Legacy of Forgotten Times 178 No! Don't come any closer!

Unbeknownst to her, however, Linri was really scared shitless. He didn't know why, but, in his eyes, Ms. Snow looked like a dangerous monster. He knew that she was stronger than him, but not by this much! If she really was this strong, then he really made a mistake with pitting James against Zero. He should have made Ms. Snow fight him instead.

"Just stay away from me, scary lady!" said Linri as he tried to get away from her even more.

"There is no need for-" Ms. Snow said, but she was interrupted by Linri.

"Get AWAY!" Linri screamed when Ms. Snow got up from her chair.

She was stumped. From the looks of it, this didn't seem like it was some sort of deep scheme. He was genuinely scared of her. But why? Did she really look that scary? Sure, she didn't really put on makeup or made her hair, but she shouldn't have looked scary, right? She never cared for her looks but she was aware that she was extremely beautiful. It didn't feel nice when someone looked at you like you were some sort of monster. It also didn't help that the one scared of her was a literal mythical monster.

"Well..." said Ms. Snow as she walked towards the opposite corner of the lab. If this didn't work out, she could always trap Linri in a cage and then feed him sedatives. If even that didn't work, she could copy his brain to a virtual database and search his memories. 

Seeing her walk away, Linri visibly relaxed as he wasn't trembling that much anymore. He had also regained his rationality and the ability to think more clearly. That really was scary for him. And it wasn't just Ms. Snow. The fact that he lost his ability to think rationally was even scarier. He really needed to get rid of his [Ex-Burst] form. During fights, [5x Burst Instict] seemed like it would be an extremely useful tool, but what good would it do to him if he suddenly lost his rationality and ran away from the fight? Despite the good attributes and buff in his ability, why did this [Ex-Burst] feel like it was such a drag? First, he had to be beaten till kingdom come, then he had to empty his prana reserves before he can finally transform. What use would it be if his opponent was too strong and didn't even give him the ability to transform first? Not to mention the [Bloodlust] racial trait.

"So?" Ms. Snow pulled Linri away from his thoughts. She was getting impatient with him.

"Sorry, sorry, I am sorry, but the behaviour you just saw was one of the reasons I needed your help," said Linri after getting back his bearing.

"Before asking for help, shouldn't you tell me what you promised before?" said Ms. Snow.

"Hm? I thought you would have figured it out by now. Haven't you seen the participants list?" said Linri in surprise. Maybe Ms. Snow was not as smart as she claimed to be... at least when it came to human interactions.

"Of course, I know that. Hayato just disqualified himself and then sneaked away from my prison to deactivate the bomb. The question is how did he know he wouldn't die?"

"That's because I told him that. At the time, the other students weren't aware that disqualification would mean death, so it was pretty easy to convince him."

"But how were you so sure that I wouldn't catch him in the act?"

"I wasn't, but I did everything I could to make sure you didn't. After all, I should have put a show you couldn't pry your eyes away from, right?"

He was right. Throughout this Game, Ms. Snow was constantly watching him. He first picked her interest when he declared he was going to betray and afterwards he kept on making more and more interesting decisions. At least he was more enjoyable to watch than other students so, before she noticed, she was sucked in. 

"That doesn't make sense. If you wanted to make sure I watched you, why did you ask for that interval?"

Linri shrugged. "Because I wouldn't have been able to beat Rina without my full strength and by that time Hayato should have already deactivated the bomb."

"Hm? But you could have easily beat her with your- You weren't able to transform before that fight. So I was right!"

"I don't know what you are right about, but yeah: I couldn't transform before that. How could I? I am a mixed-breed and none of my bloodlines is stronger than the other." 

"That's impossible!"

It was good to know that she at least had knowledge about this subject. Because the background of this world was similar to his own with technology triumphing over magic, he wasn't sure a scientist like her would know about that. It also didn't help that in the club Linri was the only mixed-breed. Aside from him, there wasn't any mention of a mixed-breed and their lore, so he was basically the forefather of that subject and he only mentioned they couldn't awaken their bloodline without one being stronger than the other. Maybe no one in this world even knows about that and just thought that, if a baby was born with certain racial characteristics, they didn't inherit any blood from their other parent.

"Yeah, and that's kinda the problem here. I am a Kitsune and Werewolf mixed-breed and, now that I transformed, I don't know how to turn back..."

Ms. Snow started to ponder as Linri was standing there nervously. If she wasn't able to turn him back, there was no one in the school who could help him. He would have to run back to his mother crying and, afterwards, they would have an awkward conversation about 'certain changes in the body'. Ugh, he already went through that once and he certainly did not want to go through a werewolf/kitsune version of that.

"If I am to solve this problem, I need to know the source of your power."

"That's hard to explain... I made a deal with forgotten deities and, in exchange for solving their problem, they bestowed me a part of their powers. Does that explanation suffice?"

"Depends, can your power be described as divine power?"

"Divine power?"

"Hm, I guess from your reaction that we can rule that out. I think creating a power dampener to turn you back to human shouldn't be that hard. Okay, now tell me... how did you know it was me?"

"That, well... I just guessed?"

"Don't you want to turn back to human anymore?" 

"No, I am serious. Don't you remember Elvario's attack on you? Smoke doesn't come out if there is no fire. He must have a reason to suspect you, so, after that, I broke into your room and found a secret cave. I didn't go in, obviously, as that seemed like a bad idea, but, if you could build something like that, it shouldn't have been hard for you to build all this stuff under the school using this abandoned prison. I was right, wasn't I?" Linri made up a bullshit excuse as to why he knew it was her. He also wanted to know why she had a secret cave in her room.

"You broke into my room?" said Ms. Snow. She had a weird expression in her face.

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard. You always leave at night and those machine guns aren't really effective. Why did you create a messed up game like this, anyway? Why do you want students to kill each other?"

"That's none of your concern," said Ms. Snow. Linri's started to feel extreme danger again, so he just shut up.

As Linri was thinking of whether to escape or stay, suddenly two machine appendages popped out of the wall behind him and caught him. He tried to break himself away, but his [3x Superior Strength] didn't even budge them. How?

Ms. Snow slowly started to walk towards him. Linri was starting to feel scared again.

"No! Don't come any closer!" Linri started to struggle even more. He even started to growl towards her. He needed to escape. This was a bad idea. He should have never come here. Why did he have to be such an idiot to think he could outsmart her? That was it. He had finally bitten more than he could chew!

When Ms. Snow stood in front of him, Linri stopped growling. He was scared enough that he stopped breathing. This monster was going to devour him. Maybe she would leave him alone if he showed subservience.

Linri flinched when she put her hand on his face. He couldn't even blink! His whole life was passing before his eyes: his father, mother, Annie, Brian, Carter. He could also see the glimpse of the life he was supposed to lead. He would get married to Annie. Become a teacher in a high school. Have some kids. Eventually drift apart from his other friends. Then, Linri passed out.

Chapter end