“Ah… another fight, another term…” the languid sighs of Kazuya and his classmates went out as they lied down on the field outside of the school proper, not wanting to leave just yet.
Well, more like they couldn’t leave, considering that Jonathan told them, in no uncertain terms, ‘I will personally beat the crap out of every single one of you if you go home before I let you’ and then he walked away saying that he had to go wait for someone.
That had been an hour ago, and the first years were relaxing for the first time in a while since the fourth and final term of the year started.
A bit had changed during the transitioning between terms, such as Leah, Jade and Vince all reaching three Stars sometime during the holidays.
With that, each member of their class had reached three Stars, standardizing their levels to the same point as the second-years.
Well, the second-years who hadn’t reached four Stars yet… such as Julian Benjamin, who broke into four Stars after the SWT.
The second year had been so surprised that he had actually made it into the top eight combatants of the School-Wide Tourney, but the smile on his face said that he was happy for small victories.
The first years as well, had been happy for Leah, who had begun to be trained by Yusuf for a bit, with the promise that he’d teach her what he could, whenever he could.
She hadn’t learnt Atmospheric Lock just yet, but she’d get there.
In contrast to the first years and Julian, the third years all looked like they ate a particularly rotten egg, with Bobby complaining that he should have knocked Julian out earlier, and Yusuf complaining that he should have been looking out for Raj as well.
In a sense… none of them really won the way they wanted to, but at least they all won in some sense.
Compromise was basically making sure that either both parties are happy, or both are sad. In this case, it was a bit closer to the former.
Now that they had all reached three Stars, Jonathan, with the assistance of Liza, began to teach the first years how to summon either their Clad or Armament, depending on which they wanted to learn.
Though they couldn’t be certain which, they’d train for both knowing that one of the two parts of the Six Arts would eventually manifest.
For Edward, he didn’t even bother thinking he was going to get an Armament, though he was told that Bobby was considered an Armour-user like Headmaster Oren up until the day Bobby created his Khan Axe, so there was still the possibility that Edward could gain a weapon.
Edward was sceptical, eventually managing to convince Jonathan that regardless of whether he will gain an Armament or not, his own body was his greatest weapon he could use at current.
So in the end, every member of the class went for Clad training, while the Edward and Liza alone did not train for Armament, considering that Liza already had hers, and Edward felt it would be better to work with what he was already good at.
It was tough training, trying to condense their Essence into the shape of a weapon was something that some could do, Jade could easily make a rapier made entirely out of Metal, though struggled to include Light in it, but it still wasn’t really her Armament.
Much like how it is more difficult to lift something to your shoulders than it is to keep something there, once they reached that tipping point, their Armament would practically form itself.
After that, it would just be a matter of maintaining the Armament, and summoning it faster.
Clad was a bit different, in that they couldn’t be certain whether or not they’d get an Aura, Armour, or Shield, but they just had to focus on the thought of ‘protect me’ while forming Essence around them.
It would be slightly easier to use the Essence in a way which matched what their Clad would eventually be, Vince for example found it a bit easier to shroud himself with his Essence than to focus it into one area, meaning he was likely to get either armour or aura.
“Hah…” a soft sigh went from the group as a whole as they rested, tired from aforementioned training, but knowing that something important was coming up soon…
So they rested while they could.
It was another half hour before they heard two pairs of footsteps approaching, letting the group know that they should sit up to see who it was.
Looking up, one of the two was Jonathan, who seemed to nod in approval at their chosen activity of cloud watching/sleeping.
The other, was more than a bit strange… a gender neutral black and ash grey full body suit lined with metal plating to keep their mobility, heavy gloves with metal pieces sewn on, and a helmet which seemed to be made of coloured glass, the inside of the helmet could not be clearly seen but there was a flicker of light from the inside, becoming brighter at two points making the light look like eyes.
“Kids, this esteemed Sage behind me is Everburn, an eight Star Sage of Fire as you can guess from their name. Everburn will be helping you all with your year end-mission.” Jonathan informed the students, who looked at the odd character with newfound respect in their eyes.
