Fantasy Assassin in a modern world

179 Seven School Mysteries Part Night time came quickly and most of the students have already left the school grounds. The Occult Club members went to the staircase that was heading to the rooftop. The staircase they have chosen was the one in the general studies building, as it was wider and could accommodate a large group of people walking up at the same time.

“Okay, first let’s try it one by one and then all together,” Michael instructed the others.

The first one to go up was Cho Ha-Eun and unlike at the beginning, she wasn’t as excited since she learned the first two mysteries had a rather normal explanation. Still, Ha-Eun continued to have a certain degree of anticipation as she started walking up the stairs.

“1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, huh? It’s just twelve steps there are not thirteen steps at all.”

Ha-Eun spoke feeling greatly disappointed. Even if she wasn’t going to be transported into another world, she at least hoped to see a flashing light or at least to have the staircase have up to thirteen steps.

Seeing what happened to Ha-Eun Loki felt a little relieved, still, he wasn’t planning on checking on the thirteen steps himself.

After Ha-Eun, the other members also tried to walk up the stairs but the same as Ha-Eun they could only count up to twelve steps. Then it was finally Oliver’s turn to go up. Even though he tried walking up these stairs before he still tried it out this time as maybe something different will happen now that a lot of people are watching.

“Okay, now it’s my turn. One, two, three-”

While Oliver was counting Loki felt something weird, it wasn’t much but Oliver’s tiny bit of mana started to circulate throughout his body a little faster than before. Why didn’t this phenomenon happen when Michael who had more abundant mana did this?

.....

When Oliver arrived at the twelfth step he and the others were surprised that there was still another last step remaining. Oliver did not take that last remaining step as he was a little dazed, before when he did this there really weren’t any thirteen steps.

“Huh, did he make a mistake somewhere and count wrong?” Edward blurted out the question everyone else was thinking.

‘Spirit is there something going on with Oliver, why did a thirteen-step suddenly appear?’ Michael asked the former Omniscient Spirit.

‘I can’t say but there might be some kind of ritual at work, or he just made a mistake. There are too few clues at the moment.’

The Spirit answered also wondering what was going on as he felt Oliver’s mana circulation flowing more smoothly than before.

“Oliver how about you-” Michael was about to stop Oliver but then the other party smiled widely and went onward.

“Here I come O’ otherworld!” Oliver stepped on the last step, everyone present did not even blink when suddenly a flash of light enveloped all those that were near.

...

“Huh, did something happen?” Oliver who was having a slight headache asked as he looked around his surroundings, he saw the other members of the Occult Club looking at him weirdly.

“Are you alright Oliver? You suddenly fainted.” Michael asked sounding very worried.

“I fainted? How long was I out, why aren’t we at the roof?” Oliver asked as the last memory he had was when he was going up the stairs.

“Are you talking about the thirteen steps? All of us already checked and we even went up together and no matter how many times we counted it, it was just twelve steps. As for how long you’ve been unconscious it happened right after we made our last attempt on the thirteen steps. It has only been a few minutes since you passed out we were going to the infirmary but then you woke up.” Tsukasa answered Oliver’s question.

“Huh, I can’t remember any of that... The last thing I remember was I got to the twelfth step and there really was a thirteen step.”

“You must’ve been dreaming about that part, we were all there nothing of that sort happened. Maybe you really aren’t feeling well, so how about let’s end things for now and continue our investigation tomorrow.”

Ichika gave out a suggestion and the other members quickly agreed as they were worried about Oliver’s condition. Oliver wanted to refute and tell them that everything was alright but his head was really aching.

“Fine since we all agree on ending things for today. I officially announce that this is the end of our first day of investigations on the seven mysteries, we’ll continue tomorrow.” Michael clapped his hands and announced, the others also started clapping and one by one said their goodbyes and got ready to leave the school.

...

“Michael has the Spirit said anything to you, do you feel weird?”

