Chapter 2: Surivor of New York Zero

Iroha couldn't move as she grunted in pain. Her vision was flooded with multiple pictures that were her own memories and everything seemed to rush through her mind at once. She saw herself with her parents when the Fenrir soldiers gave them the tests. She saw how her own test was negative alongside that of her parents. The gate closed once the positive people came in and not even a moment later came the aragami. Ogretails closed in to the people and devoured them like wolves among sheep. All she could do was watch and listen to the screams of the dying people.

The picture changed as she saw herself a few years later with Lenka as they had gathered rescources from the ruins. Just as they wanted to leave with the others ogretails had arrived and began feasting on the people. She and Lenka ran, but found themselves surrounded by the white and gray aragami. Iroha had her knife drawn, but inside she screamed in fear as she looked at the aragami's sharp teeth from which still fresh blood was dripping.

The picture changed again when her settlement was attacked. Left and right laid the corpses of people she knew from young age beneath the rumble of collapsed huts and on the road as remains of the aragami's attack. She rushed over to her own hut, ignoring the dead bodies and the fear of becoming the aragami's next meal as she arrived with Lenka where their hut used to be. Her father laid beneath a piece of metal, but he was still alive. However the roar of the incoming aragami made the teens look back in fear.

"You must go now. I have a motorcycle. Iroha knows where it is." Her father begged. Iroha understood as she dragged Lenka away from their destroyed home, but even she couldn't resist and looked back to see how a pair of ogretails devoured her father alive.

The picture changed once more. This time she saw Lenka on the ground. Gasping and bleeding as he struggled to get up again.

"Lenka!" She screamed, but there was no reaction from her brother. Instead she saw how aragami of various kinds closed in, walking slowly to Lenka's broken form It was like they were taking their time to eat, though they ached for the sensation of devouring the human boy. Iroha looked in horror at the scene unfolding itself. "Stop! Leave him alone!" She screamed inside her head over and over again, but no words left her mouth and the aragami wouldn't have cared anyway. Then they bit down Lenka, making him scream in pain. "Lenka!" Iroha screamed. Large ape-like aragami swung their arms down on the human while the ogretails tore Lenka's body apart like sharks in a feeding frenzy. The pictures kept flooding Iroha's vision as it always repeated itself. Always ending with her loved ones being devoured by the aragami.

She tried to look away. To somehow make the thoughts go away. To run from this, but she couldn't. It was as if her body was hold in place by invisible chains. In the end she could only feel pain and sorrow as everything around her turned black around her. The last thing she saw was the blood spilled on the ground.

The first thing that Iroha knew when she returned to consciousness was the bright light that shone through her eyelids and caused her quite a lot discomfort. In that moment it felt like all air had been knocked out of her as she opened her eyes widely and arched up, coughing heavily. In that moment a new sensation shot through her body. It felt like she was on fire. Her entire body and every fiber of her being burned and ached in a stinging pain.

Losing her balance, Iroha face first on the ground, still coughing. For a moment she just laid there before getting up again and prying her eyes open. She was no longer in the warehouse. Instead she was in some hollow building. It looked like it used to be a flat within a skyscraper, but the erosion and the aragami had left their marks on the concrete. There were holes in the floor, steel beams that produced out the concrete like broken bones and claw marks on the walls.

Walking to the edge of the 'flat' Iroha looked outside. She saw what once had been a great city, but now it was just a hollow ghost town ruled by the aragami. Speaking of which she saw a few ogretails running around in the streets, but suprisingly they were far away. In fact all aragami were that she could see. It was as if they kept their distance to the building Iroha was in. Not that it made her feel any better. Their presence alone was enough make her heart beat so heart that she could feel it hammering in her throat.

