Thankfully, all the malevolent stress dissipated from my body after a refreshing, relaxing, rest. I slept long and hard and, by the time I woke up, the events of the incident felt far enough away I could at least try to look at them objectively rather than with my heightened emotional state.

However, I still had to go to school. I must’ve been incredibly anxious because I actually woke up late and so was forced to use the same excuse that I had already used yesterday; there were issues with public transportation. Using the same justification so quickly in succession probably made it suspicious that I wasn’t being truthful but, frankly, I didn’t care. Even though I was late, I was still at school and ‘learning’ so it didn’t matter.

Unfortunately, school is not a respite from worldly worries. Throughout the day, I fell into the same trance I usually did with school; I’d periodically use my System Specialisation to do school work that required thought while manually doing everything else. The lack of actually having to use my mental faculties to any extensive degree lent itself to an easy time to daydream; my hands could write autonomously while my mind swirled between errant and erratic thoughts.

Some of those thoughts, naturally, drifted towards my bag.

Should I have learnt a lesson?

I had a gun again. Truthfully, I didn’t know why. There was just something in me, a fibre of my being, that compelled me to not take the gun back out--a paranoid impulse, perhaps. After the situation with Brown, perhaps just being able to take a hold of something universally threatening gave me comfort?

It doesn’t matter my reasoning, though. Whether a lapse in judgement or a reasoned out decision, I went to school with a gun.

And the results were predictable; whenever someone got too close to me or to my bag, a small recess in my mind dedicated to my most unhelpful of urges and thoughts--truly unwanted notions--would shout out about the gun. It’d warn me that they could find out, that I should preemptively react. Just do something to stop them from finding out.

But that was all unnecessary. Sweat percolated my arms as I watched out of the corner of my eye everyone who nonchalantly passed me by continuing their non-threatening actions. Some even ignored me entirely, as I was used to. Was the worry realistic? No; not once since I had been in this school had I accidentally emptied my bag or someone requested (or demanded) to search it. But that doesn’t preclude an irrational worry from upturning your whole mind once it’s taken root.

Simple removal of the offensive item doesn’t solve this mental issue, either, though. I could leave my gun at home, or at Luna’s, and be much safer at school but then what? I’d constantly worry that my grandparents would find it or someone would stumble upon it at Luna’s place; she’s not always home and an abandoned warehouse doesn’t exactly have good security.

Frankly, the safest, least worrying place for my gun to be was on my person; at least, then, I could keep an eye on it all of the time.

School ended, alleviating most of the stress that accumulated in my body. When I was walking out of the wretched building, my shoulders physically slumped as the burden of alertness seeped out of my body. Though I was physically getting stronger, mental weights hadn’t lessened one bit.

Immediately, I began heading to Luna’s place; I needed somewhere I could detox and de-stress and a hive sounded like it could work right now.

“Sure” Was her response when I asked her. She wasn’t doing anything by the time I got there--which, come to think of it, she usually isn’t--and was happy to help out.

“But what’s brought this on?” Luna asked me as she was packing her gear. “It’s not a weekend and it’s usually me who’s dragging you along.”

“I felt I needed a change of pace or I would die otherwise,” I sincerely expressed. The weights of the modern world were lifted when I could lose myself in a hive. It was an odd way of describing a life-or-death struggle in a nest of monsters but concrete things lost their relevance in the grand scheme of things; it was this lucidity that I needed to not be bogged down by my self-made shackles.

“So, what’s on the menu?” She asked as both S1 and S2 equipped themselves with backpacks--one nearly empty and the other full of various things Luna needed. Luna herself had a small bag wrapped around her torso--one that shouldn’t weigh her down too much in case she needed to fight or move around maneuverable.

“Something weak, hopefully. And small, as well,” I replied. Maybe a medium just for the added challenge? “Just not a large, really,” I clarified after thinking it out a little more.

