Part 1

“Idiot! What the hell are you doing there!?-” The loud familiar voice of Danthe rang into my ears “- Why the fuck do you gotta have to hide in the strangest places in the worst moments!?”

[Tch…a peaceful moment ruined. Strange? What the hell’s wrong with this place?]

I was sitting with my legs dangling out of the window of an empty classroom. It was a surprisingly comfortable place. The chill of the stone was cooling down my lower bits while the warm touch of the morning sun felt like a hug all over my chest. I had forgotten how much time passed. Still pondering about the events on the rooftop, I was lost in thoughts. Some about the past, others regarding my future. Not more than ten minutes must have passed, or so I thought.

“What with the hurry. There’s still time before the headmaster’s speech” I lazily replied as I stretched my back and, as I arched it, laid down covering the full length of the thick window. My view of the sky was vaguely covered by the waving top of a tree. Truly a calming view.

“There’s time?! No there’s fucking not!-” Shouted once again Danthe “- The speech is literally about to start!”

“What? Really?!” I replied finally, figuratively, slapped back to reality.

“YEEEESSS! Get your ass down here!”

Promptly I jumped out of the window by shifting my weight on the top of my spine, pushing forward with my arms next to my head followed by a wide swing of my legs. As I landed on the ground I was already running behind Danthe. Heedless of the traffic of students around the paths, we ran towards the gate.

“By the way, Raphael-” Asked Danthe with a slightly higher voice so that I could hear him from his back “- What have you been doing all this time?”

“Just a little chat with a friend-” I replied. And before he could ask me further I continued “- Look, that seems like where all participants gather. Let’s go!”

In front of a makeshift little stage where the headmaster and numerous professors stood, five rows of around thirty students each have formed almost to perfection. Luckily the speech has yet to begin and all the participants were clearly on edge. Rather than the sheer number of students participating, I noticed that they were all divided into groups. There were wider spaces between individuals, probably it was done unconsciously but, with a margin of error, it gave me an insight into the number of groups and solo participants. More importantly though, I observed that Amelie was standing in waiting in the second line while Sora and the others were in the fourth line. The event had already started.

“Danthe-” I said, slowing him down by tugging his shirt “- I know we already discussed tactics, but I’ll be changing mine”

“What?! Why now? How can we work together if you-”

“Don’t worry. Just play your game, get badges and look out for possible ambushes….Just one warning. Don’t cross the circle” I replied looking him deadly serious in his eyes.

“Wait, what does it m-” Danthe tried to ask only to be abruptly interrupted by my “See you inside!” as I jogged towards my teammate.

That was the last time I would speak to any of my friends until the end of the event. If we were to meet, the rules would force us to engage in a fight. I had to make sure not to meet any of them inside the forest.

Part 2

Before I knew it, I was already sitting in one of the carriages together with Amelie, a duo of third years and a mixed group of four. The headmaster’s speech was brief. There were no encouraging words nor subtle jokes like his usual, rather he seemed on edge, almost reluctant to even start the event. He mostly spoke about the rules and security measures, which, to my surprise, were mostly taken up by Ekisora, who turned out to be able to share the view of contracted animals. In this specific case, birds. She was made to contact as many birds as possible and have them fly over the woods. She would then look at the bird’s view and check on the student’s conditions. The interesting bit was that, through a strange cubic device, what she was seeing would be projected on one of the academy walls for everyone to see.

Regarding rules, there was really nothing new. Points were achieved through badges, the number of badges would determine one’s score. Attacking someone without a badge was severely prohibited. Responding to that person’s attacks, on the other hand, wasn’t. The total number of badges of a group was to be distributed equally between teammates. Coalitions of different groups were severely prohibited. Surrendering to a fight didn’t necessarily mean surrendering the whole event. In case a surrender flare was to be shot, all attacks on the shooter were prohibited and punished with disqualification. Leaving the zone’s perimeters, delimitated by red stone walls, meant disqualification. And so on.

As soon as the speech was finished, all participants were made to change into the event’s clothes which consisted of: high ankle military-like boots, large black trousers made of a solid fiber, a white long-sleeved shirt that covered part of the neck, a dark green heavy jacket with some sort of fur on the inside and finally a dark gray hooded cloak that reached down the knees. All in all a simple but comfortable outfit, fit for excursions. The only thing I regretted was not receiving a sleeping bag, it would have made sleeping outside easier. But at the very least we got a shoulder bag.

