Brutal Awakening

Sawada discussed the situation at hand, giving information to her Supervisor about the abnormal creatures she had to fight. Apparently, they were creatures formed from humanity's fears of the unknown, which describes their uncanny appearance.

"So they were A-Class Phantasms, were they? Interesting. I'm surprised you could deal with them on your own, Sawada."

"Huh? A-Class Phantasms?! There's no way in hell they were that strong! I would've died trying to fight one of them, let alone ten at once."

Guinevere lit a smoke inside her mouth, holding the cigarette between her fingers.

"Yeah, it's a bit odd. As you may know, Phantasms are divided into Six individual classes; E-Class Phantasms are your average kind, having strength above that of an average human, they're mindless in terms of intelligence, but they could probably destroy entire boulders with their fists. D-Class Phantasms are slightly intelligent, possessing superhuman strength and endurance, they are capable of destroying entire buildings."

"Wait, really? Nobody told me the strength of the Phantasms, only the classes. Are they seriously that strong?" Asked the confused Wizard.

"Indeed. But their true strength doesn't start to show until they reach C-Class territory. This is where they're capable of wiping out entire city blocks and possess the intelligence of your average human. B-Class is where you should rank, these phantasms are capable of wiping out multiple city blocks at once, and their intelligence is above that of your average human."

"And those Phantasms I fought were supposed to be A-Class??"

Guinevere puffed her cigarette, nodding her head. "Precisely. Something peculiar is going on, specifically with this city. A-Class Phantasms are strong, they could destroy entire cities, and yet… not much is destroyed around here."

"…Could it be the return of the Final Element?"

Guinevere widened her eyes, asking, "The Final Element? Do you mean Apotheosis?"

"Yes, mam. We are followers of Absceline, the entire Magus Association is! Only the lucky ones get to talk to her directly. I remember there being a prophecy about Apotheosis returning, and on its return, the Phantasms will lose their strength and eventually perish."

Puffing smoke from her mouth, Guinevere chuckled, stating, "The Prophecy of Olias, I know what you're talking about, but you have some things mixed up, Sawada."

"I do?"

"Of course you do. You can't believe everything you hear, at least do some research on your own, knucklehead."

"Ah! I'm sorry, I should've looked more into it!"

"It's fine, I won't bash you too hard for it. But one thing you got wrong is the Phantasms perishing; that's not exactly the case. It's said that when the Phantasms lose their strength, they will revive their Queen to restore balance to their kind and enslave humanity. This prophecy was told to us by Olias, a Grand Wizard of the past who had direct relations with Absceline."

"Huh?! What does the queen want with us, Lady Guinevere? What's the point of enslaving humanity?"

The supervisor shrugged, "I don't know, but theories suggest that it's to sacrifice us to the ones above the Drapery."

"That's…"

"Unbelievable?"

"…Yeah."

"Well, if that time comes, there's nothing we can do about it, except for the strongest Wizard in the association."

"Oh, do you mean Blade Dagon? The strongest Wizard of this era?"

"Indeed, that bastard can't be beaten. I personally believe even the prophesied Queen is unable to defeat him. He's in another league of his own."

"Is he seriously that strong? I never met him before…"

"Trust me, kid, he's strong. He could probably lay waste to this world if he wanted to."

"EEP!" Sawada squeaked, having a look of shock in her eyes. "Wow… I never knew that he was that strong."

"Of course, but that's enough about that. We need to clean up this mess and hide all traces of the Phantasms. Their existence is too much of a threat to humanity, and if anyone finds out about them, worldwide panic will ensue."

"Yes, mam!"

* * *

So we finally arrived.

Wonderland!

About time.

However, something was off.

Nobody was here. Not a single soul. My Mom and Dad just stared, cluelessly, confused about what was going on. Though, Matilda was still happy as ever for some reason, believing we were gonna walk inside Wonderland.

We just stared at the empty fair in the parking lot, and not a single thought of walking inside had crossed our minds.

"Well… looks like Wonderland is off the list," I said, huffing a sigh of relief.

However, Matilda wasn't so happy.

"Why can't we go in? We are the first people here!"

"Because sweetie, it's closed off. I don't think anyone is allowed inside at the moment." Said Susan.

"Awww…"

Matilda crossed her arms, pouting.

"So, how about that hotel, Dad?"

