Chereads / The Mask of Disaster: God Eater / Chapter 3 - Who's the Monster?

Chapter 3 - Who's the Monster?

 'I am going to be late.' That was all he worried about as the monster charged towards him and revealed her face. He stood calmly as she stretched out her arms and let out an ear splitting roar, a bright glow in her eyes. Rhys bent down, and sucked in a deep breath. He could feel a smirk tugging at his lip corner.

 He dashed forward, and leapt into the monster's attack range. Before she could defend herself, his dagger swiped across her neck — drawing a trail of blood — as he leapt past her. He skidded on the ground, coming to a halt behind the monster. Rhys turned around calmly, watching as it grasped its neck, trying to stop its blood from spurting out. It shook on its knees, and he was nonchalant.

 'Once it has collapsed from the blood loss the authorities would be alerted to take away its body. At best after investigation, I would be needed to make an appearance.' He looked at the time again, a condescension in his crimson eyes as they burned in a red light, 'It's barely been five minutes. Great.'

 Assemblies start at 7:00 AM, and he was only allowed an hour break after that time. He expected to encounter some monster's like these on his way to work every morning — as the roamed in their dozens even inside the city — and he had fought a lot. He waited calmly as he wiped his blade. Rhys owned a legal license as the city allowed members of hunter association leniency of having weapons. 

 He turned from the dying monster to the bus. That could not be said for the general populace in this environment who just witnessed him slaughter a humanoid. It could be human for all they knew and they could not see his license or had any proof for its humanity. Someone placed an emergency call and Rhys ignored it as he walked forward and stepped into the vehicle with the others.

 The bus jerked forward, speeding down the roar as other civilians began to gather. Rhys looked out through the shattered window, and that in fact was his greatest crime today. He could have taken the front door and made one hell of a cooler entrance than jumping out of the window like a primal human. His aura needed a lot of work too! It was quite rough around the edges and needed growth.

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He sighed as he sat in the assemblies with other teachers. He had received an earful walking into the building after the fiasco he joined on his way here. This was not his first time and definitely would not be his last. He listened as the headmaster addressed the students — a massive amount — they all filled these halls, reaching the hundreds present at this point in time. Too numerous for a headcount.

 Rhys stared into his palm. He could hear the headmaster's voice, but it sounded distant, growing even more so the longer Rhys remained unfocused. He could hear the headmaster discussing with a few teachers brought up into the spotlight on the issues that plague the modern academic system as the world adapted to the hell that plagued its existence. The chasm of abyssal deformities it resisted.

 "As we begin activities today, remember that the extremes of this chaos does not define you." The headmaster's voice finally reached Rhys — it was loud and profound — and he clenched his fist into a ball, tightening for a few seconds before releasing it as the headmaster continued, "Remember that even as we struggle through these moments of crises, our realities does not define us…"

 Rhys sighed and lifted his head, watching as the headmaster spread out his arms, parting his lips and addressing the students calmly, "Its another day for us — the teachers — to prove this as you — the students — learn from us." He lowered his hands to an outburst of applause. Trained perhaps, but the cue was perfect nevertheless. As he stepped down from the podium, he was all smiles.

 "If only they could figure out how much the teachers themselves are plagued by this issues. They would at least be understanding of the plights we revel in before their eyes." The man sitting next to Rhys, lifted his hand and shifted his glasses calmly. His short black hair was roughened up, and there was a hint of ruggedness to his dressing. His sleeves were rolled, his tie loose around his bare collar.

 Rhys stared at this man out of the corner of his eyes, calm. The name of this man was Joel, and it was always a 'pleasure' interacting with him. Out of the many teachers in this school, he was one of a kind — a unique kind of monster that had accepted the darkness of his soul years ago, accepting his Anima. He was open in thought, and everyone who listened to him found those thoughts estranging.

 'Quite was nothing short of an understatement.' Rhys eyed the man. He had no interesting in the thoughts of Joel, and ignored him. Joel was unique in thought but he never imposed them upon them unless requested. The them being the teachers and students of this academy. Sadly in such a massive school, he was one of a kind — a group of unique minds amongst what one would consider regulars.

