Hudson's class was just about to learn a serious lesson and it wasn't going to be about metaphors and similes. These lessons that they were going to learn were about frightening monsters and deadly games.
Lesson one ? NEVER attend school during an Apocalypse.
Hudson was panicking and praying that this was all a bad dream. The other students were speechless.
The boy, sitting in front of Hudson was sweating anxiously, but some of the students still didn't understand the seriousness of the situation.
Mrs. Hive smiled widely.
" Let's begin our class." She announced in her normal voice and Hudson became a bit confused and for a second he didn't know how to react.
[ Game sequence initiating...Take care of my babies . ]
Mrs. Hive spoke with the robotic voice of the system again as she rubbed her stomach gently and suddenly she had opened her mouth widely and a swarm of large bugs rushed out , causing the students to run, scatter and scream in panic.
" POWER WALL !" Hudson shouted as he stood up and extended his arms in a fast motion trying to create a barrier. The bugs swarmed him and he fell down as they bit at his flesh.
" Hudson ! " Jarret screamed then he quickly covered his mouth as the bugs charged at him.
He ducked and hid behind his desk.
Hudson screamed and swatted at the skin on his face as the bugs tried to make him their dinner. He struggled to his feet , and Mrs. Hive laughed sinisterly.
[ Thank you for feeding my kids. The system is grateful. Accept your defeat and she will repay you for your sacrifice in another life. ]
Hudson groaned in pain , stood up, hunched over and gritted his teeth .
' I need to win this game and save my planet
' Hudson thought then in an instant his face lit up in a small smirk and he did something completely unexpected.
he ripped the skin from his face and let out a loud scream.
He sprinted towards Mrs.Hive ignoring the bugs that crashed into him as he got closer to her.
" I'm a weakling, but I was blessed with extraordinary power. A power that no one believes I deserve. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to prove to the world that I DESERVE IT ! "
Hudson shouted and as he was about to reach Mrs. Hive he jumped and released his wings into the air.
Hudson was now in flight , heading straight for the system. He attacked her, creating a sword with his own power that glowed green.
Hudson pulled one of Yukina's healing potions from his back pocket and drank it causing the skin on his face to regenerate.
He slashed at the System repeatedly and she dodged each slash effortlessly then launched herself into the air.
She seemed to glitch , her body became pixelated as she disappeared in mid air. The bugs vanished and at this time all the other students had already managed to break the classroom door down and left.
Hudson looked around the room quickly, looking for the system but she was no where to be found. He took a deep breath then headed towards the exit.
As he approached the exit , he felt a bit of a relief. He didn't have to fight the overbearing system anymore.
He was almost outside the room when the system regenerated behind him , attacking him with full force.
Lesson two ? NEVER let your guard down after pissing off a pregnant woman.
I guess this rule doesn't only apply to the game.
" Fuck !" Hudson breathe out deeply as he fell to the ground from the blow, slowly becoming unconscious.
The system dragged him by his feet , straight down the hall as her swarm of bugs quickly flew in from the windows in every direction just to return to her side.
The system's cheeks became red with a blush of excitement as she pulled Hudson along on the floor.
BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM !
Gunshots came heading straight for the system, breaking the glass in a few windows in the process.
The sound of bullets rescued Hudson from becoming completely unconscious.
The System flinched as the bullets flew towards it then with a smile it decided to search for the brave fool who decided to bring a gun to a game of magical power.
It prowled around, heading straight in the direction where the bullets were coming from.
The bullets that hit the System cracked and fell to the ground.
Lesson three ? ONLY a magical weapon can harm the system.
The system went after the shooter , aggressively hunting down the person who had tried to harm it with a useless weapon.
The one holding the gun when the System finally got closer ? Enmei.
A human girl , who was fragile and fighting with all her heart. She didn't look scared at all though. It seemed that all Enmei could think about right now was her best friend who was being dragged around like a cloth doll.
His blonde hair was messy, his eyes were barely open but Enmei knew he would keep hanging on.
" Fool , you think you could save him ? What a generous act. " The System mocked and Enmei lifted the gun, aiming at the system once more.
Her arms began trembling.
" I'm not trying to be a hero. I'm only saving myself from being weak . I wont ever need a man to save me if I become the one always saving a man. This isn't generous. This isn't heroism. This is all about ME. I'm becoming just like Eros. This is a selfish act !" Enmei said , she shouted at the system with her trembling hands gripping tightly around the gun.
