The cold breeze wasn't just a shift in the autumn air, it crawled in like something alive, heavy and wrong. It carried a stench that didn't belong to wind or rain, a cloying metallic tang that coated the tongue. Mana. Not the clean, ordered kind which flowed from spells or enchantments, but raw and jagged, like static bleeding into the world itself.
Hoshimi's violet eyes flicked upwards; the soft ease that had been there since the yearbook vanished in an instant, leaving his expression flat and calculating. Every sense came alive. His grip on Audrey's hand tightened just enough to ground her-but not enough to betray the rising tension in his chest.
"Audrey." His voice fell to a whisper, low and cutting. "Let's move quickly. I can feel it, there's a Rogue Witch here."
Audrey froze, her breath catching halfway through her throat. The color drained from her face. "A—A Rogue Witch? Here? What the hell could they want?" Her voice wavered like paper in wind. The yearbook clutched in her arms creaked under the pressure of her fingers, and her green eyes flickered—once, twice—until a thin thread of black seeped into the iris.
Hoshimi didn't answer immediately. He cocked his head slightly, listening-not with his ears, but with mana. The air itself seemed to pulse, rhythmic, uneven, like the slow heartbeat of something buried beneath the building. It wasn't human. It wasn't stable.
"What else could they be here for?" he muttered finally, peering into the darkness between rows of bookshelves. "The school's empty at night, no one would ever check this place for a rouge. Perfect place to hide, out of the eyes of the authorities, away from mana sensors. If I were one of them, I'd live here too."
He tugged her closer, cautious yet firm. His other hand slipped toward the pocket of his coat, where a faint light began to stir beneath the fabric. "We need to leave," he said quietly. "If they notice us, I doubt that they would just let us walk away willy nilly."
The library around them changed. The silence, once peaceful, now pressed down like weight. Dust motes drifted slower, the air thickening with invisible energy. The humming of mana grew louder, not just in sound but in sensation, a vibration through the bones, a crawling under the skin. Somewhere deep in the stacks, a book slid off a shelf with a whispering thump.
Audrey flinched, but didn't scream. Her breathing came shallow, controlled. Whatever fear lingered in her had already been tempered by worse. "It's close," she whispered, her gaze darting from row to row. "It's moving."
"Keep your mana suppressed," he murmured, his voice almost inaudible. "Don't flare it, don't even breathe too hard. Just move."
They moved like ghosts down the aisles, slipping past shadows and moonlit patches of floor. The polished surface reflected their silhouettes as faint echoes. Hoshimi's eyes darted from corner to corner; every shelf was a potential ambush. His mind was already mapping escape routes-doors, windows, ventilation ducts, even mana surge points he could overload if he had to.
Audrey's steps were silent now, eerily precise. Her pupils had shrunk to sharp points, her breathing unnaturally steady.
As they finally reached the front of the library, Hoshimi placed a hand on the cool metal handle of the exit. The temperature had fallen several degrees; frost started to creep along the edges of the glass. He looked back once: rows of endless shelves, all swallowed in shadow. For a moment, nothing moved.
A low hiss tore through the stillness. The sound was thin at first, almost serpentine, then grew into a rumbling moan that vibrated through the walls. The mana in the air spiked violently, the hum erupting into a deafening roar. Hoshimi's reflexes kicked in; he held his fingers together. "Vigil Hexa".
The doors exploded inward.
Splinters of wood shrieked through the air like bullets, embedding in the books lining the nearby bookcases. Pages fluttered through the air like a flock of startled birds, spilling ink and paper everywhere onto the floor. Smoke curled from the shattered doorway.
Then came the sound of footsteps, bare feet slapping softly against marble, unhurried yet unearthly.
A figure stepped into the breach, silhouetted against the shattered moonlight filtering through the library's ruined doors. At first glance, it wasn't a monster-it was a girl. Or what had once been one.
Her hair was pitch black and tangled, strands hanging in greasy curtains that framed a face too pale, too bloodless. Her eyes-those eyes-glowed an unnatural amber, wide and unblinking, like a starving wolf's. Torn jeans clung to her emaciated legs, her black coat shredded and pocked with holes as though acid had eaten through it. The air around her warped faintly, mana leaking from her in visible waves.
"Well hello there, children". When she spoke, her voice rasped like sandpaper. "Hex Academy students?" Her eyes flicked to the insignia pinned to Hoshimi's chest. "I attended there for a year myself." She cocked her head slightly, her lips curling into a dry smile. "But unfortunately."Her pupils dilated, devouring the amber glow into a ring of molten gold. "It's such a shame that I can't let you two go. There's no certainty you won't report me."
