CHAPTER 1: Nightmare of 2062 ~ Origin ~

Maya Yotsuba let out a sigh as she finished her last paperwork for the day. With a silky wavy black hair and jazzberry jam eyes, she's a woman full of feminine charms and enchanting mature beauty. Considered as one of, if not the most powerful magicians in the world and one of the Seven Sages, Maya was very famous among the magician families, mostly the Ten Master Clans and Hundred Families, the International Magic Association, and throughout the entire world.

Being the current and third Head of the Yotsuba Family, one of the two most powerful families among the Ten Master Clans, Maya has a lot of tons of responsibilities not only just to the Yotsuba Household and its Branch Families but also to the respective regions they've influenced. For the Yotsuba, they monitor the regions surrounding the Japanese capital mostly the regions of Toukai, Gifu, and Nagano. As the body who managed these regions, Maya had to give a status report on the upcoming Ten Masters Clans Conference. And there's the issue of announcing her heir...

Leaning her back on the soft cushion of her chair, Maya gazed on scene behind her window As the sky slowly turned into pitch black. Her thoughts was on her niece Tatsuya and his father, who were exiled from the family by the previous clan leader and elders of the Yotsuba clan due to them being a "disgrace" in the entire clan. Up to this day, it still bugged her why her uncle Eisaku and the rest of the Yotsuba elders just let those two leave the Yotsuba. It was a risky move, considering that former brother-in-law of hers knows some valuable information that might be used against them.

She asked the elders about that judgement of theirs but they assured to her that they wipe off any traces of knowledge regarding the Yotsuba Family from the man's mind using her sister's Mental Interference Magic. In Maya's perspective, she doubted that her elder twin sister completely erased all Yotsuba related from that man's mind. Maya knows her sister very well and how she loved that man with all of her heart, the woman suspected that her sister might left some minuscle piece of herself within the man's memory banks.

She snorted at that thought.

Love has no place within the Magician Families. The entire purpose for marriage was to produce an heir that will continue the legacy and lineage of the family in the future. It was simple as that and yet her elder twin sister did otherwise.

Her sister, Miya, fell in love with a man with no grandiose background or whatsoever and whose redeeming quality was his exclusively high amount of Psion count. This fact made the current Yotsuba clan leader to internally questioned herself.

What does that former brother-in-law of hers had that made her elder twin to be deeply in love with him?

Before anymore thoughts can flood her mind, a knock on the wooden mahogany door to her office echoed.

"Maya-sama, Miya-sama and the others are here."

"Come in."

The door to her office sprang up, unveiling five personalities; an elderly man, and four women with the two in their teens.

The elderly man who wore a formal black tuxedo was Tadanori Hayama. He was the Head Butler of the Yotsuba Family. As head butler, he takes direct orders from Yotsuba Maya, the current Head of the Family, and serves as her loyal confidant. While he appears as like someone slightly around the 50, he is actually 70 years old.

The woman standing next to him, whose appearance was very identical to Maya in every detail except for her hair which was tied in a ponytail fashion was Maya's older twin sister, Miya Shiba. Miya was a charming woman with jet black hair, white skin, red eyes and a mature beauty that was ten years younger. Her status as the oldest daughter of the Yotsuba Family, and twin-sister to the head of the family permitted her many luxuries. She was gentle, polite, and lady-like in all of her responses and attitude towards others. She had perfect etiquette when dealing with people during social events.

Beside Miya was a teenage girl that have the same looks as her. This teenager is Miyuki Shiba, Miya's daughter from her second husband and Maya's niece and one of the Yotsuba heir candidates. She is a lovely, beautiful girl with jet black hair and pretty red eyes, who captivates whoever sets their eyes on her. Her arms and legs are slim, slender without looking too unhealthy. The members of the Yotsuba Family would always referred to her as a daughter of a goddess, the word referencing to Miyuki's inherited beauty from her mother.

