Songs in the Void

ICDS Universe, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.

A day and a half has passed since Tatsuo started exploring the Dungeon's 11th Floor. And during that time, he's killed more ratmen than he could count. Not only that, but he has climbed up to the 12th Floor. But before finishing the floor, he decided to leave the Dungeon. And the reason for that was because his first day of high school started today.

So, after taking a shower and putting on the black gakuren that served as his school uniform, he left his apartment and made his way towards the high school. However, the school was not exactly nearby. In fact, he had to ride the subway two stops to arrive within walking distance.

"Ahh~~~~! Someone help!"

"Why are there monsters in the city?"

"Hurry up! Run away!"

However, when Tatsuo reached within a block of the school, he could hear the sound of students and teachers screaming in panic and fear. On top of that, there was a large cloud of dust wafting up into the sky.

"What the hell?" Tatsuo muttered as he watched the people run from the school's vicinity. "Are there seriously monsters attacking on the first day of school?"

Realizing there were more important things to worry about, Tatsuo activated [Stealth], equipped his old defensive gear, because the modified [Orc Lord Set] had been dismantled to be integrated with the [Wraith Queen Set], and rushed towards the school as fast as he could.

When he finally arrived, Tatsuo saw a flock of giant azure-winged magpie attacking the school, students, and teachers. And from what he could see there were already a number of casualties.

Completely incensed by the sight he was seeing, Tatsuo drew his pistols while charging forward. Then, he opened fire while coating all the bullets with his [Energy].

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Each shot fired struck one of the magpies in its head, causing them to fall from the sky, if not killing them outright. Despite that, Tatsuo continued to charge straight into the flock, firing at every magpie he could see, all the while.

Eventually, the magpie's started to notice that their numbers were beginning to reduce. And this fact naturally angered them. So, they looked around to find the reason for that. And they found Tatsuo rather quickly.

*Chirp!* *Chirp!* *Chirp~~~~!*

Enraged, the magpies chirped angrily. Then, they turned and dove towards Tatsuo. However, he was completely undeterred. Instead, he even moved agilely while continuing to shoot rapidly. Unfortunately, he eventually ran out of bullets. And when the magpies saw that he was no longer shooting, they rushed in his direction even more fervently.

Unfortunately for the magpies, Tatsuo was not only able to kill them with his guns. In fact, he was even more dangerous when fighting in close quarters combat.

Just before the first of the magpie arrived with its talons extended, Tatsuo put his pistols back in his [Inventory] before equipping his bladed knuckledusters. Then, he [Blinked] away from where he stood, reappearing above the magpie an instant later.

With his blades pointed downwards, Tatsuo jammed the blades into the magpie's neck and head, killing it instantly before kicking off the corpse and sucking it into his [Inventory] in the same motion. And he was just in time to avoid the dive of a second magpie.

 Then, while his body was inverted after flipping around, he flowed his [Energy] into the blades of his knuckle dusters and swept his arms in opposite directions, using [Spatial Slash] to decapitate the bird.

Meanwhile, as Tatsuo fought the giant magpies, the people who managed to escape watched in awe as a single man fought the entire flock of monsters who have attacked and destroyed a large portion of the school. There were even people recording the event on their smartphones.

"Is he from Guardian?" a third-year high school boy asked in a tone filled with awe.

"Maybe he's from Freedom Wing." A second-year girl added.

"Look at the way he's jumping from one bird to another while cutting off their heads, slitting their throats, and piercing their hearts!" A teacher shouted in disbelief. "And where are those bodies going? They're just disappearing after he kills them."

"I'm gonna get a ton of money after I sell this video to the media. Hehehe." A first-year boy said while chuckling excitedly.

As time passed, the sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance. On top of that, a number of Awakened were approaching in cars and trucks. However, by the time they all arrived, the battle was over and the damaged buildings, the school's courtyard, and even the street leading to the school were filled with the bodies of dead giant magpies.

Unfortunately, Tatsuo did not have enough space in his [Inventory]. Otherwise, there would have been nothing left for the people, who were most likely from Guardian, Freedom Wing, and the police, to see, other than the blood stains and bodies of the victims.

"Hey, does anyone recognize that guy?" A high-ranking member of Guardian asked his team.

"No, I've never seen anyone like that before." One of the high-ranking men's subordinates replied while shaking his head.

"Maybe he's from Freedom Wing." A second subordinate added.

"He's not one of ours." The leader of the people from Freedom Wing said, cutting into the Guardian's conversation. "If he was, we would have received a report about him showing up first."

"Same here." The high-ranking Guardian replied as he stared at Tatsuo with shining eyes.

"Does that mean he's a rogue awakened?" The leader of the Freedom Wing members asked in a hopeful tone.

That question caused the members of both organizations' eyes to light up. Having someone as strong as Tatsuo, who from what they could tell from the conversations of all the civilians, had defeated the entire flock of bird monsters alone, before they could even arrive, would strengthen their organization immensely.

On top of that, they were all looking at all the monster corpses with greedy eyes. If they could get the person who killed all these monsters to join their organization, then they would be able to get a large part of all these corpses for themselves.

Meanwhile, Tatsuo was quickly moving between all the corpses he could not store in his [Inventory], using his [Energy] and [Perception] to see if any of them had mana stones in their bodies. And whenever he found one, he would plunge the blade of one of his knuckle dusters into the bird's head, dig out the mana stone, and put it into his [Inventory]. Luckily, because they were all the same type of item, they stacked, only taking up one slot.

"Hey, were you the one who killed all these C-Rank monsters?" The leader of the forces from Guardian asked after approaching Tatsuo, who had just dug a mana stone out of a magpie corpse.

