[ Haru's Point Of View ]

    Glancing beyond the window of the classroom I was in, my thoughts started to drift away from the lecture that I and the rest of the class were having. The sun was as bright as ever even when it was slowly sinking beyond the horizon. The sport field was empty with only a few pigeons occasionally stepping foot and then flying away immediately. It was an ordinary afternoon like any other. I was sitting at the back of the class, listening to the teacher's words as he scribbled letters on the board with a piece of chalk. My classmates—most of them were half asleep and some were taking notes. This had been my life since entering high school. 

    "Any questions?" Our teacher turned to us, tossing the chalk perfectly into his table. 

    The class denied in unison. 

    "Alright. Then the test will be tomorrow." he proceeded. Audible yawning and the plastic sole of the chairs screeching against the tiled floor filled the room as everyone prepared to get up. "Don't forget to review chapters five to eight. Dismiss." With that, he walked out of the room.

    I grabbed my bag and pushed myself up from my chair. "Yo, Haru." I felt a light tap on my shoulder as I heard Kazuki, my close friend, call my name. I casually turned my head towards him only to see his ever-enthusiastic face. "Let's head to the club together." 

    I nodded. Kazuki and I had been in the same club. These "clubs" weren't like the ones you would normally find in highschools. It consisted of a group of usually five to eight people who possessed abilities that complimented each other—hence, working perfectly as a team. If I were to choose a word to call it, the closest I could think of would be a "guild" or "party". Club work varied depending on the type of abilities the members possessed. Some specialized in labors such as building, demolishing, or other heavy industrial works, some clubs were specifically formed to be rescue teams or medics. And as for our club, we specialized in combat.

    After walking down the stairs and stepping out of the building, Kazuki and I transversed the campus towards the club fields. Students were scattered around the campus as everyone tended to be busy at this hour of the day. Quite surprising if I do say so myself that the whole day of academic work didn't drain all of their energy. 

    My ability was by no means exceptional, Kazuki wasn't any different. We had considered ourselves "average" in both ability and skills and society also labeled us as such. Not that I cared, but Kazuki had always been a passionate man. Even though he didn't deny the fact that his ability was far from strong, he still refused to give up his dream of becoming a Sentinel.

    "Hey, Haru." he uttered while walking. 

    I didn't feel like glancing at him so I just responded with a simple "What?"

    There was a short pause before he replied. "Do you think we'd get expeditions soon?" his usually energetic tone seemed to disappear.

    An expedition huh.. Kyoto High had programs for clubs called "expeditions" where the club members would be sent to missions related to their specialty. If they were to complete these expeditions, not only would the school pay them, they'd also receive credit points in their report cards which they can use when applying for Sentinel agencies. Ever since our club had been established, not a single expedition request had graced our mailbox.

    "Maybe the school hasn't recognized us yet." my short reply. "Let's just work on training for now."

    He let out a sigh. "But it's been six months." he said. I silently hoped that he wouldn't randomly throw a tantrum. "I wanna test my skills in real missions."

    "Well, it would be nice. But as we are now, we wouldn't survive even Code Yellow expeditions."

    He replied with silence. Did I just ruin the mood? I was just stating facts.

    We continued to walk towards the training field when suddenly, a disturbingly loud explosion was heard. The world seemed to stop, every single one of the students present in the area turned their heads towards the sound. In this day and age, monster appearances were considered common and the procedures in dealing with them had been practiced for thousands of years. People would normally just look over towards the commotion, call the Sentinels and then calmly leave, but something felt terrifyingly different about what we just heard. 

    "What the fuck?" my friend whispered a little too loudly as he instantly looked behind us where the explosion had come from. "A monster?" he mumbled while gazing over the distance. Seconds later, the rumbling ground caused by the thousand footsteps of students running towards us filled our ears. It seemed like they were trying to flee from something. Dust clouds started forming in the distance as Kazuki took a few steps backwards and then looked at me. "I think we should run." he said.

    "No shit."

