The plan that Veritas, Alice, and Bello thought up was supposed to be simple!
Veritas proposed their reunion at a cafe or somewhere remote, with a disguise that made it seem like Bello was meeting two friends from out of town. They would then share information that they've gathered and act accordingly.
Upon noticing the disappearance case, Veritas and the other two deemed it to be of the highest importance. Thus, one would try to unravel the mystery behind it.
So, posing as a customer that would stay at a hotel, Veritas and Alice would receive Bello's key upon leaving it at the table.
That key led to his room at the dormitory where Veritas would stay until midnight.
After that, he thought that it'd be smooth sailing from there!
It should've been a normal stakeout where Veritas would gather information about the missing individual and see if he can notice any peculiarities that could happen.
But it was the opposite of that!
Well, I guess it could be said to have been fruitful because there were actually results, but a result of this scale was not ideal!
"Hah!"
Veritas jolted awake, cold sweat forming on his back and forehead as he looked around and scanned the room.
"What happened?!"
The orange-cat stared at him directly and was shocked by Veritas sudden awakening.
"Bello! Did you notice anything weird outside?!"
The cat paced back, clearly pressured by Veritas.
"N-no, I didn't see anything yet. Tell me what happened first, why did you suddenly burst out of bed?"
Ignoring the question, Veritas looked up and stared at the analog clock.
'11:50 PM!'
"Hold on. I'll be back!"
"H-hey!"
Veritas wasted no time to leave the room and disguise himself. He donned a black-cloaked and faceless masked persona as he ran through the empty and dark halls.
It only took him a couple of seconds to reach the end of the hall and descend down the stairs. He made it through the lounge and made his way to the courtyard.
There, he saw a petite looking young girl with short black hair, wearing bright colored pajamas, laying down on the grass.
"Are you alright?!"
The girl jumped in shock as she was surprised by the sudden statement behind her.
"W-who? Ah!"
Gasping loudly and covering her mouth, her eyes widened at the sudden sight of Veritas.
"Please move away! Who are you?!"
It was a natural reaction as Veritas looked menacing and daunting with his outfit.
He then focused to hear if there were any footsteps approaching them. And then.. he dismissed the conjured Visionshaper mask and brought down his hood, revealing a boy with black hair and crimson-red eyes.
"It's fine. I'm here to help"
Veritas gently moved closer to her.
"Listen here, a few minutes from now, somethings going to come and abduct you. But be assured, I'm here to help so please stay calm for me okay?"
He leaned down and made his tone even softer.
"I'm not your enemy.."
She was fear-stricken, of course, but Veritas' calming words made her body tremble no longer.
If Veritas' dream really did show the near future, then something is going to creep up behind them and take them somewhere in the woods behind the dormitory.
Veritas gazed at the forest where he felt a terrifying aura coming from within.
'Was there always a forest there?'
He shrugged his head.
'It doesn't matter, I'll just fight the thing."
Veritas used the Winds to extend his senses.
In the past month, Veritas tried to utilize this ability to act as a sixth sense passively. He made quite the significant progress and sometimes.. he subconsciously succeeds in the extension of his senses.
However, in times of peril such as these, Veritas had to focus on calming his nerves and body. Thus, he had no choice but to manually grasp the feeling of the spreading Winds.
It was as if one were to take notice of their breathing. Human's can breathe automatically but once they become aware that they're breathing.. they would have to breathe - albeit, not manually but actively.
Right now, Veritas didn't have that high range of senses. He could only do about 20-30 meters at most, that wasn't enough to reach the back of the dormitories but it could still go through halfway.
Once the Winds shift, he would bombard that direction with Wind Cuts, taking the collateral damage into consideration.
He wouldn't want to damage the property of the Academy, although it can easily be rebuilt, students also resided and its gradual collapse could cost many more lives.
Veritas then conjured his mask back. He reached towards his pockets to grab his magical device, leaning it beside his ears.
