The Last Rising Sun

I am alive my boys!!! I've just had a crappy start to the year that almost made me depressed. But I'm still here, sending this message to the autobots hiding in the stars.

Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to follow me on p atreon, where this volume is already two chapters away from finishing.

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Voices rang in her head, far away, so distant that it was very hard to tell what they were talking about. But they sounded like they were complaining about someone. Some sounded angry, some sounded sad, and there were also whispering voices that didn't want to be heard. After all that, a whole black void lit up. The pure white ground, full of neat white flowers stretched to infinity. There was nothing else there but a clear blue sky, sunny and with white clouds moving slowly overhead in the distance.

'Now where am I?', Sakura stood in the middle of it all, confused. She looked at the place in awe.

It all exuded a certain sense of familiarity in her heart. After seeing that tragic beating that little Alek received, she suddenly appeared in the black void again, where blood filled the floor of the void.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze of wind made the flowers flutter. It sounded a large piece of cloth fluttering, drawing Sakura's eyes to the source. In the middle of it all was someone besides her. She opened her eyes in surprise as she recognized that person.

It was Toru...

He was looking at the sky with his head hidden in the hood. He stood there, saying nothing; motionless, like a depressing statue.

Out of nowhere, everything disappeared. Reality transformed, erecting great walls around Sakura, who looked at the ceiling realizing that suddenly Alek's room had been built around her. She turned back, as she was looking towards the door before, and quickly saw Alek lying on the bed.

Frederica was there, wiping the boy's forehead with a damp cloth. Alek was asleep (passed out), but opened his eyes as he felt Frederica's care. For a moment the expression on his face was completely expressionless, until his eyes regained color and he turned to look at the maid.

'Madame Frederica,'" he said, his voice almost cracking. "How did I get here?", he turned his gaze to the ceiling.

Frederica said nothing for a second. She took his hand and felt his child's warmth. Alek then remembered what had happened. He let out a long sigh unbecoming of a child his age and with difficulty sat up in bed.

Frederica, seeing him, frowned slightly, saddened. Alek smiled kindly.

"Thank you for taking care of me", he said. His voice had regained that usual cheerful tone. His gaze had filled with hope again.

He climbed down from the bed leaving Frederica speechless. It had been a few hours since she had found Alek unconscious. The boy was face down on the floor, with dried tears on his face. She immediately brought him into this room and wiped his forehead. There were bruises marked on the right side of the boy's torso. His skin had turned purple from that very thing.

"You shouldn't get up yet, Master."

"Why?", asked Alek at Frederica's questioning. His look seemed so innocent that she got a lump in her throat that prevented her from speaking. "I'm fine, I swear. Nothing happened. This is nothing. So don't worry, Mrs. Frederica. I'll get some water."

"Oh- Wait! I'll get you a glass of water. Just... stay here, resting."

"But I'm not tired. It's still a long way to bedtime."

Even if Alek had said that, she could see the dark circles under his eyes. He was tired both mentally and physically. A child shouldn't be that tired, not like that.

"Master Alek Gusev," she was stern this time. As someone who raised this child, she sometimes had to be stern so Alek wouldn't grow up to be a self-centered man who thinks he can do everything without consequences. "Please go to sleep. I'll take care of everything, since that's my job."

"But-", he paused as he saw the serious look on the maid's face. Silently he walked to the bed and lay down. He covered himself with the blanket and looked up at the ceiling. "I'll do it...", he said, defeated.

Frederica smiled at that, causing Alek to smile back at her as well.

Alek knew he's being a good boy right now. Obeying Frederica's words at times like this was always important to him. When she got serious, even if it was a little scary for him, he was bound to obey.

After that, Frederica left the room.

'It hurts...', he thought, making sure no one was outside.

Sitting down on the bed, he took off his shirt and saw the bruise on his torso. Touching it, it hurt quite a bit, and his forehead also hurt like hell, even if he didn't touch the wound, he felt the veins inside his forehead throbbing painfully. It wasn't just his body that hurt though, something inside him was hurting him too much. Although after seeing Frederica smiled, he thought that he shouldn't show hurt and sad in front of others.

'If I show that I am happy to others... if I smiled together with them...'

