When Andrew saw the enormous purple arm approaching, he knew it was about to pierce him. His instinct kicked in, and he grabbed Ariel's violin to protect himself. Andrew tried to use it as a shield to defend himself from the attack, which, of course, pierced it with ease.
The creature pierced the violin and it exploded with a deafening melody. Ariel's accumulated power had been imbued in the essence of the violin, causing this explosion. Then this essence was pushed into Andrew's sternum by the creature's disgusting arm.
Andrew screamed in intense pain. First, he had been pierced by the enormous arm, and now the musical energy of the violin was seeping into him. Obviously, the musical energy completely rejected Andrew. Andrew was just a tone-deaf person. He was incompatible with music. Music itself hated Andrew.
Andrew screamed from the intense pain that shot through his body like lightning. He grabbed the violin bow and, using all his strength, stabbed it into the creature's arm. Normally, this would not have worked at all against a creature of disaster rank, but now, all parts of the violin vibrated charged by Ariel's essence, allowing it to damage the monster.
The humanoid creature growled so loudly that the large green leaves of the nearby trees were torn off by the force of the wind. Andrew screamed in immense pain, even his amber eyes turning completely white from the pressure exerted by the monster's melody.
It was too much for someone who was voiceless. Anyone else would have died. Why was Andrew still alive? He just wanted to die. This was too much for him.
The creature was filled with rage, grabbed Andrew's head with its other arm, and began to squeeze. Andrew screamed in immense pain as the musical energy flowed through his body, causing him even more damage. Andrew's mind just wanted it all to end. But Andrew's body wouldn't give up; it didn't want it to end, not yet.
Although Andrew wanted to die and end it all, something inside him wanted to get out of there alive. Something inside him screamed to survive.
Andrew squeezed his sternum, trying to break free from the grip, but it was obviously a futile and illogical attempt with his human strength. Andrew opened his mouth as wide as he could and bit the creature's left arm with all his strength. His teeth were about to break from the pressure and his jaw threatened to snap, his eyes began to bleed from the pressure on his head.
And under so much pressure, his body did not give way. His body sought any source of strength; it just wanted to save itself. Andrew searched for any solution and decided to take drastic measures.
"1% is always better than 0%, right?"
Andrew pulled the bow from the creature's arm and stabbed it into his chest. The pain was unbearable, and Andrew was on the verge of fainting. If he let go of even a thousandth of his mind, he was sure he would faint. And with this completely illogical action, an immense amount of musical energy flooded Andrew's weak and battered body.
***
A huge dead tree stood in front of a whole dead world. The tree felt sad, as one of its many fruits fell again. This time, one of its most precious fruits broke off. The only and most precious emerald fruit it had left. The large fruit gave way from the huge branch and surrendered to the air.
***
Then, with a small click in his mind and spirit, his energy flow changed completely. Andrew felt as if something had changed deep within himself.
This flowing musical energy stopped destroying his body and began to flow slowly to his sternum. The musical energy surrounded the creature's arm and began to take the shape of a large pentagon. The pentagon vibrated with energy and expelled the creature's arm, sending it flying into the distant forest. Andrew fell to his knees, barely able to breathe. The musical energy lost its shape and began to spin on Andrew's sternum.
Andrew didn't understand what had happened. Why had the musical energy suddenly decided to respond to him?
It didn't matter, not now. What mattered was that it did.
Andrew tried to feel it, to go deeper, further. And suddenly all the music classes he had attended bore fruit. He felt every part of the musical energy vibrating and singing, he felt truly connected to the score. It felt as if that connection had always existed and had only been interrupted by something.
The musical energy flowed through his body, empowering him. Now Andrew was a Musician. He didn't even have a musical core, so he couldn't even be considered first rank. But he knew he was already in this.
The creature in the distance got up and lunged from the forest toward the large rock where Andrew was leaning. Andrew gasped for breath.
"I can do this. No, I must do this..."
Andrew concentrated his musical energy. It was very difficult to do without an instrument to play, but he still knew it was possible. He thought of the many attack songs he had learned at the academy when he was young. He tried to sing them, but they had no effect; his musical energy remained unmoved. It didn't respond to those typical songs. Something was wrong, and the creature was approaching quickly. Andrew's hands began to shake again, and a drop of sweat fell from his forehead.
"Come on, it works, please work."
Andrew looked ahead and saw that the humanoid creature was already a few meters away from him. Andrew raised his hands and a squeak like that of a little girl came out of his throat.
Andrew put his hands out in front of him, and just as he was about to be hurt, his musical energy flowed into his arms and a green pentagon formed in Andrew's hands. The melody creature collided with the pentagon and a really annoying noise filled the place. Andrew grimaced in disgust at the noise.
Looking ahead, he saw the green pentagon spinning and keeping the creature's attack away from Andrew.
Andrew didn't understand what was happening. But when this happened, he felt his body become much weaker and more tired. His eyes narrowed, and in the distance, he heard a scream.
"Hang in there, soldier, just a little longer!"
It was the last thing Andrew heard before he fell to the ground, asleep.
***
Andrew opened his eyes and tried to get up suddenly. His body wouldn't let him, and he felt a pain that would make anyone scream. But this time, Andrew endured it. Andrew seemed to be in a hospital. The windows showed a beautiful landscape, clearly on Earth.
"I'm back alive!"
