Cap 8 - An Inner Voice

It was an all-white and empty environment, as if it had no floor, no roof, beginning and no end, all that was possible to see in that place was absolute white, except for a strange completely dark figure who was long meters from Haruka, watching her deeply.

"Who are you? "Haruka asked for that strange figure."

"That name you use... That woman gave it to you, didn't it?'

"..."

"I'm going to kill her."

Suddenly something brought the girl back to reality, a half-serious voice accompanied by a pat on the back.

"Girl? Are you there? "Sebastian said as he tried to bring the girl to reality."

"Hey old... Where am I?"

"Don't you remember? This is the ACP, I summoned you last night and by the morning you were already here... Is everything all right? Looks like you're a long way from here."

"What nothing, I was only lost in my thoughts, but then old, why did you call me?"

After the question the girl Sebastian took a letter that he was keeping and handed in the hands of the girl.

"Um, what is this my pay of the month?"

"girl open up soon."

After opening the letter, Haruka noted that it was a mission that had been selected exclusively for her and her team, along with a permit to fight humans, after some investigations the order of the hunters had discovered a strange influence in a part of the abandoned city of tokyo, it was discovered to be an illegal trade of spiritual seals of low levels, the elders then thought it would be a great idea to send Haruka's group to personally investigate the events.

"That doesn't even make sense, if they know you're having a stamp trade, why send my group to settle? After all, they already know what it's about."

"It's not like that girl... In fact the elders know that it is a trade of spiritual seals, however something else caught the attention of the elders, the initial idea was to send a group of common infiltrators, to summarize normal soldiers, but the hunter Speack indicated you and your group for this mission, in her words, you were ready to command this operation together with your group, besides being a low priority mission would be great for your evolution as a hunter."

"That... Old man, you're not supposed to be my master, why are you letting that aunt guide me through the parades?"

"Now you are no longer an apprentice girl, your missions have begun to be different from normal, the job of a hunter is not only to eliminate creatures, I can not choose their missions, the most I can do is indicate and vote against or for."

"But... Sure! But how am I going to do it now? The group was divided, I have no idea where the staff went."

"The hunter Jean also rose in rank to a drone hunter, currently he is commanding the apprentices of Carlos, Vitor is returning from his training with his master at the request of the elders and Hyper is already in place doing reconnaissance of the area."

"And how long will it take for the rock boy to arrive and the battery to drop the rank of commander?"

"Vitor will meet you in tokyo next to Hyper, you and Jean will go to the meeting place together tomorrow, so you better get ready."

Unlike the other missions, Haruka did not seem at all motivated for this, Sebastian had realized this, besides being more avoada than normal the girl did not seem to have any kind of desire to follow these orders.

"It's cool old... I'm going to get my stuff."

"Girl."

"Speak..."

"Don't get the wrong idea, you're a hunter now, so you should accept and take your orders as an adult."

"I don't plan on getting out of line."

After a few hours Haruka returned to the ACP, she still seemed not to be interested in that mission at all, yet she went to meet her master who was in the preparation room.

"Hey old, still awake? People your age should be spoiling these wise hours? "Haruka said as she sat in the corner of the room and waited until everything was ready."

"I thought I'd have to send someone to pick you up at your house."

"To those old pyres, I'm not 10 years old... I'm practically an adult."

"You're 16 Haruka, you're still a child, if the situation of today's world were another era for you to be in school."

"But here is practically the old school, the difference is that you teach me how to kill monsters too, could it be just that right?"

"The idea behind the teaching we offer here beyond combat is for when this is over you have a different future girl."

"As if we were going to survive to have that future... "Haruka said in a serious and almost inaudible tone."

"Umm? What did you say girl?"

"No big deal, so where's the battery?"

"Soon he will arrive, Jean had to report the current situation to Carlos in the hospital."

"Interesting how the jet cat had to stay twice as long as you in the hospital, but in view of who was the fight I understand..."

Sebastian after hearing that he could not hide his frustration, after all he had also fought against the one who was once his apprentice, remembering what it was like to face the boy he had taught everything and how he had been overcome by his powers left Sebastian disturbed, not because he had been overcome by his student, but for not being able to prevent his apprentice from surrendering to the dark side of human nature.

"Try not to think about it too old... You're going to destroy yourself from the inside, you're going to go for me."

"Now our roles have reversed girl? I'm usually the one who's going to give you a sermon."

"Our sides have not changed at all old, I'm just trying to convey what I feel, I'm also frustrated, my last missions were a failure for me, I was defeated by youkai, without the battery I would certainly have died, in the fight against G I could not even keep a fight against that guy and in the spiritual world that woman used me as a punching bag, what I have most is frustration and anger..."

"And how are you treating this girl?"

"Playing solitaire, even though it's an old man's game is pretty cool to spend time, man, you should try since you're old enough for these things."

