Chapter 10: A Mysterious Nasod Enemy

Angel was sleeping peacefully as she dreamed about last night. Just then, her door opened with a slam and Tori waked her up.

"Wake up!" called out with Tori as Angel slowly sat up and looked at Tori.

"Tori? Why are you up so early?" asked Angel as Tori smiled wickedly.

"I heard about what happened last night, between you two," said Tori, and Angel widen her eyes.

"Um, it was nothing! We were just, you know, talking," said Angel as she laughed nervously, but then Tori giggled.

"Don't be silly! I knew what happened. But seriously, you need to come outside and see this," warned Tori as she got serious. Tori led her to the lobby room with a crowd looking at something. Tori and Angel suddenly saw a dead boy, who wore his Camp Ruben shirt. There was a pool of blood, and huge blood marks was on his face. Angel began to get sick, but so she looked away.

"What thing did this to him?" one of the campers asked

"It's definitely a Nasod," answered another.

"A Nasod! But there is no Nasod who can enter the Camp!" exclaimed a camper

"I know, but there's only one who is in here right now. It must be that kid named Steph. We must kill him. He's too dangerous," replied another camper as Angel and Tori widen their eyes and looked at each other. Angel suddenly shouted.

"It can't be him! He wouldn't do such a thing!" yelled Angel.

"Oh really? Than who is it? We all know he's the only Nasod here!" yelled another camper.

"He's not a Nasod! He's just a human with a Nasod arm!" Angel yelled back as Tori hide behind her.

"Where's your proof that he's a human?" asked a camper.

"Where's your proof that he killed this boy?" asked Angel as the camper kept quiet. (Burned, Shots Fired, Ooooh moment).

"I don't know Angel, maybe he does have a point,". Elliot suddenly approached her as Angel glared at him coldly.

"No point was made," said as she looked away from him. "I- I don't care anymore." She slowly dragged Tori into peer room as both of them got quiet. "We need to solve this, I'm pretty sure Steph didn't do this." Tori nodded.

"He's still sleeping. He doesn't know about it yet. We should probably tell him," suggested Tori

"No! Not yet. If he finds out, he's probably going to leave this camp," replied Angel.

"Then we should tell him about it, and beg him to stay," suggested Tori as Angel rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but I doubt this is going to work," muttered Angel as they both slowly entered Steph's room. Steph sat in his bed, looking at both of them with suspicion.

"Hey you two, what brings you guys here?" asked Steph in a warm smile.

"Um, well…" hesitated Tori as she played with her fingers. Angel, once again, got annoyed as she answered for Tori.

"You heard about the murder of that boy outside right?" asked Angel as Steph nodded.

"Well, people are saying a Nasod had committed the murder, and were accusing you for being responsible of the murder," informed Angel as Steph chuckled

"Did you actually believed them?" asked Steph.

"No, I tried to tell them but, they didn't believe me." Said Angel sadly as Steph brushed the top of her hair. She suddenly blushed as looked away. But then, she took out a small piece of paper and and gave it to Steph. "I found this next to the body, and it looks like someone is calling you out." Steph read the note.

Bring the boy who is the son of Raven, the god of Taker to the Ruben Forest.

Steph suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"Sounds like a challenge," said Steph as he took his weapon and exited out of his room. Angel suddenly grabbed his hand.

"You're going alone?" asked Angel worriedly. Steph looked away from her.

"Yeah. There's nothing you or Tori can do about it. This my battle, and there's nothing stopping me. If this person or Nasod really killed that boy, then I have to fix it, since everything accused me. I'm going to prove them wrong," said Steph as Angel looked away from him sadly.

"You don't know a lot about this Nasod, and he or she could be way stronger than you, yet you want to battle. I don't get you sometimes," insulted Angel as she went into her room. Steph took a deep breath as he headed out until Tori began to speak.

"So you're just going to leave her like that?" asked Tori.

"I told you, there's nothing I could do. I have to do it, or else there's nothing left of me," said Steph as Tori's tears fell down on her cheeks. She looked at Steph and quickly hugged him.

"Promise me you won't lose, promise me you're not going to die. Do it for Angel, the campers, and I." whispered Tori as Steph took her hand.

"Don't worry, I won't lose this time. I won't let any single of you down," said Steph with pride in his voice. He then, broke the hug and left to the forest as Tori walked slowly towards her room.

"Good luck Steph!" wished Tori.

Steph walked deep into the forest, searching for the one who wanted to see him. As he kept going, he encounter a girl, with long black hair, a white dress, and white boots. When Steph got closer to her, she slowly turned around. There was piece of a blue crystal was on a forehead, which was being covered by her black hair. She also had the same golden eyes as him. He widen his eyes and realized who it was, as he had a flashback of him picking up some wood when he was a kid, and then a girl came along with him. But when he saw the fire, he forget everything about her.

"J-Jenny?" exclaimed Steph

"My name is Chizu," the girl said emotionlessly as a Nasod pet flew behind her. "Looks like you're the one wanted dead. You don't seem that powerful." She then charged at Steph with amazing speed, causing Steph to flinch as he jumped out of the way. She quickly jumped at him and slashed him with her pet. Steph felt a sting in his body.

