Principal Xixin had the warmest of smile when he saw councilmen entering the institution campus. Next to him were the teaching staff and handpicked students, all in formal clothing, all smiles. The Hunter Anthem enveloped the whole institution.
The councilmen all had solemn auras and expressionless countenances. Their outfits were no less formal, with long black wool overcoats and white chemises. Their swords were hung elegantly on their left waists, gracefully moving back and forth as they marched. They stopped a few meters away from the institution's teachers and students, apart from Veritas Souls. He walked towards principal Xixin, faintly smiled before shaking his hand. The 25-year-old young man was at least 6'3. Straight gaze. Sharp eyes. His face gave the impression of being carved out of a rock. He was a talented hunter, becoming the captain of the Demon Extermination Sector at his age.
After some short introductions, principal Xixin escorted the councilmen to Batteworld. On their way were students standing upright with their hands behind their back, forming a parth to the stadium. Young hunters marveled at their presence, and they particularly eyed at Veritas the most. Summoners, on the other hand, expressed neither joy or gloom at their arrival. They stood in silence, as cold as their first day on campus.
" Hiatus, the summoners scare me." said Aria. "They're like robots today."
Hiatus nodded at her remark, sharing the same opinion. He searched for Jake, and saw not the usual cheeky face, but a nonchalant one robbed of emotion. Hiatus waved at him, but Jake ignored the hunter.
" Is this the famous "no feeling, no emotion" method in those movies about assassins? I think they are thinking about how to kill us." said Hiatus.
" I am going to strangle you if you jinx it."
Karen approached the two. She whispered." Veritas looks even better when off the papers, don't you think?"
"No." Hiatus replied in a guttural voice.
" Karen, be serious. Though he does look good."
" I'm excited. Just one month ago we learned about the Council and here they are today! How cool is that?"
" It would be cool if a Singulus Digiti showed up too." Aria said, smiling." I want to see what will happen if the SD and the Council meet face-to-face."
Hiatus looked around. He said, frowning. " It just bothers me that they do not allow reporters to enter our school."
" Principal Xixin doesn't want to let them in. He did give them the permission to record our school from outside though." said Aria.
" Weird. He's crazy for publicity. Why must he restrain the reporters?"
Aria shrugged. " Who knows."
" You two talk about the most boring things. Oh no, he's gone!" Karen said, running after Veritas.
Hiatus shook his head." Lucky Wander's not here."
" Yeah." Aria replied.
The two turned their head in the direction of Mirilad, where Wander was doing his scout assignment. They both wondered how their friends would fare in that cursed forest the third time.
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Wander fell to the ground as his fellow Hunters violently pushed him. He looked up at them, and was met with malicious stares and smirks.
" I think we should give you a good beating . Jonathan will be happy." said a boy wearing cap.
" You will do anything to ingratiate yourselves with him, huh?" asked Wander.
" Keep your mouth to yourself, coward. Contrary to what you think, Jonathan is our friend, not our boss. What you did the other day humiliated us all. You have lost every right as a Hunter."
" That is not up to you decide." Wander averted his eyes.
The boy in cap threw a punch at Wander, but he easily evaded the attack just by tilting his head. Wander did a backward flip then stood up, looking straight at the bullies.
" This is stupid, guys. I'm sorry for running, but hey, what was I supposed to do? Becoming a punching bag for Jonathan? You know he is much stronger than me."
The bullies looked at each other, then burst out laughing
" Yes, that is what we expect you to do. Stay and taking it like a man, let him punch you to death."
Wander stared at them in total confusion. He could not comprehend them.
"We are here today to scout, not to fight. Let's just focus on our job, is that too hard for you all?" said Wander
" You will not talk your way of here, coward. Be prepared for a deep sleep, Wander."
The bullies all charged towards Wander, ready to shed his blood.
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Xixin felt unease looking at Hamilton. His old friend's headache seemed to have ceased, and the summoner had regained his usual composure and casted away his grumpiness. Nonetheless, Xixin still felt like the man sitting next to him was too foreign.
Xixin had introduced Hamilton to the Councilmen, and as he expected, both sides were uninterested in each other. They only gave each other formal greetings and polite questions before happily parting and returning to their seats.
