Chapter 153: Another Mission

"Anya... is currently unconscious right now..."

Her words immediately sank into my mind.

"What happened? What happened to Anya? Lead me to where she was!" I said and tried to go out of my bed when my left arm hurts. I just realized that the hand I used to punch the madman last time is my left hand. Seeing the bandages covering my arm and the pain I felt from it, there is no doubt that the damage that I received after using the ability of the Skull Knuckle caused this pain.

"Master! Don't rush yourself! You are still too weak to move!"

"I am fine. Bring me to where Anya is."

"Go back to bed, Kazuma. Your injury is bad so you need to recover. Don't worry about Anya that much. We are taking care of her," a girl appeared in the doorway who is always carrying the bamboo sword on her back.

"Akari? You are back?" I didn't expect Moonlight to appear in my room again. She disappeared for quite a while so I was surprised to see her.

"My father's funeral just concluded yesterday so I came back. Who knew that things like this will occur all of a sudden? I missed a lot of actions lately."

"I need to see Anya."

"Rest in there dumbass, you should stop being so stubborn. We are ensuring Anya is fine. You can visit her for two days. Recuperate before going to meet her."

Despite my complaints, there is nothing for me to do in my situation. Moonlight guarded the door and I can't get out to sneak. I was forced to stay put on my bed for 2 days. Although I passed out inside the G.A.T.E.S, I didn't undergo a coma this time around which means my injuries are not so serious compared to the sealing of the rift during the reclamation of the Phantasmal Reality. When 2 days passed by, I finally managed to recover fully from my injuries. The wounds on my left arm finally recovered. There is still some slight pain but it is not as bad as before.

Moonlight inspected my wounds first before she smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

"You have recovered fine and dandy. Not bad, considering how bad you looked during the time we found you on the S-ranked G.A.T.E.S."

Moonlight's words caused me to stop in my tracks. "Can you repeat what you just said?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to inform you, the G.A.T.E.S in your school is now considered as an S-rank Gate. It was a very dangerous portal due to how big it was. You are considered lucky that you managed to survive on the third floor. The monster you just took down is one of the monsters we rate as A-rank monster present in G.A.T.E.S and it was one of the Gatekeepers. If you and Anya are not that strong, you guys might have been dead before you can reach the third floor so consider yourself very lucky."

"If that is the case, are you guys closing down the school?"

"No. It would be too weird if the school will shut down without anything going on right? Some people will try to dig up information and it will be troublesome to deal with it so we decided to keep someone to monitor the situation. Once we get back to school, you can see the new rules during the afternoon so it is fine. Aside from that, this portal is only detected easily by magicians so we don't have to worry about stray people entering the place."

Everything was quite a shocker to me but I am not concerned about that right now. I want to know what happened to Anya.

"Can I visit Anya now?"

"Yes. Go to the other reality and visit your room there. We keep her safe there because her situation is not good. Otome and Maple are the ones nursing her right now."

Without waiting for Moonlight, I went to the other side via a portal made for me to transition to the other realm and get in there. I am worried about that incident. Just what happened after I passed out? Did Anya fight the monsters all by herself?

When I arrived at the room made for me whenever I wanted to stay in this realm, I saw Voltaire and Catmod outside talking to Otome. Catmod noticed me when I arrived.

"Looks like you are now chipper and active compared during the time we found you passed out on the floor," Catmod said.

"Where is Anya?" I immediately asked.

"She is inside. Maple is currently tending for her so you don't have to worry."

"What happened to her? I passed out so I have no idea what is going on."

"She is suffering from Soul Exhaustion. She used almost all of her energy including her soul power which is necessary for someone to live just to save you," Voltaire revealed.

"To save me?"

"You would have been consumed by the darkness and the corruption of your Skull Knuckles if not for Anya. Her soul transfer allowed you to regain your control from the Skull Knuckles and recover a little bit of your soul injury. Due to the intensity of power the Skull Knuckles emit that time, your soul is injured."

"It's my fault... all of what happened to Anya is all my fault..."

"Dumbass, you should stop getting easily depressed, kiddo. Anya's situation is bad, but not hopeless. Helping her soul recover from the Soul Exhaustion is a bit tricky but there is one simple method for her to recover but it will not be available until next week due to its limited amount released every year. If you want to heal her as soon as possible, we need to acquire one before everyone else. It has limited stocks so if you don't want Anya to sleep for another year, we have to acquire it," Voltaire said.

"An item? If that is the case, I have to acquire it no matter what."

"For now, she is in stable condition but since she lost a lot of her soul energy, she will remain in a coma in the meantime. But you don't have to worry about her too much, she did her best hanging in there even if she used most of her soul energy. In the meantime, you are tasked by the headquarters specifically to accept a mission. They are asking you to go to the top floor and meet someone there. Zacharias is waiting for you," Catmod said and handed me the mission.

[Investigate the Riot Massacre and the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder]