"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Anna was stupefied.
Sebastian just twisted his lips into a smile that wasn't a smile.
"You will find out soon... Let's just put some distance between us and that door for now."
As if on cue a loud voice could be heard blaring through a megaphone
"STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS BUILDING! WE WILL OPEN FIRE IF YOU COME CLOSER!"
Anna and Josh exchanged a look after which they both retreated up the steps.
Mr Li seemed to have said something, but they weren't able to make out what. The firing squad outside on the other hand… responded with the same story.
"I REPEAT! TAKE ONE STEP CLOSER AND WE WILL OPEN FIRE! TURN AROUND AND GO BACK UP!"
Sebastian had all but pushed Mr Li right to his death.
In the end, his death would just be a sacrifice – no, it would be nothing but mere collateral damage as far as his plan was concerned.
The damage would just continue to grow before this was all over, there was no time to dwell on the repercussions of his actions for the time being.
And then it came.
The sound of … thirty assault rifles firing all at once.
It was a sound quite different from that of the sheer explosiveness of a shotgun but nonetheless held the same sense of violence and terror in it.
.
.
.
The sounds disappeared as quickly as they had come. Unlike the repetitive and rhythmic requiem created by the shooter within the classroom, this was but a fleeting breeze. It was gone before you knew it, the only proof of it having ever passed by were the countless holes that now riddled the door.
"You guys stay here; I will come back in a jiffy."
Seb casually went down the steps to the door and walked out of the building through it.
After Seb's eyes adjusted to the change in brightness, an extremely familiar scene lay out in front of him.
Two rows of gunmen lay in position ready to gun down any who dared to leave the premises.
The only new addition was the dead body of Mr Li that lay sprawled out onto the ground face up.
His clothes were soaked in blood and were full of holes like a sieve.
An expression of disbelief was frozen on the face of the dead teacher.
Seb's face was expressionless as he slowly approached the fresh corpse.
"STOP! OR WE WILL FIRE AT YOU AS WELL!"
Seb shifted his gaze from the corpse to face the leader of the firing squad.
"Tsk… I am just coming here to take away the corpse, I can do that at least right?"
Seb's actions seemed to unnerve the members of the squad in front of him, who began to fidget uncomfortably.
Seb came to a stop about a foot away from the head of the corpse.
The legs of the corpse were pointed in the direction of the corpse.
This means that Mr Li probably fell backwards when he kept on trying to approach the squad despite their warnings.
The current position of the corpse's feet is probably the line that he must not cross if he didn't want to get shot.
Assured of his speculations, Seb stepped further closer to the corpse and knelt down before it.
Then he grabbed it by the arms and started to pull it with him back towards the building.
His actions weren't interrupted once, nor did the leader make any other attempts of communication.
After dragging the body right next to the building, Seb took off the bloody coat that had been shot full of holes. Then he threw away the body out of sight behind a nearby bush.
Seb turned to look at the firing squad one last time.
"Thanks for the cooperation."
Folding the coat neatly and carrying it in his hands Seb turned away and walked back into the building through the door.
He had the same expressionless face throughout the process, whether it was dealing with the corpse or speaking with the firing squad.
It was as if he was looking at the scenery.
"Wh-What's that?"
This time it was Josh who questioned Seb.
"This is Mr Li's coat."
"Why is it like that… what just happened?"
"It is extremely regrettable but Mr Li was just shot to death by an armed militia positioned right outside the school"
As soon as those words came out of his mouth both Josh and Anna's faces turned pale in fright.
"But don't the two of you worry… As long as you both do what I say, I will be able to make sure that the three of us will live through today."
His words came to them like the final strand of hope to a drowning person.
They clutched onto it tightly.
The fact that they were all good friends made them trust Sebastian despite… what had just happened. Either way, they didn't have any other options.
Seb passed the Coat to Anna who grabbed it gingerly.
"It's 1:43 right now. In about 3 minutes you will see Josh rushing up the stairs. I want you to throw this coat into class 12-B right then and then make a run for it towards our classroom. Do you understand?"
Anna just gulped silently before weakly muttering out a monosyllable answer.
"Yes…"
"Good. I will come up shortly, you go on ahead of us."
Anna nodded her head and quickly scurried up the stairs towards her destination.
After she had left Seb turned to face Josh.
"Hey, Josh…"
"Yeah, Seb?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes…Mostly…"
"I want you to do something for me."
"What?"
"Right outside there is a firing squad lined up."
"The one that shot Mr Li?"
"Yes, I want you to provoke them."
"Sorry?"
"Your skills at provoking people are unparalleled. I believe in you!"
"I will die!"
"Nah, they might seem scary and shit but in front of real monsters they are nothing but overgrown children that managed to get their hands on some guns."
"But…"
"They will get especially triggered if you use the word 'void'. You need to make them mad enough to follow you into the building."
Josh stared into Seb's eyes for a while before sighing and asking.
"Where do I lead them?"