“Greetings, as stated, my name is Everburn, it’s a pleasure to meet the next generation of Sages…” Everburn had a strange ‘voice’ synthesized through the helmet most likely, the voice was reminiscent of wood cracking in flames, no one was certain whether Everburn was a male or female though…
Vince, courageous as he was, raised his hand to actually ask that question, getting a slap to the back of his head from Jade for his lack of tact.
“It is a valid question, but you can refer to me as either gender, I don’t mind. Gender doesn’t really matter to Sages in battle anyway.” Everburn didn’t really answer the question…
But the S-Class would accept it as is, Everburn was giving the choice to them and so it didn’t really mean much… and Everburn did imply that they didn’t really have a preference for being referred to as male or female.
“Really…” the only person who seemed a bit confused about it was Jade, but she ended up shrugging once everyone began to agree on ‘female’.
Everburn did sound vaguely female in the first place anyway.
“So wait, the year-end mission is starting soon? Today, tomorrow, when?” Edward asked, realizing what Everburn’s presence actually meant even as the Fire Sage nodded her helmet up and down.
“Yes, the mission will be starting tomorrow. I specialize in hunting Mystic Beasts, so that is our mission objective.” Vince’s eyes sparkled at the admittance of what the mission would be, and why wouldn’t he be happy, hunting Mystic Beasts was something his family specialized in, and now that he was finally three Stars he could hunt more powerful ones.
“Oh… wait, if the mission is starting tomorrow, we should get done today right? Is there any information on where the mission would take place?” Kazuya spoke out, getting a look from Everburn.
“I recommend getting done today, yes. I’ve been informed that our mission will take place in Egypt, we’ll be hunting a few dune wyrms.” Hearing their mission objective, some of the more informed members of the class shivered, realizing their enemy.
A giant earthworm with teeth similar to a shark, was terrifying. Not to mention all dune wyrm’s were Earth Mystic Beasts and usually three Stars or higher.
“That’s terrifying… a few? Regardless, we’ll need to pack under the assumption of keeping cool during the day and warm at night, as well as lots of water.” Jade was knowledgeable about all sorts of things and recommended the water to the group, knowing Egypt to be a desert area.
“Right, seeing as we all know how to use the basic inventory spell, we’ll at least have enough storage for basic necessities…” Vince added, a hand coming up to cup his chin.
“We…shouldn’t need much food… can hunt.” Tony reminded, and the group nodded, knowing that if they packed light on food they could store more water, arguably more important during such a trek.
In addition, just about every Mystic Beast was edible, it was even considered healthy to eat a Mystic Beast of the same Element, though that was just a superstition.
There were Mystic Beasts which gave health benefits to eat, but it wasn’t all of them.
“Can…map…” The S-Class paused for a bit realizing that Liza hadn’t actually said the word ‘nap’ but in fact said ‘map’… she could do cartography?
Oh yeah, she got high marks in Geography…
“Well, we all got quite a bit to do. We should also confirm roles before we split up right now yeah? Vince will be in charge of finding food.” Edward looked to Vince who nodded in response.
“Liza will be our cartographer, making sure we don’t get lost basically.” Liza nodded, accepting her role easily given that she volunteered that information.
“Leah, you’re the only Water Element Sage we have, we’re all going to carry water, but we’re going to need you to top us off from time to time, I’ll help with my Ice.” Leah nodded, her hands clenched and at her shoulders, she honestly looked like a determined hamster or something, but no one had the heart to let her know that she looked more cute than scary.
“Tony, you be in charge of rationing supplies, we can trust you with that, right?” Edward’s suggestion got a shaky thumbs up from the quietest boy in the class.
“Jade, we’re a bit lost on clothing in regards to the weather, could you sort that out for us? Don’t worry about combat applications, we all have our combat uniforms already.” Edward reminded, before the year had even started they had to submit designs for combat uniforms to the school to be custom made by the Headmaster with some help from tailors.
The uniforms would have to be functional, and sturdy, Sages were far from the days where their clothes would break before they did…
Fighting in the nude was unfortunately common back then… or fortunately common, depending on your views.
