The Monster

Shindo stood in front of the man in the black suit, who had his head reared back in raucous laughter. When he returned from the portal, he had landed in-between Hikaru and the man. He hadn't attacked her, thankfully. Although she could most likely hold her own. In fact, they had been in the middle of conversation. Shindo appeared from the portal, dropping down from the ceiling unto one knee, before raising himself up, and staring at the man in front of him. 

His long red spear was dripping blood, its shine dampened by the dark red liquid. and he himself was covered in the substance. It wet his hair, causing it to droop and completely cover a majority of his face. His red eyes could be seen shining from within the curtain of hair. 

"Hahhhh." 

He exhaled a couple of deep breaths, as he stood in front of the man in the black suit. It was seeing this sight, that the man began to laugh. 

"HAHAAHHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!" 

He reared his head back, placed a hand over his eyes, and one over his abdomen. He laughed so hard that he was nearly brought to his knees. 

All the while, Shindo just looked on, unmoving. 

Hikaru stood behind Shindo, still in shock from the fact that he had simply appeared from the ceiling. She took notice of the blood covering his entire body, and she nearly vomited herself. 

"Y-your okay!" She managed to get out, after the feeling of vomiting had subsided. "W=what about Raiden?"

Shindo turned around to face her, his one visible red eye shining. "Raiden's fine. He's on the school roof top currently. 

At that moment, a flash of lightning and the boom of thunder overtook the atmosphere of the entire room. 

Hikaru stared at Shindo for a second, in momentary fear. 

Shining red eye. Tall. Covered in blood. Wielding a massive murder weapon that was also drenched in blood. An unreadable facial expression. His mana leaking out and encompassing the entire room. 

In this state, Shindo could be compared to nothing less than a monster. A monster that had just finished its slaughter and was moving on to its next pray. 

Shindo took notice of the momentary fear in her expression, before looking away. It didn't hurt him. People always looked at him like that. Even those closest to him. Even his own father. 

Typical. 

"Shindo! Remember what Raiden had said. About his ability being a vault of sorts, that could store both people and objects? 

Shindo froze for a second. He was more than just a bit shock that Hikaru had even decided to speak to him at all. "Yea." Shindo said, not taking his eyes off of his opponent, who was still laughing. 

"Well, if that's the case, then everything that has gone missing, its in his vault. That's why he acts so eccentric. When he uses his ability, the personalities of the people inside his body are allowed to resurface. That means; by defeating him, we can probably get him to empty that vault of his, not only saving all of the students and teachers trapped in there but also getting back the PA system. 

Even the teachers? Shindo was shocked. Thats why I couldn't find any of them. But that means, that this guy had managed to infiltrate the magic academy.

Shindo gritted his teeth. The situation only seemed to get worse the more information that he found out. No teachers. No way to communicate with others. No sign of the headmaster. And there were many more things that he didn't know the status of. 

"If that's the case, then I'll beat this guy. Without killing him."

The man in the black suit had finally gotten control of himself. "You talk with so much confidence. As if your victory was already decided as soon as you arrived." 

Shindo took a step forward. "Thats because it was." 

The man in black took a step back, and he looked down at his own legs in shock. 

"Heh. Amazing. For the first time, all of them. All of the students. No not just the students, every single soul inside of my body. They were all in agreement for the first time ever. The same sentiment. 'We have to get away from this monster standing in front of us."

Shindo paused. Thankfully, his hair covered his face, because behind it, he was left in utter disarray. 

"Monster." He muttered to himself, in a tone low enough that only he could hear. He shook his head subtly. 

Same old same old, Shindo. Since you were born, you've been called a monster. Don't let it affect you.

Shoving aside the hurt that he felt, Shindo brough his spear in front of him. 

The man looked at Shindo with an awestruck expression. "We couldn't grab the last one. Raiden. But you, we want to add you to our collection. [[Prince]] 

Shindo's eyes widened a bit. He didn't exhibit any noticeable physical reaction, but on the inside, he was seething. 

"That voice." 

The man in black just tilted his head, a smile on his face. "You recognize it, don't you?"

"You greedy bastard! Just how the hell! Just how the hell do you know her! How did you get her into your damned vault!" 

Shindo was clenching his fist so tightly that blood was drawn. 

The man just smiled, infuriatingly. 

Just as he was about to pounce, Shindo heard a voice from behind him shout. "Wait." 

Holding himself back, Shindo turned to face Hikaru. The anger in his eyes only served to make him look even more feral than he already was. And Hikaru flinched a bit, her words dead on her lips. 

