“Alright, I don’t feel like talking to you kids anymore, go away.” Jonathan’s words would have sounded petulant or perhaps mean to an innocent person, but to the S-Class?

It just meant the final bell was going to ring in a few moments.

“Uh, sir, weren’t you going to talk to us about Guilds?” Edward raised his hand, really wanting to hear the important discussion…

“Don’t feel like it, I got someone else who’ll willingly explain it to you.” Jonathan said, seemingly falling asleep while leaning back in his chair.

No one had the courage to try and wake the teacher, or see if it was an act, not after Vince tried and was found half-way through a wall.

How this was done without killing Vince or damaging the wall then putting him through, was unknown. No one dared to mess with Jonathan too much.

Smaller things were still fine, but messing with his puzzles like the Rubik’s Cube or his sleep was taboo.

So as quietly as possible, the seven members of the S-Class vanished from Jonathan’s presence.

Said teacher waited a few moments just to be certain that the students were gone before he stood, wiping off imaginary dust off of himself as he walked out of the class.

He had arranged for his son to talk to the first years about Guilds instead of himself, mostly because he had to talk to the Headmaster for the day.

Walking through the halls of the school, Jonathan was universally treated with respect despite being a five Star Sage, a perk of being a ‘confirmed Peak Sage’.

Any Sage with a Diversity was practically destined to reach seven or eight Stars at least, even a Sage with a Diversity that made their farts smell like roses could do so.

And yes, Jonathan had actually heard of a Sage like that. Diversities were truly the only thing about Sages that couldn’t truly be explained, as Diversities did not care for anything.

An Earth Sage could get a Diversity which allowed them to fly, a Fire Sage could get a Diversity that increased their strength the colder they were…

It was sad, but there were cases where Diversities went against what a Sage needed, because what you want and what you need is not the same thing.

In the above examples, an Earth Sage might feel tethered to the ground and which to ‘escape’ for a while, leading to gaining a Diversity related to flight.

But an Earth Sage was weakest in the air, meaning this Diversity was practically weakening an Earth Sage… but the Sage wanted to fly, and that’s what would happen.

As for the other example, a Fire Sage might find themselves constantly losing to Ice Sages or Mystic Beasts constantly and think ‘if only I was stronger even in the cold’ and the above case would happen…

But then using Fire would lower the boost given by said Diversity.

So yes, Diversities were the calling cards of unique Sages, and despite being average among the teachers of Elem Star-wise, with a Diversity he was automatically considered a bit more important.

Favouritism, but such a thing was impossible to erase, much like nepotism.

“Ah, Jonathan. You want to talk?” the Headmaster asked with a raised eyebrow, getting a click of the tongue from Jonathan as the younger Sage sat down in front of the Headmaster’s desk.

“Yeah I want to talk. Quite frankly, my students aren’t ready for the International Juniors, and I know they’re going to get knocked out by the older years. I’m hoping to arrange a few things for them ahead of time.” Jonathan’s statement wasn’t a surprise to Oren.

Teachers often realized the limitations of their students before the students themselves after all… and while all seven of the first year S-Class seemed powerful for their year, they were not powerful enough for that event yet.

“I’m sure we can get things ready by then… I’ll make a few calls to get Everburn here.” Jonathan shrugged at the mention of the Sage, ambivalent to the Fire-Sage in question.

Everburn refused to give their name, and quite frankly Jonathan didn’t even know their gender due to all the armour they wore… but Everburn was skilled.

One of the leading Sages in regards to Mystic Beast information, Everburn was occasionally called in to assist a ‘year-end’ mission for the four Academies, and Jonathan had the pleasure of working with them a few times.

“Everburn is a nice character, and I’m sure they can teach the kids well… but that isn’t the only reason I’m here Donovan.” Jonathan used the Headmaster’s first name freely; they were not that far apart age wise when one considered both were Sages.

