Hotel Arya, Main Gate, Midnight.
"Where might you be going at this time, Senpai?" (Rio)
Rio leaned his back against the wall of the main gate and asked the question in his usual emotionless tone.
He glanced at Riko who had been waiting for him near the gate. A sword hung on her waist and she wore her armor as if she was going in some kind of battle.
Riko ignored Rio's question and started to talk all by herself.
"I thought you won't come.... But well, now that you are here, I want to ask you some things..." (Riko)
"Well, you messaged me to come here, otherwise I would have been sleeping right now..." (Rio)
Riko glanced at her sword for a moment and then asked.
"You are the strongest swordsman I have ever seen among all the awakeners I have met... you might even have more potential in swordsmanship than S-rankers..." (Riko)
"You have learned legendary skills like 'Sword intent'.... So I want to ask for an evaluation..." (Riko)
Riko raised her head and looked straight into Rio's eyes.
"In your opinion, do you think I have any chance of awakening 'sword inten-" (Riko)
"No, you don't... I don't like flowering my words so, I will tell the truth... the conditions for learning 'sword intent' are too harsh... you don't have that talent..." (Rio)
Before Riko could even finish her sentence, Rio directly answered her question without any hesitation. He didn't try to use lies and told the real truth.
Hearing Rio's reply, Riko clenched her fists and lowered her head. She went silent for a while.
"I have told Principal Raji that I am not participating in the 'Meeting of Gods' anymore... I am leaving this place right now because I am going to look for clues about that demon prince..." (Riko)
"You will be no match for him if he found out about you..." (Rio)
"I know.. I know that better than anyone else... I don't have such amazing talent to reach his level of strength so fast... but still, I will search... I am not giving up..." (Riko)
Riko raised her hand and she brought out a café's 'discount coupon' from her space ring. She stared at that coupon with a look of sadness.
"Even if I know that I am not strong enough... for his sake, for the sake of Zach... I will hunt down that demon to the end of the world... I must take revenge otherwise my life would have no meaning at all..." (Riko)
"I asked principal Raji, and she said that as SS-ranker she can't go to the territory of the demons otherwise it will cause a war against the demon kingdom, and the blame will be on humanity..." (Riko)
"Even though the ones who suffered were humans, we still can't afford to go and beat that demon right in its hometown...." (Riko)
Riko put that discount coupon back into her space ring, clenched her fist, and declared.
"Everyone else might forget about what happened to him, but I won't... I will pursue that demon-" (Riko)
"You will die if he caught wind of you... with a mere flick of his finger, he can kill you instantly... that's how strong that demon is, he left us all alive due to various reasons..." (Rio)
"But if you tried to push him further..." (Rio)
At Rio's words, Riko clenched her teeth and replied in a solemn tone.
"I don't care anymore... I will pursue that demon to the end of this world... if I don't get revenge for Zach, I will never be able to sleep in peace..." (Riko)
"He still appears in my mind as if everything that has happened is just a dream, i-I can't just forget his long gone silhouette..." (Riko)
Rio shook his head and said.
"All emotions aside..." (Rio)
"Unless you have something similar to 'Sword intent' it's impossible to contend against his time manipulation skills... moreover, as you already know, he was at peak S-rank when we met him..." (Rio)
"No, you could say he is just a few steps away from reaching SS-rank, he is stronger than any S-rankers I have ever seen... with his talent, he will break through SS-rank soon..." (Rio)
Rio looked at Riko and shook his head.
"Don't try to be hot-headed Senpai, you know your limits better than others, even if you broke through to S-rank, it's nearly impossible to fight him... he killed Aaron, an S-rank dragon without getting injured..." (Rio)
"And you don't have the talent to reach SS-rank... which means you are already too late, you can never land a decisive strike on him-" (Rio)
"It doesn't matter... Zach's voice rings in my head all day long... I can't have peace unless I somehow deal with that demon..." (Riko)
"Is that so..." (Rio)
The place went silent as both of them stopped talking.
