“I was in the middle of my job when someone called me out. My coworker told me that the school was calling for me. And then people gathered inside the office - in front of the TV. The news said that a portal appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t know what it was and wanted to mind my own business. But when I heard about Midori’s school, I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. They told me that my son had died from the portal. I was in denial. I refused to believe it. Of course. How could I, right? Midori’s my son. And I wouldn’t let anything happen to him. But when I went to the school, I saw his corpse. I almost couldn’t recognise my son. I asked a lot of people in the place about what happened, but they told me the same thing. ‘The portal did this to the students,’ they said. Until then, I couldn’t get over the death of my son. Even now,” Mrs. Tanaka muttered, and flashed me a faint smile. “I thought that taking my life would end my suffering. It will, but
“Everything written in this journal may have included research from the internet. But mostly… it came from me.”{Portals appeared long ago. The scientist didn’t specifically mark the time. But from what I have discovered, Egyptians were the first ones to tell that tale. It’s always them.}{Portals act like pocket dimensions, dungeons, prisons, an infinite space isolated from our own timeline and reality, and a place where matter could exist and be created. The government might say that portals are mysterious places formed from another universe or galaxy. But I believe that there is someone who could conjure them. Isn’t it cool if my guesses are correct? But, at the same time, it’s terrifying if I put it that way.}I flipped to the next page to read the texts. Midori had a lot of time writing this information for me. As it had turned out, these details about portals made it clearer for me to understand.{P
As I exited Midori’s room, Mrs. Tanaka greeted me in the dining room as she mopped the entire area. Mrs. Tanaka lowered her head and aplogised to me that she hadn’t touched the room and became an entire mess when I came to visit. But after a few seconds, the topic trailed off as Midori’s mother blamed me for not telling her I would come and visit the house. It was insane. But instead of pointing that out, I just laughed the conversation out and helped her clean the house.Mothers. Everyone should love them for who they are.When we finished cleaning the rooms, Mrs. Tanaka offered me a meal to thank me for everything I did. While we were doing our chores, Mrs. Tanaka was also preparing a dish that was both Midori and my favourite. It was curry and a burger - a classic and a cheap dish, which I describe as a decent meal.
“Where did all the food come from?” Hina asked, as she poked at the bento box and opened its lid. She whiffed the scent of spices from the lunch box, nearly eating it with her nose alone. As the aroma sank inside in her mind, vibrant colours emerged from Hina’s eyes. “It really is curry. But it doesn’t look like you bought it from a convenience store. Well, I doubt that could happen. Nobody can cook curry this perfect, not unless it’s…” A moment of silence enveloped inside the hospital room as Hina recognised the origin of this curry. As soon as she realised it, Hina gingerly glanced in my direction and hopelessly reached her hands on top of my shoulder. But before she could even rest her palm, I caught her arm and, instead, gave her a warm hug. Hina didn’t expect this to happen. I didn't either. Hina widen
Hina’s Perspective_____________________“Let their little sisters be a heavy weight for the family?”“No.”“Watching you risk yourself, while your sister worries about you everyday?”“Well, if you put it like that. I…”“Aoi…”I didn’t know what had happened to them. When I said those words, it felt as if I was cursing them out to Aoi. He was my brother. And he will always be my brother. But I had no clue if I deserved everything he had given to me. Aoi saved me and showed me the path that I should’ve taken years ago. Well I… I just conti
Hina’s Perspective ___________________ “Here we are! My office!” Doctor Maruki enthusiastically said, as he spread his arms and introduced me to the front door with a sign saying “office’ in the middle. I was not gonna lie. I expected something out of Doctor Maruki’s office, especially when he himself told me extravagant things about it. This place was at the dead last of the entire building. There were no patients or anyone roaming around the setting. Even the nurse’s station was on the other side, which was a two minutes walk from his room. Doctor Maruki narrated that his office was one of a kind, which would blow my mind. But I couldn’t help but fathom what was special about an adult’s office, let alone a physician inside the hospital. Fortunately, my
Hina’s Perspective ______________________ “Drink it? Are you nuts? I don’t even know what’s inside this bot-...” “Some rocks that I plucked out from the golems, ginger, blue crystals, salt, pepper, a little bit of faerie dust, and - the secret ingredient - mana herbs. What you lack is mana. That’s what my alchemist class tells me. When you’ve faced a life-threatening scenario, you’ve controlled your powers before. Am I correct?” I nodded. “Did you feel something when you conjured those walls?” Doctor Maruki hit the nail. When Aoi fought the Grim Reaper, I supported him at the back lines. He had a sniper, while I had just found out that I could summon walls out of nothing. An
