《&#x30A8;&#x30C3;&#x30BB;&#x30F3;&#x30B9; (Essence)》


 Volume One | Chapter - New Beginnings

    Aiko, wake up.

    Aiko could hear the call of her name as she stayed in her deep sleep.

    Hey, Aiko!

    The voice raising in volume ever slightly with each passing feeling, a sharp flick against her cheek made Aiko shoot up, eyes wide awake as she held the left side of her face nursing the sudden pain going through it.

    Next to her, Bethany her friend stared at her wondering if she was actually awake.

    Aiko still rubbing her left cheek narrowed her eyes at Bethany, "The hell was that for Beth?"

    Bethany took in a short quick breathe then sighed, "We''re almost at the academy".

    Aiko huffing just looked out the window seeing the beautiful green farm fields and the blue sky as their train continued on its course towards Essensu Japan Academy, an academy that specialized in the training of Familiars and Coordinators.

    Bethany''s cyan coloured hair was short but, her side bangs were pinned up behind her ears.

    Aiko sighing spoke up, "I''m really dreading this whole thing already".

    Bethany just shook her head knowing all too well that Aiko got lazy and unmotivated if she didn''t like something or it didn''t go in her favour.

    Uli, a girl with long wavy blonde hair and ocean blue eyes another friend of Aiko''s, sat across from her.

    Responding to Aiko''s comment, "Well we are the girls that failed the compatibility test to become Familiars, be grateful that the three of us got to be Coordinators instead"

    "That''s not what I''m worried about..." Aiko replied bluntly "...it''s just...I''ve never been good at making friends".

    Both Bethany and Uli looked at one another then laughed between themselves.

    Aiko''s cheeks flustered. "Hey, what''s with the laughing?" she sheepishly asked.

    Once Bethany and Uli had their moment, Uli was the one to answer, "You say you''re bad at making friends yet you have me and Bethany" her German accent coming through strongly despite the preceding years of living in Japan as a refugee.

    Much like Uli, Bethany too was a refugee from the United Kingdom after the First Nebula Invasion, Europe was left in ruins or worse uninhabitable.

    Even though the main body of the invasion force from all those years ago was wiped out, there were still pockets of surviving Nebula in Europe and on rare occasions outside of that continent. With the devastation within the European continent, many countries were rendered incapable of rehabilitating from the attacks so as a result many of the natives migrated from their homes to likes of Japan, China, United States and various other nations.

    "Well you wanted to be my friend because you felt sorry for me" Aiko grunted upon saying those words.

    Even now she considered Bethany and Uli very much acquaintances, as of today she had only known the two of them for a few months upon meeting them at one of the Familiar Compatibility Test Facilities.

    But if there was one thing she could agree with herself on, was the fact that she could rely on the two of them for any help she needed.

    Across the aisle sat a group of young JSDF soldiers roughly late teens the too early twenties wearing their typical military green uniforms and black boots.

    Whereas the trio of girls wore grey and white corsets and short skirts, along with a white collar and a small red tie as well as thigh-high socks and short heeled shoes.

    Aiko looked back towards her friends, "Has it ever occurred to you why the boys aren''t compatible with Nebula tissue?" she asks.

    Both Bethany and Uli sat there in deep thought, Uli answered first, "No not really, all I''ve heard is that when they implant Nebula tissues into boys the body attacks the cells and destroys them".

    With her hand on her chin, Bethany intervened, "Now that I think about it no one really knows why girls are even compatibility with the tissue in the first place..." laughing nervously Bethany continued her statement "...there were rumours about it being due to possible reproduction of some sort but after so many years of doing this, and the case of it never appearing in research I think we''re pretty safe"

    "Jeez, Beth, nice way to ruin the mood for everyone" Uli muttered nonchalantly.

    "Hey, I was just stating some useful information!" Bethany replied in haste.

    "I think the last thing Familiars and Coordinators need to worry about is whether an alien organism is reproducing inside of them..." Uli''s tired fa?ade soon change to that of worry "...wait, you''re into that stuff aren''t you?!"

    Bethany''s face couldn''t hide the confusion, "W-w-w-what are you talking about?!" she stuttered at first.

    "You know..." without realizing it many people could hear their conversation, and most certainly the JSDF soldiers across the aisle from them "...hentai, ALIENS!"

    Disgusted by the thought of it Bethany shouted out, "That''s just sick and disgusting!".

    Uli did an offhanded wave, "Say that to the thousands of doujinshi artists including Nebula in their works"

    Shocked Bethany just had to ask, "How do you even know about that?!"

    "Well when you have three brothers that talk about stuff like that in front of their sister, it''s a bit hard to miss such details..." Uli wraps her slender arms around her waist, shivering "...I dread to think what those three are up to when I''m not around".

    Before the conversation could go any further, Aiko intervened, "Um, I think it''s best to stop talking about this because..."

    Both Bethany and Uli looked around many people were just looking at them, a mixture of shock, disgust and embarrassment were written across their face "...you sort of gained quite the crowd" Aiko finished.

    Both Uli and Bethany attempted to hide themselves away wishing to get rid of the humiliation the two of them had just garnered.<hr>

    They were all in Essence Form Armour, they had metallic digitized armour plating covering their entire body, and where they needed the movement at the limbs the armour was replaced with this orange lighted energy.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.In fact, the design covered all of the armour making it look like arteries and veins that were glowing through the gaps of the armour and upon the surface.

    Like Aiko and her friends, there were many other Coordinators travelling upon the bullet train.

    An Armiger Familiar stepped forward this one with more fancy decals and attached armour plating upon her Essence Form Armour clearly depicting that she was a rank of authority within Armiger.

    "Coordinators on your way to Essensu Japan Academy you''ll be escorted by Armiger personnel! Get to your designated vehicles" the woman barked, and with that, the Coordinators complied with her demands and swiftly followed the Armiger escort.

    Outside the station waited for a row of Armiger customized Humvee''s, the Coordinator students were ordered to get into one of the Humvee''s.

    As Aiko and her friends got in one, they were quickly joined by a newcomer, her hair pure black and messy hanging down just past the nape of the back of her neck, her venom green eyes piercing into Aiko.

    Aiko felt some form of bad aura emanating from this girl for some reason she had the urge to create a conversation with this girl, "So, hey" Aiko said in a quiet tone.

    "What was that!" the girl responded, startling Aiko.

    Waving her hands Aiko quickly responded, "O-Oh nothing j-just muttering to myself" Aiko laughed nervously.

    The black haired girl gave her a look of pure disdain, "Weird klutz".

    Upon hearing that it riled Uli up the wrong way, "Have you got a problem or something?" she demanded from the new girl.

    "Huh?" the girl responded.

    "Who heard me," Uli said through gritted teeth.

    Bethany and Aiko were attempting to diffuse the situation before it turned into a fist fight, and when it came to Uli she never missed an opportunity for a good punch-up with someone.

    The girl''s face contorted into anger, "What''s your problem all of a sudden?"

    "Aiko was only trying to be friendly to you, then you had to turn around and call her a weird klutz!" Uli raised her voice.

    The girl next to Uli turned to look at Aiko, sweating from the possibility of witnessing a punch up she just tried to laugh it off when the girl looked at her.

    The black haired girl turned away her cheeks slightly red but still angry, "Well I''m not here to make friends..." glancing at Aiko "...but, thanks for the kind gesture I suppose".

    Aiko just looked at her, shocked for a moment by how nice and innocent she was just then, but it wasn''t long before that fa?ade was taken away and replaced with her aggressive persona.

    Uli still not satisfied still had a bone to pick with the girl, but she stopped when both Aiko and Bethany begged her to let it go.

    Both Uli and the girl sat next to one another other clearly pissed, while Aiko and Bethany felt uncomfortable in the Humvee as it started moving.

    To take her mind off what just happened Aiko looked out the window of the door on her side, staring up at the mesmerizing rich blue clear sky as they drove through endless busy streets of Kyoto.<hr>

    Her hair, in general, was short, down the back it only just reached above the nape of her neck, she had two bangs on either side just in front of both of her ears hanging past her collarbones, they closely resembled pigtails.

    Along with a few strands of hair coming down between her eyebrows.

    Her light grey and white corset and short skirt showed her well-defined average built body.

    The small red tie attached to her white collar blew gently with the wind, and the thigh-high socks showed off her slender legs along with the short heeled shoes, as her dark grey sleeves showed off her slender arms.

    Over her hair, she wore red headphones listening to her favourite artist, iMeiden.

    They were wireless and the music was installed into the headphones themselves which is one of the things this girl loved the most about her headphones.

    She sat there looking up into the sky feeling relaxed, her stoic expression strangely made her more attractive than most people would have thought.

    Closing her eyes, she didn''t realize her friend Hibiki was calling to her, trying to get her attention.

    Hibiki with her short crimson red hair rushed up to her friend grabbing her.

    This startled the other girl, she looked at Hibiki briefly before taking off her headphones the music still playing.

    "Why didn''t you answer me?!" Hibiki demanded an answer from her friend.

    With her stoic expression she eyed Hibiki and with her left hand holding her headphones, she lifted them up her index finger tapping upon the edge.

    Hibiki just sighed, "Could you at least try not to have them on all the time, Sachi?" she asked.

    Sachika shrugged, "I like listening to music, it''s calming for me"

    Hibiki turned away looking up at the sky, "Anyway, the new group of Coordinators are arriving, you know what that means"

    Upon hearing that Sachika bit her bottom lip a small trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth, "Yeah I know" she bluntly replied.

    Hibiki turns back to look at her friend, "I know you lost your previous Coordinator in the last operation we went out on..."

    A look of sadness came across Hibiki''s face upon remembering that event "...but you''re going to have to make a new Blood Contract with another Coordinator" Hibiki finished.

    Clenching her fists in anger, "Forget it I''m not going through that again, I''ll fight alone" Sachika hissed.

    "You know the Mistress won''t allow that, I know it''s hard what you''re going through..." Hibiki places a hand over her chest glancing at the floor before returning her gaze back upon Sachika "...you have to move on like everyone else"

    Tears started to stream down Sachika''s cheeks, "It''s alright for you didn''t have to watch your Coordinator get butchered by Nebula, unable to do anything to save her!"

    She tried wiping the tears away but they still kept coming.

    Standing up she leaves before Hibiki could say any more, she placed her hands over her face attempting to wipe the tears away to no avail as she continued walking.

 Volume One | Chapter - The Phantom Queen

    As she and the rest of the Coordinators gathered in the courtyard as instructed by the Armiger personnel.

    They all stood there waiting, at the front of the group Aiko noticed a high standing pedestal but no one was there.

    Bethany shook her head, "You fail to keep to deadlines and your just helpless at organizing yourself, the world would fall apart in a matter of minutes..."

    The woman gave Aiko a curt nod and smile before turning her head away to avoid arousing suspicion among the girls.

    They were told back then that the new cell phones were formatted to work along with the artificial intelligence system at the academy.

    I guess this is the information on the location of my room, Aiko thought to herself.

    Without further ado, they set off for their rooms like many of the other students that arrived with them today.<hr>

    Defects.

    When one of the girls eyed her as she walked closer, a chill ran down her spine.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it."Um, Y-Yeah" she muttered quietly.

    This time the girl said, "Really? Well, I tried to be nice about the whole thing..." she held out her hand in front of her.

    Each metal plate was spaced out from one another, and between them formed some form of orange light energy.

    But these resembled the likes of arteries and veins the way they were etched upon the weapon.

    Making a clean cut down her corset the material split apart, revealing Aiko''s small B cup sized breasts.

    She couldn''t wrench herself free, the girl before her came closer with her dagger as if anticipating what was about to happen.

    Aiko closed her eyes wishing it was all a dream.

    The grips around her wrists weakened taking a few steps forward the girl that restrained her fell backwards with a huge gash cut diagonally across her chest as blood spurted from her mouth.

    She wore the same uniform as them, and also noticed the same insignia and tag that the other girls had on their uniforms.

    And her weapons were that of a pair of bladed gauntlets with armour covering the top of her hands and forearms.

    Sachika didn''t respond to the girls'' comment about her nickname at this school.

    At first, the two of them were reluctant but both of them eventually complied.

 Volume One | Chapter - Thank You Pt. One

    But there was something truly terrifying about being a victim of some form of ritual.

    Aiko had to admit, she never really believed in such stories at first when she was first told about them. She always thought of them as scaremongering tactics or just friends having a laugh.

    But after witnessing such an ordeal at first hand, on her first day had shaken her up.

    Her hands and arms shook as she waited for a new corset, collar, tie and sleeves, sitting on the edge of medical wing bed topless she wrapped her arms around her stomach in order to stop the shaking.

    It wasn''t long before the doctor returned with a fresh set of clothing.

    With her long white coat and t-shirt unbuttoned at the top along with a black skirt and high heels.

    Her hair colour had a strong resemblance to Aiko''s brown hair colour.

    However, where Aiko''s just hanged past her shoulder blades, the doctors were just past her ears.

    As Aiko put on her new set of clothes.

    The doctor sat at a desk typing on a touchpad holographic keyboard that was wirelessly connected to the monitor before her.

    Aiko noticed how weird it was not having a bra on, thanks to her corset was just tight enough to keep her breasts in place.

    "To think that on your first day, you got yourself into such a conundrum..." the doctor spoke casually.

    She noticed Aiko freeze at the thought of what she said "...don''t beat yourself up over it too much it always happens to girls like you every year" she finishes off trying to reassure Aiko.

    To be honest Aiko just wanted to forget the whole thing but also needed to know why such people would do this kind of thing.

    Especially for people like herself. "Why do they do such things?" she asked without thinking properly beforehand.

    The doctor sighed, "Well, it''s like with everything..." she turns to Aiko slightly "...somebody always wants something either through negotiation or force".

    She brushes away a strand of hair hanging in front of her left eye. "And that saying applies here, older Familiars want the younger Coordinator because they have more promise when they develop compared to an older one"

    Aiko could see that, she saw her fair share of people in the past taking what isn''t there''s by force.

    But looking at the doctor now she could tell that there was something else she wanted to get off her chest. "There''s more to it right?" she asked.

    The doctor nodded, "The most popular reason why the older Familiars choose younger Coordinators is for the intimate side of things, they seem to like sharing such things with younger girls, don''t get me wrong it most certainly improves the Spiritual Link between partners..."

    She coughs before continuing "...however, not every pair is comfortable with a random partner so they settle for either a close friend or sisterly figure"

    Upon hearing the term intimate, Aiko blushed with embarrassment.

    The doctor continued talking, "Just make sure when it comes to certifying the Blood Contract it''s with a girl that you can at least get on with, there''s nothing worse than having a Spiritual Link with someone you despise".

    And with that, the doctor left the medical wing to attend to her own duties informing Aiko she was allowed to leave whenever she felt ready to do so.

    Aiko just sat on the bed for a few minutes thinking about the events that occurred within the last hour.

    She felt relatively sick at the thought of what those girls may have done to her, if the other girl never showed up she wondered what may have happened.

    She made a mental note to thank that girl personally whenever she had the chance to.<hr>

    The ceiling had see-through glass to allow sunlight to shine through.

    The only thing that wasn''t a mundane grey was the black steel door that was both the entrance and exit to the room.

    She looked up as she heard the loud clanging of bolts and metal screeching as the door slowly opened.

    Mistress Daiki along with two Armiger guards entered the room, "What am I going to do with you?" she asked bluntly as if chastising her own daughter.

    In response, Sachika just scoffed then looked away. Sachika had been locked in the detention chamber since yesterday evening for twenty-four hours as punishment for breaking the rules of Essensu Japan Academy.

    Crossing her arms the Mistress continued speaking, "Anyway your twenty-four hours of detention are up, you''re free to leave"

    "Just like that?" Sachika asked, her white collar and red tie were on the floor next to her, which in turn revealed more of her cleavage than before.

    Mistress Daiki just looked back at her, a look of irritation becoming ever present on her face, "Look Sachika, you''re lucky you didn''t kill those girls..." shaking her head "...cell regeneration of tissue and limbs can only go so far"

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Upon saying those words the Mistress quickly departed the room leaving the two Armiger guards with Sachika.

    As for Sachika, she tidied herself up to look more presentable.

    As she left the gloomy complex where the detention chambers were situated the first person to greet her outside of the building was none other than the student council president.

    Ashina Corrigan, her dark purple hair mixing in beautifully with the dusk sky.

    As was Sachika''s too, with her pure silver hair.

    "So I see that the Phantom Queen has been let out?" Ashina said with a cheery smile on her face.

    Sachika ignored her walking past placing her hands inside the pockets of her corset.

    Ashina''s overly happy smile vanished when she got no response, she sighs, "You know Sachika you can''t pretend the past never happened" she called out.

    That comment made Sachika angry, who spins around directing that anger towards the student council president, "If you''re here to make crude remarks, I suggest you get lost!".

    Ashina just giggles in response to Sachika''s statement, "I''m not trying to be rude, I just want you to see the error of your ways" she simply replies.

    Sachika''s face scrunches up, as anger continued to fuel her desire to hurt her, "What have you got planned, student council president?"

    The last few words fuelled by hate, which wasn''t uncommon for Sachika when it came to Ashina.

    "What makes you think I have something planned," Ashina asked, acting all innocently.

    "Well, they don''t call the Devil Trickster for nothing" was Sachika''s response.

    Upon hearing that nickname, Devil Trickster, Ashina''s mood changed from that of energy and happiness to that of disdain and anger.

    Suddenly what looked like pixels started to swirl around her mature yet young body, she gave Sachika an expressionless look that sent chills down her spine.

    Sachika stood there gulping as she saw the pixels continue to slowly swirl around Ashina.

    "Now I don''t know why everyone is so intent on referring to me as, the Devil Trickster..." Ashina''s persona quickly changed from that of a girl intent on killing to a girl playing the shy girl card "...I just so happen to think of myself as a cute, innocent teen" she walked past Sachika, who was unnerved by what she saw, with a smile on her face.

    All Sachika could do was stand there trying to calm her nerves, as her arms shook from fear ever so slightly.<hr>

    One of them, in particular, was the vice president.

    Her name was Wendy Florente, she was a French student at the Essensu Japan Academy.

    And one of the many hundreds of thousands of refugee''s that came from Europe.

    Her brunette hair colour and short spiky hair were unique among many of the students at the academy.

    "Ashina, where have you been?" she asked, Ashina and Wendy were best friends since high school the two of them pretty much went everywhere together and reconcile on pretty much everything between them.

    Ashina smiling, "Oh, nowhere in particular just attending to a personal problem" she replied.

    "Well we''re almost late for the student council meeting" Wendy hastily spoke leading Ashina down the corridors of the academy as the two of them holding hands.

    Before Ashina forgot, she mentioned something to Wendy, "Before I forget to make sure to inform the disciplinary committee to increase patrol and security details by tomorrow"

    Wendy paused for a moment wondering what Ashina was talking about, "Why? Is something happening?" she asks in earnest.

    A small but kind smile appears on Ashina''s face, "Not really, I just have this sinking feeling that things are going to get...interesting...in the next few days" she replies to her friends'' question.

    As for Wendy, she gave Ashina a curt nod, "Consider it done student council president" with a hint of over-eagerness in her statement.

    Sighing Ashina shakes her head, "How many times Wendy do I have to tell you, call me Ashina!" she called out as if she was getting tired of constantly saying those exact words.

    Wendy stammered for a moment, "O-Oh...sorry...I''ve just been so used to calling you by your title now, it''s become second nature to me"

    She had a habit of forgetting that Ashina wanted to be called by her given name not her recently acquired title.

    When the rest of the student council constantly referred to her as the student council president it very much became the norm for Wendy since joining the student council herself to call Ashina by that very title.

    Ashina scoffed at Wendy, the latter at first thought Ashina was annoyed with her.

    Wendy attempting to explain herself, soon realised afterwards that Ashina was playing with her.

    So the two of them laughed it off as they continued on their way to Essensu Japan Academy''s student council room.

 Volume One | Chapter - Thank You Pt. Two

    Aiko let out a breath of air in irritation as she slouched against the wall, sliding until she was in a seated position on the floor with her legs out in front to avoid further embarrassment, the last thing she needed was her fellow students getting a glimpse up her short skirt.

    As Aiko just sat there thinking to herself her train of thought was interrupted by the girl that she met on the Humvee.

    The girl just stood there staring at her Aiko looked like a girl that was homeless, she scoffed once she realized whom it was.

    Rubbing the back of her head, Aiko asked, "Then...why did you come here?"

    The black haired girl flustered at the thought, she clears her throat, "I heard you were looking for that girl, I may know of a way to find her so come with me"

    Aiko was about to blindly follow the girl anywhere before she remembered what happened with those other girls, how do I know that I can trust her, she chastised herself.

    The girl gasped, "I may not be friendly to everyone!..." she turns her head slightly away from Aiko "...that doesn''t mean I''m a sadistic bitch" she said muttering the last part to herself.

    "What was that last part you said?" Aiko asked she got an idea of what this girl said, however, she just wanted concrete evidence of what she actually said.

    The black haired girl stormed off in the distance, "Just hurry up and I don''t have all day to wait for you of all people!" she called out.

    Aiko nervously says, "Um, thank you for doing this".

    Once again the girl flustered, what is with this girl making me feel like this, she thought to herself. "W-Well...don''t expect any more help from me!" she stuttered.

    At first, the girl was hesitant before deciding to do so, "Emike" she muttered quietly.

    Aiko took in a quick breathe of air, she started walking towards the bench where the girl was sat that Emike spoke off, she sat there with her eyes closed as if she were dreaming.

    "Before you ask no..." she bluntly put. Jesus, I didn''t say what it was and she''s already saying no, Aiko thought to herself "...do you know how tough it is just to keep one Coordinator happy, let alone two!"

    "Uh, no I''m not here for that" Aiko hastily replied.

    "Anyway, I''m Hibiki what can I do for you?" she stood up brushing down her short skirt and corset. Aiko never really took in the beauty of this girl before, it seemed almost alien for her to look this beautiful.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more."Well, I''m Aiko ni-" before she could finish Hibiki grabbed her left hand with both of hers squeezing it tightly in her grip, her face looked like she''d found a celebrity.

    Getting back to the subject at hand, "Is Sachika the girl that saved me the other day?" Aiko asked.

    "Why do you ask, you need her for something?" Hibiki asked, her interest was piqued.

    Aiko stands there nervously for a moment, "I just wanted to thank her personally for the other day"

    Hibiki stood there for a moment grinning, "Oh is that all..." Aiko stood there looking at Hibiki perplexed "...forget what I said, the only place I can think of Sachika being at right now is the Tower of Es, she usually goes there to spend a little alone time with herself..." she pauses for a moment pointing at the single huge standing tower not far from the central courtyard, blue energy currents ran up the edges of the old stone meeting at the top forming a light blue hue of an orb "...if she''s not there then I''ll have no idea where she could be"

    Aiko bowed slightly surprising Hibiki, " Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it" she started heading towards the tower before she was stopped by Hibiki calling out her name. "Aiko, be careful when speaking to Sachika..." she rubs the back of her head nervously as she thought for a moment "...she''s not dangerous, but she can be quite sensitive if you say the wrong thing"

    Aiko smiled and bowed once again, "Thank you again, Hibiki-san" she waved before continuing towards the Tower of Es, once again Hibiki was pleasantly surprised by the remark the girl referred her too, she too waved at Aiko as she left.

    She looked out of the small holes in the side walls that were made to let light in, she could see the sun setting in the distance meaning it was almost time for the students return to their dorm blocks for curfew.

    As Aiko ignored that fact, she continued up the stone stairs panting and breathing heavily, next time I have physical education for my class timetable I swear I''ll never slack off, this was one of those moments Aiko wished she put in the extra effect in physical fitness at high school, she made a point in her mind that from here on out she''ll put in one hundred and ten percent into staying fit.

    At the top of the tower, Sachika sat on the edge of the stone railing looking out at the sunset while listening to her music on her headphones.

    Panting slowly at first, she suddenly felt this tingly pleasurable feeling going through her composed fibril letting out a soft moan. It''s reacting to the presence of someone, Sachika wondered whom it could be.

    When she heard the loud thump against the stone floor behind her, she turned around, surprised by who it was. Aiko on her knees was breathing heavily trying to catch her breath after walking the entirety of the Tower of Es.

    Aiko got her breath back to a bearable state, she looked up seeing Sachika seated on the railing, her cleavage exposed as sweat dripped downward.

    Trying to get the image of Sachika''s cleavage out of her mind, Aiko spurted out, "I-I just wanted t-to say thank you for the other day..." still breathing heavily from walking the stairs the rest of what she wanted to say didn''t come out.

 Volume One | Chapter - Thank You Pt. Three

    Aiko turned away not knowing how to respond.

    For a moment Aiko gulped, "A-Aiko" she muttered.

    Once she got her breath back Aiko tried to stand up not realizing that her legs were so weak from all that walking she started to fall back towards the stone stairs, she closed her eyes unable to do anything.

    Rubbing her head, Aiko opened her eyes only to realize she was only inches away from Sachika''s face.

    It was too late for Aiko to get out of this conundrum she was currently in, as Sachika opened her eyes wearily only to see the girl before her straddling her waist.

    "It''s fine..." Sachika scoffed for a moment "...next time just watch what you''re doing" she concludes as if scolding a child.

    Aiko dreaded asking but she had to know, "Y-You don''t, hate me do you?" she sheepishly asked.

    "If you think I hate you over a simple misunderstanding, then you are clearly deluded" Sachika bluntly replied.

    As the two of them exited the Tower of Es, they both paused for a moment.

    "Yeah, likewise" Sachika simply responded.

    Aiko felt a slight unease in the current moment she tried her best to relieve the situation, "If it''s fine with you to c-could we...meet up again and chat?".

    Aiko had a feeling something was off, but she didn''t dare to dig any deeper so she refrained herself, "Oh...no that''s fine I understand" Aiko bowed then turned away jogging casual back to her dorm block, her heart feeling empty and cold.

    She was breathing heavily, her Composed Fibril still reacting to Aiko, Why! Why did this have to happen to me!, Sachika buried her head in her heads as light tears fell from her cheeks onto her slender legs.<hr>

    Stolen story; please report.Familiars from the Essensu South Korean Academy were deployed to the frontline fighting against the North''s own Familiars.

    Carnwennanthrowing them with such speed towards her opponent impaling multiple daggers into a North Korean Familiar''s chest who was still barely breathing from the inflicted damage.

    Minn Chi-Sun stood there haggard from the relentless fighting, cyan coloured hair covered in mud and blood as rain continuously dropped from the sky onto her.

