From the restroom, where Nero was standing, he could not see the hallway. Nevertheless he felt the sudden shift in the energy in the room, and time seemed to flow down as he saw the expression on his roommates change. The casual nonchalance changed into surprise and horror, which was immediately followed by great vigilance.
Before Nero could inquire about the situation, the smell hit him like a sledgehammer. The raw, metallic tang of blood could be both nauseating and debilitating, but none of them were inexperienced.
Anthony and Felipe raised their weapons and eyed Nero once more, seriously assessing him for any dangers.
"We need to alert the guards without attracting too much attention," Anthony had only begun to say when the ear piercing, blaring fire alarm turned on. There were alarms in every room, and larger sirens in every hallway to ensure that the noise could not be ignored.
"Close the door and come back in," Nero yelled. He did not know what they had seen outside in the hall, but it was clear that the guards were alerted to the situation here, or at least would be as soon as they investigated the alarm.
More importantly, they needed to not attract any attention. Countless scenarios ran through Nero's head, and while this was not the time to indulge in conspiracies, he was certain that this had something to do with the ruins, and maybe even the impending recruitment test.
But the situation was deteriorating quickly. The door to his room burst open and Gabriel came limping out, the right half of his body slack as if he had no control over it.
Fear and panic were evident on his face as he searched the room and finally locked eyes with Nero.
At the same time, a viscous shriek travelled through the hallway and the three seniors locked eyes with something.
"That's not a curse," Anthony yelled as he ran outside. The rest of what he was saying was drowned out by the siren.
The situation was well screwed, so Nero immediately entered a state similar to the one he had been in the temple. A flame was lit in his heart, absorbing all his unnecessary emotions and bringing him to a state of perfect clarity.
Gabriel, while in an unusual state, was still lucid and in control of himself so Nero approached while raising his guard. The three other roommates must have come to the same conclusion since they decided to ignore him, and had begun fighting something in the corridor. Soundings of chaotic fighting already filled the building, and Nero could hear the sounds of countless children panicking.
He did not dismiss the sounds or push them out. It was important to know what was happening around him, even if vaguely.
He arrived near Gabriel just in time to catch him as he fell over.
"I cansh conshtrol mai abilishty…" the tried to communicate.
He was unable to control his ability, which was extremely concerning. Loss of control over aether was a symptom of Parasitic curses, as he guessed, but Anthony seemed fairly confident that this wasn't that.
The light in the building suddenly shut down, but emergency lights came on a moment later. The sirens were also subdued since they were running on emergency power. The change had taken a fraction of a second, but the consequences of it were dire. Something threw Felipe across the hall, hitting his back in the open door of their apartment.
Nero turned just in time to see a student hurl himself on him, his hands held forward like claws.
Without wasting a moment, Nero used the card Air push and launched an air bullet at the student, pushing him away. Under the flashing lights he noticed what was strange about the attacking student. His body was covered in woody vines!
"Crap!" he said as he finally realised what Anthony had been unable to communicate, and used the knife in his hand to cut open the leg of Gabriel's pyjama. From the base of Gabriel's foot, green and brown shoots were growing along his leg, many of them digging into his flesh in various parts.
This was a problem he had no solution for! There were no 0 star cards that could deal with the scale of Gabriel's parasitism, or whatever the hell was happening to him. Nero had to take drastic measures.
It had only been a dozen or so seconds since the situation devolved so suddenly, and if there were more students infected the way Gabriel was, Nero may have to fight. Hopefully, within a few minutes at most the guards would show up, but a few minutes was the difference between life and death in such situations.
"This is going to hurt," Nero said, as he summoned his Cryoflame on his right hand. He had to be drastic and yet precise at the same time.
Taking a big risk, he ran his fingers along the length of the vines, hoping that they couldn't survive his flame. It worked much better than he expected, as not only was he unharmed by the insidious plant, but he began freezing it!
Before Nero could continue his emergency treatment, he heard the sound of running. Some figures, too fast to discern the identity of, ran across the apartment door and were being chased. A few of the chasing creatures ran past as well, but one which had fallen behind stumbled, and then suddenly looked towards Nero.
Even under the dim, emergency lights, Nero could see the student clearly. A number of green vines had emerged from his ear and wrapped around his face, entering his nose. His neck had bulged in size in an odd shape, most likely due to a number of vines travelling through it. His right arm was completely covered in the woody vines, almost turning into a weapon of his own.
But it was not his disfigured state that was the most horrifying. It was his eyes, the sheer panic in them. Through his eyes Nero could see traces of the students mind, aware and trapped within his own body as it was used by some abomination. He was very much still alive.
Nero did not wait for the creature to attack first. Despite the soreness of his body, and the fatigue that had carried over from yesterday, he struck with speed and swiftness that left his figure a blur, with even the student not being able to respond properly.
He raised his right hand, as if to block him, but Nero struck the feet first. There was no mercy or hesitation in his movements as he cut through the vines, and probably the students' muscles as well. The student, having lost his balance, fell forward. Nero used that opportunity to climb behind him, and cut the vines in his arms as well, just for good measure.
To be safe, since he didn't know how sturdy the creatures' defences were, he slammed the students head into the ground, hoping to knock him unconscious. Fortunately that worked.
Perhaps others would have been more lighthanded in their attacks, considering that this was the body of their own school mates. But by not cutting his neck off and eliminating the threat completely, Nero was already being soft hearted.
Without the need to look, Nero used his free hand to sift through his cards in his case as he quickly retreated back into the apartment. He would be unable to identify most cards based on touch alone, but there were a few cards in his collection that were higher quality than the rest, and so could easily be identified by the subtle differences in how they felt on the tip of his finger.
When he found the card he was searching for, without even double checking for confirmation, he pulled it out and used it.
A few seconds later, darkness began to fill the room, hiding everything from view as he pulled Gabriel back into their room. Hopefully that would be enough, either until the guards came, or until Nero was done.
Continuing right where he left off, he began tracing the vines with his flaming finger, freezing them stiff. There was a good chance that this might cause Gabriel frostbite as well, but they couldn't really be picky right now.
Although the plants began to freeze almost immediately, it took much longer for them to actually freeze to the point where Nero could snap them off. For whatever reason, with Gabriel, the plant had not been able to move past the leg, which made his job easier. Or, if it did move past it, it did so internally.
Throughout this process Gabriel was grunting and whimpering as the vines squirmed, trying to resist his flame, no doubt causing him a lot of pain. But Nero's hand remained steady throughout the process, his eyes cold and calculating.
It felt like eternity, but in truth, Nero was able to break off most of the vine in under a couple of minutes, until it stopped moving completely. Although he had not removed all of it, since he did not want to pull it out of Gabriel's body, he was at least certain that it was dead.
With the immediate concern for his roommate resolved, Nero focused on the next thing. It had been a couple of minutes, and help had not arrived. Was the situation more serious than he realised?