Final exams are ovah, baby!

Unlike the Tail joes that crawled, Master beetle was standing with two legs like a human. It's gigantic body looked at least eight stories high. The ground around it was shaded black due to the sheer size. It's body was covered from head to toe with thick brown armor like some kind of medieval knight. Attached on both side of it's arms, were the huge blades that the Master beetle just lifted from the ground. The blades had a unique design. The blade's end was divided in two separate directions, resembling a beetle's horn. Sharp and massive, it looked it was able to cut a building in half with no problem. The sunlight reflecting on the blade made my body to twitch, like I've already been cut by it.

At the top of the body, was the Master beetle's head itself. Matching the color of the armor, Master beetle was wearing a helmet that covered it's entire face. Except it's green eyes that glowed brightly like spotlights. And just like the name, the helmet had a single huge horn on the front, which looked like a beetle.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised! I thought the Tail joes could handle it all by themselves. but son of a bitch! You useless lumps of flesh have a knack for surviving!"

Master beetle looked down, and chuckled as it casually insulted us without a thought. Like we were next to nothing to it's eyes. I've seen a lot of assholes, but I never saw a case like this, when the first thing I hear is an insult. It didn't help that Master beetle's voice was roaring like a thunderclap. For some reason, whenever I heard it's voice, my body grew more colder and colder.

"I, Itou... W, What're we going to do?..."

"Huh? J, Just step back slowly. At least let's try to avoid getting squashed..."

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

With no time to react, I felt a sudden sharp feeling behind my back. My body temperature dropped, as I felt something sharp and metallic pushing closer and closer to me.

"Ha?!"

My heart felt like it was going to pop out. My instincts screaming to run, I quickly jumped forward. Not even catching a breath, I immediately turned my back around to see what was behind me.

"F-F-Finally caught y-y-you."

"Wha?!"

Every single one of the Tail joes gathered in a straight line, and formed a wall right behind us. I got out of the way in time. However, Chihiri was surprised by the Tail joe's static voice, that she didn't realize the bugs were right behind us.

"Huh?! S, Shi!-"

When she did realize, Chihiri panicked and tried to move forward, But it was too late. She was already stepping back, and was unable to move. And like a hunter catching it's prey, the sharp end of the Tail joe's tail was aiming right behind her. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Chi!-"

I reached out my hand towards Chihiri as much as I could. Pull her, knock her down, anything I could do to make that tail miss. But by one. My hand missed her's by just one single centimeter. The Tail joe that was aiming at Chihiri, bent it's tail backwards. And

CRACK!

All of a sudden, the end of Master beetle's blade came down at the Tail joe and smashed it's body to pieces. The impact on the ground send Chihiri flying. With a thud, her body roughly landed right next to me.

"Chihiri! A, Are you hurt?!"

"Y, Yeah... But I'll live... Urgh..."

Chihiri nodded her head while she groaned in pain. Meanwhile the Tail joes were all loss of words, and looked at the crushed remains of their own. Next to the giant hole made by the blade, the crushed one's barely left leg crawled at the ground like a fish out of water. When it stopped moving it turned into some kind of light particles, until finally vanishing into thin air.

""W-W-Why?!""

Before the Tail joes could say anything else, Master beetle pointed it's sharp blade right in front of their eyes. The shocked Tail joe's trembled their bodies uncontrollably. All except for their mouths, which they immediately shut tight. As if the answer was already obvious, the Tail joes didn't dare to say another word.

"I told you to BRING the Psyqualia user. NOT kill! You can say, I'm a bit 'disappointed' right now. So please, if any of you want to follow that 'failure' I just dealt with. Feel free to step in."

Overwhelmed by the Master beetle's chilling voice, every single one of the Tail joes stepped back five meters away from us. For a moment, I thought it was our chance to escape. But before I could even move an inch, the Tail joes quickly formed a giant circle around the whole street.

Whether they were close or far away, the Tail joes still trapped us in their grasps.

"That's better. A Psyqualia user ain't useful if it's dead. And we wouldn't want that, do we?~"

The Master beetle looked down and snickered at me. Showing it's sharp brown teeth, which looked like a set of huge rusted drills. Just by looking at Master beetle's gigantic size was more than enough to overwhelm both me and Chihiri.

