Chapter 101.

PART 1.

Raven is thinking about what kind of secrets are still hidden in plain sight, just as same as Hatori’s lair. It is a proper lair by this point, with a ground, a secret tunnel, and an underground lab. Raven always calls that place Hatori’s lair, because he may have allowed them to use it, but he believes it rightfully belongs to him since he found it first.

Then, he sees a puppy coming at him. this is nothing new, students do keep pets here. Though none of them are mad enough to call them something familiar like those Albions do. Shaking his head to get rid of the distracting thoughts, Raven observes the puppy, as it halts in front of him. he has not seen this species of dog among the pets.

‘Could it be a wild one?’ he thinks, after all, animals do not need Hatori to sneak inside all the time.

The puppy starts to move its tail and paws, which reminds Raven of a human who is trying to communicate with gestures. ‘Someone who recently learned to do that.’ he thinks.

Not understanding what exactly the puppy wants, Raven walks away. But the dog follows him, barking at him for his attention. He tries to evade the dog since kicking it and making it run off is not on his daily to-do list. ‘I can’t be that evil.’ He decides.

When he realizes that the dog won’t leave him alone no matter what, Raven starts to run, trying to leave him behind. But the puppy manages to keep up with him. “You know what? Let’s take you to someone else. Let him decide what to do with you.”

Raven starts to levitate the puppy, despite its protests, and he goes back to Hatori’s lair. ‘He has lived in the forest and dealt with animals before. Let him figure out what is going on here.’

The barking of the puppy quietens down as Raven brings him to the secret ground, and it completely halts when he goes inside the tunnel. Opening the room of the frozen time, he sees Shin and Hatori working with sound magic, where Hatori is the lab rat for Shin’s spells. though he doesn’t seem to be suffering anything.

“Oh hey, what brought you back so quickly?” asked Hatori.

“Ug.” Raven stumbles. “Could you stop that ruckus for a moment?” he asked Shin.

“Sure.” He said, putting down his violin. “But what’s with the puppy? I didn’t know you had a pet.”

“I don’t he just keeps following me around.” Said Raven.

“How do you know it is a he? It could be a she, you know.” Said Shin.

‘I’m a male, you ignorant morons!’ comes a familiar voice in Hatori’s head.

He suddenly sits up and summons the puppy right in his lap. “Josh?” he says.

‘Of course, it is me. wait, you can hear me?’ he asked.

“Yeah,” said Hatori.

“You mean to say that Josh is that puppy?” asked Raven and Shin.

“Yeah,” said Hatori.

A moment of silence later, Raven and Shin roar with laughter. “Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

‘Stop laughing!’ screamed Josh, while he growled outside.

“This isn’t a laughing matter. We have to find a way to get his… ug. Soul back in his body.” Said Hatori.

“Do you have problems with souls eh buddy?” asked Shin.

“Yeah, it is an immaterial concept, untestable and unknowable. I hate everything like that,” said Hatori.

“Like it or not, the soul is the closest thing that we have.” Said Raven.

“True. But first, I’m sorry my friend, I shouldn’t have been experimenting then.” Said Hatori.

‘Nah, having seen what you have gone through when you were exiled last year, I can’t blame you.’ said Josh. ‘But I’m not here to get an apology here. I’m here to inform you.’

‘About what?’ asked Hatori telepathically.

‘The council has gone to the lake and circle; they have surrounded that place. They are waiting for you to go back there.’ Said Josh.

Hatori gets the images with his explanation. ‘Looks like my mind can project images even without having eyes when it comes to telepathy.’

But this isn’t the time to think about it. “Oy, why have you gone silent like that?” asked Shin.

“The council is waiting for me in an ambush in the forest.” Said Hatori.

“And I guess you have to go back there?” asked Raven.

“I do.” Said Hatori, though he does not elaborate on why.

“Okay, we need a multistep plan to deal with our enemies. But first, I think I should tell you what happened with James.” Said Raven.

“You didn’t tell him?” shrilled Shin.

“I didn’t want to stress him.” he defended himself. After a ten-minute-long explanation, and telling them about the note James left for him, Raven waits for Hatori’s reaction.

“I suspected something. James would have come to me sooner or later,” said Hatori.

“You’re not angry?” asked Raven.

“I am, not at you. but at that girl.” Said Hatori, sounding very calm to his ears.

