Kibishi's POV

  Mato's Office

  I followed Mato and the guy in the junk suit to Mato's office.

  Once we were there, they made me sit on a chair, and I waited for them. An hour had passed, and I was still waiting. My mind wandered, thinking that they had some bad news for me to hear and me alone.

  Maybe they find out something horrible about my powers...

  I tried not to be negative, but being cooped up in this room made me really nervous.

  And to be frank, what were the perks of being the concept of death?

  I looked up at the ceiling.

  I mean...

  If we were talking about the power alone, I guessed being able to kill was awesome... I thought.

  Not that I minded it entirely, but I would rather be without it.

  No. I need to be honest with myself...

  I could never see myself killing at all. But who could believe their own self when I tried to kill in order to save those close to me.

  I'm a hypocrite...

  That's right, Kibishi. You're a liar if you think for a second that killing a soldier was okay, yet killing things that deserve it isn't.

  But that could be countered since I didn't even think about it.

  No, thinking about it that way made it worse.

  I deeply sighed and shook my head. I wanted to protect, not kill. It was way beyond my control. My body just... moved. I slowly took out the knife from my pocket.

  Shing!

  I stared at my reflection on the bde. It looked shiny, and I could tell that the bde could cut through my flesh if I pressed hard enough. However, that could be the same for any weapon with a sharp bde at the end of it.

  Nothing was too complex since the knife itself was a pretty short length.

  And because of that, I doubted it would be of much use.

  "Why give me a knife out of all things...?" I whispered.

  I lowered the knife and stared straight forward. It seemed like Mato and the guy in the suit were still talking over there.

  Which got me thinking.

  Why call me in here if they're not ready in the first pce?

  With a deep sigh, I slowly stood up, pcing my knife away in my pocket and putting both hands in it.

  "Mato! Are you ready yet? Not to be rude, but I would rather train in my room than wait here doing nothing!" I shouted.

  "Ah! Just a moment—!"

  Thump!

  With a loud sound, Mato ended up tripping on a few boxes that seemed to be packed for whatever reason. He then picked himself up and fixed his white coat.

  "Come on, Mato. You've got to be better than that." The guy in the suit held his head in shame.

  "A-anyway, just be patient, Kibishi. We're almost done with the prep work." Mato reassured me as he scratched the back of his neck.

  "Prep work? For what?" I raised my brows.

  "It's something to help confirm something," Mato stated as he fixed his gloves.

  "Something like...?" I tilted my head.

  "You know the kid will keep asking if you don't give it to him straight." The guy in a junk suit said bluntly.

  "Sigh... I suppose so, huh." Mato held his head. He then pced his hands in his white coat and turned serious. "Well, in that case, I'll be seeing The Founder and getting the approval. Kevin, please come with me to The Founder's office."

  "Seriously....?" The guy who went by the name Kevin deeply sighed and followed Mato towards the exit.

  I saw the door open and close behind Kevin.

  And now, since the two adults in this office had left, I was the only person inside this room. I leaned forward with my heart feeling a bit heavy. And to make matters worse, I was all alone without anyone to talk to. I would rather have gone back to my room and tried to train some more, but that ship had sailed a long time ago.

  Welp, no use in thinking about the "what ifs".

  I had nothing to do right now so I better get comfortable-

  Cree...

  Hmm? Were they back already?

  I turned my head toward the door.

  "You're back already, Mato- huh?"

  I widened my eyes when I saw who was in front of the door. Well, two people in fact. But one thing was for certain, it wasn't Mato and Kevin, that's for sure.

  But then... who were they?

  "... Who are... you guys?" I whispered in nervousness.

  Cree...

  The door... closed behind them...

  Taoreta's POV

  The first yer

  After a few searches, we ended up looking at half of the yer. Which, to be honest, was way faster than I had originally anticipated.

  Still, it took a few hours to look around the pce.

  From on top of the broken buildings to the dead trees lying about, there was nothing new about this pce. It was a little disappointing that we didn't gain more information about the world, but hey, as long as it made the night go quicker, then who was I to compin, right?

  "Hmm... mm..." Kuma was fidgeting around, almost restless. She looked to the left and then to the right. She then slowed down and folded her arms. "Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmmm...." Kuma closed her eyes with a serious expression. Kuma then nodded.

  "Yup! I have no idea why this pce is abandoned!" Kuma said cheerfully and with a bright smile at the end.

  "Is that all you get from looking around...?" Jir narrowed her eyes at Kuma, seeming to be a bit disappointed at Kuma for reacting that way. Maybe it was accurate to say it was like a friend who you expected to say something nice or even cool, but who ended up lowering your expectations more than ever. And so, you would feel both sad and disappointed with the friend for leading you to expect more than it was.

