Hx4 -The Novel-

It's time for a game update:

All assets from the old engine have been transferred, modified or re-created successfully (Art, Avatars, Images, UI elements and dialog), the code and prog work are still underway.

That said, it's the first day of the new year that means it's time to start posting the chapters of the game novel.

You probably already read the Chapter 0: Prologue, but I'll add it here anyways in case you haven't, Chapter 1 and 2 will be here and each week I'll post 1 to 2 more.

Just one last quick reminder, this novel is: Comedy, Romance, Harem, Adult and is of course Patreon exclusive for the time being, please don't distribute or post it anywhere, thank you and I hope you enjoy it.

***

CHAPTER 0: PROLOGUE

The year is 2013...

Terra is facing a sudden and chaotic weather anomaly, it started on the northern region of the planet and in only 13 days it spread to all it's continents, the climate changing phenomena is quickly named "The Upheaval" by the news and code-named "U-13" by the governments around the world, deep sea earthquakes, tsunamis, heat waves, heavy storms, blizzards and volcanic eruptions strike and scourged humankind for the first 3 months.

For the next trimester enormous solar flares caused widespread blackouts and the dark hours started to multiply, in a matter of weeks the night was getting longer and longer... until only 3 hours of light remained a day, the world population was tired, diminished and in fear. The governments used all their resources to find the cause of these events with no success, the dark days continued and the situation aggravated, on the last 3 days of the 6th month those 3 hours turned to 2... then 1... then minutes that were less and less with each passing day... until no light could be seen, the scarce moments of daylight that remained, were gone... the darkness engulfed Terra, gone was the noise of the rumbling thunder, gone was the sound of the whistling wind, the storms, the eruptions, the earthquakes, all the anomalous phenomena, everything stopped... the weather came to a tense calm and in an unprecedented global event, the temperature stabilized at exactly 3 degrees celsius on every corner of the planet.

The final 3 months, placed the whole humanity in a pause, an uneasy, restless and ominous pause, people around the world struggled day by day to have some "normality" but the daily life never came back. The governments where overwhelmed and unbeknownst to the cause of this calamity, following the signals of the past months one by one and gathering the pieces of the puzzle together they finally found it... exactly 9 months after the beginning of "The Upheaval"  one of the elite search teams uncovered in a previously nonexistent deep fissure on the frozen floor of the most northern region of the planet, a giant sphere-like crystal of almost 9 meters tall that was unearthed due to all the recent, violent earthquakes, the spherical structure was immediately studied and the results indicated that the crystal, was full of unidentified organic matter that pulsated rhythmically like heartbeats and was emitting an intermittent violet unearthly glow along a strange frequency with each pulse.

The pulse was actually a signal, a "Calling", the team named this giant "The Beacon" but whatever this signal was trying to call was not on or in the planet but out of it, beyond the veil that the infinite darkness had made, the team along with the governments involved worked as fast as they could, but it was no use, it was already too late... they only managed to realize that the true storm was coming and these last 12 weeks "pause" was just the calm before it.

On the final hour of the last day of these long 9 months of uncertainty, everything went silent around "The Beacon", the crystal itself halted it's pulse, only a faint eerie glow remained, the frequency morphed into a low, sinister hum, the time was up...

The faint glow started to intensify, the humming accelerated, the glow turned to a dark violet blinding light, the ground beneath their feet shook and trembled with the accelerating vibration of the now threatening humming, finally, like a cannon, the crystal unleashed a violent flash that pierced the veil on the dark skies reaching out of the planet, whatever "The Beacon" was calling, it reached it, the sky-piercing pillar of light pulled a rock-like mass that looked like a massive boulder made of a dark almost opaque crystal, which landed violently on "The Beacon" pulverizing it and killing anyone in the vicinity, shocked, the governments that still had any camera transmitting saw the horror, the gargantuan black meteorite started to "bleed" a thick black fluid that quickly mixed with the fragments from the now shattered "Beacon" after a few moments, the foul mixture moved, it was alive, without delay it searched for the nearest form of life it could find, the remnants of the search team that where scattered around the impact zone, the mangled bodies raised, missing pieces where quickly replaced with amorphous black limbs that didn't reflect the light and spectators couldn't do a single thing but to watch, horrified.

