Pain

"Excuse me! Is there anyone inside?! Excuse me!!!"

Early in the morning like this, there's already someone strange disturbing my peace. Can't he just stay quiet?! It's been 5 minutes since he started shouting in front of the door.

"Brother, why don't you just open the door? Poor thing, he has been standing there for a while now."

I don't want to open it because I already know who's behind that door. I'd rather enjoy this beautiful morning with my sweet little sister.

"EXCUSE ME!!! IS THERE ANYONE INSIDE?! EXCUSE ME!!!"

This time the shout is even louder. I'll teach him a lesson later!

"If you don't want to open it, let me do it."

Uh-oh! If Lilith ends up opening it...

"Alright, I'll open it. You just continue with your breakfast."

Ah... damn it, I don't want to open it at all. But I'd rather not have Lilith open it.

"Oh, finally you open the door, Snow. I wanted to..."

"Where are you going?"

"Uh, I was going to come inside. I heard from Tree that you have a very beautiful sister, so I wanted..."

Because I'm annoyed by his sudden change in behavior, I slap his face very hard. He immediately collapses in front of our apartment door.

"Brother, what was that noise earlier?"

"You're mean, Snow! I just wanted to..."

"Oh, sorry, my hand slipped."

"Oh my, are you okay? Please forgive my brother, he rarely acts like this."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Let's go inside, I'll treat your wounds."

Suddenly, he becomes very polite and friendly in front of my sister, typical trash.

"Um... excuse me, Snow, I need to pass."

"Quickly get out of my sight, trash!"

"Brother!!"

***

My morning, a beautiful morning with my cute little sister is now being disrupted by this trash! If it weren't for Lilith, I would have punched him multiple times already.

"So, what do you need here, trash?"

"Brother! You can't say things like that!"

"It's okay. So, Tree asked me to take you to the office. He said there's something important to discuss."

I have a bad feeling about this order from Tree.

"Just wait a moment, how do you know Tree?"

"I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, Miss Lilith. My name is Shin, and starting today, I am your brother's work partner."

"Huh?! Who said I accepted you as a work partner, trash!"

"Sis! Don't be so harsh to the guest. If you continue like this, I'll ignore you all day!"

Ignored by Lilith?! No, I don't want that!

"Fine."

"Miss Lilith, you don't need to behave like that towards your brother."

Damn! They're cunning, taking advantage of Lilith's innocence to manipulate her impression of them.

"Hey, trash! Stop touching my sister's hand! Let's go now."

"If that's the case, we'll go ahead, Miss Lilith."

Right in front of me, he suddenly kissed my sister's hand! Unable to bear their disgusting behavior any longer, I grab a kitchen knife and lock them from behind.

"Hey, trash! Do you want to die now?!"

"Brother stop!!"

***

We're currently on our way to the office, but all I can hear throughout the journey is the loud laughter from this person next to me. He just won't stay quiet.

"Pfft... hahaha!"

"What are you laughing at, trash?"

"Your cheek! Your cheek! The slap mark! Hahaha!"

"Hey, trash, weren't you also slapped by my sister earlier?"

"Hahaha! You're right! It's just that I didn't expect Miss Lilith to slap you too!"

This journey seems like it's going to feel longer than usual.

***

Right in front of us now is the door to Night's room, for some reason, I feel a lot of negative energy emanating from this door. My whole body shivers, I feel uneasy.

"W-what's wrong, Snow? A-are you trembling?"

"Before you start mocking people, you should look in the mirror first."

"Huh?! I-I'm n-not trembling."

"It's up to you, let's go in."

Indeed, my instincts are never wrong. Standing in front of us is Night, glaring sharply at us, and Tree, sitting in front of Night's desk while smoking, he stands up and directs the cigarette smoke toward our faces. They look like a mafia group.

"Um... excuse me, Night, is there some..."

"Shut your mouth and sit down!"

They're really angry, I don't know what I did to make them so mad.

"Can you explain this?"

They throw something, it's the Unity newspaper. This newspaper is the most widely read in District C because its news is very fresh and critical.

"Take a look at the front page."

On the front page headline of the newspaper, it says "Two Individuals with Superpowers Fight Each Other Causing Damage to Several Public Facilities, Friends or Enemy?"

"Can you explain this?"

We just stay silent because we know the two people in the photo are us, even though the photo isn't clear because our fight yesterday was very fast, Shin's clothes and my necklace are visible.

"I'll ask once again, can you explain what happened?!"

"Before anything else, we apologize, Night, we caused chaos. We truly regret it."

"No, Night, it's my fault."

"Shin? So, all of this is your fault?"

"Yes, I was the one who challenged and attacked Snow first. So punish me."

This trash, I didn't expect them to admit it just like that. What's wrong with his previous personality? Is there something wrong with his head?

"Alright, I'll just advise you both on something. You need to understand that Infinite is an official organization of the government, but the people in District C cannot accept strange beings like us. Even though Infinite is a respected investigation and defense organization, none of them would have thought that the ones causing chaos as mentioned in the newspaper are members of Infinite."

"Why don't they know it's us?"

"They only know us as an investigation and defense organization, nothing more. Even though they hate Gen-X users, they respect us as Infinite members. That's why whenever we go on missions that require Gen-X, we always wear masks. Because you're still new here, your masks are not ready yet, and that's why I only gave you the mission to observe Jasmine, Snow."

Now I understand why I was only given the mission to watch Jasmine. Night and Tree, they care about us. I'm grateful to be on the right side, but is it true that the people in this district hate people like us?

"The main discussion is over, next, you'll deal with Tree. Laila asked me to come home quickly, I don't want to keep her waiting."

***

"Alright, now you're dealing with me. To start, Shin, release one of your portals!"

"Okay!"

What is Tree planning?

"Have you studied all the books I gave you, Snow?"

"Of course, I've read them, but I still find it very difficult to do."

"Alright, I'll tell you why you still can't use the portal. But before that, I want to ask, have you been hearing strange voices in your head lately?"

"Yes, you're right! I hear them very often."

"The voice in your head is called a soul. They're like spirits residing within human bodies since birth, but souls will only sleep and never awaken. The only way to awaken a soul is by injecting it with Serum-X. They will only emerge in dire situations, usually offering great power to us. By agreeing, a contract will be made."

Contract? What does that mean?

"I'm sure you're very confused by what I just said, so I'll give you a brief overview. You will never be able to open a portal unless you make a contract with the soul and mention its name. Do you understand?"

"I understand the overview, but how can I know its name?"

"You have to fight it first. Its name will eventually come to you. Now, I want you to start meditating, find it, and defeat it. Don't let it take over your body and mind, but make it obey your commands. If anything happens, we'll protect you here."

"Alright, I'll start!"

***

Hey, can you hear me?

"You don't need to speak anymore, I heard all your words earlier. Come to the cave under the ice mountains."

What do you mean? It's very dark here, how do I get there?

"You talk too much, turn your body around!"

Turn around?

"Can you see it?"

Yes, I can see it. I'm coming, whoever you are!

"I'm not sure you can defeat me."

***

"How's he doing?"

"For now, still stable. This means Snow hasn't encountered that soul yet. Shin, if Snow loses to that soul, I want you to do it."

"Wait! Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's the only way."

"Alright, Tree!"

***

This place is so beautiful, with lots of glowing ice crystals in the darkness. The temperature in this cave is very cold, and the air is very thin, but this benefits me because the colder it is, the stronger my Gen-X becomes.

"Don't think this will be very easy, Snow."

Where are you? I want to finish this soon!

"Come a little further and you'll see me."

***

I still can't believe what I'm seeing, it turns out the soul that has been talking to me all this time is a giant.

It's so huge, its right hand and foot are filled with glowing symbols, and its eyes shine blue, combined with its body bound by ice chains, and there are several chains piercing its body.