“Alright. Let’s set out,” And, with that, we were wandering the town like a band of misfits. Not too far off reality, really.

The sun was still high in the sky but barely; I reckoned we had only a few hours left of daylight. My goal today was to clear a hive in that time, an impressive feat for something with a modicum of threat but I wasn’t in this for the challenge.

“Do you know how strong C1 is? Comparatively?” I asked Luna as we were downtown, slinking between the high walls of the metropolitan buildings, eyes scanning to and fro for the onset of an emergence.

“Hmm,” Luna thought for a bit before continuing, “Decently strong, I think. Nothing too amazing, though.”

“Really? She seemed stronger than the Wayward Gloves when we were fighting the Manifestation,” I added.

“I’ve heard, but that could just be a bad match-up. Guns weren’t effectively and none of the Gloves had a spec that was powerful in a straight-up fight”

“You know, you’re right, but C1 still defeated the Manifestation anyway.”

“Yeah...” Luna drew out the word, as if trying to come up with something else to say. “She’s probably C-rank. I don’t know too much about it, really.” Her whole tone sounded really uncertain, underlining how this knowledge was out of her area of expertise.

With my curiosity momentarily sated for now, conversations died down like they had before as we were all focused on finding a hive. We could’ve gone to the G.U.G. and check if there was a hive there but, one, Luna preferred the old-fashioned way of just wandering about until you stumble upon one and two, this felt far more productive for me.

It helped as well that with S2 directing us to places of interest and then me verifying if there was a hive there sped up the process a lot.

[t%+ 314 seconds]

“I’ve found one but I’m not sure of the strength,” I suddenly called out to Luna as we turned a corner, walking towards the more residential part of the city.

“What about size?” She asked inquisitively.

“Small. It’s a two storey house.” I immediately replied, the image clear in my mind even after my System Specialisation was deactivated.

“What about aspect? Can you see fire or is it a weird colour or anything?” Luna continued to ask as we were walking up to it.

“No; just looks like a regular hive to me. Should it not?” I responded in a questioning tone.

“That’s good. Intermediate or stronger hives express the Specialisation of the heart somehow in their appearance. The fact that this one isn’t means it’s weak.”

Ah. That explains why the last hive was weirdly floating in places.

“So… What do we do now that we’ve found the place?” We were currently just standing in the middle of the pavement, eyeing up an inconspicuous house. We probably look really suspicious.

“We wait. How long?” Luna laconically replied.

“About five minutes.”

“Soon. Good. Come with me,” Luna immediately started walking away at a brisk place. Needless to say, I hastily followed her determined stride.

She didn’t say anything else, apparently already figured out what she was going to do once we had found a hive. She rounded corner after corner before settling into an alleyway that curved into somewhere hard to spot from the street but close to the soon-to-be hive.

“What’re you doing?” I asked after having jogged to keep up with her. Instead of responding, Luna pulled off S2’s bag and plopped it on the floor, kneeling down and opening it. It turns out, it wasn’t empty--I only thought it was because it was filled with clothes.

Looking oddly bright in this dim place, she pulled out two yellow, high-vis jackets and chucked them S1 and S2 as well as two puffy newsboy hats. She chucked them to the servants who, unsurprisingly, caught them with ease.

With the alacrity of a person who knew what they were doing, both the servants shucked on the jackets and tied up their hair so it could subtly fit in the puffy cap they were both now wearing. It immediately dawned on me the reason for the hats; the hair wasn’t immediately obvious. Coupled with the high-vis jackets (and the clipboards Luna had just given them?) they looked oddly professional rather than creatures born from hearts.

“A’right,” Luna huffed out as she stood up from her kneeling position, “Go, do your thing,” Was all the order she gave before the two auspicious servants briskly moved out of the alleyway.

“What’s going on?” I asked, curious to this utterly unexpected chain of events.

