Thankfully, my Cloak activated, mitigating all the damage from the strike. However, I was still injured by the multiple walls I was hurled through. Aiko starts healing me from afar, gradually closing my wounds and causing my bruises to disappear. I look at where I formerly stood, the imperial is nowhere to be seen. Daiki begins making his way toward me in a hurry. 

“STOP, DON'T MOVE! STAY WITH AIKO NO MATTER WHAT”

he stops and pauses, withdrawing a few steps back towards Aiko standing guard. I look around searching for the imperial, trying to pinpoint exactly where it is located. I search with my mana to try and detect it. Unable to reveal its location, the imperial shows up out of nowhere kicking me to the center of the cafeteria. Located in front of the school's principal entrance Daiki and Aiko regroup with me. The imperial has stopped moving and is staying where I had landed the first time I got thrown. Located in front of the men’s bathroom is the imperial smiling at us. Its gaze runs chills across my spine. The imperial slowly glides towards us without making contact with the ground, gradually getting closer to us. With every second that passes the closer we are to an inevitable death; we once more take our battle stance and prepare for battle. Once again catching us off guard, it flings its spear toward us, and I block it. The shining silver spear flies into the air and falls blade first into the floor behind me. Splitting the floor below us in half. The imperial follows through its attack with a wide barrage of punches. Most of which graze me as I dodge them, grazing my skin, Daiki goes to land a bunch from behind. The imperial pauses and tilts its head slowly towards him and smiles, as it punches Daiki in the stomach, launching him across the room and through the principal door. 

“Aiko, make sure he’s okay; I'll stall for time," I shout.

She rushes to his side; the monster completely disregards them as it maintains eye contact with me at all times.

As fast as possible I attempt tearing its skin apart; Its thin pieces of blood stained white clothes tear, revealing its chest. The attack I had just used, didn't even leave a mark. One of the strongest attacks I could throw was completely negated dealing zero damage. I grip my swords tightly readying myself for the imperial to attack, however, it doesn’t move almost as if trying to taunt me. I increase the gravity around it. The ground turns to rubble creating a small crater around the monster. 

“Are you almost done” I ask Aiko

“No! he’s unconscious, he won't be able to fight for a bit” she replies

“Ok, looks like it's a one-on-one you bastard,” I say, staring sharply at the imperial.

Its grin gets increasingly bigger than before.

It understood me?

I drop my guard, causing the monster to once again move behind me. Without being able to perceive it, I turn around and repel its attack. Its spear still on the ground, the imperial continues to strike me with its fists with no intent of stopping. I block and dodge most of them, however, a few still make it through cutting my skin due to its incredible speed and accuracy. Over and over again the imperial keeps punching, I block with my swords, the sound of metal clashing. The imperial slowly overwhelms me; It readies its aim at my chest. Thankfully blocking it in time, consequently, I drop my swords from the hit directed at my arms forcing me to release my grip on my swords. I get sent back from the force next to the imperial's silver spear on the floor. Keeping an eye on the monster, I kneel and reach for the spear. It's longer than I am, estimating about a foot longer than me. With the long blade, at the end of the weapon, I would say it's about 7 feet long. The substantial weight of the weapon forces me to empower my arms and hands with mana to simply hold it properly. I take a glance over at Daiki and Aiko, she seems to be doing a good job healing considering Daiki has partially regained consciousness. I look back at the monster who has disappeared. I look around me in panic; it's nowhere to be seen; I scan the entire room searching for it. I then sense mana from above, The imperial leaping into the air about to crush me to the ground. I leap backward and slide into the wall, I have now been cornered. The imperial on one knee with its fist connecting to the ground sends a shockwave leaving a deep crater 3 times as big as mine and leaving cracks from the impact below my feet. The blow was so strong I felt a gust of wind blow through my hair. It swiftly gets up, dashing towards me, and aims a punch to my face. Before the blow connects, I roll to the side dodging the attack. Still holding the spear I lunge back quickly, attempting to strike it. The imperial grabs onto the spear by the blade using mana ceasing it from piercing its skin and propels me into the wall. I fall to the ground, as a spear lunges through my chest. I am now sitting up with a spear grounding me to the wall. Blood coming from my mouth I lean over the spear.