"Now you can see me, Snow. How do I look?"

"Your appearance is extraordinary. At first, I thought you were a ghost or something."

"You are an interesting child, Snow."

"I was asked by Tree to fight you, but how can I fight you if your body is chained?"

"You're right, I also want a fair fight. That's why, Snow, drop your blood on these chains, it will break them."

I don't know if this is true or not, but there's no other choice if I want to fight it fairly. First, I'll injure my arm with Y-MIRai, just wait a moment!

"I wanted to release these chains, but I didn't bring my weapon."

"Use the regular spear over there."

This spear looks like Y-MIRai but it's pitch black. Well, it's better than having no weapon at all.

As I start to scratch my hand with this black spear, I feel a very sharp pain in my right hand. Damn! This is very painful! I've never felt this much pain before!

On the other hand, the chains binding and piercing its body slowly disappear.

"Thank you for your blood, Snow, now I'm free. Hem... I might just use my human form for this fight to be fair."

Its body shrinks, and it turns into a human! But its appearance is very similar to mine, this is impossible!

"Are you surprised? This is my second form, how similar is it to you?"

"Argh! Damn you! That's not at all similar to me."

It suddenly disappears from my sight. Without realizing it, it's already in front of my face. It suddenly punches my face, its punch is so strong that it throws me very far. Its face, which looked very innocent before, now looks very frightening, its smile looks very sadistic. Without saying a word, it starts stabbing my right hand with that black spear.

It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt!

I can't stop screaming in pain, this is painful. The pain starts spreading to my legs and my right eye, I can't bear all this pain. It Hurt!!

"Argh!!! It hurt!!!"

"HAHAHA! COME ON! COME ON! SCREAM AND CRY EVEN LOUDER!!!"

"You scoundrel! I will never forgive you! Argh!!!"

Damn it, it tears my arm, painful!

"Hey, Human!! Who told you to speak? All you can do is scream in pain. Ah! How beautiful it is! How does it feel to be tortured by yourself?! It must be very disgusting! Am I right?! Hahaha! Come on, louder! Make this place filled with the echoes of your screams!!"

No, you're not me! Your skin, pale like a corpse, silver hair, shining blue eyes, long ears, and the right side of your body filled with strange symbols, none of that is me!

"Hey-hey, look at your right hand and foot, they've started emitting marks like mine! Isn't the shape beautiful?! Now we can move on to the next stage, Snow."

The next stage? I don't know what that is, my body is getting weaker, and my right eye is starting to blur. I don't care anymore, I'm tired of screaming in pain, I'm tired of crying, I'm tired of thinking, I... I'm tired of living.

"Ah damn it, did I overdo it? It's only been a while, but he's already drowned, so boring. I hoped we could have more fun for a little longer. But oh well, I'll finish this soon. I'll stab you again."

"HAHAHA! HAHAHA! ALL THIS PAIN IS VERY GREAT! HAHAHA! AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN! STAB ME! TEAR ME! KILL ME!"

"Disgusting, you're completely drowned. That means there's nothing else you regret, so now it might be time."

It's reciting something, I don't quite understand what it's saying.

"With my blood, I will take this body, replace this soul, take all the power in it, and kill all that bothers me. I the Aurgelmir, the ancestor of the ice giant, will kill this drowned human."

After finishing the chant, it starts lifting the black spear and placing it right above my right eye.

"Now I'm going to stab it into your eye, but before that, I have one final question. Do you have no regrets left?"

It's going to stab it into my eye, huh, hehehe, I... I can't think anymore, I don't care anymore about what it's going to do to me. I can only smile widely and laugh out loud while shedding tears.

"HAHAHA! HAHAHA! DO IT QUICKLY!"

"Your laughter is so disgusting, you're truly pathetic. Alright, I'll assume you have no more regrets. In that case, goodbye, Snow!!"

"DAMN YOU!"

***

"Good, my spear pierced his head. With this, it's over. Goodbye, Snow."

***

"I'm glad to have known you, Snow."