Surpriseee~, I'm back! With a...(glance sideway)...new story instead of an expected update.
I guess some of my dear readers would wonder why this story is born instead of a new update for other stories. Well, everything will be explained in the note below. For now, as you have been guided here by the seemingly confusing summary and the genres, please step on the train (No! No! Not the feel train! Step on the bloody, rusty one!) and let it deliver you into a world turned devastated by "him".
Enjoy~.
Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu no Index series.
What would it take for a normal person to change their way of thinking, to have a change of heart?
What would it take for an ordinary person to throw away their ideals of life?
What would it take for a normal high school boy to one day, in a very abruptly way, change his path from hero to villain?
It all started with a simple line of words.
Everything began with one simplest sentence that happened to be the trigger of the worst kind of feeling a normal human shouldn't have never had. Followed by an appropriate condition, thus acted as a catalyst. The forbidden chain of uncontrollable emotions could easily break.
After that, some possible scenarios might occur once the usual-self has gone:
One could become a different person.
One could become evil.
One could become a mass murderer.
And from the list of potential psychology related action, there was one more term that could top it all, accurately describing the mental state of the worst kind of existence that had ever been brought into the world.
Monster.
The worst kind of psychological way of thinking that suited the worst kind of existence could be describe as similar to a monster.
But it has never been used, no one has ever deserved of such a title.
To point it out frankly, the term itself has never existed in the domain of psychology.
It wasn't because using it would go against the concept of morality. It wasn't use partly because the world refused to let itself acknowledge the kind of existence that could easily ignore of what make a human truly a human.
So….
Let's go straight to the main topic. There was only one question available.
How did this relate or relevant to a normal high school you can find anywhere?
For someone like him…
For someone like a certain spiky haired boy, of course, such a term will never suit him.
Kamijou Touma is known as someone with a very kind soul.
He helped those who in need.
He broke illusion of those who has strayed from their righteous path.
He was just a boy who was favored by the god of misfortune and possess a very unique power hidden in his right hand.
Despite some saw the boy as a dense, idiotic, naïve person with a hidden masochist fetish (even though he didn't have one), his comrades and friends viewed him in many respected manner.
From the Magic Side, he was a hero who has stopped World War 3 with bare hand, the one who has reminded the world of what it means to be forgiven during the aftermath of the Magic God Othinus's incident.
From the Science Side, he was a valuable asset in the eyes of a certain board chairman, a dependable comrade, a good friend of those whom he has met through various circumstances in Academy City.
Then why the meaningless question that has a so obvious an answer that even a child could guess?
Yes, the answer was a definite no.
Kamijou Touma could never become such an existence.
He could never become a monster.
Then, say…..
Do you know why a person can have a change of heart?
Very simple…..
When all the missing pieces has filled in the right gap, when the right condition is triggered.
All it takes was just a few simple worlds.
"I will ravage the world around you, destroy every little thing that you love so much."
Kamijou once heard a man spoke those words in front of him.
Things began to change.
And in the end, an illusion was broke.
But…..
Like a malicious twisted of fate….the illusion that has been broke, it belonged to the boy himself.
From hero to villain, his path changed.
Never stopped at that, he descended deeper into the realm of monster, becoming one himself.
Thus, began the missing chapter, the forever forgotten story of a world turned devastated under the presence of a single high school boy who was once a hero and the savior of his own world.
An unknown timeline drowned in an unexplainable nightmare.
…..
….
…
[105,981,935]
…..this is…..the last one on this shelf, huh.
Emptiness entered the gaze that directed at one last tin can appeared way deep in the back of a food shelf. Shortly after, a boy, who was staring at it with little hope, reached out his hand toward that can, taking it then looked at the price.
It was very cheap, starting from 3 digit numbers, it went down to only 2. In other words, this was used for sales, low quality kind of stuff that no one would care to buy.
In disappointment, that boy let out a small sigh.
…..a leftover…..well, I guess it's still better than having nothing to eat.
He was inside an abandoned grocery store. There was nothing else remained around him, every shelf that was once stocked with lots of food and drink had been robbed clean. Even the goods with average quality has been also taken.
When you took some time to look around, the amount of goods left behind was no more than the number of joints you can count in all five fingers from one hand.
At the moment, the lack of people and its owner has let this lace to rust and decay along with the rest of the unneeded junks.
Deserted.
Empty.
Just like the feeling enveloping him.
The boy glanced over to the window next there. Outside, the peaceful sight of what was once the most advanced city in the whole world has been replaced by many ruined buildings. Not just that, there were dust, fire and many column of smokes rose up high to the gloomy sky.
Lately, evacuations has been carried out throughout the Academy City.
Destruction happened and spread in a fast pace.
People has been desperate, no one knew exactly how it turned out like this.
Rumors has it that the source of all this outcome came from District 7, the first place where it started. They said this was caused by an esper who couldn't control their power properly and eventually that power ran wild, too much for them to handle.
Even the AIM jammers couldn't stop it. All efforts were spent in vain.
It sounded ridiculously hard to believe a single esper would cause this much trouble for the entire city aside from one of the Level 5s.
…..no point to think about it at this time.
