Leuko - Blind to the Sunlight

Chapter 8: Coward only scream

I can't breathe...I need to breathe!

I try to swim up from the waves of blood, but no matter what I try to do, I only sink deeper inside the crimson.

"Why?"

I heard a voice close to my ear before suddenly sinking even faster.

I tried to swim, but a skeletal hand grabbed my arm. I turned my head only to come face to face with a red skeleton.

Before anything, another hand grabbed my throat and pierced it, and another one took hold of my leg and tore it into shreds, my arm was removed from my body.

They destroyed everything, the only I had left were my eyes...eyes that allowed me to see that this infinite sea had a bottom...

A bottom filled with skeletons that were all waiting for me, with their arm raised high waiting for the gift from hell.

I couldn't think anything of it, I could only observe as they slowly grabbed both of my eyes and slowly caressed them...

I don't know what happened after, as I found myself at the surface...waiting to sink again into its depths.

***

Nurse Joy was currently sitting on her knee applying some medicine by needle into Sonia as Leon watched her with worry.

"Will she be fine?"

"Of course, she will be fine, she's only sleeping out of exhaustion from the stress her body had, she would probably wake up very soon." Joy explained with a smile as put away her equipment and raised.

"And what about you, do you need any help?"

"What? Oh no...I'm fine..."

"Are you sure? You must been tired from all this."

"As a future champion, I can never get tired!"

"Who said that?"

"Eh...well myself...a master needs to be always ready...shouldn't he?"

"A true master knows how to take care of himself as much as he takes care of others."

Leon looked at her in shock before lowering his head. "I'm sorry..."

"Please don't be sad, you should be happy instead! You just succeeded in a hard exam that got even harder because of someone!"

She glared at Volo but he completely ignored her, which made her sigh.

"Euh..."

"Don't worry, I child like you shouldn't have to worry about that." She reassured him by petting his head.

"Ah!"

"Oh sorry, do you not like that?"

Joy removed her hand with an apologetic face.

"No... it's just I'm not used to receiving one, I'm usually giving them..."

"Every master has the right the receive headpat, don't worry about it."

Leon looked bashful as Joy gave him another headpat before she stood up. "Tell me if she wakes up alright, I want to make sure she's fine."

"Right! I will...also...would you know how my friend is doing...he said he would come here first, but I still don't see him..."

"Oh, right you can't see them."

Joy took up her phone and contacted a number. "Olympia, could you give me some of these orbs please?"

There was no response on the phone, but suddenly, a crystal orb fell from the sky. Nurse Joy easily caught it with her hand before handing it over to Leon who looked at the interaction with wonder.

"Thanks, Olympia." Joy hung up from the phone.

Suddenly, the orb lighted up and showed multiple scenes from each candidate who could still qualify.

"They're only 318 candidates left? But we started with 926," Murmured Joy as she counted each screen.

"Ah! Raihan is there! Oh! He seems to be fighting a strong opponent!"

Leon looked at the scene with excitation, and even Harmonias looked at the screen with some degree of interest.

Joy nodded before slowly leaving them behind and approached Volo instead.

She took a pokeball from under her dress and chose Chemiko, a pokemon that looked like a round yellow ball with tiny feet and arms, it was extremely small, barely fitting in her palm, yet it still stood tall by levitating in the air.

The moment the pokemon got out of its pokeball, the sound of a bell softly rang from the ball that was situated inside its mouth.

The pokemon looked at Joy, and Joy simply looked at her with a smile. This was the signal for Chemiko to simply walk around and cause a lot of noise.

She usually used this tactic to hide the scream of the pain of her patient to not make the next one panic.

But this time, she really hoped her next patient would scream in pain.

"Oh, miss Joy, Good, I was wondering if it would be possible to reduce the dosage of sedative you just gave him, you see, his aura is now less pronounc...

*bam*

Joy didn't care about what he wanted to say and punched him right in the face which made him stumble.

"Now, that was unnece...

*Bam*

She punched him again.

"...how imma..."

*Bam*

"...alright."

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

Joy punched Volo multiple times right in the face, but after the first hit, Volo no longer showed any expression and simply let it happen. And to her great regret, each of the injuries she gave him was completely healed in an instant.