“Okay, so here’s what I have come up with. First, drag James, detox him, and second, mount an attack on the council. You in the forest, and we in the school.” Said Raven. “Bonus if we can get the power structure of the council.”

“James won’t come quietly though.” Hatori pointed out.

“We can handle the girl ourselves. We need you to handle James.” Said Shin.

“Exactly.” Raven nodded, glad that Shin caught on to his plan so quickly.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” said Hatori. “Though if I can enhance myself, fighting the council, and taking care of James would be easier.”

“So that is why you want to go back to the forest.” Said Raven.

“Yes. I don’t think I would get a huge power boost, but I’m sure I can take out some of the council members. Enough to gut their power structure, as you put it.” said Hatori.

“How can we get you inside of the forest without their notice though?” asked Shin.

“Just getting inside of the forest won’t do.” Said Hatori. “I must appear right in the circle, with runes ready. The ritual is already ready, I just need to trigger it.”

Hatori looks down at Josh. ‘I think you can help us.’

‘Really?’ asked Josh, unable to stop from waving his tail.

‘Just do this.’ Hatori shares the workings of the portal and the coordinates from the ground to the circle. ‘Can you do that?’

‘Of course.’ He immediately leaves the room.

“Where is he going?” asked Raven.

“To find me a way into the circle.” Said Hatori. “I think I had to perform this ritual earlier than I thought.”

“You should wait if you need to. You shouldn’t push it if you need more time to prepare.” Said Raven.

“I will have all the time,” said Hatori. “Just do me a favor. Come here in six hours or so. I will be ready in that time.”

“Okay.” sighed Raven, not wanting to argue about the specifics.

“What about his body?” asked Shin.

“Don’t worry. Once our enemies are taken care of, I will work with Slaughter to transfer him back inside.” Said Hatori.

PART 2.

“Do you plan to continue this foolishness?” asked Ramesh, after opening the door, and looking at the fourth-year student inside.

“You can’t stop me,” said Avinash, sitting like a king with his back straight on the chair, with no fear on his face.

“Fine then. We’ll keep you here until you come to your senses.” Said the president of the council, before closing the door with a loud bang.

‘Hmhmhmhm. Looks like someone lost control.’ He thought with a smirk.

Avinash is put on a reminder by the student council. his status is huge, given his father is the prime minister, and his family background, since Varma is a very powerful, though somewhat splintered family.

Someone of his birth aligning with the rabbles is a puzzle for the student council. but for Avinash, it is simple. ‘These idiots are keeping us anchored in this backward society. I refuse to let it stand where it is right now. Porus did not give in to the social pressures, and I won’t either.’

The council cannot harm him. The thought didn’t even occur to them. though they have kept him arrested inside of this room, they can’t keep him here forever. However, given their operations on the forest, and keeping Avinash under guard, the resources of the council are stretched thin. The bulk of their members are in the forest, while a few of them are guarding the room of Avinash where he is restrained. Rest is trying to keep a lid on this rebellion.

“Why can’t you be like us?” asked Ramesh when Avinash was brought here first. “You have every privilege. Why do you align with these backward barbarians?”

Though Avinash remained silent, he knew the answer to this question. aside from playing politics to become the king in the future (he takes this ambition very seriously) he built up a following of younger kids, no matter their background. He did that by offering them help whenever they needed it, not shying away from directly involving himself, even if it was something mundane as offering his help with homework.

During this time, he saw how the kids from the lower families, or kids without a family are the same, have the same fears, likes, and dislikes, and are at the edge of society, through no fault of their own. He felt empathy for them. after that, his motives changed. Initially, he only helped them to improve his image, so they would accept him as their king in the future.

But now? He genuinely wants to help them. that is why he jumped on the chance when Raven rebelled. When his followers saw that he was helping this crazy revolution, they wanted to be part of it. soon, it spread to the other, older students, and they joined this struggle, regardless of their background.

‘This is something which you will never understand.’ He thinks while imagining the face of the president of the council. ‘That Raven is a one-smart guy. I’ll make him my general once I get the throne.’

PART 3.

Josh comes inside of the forest, where he sees that the council members who were at the lake near the circle, are now outside of the forest, having been driven out by the other animals. He can sense that by seeing their haggard and tired faces, and by smelling blood on them. ‘Looks like they got injured.’