    Before her, another North Korean Familiar attacked her, this time she was barely in time to stop it. "Die you Southern dog!" her opponent wailed, with such quick speed Chi-Sun used Lightning Tachyon a huge surge or electrical currents emanating from her back, and with such incredible speed she ripped off her opponent''s right arm and part of her torso with one of her daggers.

    Her face contorted as the feeling of regret started to affect her, what is the point of all this needless bloodshed, she thought to herself as tears ran down her cheeks.

    "That''s impossible, we all know that it takes four to five years for the Nebula to stage another attack!" the General incredulously responded to the communications officer.

    "The energy spike has surpassed all recorded results!" the communications officer responded in panic.

    As Chi-Sun continued to cry she began to hear what sounded like fluctuations in the magnetic currents upon earth, Familiars being very sensitive to such changes, she looked up to see a gargantuan bright white and blue orb appear over the battlefield as flak rounds, artillery and gunfire continued to engulf the ground below it.

    Along with multiple Nebula Cruiser Platforms, shaped like horizontal diamonds with a bulge atop the centre. It wasn''t long before the Nebula Platforms started to fire a barrage of plasma beams and missiles towards the ground scorching the earth beneath them.

    This can''t be happening...right...it''s a nightmare right!, Chi-Sun helplessly tried to convince herself.

    "Chi-Sun we need to go!" Eun-Hee shouted out at the top of her voice, Chi-Sun nodded frantically as they started to run.

    Both Chi-Sun and Eun-Hee readied themselves the best they could into fighting stances, as the Nebula Grunt was quickly joined by dozens of its comrades.

 Volume One | Chapter - Third Nebula Invasion Pt. One

    She frantically wriggled out of her friends'' tight grip, "Don''t do that! You scared me to death!" Aiko shouted as many students wondered by them glancing as they heard Aiko raising her tone.

    Uli just laughed in response, "Look, chill out it was only a joke..." she decided then and there to change the subject eyeing her friend closely "...anyway, who were you having a secret rendezvous yesterday? Huh?" she continued to press the subject without letting up.

    Aiko nervously smiled, "Well..." she pauses for a moment considering her options before proceeding "...I just spent some time with Sachika-" she was stopped by Uli before she could finish, her friend''s eyes lit up with excited anticipation.

    Aiko just shook her head quickly to answer Uli''s question. Uli sighed with relief, "Good, just make sure you don''t do that" she told Aiko with all the seriousness she could muster at that moment.

    "What''s the issue with doing such a thing with Sachika?" Aiko asked hesitantly to find out the answer.

    "Do you know how jealous the other girls would get if they found out..." Uli gulped slightly "...it''s common knowledge that Coordinators try to form Blood Contracts with prestigious Familiar''s in order to raise their status within the academy".

    Aiko tapped Uli''s hands off of her shoulders, "Okay, okay...jeez just let it go already" Aiko replied as if impersonating a little girl.

    As the two of them walked towards the reception area of the academy in the centre of the room was a large group of students looking upwards, when Aiko turned to see what they were looking at it was a holographic projection of the news.

    At 22:00 hours, eyewitness reports indicate that a Third Nebula Invasion has commenced as radar and communications blacked out of the Korean Peninsula, the news reporter paused for a moment placing a finger upon his earpiece, I-I just been informed that we have exclusive footage taken from a civilian source.

    The screen cut to the recording taken from a civilian source, as Aiko, Uli and the other students watched, they could see the rainy overcast day of the sky as gunfire, flak and explosions filled the sky with a cluster of vibrant colours.

    We''ve also received information that the Minister of Defence is currently giving a statement right now, so we''ll now broadcast said statement.

    As of this moment, we the Japanese Government have come to the decision to dispatch military aid and relief to the Korean Peninsula along with an Armiger detachment in order to provide support on the operation. We are unclear of the situation at hand, as sporadic information keeps coming out of the area regardless we will still provide full support to our allies abroad.

    Upon hearing that statement, the crowd of students began to talk to one another some scared of what''ll happen others unsure on how to respond to such a thing.

    At first, both Aiko and Uli didn''t notice Bethany running to them breathing heavily as pores of sweat ran down her forehead, "I-I''ve been l-looking everywhere for you" she announced with such a haggard tone.

    Both Aiko and Uli nodded.

    "That''s the thing..." Bethany sent shivers down their spines when she continued talking "...the two countries resumed fighting yesterday along the 38th Parallel Line, and that''s where the Nebula emerged"

    "You don''t mean that..." the thought of it haunted Aiko, she didn''t want to believe it. Bethany nodded confirming Aiko''s suspicions, "Rumours are circulating that nearly all the second and third-year students of Essensu South Korea Academy were killed in the initial attack, and not much of the first years survived either"

    Uli laughed nervously thinking that they were over exaggerating the whole thing, "Come on, you can''t be serious..." when she realised that both Aiko and Bethany still had serious looks on their faces her knees trembled as she fell to the floor some of the students turned to see what was happening "...but we had friends go to that academy..." tears started coming to her eyes as the thought weighed in on her, Bethany knelt down trying to console her as the two of them hugged.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.Aiko was in danger of losing her cool as were many other first years around them, so this is what it feels like wondering whether a friend is dead or not, as she too fell to the floor hugging Uli who was still crying.<hr>

    "I hope she''s okay" Hibiki muttered, Sachika just nodded in response.

    "Stop worrying about something you can''t change" both Hibiki and Sachika heard from the distance they looked up to see a girl, a third year at their academy standing before her lesser peers, her bright red hair tied in a ponytail hanging down her back almost reaching her tailbone, her sea green eyes staring at them.

    "What did you say!" Sachika''s anger was rising by the second.

    "You heard me" the third year girl responded.

    Sachika without thinking stood up forming her Essence Armament her bladed gauntlets the Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, in response, the third year''s Coordinator held out her hand in front of her as fine pixelated shards started to emanate from her body as energy started to build up in front of her hand. The third-year waved her hand signalling for her to stop.

    "B-But, Haven-sama" the girl responded.

    "It''s fine, it looks like Sachika Ito needs to be taught a lesson by her superiors" the third year answered, as she too started to form her own Essence Armament, her weapon was that of a great sword.

    Sachika smirked, "I''ve been waiting for a long time to beat you to a pulp, Jade Haven," she said as she readied herself. Jade also did the same readying herself for their fight.

    Hibiki jumped up off the bench, "Come on! We don''t have time for such things like this, we''ve got bigger fish to fry!" she tried talking some sense into the two of them, but both Sachika and Jade were adamant to continue this fight ignoring the pleas from Hibiki for them to stop.

    Turning to their left they could see both Ashina and Amelia the latter with her hand out as pixelated patterns emerged across the floor from her body to the barrier between Sachika and Jade.

    Jade shocked bowed as did her Coordinator, deactivating her Essence Armament, " Ms Ashina" she answered.

    Ashina giggled, "I hate to break it to you ladies..." her eyes suddenly turned from their gleeful effect to a sour one "...but unauthorized duels are not permitted on campus"

    "I deeply apologize, Ms Ashina, however Sachika Ito of second-year went out of line to draw a weapon on the third year" Jade responded bowing down lower than before.

    "I know everyone''s on edge..." Ashina pointed to Sachika and Hibiki "...I am also aware that you were trying to give these second years an important life lesson on the burden of losing friends and loved ones..." Ashina clapped her hands together "...however, we must also never lose what makes us human" she announced.

    Jade couldn''t help but scoff at the last comment, but she refrained herself from answering back.

    Both Sachika and Hibiki had their gazes on them albeit Sachika''s was more hostile.

    "I was originally sent here to collect you two..." Ashina said, both Sachika and Hibiki were somewhat surprised that the former wasn''t being punished for breaking the rules "...Mistress Daiki would like to speak to the two of you personally" Ashina finished with a big smile on her face, as she turned away walking towards the Mistress'' office closely followed by Amelia.

    Both Sachika and Hibiki followed suit, the two of them looking at one another wondering what the Mistress could possibly want with either of them.

 Volume One | Chapter - Third Nebula Invasion Pt. Two

    A few hours ago...

    Both Chi-Sun and Eun-Hee barely survived their encounter with the Nebula Grunts.

    They continued through the forest as they heard the sounds of plasma beams being fired in the distance along with gunfire and explosions.

    The two arrived in a small opening in the middle of the forest to find a single large tree toppled over, it looked to have been hit by one of the Nebula Platform beams during the initial attack, on the floor lying next to the tree looked like two persons.

    The Familiar girl was leaning back against the trunk of the fallen tree her short messy silver coloured hair had been dirtied by the preceding battle.

    "Yon!" Chi-Sun called out, both she and Eun-Hee ran to Yon only to see her Coordinator dead in her arms, the girl''s short brown hair draped casually to the side of her face made it look like she was in a deep sleep.

    Yon looked up with dried tears on her cheeks, "Chi!" she replied between her crying fit.

    When Chi-Sun got a closer look, she was shocked by what she saw, Yon''s Coordinator had a gaping hole where her heart would have been instead she could see the bone shards and flesh protruding from the entry and exit wound where charcoaled looking skin and flesh started to crumble.

    Chi-Sun knelt down in front of Yon, she noticed that Yon had blood pouring from her back. "Yon, what happened?" Chi-Sun asked reluctantly to find out.

    It''s been an hour since the Nebula appeared somethings not right usually regeneration would have been in progress by then, Chi-Sun thought to herself.

    "No! I''m not leaving her" Yon held on tighter to Zhen refusing to leave her behind. Chi-Sun knew the feeling of losing a partner, many Familiars and Coordinators made an unwritten law to bring back their deceased partners however it wasn''t always possible forcing some to leave them behind.

    Chi-Sun turned to Eun-Hee, "Eun, I need you to take Zhen back with you".

    "You can barely fight in your condition, as for Zhen she''s already KIA so we don''t need to worry about putting further physical and mental trauma on her..." Chi-Sun looked back at Yon who didn''t seem to quite believe what she was hearing "...you can still use Tachyon right?" Eun-Hee nodded to answer her question.

    At first, Eun-Hee was reluctant to accept the truth and order, but she knew better than to deny such things, she nodded once again, "Okay, but you better come back or they''ll be hell to pay!"

    Chi-Sun laughed thinking about that promise both she and Eun-Hee made back at high school, "Don''t worry, your anger scares me more than the Nebula any day of the week" she smiled.

    She turned to her right she and the girl in her arms moved at the speed of lightning as her body moved due to her supernaturally enhanced state leaving a faint afterimage of the duo.

    As Chi-Sun went back to Yon''s side attempting to pick her up, Yon immediately fell forwards along with Chi-Sun.

    She too picked Yon up in her arms like a princess surprising Yon herself, "We need to get you to a water source" Chi-Sun announced as the duo moved back into the dense foliage of the forest to find a fresh water source.<hr>

    If I make one wrong move I could permanently dislodge Yon''s spine and paralyze her, Chi-Sun''s hands started to tremble at the thought of such a thing happening.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Once finished Chi-Sun helped Yon up off the rock, the latter slipping in the water as her bare naked chested was on show Yon landed upon Chi-Sun, her cheeks blushing at the sight of seeing Yon''s stomach and breasts dripping in clear water arousing her somewhat.

    Shocked Chi-Sun didn''t know what to say to that, "You can be such a brat sometimes" Chi-Sun said under her breathe, as she gently placed Yon''s corset back on, and then proceeded to pick her up in the piggyback position before continuing off towards the last known location of the South Korea frontline.<hr>

    Before Chi-Sun could react, the Nebula Pincer used one of its legs to smash into Chi-Sun''s chest winding her and knocking her and Yon through the air.

    Looking behind her she could see another Nebula Pincer, she turned to see where Yon was while also noticing the Nebula Pincer in front of her clearly ignoring Yon that was still on the floor unconscious.

    She furrowed her mind on what to do, she tried to use her enhanced speed to escape. Her body went through the motions she didn''t move a single inch it was as if the tentacles latched upon her negated her powers.

    Before she knew it, she could the sounds of several plasma beams being fired.

    The Nebula Pincer''s flailed relentlessly before eventually dying, the one that had its tendrils latched onto Chi-Sun instantly dropped her as it slowly coiled itself up in a fetus position.

    After a few seconds the carapace of the Nebula Pincer burst open with slime and liquid flowing out, but what surprised Chi-Sun was the naked girl that followed afterwards.

    As the girl started to stir awake, she coughed violently as she tried to get the foreign substance out of her mouth, sitting up she instantly wrapped her arms around herself as the cold dusk air threatened to bit into her skin leaving her breasts out bare.

    Chi-Sun knew the girl a second year Familiar, she had seen her around at the academy prior to this incident.

    "What happened?" Chi-Sun asked needing answers as soon as possible.

    The pink haired girl trembled first before she started speaking, "M-Me...m-my Coordinator...and a few others were trying to make it to the front line..." she started to hyperventilate, Chi-Sun tried to calm her down to stop the girl from panicking "...t-then next minute, w-we were attacked by those eight-legged monsters..." when the girl saw the Nebula Pincer she flinched trying to desperately move away before Chi-Sun once again reassured her by telling her the creature was dead "...these tendrils latched onto us, a-and then pulled us inside of them" the girl seemed fearful as she kept on looking at the Nebula Pincer as if she remembered committing terrible crimes inside that thing.

    Her arms, legs and eyes kept on twitching uncontrollably as if she had lost control of her own body, her breathing wouldn''t slow. Chi-Sun eventually grabbed the pink haired girls'' hand to calm her down.

    Chi-Sun pulls the girl''s face towards hers, "It''s okay calm down, once you''re calm regenerate your academy uniform and if you can your Essence Armament, understood?" the girl nodded.

    However, the one thing that waned on her mind the most as of that moment was the mysterious accomplice that saved her life, Yon''s and pinked haired girl.

 Volume One | Chapter - Third Nebula Invasion Pt. Three

    The pinked haired girl volunteered to help Yon walk, as both she and Yon weren''t in any condition to fight if they encountered the Nebula.

    Continuing through the forest they were suddenly shot at from a distance the three of them dropped to the floor, originally Chi-Sun thought it was Nebula until she realised it didn''t look or sound like beam weapons, her mind jumped to the possibility of it being North Korean soldiers, if that''s the case why are they so deep behind enemy line, she thought to herself.

    She heard someone in the distance shouting, "Stop shooting you damn idiots!" it sounded like a man.

    The South Korean sergeant jogged up to Chi-Sun saluting her, in many cases military personnel viewed Familiars as higher ranking officers than themselves, Chi-Sun had to be honest though being saluted by grown men when she was only sixteen made her feel uncomfortable.

    The sergeant didn''t waste any time, "Everyone is falling back we''re preparing to evacuate"

    "What''s the word from the academy?" Chi-Sun asked, it had been a dozen or so hours since she left Essensu South Korea Academy, and it was where the first years were still stationed at prior to the Third Nebula Invasion.

    "Sorry, we''ve heard nothing about the academy..." the sergeant turned around to glance at the Nebula Titan Platform in the distance before looking back at Chi-Sun "...when that thing emitted the electrical blast it fried all the systems we have, we''ve lost contact with pretty much everyone".

    Chi-Sun turned back looking at Yon, the other girl their faces showed a hint of fear at the thought of what might have happened at the academy.

    Chi-Sun, Yon and their third comrade were redirected along with the small detachment that encounters them earlier by a forward operating base to this location, as they entered the vicinity to see military personnel, Familiars and Coordinators rushing around the base.

    In the distance Chi-Sun caught a glimpse of the academy Mistress, in a more casual attire, her unkempt short light brown hair showing off her more laid-back approach to life, however right now she was in serious mode.

    Chi-Sun ran over to the mistress leaving Yon and the pink haired girl behind, "Mistress, what''s going on?" she called out.

    She paused for a moment before responding, "We''re evacuating the remaining Familiars and Coordinators out of the country to Japan" she swiftly responded.

    At first, Chi-Sun was shocked to hear those words, "Why! We should stay and fight!".

    "We don''t have time for this Chi!..." paused for a moment before motioning for Chi to look around "...we were lucky to have these many students make out alive, so we can''t risk anymore" the Mistress turned away not giving Chi-Sun a chance to talk.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.The girl looked up her red eyes with tears spilling, Chi-Sun clasped the girl''s slender face in between both her hands as tears came from her eyes too.

    "E-Elizabeth" Chi-Sun quietly said Yon and the pink haired girl walked by the duo with the latter still helping the former walk, not wanting to interrupt their moment, continuing on towards one of the military transports.

    As both Chi-Sun and Elizabeth embraced again, the two were interrupted by a military MP announcing the departure of the last transports for the Familiars and Coordinators without further ado, the duo quickly boarded one the modes of transport that both Yon and the other girl happened to just board.

    Suddenly something came across Yon''s mind, she turned to the pink haired girl, "What''s your name, we never asked you".

    At first, the girl didn''t say anything, "It''s Namita" she responded.

    "Wait, that''s a Nepali name isn''t, so you must be from Nepal?" Yon asked Namita nodded to confirm Yon''s question.

    As Chi-Sun sat down, she looked to Elizabeth, "I''m glad you''re safe I don''t know what I would have done if you were killed".

    As the transport took off from the base, everyone onboard was in deep thought wondering what was going to happen from here on out.<hr>

    In the distance, she could see the faint flashes of explosions, and the purple, pink and orange combination of lights mixed in with them.

 Volume One | Chapter - Quiet Before The Storm Pt. One

    Sachika once again tried to call Chi-Sun''s cell phone only for it to go straight to voicemail again, she was starting to feel sick thinking about what might have happened.

    Instead of wearing the typical grey and white Familiar uniform, she was wearing short shorts and vest something close to a gym kit.

    "Maybe I should go to the gym, get my mind off things for a bit", Sachika muttered to herself.

    As she left her dorm room with her gym towel in hand, she suddenly felt weak at the knees slumping against the wall only a few steps away from her dorm room door.

    Her breathing was getting heavier, her body felt tingly and sensitive all over.

    Upon the thought of picturing Aiko in her head, Sachika''s cheeks turned red blushing from the sensation that she was feeling.

    "Thank god, you''re all okay" Eun-Hee sighed at the thought.

    "Sorry say that again?" Chi-Sun asked looking to Eun-Hee.

    At first Eun-Hee was a bit surprised, but she repeated the sentence nevertheless, "I said, that the United States Armed Forces are also helping with military aid for South Korea along with Japan..." she paused for a moment "...still it doesn''t change the fact that we''ve lost so much already" Eun-Hee bluntly stated leaving a sour taste in everyone''s mouths.

    During the students moment of reflection, it was interrupted by a JSDF military police officer shouting out instructions, "All Familiars and Coordinators that have recently arrived need to report to Essentia Japan Academy for your new orders..." he motioned to the Humvee''s situated in a line behind him "...departure is at 20:00 hours!"

    The group were about to make their way towards the Humvee''s before Yon spoke up, "Um, Eun...is she...".

    "Don''t worry Yon, your Coordinator was taken to Essensu Japan Academy to have a proper burial service" Eun-Hee responded answering her friends'' question before she even finished.

    Yon nodded, "Thank you Eun..." she attempts to hold back tears "...I really appreciate it".

    The students entered into the available Humvee''s filling up all the spaces.

    A few miles away in the forest that Chi-Sun and her group escaped from hours ago, there was a stranded military armoured detachment of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces of the First Republic of Korea Army, 3rd Armoured Brigade.

    A K2 Black Panther tank shot at a charging Nebula Pincer, it''s razor shape red plasma claws latching through the sides of the tank as beams of plasma fired from the rotary disk floating slightly above its head.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.The infantry kept on firing their weapons only to be gunned down by Nebula Infantry Soldiers wielding plasma beam rifles.

    Miles away at a command post, there was a Major shouting into a satellite phone, "Sir! THE SITUATION DOWN HERE HAS GONE FROM WORSE TO ROYALLY FUCKED!..." he shouted over the continuous barrage of shelling and gunfire.

    Outside Armiger personnel in their Essence Form were fending off against the Nebula as the evacuation continued, a woman in her mid-twenties dressed in attire similar to Essentia student uniforms albeit digitized armour covered her legs, arms, torso and face.

    Tendrils latched onto the woman''s left arm, but without hesitation, she pulled back with force toppling the Nebula Pincer that latched onto her, with her Essence Armament weapon that closely resembled a guandao.

    When suddenly multiple pixelated spikes emanated from the ground and air impaling the Nebula Grunts killing them instantly.

    The Coordinator had the same attire except for different colour and style of hair, however, she had two patches of bare naked skin revealed on her back that were crystallized by design acting as receptors, and from them emanated thousands upon thousands of beautiful orange coloured pixel shards, as small electrical currents bounced across their surfaces.

    The Armiger Familiar turned to her Coordinator, "How''s the Spiritual Link?"

    The Coordinator nodded, "It''s still working fine..." she pointed in the distance "...more Nebula Grunts and Infantry Soldiers heading towards us at two o''clock!".

    To set her mind straight Aiko thought it''d be best to take a shower.

    The mixture of soap and water ran down along her naked slender body, her head tilted downward as she looks at the floor, her mind in a train of thought. With everything that had happened, she found it hard to concentrate.

    As Aiko continued to let the hot water run over her body, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Wincing from the pain, Aiko positioned herself so she could see her back through the mirror in her bathroom.

    Aiko thought about the sudden sharp pain she had just felt in the bathroom wondering what it was when her mind couldn''t conjure up a suitable answer, she decided not to dwell on it.

    Looking up towards the ceiling all she could think about was whether her friends were okay, what scared her the most was losing people that she grew close to and cared for during her high school years.

 Volume One | Chapter - Quiet Before The Storm Pt. Two

    Aiko was in session, typing notes into the system server that filed the students work by using the holographic keyboard attached to a white monitor connected to her desk, as the teacher gave them a lecture on the Nebula Pincer.

    She wrapped her arms around her waist, she felt cold as if she were in the middle of an arctic winter.

    To her left sat Uli, she noticed that Aiko wasn''t acting like her usual self so she leaned over ever so slightly from her desk, "Hey, Aiko are you okay? You don''t look good" Uli whispered.

    Aiko looked towards Uli, her response was strange it was as if she had no recollection of why she was here in the first place, and to make it even more unusual her hearing was starting to go.

    Powering down the monitor in front of her, Aiko stood up, her legs almost giving way but she was quick enough to grab of the desk so as not to fall over.

    This time Aiko collapsed to the floor rear first, the students around her pointed and looked speaking in hushed whispers.

    Running to her aide, Uli tried to help Aiko up but her friend was reluctant to move, "Aiko, what''s wrong?!". Uli panicking didn''t know what to do. Tears started to run down Aiko''s cheeks as she continued to press her hands against her head, more so than before.

    "I...I don''t know...my head...and chest..." Aiko whelped out in pain mid-sentence "...it feels like...I''m about...to die" Aiko barely had any energy to muster those words.

    "Instructor, help!" Uli called out, the surrounding students looked on in fear as hushed whispers became gasps and scream at the sight before them.

    Aiko laid weakly against the front of the desk behind her, the girls'' eyes looked like she was drugged with an aphrodisiac except her eyes were lifeless.

    "We need to take her to the infirmary, now" the instructor ordered Uli to help her move Aiko.

    The two friends sat on the field eating energy bars and drinking energy drinks, both of them had unsealed the midsection of their nanotech suits revealing their cleavages and stomachs.

    "Find it hard to believe that such suits can stop sweat from clinging to your skin..." Hibiki takes a sip from her energy drink "...and gradually repair damaged tissue and cells" she looked to Sachika expecting an answer only to lay sight on a girl deep in thought.

    As for Sachika, she continued to sit and stare at the floor where Hibiki left her.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Sachika was not prepared as she started to shake from the cold water, what made matters worse was when their class instructor called out for Sachika.

    Jumping up saluting Sachika responded, "Y-Yes ma''am!" before she could stop what was about to happen Sachika''s nanotech suit slid off the shoulders due to the cold water, standing there Sachika''s bare chest was on the show to the instructor and the rest of the class.

    "Ahhh!" Sachika fell to her knees wrapping both arms around her breasts as her face was washed with embarrassment.

    "I got to say Sachika, for a girl your age you got a body that many would kill for..." the instructor crossed her arms before continuing "...you even have well developed B cup breasts so I don''t know why you''re embarrassed to show them off"

    Sachika didn''t know how to respond at first, "H-H-How...do you..." before she could finish, the instructor cut in mid-sentence.

    She laughed, "Come on Sachika, there''s a reason why the system has physical examinations prior to your enrolment ceremonies" the instructor turned walking in the opposite direction as she ordered the other students on what to do.

    Hibiki walked up behind Sachika laughing, Sachika wasn''t amused at this point. "I''m going to kill you for this!" Sachika was seething with anger as she narrowed her eyes at Hibiki.

    In response, Hibiki shook her head, "Hey now, you can wait until this year''s Royale starts" Hibiki had a big smile on her face.

    Dealing with that was hard enough seeing that the standard weaponry wasn''t powerful to always deal with the Nebula, ninety-nine per cent of the time, the standard military forces had to rely on the help of Familiars and Coordinators for such tasks.

    On the bridge of one of these warships, personnel were in a frantic state as they were taking plasma beam fire from the nearby shore of South Korea, the driver of the ship trying with all of his might to move the ship as fast as he can, as holes were starting to appear on the hull of the ship. In turn, the ship itself was starting to take in water.

    One of the bridge officers at the radar station turned to the Captain of the ship, "Captain, The Third Fleet has lost visual contact of the third Nebula Cruiser Platform!"

    The Captain gave the officer an irritated look, "What did you mean they''ve lost it?!"

    The ship shook violently as it was struck again by another plasma beam, the grey eerie bridge was illuminated by flashing red lights signalling that the ship was in an emergency state as they continue to take in water.

    His moment was interrupted when the same bridge officer shouted out, "S-Sir, I''m picking up energy spikes from the third Nebula Cruiser Platform...". The Captain jumped out of his chair towards the bridge officer as the ship took another direct hit from plasma beam fire.

    "What are the coordinates!..." when the Captain saw the coordinates he gasped in fear, and then gulped turning his attention to the bridge officer "...get a message out to someone..." the Captain grabbed the speaker piece that was used for across ship announcements.

    "All personnel abandon ship, I say again abandon ship!"

 Volume One | Chapter - Unexpected Arrival

    Scattered around the area were machines with elongated metal arms, holographic screens with vital information and vials of orange liquid attached to them.

    Instead this time one of the students had multiple gashes across her torso, at first it made Uli feel sick to see such wounds inflicted upon people, but deep down she knew that everything that happens in Essentia Academies comes with the title of being a Familiar or Coordinator.

