Chapter 66 - The Hero (Part 2)

Back in the pocket world, Lily was still resting on the ground. A couple of hours have already passed since she finished her test, with no sign of Aiden returning.

Tilting her head towards the old hermit, she asked.

"Do you know how long we need to wait until Aiden returns?"

The hermit still standing still in front of her with eyes closed, shortly replied with his raspy voice.

"Time… flows differently… on the outside... Then inside… We can't tell…. How long…. The illusion is…"

"Time flows differently? How long was I inside then?" Lily asked.

"1 hour…" the old hermit replied curtly.

"1 hour only?! I was in for several!! How is this possible?!" she exclaimed, shocked. He wasn't sure how much time she spent inside exactly, but it had to be at least 5. No matter, this new information raised several alarms inside Lily's head. If 1 hour counts as 5 inside the illusion, then what is going on with Aiden?!

"This time… uhm, difference… is it the same as Aiden's illusion?"

The old hermit shook his head before slowly answering.

"No… It is different… for the both of you…"

With a troubled expression, Lily sighed and plopped back down to the ground. With this, she had no idea how much time had passed for Aiden and couldn't even predict when to expect his arrival.

"Huah… where are you brother, and what are you doing?!" She asked looking at the starless scarlet sky.

---

Back in the illusion…

Inside the main hall of the Academy, there was a fierce firefight happening between the terrorists and Aiden. His figure could be seen flickering back and forth amongst the terrorists, deftly avoiding the storm of bullets that were hailed at him.

His increased stats were so out of the world compared to everyone in this 'world', that he looked like some kind of superhero straight out of a comic book.

He wasn't attacking the terrorists, he was just merely avoiding. Actually, he didn't really know what to do. First, he thought that by making sure that his friends would be safe he would fulfill the requirements for this illusion, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Right now, he was thinking if he either needs to sacrifice himself to make sure the rest of the guests have a chance, or the point of this trial would be something else.

There was also the matter with the quest. So far, he only had small success, he banished 3 Nightmare Spawns but made no progress on the optional objective. In fact, he had no idea what it even meant.

'Do I need to kill this group, or just keep them occupied and let the others escape? Hmm…' he was thinking inwardly while keeping up his pace.

[Aiden, whatever you decide, making sure the guests can escape would be a good idea. Lowering the risk of causing innocent casualties, and then you could resolve the situation will be beneficial for the completion of your quest.]

"Yeah, you are right…" he muttered. In the next moment, he flickered to the pair of terrorists closest to the guests, and with a hit on to their chests, he flung them across the hall.

"Run! Escape now! Don't look back, just run out of the building and find help!" he shouted to the frightened group. "I will keep them busy, but you have to be fast unless you want to stay here and die!"

As he finished, he flickered once again and appeared next to the leader, who still had trouble breathing, thanks to his earlier strike.

He punched again, making sure that he used just enough power and momentum that the leader of the terrorists would still be able to take it. Still, the man was already heavily injured and spent, so even this small attack pushed him back several meters and caused him to cough up some black substance.

With difficulty, he stood up. What surprised Aiden, was that instead of blood, a black thick substance oozed out from his injured body. The leader snickered as he looked at the boy with raging in his eyes. "I'm not going down easy as the others!" he groaned. His hatred and his anger rose to new heights as he looked at the boy.

The rising emotions clouded his mind, he could no longer think rationally. The mission no longer mattered, the only thing that did, was this monster in front of him. Only by making sure that he would send him to hell would his soul find peace.

"EVERYONE FOCUS ON THIS MONSTER! WE WILL KILL HIM TONIGHT EVEN IF IT IS THE LAST THING WE DO!" he shouted, filled with rage.

The remaining terrorists looked at the boss and nodded their heads. While they noticed the hostages making a beeline towards the entrance, they can't go against his orders. They raised their rifles and aimed at the boy.

"SHOOT! SHOOT! KILL THIS BASTARD!" The leader bellowed as he opened fire, with his team following shortly after.

