"Huh?" Both of the boys froze and looked across the busy street.

"You see that?" Lucky Riot frowned as he squinted his eyes in observation.

"Yeah…" Capp Blacc's smiling face had also grown solemn at this moment. "Pirate Flag. Its a group of gangsters. The four with flags should be hunter class right?"

Essence Hunters. This was what people called the mystic warriors who trained their body with a mysterious beast essence.

"Probably not. Should be mid-level Hard Bodies," Lucky shrugged, as an ethereal looking eye tattoo mysteriously appeared at his glabella. It was vague and indistinct as if it wasn't even there at all. "I think most of them are weak. I'll have to get closer to know for sure. The girl with pink hair should have just barely entered the Hardbody Stage. Strange… I can't see through that girl with blue hair at all."

Deep in the alley on the opposite side of the street was five guys wearing all black and carrying flags covered in silver spheres that sparkled like the moon. They seemed to be surrounding two commoner girls. These two girls were actually rather breathtaking. One was dark-skinned and athletic in build with blue hair, and the other had light brown skin, looked dainty, and was lithe with pink hair. It was the braver of the two girls, the one with blue hair and an athletic build, who screamed for help. However, now that same girl was collapsed in the lap of the other, with a bloody and bruised eye.

While most of the civilians walking to and fro on the street were oblivious to the cry due to the noise of the city and flying cars on the skyway, Lucky and Capp were both junior mystic warriors at the Hard Body Mystic Stage.

"This remind you of anything?" Lucky asked mischievously.

"You don't mean..." Capp looked taken aback. Inwardly, he remembered the show him and Lucky were watching the night before about two mystic heroes who ran around the county saving damsels in distress from rogue gangsters and perverts.

The two boys glanced at each other once, and shouted, "Saving Damsels!" Then they immediately bolted across the busy street. Hover Crafts blared their horns as the two boys recklessly, yet nimbly, dodged incoming traffic to make their way across the street.

Meanwhile, in the alley opposite Lucky and Capp.

"Tch, stupid bitch," an ugly boy with a silver mohawk shook his hand and spat in disgust. Slapping this girl seemed to actually… hurt his hand a bit? This was inconceivable to the ugly boy. This slimy looking guy had a flag with four silver spheres hanging out his back pocket. He looked around 17-years-old, and on his back seemed to be some type of two-feet-long black rod, "Making me actually use some mystic essence strength? I guess you should be proud of yourself."

"Relax Chucky, you're going to damage the goods before we can give out samples to the boys," sneered the other flagged gangster, receiving flattering laughter from the other three goons. This young man looked around 18-years-old and had a flag that had five silver spheres. He was good-looking, brawny, and tall.

The two girls were holding each other and crying, while the goons closed in on them with ropes while wearing sick grins. It was a genuinely scarring sight. The handsome girl with dark blue short hair, curled in her long legs, and tried to close up her stylish clothes and use them to cover her eye as she sobbed. The gorgeous girl with long white-pink hair, young features, and wearing a pink skirt, was muttering an incantation as she cradled her companion. "Light of the heavens, [Heal]!"

A soft pale golden light covered the dark-haired girl's eye as the swelling subsided bit by bit.

"Well, what do we have here, Craig? She's already awakened a star point!" Chucky showed a very crooked smile, as a sick lust appeared in his eyes. He licked his lips and grabbed the white-pink haired girl's magnificent face by her cheeks, making her shout in alarm, before slowly licking the front of her face. The girl's body spasmed as if she was repulsed into having a stroke as the man laughed, "So sweet! Oh, so young, but so sexy. Truly quality goods. You almost had a nigga fooled, slut. You ain't no commoner, bitch, that's for sure. What do you think, buddy? She tried it, right?"

"GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF HER!" screamed the blue-haired girl while jumping to her feet. Craig smiled as he forced her back down by kicking her in the stomach.

"AHHH!" The girl screamed, and her friend cringed fiercely, causing Chucky to snicker and toss the latter girl aggressively to the ground.

"If that's true, she'll be a big bounty," Craig smirked and rubbed his beard stubble. "Let's ruin her friend a bit, and we can take our time researching the brat."

"No, please HELP, SOMEONE!" the gorgeous girl with white-pink hair finally lost her mind due to fear and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"You ain't learn from her, bitch?" said a pale goon as he pulled out a switch-blade.

"Hey, you two idiots, fucking watch it!"

"Move out of the way!"

"Oh?" Hearing the commotion caused by traffic outside the alley, the five gangsters all paused with apprehension.

"Hold it right there, fuck boys!" Capp called out in an attempt to distract the gangsters from the two girls. He wanted them to escape as soon as possible so that himself and Lucky could do the same. After all, who wanted to risk life and death with these gangsters that had nothing to lose? Unlike these losers, Capp had a bright future ahead of himself. Lucky, on the other hand, didn't share Capp's reservations. Lucky would rather fight for what he believed in with all his vigor!

Craig turned his head to investigate the two new voices. Before he could see anything, a rock the size of a fist crashed right into his face. The force behind the rock flipped Craig off his feet, and he tumbled over a dozen meters before stabilizing himself.