"So finally awake aren't we?" Someone said behind her. Instinctly taking a step to the side, Iroha turned around quickly and came face to face with a man. He looked slightly older than herself. Short blue hair and green eyes looked right at Iroha as she couldn't help but feel uneasy around the man. She wanted to make a step backwards, but she stood already at the edge of the hole. The man put his hands up at this. "It's okay. Calm down. I won't do anything to you." He said. Iroha glanced at the man suspiciously. Her mind was still on high alert and she had a feeling, that she wouldn't be able to shake it off, but she still decided to not let it bother her too much. She took a deep breath and stepped towards the man, just close enough that she wouldn't fall off the building if she would need to step backwards.

"Alright. Who are you? And how did I get here?" Ihora asked.

"Well I found you unconscious in an old warehouse not far from here. I couldn't just leave you there for the aragami to show up so I brought you here. Anyway, my names Hermes. What's yours?" The man said. Iroha sighed before smiling a little.

"Iroha. Iroha Utsuki. Thank you." Iroha said as her thoughts drifted back to the night before. She couldn't really remember anything. Her memories were just...gone. Gasping she looked at Hermes as she recalled something. "Lenka! What happened to Lenka?" She asked in a panicked voice.

"Lenka?" Hermes asked confused. "I'm sorry but you were alone when I found you. Is he your boyfriend or something?" Iroha's cheeks lit up at this suggestion as she shook her head.

"No! He's my brother! Are you sure that he wasn't there when you found me? He must have been somewhere!" Iroha asked almost pleading Hermes to tell her something about her brother's wellbeing. Hermes however only sighed.

"Look girl, you were alone when I found you, but I saw traces of someone walking towards the Fenrir HQ where I found you. Relatively fresh traces." Hermes said. "If those were that of your brother, he's on his way to Fenrir." He said. Iroha smiled at this as she looked at the ground and her eyes began to tear.

"He's alive..." She told herself. Everything that she had gone through played in her mind again as she let the information sink deep inside her mind.

"Okay Iroha." Hermes' voice tore him out of her thoughts. "What were your brother and you doing out here? This is an area, that is crawling with aragami. A death zone to every living creature, even for the weaker aragami. Shouldn't you be in your village or something like that? Looking for canned food and something to burn?" Hermes asked. An hurt expression shot over Ihora's face as she recalled what had happened.

"Our village was destroyed by the aragami. Lenka and I had managed to flee. I don't know how many other managed to get out in time." Iroha answered.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have brough back bad memories." Hermes said. Iroha only shook her head.

"It's fine really. That was after all the reason why we started going in the first place." Hermes gave the girl a look that had confusion written all over it.

"There are only two reasons why people leave the few camps that are still standing. One, you look for a new place to live. And two, you are going to Fenrir's fortress to ask for help." He said as he studied her face. Iroha remained silent, before Hermes continued. "Heading to Fenrir huh? You do know that Fenrir only takes in people that are able to wield their god arcs, don't you? Even if you would have made it, there would still be a high chance, that you would be sent back in the wilderness with a few rations. Only to be eaten by the aragami. Believe me when I say this, because I've seen it quite a lot of times already." Hermes said.

"I know that." Iroha said in a low tone. "However Lenka's test was positive. He can go to Fenrir and become a god eater. They won't sent him away." Iroha said.

"I see." Hermes said. Iroha began to walk to the exit of the room.

"Thank you for everything, but I need to find my brother." She said, but Hermes suddenly jumped in front of her.

"Are you crazy? We are currently miles away from Fenrir's Headquarters and surrounded by aragami infested wasteland. And you try to walk there like this is like nothing was the matter? Sorry to tell you but until those guys move away from here we are stuck for now." Hermes said.

"B-but... Wait a minute. If we are surrounded by aragami, then why haven't they attacked us yet?" Iroha asked.

"Simple. In this area flying aragami are a very rare sight and those on the ground are too busy looking for something edible on the ground level and the lower floors instead of climbing up 10 floors up to get two people. They rather Prey on one another as long as they don't know we are here." Hermes said.