The boy shook his head to clear off the thoughts.
Putting the tin can inside a small backpack, the boy made another detour around the place to check one last time before making his way out of the store.
Aside from the rubble, the broken glasses, the falling shelves and the ruined goods that scattered all over the floor, nothing was worth taken.
Carefully checking the cashier area, disappointment soon hit him once more time as the cash register was emptied.
….there is nothing else to look here.
Having done, he left the place.
As soon as he walked out, the ground beneath him shook many times and he stumbled on his feet.
"Ah wah!"
An earthquake was happening, he gasped and screamed as a large crack appeared on the cemented street and it kept opening bigger, stretching in every direction like a group of snakes spread out from its nest.
Didn't even have the time to react nor breathe, the boy screamed even louder and clutched his head in pain, struggling uncontrollably as if his head was about to explode when a sound came to his ear.
From somewhere, a great roar echoed.
Like a natural disaster, it broke apart the world him lived in.
Like a form of torture, it stretched longer and deeper like a pointy knife pierced through his head, twisting every parts of his brain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Unable to endure the madness, the pain that was crushing his mental from the inside, he screamed with all his strength, so loud, so much that tears flew out from the corner of his eyes.
As the boy helplessly lied on the ground, immobile, the surrounding began to crumble, one of the cracks entered the store he just came out and immediately the entire building collapsed. Dust and smoke flew everywhere as the run down store was reduced into rubble in a very short time, following by a thousand of explosions rampaged the whole street.
Before the boy lost all his sense as the pain intensified, an explosion occurred near him and he was knocked out cold due to the impact.
…
…
[6,051,993,647,281]
A week ago…
When the city was still peaceful under a beautiful sunny sky…
"Hey, have you done your homework yet?"
The boy turned his head to a girl in his class.
"What homework?" He looked at her with a big, round eyes of an innocent child.
The girl sighed and face palm herself.
"This again, you forgot about it, didn't you?" Placing the note that she was bringing with her on his desk, the girl opened a particular page and pointed at the questions."Here, this is the assignment Komoe-sensei gave us yesterday. It's all in the book, you just need to write it down and learn it by heart. It doesn't take much time to finish yet you are still willing to lazing around."
"Aw, come on. It's not like I'm the only one who hasn't done his homework. Beside, most of the boys in this class haven't touched the book since the beginning of this semester."
"So you are not going to study then?"
"Yup! Being this way is wayyyyy more enjoyable!"
The boy smiled but dropped it instantly as the girl pouted and her eyes become teary at his word. In panic, he hurriedly opened his bag and took his notebook out, flipping the right page and showed to her.
"J-just kidding! I finished it last night!"
Not convincing, she yanked the notebook out of his grasp and examined the content. A short moment later, she returned it to him with a cheerful smile accompanied her cute expression.
The pout and the teary eyes were all gone like it was never there. She was a very moody girl.
"Well done!"
The boy stuck out his chest with full of proud, wiping his nose. This guy was also a moody person.
"Honestly, if you have done the homework, you should have said so. Why pretending like you forget about it?"
"It was just a harmless joke. I didn't expect you would actually cry."
The girl pouted again and gave him a few good punches to the side for teasing her. He had to take those words back.
"To be honest, I didn't expect you to finish the assignment this early. Normally, you would let it all piled up until weekend."
"Well, ever since he started skipping classes, the diversion tactic for Komoe-sensei's checking assignment session is no longer worked. I have to put in my effort to study or else I will get scolded." The boy sighed."And I really don't want sensei to look at me with those teary eyes of her, I would feel guilty. No one in this class wants to make her cry."
"You talked like that but didn't you feel guilty for Kamijou-kun when you and the others used him as bait to skip homework?" The girl stared at him with half-opened eyes."You all own him a great deal, what do you think would happen if one day he manages to finish his homework while you don't? Please stop being lazy and focus more on your study."
"Alright, alright, I'll try my best to study." The boy said nonchalantly while swaying his hand around."By the way, I don't think that day you talked about will ever happen."
"?"
"Think about it, you saw how Kamijou always comes up with some over-the-top excuses whenever he forgets to do his homework, right? I bet he is busy spreading the Kami-yan disease to build up his ideal harem day and night so he doesn't have much time to pay attention to study. At least that is the ideal the Delta Force came up with."
"Nonsense." The girl objected, she was clearly not amused by his remark."He did his homework properly sometime, he just didn't fill in all the answers and missed a few assignments. Komoe-sensei said so herself and you also heard it before."
"Then what about the excuses?"
"Excuses?"
Seeing the girl raised her eyebrows with a confused gaze, the boy smirked and he started mimicking the spiky haired boy's voice.
"I'm sorry sensei, my note was caught up in an explosion. I'm sorry, those cleaning robot swallowed my paper again. I'm sorry, a dog torn off half the paper so this is all I have left." He made a pose, one hand ran through his hair and the boy put on a bright smile."I'm sorry, some girls tried to confess to me last night and I totally forgot about the passage of time."
BAM!
A chop smacked him right on the head, so strong that his face hit the desk and bounded up in a painful way.
