[color=00aeef][h2]Scarlet Leone[/h2][/color]
[color=00aeef]"I feel like I've been here before."[/color]
[hr]
Scarlet's week had been pretty sub-par, honestly. To start off, on Monday she had been late for school and ended up deciding to skip her first class entirely because of it, spending the time sneaking around the school to figure out where things were, making a mental map of all the water fountains and general areas. Other than that, it was a normal day for a seemingly normal student, albeit one who never talked to anyone and sat in an obscure hallway to eat her lunch. 

Wednesday she forgot her lunch and had to actually eat the garbage the school called a lunch. Not horrifying, but not very good either. She ate the little she already knew she'd like from what she was given and threw the rest away, spending the rest of the time exploring the school some more instead of sitting alone in the cafeteria. 

And now on Friday it seemed that someone had reached into her mind and brought out her worst fears. She stood in shock in the cafeteria as an arthropod-like creature crawled along the window. After the wall broke and the crowd began swarming around, she found herself stuck between the creatures and the horde of teenagers behind her. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath, calming herself as much as she could. She opened them to see the lunch lady get impaled by one of the monsters. Not the worst thing she'd ever seen, but it was still a different beast to see it happen in person rather than on a video, and she nearly passed out despite her best efforts. 

As she faded in and out of consciousness, the world around Scarlet seemed to drip into nothingness around her to be replaced with a small padded room, about 15 cubic feet in size. The smell of blood permeated the area and as she looked around, she found that the ceiling was made of glass, showing stars above it. There was a small knife on the ground in front of her. 

[color=9e0039]Mortal. I have a offer for you. [/color] A cold, almost metallic voice echoed through Scarlet's mind.

[color=00aeef]"Mortal? Great, so not only do monsters exist, but immortals too? What is this, a manga? Where am I, anyway?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]You are in your mind, though an area that is in my control.[/color]

[color=00aeef]"And... who are you?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]I am known as Kokou.[/color] 

[color=00aeef]"And your offer is...?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]Form a pact with me, and I will grant you my power so that you may survive.[/color]

[color=00aeef]"A pact?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]In return for my power, you will give me your spiritual energy.[/color]

[color=00aeef]"I have that?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]Yes. [/color]

[color=00aeef]"Interesting. So you'd be able to slaughter those damn bugs?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]With my power, it should be a simple matter for you.[/color] 

[color=00aeef]"Heh. Alright, where do I sign?"[/color]

[color=9e0039]Simply swallow the knife before you and our contract will be complete.[/color]

[color=00aeef]"... That's weird. You're weird."[/color]

[color=9e0039]I grow tired of using your human language. Hurry and form the contract, or don't and die to those creatures.[/color]

[color=00aeef]"Tch. Alright. Guess maybe dying is better than definitely dying."[/color]

With that, she reached down to grab the knife, about six inches long in total, lifted her head straight up and dropped the blade into her mouth. As it cut its way through her tongue and mouth, the pain and blood choked her, forcing her awake as the room faded around her like fog. As the pain faded the world returned to the cafeteria she was in.

[color=00aeef]"Shit that hurt."[/color] She glared across at one of the creatures that had the lunch lady impaled on its tail. [color=00aeef]"Okay, how do we do this?"[/color] 

Instead of a response, Kokou forced her instincts to cry out, allowing her to know how to channel it. She followed them and red markings formed over her body and a scythe formed in her hand. "Whoa! That's awesome!" Scarlet said as she spun the scythe around between her hands. She jumped from foot to foot and noticed that she was moving faster than she intended to. After a few seconds of mental adjustment, she charged the nearest monster, the one that killed the lunch lady. With its tail occupied, it was forced to shoot its tongue at Scarlet, who was able to use her increased speed to knock it out of the way with the side of her scythe. Unfortunately, when she got to the creature she was unable to slow down correctly, her reaction time being off-sync with her speed, and she jumped well over the creature, smashing into a wall behind it. 

[color=00aeef]"Owww..."[/color] she said as she stood up and turned around in time to see the creature about to fire its tongue at her again.

[color=9e0039]Watch out. Use your shield.[/color]

[color=00aeef]"Shield?"[/color]

Once again, Kokou showed Scarlet how to use its power through her instincts, forming a red dome of small hexagons in front of her that blocked the creature's second attempt to impale her with its tongue. [color=00aeef]"Whoa, shit! That was close!"[/color] Scarlet said when the shield faded after about a second. This time she wasn't going to make the same mistake. She rushed the creature at a slower speed, this time pausing before she got to where she wanted to get to in order to actually stop there, and then jumped onto the creature's back.

[color=00aeef]"Heh, this is awesome!"[/color] she said as she lowered her scythe under the creature and pulled it upwards, slicing its head off. Scarlet looked around the room. There seemed to be four other monsters in the area as well, but many of the students had dispersed, leaving her an exit. As much as she wanted to kill the bug things, she knew better than to risk taking on all four at once. She allowed herself to relax, the red markings on her body disappearing before she slowly backed out of the cafeteria, looking behind her every few steps to make sure not to run into another monstrosity.