And while they were made with metallic substances, they were synthesized so that Metal Sages couldn’t control the very clothes you wore, making the original metals closer to a plastic, something Sages couldn’t control.
Sages couldn’t control synthetic things after all, their powers were based on nature, not man-made things.
“I’ll handle that, though swapping between outfits is going to be difficult… I’ll get us cloaks rather, they won’t be as good as traditional garbs in keeping us cool, but they will work.” Jade added, and Edward nodded, looking across the class.
The only member of the class who didn’t have a set role was really Kazuya, what with Edward slipping into the leadership role so easily…
But then again, no one really felt the need for Kazuya to do more than what he already did, namely fighting. Ignoring Liza, he was the strongest in the class, and when they fought at the same speed without any Element control Kazuya was actually stronger.
Edward was just about as strong yes, but not nearly as versatile as Kazuya in combat…
“Ah… Kazuya, weren’t you good at cooking?” Vince recalled, and as one the first years looked to him, seeing Kazuya scowling while thumbing his katana.
“Right… I had forgotten, but he makes those lunchboxes for himself and Liza, and those look really good…” Kazuya didn’t like being reminded about his cooking skills, but nodded reluctantly.
He’d be the cook then… even though he didn’t want to.
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He still had nightmares of people from middle-school telling him that he’d be a good housewife.
“Well I’m glad that you all sorted out your roles so quickly, that should make this journey a safe one.” The first years had actually forgotten that Everburn and Jonathan were still there, the latter having a smirk on his face as he chuckled.
“They’re brats but at least they know what they’re good at. Everburn, let’s go to the Headmaster, leave them to get done for tomorrow.” Jonathan reminded, as the stronger Fire Sage nodded with her glowing eyes widening behind her helmet.
“Right, forgot about that, got to greet the King in his land… students, meet me at the train station at seven tomorrow morning, alright?” The first years nodded at that, even though Liza seemed to get a bit pale at the idea of waking up early…
Ah, she was usually the last one in the classroom.
Whatever their response, Everburn had already left with Jonathan walking towards the main school-building, leaving the S-Class to move to the train station, chattering about combat ideas, logistics about travelling to Egypt, and in general the first years were just being teens.
They wouldn’t have much of a chance to act like that in the middle of the mission after all.
It was a slightly tired Kazuya that looked at his home… no one would really think it was the home of two pretty famous Sages, the Kazuya Pair, Izuki and Miya Kazuya.
It was… quaint, pastel paint, fence around the plot, a garden in front, a walkway, and a porch with a rocking chair.
That chair was actually Kazuya’s, not his parents. Always liked it since he was younger.
And unfortunately for Kazuya, his parents paid a lot of attention to him, as immediately upon opening the gate the front door opened and showed his mother waiting.
His mother was just a bit taller than Kazuya, but Kazuya hadn’t finished growing yet either, and she had long, straight brown hair, her Japanese heritage showing in her pale skin and soft eyes, anyone who didn’t know her would think her to be quiet and kind just by appearance. They would be wrong.
“Hiiro, get in here already, we felt Everburn in the area, are they working with you?” Kazuya… Hiiro, felt annoyed at his mother’s attentiveness, but on the other hand also felt thankful, knowing that there were those who wished they had a parent to be attentive to them.
Leah, Liza and Tony for example…
“Hello mom, nice to see you after a day at school, how was your day?” Hiiro pretended to ignore her question, knowing that sarcasm was sometimes the way to get his mother to take a step back from her first train of thought.
“Child, don’t make me smack your head. You know I’m just watching my shows whole day, now talk.” On the other hand his mother had anger issues at times, so in these cases Hiiro just gave up on trying to be exact about it.
“Right, yes, Everburn is going on a mission with us, a Mystic Beast hunt in Egypt for a group of dune wyrms. By the way, if I hadn’t met Everburn today, how would I know who you’re talking about?” Hiiro complained, and almost instantaneously he felt a pain at the back of his head, despite the fact that his mother was walking in front of him.