"10 FLOORS!" Iroha exclaimed as Hermes covered her mouth with his hand, making her gasp and struggle. Hermes looked around like expecting something to jump around the corner of the next room. Though it was natural given the circumstances Iroha found it odd. Just a moment ago he was like the most laid back person, that ever existed in this broken world and now he was like an aragami was right next doors. As Hermes heard nothing he put the hand away.

"Don't. Yell." He said in a low voice, making Iroha nod nervously. "Good. Now then we'll wait a few hours and then we go down. In the meantime I'll fill you in."

"Fill me in? In what? Look I'm very grateful that you saved me, but I need to find my brother." Iroha said as she walked to the exit of the room. Hermes sighed as he literally leaped over her and blocked her way. The fact alone that Hermes just had jumped like a cricket over Iroha's head terrified her. The look in his eyes however was only intensifying that feeling tenfold.

"Sorry Iroha, but I can't do that." He said. Ihora began to tremble at the cold voice of the man in front of her. She took a step backwards as she looked at the man.

"What do you mean by that? What are you?" Ihora asked, but Hermes remained stoic. "Look I'm not going to ask question or tell anyone, but I need to find my brother."

"Yeah you do. However there is one thing that I should tell you. And I know this will be hard to understand, but I think you should at least know a couple of things." Hermes sighed, before he looked at her with a serious expression. "You are not human anymore." An odd silence descended over the apartment as the tension within Iroha shot through the roof.

"Wha-what do you mean?" Iroha said in fear. Hermes only pointed at the wall behind the girl.

"Punch the wall." He said.

"Huh?" Ihora blinked in confusion. The man i front of her crossed his arms.

"Punch it with every ooze of strength in your body. If you don't believe me now, then do it. Afterwards you will." Hermes said.

Ihora looked down at her Hand and then at the wall. It was stupid. What was that supposed to prove? That she would break her fingers at this attempt? However somewhere deep in her subconsciousness she felt that she should try. It was something she couldn't grasp or make sense of. She walked over to the wall of concrete and balled her Hand into a fist. Drawing her arm back first Iroha punched the wall and much to her suprise she didn't felt much of it. Normally her body would ache and scream in pain at this, but instead the wall got cracked that much that a spiderweb of cracks now decorated the surface of the concrete. Her eyes widened in shock at this as tiny splinters of concrete fell to the ground, making a clicking Sound. Hermes only hummed behind her.

"I-Impossible..." Iroha said before turning to the man. "What have you done?!" Her voice shook in anger and fear. In her confusion and fear she could only direct these feelings to this man.

"Nothing at all, but somehow you got infected. I don't know how though. It's really unusual." Hermes said

"Infected?" Iroha asked.

"Correct. What you just did is the effect of the so called Blacklight Virus, a bioweapon that was created by mankind during the early 21st century and tested in New York Zero." Iroha looked mortified as Hermes said that. Her body shook like leaves in the wind as she tried to get away from the...thing in front of her. Immediately she tried to dash away, but just as she did the first steps away from him something grabbed her, snaked around her waist and Held her tightly, making her fall on her back. As Iroha looked up she saw that Hermes' right arm had turned into a long black tentacle, that emitted afaint red glow and now was wrapped around her waist. "Don't even try to run. You are not strong enough yet to survive out there on your own." Hermes said.

"I don't care! Let go!" Iroha said struggling, but the grip of the appendage was like a vice. Hermes sighed.

"I don't have any ill intend to you Iroha Utsugi, but if you just run away like you planned to, you will die. No matter if it is an aragami or a god eater who will Claim your life. If you go now, you'll dig your own grave." Hermes said. "I can teach you how to survive, but you must listen first and most importantly understand. Do you think you can do that?" Hermes asked. Iroha stopped struggling and thought about it for a moment.

"How do I know that you won't kill me yourself?" She snapped at him.

