridor.

"Woah! Elegant architectural style!" said by Kenji

Asami felt the elegance of the room, she smelled a scent of the wooden door, saying

"Feels like we're really in reality"

"It's new" said by Sen

The Oracles turned to him and asked

"Huh?"

"It's..newly built" he replied

"Something is off, Sen-san"

Ryuu stacked himself into wall, he smelled the fresh wooden scent, and followed;

"They must have separated us from the real mansion to trap us here and blow us up"

"Or burn us alive" said by Sen

Asami and Kaede holded each other's hands and said "T-that can't be!"

Kaede : I mean, they need us right?

Asami: Commander, you know something, do you?

"Calm down, just do a search. Kei-san, please?"

"If there was, i could have found it. BTW, Search magic doesnt work if the target isn't magic-made."

A figure appeared at the staircase

"The mansion isn't a trap"

It was a trio of maid, the left had pink hair and the right had darker blue hair and thinner figure. The middle maid had transparent glasses.

"-Masters" said by the middle maid

They walked down on the staircase and bowed down their heads

"I am Siqia. Headmaid of this guesthouse It's a pleasure to meet you, Masters"

From the left she introduced the maids,

"This is Fey, our cook. And her assistant, Akechi."

Sen/Ichigo talked to himself

'Both girls have resemblance to Demi-Humans. They're probably ninjas.'

"There's no need to introduce yourselves. We were notified beforehand by the Royal Family." said by Siqia

"Why does everything look new? Head maid, Siqia?" asked by Kenji

"The Kingdom of Cenaria didn't quite have any special visitors of this size, Master Kenji"

Kenji backed his back and said

"Knowing our names without us knowing is kind of creepy"

Sen/Ichigo laid his back on the wall with his feet pressed on the wall, and said with a cool voice

"One of them are ninjas. I wonder which one" he said with his mask connected to his chest

'Eek! He changed too!' said by Kei to herself

The two maids gasped. The left one looked down and the right one laughed softly with her hands on her lip.

Ryuu with his back glued on the wall, he reached the door and opened it

"Incase you didn't know, Mitsou can read minds. Don't talk to him." he said as he hides on the room

Mitsou was agitated because his secret was exposed, saying

"Hey! Why did you ratted me out! You stupid?!"

Akechi looked to Mitsou with a stare

'Crap! She's looking right into me! She might think that i read her secret, but I didn't yet read her mind! F*** you, Ryuu!'

He shadowed towards the door due to guilt

Sen followed

"I bet 5 gold coins if Akechi is the ninja. Chao" He then teleports into the room along with Ryuu and Mitsou

"uhh... sorry about that! Those trio are the Phantom Oracles, they usually- i mean tends to act like that way." said by Kei

"Don't worry about it, Master Kei. So now then, shall we now proceed to the tour of this

"umm... we don't really need a tour.." replied by Kei

'ugh! I thought of hundreds of ways to greet these guests and practiced it all night with these two, especially the tour part but it would turn to a waste! How mortifying!'

Kei consulted her companions and followed

"But if you insist, we'll gladly partake on, Headmaster Siqia-san"

"Very well then! Please, this way"

The maids lined up in the wall and guided the group in the staircase

"This two hallways are your rooms, we will first proceed on your rooms and if there's an issue, please tell us, Masters"

They arrived at the second floor where the rooms are on. The hallway divided into two and windows was seen on the walls alongside with the red carpet.

Once you've arrived at the second floor, there's also a balcony that served as the roof the entrance door.

The group split into two, on the right Kenji took the lead alongside with the boys. Kei and the girls just walked as she dragged her hands into the stone walls.

"A mix of stone, ceramic and wood walls?" asked by Rio

"Yes, Master Rio. Wood and ceramic."

"So English is existent on this world, huh" said by Yuki

"Yes, Master Yuki."

Siqia stopped walking at the end of the corner

"-English? What is that, Yuki-sama?"

"For a moment, i thought English really existed on this world." said by Masao as he waltz out from the door

"Master, is an English word." said by Yuki

The three maids gasped

"But!.. 'Master' is an old saying...used by Ancient..Maids to refer to their lords or similar! Master Yuki" said by Fey, her voice lowered down as her sentence finished

Kei replied

"Well...you can call us by honorifics instead. Well, you can call us by both terms, i guess"

'How mortifying! We've practiced Master to each guest, and it'll be junked too!'