"Bello? What do you see?"
Two birds flew up in the sky, circling the area of the dormitories.
"I see nothing.. What are you on right now? Please update me on the situation or otherwise.. I'm gonna lose my shit."
"Something's coming in a few minutes, I saw it in a dream. I have no time to be distracted right now, just report what you see!"
The device went silent for a second, and then Bello spoke once more:
"Alright. Right now, I see nothing weird."
Veritas stood vigilant, focusing more on sensing the Winds rather than his sight.
"What's the time right now?"
"It's... 11:59!"
"Huh? It couldn't have taken that long... I've only been here for a couple of minutes.."
Immediately, Veritas felt a shift in the Winds from behind them. It didn't come from the dormitories but rather, it came from the main road leading to the castle.
Veritas quickly turned around.
There was a figure walking on the pavement, carrying a flashlight to better visualize his surroundings. He wore a standard black uniform that looked like armor, black greaves and black boots.
'A patrolling knight?'
The knight took notice of the peculiar figure that is Veritas. He was suddenly alarmed by his figure, bringing out a magical device to call for backup.
And then.. the knight headed towards Veritas, running at full speed.
"You there! Stay where you are!"
He brought out a steel sword from its scabbard.
Veritas merely gazed at him coldly, thinking that his sudden arrival complicated things.
"Why does he look.. weird?"
Upon focusing, Veritas saw that the knight didn't have a face, only wearing their attire and acting like it.
Something trembled deep within him, clearly ringing the alarms loudly.
Veritas' crimson red eye glowed and... he uttered a single word.
"Cut."
A sudden high-pitch sound echoed, followed by the sound of cutting flesh.
Or was it flesh? It looked nothing like it.
Veritas saw the decapitated head of the patrolling knight, the flesh and blood that he was supposed to have cut looked eerily dark and black. As if the material was made out of the darkest abyss that flowed through the stretches of a river of blood.
It was gory, and gross.
Upon cutting its head off, various runes suddenly appeared in front of him.
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
'What the hell is happening?!'
When the illusory runes seemed to disappear another one popped up in front of him.
[The Hivemind of the Faceless have took notice of your presence.]
'Hivemind?! Faceless?!'
Suddenly, the Winds shifted in every direction, various individuals ran through the grasses and the pavement and made their way towards Veritas.
Seeing this, Veritas determined that there were hundreds, maybe thousands of them!
"Shit! Bello!"
"What?!"
"I need help!"
Veritas urgently screamed at the magic device.
"What?!"
"How long would it take for you to come here?"
"What?!"
"Stop saying 'what'!
"What?!"
"..."
"What?!"
Veritas' crimson eye widened as the magical device repeated Bello's words. Suddenly, he came to a shocking revelation.
"I'm.. still in a dream."
He gazed at Lei, who was lying down and acted as if Veritas was not there. She stared at the bright moon and enjoyed her leisure time of peace.
Veritas then gazed upon his Soul and activated Windsong.
"Wind Blade."
Suddenly, a blade of perfect size and shape was conjured in his right hand. Veritas held it tight and stared at the hordes of the faceless knights.
They ran quickly and a couple of seconds was all it took for them to overwhelm him.
"Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut!"
Several high-pitched noises resounded in the air and decapitated the knight's heads.
Veritas danced along with the Wind, parrying and deflecting any blow dealt by the horde of Faceless.
He donned the illusory black cloak but it acted as a layer of armor that protected his skin.
Veritas cut one, and then ten, and then 30, and it continued to rise up even more!
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul...]
Veritas dismissed the runes and focused on the battle before him.
"Hah!"
He did not stop chanting Wind Cut too, he consistently sent out slashes of air towards those that tried to get near the innocent girl on the fields.
"Just how many of you are there?!"
Most of the Faceless came from the forest and they never seemed to dwindle in numbers!