Tears formed in her eyes, her voice cracked as she shouted and she fired three more shots.
A monster broke through the side of the building sending glass flying everywhere and getting the attention of the system. Hudson quickly sprang up off the ground, striking the system with power. Then he stepped in between the system and Enmei.
" POWER WALL ! " He shouted, extending his hand infront of him quickly.
A barrier formed between them.
Enmei's eyes widened as she looked at the magical energy coming from Hudson.
" Listen. You don't have to become like Eros. He fights with hatred and bitterness. You're not like him. Fight with your heart. " Hudson said to Enmei as he struggled to keep the power wall in place.
" You have powers ? You never told me ? Did you ? " Enmei asked in a soft sad voice and Hudson just realized that he had never bothered to tell his best friend about his new abilities and the one time she saw him use it Eros replaced her memory of the fight at the party with a ball game and so they never got to talk about his new power.
" I'll explain to you later." Hudson said and the system turned around and smashed its fists into his power wall repeatedly.
It broke and the system gave it one last smash before it shattered to pieces.
It was supposed to be stronger. Hudson had trained hard to create a good power wall, but apparently he wasn't good enough at using magic and maybe he would never be.
Half the school was destroyed , dead bugs and blood were everywhere.
Students laid on the floor , in torn clothing that revealed their open wounds where their flesh was devoured by bugs.
The sky was the colour of battered ripe cherries and as Hudson went head to head with the system it began to rain.
The monster came closer and closer to where the System was and as Hudson and the system began to clash Enmei ran off and seemed to make an escape just in time before the monster got to block the path.
Hudson blasted the system with balls of his power and then jumped into the air ,flew over the system, flapping his wings and he began to attack the monster non-stop.
The system pulled him back , throwing him into the school wall. He winced in pain.
Then he pushed himself off the wall with his feet and attacked the system.
Hudson used his power sword to strike the system.
The system screeched and pounced into the air to avoid further damage.
The monster came closer and reached out to grab Hudson.
He stopped attacking the system and flew away.
Boom! BOOM! BOOM!
More gunshots came from a different angle , hitting the monster in it's back.
The large monster shrieked in pain then it fell over. Hudson flew away swiftly as the monster landed with a huge thud destroying more of the school building.
The girl with the gun ? Angelica.
A human girl who was in love with Eros. She was doing good for the sake of others and fighting with her heart.
Of course her feelings for Eros were silly and trivial compared to the matters at hand, but maybe a woman's ' silly ' little feelings are what makes her a true hero.
Hudson was in the air now looking right at Angelica who stood outside what was left of the school building. She was reloading her gun.
Hudson was both shocked and impressed. He gave her a thumbs up from where he was then out of no where another large monster ran up behind her.
" Run! " Hudson shouted at the girl infront of him.
The two of them were separated by rubble and a large monster laying on the floor.
Angelica ran towards Hudson with the monster following closely behind her.
It grabbed at her aggressively and she ran as fast as she could but right before she could create enough space between herself and the large creature she tripped.
Hudson rushed towards her but her feet and torso were quickly grabbed by vines and she was pulled out of harm's way.
" Venus ?" Hudson called out surprised
as Angelica was pulled quickly around a corner.
" Who else ?" Venus' voice came from behind the building and Hudson could hear a small smile in her voice.
Hudson attacked the monster with a large blast of power.
" Hey Mutant ! Come get me." Hudson said then he flew as high as he could.
At first the monster jumped reaching it's arms as high as possible but soon Hudson was too far.
Hudson attacked the monster rapidly by repeatedly throwing balls of power from above. With each hit the monster shrieked.
The monster jumped and swatted Hudson out of the sky then charged at him before he could get up again. Hudson whinced in pain and his eyes widened when he saw the monster coming towards him. He was sure there was no escape but before he could accept his fate another monster came rushing in between them.
His eyes widened as the new monster seemed to push pass the other one causing it to fall Hudson got up as fast as he could and flew away.
' Why did it seem like that monster was trying to protect me ?' Hudson wondered as he kept flying away.
He looked back onto the battlefield but the monster was already out of sight.