“Oh? You have something else to talk about?” Jonathan rolled his eyes at the attitude of Oren, knowing that the Headmaster liked to be seen as ‘mysterious’ or something like that.

Sometimes he didn’t even know he was acting like that.

“Yes I have something else to talk about. I’m approaching the six Star barrier, when I get to the point where I feel like I have a shot at progressing, I’ll be letting you know so I can leave for a while.” Jonathan hadn’t just come for those two things, but he figured he’d get the less important stuff out of the way early.

“I figured, it’s quite difficult for me to ignore the growing strength of the people around me…” Oren said with a sigh, and Jonathan could relate, having known Oren for over thirty years.

“You still have issues with your sensory range huh? I would have thought over twenty years with said range would get you used to it.” Jonathan half joked about the King of Metal.

Jonathan first met Oren during the last half of the Fae Wars, Jonathan being a four Star Sage fighting under the command of his wife when they encountered Oren, or as he was known at the time, ‘Steel Heart’.

Though that nickname was long lost underneath the title King of Metal, Jonathan was also one of the few that knew of Oren’s other, lesser known title.

Donovan Oren, the Alchemist.

“It’s a lot to take in at any time… but Jonathan, you’re dancing around the issue here… that’s not really like you.” Oren said with a raised eyebrow, looking at the younger Sage with curiosity.

“That I am… Listen, I want to talk about the other Essence Sages.” Jonathan finally broke the odd point of conversation as Oren blinked slowly.

“Ah. I can see why you didn’t really want to mention those troublemakers.” Oren sighed in an exaggerated manner, thinking on the reports.

All of the Kings, bar the King of Fire and the King of Earth, reported any new discoveries they make to the rest of the Kings, it was what allowed them to make informed decisions about the state of the world with regards to Sages.

As such, they immediately figured out that all four of the major Academies seemed to possess an ‘outlier’ in the form of a student with the Essence Element, much like Hiiro Kazuya.

“Norman Granz, Faina Alvez, and Raphael Bisset… along with our own Hiiro Kazuya, the four Essence Sages. You want to talk about them?” Oren asked, naming the four from memory.

“Yes… I want to know what their common points are, and what is dissimilar about them.” Jonathan asked, mostly because he was beginning to realize that while he could train Kazuya in just about any Element to a certain degree, without understanding Essence Jonathan wouldn’t be able to teach as well.

“Ah, I get it, tips and such… well for one, all four possess huge amounts of Essence compared to other Sages, par for the course with their Element really… their fighting styles are all different though, with the only similarities being between Norman and Hiiro.” Oren complained a bit and Jonathan jumped on the information.

“Norman is the one that goes to Valour right? So he is a weapon user that uses Element control as support?” Kazuya was quite the adaptable combatant, but he rarely fought with just his Element after all.

Jonathan would start adding ‘single-type’ combat lessons to the Class...

“Yes, though unlike the young Kazuya, Norman is in fact a swordsman.” Jonathan wasn’t surprised by this knowledge, having been informed by Kazuya about his real weapon.

Kazuya’s training was old fashioned, if it worked out though, it would give quite brilliant results…

Jonathan would warn Kazuya against using a sword during missions… missions were no time to be holding back.

“Ahem, where was I… ah, for the Essence users… each of them seems to have… something odd about their powers… they seem to have predisposed specialties.” Now this, Jonathan did not know.

“Norman has found himself to be quite adept with Fire, as well as being able to assign an ‘anti-evil’ element to it, I’d assume by mixing it with Light in some way.” Now that was weird, though Jonathan was aware of the Sanctuary Spell which protected those within… Light Sages found the Spell easier to use for some reason.

“Then there’s Faina, who is a caster type who strangely uses Earth a lot, she also masters Spells easier than other Casters her age.” Another ‘basic’ Element and trait associated with a different Essence User.

