Shit, that alert doesn’t sound good, but I can’t really run away right now. Those kids did bully Miu, but they are still kids after all, I can’t let them be slaughtered by this mutant.

“Fuck Ren, I can’t see anything, are you sure there are zombies here?”

“Yeah, it’s a special zombie though. Be on high alert, it could be anywhere.”

Suddenly I spot a small dark figure out of the corner of my eye, it’s clinging to the wall next to Yuma.

“There Yuma! On your right!”

Yuma ducks away in time to barely avoid the slash of a pair of razor sharp claws.

*PING*

*WARNING! WARNING! Mutant zombie identified. Host has very little change at winning against this mutant which has the ‘night crawler’ genes. Their claws can slash through almost everything, they can cling onto any surface and can even turn invisible. Suggesting to the host that he leaps through the nearest window in order to survive.”

FUCK, system you’re not really being supportive here! I have Yuma with me, we should be able to defeat it if we really try... Besides we can’t leave Miu behind.

I swing at the awakened mutant with my crimson blade, but it doges easily by leaping into the air and landing in front of the window, we can now see it’s face clearly…

“R-Ren… That’s a little girl… Do we really have to bash in the skull of a little girl?!”

“Fuck it! That thing can’t be called a little girl anymore, think about your little sister. I don’t like it either but we have to defeat that thing in order to protect Miu.”

“You’re right… I’ll charge left, you make sure it can’t doge to the right okay?”

“Alright, let’s see how powerful is.”

Yuma charges at the creature, swinging his bat down towards its head. I get in position to slash its head off if it dodges to the right… but… the creature doesn’t dodge, instead it just simply catches the bat with one hand and readies the claws on its other hand.

“YUMA NO!”

*SLASH*

I push him out of the way, but the claws strike the side of my torso instead, spilling a lot of blood. Luckily it didn’t hit any vitals and I quickly stop the bleeding with my blood manipulation.

“Fuck! That shit hurts!... Yuma are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine, you should worry about yourself.”

When I turned my head back to look at the mutant zombie, it suddenly disappeared.

“Shit! Be careful Yuma, it might have turned invisible.”

A few seconds later I feel a sharp pain in my left leg, I look down and see deep scratch marks. Shit that hurts. I suddenly also hear Yuma yelling out in pain:

“Fuck!”

I seems like the creature is just toying with us, or perhaps it is weakening its prey before striking a vital point and killing us.

The creature continues slashing at our limbs and torso for what seems to feel like an eternity, it hurts like a motherfucker, but due to my and Yuma’s blood spilling all over its claws we can now sort of locate its position by looking for a pair of shiny red claws in the darkness of the hallway, easier said than done. Even when we do see the claws coming, they are too fast to effectively dodge.

Then the room goes silent for a couple of seconds.

…

Oh no… I think it's preparing a killing blow, I should warn Yuma.

But before I had the change to warn him I see a pair of shiny red claws coming my way at a frightening speed. Fuck, I can’t think of a way out of this situation… Am I really going to die here? So much for an ‘Alpha Male’… I didn’t even have sex yet…

Rather suddenly I get thrown against the wall of the hallway… What happened? Did the creature really mis?

I look over at Yuma… He’s now laying on the floor where I just stood moments ago, In a pile of his own blood, his guts almost spilling out from the huge crater in his stomach. The creature didn’t mis, Yuma sacrificed himself…

“YUMA! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?”

“Kgwaa.. I-Its okay Ren, I-I’m fine… First get rid of that mutant for me, will you?

He’s obviously not fine, but I first have to deal with the situation at hand… I thought of a plan… I’m not sure if it will work or not, it’s kind of risky… The creature should still be targeting me since it failed at its first assassination attempt and since Yuma doesn’t pose much of a threat anymore...

I run into one of the empty classrooms and ready a ‘blood clone’ Magic circle, my enhanced blood manipulation does seem to have some effect, as I can draw the entire circle in a couple of seconds.

