Training

A few minutes passed and finally I began to see something that wasn't darkness... It was an intense red light, it looked like a light passing through a ruby, something magnificent. Then I saw the door of my house. How is this possible? Have I come back to life? I thought. I was on the ground like a corpse, I could see but I couldn't move. With my head to the side I saw a lot of blood on the ground. Then I regained control of my body, but it was heavy, as if I was being crushed by a car. My whole body hurt incredibly. I wanted to vomit but I didn't have the strength to do it. I touched my stomach and felt that it was smooth, without holes. With great difficulty, I managed to get up and turned to the mirror that I had near the entrance. I saw my uniform covered in holes, but under the shirt there wasn't a single hole visible in my stomach. I was as if resurrected and fixed. All this was absurd! How could I still be alive after being riddled with bullets to the max?! It was something more absurd than the monster I saw a few days earlier. Shortly after, another black car arrived, where two guys dressed in black got out, but this time they were members of the organization. They immediately ran towards the stairs, just like policemen chasing a criminal. They entered my house without permission and took me away. I was unconscious, or rather, I no longer had the strength to stand or speak. However, I still had my conscience and I thought: Who is it that would want to kill me? Someone who wants revenge for one of my murders? But the question that worries me the most is… How can I still be alive? This whole surreal situation seems to have come out of some fantasy book. I would like to go back to the times when I was fine, but thinking back, those days were not in my memory. When I regained control of my body, I was in a completely white room, like those mental asylum rooms you see in movies.

<Where am I? Is anyone there?!>

<Wake up Issei>

<Who are you? Where am I?>

<Don't worry, you're safe here>

︻╦╤─ 16 ҉

It was a very calm voice with a disturbing quality.

<I'm just a humble soldier of the KO>

<If you're a harmless soldier, how do you know my name?!>

<Oh, how careless. You're a careful person from what I see>

<Get me out of here!>

<Don't get too excited, rest some more. You just died right?>

<Igh… What do you mean I'm dead!! Tell me what's going on!!!>
<Keep your voice down, we're on your side. Don't worry, you need to rest now. How are you going to beat me if you don't rest well?>

<Who are you, bastard?! Tell me! Damn it!>

I didn't hear him anymore, I didn't hear him walk away, but it didn't even seem like he was around, he had completely vanished into thin air. I didn't know if he was still there or not, the room had no windows, the only thing present was a small circular box with a speaker where I could hear his voice. Shortly after, a nurse came and opened the door for me and asked how I was feeling.

<How are you, Mr. Kurosawa Issei?>

<Well, I'd say I'm fine, but I'm a little confused. I was just told that I died, what does that mean?!>

<Please don't get upset, sir. You see, you are a Shotster through and through. People like you who have the ability of spiritual strength can have a second life after death>

<What nonsense is this?!>

<I repeat, sir, lower your voice and stay calm. If you don't stay calm, you'll be locked in here for a long time>

<Okay, excuse me>

<As I was saying, people like you can be reborn, but they don't fully heal. It takes time to get back into shape, but don't worry, your internal organs are almost completely repaired>

<But how can you talk to me so calmly, is this normal for you?>

<Of course, Shotsters die very often and we nurses are here to cure them. Now follow me, we need to run some tests to see how often you regenerate>

<What do you mean? You mean I have the possibility of dying multiple times? Not that I would like to die though...>

︻╦╤─ 17 ҉

<Well, Shotsters have this power if you may say, once they die, their strength of spirit brings them back to life. Wounds such as cuts, punctures or amputated limbs slowly regenerate depending on one's strength of spirit. Also, one can die multiple times, but there is a period of time for regeneration before one can die again>

<So now you would like to test my spiritual strength to see how often I can die, right?>

<That's right. Now we're here, goodbye Mr. Kurosawa and good luck>

A very kind woman, in her thirties. Tall for a woman and well built. A dream nurse I would say, too bad I'm a little too young for a woman like her. Now I was in front of the room where they will subject me to the tests on my strength of spirit. I wonder what kind of tests they will be. They took off my clothes at the top, leaving me in pants. They made me lie down on a hospital bed and attached cables to my body. It was a strange feeling, I was a little scared but what could possibly happen in a test of mental strength? They all left the room to go to the next one that was separated by a glass. It felt like I was a guinea pig, but I didn't want to think about it. They signaled me with their hands, they counted backwards. 3… 2… 1… AAAAAHHH!!! A psychological pain was running through my brain, it was like dying over and over again. I wanted to cry, laugh… all the emotions were running through my head, a whole life of different emotions were running through my brain. I was sweating, screaming, laughing and crying in turn. After about 5 minutes it was all over. It was hell, I couldn't move and I was in pain. I was almost out of breath when the doctors from before, accompanied by armored soldiers, entered the room applauding with big smiles on their faces.

