After walking outside of the campus wall for quite a while, we finally reached the sewer drop. We went down one by one. Ladies first, of course. Not because I’m a coward or anything. I’m just being a gentleman. Honest! But in any case, we finally arrived at the sewage way. This was the starting point for our infiltration mission. Besides rescuing the hostages, we also have to check on the enemy formation and see how many of them are there. Other than that, it was best to grab any useful intel we find later. It might just shorten this so called war and then I’ll be able to get out of this mess forever.

“Are we there yet?” Shiro started talking.

“No.” Blanc responded, “And we’re not playing that stupid ‘are we there yet’ game.”

“Jeez, you don’t have to shot me down like that. What a mood killer.”

“We have mission, Shiro.” Lin walked by him and said, “Stay focused.”

Shiro stopped and shrugged, “Is everybody here a workaholic?”

I looked back at Shiro and said, “Don’t worry, Shiro. They are just tense because this is an important mission. Failure is not an option, right?”

Shiro grumbled and said, “Not an option? It’s not like saving the hostages can make a difference. A fight will still happen eventually. A faster end, probably but that’s just it. It just creates more fighting than it is doing something else.”

“Then what do you suggest, Shiro?” I questioned him.

Shiro stumped and said, “I don’t know…”

“Exactly, now come on.”

We walked through the open sewage route for a few minutes until we finally reached the bridge that connects between the dorms buildings and the class building. The bridge was way above our heads since we were down at the sewer. No one was seen crossing the bridge ever since we got here. That just shows how the place was completely deserted.

“Hey…” Shiro suddenly spoke to us, “What do you guys think of the Cardinals that we’re saving here. Do they deserve that title?”

Blanc then told us what she thinks, “I don’t know about your Cardinal but I do know my Cardinal.”

“Want to share it then?” I asked her.

“Sure.” Blanc begins telling her story, “Our Cardinal is a guy, and his name is Ace. Short for Grace, Grace Green.”

“That sounds like a female name.” commented Shiro.

Blanc laughed, “He can’t help it. His parents named him that. So now he’s stressing everyone to just call him Ace.” Blanc then continued, “Anyway, that guy is interesting. He is very friendly with all of us unlike Mrs. Sam Maximus. He looks after us and always finds an opportunity to talk to everyone in class. I think he’s the perfect Cardinal for my class. Plus, he is kind of strong both physically and mentally. Once during a duel class, she beat 5 people in a row without any rest in between and all of them were talented wizards as well. You could imagine how strong Ace is considering that he is an A+ Wizard.”

“That’s amazing.” Shiro frowned, “Meanwhile, my Cardinal seems to always have a dispute with everyone in class.”

“What happened?” Lin asked.

Shiro then begins his explanation, “It’s complicated, and really…We don’t really have a true Cardinal…”

“What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense.” Lin was dumbfounded.

Shiro clarified, “Everyone seems to think that they are the Cardinal. My classroom is like a war sometimes. There were about 13 different Cardinal candidates. All of them won’t give up.”

“Seriously? That many?” I was surprised.

“Yeah.” Shiro nodded, “Basically there’s no Cardinal or Trinity. If you guys ever wanted to discuss with us, you better go and talk with all 13 of them. From the top of my head, the names are, Aero Dyne, Chrome Bayonet, Evette Gold, Hunter Frost, Isla Kresnik, Jenna Lionheart, Marina Orb, Petra Newton, Shieldra Que, Tara Riya, Uriel Wisp and Vixen Xena.”

Blanc counted and mentioned, “Aren’t you forgetting one more person?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot one more. I think his name was…Zero…hmm…Zero Yohna. That is quite a mouthful name.”

“Yohna?” Lin wondered, “Now that’s an interesting family name. I think I heard that name before.”

“Yohna…” Blanc approached to Shiro and said, “It could be just a coincidence but that name reminds me of one of the scientist back at my home…Proffesor Yohna…he was the leading scientist that lead Project Typhon.”

Shiro wondered, “Typhon? Isn’t that your family name?”

