Pebbles fell, "pop, pop",
the noise Placido hears in his daze. He stood up slowly, with his hand against the wall on the edge of the hallway. He shook his head off of dusts as he coughed. Immediately, his eyes sharpened as he darted across the hall out of the school.
Fire fell from the sky and blasts occurred with smoke rising sky-high above the higher buildings. Multi-colored slashes flashed from afar and people came right out and in from houses. Placido came out of the hallway, and the spacious way to the school's gate was nearly clear.
Faint sound of a tumult drew near as he ran towards the gate but the guard house beside it was flattened, engulfed in flames. Placido leaped as circular fumes appeared beneath his steps in the air and he passed through the gate midair.
He ran forward and faced left as he turned to the other. The noise of peoples screams became clear; a large number of cars swarming in the highway with most of them burning. People ran straight on the opposite side as if they were being chased but there was only one thing in Placido's mind, "Deborah". He ran towards the other, where the people ran away from.
"Their class should have been over before all this happened, I can't assume she's still there… but where would she had gone to?"
Placido went ahead the road, bounding from the cars' roofs for only a few could do the same.
A humungous bended cane smashed through a building's roof beside the road. The building was flattened to large pieces of debris, releasing dusts along the road. A head with a large antenna rose above, a humungous head of a green mantis. Placido was unfazed and ran straight ahead the road as the insect turned to the other.
Cars lessened as Placido drew near the huge red building of Enberga on his left. The tumult completely deadened but blasts and clashes of metals surround still. Mumblings and foot-steps joined the noise and there, a large transparent sphere covering the whole school. The magical sphere was in half, as it goes under the ground, encircling the whole campus and its walls. On the main building's rooftop, there was a man rambling about.
Placido peered at the man, "OY!", confused as he lowered his brows and was ignored. He slowly walked towards magical sphere, careful as to what the barrier would do. Placido threw a pebble in and it bounced off the barrier.
"Really?", he glared at the wanderer on the rooftop.
Placido snuck in his hand in the magical sphere and was not hurt in any way. He rushed in and jumped over the gate, leaving fumes on the ground. The man on the rooftop took a glance but he continued to ramble about.
Placido gaped above, "the hell is going on? The building has no damage at all". He passed by the main building and went to the one her sister was supposed to be in. The round vibrated faintly but no dusts and debris fell as the path was made clear for Placido to rush to. He rushed to the second floor.
As he found her classroom he opened the door, heavily smashing it the side. Students jumped of confusion, sweeping, and wiping the floor, while the others were picking up trash, "cleaners? Oh right…"
The air vibrated as the barrier got hit by fire and debris. He went through every room on the second floor. Student's cleaning, some were shivering as they watched the disaster out from their windows.
Placido went back to the first room, the room Deborah goes to.
"Hoy!", Placido shouted beside the opened door.
"ah"
"What the hell is that barrier?"
"We don't know", a student answered.
"Now what do you mean?"
Another student replied, "The explosion came and it just suddenly appeared."
"probably some magician…"
Placido looked down, frowned, "Any of you guys know Deborah?"
Everyone answered, "yeah"
"you guys know where she is?"
A girl answered, "She said she'd go to the mall"
Placido rushed inside the room, opened the window and snuck right out, hovering as he immediately landed out of the school's gate. This caught the man on the rooftop's glance yet again but this time he was seating with his feet fallen off the roof's edge.
Placido ran to where he was before. People ran about as a person, whose truly a monster chases them. He turned left towards the store which he knew as a quicker way to the mall. The store does have a door but he skipped it right away and jumped through the shattered window risking getting more wounds but this he avoided as he had planned.
He ran through the cashier, jumped over and continued, noise of people's screams came closer as he ran towards the backdoor. He grabs the handle, pushing it and out of his luck, it opened. He came out and all the ruckus became clear, the mall was right in front of him but it was broken down, half flattened to large pieces while people ran all around.
