《A Child Turned Into A Soldier》


 Chapter 1: Prologue

    <h4>Chapter 1: Prologue</h4>


    Most people often have a misguided viewpoint on the world considering that they have not seen everything that it entails.


    Azrail finds himself being one of the people that also has this misguided viewpoint. He has a very hard time understanding certain things that happen in the world that go against his own morals.


    After all one''s own morals are built upon their own knowledge and emotions. They change ordingly to how much you understand those two categories.


    The Cyrus is said to be a cruelnd, filled with dangers but as well as riches. The races that live amongst each other have taken a foothold on this, creating their own empires and nations to rule over their territories.


    Not every race is created equally, power gaps are seen between all the races creatingpetition among them. Thispetition could mean many things, the worst being full blown war.


    Individuals most also be brought up, of course every race have a few special cases of their own kind. They are the ones who stand out from the rest, ones to be said to aplish great things in their lifetime. To break apart what has been said to be impossible.


    Gods do not exist in this world, although many are led to believe there is a higher power and pray to these made up beings to live better lives. Their calls are never answered since such things do not exist.


    Everything is based upon the actions of all beings who have the luxury to be born. There is no such thing as fate, only cause and effect belong in this world.


    Azrail finds himself having to conquer many things that are thrown his way. His life can be said to be a hard one, but that doesn''t mean all things are bad. Being able to achieve what you deemed difficult or impossible alsoes with its rewards. Some rewards you may find immediately while others you may not see until you rest upon your death bed.


    The child has gone through many things letting him able to change as person for the worst or better.


    The worlds will can be said to be real, it may make you do things you never thought you were able to achieve or will make you lose your life in the process. How you take those opportunities given to you are only up to you and no one else.


    What will Azrail be able to aplish in his life is truly a mystery. Although he wasn''t given the most talent, he is able to use what''s given to him to the fullest extent. Many find him to be someone theypletely loath while some maye to love him.


    He is able to see many different sides of the world for what they are and maybe what they are able to be.


    Manye and go through his life in different ways, all leaving their mark on his mindset shaping him to be what he is as a person.


    Many wonder what he will be in the future and the world itself is curious to how such a being was ever born.

 Chapter 2: Desperation

    <h4>Chapter 2: Desperation</h4>


    "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT FUCKING DUMB PEICE OF SHIT!" I screamed at myself after ending up in my current predicament.


    I looked around to see what I should do next since right now I''m held up in a small shed that can barely hold three people, luckily I am the only one inside. When I looked outside only one word came to describe what my eyes actually saw.


    Nothing, I was not able to see a single damn thing, only smoke from the fires that were raging on as well as an extreme amount of dust kicked up from the impacts of the raging battle. Although calling it a battle would be generous since it was more like a one sided ughter.


    "I still can not believe that the Volestians sent in that aircraft, when I was trained by former soldiers from that nation, that thing was never taught nor brought up." I said to myself trying to remember if it actually was brought up or if I just simply forgot about it.


    "Speaking of that thing, how in the world is it able to fly at such a high altitude and fire bullets and missiles off with such precision?" I questioned since what I was taught the Volestians technology should not be this grand.


    "BRRRRRRRRTTTTTT"


    The sounds of the aircraft''s bullets hitting the ground shook the entire city I was located at. Fear and dread took over my entire soul just from the impact, but I knew this was not thest sound considering I didn''t hear the weapons firing. Anxiety was building up as I did not know how to live through this mess.


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    As that terrifying sound swept through the entire city I was already in a cold sweat and my anxiety yet again shot through the roof. You can call yourself lucky if you actually hear those sounds because it meant you were not the target on that specific gun run and that you''re still alive, although the same can not be said for whoever did not hear those sounds.


    I knew once the gun run was over I had to once again run through the city while trying to find an area where almost no one was since that will be a ce where the aircraft is least likely to strike. The reason I believe this is because I''ve saw that damn thing reap thousands of lives in mere seconds in highly popted areas on every gun run it did.


    "I need to move now while that scumbag is looking for its next victim''s."


    I finally got up and left the shed to make a run so that I could finally leave this city and make it to my extract point. When I opened the door, I still couldn''t see a damn thing as nothing but dust and smoke filled my vision.


    I can only see about five feet Infront of me and then white and yellow smoke. I decided to split my ki in half, moving the first half to my ears so that I have enhanced hearing while I put the other half to my legs to move faster.


    Then I went down on one knee and put my palm onto the ground to send a mana pulse through the ground to find a clear path. I felt everything connected to the ground within a 300 yard radius. After that I would have to follow a path for those 300 yards and do this process again.


    A minute has gone by and finally I found a path heading south which is the direction I''ve been heading for the past hour. I then went into a sprinter''s position and exploded off the ground and started to follow the path which has no obstacles in its way as well as no humans.


    As I was sprinting, I listened very closely to everything my ears would pick up, especially the sky since you could hear the aircrafting in when it''s about 60 seconds from reaching the city. After the gun run is over it has to turn around and fly back to the city which can take about 3 to 10 minutes depending on the target.


    After half a minute of sprinting I made it to the end of my path and had to send another mana pulse through the ground, but many screams made there way to my ears making my heart drop.


    "MOM WHERE ARE YOU?!" a voice of what seemed to be a child was screaming trying to find the light to his life.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHERE ARE MY LEGS" a panicked scream from a young woman whose life turned upside down.


    "Father I am sorry; it seems like I won''t be able to visit you today..." said a young man with a silently raised voice yet was choking on some words because of the emotions swelling through him.


    Many more screams, shouts, and peoples dyingst words were flowing into my ears and all of them together had caused me to stop pushing ki to enhance my hearing. After I stopped only the screams which were filled with pain and agony could be heard.


    I had no thoughts and my mind waspletely nk, I was already on myst straw mentally and these people''s voices wanted to take away thest thing that kept me together. I wanted to cry, I wanted someone tofort me and tell me I''m doing a good job, but that person has never showed up.


    ''It''s been about 2 minutes, I need to find a building or at least some sort of cover so that my mind can feel a little more at ease when the aircraftes in.'' I thought and decided to send a mana pulse to search for anything that would give me a little cover.


    I found a small building that was about 40 yards to my direct right and sprinted off there. Once I found the building, I went up to it and started to circle around it to see an entry point. Luckily there was a big ass hole in the side of the wall and decided to enter through that.


    "It seems whoever lived here before left while taking everything they had with them." I inquired since the building was empty and only a couch which had rubble on it and an empty kitchen could be seen. I went to sit on the couch and wait for the aircraft to annihte its next prey.


    "I''m just sitting here not knowing if I''ll live or die in next couple of minutes, how the hell did my life evene to this...." With my hands cupping my entire face tears started toe down as now I''m on the edge of a mental break down wondering if it was even worth the fight to live.


    Screams can still be heard which did not help me at all because I too wanted to scream with all my might but for some reason, I was too scared to do so.


    Whenever I''m alone all the dark thoughts in my head start to resurface causing my emotions to skyrocket which usually affects me in negative ways. However, when people are around me these thoughts nevere out making me able to perform at a highly calcted level.


    "I guess at the end of the day my mind is still like a damn child''s, I never wanted to live this type of life mother." I paused because anger was burning inside of me just thinking about that bitch who gave birth to me. "Why..... why did you abandon me.... I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU; I WAS ONLY A KID TRYING TO EARN YOUR LOVE!" I screamed no longer having that fear which held me back earlier because anger instead was in control.


    I started to wipe off the tears that were on my face and was contemting if I should start the n of moving the extract point to my current location. Doing so would mean I would lower the chances of me dying by the Volestian Aircraft, but I would be the enemy of every single human within the city.


    "I don''t have any weapons on me either, my sword is gone and all the guns I had were all broken. I can probably hide within the fog of war, but if they have a sensor I''mpletely fucked." I said trying to figure out a way to increase my chances of getting out of this shithole.


    "If I can time the signal at the correct time that would mean a majority of the Volestians enemies woulde to my position, meaning it''ll make the perfect target for that reaper in the sky.." I said with excitement since at least if I died the people who made my life hell would be joining me.


    "It''s decided then, since it''s been four minutes now I''llunch the signal a Volestian solider taught me in case of a worst case scenario." I walked outside of the house and raised both my hands to the sky while making sure the inside of my arms were touching. I gathered mana from both the inside and outside of my body making sure electricity was in my left arm and fire was in my right.


    Using all the strength in my body I was pumping mana into my arms then gathering the outside mana into my palms to create a massive discharge of the electric and fire element. Then I shifted every bit of ki I could muster into my ears and rest of my body to survive the impact of this signal.


    Doing so cause me to hear the horrific screams of everyone around me, but I was so angry that I couldn''t care less and merely focused on my task.


    After a minute of this process, I finally heard the sound of the aircrafting in, it was still about a minute out, but this was perfect. I discharged the fire element in my right palm creating a red beam that shot up into the sky about 2 miles up. Then I sent a wire of electricity around the beam making it go only halfway up but that was more than enough. I then closed my left palm making the electricity wrap around the beam tightly.


    "BOOOM"


    A loud explosion sounded right on top of me sending my entire body through the ground leaving a crater with me inside of it. I couldn''t see nor hear a single damn thing as my vision was beyond blurry and my ear drums were ruptured.


    I had done the signal sessfully, but it left my body in a horrendous state meaning the Volestians had to send in a rescue squad to retrieve me.


    ''This will tell me how important I am to them, although I''m a Volestian citizen and have important intel about their enemy, I hope they send a squad to save me even though I made it much harder for them.'' I thought this while I was waiting for either my saviors or executioners.

 Chapter 3: War Crimes

    <h4>Chapter 3: War Crimes</h4>


    POV: Aircraft Commander of AC-130 gunship


    "Commander we will be reaching the city in about five minutes; I''d suggest we switch to weapons mode in case any enemies are spotted from this distance." Reever said through the radio, whom is the co-pilot of my gunship.


    "No, we will stay in stealth mode so that we can circle around the city undetected in case of emergencies, the fighter jets will be doing most of the air assault while we are there for spotting and rescuing the hostage." I stated, our main mission was to rescue a teenager who had been taken here 7 years ago. The difficulty of this mission may vary depending on if he is able to make it to the extract point we made.


    I switched radio channels to the special forces unit who was tasked to rescue the teenager in case of a ground rescue scenario. "Captain we are five minutes out from the city. If your unit is needed, you will only be working off the location of the hostage and nothing else since the intel is almost nonexistent." I said to the captain, making sure he and his team understood that they were in the fog and were ready for anything.


    "Roger that." The captain said with a deep voice filled with confidence as this wasn''t his first rodeo. "Gentleman we will be on standby in five minutes, double check all of your gear and get into parachuting positions when you''re ready." The captain told his unit while he himself was already standing ready in position ready to jump at any given moment.


    I then switched my radio to themanding officer of the fighter jets assault force. "Nn what''s your estimated time of arrival for the assault?" I questioned him considering they should have already started the assault. "Our first jet is about ten minutes out, after that each jet will go one by one with each assault being three to twelve minutes apart from each other." Nn said with a more frustrated tone considering he was a hard ass when it came to being on time, especially on a crucial mission.


    This mission actually held two objectives , the first one was capturing this city in its entirety since it was thest major stronghold of the enemy force. The second was recusing a teenager who is a Volestian citizen that was captured by a terrorist group and turned into a solider. Not only that but he has a considerable amount of intel, so his rescue is a priority. All of the teams who are a part of this mission had a fire lit under there ass because one of our people needed to be saved and we wanted to annihte the opposing side.


    "Commander, we have arrived and will now be circling the city, our altitude will be thirty thousand feet." stated Reever although I could tell he was quite nervous considering this ce was about to be a graveyard.


    I looked at the monitors in front of me which disyed live footage of the city. Many buildings which were over 30 stories high could be seen as well as an abundance of citizens and soldiers walking the streets not knowing what was about to hit them. Everything looked quite dirty though, since the cameras on my ship can zoom an incredible distance without making the footage extremely blurry, I could see many things clearly. The streets were filled with trash, the air looked very polluted, even feces could be seen all over the ce showing that this entire country was very behind in terms of technology.


    As we were about halfway through our firstp around the city, Nn had switched to my radio channel informing me that his first jet out of seven was about tomit their first assault in a single minute.


    "Reever get ready, Nns fighter jets will be starting the assault in a minute, inform the ground forces to start there convoy now, so that we could get artillery bombardments going in a hours'' time." I told Reever through the radio making sure that the ground invasion would start right after the air assault was over.


    The jets main targets were areas of interest of the enemy force, meaning solider camps, military bases, food storages, water storages, hospitals, ectara. We have tried invading this city a couple of times, but all were failures because of insurgency. We could not kill innocent civilians, so the soldiers started dressing up as them and would y hide and seek with us while also using underhanded tactics such as suicide bombing and general use of explosives which were considered war crimes.


    This has killed many of our soldiers, so the higher ups within the military decided this entire city was an enemy and the order was shoot to kill no matter who it was. This is reason for the indiscriminate ughter that is about to happen because we''ve simply had enough of dealing with the insurgency.


    Finally, after about 40 seconds the first fighter jet was seen approaching at an absurd speed, moving like an arrow straight through the sky. It''s first target was a cargo space that held military vehicles as well as anti-air machinery which would cause problemstter in the battle. Since it was an important area and quite arge one at that, many personal could be seen moving around doing their jobs.


    Many people could be seen lifting their heads looking towards the sky since they had heard something approaching. They saw only a grey object moving at an extremely fast pace towards them and everybody immediately started panicking and tried to find any sort of cover quickly. Soldiers can be seen moving around also panicking but not nearly as bad as the civilians.


    The fighter jet made its way to the cargo space and started unleashing wrath upon the area. Bullets firing out at such a high speed that you''d hear the bullets impact first then the sound of the gun firing. The weapons on these jets were that terrifying even hearing the sounds made you want to give up.


    "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "BRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    "BOOOOOM" "BOOOOM" "BOOM"


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "TRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    The sounds of the bullets ripping through the ground, humans, and metal could be heard throughout the entire city. The entire cargo space was ripped to shreds and not a single sound could be heard in that sector because everything was annihted. Dust and smoke started to fill up areas near the cargo space which just added to the fear of every living being residing in the city.


    The enemy had started to man every single position that was given to them, but it did not matter because nothing they had could touch these specialized jets that were made for killing. Any anti air weapon or vehicle they owned was not on par with these jets and any single human who had the capabilities of fighting off such things were already eliminated when the war began.


    I looked over to my right then behind me to check all of myrades faces to see how they would feel. All of them had a straight face and an unmoving will toplete this mission so that no more of our brothers could find theirst moments here.


    I then looked back to the monitors to see which area the jets should hit next and was not surprised to see that many soldiers were trying to get into a church. This was not surprising because holy sites cannot be targeted by military personal since it''s a war crime. Little do they know is that we will bemitting many war crimes this fine day and that church is going to be their graves.


    I switched my radio to Nn''s to inform him where the next target will be considering I had eyes on almost the entire city. "Nn tell the next pilot to hit sector W7 and put most of the gun fire on the church." I said over the radio with a heavy tone since this will be the first war crime of many today. Nn was silent over the radio for a little bit because we truly did not want to do such things, but we must win this war. "Roger." Nn said with quite a sad tone since we will be reason many innocent people die today.

 Chapter 4: The Light

    <h4>Chapter 4: The Light</h4>


    POV: Aircraft Commander of AC-130 gunship


    As I was waiting for Nn''s second jet toplete his gun run, my eyes were scanning the monitors to see which target to hit next. This cycle would go on for about 2 hours to create massive casualties, making the opposing sides moral plumet as well as creating utter chaos within the city.


    We needed to make the ground invasion easier for our ground forces because urbanbat was a nightmare to handle. Fighting in this type of environment is borderline impossible for the attackers. This is why we decided to bomb and gun down the entire city before sending in the ground force. Although this day mighte to haunt us in the future, we have to stay strong and prove Volestians superiority.


    "Second jet is forty seconds out, be advised starting from the third jet our missiles will be containing smoked tips so switch to thermal vision." Said Nn through the radio, but my headset had a hard time picking it up. "Roger that, the third jet will be striking sector N43, it seems they are starting to usemunication jammers so put heavy missile fire on that target area." I voiced out, hoping Nn was at least able to pick up which sector to hit. "Ro....." Nns staticky voice sounded through, but just with the first two letters I was able to tell he heard me.


    I was very relieved considering if ourmunications were jammed I''d have to give up my nes position and start raining down hell myself. This would make the rescues team I have on board jobs much harder, since they''ll have to jump out of my ne while dodging mana spells as well as gun fire.


    "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    I heard the second jets guns and missiles once again rip through that entire sector like nothing and the amazing part was that I''m 15,000 feet above these jets with my ne also being quite loud if you''re inside it, yet I can still hear those sounds.


    I knew that nothing survived from that target which pained my heart since there were definitely civilian''s takings shelter there hoping they''d get to see another day. The soldiers used that to their advantage though making church bunkers to hide and regroup their forces. We could not allow this since it had led to a massive amount of hit and run battles with our side usually on the losing one.


    I took off my headset then used mana to light up a bright me into my palm. This was a signal to my crew thatmunications were down. As all eight of the heads turned and looked at me, I used hands signs to tell them to switch to thermal mode on the third gun run and to scream at the top of their lungs if the hostage used the signal.


    I then turned back putting my headset on and started to stare at the monitors in front of me. I had a lot of thoughts in my head yet decided to ignore them since I had more important things to aplish. I just started to repeat the words of the leader of this operation, he gave us a very well spoken speech that resided in our hearts and made us want to do anything to win this battle.


    ''I see now why everyone calls him The Legacy''. I thought to myself while waiting for more lives to be taken....


    POV: Aircraft Commander of AC-130 gunship 40 minutester


    "I still can''t believe after the ninth gun run, they are still attempting to shoot them down." Reever said through the radio,munications were back up about 30 minutes ago and we''ve been rying information since then.


    "These people are nothing to scoff at Reever you should know this, we have been fighting them for over two years yet still have not imed victory even though we are the strongest out of the five Human superpowers." I said, hoping to let him realize that this country truly did have strong people, they were just led by disgusting government officials.


    "I understand thatmander, but still they have attempted to shoot down these jets for so long yet haven''t evene close to touching them, so why continue to waste time and effort?" Reever questioned since what he was taught at boot camp was theplete opposite of what these people were doing.


    "It''s simply bad leadership, not everyone has the luxury to be taught by amazing leaders and have freedom in their actions like we do." I stated then continued after a little pause. "They were forced into this war, some are children who don''t know how the world works, others are disgusting animals who do things for their own sake, and some are actually good people at heart but were brain washed with propaganda from their own country." I said these words lifting the veil that was upon Reever, this is his firstbat tour and has never really seen the more brutal side of this world. He was simply a young man who had wanted to make his family proud considering he came from a military background and now has to witness this massacre.


    The city was in mes and absolute destruction was spread across the entirend. Smoke and dust filled the entire city and sky as well making it impossible to see unless you were a sensor. Our thermal vision only was able to make us see red dots on the screen which was now a map with every single sector on it.


    The worst part has yet to even begin for these people though because artillery rounds are about to start flying in to hit the sectors which were either not targeted on the jet runs because of low priority or had high counts of military personal.


    "Reever what''s the estimated time on when the artillery crews are finished setting up?" I questioned since he hadmunications with the ground forces.


    "Thirty to forty minutes sir, they stated that the convoy is taking longer than expected with all thendmines their squads had to disarm." Reever said with a small voice still staring at the map. Obviously his head was still not cleared from learning the truth about the world and the sights that are in front of his own very eyes.


    ''Damn it, of course problems start to add up now when the more crucial and grueling part of this mission has to take ce." I thought to myself after thinking what tasks we still have to aplish. ''Even the hostage iste to the extract point which makes matters worse, I pray that he trusts us enough to send the emergency signal we taught him if he thinks he can''t make it.'' I thought with my mind racing thinking of everything that has happened so far.


    I started grabbing my thigh and squeezing it to calm my nerves down, the pressure that has built up is starting to get to me. ''Get yourself together dammit, my crew and fellowrades need me.'' I spoke to myself in my head to get rid of this anxiety I''m feeling. ''I am the leader of this damn crew and the decision maker, weakness is not aloud, and I shall adept to any situation thrown at me''. I stated to myself to bump up my pride. These are a couple of things that are smashed into your skull while going through boot camp and it is what makes everyone here special.


    I took a deep breath and then slowly breathed out making my anxiety calm down and my thoughts were getting back in order. Then seemingly out of nowhere a long thin beam which were highly concentrated mes, shot two miles up in sky in the southern part of the city. Then wires of electricity started to wrap around the beam tightly around a mile up causing the beam to explode.


    My eyes widened as much as they could while in a split second, I shoved every ounce of Ki into my brain and eyes making my thought process elerate to a much faster pace while also making my eyes move at an absurd speed. Then in the other split second I mmed my hand onto a red button which opens the doors to the cargo space where the special forces team is located.


    My eyes darted across in an instant to see the screen which showed the cargo space and a smile crept on my face. The moment the doors were opened each operator sprinted and jumped without a seconds hesitation as they were ready for this moment even though they''ve been standing in there for quite some time.


    These men are not called soldiers, but instead are named operators. All of them are highly trained in specific scenarios to an extreme degree. You must be highly talented with mana and Ki while also having the mental strength of a psychopath. This special forces group are known for saving lives in the most desperate ces on this and are given the nickname "The Fallen Angles".

 Chapter 5: Operators

    <h4>Chapter 5: Operators</h4>


    POV: Captain of Special Forces rescue team


    10 minutes before hostage''s emergency signal.


    ''The hostage should have already reached the extraction point by now, but it seems like he''ste since Charlie hasn''t confirmed his recovery.'' I thought to myself trying to figure out what position my team will be in if we are needed.


    "Be advised the hostage has not made it to the extraction point on time, we will most likely be going into the city to get him ourselves so once the doors open jump immediately." I said through the radio to all of my squad members making sure everyone was on the same page. Although the older guys in my squad already know this, we still have some young newbies on our team, so I wanted to make sure they were getting out of theirfort zone. We have been standing in the same position for quite a while, so it isn''t weird for them to feel that.


    "Captain, do we have any intel on where the hostage will most likely be even if he doesn''t send up the emergency signal?" Questioned the sensor of my team who was sadly one of the newbies on his firstbat tour. "No, we do not have any intel on where he could be in the city, but we will only be extracting him if he sends up the emergency signal, if he doesn''t do that then we don''t go in." I said to him through the radio to which he simply nodded his head to.


    Honestly speaking if the hostage does send up the emergency signal in the city, we will be having quite a rough time getting him out. Charlie who is themander of this gunship told me that the entire city is filled with smoke and dust making it impossible to see unless you were a sensor. This usually wouldn''t bother me, but our sensor on this tour is aplete rookie who''s only had a couple of missions under his belt and those weren''t nearly as hard as this one.


    Sensors are the eyes and ears of a squad; they specialize in reconnaissance, making us able to get in and out of areas in not only at a much faster rate but also a safer one. Each sensor is given the nickname "Path Finder" for their ability to pinpoint safe paths within a chaotic environment. They are also able to spot enemies at incredible distances depending on their skill making the group more efficient at finding and killing the other force. Having a good sensor on anybat squad is a must, yet the one we have is simply not up to par with other ones I''ve worked with in the past.


    I tapped Ryan on the shoulder who was the second inmand under me, he''s been with me for over 50 years and can basically read my thoughts by just looking me. Speaking of the devil he simply looked over at my face and gave me a thumbs up which basically meant he''s going to focus on protecting our sensor since that''s what I was thinking. I nodded my head to him and looked back in front of me to see the giant door which I might be jumping out of.


    ''I''ve saved lives in the most horrific ces on this damn, yet here I am worried about failing this mission in a dumpster fire of a city just because I don''t have a good sensor. Just how much have Ie to rely on them over the years?'' I thought to myself because this really was the first time in a while where I thought we might not be able to save someone. Thest time I thought this was when a whole dragon was on our ass, yet we were still able to save ourrades.


    This merely spoke to levels of how important it was to have a good sensor on your squad, without them situations that were deemed impossible will stay that way making them simple suicide missions. If you were blessed enough to have a good one you can make a mission that was deemed impossible into a difficult one giving you a ray of hope.


    Whileing to this conclusion on why I felt this way all the lights turned red and a loud beeping noise was swept into our ears. The massive door to the cargo space opened up and without missing a beat we all started to jump out of the ne.


    My eyes immediately started scanning the entire city for the emergency signal and in the southern part of the city I saw a massively sized dark smoke cloud. I knew the hostage was directly under that cloud and in a bad state since that signals kickback is like a battering ram smashing you into the ground.


    Without even telling them to, both jumpmasters used their mana to encircle us with the wind making us nosedive right into where the smoke is. We were descending like bullets and when were about 2,000 feet above the ground we yanked our parachutes which shot back our bodies. The worst part is that if you''re a male the good old family jewels get smashed by the force. Luckily, we all haverge amounts of Ki so we are able to do this type of parachuting without major injuries besides your nuts being in your stomach.


    Now that we are slowly descending, the tenth fighter jet is 10 seconds out from doing its gun run. I believe Charlie should have informed them to attack right by our sector giving us a little time to find the hostage before the enemy swarm us.


    "Search for a crater." I said as quickly as I could though the radio since as soon as our feet hit the ground, we need to immediately start the search and only our sensor could find him. With the jet being close by I was hoping my words were heard by him so that we didn''t have to waste precious seconds.


    "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    The gun run was done right on top of us, so the amazing sounds produced by that machinery were fully heard. Confidence and morale were rising beyond belief as we knew our brothers in the sky''s had our backs and would be lessening our burden.


    Our feet finally hit the ground and we immediately removed the parachute equipment from our bodies. After that we all went into a defensive position having our sensor in the middle of us, weapon''s raised searching for anything that posed a single threat. Assault rifles were in each of our hands while also having closebat weapons strapped to our backs. My weapon of choice were two short daggers as they were what I was most proficient in.


    My eyes were scanning whatever was near me, but I couldn''t see a damn thing. I decided to enhance my hearing and sense of smell since people would have a strong smell of odor.


    Seconds were passing by each feeling like an eternity since any sensor I''ve worked with would have already found the hostage. We knew we were close by but did not want to look around blindly when we have someone who can search it from a safe position.


    "FOUND HIM, HE IS 200 YARDS DIRECTLY WHERE MY HEAD IS LOOKING!" My sensor screamed out loud which not only hurt everyone''s ears because our radios are connected but is the worst mistake to make when we in an urban environment when an enemy could be extremely close in proximity.


    ''HOW THE FUCK DID THIS IDIOT PASS SELECTION? HE''S GONNA GET US KILLED ALONG WITH OUR HOSTAGE, GOD DAMN IT IM GONNA SLAUGHER THOSE IDOTIC INSTRUCTORS WHO PASSED THIS MORON!!'' I screamed in my head because my confidence turned into pure anger with this dumbass giving away our position if anyone heard him.


    We saw where his head was pointing and started to sprint there immediately. Weapons were swaying left to right while waiting for our sensor to tell us if any enemies are by us. Luckily, he hadn''t said anything, so we ended up at the crater with no problems.


    Only 30 seconds have gone by since ournding, it was still slowpared to my standards, but at least we made it to the hostage''s position. I signaled my medic to follow me into the crater while the rest of my squad defended the outside of it.


    We both jumped inside the crater which was about 40 feet deep andnded on its edges. The crater was about 20 feet wide and in the dead center of it a small looking boy with dark brown hair who had tattered cloths drenched in blood was spotted. My medic and I immediately appeared next to him while the medic got on one knee and check his vital signs, then immediately cut the boy''s shirt off to take care of the wounds.


    "He is alive sir but badly wounded as you can see, I''m able to deal with most the injuries but the more severe ones require surgery. If we don''t get him into a hospital by today, he will die." Said my medic with a heavy tone since we only had five hours to get him to a hospital. He was already wrapping small wounds and sealing major cuts with his medical skills as he was speaking.


    The boy must have felt this and opened his eyes which were a very light grey as if he was a ghost. He turned his head and looked dead into my eyes which shook my entire core because his face was littered with horrific scars.


    I went down on one knee while maintaining eye contact and said "Don''t worry Azrail we are here to save you from this ce. Stay with us now and do not try to sleep." I said with a deep tone that carried my confidence of doing this job for 50 years.


    "Sir he can''t hear you; his ear drums are ruptured and his vision is most likely blurred." My medic told me as he continued working at a fast pace showing his skill and experience in the medical field.


    "Be advised hostage is found and secured, requesting level five air support for assistance." I said through my radio which I connected to the leader of this operation. Level five air support would mean all fighter jets would be doing gun runs at the same time and the AC-130 would be switching to weapons mode and joining the fight.


