Chapter 9: The first countdown

The incident that night did not come to light the public, since it happened deep inside Mirilad and the tunnel lied much beneath the ground. Some talked of the faint rumbling sound, but that was all. The three young hunters felt like a world lifted off their shoulders.

The next day, Aria extensively researched the beast, to no avail. Nothing resembled it. The other two she had not well observed. She described the beasts to Hiatus so that he could draw them. He could only draw the shape of the beasts correctly, but the details were off the mark.

The three met Jake in the cafeteria where he was talking with his fellow summoners. They showed the paintings to him, and his friends also took a look.

" Nice drawings." Jake frowned." But what are those?"

" You don't recognize it?" Hiatus asked.

Jake shook his head.

A summoner pointed at the drawing of the fastest beast,. She said, a lollipop still her mouth." I recognize this one."

Everyone turned to look at her. She seemed satisfied."That is the snake from the all-time popular series Suparanatural. You guys are playing movie quiz?"

"For once, lollipop, this is not about movie quizzes." The boy next to her said.

" Tch, at least I have an answer."

" Don't mind them. Anyhow, what is that thing?"

" Aria dreamed of it. She thinks it's a sign." Wander said, smiling.

Aria and Hiatus both turned to look at him, frowning.

" I see." Jake nodded."And no, lollipop, it's not a sign that she should watch Suparanatural. And sorry to you three but I don't study... Uhm..."

" Oneirology, the word you're looking for." Wander said.

" Thank you anyways." Aria smiled." Let's go you two."

As the three exited the cafeteria, they could still hear lollipop girl's high-pitched voice." And the Ice Queen too, I hate that name."

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Aria flipped through pages of Histoire Lacrium Daemon vol. 1, her eyes drooping. She never expected principal Xixin to get his hand on this volume. She wanted to read the book with zeal as a way to show her respect towards people who wrote the book and its six siblings, but for now she was not in the mood. She hated libraries and their piles after piles of books..

" Those beasts are not in the Histoire." Wander said.

" How do you know?" Aria glanced at him.

"The online version." Wander scratched his head." You can quickly browse all the books. The beasts are not present."

Hiatus chuckled.

" I forgot we have internet." Aria murmured, her forehead touching the book." If even the Histoire does not have information, then I doubt any book does. At least not ones we can find here."

The three glanced at the entrance as they heard footsteps. The saw Jonathan and Karen approach, along with Alicia. The piles of books on the table earned the three strange glances.

" Hi." Aria and Hiatus said simultaneously, in a faint voice.

" Somehow, I'm surprised and not surprised to find you here." Karen said." Principal Xixin asked for you. He's finalized the list of chosen participants."

" So we are chosen?" Hiatus said.

" Obviously. Two of you. Do I need to specify which two?" Karen said.

Aria was surprised that Jonathan did not add any nasty remark. He just stared at Wander, whose eyes were fixing on volume 5.

" Uhm, I think we should be quick. Principal Xixin....he wishes not to be kept waiting." Alicia said, her eyes averted from others. She took a step back.

" Wow, first time you request something. Do it more, princess." Karen patted on Alicia's back."You two, let's go, Alicia doesn't feel comfortable here."

Aria and Hiatus stood up.

" Catch up with you later." Hiatus said.

Wander nodded.

When they were about to leave the library, Wander's voice emerged." Just don't say anything unnecessary, okay?"

Aria and Hiatus turned around. The other three also.

" We all hate unnecessary trouble, don't we?" Wander added, smiling.

" Yeah, we do." Jonathan said, walking out first.

The others lingered, but quickly followed him.

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Aria and the group left Scientia, and headed for Afflia. Principal Hamilton's office lied on the third floor of the building, opposite to Hannah's and Aidan's. When they reached his office, Aidan was standing in front of the door. All but Hiatus greeted him.

" Followe me. You guys are the last." Aidan said, stroking his shaggy hair.

Aidan led the students into the elevator. He held the button down for 5 seconds.

