Another War

Blackness.

Numbness.

Blackness.

Numbness.

The cycle just kept on repeating itself until Yule could no longer tell the difference between those two elements. He couldn't even tell how long he was in this empty space. The last thing he remembered was the woman in black plunged her hand deep into his body then everything faded.

He just wanted to curl his body and accept that he was already stuck in here. But his mind kept on repeating the names of his companions - Ranger, Professor Fields, and Sanna. His mind was telling his body to claw out of this space, but his body remained stagnant, embracing the emptiness.

'If I go back, will I make any difference in the battle?' he asked himself. He pondered deeply in his thoughts since this was the only thing he could do right now in this empty space.

He also began remembering his family back to his homeworld. His mother and younger sister won't know that Yule lost his life in another world. He died fighting for another war.

Dark thoughts started to infiltrate his mind as it began losing the will to escape this empty space.

Then -

Something lightly c.a.r.e.s.sed his arm, giving little warmth on his body. It was also a welcoming feeling after experiencing numbness for quite some time already.

Then it repeated again.

This time it was on his head, followed by his c.h.e.s.t until it spread out throughout his body, making him feel alive again.

He tried to look above him, so he could find out where the shards were coming from, since the last time he was in here, he didn't get the chance to look around the area. But there were no clouds or anything. It was just another blank and empty space where shards rained around the area.

The strange thing, despite the continuous pouring of the shards, it never touched his body.

The shards were avoiding him.

While distracted to the shards, Yule began to feel that someone was approaching him. Then he heard soft footsteps inching closer to him.

That was when he found himself looking at the girl he'd met before he was transported to another world.

The girl was still wearing her long violet dress while her long black hair was being kept by the diadem around her head.

The last time he saw her, she was wearing a hopeful look at him. But this time, she was showing a concerned look.

"Hi Yule," her voice was very soft, and the first sound he heard after being stuck in an empty space.

"We meet again."

Yule tried to find his voice, then he answered her in a croaked voice. "Y-Yes. It was nice meeting you again."

"I don't have much time. But this may be our last time meeting each other." She stepped closer to him and started holding his hands.

The moment she held her hands, it was the same warmth he felt earlier. Her hand was soft despite clenching her hands to him.

"You need to get back, Yule. The world needs you right now."

"B-But I failed. and I lost. Plus, there are a lot of stronger slayers than me back in their world. I don't know what I can contribute to their ongoing war against the aswang."

She dropped his hands and started holding his face, then smiled at him flashing her perfect white teeth. "Yule, the moment you came to their world, a lot of things changed. With your help, they began making things they haven't done before."

Yule's brows furrowed. "How? So far, my tracking record was I'm good at killing at Level 1 aswang."

"But with your help, it made a lot of differences in fighting them. You may not be strong now. But I think you're the missing the piece that the slayers need right now."

"By being the support role?"

The girl tilted her head and didn't answer him directly. "Whenever you're around, your companions exhibit the highest potential they could've been as a slayer. Now, I will be giving you my last lesson to you."

"What do you mean 'last lesson?' This is just our second time meeting each other."

"Remember whenever you discovered new spells in fighting off the aswang, where do you think it was coming from?"

Then Yule remembered those moments when out of the blue, words or spells surfacing in his mind.

"It was you! You were there helping me!"

The girl nodded her head and chuckled at him. "Unfortunately, this will be my last time teaching you. My powers are waning."

"W-Why?"

"I am a prisoner, Yule. My powers are being consumed."

"By whom?"

"By a dark god. He was the one behind this invasion." Then her appearance began faltering. Her hand that was holding his face became translucent. She was starting to disappear!

"Wait! What's happening?!"

"I'm being pulled back. This is one of the reasons I pulled you out of your world. I'm seeking your help. Help me become free again."

In rapid state, she was being erased from this space.

"What's your name?" Yule shouted.

The girl gave her a weak smile until she completely disappeared from his sight. But her voice remained. "That's the thing, Yule. I don't know my name anymore."

Then the shards stopped pouring around him then his surroundings began whirling.

*****

Sanna was covering her mouth when the woman in black skewered Yule by through her b.a.r.e hand. She was still on the back of her white stag when her visions started blurred from the tears leaking out her eyes.

She heard Ranger howling beside her and sped towards the aswang.

The woman saw the sudden movements of Ranger and quickly pulled out her hand from the lifeless body of the boy.

Yule's body fell from her grasp and landed on the ground with a thud. Blood started to spread around his body.

Seeing the corpse of his friend, it further ignited Rage's anger. Brandishing his swords, he flew straight to the aswang and launched an electrical attack at her.

The aswang leaped from her position to dodge the attack and return it with a howling wind attack from her.

Ranger flew sideways to avoid her attack, and the swords behind him started to rotate clockwise.

Seeing the movements of the swords, Sanna knew what attack will Ranger unleashed. She immediately ordered the white stag and went to the body of Yule to pick him up.

