Chapter 9

Nathan wanted to curse at David because if he hadn't proposed the idea, Jake wouldn't have made fun of it, and Collin wouldn't have taken it seriously. Now they are in the mirror realm, not knowing if they'll make it out alive or dead.

David wasn't angry, more surprised; he didn't know if he should laugh or cry. He should have known a long time ago that Collin was as unpredictable as a fox.

Collin had prepared a lot of things for them to survive in the mirror realm. protective clothes that fend off attacks from S-class beasts, as well as a water filter, dried foods, tents, ropes, a flashlight, a first aid kit, sleeping bags, a fire extinguisher, and extra batteries.

He entrusted Fiona with a map since she had been to the Mirror Realm, and her plant ability was most helpful since they were in the forest. He also assigned Nathan as the leader since he was the one who made the team.

Collin was caring enough not to dump them there without supplies, but he was evil for taking them out of their warm comfort zone and dumping them in the middle of a forest.

Fiona swears she is going to strangle Collin when she sees him. She looks at the clothes in her hands, a pair of navy-green trousers as well as a black t-shirt and a hair tie. She wishes she could take a shower; her body is itchy from sleeping on the ground.

When she finished dressing, she saw that the only other person who had finished dressing was David. "Hello," she said politely. But it seemed like David hadn't heard her. She was a bit worried, so she snapped her fingers in front of his face, and he was startled. A burst of flames engulfed his body, almost burning Fiona. Luckily, Fiona had quick reflexes. A tree erupted from the ground, blocking the flames and shielding her from the burn.

"I'm so sorry," David apologized immediately.

Fiona wasn't angry with him; he was surprised, and that seemed like a normal reaction to her. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

David returned to his daze. "Where is Collin?" he asked in a hurry. "Wait, I'm here, and you're here—your hair and eyes are still normal." He murmured first, then said, "We're in a forest; is this the training stuff Collin prepared for us?"

Fiona was confused and a bit worried. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"No, not really," David replied honestly. Then his eyes widened. "Ha! It worked!" he shouted. He was very happy.

What is going on? Fiona looked at David like he was insane. Nathan and Jake came out from their dressing spots. "Is something wrong with David?" Jake asked. He seemed to have calmed down from the attack earlier.

David then sat down on the forest floor. "I wonder what class I'm in right now," he murmured, completely ignoring everyone's presence. Nathan was a bit annoyed by David's sudden weirdness and lack of focus; Fiona was too. So a tree branch slapped David, bringing him back to his senses.

"Care to explain what you're babbling about?" Nathan said.

David smiled softly at his friend. Nathan was creeped out by this; David never smiles softly at anyone. The only time he ever saw him smiling softly was at Collin.

"It's a long story," he said. "But, if my memory serves me correctly, we don't have time for story time," he said. "We have to run, fast."

David began running toward the northern region of the forest. "Why are we running in that direction?" Fiona shouted. She had studied the map she was given earlier; a large blue dot indicated Collin's location, which was approximately 500 miles away from theirs to the southeast. She had calculated that it would take at least seven days to reach Collin's location.

She heard a roar behind them, and a giant twin-tailed fox came out from behind a tree. Nathan, Fiona, and Jake immediately ran behind David. "Fire fox!" Jake shouted. This is an S-class beast; it is around 4'1ft tall and has fiery orange fur and a coat made of fire. "Fiona, create a wall around the fox made of thick thorns around 7 feet tall; Nathan, use your other ability to make a blizzard in the wall!" David instructed them after they reached some distance.

Nathan and Fiona stopped and did as David said. Fiona created the wall, and Natha made it snow. There was a moment of silence. "Oh, I didn't think that would work," David said. The ground was shaking, and the thorny wall was immediately destroyed. It shot giant fireballs in their direction. They all dodged the fireballs, but when they hit the ground, they immediately burned through.

"That didn't work as well as I thought," David said. The fox shot the fireball at David next, as it saw him as a bigger threat. David stretched out his hand and stopped the fireball. "This is hotter than I remembered," he said in pain. Soon, the fireball slowly shrank before completely disappearing. The fox is surrounded by bars made from dark purple flames. "It hasn't reduced," he said.

Nathan looked at David in surprise, as did Fiona. To do something like this would make David higher than a triple S-class.

"Good job, David; now I'll be able to finish the job," Nathan said, getting ready to use his blood manipulation ability on the fox, but David stopped him.

"Don't kill her," David said.

Jake raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that's a she?" he asked. A cub ran to the giant fox's side, barking at the group as if saying, "Leave my mother alone; she didn't do anything to you!"

David released the fox, and it didn't attack again. "I think we were a bit too close to her nest," Fiona said.

The mother glared at the group and nudged her barking cub to stop so they could leave. "Tch, humans," the fox said before leaving.

"It can talk," Jake said in amazement.

"It's an S-class; they can speak like humans, but they don't like talking to humans," David said.

Nathan couldn't take it anymore. He does what Collin would normally do—he uses his blood manipulation ability to lift David up. This would normally be horrifyingly painful for David, but since Nathan is only in double S-class, it wouldn't be effective on him now.

Nathan found it difficult to keep David up and was getting exhausted; it was almost like David was sucking his energy. He became dizzy and fell to his knees, dropping David.

David ran to check on Nathan but was stopped by Fiona, who was holding a giant axe. "Stay away from Nathan if you still need your head attached to your neck," she threatened, her voice cold.

Jake, too, was holding a gun, an A-P75 energy blaster. He found it among the stuff Collin packed up for him.

David raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry," he apologized. "Things aren't going as well as I planned."

"You guys may not believe it, but I'm from the future," David said.

"Blast him," Fiona said.

Jake shot him immediately, but Collin appeared and stopped the blast from hitting David. His face was pale, and he was breathing heavily. "I—" He took a deep breath. "I made it," he said.

He pointed at David. "He's not lying," he said, still breathing heavily, before going to find a bush and throwing up. "My head is aching," he said.

"Your soul caused me to almost get a stroke," he said. "I can tell you've grown stronger in the future because your aura is no longer yellow." Then Collin frowns. "How bad is the future?" he asked.

David's downcast face said it all. Collin sighed, and he could guess it was very bad.

"I'm going to be traveling with you out of the mirror realm," Collin said. "The training is meant for you to gain experience and become stronger, so I'm not going to help you in any of your fights during the time I'm with you," he said, then added. "It's not like I can anyway."

"I don't feel too good," he said weakly, before collapsing.

Collin didn't need to tell them that he was feeling sick; his pale, flushed face said it all. David caught him before he reached the floor. "He's running a high fever," he said, worriedly.

Fiona was also worried. It's unusual for a grade to become ill, especially Collin, who has the ability to heal. She reached out to David and touched his head. Her palm was glowing. "This isn't a fever; something is wrong with his soul core," she said.

The lock on Collin's choker cracked. David began to panic. "This wasn't supposed to happen yet," he said. "We need to get somewhere as soon as possible, or else we would all be in big trouble."

~~~~

Meanwhile, in the capital of the empire,

"There is a power disruption coming from the mirror realm; it seems to be unstable," a woman said, showing a tablet computer to a middle-aged man.

The man looks at the tablet, and his eyes widen. "This was the same reading taken before the Breakdown Disaster," she said.

The man had an excited smile on his face. "So the person is back," he said, then looked at the readings again. "This time I'll make sure I end you once and for all."

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