Tale of Discovery

Chapter 28: Premonition ; Shutdown

Clarification: This chapter will mostly be in the 3rd person POV. You thought I was just messing around when I said this will get dark? HMB.

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WARNING: This chapter contains potentially sensitive content (violence/gore). Proceed at your own risk.

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Carefully sneaking out with her school bag hanging from her arm, Ayumi checks her surroundings for any security guards. She walks close to a wall and looks by leaning out of her cover at where the guards usually are.

There, a middle-aged man is sitting right by the entrance. He seems to have no intention of moving, causing Ayumi to mutter,

"I will get out for sure."

She then heads in the direction of the lavatory without being seen. Once inside, she moves toward the slider-window, opens it, and gets out.

Ayumi then makes a run to school while avoiding any security cameras set up outside. In the end, she manages to make it to the third class.

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Walking out of her class, Ayumi is met with the sight of an empty corridor. Just as she stepped out of the door, she noticed someone leaning on the wall beside it.

Oikawa - The classmate she had rejected after he had confessed his love to her. He then moves closer to her, one hand in his pocket, and states smugly,

"Hey, I found a sweets shop that serves really good red bean soup. I'll treat you to some to celebrate you getting better."

Ayumi raises her arms in response, waving them in front of her as she says in a polite tone,

"I'm sorry, but I just got better, so I'll have to pass."

She then turns around and wants to walk away, but a hand grabs onto her uniform's left short-sleeve.

"H-Hold on a second!", Oikawa exclaims.

"If right after getting better is bad, how about we go on the weekend?", he suggests desperately.

All of a sudden, Nomura appears and knocks him into the wall using her shoulder. Glaring into his eyes, she says,

"You really don't get it, do you? You've been denied once already, just give up!"

Not willing to do as she says, Oikawa yells at her,

"Out of my way, I'm going to make my way back from here!"

Irritated by him entirely, Nomura shouts at him to shut up before turning towards Ayumi and saying,

"Ayuucchi, you go on ahead. I will somehow deal with this guy."

Smiling slightly in response to her friend's reliability, she thanks her then trots away, while effectively ignoring Oikawa's cries calling out for her.

It's noon, but the way the clouds are positioned in the sky, makes everything seem to be way less vibrant than it usually is.

Ayumi continues to trot despite the eeriness of her surroundings. She can't hear a thing but pays it no attention as she gets closer to the staircases connecting the floors.

Turning after a corner, Ayumi stops in her tracks, as there, standing in front of her, is Konishi. This friend of hers is usually quiet at school. She can't even remember the last time Konishi had talked in her presence. She is just standing where she is with her bangs covering her eyes.

A seed of anxiety is planted within Ayumi, but she just swallows her saliva as she voices,

"Konishi?"

After an unnaturally long pause, Konishi mutters,

"It's because you showed up..."

Ayumi straightens her back in response and asks her timidly,

"What is?"

"With Oikawa...", Konishi mutters once again,

"With Oikawa?", Ayumi repeats her words in confusion.

"With Oikawa, I used to eat lunch all alone. We were supposedly dating.", Konishi continues, with anger present in her voice.

Gritting her teeth, Konishi continues to mutter as the bangs in front of her eyes move a little, revealing eyes that seem to glare at Ayumi's soul,

"But ever since you showed up... Oikawa... Oikawa... It's like he's forgotten about me! He looks at just you all the time!"

Frustration is apparent on her face and her breathing is shaking and shallow.

Sliding one hand into her pocket, she pulls out a paper cutter knife, and ever so slowly extends the blade.

Ayumi's sight focuses on the small paper cutter as a clicking sound reverberates in the empty corridor. A look of horror appears on her face, getting worse each time she hears a click. Attempting to ease her, Ayumi raises her arms in front of her and says while stepping back,

"Wait! I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. Let's just talk, so put that cutter knife away!"

Konishi moves unnaturally, the glare in her eyes still present. Ayumi's words seem to have absolutely no effect on her as she continues to repeatedly say,

"It's all your fault..."

With each step taken by Konishi, Ayumi backs away in response. After a few steps, she notices that there is a staircase behind her. She immediately bolts up the stairs running for her life.

Seeing the one who took everything from her running away, Konishi grunts as she begins to chase her.

Once she's at the top, Ayumi notices that there's a door. She runs towards it and attempts to open it, but it's locked. Ayumi turns around, just in time to see Konishi appear with the knife cutter still in her hand, extending and retracting.