Three battles had transpired in one hour, and the summoners dominated. The councilmen were not amused and neither were the young hunters. What worried Xixin, though, was not the dissatisfaction of Hunters, but the apathy of the Summoners. Be it losing or winning, they remained expressionless the whole time. The stadium were divided into two polarizing sections: the zealous enthusiasm of Hunters and the aloof indifference of Summoners.
" Hamilton, your students, shouldn't they be more ... passionate?" whispered Xixin.
" Don't mind them, Xixin. They need to stay focus. This is a very important day." Hamilton grinned. "The event that will set the new chapter in motion."
Xixin was at a loss for words. He was ready to use the rune, but held himself back. He could feel something terrible was coming, yet unable to put a stop to the contest. Hamilton and he were so close, so close to that dream he felt in no way they would fail to grasp it. He believed the two of them were chosen to do this. The prophecy faded into obscurity ages ago, but today it would be sparked again.
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The contestant room was actually the storage reformed and refurnished. Principal Xixin, being as thrift as ever, used metal boxes as chairs for his students. He placed them on one another to make tables. He pasted papers on them and wrote encouraging words. And he cut them in half to make even more boxes. The room, thus, was still a storage, but for students and boxes.
" You really have to give him credit for his resourcefulness." said Karen.
Hiatus shook his head. He turned to Aria. " You set me up with that Victor. You do know he is, let me quote Jake, one "nasty dude", right?" asked Hiatus.
" I think you will do just fine. Like in Mirilad." said Aria as she looked straight into Hiatus' eyes, making him frown.
Hiatus and Aria were decided to be the last fighters. " Save the best for last" Principal Xixin said. He told them he did not expect very much from the fights between "mid-tier Hunters", and that their fights would create much more impact than all the previous one combined. Consequently, they would have to wait for hours in the Contestant Room until their turns.
Aria felt like the longer they stayed in this room, the worse things would get out there. The mastermind must have prepared for this day. Something was about to happen, and she could do nothing but warn Xixin and believe that he had settled everything. For now, she remained trapped in this room. She could hear the shouts of the audience. Her heartbeat accelerated.
" You are worried about that weakling, Aria?" asked Jonathan.
Aria glared at Jonathan. She was about to ignore him, but suddenly felt the chill.
" Jonathan, please tell me you are not so stupid and childish as to tell your "subordinates" to assault Wander."
Jonathan hesitated for a second. Then he replied. "You read my mind. It seems our bond runs deeper than we thought, eh?"
Hiatus and Aria stared at Jonathan in horror. If Wander got hurt, then everything would be over for him.
" No, no, no, this is worse case scenario possible!" Aria violently shook her head.
" Calm down, I specifically tell them not to kill him." Jonathan said.
" You shut up right now!" Aria shouted, startling everyone in the room."We must..."
" We can't leave school, Aria. If we do, that means we plead defeat!" Hiatus interrupted her.
" But he..." Aria pointed in the direction of Mirilad.
" Must take care of himself, for now."
" Hiatus is right, princess" Jonathan said." He..."
" For one last time, shut up, pig!"
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Wander did not know how long he had been playing this cat and mouse game with his fellow hunters. The Wander of many weeks ago would never stand a chance, but at this moment, Wander knew he would always be ahead of them. He looked back and noticed some of them were panting and profusely sweating. Their confused faces were hilarious to Wander. They could not understand why they could not catch up to him.
" I'm still waiting! You have to catch me before you can hurt me!" said Wander as he laughed, and wait for the bullies to approach him close.
The bullies swore at him, then charged towards, before came to a sudden halt. Their faces twisted into an expression of utmost fear. One of them fell to the ground, mumbling, pointing at Wander. Or what was behind him.
Wander shuddered, as he saw a huge shadow cast over his. In the blink of an eye, the sharp teeth of the beast that chased him in the forest sank deep into Wander's body, and he could feel the pain piercing his brain. His green blood splatter on the ground and on the faces of other hunters to their horror. With Wander in its mouth, the beast took off.