    We sprinted away as fast as we could. Everyone around us did the same. We weren't sure what was going on but our instincts told us that we should get out of there.

    Only a few seconds later, screams started to dominate all sounds. Rhythmic thuds vibrated to the ground and it was getting louder and louder. It was getting close. Total chaos enshrouded us, I didn't even recognize the direction we were headed to anymore. As if in a stampede, we blindly ran and followed the wave of the crowd, even Kazuki vanished from my sight. 

    The screaming intensified as a huge shadow covered us. I could hear people being flattened behind me and the thudding sound no longer just vibrated but shook the ground entirely. 

    I turned around only to see a giant humanoid abomination of a monster. Its skin was glossy black, long, muscular limbs trampled everything around it. The claw marks it left on the ground were as big as a fully grown human. When it opened its mouth to growl, it felt like we would get blown away. Its sharp, split iris coldly looked at its victims before massacring everyone on its path, painting the ground with blood. My feet stopped on their own when I saw an unfortunate girl falling to the ground. People just passed her by while she hopelessly crawled as fast as she could, having no time to get up. 

    'Should I help her? Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything.'

    "Somebody!" she screamed. Her face was unfamiliar, she was probably from another class. I knew that the right thing to do, the action that would benefit me most was to turn around and run. But for a split second, it crossed my mind. What if— just what if I tried to help her? 

    But it was too late. Even the girl herself gave up and just stared up at the monster that was about to slice her into pieces. At that moment, the only humans left in that area were me and that girl. After killing her, the monster would probably go after me next, yet, my legs refused to move. My hand was itching for some reason to do something, anything. 

    My eyes widened as the shockwave of a ridiculously strong collision pushed me back. I covered my face using my arms and when I opened my eyes again to look, I saw a student levitating from the ground, and stopping the monster's hand with his own arms from hitting the girl.

    "Stand up and run." he firmly commanded, barely turning his head in the girl's direction. Even with this distance, I could see from his face that he was struggling.

    "Thank you, Saito-san!" the girl yelled in gratitude before running past me. The student was Saito Masashi, a third year. He pushed back the monster's enormous arm using his sheer strength before punching it in the face mid air, causing the monster to stumble backwards. Rumors, and hearsays. Those were my only basis when Saito-san had been hailed as the strongest in Kyoto. Every word about him that came from the people's mouth were praises and respect. Now, seeing it with my own eyes, I was wholeheartedly convinced. This guy was special. 

    Each time laser beams shot from his eyes, hitting the monster's skin, I felt the air becoming hotter. At that rate, it was certain that he could beat the monster on his own. I was almost shocked when he turned to me. "You! It's not safe to stay here!" he yelled loud enough for me to hear. 

    I forgot that my hands were in my pockets. I pulled one out and then scratched my head. "Sorry. Do you want me to call for help for that?"

    He flew sharply turning to his side to dodge an incoming attack before countering with a wide punch to the monster's jaw. "Thank you, but no. Please just get yourself to safety." he replied without ever losing his focus on the battle.

    So not only was he strong, he was also kind and modest. Anyway, I had no more business being in that place so I proceeded to run, going as far from the scene as possible.

    I slowed down my tracks after seeing a group of students clumping together, watching something in the distance. As I got closer, I was able to see what everyone had been watching, causing them to be stranded in one place—another monster just as big as the first one that we encountered. Four people—Kyoto High students were fighting it when I arrived while the rest of us could only watch. It was no wonder. The moment we step into the battlefield, we'd die. The four students who were fighting the monster were the members of Saito Masashi's club. They were the strongest club not just in our school, but in the whole city.

    Still, we weren't able to pass through the gate until they beat it. Several giant ice spikes were erected in the front yard, and more small splinters of it were on the ground. Kugiwara Ryosuke froze the air aiming towards the monster's arms to immobilize it by coating it with thick, solid ice connected to the metal railings on the road. It prevented the monster from moving for a few seconds, enough time for Ueda Nozomi to jump into the air and strike the monster's head with her sword. All that effort was proven futile when Ueda's attack only managed to make a shallow cut and the monster had already broken free from Kugiwara's ice spikes. 

