6 days before judgement

"Four. Twenty. Eight. Three. Eleven. Fifteen. One."

Numbers in seemingly random sequences flashed alongside maps of various cities on a large screen with a room filled with computers and people typing their time away. The map itself had red circles that appeared and disappeared, alongside the number associated with it. One was a smaller circle, whilst twenty was a little bigger. Circles close to one another had different colors. On one of the maps, there was an eleven and a one close by, the eleven was blue, and the one was red.

"Nineteen. Eighty. Seven. Twenty-two-"

"Stop—Stop everything, right now."

"Yes sir."

A man standing in the middle of the room that observed the screen pointed over the screen.

"Focus on the anomaly in New Busan."

"Of course, but—"

…The man on the computer fell silent as he began typing even faster, the screen now focusing on new busan.

"80 megafields? That…That's not normal."

"I want you to monitor this specific area, any fluctuations mean we move."

"Sir—"

Eighty. Seven hundred. Seven hundred and one. Zero. Eight hundred thousand. Eighty. Zero.

The man in the middle took a step back at the new updated numbers.

"Kovalski, update the numbers again."

Eight hundred thousand. Zero. Seven hundred.

"Two different signatures, sir—Well, now it's just one."

"The…The spike to 800 thousand, was It a different signature?"

"No sir. In the span of two seconds, the signature went from 7 gigafields to 8 terrafields."

"Send a message to all sinners in New Busan. And warn any dispatched operatives in the area to report any devil sightings."

"Yes sir, on it!"

------

III – 6 days before judgement

My heart pounded.

It felt like it tried to jump right of my chest.

But even so, my chest had gotten so tight it couldn't even if it tried.

Was it fear? Was it confusion? Was it dread?

My mind didn't make much sense anymore.

I got up, using the wall as support as I looked at the remains of what used to be a man. Was it for the better? He had already died, and if this hadn't happened...I would've died, right?

I removed my Jacket in a hurry, fast walking over to her as I wrapped it around her bloodied arms.

She looked at me, I couldn't say a word, should I have said thank you? My mind raced at how quickly everything went.

"Boy. How did you do it?"

"Wh…What?"

She asked me, what was I supposed to say?

"How did you react? It was way too fast for human."

I don't know. Human instinct? I don't wanna die? Besides, if it wasn't for her I would've died.

"I don't know, I just moved. Probably just luck?"

"No no. You moved as if you knew it was coming."

What the fuck am I? Daredevil? I didn't know anything, I just was trying to live—Wait, is she trying to question me so I don't ask questions about what had just happened?

"You're…not a sin, are you?"

"What?"

"A sin?"

"What?"

"…A sin? Like…The people?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. I guess you're not."

No, she definitely isn't. She would've killed me by now. And, what I just saw was clearly too strong to just be a sin. A devil then? No. Same result, then what the fuck is she?

"I'll be late for school—You..I- Thanks for saving me, keep the jacket."

As I turned around and hurriedly tried to walk away, she grabbed onto my arm and looked at me.

"Wait."

"…What?"

"What's your name?"

"I'm Shelly…You?"

"Shelly…Huh? Alright."

"Yeah I don't know why I assumed you'd give me your name…Again—Thanks a lot."

I ran off to the station, Skye was probably wondering where I was.

----

"…And that's EXACTLY why I think capybaras are the best animals known to mankind."

"Th-Thanks for your…Awfully long presentation, Seok."

"Always!"

Looking through the window, Shelly ignored the presentations given by the students as he looked at the city. New Busan, an architectural hell of a city. Thousands of large buildings ahead, roads that lay above people cast a shadow over the streets. Train rails passing through buildings. This city was built to neglect its inhabitants and prioritize escape routes.

And it's not like many could complain. Most people stayed indoors both day and night, if work could be done inside, people would gladly do it. It felt safer to be In between four walls than the outside.

"Bolin, it's your turn!"

"Yeeees Skye!"

"Miss…Please."

"Okay Skye!"

"My manifesto. By Bolin."

For a moment, Skye seemed stressed about what Bolin had just said, but then she remembered what kind of person he was, so she just sat down and listened.

"Why…Capybaras CLEARLY suck and why Quokkas are SO MUCH better."

Shelly looked over to Bolin's presentation, and as much as he wanted to listen, his mind was away. He thought about what had happened in the morning.

"And you know…They're cute and.."

Who was she, no more importantly, WHAT was she.

"Plus. Seok's dumb and wrong. And stupid."

Everything had happened so fast, and the only thing he could remember the girl cutting the sin into pieces. The blood on her hands, he quietly groaned at the image in his head.

Then, the bell rang.

"Okay…Two lessons spent on two presentations. Bolin, Seok. 0%"

"What? Why."

"Okay guys. One…This was meant to be an assignment on endangered species. Two. This presentation was so informal it probably can't even be considered English. Three, I didn't ask for you guys to have a full on debate about marsupials?"

"Capybaras are rodent."

"A capybara could never be a glorious marsupial."

"Shut up, I don't care what they are, what you guys like about them…Just—Come meet me in the teacher's lounge after this."

As students gathered their stuff and walked out the class, Noel walked up to Shelly and tapped his shoulder.

"Ready to leave?"

"Yeah. Where are the others?"