    "Confirmed, level five air support is a go." Was said by a young man over the radio, although they call him "The Legacy" his voice is quite normal strangely enough.


    As I heard his words, I connected my radio to Charles. "Level five air support is a go, kill everything that has a heat signature thates remotely close to us." I said to him, my voiceced with nothing but pure killing intent.

 Chapter 6: Saviour

    <h4>Chapter 6: Saviour</h4>


    POV: Captain of Special Forces rescue team


    After telling Charlie about the level five air support, I looked over to see if my medic was finished doing the treatment. It seemed he stilled needed some time as I saw him trying to seal up and disinfect major wounds.


    I switched radiomunications to my squads to inform them about the news. "Hostage has been found and secured, we are going to need a little time to treat his wounds. Make sure our sensor is looking for a path that leads to a southern exit point." I told my squad letting them know our first goal has been aplished, but we still have many more to go. "Roger" said everyone, letting me know that my orders were heard.


    Getting this kid out of here is going to be a challenge. One of my guys is going to have to carry him while we make our way out of the city. Although we are going to have heavy air support it only takes one tiny bullet to end his life since he''s already on deaths door.


    I turned around and walked to the edge of this massive crater facing a tall wall of dirt and rocks. I took out a cigarette while having a tiny mee out of my index finger and lit it up. I started to smoke and think of multiple ns if anything were to happen and how I would go over such hurdles if they were to arise.


    "BANG"


    A loud noise came into my left ear as I felt rocks along with dirt hitting my body. I looked down to my left and saw my medic was in a sitting position nted inside the wall. The cigarette fell out of my mouth as I felt a mountain of bloodluste crashing down onto me.


    I turned my head to look behind me and saw our hostage up on his feet with only pants and shoes on. His upper body and face were littered with horrendous scars and he only stood 5 feet and 6 inches tall which was quite short.


    ''How the hell is he even able to move! Let alone stand up and be able to hit our medic that hard sending him crashing in the wall like a damn ragdoll!'' I yelled in my mind because what he was doing in front of my own very eyes was astonishing.


    ''Not only that, but his control over his bloodlust is also mind boggling since my squad members haven''t even made their way down here meaning they can''t sense it!'' I yelled once again in my mind as if knowing this would be any help to my current predicament.


    "Azr." I tried to say his name and tell him we weren''t his enemies but before I could do so a freezing deep voice filled my ears and made me shut my mouth.


    "Fucking zip it you scumbag, what the hell was your buddy over there touching my body for." Azrail said with bloodshot eyes showing how livid he was currently feeling.


    ''Oh no...I fucked up big time, has this kid been sexually assaulted before??'' I questioned in my mind since if he was then we just made him remember such a horrific memory.


    I took my left hand off my weapon making my rifle hang right where my stomach is and put both my hands up showing I was no threat to him. "Azrail we are the Volestians sent to rescue you, remember you sent up the emergency signal." I said with a very slow and low voice trying to put his mind a little more at ease.


    "Oh... I see." Azrail said with a freezing cold voice, but his bloodlust has calmed down significantly and now we are just staring at one another.


    "I''m going to go over to you now to continue the treatment, don''t hit me this time you little shit." Voiced out my medic with a frustrated tone who was already standing right next to me.


    "Okay." Said Azrail who seemed to be not much of a talker when his emotions are in check. Although I will say his voice is one scary thing to listen to.


    My medic and I walked over to him and while he was treating him, I wanted to know how he was currently feeling emotionally and physically.


    "Tell me kid about how you are feeling? Do you think you''ll be able to move around at all?" I questioned him hoping he was at least able to move around so that we didn''t have to have someone carry him.


    "I can move around, just not as fast as you guys and only for about forty minutes." Stated Azrail who was currentlyying down while our medic was at work.


    "That is more than enough then, we are still in the city, but we will have heavy air support and we can move at your pace since I believe we are near the exit point from this location." I told him with while he simply gave me a head nod.


    I turned on my radio which connected to my team and asked. "Have you found a path yet and if you have how long will it take moving at a walking pace?"


    Our sensor was the one to answer my question stating. "Yes sir I have found a path, if we were to move at a walking pace, I believe we would make it there in about twenty minutes."


    This was great news to my ears, as soon as we make it out of the city, we will have someone carry him to go all the way to the extract point which would be a lot less risky.


    "Roger that." I said with my voice sounding very happy like an old man whose grandkids visited them.


    "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    The sounds of a fighter''s jets weapons going off were heard by everyone letting them know that they were not alone in this battle. The sounds will be heard a lot more often giving us the opportunity to not have any fights and only focus on making it out of the city.


    "I''m finally finished captain; we can finally leave now." My medic said as he was helping Azrail stand up then he went into a crouched position. "Get on you little shit and don''t you dare give me back talk." He told the boy, while the boy looked at him with a confused gaze.


    "....Get. on. my. back." He said to the boy which he finally did making them look like quite the duo together which brought a little smile to my face. ''They remind me of how I was with my son when he was a youngster..'' I thought to myself while remembering the good times I had with my family over the years.

 Chapter 7: The Broken Child

    <h4>Chapter 7: The Broken Child</h4>


    POV: Azrail one minute before rescue team arrived


    ''That emergency signal really does have a disgusting amount of kickback, the thing almost ended up killing me.'' I thought to myself as I did not have the energy to speak.


    ''Now I can onlyy here and pray that the Volestians send at least someone to help me or else these people are going to rip me apart limb from limb.'' I said to myself making fear once again settle in as I might be waiting for my impending doom.


    After about a minute I felt the presence of two people, who I imagined to be standing right by me. I still couldn''t see a single thing because my eyes were so blurry and my ears drums were smashed to shit.


    My heart race was increasing by the second because of how nervous and scared I was, I ampletely vulnerable in my current state so whoever these people are can easily do whatever they want to me.


    I felt someone touching my neck with their fingers which sent shivers down my spine, I hated being touched by people I didn''t know since it brought back memories I wanted to forget.


    Then I felt that my shirt was being cut off which sent me into panic mode, my eyes turned over to the side where I thought a person was and tried my best to see their face, but s I couldn''t. That said person decided to walk away turning their back on me, it was if they did not want to watch what was going to happen.


    I felt the persons hands and mana moving around my body which absolutely disgusted me. Memories started to flood in my head when I was a couple years younger making me livid beyond belief.


    I used my right hand that was on the floor to send a tiny mana pulse on the ground to feel where this person''s feet were at. Their feet were directly to my left where my waist band is.


    I gathered every tiny bit of Ki to my left arm and performed a straight right jab to where I thought their stomach was at. I felt a connection on my knuckles, but the odd part was I didn''t feel any type of body part, it was more like hitting a bulletproof vest.


    It did not seem to matter though because that person was sent flying to where the other was standing. I finally decided to get up and stand, feeling like my body has gotten a little healed, but it was probably just adrenaline.


    With some of my visioning back. I could make out a person''s head and decided to send every ounce of bloodlust I could muster straight at them. I was staring right into their soul to see who the hell these people are.


    The person turned their head around slowly making eye contact with me. They opened their mouth to say something, but I immediately cut them off then asked the life or death question.


    "Fucking zip it you scumbag, what the hell was your buddy over there touching my body for." I said with my voice filled with anger while staring right into this person''s eyes waiting for my question to be answered.


    "Azrail we are the Volestians sent to rescue you, remember you sent up the emergency signal." The person said while putting both hands up and resting their weapon around their stomach. I could tell that this person was a man and I started to notice some parts of his uniform that belonged to the Volestians military.


    ''Wow they really came to rescue me... I can''t believe they''d risk their lives for someone who they didn''t even know. Yet I had the idiotic idea to actually hit one of my saviors..." I thought to myself in a depressed manner because honestly speaking this was the most anyone has ever done for me.


    "Oh... I see" I said with my normal voice and it was all I could muster because I felt deeply ashamed and wasn''t much of a talker in the first ce.


    "I''m going to go over to you now to continue the treatment, don''t hit me this time you little shit." Voiced out the other person who was also a male and they both started to walk over. Although I didn''t appreciate getting called a little shit there was nothing I could say since I hit the man when he was simply trying to help me.


    Both men started to walk over while the man I hit pointed at the ground basically telling me toy down so he can go back to work. Iid back down while the other man had asked me a question.


    "Tell me kid about how you are feeling? Do you think you''ll be able to move around at all?" Asked the man which I decided to think about carefully before answering. This medic is honestly quite good and has healed a good portion of my injuries although the threatening ones are still there. I could probably walk around for about 40 minutes but after that I''m dead weight.


    "I can move around, just not as fast as you guys and only for about forty minutes." I told the man after thinking it through.


    "That is more than enough then, we are still in the city, but we will have heavy air support and we can move at your pace since I believe we are near the exit point from this location." The man said while I gave him a simple head nod.


    I was going over the information he just gave me while he was talking on what seemed to be a radio.


    "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    The sounds of that terrifying gunship sounded through right by us still scaring the living shit out of me. I''ll never forget what those things are able to do to the human body. Just witnessing that scene will haunt me for the rest of my life, but this is what war is sadly. At least I don''t have to worry about being gun downed by it now.


    ''It seems like they are really pulling out everything to get me out of here, if we have that aircrafting in for cover fire then we shouldn''t have to fight any battles when we are leaving the city.'' I thought to myself as my hope was building up after many years of suffering.


    The medic finally finished patching me up while the other man was done talking over his radio. The medic helped me stand up then proceeded to turn his back to me and crouch down. Although my eyesight and hearing have almost gone back to normal, I was stilled confused by his actions.


    "Get on you little shit and don''t you dare give me back talk." He told me, which did piss me off a little considering I have no idea what he''s even talking about.


    "....Get. on. my. back." He said to me which I finally started to understand. Although this is quite embarrassing for me, I did what he told me to since I couldn''t climb out of this deep crater by myself.


    ''Does this man really have no shame telling a damn shirtless kid to get on his back? Don''t tell me that he swings my way...'' I thought to myself while I was on his back. He looked dead into my eyes and said with a straight face. " I have two wives you ugly little shit, even if I did swing that way your ass wouldn''t have what it takes."


    ''Does this asshole read fucking minds now? AND DID HE JUST SAY TWO WIVES??'' I screamed in my mind not knowing how such a douchebag could have not one but two lovers.

 Chapter 8: Orchestra

    <h4>Chapter 8: Orchestra</h4>


    POV: Azrail (MC)


    As I was recovering from the mental shock of this clown having two wives, the two of them decided it was time to leave this crater. They walked over to the edges of the crater with me still on the medics back. Both men bent their knees a little and simply jumped up what seemed to be 42 feet high.


    Wended swiftly without both of them making a single noise which was quite impressive. I looked over the medic''s shoulder to see how many people were brought for this rescue but was only able to spot about 5. It could be more than that though considering you still could barely see within the city.


    "On me." Said the captain of this squad and that''s when I saw the entire team because they had lined up in a horizontal line in front of the captain. Counting everybody in total they were about 25 soldiers for this rescue which amazed me.


    "We will start moving to the extract point immediately, Azrail here is injured so we will move at his pace and he will be ced next to our path finder. " Said the captain to his entire team, he was speaking in a fast tone meaning we should hurry up.


    I hopped off the medic''s back while giving him a nce, then proceeded to look at each member to see who the sensor was. To my surprise I saw a young man who only looked about 20 years old raising his hand and smiling like an idiot.


    I walked over to him while others went into their specific positions for this walk.


    "Hey man it''s nice to meet you, I''m Harry and I''m the sensor of this team." Harry told me while holding his hand out to receive a handshake from me.


    "Azrail." I responded back, not really knowing what to say to a man who''s smiling like that then shook his hand. He had pretty soft hands which confirmed my thoughts of him being a rookie.


    As Harry was about to say something the captain cut him off by giving out the order to start the walk to the extract point.


    "We will start by going 500 feet forward, there will be buildings in between us since I think we are currently in a long alleyway." Stated Harry with a slightly raised voice, it seems that he''s nervous.


    "Roger, start the walk." The captain said and we went forward with our walk. Luckily Harry and I are in the dead center of the group, so we don''t have to worry about tripping or hitting anything. All I have to do is stare at the guy in front of me and follow behind.


    As we started our walk, I heard what seemed to be like a neing in. I didn''t even enhance my hearing yet still heard the sound since it was extremely loud. I instinctively looked up at the sky forgetting that smoke and dust filled the air and then confusion filled my brain.


    "That''s one of our aircraft''s Azrail, it will be spotting enemies for us making my job easier and also contains a very high firepower giving the enemy no chance to escape." Harry told me as were almost at the end of 500 feet.


    ''The only ne I was taught that had such capabilities was the AC-130 gunship, it is feared in every human nation and earned the title " The Angel of Death".


    ''Oh fuck then that means these guys are the special forces unit called "The Fallen Angels" why would Volestia send such a renowned rescue squad just for some kid like me?'' I thought to myself as this special forces group was known for diving into the most dangerous ces to save their own men.


    We reached then end of the 500 feet and Harry gave us his next set of directions and then we continued the walk. My mind was currently racing, thinking of how this was possible and what kind of debt I had to pay since I knew nothing in this world was free.


    "BOOOOOM" "BOOOOM" "ERRRRRRRRRRT"


    The sounds of massive explosions could be heard right alongside bullets smashing into the ground sending tremors to our current location. The location that was fired upon was that close making adrenaline shoot up in my body again.


    I decided to pick up our pace into a jog because of this and as soon as I did this the entire squad matched my exact pace in a single instant.


    As we were jogging the sounds of that reaper made its way into my ears. The bizarre part was that I heard multiple of theming in from different directions.


    ''I thought there was only one of those damn things, they have more than that!'' I screamed in my head just thinking about the destruction that only one of them could cause.


    My former jog now turned into a full blown sprint. A person who I once called a friend, told me when shit hits the fan you just put your head down and run for your life and that is exactly what I''m doing.


    The squad yet again matched my pace perfectly with no mistakes in the path being followed. I was in a lot of pain, but I knew we had to get out of here faster since this ce was going to be a blood bath.


    The sounds of the reapers started to be heard which simply made me run faster and faster. The gunship in the air joined in on the dance and started to st away as well.


    I heard Harry giving out specific instructions on where enemies were located that were within their weapon range and the operators joined in on the dance. Although we were sprinting, the men in the front of the group were able to fire off pinpoint urate shots with Harry confirming their kills.


    We started to enter a rhythm within the destruction that was happening around us. This made me enter a state of extreme focus making me push my body to its limit to escape the orchestra of killing.


    I have never been a part of or seen this level of orchestrated killing. The amount of precision that has to be held to even make this possible is unreal. Friendly fire is quite a scary thing in war, especially when working in an urban environment. The aircrafts haven''t made a single mistake though which just shows the level of a Human superpower like Volestia.

 Chapter 9: Resolve

    <h4>Chapter 9: Resolve</h4>


    I utilized every single piece of Ki I had, spreading it through every muscle fiber in my legs. I didn''t have to worry about out pacing the team considering they specialized it pure blitzkrieg rescues.


    Orders were given out by Harry constantly telling the sharpshooters in front of us where to fire. Although we didn''t know if they were a threat or not, they still had to be eliminated. It seemed they did not want to take the risk of letting a potential threat cause any harm.


    I knew it would be like this considering theymitted many war crimes today. It seemed they wanted to simply end this war and leave with a victory no matter the consequences.


    "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    "TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"


    Hearing the sounds of the reapers once again, I decided to ask in a loud tone of voice how far out we were from the extraction point, since we''ve been moving along the path for about 10 minutes now at a considerable pace.


    "Harry how far out are we from the extraction point!" I said in a loud tone since the sounds of the Volestian''s aircrafts were reeking havick extremely close by.


    "At the speed we''re going at I believe three minutes till we actually exit the city, but 25 minutes to actually reach the extraction point!" yelled out Harry.


    ''Fuck, that long even at this pace? I don''t think I will be able to move after seven minutes.'' I thought to myself thinking of my current condition beingplete garbage. The pain just kept increasing which each step, but I couldn''t allow myself to be dead weight even if this is a rescue for me.


    "Will the path to the extraction point be a straightaway when we exit the city at least!?" I said with desperation in my voice since if it was a straightaway, I had a n to make it possible even in my current state.


    "No, the path will involve many turns just like right now, many paths havendmines scattered across them! 350 FEET NORTHEAST ON FOOT!!" Screamed out harry as he not only squashed what little hope I had, but also gave the position of a potential threat which followed with shots being fired.


    "ELIMINATED!" Screamed out Harry confirming the operators kill.


    ''Fuck my life what the hell am I supposed to do now? I can''t keep this up its simply impossible. Should I just tell them the truth? But what if they abandon me like the others? SHIT I CAN''T DECIDE!'' I was overthinking the situation, going over every single detail and possibility that can happen good and bad.


    My speed had decreased since my concentration was starting to crack and break apart. The squad noticed this and adapted in a split second, which made me feel likeplete shit since this was a bad possibility.


    I couldn''t help thinking things over in obsessive detail since it''s what I''ve been doing my entire life. I have always been more of a observing type rather than simply throwing myself into the problem and doing whatever I feel like doing.


    I needed to think things through, so I don''t end up doing something I regret for the rest of my life.


    "Azrail are you still able to go or not? It''s okay if you can''t, one of my men can carry you the rest of the way you have already pushed yourself enough!" Said the captain with a tone I didn''t seem to understand.


    ''Shit now I''m breaking their focus making them focus on me rather than themselves. Just how selfish can I fucking be... Screw this, if the afterlife want''s me that damn badly than let ite, but I will not allow these men to die alongside me.'' I told myself strengthening my resolve to get as close to the exaction point that I possibly could.


    POV: Captain of the rescue squad


    ''How is this kid managing to run at such a fast pace like this while injured? Just what is his pain tolerance? What has he gone through to achieve such a mentally strong fortitude?'' These questions ran through my head while I was running.


    In the first ce we only expected to him to walk only to the outside of the city. Once we exit the city, I simply nned for someone to carry him, yet here we are sprinting with enhanced Ki making us dart across the paths.


    ''We are making great time, but his condition has to give out at some point, those fatal wounds he has are no joke.'' As I thought this, I felt his Ki start to get disrupted, we slowed down our pace to match his. It''s still a sprint, but not as fast as before.


    "Azrail are you still able to go or not? It''s okay if you can''t one of my men can carry you the rest of the way you have already pushed yourself enough!" I said, my voice filled with worry.


    After I said this there was not response even after a minute making my worry grow more.


    As I was about to tell him to stop and have us take a quick break since we were ahead of schedule I felt electric mana circte inside and out his body. Astonishment was written all over my face as I couldn''t believe what he was going to attempt.


    We all felt his mana and decided to start using more Ki to match this speed, we all hadrge amounts of it so we could match his movement even with the electrical enhancement.


    Harry told us the rest of the directions to exit the city in one breathe. After he finished that breathe Electrical wires started to dance around Azrail''s body making even his hair stand up dancing alongside the wires.


    The next moment Azrail vanished from his position, moving at the speed of lighting through the directions told by Harry. We too vanished from our positions keeping the formation solid making sure no cracks were left.


    Charlie probably saw our trackers on his map moving at an absurd pace. I assume the air assault is about to be much more violent since we will be passing through multiple sectors in a quick rate.


    I did not know how long this form of his was going tost with such a tattered body, but our medic took a spot right behind the boy. He was watching him like a hawk ready to take matters into his own hands if he pushed himself too far.


    ''My oh my aren''t you such a softie, seems like he''s taken a liking to the kid in a short amount of time. '' I thought to myself while looking at my medic, he looked like a father seeing his daughter''s boyfriend.

 Chapter 10: Operation Thunderstorm

    <h4>Chapter 10: Operation Thunderstorm</h4>


    POV: Azrail


    Electricity was coursing through my entire body, it felt like my muscles were spazzing out with my injures getting more severe by the second.


    The payoff was incredible though, I was able to make it outside of the city in less than twenty seconds from where we were before.


    Electricity was one of the easier elements I was able to control, if used correctly it can have many ways to improve your overallbat level making it very versatile. Even though it isn''t one of the stronger elements in the world, it has helped me survive many situations.


    Once we made it outside of the city, I was finally able to see my surroundings but was shaken to my core when I saw the sights.


    ''Why have they killed citizens trying to leave the city? What was even the point for such a cruel thing are they insane??! If this reaches the public eyes of the Human domain another war will break out!'' I yelled in my mind whenying my eyes upon the massacre that''s taken ce.


    Bodies were littered all across the sandynds with blood everywhere I looked. Cars were destoyed and on fire with some even being imnted into the ground, so you can only imagine what the bodies looked like.


    The roads which lead to the city were alsopletely destoyed, nothing but craters could be seen which were filled with blood.


    This country was mostly desert and quite a hard one to survive in already.


    This country itself is a backwards one, their technology isughable and the government had ancient beliefs. This is the reason so many terrorist groups and criminal organizations worked here.


    It was aplete circus,ing from one of the five Human Superpowers, I knew how good life was outside of here.


    That is saying something since I hated my childhood.


    Yet here I am witnessing a horrific event that might put the Human Domain in a worse position than its already in. This world isn''t simply just mere humans, there are many races, with most being superior to us.


    ''This is inhumane, this is the reason war crimes are set in ce so that these atrocities never happen. I''ve killed many people over the years and have seen what I thought to be hell, but those times were a jokepared to this...'' I thought to myself, truly taken aback and sickened by what needed to be done just to conquer a city.


    My emotions were getting riled up seeing these sights. I have never in my life witnessed such a scene, I could not even tell what emotion''s I was currently feeling. All I could tell was that I wasn''t in the right state of mind again.


    The electricity was also getting ramped up as if responding to emotions that were swelling within me. It started to get out of control which caused me to panic, since if I lost control, I knew I would pass out.


    Before I could even have the chance to regroup myself, I felt a strong forcee crashing down on the back of my neck.


    I did not know what happened after that because all I could see wasplete darkness.


    POV: Captain of the rescue squad


    After we made it to the outside of the city, a familiar scene started to appear in my eyes. I have taken apart in many battles and wars, so this was quite familiar to me.


    This sight is nothing but a mere jokepared to that world war that happened over more than forty years ago.


    The newbies on my squad had quite a different reaction thoughpared to us older vets. Some hard started to gag while the others were simply in sheer shock not processing how this was possible.


    ''Such sights are all something you have to get use to eventually, if you want to be in this field that is.'' This thought ran through my head when I too remembered having such an eye opening event.


    What really caught my eyes what Azrail''s electricity starting to get out of control. It seemed even he hasn''t seen anything like this which was pretty surprising to me.


    I started to wonder what emotions were going through his mind, but before he would get out of control our medic had knocked him out in an instant.


    "I''ll be carrying him to the extraction point, he''s pushed himself enough and we are ahead of schedule anyway." Our medic said in quite a protective tone, like he''d kill anyone who took the child out of his arms.


    "Roger that, well let''s keep moving since the helicopter is already waiting for our arrival." I said to my team, then we immediately started to make our way to the mountains where a helicopter was waiting.


    ''Seems like the artillery team finally got to their positions and started to fire away on the outside of the city. After we leave here the ground invasion should begin, hopefully none of our brothers die in that ce.'' I thought to myself reflecting on how the artillery squads were bombing the hell out of everyone trying to leave and hoping no more of our people had to die here.


    We started to make our way through the destruction at our normal pace. If Azrail had kept running in that form, it would probably take us about fifteen minutes. The pace we are currently at will take us only four.


    We blitzed our way through everything and had no trouble reaching the helicopter. Our medic made his way to the front then ced Azrail on a stretcher that was in the helicopter.


    He sat right beside him with a in expression on his face while trying his best to heal the new injures he received during the run.


    I decided to use my radio and connected it to a special channel where all our solders could hear news or important information from to inform them about the operation.


    "All troops be advised, operation Thunderstorm is a sess." I stated through my radio and only five seconds after I heard the roaring of our troop''s miles away. I assumed them to be cheers considering that speech the chief gave about our operation.


    His words were truly inspiring, it was able to give our solders some fire to their wills and help them cope with the mission they are going to be doing.


    Our jobs were easypared to what these men were about to go through. They''ll be in the city for days simply killing and attempting to conquer it. Although they might think what they''re doing is for the greater good now who knows what that will be like in their future....

 Chapter 11: Memories

    <h4>Chapter 11: Memories</h4>


    POV: Azrail (Backstory)


    I had always wondered what decisions I''ve made in my past led me to where I am now. It truly is mind blowing when you think about it, a single turn on a wrong street and suddenly your life can be flipped upside down.


    I have lived quite an awful life in my opinion. Life had always been hard on me, but some parts were way worse than the others.


    I was born in Volestia, which is one of the five nations given the title of Human Superpower. These five nations are the powerhouses in the human domain, not a single country within the human domain cane close to their overall might.


    Although I was born into such a nation that could be said to be the best, hard times still fell upon me.


    I was born on November 15th in the year 1988. Fall wasing to an end and winter would being in, I always believed this was the reason why I loved the cold so muchpared to the heat.


    My family only consisted of my mother and I, though even calling us a family would be a joke. The only thing that made us family was simply our blood, nothing more.


    Isabe Diggory was the name my mother had, a woman who had grey hair naturally alongside her pure crystal clear blue eyes. She had sharp facial features that gave her a dignified face along with her athletic body standing about 5 feet and 6 inches tall.


    Truly in terms of looks she was top ss. I received her sharp facial features giving me a scary looking face even when I was a kid and I believe my short heightes from her as well.


    My father was not nowhere to be found when I was growing up with her, so my mother was the only one to take care of me.


    I did not remember the first three years of my life, my memories started toe in when I turned four years old. This was also the age I started to be self-aware and became more mature than most kids my age.


    I remember this stage of my life quite vividly, because when I turned four the rtionship with my mother became a toxic one.


    Children usually start schooling around the age of five, so my mother decided to personally teach me before school started.


    She was very strict when it came to her study sessions, she would also cram information into my head about multiple fields every single day. I did not mind this though because I loved to learn and observe things, so her teaching style was weed.


    When it came to taking tests on what she taught though is when problems started to arise.


    Although I learned at a fast pace and could understand them that did not mean I was a genius in all fields. My worst being the humannguage, for some odd reason I was bad atprehending it, this led to mymunication skills being quite bad.


    My mother on the other hand did not like it when she had to take extra time on any subject, she was a busy woman, so this caused frustration to settle in.


    Arguments would break out constantly, I would sit in the study room with her simply yelling at me for hours. I would just listen to it for the most part letting my anger build up then simply explode not being able to take it anymore.


    This caused her to simply buy many books and left me to study alone in the room all day. The room itself was big though with the left side being like a small library and the right side being a gym with weight equipment.


    I would decide to sleep in this room and engross myself with training and learning. Learning mana and Ki at a young age was also normal, most kids would simply build their own foundation while they are young.


    Although I would be bettering myself with these things, my mental state was getting worse and worse. My mother and I almost never talked, only when dinner was ready would she call me down to get my food then send me back upstairs.


    It was like every time she looked at me it would piss her off, at the time I didn''t know why so I just hated her more, but now is different. It was probably because I looked and acted simr to my father.


    Although I''ve never meant the man, I have met people with the same situation as me and them telling me that was the case.


    When founding this out I understood why my mother acted the way she did, although that doesn''t make up for her being a bad parent. It did however give me hope for us getting closer in the future, if I ever made it back to see her again alive.


    With her being this way and never being home, I basically grew up alone with only my thoughts to keep mepany. I always think to myself so that it feels like I''m talking to someone. Afterall no one understands me better than my own self.


    When it was time for me to finally attend school though I was terrified. I liked my room where I can keep to myself, but dealing with other people was not something I wasfortable with.


    On the first stay I was waiting outside of my house with a backpack on waiting for the school bus. I was scared and nervous while waiting for the bus, when it finally arrived it took me a second to actually get on.


    When I walked up the stairs and looked to see where I should sit my heart dropped. Every seat had been taken by someone with the others already having two in them.


    Panick washed over me, I wanted to sit alone so I didn''t have to talk to anyone, but luckily, I thought of a situation where this happened. Since I''m a overthinker this happens quite often, which has helped me many times.


    I looked to the closer seats by the front of the bus and scanned all the kids faces, there I saw a boy staring at the window and decided he was the one I''m going to sit with.


    I remember that I was screaming in my head that I did it, the boy never said a word and during that time I was very happy for picking the correct seat.


    I had started to wake up from my slumber, but I was d to remember a happy memory.....

 Chapter 12: Broken

    <h4>Chapter 12: Broken</h4>


    My eyes started to slowly open only to be met with a very bright light. I had no idea where I currently was or what had happened to me.