"That last excuse, there is no such thing. Kamijou didn't say anything like that." As he rubbed his nose to ease the pain, the stern voice of the Iron Wall girl came up next."Don't just randomly makeup something people would misunderstand."
"I didn't really mean it, that was just a joke!...wait, why are you raising your hand up in the air?"
The boy questioned in puzzle as he watched the girl, who first asked him about his homework, raised her arm over the head and stood froze.
"…no….it's nothing, you deserved it." She said that as she awkwardly lowered her arm.
She was about to hit him for that joke about the spiky haired boy but her chance wouldn't come since Fukiyose had already stepped in and punished him in her stead.
"Kamijou maybe lazy and irresponsible but at least he is still willing to make up for his study progress with Komoe-sensei's supplementary lessons without any complain. On the other hand, you and the boys didn't put up much effort into it. Not until he absent, not until the grass grow under your feet that you finally got some motivations to get back to study."
Fikuyose folded her arms underneath her plentiful chest.
"Tell me, if Kamijou had showed up in class in the past few days, are you sure you wouldn't let all these homework pile up till the end of the week?"
The boy could hardly say anything, silence was his only option to choose.
Just because he started focusing on study, it didn't mean he would stop being lazy. Lately, due to the absence of Kamijou Touma, the main distraction for all the checking assignment sessions in his class, he and the rest of his classmates, who hadn't touched a single homework given by Komoe-sensei, had to pick up the pace and forced their brain to work over the whole stock of assignments that heaped up till it nearly reached the ceiling.
They didn't want to see the loli teacher let her tears out because of their lack of study, it would be overkill if she cried. No one could resist the mysterious power lied within those tear drops of her, the power to easily pull out someone's guilt.
Right, some motivations they had, to avoid making their sensei cry.
The boy barely finished it all, but it was all due to the same reason.
"I guess not." He put on a dried smile.
"Then from now on, do study for real with all the effort you could spend to make up for your irresponsibility." Fukiyose spoke once more but louder, and this time she turned half way to the side as the other boys around the room was listening."You all should stop using him to cover up for your own lazybones. That is the most stupid idea ever. Show some respect to the teachers….to him."
The Iron Wall girl emphasized the last part of her scolding to them. With nothing left to say, she returned to her seat as the school bell rang.
Everyone let her words sunk in.
"I can't believe it, the Iron Wall girl is defending Kami-yan?! This is it, isn't it?! It finally happens!"
"The day the world meets its doom! The day the men, the boys, the virgins likes us will forever burden the curse of not being able to get a girlfriend is coming!"
"Ahhhh! This is nightmare! What should we do?!"
First reactions from the boys. Totally expected.
"Fellow comrades, do you even have to ask?!" Aogami stood up from his seat, fist shaking in pure jealousy."This isn't the time to freak out! This the time to act before it's too late! Cleanse the Kami-yan disease!"
"Cleanse the Kami-yan disease!"
All male students in the room raised their hand, punching the air in syn. Thanks to the fetish king, more fuels were added to the fire.
"This again. When will they decide to take a break?" The girl let out a sigh, then she turned back to the boy, staring at him in suspicious."You're not going to join them, are you?"
"No, I don't plan to." Surprisingly, the boy replied in earnest, not really all of them would want to start another manhunt with Kamijou as the usual target."I made up my mind, I'll try not to get involved in these guy's antic and focus more on study."
The girl smiled and gave him a thumb up. In respond, he also did the same.
Lesson began as Komoe-sensei walked in, but not before Fukiyose took down the idiots who were desperately cursing, blaming the host of the Kami-yan disease for some controversy that the loli teacher finally got the chance to check her students' attendance.
"Hayumu-chan?"
"I'm here, sensei." The boy raised his hand.
"Hina-chan?"
"Yes." The girl raised her hand.
"Himegami-chan?"
"…yes…." Small and quiet, Himegami timidly raised up her hand a little.
Each name was read out loud and a reply quickly came after. This process went on until one specific name was mentioned.
"Kamijou-chan?"
A reply never came.
"Kamijou-kun is not here, sensei." One of the students said.
"Eh? Kamijou-chan's absent again today?" Komoe-sensei appeared worry at this, her eyes saddened."This is already the fifth time in a row, sensei wonders if something happened to him. At this rate, Kamijou-chan will stay behind a year if he doesn't attend properly."
"Sensei, he didn't come to your supplementary lessons?" Another girl in class asked.
Komoe-sensei shook her head. In the past few days, she hadn't met him, not even the nun, who would often come to her apartment to hang around with food.
"Maybe he is sick?" One boy spoke up, the idea seemed possible.
"Hey, Tsuchimikado, your room is next to him, right? Do you know what happened to our targe-….I mean Kamijou-kun?"
That sudden delayed in mid-sentence brought him a couple of glares from the girls.
"Nope, no idea, nyah." The double spy with blond hair shrugged."Lately, I haven't seen Kami-yan around or even meet him at the dorm. His room is kind of quiet these days."
Then what was the reason for his absence?
The students started whispering to each other. None of the person here in this room, even their home room teacher, knew anything about Kamijou's reason of skipping school.
No one saw him.
