Red Gate

The boy on the left immediately reached behind him and pulled out a knife he brought in case they needed to deal with any trouble. He brandished it towards Jason threateningly and yelled in a loud voice for him to stay back.

"I'll stab ya! Stay back!"

Jason eyed the knife for a moment and took in how the boy was holding it. He considered the boy's stance as well as how his hands were shaking out of fear, and Jason knew that he didn't have anything to fear from the boy. It didn't matter if you had a weapon when you didn't know how to fucking use it!

But it was still dangerous, so Jason decided that he was going to deal with this boy first!

Jason dashed forward with his hands raised, and the boy immediately yelled and began backtracking while swinging his knife left and right! It almost looked like he was trying to scare away a monster rather than another human being!

Jason easily weaved around the three slashes from the knife, then stepped into the boy's space! He grabbed the boy's arm under his armpit and pulled him closer while driving his knee up into the boy's stomach!

Bam!

The boy cried out in pain, but Jason didn't stop there. He took the boy's arm around his shoulder and flipped him around easily before slamming his back against the floor hard!

Bang!

The knife clattered to the ground as the boy held his back in pain, and Jason grabbed the knife and brandished it expertly before turning to the last boy there. The boy was looking at his two friends like he had just seen something impossible! He knew that he was weaker than his two friends, so there was no way he was going to beat Jason in a million years!

Jason started to walk toward the boy, and the boy raised his hands while yelling in a terrified voice.

"Wait! Wait, please! I'm sorry, alright! I'm sorry! It was just a joke! I swear, we weren't really going to burn the— Oof!"

The boy cried out as a hand connected with his face in a wicked slap, and he fell to his ass while holding his face in pain. Jason glared down at him and then bent down to his level! He grabbed his mask and tore it off before grabbing his cheeks in his hand and seething at him angrily.

"A joke? This is what you see as a fucking joke? That's someone's life you wanted to ruin? Someone's mother! Someone's only hope! You think leading people into depression is a fucking joke?!"

Slap!

Jason gave the boy another slap, forcing him to the ground as he moaned in pain. Jason was pissed at that moment, and the fact that the boy called burning his mother's diner a joke made him angrier! He couldn't believe that this was the level most of the people today were at! 

They didn't care about anything as long as it didn't directly affect them! They'd burn someone else's life to the ground and laugh about it like it was just another joke to them!

Jason sighed as he looked around at the three boys to make sure that they were all down. Once he was sure they weren't getting up, he pulled out his phone to make a call to the police for them to be picked up, but before he could do that, he felt something change in the air!

The alleyway they were standing in suddenly pulsed, like something powerful had just passed through it, and right in front of Jason's eyes, a red circle tore open in space.

'Red Gate.'

This was the only thing that passed through Jason's mind at that moment, and Jason didn't even stop for a moment to think further than that as he turned around and began to run like a madman! Jason was not a coward, and he was someone who would run into danger on the worst possible day if it meant he was going to protect the people he loved! But Jason knew that this was not the moment to be brave!

A Red Gate was something that needed a C-rank guild with at least five C-ranks and multiple D-ranks to be handled. It was impossible for him to even dream about surviving in there! He was going to fucking die if he was dragged in there!

But before Jason could get far, he felt the undeniable pull of the gate drawing him back in! The Gate had a suction that pulled in anything around it, making sure that any human unfortunate enough to be caught around the Gate was immediately absorbed by it, and Jason was easily pulled off his feet and fell on his stomach!

Jason cursed as he tried to claw himself away from the Gate, but its pull was impossible to fight! It was like someone tied a rope to his leg and was dragging him with a fucking car!

Jason heard the other boys in the alleyway screaming as they were also pulled into the Gate, and he cursed loudly as he flew off the ground and disappeared into the circle!

…

Jason rolled on the ground inside the Gate and immediately rushed to his feet! He stood in a crouched position as he looked around carefully. 

The other three boys were still lying down and moaning from the sudden pull, but Jason didn't even bother paying them any mind.

He tried his best to recall everything he had ever heard about Gates from the news and his classmates who were chronically online, and the only thing that passed through his mind constantly was one of the girls in his class screaming that no one who was ever pulled into a Gate when it opened came out alive.

[They're all fucked! Before the Superhumans can get to them, the monsters would've already torn them apart!]

These were the girls' exact words and Jason didn't like that thought, so he immediately shook it out of his head! Like hell was he going to die here!

They were in some sort of forest with tall trees and bushes surrounding them. It was dark with the moonlight filtering through the trees serving as the only source of light, and when Jason took a step, the floor made a sloshing sound as he stepped into a shallow puddle.

'I'm in a swamp? No, it rained recently. The trees and shrubs are wet. Okay, I'm in a forest. There could be monsters anywhere around me, I have to be careful and find a place to hide until the Superhumans arrive.'

Jason began to think of a plan for survival immediately. He knew that there was no chance for him to back through the Gate. The suction that brought him in prevented anyone from leaving until the Gate's Boss was killed.

That meant he had to wait for the Superhumans to arrive and deal with this before he could leave! Jason took in a breath to try and calm himself. He couldn't get tense here. He had to remain calm and think things through rationally. That was the only way he was going to survive!

Jason looked around him to see if he could find his phone, but he couldn't see it anywhere, and he realized it must've fallen somewhere in the chaos. He didn't even know if technology would work from inside the Gate, so the only option left to him now was to hide!

"Get up and follow me."

Jason spoke to the boys around him in a quiet tone as he started to head to the side quietly. The boys were still moaning on the floor, and one of them groaned as his stomach pain got really bad. Jason turned to him with a frustrated look on his face.

"Stop bitching and get up! I didn't even hit you that hard, you fucking pussy!"

Growl~!

The growl of a beast reached Jason's ear at the next moment, and he froze in place like a deer in headlights! The sound of steps coming closer echoed through the forest, and Jason immediately knew that Magic beasts were coming towards them!

Jason whispered to the boys!

"Hey, get up! Get up and move!"