—Thwack!

A sharp kick arced up the ground and knocked off the holo-pen in Kristina's hands before settling right below her jaw and launching her up. The force of the kick was enough to send her flying, but the chains tied through her hands pulled her back down and she slammed against the ground.

"Damnit!" The sharp-faced man with green eyes exclaimed, kicking the holo-pen on the ground away from the girl. "I take my eyes away for a second and you stop cooperating. Please, you have to be helpful for the both of you, you get it right? I really don't want to hurt you." His calm voice flowing out like smooth butter would've charmed anyone, but the look of pity on the man's face as he said those words left Kristina greatly unsettled.

-Tweeet~ Tweeet Twweeee

He picked up the holo-pen with his hands, then, he removed a handkerchief from the inner pockets of his coat and wiped off the bits of blood and saliva that stuck to his boots.

"Damian!" A shout entered from outside the grimy dark cellar. Kristina Steitz slowly lifted her head to see the face of the familiar red-haired mage, Isabella Ahlgrim. The forehead of the flawless beauty with a visage that would leave angels sighing had a long, shallow scratch from the top to below the eye.

Isabella pushed open the cellar's door and walked in, her eyes cold as she chided the man. "I told you, don't hurt them. It's more work for me."

Kristina pursed her bleeding lips as she saw her supposed teacher talk with that man. It was all because of this wench, this devil. With superhuman endurance, Kristina held in the river of curses that threatened to flow out as she glared at Isabella. She had already tried it over the last two days, and it only resulted in getting her mana channels twisted around as punishment.

-Tweeee~ Tweeet Tweeet

"She was about to ruin things!" The green-eyed man, Damian, replied. "The other one is still asleep, she has to help us out here. Why did you have to knock him out so bad?"

Kristina's eyes shifted to her side at Damian's words.

Right, maybe it wasn't Isabella, but this kid that was the reason she was here with her clothes ragged up and ribs broken, why she hadn't had a sip of water or a bite of food for so long. The black-haired kid sleeping with his watch incessantly playing old Blues songs.

-Tweeee~ Tweeet Tweeet

"Tsk. Can't you do something about that sound?" Isabella said. "Didn't you buy him that watch? Make it stop. Fucking Blues, who keeps Blues as their alarm in this generation?"

"No can do, I am not very good with technology." Damian shrugged. He pushed the holo-pen in his pockets and gestured at Isabella to leave the place as he followed behind her. He glanced back at the girl and smiled, his sharp incisors glinting from far away. "Behave, ok? Enjoy your music and stay quiet, or I'll kill you."

A wave of fear crawled up Kristina's toes, all the way to her spine. She tightly clenched her teeth and turned her head back to the ground.

-Slam!

The heavy metal door of the cellar shut close, and the faint light seeping in merged into the darkness. Taking in deep breaths, Kristina looked around. Green moss and grime brushed against her skin as the heavy rusty handcuffs chained to the ground coiled around her wrists.

-Twweeeet~ Tweeet

Kristina sighed and closed her eyes.

-Tweeeet tweeeet

Two days ago, when Isabella had her first class. She found something odd in Kristina's classmate and brazenly attacked him. A metal spear coated in crackling lightning that lodged itself right into his head.

-Twee Twee

And then, as if a dragon had been bothered out of its slumber. Ralph Rubinstein stood up and fought back. The result was them getting knocked out and thrown into this cellar. Where was this place, why they were brought here, Kristina couldn't figure out anything.

-Twwwwwweeeeeet tweeet

"Fuck!" Kristina pushed herself up and gnashed her teeth as she stared at the boy sleeping with her back to her. The white of her eyes was red with blood as it glistened with tears.

She pushed her legs ahead, her wrists held down by the cuffs. Kristina groaned and turned her feet at the boy.

"Fuck you! Goddamn it!"

In a fit of rage, Kristina smashed her feet at the boy's back, his hands.

-Tweeee~ Tweeett~

"Fuck you! Fuck you! Shut up!"

-Tweee—

Her kicks landed on the child's watch and the music stopped abruptly. Kristina took in heavy breaths and retracted her legs back. Her shoes were long since torn and thrown away during his rage. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head against them.

She couldn't understand.

Why? Why was this happening? If only she knew a reason, a strand of hope in the form of her actions. If only she knew, she could have held on. She could have found strength in stepping on the right path, but what was this? There was nothing she did that could have even remotely spurred this on. Everything was normal, it was all as it should have been.

It wasn't her fault.

Kristina groaned as her tears escaped the prison of her eyelids and freely dripped down from her cheeks and to the ground, merging in with the sounds of the dripping water in the cellar.

***

The rattling of the door scratched into Kristina's ears and woke her up. She hadn't realized when she had tired out and fallen asleep. Meekly raising her head, she looked up at the door with a sharp gaze.

The door opened and the dim morning sunlight entered the room.

"It's been three days and you're here NOW!? Where is everyone else! Just 5 have gathered even though I called for a meeting!!" Isabella's loud voice made its way into the room from far away.

Five.

Kristina's eyes glimmered. Five. There were five people out there, of which she had already seen two.

The door opened up completely and a woman wearing a long white lab coat stepped in. Her messy hair stuck out, but couldn't hide her beauty.

"Oh ho ho!" the woman who looked like a doctor laughed exaggeratedly when she walked inside. "THIS is the kid you were talking about, Damian?!"

Kristina watched her from the corner of her eyes as the woman had her gaze stuck to the boy sleeping next to her. Despite her loud shouts, Damian didn't respond.

"This is criminal boy! I treated him a while back!" Still laughing, the woman walked into the room. She met her eyes with Kristina for a split second and turned away as if the girl was irrelevant. She ducked down next to the boy and poked his head with her fingers as if touching an animal.

"My, my, you roughed him up bad if he's still knocked out."

Kristina slowly turned her face to face them. The doctor-like woman had a wide grin on her face as she inspected the body in front of her. Leaning closer to his head, she rolled him on his back and pushed his hair away.

All color left her face at once.

"Hey..." She said. "You're awake, aren't you?"

-TWWWWWEEEEEEEET