    She watched as the student was laid upon an infirmary bed not to far from her, Uli could see their third-year tags on their shoulders.

    A pool of blood rushing over the sides of the suit, large deep cuts in the girls'' torso continued to spurt out blood, and her breathing was very weak that you could barely see her chest rising and falling in tune with her breathes.

    One of the machines that Uli saw earlier, rolled in on their treads in their pronged hand was a vial of that orange liquid, the doctor snatched it from the machine''s metal prongs.

    The doctor that poured the orange liquid substance onto the girls'' body turned to the other two, "Next time make sure she doesn''t injure herself in training..." the doctor wiped the small sweat that had appeared on her forehead "...it''s bad enough patching up Familiars and Coordinators during and after battles with the Nebula and Royale''s, we don''t need to waste resources on incompetent students who hurt themselves in training"

    The two other third-year student''s bowed slightly thanking the doctors wholeheartedly.

    In the distance she could hear the faint cries of a girl, Aiko turned around trying to figure out where the crying was coming from, she didn''t have to wait long when another beam of light appeared in the distance.

    Her eyes squinting slightly as they adjusted, Aiko could see a girl with long black hair on her knees hunched forward, the girl was wearing some form of body armour suit however it wasn''t anything that Aiko had seen before.

    As Aiko walked closer to the lone figure before her having this feeling of stopping and running away, she pushed such thoughts aside continuing onwards, as she reached for the girl with her left hand. Aiko was startled when the girl in front of her spun her head around, profusely pouring out of her eyes, mouth and ears.

    Falling to the floor, the girls'' eyes were lifeless and unmoving.

    Aiko shuffled back, her face had a look of fear, her feet slipped making her collapse on her rear end.

    Looking down on the floor, she could see the entrails sprawled out of a girls torso, Aiko dry-heaved with nothing coming up as her throat became raspy from her body''s constant attempts of vomiting.

    "Safe them" Aiko suddenly heard a voice in her head, as the same voice continuously repeated the same words.

    When that didn''t work she clenched her eyes shut, Aiko shouting out, "Stop it!"

    Sachika sighed, "No I haven''t, so can you just leave it be and let me finish my coursework?" she was getting agitated by the constant reminders and questions from her friend about getting a partner, but also it made her mind wander back to the thought of Aiko.

    Her friend decided to drop the subject, as for Sachika she returned to doing her coursework while she could before it got too late.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."I don''t know the signal to my cell phone has gone" Hibiki taps touchscreen buttons on her cellphone but to her surprise, there was still no signal.

    Sachika, in turn, pulled out her cell phone, only to also find that she didn''t have any signal. Walking to the window she gingerly opening the curtains, looking outside to see whether there was a storm or something that could explain the sudden loss of signal to their cell phones.

    "Hmm, yeah maybe" Hibiki dropped her cell phone on the bed just beside her.

    Sachika''s mind suddenly wandered back to the discussion that she, Hibiki and Mistress Daiki had with one another about her getting a new partner.

    As she continued to think about it, she suddenly stood up from her seat surprising Hibiki with her sudden abrupt action. "I''m heading out quickly I''ll be back soon" Sachika announced.

    Hibiki perplexed at the sudden need for Sachika to leave, she responded with, "Um, okay...just don''t be too long we''re starting early tomorrow"

    "Yeah, I know..." Sachika walks into the dorm room door opening it "...I won''t be too long".

    Uli and Bethany''s uniforms were haphazardly put together as their white collar and red tie and knee-high socks were dumped on the dorm rooms floor.

    "I hope Aiko is going to be okay" Uli suddenly muttered.

    As for Bethany, something bothered her, "Do you know what happened?"

    Uli sighing gave the best possible answer she could as she rubbed her head, "I have no idea like I said I noticed she looked off in class and then..." Uli cringes at the sight of seeing Aiko coughing up blood "...she started coughing up blood, even the instructor and doctor hadn''t a clue what happened with her"

    Looking at Bethany''s face Uli realised it had gone pale, "Damn sorry, it must be a shock suddenly hearing and finding out about this"

    Bethany nodded, bringing her knees up to her chest, "Yes it was a shock when I heard, I-I just hope she''s alright"

    Uli''s cheeks turn red when she glances between Bethany''s legs, but instead of saying anything, she says, "Don''t worry I''m sure she''s going to be fine..." she produces a small smile to lighten the mood "...she''s a tough girl after all anyway!"

    As for Bethany, she responds in kind with a small smile, as she thought about what Aiko could possibly be going through right now, she couldn''t help but worry for one of her friends.

    Ever since her Composed Fibril reacted in that way to Aiko''s presence, she tended to drift off in class thinking about her, Sachika hated this sensation experiencing it once before, it wasn''t long ago that she vowed never to commit to such a thing ever again.

    That tingling sensation returned in full force once again, gritting her teeth Sachika cursed at such a thing happening, wishing that it would just go away.

    "Okay..." she started to control her breathing "...I need to do this" slapping her cheeks gently as she stood up straight. but before she could continue on, an air raid siren rang out throughout campus.

    "Warning Red Alert One: Nebula Cruiser Platform class has been sighted ten kilometres out from Essensu Japan Academy..." Sachika''s eyes opened wide upon hearing the announcement "...first years are to report to faculty staff outside the shelters. Second, Third and Fourth years are to respond to the Nebula Threat"

    Hearing the announcement Sachika rushed towards the deployment centres stationed around the academy, around her she could see fellow students from all different years adhering to their orders.

 Volume One | Chapter - Revelation Part One

    The tank commander shouted into his headset, "Fire!", in unison, the column of main battle tanks fired a barrage of APCR rounds towards the Nebula Cruiser Platform.

    They continued their barrage as the target neared the shoreline.

    "Our fucking shells, aren''t doing shit to it!" one of the crew members on the gunner controls spurted out, the tank commander looked through the scope, as he zoomed in he could see some of the shells exploding not even inflicting a scratch as others just pinged off its outer shell.

    "Keep firing!" the tank commander ordered, as sweat started to drip down his forehead, he continued to watch the scene play itself out before him through the scope.

    Outside of the tank, multiple JSDF soldiers were ordering civilians to evacuate the area, the screams of everyday normal people could be heard as they rushed down the streets pushing and shoving one another to the side.

    Before they even realised it was too late, the soldiers closest to the sea wall had already been slaughtered superheated cut marks covered their bodies, the remaining soldiers focused their efforts on protecting the civilians however it had little effect as they too were quickly slaughtered.

    As the tank commanders tank along with the rest of the column continued firing at their target.

    The tank commanders eyes widen in fear, as he soon realised it was the end for them.

    At the shoreline, all that was left were the burned out carcasses of JSDF military vehicles as they continued to burn.

    Sachika was huffing and puffing, she literally sprinted the entire way here without stopping, which was a good few hundred metres.

    The building wasn''t brightly coloured and detailed like the campus and teaching areas, this one was dark in colour with grey walls and flooring, black lockers along with pale grey seating areas in the middle of those rows of lockers.

    Hibiki smirked upon seeing Sachika, "And now you know why the instructor tells us not to slack off in physical training"

    Sachika gradually getting her breath back, she hunched over hands on her knees.

    The red light that had been flashing above the door suddenly changed to a still green signalling the order for the Familiars to deploy.

    The duo of friends friendly banter between one another quickly dissolved as all their attention reverted to getting their kit on and ready. It wasn''t long before Sachika had fitted her body armour securely.

    Lifting her arms up she called out, "Essence Armament activate" upon that command digitized armour of pale grey colour formed up her legs and arms as if producing a layer of new outer skin, between them were blue energy currents.

    She looked to her friend Hibiki who was swinging a staff like a weapon in her hand. Both ends of the staff were thicker than the staff itself, along with the edges which were multiple short sharp spikes.

    "Ready?" Sachika asked.

    Upon hearing her friends question Hibiki slammed one end of the staff against the concrete ground, "As ready as I''ll ever be!" she announced sounding a bit too enthusiastic for Sachika''s liking.

    Even some of the girls surrounding them had a similar outlook like Sachika did towards Hibiki''s attitude.

    They followed suit with the rest of the Familiars, heading towards their deployment zones as ordered by the academy''s command centre.

    In response Sachika flustered, "H-H-How did you..." her mind paused for a moment "...it doesn''t matter!" she replied hurriedly.

    Hibiki just smirked, "Well make sure you do after this, okay?"

    At first Sachika didn''t respond, instead, she tried to push any thoughts of Aiko out of her head.

    What mattered at the moment was the mission and not her personal problems that she was trying to deal with.<hr>

    She gritted her teeth at the thought of Nebula deceiving them.

    "Mistress, a dozen Nebula is heading straight for the academy!" one of the female personnel announced as a holographic screen before they showed a dozen red dots, with Nebula written in small writing above moving rapidly across the screen.

    Mistress Daiki''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing those words, "Can you ascertain what type of Nebula?" she asked.

    "Going by their speed, I''d say Nebula Pincer" the girl responded.

    "Put me through to the Familiar''s in the deployment zones!" she ordered with authority.

    In unison, the personnel responded, "Yes ma''am!"<hr>

    "Chi-Sun, what are you doing here?" Sachika asked she was rather confused at this point as to why Chi-Sun was here with them.

    Chi-Sun smiled, "Well I thought I could give you ladies a helping hand, as I''m still able to fight at the moment!"

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon."But, shouldn''t you be going to the shelters along with the other refugees from your academy?" Sachika questioned.

    Placing a hand upon her forehead, Chi-Sun shook her head gently from side to side, "Well the reason why they''re going to the shelters are, that most of them are injured..." Chi-Sun turned her head in the direction of Fukuoka "...plus I got a personal grudge to settle with these things!" at that comment Chi-Sun gripped her Essence Weapon tighter with a look of pure determination across her face.

    "All Familiar''s and Coordinators at the deployment zones listen up..." Sachika touched her earpiece as she heard Mistress Daiki addressing them "...as of this moment we have confirmed a large body of Nebula heading straight to your positions we have to ascertain they''re Nebula Pincer, but be prepared for the unexpected"

    The connection was quickly cut, everyone there knew to some degree what to expect as they all had either learned thoroughly about their enemy or had actually fought them in clean-up operations around the world.

    It wasn''t long before they could all hear the distance rumbling of pincer legs. As the students waited the sound started to grow louder until it became coherently clear.

    "Coordinators! Commence Essence Shard barrage!" shouted a fourth-year squad leader. Upon hearing the command all the Coordinators put either their left or right hand out in front of them, around their hands started to form a dust that swirled and twisted.

    In the distance, you could see the spectacle of explosive lights as some of the shards exploded on impact.

    As the noise of explosive firepower died down the surrounding landscape was eerily quiet, all they could hear was the gently blow the wind as fires crackled in the distance from the aftermath of that explosive opening.

    "I don''t like this" Hibiki muttered, and as if jinxing them a sudden cluster of purple plasma beams emanated from the dark in front of them aimed straight at the students.

    The plasma beams simmered through the air detonating in various areas, as Sachika dropped to the floor ducking from the incoming fire.

    Sachika with newfound determination to eliminated the enemy as her body dashed towards a Nebula Pincer.

    Losing her breathe upon impact with the ground, Sachika coughed as she tried to catch her breath.

    Closing her eyes, Sachika held her arms up in defence in an attempt to fruitlessly fend off against the creature. Without realising it, Hibiki had flanked the Nebula pincer striking her polearm upon the creatures head instantly disabling it.

    Opening her eyes Sachika saw Hibiki on top of the Nebula Pincer. Hibiki somersaulting off the top of it landed in front of Sachika extending her hand to her.

    Without hesitation, Sachika grasps onto her friend''s hand as Hibiki pulls her up.

    "You now owe me one" Hibiki announces winking at Sachika.

    As for Sachika, she huffed, "Yeah, I know" sounding rather irritated at the thought of it.

    Looking around she spots her next target, she once again disappearing in a flash as her body moved at the speed of lightning, Sachika drop kicked another Nebula Pincer onto the carapace''s head sending the creature crashing into the ground as grass and dirt-spattered upwards on impact.

    It wasn''t long before Sachika returned to hunting down more targets. Hibiki exasperating at the thought of Sachika feeling at home in this situation, and it was because of that stubborn attitude of her friend that got her previous Coordinator killed.

    "Aiko I''m so glad you''re okay"

    When she heard the voice, Aiko spun around to see a human figure floating towards her, however their skin, although human-like, had an eerie blue effect across multiple areas of her body, moving casually. Looking at the body Aiko could clearly tell it was a woman.

    "W-Who..." before Aiko could finish the mysterious woman clasped Aiko''s face in both of her hands, and with a gentle smile, she leaned forward placing a soft kiss upon her forehead.

    "Remember, that your gifts along with your sisters'' gifts were born from my embodiment, in hope that you can protect and guide those that don''t have them" the woman stated simply.

    What does she mean? Born from her embodiment?, the woman pushed her gently away as Aiko gracefully descended further into the black abyss.

    Reaching out towards the mysterious woman, she shouted "Wait!" as she began to fall into a deep sleep.

 Volume One | Chapter - Revelation Part Two

    It was only when Uli asked about Aiko''s whereabouts that they had realised she was missing from the group.

    Their breathing was quick and short as they continued running, "I hope nothing has happened to Aiko!" Bethany shouted out.

    "You and me both!" Uli responded, without pause, the two darted right around a corner.

    One of the Nebula Pincer launched its multiple tendrils from its carapace towards Sachika, she, in turn, performed a side twist crossing her bladed gauntlets across her chest using the extended blades running up her forearms to slice the many tendrils coming towards her.

    With her left hand, she grabbed hold of one of the Nebula Pincers claws attached to its carapace.

    Sachika pulled back her right arm then sent a strong jab attacking using the small blade extended over her fists to impale and destroy the creatures core.

    "One down!" Sachika shouted.

    "Okay!..." Hibiki replied with a big smile on her face "...I''ll take out the second one!" she used Essence Cloak to a means to bait her enemy into making a move then ultimately leaving themselves open to an attack.

    Chi-Sun with her daggers ready charged the third Nebula Pincer.

    Beforehand, Chi-Sun had a Coordinator infuse her daggers with explosive shard skin.

    Thankfully for the Familiars and Coordinators that were fighting the Nebula, the battle was going in their favour. However, that didn''t mean there weren''t any injured nor casualties on their side.

    Sachika looked to her left seeing a medic tending to one of the injured Familiars.

    Around Sachika various Familiars and Coordinators were finishing off the last scraps of the enemy.

    Behind them, one of the Nebula Pincer was fidgeting on the floor.

    Chi-Sun noticed it, pointing it out to her surrounding comrades. They readied themselves for what will happen, the creature continued to fidget until suddenly stopped. Without warning the carapace bursts to open spurting out the liquid gel and a human girl.

    It was only until the gel started to slide off the body that the Familiars and Coordinators nearest to the girl noticed she was completely naked, except there was a diamond shaped crystal pulsating on the girl''s chest between her breasts.

    Opening her eyes, the girl slowly stood up unfazed that she was stark naked in front of a crowd. As Sachika looked into this girls eyes she noticed a lack of humanity in her, as if the girl was stripped of such things.

    "W-Wait a minute..." Chi-Sun stammered quietly to herself, "...s-she''s a student from the South Korean Branch"

    Hibiki glanced towards her friend, "Are you sure? How can you be certain?"

    "I saw her around the campus a few times" Chi-Sun replied her eyes widened from the realization.

    Suddenly the girl before started to change, the outer shell of digitized armour started to form over the girl.

    It wasn''t long before the transformation had finished, the girl had digitized metal armour that was separated by orange energy currents, the helmet had two orange jagged markings for where the eyes would be, and two tendrils hung down the girls back.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there."Wait a minute..." Chi-Sun tone had gotten shakier at this point "...this could be the Essence Form that I heard about which under development and research!"

    The others didn''t respond, or to be precise they were too focused on the girl before them.

    Before they could react the girl lunged at them with the intent of killing them without mercy.

    "Ma''am a pack has separated from the main group heading deeper into the campus!" One of the female operators called out.

    "Show it to me!" Mistress Daiki sternly replied.

    Upon the screen, she could see a group of four girls in Essence Form using Tachyon to move further into the academy. Mistress Daiki could only think of one reason they were coming deeper into the grounds.

    "Send Ashina and her team down to Sub Level Three!..." the Mistress shouted, "...spare anyone you can to intercept that group!"

    The team of female operators nodded giving out the Mistress'' orders to the appropriate teams.

    With new-found determination, Sachika wanted to kill her enemy, but before she could an open broadcast came over her headpiece.

    "All units, a pack have splintered off from the main enemy force heading deeper into the academy any available units are ordered to engage them immediately!"

    Hibiki shouted out towards Sachika, "Sachi let''s go!"

    Glancing at her friend Sachika responded, "We can''t leave!", she turned to notice one of the enemy girls charging her.

    "Just go!" Chi-Sun grunted in annoyance at Sachika''s reluctance "You''re the fastest Familiar here, and Hibiki has the most effective Essence Cloak ability here..." she charges into battle "...so just go!"

    Sachika bit her lip feeling annoyed that she had to abandon her comrades, finding her resolve she looked to Chi-Sun calling out to her, "You better not die!"

    Chi-Sun laughs, "Please! If I was at my best I''d be showing up right now!"

    Smiling Sachika turned towards the academy both she and Hibiki rushed towards the enemy splinter group using their respective abilities to get there faster.

    "This is Mistress Daiki, girls by any means necessary you must stop that splinter group they can not be allowed to get to Sub Level Three"

    Sachika glanced at Hibiki upon hearing the last few words, "Sub Level Three?"

    "I don''t have time to explain just make sure you stop that group, I''ll try and get any support I can to you!"

    And with that the connection was cut between the girls and the command centre, Hibiki looked to her friend as the continued running down the corridor, "Did you know that there were levels going underground?"

    "No, I hadn''t a clue that there were multiple levels underground at this academy" Sachika replied, as far as the two girls were concerned all they knew was the campus and academy along with the facilities they supplied. It was only until now that the duo finds out about the underground levels in the academy.

    In the distance the two of them could see one of the figures from the splinter group, however, they weren''t heading to the centre of the grounds like they originally they thought this one was headed towards the infirmary. With a burst of energy, Sachika started sprinting as she turned around calling out to Hibiki, "Hurry we got to catch up to them!"

    Sachika came to a T-Junction in the corridor, before she knew there was a strong tug on her collar and Hibiki screaming her name.

    Slightly winded, Sachika came to seeing the heated ionized hole in the wall where bits of metal and plaster drip off the wall into a gloopy texture.

    Before she stood Hibiki, as vapour vented from the left side of her body. It wasn''t long before her and left arm and a part of her side torso started to fall off, the sound of sticky melted flesh tearing could be heard as a part of Hibiki''s body flopped to the floor with a loud thud. There were only a few seconds of squirting blood before the superheated temperature closed off the exits to the veins and arteries.

    Hibiki smirking coughed up blood that splashed on the floor, she turned around looking to Sachika as blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. "You...owe...me...one...now...Sachi" as soon as she finished she dropped to the floor upon impact blood spurted out from her injury.

    Sachika could only sit there tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, she didn''t want to believe what just happened.

 Volume One | Chapter - Revelation Part Three

    Just a foot away from them laid Hibiki''s arm and of her torso. Sachika looks down at her friend to only realise that Hibiki had third degree burns stretching out from the torn crisped flesh.

    Before them, the Nebula-controlled Familiar walked towards them. Her chest had vapour venting out of it where they fired the plasma beam towards Sachika and Hibiki.

    Looking up Sachika froze unable to move all she could think about was Hibiki putting herself in harm''s way for her sake. She trembled slightly as she watched her opponent draw their arm backwards in a striking position.

    Sachika closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable when she suddenly heard someone shouting.

    "Sachi!" Chi-Sun shouted as she threw four daggers at the enemy all the blades impaling themselves into the arm of the Nebula-controlled Familiar.

    Sachika opened her eyes looking up at Chi-Sun as the latter slid across the floor to their side, "Chi-Sun what are you doing here?" she spoke weakly.

    "The Mistress told me what happened so I came as soon as I could" Chi-Sun replied as she tended to Hibiki''s injuries.

    "Sachi, you need to chase after that one it''s going to the infirmary..." she was cut short by Sachika.

    "B-But what about the others?" Sachika asked.

    "Don''t worry about them Ashina and the other high ranking third-year students will take care of them..." Chi-Sun gently pulled Hibiki out of Sachika''s arms so she could treat her properly "...the Mistress wants you to go to the infirmary"

    Nodding reluctantly Sachika stood up looking down at her two friends for a moment, she took a step or two away before stopping to turn back around. "Take care of Hibiki, okay?" Sachika quietly spoke.

    Chi-Sun just nodded as she watched Sachika run towards the infirmary of the academy whilst she continued to tend to Hibiki''s wounds until help arrived.<hr>

    Looking out towards the window she could see the flash of purple and pink as she heard the sounds of plasma beams being fired.

    "What the hell has happened since I''ve been out," she asked herself.

    As she tried to start up, she fell under the weight as her legs were numb for not being used for hours.

    Suddenly there was rapping on the door to her room, Aiko slowly walked over to open it. She was surprised to find that it was her friends Uli and Bethany.

    Without saying anything Uli instantly hugged Aiko while Bethany smiled feeling relieved that her friend was okay.

    Once Aiko and Uli finished their embrace, the former looked between her two friends seeing a hint of worry on her faces.

    "The Nebula is attacking the academy all the first years are heading to the shelter right now" Bethany answered Aiko''s question.

    Uli spoke up, "We need to get out of here"

    Both Aiko and Bethany nodded in agreement the trio quickly exited the room, but Uli instantly stopped startling both Aiko and Bethany.

    Before the girls stood a girl clad in metallic grey digital armour, the orange energy shining brightly within the dark corridor. The three of them had no idea what was standing before them before they could even do anything a shining purple bloom started to appear at the centre of the figure.

    All of a sudden a plasma beam emitted from the purple bloom heading straight for them, fortunately, the trio were able to move quickly to avoid any direct hits however they weren''t quick enough to avoid the explosion.

    The explosion knocked them down to the ground winding them. Aiko''s vision was blurred as she looked around, she could make her friends on the other side of the corridor both of them unconscious.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.She froze in fear of what was going to happen.

    "You bitch!" Sachika shouted as she used Quadruple Tachyon on her enemy, however, her opponent easily avoided the ability dodging it out of the way.

    "Aiko!" Bethany called out as she looked on in shock. Sachika flinched upon hearing Aiko''s name she turned around to look in the direction of the other students only to see both Uli and Bethany trying to get a reaction out of Aiko to no avail.

    No! Why is this happening to me, first Hibiki and now Aiko, Sachika hands started to flex controllably, her eyes pulsing with a blueish hue as a dozen strands of her hair started to turn blue? Images of both Hibiki and Aiko''s lifeless bodies were filling up inside her head.

    She grabbed her head intensely, "No! Stop it!" Sachika screamed out.

    Why do I feel so cold? Aiko thought to herself as she looked around all she could see was nothing but a black abyss.

    "I guess I''m dead then" she sheepishly accepted her outcome without resisting.

    Aiko just floated in the empty abyss all by herself, as she thought about the many things she wanted to do in her life.

    "Who are you suppose to be?" Aiko asked anxiously.

    Aiko just looked on, as in her eyes the scene before her something of pure spectacle and beauty.

    Her body fidgeted and squirmed as the woman before Aiko continued to perform whatever unknown ability she was using. Once finished the woman released her hold on Aiko, the latter falling upon an invisible surface as fresh tears came from her eyes upon experiencing such a traumatic experience.

    As Aiko laid there in her academy uniform blood seeped unto the invisible flooring. The woman turned away as she hovered off into the distance eventually vanishing in thin air.

    Little did Aiko know that back in reality, both Uli and Bethany looked on in horror as they witnessed Aiko''s body transformation as they watched blood and cringe-worthy noises could be heard and seen.

    The two friends were unable to use their Essence abilities due to not having a partner until that happened both Uli and Bethany were useless in their current predicament.

 Volume One | Chapter - Aftermath Part One

    Sachika used her speed to charge forward, as she dashed towards her enemy dust particles of white and blue trailed behind each of her dashes. Her opponent too used Tachyon to evade Sachika''s attack.

    She grunted as her opponent dashed away little did Sachika know that the colour of her iris'' was changing between her natural eye colour and azure blue.

    Chasing after the fleeing Familiar Sachika grabbed her by the hair yanking her backwards, the enemy Familiar whelped

    The turned around facing Sachika with new-found determination, but when she saw the look on Sachika''s face the ocean blue aura that she emitted, it was as if her instincts told her to run.

    She looked up to she that Sachika had a hand wrapped around her ankle with a look of hatred spread across her face.

    The Nebula controlled Familiar charged down the underground passageway that barely lit up from the limited light sources installed in the underground passages.

    Stopping short in front of the students for a few seconds both the third years and their enemy eyed one another.

    "Would you surrender if I asked you to?" Ashina directed her question towards the Nebula-controlled Familiars in a cheerful manner.

    As the enemy charged her Ashina smirked, "Essence Eruption" she muttered. Suddenly a deafening crack could be heard as a semi-bright light emitted around Ashina which then created a powerful shockwave heading away from herself.

    The girl fell to her knees weakened by Ashina''s attack, without warning the rest of the enemy group charged the student council president all of them using their incredible speed.

    Ashina wasn''t prepared for the whole group to attack she was only able to deflect one attack effectively leaving her open to the rest of the groups'' attacks, she reinforced her guard stance towards the nearest attacker.

    Wendy, a hand to hand Familiar type felt at home in this close quarter situation as she grabbed the attacking Familiars ankle, then threw her into the reinforced concrete wall leaving a large impact crater.

    Wendy turned to Ashina, "Are you alright President?" she asked.

    In response Ashina smiled innocently, "You didn''t need to go out of your way to save me"

    The Familiar girl that Wendy had just thrown into the wall pulled her herself out of the crevice, as well the girl that Ashina attacked moments ago stood up slowly.

    "Well, it looks like they''re not messing around now" one of the other third-year students spoke out.

    "Agreed..." Wendy replied as she turned to look at Ashina "...President, plan of action?"

    Ashina''s annoyed expression was clearly visible to Wendy, "No matter what, we can''t let them get through those blast doors..." she changed her stance to that of an attacking position, as faint orange dust particles emanated from the energy currents of her armour pieces "...let''s do this!"

    Amelia already knew what Ashina wanted as did the other Coordinators, in unison, they activated her Essence Barriers that shrouded their Familiar partners in a protective veil.

