The Trauma

"There's no need for me to fight," Yami muttered with a chuckle. He jumped on one of the roofs nearby and watched how Shun would defeat the beast.

"Mei! Ying!" Shun called out, but no one was answering. He gritted his teeth while looking at the soul beast Nivi who had gotten his attention.

"I am no longer a Warrior rank," Shun whispered while closing his eyes. He was preparing himself physically and mentally for the battle that he would fight alone.

"I am now in Master rank!"

Shun activated his hammer and aimed it against the soul beast. His eyes showed bloodlust and determination to slay.

The soul beast Nivi roared and glided on the ground with its mouth wide open to launch an attack against Shun. It released an energy blast and nearly knocked Shun away.

Shun activated his shield for defense, but the energy blast melted half of it. He ran to the side and hid behind the house before another shot exploded.

'I need to end this faster and find the two of them,' Shun thought before exhaling his nervousness. He ran around the house to get closer to the soul beast without risking his location.

The soul beast turned his head from side to side to look for Shun.

"Die!" Shun yelled before he appeared behind one of the broken houses and lunged toward the soul beast. When his hammer hit the head, a visible electric force blasted and killed the soul beast, and smashed its head.

Shun took a step backward and looked at his masterpiece. "I've done it!"

"He improved," Yami smiled at how Shun became stronger than he used to be. He went down from the roof and went to approached Shun.

"Yami, you're here. Where's Mei?" Shun asked in panic when he saw that Mei was nowhere to be seen.

"Here!" Mei went out from her hiding spot and ran toward them. "There was a hole in the roof, so I went down."

"I see," Yami nodded his head and faced Shun, "You became stronger, Shun."

"Ah! Thank you. It's because I'm not a trainee anymore, and I can now add skills to my new soul vessel," Shun stated shyly and returned to his original body. "But why are you two here?"

Yami looked at Mei and gestured for her to explain what had happened.

"Umm, there was a Raider, and I thought that —"

"I am here to protect you. Why do you need to go and make yourself in danger!?" Shun scolded Mei and breathed heavily to control his emotions.

Yami took a couple of steps backward and let the two of them converse since he was not involved in their matters. He leaned on the post while waiting for them to finish talking.

"Huh, what is this?" Yami muttered when he saw a notification on his screen. He opened it up and noticed that it was a quest.

[!QUEST]

[THE RUNAWAY.]

[DESCRIPTION: FIND MEI AND SAVE HER FROM THE SOUL BEAST.]

[REWARD: 20,000 EXP]

[FAILURE: QUEST CANCELLED.]

[THE RUNAWAY: HAS BEEN COMPLETED. YOUR REWARD CAN BE FOUND IN THE INVENTORY.]

[YOU LEVELED UP!]

[CONGRATULATIONS! THE PLAYER REACHES LEVEL 7! YOUR GIFTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE INVENTORY.]

"The reward is good," Yami exclaimed with satisfaction. He opened his status and got pleased with the increased number of stats. "I never thought I'd nearly missed this quest earlier."

Yami glanced at the two, and they were still bickering at each other. Using the free time he had, Yami opened his inventory to check the gifts he received from the system.

Yami chose one from the two boxes inside and opened it.

[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE RECEIVED A VISION OF CHARACTERS.]

"Vision of characters?" Yami muttered in confusion. He looked at the two that had just finished bickering and were walking toward him. There, Yami saw an exclamation mark [ ! ] at the top of their heads.

"Sorry about what happened, Ying," Shun stated and laughed awkwardly. As for Mei, her cheeks had a pink hue from the embarrassment.

"It's fine. Though, let's go somewhere else. I think combats are going around here," Yami stated. He felt some rumble on the ground and the cloud of smoke from the ongoing battles nearby.

"I think so too."

The three of them went to an abandoned church after getting some food for their hungry stomachs.

Yami was sitting between the two. The atmosphere was awkward since Shun and Mei were silent, and their body language was against each other. Yami sighed and decided to speak to break the ice.

"So Mei, tell me. Why did you run toward the forbidden area when you knew that there was a portal that had opened?" Yami asked and glanced at Mei, who was squirming in discomfort.

Mei's lips were pursed together in distress and glanced at Shun. Her looks were asking for approval.

"When the abnormal portals started appearing. The Raiders began targeting Mei, and they kept chasing her," Shun explained.

"If the Raiders are chasing her. Then why did she go to where there's a Raider?" Yami stated in disbelief and darted his eyes over Mei.

"The school..." Mei trailed off and fidgeted with her clothes as words got stuck in her throat.

"Remember the attack on our school? The Raider was chasing and wanted to capture Mei. They got drawn to her, and after that incident, she was traumatized and didn't want to cause harm," Shun clarified. He looked down at his cold food while remembering the past occurrences.

"There are Raiders that chased me on my way home, but luckily there was a Combatant nearby," Mei muttered. She fisted and looked guilty when her eyes met Yami. "That's why I ran away because I want everyone to be safe at the mall if a Raider appeared."

"I see," Yami smiled and patted Mei's head to comfort her. "Don't worry. The abnormal portals have been controlled by the Defender base. No Raider can chase you again."