"..."

After some time waiting, Jean finally arrived in the preparation room, the wait was already leaving the girl stressed and agonized.

"What a battery delay! Were you coming crawling? "Haruka said as he stood up and took his things."

"I had some problems on the way to the hospital." " said Jean as she checked her equipment for the mission."

"Soft, let's get this over with."

"Girl,your mission is to find out where the stamps are coming from who's supplying and what else are they hiding, understand?"

"You can leave it old, let's get down there soon."

The girl was distressed to finish her mission soon, what Haruka had in mind about her mission was just that she would be boring and dull, the girl liked much more the idea of fighting monsters than investigating magical crimes, so just thinking about that mission left the girl bored.

After opening the portal Haruka said goodbye to her master with a pat on the shoulder and a smile on her face, soon after she passed through the portal accompanied by Jean.

Arriving at the venue, Jean picked up the marker that pointed out the meeting place that they were supposed to join with Hyper and Vitor, without waiting too long they began to move toward the meeting point.

The part of tokyo city that was once totally bustling was now in a kind of degrading state, far from the glow it had one day, after the first attacks of the spiritual world the city had been sealed, the hardest hit points became containment zones, with time the forces of the human army along the order of hunters managed to drive out the creatures, however, the points reached were never the same again.

"Then drums, you're not much of a talk, right? I realize you're very serious."

"We are on a high-risk mission, hunters do not have a very cool view by the residents here, so we need to keep in mind the secrecy in this mission."

"Humm, you know... You're not wrong about that, hunters don't really have a very cool view, I don't like them myself."

"What do you mean?"

"It was on behalf of one of them that my mother ended up in the spirit world... And I'm crazy to find that nut and punch him in the face."

"..."

Although the meeting point was relatively far away, they managed to quickly get to the site, it was a very old building that was used as a hotel, however, something was wrong, Vitor and Hyper were not in place, after looking around Haruka deduced that she had had a fight at the site, but before she had time to better analyze the place something surprised her.

A stealth attack, fast and almost imperceptible, something emerged from the shadows and attacked the girl, before she could receive the blow the girl quickly drew her sword repelling the attack.

"Slayer? So they weren't alone..."

"Interesting this camouflage technique of yours, where did you learn to wear something like that your clown?"

"It doesn't matter..."

"Battery, let me chat with the patati here, if he's here it's likely the others too."

"All right. "Jean said as he left the room in search of his allies."

Haruka quickly entered his combat position and prepared to fight the man, he was strange, wore a kind of gray overcoat accompanied by a black hoodie and had a gas mask, he used a tactical knife.

"Are you sure splitting up with your friend was a good idea, girl?"

"Go for me... Wrong is you wanting to hit an x1 with me, I'm kind of competitive you know, we can solve this without either getting hurt, okay?"

"A hunter wanting to talk? This can only be a joke, right?"

"So... Apparently I'm going to have to kick your ass, huh?"

"Come on, let's play."

Quickly the man advanced towards the girl, he was physically strong and had a great handling with the knife, however Haruka was also a great fighter, the girl focused only on deflecting the attacks of the man with his sword, on the other hand the man frantically attacked the girl with his knife.

"hey you can't use magic?"

"Uh?!"

Before the man could tell, Haruka kicked him in the face that caused him to fall back.

"Tell me a stop, how many are with you?"

"..."

"Which was expensive, you were crazy to come fight me, but you didn't wise that I could use magic, even after discovering it you continued, so surely you had no idea you couldn't run away, I think two things, one that you weren't alone and that attacked my allies with more friends of yours or that maybe there's someone who can fight hunters on your side."

"..."

"And then... Which point did I hit?"

"Go get screwed." " said the man as he threw a grenade in the direction of the girl he took in his pocket."

By reflex Haruka jumped back and cut the grenade in two, however, this did not prevent her explosion causing the place where they were collapse.

After the fall, Haruka realized that the meeting point was on top of what appeared to be a clandestine transport route.

"Who was the animal that marked this place as a meeting point and did not check whether there could be an underground black market route?"

"You are indeed a strong girl, but it ends here!" said the man rising through the rubble, ready to kill the girl."

Before he could even reach Haruka, a jet of water hit the man throwing him against a wall, when the girl turned her eyes into the darkness she saw Vitor emerging towards him.

"Hey rock boy, how long right?"

"I have already told you that my name is Vitor, where are your ways I have just saved your life."

"That nothing I was ready to go down the fuck in that damn, I just wanted to let him think he was going to win saca?"

"Anyway, we need to get out of here, where's Jean?"

"I told him to come after you after this guy showed up."

"What?! Call him back now, there's a woman here who can use magic, Hyper tried to deal with her and was defeated!"

"Damn, I'm going after him, you take care of the patati."