On the next few weeks these foreign life forms received the name "Fallen" they devoured any organic form they could find, then multiplied, adapted and assembled their own army, the governments took action, but everything they did just ended in failure, until they decided there was no other options available and approved the use of nuclear weapons to put an end to these new and dangerous outsiders, but it backfired, instead of dying, the invaders thrived, grew stronger and some of them evolved into colossal monstrosities, with this newfound power they conquered and devastated the human race, until only a third of Terra's population remained.

But not all hope was lost, of all the original search team members that discovered "The Beacon" one of them, their captain, Jack Ironhardt miraculously survived to not only the impact but to the assimilation of "The Fallen" but instead of the invader assimilating him, it turned out the other way around, the captain spent months trying to subdue "The Fallen" until he finally achieved absolute domination on what he described as "Battle of Wills" after that he spent weeks returning to his base, once there, he was immediately studied and he became the catalyst for humanity's last hope, the project "Slayer", the governments tirelessly searched the globe for any individual that could be potentially compatible with "The Fallen", like Capt. Ironhardt and so, the first "Slayers" where created.

Slowly but surely the human race became the dominant species on Terra once again, reducing "The Fallen" population to a point of near extinction, the years passed, humankind survived and thrived, in time, this apocalyptic event came down to be known in human history as "The Crisis".

But the shadow of the threat that "The Fallen" represent was never forgotten, and until humanity was certain they managed to push them into extinction, the "Slayers" continue to be necessary for all governments around the world.

CHAPTER 1: GOOD MORNING

The dark, dreadful creature stands tall before me, it has it's own bones sticking out of it's pitch-black flesh like sharp spikes and 3 sets of eyes that glow red like demon eyes, all 6 of 'em staring at me, I tighten the grip on my weapon and brace for what's to come, I'm decided to end it with one final strike, yet... only one thing still bothers me... Why do I feel like I know this monster?

*Don, don, don*

I wake up and realize I was having a nightmare.

*Don, don, don*

"Is someone knocking at my door?"

*Click, creak, clack*

Barely awake I hear a familiar voice calling me.

"Wake up..."

I roll around my sheets, growling, trying to be aware of who is calling me.

"Kane, Wake up..."

"Huh?"

I respond, my voice sounds low and raspy, I manage to pull my head out of the sheets, but still cannot fully open my eyes.

"You asked me to wake you up at 7:00hrs, just before my classes, remember?

I'd recognize that long, straight, dark hair and intense brown eyes anywhere.

"Oh right..." I get off my bed slowly, "Just let me get my gear and I'll walk you to your classes HItomi"

"Thank you, I appreciate it" she gently replies, just before walking out of my room.

I get dressed and equipped, walk out of my room and get downstairs, where I see my mother cooking her breakfast at the kitchen.

"Good morning son, your coffee is on the table, black as usual"

My mother brews a pot of coffee every morning and never makes breakfast for me because I never have time to eat on the mornings, I usually work since dawn but some days I can walk Hitomi to her classes at the university, today is one of those days.

"Here is one for you too Hitomi" she handles her a travel mug full of black coffee, "No cream, no sugar, and a dash of cold water dear" she smiles at her.

"Thank you Mrs. Kanna, you know just how to do the perfect coffee!" She smiles back.

We take our leave and walk through the town.

"Kane..."

"Yes?"

"How is your training progressing?" she looks at me with her usual intensity.

"Well... it's... progressing... not as good as I would want to, but progressing, I definitely need to hit the books harder, the more I study the more I realize there are a ton of things I still don't know about "Slayers" and there's only a year left before I receive "The Call""

"Good, it's good to know our own weaknesses, where we are dull we need to sharpen and training is our sharpening stone"

She pauses for a brief moment.

"And your physical training?"

I remain silent for a few seconds not wishing to speak my mind out loud, "slow" it's the only word that comes to mind.

"...."

"Is something wrong? you got the talent and the time for it, you got no excuse" her eyes are even more focused on mine now.

"I... I... agh... look, everything is fine it's just..."

"Just?"

I turn my sight away from her to look down the road.

"Just a bit slow that's all, I'm not my brother, I'm no genius like him"

"You're not, but I'm sure you will surpass him one day, if you keep training hard of course"

"You're right, I'll work my way up and become one the best Slayers, you'll see" I smile and rise my sight.

