Chapter 24 Hope of a Permanent Restoration

"Yes, I know the artifact, Arata. The one he took was 'Ignition,' top secret. Part of a set of two. The official designation is 'The World-Severance Array.' The intended use was a final, absolute weapon against a theoretical SSS-tier or higher Kaiju threat. If he assembles and figures out how to use them..."

"He wouldn't need a Kaiju. He could become the cataclysm himself," Arata finished, "That explains the sudden urgency from the capital."

"Yes, which brings them to their next 'solution.' They're terrified the barrier will fail before they can stop him. They want to repair the Tokyo Barrier. Now. And they've identified the only viable candidate. They're pushing the academy to hand over Shota. They see his UR-tier Barrier magic as a spare part. A battery to be drained."

"I told them it wouldn't work," Principal snaped, slamming a fist on the desk.

"His magic power is still in the F-tier! Throwing him at the barrier now would be like using a teacup to bail out a sinking ship. He'd be completely drained, killed, and it would buy the city a few months at best, if we're lucky. Then the cracks would show again, and we'd have sacrificed the only unique barrier user to appear in a generation for nothing. Sacrificing him now isn't a solution; it's a waste. They need him at his best, with his mana reserves fully developed, to have any hope of a permanent restoration. But they're not listening. They see a tool, and they want to use it before it breaks in their hands.

We are caught between hammer and anvil, Arata, short-sighted government. We must walk a very fine line. We need that boy at his full potential, only then we can sacrifice him to restore the barrier."

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Lobby of the Witch King's Agency

 Pro Wizards and support staff moved with urgency. Mirai walked through it all like a ghost, her usual cheerful energy completely gone, making her invisible in the bustling crowd.

She didn't stop at the reception desk. She knew the way. She pushed open the doors to her father's private office.

The room was vast, with a floor-to-ceiling window offering a panoramic view of Tokyo. Kenji Osanai, the Witch King, stood with his back to the door, a phone pressed to his ear.

Mirai stood just inside the doorway for a long moment, watching him. He didn't turn. He was completely absorbed in his world of crises.

She took a small, hesitant step forward.

"Hi... hi, Papa? You... you have a moment?"

Kenji's shoulders stiffened. He slowly lowered the phone from his ear, his conversation trailing off. 

"OH! Mirai?! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the academy now? No class today? What brings you here so suddenly? Is everything alright?"

She wrapped her arms around herself, a self-soothing gesture that looked terribly out of place on her.

"I... I quit the academy, Papa. Suddenly... all of it just lost... all the meaning to me."

She couldn't bring herself to say the real reason—that the boy she had built her entire world around had shattered it in an instant, making every dream she'd ever tied to him crumble into dust.

“Mirai, listen to me. Every pro wizard faces a moment of doubt. A crossroads. It’s what separates the truly great from the rest. This feeling, this ‘it’s not for me’—it’s a test of your spirit!”

He gave her shoulder a little shake, a gesture meant to be encouraging but that felt more like a command. 

“You are an Osanai! Your bloodline is one of strength. You cannot just quit when things get difficult. You must dig deep, find that inner fire, and overcome! Give it a few days, you got hurt in the last battle. If you decide to quit the academy for good, then you are welcome in my agency.”

He released her, already turning back towards his desk.

“I would love to talk more about this, I really would. But now is not the time. I have back-to-back strategy meetings, and intelligence just informed me of a minion spawn downtown. I have to lead the cleanup. You understand how it is. We’ll catch up when there’s more time. I promise. Stay strong, Mirai!”

She looked at his back for a long moment, then offered a small, fragile smile he couldn't see.

"It's alright, Papa, I understand. There are more important things... than me."

 She paused, the words she'd probably never said to him before, and would likely never say again, forming on her lips.

"I love you, Papa... Bye-bye..."

The door clicked shut behind her. Alone in the hallway, she leaned back against the solid wood, the last of her strength leaving her. With trembling fingers, she pulled out her phone. 

The phone rang only twice before her mother’s cheerful, slightly breathless voice answered.

“Mirai! Honey, what a surprise!”

Before Mirai could even form a proper greeting, her mother continued, the sound of clinking glasses and distant laughter in the background.

“Listen, sweetie, now’s not the best time, honestly. Robert and I are in the middle of a little vineyard tour in Napa, it’s just divine! Can I call you back later?”

Mirai opened her mouth, but no sound came out. The words she had thought of saying—I quit everything, Mom. I have nowhere to go. —dissolved into ash.

“O-okay, Mama. Just wanted to say love you. Bye-bye.” she whispered.

“Okay, wonderful! Talk soon, sweetie! Bye! Mom loves you too! Cheers!”

The line went dead.

Mirai slowly lowered the phone from her ear. She stood there, leaning against the door to her father’s office, in the epicenter of the magical world, completely alone. The cheerful ghost of her mother's voice still echoing in her mind. She slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor, drawing her knees to her chest in the middle of the empty corridor.

A soft, broken sound escaped her lips. It wasn't a laugh, but the hollow echo of one.

"Ah-ha... No one needs Mirai-chan. No one would care if I disappeared."

She rested her forehead on her knees.

"I feel so stupid for even coming here. What did I even expect? That he'd drop everything. That she'd catch a flight home. This is so stupid. Everything. I guess... I go home."

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A block away from the building of the Witch King's agency, the man in the black raincoat sat at a small cafe table, a cup of steaming green tea in his hand. He had chosen the seat specifically for its clear, unobstructed view of the agency's main entrance. Pro wizards and support staff hurried in and out.

He took a slow, appreciative sip.

“So, this is where the current number one works. Kenji… Kenji… Kenji… Bearer of the Witch King title. Crowned strongest wizard. A legend propped up by media noise and desperate civilians who need someone to worship. Quite the fortress. Quite the reputation. And yet... here I am — the country’s most wanted man, enjoying tea next door. And no one even notices. Kenji… you would be troublesome in a direct confrontation. But not impossible."

He looked down at the phone in his other hand — frozen on a blurry news clip showing the massive Leviathan, scales like iron, screaming as a blinding explosion forced it into retreat. The image quality was awful, distorted, shaking as the news helicopter zoomed in.

He clicked his tongue.

“Amazing how this era calls itself advanced yet can’t afford a stable zoom lens. Modern technology, yet they still use cameras from a museum… I can’t make out anything. Just a flash. A direction. A single moment where the sky tore open. Someone eliminated my shadows and struck the Leviathan. Someone strong enough to hide from me. That was an SS-tier creature. Even I wouldn’t handle it cleanly right now. Not without preparations. Not alone. Took me an effort to make him surface from his hiding spot. And yet someone struck it hard enough to drive it away. Someone hiding their magic, hiding their presence… someone who isn’t here.”

He cast a glance toward Kenji’s agency, sensing quietly.

“Mm. No. Not him either. Not his people. Kenji didn’t do it. No one inside that building has the mana signature or raw force needed to deliver such a hit. I visited all top five agencies, and no one had anyone close who could have hurt Leviathan. So, who was it I wonder?"

He replayed the explosion again, studying the angle, the direction of the light. His gaze drifted to the far edges of the city, where the ancient shadows he commanded had been deployed during the Leviathan incident.

“The attack came from the same direction as my pawns. Someone reached them first. Someone erased them before they could even report back. Someone powerful is hiding in this city. Powerful enough to crush my shadows. Powerful enough to wound a Leviathan. And yet… no records. No signatures. No traces.”

The thought made him tilt his head toward the sky.

“Has the government been hiding an asset from me? A secret weapon? A classified pro wizard unlocked from the Archives. How interesting. Well then… Let’s see how long they can hide.”