"Bolin's probably getting reprimanded, Yura…I don't know. Just said that she had an urgent emergency, her friends had white pants…Whatever that means?"

"Second day and this guy already gets in trouble, is he stupid?"

"Deserved I'd say. He just called me at like…2 am? Telling me to hop on?"

"Hop on WHAT, we JUST got displaced, how does he ALREADY have his console set up?"

"Shelly…We're talkin' 'bout Bolin…The guy that send a message in the group chat a day after the last attack."

"Lost my phone during that, didn't even see anything."

"We figured—Actually no we did. We thought you died."

"Fair assumption, any news about the others in the council?"

"Shelly,"

The cafeteria, a usually loud and filled room where students gather and eat. Some decide to not attend, to be in a quieter spot, or even just be far away from everybody. But here the cafeteria was empty. Chairs and tables ready for hundreds of people at a time, yet only around 30 to 40 were present, scattered around. Some ate, others spoke. But, it felt awfully quiet. Awfully empty. As if these people were in school past its open hours, it didn't feel right.

Shelly and Noel settled on one of those tables with their food platter, the atmosphere felt heavy, even for Shelly's taste.

"They all died in front of you, what do you mean when you're asking what happened? I'm the only one left."

Noel was someone that took rules, regulations and order very seriously, yet his demeanor was rather laid back. Two contradictory statements that clashed constantly, but that didn't stop Noel from being kind to people, whilst still holding his duties to heart. He never truly had a serious look on his face, until…

"I've kept quiet up until now…"

He gave Shelly that look. It was not anger, but apprehension. His eyes locked onto his friend as he held the dull knife given by the kitchen staff, it wasn't enough to cut, but sure as hell was enough to hurt.

"How is that you're alive right now?"

"…What?"

"It's true we got separated. But we managed to leave, I went back to look for other students, to show them out."

-----

"Is ANYONE around?!"

The screams of noel running through the nearly destroyed hall of the school echoed through. He held a metal pipe in hand, checking room to room. His hands trembled, he was terrified, but he couldn't leave anyone outside. His consciousness could not allow it. He heard loud noises coming from the courtyard, and as much as he hated the idea, he ran towards it.

"ANYONE?"

There it was, a horrifying sight. The source of the attack wasn't that of a sin.

"N…NOEL! J-JUST RUN AWAY BIG MAN."

One of the council members swayed his hands, standing in between him and his friends was a nearly 9 foot tall bipedal monster resembling a minotaur. That was everything BUT a sin, yet the look on their faces, and the council member repeatedly shouting for him to leave made him think this wasn't the only threat.

"NOEL! TO YOUR RIGHT!"

Another one pointed as they shouted out, briefly grabbing the attention of the minotaur, the council members would use this as an attempt to escape…But the warning the council member was serious. There was something charging at Noel, and he reacted far too late—

"Ngh. Are you fucking stupid?"

Shelly used all of his might to push against the tall humanoid figure from reaching Noel. Despite seemingly having stopped it from advancing, Shelly groaned.

"F…Fuck. They warned you to leave didn't they?"

Frozen in place, not knowing what to do. His friend was pushing against a threat, and his other were busy with another. Through his uncontrollable trembling, Noel turned his head over to the minotaur whom had taken their lives in one sweep.

This wasn't a normal sin, this wasn't just a devil either. It was the work of an entire group of devils.

"You shouldn't take your friend's advice for granted~"

Noel, through his hyperventilation looked over to Shelly and the humanoid figure. A tall pale man with long tied up black hair. His eyes were as red as blood, fangs poking out of his mouth as he spoke.

This was…Awfully cliché.

Drip. Drip.

"I can't hold any longer. Just leave. I'm fuckin' done for."

Shelly by nature was a defeatist, and Noel, grabbing onto his arm to attempt to pull him with him realized that this time, It wasn't just pessimism, but truly the end. The devil's arm had pierced through his body, it was a miracle he could still stand up after suffering such an injury. There was no recovering from this.

"I'm a fair person. I'll give you 3 seconds to run!~"

3.

I need to run away.

2.

They're all dead.

1.

I'm gonna die next.

0.

I'm sorry. I don't wanna die.

-----

"So what, you left me to die, you little coward?"

Shelly stared at Noel with a smirk on his face, the same fangs poking out as he spoke.

"You killed all of us. It's time a sinner like you pays the price, no?"

Overwhelming guilt.

— wake up.

"Noel? Noel? Hellooooo? Dude it's not cool to ignore me? Hey? Noel to earth? Yo? I'll smack you if you don't respond…Not even that? Hey dude? NOEL?"

"W-wuh-Huh? What?"

Noel looked up to shelly that was eating his lunch, he looked over to his hand that held the knife, then back at Shelly.

"You asked how I was alive, I responded but you zoned out. Did you even hear anything I said?"

"…No, can you repeat that, yeah?"

"I said I don't know. I don't remember anything after I stopped that guy from attacking you. I blacked out, and woke up at the hospital with Skye bawling her eyes out."

"…Can you remove your shirt?"

"What the fuck? Look dude I don't mind you swing that way but—"

"NO you dimwit little idiot, that has NOTHING to do with that. Just, need to check something."

"Okay. Finish eating though first."

6 Days Before Judgement | :ABEL