A Huge Loss

POV: Ryomen Sukuna

My dad walked out of the house in a hurry.

The rulers of England had been killed, which means that there will be a power struggle.

There are not many big families there, so the supporters of the few that exist will try to make them the rulers, which may even start a civil war.

If such a situation comes up, then the Hunter Association would have to step up.

There may also be other countries trying to take over.

All in all, it's a big bunch of chaos.

I walked into my mom's bedroom to casually talk with her, but I saw her sitting on the bed looking at the news on the television.

A few minutes ago, The Evan Academy, The Grace Academy and the ITAAS Academy were attacked by unknown individuals.

The casualties suffered are displayed on the screen.

Most of the students were evacuated safely, but many of them were injured while escaping.

Some of these kids are in life-threatening situations.

And a few of them, unfortunately, passed away at such a young age.

Following are the names of the deceased currently known:

Daniel Miller

John Smith

Jose Navarro

. . .

. . .

. . .

and Anny Leonheart

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A little while ago . . .

POV: Ryogaku

"Should we have a little feast celebrating our performance?"

"Yeah! I want ice cream"

"Sure, why not?"

"Whatever"

We walked into the cafeteria, which was emptier than usual, the students were probably resting after the Tournament.

I heard that Sukuna left just after it ended, and that today was his birthday.

I should probably wish him happy birthday when he comes back.

I saw that he was interested in Eva, she is quite strong honestly, it is predictable that he would want to know her.

I should congratulate him for winning the Tournament too.

I thought about these things as I walked to the counter to place my order, my friends sat down on one of the free tables.

"Hello, can I please have a–"

*CRASH*

I heard glass shattering and the falling of chairs and tables behind me as I faced the counter.

I whipped my head around, and could see my friends in a fighting stance.

There were unrecognizable black . . . slimes? blobs?, that were attacking everyone there.

There was an attack on the Academy, one of the most protected places in the world.

Before I could even think of anything, my hand had already unsheathed the blade on my waist, which I did not have time to put away as I directly came to the cafeteria.

Emotions flared up inside me

Anger - Watching my friends being attacked

Fear - That I, and my friends, would die fighting

Determination - To prevent the above outcome at all costs

I saw one of the attackers jump towards me, and I didn't hesitate, and I didn't blink before slashing by blade towards him.

The blade started emitting orange and red sparks, which expanded and covered the sword in a thin layer of red, while the red layer was covered by burning hot orange flames.

I slashed down on the attacker's body, splitting it straight into two.

I landed on my two feet, determination not leaving my eyes, I had not been able to cover the sword in red flames like that since the first time I did in the dungeon.

I saw Anny being swarmed by those attackers, there were more than five going for her at the same time.

I didn't waste time and jumped in to help.

"HAAAAAAAAAA"

I screamed as the flames on my sword raged along with me, slashing down on one of the attacker's head.

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Meanwhile . . .

Eva was limping out of the academy's bounds.

She had blood all over her body, and her right arm was missing.

Parts of her clothes were burned and she had burn marks all over her body.

She lost control of her emotions and attacked as soon as she saw 'that man' in front of her.

Unfortunately, she was weak, too weak to do anything.

The man just swiped his hand and sent a wall of flames towards her. She hadn't seen that much firepower even in S-Rank Hunters.

She quickly created a kind of barrier of ice, which melted on coming in contact with the flames.

Shock was written all over her face, and the flames engulfed her whole.

The man just walked away without looking at her again.

Eva was not giving up yet though, she crawled towards him, but all she could see was his back going farther and farther away.

She clenched her fists, a teardrop came out of her eye.

'I'm too weak . . . to do anything'

Her thoughts were all around the place.

'Why should I be alive? Why should I be the only one to hold this hate?'

. . .

'DON'T THINK'

Her breathing slowly stabilized, and her cold demeanor returned.

'Because I am the only one who can do this'

Her determination was not extinguished . . .

'I will become stronger'

. . . instead, it flared up even more.

She got up and started limping.

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She finally reached the hospital.

She was chased by a few of the attackers while coming here, for which she had to sacrifice some students she met on the way.

In total, three students died because of her, but she didn't feel an ounce of guilt.

It was as if stepping on ants, you forget it after a few seconds.

The information that the man was one of the attackers would be valuable in finding him later.

She closed her eyes lying on the hospital bed, and slowly drifted into a sleep.

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POV: Unknown

'My part in this attack is done.'

A man was taking a stroll in a grassy land.

'I have struck determination in the heart of Eva Helion by showing myself again'

His expression turned from uncaring and apathetic to a malicious grin.

'I am excited about what the future holds'

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ITAAS Academy, even though it was the least damaged out of the three that were attacked, enormous destruction could be seen.

Whole buildings were flattened, there were burn and slash marks on the ground everywhere.

The cafeteria, where everything started, was now a crater.

Many students were lying on the ground, injured, blood pooling under their bodies, dying the grass red.

This happy environment of the Academy had turned into this horrifying scene.

The injured students were walking to the medics that arrived on the scene a few minutes ago, getting themselves healed.

Among these students, almost everyone had tears in their eyes due to the unbearable pain they were experiencing due to the amount of damage that had been done to them.

But, among these students, there were three, whose tears were not from pain, but from sadness.

These three, Ryogaku, Johan, and Alexia, were crying looking at the body of their dead friend.

They felt no pain, it was as if an important part of them was just taken away.

This void in the hearts would stay with them their entire lives.

They stood there, not taking their eyes off of their friend until the passed out from blood loss.

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When they woke up, they held a funeral for Anny.

None of her family visited, because they were dead.

Only some students and teachers participated in this funeral.

As the funeral ended, Ryogaku noticed Sukuna standing a little far away, watching the proceedings.

All the people, except Alexia, Johan, Ryogaku and Sukuna left soon.

Ryogaku walked towards Sukuna, gritting his teeth.

"WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE"

Ryogaku shouted, letting out his frustration at Sukuna, which didn't even make him flinch.

"IF YOU WERE THERE . . ."

His pace quickened and he started running towards him.

". . . SHE WOULD BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW!"

Hearing the shouts, Johan and Alexia tried to stop him, but it was too late.

He threw a punch towards Sukuna's face, which he did not even bother blocking with his hands.

The punch connected, but surprisingly, it did no damage to him, instead it hurt Ryogaku's fist, and he fell to the ground.

"It is not about whether I was there or not . . ."

Sukuna said with a calm voice, that showed no sadness of a friend's death, neither did it show guilt of not being there, nor anger at Ryogaku for punching him.

" . . . it is about the fact that you are weak"

These words hit Ryogaku in the heart, he got up to punch Sukuna again, but the same thing happened.

Sukuna didn't stop speaking even though he was punching him.

"You are too weak to do anything, you can't even save a friend from low level demons"

To emphasize his point, Sukuna seemingly teleported behind Ryogaku and restrained him using his hands.

"If you continue to stay like this . . ."

Ryogaku tried to get out of his grip, but it didn't even budge.

" . . . it won't be long before these two are dead as well."

Sukuna kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall down.

He then walked away from the funeral, Ryogaku still glaring at him with hatred, tears flowing out of his eyes.

Johan and Alexia were worried, they did not blame Sukuna for not being there, it was something no one could have predicted, but it is much easier to blame someone than to accept that you are weak.

He calmed down and got up, looking at where Sukuna walked away to.

"I will become stronger . . ."

" . . . and one day, I will surpass you."