“N-no, sir!” the girl whimpered. He growled and let go, taking a step back as she fell to the ground, the chair too unsteady to support her. Reina grimaced as the chair broke into pieces and the rope slackened. That would hurt like nobody's business but the thing she was more worried about would be if the girl tried to run.

No matter how fast she was or how skilled at figuring she was, the girl wouldn’t be able to escape. He'd singlehandedly taken out the Academy, what could one student do? What more, it would give the killer exactly what he wanted.

Reina could see it in his eyes. A particularly predator look. He didn’t only want to hunt people down, he relished in the fact. He enjoyed the thrill of the chase, and the slaughter at the end felt like a reward. There was a good chance he went to sleep every day dreaming about it and woke up wanting to do it.

Worse, he was good at it too. Look at them, he’d managed to capture and place them all into a secluded area where they couldn’t do much. Even if somebody mustered up the courage to fight back and use their Arts, they couldn’t do much without hurting the people around them.

He held all the cards and they held none.

“Get up!” he ordered.

“I-I’m trying!” The girl pushed herself up and looked around, unsure of what to do. Where was she supposed to sit now?

“Why are you standing up? Are you trying to challenge me?” His voice now held a mocking undercurrent. The girl dropped to her knees and shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

“No, sir! I-I would n-never! I promise! Pl-ack!” The killer grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head back, cutting off her plead.

“You talk too much, you know that?” he asked. The girl shook as he leaned in, his face distorted with glee.

Reina felt dirty watching this. It was wrong in every sense of that word. The urge to look away was strong, but she couldn’t. Reina needed to take in every little detail, to inform the authorities when they arrived. Make no mistake though, she was going to ensure he got the death penalty when the time came.

But above all else, she would escape. And then she would come after him first. He was her primary target now. Even before her parent's murderer.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what should I do with this fair maiden? Murder, death, kill, it’s your choice! Tick tock, time is running out! Choose, choose, choose!” he asked.

Reina drew blood with her fingernails as she clenched her hands into palms. She needed to end him. There was no way he was actually going to do it, right? Not here, not now?

Oh, who was she kidding? If he wanted to, he could kill every one of them. She wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing. A puff of steam escaped from her mouth, her innards increasing in heat.

Screw all her plans to wait for the opportune moment!

The instant he did anything of the sort to the girl, Reina would act. Reina had no thoughts of becoming a bystander today or any day.

The killer prodded the girl’s face before letting her go, much to Reina’s relief. A relief that soon changed to dread when he told her to get up.

“We’re going to do a little exercise, are you ready?” he asked. He didn’t wait for her reply when he said, “Run! Run or I’ll kill you!”

The girl stared up at him with dull eyes, too shell-shocked to think she heard correctly. Any doubt she may have possessed was wiped from existence when he slid out a knife and threw it at her.

With remarkable reflexes, she dove out of the way, smashing into nearby chairs and sending them sliding backward. The people in those chars screamed as some toppled over but quickly muffled themselves. The girl clutched at her shoulder, which hung out of her joint. The killer didn't seem to mind the screams of the other students; his attention was solely on the girl.

How was she going to have a chance?

The girl got to her feet and ran. The girl's speed shocked Reina. A large portion of it was the adrenaline coursing through her systems, but nonetheless, she was moving at wonderful speeds. She continually dodged, like she knew exactly where to go to avoid the knives. A thought occurred to Reina. Did she have a Skill too?

{Notice} No Skill was detected from Subject Earth #0938

'Subject Earth? And what was with that number? Never mind that, Reina forced her attention to the girl again. Even without a Skill, she was still dodging spectacularly.

Not that it did much good in the end.

The killer had plenty of knives to spare and no qualms about using them. He also had an excellent aim and would purposefully send them to the ground near her to direct her path. He was playing with her.

When this little game went on longer than she thought it would, Reina wondered if there was something else to it. Why would he waste so much time on frankly, an insignificant task? He was chasing one student out of hundreds. He would have ended it by now, yet the girl was still alive.

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'What's going on?'

{Query} Art energy detected. Do you wish to figure out the origins?

Of course it could do that. 'Yes, immediately.' Reina urged.

{Notice} Scan complete. Art energy has been classified as Air Art, level 35, via System Port designation 'Angel Amori'.

There was a lot more information this time around but Reina pushed it aside. Scouring the rows in search of her friend, Reina located Angel diagonal to her. The little girl had her eyes closed (not that there would be any difference really) and was very still, much like the others. If Reina looked closely though, she could see tiny wisps of wind curled around her fingers.