" Afflia Basement. Please wait." A woman voice came from the speaker.

" This building has a secret basement?" All, except Jonathan, asked.

" It has a basement. Just unknown to the students."

" Hah, then the 2 a.m curse must be true." Karen said.

" Who knows. I was not the one sneaking in back then."

" Wait, what?"

The elevator door opened, revealing a long hall leading to a glass door. The group walked forwards. On the walls were the symbol of the Council: a circle enveloping a triangle. Below was the words: Orbis Concentus.

Aidan touched the door, and it slid to the right.

Aria had expected the room to be full of whispers, murmurs and shouts, but it was so quiet she felt ashamed for disrupting the peace, as if she had disrupted a sacred ritual. The empty seats in the room were glowing, and only darkened when others and she sat down. The name of the corporation manufacturing them, "Tech-ON", written on the armrest, still glowed.

Aria looked around. The whole room was dark, except for the illuminating lines on the ground to show the ways. Twelves rows in front of Aria, a LCD screen the size of 5 black boards combined was turned on without warning. Though the light from the screen was glimmering, it still enabled Aria to better observe the room. She could tell that it was circular, and seems to expand when she stared at its black wall. It was not different from a cinema, but each row of seats was arranged like a curve, and all rows were parallel.

" Greetings, young hunters. I am Chancellor Alados of the High Council."

Aria frowned. She heard Hiatus click his tongue. Around her, whispers finally emerged.

" I reckon it is unnecessary to introduce myself any further. Unless you score a lead on you History-Politics exams? But that cannnot be, considering that in this room are the most outstanding hunters of the institution. Hunters that will bring me the honour of being their leader, 4 days from now. Thank you, Sir Xixin, for educating them, and for hosting this event."

Aria could see the principal smiling and nodding.

" Before I get to the point, I want to give you all my sincere apology, for two reasons: I did not unveil my face, and this conversation was recorded. Thus, I can only speak, not listen. You can only listen, not speak. A shame, but a tolerable one, is it not? Now, all of you, please sit upright and focus on me."

Although Alados was not actually present, all students instantly corrected their postures. Even the teachers. Aria could hear Hiatus click his tongue again.

" I want you to engrave this in you mind: The summoners are not to be trusted. They are our enemies. Forever will be."

Aria had thought the room could not get any quieter, and she was wrong. She could not hear the faintest sound. Everyone was holding their breath. She finally understood what " dead silence" meant. She could see principal Xixin's eyes bugging out.

" Ever since the Cold Decades, no, even before then, they have killed millions of our species, destroyed hundreds of our facilities. They considered us less than them because of our lacking affinity for magic, and at one point in the past, they enslaved us, calling us, Pigs."

Aria felt goosebump all over her body as she thought of Pig Star. She glanced at Hiatus, unable to see his green eyes.

" I do not trust them, nor should you. I do not feel safe letting you be in same stadium as them, armless. For that reason, for the first time after the Red Incident, I will..."

The LCD screen went dark, and Alados's voice was no more, but Aria could feel it echo in the room.

The students turned to one another, baffled, asking questions.

" Turn on the light." said principal Xixin.

The walls turned white, and the room lighted up. Aria could not understand how this room worked.

The principal walked on stage, standing beneat the screen. Aria had never seen his eyes so dark before.

" I hope all of you do not buy that " summoners are our enemy" garbage."

Xixin succeeded in making everyone's eyes wide open.

" The summoners are not our enemies. Yes, they were at war with us, but so were we at wars with them. They killed us, we killed them, meaningless massacre of the past. You want to take revenge for your fallen fellow hunters? By killing more summoners, starting another war, causing even more fellow hunters to die? Do not, for even one second, think that we waged war against them because we were defending ourselves or representing some precious values. We were not. Justice, freedom, rightousness,greater good, those profound concepts simply did not apply to the wars between the two species. If anything they rarely apply to any war."

The principal let the silence sink in.

" The wars happened, because of bigotry, prejudice and vitriol. Because summoners and hunters were eager to find faults in each others, because there were certain... individuals who were charismatic enough to fool the ill-minded masses."