 Joel scoffed, then leaned forward in his chair and bowed his head. Their row behind the students was not as large, but there was a good amount of heads willing to impart knowledge on all of the not so kindred souls. Rhys stared at him for a while then returned his focus to the assembly. There was a finality to the announcements, and everyone rose calmly. In good order, having been trained for weeks.

 Weeks of weeks, weeks of months, weeks of years — Rhys watched them as they all rose and made way for their various classes. He stared into his watch, reading the time with an emotionless burned into his facial expression. The teachers sat in waiting, until all of the students had left the halls for all of their varying classes. Rhys waited as well, staring off into his watch as the long arm spun slowly.

 As the short arm hit 8:00, and the long arm hit 6:00 — he rose with the other teachers. All were silent as they made way for their various classes, Rhys walking with them. The academy was massive with numerous classes and supplementary structure. On his first day here it was hell navigating all of the various halls — corridors — and classes finding the toilet. It would not be hard getting lost here.

 He branched from the teachers and entered the hallway that led to his class. His footsteps rained on the floor, his hands pocketed and head bowed slightly as he walked. 'Everyone had their flaws.' A thought would cross his mind, but was that the truth or a lie? The flaw of not having a flaw — wasn't that what these so called new gods preached as they wrecked havoc throughout worlds?

 Why was he thinking this? Rhys entered his classroom through the open door, walking towards a desk and chair at the far top end of the class — his chair and desk — as the students rose. He turned to the class as they all greeted him, eyeing them calmly. None were absent, a rarity in his opinion. Out of the many here, quite a few could be quite the headache for him. His gaze caught theirs, cold as ice.

 "Good morning students…" He turned around to the board as they all sat down on their seats. He could feel their gazes burning into the back of his skull as he scribbled away on the whiteboard what he aimed for this class. When he was done, he turned around to face the class, "It's the question that ended our last class. I had asked the class, what true defines our strengths against the chaos chasm."

 Everyone — well most of them — focused on him as he opened his mouth to speak calmly. There were bright lights in their eyes as they listened to him, watching as he held his chin calmly. Rhys took his time to ensure a majority was interested in what he had to say, then he began, "I believe that you all have submitted your answers on my desk before I arrived here. I thought to discuss the answers to that question before marking them. Wrong or right, it is imperative I ensure that you understand."

 Rhys lowered his hand, "Humanity was in utter chaos when the chasm appeared. Monsters that we had never seen before appeared and our mortal weapons were useless against them. They were better in various ways — faster, stronger, smarter — and our defence shattered against them. Gods and demons clashed all over the worlds, and the mortals could only grovel in weakness. Until a day arrived amidst all the chaos, where a human accepted the reality of their soul — and wore a mask."

 "The masks brought great power, and we overwhelmed these demons with this strength." Rhys turned to the window, he could see a plane crashing down from the sky a distance away. He wanted to do something, but the bad feeling he had persisted and it irked him internally, "In return for that absolute power, the masked one revealed their darkest to the world. Unable to hide their true self."

 A small figure flew through the skies, catching the plane before it could crash to the earth. Rhys wanted to feel glad — as much as the students who noticed this feat — but there was something he knew was wrong. Nevertheless, he continued his teaching, "Please be focused. Now that I have your attention…" he cleared his throat, "Accepting one's darkness is not our only strengths against it. The second way is more complicated, believing in someone else instead of yourself. A feeling called faith."

 Rhys chuckled, "Believing in a God. Faith grants miracles far beyond mortal understanding and it seems more so when channelled to a being of absolution rather than the darkness of oneself. This is a power that requires loyalty to that faith — enslaving oneself to power as some believe — and there is many who walk down this path. There are also those who oppose it, but rebellion only blooms in a reality where oppression dwells. Both sides show great strength but only one accepts the weakness."

 He turned to the window again, and found the smirk tugging at his lips. He was no longer staring at the sides of a plane, but its nose. He could see the figure beneath the plane clearly now — it was a humanoid, and it wore a mask on his face. A mask Rhys was unfamiliar with and that created a great sense of foreboding and that ended when the plane was hurled in his direction, and Rhys broke into a broad grin. Yes, when oppression and resistance clashed — there could be only chaos and disaster.