"N- Nasodic Poison?" exclaimed Steph as his vision was slowly fading.

"Correct. This is the only way I could kill you in one single cut and this means farewell. It was nice meeting you." concluded Chizu emotionlessly. She really changed, thought Steph. She wasn't this serious or emotionless. She was fast too. She was always so cheerful, but he guess things weren't the same. His vision faded so much, it was getting darker, until arrows flew above him, as Chizu dodged them. Then he saw a faded image of Angel and Tori looking down at him worriedly. Angel held a bottle of red liquid as she fed it to him, and he felt much better.

"I-I made it! You almost died!" said Angel gleefully as she helped Steph to get back up. Chizu was stood watching them as they finally paid attention to her.

"I thought I only informed you, but looks like your friends has come to play too." Chizu said as she walked up to them slowly. Angel suddenly drawn her bow but then Steph stopped her.

"What do you want from me?" asked Steph.

"I was ordered to kill you by my master. You can just surrender now so we could end this quick," suggested Chizu.

"Who are you working for?" asked Steph but Chizu still remained calm.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, because that remains secret. Looks like I'll have to play with you later. It's still too early kill you." said Chizu as she disappeared in a blink of an eye. Angel suddenly grabbed Steph's arm.

"I don't like her. I could already feel her power. She's definitely way stronger than you," informed Angel as Steph turned to face her.

"I'm sorry about not being careful. You were right about going myself. I could've died," said Steph as he looked away from her sadly. Angel looked at Tori, but she also looked away from her sadly.

"I'm just glad you're okay," said Angel as Tori went up to him.

"Hey bro, do you know that girl?" asked Tori as Steph nodded.

"Yeah, why did you ask?" asked Steph. Tori thought about it until she looked up at him.

"She looks familiar, she looks like that girl who use to hang out with you when we were children," said Tori as Angel suddenly looked away.

"She changed. She's not herself anymore," inform Steph as he looked at Tori.

"But it's the inside of her that hasn't change?" added Tori as Steph looked at her with suspicion.

"What do you mean?" asked Steph.

"I could read the inside of her like a book. Her cheerful side is trying to fight through the negative emotions, but it's losing," inform Tori sadly.

"Is there any way that we could help her cheerful side win?" asked Steph but Tori shook her head.

"A person who has powers cannot change after replacing their new personality with their original personality. The only way they can change is by force by someone else outside of them, and it could only be one." Tori said as she looked at Steph with concern. "You picked the right choice trying to do it alone, but now you have to do it yourself again," said Tori as Angel suddenly looked at her.

"But she's too strong for Steph! What if he ends up dying?" exclaimed Angel. Tori looked at her sadly.

"He's going to figure it out himself. If we all go, she won't be beaten. I mean, we already know that Steph is stronger than all of us here," said Tori as Steph suddenly shook his head.

"Please don't say that," replied Steph as Angel suddenly stared at Tori worriedly.

"I can't believe you are going to risk your older brother like this." Said Angel as Tori broke out with a warm smile.

"I will take risk on him only if he does things for others, but if he's doing it for himself, what's the point?" asked Tori as all three them fell silent.

Meanwhile…

"So how'd it go?" asked a voice. Chizu entered her master's room emotionlessly.

"I couldn't kill him. His friend's came and tried to ambush me, but luckily I got away. Don't worry, I'll get him next time. I won't let this happen anymore," informed Chizu

"Good. Sooner or later, he'll be dead, and I could finally rule over this country," said the voice as it let out a wicked laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't let you down. He's weaker than I thought he would be." Chizu said to herself.

Meanwhile again…

Steph slept on his bed as he was dreaming when he was a child.

He saw himself standing there while a girl followed him.

"Hey Steph!" He turned around to see a pretty girl with black hair running towards him. "Where are you going?" the girl said.

"Hey Jenny, I'm just going to get some wood for my parents." he said as Jenny smiled.

"Can I come?" She said nervously as she looked away from him. She began to play with her fingers.

She was really shy back then, he used to love her that way.

"Sure, if you want." he said as they both headed towards the front gate. Her golden eyes glowed in his dream, as he remembered how her eyes were exactly similar to his. It was kind of scary, but amazing. They headed toward the bright forest, and he began to find wood. Jenny was roaming around the forest looking at animals interestingly. "Don't go too far Jenny, you might get lost!" he called out as he saw her nodded happily.

Wow, it's such a long time to see that smile on her face. Only if she could smile like that now.

He continue to collect wood until he smelled smoke in the air. He sniffed.

Uh, oh. Steph started to hate this dream. This was the dream that ruined his childhood.

"Jenny! Let's head back." He called out but no answer. Darn, he told her to stay with him! Just then, he heard a loud scream at the direction of where the village was located.

Just then, his vision began to clear, as he saw Angel smiling down at him.

"Wake up sleepy head! It's morning now!" said Angel cheerfully as she giggled and dragged him out of bed.

"Why so early though?" asked Steph.

"Because Tori and I were waiting for you foreeeever. Come on now!" yelled Angel as she continue to drag him out of his room.