Loki suddenly appeared beside Michael who was walking back home. Michael was quite surprised by Loki’s sudden appearance that he got into a defensive stance but then he calmed down when he saw Loki’s face.

“Weird feeling? What do you mean Sir Loki, did you sense something different when we were investigating the seven mysteries?”

“... So you didn’t sense anything... How about the Spirit, did he sense anything strange?”

‘What is this guy saying, did he sense something that even I the Spirit of the Akashic Records didn’t sense?’

The Spirit spoke rather aggressively in Michael’s mind. The current Spirit might not be as strong as he once was, nor did the Spirit have his former Omniscience but the Spirit was confident that there was nothing Loki could sense that the Spirit couldn’t.

“It doesn’t seem like the Spirit sensed anything, Sir Loki. Did you actually sense something strange, Sir Loki?”

“Nothing, it was just a weird feeling... I guess I’m feeling a bit overworked, I’ll just head back home and sleep. See you tomorrow Michael.”

“Good night Sir Loki, see you tomorrow.”

...

After leaving Michael, Loki did not head home instead went back to the school and onto the roof.

‘Even the Spirit of the Akashic Records was affected. The Spirit might be in an incomplete state but its knowledge is unquestionable. It would seem that I was the only one unaffected by that burst of light... No... Even Oliver had some doubts at first and was not completely affected. Still, what was that, it was able to alter everyone’s memory and even teleported us to a different space.’

Loki who arrived at the staircase leading to the roof used his mana sensing but found nothing weird. Still, Loki was worried there was something in the school that was near his siblings that he could not understand. This thing whatever it is might be harmful to his siblings.

Loki tried everything that he could with his current abilities to detect abnormalities in the space near the staircase but he found nothing.

‘In the first place, why was I the only one unaffected? What is the difference between me and them?... The only thing different between me and others is that my soul came from a different world... The thirteen steps that could send you to a different world. Is that the reason why I wasn’t affected or is it something else like the blood that flows in this body, the blood of the Kamizaki clan?’

Loki then started debating with himself if he should test the thirteen steps. If it really was because his soul was from another world that he wasn’t affected by whatever spell or ability this place has then that’s good, but what if it’s related to his blood that would mean it could do something to his siblings. Not only that deep down Loki was truly curious about the thirteen steps. In the end, Loki gritted his teeth and took the plunge as he started walking up the stairs.

‘1,2,3,4-‘

As Loki walked slowly while counting he was feeling nervous it was as if his legs were becoming heavier and heavier with every step he made. Loki finally reached the end and to his surprise, nothing happened.

“Twelve steps... What does this mean, is the only one who could activate whatever spell that’s here Oliver? If so, what’s the point of all this? Was that spell truly just a spell to alter one’s memories and teleport them away or did something else happened? Still, if I remember correctly he told us that he had checked these steps before and nothing happened, but now it was different. So was the difference because someone else was watching him go up the stairs or is it because Michael and I were watching him that whatever spell it was activated?”

Loki knew that no matter how many questions he had nothing would be answered for now, so he decided to simply observe Oliver for now.

‘It would seem that there are many secrets hidden within that boy.’

As Loki was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly saw something that frightened him the thirteen step that wasn’t there before suddenly appeared. Loki who had his right leg up was startled as his right leg touched the last step. The moment Loki did so, the white flash once again appeared.

...

Loki looked around and saw that he was in the school hallway. Why was he just standing in the hallway in a daze? Loki checked his body and it doesn’t seem like there was anything wrong.

‘What was I doing here again?...’ Loki had a slight headache as he tried recalling what he was doing before.

‘Oh right, I checked on the thirteen steps again and there really was nothing. I guess that weird feeling I had was just me being anxious about the idea of returning back to my old world. I guess I could ask Harold if there are any jobs for me tonight so I can relieve some of my stress.’ With those thoughts in Loki’s mind, he left the school grounds.