  "Well, there's that and no creatures roaming around. But..." Kuma gnced at the dead bodies all over the floor. They seemed a few days old as well. "They probably moved out of this area and headed to somewhere safer."

  "How can you tell?" Jir raised her brows at Kuma.

  "I can't really say for certain, but at least the weaker ones headed tail out of here before our arrival," Kuma expined.

  "So you're saying that the stronger ones are roaming around here?" I pced my right hand under my chin.

  "Most likely," Kuma nodded to me and unfolded her arms. "But still, they would've attacked us if they saw us in their territory. I'm not sure why they're still hiding up to this point."

  "...Indeed..." Jir nodded in agreement.

  "Ah, there you guys are!" I heard a familiar voice. It seemed like someone from our group.

  I looked back and saw Emily jogging towards us with David and Riley behind her. There were a few more soldiers there as well following them. Maybe four or five of them in total.

  No, it was five now that I recounted them inside my head.

  At any rate, Emily slowed down and adjusted the helmet that she had been wearing for some time now. She coughed into her fist then smiled at us.

  "Emily, from the soldier division, ready to report!" Emily did a salute.

  "Sup," David gave a head nod as casually as if it were the most normal thing ever.

  "How are you guys doing?" Riley waved at us with a warm smile.

  "I can see who's studying their roles and who doesn't..." Jir gave a small sigh then smiled at the group of soldiers.

  "Now, now..." I raised both of my hands to reassure Jir since I was sure she wasn't used to soldiers not following procedures.

  "How's the search going, Emily?" Kuma pced her hands in her jacket.

  "Pretty okay, to say, at least. Though I'm very surprised that there's barely any creatures running about. Sure, there are a few that did give us a hard time, but it was in a group of twos." Emily pced her hands in front of her. Emily then scratched the side of her cheeks with a small blush. "Though, I'm sort of gd that it's like that. Even if they're not monster level, seeing those things gives me the creeps, you know?"

  Emily's expression changed to despair as she leaned forward, her back showing a bit.

  "No, I can't lie to you all. I was kinda scared that they might attack us in a lot more groups. I was afraid that I might die out here tonight if my luck turns to crap, ehehe...."

  "That's perfectly normal." Kuma walked forward a bit and then patted Emily's back.

  "I would've been shocked if you weren't scared at all, Emily." Jir ughed.

  "So you're saying that there are only a few creatures that will attack, huh. That's something..." I muttered...

  Of course, I already knew this.

  So in the end, it's a dunch, huh...

  I deeply sighed and heard the others giggling.

  "Well, then! Shall we call it quits and head home?!" Emily said cheerfully. It was probably due to the fact that there was nothing going on around here.

  "We supernaturals can't, remember? But sure, let's regroup and guide the soldiers to the portal." Jir started to walk ahead of us and head in the direction of the building that was our campsite. "Tch! How boring! Oh well! At least I can see my bro again!" David slowly followed behind Jir with his hands behind his head.

  "You don't have to sound excited now..." Riley shook her head and followed suit.

  "Yay! I can finally head home and take a shower!" Emily beamed with a cute blush.

  "Hehe!" Kuma giggled and followed Emily's lead-

  Or, so I thought.

  "Eh?!" Kuma's eyes widened in fear.

  Stomp!

  Swing!

  Before even expining herself, Kuma smoothly turned around in the opposite direction and, with a heavy foot, stomped the dirt ground. Kuma was facing me now. Her bde was summoned as well. Huh? I wondered what was wrong-

  "What the?!" Jir did the same as Kuma. Summoning her two staffs and staring in my direction.

  What's going on-?

  "TAO!!!!" Riley shouted while running towards me with David as well.

  Whoosh!

  Ah.

  I couldn't even breathe out that simple word. It ended up like an afterthought.

  A blow...

  A shiver.

  No.

  It was more than that. It was more than a shiver, but a whole body temperature lowering. But how could that be? I was wearing my Super Code now-

  Stab!

  "Ah..." I whispered softly.

  Drip. Drop. Drip.

  Like petals of water falling from the sky on a rainy day.

  Wet.

  Warm.

  Comfortable.

  Yet.

  I knew for certain it wasn't raining right now. So why did my clothes feel wet? I slowly looked down and saw some melting flesh had stabbed through my stomach.

  One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

  Five cws that showed rotten bones, as I could smell its flesh from here. Its flesh was dripping alongside what I knew was my red blood. My vision... began to blur....

  "W-w-whaat...?" I whispered as I tried to reach out and touch its cw...

  "Tao! No!!!" Riley screamed as I could see the shadows of my friends coming closer and closer.

  Thrust!

  "Arghh!!!!" I felt my back bend as I could feel the thrust from that thing deepen inside my body.

  Ah. I see.

  I had been duped from the beginning. We had all been tricked...

  "DDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNN IIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  I heard that scream... the scream from David... before my vision... bckened...