Trash: Chapter 93 Blood Rain (Patreon)

Chapter 93

Blood Rain

Chaos, that is the word that I would use to describe what happened next. The sense of fear and hesitation was already rampant, especially as an entire arena managed to somehow be completely evacuated in a matter of minutes.

Fortunately, the initial cause for concern, the Death Eater was over, as I had killed the beast. However, I still had my own problems, as I was being watched closely for signs of contamination. Why? Well because everyone was certain that I would soon become the next Death Eater, or at least that was the fear. Despite my system messages and warning proving otherwise, I was still watched and monitored for any signs.

Worse, my entire team had been staring at me. Their reason for staring was easily apparent, for even I could tell that something bad was still going to happen. There wasn’t any one detail that let us know that danger was still present, just lurking, waiting for the perfect time to strike from the shadows at the area where we would be most vulnerable.

Instead, all I could feel were faint lingering traces clinging to the air and dirt. For a moment I paused, wondering why I would feel off about the air, as to my knowledge I had no affinity for the air at all. That was for people like Madame Bloom and Madame Voyou who both possessed a high affinity for air magic. While my third major affinity was for Earth Magic. It was only once I had that thought that, the odd sense of things lingering in the air made sense. They were the faint residue of dirt and ash particles that lingered in the air, invisible to the naked eye, but still there. Particles that could only be picked up and examined by powerful electron microscopes, in my past life. Yet, in this life, such powers and abilities were like second nature to some.

It is at this point that I am reminded of the Earth Attuned Biometric Psychometric Readings Skill that had been offered, but I had to dismiss at the time due to needing my Skill slot for something else entirely. This time though, this time I had not one but two open Free slots available, and better still I still had a faint tingling sensation that I could do something with earth energy around me.

Looking back, the Biometric Psychometric Readings Skill was a bit too niche, a bit too hyper focused on only allowing me to trace the past of an object. Good for an archaeologist trying to piece together how the world used to work back in the day, but ultimately limited in how it can help me constantly.

Then again, I almost thought the same thing about my Mana Extraction Skill, a Skill that had been mostly dormant, even after its forced transition to Maximum Mana Conversion*. The Skill is still limited in scope, but now I know it is likely the only reason I am alive and unconverted to a Death Eater. As I am certain that my Maximum Mana Conversion* Skill is directly related to why I was able to absorb the alien energy source in my body and fight back against the infection. With this subtle but important transition in mind of my own Skill and how it became useful, I attempt to do the same thing.

My mind is trying to focus on the tension that still lingers in the air. Tension that lets me know that something is wrong.

The slamming of the outer doors is a good wakeup call as I and everyone still in here, Mr. Yi my guardian and self-appointed executioner should I begin to transition. Markan with his fully charged pistols out, Luna and Lucia, the ring girls, who stare on with Kam, the referee. There are even the fighters Johny and his opponent, we all turn as one to the west side and watch. Watch and tense up as cries of panic ring out from the streets.

“AHH!” Cries of pain and fear ripple through the crowd. The voice and cries not conducted by one, but hundreds of people tightly condensed into the area immediately surrounding the arena. Only now do I realize how dangerous it is out there for everyone. Even if there are protocols for evacuation, no one plans on what to do after everyone has exited and is expected to remain outside.

Frantically, people rush in from the outside, some are clearly panicked, while others appear more relaxed, more deliberate with their movements. That too strikes me as odd, as my Eagle Eyed Skill picks up on the new people and their entry to the once evacuated and sealed off arena.

As they come in, lights immediately flash towards the door and those entering the door, again the overhead lighting crew are consummate professionals always working. Their lights are amplified by the fact that they are shining through the polarized lenses hanging on the west side of the arena, one of the three still remaining sections of lenses that has survived. The light, still amplified by lenses shows an even more concerning issue, the way hundreds of patrons are outside the arena panicked and trying to run everywhere. Their bodies now illuminated by what appears to be a second sun that has appeared.

“SHRIEEEEK!” At the very existence of the light, a cry that is far too familiar screeches out, as I swear I can almost see the telltale signs of smokey vapors rising into the air. This all but proves a fear, one that I and apparently everyone else still here had, as this was the sign that a second Death Eater was present and somehow rampaging outside.

Thinking about the situation, it seemed both diabolical and worse, planned. Diabolical in the fact that the second one seemed to have only been released once maximum damage could have been performed as hundreds of unsuspecting patrons who had just left a dangerous situation, only exited and were now pinned in place to be subjected to an even more dangerous situation.

I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but then I was wrong as the skeletal form of the second Death Eater that had been rampaging a moment ago, suddenly stopped, turned, and pointed one now exposed boney finger, then they let loose an attack that caused my blood to chill.

SWOOSH!

A dense ball of compacted purple energy shot out from the monster’s finger and crashed into the wall of polarized protective glass that shattered upon impact and began crashing to the ground.