    I tried to move my head around to see what kind of room I was in, but nothing really caught my eyes because it really was a simple room.


    I wasying on a bed with windows to my right showing the clear blue sky, the rest of the room had nothing in it besides a door in the left corner. The door was also made out of pure wood with no ss inside of it meaning I can''t see out, but the ones outside can''t see in.


    I finally removed the nket that was on top of my body to see that I was wearing some weird long dress. The worst part was I had no underwear on, so I felt repulsed.


    I tried to get up off the bed slowly without making any noise. Although my body didn''t want to move, I forced myself too anyway.


    My feet touched the cold marble floor then I proceeded to get on one knee and put my palm on the floor. I wanted to send a mana pulse to get a better idea of what kind of building I was in.


    ''What the?? Howe I can''t use my mana in here?'' I thought to myself because I''ve never ran into this type of problem before.


    "Knock Knock"


    The sound of knocking could be heard, my eyes darted to the door to already see it being opened by a man with a doctor''s coat on.


    I wasted no time and released every single ounce of bloodlust I had, as well as making sure my mana and Ki weren''t hidden. The reason for doing this is because if he''s an enemy a fight will be engaged since I''m a threat who''s extremely close to him.


    Instead of trying to attack me though the man simply raised both of his hands and stated in a smooth voice. "It''s okay Azrail no one here is trying to hurt you; I am a doctor here at this hospital who was tasked to take care of you."


    I took in his words and started to remember what happened to me before getting knocked out.


    ''It seems like those guys really did rescue me; I need to give them a proper thanks for what they have done.'' I thought to myself while still staring at the doctor.


    "Here why don''t you and I go for a little walk outside to have a chat, after all it probably has been a while since you have seen such greenery." The doctor said causing me to be confused.


    The doctor seeing this gave me the answer I was looking for. "You are currently in Volestia Azrail. Your surgery was done in Maru then you were transferred back to here when so that you could have an easier recovery session and feel safer."


    "How long was I out for."


    "You were out for about two weeks; it took you about three days toe here after the surgery. We did not want you to stay in that country any longer since you''ve been there far too long and treating you medically would be a lot harder since you aren''t the only one in bad shape."


    "Where is the squad that saved me."


    "They are still located in Maru saving more of our soldiers lives."


    This was a lot of information to take in, but I was able to finally have some sense of relief. I hated that country with a passion with what is has turned me into, so I was happy to be back home.


    It was sad though hearing that I couldn''t give those guys a thank you, but I''m sure I''ll see them again.


    I decided to let go of my bloodlust and have my aura go back to its calm state. This made the doctor also take a breather out of relief.


    I finally got up and asked the man a very important question.


    "Give me clothes." Which came out to be more of a order because I noticed some wind hitting my butt cheeks meaning my backside was exposed.


    "Of course, I''ll be right back then."


    ....


    After about 15 minutes I changed into simple ck shorts that went above my kneecaps and a white long sleeve shirt. I don''t know they managed to pick out my favorite clothes to wear, but I didn''t care because I was in a great mood.


    The doctor and I have been walking at the back of the hospital which had a very big garden. There were flowers and beautifully trimmed bushes seen everywhere. The air I was breathing in was also clean, which was something I had forgotten about.


    I could truly say at this exact moment I was happy, but I knew that life wasn''t simply over. I needed to deal with all this trauma that was going toe eventually. I also did not have a real goal in life besides just trying to survive the brutal war against Maru and the organizations behind it.


    "You will be staying at this hospital to recover for about a week, after that we will send you home where your mother is waiting." The doctor said which made me stop movingpletely.


    "My mother huh..."


    "Yes, she has been informed about your arrival. She did want toe and visit you, but we denied it considering we did not know what your mental state would be like after everything you''ve been through."


    "What would you say my mental state is?"


    The doctor thought for a moment as I was just staring at him, waiting for his answer because I was wondering what professionals in the medical field thought.


    "Broken....." The doctor said with a deep voiced filled with sorrow.


    I did not react to him calling me broken because he was actually correct. My entire face and body is littered with awful scars caused by others and myself....


    I knew I was outside of being normal for a long time, then being trained to be not only a killing machine but also for espionage did not help my case at all.


    I was simply someone who had gotten very unlucky many times, although all of these situations have made me stronger as a warrior, they did not help me grow as a person which mattered the most....

 Chapter 13: A Mother And Her Child

    <h4>Chapter 13: A Mother And Her Child</h4>


    A week had passed quite quickly as I was hard at work trying to go back to my normal physical condition. I would be eating high calorie meals provided to me and the nurses watching over my training would tell me when I needed to rest.


    Although I didn''t like people watching and wasting their time on me, they had never once left my side orined. All they were doing was their job which was something new to me.


    After the week was up the same doctor I first met cleared me saying I could go home. He handed me a paper that had my address on it and told me goodbye.


    I looked at the paper to see it was the same address as before, a mix of what seemed to be every emotion was responding to the events that were going to take ce.


    ''I wonder what she will say after she sees, I have changed a lot over the past seven years.'' I thought to myself considering I got kidnapped when I was 8 years old and haven''t been back since now. ''She probably won''t even be able to recognize me, especially with all these scars on my damn face.''


    I then went inside the cab that was waiting for me and handed the man the address. We started to drive and I was left alone with my thoughts.


    It was currently September, so the weather was still quite warm which I did not like. It wasn''t nearly as hot as Maru which is aplete desert, that led to my heat tolerance going up a lot.


    Finally, after 30 minutes of driving we arrived at my house, still looking the same as ever. I existed the car and took a look at house in front of me.


    It was quite arge home being a total of 3 stories. The color being a light grey with a decently sized yard. The door was also quite elegant in its looks department, having golden lining which showed my mother''s wealth.


    I walked up the driveway with each step being as slow as the next, not really ready to face this problem.


    Reaching the door, I took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell which resulted in a bell sound going through the entire house. After a couple of seconds, a woman who was the same as I remembered opened the door.


    She was only an inch taller than me, but that didn''t matter as I just stared dead into her eyes without saying anything. I did not know what to say, so I left it up to her to lead this conversation.


    ....


    POV: Isabe Diggory


    "Mam, I am happy to tell you that your son has been found and recovered by the Volestian military." A man dressed in a Volestian military uniform told me almost causing me to have a heart attack.


    Tears could be seening out of my eyes uncontrobly as this was the greatest news I''ve received in my entire life.


    I hade to find outter in my life that I greatly mistreated my son, he was born when I was in a very depressed state. He had looked simr to the man I had decided to have a child with too much leading my anger to get the best of me.


    I hadn''t noticed this till it was toote; my son was already gone and I did not know if he was ever going toe back.


    I never felt this amount of shame in my entire life, the cruel life I had growing up with my parents led me to do the same with my son creating a cycle of self-hatred.


    I never gave him any love and only hate; I thought teaching him knowledge for school would at least lead him to a better life, but I couldn''t even do that properly.


    As a mother I ampletely useless, before I was on my high horse about being able to ovee my challenges and bing self-made. I too had a hard life, but through hard work I was able to stand up for myself not having to rely on anybody.


    Yet now I am only a failed mother, that is all I see myself as. No matter what I have aplished in life or do in the future I will always see myself as that.


    When I found out my son was alive, I was the happiest as I could be. Knowing this in formation I had hoped to be given a second chance by him, so that I could make up for my wrong doings.


    The military officer also informed me on what my child has been through which was yet another shellshock.


    Finding out that my son had suffered so much only as a kid was mind shattering. The fact that one could even survive what he''s been through is already insane, but dealing with yourself after that is yet another mountain.


    I knew what I had to do. I would try my absolute best to help my son in any way possible. If I am ever needed to help, I will always be there for him no matter what.


    Even if he wants to have the entire world go against him, I will join his side. I have caused him enough pain; I will show him how good this world can truly be and help him find his path.


    I had often heard from mothers that their children are basically their own lifeline. I didn''t understand them saying this until now, my son is basically my entire world now that I think about it.


    When my doorbell rang, I already knew who it was going to be.


    I walked to the door and slowly opened it toe face to face with my son. As I locked eyes with him, I couldn''t help but notice all the scars on his face.


    There were burn marked all over his neck and forehead, he had deep cuts around both eyes and his jaw line, he also had what seemed to be w marks all over his cheeks.


    Seeing this ripped apart my heart, I knew he lived an awful life there, but seeing this in person was a different story. Tears once again started to burst through my eyes as I didn''t even say anything and decided to give my son a loving hug.


    Although I didn''t feel him hug me back this was more than enough.


    ''If there is a time Azrail that you never feel loved, just know that merely means your mother isn''t amongst the living.'' I thought this to myself as I began to cry profusely.

 Chapter 14: Trauma

    <h4>Chapter 14: Trauma</h4>


    POV: Azrail


    I was baffled by what was currently happening, my mother whom I thought hated me was crying in my shoulder. Her crying was loud, it seemed like she had trouble breathing with how loud the sobs were.


    Never in my life would I have thought to see a woman who was as mentally strong as my mother break down like this.


    "I''m so sorry Azrail, I''m sorry, I never meant for... for.... for any of this to happen to you...." My mother told me, her arms still wrapped around me, trying to show affection to perhaps make me feel better.


    It didn''t work that way. I merely stood here with my usually dead straight face without feeling a single thing. My prior emotions no longer there. In the corner of my eye, I saw what should be a ghost of a 12 year old staring at me.


    Its eyes were scanning mine, as if it wouldn''t allow me to feel anything while in its presence.


    ''It''s been quite some time my friend, I didn''t think you and I would be meeting this soon. After all, you''re dead....'' I spoke in my mind, seeing if the imagination in my head would speak back to me.


    Sadly, it didn''t answer me. It simply gave me a big smile and vanished from where it was standing.


    ''Tch, still an asshole even in my own head huh. ''


    "Azraile inside I will make you anything you want, we don''t our reunion only filled with my crying.." My mother said as she started to calm down and wipe the tears covering her face.


    I looked her in the eyes and simply nodded my head. My thoughts were currently wandering to a much darker ce and I did not want to ruin this for her.


    ''Damn it, my mind is already bing more and more unstable. I did know I would have post-traumatic-stress-disorder, (PTSD) but its already getting to the point where I''m seeing the dead.'' I cursed in my head, trying to imagine how I would be able to ovee this.


    This is amon mental illness found not only in soldiers, but anyone who has had to courage to enter a field like this. Guilds that deal with exploration of unchartednds also deal with this problem when they retire.


    The suicide rate for these men and women is astounding, trying to get back into civilian life after everything you''ve been through is a tall order.


    This is why anyone working in our field is greatly respected, those who go out and risk their lives for the sake of their nation or race as a whole get looked up to by the civilian poption.


    My mother and I entered the house which had a simple interior. The floor had a nice wooden design that looked glossy, there wasn''t much furniture though giving the impression like the house was going to be sold.


    We made our way to the kitchen where I decided to take a seat at the dinner table. My mother looked over to me and asked a question.


    "Is there anything specific you would like to eat?"


    "Suprise me." I told her as she shot her head back as if being scared by me answer.


    "Oh dear your voice is quite deep and scary now hehe, you''ll be scaring all thedies away with that tone of yours Mr." She said in a charming voice, whileughing at how cold my voice was.


    She went into the kitchen and started to prepare the meals. I was quite hungry and haven''t had her cooking in a long time, so I was happy to wait.


    Although my mother wasn''t really the best before making me feel abandoned, that hug and those tears really got to me. I was ready to blow up at her if she made a simple mistake, but that never happened. The woman I knew before would never cry, so I could tell she was upset with herself during these years.


    What happened to me really wasn''t her total fault as well, although bad parenting led to that situation, she wasn''t the one to kidnap me. The ones who actually did the job and made me who I am today are all buried 6 feet underground.


    I made it a personal life goal of mine to hunt down and track every single one of those people. I didn''t care if they were either new or had nothing to do with me, they were still all going to die.


    In my eyes such scum shouldn''t exist, so I decided to wipe them off this damn using everything at my disposal.


    My mother finished making the meals which were two tes of steak and corn. I was happy in the inside because I loved these things and haven''t eaten them in so long.


    As we started to eat only the sounds of chewing could be heard on both sides. I wasn''t going to speak as this delicious meal simply had all of my attention.


    As we finished the meal and put the dishes away, we both decided to sit back down and have a conversation.


    "How is your body and mental state feeling? The doctor called me and said you were getting better, but he never gave me any details." She asked in a worried tone.


    "I''m feeling fine in both departments, I just don''t know what I will be doing from now on." I stated with my tone trying to be as soft as possible.


    "Well military officers will be here tomorrow morning saying that they will speak to you about that,ing to find what you''ll do in life takes time which you will figure out eventually." She said with a heart full of confidence and wisdom as someone who''s walked the path.


    " I see.... well, I''ll most likely go to school and join the Volestian army when I graduate, that''s really the only idea I have so far." I told my mother wanting to see if she can maybe give some ideas to me.


    "Azrail you have just gotten back from a battlefield, don''t you think you have had enough of that type of life? I know it''ll be hard for you to adept to a normal way of living, but not everything is about war." My mother said with worry in her voice, it seemed she really did not like the idea.


    "Mother you may not understand, but the Volestians have saved my life when no one else woulde, I owe it to them to at least give a couple years of my service and defend this nation." I said to her trying to give her insight of what I was thinking.


    I fully believed I needed to join the military; the way of their fighting waspletely different from what I was use to. I knew they had some answers I was looking for in life. Those answers were what it was like to have someone actually defend your back with their life.


    I wanted to know the answer of how these men and women can trust each other so much while putting their lives on the line for one another.

 Chapter 15: One鈥檚 Own Self

    <h4>Chapter 15: One''s Own Self</h4>


    "You don''t owe anyone anything Azrail, it was those soldiers job''s to save you from that ce because you were being held there. Don''t let the reason for you joining the military be for something like that." My mother said which was like a truth bomb to me, removing one of the reasons I had for joining.


    Those words did hold a lot of meaning to me, but I still had other reasons for joining.


    I just don''t feel normal being here, when I was recovering in the hospital it felt like I just didn''t belong there. I don''t feel like I''m myself currently, like I''m just some type of shell of my former self.


    "I see... well what now?" I threw a random question out, when it came tomunication that was personal, I was awful.


    "We will just try to live normally; I will help you with things that you need and be there for you. What I did before to you in the past is uneptable and I won''t ask you to forgive me, but I will try to be the best mother I can for you." She said with a warm motherly smile on her face. Something I have never seen her do yet again.


    "Alright..... Well I''m going to go to my room and dpress." I said this and started to get up and head for my room which I still remembered how to get to till this day.


    "Alright get some proper rest, I''ll be waking you up tomorrow morning for the meeting." My mother told me which I gave a simple head nod to and continued on my way to the room.


    Opening the door to my room a wave of nostalgia hit me as my eyes gazed upon the ce I spent most of my time as a kid.


    Arge book shelve was to my right that was filled to the brim. A ck desk was also ced right next to it which was now empty along with a small wooden chair that looked lonely. A bed could be seen right in the middle of the room, arge queen sized one at that which had while silk sheets.


    To my left was what looked like to be a very small gym, weight equipment with mats underneath so that the noise wouldn''t be loud for whoever was below the room.


    The rooms size itself was like its own small apartment, giving me the space for almost all my needs. All I would do back then was study and workout, working on my Ki and mana was also a part of this process making sure I left no weakness to my overall abilities.


    If I hadn''t done that, I probably would have died when I was turned into a damn monster.


    I went to my chair by the desk and decided to take a seat and go through my thoughts one by one. When you go from a chaotic environment where your life is in jeopardy all day to a calm one where nothing happens is a hard process.


    I''m so use to either killing somebody or spying on them that I really forgot how to live a simple daily life. It just didn''t feel right to me, although I''ve only been back for a couple days, I still think I''d feel morefortable in a warzone.


    Generally speaking, everyone''sfort zone is different with mine being outside of the norm. Although I wanted to get out of that ce it doesn''t mean I''m morefortable with this type of life.


    Not only that, but this boring life gives me time to actually think about my problems instead of just focusing on surviving.


    The worst andst thing I wanted to deal with is honestly my own self. Dealing with others is way easier than looking at yourself in the mirror. Is easy to go tell someone what to do with themselves, but once you do it to yourself it''s a whole different world.


    ''For now, let''s just think about what those military officers are going to talk about. The most important topic for them is probably intel about the organizations and country itself they are fighting which isn''t a big deal. The main issue is why would they talk to me about my own future ns?'' I questioned myself as I heard my mother say that''s what they wanted to talk about unless it was some excuse for the intel.


    Volestia has been at war with them for about 2 years now. Maru decided it was somehow a good idea tounch an attack on Volestian ship that was filled with civilians.


    One thing you never do is touch any property that belongs to a Human Superpower, especially if you''re a small country. Since they killed everyone on that ship news broke out to every Volestian citizen.


    Since Volestia is a democratic country, the people actually hold a decent amount of power. All of them decided that this was an attack and decided for war to be waged. Killing innocent civilians is a crime that''s looked down upon in human society, them doing this was basically challenging the authority that Volestia held.


    Although Maru was considered to be one of the stronger countries that wasn''t a superpower, they still had no chance of defending the invasion that was going to take ce.


    I still remember quite vividly on how the criminal organizations reacted to the news and how scared they were. The only reason they operated in Maru was because of howcking the police force was against crime.


    A question we all had was how Volestia would invade and from what entry point would theye into.


    The answer to that question was a scary one. They invaded around the entire country, hitting multiple points of importance at all once like it was nothing. This showed how superior they were and it gave a warning to anyone who would try to do the same thing.


    Since there hasn''t been an actual war that the humans had in over 30 years, some must have thought that times have changed, but they were all wrong.

 Chapter 16: Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 16: Discussion</h4>


    "Thud" "Thud" "Thud"


    The sound of knocking could be heard in my room causing me to immediately wake up and throw myself of the bed. I took a defensive stance while trying to grab away at my pants looking for a pistol I usually carry.


    As I was grabbing away at nothing, my mother''s soft voiced muffled its way through the door. "Azrail, the military officers are waiting downstairs for you, get ready ande down."


    My mother''s words brought me back to reality, making me stop grabbing at my shorts. My raging heartbeat started to calm down and I slowly started to get up.


    ''Calm down, you aren''t in any danger. Rx just breathe.'' I told myself, trying to break out of this mentality I had with always thinking I''m in danger.


    "Okay, I''ll be there."


    I sat back on my bed and started to breathe in and out very slowly to calm down my anxiety.


    Luckily I sleep with regr clothes on, so there was no need to change. I had my usual clothes on with just ck shorts and a white long sleeve shirt. I got up off the bed and decided to get this conversation over with.


    I made my way through the house and when I reached the downstairs my mother and two seemingly middle aged men came into my sight.


    Both men wore highly decorated suits with many medals matching the suits prestige. The suits were colored with the darkest shade of ck with golden and violet red threads running through them.


    A Volestian g could also be seen on the where their hearts are located, symbolizing they live for Volestia. The man who seemed to have more medals on his chest walked up to me while putting his hand out gave himself an introduction.


    "It''s nice to finally meet you Azrail, my coworker and I work for the VIA and we were hoping to sit down and have a conversation with you, if you don''t mind of course." The man said as he and I were shaking hands.


    ''... I can''t feel his energy levels at all. This man is way above me in terms of strength and the same probably goes for his partner too. These guys are high in rank, there is no doubt about that.'' I thought while shaking the man''s hand and listening to his introduction.


    "Okay, let''s talk in the living room then. Mother do you mind leaving for this?" I asked my mother since I didn''t want her hearing anything from this conversation.


    I didn''t hear any response making me look around to already see that she was gone.


    "Don''t worry, we already told her about what this conversation would entail and that she couldn''t be able to listen." The man who shook my hand stated to which I acknowledged with a head nod.


    We made our way to the living room then taking our seats on the couches. I sat alone while the other two sat together, looking quitefortable although this conversation was quite a big deal.


    "So correct me if I''m wrong, but isn''t the VIA Volestia''s intelligence agency?"


    "You are correct, we are the people who deal with intel rted to pretty much everything, but we mostly deal with gathering intelligence on other countries."


    "I see, what are both of your names by the way since you never told me."


    "Oh really? My apologies my name is Samual and my partners name is Luke."


    Taking a closer look at both men I noticed that both of them looked quite ordinary. Samual simply had grey hair with light brown eyes while Luke had light blue hair with matching blue eyes.


    Their facial features also weren''t that impressive, if you saw them on the streets you''d probably assume they were civilians.


    "Alright, well let''s get the boring part over with. I know you''re mainly here for my intel so let''s get right into it."


    .......


    After three long grueling hours the conversation for the intel was finally over. Speaking for that long not only drained me of all my energy, but made me have to remember many dark times, all of which I wanted to forget about.


    Both men seemed quite saddened though, although this would help the soldiers still fighting in Maru greatly, having it need toe from a child who suffered because of it was a sad cost.


    "Azrail, this information will save many lives, you have no idea how many people wille back to their families because of this. In our eyes you are a hero, what you have done will not see the light of day, but those who know will always greatly appreciate you." Samual said as a tear rolled down the man''s right cheek.


    "Indeed, we will make sure if you or your family ever need help the government will be there for support. I''m sorry for everything you have had to go through, but that misery might just bring a new goal to your life." Luke said while looking over to Samual who looked back at him and nodded his head.


    "I know you just got back home, but do you have any thought on what you are nning to do in the near future?" Samual asked, I believe he was trying to offer me something by asking such a random question.


    "Not really if I''m being honest, my only real n was simply going to school then joining the military."


    A smiled formed on both men''s faces as I already knew I walked into what their sales pitch was going to be.


    "Tell me, how would you feel about attending an academy that would have almost every race that is known on this attend, with all of them being near your age?" Luke asked while trying to maintain eye contact with me.


    As I was about to answer, Samual dropped a bomb that Luke decided not to say for whatever reason.


    "We should mention that this academy will be held in the Fallen Empires territory. I do hope you have heard of that legendary nation because yes, it does actually exist."


    ''... Fuck, they got my ass.'' I thought to myself while staring at these two grandpas who just swindled a kid.

 Chapter 17: The Fallen Empire

    <h4>Chapter 17: The Fallen Empire</h4>


    Hearing two high ranking members of the VIA state the Fallem Empire was actually real made my imagination started to run rampant.


    This empire is aplete anomaly to human society, the only information known about it was that it is one of the first civilizations to be built on our Cyrus.


    Through research and discovery we''ve found artifacts built by this nation lingering around the world with the same g engraved on all of them. These artifacts have been able to help our understanding in mana and Ki jump exponentially, making us be able to contend with the other 3 major races.


    The fact that I''m receiving the opportunity to know that such an esteemed empire exists is one fact, but to be able to attend an academy there is almost dreamlike.


    The reason their holding this information to a select few is because they don''t want to add another problem for humans to fear. Amongst all of the major races we stand at the weakest and countless wars have been raged upon us during our history.


    After all, why is an ancient power not currently waging war on us when it probably has the capabilities to do so. Even I''m curious to know why, it simply doesn''t make any sense.


    History has told us that weakness in not allowed on this, if you are weak you will be conquered it''s as simple as that.


    Although ourst real great war was only 40 years ago, the memories stilly fresh in everyone''s mind. After all we humans have quite the long life spans depending on your Ki level, you could live up to 400 years if they are high enough.


    ''Still, it can''t be that simple for them to tell me this, they definitely want something from me if I go.'' I thought to myself after calming down from the news I just received.


    "What will you have me do if I decide to go through with this? Don''t y dumb either just tell me t out."


    Both men looked at each other deciding whether or not they wanted to decide to tell me my obligations even after telling them intel with high value.


    "The situation itself is actually quite aplex one, if you do decide to enter the academy then a briefing will be held exining everything that will be taking ce. I can give you the main points now to help you with the deciding factor because the academy starts in one month''s time, so we are on a tight schedule." Samual told me which wasn''t too surprising since this is a major event.


    I nodded my head signaling him to continue.


    "This is the actual first year that the academy will be born. This means all of the races that were invited will all be new just like we are. As you know our rtionships with the other races isn''t great, although our rtionship with the demon race has increased over the past ten years. The elves however are the opposite, if things continue to go the way they are with them then we believe a war will be waged in seven years time."


    ''.... Wow things are getting this bad and most people don''t even know about it. I can''t even think of the damages that will be done if a war with the elves transpired, especially in this day and age.'' I thought to myself imagining the consequences of such an event happening.


    "The main point being we need information, our intel on the other major races isughable. Forty years have gone by, so things could have changed drastically making us be in an unforgiving situation where war might be waged soon with an enemy we know little about."


    "We basically need intel, although we are sending our top talent among the five Human Superpowers, we need some kids who are capable of attaining intel and we believe you suit that position the most. By the intel you gave us earlier we know how capable you are,pared to kids your age no onees close to this level." Luke chimed in giving detail to why they specifically wanted me.


    This was a lot to take in and it seemed like my life already hase to yet another crossroad.


    This was going to be a hard decision to make, I had just gotten back home and I hoped to amend the rtionship with my mother with also trying to achieve a healthy mental state.


    The opportunity itself though gave a lot of benefits. I would be able to learn from some of the best in the world in their field and finally get to observe other races.


    I have only seen and interacted with humans my entire life, so I had wondered what other living beings were like.


    "How much time do I have to make a decision?"


    "You have one week, if you answer after that you will not be able to attend." Samual answered.


    A week was actually a decent amount of time considering I found out when its a month away. I would take this time to go over everything to see if this was worth leaving everything behind once again.


    "Okay that''s plenty of time, who and where would I give my answer to?"


    "We wille back in exactly one weeks time in the morning, if your answer is yes then have your stuff ready because we will be leaving immediately, if the answer is no, we simply move on."


    "Okay, it that everything then?"


    "Yes, that is everything, we will be taking our leave now and again thank you for the intel it is something we will never forget. As for the deal we offered don''t feel forced to say yes, we understand why you wouldn''t want to do it Azrail." Samual said as he and Luke started to get up off the couch.


    I walked them to the door and we said our goodbyes to one another. After they left, I went back into my room to go over everything that happened and what I''ll be doing with my life now.

 Chapter 18: The Man in The Mirror

    <h4>Chapter 18: The Man in The Mirror</h4>


    As I was about to enter my room, I heard the sound of the front door opening.


    I decided to change directions and head back downstairs to speak to my mother who I presumed to open the front door.


    Reaching the downstairs, I was able to see her and notice that she had a smile on her face. It seemed like whatever she did during the discussion put her in a good mood.


    This made me push off telling her that I might have to leave in one weeks time. Our rtionship is aplex one and I don''t know where I would ce it in my priority list.


    Before I received the offer it would have been on top, but now I don''t think I can''t say that anymore. This was something that interested me more and felt more important than being close with my mother.


    I believe a simple healthy rtionship with her would be enough. Honestly, I feel like she should have another child and focus more on them rather than me.


    ''Screw it, let''s just drop the bomb now and get it over with. I might not even take the offer anyway.'' I thought, being sick of having to think of so many things at the same time.


    "Mother I have something to say, the agents earlier gave me an offer of being able to attend an esteemed academy overseas. If I ept the offer, I will have to leave next week and will probably not be able to see you often for awhile." I said in a straight toned voice stating facts that need to be heard by her.


    My mother looked at me, that smile of hers not fading even after hearing the news, then she asked the question. "Is this something you want to do Azrail?"


    Hearing this question absolutely stumped me. Everything I thought she would do or say didn''t happen, I came to the conclusion that she eitherpletely changed or is putting up a facade.


    My mother never gave a damn about how I felt, yet here she is asking what I want to do.


    When thinking about the question the answer would be yes. This was something I did not want to miss; the opportunity was a life changing one.


    "Yes mother it is..... I''m sorry I have to leave you already even though I just got back. Honestly why don''t you focus on yoursel.." I tried telling her to focus on herself and to maybe have another child to give herself a second chance at motherhood, but my words were cut short by her aura.


    Her aura was a scary one to be in front of, those crystal blue eyes of hers were shinning and looking straight through me.


    She titled her head to the side a little and spoke with her voice filled with mana and Ki. "Azrail, I''m not the same weak minded person you knew before, I also know you aren''t a kid anymore. Someone who earned the title of Executioner wouldn''t like to be babied.."


    Hearing her call me that sent a defensive mechanism to my head, my moodpletely changed and turned to a hostile one.


    "Are you threatening me?" I asked with my voiceced with killing intent, anyone who''s called me that name ended up buried underground, no longer able to see the light of day.


    My mother''s aura didn''t budge, she held strong still staring straight into my eyes with her smile getting bigger than before.


