16: Only Way Out is Down

 "NANDAYO!?" Sam screamed at Dan.

 "I have a spell to drop them all of safely," Dan reiterates.

 "I'm sorry, drop them!?"

 "With the gravity spell, earlier."

 "You shot us through floors!" Sam felt uneasy of letting Dan do it.

 "No time to argue, Sam!" Dan spat. "Either we do it or not."

 "Fine, do it," Sam was not at ease.

 "Break the windows," Dan ordered. "On all the floors with people!"

 Sam and Laura starts breaking the glass at the end of the floor. Panic arises from the people. Volta stood and observed Dan as he walks up to the edge. He feels the cold breeze of pressured air. 

 What you did down there was replicate how it looks, Jon told. I need you to copy the mana and manipulate gravity itself.

 How do I break the laws of physics?

 For starters, we'll be using Einstein's theory on gravity. Gravity is a plane—we'll say a trampoline—where an object with great mass and energy creates a curvature on that plane.

 Okay, I get that.

 Now, we'll grab that fucking trampoline and fucking curve it at will, Jon grinned.

 What…? Dan scratched the back of his head.

 Ugh… Do you remember what that mana felt like?

 Yeah?

 Manifest it. Demonstrate how it felt.

 Dan closed his eyes and remembers the sensation the mana particles had from that beast-monkey's gravity spell. He remembers it being similar to his own. In terms of fluidity. It was dark and empty, an endless black space. A void. Then he opens his eyes. He starts to see or rather sense, that trampoline.

 Reach out, Jon said as he manifests through Dan's imagination, reaching his right hand out. Dan follows in perfect sync. Grasp it. The two closed their fists at the same time and it felt like grabbing an incredibly stretchy cloth, similar to an actual trampoline floor.

 Feel the souls of everyone around you?

 "I do," Dan said.

 Pull them all out of the building. The two of them thought of just taking them outside without their knowledge to simply quicken the process without having to deal with the people's natural hesitance. Naturally, the people started floating above the floor and started moving outside of the building through the windows. They all screamed for their lives, hysterically begging to be put down. 

 "Minna gomen, otoshimasu," he whispered.

Minna gomen, otoshimasu = Sorry, everyone. I'm dropping you

 A total of one-thousand-eight-hundred workers were slowly falling from the Gallio Tower. Dan had to spread people out in order not have them clash into each other with the landing. After a while, Dan was able to safely drop everyone to the ground. Most of the people on the ground were still in fear for their lives and in shock.

 Well, you clutched up there.

 Thanks, Jon, Dan said sincerely. Jon smirked, he was about to poke at him. Don't act snarky, I mean it.

 Heh, Jon smiles warmly, no problem.

 The four gathered on the thirty-fifth floor. "Now, onto the next problem. How do we keep them from flooding out?" Sam was absolutely amazed by Dan's spell, but he had no time to be in awe right now. He had more important things to handle, they all did. If we just collapse the building somehow, it would kill more people than beasts. So, not an option, Sam mentioned to himself.

 Volta looks down at the floor, feeling a sensation disappearing, "the gate's closing," Volta informs.

 "Are you sure, V?"

 She nods approvingly, "I sense it."

 The gate closed shut. Now they won't have to deal with more beasts than the ones that had already appeared. Which was approximately eight-hundred beasts. Dan was suddenly bleeding from his nose and fell down to his knee. His head spun and he starts coughing. He can't even clench his muscles anymore. He was out. No more mana. No more strength to fight.

 "Sorry, I'm finished," Dan claims.

 I'm also tired, can't keep this up any longer, Sam didn't want to admit it.

 "I'll hold them off," Laura bravely proposed.

"No way! Not on your own," Dan forbade her.

 "V, can you fight?" Sam asks.

 "Not long," she sighed exasperated. "Laura is the only one that can fight. She needs to or we'll all die." 

 "A- Are you sure?" Dan looks at Laura concerned. "Then I'll fight too."

 "Dan, you're gonna pass out. No," Sam forbade him.

 "Well, I can't just do nothing!" He argued.