"Ack... Ugk..."

"Ha... Ha..."

Every time the Master beetle's voice roared, my heart and lungs felt like it was being squeezed by invisible hands. I stuck my eyes straight to the ground. If I looked up to directly face the Master beetle, I was afraid that my entire organs would pop like balloons.

'S, Stay calm... I can't... let it get to me!...'

[Master? Chihiri sama? What's wrong... Wait, is thi?!]

Amaterasu looked shocked as if she found out something. But before she could say anything, it was already too late.

"Argh!"

A massive wave of pain quickly spread through my body. Like a poison, my cold legs and arms gave in and I fell to the ground. I squirmed and struggled to stand up, but my limbs didn't react as if they weren't mine.

[Ma- Yo-]

"Urg... Wh, What?!"

Amaterasu was moving her mouth constantly, but to no avail. The pain that struck me was like a sledgehammer to the head. The sounds that I could barely hear became ear bleeding echoes. Muting everything what Amaterasu was trying to say to me.

Thud-

"Ch, Chihiri!"

"Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah..."

The next second, Chihiri collapsed to the ground. Lying face down on the ground, Chihiri was hyperventilating like a fish out of water. Desperate for air, her back constantly went up and down. And just like a breathless fish, her entire body twitched and trembled uncontrollably. It looked like she was going to die at any second.

"Chihiri, look at me! Look at m- guahhh!"

I called out to Chihiri, until my own words quickly turned into screams. My heart was beating so hard, every beat made my body jump in pain. My senses began to get hazy, but I could still feel the pain entirely. I gritted my teeth to hold in the pain as much as possible.

"That's it. Just lose your mind and let's get this over with."

The distorted laughter of the Master beetle made the pain worse. I struggled to fight whatever the Master beetle was doing to us. Holding on to my mind, which was being ripped to pieces by something I can't even comprehend.

'Is it... poison?... Mind... control?... Ark!... I have to... find a way to... fight it!... But how?...'

My strength and sanity was fading away like sand. The more I try to fight it, the chill and the pain just got stronger. I had no idea how the Master beetle was doing this to us. But was impossible to find out, or even think about it, with my brain being scrambled around.

"I can't... I can't..."

Powerless. That's what we were right now. Utterly powerless. The Master beetle was a level beyond the Tail joes. It didn't even have to anything to break us down. We were mere dust compared to it.

Realizing that, I questioned myself the meaning to fight such a being. It would be easier. It would feel better... If I just give in...

[Master! Can you hear me?! Snap out of it! You need to fight it!]

Suddenly, I could hear Amaterasu's voice ringing loudly in my head, like a giant bell. My whole body jumped at the unexpected loud sound. So much that it almost gave me a heart attack.

Amaterasu was thinking that I passed out, and she tried her best to wake me up.

"A..ma..."

[Y, you could hear me? Do you hear me, master?!]

I was able to hear her, but wasn't able to talk. I didn't have the strength left to answer her. Instead, I raised my head, which felt like lifting a ten ton boulder, and slightly nodded to let her know that I was listening.

Amaterasu's voice calmed up a bit, and she let out a sigh of relief.

[Thank the heavens... I know this is your first time, master. But you have to flow spiritual energy through your body. Remember what I told you! Imagine your body made out of water! And feel your spirit mixing into that water! Hurry! Before your body stops functioning!]

Amaterasu's voice was in a hurry, and with a good reason. My mind and body was already a mess as it is. I didn't want to know what would happen to me or Chihiri, if this kept on going for too long.

'Wa..ter... Spiri..t...'

My head felt like splitting in half whenever I tried to think. The agony wasn't going anywhere and kept tormenting me inside out. My thoughts, my consciousness was smashed to pieces by constant pain. I kept on breathing to focus, and tried to piece together my messed up mind.

"Hah...Hah..."

I had to do this quick. My breathing was getting faster and faster. I was gulping in air like crazy, and yet I felt like I was being suffocated. It was only a matter of time, before I lose complete control of everything.

As I tried to calm down my mind, I realized how fucked I was right now. Unlike my visions, I've never used spiritual energy before. And everything was depended on something I knew nothing of whatsoever. I couldn't even do it the first time I tried, and that was when I could still think properly.