"You don't." Hermes said. "However killing an hatchling like you wouldn't do any good. Not to you. Not to me. Maybe for the aragami to eat you or Fenrir to do their experiments on you, but that would be it." He said as he let go of Iroha. The girl immediately took a step back like a cornered animal, but stayed in the room. "So what do you say? Do you just go out there and be an aragami's lunch or do you stay here for a bit and I tell you what you need to know?" Hermes asked. Iroha remained silent before she took a deep breath.

"Okay. I'll stay here, but only as long as I need to." Ihora said. Hermes shrugged.

"Fine by me." He said as he sat on the floor as his arm changed back to a normal human arm. "So should I start with something trivial or do you want to know something specific?" He asked.

"I guess I need first some basic idea what is going on." Iroha mumbled to herself, but Hermes heard that of course.

"Alright then, let's start this little crash course then." He said. "Like I said, Blacklight is or rather was intended to be a biological weapon, that was developped during the early 21st century. I don't know the exact details, but apparantly there had been an initial outbreak in Idaho somewhere where the original virus called Redlight broke out." Hermes said. "The gouvernment quickly put the place under quarantine and the entire population was wiped out to prevent the virus from spreading." he said making Iroha look shocked at him.

"They wiped out an entire town? Why would they do that?"

"Like I said, to prevent that virus from spreading. It wasn't just a cold that you can catch every now and then. It infected whatever lifeform it came close to and mutated it into violent monstrosities. Birds, pets and finally people. If the military organisation Blackwatch wouldn't have stepped in there would have been more deaths than just a small town in the middle of nowhere." Hermes said. "However Blackwatch had taken samples of the virus and started experimenting on it under the masquareade of the company Gentek. Through genetical engineering they managed to make the virus more deadlier and contatious than the original. And then it happened. The virus escaped somehow and infected almost the entire city within days. Millions of people died like flies and/or became monsters in every possible way." Hermes said looking at Ihora just for the case that she wasn't listening.

But she was listening and looking very shocked and surprised to hear such a tale from the infected. He could see fear and panic in her eyes and her hands tightend their grip on the shorts that she wore. Iroha swallowed the lump in her throat as she must have imagine what happened back then.

"So what happened afterwards?" She asked.

"Well... the same thing that happened in Idaho only worse." Hermes said. "Blackwatch was right there to secure the biggest city of the USA and everything was put under a fake story, blaming the scientist, who created the virus for everthing that had happened." He shrugged at this. "In the end the virus contained in the south of the city, but even two years after the first outbreak the city wasn't the same anymore. Then, without a warning the virus came back. It broke out at the same place as the first time and the nightmare began anew." He looked up into the sky where only the clouds passed by as no bird flew in the skies anymore. A shame in his opinion. "Again hundreds of thousands of people were either infected or killed by the events. The outbreak was stopped as well and finally the virus disappeared for good from the face of the planet. The people believed it was a victory of the U.S. Army and Blackwatch, who were celebrated as heroes, but that was just another lie. In fact the outbreak was caused by the scientist that was blamed for the whole Thing during the first outbreak, Alex Mercer, but it was not to kill millions of people, but to create some kind of new world order." He said.

"And how would you know that?" Iroha asked with a sceptical look on her face. "When this outbreak was 61 years ago, why do you say it as if you were there?" Hermes couldn't help but smirk at this.

"You see Iroha I was part of the U.S. Army when the 2nd outbreak of Blacklight took place. It was when I was stationated in New York and there I got infected." Hermes said.

"What?!" Ihora couldn't help but shout at this.

"Yeah, that's something that I probably should tell you. When you are infected with Blacklight like we two are and don't turn into some mindless monster that put the aragami you saw until now into shame, you basically stop aging. You still need to consume biomass, but in fact you are immortal in the sense of eternal youth. I for myself am already over 90." Hermes chuckled at her shocked expression. "Hey no need to look like that Iroha. I think most women would kill to stay forever...uh...how old are you again?" Iroha shot him a glare at this question as he held up his hands in a surrendering manner. "What? I didn't assume your age. I mean sure you cannot be 30 or 40 yet, but I'd already say past let's say 17..." Hermes said as he looked at Iroha from head to toe. It was quite embarrassing for the girl.