    "Threatening you? I''m your mother Azrail I wouldn''t do something like that. Stop worrying about me and our rtionship and focus on yourself. You don''t have to stress about making decisions with me in the picture, simply do what you want."


    ".... So you want the same thing I do?"


    "Yes, let us just act our normal ways, we don''t need to make our situation something that affects our mind all the time. Just simply do what you want ande home to your mother when you want to."


    "Are you sure this is what you want? I heard some mothers stick to their children like glue."


    "I''m not like most people; I ampletely different from most. Some might call me a bad mother for this, but I don''t care about them. If this works for us, then that is all that matters."


    "Alright then that works for me, I wasn''t ever good at personal conversations anyway."


    "Haha no you weren''t, we do have to work on those social skills since I would love to be a grandmother. Anyway, go take a shower so that I can drop you off at the mall."


    "Why do I need to go to the mall?"


    "Because I''m sick of looking at you with those same stupid clothes on." My mother said with her eyes closed yet that smile on her face was massive at this point.


    ".....Okay I''ll go shower." I said scared for my own wellbeing, it''s like she just dropped trying to be sensitive around me which I preferred if I was being honest.


    I made my way to the bathroom to shower and once I got inside, I started to take my shirt off.


    Once it was off, I looked into the mirror and hated what was looking back at me. The scars all over my body were ugly, each one of them made me repulsed.


    The scars on my face however were by far what I hated the most. Each time I saw them I would rip away at them making them worse than what they already were.


    This is the reason I always wore masks to hide my face, not because I wanted to hide my identity, but because I did not want to see my own face.


    I noticed my left hand was already at my face picking away at them, trying to rip them off. I stopped myself and turned away from the mirror, I was holding myself back frompletely smashing it.


    ''Once I die and go to hell, all of you scumbags are going to suffer by my hands yet again, just you wait....''

 Chapter 19: Goodbyes

    <h4>Chapter 19: Goodbyes</h4>


    The day''s started to go by as quickly as the ones before it. The past couple days have been great for me overall.


    My rtionship with my mother has been good, although we don''t converse all the time, the conversations we do have make me happy.


    My body has also fully recovered from the surgery, I no longer feel any residing pain and I''m back to my peak condition. All of this was done before the deadline and I decided to go through with the offer.


    This opportunity was simply too good, being able to witness almost every race on this as well as residing in the Fallen Empire sounded like a fairy tale.


    I knew I had a job to do as well, considering that I''ll be joining the Volestian military that means I''ll have to fight in the war against the Elves.


    Hopefully I''m able to do something where a war wouldn''t be needed, but I''m only one person. There is only so much I can do alone, so I should be focusing on befriending some Elves which by itself is a tall order.


    Humans and Elves are quite racist to one another, the hate has been there for hundreds of years. I believe this academy is going to attempt to mend rtionships or drive them further away.


    I felt like I had a role in this operation, my confidence in espionage is high and I have plenty of experience under my belt. If this was abat operation then I would be a bad choice, but the role of attaining information is a different story.


    My mother and I were currently sitting on the couch waiting for the VIA agents to show up. I had a backpack on that had all of my belongings in it, all it contained was clothes and my hygiene products.


    "Azrail I forgot to mention this but when talking to anyone try to raise your voice in a friendly manner." My mother told me which I didn''t really understand what she meant.


    "What''s wrong with my voice? I understand my face being a problem, but I thought I had a normal tone?" I questioned her, she looked at me with a nk expression then let out a little sigh.


    "....Your voice is terrifying honey; your face simply adds to that. I won''t tell you to smile because even that makes everything worse. Just try to sound happy when talking to someone since not everyone judges a book by its cover."


    "Okay..." I said in a defeated tone, I honestly thought my voice was good. Now I have to worry about how I sound like to people.


    "Thud Thud Thud"


    The sound of knocking could be heard by the front door, I immediately got up with my backpack on and started to head over.


    Opening the door, I saw both men that were here a week ago. Noticing the backpack on me Luke decided to ask the obvious question.


    "Have you decided on if you are going to attend the academy or not Azrail?"


    "...Yes I will be going." My face waspletely in, I was just staring at the idiot who asked the obvious question.


    "Perfect! I''m happy you decided to do this, well then once you''re done saying goodbye to your mother hop in our car." Luke stated as he and Samual started to head back to their ck SUV.


    I looked over to my mother and gave her a hug. She was a bit surprised, but hugged me back nheless.


    "Love you, I will see you once I get back. I don''t know when that is, but I wille." I said to her trying to bring the point home of me returning to her.


    "I love you too honey, just make sure you''re safe and don''t force yourself to do anything. This home and I will always be here for you." She said as tears started to move down her face.


    This did pain my heart, but moving on is a part of life. My childhood could be said to be nonexistent, but there was no point in crying over spilt milk.


    We separated from one another and I started to walk over to the VIA agent''s car. Not once did I look back, fearing that I would enter an uncontroble emotional state.


    I did not like my emotions being out of check when I was with strangers. I didn''t care that these two were VIA agents, although they might be good people, trust would have to be built for something like that to ur.


    I opened the car door and took a seat in the back. Both men were in front of me with Luke being the driver and Samual was in the passenger seat.


    Without wasting any time Luke decided to start driving while Samual exined my situation.


    "We will be going to our headquarters and that''s where you''ll be residing until you leave for the academy. Will be giving you a rundown for what information you''ll be attaining, as well as our agents training you to hone in the skills you need for the task."


    "How hard do you think some of the tasks will be? Also, what type of risk am I taking to obtain some of the information?"


    "For your first year almost no risk will be involved, this year you will only be trying to figure out your surroundings as well as building a foundation of trust amongst the student body." Samual said then took a little pause for his next sentence.


    "Your second and third year however may be different. Depending on what you can attain your first year will decide how you will be moving forward. If you''re skilled enough we may have you end up taking risks that might bring you consequences."


    "What are these consequences you''re talking about?"


    "Something as simple as getting suspended or expelled. Don''t worry we won''t have you trying anything that can get something worse than that, after all we want a good rtionship with the Fallen Empire considering we have enough enemies as it is."


    ''If that is the biggest consequence then there''s no issues with this deal. Getting expelled would suck, but I merely have to be good enough to not get caught.'' I thought to myself while excitement started to build for this journey.

 Chapter 20: Stalker

    <h4>Chapter 20: Stalker</h4>


    After an hour of small talk, we finally arrived at the VIA''s headquarters.


    Luke parked the car in a parking lot and all of us exited the vehicle. Stepping outside, I was astonished by howrge this headquarters was.


    This ce was like apound, multiple buildings could be seen standing over 20 stories high. Paved sidewalks were everywhere, connecting each of these buildings with the grass being cut to a perfect length alongside it.


    We started to walk among the sidewalk, walking towards a building which stood out from its peers.


    It had a massive fountain which was sculpted into a man riding a griffin, this was the symbol of the Volestian g. The man riding this griffin was the first leader of this country and he created a path for the people of this country to walk towards.


    The building itself was over 40 stories high, making me almost break my neck trying to look all the way up it.


    After taking in the sights, we walked through the two massive front doors made out of ss and entered inside which I assumed to be the main building. The first floor was very simple only having marble flooring with a reception area in the front.


    There were also these shiny metal doors spread across the first floor amongst the walls, but I didn''t know what they led to.


    People were moving around at a fast pace going to their destination, each of these individuals were dressed in the same uniform of a simple ck suit.


    We headed towards the reception area with Luke simply giving a look to the receptionist causing them to open one of the many metal doors.


    Without even stopping we continued our way to the small room, as we entered, I was confused because I only saw buttons that went up to the number 45. I simply though this was a room, but I could feel it start to move after Luke hit the button with the number 37 on it.


    "What is this thing? Why''s the room moving?" I asked not knowing what was going on.


    "What? Kid this is an elevator, it can take you up and down to each floor. Did you think people would actually take the stairs this day and age? HAHAHAHA!" Samual said whileughing his ass off at my stupidity.


    This didn''t get too me though because the ce where I spent most my time wascking in technology by a considerable margin.


    The doors opened with the button glowing on the number 37, which I guess signaled what floor we were currently on.


    We entered the floor and what greeted us was arge ck table that contained 50 seats in total. However, there was one chair at the top of this table which a person was seated at.


    I couldn''t define anything about them though because when I tried looking my eyes became blurred, almost as if I didn''t have the authority to look at them.


    I knew this human was one that stood out from its peers, there are levels to everything and this one has reached the top.


    "Sit." Their voice sounded which caused me to immediately take the closet seat to me. I had no control over my actions, this showed the level of this monster.


    The same thing happened with both Luke and Samual, seems like even they had no authority as well.


    "Let''s not waste any time shall we, here are the documents going over everything you need to know for now, the rest you will have to find out yourself when you arrive at the school." The being said, while a folder containing papers appeared right in front of me on the table.


    "You will be training here until you leave for school, although we can help you here, once you''re on Fallen Empire soil there is nothing we can do. Other studentsing from our nation also cannot help, you alone need to handle these tasks."


    I just listened silently, although I did have a few questions, I wouldn''t dare to ask them in front of such a monster. I will simply ask the old timers with me.


    "That''s all from me, I''ll be taking my leave and I hope you find sess in this mission Azrail.." The person said and when I looked over to their seat they were gone.


    "Well then, let us show you where your room is and everything else you need to know." Samual said as we all started to get up and head over to the elevator. It was still there which led me to wonder how that monster left the floor.


    I picked up the folder and started to follow both men. As they were giving me the tour of where I''ll be spending most my time, I began to read the documents inside of the folder.


    As I was reading through the pages both men could be heard talking about each area I would be using in the next couple of weeks.


    I really couldn''t care less about what they were saying because the documents had my attention. I simply couldn''t hold myself back and started reading what they wanted me to do.


    As I started to look over the information, reality started to kick in on how difficult even my first year was going to be.


    The main points I had read so far were basically stating that I had to be a stalker. I had to find out almost every single detail I could about every race, but the Elves were priority, this meant more time spent towards stalking them.


    Not only that, but I had to be a guardian angel to our own race making sure no one leaked any important intel. Obviously, we aren''t the only ones trying to learn about the other side, so steps needed to be taken to make sure we were the onesing out on top for this battle of attaining information.


    It seemed like they wanted me to be solo the entire time as well, meaning trust was something theycked. I couldn''t me them though considering we are teenagers in a way bigger picture.


    I truly wondered how well I was going to do, my mind started to race with every possibility I could think of to prepare myself to achieve sess.

 Chapter 21: Psychos

    <h4>Chapter 21: Psychos</h4>


    I suddenly awoke after having yet another nightmare. I felt sweat all over my body as I was gasping for air.


    I looked over to my left to see my rm clock and noticed I still had some time before my first training session. The rm clocks numbers glowed which illuminated the room just enough to see the light switch.


    After turning on the lights, I started to head towards the bathroom to get rid of this groggy feeling I had.


    I didn''t even bother to look in the mirror as I did not want to see what looked back at me. I hopped in the shower and made sure the water was as cold as it could be.


    I went through my normal hygiene routine with washing my body and hair while also brushing my teeth.


    When I was finished, I simply put on my usual clothing which involved ck shorts and a white long sleeve shirt.


    I still could not shake the groggy feeling I had, so I decided to do a simple warm up involving both mana and Ki. All it really was doing stretches while moving both energy forms throughout the body.


    This made simple stretching turn into a light exercise and would get your blood pumping.


    30 minutes went by and I was feeling a lot better. I decided to head over to my training room where my instructor would be waiting.


    As I was walking, I noticed that my outfitpared to other''s here was a bit out of ce. Every agent here was wearing the same simple ck suit which held a formal look. Then there was my dumbass who looked like a lost kid trying to find his mommy.


    I hastened my pace and finally was able to make it to the room. Upon entering it a man who stood over 6 feet tall was sitting on a long tan couch.


    The room was quite small and only had two tan couches facing one another with a table in between them creating separation. The table had documents spread all over it with me not knowing the contents of them.


    The man looked over at me and simply pointed at the other couch.


    I made my way to sit down and analyzed the man''s appearance. He had jet ck hair with purple eyes adding mystery to his looks. A long cut was imbedded into his neck which made its up way to his cheek. His facial features were sharp showing that the man was athletic, although he wore a simple ck suit, I could tell he was fit.


    "Who are you." The man said with a voice so deep it shook the entire room. Danger signals were set off inside my body, I held strong though and showed no reaction that involved fear.


    I started to remember thoughts that would piss me off to the extreme, doing this would make me give not a single fuck about this man''s aura.


    My eyes were like daggers staring into his which were like an ocean. With my anger now set to the extreme, I said in the darkest tone I could muster. "Azrail Diggory, how about you."


    The man also showed no reaction to my stunts and continued on with the conversation in the same tone. "How many of you are there."


    "Only me."


    "....No, I''m asking how many of you are there." The man said while pointing his finger at his head.


    This question made no sense to me at all, I didn''t understand what he was trying to ask, so I stayed silent.


    "Pathetic.... You don''t even understand the beauty nor art of espionage. I don''t give a shit what anyone else has told you, this is but a mere fact in what I''m speaking. You areplete and utter garbage."


    This man was adding gasoline to the fire I already set, the table had started to crack with all the aura being thrown around.


    "Me garbage?....." My tone was getting even lower than before. I was still staring at the man and I felt a crazed smile forming on my face. "Exin please."


    "...Tell me, do you even understand why acting is second nature to espionage? Do you know why we are called puppet masters? Do youprehend emotions and rtionships? Can you even fathom having what''s known as a personality disorder?"


    "The answer to all that is no, you don''t. All you are is a pathetic piece of trash, you are nothing. You are a mere kid who got used by the backend of society and weren''t even good enough to keep." The man said as he too started to show a crazed smile.


    "Oh really? Well then..... let''s see if you''re alive in the next couple of minutes fuck face." I said while wasting no time to start my assault.


    I immediately used one hand to flip the table in front of me while using my other to send it crashing in his direction. The table was sent like a bullet his was and crashed into the wall.


    I did the same thing with the couch I was sitting on as well; I knew this wouldn''t work, but I wanted to get these objects out of our way.


    A purple fog covered the entire room in less than a second. I couldn''t see anything but darkness, my senses were also dulled. This ability of his is quite annoying already.


    "Oh wow, look at the grumpy kid throwing a tantrum, your mother must be sooooo proud of you."


    "Yours should have swallowed." I threw a remark back while trying to sense his location.


    My senses were all over the ce, but we are in a room so he has to be here somewhere.


    I got down on one knee and put my palm to the floor which sensors usually do to feel their surroundings.


    "Dumb idea idiot, in what world would do you think that would work, perhaps you''re on drugs right now? If that''s the case, then I understand your reasoning."


    I gathered fire mana to my palms and released it into the entire room. The fire was raging on, but I still couldn''t see anything with him being included.


    I then decided to blow up the entire room, since my Ki levels are full I should be able to eat the explosion like nothing.


    I gathered electricity and wrapped it around the mes, I knew my crazed smile was getting bigger and bigger.


    "Hope you have good Ki levels shit stain." I said and proceeded to blow up the entire room.

 Chapter 22: Psychos (2)

    <h4>Chapter 22: Psychos (2)</h4>


    POV: William Hunt (VIA Agent)


    My words are simple truths with lies mixed within them. This conversational skill can lead me to control not only the conversation, but a person''s mental state as well.


    This led me to where I am currently, a teenager acting like a madman attempting to blow up the entire room we are in.


    I read his report given to me and I believe he has talent in this field, but that doesn''t mean he currently is up to par with my standards. The only way to test this was the stunt I pulled off with tantly insulting his darkest times.


    One must haveplete control over themselves in this field, if not you''re simply dead weight and a nobody.


    The boy was being tested as soon as he left his room, I watched every single movement he made whileing here all while not being caught. Working as an agent here this is considered a massive failure, so he and I have much to work on.


    "BOOOOOOOM"


    An explosion rang out at point nk range. The size of this explosion though wasn''t all that big, so I was fine. However, the room waspletely destroyed with everything inside it being turned to ashes.


    I had gotten pushed all the way outside, I put Ki towards my eyes seeing if I could see if the boy was alright.


    As I was peering through the ck smoke a pair of grey lifeless eyes met mine. I made out the boy''s face which was him smiling like a madman showing his white teeth like a feral animal.


    The scars only added on to this crazed look, then I heard a terrifying sound enter my ears.


    "Found youuuu."


    Upon hearing his awful voice lighting sparks could be seen dancing around the boy. The next moment he was gone and appeared right in front of my face.


    He threw a jab towards my jaw, but I easily slipped it and threw a right hook aiming for the back of that big head of his.


    He tried to lower his body for me to miss but I managed to still clip him, making him stagger backwards. My hook was followed by a mean side kick which sent the boy flying back into the smoke.


    "Tell me idiot, did you think that sorry ass attack would do the trick? Tell me what you''re smoking after this I have to try it."


    My insult was left with no response, I tried to look for him again but could not find him at all.


    ''Oh? It seems like he is actually able to control his emotions to some extent. He might be adding them to fuel hisbat which is a smart idea. Very good boy, let''s see what you''re capable of.'' I thought to myself, I was examining the boy to see what we needed to work over the next couple of weeks, so being soft was not an option.


    His mission is extremely important, I need this kid to be the best version of himself. I don''t care what I have to do to get him to that point.


    I felt the ground start shaking all around me. I started to look around to see where the attack woulde from. I came to found out it would being from every direction as rocks with pointy tips started toe flying at me from everywhere.


    I dodged most of them easily while breaking the ones I couldn''t dodge.


    I then felt the kid right behind me and immediately ducked down. A fist flew by right where my head was. The force behind the punch was able to rip through the air leaving a whipping noise behind it.


    I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my back and proceeded to m him into the ground.


    I lifted my left palm up towards his body and used wind mana to further imbed him into the ground. A wave of air mmed down into the boy making him sound out a grunt.


    "Stop this meaningless assault you loser, I''m not your farther. If you want a beating that bad why don''t you go out and find him. Oh wait, he left your ass too, no wonder you''re like this."


    The boy said nothing and just stared dead into my eyes. His overall presence was no joke, but I''ve seen way scarier things in my life.


    He grabbed onto my left arm and tried to burn it with fire mana. I immediately used wind mana again to blow the me opposite of my direction.


    I noticed electrical wires wrapping around the me, I reacted poorly though which led to me getting blown back from the explosion once again.


    I would be lying if I said this one didn''t hurt, but it was not the end of world. I was still able to fight to my fullest capabilities.


    I saw the boy getting back up slowly, I could tell he was pretty injured and that going further would be silly.


    I decided to go all out moved as quickly as I could and appeared behind the boy. I pulled out handcuffs and put them on his wrists which nullified his ability to attack.


    He had tried to fight his way out of them, s he failed. He did also try to attack me, but with no mana or Ki at his disposal there was no chance of it being sessful.


    "Alright alright calm down, this was a test to see your capabilities and nothing more. I know I said some hurtful things but get over it, we have a job to do and I''ll be teaching you for the next couple of weeks. Go take your ass to a healer and get fixed up. When you are donee back."


    "Tch screw you too asshole, so help me god once I found out about what you''re sensitive about its over for you." The boy said as he was sitting on the ground with the handcuffs still on him.


    "Yeah yeah cry me a river shorty, instead of focusing on me I would worry about that height of yours. Not many girls like short kings like you and an a ugly one at that."


    "When you die, I''m going to be the happiest man on this. You better ban me from your funerial because I''m pissing on your grave."


    "That''s pretty fucked up kid...."


    "....Yeah I''m sorry.. Intrusive thoughts."

 Chapter 23: Capabilities

    <h4>Chapter 23: Capabilities</h4>


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    "Tch, fucking hate this guy already. Well at least my clothes didn''t rip apart."


    I was walking on the sidewalk heading over to the infirmary to get my body patched up. That monster hit me with an air attack, so my internal organs are killing me.


    Luckily, he had the decency to finally take the handcuffs off after arguing with me for awhile.


    After a couple minutes of walking, I entered the room to see that no one was around. Only 6 beds with white sheets could be seen as well as cupboards spread across the walls, which I assumed held medical supplies.


    "Hello? Is anyone there?" I asked out loud.


    "Yes, how may I help you Mr.?" A beautiful voice resounded throughout the room, it had a very gentle and soft tone to it.


    I couldn''t see where the voice came from though and was looking around the room to see if I missed something. In the back right corner a desk seemingly popped out of nowhere with a beautiful woman sitting by it.


    Although I was scared shitless by her magic trick, I was too stunned by her looks to care.


    "Hi ughhh, I''m Azrail. I just need some painkillers and I''ll be out of your way."


    The woman gave me a small smile and made her way to one of the many cupboards in the room. She grabbed a small pill bottle and tossed it my way.


    "Take two of every six hours, if the pain doesn''t calm down make sure toe back here. Also, my name is Lisa. I tend to hide often because the men here think they have a chance, so don''t be surprised if you don''t see me in the room, I''m simply hiding from them."


    "Ah I see, yeah that must suck. I''ll be leaving now see yah."


    Holding onto my pill bottle I made my way out of the infirmary and back to where my instructor was.


    I really did not want to hold a conversation with that woman because my instincts told me to run. It is said that beauty is able to start wars and I''m starting to believe it now.


    I took two of the pills and arrived back where I was before. The building had a big hole in it now with everything inside it being ash. Good news is that the ceiling for the room was not damaged at all. The construction crew did an amazing job with that.


    "Alright kid follow me and I will talk along the way. Do not ask any questions, just listen to me." The man said, I still didn''t learn his name yet, but I didn''t want to because he was on my shit list.


    I stayed silent though and decided to listen to what he had to say.


    "Espionage is basically what you''ll be doing at this academy. You are now considered what''smonly known as a spy. Spies are given the job to gather intelligence and information not known by the other side. The location you''re doing this in will make your mission borderline impossible with your current skill set."


    "This is why I was tasked teaching you; I am one of the best agents the VIA has to offer and I have no mission to do myself giving me the time to teach you. Our agents are usually always busy, so you can consider yourself lucky on that aspect."


    "Yourbat skills are well above average, your control over your mental state and emotions though is below average. Your control over your Ki and mana are quite good, but not at the level where you could mask their presence. Your acting skills and conversation skills are also below average. Do you disagree with what I''m saying so far?"


    "No sadly, you are correct. The only thing I was taught was actualbat. My other skills you brought up were self taught."


    "I see, well then we will mostly skip teaching youbat as I believe the school will do a better job at that. I''ll be teaching you skills to be a spy and only that. The rest you will learn at the school, so pick your sses wisely when you get the chance."


    We arrived at yet another room and walked in. Funnily enough this room was the same as thest, besides the table having nothing on it.


    We sat down on opposite couches yet again and stared at one another.


    "Let''s start with this, to what extent are you able to control your emotions and are you able to fully kill them making you not be able to feel anything?"


    "I don''t think I''m able to fully kill them yet, I can kill some, but not all of them. Also, I can control them decently well, I use anger a lot to my advantage especially inbat scenarios, but fear is one I have no control over."


    "Good we will work on that a lot; we need you being able topletely kill all of them before you leave, this is vital. Fear will be the main priority; you will be experiencing it a lot while doing more dangerous tasks, so we cannot let it affect you."


    "What about understanding other people''s emotions and rtionships? Are you capable of controlling others on an emotional level and are you able to destroy built rtionships?"


    "To some extent yes, but that would only go for the normal popce, as for these prodigies that are my age and considering they are different races, probably not at all."


    "At least you are self-aware about this, honestly speaking this task will most likely be the lowest priority considering its difficultly and benefit from achieving it. I would suggest you merely focus on observation and if you see opportunities take them. For example, bing friends or even a partner with someone from the Elven race would be massive."


    "Don''t they absolutely hate us though and isn''t it the same for us? We have done some awful things to one another, so I can''t imagine that happening."


    "There''s your mistake, do not doubt yourself at all. This is very possible because maybe a higher up like an Elven royal would want change. Let''s say they want a closer rtionship with all the races, it is your job to use this opportunity to its fullest."


    I took in all the points the man was making and they all made sense. I have to stop doubting myself and only focus on the goal of achieving sess. If change were to happen, I believe the younger generation would start it.

 Chapter 24: Capabilities (2)

    <h4>Chapter 24: Capabilities (2)</h4>


    "So how will you be training me, we really don''t have all that much time so what''s the most efficient way?" I asked the man who had my hope in his hands.


    "You will be dealing with real life scenarios; I will be talking to you through a radio to assist you when needed. Not only that, but I''ll also teach you techniques this way. Sadly, you will have to learn them on the fly and if you can''t learn one fast enough, we simply move on to the next."


    "Damn alright, when do we get started then?"


    "Right now, you''ll be going over to the ghetto where a gang war is currently taking ce. Your objective is to find hard evidence on both gang''s leaders and their higher ups. The reason for this is so that when we take them to court, there''s no way they can weasel out of charges because of theck of evidence."


    "Crimes like this still happen in a country that is deemed a superpower? How''s that even possible?"


    "It simply means they are skilled enough to operate of out this country. Our court system is really a main reason though, if there isn''t enough evidence to prove someone guilty then they will be innocent. The high end criminals abuse this system and tend to get away with the crimes theymit."


    "What if there''s an organization that''s doing a lot of damage to the country itself, like a terrorist group?"


    "Oh for those types of people we merely hunt them down and kill them. We skip the whole court process and move on to what''s known as a death sentence. Especially if they are doing damage to the government or the guild''s then there is no remorse."


    It seemed Volestia didn''t do everything by the book, although I really don''t me them. The world has a lot of moving pieces meaning bugs like those needed to be squashed.


    I understood why crime was a thing and for why a person would want or had to live that type of life, but it still means they are considered a mere bug to society.


    "Okay lets get you changed into a outfit that will fit the area and what tools would you like to use during this mission?"


    "Hm probably a dagger, small handgun with a silencer, a cked out mask, and audio recording device."


    "Okay and I should mention violence is a worst-case scenario, remember this is espionage. Killing or even having to use force should be the lowest priority, you should really only use it in self-defense. Lastly, don''t go around killing people, this is Volestia, your actions have consequences so consider your options."


    "I know, it''s just going to be something I have to get used to. As you can tell, I have pretty violent tendencies and can''t really control them yet. All I''ve really ever done is kill, that''s all. Its all I have to me...."


    My instructor didn''t say anything, he looked up towards the ceiling and closed his eyes. Minutes went by as the man didn''t say anything and just sat there.


    I started to believe he might have fell asleep until he finally opened those eyes of his.


    He then started to talk to me about his own ideologies, they made me realize what type of person this man truly is.


    "Back when I use to have a social life many people loved to ask me what type of person I was. I could never really answer that question, it was something that always stumped me. I had a wife and two beautiful kids and even this job which I loved, yet I still couldn''tprehend my own self." He took a deep breathe and continued on with his story.


    "I couldn''t find this answer no matter what, it stayed this way until the fateful day where I had lost almost everything. My wife died alongside my two little angels.... Their hero wasn''t there to save them... I wasn''t there, I had an important mission, so I was nowhere to be found."


    I had been looking at him this entire time, yet not a single out of emotion could be seen. This man was like a ghost.


    I know I''m looking at something, but I can''t tell what it is? I decided to ask him personally the question that was in my head.


    "Who you are really? What have you done to reach this? Why in the world would you do this?"


    The man''s purple eyes which seemed to be an abyss now looked at mine and simply stated. "Me? I''m no one Azrail.... A tool perhaps you could say. A tool that is used for achieving a greater cause.."


    "Do you not hear yourself? You were a father who had children and lost them! How could you act so nonchnt when you yourself are a failure to biggest degree?!"


    The man looked at me and simply smiled. I honestly already wanted to beat this guy half to death again.


    "Who says I''m telling you the truth? See how easy it is to control you? This is why espionage is an art since you can''t even tell what''s real or not. Even right now while I''m telling you this you are questioning everything about me."


    The man was right once again, I started to realize how much pressure I was really under. At first this academy seemed like a pipe dream, but having to worry about all these details, reality is starting to kick in.


    My excitement was killedpletely, in less than one months time I''m going to have to changepletely. My personality and emotional state being the biggest thing about me that needs changing.


    It infuriates me that only certain emotions re up while others seem like they aren''t even there. Why the hell can''t I feel an extreme amount of happiness? Why must it always be anger or sadness?


    I started to grab my legs out of pure anger. I was sick and tired ofcking behind in something, I wanted to be ahead of the damn curve for once not behind it.


    "Let''s start this damn mission already huh.... I can''t wait see how good of an instructor you are."

 Chapter 25: Complexity

    <h4>Chapter 25: Complexity</h4>


    Looking at myself in the mirror I was checking to see if I had everything I needed. The clothes I had on were simple, while also having dirt stains on them showing I just came off of work.


