Kagami twins, this name seems familiar to me, some kind of deja vu, It feels as if I've met them before. Whatever, it's not important now…
I can sense an overwhelming force coming from the both of them, they might be just like Mary, maybe even stronger. Their intimidating smile made the old man break out in sweat and backed up.
The girl looked at the twins in shock, her tears sudden stopped, she crawled back into the crowd. An eerie silence atmosphere filled the area.
The twins gave everyone a good look, I can feel their eyes preying me, maybe I'm just making things up.
"Now, now, shall we have a discussion?"
The girl spoke up, her brother nodded before he spoke.
"We'll introduce ourself, I'm Riyu Kagami"
"You can call me Aiko Kagami."
The twins are from Japan if I had to take a guess. I looked at them as their smile got wider. The air is tensed thanks to these two.
I had no interest in dipping my hand in hot boiling water, I turned around and walked out of the crowd. As I was getting out, I could feel a pair of eyes on me but I couldn't tell who are they from.
I'm glad someone took over the job of finding the wolf for me, right now, I just need to rest. This day has been so long I might forget about all the memories of the world that I once lived in.
I sat down at a bench nearby, taking a rest and remembering the informations I've gotten so far. For now, things were pretty calm. We had time for discussion on who the wolf might be and thanks to the appearance of the twins, I didn't even need to think about it!
But aside from that, I still had other things to figure out. Things like new food and water sources or how this all happened and why it did.
I sat there, thinking in silence, as I back started to hurt from the time I spent sitting, I laid down, preparing for a nap, resting from all of these problems.
This wasn't the best idea I've had, sleeping in the middle of a game but, I still needed to recover from the amount of stamina and energy I spent on the first game.
I closed my eyes and everything started to fade out, the noise, the fights, everything is now quiet. Just me and the dark space, I can finally relax for a bit, at least.
For a moment, I felt truly at peace. As I felt my body drifting away, I could sense something was wrong. Before I even had time to think about it, everything around me turned into a white space. Now, I was standing in the middle of nowhere.
I looked around me, all that surrounded me was the color white, nothing else. I have no idea where I was. This is most certainly a dream isn't it?
I had the urge to walk straight ahead, deeper into the nothingness. I took a deep breath and trusted my guts. I started to walk around and explore the space. As I walked, I also checked my surroundings to see if there was something I might be missing from this dream. But to my surprise, there was only nothing and more nothingness.
My legs were getting a bit sore, it felt as if I've been walking for hours. But this time, after all the walking, I could see something, no, someone in the distance.
Something was telling me to run towards the figure, my slow steps starts to increase its speed and before I know it, I was chasing after the figure without even having an exact reason. The person didn't seem to move yet I felt like I—
"You're here… already?"
I stopped running, looking at the person that spoke to me, they're getting closer. I looked as the dark figure slowly revealed their self. It was the Kagami girl, Aiko if i remembered correctly.
She began to talk again, her face curious. I mean, I'm pretty curious too, why is she in my dream? And why her, a stranger, out of all people?
"This isn't good, I wasn't expecting you here."
She frowned, her eyes glaring at me. What is going on here? I should be the one saying that, not her. Is this some kind of skill she has?
"Originally, my plans were tokeep you alive for a little longer, I mean, the first day hasn't even passed yet and you're already here."
She sighed, walking closer to me, her footsteps echoing in the endless whiteness, her arm reaching out to what seems like nothing.
"This… it's your skill isn't it."
Aiko remained silence, she didn't give me an aswer for my question. As I was about to talk again, I was silenced by my own surprise. Shiny white particles started to emerge from the ground, forming shapes around her arm, sticking together, just in a few seconds, Aiko was holding multiple shiny blades. But how? Skills are deactivated in this game…
"You're right, skills and attributes are blocked from the game."
She smiled, her eyes was shining. I could see the particles around her floating freely in the air. What is the use to creating the weapon? Is she the wolf? Will she fight me?
The girl looked at me, Aiko began to talk, her voice dripping with sweetness.
"But we're not in the game right now."
I stepped back, confused. Something is wrong yet I can't tell what is it, there's one thing I'm certain about this girl. I can say for a fact, she's not ordinary, at all.
As I was lost in my thoughts, a blade flew my way, I looked in shock, jumping out of the way and narrowly missed it. Seems like I've encountered the wolf.
"Why are you attacking me?!"
"Why not?"
She smiled as I dodged her attack, particles started to form shapes around her hand again. What is her intention here? Is she a wolf?
"You know, Gyungho, even if you get away now, you won't remember a thing. This is a dream after all."
She then launched another attack, this time, several blades were flying my way. I let out a gasp before trying to dodge it again.
"Argh!"