Behind them were two females who also looked similar with each other and were wearing black tuxedo suits similar to Tadanori's. The first older woman was Honami Sakurai, Miya Shiba's Guardian. With a short dark brown hair that reached on her neck and purplish red eyes, for a servant of her status she is a beautiful maiden in her own right. A cheerful, lively woman who does not seem to feel the weight of her personal history, she was Miya's confidant and friend despite the large gap of their social status.

The second woman rather, a teenage girl, was Honami's niece and Miyuki's Guardian, Minami Sakurai. Her face is very identical to her aunt except for her eyes who were dark brown in color. She is dedicated and loyal in her duty as a Guardian for the Yotsuba. She is polite to all, but can't hide her emotions well when she wants to and seems to stick to her rigid professionalism.

"Good evening, Maya."

"Good evening, Oba-sama."

Miya and Miyuki greeted the Yotsuba head, with Miyuki bowing her head together with Honami and Minami in respect and greetings. Behind them Tadanori closed the door.

"It's good to see you Ane-ue, Miyuki. Please have a seat."

Maya gestured her hands to the unoccupied sofas which Miya and her daughter took for themselves while their respective Guardians stood behind them. The head butler positioned himself to Maya's right side, a white towel resting on his forearm.

"So what is your business in this time of an hour Ane-ue? I thought that you were busy preparing for Miyuki's moving out to Tokyo tomorrow. Would you like a cup of tea?"

"No thank you. Yes we were busy packing her belongings. The reason we came here on the other hand is... Miyuki, hand it to your aunt."

"Yes, Okaa-sama."

From her clasped hand, Miyuki then placed an object on her aunt's wooden desk. It was a black metallic flash drive, with the words "Mystery" printed on its surface in white colored imprint. Seeing the pen drive laid on her desk, Maya's brow quirked in a questioning look.

"A memory storage device?"

Jazzberry jam orbs hovered to Miyuki, as if telling her to laid out the details regarding with the memory stick.

"Yes, Oba-sama. I found it in my room as I was packing my personal things in my luggage, resting on my desk above my entrance results paper."

"Let me guess, this isn't yours?"

At her aunt's query, Miyuki nod her head in confirmation.

"It's strange. Last night I was sure that that thing wasn't in my room before I went to bed."

"We even checked the security footage for any intruders, if any, that sneaked into our estate but we found none."

Miya added, her head shook slightly. Truth to be told, the Yotsuba village was a hidden place that wasn't even located in every Japanese map and it was heavily guarded with an invincible invisible barrier that would make even a seasonal magician exhaust their reserves before he or she can break in.

"I see. So have any of you took the liberty to check what's inside of this?"

As Maya waved the tiny memory device, she couldn't help but be wary of the object or to be precise, what's inside of it. As a magician herself, she knew about Golden Electron Silkworms. A type of Spirit Magic, it's a magic that disables precision weaponry by passing across connections to invade electronic devices. The silkworms don't rewrite the process itself. Instead, they interfere with the output signal and may even alter the signal. This delays the spell activation by hampering the electronic mechanism without triggering the OS or anti-virus programs.

During the border conflicts with Great Asian Alliance, Japanese forces suffered terribly under its effects. That information somehow made the Yotsuba Head to marred her face with a small frown. Knowing who were the first users of such magic, the memory that she suppressed at the back of her mind began to creep out from its chains but Maya in some way managed to rein it back.

"We haven't. We already did an entire scan on it and it didn't have any "malicious" content whatsoever. So we can assume that it's safe to take a peek."

"Then let's take a peek then. I wanted to see what's inside of this mysterious device. Tadanori, if you would."

"Yes, Maya-sama."

Maya said with a smile grazing on her luscious lips, her hand waving the flash drive towards the butler's direction who obediently received said device from his Mistress before he inserted it into one of the drive slots of the screen terminal inside the room. Honami and Minami who were standing behind their Mistresses raised their guard, even if Miya had confirmed that the device had no threat. Grabbing the remote, Tadanori pressed a specified button and an instant the video screen lit up with a single video template present, titled "Mystery Within Mysteries".

"A video template?"

Miya voiced out her surprise as she was expecting something, like documents or any other conspicuous files.

