Going back in time to before the official commencement of the Winter Wars tournament, a call for mercenaries was sent out to specific individuals within the Guild of Student Mercenaries, drawing together students that resided more in the darker and shadier side of the Infinite Academy.
It's not that Principal Khan and the Boarded didn't care to enact certain rules while they sit on their high horses in the light, but the foundation of the Infinite Academy had always been rooted in competition and strength. And if having an Underworld within the Academy helped foster that, but made student welfare slightly worse, then Principal Khan will happily take this trade.
After all, the reputation of the Infinite Academy had always been built on the shining stars that were the ridiculously strong Wave users, rather than the countless ones that fell in official battles or those that were expelled or ran away for one reason or another.
Speaking of official battles through the Law of Combat, that is also the only place where the deaths of students can be forgiven. This prevents petty poisoning and assassination attempts, though from Wu's experience, evidently, you can still succumb to endless beatings and bullying, just like you would back on Earth.
As the groups of mercenaries entered through the corridors of the cave one after another, one of the leading figures let out a long-held breathe before leaning against a window sill and fixing up his gauntlet briefly as the room became filled up with others.
Then, the girl in the gown with her face obscured entered the room before spinning her finger and shutting the door behind with another flash of light from her fingers. The light Casts embedded within the wall lit up gently and bathed the room in a strange warm glow. All of the mercenaries in the room were masked up, and the girl was the first one to undo the wrappings around her face, revealing her young yet attractive features.
"I hope you enjoyed your two hundred units." The girl said, her voice cold as she scanned the roomful of fully-suited individuals, "The job is as follows. There are specific individuals that we want to fail at each stage of the Winter Wars, and your job is to ensure their failure. However, if you are spotted out in your meddling, the usual rules will apply."
That means whoever hired them maintains full deniability, and they will be thrown out of the Academy at the lightest, or straight up charged and imprisoned at the worst. Such is the tradition with more off-the-grid jobs that also pays more lucratively.
"You will each be in charge of multiple fights through the various stages. You will only be paid if the requisite individuals failed. As you get later into the tournament stages, the select mercenaries that are deemed most suitable for their meddling skills will be given further information and paid in full."
"So what you are saying is..." A short mercenary asked with her voice muffled through the mask, "We will NOT be paid in full unless were selected to go all the way?"
"That is the condition for full payment." The girl replied, "There is no room for negotiation. If you disagree, you will return your pre-payment and step away from here."
"Tsk." Another mercenary clicked his mouth, but nobody moved. That settles it. Even though the mercenaries are all working towards the same goal, they are also all competitors with one another.
"What if...a little accident happened to the other mercenaries during their work?" Another one with a ghostly voice asked.
"You may engage in your extracurriculars however you wish." The girl replied blandly, "We do not care for the methods. We have a set amount of funds set aside for this job, and we want it done. Before then, you should head to the battlefields beyond the Winter Wars Resort halfway up the hill as soon as possible. The invitation page will serve as your communication Cast for when the fixed fights are known."
"And who are we working for?" The familiar voice of Wu came out from the figure with sets of the gauntlet that was leaning against the window sill. However, the girl simply stared at him with a poker face before swinging her finger and opening the door again.
"Dude..." Another mercenary said with a low voice, "You don't ask the identity of the employers...everybody knows that."
"But aren't you curious..just a tiny bit?" Wu returned the gesture as the other guy stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and walking away.
"I am." A giant girl said from behind him, "I heard those blood-red roses people works for the Union."
"The Union...?" Wu raised his eyebrows in confusion, "What's the difference between them and the Boarded?"
"The Boarded is just a title and a ranking, but the Union is an organization for which the majority of the Boarded members worked out of and many more." The giant girl explained, "And that will be fifty units, thank you."
And that's where lead Wu to be in his current position. He carved out a small hole in the snow before layering down blankets and wrapping himself in his thick winter jackets while using a warmth Cast to keep himself dry and warm.
Being someone that's off-the-grid from the perspective of the Academy enabled him a lot more freedom, but that also means he couldn't get all of the things he needed before coming here for the job. However, after exchanging a few of his miniaturized Warmth Casts for some winter clothing, he was able to get all that he needed.