Amaterasu was believing in me that I could do this. I didn't want to deny her faith, but I couldn't even believe in myself that I'll be able to. It seemed near impossible to do anything, when my body and mind won't even function right.

'Water... Spirit... Water... Spirit...'

But unlike my thoughts, I was actually thinking with no problem. In fact, I was able to think deeper than usual. So much so, that it felt like everything around me suddenly stopped. I didn't know what was causing this. Maybe the pain was so much that I couldn't feel it anymore. Or maybe my brain was being stimulated to the pain, before it gets fried by it. However the questions soon faded, as my mind fell deeper and deeper. It was like my mind was getting sucked into a giant and endless abyss.

My body no longer felt solid anymore. I was able to perfectly imagine my body turning into liquid. Almost feeling like I could just melt away. The feeling was extremely weird. But at the same time felt very natural, like my body was meant to be like this.

However, I felt something else besides my liquid body. My mind falling into an abyss, wasn't just a mere feeling. Around me, was a literal black abyss sucking me deeper like a whirlpool.

'What is that?... Is that my spirit, or my spiritual energy?...'

I had no idea what it was, since I didn't even imagine it. I wondered what I should be doing next. And then, without me even thinking about it, 'something' began to rotate within the chest part of my liquid body. The feeling of it was like my body getting stirred by a blender.

At that moment, like a calm before the storm, the abyss that was pulling me in stopped.

'W, What?!'

The somewhat slow speed of the rotation, suddenly spiked up and turned into a violent current. I didn't feel any sort of pain. But the current was so strong, I was afraid that it would shred my body apart. It grew stronger and stronger, like there was no limit to it.

And what happened next, was beyond my imagination.

FUOOOOOO

The current kept on getting stronger, until it began to make a vacuum. It was no longer a simple rotating current. It became a vortex. Which began to suck everything around me like a black hole.

Everything was being sucked into the vortex. Including the abyss that sucked me in.

'Uuu!... Uaaa!...'

The vortex was no smaller than my hand. But it's power was strong enough to be a force of nature, and I was standing right in the center of it. With my body being the vortex, I wasn't getting sucked in. But for how long? The vortex's power was far beyond my reach to stop it. It consumed almost all of the abyss, and it still wasn't getting any weaker.

'I... I can't... take this... any longer...'

My body felt like it was about to fall apart. Being at the dead center, I could feel the vortex's raw power. One by one, the parts of my body felt numb, like I was slowly getting sucked into the vortex. The vortex wasn't going to stop until it sucked in everything. Along with me.

When it became harder to tell if I was still 'me', the entire abyss had vanished into the vortex. With nothing to suck in, it was obvious that I was next. There was no way that I could withstand the vortex's power. Seeing how the vortex swallowed an entire abyss, I was sure that I would be gone in an instant.

'W, Wha?...'

It didn't happen. The vortex suddenly stopped. The strong suction that was sucking everything in, was gone like it never happened. All that was left was me.

'Huh? Something is...'

A warm energy ran through my body. My body got warmer, like I was bathing in sunlight. Just a second ago, my body and mind was weak as shattered glass. But now, I was overflowing with power. I've never felt this kind of power in all of my life. It felt like I could take on almost anything.

'This energy... Is this my spiritual energy? But how? What is doing th-'

My words came to a halt. Something was circling inside my chest. I could still feel the presence of the vortex in me. But it wasn't the same. The vortex wasn't rotating violently. It was rotating in a gentle rhythm, like it was my own heart beat. The rotation has also changed, and the vortex no longer sucked in things, but was rather letting out. In this case, the warm energy that I was feeling right now.

'So this is it...'

I didn't need to think or doubt what this energy was. I knew it the moment I felt it running through my body. This was the energy that could materialize Amaterasu. This was

'My spiritual energy.'

Now that I got this, I just had one more problem left. How was I going to wake up, when I'm already awa-

"Hah!... Hah!... W, Whoa..."

I opened my eyes and woke up instantly. I was back. Still lying in the ground of shattered asphalt, like I remembered. My face was dripping with sweat. I washed the running down sweat with my hand, and I noticed that I was able to move my body again. My breathing got a lot better, too. Not only that, the pain and the chill that ate away at me completely disappeared.

[Master! You... You succeeded! I can feel your spiritual energy inside you! A, Are you feeling okay?]

