The Mech Lord

Dorms, Glory Academy.

A while earlier..

Amelia had finally reached the dorms, and then walked up to Runeko's room.

Oddly, the door to her room was wide open.

Amelia was a bit confused about it as well, but just walked in without paying much attention to it.

"Slam!"

Her body shook in shock as the door suddenly slammed shut, and a weird grey colored matter began to rise up from all around. The thing immediately covered the room in an instant and frightened Amelia.

"W-What's going on?" She tried to push her way through it, but failed.

"Help!! Is anyone here!! Help!!" She tried to scream, but there was no response. It seemed her voice wasn't leaving the room.

"You.. are... finally... here..." A robust and deep voice echoed throughout the room as a face emerged from the grey matter.

And, the face was a familiar one.

"I-Is that you, Runeko?" Amelia asked with a shaky voice. The fear on her face was evident. She clearly had not expected to find herself in this situation.

"Plop!"

A third eye suddenly emerged in between Runeko's brows. Her face looked horrifyingly pale. Her eyes were lifeless and she looked to be in a daze like state.

The voice coming out of her mouth was extremely distorted, not sounding like her original timid voice at all.

There was a terrifying chill in the air, and Amelia felt the hairs on her body rising in fear.

"Whoosh!"

The grey matter in the room suddenly surged, and rushed towards Amelia.

"No!" Amelia screamed in fear, and her arora energy shot out of her body as she tried her best to defend herself.

The pale yellow energy immediately turned into swords and sliced all the incoming grey color substance.

"Swish!"

Even Amelia was taken back for a second by her own ability. She had been trying to produce six swords of energy, but had never been able to do so. But, right now, there were indeed six pale yellow swords hovering around her.

"D-Don't come closer.." She warned while grabbing hold of one of the swords and pointing it towards Runeko. By now, she was aware that Runeko was not the same anymore. Something was extremely wrong with her, and she could totally see that.

Even though Amelia couldn't identify what the grey matter was, its actions indeed led her to believe that it was some kind of parasitic arora beast.

'Don't tell me the murders in the Academy..' Amelia's face turned pale when the thought emerged in her mind.

'I need to get help..' She immediately flicked the screen of her smart link trying to contact Vanessa. She was the one who was the closest one right now, and with enough ability to help her.

"Whoosh!"

But, out of nowhere, Amelia felt a grip on her foot, and the next instant she found herself flying through the air and crashing into the wall of the room.

"Crash!"

Her face twisted in pain as she fell down onto the floor. It wasn't even a second when she felt something grasp onto her hand, and she was once again pulled up into the air before being slammed down onto the floor.

Amelia's lips immediately busted from the impact, and blood began to leak out of it.

'I need to buy a bit of time to contact for help..' Amelia muttered inwardly with sweat and tears all over face.

She summoned all her strength and courage before putting all of her energy into the swords around.

"Swish!"

The swords immediately became even more ferocious, and began to hack down left and right cutting apart all the grey matter around.

'Now's my chance!' Amelia immediately brought up her wrist, but her eyes suddenly widened when she noticed that the smart link on her arm was missing.

'Could it be..' She slowly raised her head, and sure enough, a smart link was there in Runeko's hand. And, she crushed it into pieces without any hesitation.

"No!!!" Amelia cried in despair.

'It's all over now..' Her body shivered as she looked at Runeko. Her swords were continuously attacking, but there seemed to be no effect on that parasite-like creature at all. It was infinitely regenerating.

The moment Amelia ran out of energy, it would be all over.

A few minutes later, her blades broke into little pieces after losing energy and disappeared leaving Amelia all alone.

Runeko's body inched closer to Amelia as she reached out to her face.

Amelia could see those sharp long nails heading towards her. Those things definitely didn't belong to a normal humanoid creature. It could probably puncture holes through someone's body.

When the nails were only a few centimeters away from her face, it suddenly stopped.