If everyone smiles and is happy...

'I'll be happy too...', although he felt he was forgetting the meaning of that word.

'Mother will be happy too...', he thought, leaning back on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling before closing his eyes. 'I promise...', and fell asleep.

***

She opened her eyes suddenly, feeling the rattle of the train carriage. Realizing where she was, she put on a mischievous smile. In front of her were Gray and Assassin, sitting side by side across the table from the carriage chairs.

In the windows they could see the different scenery passing by. In general, you could see beautiful green plains with some domestic animals swarming back and forth. Cows, sheep, goats, among others. Common animals that can be seen on farms.

Turning her gaze to the front, Gray looked out the window trying not to look at Assassin, while the servant kept his materialized form and stared at his hands on the table. He was trying desperately to distract himself, but she could sense that Assassin was bored. The thought of him suffering in this way sent a strange feeling coursing through her entire body.

'There's something about you...', she thought, smiling at the servant. 'Something I really like', it clearly wasn't a romantic liking. She rather saw Assassin as a humanoid mass created by the very concept of suffering. Though he showed no hint of emotion, still Reines nodded in approval for the wretched boy in front of her.

"I am satisfied", she let out suddenly, causing Assassin to look up.

The servant wore the tuxedo any butler would wear. He wore dark glasses to better hide his silver eyes and in his right ear was an earpiece through which he could communicate with Reines.

This had been the deal. To serve as a bodyguard and learn more of the magus world, Assassin was to remain materialized at all times, serving in himself as a bodyguard. To be more, so to speak, fashionable, Reines got him a fancy suit to wear to this event. He certainly looked good. The black color of the tuxedo contrasted nicely with his pale skin and jet black hair.

"Your intentions are obvious", Assassin spat under his breath.

"You flatter me", Reines replied. Though it was obviously not flattery, she preferred to take it as such. Not many could read her intentions as Assassin did.

"In that place, The Towers in Iselma, there will be every kind of magus in the world, won't there, don't you think they'll be able to see through my butler disguise?"

"That's almost a given. They'll know who you are just by looking at you", it almost seemed ironic. But no one would really mind Assassin's presence. "But there's nothing to worry about. No one will reproach your presence, for you are a bodyguard. There's nothing wrong with a servant being a bodyguard."

"Hm... but I'm a servant, a summoned spirit... Showing up like this would be a disadvantage."

"Do you think so considering the war? If so, you won't have to worry. In the first place, no one knows who you are. Even I haven't been able to find anything by searching for your name. It's as if you don't exist. The only people who really know anything about you are the people you met in the past."

"It stands to reason, I guess...", he looked down at his hands on the table. "I just hope nothing strange happens", because wherever he goes there's always some trouble. It wasn't wrong to say that Assassin, Toru, is a magnet for misfortune. One only needed to look at his servant stats to know a little of what he was in life.

Strength: A++

Endurance: A+

Agility: A+++

Mana: A++

Luck: E

Noble Phantasm: A+

His stats as a servant are almost perfect thanks to the master who summoned him. Everything is above A except for luck. The latter is the lowest stat of all. That was always his luck, even when he was alive. It wasn't a matter of the odds around him, but how his luck handles them based on the situations. If Toru is present, most likely something bad would happen.

It was sad enough from anyone's point of view, but not from Reines' point of view. For her it was like watching a tragic comedy sweeping the world. Beautiful, disastrous and unpredictable.

Asahi Toru was the definition of Chaos.

"How long are you going to be so quiet, girl?", whispered Add.

As Reines and Toru spoke, Gray heard Add's voice under her cloak. She didn't want to answer, after everything that had happened, she felt she shouldn't say another word. It was better to keep her mouth shut until she got there. Although there were many questions to ask, she swallowed all her doubts and continued in silence.

Gray had always been so strange, not in a bad way. She seemed to be afraid of people, but inevitably she was always surrounded by people. Despite her loneliness, there was always someone by her side. On this occasion, a lady of magus high society and a servant as strange as he was mysterious.

Thinking of this as the story of The Three Musketeers struck her as funny, but then she sighed. It had been four days since she hadn't spoken to Assassin again. Even when they boarded the train, she preferred to hide in her hood and not look at him or speak to him.

