Encounter Again

"CODE RED, or at least code yellow!" I shouted.

"Now I see your youngling attitude.

So, did something come across as strange?"

"The patients and the hospital…

The ghouls are near." I blurted

"Amazing job figuring it out.

Fine, yellow alert for now." Chris shrugged.

"What do you mean by fine?"

"Well, our guards are on high alert, but we do not want to panic the civilians."

"Well the ghouls may or may not be coming over here to whoop us."

"Surely they will be.

However, they have not come in the time that we had, and has not attacked any of our assets."

"Yet…?"

Chris was tense.

Chris had a mask of a smile.

Dumbass.

"I have a few fears of my own.

I have taken a lot of precautions, but things feel off." Chris broke the silence.

I opened my mouth and thought for a second.

"How is the economic situation?"

"On the grand scale of things, we are losing money.

And…" He paused

"…They are going to attack us?"

"There is more.

It looks like they are actually more focused near the artifact.

It is an action that may come back to haunt me." He says.

"During the historical attacks, they all were trying to access something from the artifact."

"That is possibly a large-scale hoax, or a truth that no one expects."

His face seemed to rage for a second.

I tilted my head.

"So be it."

A bead of sweat formed on my forehead.

I grimaced.

"Currently, I am pained to inform you that we might be the epicenter soon.

The next leader for the 1st military group will be the vanguard; the leader of the charge." Chris noted seriously.

The air got heavier.

"Who's it going to be?"

"Theo…"

"Theo?" I shrugged.

"You are kidding me, right?" Kaiya exhaled.

"Theo." I repeated.

"That drunk dickhead??" She growled.

"You know him?"

"I mean, he is not a bad person… socially speaking.

However, he is probably one of the people that drink a lot and thinks that everything is going according to plan."

I looked across the entire city from the hill that we were sitting on.

"Can Theo actually be good at anything, you speak of?"

"He is good at almost everything besides leaf-raking us in."

"So…leaf-raking?"

"We were unemployed once before."

"Okay —well.

Not a good method."

I sat down on the grass.

"Theo is a hard worker, and a nut.

He hates weak people.

I don't know if he will like you." She faintly said.

"He sounds like a lofty person.

I may be weak, but I may not be weak."

"Sure."

I pointed in the direction of the city.

"One day, I am going to leave the empire.

If it weren't for us, Reed would have left a long time ago."

"How come?"

"That should not even be a question."

I lifted my hand and pointed over the city and towards the horizon.

"There is always an adventure, but that is not what I am aiming for.

I am aiming to go by my own rules and not be regulated by anyone.

Nothing else."

I grinned.

I will achieve what Reed has not.

"Theo took over after Reed got a lethal dose of poison.

Theo was the only survivor of the original 2nd from before.

In fact he is also the only person that has "Soul And Weapon" that is above 20."

"He is a rare person in this world, huh.

Is he above 21?"

"Yes.

He is now 22 since his birthday was in the winter.

Seldom, and quite deadly."

"What, an alcoholic?"

"Yeah, sure."

I shrugged and adjusted my eyes towards the grand city again.

I hope I wont see anything bad happen to us again.

Considering our military is not the greatest.

Even a small war can ruin us.

The world is vastly superior to any little shitty resistance we can put up.

"Do you think ghouls are a threat now that they are appearing again after many years?" Ki asked with uncertainty.

"You ask me?"

"I know for sure that the one who murdered Reed, is a great threat.

He appeared out of nowhere and popped a fizz into his throat."

"Damn it.

Our little country cannot get a little bit of peace, can we?"

Surely everyone is dying like this.

I thought that this was a period of peace, but life speaks of null peace.

Eventually we are all dead or dying.

"Are you good at hunting?" I asked, "Now that I am at the capital, I need some money to get some good stuff."

"Sure, I got nothing to do all week—uh, mostly."

"Great, I need to beat meat, swiftly dispatch the exam, and then make some yellow."

"As for me, I have to beat meat, and chill."