The next second, the grey matter suddenly flooded towards Amelia and pasted her up onto the ceiling. She was completely restrained and even her mouth was shut by it.

As for Runeko, her figure returned to normal and she slowly turned her head towards the door.

…

A few minutes earlier…

"We are here.." Spike looked at Biggie and pointed ahead. They were standing in front of the Dorms.

"Let's go, ahead!" He commanded as if he was a general leading his army into battle.

A minute later, the two arrived near Runeko's room.

"Are you there, Runeko?" Spike asked through the door as Biggie gave a knock.

There was no response from inside.

"Is she not here?" Biggie asked in confusion. "Maybe she went to watch the match like everyone else.."

"No, there is definitely someone inside.." Spike shook his head. He was sure there was at least a person inside. Even though he was not the best when it came to senses and instinct, he was still an animal spirit.

"Runeko! I know you are in there! Open up.." He said, this time in an irritated tone.

Since the things were a little off. He had to go speak in an harser manner. After all, Runeko was a bit timid. So, she would definitely speak thinking that she might make the other party upset otherwise.

"Yes, I am here." A voice finally came through the other side.

Spike felt a bit relieved, but the frown on his face still hadn't disappeared. "Why didn't you respond then?"

"Umn..I was in the washroom.."

"Can you come out for a bit, we need to talk?" He further asked.

"I am not feeling well today. Can we do this sometime else.."

Spike looked at Biggie and also show the surprise on his face. Until now they had thought that it might be a one day thing that Runeko's behavior seemed odd. But, wasn't it extending now?

Besides, he clearly remembered that Runeko hadn't behaved like this before when he and Leo came to meet her.

"What do we do now?" Biggie asked her.

"You stay here, and be on the line with me.." Spike looked at him, and then jumped down his head.

He then quietly proceeded to push his body through the tiny gap between the floor and the door.

The little guy was determined to find out if everything was fine or not.

On the other side, Biggie stood outside with his smart link still on a call with Spike.

….

'Why is it so dark?' Spike frowned when he noticed that the whole room was pitch black. For some reason, Runeko had turned off the lights.

"Why is it so cold here?" He rubbed his body feeling a chill coursing through his body. Something definitely didn't feel right.

"Hmmn.." Spike suddenly collided into something onto the floor. A second later, he realized that things were scattered all around the room as if a storm had hit the room.

'What's going on? And, where is she..' He frowned before taking a step ahead when his feet suddenly slipped on a warm liquid, and he almost fell onto the ground

'What the hell is this?' Spike muttered with a frown not realizing that a shadow was creeping up on him.

Amelia, who was pasted up onto the ceiling could clearly see it, and tried her best to alert him. But, all her struggles were in vain.

He touched the liquid on the floor in disgust before smelling it through his nose. And, his figure immediately froze, 'Blood?'

"Whoosh!"

The shadow engulfed Spike, but he had already screamed by then.

"Biggie!!"

As soon as his scream rang, the door burst into pieces as a towering figure walked into the room.

The room brightened up as light came in through the missing door.

It immediately became clear to them that a fight had broken out here.

There were traces of battle around.

Biggie looked around, but there was no one around. The place was empty.

'Where did he go? I clearly heard him scream a second ago..'

"Whoosh!"

A grey colored whipped suddenly emerged out of nowhere and latched onto Biggie's foot.

He looked at the thing and followed it all the way to see a figure emerge from a disgusting looking grey substance.

It was Runeko.

She had once again transformed back into that parasitic state.

"What happened to you?" Biggie asked in surprise. He was still as clueless as ever it seemed.

Ruenko obviously didn't reply, and with a wave of her hand, pulled the whip just like she did with Amelia.

But, the whip immediate tightened like a straight line, unable to even budge Biggie's foot.

"What are you doing?" He looked at her with a weird look on his face as if he didn't even realized that it was an attack with an ill intention.