The chapter starts with a man running with a sword in his left hand. As he is yet to face a monster, packed with sharp bones sticking to its arms, and standing as tall as 7 feet- just above human height.
The man starts to sprint further to his limits- when he is already reaching his desired distance from the monster. Then, he gathers appropriate strength by recoiling his sword- bringing it to the end of his waist while still holding it. And when he has already gotten close to the monster, he uses all of his adrenaline to slash the monster's hand. But in the ultimate turn, the monster sees it, as it has a mind of its own. Therefore, the man only slashes its skin.
"What?!"
The man was perplexed, as he was so sure he could cut it with a single strike.
Since the monster had a mind of its own, it dashed back and observed the man's condition.
The monster saw several upcoming bruises on its right arm, and a couple of almost-severe cuts across his body. Though blood is an essential part of the human body, the man had probably already been enchanted or tended to by someone.
"Come here!"
They both heard the scream of a female student to their west. It was the kind of scream that could automatically be translated as someone helping others to escape.
The monster quickly reacted to get there faster than the man with the sword.
It jumps through one of the windows and used it as leverage to reach the roof. As it was considered by many a non-nuisance. Because of that, the man did not resist anymore and instead asked the person behind him, who was crawling backward- though in a momentary pause.
"Are you okay?"
A male student, wearing a tattered robe, had a small silver pin. He was a second-year student of the Augury, to be exact.
The male student nods, and asks.
"You are that- Michel, Elias' right?"
"Why? You know me?"
Elias immediately dropped his guard as he began to wonder, and tilts his head.
"We- I mean. People in the 2nd years talks about your almost-getting into an expel action."
The students tells with some-coarse to his verse.
"Can you stand up first?"
The student immediately assumed a defensive form while still on the ground.
And when Elias saw it, he almost dropped his lips. He started to act like a goody two-shoes, but the "goody" was left somewhere and replaced with the word "goofy." Yet Elias only scratched his forehead, his eyes closed.
"I'm not gonna hit you."
Elias drops his shoulder and sheaths his sword that looks like it came from one of the guard-statues. And the male student admired his posture while Elias on the other hand looking at their surroundings.
Elias took a deep breath and fixed the position of the sword at his waist. Then he faced the man again, who was about to take a defensive stance once more.
"I told you. I'm not gonna hit you..."
The male student drops his arms. It made Elias take a sigh.
"Are you one of the people who need a helping hand first before taking the initiative to stand up and get to the nearest safe place in the school, when there is an ongoing siege of monsters that pop up out of nowhere in the sky? Are you one of them?"
Elias's speech- while extending his lending hand, made them both stare into each other's soul.
Truly awkward moment for Elias.
>I hate helping people like this. -Elias's thoughts.
Elias will remember this moment.
Soon, the male student reaches for Elias's hand and asks a question.
"Can I ask where can I hide firsthand? The safest one please."
Elias looks at him with a side-eye and a one-sided drop of his lips.
"I thought you don't have a trust on me?"
"I was only askin-."
Suddenly, a loud noise came from a roof, just next to them.
It was a noise that follows a loud and irritating scream, that also soon getsstop with a blinding light.
"Ahhhh! Incoming!"
The male student quickly covers his ears.
The light shrinks above them and immediately made a sound similar to a whistle.
It was like a dim glow- but this one was intermediate and swallowed the sounds nearby. It made the male student question it.
"What?"
Both of them looked above, but the male student was in a dropped guard. Elias, on the other hand, was already in a stance- ready either to draw or move quickly if anything appeared before them.
"DIEEEEEEE!"
The shout came from a male student in the roof, the one who casted the magic.
Nothing came afterward, but Elias and the male student witnessed four monsters running away from the scene. Then, a massive ray of energy blasted them, pulverizing the monsters.
They witnessed it both, and made them taken aback.
"No way that's real."
"I hope not... Hey! Before we get ourselves get killed accidentally. Can I now ask properly where is the safest place?"
Elias coughs a bit before answering him, then placed his right hand on the hilt of the sword
"Do you know where the library is, right?"
"The Archives? But I thought that place has already been plague from the start with monsters."
"Yes."
Before continuing, Elias gets interrupted.
"Are you getting myself killed?!"
The male student pointed himself.
"Of course not! You dumb hell lookin-like a beaver with circular glasses."
"How can you say that to me?!"
"I mean you look like one so-."
"Hu--"
"JUST LISTEN TO ME FIRST, WILL YOU!?"
Elias was mad- as heck.
So then, the male student began to listen diligently as Elias explained to him how to get there safely.
"Since we are outside of the Arts and Technique Studies Building. You can take this window next to us right now, and immediately find the corridor that leads to another building that connects all of the building."
"How can you be so sure it is safe?"
The question made Elias take another sighing breath, but he only showed a disappointed mouth and tired eyes.
"Can you not handle yourself?"
Elias asks.
"Yes."
But the male student only answered with a straight face.
Amidst their conversation, they both heard a window that've been shattered- along with Elias's sanity.
"Then what the hell are you if you cannot handle yourself?"
"I don't know... Probably a 2nd year student of Curing and Factual Studies."
