It was only now that the heavy metallic smell of blood hit me. My arms and shirt were covered in it. I reckoned it had also sprayed all around while I was stabbing her.
I pushed the corpse off me, rolling to the side. As I moved to stand up, I saw the full effects of my handiwork lying beside me.
The corpse was facing upward, with blood pooling out from the red holes that used to be her eyes. Her face was pocketed with multiple small stabs and gashes, reaching bone in some areas. Her neck was the worst, as blood rapidly leaked from the gashes on it, staining both the floor and her dress.
I could still hear a faint wheezing sound from it, but she was dead.
'I killed her.'
The realization hit me like a brick at that moment, and I heaved, spitting blood and stomach acid on the floor. I kept dry heaving until it hurt, my hands shakily stopping me from falling into a pool of my own vomit.
"Ah…"
A sound suddenly came from behind me, dragging me back to reality.
I turned to see a shell-shocked nurse, a doctor, and Maki. It seemed my actions brought them out of their stupor, as the nurse immediately grabbed Maki and ran out of the room, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"SECURITY! SECURITY!"
The doctor looked terrified but raised her hands in a placating gesture. I reciprocated by dropping the knife I now realized I was still holding onto the floor, before standing up, raising my hands as well, and backing off to the far end of the room.
This seemed to ease the doctor's worries, but not by much. I tried explaining, though even my own voice sounded vacant to me.
"She was a skinwalker."
The doctor glanced at the corpse before looking back at me. She spoke softly, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.
"Oh, ok. C-can you take a seat over there? We… we have to confirm this first."
She pointed at a chair by the wall, which I promptly sat on. I had to look as compliant as possible.
With that, the doctor gingerly moved to pick the knife from the floor, picking up the fork I'd thrown as well for good measure.
After that, she backed away from me, alternating her gaze between the knife, "Anya," and me. I tried to take my mind off the situation, which was hard to say the least — especially so when the sound of blood dripping kept drawing my attention to my wrist, where I'd torn the drip off.
I stayed silent, trying not to think of the blood sticking my hospital gown to my chest either. Plus, any conversation at this point was meaningless. The only way I'd be believed was through an autopsy.
Soon the nurse returned, though Maki was not with her this time. Instead, two masked men decked in heavy, dark tactical gear walked in, and a middle-aged man wearing a dark cloak stepped in.
The masked men leveled strange rifles at me immediately, but the cloaked man lowered them gently while giving me a stern look.
"Cadet Victor, I'm going to need you to come with us."
"O-of course…"
I was sweating bullets, but I stood up immediately. I knew those guys never hesitated. The moment I tried anything stupid, they'd turn me into Swiss cheese. Still, I tried to explain myself.
"It—"
"He said it was a skinwalker."
The doctor beat me to it, though she didn't spare me a glance, merely keeping her gaze on "Anya." The man frowned at that but still faced me.
"Hmm… is that so? We will determine that during the autopsy. For now, just come with us, Cadet."
I stood up and walked shakily toward them. Unfortunately for me, my fever hadn't magically disappeared like I hoped it would. The man seemed to have noticed this as he asked inquisitively,
"Are you not feeling well?"
I reached to scratch my head awkwardly but remembered I had blood on my hands, making me pause.
"Yeah, I have a bit of a fever."
I dropped my hand as the man sighed.
"Jack, go help the kid."
'Are they going to carry me?'
One of the men walked up to me, and before I could react, he had already raised one of his hands above my neck.
'Oh…'
He chopped, and I was out cold.
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the harsh lighting. It was in complete contrast to the softness of the hospital room. Next was the chill of the metal table beneath me. Finally, there was the dark sweater on me, hiding a bandage wrapped around my wrist injury.
'So, they are human after all?'
"Good, you're finally awake."
The cloaked man sat across from me. That's when it finally clicked — I was in an interrogation room.
He flashed me a disarming smile. It had the opposite effect of whatever he intended. Still, he pushed on.
"Would you like anything to drink?"
I didn't answer, merely staring at him suspiciously. He facepalmed as if just realizing something.
"Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself? The name's Micheal Hwang, B-rank hunter and head of security for this sector."
He passed a card across the table. It showed his name, rank, and contact info. He continued.
"Keep it. On that, I'd also like to apologize for the inconvenience we caused you."
Now that caught my attention. Rather than beat around the bush, I asked directly,
"Have you performed the autopsy?"
His smile turned wry at that, but he answered.
"Yes, preliminary reports confirmed it to be a Whelp-class skinwalker. Apparently, it got in using a bug within the staff screening system that allowed some people to enter after only passing lighter checks."
He removed his hat, running his fingers through his dark hair before continuing.
"The academy is currently on lockdown as we track these individuals and look for any similar bugs or occurrences. We work fast, so it should be done come morning."
Something intrigued me, so I pressed.
"How did the skinwalker pass those tests? Even if they were light, the walker was a Whelp, wasn't it?"
I'd only written that the attack had happened in my book; I never gave any details, so I was completely clueless here.
Micheal seemed to consider it a little before nodding his head.
"Since you basically took her out yourself, I believe you deserve to know at least this much."
He leaned forward, his smile completely dying out.
"We suspect it was in possession of a concealment artifact. Of course, we have no proof of this, but there is no other conceivable way it passed those tests. Our suspicions have been corroborated by reports from bases in Manchuria. There have been multiple sightings of lower-ranked skinwalkers using bizarre abilities that can only be attributed to artifacts."
'What…'
I wasn't surprised that lower-ranked skinwalkers could use artifacts; it was something I had introduced in the story, after all. But that was much later, wasn't it? It was close to the end of the first year that I revealed it.
Though I suppose it wasn't impossible either. I only revealed it when the protagonist found out. It might have been common knowledge for higher-ups long before that.
Micheal's voice dragged me out of my thoughts.
"Well, I reckon you're a smart kid. Even though these are just rumors and speculation, you shouldn't go about babbling this to people."
"Of course, sir."
I obviously wasn't that stupid.
He nodded at that, picking up a file from his desk.
"One more thing… It says here that you awakened as a potential B-rank hunter, with a gift called Wind Blade — your only ability to allow you to increase your speed using the wind."
I was not aware of that. Not at all.
'So we had different gifts…'
I could already see where this was going. Micheal looked straight at me before proceeding, his face completely serious.
"How is it that you managed to detect a skinwalker that bypassed our systems?"