    "Ma''am, I have some insane compatibility readings here" the operator called out.

    Mistress Daiki rushed over to take a look at the readings upon the operators'' screen she looked at it with hesitation and shock, "That can''t right check it again!"

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.The operator ran another test only for the same results to come back up again on her screen.

    "Quickly get me a visual!" the Mistress ordered, it wasn''t long before an image on the big screen showed that of Sachika in her Essence Form beating one of the Familiar girls turned Nebula to death like a ragdoll.

    W-What? How is...Sachika Eto able to harness the same power as that girl before her,it was all the Mistress could think.

    When her mind was brought out of its daze she ordered the operator to send a strike team to take out the Nebula Cruiser Platform that was still on the route towards the academy.

    Everything now came down to Ashina and her squad stopping the small group that they had encountered not so long ago, and how to approach the unforeseen situation that Sachika had gotten herself into.

    "I''m counting on you girls, please don''t falter" Mistress Daiki quietly muttered to herself.<hr>

    She once again punched her violently in the torso as the sound of cracking ribs could be heard, the girls back lurched in response to sudden pain receptor of her bone breaking.

    Suddenly Sachika grabbed the back of the girls head pressing it tightly against the floor as the girl hastily tried to break free from her grip.

    Turning the girl around to face her, Sachika noticed the red pulsating light beneath the girl''s chest armour.

    With incredible strength, Sachika pried the armour off the girl''s chest as blood pouring from the patches of skin tore off with the armour.

    The girl''s body slumped back to the floor aimlessly, she was still alive however she experienced so much pain that she gave out consciously.

    In turn, the girl screamed as the crystal along with artery like tendrils were ripped out of the small puncture wound. Once fully removed the red lighting from her armour had died down, the girl was somewhat conscious only able to barely speak.

    "K-Kill m-me"

    Sachika blinked for a moment as if a hint of humanity was registered within her.

    Tears started to run from the corners of the girls'' eyes, "P-Please kill me" she whispered.

    Her arm shaking uncontrollably Sachika mind was fighting with itself on whether to kill the girl or not, eventually, she pulled back her right arm, the bladed gauntlet aiming for the girl''s heart.

    However, she paused unable to finish the girl off when she felt a tight soft embrace wrap around her stomach when she turned her head to see whom it was Sachika almost stopped breathing for a moment her eyes wide in shock.<hr>

    As the strike force quickly ran through the forest in the distance many of them could see the flashing of purple, pink and red explosions in the sky.

    It wasn''t long before they came across a temporary forward operating base set up by the JSDF.

    "Move!" shouted a JSDF medic as he ran through the group of Familiar''s and Coordinator''s, the injured soldier he helped was badly injured.

    Since the battle at the academy, the JSDF had done all they could to slow down the advance of the Nebula Cruiser Platform but at great costs of men and equipment.

    Upon seeing this sight before her Chi-Sun''s determination to destroy the Nebula was greater than ever, she couldn''t stand to watch people that had no form of protection against the Nebula be massacred by them.

    She grunted at the thought, her emotions fuelled by anger for what the Nebula have done to them, spinning around on the spot she directs her attention to the rest of the second year students.

    "It''s time to go, we have a date with death..." she smirks "...it''s best not to keep him waiting"

    A chorus of cheers could be heard throughout the base as the Familiar second-year students pumped themselves up for the upcoming final battle with the Nebula Cruiser Platform.

    "Wait...are those...Familiar''s?" a soldier asked hesitantly, his arm in a sling.

 Volume One | Chapter - Aftermath Part Two

    A few moments earlier...

    Uli and Bethany both knelt next to Aiko who was still not responding to them, they tried making an escape but the fighting between Sachika and her opponent had blocked off their escape route.

    Aiko''s head was laid upon Bethany''s lap as blood continued to spurt out of her stab wound upon the former''s legs, as Bethany once again reached down placing her index and middle finger upon her friends'' pulse, she was distraught to find that there still wasn''t one.

    As she began to cry Uli turned to face, "Bethany stop it!" as she wrapped her arms around Bethany''s neck to consul her.

    "She''s dead...she''s really dead" Bethany muttered as she looked down at Aiko''s lifeless body, her tears landing upon Aiko''s peach skinned cheeks.

    Uli grabbed Bethany cupping both her hands on either side of Bethany''s face, "Beth, cut it out this isn''t the time!". Bethany reluctantly agreed to try to keep her emotions at bay.

    She turned the corner ever so slightly to see Sachika and her opponent still fighting one another, Uli quickly dashed back around from the corner as splinters of debris flew towards them a chunk ripping off a piece of the wall.

    As her breathing became irrational Bethany started prodding at her arm she turned to her, "What is it Beth?" in an irritated manner.

    Bethany was staring down at Aiko as the crystalline material that protruded from her spine started to slow flash getting brighter by the second. Uli too started wondering what was happening.

    "Uli, what''s happening?" Bethany asked frantically.

    "How the hell should I know..." Uli darted her eyes towards Bethany, their eyes locking together "...you''re the know it all here!" Uli pointed at Bethany as she raised her voice.

    Stammering Bethany replied, "I-I''ve never read anything about this during our high school years!"

    Without warning the light flashed so brightly that it threatened to almost blind the two of them, the two friends instantly covered their eyes from the bright light to the best of their ability.

    Once the bright flash had died down it took a moment for both Uli and Bethany to adjust their eyes to the new lighting.

    Wendy standing next to them sighed, "Well I haven''t worked that hard for a long time" she chuckles.

    "Well, maybe you should start using the fitness facilities more often" Ashina bluntly replied.

    Little did they know that one of the Familiars laying on the floor was moving, as Ashina and Wendy continued to share banter between them.

    Suddenly the third years wails of a girl behind them as she attempted to pry the armour off her chest. Blood began to spurt out as the armour tore her skin.

    Once an opening in the centre of her bare chest was revealed there shone a red crystal, the girl grabbed it then pulled with all her strength.

    To the surprise of the third years, they witnessed the crystal with tendrils attached to the end being pulled out from girls'' chest, shortly followed by blood trailing from the tendrils.

    Wendy ran to the girls'' side to check her heart rate, she turns to Ashina, "She''s still got a pulse" sighing with relief.

    Ashina just nodded in response turning to her Coordinator Amelia she noticed that Amelia was slightly panic-stricken from what she just saw.

    Ashina embraces Amelia, the latter coming out of her daze only to realise what her partner was doing.

    "It''s okay Amelia" Ashina whispers comfortingly into Amelia''s ear.

    "I know that I''ve been through a lot over the years..." Amelia gulps slightly "...but, I''ve never witnessed something like this before"

    The pair continued to embrace until Ashina heard a slight beeping in her right ear where she wore her earpiece. She presses onto the button connecting her to whoever was on the other end.

    "Ashina, give me a sitrep" Mistress Daiki immediately asked.<hr>

    "First and Second Squads provide a distraction!" The first and second squads of second-year Familiars under Chi-Sun''s command provided the distraction with the former order.

    The two squads attempted to perform a pincer attack. The first squad attacking from the left, and the second squad from the right.

    As they neared the target the Nebula Cruiser Platform used its huge tendril spikes to counter the Familiars coming towards it.

    The ones that got past the enemy''s counterattack were about to strike when the Nebula Cruiser Platform suddenly emitted a jarring aura field from its body knocking the two squads to the ground.

    Suddenly one of the girls screams as part of arm and leg detaches from her body wounds sizzling as parts of her skin started to melt.

    The Coordinators were about to fire their barrage of Essence Shards when the Nebula Cruiser Platform fired its main plasma beam doing a strafing run along the line where the Coordinators were positioned.

    Chi-Sun coughed heavily to get the smoke out of her lungs, she was caught in the things line of fire, around her she could hear the screams and wails of injured comrades as medics quickly rushed in to assist them.

    She feared for her life at this point most of the group were either dead or injured, and the third years were caught up dealing with the reinforcements of Nebula Grunts and Infantry that had just join the battle.

    In response, Chi-Sun closed her eyes.

    "Get off your arse and help the injured!" Chi-Sun suddenly heard someone shout opening her eyes she looked around frantically, to find that another Familiar was traversing through the trees towards the Nebula Cruiser Platform.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.Jade had reached the second years before her third-year comrades were able to use her Whiplash ability to traverse the tricky terrain of the forest.

    Eyeing the core, Jade with the electrical tendril protruding from her spine used one of the Nebula Cruiser Platform''s own tendril leverage herself up into the air.

    Knowing full well that it wasn''t enough to finish it off, "Lightning Tachyon!" she shouts out.

    In mid-air a sporadic current of electrical charges started to emit from all across Jades'' body she positions her feet forward before she herself bursts through the air, leaving a trail of electricity behind her.

    As Jade neared the core the speed and power of her Lightning Tachyon colliding against the hilt of the sword she sends it clean through the core of the Nebula Cruiser Platform.

    Jade with her sword in hand slid across the ground, thrusting her sword into the dirt to slow herself down as bits of mud, debris and dirt-spattered up into the air.

    Jade scoffed walking away.

    As Sachika pulled away she noticed she was trapped within a black abyss, and she felt as if she was floating in water, and that''s when too realised that she was naked.

    "Sachika, you need to calm yourself," the woman asked gently.

    Tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes, "How can I when she''s dead!" Sachika shouted back.

    The woman shook her head as specks of pixel and crystal dust detached from her body, "You''re wrong she still lives" she says gently.

    Before she could even say anything, Sachika''s body felt like it was being away pulled away at the speed of light, as seconds went by Sachika eventually blacked out.

    It wasn''t long before she awoke to find herself staring down at the girl she had been pummelling to death just moments, instantaneously her Essence Form evaporated into particles.

    Eventually, Sachika''s weakness took its toll on her, as she eventually fell unconscious.<hr>

    As she sat in her business like black uniform smoking a cigarette. Across from her office desk sat an older man in a grey business suit albeit more casual than the Mistress.

    In his hand, he had some files with the word, classified, printed over them he chucks them on the Mistress'' desk. "Take a look," he casual says.

    The Mistress takes the files still smoking her cigarette briefly looking through then throws them to the side, "So what, this is nothing that I haven''t seen before"

    "Look at Aiko''s compatibility results" he reiterates.

    The Mistress does as he says, Compatibility with Nebula Tissue - 36%, she looks up towards the Professor not saying anything. In turn, the Professor took the chance to explain what he was getting at.

    "As you well know girls with a compatibility rate of fifty per cent to seventy-five per cent are viable to become Familiars, those between twenty-five to forty-nine per cent are only viable to become Coordinators" the Professor explains.

    The Mistress rubs her forehead with an agitated motion, "I know this Professor Oshiro what point are you trying to make?"

    The Professor without pause pulls something else out of his briefcase this time it was a tablet, he slides it across the desk towards the Mistress.

    Taking a few more puffs from her cigarette, she reads the information on the tablet at first she seemed interested however as she continued to read further on expression changed to that of confusion and doubt at what she just read. Before her on the screen read the following.

    Aiko Oshiro

    B82/W57/H87

    Blood Type: O Negative

    After recent events, we have taken the opportunity to test the compatibility level between the patients'' human tissue and Nebula tissue to surprisingly find that the compatibility level has gone up to 82%.

    The Mistress looked at Professor Oshiro, "You sure that this information is legitimate?"

    The Professor let out a single laugh, "Please Mistress Daiki, I am the Professor Oshiro of Essentia I do have a reputation to uphold so the last thing I''ll do is make a mistake before consulting anyone"

    Mistress Daiki slouched back into her office chair taking in one big breathe of smoke from her cigarette before letting out into the room.<hr>

    it was then that Sachika''s hand started to twitch against Hibiki''s who was still asleep, slowly but surely her eyes started to flutter open trying to adjust to their surroundings.

    Hibiki suddenly wakes her eyes laying upon a wide-awake Sachika who was looking at her with a small smile on her face.

    "Sachika!" Hibiki jumps up instinctively hugging her friend.

    "I''m okay Hibiki, can you try not to suffocate me" Sachika spoke through muffled tones as Hibiki hugged her tightly.

    Loosening her grip Hibiki starts to cry, "I''m so glad you''re okay".

 Extra - 1

    Hibiki floated upon her back in the swimming pool, she wore the typical attire that normal high schools wore while swimming, the sukumizu. The skin-tight suit was a new type variation however they had a single white line running down either side of the torso.

    Chi-Sun along with her friend Eun-Hee sat on the edge of the pool their legs floating in the water.

    "It''s been over a week, and she''s still miserable," Chi-Sun casual said out loud.

    Hibiki still floating in the water glanced at Chi-Sun before looking back up at the ceiling, the blue sky could be seen from where she was. The sun making its beauty ever more evident.

    "Can you blame her after what happened" Eun-Hee replied.

    Chi-Sun sighs in response, "I know, but I just wish Sachika could confide in us a bit more..." she falls silent for a moment "...ever since she found out about Aiko she''s been distancing herself from everyone"

    Eun-Hee leans back slightly, "Give her some time, I''m sure she''ll come around..." turning her head towards Chi-Sun as the latter looked at her, she smiles gently "...don''t worry when Aiko wakes up she''ll be back to her old self". Eun-Hee gives her friend an encouraging thumbs up.

    As for Chi-Sun, she nodded feeling slightly more relieved at her friends'' enthusiasm at the current predicaments. Without warning Hibiki rises up from underneath of azure sheet of water in the swimming pool, shaking her head as water flicked off her short hair upon her friends.

    "I have the greatest idea ever!" Hibiki said with a sly grin on her face. Both Chi-Sun and Eun-Hee glanced at one another with a mixture of interest and worry in their expressions.

    <hr>

    Sachika entered the changing rooms which were situated right next to the swimming pool, in her nanotech suit after doing an intense training session in the gym, she undid the seals at the centre of her suit revealing her bare stomach and cleavage as sweat dripped down.

    Holding onto a bottle of water, she quickly screwed the lid then drank out of the bottle. Before she could react, she suddenly grabbed then lifted into the air.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "The hell!" was all she could muster to say as she was hefted into the air being carried off towards the swimming pool.

    Before she could even try to wriggle out her captors'' grips she was thrown into a pool of water. The shock of cold water suddenly hitting her skin made her heart skip a few beats, and without delay, her suit started to peel from her skin like velcro.

    She swam up to the surface with a clear expression of annoyance upon her face, once she hit the surface Sachika was net with the chorus of laughter as she looked up to she Hibiki, Chi-Sun and Eun-Hee.

    "There''s no escaping the wrath of the Three Misfits!" Hibiki hollered trying to imitate an evil laugh.

    Both Chi-Sun and Eun-Hee just stared at Hibiki awkwardly before the former spoke up, "That was just...so much cringe". Chi-Sun then felt uncomfortable as she replayed the sentence countless times in her head.

    In response, Hibiki jolted in surprise by how much her two accomplices hated her speech, "Huh, seriously I thought it was epic!" she shouted in a panicked tone. Eun-Hee shook her head as she sighed.

    As the trio went off on their disagreement Sachika felt like she should shout at them for what they did, but deep down she felt happy that her friends would do something so meaningless just to make her happy or laugh. Sachika laughed to herself which made her friends stop their scuffle.

    They looked at her both surprised and confused at why Sachika was laughing to herself. Before the realised it Sachika stripped her nanotech suit off then threw it upon the walkway surrounding the edge of the swimming pool. Her friends were blushing intensely as they looked upon a completely naked Sachika.

    Sachika pure skinned cleavage shined in the sunlight as water trickled down her breasts to re-join the greater mass of water surrounding her. "You know what, I don''t even care" Sachika exclaimed happily as she dove backwards, the pool water cascading her beautiful body as she performed a backstroke.

    "How hard did we throw her?" Hibiki asked with concern.

    "Not hard enough to hit her head at the bottom of the pool" Eun-Hee replied.

    Chi-Sun stepped forward before she turned to Hibiki and Eun-Hee shrugging her shoulders at them, "Well as long as she''s happy what''s to worry?" before the duo could respond Chi-Sun turned towards the pool as she waved at Sachika announcing she going to join her, the latter waved back urging Chi-Sun to join her.

    Both Hibiki and Eun-Hee looked at one another before the two of them ran towards the pool jumping in to join both Sachika and Chi-Sun.

    The sounds of laughing and cheering could be heard from the swimming pool, as many students entered the changing rooms to partake in physical training sessions outside in the academy''s acres of gardens and fields.

    The students in the changing rooms looked towards the entrance of the swimming pool, their attention was piqued to find out was happening.

 Volume Two | Chapter - The Beast Part One

    We are down to our final two contestants in this year''s Royale at Essentia USA!, as speakers rung throughout the Royale arena and the surrounding campus. As girls'' watched in earnest as the last two Familiar''s squared each other up within the barren urban wasteland.

    Both of them had torn corsets and skirts from their preceding battles with other Familiar''s. The two of them readied their weapons, the girl had medium length pink hair that was clipped over her ears had a clawed gauntlet on her right arm as her Essence Armament weapon. The opponent had a standardize sword as her Essence Armament weapon.

    The opponent struck first using her immense speed to close the distance between her and the pink haired girl.

    But before the girl could react, she was struck in the stomach by the pink haired girls'' forearm who too used her supernaturally enhanced speed, albeit more efficient than her opponent''s variation, making the former drop to the cobbled floor dry-heaving.

    The pink haired girl, grabbed her opponent''s wrists pinning them above the girls head. The formers clawed hands hovered over the girls'' heart.

    The girl realising her predicament pleaded for her life. As for the pink haired girl her right arm pulled back ready to deal the finishing blow. The girl squeezing her eyes closed awaiting her fate soon realised that she was still conscious, she opens her eyes only to find the pink haired girl trembling before her.

    Releasing her grip on the girls'' wrist, the pinked haired girl stood up very slowly her face a sickly pale colour. Turning around she soon started to walk away leaving her opponent all by herself.

    <hr>

    After waiting for over a week both Uli and Bethany were getting paranoid about Aiko''s condition, what made it worse was the repeated response whenever they asked her.

    The doctors and nurses would always say,that Aiko''s condition was critical and they wouldn''t know when she''d recover.

    As Uli watched Aiko in her dormant sleep from her seated position. Uli felt somewhat uncomfortable seeing her friend hooked up to so much apparatus'', such as a breathing mask, heart monitor and UV drip.

    Aiko''s naked chest rose slowly under the bed duvet, signalling that there was still life coursing through her body.

    Uli''s moment of peace was interrupted as Bethany walked in, her face drained of any energy she once had. As she sat down, Uli couldn''t help but delve deeper into what she found out.

    "So what did you find out?" Uli asked slightly intrigued.

    Bethany sighed, "Nothing new, they still have no idea what caused it"

    "Well, that was pointless..." Uli ruffles her blonde hair feeling agitated "...over a week later, and they still don''t know anything"Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Bethany nodded in agreement, "All we can do is wait, and just hope it turns out for the best"

    All Uli could muster was an ungrateful scoff as she dwelled on current events.

    <hr>

    As the pink haired girl showered the sweat off her slender lean body, she was taken by surprise when a pair of hands suddenly grabbed and squeezed her C cup breasts.

    She lets out an innocent but cute whelp, as the hands wildly caressed her breasts. After a few seconds, the wild hands ceased their attack on the pink haired girl.

    The pink haired girl falls to her knees huffing and puffing under the steamy shower water. She turns around to see a naked girl with long wavy brunette hair, her breasts were large at least a D cup.

    "Xena what the hell!" The pink haired girl shouted.

    Xena smirking with a big grin on her face responded, " Oh don''t get yourself in a twist..." Xena gives her friend a wink "...you know you loved it Marsa!"

    Marsa with flustered cheeks just grunted under her breathe before returning to showering herself.

    As Marsa removed the hair clips over her ears. Xena suddenly heard a group of girls entering the showers just located next to the changing rooms.

    Without warning Xena grabbed Marsa''s head shoving it between her large breasts. The latter desperately trying to break free as Xena held her with a firm grip.

    The group of girls walked by, one of them noticing Xena. The girl decided to stop and have a chat.

    "Sup Xena showering off?" The girl asks.

    Xena laughs nervously, ''"U-Ur yeah, worked off a real sweat during training for our Royale match tomorrow"

    "Yeah tell me about it..." the girl pauses a moment "...hey, are you free later we could hang out?"

    Xena stammered for a moment, "O-Oh I can''t, I have plans later" she smiles nervously.

    The girl waves it off, "No! It''s fine another time yeah?"

    Xena nods frantically.

    "Alright cool!" The girl waves goodbye to Xena, the latter returning the gesture.

    Releasing her grip on Marsa, the pink haired girl drops to the floor coughing as water splashed over her naked body.

    "Were you trying to kill me?!" Marsa sputtered between coughs.

    Xena looks down at her friend Marsa with a serious look. Unsurprisingly Xena wasn''t phased by Marsa''s pointy ears and her animalistic like teeth.

    What was most surprising, regardless of Marsa''s alien-like features there was an innocent yet cute persona about her.

    "Marsa when was your last injection?" Xena asked evidently worried.

    Marsa stuttering gave Xena an answer, "U-Um i-it was two days ago"

    "How can you be so stupid Marsa!" Xena exclaimed in a hushed voice "There''s only so many in the academy let alone Essentia and Armiger that know you''re not human"

    Marsa''s face went from worry to fear.

    "Who knows what will happen if the other girls found out!" Xena becoming increasingly worried.

    "I''m sorry I-I just became too complacent with living among humans I guess" Marsa sheepishly responded.

    Xena hugged Marsa tightly, their wet naked bodies pressed up against one another as the hot water ran down their bodies.

    "Don''t be such a klutz next time" Xena whispered gently into Marsa''s ear, as the duo''s embrace became tighter.

    <hr>

    Twenty-four hours later...

    Sachika had been asleep for the last few hours, the side of her face had gone numb from lying on top a thick bulk of duvet sheets.

    As she started to stir awake, her vision was blurred. She slowly around her surroundings as her eyes adjusted to the lighting in the room. After a few seconds, Sachika rubbed her eyes gingerly.

    Somewhat groggy from her sleep, Sachika looked around the infirmary room. She took another glance towards the end of the bed believing her eyes had deceived her at first.

    But as her vision became clear her face changed to an expression of shock as tears welled up in the corner of her eyes.

    As she jolted out of her seat, she couldn''t help but feel a sense of excitement. Her mouth opened spurring the words of a name, like relief of saying that name flooded her emotionally.

 Volume Two | Chapter - The Beast Part Two

    Twenty four hours earlier...

    With his long coat drenched from the torrential rain, he stood under the cover of darkness, an abandoned warehouse. Taking out a cigarette along with a lighter.

    After lighting his cigarette, the faint bloom of light revealing his battle-hardened face along with a few strands of blonde hair.

    As he heard faint footsteps ahead of him, he pulled out his M9 pistol without a second thought. To his surprise, it was someone that he never expected to see again.

    Before him, a man emerged from the darkness his Essence Form engaged, before a hulking behemoth loomed in the shadows.

    "Hazer, how long has it been?" the man''s orange energy within his Essence Form shone brighter for a moment.

    "Dunno, the last time we met..." the blonde haired man grunted slightly "...you and I were fighting in the war to end all wars"

    The man let out a laugh behind his armoured helmet as Hazer stood with his gun pointed at him.

    "No need to be so venomous to an old friend!" He exasperated outstretching his arms to the side.

    "You know, if I still had my Essence Armament I wouldn''t have any regrets beating you to a pulp!" Hazer exclaimed raising his voice.

    "When you do get your Essence Armament..." his motions to himself"...I would be happy to have my Sacred Essence Armament Recker go up against...whatever replacement you get as a substitute" his voice revealing a hint of disgust.

    Hazer''s teeth gritted against one another, as anger sheathed through him uncontrollably. He was able to calm his nerves, lowering his gun that had been pointed at the man this entire time.

    "Anyway, it looks like you''re no threat...that I can report to my commander about" the man walked into the darkness, moments later a sudden gush of air blew through the warehouse. As the sounds of reverberating rattled the interior of the building, a hue of white light shone through the darkness.

    The next second, Hazer looked up through a gaping hole in the ceiling as he watched the trail of white lights ascend into the sky.

    <hr><hr>

    Present Time...

    Marsa had been trying to stay incognito since the Royale, what made it harder was the fact that Xena couldn''t be with her. Xena was expected to appear in her own Royale match in one hour''s time.

    She tried her best to keep her ears covered and not to talk to her fellow students in order to keep her teeth concealed.

    When Marsa saw the sign to the infirmary an overwhelming sense of relief washed over her, as she increased her walking speed.

    Barging into the head doctors office, the woman didn''t seem at all surprised to see Marsa.

    "Let me guess..." the doctor in her white overcoat and casual t-shirt and skirt along with her heels, she sat in an office chair sipping tea out of her mug "...didn''t have your injection"Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Marsa''s cheeks flushed red from embarrassment.

    "Look Marsa, you can''t keep on avoiding injections..." the doctor continues sipping tea out of her mug "...if people find out what you really are they''d be panic"

    In response, Marsa sighs, "I hate taking them" she mutters bluntly.

    "Well tough until we find another solution, this is the best we''ve got" the doctor puts her mug down atop her desk, and motions her hand to indicate to Marsa to follow her.

    <hr>

    Marsa sat in the chair located in the centre of one of the many physical examination rooms, her arm had a rubber torque.

    As the doctor entered the room, in hand with an injector gun attached a cylindrical vial with a clear liquid.

    "Doctor Knowles, I can''t thank you enough" Marsa sheepishly spoke out.

    "For what?" Doctor Knowles replied, as her medium length blonde hair with brunette highlights swished gracefully from side to side.

    "F-For always being here for me..." Marsa gulped slightly as she readied herself for the injection "...and for keeping my true nature a secret"

    Doctor Knowles gave Marsa a gentle smile, "That''s what I do best...I help people..." with no urge to prolong the injection Doctor Knowles found a vein on Marsa''s arm, immediately injecting the substance into the latter''s body.

    "...I''m a doctor after all" upon finishing her statement, Doctor Knowles pats Marsa''s head gently. The latter blushing from the kind gesture.

    It wasn''t long before a sharp pain shot through Marsa''s body as she flinched intensely. Gradually as the substances'' effects started to kick in, Marsa''s ears and teeth started to regress back to your average human size.

    However, as both Doctor Knowles and Marsa knew very well, this procedure was only temporary, and only time would tell when they''d have to find a new solution.

    <hr>

    As Aiko''s eyes fluttered open ever so slowly, she found it hard to make out her surroundings. She continued to flick water over her eyelids until it had moistened her eyes.

    Once her vision started to clear, she could make out the outline of a person.