"No no NO!… Damn it"
He continued to ran straight to the mall pushing away some others to make way. A humanoid monster as tall as 10 cars stacked on each other with long arms just as tall as its body, where it is as if it were made of only skin and bones came out of a roof of the right building beside the mall. He glanced but looked straight ahead on his path, undaunted of such a creature.
Placido focused only at the small entrance to the mall covered in rocks.
Quakes as the monster steps with its enormous hands and feet and makes its way down to the ground. Placido completely unfazed and ran straight to the entrance.
A woman shrieked out of her fear, running as the monster crawled towards her, slamming the ground as it moves. She continued to scream but the monster grabbed her and her voice vanished as the monster bits her whole head off.
Placido took a glance at the monster yet again, but there it was, staring at him, silent. Its enormous hands slowly touched the floor as it crawled towards him. Placido took a deep breath before he rushed in using his wind magic as a gale pushes his clothes forward, but the ground shook as the monster rushes.
Placido lost it, "I'm not gonna make it". A car flew at the small entrance of the mall, blocking it. He looked behind and there it was, the grins as it shows its blooded, mossed teeth.
Placido closed his fists tightened, "tsk!", he frowned,
"you bastard! Okay then! Bring it on!"
The monster squeezed, cracked the ground with its hands and feet while Placido glared at it, facing it, slowly leaning, reaching his hand to a metal rod. The monster started running, slamming cars towards him, as if it were an ape leaping as it goes. Placido ran straight to the monster slightly to his left, his right arm behind his back holding his intended weapon.
The monster slams the ground with its left hand directed at Placido, he quickly dashed to the other side avoiding to get hit as he had planned, but it then swung with its big right hand towards him, Placido flew to the opposite and avoided the monster as it slammed its hand to a sharp metal of the guard house cutting its own big hand, as he flew, he struck the monster's right eye with the metal rod midair. The monster roared and grabbed its own head.
Placido jumped out of its head and landed on the ground still holding the metal rod. The monster grabbed the whole guard house and slammed it at Placido in which he avoids it, and another smash from the monster's hand came then Placido flew upwards dodging it, stops midair and dashed right towards its face, a small blast in the air came from behind him, striking the monster's left eye with the metal rod.
He stood up on top of its head pulling the metal rod out of its left eye but was unable to. The monster grabbed him and threw him out slamming him onto the ground, bounced as he hit cars, landing on the car that's blocking the mall's entrance. Placido's whole body gone numb, no longer feeling anything. His vision completely blurred out as the monster rampaged and removed the metal rod from its eyes and shouts, "Damn you!", a voice so deep and thunderous.
"What?", His eyebrows lowered with his smirk, seeing almost nothing. The monster's rampage stopped as its eyes regenerated staring at him. Placido raised his hand touching the car, figuring out as to where he is for he couldn't see clearly. He pulled himself in the car and hid as the monster slammed the car with its closed fist flipping it where its top side was inside through the mall's entrance.
The car is completely merged to the large rocks, sharp pieces of the windows falling and after some time, Placido fell from the car's broken window, and is already inside the mall. Placido breaths heavily, only then he looked onto his wounds which have gotten much, much worse.
…On the other side…
There was a tall building, still standing as fire surges through its rooms with little footsteps in the stairs. Deborah with another boy was running up to the floors. Their polo shirts darkened with dusts and their face stroked in charcoal.
"What are kids like us doing!?", the boy said
"You didn't have to follow me", Both of them running, panting as sweat were falling through their raised brows.
They stopped in the fourth floor, a floor unlike the others for there were no fire surges, only few pillars barely standing.
"here?"
"I don't know", She rushed out of the stairs and ran inside the fourth floor.
"wait!"
Behind a pillar of the building, a man kneeling down on another person. Crunches and splashes of liquid as the man shakes his head.
"sir?", she said, even slowly walking towards him.
The man looked behind but its teeth drips blood while gritting a junk of flesh. His eyes red with bloated veins throughout the sides of his head. Both of them trembled, chills on their skin and Deborah slipped behind her toes. The boy's eyes quivered with his whole body as the man starts to face them.
