Afternoon, when Xero has already breathing ragged after running 6 kilometers, six times around the camp, a bone chilling dragon roar was heard and suddenly a speeding long body flew over the city before its circled around and landed at the gate.
The roar was so loud that it caused the ground the tremble and Xero who was finishing his sixth lap almost felt his heart leap out of his chests when the dragons roar came and it landed almost in front of him since he was in front of the gates.
Xero was tense as he saw the dragon and as he blinked his eyes landed on the head of the huge snake like dragon that had been flying without wings. It was long and serpent like but it had small arms and legs. Having landed the hands were on the ground but the front hands, which were three long fingers and one thumb, held onto a blue orb in the left hand and a red orb on the right. The dragon had two long tentacle whiskers and strange horns on its head.
Xero, who held onto his monster encyclopedia and studied it extensively during his first year, didn’t recognize this creature making it more then clear this was a familiar from a different world and it probably never evolved and instead it simply grew up making him breathless because the power its body expelled was like a tyrant suppressing those below it.
“Blast it woman! Keep that damned snake of yours from shouting!” Grunt suddenly burst out of the woods behind the dragon shouting and huffing.
“SHUT UP YOU SPINELESS BAG OF FUR!” the woman on top of the dragon's head shouted. She looked down and saw Grunt and ruthlessly pulled out a glowing white spiked club before jumping at Grunt.
His body quickly covers itself in his familiar and the club comes smashing his head full on.
BANG!
A 20 meter crater forms under him and even somewhat trips the dragon who growls. “Cascade, go fight somewhere else! You know I dislike your trouble near me, it dirties my scales too much!” He growled.
“Put a sock in it Shen! I still haven’t worked off my built up anger on this punching bag!” She shouted and slammed down once more but a big fist met the club this time and it shot out of her hand.
“Stupid woman how many times do I have to tell you to not fight big fish with a small net?!” The big dragon growled.
“GET HIM MASTER! SHOVE YOUR CLUB UP HIS ASS!” A small girl's voice came from above the dragon.
“Girl! Don’t encourage her!” The dragon said looking up.
“Cascade stop this at once so we can at least set up base!” A deep voice came from above the dragon.
Jumping down was a fit man with a large scar running down his face from the back of his head over his right eye and even over the right side of his lips down to his chin. He looked like some kind of war veteran.
BOOM!
The woman went flying almost one hundred meters before she landed and somehow stopped herself and Grunt came out grumbling.
“Damn it Surge, you guys still haven’t been able to make that woman quiet down? Don’t any of you even try to control her?” Grunt asked.
“Don’t joke with that Grunt. If a man had the balls to try and bed your sister then they would have already been drained of everything or their manhood would have been crushed by her.” The man said emotionlessly.
Grunt sneered as he looked at the sister that was far away where he kicked her while holding her gut trying to stand up. He looked up, “Who are the brats?” Grunt asked.
“Richard Von Dorian and Yulin Borin.” Surge replied.
“Oh? The #1 and 2 of the second years? Why did you bring them to my little camp?” Grunt asked.
Surge looked at him and raised a brow, “Obviously because the boy is my disciple and the girl is your sisters’. That said we needed someone from the outside to pound in proper morals into the brats, the girl is starting to act like her master and the brat is getting cocky.” Surge explained.
“So you want my second years to fight yours? You're asking too much.” Grunt laughed.
“I have heard there was an exceptional second year in this years, your own student. News travels fast especially when a large group of Holy Institute priests need to go to a different academies camp to purify corruption. So where is the boy with the demon familiar?” Surge asked.
Grunt looked at the gate and quickly pointed at Xero who was a little off from the gate and pointed at him, “It’s the one sweating buckets over there with the restraints. The little devil though I don’t know where she went.” Grunt said.
Xero instantly felt cold when he saw Grunt pointing at him.
The large scarred man looked at Xero and raised a brow, “Good seedling, at least level 13 already.” He said. “Richard! Yulin! Get down here already!” Surge shouted.
The two jumped from the dragon and fell almost 20 meters and landed skillfully.
“Ho~! Level 17 brats! Not bad old man.” Grunt said raising his brow as he looked at the kids.
“They are below average, the girl took up your sisters… habits, a bit too well and the boy has gotten too conceited and believes he doesn’t need to train as much as others.” Surge said coldly.
“An elite like myself has twice the result with half the effort. I am not like that trash that needs to train until he is collapsing to squeeze his pathetic potential dry.” The boy said arrogantly.
“I can see what you mean now, I doubt this boy doesn’t last his third year.” Grunt bluntly said making the boy glare at him but he just shrugged it off.