I wasn't so lucky this time, a few of the blades hit me. Thankfully, most of the cuts weren't too deep, but it wasn't any less painful. I looked down at one of the wound as it started to bleed, clenching my jaw.
She laughed like a maniac, preparing for another launch. This isn't time for me to hang around and do nothing, I need to wake up, or atleast run from here.
"I might aswell tell you then."
She stopped for a bit, a wide smile spread across her face as she began.
"I'm the wolf that you all need to get rid of."
I gave her a sharp glance before turning around and started to run. It wasn't easy, my blood were creating an obvious trail. It was as if I was using myself to draw on the blank canvas. Aiko started walking towards me, clearly she wasn't done.
"Welcome to my dream world, how do you like it here, Gyungho?"
Our footsteps echoing and overlapping each other, I ran as if there was no tomorrow. Every step I took made me weaker and weaker. As I ran, I glances behind me to see how far away Aiko was, the young girl was always close.
I can feel the air tensing around the both of us, she was preparing another launch. I groaned, trying to run faster.
"I named it too, this dream that you're experiencing is called The State between Conscious and Dormant."
Sweats dripped down my face as I continued to run, now it all came down to who's got more stamina, and I obviously know my limits I'm not the best at running.
Fwiish! Whoosh!
This time instead of blades, sharp daggers began to fly my way, I looked behind my back, my eyes widened.
She summoned a whole circle of daggers, aiming it my way. I clenched my fist, closing my eye and ran forward. She was clearly trying to get rid of me.
The daggers hit my body one by one, I was lucky enough to dodge a few but the ones that I wasn't able to dodge left with somewhat severe injuries. The wounds were starting to bleed, I was exhausted, everything was hurting and even worse, I can no longer run.
"Am I boring you? You seems uninterested."
The little girl laughed as I bit my lips in pain. I have to escape this place no matter what. All of this happened way too quickly for me to even take it in. I coughed a bit before starting to drag myself, doing whatever I could to get as far away from her as possible.
Then it hit me, if this is my dream then is it possible I use skills too? I stood still, no longer resisting, taking in a deep breath and focused.
"Giving up now, little sheep?"
She laughed, dragging her sword across the ground. The sharp blade scraping against the empty space, harsh grating noises were echoing through my mind, I tried and ignored the noise.
"I'll do the honor to end your pain, you surely made this more interesting for me. Try to be a little stronger in your next life."
I was losing all hopes, why am I not receiving any notifications from the system? Does it really not work?
I gulped as Aiko walked closer to me, was this the end? What a pathetic way to die. How did I expected myself to protect Chin-hae when I can't even wake up from a dream?
"Do what you must."
I laughed, watching her get closer and closer by the seconds. Just when I thought this was the end of my story, a familiar sound came through my ear.
[SYSTEM: you've received the skill 「Mirroring」 !
Tip: to use a skill, think about the name of the skill until an attribute window pops up]
About time you came… I let out a relief sigh and activated the skill. As the skill turned on, I began to speak again.
"On second thoughts, I don't really feel like dying to you."
Aiko stopped in her track, staring at me in confusion.
"What do you mean? You're clearly not in the state to put up a fight."
[SYSTEM: the skill 「Mirroring」 is now activated!]
"Wait a minute…"
I could feel as Aiko tensed up, not reaching any closer. She stood there, her expression darkened. You've signed up for this, don't blame this middle aged office worker now.
I could feel a source of energy going through my body, I felt more alive. I could feel as if my stats were tripled.
"W-what is this?!…"
I opened my eyes again to see the shocked facial expression of Aiko Kagami, she looked dumbfounded, seems like she felt the energy outburst too.
[SYSTEM: Mirroring completed! You're now using the skill 「False Hallucinations」 !]
I looked as blood ran down from my nose and the injuries she gave me, letting out a laugh, I stood up straight.
"W-what are you—"
Her sentence was cut short due to the sudden shake in the space.
[SYSTEM: the view 「The State between Conscious and Dormant」 is now collapsing!]
As the notification from the system turned off, the white space around us began to breakdown, revealing a layer of codes, torn book pages and ink splatters space.
[SYSTEM: the view 「Fated by Death」 has absorbed the view 「The state between Conscious and Dormant」's energy!]
"How did you…"
The weapon she held a second ago was gone, seems like it only worked in the space given by her. I took a look around my space.
Behind me was a wall of computer codes. Book pages flying everywhere, the ground was filled with ripped pages and splattered ink.
"I appreciate you showing me your space. I'll show my respects for you and let you see mine."
I smiled looking at her. I felt so powerful in this space, everything was under my control now. I looked down at the wolf that was targeting me just a moment ago and began to speak.
"It wouldn't be fun if you're the only one allowed to play now is it? It's my turn to show you what I'm capable of."
Time for me to see what this view is capable of doing.