Chapter 10- Trial in the Pocket Dimension (II)

"Boooom!!" A terrifying explosion echoed through all the corners of the pocket dimension. A huge red pillar of flame and fume was  painted on the horizon. Rising like a new star. The shockwave of the explosion was really powerful. Oz and Demiurgos who were near the place where the explosion took place had to reinforce their feet with high amounts of illeidos to avoid being blown away. Some unlucky fellows were not as fast as them and were send flying. Countless cries of agony could be heard through the whole forest. Rivers of blood were shed and many candidates were eliminated. Following that explosion, a crazed laughter could be heard. The maniatic and hollow sound made all the nearby candidates shiver. In a way, that was even more terrifying than the explosion itself. Who could possibly be laughing in such a way after an explosion of that size?

"Wow, Demiurgos my friend I think someone is challenging your plan to be the most striking pair...Fuhaha" Laughed Oz like if the huge event was nothing special.

"Hahah, Yes maybe I might need to reconsider my plans..." Demiurgos had considered several variables that might interpose in his plan but he never thought that something as terrifying as that explosion was actually going to happen. At the end, he shook his head and said.

"Anyways, we should get there and see what is happening."

Oz just nodded and followed behind Demiurgos. Both of them were a little bit pale. After all, that explosion took place only a few hundreds meters from their place.

Meanwhile, in the ground zero of the explosion...

"Hahaha!! Stupid ant how dare you act in such a way in front of me, huh?" Said a red-haired youth with a smile, but one could see clearly that his eyes were not smiling like his lips. Actually his eyes had a dangerous glint on them.

"Y-you, Just wait u-until our boss is here, you will learn of the might of our boss!!" Said a short guy while trembling. He had just witnessed how this red-haired youth finished his companions with ease. Like an adult stealing the candies from some kids. He knew very well that the only reason he was still standing there was because the red-haired spared him on a whim. Maybe he wanted to play with him, or he just wanted to chat and intimidate a little bit his unfortunate victim until the so called 'boss' arrived.

The ground zero was a true spectacle. The floor sank a dozen meters and the surrounding trees were all a mess. With broken trunks of over hundred meters, huge boulders scattered around those. Forming together a giant nest. A deadly nest. And right now there was a predator in the nest, inside the swirling dust that rose with the explosion, supressing everything and everyone with his raw bloodlust. His fierce gaze scaring all the curious onlookers who got there to check what was happening.

There were two guys dashing towards the nest. They were a little bit nervous but not scared like the rest. They were experienced experts who were able to tolerate the bloodlust of the red-haired demon.

"Demiurgos we should stop here or we might anger whoever did that. This bloodlust is definitely not something a normal student is capable of." Warned Oz with a quick glance.

"Hmm, the culprit is probably that red-haired guy. Well, actually he is probably the only one capable of such devastation. I think his name was Oscar Hkrotz, I just investigated him before the test. He is one of the protégés of Arisha Hkrotz, the 'Red Queen'. "

"The 'Red Queen', huh?' No wonder he has such a power despite his age." Nodded Oz, After all they were talking about one of the protégés of the 'Red Queen', who could sit at the top of the food chain. She was one of the ultimate experts, an adamantine ranked mercenary and also leader of the Hkrotz Company, one of the most influential mercenary organizations. The amount of adamantine ranked experts in the four major countries could be counted in the few hundreds. Which was a really reduced group taking into account that the whole population of the four major countries amounted to more than five billion.

A lot of the experts who graduated from the academies aimed to be mercenaries and once one raised a few ranks one could choose to join one of the several available mercenary companies. Those were mercenary organizations independent of the Mercenary Guild. If the Mercenary Guild was an entity who acted as an intermediary between the diferent job offers and the mercenaries, the companies were more like a 'family', the ones who would defend your interests and shoulder you in times of dificulties. There was mainly two kind of companies. The companies were almost anyone with a certain rank could join by application, and the elite companies were only a few could join. The elite companies instead of accepting applications, they invited directly the mercenary they were interested in. And that`s also the reason that there were a lot of gold ranked mercenaries without company, they were waiting patiently until one of the elite companies were interested in inviting them.

Of course, Hkrotz Company was the latter, one of the elite companies. But it was also one of the Big Five. The five most powerful and influential companies in the whole Four Major Countries. Those were:

'Black Rose', it is known because of its outstanding red-mercenaries. They work mainly with assasination and espionage requests. And they accept any kind of target as long as the price is fit. Actually, last year they killed one of the most important ministers from the Hegemonic States, it caused a huge uproar in the media and in the population since that minister was one of the most powerful men in the Hegemonic States, and was also a platinum ranked expert.

'Daelus Inc.', known because of their powerful magicians such as Ryir Flamthor or Hector Gris, two of the most powerful magicians in the world. It is a company integrated exclusively by magicians, so it is also considered the most powerful of the five because of the battle prowess of magicians.