"Yeah, I'm fine. But what about Chihi-"

"HOLY SHIT! Wh, Wh, What?!"

Before I could finish my sentence, Chihiri woke up screaming. She raised her upper body off the ground, and quickly looked around her surroundings, while heavily breathing like she just woke up from a coma.

[Uwah! Chihiri sama's awake?!]

"Ch, Chihiri!"

Chihiri's body jumped when I called out to her. She swiftly turned her upper body, and saw me still lying on the ground.

"I, Itou! Thank god you're alive..."

"Y, You too..."

While looking at each other, we both let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay? How did you wake up?"

"I, I don't know. I was just... Wait, why are you holding my hand?"

Chihiri asked me while looking down. I looked at the same direction as she did, and saw my right hand firmly holding her left. I didn't even realize that I was holding her hand, until she just reminded me right now.

"Huh? When did I... I don't even remember reaching out to you."

[So that's it! The spiritual energy traveled through master's entire body. And because you were holding on to Chihiri sama, your spiritual energy must've moved to her as well, master!]

"Really? Wow, thanks for saving my ass, Ito... Wait, spiritual energy? You're able to do that now?!"

"Yeah. I still have no idea how this works, but at least I know I have it..."

"Well, Well, Well! I guess you're not as useless as I thought!"

Our words were silenced at a roaring laughter. Me and Chihiri shuddered the moment we heard the sound. We both pulled ourselves off the ground, and quickly stood up. The Megacolony units, Master beetle and several of the Tail joes, were still surrounding the area, while looking at us like we were zoo animals.

[Don't let your guard down, master!]

"Don't have to tell me twice!"

"Uh, Itou? Can you let me go now?"

Still holding my hand, Chihiri tried to take her hand off me. I was going to let her, until I realized something and quickly clutched my grasp, before Chihiri could retreat her hand.

"W, Wait!"

"Hey, you don't have to keep holding my hand, you know? How are we going to fight these bugs, when we're holding hands like some kind of kindergarteners!"

"Ugh! You don't think I know that? You heard what Amaterasu said. You woke up because my spiritual energy ran through you, while we were holding hands. What do you think will happen, if you try to do the opposite?"

"...Right. Got it..."

Understanding exactly what I was saying, Chihiri nodded her head and kept holding my hand. For a second, I saw Chihiri's face filled with fear, and her whole body shaking. Then Chihiri immediately shook her head, and covered it up like it was nothing. But it was obvious that whatever the Master beetle did to us, took a huge toll on Chihiri. She didn't want to go through it a second time, and I knew exactly how Chihiri felt.

"Holding hands? This isn't a date, you know? How am I going to take you seriously, if you bugs are not even trying?"

[Don't listen to it, master!]

"I know."

The Master beetle taunted us of holding hands. But me and Chihiri saw what it's motives were, and we ignored every word it was saying to us.

"W, Whoa... It... doesn't hurt anymore... I'm all right!"

Chihiri was surprised that she didn't pass out like she did before. She looked down at my hand, which was grabbing her's with amazement. I was also surprised, that it worked as well as I thought it would.

"I guess my spiritual energy is actually doing something."

"Although, I'm still scared shitless to that thing..."

"Same here..."

Chihiri's body was still trembling, and so did mine. It wasn't complete torture like the first time, but it was enough to make me fall down, if I loosened my legs for even a second. It was raw instinct telling me that I have no chance against a thing that huge. But I kept my feet on the ground. Mustered all of my courage to confront the gigantic bug.

When it realized that we weren't going to listen, the Master beetle stopped it's taunts, like it was no longer fun.

"Huh. Looks like you bugs DO have brains, after all. You two are the first humans to withstand my 'pressure'. I'm starting to like what I have here!"

"'Pressure'?"

"What the hell's that bug saying?"

[It's what the Master beetle was doing to you two. Units from Megacolony have several ways to paralyze their foes. One of those ways is 'pressure'. They manipulate their own spiritual energy flow, and emit a wave that paralyzes the enemy's body around them. The way to counteract this, is to flow spiritual energy around your body, like what you're doing, master.]

Without even studdering, Amaterasu easily explained to us the secrets of Master beetle's tricks. It was good to have someone so knowledgeable like Amaterasu on our side. But what kinda bothered me was...

