A beam of unhinged and volatile magic bursts forwards from the mouth of the monster. In unison, the trio held up their hand and chanted magic rapidly. Donovan utilising his tongue to spout three different protection spells at the same time. The hisses and bundle of whispers were erratic and desperate.
"Refuse!" Samuel shouted.
Gary followed his example and screamed his own spell, "Repel!"
Three separate barriers appeared infront of them. One was a flat white wall. The second was a circle of runes that furthered strengthened it. Donovan's triple spell fused three into one. Forming a wide barrier with runes. And summoning stones from the ground as extra protection.
The beam crashed onto every barrier formed by the trio. Hitting them with a scorching heat that plowed through the first defense and slowly broke down the others. The monster continued to shoot out the beam for a solid ten seconds before finally running out of power.
The barriers shattered into thin air as Donovan gritted his teeth, focusing his attention onto his missing arm, "Can you heal it? You need potions?" Samuel asked.
"No...No need...Damn it, it hurts like hell..." Donovan knelt down from the pain. The stump on his left side slowly began to grow muscle and bone again as Donovan quickly muttered multiple spells under his breath. It will take a while before it can fully heal.
"What the hell does this thing want..." Gary held up his hammer, watching carefully as the monster approached them.
"This...Must be the doing of someone else. It's targeting me only." Donovan said.
"The Red hand?"
"Highly likely..." Donovan clenched his jaw again as his wrist was being reformed.
Speaking of the red hand. As all of this is happening, The one who managed the arena's settings started to pack up his items, his work here is done for now. Shoatan should have done their own. And now there's no reason to stay. They will have a few running over here to fix the settings. But he'll be long gone before that. And hopefully, the trio as well.
"Done and dusted." He turned towards the long-dead worker. His body lay in a dry pool of blood, "Sucks to be you."
As the red hand began to walk towards the entrance, he pulled the door wide open, only to be met with a harsh sucker-punch right on the face. Sending him barreling towards a metal shelf from the sheer force of the punch.
"Agh...Who the fu..." He puts his head up to see his attacker. He saw a boy standing by the door frame through his daze. A student? It looks like one with his uniform. No, to be more exact, it's an S-rank student. But his outfit is different compared to the standard one.
"I knew I'd find a Red hand scum like you here..." The boy spoke.
"Who are you, first of all...?" The red hand slowly stood up, "How'd you know I was here?"
"Luck. And a good sense." He tapped on his head. The boy slowly approached the red hand, pulling out his scimitar from his hip.
"Is that so?!" The red hand threw a nearby box towards the boy.
He easily cut through the box with his scimitar before charging the Operative. He pulled out his daggers and swung wildly at the boy. He took a step back to avoid it and swung his scimitars horizontally.
The Red Hand Operative was too slow and ended up getting slashed across the chest, "Argh! Little shit!" He slammed his foot to the ground, red magic erupted in between them and let him take a second to observe his wound.
It was a shallow cut. But it definitely could have been fatal if the boy was close enough. The problem is that it was, did he cut him like this on purpose? The red hand pulled his head up. Only to find that the boy is gone entirely. He spun around, trying to find him in this hot maze. Surely he could detect his magic presence anywhere. He trained specifically to do that.
But all he found was the small remnants of magic from certain tools and pipes. Nothing big enough to represent an average person. Did he just disappear? Just like that? No, it's impossible. He would have heard him run away or something.
Just as he turned around, he found his target. Crouching down slightly before swinging his scimitar upwards. Cutting the red hand's chest yet again.
"AGH!" The red hand stumbled backwards. But the boy kept on pressuring him and swung down with his scimtar. The red hand barely managed to block it with his dagger, but he kept on being pressured.
The boy began to swing downward multiple times, even spinning around and jumping with his strikes to further increase his strength. Each strike cracks the daggers slightly. Before finally breaking it with one quick slash.
The boy dashed to the side of the red hands before he could react, and sliced his ankles, "AH!" The red hand fell forwards to his knees. Clutching his broken dagger tightly.
The boy wiped his scimitar clean of the blood before pulling the red hand's hood off, knocking his mask off and grabbing their hair. Placing the sharp side of his scimitar by his throat, "Here is how it will work. I ask, you answer truthfully. And don't lie. I will know if you are. And maybe after, I'll let you live."
