"Misaki! we have to hurry, I'm sure everyone is already at the hall," I said checking my watch
"I know, I overslept, my roommate didn't even bother waking me up"
"Who's that?" I asked, putting on my gauntlet
"His name is Natsuru Ikeda, Nuff said"
"Where's your gauntlet?"
"Oops, I will go get it now, just wait here, I think I left…"
I sighed, it's only the second day and we are already late, at least I hope Himiko is keeping a seat for us
"Sorry you had to wait for me, shall we?" she said leading the way
I followed her matching her pace, so far nothing chaotic has happened, and I didn't see Haruki in the morning, thank goodness, we passed through a pearled water fountain and entered a glass structured building, the inside was cold and unnerving
"Do you know where we are going?" I asked
"I thought you knew"
I stopped and stared at her "I've been following you for the past five minutes"
"What are we going to do?" then she suddenly pressed her fingers tightly to her head
"Are you okay?" I asked
"Uh, yes I'm fine, the voice said we're meant to be at the hall immediately…didn't you hear that?"
I shook my head. "No, I didn't"
"That's weird, but anyway we should hurry up, and this time I know where we are going"
I smiled and followed her as we left the building, but it was still odd that I didn't get the message, maybe it's the same reason why I can't wield my gauntlet, or it's something else.
"It's this way", she said pointing to a large bricked building, we entered inside to see everyone already assembled in the middle, Himiko waved at us
"What took you guys so long?" she asked
"We were lost" we chorused
"What are we meant to be doing?" I asked looking around, the room was cold and slightly dark, it had an eerie feeling to it
She shrugged. "Don't know, but the voice said we should meet here"
"Which reminds me, Hinata couldn't hear the voice" Misaki whispered
"That's odd, are you sure?"
I nodded."I'm sure"
"I'm sure there has to be a reason" Hinata pondered
'There's a reason a voice called out, we turned ahead, to see the strange woman scowling at us, she walked towards me, placing her bony fingers on her hips 'I wasn't expecting you here, I preferred those that could control their gauntlet to be present'
I frowned, I know we are meant to honour our elders but I didn't like her at all not one bit "Is that why you didn't transmit the message to me"
'Yes, you're a weakness to the team, I only wanted the strong ones to be present but it looks like your friend spoiled my plan" she said eyeballing Misaki
"That's… wrong" I whispered
"What?"
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT, JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T USE MY GAUNTLET"
'You think so'
I glared at her "Yes"
"Fine. you want to prove your strength, I would give you a test, when an ordinary person puts on that gauntlet do you know what it does to them, it destroys them slowly within, it shreds their insides and slowly drives them insane, but you seem brave enough right, why don't I let you and your elemental team get a real taste of what it means to fight a cloptex in battle"
I didn't like the sound of that, I have no training whatsoever but I wasn't going to let this woman get the best out of me "I accept"
Misaki grabbed my hand. "Are you insane!"
"You can't do this, it's too dangerous," Himiko said, tugging on my sleeves
It's not like I have a choice, I just wanted to slap that stupid sneer off her face
"It's okay, we would stand by her side, so you don't have to worry," Daichi said
"Speak for yourself, I have no intention of helping her" Haruki retorted, his lips pressed tightly
"So you're not going to help" Daichi frowned
"I didn't say that; I just have no intention of helping a weakling!"
"Okay, let me at him!" Misaki said
"It's okay, I don't need his help, I can manage" I reassured her, holding her back
'Looks like everyone is ready then, I would like for everyone except the party to step backwards, as we proceed to the virtual room but don't worry you can watch the fun as it would be streamed directly to your brain" she declared grinning cheekily
She was enjoying this, I waved at Misaki and Himiko as the centrepiece of the ground started vibrating pushing us upward towards the ceiling, then a translucent wall formed around us, I close my eyes breathing slowly
"You don't have to worry, it's just virtual so the effect is not going to be real," Daichi said reassuring me
'Oh no it's real, test subject 005, our virtual reality is an advanced form of reality, the beast, the surrounding and every pain you feel would be real, so do your best!' she exclaimed, pressing a red button
"It's Daichi, and what would you be doing?"
"You don't need to worry about that, I suggest you worry about yourselves instead, even though Cloptexes don't attack humans directly, but when humans are sighted it can't fight the urge to crush us, so be safe"
We were suddenly transported to a cold dimension, its surface was rocky with craters and lake bed with blue dust which covered most of the surface, Instantly the surfaces started trembling and that's when I sighted a Cloptex for the first time in my life, it was a menacing and enormous dreadful creature with radiant black eyes, but it wasn't the hideous way it dragged its feet or the way it crushed things at its path that made it scary, it wasn't its sabre-tooth or its sharp scaly claws or his huge feet, but it was the way it glared at us, it was like every living anxiety that I have ever confined suddenly came rushing to the surface, imprisoning me in complete and utter darkness, I couldn't move, my body was completely paralyzed I could only hear my heartbeat and the sudden instinct telling me to run
"Synchronization Activate," I said weakly, as a sudden rush of electricity soared through my vein causing me great discomfort, I knelt breathing heavily, I slammed my wrist trying to forge a weapon but only sparks emerged, I looked up to see a large boulder flying towards me, I tried moving but I was too frightened, I closed my eyes trying to form a shield when Haruki came and slashed the boulder in two
"You wanted to prove you were strong right? If you can't even do something as simple as that then I suggest you get out of the way"
"You don't think I know that, you don't have to keep reminding me, I have come so far, so even if my heart is melting and my insides are burning up I wouldn't give up" I shouted, standing up using every bit of strength I had left, slamming my fists together forging a giant war steel hammer, I smiled, serves them right I knew could do it
" Awesome" Daichi grinned
"Whatever, I have a plan, a Cloptex weakness is it's the forehead, all we have to do is aim for that and it will knock him over" Haruki mumbled
"You say that like it's easy"
"I don't see you coming up with ideas"
I frowned "Um...guys, I'm sorry to disturb your lovers' quarrel but I don't think I can keep this up for so long, so hurry up!" I said clenching my chest, why does the thing have to be so damn heavy.
"Right, sorry let's do Haruki's plan
"Like you had a choice"
"Ignore…just ignore," I said, patting Daichi on the shoulder
"Whatever, Hinata go to the right, Daichi to left, I will stay in the middle, if we all corner him then it would be simple enough"
I ran to the right pulling my hammer behind me when the cloptex came scurrying towards Daichi, it slammed its huge fist at him but Daichi successfully evaded him, using his scythe to cut his arm but the cloptex's arm wouldn't budge, it carried Daichi and slammed him on the ground, I stepped back and threw my hammer at the cloptex aiming for its temple, but it missed only a few inches, the Cloptex staggered and looked at me. I was in trouble, I stepped back, I seriously didn't know if I should run or play dead, but the cloptex didn't allow me to think as it came running towards me, I ran as fast as I could, dodging boulders and rocks that were thrown at me, I didn't even have enough strength to form another weapon, I looked back to see the cloptex leaping as it came crashing in front of me, and now we were only a few feet's away from each other, it got up and raised its fist at me, I tried running but my legs were frozen, I was completely helpless as I closed my eyes then Haruki jumped in front of me using a hammer as a shield
"Run!"
I stood up and ran towards my hammer, and lifted it and I turned to see Haruki holding his head tightly
"Haruki? Are you alright"
And then suddenly I heard a deep voice resonating inside my head saying "Destroy…Destroy", I fell, as I heard the voice making my body cold as ice
'Okay, that's enough!'