" What happened to Phi?" Hikaru repeated Aura's sudden question.
After nearly running into each in the rain, they moved to a section of the Academy which had an overhang to get away from the rain.
The rain showed no signs of slowing down, and in fact, it seemed to be picking up instead. The ground and walkways had been rendered so slick and slippery that just trying to walk had become a death sentence.
"That's the thing. When this whole.... attack started, me and her were together. Then we encountered an insanely powerful enemy. He was, wearing all white, and rambling about humility and hubris. When we tried to retreat, he let off this powerful attack that caught Phi directly."
Aura's face was streaked with tears, or rain, as she explained the situation. Her skin was wrinkled with lines of worry, and her hands were constantly shaking.
"After that, we were separated. I haven't been able to find her, and I'm starting to get worried. That wound wasn't just deep, it was near fatal!"
Her voice rose in pitch, and Hikaru realized that if she didn't say something, she would start to have a panic attack.
Stepping forward, Hikaru placed a hand on Aura's shoulder. "You're worried. Why wouldn't you be? Your best friend was hurt, and you can't find them. However, at the moment, just worrying your mind off won't lead you anywhere."
Aura listened to Hikaru's words with wide eyes. She wanted to believe what the other was saying, however it wasn't that simple.
What you wanted to feel and what you actually felt were not always in tandem.
"Throughout your search, did you end up running into any students, or teachers, any staff members at all?"
Aura nodded. "I came across a lot of them. All of them were passed out, and nothing I did could wake them. I even came across a whole bunch of magic knights who were murdered. They must have been a part of the security detail for the culture festival."
Aura's voice hitched when she talked about the murdered magic knights, and her expression turned to one of nausea.
Hikaru did not allow her expression to fall, in order to not worry Aura further. However, on the inside, her spirit fell a bit.
Just how did this entire attack go by unnoticed. In the time between the opening of the culture festival, and Wraths imitation of the siege, they had managed to murder all of the magic knights, cut off all communications, and greed had managed to get all teachers and staff inside of his vault.
Deciding it would be better to turn attention away from that, Hikaru asked Phi another question. "Has mana sense helped you at all?"
Aura shook her head. Thunder boomed in the sky. "I've tried, but the wound she took was so bad it must have left her in an extremely weakened state. Her mana must be so faint that I can't sense it in the storm of things going on right now."
Aura turned her gaze to the ground, and she gripped her black pants so tightly they looked like they might rip.
Hikaru knew this tension would do Aura no good, however she had no good answers nor solution for her.
Just like Aura, Hikaru was on the verge. She was tired, stressed, scared, and worried. Her mind felt like it would rip apart from it all.
However, she knew that at least one of them had to keep a check on what they were feeling. Or else they'd lose here.
Hikaru reached a handout into the rain, feeling how the drops pelted her skin like hail. The sound of rain hitting the ground and the overhang resembled that of someone shooting an automatic assault rifle at a wall made of steel.
Aura watched Hikaru's motions closely. She was silent, waiting for what she would say next. If Hikaru apologized and told her that she had no idea where Phi could be, and couldn't spare the time to help, she would most definitely continue looking on her own.
However, her own mind wouldn't be able to support the stress and worry from much longer.
And even if you had paid her, bribed her with as much as possible, she would not abandon this girl.
Pulling her hand back under the cover, she turned her gaze to Aura.
"Come with me, I'll help you look for Phi. On one condition."
Aura's expression lit up like a light bulb. "Anything."
"You have to tell me everything you know about her along the way."
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The bomb which Phi had dropped caught Shindo completely off guard. For a brief moment he lowered his spear as his eyes widened.
Phi could've used that brief moment of indecision to create some distance, jump away, or even escape, however she did none of that.
She remained rooted in her position, staring the briefly shocked Shindo in the eyes.
"Y-You know where he is?" Shindo asked, his visage still overtaken by shock.
Phi nodded in response.
"And you said he's being trapped?" Shindo regained his composure, returning the blade of his long spear to Phi's neck.
Phi couldn't nod, nor could she speak very much. She just stared Shindo in the eyes.
After a few minutes of having a staring contest in the hail-like rain, Shindo lowered his spear from Phi's neck. His body and muscles were still coiled tight like a spring.
"How did you get that information? And how do you know he's being trapped specifically?"
"The enemy told me." Phi stated matter-of-factly.
For the second time during this whole encounter, Shindo was completely blindsided by Phi's words.
"Wha-"
Before he could even react, Phi held up a hand.