"I'm sure you will Kane and...  talking about work and progression... your savings must be very close to your goal now if I am not mistaken"

I nod with my head then quickly turn it towards her to look straight into her eyes.

"Wait... are you stalking me lil' lady?"

*She blushes immediately after my question*

"I... I just noticed you've been working harder lately."

I tilt my head slightly, raise my eyebrows and half-close my eyes looking at her inquisitively.

"Is that so?"

"I-I mean, you don't dine quite as often as you used to at The Blue Bonsai, that means you either choose to not spend your time and money there or you're ending your shift late."

"You're just on top of everything huh?"

"I-I..."

She seems flustered.

"I just want you to reach your goals, my apologies if my actions led you to believe I'm stalking you"

Her face is even more red than before.

She respectfully bows down with her upper body towards me, lowering her sight just in front of my feet.

"But no, you are not mistaken, I'm pretty close to my goal, in less than a week I'll have enough to buy an Ironside, you're quite observant lil' one, I actually like that about you."

"Thank you Kane"

She is still blushing but relaxes a bit and we keep walking towards the campus.

"Wait, I thought you wanted to buy a regular bike to be able to make your deliveries faster not an Ironside, can you even acquire one? aren't those bikes military-grade and only approved for Slayer use?"

"Well... yes, technically that's true, a non-Slayer individual cannot buy a fully equipped armored Ironside, but you can buy the base model which is still the fastest and the most reliable motorcycle you can buy on the market, besides, the part of the military-grade equipment can only be provided by the government"

Hitomi rises her eyebrows, her eyes wide open.

"Oh I see, I didn't know that"

Her eyes return back to normal, directs her sight away from me and blushes.

"You okay?"

She keeps looking away but answers my question.

"I just like when you teach me something new, I find it quite manly"

Her words catch me off guard, now I'm the one blushing.

"Whoo, er... thanks! glad to teach you new things, but it's really my job to know those things if I'm to become a Slayer"

She giggles discreetly covering her mouth and nose with her hand,

"You're right"

She says while she smiles at me.

"So! you're not the only one paying attention."

She looks at me, her eyes reflect her surprise.

"You've been using a different perfume for the last 2 weeks"

Now she is clearly confused.

"What? Kane but I don't use any..."

I interrupt.

"Oh yes you do! you just don't "apply" it voluntarily"

She touches her lower lip with the tip of her thumb, puzzled.

"You smell like cookie dough and dark chocolate, that means you're either eating like a pig or baking cookies, and... as I don't see any weight gain in you, it's gotta be the latter"

She blushes yet again.

"I-I.. I didn't know you had such a sharp nose"

"You always smell good in a girly way, but these past weeks you smell like something I could take a bite off of it!

I laugh involuntarily, try to quickly recompose by clearing my throat.

*Ahem*

"No offense of course"

Hitomi blushes even more.

"W-Well, you know I love cooking, and I know I perform well at The Blue Bonsai, but bakery it's a whole different specialization, my teacher says I'm as good as ready to work at any bakery in town, but... I'm not even close to my mother yet, that's why I've been practicing lately, top of the class doesn't mean anything out in the real world"

"She always pushes herself so hard since we were kids—you're right, I'm sure you'll get to your mother's level with enough training and dedication"

"Thank you Kane, I will keep doing my best"

We reach the Maple's University campus grounds and take separate ways, it's time for me to go train and make some deliveries. Check my PDA to look at which deliveries are lined up for today—only 1 for the morning and 3 more on the afternoon.

"Mmmm... The only job for this morning is a pick up at the university's library, that's pretty close, lucky me, I don't even need to get my push bike, I'll just walk there since I'm already here, Destination...

My eyes open wide as i read, "Bird's Eye Nest!?" I let my voice escape involuntarily.

Bird's Eye Nest is a military outpost halfway to Lustra City, I will have to spend the whole morning in just one job, but payment is good.

"Guess the only training I'll be doing this morning it's a quick study at the library".

CHAPTER 2: THE LIBRARIAN

I enter the Maple's University campus and go straight into the library to pick up the package, my client is none other than the young prodigy—Professor Roan Eikenboom, I would recognize that brilliant red hair and round glasses anywhere, I've seen him on campus before, almost always researching something at the library, but never really spoken to him, he seems nice though, Hitomi takes one class with him "Nutrition & Food Chemistry" I think.

