Bound to the Black Robe

Hunted

The next day, with a mixture of hope and despair—and armed with the explicit permission I got from my older sister on the grounds of being exhausted after the competition—I stepped into the largest library in the country.

My mind was still reeling from last night's failure. I honestly didn't understand. If astral projection was as easy as the book explained, why couldn't I do it?

​It didn't take me long to find the supernatural block. After combing through dozens of outdated books containing only clichéd dream interpretations, my eyes finally landed on a dusty volume in the corner of the bottom shelf. Its pages were brittle.

I flipped through it until my fingers stopped on a handwritten note at the end of the page. The writing was small and faded, but clear enough to read:

'It's about the journey, not the technique. You have to find the right guide—someone who can pull you out. Follow them, and you'll escape. If not, you'll be stuck forever.'

I froze. So, it wasn't the technique that had been wrong all along. I couldn't astral project on my own. I needed someone else.

Someone who could pull me out...

A flash of imagery crossed my mind. His smiling face, his all-black attire, and his outstretched hand…

Black Robe. He was the key.

Of course. My first astral projection had happened by accident while I was alone, and I had only managed to traverse it because Black Robe found me.

The problem now was, how on earth was I supposed to contact him?

Eventually, I returned home, my mind in complete turmoil. Exhaustion gnawed at me, both physically and mentally.

Click.

​The moment I locked the front door behind me and my feet hit the cold living room tiles, the attack struck without warning.

​A brutal surge of vertigo slammed into the back of my skull. A sharp, icy chill rushed through my veins—so extreme that my knees instantly buckled beneath me.

​Thud!

​My vision blurred into a hazy wash of gray. My breath hitched as severe nausea burned up my throat. I didn't even have time to reach for the edge of the sofa before total darkness swallowed my consciousness whole…

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Screams rang out amidst the chaotic roar of hundreds of hurried footsteps. The boulevard was in utter pandemonium. People were running in the opposite direction without looking back, as if fleeing for their lives.

Meanwhile, I remained motionless, trying to comprehend what was happening. I glanced at the listless bodies at the edge of the boulevard, frozen in place—their faces completely expressionless, their eyes drained of any ember of life.

Thump, thump, thump…

Heavy footsteps approached from behind. I spun around.

BANG! BANG!

The sound of gunfire sent a shiver down my spine. Several figures in tattered, ash-gray cloaks and porcelain masks devoid of eyes or mouths were sprinting toward me, raising dark, smoking rifles.

"TARGET CHANGED! THERE'S A MORTAL GIRL! CATCH HER!"

Panicked, my legs instinctively bolted to their limit. I didn't know who these faceless hunters were, but they were hunting me!

I leaped over a wall, scrambled onto a roof, and kept running, vaulting from one rooftop to another with an agility I didn't even know I possessed.

There was no roof left to jump to. I landed hard in a clearing, there was nothing but elephant grass. This was bad—they had already surrounded me, their hollow masks staring down at me with weapons aimed right at my chest.

As one of them lunged forward, my hand reflexively slapped against the empty air.

BOOM!

An invisible force erupted from my palm—powerful enough to knock them off their feet, making them groan in agonizing frustration.

I gasped, staring at my trembling hands. I tried to repeat it, punching the air again, but nothing happened. The power had vanished as quickly as it came.

Seeing my defenselessness, the masked hunters scrambled up and lunged again.

SCREEECH!

​Suddenly, the roar of an engine shattered the air. A sleek black sedan burst through the tall elephant grass out of nowhere, spinning violently before screeching to a halt right beside me.

​The rear door flew open. Before I could process it, a long arm reached out from the dark cabin and forcefully yanked me inside.

"KYAA! LET ME GO!!"

I turned sharply. In the front seats, two figures sat completely frozen, their eyes hollow like empty shells.

Next to me sat a man draped in a black robe. His hood shadowed half his face, but his warm smile greeted me like an old friend catching up.

It was Black Robe.

I stayed frozen, even as he leaned closer, his icy breath brushing against my ear.

"Those who hide in the dark don't know who they're catching," he whispered softly over the howling wind. "They don't even know that they're ushering in Death."

CRASH!

All the car windows shattered into a million pieces. The two people in the front didn't have time to scream as sharp glass shards pierced their bodies. They quickly dissolved into swirling ash.

Without missing a beat, Black Robe stepped out and spread his arms wide. His robe billowed out like shadow wings, swallowing the sky in a thick, suffocating mist.

It became so dense that I could see nothing except his silhouette.

AAARRGH! NO—PLEASE!

​CRACK! SNAP!

Blood-curdling screams tore through the fog, punctuated by the horrific sound of crushing bones and agonizing groans. I pressed my hands over my ears as shadows danced violently within the whiteout. Within seconds, absolute silence fell, and the mist evaporated into thin air.

"Help me," he said, turning back to face me with his hand outstretched. His smile didn't fade, even as another wave of masked figures emerged from the tree line.

"But... I can't control it! That energy only comes out once!" I yelled in panic.

Black Robe grabbed my hand, pulled me out of the car, and stood facing him.

"Control your instincts, Ishihara." he murmured calmly. "Feel your anger, your fear… and transform them into power."

I closed my eyes, letting the turmoil of frustration and terror burn in my chest, channeling every drop of it to my fingertips.

When my eyes snapped open, I thrust my wrists forward.

​KABOOM!

​FSSHHH!

A blinding ring of white-hot, scorching energy erupted from my palms. The blast tore through the clearing with a deafening roar, turning the mob of faceless pursuers into glowing embers before reducing them instantly to piles of ash.

​The backlash drained me in a split second. My knees buckled, the world tilted sideways, and my vision smeared into heavy dark spots.

​"B... Black... Robe..." I whimpered weakly, my lips barely able to form his name as gravity pulled me down.

However, before I could completely hit the ground, a pair of strong arms caught me, holding me firmly against his chest.

"Rest, I'll take care of you," he whispered just before I lost consciousness completely.