“For Raphael, his weapon is… oddly enough, a guitar. He uses the Wind Element to tune his playing and can even increase the healing rate of those who hear his music, different rates for different Stars though.” Twice was a coincidence but three times was a near certainty.

“Now Hiiro hasn’t exactly shown any disposition for the Water Element yet, but I’d suggest you talk to him about it, maybe get him to study it with that other Water Element user in your class, Leah I believe her name was… oh yes, and among the four Essence Users, Hiiro shows the most instinct for battle.” Jonathan found that hilarious in its own way…

Between the four, according to Oren at least, Hiiro showed the most suitability for battle… Jonathan had noticed that Hiiro was in a near perpetual state of ‘combat ready’ without even meaning to sometimes.

Jonathan originally wrote it off as a result of living with those two crazy parents of his, but it could also be something he was naturally skilled at doing.

Plus, according to Oren at least, Hiiro was the only one of the four capable of multiple battle styles due to his learning of different weapons and skills.

It was a small consolation given that Jonathan was hoping for more, but at least he had something to focus on.

“Thanks… by the way, has anyone shown any knowledge of Liza’s element?” Another problem student in the sense of Jonathan not knowing how her Element worked, Oren shook his head with a sigh at the question.

“Sorry but Liza is not one of many, she’s a unique existence as far as we know… what I do know from training her myself is that Liza finds it more difficult to use Time on other Sages, though she might at some point be capable of it, at current she can’t use it effectively.” Jonathan frowned at that but nodded as he walked out of the room…

It was a weakness, as Liza not only couldn’t directly attack or support with her Element, but because of how much Essence Time required to be used, she rarely if ever had any to spare for using other Elements.

Remember, a Sage can use Elements outside of their specialty, it would just cost much more Essence to use…

To compare, if all Elements have a cost to power ratio of one to one for users of said Element, using another Element would usually cost like ten times more for that same power.

Time then took five cost for one power even for Liza who had Element as her specialty…

The only reason Kazuya and the other Essence Users could use different Elements so easily was because due to having Essence as their Element they had more than ten times the amount of Essence they should have.

Like for others, when using an Element outside of their specialty, they needed ten times the normal amount, but because they possessed ten times the normal amount, they barely noticed how abnormal what they were doing was.

Jonathan inwardly protested at the abnormalities of his students, and yet simultaneously felt excited at the prospect of making these young Sages reach ever so closer towards their full potential.

After Jonathan had left the classroom to head towards the Headmaster’s office, the S-Class had moved towards the train station, running into Kevin, now a C-Class student on the way.

“He’s doing much better since the ICT huh? Well, merit and all that.” Edward uttered aloud as they walked up to the train platform, glad for their friend who was moving up in the world.

Arriving at the platform, the seven students encountered Yusuf, not surprised that his father would leave explaining the next class topic to his son.

Jonathan and Yusuf were both good at exposition, though it was a clear case of one learning from the other.

“Hello to you all. Come on, let’s talk as we travel.” Yusuf said without any waiting as he stepped on the train, the first years following him.

“Oh, congratulations on progressing by the way, quite the surprise.” Yusuf said after a moment of looking at Tony, who just nodded with a blush before looking away.

“Thanks…” Tony muttered, not used to the praise.

“Well, let’s see, my dad wanted me to tell you all about Guilds… right, how to explain… Guilds are essentially gatherings of Sages, just to start of the explanation.” Yusuf said as they all seated themselves, kicking off the conversation.

“So teams?” Kazuya asked, thinking to his own parents as he asked.

“Not quite, a team of Sages is at max ten people, though it’s rare you find full teams and more commonly it’s around five to seven. In some cases, such as your parents, a team is just two or three stronger Sages.” Yusuf offered to Kazuya, before turning to the rest of the listening first years.

“A Guild is usually a larger gathering of Sages than just ten, gathered around a central point of focus, be it a single Sage charismatic enough to get followers, or all the Sages in the Guild aiming for the same goal, maybe even just liking the same type of missions.” Yusuf started off there, getting nods all around.