“There’s probably people living in the house. If you or me walk up to their door and say ’get out, the house will turn into a hive shortly’, they’re probably not going to believe. However, if we were wearing high-vis jackets...” She trailed off, leaving me to make my conclusions.

Thinking about it, I’d probably trust someone wearing a high-visibility jacket was just doing their job.

It was quite ingenious, actually. Embarrassingly, I hadn’t expected Luna to do something so clever.

“How did you come up with this?” I asked her. She wasn’t looking at me but rather staring a little up at the brick wall, as if counting the individual bricks.

“You learn to be creative when you need things,” Was all she said, clearly desiring quiet.

And so, for the next roughly five minutes, I didn’t say a word. Off in the distance, I could hear some sort of disturbance--sounds that sounded like they came from a construction sight or a demolition of some sort--before Luna spoke again:

“It’s time. Let’s go,” And she immediately began walking at a rapid pace again.

The street we were just on, scouting out the hive, was completely devoid of life now. Some crack bricks were thrown onto the road along with long cracks in the pavement running up to the house.

The house that now was flayed by giant, solidified tentacles that had sliced the building into pieces. Greyish-yellowish limbs of inanimate but yet organic material punctured the structure and out in front were two figures, one short and one tall, immediately obvious in this rather bleak environment. Even through the fine dust that had permeated the air, they were visible.

Luna wasted no time in jogging up to them.

“Did everyone leave?” She got out through coughs, the dust only now beginning to settle.

“Yes. All occupants evacuated the house as well as neighbouring residents once they heard the emergence,” S1 replied, seemingly having no issue with the inordinate amount of dust and particulates around her.

She either doesn’t need oxygen or has a filtration system somehow. Either are weird.

“Good. You and S2 will stay out here while we’ll go and clear the hive.”

“Understood.” S1 just stood there stoically, her tall, strong frame radiating control and ease with the situation. Meanwhile, S2 looked a little bit too happy off in the distance seeing how a hive just emerged.

Or maybe that’s just me.

Either way, with C1 with us, I pulled out my gun as Luna took out her bow from S2’s bag and we all headed inside.

Perhaps there was means to worry seeing how there were just three of us clearing the hive but, frankly, I had a lot of trust in Luna and C1. I also had my gun. I felt surprisingly safe.

A feeling that immediately disappeared once the first monster showed itself. It was small--about knee-height--and bipedal. It’s body consisted solely of a tadpole-like head and two legs, it’s torpedo shape topped by two, pure black, pearl eyes as well as a circular mouth dotted with razer-sharp teeth.

It came charging from out of sight, turning around the corner of the hallway before appearing before us. It’s body shined in the fluorescent lights like it was slick with some sort of liquid--a weird state for something born just a minute or two ago.

My sense of safety was replaced with disgust as I saw its tail flicking wildly without control, the creature itself reminding me of a leech far too much.

Thankfully, as it leapt right at us, C1 stomped right down on it, its soft head crushed underfoot as blood suddenly splattered the ground. She moved so quickly, it was like the monster underwent an instantaneous phase transition from solid to liquid.

Not wanting to be a burden, I used my Specialisation to feel out the remaining monster. The rest of the hive passed by with similar ease.

I wasn’t really that useful, however. All the rooms were connected--the limbs of the hive barely causing much of an inconvenience apart from the destroyed staircase--and C1 could react fast enough that I doubted the situation would’ve been much different if I hadn’t used my System Specialisation at all. I didn’t even fire a shot!

But I didn’t feel that bad about it. I went in relying on C1, knowing that she was strong and that this hive would likely be easy to clear. Simply confirming expectations that I voluntarily enacted made me feel… Content. Fulfilled.

Sure, I might not have actually been fighting myself but seeing these grotesque monsters up close, how their bodies deformed from the overwhelming might of C1, was thrilling! I felt energised, knowing that I might have to move quickly, that something unexpected could happen.