    I saw Ueda landing on the ground and then quickly creating distance between her and the monster. They were talking about something we couldn't hear, probably strategizing against the enemy.

    These are some types of monsters that had never been seen in this city before. Usually, Masashi's team would have already resolved a monster attack in not more than a few minutes, but some time had already passed, and the monster was far from exhausted. The front yard of the school had become unrecognizable after a few minutes of battle.

    "What the fuck!?? Look!" a student from the crowd screamed his voice full of desperation and shock. "Over there!" 

    For a few seconds, everyone tried to find what direction to look until a terrifying roar echoed through the campus. Everyone whimpered in fear as the third monster entered our school by climbing the walls.

    "Another monster!?"

    "Where the fuck are the Sentinels!?"

    "What code level is this!?"

    We felt the ground shake as the monsters struck the ground. Even the teachers were shaking in fear with us, leaving the dangerous battle to the students. Moments later, we heard footsteps coming our way.

    "Everyone! Listen up!" Yamada Kenzou, a member of Saito's club arrived catching his breath. The fifth and last member, Narumi Shiho, was tailing behind him. "We will sneak you out in small groups. Follow me and try not to draw the monster's attention."

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    A glimmer of hope seemed to appear in everyone's faces but it all turned into chaos as soon as the students fought for who should go first. Pushing and pulling, some even started harming one another.

    "P-Please calm down, everyone." Narumi's voice went unheard as the yelling crowd overpowered her. 

    "Let us girls pass first!"

    "The principal is my relative! Let me out!"

    "I'll fucking pay you, just take me out of here."

    Some considerably responsible teachers helped to organize the crowd, but some, even being adults used their position to their advantage in the desperate situation. The chaos only grew worse overtime as not a single word was distinguishable anymore. 

    Silence was brought upon us when Yamada punched a hole through a wall with his fist that had turned into metal. His face darkened while he wordlessly stared at the floor. Narumi was too scared to touch him so she just worriedly looked at the situation unfolding.

    "You fucking pigs." he blurted, full of intensity and rage. "My friends are risking their lives for all of you and you can't even cooperate." He pulled his fist out from the shattered concrete wall, now his other fist had also turned into metal. "Fine then." Sparks ignited as he bumped his fists together. "You wanna spot beside me? Come. Come so I can bash your pathetic, useless fucking brains."

    No one dared utter a word. They shamefully stood there while Ueda and Kugiwara fought the two monsters.

    "K-Kenzou.." Narumi placed a hand on Yamada's shoulder with a worried look on her face. 

    Yamada let out a sigh before speaking. "Twenty students only. Come on."

    The first twenty students that were closest to them walked forward before they ran away under Yamada and Narumi's watch from the scene. There were hundreds of us outside the school hall, and sneaking out twenty people over time would take too long. Still, that was the most effective way to save everyone. 

    'Where's Kazuki, I wonder.'

    Ueda dashed to her side to dodge an incoming smash to the ground. As we watched the fight, we noticed that the monsters were purposefully trying to get closer to the place where we were hiding instead on focusing their attacks on Ueda and Kugiwara.

    "Ueda-san! Kugiwara-kun!" Saito Masashi's voice echoed through the field as he flew with overwhelming speed towards the scene. The first thing he did was sucker punch the first monster before shooting the second one with laser beams from his eyes. Although wounds were all over his body, he arrived with a smile. I bet that he was glad to find that Ueda and Kugiwara were fine. His friends also seemed like they gained some morale after seeing him.

    "Yes! Masashi is here now!"

    "We're saved!"

    The students behind me celebrated. Well, it was true that his presence now in the fight would be a huge game changer. He was absolutely wrecking the monsters.

    Moments later, Yamada and Narumi were back. "Next batch! Quick!" he yelled.

    Twenty more people were safely evacuated. At this rate, we might be able to survive this calamity, well, except for all those unfortunate students who died.

