Promise

Granny Iho opened her eyes which had been shut for a while, her memories left a sorrowful pain inside her chest, and some tears trickled down her face as she gazed at Shuuta.

She finally stopped releasing her potent aura, and she walked up toward the stunned lad, her small body pressed against Shuuta, welcoming a warm embrace, Shuuta widened her eyes slowly, feeling such pure love, a love that did not exist, a love that passed on from student to student.

"Granny? Wh-what are you-?"

"Shut it, boy, I totally understand your feelings, I really do, you have hatred within your heart, I know this...because I also have hatred, one that stayed with me for decades...But not fret, I will consume that hatred so that you can be free..."

This stunned the red-haired lad, he wondered why she would go as far as that.

"Granny..." Shuuta stared directly at Iho's turquoise-colored eyes, he was able to see everything that Granny Iho went through...or more like, Granny Iho made him see what she went through, Asada Shigeo...his loved student, a reckless, stubborn, and happy-go-lucky Mystic...with a heart of a noble light, a golden will and the love of her life.

"Y-you loved Shigeo...not as a student..." Shuuta closed his eyes full of rueful emotions.

'I saw....everything. Granny Iho never changed...' Shuuta then smiled at Iho, with a pure expression, remarking how the sun looked.

"Hu-Huh?! I-idiot! Th-that's not true! H-he had a l-l-l-lover!"

"Mm? I don't see a reason why someone can't be loved even though he was engaged. You really loved him didn't you." Shuuta chuckled.

"Kuuu…shaddap! You know nothing!" Granny Iho averted her gaze bashfully.

'Really! He also teases me just like Shigeo…' Iho pouted like a child, steam vaporized from her head.

Shuuta made a sigh of relief, he then patted her hair gently. "I promise you to never walk in the dark, I will look on into the light, even though it blinds me...because this...is what Shigeo would've wanted." His sincere response made Iho very happy.

Iho's ears prickled as she slowly turned to his student, she almost burst out crying, this is what she wanted to hear from Shuuta all along, this is what made it worth waiting for 50 years.

'Now, I must keep that promise, I will save Hanako! Without killing.' His face turned serious at the moment, he filled himself with determination to win battles, and hope, to save Hanako.

"Granny. Train me, I have friends to protect, and someone to rescue. And a society to save." Shuuta showed the most confident smile in his arsenal, making Granny Iho observe his face intently.

She also smiled and agreed, finally releasing Shuuta from her small arms she walked Shuuta over to a special zone inside of the Domain.

It looked mystical, with various bright colors that were painted like a painting, both stood on a long slate and gazed at each other.

It was a mini arena of sorts, Iho leaned close to Shuuta and placed her hands on Shuuta's chest.

"I see. So that's your element."

"Element? What do you mean?" Shuuta raised an eyebrow.

Granny Iho chuckled as she explained what it meant.

"There are a total of 7 elements, Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Dark, and Light. These 7 elements make out the base of all Magic. Light and Dark are a special occasion, those two elements weren't...elements to begin with, so technically the main elements are Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning, and Earth."

Shuuta nodded sagely as he listened carefully,

"You have an affinity with Dark, this is your Bloodline. This...Devour Magic of yours isn't your main Elemen though..."

"W-wait, hold on, are you saying that...I have another Element?"
Granny Iho responded with a smile.

"I just checked the inside of your soul, you have a Fire affinity."
Shuuta's eyes shone and imagined a firestorm, trees burning, a landscape scorching, fire taking over a whole city, a flame engulfing everything.

"Fire…"

Shuuta was excited, he adored the ability to wield fire. The reason is that, as a kid, he loved dragons, he saw them on TV shows, and their splendor roar and powerful fire blast made him fall in love with fire.

Now that he learned about his new affinity, his heart was pounding from excitement.
Granny Iho was able to see through the young lad, only cackling as a mutual response.
"Fire, eh? Not bad. Although, I prefer lightning personally." She paused as her lips arced up.

"But Fire is quite powerful nonetheless!" Granny Iho flexed her right bicep and tapped it with her left hand.