"I'm 22." Iroha said with her cheeks red at this point, while crossing her arms in front of her chest as this man kept looking at her. Hermes only chuckled at her reaction.

"Anyway, Mercer tried to create a group of people, infected with Blacklight of course. These so called evolved were to infiltrate the society and taking over the entire world. You should have hear him rambling about it. First he infests me with this...thing and then he claims to be humanity's saviour. If I could have, I'd have punched his stupid head off his shoulders." Hermes said, before sighing. "However one of the other evolved, Heller I think his name was, rebelled against Mercer and in the end killed him before wiping the entire city clean from the virus. The few evolved that survived went into hiding and never came out there holes again. Either Heller or Blackwatch took care of them or perhaps the aragami did. Maybe they are alive as well. Would be surprising if I would see them again after so many years." Hermes mused.

"And how did you get here?" Iroha asked.

"Just like any other normal person did. With a plane. Of course that was before all of this happened with the Oracle Cells and the destruction and the aragami. I think you can get the whole picture." Hermes said. Iroha only nodded as she couldn't really remember how planes flew through the sky. She had been too young to remember the peaceful and normal life of her parents as she had barely be able to remember certain scenes from her time in the kindergarten. "Oh well we better wait for the aragami to leave before we go down. You can try to occupy yourself with something if you want, but don't try to demolish my place and don't leave the flat." Hermes warned as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

Iroha needed sometime to take in all what she had just heard. The time basically crawled in a snail's pace as Iroha asked Hermes multiple question about himself and the place they were in. But even though the company of the man was a bit comforting her, Ihora still wanted to get out the Skyscraper. She walked around the flat, but it was everywhere the same picture. Then Hermes stood up and walked to the edge of the building.

"Okay it's time to start with your fist lesson Iroha. Come here please." Hermes said as he held out his hand. Hesitately Iroha grabbed it. He gave her a warm smile like saying "Don't worry", making her smile slightly in return.

In the next moment she was thrown off the building by a powerful swing of Hermes' arm.

"Try to land on your feet!" She heard Hermes shouting after her.

"EEHHHH?!" She screamed just begore she made impact on the barren ground. She barely felt it, still it stung a little in her bones as she fell on her back. Hissing she got up as Hermes suddenly landed next to her on his feet. The ground shook a little at his landing, but except the fact that he had crouched down for a second everything was fine with him. Not even a grunt of pain escaped his lips when he landed or stood up.

"Okay we must land on your landing." He said with a deadpan.

"Why did you throw me off the building? I could have died!" Iroha yelled at Hermes.

"No you wouldn't. Your Body is no longer made of bones, muscles and skin. You are basically made off Blacklight now, so you won't have to worry about that anymore." Hermes said waving her claims off. "Now to another trivial ability. Watch this." Hermes said as he suddenly changed into the uniform of a Blackwatch soldier. Ihora looked very suprised at this as she almost jumped backwards. Hermes laughed at her reaction. "Surprised huh? Well I was as well, but look at the bright side. You won't ever have to worry about clothes anymore. Just try to picture what you want to wear and your body will respond to that." He said. Iroha looked at her own clothes for a moment, before trying to picture something else. She did feel her body change at this and looked down as the red and black tendrils disappeared again.

Her brown blouse had to a red shirt and a black leather jacket as her shorts had become long, dark jeans. She still wore the sneakers though as she could think of something else.

"Good taste of clothes I see, though I wouldn't mind if you'd show more skin." Hermes said as he pretended to check the woman in front of him out, making Iroha blushing furiously and kicking him right between the legs. The other infected clutched his groin in fake pain as he hunched over. "Oh my balls~ Just kidding didn't even felt that one." He said looking chuckling at Iroha's flustered face. "You're not strong enough to hurt an aragami yet and that's why you need to learn how to survive." He said Walking further down the street. Iroha followed the evolved at this.