    I wore a simple pair of blue jeans that had cheap written all over them if one gave them a simple nce. Paired with a grey shirt which had a constructionpanies logo on it. Finally, a pair of ripped steal toe boots where on my feetpleting this look.


    Many people worked construction jobs in the slums, it was really the only high paying job they could attain easily, so many took this route.


    My face and hair had nothing done to it, I already had a so called "rough" look to me.


    I chose to not carry a gun for this mission, I need to get use to not having one on me nor rely on it. However, I did carry two daggers on me, but this was more than enough.


    Daggers weren''t really my specialty, although I was trained in how to properly use them, I never ended up getting much experience with them.


    I walked over to my bed and picked up a ck backpack that was sitting on it. It contained my jet ck mask inside and a bullet proof vest in case of emergencies.


    I decided to head out and make my way to my instructor who had my earpiece on him. The earpiece is a simple radio device used formunication, not only that but it has a camera on it as well.


    If the earpiece is ced correctly, it is able to view almost everything around me. The exception to this is the areas to the opposite side the earpiece is on. It''s almost like having one eye opened and the other closed.


    The downside to this is that it would be fairly obvious that I have an earpiece, so in the daytime it will be stuffed deeply inside my ear.


    The mission itself really did not have me all that worried. I have had toe to a realization that hard things usually grant rewards. This statement has proven false many of times as well, but I leave it up to my thought process to decide what is worth achieving.


    Arriving at a cked out 4 door vehicle, I opened the passenger side door and sat down on the white leathered seat.


    I closed the door and looked to my left to see my dumb instructor wearing ck shades and smoking what seemed to be a cigarette. The man noticed my gaze and pull out a carton and handed it over to me.


    I looked inside to see it was all cigarettes with a lighter tucked in as well.


    "I don''t smoke, you should keep doing it though, I heard it does wonders for your lungs." My instructor looked over to me and decided to flip me off.


    "How rude." I told the man and decided to look out the window to see the scenery of my home country.


    "Hey dipshit the earpiece was in there too, you should try smoking though while you''re hanging around the area you''ll be working in. You''d look weird not smoking one."


    I was bit surprised to find out the earpiece was in the carton and gave it another search.


    The carton was pretty small, yet I still couldn''t find the earpiece. I even took out all the cigarettes and lighter and looked through everything but was still not able to find it.


    "God man you''re an idiot give me that thing." He said this and just snatched the carton out of my hands.


    I looked to see what the hell I even missed because I went through that whole damn thing. He put two fingers in the carton and I heard the sound of tape being ripped off.


    He then took out a very small earpiece which was tan in color matching my own.


    "Use your damn eyes idiot, if you can''t see something naturally use Ki to enhance that vision of yours. Mana and Ki are there to be utilized to the fullest extent, both are energy forms, not people. Use and abuse them all you need to."


    "I thought you simply put the damn thing in the carton, why the hell would you go that extra mile?"


    "Do you hear yourself? This thing I''m holding cost quite the amount of money, not only that it also uses advanced Volestian technology meaning we don''t want anyone getting their hands on it."


    "Okay I get that, but we are inside of a damnpound full of our own people. Who the hell would have the balls to rob it here?"


    "Idiot, do you really not think other spies are here from other countries? Volestia is strong, but isn''t so damn strong where it can stop other people like myself froming in. We make everything importantplex; this is to slow down the intel our enemies receive."


    "You''re telling me we have agents from other countries in our own ranks? What about the other races though? Don''t tell me they are here too. "


    "That''s our biggest problem actually. There''s a load of Elvesing into human territories as spies. Those scumbags are also quite good at espionage, not in the way humans are though. Their observing skills are unparalleled, even right now our movements could be watched."


    "You''ve got to be kidding me. How the hell are theying all the way here? Isn''t the ocean that separates us extremely dangerous?


    "I have no clue honestly, for wartimes it''s a lot easier to cross because of battleships, but they''ve been sending small groups which is unheard of. The worst part is the ones we''ve caught were all highly skilled, so I can only imagine the ones who are still roaming around."


    "Do we at least have humans in theirnd? This at least evens out our ying field."


    "Sadly, we do not. Our capabilities aren''t that high where we could send agents across the ocean. Only during war is this possible and we would have to be the ones invading them. This is why the Fallen Empires academy is so damn important."


    "Fuck, let''s say I wasn''t able to attain major intel, what would the affects be during the war with the Elves if that happens?"


    "Most human countries would probably be annihted, the reason for this though is because they would invade us. Defending is a lot easier than attacking, but our countries will have to deal with all the damage. Not only that, but the beginning of the war will be brutal because ofck on intel about the enemy. We changed a lot over the years, so we can only guess what everyone else has achieved in this time frame..."

 Chapter 26: Knock Knock

    <h4>Chapter 26: Knock Knock</h4>


    New information wasing in like small waves with one being right after the other. These waves started to add up ande crashing down onto me.


    I knew almost nothing about life was easy, but there''s an extent to which everyone can handle.


    My extent is about to be reached, the amount of pressure and anxiety I''m feeling keeps going up with time.


    "Be honest with me, even if I did attain solid intel what would that change for the beginning of the war?" I asked my instructor who was currently driving us to the slums.


    "Now that''s a great question, the problem is every higher up has a different opinion about this. Since you can''t talk to them, I will tell you my own which I believe is the most likely to happen. " The man took his eyes off the road and looked dead into my own eyes.


    The temperature in the car dropped and my instructors seemingly cold voiced out his harsh reality.


    "It will change nothing; millions of humans and our own people are still going to die. The Elves military force may still be too much for us to handle alone. Even if we knew intel about them with how they fight and how strong their younger generation is, that still doesn''t change the fact that they are still superior to us.


    This is the reason they are bold enough to send agents here that are capable of being caught by us. We can''t do shit to them; they hold all the cards in this game. This is why I think all of you should focus on mending our rtionships, I know the hate is deep for both sides, but this is our only option to save lives. "


    I thought about what the man said and he wasn''t wrong at all. The only real way toe out a winner from this was amending rtionships.


    The hate between both races though is quite deep and very extreme. After all, in thest war between us it was normal to seerge unarmed groups being executed.


    Both humans and Elves did this to one another, this just showed how much both sides despised one another.


    Yet here we are now with the younger generation attending the same school, just how the hell do they expect us to change anything?


    "Do we have anyone capable of such things though? This goes beyond the scope of being diplomatic, we need someone capable of quite literally talking their way out of a whole war."


    "I believe we do; you see the leader of this country has son a year older than you and he is said to be quite the capable kid. As you know his father is not only one of the strongest humans alive, but one of the best diplomatic speakers as well. There are many more kids like this who will be more focused on the diplomatic side of things in school."


    Now this was great news to my ears. The fact that I wasn''t alone in this mission calmed me down. Even though we are trying to attain different things, I was still d we are aiming for the same goal.


    Although most of my worries were still there, the amount of stressed has gone further away from my breaking point.


    I decided to switch gears and solely focus on my mission now, there was no need for things outside of my control to affect me now.


    "How long do I have toplete this mission? It really shouldn''t be that hard to attain evidence on these guys I assume."


    "You''re correct, basically all you need is to record both leaders doing something illegal and we will handle the rest. The main objective for this mission is for you to learn simplemunication skills as well as stealth. For the time frame you will have two days, if you can''t aplish the mission we simply move on to the next."


    "I see, so this earpiece is really quite something. Is there anything I should look out for?"


    "Yes, it is so don''t lose or break it or so help me I will tear you a new one. Also you''ll probably see some fucked up shit, so learn to control your emotions when seeing the cruel things these groups do."


    "How bad are we talking?"


    "Hmmmm the worst I''ve heard of was them drugging a man and doing some crazy things to him. I don''t know howmon this is, but it''ll make great experience for you overall."


    "Am I really expected to sit there and watch this happen? I get that this is for training, but boundaries need to be drawn." My anger had started to pick up and sadly I let it be known through my tone of voice.


    My instructor didn''t say a word and honestly, he didn''t have to. I knew I had to change my ways, but must we really go so far for it?


    Then the bigger question was what''s the worth of the aplishment.


    ''Whatever, just shut up and do what you''re told Azrail. If after everything you still don''t see the point of it, then don''t listen to them. It''s not like anyone on this knows the absolute correct answer to everything. Do what is best for you.'' I told myself, the only person who has been alongside me is only me.


    No one knows me better than my own self. If I start going against the person I really am, then I have no identity.


    I''m not going to bend my ways for anyone, including my entire race. If anyone tries to force me to do something again then they are my enemy.


    I don''t have pride as a human or a Volestian for that matter. The only pride I have is my own self and nothing more than that.


    If there were a day toe where I had the power to split this in half, I would be tempted to do it. When I was reading the history that''s documented all it seemed to be was about war.


    Every major marking point in human history was through a damn war. I couldn''t even fathom how many lives were lost on this shithole of a.


    If you want to fucking fight so badly, go do it in the damn afterlife.


    There isn''t a day that goes by when someone questions when''s the next war going to happen.


    The Elves were already knocking on humanities front door, showing the next tsunami of death was on its way.

 Chapter 27: Value To Society

    <h4>Chapter 27: Value To Society</h4>


    After 2 hours of driving, we finally arrived on the outskirts of the slums.


    My instructor pulled over to a sidewalk where no one could be seen. The man looked over to me and had what looked to be like a credit card in his hands.


    "Use this card if you decide to buy yourself anything, I don''t know if your mother gave you any money, but since you''re on the job the tab is on us."


    "Thanks." I took the card and put it my pocket, I noticed I should have got a wallet, but I can just buy one today.


    I exited the car with my earpiece already deep into my ear and my backup secured onto my back tightly.


    It ismon to get robbed in this area if you look like an outsider, but I think I should be fine for the most part considering I suffered like most of these people.


    The sun was hanging high in the sky making me regret my choice in wearing jeans. Judging from the suns position its around 3, so my cover as a construction worker should be fine.


    I decided to not waste any time and headed directly into the slums.


    The first ce I''ll be looking for is a convenient store. People underestimate how special these types of stores are.


    Many walks of life go into these ces to pick up simple things and if you have a talkative cashier people tend to open up andin about their lives. Considering this ce is a slum people usually have a lot toin about.


    As I was walking, I made sure I kept my face straight and eyes forward at all times. People in these types of areas keep to themselves for the most part, so if one looks around or tries to get in other people''s businesses they usually get checked.


    I enhanced my hearing as well so that I could pick up conversations that were going to happen near me.


    After a few minutes of walking, I finally entered the slums. The odd part was it looked like a normal city. Although the smell was bad, most of the buildings and streets were intact.


    The amount of people was very high with most ces seeming crowded, but the people looked normal as well.


    The most bizarre part was I couldn''t see any homeless people around. I know I just entered the slums, but they should be everywhere.


    The slums I was used to were way worse than this. In Maru, slums were areas where''d you see nothing but shit and dead bodies all over the ground. You''d be lucky if you didn''t immediately catch some type of disease.


    Yet here it''s mostly just working ss people, maybe the slums in Volestia are areas with high crime rates? If this is the case these people don''t know the luxury they have overall.


    With so many people around the number of voices entering my ears was too high. I couldn''t even hear words, only a loud echo which sounded like a scream was being made.


    I couldn''t make out what anyone was saying and the difficulty of separating their voices was above my skill level.


    I deiced to throw this idea out for now and simply move to a location with a lower poption. As I was walking, I tried to look around for any type of coinvent store.


    Sidewalks were ced around the entire city, roads used for transportation separated all of these long sidewalks. The roads were filled with vehicles and traffic seemed to be heavy at this time.


    Going from sidewalk to sidewalk for at least half a mile I couldn''t spot a single store.


    All of the buildings I passed were used for housing, so I started to wonder where the hell I was.


    "BANG BANG BANG BANG"


    The sounds of gunshots echoed throughout the city which immediately caught my attention as well as everyone around me.


    Some started to simply run without making a sound while others merely carried on with their business. This was quite the scene to see, it seems like this is amon urrence.


    Since I was in a city, it was actually very hard to pinpoint the location of where the gunshots came from. Since this a very dense area, sounds like to echo a lot making it harder to know exactly where the location is.


    Especially for short noises you aren''t ready for, they simplye and go without you having the chance to pinpoint them.


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" A hoarse scream rang out which conveyed the emotions of dread, but I felt anger mixed between the lines.


    6 people started to move towards this scream, all 6 wore simr colored clothing and had the exact same tattoo on their neck.


    ''Bingo.'' These people were without a doubt gang members, I decided to follow along and head to where the scream sounded out.


    Although the voiced echoed a lot, the voice which seemed to be a little boys cried out long enough for it to be followed.


    Jogging through the city I came to aplete stop when I saw the back of a child hunched over a woman''s dead body. The woman had 4 bullet holes in her chest and blood was all over the ground.


    The people I were following seemed to be conversing with another group who had the same generic attire, but with a different color scheme.


    I looked back towards the child, I couldn''t see his face, but the amount of Ki and manaing off him was absurd.


    It seemed like a volcano was about to erupt, the amount energy this kid contained was purely insane.


    In short, this kid is a prodigy, otherwise known as a monster.


    All of the gang members present knew this as well, the question was what they were going to do now. The same went for me as well, just what should I do.


    This scenario went beyond the scope of the mission, this kid is a prodigy, meaning the value to his life is extremely high. I wouldn''t be surprised if this whole city got annihted just to make sure this kid was safe.


    That''s how much talent means in this world, if you have the means to achieve greatness others around will help you achieve it.


    I raised my left hand to my ear and turned on the radio function so my instructor could hear me.


    "Hey, there''s a kid here who''s a prodigy. Problem is these gang members might kill him, so what do you want me to do?"


    Without wasting a single second my instructor simply gave the order.


    "ughter them. Our forces will be there in five minutes. Don''t screw up."

 Chapter 28: Value To Society (2)

    <h4>Chapter 28: Value To Society (2)</h4>


    POV: ze Kennings


    ''Why has life always been so unfair? What have my family, or I done to deserve such things happening? Now I must suffer alone in this world with myst light being snuffed out.'' A whirlpool of emotions was screaming inside of my body while I was looking down at my mother''s dead body.


    I didn''t even know what to do, I merely sat and held her within my arms. I tried to position my head in a way so that my tears wouldn''t distdurb her slumber.


    The area around me simply did not matter anymore and the only vision I had was her in my eyes. She was my mother, someone who went beyond the word of love. Words couldn''t describe the weight she had in my life.


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" I screamed at the top of my lungs, tears were streaming down my while anger was starting to take control.


    The ones who killed my mother are only a couple of feet away from me, merely standing their talking to each other like nothing happened.


    ''What''s stopping me from killing them?''


    Thew? Our court systems are so backwards and hypocritical to such an extent that somehow, I''d be in the wrong for getting revenge.


    ''Unless..... a human has talent. Rather people know it or not have value to their lives. The question is where am I in that spectrum.''


    It seemed I didn''t want to wait an answer because I decided they were all going to die.


    Iid my mother''s body down as gently as I could then proceeded to stand up and let my mana and Ki run wild. Both energy forms react to emotions if they aren''t controlled and right now, they are screaming to be released.


    I was livid beyond belief, I knew I didn''t stand much of a chance since they have guns, but that won''t stop me from trying.


    My eyes locked on to the masked man who fired the gun at my mother, his life was a priority to be taken. I also noticed more gang members showed up with all of them looking at me, but that simply did not matter.


    I noticed two of them raising their guns at me with one of them being my mother''s murderer.


    I instantly reacted with using all of my Ki and shifting it towards my legs to close the distance at a rapid pace, but a mountain of energy was thrown onto me.


    My body crashed into the ground and I could barely move my body. It was like a boulder was on top of me, I used all the force I had to move my head up and saw that all the gang members were in the same condition.


    "LET ME GO NOW! THEY ALL DESERVE TO DIE! THEY DON''T NEED TO LIVE JUST LET ME KILL THEM PLEASE!" I screamed out with my voice filled with nothing but rage.


    I didn''t even know who this person was or even if they were on my side, but that simply didn''t matter. My mental state was too far gone.


    "You want to kill them huh? Hold on just a second then." A man with a deep and cold voice that was terrifying to listen to spoke out. When I heard this man''s voice the first thought that popped up in my head was.


    ''RUN''


    I waited a few seconds to hear the answer to my plea. The gang members were still imnted into the ground and not voicing out a word making me think he might have killed them already.


    "Okay you can kill the one who shot your mother, but that''s the only one. The rest will be going to jail. Make it quick...."


    The pressure was released and I immediately darted over to the man who took thest light out of my life. It took me no more than a second to reach him, I grabbed him by his hair and slowly raised his head.


    I ripped off the stupid mask he wore and looked at his regr brown eyes, the man had a normal face and looked absolutely terrified.


    I used my other hand and grabbed a hold of his entire face. I used fire magic to incinerate his entire face. mes engulfed the man''s face and was making its way down his entire body.


    No sound was made from the man, only ashes were left behind. I let my mes run rampant, hoping they''d kill every gang memberying here.


    They were defenseless after all; this was my best opportunity to make sure all of them got what they deserved.


    "All of you are going to fucking die, did you really think you''d make it out of here alive?" I said while looking at each individual.


    "Oi" A voice entered my left ear making me shoot my head over to see the man who might end up taking my own life.


    What met my eyes shook me to my very core.


    Never in my life have I seen someone with such horrific scaring. A pair of lifeless grey eyes was meeting my own, yet it felt like they were looking right through me, observing my every emotion.


    On top of that, the supposed mystery man was just a teenager, he looked only 2 or 3 years older than me.


    "You better put out those mes or I''m going to beat the living shit out of you. Am I making myself clear?"


    "....No, they need to die, if you want to stop me from killing them....Kill me yourself." I stood my ground firmly; I wasn''t going to listen to some random teen. It was myck of courage and strength that lead to this, I''m not letting another opportunity slip through my damn hands.


    The teen raised his left hand and stopped the raging mes in a millisecond. I was so confused on how he managed to do that without using water magic that I didn''t see the fisting straight towards my face.


    Itnded directly on my nose and followed through with an astounding amount of impact, which sent me flying backwards.


    I skidded across the ground like a rock being thrown against the water. After a couple of feet, I managed to stop myself and slowly get my bearings.


    I felt the force of a train hit my stomach which made me spit out saliva and a little bit of blood. My head came down on its own and I could see a kneecap was on my stomach.


    "Although you have the energy levels of a prodigy, your skill level in using them is awful. If those guys weren''t held down by my aura, you would have died just like your mother...."


    "You fucking bast.." Before I could finish my sentence, my head was mmed into the ground once again.


    "To weak.... This is what you are. You have so much talent which people would die for, yet here you are not using it like a dumbass. Tell me, how many people have you let down in your short lifetime?"

 Chapter 29: Value To Society (3)

    <h4>Chapter 29: Value To Society (3)</h4>


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    I let my words sink into the kid''s head, he truly was a monster in the aspect of having high energy levels, but he couldn''t utilize them at all.


    It was painfully obvious his training was taught poorly; his talent should havended him in a better position than the slums. It seemed like the kid went unnoticed, which is a problem.


    I really didn''t want to do this after his mother just died, but it was an order given to me.


    The kid was still putting up a fight, I was still holding his head down into the ground and was not letting go of it. He attempted to use his fire magic, but failed since I used air magic to suppress thempletely.


    If there is no air around a fire, the fire will die. Firefighters actually specialized in air magic rather than water.


    After an entire minute of trying to fight out of my grip the kid started to break down into tears once again. It seemed his anger has subsided for now and has gone back to sadness.


    "JUST WHY DAMN IT? WHY CAN''T I HAVE ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD! I NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG; IT WAS I WHO WAS WRONGED!" The kid screamed out, it truly hurt my soul when hearing this kid speak.


    He looked to be only a few years younger than me, the kid didn''t deserve this at all.


    The pain he must be feeling is immeasurable, who knows how long it will take for him to ovee this. I wondered what this kid will be in the future as well. Will he help the world or go against it.


    " Go to your mother kid, be by her side and wait till the police get here." I lifted my hand off the kids'' head and let him go over to his mother.


    I didn''t know if this was the right choice or not, but it was the best I could think of. If it were me in his shoes, I''d have no clue on how''d I feel or do in this situation.


    The kid slowly got up; his red tearing face was matching his red hair. He walked past me not batting an eye and slowly made his way to his mother.


    I could hear him whispering to himself with a crackly voice but couldn''t make out the words. There was no need to spy on the kid, I left him alone for the meantime and walked over to the gang members who were still imnted into the ground.


    I took afy seat one of their backs and began to ask the question that contained my curiosity.


    "So why you''d guys kill that kid''s mother in front of his own very eyes? By the way, you all know he''s a prodigy, so your lives are over."


    My question was meant with silence, I wasn''t all that surprised and just decided to wait here on this man''s back.


    After a couple of minutes the police finally arrived, they were prettyte since I was told 5 minutes, but whatever.


    One of the officers walked over to me and gave me a salute. I nodded my head to her and stopped releasing my aura on the men. I then nodded my head to the officer and started to walk off.


    "Wait sir! You need toe with us for questioning since you are a witness of the scene that took ce here." I looked back to the officer and gave her a questioning look.


    "I''m with the VIA, do I really need to do this?" I asked the officer with the nicest voice I could pull off.


    "Yes sir, I''m detective Laura and I was ordered to work on this case. We know your standing with the VIA, but we would still like you toe down to our station for questioning."


    "Is this an order?"


    "Yes sir." Laura said with a smile which don''t not sit well with me at all.


    ''This is really bad, if they end up questioning that kid my name might end up being brought up in a negative light. FUCK, I shouldn''t have listened to those damn orders. '' I started to get stressed out and think of anything to get out of this predicament.


    ''Do I kill everyone here? There shouldn''t be cameras in the slums because of how expensive they are so no one really knows I''m involved besides my instructor and these people. '' I had this dark thought and instinctively put my hands in my pockets where both of my daggers were.


    "Kill those emotions idiot, I can''t even see what''s going on, but I can tell it''s getting to you. Simply follow thedy and do what she tells you for now." My instructor said through the earpiece.


    His words alone pissed me off to the extreme. I didn''t like going to a police station especially when I know I''m guilty of something.


    "Alright, who''s taking me to the police station? I don''t know where it is."


    "Don''t worry simply follow me to my cruiser, another detective will be taking care of that poor child."


    With that Laura started to walk and I followed behind her.


    I had started to hope my instructor would give me any more information, but nothing came during the little walk.


    I was starting to get more and more worked up. This wasn''t a good sign at all, I decided to calm my breathing down and clear my head of all thoughts. My mind was simply nk, I needed to rewire my brain on the fly so that my emotions wouldn''t show at all.


    We arrived at her police car which was a simple cked out 2 door car. Even her windows were tinted making sure you couldn''t see in.


    We both got in the car and Laura started to drive to the police station.


    After a couple of minutes of silence Laura decided to engage in some small talk.


    "I never caught your name by the way, what should I call you?"


    "Azrail.''


    "Oh that''s a pretty unique name, I''ve never heard of anyone having the same name as you Azrail. You look pretty young to, how old are you?"


    "15." I kept my answers inly short since this is how I was when being questioned. I know these were basic questions, but they can create other topics to talk about which I didn''t want.


    "Did you see what happened to that kid at all? We received calls saying there was a shooting, but a VIA agent to care of it. That''s why were sote to the scene."


    "No, I arrived after the crime wasmitted. I only detained the men since they were about to kill the kid."


    "I see, thank you so much for your help. Our police force is extremely understaffed, so crime is quite rampant here which leads to these criminals acting so bold. Gang violence has also increased because of ourck of officers."


    "Have you filed aint to the government?"


    "We have, but they are busy with way too many things right now. Unless more people start to die, the government won''t see this as an important issue."


    ''....Even here huh, seems like the weak will always get to suffer..''

 Chapter 30: Order

    <h4>Chapter 30: Order</h4>


    After 40 minutes of driving, we finally arrived at the police station. When I exited the car and looked at the building, I was actually very happy. The reason for this is because the building looked to be very old and not heavily guarded.


    ''Let''s not get too hasty, the interior is what really matters. I should also be on the lookout for strong energy signals to see if I''m capable of killing everyone in this building...'' I thought to myself as Laura walked Infront of me.


    We made our way through the doors and the first thing I noticed was this building had the same marble floors as the hospital I was in.


    ''...Fuck.'' This thought rang in my head, considering I couldn''t send a pulse at the hospital then I shouldn''t be able to do that here either which gave me a little worry.


    The next second Laura looked back at me and pointed at a room that was to my left. I understood the signal and walked to that door then opened it revealing a very simple room.


    Two simple chairs could be seen with a desk filled with personal items separated the chairs. I took a seat to the chair closest to me with leaving the other one open for Laura.


    It seemed the questioning would be done in her office which is a dumb mistake on her part. I was way too close to the exist and if I were a real suspect that would lead to me having an easy escape route.


    ''Has she deemed me innocent already? Or is this police protocol?'' I questioned, I knew almost nothing to how the police force does thing here, so all of this was new to me.


    After a few minutes of waiting Laura finally walked in while holding quite the number of documents in her hands. She took her seat and ced all of the documents she was holding in front of her.


    She proceeded to look up at me and stated "We have been really busy this week, all these documents you see are all murders that have happened in only five days..."


    The number of papers she had counted up to 40, that is merely child''s y where Ie from.


    "That is nothingpared to what''s happening in Maru....."


    "You are correct, but this isn''t a warzone..... These are innocent civilians dying every day in a ce that is considered ''Peaceful''... Looking at these documents makes me sick to my stomach. The pile only ever gets bigger, never smaller." Lauras former scary smile turned into a sad one, showing that this city has taken its toll on her mental state.


    "That sucks.." Is all I could really say, I didn''t know what else to say to her.


    "You say it sucks, but then why did you tell that child to kill someone?"


    ....


    POV: Laura Howling (Detective)


    I decided to ask the most important question immediately, VIA agents are known for being impossible to crack in questioning, but the boy in front of me is young so I may have a chance to get him to crack.


    I can tell with those scars that he''s no pushover when ites to physicalbat, but questioning is a whole other type of battlefield.


    Those lifeless grey eyes of his never even flinched, the rest of his face stayedpletely normal as well. The question didn''t even budge him.


    "Tell him to kill someone? I never did that, by the time I got to the scene the boy had already killed someone and was attempting to kill the rest. I just stopped him, although I did use physical force."


    ''....This guy.....''


    "Everyone on scene gave the same story, you''re telling me that all of them were lying? This includes the victim as well I should mention."


    "So you believe gang members and a mentally unstable child who just lost his mother over an agent of the VIA?"


    ''Just what kind of people do the VIA produce? How can he lie through his teeth like that and threaten me at the same time like nothing?''


    "Answer me Laura...." The tone of his voice got way colder than it already was. I tried to calm myself down but couldn''t, his words were like a gun being held to my head threating to blow it off without any hesitation.


    "No No, I believe you. I''m so sorry for taking your time. You can leave now." I stated robotically as I couldn''t even think straight, let alone talk.


    "Oh okay, but first bring that kid to me. He''sing with me to the VIA headquarters since he''s a prodigy, also that''s an order."


    "But....but he just lost his mother how..." My words were cut off by words by the monster in front of me."


    "That is an order." He stated while also releasing some his aura which terrified me. I simply got up and went to go grab the child, I didn''t want to lose my life today, after all I have a child of my own to take care of...


    ....


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    Laura left the room to hopefully grab the child, I just stayed in the seat hoping my threats were enough for her to listen to me.


    Her question truly did throw me off, I''m shocked she didn''t notice. Well to be fair she is a low-ranking detective in the ghetto, so her skill level is probably not that high.


    ''I still can''t believe that kid snitched on me, I''m going to rip that bastard apart once we leave this ce....''


    Well hopefully she stays true to her words and actually gets the kid. I could sense her fear, but hopefully fear is enough.


    A minute has gone by and Laura came back with a small kid with bright red hair. The child had dead eyes along with a bright red face showing he must have cried a lot.


    ''.... He''s scared too, he won''t even look at me... I guess beating the shit out of him will wait untilter.''


    I got up from my seat and grabbed the kid''s hand, he showed no resistance and followed me out the police station. As I was leaving a heard a low crackly voicee from behind me.


    The voice sounded out the word monster, I took a nce behind me to see Laura with her head down. I had nothing to say to her and continued walking to leave the building.


    As we made our way outside, I stopped for a second to ask the kid a question.


    "Do you want to die?"

 Chapter 31: The Flame of the Kennings

    <h4>Chapter 31: The me of the Kennings</h4>


    POV: ze Kennings


    "Do you want to die?"


