“You two! if you continued fighting on the portal’s exterior boundaries, you might’ve already caused some disturbance and commotion from my patients. And maybe they would’ve summoned the two of you on court,” a voice so familiar echoed at the side. After a few seconds, the figure who spoke to us eventually revealed himself, which was Doctor Maruki all along. “And you, Aoi. I thought you’re hiding your identity from the real world? I thought that the Crimson Guild is looking for you and the person who has a sniper. If word comes out someone who has a sniper is found inside this hospital, your sister and you would’ve been so screwed.” Doctor Maruki continued, while crossing his arms. “Oh, crap… Now that you’ve said it, you’re right, Doctor Maruki. I should’ve been careful,” I uttered. “And that reminds me of something. How the hell did you place us inside the portal without any pre-cast magic circles, chants, or even notification to my system?” While I was at it, I had forgotten tha
“This is just a friendly battle. I know that you’ve improved yourself, Hina. But I didn’t know these Grocks stood around two hundred feet tall like a building,” I uttered, and cracked my fist. “And I will beat you with a stick and my bare hands. To put it simple, I’ll go easy on you.” “Hoo. We’ll see how long you’d last, brother,” Hina replied, and gestured her hands for the Grocks to attack me. “I don’t know how you are going to win. But I’d like to see you try.” “By the way. Where’s your sniper attire? I understand you didn’t bring your gun out of pity for me. But your attire? Aoi, I am not that weak,” Hina added, and raised her eyebrow. I left my attire to Vulcan so he could upgrade it to his heart’s content. Tomorrow, that old man should be finished with my items. But for now, I had to deal with what was left in my arsenal. Fighting Hina with everything I had would turn the fight into a one-sided battle. I could always target my sister with my sniper and one-shot her in the he
“I will tear you apart and that will make the portal kick you out of pity, brother.” After she said those words, Hina and her fist made of gauntlet ran straight in my direction. Behind her were the Grocks trying to catch up on her. This was my plan. And everything I had plotted was coming together like puzzle pieces fitting on their missing spots. The only thing left for me to do now was execute my and pray for the best outcome. Even though this was just another training, I still wanted to give my best. And maybe I could, somehow, apply what I would learn for this battle to the actual portal sightings. But for now, all I needed to do to keep calm down and taunt Hina from getting closer to me. Hina was a smart child, despite what her parents described her about. She wasn’t booksmart, but my sister was diligent enough to study the meticulous details she could encounter. And if she was done putting that information in mind, Hina would register everything and do it as she had experience
We returned inside Doctor Maruki’s laboratory thanks to the portal. Even though Hina and I fought everywhere in the hospital, when the fight ended, the portal tossed us back where we came from. The same old walls greeted our eyes, with the painting hung above the wall. For the time being, Hina and I were the only ones inside the office. We couldn’t find Doctor Maruki with us. Within a few seconds, a loud thud echoed across the place. The banging sound came from Hina and the two of us, which originated from the portal placing us at this site. “WOAH!” Hina reacted, and shuffled her head, hands, and feet before realising what had happened to her. “I’m not dead, right? Tell me this isn’t the afterlife, Aoi. And if you’re here, it’s either you died with me or…” “Yes, Hina,” I said. “We’re still alive and we have just finished our training exercise a while back.” As it turned out, dying inside the portal through a simulation negates the pain but not the actual occurrence from someone c
“Before letting you drink the potion, I’d like you to get your consent about it. Here’s the paper for you to sign in right now. And within a few seconds, I will elaborate what you will feel after digesting the liquid I concocted for you,” Doctor Maruki muttered, and handed me a paper. “You are part of my little experimentation program called ‘miracle drug’, which would greatly help in giving and improving the quality care to all patients in the world. If, let’s say, my experimentation worked on you, the potion’s ingredients from you will be extracted and used as a means and based for the ‘miracle drug’. And then, I will put the drug on the market for free. Thus, saving the world.The side effects you may experience will also be noted and further studied within one day, which is tomorrow. I will call and check up on you tomorrow for anything ‘funny’ you’d be feeling. Okay?”“The side effects that may occur are, but not limited to nausea, intense pain in your gut rising towards your head
I didn’t know what happened after that. The next thing I knew was everything went black, and, all of a sudden, the searing pain finally stopped. I was freed from all the suffering in the world. But when I forced my eyes open, the first thing that greeted me was the familiar ceiling and the whtie walls covering the area. When I glanced at my side, two hospital beds were present. And on those mattresses were Hina’s parents, both still unconscious and showed no signs of waking up. As I turned around, I found myself resting on a chair. It was a plastic chair provided by the hospital for guests and other members present inside the hospital room. I couldn’t believe my eyes that I slept on this chair without knowing what had happened or who carried me here.“What was inside that potion? My god, that hurt like hell!” I cursed, and scratched my head.It appeared that Hina was not with me inside this room. And when I looked at the time, it was already three in the afternoon. As I glimpsed at t
As soon as Vulcan led us back to the training area, everything changed. The three floors, which had served as the arena when I trained, became completely different. The desert realm, the green forest, and the studio room became a gymnasium with blant colours and equipment. But from the looks of it, Vulcan could change the place if he wanted to as long as someone would use this dimension as a training ground and complete the task given by the portal and the owner of this place as well. For the meantime, Vulcan and I weren’t training. I was already way past that stage. However, I still needed to check what Vulcan had in store for me and added from my sniper, Oculus, and my suit. There might be other features he included, but I had to wait and see that soon.Hina was beside me throughout our march inside the training room. She kept glancing at the walls, pointing her fingers at various places, and even straying from our path. My sister kept telling herself that this portal was different
When the cloud of smoke vanished before our eyes, the Pests Oculus targeted were brought down and turned them into dust. The arsenals of the machine had eliminated every enemy in sight, including the ones that hid behind my peripheral vision. My eyes could hardly accept what happened, especially when I had conditioned myself that Oculus was just a portable machine that I used for transportation. But now, things had changed for the better. If I was in a pinch, my device would save the day and hit those enemies that I lost sight of.As soon as Oculus cleaned up the mess, the machine eventually went in front of me and confirmed the kill-count of those Pests. After the device finished its announcement, Vulcan and I proceeded to the next weapon the old man upgraded, which was the sniper. There was nothing we could do with Oculus, and I was sure that my device would be a force to be reckoned with. But before introducing me to the upgraded sniper, Vulcan threw a dagger at Oculus and hit it.