"Are these your clothes?"
"Yes... Thank you." "Why were you naked?" What was Kyle even supposed to reply to that? That he took off his clothes because it was liberating that his life was about to end? Or that he was deliberately trying to kill himself? Which one would be the more sane response? "It's.." And when Kyle finally opened his mouth, the rescuer who handed him his clothes back was already gone. Kyle was already back on the Surface; right outside the dorm and being assessed for any injuries. While everyone around him was running around. he was just asked to sit on the side and wait for instructions. They gave him a pair of pants and a jacket, but they were too small so he wasn't even able to zip the jacket up. Fortunately for Kyle, they were at least able to give him a warm, damp towel to cover his head, which was throbbing like crazy earlier from the gravity shift upon returning to the Surface. Now that he was looking at the Portal he fell into, he realized how small it actually was-just the width of a car. For it to open at that exact same position.. were the gods finally at his side? Or did they want to kill him more painfully? "Oi, handle that with care! We havent checked it for Adamantine yet!" "Who cares, this is a monster from a Level 1 Portal. Do you think it have some good stuff?" Kyle then turned to look at the Cleaners that were running around. And as their name suggests, they were responsible for the cleaning-up of whatever aftermath the Hole brings. And right now, they were busy gathering all the arachne corpses that were scattered everywhere-and there were probably more than a dozen of them. Perhaps the reason why there was only one inside the Portal was that they were all here already But for them to say that it was a Level 1 Portal-that means a Portal that possesses the least threat carrying the weakest of monsters. If the beautiful arachne he met was not that much of a threat, then how strong are the monsters from the higher levels? Kyle then watched as another arachne corpse was dragged in front of him, and they looked.. weird. They were much smaller than Arachnea, and their buman parts barely looked similar to a human at all. They had gray dry skin, and their saw-like teeth were more pronounced. Could it be... Arachnea was some sort of- "Hey!" "!!!" And all of a sudden, Kyle's eyes turned wide: a sort of pulse, reverberating throughout his body as the world around him seemed to have slowed down. The cleaners that were previously frantically moving about, now as if snails as their limbs sluggishly waved in the air. Before Kyle could process any of this, however, he felt the strands of hair at the back of his neck stood up. And like a feather that was lightly being blown by the wind, Kyle suddenly felt the urge to lean to the side. And he did. And when he did so, he saw a hand swinging past to where his shoulder should have been just moments ago. "..." Kyle then looked back to see who the hand belonged to, only to see one of the women that rescued him from the Underworld. And as soon as their eyes met, Kyle's world which seemed to have slowed down returned to normal. "..." "..." The two of them then looked awkwardly at each other, before the woman raised her eyebrows and let out an awed breath. "No wonder you survived down there, you have the reflexes of a spider," the woman said as she chuckled, "Can't say the same about your classmate though." ...Reflex? Was it really that? The woman was completely behind him and he couldn't even see her hand, that wasn't just a simple reflex. Kyle started to look around again as thoughts drowned his mind. Although no one was moving siuggishly anymore, Kyle still felt... sensitive to everything that was going on around him. Is this because of his Awakening? But no... this feeling started when he successfully managed to turn Arachnea's five gray hearts into red. "Hey, you okay? You need a medic or something?" "Hm?" Kyle turned to look at the woman. "You just spaced out on me," the woman then casually sat beside Kyle, crossing her legs and slightly revealing her thighs from the skirt she was wearing. Weird, Kyle was sure she was wearing pants back in the cave. "Yeah, I'm.. fine." Kyle then slowly whispered as he looked at the woman's face, she was obviously wearing makeup; her short brown hair, stylishly messy. Kyle then strayed his eyes even further up... ...looking at the five gray Hearts floating above her head. The man that handed him the clothes earlier didn't have hearts floating above his head-and it wasn't only him, all the men that walked in front of Kyle didn't have hearts-only women. "Anyway.." the woman then subtly bumped her shoulder arm on Kyle as she adjusted her legs again.. "It's crazy, for a Portal to open up inside a campus, and right beside the walls of the dorm at that. They say the engineer or whatever forgot to cast a Portal seal spell. Guess someone's gonna get sued.." the woman sucked in her breath as she continued talking. "A lot could have died. Lucky that only one died...well, unlucky for him-Wait, sorry. Was he your friend?" "Not exactly." Kyle answered, wondering why this woman wouldn't stop talking. "Hm. Anyway, have this. I'm sure you're thirsty; the woman then handed a bottle to Kyle, "It will help with the gravity shift, first-timers usually faint a couple of times. Not you though, you.. seem sturdy." "Thank you." Kyle nodded. Not even thinking twice as he immediately took a large sip. "Show your face. I know you're hiding something there, I saw it earlier." "..." Kyle quickly removed the bottle from his face as he heard a voice inside his mind, "Sorry... what was that?" "Hm." The woman immediately smiled as Kyle looked at her, "I didn't say anything." "Your face... ...I want to see your handsome face.""Show me your face. Show me your beautiful face." "..." The woman's desires were loud, louder than Arachnea's. Is it because she's human? Did she sce Kyle's face when they rescued him? But he even covered his face before the thing between his legs when they arrived. Truly, a Hunter's eyes were fast... ...and perhaps he can use the woman beside him to confirm that? Kyle then turned to look at the five gray hearts above the woman's head again. A sort of idea has already formed in Kyle's head of what happens when he turns all the target's hearts red. Kyle then took in a small breath, turning to see if there were people looking at them. But as soon as he realized that everyone was busy with the Portal, he looked the woman in the eyes, before subtly pushing the towel on his head backwards. "Oh.." And without even a second later, a loud gulp whispered into Kyle's ears. One of the hearts flickered, but it did not turn red. "Have.. l already thanked you for getting me out,
