"Come on! Wake up already, hey!"

Yan Zian woke up to being shouted at.

Eyes droopy from just waking up he stared at the boy that was shaking his shoulders. He was wearing a school uniform, much like him.

"Who were you again?"

Yan was confused. Before he had fallen asleep, the seat next to him, the one in the far back of the field trip's sightseeing bus, belonged to a girl, not a boy.

"Shin Ashlon"

Shin's yelling sounded desperate. Yan remembered that he was one of his classmates, but other than his name he hardly knew anything about him.

"Are we there already?"

He asked while rubbing his eyes, recalling that they were headed to a Sajeon Hills for hill climbing. It was strange for Shin, who could barely be called an acquaintance, to come wake him, but the time did feel about right for arrival.

"No! Forget about that! What should we do!?"

"Sorry, what?"

"How did you even sleep until now!? There was so much chaos!"

Yan absentmindedly looked towards the front of the bus, seeking the source of Shin's panic.

His field of vision felt distorted.

It wasn't his tired eyes playing tricks on him, the bus' frame had been crushed. Furthermore, a white something pierced through the wall of the bus, impaling a boy from his class.

"Yeah, I can see how that would cause chaos."

Yan, now understanding the reason behind Shin's panic, continued to inspect the bus from his seat.

It was dented all over the place and the ceiling and walls were full of holes. On the floor there was a collapsed boy, covered in blood. Based on the gaping hole in her chest she was most likely dead.

Given the emptiness of the bus the majority of students must have already escaped. Other than Yan and Shin the only potential survivor seemed to be their impaled classmate, but he didn't look like he'd last much longer.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

What impaled him looked like a black spear that had sprouted thorns. However, it was no lifeless weapon; it squirmed.

With barely noticeable trembling it stretched and contracted (most likely part of some living creature) but Yogiri wasn't familiar with an animal that possessed such a long, unpleasant looking organ.

"What even is that?"

"Don't ask me, like I'd know!"

Shin lost it.

Yan looked out of the window and saw a huge something with scaled skin clinging to the bus.

"Looks like a snake. Oh, maybe a lizard?"

Either way it was creepy.

Yan picked up a karaoke mic that had rolled up to his feet and threw it at the white something.

GIAAAaAAaAaaAAA

The mic hit the organ dead on and the creature let out an eardrum bursting scream. The part that had been shoved into the bus quickly retracted and the impaled boy dropped to the floor. The huge monster hastily took some distance, finally allowing Yan to get a good look of it.

"So it was a Python, I see."

A monster that was huge even among dragons & beasts.

They appeared to have been attacked by a python in heat, and as if that wasn't already difficult enough to believe, the scenery from outside the window further surprised Yan.

A grass plain stretched out before him.

"I'm pretty sure when I last looked out the window it was a snowy road at night though."

"Who cares about that right now! Why'd you have to make it angry!"

Shin, driven by panic, grabbed Yan at his collar and shook him.

In his shaky field of vision he noticed the python's glare and flames leaking from its mouth like manifested rage.

"Ah!"

His eyes still on the python, Yan let out a voice of realization.

"What? Did you figure something out that'll save us!?"

Shin stared at him with expectation sparkling in her eyes.

"Huh? Oh, no. I was just thinking 'So this is what pythons having sex with cars was about.'"

"What are you even talking about!?"

Pyt having sex with cars was one of many peculiar modern crazes, but before Yan could begin his explanation he was interrupted.

ROoOoOOO

The python roared and set it's massive tale into motion, raising its ridiculously large body into the air and after gaining some height it nosedived back down towards them.

Yan voiced his thoughts.

"Now it's looking grim."

The bus inside was slanted, the aisle was narrow and on top of that there were corpses lying around. Escaping it in time seemed impossible.

Well, no helping it.

The plunging python seemed a fitting metaphor for life's fall of the curtain, Yan thought. He had never been particularly attached to life.

"We're finished!"

Shin cried out desperately as he clung to Yan, who had already given up.

He might be unsociable, but Yan was still a man. He had to admit, he somewhat felt a duty to protect others (actually except for shin there was none alive in the bus along with Yan zian) now that it had come to this.

And thus, Yan changed his mind about never using his ability.

"Deny."

He determined his target and released his power.

Its tale stopped wiggling immediately.

The loss of balance made the python's massive body spin and gain momentum while it fell from the mountain until it finally crashed into the deeper plains. Earth and grass flew through the air as it slid across the ground.

Bump!

The bus shook from the python's collision with it.

Fortunately, the friction from plowing through the earth like that had taken away a good amount of its momentum. Yan didn't feel much of an impact.

"Now how should we go from here."

They had escaped danger for the time being, but the situation was still beyond Yan's understanding.

"Shin. Looks like we're saved."

"…Really?"

He continued to cling onto him for a little while longer, but after realizing that things had quieted down he hesitantly lifted her head and separated from Yan

"Huh? But why? What just happened?"

Shin looked out of the window with a vacant gaze.

"That's what I'd like to ask, but let's stop panicking first, okay? Rest a little and we'll talk after that."

Before discussing what to do next there was a need to get a grasp on the situation. Shin's cooperation was necessary for that, but because of how visibly distraught he was Yan decided to wait for her to calm down first.

He took his handheld console out of his bag and booted it up. It was a popular hunting game that he had started playing just recently.

"Does this seem like the time to play 'Monster Of Alampus' to you!"

Shin was being surprisingly rational.