I was walking backward and stumbled on my feet, then Hinata fell out of my arms. I tried reaching for her but, tarantulas were starting to crawl on my feet. I looked about to see if there was anything I could do or someone who could assist me. Tarantulas were coming from everywhere; some of them were already on my chest. I panicked. The Arachne raised its razor-sharp eerie spider legs and started to do a flurry of slashes at me.
I raised my arm to defend myself and ended up full of minor injuries, scratches. My clothes were all torn up. The Arachne once again trapped both of us in his web cocoons; and set us aside.
I reached the point that I thought there was no hope. I looked at Hinata and thought, "I couldn't even save one girl. I'm so pathetic!"
The Arachne tried to do a final hit on me. One stab through my heart. I closed my eyes and braced myself for The Arachne's thrust and reflected, "After my parent's deaths, I had become lost and hopeless, I had no care in the world whatsoever but right when I was about to do something honorable in my life, I couldn't even do it!"
I was waiting for my death, yet somehow the Arachne took its time. All I can hear was The Arachne's grueling noise and the tarantula's stridulation.
I was scared and started to yell desperately, "Get me out of here! Please, someone, help us!"
While I was yelling, suddenly I heard electricity snapping, buzzing for a few seconds. I was startled and confused.
I eventually noticed a horrible gutty scent. So, I slightly opened my eyes and saw The Arachne's upper body all blown up. Its guts were everywhere, and the thousands of tarantulas were fried, burnt, and scattered.
I looked right in front of me and saw a man on his back with hands in his pocket wearing all-black clothes with a few white lines to add to its fashion. I still had a slight headache, but I tried my best to identify who was in front of me. The man turned his head towards me and gave me a menacing look. His eyes had electricity flowing, and his hair had a light bluish color that slowly faded to black.
Then a black Cybercar with a billion-dollar appearance came down from the sky and landed right next to the man. The car's door opened beautifully, and another man came out, wearing a crimson suit that matches his red hair.
"Dante, good job." The man with the crimson suit said.
"What do you mean a good job? The kid almost died." The man in black replied with annoyance in his voice. "You told me to wait but, what if something unexpected happened!?" he added.
"I knew you were still going to help him efficiently. You're a celestial now. Have more confidence in yourself." The man in red implied.
"Tsk, he ended up with injuries," The man in black murmured.
Aki was confused by their conversation so, he attempted to speak. Aki blinked for a fraction of a second and, he was already out of the web cocoons. The man who killed the Arachne was also right next to him. Aki turned out to be more confused, but he was too injured to care about it.
Aki immediately asked them. "Is Hinata okay? where is she?"
"I already called someone to send her to the hospital." The man with the crimson suit replied and smiled.
Another car landed, and a few men carried Hinata out of the accident scene.
"I see. I'm glad." I smiled with tiny tears coming out of my eyes and decided to lay down on my back.
"You're rather happy, even though you were about to die in the hands, or should I say a cryptid's legs?" The man in red jokingly asked.
"It felt good, saving that girl, Hinata," I responded and sighed.
The man in black looked at me before he went inside the car. "Don't worry about him. He secretly cares about kids like you. His name is Dante, and I'm Mendela."
I was shocked to hear the name Mendela. I Instantly stood, and straightened my back, and shouted, "MENDELA!?". "The current Godfather of Rerum?!" I added.
Mr. Mendela smiled and replied, "Yes, that's me. What about you? What's your name?"
"I'm Aki, sir!" I replied.
"No need to be so stiff and formal."
"O-okay s-sir Mendelgh-" I bit my tongue due to nervousness.
I could see Mr. Mendela's face about to laugh, but he stopped himself. "Well, Aki. We saw you fighting the Arachne head-on to save the girl. It's quite a sight when we arrived here. I saw you dodging its web and desperately using your Phenomena, knowing that you could get in trouble without a license," Mendela said to Aki.
"You saw me having a hard time and decided not to help?" I confusingly asked.
Mendela chuckled and said, "If you put it that way, it quite hurts me, you know? I was merely interested in you and decided to watch you until the situation gets dangerous."
"So, by dangerous, you mean me being at death's door?" I wittily asked.
Mendela was silent for a second and turned around, "Well, let's not dilly dally anymore and get in the Cybercar. We'll treat your wounds. We have some healers." Mendela abruptly offered.