No one could get in touch with him.
No one knew what he was up to.
It was almost like the boy had gone off to somewhere and disappeared.
…...hm?
While everyone was still pondering over his disappearance, Hayumu looked out the window and he was surprised.
"Hey, it's Kamijou!" He said, pointing a finger at the familiar figure of the black spiky haired boy near the school gate.
Half of the classroom's population rushed to the window. Of course, half here stood for females and the boys were not amused.
Maybe the doomsday was really close by now.
Seeing the girl he just talked to stood by the window to see the spiky haired boy, a tick mark appeared on Hayumu's forehead.
….seriously?! Even you?!
Just as he dashed out of his seat and went to her, the first words he heard from her caught his attention.
"Wait, why didn't he carry the school bag with him?"
"?"
Hayumu looked out the window once more.
Her word was truth. Kamijou Touma was standing right there next to the school gate but he didn't bring anything with him aside from the school's winter uniform and a scarf wrapped around his neck.
That wasn't the only strangest thing came to everyone's mind when they looked at him.
…why is he wearing the winter uniform in the middle of summer?
Hayumu thought to himself.
It was during summer season. Even though it was a beautiful sunny morning, the temperature was not that comfortable. The heat from the sun could easily give anybody a heat stroke if they stood to long out in the open.
Yet he didn't wear anything would make him feel at least a bit cooler? With that kind of clothes, he would lose a lot of waters and might even lose consciousness at any moment if not careful.
…..maybe he was sick and forced himself to go here to properly ask Komoe-sensei for a few more days off from school? But wouldn't that be too reckless?
There was a reason why cell phone was invented, you know.
"Hey, Kamijou, what's with that outfit?" A boy walked up and leaned at the window next to Hayumu, calling the spiky haired boy."You'll get roasted if you stand in the sunlight for too long!"
His tone was full of sarcasm but everyone in the room thought the same.
However, Kamijou didn't move. The spiky haired just stood dead in his track right there and stared at the group of people calling to him.
…..strange…..
Hayumu felt something didn't sit right with that stare.
It was sharp, piercing.
It was emotionless.
It was…..wrong.
So wrong.
….is that…..a death glare I see from him?
Much to the other's awareness, Hayumu flinched as Kamijou moved his feet toward the school building. Something was clearly not right.
The spiky haired boy's right hand slowly raised up in each steps he took.
Until…
"It's about time he decides to show up at school, he's going to have to study a lot more to make up for his absence." Fukiyose said in her usual stern voice with a hand brought to her chin, thinking."Maybe I should ask Komoe-sensei to have me as his temporary tutor so he won't lay back like this again."
Until…
"Something's off. What is he doing with that-" Tsumichikado muttered at the weird atmosphere surrounded the boy but stopped as he realized it a few seconds later."Don't tell me…you have got to be kidding!"
Until…..
That right hand was rightfully placed in between his teeth.
"Kami-yan! Are you insane?!"
Tsuchimikado's sudden shout caught the attention of the whole room. In that moment, no one aside from Hayumu and the blonde spy could see what happened next.
There was a faint crushing sound echoed in the hot wind of summer.
There were many drops of blood dripped down from his mouth.
There was a piece of flesh fell down next to his feet.
Kamijou Touma had ripped off a part of his right hand.
"QUICK! GET AWAY FROM THOSE WINDOWS! GET DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN-"
That warning came out too late.
The ground shook. Windows shattered into a thousand of tiny, sharp pieces, cutting the skins of those who stood near.
Tsuchimikado was blown out in the back door of the classroom and pinned tight on the wall. As if being showed no mercy, his breathe stopped, his whole existence was forcefully erased as all the bones, the organs in his body snapped under the immense pressure of an invisible force.
The wall behind him appeared a massive pit with cracks imprinted in it depicted just how much cruelness Tsuchimikado's lifeless body went through. Instantly, it was paint red with the spy's blood.
…..wha….wh….
Witnessing the whole thing, Hayumu felt his heart almost stopped beating.
But it wasn't over.
Fear spread through entire school like a virus.
The ground beneath him began to collapse.
The wall next to him exploded.
Hayumu tried to gain back his balance and forced his leg to run out there as fast as it could, but a moment of panic had cut off his momentum. Hayumu hit the solid floor and the boy clutched his head, covered his ears so tight that he wouldn't hear anything.
…..what the hell is going on?!
He hoped this was just some nightmare. Maybe if he closed back his eyes right now, he might found himself on his comfortable bed again.
Hayumu immediately closed it. There wasn't much time for him to view the darkness on the other side of his eyelid until he was forced to open it after some gush of winds rushed through his body like angry waves from the sea.
He saw her tears. Hina, the girl who cared about him and always helped with his homework, she was crying, fear reflected deep within her eyes as it took over and let her emotions ran wild.
He saw a trail of red liquid substance glided down from her ears. Her ear-drum was torn by those gush of winds coming from the direction outside this wall, from where that spiky haired boy stood and he did not dare to peek through the window to see what caused it.
He saw the horrific scene around her. Some students had fell through to crack and hit the floor below. Some students were screaming uncontrollably. Some was praying for their dear life as it their reason for living was about to be taken away.
