2025-02-25 09:21:47Haruto walked out of his apartment and left the building.
His apartment was near the main road, so the constant blowing of horns was deafening . But of course, it was something that shouldn't be taken away, it added liveliness to the city in it's own way. The moment he left the building, a feeling gripped him, one that caged his soul. It was fear!. (Indistinct Whispers). He could hear them, the whispers, it was louder than any other thing. He couldn't actually pick what it was saying. He could just hear it. He stopped and looked back. He could hear his heartbeat, it was loud and though it wasn't that fast, it was pacing up. Seeing only the bustling street and nothing out of the ordinary, he concluded he was just afraid as a result of the series of events that had happened to him lately. Sigh… He resumed his advance. After a while, Gasp!! He halted abruptly and glanced behind him, his pulse racing. What was that just now?!! His heartbeat quickened. He started to walk briskly, he had actually felt it, a big, giant pair of eyes. He felt devoured in front of it. He walked faster. Bang! “Hey mind the glasses, you might break them” the security complained. “I'm sorry,” mumbled Haruto. Though the restaurant was etched into other buildings, the part that faced the road was made of glass, including the doors. ‘What happened to wood?!’ Haruto sulked. He took a seat at an empty table. Phew! The feeling had disappeared, as if it never existed. A waiter soon approached him. “What would you like to have today sir?” asked the waiter. “I just need a plate of ramen,” replied Haruto, his voice trembling. “Okay sir” the waiter, straining his movements in hopes to learn what made the young man nervous, left to bring his orders. He withdrew a card from his pocket.. He stared at it in awe. It was called a GFC—General Fund Card. It was strange as far as he was concerned. How could everyone's funds be accessed by some random card?. You could literally pay for anything anywhere in Japan, all you had to do was insert it into their ATM—Automatic Teller Machine and input your pin. The one he held currently was for Haruto. Back in his world, they were still even using cowries occasionally. Not that it was that ancient, they couldn't just drop the act. He stole a fast glance up and back at the card. Wait a minute!. Haruto looked up again. Geez! Fear gripped him. Haruto jolted back abruptly, almost falling from his chair. “Who the hell are you?! And when did you get here?!” Haruto stared at the two new visitors opposite him angrily. ‘How did they sit so composed without me noticing?’ There was a man. More like a youngster in his 20s. He had red hair, crimson eyeballs, and had a straight look. Then there was a kid Haruto suspected to be years younger than Touma. The kid had long purple hair, was very small, had purple eyeballs and emitted no expression at all. Haruto couldn't even tell the kid's gender. He looked so much like a girl but gave off a boyish feeling. Both wore a dress style that Sal found to be so stunning. It was exactly like the NYSC uniform he had seen in a picture of blacks from Nigeria, Africa, in his former world, only the jacket and trousers was army colour this time and it looked a lot smaller on the kid's body. The man quickly broke the tension between them and cut straight to the chase. “I'm Sato Kentaro, a member of the Tokyo Secret Combat force and beside me here is my colleague, Hoshino Nagisa.” said the young man, completely ignoring his initial reaction. “Secret Combat force?” Haruto repeated. He had not heard of them before. He had studied all of Tokyo's military information back when he aspired to be one of them. “Yes” replied Kentaro. “To what then, do I owe this visit?” asked Haruto. He had searched all his memory, but he still couldn't find any information on the secret Combat force. It was like they never actually existed. He was becoming more weary of them. “The train incident” The moment Kentaro mentioned it, Haruto froze, a wave of panic surged through him. “I didn't do anything, I swear!” he blurted out. Droplets of sweat found their way on his forehead. “Oh! We believe you” Kentaro smiled. “But we have two requests of you” “What is it?” asked Haruto. “One of them is for you to take us back to the scene,” Kentaro smiled. Haruto frowned, “Everything is debris, what could you possibly find there?” “Not now Haruto” Kentaro smiled widened even more. “To before it happened” Kentaro's cold voice condensed into a whisper and sinked into Haruto's mind. He felt like he was staring at a mad beast. However, the feeling soon vanished. “How is that even possible?” Haruto's voice trembled. He was now more weary of the two individuals opposite him. He felt like they weren't just normal humans like everyone else. They were something different. “Well that's where Nagisa comes in” Kentaro rested his back on the chair. “All you have to do is accept” “Why are you investigating it? Does she….” Haruto suddenly paused. The sweat on his forehead increased a manifold to the point of creating a soaked collar for him. He felt a pair of eyes peering directly into his soul. And it looked like any little mistake would cost him his life. “D…does he h…have any powers? I….I mean that can't be possible right?” He's a boy!. Haruto had heard