Chapter 13: Plead the Fifth
Hours continued to pass while Junya was passed out.
His head felt heavy and sluggish as he awoke, squinting at his surroundings, battling the bright lights and sleep.
While attempting to make out his surroundings Junya realised that he had been stitched up. His wounds had mostly healed with only faint white lines tracing his body.
Doctors from across the room noticed he had arisen and walked over, immediately testing his pupils and other vitals.
"He seems to be fine and his scans don't show signs of any parasites." A nurse reported. "As Amus declared, his knife wounds do indeed correspond with his blade"
"Well, we should put him on Elo supplement in case he might need it. He needs to be at his Morality test in a few hours" the doctor ordered. The nurse began by exchanging his IV drip for another with bright cobalt blue liquid.
Junya only watched them before he spoke. "Where am I..." He rasped.
"You're at the Guram Medical ward." The doctor replied.
"What? Medical ward?" Beeps started sounding from his heart monitor and Junya started frothing from the mouth.
"Doctor! What's happening!"
"I don't know! He seems to be in some kind of mental distress, Squeeze his IV." The doctor shouted.
The nurse did as instructed making the cobalt blue liquid travel into his bloodstream faster. He calmed his shaking before eventually passing out.
Soon Junya awoke a second time, realizing it was all just a bad memory. 'I can't go into shock every time I hear the word medical, I need to forget about her"
He felt the anaesthesia from his body fade and he sat up. Rubbing his eyes he rested his face in his hands, elbows to knees. He was left alone with his thoughts that buzzed around in his head, echoing through the empty feeling in his chest.
"How are you feeling"
Junya startled before looking and saw the doctor walking into the room, drawing the curtains behind him. "I'm fine, where am I?"
"You're behind the walls of Guram. We're in Guram City and you're in the Medical ward. Do you remember anything?"
"Not much" Junya replied, which was the safest and most honest answer he could provide.
"Hmm, very well" The doctor started jotting down notes.
"What's gonna happen to me?"
"You're fine, we just need to stabilize your condition enough for you to leave" The doctor informed. "See if you can stand up for me please"
Junya took his feet off the bed before standing up, attempting a few walking steps.
"Very good, now follow me" The doctor ordered, turning and leaving the room. Junya followed behind instinctively, before soon realising he was exposed with only the hospital gown on.
"Don't worry, no one will be seeing anything, It's all covered up" He comforted while they reached their destination. The doors were all opened by the doctor's scans until they reached a small dimly lit room at the end of the corridor.
"What's gonna happen here?" Junya asked without getting an immediate response.
"Hello, Mr Wotanbe come and have a seat here." Another voice from inside the room asked. It was a meek frail looking man who sat with a broad smile and a book in his hand.
The man then continued gesturing to the seat in front of him.
"He's just going to ask some questions. Take a seat." The doctor said before closing the door leaving the two inside. Junya walked toward the room and saw the back portion was fitted with large glass panes.
'Is that one-way glass?' Junya queeried, not seeing any reason for there to be one. As he sat down the man introduced himself.
"I'm Murray Free, I work for the government and I'm here to ask you a few questions" Murray explained while placing the Lie detector on the table in front of them.
There was nothing else Junya could do except cooperate. He answered all the questions truthfully. After that, the man began to dig deeper, asking more personal questions.
"And finally, what's your blessing," Murray asked while looking at him.
"My what? I don't have a blessing"
Buzz
The lie detector determined it was a lie and delivered a light electric shock to his hand. Junya pulled away in reflex.
"I placed it on the lowest setting in case this might have happened. I don't think you were lying, but you were simply uninformed" Murray continued. "Just try thinking about your Elo Command and you should begin to picture it"
Junya was confused, but reluctantly he followed the man's instructions. Soon he saw what he felt to be the oasis in a hot desert.
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[Name: Junya Wotanbe]
Level: 3
Elo: 5/60
Blessing: Fallen Slaughter (Angel)
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It was his Elo Command and he was hit with a wave of his own thoughts.
'When did I unlock it? How am I level 3 already?? Is it good? Bad? Or in between...' His erratic thinking calmed as he recognised it was an Angel blessing.
'Well at least I finally got it, No matter which blessing I can make it strong enough' Junya vowed. His initial reaction was taken over by the curiosity of his blessing.
'What is fallen slaughter…' Junya only recalled vague recollections of his killing fit, a voice speaking to him but its words were undefinable, perhaps that was when he had received his blessing.
"Junya, we can make this easy. If you tell me your blessing you will be out of here in a few minutes or we will need to have you take the Morality test" Murray warned.
"Speak to me clearly" Junya replied, implying he didn't understand.
Annoyedly, Murray clicked his tongue."If you keep your blessing a secret, that means we won't be able to fully trust you. Along with the fact that you came from beyond the shelter, it would be wiser if you did"
"Do you know everyone's blessing?" Junya asked.
"Don't worry, your blessing will remain a secret protected by the government and the B.M.A. It will only be known by a few official and computer engineers who run the program which are sworn to an NDA"
"So what is this morality test… Is it simple? I studied a lot at school" Junya said, obviously showing his choice.
"It's not a written test. You will be hooked onto a machine and set through a number of different scenarios. There will be three and your progress will be monitored. Inside these scenarios, you will be able to use your blessing to its fullest since it's your imagination" Murray explained.
"But If you fail to succeed you will face the death penalty, concluding that you are a foe. It will be your only end.
However, after everyone gets a blessing they can see and tell what its motive is. It sometimes changes their attitude and the way they think.
Even if you don't tell us, we can take an educated guess based on the way you act or fight and if you're able to unlock a manifestation. So it's simply sparing us the trouble"
After Murray finished explaining, the weight of Junya's decision left him questioning. The only feeling he could recall was the satisfaction of killing. Stripping the life away from those who were ever so undeserving of it. It seemed this was all his blessing desired to do.
Even looking at Murray now, Junya pictured himself tearing his head from his body and crushing the rest of it with his taloned fingers.
"Junya, today would be fantastic" Murray woke, his voice stripping Junya up from his gory daydream.
Shocked Junya quickly came back to reality. "I-I plead the fifth"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone