There you go, Andrew sighed in satisfaction.
It was late afternoon, the house was already cold due to the autumn, and in an hour he would be leaving for his destination.
Intrigued by the story, he decided to check for the presence of spirits himself, and despite being equipped, he felt it was right to take extra precautions.
Fortunately, since it was Saturday, many students and professors would be leaving early.
His Sequence made him an expert in Ritualistic Magic, so he thought it best to rely on it.
After redrawing the circle on the ground, he began searching for candles, herbs, and oils.
Classic Ritualistic Magic required the weaker Beyonders to ask for power from superior beings like Deities. This request, if made to an Evil Deity, could end in tragedy, and therefore it was always better to pray to one of the Seven Orthodox Deities.
As a non-member of any Church and a true non-believer in any of them, Andrew turned to them from time to time, making simple requests to blend in with the many other prayers these Deities received.
A few days ago, he created the cleansing charm by praying to the Eternal Blazing Sun, and so he didn't feel confident asking the Seven Deities again.
Luckily, thanks to an acquaintance, he had received the honorific names of extremely trustworthy high-level beings.
Now that I think about it, I should meet him tomorrow morning, Andrew remembered.
He placed two purple candles representing the entity at the top left and right, and a third in front of himself to symbolize the connection between the two.
In the center, he placed a small amethyst gem and, taking the ritual knife, infused it with his own spirituality.
Feeling this flow to the tip, Andrew began to walk around the room to create a barrier of spirituality that served to separate the surrounding space from the outside.
After that, his eyes became unnaturally dark, and his previously agitated heartbeat and breathing were now calm.
He lit the candles from left to right and took one last breath before beginning to speak in Hermes.
"Violet Light, Mother and Father of all Ritual Magic"
"Fleeting Saint, you are the Light that guides humanity to its destination"
"Worthy member of the Great White Brotherhood"
"I pray for your help, for your assistance"
"Give me the strength to overcome my next challenge"
After these words, the gem placed in the center of the circle began to glow, and a warm light emanated from it.
The light moved unnaturally until it struck his entire being.
After that, the light disappeared, and the great energy that permeated the entire room did the same.
Andrew, whose eyes had returned to normal, immediately began removing the materials and placing them back in their places.
What he'd performed was Ritualistic Magic to request an increase in his physical abilities, which unfortunately couldn't be lifted from his Pathway.
Compared to Beyonders whose Sequence increases strength, I'm still too weak, but at least I can say I'm a little stronger than the average human.
After putting on his jacket, he checked his left and right pockets to make sure his pistol, flask, and charm were safe, and then finally decided to leave.
But when he stepped out the door, he grimaced and went right back inside.
I almost forgot my lockpicks...
His apartment was in Cherwood Borough, an area with small businesses and a few residential buildings, while the school was in North Borough.
Normally, he would have cycled or taken a carriage, but since it was still early, he decided to walk to pass the time.
Andrew wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the university; perhaps half an hour or more. But in any case when he arrived the sun had almost set, leaving a soft light still present in the area.
Seeing no one around, he crouched on the ground, ready to use lockpicks, but he noticed something strange.
Is the door open? he asked himself.
And indeed, it was. It hadn't been forced in any way; it was just open.
Perhaps the school head of security was still present after all.
Making his choices, he decided to go in anyway; if he were caught, he would say he'd left something in the classroom.
The prospect of meeting a real spirit was too tempting.
Once inside, his Spirit Vision activated by opening and closing his hand twice, one of the many stimuli he'd created to help him activate it.
The main purpose was to see the auras of living beings and the presence of some kind of spirituality.
Thanks to this, he noticed the presence of many blue particles that quickly lost their light until they disappeared.
They could have been left by the spirit as it moved, in this case I should go right, Andrew mused.
It was the only area where particles were still present.
Drawing his loaded pistol, he walked slowly down the street, ready to jump at any eventuality.
This area was full of classrooms for the classic course, and therefore had many laboratories nearby. Here, students, under the guidance of their professors, created complex machines, more complex than those covered in the new course.
He stopped in front of a door, room 213, one of the many used as a laboratory. Here, the blue particles concentrated in a spiral of dazzling lights that entered through the door.
Getting into a firing position, he was ready to throw the door open, at least until—
"Are you, um—Andrew?"
A female voice with a hint of uncertainty spoke behind him.
He immediately spun around, keeping his pistol aimed ready to fire.
"Melissa?" Fortunately, he managed to recognize the person before causing irreparable damage.
The girl, frightened by the sight of the gun, backed away, her face reflecting fear and confusion.
Noticing this, Andrew lowered the gun until—
Cold.