"Who?!" Chucky wheeled around at this and grabbed the black rod from his back. With a single motion, lights flashed as the rod shook and transformed into a long ebony spear with a blade made of peerless black steel. Looking at the two students who were rapidly approaching, Chucky immediately relaxed a bit. Even if these students were a bit tough, as long as they weren't with the Twelve Judgement Stars Chucky wouldn't be afraid. He sneered and spat in disdain. "Pah! Do you punks still dare to cross our Silver Mercury Gang? I can't wait until the boss gets back. At that time, let's see how many fools like you two are still running around. Fredo, Ricky, take them down!"

"Right!" The two goons Fredo and Ricky immediately separated and pulled out two-feet-long switch-blades as they rushed forward to meet Lucky and Capp in a pincer attack.

"Lucky, let's take out the cannon fodder first!" said Capp in a low and deep tone.

"Right!" stopping in their tracks, Lucky and Capp adopted the same stance as they released their mystic strength and punched out before the two goons could swing their blades.

Water God Fist Arts, the first style: Collapsing Waves Fist!

The fists of both boys turned icy blue as they punched out with fierce momentum.

*Crunch* *Crack*

Fredo and Ricky were swat like flies by the powerful fist arts and sent crashing into opposite origin brick walls. They both slid down the wall, leaving trails of blood and mucus in their wake. Capp and Lucky didn't miss a step as they placed themselves in-between the remaining goons and the two girls.

"Who the hell are these punks? What kind of godly martial skill did they train in?" shouted the remaining goon as he launched a series of heavy kicks at Lucky Riot, who smoothly avoided getting hit in succession. Lucky grabbed the goon's leg, slamming him into some disposed crates full of rotten fruits and meat.

"Leave! We'll take care of this," said Capp to the gorgeous girl with pink-white hair urgently. However, seeing this chick up close made Capp's heart skip half a beat. She was admittedly too pretty, it was a wonder her father let her leave the house at all.

"Raging Boar!" Chucky brandished his spear and stabbed out towards Capp with all of his mystic essence strength gathered on the tip of the spear. Near invisible lights shined on the blade as it threatened to skewer Capp Blacc.

Capp snapped back to his senses, pushing away the pretty girl with white-pink hair and falling backward to narrowly avoid that spear thrust. He flipped back to his feet and cautioned the blue-haired girl with the now only slightly bruised eye, "Take her and leave from here!"

"Princess, we must leave. If we can make it to the outer sector, I can contact the honor guard and your father. We must make it back to Blu 22. You can not be exposed or tainted here," urged the blue-haired girl in a hushed voice that was only further accented by the foreign language she was speaking. Capp heard the girl's words, but he didn't understand her at all. Meanwhile, Lucky completely understood them and never realized they spoke in a different language.

"But…" the pink-haired girl pouted, unsure of whether she could trust these newcomers. She recognized the desire in Capp's gaze, even if it was fleeting. She was all too familiar with the term desire. In fact, she was named for it. However, as she observed the rather good-looking Lucky Riot, she suddenly fell silent. If not for the angular features of his face and his flat chest, she would've mistaken him for a girl. Looking carefully, she quickly noticed the Thoth Academy uniform since they both had some form of the Heavenly Ibis insignia.

Arriving next to the young ladies, Lucky Riot also glanced at this delicate female. Her eyes were like little pink jewels, and her face was perfectly oval and sweet. Her lithe body seemed to contain a holy aura, making Lucky consider tainting her purity. Lucky was startled by these thoughts, but nothing showed on his face.

Noticing Lucky's interest, the girl was indifferent. This came as no surprise to her. However, she was shocked to see Lucky's face remain as unconcerned as if he were looking at a bucket of prismatic paint. Rare as is the color may be, it was ultimately just a bucket of paint. It wasn't worth taking widespread interest in if one wasn't a paint enthusiast. This made the pink-haired girl feel a bit resentful.

Was she really no better than paint?

Lucky looked slightly curious at best, but even that vanished so quick that the girl wasn't sure she had seen it at all. She was lost, as she had never encountered someone who treated her this way. Usually, even women would react to her beauty or status.

If Lucky knew what this girl was thinking, he would be quite confused. Was there still time for this?

"You two need to go, okay? We'll cover you, but don't think we can defeat the rest as easily as the first two," Lucky Riot leaned in close and spoke his thoughts in a near whisper, his hot breath giving the pink-haired girl goosebumps.

Listening to Lucky speak in her native tongue, her face flushed crimson as the blood rushed to her cheeks and her eyes widened in shock. Capp was similarly shocked because Lucky had just spoken in that strange language, and he had done it so smooth and seductively like a mack. However, the individual in question remained oblivious to his actions.

The pink-haired beauty looked at her companion, who nodded lightly as they helped each other up.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING! STOP THEM, THEY'VE SEEN OUR FACES AND THEY KNOW OUR NAMES!" Craig screamed as he saw the two captives starting to move away.