As soon as I step into the library I spot Prof. Roan talking to the librarian—a young, blond, slim, pretty girl with cute glasses, generous hips with thighs wider than my shoulders and a tiny waist to boot— I've seen her before a number of times, she is the librarian after all but... this is actually the first time I look at her carefully, she is quite attractive, maybe the professor is trying his luck with her, I wouldn't blame him if that is the case.

"Mmm..." I stand still for a moment watching their interactions.

It doesn't seem like it, he is looking at her more like a big brother, maybe even... in a fatherly way? I might be wrong but it really doesn't look like the professor is interested in her in "that" way... anyways, time to get to work, I got less than an hour to do the pickup and hit the books so I better hurry.

"Good morning Professor" I say at the same time I walk towards him.

"Good morning student, how may help you" he replies with a gentle expression.

"I'm not your student Prof. Eikenboom, I'm the courier you requested, the name's Kane, nice to meet you"

"Oh my!" he says raising his eyebrows in surprise, "My apologies, you look so young I mistook you for one of my students"

"Don't worry professor, now, where is the package?"

"Of course, of course, it's right here" he pulls a small box out of his pocket, no bigger than his fist.

"So small, never delivered something so small before—okay, please sign here" I pull out my PDA, signing screen up front.

"Here you go"

"He signs quite smoothly—Thank you Mr. Eikenboom"

Those are some nimble and dexterous fingers to wield a digital pen like that, guess the professor either writes too much by hand or is skilled at drawing, maybe both.

"Young man"

"Yes sir?"

He turns his head towards me and adjusts his glasses, the big circles reflect the light in a way I cannot see through them, his expression turns a bit sinister and his tone—dead serious.

"Should I expect my package to reach it's destination today?"

"Yes sir, before the night falls"

"Efficient..." his glasses stop reflecting the light as he relaxes and leans back a little bit, allowing me to see a much gentler expression "I like that!"

"Thank you for choosing our services"

"Safe travels and good luck young man" he looks at the librarian "I'll see you later Holly, enjoy your coffee"

The professor takes his leave.

"Holly huh? pretty girl, pretty name—good day miss" I say while walking away from her to my usual spot to get some study done.

"G-Good day sir" she replies hastily and clumsy.

I grab a couple of books I left almost finished a couple of days ago, sit on my spot and get to it— the library is almost always a very busy place, busy but relaxed at the same time, "calm" is the word that comes to mind when I think of this place, I like it, but every once in a while you can hear the librarian dropping something, a book, her coffee... even herself... she is clumsy, nothing to do about it, because there's no denying she is the best at what she does after all, things here at the library are always in perfect order— also... I once heard HItomi say she is kind of a genius too, maybe that's why she gets along so well with Prof. Eikenboom.

Until today I paid no mind to who was or wasn't here, I come to study after all, never noticed her so much but now that I know her name... just can't stop looking her way, it's... distracting, specially when she's looking at me—wait a second! she is looking at me, why is she looking at me?—I bet she is interested in the package the professor gave me. I'm kind of curious too, it's small, also very lightweight... jewelry for a secret lover would fit here, maybe? no... he doesn't strike me as the romantic kind, only things I could think that can fit in here would be a key for something? somewhere? a sample of something related to his research or a... a Memoria Drive, yes that's probably it but... if the professor is sending this to Bird's Eye outpost that means he is working for the military... or maybe he just has a relative there, mmm... whichever the case my job is to deliver it to it's destination and...

"!!!"  I gasp suddenly in alert and surprise.

As I was lost in my thoughts, out of nowhere the sensation of hot liquid running down my back, shoulders and chest all the way to my lap interrupts my thoughts.

"Oww, ow, ow, ow! what the!?" I exclaim fairly loud.

I instinctively push the book in my hands away from me further into the reading table to protect it from getting wet and ruined, turning around as fast as I can, I see Holly, the librarian with teary eyes, clumsily and stiffly flailing her arms trying to not let her now empty porcelain coffee cup drop all the way to the floor without any success, she looks like a child playing with a balloon, but faster... and in distress, I see the cup up and down, up and down, but she never manages to catch it, finally the little white cup escapes her and falls on my now coffee soaked lap, I take it and present it to her.

