Sanctuary Agency

〘Date: 2/9 - Saturday〙

〘Time: 11:55 AM〙

〘Location: Texas, San Antonio - La Vernia Valley〙

The Fortune watched me closely, scanning my body language to gauge each future action I would take. After reading each probability in his mind, he lunged forward with a swift spinning kick, his foot ripping through the air toward my head.

I adjusted my mask calmly, evading his strike then began to parry each of his next attacks, using his momentum against him. The Fortune continued to launch attack after attack, but I maneuvered around each strike with clear and tranquil steps.

Quickly, I countered his next strike with a back fist toward his gut, stunning him temporarily then landed a quick crescent kick, causing him to stagger to the side. "Luck won't be enough to save you now..."

I began to rush him with a series of high speed strikes, each attack landing too fast for his own luck to keep up with me. Knocking him away with a heavy strike, I launched myself after him and unsheathed my sword, preparing to land a killing blow.

The Fortune quickly recovered upon his feet, summoning a talisman and held it out in front of him, casting a light green clover shield to block my attack. I grunted heavily as I tried to overpower his defensive magic, a repulsive force of magic knocking me away.

I grunted as I rolled backwards, recovering upon one knee and using my broadsword to stop myself from skidding backwards. Slowly, I began to stand on my feet, my gaze lifting to meet The Fortune. "What the hell was that..?"

"It looked like Onmyodo Magic.... That's a Kitsune Energy Source that's can only be accessed by the true awakening of the mask," Phroa explained, hovering next to me and preparing herself once again.

The talisman in The Fortune's hand began to disperse into golden energy particles, his magic shield disappearing in the process. "Interesting...You were able to actually land an attack on me while the first Ace couldn't."

"You know, there is something interesting about you that I've picked up on. Your mask...it's actually glowing. Only those with the ability to access the true potential of the Art of Love can even awaken the Mask," The Fortune said, crossing his arms with a suspecting gaze.

"Tch... You all with the potential to use the Art of Love? The same organization who uses Stockholm Syndrome upon women and children alike? You all make me sick to my core," I said with disgust laced in my tone, my golden eyes glowing with a growing fury.

The Fortune laughed softly at my accusations, shifting in his stance. "Love is love...no matter how you obtain it. It's a new age now, Ace. The traditional way is outdated with the Art of Love! If you want something, you take it! Just how we are taking what we want."

"The Syndicates will rule the world! Rebuild what we lost! Bring this world to its alchemical potential, uplift humans back to where we were centuries ago! We are merely continuing where Lotus was stopped..." The Fortune announced, explaining The Lost Syndicates' goal with full conviction.

I stared at The Fortune, scoffing lightly at him. "An ambitious goal...and you are correct. Humans need uplifting, now the world is full of other brings. It's a clean goal, but the wrong execution. You are destroying lives and tarnishing the name of a beloved hero!"

"And we will continue to drag Shiro's name down the mud as he wasn't even supposed to be chosen! He happened to get lucky! The Syndicates lost two elites...Lotus and Feleti...and we will avenge them!" The Fortune declared, his golden energy surging around his body.

I grit my teeth, getting into my stance and unleased my aura around my body, the star design upon my mask glowing even brighter. "Not if I stop you for good!"

I grunted as I launched myself toward The Fortune, spinning rapidly and began to surround myself with Wind Energy to increase the speed and impact of my kick. The Fortune blocked my intense kick, grunting heavily as he was sent flying.

The Fortune crashed through multiple rock walls, recovering onto his feet then dashed forward. I ran toward him as well, the two of us clashing fists and creating a slight shockwave. Our fists and feet began to fly toward one another, each strike either being blocked or dodged.

I dodged his next kick, getting down onto the ground and sweeping him off his feet, using my own momentum to perform multiple Flare Kicks while producing wind energy around my body. "Phroa, hold him still!"

Phroa nodded, flying behind The Fortune and generated digital particles around his body, binding him in place. The Fortune looked a bit surprised, glancing backwards to see Phroa behind him. He struggled to escape Phroa's bind, his body restricted under the intense gravity.

I began to use the wind around my body to strike The Fortune with rapid succession, letting out tribal roars as I continuously slammed down bursts of wind upon his body. Each blast became more aggressive, more primal, more intense...more viseral.

"Destroy him!"

I fired another intense blast upon The Fortune's body, my tribal tattoos flashing red and my hair growing even more wild due to the high winds. "Move out of the way!"

Phroa trembled from my tribal roar, quickly zipping out of the way and flew toward Eliza for safety. Eliza held Phroa in her arms, watching my onslaught with excitement and a lovestruck, obsessive gaze.