I was still perplexed, and my body had a lot of injuries. So, I decided to join them. I entered the car and sat beside the current Godfather of Rerum, responsible for the peace and safety that the people experience today in Cybertown and another person who killed a Cryptid instantly.
"Quite the predicament I involved myself into," I whispered to myself.
The car started to float and drove at least 200 miles per hour; all you can see outside was blurriness. But, the inside. It was like we never moved. It was so steady that it felt like I'm in a room.
I peeped at Dante in the mirror and thought to myself, "What? He's still a kid?". Dante was in the front seat. He was closing his eyes and leaning on the window. Suddenly he opened one of his eyes and glared at me; I got startled and turned my head immediately around to Mr. Mendela's side.
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Mr. Mendela smiled and said, "You must be quite confused why you're here right now."
"Uh, yes, sir. That is one of my questions." I anxiously replied.
"Well, let's put aside that question first, and let me answer the others."
"Dante is his name right?," I asked, and Mr. Mendela nodded. "What did he do to slaughter such a Cryptid and thousands of tarantulas that easy? He also did it in seconds!" I added.
"You're curious about Dante? I didn't expect that at all. Well, He's a celestial. Any celestial can do that, and it's also his strength and Phenomena."
"A celestial, a kid who is already a celestial? That's amazing. So, what's his Phenomena?"
Mr. Mendela chucked and said, "Did you hear the thunder? It's an electricity-based Phe-"
"Stop yapping about someone else's information, will you?" Dante abruptly interrupted the conversation.
"Kid, if you wanna know something about someone. Ask them directly, and I'm not a kid. I'm at least ten years older than you." Dante said to me with an irritated voice.
"Really? It's just that you're not quite that ta-" I cut my sentence because Dante had an intimidating look at me. "O-okay, I'm sorry," I added.
"Well, as you just heard from that red-haired monkey over there that calls himself the Godfather, my Phenomena is electricity based. It's called 'Battery.'"
"Wow, that was a nice way to address your boss. Mushroom head." Mr. Mendela smiled.
Mendela and Dante were glaring at each other and the atmosphere was getting gloomy, so I was desperately thinking of questions to ask.
"Battery? So, you can produce electricity out of your hands?" I asked Dante.
Dante clicked his tongue and responded, "Idiot, It's not like that." He then turned his head away to the window.
Mr. Mendela looked forward and said, "It seems like we're here. Aki, this is our HQ."
I was so amazed when I looked at Rerum's HQ. The building was so grand and tall that I felt like I was an ant compared to it. I could always see the building from my apartment and couldn't get near it due to heavy security, but it feels so different when you're up close with it.
I eventually snapped out of it and got off the Cybercar, and I looked for Dante to thank you even though he was quite mean, but I couldn't see him. He was gone right after we got off.
"Mr. Mendela? Where's Dante? I want to say thank you for earlier." I humbly said.
"Oh, about that. Dante is always like that. He's quick because of his Phenomena. But, don't worry. I'll tell him that for you." Mr. Mendela replied and smiled.
Both Aki and Mr. Mendela went inside the HQ. When everyone inside saw Mr. Mendela, they immediately bowed and loudly greeted us, "Welcome back, Godfather!" Mr. Mendela waved his hands and whispered to me, "That's just how they show me their respect, Aki." and he winked at him. The Godfather gave Aki a tour of all the departments inside the HQ of Rerum after Aki got healed.
"The Information Office, Science Research Division, and lastly Eden's garden. As you know, there are four more departments outside HQ." Then after that, Mr. Mendela brought Aki to his luxurious office, a suite inside the building. They sat down and talked.
When Aki sat down, he was yet again amazed just how grand the interior compared to his shabby apartment.
"Aki, do you know what the mainland was like back then?" Mr. Mendela questioned me.
"The mainland? No, sir. But, I know that we lived there originally."
"Well, Aki. A thousand years ago, we were much freer, with more space to drive and move around. We could even swim in the oceans freely and climb up mountains."
Mr. Mendela stood and looked outside the big window. "There's a lot of houses, buildings, parks, and even animals at the zoos. But now, nature had taken over. Abandoned houses and many buildings are now full of plants. Honestly, it's more beautiful now down below."