Too cold.
An aura of cold formed behind him.
Andrew immediately ran toward the room Melissa had exited, extending his arm to capture the girl. She tried to free herself until she suddenly stopped.
Taking advantage of her strange calm, Andrew sprinted, sliding to the ground until he was hiding under the teachers' desk.
Clink.
The sound of something falling from Melissa's hands echoed through the room.
He stole a glance at the girl and noticed her touching the center of her forehead twice. If he hadn't been looking, he certainly wouldn't have noticed that her dark eyes had become even darker, almost inhuman.
Spirit Vision?!
The girl was a Beyonder, Andrew reasoned. Perhaps sensing the danger, she had calmed down so as not to make any noise.
Using his Spirit Vision, he began to look for some aura. Even though he couldn't see through objects like the desk, it should at least help him detect some trace of spirituality.
And indeed, he did. He managed to notice a large blue body enter—no, fly—into the room. Perhaps because he had sensed something, or perhaps because he had heard the noise.
Andrew could tell from his general knowledge of spirits and their auras that this one must be low-ranking, around Sequence 9 or 8, certainly not as dangerous as an Evil Spirit.
He didn't know what Melissa's Pathway was or what abilities she was capable of, but he needed help.
In those two seconds, Andrew managed to formulate his own plan, perhaps thanks to his Sequence.
'A Student of Ratiocination can analyze information and reason in any situation.'
That was his principle.
He silently handed Melissa two things: the flask of holy water and the charm.
Andrew pointed to the charm and said in the quietest voice possible, "Light."
Looking at the cute face, still a little confused, Andrew sighed mentally and made gestures to try to explain. He didn't think he'd conveyed the plan very well, but Melissa seemed to have understood.
Nodding, he raised his hand and held up three fingers.
He lowered the third finger.
Melissa dropped the charm on the ground and took the flask with both hands.
He lowered the second finger.
Melissa opened the flask.
He lowered the first finger.
Andrew kicked the teacher's desk, not sending it flying but simply flipping it over. In that second, Melissa stood up and threw the flask as if it were a grenade at the spirit.
The water spilled, and the spirit let out a monstrous scream.
This was Andrew's signal.
He raised his arms, resting them on the desk, ready to fire.
He finally managed to see the spirit.
It certainly had a human figure, but there was nothing human about it.
The face changed continuously from an animal with human features to a face without any features, like a blank sheet of paper. And even when it had the first face, the animal changed continuously from a dog to a cat, from a bird to a fish, and more.
The body itself followed this pattern.
Without thinking twice, he fired three shots at the areas that had been colored red by the holy water, which seemed to have made them physical compared to the rest of the body.
"Shrieeeeeeeeeek!"
The scream was so abnormal and loud that if it had continued, his ears would have bled. Luckily, as if angry, the spirit stopped and instead began to concentrate the cold in the area near him.
What appeared to be four ice stalagmites were generated, suspended in the air. Ready to be fired.
Both Andrew and Melissa lowered themselves to use the desk as a trench. They obviously moved away from it a bit to avoid any tips or projectiles that had managed to slip through.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
At this last sound, Melissa, who had picked up the charm, channeled her spirituality into this before screaming in Hermes, "Light!"
With no projectiles in the air, there was no way for the spirit to deflect the charm that was thrown at him.
Without giving the spirit a chance to escape, the bomb thrown at him exploded in a holy, golden light.
"Shieee-"
The spirit didn't get to finish its lament before its existence was purged from this world.
Andrew sighed in relief as he stood up. Melissa's shoulders, too, slumped in obvious exhaustion.
Admiring her face, Andrew opened his mouth to speak, but-
Tap-Tap
Footsteps began to echo throughout the school from upstairs.
Andrew froze.
Right! There's someone else besides Melissa!
The girl hadn't forced the school door open; someone else had let her in.
Still standing, Andrew felt a small hand take his. This hand was a bit rough, with some bruising from working with contraptions.
This time, it seemed Melissa's job was to get Andrew out of trouble, but not before picking up the object she'd dropped.
She led him across the short distance from the classroom where the fight had occurred to classroom 213. Andrew, having never been in these labs before, and thus was unaware of the security doors here to direct students to the back in case of troubles.
They were outside.
Andrew continued to follow the girl until she stopped.
Her eyes were open like windows, her face pale white.
She hadn't been able to reach this level of terror before.
Andrew didn't need to ask.
After all, he felt it too.
He cursed himself for not knowing the girl's abilities, but even with his own abilities, he managed to reach the same conclusion.