"Just. Just go! You'd only get in the way." Shindo knew that he came off wrong there, that he should fix what he said, apologize for it, but the anger that was currently consuming him did not let him. It threatened to overtake his entire being. 

The way he spoke with others, was that one of the reasons that everyone feared him? It probably was. But for him, that was always the normal. Most of the interactions that he had with other people just felt wrong. Even if they were having a friendly conversation, it was always pointless. Nothing meaningful was ever shared. 

And for the others, he did shit like this. Needlessly antagonize another person. Say something dumb. 

That was one of the reasons why he was always cracking jokes. Because at least that way, he would insult someone on purpose, and that way, the nothingness that he discussed with others, it could at least be filled with some fake laughs as well. 

There were only a few people that he ever felt he was able to have a real conversation with. 

Raiden was one. For one, Raiden didn't fear him, and Shindo could tell that Raiden understood him, that they shared a similar existence. That was because of their strength and power. That was why they could understand each other. 

Because Raiden didn't fear him, there was no room for superficial interactions. Every word they shared had a purpose. 

The other was Suijin. That was just because of who she was as a person. What she stood for. She was very far from a hypocrite, and so because of her own ideals, her belief that power did not make you better than one another, she did not fear Shindo. She was one of the only ones able to actually call his name. 

And the final person, was someone from his past. From when he was younger. 

Hikaru looked shocked for a few seconds, but she immediately took Shindo's sudden outburst in stride. 

"All right then. I'll go meet up with others, try and spread and gather as much info as possible. I'll be back. And when I do return, we'll give that message on the P.A. system. 

Shindo could hear the determination in her voice, in her steps, as she exited the student council room. 

Turning back to face his opponent, Shindo didn't even hesitate. 

He dashed forward. 

Within the span of a second, he slashed his spear five times. 

The man in the black suit, Greed-which was what Shindo had decided to call him-tried to evade, but he was caught by two, directly across the chest. Not wasting a single second, using the momentum from each movement before to move into his next, Shindo kept up the onslaught, swinging his spear, slashing, twirling. 

All the while, Greed, who was put on the defensive, struggled to keep up with the speed that Shindo was exhibiting. 

Again and again, Greed was slashed. 

Across his shoulder, across his face, across his arm, close to his neck. 

Shindo was relentless. Blood was flying all over the place. Not only from Greeds wounds, but also from Shindo's spear, and from Shindo himself. 

Greed would have definitely died, had he not done what he did next. Suddenly, a massive blast of light began to radiate of his body. Before he could be flash banged, Shindo canceled the spell, and ducked under the spear that came flying out at him. 

Greed now moved to take the offensive, coming at Shindo with a polearm. Shindo dodged, parried, and blocked effectively against the onslaught of attacks, looking for his own opening. 

As soon as he saw it, he activated a magic sequence. 

A flame spell, combined with lightning Layered atop of that were an acceleration and homing spell. Combing it all together, Shindo exucted that magic sequence, to from an army of spears. 100 hundred spears made of flame and lightning. 

Just like Julius's, "Wandenreich." Using his own ability of mystic eyes of death perception, Suijin studied the Greatest knight's ability, and replicated it with near perfect accuracy. The only thing he didn't copy was the strings of mana that connected to the brain, allowing for full control. He wouldn't need that much. 

Letting the spears fly at his opponent, Shindo watched as Greed dodged and blocked and twirled his spear in a ballerina dance that Shindo recognized all to well. 

"Damn! So you, you do have her." 

He didn't want to believe it, but this was proof enough. He was using the same fighting style as her. Same movements and everything. 

The spears continued to rain down on him, before finally, Shindo attacked himself. Dashing through his own army of spears, Shindo charged up a magic spell in his own spear. When he got close enough, he detonated a cluster of the spears in front of Greeds face, creating a smoke screen, before swinging his spear into Greed like a baseball bat, letting off the powerful wind spell that blasted him away, straight out of the wall of the student council room, however just before he could be blown away completely, he used the spear to keep himself from being launched out of the hole in the wall. 

He landed on the ground and stared at Shindo, the same smile on his face. "You'll have to do better than that." 

Once again, he spoke in the voice of the young girl from Shindo's past. The first person to not fear him. His first friend. His best friend. 

A person from a time in the past, where he was called, "The Ghost of the Miyamoto." 

"I'll kill you." Was all Shindo had to say.