“AHH!”

Worse, some of the people who had managed to escape into the audience were now pelted and showered with glass particles. I got up to go to them, but a quick hand by Mr. Yi stopped me. For a moment, I was about to protest, as it was clear that I was not going to turn into a Death Eater, that watching me like a hawk for any signs of change at this point were unnecessary. It was only once I looked at his face, and saw that he was scanning the area that I began to follow his gaze. That’s when I realized this wasn’t about me changing.

Instead, what was happening was far worse. Worse in the fact that I had a lot of facts and points of data to pull from, but nothing linking it all together for me.

While I wanted to go out and help those people that were crying out in pain from glass shards cutting deeply into them, there was a greater concern.

People were moving around us. Two people that ran in together kept running, which made sense if they wanted to avoid the dangers of the outside, but logic would dictate that you stop after a certain distance. Yet these people kept running. It was only once they got to a second set of sealed doors that they stopped. Even then, it took a while to notice that at least two people now stood by each set of doors.

Now I don’t consider myself to be racist, but I do happen to enjoy the looks and features of people from different places. Which was why I paid particular interest to the Nostrylvanian Revolutionary Guard when they arrived yesterday. They were all so refined, taller, having longer faces and fingers than I had grown used to. That is why these people that had fled away to safety all stood out to me, they were all giants. Well not exceptionally tall but half a head taller than most people of the empire, making their appearance easily recognizable.

I wasn’t the only one to notice them, as the light operators overhead seemed to notice them too and began spotlighting them with a cluster of lights as well. It wasn’t until the lights from the southern and eastern sides of the arena hit the people that I could really take in their clothing, which was also distinct, going for a more woolen look, a sign of coming from the colder north where warmer clothes would be the norm. I could see them in the southern and eastern wings of the arena, for those were the two sections that still had their shielding up. The guards looked up and seemed to see something on the rafters above.

Looking up, I could see people moving on the catwalks above, but that didn’t really bother me, as my mind rationalized that the lighting people likely wanted to leave out a side hatch or exit before things got too violent down here.

Then the guards that were by the three sealed off doors, the north, east, and southern doors, the guards began pounding out a rhythmic cadence with their fists.

Brahp-bap-bap. Brahpa-bapa-bap.

At this, Mr. Yi began sensing something was wrong, but rather than going out to meet the crowd of people that were still streaming in from the western side, or treat the injured, he instead began pushing me. Well manhandling me would be more accurate, as he reached out one impressively powerful arm, grabbed me and thrust me upward onto the ring. Before I even had time to figure out what was happening, I felt Markan’s hands grabbing me, and pulling me over the top rope of the arena.

As I was moved, Mr. Yi never took his eyes away from the people around us, he scanned everything before placing his free left hand on the lip of the ring, then with one surge of effort, he pushed down and used that force to propel himself up and over the ropes of the ring as well. His body landing perfectly in front of mine as he was now forming a shield with his body.

Seeing how I went from the noted subject of possible immediate execution to the figure who would be protected at all costs, I felt concerned at first, but then realized things were going to go from bad to worse. Especially as I could hear loud metallic scraping sounds coming from each door. Only once all three sets of doors began to open and more people who clearly had Nostrylvanian ancestry began to pour in.

“Stop this, this is against the treaties!” Sal cried out, his voice breaking with fear, but he cried out. Only now did I realize he had been calling out for help all along. It wasn’t until he looked suddenly confused, that he realized something had gone wrong. His voice that had been echoing over the speakers that had been converted to shout outside the arena were switched to focus back inside the arena, which startled him, causing him to stop only once he heard his own voice echoing back to him.

“What is this?” Sal yelled, standing up from his seat to look off stage. Only for his eyes to go wide as he seemed to recognize who had switched the speakers on him. “You!”

Then I watched in horror as a glowing dagger flung out from backstage and punctured Sal right in the gut. A gut that had grown soft due to a life of ease and comfort.

“NOO!” Lucia and Luna both cried out in shock, pain echoing in their voices as they watched the body of one of the nicest people I ever met slump to the ground.

For a moment it was complete chaos, and I didn’t think it could get any worse. Then it happened, I saw thick drops of dark rain begin to fall in the arena. A look up showed that I was wrong, for there on the rafters were a number of people of Nostrylvanian descent all moving about, cutting and striking at half of the lighting crew.

The droplets of rain I saw earlier, were just their blood falling and dispersing as they fell.

Just when I didn’t think it could get any worse, the doors that had been letting people in, suddenly reversed course and began closing. A piercing whistle could be heard ringing out. That’s when the tide of people that had been coming in from the opened doors began to lessen, as all the arena doors were forcefully pushed shut, even the western door that violently pushed fleeing citizens back, back into the path of the still rampaging Death Eater.

Worse, I could feel that things were only just beginning to go badly.