He saw his home room teacher was knocked out of consciousness by a debris fell right on her tiny head.
He saw the Iron Wall girl and the girl with a hime cut hairstyle were hugging each other out of fear.
He saw the fetish tried to make a run toward the door, but the ceiling collapsed right on top him. The blue haired boy was buried alive inside a pile of bricks.
And…..
He saw it behind Hina. Something wavy-like was moving toward her. It came in from a big hole on the wall.
Hayumu couldn't mutter a sound. A strange pressure was suffocating him, tickling every cells in his body like it was trying to break him apart.
….help!
Two red orbs appeared in mid-air.
"…k….r….n.." Hayumu's throat was barely functioning.
…..someone! Help!
Fangs stuck out, visible from the unknown thing.
"….r…..n…."
One dropped of saliva fell on her hair, yet the girl was barely aware of it, she was too afraid to do anything.
…..run! Hina!
Hayumu wanted to scream. He tried to move. That wavy-like thing was about to attack her.
No, he was wrong. With a swift motion, it stretched further beyond her place.
Like sweeping an insect, it jaw pushed the girl out of its way and she was stuck underneath it, in between the ground and an existence that beyond her understanding.
Much to his shock, that thing moved past her.
It was onto him.
…what are yo-…stop!
Having no way to escape, Hayumu watched the wavy-like thing opened its mouth and slowly lurked at him.
"…c…..om….ar."
….DON'T COME NEAR ME!
And the boy could only watch in hopeless as the pointy, sharp head of the fangs pressed on his body, slowly digging deeper into his skin.
In the next second, everything went dark.
[92,594,713]
…
…..
"AH!"
Hayumu woke up with a jolt, smoke and dirt in his view. The boy forced himself to sit up, struggling a little bit as the numb feeling was all over his body.
…..what…that was a nightmare just now?
Taking a moment to calm down from the horrible dream, he looked around and found himself inside an area with round structure like a tube stretched out to two directions.
…this place is…..the sewer?
The boy shifted his view to above his head. There was a large hole up there, with a few tiny cracks ran through the ceiling giving you the feeling like it was about to collapse at any moment.
The boy realized he fell through that hole. There was an explosion occurred near him and because of that he was blown away, a part of the street crumbled down and he ended up here.
…my head's hurt…..
A headache struck him, must have been because of that inhuman roar from earlier. Hayumu rubbed his head in hope to ease the tingling pain, as he did he found his forehead was covered in sweat. The fear he felt from that nightmare has got to him, so bad that he could feel his hand still shaking even now he was fully awake.
The ground shook once more, small dirt and debris fell down from the underground ceiling. All the thin lines of crack widened as another series of explosion bombarded the surface.
"?!" Hayumu quickly covered his ears as an invisible wave rushed through his body, punching him in the ear-drum.
There it was, the inhuman roar that torn apart the earth. Not as intense as before but the torturing sound kept radiating for a while before everything went back to silence.
….I need to get out of here.
After enduring the quake and waiting for it to pass, it was about time Hayumu decided to find his way out of the sewer. He went through his bag, which found lying near there, and look for a flashlight.
But another problem arose.
….it broke?!
The object had a crack ran over the body, the impact from that fall must have been quite bad.
"Tch, guess I have no other option." Clicking his tongue, Hayumu opened his palm and concentrated the calculations in his mind.
Shortly after, a bright, burning light appeared at the center of his hand. It enlarged and became a ball of fire. He was a Level 2 esper with Pyrokinesis power.
….this is probably enough.
Hayumu shined his surrounding with the flame that floated gently above his palm. The flame in the tennis ball-shaped produced a good amount of light for him to know where to place his next step in the dark sewer.
Carefully, he trailed along the path.
…
…
[Between the line]
That dream, that nightmare…..
What he saw in it, everything was not much different from what he could remember about a week ago.
Nothing could cause so much fear equaled to those emotions struck him within that dream he just had.
Not long before, just a week ago, everything was still normal.
But now, everything has changed.
Things happened, things came up so fast and so abruptly that no one could have the time to foresee it.
For now, let's review back again what has happened so far in this world covering in dark clouds and gloomy atmosphere.
Hayumu remembered.
It all started with a vague rumor about an incident where an esper who couldn't control their power during some kind of secret experiment in District 7 and let it run loose like a wild beast as they could not handle it.
The reason why it happened was still unknown, even for the authorities.
Knowing the experiment has failed and the potential danger it contained, the entire Academy City raised the alert to the highest level.
From there, multiple evacuations began.
And starting from that time, Academy City, from the most advanced city in the world with the population of at least 2.3 million figures now nearly reduced into a ruin with only a few hundreds remained.
During those evacuations, many measures has been thought of and carried out to stop the insane rampage of that esper's power. But eventually, all of it was for none, all the efforts spent were in vain.
That power was too great, too destructive.
Because of that, among the residences, more and more rumors appeared from various sources.
Most believed someone among the Level 5s has finally achieved the next Level 6 as it was above the benchmark which proved so much of a danger that could easily destroy an entire army alone.
