Chapter 6: Forgetfulness.

"It seems everyone's here huh..." The man said after gazing at everyone in the class.

 It was Mr.Lucas smith, their homeroom teacher, feared by everyone in this class of freaks.

Everyone who was discussing quieted down after hearing his voice.

"Hmm... first we'll do the usual roll call as usual, though you guys won't have to study today."

Then Mr.Lucas starting calling out names. 

"NO.1, Elicia Welsh."

The first in the list was Elicia Welsh, and this roll number was based on their talent assessment and if he remembered correctly Elicia had the talent assessment of 'SS-rank'; one rank lower than 'SSS-rank' which was the highest.

"No.2, Hellen de grace." The number two, Hellen, was actually sitting across him had the talent assessment of SS-rank as well, but she was ranked lower than Elicia; for reasons that Masato wasn't privy to.

"No.3, Mark Stein"

Mark was your typical gook-looking guy who wanted to be a technomancer, had the talent assessment of S-rank.

And after many names Masato's turn came.

"No.13 Masato"

Masato also just raised his hand. And Mr.Lucas' gaze lingered on him for some time, but continued the roll call.

*******

Then, he gazed at all of them and continued.

"I know you guys have many questions and even though I may not be able to

answer everything I will try my best to bring you guys up to speed. And do note

that I don't want to be interrupted while I'm speaking. Am I clear?"

Mr.Lucas said with a stern gaze directed at some of the troublemakers and then he continued.

"Yes sir!" Most students shouted.

"Firstly, I'm glad to see that all of you are here. It would have been tragic to lose a student

On their first semester…outside the Academy." Mr.Lucas said with a smirk.

'So it would have been better if someone dies in the Academy?' masato wondered.

"There has been a monster invasion again and the city is under martial law with alert level at red."

Then he looked at all of them to gauge their reaction.

"And I hope everyone here was memorized all the alert levels by now." He said in a playful tone making those with confused gazes flinch.

It was mandatory for all the citizens to learn the alert levels, and Masato had learned it from his dad when he was still a toddler. But some still hadn't memorized it till their adulthood. 

Then Mr.Lucas he pointed at a student and asked with a thin smile on his face.

"Mark, can you please describe what code red means to your classmates?"

Many of the students sighed with relief after that.

"Ye... yes sir? I-i didn't hear yo-you properly..."

Mark was a timid person by nature no matter how great he was at both combat and studies.

Mr.Lucas sighed and repeated himself.

"Go ahead and tell your classmates about the meaning of code red."

"It means that the threat level is either so high that we cannot estimate it precisely.

Or this is a new kind threat we're facing." Mark answered with certainty.

"You're correct Mark; we do are facing a new kind of threat this time. Monsters are usually mindless creatures but what we're facing this time are intelligent ones with their own thoughts. The mindless versions were already hard to deal with, but the smart ones? Well, you guys are smart yourself to know how hard that's gonna be."

Hearing that, most gasped with surprise and some looked outright terrified and anxious.

Masato could hear his classmates discussing among themselves worriedly, the reactions varying. Some seemed worried, but some looked excited. 

And the last sentence was muttered by the battle maniac by of his class...Hellen de grace...

"Now, anyone has questions for me?" Mr Lucas asked.

Masato saw that she was raising her hands…

"Yes, Hellen?" 

"Are they hard to deal?" asked Hellen with her slightly hoarse voice.

Now, everyone would have assumed that this question was due to worry, however, she had a predatory grin on her face…

"Well, I haven't fought them myself and haven't asked those who have done and lived…"Mr.Lucas shrugged.

"Just know, that the casualty this time is very high, and our diviners have expected to situation to get even hairy."

Masato then raised his hands.

"Oh, what questions do you have, No.13?" Mr.Lucas said with a slight smile.

"Well, just wanted to know if these diviners can be trusted…"Masato said with a shrug.

Everyone expected some people in his class had negative reactions to this question…

"Haha, that's a nice question, No.13…no what was your name again?"

"Masato." Masato replied with a smile.

"Masato? Well that's an unusual name… anyway! It was a good question."