"I see…but."

"But?"

"How come…any fire abilities aren't on my menu?"

"Heh heh heh~" Granny Iho was smug.

"Because, as your main affinity, you don't need one! Just try to cast fire! Imagination is limitless!"

"Huh? So I can use fire magic without acquiring a skill?"

"Indeed! Your imagination is your weapon! This is how Mystics create, recreate, or master Magic. Now, show me what your fire magic can do!"

Shuuta pricked his body, he walked toward the center of the slabs, focusing on his inner thoughts and mind.

'Fire, fire, fire…think of a cool move with fire Shuuta. Don't you like flashy moves? Shouldn't you create a badass move…why am I talking to myself?' Shuuta opened his eyes and flicked his fingers.

Granny Iho stared intently, appraising Shuuta's creativity.

Many balls of fire appeared all around Shuuta illuminating the area.

"[Flame Zone: Graceful Phoenix!]"

The fireballs started rotating around Shuuta's body, like a gale storm, sending dust everywhere and creating a gust of wind.

"Ohh! Well done. I've never seen that before."

"It truly is my imagination…so, can I do this?"

After Shuuta finished his sentence, the balls coiled onto his skin and created a body of fire, like a lightbulb he shone brightly.

"[Flame control: Fire armor!]"

"What?! You can already use [Mana control]?!" Granny Iho was stunned, only after training vigorously for decades, did she finally manage to use [Mana Control].

[Mana Control] is an advanced technique that a legendary Mystic created, he was one of the founders of Magic.

His name was Fushiguro Kane.

"Wh-why? Am I not supposed to know how?"

"It took me approximately twenty full years for me to even use [Mana Control]. You are already using it! What the hell?!" Granny Iho was losing her mind.

'I have a feeling that my dad is behind this…' Shuuta laughed wryly.

"I guess I'm talented right? Ha…hahaha!"

Granny Iho pouted a bit, his talent outshone quite literally Kento's…even hers.
She wondered if Shuuta's wits could outdo Kento's, both are a bunch of heated knuckleheads with a kindled passion.

"Heh. Keep it up Shuuta, use your imagination to the fullest, because inside of where I am about to send you to…you might need it."

"Hu-huh?"

Granny Iho stepped on a piece of rock, descending onto a gap on the ground, it made a clicking noise as it started crumbling the carved floor.

"A shiny metal door? What is this?" Shuuta got near to inspect the new and grandiose door. It emitted a powerful aura of danger.

"This…-" Granny Iho slapped the door multiple times as she continued with her sentence.

"-is where you'll train…or rather survive…" The last part of that sentence was murmured by her, whistling to kill off the murderous intent that Shuuta erected.

"Excuse me? You're not going to train me?"

"I am! But first, you need to level up…because you can't afford any skills that I want to teach you…" Granny Iho sighed with a head shake.

"Th-…that's fair." Shuuta couldn't help but agree with her logic, he remembered the skill called [Overclock], Kento never mentioned the amount of Xuvia points needed, so he couldn't really "learn" the skill.

A light clicked in Shuuta's eyes, an epiphany had struck his head.

"Is this like a dungeon?!"

"Ding-dong! Correct! But, there's a catch. It's technically a Space and Time pocket created with my ultimate skill!"

Shuuta was astonished, brimming with excitement. It indeed was like a video game!

"Also, it has a scoreboard. Kento is in first place with over 10,000 points, see if you can surpass him!" Granny Iho encouraged the red-haired lad.

Shuuta unbuttoned the first two buttons on his neck and adjusted his collar. Smoke came out of his mouth as he released his breath.

"Granny...put it on hard mode." His tone sounded serious, he then stretched his legs and his arms side to side.

"Hard mode? Kid…it's set to Hell mode already."

Shuuta flinched a bit, but that didn't extinguish Shuuta's determination, in fact, it burned even brighter than before.

"Good. I will show how amazing my Devour and Fire is." Shuuta wondered if he could mix and combine both Magic simultaneously.

Is it even possible?

Shuuta decided to ask his mentor and waited for her response.

"Mmm…."