"Kinda wish you told that sooner, Amaterasu..."

[I, I'm sorry. The Master beetle was already using 'pressure', that I didn't realize it until it was too late.]

"You don't need to apologize. It was an ambush, after all."

There was no way she could know. I wasn't the one to say to her, when I was the one who should be seeing these things.

"Hey, cut Amaterasu some slack, Itou. You know that she's trying her best to help us."

Looking displeased, Chihiri strongly squeezed my hand with her's, like she was trying to break my fingers.

"Ow... I wasn't trying to. I just wished we heard it sooner, that's all."

"Next time, do it without the sass, all right?"

"All right."

After hearing me say it, Chihiri eased her grip on me. When I felt blood running through my hand again, I slid closer to Chihiri. Then, I whispered to her ears, and said...

"Need your help..."

"H, Huh?..."

Completely confused, Chihiri turned her head and looked at me funny. Through her eyes, Chihiri was demanding me for more context. But I took a step back away from her, and closed my mouth. Because it seemed that we weren't going to be able to talk much, anytime soon.

Thum!

With a huge sound, the ground and the buildings around us shook. Just like I saw in my vision, Master beetle took a single step towards us. We almost fell down because of it. I couldn't believe that the shock was caused by Master beetle's single step, until I felt it for myself.

We were overwhelmed, and the Master beetle knew it so well. The big grin on the it's face, said it all.

"You know, when I first saw you two, I thought the Tail joes were screwing with me. Bringing two worthless humans, who has no spiritual energy flowing through their bodies. But who would've thought! A shitty pair, turning into a straight! In front of my eyes, even! If that's not drama worthy, I don't know what is!"

Still holding the giant sword in it's hand, The Master beetle happily clapped it's hands together. Master beetle's handclaps, was like listening to two bulldozers banging into each other. Even the Tail joes were suffering from the noise. With no way to make it stop, we had to endure the god forsaken noise, until the Master beetle eventually stopped.

"I'm in a really good mood. So for once, I'll try to be 'nice' and skip the bullshit for you two. White hair punk. I'll give you the honor to be Megacolony's pioneer."

"What?..."

"Pioneer, like their leader? Amaterasu, is that possible?"

[N, No. A pioneer can only take in one clan. What is it thinking, asking that to master?]

The Master beetle said in a tone like it was already decided, while pointing it's tree trunk like finger towards me. I was honestly surprised, not because I was offered as their pioneer. I was surprised, that the bug which tried to make us almost brain dead, actually giving a genuine proposal, and not a threat.

But foolish me, my surprises didn't last very long.

"Oh, and I should let you know, since you just unlocked your spiritual energy flow. If you even try to call out your unit, which I'll certainly know if you do... Well, I believe you're smart enough to know what'll happen. Just don't try to do anything stupid, and you'll live. For now."

Right after it finished it's words, the Tail joes behind us loudly shook it's metal plating all at once, as if giving us a warning. Even without the Master beetle's orders, they were already eager to kill us. Hearing the noises behind me, I stood still like the Master beetle expected me to do. As much as I hated to admit it, the best thing to do right now was to stand down. The Master beetle's words were full of shit, but it's threats were true to the core.

"Look at you. Actually listening to what I'm saying. Just give me a yes, and I'll MAYBE let your brown hair friend live. You have my word."

The Master beetle looked at Chihiri for a second, and then turned it's head to me. The Master beetle's target was me, and yet it wasn't laying a finger on Chihiri, even though she had no use to it. Except one. To eliminate my choices even further, by using her as a bargaining chip. Seeing Chihiri and then me, was it's way of telling me, that she'll be dead if I refuse to be their lap dog.

When my head was filled with worries, Chihiri suddenly gritted her teeth, and walked towards the Master beetle.

"Oh, you'll 'maybe' let me live? You stink of bullshit, that even the birds in the skies are avoiding this part of the city! You're going to kill me anyway. Which means your threats don't mean shit to me! So why don't you take your half ass words, and shove it back in your mouth!"

After shouting all of the words from her stomach, Chihiri finished her sentence by flipping her middle finger to the Master beetle. The Master beetle's body trembled. However it didn't shout back at Chihiri. Or even try to kill her on the spot. It grabbed it's stomach, and laughed out loud.