The whole three-hour trip was heavy with tension and subtle stares at each other. Saying that everyone was on edge was belittling it. The more experienced looking one of the third years was literally trying to get a read on everyone present. To prevent getting even more anxious, I decided to get some shut-eye, though I still kept one eye open. Time, then, flew by a little faster and we finally reached a spot close to a two-meter tall red wall devoid of anything else except for another two carriages.

Once out of the carriage, a full-body search was initiated by the adventurers traveling with us, probably to make sure no items or weapons were brought inside the walls. Once everyone was confirmed clear, every group was escorted by one adventurer to different parts of the wall, after blinding us with blindfolds. When I was finally able to see again, I found myself inside the forest, around ten minutes away from the carriages.

The vegetation was thick. Not enough to negate all passages but just right to hinder movements. Pines and almond-like trees composed the majority of said vegetation. Bushes, shrubs, mushrooms and moss filled the rest. Over our heads, a dark red sparrow the size of a crow was flying in circles. Obviously one of Ekirosa’s contracted birds.

[Wonder how this contractual stuff works. Might turn useful in the future… if it’s something everyone could do at least. Though I don’t really feel safe knowing that that woman’s watching me…I still can’t wrap my head around what happened with her]

“Here are your badges-” Said the soft-looking adventurer as he showed us his open palms containing the two golden-colored badges with the academy emblem on them “- Make sure to fasten’em solid to your shirt. It’s unlikely but check’em often and make sure not to lose’em. We’ll receive the signal in a couple of minutes so get ready”

I grabbed the badge fastened it onto my shirt, right over the heart, on the upper side of the chest. Then, it was preparation time. I squatted and firmly tied my boots, tucked my shirt into my trousers and fastened the belt, adjusted the length of the shoulder bag, double knotted the jacket over my waist and fixed the cape so that it wouldn’t hinder my movent when sprinting. After checking that everything was in order, I started warming up with little jumps and stretching.

“Are you that nervous, Raphael?” Asked Amelie with a gentle laugh.

[Let’s get this farce rolling!]

“Kind of. You should stretch too, we'll have to change our plans once inside”

“W-w-what?-” Replied the girl with a face full of stupor and anguish “- I-I mean, after all the tactics and strategies?”

“A shame…really. But I heard that Gallher caught wind of’em and is coming straight for us. We’ll have to switch them all up” I answered trying my hardest to fake a worried and pissed-off face. I had to muster up all the experience gained from the years spent acting in front of a camera during interviews. I was not merely Raphael, I had to be Raphael the actor for the duration of the whole event.

“S-so now what?! What are we gonna do?” Kept on worrying the girl next to me now chewing on one of her nails.

“Don’t worry about that. Just trust and follow me. I promise you, we’ll do what we came here to do”

“Oh…alright. Do you mind telling me what you-”

Amelie's words were cut short by the loud sound of a flare getting shot. We both looked up and, over the top of the trees, a trail of red smoke formed an arch in the sky where at it’s highest point stood a wide explosion of that same smoke. That was the signal.

“That’s it-” Said the adventurer as he placed his right hand on the solid wall, creating an entrance while doing so “- The signal got shot. May the luck of the gods be with you”

Without a second thought, I began running through the entrance with Amelie following me closely. Behind us, the entrance rapidly closed, virtually locking us up inside that huge natural arena. My only concern was now to get as far away from the walls as possible while still maintaining enough distance from the center. The first day had started.

Part 3

- DANTHE HANNES’ POV -

Getting through the tiny gate in the walls was like a breath of chilling mountain air. “It’s about to start” I kept thinking before seeing that red signal up in the sky, “We are about to go in”. But once inside, all the tension seemed to fade out. It didn’t disappear, I could still feel the anxiety whispering in my ear, rather it was heavily silenced. Call it survival instinct, focus or battle spirit, once I walked through those walls, I felt at the very top of my conditions.

“...I wonder if he’s feeling the same…” I thought out loud.

“Did you say something?” Asked the white-haired guy beside me.

“Eh? Ah! No, no, I was just noticing that it’s the same environment as the outside”

“Were you expecting something different?” Replied Lucas with a chuckle.

“Dunno honestly. It just feels…too natural. Anyway listen, I talked with Raphael before the speech. There’s been a change of strategy” I said in a serious tone as I checked my surroundings rather thoroughly so that no set of unwanted ears would listen. Of course, the replies of my companions were a series of “What?”, “Why?” and “What did he say?” with shocked expressions. All except for Lucas.

