Sakura POV:

“My head hurts.”

I washed my face in the school’s bathroom trying to cool off.

Ever since the nightmares started, I have been feeling under the weather. 

In the mirror, I noticed that my pink hair (which was my natural color, thank you very much), became a shade darker. My nails as well, without any paint, they turned back.

I already talked with a doctor, but he couldn’t even understand what it was.

‘…duck…’

“What?”

I looked around looking for the owner of the voice, but I was alone in here.

Weird, maybe I'm just imagining things.

*****

“YOU IDIOT!”

I hit him on the head.

Right now, I was in the subconsciousness of this girl, which was unsurprisingly shaped like a small classroom.

Except me, were several shadowy figures sitting at the desks, wiggling, and murmuring between each other.

The only people who were sort of seeable were me and the three idiots sitting before me.

They wore the same suit and white coat as me, but their masks were different.

The one I just hit had a yellow duck mask, with a yellow necktie. On his deck and around his feet, several rubber ducks were sitting, each having a different form.

The one next to him wore a metal mask that depicted a man’s face, which was connected to a series of chains wrapped around his body.

The Last one had colorful hair and wore a clown mask which was painted with various shapes.

If I had to guess these three represented the three emotions I have been feeling for the past years: Obsession, Rage, Madness.

These weren’t as smart as my soul fragments since they didn’t possess any power over me, but I still restricted them greatly. The most annoying one amongst them was Dug, the duck guy. He was the only one who could speak and he was driving me CRAZY.

“I told you to stay silent! We are in her head; she can hear us if we are not careful!”

“B-But I want ducks!”

“You have enough ducks as it is!”

I hit him again, then I turned to the blackboard showing what that girl was seeing.

After I sent out the memories into different worlds to conquer them, I returned to this girl’s head.

Why?

Because I want to win. That Ash guy is my prey, and I will be damned if I let him escape from my hands! But I also want to play.

I want to enjoy the hunt. I want to watch it like a show, give them a false good ending, hope, before tearing it away from him. To see his face as I take away the fragment from him… oh I cannot wait.

I already prepared for the first act which hopefully starts the whole thing, it is going to be such fun.

“Let the fun begin.”

“…duck…”

“I swear, if you don’t shut up about that bird, I  will break your jaw!”

*****

Ash POV:

‘How do you feel?’

“Like somebody set my insides on fire.”

I breathe in deeply as I try to ease the pain inside me.

I was currently in my room at the bunker of the GSC, located not far away from the school.

Sitting on my bed, I meditated, moving the strange energy to the furthest cranny of my body.

‘That’s good. It means that you are burning out the natural barriers located in your mana veins. By circulating the increased energy, I just pumped into you, you will soon be able to cast your spells more fluidly and precisely.’

“Are you sure this is working? I don’t feel any different.”

‘Absolutely. True I never needed to use it, but with the collection of memories I have I can assure you that a lot of mages trained this way.’

“Mages, who later got killed by your brother to be later eaten by him.”

‘It’s better than nothing. Which is what you have.’

“…I will go on a walk.”

After I calmed down the heat exuded from my inside, then I walked out of my room.

Since the bouncer was underground, there were no windows especially in the special area where I currently was.

After receiving my report about the Dealmaker, the higher-ups quickly acted, by removing all mirrors and translucent materials around me and my teams.

I still need to go to school but I am always surrounded by the guards and my teammates.

‘You know, considering his personality, he will surely start some sort of evil scheme. Be patient.’

“I know, you said it a thousand times. It’s just …frustrating for me to just sit around waiting for a monster to attack people! I should be doing something about it.”

‘How do you think I feel? A monster is out there, trying to eat me!’

“Whatever.”

While walking through the brightly lighted corridors, a strange feeling grasped me.

“Hey, is it me, or is this corridor too long?”

I knew that this place stretched out for miles and miles, but this tunnel only should be 10 meters long, yet I couldn’t see the end of it, the thing was stretching and stretching to the edge of my vision. I looked behind myself, but it was the same, somehow, I was in the middle of this infinite corridor.

‘What is happening. Did he already attack us, and we didn’t notice it?’

Knock. Knock.

“’ Hmmm?”’

From next to us a door appeared on the nearby white wall.

Contrary to the metal doors used here, this one was made from wood, looking quite old.

On, somebody painted a crooked cross with black paint, which almost seemed to be burned into it.

As I looked at it the door started to shake violently as a black liquid started to ooze out from its crannies.

Then, when it opened, I opened my eyes.

“A…dream?”

I was sitting on my bed, my body soaking in sweat.

“Partner, did you see that?”

‘…Yeah. That wasn’t a dream, at least not a normal one.  Even I was dragged into it.’

“What could it be?”

‘I don’t know, but I have the feeling that the number of our problems has increased.’

*****

Sakura POV:

I walked to the school entrance, yawing from my lack of sleep.

Once I reached the gates somebody was already waiting for me.

It was that stalker guy from before, but he looked strange.

His skin became pale white with his blond hair darkened greatly. When he noticed me, he smiled at me, with a creepy expression.

Don’t look at him.

I quickly walked past him, not wanting any trouble.

When I reached the front of the classroom, I noticed a poster on the notice board which wasn’t there yesterday.

