Volume 13's POV: Third Person POV

"I don't like this!" Miyuki groaned with underlying dread while trying her best to keep balance. The floor continued to vibrate for a few more moments. Though the floor was moments away from inevitable collapse, the culprit was no where to be seen. Manaka and Miyuki could only stand close to each other, both simultaneously looking around the room from where they stood.

"If this was an Earthquake, what magnitude would it be?"

Miyuki's head turned towards Omo, her eyebrows briefly raising like if the question was a surprise. "Uuuuhhhh good question... now, I haven't taken geology yet... but I'm pretty sure I can safely say one big enough to kill us." She'd answer, then attempting to scan over their surroundings for something to grab onto. The bad part about this room was that it was so clean. Aside from the displayed paintings, the walls were completely bare and spotless. The floor dawned the same tile as the rest of the school, but had a bright shine to it like it's been scrubbed and mopped regularly. The only furniture in the room were the chairs that Stronzo had destroyed, the table that had been blown to pieces from Omo's raging power, and the large throne that was built into the ground and sat across the room from them.

There was nothing either could grip onto to make this shaking a little more bearable... the only option was to wait it out. After grueling seconds of waiting, that would finally happen. Though they were saved from the shaking, neither had the chance to regather their senses before the next chilling event took place.

Clop clop clop

What started as slow and mysterious footsteps suddenly turned into something invisible to their eyes rapidly rushing by the two. Both would turn their heads behind them in an attempt to spot the foe, but the foe had already disappeared before they had a chance.

"I-I don't see them, Sekken!" Manaka nervously pointed out.

"... Sekken?"

Suddenly Omo's heart began to beat a little faster. "Miyuki?!" She called out again, though only answered by the eerie silence that filled the room. Sweat rolled down her face, and her fists clenched from the sourness that flooded her senses. What had happened? One moment Miyuki was here, but the next, she was no where to be seen! What had replaced Miyuki was a man she wasn't quite sure she could face: Headmaster Sato.

"-EEP! OH NO," Manaka yelped, suddenly backing away from the large looming man that sharply glared at her.

"Hey, lady, I'm gonna pay you back for all you've stolen!" the large man would angrily bellow while steadily walking towards her.

"I-I'm sorry about your necklace! B-but... you shouldn't have such a dangerous weapon at school!"

"Necklace? I don't have a necklace, what are you talking about?!" The Headmaster questioned. The Headmaster was quick to shift the accusation though, and harshly speak his mind to her: "I do know of a necklace that you possessed! You and those necklaces caused the deaths of countless people, you sick, cruel bastard! I'm gonna make you pay for what you've put me through!"

Manaka's eyes widened when the Headmaster said those words to her, suddenly feeling like she had her heart put on a stake. Those accusations were harsh, but hearing it from the Headmaster himself, she couldn't help but think about it over and over again. Maybe what he said was right. After all, she was at the center of everything going on in these last few weeks. She was the one that led to Seijo's arrest. She was the one that led to Miyuki being terrorized. She was the one that stole the necklace. She was the one that angered I-35. She was the one that caused people to go missing. She was the heart of every problem, and as a result, maybe she is to blame for why so many people have died at this school...

Manaka hung her arms low, closing her eyes, and then began to softly sob. "Yeah, you're right... I guess I really am a murderer. Just by existing, everyone around me is torn from their families! From the day I walked into High School, I've been all alone because everyone I speak to disappears! I am cursed, and I have to carry this weight of being the cause of countless deaths until the day I die!

"I want this curse to end! If another person is dead from me, I'll never be able to forgive myself! I'm not worthy of this power, it only makes it easier to kill those that I hold dear, so if my downfall is what is needed so my peers are not suffering, then that is a price I am willing to pay."

Headmaster Sato's arms folded whilst standing over the cowering Omo. Tears had streamed down her blood-stained face, and her eyes remained shut. Her legs were frozen in place, and her head hung down towards Sato's shoes instead of his face. No matter how hardly she sobbed and swathed in her misery, the headmaster seemed to not buy it, only keeping a face of indifference. He would clench a singular fist, then slowly raising it. "That was... easy. I never expected the Goddess of Shadows to give herself in so quickly..." He would note.