The moment hung razor-thin between them.
Audrey's heart thundered in her ears. Her arms rose of their own accord, shaking, yet defiant, as her fingers shimmered with unstable green light that sputtered like a dying flame. "Stay back," she hissed, voice shaking but determined.
"Stay behind me, will you?" Hoshimi muttered, stepping in front of her without looking back. His tone was calm, but his hand was already moving. He drew his handgun, the matte black weapon gleamed in the moonlight like a shard of night itself. The weight in his palm was cold, grounding. It felt like an inevitability.
The Rogue Witch didn't wait.
Her body jerked forward with a sickening crack of joints, legs bending too far, spine flexing in impossible ways. Her fingers liquefied mid-motion, dripping and melting before reforming solidly into a monstrous black claw that hissed with every movement.
She swung.
The claw came down with the speed and force of a guillotine. Hoshimi ducked beneath it, the wind from the impact slicing across his cheek. The blow took out a shelf behind him, splintering it to dust.
Raising the gun, he fired three times in one breath.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Each shot found its mark, one in the shoulder, one in the thigh, one dead centre in the chest. The Rogue Witch stumbled backwards, a strangled shriek ripping from her throat. Then the wounds closed. Black ichor welled from the wounds, bubbling and distending like tar as it sealed the holes. It pulsed, faintly, alive, almost breathing.
Hoshimi's eyes narrowed, glowing faintly in the half-light. "A mutation type," he whispered. "Your whole body's composed of that weird ass sludge. That must be why you can change shape."
He shifted his stance slightly, his mind racing.
[I guess weapons don't work on her, but it seems that she can reshape that into whatever she wants to, the moment I let it enter one of my body's holes, I'll probably die of suffocation, I don't really mind dodging but Audrey is behind me and I can't risk that. But at least the goo needs to stick together and it cannot seem to separate from the main body]
The Witch smiled, teeth flashing—crooked, serrated, too sharp to be natural.
Then she moved again.
Her arm whipped around in a wide arc, the claw cutting through the air. Hoshimi pivoted back, feeling the sharp tips graze across his coat. A shallow tear ripped through the fabric, narrowly missing skin.
The Witch didn't stop. Her movements were wild but calculated, driven by need rather than strategy. She lunged again, eyes flashing amber. "You're like a fuckin rat," she rasped, her voice cracking on the word. "Stop resisting."
"No way," Hoshimi growled. He hated direct combat, but he could see Audrey behind him—wide-eyed, trembling, clutching her unstable magic like a match about to go out. He couldn't afford to lose focus.
He fired another round; the Witch's body twisted unnaturally, spine bending backward to avoid the bullet. The bullet whizzed past her head and buried itself in a bookshelf.
"Audrey, run," he snapped.
"You've got to be kidding me?" Audrey shot back, her voice cracking with adrenaline.
"You´re more of a liability than anything".
"No way!" she shouted. "I'm not some princess that needs protecting! I'll show you how useful I am!"
[She's not listening to me, I really don't think she knows the severity of the situation. This rogue was definitely a level 5 rogue, she could even be a level 6]
"Fine," he muttered under his breath, his hand flexing. "Then make yourself useful."
He rammed his hand forward. Mana surged down his arm, crackling under his skin like lightning trapped in a conduit. It gathered at his fingertips, violet light spiraling tighter, tighter, until it condensed into a single deadly spike. The very air seemed to recoil, humming with pressure.
Then, release.
The spike tore through the air, a flash of violet ripping across the room. The Witch tilted her head at the very last second, the blast merely grazed her cheek, searing through strands of her dark hair before smashing into the wall behind her.
Boom.
Stone and wood exploded outward; a rain of dust and paper cascaded down. The scent of burned ink filled the air.
The Witch didn't even flinch. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking at Audrey. Her eyes, those amber pits of madness, didn't budge, even as a thin line of smoke curled from her scalded cheek.
Where the blast had struck, her flesh rippled grotesquely, the black substance bubbling and sloughing off like molten wax before knitting itself back together. The wound sealed completely. She smiled.
"That tickled," she rasped, voice brittle as broken glass. She cocked her head and her amber eyes gleamed. "This is getting more annoying than anything".
Hoshimi's eyes narrowed, his pupils contracting to glowing points of violet.
[She could have just tanked that. So why dodge? When it would've been something that she could easily shrug off]
The Witch lunged faster this time, unnaturally so. Her arm elongated mid-strike, black claws growing like liquid blades.