But she still kept hitting him, even when her own fist started to bleed. However, Volo caught her fist and this moment.

"Are you done?" He asked in a bored tone.

"Are you dead?"

"Sadly not."

"Then no, I'm not done!"

She swung her other fist, but he caught this one too.

"We both know this is useless, so what about you stop and explain why you did that?"

"You kidnapped Luciel!"

"Well no, he was no one possession, so I didn't technically kidnap him."

"Don't you dare play with words! As his nurse, he is my responsibility!"

Volo frowned at her comment and let go of her hand. "I did let you heal him, didn't I?"

"After making him suffer!"

"Well yes, but that's a small price to pay, he's probably used to it anyway."

"I had to inject the sedative directly into his brain to calm him before he could hurt himself more! Do you have any idea how dire the situation needs to be for me to make this decision!"

"The situation was never dire, and you know it very well."

Joy stepped back, before biting her own lips. "...he was suffering..."

"He wouldn't have died...well, figuratively."

"Why do you even need him to suffer anyway?"

"Very simple, I use him to dispose of the bad weed. His aura has more effect than just making other people scared, it also brings the worst out of everyone, it is not a coincidence that every youngster attacked each other right at the start, and that their pokemon finally regained their free will."

"To what purpose!? Was it really worth it to make Luciel suffer just for that!?"

"Evidently, you saw how they acted, they would only bring ruin to this academy if I let them succeed. And I thought of everything too! If some of them are able to resist his influence, they would also have to resist his aura of fear, which is way more powerful than his evil aura. So my plan will let us kill two Pidgey with one stone, we dispose of all the evil and the coward!"

Joy looked in silence at Volo, unable to replicate. She slowly turned her eye to Luciel who was currently sleeping on a towel in the 99 stair. His whole body was covered in a bandana and was already getting red from all the blood he was losing.

Volo simply nodded before looking down at the stairs.

"It's good that you understand, this small sacrifice will allow us for a better future, people have sacrificed way worse for it after all."

"You're a horrible person."

"Of course I am. Now, if you really want to heal others, then you can stay to heal the participant who was able to raise here."

"...I will make sure you can't do anything to him next time."

Volo chuckles at her comment. "Please, except if the great slaver himself comes, nothing can keep me away from what I want!"

He smirked at Joy, but his smile froze right after. "You can't be se...

*Splash*

Volo exploded right before Joy's eye, but after she blinked once, he was already regenerating to his top form, but this time he looked horrified at the sky.

"What?" Joy exclaimed in surprise, despite it not being the first time she saw him die, it was the first time she saw him show so much fear,

Volo didn't listen to her and looked right at the sky, before gritting his teeth and looking away. "So now there is no problem looking at me!"

"What happened?"

"None of your concern!"

"On the contrary, you suddenly vaporized and you think I'm not scared that the other candidate won't suffer the same fate?"

"...tch, he won't hurt them..."

"He?"

"The great slaver."

"I have no idea who that is."

Volo looked at Joy with a disappointed gaze. "It's...

"MIMIKYU!!!"

A dark claw suddenly posed itself right in front of Volo as Pandora jumped directly at him.

"Oh come on!" Volo said in frustration at the sight of an angry Pandora.

Another claw immediately grabbed him and he was instantly crushed then put inside Pandora's mouth, but Volo was able to throw away his pokeball before entering his jaw.

Right after, Pandora made a crushing noise, making sure to take his time to make him suffer the most he could.

Joy looked at the scene in confusion. "Hello Pandaro, I know you're angry at him, but I would spit him out before you get hurt.

Pandora looked at Joy in defiance, but suddenly, a flash of light appeared inside his body that completely burned him.

Out of pain, he had no other choice than to spit Volo on the ground...well more mangled body part that seemed to have lost all vitality. But they regained it in a second as Volo rapidly stood up as if nothing had happened, only throwing a cold look at Pandora.

Yet this simple gaze made Pandora tremble in fear.

But before he could say anything, Joy punched him once more in the face, breaking the fear Pandora felt."

Volo stumbled but still said nothing.

"Don't act like a victim, you deserve each single one of these."

Volo's eyes shifted to Luciel's bloody body who didn't even seem to be able to breathe.

"Kyu..." Pandora also noticed his gaze and immediately moved into Luciel's arm and snuggled him.