His little temporary home was less than cozy, and he only chose to settle into the snowfields away from the Winter Wars resort right after the completion of the first day as the Guild of Medics rescued the surviving but defeated students. He snuck in with the medics but kept on hiking past the raging snow.
His page of invitation finally glowed by the time he dosed off for the third time this evening, and his eyes shot open before he threw a local coffee bean into his mouth and popped it open. The bitter taste woke him up immediately, and Wu turned over the page only to see a single sentence.
"Further details will be arranged at this location. Follow this direction cast."
How interesting...Wu rolled his tongue and picked out the fragments of the coffee bean before emerging from his little hideout. Then, he followed the arrow on the Direction Cast until he vaulted over sets of rocks onto the far side of the snowy mountains. Beyond the snow storm that obscured sights beyond a hundred meters away, he could see the glint of the greater world beyond the floating island of the academy.
Then, as he stood still in the middle of the slope, a spanning Cast array formed from underneath the snow and started swallowing everything away as cages with bars made from bright blue lines suddenly surged from the Cast array and imprisoned Wu in place. Before he could move, the cage shrunk in size drastically, pinning Wu down.
"Hello there, curious one." The grizzled feminine voice from the giant girl came from behind him before the cage was picked up and spun around in place. Looking towards the girl sitting atop a piece of rock with her legs crossed, their gaze met before Wu smirked a little.
"Hello there, big girl." Wu said as the girl slowly took off her mask to get a better look at Wu. That was when the rock she was sitting on rolled down, and Wu realized that it was actually a pile of bodies made of the different mercenaries, "A...fancy throne you got there."
"And that's cause I am the Queen of the Underworld." She smiled, "So, you aren't going to fight back?"
"Well...I wanted to hear your proposal." Wu said, "What do you want?"
"I have edited the Communication Cast embedded within your invitations. But I was only able to overlay my instructions over yours, rather than have access to the information displayed on it." The girl said, finding Wu very easy to talk to as he sat down cross-legged.
"So you couldn't intercept the actual details, and only conditionally activate your Direction Cast for when, and only when, a signal from the gown-wearing girl is received..." Wu nodded his head before a smile crept up his face.
He has known this a long time, that out of everybody in this world, the Casters are the one closest to being actual scientists. In his future journeys, he could really use someone like this.
"So...yeah. Hand over your paper." The giant girl seemed surprised that Wu deducted the inner mechanisms of her Cast that easily, but she also knew that Wu is in no position to negotiate or fight back just because of how little power she felt in him.
In fact, it was so little that she could barely...no...she couldn't sense him at all.
"How about this..." Wu said, "I wasn't planning to use it this soon, but...I see potential in you."
Then, he turned over his wrist as a strange array of Cast lit up beside him, illuminating the path towards his unyielding future. He placed his hands on the glowing cage that surrounded him, and it popped like a popsicle, the solid bars cracking and disintegrating upon his touch. The giant girl's eyes shot open as she stood up onto her feet before Wu gently leaned forward and tapped his palm on the ground when suddenly, the flow of the Wave around her completely froze in place.
She tried to fight back, reaching for her Book of Casts, but even the Wave within her own body was stiffened, and those Casts were nothing more than writings in the paper. She forcibly drew the Wave in her body, though there was no response from her body.
"Damn it! What did you do! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She shouted, her voice of panic travelling through the snow as Wu, the being without a hint of power walked slowly towards her.
"Well...I welcomed you into my domain." Wu said, reaching a hand towards the girl's forehead as her eyes became heavy and her mind became dull due to the hindrance to the flow of the Wave within her body, "So in exchange for your freedom, why don't you tell me all that you know about this job?"
"PLEASE!" The giant girl dropped onto her knees as tears started flowing down her face, "Don't...kill me! I am too young..."
Wu crunched his eyebrows together before he tapped the girl gently on the forehead and nothing happened. She trembled in place before opening her mouth, relaying everything she learned about this job, and about their employers.