Gacha Sovereign

Two days have passed after the incident, Alex and the rest have regained their consciousness. Except for Alicia who was still laying on her bed. Alex locked himself up while kept saying that it was all his fault. Firia was also saddened by this incident and she never left Alicia's side. Sherry was always by Alex's side all this time.     

One day, an old man stopped in front of Alex's room.     

'Knock Knock'     

He knocked on the door slowly. There was no answer from the other side.     

'Knock Knock'     

He knocked it again a bit louder this time, but there was still no sound from inside.     

"Sigh… Alex, it's me"     

"…."     

One minute… two minutes…. five minutes had already passed…     

"Alex…"     

"Te…teacher…." Finally, a weak sound from the inside could be heard. "Is it… all my fault?"     

"Sigh… open the door first. I want to talk to you about the incident," answer the dean.     

One minute later…     

'Clack'     

The door was opened and the dean entered his room. The first thing he saw was weakly standing Alex. Sherry was also in the room accompanying her master. Seeing Alex became like this also pained Sherry's heart. She looked at the dean hopefully, she was hoping that the dean would be able to help her master.     

"Am… I… wrong… Teacher…"     

"Yes, you are wrong."     

"I…"     

'Bam!'     

He threw Alex to the wall. "Let me list your mistakes. First, What are you doing here? Holing up like this won't make your mistake right, won't erase your mistake. Second, by locking yourself up here, what do you think will happen to those who care about you? You are just hurting them. Third, who are you? You are Alicia's man, but what are you doing? Did you help her in time like this? You just sit here, nice and comfy thinking that you are the only one who gets hurt? No! You are not the only one who gets hurt Alex, others also feel the same, if not worse. But what are you doing instead? Do you know what those people have been doing so far? They are searching for a solution while you are just sitting comfortably inside your room."     

"But…"     

The dean looked at him seriously, "Your biggest mistake... was when you fought the assassins. Did you use your flame?"     

"I…"     

"No, right?" The dean sighed a little, "I know you didn't use it. If you used it, I might be surprised. The reason is simple, me… or maybe other people also said the same thing. Don't use your flame in front of others."     

The dean looked at Alex bitterly, he had been watching Alex grow up since Alex arrived in the academy. And the dean knew, despite Alex's brilliance, there was a shadow… a big shadow in the young man's heart. Alex always wanted to destroy his shadow but there was no chance for it. After all, to destroy this shadow, Alex needed a setback. But never in his thought, that the price of this setback was… Alicia.     

"Ha… I don't know what kind of environment you lived in before you became my student. You must have experienced something like 'I will get hurt if I don't obey', 'I will obey', etc. continuously from your childhood. I know, it was imprinted inside you. That is your shadow. It was like being brainwashed whether you did it yourself or someone else did. It becomes your doctrine. Just because I said you can't show it to others, does not mean you have to obey my words without seeing the situation. On the contrary, if you fought the assassins along with your fire, you might be able to finish them easily. Actually, In that situation, it was the perfect time to unleash it. That is why I said your biggest mistake was not using your fire."     

"Without doing the wrong thing, we will never know what is the right thing to do. Without a mistake, we will never know what is wrong. Without fear, we will never know what we need to fight at. Without a setback, we don't know what we lack. If you don't do anything, we don't know if it is possible or not. We should do our best first so that we can accept the result without regret. Do you get it?"     

"But… what about the legendary poison? They said, no one can cure her."     

The dean shook his head, "No, there was one man who managed to cure it."     

Alex's eyes brightened a bit. The dean continued, "He was the ascender. We will try to search for his record about it. After he ascended himself in the Death Forest, many people have already tried to search for his inheritance, but sadly no one could do it again."     

Alex's expression suddenly changed when he heard 'Death Forest'. Back then, he felt some kind of connection within the forest, but the dean said that many people already tried to search it but to no avail. Then… what kind of connection did he feel back then? What was the difference between him and those who have failed? One word came to his mind, 'Pure Fire'. That was right, both of them had the same element, they both had 'Pure Fire Element'. The reason they couldn't find it was because they didn't have the same element.     

The possibility was slim but not zero.     

"Well, that's all. I only want to say that to you. Rather than holing up here, you better use your time for something more productive. Alright, I will go back first. I still need to investigate who is the mastermind behind all of this."     

"Teacher. Actually…"     

With his teacher's encouragement, he finally told the whole story about what happened back in the forest. From when the assassins approached Alex and the rest until the last conversation Alex had with one of the assassins.     

"Hmm… if what he said was true. We won't let off Zircodina and its hero."     

"Teacher, can you leave him to me? I want to kill him myself."     

The dean looked at him and nodded, "Alright. We will investigate with the hero as its base. We don't know whether the assassin was telling the truth or not. He probably wanted to make us fight each other."     