To make the comparison becomes clearer, let's put it like this on a threat scale.
If Level 5 is the extent of the danger that can rival a military force, then Level 6 is the extent of the danger that can surpass an imminent global disaster.
A Level 6 has been born, many started to believe in that rumor. Some deemed it as the truth due to the damage that being has caused to the whole world.
Finally, that kind of rumor became the truth as the Board of Directors decided to let out their voice for the uneasy matter. However, it wasn't one of the Level 5s that achieved the domain of god, it was someone else entirely new, an existence nobody has ever heard of or aware. The government explained they will find out a way to put an end to this potential threat, therefore, the new esper's identity was kept secret.
For that, despite the evacuations and dried situation Academy residences were put in, many began to feel at ease.
Eventually, the result….the consequence was….beyond horrifying.
Right now, the world is facing the greatest threat it has never encountered before.
Many cities across the globe has been turned into ruins.
Many were abandoned.
Many were left devastated.
Casualty exceeded almost half of the world's population.
There was more. For examples….
More than 60% of the landmarks in England has sunk into the depth of the ocean, including London.
Russia became the world's largest wasteland.
America and Europe were now home to a great number of ruins.
The entire planet was put in such an unbelievably critical state and it was all because of an esper who couldn't control their power ability.
Everyone believed that.
….wrong…
Hayumu used to believe that.
…all lies.….
It was a set up.
It was the mask that hid away the true face.
It was something they came up with just to cover the true story.
Everything they said was a diversion, using some baseless rumors as a shield to distract everyone from the potential threat that has took away many lives.
In fact, the truth event that took place was not about an idiot who didn't even understand and fail to handle his own Personal Reality.
There was no such thing as a Level 6 esper has been born.
What had happened, what truly transpired in the beginning was a bloodcurdling incident. An event that can be described as a punch in the gut for the government of Academy city and a hellish nightmare for the citizens who lived within it.
Hayumu trembled.
…about a week ago…..
Yes, just about a week ago…
A massacre occurred in the heart of District 7.
Very sudden, in the middle of broad daylight, right in a busy street, the life of every unfortunate persons who was just casually doing their morning routine by walking to their work places, their schools, their research facilities were all forcefully took away after a piercing roar.
The darkest moment of Academy City happened so fast that in no more than a few minutes, hundreds of lives were murdered in cold blood.
Not just the street, the people in the buildings nearby also shared the same dreadful fate. Some structures were completely destroyed, a part of the street cracked open and blown up. Trees torn apart, body fragments littered everywhere.
In the aftermath, everything was decimated, nothing survived and not a single thing was in their original shape.
Despite the grave situation, Judgment and Anti-Skill were forbidden to investigate, no one was allowed to approach the crime scene. Mysteriously, every information or evidences related to this madness was kept in the dark, vanished later on.
To make it more difficult, no witness was at the screen during the crime.
….because no one came out alive…..
Hayumu sighed and narrowed his eyes.
…actually…..
It wasn't like Judgment and Anti-Skill were forced to look away from this.
It was more like they knew nothing of this mass murder incident. Nobody told them, from the info to the evidence, they hadn't heard anything about it.
That event attracted a lot of attention, yet the details were soon cleared out…..or to be more precisely, wiped out.
….the incident was hid from them, from everyone….
Then, starting from that point, things kept getting worst.
[85,058,341]
…
…
"Ah, finally, a way out."
A small sigh of relief came from Hayumu as he found the ladder lead back to the surface. Disintegrating the fireball in his palm, the boy began climbing it and opened the manhole cover.
Standing on the deserted street once again, he took a deep breath and looked around to see where that sewer from earlier directed him to.
….that's right…this place….
The boy fell into silence and let his gaze slowly shifted from one places to another, he recognized the place.
Destroyed buildings.
Desolated street.
Broken sideways.
Bloodstained and decay walls.
What he saw, where he stood firm to let the view sunk into the depth of his memory.
This was the place where the incident took place, the location where the darkest moment of Academy City started.
….those red marks, they haven't cleaned all the blood spot yet…..
Paint in the rusty color of the red liquid's oxidation, the sight of what was once a busy street of District 7 now abandoned gave him a chilling feel ran down his spine.
Hayumu didn't known how the cleanup process was carried out but apparently, it didn't make it to the end. Most of the corpses were secretly took care of, but a few still remained here with the blood trails.
A little far away, what was left of the destroyed Windowless Building can be seen bathed in smoke and fire.
Everything crumbled within just one week.
And all was done by one individual.
Hayumu took a cell phone out from his pocket and looked over the list of pictures saved in it. He began moving toward one particular spot on the broken-down street then raised up the screen to his view.
In the picture, half of a bloody face of a boy who seemed to desperately keep his eyes open from fading out into one long slumber was showed in a corner of the small screen. Although he wasn't looking directly at the screen during the time the picture was taken, one could see fear expressed deeply in those tired eyes of his.
He was in hiding, trying to erase his presence from the thing that caused him to slowly feel the cold grasp of the Reaper's hand.
In the center of the picture, there was a figure standing far away in the middle of the street that grown a bouquet of blood and destruction everywhere.