Right, Earth Sage, but still a Sage with at least six Stars, even if she was ‘slow’ among her peers she was still fast enough to leave Kazuya wondering if she had even moved.
And precise enough with her strength to flick Kazuya hard enough to hurt, but not kill.
No wonder control was emphasized after progressing Stars. Kazuya had almost broken a few plates and cups for the week he became three Stars.
“As if Everburn would work with anyone other than your class, the only other options would be the second or third years, all the third years are going to the International Juniors, the second years are typically told to go on a bounty hunt or investigative mission, and first years told to go on a hunt, Everburn specializes in hunts, it’s kind of obvious.” No, no it wasn’t, but Miya Kazuya was a genius in her own right, except… like most genii, she didn’t quite get that other people didn’t think like she did.
Kazuya could follow the trail of thought and recognize it, but he lacked some of the context, such as his mother being capable of sensing Everburn.
Not to mention that she knew Everburn apparently, enough to recognize them by sense, leaving Kazuya wondering how his mother knew the eight Star Sage.
Eight Stars were powerful as heck, two Stars away from King… Kazuya guessed that Everburn might have led a team with his parents on it before, given that his parents sometimes joined up with other teams when they needed more than just the two of them.
“So, Egypt, and a group of dune wyrms… that’s a sucky Mystic Beast to fight, I should know. Go get your father and ask him for advice, he knows more about your fighting style than I do.” Hiiro’s mother huffed as she walked away to the kitchen, probably getting food done while Hiiro sighed, walking towards the yard.
Sitting in a lotus position was Izuki Kazuya, the other member of the Kazuya Pair, Lightning Sage and considered one of the most powerful people among the known Sages to the public.
Unfortunately for Hiiro, he called this person dad, and Izuki wasn’t exactly a great human being in general. Well meaning, but…
“…” Hiiro looked at his father, a frown on his face as he finally registered that his father wasn’t actually meditating… that snore was telling.
Knowing his father wouldn’t wake up from just being nudged, Hiiro picked up a nearby weapon, a shuriken, and threw it as hard as he could at his father’s head.
It hit, squarely, leaving his father to tumble backwards and the shuriken to fall to the grass floor, the only sign of what happened a slight paper cut on his father’s head.
And even that would heal quickly anyway.
“Ouch, Hiiro, why would you do that?” Hiiro’s father rolled on the ground clutching his skull theatrically while Hiiro just sighed… he knew full well how powerful his parents were, now that he had seen the third years and Jonathan, knowing that his parents were at least twice as strong as Jonathan…
Yeah, every time they ‘got hurt’ when he was growing up due to something he did was probably a lie, but then again, it did let him know not to do such things with normal humans, otherwise he could hurt them…
Looking back, a lot of what they did with Hiiro could be constituted as training…
“Mom said I should talk to you about my upcoming mission, going to Egypt to hunt a group of dune wyrm’s, going with Everburn.” Hiiro’s father immediately stopped rolling on the ground, sitting up.
His father, despite his Japanese heritage, didn’t quite look like a Japanese person compared to his mother, he was almost as tall as Bobby, in addition to the droopy blonde hair, the only signs of his heritage were the eyes and the fact that despite being so tall Izuki wasn’t that muscular.
He was quite powerful regardless of how he looked though.
“Ah, I see, so the most important thing I need to ask comes up… are there girls travelling with you?” Hiiro sighed, once more regretting the fact that his parents both moved at their own pace, when they felt like being serious, they would be.
If they didn’t want to though, he’d have better luck squeezing water from a rock or finding chicken teeth.
“Dad, be a bit more serious please, I’d like some advice.” Hiiro’s father yawned, shrugging as he stood from his previously seated position.
“Come to the dojo, get your weapon. And not that katana.” Hiiro blinked, realizing that his father was giving him permission to use his main weapon.
“You’ve basically used that katana for almost a year and a half, a year less than your weapon, it’s enough to be a sidearm now. Your next sidearm will be a bow.” Kazuya blinked, nodding, already having been told exactly what he’d be learning when he was younger.
He wasn’t certain on the order, and some things he trained in-between others, such as how he trained in hand-to-hand while focusing on specific weapons.