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The hunters at Battleworld could not believe what just happened. Seventeen battles, over in less than 1 hours, some ended in seconds, and only two victory belonged to the hunters, thanks to Alicia and Jonathan. The councilmen hardly expressed any emotions, asides from occasion frowns and sighs. What was supposed to be a thrilling event turned out to be a cold dead fish.
Xixin was not embarrassed, he was terrified. The summoners demonstrated overwhelming power, perhaps too overwhelming. They were brutal, and their attacks violently clashed against the Shield. This kind of power he had not seen in youngsters for years. Not since...
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"Cold Decade. Dase and Yue..."
Xixin shivered. He glanced at Hamilton, and noticed his old friend was watching the battle with dull eyes. He looked at the summoners, and noticed no change in their apathy. The councilmen and the hunters must also have discerned something abnormal in the attitude of the summoners, and began to feel quite insulted by the apathy.
" Another victory for the Summoners, please give them a round of applause" said the MC, and no one reacted." Okay then, please welcome our next two contestants. Hunter Aria Tansine and Summoner Jake Malton."
The hunters got all excited, believing in Aria to gain them back some dignity. The summoners looked on, as if watching a bunch of monkeys yelling incoherent gibberish.
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Aria stepped onto the arena, and the shield closed behind her back. She smiled at Jake, and he gave her a cold stare in reply.
" Jake, that's rude. I know we are opponents right now but you don't have to be that uptight."
Jake did not react to her remark, and Aria, after staring at him in confusion for a while, decided to give up trying to make him react.
"Fight!" the MC shouted.
" Okay, he said he mastered Earth type spells, then..."
Aria could not finish her train of thoughts, as Jake projected towards her sharp gusts of wind that she could only evade thanks to her instinct. She looked at the deep cuts the wind left on the ground then looked at Jake, remembering that Hiatus told her the machine was cut due to an air-type magic.
" But it could not be him"
Jake whisper his incantation, and his staff flared up. From its tip, hundreds of tiny gales, thin like threads, shot out and aimed at Aria.
" The heck, I thought he would use earth"
Aria activated her demonic form, and charged towards her opponents. She outmaneuvered most of the gales, but lots of them hit her too. The wounds they caused were gnawing and acute, and could only be offset by Aria's regenerative capability. It was a battle of endurance, as winds from the staff seemed to emerge endlessly.
" Is his staff some sort of magical AK-47?"
Aria knew she would lose if things went on like this. She raised her shield.
" Bounce" she whispered.
The runes Wander helped her write glowed, fending off the razor-sharp winds. After seeing what Wander could do with runes, Aria knew she should never underestimate their power. With better protection, she sped up towards Jake, and her speed allowed her to catch him in mere seconds. However, before she could touch him, she was violently blasted in the opposite direction by some force from underground. Jake hit the ground with the low-end of his staff, and rose a snake with skinned covered in rock. It was Jake's familiar- Terrent. Jake then cover himself in strong gusts of wind.
The snake threw itself at Aria, ready to hurt her real bad with its weight.
" Up" Aria shouted.
The runes on Aria's legs flashed, and she felt her whole body become lighter. She lowered her knee, and propelled herself upward, jumping 10 meters off the ground. Terrent plunged itself into the air right after her, just how Aria had planned.
" Push."
Her boots received a strong force from behind. She aimed at the head of the snake. Terrent's elongated body, if only it were like any other snake's, could have easily adjusted itself. However, its rock skin created extra burden and diminished elasticity as well as flexibility. Consequently, just an average e force aimed at one end of its body was enough to make it lose balance, especially when it was in the air with no objects to hold its weight. The snake's head was not destroyed, but was pushed violently to the ground towards Jake. It clashed with the wind surrounding him, and the whole arena was fill with sound of two saw blades clashing against each other. The snake let out a painful cry, and Aria knew Jake could hear it. One part of him ignored its pain and kept up the spell, while the other responded to its pain with kindness. The latter, with help from Aria's attack, triumphed, and the spell was deactivated, while Terrent was desummoned to keep it safe. Aria took her chance and hit Jake in the head with the hilt of her sword, rendered him unconscious immediately.
" And the Winner is the Hunter Aria Tansine!" the MC happily declared.
