Chapter 18:
Rebirth of Purpose.
DARK HIERARCHY
I've always known what my objective was. Either long-term or short-term, I've always been sure.
But now,
I don't even know what I want to strive for right now.
I want to meet my condemning saviour again and prove him dead wrong, which means I need to get stronger but must I really get bolder?
What should I really be doing till I'm able to achieve my long-term goal?
A faint female voice said, "Big brother..."
She looked exactly like the girl Dark briefly saw when he stared at Tom-tom one time earlier, but this time he wasn't uneasy.
"Thank you," she said as her smile got brighter and brighter, till it was consumed by the white light.
Before he knew it, he was somewhere else, a room, with an office-like setting.
His range of vision was quite limited and blurry, but he could spot his legs, crossed on top of the desk before him.
"Your face looks better, you've stopped grieving."
Dark turned his right, he felt present but not in control, like he was within a memory.
He saw nothing beside him but a glass wall, he turned to his left, but still only saw glass.
"You're finally accepting the fact that what happened wasn't your fault. You're not to blame for what happened to her,"
The voice came again, soft and light, like a gentle lady's.
He hurriedly turned towards the voice, just to catch the metallic office door closing, with bright red hair strands skimming out.
Immediately the door was shut, the glass walls shattered, sucking Dark out of the office in an instant, as though it was a hole in space or a moving airplane.
Dark's vision of the metal door got thinner and thinner, the distance between them increased till he was out of the office, fiercely thrown into empty space.
Then gravity took action — and started falling with intense speed towards what he thought was down.
But his back suddenly hit a wall hard, stopping him immediately.
He was standing upright in a gym, his hands were clad in boxing gloves, and sweat slowly dripped from his jaw.
"Thank goodness! I finally pushed you back!" A somewhat thick male voice yelled.
"What the fuck is going on?" he finally spoke.
His heartbeat kept increasing, he felt a gnawing pain within him, not physical but mental.
"Hey now, you promised no cussing, I can't have Shizuru learning that when she drops by," the voice came again, and so did pain in his chest.
"Hah... that was great,"
Dark could hear steps leading away from him.
"Alright, now you have to answer my question," the sound of ripping off of boxing gloves plagued Dark's ears.
"Xelian — What do you really want to do, right now?" The voice asked with seriousness embedded in its tone.
...........
.....
Dark sighed,
I don't know, he thought with slumped shoulders.
"Isn't it obvious you ass, I wanna get to the top as fast as possible and update this flawed system. That method would be most efficient since I can't go around the world and help people like you at the same time." He didn't know when he blurted it all out; it must have been part of the memory.
"I see, so you fight to protect others in the long run."
"Don't get the wrong idea, me being at the top is the silver lining, I'm doing it all for me!!" Dark screeched with anger like an immature child.
Ohh, I see,
This is probably from years ago,
"Seeing as you always advise me, in your own cruel manner, I'll give you one too—" the voice said,
"—Live the way you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, insist on it even, especially if it eventually helps people. Just, don't stop moving up."
After that sentence, the atmosphere became more gloomy, hindering Dark's partial vision even more.
"What sort of crap is that?.." Dark said, or his past self did.
→ → →
But I lived by it for so long, I murdered corrupt bodies and liberated so many.
My Goal, what is my short-term goal?...
"This school really is fucked up, our classmates will eventually become the lackeys of our set, I pity them... This system isn't built for people like them" Shade once said, during training.
Hmm — I've got it.
↑→↓←↑→
"What's wrong, friend? Not nervous now, are you?" Tiger's smile welcomed Dark back to his current self.
"Maybe he's sick, you should take some time off you bastard," Ds glared at him, crossing his arms.
"C'mon now, we're all friends here," Tiger pleaded with yet another warm smile.
"Hey,"
Tiger and Ds kept mute, subtly stunned. Shade, who had left them to their bickering, turned back towards his friend.
"Can you guys can it?, I'm trying to listen here. It's not every day I get to show you high-placing kids why I'm the best."
Dark shot deadly and demeaning glares at them,
"Those with real power, don't talk all day," he said.
Tiger and Ds paused, inactive for quite a while. Shade on the other hand, gave a short smile.
"Whoa!" Tiger placed his palm on Dark's shoulder.
"Tch" Ds snickered softly.
"Such bold words, you're really getting ground aren't you?!" Tiger lamented further, gaining some attention from the surrounding students.
"My my, let's hope you don't disappoint," Tiger squinted his eyes. They looked harmless, but after his conversation with Star, Dark knew better.
→ → →
Professor Hungman continued his briefing without paying heed to the growing murmurs before him.