The only time Hiiro could recall being allowed to let go of whatever weapon he was training in, was when he was eating, and when he was training with his main weapon.
Yes, he took his katana with him to the toilet, and held it in his sleep. He sometimes got attacked in his sleep by his parents; he needed a weapon for those times.
Worse still was that his parents didn’t really tell him those things, but after getting attacked three nights in a row, you learn ways to defend yourself… including traps, Hiiro unfortunately did not consider that his parents would easily disable his traps to get to him…
So yes, in the end, he ended up sleeping with his weapons just in case.
Now, now that he was considered a ‘master’ with a katana, he’d be allowed to continue onto his next weapon, the only time he’d return to using the katana was to make sure he didn’t lose any of his skill with it.
“Of course, you aren’t training with a bow in the house, and you aren’t going to go on this mission with a bow, I’d rather you not get yourself killed.” His father wasn’t joking, once more showing Hiiro how his father could switch gears easily.
“Understood. Can we spar to get me ready for the mission?” Hiiro regretted asking as soon as the words left his mouth, but he really needed to make sure he was still capable with his main weapon.
“Yeah, we can spar. By the way, can you ask your mom what we’re eating for dinner, I’m hoping for miso.” Hiiro rolled his eyes, not seeing what was so amazing about the food…
Granted, it was ‘the taste of home’ to his parents, but Kazuya was much more at home with European food, having been born and raised travelling between the Empire and Germany, stopping at other countries on the way.
“Got it, I’ll be in the dojo in a minute.” Hiiro walked out of the backyard while his father’s face went from smiling to neutral the moment his son went inside.
“Everburn… they’ll take care of him… but what Oren said… guess Miya and I’ll be busy for a while.” Izuki said to himself, summoning his own katana from his storage space as he walked to the dojo.
“Hiiro… your mother and I can’t fight your battles… but we can delay them.” Izuki’s small smile was tinged with danger, lightning sparking from his hair for a moment before his face went back into his jolly smile as Hiiro walked into the dojo carrying his main weapon.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, surrounding a statue of a robed skeleton, sat ten people, all quiet despite their violent dispositions, as in walked an eleventh person, sitting down calmly despite the stares sent their way.
“Apostle, you’re finally here.” One of the seated, a man with red hair spoke out, notably putting out his cigarette the moment the eleventh person walked into the room.
“…” Apostle, the eleventh person, looked at the man who had just spoken, and the man paled, sitting back in his chair with a frown, unwilling to dare try and question their leader.
A group of Rogue Sages like them, it was rare that they would follow a singular leader without being abrasive to one another… but in front of the Apostle, they could only stay quiet.
“Now that we’re all quiet, I have information on the last child of Essence.” The Apostle spoke, his voice deceptively young considering his power, though only once had one of them tried to call him a child.
That person had to be replaced after becoming a smear on the floor.
“Of the four, we’ve been thwarted by the King of Wood, we don’t dare get near the Empire and the King of Lightning is much stronger than he appears.” The Apostle’s warning rang and no one argued it…
Despite the fact that they were all powerful, none of them below seven Stars, they didn’t dare attack a King head on, not without assistance from the Apostle.
Though with his help, they had all gained strength which didn’t quite match their Stars, they still weren’t capable of fighting a King straight on.
The King of Wood was the weakest of the four Kings in charge of their targets, the King of Ice was dangerous but it was the knowledge that the King of Fire was nearby that stayed their hands, even old and weakened the King of Fire was not to be messed with.
The King of Lightning? The Apostle heard that and just laughed at whoever suggested it, messing with the Lightning King was a hazardous idea.
That left Donovan Oren, the King of Metal, who was nigh-invincible so long as metal was nearby, and inside a city that was obvious…
The Apostle spoke of the Fae Wars, watching as a newly crowned King of Metal defended an entire city alone, leaving the Fae to scramble backwards and look for the Dwarves for help.