Sanna climbed down from the stag and quickly carried the body of Yule. Blood started to spread around her white uniform, but it was her least priority now. She climbed again to the white stag and placed Yule behind her. Sanna kicked Zuna, and the white stag galloped away from the battle area between the aswang and Ranger.

Recognizing that Sanna successfully retrieved Yule's body, Ranger eyed the aswang and hovered before her. "Taste this, you monster! Shock-"

He never finished his chant when the woman in black gripped her hand in the air.

"You're a troublesome opponent, my dear. I'll be s.u.c.k.i.n.g your air now!" The aswang gave a smirk to Ranger who was starting to gasp for air. He suddenly lowered his body and kneel on the ground, holding his neck.

After gaining a safe distance from the two, Sanna noticed that Ranger didn't launch his attack. She saw him kneeling on the ground, his hands grasping his neck like he couldn't breathe.

She hastened to move the body of Yule to the ground and summoned back to his weaponized form.

Sanna knew that her bow attacks won't be effective against the woman in black as she would just deflect easily her energy arrows with her strong winds. So she would just face her through physical combat. She needed to be fast. As she inched closer, Sanna noticed that Ranger's skin was turning violet already from the lack of air. She only had few seconds to distract the aswang so Ranger could breathe again.

Sensing that another young slayer was approaching her, the woman in black flashed her wicked grin at the young girl.

Sanna c.o.c.ked her bow at the woman and fired two consecutive energy arrows. The arrows changed their directions, splitting in mid-air, and instead of firing straight towards the aswang, the arrows went to the right and left side of the woman in black.

The aswang just waved her hand and a strong current of wind greeted the arrows and deflecting them. But she was surprised that the young slayer was no longer in front of her. It was a diversion. Then the next thing she knew, her face took a strong kick from the girl.

The aswang went down and touched her face which was now bruised. But Sanna never gave the chance the aswang to counter her. Sanna launched another kick at the aswang which made the aswang howled in pain. The amount of force she was receiving from the attack was far from the normal physical attacks by humans. Again, these people are slayers, to begin with.

Due to the attacks also, she lost her concentration from the spell she leashed on Ranger which was now successfully breathing normally and glaring at her with so much hostility.

Grabbing his swords again, Ranger pulled himself up and surges of electricity stared surrounding his body. He flew straight to her and blasted her with strong electrical attacks.

The aswang howled again in pain after receiving the attack from Ranger. Then she went still, lying on the cold ground.

Ranger lowered himself to the ground and looked at the crumpled form of the aswang. He was still breathing heavily as he was still reeling from a close death encounter. He sensed that Sanna approached behind him and looked at her.

She was also panting from the fight and nodded at him. They wanted to to the killing blow at the same time for their lost compatriot - Yule.

Both stepped closer to the aswang and that was when the ground started to vibrate. The two startled from the sudden movements of the ground, and Ranger found that the aswang was still conscious after receiving his attack.

The woman in black placed her palm on the ground and started flooding with a strong current of winds deep inside the soil of the ground.

The cold stones from the ground started to break as if it was experiencing an earthquake. Then wreckage followed. The ground started to collapse, creating a fissure around them.

Large rock formations protruded from it, and that was when they noticed that Candace was in danger from being pierced by the rocks. Ranger quickly sped towards her and grabbed her while Sanna recalled the animal form of Zuna and rode on her companion, leaping from various rock formations peaking from the wrecked ground.

The woman in black began cackling with laughter as she rose from her position. Then her eyes started glaring at her target. She raised her arms and instantly summoned a giant strong wind. Pebbles, small rocks to bigger rocks began swirling around the room due to the strong current of wind.

The walls started to creak also from the force circulating inside.

"Ranger! I don't think we can handle this!" Sanna shouted as the wind whiplash her hair behind her. Ranger was cradling Candace on his arms. He knew this will mean an end to them. They need the professor now.

Then they heard the aswang yelped in surprise.

Sanna and Ranger began cried in hope, thinking it was the professor rescuing them.

But to their surprise especially the aswang, it was an unexpected cavalry.

The mysterious person was holding a giant spear covered in light and a serious deadpan face greeted the woman in black.

"H-How??" The aswang cried.

"I guess, they still need me."

Recognizing the voice and appearance, Ranger and Sanna cried also in disbelief.

"Yule!" They shouted in unison.

The giant wind quickly dispelled after losing the concentration from the conjurer. But the woman in black snarled at Yule and glared at him with red eyes.

"Then I have to kill you again!" She leaped from the ground and attacked Yule with a gust of wind again.

Yule used his transformed spear to deflect the attack and vanishing the wind. The aswang snarled at him and launched herself at Yule.

Seeing the attack, Yule raised his arms and shouted, "Waning Crescent!"

The spear seemed to enlarge again, and Yule met the aswang in mid-air, launching himself also at her.