Prime Minister of Japan - Yoshitsugu Akihiko’s Perspective (This will happen one month where we have left the main story) ______________________________ It had been days since the first time Akai and I held conferences, meetings, and conversations about portals. But no matter how hard I tried explaining it to the Crimson Guild, Akai and Kei - the guild master and the appraiser, always said the same thing. “We want power. Give me the jurisdiction to promote law and order as an official in the government of Japan, and I shall give our people protection,” Kei stated, as he pounded fist on the table. Akai hadn’t arrived yet for our meeting, so Kei was responsible for communicating with me and other officials. I g
Prime Minister of Japan - Yoshitsugu Akihiko’s Perspective____________________________________________The Dragon’s Den was a portal that recently emerged near Simuda. According to my secretary, the portal was around Tokyo, specifically Tokyo skytree. It devoured everyone surrounding it, including my daughter. Her classmates invited her to visit such a place without my permission. Although I had eyes and ears near her, my people couldn’t react in time and got transferred inside the distortion. Nobody else knew that my daughter was there, excluding the people that were brought inside the portal. And as stated by Akai, communications were severed. It only meant that we didn’t have any means of communicating with the people trapped inside the portal.Akai explained everything related to The Dra
Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.) __________________________________ I forgot the last time I tasted good food. How many days had it been since the time I had been luring and fighting these beasts? Two months? No. Two months were short in my calendar. If I had to guess it right, I was up here for eight months fighting and evading these monsters. I fed myself with arcane from my surroundings and made it my nutrition. Although magic particles were different from real nourishments, it was enough to keep me functional. And my body was still in top shape. I also forced myself to sleep only for an hour and wake up dodging those projectiles for the umpteenth time. There was nothing inside my mind but evading these ambushes, hoping I could, at least, strike back with my rifle. But the time never arrived. The lizards weren’t the only creatures present in my vicinity. There were more of them. If I had to name a few, t
Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.)__________________________________I temporarily lent my power to the Crimson Guild in exchange for my monthly salary enough to pay for the hospital fees and our daily living. There was nothing wrong about it. So I told Hina about our current situation and encouraged her to attend the school we were once going to. But I refused the scholarship and dropped out of university. College life should be something that everyone desires to have, especially us students. But for me, I wanted to see Hina’s parents live for another day. Hence, the approval of being an adventurer in a guild.But I didn’t apply for being a regular adventurer. Regular adventurers were tasked to defeat a certain number of portals in return they will be given cheques and salaries from it. The more portals defeated, the larger amount of cash will be rewarded. As long as the adventurer was talented enough to survive
Volume 3 - Epilogue Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.) __________________________________ As far as I remembered, my parents died when I was little. When I was six years old. I didn’t need money, a lavish life, or things that I could call mine. There was only one thing I wanted, and that was my parents. I wanted them to live. But with one sudden moment, my wish turned around and burned me alive. My parents were killed by monsters, not humans. The fiend was around a hundred feet tall, and the village we were living in took the invasion. They were reptiles. These monsters had the shape of a dragon, which was technically a lizard with wings. According to the internet, unidentified beasts kept appearing from nowhere, and there were others who fought against them. Those individuals were not the police officers. I believed they were called guilds. And as I glanced around me, the news and other people claimed that t
Aoi’s PerspectiveAoi one or the ORIGINAL MAIN CHARACTER OF THE STORY (not the different one)Author’s note: This Aoi is also calling himself as Aoi one, and the other Aoi will be Aoi two (It is to avoid confusion. Thank you.)_____________________“That’s why I need to become stronger. And you’re not strong enough! Even though we’re the only ones who have this system, you didn’t try to break your own wall and learn more about it! There could’ve been portals that you could eliminate to gain more levels, and yet you chose to idle around and did nothing about it!” What did he mean when this motherfucker told me I wasn’t strong enough?! I trained with Vulcan, which Akai killed. Did he not think of that?!”“Your face is telling me that you met with Vulcan… That you trained with him. But did you learn anything from those sessions besides aiming your gun properly? Because it’s the only thing you have if you plan on comparing yourself to me!” Aoi two, or should I say, this doppelganger adde