In response, Tatsuo, without saying a word, glanced at the man who spoke to him before nodding his head and returning to his work.

"And are you a member of Guardian or Freedom Wing?" The man asked after seeing Tatsuo nod his head.

This time, Tatsuo did not even look at the man who was speaking to him as he shook his head and continued looking for mana stones.

"Then, how would you like to join Guardian?" The man asked with a smile. "If you do, I guarantee you'll become one of the higher ranking members in no time with your skill and ability."

"Not interested." Tatsuo said coldly without turning to look at the high-ranking Guardian member.

The man from Guardian was taken aback by Tatsuo's swift and definitive rejection. Meanwhile, the man from Freedom Wing could not help but laugh boisterously at the other man's misfortune.

"Of course he wouldn't want to join Guardian." The man from Freedom Wing said loudly. "Who would want to be restrained in their actions by the government when they are that talented."

After saying that, the man from Freedom Wing's smile widened when he saw the leader of the forces from Guardian scowling at him. Then, he turned his attention to Tatsuo as he continued.

"I can tell you're not a member of Freedom Wing, either." The man from Freedom Wing said in a friendly tone. "But if you were to join us---"

Before the man from Freedom Wing could finish his sale's pitch, Tatsuo [Blinked] away from the magpie he was just examining before reappearing next to a member of Freedom Win, a middle-aged woman, who was about to start examining one of the dead magpies with his blade pressed against her wind pipe.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tatsuo asked in a frigid tone. Then, he raised his voice so that everyone in the vicinity could hear him, using his [Energy] to amplify his voice even further. "Or is this how Freedom Wing does things, stealing the prey that a rogue Awakened has caught with great effort?"

Immediately upon seeing Tatsuo put his blade on one of their comrade's throat, the members of Freedom Wing all drew their weapons and directed their hostility at Tatsuo. However, Tatsuo was completely unbothered. According to his [Perception] no one on the scene was strong enough to defeat him one-on-one. And thanks to his training at DOATECH, he was confident that he could escape if they tried attacking him all at once. Not before he killed a few of them first, though.

Meanwhile, the members of Guardian decided to take a step back and watch the unfolding drama like observers. All the while, they were gloating over Freedom Wing's misfortune.

However, before the tense situation could become any more volatile, the leader of the group from Freedom Wing raised his hand, signaling his men to back down.

"Sorry about that." The man who led the Awakened from Freedom Wing said in an apologetic tone. "She should have known better than to start inspecting another Awakened's catch like that. But you have to understand, we were all surprised to see so many C-Rank creatures defeated by just a single person. So, she kinda lost her head. I promise I'll punish her for her transgressions. But I don't think it is enough to take her life."

After the leader of the forces from Freedom Wing finished speaking, the area fell into a tense silence. And the longer Tatsuo remained silent with the blade on the middle-aged woman's neck, the more tense the situation became. However, he did eventually relent.

"Fine, I'll let it go this time." Tatsuo said coldly. "But this is your one and only warning. If anyone dares to touch what's mine for a second time, I'll take that person's hand, no questions asked."

Then, after speaking his piece, Tatsuo turned around and moved on to the next magpie. Meanwhile, the people from Freedom Wing looked absolutely livid that they had just been threatened like that. The leader, on the other hand, whispered to one of the members standing next to him, an Awakened whose ability lent itself to tracking.

"We won't do anything for now, Ryoma." The leader of Freedom Wing said in a whisper. "but when that little bastard leaves, I want you to follow him secretly. I wanna know whose under that mask. Then, once we find out everything about him, we'll deal with him. We'll take all those blue stones, too. No one gets away with threatening us like that, understood?"

"Understood." The tracker, Ryoma, replied in a whisper as well.

After that, the entire group, both those from Guardian and Freedom Wing, watched as Tatsuo went to each corpse and took out their mana stone if it had one. Then, when he was finally done, he returned to the front of the group.

"You can have those corpses." Tatsuo said while pointing at all the corpses behind him with his thumb. "I can't take them all with me, anyway. And I'm not short on money, so don't worry about paying for them."

With that, Tatsuo did not say another word as he walked past all the Awakened. Then, when he was far enough away, just when the tracker, Ryoma, was about to start tailing him, he disappeared from the sights of everyone present.

Seeing Tatsuo disappear, Ryoma immediately rushed to the last place he was seen. Then, he started trying to find his traces. However, after looking for nearly an hour, he came up with nothing and returned to his leader with nothing to show for it.

In actuality, Tatsuo had used [Blink] to move behind the wall surrounding the school. Then, he quickly activated [Stealth]. And considering the fact that his [Stealth] skill bends space around him to conceal himself, he did not leave any traces or tracks for Ryoma to follow.

A few minutes later, Tatsuo returned to the school, now dressed in his gakuren and pretended to be surprised when he saw the state the school was in. Then, he hung around until he was told to go back home by the school's staff and that they would let him know what to do about classes via email.

So, Tatsuo did exactly what he was told to do. He walked back to the subway station, boarded a train, and went back to Sasazuka.

"Well, I guess I don't' need to worry about school for the time being." Tatsuo said to himself as he walked towards his apartment building. "Still, it was a pity I couldn't take all those corpses. I would have been able to sell them for a decent amount of money. But since I'm not registered with the New Moon Agency, nor do I have a bank account that wouldn't be tracked back to me, I couldn't sell them. *Sigh* Leaving behind all that money kinda sucks."

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Tatsuo eventually arrived at his building. Then, he wasted no time heading up to the penthouse and entering the Dungeon. After that, he spent the next ten hours hunting ratmen, clearing the 12th Floor in the process.