'Hkrotz Company', the most recent of the five. It was founded around fifteen years ago by a teenager girl who shook the world with her might and ferocity. Not only did she get to platinum rank at the tender age of fourteen. By the time she was seventeen she got in troubles with the 'Bindass Company' which was one of the Big Five before it was utterly destroyed by her. Noone knows the exact details. But one morning the platinum ranked Arisha Hkrotz presented herself in the headquarters of the Bindass Company and slaughtered her path towards the private office of the president, who was also killed by her. She alone killed more than a hundred of the elite experts of the mercenary world, destroying one of the Big Five at such a young age, Also her fighting arts were rather special, she trained in one of the most powerful paths of the Darkness Arts, Blood Control. It was said that the several adamantine ranked mercenaries she killed that day were completely dried off their blood. And thus earning her the nickname 'Red Queen'.

'Coral', the most ramarkable company in dealing with Magical Beasts. It is also the company aimed by all the serious blue-mercenaries of the world. From the 129 adamantine ranked magical beasts slayed in the last 500 years since the founding of the Four Major Countries, Almost a third of them were the doing of members of Coral. And also their three founders participated in the Subjugation of the First Obsidian ranked beast hunted in history. In that battle, more than a hundred adamantine ranked experts joined forces but only  a handful of them returned alive. It was an event that would later be called the 'Great Calamity'. Three of those survivors founded 'Coral'.

There is a huge diference in ranks: Stone---Copper---Bronze---Silver---Gold---Platinum---Adamantine---Obsidian. The diference in rank from the lower levels was not really that high. But when one raised to platinum or adamantine, the diference was absolute. There has been only seven Obsidian ranked humans in the whole world. And also only three known magical beasts from the obsidian rank: The Immortal Crimson Phoenix, The Giant Green-Scaled Drak`rar and the deceased Celestial-Shelled Turtle. The only reason the Celestial-Shelled Turtle was defeated was because of the joined forces of the adamantine ranked experts and also the help of three Obsidian ranked humans, one of which heroically died, dealing a ultimate blow which caused heavy injuries to the Beast.

And last it is the most ancient and misteryous company of them all. It have never invited any new members since their founding. The name of this company is simply 'Twelfth', Though noone knows whether they are really only twelve members or not. The only thing known about them is that they are an absolute existence, maybe even older than the Four Major Countries themselves. Even though noone considers them the most powerful of the Big Five because there is not data about them. They are the most feared and their influence is on par with the Obsidian ranked experts.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Oz looked distracted for a second, but he suddenly noticed a familiar face approaching the nest.

"Hey Demiurgos, look there. Isn`t that our dear lord Fangsfall?" Smirked Oz, while pointing ith his fingers.

"Hmm...Damn now I have to remake the whole plan...Well actually, just F**k it. Let`s attack him!" Sighed Demiurgos helplessly, but then a feral expression appeared on his face.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Don`t worry. I had planned to ambush him with a bait and then finish him leisurely but this red-haired guy made a mess with my plans haha. But we should still be able to win."

"If you say so..."

"Trust me man. You should never doubt your dear big bro! Leave it to me, haha! We are partners, right?" Said Demiurgos with a proud and confident grin.

"Wait, wait. Why should I call you ''Big Bro'? I might actually be older than you, you know?"

"Well, ignore those small details and let`s go. Let`s make it flashy!"

Oz decided to give up and just follow Demiurgos`plan. After all arguing with this kind of people will only bring you a headache.

"I will take care of his two companions. I will leave him to you, is that ok?"

"Sure, besides I think that as long as he sees me he will go after me, so I actually don`t have much of a choice." Said Demiurgos as he shook his head.

"And why would that happen?"

"Well...Maybe, just maybe for the success of my initial plan I might have said a few things about his mother and some other branches of his family tree." Said Demiurgos with a innocent smile.

"Y-you...well whatever let`s go."

The two guys dashed towards Ren`s location. Oz could feel the gentle touch of the wind as he moved and then he landed directly in one of the two companions. With a swift motion of his arm he cut the throat of the unlucky fellow. But the second guy alerted by the death of his comrade, quickly retreated.

"Die!" He shouted before shooting with his handgun to Oz. But Oz was fast, he dodged the bullets infused with illeidos with swift and elegant movements. His footwork was exquisite. The coordination of his whole body was almost like a piece of art. As he was spinning in the air with an aerial flip, he shooted twice with his own handgun and then he dashed towards the enemy.

The opponent was not an average candidate either, in the group of Ren, he was second only to Ren himself. He dodged the two incoming bullets and readied his short sword.