Grunt turned his eye and looked at the girl. Unlike the usual refined and fit young ladies that is normally found in any race, that includes Grunts own sister that has an amazon like figure but wasn’t ‘fat’ like Grunt. Grunts own figure made him look fat because the muscles around his abs were bulkie but a female bearman was thinner smaller and looked like a female knight instead.
This girl instead actually looked chubby and she suddenly put her hand in her magic bag and pulled out a piece of roasted meat while on her back was a club.
“The girl… she actually took up my sisters eating habits without training her metabolism?” Grunt asked with a stupid expression.
“Yes, but she also did you sisters training regimen but it doesn’t fit her.” Surge said.
“You know my own method isn’t any secret. Every academy knows it since the great ancestor of all the strongest men come from the same man.” Grunt replied.
“Yeah but not all the teachers believe it shows results. Some people believe bulk equals strength.” Surge said and Grunt nodded.
“XERO! GET OVER HERE!” Grunt shouted and the boy flinched and the people that were outside looked at the boy and a bit flustered he walked up and stopped in front of the bearman.
“This is Xero Null. He was the one that summoned the Imp.” Grunt introduced.
“Good good.” Surge nodded but a sneer and chuckle came from behind.
“So his own bloodline amounts to nothing. This is hilarious!” The boy sneered but Xero looked at him up and down and seemed somewhat disappointed.
“Hey boy, where is your familiar?” Grunt asked Xero.
“She went out hunting and gathering spices for lunch.” Xero said.
The little girl perked up.
“Hey I heard that your familiar is super strong! Where is she, I want to burn my breakfast with a good fight!” The girl said ripping a piece of meat from the chuck in her pudgy hands. She then looked at Xero, “What's with all the funky markings on his body?”
“That’s the show of power the demon has compared to him.” Cascade said as she walked over and glared at Grunt. “Did you have to kick so hard?” She asked.
“Would you have stopped if I didn’t?” Grunt asked her.
“No.” She said proudly and Grunt shook his head.
“Kid, this is my sister, Cascade Crack, and this is Surge Felodiv. They are some of the representatives of Hellvine Academy.” Grunt introduced.
“I have a question?” Xero said to the bearman.
“What?”
“Why was I called and introduced directly?”
Cascade suddenly started laughing, “So you didn’t explain to him Grunt?”
“Explain what?” Xero asked.
“We are here so that you can pound these two into the ground and make them train properly!” She said laughing.
Xero looked at her like she was crazy and he looked at Grunt.
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“It’s true, you're the one of the few second year that can be a match for Hellvine students.” Grunt said.
“Why not Holy Institute students?” Xero asked.
Surge shook his head, “Too much rivalry between us. It would only cause more friction.”
“Master, you’re not serious right? There is no way this fool could match me.” Richard said.
Xero frowned when he heard the boy call him a fool. Before he could even say something he felt a tug on his familiar seal and he looked at the forest. “MASTER~! I BROUGHT LUNCH!” A loud shout came and everyone looked together.
The next moment a massive body came flying into the clearing and landed 10 meters away. What was amazing was that the body was a blue skinned little devil dressed in a robe with barefeet exposed but she was holding her arm up and above her was a sight that made some people feel cold. Held upside down was a massive turtle shell that was easily 20 meters in diameter and the shell was green and had lots of spikes and on the shell. The color was green with dark green spots. The head of the beast stuck out and instead of looking like a turtle it looked like a dragon's head. It roared in anguish and stuck its legs out and shook it.
The shell began to shake and Ashley frowned and looked up she before tossing the giant turtle up 10 meters before jumping and smashing a punch into the spot she was holding. “SHUT UP!” She shouted causing the shell to vibrate and the dragon turtle roared in pain as she landed with it in her hand.
“Girl… you're crazy!” Grunt shouted and laughed. “Not only dragons and turtles! Now you find the full mix of them hahaha!” Grunt laughed.
“It saves time, it will be even more efficient in making master grow stronger faster!” She said happily and tossed the dragon turtle and it landed on its back.
The Hellvine group just stared at the turtle before they saw the blue skinned girl fly rapidly and stopping in front of Xero.
“Master! Master! Did I do a good job?” She asked.
“The spices?” He asked.
She lifted one side of the robe and took out a magic bag and he opened it and began to look through it and nodded before he pet her head and she closed her eyes and bliss.
“What… is this!?” The boy asked with his eyes popping out.
“That's a Savage Snapping Dragon Turtle isn’t it?!” Cascade asked.
“Looks like it, it looks like its recently reached adulthood meaning it's around 300 years old and around level 23.” Grunt analyzed it.
Surge looked at the girl, “Who are you?” Surge asked her.