"Then let us have a look. Tadanori."

With Maya's approval, Tadanori pressed the play button.

EPISODE 1: Nightmare of 2062

As the title came into view, almost all of the occupants of the room widened their eyes a bit especially Maya.

"Okaa-sama... is this about..."

"Maybe Miyuki... maybe..."

Miya replied with caution as her eyes hovered to her younger twin sister. She knew that this was something that her sister was trying to avoid to be discussed at all costs. But she had to wonder, why is it showing this time of a year?

The year was 2062 AD and much of the world has changed ever since most of humanity discovered "magic" during a terrorist attack on the US soil about 63 years ago, leading all nations of Earth on a vehement research on gaining such abilities. Unfortunately though, the year 2062 was a time of war. The Third World War broke out leading almost all nations as belligerents on each side of the conflict.

There were two major factors that caused the war. First was the advancement of agricultural production through solar-powered industries in 2020, leading to a temporary population boom. The second factor was the radical drop in temperature of the entire planet for reasons unknown around 2030, deteriorating the world's overall food supply on a massive scale.

"This is like a history class." Maya commented which all the people inside the room agreed. Though her mind was on something else.

While the effects were felt less in developed countries, it greatly affected the emerging industrial nations already experiencing an accelerated demographic explosion brought on by radical economic growth. What occurred next started the conflicts. Inhabitants of the northern regions of China tried to illegally cross the frontier with Russia, to escape the drop in temperature and desertification. Russia deported the illegal immigrants, because environmental migration is not recognized as legal under international law.

Following Russia's harsh treatment of the Chinese migrants, China accused Russia of lack of humanitarianism, while Russia simply replied that they were following international law. Talks between Russia and China became more aggressive, until they eventually broke down. The incident would later influence several other events, such as low-scale conflicts over resources, and would be the primary trigger for World War Three.

"And we all know what happened after that." Miya said, her face portraying a grim expression knowing the atrocities that would follow after.

Caused by the infighting for food and resources, World War Three officially began in 2045. This leads to the establishment of the International Magic Association, originally created to prevent the use of nuclear weapons by allowing Magic Technicians to free themselves from the yokes of the countries they belonged to and by permitting them to intervene with their skills in border disputes. Whether it was their own country or their enemy's country, they were required to stop the deployment of nuclear weapons

No country was able to stay neutral.

"All of it is now printed on every history books."Honami thought inwardly. As a servant of the Yotsuba, people like her weren't allowed to speak without any permission from their Mistress.

Getting back on the present time, amidst the dark sky and the raging seas Genzou Yotsuba, clad in a distinct Yotsuba combat suit, set his vicious eyes on the land covered with city lights over the horizon. He was the current head of the Yotsuba clan; one of Japan's Ten Master clans. Beside him were his brother Eisaku Yotsuba, and his brother-in-law and current head of the Kuroba Branch Family, Juuzou Kuroba.

All the occupants of the room were surprised to see the elders of their clan in their prime, especially Maya and Miya. All of them knew that it was the time when the Yotsuba went to rescue Maya from her kidnappers.

"Ojii-sama, and Eisaku-ojiisama look so young. Even Juuzou-ojiisama too." Miyuki spoke softly, her eyes sparkled in awe and reverence as she glanced on her grandfathers' young physical appearance.

The same could be said with Minami. She admired the elders of the Yotsuba with all of her heart. Seeing her niece's excited eyes, Honami just slightly smiled.

Behind them were 27 other men, all of which were members of the Yotsuba clan and wore combat suits similar to Genzou's. Aboard on there private maritime vessel, all of them stood in combat positions, both hands stretched out and were gazing towards the area of land in front of them, their eyes screaming for blood. Screaming retribution against Dahan.

"Otou-sama..." Both the twins said as they watched their father portraying a furious face akin to a tiger that wanted to pounce its target with fury.

