I lunged at the student like a predator eager to shred its prey to pieces. This swift and instantaneous movement contradicted the rigid motions that my body performed a few seconds ago.
I was barely able to perceive my attack before I found the student already being covered with the black liquid. I was like a sponge that absorbed every human around it.
No matter how much I shout and scream, trying to set myself free or alert the others, I wasn't able to. That's when it hit me.
"How could I see from inside when the liquid is black?"
It was indeed quite weird, even though it should've not been possible, I was able to see as clear as day, not to mention that now my injuries are way better than before. Recovering from that critical state in a few minutes is nigh impossible even with the technological advancement in our medical abilities at the time.
Throughout this time, the boy who struggled and screamed like a choked rabbit was already covered in liquid from head to toe and he lost consciousness just like the teacher.
No one dared to approach him for help, they all started running away in pure chaos stumbling in between their steps. This scene was a real image of what humans are.
We, who think that we are brave and that we reached the top of the world food chain because of that bravery, will run away at the first real threat to our lives. Family? Screw them, my life is way more important, I will grieve and shed some tears later while cursing fate for his cruel acts, while hiding the fact that I was the coward who left them for their demise. Such ideas are the hard facts of how selfish we are, even to those dear to us.
We would look at ourselves as nothing but puppets in a bigger show, dancing at the will of whoever was the supreme being and denying every possibility that maybe we were the real reason for the tragedy. Maybe we could've done something to change the outcome no matter how insignificant it was.
Anyway, the student was instantaneously absorbed into the liquid.
[Life essence detected.]
[Life essence consumption initiated.]
[Life essence consumed successfully.]
[Life essence required for update: 148]
Finally, the mechanical sound of the notifications attracted me. I was far from calm and even at that moment, I could hardly keep myself together but I was calm enough to think rationally.
"What is this?" I muttered to myself while reading the content of these weird messages attentively.
At first, I could hardly understand what anything that was written even meant but soon enough, I was able to link everything together.
"What kind of sick joke is this?!!" My confusion became anger and then full-on rage.
Who could keep his temper when he sees that people's lives became nothing but nutrition to this liquid, an irrelevant number in the sea of numbers that translate to potential victims. On top of that, I was used as a guinea pig for all of this.
"I need to fucking stop this!!"
Since I was basically paralyzed, all I could do was think of some keywords that I hopefully thought would stop this Auto-kill mode.
I tried every possible word in my mind that meant 'stop'. Hell, I even tried some foreign languages. I looked silly and stupid, but I could only think of that at the moment.
While I was having to do this silly yet serious plan of mine. My body has already located its next target.
It was a girl who was chubby and had a few more kilograms on the scale which made her get tired quite fast. She ran through the corridor and ended up choking on her own saliva from exhaustion. She probably cursed the day she ate that extra slice of pizza at dinner.
Everyone else continued running without a care in the world.
"No, please! Don't leave me!" Her sweaty clothes and desperate voice made her look quite pitiful but who had the right set of mind to care about that. Not only that but when she grabbed into a random student's leg asking for help...
"Fuck off! You fat bitch. I don't want to die from that monster!" He kicked her away like a ball making her roll a few times on the ground gasping for breath.
When everyone was far enough, my shadow finally loomed over her body. I could see the tears of fear in her eyes. Yet, I couldn't do anything to help her. I was powerless in every sense of the word.
"I'm sorry...I'm really sorry." I had that saving-grace of an idea in my head that apologizing could make this situation slightly better, but seeing as the black liquid started eating her up erased all of that effort.
The self-blame I was feeling at that time was way too big. I still recall the tears of shame and hopelessness that trickled down my cheeks with each dying soul.
[Life essence detected.]
[Life essence consumption initiated.]
[Life essence consumed successfully.]
[Life essence required for update: 147]
"Fuck!!! Fuck!!!! Goddammit!!! Just stop!! Please." I begged and begged until all of my pride as a human being was already beyond recovery.
Killing one person was already a huge psychological hit to me that would take years and years to recover from it. But, I had to go through that pain over and over again.
"S-Stop! You monster!"
I heard a shaky sound behind me. The school guard came running when he heard all of the commotion going on inside the building. I recall hearing that he was a retired crusader who lost his right arm in one of the portals.
The man was in his 60s with most of his hair residing back and the left of it was already white. He was probably trying to pass his last years calmly striking an easy buck from working as a school guard. Who thought he would have to deal with a weird black monster that eats humans.
Even the way he held his gun looked shaky and unconvincing that even a toddler will probably laugh off his threats.
"No! Runaway!" I had no other choice than to warn him. I was already broken inside from all of the deaths.
Obviously, such easy prey that came for me alone wouldn't be ignored by the black liquid.
A few steps and I was standing in front of him, I could see his ghastly pale face and sweat beads that covered his complexion.
"S-Stay...Away!!" His throat gulped a mouthful of saliva audibly. I could tell from the way he was holding the gun that he wasn't intending to shoot or maybe he didn't have the balls to.
But, as they say 'A cornered mouse will bite back' and so the old man did.
*bang* *bang*
He fired two shots successively hitting me in the abdomen and right leg. The aim was way too bad and even those bullets could barely kill someone.
I thought that I would get injured from the bullets since....well, they're bullets but It seems that I underestimated the black liquid that envelopes my body.
The bullets passed a few millimeters creating a small hole before instantly disintegrating. Not only was this weird thing strong it also worked like an armor protecting me.
"Even bullets won't work...Fuck! What should I do?" I cursed loudly with gritted teeth.
"Aghhh!!!?? Please don't!!!!? No!!! No!!!" I closed my eyes while hearing the screams of the old man. The sound of someone screaming while seeing his last seconds in this world was like hell for me.
And then the cursed message appeared in front of me....again
[Life essence detected.]
[Life essence consumption initiated.]
[Life essence consumed successfully.]
[Life essence required for update: 146]
"DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"
After that, it was chaos. I moved from one place to another attacking clueless students and professors alike and absorbing them relentlessly.
Most of those that ran away didn't tell anyone as they only cared about their lives. This made hunting down innocent people, even more, easier than it already is.
Throughout all of that, I felt all of my humanity seep out of me with each dying soul. I lost the will to even try to stop this. I couldn't run away from the control of whoever is responsible for this. I just threw away every resistance I had and left myself to be used like puppets made for killing.
In a matter of 30 minutes, I did the unthinkable.....
[Life essence detected.]
[Life essence consumption initiated.]
[Life essence consumed successfully.]
[Life essence required for update: 119]
31 people...died in a matter of minutes. They probably had families that they love, dreams that they want to achieve, and hopes for a better future. All of that disappeared in an instant, instead of living the life they thrived for, they became fuel for a weird creature to use.
In the end, the scent of death loomed over the school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading my book. Please support me with Power Stones or even a comment and I will totally appreciate it. Thanks <3