The figure wore the outfit somewhat similar to Hayumu's school design, a dark pant and a jacket inside a black hoodie. The white hood was pulled over the head with the figure's back facing against the direction where the boy took cover and took a sneak shot at it.
Another significant feature was that this figure's right arm was exposed.
That was all.
This picture was the last moment of the boy with a bloody face in the corner of the screen before he took his last breath and forever never respond to Hayumu's callings and messages after he had sent the boy the truth of what had happened on that day one week ago.
…Takagi…..
A friend and a member of the Judgment, Takagi was one of the unfortunate victims died in the massacre. The figure in the center of the screen here was responsible for his death.
…..all because of this….monster.
Hayumu cursed.
The boy quickly shook his head to discard the negative thought. There was no time for him to idly stand here and blame the culprit. If he has stumbled upon this place by chance then there is one thing he needs to do and he should focus on it.
"…...etou, the spot where he took this picture should be…" Hayumu traced through the details of the scenery and he stopped at an alleyway filled with rubbles."…..right here…."
His friend, Takagi, lost his life right in this corner of the street with the bloody handprints made a long trail from the ground to the wall. Takagi must had tried to drag his wounded body to this place and got himself leaned on the wall to take a short break without knowing he won't be able to open his eyes again.
Hayumu moved a few of the rocks locking the path and an armband of Judgment was found lying beneath one.
"Hey, I got the message from you." Said the boy in a low voice as he kneeled down next to the armband."Sorry for taking a whole week to reach here, a lot of crazy things happened and nothing has ever been the same."
The boy slowly shifted his eyes to the pile of rubbles in front of him. Hayumu reached out his hand toward it but in hesitation, he retracted it. He knew Takagi's bodies was buried underneath these rocks right in front of him.
"I didn't know what to do by the time I see it, the picture and the last email you sent me." Hayumu opened the email and looked at the content."You told me to get this picture to both Anti-Skill headquarter and Judgment 177 Branch office, notify them that there is a serial killer lurking around District 7."
At the time, Hayumu was confusing but he did followed what his friend told him.
"I tried to let them know what happened to you."
But…
"But somehow, they still don't know what was going on. I tried to inform the teachers, but words fell on deaf-ears, even Yomikawa-sensei didn't have a clue that such a cruel event actually took place. Nothing makes sense. By the time I decided to do it by myself….." Hayumu's expression turned stiffed, a small drop of water lingered in the corner of his eyes."Everything has been destroyed."
Someone didn't want the truth to go out in public. And in the end, this scenario was the consequence of their action.
"Many districts in this city has been destroyed, many countries around the world were turned upside down, burned in chaos. All of that happened within just one week, sounds ridiculous, isn't it?"
Almost too unreal, but that was the truth. That was the reality he lived in.
"Right now, the alert system is probably still Code Red but I don't think anyone would give a damn about it, no…n-not anymore."
Hayumu stammered.
Emotions built up in him, making the boy afraid to let it out. Because if he did, tears would flow.
…..ah…..damn it, my eyes got all watery.
"It's so strange, today I'm supposed to go to school together with Hina but that place somehow blew apart while we was studying during Komoe-sensei's lesson. I didn't know how, but some of us made it out alive and I'm no longer a student."
Wiping his teary eyes, Hayumu grabbed the armband and put it inside his backpack.
"Most of the people remained in this city are survivors and now they're taking shelter at some districts near the city's outskirt. The Board of Directors are all gone, order collapsed so currently we don't have anyone else to depend on. Nothing to do aside from waiting for the next evacuation."
Hayumu opened wide the zip on his pack, searching for some stuff he brought with him.
"I didn't want to just sit in one spot and wait to be rescued so I wandered around the city to find foods and drinks then bring it back to the safe zone."
An empty bottle was placed on the ground.
"There has been many occasions when Skill-Out started their uprising in the past few days, but luckily, their group was wiped out with some helps from higher level espers and the remained force of Anti-Skill."
The boy took a pause as he poured water into the bottle.
"Ah, talk about the higher level espers. Recently, the Level 5s seemed to have disappeared altogether, no one heard anything from them ever since. So…..the rumor about the beetle you used to read on the urban legend website also ran out of its charm. At this time, even if I scream…" Hayumu took a deep breath."HELP ME, RHINOCEROS BEETLE!"
His voice echoed all the way to the sky filled with dark clouds.
By doing so…nothing arrived after a moment of waiting.
"No one will come to my aid even if I scream as loudly as I can until my throat dries."
From his backpack, Hayumu pulled out a small bouquet, a rather fresh one. He picked one with white color and put the flower inside the bottle, thus completed a temporary grave marker.
"I found these when I went into School Garden to look for supplies, there was no one else there so it was pretty easy to set your foot into the forbidden place for us boy." The boy put on a wry smile." I achieved the thing that every man dream of but I don't feel any happy at all, not one bit. That place is a ruin now."
…..and I hope Hina wouldn't be angry at me when I tell her about it.