    These words which were said by a monster echoed in my head. Thedy who led me to such a monster had said to be careful and even apologized to me. It seems those words were just a front, because no good person would throw a kid out in front of a being who wants him dead.


    "No." Is all I could muster to say, I wasn''t brave enough to plead my case. Maybe saying no would be just enough for this freak to spare my life.


    "I see." Is all that the freak said.


    We continued to walk for quite a while through the ghetto, after a bit we arrived by a car which was totally cked out. Not once did me and the freak speak to one another, all we did was walk.


    "Get in the car." I followed his order and opened one of the back doors and slowly got in.


    I noticed that there was someone in the driver''s seat, he was a man who looked quite tall and also contained a terrifying aura to him. It seemed like my life was really going to hell all in just one day.


    The freak also got in the passenger''s seat without saying or even looking at the driver.


    The driver stared at the freak and after he started to drive spoke to him.


    "Wow Azrail you weren''t lying when you said this kid was a prodigy, hell this kid is an anomaly with those energy levels. How did everything go at the police station thoughhhhh." The driver said with quite a rude tone and a big smile on his face.


    "Fuck you, training my ass you bastard you did not help at all nor teach me."


    "Awhhhhhhhh are you upset? Look you did such good job on your own and how the hell was I supposed to know the mission would get aborted not even a day in huh?"


    "Fuck. You." It seemed the freaks name was Azrail and hates the driver a lot. I''m shocked the driver isn''t scared at all though, how strong is that guy?


    "Well anyway, you back their what''s your name?" The driver asked me, I guess I have to tell him since my life is in his hands.


    "ze."


    "ze huh, how generic. Well you do have red hair, so I guess naming you wasn''t all that hard."


    His words really pissed me off, my mother gave me that name and it''s the only thing I can treasure. It''s the only reason I decided to live in the first ce. My name is the only thing I have and I will make everyone respect it.


    These people keep saying I''m special, so that means I have value. I will take my special treatment to forge myself into a new human, then I will show everyone what the name ze truly means.


    "What are we going to do with this kid now?" Azrail asked the driver to which the driver paused for a while before answering.


    "Honestly I have no clue, a lot has happened today which has caused a lot of ns changing. The first being the war with Maruing to an end. The second was your actions today which has not only put you under a scope, but the VIA as well. Then there''s the third which is having a prodigy seemingly pop out of nowhere.


    The academy has also dropped a bomb on us stating all our students that we are sending have to show up a week before school starts. That means we quite literally only have 6 days left to train you." The driver stated which not only caused a great shock to me but also Azrail who looked to be lost in thought.


    ".... Wow today really has been quite the day, but how did the war end without me noticing and it seemed like the citizens did not know as well?"


    "Well that information has yet to be made publicly, it''ll happen in two weeks and by then you will be long gone. That really isn''t the important part though, us having only 6 days to train you is. All of my ns having literally gone in the dumpster in the time span of twelve hours."


    "Is there anything you can really teach in that timespan though? Even with the two weeks I had that was still really pushing it."


    The two continued to speak about this topic for quite a while, I didn''t really care that much so I was left with my own thoughts. My mother''s dead body was still stuck vividly in my head so closing my eyes was not an option.


    I didn''t even have time to grieve for her. It seemed like the higher ups in Volestia had ns for me and there wasn''t anything I could do to go against them.


    This was not my first time losing someone close to me, I have been down this road before, but someone was always there to cheer me up. Now I have no one but myself and quite frankly I didn''t like myself to begin with.


    My only goals are to get stronger and learn what my surroundings are. Once I know what everyone''s true goals and desires are is when I can really decide what I want to do.


    I can either be the me that destroys everything or be the me that gives everyone light.


    Currently with the way things have been going I want to destroy everything just like what the world did to me. Why would I give people hope when they kill mine. I hope that one day I can find an answer to this question.


    I''m not dumb enough to think everyone is bad but are people good enough to make me not kill them is the question.


    Although my thoughts have gone to an extremely dark ce these two have not seemed to have noticed and there arguing has not stopped. I wish I could make these two shut up, but I am nowhere near strong enough to do so.


    Thinking about it now, it would be nice to someday boss around people like this, it would really give me some joy.


    ''I wonder, should I be a King?''


    After having this crazy thought, I started to feel myself smile which might have given me my answer.

 Chapter 32: Secrets

    <h4>Chapter 32: Secrets</h4>


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    I was sitting in what I believe to be my instructors office, it couldn''t even be called an office because all it had were couches and a mere table. Although the room was not on my mind, my training was.


    After we had arrived at out headquarters multiple men seemed to be waiting for us and took the kid named ze away immediately. They did not say anything to us and just left with the kid in their possession. Though to be honest I did not care at all where that kid goes.


    I was now currently focused on what my instructor had in mind for my training, we only have 6 days now, so I need to know what he wants me to aplish in those days.


    "I think we should focus on your tracking abilities. Youck the ability to notice when your being trailed by a high-level target which can be fatal when spying. I will also give you all the intelligence we have on the other three major races, although it''s old, it still gives you the basics." My instructor said while his eyes were closed.


    "Are you sure? My tracking abilities are definitely not as good as a sensor, but they are by no means bad. I used to find people hunting me down countless of times."


    "I''m positive, your tracking skills need to be polished. Remember you''re going to a school filled with prodigies, the people that hunted you down are basically garbagepared to them. "


    "Alright... is that really all we are going to be working on?"


    My instructor took a while before answering my question. I was worried, I had no idea what to expect and that''s what I hated the most.


    "We don''t have any time for anything else, I know it sucks but that''s the situation we are in. You will simply have to improve on your own, I will give you the theories of other topics, but it''s up to you to not only understand them but remember them."


    "Wait what do you mean remember them?''


    "I can only verbally tell you the theories, that is all. We can''t risk writing anything down, that goes for when you find information as well. You must keep everything in your head."


    "I figured, well then what should I do for the rest of today?"


    "Just go to your room and study the files that are on your bed. It''s the intel we have on the races which will definitely help you out. After practice every day you will study those files, don''t half ass reading them make sure to take your time and understand everything you can."


    I gave no response and immediately started to walk towards my room. I had started to hope that these files would give back some of my confidence.


    .......


    POV: William Hunt


    Azrail had left the room and I was finally left alone in my little office. I breathed out a sigh of relief and proceeded to pull out a cigarette.


    The news the academy gave us was truly a bomb shell, not only did Azrail get his training cut in half, but the others prep time had been cut short. For such a grand operation this was truly a worst case scenario.


    I mmed my fist down on the table which smashed the thing to pieces.


    "FUCK!" I screamed out, I was beyond frustrated with how things were going overall for humanity. Everything we are attempting to do is in the dark, who actually knows if this academy will actually help us humans out.


    Although our leader said this academy won''t harm us can that really be believable? What is stopping themmitting a mass genocide on everyone there? What the hell is the Fallem Empires goal?


    Not only that but the Elves are breathing down our necks, experts believe they will dere war in 7 years, but with what they''ve been doingtely I think 3 is the more appropriate answer.


    Why won''t the damn leaders listen to our advice and dere war on them! We finally have the capabilities to cross that damn sea so why can''t we fight on their soil! I know those damn leaders didn''t forget what happened in thest great war so why won''t they even ponder the damn idea?


    The odds of mending our rtionship with the Elves at the academy is extremely low, there''s no way they are putting all of their hope into that idea.


    Humanity can''t take another war on its soil; at this rate it won''t be long until we are removed from this or turned into a ve race. I hope after the first year of the academy that they see this or else we are doomed.


    With all the stress built up inside I decided to leave my office and started heading towards the main building. After walking in went to the closest elevator let its doors shut.


    "William Hunt, code 49373390, requesting ess to floor zero." I said out loud in the elevator.


    "ess granted." A robotic voice sounded out inside the elevator while it started to descend into the deeper floors.


    After 20 minutes the elevator doors finally opened, after leaving the elevator I came to see a massive gate made out what seemed to be stone. I put mana and Ki towards my eyes and started to see theplex designs all over the massive stone gate.


    I put my hand against the gate and pushed mana inside of it to fill the designs in a certain order.


    Once the order waspleted the gate slowly opened up which revealed what was on the other side of it. I started to walk down a straight hallway with prison cells on each side. Each cell was numbered and had a symbol next to it showing which race was inside the cell.


    The hallway was dead silent and only my footsteps could be heard, each cell has multiple arrays cast on them with one of them being a noise canceller. This means they can''t hear me, nor can I hear them unless I go inside their cell.


    I stopped walking and looked to my right to see a cell with the number 85 and a symbol of a bow which represented the Elves. I did the same mana process as I did with the gate which made the cell door open.


    As I walked inside the cell what met my eyes was a man who was chained against the wall and hand a special blindfold covering his eyes.


    I walked over to the man very slowly making sure he heard every footstep I took and stopped when I was a few inches away from his body. The man was chained to the wall standing, so I punched him in the stomach as hard as I could.


    "Did you miss me?" I said to the Elf while having a big old smile on my face.

 Chapter 33: Insanity

    <h4>Chapter 33: Insanity</h4>


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    It was dark in my room, Iid in bed with my mind in absolute chaos. The files I read about the other major races were to me for this.


    "How..... Just how in the world is that possible? It''s no wonder information about them is mostly ssified, THIS IS INSANE!" I screamed out loud in my room, the information was so absurd I couldn''t even talk to myself in my head. It had to be said out loud.


    "If they go to war with us and invade we are screwed..... Even now I still can''tprehend how we made it out of the war without going extinct. Do those idiots truly think the younger generation can save us? HAVE THEY LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS?!"


    My mind was in shambles, the intel I received came from battle reports from the great war. This meant all the intel was basically what happened during these battles and small skirmishes.


    The level of detail that was in these reports though were second to none, they described the battlefield so perfectly that I could even picture the events happening.


    What I was able to understand was simple, the Elves were anomalies. They were a threat, a threat sorge that even having them as allies was terrifying.


    I was fully able toprehend why we hated them so much. They look at us the same way us humans look at insects. We are a lower life form to them, basically there''s no shot in hell peace can be achieved.


    "We either ughter them or they ughter us, forget about the academy it won''t matter once they decide to dere war on us. We shouldn''t be sending our talents to the academy, we should be preparing them for a war."


    I started to feel quite tired, it seemed like I hit my mental limit for today and passed out on my bed.


    After a few hours I woke up to the annoying sound of my rm. I immediately got out of bed to shut that thing up and exited the room. I had decided to go to my instructor''s office right away since I needed to hear his actual thoughts on this situation.


    Without wasting any time, I arrived in front of my instructor''s office and opened the door to see him already sitting on the couch with his eyes closed.


    Before I could even sit down the man already started to speak. "Judging by your heart rate I can see you found about how the Elves truly are. You''re correct they areplete fucking monsters and yes you are correct being allies with them is nothing short of a pipe dream...."


    "Then why the hell should we send our talents to the academy? I understand the opportunity is great, but the Elves have the capabilities to drive us to extinction!"


    "I have no idea Azrail..... honestly none. To be frank, this operation doesn''t make much sense to me at all. All you have to do is your part of the mission, let the adults handle the rest."


    "Let the adults handle the rest? How the hell am I supposed to do that when you fucking clowns don''t even know what you''re doing!"


    "..... Azrail calm down, just because I don''t know what we are nning doesn''t mean the ones making the actual decisions are as lost as me. This doesn''t just involve Volestia as well, the other Human nations are also in on this meaning it has to hold some type of grand value. Just do your damn job shit stain."


    "Well, its fucking hard to when I can''t see something gooding out of this."


    "Tell me about it, let''s just focus on training for now. We don''t have much time left and when you study those files don''t focus on their physical capabilities. You''ll get to see those when you''re at the academy, so don''t waste time on that."


    "Yes I know already, well then what are you going to have me do?"


    "It''s actually pretty simple, we are going to have you sit in the middle of a forest while blindfolded. Don''t make that face and hear me out, animals are actually quite good at observing. Not only that but some are extremely good at masking their presence, so I believe this type of training could heighten your awareness.


    I should also mention you will only be allowed to use Ki, not mana. This will have you rely on your actual senses rather than mana. You will be doing this for ten hours without any breaks. I will bring you food to eat when I feel like it."


    I decided to actually think about his training proposal, it did sound like it would work but was it the best option was my question.


    ''Who cares at this rate... I have little time anyway to actually improve anyway so I might as well follow his lead withoutining. The most important thing is to remember those files about the battles. I need to see which humans were actually special enough to contend with Elves and implement their skills into my arsenal.


    I noticed that not all the battles were lost and some humans did certain things which I didn''t think of before. I need to cram information inside of my skull in these few days, this is a must.'' After finishing this long thought, I told my instructor to get started and we started to walk to his car.


    I didn''t speak nor ask my instructor any questions, I was merely focused on the goal of improving.


    We were driving for quite a while on some back road which seemed like it led to nothing. My instructor pulled over his car and told me to get out. When I got out of the car all I could see wererge trees as well as an abundance of bushes. Besides the road that split this forest in half, this was all it was.


    We then started to walk right into the forest and didn''t stop walking for what seemed to be an hour. The same sights were seen the entire time, I didn''t even see any wildlife which surprised me.


    "Alright here''s the blindfold, don''t take it off and keep track of the number of animals you think spotted you. If they try to attack just use a little blood lust and they''ll run. Anyways have fun and remember stay in this exact spot the entire time."


    I grabbed the blindfold and took a seat on the grass while crossing both of my legs. I put the ck blindfold on and couldn''t see a damn thing.


    ''Well then let''s see if this actually works.''

 Chapter 34: Predator

    <h4>Chapter 34: Predator</h4>


    "This.... is..... to much haaaaa" I managed to say while puffing air out of my lungs. I was extremely short of breath and sweating profusely. I haven''t even moved a muscle, yet it feels like I''ve been fighting for my life for days.


    I don''t even know how much time has passed, but I already want it to end. This training wasn''t only about my sense, it was for my mind as well.


    The amount of dark thoughts appearing was absurd, sounds that should only happen in a warzone are constantly sounding out. It was like I was in a battlefield, yet I knew I was just in some forest.


    One moment I can hear the sound of wind blowing then the next it was the whispers of the people I''ve killed in the past giving me their pleas.


    I couldn''t tell which was real or fake sending my body into a constant state of anxiety. I released bloodlust when I shouldn''t have and even forgot the number of animals I managed to spot.


    I was praying my instructor would give me my food so I could at least ask how much time has passed, I wanted to know how much longer I had to suffer.


    "RUSTLE" "RUSTLE"


    My ears managed to pick up the sound of rustling bushes which made me use my Ki to the max. The areas of which my Ki was used were my ears as well as my nose. Throughout my time here I believed these two areas were the most important.


    I couldn''t pinpoint the exact distance from where the sound was made, but my guess was over 200 yards. As for the direction, it was directly behind me almost as if it the creature was lining up to my spine.


    I tried to see if the creature gave off any smell, but it didn''t. All my nose could pick up was the smell of grass and wood.


    ''Strange, I don''t sense bloodlust yet I feel like I''m in danger. Why though? There isn''t any wildlife that can evene close to touching me so why do I feel scared?'' I said to myself while grabbing my thigh, for some reason my leg was shaking.


    ''No somethings wrong..... but what''s my problem? Have I reached a breaking point? No that''s impossible, I should be much stronger than this....right?'' I sounded confused in my own thoughts. This forest has led to me questioning my own strength.


    "SWISH" "SWISH"


    ''... Another sound that shouldn''t be here. This time it''s a sword cutting through the air huh. The odd part is I can tell which way the imaginary sword cut.....'' I said in my mind as I ced my other hand across my neck.


    Although my thoughts were in scrambles trying to find the problem, I had not once let my guard down and kept searching for the creature.


    My Ki was getting drained, but this was something I was used to. You cannot constantly use Ki as it will drain, leaving you with none of it left. However, if you stop using it when your reserves hit about 50 percent it can regenerate back quickly. For me, this process only takes about 5 minutes which has made me quite advanced in utilizing Ki.


    If you go below this reserve, it will take quite a while longer to regenerate back. The reason being is Ki uses itself to regenerate, this only applies to humans though.


    In the files that I read it stated that humans actually have an organ to help the regeneration process while other races do not.


    Although I was currently feeling physically drained because of that, it seemed like my body was trying to throw in the towel. Still, I couldn''t stop since I needed to find the creature. This is training, I have to push myself to the limit while my life isn''t on the line.


    I waited and waited, more than 10 minutes have gone by and finally I picked up the creatures odor. It was a deer, they actually have quite a unique smell, so they are easy to discover by odor.


    After I spotted the little fuck, I sent every ounce of bloodlust to it making it dash further away from me.


    As it was sprinting through the woods, I stopped using my Ki making my body feel relieved. My body was feeling better, but the feeling of fear still stayed making me once again alert.


    ''I shouldn''t use Ki, I''ll have to manage with just my normal sensing ability. The fact that I''m still scared though is really throwing me off. Is there perhaps another animal nearby?'' I asked myself trying to think of what could possibly do this to me.


    I decided to go against my instructor''s word and used mana. I slowly let go of my shaking thigh and put my palm to the ground then sent out a mana pulse.


    I tried to feel everything connected to ground including the trees. Some animals are able to climb trees so I couldn''t leave those unchecked. As I started to hit 400 yards, I had noticed that one of the trees had something on it.


    ''What is that? A hand perhaps? Hmm I can definitely sense fingers, but only humans have those. Could it be my instructor maybe?''


    I had figured out it was a hand, but the odd part was I could only sense the hand and nothing else. I can tell by the hand''s location that the thing is definitely standing on a branch, but I couldn''t sense its entire body.


    ''The location of that tree is also throwing me off..... It''s in a perfect sniping position.... That thing has a perfect shot for my upper body and considering how high in the air it is not many branches are in its way. Wait... why would they choose a position like that? Sniper bullets can easily prate mere branches without changing the bullets trajectory, shouldn''t they have gone lower to provide more cover as to not get spotted?


    Thats what every sniper is taught, so then why are they so high up? Maybe this this is just an animal? No it can''t be, only humans have hands..... Damn let me try to sense its aura.''


    I removed my palm from the ground, but I left my pointer finger there and tilted it towards that things position. Doing so simply focused my sensing ability being able to give more information on that thing and its location. Instead of a big circle it''s more like a road that leads right to it.


    After getting a clear straight path to it I was finally able to sense its entire body, as well as its energy levels.


    ''Hmmmm no its definitely not my instructor since this being is taller, but wait... what the fuck are those energy levels? How can a human have such a high mana capacity with so little Ki.... Wait isn''t that impossible for a human?


    Oh no.. please no, please tell me I''m wrong....''

 Chapter 35: Reality

    <h4>Chapter 35: Reality</h4>


    ''NO IT CAN''T BE! WHY WOULD AN ELF BE HERE OF ALL PLACES? THAT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE, FUCK JUST CALM DOWN DAMN IT....CALM DOWN AZRAIL!'' I screamed in my mind while also feeling like I was about to have a heart attack.


    My heart was pounding violently, it came to the point where I could hear its drumming on each breathe. To make matters worse my body was in a cold sweat and it took everything I had to not shake from the amount of fear I felt.


    ''They... They still haven''t moved and I believe this Elf in unarmed. That really doesn''t matter though considering their whole damn body is a weapon. Then why haven''t they taken a shot? Also how long have they been watching me?''


    My finger still held strong to the ground making me able to still sense the Elf. I started to think of more questions, but all of them had no answer.


    I dropped asking questions and merely focused what I had to do to ensure survival.


    ''Do I fight or run... Running would probably give me a higher chance of getting killed now that I think about it. Elves are experts in long rangebat, but theyck in close range. Still this damn monster has so many advantages over me, not even beginning to mention its insane mana pool.''


    When deciding when to fight or run I usually go with the option which is safer unless it''s a personal matter. Yet this type of case has never happened to me before where I can''t choose.


    Both options lead to a high chance of me being killed. I also assume worst case scenario meaning my instructor or anyone else isn''t able to help.


    ''This is really bad, how the hell could I even get this damn blindfold off without that thing noticing? I guess that would be the signal to how things kick off. Whatever, I already have a path leading to that thing, so I guess I need to fight...''


    I gave onest sense throughout the path and the Elf as well. The path leading to him is about 400 yards, hopefully I can get in range faster than they can separate it.


    I needed to go all out with speed right from the start, holding back wasn''t an option. If I had the opportunity to kill, I would also take that as well.


    I started to channel Ki to the upmost limit throughout my entire body. In next split second I rolled to my right making me not only stand on my feet but blocking a shot path as well.


    I ripped off the blindfold while filling my body with an electrical current. Only a second has gone by and the Elf hasn''t moved from its original position.


    With my feet nted to the ground I ripped off it like a whip, making me seem like a blur while dodging trees. I made it to the tree the Elf was standing on in 2 seconds.


    I didn''t waste time and started to run up the tree which seemed to be over 500 yards tall. Within another 2 seconds I made it to the branch the Elf was standing on just to see it standing there not even looking at me.


    That didn''t bother me one bit though as I was already above it and pointed my left arm downwards towards the Elf.


    I used the wind element to control the air around me and mmed it right on top of the Elfs body. This broke every branch in its path and was able to m the Elf 400 yards down into the ground.


    I pivoted my feet against the tree to have my toes face downwards and blitzed off the tree to reach the ground.


    Upon reaching the ground I saw the Elf slowly getting up, but I didn''t want that to happen. I appeared right in front of his head and used my right hand to m their face into the ground.


    Or I attempted to, I looked down to see the Elfs head didn''t even budge.


    I switched my hands position to the back of its neck and held it as strongly as possible while making sure to dig my fingers in. My fingers didn''t go in much showing how strong this Elf was.


    I noticed the Elfs left hand being raised and its fingers opening up. I quickly used my left hand to interlock our fingers together to ensure no space would be created.


    As soon as I did this though I felt a foreign mana force enter my body which discharged my electrical current.


    My eyes opened wide as I knew now I could only stick to grappling, if I let go of any body part, I''d be dead. Losing my electrical current has lowered my speed tremendously, if this Elf gets any space it can easily turn into a long distance battle.


    I could feel its neck starting to give in, I used my strength to bring up its left arm all the way to its back. I could feel it trying to resist, but being in such an awkward position the body can only hold on for so long.


    ''If I can break its left arm I''ll have the advantage, I need to keep pushing.''


    I noticed a right punch start toe for my liver, I quickly turned my waist to stop the punch halfway with my hip lowering the impact greatly. With the Elf using their mana to subdue mine it couldn''t control the elements nor use spells. This made it only rely on physicalbat which I clearly had an advantage in.


    As I finally made its arm reach all the way to its back, I started to turn it making it bend in a way it wasn''t supposed to. It was very easy to do so and finally its arm broke.


    The Elf didn''t make any noise, although it started to punch me more frantically but none of the punches did significant damage.


    I let go of the Elfs left arm and used my body to turn on its left side to take its back. When I reached its back it tried to turn, but my right hand never left its neck, so they stayed in the same bent position.


    Using my free left arm, I wrapped it around the front of its neck and used my right arm to further increase the chokehold. I was trying to kill this Elf with a rear naked chokehold.


    Capturing it was not an option, this thing was too dangerous to be left alive.

 Chapter 36: Reality (2)

    <h4>Chapter 36: Reality (2)</h4>


    ''Damn it! The chokehold isn''t fucking sinking in, what the hell is this things neck made out of?'' I thought to myself as I will still on the Elf''s back trying to choke it to death.


    I could hear small minuscule breathes so the chokehold wasn''t going to work. I decided to switch tactics and attempted to snap its neck.


    I moved my forearm up to the Elf''s jaw, once I felt the connection I decided to twist violently. Using my upper body as leverage I was able to twist it so that the Elf''s face was lookingpletely to its left, but it wasn''t enough to actually snap it.


    It needed a bit more to snap, it seemed the Elf knew this and was wing away at my forearms rather than trying to pry them off.


    "Filthy." An elegant voice lowly sounded out from the Elf I was trying to kill. Hearing him speak wasn''t what surprised me, him speaking the humannguage did.


    "How''d you learn the humannguage fuck face." I spat, hearing this monster speak the humannguage enraged me. How much information did we let them steal.


    I did speak to the man, but I did not stop twisting his neck. I was going closer and closer by the second. He didn''t have much time left if this continued.


    The Elf didn''t respond and out of seemingly nowhere I felt his mana disappear from my body.


    His wing stopped and turned into a monstrous grip on my forearms. I felt every hair on my body stand as I knew I was in extreme danger. The man pried open my forearm just a little and turned his head just slightly enough for our eyes to meet.


    His green eyes were like daggers, ready to split me in half anytime they wanted. Those eyes of his then started to glow, I felt the wind building up into one ball right in front of both of his eyes.


    I dropped my forehead right in front of the ball and felt the force of a pole hitting my temple.


    This caused me to fly back, but I kept my feet on the ground to lessen the distance of me going backwards. Luckily, I was only pushed back a couple of feet, but the impact had done on number on my head.


    I felt blood starting to drip down my face, yet my eyes never looked away from his. We were staring at one another waiting for the next move.


    ''Controlling the elements with your eyes is unheard of, this must be one the special traits with the Elves. I need to stick close to him so that he can''t use any destructive abilities. I know I''m going to get a beating, but I just need to find openings and make them count...''


    Since his mana is no longer suppressing mine, I enhanced myself with electricity and immediately closed the distance. I tested his reaction speed by throwing a straight right to hit his nose.


    The man barely dodged by tilting his head to the right, but my pinky knuckle grazed his cheek.


    ''Idiot.'' I followed through with the punch with my elbow which mmed into the man''s nose. Through the connection I could tell that it was broken and he got knocked off bnce.


    As he was falling backwards, he attempted to throw a punch yet it only hit air. I grabbed his arm that was fully extended and mmed it down on my kneecap which shattered his elbow.


    The Elf who was supposed to be a major threat was now on his knees with two broken arms and a broken nose. Yet the man never made a sound and his eyes were still daggers.


    I could see his eyes start to glow again, I didn''t want another repeat happening, so I instantly jammed two of my fingers into his eyes.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The Elf screamed out as blood was profuselying out both of his eye sockets.


    ''.... Somethings wrong...''


    I crouched down and grabbed the Elfs head then snapped his neck. The man''s screaming came to an end and as I checked for a pulse nothing came back. I stopped using both energies and took a seat in front of his dead body.


    ''I knew it... I''m still scared for some reason. This fight was far too easy to make me scared, never once did I gain confidence even though I was winning the entire fight. There has to be something else out there.''


    "Why... Why did you kill that man?" A beautiful female voice entered my ears and I felt the fear I had within me increase tenfold.


    I didn''t even bother taking abat stance because I knew I would get killed instantly. My instincts were almost never wrong, I knew this woman was in another realm.


    ''I fucked up big time, although that voice sounds lovely the amount of bloodlust pointed at me is insane. My back is also pointed to her, I guess this is the end for me....''


    "Answer me. Don''t think anyone wille save you either, so answer my question." The tone of her voice was violent this time, it seemed she really wanted to know before killing me.


    As I was staring at the Elfs dead body, I felt a gentle hand ced on my shoulder. Chills went up my back, it seemed I was going to be toured to death.


    That gentle hand turned into an iron grip and forced me topletely turn around. Although I was forcibly turned, my eyes never looked up, they stayed glued to the ground.


    As I was staring at the ground, I saw a feminine hande into my view. Her hand grabbed my jaw and forced me to look up.


    My killers face was right in front of me, she was of course an Elf. Those pointy ears and fantasy like face gave it away. Thedy had purples eyes like an emerald with a mix of green in them.


    Her facial features were quite sharp, but the most bizarre part was she looked only a bit older than me.

 Chapter 37: Reality (3)

    <h4>Chapter 37: Reality (3)</h4>


    ''How can someone be that much stronger than me when we look to be almost the same age? Even though I''m at point nk range I have nothing and can do nothing to kill her. Not to mention she also speaks the humannguage, what in the world is happening?'' I thought to myself as I stared dead into her eyes.


    "Human, I know you can understand me. That Elf did nothing to harm you so why did you kill him?"


    "Why are you Elves on human soil."


    "To keep an eye on what you humans are nning, did you think we''d forgot what your race did to us all those years ago? You humans can''t be trusted."


    ''This is nonsense, in what world do these Elves fucking live in. Do they look down on us so much that they think they can do whatever they want while thinking they''re in the right?''


    "You''re the ones who are pushing your limits, what you alone are doing right now is enough to start another war. Is that what you Elves want because that seems to be the case."


    "We Elves despise war, it''s your race that loves war. Greed runs through your veins and youck the self control to stop it. All your race does is take, never give. What you have is never enough and you always want more, tell me am I wrong?"


