How To Survive A Calamity

Psychics or Supernatural ability users discard absolute sense of the world, and disregard such questions or rules to enforce their powers.

They possess outright dominion over aspects of reality.

If they wanted fire to burn, fire would burn. No questions asked.

They simply willed it, and it was.

The mysterious symbols etched onto the white gloves of his hands glowed in radiance as his hands fell through the air. Don swiped forward and unleashed almost invisible slashes of wind, like jet pressure.

He simply thought it and the wind bent to his dominion and bacame near invisible blades to strike down his enemy.

They needed the water from the groups, but Barns looked like a troublesome individual. If they couldn't get the water, Don rationally thought it was better to eliminate the dangerous competition anyway

That was why he struck with the intent to kill.

After all, the bracelet would react and forcefully withdraw Barns out of the exercise as soon as it detected his life was in danger.

But the wind blades struck Barn's neck instead, and his head fell off with a thud.

Barns, distracted wholly by his bloodlust for Victor, couldn't react in time.

The next moment, he heard a whistle and his head was cleanly decapitated with terrifying accuracy.

"H-huh?" The last sounds he managed to utter up intil his last moments were a small vague grunt from his lips.

A red fountain of blood painted a morbid picture of a blooming red rose through the air. Barn's neck spun and twirl over its decapitated neck with a vague and lost expression.

Even until his final moments, Barns never truly realised he had been killed —his head cleanly servered from the rest of his body.

The next second...

Underneath the blood red sky of Terra Sanguis — Blood Earth, Barn's decapitated head fell to the dug up sand with a dull thud.

It was a dull thud.

The loudest thud.

One that resounded as an echoe throughout the region of the crater.

'What just...'

The servered neck of Barn's body gushed endlessly like a broken sink pipe, a thick red liquid bathed all over the place like a downpour.

-Drip -Drip

Ah, indeed.

It was like the sky truly was bleeding.

Victor stared with his eyes widened with horror, drops of blood rained down against his bare face.

A deafening silence dominated the entire place, not a single soul could be heard breathing.

Not a single soul moved.

All actions — all movements and events paused in crippling horror.

And for a while, nothing happened.

After a while, the decapitated body of Barns was the first to break the deafening silence. It swayed forward and collapsed lifelessly to the ground with a heavy thud.

The red sand underneath was dyed an even deeper shade of the crimson colour. It was quick to soak and greedily devour the liquid.

... indeed, the land of eternal drought was truly ungracious amd merciless.

It was a nightmare.

All of it felt like a dream that wouldn't end.

Barn's decapitated body no longer moved any more.

It was at that point the reality began to full settle in.

Barns was dead for real.

No bracelets.

No magic.

No withdrawal. No nothing.

Someone had truly lost their life.

Someone had truly died.

A sharp cry suddenly cut through the deafening silence.

"A-ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

It was the scream of a young female cadet her face was whitened with horror. One of the members of Barn's group, and Victor's group ambushers.

Her eyes widened with dread, the eyes threatened to roll out of their sockets. Her voice tore through the air like a needle through fabric.

It sounded like the reckoning of reality.

And like a chain, everything else broke and followed.

...Chaos ensued like a forest fire in the next second.

The cadets who had been frozen in horror trembled in place and retched. The scene of Barn's last moments, for those who saw, and his profusely bleeding headless body carved their minds deeply.

It kept resuscitating, making their stomachs churn and their mimds tremble.

Piercing cries and shrieks penetrated the air one by one. The horror of reality shattered the mimds of the cadets. They had just watched one of them die before their eyes.

Many were lost and confused. Others felt an uncertain source of fear and doubt began to gnaw at their insides. And while some felt withdrawn, like it was all just a separate reality like a endless nightmare.

Those who felt cold and detached, their minds already failed them...

Victor and Deandra were partially amongst the few who were lost and confused.

Especially Victor, who witnessed the action from the frontline, rather than go numb, his mind raced more rapidly than he had ever forced it too.

They say the human brain will always seek answers and justification to whatever that happened.

For the first time in years, and two chances at living, Victor's whole entire thoughts and feelings were made bare in his expression.

'The bracelet didn't work... How? No, is this how it's supposed to be? No it doesn't make sense. Did the the Instructors lie to us? But why would the Academy do such a thing? So if i had been the one who got hit, would i also have...' Victor held his breath sharply at that point.

Thinking about the ifs and hows almost didn't matter at this point. Instead, his horror stricken gaze sharply moved. Explore stories at empire

Something tingled at the back of his head. Out of nowhere, Victor suddenly felt cold and chilling, haunting.

The back of his neck and his skin crawled with goosebumps like never before, the tips of his fingers and toes felt bloodless and cold. Cold sweat formed over his forehead, beaded in droves down his face, and drenched his back.

And his heart pounded like explosive drums in his chest, he could hear them banging so loudly all the way in his ears that it was deafening.

He couldn't stop his fingers from trembling. His shoulders rose and fell unharmoniously as his breath swallowed but quickened.

A horrifying experience as if he was being watched by countless watchfull eyes from all over drowned his disoriented mind and scattered his senses.

Victor's expression sank; his face turned as white as a sheet, his lips almost blue, although he couldn't see it.

All of the sensation overwhelmed his entire being in such a manner he eventually found was familiar

'D-da....'

•[Skill: Danger Sense is reacting vehemently!]

Danger Sense was screaming loudly like a dying wraith.

Victor stared at the sudden screen before his eyes. He had never seen a message like this from the skill before — the skill had never reacted this strongly ever.

'Something's wrong.' Even his thoughts were disjointed and cold

Victor felt indescribable fear.... horror like he had only ever faced once or twice in the past before.

It was primal existential dread on the same level, even more, like when he cowered under the presence of the Demon King from the vision a year ago.

The scene of dread continued to rise, his symptoms continued to increase.

Victor tried to think.

He tried to be calm, but his mind was scattered. His thoughts were screaming at him all over the place.

The dread made him experience all sorts of things and different thoughts all at the same time.

He fekt like he was running insane and loosing his mind.

Victor felt rage and anger, uncontrollable wrath like he wanted to destroy something or someone in his grasp.

He felt fear and terror from the marrow of his bones.

He felt sorrow and sadness that his heart quaked and wept.

•[Danger Sense is strongly activated!!]

He felt disgust and innate repulsion to himself and all things like he wanted to throw it all up and rip his disgusting flesh off his body and pick his fibers one by one.

And he even felt like he wanted to smile and laugh, to scream and cry out at the top of his lungs and organs!

•[Danger Sense is warning you!!]

It was excruciating.... everything!

And then—

•[Ding! Skill: Immersion has been forcefully activated!!]

•[Ding! External influence has been detected! Skill: Immersion is strongly activated!!]

Then Victor slowly came to his reasoning...

"Wh...wha-t...."

Tears of blood streamed from his eyes.