"Now, I myself don't fully trust diviners as their deviations are sometimes unreliable. No offense to those pursue divination though. At the end, Masato, I'd say you trust yourself more than divination, but don't stop believing in them completely. Remember, and I quote, "believe in miracles but don't depend on them."' 

"I'll keep that in mind sir." Said Masato while nodding.

Then no questions was and Mr.Lucas continued:

"Now, all of you will be taken to the academy's armory to arm yourself.

I know, I said you will be separated based on your specialty, but we can't neglect

your safety, so you will be allowed to choose what you want to prepare for any unforeseen

situation."

"You guys already have your uniform for defense, although you can wear other defensive items over it, and for those who already own enchanted items, I advise you not be greedy and pick another item from the armory unless you can handle the mana output required by multiple enchanted items."

"Rather, you may pick a normal weapon, and it may even be efficient"

"I'm just saying that you should choose your items carefully, otherwise it may cost you your life."

"Let's go, and remember that you have limited time to choose your kit."

                ******

The evening sun was slowing vanishing over the horizon, bathing the city in an orange hue…with tall buildings casting long shadows all over the city. This was the prime time for housewives and children to gather around the parks with artificial trees and flowers, but instead of laughter and gossips; people were huddled up in some bunkers made all over the city.

Which had sadly seen a lot of use after the end of the old era, but people had come to trust his bunkers after countless invasion had happened and there had only been very few cases of these bunkers getting destroyed by accident. 

In one such bunker; people were huddled up around a terminal which displayed a middle aged man wearing a dark armor with the insignia of the imperial army in his left chest. This man was currently being interviewed by a reporter who standing beside the 

|"The Invasion was first detected at the forgetful forest, north of the city, by captain Jack Turner. He and his team had spotted the monsters coming from the forest, then we have sent a recon team to deal with the stragglers and get the intel on them." | A man in his thirties wearing dark armor said to the reporter who was holding the mike.

|Then can you tell me more about these monsters? Colonel Tyler?" said the reporter cautiously.

|Oh, yes I can. You see these monsters were different from the others we've faced before. An-| The colonel was paused midway as another person in a dark blue armor appeared and whispered something to the colonel whose expression turned from surprised to ashen.

Then the colonel went away from the frame and the reported stood there awkwardly for some time.

|uh...It seems that the colonel was busy with something...um...Thank you for tuning in.| then the news portal showed a ad.

"What kind of bullshit is that?!" someone shouted from the crowd who were watching the terminal.

"Yeah, how can they just stop the news in the middle." another person who had a missing eye added.

"Hey, Charlie, weren't you chummy with an officer? Can't ya ask him?" The first guy who was wearing tattered clothes said while tilting his head to his side, but he found no one beside him.

"Huh...where did that guy go...?" The one eyed man said to himself.

 Many people in the crowed noticed that the guy called charlie had disappeared, and they searched from him in the bunker but found non trace of him.

 "Wasn't charlie with you mark?" the one-eyed guy said to mark the guy in tattered clothes.

 "Yeah, he was just beside me, and he just disappeared." Mark replied while scratching his back.

 "Really? Didn't that guy had a brother? We should ask him." The one eyed man suggested after sometime.

 "Brother? That guy...?" Mark said with unfocused eyes.Wait, who were we talking about again?"

 "Charlie…? the guy beside me?" The one eyed guy muttered while scratching his head, and suddenly stood up from his seat."Wait, he was sitting beside you, wasn't he? Hah...where was he anyway?"

 "Let's ask others then." Mark suggested and then both of them started asking about charlie. 

                         - - - - - - - -

They went form one room to another; asked people about a guy named 'Charlie' showed his photo around, but they themselves were questioned about many missing people, much to their confusion, but alas people didn't seem to know about a fellow named 'Charlie' even when they showed them the photo.

After many failed attempts and even mark, and the one-eyed guy soon forgot about charlie and went to go their rooms in utter confusion.

Similar scenarios were taking place in other sectors and the people that were lost were either completely forgotten or partially remembered only to forget them next time.

However, some remorseful, but smart fellows went directly to the guards and complained about the missing people and the search was again started but to the dismay and dread of the guards their own comrades went missing during search. So, stopped the search altogether and sent the information to the higher ups. While people still continued to go missing in large numbers.