    After Yamada and the students left, we returned our gaze to the battlefield only to see Ueda directly receiving a lethal blow from one of the monsters. She was sent flying against a wall and was buried under the rubble. We saw Masashi yell out her name before quickly flying towards her. Unfortunately, one of the monsters caught him by the leg before smashing his body against the ground. They lifted him up again and then struck the ground with his body like he was a hammer. In panic, Kugiwara let out a burst of ice spikes, freezing whatever was in front of him.

    "Hey, hey what the fuck is going on? Weren't they winning just now?"

    "Pull your shit together, Masashi!"

    "What the hell are they doing!?"

    The crowd was going wild again. I let out a sigh. This was what battle was all about. One small mistake and everything will crumble down, no matter how much advantage you had gained. 

    The monsters destroyed the ice spikes Kugiwara used to freeze them as they started to sprint towards him. 

    "Fucking move, idiot!" someone from the crowd shouted.

    "The hell, why are you just watching!?" another followed until a chain of voices started to occupy our ears.

    Kugiwara froze in place as he watched death march before him. But before the monsters could reach him, Saito already snatched him and flew into the air. I heard sighs of relief all around me.

    That relief was short lived when the monsters sprinted towards us in full speed now that no one was there to stop them. Only the huge distance between us and the monsters was what was keeping us alive. Now that they had closed that distance, our survival rate had dropped significantly. 

    Yamada's entire body had turned into metal as he hugged the monster's leg, suddenly appearing on the battlefield in a desperate attempt to stop its tracks even when he was already getting dragged as he anchored his feet on the concrete ground. Narumi was probably by Ueda's side to heal her using her ability. That's why they hadn't come back yet.

    "Let's get out of here! They've gotten close anyway!"

    "Yeah, there's no use in hiding here anymore!"

    Was I the only one who thought that that was a stupid idea? It seemed that it was a 'yes' when everyone started to run out in panic.

    Everyone would have been dead if Saito-san hadn't body slammed the first gigantic monster away from them. The other monster's legs were frozen on the ground, giving Saito a chance to shoot lazer to its head, wounding it deep enough to make it bleed. They all came running back to our hiding spot, terrified.

    How many minutes had passed? Why were there no sentinels coming to help? I could tell that even Saito was nearing his limits.

    The other monster grabbed Yamada and then threw him away like a toy. Ueda then popped up out of nowhere, managing to stab it in the eye, blinding it. Saito used up all of his remaining strength in one single laser beam that was so bright we had to cover our eyes. The heat almost reached us, penetrating the monster's body bit by bit until it had broken into its skull and into its brain. It laid dead on the ground as tons of blood gushed from its head.

    The remaining monster had already broken free from Kugiwara's ice spikes, slamming Saito mid-air. Ueda was quickly alerted and pointed her sword towards it but she couldn't do anything when another punch came her way. Ueda was sent flying for the second time and I absolutely had no idea how she was gonna survive that. 

    The exhausted Saito flew towards the monster to rescue his junior but his strength was all but spent. The raging monster just caught his body mid-air. We saw his eyes glow red in an attempt to shoot more laser beams but nothing was coming out. The next sight we saw horrified the shit out of everyone. Saito had his head grabbed and squashed like a tomato, his brain and blood leaking out of the monster's fingers. Deafening silence dominated the crowd while they watched their hero being tossed aside like a ragdoll.

    Now, no matter what we chose to do, we were gonna die. 

    Everyone was still petrified in disbelief. But Saito was just nothing but a kid like the rest of us. Even though he possessed the powers that he did, without the years of fighting experience, he stood a slim chance. 

    The monster slowly turned its head towards where we were, the muscles on its jaw and shoulders lost tension as it slowly approached us, probably because there was no longer any threat around. The moment we thought we could somehow run away from it, the monster began to accelerate. Faster and faster until it was sprinting full speed towards us. The crowd was devoid of any noise as inevitable death marched forth.