“I don’t know the reason-” I said as I tried to calm them down “- He just said that we should do our thing. He only warned me about one thing, to cite his words “Don’t cross the circle”....Lucas, why don’t you look surprised? You already knew it?”

“Mhh? Oh no, nothing like that. It’s just that everything was going waaaay too according to plan. I had a feeling Raph would pull something like that. Hahaha! Well, at least now Gallher won’t know what to expect…Though, what does “Don’t cross the circle” mean?”

“I have no idea too!-” I honestly replied with a shrug of my shoulders and an insufferable expression accompanied with a brief sigh “- Anyway, we have to think for ourselves. You know the drill. Water, food and shelter. Those are our top priorities…Let’s march!”

With me as the head, our group marched towards the center of the zone. Behind me was Sora, as the one who would suffer the most in a direct physical confrontation, behind her stood Lucas, ready to conjure his stone “sword”, and closing the line was Youm. In that formation we slowly walked towards the center, paying attention not to make too much noise and being wary of our surroundings. There were more than 160 participants, it was only a matter of time before the first fight would break out and we had to be ready for it.

“I’ve studied the maps of this forest-” Said Sora “- I can’t be sure where exactly we are, but the forest is fairly similar in all it’s parts. There are various little streams running through the woods. We should look for one”

“Agreed. We’d have water and possibly a food source-” Rapidly answered Lucas “- I recall Raph suggesting setting camp near one since we could use the water to our advantage”

“Yeah-” I replied “- Though it would be best if it was away from both the center and the walls”

“The headmaster said that the flare was going to be shot from the center. If we assume that the perimeter is somewhat circular, you could say that the radius was about six kilometers. It’s still early in the event, many groups will try to rush and get as many badges as they can so we should refrain from going over the two kilometers mark…Just to be safe”

With our priorities, goals and directions set, we continued our march. The rays of sun became increasingly warmer as time passed. Those warm beams of light sporadically broke through the thick veil of green leaves over our heads, reminding us that it was still early in the day. It was a nice way to keep track of time, though the only one able to get an actual read on it was Lucas.

It was only four to five hours and an avoided fight by sheer luck later that we reached a zone where the forest became thinner, leaving enough space to swing a sword around freely. Slashing through that thinner zone, a small stream, as deep as my knees and wide enough for a grown man to lay down, slowly flowed down. It’s waters were clear enough to see through them, cold and refreshing and, luckily for us, small and medium fishes were swimming through it, sometimes stopping just to feast on the pitiful algae.

We walked the length of the stream for some more time, looking for an easily defendable place to set base. One such place was found when we came across a bifurcation of the stream. It was the perfect place. The trees around us were slightly smaller in comparison to the ones deeper into the forest. We were slightly uphill so our field of view was wider than the possible attackers. And having the river so close to us meant a constant source of water, the possibility to fish and a way to defend or escape if attacked.

It took us a couple more hours to scout around the area, looking for hiding spots, traps and possible ambush sites. We decided to take things slow and be as cautious as possible even though my hands were quivering at the prospect of a fight. Getting wood for the fire, creating somewhat of a shelter and gathering food was what came next. Boring stuff in all honesty, but using precious mana for trivial stuff like that was a complete waste so fishing was done manually with the help of a makeshift wooden spear.

It was only when we were about to sit down to start the fire and cook the fishes we had just caught that my hands would find something productive to do.

“Hey-” Said Lucas grabbing Youm’s shoulder, virtually stopping him from lighting the fire “-Isn’t that smoke?”

He was pointing towards a group of taller trees, not even a hundred meters away from us, wherein their midst a column of light grey smoke rose. It wasn’t necessary for us to speak. It only took us a glance at each other and a tiny nod with our heads to cease what we were previously doing and direct towards that smoke. Everyone’s face looked different faced with the incoming fight. I, for once, couldn’t stop myself from grinning out of excitement. Probably I wanted to prove to myself and to Raphael that I could still win. I wanted to gather points, lots of them, so that I’d top him on the leaderboard. I still wasn’t able to fully swallow my loss.