“This is Ashley, she is my familiar, a Lesser Sword Devil Infant.” Xero said.
Her eyes opened and frowned, “Master~! Introduce me properly!” She complained and Xero paled but it was too late. “I’m Ashley Null! I’m master's wife and familiar!”
Xero facepalmed himself and shook his head and the girl grabbed his arm and hugged it. This level of hugging Xero had allowed but still he was extremely embarrassed by the devils shamelessness.
“So the rumors of it being a new breed as well as a familiar that loves its master was true.” Cascade said.
Grunt nodded, “Yep, this is it, a little sword devil that is a pain in the ass.” Grunt said.
“Shut up you inept old man!” Ashley suddenly glared at the old bear.
The air froze as the four others tried to register what she had said and after a long moment Cascade’s mouth began to twitch. “Oi… girl… Why did you call him inept?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Instead of manning up he ran away from Madrid.” Ashley said and instantly Cascade began to laugh.
“You-you actually told them about it!” She laughed.
“Miss Madrid is in camp at the moment actually.” Xero said and Cascade’s eyes shined and her grin became more sinister.
Grunt began sweat as he saw that smile but before he could actually move to stop her the woman turned and bolted towards the gate and jumped over the crowd vanishing but her voice could clearly be heard as she shouted, “Madrid! Madrid come out! It’s Cascade!”
Surge walked over and pat the bear man’s shoulder, “Life is cruel, just keep forcing your way through.” Surge said.
“Yeah but if I had to choose, I would prefer to fight an Ancient Elder dragon instead of face Madrid. Damn fate is such a bitch to curse me like this.” Grunt grumbled.
At this time there was a sudden crash and when every looked the Dragon turtle had already dug itself into the ground.
“NO!!!” Ashley shouted and instantly jumped up as several knives appeared. “I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE CUT THOSE DAMNED LEGS OFF!” She shouted and slammed into the ground and used her knives to blow the loose dirt out of the way and finally grab the turtle that was some 20 meters under ground already.
Ashley grabs it and stopped it in its tracks before kicking the bottom of the shell making it lift up and she slashed at the leg and cut at the joint. She quickly cut both hind legs and began to drag it out and after doing so she flips it once more but this time she jumps high and calls out the growing greatsword and makes it really big before it began to glow slightly and then fell down.
It smashed right into the front side were the head was and the exposed legs went limp. Ashley shrinks the massive sword and takes it out before coming over and cheerfully smiling, “There, problem solved.”
“Ash… what do you have against Turtles and Dragons?” Xero asked.
“Nothing, they're both just really good for masters growth so I will hunt them for master.” She said making Xero frown.
“Hmph, stupid creature, not even loyal to the master and just wants his bed.” Richard said.
“A little person like you wouldn’t understand what having a cute girl after him is like anyway.” Ashley said and stuck her tongue out.
Richard became red in the face upon hearing her words, he was the same age as Xero and both were 11. They were at the age where they were getting interested in girls and it was obvious they both knew about interaction between boys and girls. For her to say that was a big blow on his forming pride as a man.
“YOU!” He shouted and jumped back and from his seal a small glowing ball appeared. He grabbed it and shoved it into the ground. “I’ll show you my power and make you eat your words!” He shouted and stood up as a long stone hilt appeared. Grabbing it he pulled and uprooted a large sword made of dense stone and strangely at the base of the hilt and blade there was a large eye like gemstone that kept beating like a heart. “Behold! This is what power is like! I obtained a spirit familiar and trained it to become a one and only Sword Spirit! My skill at handling it is second to none!” He shouted as the sword began to vibrate.
Finally he lifted it and swung down on the ground causing a huge earthquake before pillars of stone began to appear.
Ashley’s white slit pupil shrink and her eyes became serious as she became a blur and grabbed Xero and flew up just as the pillars of stones came out from under him.
“You little bug!” She growled and handed the tiny sword to Xero who made it the size of a greatsword and stood on it stabilizing himself in the air. “For trying to hurt master, first I will take that sword! It looks strong!” She said and flew at him.
Richard swung his sword and the stones on the swords body exploded and shot at her as shrapnel. Ashley summoned two kitchen knives and deflected them causing the boy to be flustered.
“How?!” He shouted but suddenly she landed in front of him and grabbed the swords blade and punched his gut making him let go.
“Good sword!” Ashley said as she looked at it in her hand. Suddenly she felt it grow heavier by a ton but a strange wave from her body made the sword start shivering. This wave made her iris turn red and she licked her lips as she took the sword to her lips and began to eat it.
