The Mystery Figure In Him?!

INSIDE THE HOUSE OF CHRISTOPHER (1:00 AM)

"Well, what now?"

Hearing those words from Christopher, Andres looks at him with a calm expression.

"Just tell us about what happened to your sister so that me and my friend here can get a clue."

Christopher rests his back on the sofa, and he chuckles and continues looking at Andres.

"Why are you mad? Damn, you don't know how to use the word 'please'?"

The tension around them continues to be intense. Sitting beside Andres is Kenyon, and he looks quickly at each one of them.

Kenyon says, "Will you two be an adult and talk it out in a well-mannered way?"

Andres turns his eyes toward Kenyon while Christopher remains smirking while looking at Andres.

"Well, it's your friend's fault here," Kenyon pointed his finger at Andres, "he's being aggressive."

Andres stands up from his seat and closes his hands while staring at Christopher.

"I just want to punch you right now. You know what? I change my mind! I'm going to punch you and kick you until you're soaked in your blood!"

Christopher chuckles, and he invitingly raises his hands. "I challenge you to do it! Right here, right now."

Andres clenches his hands as it trembles, then, he makes a move but is stopped immediately.

"Make a move and I won't hesitate to freeze both of you."

Cold wind emerges from Kenyon's skin, slowly covering the entire room. Andres hugs himself while sitting down on the chair, and he is shivering while Christopher is gritting his teeth while shaking.

"Cold isn't it?" Kenyon closes his eyes and opens them, "Now, sit before I use my full power just to discipline both of you."

Andres takes a look at Christopher, and Andres goes back to his seat.

Kenyon looks at Christopher. "So, Christopher, tell us all about your sister."

"Okay," Christopher began to rest his back on his seat, "everything was fine until she won third place in a quiz bee at Manila University."

"More," Kenyon said.

"Okay, okay! Don't be feisty," Christopher said.

"Where was I? Oh!" Christopher looked directly into Kenyon's calm white eyes.

"I can say that her attitude changed after winning that competition; from being a kind girl, she changed in a bad way."

"She always shouts and replies to me with harsh words like 'just die' and 'you're so annoying!'."

Kenyon nods. "What happened to your sister was the same thing that happened to the daughter of one of the victims of this case."

Andres clears his throat. "Did she tell you a word?"

"Word?" Christopher glanced at Andres.

"Sanctuary," Andres replied, "because that is the last word that we got from one of the relatives of the victims."

Christopher hums, and he continues doing that for a couple of minutes while Andres and Kenyon are watching him.

Finally, after a few minutes, Christopher shakes his head. His eyes are calm along with his expression and a voice tone.

"She said that she was just going outside, and when I followed her because I was curious about where she'd go in the middle of the night, I saw two strangers wearing masks."

Kenyon hums. "Strangers wearing masks?"

An image strikes Andres' mind, and he talks to Christopher again.

"A mask symbolizing a dark horse? They are wearing hoodies, right?"

Christopher and Kenyon glance at Andres, and Christopher nods.

"You're annoying but I have to agree with you."

Christopher brings out a notebook under the pillow next to him. He puts it on the coffee table right in front of him.

"That notebook, it has the word 'sanctuary' and it has many red faces drawn on each of its pages."

Andres picks up the notebook before Kenyon reaches it with his hand.

Andres flips the pages. His eyes widen while his lip is open a bit. "These drawings... they're horse head. Your sister experienced the same event, and all of the clues!"

"The places that they went to, all of them are connected to Manila University." Andres gave the notebook to Kenyon.

"You have a point," Kenyon said.

Christopher stands up and he looks at each one of them. "Then, we must go to the university and investigate!"

"No," Kenyon closed the notebook, "you stay here, plus, I had enough comrade to assist me."

Christopher looks down, and he looks up with wide eyes. "What if you use me?"

At his words, Kenyon looks at Andres whose eyes are staring at him.

"We'll see." Kenyon closed his eyes and he rubbed his forehead.

OUTSIDE MANILA UNIVERSITY (3:00 AM)

Andres and Kenyon are approaching the university. Andres looks around him and he turns his eyes to Kenyon.

"Is it me or am I feeling that there's something wrong?" Andres pulled out a knife from its sheath.

Kenyon nods. "I understand, you're being a scaredy cat."

Andres' shakes his head and looks at Kenyon with a narrowing eye. "Last time I came here, there were two masked men that I fought. I told you to come with me but you arrived late."

"Yeah, because you were so pushy that I had to teach you an idea to formulate your plans first." Kenyon sighed.

A thick cloud of fog takes over the battlefield, causing Kenyon and Andres to look around them.

"Hey! The country never had a mythical creature that can do this," Andres commented.

Kenyon rubs his forehead in distress. "Moron, not all mythical creatures are written in a book, some exist without being written."

"NEIGH!"

Andres pulls out a knife from its sheath on his belt while Kenyon pats Andres' shoulders.

"Stay calm but use this," Kenyon threw an ice dagger toward Andres, "that's more proficient than using that knife."

Andres puts his knife back in its sheath, and he catches the ice dagger.

From the fog, a huge humanoid shadow can be seen, and it jumps at extreme speed.

"Raise your guard!" Kenyon yelled.

Andres jumps and then, he swings his dagger forward and it clashes against the sword of a humanoid entity.

"You're the one that I encountered!"

Andres jumps and swings his foot but the entity catches his foot and slams Andres against the ground.

Kenyon slams a huge hammer against the body of the entity, and his eyes widen as the entity is holding his hammer.

"Is that all, Ice Warrior?" the entity pushed his hammer away.