I create a blood clone that is a couple of centimeters larger than my actual body and step inside of it… Now we wait…

My heart is going crazy, thoughts of doubt are running through my head.

*BADUM* *BADUM*

…

*SLASH*

Finally the little creature plunges both of its claws into the place where my heart is located, or rather where my heart should be located.

Because the creature aimed for the heart of my slightly larger clone, it missed my actual heart by a couple of centimeters…

My larger clone melts into a puddle of blood covering the little creature, I take advantage of its confusion by grabbing its head with both hands and pull him closer towards me so that he can’t retracts his claws from my chest and slash at me.

I push my hands together with all my strength in an effort to squash its head, but its skull is too strong.

“FUCK! COME ON! BREAK!”

*BLEARGH*

The Creature starts moving its claws inside of my chest cavity and I vomit up blood… Shit, I can’t let it end like this, I’m too close. I use my remaining blood to draw a blood berserk magic circle, it only takes me 2 seconds to draw and once it activated, I use all my strength to push my palms through its skull.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

*SPLASH*

I-I did it… I squashed its head in, the creatures skull is now flat as a pancake…

“F-Finally!”

I start to feel dizzy… I pull the creature out of my chest and use life steal to heal my chest wound and replenish a bit of my blood…

“Mission completed: Host gets 1x item wheel draw and 1x Regeneration Elixir!”

Wait a minute… With this elixir I could save Yuma.

I stumbled towards where Yuma was laying, Miu is already there, holding his hand and sniffling. Yuma raises his hand to pat Miu on the head:

“D-Don’t worry Miu, big brother is going to be fine, once Ren defeats the mean zombie, we’ll go to an hospital.”

*COUGH* *COUGH*

He coughed up some blood.

“We won’t be needing an hospital Yuma!”

“R-Ren, you really defeated it?”

“Of course, don’t underestimate me! There is a reason why I am the leader of our group you know! Here take this regeneration elixir, it should heal all of your injuries if you just poor it over your wounds. You better be grateful, these things aren’t easy to get.”

I playfully wink at him.

“W-Wow you’re amazing Ren, as always. *COUGH* *COUGH* Are you sure this can turn my body back to normal? Maybe you should save it for yourself?”

“No you take it Yuma, you deserve it, it should regenerate any wounds I think. Without you I wouldn’t be here right now. I won’t forget your heroic deeds my man! Haha...”

He suddenly gets really serious.

“Thanks a lot Ren, for everything… I mean it…”

…

*SPLASH*

I hear the sound of liquid splashing against a surface and the sound of Miu crying.

“NO BIG BROTHER! WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?”

I hurry over to where Miu is sitting to look at what is happening.

Yuma is still laying there with his guts partially hanging out while Miu is sitting next to him drenched in some kind of liquid… No he couldn’t have…

“YUMA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU MIGHT DIE YOU KNOW! THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO PLAY HERO! TELL ME YOU ATLEAST SAVED SOME ELIXER FOR YOURSELF!

“I-I’m afraid not Ren, this will be my final act as Miu’s big brother, I know I wasn’t always there for her… I hope this can make it up to her… *COUGH* I hope she can live with more confidence and optimism now.”

Miu’s face starts sizzling and after a second or 2 all the liquid evaporates, it left behind the face of a beautiful young girl. Miu hugs her brother and cries.

“NO big brother this isn’t what I wanted! it doesn’t matter how I look like, as long as I have big brother! I don’t want you to leave me like mom did!”

“M-Miu I’m so glad I got to see your beautiful face again before I die, your happiness has always been my motivation to keep on living, to keep on enduring… Ren I’m sorry I’m going to leave you so soon, sorry I couldn’t be of much use to the group… I guess in the end I only brought you more trouble huh… but I beg you, if you ever saw me as your friend-“

“N-No Yuma you’re going to be fine, don’t do this to me.”

“Listen to me ren! If you ever saw me as your friend, please take good care of Miu for me…”

I-I can’t let this happen… First Mary, now Yuma… I have to do something… Think Ren, think!