    "Humans take? Do I need to remind you that you almost brought us to extinction? Yournds have never once been invaded, you people are always the one invading. For people who hate war so much you sure are good at it."


    "That is only because you never had the capabilities to invade, do you even know why the great war started? Probably not since humans are so secretive, well anyway answer my first question."


    "I considered him a threat. There you fucking happy now, let''s just get this over with."


    "A threat? The man did no physical harm to you, yet you considered him a threat. All he did was observe you and you think that''s enough to take someone''s life away?"


    "The way you''re looking down on me is the same way your race looks at my own. You have zero respect and push your boundaries. You being here is enough to get you killed, until there is a day where we are allies then that will not happen. If you want to be here and observe us so badly sign a damn peace treaty and do it legally."


    The woman just stared at me and finally let go of my jaw. The amount of bloodlust she had never went down. It seemed she had enough of our conversation.


    As I was waiting for my death the women simply waved her small hand and started to walk. In that moment she vanished, as if she wasn''t even here to begin with.


    ''She controls the space element? No wonder the difference is thatrge, that''s one of the most powerful elements you can wield. It seems she''s spared my life, but at what cost...'' I thought to myself while feeling extremely tired and defeated.


    I''ve had quite a long day once again and it seemed like a break was never going toe.


    .....


    POV: Wim Hunt


    ''Man I haven''t fed the poor kid in eight hours, hopefully he isn''t to pissed at me. Well I''m sure he''s used to not eating for long periods of time, after all he was trained into a war machine.'' I thought to myself as I was driving, this backroad was always peaceful and never had any other cars.


    I was hoping that this forest would be able to help the kid deal with his problems mentally. Being alone while not being able to see truly forces you to see your own problems.


    With how much the kid seemed to think, I knew problems would arise for him, so I wanted to do it in a safe environment rather than having ite up for the first time at the academy.


    I pulled over on the side of the road and got out of my vehicle. I grabbed the kid''s dinner and started my walk into the forest.


    The kid was pretty far into the forest, so I decided to run. I was already prettyte, there was no need for me to make it worse. I began to dash through the trees and bushes while making sure the stic bag in my hand wasn''t breaking.


    In less than 10 minutes I made it to the kids'' location, but he wasn''t there. I noticed the blindfold on the ground and immediately heightened all my senses. I dropped the stic bag and began to search for him.


    I picked up the kid''s scent and took off into its direction. In less than a second I managed to spot the kid, but his condition didn''t look so good. Blood was all over him and still leaking very slowly from his temple.


    I also noticed a dead person to his back, when I looked at the person''s body, I saw that it was an Elf.


    "Azrail what happened! Can you speak? Are you okay?" I asked the kid in a loud tone. This wasn''t supposed to happen and I was worried about his condition.


    "I''m fine, just tired.... We have a serious problem though." The kid said in a very low tired tone.


    "What''s the problem? Here just exin everything that you can and I''ll simply listen."


    As Azrail was telling his story I began to patch up that wound on his temple. The kid spilled everything to me and I couldn''t believe what transpired here while I was away.


    I was shocked, but for the most part I was enraged. I couldn''t believe the Elves would not only be able to speak the humannguage but do it fluently. Being able to control the elements with their eyes is also new. Yet the worst part has to be that they have a young Elf capable of wielding the space element.


    "You did a good job Azrail I mean it, being able to kill an Elf and attain valuable information is very difficult. The government will reward you for this and don''t worry about you conversation with that girl. You did the right thing, now let''s go back and have you get some rest."


    I meant every word I said to the kid, he truly did an amazing job and honestly I felt proud. He did this all by himself, I needed to make sure his work didn''t go to waste.


    As Azrail was getting up he suddenly stopped and fell down. I appeared next to him and check his vitals which showed that he was alive, just simply passed out.


    I grabbed a cell phone from my pocket and dialed in a certain number.


    "How may I help you sir?"


    "Code green, emergency level five, requesting use of the reaper core. Also send a medic to my current location immediately."


    "Yes sir." The male responder said, I hung up the phone and simply looked up at the sky.


    ''We have been far too lenient on them, it''s time to start truly hunting them down. ''

 Chapter 38: Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 38: Discussion</h4>


    POV: William Hunt


    I had picked up Azrail''s body and carried him all the way to my car. My phone has a tracking device in it, so the VIA were already here. The amount of cked out vehicles and militarized trucks numbered in the hundreds.


    A medical team came up to me and took Azrail out of my hands then carried him to their viechle. We didn''t need to speak as I had many people waiting on my orders.


    Many men and women started to gather in front of me as well as a squad from the military.


    "Alright listen closely, I need one team to recover an Elf''s dead body in the forest. Use the map on your phones, the Elf''s body will be marked. I need another team to assist that team as to make sure nothing happens. As for the rest of you, form a perimeter around this entire area and have teams search inside of it. We don''t know if there are any more Elves hiding so make the search thorough. As usual go through level five protocol. As for the military personal I''ll have to speak with you privately."


    Everyone started to discuss with one another about which job they were going to do and started to leave to fulfill my orders. I looked over to the operators who were still waiting for orders.


    This special forces unit was called the Reaper Core, as the name implies it''s a specialized group made for hunting down high priority targets. These targets are usually groups or individuals that pose a great amount of threat.


    These operators don''t show their faces, it is always covered by a mask and instead of having names they go by numbers. I n for Azrail to join this group if we do go to war with the Elves.


    After a minute only myself and the reapers could be seen, so I decided to give them a rundown on their task.


    "An Elf managed to escape, this Elf is unique and can control the space element. I have no clue where she could possibly be but capturing her would be greatly beneficial. If you do manage to find her do not to kill her, I believe she may be royalty so only capturing is allowed. There is a pin on your maps that shows where she may have used her ability, I''d start your search there. Any questions?"


    "What if we aren''t able to capture her? Do we simply run?"


    "Correct, you cannot kill her no matter what, so be careful when deciding if you want to engage with her." I answered the man''s question and the squad vanished from where they were standing.


    ''This isn''t even one of their best squads either, those squads are still in Maru. Yet they still give me the chills, well what''s to be expected when they are considered to be one of the best special forces units Volestia has.''


    Now it was only a waiting game to see if anything woulde out of this. I believe this should be a wakeup call for the higher ups in this nation.


    Our leader was a great one but could be too passive at times making situations like this happen far too often. The Elves would barely get any consequences from this which angered me the most.


    They simply run around and do whatever they fucking want. If we were doing this in theirnd, they would have already invaded us.


    I felt my phone start to vibrate and immediately pulled it out of my pocket. I flipped it open to see who was calling me and saw the name "Dick Gobbler". I knew this douchebag and sadly he was one of my coworkers.


    I picked the phone and spoke to the man.


    "What do you want."


    "WILLIAM ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND! JUST WHO IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PULLING THE STUNT YOU JUST DID!"


    I caught myself staring at the sky and started to wonder why I actually picked up the phone to listen to this low life.


    "Calm down, I can hear your tits bouncing."


    "SO HELP ME WILLIAM I''M GONNA FREAKING TEAR YOU TO SHREDS, GET YOUR BEHIND DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"


    "I can''t dumbass, someone has to stay here to ma..."


    "NO NO NO NO, LARRY IS ALREADY DOWN THERE TO COVER FOR YOU SO HURRY UP, DON''T MAKE ALL OF US COME DOWN THERE TO YOU BECAUSE IT WON''T BE PRETTY!" The man screamed over the phone and finally hung up.


    I was truly lost for words, but I could feel veins bulging in both my hands. I then spotted a man simply standing in front me. It was Larry.


    "Sorry William, everyone is waiting for you so I really would suggest that you go. I believe the president will be there as well so if you don''t show up there will be consequences."


    I looked at the old man and didn''t even say a word to him, I merely walked past him to get to my car. That sly old fox is someone who I can never get a read on, so I just stay away from him.


    ''Fucking bastard, I still can''t ever manage to find the guy even though he''s almost 300 years old.''


    I entered my car and started to drive back to headquarters.


    When I arrived, I got out of my car and entered the main building then made my way to the elevator. Getting inside the elevator I pressed the button with the number 37 on it.


    It made its way to the floor and the doors opened, I entered the room and noticed that the president''s seat was empty.


    My eyes scanned the ck table and noticed 10 people were currently seated which were all men and their ages ranged from old to middle aged. This did not surprise me though considering I''m the youngest out of everyone with my position as a captain.


    I took my seat at the bottom right of the table and I heard that annoying''s man screaming fill the room.


    "WILLIAM JUST WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED OUT THERE, WHY WOULD YOU REQUEST FOR THE REAPER CORE!"


    "Stop yelling asshole, anyway two Elves were inside of the forest where Azrail was training. Azrail had managed to spot one and kill it, but the other one managed to escape. I should mention the one who escaped controls the space element and can speak the humannguage fluently. Even though the odds of finding her are slim I still called in the reapers because they have the highest chance to do this without getting massacred. "


    "What! How could this happen.... You mean to tell me they have the capabilities to fully understand us?"


    "That is correct, Azrail held a full conversation with her. Although most of it was her just shitting on our race."


    Once I answered the man''s question there was silence in the room, they knew I made the right call so not much had to be said. Although I did abuse my authority, the rest of them would have done the same.


    "William, how''s the child doing? Do you think he is able to aplish what we are asking from him?" Said the man at the top left on the table, he was positioned right by president''s seat.


    I had to choose my words carefully as this old man held a lot of power in the VIA.

 Chapter 39: Discussion (2)

    <h4>Chapter 39: Discussion (2)</h4>


    I took my time before answering, no one dared to interrupt my thoughts as an important man asked the question. Everyone else also wanted to know the answer as well. When they were asked to train the kid each one of them said no, leaving me to take care of it.


    As I am the youngest captain of the VIA, all tasks they do not wish to do fall to me.


    "Yes sir, I believe he''s able to fulfill our expectations. There is no other kid from Volestia whoes close to him when ites topleting our tasks. Although our training gotpletely ruined, I still think he''ll be more than fine for the first year." I stated calmly, hoping that my answer would be enough for his curiosity. I didn''t even know the man''s name as this was our only second time meeting.


    No one else besides Larry knows the man''s name, so all of us address him as sir.


    "Good, very good. What rewards shall we give to the boy then William?" The old man dropped a question I truly didn''t want to answer out loud. I would have rather wished to deal with it privately as to not deal with all the bullshit.


    "I believe he should get paid arge sum of money first, I will leave the amount up to anyone here. Second, I want him to get a rmendation into the Reaper Core if war with the Elves is waged...."


    The first reward I stated was truly nothing major, this wasmon as most people who had achieved something were given a bonus on their paycheck.


    The second reward however had the room feeling very heavy, it seemed like not everyone agreed to it but that is what I expected. The second reward was truly pushing it, but I needed for it to happen.


    No one opened their mouths and kept their thoughts to themselves, although that didn''t stop a couple of them from giving me a dirty look.


    "There''s no problem with the first reward, however the second is a different story. I believe the boy has not done enough to get him into selection, but if he is able to do well in the academy, we will get him into selection. This is an order, no one can refute or change this decision."


    "Thank you sir." I said in a grateful tone as I was happy with the oue. I believed Azrail had the skillset to earn his shot at the selection.


    With the Reaper Core being one of the best special forces units Volestia has, only people with a rmendation are able to try out for selection. To earn a rmendation, you usually need years of service andbat experience just to earn the right to try out.


    Supposedly only 10 percent of those people make it through to the actual squads. I read in a report once that the youngest to ever make it into the core was 30 years old.


    If everything went that way I thought it would be, Azrail would be joining at the age of 18 which would smash the record.


    I fully believed he could pass the exam in three years time, with his priorbat experience as well as learning at the academy he should be able to do it. The kid was already dangerous, enough so that he was able to kill an Elf at the age of 15.


    When I first read his reports, I was left stunned with how much he aplished in Maru. The damn kid hunted down almost every single criminal organization and killed every one of its members.


    His fighting style revolves around speed and pure aggression, with each technique being brutal. There was no clean fight with him, if you left your eyes unguarded he would definitely go for them.


    He was downright terrifying, although he wasn''t the strongest for his age, he made up for it with versatility and technique.


    The room waspletely silent as it seemed there was nothing else to say. I simply got up and started to take my leave as I still had a report to write about everything that transpired.


    ...........


    POV: Azrail Diggory (2 days after Elf incident)


    "BEEEP" "BEEEEP" BEEEP"


    I slowly opened my eyes to the sounds of my annoying rm going off. I turned to my right and turned the damn thing off.


    My body felt terrible, even though I just woke up I still felt extremely tired. I didn''t want to leave my bed, but I forced myself out and managed to stand up.


    ''What time is it?'' I looked over to my rm to see it was 11 AM, my eyes bulged since I knew I waste for training. I looked down at my clothes to see I was wearing my usual ck shorts and in white long sleeve shirt, so I only needed my shoes.


    I put on my ck running shoes and headed off to my instructor''s office.


    I came to his office and quickly opened the door; my instructor was sitting down on the couch eating a donut. He slowly looked over to me and pointed his head over to the other couch.


    I took a seat and waited for the man to finish his donut; it was the least I could do by beingte.


    The man finally finished eating his donut and threw an envelope that hit my chest. I didn''t know what was in it, so I decided to open it up and I found a check inside.


    I pulled out the check saw the number 500,000 on it, my jaw dropped and I looked up at my instructor who gave me a smug smile.


    "I know I know, I''m such an amazing guy right. Don''t open your mouth like that though guys might think you''re easy."


    "You know what douchebag, I actually know a guy that''s just like you and I think he might be just your type. Anyways can you send this to my mom, I don''t even have a bank ount plus I''ll be leaving the country, so just give it to her and tell her to spend it on herself."


    "Aren''t you so generous, but alright I''ll have someone do that for you. Anyways good news bud, you leave for the academy bright and early tomorrow!"


    "What! Don''t I have two more days before that? Oh fuck I slept for that long didn''t I."


    "Yep you did, seems like your body and mind had been in a pretty bad state. It''s okay though you''ll be fine, here just read up on these files which contain prior missions the VIA has done. Figure out what the agents do and how you could add some of their skills to your own.


    Oh by the way be here at my office at 5 AM, don''t bring anything since we have all the supplies you''ll need. "


    I grabbed the files and started to head back to my room. The walk was a very slow one, I couldn''t believe I slept for that long and it angered me to all hell. I knew I was nothing but a mere boy walking into that hell hole that they call an academy.


    After seeing that Elven girl be so much stronger than me, I knew that this world was bigger than I had thought.

 Chapter 40: Show Time

    <h4>Chapter 40: Show Time</h4>


    I spent the entire day in my room reading over the files until the sun came down. I looked over at my rm to see it was 8 PM and decided to just go to bed. My body did not feel better throughout the entire day, so I was hoping that tomorrow morning would be better.


    I set my rm to go off at 4:30 AM and then got into my bed. I was still extremely frustrated at myself and those files didn''t help one bit. I knew I should have just read the ones from the great war like I nned on, but I thought having files on VIA missions would have helped me out better for my task at hand.


    ''Whatever it''s over now, just take things slow and adept to the situation. Simply get better while you''re at the academy and use it to the best of your ability.''


    Simple reminders to yourself always helped me out, it kept me on track when I started to lose myself.


    I closed my eyes and immediately fell asleep.


    ...


    "BEEEP "BEEEP "BEEEEP"


    I woke up to the sound of my rm then turned that shit off, I wasted no time and quickly went to go take a shower. I felt that my body was doing much better, I also didn''t feel tired at all so I knew I was back to normal.


    After finishing my quick shower, I put on my usual attire and headed off to my instructor''s office.


    I didn''t bring any of my belongings as he stated that he had everything, so all I had were the clothes and shoes on my body. I tried not to think about what this whole process would be like because it would only worsen my anxiety.


    Truthfully I knew I was scared; fear was something I didn''t appreciate as it lowered my ability to perform and caused me to overthink.


    Doubt however was something that I liked, it meant that there was always something to improve on. I didn''t like being confident, confidence breedsfort which I believe impacts mybat ability negatively.


    I reached my instructor''s office and went inside to see him sitting there with his eyes closed.


    I noticed that there was an expensive looking duffel bag on his table that had my actual name on it written in bold gold letters. The bag was a pure white and I could sense manaing off of it which intrigued me.


    I took a seat and started to admire the bag even more, I couldn''t believe humans could make something like this.


    "That bag your staring at is from the Fallen Empire, it''ll have everything you need for the academy so please don''t lose it when you''re there. They also told us that you''ll have to wear uniforms for not only when you''re in school, but out of it as well so there will be a school uniform and a causal one. Start changing into the causal one as I give you a rundown on everything."


    When I heard the bag was from the Fallen Empire I was a bit disappointed. I had a feeling that was the case, but simply moved on from it.


    I grabbed the bag and noticed there wasn''t any zipper nor and opening at all. I looked at my instructor confused hoping he knew how to open the thing. The bastard just looked at me and didn''t open his mouth, so it looked like I had to figure it out.


    I flipped the thing all around and couldn''t find any type of opening. However, I noticed that its mana had started to connect to mine, so I fed some of my own mana and the bag had finally opened up.


    I looked inside of it and was in total shock from what I saw. The bag wasn''t all that big, yet the inside was massive. I saw books, clothes, shoes, and a gold ted wrist band that had weird symbols all over it.


    I put my hand inside the bag and it felt like I was moving through water which freaked me out a little.


    I noticed that the multiple pairs of clothing were separated, the formal clothing which I assumed was the school uniform was in a line and that was the case for the casual clothes as well. I counted a total of 9 pairs for each side which I felt was very generous of them.


    I grabbed a causal pair out which had pants that were tan, a long sleeve shirt which was white, and a pair of tan shoes. After taking out the items, I stopped feeding the bag mana which caused it to close.


    I then started to change as my instructor went through what would be happening today.


    "In about twenty minutes we will be going over to a special room that has a teleportation array. This array will send your straight into the academy and then after that a professor will take the lead and show you around the school.


    There will be exactly two hundred and fifty humans including you, that is the amount you have to watch over as well. I know this will be difficult, but just do your best as we will not me you for other''s mistakes. Also do not stick out, don''t do anything that separates you from the crowd and make sure to not upset anyone from the Fallem Empire. If they disrespect you just take it, do not let emotions get in the way of your mission Azrail.


    Take this time to improve yourself as well, take advantage of this opportunity since I don''t think it will ever happen again. That is really all I have to say, now we simply wait until it''s time to go."


    I listened to every word my instructor said, but I did wish he had more information about what was going to happen though.


    Teleporting into the academy had weirded me out, I wondered why we had to do such a thing so I asked hoping he would know.


    "Howe we have to teleport there? Is there really no transportation we have that could reach theirnd?"


    "That is a good question and the answer to that is we don''t even know where they are actually located. They just gave us a teleportation array stating that it would transport you kids right into the school. I know that sounds sketchy and it is, but we have no other choice. "


    ''Are you kidding me? Just how much trust do we have in this Empire? There has to be something happening behind the scenes that we do not know for us to trust them so much. Still though is that the same for the other major races? I wonder if they will also send their best children to this school.''


    After finishing my thought, I sat back down on the couch as I had finished dressing myself. The clothes were loose at first, but after putting mana in them they changed to the perfect size.


    These simple things truly showed how advanced this Empire was, yet it also showed just how dangerous of a ce I was going to....

 Chapter 41: Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 41: Arrival</h4>


    We sat in silence for the most part, I was too busy thinking to myself what might transpire during the academy while my instructor looked like he was in his own world.


    Not much had to be said, although I did have to ask one more question because it was really bothering me.


    "How are we going to be able to talk to them? Do they understand the Humannguage as well like the Elves?"


    "There should be a gold ted wrist band in that bag of yours which automatically trantes everything for you, Ipletely forgot about it whoops."


    I looked at the man and wanted to kill him, how this dumbass could forget something so important was beyond me. I opened up my bag then grabbed the wrist band and equipped it to my left wrist.


    The wrist band became tight on my skin and I felt a mana force go through my entire body.


    I looked at the runes on it hoping I could trante them, but quicky found out that I couldn''t at all. I wondered to what extent this artifact would be able to trante othernguages as we humans did not know any other racesnguage.


    We than sat in silence again until it was finally time to leave, my instructor had gotten up and I had followed behind him while making sure to grab my school bag.


    ''Simply execute the mission, calm down and merely adapt to the situation. Be prepared for everything that can happen and make sure to make it back home.''


    ....


    We had arrived at the room where the array was set up and walked inside. The room had windows, so the sunrise had illuminated the room a dark orange. I looked at the floor to see that it was stone with the array engraved into it.


    The array covered the entire floor, the array had looked like two horns as well as a small circle that had the same type of runes as the wrist band.


    The horns were filled in withplicated lines that almost made the horns look like they were colored in. This simply showed howplex this array truly was, I have never seen one this big before either.


    The size of the room wasn''t small either, it looked to be as big as a basement under a rich person''s home.


    "Go stand in the middle of those runes, once you''re there I have to pump my mana into this array which will teleport you straight to the academy. I''ll ask you if you''re ready before I begin."


    I followed my instructor''s orders and went to stand in the middle of the runes which was also the dead center of the array.


    I reached the center and tried to calm down my breathing, I was feeling extremely scared and anxious this entire time as I didn''t trust the array. I grabbed my bag tightly and closed my other first as hard as I could to steel myself for this situation.


    "Azrail are you ready?"


    "Yes." I said in a deep tone as to make the message clear to my head that I was ready for this.


    The corners of the array started to light up the entire room in a neon aquatic blue. All of the lines started to glow and slowly made its path into the runes in the middle which started to glow a bright purple.


    Suddenly an extremely loud static noise started to ring out, it was like I was right under a serve thunderstorm. My ear drums felt like they were about to burst, the room started to shake violently almost knocking me off my bnce.


    The room had gotten so bright and with all that was going on I just closed my eyes and hoped I wouldn''t die.


    After what seemed to be an eternity suddenly everything stopped, it finally felt like everything when back to normal. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a person''s back.


    I quickly looked around me and my heart sank, I was in the back of arge group of humans that were surrounded by what seemed to be like knights.


    It looked like we were in some grand hall, multiple chandeliers were hung across the ceiling giving the entire hall light. The hall easily fit our group and with the number of heads I saw it seemed like I was thest one to arrive.


    I tried to see anyone''s expression, but I could only see the back of their heads. I could not sense the knights at all meaning they could wipe the floor with me.


    Their armor looked to be highly maintained as well since all of them looked to be shining. The all had golden helmets with silver body armor finishing the look. Each knight also carried a great sword which seemed like it was the size of my damn body.


    I saw one of the knights I was staring at turn their head, I quickly looked away and my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest.


    ''Are they grouping us up to kill everyone at the same time? Just what in the world is happening and why isn''t anyone talking!''


    I was panicking, I had looked all around yet I couldn''t find a single escape route. The knights had uspletely circled in which I didn''t like one bit. It seemed like there was nothing I could do and was about to receive the death penalty for my sins.


    "Greeting humans my name is Alvixa and I will be your guide for a short amount of time. It makes me very happy to have you all here at our academy, I truly want to thank all of you for trusting us enough toe here today. Words cannot describe the amount of respect I have for each and every one of you here today.


    I do not want all of you standing here all day, so I will go over some important information now and have all of you read the rule book on your own time. Starting from tomorrow there will be two weeks until sses finally start, during this time I would suggest you get use to the campus grounds and the capital as well. All of you will be able to explore our entire country if you so wished but be careful as not every citizen is so epting of this.


    The other races will also be hereter today, so if you would like to make friends with some of them feel free to do so. Okay now I will show you where your dorms will be, upon entering the dorm make sure to give the receptionist your name and they will provide you with your room number and key. Once you enter your rooms there will be a white backpack which will contain the rulebook I spoke about as well everything you will be needing. Now then everyone follow me."


    The woman''s voice was beautiful, her caring voice made my nerves calm down to an extreme extent. Since I was in the back of the group and wasn''t tall at all I couldn''t see the woman, but I imagined that she was quite the beauty.


    The trantion was also perfect, it was like speaking to another human which made me wonder just how it worked.


    The group had started to move and I simply followed behind them, although my nerves had calmed down, I was still highly alert.


    I trusted no one here.

 Chapter 42: Arrival (2)

    <h4>Chapter 42: Arrival (2)</h4>


    As I followed the group ahead of me, I kept my eyes searching for possible escape routes if anything were to go wrong. I did not use Ki or mana as they might find it as a threat, so I was left with my natural ability.


    We were currently walking through the hall that I teleported into, I noticed that there weren''t any windows and the walls were pure white with knights standing on both sides.


    I couldn''t even hear them breathing, although I was about 50 feet away from them, I still should be able to pick up their breathes.


    Footsteps were all that I heard, we were walking on a white floor, but I couldn''t tell what material it was. Overall, the hall was quite simple in design, however those crystal chandeliers above our heads were another story.


    Not only were they massive in size, but the amount of mana they were giving off was just insane. It meant there were multiple arrays inside of those crystals, if a human scientist were to see that they''d shit their pants.


    I heard the sound of a door opening and soon enough we had finally made it outside of the hall.


    I wasted no time to look around yet was stunned to see how simplistic the campuses design was. It was actually quite simr to the VIA headquarters, sidewalks were connected to every building yet 4 buildings looked to be the same. Although all 4 buildings were separated from each other equally, these 4 buildings were what I assumed to be the dorms.


    However, the building we had just left was fucking humorous in size. It was like a castle on steroids, I truly have never seen anything in my life that was this fucking big.


    After arriving at our dorm our guide had moved to the side of the group making me finally able to see her.


    The woman had blue skin with two horns that shined the same color as the teleportation horns did. Her eyes matched her horns in the same crystal texture but was the color was red. Her hair however matched her eye color with it being quite long.


    She seemed to be the same height as me, which might have hurt my ego a little.


    "Okay everyone, just head inside and do what I have asked of you before. I hope all of you enjoy these two weeks before sses begin. Goodbye now." Our guide said as she started to walk past us. I guessed she was heading back to the main building and I did not dare to look back at her once.


    Our group had started to enter the building and finally words of conversation could be heard, it seemed that I was the only one feeling dread as everyone else seemed to be excited.


    "Oh my god did you see how beautiful she was? I''ve never heard of a race having those traits I wonder what they''re called." Said a girl who somewhere in front of me.


    "Calvin did you see those knights? They were terrifying to look at man, I thought they were gonna kill all of us." Said a man who was almost somewhere in front of me, although his words made me want to kill him.


    ''Is that guy insane saying that shit out loud! Is he fucking trying to have us on their damn bad side.'' I thought to myself while trying to find the bastard who said that shit.


    I was very relieved though, it seemed that this wasn''t a total death trap and we would actually be learning here.


    I was however feeling quite good about our overall group''s strength. Since I''m quite close to them I can feel most of their auras and I could tell everyone was quite strong. Although if most of them would try to take on me they would probably die.


    However, there were about 10 who I didn''t know If I could beat which mostly contained with the fact of how impressive their energy levels were.


    ''Still though there''s about 30 who could definitely kill me if it came down to it and ten of those thirty people are on the level of that female Elf...'' This is what truly stunned me, the Elf who shook me to my core was on the same level as 10 other humans here.


    The group had started to grow smaller and smaller as each person was given the key to their rooms. After a bit of waiting, I was finally thest one left who had yet receive their room key.


    There were 4 receptionists which all the same blue skin and two blue horns. Although their eye and hair colors differed, they still had those crystal looking eyes.


    It had seemed the horns and skin color were a race trait; I''ve have never read anything about a race with those features.


    "Hello sir, you must be Azrail Diggory am I correct?" The mail reception asked, I simply nodded my head since I didn''t want them to hear my voice.


    "Okay you will be on the tenth floor with your room number being eleven. Here are your two keys, one is a spare just in case you lose one. If you have any questions, feel free toe back and we will answer to our best ability."


    I took both keys and bowed to the man, I had hoped this would be enough to show my respect.


    I walked over to an elevator and went inside, I noticed there were 50 floors in this building which surprised me. I hit the button with the number 10 on it which caused the doors to close and the next second the doors opened.


    I had noticed I was on a different floor considering I saw a red door with the number 1 imprinted on it in gold.


    I was shocked at how fast the elevator shot up 10 floors, but I was even more shocked at how I didn''t feel it moving that fast. I quickly got off the elevator and noticed that there was no one in the hallway.


    I decided to simply go to my room and not waste any more time. I reached my room and put the key inside of the doorknob then turned it which opened my door.


    I walked inside and then closed the door, I looked around my room to see that it was quite small and awfully simple.


