The Voranth stared into Allan's being, its crimson eyes piercing beyond flesh and bone as if looking for something inside his soul, making him feel completely exposed to it.
Allan could do nothing against its gaze; his eyes widened when he realized that air no longer entered his lungs; the being in front of him was choking him.
Panic overtook Allan's mind as he trashed and started hitting the being's arm, doing his best to free himself from the creature's grip. Needless to say, it was futile.
A couple of meters away, Matthia's back was pressed hard against a wall; he had been blasted away from the shockwave produced when the Voranth attacked. He had involuntarily tucked his chin to his chest and protected the back of his head, narrowly preventing him from hitting his head against the reinforced wall.
He opened his eyes after some time, and all he heard were screams and harrowing roars from the direction of the destroyed wall. His vision blurred and his head hurt like hell, and he could not form a concise thought.
After a few seconds and a lot of effort, he turned towards the direction of the screams, and what he saw made his eyes widen in horror. Hollow creatures were running rampant through campus and destroying school buildings. Students from all years could be seen running for their lives; a few, perhaps the bravest or dumbest, were fighting with everything they had.
He saw teachers rounding up students while doing their best to push back the hollow abominations attacking them. He then heard a muffled grunt close to him, and turning in the direction of the grunt, his eyes went wide in shock.
All he saw was a being with an unnaturally slender body, with elongated limbs and narrow shoulders covered in overlapping plates of black, chitinous armor. The armor appeared to have grown directly from its body rather than being worn, forming sharp ridges along its chest, shoulders, arms, and legs.
Its head was elongated and almost predatory, lacking anything resembling a human face. Several jagged plates formed a crown-like structure around its skull, while a narrow, angular mouth sat beneath a pointed facial structure. Despite its inhumane physical appearance, the most shocking part of the creature was the pair of crimson eyes burning within the darkness of its face, possessing no visible pupils.
Fear gripped his heart, and his body started involuntarily trembling when he looked into those crimson eyes; they felt...unnatural.
A sudden movement broke his trance and made him look away from that pair of eyes. He saw Allan thrashing around as his body seemed to be lifted a meter off the ground. The creature was holding his best friend, his brother, by the neck close to its face.
'Allan…no…' he said in his head.
He tried to stand up, doing his best to reach his friend and save him. Alas, it was futile; his body did not respond to his will. Everything hurt, and a sharp pain assaulted his head. All he managed to accomplish was moving a few inches from the wall before his body gave out. His head had clearly taken damage in that blast.
He fell face-first to the ground as he tried to drag himself towards his friend.
"No…please, no…" he murmured as his consciousness slowly faded.
The last thing he witnessed before he fainted was Allan falling hard to the ground with the creature's arm still holding his neck. He couldn't really tell due to his blurry vision, but it looked like its arm had fallen alongside Allan's body.
His consciousness finally faded while his body hit the ground as well.
—
(A few seconds before Mattias fainted)
Allan's feet hung several inches above the ground.
The Voranth's hand remained wrapped around his throat, its elongated fingers digging into his neck with enough force to make breathing nearly impossible. Its crimson eyes stared into his face without anger, without excitement, without even the slightest trace of emotion.
Allan clawed desperately at its wrist without accomplishing anything.
The creature's arm simply tightened more.
Then—CLANG.
Something struck the Voranth's arm. For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then its forearm separated from its body. The severed limb remained clamped around Allan's throat as the Voranth stumbled backward; surprisingly, red blood sprayed across the ground. Allan dropped hard to the ground, coughing violently as he tore the creature's hand away from his neck.
A figure stood several meters away.
An older man.
He wore the black uniform of East Gate High. His broad frame was covered in a military uniform, the fabric worn from years of use. A name tag affixed on the left side of his chest; it read Garrick Veyne.
Gray had barely started spreading through his short black hair at his temples, and a pale scar crossed the left side of his face. A calm expression sat on his face.
His head moved slightly as he looked towards Allan. After confirming Allan's 'well-being ', he then turned to look at all the students currently passed out on the floor. His eyes narrowed when he noticed a particular boy laying face first on the ground with his head pointing towards the creature's direction.
Judging by how his limbs seemed to be stretched in weird positions, he concluded that the boy, for whatever reason, had tried to crawl towards the Voranth.
He then turned towards the Voranth, his eyes narrowing even more with a dangerous expression painting his face.
The old man's intentions were clear; he was here to kill the being threatening his students and institution.
The Principal of East Gate High had arrived.