Hina’s Perspective_____________________“It’s okay… Don’t cry. There, there…. It’s going to be okay… It’s going to be alright….”And then, I said the words. “I forgive you… I forgive you, Aoi… You don’t have to cry anymore… It’s going to be okay…”I said the words Aoi wanted to hear. Even though he was Obsidian, the face of my brother carved itself on the man beside me. It was as if Aoi two was a dog barking and biting people left and right only to realise he needed someone’s help… He needed my help. And now he had faced his fear and listened to the words Aoi two wanted to hear, his ears calmed down. His ears discerned what was important.‘But what now? What are we going to do now?’ I thought, and looked at the downcasted face of Aoi two. As if knowing the question inside my head, Aoi two returned my gaze and uttered, “I know… you are confused. But we don’t have much time now. As soon as I fought Aoi in this world, the entities behind these portals were already high on alert. And I
Hina’s Perspective _____________________ “Come with me.” With one phrase, the masked man offered his hand to me. He used his other hand to lift Aoi’s body and cast a spell that changed our surroundings. “I’ll show you something.” Obsidian showed no signs of hostility. And the voice behind the masked man soothed my ears as if it was some sort of music with perfect beat and lyrics. I gazed at the man’s hand, wondering if I should take it. I had seen something like this before. But something was off. And at the same time, there was a peculiar feeling of calm and genuineness. He almost reminded me of my brother. In spite of these feelings twirling inside my mind, I shook my head and answered, “I don’t… want to... I won’t leave…. My brother! You… Want… to kill him… I’ll…. Stay by…. His side…. Until you… can kill me…” There was a chance that the masked man wanted to pull me apart from Aoi. And I never wanted that to happen. The moment the masked man heard my words for the umpteenth ti
Hina’s Perspective_____________________All my life, Aoi did nothing but help me with my problems, regardless if it involved him or me. As long as he noticed, which he always did, my brother would rush towards me and help. Aoi really forced himself so hard until he could see me smile. And even though I pushed him countless times, he continued crawling his way back in my arms. I could still remember those days when we were together, especially when these portals hadn’t shown up. Life was simple back then. If only Aoi’s parents didn’t die, maybe he could’ve lived the life he deserved. But his life was taken away by a murderer and the portal. And now, we were given the chance to confront the man who stole his life away. But even so, we couldn’t defeat him. I… couldn’t do a thing. Aoi did everything he could to stop the madman from hurting everyone, despite knowing none of the strangers, but he failed. And the only thing I could do was to watch him suffer.Maybe if I trained hard enoug
As I glanced on my side, Hina still wanted to fight. She stood up and used the rock beside him, but her legs kept shaking as if an earthquake struck us. But the ground remained still. There was no earthquake. And when I appraised her status, my system described her with a fatigue ailment in addition to her drained mana right beside his health bar.[Iron Maiden has been deactivated. Obsidian is too powerful to be compressed!]Those were the words that marked our doom. The moment Obsidian broke free from the [Iron Maiden] all hope was lost. I had no idea how to win now, especially when my sister was on the ground. She couldn’t me right now. But Hina had already assisted me until her body fell on the ground. Although she desperately forced herself to move and stand with the help of a rock, Hina couldn’t cast any more magic and would remain sluggish until she could recover her mana. Obsidian stood on the other side of the map, unscathed and unbothered from the spell. The [Iron Maiden] wa
Time wasn’t on our side. Obsidian tried hitting us with his sniper, but Hina continued lifting me up and creating walls in front of me. It was as if she was reading my movements. When the masked man pulled the trigger and launched a set of bullets in my direction, I went to the side despite having no platform for me to step on. But I trusted my sister. By the time I jumped above ground, I trusted my instincts and rolled on the side. Like I had said, there was no ground to catch me when I fell. But as soon as I gyrated my body, a floor made of soil immediately materialised and cushioned my feet. The next thing I knew, I tumbled to the side and evaded almost every bullet coming in my way. The shells that I couldn’t dodge still didn’t hit me. The moment those leads from the masked man could take me out, Hina summoned a wall in front of me and protected my face.I didn’t have the time to thank my sister and carried onwards with the fight. Time was also our enemy. So when I found an open