Arc 1 Chapter 4: Under the Veil

Kojima, the quirky, eccentric teacher who earlier was grinning from ear to ear, now had a grave expression on her face before responding to Yukina's question. "You see, what happens to them is--" The Vulpian would get interrupted by the door being flung open by Mr.Suzuki.

"Kojima, we have a situation; one of the students has been reported missing." The entire class would be looking at Suzuki in shock, yet the brown-haired instructor would retain his stoic demeanor.

"O-Okay, class; we should all help to find our lost friend." All the students, including Yukina and Akko, would stand up and begin walking out of the classroom; Suzuki's class would make their way to the courtyard; the building was designed in the shape of a giant square, with a courtyard in the center of the school.

Yukina and Akko would eventually split up to cover more ground. Every step repeats the same crunch from Yukina boots snapping the twigs on the ground and rustling the bushes; suddenly, the vulpine ears atop her head would twitch at the sound of faint crunching and sloshing noises like gears churning in water.

Beyond the bushes, Yukina would bear witness to a grotesque display; A magenta-colored-haired Vulpian was lying on the ground motionless as a beast is gnawing at her stomach with its edged teeth. The creature had skin like obsidian without the natural shine and black mist emitting from its pores. The human-shaped anomaly feasted upon the girl's intestines to quench its gluttony, staining its mouth and oral cavities crimson with the girl's blood. Yukina is taken aback by the sight of the Vulpian carcass; she wouldn't be able to stomach the information entrusted to her, as she would begin vomiting onto the grass.

Alerting the creature, it stopped its gorging and turned its sights toward her. It was still chewing on a piece of the large intestine, dripping blood and fecal matter from where it ripped from the girl's stomach.

The fear of the creature inching closer paralyzed Yukina as her mind was racing, trying to think of what to do. The abomination would launch itself at Yukina, who was unsheathing the rapier holstered on her hip by a belt. "Oh, lemme join in the skermish!" A crimson-haired Vulpian would say, lunging at the beast, kicking it into a nearby tree.

"Akko!" Yukina would exclaim, feeling relieved to see her. "I went a slightly different route, but I made sure to keep an eye on you. Also, what the hell was that thing?" Akko would question.

"I don't know...but it...killed the girl over there." Yukina would reply, pointing to the deceased girl missing her intestines. Upon witnessing the carcass of a fellow student, Akko would click her teeth. "Akko, watch your six!" Yukina shouted before stabbing the obsidian creature behind Akko. The blade of the sword would shatter.

Akko followed up to pick up Yukina's slack by elbowing the top of the beast's head, caving its skull in as it lies limp on the ground before disintegrating into black mist and dissipating into the air. "When did it get behind me like that; Yukina, did you see it move?" Akko asked.

"No, and I was looking at it..." Yukina would reply before looking at her broken blade and sighing in disappointment. Akko would walk over the body and begin burying it behind a bush.

"So, did you guys find her yet?" Kojima would ask, arriving at the scene.

"Unfortunately, we did, but she was dead...killed by some kind of human-like creature veiled in a black mist..." Yukina would reply.

Kojima's eyes would widen with shock. "I didn't think there would be one on school grounds..." Kojima would say to herself.

"One, what?" Yukina would question Kojima about what she was mumbling.

"An Inkindled..." Kojima responded. "It's what mortals turn into when overloaded with arcana, the body tries to compensate for the extra amount of energy, so it transforms to save itself from death...however; as a result, they sate themselves on gaining more arcana usually through blood," Kojima explained. Yukina understood that the instinct to ingest blood was why it was feasting on the girl's innards.

"Was that the only one?" Kojima would ask, setting her gaze on Yukina.

"Yeah, Akko and I dealt with it already," she would reply before getting a thumbs up from Kojima.

"Alright then, I'll inform the other teachers and staff about the incident," Kojima said, beginning to walk back to the school, gathering her class to go back inside. As Akko and Yukina head inside the school, Yukina would have images of the girl's intestine-less body and the Inkindled flashing in her mind, shaking her head, trying to think of something else. Yukina would question, "Why was it near the school?"