"Ha! Ha!"
Cale burningly sprinted at full speed outside of the school building, he could feel lungs burning the more his feet violently slapped the hard cobble
Time was running out and confirmations on whether his theories were right and wrong needed to be done
'Nothing is happening with the Pitch Black Lines!'
They were not reacting whatsoever
He was still safe
The plan was simple, lure out the humanoid monsters by going out in the courtyard where they presumably were in order to avoid the school building for some reason.
The reason why the idea of luring them out by going to the courtyard wasn't because he had a special lure on that could be used specifically to fish them out of their hiding spot. It was done on assumption after witnessing yesterday's scene where corpses were littering the entire ground.
The humanoid monster were likely hostile to the other Sludges and while Cale wasn't a monster himself. The black lines swirling, surrounding and whispering death around that one humanoid monster were reason enough to know it didn't like him.
'I also have an Idea why they might be avoiding the School Building'
After confirming whether they were at the Courtyard or at the mass of trees in the distance that were extremely far away from Gardenia High School and its Courtyard. It was still within walking distance but still very far away.
'They had all this land and couldn't afford to make the School building a little bigger!' He thought, but it was actually better If the School building were smaller since it would be easier to remember the classrooms in comparison to if it was bigger.
When Cale would confirm the presence of where exactly the humanoid monsters are at with the reaction that he'd get from Black Lines that whispered their voices full of warning to him, when this would happen. The action immediately to try avoid them and run the other direction would be inserted and carried out.
'I'm only confirming where they might be to find out if what I realized is actually their weakness after all'
He kept running, breath turning ragged quickly.
"Ho! Ha!"
'I am doing more cardio when I get back'
Cale's eyes burned as sweat got Into them, he wiped the sweat of his forehead with his right arm arm.
The feeling of the cold wind lashing out and hitting his body could be felt vividly on his red steaming skin, I felt refreshed for a few moments.
All the black lines that only I could see and feel were motionless and unresponsive,
"Ha Ha Ha"
This theory of Cale was slightly flawed from the very beginning, no matter how much he ran, no matter how much his lungs burned and no matter how much legs were forced to move even though they hurt had been done.
He wouldn't be capable of covering every single inch In Gardenia, though there is a slight difference that still made worth trying out
The school building wasn't particularly huge, it was about the same size as an ordinary School but the Courtyard?
The place was bigger, wider and longer than at least two football fields, this was only including the courtyard. The forest was probably close to or bigger than the Courtyard.
So what was the thing in Cale thinking gears that told him 'Try to gain the attention of a humanoid monster to gauge how overpowered they really are'
This action could be repeated
'Damn it...I only have 10 seconds, I guess I'll try the next hour'
If Cale couldn't find any of the Humanoid monster, he would just try next time. There was no need to get worked up because he couldn't find them immediately. It would only be a waste of time If he got worked up over something that could just rinsed and repeated
'I'll repeat what I'm doing until the next day, If I still can't find them... then that just means that my theory was likely wrong'
If he was wrong, then there was nothing that could be done. He was just not clever enough
Cale would just have to accept the cold hard truth that these things don't have a weakness that could be taken advantage of.
To someone else's eyes, they would easily be able to argue how better he could have done it, but he couldn't see what they were, it was like playing chess and not being able to find a opening in the opponents plays that were riddled with traps. But the moment you stop playing and see someone else play, from your perspective you would be able to clearly see a path that could greatly damage the opponent and pave the way for your victory
At that point, it was better to stay passive instead of wastefully throwing your life to danger
"Ha..Ha..Ha"
Cale slowed down, his blood gasping for oxygen, lungs expanding with every Inhale he took in, he also felt a sharp throb in his head when he came to a complete stop as he already gave up for the day trying to find the humanoid monster in the courtyard and decided that he will try to find it when his next class ended
7 seconds left till the bell rang.
'I heard that the teacher who is teaching English Is always late so am I the only one in class right about now?'
It was a bit of a habit that Cale developed ever since primary school along with his unique trait to listening to strange whispers in his head. Whenever the teachers would come in to class, they would always see Cale who had always tried to get in class first before anyone else goy in the class every time the bell rang, so chances were that he was in the classroom alone by now. This habit originated from the a deep rooted desire that always wanted to be the first thing classmates and teachers saw when they opened the door.
'It just kind of stuck to me ever since'
It felt natural to him, like he was born with it, strangely enough he felt the same about his ability and constant whispering when deep in thought
3 seconds left
"...?"
The moment 3 seconds passed, Cale felt a pulse and a faint whisper. He still stood and awaited for the bell to hit, no attention was paid to it since the bell was going to ring anyway.