“Isn’t it impossible to get to any of them with the Kings so close?” another of the group spoke, quailing once the Apostle turned to look at him…
Worse, the statue in the centre of the room seemed to turn its head, staring at him as well, hollow eyes filled with an eerie red light.
“It is not impossible, just difficult… but it should be easier now… the three Element child, the Time user, and the weakest of the Essence users are all leaving the area for that ‘end of year mission’.” The Apostle spoke, getting silence from the room.
“I’ve managed to find out that Everburn, that thing which obeys the King of Fire, is going to be leading that group on a mission in Egypt. Blake, Jessica, Ivan, you three will attack them. I will handle Everburn.” A few glances went across the room as the red headed man stood, along with the black haired woman that helped him spy on the Essence user…
In addition to those two was a huge man, scarred all over with dark skin and short white hair, red eyes of his own… ironically, the weakest among the eleven, having only reached seven Stars in the past month.
“Lord, would we three not be enough, there should be no reason for milord to dirty his hands…” Ivan also happened to be one of the few in the room who didn’t so much as fear the Apostle, instead choosing to worship the much more powerful Sage.
“Yes… you are right Ivan, you three should be more than enough really, though that’s only true until you recall that Everburn is there.” Apostle held a gloved hand above the table, slamming it down, leaving a spider-web of cracks all over the ornate piece.
“Everburn is eight Stars only in seeming power, that thing is limited somehow, and not human. In skill that thing is my equal… it thwarted me more than once within the Empire back when I was still amassing strength.” The Apostle hated talking about his past, but here he reminded the group that even before they had been gathering, the Apostle had been working towards his goal.
A goal they now all shared, willingly or unwillingly.
“I am about as strong as Everburn when you consider that thing’s full power, even if I cannot defeat it, I can keep it occupied while you three chase down the Essence user.” The Apostle reminded, and Blake, the red haired man, looked at his two partners.
“Apostle, am I correct in assuming that I’m to bring the Essence user here as soon as possible?” Blake asked, looking back to the Apostle and missing the pout on Jessica’s face.
“Aw, are we not getting the three Element or Time users? Why are the Essence users so important anyway?” Jessica, the black haired woman who always seemed itchy asked, the Apostle finally turning from Ivan to face her, and like the Apostle, the statue in the middle of the room moved to look at her.
The only real way they knew who the Apostle was looking at was because of where his hood turned, it was impossible to really see the inside of that hood, even of Ivan who was a Light Sage or Jessica who was a Darkness Sage.
Well, that and the massive statue of what looked to be death itself looking at you whenever the Apostle did.
Blake had the vague suspicion that it was to associate the Apostle’s stare with being judged by a higher power. Just a guess really.
“The three Element user and the Time user are extremely important, but they are not important to our goal… we are after all, looking for death specifically, not one of those other ones.” The Apostle reminded, and of course everyone in the room understood, that was their goal…
Though they were not suicidal… after all, death was human.
“Ah, so those two are other ones… the General, the Artist, the Scientist, the Mortal, the Voice, and Death.” Blake reminded, and the other ten people at the table nodded, recalling the six good…
“There was also the Betrayer, but there is no evidence of the Betrayer becoming human like the other six… regardless, it seems that we have six unique Sages, and six gods, odd coincidence yes?” The Apostle’s words were met with dry chuckles, everyone knowing the sarcasm laced in those words.
“And besides, from what we know of these Sages… the Valour Academy Essence user should be the General, the Wandering Forest Essence user being the Artist, and the Temple Essence User being the Scientist…” that was three of the six, so there were three left.
“That leaves the Mortal, the Voice and Death to those three at Elem… the three Element user should be the Mortal… so that leaves the Time user or the Elem Essence User to be Death and the Voice between them.” Personally, Blake was certain that death was the Time using girl, time, much like death, was inevitable so it seemed to make sense…
On the other hand, the Apostle seemed to think it was the Essence user… but that would also make little sense…
Why would Death be the weakest of the Essence users?
Meanwhile, in Berlin-
“Kazuya, you got a cold?” Kazuya sniffled his nose as he glared at Edward, Liza already clinging on his back…
There were… odd things, going on in the world. As usual.