Point-of-View: Arisu Kimura
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Wh-what...what is this...? This can’t be real...the prices of the drinks in this mini-fridge are ridiculously high!
This suite was already crazy expensive, and now this!? Unbelievable...I an, yeah, I used my Dark Skill to manipulate the staff here so that we could book this suite for free, so I’m not actually spending any money, but still, these prices are unacceptable!
Tch, I know that I’m not supposed to use my powers too much in regular human society, but...there’s absolutely no way I’m paying for this overpriced crap! But I’m also hungry and bored, so...
I reached into the fridge and took out one of those tiny bottles of alcohol, a beer and a large chocolate bar. I then headed out to the balcony with a sigh, dragging the sliding door open and heading up a small flight of stairs...we’d booked the suite on the top floor of the hotel, and the balcony led up to a wide, private rooftop with a pool.
I sat down on a lounging chair by the pool and set down the stuff I’d grabbed from the fridge. I then cracked open the beer and gulped down about a third of it, before picking up the tiny bottle of whiskey I’d taken and twisted the cap, opening it and pouring it into the beer can.
I took a small gulp and set the can down, before ripping open the chocolate wrapper and taking a bite, letting out a sigh of pleasure as I bit into the rich, chocolatey goodness, my taste buds tingling.
I don’t like lty chocolate, mainly because it’s ssy, but also because I like the way cold chocolate breaks, with that slight thud-like crack. That said, if I was given a lted chocolate bar...I wouldn’t not eat it.
It was the day after I’d arrived in Namibia, the 21st of May, and it was around 11:30 AM in the early afternoon, and I’d sent my team out at around 10 AM.
I took another bite and put the chocolate down, and picked up the beer can again, taking another gulp, finishing off more than half of what was left. Tch, it’s almost over already?
Damn it, I should’ve brought along a couple more cans...now I have to go all the way back into the room if I want more. I let out an annoyed sigh as I took another bite of the chocolate, before taking out my phone and unlocking the screen.
Nothing from the team I sent to capture the Outlier...hm, maybe they aren’t getting a signal there? Still, it’s been a bit too long...did sothing go wrong? Maybe I shouldn’t have sent the entire team, I should have held at least a couple of them back...or maybe I’m just overthinking it.
As I began to finish off my beer, I was startled and nearly choked as a loud splash ca from the pool. I let out a cough as I set the beer down and sprang onto my feet in alarm, forming flas in my hand as I saw sothing moving in the pool...
"W-wait, Miss Arisu, i-its !" Ca a panicked cry, as one of the mbers of the team I sent out climbed out of the pool...
"Huh? Why the hell did you co falling from the sky!? And where are the oth-...woah, how’d you get so much shorter?" I inquired incredulously, as I noticed his legs.
"Uh...are you drunk?" He responded in surprise.
"Excuse ...!?" I snapped indignantly.
"N-nothing! Wait, there’s no ti-...th-the Outlier, she’s way too powerful, everyone else was killed! H-her Aura...i-it was so imnse that most of us could barely even move...," He stuttered, trembling with a look of fear on his face as he climbed out of the pool, half his right leg and his left foot missing.
His Aura was wildly unstable, he was panicking and hysterical, and clearly in a lot of pain.
"Calm down and properly explain what happened, or I’ll kill you," I commanded him, "And your Aura is starting to leak out, get it back under control imdiately."
"Y-yes, ma’am! Y-you see, what happened w-was...," He began, before explaining what had happened.
As he finished his explanation and then passed out from the pain, I mulled it over with a frown...is this Outlier’s Aura really as imnse as he claims? And fully under control, no less? Not to ntion that Dark Skill technique he described, I’ve never heard of anything like it.
Should I go and have a look? No, if he’s really not exaggerating, then it’s too risky. I should call for more reinforcents, ideally a couple of other Category 0s.
I took out my phone and called one of the higher ups, before explaining the situation and making my request for reinforcents. He responded that he would discuss it with so of the other higher ups and get back to .
"Tch, these old farts piss off," I muttered to myself as he hung up.
I sat down with a huff and finished off the rest of the chocolate bar, and then downing the last bit of the beer. I’m getting a really bad feeling about this whole thing...every single mber of the team of ten that I assembled were Category 1s, and nine, plus about a quarter, of them had been taken out.
And from the survivor’s explanation of what happened, they were taken out so quickly that they didn’t even get a chance to fight back.
Oh, looks like they’re calling back...ti to find out who my reinforcents are...
"Hello? It’s about ti, how many-?" I began.
"We’ve determined that we cannot risk this assignnt costing us any more casualties, the loss of nine Category 1s is too severe as it is. This is an order, go and capture this Outlier yourself. That is all."
And with that, he hung up.
"Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. !? I’ll kill you, you old shit!" I snapped furiously, as I slamd my phone onto the ground, breaking it apart...crap.
Grrr, I’m so pissed off! I’m supposed to do this by myself!? Damn it, and my phone...! I let out a yell of frustration before blasting several fireballs at the pool in anger, taking my frustrations out. How dare they, those old pieces of shit...!
Having blasted the pool for a good minute or so, I then stomped my foot on the ground and let out an irritated growl, before flying up in a foul mood. Damn it, fine! I’ll fucking do it-...no, you know what, on second thought, I’ll kill the Outlier!
It hasn’t even been three weeks since the ta-Orbs were scattered, there’s no way she’s fully mastered it already, let alone mastered any techniques!