"At the beginning of this attack, me and Aura came across an insanely strong enemy. He was clad in white. We knew we couldn't fight him, so we decided to distract him and look for a method of retreat. Lucky for us, the guy was a yapper. He rambled on and on about himself, and humility and ego. During that spiel, he dropped the fact that he had managed to capture and trap the headmaster at the very top of this tower all on his lonesome. Gloated, is a better word."
Shindo listened to closely to every one of Phi's words, searching her face for some sight of a lie. He wasn't very good at reading people; however, he had faith he would be able to spot if someone was telling a bald-faced lie directly to him.
"In our retreat, we were split up. I had no way to contact Aura, so I decided it would be best to pursue this lead." Phi wrapped up her explanation there.
"Alone?" Shindo fired the question out immediately.
"I had no idea what was going on all around the Magic Academy. The campus is massive, and according to what I could glean through mana sense, there was an all-out war going on with multiple powerful enemies spread throughout the battlefield. I couldn't rely on help coming."
Phi paused a bit, and her lips quirked slightly upwards. "And I think I can handle myself."
They lapsed into another silent and tense staring contest in the rain.
"So do you trust me?" Phi asked, tilting her head to the side.
After another moment, Shindo finally lowered his spear to the ground, and Phi removed her knife.
"What's your plan?"
Phi looked up, letting the rain pelt her on the face. It caused her blond hair to stick to her to her face in messy spindles.
"Can we at least exit the rain?"
"I still don't trust you." Shindo said abruptly, turning his back to her and walking towards the tower.
Phi tilted her head to the side and let out a slight smile.
"My love for you only grows."
She paused on the word love for a brief moment longer than any of the other words in that sentence.
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The base of the tower was empty aside from a single staircase. The ceiling above was low, and the light was dim.
Whether this room had always been like this, or this was a side effect of whatever their invaders did was not of concern to the two who stepped inside.
Phi began to slowly walk around the room, looking around. She left a trail of wetness on the ground from the water that dripped from her black trench coat.
"They could have at least gotten a waterproof material." She muttered to herself while pulling on the coat.
"You still haven't told me what your plan is." Shindo spoke abruptly, not bothering to make any sort of small talk.
Phi glanced at him, and she must have seen the impatience on his face, because she began to explain.
"We need to make it to the very top floor of this tower first."
Shindo didn't respond to that, however in his head, he thought to himself, That should be easy enough.
"Which would be easy, if that man wasn't prowling his way around here." Phi said.
By that man, Shindo knew she must have been referring to the one extremely strong aura signature he had sensed. He must have been the man in white Phi had been talking about.
"He must have suppressed his aura as soon as he sensed us coming." Shindo deduced.
Phi nodded. "We need to distract him long enough for at least one of us to get up their."
"I'll do it." Shindo volunteered. He had already told Hikaru and all of the others that this fight would be his responsibility.
"No. I'll do it."
Shindo was taken aback by her answer. "But, no offensive, I'm stronger than you. If anyone can hold him in a fight, its me."
Phi shook her head. "No, it has to be me. That guy has abilities that make it impossible for anyone that isn't the headmaster to stand up to him in battle."
"How would you know that?" Shindo asked.
"Like I said, we've ran into him before. In the simplest terms I can put it, he's invincible."
Shindo was more inclined to believe Phi's words once she reminded him that she had actually encountered this opponent before.
Just as he was about to raise another objection, the roof of the building suddenly vanished.
Well not vanished, but the top half of the building starting from the second floor onwards had been separated from the first floor. The rest of the tower floated away into the air, before coming to rest at the very highest peak of the Magic Academy.
The rain pounded down on the two of them in full force once again.
Both Shindo and Phi locked eyes. The disappointment mirrored in their expressions.
Shindo looked up to where their target destination had moved to.
"He's taunting us. Leading us on a chase. And It's going to be a long one." He commented. "He turned to Phi. You got any stories?"
Phi turned back to him. "I was going to ask you the exact same thing. Also, I thought you didn't trust me?" Phi jabbed at him.
Shindo turned around to hide his expression behind his hair.
On the inside, he was a bit grateful. Phi was a member of Theta. Shindo had only been so cautious because of the stress of the situation. When he reanalyzed the situation, she was probably just as stressed as he was. All of her answers made sense.
He had just jumped the gun. He would never admit that though.
He would never admit that he was grateful to have an ally accompany him to face this terrifyingly powerful enemy.
"We're allies." Shindo said simply. He was about 90% sure he skipped over a lot of other things he should have said. He was just as bad at conversations as ever.
However, Phi didn't knock him for it.
"Allies." She reaffirmed.
They then returned their gazes towards the massive tower that laid atop the magic academy. So tall that its peak was barely visible in the rain.