The Genius Above Elites

Vol 4 Chapter 4.1

Zero Tempest

Episode 1; Kurenai Rayla

Cola bottles disguised in a plastic bag, check. Water filled grenades in the exact same bag, check. Penknives inside my pockets in case things get ugle, double check. I've got just about everything except the sweets which is what something I don't really need since I discovered most of these sodas don't have an effect when sweets come into contact with them.

The utility belts I prepared were more for show, but I still keep them on my person to hold more bottles of soda in case I run out. As of right now, I have a total of 25 bottles of soda on my person which is the least I'll need if the number is only around 20.

Needless to say, I'm getting odd glances from most of the people around the school but they're less strange than usual. They probably know about the terrorist attack which is why most of the students are staying indoors for today judging by the fact there aren't many people outside right now. Just thanks to this, I don't have to worry about collateral damage.

Ray-chan's back on the roof as instructed, she is to stay there until this entire matter is resolved and of course I assigned some guards to protect her. This morning, Chabashira-sensei gave me a text which basically said I have the entire ship's guards under my command to take out the terrorists. Seeing this I made some minor changes to my plan by occupying certain spots with guards so I wouldn't have to go check there myself only to find nothing.

"Just walking around won't do me any good, might as well get myself a snack while I wait for a report." You could say I'm calm, calm to the point it can be considered as cocky.

I have many reasons for this. Just to name a few, I've already prepared all I can for this and my strategies don't seem to have any flaws in them as far as I'm concerned and I'm very confident in my physical abilities to fight. I'm pretty much fit enough to take on an army with this setup.

Although my mind should be focused on strategies, I'm currently focused on what happened to me the other day. I vaguely remember what happened that day when I woke up, but now I'm just about known most of what happened. Likely due to my experiences with the supernatural.

The passing out wasn't exactly due to some natural occurrence, but it is indeed likely related to beings like Kujou and Ghost. The moment before I passed out, I could feel a strange sensation similar to a rose's thorns all over my body for a split second. Rose thorns can carry bacteria and fungi over to your body and cause infections, that could be the reason I suddenly fell unconscious.

Both Kujou and Ghost can enter this white room, Ghost can possess people as long as the owner wills it and Kujou can also install my memories into my brain. It's not entirely far fetched to say there could be another being out there who has the ability to cause sharp thorn-like pain that can render a person unconscious.

"Hah..... What the hell is even going on anymore, I thought this was going to be some normal school life but it ended up being a tussle with the supernatural? Am I going to die at the end of my story like those books I read or something?"

It would really suck to die, not like I know the feeling. Whatever this is I shouldn't bother taking care of it right now, all I should focus on is the terrorist attac- wait what the fuck?

"The hell.....when did it get dark? I swear it was 3 in the afternoon just a second ago.......on top of that, there shouldn't be a blood moon at this time of year.....nor there should be a blood moon to begin with....."

I hadn't noticed it earlier but the moon turned blood red the moment my environment grew dark. The electronics seems to be working as evident by the lights and phone being turned on successfully.

"Yeah I'm definitely in some sort of realm similar to that white room...." I'm not fazed by this as much as before now but it's still sending chills down my spine.

It was 3 in the afternoon a second ago, but suddenly 9 hours had elapsed and it's now midnight. It should have turned 0:01 a second ago but it's still stuck at the triple zero digits. Something's wrong here and it's not something I should take lightly.

Another thing I've just noticed, rose petals on the floor which seem to be littering the ship. The few people who were around me are missing, even the employees have poofed out of existence.

"Huh? All my contacts are missing, all except Kane and Ray-chan are available to me for whatever reason...." I understand Kane but why Ray-chan? Something is definitely wrong here and it's not in the sense of my strange environment this time.

Without hesitation, I attempt to make a call with Ray-chan to check on her first. It isn't that I don't care about Kane, it's just I know she has Ghost inside her so whatever this is, she'll be in a better situation than Ray-chan in this moment of time.

"........No reply. Shit, this isn't good!" I start panicking at last.

Ray-chan had always replied to my calls in the past, there is absolutely no reason why she should ignore my calls especially right now!

I make a few more calls as I begin to run down the hall. Unfortunately, the only sound I hear thanks to these attempts are the sounds of the ringtone and nothing else. It's making me anxious as I clench my chest while running down the hallway.

I then attempt to make a call with Kane, but it's the same result. I don't understand what's going on, Kane is one thing but Ray-chan didn't make an attempt to reply to my calls at all!

"Damn it! Looks like I have to check out the situation mysel- whoa!"

The second I turn the corner, a fire axe comes swinging in my direction. I quickly dodge the swing and dash past the attacker before taking out a soda bottle from my utility belt and shooting its cap towards the attacker while  trying to get a good look at them at the same time.

"W-what the hell....no effect huh.... Nevermind that, this is something straight out of a horror film!"

The attacker didn't even flinch at the powerful shot where a normal human being should, though once I get a good look it becomes clear why it didn't work in the first place.

The attacker is one of the suspicious men I spot running around the ship at midnight, but something is off about him. His head and head alone is replaced by a pile of roses, a truly horrifying sight to see and he's even letting out absurdly deafening sounds.

"Shit....my only weapons won't have any effect on shit like this! I gotta make a run for i- nevermind, that is another bad choice to make!" When I try to run away in the opposite direction, I spy two more of the same rose like creatures dragging behind a crowbar and a pipe, both perfect weapons to kill a person with.

Soda bottles will at best stun them, from that logic water grenades should do the same but over a large radius. From the situation, I can conclude this will definitely be some sort of life or death situation. This isn't some game anymore, nor is it real life.....if I die here, will I seriously die?

I can't worry about that now, for now my goal is to see the situation with Ray-chan right now. So....

"Fuck off, you rose head freaks."