After some instant, Luciel started to breathe once again.

Volo's gaze became unfocused as he thought he felt something, but he abandoned this notion before looking at Joy. "Do you think we can keep him in his panic state for only 23 minutes? There is still some coward we could eli...

A dark tendril pierced his leg before he could finish his sentence.

"...ah..." Volo only pushed a sigh before he was raised upside down in the air.

***

"You think I'm going to let you advance like this?! Gible! Use dragon rage!" Cynthia ordered as she stepped back once more to stand higher than her adversary.

Her pokemon then took a deep breath before expulsing a blue gas that moved toward his opponent, a Powmo.

"Use quick attack!" But her trainer didn't let him get hurt and the Powmo started to flash to the side, dodging the gas, but it didn't stop there as it started to run toward the Gible that was still busy with his attack.

Noticing the problem her pokemon was facing, she immediately gave a new order. "Use Sand tomb around you!"

Her pokemon obeyed the order and immediately sand started to flow through his scale and started to spin around him, forcing the Powmo to deviate from its course.

A wise decision as the dragon rage from earlier combined with the sand tornado to make it grow beyond proportion.

"Powmo! Use quick attack again and run around the attack in it opposite direction!"

The trainer asked which made the pokemon have a white flash around before quickly running in a circle around the attack, which made the tornado slowly start to close around the Gible.

"Gible! Use dig!"

The pokemon listened and dug a hole right below him, making the tornado miss him.

"Powmo! Diffuse your electricity in the ground to detect him!"

The pokemon stopped on the ground and some spark was put in the ground, but he immediately detected a big organism that was right below its feet.

He tried to jump away but before he could, Gible left from the ground and grabbed the Powmo leg and threw him on the ground before jumping right onto his abdomen!

"Pow!"

"Gible! Use Dragon rage!" Cynthia exclaimed happy from her victory!

"Use arm thrust on his Jaw!" She screamed in fear as her Powmo was able to punch the jaw of the Gible for a short instant. But this instant was all it needed to get away from the attack that came right after, pulverizing the ground from its impact.

The Powmo jumped back to its feet before crumbling. It used its last force just to get out.

Her trainer took his pokeball and put him back in.

Cynthia looked at the decision with confusion. "What? Didn't you want to fight?"

"Of course! I want to fight you again! And again! This was a marvelous experience!"

"Then why did you bring back your pokemon?/

"Or else I would get eliminated...of course, as you won this fight you have the right to order me to get out of the course..."

'Oh right! We are in an exam! I forgot about it!'

"Well, I don't mind..."

"Super! Then let's make another battle!"

"What!? Isn't your pokemon tired?!"

"A race evidently! The first one to arrive on top!"

The girl didn't even give Cynthia a signal and immediately started to run past her.

"Ah! I refuse to lose like that!"

She put back her Gible inside her pokeball and ran just behind her.

"What your name by the way!" Cynthia asked while running.

"It's Neoma!"

"I'm Cynthia Goldwin!"

There was no more conversation after this, both of them were trying their best to run faster than the other. They didn't even realize that no wild pokemon were attacking them.

They also didn't realize that a red aura slowly started to spread near them until they started to climb higher and higher.

'Wait? This feeling...it Luciel! Is he already on top!? I can't let my friend deviance me!'

She started to run faster, getting ahead of Neoma at the race.

Even when they started to feel a weird impression of fear inside them, they didn't stop, they were too determined to stop.

Or they forgot about it.

But soon, the aura started to become less dense despite them climbing higher, as if its intensity dissipated, making their climb even easier, and wild pokemon returning to the top.

'95 stair...96 stair...97 stair...98...99...and 100!'

Cynthia finally arrived at the last step and immediately turned back toward Neoma.

"I've won!"

But instead of feeling sad or angry about her defeat, Neoma only smiled. "Yes, good job!"

This made Cynthia flustered. "Eh...ah...thanks you..."

"You really are the best Cynthia! You managed to beat me two times in a row! From where I came from, no one wanted to battle me, but you not only accepted to battle me, you also won! This is perfect!"

"Wouldn't...wouldn't you prefer to have won?"

"On the contrary, now that I lost, I have a reason to train even harder to beat you next time!"

"Ah! Good luck with that! As I'm about to be undefeatable!"