"Open your mouth wider, Kyle." "..." "That... that's good. Hmn... hmn.. Okay, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your mouth." Katarina's curious hums whispered through her clinic; the sound of her gloves, slapping in the air as she took them off after checking the color of Kyle's tongue. Kyle was currently scated topless on a stool; his body, being professionally checked by Katarina. Some changes, however, are less noticeable than others; some are even unnoticeable. Once the biood of a god that had remained dormant inside one's body awakens, there would usually be a slight change in one's body-increased muscle mass, a change of color, bone density, etc. "Do you see anything differently now? What did you say you were feeling again?" "Besides your eyes, I don't see anything different." Katarina then carefully placed the gloves that were wet with Kyle's saliva on the clean steel plate on the table beside her, "Nausea." Kyle sighed, "It feels like my body is bei
"Kyle , what... is this sticky stuff?" Both Kyle and Katherine could really only stare at each other as some sort of white, sticky fluid now bridged his finger and Katherine's face. Kyle's silver eyes, completely blank as several thoughts entered his mind. Katherine also couldn't move, the only thing she could do was just hold Kyle's thick arm. "Wh-Heh?" And right when she finally decided to move, her face was once again showered by the white sticky fluid coming out of Kyle's fingers. If she wasn't wearing a pair of glasses, then her eyes would have surely been also covered by the sticky fluid. "Perhaps... you should let go of my arm, Dr. Halsey?" Kyle's thoughts finally stopped as he looked at his hand. "That's.. probably a good idea," a small awkward chuckle escaped Katherine's lips; her words muffled as she didn't really want the sticky white fluid to enter her mouth. But as she let go of Kyle's arm and started pulling away, a small wince whispered in the air. "A..ow...
"Can you wait here for a while?" "...Okay" Without allowing him to rest, the people from the PIU, Portal Investigations Unit, brought and escorted Kyle to the city's local precinct; making him wait in front of a door that no one truly ever wanted to see in their lives. They did not even allow him to wear his hoodie, making him feel slightly vulnerable from all the surveillance cameras littered around the building. The local police didn't seem to heed him any mind, however, as they were also busy dealing with the aftermath of the Portals inside their city-something that never should have happened in the first place. Throughout the thousand years since humans have battled the monsters from the Underworld, they have learned to prevent and block them from coming up to the Surface by using a special resource from the Underworld itself, and some human engineering. This resource is limited, however. And the places that have bcen covered with this material in the past, in time, b
"Where... are you taking me?" "Did you really think we would fucking beat you up next to the police station!?" "..Right" Kyle was now inside a car, with Bob in the driver's seat while two of his friends accompanied Kyle at the back. He initially thought they were just going to drag him into a dark alley like they usually do, but no. They took him to a parking lot and pushed him inside a car. They have been driving around the city for almost an hour now-were they trying to find a spot to finally get rid of him? He wanted to test his abilities so he willingly let himself be dragged away.. but could he actually be dying here? Kyle then subtly turned to look at the thugs on each of his sides; the two of them, gripping his wrist and pinning him to the seat. If Kyle contracted the muscles on his arms right now, will webs shoot out of his fingers? And if it does, won't Bob and the others panic-ceasing them to crash and die? Kyle was fully aware of their strength as they have bee
Kyle was completely dazed. His mind, fleeting in and out of consciousness as he tried to keep himself on his feet- he was used to this feeling, after all. For years, without stop, all he had known was pain. And throughout the years, he realized that he wasn't in pain because he was weak; he wasn't in pain because of his face; he wasn't in pain because he was a Lowborn. He was in pain because there are people out there who like inflicting it on other people, it just made it easier to hurt him because he was weak. Rex, as well as the three in front of him right now were some of those people. When Kyle was completely traumatized by the murder of his mother, he instinctively chose to just stick to himself from then on. Even as the gowernment threw him into Necrus High, he remained completcly stoic; his entire person, hidden from the world.. literally. But then, one time, Rex saw his face. And that was it. That was the entire reason why he has been bullied for 6 straight years
"They're still alive." "Oh. Kyle was now seated on the floor. His back, against the wall as the blood that drowned his entire silhouette started to dry up, "l... do not really know what to feel about that, Dr. Halsey." "Kyle, this..." Katherine could really only place her hand on her waist as she stared at Kyle; her breaths, slightly stuttered as several thoughts also circled in her mind-but for some reason, one prevails the most. "Look.." Katherine then started wearing a pair of gloves she had in her pocket, "I took the oath of Asclepius, I am obligated to save lives and do no harm intentionally." "..but if you wish to end them, I won't stop you." "..." Kyle quickly turned to look at Katherine as soon as she heard her words, only to see her eyes staring straight at his. "But there will be consequences to that, but I am willing to go down with you," Katherine said without breaking eye contact, "l can heal them right here, right now. But there wil also be consequences to
"Are you sure we're allowed here?" "..Yes." "Feels like we're breaking the rules, Kinda makes you nervous, no?" "You weren't allowed to bring people in your dorms, Ms. Samantha?" "Just call me Sam, and no-I have never been. I was in the Hunter Academy, but that's not really a school. By the way, is.. ...this all you have? Did you just move here or something?" Even with Samantha's presence adding to Kyle's room, it still felt completely bleak and empty. Throughout his six years in Necrus City High, this was probably the first time that someone else was inside his room-and an outsider, at that. Kyle wasn't really actually aware of the dorm rules. Even though he had lived here for years, he didn't consider it a home , it was just a place to sleep and whittle his time away, four walls and a roof. No, throughout his isolation, the only thing he considered his home was his sister.. was. "Yes.." Kyle's lazy and somewhat smooth breath whispered in the corners of his empty r