 "We'll just be benchwarmers," Sam hit the top of Dan's head. "Laura, you go on ahead. We'll be fine." Laura nods and rushes to the lower floors, she went two floors lower.

 What the hell is that? Jon suddenly blurts out. "What?" Dan said audibly, sensing the same thing as Jon does. "The roof. We need to get to the roof," Dan said.

 "Why? What is it?" Sam asks, confused.

 Volta tried using her mana sense and felt a powerful presence coming from the roof. "I agree. We need to get to the roof."

 "There's a beast on the roof."

 The three made their way to the roof, through a stairwell to the helipad atop the roof. When they arrived, they saw a black glowing egg growing roots around the helipad. "It's coming from that," Dan points at the egg.

 "What is it?" Sam asks.

 "Looks like an egg," Dan replied.

 Volta dashed forward with what little mana she had left, raised her right fist high to the sky and went to punch through the egg. As her fist was ever so slightly getting closer to the egg, the egg "hatched". Her fist collides with the egg and she was repulsed back to where she was. The egg became the head. The roots growing out of it formed a body. As it was growing, Sam threw both his Twin Blades, not even so much as a scratch on it.

 It grew fully, a giant abomination. Colored in black, its eyes purple. Legs like a mantis, four hands like a human, thorax like a wasp, abdomen like a spider. Face with a giant mouth that reached the end of its head, opening it would almost cut the head in half. Razor sharp teeth, sharp enough to cut through metal. An estimated level of the beast was thirty-eight, normal.

 Low-rank sorcerers would be able to deal with beast from level one to ten, normal. Mid-rank sorcerers would be able to deal with ten to thirty, normal. One to five, maniacal. High rank sorcerers would deal with thirty to fifty, normal. Six to twenty, maniacal. Anything above that would be a Supreme-rank's job. However, only one registered Supreme-rank sorcerer is currently alive. 

 Laura was on an empty floor with her sword drawn out. She steadies her breathing. She thinks of a spell to do that could annihilate all the beast in the quickest way possible. She holds with her right hand near the guard, and her left hand near the end of the grip. She points her blade to the ground. Just… Limit it to the building's range and the floor above me.

 She charges mana through her body and channeled it to her sword. She inhales deeply through her mouth, sucking all the air. As she exhaled, she unleashed the charged-up mana. Dispelling power enough to level a city block. She bursts downward, breaking every floor with a vast electrifying mana that overcharges everything until they were fried inside-out. In three seconds, she was on the basement floor standing on one knee.

Moon Rush, a spell meant to destroy everything in a single pathway.

 She stands up, she looks up and saw nothing but the ceiling of the floor she was on earlier. She exhales in relief, thinking it was over. Until she sensed what everyone else did. The building started crumbling down. Laura knew the kind of damage she would cause with her spell, demolishing the building and building a new one would be a better solution than to fix it. She sees the floor break apart and fall down. Dan was able to let himself and Sam and Volta to fall faster and land long before the rubble, but easing their fall right before impact. The abomination of a beast was still on the roof, despite it falling to the ground. Clinging onto the building for leverage. 

 The people outside were screaming in a panic. They started running away from the crumbling building. The dust covered the streets, obscuring everyone's vision. Dan and the others somehow made it out of the building. The abomination then reached the ground, receiving no harm from the near-two-hundred-meter drop. It saw the crowd of humans, its jaw dropped open and it drooled. Its human-like arms grabbed multiple humans at once, it stuffed as much humans as it could to its mouth. It chewed them down, not thoroughly, leaving limbs and half-alive people to fall on the ground. It ate like a glutton.

 Dan was completely out of mana, that last spell he did to save them from the fall was too much. Moving a muscle and going back to fighting would actually make him pass out. He starts running towards the abomination, clenching his muscles but breaking down instead. Dan was about to get grabbed as the abomination reached for him. Volta crushed its hand with an axe kick. Sam locked his hands around Dan's stomach and pulled him back. 

 "No! Nande!?" He yelled, struggling to break free.

 "Shinitai ka!?" Sam yelled back.

 "Karera o tasukero!"

 "No way! You'll die!"