Youm, on the other hand, seemed on edge more than I thought he would be. I remember seeing his fight with Raphael and I was fully convinced that Youm wasn’t weak at all. Yet his eyes were asking for a way out, rapidly looking around as if to find an escape route. His sister was similar but instead of looking for a way out she seemed to look for a way to fight. Youm and Lucas did tell me that she had close to zero experience even before the assault on the tower, but I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that someone with that quantity of mana was so afraid of a fight.

The most surprising of them all, though, was Lucas. His usual careless and goofy mood had totally vanished. His eyes were still, set in the direction where the smoke came from. If I had to compare him to an animal, he was a wolf. Just by that look in his eyes, I knew he had already experienced something similar. But when?

With those thoughts running around my head we reached the place where that pillar of smoke found it’s origin.

Part 4

- RAPHAEL BLUESCALE’S POV -

Four hours had passed. In just four hours from the start of the event, the sky over the forest inside the walls was torn apart by red columns of smoke. Some close, others far away and most of them in the very middle of the “arena”. I expected something like this, a culling. But the sheer number of surrendering people was way over what I initially expected. Of the 160 participants, thirty were confirmed to have surrendered. Just in the first four hours.

“I just hope none of them are theirs…” I said as stretched my neck towards the sky.

“Are you worried about them?” Asked Amelie accompanying her sweet-sounding voice with an even sweeter smile.

[Fucking snake]

“Not really. I know they can pull their weight…Though I cannot deny that the idea of them getting hurt worries me”

“I’m sure nothing bad will happen to them-” Replied the girl next to me as she strongly patted my back “- But shouldn’t we worry about ourselves first?”

[I know what you are playing girl but it’ll not go as you fuckers planned…Let me show you the difference in our ages!]

“There’s no need-” I replied as I began to climb a tall pine tree in front of me “- All we need to do is *huff* wait”

“Wait? For what exactly?”

“Tell me, do you think is wise to rush in fights like all the others are doing?”

“Well, given the fact that after gathering some badges people can surrender and keep their score, I think it would be…optimal”

“Optimal you say huh…Well, it’s wrong!-” I replied as I feasted my eyes on the view from atop the tree “- Those who are willing to win the event are looking to have at least a little more than one-quarter of the total number of badges. As of now, it is impossible”

“Why one-quarter?” Shouted the girl below me.

“Danthe’s in a team of four. Even the guys from the third year are wary of him. All we need to do is defend, preserve our energies and strike when everyone else is spent and lacking mana. It’ll be a swift win…if everything goes according to plan”

“So? Do you really have a plan?”

“I just found one-” I said with a smirk on my face “- Follow me!”

“Eeehhh?”

Climbing down from the tall tree, we began running towards the border of the forest, close to the walls, just about a couple kilometers away from our current position. Amelie kept asking me questions about my plans and complaining when I answered vaguely. I needed her to be on edge, ready to jump at the first sign of danger, scared of her own shadow. Not only it was a way for me to enjoy torturing a spy but it also served as a way for me to control her. For no reason at all was she to be left alone.

From the moment I entered the walls, my objective was one and one only. Hide. I would have never imagined having those thoughts, but cowardice was the way to win the event. That cowardly concept blossomed into a splendid idea the moment I set my eyes on a low hill close to the walls. The forest there was thick and a little darker than the rest. To top it off there was even a small stream at about two hundred meters north. All we had to do was to reach it in time before anyone else set base in it.

To my surprise, the path towards the hill was littered with students. There were some who were hiding, teams chasing duos, fights breaking out and others who simply tried to stay away from them. Because of all those nuisances, the straight path that would have taken us at most one hour ended up wasting almost four. Between switches of places, hiding times and crawling ones, reaching that hill became something akin to Ulysses' journey. And of course, it got even worse than it should’ve been thanks to Amelie's clumsiness. Whether it was intentional or not, that behavior of hers caused us to nearly be caught more than once.

“Is this really what we worked so hard for?” Asked dejected Amelie as soon as we reached the base of the hill.

“Bah, misbeliever!-” I said with an attitude full of cockyness “- Do you even realize the real capabilities of magic?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just watch!”

I walked towards the side of the hill that seemed the steepest and placed my hands on it’s surface as I usually do when casting. That quirk of mine to place hands on the ground whenever I was casting an earth spell was something completely overlooked by the other students who seemed to solely rely on wands. I really couldn’t understand why, since making contact with the element one wants to manipulate makes casting the spell easier.