Students and teachers looked down, avoiding Xixin's gaze.

" ARE YOU THE SAME FOOLS?" The principal shouted, causing most of the listeners to head up, their bodies instinctively shiver .

No one replied.

" Answer me!"

"No." Aria raised her voice.

Principal Xixin nodded at her. " Is Aria the only one?"

"NO!" More voices started to rise.

Hunters looked at one another, then simultaneously shouted "no".

" This event, we fight against summoners to befriend them. Lose-win does not matter, what matters is we share the same air, the same space with them, and for once, in one place, our hearts, and theirs, will beat the same beats, as our eyes, and theirs, are fixed on the very best of both species! This will open a new era for hunters and summoners, an era of peace! We will show the Council, that they are wrong!"

The hunters stood up, shouting with the full capacity of their lungs. Aria was about to smile, but then she frowned, as she saw Miss Hannah stare at the floor, even though others teachers were standing and smiling. She glanced at Hiatus, and could see his smirk.

" Ill-minded fools."

Amidst the deafening shouts and the rising fists, Aria told herself that was not what he said.

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3 days before the contest...

The contest was decided to be a series of versus battles, 19 in total.

Both Hunters and Summoners had finalized their contestant lists. Hunters, as the host of the contest, got to choose which Hunters would go against which Summoners. Aria was asked by Principal Xixin to help him organize the match list.

"So who would fight this Jake Malton boy?" asked the Principal.

"I will take the offer, sir." said Aria.

" And this Victor... who would fight him? He seems to be the strongest?"

" Hiatus. And I don't think Victor is the one we should be worried about."

" There is someone more powerful than him?"

"Yes, there probably is. But Jake had not told me their identity, the trump card of the Summoner."

" A very powerful Summoner is the most likely to be the traitor." The voice of Jake ran through Aria's mind.

" Principal Xixin, can I see the list of Summoners again?" Aria requested.

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2 days before the contest...

Principal Xixin had Marsianos sealed off till the big day. Learning from the case of the missing contraption, he tripled the security force around the building, and withdrew half of the drones from Mirilad and had them patronize Marsianos. The list of scout Hunters was also completed, and Wander was on the list. Miss Hannah came to his house and personally convinced him to join. Wander felt he could not turn her down. Aria and Hiatus scolded him, saying he now ran a huge risk of being exposed, to which he said he would be more careful than usual. The answer further frustrated his two friends instead of calming them down.

The contest also gave the hunters some rare days off. The three decided to hang out at the abandoned area. The three sat beneath a redwood tree, not so far from the eroded table. There, Aria told the boys about the theory she had been contemplating on.

" The traitorous Summoner is one of Principal Hamilton's students. Specifically, his most powerful student. Someone who is close to him." said she.

" Can a student mind-control a principal, not to say this principal is Hamilton, one of the strongest Summoner?" asked Hiatus.

" Well, that trump card just has to be stronger. Like Victor, he is a candidate for Regis Magus. But he is certainly not their trump card, Jake revealed him to me. And I checked the Summoner list, but could not pinpoint their ace. Wander, are you sure you do not want to tell us who this person is?"

Wander, who were inscribing runes on Aria's equipment, chinned up.

" What?" the boy frowned."I don't understand what you guys are talking about."

" Wander, the Summoner who planned all of this commotion, must have been the one to have help you... that!"

Wander shook his head." No, you're wrong. Summoner has nothing to do with my turn."

" I don't know what this person has told you, but you must not trust them. Please!"

" I am telling you, the summoners have nothing to do with my turn."

" Then what made you turn? Tell us!" Aria slightly raised her voice.

Wander looked at her, then looked at Hiatus. He shook his head.

" Great. Just great." Aria rubbed her temples.

" I'm sorry." Wander said, standing up. " See you later."

After Wander left, Aria told Hiatus to contact Jake.

" You will directly ask him?"