The boy looked towards her, "Hoy", the man or so the monster slowly crawled before he stood up. The boy grabbed Deborah's arm and pulled her away sprinting as his feet slid the floor. She stood up shaking and he pushed her to his front. The man with its long gait walked towards them, both of them out of breath running towards the stairs.
"Calm down! Calm Down", the boy reminding himself as he shivered running. Loud steps hit the ground as the man grabbed the boy's uniform and tugged him away from her. "Lloyd!", she screamed, reaching out of his arms as Lloyd wavers, screeches in pain and his feet aloft the floor as the man lifted him up. Her hands reached out but the man and Lloyd was gone from her eyes.
Deborah breathing heavily bits her lip with her eyes closed, tightened. She clenched her fists and ran towards the side looking unto their direction. Pillars blocking the way as howls of pain and anger echoed.
She grabbed a metal pole and on the other side, Lloyd fell on the ground as the man's teeth cracked his radiating green left arm. The man's sharp claws rushed directed at Lloyd but Lloyd's right arm unsheathes its radiating green as he throws away its claws.
Deborah smashes the man with the pole and blew the man away from him. Lloyd with his radiating green arm formed a shard on his hand, jumped behind the man and stabbed the man on its neck, shouting as he punches its head consecutively. The man's body enlarged, its monstrous hands snatched Lloyd from his back and slammed him through a pillar.
Deborah with her pole swung it towards the monster but it caught the pole. The monster with its claws whipped towards her but she hovered back, and another swing came but she flew over the monster. The monster looked away from her and ignored her as it ominously stared at Lloyd, whose fallen behind the smashed pillar.
The monster ran towards Lloyd with its claws forward and Lloyd slowly stood up, and jumped but he was too low. A gale hit his feet, redirected him the other way as the monster slipped out of the building for it missed Lloyd.
Both of them panted lying down, and took deep breathes. Lloyd stood up and walked towards Deborah with blood gushing out of his pierced arms, dripping to his fingers.
"lets go, it's the last floor", breathing heavily as Lloyd said.
"I'm sorry"
"And don't call me Lloyd"
They ran up the stairs, smoke reeked as they came close and both of them coughing as they neared the fifth floor. Fire surged, pillars broke down and the roofs fallen over. A woman lying down whose lower half trapped beneath a pillar.
"Ma!", Deborah rushed towards her mother.
"Deborah, what are you…"
"We'll get you out of here", Deborah coughing still.
"No! look… I'm…"
"Ma! We're getting you out of here!"
"Look… my bodies flattened, and there's no medic you can take me to"
"Lloyd!", she grabbed the pillar to lift it up and Lloyd joined in to do so. The two quivering as they struggled to lift the pillar. Her mother patted her in the head, and touched her cheeks,
"Your father and I… We love you both… you and your broth…"
She coughs and blood leaked out her lips as tears dripped out of the two. Deborah was still shaking as she tries to lift up the pillar.
"Mama…", her eyes pulled up together, as she panted.
"You take care of your brother ok…"
"No… No! Please"
"It's going to be fine… just breathe… And "
"I can't!"
Her mother closed her own eyes tightened as her hand clenched Deborah's shirt.
"Just go and live… I don't know… for me? Chollo, get her out of here!"
Lloyd (Chollo) tearing up, pulls Deborah out of the way but she waves her arms in the attempt to free from him. The ground shook, the roof cracked open as dusts fell and the flames spread out to the walls.
"I'm sorry baby… I love you!"
"Ma! Ple…NO!", Her mother looked unto her daughter as she started to close her eyes.
Deborah added swiftly and shouted, "I love you!"
Large rocks fell over her mother. Deborah's eyes widened and tears dropped off her cheeks. Lloyd teared up as he held her arm rushing out of the fifth floor. Their tears evaporated as it touched the floor.
The two came out and went to the stairs weeping as the roof completely covered the fifth floor. The stairs down ahead bombarded with rocks but the roof behind them continued to fall and came closer to them as it was connected to the fifth floor. Both jumped out of the open side of the stairs, and they fell out of the high building.