"What!?" Leon deviated his head toward Cynthia toward the comment and stood up to meet her.

Sonia, who woke up earlier, only sighed in disappointment as she saw her troublemaker go to create even more problems.

"Did you say you wanted to become the strongest!? Well sadly, you will have to compete with me on that!"

"...mmh, you were only able to get ahead of me because I was ambushed! Next time I will show you I'm the best!"

"You got ambushed? I'm sorry about that, next time I will make sure we compete in more hospitable conditions."

'Eh? What does he mean? He's...what?!' Cynthia stood frozen in front of him.

Leon even started to get concerned for her.

"Are you alright? If you want I can bring you to the nurse here." He tried to point behind him, but suddenly Neoma grabbed his hand with shining eyes.

"You're strong! Let's become rivals!"

Leon was surprised but responded to her with enthusiasm. "As much as I would love to, this position is already taken!"

"Oh." She was disappointed, so she gazed at Cynthia instead.

"Do you want to be my rival?"

Cynthia at her absent-minded. "Oh, everyone that has enough force to make me fight seriously is my rival!"

"I want my rival to only be mine..."

"Well, you can try to ask my friend!" Cynthia responded before slowly realizing something. "Ah! Right, where's Luciel?! Did he beat me in the race? He looks extremely cute, the type you want to pet until exhaustion!"

"Your brother? I think he's that way." He pointed behind him and Cynthia looked with excitement, only for it to be destroyed by seeing Volo getting hanged by the feet in the air with a dark tendril. Even in this situation, he only showed to be annoyed.

'...I don't know he did but he probably deserves it.'

"No, that's my uncle, my friend as...

"Oh hello, sorry I was a little busy with a call." Nurse Joy walked up to them with a professional smile. "My name is Nurse Joy, and I am here to celebrate your success! Congratulations!"

Cynthia only nodded at the compliment, while Neoma only looked at Joy with a predatory gaze.

"You're strong, let's become rival!"

Nurse Joy only smiled at her declaration before petting her head. "I'm sorry, but despite being strong, I do not enjoy fighting but don't worry, I'm sure you will be able to find a rival up to your level here."

Cynthia suddenly waved her hand at Nurse Joy. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but would you know where my friend Luciel is?"

She instantly lost her smile at this question.

Cynthia easily caught that. "What, did something happen to him? No, that's impossible, he's too strong for that!"

Joy chose to not respond to this and simply pointed to a chair where Luciel rested, his breath calmer. Pandora was sitting right on his belly and was also resting.

Despite staying calm, his aura still leaked out of him, only at a smaller level.

However, despite being in a controlled situation, his body betrayed what really happened as he was covered in a bandage, and the white kimono that he was so proud of was covered in red.

"Luciel...what...happened to him? Did a legendary pokemon attack him?"

"Only a legendary bas...basic man with low morals."

"Volo?"

"Yes."

'That bastard! He knew he was my friend and still did that?!'

"Will he be fine!? No, is there anything I can do to...

"You don't have to worry about him, it's my responsibility to make sure he's well taken of, you should instead celebrate after overcoming the challenge."

Cynthia threw a hesitant look at Luciel, before approaching. "Can...can I just sit beside him?"

Nurse Joy thought for a moment before smiling back at her. "If you want to help him, I'm sure you just sitting with him would make him happy."

Cynthia nodded and sat just beside Luciel's bench.

Pandora raised his eye to look who it was, but after noticing it was Cynthia, he got back to sleep.

She looked at the scene silently for some moment, before making her Gible also leave her pokeball.

He looked around to search for any conflict, but as he noticed no opponent, except maybe the man with green hair, he looked at Cynthia in confusion.

"No...no fighting this time, I only want to talk to you a little."

From the side of her eye, she could see that Neoma already asked Nurse Joy to heal her pokemon to fight Leon

"Gible!?"

"...sorry, I don't understand what you're saying...it's just I wanted to talk to you, my first friend about my other friend."

"Gibi!"

"I just wonder if it's because of me he got hurt, I told him that maybe he could get what he wanted by coming here...and now he's covered in injury. Is it my fault?"

"Ble!"

"I don't understand...but it's just that...despite only meeting him one day ago, I already considered him as a friend...but I'm starting to wonder if he did the same..."

