CHAPTER 48: INSIDE THE GATE

Sean stepped out of the swirling portal, and leaned back the next instant, a red clawed paw swiping past his throat by a hair’s breath.

Lightning danced in his eyes, and he rebounded back to his position instantly, like a rubber band. At the same time, he unleashed a fist on the head of the humanoid creature before him, knocking it to the ground.

With a powerful stomp, he broke its head like a watermelon, reddish brown blood flowing out of the cracked skull.

To Sean, the blood had a particularly foul odor, and he couldn’t help but scrunch his nose up in disgust.

With the coast now clear, he was finally able to pay attention to his surrounding. A dark red sky, blood red celestial body that provided light to the world, reddish brown, caked ground, and a hairless creature he had just killed.

"It’s ten times worse than the simulation," Sean muttered under his breath, as he distanced himself from the foul smelling corpse.

One of the disadvantages of being a vampire, was the terrible disgust out-worlder blood seemed to raise in them. The blood was foul, and highly toxic, to both humans and vampires.

"I should get a knuckle weapon," he murmured staring at his slightly bruised fist.

Glancing at the wrist watch on his wrist, the figures displayed, had changed from a [000] to [001].

"This one was quite weak," he shook his head.

Compared to the Stage-1s he usually fought in the Gate simulations back home, this one was unusually weak.

"I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing," he mumbled softly, as he got moving, intent on hunting for a while.

His plans still hadn’t changed.

Dominate!

---

Thorne pulled out his short blade from the neck of the rodent-like out-worlder, his breathing slightly laboured.

DING

The wrist watch on his hand alerted, causing him to frown, and drawing his attention to it.

[5 POINTS ACCUMULATED]

[ACHIEVEMENT: FIRST PARTICIPANT TO ACCUMULATE 5 POINTS]

[REWARD: +100% BONUS POINTS TO CURRENT POINTS TOTAL]

[LEADERBOARD UNLOCKED]

[1. Thorne Hiddleston — 10 points]

Thorne stared at his wrist watch for a good while...

"This is possible?" He muttered. "Good thing I entered on time... I wonder what else would be counted as an achievement."

"According to Lieutenant Grayson, these points are pretty important."

Twirling the blade in his hand, he suddenly smiled.

He was thinking of taking a small break, since mana recovery inside Gates was very slow... Almost nonexistent.

In fact, it was much easier for a person to become corrupted than recover mana, if you spent too long in Gates.

Now that a carrot had been dangled before his nose, he threw the idea of taking a break, out of the window for the foreseeable future.

’HORUS?’

[Yes Host?]

’Deactivate the Stage-1 augmentation combat module... Let’s keep things in the pocket just in case.’

[Alright]

’The way I see it, there might be something to gain from eliminating other participating students... Though I doubt the academy would allow killing fellow students.’

[Your deductions have a 90% probability. There might be rewards for eliminating other participants. Either that, or there’s no punishment for it.]

[Killing other students on the other hand, would be punishable. I can sense motion, visual and sonar detectors around, spread out for a very long distance. Do you want me to shield you from them?]

’Detectors huh? I was beginning to wonder where the cameras are’ he mused. ’Let them see. I don’t want to raise suspicions on me... Besides, it’s not like I plan on killing anybody.’

He blasted off to a certain direction.

’Since you can sense these detectors, why not hack into them and help me find some out-worlders?’

[Good Point]

Thorne could almost feel HORUS grinning behind his ears.

---

Drew appeared on the air, under the dark red sky, feeling the air rushing against his face.

His heart leapt in terror when he saw he was falling.

"What the hell?!" He cried out.

The caked, reddish brown floor continuously magnified in his vision, causing his panic to only surge deeper.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!!!" He cursed in fear.

As he came closer to the ground, as though the universe was throwing a fuck you to his face, he could see three out-worlders standing still, and head raised towards him.

The moment his gaze caught theirs, time seemed to slow around him. His blood ran cold, his heart chilled, and he saw death standing like a grim reaper, ready to harvest his soul.

If he was on land, he would probably be shaking.

Looking at them, clawed back memories... Memories he had tried to suppress and move on from. Memories of people, being torn and ripped apart like fabric.

He could still hear the gruff voice of a man that once brought him peace, food and security, but now haunted him in his nightmares, telling him to run.

Likewise, he could hear the panicked voice of a woman, as she shrieked, throwing herself towards a red skinned hairless and completely naked creature that was heading for his petrified body.

Before his petrified face, the man was devoured, torn piece by piece, while he let out loud grunts, trying to appear strong before his son.

"No. No. No." He muttered like a broken record.

The out-worlder that had gone after him, only to be interrupted by the woman, smacked her to the ground, cracking her skull against concrete.

Without remorse on its dull, expressionless face, it ripped her throat open, showering his younger, trembling form, in blood.

Then it turned towards him, and under the watch of the sky, it lunged after him.

"NOOO!!!!"

Flames instantly covered his vision, the explosive impact against the ground, blasting him away, and throwing him off trajectory.

*BAAMM!*

He slammed against the ground, his last second use of his flames, disrupting his momentum, and saving him from dying.

However, his face was scalded, and it would only take a careless rub, for it to peel off. It was sure to cause mind numbing pain.

But if one judged from how he pushed himself up without a second thought, his eyes completely bloodshot, it would be difficult to tell if he was actually feeling pain.

Without waiting for the out-worlders who had faced the brunt of his explosive flames and were charred beyond recognition but still alive, he rushed towards one like a madman.