[

NOTICE FOR THE GIFTED STUDENTS:

DUE TO THE TERRORIST ATTACKS WHICH OCCURRED IN PUBLIC DURING BRIGHT DAYLIGHT, THE SCHOOL COUNCIL ALLOWED THE GSC TO RECRUIT ANYONE WILLING TO FIGHT FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

THIS WILL COUNT AS A SUPPLEMENTARY CLASS WHICH WILL PROVIDE THE PARTICIPANTS WITH COMBAT SKILLS AND EXTRA SCHOLAR CREDITS.

IF SOMEBODY IS INTERESTED, READ THIS QR CODE AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE IT.

HAVE A PLEASANT DAY:

SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.

]

 Recruitment? I read about the attacks in the news and saw the broadcast on the TV, but it wasn’t that bad, was it?

“Should I join?”

“I would if you were me.”

“AAAAAAAAA!”

Behind me, an upper classmate was holding a stack of pipers.  

It was a tall blond man, with a well-built body, his eyes, and hair as yellow as the sun.

“There has been a lot of commotion lately, it is a good idea to apply for this course even if only to learn self-defense.”

“Ehhh, thanks.”

“No problem.”

The boy walked away, carrying the heavy stack of paper like nothing.

“God, he scared me. Maybe I should check out this class just in case.

After school ended, I went to the gymnasium where the class was being held today.

Apart from me, there were several people here, each looking strong and energetic.

God, I look so apart from them. I hope things will be okay.”

After half an hour, there were around hundreds of people here when something happened.

All the doors closed, and the lights turned off.

After the obligatory commotion, a stray light descended in the middle of the room where a man wearing military uniforms was standing.

“Thank you for coming. Today, you all shall be tested to be determined if you are worth joining us. Now, we have scanned your IDs when you entered the room, so we know your names. We will call you out in groups and you will be taken into groups for the test. Let’s begin.”

*****

??? POV:

‘You are ready.’

“I am ready.”

‘You are the strongest.’

“I am ready.”

‘You are a king.’

“I am a king.”

‘You are a god.’

“I am a god.”

The terrible-looking youth murmured the words he haired in his head as he stared in the distance, waiting for someone.

“Come on. Come on. Come on.”

‘Patience.’

‘Slowly.’

‘Savor it.’

Then when a short girl walked past him, he finally reacted.

He grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

“What do you want?”

“You. You are a member of the GSC.”

He remembered all the members’ names and faces thanks to the TV and the things they did to him.

The girl looked at him all weirdly.

“Do you want an autograph or something?”

“Something. Yes.”

As he smiled, his other hand moved supper fats, grabbing the girl’s throat.

On contact, something started to spread from his palm, quickly spreading all over her.

Before the girl could realize it, she was already gone. Instead of her was now a manifestly crafted gold statue of her, wearing her cloth.

‘Good.’

‘Not enough.’

‘Need more.’

‘Find MORE!’

“Yes…More.”

He searched her pockets taking out her phone.

‘Call him.’

‘Dial the number.’

Once he wrote in the number, he placed the phone next to his ear as it rang.

“Hello, what do you want, Julia?”

‘It’s him!’

‘Say the words!’

‘Say it!’

“Julia isn’t here, she is busy. Dealmaker says hi though.”

“…Who is this?”

“Somebody who is standing before the school and will start killing people if you don’t come here quick enough. You will find me by following the screams.”

He crushed the phone with his bare hands and threw it aside.

‘Go.’

‘Feed.’

‘Kill.’

“Yes. Kill.”

As he walked in, he dragged his fingers on the walls, dragging five lines of gold behind him.

“Form.”

It was just a whisper barely audible, but it shocked the room.

To be exact it was the newly formed gold, which got ripped out from the walls, before gathering into a ball of gold behind him as he walked.

On a left turn, he ran into a group of students who were chatting with each other.

‘Subjects.’

‘No. Food.’

His smile turning diabolic, with a snape of his finger he made the shy metal orb fire several small bullets at them.

Their death was quick and painless, making them pass on without them even realizing what happened to them.

As he stepped over them, the bullets flew back into the orb, giving it a slight reddish tint.

‘Can feel it.’

‘She is close.’

‘Revenge.’

Once he reached the locked doors of the gymnasium, he turned the whole door into solid gold before adding it to the orb behind him.

“What the-“

The guards posted at the entrance were shocked beyond words when they saw this, giving him the chance to kill them by creating two thin spears and stabbing them in the head.

As he entered the building several guards grabbed their weapons and shot at him.

Without looking, he commanded the sphere behind him to flatten, creating a floating circle that protected him from the bullets.

‘Kill.’

“Kill.”

By snapping his fingers, he made the shield shatter into several pieces, which flew all over the room, cutting every guard into sashimi before reuniting into the sphere behind him.

Once the carnage ended, he noticed that there were no students here, but he wasn’t distressed by it.

With the data, he collected he knew where they were and what to do.

‘Prepare.’

“Yes. I need to prepare.”

he kneeled down and pressed his hands on the ground. Like with the walls and the girl, the wooden floor slowly turned into solid gold, which in turn was added to the orb behind him, swelling to a huge size.

‘Everything must fall.’ 

‘Everything must disappear.’

“No. Everything must be MINE.”

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