The most surprising thing was ascending to the first floor, though. The stairs were busted and no ceiling had a large hole in it that we could clamber up. Instead, the outside wall facing the garden had a wooden framework lined along the whole wall with various plants growing from it. Part of it was destroyed, and its structural durability was dubious at best, but it seemed to be the only way to actually make it upstairs to the heart.

Luna climbed up first. The idea was that, if she fell, C1 could catch her and then it’d be fine. I was next, struggling to make it up even with the help of C1 holding me up, boosting me, and Luna grabbing a hold of my hand from out of the window.

Next was C1. If she fell, it wasn’t much of a problem; she had a strong body and could heal quickly so she was the last to climb. Alas, the worst didn’t happen and we all ascended rather quickly in total.

Upstairs, perhaps fitting for such a small hive, there were no monsters to be found. Although this classified as a small hive, it was a large house in my opinion, consisting of many bedrooms and could house a reasonably large family. I crossed through bedroom after bedroom, checking en-suits and wardrobes, but didn’t find one living creature that could threaten us until we were left with the last room; the master bedroom.

I would’ve like a moment to recoup, to rest my mind and make sure I was fully prepared, but the sun was beginning to go down, the darkened sky illuminating little of the rooms with moonlight--most of the lighting came from either the fluorescent lamps or the massive hole in the roof--and none of us wanted to stay out particularly late. After having only a minute or two to check that we were all set and ready, I activated my Specialisation one last time to see what I could find out.

As expected, nothing; from behind a closed door, I lacked the necessary sight to ascertain any useful details.

With that done, we opened the door.

The Heart’s Manifestation resembled the monsters slightly; it had a torpedo-shaped main body with a deep, cavernous maw lined with teeth that only now did I realise reminded me of a shark. However, unlike the bipedal or tripedal creatures that inhabited this place, it had a staggering six legs! Each leg was attached to the main body with a suspiciously thin bit of flesh but each limb widened into a cone, their pointed tips making contact with the floor.

How does it maintain balance?

As soon as it saw us as we walked into the room, it reared up and immediately lunged at us, leaping through the air with the grace of a frog. A small, concussive blast broke the bed it was standing on, the wooden framing buckling under the sudden force and collapsing in on itself.

It flew through the air with remarkable speed, about the size of a person itself. I only managed to barely raise my gun to aim by the time it was right in front of us. And then, suddenly, a massive impact erupted as C1 punched it in the side of the head, sending the Manifestation flying through the air and crashing through the wall to our left.

It rolled around on the floor before climbing to its feet gracefully, the tip taps of its pointed, drill-like appendages making a disturbing sound on the wooden floor. It sounded so inhuman and so much like metal there was just something eerie to it.

However, the outcome seemed obvious from that first blow in my mind; C1 was supreme.

Indeed, as C1 approached it, arm outstretched for another frightening blow, the creature clearly knew what was about to happen as it suddenly jumped upwards with unexpected alacrity, six powerful blasts of air erupting at its feet as it flew towards the ceiling.

The floor wobbled, its stability already unstable from the hives emergence, destabilising C1, causing her to fall to the ground. The creature twisted in midair, aiming its two hind legs towards the ceiling, suddenly thrusting down with uncanny moment, ready to pierce C1 as the roof itself shook.

Even when I activated my Specialisation, I saw similar things; the creature moving about rapidly with unerring accuracy, showcasing midair maneuverability far surpassing that of humans. Its method of attack was piercing people with its drill-like limbs, stabbing them in vital organs.

The concussive blasts it could release from its limbs were strong--probably enough to throw the average person onto the ground from the force alone--and they allowed it to fly through the air, granting it an expert ability to dodge attacks.

As C1 stood back up to strike it, it flew from one wall to the other, covering a gap of a few metres in only a second, far too fast for C1 to react to. As her punch hit air, incorrectly time, she leaned backwards suddenly, nearly falling, only for the Manifestation to graze her with its limb. A line of saturated red blood opened itself up on her sickly pale skin.