the voice in his mind. Even though it was for a brief moment, he understood the message it was trying to pass across. He's like a slumbering beast. Haruto stared at the boy with fear. He wondered just what kind of world he was in. Kentaro smiled. “There's a lot of things in this world you don't understand Haruto” Haruto suddenly frowned. “And what if I refuse?” “Does it seem like you have a choice?” Kentaro smiled mischievously. What did I get myself into? How did it come to this? Haruto squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. “Fine! get it over with” replied Haruto. Kentaro smiled. “Do your thing” he gestured to Nagisa. Nagisa nodded. Like from before, only stronger, Haruto felt two large eyes directly look into his soul. A repulsive shock vibrated through his whole being in an instant. The sense of death lingered, thick as the buried root of a tree. Suddenly, Haruto saw his whole vision turn green, red, yellow and blue all mixed into one. The world started to overlap and everything seemed to be inverted and continued to. Soon, voices faded and his vision slowly greyed out. His vision darkened. **** Birds chirped. And the long train cheerfully made its way on its track amidst a forest path. The morning was bright and everything was lively. Haruto sat forward in the train, and let his hair fall forward also. Maintaining the stance because he was feeling a little discomfort from people's belongings placed above him. “Young man, you seem to have fallen into the rat race” an old man beside Haruto said, noticing the impatience in his face. “Why have you woken up so early? Aren't you supposed to be in your bed or going early to school instead, where's your uniform?” asked the old man curiously. At least he wasn't wrong, the skies were still dark, indicating the early hours of the morning. Probably around 6:00 AM to be precise. Haruto sighed. “I work at a company as a delivery man in Okinawa and get paid peanuts to pay rent and feed my family. This is the hundred and oneth time I'm saying this grandpa, I don't think the meds are working, I'll take you to another hospital” said Haruto in frustration. The old man rubbed his head in realization. All of a sudden… A deafening explosion rang out. Causing the moving train to jolt slightly. Haruto sprung up from his seat. “What's wrong?” asked Haruto, from the people around him but got no answers as they had also been thrown into a State of panic and couldn't access the situation properly. BOOM!!! Another explosion rang out. This time, the whole train trembled violently. And slowly, everything turned…upside down? What is this heat? The train, it's turning, like it's falling to the rock bottom of something. We're off the tracks!!! He could see some of the passengers were already injured. And they didn't stop being injured. Agonizing screams spread through the whole train, Haruto included. It was continuous, Haruto hit his head almost everywhere around him. But, suddenly… Argh! A sound rung in his ear, like the tiny one that resounded through the speakers when the sound wasn't right. It continued, like a blown fuse. “Argh!” Haruto groaned. The train had suddenly turned and he hit his head on a sharp metal. Blood oozed. His vision darkened. **** Gradually, Haruto spiralled into reality and his vision became normal. He was speechless. He could see his earlier visitors still seated ahead of him. His face was full of questions. “Like I said, there's a lot of things you don't understand. But one thing you should know, as the only survivor on that train, you're targeted. Find us before it's too late.” Kentaro stood up to leave. “Wait!” Haruto called out, halting their tracks. Haruto furrowed his brows, he was already sweating profusely. “How'd he do that?” “If you want to know more, come find us, go to Yamiichi,” replied Kentaro. He knew the place. It was a casino for scumbags to be precise, it was located in the DREGS. He hated that place, not that he did, it wasn't a place that regular folks should be found. Most people never come back if they didn't at least have someone they knew there. All of the dealings there were shady. “What about the second request?” asked Haruto. “We'll talk about it when you find us” said Kentaro, he left with Nagisa and disappeared like they never even came in the first place. Haruto was dazed. “Sir, here is your order” the waiter arrived with the ramen beside Haruto. Haruto looked at him for a moment before crying out, “What took you so long?!” The waiter stared at Haruto with a blank look. “What do you mean sir? I just left a while ago” A while ago?. Meaning…. It …. All happened in the blink of an eye?. “Sir, how are you sweating? There are five air-conditioners in this restaurant. “Did you see two individuals, one with red hair and the other with purple?” asked Haruto, he felt like he was on the brink of madness right now. The waiter looked at Haruto, completely devoid and confused about what the man was saying. “What are you talking about sir?” Is he mad? “Thank you” Haruto quickly collected the point of sales machine from him, inserted his card and input his pin and paid for the food, leaving a confused waiter with a tray containing food utterly speechless and dazed.
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Chapter 32: Maybe You're Right.