I forgot to take into account that each rank will have stronger and weaker monsters. The Imperial I had fought in the dungeon was simply at a lower level of A rank. This one, however, is much stronger than the previous one. 

The imperial slowly makes its way towards me. As if trying to make the process of killing me as painful as can be. It now stands in front of me, its feet next to mine, I look up and notice its pale face staring down at me as if disappointed in my efforts… It craved a better fight than I could provide. The imperial kneels down and tugs on my hair forcing me to look directly at it. It strikes my face, continuing to hold my head still by tightening its grip on my hair. Continuously, striking me until my face is completely coated in dark red blood. No matter the amount of mana I use to block the attacks I am overpowered. I am no longer capable of seeing from my left eye; it's swollen completely shut.

I give up, I'm gonna die, I'm simply not meant for this world. No matter where I go I always end up getting beat, whether it's in school or right now, I always get beat by someone stronger than me. That's the type of world we live in, the strong prey on the weak. No matter the progress I make or how strong I become, I will always be beaten by someone stronger than me. I'm sorry brother, I lost. But that's okay, I'll be able to be with you soon, with dad and mom. We can be a family together once again. As I'm about to die, I feel the warmth come from where the spear is located and then onto my face. I'm able to open my eyes again, it's Aiko and Daiki, they both stand before me. Aiko heals my wounds and stops the bleeding from my chest. 

Daiki stands up to the imperial. Despite shaking from the legs out of fear, Daiki stands up to the monster and protects me and Aiko while she heals me. In a split moment, the imperial appears behind Aiko, completely ignoring Daiki. Before being able to strike Aiko from behind, Daiki leaps onto the monster's back and puts it into a headlock pulling it back. The imperial then leaps to the other side of the cafeteria and rams its back into the wall. Forcing Daiki to release his grip. The imperial then beat Daiki. Over and over without stopping crushing his face and body, the only thing I can hear is the constant beating noise echoing throughout the entire room. Daiki’s blood splattered onto the walls and floor. The imperial doesn't stop. Daiki’s once stiff arm is now lowered onto the floor. I can't move, it hurts so much, I can't move. I can't even make a sound, move, move, I can't move, help someone please help. I can't move. Daiki’’s gonna die, I'm too weak. The spear is limiting me. I finally stood up. With all of my remaining energy, I push my body through the other end of the spear. My flesh, tearing slowly. No matter how painful I keep pushing. My groans of pain echo through the open room. 

“ STOOOOOP, HE’LL DIE” I scream, The imperial looks at me with a grin. Continuing to hit Daiki’s motionless body. 

oh right… I forgot, this isn't the real world anymore… it doesn't care if someone dies… it will do what it wants.

I continue to push through as blood gushes out from my wound. I finally made it past the spear. Finally free, I fall to the ground on my knees once again unable to move. The monster shows up in front of me. I can't help but look over to Daiki’s body. His body without any movement has died. My friend has been murdered in front of me, and I couldn't even do a thing to stop it. Everyone around me dies, everyone I care about dies. 

“why, why, WHY, WHY, WHY MEEEEE, WHAT DID I DO WRONG, THIS ISN'T FAIR”

The imperial then dashes past me, grabs his spear, and slices Aiko’s head off. Her head drops in front of me. Tears running down my face, I scream “ARGHHHHHHHHH, STOOOOP, PLEASE, please stop” 