"So what should I need to know then?" Iroha asked.

"Well for starters you need to know how to run." Hermes said as he took off in a full sprint. Iroha watched amazed at the speed that the infected ran. Then Hermes jumped at the wall of a building and began to run up the wall straight. Now Iroha was worried that her eyes may fall out as she looked at the scene in disbelief. The evolved simply defied the laws of gravity as he simply ran up the old skyscraper and then stopped on the roof of the building.

"What are you waiting for? A written invitation? Come up here!" Hermes yelled down to Iroha. The young woman looked still conflicted with herself for some reason. It was stupid to even believe that she could do such a thing. It defied everything she knew. But then again...the entire situation she was in did so. In that moment a rock hit the ground not far from her. It rolled over the concrete of the road before stopping at once. "I said come up here or do you want to become an aragami's lunch?" Hermes said. Iroha put two and two together as she looked at the evolved. He had thrown the rock from the roof at her direction. The distance alone and the required power was unbelievable.

The brunette swallowed as she took the first steps towards the buildings. First she walked. Then she ran. Then she downright chraged towards the wall, before jumping off the road and running up the building like the other infected had done before her. Iroha couldn't believe what she was doing as she realized that her feet didn't touch the bricks anymore.

"Eh?" She said as she had done a backflip and was now falling back to the earth. Instinctly Iroha grabbed the brick wall and stopped her fall completely. Panting and sweating Iroha clung to the wall as if her life depended on it.

"Not bad for a newbie, but you need to keep your head up if you want to come up here." Hermes' voice tore Iroha out of her thoughts. "Just climb up here if you don't want to run." He said. Iroha took a deep breath and started climbing. It was completely paradox. Her hands simply grabbed the wall and her hand became basically stuck on it. It was as if a gecko was crawling up a glass window or at least it seemed to be that way. Iroha simply kept climbing until she made it to the edge of the roof and pulled herself up. She looked at Hermes who simply looked at her behind his 'skin'.

"What now?" Iroha asked. Hermes shook his head and facepalmed at this.

"Your resolve to learn is remarkable. Admirable even, but if you end up like that when you try to run up a wall, you won't survive very long." Hermes said. "We'll train until you have gotten a hold on your own feet and hands. When you can do that we speak about fighting." The older evolved said as he jumped from the roof back down on the street. "Now come down here. We got lots of work to do on you Iroha." He shouted up to her. Iroha sighed at this as she jumped down the building.

At least she landed on her feet this time. Only to fall on her rear again. Hermes only stood there and sweatdropped at her progress. It was like him all those years ago, only that this hatchling had to survive in a world that was even more dangerous than New York Zero.

Much more dangerous.

3 hours later

After 3 hours Iroha had somehow gotten used to her new speed and agility. However not without crashing into walls and old car wreckages. Though she didn't feel the pain it was still very uncomfortable for her. The more time she spent studying her new powers the more they became almost casually for her. Still she noticed that she was weaker and slower than Hermes.

Speaking of the older evolved he had left about 15 minutes ago and asked her to go back to the flat. Now running up the walls and jumping several meters high in the air she quickly got to the flat, but she had been there for about 10 minutes. She was starting to get bored as the sun started to set. Apparantly she woke up about at midday.

However just as she was about to go to the edge of the flat and look around the city, a certain evolved jumped into the hideout. That almost made Iroha jump off the building as she quickly redirected herself into the corner of the room.

"Hi there." Hermes greeted Iroha while lifting his hand for a greeting.

"H-Hi..." Iroha said. "What were you doing?" She asked. Hermes simply shrugged.

"Just the usual business. Killing aragami. Exploring the ruins. Making sure that the monsters stay away from my place." He said. Iroha didn't liked how that sounded, but there was little she could do about it. "Anyway I've got to show you something." He said getting her attention once more. He turned around and leapt on a building not far from their apartment. Sighing Iroha followed her teacher.