"You forgot you were going to make yellow right?"

"Yes, with enough kel, err… yellow, I will be able to buy my way out of this squad right here.

Obviously Mr. Trensburg is not having it like that."

"Brrr," I faked a shiver, "I am usually terrified when it comes down to me versus Chris in a 1v1 duel at economics."

"Here you go again, I don't need help for this."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Are you actually sure?"

"No!"

"There."

"Fine, see how this plays out."

"He is going to checkmate you in a couple of moves.

Well, I mean the exam has not officially started until tomorrow. But first, they need to examine us."

The bloody skin of an animal that I cannot Identify.

"No… Shot." Ki looks at me nervously.

"What?"

"Just… Shit.

This is quite unfortunate."

I now understood what she meant.

"That is human skin, right?"

"Yeah.

More than that, whomever this is was cut at the carotid artery location, brain stem, Radial arteries and ended with many lacerations in the soleus and tibialis posterior."

"Mans only got his integumentary system left.

You got a good eye."

"What a shame.

A waste of good bodily resources."

"Are you insane?

Are we even remotely worried about the fact that there is a dead man right here?"

"No.

In a simple manner, no."

"But?"

"The only problem with your remark and worries is that it has no significant–"

"Do you think ghouls may have traversed this particular area?" I cut in.

"No way are they that fast, right?"

"I would like to think that they aren't, however, if some trouble stirs up this discovery would be a decisive factor that we will all regret in the pits of hell."

"That's true."

"Yes and it only gets better!"

"How??"

"We get to predetermine what their abilities are."

"How do we do that?"

"I get to do that."

"Okay that is smart, but I am not in the mood to die today.

Not even going to lie."

"But I sure am!" I said with fake enthusiasm.

"Sarcasm is obvious."

"Ok.