With mana flowing towards my palms, I thought of the opposite process used to cast “stone pillar”. If the latter moves stone from the ground up, using residual mana to fill up the hole created, the opposite process implied moving already existing stone from outside the ground into it, and possibly undoing that very stone. I wasn’t sure myself if that thought was applicable. Alas, it was just a theory that began forming in my head around a week prior, I had not tested it yet but “What better moment than now?” I thought.

I almost jumped out of happiness when a small cave formed under the cliff. It was a dome-like cave, pretty much like an igloo, a little less than two meters tall and three wide with a rather long low entrance to it.

“What?!-” Shouted out of surprise my companion “- How were you able to do it?”

“Told you! Magic has a lot more uses than are taught”

[As if I’d help you improve…bitch!]

Even though we now had somewhat of a base, work still had to be done. First of all, the cave was nothing but the groundwork, it wasn’t livable for more than some hours with the entrance closed. The oxygen inside wasn’t endless and if we were to light a fire for the night, the smoke would suffocate us. Furthermore, there were a couple of thick roots hanging from the ceiling of the hole… With Amelie’s face now full of disgust and reluctance at the prospect of doing some heavy work, we began tending to our base.

Cutting the roots was left in Amelie’s hands since it was the supposed easiest work, yet she still took an entire hour cutting them down using a sharpened rock I gave her. Meanwhile, I used the same process with which I dug the cave to create small holes throughout the whole surface of the cave that reached outside. Those holes increased our oxygen intake and permitted ventilation in case we wanted to light a fire. Gathering leaves, sticks and patches of grass was the next job on the list. With all the ingredients gathered I created some sort of door that would blend in with the side of the cliff. My first plan was to just seal the door with stone magic but on second thought it could have been really dangerous if we were to be attacked while inside.

The last job was the get lunch and dinner which consisted of fish and fish, even though a snack every once in a while would have also been appreciated. Unfortunately, even that snack consisted of…fish. While I did learn from Legis about edible or not mushrooms, the patch of forest that me and Amelie inhabited was completely devoid of both types, which forced us to resort to the surprisingly fish abundant stream.

With some time on our hands, we decided to cover our tracks by summoning a gust of wind around the cliff that erased all possible imprints we left. Gutting, cleaning and cooking the fish came later when noon had already passed by three hours. With nothing more to do, we spent the next hours discussing that cowardly strategy of mine, with the idea of coming out to strike the now tired participants on the night of the second day.

Only when the sun was about to say his goodbyes on that forest did I finally have some silence. That first day’s work seemed to have more energy out of Amelie than I thought. It was as clear as day that the girl laying in front of me never trained a single day in her life.

[It’s amazing how such a double-faced bitch can make that sweet of an expression when sleeping….bah, better sleep with an eye opened!]

Part 5

- DELVIN GALLHER’S POV -

“Did you hear that lord Gallher?-” Proudly shouted Thomas next to me “- That was the signal. They found him!”

“Indeed it was. There’s no need for you to remind me every time. Is there any group free to chase?”

“No sir, they’re all following those who look like Bluescale” Answered diligently Arus from my back.

“Tch…all so disappointed. No matter, we’ll go there ourselves!” I shouted.

“Yessir!” Was the chorus I received.

We began running through the woods, following the sound of the signals from one of the groups under me. It was a well-planned strategy. Since it was prohibited to actively team up with other groups and upon seeing any other group the choice was to either fight, run or surrender, I created a system of messages in the form of vocal signals that let us communicate without actually coming face to face. The core of that communication system? Finding out Hannes, the Evergards, Lucas Bluescale and, most of all, Raphael Bluescale.

I did have Amelie grouping with him, but he wasn’t fool enough to let her out of his sight for a second. Relying on her ability to send messages was pointless.

[I swear I’ll find you and put an end to all this mess you created you god damned primitive peasant!]

It wasn’t much after we started running that we heard the sounds of battle in the distance. The group sending the signal must have engaged with their suspect.

“Arus, send the signal to retreat!” I shouted.

“At once!” Promptly replied my new second-in-command.

Placing two fingers over his throat, filling them with mana and vibrating them over his trachea, Arus began generating a loud bass sound similar to the gurgling of a frog. That was the signal for the group to retreat. As such, rapidly after hearing the sound, the noises of battle ceased. Just when we were about to enter the field of view of the other group’s opponent.

[Talk about perfect timing!]

