A bad feeling overwhelmed Rin as soon as she woke up. She didn't know the reason but she was sure that something bad would happen to her. Something terribly bad.

‘Oh god,’ she thought, already exhausted for the incoming days. ‘What kind of things did you prepare for me today?’

She couldn't really do anything about it, though, so she decided to just prepare for school. Brushing her teeth, changing her clothes, eating a light meal, she immediately left her house after grabbing her bag. She didn't want to waste any time.

On her way to school, she encountered her first oddity. Usually, she and Celia would meet each other at around halfway to school. Today, however, she was nowhere to be seen.

‘Is she late? Or am I too early?’

She considered waiting for her, but scratched the idea immediately as she didn't want to wait in the middle of the road.

‘We will meet at school anyway’.

◇

After about ten minute later, she finally arrived at school. The second oddity was there waiting for her.

The school was too quiet. And as soon as she put a step into school ground, an immense wave of pressure washed over her instantly.

‘...Wh- ...what's this...?’

She didn't know what it was. All she knew, was that it was dangerous. A normal person would probably faint under this atmosphere. Fortunately, Rin could, to some extent, adapt to the pressure.

However, when she finally took a look around her, she was invaded with terror. The schoolyard was filled with students lying on the ground, as if they were—

“—Dead.”

Unease filled Rin's mind and, without thinking she rushed and kneeled in front of one of the body. Placing her hand near the nose and on the neck, she verified if the man was still alive.

‘At least he's breathing.’ She thought, regaining some semblance of calmness ‘I just hope that the other are okay too.’

Rin didn't understand the current situation, so she decided it best to call the ambulance and police first. However, when she tried to reach for her phone, the unconscious corpse suddenly cried.

“M.. monster!”

As if on cue with his voice, something fell right in front of Rin, generating a loud cracking sound as the ground was destroyed.

‘—!!!’

Rin's bad feeling immediately skyrocketed, to the point where she could even see her impending death. The thing that fell from the sky was a 'monster'. At first glance, one could see that it had a humanoid form. However, from the horn present on its head to the two wing shooting out from its back, the thing's humanity would be outrightly denied. It was without a doubt, the devil.

Rin was completely paralyzed in front of the being before her. Her breathing stucked on her throat, sweat covered her entirely. Never in her life had she felt more in danger than right now.

Run.

Her instinct screamed at her, yet she couldn't move. The monster noticing her, advanced.

Get away from that thing.

Her movement was completely sealed. Before she even knew it, the devil was already in front of her.

Escape! Run away from there!!!

Alarm bell sounded in Rin's head, but she still couldn't do anything. The monster's arm reached out to her. She was sure that it was going for her heart.

‘...Am I going die here?’

As if on cue with her word, one of her memory flashed on her mind.

“How about this, Rin? I want you to reach our level.”

She heard her brother's voice.

“I want you to reach the ‘Elite's’ level!”

As soon as she remembered that phrase, she stepped out of her trance.

She immediately rejected her instinct, and, instead, decided to move.

Mustering all the energy she could, she managed to barely escape the monster's arm.

Using that momentum, she instantly got away from the monster's reach.

“That's right,” Rin spoke up. “If I run away here, that would be the same as denying my whole existence up till now.”

Rin was born inside the Kagane family as the only one who wasn't qualified to be an ‘Elite’. That's why, more than anyone else, she worked hard. More than anyone else, she trained. More than anyone else, she learned. All for one single objective, to stand along the protector of humanity, the ‘Elite’.

So, if she ran away now, that would mean that she couldn't do it. That all the hardwork she had done until now, would be meaningless. That's why, here and now, she had the obligation to fight the threat in front of her.

However, as we all should know, reality will never appear as how we want it to be.

Reality was harsh.

As Rin took her battle stance, she was instantly sent crashing into a nearby wall. Some of her rib broke as she coughed up blood on the ground.

“Human.....” The monster spoke, albeit in a weirdly manner. It seemed to have difficulty talking human language. “...weak!”

Elite and monster are fundamentally different from normal human. The Elite, not only have the Aura, but also the singularity, while the monster had a different body composition from a human from the very beginning. As such, this was not even a question of how much hardwork one had done to begin with; capacity-wise, a normal human could never stand up to these two entities.