Blanc remains silent for a bit until she finally spits it out, “It was given. I’m the only Typhon in my ‘family’. Names aren’t really important to me back then but I guess someone had to give me some kind of name for them to easily refer to.” Blanc was getting sour for some reason.

Reading the mood, I decided that it was best for me to interrupt and say, “Alright guys, I think that’s enough. We need to keep going. We have a mission that we need to do.”

“What about my turn?” Lin drops in her own words.

“Make sure it is not as complicated like the last one…” I said so as I looked at Shiro who had a mellow look.

Lin begins her turn to tell about her Cardinal while we continued to make our way to the entry point, “Her name is Lala. Lala Magnetite. She’s not really a talkative person. Well…almost everyone in our class isn’t a talkative person.”

I commented on that, “Of course…Magic Studies. A class filled with bookworms. Do all nerds have to be such a socially awkward person?”

Blanc was not impressed at what I said, “You don’t have the right to be saying such things. They are still human.”

“But I heard from Sam that you are not human. What makes you think you can talk about this?” I shot her back with my harsh words.

Shiro tried to cover her up, “Let’s not fight here, guys. And Ralph, can’t you be more considerate to people?”

“Fine. Fine. I’m sorry, guys.” I forgive to them. “You can continue, Lin.”

Lin then gladly continued her story, “Lala is a bit mysterious…just like almost all of us to be honest. But at least no one was in a disagreement when we decided who the Cardinal was.”

“It’s probably because no one wanted to speak up at all.” Blanc figured.

“That might be just it.” Lin slowly nodded in agreement.

I ended this short conversation with a sarcastic comment, “Well what an interesting bunch we have from these Cardinals. A nice guy, A mysterious girl, not-so peaceful peoples, and most importantly an absolute control freak.”

We didn’t talked more after that and the sooner we realize it, we have finally arrived at the ladder that leads to the outskirts of The Den. We climbed up and sneak around the wall and climbed up the walls into the unguarded area of the classroom building.

“Alright. There are two Watchers over there guarding the stairs. I’ll distract them while Lin and Shiro take them out.”

“What about me?” asked Blanc.

“Just stick with me. You are not needed yet.”

Blanc was a bit disappointed and said, “Yes sir.”

I brought out my acoustic guitar and prepared to play a tune.

“Hold on, Ralph.” Shiro stopped me and asked, “Won’t your ability also affect us?”

I lightly giggled and told them, “Don’t worry. It only affects those that I target at. You’ll be fine.”

I crept toward the stairs and hugged it. I made sure I was well hidden under the stairs and played a mesmerizing tune. Slowly but surely, the two Watchers began to yawn. They were getting sleepy thanks to my tune. I looked at the other three who was still waiting at the back and nodded to them, signalling them to go in for the strike.

Shiro turns himself invisible and walked to one of the Watchers while Lin slowly made her way to the other one as best as she could. Shiro made himself visible again once he was right behind the Watcher and chopped the Watcher’s neck with his hand, knocking them out. Around the same time as well, Lin brought out a piece of card of and stamp it on the back of the Watcher. The Watcher noticed it but it was too late for them to do anything. The Watcher was quickly taken out as their body started to receive intense shock from the mysterious card.

“Nice. Let’s get going.” I applauded their cooperation.

We climbed up the stairs while making sure no one was behind us.

“What did you do, Lin?” Blanc asked her.

“It’s my magic ability. It’s called Infinity Deck, It allows me to summon weapons, use attacks or summon any other living being that is not human.”

“Any other?”

“The only downside to this is that it is randomized. You’ll only find out once you take a card out of the deck.”

“Where is this deck hidden, anyway?”

“Usually it comes out from my wrist. Much like a stage show magician does their trick.”

“Wow. That’s cool.”

“Keep it down you two…” I shushed them, “We’re almost there…”

As we got up through the stairs, everything was fine and dandy when suddenly,

“Hey you! What are you doing there!” We were immediately discovered by a Watcher.

Another Watcher followed suit as well as two other from the other side made their way to the shout.

“What now, squad leader?” Lin prepared and took out a card.

“There’s only one plan for this. We’ll take them out before anyone else notices.”

“Roger.”

TO BE CONTINUED