Chapter 20: Terrorist Attack

"Heh heh heh. So what're you gonna do without your magic, huh? Die?" Rex taunted.

"Kill you, obviously." I answered.

"Kill me!? ME!? A Named Child!? You've grown way too arrogant, ain'cha, pretty boy?"

While he was distracted with his pointless monologuing, which isn't even good, I lunged my sword towards his face, which he barely dodged, the sword only grazed his cheek.

"You… How dare you. I'm so gonna kill you." Rex muttered angrily as he brandished two curved swords, the one on his left hand being longer than the other, and began slashing at me, which I parried.

"You! How come you're still strong after your magic is sealed!?"

"Maybe I'm just better than you."

"You bastard…!" Getting angrier, Rex slashed again and again and I kept effortlessly parrying his strikes. He eventually stops his strikes and stood warily, watching my every move.

"Huh. You're not half bad. Perhaps the Pseudo-Artifact sword you're carrying helps you even when you don't have access to magic? Either way, you're still at a disadvantage because unlike you, I have full access to my powers! How long will you last with that sword, huh?"

"Long enough to kill you."

"Heh. How precious. Relying on the sword made by your greatest enemy."

"… Necromancer."

"Exactly! And he's coming to this school very soon!" Said Rex as he went on the offensive once again, his words earlier were meant to distract me, but… does he know? Heh heh heh. He doesn't know!

I parried his sword strikes effortlessly like before, causing him to grow more frustrated as he increased the amount of magic he put into his attacks, which caused the delicate equipments in the lab to be destroyed by shockwaves from his attacks and my parries.

"Gahhh! You're strong! I'll admit that! But so far you haven't attacked me! That means you're at your limit already, aren't you!? I win!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." I said as I make use of an opening and stabbed his right shoulder.

"Aghhh!"

"I was merely toying with you the whole time." I said while smirking.

"You…. Who the hell are you…?"

"Oh? Thought you knew who I am already, Rex. After all, you tried to taunt me using my own name earlier."

"Huh…? You… What are you…. Huh!?" He showed a horrified expression when he realized.

"Impossible! A boy like you couldn't possibly be-" I cut him off by summoning my Necromancer robe and mask. He became even more horrified as he beheld my visage.

"What… So you've been here… all this time…?"

"Indeed." I said to Rex in my distorted Necromancer voice, further reinforcing my identity.

"W-Wait! I was only following orders! It was Sir Gaunt who-"

"I know. And I let him come this far because I want to watch and admire the schemes he has concocted. Which means you're here because I willed it."

"Wait! Please spare me! I can be of use to you!"

"Yes. You can be of use to me… as one of my undead servants."

"GYAAAAHHH!" Rex's last scream echoed throughout the school halls.

"We are Shadow Garden! And we're taking over this school!" Shouted a black robed man as he broke through the classroom door.

This is it! The event that every boy dreamed of! A terrorist attack at school! Thought an excited Cid.

"You've got some guts attacking a Spellsword Academy!" Exclaimed Rose Oriana, the Student Council President who was there in the first year's classroom in order to deliver information about the Student Council Election to the first years before being interrupted by the terrorist. She later realized too late that her magic has been sealed when she attempted to fight back.

No! You can't die here! The one who has to die first in a terrorist attack are mobs! Cid exclaimed in his head as he stood up and was about to step in to shield Rose with his body before stopping himself as he noticed other presence approaching.

"You realized too late. Now you die, girlie!" The terrorist exclaimed before he was stabbed from behind by another figure wearing black robes wearing a skull mask.

"Huh!?" Every student was astonished as they saw the terrorist being killed by a suspicious person.

"Who are you!?" Rose Oriana asked while pointing her sword at the robed man wearing skull mask.

"That's none of your concern, girl." He said as he left the classroom to kill more black robed terrorist claiming to be Shadow Garden.

What the hell is this scenario!? Not only was I robbed of my opportunity to execute my mob techniques, the terrorist also seemed to fight each other! Bad scenario! Bad! Thought Cid whilst being frustrated.

"Is everyone okay?" Asked Rose.

"Yes, we are, Prez! But what the hell is going on!?" Asked one of the students.

"I don't know but we need to get out of here and inform the teachers!" Answered Rose as she noticed Cid and walked towards him.

"You… Your name is Cid Kagenou, isn't it?" Asked Rose.

"Y-Yes?" Cid answered.

"I noticed that you were about to jump in to intervene back then. That was a brave move… but you shouldn't be reckless. You could lose your life and people who love you will be hurt."

"O-Okay…"

"But I have to thank you for your bravery. It was inspiring."

"Ehh…?" How did I attract the attention of a main character? Thought Cid.

"GYAAAAHHH!"

"HEEELP!"

"WE ARE NOT SHADOW GARDEN! HEEELP!"