"We don't really mind, but you can also call us by our first names too, okay? Siqia-san, Fey-san, and Akechi-san?" said by Asami

"As you wish, Asami-sama" said by the three maids

"Please take a look at your rooms, unfortunately, there are only five rooms each side. But every room has two paired beds inside"

Yuki opened the door to her and saw two large bunker beds on the middle with an elegant design of white-ish in it.

"Bunkers?" she said

"That's what the Ancients refer to, but was modified for it to look beautiful"

Kaede popped in and ran to the low bed and said "My, I've missed this kind of beds and bedding!"

She jumped into the bedding mid air but was caught by Kei's hand in her back

"Huh? Asami-san?"

Kei dropped her off into the ground and walked nearer to the bed. She kneels and hovered her hand slowly into the bedding

'Oh, no! She'll know!' said by Siqia

Akechi and Fey tensioned up as Kei lowered her hand to the beddings

"No bed needles, phew"

"Anyways, this part is mine!" she said as she jumps into the big bed

"Not fair! Don't use your trap detection skills to interfere!" said by Kaede

"Hehe! I laid in it first, bleh!"

"Hmph! I'll just use the other room then!"

The rooms also had each a dresser and a chair and table.

"Do we need to tend to.. tend to the.. boys.. Headmaid Siqia-san?" asked by Fey

She looked to the right corridor and it was relatively quiet

"I don't think they'll still need us, i mean, they're boys."

She replied with silence

"Normally, you would introduce the bedrooms last. Why, Siqia-san?" asked by Yuki as she walks out her room

"We wanted to confirm if any of the architecture and design is familiar to you, Masters"

"The architecture and designs. So is the beddings, and the other furnitures. This looks like western design of our world." said by Kenji

"Who designed this, Siqia-san?"

"The designs were from Ancient Origin. We changed the color and furniture to match of Ancient Culture. We did that so we can confirm if you are from Ancient Origin, or not."

"We're stranded Players. A derivative of the Ancients you talk about. Unlike them, we can't say for sure if we die if we die, until the Demon Invasion is repelled or detroyed."

"Stranded Players?"

The Oracles sighed with laziness, Kenji said to Siqia "Looks like we gotta start from square one."

"We're from another world."

"Hmm, i think not "Another" but from the real world. Too be honest, we don't know"

"I white light captured us in the middle of the dark and then we woke up in an open field, alongside with our school uniform and school bags"

"School uniform? May i see it, Master Kenji?" asked by Siqia

"I think we should do this in the living room" said by Kenji

They walked down the living room and heard a noise inside a room

"The three that walked down into was the living room, and i can see for sure that they're quiet making a ruckus inside"

Jeez, i hope they didn't mess up that room! I tidied it up all night long! Please have mercy!

"Oppai[Breast] are the truth!" said by Mitsou, he followed "They differentiate men from women! With that, we can know if they're strong or not!" Kei, Kaede, and Rio was flustered

"Thicc Thighs save lives!" said by Ryuu, he followed, "Well built, juicy legs alloys the prey to run away from it's predator fast! Not only that, the leg is stronger than the hand! You can also make it as a pillow for the partner to sleep on! Not to mention the heat it gives off helps the sleeping head regulate temperature!"

The two young maids looked to their legs and examined it, and gave off a thumbs up to each other.

"Bow down peasants!" yelled by Ichigo

"Young girls grow from this feature exactly! This is where all features start, the vanilla of those two's foundation!"

"This better be good" said by Masao

Kei opened the door slightly as the Kenji, Kei, Masao, and Asami peeked inside. They saw Ryuu and Mitsou standing their feet on the table oppositely, as Ichigo/Sen in the middle of the table. His glasses was white.

"Lolis!" he yelled as he grabbed the air

The door breaches open with Kei's kick.

"OH MY! THAT DOOR! I WORKED HARD ON IT LAST NIGHT! WHY KICK THE DOOR!?" said by Siqia

Tamotsu walked in with a shield alongside Kei, Kei wore black glasses and had a Ryuu's dark green lined crossbow with her. Her voice was deep and sounded like a cop. Together they said "Who said Loli?"

Ichigo, Ryuu, and Mitsou pointed at the sofa pillow and said "He did" Ryuu and Mitsou was confused, they looked to Sen and asked "Huh?"

Ichigo/Sen's former position was replaced with a hotdog pillow that faced upward with glasses.

Kei kicked Sen in the face and pinned him in the ground, she said to him

"Oi, Sen. Seems that my hunch that you were a lolicon was right. Go to jail..you bastard"

"Officer! Lei is 15! And we're in the same age group! How does that make me count as a lolicon?!"