"Yes. We must find this traitor, or else things well get ugly. Who knows how many more are under their control."

Hiatus sighed then dialed Jake's number. The summoner did not answer.

" Do you think something happens to him?"

" Or maybe, summoners and hunters are forbidden to contact before the contest to prevent some sort of foul play, like result arrangement?"

" Oh, that is...true."

"You're getting paranoid, Aria."

" I'm not. Something ugly is going to happen, can't you see? Wander is hiding things from us. Hamilton is hiding things from us. The incidents in Mirilad. We are in for a climax. A disastrous one, Hiatus. This contest will not go off without a hitch."

Hiatus somehow knew Aria was right.

" We can put a stop to this, we can halt the contest. Immediately." Hiatus said.

" How?" Aria raised her eyebrows.

" If we can prove that the demon exists, the principal will have no choice but to call it off."

It took Aria a while before she realized what Hiatus was hinting at. She fronwed, shaking her head. " You weren't kidding back then, were you? You wanted to turn him in."

Aria stood up, looking down at her friend with utmost terror in her eyes. " What is wrong with you?"

Hiatus glanced at her, then averted his eyes. He sighed. " Another joke. Where's your sense of humor?. What do you suggest we do, then?"

" Stop with your damn jokes! And I think it's time to inform principal Xixin."

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The principal put down the book he was reading after Aria had finished her narration. His expressionless face scared her. Hiatus was too busy eyeing the chandelier to care.

" You two are making serious accusations." Xixin narrowed his eyes.

" Sir, we are not blaming him. We are blaming the one controlling him."

" Who?"

Aria and Hiatus glanced at each other.

" We don't know. Someone good at magic." Aria said.

" That's the second-most ambiguous answer I've heard."

" Someone already in our school."

" Are you implying it's a summoner?"

Aria shook her head." No, not really, but... most likely."

" Hamilton's summoners betray us?A demon in New York would be a more believable story."

" Yes, I agree." Hiatus said."No doubt."

Aria cleared her throat, glaring at the boy." I think we should delay the contest."

Xixin looked at her as if she was asking him to turn." Why don't you go back to being an honor student of this school, Aria? Don't you know the significance of this event? You want to delay it?"

" Sir, the demon, actually, it's..."

" Hiatus!" Aria raised her voice, startling both the principal and her friend.

" Keep on, Hiatus." Xixin said, glaring at Aria.

Hiatus frowned. " The demon may plan to sabotage the contest. I think we'd better follow Aria's advice."

" Listen, even if a demon does exist," Xixin's fingers fidgetted." it won't sabotage anything. New York Halcyon is one of the safest...place, notoriously so. The demon, I mean the imaginary demon, is the last item on our " Panic List". I checked everything: the shield, the robots, the teachers, the city guard, they are all fuctioning as intened. And I will make sure, no demon can enter our school, let alone the contest."

Hiatus chuckled. Aria knew why.

" Now, please leave and bring your attitude out of here, you two.You disappoint me. Especially you." Xixin glanced at his honor student.

" I'm sorry, sir. And thank you for your time." Aria said, standing up and exiting the room.

Aria halted her steps a few inches away from the staircase. Hiatus did the same.

" We cannot contact Jake. The principal does not trust us. Wander is playing spy game. What's now?"

Hiatus did not reply.

" There is nothing we can do, is it? This is... not our business, is it? We're not responsible for what to come. We will keep being good students, that's enough. Do you think so?" Aria asked, looking back at Hiatus. She had always believed being a good student would be good enough. Yet now she doubted.

The boy shrugged. " Yes. Let's put those schemes aside and do our best for the competition."

Aria bit her lips. She inhaled, then nodded.

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Jake Malton stood in front of Principal Hamilton, preventing him from leaving his room.

" Malton, what is this insolence?" asked the principal.

" Sir, what is with this list?" Jake took out a paper full of creases.

" What's with it?" Principal Hamilton raised his eyebrows.

" Why is she not on the list? She is our most excellent student. I know she only joined us a few weeks ago, but her short stay with us has proved her strength. You cannot cross her out just because she is a new student."

