After spasming for a few seconds and frothing at the mouth, the assassin gave his last breath. It was unknown what pill he had swallowed, but not even Michael's healing crystal could save him.
After taking off his mask, he looked like a young beastman no older than 25, with tiny cat ears, a slightly sharp chin, and a longer, sharper nose. Unfortunately, neither the boss or the teens recognized him.
“Let us know if you find something,” said Finn. “In the meantime, let’s go up.” He pointed at the hatch on the ceiling of the basement.
“Why would you want to go there?” asked the boss.
“Y-yes, there’s nothing upstairs but a bakery,” added one of his henchmen.
“The killer said he was a coverup, then a distraction, so… My bet is they’re going to kill the baker.”
“What!?”
In a panic, the boss jumped on the table, opened the hatch, and a flight of stairs dropped down. He and the teens climbed into the mansion, but they were far too late.
Mrs. Vistacia, the noble in charge of the entire district, lay dead in the living room. Her four year old twins were butchered in the playroom. The maids, the butler, even the cooks and a messenger from the academy were taken out by several sharp, short blades.
“Fucking bastards!” The boss threatened to rip out his hair, but fortunately, he was fast to regain his composure. “Kids, go back through the basement and run. We need to cover everything up before we get blamed.”
However, as they walked down the stairs back towards the basement, they could hear the front door being kicked open and the voices of guards shouting commands. In less than an hour, the city guards found the mob's basement. An investigation was launched, and although they did see the assassin and the sliced up thugs, the mob was still considered the primary suspect.
While the boss went into hiding, Finn and Michael returned to the academy, and trained like nothing had happened until the end of the day. There was no telling if Phoenix’s pocket dimensions were actually private or if the director could spy on their every move, so just in case, the teens kept quiet.
Once evening came, Finn left the warrior trio to continue on their own, and went to his supplementary archery class.
The setting of Miss Olivia’s pocket dimension was the same, The Trembling Zagan’s invasion from 149 years in the past. The walls were filled with beastpeople preparing to face their end, while hordes of monsters were crossing the horizon.
However, this time the lesson was slightly different.
“Gather round,” said Olivia. “You’ve all been fighting this war for a month, so I’m sure at least some of you have been wondering how it ends. Well, today I will show you what happened.”
“We don’t need to fight anymore?”
“If you think you can fight, then be my guest.”
Miss Olivia pointed at Zagan’s army that was charging towards the fortresses. However, they no longer advanced in groups of spiders, followed by wolves and so on.
This time around, the giant wolves charged first while spiders rode on their backs as if taking the bus. Goblins, riding two headed tigers, hid between the wolves’ legs, while centaurs gave commands from the back, and four winged, black eagles filled the ranks from above.
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“I’ve simplified the enemy army for your training. Otherwise, none of you would have survived 10 minutes.”
Zagan's forces approached in perfectly organized battalions. The wolves formed clear rows and lines, the likes of which only modern soldiers could ever hope to replicate.
As she stretched her limbs on the edge of the wall, Miss Olivia began a countdown towards the end.
“10, 9, 8, 7, …”
“Are we seriously going to die again?” Legolas complained.
“5, 4, …”
‘The monsters are still far away.’
“3, 2, 1, 0...”
Suddenly, something flew above the teens’ heads from the direction of the empire. It was like a comet or a miniature sun: huge, bright, and unbelievably fast. For a split second, it turned the night into day, and then it smashed straight into The Trembling Zagan.
The explosion which followed left a crater several miles in diameter, stopping just 150 feet away from the beastpeople's stronghold. When the dust settled, five minutes later, more than 90% of Zagan's army was gone.
A smirking Miss Olivia clapped her hands to draw her students attention. “On this night, 149 years in the past, the elven General Sylph had mortally injured The Trembling Zagan.”
Indeed, the giant, scaly centaur was missing a leg. Purple blood was pouring out every orifice, and his ribcage and mandible bone were visible to all.
“Where’s the General?” asked Luca.
“In Trident city, holding off the demon army’s fourth in command along with the dwarven general from that time. After pushing back the demon's fourth commander, she shot an arrow to help with this side of the war.”
“That was an arrow!?”
The entire class dropped their jaws. Finn rubbed his eyes several times while staring at the crater that was like a giant, dried up lake.
‘That was a Goddamn long range missile with the strength of a tiny nuke. She even took out Zagan, how are these generals not Gods already?’
Miss Olivia pointed towards a spot right in the middle between Zagan and the five fortresses. “Pay attention. It’s not over yet.”
Out of thin air, an old man appeared where the teacher was pointing. He had long white hair which merged with his slightly longer, white beard. His back was hunched over and he used a longsword to keep himself steady.
Dressed in rags, he walked away from the forthresses, away from the empire, in the direction of Zagan.
“Jesus Christ, now what?”
"Is that your brother?" asked Luca.
Olivia clapped her hands to draw their attention. “Shut up and watch.”
Suddenly, the injured Zagan slammed his spear into the ground, releasing an energy wave the size of a tsunami towards the old man and the fortresses behind him. Without missing a beat, the old man unsheathed his sword and continued walking forward.
With one slash, he split the tsunami in half. The two sides of the energy waves continued their path, destroying half of fortresses numbers two and four.
Seeing that his attack had failed, The Trembling Zagan turned on his three remaining legs, shouted a battle-cry and ran beyond the horizon. His remaining army, wolves, goblins, and centaurs alike charged at the old man. There were still close to 20000 of them, the strongest of the bunch, the only ones who had managed to survive Sylph’s explosion.
Still, as soon as they got within 3000 feet of the old man, they were all sent to the afterlife. The monsters were not cut and they were not hit by magic; they simply turned into dust as if Thanos had snapped his fingers. If one were to ask whether their souls had survived, it was honestly up for debate.
Unperturbed, the old man continued his stroll. Only after the entire monster army was obliterated did he stop for a moment to catch his breath. He then placed his longsword on the ground and stepped on it. Like a magical skateboard, the longsword went up and then flew the old man beyond the horizon.
While the entire classroom watched in silence, Miss Olivia took a seat on the edge of the wall before clapping her hands two times in what looked like a religious gesture. “Nobody has seen Zagan since that day."
Suddenly, the beastpeople cheered: “The Hero!”
“The Hero has saved us!”
“The Hero is alive!”
“Hurray for the Hero!”
While the soldiers celebrated, Miss Olivia turned towards her class. “Since that day, nobody has seen the Hero either.”