"You bloody rat..."
"First question, why are you here? What's your purpose hiding under the arena?"
The Red hand operative hesitated on answering, but he gets a harsh reality check as the boy slammed his knee to their back. Sending waves of pain coursing through their body, "Ow! Ok fine! I was tasked to rig the arena's system from the orders of my leader!"
"Why?"
"We have to kill a boy named Donovan, he's proving to be a nuisance to us!" He answered hastily.
"Now I know he's actually doing his job...Now here's the real question." The boy pressed the scimitar harder against his throat, "Why are you truly here? What's your reasoning for infiltrating this school?"
"You really want to know huh?" Then it struck the red hand, "You're with Hanlerk...aren't you?"
"So what if I am?"
"No damn wonder...You can't stop it. We're close to enlightenment. Your boss and his child soldiers won't be able to do anything. And then, you'll see soon. You'll see our perfect world eventually. The balance tides are faltering. It's time for a change."
Those final words sent shivers down his spine. He felt like he heard it before. Long ago, in a time he would not enjoy reminiscing over. He loosened his grip on the scimitar just for a second. Letting the Red hand operative slip through his grasp and grab his dagger.
The boy snapped out of his trance just in time before the red hand spun around and tried to lodge his broken dagger straight into the boy's throat. He barely managed to step back and dodge the attempted murder. His body moved on its own. The hand holding the scimitar suddenly swung upwards. Cutting the red hand's arm off. Before he could react, the scimitar was brought down against his right shoulder. And tore through his body. Exiting out from under his left ribs. Effectively splitting him diagonally.
His body fell to the ground with a sickening splat. The boy's breath was ragged and strained. His brain caught up with his body as it slowly comprehended what he just done.
"Oh...I shouldn't have..." The boy punched himself in the head. Snap out of it Sultan! Focus!
His comms buzzed with life. He reached over with his finger and activated it, "Hello?"
"Sultan! Where are you?!" Aurora's voice shouted in his ear.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Things have gone to shit! There's monsters everywhere! And Donovan, Gary, and Samuel are in deep shit! They're trapped within a barrier with what looks like an oni-level monster!"
"WHAT?!"
"Yes! They can only be freed using the arena mechanism underground! I overheard some communications with the security force."
"It appears I'm exactly where you just said." Sultan looked around, spotting the body of the arena worker, "There was an operative here."
"Good! You can force him to deactivate it!"
Sultan looked at his victim, "Not possible anymore. He's dead."
"Ah, Bollocks! Alright! There are some knowledgeable people incoming! I know you can't deal with magic and electronics. So just get out of there and help Karasu! He's trying to find more Red hand operatives! Gotta go! Good luck!" Aurora tapped out of the comms yet again. Sultan glanced at the dead red hand. He should hide both of their bodies. Keep this a secret from the oncoming security force. No one should know. He took a deep breath and equipped a few latex gloves.
"Here we go..."
Aurora ran through the crowd of parents and students. Karasu, who's fully awake, followed her shortly behind as they near exit three, "Go Karasu! Do what you need!"
"On it!" Karasu stood on the edge and jumped off from the arena. Infront of him, hundreds or maybe a thousand things are happening at once. Monsters attacking students, teachers, workers, and parents alike.
From the corner of his eyes, he spotted a murder of crows resting upon a tree. On e of them flocked its wings and flew near Karasu. Cawing with its hoarse voice. Beckoning him to do it. Do the action.
"I know..." Karasu's voice turned hoarse. Resembling the crow that yelled at him.
Karasu took a deep breath before pulling his hood up to cover his face. He grabbed the handle of his katana and tensed himself. A low vibration was emitted from his body. Crow feathers began slowly falling down from his cloak, before circling around him in a whirlwind of jet black. A loud second later, the feathers burst forward.
Instead of falling like usual, the feathers began to descend slowly and progressively get even slower as a second passed. The crows vanished from the face of the earth the moment Karasu activated his ability. And following the activation, the feathers halted mid-air.
The birds stopped panicking. The monsters paused on their mauling. Rocks and blood froze in the air. The fire ceased and the wind disappeared. The screams were no more and the world fell into a deafening silence. Everything was frozen for twenty seconds, but Karasu.