Letting out a Tribal Howl, I shifted into my Jigoku Mode and thrusted my arm forward, unleashing a destructive blast of wind down the tunnel. The wind began to rip down the path, blowing The Fortune away with its currents while ripping the stone from the environment around it.

Eliza watched the destruction, her heart racing with exhilaration and growing lust. Her legs began to quiver with bottled up desire, her wings twitching from her nerves growing activity. "Such...power..~ Darling, you simply take my breath away...~"

I panted heavily, calming myself down to not become consumed by Jigoku's ambitious whispers. My aura began to slowly return to its blue and silver hue, my mind becoming more clear once more.

Phroa stared at me with a mix of fascination and a bit of fear, letting out a soft and nervous giggle. "Well...at least he can calm himself down at will.."

Eliza chuckled softly at Phroa's quip, sensing her nervous tension in her arms. She gently rubbed her hair, looking down at Phroa with care. "That he can..~"

The blast of wind continued to rush down the tunnel, blowing out of the opening and toward Desiree and Poli. The two women noticed the intense winds, splitting up and evading its destructive roar.

The Fortune crashed into a nearby wall, groaning upon impact and sliding down its rough surface. Miraculously, every bit of debris and rubble missed his body and a light green talisman floated out of his pocket, landing on his hand.

The talisman released a warm, gentle glow, healing him slightly and recovering his stamina. He groaned softly, sitting up slowly and fixed his mask. "That power...did he just...shift modes..?"

Desiree and Poli stared at The Fortune then glanced at each other with confusion. The two looked down the tunnel, noticing the destruction the wind caused and saw me standing at the other side.

Poli stepped forward around the rubble on the ground, staring at me and noticing the silverish blue energy flowing around my body. "What..? He can access the Tribal Forms as well..?"

The Fortune slowly stood up, grunting lightly and holding the back of his head. "He is more than meets the eye isn't he..? Pretty strong too..."

The Fortune turned his gaze toward Desiree, looking her up and down for a moment then his eyes slightly widened with recognition. "Hold on, you're The Ace...but why is he wearing your attire..?"

Desiree chuckled softly at The Fortune, fixing her ripped shirt upon her body. "I was only a fill in for The Ace. The one you were fighting is The Ace. The real one."

The Fortune scoffed lightly, staring at me with even more intrigue. He watched as I walked down the tunnel, his lips curling into a plotting grin. With a wave of his hand, he summoned Clover in front of him, placing his hand on her body to generate more luck.

"Well, if this is his very first mission then I'll make it his last and take that Mask away from him as well!" The Fortune declared, laughing loudly and snapped his fingers.

I continued down the tunnel with a piercing glare, his laughter a grating noise to my ears and annoying me even more. I lunged forward, preparing my next strike, blue lightning crackling around my hand.

Suddenly, a portion of the tunnel began to break off, causing the roof above me to collapse. Eliza, Phroa, Desiree, and Poli all looked surprised, each of their gazes watching as the rocky roof began to fall.

"Ryder!" Desiree screamed in terror, covering her mouth in pure distress.

I looked up, noticing the roof collapsing and at that moment, it felt as if time itself stopped. Everything slowly began to go black, my own grip from reality slipping away.

"Surely, you must wish to die a failure," A voice echoed around me, her tone tinged with soft disappointment.

My eyes slightly widened as I heard the familiar voice. I looked up slowly, noticing a radiant woman sitting upon a throne at the tip of a flight of steps. My eyes began to shimmer with recognition, my stance as still as stone.

The woman upon the throne was a beautiful tall woman with fair skin, shoulder length blue hair, and determined, steely blue eyes. She wore grey and black robes with an amulet around her neck, arm armor, armor bib which exposed her navel, patterned tights and black boots. There was also belt-like armor on her waist with golden emblem and purple knife holder.

"Instead of moving, you froze in the face of danger. You must wish to see your father and my mother in the Realm of Beyond early," She continued, crossing one leg over the other with a questioning gaze. "But alas, all is well now that I've saved you from complete destruction by stopping time."

"Alina..." I muttered in awe, looking around my surroundings, noticing I was standing in a dark space. "Where am I..?"

"You are within The Ace's Domain, The Throne Room...however I deem you unfit to see the true essence of my domain, Master. After that attack, you spent exactly 12 years of your life running from your responsibilities," Alina said, standing up slowly from her throne and walking down the set of stairs.

I grunted softly, lowering my head and balling my hands into fists. "I know that...and it's costed me. I let my sister take a mantle she wasn't meant to hold. Out of fear..."

