Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

He got no reply from Reon for the rest of the evening. Hitori went to the restaurant for dinner and came back to the room. He found Akemi lying on the bed and no one else inside.

"Did you hear what happened to Kamiya?" he asked. He went inside and took off his cloak.

"I did. Senso-sensei told me you were there, too, then you suddenly ran away, as if you were scared."

"Oh, I was not scared, it was something urgent from the game."

Akemi went silent. She did not want to touch on that topic. Hitori changed, took a bath, and came out of the washroom.

"Dinner?"

"Done."

"Is he coming back?"

"They say he needs a long rest of a day before he can fight again. Thankfully, he was declared the winner."

"So is he out of the knockouts now?"

"He won the play-offs, his rank is right beneath you, the fifth spot."

"Oh..." Hitori dropped his hands. "He qualified." Akemi nodded.

"They cast the Muishiki charm on him, he is sleeping and will continue to for the next day."

Hitori walked to his bed. "I guess..." he dropped on his bed, "I will take the day off, too. We got some important game business."

Akemi hummed a reply. She was thinking about something else Hitori could not figure out. It was not Onogi, it was not the game either, perhaps it was Kamiya...

"I..." he paused, "do you want me to extinguish the lamps?"

Akemi turned and pulled out a hardcover book. "I like to read before sleeping, do you?" she asked.

Hitori looked at the book in her hands, it was a light novel, she held it tightly in her hands.

"It has been a year since I last read a book. Give me that." Hitori jumped off his bed, and Akemi threw the book at him. He grabbed it and studied the cover.

"Oh..." His first reaction after reading the title. "W-What is this book about? I do not read romance."

"Complex," she said, hiding her face behind her hands. "You know, as the title says, 'Everything About Brother Complex'. Symptoms, struggles, pleasures, and the cure."

Hitori's mouth dropped. "I-I am sorry, I do not think I need this." Hitori stretched his hand for Akemi to take back the book.

She accepted it, held the book on her lap, and stared at it. Hitori stood blank before moving to his bed and extinguishing the lamps. He was expecting no other word from her.

But then he realized he was sleeping in the same room with a girl. "Hitori..." her soft voice echoed in his ears, "how, how did you know?"

Hitori pulled the covers. "Know what, Akemi-san?"

"That... uh... I, I have a brother... complex?"

"Oh, god, you should worry about Onogi, not Kamiya. Sleep tight."

"Hey, j-just listen to me."

Hitori turned and reached for his wand behind his head.

"I-I want to know..."

He pulled the want against his neck and closed his eyes.

"Was I being that obvious? What does Jigo think about me? Does he hates me now?"

Hitori sighed. "Ask him yourself. Good night. Muishiki." After he cast the spell, his hands dropped on the bed, his wand fell to the floor, and his frown disappeared.

"Hitori? Hitori?" she cried, "H-hey! Do you hear me?" He could not.

Akemi raised her hands. "Hi no Mahou." And lit a fireball.

She threw the ball at the lamps. Like a domino reaction, every lamp lit on its own. There she saw Hitori lying lifelessly on his bed.

"Hitori!" she shouted. Did he eat poison? Is he dead? She wondered.

She studied Hitori's body from a distance, then her eyes fell on his wand lying on the floor.

She closed her mouth. "That bastard..." She clenched her fist and the fire from the lamps came back to her.

After his breakfast, Hitori went to the Vr-cade again. He was hoping to see Kuchiki there but he was not. Hitori sighed. He looked at the slot in the console and dropped his card into it.

The game loaded, Hitori opened the inbox, and he saw Reon's message. He felt as if his beat came back to his heart, he released the tension in his heart and started reading her message.

"Whoa, what? That is a big guess, we need to meet. Contact me if you are online," she said.

Hitori logged in. He appeared in the courtyard, Reon was waiting for him there. She stood from her throne and walked to Hitori.

"I read your message," she said, "I-Is it true? What you said?"

Hitori nodded. "Let us take a seat." When they settled, he continued, "I saw his fight last night, he used the same strategy as the streamer. As I said, he used the meaning of his name as his player name. I told him never to display his strategy online, people will learn them. Just as I did. It took me time, I had doubts, but now I am sure. He is the streamer Divine Valley."

"Oh, god... what has become of this. He will come and attack us if he has to."

"He would not, not soon, at least. He streams his fights with unclassified creatures. He has not even tried to conquer a dungeon."

"What should we do now?"

"Protect our territory." Hitori sighed. "We are getting nowhere this way," he said.

"We are lacking something."

"Exactly." Hitori paused, he looked at Reon, he stared at her to note her reaction. "I wonder what separates us from Onogi." She jumped. She did. "What would we have to do if we want to beat Onogi." She gulped and pressed her hand to her mouth. "Power? Men? Or..." he made sure to stress these words: "dirty play."

Reon jerked her head to Hitori. She was bad at hiding her fears, her eyes were wide, and her mouth was open. "W-What are you saying?" And she stuttered.

"I know what we are lacking. We should capture Kuzu and torture him to work for us."

She snapped, "NO!" she shouted, "no, no, no! We, we can not! We can't!" She jumped off her throne and threw her hands in the air. "I-I mean, seriously, Hitori-san? You want to kidnap people now?"

Hitori smiled. "I know what we are lacking, seriously, I know why we lost the battle with Kuchiki and Yaban."

Reon opened and closed her mouth. "What?"

"A team," Hitori said, "we need players. We need to form a guild."

She raised her eyes. "A guild? Without Kamiya?"

"We can not keep waiting for him, or we will lose our remaining dungeons. We need more men, that equals more experience, and that equals to... well, you know."

