Chapter 78

Nikami POV

"An-and I know my Mana A-aura is super flashy for someone like me…" She nervously looked down, starting to play with her coat as she chuckled.

"I doubt it, all of us are blessed for a reason… We're made to be different." I groaned for a moment, standing up as I tried to process the information. I… Awaked? To something like that? I gave a small groan, shaking my head. It was true that I experienced a large amount of emotion, but… If I did awaken, what was the personal ability the library trio talks about…?

"Also… How do you turn off seeing mana aura's?" I asked her, before her aura disappeared and I was just left there, still stunned.

"Oh, Nevermind. It's gone." I spoke, staring blankly at her as she looked down, using her bangs to cover her face and adjusted her glasses.

"Yo-you can see th-them again if you focus your mana into your eyes… I-I trained myself t-to automatically see th-them without focusing…" Kikyou mumbled a low voice, turning over at the crowd and saw Raijin glaring at her. She shrieked and pulled me up, pushing me back where we came from.

"W-we can talk ab-about that later! I-I think prince R-raijin wants to be with you…" She mumbled, pushing me towards Raijin and bowed down before returning to Shoubu and Ajisa's side.

"What did she do?" Raijin pouted, glaring over at Kikyou and glancing over towards me.

"Adjust my mana a little, My mana has been going berserk since I awaked." I spoke towards her, then she just stared at me with a surprised look.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!" Raijin exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders and yelling at me. A bright smile was shown in her face as she wrapped me up in a tight hug, jumping up and down, making my scarf fall out of it's place in my neck.

"I'm so happy! That's seriously so awesome! At least we got something good out of this! Where's your tatoo thing?" Raijin exclaimed, letting me go, a dumb grin etched in her face.

"I don't know…" I shook my head for a moment, before Shukona turning over at me and pointed at something on my collar bone.

"Nika? What's that?" She asked me, furring her eyebrows and gulping for a moment, wondering how I got something like a tatoo… Since it isn't for an Elegant lady at all!

"I think that is none of your business." Surprisingly, Ajisa walked over at me and opened a red fan, covering my collar as she lifted her hands above her head to do so.

I looked down at my collar that was covered by the shadows of her fan, and revealed a crown golden with frost and prickly ice spikes on it. The ice looked sharp and translucent, being able to see the golden color of the crown through its blurried lenses. The mark was on the left side of my collar bone, and I stared at it for a moment before moving my gaze towards Ajisa.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, a hint of venom in my voice.

"Be silent and put your scarf on, she may be one of us, but there are still people who is familiar with the Ingenious mark. Be grateful I'm helping you not be assassinated." A small scoff came from her small voice, and to my annoyance, she was right. I rolled my eyes and took my scarf back on, and as I adjusted it, she closed off her fan and held the closed off fan with two of her hands.

"I apologize Shirayuri-sama, I was just concerned as Nika's bestfriend." Shukona was doing a deep bow, her face facing the ground. I can only imagine her having a twitching smile as she did that. Ajisa, as annoying as she is, is still a queen. Shukona's reaction is something normal.

"Ohoho!~ At least you know your place!" Ajisa laughed in a posh tone, which was basically like dragging nails to chalk board to my ears. She's… Annoying. I never thought that there would be someone who would irritate me to this point.

"Shirayuri-sama…" Yasachu made a small whine, tugging lightly on her Kimono, giving her a frown and shaking her head.

Ajisa stared over at Yasachu, huffing and opening her fan yet again, covering her face as she continued to walk back to Shoubu and Kikyou. Surprisingly, not being disgusted at Yasachu for touching. Maybe they got a little closer and I didn't know…

"Tch. Why is she so bitchy?" Raijin whispered towards me, looking over at Ajisa.

"I don't know, I don't like her at all." I never liked her, in the game and especially here. She was just annoying to me. I know she has a sweeter side like Shukona, but I don't like her at all.

"You say that, but you two are more similar than you think." Emica suddenly appeared behind us without warning, causing Raijin to jump and gasp.

"What the fuck Emi?!" Raijin squealed for a moment, gripping her clothes as she panted in surprise.