"I agree."     

The dean left the room and Alex planned for his next move right away.     

"System, can you cure the Green Devil Poison?"     

The system didn't answer him and Alex assumed that the only possible way was in that Death Forest. Alex had decided to search that ascender palace. He took out his sword and spear.     

"Wuu!"     

He looked at Sherry. After the depression hit him, Alex didn't look at her enough. Sherry's body shrank by much. Before this, she had a height of one meter. But this time, it was only around thirty centimeters. But the Sherry now was cuter than before.     

Alex caressed her a bit. "What happened to your body?"     

"Wuu Wuu Wuu. Wuu Wuu."     

"What? You can grow back like before?"     

"Wuu Wuu," Sherry nodded. She then started growing faster until she reached one-meter height like her previous form.     

"I see. So, you can transform yourself back."     

"Wuu Wuu."     

"That mini form was a convenient one though, am I right?"     

"Wuu," Sherry then shrank back. She suddenly jumped to the top of Alex's head. "Wuu Wuu (I can also go back to this form so that I can always be with master hehe…"     

Alex smiled a bit, he patted her head, "Yes, as long as you like it."     

"Wuu," Sherry joyfully accepted.     

"But, I need to go to a dangerous place first. I think I can't bring you. I didn't want you to-"     

'Plak!'     

Sherry hit Alex's head with her paw. "Wuu… Wuu."     

She reprimanded Alex, she said she wanted to live and die together with her master. As long as they were together, that was fine for her.     

"Wuu... Wuu."     

"What? You can be what?"     

Suddenly Sherry disappeared from Alex's head. Alex was shocked, he tried to search around but he didn't see Sherry in the room.     

"Sherry? Sherry? Where are you?"     

"Wuu!"     

Suddenly Alexander's back was glowing. Sherry suddenly came out from the tattoo on his back. Alex was flustered when suddenly there was a  tattoo on his back.     

"Sherry? What just happened? How did you suddenly disappear and appear like that? And why is there a tattoo on my back?"     

"Wuu," Sherry also didn't know why, but there was one thing she knew. She can go in and out from that tattoo.     

"…It seems that we have to find out about this as well."     

"Wuu (then, can I follow you)?"     

Alex contemplated a bit then nodded. "But, you need to go inside of me, alright? We will go now."     

"Wuu," Sherry nodded happily. She went inside of him once again.     

After Sherry got inside of Alex, he didn't feel any difference in his feeling or body, so he didn't mind about it. He opened his door and slowly walked toward Alicia's room. Once he arrived, Alex saw Alicia laying on the bed and Firia who seemed asleep after nursing her.     

Alex slowly walked toward them, he didn't want to wake them up. Alex patted Firia's head a bit and said in a very low voice. "Sorry for making you worry so much. I'm fine now. Wait for me, alright?"     

Alex then turned to Alicia. He stroked her purple hair tenderly. "Wait for me as well. I will cure you."     

"Alex?"     

Alex turned back and saw Firia woke up. Firia teared up a bit and hugged him, "I'm glad you are alright."     

Alex's heart was in pain again. He hugged her back, "I'm sorry for worrying you."     

Suddenly Firia realized that Alex also brought his weapon. She started to panic again, "Where are you going?"     

"…" Alex hesitated to answer her question. After contemplating a bit, he finally said, "Death Forest."     

"What? Why are you going there again? Don't tell me-"     

Alex placed his finger on her mouth. He shook his head, "No. Teacher said that there was an event when Green Devil Poison was cured. And the one who cured it was the ascender."     

"Then, are you planning to… but 5000 years have passed, I'm sure there is nothing there."     

Alex shook his head, "The chance is slim but not zero. I also felt the connection when I was inside the forest. I assumed it was a connection with my Pure Fire Element. After all, both of us are Pure Fire Elements."     

Firia's eyes widened and she was surprised to hear his explanation.     

"If the Teacher is looking for me, please tell him that I'm going to Death Forest. Also tell him about the 'Connection'. And please don't stop trying to search for cures. I will do my best on my end."     

"Alex…" Firia looked at him. Alex patted her head again and said, "Don't worry. I will come back, I promise. For myself, Teacher, Alicia, you, and everyone else. I will come back."     

"I…" Firia looked at him with worry. She wanted to tell him that she wanted to follow him but after that incident, she thought that there won't be any situation like before if Alex was alone. So, this time she decided. "Alex! May Fortune be with you."     

Alex was surprised but soon the surprise turned to a smile. "Yes! See you soon, Firia."     

Alex opened the window and used his sky step and went toward the Death Forest once again.     

…     

Unknown to him,  in a room there was someone who was still rolling herself on the bed. "That Poison! That F*cking Poison. Argh!"