Part 1
"No wait! Stop!- AAAAHhhhhhGGhh-" The mans screams are cut out with the sound of him choking on his own blood. The perpetrator running from victim to victim. Making it's way through the abandoned parking lot, slaughtering as it goes. Many of its victims crying out for mercy with a few yelling out with hatred and rage.
"It's the Reaper of The North! Kill it!" The man shouting with authority could be heard throughout the different levels of this multistory parking structure.
The men around him gather together and make their way down to where the screams could be heard from the floors below. As they make their way down the ramps and look down the clearing below they see their men have been slaughtered. The monster having already cleared half of the eight story tall structure. The few bodies that could be seen having their arms inverted or their heads turned the other way. Some even having holes in their chest.
Again shouting could be heard followed by screams. Their cries getting louder as this beast makes its way up the different floors getting closer and closer. The men freeze up unable to move from fear as the cries get louder and louder. With the monster now one floor below them they can hear its manic laughter mixed with the curdling screams and the gurgle of blood filling their lungs. As it rounds the bend it doesn't even slow its pace as it sprints towards them up the ramp, its ear to ear grin exposing all of its teeth covered in the blood of their allies.
"Shit! Run!" The group of guys flee back up to their leader who was both full of fear and rage.
"What the hell are you guys doing here! Hurry up and kill that thing-" Before the men could react the demon was now on them. Getting their attention by breaking one of their necks from behind, forcing the victim to look it in the eyes as he fell lifelessly to his knees and to the ground.
Panic ensues as their fight or flight instincts kick in. With the few who tried to fend it off dying quickly. The first man trying to stab at its face with a thrust of his knife at its face. The demon just tilts its head to avoid the attack grinning as it breaks his arm making his elbow bone becoming exposed to the air. His friend screaming as he charged to help. The beast takes the knife away from his broken arm and throws it at his friend who was trying to help, piercing his throat causing him to collapse. Before the man with the broken arm could react to what happened the monster kicked his knee in breaking it inward at an acute angle. Once he fell backward off of his feet it mercilessly caved his head in with a stomp laughing as it did these things then proceeding to rushing the others.
One by one it dismembered them. Breaking limbs, caving in faces, collapsing their chests, and twisting their heads around, leaving them all in a pool of their own blood. Now that the only one who remained was left alone with no one to save him he fell to his knees and begged.
"I'm sorry! We will live your people alone for now on! We will never come to your territory ever again!" The demon scoffs in reply.
"Of course you wont! How can you when you're all dead?!" It replies as it laughs.
"Please let me go! I have five children! They need me! Please-" His begging was cut short as the monster grabs him by the throat.
"Dooooon't woooorrryyyy~ Soon they will join you!" It says in a fake comforting and playful tone.
The mans eyes roll back as the blood rushes, his face turning red then purple, the blood vessels in his eyes bursting making the white in his eyes turn red.
"Since you made my friend suffer... I'll make sure they die screaming as they BURN!" The demon laughs as the man dies. Letting him go as it revels in its deeds.
Soon after it looks into the reflection in the window of a car door revealing its identity. Samu's smile quickly fades as he grabs his face in horror and screams. His fingers unable to grip his skin from how soaked his face was in blood. Before he could process anything else Samu woke up in his dorm room screaming uncontrollably. Thrashing around in his bed for a moment before turning his head over the edge of his bed, vomiting onto the floor. Once the episode came to an end and he was able to slow his breathing Samu sighed, still shaking from the event. He looked at his bed to see the pool of sweat staining the sheets and the paint on the walls sheered from his nails clawing at them while he was tormented in his sleep. He shakes his head and begins cleaning his room.
>Samu Pov<
(Damn these night terrors. I guess I'm forced to suffer them in every life...) I finish getting dressed and leave my room, pausing at my door after closing it behind me.
(What the hell brought it back? Was it what happened yesterday? If so why does some random person being afraid of me cause me such grief?) I click my tongue in frustration as I shake my head and begin making my way down the floors to the exit.
(Whatever. Doesn't matter anyways.) I think to myself as I walk down the concrete path to the school.
