***

Ashton, Sylvia, and Cliff remained at Jin's house.

Cliff had just finished smoking a cigarette. He opened the front door and deliberately walked into the living room where Sylvi and Ashton sat, talking to each other. He sighed, narrowing his eyes. He had to put with their blabbering all morning. 

"Kids," he said, jamming his hand in his pockets, "where'd you say Jin go again?"

Sylvia looked at him. She had been getting to know Ashton. She was beginning to get quite fond of him, but she did have to try her best not to laugh at his most ridiculous moments like drinking out of the teacher's toilets to please bullies. She was in ordinary clothes today. Though, she still hadn't worn clothes to expose her back. "Jin didn't spend the night here," Sylvia said. 

"He was here last night though," Ashton added, also peering at Cliff. 

Cliff scoffed. "Is that so? O waw ... then I suppose I'd be gone then. Let him know that I want to speak to him about something extremely urgent. We only have so many hours left."

"I will," Ashton nodded. "But what do you want to tell him about? If you leave a summarized version of the message with me, I'll be able to relay, if, hopefully, my memory allows it." He fixed his glasses. Jin wasn't the only one suspicious of Cliff. 

"Why should I do that? It's our business .... not yours," Cliff said, grimacing. 

Ashton fixed his glasses. "It's likely that Jin wouldn't even care about speaking to you. The guy's got trust issues nowadays. Plus, if you let me relay a summarized version of your message, Jin would be even more intrigued to hear everything and might want to talk to you about it. It's like a Cliff hanger.

"Unless," Ashton shrugged, "this message isn't urgent at all, and could simply wait. I don't relay trivial messages so you'll have to wait until you and Jin eventually meet at this house someday ... how many days can that take? Geez, I don't know, Cliff. I think it's gonna take weeks; you'll have to pass by every single day too, because Jin's going to—" he paused.

Cliff furrowed his brows. "Where's he going?"

Ashton hadn't replied.

Cliff snapped. "Just tell me where!"

Ashton smirked. "Why should I do that? It's our business .... not yours."

Cliff paused, looking at Ashton. Then, he slowly heaved, deflating. "Fine, I'll relay the message. Tell him it's urgent 'cause a no-good disciple's returning to the world when he reaches level ten. I have no time to explain anything to you. Y'got that?"

Ashton nodded. "Yeah, got it."

Cliff peered at Ashton and scoffed. "I thought Jin's supposed to be the one messing with manipulation," he turned around, walking off.

Ashton kept his smirk. He feared for Jin, but he felt as though he could not do so. He felt like Jin could never get hurt. 

Suddenly, there was a sudden wave of energy. It zoomed through the house. Cliff paused at the door, not turning his back. Curious, he slowly turned around such that he could see Sylvia and Ashton again.

Ashton was grimacing at Sylvia. And Sylvia was constantly roving at her body and scratching it. "I felt something run down my spine!" she cried. 

Ashton stood, approaching her. "Are you okay? What's happening to you?"

Sylvia looked up at him, bewilderment in her eyes. "I don't know. I felt something enter my body just now. It felt ... strange. I can't describe i—"

Suddenly, the entire room quaked. The floor was almost unstable. The walls cracked. The floor bulged. Furniture had started to move and scatter. Cups and dishes and glasses fell and shattered. Then finally, a gigantic creature burst through the floor. It emerged from the floor, demolishing infrastructure in the process. It slowly ascended, towering over the three figures in the living. 

Its eyes then started to glow red. It quickly outstretched both its arms, and a slew of many smaller monstrosities manifested around it. The tiny ones remained behind and at its sides like an entourage. And finally, it lowered its huge arms and roared at them. 

Ashton slowly traced the creature from feet to head, shivering as it roared at him. Cliff, brows furrowed, sauntered toward the beast, a reaper scythe manifesting in his right hand. He walked in front of Ashton and stopped. He whipped out the scythe, a green contrail of green light followed. Then, he constantly passed the weapon one hand to the other, spinning it in front and behind him. Then he whipped it out for a second time with profound might, gusts of wind blowing from the strike. Finally, Cliff glared up at the creature. 

***

Jin was still on the rooftop. He was witnessing an alarming occurrence. Dark magical creatures emerged from the floor and wasted no time. Thousands of them filled the streets and had attacked all but their own kind. As soon as one of these monstrosities landed eyes on living beings, it killed these living beings. However, all did not kill. Most of these monsters had corrupted living mortals; simply touching them and immediately turning them into shambling zombie-like creatures. 

Jin furrowed his brows. What was happening? Where were these creatures suddenly coming from? He had too many questions; so many questions he wanted answers to. However, he had no time to forestall himself in an effort of answering them. He had to get home. He couldn't allow his friends to become monsters. 

He quickly used his teleportation ability. His matter had vanished; his existence had vanished. But quickly, they had been restored. His body was relocated. However, he was not home. He was in the middle of the road. The road where thousands of creatures loitered. He tried using his teleportation again but got in an even worse predicament. He appeared amidst a field of monsters. 

Something was hindering his ability to teleport. His mask appeared on his face as a huge fist slammed into his body. He was sent sliding away but hadn't collapsed. He gritted his teeth under the mask as a black ball of energy hit him from behind. He stumbled forward but had steadied again.

[Spell Detected: Tainting] [+1 Resistance]

[Spell Detected: Corrupting] [+1 Resistance]

[Spell Detected: Hypnosis] [+1 Resistance]

[Spell Detected: Distortion] [+1 Resistance]

[Spell Detected: Faint System Control] [+1 Resistance]

He constantly tried to teleport away.

[You cannot use this skill at this time]

[You cannot use this skill at this time]

[You cannot use this skill at this time]

[You cannot use this skill at this time]

[SYSTEM CRITICAL ERROR]

[Some System functions being controlled!] 

[System Reboot failed]

Jin got in a fighting stance. "Fine! Then I'll have to," he put out a hand, "fight!' His dagger had started to manifest in his palm as hundreds of creatures lunged toward him.