1.39 – Skinwalker

Okay, maybe he didn’t actually disappear after all.

He couldn’t use a completely new ability twice in the same day, especially when he locked in the three that he had selected already.

What he had done was very similar to what he’s done to Alicia. He cast a small illusion around himself, one that showed only in front of him; the chains clinking on the wall behind him and him not being there.

If the man decided to go forward and touch the place where Nathan was supposed to be, or if he tried to grip the chains, then Nathan would be done for. It was a hail mary, but he had nothing else to do, no other options.

Thankfully, the man jerked forward, jumped up, and then, after so many curses that Nathan felt his vocabulary expand, ran out of the room, shouting for backup. “He disappeared! The boy teleported somehow! Search the area!” He shouted as he ran out of the door, heavy footsteps of a dozen men following moments later. Nathan breathed out a sigh of relief. Okay, he got them away; he had a few moments now.

He looked up, seeing his arms still in those chains. They were tight, but now he had something to moisturize them with—the blood gushing out of where his pinky used to be. Moments ago, he angled it in a way that it flowed over both his hands, trickling down his sleeves and on his head. It smelled foul, and he had to fight with himself to not gag.

The pain was a constant, but he got used to it now.

He coated his hands completely, and then he yanked. It fucking hurt; his skin shredded as he pulled on them, but they moved downwards nevertheless. He yanked again, biting his lip so he wouldn’t scream.

Goddamn pain. If only that was the goal of this moneymaker system. Surely he received enough since transmigrating here to complete any quest.

Every time Nathan saw a show where a character had to do something similar to what he was doing, he screamed inside his head for them to just do it, to be done with it. But now that he was living through it, he understood the hesitation. There was a mental block telling him not to hurt himself, to stop the pain immediately.

He did, almost, for a moment.

But he had to get away. Despite that he had no idea where he was, despite the fact that this world was so fucked up and he felt himself understanding less of it with each passing day, he would not give up.

Alicia depended on him, and he needed her as well.

He just started that app, and Yukiko was able to help him.

His step-mom was possibly out there somewhere.

He still hadn’t contacted her. So much to look forward to.

He yanked, feeling his thumbs dislocate, and now he grunted out of the pain. Finally, he was free. He looked at the door, which was still open ajar, but nobody came.

He took deep breaths in, gulping the air down like salvation, wiping his tears, and then he stood up, breaking out of the illusion. His thumbs cracked as he brought them back to their rightful place.

“Fuck this shit. Why does it always have to be me?” He muttered and then he walked towards where he thought outside was. The white paper walls obstructed his vision, and he plunged one of his good fingers in and made a small hole. He leaned down and looked at the outside, and then he felt his heart drop.

He wasn’t in Tokyo anymore. The metropolis of a city was nowhere to be seen in what he just saw outside. He was somewhere in a forest, of all places. It looked like one of those onsen places he saw several times in anime, usually accompanied with a sauna fanservice scene or whatever. If only he got that kind of reincarnation.

Running into the forest would be a fine option if there weren’t a dozen people in oni masks surrounding the place, walking into the forest and screaming orders at one another.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

That wasn’t an option then. The moment he ran outside, he would be spotted, and getting inside the forest was easier said than done. Also, he still had no clue about where he was.

What then? Simply staying here was not an option. Eventually, they would figure out that he didn’t teleport. He had to find a different hiding place, at least, and wait it out until somebody came to save him. Hopefully Koharu wasn’t here.

His shock was receding with each passing moment, and he remembered more of the woman. She was in the 3-B class for a strange reason. There was some conflict he never figured out, but it wasn’t necessary for her true ending.

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Her powers were certainly not something to be ignored, and with her being in the Red Lily, she would probably be less careful in using them against her opponents. The fact that he survived was luck in itself.

The illusion behind him timed out, but the only change visible was that there was blood on the chains now. He also forgot to make the illusion of his pinky on the ground. But the real one was there now, and he quickly scoffed, stepped back toward the chains and plucked it off from the ground.

Then he went towards the door and slightly opened it, peering outside.

He was in a giant hallway. Footsteps could be heard from both directions, but there were less of them with each few seconds, people rushing outside trying to find where he supposedly was.