As I walk into the crowded school I barely am able to make out the sound of a familiar voice in the distance.
"You better not try touching me you bastard! My father will kill you if he ever found out!"
I force my way through the crowd to see a man looming over Naria. Cornering her so she isn't able to escape as he looms over her. She tries to slip past him but he slams his hand into the wall preventing her from leaving.
"You cant just walk away. You need to stop skipping classes or else we will have to start taking disciplinary actions against you! You wouldn't want your father to hear how you are always getting into fights and skipping class would you?" Her ears droop down as his threats began to effect her.
(The hell is this guys problem? What makes him think he can talk to a little girl like that?)
"Hey you! What the hell do you think you're doing?" I call out as I approach them.
The teacher turns around and looks me up and down as if to assess who I was.
"Nothing that is beyond my duties as a teacher. Ms. Filchneria here has been skipping classes nearly every day. Shes also been terrorizing the school by getting into fights nearly every day."
"I didn't ask what shes been doing. I asked what the hell you think YOU'RE doing. Either you're hard of hearing or you're just stupid." The man glares at me as he begins walking towards me.
"Such insolence! I don't know who you are but you can't-" He falls to his knees gasping for air from the Stone Bullet I launched into his stomach.
"The names Samu. If you ever treat me with such disrespect again.." I grab his hair and force him to look into my eyes.
"I'll break you." I let him go and walk past him to Naria holding out my hand to her.
"Are you ok? He didn't hurt you did he?" She hesitated for a moment almost reaching for my hand before pulling away with a "Hmph" as she turns her head and starts walking off.
"You're welcome" I say as I leave to walk off.
I make my way through the different hallways as I try to remember the path to the training room until I was stopped by a group of five people dressed in familiar white robes. Though I couldn't remember why they felt familiar.
"And what the hell do you guys want?" I say in frustration from having my path blocked.
"The Headmaster wants to see you." The man in the front says as he reaches for me.
I use Stone Bullet launching it at his stomach but he knocks it away with his hand seemingly effortlessly.
"The use of magic outside of the training facilities is forbidden!" The group begins to surround me.
"Oh? Seems like something you tell a mage before he starts his first day don't you think?" I say as they box me in.
"Now that you know, come with us." The man reaches for me again but I use my spell to enhance myself launching him back several feet with the push of my hand. The other four each hold out one of their hands as they chant to themselves.
"If the Headmaster wants to talk to me he can come to see me himself. If you guys need anything else from me I'll be in the training facility" Before they could finish chanting I dash out of there at blinding speeds.
Two of them were fast enough to keep up as they finish their spell trapping me inside of a stone prison completely blocking me inside, the walls snuffing out the light. I try punching my way out but my strength wasn't sufficient enough to break through the barrier.
(Color me impressed, I actually cant just punch my way out of this.)
I try building my mana but something began to make it very difficult and I soon realize they are draining my mana from me.
"If its a fight you want then its a fight you'll get!" I yell out as I take a wide stance and begin building up my mana, creating a large swell of pressure.
It took almost twice as long as it should thanks to their efforts but soon I'm able to store enough man with a sufficient amount of pressure to explode throughout my body. Once released the force of my mana alone was enough to crack the walls of my prison. I dash through the prison in the direction I last saw one of the men cloaked in white breaking through the wall with a kick, slamming into him and sending him flying through the wall in the hallway.
"Trying to sap away my mana huh?" I look around and see that all of them had gathered around my former prison. Frozen in place from shock.
The other guy that was able to keep pace with my speed dashed into my blind spot, though I was easily able to surpass his speed knocking him away with a close handed back hand as I spun around. Hes thrown through the wall creating a second hole next to the other. The other three try to take a step back and my muscle memory kicks in making me rush after one of them until I was stopped by a shout from Gilnis just before my foot slammed into the cloaked mans knee.
"Samu stop! No matter what the reason is you shouldn't be fighting the Sentinels!" I step back a bit and groan out loud in frustration.