Mr. Mendela turned and looked at Aki with fierce eyes. "Cryptids are what we call them. Monsters from mythology and urban legends that we failed to prove their existence suddenly; were appearing. Like, the Bigfoot, Lochness Monster, and many more kinds of creatures. Maybe the Gods have punished us for what we have done on Earth. That Arachne you fought earlier was just a D-class Cryptid, but below, much more high-ranking cryptids are roaming." Mendela said and paused for a second
"We had a population of 7 billion on Earth but, because of the Cryptids, we now only have a handful of that number. Why? Well, it is thanks to the powers that we call Phenomena, and because of it, we managed to defend ourselves somehow." Mr. Mendela sighed.
"When the world was in chaos, the organization 'Rerum' stepped outside of the shadow, then the first Godfather of Rerum, with his Phenomena 'Eden's Garden' made giant chunks of land levitate; Cybertown, Gearmany, Mechanica, all flying in different places. He has given humanity a chance to rest and see another day." Mr. Mendela was done with his explanation and sat back down.
I was quite speechless and didn't know what to say, but I forced myself to reply. "I see it's a good thing that the first Godfather gave our ancestors a chance to live."
"Well then. Aki, to answer the question that we had set aside earlier when we were in the car. You are here because you had touched me with your courage and your will to save that girl. The other two Godfathers who oversee the other two cities have chosen me to make a new department that we are currently finding members for that will carry many special missions regarding the mainland. There will be a ton of responsibilities and countless times that you will have to face Cryptids. Of course, we'll have to train you to improve your combat prowess after you finish taking your license exam. But the question is, are you willing to join?"
Aki was dumbfounded and replied, "But, I'm just a student? I even live in a small shabby apartment, and plenty of other people deserve this spot more than I do."
"No one could ever do what you have done earlier, Aki."
Aki became silent for a few seconds and responded, "Can you at least give me a day? I need to think about this carefully."
"Of course, Aki. Take your time. Just call this number." Mr. Mendela gave his card and called someone to send Aki home.
"Thank you for having me here, sir." Aki humbly said before he bowed down. Mr. Mendela gave him a nod while smiling.
Aki left the room to go to the elevator and went down to go outside the HQ. "It's already dark outside." Aki thought to himself when he went outside.
He got in the Cybercar but asked the driver if he could visit his School first to inform his Professor about what occurred.
Few minutes passed. Aki arrived at the School and went to the faculty to inform Mr. Manla about the incident. Aki shared all the things that happened but, Mr. Manla suddenly hugged him and said. "I'm glad you're both okay, Aki. You didn't have to go all the way back here. The Godfather had already reported it to the School's Faculty. Go back home and rest, okay?"
Aki was surprised and said, "Thank you." Then Aki said his goodbye and went back in the Cybercar to go back to his apartment.
12:00 am, it's midnight. Aki stared at his ceiling; while he laid on his bed. He couldn't sleep. Aki was thinking about the Godfather's offer; it was a big responsibility that Aki didn't expect. But, he realized that it was an opportunity to honor his parents by helping people. So, Aki decided to accept the Godfather's offer and, after that, he slept.
Early morning, Aki was already outside and was ready to go to the Rerum's HQ. He called the number first, and in just a few seconds, a Cybercar arrived outside his apartment; the driver opened the door and approached Aki and said, "I'm here to take you to the HQ." Aki was quite amazed and got in and was brought outside the HQ. After stepping out of the Cybercar, he was escorted directly to Mr. Mendela's office.
"Ah, Aki. You're here. So, have you decided?" Mr. Mendela asked.
Aki looked at Mendelas eyes. "I-I have not done anything worthy of praise in my life before and with an opportunity like this. I don't want to miss it because I want to do something honorable, sir!" Aki confidently answered Mr. Mendela's question.
"Wonderfully said! Well, I already knew your answer after you left yesterday, but welcome to Rerum!"
Mr. Mendela called out Dante, who was standing and leaning beside the wall behind me.
"Escort Aki to your department, will you."
"I was going to, you red-headed ape."
Aki followed Dante, and after a continuous walk, they arrived at the front door of their destination.
When the door opened, he noticed two other people that were already inside. One looked like a delinquent and a girl with pink hair; they were both staring at Aki. It made him anxious, but Aki remained calm.
"Introduce yourselves. Better make it quick," Dante said.