" You're not playing fair ! I think I know just how to spice things up! " The System said after watching Hudson from a far then it took flight , speeding towards Hudson .
" Let's play a different game." The System requested excitedly and it grabbed Hudson and threw him towards the monster.
" Fetch! " The System commanded the monster as Hudson fell towards the Earth.
He was almost Monster food when giant flowers grew out of the ground intanstly , catching him in their blossoms and lifting him back into the blood red sky.
Another save by Venus.
Venus appeared in the sky floating infront of the System.
" So you're the System that's causing all of this trouble ?I thought all of this would be done by some bitter old man." Venus said and the System opened its mouth wide letting out her large bug babies once again.
Venus smiled.
' How could she think that was gonna work on me ? ' Venus thought and she made fists with her hands.
" FLY TRAP !" Venus said and she opened her hands and threw her little plants at the bugs .
The plants grew larger instantly and swallowed the whole swarm of bugs.
The System looked on shocked.
" My babies ! My beautiful babies ! " It screeched its robotic voice sounded distorted as it echoed.
Venus threw her fly traps on the floor and one of them grew large and swallowed the monster whole.
Venus flew away from the enraged system and the System went out of control and grew larger.
[ I will swallow your world ]
"That's what you should have done with all them bug babies " Cole said and Hudson looked around to see Eros' annoying band mate holding a grenade in his hand.
He attempted to throw it at the system but it seemed to have gotten stuck to his palm .
Jackson walked out from behind the school building, dragging Elias out with him and he started cursing at both of them.
" I leave you two alone for 10 seconds and you both decide to pick a fight with aliens. MAN I still can't believe they exist and Eros wasn't just becoming one of the geeks." Jackson shook his head in dissappointment and disbelief as he walked over the rubble and away from the System as if this was just a minor inconvienience on a Friday evening.
" We didn't pick a fight . They totally started it." Cole complained and Jackson grabbed the back of his head and pulled him away from the System.
" Can't you ever just be the bigger person ?" Jackson asked Cole as he dragged both of the boys away.
" How ? That thing is literally a giant." Cole said and Elias nodded in agreement .
Jackson was on the brink of screaming out in anger when the System started multiplying.
No one knew that this was even possible before, but the more they played the game the more they learnt about the System.
" Let's run now ! We'll talk about how dumb you are later !" Jackson said to the two boys, after his attention was caught by five new clones of the System and the three of them started sprinting away from the school building.
The ground was filled with rubble, there was blood splattered all over what was left of the school and Venus' Fly traps were all over the place creating obstacles for the runners.
Cole jumped over each of the large plants and Elias ran around them while Jackson tried to run as far away from them as possible.
Hudson took flight. His blonde hair blowing in the wind as his wings flapped aggressively.
He drew his sword of power and charged at the nearest clone to him but he ended up getting stabbed by the System as its fingers grew into sharp claws.
' There are so many of them and only one of me .' Hudson thought as he hovered in front of the six Systems , backing away as his blood dripped from the wound on his side.
He felt extremely overwhelmed and exhausted.
He was too drained to deny defeat and so he winced in pain as the Systems closed in on him.
He was almost destroyed by the System when someone came to his rescue, blocking the attack from his body with theirs.
It was Eros. He appeared in mid air , his wings completely shielding Hudson from the sharp claws of the system.
Eros wasn't afraid of dying because he knew he'd never be defeated by the system . The System couldn't even leave a scratch on Eros because he was too fast.
" Be careful. " Eros said to Hudson, his voice a tiny bit less angry than usual.
Hudson opened his eyes to see his Master standing right Infront of him. His eyes widened in shock.
" How am I going to enslave you humans if you're all dead ? " Eros asked Hudson and the blond boy didn't know how to reply to that question.
Once again Eros was only saving humans because of his selfish and insatiable hunger for power.
The System had desired bloodshed and the only thing standing in between it and Hudson's bleeding flesh was his Master.
Eros gritted his teeth angrily, his eyes became filled with anger and he had so much power coming from his body that all the monsters ran as far as they could away from him .
His energy created a large purple tornado of power that sucked up everthing in its path.
This was it. True power. The power that might be able to defeat the system. The power predicted by the prophecy and maybe the only hope left for the Universe.
Lesson 4 ? The Master will KILL for his weapon because the weapon should KILL for him.