Alina stopped in front of me, gently holding my chin and making me look up at her. She gently caressed my cheek, leaning down to plant a soft kiss upon my lips. "Even after all that, it doesn't make me love you any less... You're finally here again, and that's all that matters..."

I gave her a soft smile, a warmth spreading across me to know that my Love Demon still loved me even after my absence. My gaze became seriously once more as a question popped into my mind. "So, what will happen once time resumes?"

"Surely, the rocks above you will crash down and not only kill you, but also destroy the mask. Clover jinxed The Fortune just enough to make sure the mask is crushed as well, which will inevitably kill me as well," Alina answered.

I flinched back in shock at the revelation, unable to find the words to express what I felt at this very moment. Not only did my freeze up cause my own death, but also Alina's..? I couldn't fathom the ultimate failure I was experiencing, hoping it was all a bad dream.

"You've placed us in quite the situation...but on the bright side, The Lost Syndicates won't be able to steal the mask. On the negatives, we are dead," Alina said, letting out a soft sigh and crossed her arms.

"Can't you just rewind time? Since you can stop it, can't you manipulate it?" I asked, not wanting to accept my fate as the reality.

I couldn't die here, not after I just now stepped into my role. I didn't want the ending of my story to be determined by manipulated fate. I didn't want to die a failure.

Alina looked at me, staring into my desperate yet determined gaze. She hummed softly, closing her eyes with a smile and sighed. "Yes, I can rewind time. But not too far, but it shouldn't matter since you know what will happen."

"For you, until you prove yourself of better acknowledgement, I will save you up to five times a day. After your fifth time, you're on your own," Alina finished, opening her eyes to look at me once more. "Now go, the Agency needs you. Stop the Lost Syndicates in their tracks."

At that moment, the domain around me began to ripple and spiral like a void, gradually shifting me back into reality. Time began to rewind slowly, the collapsing roof slowly rising back into its previous position, everyone's positions gradually resetting to before the incident.

The Fortune scoffed lightly, staring at me with even more intrigue. He watched as I walked down the tunnel, his lips curling into a plotting grin. With a wave of his hand, he summoned Clover in front of him, placing his hand on her body to generate more luck.

"Well, if this is his very first mission then I'll make it his last and take that Mask away from him as well!" The Fortune declared, laughing loudly and snapped his fingers.

I continued down the tunnel with a piercing glare, his laughter a grating noise to my ears and annoying me even more. I lunged forward, preparing my next strike, blue lightning crackling around my hand.

Suddenly, a portion of the tunnel began to break off, causing the roof above me to collapse. Eliza, Phroa, Desiree, and Poli all looked surprised, each of their gazes watching as the rocky roof began to fall.

"Ryder!" Desiree screamed in terror, covering her mouth in pure distress.

I looked up, noticing the roof collapsing then let out a Tribal Howl, expanding my aura and using it to break the collapsing stone, protecting myself from my own demise. The star emblem upon my mask began to hum with power, emitting a ethereal blue energy.

The smoke began to clear, revealing my pulsating aura around my body shifting from a deep red back to its silver hue. Everyone stared at me with a mix of awe, disbelief, and relief from my allies. I let out a heavy exhale, panting heavily as I felt weakened after the burst of energy.

〔Talent EXP +200〕

〔Talent Level UP!!! 1 ↠ 2〕

〔New Award Unlocked: Talent EXP Gain +10%, New Technique Available.〕

Desiree stared at me with unshed tears in her eyes, noticing my aura was subtly shifting in different shades of blue. Her eyes began to widen as she noticed energy flowing from my back, taking into the shape of a singular wing.

"How...how did you survive that..? My attack was...Fate was decided! You should've died!" The Fortune outbursted, glancing at Clover with a stare of pure hatred. "You..."

Poli stared at me, noticing I hadn't responded, feeling goosebumps crawling upon her arms. Her heart started to beat against her chest harder, the sudden realization hitting her. 'Is that...'

The Fortune growled lowly at Clover, taking the remote out of his pocket and smashing the button with incredible force. "I'll teach you for defying me, you stupid vexin!"

The shock collar activated, the orbs glowing brightly and sending painful waves of electricity around Clover's body. She cried out in pain, her voice cracking and screeching, pleading for the punishment to end.

"Master!" Clover screamed, her eyes shooting at me before going white, finally passing out due to her body not being able to handle the stress anymore.

I watched as Clover's body fell to the ground, her being slowly dispersing into golden particles and returning into the Mask of Fortune. I couldn't have been in any more disbelief, the image of her falling and her final scream replaying in my head.

