The Crisis World XX

Chap. 28: Mall Attack

Speed, stamina, and also efficiency in moving. Three things that Herlin always emphasized in every exercise. I entered the fourth month of training with Herlin as well as entered into this world. And I think I've grown quite a bit.

I've graduated in basic stamina development training, my speed has also increased and now I can outrun any normal human.

And having gone through that, I am now focused on further sharpening my instincts and being trained to move as efficiently as possible. With just a little movement I was required to be able to avoid all of Herlin's attacks so that my stamina was not quickly drained.

Avoiding every single gravel attack that Herlin had launched with the power of his Mind Power. It sounds simple and easy, but it's not. Try it yourself if you don't believe it.

Just imagine, being stoned by ordinary humans would have made you panic, now I have to avoid the collection of stones from various directions that shot towards me at the speed of a bullet. No. .. Maybe the bullet is a little exaggerated, but I can't describe it in other words.

The point is to see the movement of the stone alone is difficult, let alone have to avoid it. He also gave me one more exercise.

"Train to expand your aura."

Developing a vast aura, huh? Herlin said if I could master it then I could feel things moving around me. For example, when you walk in the rain, if you expand the area of your aura, you can feel and count every drop of rain that touches the area of the expansion of your aura.

I tried it already. And maintaining the aura itself requires stamina that is not small. Right now I can only expand it by about ten centimeters from my body.

But I feel that ten centimeters is still not enough. The speed of the stone Herlin threw was so fast that such a thickness was still lacking. At the minimum I should be able to expand it by about a meter or so.

I continued to train him. High focus and concentration are key and one of the right exercise mediums for that is meditation. After training with Herlin, every night in the room I tried to meditate to expand my aura area. For example, as at this time.

As I entered the early stages of meditation, I could feel my own breath. Then in the second stage I can calculate my heart rate.1 beat, 20 beat, 100 beat, and so on. I continued to strengthen my concentration and the small sounds in this room such as the clanking of clocks, the hum of mosquitoes, and so on. I can count and feel everything.

Until a time when I continuously strengthen my focus until I do not realize that my surroundings turn into silence. I opened my eyes and found that I was in a dark place with a light source coming from above.

"This place …."

I then approached the light and fell silent in front of him. But suddenly I felt a horrifying feeling in my spine, a hand passed through my shoulder from behind and tried to grab me. I quickly grabbed him and turned to look at the person who did this.

"You're really growing, huh, Iraya? I intend to paralyze your movements like the first time we met."

"Ce-Cecilia?"

Turns out the one who gave me the creeps earlier was Cecilia. So I can get in here without having to sleep, huh? But suddenly I remembered something.

"So is the means to meet you through a dream? Or is there another way?"

"There was. Through meditation."

I remember Cecilia once saying that I could come here through meditation, it turned out to be true. I then let go of Cecilia's hand.

An awkward silence attacked both of us. There's nothing I want to talk to him about right now so I don't know what to do. But suddenly Cecilia took the initiative to start a conversation.

"So this is the first time we've met through a meditative medium, isn't it?"

"Yes that's how."

"Now what are you going to do here?"

"Don't you know, wouldn't it be if I met you in person that we were just chatting?"

"Huh .. You'll never have friends if your conversation is boring like this. I feel sorry for those who try to talk to you" he mocked.

"Be-Whispering! I have my own way, you know!"

Cecilia smiled. He then approached me and stopped when we were very close. Cecilia then brought her face to my ear and started whispering.

"I was gonna tell you something. But I don't think it's a good time for that."

"What?"

Suddenly the top of this room began to create an unusual crack. The crack got bigger and then Cecilia spoke one last thing to me before I left.

"See you later, Iraya."

I then opened my eyes and what I saw now was the wall of my room just like before. My position is also the same as sitting cross-legged on the bed.

"Adu-duh …."

I'm holding my head. After getting out of Cecilia's place, suddenly my head felt very dizzy like a person who was drunk on a vehicle. I then lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I decided to continue my training later.

"Huh .. tired of it."

**

This sunny week I started with my mom eating breakfast while watching TV.

"Don't forget to clean up after eating, yeah!"

"Good ma'am."

Tiiing…

Suddenly my phone notification reads. I then checked it out and it came from Oita-san. In his message it is written that there is an affair that requires me to come. Looks like I'll get a new mission. Because Oita-san never contacted me except to give me a mission.

After getting the message, I quickly finished my breakfast and cleaned it up. And after that I went to the Haiiro Cafe.

Along the way I saw many little children playing in the park cheerfully with their parents. I smiled and saw that. Lately, the intensity of monster attacks has decreased and can at least make people calmer.

But that does not mean that the attack has disappeared completely, every day there are only one to two cases of attack by strange creatures.

As a person who knows how to deal with the creature, me and the person in Black Rain will of course not remain silent. I joined Black Rain to become stronger and protect my dear mother. And on the mission this time I will be more useful!

After walking for quite a while, I have arrived at the Haiiro Cafe. But I did not see Aiza-san who usually always stood in front of the door to welcome guests, the cafe also looked quieter than usual. Without taking it any longer, I then entered Murasaki-san's room.

There I saw Murasaki-san who was sitting was chatting with Herlin who was also here. It turns out that it's true that I'm going to get a new mission.

"You've come, Iraya."

"So, what's calling me, Murasaki-san?"

"On that .. I want you to accompany Herlin-chan to shop for the decoration of this Cafe, Iraya-kun."

