Chapter 23: Emily?

"Can't you drive faster?!" Yukiko yelled as she leaned forward next to the driver's seat.

"...I apologised, I-I can't." The poor chauffeur wimped fearfully as sweats trickled down his face.

"Calm down, Yukiko." Lavi leaned back further into the seat as he felt sympathy for the chauffeur, "We are already driving at full speed. We are going to reach soon, maybe in a couple of minutes."

"I can't wait for a couple of minutes!" Yukiko growled as she opened the car door while the vehicle was still going, "Screw it, I'll go there myself."

She jumped off and landed perfectly.

She then jumped on top of one of the stores that were at the side of the road. After which, she jumped from one building to another, zooming through the busy street, avoiding the traffic and the crowd.

Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her, "Do you even know where you're going?" She turned around to see Ben right behind her.

She hesitated and realised she did not.

Her face flushed and she looked away, mumbling something that Ben could not hear.

"She have no idea, huh."

"Come on, follow me." Ben laughed and took the lead and before they knew it, both of them reached the school. The entrance was surrounded by teachers and students. There were a couple of cops outside, guarding the school, while the others interviewed some of the teachers. Both of them sneaked past the surveillance easily and entered the school premises.

*****

[Spring Valley High]

The man, covered in blood, was swaying from side to side, as he persisted to stand with all those injuries.

It was frightening.

Suddenly, he started to slowly limp towards Beck. He was moving at a very slow pace but, somehow, Emily felt intimidated. He paused, tilted his head slightly, then immediately made a dash for Beck. He was going so fast, that her eyes could not catch up and it looked as if he teleported.

Beck did not have time to react. He received a heavy blow to the back, which caused him to stagger forward. He then, received another blow to his face, which he blocked with his hands, sending a sharp pain straight to his arms. The impact made him fall backwards. Kyle took this advantage to give him a kick, with his heel, straight to his ribcage. Beck hit the hard ground and sounds of bones cracking could be heard.

Crimson liquid spurted out his mouth as he coughed repeatedly, almost as if it was getting worse with every second.

"Beck!" Mary called out as she rushed towards him, swinging her dagger. Kyle noticed her and grabbed her by the head, lifting her off the ground.

Emily felt useless, she did not knows what to do. She wanted to stop him but her fear took control of her.

Kyle's grip got tighter and finally Mary let out a piercing scream. A sickening grin formed at his face when he heard the sound of that. She grabbed his hand in an attempt to remove her face from his grip.

Struggling and struggling, but to no avail.

Beck pushed to get up even though the pain was overwhelming. He managed to get up, but he could barely stand. He wiped the blood that was dripping down his lips with the back of his hand, before manifesting a couple of fireballs to launch at that monster.

Kyle dropped Mary, in order to avoid being hit, but his attention was shifted back to Beck. He stared at him for a moment before he lunged towards him. He gave him a roundhouse kick before stomping his foot onto Beck's torso.

"Crap! No! Beck could die if he takes anymore hits." Emily thought before she forced out the words, "...Stop it already! W-What do you want from me?"

Jason looked at her with a smile, "We just want you to follow us."

"...If I do, will you let both of them go?" She asked with a quivering voice.

"Of course, but if you lie about it... We'll kill them and get you either way." He replied. Those last few words made her stomach tightened.

"This is the only thing I can do for now. Why am I so useless? If only I had some experience before this, Beck and Mary wouldn't have gotten hurt. If only I was stronger..."

All of the sudden, she heard a female voice in her head. Her voice was melodic yet a little chilling.

"Do you want power?"

She had no idea who was that. The voice asked for the second time.

"Answer me, do you want power? There's no time."

Right now, she would do anything to get both Beck and Mary out of the situation, so her answer was obvious.

"Yes, I do."

The voice let out a gentle laugh and said, "Very well. I'll lend it to you."

Emily was back in reality when Jason asked her, "So, what's your verdict? Are you coming with us or not? If you're not coming, I have no choice but to kill the two of them and then to forcefully bring you with us."

Just as she wanted to reply, she felt a surge of energy. It was burning inside out, it was similar to what she felt previously with Yukiko. She grabbed onto herself as she dropped onto the ground. She could not take it, the pain was just too insane. A painful scream escaped her lips as the pain went for her head. It felt as if her head was about to explode in any second. She grabbed her head tightly as sweat trickled down her cheeks.

Beck and Mary looked at Emily in concern. Mary rushed to her and asked, "What's wrong?! Emily! Can you hear me?!" She could hear her voice but she could not reply, she was too distracted by the pain.

In the blink of an eye, the roots of Emily's hair turned white. The colour slowly spread down to the strands of her hair, turning her entire her hair completely white. At this moment, the pain had disappeared. Subconsciously, she stood up.

She was not in control of her body.

A sniper rifle manifested in her hands.

With one hand, she raised it up, pointing towards Kyle. She shot a couple of bullets, which cut across the room, at the speed of light. He avoided most of the bullets, but one hits him in the arm and another hits him in his thigh.

She launched herself towards the guy and swung her weapon once, hitting him square in the face. Just as he back down, she shot a few more bullets towards him, this time all of them were aiming for his head.

Just as the bullets almost made contact with him, it was stopped by Jason, who manifested a screen of mist. "Impressive."

Emily launched herself towards the two men, swinging her weapon a couple more times. Jason held her rifle as it was about to reach him. He leaned forward till a side of his face was next to hers, such that any slight movement of her head would make her bump into his lips. "I will love to play with you, but I'll do it next time. We'll will be taking our leave now."

He picked up Kyle and carried him over his shoulder. He waved his hand once, and mist appeared out of no where, shrouding both their figures. Blinded in the mist, the only sense Emily could rely on was her ears.

Suddenly, Jason echoed from behind, "Bye."

She gyrated instantaneously and shot more bullets to the direction of the sound, but both of them were already gone, leaving her to shoot into the thin air.

The rifle disappeared from her hands and her hair returned back to normal. She was drained. She fell to her knees first and then onto her face.

The door busted open as the Ben and Yukiko entered the classroom. She saw Hailey ran in as soon as the door was opened and towards her. As her best friend ran towards her, calling out for her name.

However, slowly, her vision faded to black...