There was a reason behind this urge for bloodbath. Three days before, Genzou's daughter Maya Yotsuba, was kidnapped by anonymous perpetrators in Taipei when she was visiting as part of a cultural exchange program sponsored by the Asian branch of the International Magic Association. Maya's disappearance wasn't due to unknown reasons but rather, an obvious abduction. Kouichi Saegusa, who was visiting Taipei with Maya, is currently suffering from lacerations and broken bones in his right hand and right leg and the loss of his right eye due to his battle during the kidnapping.

Maya's face turn into a slight scowl. She knew at that time that they were outclassed and outmatched at that time but still she was angry at Kouichi for leaving her in the hands of her captors.

She knew it wasn't right but at that time, her heart was filled with feelings of betrayal and disbelief.

Kouichi's condition is still worrisome. After all, Kouichi is not only his younger daughter's boyfriend, but also her fiancé. Rather than Kouichi, who was severely injured while escaping the abductor's grasp, his worries were naturally more concentrated on Maya, who the kidnappers had made off with. To be honest, he was gripped more by feelings of anger and bitterness toward Kouichi than feelings of worry. He brazenly returned alone from his cowardice while his daughter was taken away.

Genzou understood that it wasn't Kouichi's fault. To require such a thing from a mere thirteen-year old boy was cruel and, from looking at the situation, the criminals placed more importance on Maya. It could be said that Kouichi got entangled in Maya's kidnapping and was left with one eye for all eternity. Even the Head of the Saegusa clan offered their help to the Yotsuba clan upon hearing on his son's condition, but Genzou had to refuse.

"I didn't know that. But why did Otou-sama refused the Saegusa's help?" Miya questioned in confusion to which the same thought occurred to everyone.

"If such thing didn't happen, all could have ended differently."

On Maya's words, everyone fell silent. Miya glanced at her twin with a small knowing frown. She knew how her sister fell head over heels for Kouichi during that time, how they were so perfect with each other only to head in a disastrous break up.

It was his incompetence that lead to ending what would be a promising relationship and the reason why Maya did not believe in the notion of "love". But like her father said, Kouichi wasn't to blame. He just like Maya, were victims of opportunity. Miya knew that Maya knows about this too.

Since the identity of the abductors and the whereabouts of Maya had been attained courtesy of the Kurobas, a furious Genzou immediately depart to Dahan in haste with a selected few in tow. Their intelligence had led them to Quanzhou where a subdivision of Kulunfang Institute's research laboratory is located. Kunlunfang Institute is Dahan's magician development group. The evil rumours of that place would not die any more than the ones about The Fourth Institute which the Yotsuba are now the actual masters of, but are entirely different. The content of those rumors with regards to females is so bad that Genzou could not bear to hear them fully.

It wasn't that hard for Miyuki to understand such statement. She somehow felt shivers creeping on every inch of her hair, both of her hands found its way on her shoulders.

Though he expected a worst case scenario, as a father Genzou couldn't fully accept that his youngest daughter would be defiled, violated, and experimented on by unknown men... Imagining such things almost made him go into berserk mode!

"I would be in such rage if I ever find my daughter on the hands of such atrocious men." Tadanori spoke in understanding. After all, like Genzou he was also a father and a parent.

"Raghh!"

Genzou screamed in anger and urgency, his arms and hands stretched outward in front as he expelled a continuous amount of magic power. He wasn't the only one doing such arduous task but almost everyone of the rescue group are doing the same thing.

Its not that they were throwing every amount of their Psions on nothing. The land of Quanzhou is just visible on their eyes but it was out of their reach due to a strong and invisible barrier that has been erected, forcing them to halt their advances and forcibly create a hole on it in order to pass through. And they were locked in such state for almost 3 hours.

Everyone's eyes though widened, were fixated on the oscillating air as dozens of Psions coalesced into a certain point in the empty surroundings.

"Dahan have such thing?"

Miyuki questioned in bewilderment. Being a heir candidate, she was taught about everything from proper etiquette down to countries' specific magic. She never heard of such barrier from one of her lessons or from the books.

The other people too were in the same boat as Miyuki and were surprised by such revelation. In order to establish such impenetrable defense, a strong magician was a requirement.

"Does this mean that they have created such magic at that time?"