It was a duo. A boy and a girl. He had slightly long black hair while the girl had her cape’s hood covering her face. From that distance, that duo really looked like Bluescale and Amelie, though my gut was telling me it wasn’t…It was all way too easy. That bastard was a cockroach who survived even a fiend. He wouldn’t so easily be cornered. Even so…

“Everyone attack!” I shouted, rallying the spirits of my men.

War cries gushed out my three companion’s mouths and flooded the forest around us. All had their arms stretched, pointed towards the spent duo in front of them.

“Storm hail”, “Stone bullet” and “Quagmire” were used at the same time, virtually creating an almost impossible to escape trap for those unlucky enough to be at it’s center. “Quagmire” was an advanced tier water spell that indicted water into the ground rendering it into a state of semi-liquid. Based on the ability of the mage, the materials which could be rendered in that state vary. In the case of Thomas, though his predilect element was water, the materials that he could influence were limited. Luckily enough, the soft ground between trees was one of them. “Storm hail” was a third-tier spell that summoned a cone of winds that hindered the movements of it’s victims. Together with the binding of “Quagmire” and the burst of “Stone bullet” that was aimed to hurt the enemy, this combination of spells was a deadly weapon. As a matter of fact, the two mages in front of us got soon trapped in it.

“What the fuck is this!?” Shouted the girl trying to cast earth-type spells to get rid of the quagmire futilely.

“Fuck me if I know!-” Answered in the same tone the boy “- Should we?”

“Yeahh!” Screamed the girl now rustling inside her bag.

“THEY’RE ABOUT TO SURRENDER!” Shouted Thomas.

“I won’t let them-” I replied finally stepping into the battle “- Flame coffin!”

A dome of scorching hot flames rapidly began forming around the perimeters of the quagmire. The beauty of “Flame coffin” was that until it’s caster stopped infusing it with mana, the flames would keep regenerating no matter how badly damaged.

[Thank you Hannes for teaching me this beauty…probably the only good thing you did!]

A shot was heard. The two people inside the flaming dome tried to use their surrender flare, but of course it was useless. As if mere fancy-colored smoke could break out of my “Flame coffin”.

“Wow lord Gallher-” Croaked in awe Simon, the third member of our group “- This spell truly is amazing. As expected of you lord Gallher”

“Yes, yes, thank you very much for your praise. Now get ready to catch them as soon as I stop the spell!”

At my orders, the three of them circled the dome ready to engage in a close quarter fight. Seeing them being ready I called off my spell by stopping the stream of mana. As a result the flames rapidly crumbled and withered like autumnal leaves and the members of my group took the chance to jump towards our opponent’s position.

“We’ve stopped them lord Gallher!-” Happily shouted Thomas like a dog wagging his tail “- but...there’s a problem”

“Which is?”

“The guy’s not Bluescale” Arus answered.

“Is that so….Anyway, you two could still prove useful-” I said now walking closer to the couple kept on their knees in front of me “- Do you perhaps have any information on Bluescale or his brother’s group whereabouts?”

“We haven't seen any of them, I SWEAR! Shouted the girl with tears in her eyes.

“Oohh poor thing…I’m sorry but…if you haven’t seen them then you are completely useless to me” I replied unable to contain the nuisance I was feeling.

“No...No, No, wait! We can help you! W-we could look for him!” Tried to beg the boy.

“Oh my, that would be breaking the rules. Wouldn’t it boys?”

“You are completely right lord Gallher!” Grinned Thomas.

“Indeed it’s true” Continued Arus.

“The rules are rules!” Finished Simon.

“As you’ve heard-” I said while facing my back towards them and walking away towards a stump I could use as a seat “- Cooperation between groups is prohibited. I am a man that abides by rules, I cannot overlook what you just said”

“T-than please let us surrender. W-we’ll give you our badges!”

“Yes, we’ll take your badges and you’ll surrender-” I said with an intended pause between that and my next phrase just to enjoy seeing the hope in their faces shine for them being destroyed “- But that will be after my friends here have finished teaching you a lesson about rules…You can start”

“YESSIR!” Answered all three of them in a chorus.

What came next was a single sidely beat up, ruthless too. It looked like my companions had some pent-up steam to get rid of. As such, they took their sweet time, taking up to five minutes to finally make both of them lose their coincidence and steal their badges.

“Tch, another failure-” I said to myself “- It has already been six hours and out of the ten people we fought, none of them knew anything about Bluescale and the others…Fucking crawling insect until the very end…Tch, can’t wait to finally find you!”