"They started it. I don't care who you are, the moment you attack me you become an enemy." He walks over stopping just in front of me, crossing his arms as he exudes a presence of authority.
"They are the keepers of peace and authority is this school. You must obey their rule so long as you're a student here." His shift in tone to that of authority irked me quite a bit as I step up to get more in his face.
"Maybe that authority should change then?" I say as I glare at him.
Soon I was surrounded by too many Sentinels to count. I look around and scoff at them, now too angry and full of adrenalin to think clearly or rationally.
"I hold back and this is the thanks I get?" One of them steps forward from the group. His white cloak and robes adorned with intricate gold symbols.
"Stand down and come peacefully. Over fifty of us are here to bring you down to the detention hall. Don't make this harder than it needs to be. There's no reason for you to get hurt." Just then something in me let go of what little sense of decorum I held onto.
"Is that a threat?" I say as my body explodes with mana again.
"If not say so now because if it is, I wont hold back and ill take you standing against me as the school becoming my enemy! And ill raze this place to the ground!" I glare at him as he draws his sword, the other Sentinels drawing their sword in unity.
"So be it.." Before I could make my first move I hear a booming voice reverberate throughout the hall.
"That is enough! Sheath your swords and get out of my way!" In an instant they all put away their swords and stepped aside revealing the Headmaster just outside of the gathering.
"Quite the mess you made around here." He made is way over to me and sighed as he approached.
"And its only your second day. Thats not a good look son." He shook his head in disapproval.
"I told your goons over there that if you wanted to talk to me you could come see me yourself-"
"So you attacked them?" His response and the fact he cut me off angered me a bit.
"No. In response they tried to detain me. THEN I attacked them." I glare at him as my anger starts to rise again.
"You should be thanking me for spareing them. Considering their attempt to drain my mana and detain me just for requesting you see me in person, id say this outcome was significantly more tame than what could have happened." He silently met my gaze before turning to the Sentinel with the gold adorned robes.
"Gather up the wounded and clean up this mess." Once they began following his orders in unison the Headmaster motioned for me to follow him as he begun to walk away from the situation.
I follow close beside him in silence as he guides me through familiar hallways.
"You cant just solve every conflict you have with violence. Your actions have consequences. Even if they don't effect you directly they tend to impact others around you a lot of the time." I silently follow him taking in what he has to say.
"Some day you will lead others, maybe even many, when that time comes the decisions you make and the actions you take will weigh on their shoulders. Others will judge any and all who follow your leadership. So try to avoid needless actions of violence whenever you can. Understand?"
"I understand." I say out of respect for how calm and patient hes being with me despite my clear over step.
"Its just that after that teacher cornered Naria I was already on edge about the authority here or the morals the people in authority held after one them cornered a child like that. So after the guards trapped me and tried draining my mana I kind of just-" Suddenly I feel the Headmasters large but gentle hand rest on my shoulder.
"Even so you cant just go around using your strength to force others into subjugation like that. You'll give off the image of being an untamable beast."
"Even though the guards are guilty of the same thing?"
"Guilty? Yes. Of the same thing? No. They tried subduing you without harming you where you tried removing the threat with pure violence." I tried speaking out in protest but he stayed firm.
"If you want to lead others some day, which I assume you want to based on what your mother and father said, then you will need to learn when to use force and when to use diplomacy. Most conflicts in this world can be solved with words before force is needed." The sincerity of his words and the calmness of his tone drove the message of his words deep.
"I understand sir. I'll try my best." He let out a soft laugh as he opened the door to the training area.
"Thats good. But before you continue your training." He knelt down to my level, placing his hands on my shoulders.
"Thank you for not killing my guards. If you had there wouldn't be much I could do to prevent you from being convicted of a crime. You have great potential. You don't abuse your power much at all compared to how it could be. You seem to be a wise and good kid. I expect great things from you." I nod in reply now smiling from the exchange.
"And I'm a very busy man. Next time I send someone to retrieve you be sure to come along peacefully. I don't always have time to come see you in person. Please understand that." Again I nod in agreeance.
"I understand. Sorry for earlier." He smiles and stands. Nodding as he turns to leave.