"Lead them to our floor and once you see Anna, head towards our classroom with her."
Josh sighed and banged his head hard into the wall before turning around to look at Seb.
"Will this really let us survive?"
"For you guys… it's the only way."
Josh groaned loudly before speaking up again.
"Listen up Seb! … If I die…"
"Don't worry I won't forget you."
Seb smiled kindly this time, it was probably the first time his face had made such a gentle expression during this attempt.
However, it was all but wasted on Josh.
"THAT WAS NOT WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY!… IF I DIE, I AM GOING TO COME BACK AS A GHOST TO HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE YOU PRICK!"
"Huh, who is being the tsundere now?"
"FUCK YOU SEB!! I HOPE YOU LOSE ALL YOUR TEETH EXCEPT ONE!"
"…"
"SO THAT YOU CAN STILL HAVE A TOOTHACHE!"
"Good luck out there Josh. Try to time it so that you reach our classroom around 1:45"
Josh just snorted and walked out the door after putting on a brave face.
Shaking his head at Josh's antics Seb waited for a moment before deciding to go up as well.
All he could do was pray that Josh and Anna would do their parts perfectly.
In the meantime, he would have to deal with the final boss of this phase of the tutorial on his own.
.
.
.
The moment Josh stepped out the door he couldn't help but get cold feet.
Sen did tell him about there being a firing squad.
What he didn't tell him was the fact that they were armed to the teeth, looked visibly pissed off and would shoot warning shots from the get-go.
Josh yelped in surprise as he jumped up in place before realising that he hadn't been shot.
"GO BACK! OR WE WILL SHOOT!"
Looks like they had already run out of patience... how is one supposed to make a firing squad chase you without dying at the very start.
"I HAVE COME TO BARGAIN!!!" Josh yelled out at the top of his voice.
He had no idea how to go through this... but he hoped that he would figure something out.
First, he needed to buy some time.
"WE WILL START FIRING! IF YOU COME ANY CLOSER!"
"IT'S ALRIGHT! I WILL STAY RIGHT HERE! I JUST WANT TO TALK! AREN'T YOU GUYS GETTING BORED?"
The Leader couldn't help but lower his megaphone in dismay.
What was wrong with their luck today?
Why did they keep on running into psychopaths one after the other?
This was already the third in the row.
Couldn't they have bothered the teams at the other exits?
The man just sighed to himself and pinched his forehead which was wrinkling up from all the stress.
"Just ignore him... If he gets closer though... Shoot."
Seeing that he was getting ignored Josh couldn't help but sigh in relief.
It seems that he would at least not be shot at sight.
No, this was terrible! How was he supposed to provoke them if they started to ignore him?
"HEYY~ ISN'T IT HOT OUT THERE? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STANDING THERE ANYWAYS."
"..."
"HERE'S AN IDEA! DO YOU GUYS WANT JUICE? WATER? TEA? ANYTHING?"
"..."
"DON'T BE SHY~ YOU ARE GUESTS TO OUR SCHOOL AFTER ALL!"
"..." By this point, the leader was sure that not a single person in this school was sane.
Any guilt or hesitation that he might have carried until this point was thoroughly crushed.
"HEY, DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHO MY DAD IS?"
At this point, Josh was clearly running out of ideas...
"IF YOU LISTEN TO MY DEAL I CAN PAY YOU GUYS A GREAT SUM... "
This was a lie, even though Josh wasn't dirt poor. His family wasn't raking in millions either.
Either way, the mention of money at least managed to raise a few eyebrows among the squad.
Even though they continued to ignore him, it was certain that some of them were listening.
"OF COURSE, NOBLE SOULS LIKE YOU WON'T GET BRIBED BY MONEY..."
"..."
"LET ME INSTEAD TELL YOU ABOUT THE GREAT CAUSE WE ARE WORKING FOR!"
It was now time to use the hidden card that Seb had given him.
"IT'S ALL FOR THE VOID!!!!"
It didn't matter if the void was a place, person, organization, entity or phenomenon.
This all-encompassing statement would be enough to convince the enemy that whatever it was, Josh had his hands knee-deep in it.
It wasn't enough to just provoke them. What Josh needed was to make them want to capture him alive.
That was the only way he could make the chase work.
In the end, Josh could also be pretty smart when it mattered.
Looking at the agitated expressions of the gunmen the moment the word 'void' left his mouth, he was sure that he was on the right path.
It was just time to give them the last push.
"With the intel in my hands and 'that' artifact. As long as you join hands with us. We will be INVINCIBLE!"
And boy did it work like a charm...
"I WANT THAT KID CAPTURED ALIVE! DETAIN HIM NOW!"
Instantly five of the men ran towards him at breakneck speed.
Josh quickly jumped back and shut the door before yelling.
"HOW FOOLISH! SEND AS MANY AS YOU WANT! THEY WON'T COME BACK ALIVE!"
Then he ran up the stairs as fast as his legs could take them.