Hamilton stared at the paper. He chuckled, to Jake's surprise.

"First of all, I can cross her out, Malton. Second of all, I did that because she asked me to. She did not want to join the contest. Last of all, Malton, move aside, lest you find yourself expelled from my school thanks to your insolence." said Hamilton with a hoarse voice.

Jake stared at his principal, baffled by whom he had become.

" Sir, she is our ace, a sure win for us. Even if she asked you to, you must have known better to keep her. You didn't have to listen to such a selfish request from her."

" But I have to." said Hamilton as he stared at emptiness.

" What?"

"Enough, Malton! I'm not to put up with this impertinence."

The principal violently pushed the boy aside and moved forward. Now the voices had disappeared. There was only one in his head now. And that voice told him to give his students a "mind-changing" speech.

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1 day before the contest.

The whole school was sealed off.

Principal Xixin walked into Battleworld. He felt proud, everything had been arranged. He did not want anything to go wrong. At the same time, he felt scared . Hamilton had not been himself, and what Aria and Hiatus told him only worsened his fear. He dismissed them, but he actually knew their story made sense. He approached his seat and Hamilton's seat. They were placed next to each other.

" Sorry, Hamilton. Old friend, I will not take risk."

He took out a knife, and started to inscribe runes under the seat of Hamilton.

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Jake cleared his throat. He skipped the speech, but that was the least of his worry. He knew something was wrong, and he must do something right. He needed to inform Aria and Hiatus of principal Hamilton's dubious actions. This building had temporarily disabled cell phones and the internet. He must meet them in person.

Jake opened the door, poking his head out. None of his friends were present. He took a deep breath and left his room.

He replayed the clues in his head. Someone was making his principal conceal the demon's existance. Jake wondered if he wanted to let it loose on the city. Of course, a demon would cause panic, but it would be put down before anyone could blink. At worse, New York Halcyon would have to check their security system, and someone would lose their jobs. The mastermind's plan could not be that simple. He needed something else, maybe an army of demon. or of any kind, to actually achieve something. However, to march such an army into this Halcyon without being detected proved to be impossible. Unless he did not mind being detected.

Samundo?

News, or more exactly rumors, of Samundo's return had run rampant in Jake's family lately. Most had dismissed it as meaningless gossip, and so had he. He knew there was no transparent connection between that rumor and the current happenstances, but he could not help feeling unease.

"No, why would Samundo bother with this institution? No way."

As he traversed the hall and walked downstairs, he became afraid of his own footsteps. The echoing footsteps, spreading across the empty halls, down the silent stairs. Where had everyone gone?

" Why are you not in your bed, Jake?" Hamilton's voice came from behind him.

Jake turned around, and saw his principal standing tall with his friends behind him.

" Come join us, Jake." All of them said in harmony.

" Guys?" Jake said, taking a step back. He could not hear them approach.

" Harmonize. Halcyon." Hamilton said, his hand reaching out.

Jake could feel something pierce straight through his brain. At that moment, he understood, the army was allowed to enter New York long ago, and this army, by attacking the hunters, would kill more than just lives. He understood how Hamilton must have felt, the pain he suffered, when the same thing was done to him weeks ago.

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Tetrax approached the gate of the New York Halcyon, an old well near Reeves Beach, Baiting Hollow. Without hesitance, she jumped down the well. If what the Elder said was true, then there existed a special demon in this city, and her mission was to bring it alive to the Elder. She activated her Singulus Digiti insignia, concealing her existence and twisting the Halcyonline.

She emerged in an ill-lighted location. She could feel rocks under her feet.

" A tunnel?"

Letting out a depressive sigh, Tetrax unsheathed her sword. It was going to be a long mining journey for her. Above her head, noises from aircraft scatter throughout the city. The Council had arrived.

Can you catch a glimpse of the truth? Clues are provided everywhere :)))

Anyhow, I think chapter 10 will be up later. Thank you for reading!