“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.
Just as I had expected, it only took a few bullets to take those Gatekeepers down. However, the problem wasn’t the enemy statues. It was Hina and her familiars roaming around the battlefield.Before defeating our enemy, Hina consistently used a bunch of spells at me and hoped for the best. First, Hina applied the absolute defense, which was the sphere made of rock, on me and made a hole that followed my vision. However, the problem immediately appeared when my perspective was limited by the hole Hina had allotted for me. It was enough for my bullets to come through, but I had to squeeze my limbs together and perform various rituals just to make a shot, which I had eventually missed because of it. So I broke the damn thing for me to focus on shooting the Gatekeepers, regardless if Hina summoned it for me. Second was the Grocks Hina had created. They were bigger and more durable than the Gatekeepers. And I believed that the Grock’s punches would deal more damage than these Gatekeepers
???? Perspective ____________________ Something was not right. Everything was going exactly as I had experienced, except for the fact that Hina was supporting him… was supporting me. As I watched those two from afar, I immediately knew that this world had changed the course of time. My double did something that I wouldn’t have done. Hina didn’t have this overwhelming ability. The last time I saw her wield any ability was creating a stump that could disrupt someone’s balance. And that was about it. Instead, Hina, in this world, created walls that could block any incoming projectiles and abilities that could harm her or the people she wished to protect. And from what I had remembered, I took another path and left her behind to protect her And then after a few days, the inevitable happened. I sipped my tea from an abandoned building and watched the news from the worn out television I fixed a couple of weeks ago. I had no time idling around to watch the trends for this world, but thi