Audrey froze, breath catching in her throat. Then something in her snapped into focus. Her fear hardened into resolve. The green of her mana flickered—once, twice—then shifted. For an instant, her eyes flashed black before returning to green. She intertwined her fingers together.
"Vigil Hexa!"
Light shimmered to life in front of her, translucent hexagons, small but steady, which bloomed around Hoshimi like fragile butterflies made from crystal and magic. The Witch's claw met the barrier.
Crack!
The impact shook the air, shards of translucent light scattering like glass. It held, though, just long enough to deflect the killing blow.
Hoshimi was thrown back, his feet sliding across the floor. Boots screeched against marble, the arm throbbing from the shockwave. Behind him, Audrey stood a-tremble, but her mana burned brighter, steadier now. The air around her shimmered with heat.
Her voice shook, but her grin didn't. "Told ya I'm not useless," she said with a hiss, hands flaring with light.
The Witch hissed back, her form quivering with movement. Then she was on them again. Her strikes came like a storm, each slash aimed at his throat, his face, his heart. The sound of claws cutting air filled the room.
Hoshimi dodged low, his body flowing around her attacks, violet light flickering in his eyes. "I want you to support me, Audrey. Watch for projectiles. I'm giving up defense."
"Of course". she exclaimed breathlessly. "You can count on me". She smiled.
He turned to her, close enough that the heat of his mana radiating off his skin was palpable. His voice dropped low, calm despite the chaos. "If she fires a projectile, protect me. Once I turn invisible, my eyes disappear as well. I'll have to feel through mana density."
And then he was gone.
His body dissolved from the feet up, fading into air like mist burning off under sunlight.
Audrey's breath hitched. His footsteps echoed faintly around the room, disembodied, circling the Witch.
The Rogue's head snapped left, then right, amber eyes darting wildly. Her nostrils flared as she searched for him, listening, smelling, feeling.
Beneath her, her own shadow stirred.
From the blackness pooled under her feet, tendrils began to rise, glossy and fluid, writhing in every direction like blind snakes. They waved aimlessly, reaching through the dark, tasting the air for movement.
Then—
"Vigil Hexa!"
Audrey's voice was sharp and clear. A small, hexagonal shield flared to life in midair, only to be smashed by one of the Witch's shadow-tentacles instantly, with the sound of breaking ice.
The Witch froze. Her head whipped in the direction of the sound. Her eyes went wide. "Hah! You're there, you must be there. There must be a reason why you're protecting that place"!
Every tendril snapped toward the empty space.
Audrey smirked, a bead of sweat rolling down her temple. "What made you think I could see him too?"
The Witch's body tensed-realization dawning too late.
"Good job," came Hoshimi's voice, calm and cold, from directly behind her.
And before she could turn, the glowing blade of pure mana, deep pulsing violet, drove clean through her neck.
The sizzling light cut through the black matter, burning it from the inside out. The Witch spasmed, her clawed hands in a wild flail as molten shadows spewed from her throat and a strangled hiss escaped through her lips. The air filled with the stench of burnt mana and charred ichor. Her amber eyes flickered once, then dimmed.
"Come on, let's run quickly". Hoshimi gestured towards the exit.
"Hoshimi".
"What is it"?
"Thank you, I had a lot of fun on this date. Thank you for everything you did for me, I really do appreciate you".
"I am your servant, I think it's just common courtesy to listen to your requests".
"I really don't think you can be less of a romantic than that, there's definitely something wrong with you".
Hoshimi's eyes narrowed. "It's really such a shame that we killed someone that was just trying to protect herself".
"By the way, I thought you were at the top echelon of the Hex Academy students, why're you struggling with a level 5-6 Rogue"?
"I don't have a family mana technique, I came up in a non witch family after all and my step mother had a mutation, not really something that I could learn from her".
"How about that invisibility of yours then"?
"My reincarnation, all I currently know about it, is that I can turn invisible".
"Right"..Audrey raised an eyebrow. "So that means that your reincarnation must be some kind of assassin then".
"I doubt it-". A scorching sensation flowed through Hoshimi's chest, his hands began to shake violently, like boiling hot water was being directly poured over him, like a flame burning him from within.
Audrey's face was blurring yet he could still make out her expression, scared and afraid. He saw her eyes blurring between green and black, he felt the mana start to bubble up.
Then he stared down, at his own chest, a scarlet red.
A female voice echoed from behind him.
"You might be a smart kid but you've never had any actual experience".