Chapter 74 The Shadow Man
Lee Seng slipped his phone into his pocket and let out another yawn. he grabbed the bow and strapped it across his left shoulder. He instinctively rubbed his eyes and turned the corner. The lit hallway blinded him for a second. His eyes quickly adjusted and he could see exam takers all spread throughout the hallways. Lee Seng noticed a lot of students were either sitting together, trying to sleep, asleep and/or chatting/typing away on their phones.
Lee Seng ignored most of them like he would have hoped people would've ignored him if he was asleep. He moved his hand through his hair, casually fixing it and trying not to bump into his ears. His index finger slightly bumped his ear and he moved his hand to touch his ear.
'They're higher up on my head. The fur texture is thick like my actual hair but is smaller.' Lee Seng thought to himself. He hadn't really felt his ears. He knew his human ears disappeared and moved up towards his head. He saw his fox ears many times in the mirror and was shocked to see them there. He would turn his head and look where his ears used to be and feel a bit off putting.
He hadn't gotten used to the placement of his new ears, but they were the first thing he liked about his new self and the second thing people looked at, usually. He made his way to the fourth hall to his right and stopped touching his ears as he rounded the corner. The hallways weren't crowded anymore.
'People must've finished up their task and were told to leave afterwards." Lee Seng guessed. 'What am I gonna do after this? Go back home?' He hadn't really thought about what he wanted to do afterwards. He just knew he needed to do the exam. He wanted to wander around main sectors of Capitol City. They did differ greatly from the Outskirts sectors.
He pulled open the door and could hear cheering and screaming. It looked like the bleachers were still fairly filled. He checked his watch for the next match.
#26 vs #2 --- GYMANSIUM A -- STARTS IN 10 MINUTES
'Left side, middle.' Lee Seng reminded himself. He pushed by the thin crowd on the floor and turned left. He wandered over to the middle ring and noticed it was empty. Team 26 and team 2's numbers reflected in the air. 'This is the last match.' He thought. He pulled the bow off and pushed himself onto the wall and sat down. He sat the bow on the floor.
He didn't see Olivia or team 2 anywhere. They didn't seem to be anywhere in particular. Lee Seng fished for his phone and pulled it out. He unlocked the phone and noticed he had gotten a text from Olivia.
"I'll be there shortly. Ran into some old acquaintances!"
"All good. We got ten minutes." Lee Seng responded. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and closed his eyes. He could hear the crowd cheering, shouting and screaming away. Lee Seng began to steady his breathing when he heard something weird. The crowd gasped.
"What is he doing to her?" The crowd began to ask. Lee Seng kept his eyes shut, trying to focus on meditating when people began to scream.
"She's bleeding too much!"
"Shouldn't someone stop him?"
Lee Seng sighed and opened his eyes. He turned to the left and noticed a girl was gasping for air and clawing at a young man smiling at her. Lee Seng tried to peel his eyes away from it. His eyes watched carefully.
"Let her go!" The male teammate shouted. He tried to move towards the sinister young man, but was met with a shadowy claw slashing at him. The blood sprayed and the male teammate fell onto his knees. "Let... her go...!"
Lee Seng fists tightly bundled. He could feel his nails digging into his palm and he stood up. He started over towards the arena.
"We... We... give... Let... me... go...!" The girl croaked. Team 9 lit up in green, but the young sinister man kept his grasp on her. People began to scream for him to let her go, but the young sinister man kept squeezing. The girl started falter and she began to gasp for any air. She was going to go unconscious and die if he didn't release her.
"HEY, LET HER GO!" Lee Seng shouted. He ran towards the arena and the young sinister man ignored him. Lee Seng could see shadows rippling off of him. Lee Seng watched the staff members cross the threshold and were only met with shadows, blocking their path. Lee Seng grunted and jumped. He felt his gravity push him up into the air and over the shadows and landed into the arena.
"Let her go, dipshit." Lee Seng growled. White Fox Cloak burst forth and the fox mask covered Lee Seng's face in an instant. Lee Seng blurred and quickly grabbed at the girl. Shadows swiped at Lee Seng and he quickly shot a kick of gravity at the man, shoving him away from the girl. The girl coughed as she dropped and Lee Seng quickly pulled her away towards her other team member.
Lee Seng fished in his pants for his phone and realized he didn't have his old phone. He looked at the girl and guy. They were bleeding and needed medical attention. He turned to look at the shadow walls and shook his head.
"These two need to get medical help now." Lee Seng said. He turned and watched as the shadow man stood up and brushed himself. "Where's his teammate?" The shadow man started towards Lee Seng. Lee Seng stood up and took one last look at the two injured before keeping his focus on the shadow man.
"Hey, they're gonna die. They need medical attention. This isn't some glory battle to the death!" Lee Seng shouted. The shadow man chuckled and blurred into nothing. Lee Seng looked around. The feeling of something going wrong only grew. A shadowy hand flew out of thin air and punched Lee Seng in the cheek. The force sent him flying, bouncing on the ground and sliding towards the shadow wall.
The shadows grabbed Lee Seng and lifted him onto the wall. They held his arms and legs as he tried to shake himself out of the hold. The shadow man appeared a couple of feet in front of Lee Seng, smiling. Pale skin, red eyes, black hair, and a black outfit with some sort of cloak billowing behind him. The shadow man raised his arm up towards the sky. The shadows wrapped around him and formed claws out of his fingers. He swiped at Lee Seng who felt the sharp shadow claws scrape him.
Warm blood began to trickle and the wound instantly closed. The shadow man continued to claw at Lee Seng. Small amounts of blood would spill as the burnt t-shirt was ripped to shreds. Lee Seng would instantly heal it back. The pain built and built and Lee Seng could feel his body tiring out from the healing.
The shadow man threw his hand straight for Lee Seng's neck and immediately stopped inches away. He turned behind him and glared at something in the distance that Lee Seng couldn't see.
"Why?" The shadow man asked. He paused for a long time and scoffed. "That's no fun." He moved his hand away and the shadowy wall let go of Lee Seng. The shadow man grabbed Lee Seng and pulled him close.
"They told me you're special." The shadow man whispered into his ear. His breath tickled Lee Seng and made him uncomfortable. The shadow man wrapped his arm around Lee Seng's chest and smiled. His hand sliding towards Lee Seng's abs. Lee Seng tried to grab the man's hand, but he watched as the man's hands slid down to his abs.
"They told me to give this to you." The shadow man whispered. His hand plunged into Lee Seng's abs and Lee Seng felt a dark energy spill into him. The shadow man began to chant in a language Lee Seng couldn't recognize. Shadows billowed out from Lee Seng's abs. The man kept his hand in Lee Seng and continued to chant.
Lee Seng's mask began to crack and the wisps began to dissipate. The man finished his chanting and pulled his shadowy hand out and released Lee Seng. Shadow and blood spilled out of Lee Seng as he dropped to the floor. The shadow man turned to the wall and sighed.
"It's no fun." The shadow man sighed. "All for two kids." He stepped into the shadowy wall and disappeared. The shadow walls ripped away, pulling into where the shadow man went and vanished. Staff members rushed the scene. Lee Seng gasped and he tried to clutch his abs. Blood was pooling around Lee Seng.
"They told me to give this to you." The shadow man's whispered voice echoed. Lee Seng's eyes began to flicker and the world around him began to merge into a dilapidated landscape. His vision was turning dark and the cries of the students turned into monstrous cries of the unknown. The dilapidated landscape started to stick around him and his vision went black.