"The Goddess of– wait WHAT?!" Omo's eyes bursted open with shock, but before she knew it, that fist had connected to the side of her skull. In her eyes... she no longer saw the Headmaster driving that fist into her head...

"That was... too easy" Miyuki emptily responded. There was a sudden feeling of unexplainable guilt that washed over her. It was strange, she could have sworn there would be more to this girl. Miyuki would then blink, her body suddenly jolting from shock...

The body that laid unconscious on the ground then shifted, revealing who she had truly knocked out. "--NOOOO!" There her expectations were met... but done in a way she wasn't expecting in the slightest. This sudden heart wrenching discovery answered the guilt that clouded over her, which was then followed by grief.

" HA HA HA !!" A distorted cackle would echo throughout the room.

She couldn't believe it... how? She was tricked into attacking her own friend. To think she had climbed into the lowest depths of evil, there was always a lower circle of hell waiting for her. With a single mournful groan, Miyuki would say: "Y-you have to be kidding me! You're sick!"

" HA HA HA HA !!"

This distorted laughter continued to haunt her mind, remembering back to that daydream at the bus stop. The sinister cackle of a mad-man. The shadowy monster that robbed her of Omo, and continued to chip away at the rest of her lifestyle.

Sekken's fists tightly closed, her eyelids shut, and began to concentrate her energy. This daydream was no longer just a dream, but had become reality. She had no choice but to fight this reality, or die trying. Considering the amount of energy she had left, it was looking to be the latter. Miyuki was living off of crumbs of energy, because she had spent the entire loaf trying to beat Stronzo... "Where are you?! I-if you want to fight, I-I'm right here!" Miyuki anxiously stuttered out while raising a fist. "Just show yourself!"

The defiant distorted laughter would ensue. There was no confrontation from this sinister entity, of whom only wished to live in Sekken's shadow. Miyuki would then feel a grab at her leg, then jerking her head downwards to look. "WHAT ON EARTH?!" she yelled in panic while shaking her leg. How was this even possible? Her own shadow was gripping her leg?! She continued to play this tug of war for her leg with the shadow's grasp, only narrowly succeeding to pry it away.

While she tried backing away from her own shadow (which would be impossible), a rush of wind could be felt from behind as a force would throw their fist straight into her back, helplessly knocking the exhausted Miyuki forward. The moment Miyuki fell forward, her shadow would greet her once more by throwing a punch of its own into her jawline, knocking her back the other way.

One fight after another, there was no break in between her misery. Her body had multiple second degree, maybe even third degree burns on it. Her head was pounding, her chest was throbbing, her back was surprisingly not broken, and her energy was low. It was a miracle she was even standing! She wouldn't be for long at this rate, however. There was no way to combat what she couldn't see.

Miyuki began to slowly tremble. Her head jerked left, then right. Where were they gonna strike? How were they going to do it? Were they even attacking in the first place? There was nothing for her to fight! It was all... what was it even?! An invisible force, body disguising, her own shadow attacking her?! What could she possibly do?! This Unknown Goddess was nothing like she had fought before. Seijo, Light Guy, Tetsu, Jen, Steve, and Stronzo all confronted her themselves. This was just one-sided torment.

Her mind was lagging behind the next set of events. She wouldn't get the chance to notice another rush of wind from below Miyuki. She would only notice that her body had narrowly jumped out of the way on its own to escape the attack. Right when her feet touched the ground, a shadowy figure would appear behind her, and throw a punch for the back of her neck. Before it would land, Sekken spun around and tried to catch the punch, though the figure would vanish mid air just a moment before she could grab it.

"Illusions? No, if this was an illusion, I wouldn't be a fish in a barrel right now, what are you exactly?!"

Her question would be answered as voices from all angles around her began to speak in perfect sync.

"I AM YOU, YOU ARE ME.

WE ARE ONE, ONE ARE WE!!

NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS, AND ALL IS AS IT DEEMS.

FALL DOWN TO YOUR KNEES, AND PERISH TO YOUR OWN DREAMS!

HERE YOU SWATHE IN YOUR OWN SADNESS...

AND PREPARE FOR DEATH BY MIMIC MADNESS!"