A small smile appeared on Andrew's lips, but it was quickly replaced by the memory of his squad. Ariel, Adele, Lucas, and the annoying Alexander. They all seemed to have fallen victim to that vile creature. This memory was not going to be easy for Andrew to digest.
"It was my fault..."
If only he had had these abilities before, he could have been of help. It was the thought that Andrew repeated over and over again.
"No."
It wouldn't have changed anything, and Andrew knew it.
And as he sank into his deep lamentations, the door to the room opened and three people entered, without even knocking or asking before coming in.
"Rude."
A woman wearing a fine fabric suit stood out in comparison to the two burly men; she simply felt like she was in a different class. Behind her, two men who seemed to be whispering followed her.
Andrew sat up in bed and looked at them with a frown.
"What is the reason for this visit?"
Andrew asked, trying to gain control. He was facing three commanders of the symphony, and these three were harmonious.
The two men ignored Andrew, but the woman looked him in the eye.
"I want details of the mission. Every detail of what happened there," said the commander, frowning.
"More? I told the rescue team everything, and they gave their report. Why should I say more?"
Andrew had told them everything that had happened on the mission without reservation, keeping nothing back except his new powers. He wanted to try to hide them for a while until he figured out how they worked.
"Look, I remind you that you are a phonic. And not just a normal phonic, but one who survived combat against a disaster-level melody creature."
Andrew tried to think of something, but there was simply nothing. She had reason to doubt him.
"I hope you understand what I mean. It doesn't seem logical to me that you're the only survivor."
Andrew remained silent. He had to be careful with every word he said; one false move and he could be in big trouble.
"It happened exactly as I told you. What more do you want from me?"
The woman looked into Andrew's eyes. Andrew could feel something tightening throughout his entire being, as if someone had taken his soul and was squeezing it.
Andrew was sure that this would really hurt if he were still hoarse. But at that precise moment, he wasn't. Andrew looked at the commander and a mischievous gleam lit up his lips. The commander frowned as if she noticed the change in Andrew. Andrew was definitely very different.
For the first time in his life, he felt confident.
"Something is definitely going on here. My instincts never fail me."
said the confident woman, trying to gain more control of the situation. The two looked each other in the eye without breaking eye contact. Andrew was scared, but he didn't want to admit it; he wanted to feel strong.
Interrupting this, one of the commander's lackeys spoke up.
"Ma'am, don't you think you're overreacting? He's just hoarse. A hoarse person couldn't have done much in that situation, maybe only the flute team made a mistake. Don't you think?"
The commander looked at her lackey, who seemed to tremble under her intense gaze.
The other man watched the situation somewhat nervously, even sweating.
"Curious..."
"Well, maybe you're right, Frederic. But it's clear that it had to be a big mistake, a very big one. Adele wouldn't have lost a fight if it weren't for that. I'm sure that Ariel ruined it."
said the commander, ending the situation. One of the two burly men approached Andrew and spoke to him closely.
"Excuse the commander, she's not usually so repressive, she's only like this because the girl who died was her disciple. Understand her, okay?"
The man returned to his companion and the two muscular men left the room, the commander following them, but not before giving Andrew another piercing look.
When everyone was out of the room and Andrew was sure he was alone,
Andrew sighed, releasing the tension that had built up in his body.
"That woman is pure fire..."
For some reason, this woman reminded him of Adele. But Andrew let the thought pass without dwelling on it. He didn't want to think about Adele and whether her death was his fault or not. He hated to keep racking his brains over it. Still, he knew that this expedition would remain etched in his mind forever.
Andrew got out of the bed in the infirmary and looked out the window in front of him. He was definitely on Earth. He was sure of it.
Now it was time to think about his incredible new abilities. As far as Andrew knew, he couldn't even be considered first rank yet, since he couldn't feel his musical core. In the books Andrew had read at the barsical academy and from the personal experiences of his classmates, everyone talked about how warm it felt to have a magical core.
So Andrew assumed he didn't have one. In fact, it made perfect sense to him, since he had been born voiceless, it would be absurd for his core to form in a matter of hours.
"Now the main question..."
Why had musical energy awakened in him?
According to the exhaustive research Andrew had done years ago, it was impossible to get musical energy if you were aophonic. It was illogical to try to get it. So how did Andrew do it? Andrew spent the whole day he had to spend in the hospital thinking about it. The doctors had recommended that he stay. Andrew had a theory that it had happened because of the presence of the disaster-level melody creature.
And, of course, the energy concentrated in Ariel's violin. It was obvious that it had something to do with it.
But Andrew shouldn't have awakened the musical energy. Logically, he should have died. But for some reason, his body decided to adapt instead of accepting death.
"Maybe i really have potential?»
Andrew had many doubts; he wanted to know how it had happened. He hated being left with big questions; he wanted to know how everything worked. But these questions would have to wait for another time; his stay in the hospital was over.
Andrew left the room wearing new clothes that the music headquarters had given him. He took the elevator down and when he reached the exit of the building, two men in suits were leaning against a luxury car. Andrew wasn't very knowledgeable about these, but it was as if it screamed its cost.
The two men looked at Andrew with frowns; they had come for him.
And Andrew knew it. These men would take him back to the symphony headquarters. From what Andrew had been told, he knew there were people who wanted to talk to him. The families of his colleagues wanted to hear firsthand what had happened. Also, from what he had heard, it seemed that he would be assigned to a new squad.
It was time to talk to the higher-ups