Watching silently as everyone finds a spot on the circle, Haruka can't help but smile in excitement. It was true that she might not have thought the whole thing out, but she figured she didn't have to. After all, the text was a mystery to her. If she'd known all the answers to it already, she wouldn't be able to enjoy it with her friends. And while the mystery delved into something she didn't particularly care for, the extensive notes left by her mentor were an oddity. For as far back as she could remember, Haruka was always told to only investigate the mysteries of reality as they'd provide far more entertainment than those of fiction. So for her great grandfather to have chronicled so much on something generally accepted as fiction before his death... it was as if she was holding the old man's life work in the palm of her hands. To share something like that with her extended family, however nonsensical it seemed, it was the ultimate mystery for her.
"Alright," Haruka snaps back to reality as she reopens the book, "Let's get started!"
Just as Haruka gets ready to read off the chant for the ritual, she notices that one spot on the circle has yet to be filled. Turning a full 180 degrees, she sees none other than Justin still standing by the chalkboard. Naturally, she wanted to yell at him playfully as she always does, but she soon finds that she can't. It was just for an instant, but there was a fierce, almost scary, intensity in her friend's eyes as he gazed at the circle. It was as if his eyes had become a never-melting ice holding back and intense blaze, if only for a second.
"Just-"
"Geez."
Before the president can even mutter the boy's name, he seemingly returns to normal and steps towards the circle, grabbing the chalk off of the teacher's podium as he does. He walks past the boundary and steps into the circle alongside Haruka, kneeling down upon stopping. The action causes Haruka to step back, as she opted to wear a skirt, but it allows for her to notice what Justin was doing.
"If you're going to draw something with chalk, at least try not to mess it up when you walk all over it." The young man speaks with a sigh as he redraws a portion of the area Haruka was just standing on. His voice still portrays a certain reluctantness to go about the ordeal, but his swift reconstruction of the ruined area seems to argue the opposite. In just a matter of seconds, he's done and he stands back up to assume his position on the circle. "Honestly, you were about to get us blown to bits or something." With his trademark sarcasm, Justin takes yet another shot at his dear friend with a smile on his face.
Feeling somewhat reassured, Haruka mindfully gets back into position and opens the book to the page tabbed 'chant'. The storm brewing outside grows in intensity and roars, but Haruka becomes calm as breathes deeply and begins to read.
Blood and iron to the flames. Mind and body cast into Hell.
The heart falls upon thy sword and forsaken life is woven into thy vessel.
The inferno is birthed from collective sin spilling out and thrown to the four directions.
Death and rebirth. Constructed five times over, the defiled body paves the way to unholy ruin.
Even still, a hollowed being is a simple price to pay.
Therefore, I announce---
You whoms fate shall be chained to my own as mine chained to yours,
in accordance with price to claim the Holy Grail, if your avarice extends beyond emotion, reason, pain, and torment, then answer!
I am the one who will become all the good of the world of the dead.
You are the one who will become all the evil of the world of the living.
So, great keeper of balance clad in chaos, step through this magic ring and release me from these chains which bind reality!
Allow me the chance to grasp that which is seeped in blood and sorrow!As the last word is spoken, silence once again fills the room. Sheets of rain continue to buffet the classroom windows and the wind continues to wail in the darkness. Everything remains unchanged and the elaborate ritual dies off into the night.
"..."
"...Haruka!"
The nightly doldrum is broken by none other than Justin as he instantly dives towards his friend. At the same moment, the young woman instinctively turns to look behind herself and is shocked at what she finds. There, as if impersonating her own shadow, a black figure looms over her person. It possesses no features, nor any kind of presence, but the human-shaped body resonates despair, paralyzing Haruka instantly.
Finally noticing the figure in the darkness, you move to react but find that your body doesn't respond. Unparalleled pain soon races through your body as the circle you stand on fills the room with a crimson hue. Soon after, your body as well as everyone else's begins to deconstruct. Everything is happening in an instant, but what you're now experiencing seems to go on for an eternity. As your body vanishes into the air, you feel as though every cell in your body is being carefully burned and the compounding pain assails your brain. And just before your mind succumbs to the immense torture, you witness as the black shadow's arm scythes through the air and cuts Justin in two. The young man is silenced before he even knew what happened and his best friend is forced to watch it as she slowly fades away.
"Thank you... Master..."
The mouthless creature speaks with an inhuman gurgle which rings clear in your ears. As the scene before you returns to real time, your mind slips into blissful darkness.
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Let the Game Begin~
Welcome all to my little playground. Here is where all the fun will begin. Now that you're all seperated, I can play with you all a little bit~ But I wonder what I should do first? Pluck one of you off!? Send in a horde!? The possibilities are endless now. And I've got the rest of eternity to play with my new toys~
Oh? What's that? You want to know what to do? HAHAHAHAHA! You're on your own! I'm just here to watch you rot in despair as I slowly kill each and every last one of you~ How you survive up until the end is none of my concern... However, I suppose if I'd want to make this more interesting for myself... I could say to learn from those who have already lost.
School BuildingPark