He also gets to hear a small conversation. “How could those animals be so strong? We teamed up, and yet they nearly killed us.”

“No wonder they caused such a ruckus last year.”

As Josh gets inside the forest, he is ambushed by the dogs of his group. This time, there are older dogs with young ones, but Josh doesn’t have time to deal with them. Josh looks for the water element nearby but finds nothing. So, he decides he will use the next best thing. He waved his tail, and created other bigger dogs out of mud, which leapt on his attackers. After this, he joins his paws and produces enough water around his body that he barreled through them, and arrives at the lake. He goes at the teleporter and suddenly finds a large beast looking down upon him.

He looks up… up… up… and finally realizes that he is looking at an elephant, who is displeased by his presence. Josh quickly inputs the coordinates, before the large animal can squash him.

PART 4.

Raven knocks on the door and comes inside. “Hatori, it is time,” he said.

“Sure.” He comes out, with hair grown beyond his shoulders, and he seems to have put up a lot of muscle in just a few hours. ‘That is just awesome. You have to see it to believe it.’

Hatori talked with the Dwarves and got a month’s worth of food, which he brought inside. After that, he followed the exercises for preparing his body for this ritual, eating only the food described in the notes, and only doing the training which is described on those pages. While outside only six hours have passed, and Hatori has spent nearly three months, which is more time than he needed.

He goes to the ground, and the supporters of the council immediately spot him. They are taken aback by his wild appearance, but before they can attack him, he disappears.

PART 5.

The elephant was about to crush the puppy for daring to tamper with the creation of his friend, but his hoof was stopped before it could crush the dog. He recognizes the smell. ‘Wow. You’ve gotten strong.’

‘Still not strong enough to beat you directly. I need your help, my friend.” Asked Hatori, going to the circle. He planned to create a circle for himself, but he had no time now.

‘Of course. Don’t worry, no one can touch you as long as we’re guarding you.’ With a shriek, he calls his horde, and after listening to that, other animals also come out near the lake.

PART 6.

“My lord,” said a fifth-year student, “I can sense him. he has returned.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“How could he do that? We didn’t even sense him entering through the possible paths.” Said the sixth year in the command of the group. “No matter. Let’s go inside, tonight, we will kill him.”

The fifth-year sensor considers whether it is too late to rebel or not, maybe he should have listened to his cousin, and have shown some backbone. Maybe he wouldn’t be facing a forest full of monsters.

PART 7.

Hatori is lying on the circle without clothes, while the yantra starts to carve on his body. ‘Next time, I’ll give the water some pain-killing properties.’ He thinks while feeling the throb of each symbol.

He couldn’t sense what was going on outside of the circle, but he could judge from the noise. “Hatori, you coward, come out and face us!”

That, and the challenges. Looks like that bastard who ambushed him first is also here. ‘Probably to get his pound of flesh.’

The council members did not expect to face a literal army of creatures, as they were blocked hundreds of meters away from the lake. They couldn’t face a bunch of elephants before, and they are not interested in trying their luck against these many creatures. Their path of running is also blocked by a swarm of wasps and bees. Looks like the forest won’t let them leave alive.

They know that Hatori is at the center of this army, protected by them. so, they are left with no other option but to hurl insults at him, hoping that he will be susceptible to the problem of ego, and will come out to face them.

“Hatori, you were called here to be a hero, is that how a hero behaves?” said one council member.

The rest of them looked at her, which sounded more like a gentle chiding than the deep words that would slice at the very heart of their enemy. Santosh decides to step up to the plate and demonstrate how it is done. “Hatori, I like that blind friend of yours.” He licked his lips. “Maybe I should bring him here? Maybe you would love to hear his screams of pleasure?”

The rest of the council members look at Santosh in disgust. “Hatori, if there is any bravery in your ancestor’s blood, then come out here, and face us!”

Now, that was a good one. “Hatori, if you have drunk the milk of your mother’s breast, then come out here, and face us!”

The council members began to clap after that one.

