Kari was standing in a part of town that was deserted except for the local gang thugs. However, during the day she was relatively safe in the location, thus remained where she was. Making sure that no one was around her before pulling her phone out, Kari flipped it open and stared intently at the screen. There was nothing on it, so she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, thinking strongly within her mind.<em>The attack on me, it’s happening to others as well. . . Right?</em>She wasn’t exactly expecting her phone to answer her, but when she opened her blue eyes, her phone’s screen got all fuzzy and soon blackened as the faint gold writing appeared on it once more.<br/><br/>The words<em>”Only in due time.”</em>appeared and Kari stared at her phone in disbelief. It had actually answered her. Shaking it a bit as she pulled it to her face, she began to speak to the piece of machinery quickly. “Tell me! Tell me how to stop it! I have to protect everyone, it’s my<em>duty</em>. Vergil, Taijo and I have all been injured. . .” Kari was sure that there were others, or soon there would be others. But she’d seen scratches on Virgil’s neck earlier that day, bruises on Taijo’s neck, and she knew for certain that she’d been attacked. Then she’d heard rumors of Miki’s freak out during club the day before. And then there was a fight between the students. . . where was all of this fear and unbalance coming from? All of the anger? She had to find out.<br/><br/>Staring down at her phone, she squeezed it firmly in her hand as she prepared for the next answer to appear on the screen. Slowly the gold letters appeared, forming slowly before her blue eyes.<em>Unstoppable.</em>Kari almost threw her phone on the ground in frustration. How could it be unstoppable? She growled a little in frustration, still squeezing her phone tight as she grit her teeth together, so angry she wanted to hit something. Inside of Kari’s mind, she was doubting herself but also screaming that she needed to protect the others. She was the leader of the dorm, the RA.<br/><br/>“I have to save them; I have to protect those weaker than me!” Kari whimpered out as she slumped to her knees, cradling her phone to her chest as her heart rate started to increase. She felt as if she may experience a panic attack right there, her chest was being squeezed so strongly at that point. Almost gasping for air, she opened her eyes to see that everything was hazy around her, and a huge red moon was now in the sky. She gasped a bit in shock, realizing that this was like how it was before, when the masked boy tried to come after her and the beast pursued afterward. Part of her wanted to run, but she narrowed her eyes in determination. “No. . .” she said slowly as she stood, staring down at her phone. “NO! I won’t run away! I’m not afraid!” Kari held her hands down as she quickly stood ready to fight, taking in deep breathes as her heart’s pounding beats filled her ears.<br/><br/>Kari’s phone suddenly began to shake in her hand, and she stared down at it. She realized that she was not standing in a pool of blood, and her knees were covered in it from having been on the ground moments earlier. Glancing up, Kari gasped a bit to see bloody hand prints smeared across the walls of buildings, the sounds of many angry voices filling her ears. That’s when she saw it, dozens of mask covered shadow beings similar to the boy she had seen prior.<br/><br/>Immediately not hesitating, she grabbed her wooden katana from the case on her back and held it before her, breathing deeply as she squeezed the hilt.<em>I can’t fail. . .</em>she told herself as the things began to close in on her, slowly stepping backward as she tried to figure out how to fight them. Eventually one came at her and she swung the blade as strongly as she could, making the shadow fly backward a few feet. She continued to smack them with the blade or kick, trying to push them back but regardless of what she did, it appeared that they weren’t damaged in any other way. Kari was covered in sweat at this point, exhausted in her weakened state, and fell down to one knee.<br/><br/><em>I’m. . . I’m so weak. . .</em>she thought as she hung her head, the shadows enclosing upon her even more. Her head was full of voices filling her head, overpowering her as they degraded her and humiliated her for her pathetic strength. There were tears streaming down her cheeks as blood poured out of her nose and ears, her wooden katana falling to the cobblestone ground underneath her as she held her head and rocked back and forth. It was apparent that Kari was overwhelmed, and by the time she looked up, the huge shadow beast that had attacked her was standing directly in front of her, its snarling fangs fractions of an inch from her face.<br/><br/>Kari’s eyes widened in fear as she was paralyzed, realizing that she was probably going to die. Part of her didn’t seem to care, almost relaxed by the idea. But there was a tiny shred of strength inside of her that was fighting to survive and shine. Snapping out of her daze, Kari immediately rolled away from the beast and picked up her wooden katana. Her face and vest were soaked in blood now, and her hair plastered to her head in sweat.<br/><br/>Opening her eyes, they suddenly burned with a deep rage, a rage born of her self hatred. Kari didn’t show it, but part of her had always hated herself for being too weak to stop her mother from leaving their family when she was younger. It was because of that she joined a gang and got stronger physically. She still doubted herself in many ways, but there was a deep part of her that was stirring to life, and would consume anything it could to unlock her inner strength.<br/><br/>Kari lifted the wooden katana up and charged the large beast that was about to attack her, slamming the blade into its mouth. It did no damage, but Kari didn’t give up on her strikes. Her body screamed in protest, but she didn’t care, she was blind with anger and hatred at herself, but it was fueling her true inner strength. Screaming out with each strike, she glared into the eyes of the shadow monster and stared it down fiercely, as if proving herself before it. “You can’t beat me! I refuse to fall to something that’s not even real!” she screamed out as she continued to strike the monster, the blows not even causing any apparent damage, but Kari was blind to it all. Her body was fueled and on fire, as if there was something changing within her, driving her forward.<br/><br/>Eventually the beast began to back away from her. She noticed that the surreal world around her was slowly falling and flicking apart and soon found herself standing back where she had been earlier that day, the moon high in the sky now. Unaware of how much time had passed, Kari walked through the station and eventually found a clock, realizing that it was past two in the morning. She had been there fighting the things for almost twelve hours straight, but other than the dried blood all over her, she felt rather good. Even her body, which was incredibly tired and weak, didn’t hurt as greatly where she had been injured the other day. Kari was amazed, but slowly made her way back to the dorm. Feeling her phone go off, she slowly pulled it out of her pocket and read the golden letters that appeared on it.<br/><br/><em>Time’s running out. Watch the countdown, we’re coming for them.</em>Kari couldn’t help but smirk as she read the words, licking some blood off her lip. “Bring it. . .Bitch. . .” Stuffing her phone into her pocket, she continued to walk home, dragging her wooden katana behind her as she gradually made it into the dorm. Completely forgetting that she was going to talk to Vergil, Kari eventually slipped into the dorm and walked into the showers. Not even bothering to change, she simply let the water rinse the blood off of her before she made her way too her room, her bloodied footprints visible in the bathroom, as well as a ring of red around the shower. Passing out in her bed, Kari let herself slip into darkness, her body craving for the next fight, still on fire with that fueling desire to not fall again to whatever it was wrong with her.<br/><br/><em>I’ll win. . . </em>