I tried to use my Specialisation to help, activating for only a split second, just getting the information I required, but the monster moved faster than my mouth could speak. It was small and agile; by the time I shouted out a warning, C1 had already reacted with eyesight, dodging or getting hit by the sharpened tips of the Manifestation’s feet.

They were out on the landing--Luna and I staying in the master bedroom, all too certain it was dangerous to go out--and banister outline a whole in the floor covered up by a large, yellow limb. The Manifestation leaped from one banister to the other as C1 danced about, dodging whatever attacks she could as she walked out onto the grey-yellow tentacle.

It was a repetitive attack pattern but clearly working; I didn’t know how to help. Luna just stayed silent.

And then, finally, for what must’ve been the tenth or twentieth time the monster flew by C1, she grabbed it! Her strong, solid grip enclosed around the spindly connecting leg of the monster and it stayed in the air for only a second or two, dangling from its leg, before it was suddenly, powerfully, slammed down onto the yellow limb! The whole floor shook, wall decorations threatening to fall off at any moment.

Without missing a moment, C1 stomped down hard on the creature, causing it to squirm underfoot. She reached down with her other arm, grasping the same limb she was already holding but by the base, where it was attached to the body, this time.

She bent down, her arms held out powerfully, pausing for a moment as the Manifestation desperately tried to wiggle free, before abruptly straightening her back and ripping the limb free with a disgusting, tearing sound.

A piercing, terrifying loud howl resonated outwards from the creature as blood failed to dye the yellow limb red, instead trickling down to the lower floor.

As C1 held this sharpened weapon in her arm, her form indomitable on top of the Manifestation, it took only a few seconds to fully charge her arm before she plunged the limb into the body of the creature, piercing through and breaking bones with a revolting squelch.

The Manifestation quickly stopped moving after that, C1 huffing out large breaths of air, clearly exhausted.

I stood amazed at the sheer display of unimaginable strength before me while Luna quickly got her wit about her. She practically jumped towards the one remaining room that we had not yet explored in this whole building--the master bedroom en-suit.

By the time I had joined her, she had a knife in hand and scratches already dotting her arms as the flailing heart pitifully tried to resist being cut free from its hive.

“Bring the others inside and start harvesting the monsters,” She shouted back towards me as I just watched her, excitement dripping from her tone. This seemed to be our biggest haul yet.

I did what she told me to do. Night had properly fallen when I ran out the front door to the two other servants, street lamps illuminating the place. Fortunately, it still seemed devoid of life apart from those two.

I called them inside and we got to cutting up the monsters, harvesting whatever seemed valuable to our untrained eyes and packing them in the bags we had brought with us.

By the end of it all, the bags were positively bulging with monster parts and even then, we had to leave some behind. Luna gave us her expertise in what would likely be the most valuable components, the heart wrapped up in loose, mismatched clothing as she held it close to her chest.

“You making a servant out of that?” I huffed out, exhausted from the back-breaking labour.

“I don’t know yet. What do you think?” She asked me pointedly.

“I’d… I’d like the extra money,” I replied, unsure whether to continue.

We’re strong. We’ve just cleared a hive with minimal injuries. I was useless yet she’s still going to pay me.

“I have a debt,” I said abruptly, making sure to speak before Luna got a word out. “£5000 that needs to be paid by the end of the month.” I sank down on the intact portion of the sofa, too tired to explain more than that. I felt both energised and enervated at the same time--a perplexing condition.

Luna thought for a bit, parsing what I just said.

“Sure. I don’t need another servant but you need money.”

Relief flooded my mind as soon as she said that. All the worries that had been plaguing my mind for the entire month about opening up this facet of my life to her ebbed away.

Maybe I should’ve confided about it to her earlier? Ah, fuck it; no point regretting now.

After a short rest, we headed out towards the G.U.G., ready to receive the most money I had ever received from a hive yet.