The voice's confirmations and adding the fact the girl seemed to change directions at just the right moment, and Reina came to the conclusion Angel was supporting her. Hadn’t she said she could feel objects in the air? Reina felt a warmth rush through her with the knowledge that even if she couldn’t help somebody with her Fire Arts, another person was.

Even with Angel’s interference, it didn’t make enough of a difference. An extended period of living, but in the end, he caught her. A wayward knife caught the girl on the shoulder (the already injured one) and she shrieked, dropping to the ground.

The killer stomped over to her, wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the knife, and used it to drag her to the front of the cafeteria. Dread filled up inside Reina.

Was he about to kill her?! Should Reina step in now? He hadn’t done anything life-threatening yet! The time wasn't ready! Agh, what should she do?!

While Reina was wracking her brain, the killer picked the girl up and dusted her off, taking special care to dig the knife in even more. When she didn’t let out a sound other than a squeak, he moaned.

“Come on, it’s no fun if you don’t scream! Make some noise, yell your head off!” He slid the knife down a little, cutting through her flesh and into her upper limb. Beads of sweat rolled down the girl’s neck. She didn’t yell though.

“Fine! Fine, I can admire this. Here you go, I’m making you a deal. One punch. That’s all I’m asking. You allow me one punch and I’ll let you go, alright? But if you scream, I can do whatever I want with you. Cool?” he asked.

Nobody would agree to that but it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. The killer drew his fist back, sniggering to himself. Reina clenched her seat rest. Come on, come on!

The killer cocked his head, his fist still pulled back. With one more chuckle, he launched a punch. A punch that landed on the pommel of the knife.

A scream tore itself from her lips as the knife buried her shoulder, the hilt and pommel included. Reina wanted to berate her for yelling but knew that was the anger and frustration talking. How could she reprimand her? Anybody would yell after having a knife go through their shoulder.

The knife slammed into the ground between somebody’s leg and they choked out a scream. The killer didn't mind them at all. He had other things his eyes were set on.

Reina wanted to scream when his hands wriggled their way towards the girl's throat. The girl attempted to move but it was clear the smallest of actions brought vengeful pain down on her. Accepting defeat, she lost her energy and went limp. The killer laughed before his fingers wrapped around her neck and-

Reina lost it.

Having the barest pretense of mind not to unleash her fiery rage from her hands, Reina instead expelled it from the ground near the killer.

{Notice} Fire Art activated. Level: Intermediate. [Raging Wave].

He yelled as a wave of flame rushed out of the ground and smacked him away from the girl. Reina was careful not to harm the girl so she made the fire weaker than her instincts wanted to. The moment the killer was far away from the girl, Reina let it loose.

Dousing him in sweltering fire, Reina bemoaned the fact he was wearing fireproof clothes. But, enough heat would wear it down! With that thought in mind, Reina increased the intensity of her flames.

Her uncontainable rage clouded her mind. It took her so long to realize the fact the killer wasn’t screaming or panicking at the heat. Nor was he fighting or running away.

He was enjoying it. Dashing through the fires and throwing his arm into the air as if to celebrate something. Laughing deliriously. The closest image Reina could relate this to was that of a child running through a sprinkler.

He was treating her fire like water? Reina hissed as he threw some embers into the air, trying to ignore the sinking sensation in her stomach. The feeling that told her everything was about to go wrong.

The killer stopped toying with her flames and stepped out, his left side covered in flames. He took no notice of them as he stalked closer.

“I have a confession to make! I lied!” he announced, clapping his hands together. “I lied about there being no reason to gather you here. There was one!”

Reina shifted in her seat, still unsettled with the way he treated her fire but trying to focus on the bigger picture here. He was going to reveal something big this time, Reina could feel it.

“There was a question I needed to ask you all! A wonderful, great, very important question! A question, I am getting paid very well to ask!”

So he was somebody who worked for money, not any obligations. Figures. Just what was this question somebody wanted the answer to so badly they were willing to work with this psycho?

And why would it have to do with your Academy? No, more specifically: what did it have to do with the students of the Academy?

“I was going to ask you this question myself. You know, being nice and all. Figured I would give you chance to impress me with your question-answering skills and whatnot. But then I discovered something disappointing. You’re all dumb! Dumber than a doorknob! Which means I’ll ask the smart people if you don’t mind!”

The smart people? Who were the-oh, crud. Reina thought as the killer hopped over to a switch on the wall. When he flicked it up, instead of turning off the lights as it should have, holes in the roof opened up.

More than a dozen bodies dropped down from the holes, held up by chains. The bodies dangled before turning around and Reina cursed even as the students let out gasps and cries.

Looks like the killer outsmarted the teachers as well.