"It also begs the question of who is the magician responsible for erecting a barrier like that."

Maya replied to her older twin's question while adding her two cents, as her eyes went back to the screen.

"What kind of barrier is this?"

"I never expect that Dahan could create something like this..."

"Juuzou! Eisaku! Stop worrying about this defensive barrier and focus. I don't care what kind of barrier is this but what I do know is that Maya is just on the other side! And not even this defensive magic can stop me from getting my daughter back!"

"Otou-sama..." Miya and Maya said in a whisper with almost a tear in their eyes. They knew how their father valued his family and his clan.

"Ojii-sama..." Miyuki whispered, her hands clasped together in front while being moved by her grandfather's concern to her aunt's safety.

The servants, though were trying not too show their emotions, they were very proud of their former clan head on putting such cladestine bravado. It was such principle that all servants of the Yotsuba Family respected and revered Genzou.

With those expelled words, Genzou and the others brought all forth of their magic power to another level. Though Genzou had to wonder how on earth does Dahan have such invincible magic? Banishing those thoughts, the Head of the Yotsuba clan inwardly prayed for the wall to break. As if the heavens heard Genzou's heed, a portion of the barrier fluctuated indicating its weakening state.

Seeing the fluctuation, the Yotsuba gave a final push thus tearing a hole through the barrier.

"They managed to do it!" Everyone thought as they saw a hole appearing in the air.

"Now! Full throttle!"

Juuzou's cry was heard by the helmsman who immediately put the throttle to max speed, speeding the boat against the wavy seas and through the hole. As they managed to get through the seemingly impenetrable defense, Genzou and the members of the Yotsuba clan could only stare at the land in front of them with widened eyes and utter disbelief.

Now everyone in the room were curious on what just the former Head of the Yotsuba and their kinsmen saw. Maya was on the edge of her seat. This was important to her, ever since that incident her memories on that eventuality was still a blur to her.

"What the..."

The land that was filled with brimming city lights that they saw outside the barrier earlier was now replaced by a grass of infernal blaze and wildfire. The instant change of scenery almost froze all the passengers of the boat to their places. As Magic Technicians who fought in the battlefield, witnessing something like this was a norm especially for someone like Genzou. What made him and the others paralyzed in their place however, was a towering figure of a gigantic humanoid being spewing beams of pinkish purple light on any directions from its... seven orifices and fourteen eyes.

After that scene, the people inside the room had to paused the video. Miyuki, Minami, Maya, Miya, Honami, and Tadanori were portraying the same reactions that the people from the video were also showcasing. All of their bodies were quivering in horror on what they witness. Miyuki had to hug herself in sheer fear, who was then embraced by his mother Miya. Her Guardian Minami, was fighting the urge not to fell down on the floor as she commanded her wobbling feet to support her weight.

"W-What is that thing!?"

Honami couldn't help but to say that aloud with a trembling voice. Almost everyone in the same room have the same thought. Just what is that gigantic being!?

"We don't know... but... its better to continue in order to find out what that... thing is."

Maya said in a logical manner, after she had regained her composure. Yet still, her frame was still shaking.

"I agree. Knowing what actually happened during that incident might give us clues on what that thing is... And maybe give us some insights on what Otou-sama and the others really did during that time. Tadanori-san, please."

Miya supplemented as she kept her red ruby eyes on the screen, gazing intently at the frozen image of what looks like a monster that came out from fairy tales or science fiction-themed novels. Though like her younger twin sister, she too was very curious and intrigued about her father and their kinsmen's exploits in Dahan.

With the remote still on his hand, Tadanori then pressed the play button.

As the Yotsubas were literally gaping at the sight behold to them, somewhere within the premises of Guangzhou City the brimming pinkish lights tore throughout specified locations of the megapolis, as said lights run across the entire area like lasers, carving their own destructive paths as they chased one single fellow.

Everyone inside the room blinked a few times upon seeing a human-sized figure evading the death beams that the monster was spewing out directly from its numerous eyes and mouths.