“What does it take to be recognized as a Guild?” Edward asked, thinking to the noble families of his home, the Empire.

“Having a regularly gathering group of more than ten Sages, a registered base of operations, and that’s pretty much it, some Guilds don’t even have names.” Yusuf explained slowly.

“In that case, couldn’t the school be considered a Guild, we have over three hundred students not counting teachers and a base…” Vince half joked, but seeing Yusuf’s nod made him realize his half-hearted guess was actually more accurate than he expected.

“That’s actually right. You see, the Ten Kings actually all possess a Guild of their own, and these ten Guilds are obviously bigger than others.” Yusuf explained, pointing in the direction of Elem High as the train left it behind.

“For the four Academies, they are each led by a King, more notably a King of a Higher Element, such as Headmaster Oren or King of Lightning Head Monk Goku.” No one dared to mention how the latter had a name reminiscent of a certain monkey alien.

Mostly because the maker of that show named the titular character after this King out of respect for the King saving his life in his youth… Head Monk Goku’s name actually meant ‘aware of emptiness’ and it was apparently not his original name.

But as a Monk focused on meditation, the King of Lightning’s name revealed what state his mind had reached.

“So that’s four of the Guilds, what about the other six?” Jade asked, thinking only for a moment at learning about the King of Lightning.

“Well, for the King of Water, he leads a Guild of peacekeeping Sages called the Guardians, they’re our police essentially, and they are even ambassadors to the Fae from time to time.” At the mention of the Fae both Tony and Leah seemed a bit… withdrawn, though why the former did so was unknown, the latter had mentioned her family dying in a Fae Incursion.

“My mother used to lead the New Land Explorers, who mapped Mystic Zones and unpopulated areas, she was even in the Americas for a while.” That last bit was a surprise, though everyone could understand why the King of Wind would travel a lot.

No one but Liza noted that the operative term was ‘used to lead’.

“The King of Earth is a bit of a grey area, as no one has seen the King of Earth for a long time, their gender isn’t even known, but it is known that they left for Australia.” So that explained why the King of Earth didn’t really have a known Guild presence…

“In that sense though, the King of Earth was originally in charge of the Conquerors, a group of Sages specializing in finding and terminating Dungeons before they could Overflow, one can only assume the King took some of the Conquerors with when they left for Australia.” Oh so there actually was a Guild associated with the King of Earth.

“Then the King of Fire… this bit is actually a bit classified, but… it’s also an open secret that the King of Fire is probably one of the Founders of the Empire.” That was a surprise, especially to Edward who blinked at the knowledge of a King being related to him.

“And when you consider the noble families of the Empire, it means that Edward is likely his descendant.” Yusuf added with a smirk towards the Prince of the Empire, a descendant of a King much like Yusuf, except much more removed than the latter.

“So in a sense, the entire Empire is the Guild of the King of Fire, it’s an open secret that should the Empire be in danger the King of Fire will handle the situation.” Yusuf explained as he leaned back a bit in thought, leaving an open gap in the conversation.

“What about the King of Light and the King of Darkness?” Kazuya asked after a moment of thought, having used the silence to think about how insane it was that a huge country was essentially all following one man.

A King, a true Emperor, but still.

“Well the King of Light leads a sort of charity organization, his is the only Guild which has normal humans acting on its behalf… I don’t think they’ve been named by the King himself, but the group calls themselves the Children of Light.” Yusuf said, and immediately looks of recognition were on the faces of the first years.

“Oh I know them, they give shelter to people who have homes destroyed because of Mystic Beasts, Fae or Rogue Sages, they’re everywhere.” Vince said with a smile, and everyone else nodded, knowing the group as well.

“They are a good group… well, in theory. They have a very lax view on new entrants, and because of that some bad apples sneak in, or so my father says.” Yusuf warned, and that did draw a few frowns…

No one wanted to know that the heroes weren’t as heroic as they should be.

