Mr. Abrams: “…That kid has talent. However, just like the man known as Four, trash that threatens to harm my students will not be forgiven.”

After voicing his thoughts out loud, Mr. Abrams puppet dissipated in a scatter of lights. While it managed to effectively put this team out of action, there was no reason he needed to take this long in eliminating the targets. On one hand, by taking them out with a puppet army left on autopilot with the impersonated mercenaries’ memories still in tact, he managed to save a lot more mana than normal. Still, It gave the enemy’s following three teams a chance to close the distance between themselves and the second dormitory!! Furthermore, there was a strange presence lurking about the borders of the forest now that didn’t exist previously.

Mr. Abrams: “...They’re trying awfully hard to hide their presence. And their scouting the four teams as well. Hm…

Do you think you can ‘monitor’ the Monitor – Man? Heheh. Since you watched how hard they fought, it’s only fair if I have you join in the fun! (Ugh, that stupid name. Why have I never heard of it before? I’ll have to research it when I have the time. I’ll make the one that spread it pay!)”

…

Spectral Daggers Third in Command: “...Interesting. For some odd reason, upon entering the forest, Team 4 of that stupid coalition broke down among themselves, killed one another following a series of betrayals, and then disappeared near – instantly with a flash of bright, white light. Could it have been a trap, or…”

???: “Captain Lukas! Sir, this is Gerald. I discovered the whereabouts of the two targets! It seems like you were right in your initial assumption. The location our target seems to be hidden at, just so happens to coincide with some data I got from bribing a Coalition mercenary about their own target’s location. In my honest opinion, I fear this might be a trap. They’re the EXACT same place! Here, take a look!”

Captain Lukas: “No, I feel something weird about all this, but it doesn’t look like both targets are in the same place. *Takes out tracking machine* This device shows the coordinates for our target. Here. *Hands over machine* Can you open a new ‘point’ and put in the coordinates for that damned stupid coalition’s target? Oh, you did manage to get a set of coordinates from that person you bribed...right?”

Gerald: “Of course. Just give...me...one second...*Inputs extra coordinates under new point* Got it! Wonderful again, Captain Lukas! There’s no way I can compare with such deductive reasoning! Right after overlapping the two points onto the same grid, it shows they actually are about 5 meters apart. I didn’t know about the exact coordinates of our target. I only heard from Arnold that it was someplace in the center of the forest directly ahead of us. This is the reason for my faulty assumption about our future kill’s location, right after learning of the coalition’s target’s exact positioning.

Hey, ARNOLD! Get over here!”

Arnold: “*Yawn* I heard you, settle down. The kill’s position IS somewhere in the center. So what’s the big deal here?”

Gerald: “You...could you be ANY more misleading?! What are you, dense?? When I asked for the target’s location, you told me it was ‘someplace in the center of the forest, just like the coalition’s own target’. This is all your fault!”

Arnold: “I don’t see why I need to shoulder responsibility for your mistake. After all, I didn’t lie to you, did I? You asked about their location, so I told you. Stop being such a- *Yawn* -a pain.”

Gerald: “You KNOW how imperative it is people like us in this line of work to only focus on EXACT details. Faulty or misleading information can EASILY spell doom for us all. It is quite literally the deciding factor between life and death! And regarding the distance between both targets: ours, the Spectral Daggers - and the coalition of mercenaries’, they were about 5 meters off!

Arnold: “So? What’s your point? It’s only 5 meters. I was incredibly close, since nothing I said was a lie. I still stand my ground that the one at fault is you, not me. You jumped to conclusions, when I only mentioned that our two targets were both in the center of the forest.”

Gerald: “What’s my point…? WHAT’S MY POINT?? I’ll tell you what my POINT is then, Arnold. That 5 meter difference would have decided whether we kill the Dormitory # 2 brats, effectively getting in the way of the coalition’s joint operation and making an enemy of teachers or staff who’d at the very least, stall for time and prove themselves an unnecessary factor we did NOT take into account for this mission, or head straight for the captured numbers mercenaries and avoid numerous confrontations! That 5 METER DIFFERENCE is incredibly important to our mission’s success! Go reflect on your stupid answer before the mission starts!”

Arnold: “*Yawn* Fine. I’ll try to reflect. Or maybe I’ll doze off for a few. If I feel like it, then I’ll reflect. Ok, Gerald? (You’re not even in charge here, what do you think your doing, showing off in front of the Captain…)”

Gerald: “You…”

Captain Lukas: “That’s enough! Both of you fools get ready at once!

Gerald: “Yes, boss!”

Arnold: “Fine…I’ll get- *yawns* …ready.”