Rin was a smart person, so she was obviously aware of these fact. However, as said earlier, she couldn't run away. She mustn't. Having the thought was already sufficient.

Rin slowly stood up, despite her injuries. She had to. She advanced toward the monster and retook her stance. This was a meaningless attempt. She couldn't win. She knew that. She also knew that her objective was utterly impossible to accomplish. She had completely no way of succeeding.

But, every time these kind of thought appeared inside of her, she would always suppress them down, deep into her mind.

She, after all, didn't want to acknowledge these facts.

“I guess, I won't know if I'll be able to do it unless I try!”

Rin remembered saying these kind of word when she was young.

And that's what she always did. Try.

This time, too, she would try.

The sole difference was that this would probably be the last.

This time, Rin would die trying.

◇

Celia Kail ran toward her school.

“Damnit! I'm late!”

For the first time in a long while, she was late. Not only did she overslept, but her alarm clock somehow decided to abandon her today.

“Ahhhh! Why didn't anyone wake me up!?”

Celia cursed aloud and continued to dash. But, as she was approaching the school, she remarked something odd. No one was in sight, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

‘?’ A question mark appeared on her mind as she finally arrived.

When she saw what was within the school ground, however, she couldn't help but be stuck in place. Many students were laying unconscious on the floor. The yard in itself had sign of destruction around it. Some window of the school building was completely shattered.

“...W-what..?” Celia expressed, completely confused.

Then her eyes finally stumbled onto one person. It was Rin's corps. Color instantly drained from Celia's face.

Her best friend was covered in a pool of blood from head to toe. A hole was present on Rin's stomach, one of her arm was bended in the wrong way, and one of her leg was, literally, detached from her body. The question of, if Rin was still alive or not wasn't even necessary anymore. Rin was undoubtedly dead.

All thought inside of Celia was immediately cut off. She simply rushed toward Rin. If she was still in a right state of mind, she would have remarked the pressure emitted from the school. Right now, though, she couldn't feel it.

“T-this has to be some kind of joke.” She said unsteadily as she crouched in of front of Rin.

“Y-you can't be dead, right? Rin.” Celia extended her hand to her friend's shoulder. She could still feel some warmth, but, it was apparent that Rin's body was growing cold.

“No, no, no, no!” Celia's mind was thrown into disarray. “This can't be real! I-I mean, weren't you perfectly fine just yesterday!”

She couldn't comprehend what was happening. The school was in tatter, the students were all inanimate, and not an ounce of life could be felt from Rin.

‘Is this some kind of nightmare!?’

Celia, then, placed her other hand on Rin as she began to shook her.

“W-wake up, Rin! Please!” Tear began to run down on her cheek. “This isn't funny, you know!”

She continued to shook her friend even harder, but, no response came. Rin's body was growing colder by the minute.

“Please! Just say something.”

Celia's tear intensified as she began to cry.

“This can't be happening!” Reality was catching up to Celia, realizing that, she might not be able to be with Rin anymore. “This...just....can't.”

Celia hugged her best friend's bloodied corpse. Despair wailed over her as she remembered the time they spent together inside the school. She remembered the thing they talked about. She remembered the place they visited together. She remembered the silly thing they did together. She remembered loving being together with her.

Rin and Celia were friend for more than a year already. And in that time they accomplished many things. For Celia, it was a very important and irreplaceable part of her life.

“I... don't want you to die.” she said weakly, her tears not stopping.

She didn't wish for things to end so suddenly. There was many, many more thing she wished to do together.

“I beg of you...” Celia mustered with all her force. “Please wake up!”

At that moment, Celia's body began to glow. Energy coursing through her vein, her eyes shining brightly.

Then, slowly, the light transferred to Rin's body.

The girl's detached feet reattached itself, her arm twisted around a little and returned to its normal way, and her overall complexion began to improve. Celia didn't know what was happening, but, when she saw Rin's state, she vehemently continued pouring energy into her.

Hope returned into her. A miracle was happening. Rin was being brought back to life. A smile appeared on Celia's face, and she concentrated even more. She concentrated so much, in fact, that she didn't see the thing standing behind her.

The devil was back.