Nande!? = Why!?

Shinitai ka? = Do you want to die?

Karera o tasukero = I have to save them

 Laura steps forward and tries cutting through the abomination's hand, she barely pierced its skin. At that point, she felt the difference in strength. It didn't matter if she had full mana and well-rested, it was too strong for them.

 The beast pulled its hand back and continued its feast. Killing dozens in seconds, hundreds in a minute. Dan froze in disgust and fear. His helplessness struck him like lightning. "I'm sorry…" He sobs silently, "I'm so sorry…" He sees the pile of torn bodies and the pool of blood under the abomination as it rampaged upon the crowd of people. Squashing them, chewing them up, spilling them out from its mouth. An unholy and gruesome site that would leave most paralyzed with fear. 

 An incredibly strong wind was able to clear the dust of rubble in an instant, and appeared around them was mist. They realized who it was and felt a bit relieved. The beast was suddenly lifted off the ground, still carrying humans in its hands and still chewing them in its mouth. It levitates hundreds of feet above the ground. Appeared in front of it was Cathy. The abomination didn't even notice her floating. 

 Fucking glutton, how many did you eat? Cathy retorted. 

 She raised her left hand and propped it in front of her face, about a foot away. From her thumb, index, and middle finger, she conjures an orb of water. She lightly touches that orb of water with her other hand and pulls it back like a slingshot strap. She aimed directly at its head. She released the orb from her right hand, sending highly pressurized water at the speed of sound. The abomination had a new hole inside it from mouth all the way to the back. Creating a perfectly shaped hole with a consistent diameter and edge. She then clasps her hands together and manipulates the air pressure around the beast and inside the beast. Crushing the beast into a ball, the size of a soccer ball with atmospheric pressure. She swipes her right finger inward, beckoning the ball to her. It travelled towards her and she holds it on her hand. She slowly falls to the ground. 

 Dan's head spun and he ran out of breath and passed out completely. 

BLACK ROOM

 Dan sat across Jon on a long sofa. Jon sat on a single couch, crossed his legs with a clipboard on his lap, wearing a lab coat and fake glasses. The thing in between the two of them was a circular wooden table with a flower vase in the middle of it. However, no flowers were placed in it. Dan was curled up into a ball, hiding his face as his tears ran down his cheeks. Jon couldn't think of anything to say, he doesn't like comforting people. At least, not regularly. He also thought that Dan was someone he needs to comfort. It was his tailored duty as a Dark Fragment.

 Dan? He first thought to call out to him. Dan didn't respond and kept sobbing to himself. 

 Jon grabbed his fake glasses and clipboard and threw them on the table. He stands up and walks around the table. He looms over Dan for a moment, then he takes a seat next to him. He awkwardly raised his right hand up high—trying to avoid touching Dan—and slowly made his palm touch Dan's head. After a few seconds of nothing, Jon starts petting Dan's head. He had nothing to say. He didn't think words could work at the moment. He slowly pulled Dan into his chest, he kept crying. 

 You'll get stronger. I promise, he thought it couldn't hurt to try and say something.

 REVERT

 Dan laid on a warm comfortable bed with a blanket over his body. He felt his jacket was taken off, so were his boots. He sat up right and noticed his eyes were watery, "was I crying?" He asked himself aloud. He wasn't aware that Laura was inside the room too.

 "Dan? Daijoubudesuka?" She asked in a low voice.

 "Nanri shinda no?"

Daijoubudesuka? = Are you okay?"

Nanri shinda no? = How many people died?

 "That's…" She fell silent. She knew he wouldn't accept any answer but an actual number. If I tell him the truth, he'll only feel more guilty, she thought. She really couldn't tell him the truth. "After the giant beast fell, sixty-seven people were killed. Dozens were injured."

 "Sixty-seven…?" His voice on the brink of breaking.

 "We did everything we could."

 He looks down, holding back his tears. He wouldn't dare let anyone actually see him crying. Not even his mom. "Souka… Ore ga yowai dayona."

 "We'll get stronger, yakusoku dayo."

Souka... Ore ga yowai dayona = I see... I'm so weak...