“Ignoring that bit of sad news, the King of Darkness runs the Black Bank.” That drew a lot of shivers from the group as a whole, not wanting to think too long on the Bank.

“The King of Darkness runs the Black Bank, the only bank which caters specifically to Sages?” Jade asked, not feeling as much fear of the Bank as the others due to living with a normal family.

“Jade, you’re a bit new to the things most Sages just know, so you probably don’t get how scary the Bank is…” Edward warned which set off alarms in Jade’s head, as Edward was a prince of the Empire.

“Jade, the Black Bank is the only Bank available for Sages for good reason, every member of the Bank is at minimum a six Star Sage, and yes, that includes tellers.” Jade blinked and then paled upon processing that information.

Jonathan could actually kill any one of them in one hit bar Liza and possibly Tony, though it was only in certain circumstances it was still terrifying.

And Jonathan was ‘only’ a five Star Sage compared to a simple teller at the Black Bank. A person whose only job is to open a register and hand money to you was stronger than their teacher.

“The Black Bank has the highest average strength of all Guilds, in fact their debt collectors are all eight or nine Star Sages…” Yusuf warned, and that once more got the group scared.

No one knew how many eight or nine Star Sages there were in the world, but there had to be more than there were Kings, unless you were a nine Star Sage…

Stealing from the Black Bank, or simply being in debt to them, was the same as calling for a nine Star Sage to come kill you essentially.

“The only good thing about such a gathering of power is that they are all kept under the thumb of the King of Darkness, and her belief that money solves everything… left unsaid is that you could probably pay the Black Bank for anything… anything.” Yusuf emphasized that word, and immediately negative thoughts were had.

Assassinations, fraud, bodyguards, if you could afford it then the Black Bank would provide, was what it seemed…

“Clara Salem has her own morals though, certain things she refuses to endorse, such as human trafficking or degrading acts such as torture or rape… though she’ll probably sell the kidney of a dead person.” Yusuf was only partially joking, he was actually uncertain as to how true what he was saying was…

His mother was the one who said it, and going by the giggle she made afterwards it should have been a joke… should have been.

“So, those are the ‘top’ ten Guilds, led by the ten Kings. That’s all that my father wanted me to tell you really…” Yusuf seemed a bit uncertain as the train pulled into the station.

As they left, going a different direction from Yusuf, he reminded them about the School-wide Tourney.

“Don’t forget, you all need to fight second and third years in this thing… you especially.” Yusuf gave a pointed look at Leah who squeaked in embarrassment before giving a stare of her own.

“You will be proving yourself to me at this tourney… don’t disappoint me… I’d hate to have a weakling ask for a family secret.” Yusuf only half joked as he walked away.

After seeing the third year take a corner, the first years walked away with their thoughts filled with the Guilds and different groups…

“Say, you think we could make a Guild?” Edward asked, only to be met with silence as each member of the first years looked a bit awkward at the question…

Guilds needed to have a unifying trait. They were all friends, they could acknowledge that, but beyond that…

They competed, so it couldn’t be following a single Sage… they didn’t like the same type of missions as far as they knew, and then there was the fact that they each had their own goals that they were hoping to accomplish after school.

“Maybe… not now.” Liza yawned as she said this from Kazuya’s back, once more the weapon expert had forgotten her presence, so used to her slight frame that he just automatically adjusted his gait without noticing.

“I suppose so… then instead of a Guild, how about a promise?” Edward offered, getting confused looks as Vince smirked.

“I get it, kind of like ‘we’ll meet up again in five years!’ type of thing, right?” Vince’s question was met with understanding eyes as Edward nodded.

“Right. No matter where we go and what happens, we’re all members of the S-Class. And, I’d like to think at least, we’re all friends… So I want us to have an understanding.” Edward said, looking across all of them, meeting their eyes, even the usually sleeping Liza was attentive, her crimson red eyes staring at Edward’s own.