"Good luck in your training son. Try not to get into too much trouble while you're here." As hes leaving something in me causes me to call out to him.
"Sir!" He turns and looks at me.
"Yes?"
"There is a friend from my village who is very gifted in magic. I trained her to be able to use chantless magic as well. She quite skilled. Though shes not as skilled or as strong as me she is still leaps and bounds above any of the other students here. I think she could serve this school much better than I could." He raises an eye brow.
"Is that so? Did she inherit your sense of resistance to authority?" I shake my head.
"Not at all. She actually hates fighting. Shes much more inquisitive and studious than me as well. Shed be a good fit here and still has much to learn." He thinks to himself for a moment.
"Whats her name?"
"Eyara. Eyara Elowyn" He hums to himself for a moment then nods.
"I'll send out word to her family. It'll be a good opportunity for this school to recruit an elf." He turns and walks away leaving me alone in front of the door of the training facility.
(That's it? He just says ok just like that? huh..) I shrug and open the door to the training facility to find Gilnis and Naria talking together where I planned on training.
"Shouldn't you two be in class?" I call out as I begin walking towards them. Gilnis turns and smiles at me while Naris became nervous.
"You're one to talk, and what the hell was that about earlier? You cant just go around causing problems like that you know."
"I know, and ill have you know the Headmaster was the one to lead me here. I already spoke to him and made amends so don't worry about it." He laughs and pats me on my shoulder as he meets me halfway.
"So you're just going to get off scot free?" I shrug in response.
"Guess so. So long as I don't do that again." I look over an Naria who didn't bother to move from where she was standing before.
"What's her problem? Does she not like me anymore?" Gilnis looks over his shoulder at her then back at me.
"I doubt she ever did. She is just scared of you. Don't get me wrong she respects you and your strength a lot but she uh... Thinks if you wanted to you could just kill everyone if ever met your fancy." For a second I'm taken aback by his words.
"I wouldn't just do that without reason. Especially killing a bunch of people I have zero problems with. Not only that but the Headmaster talked to me about not using violence to solve everything. I'll be taking his advice on this very seriously." With those words her ears perked up and twitched a bit.
"The Headmaster gave you advice?" Gilnis asked.
"A bit. He didn't seem mad just... I don't know. Patient and hopeful with me I guess." I shrug and walk past him over to where Naria was standing, taking my seat on the ground.
"A-am I in your way?" She asked sheepishly.
(Oh? That seems out of character for her? Maybe the bad girl vibe is just a front?)
"No you aren't. I'm just going to continue practicing. I don't mind you sticking around if you'd like." She hesitated for a moment before walking away to stand with Gilnis.
"Well we are going to go back to class like good students. Are you going to stay here all day?" I nod my head in response.
"Ok then I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Try to stay out of trouble ok?" I wave my hand away dismissively.
"Yea yea I'll try my best. So long as other people don't pick a fight with me" He nodded and walked away leaving Naria behind for a moment as she looked at me.
"Thank you for helping me earlier" She says before running off after Gilnis.
I smile as she runs off watching the two of them leave and close the door behind them.
(What a weird school. I figured I'd be kicked out for what happened earlier but I guess not. I better watch how I act in public. I almost forgot I live in a new world now and have my families reputation to worry about now)
I sat in that training room for an unknown amount of time. My mind and body too focused on training to have even the slightest idea of how long its been. I try standing but end up stumbling and falling back to the ground.
"Hey Elxie do you mind-"
For a moment I forget that I was somewhere else and completely alone.
(Seems like its taking me a while to remember that my family isn't here anymore.)
Eventually I'm able to stand and limp my way over to the door when its suddenly opened by Galahand. He stands there in momentary shock from the two of us suddenly being face to face. I look down to see he has another book in hand. Without saying anything I limp past him and begin making my way to my dorm.
"The least you could do is address your superior when you see him." He says in an arrogant and snobby tone.
I ignore him and continue walking on. As I made my way I heard him click his tongue in frustration as he says something I couldn't quite make out to himself. I decide to let it go not wanting to start anymore problems.
