Oliver's mind spun to find answers.
Why was he in school?
Why was he not dead?
Is this the past?
Am I seeing a memory?
Then why can I move around freely?
Hallucination?
There were more questions than answers.
His fingers tightened on the bloody fragments of the spine. He scanned the room, desperate for any detail that could explain what had happened.
However, before he could think, the head of the person he just killed wiggled, and a transparent jelly-like object drilled out of the wound. The object wiggled and moved familiarly, causing Oliver to stomp on it.
"THUMP!"
The entire skull caved in a flash, and the jelly-like object turned into mush beneath his feet. The blood and grey matter from the brain splashed onto his foot, covering his entire leg. Those who thought the person might have a chance of survival were now sure he was dead.
*Gasp*
The people surrounding him let out loud gasps, seeing his cruelty. Oliver's unperturbed face didn't gain him any sympathy.
"Ah! Now I remember!" Oliver exclaimed once he made sure the jelly-like thing was dead.
'This is the military training school of the past. I seem to have travelled back in time.' He calmly nodded although emotional waves were rising in his mind.
It was the time before his parents passed. This was before his life turned into a mess.
'And this guy was a bully in my class.' Oliver looked at the corpse and thought.
The memories that were once buried in his psyche were beginning to resurface.
However, before Oliver could rejoice in this unexpected and happy coincidence, he felt two shadows moving beside him. Strong arms infused with mana came from behind and locked him in place.
"Student, stand down. We would respond with force if any unnecessary movement is made." The orders chimed in his ears.
Oliver, usually defiant, didn't resist this time.
—
"Sir, I have something to tell you." A lady wearing a military uniform tapped on the door and said.
"Come in." An elderly voice said.
The lady walked into the room promptly while holding up the file in her hand. She took an elegant stride forward until she reached the table where the elderly man was sitting before handing over the file.
"Sir, one of our students killed another during a lunch break this afternoon."
"Um!" The old man raised his head to look at the lady. He was the headmaster of the military school. However, he was not shocked or startled when the lady spoke of death.
"What happened?" He inquired calmly.
"A fight broke out due to a bullying incident. One of them pulled out the cervical spine of the other before the teachers could get there."
"Is the disciplinary committee being called?"
"No, before that. You should check the file." The lady said, pointing at the file place on the table.
It was mandatory for all those above eighteen having a superpower to attend military school for a six-month training program. So, when hormone-filled teenagers with superpowers are dropped into a small space together, injuries and even death are considered normal.
So, no one was surprised to find that someone had died.
Usually, the killer would be punished legally and sent to prison. But this time, the situation was a bit different. The one who died was not a human.
"A demon? Are you sure?" The headmaster asked in doubt.
"The lab verified it after testing the remaining brain matter. He was one of those perfectly infected."
"Hm." The headmaster nodded.
With the opening of permanent gates to another planet, humanity encountered demons: parasitic creatures that infect other organisms to survive. Among the infected, there were different types of infection.
Those in which the demons were fully fused to the host, making their presence undetectable by modern techniques, are called perfectly infected. Then there are partially infected, which grow special organs in their brain to control the host. The partially infected are easy to detect by using brain scans.
Nonetheless, those who are infected by a demon would be controlled by it until their death. It was not possible to save someone from the infection. So, they are considered a liability and eliminated.
"So, technically. This kid didn't kill anyone." The headmaster nodded, understanding the situation.
Although Oliver murdered someone, what he killed was a demon. Thus, he cannot be punished for his actions.
"Yes." The lady nodded.
Despite her role in military law enforcement, she was perplexed by the situation and turned to the headmaster for advice.
"Oh!" Suddenly, the headmaster exclaimed. He was reading the file and had reached the part showing the profiles of the students.
"Ability blood storage. Can't use mana. His baseline mana reading is 0.8. Less than that of a normal person. How did he even have the strength to rip out a spine?" The headmaster was amused by the information given on the file. "The demon Oliver killed had a rank E mana level. About 90 units, to be specific. How the hell did he pull that off? How did he even pierce through the natural mana defence of the body?"
"About that. Oliver had dislocated one shoulder, broken and ripped out the other one, and his ligaments in the right ankle and knee were torn. These look like injuries he sustained during his attack. The rest were broken ribs and bruises he had acquired before the attack. It shouldn't have been easy. Still, he was smiling as we led him to the infirmary."
"Ha, Ha." The headmaster laughed out hearing that. "I want to meet him." He suddenly said.
"I don't think that is possible. He is currently going through submerged stem cell therapy to reattach the broken arm."
"Let's go and see." The headmaster stood up from his seat and began to walk towards the infirmary.
"And you should send someone to check the background of the infected student. Maybe we can find something there. At the same time, inform the Superhuman Monitoring Bureau(SMB)."
"Yes, sir."