    Until suddenly, giant vines of solid ice entangled the monster's limbs, rendering it motionless for a few seconds. 

    "What the fuck are you standing there for!?" the veins in Kugiwara's neck were popping out as he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Fucking run...!!" 

    Screams of fear surrounded me as another stampede just began. Kugiwara tried his hardest to immobilize the monster no matter how many times it broke his ice. I began moving as well when I noticed that everyone when I noticed that everyone went ahead. We all ran in the same direction—towards the gate while Kugiwara Ryosuke bought us time.

    As we passed by the giant shards of ice lying on the ground, we felt the chill in the air and the wet liquid of melted ice under our shoes. The students who had abilities related to agility or speed enhancement quickly and easily reached the gate and evacuated while us slowpokes were left behind running for our lives. I looked to my right side only to see a familiar figure running alongside me—one of the members of Saito Masashi's club, Narumi Shiho. I immediately deemed her athletic ability to be as good as shit after watching her gasp for air while desperately moving her legs as fast as she could to get away from the scene. Well, I wouldn't blame her for leaving her comrade behind, what Kugiwara is doing was simply self-sacrifice. If Saito Masashi himself wasn't able to defeat it, running away might have been her best choice.

    "Kugiwara is dead!!!" someone screamed from behind. Now that the last line of defense had died, it would only be a matter of time before the monster caught up to us. 

    We did not dare look back and just continued running, praying that for some reason we would make it into the gate as if we'd be safe beyond it. Seconds later, we started to hear a violent zapping in the sky behind us. Something was telling me that it was something that I couldn't ignore so I stopped my tracks and turned around to face it and see what it was, letting all the other students run past me. 

    It was a giant piece of metal spinning like a beyblade in the sky and it was flying towards us terrifyingly fast. It seemed to be something the monster tossed. If that were to hit us, we'd be nothing but grinded meat in less than three seconds.

    'Guess I'll take care of that.'

    My ability was 'Barrier'. I could summon a thin sheet of translucent, solid matter that was able to block projectiles or any kind of molecule. Although it might sound like a decently strong ability, I had been considered useless in many situations. My barrier's strength was inversely proportional to its size, meaning the bigger barrier I summoned, the weaker it was. It also blocked projectiles from both sides, so my teammates wouldn't be able to attack while I was protecting them. The best thing I had gotten from this ability was to barely block bullets.

    Nevertheless, it could sure be useful now.

    The barrier had to be the perfect size in order for me to successfully block the projectile. It couldn't be too big or it would just shatter and the metal would kill us. It also couldn't be too small or the projectile would still pass through it and cause casualties. I extended my arm forward and focused on the space in front of me. From its center, the holographic, golden-yellow barrier began to materialize from thin air to its corners as it freely hung in the air, waiting for the impact.

    The metal hit. My barrier shattered like glass. The intense shockwave from the metal colliding with the immovable barrier pushed me backwards slightly. But even though the barrier had been broken, the metal slab bounced off into the ground away from our direction. I did it— I prevented hundreds of deaths.

    "Haru!" a familiar voice echoed from behind before quick footsteps drew nearer. Kazuki tapped my shoulder to get my attention. "Holy shit, you saved us." shock with a hint of disbelief were present in his tone.

    I turned my head to him. "Kugiwara died."

    "Yeah, I heard." he quickly responded. "Let's run. It's only us who are left behind."

    I nodded before we started sprinting towards the gate, but I never expected it to be over that easily. We could feel the ground shake from thunderous footfalls of a sprinting giant behind us. Our little steps were nothing compared to the speed of such a creature, it didn't take a couple of seconds for the monster to reach us.

    Before we got squashed like pests on the ground, I swiftly turned around and summoned a barrier to block its enormous hand, and now that I had seen it up close, I couldn't help but notice parts of Saito's skull stuck on its skin.

    My barrier shattered once again when the giant claws collided with it. Along with the splinters of vanishing barrier, a stinging sensation spun in my head like a sudden headache. 