(I've caused enough issues for myself and the school for today.)
I make my way through the dark hallways that are only lit by the small flames inside the lamps along the wall which was a stark contrast to the brightly lit training facility. Their flickering lights only slightly illuminating the hallways creating an oddly warming and comforting feeling for me.
(I should spend more time in the school at night if its always like this)
Once I was outside I could hear some commotion coming from somewhere around the dormitory. As I continued along the walkway their bickering became louder and louder as I drew closer.
"I wouldn't talk so high and mighty." I could hear a boy say.
"We aren't in the school anymore." Says another boy.
"The rules cant save you this time!" I could hear another say.
"That doesn't matter to me! I can take you all on!" Yelled a girl in defiance.
I was going to ignore the situation from how exhausted I was until I heard a familiar voice.
"You really are just a dumb savage animal huh?"
(Naria?) I limp over around the side of the building and see her and two other guys from our class keeping some other girl cornered though its hard to even see them with how dark it is outside due to the new moon.
(Ah so the bully is picking on someone. So goes the food chain in the school) I turn to walk away as I listened to their exchange.
"Fuck you!" I heard some shouting and the sounds of people fighting peaking my interest, turning back to watch.
By the time I was able to see what was going on one of the boys was already out of the fight. Though the girl they surrounded was losing she displayed why they called her an animal. The girl wouldn't give up. Always getting back up, roaring as she fought. Lunging at them and swinging wildly as she went. Taking their attacks just so she could land her own eventually leaving only the two girls to fight one another. Clearly Naria was more skilled yet it didn't seem to be a clear cut win for her.
Their next exchange was a brutal one. Naria dodged every attack and countered each one. Punching her face, kneeing her stomach, and kicking her away each time she was too close. The girl rolled around as she was blown back by the kick crawling back towards her eventually getting on her feet and into a sprint before getting hit in the face with a knee. Before she could fall Naria grabbed her hair and held her up to keep her from falling. However before she could hit her again the girl lifted her legs and kicked Naria in the face forcing her to let go. In one swift motion she landed on the ground and rushed over and jumped onto Naria and began pounding into her face with her fist, roaring out as she continued beating into her face. Naria tried to chant a spell but the girl pressed her shin into her neck, applying her weight to choke her stopping the spell completely.
This would have worked and ended the fight but Naria was too flexible. She lifted her hips and wrapped her legs around the girls neck from behind, flipping her backwards and slamming her on her chest with Naria now on top. The girl struggled to move and remove the hold around her neck but it was futile. Naria had won. Yet Naria held out her hand and began to chant.
"I call upon the destructive force of the spirit of fire! Torch and singe my foe,
Punish them with the burning sensation of your love. Fire Bullet!"
The fire built in her hand but before it could fire at the back of the girls head I used Water Bullet to douse the flame, soaking them both in the process. She turned to see where it came from, her face filled with rage until her eyes met mine.
"Don't you think choking her out is enough? There's no need to burn her away in the process." Her ears twitched as she let the girl go and stepped away from her, the girl gasping for air as she choked and coughed.
"She started the fight! If you knew how she was-"
"It doesn't matter what happened. The fight was over, unless you planned to kill the girl?" Her light brown eyes lit up slightly in the night as her eyes met mine before looking down and away.
"You're one to talk. You almost killed us on your first day and also picked a fight with the Sentinels. Who are you to talk about going to far?!" Though she avoided eye contact I could barely make out that her tail was now puffed up.
"I learned my lesson. Don't make me teach you yours." Her ears drooped down as she walked away in the other direction from me, clearly giving up on the discussion.
I looked over at the other girl who was now on her hands and knees as she still coughed and choked on her own breath. Because of how dark it was I wasn't able to get a good look at her features. I watched only for a moment before turning to walk away, making my way back to my dorm for some much needed rest.
(I'm glad she didn't pick a fight with me. That spell was the last bit of mana I could muster up..)
Spell Galvanize: Power efficiency - 9%
Power up speed - 25%
??? - 0%
Spell mastery - 5%