"Here" I say impassive while putting the cup on her hands

The clumsy blond looks at me, her face fully red, her hands trembling.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm so, so-sooooo sorry!" she exclaims while trying to hold back tears.

"Hey, calm down it's just coffee... hot coffee... it kinda burns... I mean, you ok?"

"I-I didn't mean to!, P-PLEASE! come with me!" she takes her cup and grabs my hand to pull me out of the chair, I offer no resistance and stand up to follow her lead.

Walking quickly and never letting my hand go she takes me towards her desk, leaves her coffee cup on top of the little white porcelain saucer, opens the first drawer and takes a set of keys.

"Please come with me, let's clean you up" she says as she pulls my hand again, this time she takes me to her office on the farthest part of the library, she opens the wooden door and we enter, —I can't help but notice the place is in perfect order and smells strongly of coffee grains and vanilla— she quickly guides me to the backdoor, this door has a little metallic plate that reads "Teachers' Lounge", using one of the keys she previously grabbed she unlocks it and we go through.

Once inside the Teachers' Lounge I can see it has a simple yet clean and effective arrangement, lines of small wooden desks with their respective nameplates on them stand on each side of the place, just by looking I can tell there are no more than a dozen of them, this university always valued quality over quantity so it's just natural the professorate is compact in numbers, Holly turns around and exclaims.

"I'll get you a towel and I'm sure the professor can lend me some dry clothes for you" she looks at me, still in distress.

I look at her, then I turn my sight at her hand still holding mine, then at her again.

She looks at me, then follows my eyes, looks at her hand holding my hand and then towards me again, I repeat the motion, eyes to her face then our hands, then face again, she does exactly the same in silence.

"Can you let my hand go now? if we hold hands any longer I might start misinterpreting this" I say in a playful tone.

She gasps with her eyes wide open "Eeeek!". She squeals and blushes while releasing my hand quickly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

"Don't worry" I sigh and look around, "But I guess we should not stay here for too long or you will be in trouble, right?"

She nods and quickly gets behind one of the small desks, "The name tag... -Holly Whitepine- has her name on it, so she is a part of the professorate too" she opens a drawer, takes out pen and paper, hastily writes a little note and with short, fast steps like she is running but not really she moves behind another small desk, the tag indicates it belongs to Prof. Eikenboom. She leaves it at plain sight on the top of the desk, where it's easy to spot, she opens a drawer and takes out a black shirt and hands it over to me.

"Take off the wet one and you can change here,  there's no one around" she smiles nervously.

I take the shirt from her and look at her. She stares at me, I do the same. This lasts some good 30 seconds before I break the silence.

"Should I take this as a date or something?"

She blushes confused, "Wha-wha-what!?" her mouth remains open.

I sigh and shake my head, "First you "INVITE" me a coffee, then YOU hold my hand and now YOU ask me to take off my shirt claiming no one is around, if this keeps going on I might really misinterpret this" I say in a playful tone once again.

She blushes brilliantly and shakes her head with so much force that I think something is going to snap while stepping back with trembling legs.

"No-no-no, no, no, I'm sorry I didn't mean to!..."

I interrupt, "I'm joking, calm down" I raise my hands in front of her showing my palms in a stopping motion, "This lady really doesn't know how to read people, guess she doesn't socialize much", I turn around, take off my straps and shirt then change into the fresh one she just gave to me.

Agitated and flustered she covers her red face and turns away from me exclaiming "I'm sorry! not looking!"

I finish changing. She tries to avoid eye contact with me. In an attempt to calm her down I thank her.

"Thank you for the shirt Ms.Whitepine"

Suprised she fails avoiding eye contact, "How do you know my"..." I interrupt, "It's on your desk's name tag" I turn around and walk towards the door we first came in by, stopping when I reach it, "Shall we?" I ask looking at her again.

She once again does that funny thing where she runs but not really, short and fast steps.

Once we are out of the room, pass through her office and back in the Library she apologizes energetically and runs off before I manage to say anything.

"Well... guess I didn't manage to do any studying after all" I sigh, "I should be off to work then, I promised Prof. Roan his package would be delivered today, better hurry"