On the other side, Demiurgos was battling fiercely with Ren. Ren was launching fierce attacks with his katana, but all of them were deflected by Demiurgos` shield. Slash, slash, another slash. Every attack was deflected. But then Ren with an annoyed expression took out a second katana from his i-wristband and charged again. This time he was able to land an strike on Demiurgos left leg.

Then, with a triunfant smile he charged again with his two katanas with even more energy than before. But, this time as Demiurgos deflected his first katana with his shield, he shot with his other hand with a gun-shaped object. As soon as Ren saw that weapon, he quickly retreated as he used his second katana to block part of the attack. His left hand was instantly frozen along with his katana. His face paled.

Close, too close! He was almost defeated, by that attack. He got careless when he finally broke through the defense of Demiurgos. He was enraged, to think that he would be defeated...in which case he would change from genius to the utter disgrace of the clan in the last hundred years. Never a scion of the Fangsfall failed the entrance exam to the Royal Academy.

Ren`s expression changed. He was not arrogant anymore, but serious. The aura surrounding him changed completely, it even made the confident Demiurgos pale a little bit. He charged again, this time with his frozen arm he striked the shield while with his katana he cut the gun-shaped weapon in two before Demiurgos could shoot.

Oz and his opponent were dancing a mortal vals. Flying together with the falling leaves. Attacking, defending, dodging. Every movement made was magnificient. But the fight was coming to an end. The skills of his opponent were quite decent for a guy of his age, but Oz was just 'special'.

He decided to stop playing with his opponent, this was a foe who deserved some respect as a fellow swordsman who was following the path of the sky. Even though his movements were still quite premature and clumsy. You could see clearly that he had a good foundation, and also some talent after all the path of the sky was one of the most dificult paths of the sword. And also it was not made for a short sword so obviously it required some skill to use its techniques in a diferent weapon such as the short sword that his opponent was using.

Oz eyes changed for a instant. A silvery blur could be seen before he landed three swift and elengant strikes on the neck of his oppenent. This was one of the highest level techniques of the path of the sky: 'One with the wind' It allowed the user to strike a really fast blow on the opponent. Depending on your level of mastery that blow could transform in two, three or more blows landed successively.

"Y-you ...actually..." Those were the last words of his enemy before turning into dust. His eyes had a hint of incredulity and horror but also respect and acknowledgment. After all he was also a swordsman following the path of sky and his dream was to one day be able to use the 'one with the wind' technique. So obviously seeing a youth of his age displaying such a mastery on the path of the sky he felt honoured instead of envious. He knew better than none how dificult was to reach such a level. And it was always an honor to be able to parry with a senior swordsman, as this would help him to gain insights.

As the battle on their side finished. The battle of Demiurgos also was coming to an end. Demiurgos was retreating as Ren chased him.

"Just give up, it`s just a matter of time before you lose. You can`t possibly believe that you will win me now that I destroyed your weapon!?" Shouted Ren confidently.

"Well, maybe with only a shield it might be dificult..." Replied Demiurgos as he reflected another attack. In that moment, Both, Ren and Demiurgos saw the end of the battle on Oz side. Ren was really surprised, after all even though he had high density of illeidos. In actual combat, the companion that was fighting Oz was really close to his own level. After all he was training in the powerful 'path of the sky'.

Demiurgos taking advantage of the situation of uncertainty, took a gun shaped weapon from his i-wristband and shooted. The last thing Ren saw was the weapon he destroyed previuosly in his eyes. He was both, doumbfounded and horrified. 'How is that possible?' 'Am i going to lose...?' Were his last thoughts before turning into an ice statue.

Oz walked towards Demiurgos, who was lying on the floor, with a smile.

"Good job!"

"Thanks...*sigh* Seriously those guys that are so naive to believe that their opponent can`t have two or three hidden cards wouldn`t last even a hour in the battlefield."

"It might be pointless to ask...But damn it, how many weapons did you actually take from the desks on the pavillion?" Said Oz with feigned anger.

"Hahaha, to tell ya the truth, even I don`t know. Eight? or maybe nine?" Laughed Demiurgos.

"Well maybe we might not be so outstanding as the red-haired but we just defeated that Fangsfall, your plan was a success!" Smiled Oz as he reached out with his hand to Demiurgos who was lying on the floor.

"Weeeeeell guys. Now that you are done with your little fight, are you ready to entertain me a lil bit?"

Oz and Demiurgos inmediately turned towards the direction of the voice. And thus a red-haired demon descended.

----------------------------------Project Notice Me---------------------------------------

Sunset-colored skies, silence in the air, dancing with the stench of blood and death. An ancient aura impregnating the atmosphere. Home of a pure angel, white as snow, fierce as a raging fire, slaying its enemies, enslaving their souls as her only friend. The necropolis of Dragons. Final destination of countless legends...and her home. She is the slayer of terrible beasts, the Dragon Princess.  Notice Me

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