"So… I've become your retainer now, Arthur?"
Yotsuya Miko blinked, letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
She could feel it—the invisible bond now linking her to him, and the strange power stirring inside her body.
Thankfully, it didn't require that kind of thing.
A kiss… that much, she could accept.
Though for some reason, she felt just a little disappointed.
The thought startled her so badly she immediately shoved it away.
"Of course. Though, Miko… what exactly did you think we were going to do?"
Arthur's smiling eyes gleamed with a meaning she couldn't ignore, as though he could see right through her.
"Miko's face flushed with embarrassment."
Her face blazed red, gaze darting away.
There was no way she could admit what she'd been imagining.
And it was all his fault anyway.
If he hadn't spoken in riddles, being vague and ambiguous, how else could her mind have wandered down that path?
So yes—definitely his fault.
Arthur, amused by her bashfulness, grinned wider and suggested:
"Why not try out your power?"
"My… power?"
She froze for a moment, then drew a deep breath to calm herself.
Pushing aside distracting thoughts, she closed her eyes, focusing inward.
The source of the energy pulsed warmly in her lower abdomen.
Her eyes snapped open.
Raising her right hand, she carefully drew upon it—
A soft cyan-blue glow shimmered to life in her palm, faint glimmers of crystalline frost flickering in and out of sight.
This was the Power of the Blue King.
The opposite of the Red King's blazing attribute.
If the Red King's power was violent, fiery passion—then the Blue King's was cold, orderly ice.
In the world of K, the Blue King had once used his ability to raise defensive barriers around Ashinaka Academy. When those barriers shattered, they dispersed into crystalline frost.
But the visible phenomena of spiritual energy often resembled a mirage-like "heat haze."
So while the Blue King's power was ice, it often manifested visually as blue flames.
"What a strange, wonderful feeling…"
Miko's eyes sparkled.
With this power, she felt she could accomplish things she never dreamed possible before.
Her eagerness grew.
But glancing at her surroundings, she realized this wasn't exactly the place for experiments.
Still, she didn't let the energy fade.
It spread warmly from her abdomen outward, suffusing her whole body with comfort and strength.
"Let's go, Miko. I'll take you somewhere to test it properly."
Sensing her thoughts, Arthur smiled.
"Okay!"
Her eyes lit up, and with a firm grip of her right hand, the blue aura scattered into little motes of light.
They headed for the door.
On the way out, curiosity struck her.
"Wait… how exactly are we testing it?"
"Exorcism."
Arthur turned his head, smiling as he spoke the two words.
"Eh—exorcism?!"
Her body stiffened in reflexive dread.
Even with exorcising power now inside her, she couldn't suppress the instinctive fear.
Never mind how dangerous evil spirits could be—their grotesque appearance alone was terrifying.
Seeing her panic, Arthur smirked faintly.
"The best way to overcome fear… is to face it. That was the old you. This is the new you. You're no longer weak."
He added softly: "And besides… I'm here."
"…Got it!"
Her eyes flickered. She clenched her fist and nodded, determination igniting.
If she wanted to protect the people around her—then first she had to conquer her own fear.
Otherwise, how could she ever protect anyone?
And besides…
She looked at Arthur.
Just as he'd said—with him here—a sense of safety filled her heart.
The two of them stepped outside.
Three minutes later, in a secluded alley, Arthur raised a shimmering barrier.
Like a mosaic of blue light, the barrier sealed the alley.
Invisible to normal people, it locked spirits inside while shielding the outside world from damage.
Ahead of them, only three meters away, a monstrous spirit glared with visible malice.
Black miasma coiled from its form.
But it couldn't move.
Arthur's immense spiritual pressure—divine in strength—held it pinned.
"Go on, Miko."
He patted her lightly on the shoulder.
"Alright!"
She drew in a deep breath.
Her weapon… was a half-meter branch Arthur had just snapped from a roadside tree.
He'd named it Childhood Sword.
By infusing spiritual energy into it, it would serve as a temporary weapon.
Miko steadied herself, carefully channeling her energy into the branch.
It began to glow faintly with a cyan-blue light.
When it felt ready, she stepped before the immobilized spirit and swung.
Whoosh!
A crescent-shaped arc of blue light burst from the branch's tip.
It slashed across the spirit from shoulder to hip.
When the light faded, the spirit disintegrated into wisps of smoke and vanished.
A clean, instant kill.
Yotsuya Miko had claimed her first kill.
"I… defeated it?!"
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
For the first time, the spirits didn't seem quite so terrifying anymore.
"How does it feel?"
Arthur stood with hands in his pockets, watching her with a smile.
"…Unreal. Like I'm dreaming."
She turned toward him, dazed.
Any moment now, she half-expected to wake up and find none of this had happened.
"Unreal, huh? Then let's make it a bit more real."
Arthur's smile turned mischievous. With a thought, he dissolved the barrier.
Her heart skipped at the sly look in his eyes.
"More real?"
A sense of foreboding welled up.
"Come. Follow me."
He started walking out of the alley.
"…"
Miko had no choice but to follow silently.
As her spiritual energy faded, the branch in her hand crumbled into powder and blew away in the wind.
Clearly, her control wasn't yet stable.
Arthur snapped another branch off a tree and handed it to her.
His meaning was clear: weak or not, practice makes perfect.
The more she trained, the sooner she'd master her power.
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