Chapter 14–Chamber of Thorns; Black Shrine
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The battle raged on within the foundation, as Ryoji's group against the Reaper who hijacked the main source of the school's' defenses; yet the situation above them became worse as the assailants invaded the mighty school of Surwick as easily as one getting stuck in a tar pit. They ravaged the school all together but the one class they were interested in the most: Homeroom C-2: Class Of The Salamanders.
The official moniker for the classroom below C-1, the more "superior" class that was known as "Class of the Griffins".
Everyone from Class C-2 were done fending for their lives——For now, at least.
The busted glass laid on the floor while waiting for be trampled by incautious feet.
That was Sasha's' concern; as some of her classmates unfortunately stepped on some shards of glass, three to be exact. She was in charge of everyone in the class and did the best she could, even though there were no more first aid left. This class, despite being seemingly weak, managed to uphold two waves of Daemons and one horde of
Reapers, being less experienced when it came to the mechanical death machines that could render an adult elephant comatose in a matter of seconds. They were opportunistic creatures in it came to food——and Reapers admire the warm flesh of humans. A Reaper admires it so much that when a human is in a room with more larger and succulent prey: They
The students were left in the room without any lights, once expensive, sturdy desks and chairs that barricaded their room—did not survive the onslaught.
Though broken, the furniture were summed up together in a heap of precious materials, which Sasha thought about it perfectly. If they could round up all the broken parts together and fused them together; then make them as heavy as a garbage truck to make the temporary yet semi-perfect barrier in the meantime. She had thought of it while she was giving it her all during a brief scuffle with a Daemon, multi-tasking was easy for an overachiever like her.
Everyone was doing their part and Sasha was doing her job as the person in charge.
So was Jordyn, struggling to pick things up after losing some of her Aether. She was a magic user; her power was higher than most but not higher than Ryoji's' strength. If I have to touch one more desk leg and get another splinter while doing this: I will riot. I will not waste any more Aether than what I have to...But if it is to slap a bitch like Sasha, a furry like her: No hesitation. She thought, grimacing on how she gain another splinter, only this time on the the palm of her hand.
"Jordyn." Sasha called on her at the worst time possible, trying pluck out the stubborn splinter and jammed it even further by surprise. She looked at Sasha with the upmost hate, wishing make her vomit countless of hair balls.
Jordyn did not know why she hated Sasha as much as she did, it could that she was older than her, but numerous of factors. First, Sasha was a beauty from the small town of Kirillov——making her the Russian equivalent of "Girl-Next-Door", and that attracted more boys than a girl from the most ruthless Shinobi family. Second, Sasha was a natural genius and listened so keenly to others while working extremely hard for her dreams of being a Protector. The Werecat grabbed ahold of the wood fragment
"Can you use a spell that fuses the broken parts and can make them heavy overall?" She asked Jordyn, making her wince as Sasha took the splinter out quickly.
Jordyn breathed in quickly, a splinter that once blocked the nerves in her palm, now the 17,000 touch receptors and free nerve endings were at peace once again. "I know a spell or two: 'Pinguis' and 'Collatio'. One can make mass heavier than it already are, and another fuses two or more objects or peoples together as one." Jordyn said quickly, getting on with the magic spell without uttering the spells by first fusing masses of smashed pieces.
It reminded Sasha of Picasso's work, complex to look at; yet filled with beauty.
Marcus and Taig conversed about a lighter topic to discuss while pushing one of the masses up to the front, as everyone was doing their part.
Even Kadoku, whom everyone loathed in the class, was earning his place by helping gathering more to barricading the room. His mechanical legs were starting to lose power by exertion; he was not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Shitty ass legs...You ain't helping me at all! One of these days, Imma discard y'all once I can get some new ones.... He complained about his legs, eventually using his wings to transport his load on another mass. A total douchebag as two of the student began to complained about it. "What the hell?!"
He saluted them mockingly. "Package is delivered." Kadoku said in a wry tone.