"…"

"Maybe?"

"M-maybe?"

"I've never tried combining Bloodline and Elemental Magic simultaneously. It's supposed to be almost impossible for the normal Mystic, but you…I think it might be possible."

'Yeah...of all Mystics, Shuuta has a chance. Because of Abbadon...he probably gave Shuuta most of his abilities including..."that" ability too. Kids these days, every generation there's a genius amongst geniuses.' Iho gave a smile of disregard, the only thing she could do was to make his pupil wiser and stronger.

With Shigeo's incident, she engraved the past mistake onto her heart so that it couldn't happen again. "I won't make the same mistake. I think it's time for me to act too." She narrowed her eyes and glared straight, making Shuuta uncomfortable.

"A-anyways...I think I will manage! I'll show you how powerful I am!"

"Ha! Save it for the dungeon. Now, let me open it for you, Shuuta-Kun." She closed her vivid eyes and raised his right arm, her hand opened and forced a ray of magicules to form on the ground. The door finally took the shape of a gate from a castle, it was gigantic compared to simple doors, Shuuta felt like an insect standing near it.

"[Armageddon!]" The door finally illuminated a blue light, sending many crow plumes flying from the entrance, it gave Shuuta a bad omen in his gut.

A loud tremor sent the ground crying across the [Domain], this took everyone to a loop, they all sensed danger as the castle-like doors opened

"What is this odor? It stings..." Kakoyo hid her nose, trying to eliminate the stench. Tears fell because of the horrid smell.

"This is..." An aura-like crown popped on Yuri's orange hair. She glanced in Shuuta's direction and saw him standing face-to-face with a menacing gate.

"A gate? I sense danger…I think we should go with Shuuta…"

Bonk!*

"What was that for?!" Yuri turned behind her furiously, only to recoil back after seeing Noara glaring at her.

"It's always Shuuta for you. Leave him be." She turned to both girls. "Besides, someone else is already with him." Noara left a smile at the end of her sentence.

…

"Shuuta! You and me! I challenge you!" Hikaru raised a fist and clenched it. Eagerly glancing at his rival the blonde lad stepped up to his face. "Let's see who will get the highest score!"
Shuuta looked confused but a challenge had been set, and on his face too. He responded back only with a grin.

"You're on, pretty boy."

"Lads, lads. This 'dungeon' is already dangerous as it is, are you sure you want to compete over wh-"

"We do!" Both idiots yelled in conjunction.

Granny Iho sighed and replied. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

After that, Shuuta entered the gates of hell…or gates that look like hell.

As he entered, he felt his senses alerting him of immense danger, he couldn't pick up on what it was exactly, but the sensation was there, like an air current from a crack in a wall.

"Well, this place certainly feels heavy." Hikaru turned to his sides, glanced, and searched for anything.

The area was pitch black, it looked like they were walking on air, but their feet could feel like a black liquid as they took every step. Shuuta pointed forward with his finger and made a minuscule speck of fire appear from his finger, it then levitated next to him creating a light source.

Hikaru was dumbfounded by the red-haired lad's action. "You had a fire affinity? Why didn't you use it before?!"

"Cause I just realized!" Shuuta retorted back, still keeping his glance forward, apparently to him, the place was desolated. He wasn't picking up any life forces whatsoever.
But, on the other side of the gate, there stood a small grandma with a peculiar grin on her face.

Kentaro and the other girls rested near Granny Iho, Yuri, however, was able to pick up a menacing smile on the small girl…that was Iho.

Yuri bumped Kentaro's shoulder and asked him if it was normal for a little girl to be that scary.

Kentaro turned and to his surprise, he also felt creeped out. 'The hell is she doing?'

"J-just ignore granny Iho. Trust me."

"G-granny?" Both Yuri and Kakoyo's face turned white as chalk.

…

Rumble*

The area started vibrating uncontrollably, sending danger alerts towards both boys.
Black monsters appeared from the liquid ground, and tar-like abominations started attacking viciously.

"What the hell are those things?!"