Kenyon coats his hand in solid ice, and he digs it onto the ground while the impact of the entity keeps dragging him away.

Kenyon says, "So strong."

Andres thrusts his foot upwards, strikes the entity on his chin and the entity stumbles backward.

Andres is standing on his ground while Kenyon is standing near him as both are facing the entity.

The entity has the form of a man and has an exposed torso. Clothing covering his arms down to his hands, and the same to his thighs and feet.

"Reveal yourself," Kenyon said.

"Me? I think it's more fun if we talk about your past," the entity said.

Kenyon narrows his eyes at the entity, for the first time, Kenyon is being pushed to his limit.

"What do you mean?" Andres asked.

The entity says, "Do you not know? That man sacrificed his teacher for the sake of his safety and to become stronger."

Andres turns around and looks at Kenyon whose eyes are widened.

"You have no evidence," Kenyon said.

"Is that why you're aiming to not tell this young man here about the full history of being a guardian?" the entity asked calmly.

"What?!" Andres asked.

Kenyon is looking down while his hands are clenching and shaking.

The entity pulls out his sword and points his sword at Kenyon. "Sacrificing him to grow powerful, is your sole goal for him, right? The stronger your ally is the more powerful you will become."

Andres shouts at the entity. "That's not true!"

"Not true?" the entity asked, "For you, what is the truth, ice warrior?"

"All of your words are true," Kenyon said, "but I never aim to make that boy a sacrifice."

"How will he know–!"

The entity is cut by Andres who's now in front of his mask. He punches the entity straight to his mask, and the entity is pushed away.

"Such strength," the entity cracks his fists, "I can see that the seed is beginning to grow."

"Oh, shut up!" Andres ran toward him.

The entity catches his punch, and the entity swings his sword.

Andres pulls his hand and he splits his foot as he lets himself fall to the ground.

"Such movement!" the entity swung his sword for another strike.

The young man immediately avoids the sword, and he goes straight to the entity's gut; thrusting his clenched hand towards it.

The entity was hit and pushed toward the large gate.

Kenyon remains standing on his ground, and his white eyes are lingering on Andres. A small smile creeps on Kenyon's lip, and he turns in another direction.

Andres runs toward the entity, and the entity runs toward him.

Both start to swing their sword and knives against each other, and Andres grits his teeth while blocking the sword strikes with his knives.

"He's the type of warrior that blossoms on a battlefield." the entity said while pushing his sword against Andres' knives.

"Does his speed increase because of his warrior entitlement or is it because of his training?" the entity kicked Andres but Andres jumped away before getting kicked.

Andres puts his knife in its sheath, and he pulls the ice dagger from his pocket. He remains looking at the entity while swinging the dagger from one finger to another finger.

"I hate the fact that you're mistaking a warrior as a guardian," Andres told him, "and I hate it more when a man does not let his enemy talk about his side."

"Wow, we're being sympathetic here, huh?"

The entity swings his sword and from its blade: a fog comes out.

"Let's get this over with." Andres inhaled and exhaled for one last chance.

Both individuals clash against one another, and Andres uses his kick along with every slash he does with his knives.

His knives keep clashing with the entity's sword.

Thence, Andres evades a fast sword strike but he is immediately hit by another fast sword slash.

"That fighting style!" Andres said before he got hit by a sword slash.

He jumps away and puts his hand on the tear on his chest. "Blood."

He looks at his hand and sees red fluid on his palm, and he looks up. "This is bad."

The entity swings his sword before he disappears in the fog.

The young man moves his left eye around him. He crouches and avoids getting hit by the sword.

Andres closes his left eye, and he listens to the movement around him. He avoids every sword slash, and then, he steps closer to the body of the entity.

"What?!"

The entity looks down and sees an ice dagger stabbed in his chest, and he looks up, then Andres kicks him on his mask.

"How can he?!" the entity straightened his posture, "He can't beat me like this! Based on the intel, he is only a mere boy using a knife!"

"Hey!"

The entity looks forward and sees Andres standing amid the fog. The entity's eyes widen behind his mask, and he sees a figure in Andres.

That figure is a tall man with green armor on his whole body except for his face. His hair is yellow and long; waving gently along with the wind.

Andres jumps so fast that he disappears temporarily, and appears in front of the entity.

Andres kicks the entity straight on his mask which causes the mask to have a crack.

"I will not be defeated!" the entity declared.

Andres lands on the ground, and he pulls out the ice dagger from the entity's chest.

Andres remains quiet as he swings his dagger towards the entity, and then, there is nothing to be heard or felt by the entity.

He remains standing in silence as his head falls from his neck.

Andres shakes his head as he exhales.

"So, a new warrior is born." the entity's last words before his consciousness disappeared.

Andres lets go of his ice dagger and he turns around. "Why do you seem like you saw a ghost?"

Kenyon is staring at him, his white eyes are widening while his hands are shaking a bit.

"N-No, it's nothing. I think we should head inside the university before the sun rises."

Andres smiles a bit and nods.

Ergo, they both run inside the university while Kenyon is staring at Andres' back while running behind him.

INSIDE THE MANILA UNIVERSITY (3:59 AM)

Inside its massive hallway with no lights, Christopher is running around while aiming his flashlight in different directions.

"A decoy?" Christopher said, "Why did I agree to this plan? All I wanted was to see if those creatures were real."

He is put to a halt by a presence. He turns around, and from the corner, Masked 2 comes out.

"Who are you?!" Christopher lifted the bamboo sticks from his back.

"Why do I feel odd?" Christopher wondered while pointing his weapon at the intruder.