The Hunters all stood up and shouted in joy. Xixin gave a smile of satisfaction. He glanced at the councilmen, and could see some pleasure. Veritas even smiled, apparently impressed by how Aria handled herself against such an opponent.
" Quite a talented lad. Full of potential." Hamilton said, a smile slowly drawn across his face.
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Aria carried Jake out of Battleworld and into the hunter contestant room. Jonathan sprang up as he saw her. " You okay?"
Aria ignored him. She patted Jake's cheeks. " Wake up."
" The next battle will take place shortly. For now, we welcome the voice of Ase Valahad, winner of last year Summoner Voice." The MC's voice rumbled.
" My turn soon. God, her voice is beautiful." Hiatus said.
" It's a he, actually." Karen said." He also sang when the summoners arrived."
" Is there anything about people you don't know?"
" A lot." Karen rolled her eyes." I'm heading out."
Jonathan watched Karen leaving. He looked at Hiatus and Aria, biting his lips then following her.
" Uhm, I..I will also go." Alicia said, standing up.
" Wait, Alicia. Can you help this guy?" Aria said.
Alicia stared at Aria. After a while, she nodded.
______________________________________________________________________________ Jake could feel his head splitting in half. An excruciating pain overwhelmed his senses. But then, a soothing feeling kicked in, and he could manage to open his eyes.
Alicia White was not the prettiest girl Jake had seen. She did not have any special feature, except for her glistening face and deep blue eyes. However, he must admit she was the girl whose face impressed him the most. Mostly because it was the first he saw after his brain underwent a magical ride into the land of the brainwashed.
" Thank you, Alicia." said Aria.
Alicia nodded and retreated to her seat.
Jake looked around and noticed that Aria and Hiatus was also in the room.
" Now Jake, please explain why..."
" Aria, what happened? Why am I here?"
The questions earned him the stare of others.
" Jake." said Hiatus." You are in the Contestant Room. You just fought Aria, remember?"
Jake shook his head.
" Don't tell me you...."
Jake tried to use all of his strength to recall what happened yesterdays. His hands pressed against his head as if they were squeezing information from it. Images flashed through his mind, and he shuddered.
"We must stop this contest at once! My friends, they are not themselves anymore, they are brainwashed. They are going to kill each and every single hunter out there!"
Aria covered her mouths, whispering " No". Hiatus frowned, visibly disturbed by the news. Alicia just stared at the three, completely at a loss.
" You must tell principal Xixin immediately! They are ready to turn this contest into a massacre!"
" Jake, please tell us first, the name of your ace. Your ace is the traitor!"
" What, how can—?"
At that moment, Jake came to understand. It was obvious from the very beginning. The transfer student, a powerful summoner, came to his school just weeks apart from the competition. How convenient that she could easily become close to the principal, to the point of easily asking him to leave her out of the competition, so she could freely wander about while most people were occupied.
" Her name is Maria Gwendolyn."
The moment he uttered the name, the whole New York Halcyon was engulf in a tremendous wave of terrorizing Demex, rendering every average Hunters and Summoners in the city unconscious, the more experienced paralyzed and the best shaken. Aria and Jake must used all of their strength to stand on their two feet. Alicia approached them and placed her hands on their heads. The effects of the Demex diminished.
" We were too late." Hiatus whispered.
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Tetrax climbed out of the tunnel, gasping for fresh air and fresh light. Hours in that tunnel rendered her senses dull. Still she could enjoyed the quietness of Mirilad.
" Ah, sweet sweet silence—" She stretched her body.
" HELP!" a voice came from behind her.
Tetrax turned towards the distressing noise, hand on sword. Some teenagers were running towards her, covered in green blood.
" Help, you must help us! That..that..thing, it took Wander! Please save him!"
" Is that his blood?" Tetrax asked herself.
"Okay, now why don't you —"
Tetrax unsheathed her sword and turned her attention to the east, where Demex was overflowing. The young Hunters around her all collapsed instantly. With some reluctance, she left them behind and headed for the source of the demonic miasma.
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Amidst Mirilad forest, a figure was standing next to an unconscious Wander. It kneeled down, touch the heart of Wander with its hand. Moments later, the hunter regained his consciousness and opened his eyes
" Maria." Wander murmured.
" You have finally awakened, my demon prince."