"At exactly twelve, three, and six pm, the alarms updated into your watches would go off and I expect everyone to pay close attention to them."
The students turned their attention to their watches and began to wonder; if they could upgrade them remotely, then what stops them from doing other things, like spying and monitoring them?
But no one really dared to ask out loud.
"Immediately the alarms go off, you'll receive a red or green light. Those who receive a green light are the ones selected to battle at that time. After a minute or two, those who got selected would have their profile containing only the necessary details sent to the rest of the students. Only then would you know your opponents.These tabs only apply right now, and other special events," Professor Hungman continued his explanation, as slow-paced as he could for their better understanding.
"As you know, this task lasts throughout the semester and also determines who gets what position in your set, fight like no other, and hope you find favour in the eyes of the school board," he smiled,
Almost everyone stood still, worried about their performance, with only selected few grinning like undergraduate-demons.
"The battles can hold anywhere apart from the labs, classes, and the dorms; all damages are the responsibility of the academy."
"Yup, that's just about it right? hmm..." he toggled between thoughts.
Pausing, he stole a glance at his own watch and immediately grinned.
"OK!!" he yelled then everyone hushed up.
He stretched forth his hand, tiny sparks emitted from his fingers, and before long, a portal ripped open beside him. It swerved aggressively but soon stabilized.
"Since I'm here, I'll let you use my own space," he said under his breath.
"Now, let the games begin." He whispered to himself with a faint smirk.
Instantly, everyone's watches rang out, one beep at a time.
Dark raised his wrist, "Twelve PM."
"Alright, I'd better go meet my vice, maybe offer a few words of encouragement before he heads into battle," Tiger muttered, slipping away with a smile still plastered on his face.
Ds just walked away too without any words, just a usual angry expression.
"Whoa, hold up. This man's got me all hyped up," Shade casually stretched his arms.
Dark raised his index finger to Shade, staring at him in a way that grabbed all his attention. Dark's green eyes glowed massively, drawing Shade in.
I know what I want now, and who can help me achieve it,
"A second, I want a second," Dark ordered with all the authority he didn't have, but Shade always listened for some reason.
In silence, he stared aimlessly at Dark before brewing a grand smirk.
"You got it— President." he clenched his fists with a slight chuckle.
But now,
I don't even know what I want to strive for right now.
I want to meet my condemning saviour again and prove him dead wrong, which means I need to get stronger but must I really get bolder?
What should I really be doing till I'm able to achieve my long-term goal?
A faint female voice said, "Big brother..."
Dark quickly opened his eyes. Before him was the well-lit face of a young girl, with everything else filtered out in the white light. Her face was about the same shape as his newly found friend, Tom-tom, but with a different vibe.
She looked exactly like the girl Dark briefly saw when he stared at Tom-tom one time earlier, but this time he wasn't uneasy.
"Thank you," she said as her smile got brighter and brighter, till it was consumed by the white light.
Before he knew it, he was somewhere else, a room, with an office-like setting.
His range of vision was quite limited and blurry, but he could spot his legs, crossed on top of the desk before him.
"Your face looks better, you've stopped grieving."
Dark turned his right, he felt present but not in control, like he was within a memory.
He saw nothing beside him but a glass wall, he turned to his left, but still only saw glass.
"You're finally accepting the fact that what happened wasn't your fault. You're not to blame for what happened to her,"
The voice came again, soft and light, like a gentle lady's.
He hurriedly turned towards the voice, just to catch the metallic office door closing, with bright red hair strands skimming out.
Immediately the door was shut, the glass walls shattered, sucking Dark out of the office in an instant, as though it was a hole in space or a moving airplane.
Dark's vision of the metal door got thinner and thinner, the distance between them increased till he was out of the office, fiercely thrown into empty space.
Then gravity took action — and started falling with intense speed towards what he thought was down.
But his back suddenly hit a wall hard, stopping him immediately.
He was standing upright in a gym, his hands were clad in boxing gloves, and sweat slowly dripped from his jaw.
"Thank goodness! I finally pushed you back!" A somewhat thick male voice yelled.
"What the fuck is going on?" he finally spoke.
His heartbeat kept increasing, he felt a gnawing pain within him, not physical but mental.
"Hey now, you promised no cussing, I can't have Shizuru learning that when she drops by," the voice came again, and so did pain in his chest.
"Hah... that was great,"
Dark could hear steps leading away from him.
"Alright, now you have to answer my question," the sound of ripping off of boxing gloves plagued Dark's ears.
"Xelian — What do you really want to do, right now?" The voice asked with seriousness embedded in its tone.