Yakusoku dayo = I promise

 He wipes his tears away and bore a heavy smile. He got off the bed and tried standing up. His legs were still weak, he thought eating a meal would work in his favor. "Where are we?" He asked.

 "Cathy's apartment."

 "She lives in Idly City?"

 "One of her's."

 "Right, right."

 He walks over to her and stands a meter away from her, "where're the others?"

 "Went out to grab food, they'll be back in a bit," she answered. She feels atop her head and realized she had been wearing his headband the entire time. She took it off and fold it quickly. "Thanks for your headband," she hands it over to him. Her hair all messy.

 He walks up to her, stood close and held her hand holding the headband. He grabs it and puts it in his pocket. He looks into her eyes with a somber heart. He put his hand up to her face and moved her hair away, tucked it behind her ear. He then unknowingly touched her face cheek. Running his hand down it, gently. She tilts her head towards his hand and smiled. He gazes upon her magenta eyes. The light in the room reflects them pink. It was so clear, he could almost see a mirror of himself.

 "Don't fight on your own again. Please," he said a sudden. "It's really annoying."

 She had a confused look on her face, she was almost offended. "Wha-" Then their door slam open, kicked by Sam. "We brought food!" He announced a little too loud. "Huh?" He was taken aback, confused. Seeing how close Dan was to Laura, seeing him holding her face. 

 "YO-" Cathy put her hand over Sam's mouth and his voice muffled, "sorry for the intrusion," she said as she pulls Sam out and closed the door.

 Laura backs away slowly, and heads towards the door. She opens the door and slams it lightly, making a loud sound. Not a word said to him and she left him alone in the room. He wore his headband feeling pissed off. He went to look for his jacket, later he found out it wasn't in the room. He leaves the room and found Sam near his door.

 "Ohayou!" Sam gleefully greeted.

 "It's not morning, it's fucking dark out," he replied with annoyance in his tone.

 "The hell's up your ass?" Sam was taken aback from Dan's hostility.

Ohayou = Morning

 Dan sighed exasperatedly. He heads to the living room with his hands holstered in his pant pockets. In the living room, Cathy bought them rice bowls. Cathy doesn't cook, she doesn't know how to. 

 The five sat in a circle on the family couch. Laura sat next to Volta and Cathy, Sam sat near Laura but far from Dan. Dan sat alone in the corner of the couch. Cathy could feel the irritating emotions in the air. So much tension, she thought as she was passing the paper bowls of rice bowls. She bought the same thing for everything, curry katsu. 

 "Well, then…" Cathy tried to break the silence, "itadakimasu!" 

 "Thanks for the food, Cathy," the four said consecutively. 

Itadakimasu = Let's eat

 The dinner was eaten in silence, it was like when two people sat together in one table and their mutual friend is gone. Awkward. Cathy wasn't very good at socializing either, so after she finished her rice bowl, she threw the bowl in the trash and went and prepared to sleep. The silence of the four was broken up by Volta bolting to the trash can, then the bathroom, then the bedroom. 

 Sam felt pissed, he could tell that Dan was also feeling the same thing. Laura felt disappointed instead, something Sam doesn't want to bother with currently. So, he too went and cleaned up for himself.

 Cathy came along to Dan and Laura sitting distant from each other, "Idly City is such a nice place during the night, y'know?"

 "I bet it is," Dan replied.

 Cathy thought she gave enough information for the two of them. Whatever happens next is not up to me, she took relief of the responsibility. 

 Dan thought about what the city looks like at night, how different could it be with other cities he's visited before? Just a bunch of skyscrapers with bright lights. Turned on for people working overtime or nightshifts. Fuck it, Dan thought. He'd rather shoot his shot. 

 "Lau-"

 "Dan," she cut him off. "Oh, douzo," she said politely. 

 "No, you go."

 "Okay. Cathy no itta koto ni tsuite kangaete mita."

 "Mhmm…" He slowly nods.

 "Wanna go out?"

 "Yeah, sure."

Douzo = Go ahead

Cathy no itta koto ni tsuite kangaete mita = I thought about what Cathy said.