“Wait! Stop! My familiar!” Richard watched in horror as Ashley ate the sword of stone completely but as she bit into the gem she found that it was much more solid than the rest and after biting it a long time she put it on the ground and stomped it crushing the circle and went to grab them and only took a few shards and ate them before the rest turned into light and jumped into Richards familiar seal.
The entire process didn’t take a minute and Richard was in shock as he looked at the seal from his spirit.
Ashley began to blink as her eyes returned to normal and she let out a burp. Licking her lips she looked around, “That thing actually tasted a bit good.” She said and looked as Xero slowly flew down and withdrew his mana making it let go of his body.
“Didn’t you go too far eating his familiar?” Xero asked.
“Nope~!” She cheerfully said and suddenly froze.
The familiar seal suddenly shined as an Innate Spell suddenly formed so fast that Xero didn’t even have time to look and it was finished.
“What the?” He muttered.
“Wow! A new innate spell!” She shouted.
Xero checked it out and his jaw dropped.
“Hey kid, what’s up?” Grunt asked.
“Summon… Sword Spirit.” Xero said dully.
Everyone looked at him in silence then at the girl. Xero frowned and filled the magical formula with mana and the Sword Devil stuck her hand out and a familiar ball of light appeared and she pushed it underground. Just like the boy a moment ago the hilt appeared and she pulled it out and it was an identical blade.
“Wow… so she can assimilate sword type monsters.” Surge said as his eyes were shining. This was an obvious advantage against that category of monsters, the race name Sword Devil wasn’t for show at all. She was a real nightmare for sword type monsters. Not to mention, ‘Sword’ is a vague word, it meant that as long as it was a blade weapon of one or two hands but not a polearm or axe type she could affect it.
“Hey… there is another spell here I never noticed.” Xero shouted.
“Huh?” Ashley replied.
“Its called ‘Sword Devil’s Aura’ I didn’t see it before but it was an already formed spell. The description is more or less like this, ‘Sword Devil and the familiar master radiate a mysterious aura that weakens magic heading towards them and when a sword or blade is wielded by either it will gather this aura making the blade and any sword or blade attacks sharper and more powerful.’” Xero replied.
“Wow, a passive Innate Spell, no wonder you didn’t notice it, they are akin to racial abilities they form too quickly and are perfect without needing to change nor any god allow it to change.” Grunt said.
“Hey! Don’t ignore me! RETURN MY FAMILIAR!” Richard suddenly shouted as he stomped over.
“This isn’t your familiar, this is my servant spirit. Yours is in your seal after I made a snack out of it.” Ashley said.
“Give! It! Back!” Richard said his eyes filled with rage.
Ashley was losing her patience and as the boy stopped 5 meters away and held his hand out her lips parted into a grin. “Alright then! Catch!”
She said and with an easy flick she sent the sword spirit rocketing at the boy who only had enough time to throw himself on the ground before the sword passed over him and landed 20 meters away. Five seconds later it began to float and returned to Ashley’s outstretched hand.
“Since you didn’t want to catch it then I’ll leave it be! Gehehehehe!” Ashley laughed and turned.
“Master, I will start dinner soon~! Please go wash up!” Ashley said in a girly and cheerful tone.
“Hey blue girl! What about me?!” The chubby girl suddenly shouted pouting.
“Want to fight as well?” Ashley asked.
“No! Can I get in on the cooking?! Turtle soup is my favorite! Also my familiar is really helpful with cooking, she learned a lot from the academy library and can even make the best seasoning!” She said and began to drool.
“Oh if you want to help then come right ahead.” She said cheerfully and walked to the turtle.
Xero sighed and looked at the two older men, “Shall we go inside, the turtle will probably take several hours to cook outside and standing out here wouldn’t help much.” Xero said.
“He is right, spoiled brat! After you pick up the shattered pieces of your pride head into the camp and look for the tent with your school's emblem, that will be the sight of your tent.” Grunt bluntly rubbed salt on Richards wound.
The three walked in while Richard turned bright red, the huge dragon looked at him and yawned before curling up and falling asleep where it was.
Richard kept grinding his teeth and in his mind he thought, “That demon!!! That boy!! I will kill them both!! I don’t need to wait I just need to find the materials for my spirit to make a good weapon! Once that happens the magical restrictions and capabilities of the sword will be even better and I can destroy them both before they even know what hit them!” he thought and grinned.
This thought weaved itself into his head, this was due to the ability of the sword spirit to gather the material they were placed in and form a sword that best matched the element. It would even become a blade of wind if left without a target element long enough.
He stands up and makes an emotionless expression and walks into the camp after a while to rest. The commotion outside repulsed him since Ashley’s Dragon turtle soup was being distributed to everyone and they were eating outside happily.