...........
.....
Dark sighed,
I don't know, he thought with slumped shoulders.
"Isn't it obvious you ass, I wanna get to the top as fast as possible and update this flawed system. That method would be most efficient since I can't go around the world and help people like you at the same time." He didn't know when he blurted it all out; it must have been part of the memory.
"I see, so you fight to protect others in the long run."
"Don't get the wrong idea, me being at the top is the silver lining, I'm doing it all for me!!" Dark screeched with anger like an immature child.
Ohh, I see,
This is probably from years ago,
"Seeing as you always advise me, in your own cruel manner, I'll give you one too—" the voice said,
"—Live the way you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, insist on it even, especially if it eventually helps people. Just, don't stop moving up."
After that sentence, the atmosphere became more gloomy, hindering Dark's partial vision even more.
"What sort of crap is that?.." Dark said, or his past self did.
→ → →
But I lived by it for so long, I murdered corrupt bodies and liberated so many.
My Goal, what is my short-term goal?...
"This school really is fucked up, our classmates will eventually become the lackeys of our set, I pity them... This system isn't built for people like them" Shade once said, during training.
Hmm — I've got it.
↑→↓←↑→
"What's wrong, friend? Not nervous now, are you?" Tiger's smile welcomed Dark back to his current self.
"Maybe he's sick, you should take some time off you bastard," Ds glared at him, crossing his arms.
"C'mon now, we're all friends here," Tiger pleaded with yet another warm smile.
"Hey,"
Tiger and Ds kept mute, subtly stunned. Shade, who had left them to their bickering, turned back towards his friend.
"Can you guys can it?, I'm trying to listen here. It's not every day I get to show you high-placing kids why I'm the best."
Dark shot deadly and demeaning glares at them,
"Those with real power, don't talk all day," he said.
Tiger and Ds paused, inactive for quite a while. Shade on the other hand, gave a short smile.
"Whoa!" Tiger placed his palm on Dark's shoulder.
"Tch" Ds snickered softly.
"Such bold words, you're really getting ground aren't you?!" Tiger lamented further, gaining some attention from the surrounding students.
"My my, let's hope you don't disappoint," Tiger squinted his eyes. They looked harmless, but after his conversation with Star, Dark knew better.
→ → →
Professor Hungman continued his briefing without paying heed to the growing murmurs before him.
"At exactly twelve, three, and six pm, the alarms updated into your watches would go off and I expect everyone to pay close attention to them."
The students turned their attention to their watches and began to wonder; if they could upgrade them remotely, then what stops them from doing other things, like spying and monitoring them?
But no one really dared to ask out loud.
"Immediately the alarms go off, you'll receive a red or green light. Those who receive a green light are the ones selected to battle at that time. After a minute or two, those who got selected would have their profile containing only the necessary details sent to the rest of the students. Only then would you know your opponents.These tabs only apply right now, and other special events," Professor Hungman continued his explanation, as slow-paced as he could for their better understanding.
"As you know, this task lasts throughout the semester and also determines who gets what position in your set, fight like no other, and hope you find favour in the eyes of the school board," he smiled,
Almost everyone stood still, worried about their performance, with only selected few grinning like undergraduate-demons.
"The battles can hold anywhere apart from the labs, classes, and the dorms; all damages are the responsibility of the academy."
"Yup, that's just about it right? hmm..." he toggled between thoughts.
Pausing, he stole a glance at his own watch and immediately grinned.
"OK!!" he yelled then everyone hushed up.
He stretched forth his hand, tiny sparks emitted from his fingers, and before long, a portal ripped open beside him. It swerved aggressively but soon stabilized.
"Since I'm here, I'll let you use my own space," he said under his breath.
"Now, let the games begin." He whispered to himself with a faint smirk.
Instantly, everyone's watches rang out, one beep at a time.
Dark raised his wrist, "Twelve PM."
"Alright, I'd better go meet my vice, maybe offer a few words of encouragement before he heads into battle," Tiger muttered, slipping away with a smile still plastered on his face.
Ds just walked away too without any words, just a usual angry expression.
"Whoa, hold up. This man's got me all hyped up," Shade casually stretched his arms.
Dark raised his index finger to Shade, staring at him in a way that grabbed all his attention. Dark's green eyes glowed massively, drawing Shade in.
I know what I want now, and who can help me achieve it,
"A second, I want a second," Dark ordered with all the authority he didn't have, but Shade always listened for some reason.
In silence, he stared aimlessly at Dark before brewing a grand smirk.
"You got it— President." he clenched his fists with a slight chuckle.
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