This time Gible didn't try to speak and only listened to her.

"I don't know what I'm saying...but...It just...I remember that I already had a friend...you. So...as a friend...I shouldn't just call you Gible anymore...think of this as a prize!"

"Gible!"

"Let's see, you like to break the face of your opponent, yet you're also gluttonous... so what about...Nibble!"

"Gi?"

"Do you like this name Nibble?"

"Ble! Gible!"

"I think this time I understand that you like it!"

She started to pet Nibble as he moved toward her hand to enjoy it more.

***

The skeleton once again took hold of my throat and was prepared to tear it down.

I wanted to close my eyes at least, but another skeleton forced them open.

It seems...I have no choice but to suffer.

Without realizing it, the blood surrounding me started to become paler, and the skeleton started to regain its white bone. And the giant wave started to become smaller

But right before my neck was going to get thorn away, a dark tendril shot toward the skull of my torturer.

His skull immediately broke into dust, and the surrounding skeleton suffered the same fate.

Before I could sink, the tendril grabbed me and pulled me to the surface.

"Pandora!"

I immediately hugged the tendril as it slowly posed me on the wave.

This time I didn't sink into it but gently floated on the blood.

Some skeletons try to take me down again, but Pandora immediately pulverized them.

Now that I was no longer in pain, I allowed myself to relax, however, the sky started to rain crimson again...

How bothersome.

Mmh...the wave also started to take amplitude, well as long as I remain unaffected and I have Pandora by my side, it should be fine.

I do wonder what happens tough...well, I will ask Pandora later...oh! I could ask Cynthia too, she's my friend, right? Friends talk with each other! So I should talk to her!

Yes, let's add it as a rule!

Rule 8, Talking to your friend is a friend thing to do!

Perfect! Now I'm sure I will never forget it!

I hope she won't hate my presence...well she seems that she likes to talk to others, so she can use me as a way to talk.

Oh, right, she might find a better company than me...well, I will try to enjoy it, it will help me live better!

"You h...

A skeleton tried to accuse me, but this time he wasn't even allowed to say more as he got vaporized in one single hit by Pandora.

Ah...he's angry...did his outfit get damaged!? Oh no, that would be horrible! When I wake up I'm going to fix it.

I hope I have enough material for it.

Wait a minute! Wasn't it the exam? Oh no! I missed it...well, I wouldn't be able to pass it anyway, and I'm sure Cynthia can find better company there. I just hope it won't hurt her that I couldn't keep my promises...

No...she would probably be happy instead...she probably doesn't want to see me ever again...

***

Did I really deserve that?

I thought to myself as I was suspended upside down from the tendril of the Forgotten Sin.

Alright, maybe I did go a little too far, maybe I should have stopped when I saw him injure himself to the point of bleeding...or maybe when he screamed...

But sure he was used to it, knowing his father, he probably suffered worst each day. And anyway, what did she really lose from that? He can be healed easily, and I even offered him a free place in the academy. Even I have to admit it is a pretty nice construction.

While it is true that he could have entered by himself, he should be happy to help, I'm sure it would even earn him some brownie points with the board.

They should thank me instead! Yet here am I, hanging in the air.

Well, whatever, it's not like I care.

The only ones I care about are Cynthia, The Bringer of Eclipse, The King Without a Crown, and maybe the Forgotten Sin...I suppose this Nurse is also worthy of interest.

Speaking of Cynthia, is she there yet? This should have been a breeze for her.

I balanced myself in and out to slowly turn around, just so I could see Cynthia casually sit on the bench just beside the Bringer of Eclipse.

Ah? She's already there? And instead of coming in a hurry to see her uncle who is getting martyrized to make fun of him for his precarious position, she actually just sits down!

Tch, It seems I raised her wrong! Next time I will make even more fun of her!

Now, what should do about the remaining contender? The Two-bird, one-child plan is out of the window, so maybe I should send someone else?

Spritomb? Nah, he would probably just kill all of them, and I will get blamed once again!

Togekiss? He would just get distracted by a butterfree or something.

Welp, I'm out of options...I guess I will just have to accept more looser will get to enter, at least I already eliminated the evil and stupid one.

I guess cowards aren't that bad...they are just bothersome...