Sorry for the late update. Got stuck in writing reports for college ;-;

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Saya watched in horror as a hulking man appeared from the room. Over 2m large body and a broad frame enough to terrorize anyone, and right now, this man already succumbed to the strange disease.

‘Moriyama-senpai… He is the ace of the basketball club… We can’t win against something like this without the right weapons.’

“Ragahhh!!!” The abomination roared.

Saya glanced at Hisashi, who crazily spewed blood on his knees and realized they needed to either fight or sacrifice him.

But, when she turned back, her gaze fell on the horde of them approaching from the same stairs they all used to come here.

‘Think, think, think. Saya, you can do it!’

She wrecked her brain for any ideas on the spur of the moment, and she quickly discovered one which won’t leave a bad taste in her mouth.

“Rei! Komuro! Clear the way. I’ll take Hisashi.”

Rei wiped the tears from her eyes before she took her ‘Spear’ and stood up.

“Understood!”

Komura also stopped helping Hisashi and ran down the stairs, followed by Rei. The large abomination lurched across the corridor, creating considerable noise with its heavy feet.

Saya stared at the abomination and unknown to her, the usual fiery orange eyes shone brightly akin to a genuine fire which no one noticed.

She put Hisashi’s hands around her neck and barely picked him up.

“Takagi… finish me… cough! I don’t want to die… as one of them…”

“Okay, I’ll certainly do that after we get out of here.”

Saya dragged her feet over to the stairs. Carrying a tall man like Hisashi put a significant toll on her slender body. Still, she cursed inside her head and dragged him down the stairs. Her nose scrunched, the strong stench coming from the corpses churned her stomach.

But she didn’t stop and kept trailing behind Komuro, even as the steps turned louder and louder.

‘Don’t look back, don’t look back…’

She quietly repeated like a mantra and descended the stairs. Further ahead, Komuro and Rei bashed the skulls of abominations with a teamwork similar to veteran fighters. Especially Rei, her movements became sharp, and her whole body emitted a faint, almost unnoticeable light.

Saya wanted to check her contacts if this was real.

‘Is this a dream? First, the abominations, now this supernatural stuff…’

Hisashi kept coughing blood as she approached Rei and Komuro.

Suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. Her steps sped up unconsciously, yet…

*Crack*

A low sound of cracking hit her ears, and shortly, the scene around her changed as she found herself flying through the air before she crashed and rolled on the concrete floor. Red filled her vision, and an agonizing pain flowed throughout her whole body.

Hisashi laid right ahead of her, his pitch-black eyes staring without blinking.

“Is this the end?”

She asked herself, sensing the abomination approaching ever so slowly. Rei and Komuro seemed busy fighting the others.

Her surroundings as though they came to a halt and her memories from childhood to her highschool began flashing through her mind.

But she wasn’t ready to die yet. She didn’t study all those years to die like this, in the small corner of the world. In a place where her mother won’t even find her intact corpse.

Stubborn unwillingness to survive rooted deep inside her soul.

And when she pushed the ground to stand.

*Bang!*

She felt as though something exploded inside her head, and an unexpected strength filled her body. Even the pain subsided to an extent as she stood, facing the giant abomination.

Her hands were a bit too hot right now, even her body’s temperature rose as if she was on fire.

She stared in surprise when her hands literally blazed with fire that appeared out of nowhere. Even then, it didn’t burn; instead, it was warm.

She instinctively raised her hands to block the punch from the abomination. 

“Kyaaaa!!!”

*Boom!*

As if sensing her fear, the fire around her hands exploded. The minor explosion pushed back the abomination and burned its clothes. She shuddered from the ugly, twisted body.

The unknown strength gathering in her body diminished a bit, and she quickly realized her newfound power worked similar to magic, where one’s mana pool limited the magic.

‘I can do it. I’ll kill this bastard and survive.’

Saya was unknown to the changes her mind went through in a mere hour. From an arrogant yet caring girl to one who was determined to survive in this new world…

She disregarded the surprised looks of Komuro and aimed her hands at the enemy. The fire blazed even fiercely and condensed into fiery red orbs, every one of these drained her strength.

She thrust her hand and shot the orb — Aiming to blow off the head. Yet, all spheres missed the target and crashed on the wall behind except one that connected to the chest and burned a hole in its chest.

Even with magical powers, her aim was worse than children. Rather than that, her legs trembled, making it hard for her to stand straight.

‘I overestimated my strength.’

The abomination was coming while her vision got hazier with every moment. 

‘I’ll leave the rest to these two.’

She gathered the rest of the foreign yet familiar strength into her hands and shot one last fireball.

She didn’t know if it hit or not, her body fell back. However, the pain from hard concrete, instead, something stopped her.

“You did well, leave the rest to me.”

Hearing the gentle voice, she barely opened her eyes to gaze at the familiar handsome face smiling.

‘Marikawa-san?’

She thought as her consciousness faded, pulling her into a deep slumber.