Hatori could care less whether someone wants to question his ancestry or call him a coward. For now, he is experiencing pain which makes him wish he could curl up, and die. He considers himself lucky that he is only experiencing this pain on his shoulders and head, specifically around his ears. With each new symbol that is carved on his body, the magic rushes from his body to make that symbol execute its operation. Hatori cannot stop this process, even if he wants to. The magic will rush out of him, no matter how hard he tries to hold on to it to soothe his pain. He controls his breathing since that is the only thing that is keeping him from curling up from the pain, as his hearing is lost completely. This is normal, he expected this when his hearing was about to be improved, and defenses against sound-related attacks were put on his ears. He compared it with a driver’s update, where the hardware disconnects for a moment when the new drivers are installed, and then comes back online.

Still, it is no easy task to remain calm in this state. Hatori gets an idea of what it would be like to become completely blind and deaf. He feels like a brain trapped in a human-shaped prison, thrashing to get out of it, but there is no way out. truly, death is preferable to living like this.

this does not last for long, however, as once the symbols are carved, and the final bit of magic is pulled into them, his ears come back with a pop, and his hearing sounds so much sharper than before. ‘I must ask Shin to test the limits of the sound defenses once again.’ He thinks in the haze of pain.

The symbols of strength are also completed on his shoulders, and after experiencing an empty feeling when all the magic is drawn from his body, it comes back with a vengeance, flowing within him, healing his wounds, making his body stronger, and the ocean which he always finds when he pictures the flow of magic within his body surges wildly.

Sitting up, he roars in the sky, silencing the insults and the roaring and baying of the animals. It sounded like the clouds themselves descended on the ground, and the lightning itself was very close to them. he sees the blood on the ground, and he suddenly gets the idea of improving the circle with that.

‘Why bother creating a new one? This one works just fine.’ He thinks, as he brings the image of this circle in front of him, and manipulates the symbols, adding and removing them to optimize it, adding the pain-killing properties to the water, and adding other modifications like better runes for joint enforcements for the creatures.

Summoning his clothes from the nearby tree, he quickly wears them and gets the hell out of the circle. He senses the buildup of magic, similar to the one that he sensed when he performed a ritual here for the first time. but the magic is coming for him. As he runs through the crowd of beasts, the magic hits his body like the wind during bad weather, and it overloads his magic reserves. The council members who came to attack him were thrown around from the explosion of it. the lake roiled, as new properties are added to its water, and the circle becomes shiny, and a platform appears where there was nothing but ground previously. ‘I didn’t intend this effect at all.’ Shaking his head, this is not the time to think about it. “So, what were you saying? Do I dare to face you or not? Is that it?”

He attacked the council members with bolts of lightning. ‘I must create my spells.’ he takes a mental note.

At first, they were confident that they could handle him. but when they find that their protection is not good enough to stand up to his attacks, they start running, and Hatori starts chasing them. it was a rare event, where a fourth-year student chases the fifth, sixth-, and seventh-year students, who are running in terror.

Hatori slaughters the sixth-year council members entirely, all of them are killed by just one hit. Whether it was a bolt of lightning, a fireball, or just an iron spike driven through their heads, they all died in just a hit.

“Why do you run now? You were quite bold just a few moments ago. Weren’t you saying that I dared to face you or not? Well, here I am, and you’re running away!” he killed the seventh-year leader of this group, as soon as they all arrived on the Academy grounds.

Seeing the council in such terror, as well as their numbers reduced, while they get chased by a wild boy in a frenzy broke the spirit of the rest of the student population, and they start to run in fear as well.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he drags Santosh with the summoning spell to himself, and grabs his neck, and despite the height difference between them, he hoists him up in the air.

“What were you saying? You were going to violate my friend, huh?”

“I…. I…” choked the boy, but Hatori was not in the mood to listen.

“Well, how about this?” he runs thousands of volts of current through his body and listens to his screams with a crazed expression on his face. This brutality scared the students even further.

While Hatori was occupied with Santosh, the rest of the council ran inside of their council offices, and hid under their desks, gibbering in terror. They have fought and killed people in the past, but this kind of brutality they have never expected or seen before. Only warlords from history textbooks seem to have this kind of brutality, but they are not ready to face it in real life.

After Hatori throws the charred body of Santosh away like yesterday’s trash, he moves inside of the Academy. he heard from Raven about the schedule of the president of this dubious council, and he knows where he will be at this time. barging into the classroom, and ignoring the cry of the professor “Not again!” he drags the president with his collar, while the older student is helpless in his grip.