They had yet to hear another boom, but the sound was too far off to scare them away- only enough to make them wary of it.
"You know what. I'll just come with you 2nd year student of Curing and Factual Studies."
After that, both of them had already jumped inside the building beside them.
As soon as they entered, they encountered several bodies along the corridor- waving at them as if they were still alive. But no… they only felt a nightmare as they ran past them.
Some bodies had once clung to a clean carpet- now curled and painted red. Others lay against the wall, clutching whatever they could to escape or defend themselves. To an extent, some of them were only first-year students. As expected, they were the ones least able to withstand such dreaded scenarios.
The male student along, pitied them.
"I wish they were taught early, with the ways of the wild."
Elias ran in front, warily- never taking a moment to step back.
"I wish so too that they've taught them first with blessed enchantment, but you cannot hold it safely or cast it- if you have a weak body."
"Why?"
"A paladin or a holy knight should strengthen their selves first physically, before holding such power- like a god's grace, along with their own force..."
"Ahhh."
The male student let out a sound, as if pretending to understand.
"You did not understand it, hmm?.. To be explicit, a human body should expand its limits first by using the three forces- if I remember correctly. One is the innate ability to swing your body. Two is the practice of releasing grief and doubt. And lastly, three is the aptitude for harmony between yourself and the nature that surrounds everyone. It is like singing and dancing within the palms of the raging wind, instead of succumbing to the deadly storm."
"Oh yeahh." The male student still not understand it. "That sure is so different with my building."
Elias makes another sigh when he looks at him.
.
Soon, Elias asked his name when they encountered a couple of monsters along the way. They hid behind a supporting pillar before anything could catch sight of them.
"Why are you asking me that now?.. Fine, my name is Christopher."
They whispered like a small, lost wind, as they should. They are also peeking their way in, searching for how to get past.
"Now now, Christoph. I'll tell you our plan... I'm sure you can already pray right? Like asking for a god's grace."
"Yes I can pretty much do so. Why? What's your plan?"
"Great."
Elias faced him and pointed toward the corridor they had already passed. His fingers turned to the left and slowly traced further to the end as he explained his plan to Christopher.
"Anyone you know that can give you the power of producing light. Pray for them or ask them to grant you an ability to summon a blinding light."
"Are you seriously gonna defeat 3- no 5 of them?"
Elias only close his eyes and wonders.
>This fudge thinks I'm a one-man army, hell no.
Elias soon answers.
"You're going to misdirect them so they won't see us hiding here. You will ask anyone above- or wherever they are from- to grant you the power to summon a light so bright it will bounce off the walls, like a blinding flare. You get it?"
Luckily and unluckily, they suddenly heard a loud boom from one of the rooms in the corridor. It came from the far third room: Room 123.
Christopher panickingly.
"They are barging tha-"
"STAY AWAY!"
A shout covers Christopher's tone.
"There are people?!"
Christopher quickly follows the plan and immediately sat in a solemn. Yet even with their preparation and readiness, both Elias and Christopher were afraid of being hurt- and of dying at the end of it all.
Christopher gathered his inner thoughts as Elias took a gulp and unsheathed his sword silently- yet swiftly. Soon after, Christopher was already muttering his prayers, while Elias glanced back and forth.
The monsters were already on the brink of breaching the large door in front of them. But it was still locked from the inside by an unknown number of students.
Then, the monsters began to understand how to get in. One of them let out a shriek, halting the three that were clawing at the door, while another seemed oblivious. The shrieking monster kicked one of them away from the door.
The monster that was kicked shrieked back once it regained its footing. Meanwhile, the one who had kicked it already had an idea in mind- as its shriek was meant as an order.
It crouched lightly, like a frog, bracing its arms to build maximum momentum and speed before barging forward. Yet, despite its cunning, it rammed the door with its head, only to suffer a concussion and shake its head in pain.
Soon after, another monster followed the same plan. But instead of striking with its head, it slammed the door with its left arm. And in that moment, it was successful.
One by one, and getting together every push... Christopher already finishes his muttering.
"~whose gazes pierces the veil of night. Binding Light~"
And ended his prayer with a silent clap.
Elias turn his gaze on him, waiting for a miracle to happen. And then- it was immediately been answered… Elias turned around again, as several lights appeared before the eyes of the five monsters.
A light that resembled a shining star, its countless spikes hidden within, yet gleaming like a starry gem. The monsters reached out to touch it, intending to break it- as if it were a brittle case holding fireflies. But when the tips of their skin met the glass-like texture, the monster in front failed to realize how swiftly it would encompass its companions.
The monster stepped back, but it was already too late. Its earlier touch had sealed its fate, and now it noticed its accomplices caught as well.
The glass-like light bound the monster faster than anything else. Elias and Christopher could only gape in awe at what the gods had placed into their trembling, sweaty palms
Elias thought.
>I only said blind them, not bind them, and... kill them as well!
The light did not stop immediately after binding the five monsters; it bounced its rays against the walls and spread further, ensuring they were all destroyed.
Christopher stood with knees trembling, while Elias followed- his expression already stern. Yet when Elias looked at Christopher again, he offered him a silent compliment within.
>This guy is nuts...