Chapter 22: Guess who’s Beck?

[Earth, Fiore's headquarters]

"Who sent you here?" Yukiko asked as she pointed the sharp end of her blade at one of the men's throat, who was barely alive.

He refused to answer.

She repeated her question for the second time but this time, she applied more pressure to the sword. It dug slightly into his throat, causing a drop of blood to run down his skin.

Still, no responds.

That was it. Out of anger, she swung her weapon horizontally and slit the man's throat. She then went on to another man and asked the same question. That man also refused to answer, just like his other buddy. Irritated, she raised her sword and was prepared to kill him. But just as she was about to deliver the final blow, Jai stopped her.

"Yukiko, we still need him."

He asked her to step aside while she was left cursing under her breath. He pulled out a syringe and kneeled down next to the dying man so that he could stab him with the apparatus.

Yukiko made her sword disappeared as she stood next to Jai. Anna did the same for her scythe and joined them.

"Truth serum?" Yukiko asked while folding her arms.

"Yeah." He replied before questioning the man, "Who sent you here?"

The man wanted to keep his mouth shut but he could not help but to reply, "...The Phantom."

"Why are you guys here?"

"...The Princess, we need her." The man unconsciously responded.

"So, you guys are planning to capture her?"

"Yes..." That was his final words, before passing out.

Jai stood up as Yukiko marched towards the entrance and ordered, "Contact the others, we are heading to her school."

*****

[Earth, Spring Valley high]

Mary took a couple more swings at Kyle, which he dodged swiftly to as if they were nothing. He disappeared for a split second and reappeared behind Mary, "Is that all you got? Please fight with me seriously, otherwise I'll get bored."

Mary quickly gyrated and swung her dagger once more. Kyle grabbed the her arm and tugged it behind her back. He applied more pressure on her arm, until she let go of the weapon. "You're boring."

He tightened his grip further and her face was contorted in pain. Emily panicked as she looked around for something that she could use. She stared down at her shoes and removed them. She picked one of them up and threw it directly at the guy's head, "Let go of her!"

He stared at her in surprise in the first second, but in the next, one side of his lips curved up to form a grin, "Alright, if that's what you want."

He then let Mary go and approached Emily.

She held the other shoe in her hand, with the intention of using it as a weapon. However, he did not back down, which was obvious. Who the heck would back down because of a damn shoe? As he took a step forward, she took a step backwards.

He took another step forward and she followed with a step back.

They repeated it movement for a few seconds, before she finally met with the wall behind her. "Don't come near me! I-I have a shoe!" She yelled as she held up her weapon.

Kyle stopped and bursted out laughing, "I've never imagine the Princess to be like that, but you're brave, I'll give you that." He then grabbed her arm gently and said, "Please come with us, it will be better. With your power, our organisation will benefit greatly."

Mary picked up the dagger with her non-dominant hand and went for him. But, before she could make contact with him, a couple of fireballs flew past her and headed towards him.

Kyle managed to dodge all of them, but he did end up letting go the key to his promotion.

Suddenly, someone with maroon hair stood in front with his back facing Emily, "Hey, what was your name again? Kenneth or something?"

Annoyed, the guy scrunched his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes towards him, "It's Kyle."

"Oh. That's a lame name." The guy commented while folding his arms, "Well, I don't really care about your name. But you, Kyle, shouldn't be touching her. Honestly, I would really appreciate if you could leave now."

That was a split second of consideration, but his response was obvious.

"How about no?"

"Alright, I've asked. Don't blame for anything." The man shrugged. Once he was done talking to Kyle, he turned around to face Emily, "You're not hurt or anything, right?"

Her eyes widened in shock when she saw who he was...

It was Beck.

He was a completely different person. His hair changed, his personality changed and his eyes... They were different. His eye colour was red and he had slit pupil.

He was intimidating.

Her heart was pounding, and she could barely breathe. "This is... Beck?"

"Are you okay? You don't l--"

Before Beck could finish, Kyle attempted to give him a kick that was directed to his face. He blocked it with his forearm easily. Shocked seemed to be written all over Kyle's face, but he quickly regained his composure, "I see... You've got some upgrades."

Beck turned to him and snarled, "I was talking."

"Yeah, I kno--" Without letting the guy finish, Beck gave Kyle a punch with the back of his fist, sending the poor guy flying and ultimately hitting a wall, which cracked upon impact.

He did not give the Kyle any time to recover, he lunged towards him and gave him another hard punch, followed by knee to face and a kick to the chest. Beck went on and on, continuously beating the guy to the ground.

This is not Beck.

Emily known Beck as the nice guy, who is always kind to everyone, not this... Monster. Kyle had been an asshole to Mary which made Emily angry, but she did not want to see anyone die. She stared at the gruesome scene, not knowing how to stop him.

A chill went down her spine as her warm blood turned cold.

Beck was grinning.

He did not attack for the sake of Emily, instead he did it purely for his entertainment.

She then looked over the Mary, who looked equally as terrified as her.

"Mary..." Emily called out. Mary did nothing but stared bleakly back at her.

"This is not Beck. The Beck I know, wouldn't do such things. But, if this is not Beck... Then who is he?"

Mary mustered up her courage and shouted, "Beck, stop! You'll kill him!"

He completely ignored her and continued on for his enjoyment.

Emily just could not stand to see blood being continuously stained on the floor, walls and also his fists. She took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Beck, stop it already!"

He did not.

She tried once more, "Beck! I said stop!"

He still did not.

This time, she felt slightly pissed off. She lifted her shoe and threw it towards him. The footwear hit his back, making a 'thud' sound before it fell to the ground. "I said stop! Can't you hear me?!"

Finally, she caught his attention. He turned to her with the eyes of a maniac. They looked right through her, forcing her to let out an unwilling shudder, but she did not back down. "Let... Go of him."

Beck laughed hysterically for a good few seconds before looking back at her, "And what if I don't want to?"

This time, his chilling words did not scared her. She did not know where all this courage came from. Maybe because she thought of how Beck might be different now, but he was still Beck and she believed that he did not want to do this, so she was going to stop him.

"It doesn't matter if you want to or not. This is an order." She demanded as she narrowed her eyes towards him. Beck's eyes widened when she said that. Slowly, his hair returned to its original color and so did his eyes. He stared at her and his face was completely puzzled, almost as if he did not know what he just did.

Kyle got up slowly, but his breathing was heavy. That guy was just like zombie. He was battered, covered in blood, and every part of his body was screaming in pain, yet he stood up. Looking at him, Emily's heart almost stop, due to pure fear.

"What the hell is wrong with... him?"