I got them killed, it's all my fault, I was overconfident and got my friends killed. I’m a murderer, it's all my fault. Why am I the chosen one? I don't want this, I just want to die in peace. I find myself on my knees before the imperial, “kill me” I say. “I'm ready”, I Then hear a voice in my head, a voice I could never forget even if I wanted to. The only thing I can remember from my brother to this day is his hypocritical words. “Never give up, no matter what, always fight back”. However, unlike him, I won't give up… I'll fight back until the day I die. With all of my energy and willpower, I use matter manipulation and pull the imperial away, launching it into the wall located next to its spear. I then levitate and escape through the main entrance, rain pouring down, washing away my wounds as I make my way back to the grocery store. I arrive at the field high in the sky behind me is the Imperial catching up to me. I need to make it past the fence and hopefully, it will stop chasing after me. As I finally make it to the fence the imperial catches up to me and slashes my back cutting across my torso, I groan in pain as I fall to the ground landing just past the floor. I look up to see if the imperial will follow me. It doesn't, it stops just in front of it, its eyes glaring at me, the imperial slowly turns around and makes its way back to the school through the rain. I sigh in relief, I'm in pain, not only physically but also mentally. The heavy rain wetted my torn clothes, I lay down on the grass, heavy tears running down my face, I am now alone. Once again I find myself without anyone to rely on, the friends I had been wanting and craving my entire life have been killed mercilessly. I stayed there for a few minutes with nothing but sadness. I finally snap back to reality, I get up and open the store system. I use my remaining coins and buy health potions, I drink them swiftly healing all of my wounds and leaving multiple scars along my body. However I am still hurt, the wounds I've had the past week don't compare to the scars engraved on my mind, the faces of my friends weeping before their deaths. A sight I will never forget, I make my way back to the grocery store, slowly taking my time, grieving my friend's death. I finally made it back to the office. Bee is still lying down peacefully on the desk, I sit down against the wall, my now-dead friend's items on the floor, their change of clothes and belongings. Whether it be their wallets or jewelry from the old world, I grab onto their shirts and their clothes still carrying her scent, I can't help but tear up at the thought of them. No matter how many times I see people die, it still hurts. I put their clothes to my mouth smelling them, remembering the short times we had together. Despite being short they had meaning, the friendship we had was different from any normal friendship. It represented the struggles and difficult times we had together helping each other and covering each other's backs. We had trust in each other and that's what mattered. A few hours go by and I fall asleep, I never thought I would cry to sleep at the age of 17. I haven't cried this much since losing my elder brother. I spend the entire day without eating or drinking anything, I simply spend the day looking into nothingness. There are no thoughts or emotions, nothing but emptiness and loneliness. The day goes by, and once again I find myself crying myself to sleep. The next morning I get out of the office and get food from the different ailes. Bringing them back to the office, I sit next to my friends places and eat in silence. Half the day goes by, I receive a system notification I look up with empty eyes and open it

It hurts, doesn't it? to lose the people you care for,

You’re weak!

Grow stronger, grow strong enough to protect those around you. 

You are destined to spend your life alone.

Are you willing to change that fate?

kill the imperial and seek revenge!

in return I will grant you power.

Objective: 

• Kill the imperial who killed your friends (0/1)

Reward:

+10 stat points

Title:

Eye for an Eye

Each time you avenge someone you receive 3 extra stat points

*titles don't need to be equipped to receive their effect*

Warmage necklace

+25 mana

Using the necklace you can absorb a dead being, increasing your stats. If this person had meant alot to you it will not take a slot and will permanently increase your stats. The stats that increase are relative to how strong the person is, and what stat was prioritized. You will absorb 50% of their highest stat.

Slots remaining 1

Permanent beings 0

I get up and pack some things, grab my bag and pack some essentials, such as food and blankets. I look around the office and the store to find a way to carry Bee around. I look throughout the entire store and wasn't able to find anything useful. “Looks like I'll need to carry you little buddy” I tell Bee with a morbid tone. I open the door of the office and make my way out the store throughout the main entrance. I put Bee on the ground and pulled out my mask and cloak from my bag. I haven't worn them since the event. The items bring back unwanted memories, memories that no one would want to remember. I shake my head pushing the memories away and putting the Cloak and mask on announcing the beginning of my journey.