"Ouraaaaah!" Chucky's eyes turned crazed as he swept twice at Capp's leg's with his spear, but Capp wasn't so quickly dealt with. As a cultivator with an origin pool, mere iron weapons were no longer enough to threaten Capp. However, the opponent was using an essence tool! Capp dodged and then stomped on the blade of the spear, running up the shaft to land a hefty kick on Chucky's chest. Chucky felt his sternum crumble like paper as he shot back several meters, blood escaping his throat he tumbled and rolled on the ground. Chucky scrambled up to his knees before falling once more and shouting pathetically, "You bitches are going to die, you're all definitely going to die!"

"I don't need a fuck boy telling me when I can or can not live," Capp completely disdained this Chucky who also had a fourth level Hard Body.

"Him and this 'fuck boy' thing lately..." Lucky was amazed at how Capp could so confidently use slang from only ghosts knew how many years ago, but kept secretly giving him two thumbs up.

What was trendsetting?

This was trendsetting.

Capp had long since been able to fight opponents a couple of levels higher than his own, much less a peer at the same level. He wouldn't hesitate to trash talk with such an opponent. What fun was fighting if you couldn't act tough? "I suggest you losers withdraw from my field of vision, or this might get ugly if I become serious."

"Young hero, my name is Dalaea Frost. Please tell me, what are your names?" a voice rang out from the navy-haired girl while grabbing the arm of Lucky, who about to run towards Chucky's disarmed weapon.

"He's Capp Blacc, and I'm Lucky Riot. We both attend Thoth High. We'll protect you girls while you run, so don't worry. Take care of each other! Remember to head to Thoth High and ask for us if you need protection," Lucky Riot called out, before dashing forward with the epitome of nonchalance. The girls both felt incredulous, but they still swiftly escaped from the alley into the bustling city.

"NO!!" When Craig saw the two girls slip into the crowd in the distance, he lost it. The squad leader would have his head for this one. "You meddlesome little twerps. I'm going to crush you both!"

"Uh oh," as Capp glanced upwards he saw Craig falling from the sky like a wildcat, two combat claws with three golden blades each were now attached to Craig's hands. Mystic light swirled around his fists that released a dark grey glow!

"Night Stalker!"

Mystic essence qi pressure weighed down heavily on Capp as he watched the incoming attack, unable to move. Capp braced himself to take substantial damage, but right at that moment, he felt a foot use his back as a springboard to propel itself up. This action consequently knocked Capp to the ground.

Lucky Riot equipped himself with Chucky's fallen spear as he poured all of his strength into thrusting the weapon towards Craig's heart. Lucky felt 70% of his mystic strength deplete as the weapon in his hands swallowed it up and glowed with a fierce light. Lucky was attempting to use a mystic fist art with the spear rather than his hand. Both of Lucky's hands, as well as the blade of the spear, glowed with a sky blue light and they clashed against Craig and his combat claws.

BAM!

The two collided, and both were repelled backward. Lucky landed on his side and rolled for twelve feet before flipping to his feet and steadying himself. At the same time, Craig brutally crashed into a stone wall four meters away. Capp sent Lucky a major thumbs up for his beautiful execution. Capp moved to retrieve the weapon of their opponent, the combat claws which had been knocked away by the collision.

"This is good stuff. How fitting that they offered gifts to this sovereign. Perhaps I can forgive their fuckery this time," Capp Blacc gassed himself up before grabbing his friend and saying, "Play times over, let's get out of here quick before more goons show up!"

"Mn," Lucky Riot nodded resolutely, and the two boys turned to escape the alley at top speed.

20 minutes later…

"You stupid little shits! How could you idiots let her get away?!" In the main hall of a large white mansion, a big-bellied man in his late thirties paced back and forth in front of his seat. He pulled on his long auburn beard in a panic as he berated the bruised and battered Craig and Chucky who knelt in front of him. "I told you to hold the bitch until the squad's pirates arrived. This was a huge merit that has now become an enormous mistake! I should slaughter you both."

"We're sorry, big homie Tutuff," both young men kowtowed on the ground in respect.

"Those two brats from Thoth Academy got in our way, otherwise how could we possibly have lost those girls!" said Chucky indignantly. The big-bellied man stomped on Chucky's head, causing blood to splatter all over the ground. Chucky felt a world of pain like never before as he hollered like a hit dog. Half of his face was now caved into a bloody mess.

"You dare to mention disobeying your direct orders. We were NOT supposed to touch any nobles or students from the middle sector. You were only supposed to capture those two women before they made it to the central sector themselves!

Not only did you fail to complete this because you wanted to play, you even lost the two profound stage equipment you were rewarded for becoming junior essence hunters!" the big-bellied man, Tutuff Adams, removed a pirate flag with several bright silver spheres from his back pocket. With a wave, the flags in the pocket's of Craig and Chucky flew out and merged into Tutuff's flag. As soon as the flags disappeared, the two young men both released shouts of agony. Tutuff harrumphed. "You two will be demoted to deputy cadets for three weeks. You don't deserve to be essence hunters. This is my command as leader of Silver Mercury Gang's Pirate Squad 83. Go and find out who those two brats were immediately."

"Yes, big homie!"

"Y…Yes, big homie!"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Lucky Riot and the Mystic Dragon