    "Shit..." Kazuki seemed to had already lost his mind as he stared into the claw marks on the ground beside us, digging deep into the concrete where I had redirected the attack. I had summoned my barrier inclined at a certain angle such that it would deflect the force to another direction, that's why even though my barrier wasn't strong enough to completely block it, we managed to survive that attack. 

    A slight shock and confusion was evident on the monster's face when its attack got parried. It raised the same arm once more for another strike, this time with raging hatred behind its fist knowing that I had run out of tricks—and it was true too. That was the only way that I could block its powerful attacks, but it was something that wouldn't work twice.

    Just when we were about to get killed, a girl came flying from the side as fast as a bullet, her sole landing solidly on the giant's head. That kick was so strong that it had managed to nudge the giant beast slightly before she landed with a backflip on the ground between me and the monster. Ueda Nozomi's uniform had become unrecognizable with all the tear and blood soaking it all over. Wounds covered her body but she stood fearlessly in front of the monster. 

    Her ability was straight up physical strength enhancement. They had once compared her striking strength to a shotgun fired at point blank and she turned out to be stronger. She usually wielded a blade but she arrived empty handed. Probably because she had lost it in the middle of their battle, but did she really plan to fight with her knuckles alone?

   "You killed my fucking friends." I heard her mumble with burning rage as she walked forward.

    Meanwhile, I turned to Kazuki who was still petrified. "Now's our chance to run." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder to wake him up.

    He blinked while staring into my eyes before responding. "W-What?"

    "I said let's run. Someone is occupying the monster."

    He glanced across behind me. "Yeah.. but.."

    Knowing him, I immediately understood what he meant to say. I tightened my grip on his shoulder and shook him up. "Kazuki, we're weak. We can't do shit." I said. ''The best thing that we can do for now is to run and not get in Ueda's way."

    Even he knew full well that we had no time to contemplate. He clicked his tongue and then we both sprinted away from there as fast as we could while Ueda traded blows with the monster.

    We could have reached the gate but the sound of a concrete wall collapsing made Kazuki turn around and stop his tracks. I looked behind me and saw Ueda being thrown against a wall. Motionless, she lied there as the monster prepared to deliver the finishing blow. 

    Ueda would have been dead. But a flaming piece of rock flew towards the monster's shoulder. It didn't hurt it in the slightest, but enough to get its attention. Only then did I notice that Kazuki had already run off into the fight in an attempt to delay Ueda's death.

    "You gotta be kidding me." I whispered to myself in disbelief. I knew Kazuki had always been the type to view himself as some sort of a main character, but I didn't expect him to do something this stupid. With that said, I didn't know any better myself. If this sort of thing had been considered to be the normal course of action, I guess I would never know.

    Kazuki trembled when the monster turned its head in his direction. Now what? His ability to imbue small objects with fire, flammable or not, wouldn't increase the impact force of his throws anyway. 

    "I'm right here, fucker!!!" he shouted, even though his voice was faltering, his stance remained steady and he never took his eyes away from the monster's. He threw another flaming rock towards the monster, hitting it directly in the eye, making the monster flinch and roar in annoyance.

    Kazuki never denied the fact that his ability was nowhere near strong. But nevertheless, I knew how hard he worked every single day to make himself useful in every situation. He practiced his throw since childhood, maximizing his range, strength, and accuracy. That's how he had become a formidable opponent in ranged combats.

    My feet moved on their own. I had found myself running towards where Ueda was to find and try to rescue her while Kazuki was distracting the monster. I saw her lying unconscious on the ground, she was fortunately breathing for some reason. Although I was rushing, I made sure to be gentle enough when I lifted her up and prepared to make a run for it.

    "Kazuki! I got her!" I shouted to inform my friend.

    He turned towards me, his eyes shone and a smile crossed his face upon seeing us. "Nice save, Haru!"

    Those were his last words before his body got turned into a mush of minced meat and blood splatter on the ground.

    "Ka...zuki..."

    [END OF CHAPTER]