No stars are seen, let alone the moon. The sky is like an endless void, as if filling itself with emptiness.
Silence screams loudly as I walk across the dark forest. There is no ambience sound or chirping from insects. The leaves has already left the trees. This forest is already dead.
"Where am I? I mutter to myself, wondering how did I get here.
All of sudden, a strong wind cruelly gusting through the forest, as if answering to my call.
With my sword in hand, I manage to cut through the wind while remain standing my ground.
As I set my sight on the trajectory of the wind, there is a sillhouette standing at the end of the forest. Covered in a robe with a long hair, the sillhouette walks towards me. Its step is slow, yet menacing enough to instill fear towards oneself.
"Iru... Why do you leave me?" The sillhouette speaks with a female voice. Her voice is soft, yet filled with sorrow. "I was waiting for you, but you didn't come to save me. Don't you love me anymore?" the sillhouette throws that question.
At this moment, grief and sorrow start to get the best of me, but I choose to get a hold of myself. I know what is the sillhouette talking about, and I know who is the sillhouette. An apology might not be enough to express my deep guilt towards her. In fact, even me still cannot forgive myself for what had happened.
In the blink of an eye, the dark forest turns into an abyys. Flames devour all the dead trees in an instant. The heat from the flames is almost unbearable. If it is not my alternate form, the flames might be clawing my skin as well.
As the flames distract my attention, several tendrils are unleashed towards me. Have I do not cut all of it, I might be rendered immobile by the tendrils. Unfortunately, one of the tendrils binds me at my leg. Before my sword can cut the tendril, the tendril has me thrown away for several metres, causing myself to crash on the ground.
The impact from the crash translates into pain, aching through my muscles. Despite the aching pain, I muster all of my strength to rise again, before all of a sudden...
The sillhouette flickers before me and whispers something. Her voice is barely loud, yet I still can hear it pretty clear. "Save me, Typhoon."
At the moment, the guilt is starting to get to me again. But before I can answer her, the roaring flames swallows me and her and then,
*Gasp* "It was a dream, huh?" I mutter as I snap back to reality. I even slap my face to make sure I have already awake from my slumber. When I look at the clock, it is already 5.00 am.
After wiping up my face with the water, I decide to take a shower before performing a prayer. Once I am done with that, I believe it is time to go to the school.
***
It is 6.30 am, and the class is anything but silence.
"Hey, today is your turn to clean the class. Don't you dare slacking off." says Wan as she scolds Blake for not doing the cleaning as scheduled.
"Can't you just give me a break? Come on, I have not done my homeworks yet." Blake frowns, seemingly stressed due to the unfinished homeworks.
"Fine, just this time. But if you are slacking off next time, I will show you no mercy." Wan says as she gives Blake a warning. Yet, due to her soft voice and small stature, it makes her warning become less serious enough to make Blake feel threatened.
"Yeah, whatever, Shorty." Blake laughes at Wan's warning. His serious expression is broken by a smile carved on his face.
What a normal day in the class, where the playful banters and chatters fill the atmosphere. Well, it is better like this, where people enjoys their life to the fullest extent.
Meanwhile, thin wisps of steam rises from the tea as I take a sip of it. Nothing is better than having a cup of tea early amidst the chaotic morning.
By the time Madam Y enters the classroom, everyone is already retreating to their seat.
Once the clock ticks at 6.50 am, the class of the day has just begun.
***
As me and everyone is busy doing the chemistry exercise, I can hear Madam Y calls upon me to her table, and so I stand up and answer her call.
"Iru, come here for a second." says Madam Y with a soft yet commanding voice. "How is Amane doing so far? Does she have a problem with my lesson?" Madam Y asks me. Her face is full of concern towards Amane.
"I think she is all well and fine. Rest assured, ma'am. I will keep an eye on her. At the very least, I will do my best to help her in the class." I reply. Well, it is my task after all.
"Well, it seems like she doesn't contribute much in my class. I understand about the language barrier, and I afraid that she is unable to catch up with you guys." says Madam Y with a serious tone.
"I don't think that is the case, ma'am. In fact, she immediately understand once I explain to her in her mother tongue. I think it is the language that we can work on." I reply, assuring madam that nothing should be worried about.
"If you say so, then I guess I will leave the rest to you. However, feel free to call me if there is anything bothering you, okay? You may return to your seat." says Madam Y.
"Thanks, ma'am." I nod once before retreating to my seat.
Time passes, and it is already recess. Everyone in the class immediately walks out to the cafeteria except for a few. Just as I am about to do the same, I can hear footsteps marching towards me. The moment I turn back, I see Amane, with money notes in her right hand. Unexpectedly, she bows down before me, causing some of my classmates to turn their gaze towards her and I.
"Please, let me settle my debt with you. I can't help but feel uneasy everytime I hold these notes. So, please, accept it." Amane says as she bows down. Seems like this girl is so serious about this.