"Why do you care If he dumped his load onto the barricade? We're going to die in here and there is nothing we can do about it." Said a boy not helping his classmates, simply watching them giving them their all to survive. He was a boy with messy hair, blacker than the night. His skin reminded them of how an olive is: smooth and desired the most by models. He was handsome for his age, if his macabre and pessimistic personality did not hinder his outlook on life. He wore the typical uniform, but one of the sleeves were ripped and bloodied.
He was Haruto Kuromiya—Last of the infamous Kuromiya clan, whom all of his family died during the 2006 Incident: Leaving him to be an unloved orphan. He has known no love his entire life, his discontent for humanity has made him a misanthrope. His prowess made him one of the strongest First-Years that was no Heart-Bond.
That got Marcus's' attention: Defeatism to his buoyancy. He stopped his conversation with Taig, a pleasant one at that. "Hol up a sec, Taig..." Marcus said to his only friend and walked towards him. "How can you be like that, Kuromiya?"
Haruto, already got up and stared at Marcus. "Some of us got cut from the glass from the windows, Marcus," Haruto pointed at his bloodied arm while explaining further, "we don't have any first aid and the barricade won't hold for long. I'm living in the real world while you're out playing the dense hero that nobody needs right now." He looked at him in disgust with his dark brown eyes, Marcus could not tell the difference in which was the pupil and the sclera.
But he was not done in insulting him. "You shouldn't steal another persons' culture, Duncannon. Funny, considering that your dad is an expert in social science and his son is a complete idiot who wants to be a ninja, wait—it sounds familiar...Big fan of the show?"
Marcus clenched his hand harder and ever, his calluses were ripped, then remembered something
"....I like the way who I am." He apologized sarcastically, he smiled at him. "Sorry, if you're mad about it."
They both a stare down, before Sasha yelled out,
"Bozhe Moi!" She yelled out, as Haruto was right: The barricade isn't going to hold for long. "Armando—make sure that it's gonna hold!!!" Sasha commanded to the Latino boy with curly, frizzy hair.
His powers were that of elasticity related, his entire body is made of rubber: The only thing that is not affected by the coils of a Reaper. He struggled while
his hand was tiring a bit. "WHAT NOW?!"
There were many plans she was thinking of before shouting back to Armando, "Open it for a bit!" And he followed her orders, responding with a nod as his hand reduced pressure to the barricade.
Three Reapers came out invited, and the bullets from Taig's' gun flew in the quiet dust as Reapers shrugged them off, render them useless.
"Do you think shurikens are going to help?" Marcus asked his only friend in the class.
"Nah—But it's the only thing I got! We gotta to hold them off as the Heart-Bond's group is finished with turning the lights on for all of us!" He explained as more came closer and closer. "Watch out, bro!" Marcus yelled to Taig as a tentacle was reaching for Taig's neck, but a barrage of shurikens stopped the creature laying its cybernetic limb. Taig turned to see who it was that saved him from sudden peril, it was none other than Haruto Kuromiya. "Choose a really good time to save me, didn't you?" He said
"I hate you all, but that doesn't I'm going to let you die a death like that." He answered back coldly.
a ball of black, accursed fire began to appear and his mouth was suddenly opened. "BLACK FIREBALL JUSTU!!!" The searing heat from his attack caused the Reaper to stagger back from pain. Good...Fire does work on them... Thought Haruto, but unfortunately; he began to celebrated too soon. He already felt a tentacle for more than six seconds
He looked at Marcus, realizing that it was over for him, his eyes widened with fear. The first time feeling fear, his final words were not of insult or anger——but a lesson for Marcus.
"Never have your guard down." His final words, those five words, would be etched in Marcus's'
Reapers tend to be one of the most vengeful creatures to those that hurt them, and this one was wrathful to the Hero-In-Training for hurting them. And Haruto was taken out like a fly with a flyswatter, he would no longer smile deviously, he would no longer insult his classmates: He was gone to them.
Despite their mutual dislike, Marcus held him in his arms as tears began to roll down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Duncannon....." Sasha had her hand on him, "But we have to carry on..." She sound sorrowful, prompting Marcus to wipe his tears and move forward. He slowly put Haruto's' lifeless body as last respect for him.