Kei's face turns red and slapped him in the face "I never asked that name!"

Masao sat in the sofa, he pulls Sen/Ichigo on the leg and asked

"Siqia-san wants to confirm if we're related to the Ancients. And she also wants to see our school uniform"

Ichigo/Sen was upside down, he looked down and said

"I do have our school picture. But i left mine at Arcaea" He pulls out a picture inside his uniform and handed it over to Siqia

"My, my! Is that...Cenarian Academy of Magic?" she asked

"And you're also wearing the same uniform!"

Kei neared Siqia and said "Ohh! That was our school picture! I didn't know know you had that in your bag-

Wait a minute. Did you say... Academy of Magic?"

The Oracles that wandered in the room stopped for a brief moment and looked to Siqia

"Yes. It was founded by the Ancients. It features it's Ancient Technologies that made learning magic easier. It is currently one of the last standing Ancient Creations left out by time. Not to mention, it's the only Academy that teaches and prioritizes magic."

The Oracles was surprised, they neared Siqia, some sat including Kaede, their ears was wide open, willing to listen to anything related to the Ancients

"C-can we.. visit it?" asked by Kenji

"I'm sorry, but this hour is when school is in session. We can visit it around five if you insist, Masters" Fey and Akechi gasped as they saw the picture.

So the Ancients were related to us. I think these Ancients we're the ones behind the creations of this world. But what caused their downfall?

Still, i still get that feeling that these guys are Humans, not NPCs.

This world is artificial, so they must be. Sen stood from the sofa, and said to Siqia

"Siqia. You're Human, aren't you?"

"Huh? We formally refer to ourselves as Terran. Why do you ask, Master Sen?"

"Did the Ancients go extinct?" he asked

Siqia looked to the light haired maid, Fey, and asked

"Fey-chan, please elaborate"

It seems that our Masters are ignorant of this World's history.

"Due to an unknown war, the Ancients went extinct. The only surviving members known as Relic Users, are descendants of the Original Fifty."

"Original Fifty refer to the first fifty 'Humans' of this world that possessed powerful abilities to material creation and 'Game-Like' Magic, which they refer"

"Game-Like magic huh, jeez, what were they thinking." said by Yuki

"A world this realistic shouldn't have that" said by Sen

"That's why Ancient Language was in English." said by Rio

"They also possessed powerful armors and weapons that was handed down to each generation. An artifact that cannot be longer replicated, Relics."

"Also, the Original Fifty refer to themselves as Divers"

HyperDive. That explains it.

"For example, General Charlotte, her family is a descendant of the Diver whose name is Refrixia"

"You can distinguish us commoners from Relic Users from hair color or eye color. Our hair color is black, same goes for eye color. Relic Users have the tendency to have their colors red or green, and etc. And their strength aptitude is ridiculously high... though it doesn't mean they'll be strong on birth" She was smiling when she said the last stance, indicating something.

So things like reproduction is also possible on this world.

"Is there a Relic User Family whose hair is white?" asked by Sen

"There is one. The only surviving Clan. Silhoua. They're known for their super fast speeds and agility."

He asked Fey again "Skills that is colored blue. Fallen Sword Technique. Are they from Silhoua Clan?"

"Oh! Silhoua members's skills glow in blue! They can encompass skills for Movement and Archery, but for sword techniques like Fallen Sword, it is unheard." Siqia frowned. Sen moved back to his sofa, he sighed, he rested his head into the sofa's top, facepalming himself due to dismay "I never got her full name"

"Sorry, but can you please leave us alone? We have something to discuss, Siqia-san" said by Masao

The three maids bowed themselves and walked backwards as they left the room. However, one maid stepped back and laid herself to the wall near the room door. Eavesdropping, she listened to the Oracles

"This world is too realistic to exist. Why did they even create such thing? We haven't yet colonized mars and those scientists will create something like these?" said by Yuki as she sat onto the single seat caramel colored sofa.

"Ancient War. Folerunners. Ancient Rerics. Game-rike term." mumbled by Rio

Masao sarcastically replied

"I wonder if this world even simulates even microscopic matter, rigggghtt?"

"We need to see that Magic Academy, i mean, it's the ONLY thing related to our world" said by Kei

Hiroki cross his arms, saying

"Dont be ridiculous. This world isn't real. That's it. Technology haven't made it that far."

Ichigo/Sen followed

"What if we got sent to the future instead inside the computer?"

---TO BE CONTINUED---