"So what are you going to do to search for that demon? Not even an SS-ranker was able to sense him when he entered the territory of the human empire..." (Rio)
"I-I have a clue..." (Riko)
"Clue?" (Rio)
"Yeah, when he crushed Zach's heart right in front of my eyes, some kind of 'white light' rushed out from Zach's heart and entered his mind... I will investigate that phenomenon first..." (Riko)
"That's such a vague clue..." (Rio)
'hmm, White light?... why does that sound familiar to me…' (Rio)
"It doesn't matter if it's vague or not… I will not let this chance go, If I take too much time he will ascend to SS-rank and then I will not be able to kill that demon in this life at all, my whole life would be meaningless…" (Riko)
After saying that, Riko glanced back at the hotel one last time and then she started to walk out of the gate without hesitation.
"All I wanted to know from you was if I could learn 'sword intent' or not…. But I guess I am too unlucky to learn it… fate sure is unfair…" (Riko)
Rio didn't stop Riko anymore, he knew that it was useless to try to stop her now. She had already made up her mind and there was no changing it now.
Just before Riko passed through the main gate, Rio said to her.
"If you are really able to track down that demon one day… then don't forget to invite me to the party… I also have some unsettled scores to settle with him…" (Rio)
"You may not be able to land a decisive blow, but that's not the case for me and Link…" (Rio)
Riko glanced at Rio for a few seconds, she thought about something and then nodded her head.
"Okay, it's a deal then…" (Riko)
After saying that, Riko walked away.
Rio saw her figure fade away into the distance as she slowly walked on her path of revenge.
Seeing her leave without any hesitation, Rio shook his head and decided to go back to his room.
(She had messaged him personally to come to the main gate as she wanted to ask him some questions, now that she was gone, Rio decided to go back to sleep…)
…
At the same time
On the rooftop of the Hotel's main building.
Jin shook his head as he saw Riko leave, he gulped down the wine from the wine bottle in his hand and then said in an amused tone.
"Is it really okay to let her go like this?" (Jin)
At Jin's question, Raji appeared beside him out of nowhere.
"It's her own choice… this is the path she chose, if that kid Zach was still alive I would have tried to stop her from chasing the path of revenge… but now, even my words won't be able to sway her…" (Raji)
Jin also nodded his head at Raji's words.
"Yeah, she is too far gone… words are not going to sway her heart anymore… besides, children need time to sort out their emotions, I think it's better to leave her be for some time…" (Jin)
"Indeed, I also don't see any possibility of her ever tracking down that demon…" (Raji)
"Who knows… strange things happen in the world all the time, maybe she will be able to change her destiny in some way too…" (Jin)
"It sounds quite unrealistic to me, but who knows… the threads of fate are always messy, even we SS-rankers are powerless against them…" (Raji)
"Nonetheless, it was my mistake that I was not able to keep that demon out of the area, even though the southern area falls under my territory now…" (Jin)
Raji nodded her head at Jin's statement.
"You are an SS-ranker now, this incident proves that you have more responsibilities on your shoulders now… so stop being carefree and do your work properly..." (Raji)
"Even if it's something that's not even related to you... if an injustice occurs under the nose of a Demi-god, it's the fault of that demi-god itself, even if they were not involved in it at all…" (Raji)
"Yeah, I have heard that saying too… I guess I will have to become a bit more serious from now on…" (Jin)
In the end, both of them silently watched Riko walk away from the hotel.
Even if they were SS-rankers, some things were still difficult to solve even with that immense strength of theirs.
When it comes to the heart of their students, even they are powerless, it's nearly impossible to change someone's thinking process once they have decided on it.
Perhaps this is also the reason why it is said that 'Emotions are what makes us human.'
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! It seems even with immense strength, you can't make people forcefully change their dreams and path, let's see where today's events take us in the future…
Question of the day.
Do you think Riko will be able to track down Alverto?
1.No
2.Yes.
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.