"I get what you mean, Nika and Shirayuri-sama are quite similar." Shukona nodded in agreement, now standing by Emica's side.

"How so?" I asked, narrowing down my eyes at her.

"I'll take that as permission to be blunt." Emica's professional smile was tugged into a smirk and giggled.

"Both of you are bitchy in your own way, Nikami-sama is dismissive while Shirayuri-sama looks down on everyone. You both have big problems with pride, and help others despite being mean in the process." Emica spoke in a clear cut voice.

"Oh."

"Can't say she's wrong…"

"You didn't have to curse like that."

Me? Her? Similar? That's something irritating to think of… I started to tap my feet, rolling my eyes as I huffed.

"Sorry, Shu." Emica apologized, laughing at Shukona's pouting.

Raijin POV

I stared at Nikami being irritated, I giggled and remembered something I wanted to ask earlier, before I got interrupted by Kikyou and by her reveal of being awaked.

Nikami looked down at her mark, using her glove free hand to gently caress it. I saw this as a good time to ask her the question.

"Hey… So uh, why did you have that mask? You were lying earlier right… So why did you ha-" Before I could finish my sentence, she suddenly blurted out something.

"," As soon as that word was said, the air felt heavy and cold. And it wasn't just me, I noticed everyone froze.

Before I could even react, she followed up with something. The moment she opened her mouth, I could feel fear crawling down my skin. I felt like I was in the presence of something… Strong. The natural instinct of knowing that this being in front of me was something I should respect, like I knew they were on top of the food chain… Due to that, I instinctively held my breath.

"Kneel." She commanded, and like it was in my nature, I felt the need to kneel down, to do what she told me to do. But it wasn't only that, I felt as if there was something pushing me down, wanting me to put my knees on the ground.

With the weight on my back, I knelt on one knee without hesitation. I felt pathetic, panting heavily as I understood this situation. I was… Shaking, struggling to stay on one knee. I wouldn't let myself kneel on both.

I looked around despite the weight of boulders on the back of my head. I saw everyone was kneeling down as well, some even had their heads down to the ground. But some people were odd, more specifically people that I knew of.

Shoubu was practically laying down on the ground, melting as she started to drool.

Kikyou was right next to her, kneeling as her back was slouched, she was shaking like a leaf.

Yasachu was kneeling, putting her hands together as if praying for a god.

The strangest ones were Shukona and Ajisa....

They remained standing despite all of the pressure.

Shukona was bowing down before Nikami with elegance, she didn't seem bothered by the weight at all, or at least I think she wasn't?

Ajisa on the other hand, was standing fully still. But her tenseness would be easily noticed, her jaw was clenched as her head is slightly leaned forward. She was shaking lightly, as if she was carrying something she couldn't handle, her body was as stiff as a stick as well.

What in the hell…? What the fuck was this…? I, of course, tried to yell something out, but Nikami said something once again.

"Hmm…" Nikami gave a small hum of satisfaction, still looking down at her mark and rubbing her fingers against it. She whipped her head up, looking all around us and stopped at me.

She approached me, and I couldn't look up at her, my head was too heavy. I gritted my teeth as I felt her intense gaze on me, in fear, I gulped.

"What the fuck… Are you making me do…?" I somehow was able to ask in a hushed whisper, growling. Yet right after I asked that, my body felt like it was made out of stone.

I felt scared of offending her.

I couldn't breathe right after that, breathing felt less important than her.

"I don't know." Nikami replied with her usual chilling voice. Usual…? Wait, no.

The hell? Since when did I ever think of her deep and smooth voice as chilling?

"I'd like it if everyone would let me and Prince Raijin go outdoors as we planned before getting interrupted by that masked user. Answers and questions will be given later… Ack, this is all giving me a headache." Nikami rubbed her temples, sighing as she glared down at the ground.

"Get up, carry me. We're eloping." She commanded me, all of the weight on my shoulders reversed and suddenly I felt like flying.

I stood up as she said, scooped her up from the ground with military efficiency. And without a single thought, I ran.