Step
This time, a soft step echoed in the air, tickling sensitive ears, the stoic expression of Cale froze this time as the being that stood before him about 18 meters away from, the one that he was so desperately chasing in order to confirm and find out its weakness.
In an Instant, a black mass started violently swirling around the Humanoid monster whose skin was like armor forged for the sole purpose of mobility, upon a closer look. The black mass was formed by a storm of countless pitch black lines making Its Intensity known to all.
a smile crept on Cale face, whispers full of threats swarming his instincts
'I guess I got the confirmation I so needed huh'
He mentally patted himself on the back after the premonition that was felt beforehand turned out to be true.
'Good thing that I waited 30 seconds more or else I would have been scared shitless'
Sweat streamed down his cheek as Cale anxiously waited what action the Humanoid monster would take In the 2 seconds that awaited.
But, it did nothing, it just stared at...him
'Does it know it is futile?'
It was more Intelligent than he gave it credit for if that were to be the case
Its body couldn't be seen because of the black mass surrounding it, however Cale could make out the armored creature holding something in its arm as it raised slightly more than the other hand, as if invitingly telling to look at it.
'Did it kill another one of the sludges?'
Cale concluded that it was warning aimed towards to him that he was next.
The black mass cleared slightly, it still obscured most of one's vision but the eyes of Cale could now vividly see what it was clutching in its hand.
"...?"
A pause, silence so deep and suffocating that the lungs completely stopped all operation
He saw a familiar cloth, however the instant he took a look at it, he started hearing a heart beat so loudly that it could clearly be heard it in his head. It was bent In unnatural ways but it had a familiar cloth that was recognized instantly.
"What"
Looking down to his right he saw a void, something that should have been there but wasn't, it was so sudden that the facial features of disgust couldn't even pronounce themselves out. The ground was instantly painted in red that kept gushing out of what once was a shoulder
'I-it took my entire arm...?'
Nothing could be felt from the right side where an arm was supposed to be, not even pain. No Cale's brain couldn't even register what it had even done
1 second left
Swoosh!
This sensation however was felt as clearly as the sky, a cold foreign object entered the stomach and out of Cale's back where the spine was.
He looked down and saw a hand lodged in and penetrated through his body.
Thud!
It retracted its fist which it lodged Inside of the body body and Cale fell limply to the ground
This time he truly could not feel anything, the moment it retracted its fist, his body had become paralyzed and incapable of any simple movement.
There was a gaping hole, blood started gushing out even more, speed painting the once gray cobblestone to an even brighter red than before. However, lips could not even be twitched in fear at the utter bullshit happening
Rolling his eyes upward, seeing the humanoid monster. A smile, a smile so wide that it reached its ears and looked to be the very embodiment of insanity stretched profoundly on the armored creature.
It raised its foot ready to crush a head like a watermelon.
Crash!
But it didn't, instead it crushed Cale's left arm
Burning pain could be felt vividly this time, the pain of bones being crushed like they were turned into fine powder reached every nerve in seconds
A scream begged to leave Cale's lips but couldn't. How could someone scream at the top of their lungs in a matter of seconds after all?
It felt as if it were mocking telling Cale 'see? you can feel that can't you?' Cale couldn't move a single thing now, the only thing that could be done was glaring with blood-shot eyes at the freshly painted red cobblestone and scream internally under the sheer excruciating pain that could be felt, waiting for that dragging single second to pass.
Ding~
Ding~
Ding~
The bell finally rang after what felt like an eternity, vision turned blurry with weariness, conciseness started gradually slipping away and eventually. Cale couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and closed them, still writhing and screaming as a gentle darkness started consuming everything, even his voice, sight and touch were consumed in it.
In protest, he rolled his eyes upward to see the Humanoid monster looking displeased and raised its leg again.
It wasn't joking around this time. It really was going to crush Cale's head like a watermelon
Whispers blared wildly, but not a string of thought could be wrung out
As its leg descended like a hammer. Cale's eyes had been blurred completely by now and he could barely keep them open. Letting them rest in the end
Swoosh~
Vision cleared for just a moment like a camera lense on a phone, and he saw it, a foot Inches away his face wanting to kill ignorance and curiosity
________
________
Side Story: Idiot Ma-Cale
"What did I tell you?!"
"Ow!"
Int-Cale was kicking and striking viciously at the bastard that caused this entire ordeal
"Come on! It wasn't that b-"
Slam!
Next to Ma-Cale, a hand slammed romantically next to him
"Think of your next words carefully"
"Y-Yes"
His voice cracked and submissively toned down, shrinking along with ego, small tears streamed down at his failure, a failure yet a success that will always be remembered