I would like to alert the guards, but all of them are already mobilized."

~~~~

"A bear den." Ki observed.

"Is that the code for this shit?"

"Yeah."

"What is headquarters then?"

"Ant nest"

"This is stupid."

"Bee hive is for forward operating base"

"Is this a term that I should learn in the military?"

"Yes."

"That means I can slack in class if I do it earlier."

"Good.

That is also what I did with Reed."

"Okay.

So Reed completely neglected my training, so I just relied on myself for improvement.

Honestly I am very terrible at remembering things — that are important."

"Have you ever gone on a mission with Reed?"

"Yeah, 5 times.

You?"

"61."

"Oh, okay."

I had already finished the first checks.

Skipping line was really simple but difficult.

I just cannot do things the way they are meant, huh.

"Well all of my missions have been long shots or eliminations."

"I had 5 different missions.

Strategy, Tactical, Recon, Elimination, and Garrison."

"What have you been doing all this time?

What is the duration of your missions?"

"Elimination, until I eliminate the target.

Strategy, 1 day to make a plan on how to assault criminal organizations in the major cities.

Recon, 4 weeks

Tactical, Until I have cleared a 'bear den'.

Garrison, I had to uphold for 2 years."

"500 varas in a million years, I suppose."

"It looks like Reed didn't know what to do with me."

"Take a gander.

You see those bushes?"

"No?"

"Look."

->

Skills: High Speed, Backstab, Soul and Weapon

Abilities: Knife-6, Knife-6, Piercing Arrow, Spear-2, Shadow Arrow, Dispersed Speed

<-

"Wait, what the hell does dispersed speed do?"

She looked at me like I was crazy.

"What the hell is dispersed speed?"

You really need to be up to date with your abilities.

Last time I saw you, you did not have it."

"If you aren't lying then I guess we have a free officer now."

"Ye."

I shook my head.

"However I don't think you know how you got it.

You should learn more before using it." I urged.

"And you quote your brother."

"What?

I have not heard that before, it must be a coincidence." I shrugged.

"Yeah su—"

I gripped the nape of her shirt and tugged backwards.

"Shit!' I swore under my breath.

I slid back and tore Ki back with me.

Step 1.

It whizzed right over my head.

The second one is heading towards her.

I pulled towards the ground.

"AAKHKk-!" She choked.

I dropped to my stomach and exhaled.

Ki somehow bounced off the ground on the impact and rolled backwards.

Step 2.

"What the hell was that for?" Kaiya's face was flushed.

"Get over here." I silently screamed.

She crawled up to my position.

"Oof."

"Yeah, my bad."

When was the third step?

Usually there are 3 knives.

I heard the faint, dreaded whirring and whooshing sound chopping through the air.

It was launched into a spin.

I desperately looked around to see where it was going to come from.

Lowering my head, I sighed.

Then my eyes averted to the sky.

"Crap, crap, crap!" I kicked Kaiya and she rolled to the right.

The knife landed almost an inch away from my leg.

"Da-damn!" I stammered.

It stuck out of the cold hard earth.

It was labeled with characters that I cannot understand.

The ghoul's standard throwing knife combo.

I learned this from reading books.

I have read books about history.

This was almost like a reference from one of those, or some kind of pamphlet.

"I told you to look at the bushes dumbass!!" Ki agitatedly clamored.

"We are already in a combat situation.

We have around 15 remaining seconds until it will become unavoidable."

We both rose from our position on the ground.

We were out of time.

Kaiya rolled quite the distance away, likely purposefully.

She was covered in dirt and small fragments of grass.

I gripped my sword which I had just sat on top.

Good thing it is still rigid.

The green grid reappeared.

A dot.

There it was, a ghoul.

RECON-8.435k.

200 meters out northeast.

It is marked, so it has killed a human.

"Ow." Ki exhaled.

Already, her feet were stuck in a stance ready to fight.

Tense and ready, but loose and variable.

"I bit my tongue." Kaiya continued.

The dot stopped.

I loosened my grip.

Ten seconds later, it started moving again.

I tightened my grip.

"I wonder what that was about." I said out loud.

"What?"

"What?"

"Nothing.

Nothing."

By then I realized that I had been in their sights.

Heat and fire filled the air around me.

I gripped the handle of my push dagger.

"Fuck."

Timelapse was activated.

My blood vessels tightened and I felt like I was compressed.

My boots left the ground.

I need to get out of the way before this kills me.

A bolt of fire kept hurdling at me at speeds faster than my usual reaction time.

The nervous system that I have is communicating to my brain at extremely high speeds.

My first thought was: is this what a seizure feels like?

The fire just sped up when I lost my concentration.

Foot straight in, digging into the ground.

I dashed backwards and slid as it passed right over me.

I got up and saw the sizzled remains of a bush.

I started coughing.

"Not again— stupid bastard ass jockey!"

She ducked below a branch and pulled me behind a tree.

"I am okay."

I wiped away my spit, which was not red.

"I think I Cho—ked on my own spit" I gasped.

I continued coughing.

"What a bozo." Ki sighed.

"Good riddance, huh."

"GOOD MOTHE-FUCKIN' GREIF." She huffed.

"Yeesh…"

My shirt was stained from her hand pulling on me.

I dusted myself off a little.

Time seemed to slow a little bit as we crouched behind the tree stationary.

Finally after a while, Kaiya lifted her shirt a little to reveal that she had a folded crossbow.

"3 bolts and we make it count."

"3 bolts, so opening of 13.34 seconds."

"Quite, we need 1 more second for error.

It does not matter if they are moving, or turning, doing cartwheels, eating ass, it doesn't matter."

"We just need 2 seconds with them not being covered by trees."

"That is the amount of time we need to use to counter and not be seen."

She snapped the pieces into place.

"Don't think you can tug on my soul strings and piss your pants, okay?" Kaiya spat out.

"You don't want to be a pussy and shit plop your shot, okay?" I returned.

"You don't want to be gaggle-fucked by an Orasurs Anaconda with a bolt in your head, sure?"

"What the hell?"

"Tree, shot, boom.

Hit."

"Got it; god damn."

People used to tell me to run away.

But now I run towards the threat, how about that!