    It wasn''t long until her vision was perfectly clear, that the person hovering over her to her surprise was Sachika.

    Teary eyes threatened to break out into full-blown tears, as Sachika''s scruffy silver hair and academy uniform made her appearance stand out more.

    "S-Sachika...-san?" Aiko muttered weakly.

    Sachika let out a happy chuckle, "Yeah, it''s me Aiko"

    Aiko smiling weakly attempted to sit up, only to be struck by a searing headache.

    "Ah! M-My head?" Aiko spoke out nonchalantly, clearly confused.

    "W-What happened?" Aiko asked, looking to Sachika for answers. The former surprised she didn''t remember, nevertheless, Sachika explained everything that had happened. What she remembered, and what others had told her.

    Sitting there Aiko at first didn''t know how to respond to an overload of information. All Aiko remembered was the lead up to encountering the Nebula-controlled Familiar, everything after that she didn''t remember clearly.

    "I hope that wasn''t too overwhelming?" Sachika asked.

    Aiko shook her head, "N-No it wasn''t..." she laughs nervously "...obviously it will take some time for me to get my head around some of the details"

    Sachika couldn''t help but feel astonished by this girls'' confidence, a feeling of confidence and hope was starting to etch into herself. Most likely because the girl lying before her, in a manner of speaking saved her from herself.

    Looking to her right Sachika could see the wrapped up ''get well soon'' present she had brought for Aiko. Blushing Sachika grabbed the box then immediately shoved it in front of Aiko.

    At first, Aiko looked on rather confused until she noticed the wrapped up box in front of her.

    Feeling ecstatic Aiko takes the box from Sachika, "Thank you so much!..." before Aiko could say anymore Sachika jolted upwards out of the cushioned chair.

    "A-Anyway...I hope you like the gift I got you..." looking at the floor trying to hide her blushed face from Aiko she heads for the door "...now if you excuse I got other matters to attend to"

    Sachika opens the door then steps through.

    "W-Wait!..." Was all Aiko could say before the door closed before her.

    As for Sachika, she rushed down the corridor of the academy''s infirmary, her face blushing intensely as her Composed Fibril set off an aphrodisiac effect through her body. As she wrapped her arms wrapped her slender lean body.

    Little did she know that she walked past both Uli and Bethany, whom both noticed her as they headed to the patient''s room that Aiko was situated in.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Royale Preliminaries Part One

    The academy was under extensive repairs for the foreseeable future.

    Leaving much of the academy in disarray after the Nebula attack, but that didn''t stop the students in their studies and practises.

    However with the extent of the destruction that was caused by the battle. It left much of the facilities inoperable.

    And with the Royale preliminaries coming around the corner, it made contestants practising for the tournament at a disadvantage.

    Sachika was lying on the grass in one of the many academy gardens. Her headphones blaring out music made other students look towards, some of them annoyed.

    Her cell phone vibrated in the pocket of her corset, taking it out Sachika swiped the screen with her finger pressing upon the green phone symbol.

    "Hello?" Sachika asked immediately.

    "Sup Sachi, do you have some time to talk after class sessions?" Chi-Sun responded.

    Sachika suddenly remembered that she was going to see Aiko before she got let out of the infirmary tomorrow.

    "Yeah sure, we can talk while I''m heading to the infirmary after school"

    Chi-Sun responding sounded slightly excited, "Sweet! I''ll meet you after class bye!"

    The call was instantly hung up on Chi-Sun''s end.

    Sachika was about to put the cell phone back in her pocket before a notification appeared on the screen. Indicating the start of her next class session.

    Putting the cell phone back in her pocket, she starts heading to her next class session.

    <hr>

    "Who knows why we can''t extract a Nebula Core?" The class instructor asked her students.

    Sachika seating at her desk towards the back at the top of the sloped room was twiddling with her loosely put together pigtails.

    Paying no attention to the instructor, and what she was saying.

    "Sachika!" The instructor shouted.

    Sachika jolted upward out of her chair, "Y-Yes instructor!" Stumbling on her words.

    "Tell me, why can''t we extract a Nebula Core?" The instructor asked an agitated expression clearly evident on her face.

    Thinking desperately to herself Sachika blurted out incoherent words. The instructor sighed clearly dejected, as Sachika just stood there unease by the current atmosphere. Another student stood up. Sachika looking at the student, realised she''d never seen her before.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Sachika noticed the South Korean tag on the girl''s uniform. Indicating that she was from the Essentia South Korea.

    "Instructor, it''s because the Core is highly dangerous emitting a poisonous aura meaning we can''t withstand its effects for more than a few seconds"

    The girl sat back down, her black hair was short but a long fringe covered her right eye.

    The instructor just looked at the student for a moment, "Very good Roselle, next time don''t speak without permission" the instructor went back to teaching the class.

    Sachika leaned over to Chi-Sun who was seated next to her.

    "You know that girl?" Sachika asked.

    "She''s one of the first years, many of the students of that year avoid her...for reasons I don''t know" Chi-Sun answered Sachika''s question. As for Sachika she just looked at Roselle, who was hunched over her desk.

    <hr>

    As soon as the class session ended, Sachika noticed Roselle leaving the room in a hurry. This piqued Sachika''s interest, but before she could indulge herself further Chi-Sun came into view.

    "So you ready to go?" She asked a smile on her face.

    Sachika nodded so the two of them left the room heading towards the infirmary. Passing by various buildings within the campus of the academy, Chi-Sun decided to ask Sachika her question.

    "So Sachi, are you aiming for first place in this year''s Royale?"

    "Um...I dunno maybe, to be honest, I have more pressing matters on my mind" Sachika replied.

    Chi-Sun grinning wrapped an arm around Sachika.

    "Oh, I get it!..." Chi-sun twirls in a circle in front of Sachika "...love is on the horizon!"

    Feeling agitated Sachika just blanked Chi-Sun, as they continued to the infirmary. It wasn''t too long when they arrived, as they entered through the main entrance they noticed the sparsely filled corridors.

    "But really Sachika you should try this year, you came first in last year''s Royale" Chi-Sun stated.

    Sighing Sachika responded, " Look it just depends on how things turn out..."

    As they went deeper into the building, the duo noticed Roselle sitting in the corridor on a chair. Walking up to her Chi-sun was the first to speak.

    "Hey, you were in our class earlier, must be tough being lumped in with second years until the top brass at Essentia sort out your redeployment"

    Roselle didn''t respond, she just darted her head upward for a moment, staring at both of them. Then returned her gaze to the floor.

    "Maybe she''s feeling unwell" Sachika concluded.

    "Are you unwell?" Chi-Sun asked as she went to place her hand on Roselles'' cheek.

    Roselle jumped backwards violently.

    "Don''t touch me!" Her voice echoed through the corridors, startling what few students there were scouring the corridors.

    Roselles'' expression seemed to be that of fear. Which confused both Sachika and Chi-Sun. Before the duo could continue talking to her, Roselle darted up out of her chair heading further down the corridor, before taking a left turn.

    Both Sachika and Chi-Sun looked on rather confused at what just happened.

    "Maybe, she''s still dealing with post-traumatic stress from what happened on the Korean Peninsula?" Sachika nodded at Chi-Suns'' statement.

    "That''s a possibility but, she seemed rather protective of herself"

    Shrugging, Chi-Sun wasn''t too fussed about the ordeal. It was common, especially among first years to experience some form of mental trauma in battles.

    Elbowing Sachika in the side, Chi-Sun pointed down the corridor.

    "We better get going, before curfew..." winking at Sachika "...Aiko is waiting"

    Sachika flustering at the cheeks, "You''re not gonna let it drop, are you?"

    "Well duh, of course not!" Chi-Sun started to laugh hysterically.

    "It''s not every day you get to see this type ofconnectionbetween Familiar and Coordinator"

    Without further ado, the two friends headed towards Aiko''s patient room.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Royale Preliminaries Part Two

    As Sachika and Chi-Sun entered the room, they were surprised to see Uli and Bethany already in the room. Aiko was already dressed in her academy uniform. Which made her slender toned body more evidently noticeable.

    "Sup, Aiko!" Chi-Sun specifically emphasized the girls'' name.

    "U-Um hey!" Aiko replied.

    "S-Sorry, who are you?" Aiko innocently asked. Chi-Sun huffed, giving Sachika daggers.

    "Wow, typically thatsomeonewouldn''t mention me" Chi-Sun sarcastically spoke out. Eyeing up her friend. Sachika just looked away avoiding any further confrontation from her friend.

    "Hey, the names Uli!" Uli cheerfully spoke up.

    "I''m Bethany, nice to meet you" the girl sheepishly blurted.

    Both of Aiko''s friends and Chi-Sun went off in the corner chatting amongst each other.

    As for Sachika, she took up a seat next to the bed.

    "So you''re being released tomorrow?" She asked.

    Aiko nodded, "Yeah, however, they still have no idea what happened to me"

    "Really?"

    Aiko seemed rather concerned, but she put on a brave face.

    "But I''m sure its nothing" she attempted to give Sachika a reassuring smile. Which didn''t convince Sachika, but she decided not to press the subject.

    Suddenly the doctor walked, who had previously attended to Aiko on the day she arrived. The doctor wore her typically attire and the same hairstyle.

    "Hello everyone" the doctor looked at Sachika for a moment, before turning her gaze to Aiko.

    "I just wanted to inform you Aiko, that you''re cleared to leave the infirmary..." She paused for a moment swiping tabs to the side on her pad "...but make sure to take it steady we''re still unclear of your conditions cause, if anything unusual happens make sure you come to see me?"

    "Of course, I''ll be careful" Aiko replied, she stood up bowing in respect.

    The doctor left the students alone to attend to her duties.

    Sachika was about to speak when Chi-Sun suddenly interrupted.

    "So how about we celebrate?!" She shouted out. Both Uli and Bethany glanced at one another, perplexed at Chi-Sun''s comment.

    "To celebrate what exactly?" Bethany asked.

    "Aiko being released from the infirmary what else? Actually, that reminds me lets get Hibiki in on this!"

    At the mention of Hibiki, Sachika facepalmed herself. Knowing full well just how crazy Hibiki can get when it comes to these type of occasions.

    <hr>

    After a few hours of karaoke and drinking, some of the girls'' were somewhat uncontrollable. Seeing as the facilities were built in the vicinity of the academy, it was deemed acceptable to use in your free time. That didn''t stop the students from overdoing it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Woohoo! Thiz iz ma favorate song!" Hibiki blurted out, as she and Chi-Sun both jumped up, microphone in hand singing at the tops of their voices. The two of them clearly from all the alcohol they had indigested within the last few hours.

    The girls'' academy uniforms are unkempt, as their collar and ties were tossed across the couches. And their corsets unzipped slightly at the top.

    Both Uli and Bethany were laughing at the duo, as the four of them were clearly drunk. As for Aiko and Sachika, they were both relatively sober. The two of them sat next to one another in silence.

    "U-Um Sachika-san, h-have you got a partner?" Aiko sheepishly asked.

    Sachika startled for a moment, her mind stumbled on how to respond.

    "No, I don''t have a partner" She replied.

    Aiko''s cheeks turned red slightly at the response. Inside her body warmed up as her Composed Fibril started to react. In turn, this made Sachika''s Composed Fibrils start to react. The duo''s bodies became warmer, their hearts and breathing increasing by the second.

    The aphrodisiac effect courses through their bodies, suddenly Sachika leaned over cupping Aiko''s head with both of her hands.

    Sachika cool breathe tickled Aiko''s neck, as the latter squirmed slightly from the sensation. Sachika leaned in further placing her soft lips upon Aiko''s, the two at first feeling uncertain kissed. After a few seconds, Sachika pulled away, a thin strand of saliva followed.

    Aiko was shocked, as was Sachika. The two didn''t know how to proceed from here.

    Out of nowhere, Hibiki jumped on Sachika pulling her back on the couches.

    "Hey..." Hibiki burps putting off Sachika from even looking at her "...letz av sum fun!" Giggling hysterically.

    "Hibiki get off!" Sachika shouted. Hibiki continued to tease around.

    As for Aiko, she turned away, clearly embarrassed by the kiss she shared with Sachika.

    <hr>

    Throwing the documents upon his desk, the JSDF Field Marshal huffed whilst rubbing his head.

    "Professor Oshiro, I hope you didn''t come down to indulge me in your personal practises" the Field Marshal commented.

    Laughing, Professor Oshiro couldn''t help but look away whilst snickering.

    "Please, Field Marshal Skiruko, would I really waste your time?" Professor Oshiro stared at the Field Marshal Skiruko seriously.

    Sighing at first, the Field Marshal Skiruko responded, "I guess not..." he rubbed his head again, his short well kept grey hair barely moved "...please continue Professor"

    "As you can see, this student has an eighty-two per cent compatibility rate..." Professor Oshiro moves a pad displaying details on Aiko "...now take a look at this"

    A video of a humanoid metallic clad person appeared hovering in the air. Winged like appendages rotated forward, as the hue of blue light emitted at the end of these appendages.

    Suddenly stress of blue plasma beams shot out, hitting targets that were off screen.

    The Field Marshal looked at the Professor perplexed. Not knowing what to say.

    "What is this, Oshiro?" Field Marshal Skiruko asked.

    The Professor smiled, "I don''t know for certain, but I know this the way forward in the Essentia and Armiger programs"

    The Field Marshal pushed the pad slightly away, "How do you know this is even real?"

    "Well there''s always some element of failure..." this time the Professor swiped on the pad, revealing new detailed profiles, this time being Marsa and Roselle "...take a look at this"

    Field Marshal Skiruko took the pad into his hands again. He looked over the profiles, reading the following.

    Marsa - Compatibility Rate 91%

    Roselle - Compatibility Rate 94%

    "H-How is this possible?" The Field Marshal was shocked at what he was seeing.

    "I don''t know Field Marshal, but I suggest we run some tests"

    Field Marshal gave the Professor a quizzical look, doubt the latter''s intentions.

    Professor Oshiro laughs, "Don''t worry Skiruko..." he leans back in his chair "...my methods may be questionable, but you have my word they won''t be harmed in any way"

    The Field Marshal sat back in his seat, thinking to himself for a moment.

    He didn''t like the idea of scientists testing their, recent theories upon Familiars and Coordinators. But if results were to be made, sacrifices were a necessity.

    Reluctantly he answered, "Very well, but under supervision"

    Professor Oshiro nodded, "That''s fine by me"

    The Professor stood up grabbing the datapad, then immediately exiting the Field Marshals'' office. The latter sat in his seat, as he continued aimlessly staring at the documents before him.

    Upon the documents the words,Project Ascension could be seen.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Royale Preliminaries Part Three

    Slowly stirring awake, Sachika''s vision was blurred. Eventually focusing her eyes on a single spot. It took her a few seconds to notice that her head was laying upon a pair of breasts. Looking up, her face filled with embarrassment when seeing Hibiki in her underwear.

    She too realised that she was in her underwear. Sachika was about to jump out of the bed when her stomach started to churn. Rushing to the toilet all you could was Sachika vomiting.

    The noise woke up Hibiki who was dreary herself. Only to then realise that Sachika was being sick in the toilet.

    "Y-You okay Sachi?" Hibiki muttered, leaning against the door frame to their toilet.

    The response was a weak groan, "I feel like a truck hit me" Sachika replied.

    "Maybe you should party some more, get more akin to alcohol" Hibiki laughed.

    Sachika didn''t have the strength to respond. Seeing daylight she quickly glanced around Hibiki at the clock.

    8:15 am

    "Shit! We''ve missed the start of practice!" Sachika shouted.

    Hibiki''s fun going persona soon changed to that of dread. The two girls quickly pulled themselves together. After putting on their academy uniforms, they dashed out of their dorm room with such speed. That it startled the students outside on their break.

    The duo clambered their way to practise having no regard for their fellow students. As they shoved and barged their way amongst the surrounding students.

    <hr>

    "Come on, get your backs into it!" the female instructor shouted.

    Both Sachika and Hibiki were heaving and sweating from their punishment. They both had to run a hundred metres sprints carrying a concrete pillar. Although humanly impossible on the other hand for these girls it was a walk in the park, unless you had to do it a hundred times.

    On their hundredth sprint, the duo collapsed upon the floor. Dripping in their sweat on the floor, the two girls looked as if they died on the spot.

    "That''ll teach you two a lesson about partying late at night!" The instructor hovered over them, clearly not pleased. Hibiki suddenly vomited on the short grass. As for the instructor, she turned away in disgust.

    "Jesus, sort yourselves out!" She walked away leaving the girls on the floor. As for Sachika and Hibiki they didn''t waste any time getting a breather for a few minutes.

    <hr>

    Looking across the classroom Aiko could see her friend hunched over her desk. That''s what you get for being careless,Aiko slyly smirked to herself.

    "Miss Uli!"

    "Ahh!" She shouted making heads turn.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    Looking around Uli noticed many of the students and the instructor was looking at her. She laughed nervously not knowing what to do. The instructor returned to teaching the class.

    As the class carried on, Aiko noticed an odd sensation in her left arm. To her, it felt numb, but after a few seconds, the numbing feeling had gone. Once the bell rung all the students started packing their belongings and shutting down the terminals.

    As Aiko left the classroom an announcement blared over the academy''s speakers.

    All second and third years are expected to attend practice for the Royale.

    As a reminder, the Royale for both years begins in one week.

    Aiko knew what the Royale was, however, she wasn''t expected to participate because of her status as a Coordinator.

    The Royale was made for the Familiars to test their might against one another. It was also a means of bragging rights and authority within the year. Aiko noticed a crowd gathering at one of the windows in the corridor.

    "Hey what''s going on?" Uli groaned as she stepped out of the classroom.

    Aiko shrugged. The two decided to go check themselves.

    "Look the Devil Trickster is sparring!"

    As both Aiko and Uli reached the window they could see two students clad in black nanotech suits. One with purple hair and braid, the other bright red hair and a ponytail reaching her tailbone. The flurry of sparks emitting from the clashing of a glaive and greatsword created a miniature light show.

    Ashina backflipped as Jade brought her greatsword smashing into the ground a dirt-spattered into the air.

    "Essence Tendrils!" Ashina shouted, as a dozen or so tendrils outstretched from the formers back striking towards Jade. Jade held her greatsword like a shield deflecting the attacks, however, some of them got to her cutting away at her nanotech suit.

    "Lightning Tachyon!" From her back, a cluster of electrical sparks appeared on Jade''s back. As she dashed towards Ashina charging her blade up with electricity. Upon striking a loud crackle could be heard as Ashina blocked the strike.

    Skidding across the dirt, Ashina flipped her glaive into the air. As it came down with such immense precision she kicked the unsharpened end. The blade point of the glaive shot towards Jade. The latter only just able to deflect the weapon.

    However, this left her open to attack. Looking ahead Jade saw Ashina use Essence Tendrils again. She watched helplessly as Ashina''s tendrils attacked her, chipping away at her nanotech suit more so than before.

    Lying on the floor grunting in pain, Jade''s Essence Armament Weapon disintegrated as she slowly sat herself up. Her C cup breasts were on show as wash parts of her torso and waist. Where Ashina''s copies from Phantom Break damaged her.

    "That was a good match," Ashina said cheerfully as she leaned over hand out to Jade. As for Jade, she scoffed but reluctantly took the student council presidents hand.

    Back in the corridor, the students that had watched the practise match take place cheered and clapped. Uli was too tired and hungover to even care about what happened. As for Aiko, she was left in awe after witnessing such a fight between two Familiars.

    She couldn''t deny that the more she watched the Familiars like this, the more she wished that she could be just like them.

    <hr>

    As Marsa moved up the ranks it started to make other students notice her. Although any other girl would be ecstatic about the prospect. As for Marsa though she wanted to stay under the radar as much as possible. But no matter what she did, she was just too strong for her human counterparts.

    She laid on her bed, her corset was replaced with a t-shirt but she still wore her academy uniform skirt. Hearing her cell phone vibrating, she sighing stretching over to pick it up. Opening up the text message it read.

    Go to the window and open the curtains.

    At first, she was confused thinking it was Xena playing some prank on her. But when she opened the curtains her eyes widened in shock.

    With her eyesight incredibly more efficient than the average Familiar. From her dorm window, she could see Hazer standing outside the academy entrance in the night sky.

    Upon seeing him a small gentle smile appeared on her face, as she rushed out of her room to see him.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Royale Preliminaries Part Four

    Both Marsa and Hazer were outside the academy grounds under the cover of darkness in the distance you could see the towering buildings of the dorm blocks and facilities that made up the academy. With the odd fluorescent light of blue and orange pulsating along the corners of the structures.

    "Look, things aren''t going so smoothly" Hazer bluntly told Marsa.

    "W-What do you mean ?" Marsa asked hesitantly.

    Hazer looked around as if he felt someone watching them.

    "They''re here"

    Marsa''s face turned pale upon hearing those very words utter out of Hazers'' mouth. Taking her arm, he pulled Marsa around the corner of a building.

    "Stay invisible, don''t draw attention to yourself" whispering into Marsa''s ear.

    She put her hands to her head, "What am I supposed to do from here on out?" She started to panic. Hazer cupped his hands around Marsa''s face making her look at him.

    "Calm down, relax and do as I say, okay?" Marsa nodded agreeing with Hazer.

    "What about Roselle, does she know?" She clearly concerned.

    Hazer shook his head, "No, but I''ll tell her..." he took a step away "...now get back to the academy, and remember what I told you"

    Marsa nodded again. Hazer looked around for a moment and then jogged off into the distance leaving Marsa alone. As for Marsa, she went back to the dorm. With Hazers'' words weighing heavy on her mind.

    <hr>

    The match between Sachika and her opponent was located within one of the many courts of Essentia Japan Academy, it was currently at the midway point in the Royale Preliminaries for most of the academies around the world

    Dashing forward using her enhanced speed and agility Sachika attacked her opponent. The impact of Sachika''s bladed gauntlets and her opponents'' lance made a shockwave. The gust of wind blew into the surrounding class, as dust and dirt swirled into the air.

    Sachika deflected her opponents'' lance upwards leaving the girl open to attack. On that instant, Sachika dung the pointed tip of one her bladed gauntlets into the girl''s stomach.

    The attack severed the nanotech suit and gush of blood poured out. The girl dashed back trying to create some distance in order to prepare herself for what was coming next. But that didn''t stop Sachika, she charged again this time rapidly beating upon the girl.

    As her attacks landed the opposing girls'' nanotech suit started to wither and tear. Revealing her naked breasts and torso. Sachika''s landed her last attack knocking out her opponent completely.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    The girl before her laid on the floor unconscious as the pool of blood increased around her body.

    "Okay, that''s match, to Sachika Ito!" The instructor announced.

    Medics rushed to the girls'' aid, as Sachika stood there breathing heavily.

    That makes it four wins in a row,Sachika thought to herself as she poured a bottle of water over herself.

    <hr>

    Mistress Daiki was looking through various documents on her desk. Feeling the heat she took off her jacket and undid a few buttons on her t-shirt. Revealing more of her cleavage and large breasts.

    She stood up walking towards the window looking out onto the students practising for the Royale. Suddenly the communicator device located on her desk started to ping.

    Pressing the button the nameProfessor Daikilit up on the holographic screen.

    "Professor, or should I sayGrandfather?"She asked venomously.

    "Is that how always treat your relatives?" Professor Daiki asked the voice of an old man came through the sound system.

    "One like you? Most certainly"

    Professor Daiki laughed at the comment, "Anyway how''s she doing?"

    Mistress Daiki grunted, "Fine at the moment, but after what you did to her, who knows"

    "You know why I did it, Ayano" Professor Daiki tried to sound sincere.

    "Yeah? You keep telling yourself that"

    Professor Daiki groaned, "Anyway I contacted you to warn you"

    "About what?" She asked, her interest slightly piqued.

    "Professor Oshiro is close to discovering something, and it won''t be too long when it leads back to her"

    Mistress Daiki was slightly confused, "What do you mean?"

    "I can''t say too much at the moment, just make sure he doesn''t discover anything about her"

    Before Mistress Daiki could reply, the connection was cut between her and her grandfather. Looking out the window, she looked down staring at Aiko who was happily enjoying free time with her friends. But she noticed that Aiko seemed somewhat distracted by something.

    Rubbing her forehead, Mistress Daiki returned to looking at the documents.

    Upon the cover, it read,Project Ascension.

    <hr>

    Sachika was stripping off her nanotech suit. Her naked slender toned body dripping in sweat. She entered the shower letting the steamy hot water wash off all the sweat. Once finished she pulled out her cell phone, the cursor hovering over Aiko''s name.

    Clicking on the enter button on Aiko''s name, she started to enter a text.

    Hey Aiko, if you have time meet me after class sessions in the central courtyard

    Sachika.

    Sachika instantly sent the text. As she put on her dark purple panties and bra her cell phone vibrated. She had received a reply from Aiko, which brought a smile to Sachika''s face.

    Sure, I''ll meet you in the courtyard after class sessions

    Aiko.

    Ever since the night the duo and their friends celebrated they had been somewhat distant. Sachika was worried that she may have frightened off Aiko after what she did. So she wanted to talk to her, to make amends for what happened that night.

    After dressing herself in the academy uniform, Sachika rushed out of changing rooms to her next class sessions.

    <hr>

    "Professor Oshiro, it''s time" one of the Professors colleagues spoke out.

    The Professor and his colleagues were situated within a highly classified facility in the middle of nowhere not even the most technologically advanced states could locate the facility. This gave the Professor and his team the freedom to experiment and do what they wish without any outside interference.

    Professor Oshiro walked up to the tanker looking through the thick glass. A teenage girl imbued with one hundred per cent Nebula cells in her body laid dormant.

    A grin appeared on Professor Oshiro''s face. He turns to his male colleague, "Have her ready for operational duties"

    His male colleague bowed slightly, "Of course"

    Coursing through Oshiro''s mind he couldn''t help but smile venomously.

    Finally, after all this time, I''ll show you Daiki that my research has far exceeded yours!

    Upon thinking such things, the grin on his face grew bigger. Unable to wait to see what his research will produce in terms of results.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Royale Preliminaries Part Five

    A few weeks had already gone by into the Royale Preliminaries. It was already starting to near the end. The final results would determine the order of participants joining the Royale. As for the Royale itself, there were two stages nationals and international.

    The top-ranked Familiars in the Royale Nationals would then be funnelled into the Royale International.

    Essence and Armgiers reason to include the Royale as part of Familiar training was to create a sense of rivalry andbeing the best. So it was no surprise that all Familiars around the world are hard at work.

    Trying to achieve the best results before the Royale Nationals commenced.