They clashed in the air with the clawing hands of the aswang and the giant spear of Yule. It was a stand-off between two creatures fighting for their lives.

Yule pushed his spear to the b.a.r.e hands of the aswang. But she was holding him pretty well with her hands alone. Sparks began to emit from their clash, then the aswang exerted more energy to her hands, causing for Yule to falter slowly.

"Die now!" The aswang shouted at him.

Then she waved her hands at him, throwing the giant spears out of her way and launched a strong current of wind against Yule throwing him like a bullet straight to the ground. The woman in black followed Yule to give him the finishing blow.

"You really think, you're kind of savior after resurrecting from my blow?" She scoffed at him while Yule g.r.o.a.n.e.d in pain from the crash.

Then he smiled at him. "I never said that I would kill you. I'm just the support. Plus, I'm just buying some time."

The woman in black gave him a questioning look and started to feel a strong presence from somewhere.

They heard a loud crash from the wall behind the aswang, and a smiling professor stained with blood and some other things that Yule didn't want to know waved at them. Professor Fields swung his greatsword and pointed it at the aswang.

"Need help everyone?" Professor Fields asked innocently.

The woman in black snarled at him and launched a strong current of wind at him. But the professor just swung his sword and deflect the attack.

"Then I will summon my servants now to deal with you!" The aswang snapped her fingers. But silence only answered her.

Ranger and Sanna looked around them, expecting a wave of monsters to flood the wrecked room. But nothing happened.

The woman in black snapped her fingers again. But no one answered her.

"Oh, forgot to mention also, were those your servants? I just exterminated all of them. Boy, I didn't expect that you're hiding a horde in this cavern." Professor Fields smirked at the aswang.

"What?! Those are for the invasion of your flying cities! There were like thousands of them inside here." This time she was the one who faltered in front of the professor.

"Oh, so you're the one who was behind those horde attacks recently." The professor adjusted her eyeglasses.

The aswang back stepped, feeling the overwhelming aura from the professor. "I was just following orders from the Tantibus."

"Don't worry, I know that group was the real one who was pulling the strings. I killed one of their members before."

"What?! You don't mean you're the Everstorm!"

The professor just flashed a grin at her and swung his sword at her. The aswang grunted in pain, and she found her head cut off from the body and fell on the ground. There were traces of electricity constricting on the cut-off part, then the remaining body fell on the ground also.

Yule was in shock also after witnessing the extreme power from his professor. He was about to give him a thumbs-up, but he was consumed by blackness again. But this time, he was thankful he just fainted only.

*****

The next moment was hazy for Yule. He was blinking in and out when his companions regroup and picked up Yule. The next vision he had was when he was already inside the aircraft being nursed by Ranger and Sanna for first aid treatment. Candace was beside him still unconscious after the chaos they had experienced. And the last moment he'd seen was when he was brought to a hospital. The nurses and doctors were arguing that some student will attend to Yule to give him complete restorative healing. The doctors resigned and gave up on the demands of the nurse. Then he succ.u.mbed to sleep.

When he woke up, he found himself rested in a white room with a holo-screen turned on but switched to mute. Then when he looked around, he was surprised that he had a companion.

The stranger was wearing the same white uniform issued by the academy and was smiling at him.

She had a short curly green-dyed hair kept by a black hairband.

"I'm so happy that you're awake now." She said in a melodic voice.

Yule tried to nod at her. But he could feel some little soar some parts of his body.

"Oh, don't move much, Yule. Despite healing you, there are certain parts of your body that need to heal by yourself."

"You healed me?"

She nodded at him, then her eyes widen. "Oh! I forgot I haven't introduced myself. Silly me! I'm Amethyst Mayer. We haven't met, but Haruto and Jin-Yoo talked about you before. They are my classmates under Ms. Rekka's class."

*****

Deep inside the bookstore from Entertainment District, Rowan was plucking out books from the newly delivered boxes. He sorted the books according to their genre and placed them on the shelf accordingly.

While humming to himself, he felt another presence hiding behind the shelf he was arranging. After noticing that it was a familiar presence, he let guards down and continued stacking the books.

"What do you want?"

"Have you heard the news?" The unknown visitor asked. It was a female voice.

"I heard a lot of news recently. What specifically?"

"Newbie slayers defeated a level 4 aswang."

"Hmmm," Rowan pretended to think and recalled the news. "If I remember correctly, it was Professor Fields who made the finishing blow. The fledging slayers helped him though."

"Regardless. What are your plans?" she asked warily.

"To be honest, I have to see their skills first before making any plans. Plus, one of those fledging slayers you're talking about is working here as part-time assistant though he has yet to appear for his first day."

The mystery woman chuckled at him. "If I know better, I think it's no coincidence that he was pulled here. You made it happen."

Rowan just shrugged at her and scratched his messy blond hair. He continued stacking the books to the shelf until he felt that the mystery woman disappeared already.