Aiden once again flickered and appeared behind another guard, and chopped down at his neck. In the corner of his eyes, he could see that all of the guests have finally left the building.

Smiling, he looked at the leader as he held the neck of the now unconscious terrorist in front of him as a sort of human shield. As the bullets flew, some eventually made way into his new human shield, ending his life.

"You know, you were stupider than I expected. All the big talk and the show trying to sell yourselves as professionals… But look around! Now that we are alone, I can finally let loose and put an end to this party."

As he finished, he threw the body towards the closest terrorist, and flickered, only to appear behind another guard. This time, however, he transformed his arms, and as the claws grew out at the end of his fingers, he pushed his claws through the kevlar and the body of the unsuspecting enemy.

The sound of bones crushing could be heard and in the next moment, a set of bloodied thick black claws appeared as it pushed through the front of the kevlar. As Aiden's eyes slowly turned golden, he looked at the leader from behind his now deceased teammate, snickering.

"One down…"

As he flung the dead body against another terrorist, he flickered once again and appeared behind his new target.

The events happened so fast, that the group had no time to react. The leader stood hopeless, looking at this demon. He single-handedly ruined everything! Everything they painstakingly planned out was ruined just because this kid was here.

"Who are you? You shouldn't have been at this banquet at all…" He said as he watched another one of his group die horribly with a hole in his chest.

"Oh me? My friends and I just sneaked in, we wanted to have a good time. Not sure if it's our luck or yours that made us cross paths." Aiden answered nonchalantly as he appeared behind another guy. The group was desperately trying to fight off this Reaper but to no avail. There was no hope. They are all going to die by his hands, and there's nothing they can do…

"...Even if we die, we are already prepared. We already knew that by doing this means there's no turning back. Did you think we had no contingency plan? If we die, we will make sure you are coming down with us BASTARD!" as he said that, he picked up a remote controller that had a red light blinking on top of it. Next to it, was a button that he already pushed down as he picked it up from the side of his kevlar.

The rest of the terrorists stopped fighting and closed their eyes, waiting for the inevitable. As their leader said, they have already made peace and knew that this mission would be their last. They were hoping for at least claiming their revenge, but seeing as there was no helping it, they didn't resist.

"WE MAY HAVE FAILED HERE, BUT YOU ARE COMING WITH US! DIE BASTARD!" the leader shouted. As he released the button, the light stopped blinking and shone in red light. In the next moment, the bombs that all the terrorists were carrying, blew up, and as the explosion destroyed the building and everything in its vicinity, Aiden's vision turned also turned dark.

'So that's how it ends, huh… Well, I hope at least I achieved what I could.' He said inwardly. As he was floating in the dark, the air around him started to vibrate, and transform. The scarlet sky appeared on top, and as he looked around, he found himself back in the Pocket World, on the ground.

"Huh?! Is it over?" he exclaimed, still not sure what happened. However, the big blonde rocket that crashed onto his chest soon cleared up all confusion in his mind. A happy cheerful giggle was all it took for Aiden to realize that he completed the trial.

"Ehehehe, brother you were so late! I was getting really bored waiting for you here!" the muffled sound of Lily could be heard coming from his chest area where she buried her face.

"There, there, everything is fine now, we both completed our parts." Patting her head, he slowly separated from her and stood up. Looking at the old hermit who was standing motionless, he asked.

"So, if my guess is correct, this was just the first half of the trial, and we still need to face the second part, right?"

The old hermit finally moved, turning his head, facing Aiden. His face turning into a crooked smile, he opened his mouth, and with his raspy voice, he answered, surprisingly not stuttering this time.

"That is correct. You have both completed the first part of the quest, which I congratulate you. However, to finish this trial and be able to leave this world once and for all, you will still have to face the last hurdle."

He finally opened up his eyes. They were completely black, with no visible iris or sclera. As Aiden gazed into it, he could feel an unnatural pull coming to take him down.

Aiden sighed, as he already guessed, what was going to happen when he did not see the quest completion notification when he exited the illusion. Transforming his arms once again and focusing on the old hermit, he said.

"Lily, hope you have rested enough..."