"Hahahahah! Shit, didn't expect you to have some balls there! You're the first human to stand up to me like that! Of course, they couldn't even speak cause their brains were fried. I like you! Even though you're all bark and no bite. And because I like you, I'm going to pretend that you didn't just waste your last words, okay?"

"Wow, you like me? I don't know how I should feel about being liked by a giant piece of turd..."

"Chihiri! Less talk, the better!"

There was a line, and Chihiri was standing awfully close to it. I quickly covered Chihiri's mouth with my hand. Her voice muffled by my hand, I pulled Chihiri back away from Master beetle as far as possible.

"Good move. Cause I was starting to get sick of that brat's talking."

"Wha- I'll show-"

Chihiri was pissed off. Struggling to take my hand off of her mouth. For her sake, I kept my hand firmly on Chihiri's mouth. Chihiri eventually calmed down, and I let my hand off of her, after she agreed to not piss off the Master beetle.

"Come on, white hair. This isn't a bad deal at all. You get to serve beings far superior than your own race. It's far noble than you think."

The Master beetle tried to 'persuade' me with words. But it was obvious that Master beetle was full of lies. The Master beetle didn't even seem to try. It was so blatant, that it was almost a joke. Nothing it said made me change my mind. The only thing that made me think about it, was letting Chihiri go. And even that promise seemed like the Master beetle would break without a thought.

"Serve? Don't you mean use me as an energy tank?"

"Hah! Was it that obvious? I guess I'm not a very good liar."

"What makes you think I'll agree to that?"

"You're saying that, because you didn't see how we treat a 'real' energy tank. We wouldn't want you to die, so we'll be taking good care of you. After all, you're important. Unlike these 'fools'."

The Master beetle suddenly moved it's left hand to it's right shoulder. With the thumb and index finger, the Master beetle pulled out something small from it's shoulder, looking like it was picking off a bug.

At first, I had trouble seeing it so far. But the thing between the Master beetle's fingers. It's shape was oddly familiar. It almost looked like...

"A... human?!"

The head, body, legs, it was now impossible to miss it. It looked like a very small doll, compared to Master beetle's fingers.

"Correct! Even if they're not Psyqualia users, the spiritual energy that normal humans contain in them, do get the job done. Although, the spiritual energy that they have, is nowhere enough to satisfy all of us. So we catch a dozen humans for maintenance, and I store them around my body. Just in case. We wouldn't want our precious 'batteries' to be gone... Oh. Looks like this one finally ran out."

Crunch-

Without a second thought, Master beetle squashed the person between it's fingers, into a bloody pulp. We couldn't see the actual body being damaged. But the one second of sound of it happening, was enough detail that we didn't need. There was zero effort on Master beetle's action. It happened so fast. And at the same time, so simple.

"Uh, gross."

Rubbing it's fingers together, Master beetle frowned and flung the remains of the body with it's fingertips, like flinging something dirty off your hand.

The pulp that was once a body, flew somewhere far away where we couldn't see where it went.

"Uph!..."

"Hah... Hah..."

If it had landed here, me and Chihiri would've definitely be throwing up our insides right now. But even without seeing it. Just imagining about the squashed body and the dreadful sound, made our insides feel extremely uncomfortable.

We covered up both of our mouths, and barely held in the nausea. .

"So that guy we saw before the attack... He was just 'one' of their energy supplies..."

"Yeah... And kept 'safe'..."

The Megacolony units weren't dumb to just leave their precious energy source laying around in plain sight. When we saw the man guarded by the Tail joes, I thought we had a chance, if we just played our cards right.

But the Master beetle guarding them? We had absolutely no chance. As long as we were humans. No muscles, no brains were able to go up against a murderous eight story titan. It was impossible to reach the person, when they were way out of our reach. Even harder to lay a scratch on the Master beetle. Which meant our plan of attacking their energy source, had no chance to succeed.

[H, How could it do something so... Barbaric...]

Amaterasu's disgust towards the Megacolony units, were all the explanation we needed. About how they looked down on not just us, but every human that they saw. Thinking humans as nothing but disposable tools, that exists only for their needs.

I clenched my fist so hard, that it shook on it's own. Fear wasn't the only thing that I was feeling right now. Seeing the Master beetle's atrocious actions made my blood pumping with rage.