Boom. That's it. Taig thought, he aimed his twenty caliber gun and pulled the trigger. Y'all really starting to piss me so much, that I brought my collapsible shotgun with me. He thought as he pulled out his collapsible shotgun, an extreme versatile firearm that fired New-Corkscrew bullets approved by the N.U.S.N laws.
It bounced back. Taig took one more look at his gun, uttering "Shit."
He jumped away from a unpleasant student said, "Ya dumbass, bullets ain't gonna work on a Reaper!" Said Kadoku, rest of the students' face cringed from the appearance of Haritoka himself. Damn he's so ugly...
"Then want will, Haritoka?" The catgirl questioned rudely, it seem very that she also held Kadoku in low regards, he was rude and very proud of his powers. Extremely proud.
On his purple hand, acid was forming and he threw a large amount of acid on the Reaper. "This." He simply stated, throwing it on it, making it screeching in pure agony as the acid seem to be very corrosive, the screams sounded electronically and louder than a jackhammer.
Eventually it crumbled to the ground and reduced into a pile of scrap metal from the acidic blood, its stench smelt like rust mixed with the scents of the decaying. Kadoku smiled psychotically, which scared his fellow peers.
"These scientists said I got a neat power as an "application" of my physiology——A duped up version of Fluoroantimonic Acid, to be honest. I wanna call it molecular acid but even that's too lazy for me.". I'm kinda like those Xenomorphs from the Aliens, "It's in my blood. I can regenerate faster than anybody in this class...." Kadoku explained his powers as clear and precise as possible. Everyone else stared at the corroded body of the Reaper.
One even uttered, "Jesus Christ" as even more people in the class murmured about Kadoku, marveling at him as he talked a little bit. "Anyway, like I said, Taig. Bullets don't work on those machines and fire really doesn't work, either. I killed some of those things before. And besides, you need me." He stated to Marcus arrogantly, working alongside his classmates to fight onward.
No, we need Ryoji. Funka. Takeo, all the other ones that I don't know their names and Sis: Please be in one piece. Dad'll kill me if anything happens to you. Marcus thought to himself, taking off his glasses and resuming fighting for the future.
He looked at Haruto's' body, wanting to cradle it but remembered his last words.
Never have your guard down.
———Track 14 Ended———
CHARACTER PROFILE:
SURWICK STUDENT: KADOKU HARITOKA (14)
DRACONIC INSECT VANGUARD
BIRTHDAY: 6-26
HEIGHT: 5'1.5" (No Legs), 5'5.5" (With Legs)
LIKES: Superacids, Scorpions, Ghost Peppers
DISLIKES: His legs when they don't work like they used to, Aliens 3
THE INSIDE STORY:
He's unpleasant, arrogant, and downright rude: Kadoku is pretty much the face of the Vanguards and knows everybody hates him.
He doesn't care for others and vice versa, but does help when his life is on the line.
Those who have his respect——Will gain unmatched camaraderie
His Fluoroantimonic Acid are quite astonishing and the reason why Kadoku is arrogant: He also wields it with great precision.
CHARACTER PROFILE:
SURWICK STUDENT: SASHA ARKHANGEL (15)
BATTLE STEADY FELINE
BIRTHDAY: 12/2
HEIGHT: 5'7
LIKES: Smoked fish, Kirillov
DISLIKES: Rude people
THE INSIDE STORY:
Her werecat powers revolve around the stress level, the more she is stressed, the more she becomes ferocious in battle.
A simple yet different type of power.
Her aesthetic and Russian origin comes from the Russian Blue Cat. I'm allergic of cats but I do admire them.
From a distance, of course.
CHARACTER PROFILE:
SURWICK STUDENT: HARUTO KUROMIYA (13)
THE BOY WHO GOT LOST IN LIFE
BIRTHDAY: ???
HEIGHT: 5'0
LIKES: His family
DISLIKES: Being the only one left in his family; everyone
THE INSIDE STORY:
Haruto Kuromiya.
The first student to fall victim to the Reapers.
His innocence was taken a long time and lived up to this point in sheer anger at the realms.
Hates interviews, so no further information about him.