"Less talk, more attacking!"
One of the monsters stretched out its limb and struck Shuuta in the chest from quite a long distance.

"Uuooh!" Shuuta spat as he was struck, he grit his teeth and gripped the elongated arm.

"Come here!" He pulled with all his strength and slammed the tar monster on the ground, bouncing him.

"…!" Hikaru looked stunned, apparently the ground was bouncy.

Shuuta with a quick motion, leaped towards the monster and doused his fist in vibrant flames, he spiked the tar monster to the ground making the tar monster bounce back towards Shuuta who finished him off by piercing his fist as the monster flew towards Shuuta.

Hikaru grinned as he saw all of that. "I can also do that!"

Shuuta felt a quick presence behind him, and a buff tar monster suddenly popped behind him.

"Crap!"

Hikaru erected a barrier on Shuuta's back, protecting the red-haired lad from a dangerous attack.

"Sorry for that! I owe you big time!" Shuuta then twisted his body, lifted his left foot, and buried his talon on the tar monster, utterly bursting the tar demon into pieces.

"Nice one!" Hikaru exclaimed fired up.

The blonde lad created a snake made out of light, whipping all the monsters that approached the snake.

He wrapped a tar monster with his light snake, from its own skin, smaller snakes came out and started devouring the tar monster, only leaving a horrific wail in the space.

…

"Look at them go, both are fighting incredibly." Granny Iho gave a smug look to Kentaro.

"Even your boy is doing his best."

"…"

"Awww come on, have faith in your child Kentaro-boy, he will inherit your clan one day. So when the time comes, you need to be there supporting him."

Kentaro turned his head away from the devious granny, he pondered at such a sentence, he agreed with Iho, but, Hikaru was still naive, and he lowered his guard too easily.

This made Kentaro glad for some reason, it reminded him of himself at a young age.

"He has a long way to go," Kentaro responded with a smile.

"So it seems, Shuuta's potential is overwhelming! He is quicker than Kento… and was a genius back then, Shuuta might even surpass the Shogun."

Such words left Kentaro in a trance, those words coming from the "Sage of all Deities" were definitely an accomplishment, one to feel proud of.

If commanders heard of him, they would all try to recruit them into their forces! Those who couldn't get their hands on Shuuta would regret it for the rest of their lives.

"Katashi Shuuta…talking about that brat, have you heard the recent news? I just got a report from Kento's brainiac, Shitoshi."

"A report? What is it?" Iho turned to hear such interesting news.

"There was a survivor of Katashi. They are still trying to find whoever survived." Kentaro glared forward, reminiscing of all the lost friendships.

"So, Shuuta wasn't the only one?" Granny Iho rubbed her chin.

"No, apparently it was a girl that survived the cleansing. And..." Kentaro clears his throat to make it more known. "This is confidential, she is hiding in Izumi."

"Really? Do you think…do you think she already met with Shuuta?" Granny Iho asked a great question.

"I don't know. But, it is a possibility." Kentaro paused to contemplate such possibilities, it is highly plausible for her to reach out for another survivor.

Kentaro wondered if that girl knew of Abbadon being inside Shuuta.

"Whichever the case, friend or foe, she by just having the Katashi surname, her prowess should be higher than a lieutenant."

"If she's as powerful as the brat, she might be another pillar of hope for the change of the Mystic society."

"Or a thorn on our side, after that incident, I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to destroy all Mystics."

"K-Kentaro-boy don't throw the salt!" Granny Iho then proceeded to pray. Sending all negative energy back to Kentaro.

"Hey! Don't do that!" Kentaro seemed flustered, but then he coughed to calm his senses.
Kentaro glanced forward, staring into his own mind, wondering where the survivor was.

…

"My lady, everything is ready. It is also time for our banquet."

A girl clad in sailor uniform only nodded in a haughty way, her crystal cold voice answered.

"Then let's go, we're about to be late for school."

The corners of her eyes crinkle in disdain as the face of a certain person pops into her mind.

"All worlds shall collide."

'Now, what will you do brother?' Her disdain turned into disgust as she stood up from her well-decorated room.

She opened her doors and walked into a light.