Captain Lukas: “Haah. Why do I have a bad feel about this mission? There’s something not right about this situation…”

?: “Maybe it’s because these kids that are being targeted already caused one mercenary organization to fail? Or maybe you’re worried about the trap that obviously is hidden inside of this forest? I can’t understand how both the Numbers AND a team of five thousand super soldiers with varying levels of skill and power could suddenly fall to pieces under unknown circumstances. It’s perplexing, at the very least…”

Captain Lukas: “*Turns around* Hello, Romiere. You’re right about the dangers hidden in this forest. I don’t know what caused a team of 6 and one of 5,000 to both lose, but it clearly doesn’t care about quantity. More people seems to mean more casualties…

Besides that, where did that vanguard team, ‘Team 4’ I believe they were called…? Where did they disappear to? That’s what really concerns me.

But enough of that. There hasn’t been any news from boss, right? Or has there been?”

Romiere: “Negative, sir. He wants to see you complete this mission on your own, it seems.”

Captain Lukas: “I thought so. Haah. This mission has so many uncertain variables, my gut is telling me that I’m only a scapegoat to test the waters at this school’s mysterious air, that surrounds the non – combatant project. How I wish I wasn’t just some disposable uni-”

*Vwish!*

Captain Lukas: “…t? What the f-

…

aaaaah!”

Romiere: “Captain? Captain? Where did you g--”

*Vwish!*

Romiere: “Oh hi Captai--

*Looks down*

GiGYAAAAA!!!

Ah~

AAAAAAAAAHHH!”

…

Gerald: “See? Look at what you did! Because of you I got in trouble t-”

*Vwish!*

Arnold: “Ugh, stop talking to me and let me sleep. Your incessant, non-stop nagging grates on the ears after so long. I was awake all-”

*Vwish!*

Gerald: “too...?”

Arnold: “…”

...Gerald: “AAAAAAHHH! Why am I so high up?! Nooooo! I don’t wanna die!”

Arnold: “Jus-Just because I wanted to sleep doesn’t mean I wanna do it forever…”

…

Mr. Abrams: “Heheheh, don’t any of you Spectral Daggers worry. At this height, so long as you don’t land on your heads, chest or neck, I’m quite confident in your survival. Let’s cause some chaos in the forest~ From this point onward, I’ll only use my own mastery of teleportation to make you people beg for mercy…!”

In the darkness of the night, a team of 50 Spectral Daggers members scream from the depths of their lungs. Like large rain droplets, they fall. some manage to catch themselves with magic, while others strengthen their bodies to withstand the eventual impact. Others…they are not so lucky. There was, however, one member of the team that had an ability largely suited to save his elite party of killers.

His name is Arnold.

Arnold: “Dammit. Mass levitation! (This is going to tire me again.)”

Without another word, an invisible aura spread out from his own body, and encapsulated each of his teammates. Slowly, they all came to a halt!

…Or at least, they DID come to a halt. Before anybody could breathe a sigh of relief and thank their lazy elite member, the energy holding them all broke down faster than anybody could see!

Or...rather than saying the invisible energy ‘broke down’, it appeared to have vanished completely!

Arnold: “…Huh? Where did my power go...-

.

.

.

Oh. Back to falling, it seems.“

Screams resumed. Praises and smiles turned as flippant as a con artist into words of hatred and anger, calling Arnold out for being so useless.

Then, they each checked their respective powers to see if they could reactivate those floating or hardening powers they turned off, to, of course, save their strength, and prepare for the worst.

And that’s when they noticed…

…Their powers were not working!

Or rather, they WERE working, but each time they were activated, the powers disappeared for absolutely no reason!

Spectral Daggers member # 1: “What the? Why won’t it-- AAAH!”

Spectral Daggers member # 2: “NO… this can’t be…! I… I don’t wanna die!”

Spectral Daggers member # 3: “Hmph! Everyone calm down! So long as we turn our bodies properly, we can still easily survive with minimal-

*Vwish!*

--huh? Why did my body turn the wrong way?”

Spectral Daggers member # 4: “Everyone RELAX! There’s TREES below us! Sure it’ll still hurt, and be dangerous, but we can just try breaking our fall on the tree-

*VWISH!*

...huh? Where did all of the trees below us go?”

There actually was a simple explanation for everyone’s inability to properly or effectively use their powers. Mr. Abrams was teleporting the activated ‘powers’ off of, and away from, the people using them! Through selective teleportation, he can target the energy encompassing everyone, or the ’enhanced powers’ affecting them, and transport it to another target, like a cloud. No matter how much a cloud floats or hardens itself, after all, it will still always be a cloud.

---