Realising that she is persistent enough, I tell her to stand up before whispering something to her. "I will not take that money, but I have to ask you to do me a favor."
"What favor?" she tilts her head, wondering what does that word might mean.
"I will tell you later. But first of all, I want to go the cafeteria." I turn away before walking out through the door. Not long after that, I can see that she follows me from the corner of my eye.
***
As the bell rings again at 9.30 am, all students has already make their way to the classrooms. The hallways slowly become silent.
As I am walking slowly to the classroom, all of a sudden I sense a faint trace of an abnormal energy, indicating that some kind of disturbance is occuring at the moment. Judging from my experience, it must be none other than...
Extraterrestrials.
As I follow the trace, it eventually leads me to the back of female restroom. There, my assumption is proven to be true. There is an armed extraterrestrial, with the height around 180 and wearing a bone mask with an ancient predator-like motif, and he is aiming his rifle towards a girl lying helplessly on the ground.
"Your head is going to be the biggest bounty I will ever get! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" the extraterrestrial says as he locks his target on the girl.
Why does he do that? What is his motive, and most importantly, why is he targeting a girl?"
Nevertheless, there is a life at stake, and I know that there is no time to waste.
*SHIINNNNNGGGG
Summoning my inner power, my flesh evolves into an organic metallic armor in an instant and the metal head armor hides my appearance inside it.
Charging straight towards the enemy, I have my sword slashing the rifle into half, causing the extraterrestrial to get caught off guard.
"My weapon! Who are you?!" the extraterrestrial asks as he turns to face me.
"If you are a bounty hunter, this is not a good place for your hunting activity. So it will be best if you are leaving right now." I warn him not to cross the line, only if he is wise enough to leave.
Unfortunately, he is not.
"This is my bounty, and no one can stop me from getting my bounty, not even you, vigilante!" The hunter furiously insists before pulling out a sword from his back. It seems like he wishes for a fight and this is not going to be easy...
For him.
The hunter charges and delivers several slashes towards me ferociously.
*CLINNGGG
The swords clash against each other. Every slash he delivered is countered precisely by me. As the fight continues, I am locked in a swordclash against the hunter. Judging from his style, I can see that he is an impatient warrior, and will do whatever it takes to finish his opponent in an instant.
"Your skills with the sword, swift, ruthless and precise, it is just like him. Can't it be that you are him?!" the hunter notices my style as he growls under his mask.
"I am nobody, and you will never know my existence." I mutter.
The fight ensues, and I don't think I should waste my time on fighting him. Plus, this guy has no intention on playing with me. So, I will give him what he wants.
As I intentionally lower my guard, the hunter immediately sees the opening and thrusts his sword towards my torso. "HAHA!! You are going to lose!" the hunter confidently states. However, the moment he thrusts his sword is the moment he will lose this battle.
I manage to block the thrust before slashing him clean from his left. It only takes seconds before the fiend falls to his knees.
"Urghhh, I knew it. It is you after all... The one they called Armorer... Urghhh..." The hunter groans in agony before succumbed to the attack. His body slowly dissolves into dusts.
Once the fight is over, I turn my attention to the girl whom the bounty hunter assaulted. The moment I look closely at her, I immediately recognize her face. She is Esya from the same batch as mine. As I rush to her side, the girl groans at her sprained ankle.
"Are you all right?" I ask, wondering whether she wants to seek medical attention.
"Only my ankle is sprained, and it is not a big deal. Anyway, thank you, Armorer Typhoon." Esya says with a faint smile.
And so, I support her to stand up before bringing her to her classroom. Along the way, I cannot help but to let out the question that bothers me from the beginning. "Why did the alien assault you?".
Esya turns to me and says "I believe he was targeting Emera."
"Emera? Who is that?" I ask. Is that another extraterrestrial?
"She is from the Armorer race, just like you. An Armorer princess who was hunted for several decades on this Earth. She also told me that she was among the warriors who joined the army of Armorers during the Ultimate Kaiju Wars, whose leader was you, Typhoon. All that I know is that she is hunted right now by the bounty hunters from outer space, and that she is seeking refuge inside me." Esya carefully explains the situation one by one. Her voice is barely above a whisper, which tells me that this situation is serious.
"Why did she bond with you? She can choose anybody else." I cannot help but to question her more about this.
"Because she was the one who saved me from the kaiju during that fateful day. As she was wounded from the battle, her hand tried to reach mine. In the moment of desperation, I was brought to an ethereal realm where she told me all of her history. Once we reached mutual understanding, we merged as one at that moment." says Esya.
"I see... Well then, you should get some rest." We eventually arrive at her classroom, where her classmates all running towards her after seeing her not being able to walk properly.
The moment Esya enters her classroom, I immediately choose to disappear before returning to my class in my human form.
Emera, huh? Never heard of that name. Nonetheless, what is her latent power that caused her to be a bounty, and who is the faction that put a bounty on her head?
Is this going to be a prelude to another bloodshed?