Although his Pathway made him an expert in Ritualistic Magic, his spirituality wasn't increased to inhuman levels. As a result, his spiritual intuitions were short-lived. But with his great logical ability, they combined to become a powerful sense, picking up signals around him and processing them immediately.
Now, what he felt was only one thing.
Cold.
And they couldn't see any spirits.
This meant two things: the spirit was invisible, or—
It's so strong that its cold transmits over a much greater distance than the previous one.
Thanks to his heightened reasoning abilities, he was able to process the situation faster than Melissa, allowing the roles to be reversed once again.
He had led her near a warehouse, intending to sneak around the school's exterior until they could escape.
Before they could take a step, they both saw something large appear in the sky.
It was a spirit with the same features as the previous one, but of a different size.
This one was gigantic, almost overweight, and the aura surrounding it was suffocating for the two of them.
If that little guy was a Sequence 9 or 8, this monster was at least a Sequence 6.
The two were ready to run until they heard a sound.
A new guest had arrived.
He had a dark uniform, typical of a perhaps underpaid inspector, leather gloves, golden hair with a matching mustache, and dark blue eyes.
He was the spitting image of his son, or rather, it was more accurate to say the opposite.
He was the school head of security Trevor Lionheart.
Both Andrew and Melissa paused, unsure whether they should do anything to help the poor man.
Thankfully, they both soon discovered he wasn't so poor.
"Imprison"
These words spoken in Hermes seemed to alter reality, causing the air to solidify.
It seemed to create an arena 50 meters wide and barely taller than the spirit, which was forcibly brought down as if dragged by a weight.
The man looked at the spirit in front of him as he adjusted his gloves with a confidence and calm beyond human.
He soon assumed a boxing stance and opened his mouth to deliver a verdict.
"Death."
His body was surrounded by a golden aura as he began to run.
Andrew wondered if he should call it running, since the speed was so great that it created afterimages.
Melissa still wanted to run, but she didn't want to leave the boy behind, who instead stopped to watch the impending battle.
Even with great difficulty, Andrew wanted to imprint with fire inside his mind what was about to happen.
The spirit created ice stalagmites around him, but there weren't just four.
There were twenty.
And each of them was launched at a speed greater than any they had seen before. Yet, the warrior in battle didn't suffer a single blow.
But it didn't end there.
This spirit was far superior to the one they faced.
If that weakling had only been able to create four attacks and needed time to continue, this one was free from such needs.
Immediately, another twenty attacks were created. Trevor himself seemed to be so suppressed that he was struck in the left shoulder.
Instead of resisting the thrust of the blow, he decided to follow it to create more distance.
If he hadn't, he would probably have died.
But once again, it didn't end there.
Because he did it a third time.
Then a fourth.
And finally, a fifth.
A total of one hundred attacks.
The battlefield was full of holes, and Trevor had received, fortunately, only cuts escaping the most severe wounds.
Finally, the spirit stopped; it had run out of energy, and Trevor had his chance.
It appeared in front of him with its right fist raised and struck him with great force.
The spirit's body had been hit so hard it reached the edge of the arena.
He could no longer attack.
If it was true that he had greater spirituality to attack with, then it was equally true that when it was gone, it took longer to recover.
"ÑⱤ𝼀œƔ!"
It wasn't just a shout, but also an attack.
Melissa and Andrew were protected by the barrier created at the beginning, but Trevor was clearly in pain.
He looked at the spirit, and a flash or laser of some kind came out of his eyes, stopping the scream.
It seemed to have done considerable damage to the spirit, which seemed tired.
"Death."
The two left, knowing it.
It was over.
------------------------
They had gotten far enough from the school to feel safe walking instead of running.
By now, the red Moon had been rising in the sky for a few minutes.
No one had said a word yet, unsure of what to say.
After some thought, Andrew decided to break the ice.
"Tell me, dear Melissa, where should I go to take you home?"
Andrew smiled as he gave a small bow, holding an imaginary hair in his hand.
Once he returned to a standing position, he noticed that the girl's face was impassive.
She didn't seem to appreciate his sudden gentlemanly attitude.
After a few seconds of silence, Melissa decided to speak. "On Gunstedt Street."
Andrew blinked.
It was a street in Cherwood Borough, and close to him, at that.
"Okay," Andrew replied with a half bow.
"…."
"…Sorry about the gun, you weren't uhm my target."
"No, I understand. Actually, thank you, you helped me a lot."
"I can say the same," Andrew replied, turning to her with a smile.
The air seemed to have lightened, and something resembling a good mood began to form.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Andrew asked, "May I ask which is your Pathway?"
Melissa paused. It was only right to think about what information to give someone, especially in the world of the Beyonders.
"…I'm a Sequence 9 Savant."
