BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

The only sound around them was that of the wind whistling through the tree's leaves and Conal's guttural noises and pitiful groans. All of this made an eerie accompaniment for the terrible death throes which followed.

A long silence came over as Conal's spark of life abandoned his body. It was so dreadful that Logan and Orson could not help looking at one another's faces—for each had seen a monster in the mask that was hiding the student who just killed their friends.

Erik laughed sinisterly as Conal died.

[HOSTILE INDIVIDUAL KILLED: MANA ABSORBING PROCESS STARTING.]

[0%...1%....5%...30%...70%...100%]

[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED, STARTING CONVERTING PROCEDURE.]

[3...2...1...0]

[MANA SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED INTO EXPERIENCE. A HUNDRED AND FIFTY EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED TO THE HOST.]

This was the notification that appeared in Erik's vision. The young man couldn't stop being happy about the kill, and his mood immediately soared as the mana got converted into experience points.

At that moment, Erik couldn't understand what he had just done. He killed a person in cold blood, but all he felt was elation, pleasure, and satisfaction. He was out of his mind.

After several seconds during which Orson and Logan fought the Lomalins, the two boys decided to leave the thaids alone and ran away from the masked man.

If Conal was still alive, he would have told his two friends that the man behind the mask was Erik, but he was now dead, and both Orson and Logan failed to recognize the power that the young man had used since they couldn't pay attention to their assailant while fighting off the three thaids.

They were too busy stopping the Lomalins that attacked them; now Conal lay dead upon the grass, and they could do nothing about it.

As the two young boys ran away, the Lomalins and Erik started giving chase. They ran desperately without a proper direction, dodging tree after tree, bush after bush, rock after rock. They had to pay attention not to trip over a stone or a tree root because if they did, they would surely die.

"What do we do, Logan?" Orson shouted out loud, terror, anxiety, and panic making his voice tremble. "We can't run forever!"

The boy looked back anxiously at the figure chasing them. The dark shape seemed to be gaining on them more rapidly than before, though its speed remained constant.

But what worried Orson even more was that behind the young man chasing them, there were three Lomalins. They weren't as fast as the humans, but they were nevertheless fast.

"I don't know!" Logan shouted back. The bully kept thinking about what to do, but nothing came to mind; he was too scared to think straight.

Orson knew that the other boy needed some time to calm down enough to make any sort of plan, so he tried calming himself first. He took deep breaths while watching the Lomalins and the masked man closing in on them until, finally, Orson calmed down and began talking again.

"Logan," said the young man, "We have to do something," he resolutely said, breathing hard and panting.

Erik saw the fear and uncertainty on the face of the young boys, and he understood how frightened they must have felt.

Logan turned several times to look at the chasing man and thought hard about what to do.

"Let's go back to the train station; he can't do anything to us there!"

"All right!" Orson shouted back.

The two then sped up, running faster and harder, trying to reach the station's safety, where there were multiple police officers.

Their hearts beat furiously against their chests, their legs pumped frantically, sweat poured off their bodies, and every breath became a painful effort. Every moment seemed to last ten years.

They ran and ran, speeding through the forest, dodging trees and bushes, leaping rocks and roots, jumping fallen logs and branches, dashing past thickets of shrubs and brambles, crossing streams and rivers, and all the while being chased by the man and the three thaids.

They started seeing a golden wheat field ahead of them at one point, but they were gasping for air. No living creature was around there except themselves; no birds sang, or insects buzzed. There was only silence everywhere. Even the wind didn't blow, and the sky above them was completely clear.

"You see that?"

"YES!" Logan said. A faint glimmer of hope was beginning to spark inside him. They might survive this ordeal if they could get out of the wheat field.

Logan turned to look behind and saw the masked man awfully close. He could hardly breathe anymore.

The wheat field became bigger and bigger, closer and closer, until it was three meters from them. But then, as if magically stopped, they hit what they could only describe as an invisible wall.

"It's the barrier!" Logan screamed in despair, turning to look behind him. The masked man stood a few paces away, holding a triumphant smile under his mask, holding the tree branch in his right hand.

Then the Lomalins appeared from nowhere and surrounded them. They were coming closer, and soon they'd be able to attack.

"I FUCKING TOLD YOU WE WERE OUTSIDE OF THE BARRIER!"

Orson's eyes opened wide in surprise and horror.

The thaids and even the barrier were proof that they weren't inside the city anymore. Logan naively thought that since it was impossible to get out of the barrier without going through the military outposts, they were still inside the barrier's premises, but it was apparent that he was wrong.

Was it possible that a hole formed inside the city's barrier, and the masked student brought them there to kill them? Had that guy the intention from the beginning? It was plausible, but Logan refused to think that there could be a sixteen years old that would do something like that.

<This is the only explanation,> Logan thought.

He then started running around the barrier, hoping to find the hole leading them into the forest. However, the impact with the barrier slowed down the two men significantly, and Erik finally arrived over them.

<Let's leave Logan last... I want him to despair!> he thought.

<Analysis>

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- Name: Orson Smyth.

- Brain crystal power: Bone manipulation.

-Physical characteristics: Approximately a meter and eighty centimeters tall. Muscular individual. Approximately eighty-nine kilos. He belongs to the human race.

-Personality and traits: He is Logan Reid's and Conal Price's friend. He and his friends like to bully people who are weaker than him and follows Logan's every word. He is the most stupid of the bunch, but is the strongest in terms of physical strength.

-Approximate level: 5

-Approximate Strength: 9

-Approximate Intelligence: 8

-Approximate Dexterity: 9

-Approximate Energy: 24

...

...

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<Good,> Erik thought. He approached Orson as if he were a demon, brandishing his sharpened tree branch like a sword. Orson looked in horror as the masked student drew closer to him and started projecting his bones out of his body, though Erik had a longer weapon's reach, and as soon as he was close enough, he started swinging his weapon at Orson.

"AAAAGH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Orson shouted as wounds accumulated on his body; he didn't know how to fight since he preferred robbing the other students and playing around with Conal and Logan instead of training.

His bones could stop some of Erik's slashes. Still, they couldn't stop them all, and slowly, the wounds on his body started accumulating.

"LOGAN!" Orson shouted. He tried to attack Erik with his bony spikes, but the young man evaded them quickly; it was all thanks to the training he did with professor McAllister.

"LOGAN! AGH..."

The last slash finally severed Orson's throat, and every attempt at defending himself against the unknown assailant failed. As Erik cut off his throat, the corpse collapsed onto the ground while bleeding profusely.

Erik was breathing hard now. This was the second time he had killed someone in a short time. It felt good.