For about 5 minutes the two leapt from rooftop to rooftop, ran up and alongside walls as the roars of araami in the distance made the young woman nervous. She still saw in her mind the pictures of the ruins of her 'village' and still remembered what the aragami had done. She still felt fear when she heard their roars and screeching in the distance.

Then Hermes stopped on top of a building, followed by Iroha. He then grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down so they both were crouching.

"Alright Iroha, what you need to learn as well except of running is of course how to fight. But you also need to learn how to gather informations without getting eaten and that is what we are learning today." Hermes' lecture was cut off as a loud roar resnated through the streets below. However unlike earlier this one was very close. Both evolved walked to the edge of the roof to look down the street, where an ogretail was running through te streets as suddenly a bullet of water shot with high speed at the aragami and hit it's hindlegs. With a loud crack and roar in pain the creature fell on the floor as the gunner revealed himself.

It was another aragami, but one type that Iroha had never seen before. with it's strong, scaled arms the creature ran with high speed towards it's prey. It's nose seemed to have evolved into some kind of cannon while patches of blonde fur grew on the body. The bouth was very large as it took almost the entire front of the aragami's face for itself. Long razor sharp teeth produced out of it, even when closed as the small, almost invisible red eyes sat just above the jaw, below a large crest that covered the head like a helmet. It roared at the ogretail as it opened it's mouth very wide. In that moment it closed the distance between itself and it's prey as it bit down. Blood was flew in the air and with a last pathetic sound the ogretail died.

The predator simply ate the other aragami, not caring that it was partially still alive. Within a few seconds every bit that once had been the ogretail had been swallowed. Now the aragami moved slowly through the streets. It's head moving from one side to the other like a drone scanning the area with it's senses for prey. The aragami continued like this, before it stopped. It stirred for a moment before it dashed off into the distance.

"So what did you learn Iroha?" Hermes asked as he stood up.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused. The older evoled shook his head and shrugged in a 'I can't do anything'-manner.

"You just witnessed what happens when two types of aragami clash. Normally they don't eat one another as long as they are of the same kind. Aragami of different kinds however eat one another all the time." Hermes said. "When you want to survive you need observe aragami of different types and identify several things like their abilities or their habits." He said looking at Iroha. "So what did this encounter told you about those aragami?" Iroha thought about an answer for a second as she answered.

"I'd say that the bigger aragami simply devours the smaller ones. Also it shot this thing at the other to immobilize it and then rushed in for the kill. The smaller one only ran away like knowing that it had no chance to win this fight." She said. Hermes smiled at this.

"Good work Ihora. I think you did well. I guess tomorrow I can show you how to deal with certain other things, but for today that should be enough." He said. "Now let's get going. At night there are a lot more of the bigger ones here." He said as he leapt off the building and began to run back to his hideout. Iroha followed suit as it indeed had been an exhausting day.

However it seemed that fate had something against her as she landed unfortunately on a roof that had been weaked due years of lacking maintainance and weathering. With a loud thundering sound the entire roof collapsed and crashed down into the street. At the sound of this Hermes turned around and looked at the newly made mayhem.

Iroha sat in the middle of this rubble as she was buried beneath a large piece of concrete. She felt no pain, but slightly uncomfortable with all the pressure on her body. Pushing it off her with much less efford as she had presumed she dusted herself off as she looked around her. The collapse of the roof had kicked up a lot of dust particles in the air, rendering her sight slightly disturbed.

THUMP

There was suddenly something closeby. Iroha could feel it.

THUMP

A strong vibration shook the ground not far from Iroha. Her instincts immediately told her to flee.

THUMP

Then it was there. The dust screen lifted itself up, revealing a whole new terror to Iroha.