"Wait Haruka!"

Before Vitor had a chance to alert the girl, she had already left by jumping through the rubble to the surface.

"Let's go battery... Where did you go?"

Haruka said while trying to contact Jean through the private communication channel, yet she did not receive any news back.

"I can't wait..."

"Humm?"

A voice caught the girl's attention, it was a voice she had already heard, but she could not identify where that voice came from, before she could better search for lightning caught her attention, was a few blocks from where the girl was, without waiting for the girl began to run towards the origin of the lightning.

Arriving at the site Haruka came across an intense fight between Jean and a woman who had a power similar to his, she wore a purple Chinese dress and had long red hair, the two were fighting toe to toe, but the woman was beginning to press the boy, it was like in the blink of an eye, the woman raised her arm and a white beam of light in the form of a sword was created, at the same time Haruka realized, that was not a user of magic, people like her were called copiers, were humans who had awakened a magic different from the common, they could copy the magic of other hunters, however it was a version of magic that adapted to the strength of those who copied it.

Realizing this Haruka ran to the aid of her ally, in a quick motion she derailed her soul-cutting ability toward the woman, using her sword of light the woman cut in half haruka's attack.

"Look what we have here... Looks like your organization sent me a few more toasts, I went after two rabbits and got two more bonuses."

"What a joke this is..."

"This woman is strong Haruka, don't let her guard down."

"You're a very pretty girl, why don't you join me, then you can convince your friend too, after all, why fight for an order that can't even see you as people?"

"It's not going to happen, no aunt, get ready there drums, hit her head-on will be dose."

"Humm... Too bad, but that's okay, after I kill the little boy over there, I'm going to be able to play with you and your little friend a lot, but where's the other boy?"

Haruka took advantage of the woman being distracted and advanced towards her, Jean at the same time began to accompany the girl in the onslaught against that woman, they knew she was dangerous, the goal now was no longer to be secretive, the mission had now changed before it had even begun, however, the one they were fighting was not a normal person, even attacking haruka and Jean together couldn't even hit that woman, quite the contrary, she was just playing with both of them.

In an almost invisible move the woman struck Jean's chin by breaking her mask and erasing the boy's consciousness instantly, watching her ally fall to the ground, Haruka lost her concentration and was hit by a kick that caused her to be thrown against a wall.

After hitting the wall, Haruka was again hit with a punch in the belly by the woman, the fight was no longer balanced, his opponent was too strong.

"How weak you are..."

That voice again caught the girl's attention, in that situation Haruka could only hear that voice.

"Where are you?"

"Who are you talking to little girl? Did mine after you were hit, were you confused? "I asked Haruka the woman."

Suddenly Haruka found himself again in that totally white environment, but that figure that was once far away was now much closer.

"Haruka... That's the name that miserable human gave you..."

"Who are you?"

"You are not worthy to command this body..."

That figure then grabbed the girl's neck, at the same moment in reality her eyes got cold and her hand began to warm up, her tattoo began to increase under her glove, Haruka was now no longer controlling her own senses.

"Humm?"

"Pathetic human... What makes you think you might be in my presence?"

"What are you talking about little girl?"

"Get out of here, you trash."

The entity that now controlled Haruka's body threw a punch that at the same time was defended by the woman, however, the impact of the juice created a pressure that destroyed the place where they were.

"Well, well... You have surprises up your sleeve..."

"..."

"How about we change the game mode a little bit?" the woman said while creating a sword of pure energy."

With a quick blow the woman gave the girl the sword, at the same time the energy sword touched her body she broke it, the woman realizing what had happened couldn't hide her look of surprise.

"A piece of garbage like you think can hurt me? With this failed level of magic?"

"Who are you in fact?"

Using her magical ability the girl kicked toward the chest of the woman she defended with her other hand, with the impact the woman was pushed back, the girl then took her sword that was on the ground and raised it towards the woman.

"Does a human think she has the right to breathe the same air as me?"

"..."

"I'm going to..."

Before the entity finished talking something began to suppress its powers, inside his mind, in that totally white environment, Haruka began to take control of his body again, little by little his tattoo would stop expanding and the girl would again have control of her body.

"This body is mine... You're not going to... Take it from me! "Haruka said as he pulled the entity's hand from his neck."

"Your willpower... It's not going to save you from me forever."

Almost instantly Haruka returned to her body, however, the tattoo that was previously expanding has now begun to decline getting just a little bigger than before, however, this time she felt even more powerful than before.

"That feeling... I totally lost my consciousness and now my body is even stronger than before..."

"You're a box of surprises right girl? Tell me, what did you just do?"

"It doesn't matter to you..."

"Let's see if that thought of yours will change after I play with you a little more."

Now haruka wise that she had a chance against that woman, although she still did not understand what had just happened, she had only one focus, beating her enemy.