Inverse System

They shrewdly trekked through the dusty main road, the wind carrying clouds of dirt across the empty town's alleyways, the sound of the breeze whistling into their ears in the dead silent village.

"This is pretty strange though… You'd think we would've seen someone by now…" Rein remarked pensively as he felt out his surroundings.

Since Core was the one who suggested this quest, he was expecting it to hold something important, or be afflicted by a cursed Spring. However, when he activated third eye, he couldn't see anything affected by a Spring, making his suspicions go unanswered, confusing him slightly.

"Something's coming," Clyde warned as he heard a faint, buzzing noise from the distance.

Suddenly, a cloud of dust could be seen quickly approaching the city, the sound of fierce buzzing strengthening as it approached. As the cloud continued getting closer, 4 fuzzy silhouettes could be made out from inside the brown sand cloud.

The outlines seemed to have human features, propped up on a weirdly shaped vibrating vehicle.

"Haah! Looks like we have ourselves some unlucky visitors!" They heard a loud, raspy voice yell out from one of the outlines.

"Fuck yeah. Looks like they've got some chicks with 'em too!" Another exclaimed.

"This loot run is gonna be so fuckin good," another remarked as they stopped their vehicles at the front of the road leading into the village.

The vehicles they rode resembled the cars Rein saw back in Naji, but thinner, with a horse-like shape to them, propped up on 2 wheels instead of 4.

"What are those things? They look very similar to bicycles," Clyde remarked as the 4 men stepped into the town.

"They're called glowcycles. Powered by glow stones, they propel you faster than any bicycle could. They've gotten really popular among gangs recently," Core explained.

The 4 men approached the group, one of them standing in front of the rest, clearly their leader. They all wielded different steel objects, one of them a crowbar, one of them a pipe, one of them a chain, and the leader a large knife.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" The leader shouted while holding his knife over his shoulder, the rest of his goons tapping their weapons on their hands.

"Looks like a bunch of clueless kids, boss!"

"Let's get rid of them before we collect our due!"

Suddenly, the 4 men saw a cheerful looking kid emerge from the group, addressing them in a friendly manner.

"Why hello there gentlemen! Such nice weather we're having today, isn't it? Now, I've got a good deal for you," Core carelessly approached the leader, smiling at him vibrantly.

"How abo—" suddenly, Core's words were cut off along with his head, the leader not sparing any moment to slice through his neck.

Core's body collapsed, his head rolling on the ground in a still expression.

"Anyone else wanna get friendly with me?!" The gang leader threatened, pointing his long, sharp knife at the rest of the group, who stood there with unamused faces.

"What the hell? Boss! They don't even look phased that one of their friends just died," one of the goons exclaimed in a panic, the boss laughing at him arrogantly.

"They're just scared shitless. Trust me, I've dealt with this type before," he claimed.

"What do you want? And why are you in this village?" Sho stepped up and asked, his fear seemingly gone.

"Huh? You look familiar… Well, it doesn't matter. The villagers know what we're here for, isn't that right?" The man shouted as he looked around at the closed houses, indicating some semblance of a population inside the homes.

"Answer the question. What do you want? Are you the reason these villagers have been hiding themselves in these homes?" Clyde also stepped up, letting go of Xenia's hand.

"And what if we are? We wouldn't tell you shit. Now step aside and let us get on with our business. Better yet, hand us those chicks if you don't wanna get hurt," the large leader commanded, inducing a hardy laugh from Rein, which perplexed the 4 man gang.

"Then let's make a bet. If you can beat this guy in a 1 on 1, we'll step aside and hand these girls over. However, if you lose, you tell us everything you know. Deal?" Rein proposed as he nominated Clyde by tapping his shoulder.

"Not sure I like how you just wagered us, but I guess it's fine. Clyde's not losing," Xenia stated as Clyde laughed earnestly.

"I will even do it unarmed. You may use your knife. Do you accept?"

The gang members looked at each other in confusion, then burst out into simultaneous laughter.

"Fine. I accept. But once this black-haired kid starts beggin' for his life, you'd better keep your end of the deal," the leader readied his knife as Rein and the rest of the group took a few steps back.

"Yeah yeah, stop talking out of your ass and fight already," Rein remarked as they stepped back.

Clyde got into his unarmed position as he noticed a wide, mischievous smirk grow on the leader's face, then begin to laugh out of his chest.

"Did you really think we'd follow your shitty rules?! Boys, jump his ass!" The leader commanded, the other 3 men running in along with their leader, with the intention of ganging up on Clyde.

They all gutted towards him, flailing their weapons in aggression.