For some reason, Miya Shiba quickly placed her hand on her chest as if her instinct was telling her to do so. The instant that the Head of the Shiba Family's eyes saw the glimpse of the figure in the screen, she suddenly felt nervous for reasons she cannot pinpoint herself.

Her sudden reaction was left unnoticed however.

"Mom?" Miyuki spoke softly, curious as she watched her mother portraying a worried expression.

As for Maya, she raised her eyebrows at her elder twin's reaction but immediately returned her attention at the screen.

This one single fellow, a man whose appearance is in his late twenties, applied some force to his lower limbs allowing him to dodge a death ray coming straight for him by jumping to the left side. His king's mantle flapped and swayed in rhythm with his movements, in accordance to its surrounding environment. In his hand was a double-edged sword, beautifully carved and crafted, its bladed steel made of unknown material gleamed brightly against the hellish, flaming surroundings.

The man's head which was covered with the headpiece of his mantle, tilted slightly, his blue eyes, glowing and shimmering in multitude of colors took a second glimpse towards a certain direction.

"That was close - !"

When the voice of the guy was spoken through the speakers, Maya Yotsuba couldn't help but think that the voice have some familiarity to it. It was as if she had met the owner of the voice from the past but she could not exactly tell when and where.

However her elder twin sister had the exact opposite reaction as her red ruby eyes were widened like dinner plates.

"What...?" Miya muttered incoherently, her tone laced with disbelief.

She knew that voice. She recognized that voice too well!

The hands that were placed on her chest suddenly clenched tightly, crumpling the fabric thaf was trapped within her hands as the beating inside her chest went faster.

He then twisted his body, sensing an incoming death beam forward in an instant. He landed on one of the skyscraper's rooftop, his white shoes skid against the crisp and blackened cemented pavement before he came into a stop near the rooftop's edge. With his full attention directed towards the black titan, the man in a white cloak gave a glance at the said being who was now gathering a huge ton of energy with its six arms.

A single massive black orb came to life, eclipsing the entire megacity while still gaining in size.

The teens let out a gasp of awe as they saw how this tiny male human very aerodynamic just by watching how he changed his posture while in midair. For the two of them, it felt like they were watching a live action of an anime series.

Though the sense of awe were then immediately washed away when they saw the giant conjured a massive ball of black energy.

"That's huge!" Miyuki exclaimed with shock and fear.

Her reaction was pretty much justified. After all, with just one look any average person could tell that the giant orb packs a punch judging on the sparks it was emitting and how monster was trying to condensed it while pushing whatever kind of energy into it.

In response to this, the man, seeing the threat that the massive ball of energy pose placed his sword in front of him, both of his hand gripping on its hilt. He let out one small exhale and an instant, the sword's golden cross-guard unclipped itself from the sword's blade. The blade, in accordance to the "unclipping", responded by altering its surface into a multitude of kaleidoscopic colors before erupting a beam towards the sky, cutting the dark clouds above the metropolis.

"What kind of magic is that?" Honami spoke as her eyes gazed at the beams of multitude of colors being expelled from the sword.

She had never seen that kind of magic, if it is really magic, in her entire life. And she was also not the only one who had such thought for the people inside the room had same thought in their heads.

Though there was one person who was more interested or anticipating even, to see the visage of the man.

A mixture of emotions swirling inside her chest as her red eyes glimmered in anticipation.

And then, the cloak that was covering his face was blown away from the sheer force coming from his sword, unveiling his visage to the entire world, and he let these words escaped from his mouth;

"Whitefields By The Seaside"
"Vorpal Blade Hakuno"

The city was then engulfed in a white brimming light.

When the television's screen turned white, the viewers were left dumfounded. Miyuki and Minami were surprised but the adults... their facial expressions were a result of as if their bodies were being poured by ice cold water.

Maya, Honami, and Tadanori had a wide gape formed over their mouths, the unveiled truth was totally a shock to them.

And as for Miya... she could only stay at her seat as her lips quivered while muttering a name that she haven't seen for almost 17 years, with a torrent of mixture of emotions -

"H-Hakuno...?"