The Mech Lord

"Runeko.." Amelia stepped into the room with a frown on her face. The room was all dark. There was only a dim light in the room due to the sun shining outside.

'Why are the lights not on?' Amelia thought inwardly as she tried to make things around. She clearly had heard Runeko's voice earlier yet no one was coming forward now. Something was definitely odd here.

"Hmmn?" Ameli suddenly turned around feeling something behind her, but she couldn't find anything. 'Am I imagining things?'

In the end, she shook her head, and then called out to Runeko once again, "Where are you, Runeko?"

She then turned around and tried to find the switches. She knew that the structure of the Dorm rooms were all the same. So, she had an idea where the stitches were.

'It should be somewhere around here?'

Unbeknownst to her, a shadow was creeping up on her.

It was quietly sneaking on her and it's body was wriggling in a strange manner. It didn't seem anything like a humanoid creature.

As that thing came above Amelia and was about to swoop down, it's advance suddenly stopped and it retreated the next instant.

"Found it." Amelia smiled, and switched on the lights.

At this moment. Two voices sounded from outside.

"The doors open!"

"Let's go and take a look."

Amelia's face changed when she heard that familiar voice and the next instant, she saw a familiar face at the door.

It was her brother, Aiden.

…

Leo walked inside the rooms seeing that the door was open.

But, he froze when saw Amelia standing right beside the door. He was definitely not expecting to see her here.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her with a surprised look on his face.

"Umn…I.." Amelia opened her mouth, but no words were coming out of her mouth. She didn't know what to say.

"She is here to look for me." A voice sounded in the room, and everyone turned their heads to see Runeko coming out of one of the rooms.

Leo observed Runeko a bit, and saw that nothing seemed odd with her. She was wearing an oversized sweater as usual and had a slightly reddish face. That might be due to the fact that she had been sick these past few days.

"She is my classmate actually. Since, I had been missing classes, she came out to check on me." Runeko smiled at Amelia and then gave her a friendly look.

This left everyone a bit surprised.

Leo couldn't help but give Amelia a look.

He didn't think that she would be able to solve her issues with Runeko this quickly.

Amelia on the other hand was just looking at Runeko with wide eyes. She couldn't believe it. This girl had called her a classmate even after her friends did such horrible things to her. There was every opportunity for Runeko to blame her in front of Leo, and yet she didn't do it.

It could be said that she had protected him. This had indeed managed to win Amelia's heart.

"We were here to check on you as well." Spike jumped down from Leo's shoulder, and landed down on the floor as he looked at Runeko.

"I am fine, I still have a bit of fever though. And, the doctor asked me to rest and not come in contact with people as it is communicable." She forced a smile on her face.

"Is it?" Spike asked in surprise.

And, Runeko nodded.

"I heard about the messages. Is something wrong?" Leo asked her with a concerned look on his face.

"No, I actually typed incorrectly. And, my smart link broke a few minutes later. So, I wasn't able to reply or get in contact with her." She gave him a helpless smile before showing him her smart link.

It indeed had a dark screen with a crack running through it.

"What's with this smell?" Leo suddenly frowned, feeling an awful smell coming from a different room.

Runeko's face immediately turned a bit pale, but she immediately switched it back to normal before speaking, "Ah! I have been sick these past few days. So, I haven't been able to take the trash out."

"Do you need some help?" Leo looked at her with a smile. He was willing to help her.

"No, I will do it." Runeko shook her head.

"But, you are sick," Spike said with a frown

"You don't need to look at a girl's trash can." Runeko lowered her head with an embarrassed face.

That immediately made things a bit awkward.

Leo and Spike could only shut their mouths after that.

"Anyway, now that we have seen that you are fine, we will take our leave. Just call us if you need any help." Spike thumped his chest with his little fist.

As they turned around to leave, Leo looked at Amelia and asked, "Aren't you going to leave? She needs to rest and you have your class as well."

Amelia looked at Runeko once, and then spoke, "I will see you later then."

With that, she quietly walked out of the room with Leo.

As soon as Leo and others were out of the place, Runeko sighed in relief.

Yet, the relief didn't last long.

Her face suddenly twisted in pain, and she fell onto her knees.

Her left hand suddenly began to wriggle in a strange manner as a greyish matter began to leak out of it. It soon took over her entire arm morphing it into something foreign and inhuman.

"Blop!"

An eye suddenly popped up among the grey matter staring down at Runeko.

It also formed a mouth on its own, and let out a few words, "Kill…people…more.."

Runeko's face twisted in pain, but she held her screams back.

She didn't want anyone to come here.

She was afraid that this thing would kill them.

After all, it had already happened…more than once..

It all started a few days ago.

….

The day of the Library incident…

"Sniff.." Runeko wiped off her tears. Her eyes were slightly red. She was actually returning to the Dorms.

As for why she was crying, well the students of the class were bullying her. They called her names, and even made fun of her.

Worse of all, she couldn't do anything to them.

Her mother had actually worked hard to raise her and provided basic education to her. When she awakened, she was immediately scouted by a person at the Awakener's Office. She didn't know who the man was. But, he helped her to get a scholarship and get into this Academy.

This was a once in a lifetime chance for her to change her and her mother's life. So, she jumped onto it even though she wasn't good at combat and stuff.

She was still diligent though, and wanted to give it her all. But, it didn't go that way. Not to mention, she had never been out of her planet. She had no idea about how discrimination worked here.

She was just a country bumpkin, and lacked confidence. This got her pushed further towards the back and she was labelled as a dark and gloomy girl.

And, people like that were often the target of the bullies.

It was getting worse and worse with each day. But, she didn't do anything. She knew that they were sons and daughters of some important people. It might cause her trouble if she complained and that would destroy her chance of a better life.

But, she obviously didn't want to continued that way. Hence, she joined the club to improve communication skill. And, even that was not voluntary, she was actually grabbed by Nora and just couldn't refuse.

Even so, things didn't seem to change much. Her bullies had even begun to target her for joining the club and call her clubmates weirdo.

"What did I even do to them?" She muttered along the way as she was passing through the hallway which was right behind the library.

This place was a back exit, and also a shortcut to the Dorm. Not many people used this place.

Suddenly, she didn't know what happened but a strong aura came crashing down on her. And, she instantly lost consciousness.

She woke up after an unknown time.

"Look at this, a cat girl.."

"Wow! She looks as hot as F*ck!"

"Look at this guy getting all hard at her."

She immediately opened her eyes, and so a few second year students stood in front of her.

"She is awake.." One of the guys smiled at her.

"What are you doing here little girl? Where you trying to bait people?" Another asked with a lecherous smile.

"I-I fainted here," Runeko replied nervously as she hurriedly got up and prepared to leave.

"What is there to leave so early? Just wait for a second.." A person blocked her path.

"Stop messing with her." One of the guys said with a frown. It was fine to mess around a bit, but if they crossed the line, it would sure come crashing down on them. After all, they were not some son of Aristocrat.

"Fine," The guy grumbled. But, before leaving, he stooped towards Runeko, and smiled, "Call me if you need me anytime.."

Runeko immediately took a step back with teary eyes.

The guy laughed, and turned around.

"Hmmn?" Suddenly he felt a tug at his sleeve. "You sure are asking for it now.."

He immediately turned back with a wide smile, as he looked at his sleeve.

But the scene next dumbfounded everyone.

A strange greyish matter had taken all over Runeko's hand and which was holding onto that guy's sleeves.

"Splash!"

Runeko didn't even know what had happened when she felt a warm red liquid wash over her face.

That was how it all began...