He is terrified by what is happening to him. his magic has frozen up as a result, and he can’t seem to get any of his protections to work. “You think you’re so high and mighty that you can always make decisions in your office, and the rest of us will watch?”

“You can’t do this!” blurts Ramesh, uncaring of his reputation. “I’m the president of the council, and my family is—”

Slap!

“Do I look like I care what your family does?” asked Hatori. “You banished me last year, you tried to kill me this year, all while remaining the good little teacher’s pet. Well, don’t worry. I’m sure you can get the full marks in the afterlife, after all, I’ll send your favorite teacher to you soon.” Hatori prepares the Fire Blast, ready to blow the president into bloody pieces.

“I’m the sire of a powerful family—” Slap! “I’m the president of this school, I run this school!”

Slap!

“Seriously, this is just getting sad.” He then drops the spell on Ramesh’s body, which explodes into burning pieces, making everyone who was the witness to this brutal execution.

Hatori senses and hears around. ‘There is another target.’

Everyone runs and hides in their room. The classes are canceled for the school students because they refuse to come out of their rooms. This did not affect the college-level students or the older apprentices.

PART 8.

The whole school is in shock, since an eighth-year student dying by a fourth-year student is a big deal, especially if that student is the president of the student council, Neha is unconcerned with these developments. She has James wrapped around her finger, and she plans to enjoy some time off since the classes are canceled.

However, Shin and Raven, two of James’s friends show up. “Oh, it’s you guys—” she said with distaste barely hidden in her tone, but she found herself attacked by these two boys.

Nearby, James tries to come to help her, but the wild-looking blind boy stops him. They begin to fight, while Shin trills, and binds her with a rope. “Hands tied behind your back. I saw that pose in a magazine.”

“Forget the magazines, you have the detox potion?” asked Raven.

“Of course, the other vials are in the room. He’ll need several doses.” Neha tries to scream, but Shin conjures up a hankey and shoves it in her mouth. “I hear you high-class ladies like that.”

Raven just sighed. He looks at the performance of James in the fight nearby. He is looking like the shadow of the boy who fought him and Josh together just a year ago. He is unable to keep up with a battle-crazed Hatori, who easily manages to dodge his sloppy spells. he also doesn’t use any elemental magic, which would have given Hatori some trouble.

But Hatori is also running on adrenalin by this point, and his recently closed wounds open and start to bleed. They did not have enough time to stabilize. His shirt is drenched with blood, and the blood also drips from his ears.

Despite that, Hatori manages to knock out James, not using any magic, instead applying a choke hold after wrestling him down to the floor. “We’ll take it from here.” Said Raven. He doesn’t want Hatori to kill James in his battle craze.

“Here, let me levitate him.” Shin makes some motion from his hands, and James starts levitating. They take him to healer Slaughter, while Raven comments on Shin’s fociless magic.

“You seem to be doing quite well at the fociless magic.”

“Don’t have a choice. My foci were destroyed in an ambush.” Said Shin. As their voices get more and more distant, Hatori looks at Neha.

She is terrified by him, even with his head covered in blood, he looks ready to take on multiple opponents. Neha manages to get her hand free and frees herself after getting out her foci. She tries to pursue the boys since her future is getting away right in front of her eyes. But a blood-crazed psychopath stops her in the middle of her tracks.

“Going somewhere?” he asked. “Do you honestly think you will get out of here without suffering, after poisoning and taking the will of my friend away?”

‘How is he so eloquent in his state?’ she thinks. “Come now. I’m a girl, you’re a boy. a crazed one at that. what do you think if I called some gentlemen here to save myself from you? you’ll get a public beating.”

“Call them!” shouts Hatori while snapping his finger. Neha starts to burn, while Hatori turns his back to her, waiting to see who will show up after hearing her screams.

PART 9.

It is the time of the night, and the whole room is awake. James is furious, he nearly upturned the entire room, throwing the beds and pillows everywhere with his magic, in his anger. The anger quickly gave away to tears, as he felt disgusted towards himself.

“There, we’re all here for you,” said Raven.

“Yes, of course.” Said Hatori from his other side.

Shin is playing some soothing tunes on his violin, hoping that this will help their friend calm down. James feels violated, and they all suspect that this entire incident will haunt him for a long time.

They can do nothing but hold him as he cries, they must ensure that he knows that they all are here for him.(End.)