"Anyway, there is no time for proper burial so this is the least I can do for you. After this, both me and Hina will leave Academy City and we will never return back here ever again. No one is going to visit you when this city is abandoned. That's why…if….if ghost is actually existed in this world like you once said and if you are watching me right here then I hope you will move on." Hayumu clasped his hand together and spent a full minute closing his eyes."Please rest in peace, Takagi."
Done praying, Hayumu stood up and worn his backpack.
"Farewell."
Speaking one final world to his lost friend, the boy turned around and walked away without looking back.
As the boy left, the place once again welcome the silence.
Inside the bottle, the while flower gently waved in little hope its existence would comfort the lost when a small breeze came by.
/
Well then…..
Now you knew.
Through the view of a survivor, you have been informed of what happened throughout the whole world.
The story begins this far, in a very abrupt way and you are the witnesses.
From this point onward, this will be the beginning of an end.
Remember it, because you can only watch how the world struggles with its little hope before Armageddon approaches.
There is nothing you can do to interfere with the course of actions in this forgotten story.
It is futile.
The roles have changed.
Very soon, the curtain will close as this timeline is reaching its end.
All due to the change of heart of a certain spiky haired boy…
...
Prologue: A_Distant_Timeline_In_RUINS
Author's note: And there you have it.
The train delivered you into the middle of a tragedy still occuring as each seconds past in that world. Dear readers, by the time you have reached to this note, you may have realized the one truth that burdened this alternative timeline. We all know how that spiky haired boy is troubled by many things in his life and not many of it has been merciful to him. The phrases, the reason World Rejecter was born, the misfortune, the memories lost and his childhood. He is always suffered at some points but comes out smiling at the end like he just leaves it all behind and acts like nothing happened. In my opinion, he smiles and he brought the smile to everyone's face. He does that to everyone but sadly, he has never directed his own smile toward himself. Kamijou is kind as he takes the responsibility from everything that resolve around his Imagine Breaker, but if you view it in a different way, his kindness and his ideals of life is what making him endure the suffering.
That's why, I have been wondering, what would happen if he throws everything away? What would happen if he keeps moving forward without his kindness and the ideals of life?
Well, I assume things wouldn't have never been that bad like what you had read above in the prologue. But, if we add in the formula an shattered illusion variable, we would have the following: shattered illusion + heartless + insane = monster (?) (hm, doesn't seem much legit, does it?)
Ok, I'll stop my nonsense right here (embarrassed). However, truely, this is what I have been wondering. If Kamijou suddenly has a change of heart plus his whole reason to protect what he has always believed in broke into a thousand pieces, his mindset could have taken a dangerous turn.
This is an idea I thought of and I have been storing it in the back of my mind for a long time after I finished reading the nightmare he experienced in both the Alpha and Omega Worlds. So in a way, this timeline exists partly because of the two questions above and another reason that I will reveal in the final chapter when this story comes to an end. (still, the latter is the most important.)
To sum up the whole point, this story was born to experiment and explore the part where the roles changes. And the truth that An Unexplainable Nightmare timeline is undergoing:
-He is no longer the one who's suffered, it is the world that's suffered by his change.
Since this is a former one chapter idea that I expanded in order to explore that change, this story will definitely last about 5 or 7 chapters. Reasons? Well, like I said (wrote?) above, "the latter is the most important", you will know when the story ends.
Now, as for the characters. Kamijou is not the main character in this story, he is the main reason for what happened to the world. You won't see the world keeps turning devastated through his view, you will see how things will end through the views of the survivors of his and Imagine Breaker's rampage.
About the survivor in this chapter, the OC Hayumu and the deceased OC Takagi: I prefer to use someone you don't know of for the purpose of explaining the current situation, the current result of Kamijou who has gone "insane". By now you also realized that, Kamijou went on a rampage but Hayumu has no idea that his classmate is the one responsible. Due to "someone" in the Windowless Building is desperately trying to hide the existence lies dormant inside IB away from the world. And the consequence for that is the current state of the world that Hayumu is facing.
This story won't just unfolds based on the OC's perspective but also the characters you are all familiar with. The OC is just a way to get some fresh air and when I mean by fresh air..(point up)..look at the [horror], [tragedy] tag.
One moment I have wondered if one week is too fast for the world to crumble under his presence but I guess I don't have worry about that because: cold blood = zero hesitation (my opinion, ok.). If I raise IT and the dragons' cruelness (if the dragons truly are cruel.) meter to maximum adding in its insane wielder, destruction is probably spread faster than wild fire.
Another thing, at some points in the prologue and maybe the story, I don't know if I depicted the violence scenes more vivid than the T rating is allowed so if it disturbs you and if you feel like it's necessary, please tell me to change the rating into M. I don't know what the heck was in my mind when I wrote those scene, probably got influenced by the recently released horror games.
Lastly, about the [number]. Well, it changes randomly according to the timeline but...(chuckle evilly)...if you have already guessed what's those numbers represent for then you are probably right. They are a part of the reasons why the [horror] tag was chosen.
Well, that's about it. What do you think?
This story is a change of fresh air I want to make to express my concern regarding the reasons above and to invite you into a whole new roller coaster that will give you a different feeling from the atmosphere in The Lost Light.
The train will stop here, review the story if you please. I'll see you again the next note.