    <hr>

    The third-year students had just finished their Royale Preliminary matches. Students from all four years converged on into the main courtyard awaiting the final results, it was mainly down to interest and gossip. But students within the same year would be more interested in reaching number one.

    However, Aiko noticed that many third-year students didn''t seem to fuss about the outcome of the Royale Preliminaries. Many of them seemed to be having a good time and a laugh instead of feeling anxious. Suddenly the screens started to make a chiming noise as they started to light up.

    Aiko along with many other students were looking at the holo-screens with interest. As she looked at the screen she saw the following names.

    1st - Ashina Corrigan

    2nd - Wendy Florente

    3rd - Mia Vasquez

    4th - Jade Haven

    5th - Ayano Urawa

    Aiko recognized the first name as Ashina was one of the first people she met at this academy. As for the other names she had no idea who they were. However, she was interested to find out what they looked like so she could put a face to their names.

    As she looked around she noticed that the third-year students that were waiting for the results were not at all bothered with the outcome placements.Is it expected to see these five girls in the top five places?Aiko thought to herself contemplating on what this could mean.

    "Did you hear? Today is the final day of preliminary matches for the second years!" A student nearby called out her friends.

    The mention of second years reminded Aiko of the conversation she had with Sachika not so long ago.

    <hr>

    One week ago...

    Aiko was waiting in the main courtyard where Sachika said to meet her. She had been waiting for at least five minutes now, to past the time she decided to look at her cell phone to see if anything new came up for the academy. It wasn''t long before she could see Sachika in the distance walking towards.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "H-Hey" Aiko spoke nervously.

    Sachika was blushing slightly, "Hey" muttering her response. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them.

    "Say, h-have you got a partner yet?" Sachika asked.

    Aiko just shook her head.

    "I was thinking that maybe...we could seal a Blood Contract between us" Sachika suggested.

    At first, Aiko was shocked at the suggestion not because she didn''t want to, but because she wasn''t expecting it. Especially not from the likes of Sachika.

    "I-I don''t know what to say" was all Aiko could say.

    Sachika was about to say something when suddenly a chorus of shouting to could be heard across the courtyard. Turning around she could see Hibiki with some second years shouting out to her. She was trying to say something couldn''t get the words out with the constant wailing in the background.

    "Just think on it, please?" Sachika asked before she jogged off to meet up with the second years.

    Aiko just stood there with a mix of shock and confusion to Sachikas'' proposal.

    <hr>

    As Aiko thought back on that conversion the speakers surrounding campus came alive.

    " The final matches for the second years Royale Preliminaries starts in ten minutes...all matches are on at the same time"

    Upon hearing the announcement Aiko decided she''d spectator Sachikas'' last match in the Royale Preliminaries. She didn''t waste a second to get to the arena where it''ll take place.

    <hr>

    Aiko sat in the stands as both Uli and Bethany met up with her. The trio waited in earnest for the match to start as did the other girls.

    Essentia took no shortcuts when it came to making their arenas that staged Royale matches for the students and the public to spectate freely. The stands could house at least a good few thousand people, even if all the students attended the match it would still have enough space for hundreds more.

    It wasn''t long when the entryways to the arena slowly opened up as the announcer announced the girls'' name for this match. The anticipation within the stands of the arena was nothing like Aiko had seen before.

    On the left Sachika stood, her silver hair making it easy to spot her. On the right was Yuki Urawa, her hair was bleached white and it was made into one big braid, unlike Ashina''s braid.

    Urawa?,Aiko thought she recognized that name.

    "Oh, it''s Ayano''s younger sister!" A gleeful voice rang out.

    The trio of friends turned around to find it was Ashina Corrigan, the student council president.

    "Student council president?" Bethany looked at Ashina rather perplexed.

    "Oh please, why wouldn''t I be here?" Ashina asked.

    "Well...it''s just unusual to see you attend something like this unless you''re participating" Uli answered.

    Ashina laughed at the comment.

    "Just because I''m student council president, doesn''t mean I''m glued to a desk all day..." Ashina seemed to daze of as if remembering something from her past.

    Before anyone could say anything, the announcer spoke.

    "And now for the most anticipated match of the Royale Preliminaries...Sachika Eto versus Yuki Urawa!"

    Both Familiars conjured their Essence Armament Weapons. A blue aura surrounded Sachika as for Yuki hers was orange. They both were wearing their nanotech suits. Sachika with her bladed gauntlets, as for Yuki, she conjured a single gauntlet.

    However here had long sharp claws that were rumoured to rip through almost anything.

    "So we meet at last Sachika Eto...or should I sayThe Phantom Queen?" A grin appeared on Yuki''s face.

    Sachika readied herself in a battle stance.

    "Enough chatting, let''s finish thisWhite Devil" replied Sachika.

    Upon hearing her nickname Yuki gritted her teeth in anger. The two of them got into their battle stances.

    A robotic melancholy voice spoke throughout the arena.

    ''Let''s go ahead

    ''3''

    ''2''

    ''1''

    ''Battle start!''

    Upon hearing the last words both Sachika and Yuki used their supernatural speed to charge head first into one another. Without a care in the world for what was to come next.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Royale Preliminaries Part Six

    With a thunderous crash, Yuki was thrown against the concrete wall of the arena. Upon impact, a small amount of blood sputtered from her mouth as she gritted her teeth making daggers as she looked at Sachika in the distance, who was already charging in for another attack.

    Sachika used her speed to close the gap between her and Yuki.

    To her surprise, Yuki subtly dodged Sachikas'' attack who had embedded her left bladed gauntlet into the concrete wall. Yuki took advantage of this, and without hesitation made a diagonal strike with her clawed gauntlet.

    Sachika was only just able to make an escape to avoid any major injury, however, she didn''t escape unscathed. Across nanotech suit where her breasts were, four light clean cuts were made into the suit as trickles of blood poured from the cuts.

    Damn, I can''t put all my strength into one attack or Yuki will counter it...I need to be fast if I''m to beat her,Sachika thought to herself, as she furrowed her mind for a plan.

    Sachika dashed back to gain some distance.

    "What''s the matter Sachika? Running away again?" Yuki shouted.

    It was too late for Sachika to dodge Yuki''s attack as the latter used her speed to overcome her opponent, her speed was close to that of Sachika''s. There was only a select few that could reach the interval speeds of Sachika''s millionth''s of a second, and Yuki was one of them.

    Yuki connected her knee into Sachika''s ribs on the side the force of the attack launching the latter into the ground, making a crumbled hole in the arena floor.

    The attack winded Sachika whom slowly stood up trying to get her breath back. Looking up she saw Yuki come in for another attack this on the sole of her foot. Sachika was able to react quickly to make a quick dodge to safety.

    Sachika quickly placed a hand on the side of her torso, she grits her teeth as a sharp pain rushed up against her side.

    Damn! I think it''s fractured from that last attack, Sachika chastised herself for underestimating Yuki. She knew that trying to play fair with Yuki from this point on wasn''t going to hard, so she needed something that could give an advantage.

    Looking down from her elevated position Sachika could see the bloodlust grin on Yuki''s face. Sachika would be lying if she said that she wasn''t the least bit scared upon seeing that all too familiar face.

    "I''m not finished with you yet...Phantom Queen!" Yuki shouted out as she once again charged her prey.

    As for Sachika, she braced herself for the incoming impact that she was about to receive.

    <hr>

    "Is that even allowed?" Uli blurted out. Referencing the knee attack that Yuki did on Sachika.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    "Oh yes, even killing your opponent is allowed" Ashina stated with a stoic expression. The younger students looked at her rathered shocked at the comment she made. She soon went back to her gleeful self when she realised what was happening.

    She laughs, "What I mean is accidents like that can happen when the fighting gets heated"

    The younger students set the gazes back upon the match that was taking place before them, many of them clearly unnerved by the comment that the student council president had made just moments ago.

    Aiko, on the other hand, was deeply concerned for Sachika''s safety, after all, it wasn''t long ago that the two of them made a promise to certify a blood contract with one another. The last thing that Aiko wanted was to see Sachika get killed before her very eyes.

    Please be careful Sachika,Aiko made a silent prayer to herself.

    <hr>

    Sachika came to the conclusion that the best chance of her winning this match was to get in close, but be quick in her attacks so Yuki couldn''t counter. Instantaneously Sachika charged straight towards Yuki, using her supernatural speed to close the gap between them.

    At first, Yuki thought Sachika was going to try the same attack from before which gave her a false sense of confidence.

    Her assumptions were soon proven wrong when Sachika suddenly changed her footing making Yuki''s left side completely exposed to any attack.

    Without hesitation, Sachika sent a flurry of jabs into Yuki''s side torso making puncture wounds with her blade gauntlets as blood spurted out.

    Yuki started to cough up blood as she fell to the floor. Upon hitting the floor Yuki stopped moving and in turn, Sachika stopped her attacks.

    As Sachika moved towards Yuki, she concluded that she had won when all of a sudden Yuki jolted upwards striking with her clawed gauntlet. The attack severed Sachika''s right leg as she screamed in pain and toppled over onto her side holding onto the leg that had been cut.

    Tears started to gleam across Sachika''s cheeks.

    Yuki standing up albeit groggy from the attacks she had from her opponent just moments ago limped slowly over to her opponent. When standing over Sachika, Yuki knelt down shoving the former exposing their torso. Straddling her opponent Yuki proceeded to pummel in Sachika''s torso with powerful punches.

    The crowd sat there watching a cluster of fear and sympathy for Sachika who continued receiving punches to the torso from Yuki.

    The look on Yuki''s face wasn''t that of satisfaction, it was more akin to hate and anger as she continued doing the same action.

    After thirty seconds of beating in Sachika''s torso, Yuki finally stopped. Sachika, on the other hand, looked almost dead even though her chest cavity was still intact, her nanotech suit was torn to pieces only leaving parts of it over her body. This also showed the blooded bruises across Sachika''s torso.

    As Yuki stood up grabbing Sachika by her remaining leg, she threw her across the floor leaving a bloodied and bruised Sachika in a heap on the floor in front of the whole arena.

    The crowd just looked on, not knowing whether to cheer for the girl that one or sit there in silence after witnessing what they saw.

    Yuki just turned around limping back to the staging area that she came from, while medics rushed to the aid of an injured Sachika.

    Game Over!

    The Victor...Yuki Urawa!

    The robotic voice announced as Yuki exited the arena.

    <hr>

    "I didn''t mention this before Aiko..." Aiko looks to Ashina as the latter muttered her name quietly behind her "...but both Sachika and Yuki have a history...somewhat of aviolentrivalry"

    The duo watched Yuki as she started exiting the arena.

    "Just be careful...about Yuki I mean" Ashina advised Aiko, the latter could tell that the student council president was serious with her stoic expression.

    Aiko looked back at Yuki, the latter turned around spotting Aiko in the crowd. Yuki makes a pistol gesture towards Aiko while blowing a seductive kiss at her. In turn, this made Aiko fluster and feel a sudden chill go down her spine upon seeing Yuki direct that gesture towards her.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Summer Beach House Part One

    With the Royale Preliminaries finished at the school, life would normally go back to normal but the gossip between the students was one of the last matches of the event between Sachika Ito and Yuki Uwara. The focal point is the intensity that the match brought.

    It wasn''t unusual for such matches to occur between Familiars around the world where they''d lose a limb or end up in a bad shape. What shocked the students was the brutality in which Yuki Urawa demonstrated in the match.

    Aiko was in her classroom in the middle of a break sitting at her desk next to the window looking out onto the clear ocean blue sky.

    She was startled when a pair of hands grabbed her by the breasts.

    Aiko''s cheeks blushed at the sudden action. Slapping the hands away she spun around to find Uli smirking behind her as if achieving something truly great at that moment.

    "Uli!" Aiko exclaimed making heads turn in the classroom.

    Uli just responded with a charismatic thumbs up something that wasn''t commonplace when it came to her.

    "Oh chill, I was only making sure there''s a soul inside that body of yours!" Uli laughed "I got to say Aiko, have you been drinking a lot of milk lately?"

    Aiko gave her friend a perplexed look, "I...I don''t follow?"

    Uli once again grabs onto Aiko''s breasts the latter letting out a small whelp.

    "Because these beauties sure have grown since last time!" Uli then decided to proceed with tickling the sides of Aiko''s torso, the latter started to laugh hysterically.

    "Oi! Sit down!"

    Both Aiko and Uli immediately stopped their playful antics when the instructor entered the classroom. The woman was in her mid-twenties, she was one of the very first Familiars. The ones that were used to experiment with Nebula tissue at the time.

    She wore a vibrant variation of the students uniform with more decals and attachments. The biggest difference between her uniform and the students was her pure white cloak.

    Her hair was dark green that hung just past the nape of her neck and a fringe covered her left eye. Her stern look sent a few shivers through the spines of some of the students.

    Aiko and Uli stood to attention at the sight of their instructor standing in the doorway. Uli quickly scuttled to her desk.

    "To think that we''re relying on the likes of you two to safeguard the human race" the instructor marched to her desk.

    Emike sat in the seat right next to Aiko.

    "You two can be right klutz''" she muttered to Aiko.

    "It''s not our fault that Instructor Takamura is so stuck up!" Aiko whispered back trying to argue her point across to Emike.

    "Aiko!" Instructor Takamura shouted once again this time her expression was getting to borderline psycho. "If I see or hear you doing something whilst I''m speaking! I''ll personally go up there and knock the wordshut upinto your head myself!"

    "Y-Yes Instructor Takamura" Aiko stood up quickly then bowed slightly before quickly returning to her seat.

    "Point proven" Emike muttered with a smirk on her face.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Aiko scoffed feeling rather agitated that Emike got her in trouble with Instructor Takamura who was the last person that Aiko wanted to be on their bad list.

    <hr>

    As the class finished all the students were getting ready to up and leave so they could have some free time to themselves. However, Instructor Takamura had something that she had to tell her students before they left.

    "Before you leave as all of you may well know summer break is coming up so if you''re going off campus during that time make sure you inform the academy in case any emergencies come up!"

    Everyone replied in chorus, "Yes ma''am"

    Aiko was about to pick up her things and leave when the Instructor called for her.

    "Aiko!" Instructor Takamura indicates to Aiko to follow her "We need to talk"

    Aiko bowed slightly, "Um, Yes ma''am" she quickly grabbed her belongings chasing after Instructor Takamura who was already walking down the corridor.

    <hr>

    Instructor Takamura entered her office followed by Aiko who, to say the least, was a bit anxious as to why she was called her by her instructor. Instructor Takamura sighed as she walked to her office seat, she sat down looking at Aiko for a moment.

    "Well, take a seat then" she motioned her hand to the seat on the other side of the desk.

    Aiko looked embarrassed at first, "Uh, yes ma''am!"

    Aiko quickly sat on the seat feeling more anxious as Instructor Takamura''s glared at her.

    "So, what are your plans for summer?" the instructor asked somewhat surprising Aiko at first.

    "I-I don''t understand?" Aiko replied stammering a little bit.

    "Well correct me if I''m wrong but, you''re an orphan, are you not?"

    Aiko nodded, "Yes ma''am"

    "So do you have anywhere to go for summer?"

    Aiko shook her head a memory of her days in Essentia High School flowed through her head. Every summer she''d spend it at the orphanage that she was brought up in, she never tried going out of her way to do something new and interesting. She felt that she didn''t have the right to do such things because of her background.

    "No ma''am, I''m currently just planning on spending it here"

    Instructor Takamura nodded like she understands where Aiko was coming from. "That''s fine, but the academies tend to persuade students to take the time to see family and friends so they can have that small semblance of a normal life"

    "Are you sure there''s no one you can spend your summer with?"

    Aiko sat there thinking for a moment, the thought of spending her time with Uli or Bethany with their families during this time would make her feel out of place and that she was intruding on their privacy. The one thing that Aiko didn''t want to be was a burden to her friends in any way.

    Putting on a smile Aiko replied, "I''m sure ma''am, it''s fine I''ve become quite used to it now"

    Instructor Takamura nodded, "Okay if you''re fine with that I''ll let it be"

    Aiko nodded appreciating the fact that her instructor understood where she was coming from.

    "You can leave now" the instructor announced.

    Aiko stood up then bowed, "Thank you, ma''am, see you in two weeks"

    "You too" the instructor simply replied. And with that Aiko swiftly left Instructor Takamura''s office, the latter sat there thinking to herself remembering just how many girls like Aiko she had met during her years as an instructor.

    <hr>

    As Aiko walked along the cobbled path back to her dorm block she looked around seeing many girls ecstatic about the summer break. Aiko knew that many of them would be going back to loved ones whether their family was blood-related or they were adopted they had somewhere to go back to.

    The gardens filled with exotic trees and flowers made the scene more pleasant especially with the overabundance of cherry blossom trees.

    However, Aiko had nowhere to go back to she always felt like an outsider when girls like her were being adopted at the orphanage she on the other hand never had anyone turn an eye towards her.

    As she reflected on her past Aiko didn''t expect the neck grab from an anonymous source.

    She started to cough feeling the strain around her neck. A few seconds later the pressure was lifted from her neck, she turned to see Hibiki standing there smiling at her.

    "Hey there, sorry about that got a bit too carried away" Hibiki laughed nervously.

    "Hibiki-san?" Aiko replied somewhat confused.

    Hibiki cleared her throat, "Anyway I came here to ask you if you have anything planned for the summer?"

    Aiko looked at Hibiki for a moment before responding, "Er, no why?"

    "Huh, that''s weird I thought Sachika would have invited you to her beach house in Okinawa" Hibiki stated somewhat cautious.

    "Beach house?" Aiko hadn''t a clue what Hibiki was talking about.

    Hibiki''s expression soon changed to that of shock, "Wait! You don''t know?!"

    "Know what?" Aiko was getting more confused by the second.

    "Sachika! You bloody idiot!" Hibiki chastised her friend under her breath. "She''s the daughter of the CEO of Ito Corporations, she''s a billionaire, to put it bluntly"

    "Huh!" Aiko hadn''t a clue how to react to what Hibiki just said. Instead, her face showed off a look of disbelief in what her senpai just announced to her.A billionaire, you''ve got be kidding me!Was the only thought going through her mind at that very second.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Summer Beach House Part Two

    Aiko and Hibiki were walking through the grounds of the academy, at first, Aiko wasn''t quite sure where they were going but after a few minutes of walking, she started to get a good idea as to where they were going.

    "Um, Hibiki-san do you have any family?" Aiko sheepishly asked.

    Hibiki at first glanced towards Aiko before responding.

    "No, as far as I know, they were killed during the First Nebula Invasion" Hibiki put on a gentle smile. However, Aiko had a feeling that the smile was only for show.

    "But it''s not all bad, I was adopted into Sachika''s family" Hibiki this time gave Aiko a thumbs up gesture.

    At the mention of Sachika''s family, this piqued Aiko''s interest. "Is Sachika an orphan like you?" she asked. At first, Hibiki''s expression confused Aiko it was a mixture of surprise and somewhat disbelief.Maybe it was the wrong thing to ask?Aiko thought.

    Hibiki shook her head, "No, Sachika isn''t an orphan..." as they continued walking the duo passed a group of girls from the academy playing beach volleyball on a simulation court wearing a rather provocative beach swimwear upon seeing the girls a blush revealed itself on Aiko''s cheeks.

    "...it matters of fact Sachika is one of the few that volunteer for the compatibility and surgeries in order to become a Familiar" Hibiki finished.

    Upon hearing the last part of Hibiki''s statement this made Aiko divert her attention from the girls playing beach volleyball back to her senior.

    "I didn''t know girls could volunteer for such things" Aiko muttered lost in her own thoughts. She was brought back to reality when Hibiki started to speak again.

    "Uh huh, you sure can, to be honest, I didn''t believe it at first because we were all taught that orphans from the First Nebula Invasion were only compatible..." Hibiki paused for a moment as if contemplating to herself "...I only found out about this when I met Sachika"

    "Sachika, was the first one you met?" Aiko asked earnestly.

    Hibiki nodded her head vigorously, "She sure was!"

    Suddenly Hibiki''s persona changed, "Damn it! We''re going to be late, no time for chit-chat!"

    She immediately grabbed hold of Aiko''s hand, at first, Aiko was surprised by just how soft and subtle Hibiki''s hand was. The duo rushed for the academy''s grounds to the rendezvous Hibiki had planned out during their walking trip.

    <hr>

    Walking around in her dorm room had become an annoyance for Sachika. After the match between her and Yuki ending with her leg being severed off the medical teams had to reattach her leg. Ever since the operation, her leg had been feeling numb.

    She limped towards her bathroom, unexpectedly her recently reattached leg gave out from underneath her making her fall back first into the wooden board at the end of one of the beds. It sent an uncomfortable sensation through her back seeing that the point of impact was on her crystallized spine.

    Wearing her short shorts and vest you could see the sweat slowly running along her pristine skin.

    Damn it all!Sachika cursed to herself.

    As she tried to stand up Sachika noticed that her leg was still extremely weak. The attempt she had just made resulted in her falling back down to the floor heavily panting to herself.

    "I hate this!" Sachika gritted her teeth on the thought of Yuki doing such an act during their final Royale Preliminary match of the year.

    Her thoughts were diverted when she suddenly heard a gentle tapping upon the door to the room. Before she could attempt to answer it, the door swung open revealed an overly enthusiastic Hibiki and a somewhat timid Aiko.

    "Hey! I''m-" Hibiki started before her expression changed to that of disbelief upon seeing Sachika in a heap on the floor "What the hell Sachi! I told you to take it easy!"

    Sachika''s friend rushed to her side along with Aiko shortly behind her in order to help Sachika to her feet.

    <hr>

    Sachika was laying down on top of her bed feeling rather embarrassed by the predicament she was put in just moments ago. As for Aiko and Hibiki, the two of them sat on the other bed across from Sachika''s.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "So what do you two want?" Sachika asked getting down to business.

    "I have four words..." Hibiki lifted up her hand indicating a four with her fingers "...summer beach house, Okinawa!" Hibiki was clearly enthusiastic about the whole ordeal.

    Sachika laughed, "No way!"

    Hibiki''s excited persona deflated, "Aw! Why not?!" her face changed to that of pouting.

    "I''m not going to spend my summer watching you and my brother get all lovey-dovey with one another" Sachika turned away clearly adamant in not changing her mind.

    Hibiki continued to pout, "You know that''s not the reason for your stubbornness!"

    For a moment Hibiki glanced over towards Aiko who was confused as to why her senior was looking at her of all people, a sly smirk appeared on Hibiki''s face. She moved over to Sachika''s side leaning closely against her friend, Sachika felt somewhat uncomfortable.

    "You know, Aiko will be there and no doubt in a bikini" Hibiki whispered gently into her friend''s ear.

    Sachika''s cheeks soon started to blush from the prospect of seeing the girl she likes in a bikini, "W-Well I-I guess I could mention something to my parents" Sachika muttered accepting defeat.

    "You''re great Sachi!" Hibiki shouted as she wrapped her slender arms around her friend almost choking Sachika.

    Sachika glanced at Aiko who was so fixated on her leg that it sort of made the former squirm from the sudden attention.

    "Oh, that reminds me what about your friends Aiko?" Hibiki asked.

    Aiko diverted her attention away from Sachika''s leg looking back up at her seniors, "U-Um well I guess I could ask them if they''d be interested"

    "Awesome! If that''s the case I''ll go and ask some others who''d be interested..." she was about to leave before she stopped looking back at Aiko "...and let your friends know that their partners are welcomed to join us!" Hibiki finished off excitedly.

    "H-Hey when has my summer beach house become a dumping ground for the academy!" Sachika shouted at Hibiki who was already at the door.

    "Since you agreed to let us stay there" Hibiki responded giving her friends a peace sign whilst she winked at them.

    Before Sachika could say anymore Hibiki had already darted out of the room and into the corridor in search of more students to join them on their endeavours. There was an uncomfortable silence left in the room between Aiko and Sachika as the two of them sat across from one another looking intently at each other.

    <hr>

    The warehouse was mostly pitch black from the night sky with only the moon illuminating what little it could through the glass windows. Some of the overhead lights were on lighting up some areas within the warehouse. Under one of those lights, a group of trembling men kneeled looking around frantically his hands and feet were bound together with wire.

    Surrounding him was a large group of humanoid figures their digitized metallic armour reflected the light shining upon them. The energy coursing through the engravings upon their armour was a mixture of red, orange, pink and purple.

    Walking out from the shadows a man with a black cloak emerged underneath the cloak you could see crimson red energy coursing through the engravings upon his armour.

    The men shook frantically when they saw him their clothing showing the sweat soaking through on parts around their body.

    The mysterious man kneeled down to the same level as the men before him. His were somewhat animalistic as if checking out his prey.

    "Do...you have...what...I want?" the hooded figure spoke his voice was raspy and deep.

    "W-We j-just need some more time" one of the men muttered.

    The hooded figure grunted shaking his head, "You''ve...had...a week...to find...what...I want"

    One of the men tried to speak up but the hooded figure stopped him mid-sentence when he lifted him up by the neck effortlessly. With a quick squeeze, he easily snapped the guy''s neck letting his lifeless body hanging in the air. The hooded figure released his grip all you could hear was the heavy thud as the body hit the floor.

    The hooded figure moves onto the next trembling man, "What... about you?"

    All the man could do was stutter trying to say his words, the hooded figure was clearly agitated kicking over the one he was questioning and without remorse stapped on his head crushing the skull as bone a bone and brain matter leaked from under his boot.

    This time the hooded figure kneeled in front of the last man grabbing his scalp, "Please...tell me...you''ve...got something...positive...to tell...me"

    The man furrowed his brain for information, "It''s in one of the Essentia Academies"

    The hooded figure tilted its head as if intrigued by the man''s comment, "Interesting...proposition...do you...know...which one?"

    The man shooked his head viciously.

    As for the hooded figure he nodded as he stood back up whilst limping away he looked off into the distance into the pitch black abyss of the warehouse, "Kill...him"

    As he and the others surrounding him left the colours faded gradually into the darkest. The man still kneeling under the overhead light started to shake and pant quickly with fear he looked around frantically. Sudden the hue of crimson red lit up before him.

    Emerging from the darkest a girl that was slender and curved showed herself. The particle dust emanating from the energy current engraves upon her digitized metallic armour it resembled much like the Essence Form that was still under scientific study for the use of Familiars.

    Suddenly the lower half of the helmet opened up a few strands of white hair fell through. But what caught the man''s attention was the girls four sharp pincer like teeth.

    She lept at the man, the latter screaming hysterically as she straddled him sinking her teeth into his neck as blood flowed through her teeth. The squirmed to no avail and was so overcome by a slow and painful death as his body couldn''t fight back.