Andrew opened his eyes a little.
Uh, so she's useless.
He knew that at high Sequence levels, Savants gained good abilities. But a Sequence 9 was probably weaker than him.
Perhaps he'd let his thoughts show on his face, as Melissa pressed her lips together with a slight look of annoyance.
In response, she asked, "I think it's only fair you tell me yours."
Andrew smiled broadly.
"I'm a Sequence 8 Student of Ratiocination on the Reader Pathway. You could say I'm your senior."
The proud smile on his face raised an eyebrow from the girl who, in less than five minutes, had watched him go from gentlemanly to kind and finally to arrogant.
"So, the Chancellor is a Beyonder too, right?" Andrew asked suddenly.
"How do you know?!" Melissa replied incredulously.
Andrew had simply connected the dots.
The girl, for a Sequence 9, had a particularly alert demeanor in the face of danger. And unless she hadn't been a Beyonder for many years, it was likely she'd received some basic training.
And it just so happened that she had ties to Portland Moment, who was already a prominent figure in public circles.
"You just told me."
Obviously, he wouldn't tell her his reasoning.
If before she'd tried to hide her annoyance, now her fury was evident and brilliant.
"Tell me why you came armed?"
"Oh, I'd heard rumors about spirits, so I came to check."
"...You went into potential danger just because of rumors?"
Now Melissa was looking at him strangely.
...Andrew decided not to comment.
It's strange, though.
Thinking about it, too many things didn't add up.
Two normal people had survived the encounter simply because they hadn't been seen. But surely at that level of existence, sight isn't the only instinct they possess to identify the surrounding area.
Besides, why only appear at that time and not during the day?
Why not surprise the head of security, who was definitely stronger?
And why a head of security from a university was so strong?
Something was fishy.
"Melissa, can you do me a favor?"
The girl tilted her head in response.
"For my sake and yours, talk about everything that happened with the Chancellor. Oh, of course, don't tell my identity…"
"You're sure?" The girl looked confused. She probably would have told her teacher regardless, but she didn't understand why he was the one to bring up the discussion.
"…I'm afraid this isn't the end of the matter."
A silence fell between the two of them, who no longer knew what to say.
"…Why were you there?"
This was the last question Andrew decided to ask.
Melissa stopped.
After a few seconds, she continued speaking.
"Once I got home, I realized I'd forgotten something. So I went back to get it."
"Just for that?" he asked incredulously.
Sure, tomorrow was Sunday, but she could wait until Monday.
Melissa looked at an object in her hands.
It was a necklace with an amulet in the center.
The amulet was not very refined, but it was decorated with angel feathers.
"Yes." She answered confidently.
Andrew didn't ask anything else.
Because he understood.
The way she held it, the way she looked at it.
He did it too.
He did it for the only thing he had left of someone dear to him.
------------------------
He walked her home, gave her a small bow, and said goodbye.
When he got home, he ignored everything and went to bed.
…He was weak.
In recent years, he had become complacent and neglected the Acting Method.
This was the awakening he deserved; from now on, he would focus on becoming stronger.
Starting tomorrow, he would look for the formula for Sequence 7!
He reached under his shirt and pulled out a necklace.
It was made of black thread as rope and a black effigy as decoration.
This object had protected him for all these years.
It was the only thing left of her.
------------------------
This was a memory.
There was no doubt about it.
Perhaps because of that girl, he remembered this day.
It's a 9-year-old story.
He lived alone with his mother then.
Occasionally, women would come over, friends of his mother's. They were all beautiful, but he had never liked them. Beneath their beauty, they were strange, cruel, and malicious.
One day, one of them approached him.
Perhaps she was the most evil and wicked of them all.
With a little smile, she said horrible things to him.
About how his mother had given him life just for a mission. Just to have a connection with a man from another secret society.
Andrew didn't know what he would say in the present.
But he remembers what he said in the past.
"So?"
His mother loved him, hugged him, and cared for him. Did it matter why he was born?
The woman's smile disappeared, and in its place her eyes filled with fury.
She raised her hand.
Andrew closed his eyes but felt nothing.
Opening them, he saw a pale, elegant hand grasped the hand of the evil woman.
His mother looked at the now trembling woman with dull eyes.
The evil woman was devoured by black flames.
Any child would have been afraid. But Andrew wasn't.
He had grown up in mysticism, and the sight of it only fascinated him.
He doesn't remember how, but the woman survived. But he remembers what he said to his mother with a big smile.
"I love you, Mom!"
The woman hugged him with warm eyes.
Only now did Andrew understand the words his mother had repeated so many times.
Yes.
She was a true Witch.