Hitori stared at her, she stared back at him. He clicked his tongue and moved back into his throne. Hitori opened the screen tab and went straight to the invite option.

"Tell them, we are recruiting." He pressed the option.

"Hey! We can not!" she shouted. "We already have Onogi over us, how can we handle more people?"

"We will have to see that," he said. She continued shouting at him while he searched for any sign of injury.

But he found none. 'If she has an injury, then she must have changed her avatar's appearance.'

Hitori logged out after confirming his suspicion. He had to tell someone about her. Someone he could trust, someone who would believe him, and someone who knew this could have happened.

He reached the hostel building, he saw a few students returning after their lunch, a few from their battles, and a few packing their things for the holidays. Nobody cared about anyone in the hallway, they continued with their work.

Hitori walked past the boys and girls and reached his room. He stopped to glance at couples being lovey-dovey, other friends kidding each other, and the loners walking to their rooms.

Hitori sighed. "I am grateful I have some trouble in my life," he muttered, as he reached for the doorknob.

He grabbed the knob and twisted it when he heard a voice behind him. "Some? Yeah, you have some life-threatening trouble in your life."

Hitori stopped, he recognized the voice. His heart suddenly jumped and started beating faster than usual. He turned to his side and found him standing in robes. His hair was messed and his glasses were slipping as usual.

"Kamiya…"

"Yo, Hitori." They could not smile at each other. "Do you want to stand outside or go inside?"

'I must tell him,' Hitori thought.

Kamiya frowned, he walked near the door and snatched the knob from Hitori's hands. "Move, if you are going to stand here all day."

Hitori stepped back and coughed. "Kamiya, I have something to tell you."

"We can do that inside, can not we?" He pushed open the door halfway when suddenly, he gasped.

Hitori put his hand over Kamiya's forearm and squeezed it. "Please." He bobbed his head.

Kamiya glanced at Hitori's hand, then at the door, and then at Hitori. He had no choice, Hitori was tightening his grip. "Fine. Sure."

He removed his hand and shrugged. Hitori released his grip and took a step back.

"It is about Reon-san."

"So, you have been talking to her?"

Hitori nodded. "Unlike you, I am still in touch with her."

"Good for you, hope you have not forgotten about your locket girl."

Hitori stared at Kamiya. "While I was talking to her, I mentioned Onogi's name. And every time I did, she jumped in her seat."

"What does that prove, Hitori?"

"Onogi has captured Reon-san. He tortured her to work against us, to work for him. He is threatening him."

"And? He must have raped her, too. That is his signature move."

Hitori opened his mouth and paused. "Y-Yeah… I did not think about that… He must have—"

"Hitori, Hitori," he scoffed, "do you ever trust anyone? Or is every friend a traitor in your eyes?"

Hitori closed his mouth. He realized Kamiya was being sarcastic. "Yeah. Maybe I do not trust anyone. The one I trusted lied to me about a few things."

Kamiya dropped his grin. He dug his hand in the robe's pocket. "Like?"

"Like his sister's real disease, or like his streaming channel, maybe, does that make sense?"

Kamiya clicked his tongue. "Why the fuck should I tell you after you rejected me?"

Hitori raised his voice. "That is why! I don't know why you want to kill me, I trusted you and you did this—!"

Kamiya pulled out his hand from under his robes, he had a wand with him, which he pointed at Hitori.

The wand was enough to make Hitori pause and lower his voice. 'This again. Fucking again.'

Then shook his head as he stepped back. "Let us fucking settle it once and for all," he said, reaching for his wand on the side.

A student who was taking his bags out stopped to take a look at the commotion. He sighed. "Here we go again," he said, "another stupid second-year threatening to take each other's life."

His roommate joined from behind. "Another?"

"Hm. Yeah. This just never seems to end."

"Ignore them. They will lower their wands soon."

Kamiya tilted his head, Hitori raised his wand and held it tight. "We need to, do not we?"

"This should have never happened," Hitoru muttered, he dropped his head.

"See?" said the bystander, "one of them did. This is always that way, Glen."

"It is quite funny now that you—"

Hitori fired first. "Petrify!"

"Bakuhatsu!"

Their spells canceled each other. "Flamethrower!"

"Water beam!" Kamiya threw, as he rolled on the floor to the other side.

The two students stood speechless. Their mouths dropped open and their bags fell to the floor. "W-What the…"

"Icicle spear!"

"Ice spikes!"

Their chats rang down the hallway. One by one, the students started to gather in the hallway, dropping their work to watch the commotion.

It was not a commotion anymore, it was a full-blown battle of spells where they tried to kill each other with deadly ice element which was never taught to them by the teachers.

The wood was mixed with rocks or it would have caught on fire by now. That did not stop the floor from getting wet and the ice from piercing the walls.

"Fuck! T-They are crazy!"

"Cover yourself!"

The students ran inside their rooms, a few stood by creating a defense shield, and some hid behind their luggage.

"Oi, you said they would drop their wands!"

"I know! But I did not know they were crazy!"

Students went to the turns and took cover behind the wall.

Kamiya used levitation, he kicked the wall and flew near Hitori.

Hitori used the petrifying spell. Kamiya used explosion. Again, their spells canceled each other.

But Kamiya had the height advantage. He landed a kick on Hitori's head, knocking him to the other side.

Hitori pushed his hand on the floor, using friction and strength to stop him. He banged against the wall, but he stopped.

"W-We need to call someone, Glen, shoot the flare!"

"Here?"

"Fucking do it, man!"

Glen stood up, he raised his wand and fired a red flare that went through the roof, without breaking, and reached the sky– signaling any teacher in the perimeter.

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