'This is all very awkward, but that doesn't seem to affect him...'

It makes sense, as he has never shown himself to be embarrassed about absolutely nothing. He's always acting very stoic and emotionless. She envies that part of him. He always speaks his mind, unless it's about his own life.

Time was going to pass faster before she could realize it.

"Is there something I'd like to know", Toru asked.

Reines was curious as to what this servant was going to ask. "Go ahead. Ask anything you want."

"Regarding your eyes. They were red, now they're blue - what's that about?"

"Uh, this. Well, it's due to my Mystic Eyes. When my eyes come in contact with mana, they can change color as a side effect. It happens a lot with many types of Mystic Eyes. But you know, it's not good to have red eyes when you're with ordinary people. It would draw too much attention."

"I understand. Mystic Eyes..."

"Now that we're on the subject, I've heard that you have Mystic Eyes too."

That question on Reines' part really caught Gray's attention. She would listen to this in silence.

"I've heard that they are the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception."

Toru nodded.

"I prefer to call it 'Shigan', it's a shorter name."

"Hum... Shigan, like Eyes of Death in Japanese, right?"

"Right."

"That's interesting. Eyes like that are only heard of in legends and old magus archives. I never thought you'd be able to have something like that. My brother seemed excited too as he whispered something about it."

"You found out that way?"

"Sort of. There were many eyewitnesses at the Castle of Separation. Right now many spread the gossip of the bearer of those Mystic Eyes. Though no one besides us knows who you are. Don't worry about that fact."

"You tell me not to worry too often. It's as if you want to see me worry."

"How perceptive you are", she flashed a mischievous smile as she spoke. This Assassin seemed to read her like an open book. This was news to her. "What kind of life did you have to be so distrustful? I would never blame you for that though. Being distrustful is par for the course in the life of a magus."

"Though I'm not a magus as such."

"You have Mystic Eyes, you use magecraft to fight, and you claim not to be a magus? That's hilarious!"

Assassin shook his head.

"I don't tell lies. I did not grow up as a magus, but as a shinobi. It was instilled in me as teaching to use ninjutsu and taijutsu."

As far as Reines knew, ninjutsu was only the magecraft used by the ninjas of Japan's Edo era. This taijutsu she found curious though.

"Will you stop pretending you don't listen, girl!", exclaimed Add.

Gray shrugged her shoulders, as Add's voice was loud enough for Assassin and Reines to hear. Being caught like that only made her look at Reines.

Reines understood and saved her from her predicament.

"Oh. I had forgotten. I brought this with me."

She bent down to pull out a box of chocolates. She tasted one of the small chocolates scattered in the box with different shapes and smiled at the bitter sweet taste.

"Do you want one?", she asked Gray.

She nodded and took a chocolate from the box. She popped it in her mouth and was surprised.

"It's delicious..."

"It was easy to get them. I'll take some as a gift to my little sister when she wakes up," she looked at Assassin. "Don't you want chocolate."

Thanks to the chocolate, the mood of the scene had become lighter. Gray was finally able to look Assassin in the face again. She had heard interesting things about him.

At Reines' question, Toru denied. "Sweet foods are not to my liking."

Both Gray and Reines were surprised.

"Well, at least you can tell us what you like to eat. I could get something for you when we get there."

"No need."

The scene fell into a deep silence after that. The good cheer from earlier was killed by the stony silence that took place. Gray thought this was her fault for entering the scene, but that wasn't true. Assassin had simply shown his distaste for chocolate.

"I guess everyone has their own tastes. No problem."

With those words, this journey continued.

***

Reines later explained what the social gathering they were currently heading to was all about. The Trambelio family was the one who invited Reines, a family that neither Assassin nor Gray know. In the past, the Trambelio family helped the El-Melloi family get a loan with the Norwich family. Now she could not refuse the invitation. It would be disrespectful.

***

At some point, at the end of the journey on a dark and mysterious night, they arrived at the scene where a new mystery was to take place. Two large strange conical towers extended upward like claws protruding from the ground.

Thus began one more mystery for the memory of Gray and her companions. A journey that would develop their hearts on this thorny path of life.

To be continued...