Since Haruto was done with the system, there was only one thing left to do. The chorus of a thousand steps. Back when he had first used it, he had almost broken his entire spinal cord. The technique was a very complex one. It was for humans to practice at all. An attempt would result in brink to death situations. But, Haruto couldn't care less. He could always heal himself. Besides, not that he was the same with every other human anyways. Like the technique’s name implied, It was the chorus of each step that formed a thousand. Each step however, could only be made by a series of dances of it won't count as a step at all. That was why the technique was boundless. Each set of dances was as complex as mathematics. Remembering himself trying to solve differentiation and integration in his former life, he grimaced. ‘That was really hard for me’ In each dance set, one would have twisted limbs and crazy angles, twisted the back at specific angles. Beca
Chapter 31: HollowWraith
“What do the chitin walls look like?” Haruto, making a taciturn expression, looked ahead into the smoke and bones. The dwarf dropped his book. “It was built by the spire lord himself, it's made of countless nightmare meat and bones. Haruto shivered. ‘How ruthless’ He couldn't imagine how harrowing the walls would look. Shifting ever so lightly, he turned to look at the darkness behind them, then back at the space ahead. Then, he dusted a bit of ashen sand of his tunic, then he said: “Think we'll make it?” The dwarf looked ahead into the smoke too and shook his head in doubt. “Probably” After a moment or two, he added: “If we don't encounter an Undead Commander we might just make it.” Haruto furrowed his brows. “Undead Commander?” The dwarf shifted, as if uncomfortable in his current position. Then, he explained: “In the Hollow Spire, Undead creatures had ranks, the first one were Graveborns. They were always found outsi
Chapter 30: Quantum Malevolence
The thousand piercing punctures was a passive skill. It demanded piercing objects which would be used to pierce the victim at specific locations on the body. And guiding essence…or mana in Haruto's case through the piercing objects, one could circulate that mana through the orifices to wherever the victim was affected in the body and heal it. The only hindrance to this rule was the quality of objects used, one could not just use any. But something like a relic, one injected with essence or any other supernatural element. Which in Haruto's case, was mana. Normally, people who mastered this skill, according to Haruto's guess, would have to carry something like needles around every time. But, wouldn't it be stressful to carry needles around all the time? That was what Haruto thought. More so, the thought of being stabbed by the needles in the pocket wasn't a pleasant one. So, one had to improvise. ‘Not that I even have pockets now’ Unlike other sentinels, he had t
Chapter 29: A Mad God's Painting
Now that Haruto was severely wounded, walking that was so hard already, in the unending darkness of the harrowing shore suddenly felt much harder. The dwarf would've helped but the damn creature was just too short. Besides, crouching was the last thing he wanted to do right now. For fear of breaking his already aching back. After all, this body was weak and couldn't withstand so much as he had done in one night. He could've stopped to rest. But that only meant death for the both of them. It was a huge gamble, but they just kept going north in hopes of getting so far away from the reaches of the black sea before the songs began. Gods! They could've been going sideways. But, trying was better than sitting down and doing nothing. Turns out their gamble was right. The dwarf smiled excitedly: “Look! Light” Sure enough, as they moved, the darkness started to dissipate, and dissipate, and dissipate. Until it was no more. Then there was light. A l
Chapter 28: A Short Battle With The Night
Even wild beasts needed rest after running for hours. They were soon surrounded by pitch black, eerie darkness again. Haruto could see just fine, but the dwarf had lost his ability to see again. Both of them stood panting heavily with dry raspy gasps. They were out of breath, their stamina reserves had run dry. Of course that was to be expected, since they'd run for…who actually knew how long? Haruto's guess was 20 minutes. But… ‘Curses’ Stopping. They couldn't stop, they just couldn't. The sea would sing soon. Even at this distance, after seeing the sea himself, he felt like he was never going to get out of its reach. ‘Damn it!’ Swallowing hard, Haruto looked at the dwarf and said lowly: “We can't stop” The dwarf nodded. They wanted to continue running, as they'd before they stopped. But something halted them. The shadows suddenly moved. Jagged spikes, miry obsidian filled empty sockets in place of eyeballs, and four long limbs that ended with
Chapter 27: A Crazy Plan Begets A Befitting Reward
They were silent, and shivering, consumed by fear. Both Haruto and the dwarf. Staring back at the deep black night, immensely tenebrous, miry of deep obsidian. It eclipsed their vision, the dwarf the most. All they could do was stare back at the unwavering gaze of the night. The dwarf was holding a piece of properly tied grass in his hands, with all the might he had left in his joints. Turning his head ever so lightly and robotically, not daring to shift his gaze from the night. Haruto wanted to ask, but he thought better of it and stared back ahead. “Rowan Twig” The dwarf whispered. Haruto twisted his head again, and said, almost silently. “What?” “The women from our village, fetish as they are, say it invokes the spirit of the Rowan god. Chases away evil spirits. They swore to it.” Said the dwarf with a shaky voice. Haruto turned sharply, receiving a corresponding jolt of pain from his hind leg as a result. He groaned in pain. “Shh, keep it l
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