"Cafe decoration needs? So I wasn't called here because I was about to get a new mission? Why should I go shopping with him anyway."

"Ah, about that …."

Murasaki-san looked up like she wanted to remember something.

"… I used to tell him to do the same thing and I gave him the freedom to choose. But Herlin-chan instead chose a Christmas decoration for this cafe even though it was still spring," said Murasaki-san.

"Christmas decorations?"

I looked at Herlin who was either innocent or stupid, but she also looked back at me.

"What?" he said with a cynical tone.

"You're this ... stupid huh?"

"Yuuki-san is having some business with her orphanage. That's why I told you, Iraya-kun. Let's just say it's a mission, so do it right?"

Murasaki-san smiled with my answer and she gave us some money and gave me the freedom to choose the decor. And finally that's it, my second mission is already running—although not a dangerous mission anyway.

**

The place we were going to was a mall. The mall is located not far from the shopping center, so we prefer to walk there.

Along the way I occasionally glanced at Herlin, and he looked busy with his smartphone and did not even notice the road at all. I then rebuked him.

"Oi, if you look ahead."

"Just calm. I could walk without looking forward because I had already developed my aura by a meter. So I can sense if there's something blocking my way like an electric pole or people passing by."

Doesn't this include abuse of power? He used his ability for such an unimportant thing. But out of curiosity, I poured a bit of aura into my eyes and I could see a transparent, colorless, spherical aura surrounding Herlin's body.

"Then what about your training?"

"I can only maintain a width of ten centimeters."

"That means your journey is long, huh?"

Herlin stopped his steps and then fell silent for a while. It was as if he was thinking of something. After a while, he looked up and spoke to me.

"Do I need to increase the training portion tenfold?"

"You want to kill me?!"

"Hah ... master it first, then we move on to the next exercise."

"Yes, yeah. By the way, we'll be there soon."

"I know."

After arriving at the intended mall, we both entered and immediately looked for the intended store. The atmosphere in this mall is quite crowded due to holidays. Herlin and I headed straight to the decoration shop on the second floor of the mall.

After finding the intended store, we both went straight inside and immediately chose a decoration that would be suitable for the Cafe. I chose a simple design because it fits in all kinds of places. After I thought I had enough and wanted to pay, I saw Herlin sitting in front of a keychain rack.

"You're done, Her—"

Herlin, who had been sitting in front of the keychain, took out a panda-shaped keychain.

"You like that?"

"Not really. I love it when he eats bamboo. His voice was like someone whose bones were broken."

"Basic freak psychopath, quickly throw your mind at this funny panda!"

Herlin then put the keychain back in its place. After that, he left the shop.

"Have finished? Pay and go home soon."

"Good-Good."

His nature suddenly turned cold again. But I have to hold him. As Murasaki-san said, Herlin was actually a caring person even though she was unaware of it. I then went to the cashier's desk and paid for everything I bought. And I also bought something extra that seemed good.

**

*Mall Parking Area*

Someone was leaning over while drinking coffee on the edge of the mall wall. After finishing his drink, he then took something from his pants pocket. A trigger with one red button in the middle. He slightly walked away from the mall building, after being felt by him far enough, he then pressed the trigger button from earlier he held.

"Come out, Subject C," he murmured.

Piip. Bleedaaarrr…

After pressing that button, a burst of streaks occurred in almost every part of the mall. The people who saw the explosion immediately panicked and ran away from the mall as fast as they could. While the person who pressed the trigger then entered the mall casually while being followed by a number of people behind him.

"Let's go in and catch him."

**

Meanwhile, Iraya and Herlin who heard the sound of an explosion from outside the mall felt a tremor inside the mall that made them start to be alert. Herlin also sensed some of the auras of powerful people walking up to the two of them.

Iraya PoV's

"Earthquakes? No, I heard an explosion."

"Iraya, follow me!"

Herlin then ran to one of the clothing stores that his guards had left behind. We hid in one of the changing rooms with curtains as the door. Herlin then gave me a mouthpiece.

"Wear it and lose your existence."

He also wears his mouthpiece.

"Oi'm Herlin! What exactly is going on?!"

"I don't know, but I feel the aura of someone strong is heading towards us."

Someone strong? So what we're dealing with right now is human? In other words, another exception. Suddenly my chest was pounding so hard. Damnit damnit! Thinking that the opponent I was facing made me tremble. I can also feel the killing intent that person gave me.

"The aura …."

Suddenly Cecilia spoke inside my head. He seemed to feel something in the aura of this strong person.

"What's up, Cecilia?"

"I once felt the same aura as this, when I was still in the place I was created."

"Aura .. is the same?"

So what we're going to fight is the people from the place that created Cecilia. That company, he can already trace his whereabouts. Then their target is me.

I set my breath to calm down and after that I lost my presence. Eliminating the existence of its principle is the same as giving off an aura, only done in reverse.

Meanwhile, the people who blew up this mall were already in front of the clothes shop where Iraya and Herlin were hiding. He then entered it and stood in front of the dressing room. While holding the other people who were coming with him, the man then shouted.

"Come out Subject C! I know you're inside! Come out or I'll kill you!"

**

*Murasaki-san Room*

Meanwhile Murasaki-san who was writing in her room suddenly flinched as if struck by something. The white water that was on the edge of his desk let out a strange ripple that made his feelings uneasy.

"Hmm …?"

Seriate