"It's all you fault..." she mutters as she moves toward Ayumi.

"That's why you are going to see some pain.", she continues while lifting the arm holding the paper cutter with a creepy smile plastered onto her face.

"Help... someone...", Ayumi says in a weak and despairing voice.

She backs away until her back is in contact with the door, and just before she can let out a scream, the building abruptly shakes, making her stagger and fall on her rear.

[---13 minutes ago---]

Victor and Joijiro are both sitting in the cafeteria eating their lunch, which happens to be pasta. As they talk, Joijiro's phone rings. Taking a look at it, Joijiro informs Victor that they are being called to the student council room.

Once they're done eating, they make their way there and upon entering the room, Nao's anxious state meets their eyes.

{15 minutes until the data extraction begins. Be warned that you abruptly lose consciousness during the process.}

Irene's voice resounds within Victor's mind.

"What, did something happen?", asks Joijiro.

Without beating around the bush, Nao says, "Ayumi is at school."

Victor's eyes widen as he immediately says,

"No, that can't be right. I had told her to stay home and even called the school to tell them about it."

Nao's expression gets slightly worse as she asks, "How was her condition today?"

"She had gotten better, but I was afraid that the sickness would relapse, so I wanted her to stay home for another day.", he replies.

"Perhaps, because her temperature is normal, she decided to attend school from the third period based on her own decision.", Nao states.

"I have a bad feeling about this... Let's go check Ayumi's condition right away.", she continues.

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On the way there, Victor apologizes to the rest before he dashes off at an incredible speed. As he runs, he spots the 20 feet fence separating the school buildings, and directly leaps over it.

However, the moment he lands on the ground, an energy beam is released in his direction. Sensing it, he dodges the beam and moves back.

Then, a man dressed in a peculiar black uniform appears in front of him and says,

"It took me a lot of effort to finally have you within my net, you anomaly."

Victor's mind is preoccupied with Ayumi, so he scowls at the man and says in a threatening tone,

"Move out of my way or else you'll experience what it's like to have your head pulled off of your body."

The man just laughs in response to his threat and says confidently,

"You'll find that much harder to achieve than you think."

Having had enough of his shit, Victor directly utilizes Godspeed and punches the man with enough force to launch him like a cannonball into the distance.

He hears the sound of a crash and continues to run.

---Present---

Having fallen on the ground, Ayumi is unable to muster any strength to defend herself. Konishi mutters,

"Even the devil wants me to punish you..."

Without giving her a chance to say anything, Konishi gets on top of her and directly stabs Ayumi in her right eye, puncturing it.

Ayumi begins to scream in pain as she flails her arms around trying to get Konishi off of herself.

The wounded eye doesn't seem to have much of an effect on Konishi's mental state as she slashes at Ayumi once again, this time cutting her arm.

Ayumi manages to land a punch on Konishi's face and push her away. In a cracking and broken voice, she screams as hard as she can for her only family,

"BROTHER!"

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Having finally reached the school building, Victor looks for the body of the guy dressed in black, but only finds a crater.

He suddenly hears a scream from the third floor of the building.

Directly using Clairvoyance, the sight of Ayumi who's covered in tears and blood and a girl behind her getting on feet holding a cutter knife, enters his view.

Cracks are appearing all over the building as Ayumi starts to glow in purple while screaming.

His eyes instantly turn bloodshot as red veins start covering his body.

{Berserk: God's Wrath unsealed.}

He raises his arm, leaving a dark trail behind before he slashes down.

The moment he does so, a bright red blade-like shape appears in front of him and moves in the direction of the building, growing in size as it does so.

The blade severs the arm holding the cutter blade off then splits the whole building in half.

As an aura of darkness begins to surround him, a flash of light appears in front of Victor, taking the form of a human, before a short blonde girl is revealed.

{Barrier Creation}

A thin layer of light appears around Ayumi and keeps her in the air as the building collapses. Once over, Ayumi falls to the ground and directly loses consciousness.

{Shutdown}

Then, the girl says while pointing her index finger at Victor.

A red glow appears at the tip of her finger and launches in Victor's direction leaving a trail behind as it does.

Once it makes contact with Victor, the red veins on his body start to turn black. The next moment, the girl clutches her head and begins screaming in agony before blowing up into particles.

{Destruction unsealed}

The next moment, the veins covering Victor's body begin to gradually disappear as a voice appears within his mind,

{Data transference initiated...}

"Ayumi...", he manages to mutter as he regains a little of his clarity before dropping onto the ground.