“We are friends, and from what I understand of that, it means that friends support one another and are there for one another… equally.” Edward reminded, looking at Vince’s roguish grin pointedly.

“Whenever one of us is in trouble, we will gather, we will help one another, and we will face the situation as a team… sometimes, this might not be possible, I understand… but I’d be happy knowing that if ever I needed help I could rely on you all, and I’d be even happier knowing you’d all consider relying on me.” Edward had a way with speeches, a trait he gained due to etiquette lessons in the Empire, but nonetheless his words were true.

Liza was actually a better speaker when she had to be, but she didn’t exactly launch off speeches like that often.

Edward’s request was met with small smiles from each of the other students, their smiles weren’t full on grins, but the kind of smile one reserved for a subtle moment.

“…I’d be happy to join this.” Vince said, his joking tone momentarily gone to let his pride show through.

“Of course I’d help, but only if you all help me of course.” Jade’s smile showed that her extra words were only in jest, even if they really would help her.

“I’m a bit shy… but I’m happy with everyone… so yes, I’d promise.” Liza said after a moment to gather herself, a silent nod from Tony signifying his agreement as well.

“I would be happy to be a part of this promise.” Liza’s words were, as usual when she wasn’t yawning between them, eloquent.

Despite knowing she could speak like that, it was still a bit of a surprise whenever she did.

“Well, I’d feel horrible if I was the only one to say no…” Kazuya’s smirk was warning enough that he wasn’t going to refuse, though he seemed to be making a show of it.

“I’ll go along with this, though I doubt I’d ever get involved in anything big enough that would require everyone’s help… you all make me want to help anyway.” Kazuya joked, considering he helped everyone it was no joke.

If anyone wanted to spar, or study together, or simply hang out, Kazuya was usually available, even if he didn’t go out of his way to be around others, he’d never outright deny another human being from his presence…

At least, never from the S-Class.

“That’s great… come on, let’s go get something to commemorate this, my treat.” Edward said with a smile, getting cheers from the rest of the students… he was a bit rich after all.

Unbeknownst to the S-Class, standing atop a nearby building were two beings, one having bright red hair and another pitch black, staring at the seven.

“Interesting kids aren’t they… going to school, making such childish promises to one another… so optimistic it makes me sick…” the black haired girl said, scratching her neck as if it had a rash as she said this.

“I’m never certain on whether you are happy or genuinely annoyed when you speak like that… still, we have little to worry from them.” The red haired man said, paying particular attention to the lanky boy carrying a katana, and the monochrome girl on his back…

“That’s what you said last time, and then that damn forest ninja appeared and we had to run. Our target didn’t even know we were there.... so annoying…” the black haired girl raked her nails down her cheeks, scratching, but not deep enough to cause anything more than brighter skin.

“It’s to be expected, the so-called Kings are fiercely protective of their pet projects, and this year quite a few interesting ones came to light… four of Essence, a Time user, and a boy with three Elements instead of one or two…” The man said, clicking his fingers.

Behind him, a circle of flames appeared, the centre changing to no longer look like flames but instead like a hole in reality, opening to a different location.

“And they left half of them with Donovan… with the assassin out of the picture, he has the largest active area. Killing them inside a city is suicide… we’ll wait.” The girl said, following behind the red haired man as they stepped into the portal, vanishing from Berlin.

Reappearing inside a large room, the two looked at the one focal point of the dark room.

In the centre of this place, surrounded by eleven chairs and a donut shaped table, was a statue of a robed spectre, a skeletal face grinning down as it held a scythe in its hands.

““For the end.”” The two spoke as one, bowing slightly to the statue, their bowed heads unable to see the empty sockets of the statue’s eyes begin to glow.

The S-Class was indeed in the joyful times of their youth…

It wouldn’t last.