<Congratulations Mr. Kurosawa, you are very strong. I apologize for not warning you of how the test was going to be done, but it was important for you to remain ignorant of the situation for a genuine reaction>

Damn, what a horrible experience. I hope I never have to take a test like this again, or I'll resign. You said I was strong right? I wonder how strong I would be. Now I just want to rest, but looking at the clock, training starts soon. I hope I can find out something about all this.

︻╦╤─ 18 ҉

As soon as it hit 9:00, an alarm went off. It looked like one of those bells you find in firefighter bases and it rang to warn of training:

<Driiin! New arrivals are kindly requested to go to the training room, the last room on floor -7. Get there as soon as possible to avoid punishment>

A punishment? Better to just hurry up. But how do I get there? Then a scientist who was there testing me said to me:

<To get to the training room, just follow the yellow and black stripe that leads to the elevator>

Once he got to floor -7, he continued along the corridor until he reached the training room. It was like being back in school: desks, a blackboard and a teacher.

<Good morning everyone, I'm Professor Arata. Today I'm going to teach you everything there is to know about Monsters. They are scary creatures, but don't let that scare you. Our organization KO stands for Killmonster Organization. Here we have established a classification for each type of monster: There are common, intelligent, super strong and mimetic monsters. To give a name to the monster species we give a number followed by a letter and finally another number. The numbers go from 0 to 10 and the letters are C, I, S, M. On the projector you can see the classification>

︻╦╤─ 19 ҉

0 - harmless (is dead/vegetable or unable to act and therefore cause damage)

1 - weak (is capable of acting but too weak to cause serious damage)

2 - dangerous (is capable of mortally wounding people)

3 - deadly (is capable of killing dozens of people)

4 - destroyer (capable of killing fifty people and destroying small structures)
5 - devastating (can kill hundreds of people and destroy buildings)

6 - minor calamity (capable of destroying an entire city of ten thousand inhabitants)

7 - major calamity (capable of pulverizing cities of one hundred thousand inhabitants)

8 - super calamity (capable of destroying part of planet earth)
9 - demigod (can destroy entire planets)
10 - GOD (can do whatever he wants)

C - common (is a common medium-sized monster)

I - intelligent (is able to reason during combat and/or can speak)

S - super strong (incredibly strong but without a shred of brains)

M - mimetic (blends in with humans)

0 - tiny (20 centimeters or less)

1 - very small (20 to 100 centimeters)

2 - small (1 to 3 meters)
3 - medium (3 to 10 meters)
4 - large (as big as a house)
5 - enormous (as big as a field)
6 - gigantic (as big as a city)
7 - abnormal (as big as a moon)
8 - stellar (as big as a planet)
9 - galactic (as big as a galaxy)

10 - GOD (bigger than human imagination)

︻╦╤─ 20 ҉

<The order in which numbers and letters are placed is very important. They are ordered in such a way as to be able to give as much information as possible in the shortest time. In fact, the first number is used to understand the seriousness of the situation, then the letter gives us an idea of ​​what monster we have to face and finally the last number tells us how big the monster is. You Shotsters have the task of eliminating these threats without the civilians knowing. They must not notice what is happening in the city or chaos would break out. You are a special class in fact, you will wonder how to hide gigantic monsters from people, but in reality normal civilians cannot see monsters. Only people with special abilities can do it, this class in fact is made up only of special people with the ability to see monsters with the naked eye. For example, I have to wear these glasses to be able to see monsters>

So these monsters cannot be seen if you are normal people?

<Excuse me, how is it possible to have this ability? Is it possible that a normal citizen can get this ability and panic?>

I asked and he chuckled and replied:

<Ah ah ah. These abilities have been passed down for generations, Mr. Kurosawa. You belong to a famous family, remember that. So I can tell you clearly that there has never been a situation where a civilian has acquired that ability>

Everyone around me looked at me in surprise, I don't know why. Maybe they were aware of being part of an important family and so my question will seem to have been a bit senseless. Patience, I don't care.