Each individual Faceless was probably equal to a normal Knight's strength. Considering their speed and strength, some of them are probably faster - if not, better than most of the knights.
It was one against thousands of them.
Galebreathe allowed Veritas to consistently cast Wind Cut and improve his movements.
"Cut!"
He cut two Faceless' heads with a single chant and then parried an approaching one, spinning around to cut its body in half.
He did not use Will of the Winds that much but he conjured a Veil around him and that girl.
Then, Veritas casted another Wind Cut and slashed several more Facelesses.
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
[You have felled an Impure Soul]
Back in the Golden Tower, he almost struggled to fight against an Impure being, but now.. with his training and familiarization of his Path, Veritas could effortlessly defeat one of his own.
Yet, Veritas was facing thousands of Faceless entities.
His Soul was bound to be depleted soon!
After 30 minutes of consistent fighting, Veritas finally suffered the first sign of his depleting Soul.
He chanted Wind Cut to protect himself from being approached by one of the Faceless but surprisingly, his throat seemed out of breath.
That led to him finally taking a strike to the knee, which made Veritas falter for a second.
One mistake led to a landslide of repercussions.
He merely faltered for a second but the punishment brought upon by that very second led to him being drowned in the multitudes of Faceless.
'S-shit!'
Thanks to Wind Veil repelling back their bodies, Veritas could move quite freely but it still suffocated him to the point where he couldn't strike his sword that well.
They formed a mountain around him, bombarding him with their bodies. Thousands upon thousands lay on top of Veritas, the situation was deemed to be useless.
"Wake up! I need to wake up!"
Veritas struggled to breathe as his skill "Galebreathe" deactivated.
"Damn! How the hell do I wake up! Gah-"
His Wind Veil shattered, and a fist connected to his chest.
In the end.. it was useless, Veritas could not contend with a multitude of Impure Souls coming at him at every interval.
But he had one option left..
"...kneel."
He activated the Eye of the Kraken's skill: Authority of the Leviathan!
Suddenly, the pressure intensified and Veritas felt the bodies of the Faceless to be weakened. Holding the Wind Blade in his hand, Veritas cut through the mound of bodies.
They were stunned, but not indefinitely.
Veritas had to run out of there and rush to Bello's room.
'Think! Think! How did I wake up before?!'
He ran at full-speed, climbing up the stairs and reaching the long hall.
Then, a minute passed, Veritas felt the effects of his Authority of the Leviathan to vanish. He immediately felt the reverberations coming from below, countless footsteps running through the building were making their way up to him.
'Faster!'
Veritas could go faster if he had any reserves of his Soul left, but.. the prolonged battle that he experienced depleted most of his Soul!
The hall seemed longer than before! Veritas found himself running for eternity, never reaching his destination.
Surprisingly though, the Faceless had not caught up to him. Maybe, it was only his perspective that extended the halls or the passage of time, but he was not too sure..
Minutes passed by and Veritas finally made it to Bello's room. He twisted the handle and entered quickly.
"Bello! Wake up damn it!"
He saw the sleeping cat once more, unresponsive and silent.
"Shit!"
He thought for a millisecond, carefully tracing back the occurrences from before.
'The damn clock!'
Veritas immediately gazed at the clock showing the time of 11:59 PM.
And then.. the long hand moved.
It hit the digit of 12, uniting the long and short hands together.
'This is how I woke up before!'
Veritas anticipated and waited, he felt hazy and dizzy.
'It's working!'
Veritas survived a minute of nauseous experience, he could no longer stand properly and had to sit down on the bed. But that too felt useless, so Veritas laid down on the comforts of the bed.
He leaned to the side and stared at the clock.
It struck 12:00 AM.
However..
The long hand moved once more, moving a digit away from 12.
It was 12:01 AM.
No longer feeling dizzy, Veritas eyes widened as he spoke in the somber silence of Bello's room.
"Why hadn't I woken up yet?"