"UAAGHH!"

Screams of scared men filled the school hallways as I hunted down Sir Gaunt's men and killing them with my floating swords. The scent of blood fills my nostrils, reminding me of who I am, a murderer. Occasionally I encountered students and teachers but I ignored them… unless they started attacking, upon which they would be sliced apart by my floating swords. Most students just ran away as soon as they saw me. The ones who put up a fight are mostly the teachers.

"I won't let you villains harm the students! HAAA!"

I silently let my floating sword bisect the teacher currently facing me.

"KYAAAAHHH!" Screamed a girl who witnessed me killing one of the teachers. I continue walking towards her direction, she fell to her knees and urinated in place while crying and trembling. She closed her eyes as I… passed through her, ignoring her existence. After she realized I passed through her, she immediately fled the scene.

Why did I spare her? Why didn't I just kill her there? Am I still growing sentimental about my school life? My determination is now being put to the test as I now face the one responsible for my peaceful days.

"Necromancer!" Exclaimed Charlotte while brandishing her blade.

"…." I said nothing.

"What are you doing here!? Are you after me again!? I-I'll have you know that I'm stronger than I was back then!"

Can I do it? Can I kill her here and now? As I was contemplating that, she lunges at me, her sword attempting to stab me before being stopped by my bloodstained floating sword, which then pushed her into the floor. I then approached her slowly. She tries to get her sword, which was thrown away from her hand when she fell down, but I sent one of my floating swords to stab the floor between her and her sword before she can reach it.

"Ugh… Brother… help…!" She muttered as she began to call my name while crying. Can I do it? Can I do it now?

"… Not yet." I whispered as I passed through her. I won't kill her now as this is not the proper stage for it.

I soon encountered another female student, who proceeded to run away as soon as she saw me. I sent my sword to stab her stomach and bring her body to me. I must see if I can feel anything while getting very close and personal.

"A…Aghh….!" She moaned in agony as she beheld my visage in fear.

I stabbed her heart with another sword and ended her life. As her blood stained by robes, I don't feel anything, not even sadistic satisfaction out of her pain and death. I just enjoyed the fear I inflicted upon her and the fear that everyone else will feel once they see what I'm capable of. Yes. I still got it. I'm still a horrible monster. Still the Occult Killer.

I used my necromancy on her and turned her into a zombie and sent her to kill everyone she comes across apart from my Reaper Squad.

"Go… and bring me their fear."

"Graaahhh!" The zombie girl ran, searching for prey.

"Now then… where is Sir Gaunt?" I muttered to myself as I raised a few more corpses and unsummoned my Necromancer outfit as I headed for the vice principal's office, where Sherry probably is. But before I headed there, I realized I've circled back to the lab and found… my stalker, who is inspecting the wounded Marco, who is still breathing.

"You…" As she turned towards me, I found that her face is familiar despite the makeup, glasses and different hairstyle, not to mention her familiar aura.

"You're Nu, aren't you?" I asked.

"Indeed, Mr. Normann." She confirmed. So a spy of Shadow Garden is my stalker all this time and I didn't notice until now. Just how rusty I've become?

"If I recall he was your fiancé."

"Yes. But I've left that life behind." She answered as she stood up to face me.

"What do you know of what's going on?"

"There are 2 groups who infiltrated the school, a group claiming to be Shadow Garden and the Reaper Squad, Necromancer's direct subordinates. We have reasons to believe they are both part of the Cult of Diablos despite currently fighting each other. I suspect the group who claimed to be Shadow Garden are trying to lure us in but I don't know what they're planning, or why they are fighting the Reaper Squad."

"I see. Politics."

"Politics?"

"Inner Cult politics. They must've had internal disagreements."

"That makes sense. You have great insight to the inner workings of the Cult."

"Any organization as big as the Cult is bound to have members who disagree with each other, isn't it?"

"It is as you say. Though the fact that they actually went as far as to openly fight each other is quite unthinkable."

"Indeed. This is surprising but beneficial for us."

"Yes indeed. What's your plan now, Mr. Normann?"

"I'm going to help Sherry with the Artifact she's been working on so we could disable the barrier."

"Very well. I wish you well on your endeavours." She said as we part ways. Heh heh heh. You might've surprised me with your spying but now that you've actually trusted me, I shall use that trust against you. Heh heh heh. This is good. Now I'm reminded of why I love being a villain so much.

Author's Note:

Poor Cid can't show off his mob technique and as a result Rose won't fall in love with Cid yet. Also, try to spot a meme in this chapter.

J-More: I loved Claude this chapter, but he was indeed getting to confy on his good boy persona. I'm exited for the climax of the arc, and I'm wondering if Claude is gonna discover Cids "Death".

Answer: He's now reminding himself of who he is in this chapter. And Cid didn't have the chance to "die" right now.