<As you may have already known, you also have the power to die once in a while. This is another ability that can only be obtained by being part of an important family, but this does not give you permission to kill each other because in case of emergency we need you to be in condition to fight. In addition to these 2 abilities, there is a third one: Soul Power! The most important ability for us at KO. This ability transforms your normal bullets into magic bullets capable of killing monsters. These skills are based on your soul, so the more strength you have, the stronger you will be>

Ability to see monsters with the naked eye, ability to be reborn after death, and Soul Power skills, all of this controlled by your strength of soul. This all sounds like something out of a book by some crazy person. Damn, I ended up in a shounen of those trashy ones. Now what awaits me? I don't foresee anything good.

︻╦╤─ 21 ҉

<I've finished my lesson, now I'll leave you in the hands of Professor Hiroshi>

Right after that professor left, another one came in with an evil grin on his face. He was bald with a few hairs that magically stuck to the sides of his head but ready to fall out at any moment.

<Good morning to all dear KO students! I'm Professor Hiroshi!>

Something tells me he's mentally ill… After calmly walking to the desk with his hands behind his back, he came behind the desk. He clapped his hands together forcefully and said:

<Now it's your time! Hahahaha>

Some of us were worried and others were just puzzled. As they looked at each other, the professor suddenly got nervous.

<Why are you looking at each other?! I'm the professor here, you should only look at me!>

This guy is out of the ordinary, a certified lunatic!

<I'll be patient this time, but you must never make me nervous again. You must pay attention only to me and do everything I tell you. Is that clear?!>

There was a second of silence but to avoid receiving further scolding we shouted in unison as if we were soldiers: Yes sir yes!

<Very well my boys. Now the practical lesson begins! Today we will focus on bringing out all the strength you have>

A boy of my age entered the room, perhaps another student? However, he is carrying a large cardboard box with him and it seems to be heavy even though he is struggling to walk.

<Guys, he is my servant. Move, you disgusting slug, put the box on the desk quickly! Hurry up, I don't have time to waste!>

Poor boy... What the hell did that crazy guy do to him? He seems like a very shy boy and therefore easy to manipulate. I feel a little sorry for him.

<Good good good... in here there are some special guns, the Spirit APX! These beauties are based on the Beretta APX and modified to channel spiritual power into bullets. A normal person would find no difference between the normal gun and this, but you will find these weapons essential. With normal guns it will be difficult to shoot spiritual shots, but with these it will be easier. Now my assistant will hand you the guns, you will have to shoot each other with them. I will not take no for an answer, do you understand?>

We remained silent and slowly the guns were handed over.

︻╦╤─ 22 ҉

Once the guns were handed over, the professor shouted:

<What are you standing there for?! Shoot each other with spiritual force!>

We were all standing there a little scared and confused. But I, determined not to die, quickly grabbed the gun, loaded it and then shot the first person I saw. The one in front of me that I had just shot fell to the ground. At that moment I saw the green flash again. That means it was a spiritual shot like that time with the monster in the restaurant. But something was wrong. Not the fact that I had just shot the first person I could see. There was something strange about the wound I had inflicted on him. He stood up holding his head and said in a low voice:

<Am I dead? Am I a ghost now? AAAH!!!>

The professor, annoyed, scolded him, shouting:

<You idiot! You are not dead, you imbecile!>

In fact, he was right there standing there, alive again. Maybe the resurrection ability was triggered? But when I died my floor was full of blood. The professor chuckled and said:

<Newbies, what you just witnessed wasn't murder, but the exact opposite. If you shoot each other with spiritual force you can heal yourselves. It does cause a bit of pain, but you have to endure it and continue the battle! Hahahaha! Too bad there's still a lot of work to do. I just had an idea! Actually I had planned it before but didn't pay attention to it. Tomorrow you'll skip the theory lesson, you'll only do practice!>

What do you mean we're skipping the theory lesson? I wanted to understand more about this damn organization. Patience I can't do anything about it.

<Very good guys. Actually, very bad guys. Why was only Kurosawa shooting? Why are you still standing there? Shoot each other, move!>

A bit cruel as training but I think it will be very useful to me in the future. The professor, after enjoying watching us shoot at each other, said:

<Well well well. Maybe tomorrow some of you will survive. In tomorrow's practical lesson you will have to save some innocent children>

Save some children did he say? Really some brats, huh? I hate children, too stupid and yet taken as innocent, when. Ignorance is a fault, how can you call ignorant beings innocent? I imagine that tomorrow I will have a long and unpleasant day ahead of me. Damn!

︻╦╤─ 23 ҉