The Strange Man

"Alan!" Marya screamed when Alan flew through the trees and disappeared into the woods after getting whipped by the monster.

"How the hell is it still on its feet?" The bald guy reacted while he rejoiced himself.

Doomster was on its feet and beat its chest in fury. Waa! Its cry echoed throughout the woods. The students had to shut close their ears to counter the deafening cry.

"How will beat it if it is still on its feet after receiving those kinds of punches?" Marya mentioned and clenched her fists.

"I know what you are thinking, Marya. But we have to deal with it," The bald guy said when an orange aura covered his entire body along with the war-hammer in his hand. The white aura covered Marya's body.

Doomster's pupils shone bright red, and its tails grew longer and sharper spikes. It cried while looking at the sky and looked at the students.

"How would we create an opening?" A student said.

"I don't know," Marya replied when the white aura flowed throughout her body and collected in her arms. "We should go for the old way."

The student gulped after hearing it. The old way meant to fight the creature head-on with no plans.

While they spoke, the tails grew more pointed endings giving it the look of sharp claws. The bald guy had his eyes widened when he saw it. "Why is it growing midway through the fight?"

"Ouch!" Alan rubbed his head sitting under a tree. A bunch of leaves dropped here and there when he slowly stood up. "I should have finished it when I had the chance," He said.

"You can't finish it that easily, boy," Someone said.

Alan looked around after hearing the voice but could spot no one. "Who is it?" He said while eyes searched around.

A man walked out of the darkness from the denser part of the forest while he spoke, "You can't beat it facing head-on without knowing its weakness, boy."

Alan got on his guard when he saw a man walking up to him. "Who are you? What do you mean?"

The man wore brown baggy clothes that covered his entire body up to his neck. He wore a brown turban on his head and black dusty high boots. He had small beady eyes and had a dense beard of short length. He seemed injured as he had scratches around his cheeks. He held his right shoulder from his left hand as he seemed to have injured it and also struggled to walk.

"That monster is out of control," The man said after he stopped at a distance in front of Alan.

"What do you mean? Do you know something about it?"

"I have created that monster. I know everything about it," The man said, making Alan's eyes expand in shock.

"What do you mean by 'created'? Are you saying…" When Alan was speaking, the man interrupted.

"Yes, it is not a natural creature. We have created it in our laboratory."

Something struck Alan's head at that very moment. "Wait, if they created this creature in a lab, then…" He thought. "Is it the weapon that was to destroy the Alabusians?"

He looked at the shady man and asked, "Why did you create such a thing?"

"I can't tell you, boy," The man replied.

"This strengthens my doubts. There is a high probability this creature could be the weapon of mass destruction the headmaster mentioned in the scroll," Alan thought.

"I can tell you how to defeat it," The man mentioned, resulting in Alan breaking out of his reverie.

"Tell me."

"I and a team of twenty-five researchers created an unbeatable and untamable creature. However, we still gave it a weakness in case if it goes rogue which happened," The man told. "We gave it an artificial core inside its chest."

"Artificial core? Something like this is possible?" Alan asked as it piqued his curiosity.

'The cores are natural and are present in every human being according to ancient scriptures. The spiritual energy develops in the core and flows in the entire body from there. Nobody knows the true nature of them and nobody has understood it fully.'

Alan remembered what his father told him about the spiritual core when he was in the learning stage. For someone to create an artificial core, it was quite unbelievable for him.

"It was not possible until now, but I…" The man spoke and looked at the sky with his chest held high in pride. "I, the mighty Donke created it."

He seemed proud of his creation which was natural.

Clank! Clank!

Alan could hear the clanking noises coming from the battle area. The students were fighting the monster which meant he had no time to waste.

"Tell me how can I defeat it?" He asked.

"The information I gave you is enough for you to figure it out," The man said while he looked deep into Alan's eyes. "It would be better for you to figure it out yourself."

"This is no time for puzzles, old man!" Alan rebuked. "Many lives are in danger!" The old man stood still and didn't reply. "Hey, I am talking to you!"

"Old man?" He sensed something wrong when the man stood still in the same position and didn't show any movement for a few seconds. He didn't even blink. "Hey…" He headed towards the man with a concerned face. "Hey, why aren't you answering?"

He suddenly heard a scream which came from the direction where the students and the monster fought. "Ah!" He turned his head and ran towards the sound, leaving the strange man in his condition.

When he reached the battleground, he saw a horrific scene. The bald student sat on his knees after he lost a limb while fighting the monster.

Blood dripped on the ground from the place his arm had cut off and the bald student struggled in pain. "Damn you, monster," He uttered.

Alan moved his around and saw all the students lied wounded on the ground.

Grr… The monster groaned and moved the torn limb of the bald boy around in the air. It held it from the claws formed at the tip of the tails. Apparently, they were sharp enough to tear one's body apart.

"This is bad news," Alan uttered when the monster threw the arm towards him. It flew, dropped, and rolled on the ground to stop near him finally.

"You… damn… monster…" Marya said while she struggled to get up. Dust, bruises, and scratches covered her entire body. "I won't go down by the likes of you," She added when she sat on her knee.

'However, we still gave it a weakness in case if it goes rogue which happened. We gave it an artificial core inside its chest.'

Alan remembered what the man told him earlier.

"Its weakness is its core. This explains why it received damage after getting hits on the chest," He thought and looked at the monster which trapped Marya between his tails.

She had nowhere to escape neither she had the energy to do so. The tails floated around her with the claws clutching frequently near her face as if the monster gave her a sign of what it was about to do.

"This… is… so… humiliating," Marya said and gritted her teeth when she stared at the ground. "Is this the end?"

She started having flashbacks of her past while she raised her gaze to look at the opened claw approaching her from the front. She knew it would tear her apart in a blink.

"So, it really is the end… Father… Sis… I was incompetent for someone of your blood."

"Mother… I failed."

She closed her eyes. The time seemed to have stopped for her as she could recall her entire life in those moments.