They were going to bring nothing but chaos to everyone in this earth. If I were to become their pioneer, I would rather commit suicide before it even happens.

"Psst..."

Chihiri stepped a little closer to me, and quietly whispered to my ear.

"How much longer?"

"This is harder than I thought... But I'm starting to get the hang of it."

"Well, do it fast. That turd bug isn't going to wait that long."

Chihiri looked at my fist for a second, and gave a slight slap on my right thigh. It's like she was telling me to keep concentrating. Thanks to her notice, I calmed down my anger, and got back on doing my thing.

But the Master beetle didn't leave me alone.

"So, what's your answer?"

"What, you're not even going to ask my name first?"

"Your name? Why the hell would I want to know that?"

"Well, it's important to know if you're trying to persuade..."

"I don't give a crap. If you really want a name, how about 'livestock A'. It'll fit your role."

I'd no longer consider myself as a human, if I were really called by that name. Apparently, the part where Master beetle said 'taking care', didn't seem to include knowing anything about me.

But whatever. That wasn't the part I was focusing about. What was, is to keep the Megacolony units from 'noticing'.

'All right... Just a bit more...'

"How am I certain that you'll let Chihiri go?"

Before saying anything, the Master beetle let out a deep, hot breath. It was a sigh mixed with irritation, frustration, and so. So much anger.

"You really still think you have a say in this? Why the fuck do I have to prove anything to you? There's only one answer! You can't even answer one thing? All right, if you don't want to, then say good bye..."

The Master beetle raised it's hand and tried to snap it's finger. Several sounds of metal clanking rang loudly behind us, as every single Tail joes reacted all at once.

I quickly shook my head before the Master beetle could give the signal.

"N, No! I get it! J, Just give me more time to get my heart ready. Please. This could be my final moment to be free."

The Master beetle lowered it's hand while snickering at my desperation. It seemed to enjoy how pathetic I looked and had a good laugh. For about five seconds, before it turned back to be irritated again. Master beetle clearly didn't forget how angry it was.

'Almost got it...'

"Hey. Need I remind you, that I could just use force. But I'm not doing that, because I'm REALLY trying to be 'nice', and I don't want to make you into a bloody paste by accident, cause I'm THIS CLOSE! So enough with the fucking gibbering, and give me an answer."

"B, But what if..."

KAHBOOWW!

I was cut short, when the Master beetle violently kicked a random van that was close to it. The sounds of broken glass and metal being crushed rang out loud, as the heavy looking van went flying like a cannonball.

""Khak!""

Passing me and Chihiri in an instant, the car squashed two Tail joes behind us.

"W, W, Wha..."

My body was frozen solid. The Master beetle's feet was actually slightly off course, when it kicked the van. Luck or not, if the Master beetle did kick it right, the van would've went right for us.

Master beetle REALLY tried to kill us. Me and Chihiri just literally dodged a bullet.

PHOOOW!

The Master beetle lowered it's body and smashed the ground with it's fist. Huge shock waves spread everywhere. The ground shook big time, that our bodies literally jumped from the ground. Master beetle's giant face was right in front of us. With it being this close, we could see every single detail of Master beetle's already terrifying face.

Letting out a foul breath, Master beetle opened it's mouth full of knife like teeth. Leering us with bug eyes almost big as a window.

"Since you seem to like talking, how about I give a try? ANSWER. RIGHT. NOW. If you don't, I'll feed your bitch's flesh while I rip her apart. You're going to need that. Cause after that, I'm going to rip out everything from your body, except the bare minimum parts that keep you alive. You think I can't do it? Then please, try and say no."

Master beetle was this close to just eating us whole. It's vein filled eyes were begging us to say no.

"Ten seconds. That's all you get. Pass that, you're officially a lump of meat."

Master beetle's patience was way past it's limit. It stood up and took a step back, like it was our last chance. In case I didn't answer, or say no, Master beetle fiercely grinded it's arm blade at the nearest tall building, like it was using a whetstone.

The sound of metal and concrete grinding into each other, was like a clock. Ticking the last seconds we had left. But even when the situation was so dire. I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

With a faint smile on my face, I gave a slight nudge to Chihiri's arm.

"You ready to go?"