    As his blood was being stripped from him, the girls'' crimson red energy coursing through her Essence Form armour as it started to pulsate faster with each passing second. Her Essence Form armour also started to make very slight changes to its structure.

    After a dozen or so seconds she pulled away from the lifeless corpse of the man she had just killed. Her breathing became quick and short as she gulped down the last few remaining drops of blood in her mouth, and then wipes away the stains of blood across her mouth as the lower half of her helmet reformed itself.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Summer Beach House Part Three

    The sound of dry heaving could be heard throughout the camp the girl who had just sucked the blood out of a random man felt physically sick. Even after doing it a few times before and she couldn''t get used to the idea more so to the taste and smell.

    The camp is situated in the middle of a dense forest making it a very suitable place to use if you didn''t want to be discovered.

    On all fours, the lower half of her helmet was open revealing her mouth and a few strands of white hair as she continued to dry heave.

    "Look at her I told you she couldn''t handle it!" another exclaimed their armour of similar material to the girls except it was less extravagant to the latter. Their body structure was clearly that of a man.

    His friends laughed without a care in the world as the girl continued to vomit this time blood started to come up.

    "Oh come on really?!" the same guy shouted out laughing hysterically.

    They were unaware of the hooded figure limping up behind them without warning he punched the man across the face dazing him. He then launched him back into a pack of carnivorous four-legged monsters that resembled the sabretooth except its body was a mixture of flesh and red crystallized material, with spikes protruding from their backs.

    In the background was the sound of blood-curdling screaming along with the sound of flesh and bone being ripped and snapped.

    The hooded figure loomed in the centre of the group looking around slowly his head snapping around sporadically.

    "Does...anyone else...like to...make...a joke?" he asked voice scarily calm. The group around him avoided eye contact or to be more precise they avoided looking at where his face would be. The girl was still on all fours as blood dripped from the bottom of her lip.

    No one in the group responded to the hooded figures question.

    "Good...now...get back...to work" his head aimlessly looked at around nothing in particular. The group continued to stand there as if unsure of whether they should comply with their leaders'' orders.

    The persona of the hooded figure changed like a flick of a switch for an instant, "WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR?! GET BACK TO WORK!"

    This time his subordinates didn''t waste any time they immediately gathered their things returning to their assigned duties. The girl who was still on the floor trembled slightly with fear as she could sense her leaders gaze upon her, she stayed on the floor not knowing what to do next.

    "Ayano...come...with me," he asked calmly not waiting for an answer he limped off towards his temporary quarters as Ayano pulled herself together following after her leader.

    As the duo entered the tent, the hooded figure sat on top of a stool he turned around looking towards Ayano then indicated to the free stool next to him. Ayano took the offer without hesitation she looked back towards her leader who told her to hunch over slightly.

    "Show me...your...composed...fibril" he muttered.

    Ayano paused for a moment but she dare not defy him, she did exactly as she was told the metallic digitized armour over her spine reeled back as the Essence particles shifted. There her Composed Fibril shone an emerald green. The hooded figure placed a hand on top of Ayano''s Composed Fibril sending shivers down her spine.

    "The...Nebula Core...hasn''t...fused...with your...Composed Fibril...properly" he runs his fingers along Ayano''s Composed Fibril from between her shoulder blades down to her tailbone examining it closely.

    "We need...to...hasten...the process" he stands up walking to the edge of his tent digging through his belongings. Ayano still sitting on the stool watched as the tension rose in her not knowing what was to come next. After a few moments of looking through his belongings he finally turned around looking at Ayano, in his hand he held a crystal shard but inside it, you could see the currents of Essence particles.

    Limping back over to Ayano he cracked the top open then slowly poured it over Ayano''s Composed Fibril. The particles were being absorbed into her spine, however, an excruciating pain went through her spine that made Ayano tense up and her eyes screwed shut trying to hold back the tears.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    After a few seconds, the procedure had finally ended an, in turn, her armour started to emanate an emerald green as Essence particles flowing out of her armours engravings. She too could tell that her body felt different compared to before.

    "Give it...some...time...you''re body...needs...to adjust...to the...changes..." pausing for a moment he took in a quick breath "...that...Nebula Core...is...one of the...few hundred...Sacred Essence Armaments...created..." his hooded head turns looking at Ayano "...don''t...disappoint me" he bluntly stated. He then turned walking out of the tent leaving Ayano alone panting to herself.

    Gathering her thoughts Ayano reformed the armour that covered her spine, and she too left the tent.

    <hr>

    Sachika, Aiko and Hibiki waited outside the airport for the others to turn up a few moments ago they greeted Uli and her partner and much to Sachika and Hibiki''s surprise it was Roselle. It was extremely rare to see a year one Familiar partnered up with a Coordinator it was just the norm for Familiars to be older than their Coordinators due to preferences.

    The students were dressed in a variation of summer clothes Aiko wore a yellow one-piece summer dress and flip-flops, Sachika and Hibiki wore their trademark vests and short shorts with sneakers. As for the others they wore t-shirts and jeans along with sneakers

    Aiko also had the chance to meet Hibiki''s partner who was a year one like herself. Her name was Noel Garren a girl from the United States who had migrated to Japan a few months ago, her hair was straight and curled at the ends reaching past her shoulders the colour was a straight black very like Emike''s when Aiko saw it.

    Now the group had to wait for Bethany and her partner to arrive who was already ten minutes late. Suddenly a black Sudan car rolled up parking in the drop off bay outside the airport.

    Bethany exited black Sudan wearing a casual t-shirt, jeans and sneakers followed quickly by her partner. Upon seeing Bethany''s partner many of the girls'' eyes widened in shock as for Sachika hers were like daggers.

    "Wait is that Yuki Uwara?!" Hibiki blurted.

    Yuki was wearing a red and white pattern one-piece dress.

    Sachika''s fists scrunched up as she continued to stare at Yuki, the latter groaning slightly upon seeing her rival. Both Bethany and Yuki joined up with the others exchanging their greetings.

    "Beth you never told usshewas your Familiar partner" Uli stated.

    "Well, I knew it''d cause trouble" Bethany muttered under her breath.

    Yuki looked around eyeing up Aiko who she winked at giving the latter a seductive smile. Seeing this just fuelled Sachika''s hate and anger towards her rival exponentially making her want to beat the girls'' brains in.

    "What isshedoing here?" Sachika asked venomously as she stared at Yuki. Bethany didn''t answer she just continued to look down at the floor beneath her.

    "Why aren''t I allowed to attend a gathering my partner is going to?" Yuki sarcastically replied.

    "If I had any say in the matter I''d permanently cripple you from doing anything"

    Yuki giggled, "That''s some tough talk coming from a girl who flapped around on the floor like a dead fish". Upon hearing that comment Sachika stormed up to Yuki pushed her violently, as for Yuki she just smirked.

    "So you want me to humiliate you publicly this time around? Sure I''d be happy to make you a laughing stoke in front of all these people" Yuki started to materialize her Essence Armament when suddenly Aiko appeared between the two of them.

    "Stop it!" Aiko''s expression was full of pure determination. This shocked everyone even Aiko''s friends were bewildered by her sudden surge of courage to get in between these two Familiars.

    Yuki paused for a moment having conflicting opinions on this new development. Grunting she looked away with clearly slightly blushed cheeks that it took Aiko by surprise when she saw it.

    "Fine..." she stopped materializing her Essence Armament then looked around at the group "...well, we going or what?" before anyone could answer she walked on ahead towards the airport entrance. Shortly followed by the rest of the group, Aiko was at the back of the group.

    To be honest, if those two can get through this summer break without trying to kill one another it''d be a miracle,Aiko thought to herself as she laughed quietly.

    <hr>

    In the parking lot across from the airport was a parked grey car inside a group of men sat inside one of them was looking through some binoculars watching the girls as they entered the airport. He looks to his partner sitting next to him with a touch screen pad in his hands.

    The man with the binoculars gives his partner a single nod before he returned to surveillance the girls from the academy.

    As for the man with the pad in his hands, he started typing a message.

    Confirmed sighting of the girl entering the airport with another group of girls from the same academy.

    They are departing for Okinawa as I''m typing this message.

    Clicking the send button the man sent the message back to the research lab that was waiting to hear about his findings.

    <hr>

    At Professor Oshiro''s Research Lab...

    "Professor Oshiro!" a lab technician shouted as he ran down the corridor to catch up with his superior. Professor Oshiro turned around to address his subordinate.

    "What is it?" he blatantly asked.

    The lab technician handed the pad over to Professor Oshiro, the latter took it into his hands reading the message that was displayed sent moments ago by the surveillance team he had hired to track down the girl. Upon seeing the message a smirk slowly appeared on his face.

    He turned around with a proud smile on his face, "Getherready we have a field test to administrate"

    The lab technician nodded knowing exactly what Professor Oshiro was referring to, he immediately rushed off to get all the necessary equipment prepped and ready for the upcoming test.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Summer Beach House Part Four

    After a long mundane flight, the girls of Essentia Japan Academy disembarked off the commercial airline being greeted by the clear ocean blue sky and the scorching heat of the sun rays raining down upon their skin. For Aiko, it was unusual to experience such an intense heat for her, after all, she was brought up in an orphanage north of Japan where she became accustomed to the mild climate.

    Aiko''s arms and above her cleavage was dripping in sweat as her body spent more time in this hot climate she was surprised to see Uli struggling in this type of weather.

    To say that the duo was glad to find free seats in the foyer was an understatement. Both Aiko and Uli flopped into any free seat they could find discharging their luggage on the floor before them.

    "I never...knew...it could be...this hot" Uli muttered weakly as she downed a bottle of water.

    "Mhmm" Aiko groaned as she rested her head against Uli''s shoulder.

    The rest of the girls just looked at the duo a mixture laughing and sighing could be heard amongst the group. Suddenly Hibiki thought of something as her energetic mind furrowed for any ideas that could her day all the more interesting.

    "You know what we should do?" a sly grin appeared on Hibiki''s face.

    Sachika eyed her friend cautiously, "Such as?"

    "We should have a house party!" Hibiki exclaimed energetically.

    "Forget it" Sachika bluntly responded. Hibiki turned to look at her friend directly to see Sachika with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. Hibiki knew just from that look that Sachika wasn''t going to budge.

    "We already had one party before we came here, and we all know how that ended..." Sachika looked to the others "...you''re luckily I agreed to let you all come here in the first place so we do as I say" it was evidently clear that Sachika was serious about this.

    Hibiki sighed, "You''re no fun...anyway how long do we have to wait?" she asked.

    Sachika ignored for friends former comment, "Not too long hopefully"

    As if by chance Sachika''s cell phone started to vibrate she immediately pulled out for a cell phone from her pocket swiping the screen to unlock the cell phone She looked at her cell phone intently before returning her gaze back at her friends.

    "He''s here" she simply informed them.

    Some of the girls more notably Aiko and Uli looked at Sachika intrigued at the mention of the word he, the duo were still dripping in their own sweat trying to cool themselves down. Sachika stood up grabbing her hand luggage heading towards the sliding double doors of the airport her friends didn''t waste any time in following her outside.

    As the group exited the foyer of the airport they were greeted by an older man in a dark grey and white business suit his brown hair was combed back with a clear sign of grey started to take root amongst his natural hair colour. Behind him, a black limousine was parked next to the verge of the road.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Bowing slightly he spoke, "Ms Ito it''s a pleasure to see you again" his broad British accent was obvious to the girls.

    Sachika looked to the side to nothing in particular clearly flustered, "How many times have I told you just to call me Sachika"

    The older man tilted his head up slightly, "But Ms Ito, you''re the daughter of a prestigious noble family it would be inappropriate for me to address you any other way"

    Still flustered Sachika just sighed, "O-Okay can we go now, Alfred"

    Alfred bowed again, "Of course right this way" he opened up the back door that leads to extra seating within the limousine. The looked on in awe as each of them entered the vehicle, they were particularly impressed by the velvet carpet upon the floor of the vehicle and the pristine leather seats along with shiny decal and ornaments that surrounded them.

    "So...this is what luxury lifestyles are like?" Aiko muttered to herself as Alfred put the limousine in gear driving off down the road towards Sachika''s beach house.

    <hr>

    Inside the airport sitting at one the tables within the cafes, a young lad a few years older than the group of girls watched them as they entered the limousine he sat there with a half-empty cup of coffee. His right arm rested upon the table, unlike his other arm this one had a black glove covering his hand. You could see slightly jagged points protruding against the glove.

    He wore summer shorts along with some normal sneakers and a pale blue t-shirt. Just by looking at him you could tell that he had worked out as he packed a lean muscular body underneath all that clothing.

    His hair was deathly white very much like Yuki''s white hair, however, his was untidily spiked in different directions giving it an unkempt look.

    He watched as the limousine drove off down the road the young lad sat there drinking his coffee when he noticed some men in the distance watching the limousine intently as it drove off. He spotted one of them putting a hand to their ear as they spoke to whoever was on the other end.

    It wasn''t long before the group of men started walking towards the back of the foyer of the airport he watched as they went through a backdoor undoubtedly only used by staff that were employed at the airport.

    Finishing up his coffee he left the money and a small tip for the waitress before he headed towards the small door that the group of went through just moments ago.

    <hr>

    It didn''t take long for the limousine to arrive at the Ito summer beach house on Okinawa. Aiko didn''t know what to expect so when the limousine slowly drove up the driveway towards the front of the house she couldn''t help but stare through the vehicle windows as did her friends and some of the other girls in their group.

    "Ms Ito we have arrived" Alfred announced he swiftly stepped out of drivers side of the vehicle opening the back door bowing slightly once fully opened. Hibiki was the first to lunge out all ecstatic and hyperactive followed shortly by the other girls.

    Aiko was the second to last to step out of the vehicle followed by Sachika. She looked up and around the house before her still in awe. The Ito family call this a summer beach house? It''s like a freakingmansion resort!Aiko thought as she looked at the towering delicate marble stone walls and pristine tiled roof.

    The marble stone stairs numbering a dozen or so steps lead upwards towards the two huge oak doors that Aiko presumed was the entrance to this so-calledhouse.

    Aiko also noticed an older woman standing at the top of the stairs wearing a flowery summer dress and sandals along with a straw made summer hat. It was quite evident to Aiko that this woman was something out of dreams, the woman''s long black hair moved with the wind and her gentle smile brought out the beauty in her face evermore.

    The woman clapped her hands together once thrilled upon seeing the girls, "It''s so good to have you all here!"

    "Okaa-san" Sachika spoke gently.

    Aiko turned to look at Sachika noticing her slightly blushed cheeks and the honorific Okaa-san, she immediately put the two together realising that the woman before them at the top of the stairs was, in fact, Sachika''s mother.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Sun, Sex and...Bootcamp?! Part One

    Hibiki enthusiastically waved to the woman standing at the top of the marble staircase leading to the mansion belonging to Sachika''s family. The woman, in turn, returned the kind gesture waving just as enthusiastically as Hibiki.

    "Hello, Eto-San" Hibiki called out.

    "Welcome girls it''s a nice change for once to have some of Sachika''s friends over" Eto-San shouted back the gentle smile upon her face ever so present in the blistering Okinawan sunshine. As for Sachika, she stood off to the side clearly embarrassed as if wanting to encase herself within a steel container to relieve her of such a situation.

    "Mrs Eto would you like me to move these young ladies luggage to their arranged sleeping quarters?" Alfred bowed in the direction of Eto-San.

    Eto-San nodded, "That would be wonderful Alfred"

    Without delay Alfred immediately started shifting the girls'' luggage a few suitcases at a time towards the mansion not breaking a sweat. Aiko watching felt slightly guilty not offering a helping hand she jogged lightly over towards Alfred grabbing the handle of her own suitcase.

    "Here allow me to help," she asked with a kind smile on her face.

    Alfred gasped slightly upon looking at the girl he too smiled, "That would be very kind of you". As if on cue the other girls in the group also started to help shift their suitcases into the mansion leaving only Sachika and Yuki outside along with the formers mother seeing that Alfred started moving their suitcases first.

    There was an ominous feeling in the air as the clear blue sky allowed the sunlight to shine brightly upon the two them and the gentle breeze of the ocean air made the colour of bleach white and silver hair swaying in the wind. Eto-San stood at the top of the marble staircase her black hair swaying as well she felt quite on edge about the current atmosphere her daughter and this girl was letting out.

    "I see you two have settled your differences after your final match in the Royale Preliminaries..." Eto-San started before she was cut short by Yuki''s abrupted laughing. This riled Sachika up the wrong way making her turn to Yuki giving the latter daggers as she stared at the girl.

    "Oh please were about as much a friends like a lion and hyena..." Yuki turned her head to Sachika giving her a sly smirk "...but I see where Sachika gets herannoyingquirks from"

    Upon hearing that comment Eto-San''s expression turned sour although she tried her best to remedy some form of a bond the three could make. Still, in the back of her mind, she had an unsavoury hatred towards the Yuki girl.

    Yuki just waved the two of them off before she ascended the marble staircase, "Anyway, see yeah!" she exclaimed as she entered through the double front doors of the Eto mansion. Sachika stood there staring at the door as she gritted her teeth and her right fist tensed up ever so slightly.

    <hr>

    Hibiki rushed towards the back of the mansion dropping her suitcase in the process clearly ecstatic about something that the other girls were somewhat surprised. As the group of girls entered the mansion they were greeted by an assortment of vibrant colours such as dark red, greys, blacks and many others.

    The floor was fitted with an expensive velvet red carpet which covered only part of the floor whilst the other was fitted shiny wooden floorboards.

    They too noticed the many antique and expensive furniture and ornaments that surrounded them ranging from mahogany made tables and chairs. Marble made statues depicting various unusually shaped features that none of them had seen before. It almost felt like they walked into a private museum or some treasure hunters personal hoard of collectables.

    "Holy shit" Uli muttered as she looked around dumbfounded. Her eyes wandered up towards the ceiling showing a beautifully crafted mosaic covering the centre of the ceiling.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "I knew Sachika was rich but I had no idea she was this rich!" Bethany exclaimed as she too looked dumbfounded.

    Aiko couldn''t help but share the same expression as her friends looking around she couldn''t help feeling amazed at what her eyes were witnessing.

    Noel walked up to the trio of friends, "Is this your first time visiting?" her face was devoid of any emotion, however, this somewhat intensified the cute factor that lingered within Uli as she along with Aiko and Bethany turned to face the girl.

    "Er...yeah the three of us never really had the luxury of being invited to homes such as this one" Aiko responded sheepishly.

    Noel looked away for a moment as if deep in thought before looking back at Aiko, "I think you''ll like it here" her face still devoid of any emotion.

    "Oh, that''s good to hear" Aiko rubbed the back of her head whilst Uli stared at Noel unable to control herself she suddenly latched out embrace the latter in a tight hug.

    "O...M...G this girl is so adorable!" Uli exclaimed.

    Noel, on the other hand, felt very uncomfortable as if she was unsure on how to approach such a situation instead Noel resorted to squirming beneath the tight embrace of Uli hoping for it to end very soon.

    "Please let go of me," Noel asked bluntly this time her cheeks were slightly blushed and her lips trembled ever so slightly under Uli''s embrace. As the two continued their own form of bonding Aiko noticed Sachika and her mother along with Yuki entering the mansion through the front double doors.

    The smile on Aiko''s face was soon gone when she noticed the sour look in Sachika''s eyes as the latter stared down Yuki. The two of them clearly both going out of their way to avoid any contact with the other for as long as they can. Before Aiko could go over to Sachika''s side they tense atmosphere was soon lifted by the sudden appearance of Hibiki.

    Hibiki was still energetic like she was before disappearing, "Come on! Let''s all jump in the hot spring before going into the pool!"

    Upon hearinghot springUli immediately released her grip around Noel the latter sighing deeply with relief, "Hot spring awesome!" Uli gleefully shouted out. Both she and Hibiki ran off in the direction of the hot spring.

    "H-Hey wait up!" Bethany shouted as she along with Noel and Rosell chased after the hyperactive girls that ran off beforehand.

    Aiko looked back at Sachika who noticed her Coordinator looking worriedly at her. "I''m fine, go on without me I''ll be there in a few minutes" Sachika lifted her hand up motioning for Aiko to go on whilst trying to put on her best smile.

    As for Aiko she paused for a moment still looking worriedly towards her Familiar partner she then bowed slightly, "Ok Sachika-San" she then followed after the other girls.

    Once her partner was out of sight Sachika''s gloomy demeanour returned as she thought to herself. Off to her left Sachika caught a glimpse of Yuki also heading in the direction of the hot spring like a flick of a switch Sachika''s gloom soon changed to that of hate.

    You wait, the next time we meet in the Royale our fight won''t be so one-sided,she thought to herself as she watched Yuki disappear from view.

    <hr>

    Walking through the large open corridors of the Eto mansion Sachika couldn''t help but continue dwelling on Yuki and the upcoming Royale,so much for relaxing, she thought to herself as she sighed deeply. Looking up ahead she noticed that the others were huddled at the entrance of the hot spring.

    Upon nearing the group she spoke out, "Why is everyone standing around at the entrance?" Sachika followed their blank gazes towards the hot spring. What she saw made her lost for words.

    There were two girls clearly older than Sachika and her group the one sitting with her back to them had her Composed Fibril was on show to everyone. The soft orange hue glowed in the surrounding water. Her hair was cut short on the left but on the right, it was much longer like an overgrown fringe reaching past the collarbone while also covering her right eye.

    The other girl was facing them, her hair was a medium length emerald green the girls'' eyes were a notable amber colour. The girl leaned forward ever so slightly then waved at the girls, "Heya!" the girl called out happily.

    Sachika, Aiko and the others stood there all of them with a mixture of emotions showing on their face as some of only just took note that the two older girls were completely naked. No one within their group responded to the girls'' kind welcoming but that didn''t faze the mysterious girls unusually happy demeanour.

    Suddenly the girl that had her back to them stood up the steamy hot water from the hot spring trickled down her well developed athletic body. She reached up stretching her entire body letting out a pleasurable sigh her C cup sized breasts jiggled slightly as she stretched out her body, with hot water splaying off her curvy body and breasts as she shook herself down.

    The other girl eventually turned around unfazed at showing off her naked body clearly showing she pride in that department. The younger girls all started to blush some of them turned away clearly embarrassed.

    "It''s been a long time, Imouto-San" the girl casually spoke up.

    "O-Onee-san" Sachika stuttered clearly in shock at seeing her older sister.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Sun, Sex and...Bootcamp?! Part Two

    The eldest sister of Sachika continued to stand there before the young girls completely oblivious to the fact that she was naked. The hot aurora that surrounded them created an atmosphere of humidity this, in turn, started to create sweat on her sisters'' body along with the hot water that once covered her just moments ago.

    It didn''t help with the added beautifully warm summer weather that Okinawa was experiencing this year. The clear blue sky allowed the scorching sun to shine down upon the group of girls.

    Sachika, Aiko and the others continued to look on in somewhat uncomfortable expressions especially Sachika as she felt jealous of the fact that her elder sister sported a bigger rack than herself.

    The girl behind Sachika''s sister continued to smile joyfully as she peered around her partner looking at the young girls to which they presumed was unbridled interest.

    "It''s been a long time Sachika" the elder sister spoke up, she continued to stand there as drops of sweat and hot water dripped down her curved muscular body.

    "Onee-Chan" Sachika replied to what seemed to be a hint of resentment in her tone of voice.

    Her sister sniggered, "No way to treat your dear sister" she waved her hand unconsciously.

    Sachika grunted, "What are you doing here, Kaname?" it was clear to the other girls surrounding her that Sachika and her sister, Kaname were never on good terms. It also made them wonder how this particular moment would pan in the next thirty seconds for all of them.

    Kaname seemed genuinely shocked, "Didn''t...Mistress Daiki tell you before leaving?"

    "Tell us what exactly?" Hibiki responded as she rubbed the back of her head with her left hand as she thought hard on the last conversation she had with Mistress Daiki before leaving for Okinawa.

    Suddenly Kaname started to laugh hysterically as she hunched forward ever so slightly as she wrapped her muscular arms around her slender curved torso. Her breasts jiggled as she laughed allowing a dozen droplets of sweat and water dripped off the ends of her breasts.

    Hibiki and Sachika looked to one another perplexed for a moment as did the others wondering what could be so funny to Kaname about this whole ordeal. It wasn''t long before Kaname started to control her laughing fit and composed herself looking back at the young girls.

    "Well Mistress Daiki asked me and my partner to come down to put all through sometrainingI suppose we could say" Kaname had a smirk on herself upon saying her statement.

    The mention of the word training suddenly turned the once joyful and energetic mood of the young girls into that of dread and worry. You couldn''t blame them as they all thought they were visiting Sachika''s Okinawa beach house for some well deserved R&R only to have their hopes stripped away at the last second.

    Hibiki pulled out the cell phone from her pocket that was issued to all students of Essentia Academies around the world to find a notification of a message being sent to her. The others too pulled out their cellphones to also find a message had been sent to them. Without thinking Hibiki immediately pressed the confirm button opening up a voice message.

    "Hello, girls..."the group of girls recognised the voice to be Mistress Daiki without a doubt"...I forgot to mention before you all departed that Familiar Kaname Eto and Coordinator Ashlee Brenning will be putting you through some boot camp I''ve organized for you all"

    The look of disappointment upon Sachika, Hibiki and Uli''s face showed how frustrated the trio clearly was. Even though Sachika didn''t openly show it she too was excited for their summer break only to have Mistress Daiki drop a bombshell on top of them.

    Mistress Daiki continued speaking in her voice message,"After reading all the student action reports after the Third Nebula Invasion incident I believe you''re all in need of a bit vigorous training, anyway enjoy your summer break"

    Upon hearing the last few words of that voice message it was all too obvious that Mistress Daiki was enjoying this ordeal being able to torture her students whilst relaxing god knows where. The group of girls have huddled together with their backs to Kaname and Ashlee, a droning sigh could be heard in unison amongst the group after listening to the voice message.

    "Well...so much for summer break huh?" Hibiki laughed awkwardly.

    "That''s too bad" Aiko chimed in, Noel nodding her head in approvement of Aiko''s statement.

    As soon as the girls turned around they all looked away trying to avoid eye contact with a bare naked Kaname and an Ashlee half submerged into hot water. The latter looked at the girls confused by their sudden reaction as Ashlee stood up revealing her less muscular body. Her breasts were smaller than Kaname''s but bigger than Sachika''s, she too had a mixture of hot water and sweat trickling down her body.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Moving towards the edge of the pool she leant over slightly her breasts shook slightly sprinkling water upon the tiled floor surrounding the hot spring. Ashlee directed her attention up towards Aiko who was clearly blushing at the sight of seeing Ashlee''s assets.