"Hmph, pathetic," Clyde whispered under his breath.

Suddenly, at untraceable speed, Clyde stole the chain from one of the goons and spun it around all 4 of the men, binding them all together in an unbreakable prison.

"The hell?! What just happened?!" The leader yelled, getting no response from the group.

"You just lost," Clyde informed as he landed back in front of the man, the other end of the long chain in hand.

"No fuckin way! You laid a trap beforehand you dirty fucking cheater!" The leader whined as he tried struggling himself free, Clyde tightening the chain, making them choke on their breath as they became squeezed together.

"Well? You gonna hold up your end of the deal?" Core asked as he popped up in the leader's vision, making him scream in horror.

"WHA- WHAT THE FUCK?! I KILLED YOU!" His skin turned pale as the horrified expression persisted, the emotion concurring through the rest of his body.

"Did you? Hm, I only remember you cutting my head off. When exactly did you kill me?" Core went into a thinking position, putting his hand on his chin as he looked up at the sky pensively.

"We're not ordinary people here. It's your turn to talk. Tell us what you know, or you're in for a world of pain," Rein crouched down, eye level to the, intimidating him with an icy glare.

"O-okay okay! We're only half the reason these villagers are hiding! I swear! For the past week, they've been scared of this weird ghost!" The leader fearfully divulged.

"Then why are you barging into the village like this? And you're half the reason? Are you preying on a defenless town?" Rein grabbed him by the collar, his gaze becoming increasingly intimidating.

"W-we just thought we could take advantage of the situation! I'm telling you, I don't know anything else! Please don't hurt me!" The boss begged.

"Well, you're useless to us then. The ocean is just north of here, let's see if I can throw you all the way there," Rein said as he picked all 4 of them up by the chain and held them over his head as they all panicked.

"Huh?! Please no! The ocean's not for another 50 kilometers! We're gonna die!"

"That's fine by me," his words made the 4 men freak out as he heaved, getting ready to throw.

He activated STO, turning his hair black and eyes red, all the while using Xenia's inverted Spring along with Wallace's inverted Spring of wind, that combination of Springs bringing him optimal throwing distance.

He heaved his arm behind his head, stretching it as far as he could, then pumped all of his power into his right arm as he thrust it forward through the air, releasing the men propelling through the atmosphere, leaving their sight almost instantly as their screams faded into the sky.

"Well, that's them done with. Let's find the village chief and get more info about our quest," Rein dusted his hands off, rubbing them against each other as if he'd just taken out the trash.

"Did you really have to throw them that hard? Seemed kinda overkill," Sho remarked as he put his hand up to his forehead to block out the sun while peering into the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the flying men.

"Bah, forget about them for now. Follow me, I know where the Chief's house is," Core stated as he began walking into one of the alleyways, the unnerving feeling beginning to set in once again as the 2 girls held the hand of their respective partners.

They followed Core through the shrewd alleyway leading to a large house situated on the outskirts of the town. It was the same as all the other homes, shut off from the outside world. It exuded an unsettling aura that etched into the bodies of the students, causing them to hesitate before approaching. Suddenly, they heard and noticed something shuffling in one of the windows, then abruptly stopped as the area went into silence again.

"W-what was that?" Xenia uttered in fear.

"Don't worry about it. So, who wants to knock?" Core asked, trying to get someone else other than him to knock.

"Sounds like you're pretty worried about it yourself. Why don't you knock?" Sho proposed, to which Core laughed.

"What are you, crazy? I'm not gonna knock. But trust me, it's safe," he said unconvincingly as Rein sighed and walked up to the wooden porch while still holding Chloe's hand, stepping to the doormat.

He knocked on the door 3 times and waited for an answer. Suddenly, the door swung open and a hand outstretched to grab his arm, pulling him in forcefully as he and Chloe were tugged inside.

Xenia and Sho's hairs began standing on edge as they saw the two get dragged in, both of them screaming internally.

"Psst! Hurry up! Come in!" A soft voice called out from behind the door, the hand remained outside, motioning for the group to follow their 2 friends into the home.

"Well, let's go, Xenia," Clyde dragged the reluctant Xenia up to the front porch and entered the house.

"W-wait! We're not actually going in, right? Clyde?" She fearfully asked as Clyde continued dragging her with him, up the stairs and into the house.

Sho continued standing there, the prince having a big weakness to occult things, scarred by his father pulling a prank on him at a young age.

"Well? Don't tell me you need me to hold your hand again, prince?" Core laughed, once again overriding Sho's fear with anger.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'll go alone," he stormed into the house, forgetting about his fear as Core followed him closely.

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