He charged forwards, unsheathing his Katana and sliding the blade through every monster nearby in his path. It doesn't harm them immediately. Instead, as soon as he cut something, a white slash materialized from thin air in the direction and area he cut something.
He blitzed through the area. Cutting down four to five monsters in one second. Karasu travelled through the field and entered the town area. Or what looks like it. Moving through stores and school buildings to his side as he continued to cut monsters down and forming the white slashes. Eventually, he had cut down around eighty-seven monsters in the twenty seconds.
Karasu sheathed his katana again as the timer reached zero. And closed his eyes. His body was transported back to where he stood before and froze the world. As he opened his eyes again, everything went into motion again. Eighty-seven different monsters fell to the ground with their head decapitated or body cleaved in half. Saving numerous people from the grasp of death.
"Yes...It worked." Karaus groaned to himself. The sudden wave of the side-effect nearly caused him to fall forwards. The black void of slumber attempted to drag Karasu into its embrace, but for the sake of the people around, he slapped himself on the face before dashing forwards yet again. Heading to the heart of the monster summoning.
Back at the arena, Aurora jumped down into the arena. Slamming her dagger straight into the head of a monster below her. She pulled it out and jumped off from the body. She looked around to see all of the students panicking in the presence of monsters. Even seeing a few under attack and being mauled by some.
Aurora dashed through the students. Touching them monetarily before killing the monsters that were in the middle of mauling someone, "Stick together! Don't let anyone out of your sight!" She ordered the people nearby as she moved past them again.
She touched multiple injured students she was saving at the same time. She headed for a nearby wall and hid away from sight, reaching into her bag, and pulling out a vial of a dark red potion. A superior healing potion. Much stronger than usual. She'll need it now.
Looking around, she had touched most of the people that was injured so far. She hid back behind the wall and took a deep breath, "Here we go..." As soon as she removed the cork of the healing potion. She activated her blessing. In a matter of seconds, agonizing pain overtook her body as the injuries of the people she touched appeared all over her body. She tightly clenched her fist, trying to endure the pain and stopping herself from crying out. They were half as severe and fatal, but still painful nonetheless.
Those who she had touched slowly had their wounds stitched up and healed. Almost as if it didn't exist in the first place. The same can't be said for Aurora, as when she's done. Her shirt and pants were soaked in her blood. Her bones were fractured or even broken. And to top it all off, she can feel her innards slipping out.
With her healthy hand, she quickly gulped down the potion in five short seconds. The sweet strawberry flavour kept her mind distracted as her body fell into another agonizing pain. Her wounds started to heal, her bones snapped in place again, and blood stopped soaking her clothes.
"Bloody hell..." Aurora clenched her fist, the broken ribs and arm was the worst injury she felt at that time, she'll give Gary an earful for that, "I still need to get used to this."
Standing up again, she exited from the wall and ran out to the battle again. This time she touched her fingers along the monsters that came her way. As she slid through their legs and arms, she readied herself and snapped her fingers.
The monster immediately fell down to the ground as the same injuries she had taken away instantaneously appeared on their bodies. Except it was twice the damage. The stomach injury she had endured ended up cleaving one in half.
Aurora cheered quietly under her breath but dismissed it immediately as more horrid creatures emerged from within the cracks of the arena. Taking a quick glimpse from inside the barrier, she spotted her lover, Gary, protecting his friends from the grey monster.
Gary gritted his teeth as the Oni-level monster slowly grew in size. Even towering above Gary as it reached a tall ten-foot height. For a hulking monster like that, it doesn't seem like the usual standard monster.
Crystals emerged from the back of the creature. Seemingly powering it up further with magic and strength, "No fair! What the hell is all that?!" Gary said in frustration, "You done healing Donny?!"
"Yes..." Donovan nodded as he stretched out his new arm. He lost the left sleeve of his coat, which bummed him out slightly. He decided to toss it to the side alongside his hat. He took note to retrieve it again after this. When he finished this thing off, "Samuel...anything about this thing?"
"No. It looks like a standard monster. Oni-level though..." Samuel hesitantly picked up his Sickle.
"That's bad..." Donovan commented, "Wai-INCOMING!"
The other two snapped their heads towards the monster's direction, just noticing it in time as it appeared infront of them, Five different appendages ending in a sharp blade bellowed with magic. It's the same magic essence used to cut Donovan's arm off.
"KRAAAGH!"
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