    Ashlee produced an innocent smile then without warning she grabbed Aiko by wrist wrenching her into the hot spring. Aiko whelped out in shock not having any idea what was about to happen the others looked on in equal expression as a splash of hot water went up into the air.

    A few seconds went by before the sound of Aiko bursting through the water gasping for air could be heard. Breathing heavily Aiko slowly opened her eyes only to sigh in annoyance her summer dress had completely soaked through she did the only thing she could think of and that was to take it off and throw it to the side of the hot spring.

    She stopped in her tracks when she heard Hibiki speaking.

    "Some fine underwear you''re sporting there Aiko!" Hibiki called out with a smile on her face.

    Aiko looked to the edge of the hot spring to only find her friends staring a mixture of embarrassment and giggles could be heard amongst them. Aiko looked down forgetting she was wearing her set of fancy lingerie garments they were a glossy red with black laced patterns skirting the edges around the cups and to make it worse they were completely soaked through.

    All Aiko could do was stand there frozen with embarrassment as her cheeks started to turn red like tomatoes. Suddenly Ashlee appeared behind her out of the hot water.

    "I think we can get rid of these" a smirk appeared on her face as she undid the pin to Aiko''s bra which fell off effortlessly. Before the latter could even respond Ashlee gracefully handled Aiko''s breasts as if they were sacred treasures. Ashlee fondled Aiko''s B cup breasts looking rather surprised.

    "Woah if I hadn''t known better I wouldn''t have thought that your breasts were small" Ashlee continued to fondle Aiko''s breasts the latter letting out a cute orgasmic whelp in response. Aiko''s size was one of the bigger B cups compared to the average girl.

    The other girls didn''t know how to respond some of them looked away albeit Sachika being one of them and some couldn''t help but look. Sachika suddenly felt a tug on her wrist as she was pulled backwards feeling the hot water splash over her body sending a pleasurable shiver up her spine. She looked to her right to see Yuki in a heap amongst the hot water.

    The two of them made eye contact and immediately looked away from one another with flustered cheeks. They were interrupted when Kaname started speaking to the two of them. They both turned around to look up at Kaname whilst attempting to avoid looking at her crown jewels.

    "Well, it wouldn''t be right if you didn''t at least have one day of relaxation before boot camp!" Kaname exclaimed excitedly getting herself and the others in the mood for a day of downtime before their big summer boot camp. Both Sachika and Yuki couldn''t help but laugh at the situation they were currently in.

    Looking in front of them Bethany, Hibiki, Noel, Uli and Roselle were still standing outside of the hot spring unsure of what to do.

    Sachika jumped up grabbing Hibiki''s wrist, "What are you girls waiting for? Get in!" she shouted as she pulled Hibiki into the hot spring. She along with Yuki and Kaname pulled the other girls in at first the hot spring was filled with the sound high pitched screams and whelps but, it wasn''t long before it started turning into cheers and laughter as Mrs Eto stood outside smiling in relief.

    <hr>

    "Send back up!" a man clad in black spec ops gear shouted into his headset. The sounds of screams could be heard around him. As gunfire lit up the dimmed lighted corridor in the underground facility.

    "It''s coming!" another shouted as his unloaded his clip into the distance before him.

    "Respond as planned to the threat until further notice" was the response that came through from the headset.

    "I keep getting the same thing!" the man on the comms headset shouted out to the rest of his squad. Suddenly one of their squad mates screamed out as a crystalline-like hand grab his ankle wrenching him into the darkness only to hear a blood-curdling whelp and their final last breath at the mercy of unknown assailant.

    Another squad mate was pounced at by the mysterious assailant it had the figure of a girl, however, her body resembled that of Nebula with it''s crystalline and energy design. The girls'' arms had blades protruding from them which she had impaled into her targets chest cavity as blood spurted out over her. The man on the comms headset realised who the girl was the test subject that Professor Oshiro conducted his experiments on.

    Before he could react the girl turned to him, her body twitched and snap ever so slightly as if she was possessed by some unknown dark force blood covered her naked crystalline textured body. Without warning, she pounced at him all you could hear was a blood-curdling scream.

    <hr>

    In a pitch black room with its only source of lighting coming from that of monitor screens, Professor Oshiro sat at the desk looking at the screens before him in earnest as he watched his prized test subject slaughter endless waves of mercenaries that they had hired to guard the facility. A devilish smirk soon appeared on his face as he continued to watch keen interest.

    Another scientist appeared from the darkness with a tablet in hand scrolling through multiples piles of data.

    "The first stage of the test has gone according to plan" the scientist announced.

    A moment of silence befell them before Professor Oshiro spoke up, "Good now move on to stage two". His colleague was bewildered at the suggestion.

    "But...Professor Oshiro, it''s so early in the trial stages..." he was immediately cut off.

    Professor Oshiro turned his head enough so that his colleague could see it, his expression was sour showing no empathy whatsoever, "I believe the evidence we have before us shows just how successful stage one has turned out to be...so successful that I suggest we move onto stage two of the testing phase" his voice was stern and tough.

    The scientist bowed slightly, "Of course Professor Oshiro we''ll start stage two of the testing phase immediately" he backed away into the darkness leaving Professor Oshiro all to his lonesome.

    Professor Oshiro turned his head back to look at the monitors seeing the girl once again butcher her way through countless mercenaries, "It''s time to see how efficient theseso-called Familiars and Coordinaters are up against my new creation"

 Volume Two | Chapter - Sun, Sex and...Bootcamp?! Part Three

    Being woken up at the crack of dawn to the beautiful dark orange Okinawan sunrise just of the horizon would have been a dream for anyone, however, that someone being extremely exhausted from yesterdays shenanigans with a fraction sleep wasn''t an ideal morning.

    The young girls were still half asleep at midday each of them only getting a few hours sleep the previous night. They were all wearing tight-fitting gym clothes such as sports bras and shorts along with trainer socks and running shoes. The sweat poured off them as they tedious went about doing the physical activities that Kaname and Ashlee set out for them.

    Hibiki collapsed to her knees with a loud thud against the soft white sand her breathing was short and quick, "I..I think...I''m...gonna die here" sweat was dripping off her as if someone doused her with a bucket of water.

    A few seconds later Yuki collapsed to the floor, however, she was worse for wear. She was in a heap on top the sand desperately trying to control her breathing so she didn''t pass out from lack of oxygen. The sand stuck to parts of Yuki''s sweaty skin making incomprehensible patterns across her body.

    Shortly afterwards they were joined by Sachika and Roselle who were equally flustered and worn out after the first stage of their intense physical training.

    Kaname walked over to the exhausted girls she too wore the same clothing but, unlike Sachika and her friends she wasn''t sweating as she didn''t have to partake in such training. Her black sunglasses blocked out the sun making it easier for her to refer to the stopwatch in her hand.

    "You did okay but, you could have done better" Kaname bluntly told the young girls.

    Sachika, Yuki, Hibiki and Roselle all looked up towards Kaname the latter''s towering physical presence dwarfing them in comparison. "You can talk...all you did...was stand there and watch!" Yuki grunted between taking breaths.

    Kaname''s expression was unfazed as she knelt closer to Yuki their faces only inches from one another, "If you''ve got time run that pretty mouth of yours then you''ve got time to run..." Kaname stood up straight still looking down over Yuki "...how does running laps of the beach again sound to you? This time up to your neck in seawater?"

    Yuki clenched her fist as if contemplating how to respond when she couldn''t come up with a response she flicked her head to the side in disgust.

    As for Kaname, she ignored Yuki''s immature response, "Okay you can have a short break if you want to you can take a dip in the sea or shower off to cool down until the next physical exercise"

    "Th...Thank god" Roselle whispered only just hearable to the others surrounding her breathing gradually returning to normal including the other girls.<hr>

    "Oh my god, I''m so glad that we can do this" Hibiki muttered out loud. She was laying on her front letting the sea salt water splash over her rear to then leave trickles of water running down her flesh. This process repeated itself for Hibiki as well as the other two by her sides.

    Hibiki looked to her right to see Roselle laying on her side with her back to the former, Hibiki noticed that Roselle was slightly curled up as if she was sleeping. She then looked to her left to see Yuki lying on her.

    Yuki wasn''t asleep unlike Roselle instead she was just closing her eyes to block out the sun. As the ocean water flowed up shore it once again splashed over the girls in the case of Yuki it splashed over her breasts when the water retreated back further into the sea it left its make on her body with the droplets of water as it did with Hibiki and Roselle.

    Leaning upward and looking around Hibiki noticed Sachika wasn''t anywhere to be seen.

    "Where did Sachika go?" she asked no one in particular. Roselle continued to sleep soundly to herself but, she did get a respond from Yuki.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there."Don''t care. As long as she''s not anywhere near me that''s good enough" Yuki blunted replied.

    "What is it between you two?" Hibiki may have known Sachika for some time but, when she did some digging into the past between Sachika and Yuki she found out that the two of them had a long history of butting heads with one another long before she came into the picture.

    Yuki turned to look at Hibiki with a serious expression on her face for a moment she didn''t say anything, "It''s none of your business" she simply said this time turning her head in the opposite direction of Hibiki. As for the latter she simply made a pouting face as she stared at Yuki before laying back down on the soft sand.<hr>

    She looked up toward the shower head closing her eyes as she ran her hands across her torso and breasts rubbing the cold water into her skin.

    "You''re sure as hell taking your sweet time"

    Sachika jumped slightly upon hearing that statement she spins around readying herself for a fight only to see her older sister, Kaname standing there looking down on her. Sachika breathed out slowly and shivered when she turned the other way, with both hands she clasped the metal railing that was at her head height feeling light-headed.

    "I''ll be finished soon," Sachika told her sister.

    Kaname nodded she turned away about to walk off back towards the beach when Sachika suddenly spoke up again. "I''ve been thinking...what happened after you graduated the academy?" Sachika asked her sister.

    Kaname turned around looking back at her sister she stood there for a moment just looking at Sachika who was still looking the other way. "All I can say is...the world as you know it isn''t as perfect as you think" Kaname looked off into the distance as if reminiscing about the past.

    "What''s that suppose to mean?!" Sachika was agitated at this point so she spun around directing her angry expression at her sister. She was surprised to still see that blank expression on Kaname''s face Sachika soon turned away feeling somewhat guilty about her outburst.

    "Trust me you''ll know when it''s time" was all Kaname had to say before walking off leaving Sachika all by herself in the outdoor shower. Sachika remembers vividly how she and her sister was close before she graduated they would always spend time with one another no matter when or where, however, after Kaname''s graduation she noticed her older sisters sudden withdrawals from her and the family only visiting one or twice a year if she was lucky. Since then both Sachika and Kaname have never been able to see eye to eye for the most which strained what little sisterly bond remained between the two of them.

    Sachika turned forward once again grabbing the metal railing with both hands this time she exerted incredible as she clenched her fists crushing the metal alloy within her palms.<hr>

    Both Uli and Aiko jumped out of the way as a huge explosion happened behind them as did Noel and Bethany. The girls along with Ashlee were also wearing the same sports bras, shorts and running shoes and they were equally sweating from the intense physical pressure they were put under.

    "Th..his is crazy...she''s trying to kill us or something?!" Uli exclaimed.

    "For once...I agree with you" Bethany calmly albeit reluctantly replied while Noel nodded her expression revealing she was rather on edge from what they were witnessing right now. They looked towards Ashlee seeing her once again materialize a crystalline shard out of nothing.

    Aiko just stared at Ashlee her breath becoming faster and shorter by the second as she took in Ashlee''s emotionless expression it sent an uncomfortable shiver down her back as she prepared for another onslaught of crystal shards.

 Volume Two | Chapter - Sun, Sex and...Bootcamp?! Part Four

    Aiko was breathing heavily as she tried to catch her breath only to realize how much effort it was taking to do so, to her left Aiko''s friends were in a similar situation Uli and Bethany were sprawled across the soft white sandy beach of the Okinawa coast. The soaring sun setting over the horizon the girls still sweating you could still see pouring down their silk-like skin. Noel is the only one looking reasonably comfortable in her childlike posture as if she was sleeping upon the sand.

    The only way of knowing Noel''s discomfort was her ragged breathing as if it was hard for her to catch her breath. Aiko realizing this shuffled over to Noel.

    "Noel...you okay?" Aiko spoke quietly just loud enough for Noel to hear her.

    Noel slowly opened her eyes somehow maintained her trademark expression of no emotion, "Yes, thank you" she replied gently. She then took one deep breath, "I feel a lot better now, thanks to you" Noel smiled gently at Aiko, the latter responding in kind.

    Ashlee then walked over to the girls her once terrifying look from moments before was gone, and she back to her usual laid back self. "Well I think that paid off quite well" Ashlee calmly announced.

    Uli let out a loud sigh, "Y-You were...trying to kill us! How was that successful?" she was clearly dumbfounded by Ashlee''s comment.

    Smiling Ashlee responded, "Oh trust me if I wanted to kill you I would have" she let out a small chuckle.

    Hearing that, Uli quickly and suddenly gulped. Soon the other girls followed in suit feeling somewhat unnerved by Ashlee''s comment. Without warning, Ashlee jumped up seeming more enthusiastic than before, "Well I say we join the others seeing that it''s almost dusk" she then quickly turned to head further down the beach back towards the beach house.

    <hr>

    Further down the beach not too far away from the Eto summer beach house, Kanami was putting the Familiars through their paces. Yuki having mouthed off again to Sachika''s older sister about the training the latter was putting them through Kaname decided to teach them a valuable lesson in following orders.

    The girls were up to their chest in seawater wearing their sports apparel holding a large boulder above their heads. The salt from the seawater was starting to stiffen their clothing making it harder to move their limbs, and even though the sun was setting in the horizon the heat emitting from it was still intense.

    "The hell we doing this for anyway," Yuki grunted to herself the sweat pouring off her whilst holding the large boulder above her head.

    Sachika sighed clearly irritated, "If it wasn''t for your loud mouth, Kaname wouldn''t be putting us through this"

    Yuki turned her head to Sachika her eyes glaring at her venomously, "Watch it Sachika"

    Hibiki who was just to the left of the two girls just looked on she looked uncomfortable both from Yuki and Sachika bickering at one another and holding a boulder up above her own head. Looking to her right she noticed that Roselle was clearly in pain her arms slightly wavering under the pressure of the boulder.

    On the shore of the beach, Kaname was casually lying upon the soft white sand in her bikini to top off her tan. The girls in the sea looked on in distaste especially Yuki feeling as if Kaname was rubbing it in that she was enjoying herself compared to them.

    It wasn''t long before Ashlee and her group of girls appeared in the distance noticeably the Familiars partners were equally as exhausted as they were. It was starting to become evident that their glorified beach holiday dream was slowly into a nightmarish joke.

    When the group had met up Aiko, Uli, Bethany, and Noel instantly collapsed to the floor. Kaname looked out at sea she shouted out to the others, "That''s enough, get yourselves out!"

    Sachika and the others haphazardly dropped the large boulders into the sea only to feel the strain of walking water at chest height with virtually stiff clothes. Their skin was itchy from the mixture of sweat and salt water mixing together upon the surface of their skin.

    The Familiars reached the shoreline they too collapsed upon the sand all of them were breathing heavily from the respective training regiments they partook in.

    Rubbing the back of her head Kaname suddenly spoke up, "Well it''s already late enough get yourselves back to the house and wash yourselves down for supper"This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    The young girls begrudgingly stood up walking slowly towards the house making it perfectly obvious various parts of their bodies were in pain from the strenuous physical training that both Kaname and Ashlee put them through. The latter pair hanged back as if contemplating between one another.

    "I feel a little sorry for them to be honest" Ashlee muttered.

    Kaname nodding was playing with her hair without realizing it, "Well, the Mistress did ask us to put them through their paces and that''s exactly what we''re doing"

    "But she seemed more concerned this time around, more so than before" Ashlee stated looking to Kaname for an answer.

    In respond, Kaname shrugged her shoulders, "Look I have no idea what it''s all about, it''s way above both our pay grades to question such orders"

    Ashlee huffed at the short and unuseful answer her partner gave her, "Yeah I guess so" she reluctantly dropped the subject at hand.

    <hr>

    As soon as the girls got back to the house they didn''t waste a single moment jumping into the outside hot bath and showers to wash the sand and water off their bodies. As for Aiko decided to wait it out for a bit, to past a bit of time she decided to head to the large balcony on the ground floor to her surprise she could see Ms. Eto sitting at a table on the balcony.

    Ms. Eto was in her nightwear, she turned around locking eyes for a moment with Aiko.

    She motioned her hand to the spare seat, "Please sit down" she had a gentle smile on her face.

    Aiko bowed slightly, "Thank you Ms. Eto" she kindly took the woman''s offer sitting in the spare seat next to the table. Aiko noticed a jug of clear liquid originally she would have thought it was water but it an unusual yet familiar scent to it that she couldn''t quite put her finger on.

    "Beautiful isn''t it?" Ms. Eto commented as she looked at the last few moments of the setting sun. Aiko nodded wholeheartedly agreeing with the older woman. Ms. Eto who was drinking out of her glass glanced at Aiko noticing the young girls troubled expression.

    "Something on your mind?" Ms. Eto asked taking Aiko out of her dazed state. The latter couldn''t help but think back to those unusual moments she would witness in a state of unconsciousness, the two different women she encountered and the weird happenings with her Composed Fibril. Aiko didn''t feel comfortable talking about any of these things to anyone but, in the presence of Ms. Eto, she felt at ease.

    Aiko nervously laughed, "Yeah just a few things involving academy".

    "It''s more than that isn''t it?" Ms. Eto asked.

    Aiko looked down glumly upon hearing that question, "Yes, Yes it is..." she whispered quietly at first "...I''ve been having these unexplainable happenings w-with my body recently" her cheeks blushed slightly feeling rather embarrassed about the thought of even mentioning this.

    Ms. Eto chuckled slightly, "Well I''m the last person to ask about how your reproductive organs work"

    "No!..." Aiko quieted her voice upon realizing her sudden outburst "...it''s other things"

    Ms. Eto looked generally embarrassed by her mistaken perspective on the matter, "I''m so sorry I thought that was what you were implying but, if it''s related to your status of being Coordinator I''m sorry to disappoint but I''m not an expert on that topic either"

    "It''s okay I wasn''t expecting you to be a professional on such matters" Aiko waved her hands to the side frantically. "I-I just don''t know to handle it is what I''m trying to say, I guess" she muttered.

    A moment of silence passed for a moment before Ms. Eto suddenly spoke up, "Sometimes the best option is just talking to someone no matter how trivial or embarrassing it can be, just speaking to someone is all it takes to make it all better"

    In all honesty hearing, those words made Aiko think, she was too worried about the outcome wondering what her friends would say and the faculty at the academy she attended. Instead of addressing the issue she was hiding in her own little bubble, she then remembers how Sachika reacted to the news of what during the Third Nebula Invasion and how it didn''t affect her as a person.

    "Thank you, Ms. Eto..." Aiko stood up and bowed slightly "...I think talking to you has helped see things a lot more clearly now" a small and sweet smile appeared on Aiko''s face.

    Ms. Eto nodded, "Glad to of helped you" she watched as Aiko quickly left the balcony when out of sight, the smile on her face had vanished, she looked at the clear liquid as she slowly swirled it in her glass. After a few seconds, she quickly gulped it down then slammed the glass upon the table.

    <hr>

    Ayano had returned back to Essentia Japan Academy she was under her bed covers in her academy uniform curled up like a baby almost, she reached for under her bedside drawers pulling out a picture. It showed her and Yuki standing in the photo clearly happy and smiling there too was a third girl in the photo around their age.

    She looked at the picture in earnest losing track of time in the process she brought out of her reminiscent gaze when she heard a knock at her door. Ayano quickly hid the picture under her drawers suddenly the door to her dorm room opened a girl from her dorm wing entered.

    The girl turned away embarrassment pasted across her face upon seeing Ayano. The latter having jumped out of bed completely forgot she hadn''t fully dressed her corset was only half done up showing her cleavage clearly and her tights weren''t even on which revealed her silky skinned slender legs.

    "Sorry for barging in like that" the girl apologetically said.

    "It''s fine, it was my fault for not being dressed properly" Ayano replied trying to reassure the girl. "Anyway what was it that you came here for?" she asked whilst putting on the finishing touches to her academy uniform.

    "The Mistress wishes to see you, she has another assignment for you" the girl replied continuing to look in the other direction.

    "Thank you I''ll be there right away" Ayano responded, in turn, the girl turned around briefly to bow before leaving then exited Ayano''s room. Once Ayano was properly dressed she walked over to the door before opening it she let out a big sigh then instantly opened the door leaving her dorm room.

 Volume Two | Skirmish At Okinawa - Part One

    Ayano stopped outside Mistress Daiki''s office for a moment, she breathed in for a moment before entering the room.

    Upon walking into the room Ayano could see the Mistress Daiki just casually sitting in her office chair. See looked up locking eyes with her student.

    Ayano promptly bowed before the Mistress, "Mistress Daiki, what can I do for you?"

    For a moment she was met with silence until the Mistress finally spoke up. In turn, Ayano stood up straight looking out the office window she could see bleak overcast weather.

    "Just wanted to ask how things are with you lately, Miss Ayano" Mistress Daiki bluntly replied.

    This took Ayano slightly off guard for a moment, the Mistress had never been known to delve into her students'' personal lives.

    "W-Why do you ask, Mistress Daiki" Ayano attempted to sound unfazed.

    The Mistress sat there for a moment in silence, "Well I''ve noticed you''ve been spending much of your time to yourself outside of campus"

    The sweat started to run down Ayano''s face, "I''ve just been spending a lot of time resting as you well know how strenuous of schedules are"

    Mistress Daiki nodded a few times as if thinking on Ayano''s answer, "Very well, that is all you can leave now"

    Internally Ayano felt relieved but, she didn''t dare show it. She bowed, "Thank you Mistress" she calmly replied before leaving the office.

    Mistress Daiki sat there thinking to herself calmly about what just happened.

    <hr>

    "Ah, this is amazing!" Uli shouted out, as she floated through the natural hot bath.

    "That I can agree with," Bethany said as she laid against the edge of the hot bath.

    Aiko and Noel were together in the hot bath just relaxing as they looked up towards the stars that littered the sky. The former having spoke to Ms Eto beforehand had joined her friends later than usual.

    Suddenly towards the changing rooms, a barrage of noise could be heard. The girls in the hot bath turn to see Hibiki launching herself towards them.

    A big plume of water went into the air. Noel jumped in shock as she felt a strong grip around her slender waist, only to see Hibiki rising out of the water behind her.

    Hibiki didn''t waste any time running her hands over Noel''s slender form, the latter moaning in pleasure. The other girls looked on in a mixture of awe and embarrassment.

    "Noel for a girl packing a small package, you sure do makeup in other ways" Hibiki stated with a smirk upon her face.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Noel squirmed under Hibiki''s touch, "Senpai, please you''re embarrassing me"

    Letting go of the girl Hibiki decided to float through the water. Noel felt more exposed than ever with the other girls in the hot bath staring at her.

    It wasn''t long before they were joined by Sachika, Roselle and Yuki all of them completely naked for their towels covering them.

    After some time the atmosphere seemed to have calmed down. The group of girls was casually relaxing conversing with one another.

    "So what are your plans after all this training?" Hibiki asked no one in particular.

    "Well, I guess most of us are visiting our families, am I right?" Bethany asked as she rested her arms and head on the edge of the hot bath.

    The girls nodded in agreement, for Sachika and Hibiki the duo were technically staying at the summer beach house for the rest of the summer. The others would go onto their own homes to visit their families.

    "Speaking of families, how''s your Dad and siblings Aiko?" Uli asked.

    Many of the girls that joined the Essensu Program were related to the upper class in some form. Be it with cooperate, royalty or just simply through income. On the other hand, Aiko was one of the few girls that didn''t come from such backgrounds, she was adopted by a man that owned a baking store as we''re the other children he adopted.

    "Last I spoke to them they were doing fine bare in mind that was before we graduated from high school" Aiko replied.

    "What does your Dad do if you mind me asking?" Roselle curiously asked.

    A big smile appeared on Uli''s, " Her Dad is the best baker in the world!" The answer somewhat surprised the other girls particularly Sachika.

    "Your Dad is a baker?" Sachika asked with keen interest.

    Aiko awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah he kind of grew up in the business, his Dad and Grandad were bakers too"

    "You know what!..." Uli jumps up out of the water, her naked body on display as plumes of water ran down her slender toned body "...next summer all of us should go and have cakes at the bakery Aiko''s Dad owns!"

    Uli suddenly fell into the water as Hibiki started laughing hysterically as the two wrestled in the water. Sachika watching the two made her laugh.

    "Hey Sachika" Sachika turned around to see Yuki standing over her with a smirk on her face. Without warning, she launches Sachika across the hot bath in a Judo throw.

    With a big splash, Sachika stood up out of the water with a grin on her face. The water running over her breasts and curved toned body as with Yuki.

    "If that''s how you want to play it so be it" Sachika announced as she dashed towards Yuki.

    The rest of the girls promptly left the hot bath before they were dragged into the shenanigans of their peers. Bethany and Roselle headed straight for the changing rooms, as for Aiko and Noel they decide to wash themselves down before leaving.

    The latter duo couldn''t help but continue watching the others continuously wrestle in the hot bath.

    "Well at least they''re having fun I guess" Aiko nervously chuckled.

    "Yes until one of them breaks a bone" Noel bluntly responded, Aiko, looked at her awkwardly as she laughed off her comment.

    <hr>

    The girl that had escaped from the lab had smuggled herself upon a freighter headed for Okinawa. She only had a cloak to cover her inhuman form and those that saw her true form were eliminated in order to not expose herself.

    Hiding in the depths of the cargo bay of the freighter, she could help but see images flooding her brain. She spent most of these moments in excruciating pain as she tried to make sense of the images.

    Suddenly she slammed her fist against a steel container cracking and indenting the surface. The darkness was lit up every so often as her blades involuntarily extended and receded in her forearms, due to her extreme thrashing pain in her head.

    As images continued to flood her mind she repeated muttered, "Go away, go away, go away..." her eyes psychotically wide for the girl.

    The girl began scratching her forearm blades against the metal flooring, making an ear wrenching screeching sound. She suddenly hears muttering and footsteps in the distance.

    As if a flick of a switch the girl turned serious, she crawled into the darkness in order not to be seen.