"Yup. Ready as I'll ever be."

Chihiri nodded her head like she understood. She let out a deep sigh, before things got 'started'.

Ten seconds. It was all I needed to follow what I've 'learned'.

After ruining a huge side of the building's wall, Master beetle raised it's eyebrows and looked at me weird, that I was smiling in this situation.

"What, did you suddenly lose your mind, or something? What's so funny that you're smiling about? I hope you have your answer now. Cause..."

"Yeah, I have your answer. And it's yes."

Master beetle's cheeks noticeably went up. It's frowning and massively pissed off face quickly changed, and was now creepily smiling at my approval.

"HAHAHA! So you decided to protect your life, like the coward you are! A wise choice! Now, burn your card and take my..."

"I mean, it's the least I can do. Since you and the Tail joes were so kind enough to let me finish."

"'Finish'? Finish what?"

"Amaterasu teaching me to 'materialize a unit', of course."

"...Huh?..."

Completely at loss of words, Master beetle stood still, like it's thoughts just froze up. It, and the rest of the Tail joes were so dumbfounded to even react. Seeing their idiotic reactions made me want to burst into laughter. I held out Amaterasu's card and showed it in front of Master beetle.

Master beetle and the Tail joes think, and treat humans as nothing but energy supplies for their needs. Focusing only on harvesting spiritual energy. They don't even seem to care how many people die in the process. Making peace with humans were just jokes to them.

That's why Master beetle and the Tail joes know nothing. They're too busy sucking out energy, that they wouldn't even dream, that a pioneer can also talk to it's unit telepathically!

"Thanks for letting me learn how to materialize, you retards!"

"URAHHHH! YOU FUCKING SNAKEEEEE! TAIL JOES! RIP THAT FUCKER APART!"

"""KUAAAA!"""

Just now realizing that they were played, Master beetle and the Tail joes furiously rushed at us all at once. But at the same time they started, I was just getting finished. It took some time, but I was finally able to feel Amateratsu's spiritual energy wave. It was like feeling someone else's heartbeat, while also feeling mine at the same time.

'Now the last part... Pouring my spiritual energy at the card, with all my might!'

Just like Amaterasu's instructions, I grabbed her card as hard as I can, while putting every strength I could muster to my fingertips. And I imagined. The spiral of energy inside me, flowing into Amaterasu's card.

I felt the same hazy feeling whenever I see a vision, but somehow feeling different, like something has changed that I didn't even know what it was. My heart pounded wildly, almost to the point of feeling like something was trying to burst out of me. And yet, feeling comfortable at the same time. It was like feeling chaos and harmony at the same time.

Not even knowing what would happen next, 'it' finally happened.

FHUOOOOO-

A 'Ki' like energy stream, glowing in the color of bright gold, came bursting out of my body and was sucked right into Amaterasu's card. Chihiri, who was panicking at the raging Megacolony units, was left staring quietly at the sight of golden light.

"So that's Itou's spiritual energy..."

My reactions weren't so different from Chihiri. I've only felt it until now. This was also my first time seeing my own spiritual energy in person. It was hard to believe something that beautiful came out of my body. But admiring the view has to come another time. Right now, is the time bust some fucking bug skulls!

"DIEEEEE!"

"Here goes nothing, Amaterasu!"

[Yes, master!]

I raised Amaterasu's card high above my head, which was now full of spiritual energy. Visions of us getting mauled to death by Master beetle's blade, and Tail joe's pincers kept flashing through my eyes. But even seeing that, I didn't feel the cold fear of death. Rather, I felt hope that was warm as the sun. A hope that me and Chihiri could overcome this.

Feeling the warm feeling running through my whole body, I yelled out as loud as I could.

"Materialize! CEO Amaterasu!"

Hey guys! Sorry for being late. Final exams and such... The good part about it, is that I got semi good grades. So... Yay?

It's obvious that my uploads are slow compared to the first. Well, that's because I'm writing this, and my korean one at the same time. The korean one is the latest story. The third story, actually. So if I write this, I write my korean one, and if I finish that, I write this. I just don't want to stop either parts, so I hope you can understand?... Or not?...

Anyway, I will try to upload as soon as possible. Hope you leave some comments, cause I'm thirsty for opinions! Bu- bye! Winter vacation, woo!