"Yuzuki has been with me since my very childhood," Yuki explained, a soft fondness in her voice. "We've trained, played, and every activity I've done until now, she was a part of it . She's like other half of me."
"Wow, you two are really very close," Ray remarked, genuinely impressed.
"Of course!" Yuki declared proudly, a bright smile on her face. "She's like my big sister." She then tilted her head, a playful glint in her eye. "Wait, why am I smelling a hint of jealousy here?"
"Hey, it's not like I'm jealous of you both!" Ray quickly retorted, waving his hands defensively, his face warming slightly. It's just I don't have a friend or someone I can talk to like you both do, he said with a touch of sadness.
Yuki's playful expression softened as she met Ray's gaze. "Don't worry," she said, her voice gentle. "I'm here. From now on, we are friends."
"Really?" Ray asked, a sudden surge of surprise and happiness bubbling within him. "You'll be my friend?"
Yuki let out a soft, melodious laugh. "Yes, as long as you don't bother me too much with your foolishness." Her tone then shifted to a serious note. "Well, let's focus on our journey now. From this point, anything can happen at any moment. In just a few minutes, we'll be entering the warzone in Baston."
As they continued to walk, moving steadily towards their ominous destination, Ray couldn't help but steal glances at Yuki's face. Yes! I've made a step towards getting closer to her, he thought, a sense of quiet triumph. She's my only friend until now, and I will do anything to keep this relationship.
After a few more minutes of walking, they entered Baston. The air immediately grew heavy with the grim realities of war. The distant sounds of human screams mingled with the roar of explosions, punctuated by faint tremors of the ground beneath their feet.
The landscape itself was a testament to devastation; ruined buildings and scattered debris, charred and twisted, served as grim markers of the destruction that had swept through this place. In some areas, fires still burned, sending plumes of acrid smoke into the sky.
Ray's face was pale, a fine sheen of sweat breaking out on his forehead. "Hey, Yuki," he managed, his voice strained.
"What?" she replied, her gaze already scanning their surroundings with practiced ease.
"Do you hear those screams? Will we be going there?"
"No, that's not the frontline," Yuki clarified, pointing eastward. "That's just a side skirmish. Are you afraid?"
"It's not that..." Ray began, trailing off. If the normal battlefield is this cruel, he thought, what will be happening on the frontlines?
"Don't worry," Yuki said, sensing his apprehension. "Only I am going to the battlefield. You will stay at my clan's temporary residence."
"Hey!" Ray exclaimed, suddenly alarmed.
"But I don't want to leave you!"
"You can't go there," Yuki interrupted, her voice firm. "I can tell you're lower than an E-rank. With that rank, don't even think about the battlefield. You would be instantly sealed in a side battle."
"What do you mean by 'sealed'?" Ray asked, bewildered by the term.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you!" Yuki exclaimed, her hand flying to her mouth. "Since you know nothing, I should have told you this earlier. If you don't know, I'm telling you now that souls are immortal; they cannot die like humans. So, both Curseumans and Spiritumens cannot truly die. What we can do to them is 'seal' them. Rather than calling it sealing, we often call it 'killing' among ourselves. So, 'killing' for a spirit means 'sealing' them."
"So, how will you fight those immortal monsters there?" Ray pressed, his mind racing. "Do you know how to seal too?"
"Of course," Yuki replied, a hint of pride in her tone. "Sealing isn't a complex process nowadays. Every Spiritumen has a special spell called 'Deathseal' inscribed into their respective weapons, or some can cast it directly with their hands.
To seal a Curseuman, there are some conditions that must be fulfilled. First, a spirit can only be sealed when it is not showing too much motion. Second, the spirit can only be sealed if it has sustained serious damage—it's like delivering a killing blow. Third, if you can't do either of the first two, the spirit must be willing to be sealed."
Yuki laughed softly, shaking her head.
"Sometimes, I really feel like I'm a teacher and you're a baby who just started school!"
She really looks beautiful while laughing, Ray thought, momentarily lost in her expression.
After some more walking, Yuki finally stopped. "Here, we've reached," she announced. "This is my temporary home in Baston, until the war is ongoing."
Ray's eyes widened in surprise, his jaw dropping slightly. Hey, this isn't some temporary home! It's like a vast palace with all required things present here! he thought, utterly astonished.