All he and everyone else wanted to see was the other side of Vox’s head. The part that used to be on the floor and covered in the blood.Now that his friends had helped him sit up, everyone who was at the right angle could see what the condition of that part of Vox’s head was.With the amount of blood that had leaked from his body, if the wound was on that side of his head then it could only be seen as a miracle that he wasn’t dead yet.Emphasis on yet.“So all that blood is from his mouth and not a broken skull. That’s good.” Centshuu commented.After confirming, Centshuu smirked and looked at Avery.“See that, Ave. The bastard is fine— well, as fine as he can be after that punch. It could have been worse but the thing to note is that it isn’t so you’re good. Nobody died and you’re not a murderer so chill” Centshuu said.After seeing that Vox was alive and also hearing Centshuu’s words of reassurance, Avery finally calmed down.“You see. Don’t go getting carried away again and most i
(“Crystal? What crystal is he talking about? And Foci? What the hell is that supposed to be? Is it like a title or something?”) Avery asked himself and then placed his hand on his chin.(“Hmm, does the Crystal he was talking about have anything to do with the gemstone on my forehead? But wait, Shieve also talked about crushing crystal so it should be something different from the gem on my forehead, right? Speaking of gemstones, I wonder what this thing on my forehead is all about. I think I remember a time I didn’t have it so when did it get stuck on my head and why can’t I pull it off?”) Avery asked himself as from underneath his hair he pulled on the gemstone on his forehead.It didn’t budge.He stopped messing with the jewelry when he looked at Vox and his friends being carried out of the premises by Centshuu, Ripply, Kove, Mosey, and then Shieve who was only confident because Avery had physically and mentally crippled them.Vox was trying to say something but Centshuu who was the
{Breaking news! My name is Roland Knight with The Bull's Horn News and I bring you report on yet another case of the alarming, Shadow Loss Fever. This marks the eighth case in the last month of this mysterious outbreak and our victim this time goes by the name of Alexander Mark. Mr. Mark is a veteran military general from the town of Star-Crest, where this report is being made, and sadly, he now joins a lineup of personnel who suffer from the dreadful Shadow Loss Fever, a strange phenomenon where one's shadow just ups and vani—}"Yeah right… Another day another dreadful story on the TV. I wonder if there's ever going to be something interesting that'll make me stop thinking about how shitty this place is" Said Avery Reed, rolling his eyes as he put the TV on mute.Avery was manning the counter of a convenience store where he works full time.["I don't know, Ave. Star-Crest is the neighboring town from ours so I'm not sure how to feel about an outbreak being so close. Maybe you should
A vein on the gang leader's forehead popped and throbbed."Bastard!" The gang leader swung far back with his bat and was about to strike Avery when one of his men leaned closer to his ear to say something."Hey boss, I think there's something you should know," said the gang member, causing the leader to halt his impending strike."What?!" The leader of the gang glared down at his follower and asked aggressively.The gang member whispered "Boss, you know how interested I am in the combat sports scene, so much so that I know strong hitters that aren't even in the mainstream yet—""So?! Get to the fucking point or I'll take out my frustration on you next after treating this loser's fuck up!" said the leader of the gang angrily."Sure boss. Well, what I'm trying to say is that there was a very promising young blood in the boxing scene that was projected to be the next world best if his career continued the way it was supposed to. Unfortunately, life happened and his career came to an earl
Although mentally frozen as a result of the shocking turn of events, Avery's years of boxing training kicked in and like somebody whose limbs had been taken captive by an attachment of puppet strings, his body acted on its own.With lightning-fast reflexes, Avery's arms swung over his head and then further behind, using the momentum to lean backward into a limbo-like position. To maintain balance so as not to fall over, his left hand grabbed onto the door frame while his right hand supported his weight on the floor, effectively keeping his upper body parallel to it.It was after his body had gotten in this position on its own, being low enough to see his sister's disfigured body diving over him and not being able to touch a single piece of fabric on his skin or hair on his head that Avery came back to his senses.Cassandra landed a few meters away in the living room and Avery who still couldn't make sense of what was going on quickly flashed back to what he saw whilst in limbo underne
Cassandra made more incoherent sounds which although had no actual grammatical meaning, it was obvious that she was longing to be reunited with her shadow, and with the way the shadow gradually glided back to both her and Avery on the ground, it was clear that it wanted the same thing, to return to its owner.Seeing this unbelievable scenario unfold right in front of his eyes, Avery still couldn't allow himself to believe that any of this was happening.Just like with the news of the Shadow Loss Fever, he has always been someone with a cynical mindset, and that very crude way of thinking was now his coping mechanism in dealing with such an outlandish situation he found himself.For a second after Cassandra's shadow started gliding towards them, Avery thought that maybe one of the gangsters from the convenience store had hit him in the head so hard that he was now suffering from a concussion.'Am I lying on the floor somewhere in the convenience store, bleeding out from a head injury?'
The hooded figure stood upright, a sense of triumph in his demeanor as he placed his right foot firmly on Avery's chest. He applied an increasing pressure, watching Avery's struggles for breath intensify as the ominous symptoms of the Shadow Loss Fever began to take hold of his body.Avery's once familiar grayish-blue irises were rapidly changing as the sclera, the white part of his eyes, started to vanish. His pupils dilated beyond normal boundaries, expanding to consume his irises entirely. Within minutes, his eyes would mirror those of his sister and the other victims of the Shadow Loss Fever – utterly black.His skin grew progressively paler with each passing second, while internally, he felt his very sense of self slipping away. Yet, amid these disorienting physical transformations, Avery remained resolute in his newfound singular focus – reuniting with his shadow confined within the canister and liberating Cassandra from her affliction."MarROW PuLSe aRRange SeVEN SeVENTh ToNe,"
The previously hooded figure ignored Avery's hate-filled words and instead tried to pull the canister away from him. From his body language, even he had gotten desperate and couldn't care less for Avery right now.All he wanted was his device back but Avery who was equally as and maybe even more desperate resisted.The previously hooded figure's grip was weaker than usual but still strong enough considering the damage he sustained from the fall. On the other hand, Avery's fingers which lackadaisically followed the instructions sent by his brain were losing in the contest of grip strength."F-fucking let free!" Avery exclaimed with bullets of saliva shooting out his mouth, his sentences getting harder to construct properly as the Shadow Loss Fever was doing more and more damage to his body.To be able to contend, Avery quickly tried using his other hand to assist but the previously hooded figure wasn't just going to allow that.With his other hand, the previously hooded figure raised it