The first thing she saw were the two massive fangs that resembled that of a sabertooth tiger. Then her eyes followed the fangs upwards to a pair of relatively small eyes, that were focused on her. The massive aragami even overshadowed the fish-like aragami earlier. It was easily as big as a small house. Yellow fur resembling that of a tiger or a lion covered the body while bone like armor provided additional defenses, without interferring with the movement as it seemed to be rather light. On it's back was a red cape like organ with four long extensions that rested on the feline's back. The paws were about as big as small cars with sharp claws. The tip of tail has a curved, bone like structure on it. The entire body was packed with muscles as the aragami growled at Iroha.

The evolved in question was currently frozen stiff in fear as she looked at the powerful being in front of her. She was torn out her thoughts as she heard a familiar voice from above.

"The hell are you doing?! Run you goddamn idiot!" Hermes shouted from above as the large aragami roared at Iroha. Instinctly she jumped backwards. She leapt quite a few meters just as a pawof the aragami crushed the ground where she had been standing a moment ago. The vajra let out an angry roar in frustration as it had missed it's potential meal. Looking at Iroha it immediately started to run towards her. Iroha quickly jumped up and ran up an old apartment building. The vajra quickly predicted the girl's movements and leapt at the spot where she was running. Just barely passed the deadly fangs and claws the evolved as the aragami crashed with a loud breaking and shattering sound into the side of the building, causing it's floors and walls to collapse by the weight of the creature.

Iroha just made it to the roof as it too began to fall apart. Quickly she looked around and spotted a building on the opposite side of the road. Running towards it as the ground started to fracutre more and more beneath her feet she stepped on the edge and jumped. Sailing several meters through the air, Iroha lost her balance and fell on the roof and rolled the opposite side of it, before stopping. The building the vajra did crash in collapsed completely as she heard the aragami roar in anger through the sounds of the demolished building. It even discharged an high amount of electric energy, reducing the ruins of the building into tiny pebbles.

When she got up she was greeted by Hermes, who tucked her under his arm and leapt awa from the scene. Both of them didn't spoke a word as Hermes brought them home. Luckily the aragami had not managed to follow them. Iroha fell on the ground once Hermes had let go of her.

"You have done well." He finally said, breaking the awkward silcence between them. "Now you know why you can't leave even if you are now infected. Or do you think you can still make it to Fenrir without getting eaten before you come to see it?" He asked. Iroha looked down slightly ashamed. She had thought after learning how to evade the aragmi that she could just leave and find her brother, but the recent event had just shown how wrong she was. And how much she had underestimated the aragami. Hermes sighed at this pityful picture. "We'll continue your training tomorrow. Now go and get some sleep. There will be a lot to learn tomorrow." He said.

Iroha only nodded as she disappeared inside the apartment as she saw an old matress and some blankets and pillows there. Sighing she laid down into the makeshift bed and quickly fell asleep afterwards.

Hermes meanwhile sat on top of the old building and looked into the night as he watched aragami prowling the streets, hunting and devouring one another. He felt the first headache in a long time as he thought about earlier, before smiling to himself. It was already exciteing to se that there was a new evolved, but now he had to take care of her as well. She was not half bad. In fact she was more determined than most other newly infected that he had seen before. And with him making her grow powerful she might become a very powerful asset.

"I can't wait to see how you'll grow Iroha Utsugi. Maybe you'll even overcome me and Mercer. That would be quite interesting indeed." He said to himself as he put something out his pocket. It was a dog tag as soldiers had then before the outbreak of the aragami. Smiling at the old memory he put the small piece of metal away, before looking at the moon. "I just ask myself how far you are with your little project, Johannes. I can't wait to see you again."

Aaaaand it's done. Please make space for customers that have story chapters to write. The next one please.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Well what will tomorrow's lesson bring for the two evolved in this destroyed world? We'll see next time. Write your opinions and suggestions into the reviews or PM me if you got any questions.

Still working on the different abilities of Iroha and Hermes, but I got a general idea what to give them. Of course I'm also always grateful and open for ideas.

Now that will be all for now. I've only managed to finish this in my free time since this was a rather short chapter. Hope to see you next time again. Have a nice day.