"Foolish fox... Could've been avoided had you listened to me. Now forced into recovery. Disgraceful," The Fortune said in pure disgust, placing the remote back into his pocket.

I still couldn't believe my eyes, her pained voice echoing over and over in my ears. My heart began to thump against my chest, my words caught in my throat, only coming out in short grunts of disbelief.

"12 years of running...This is what twelve years of hiding from your responsibilities looks like..."

"The very beings you swore to Love and protect, in the hands of those who hate their very essence...."

"Love Demons that your father entrusted to you...seeing their mistreatment, what are you going to do?!"

"Are you going to sit there and grunt?! Make them acknowledge you! Make him suffer!"

I groaned as my head began to throb with clouded thoughts, my tribal tattoos shining a wrathful red hue, and my aura growing more intense. "What...did you do..?"

"Make him pay!"

"What did you do...to MY LOVE DEMON?!" I roared, my voice becoming distorted with a dual tone as I transformed into my Jigoku Mode, but an explosive ethereal blue energy began to merge with my war energy.

Poli grunted loudly, her eyes widening with pure fear as she felt the rapid spike in my energy. 'His energy...it—'

Without hesitation, I lunged toward The Fortune at high speeds with a fury only known by the Sola Tribe. He quickly struck my face, attempting to stop my charge, but I tanked his attack completely, countering with a disorienting blow to his jaw.

I roared as I began rushing him with devastating blows, knocking him away with a powerful punch to his face, blue lightning flashing upon impact. The Fortune groaned as he crashed through the cave, his body flying outside the cave and crashing into one of the trucks.

Desiree, Eliza, and Phroa looked at me with pure surprise, my display of power completely beyond their expectations. In this very moment, I was completely consumed by Jigoku's whispers, my mind clouded with thoughts of killing The Fortune.

Without thinking, I rushed toward The Fortune with a bellow, my speed reaching near olympic levels, the speed of my charge causing the ground beneath me to crumble. The Fortune stood up slowly, holding his head and noticed a red light approaching him quickly.

By streak of luck, he managed to evade my first strike but I quickly caught him with a knee strike to stagger him. With a roar, I began rushing him with relentless blows, each blow pushing him through the vast valley.

Landing a devastating kick, I launched him in the air then a single blue demon wing manifested from my back, allowing me to reach him in the air with a single leap. "Take this!"

I roared as I generated a large fireball in my hand, smashing it against his body, causing an explosion in the sky. I groaned as the explosion sent me crashing to the ground below, but Eliza swooped in quickly to catch me before I landed.

She held me closely in her arms, looking down at me and watched as I slowly passed out, my aura vanishing from my body. She looked up at the sky, noticing the smoke cloud clearing and revealing the condition of The Fortune.

The Fortune's shield was cracked, his clothing tattered from each of my relentless blows. Using a wind talisman, he was able to continue floating in the air, looking down at me with a wincing expression.

'Had I not activated my barrier...that full power attack would've definitely killed me. I need to escape...dying here isn't worth it,' The Fortune thought, using his wind magic to fly away quickly from the area.

Desiree and Poli made it out of the cave, noticing me passed out in Eliza's arms due to exhaustion. Desiree gasped loudly, hurrying over toward me and Eliza while Poli stood in place, staring at me witha cautious gaze.

'The Ace... That power of yours, I know it's you. You are a Destiny Child of Shiro Moji's, Ryder Moji Dawn... It all makes sense now...' Poli thought to herself, gritting her teeth lightly and huffing lightly.

She began to make her escape, using her Alchemy to produce wind energy to help her soar away into the distance back to her HQ with the news of failure. She balled her fist, the thought of failing her mission infuriating to her.

"Eliza! Eliza, is he okay?" Desiree asked, getting down on the ground to check up on me.

Eliza looked at Desiree then turned her gaze back down to me. "Yeah...he's alright. He's just passed out for now, but at the end of the day, he passed..~"

Desiree kept her gaze on me, placing her hand on my forehead then a soft smile began to play on her face. She gently ran her fingers through my hair, a proud sensation coursing through her veins. "Yeah, with flying colors..~"

The two women chuckled with each other then began to make their way with me back to our car to report to Charlotte about the mission. With victory in our hands, they knew that my work with them was far from done and that I needed more experience to avoid situations like these in the future.

〔Mission Complete: Stopped the Lost Syndicates at La Vernia Valley.〕

〔Mission Rank: B+〕

〔Reward: Credi +2500, Talent EXP +250, Reputation with Sanctuary Agency increased.〕