Volume 5 - CH 7

Act 5-7: Mind Zero’s Melancholy

When I woke up, I was inside a densely grown forest.

Due to the giant trees that covered the sky, I felt instinctual fear from the roar of the beats in the woods. I wanted to stop but, I ended up walking again due to fear. That fear was what kept me from stopping.

Where am I? How did I ended up in this place? No, to begin with, who am I? I couldn’t remember all of it, my memories were blank slate.

But I know that I would definitely die if I just crouch down inside of a thicket. That’s why I forced my feet to move forward.

I had no idea how long I walked, it might be one day, two days, or just a few hours. My sense of time was completely messed up, I was just walking forward as my mind turned hazy due to exhaustion.

（Dammit, this is bad.）

I knew that I was about to reach my limit. When that happens, only a certain death is waiting for me.

（No!）

I refuse to die in an unknown place, stranded for a reason that I had no idea about. Even if I died, I wanted to at least know the reason why I died. Otherwise, I wouldn’t accept it at all costs.

「Kuh?」

My feet stumbled on a tree’s root, and fell forward. I turned around and looked up at the moon peeking out from the gap between the giant trees, and thought that the moon was really beautiful tonight.

When I raised my right hand to grab the unreachable moon, my ears caught the sound of quarrel.

「Someone is there…」

It was definitely the sound of quarrel. The moment I realized that, I instinctively rose up on my feet and walked towards the voice like a moth attracted to light. I’ve been walking nonstop in this seemingly endless sea of forest but, I knew that my heart was about to reach its limit.

In front of my dimmed vision was the figure of a huge wolf and a girl with a tail. The beast approached the girl, saliva dripping nonstop from their mouth.

My field of vision dyed red upon seeing the spectacle overlapped with something similar flashed in my head.

「GUH!」

I ran toward the huge wolf, caught its head with my left arm, and pointed the palm of my right hand into the mouth of the wolf. And then, my mouth moved on its own, reciting words that seems so familiar to me. The ground beneath my feet set ablaze, forming a geometric pattern.

That spectacle was something that seemingly very dear to me, and then, my mouth moved on its own as if I had done this countless times.

『FLAME BULLET!』

The moment I spoke the words of power, several lumps of fire appeared, fired at high speed from my fingers, struck the huge wolf and burned its entire body.

Ah, I remember now. The origin of this nauseated feeling. This magic was the magic I hated the most, and ironically, it was also the magic that I was most skilled at.

When I turned my face toward the girl, my vision suddenly dyed red.

I was extremely familiar with this sensation since I’ve experienced it numerous times in the past.

（Yes, this is Mind Zero.）

Just like that, I passed out. My consciousness descended into the darkness, and the moment I was convinced of my condition.