"Yeah, you could say that again."

My dad put the car in reverse and backed up in the parking lot, about to drive away, however, Matilda opened the door!

"Huh? Matilda, what are you doing?!

I tried grabbing her arm, but she ran outside the car, dashing off towards Wonderland.

"Goddamnit. Matilda, get your ass back in the car!" My dad put the car in park, stepped outside, and chased after her.

She was spoiled, that much was obvious.

Whenever she couldn't get what she wanted, she did things like this. It was normal.

"Mom, what should we do?"

"Stay in the car, I'll be right back."

My mom opened the door and stepped outside, running after Matilda as well. My little sister may have been small, but she was extremely fast.

There was a fence surrounding the entire fair, with no way inside, but she found an opening at the bottom, crawling underneath the fence.

Some delinquent kids must've used some pliers, cutting the fence so they could sneak inside. Typical.

"What a pain… I should've kept my mouth shut about Wonderland, great, now we have to deal with this mess."

I lazily rested my head against the window, staring outside the car. Blowing from my mouth, I fogged up the glass, considering it was pretty cold outside and inside the car. They should've at least turned the heater on for me.

"I wanna listen to some music right now…"

I closed my eyes and started yawning.

Even though it was cold, my body still felt exhausted.

Honestly, I may pass out soon. By the time they catch Matilda, it was gonna be nightfall.

"I hope everything goes alright…"

I reopened my eyelids to stare out the window one last time, however… fear filled my eyes. My heart felt like it stopped as a ghoulish creature stared at me through the window. Their face was hollow, no eyes apparent, only a dark abyss.

They had no hair, only a pale white body, with elongated arms protruding from their back.

I could only stare in horror.

I was unable to move a muscle, or even scream.

My heart felt like it was gonna pound outside my chest at any moment.

Was I dreaming again? No… this isn't a dream. I can feel everything around me.

"Aaaaahhhhh!!!"

It was as if I lagged.

It took my bloodcurdling scream a few seconds to finally release from my lungs.

Adrenaline filled my body as the uncanny horror started pounding on my window, releasing a devilish growl.

I opened the left door and stepped outside, running for my life. Despite my exhausted body, I mustered up the energy to book it the other way.

The creature started following me, crawling on all four legs as its neck twisted around in circles.

The sight horrified me even more.

"Someone help me!! Mom, Dad!"

I screamed for help at the top of my lungs, running down the street, and away from Wonderland.

I didn't know where I was going. I just wanted to run for my life.

I felt naked outside. The cold winds rattled my bones, ignoring the hospital gown around my body.

"Stay away, stay away from me!"

I tripped.

"Aaagh!"

Just like in those horror movies, I tripped and fell flat on my face. The creature caught up to me in no time, standing over my body with its ghoulish moans.

I covered my head and balled myself up in a fetal position.

Its teeth rattled against each other as it lowered its head towards my body… sniffing me.

I whimpered, visibly shaking in my legs.

"…You're not real, you're not real… go away! Stay away from me!"

Once I talked, the uncanny creature dug its claw into my shoulder.

Pain… so much pain!

"Aaaaaah! S-Stop it please, leave me alone!"

It pushed itself even deeper, going through my entire shoulder. Blood spurted from my wound, painting its uncanny face in red, alongside the ground.

I uncurled myself, twitching in my body, scared out of my mind.

Is this how I was gonna die? What is this thing?! Where did it come from?!

I thought… I had a purpose in this life.

Is Absceline even real? Was any of that real??

How did I return back from the dead after I finished speaking with that so-called God?

So many questions left unanswered by my feeble little human brain.

All of it was frustrating.

Every single part of it.

"No, no!!!"

I shouted, feeling my right arm becoming heavy.

A blue light surrounded my entire arm, illuminating the area around me.

I didn't even notice it. I was too lost in my mind.

"Stay the hell away from me!!"

The human body had a fight-or-flight response, so I switched to fight.

I swung my right arm behind me, smacking the creature away with brute force.

My body… it no longer feels exhausted.

I was slowly standing up from the ground, looking behind me at the creature.

It was on its back, struggling to get up like a turtle who was flipped on its shell.

"…Huh?"

I looked at my right arm, and it was surrounded by a bluish flame. The fire appeared to create a layer of armor around my arm.

Even the design was that of armor.

"What's… going on with me?"