I’ll find her and kill her, screw that old bastard, fuck your orders, don’t tell what to do! As I walked over to my unconscious subordinate and borrowed his phone, I then flew up and above the clouds in order to avoid being seen and shot forward in the direction of the nature reserve, getting more and more pissed off as I thought about that phone call.
I bet that so of the higher ups wouldn’t mind getting rid of ...after all, I don’t suck up to them like most of the others do. I an, why the hell should I go out of my way to be all polite and shit to a bunch of has-been old farts and hags, huh!?
I zipped through the sky at top speed as my temper continued to boil...before calming down a tiny bit and focusing up as the tall fence around the nature reserve ca into view. Let’s see, the lackey who initially felt the Aura and reported it back to Eden said to stick by the tourist trail for a while, and the Aura should be able to be felt to the left of the trail.
Tch, this place is massive though, it’s like a mini-savanna with dozens of species living in it...I just hope that the Outlier didn’t move to a different location after being attacked, that’ll just make it even more effort for . There isn’t enough cloud cover to properly stay hidden, but the entrance was shut, and besides a lone guard, there weren’t any other people in sight.
I flew past the fence and into the reserve, staying high up in the air as I scanned the area below carefully...okay, I’m far enough from the entrance now, if there does happen to be any other humans in here, I can kill them without worrying about witnesses.
I then swooped down lower so that I could get a better look at the ground below, spotting so random animals here and there, but no people. Ugh, how long is this trail, anyway? I an, yeah, I know that this reserve is basically the size of a small city, but still!
As I began to start feeling impatient and irritated, with nearly twenty minutes having passed since I crossed the boundary of the fence, I suddenly halted and froze as I felt sothing.
Is that...Aura pressure? It felt like it wasn’t very strong, but it didn’t take long to figure out that wasn’t the case...no, it’s not that the pressure is weak...i-it’s that it’s emanating from a significant distance away from here.
When sensing an unleashed Aura, you can generally tell how far it’s coming from, but...this can’t be real...I’ve never sensed an Aura that covered this much distance before! I could barely comprehend it...wh-what the hell, it must be about three or four tis larger than the Aura capacity of even a Category 0!
I thought these Outliers were supposed to possess about double or less than that amount, that’s what the previous reports had indicated, but...this is way beyond that! And there’s no doubt about it, this Aura is very much under control...but the Outlier likely hasn’t thought of suppressing it.
From what the survivor of the team I sent said, they killed a bunch of cheetahs that were hanging around where the Outlier was, which was what seed to have set her off. In all likelihood, this girl has been living out here for quite a while, that’s the only explanation that makes sense.
He also ntioned that her Aura pressure suddenly spiked...it’s rare, but not impossible for strong emotions to temporarily intensify a person’s Aura pressure, though it’s not sothing that can be done deliberately. In pretty much all recorded instances of such cases, the triggering emotions for that are either rage and sorrow.
Tch, those idiots, they might have been able to negotiate and trick her if they hadn’t killed those animals. They deserved to die for that...I firmly believe that killing or hurting animals is bad karma, except for bugs and rodents, and other creepy creatures, of course.
I let out a hesitant sigh before I began flying in the direction from where the Aura was coming from...as much as I hate to admit it, I’d be an idiot to deny the fact that there’s no way I can take this on in a direct confrontation.
Instead, I’ll hide out and wait for an opportunity...and then kill her. This isn’t about spiting the higher ups anymore, soone with this much Aura can’t be allowed to live, it’s far too dangerous.
I pulled out the phone that I swiped off of the survivor of my team, since mine broke. Looks like it’s waterproof, so him falling in the pool didn’t ss it up. What the-...no screen lock? What an idiot. I looked through his apps as I unlocked the phone, finding a distance asuring app.
It’s probably used for fitness, to keep track of how far you’ve run or whatever...I’ll use it to see exactly how far the radius of this Aura extends, I’ll be able to estimate her Aura capacity that way. It might not help much, but at least it’ll give a better idea of what I’m up against...
...
Th-this can’t be right...I’ve now covered fifteen kiloters since I sensed her Aura already, and it feels like I’m finally closing in, but...this is unreal. Less than a month ago, the widest recorded unleashed Aura range was six kiloters...that ans this Outlier’s Aura is more than two and a half tis greater than the previous highest in history!
Well, the other Outliers likely have pretty high capacities too, but from what I’ve heard, they weren’t nearly this massive. I quietly swooped down amongst the trees as a waterfall ca into view, a small cave entrance next to it...and a blood-soaked stretch of grass littered with corpses. I then spotted the Outlier, bathing herself in the stream below the waterfall.
As I hid behind a bush, I noticed that a big part of the ground had been dug up and re-buried. I don’t see any cheetah corpses...they must have been buried.
D-damn it, this Aura is stifling beyond belief...I should be able to move sowhat freely if I unleash my own Aura to push back against it and give myself so breathing space but...if I do that, she’ll know I’m here.
I’m kinda far, I can’t really see clearly from here...I quietly glanced down and took my new phone out of my pocket, opening up the cara app and holding the phone up, starting to zoom it towards the waterfall-...huh?
Where did she go? There was no sign of the Outlier anywh-...I then froze in terror, my blood running cold as I felt death creeping up behind , a bead of sweat running the side of my face and dripping down off of my chin onto the ground as I slowly shifted my gaze back, holding my breath without even realizing it...
"Are...you...with those...other people that...ca here...earlier?" Ca an icy voice, with a tone of calm fury...even though she was speaking slowly and awkwardly, there was no mistaking the rage and malice that her voice was dripping with, sending a bone-chilling wave of terror down my spine...
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