    It was actually quite simr to my room at my mother''s house, except that there was no gym. Instead, there was a nice kitchen which meant that I had to train outside of my room.


    There was a queen sized mattress which did cheer me up alongside a work desk which had a backpack on it.


    There was a bathroom which even had a bathtub in it and finally in the center of it all there was a small dinner table with 4 chairs. I was quite happy with my room, although there wasn''t any workout space this was more than enough.

 Chapter 43: Rule Book

    <h4>Chapter 43: Rule Book</h4>


    I was sitting at my dinner table with my head resting on the rule book, it had taken me 2 whole hours to read through the thing.


    This ce was going to be a living nightmare, with how the rules were set up I could tell this wasn''t just a ce for learning. No, this ce was meant for survival of the fittest and quite frankly humans were the weakest race here.


    I knew our group was strong, but I don''t think it is enough to contend with the other races.


    The rules stated that fighting was aloud, however you are not allowed to kill anyone and if you do then you will get prosecuted under the Fallen Empire''sw. Basically, if you kill anyone then you receive the death penalty unless using lethal force was necessary.


    Even though you aren''t allowed to kill that doesn''t mean you can''t cripple someone so badly that they''d rather be dead and that was the scary part.


    Fights can''t happen everywhere though, there are only two ways to initiate it. The first being a duel which is a supervised battle in front of spectators and the second is basically a street fight. You are able to fight anyone you''d like if there is no one around from the Fallem Empire, basically you''re in a war ground if you find yourself alone.


    Once a Fallem Empire citizen is on the scene the fight must stop, if it continues there will be consequences on both sides. The consequences were never stated in the rule book.


    Money is also quite a big factor in this academy, each student is given a card which will hold all of their money. The cards currently don''t have a single dime in them, you must find a job within the country and receive money that way. To even enter your sses, you will have to pay a fee, to use the gym you will have to pay a fee, the only things that are free are living expenses, eating at the cafeteria, and going to the hospital or infirmary.


    The academy also does not help you with finding a job, it merely says go outside and find one yourself which uses your skillset.


    The only good thing about this damn ce they will not expel you for bad grades, if you manage to work jobs the entire school year than that will be enough to pass you onto the next year.


    You are also held ountability at the same level as a Fallem Empire citizen if you break anyws while you are outside of the academy grounds. There is no favoritism at all when ites to these circumstances.


    With so much going on, I had no clue on how I wouldplete my mission. Not only that but even being the safe guardian over so many kids was impossible.


    There was simply too much on my te, I would have to build a solid foundation before I could start doing other things. My brain had started to hurt with all the thinking I''ve been doing today.


    ''I should go look for a job now, once I have a job and build up some money then I will start stalking the Elves. If there is a fight I can sense with humans, I will also help as well unless they opposing side is too strong. This is the best solution I can think of currently...''


    I picked up my head and walked over to my window to see if anyone was walking on campus grounds.


    The first thing that I noticed was the number of knights scattered across the campus grounds. It seemed like they were patrolling every inch of the campus to prevent fights from breaking out.


    I did end up seeing quite a few humans outside already and they were all in groups it seemed, no one was walking around alone. I did not see any other race though, so I tried enhancing my vision and looked over to their dorm buildings.


    As I tried to peer into their dorms my vision started to heavily blur making me look away from the buildings.


    I was confused as to why that would have happened, so I decided to release my mana and I figured out the reasoning behind it. They were multiple arrays on this entire building, meaning the others had the same ones as well.


    It seemed like security was quite tight on this entire campus which didn''t really surprise me. Although now with my mana released, I started to sense mana fluctuationsing from an area with no knights.


    I could sense three massive mana pools alongside 2 medium sized ones.


    ''No way....A fight already broke out? What the hell are these damn knights doing I know they can sense it! Shit I know those are humans too considering how close the distance is to our dorm. FUCK!''


    I opened my window and immediately jumped out to get a better idea on the situation and if forced join the fight.


    .................


    POV: Lelion Albright


    "You two humans are truly disgusting, do you know the sin you two havemitted? If you had done this in our ownnd, you would have already had your heads cut off." I stated I as looked down at the two filthy humans who were bowing at my feet.


    They had tried to put up a fight, but with their pathetic mana levels they have stood no chance. With the sin they havemitted, I was going to make sure they met the proper consequences.


    I had closed my eyes and nned to burn the skin off these creatures.


    Since I could not kill them, I thought this would be a good punishment. Although I hated to do these things, my father had always told me that a good king must always punish those personally who disrespect the royal family.


    I had taken a few steps back and slowly opened my palm. I released the fire element in a controlled manner as to make sure I did not kill them.


    After a few seconds I heard no screams which was impossible from these two low life''s. I quickly opened my eyes and saw that they weren''t there anymore, only the scorched ground was in my vison.


    I looked to my right and saw that both of my underlings were knocked out. I quickly used my mana to sense what was around me and I sensed an opposing figure directly to my back.


    I could sense the other two humans running off, but a new one was right behind me, simply staring at the back of my head.


    I slowly turned around and looked down a bit to see who could go under my detection so quickly.


    A pair of cold ruthless grey eyes met my own, the human had a heavily scarred face as well. The clothes he was wearing showed that he had dense muscles, I knew this human was strong, very strong in fact.


    "I do not wish to fight with you human, those two havemitted a grave sin to my royal family. I must give them punishment, I hope you understand this."


    "Sin? Tell me Elf, what sin have those two done which made you want to burn them alive...." The man said in a deep cold voice which sent chills down my entire body.


    ''I have never sensed this amount of rage before, could my actions really have made him this angry?''

 Chapter 44: Prodigies

    <h4>Chapter 44: Prodigies</h4>


    POV: Lelion Albright


    "Answer me Elf... What sin could push you this far...." The man said coldly while staring dead into my eyes, as if trying to prove a point.


    "...They had looked at one of my sisters with pure lust, my sister is one of the princesses of my kingdom human, if this were done in my homnd they would have immediately been beheaded. We Elves can sense emotions, the moment theyid eyes on her their true filthy emotions hade out. "


    "I see, well in ournd that isn''t a sin nor a crime. Now what? Do you think your culture rules over ours? Tell me Elf, are we on yournd right now?"


    This human''s rage was something to behold, he was gritting his teeth through hisst words. He did make a point however, it seemed I was too hasty in my actions.


    I knew I couldn''t win in a fight in this current position, the man was too close.


    "You are correct, it seems I''m in the wrong here and for that I apologize. Still, I know we have our differences but if we are to ever be allies your people need to know how to treat others with culture in mind. "


    "You''re right and I am also sorry for what those two have done. Not all of us humans are good people, but I''m sure you''ll find some that are."


    The man bowed and started to walk away.


    I did learn a few things from this encounter though, it seemed like not all humans were as weak as we thought and some are actually decent living beings.


    ''I wonder... Would I have reacted differently if he were weaker than me? My teacher once said that people tend to listen to those who are strong, did I subconsciously do the same thing as a regr person?''


    This thought struck a chord with my royal blood, me listening to a human just because he was stronger than me?


    ''Is he even, right? Why would I simply listen without questioning it like I was taught to? I need to fight, weakness and bowing down isn''t what a King does... I must fight, go beyond what is regr and be special!''


    I raised my hands and started to surround myself with mana, but in less than a split second I felt an ungodly amount of bloodlust m into me.


    I saw a fist lodged inside my stomach and then I finally felt the impact of it.


    "ARGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH" I screamed out with alongside all of the air inside my body. It felt like I couldn''t even breathe, this is what a single body shot did to me.


    I felt my knees start to buckle; I have never taken such a shot before. I felt the man''s hand on top of my head, he started to squeeze my skull making me think my head was about to explode.


    "You fucking bastard... you justmitted a big sin. I wonder should I burn you alive just like what you were about to do?"


    I was terrified, I was scared for my life. I didn''t want to die at all and I felt tears start toe down my face.


    "HELP, SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! I BEG PLEASE! KNIGHTS!" I started to scream which was the only thing I could think of to do.


    I was ashamed, I started crying profusely hoping that someone would help me. I just wanted to be special, I wanted to be a King, but I was nothing of the sort.


    I felt the man''s hand release my head, this made me fall face t on the floor. I was instantly relieved as the pain that I felt was insurmountable.


    "You make me sick to my stomach you pussy. If you ever try that high mighty shit again to any humans, I will rip every fucking limb off your body. No one will save you from me bastard, I will find you even in the damn afterlife you scumbag."


    Every word the human said made me shiver and cry even more. I truly had wished I never came to this hellhole.


    ...........


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    I was beyond livid, my first day here and people are already acting like idiots. Not even half a day has gone by yet two fucking idiots already managed to piss off an Elf that was a royal.


    I was also frustrated at myself for letting my feelings get in the way, I shouldn''t have confronted that Elf in the first ce.


    My original n was to simply take them and run but his actions had gone too far. They were also weak enough for me to easily take them on, my big ego had gotten in the way and him attacking sent me into my battle mode.


    Still those two humans had me the angriest, I was currently walking to where they were hiding.


    I finally managed to spot them, the two of them were simply sitting on a bench with their heads down. Since there were knights around, I held back on beating the living shit out of them.


    I arrived in front of the two and sent every ounce of bloodlust I had at them.


    "You two idiots better exin yourselves, don''t think I won''t drag you to an area just to beat the living hell out of you."


    "Sir we didn''t even do anyt." I cut the idiot off and lowered my voice even further.


    "Don''t lie jackass, you looked at a female Elf who was a fucking princess with nothing but lust. Are you truly that goddamn horny?"


    I stared at the two clowns waiting for an answer, both of them were shaking heavily. After a while one of the boys answered.


    "Sir she was the most beautiful women I have everid my eyes on. Her purple hair and eyes were absolutely stunning, she had the most perfect body a man could wish for alongside her prefect face. Her pointy ears simply added to her beauty and her strength was also unconceivable, how could we not have wishes for a woman like that? Someone like her only appears in fantasies. If you do not believe me simply find her for yourself, you can''t miss something like that. "


    ''Fuck my life.... so she''s here as well. Considering that Elf said sister than that means I just beat up her brother. Unless there''s another Elf who has simr features to her, but the odds are too slim for that. Damn it things are looking awful already, how can we recover from this?''


    "Excuse me, what are you guys talking about here?" A man with a confident soothing voice asked behind me.


    I turned around and looked at the man who asked the question. I instantly stopped releasing my bloodlust as I noticed this man was one of the 10 people who were on the level of that female Elf.


    I started to recognize some of his features as well, he was a lot taller than me and his presence simply gave off confidence with how far his chest was out.


    He had bright golden hair with two of his eyes being different colors. His right eye was dark red with the other being a dark blue. With his golden hair and scary eyes, I knew this man was the child of the great leader of Volestia.


    I believed he was the strongest human being here as well, the guy was the most renowned prodigy of my generation in Volestia.

 Chapter 45: Generational Talent

    <h4>Chapter 45: Generational Talent</h4>


    I gave the guy a rundown of what happened including what I had done to the prince, I left out my first meeting with the female Elf as I wanted to keep that to myself.


    "Wow this is not what I expected to hear, still though I believe the situation is savable. Not all is bad though, this can open up a line ofmunication with myself and the royals which is something I still had trouble with. You two can leave though and Azrail you stay, I still need to talk to you."


    The two had quickly gotten up and took their leave which left me alone with the prodigy. The guy started walking over the bench, I followed suit and decided to sit right next to him.


    "I know who you are Azrail, I have read over your files and I can say that I am very impressed with your work in Maru. I know your objective as well with the VIA, but I still would like your help with this."


    "I don''t see how I could be of any help in this situation, if anything I only see myself making it far worse."


    "You''re wrong, you see I n on finding this princess by heading right to the Elves dorm. You and I are going to apologize together to her, mine being for those two actions and yours being for beating up her brother. This will open a path formunication if I am able to build off this opportunity.


    The apologizes themselves don''t truly matter, it''s whatever happens after them that matters. We also can''t let this situation breed into something worse, we must take care of it now."


    I thought about what the guy said and everything did make sense to me. This also gave me the opportunity to redeem my earlier mistake.


    "Showing up at their dorm will be a problem though, we might end up being targeted. I told you how that prince reacted just by someone looking at his sister with lust, how do you think the Elves will react with you and I trying to speak to her."


    "You make a valid point, but that''s how we have to do it. Tracking her down may give off a bad impression, so we have to go through the proper channels. My instincts also tell me that she will be waiting there for us."


    "Your instincts? Huh alright I will follow through with your n, let''s get this over with."


    We both got up from the bench and he started to lead me to the Elves dorms, I was however very nervous at the chance of me actually seeing her again so quickly.


    I haven''t had the time to get rid of that fear she gave me, if things were to go wrong, I could only rely on my anger to conquer that fear.


    It didn''t take long to reach the Elves dorms, I had also felt many staresing from many directions. We were being watched, they were like hawks ready to pounce at a moment''s notice.


    The prodigy however did not seem effected by all of this, he had continued walking the same way the entire time. He already gave me the impression that he was ready to be a leader.


    The prodigy suddenly stopped moving, I quickly moved to stand right next to him. I looked ahead and saw a female Elf with dark purple hair, I immediately knew she was the same Elf that almost took my life.


    Noticing our gazes, she turned around and looked at the man standing to my left. Quickly moving her eyes down she had seen me, the same facial expression was kept on her face the entire time.


    "Excuse me princess, do you mind if we take a little of your time?" The prodigy asked in a very polite and charming tone.


    "Of course not, do you mind telling me who you two might be?" She responded, her voice was as beautiful as I remembered, but just as deadly as well.


    "I am Alexander Rivington and this here is my friend Azrail, it seems we have caused you and your brother some problems."


    ''Damn it he gave that monster my name, the prince had told me that Elves can sense emotions. I need to calm down and keep up this facade.''


    "Problems already? Well let us talk about this in private, I was waiting for my friends so how about we have this discussion in one of their rooms?"


    "That sounds great, how long do you think we will have to wait?"


    ''Is this bastard insane? Going into an area where there are no knights and being surrounded by Elves who are on par with him? Just how far is he willing to risk our safety just to open upmunication?''


    "Not long at all, you see they are already here." She said as she started to wave down her friends.


    I looked over to my right and spotted three females Elfs with two males Elfs behind them. Once they had made their way to where we were I could sense their aruras.


    Every single one of them was on par with Alexander the Volestian prodigy, this only made me feel worse about the situation.


    I looked over to him to just to see him with a calm smile on his face. It seemed this didn''t bother him either, at least that was the impression he gave me.


    "All right then we are all ready, you two gentlemen can just follow us."


    Alexander and I looked at one another for a brief moment, we both nodded our heads and followed the group of Elves.


    The group was silent and we simply followed behind them, we made our way into their dorm building which looked the same as the human dorms.


    We entered an elevator, then one of the female Elf''s hit the button 22. In less than a second, we were on that floor. Leaving the elevator we walked over to room 6.


    The same Elf who had pressed the button took out her key and opened the door.


    ''I don''t like this situation at all, that damn Elf also pretended like she didn''t know me. What the hell are her goals?''


    We had entered the female Elf''s room and I had noticed it looked exactly like mine, it seemed that there was no favoritism to the Elves. The awkward part was that there were only 4 chairs and we had a total of 8 people in the room.


    "Well then let us have a seat at the table, no need to be so tense I''m sure we can figure this out."


    Alexander went to take a seat and I simply moved the chair to sit next to him once again. I had decided to act as his guardian, he was an important human who had amazing talent. I was going to make sure nothing happened to him during this meeting.

 Chapter 46: Apologizes

    <h4>Chapter 46: Apologizes</h4>


    The princess and her one female friend had sat across from us, I was facing her friend while Alexander was facing the princess.


    Everyone else had simply stood behind the two of them like they were guards. The tension was quite high, but that simply made me more alert and hyper aware of any movement.


    We were all seated in a rtively rxed positions, I decided to follow along as to not disturb the current peace.


    "So then Alexander what were the problems that you mentioned earlier?"


    "Well you see the first problem was that it seemed two of my people had looked at you in a lustful way, your brother had noticed that and this is what lead to the second problem. You see your brother had decided to confront the two who had looked at you in such a way. He had beaten the two of them quite badly and was about to go a step further by burning them, but Azrail had arrived and stopped him. Here Azrail you can exin your side of the story now." He stated calmly, he did not stutter once or lose his rhythm during the exnation.


    "Your brother was about to burn them, but for some reason he had closed his eyes during that process. I quickly knocked out both of his friends and managed to move the two humans. He and I did exchange words, yet as I was leaving he attempted to attack me.


    Once I felt that I didunch my assault, it was only a single body shot and I did squeeze his head quite a bit. I am sorry for what I did, my emotions had gotten to me." I managed to say while looking at the women who I feared.


    Silence, there was utter silence after what I said. The group all had their eyes on the princess waiting for her words. She had closed her eyes and slightly put her head down.


    I sensed her mana start to fluctuate, this action alone sent danger signals to my entire body.


    I started to move my body into a more offensive position rather than a rxed one, but Alexander had looked over to me and shook his head. I decided to listen to him and stopped my movements.


    "See Lucy, I told you to stop babying him or else something like this was going to happen. He should never havee here in the first ce." The Elf who was sitting next to the princess states as she had her hand on the princess''s back.


    It seemed the princesses name was Lucy, it did seem though that her friend''s words broke through to her as her mana levels started to go back to normal.


    "I know okay, I know.... You two don''t have to be apologizing for this, it would seem it was my brother who started this mess. I swear he is a good person, it''s just that he listens to the wrong people. I will make sure to talk to him about this so it doesn''t happen again."


    "It is alright, we also have faults of our own. My people should have never looked at you like that in the first ce. I just did not want to have this ruin our attempt at amending rtions. I know our races both hold a lot of hate for each other, but I believe we are the generation that changes that."


    ''So he''s being honest with them huh, I see. It is hard to build something off deception. I wonder how they will react though....''


    Yet again the room was silent, the princess was staring at Alexander. It seemed she was trying to get a read on his emotions if I had to guess. The others as well were all staring at him, it was at this point where the real conversation begins.


    "You truly mean that don''t you? Do you know how hard it would be to do such a thing, clearly not if you believe one mere generation can mend years of what your race did to ours." The princess''s words angered me quite a bit, the way she speaks on what happened makes it seem like they didn''t do anything wrong.


    "We are the future for our kingdoms and nations, our generation is very unique in this factor. Believe me I know full well how hard it will be for our races to fully see eye to eye, but that doesn''t mean we simply give up. Change will always require effort and grit, we must be the ones to start this process as the younger generation doesn''t contain the hate that the older generation does."


    Alexander spoke like a true poet, overall it seemed like he taken his father''s diplomatic ability. He replied back quickly and did not let herments get to him.


    "I do agree with you on that aspect, I want there to be change as well since too many people have died. How would we aplish such a task though, the only ideas I came up with were marriage which forces the change."


    What the princess had said caused her group to react in shock, it seemed that idea was never once considered in their minds.


    This didn''t shock me all that much though since my instructor basically advised to aplish the same thing. Marriage would defiantly force the change, but only if the right individuals were to marry one another. It had to be people who were in positions of power.


    ''However, such a forceful change may cause the other major races to do the same, it''s far too dangerous to attempt it that way.''


    "That was also an idea I had as well, it also had the highest sess rate. I know that the other nations have also agreed to attempt this way as well. Obviously forcing marriages will not be tolerated, but if you are able to build a connection with the other party, I believe this idea is worth a shot. "


    The prodigy next to me dropped a shellshock, it seemed that everyone was too stunned to speak. I hated to get involved in such a conversation, but I had to make sure this wasn''t the n.


    "Alexander that n can''t happen, I think you''re forgetting that there are two other major races at this academy. If word spreads out about humans and Elves marrying each other this will force them to make a move as well. The n is too dangerous."


    I looked at him hoping that the guy would see my point, but it looked like the opposite had happened.


    "Why would they even care about such matters? By my knowledge are rtionship with both of them is neutral, there would be no reason for something like this to rm them to such a degree that they would change their ways."


    "You''re wrong, this isn''t simply humans and Elves forming bonds. This is two major races bing allies, meaning if another major race deres war on us then the Elves would be a part of this as well. The bnce would be broken, which will also force them to react."


    It seemed like not only was Alexander surprised, but the princess was as well. I couldn''t me them though as they were solely too focused on mending our rtionships.


    This is why every leader has multiple advisors, you can''t think of everything by yourself after all.

 Chapter 47: Beyond The Grave

    <h4>Chapter 47: Beyond The Grave</h4>


    "You''re right, dang it why didn''t I think of such a thing when it was that obvious? That doesn''t matter right now, thank you Azrail for bringing that up." The prodigy thanked me and tapped my back a couple of times.


    Him touching me made me sick to my stomach, but I just decided to move on from it.


    The tension was no longer inside of the room, we had been talking for quite a while and it would seem this discussion would continue. While they were still thinking about something I decided to take my leave.


    "I''ll be leaving now, I still got stuff to do." I ended up sounding quite rude by ident, it seemed my emotions were starting to spill out.


    "Oh alright.....Alexander do you have to leave as well?" The princess asked in what seemed to be a saddened tone.


    "No I have plenty of time, I would still like to discuss a couple of things with you and maybe bounce some ideas off as well."


    I walked over to the door and left the room, I wasn''t all that worried about Alexander''s safety anymore as it seemed they truly wanted to work something out.


    Plus, after he touched me, it seemed to cause quite the stir on my mental state.


    I was better off leaving at that point rather than causing a mistake that would lead to ruining that entire conversation. Progress was made though, which was all that mattered.


    Once I left the Elves dorm building, I felt that multiple eyes were on me. I couldn''t see where they were, but I knew they could see me.


    I was a bit annoyed with how obvious they made it, but I really did have things to do. I wanted to look for a job for the rest of the day as this was something very important to my foundation. These clowns weren''t going to stop me from doing that.


    ''It''s not like they can do anything anyway, I''ll be walking around the capital which surely has many citizens wandering about so safety shouldn''t be a concern.''


    I continued my way through the campus, I managed to find only knights throughout my entire walk.


    I made it to the giant front gates of the academy, the gates stood over 100 yards tall and were pure white. I also saw the giant wall which surrounded the entire campus.


    The campus itself was also massive in size, it spread out for miles with a giant wall surrounding it.


    The wall was clearly made out of stone, but it had those sameplicated runes engraved into them. This was obviously a defensive measure and quite arge one at that. Who knows how much time it took them to build such a masterpiece.


    The gate itself is also very unique, once you leave the academy the gate will have you in something called a database. Supposedly it is able to recognize your aura which makes the gate open by itself.


    As I walked up to the gate, I felt a foreign mana forcefully enter my body then vanish in an instant.


    I saw that gate slowly started to open; no noise was heard whatsoever from the gate which was shocking. I did however feel like I wasn''t being watched anymore which made me cheer up a bit.


    With the gates fully opened I decided to make my way to the capital.


    Making my way past the gates I saw an arrangement of beautifully colored trees; it was like every color was shown and it made for an amazing view. An extremely wide staircase made its way down the entire mountain.


    The academy was supposedly built on a mountain, this was how they were able to make it sorge without takingnd away from their citizens. The rulebook had gone over some details like this, maybe to perhaps impress us or give a warning.


    As I was walking down each step, I couldn''t help but simply admire the beauty of these trees. I have never seen anything like this before and it was very peaceful since no one was around.


    I was never a social person, so things like this did help ease my mind. I remember my times starving in the mountains alone, yet I was way happier there than I was in the city.


    Once I was halfway down, I noticed a tree that had multiple colors on it that were glowing.


    I walked up to the tree and found myself staring at it, the colors were a dark bloody red, a light shiny blue, and a mysterious purple which looked misty. The most bizarre part was the colors would rotate around constantly, as if they were fighting each other for dominance.


    I just couldn''t help but watch this fight, no it was more of like a dance being performed.


    ''Wipe that stupid smile off your face.'' A voice that I haven''t heard in years sounded out in my head.


    My body had started to tremble, my prior peace of mind was shattered into pieces. I turned my head slightly to the right to see a 12 year old boy looking at the same tree I was.


    The boy was in old baggy clothes that had rips and tears all over them. The kid didn''t even have shoes on showing he had lived a hard life.


    This kid was a friend of mine in the past.


    ''That''s better, you had that same dumb smile when you had saw your mother again. Man, I remembered all the times you use to say to me how much you hated her. After all, she''s mainly the reason you had gotten kidnapped in the first ce, but it seems like you have forgotten all of that just like you forgot all of us.''


    "I didn''t forget any of you, it was merely time to move on from it. Also it wasn''t my mother''s fault, I was just a dumb kid looking for someone easy to me."


    ''Oh really, tell me then hotshot how did our dead bodies look? Were we looking good when you blew us up? I mean dude you literally were crying your ass off while trying to look for our dead bodies to confirm our deaths. How does that even make sense? Why''d you cry when you were the one who did it dumbass?''


    I didn''t have any response to give, I merely stood there and epted the fact that I was simply going crazy.


    ''No answer huh dumbass? Awhhhhhhhh are you perhaps sad? No, no maybe you''re angry? Hey, tell me how you are feeling right now Mr I moved on. OOO man I know that face, you''re fucking pissed right now aren''t you? What are you going to do hit me? Guess what dumbass you can''t, I''m dead remember!


    Or wait, am I dead? Maybe I''m real? Am I your inner thoughts or a ghost? Tell me dumbass just what the hell am I. Awh man this sure is fucked up isn''t it.''


    I was just staring at my friend while he was running off his mouth, he was always an energetic guy. He was quite social as well, he could talk to just about anyone no matter who it was.


    Even if he was my friend, he always knew how to piss me off. It was to the point where I knew he was just masking his real intentions, all of us were back then we had no other choice but to. None of us were real friends, our masked identities were.


    This is why I made that decision, to simply kill them all.

 Chapter 48: The Executioner

    <h4>Chapter 48: The Executioner</h4>


    ''Man I forgot how mad you could get, that rage you have inside of you is truly amazing dumbass. All those veins popping out of that big head of yours can''t be healthy. Hmmm you made your hands into fists and their shaking quite badly, you''ve reached your limit haven''t you. Come on let me see your true colors one more time for old time sakes dumbass.''


    This guy really did have me at my mental limit, he has been berating me nonstop now for 10 full minutes. Everyment he made had gotten to me, it seemed like he knew everything about me.


    He probably did considering it''s probably my own brain that''s making hime back to life. I had an idea on what the cause might be which delt with me being happy I assumed.


    It seemed like my own damn body didn''t want me to have this feeling. As for the reason behind it I had no idea, I knew I wanted to be happy just like everyone else.


    ''Come on I know you can do it, here want me to act like that guy who''


    Before he could even finish his sentence, I attempted to grab his throat but my hand went right through him.


    My body was extremely tense, I was squeezing every muscle in my entire body. My energy levels were also raging like a wildfire responding to my current emotions.


    I decided to give into my emotions and felt the ground around me start shaking uncontrobly.


    I had tried telling myself not to give in, to move forward and not make the same mistakes as I did in the past.


    ''There it is, the real dumbass. The one who was given the legendary nickname of Executioner.''


    My voice wasn''t loud enough.


    "Enough." I said as my vision had started to turn red.


    ....


    POV: Alexander Rivington


    ''This conversation had led to minimal results, where did I go wrong? It''s like everything I said went in one ear and out the other. I should just stop for today, rushing something this important isn''t a good idea.''


    "Well princess I believe I''ve taken enough of your time. I sincerely do appreciate you taking the time out of your day to have this conversation with me."


    "Not a problem, I hope you have a nice day."


    I got up and simply left the room, when Azrail had left it was like the conversation had taken a big downturn. I didn''t know why that was, I could talk to him about it if I see him.


    Once I left the building, I had noticed that people were looking at me from afar.


    I simply looked at each one of them and gave a re to signal that I wasn''t to be pushed around. They were all Elves who had been watching me since the beginning.


    However, they weren''t strong enough to hide themselves from my eyes.


    I continued my way to the front gate of this academy. I still haven''t left this campus and was quite curious on what the capital looked like.


    Once I arrived at the gate, I noticed it was shaking just a tiny bit.


    Although it confused me, I didn''t bother thinking about it since I knew I couldn''tprehend the Fallen Empires technology. They were just too advanced, I couldn''t even understand how their elevators worked.


    I felt a mana force enter my body and leave the very next second. This did freak me out a little, I''ve never felt anything like that happen to me before.


    The gates had started to open, I simply started to walk again and realized something odd was happening. The colorful trees were all shaking violently as if they were being shoved back by something.


    I released some of my mana to see what the cause could be, but I could only sense what was behind me and not in front of me.


    I decided to keep walking forward to leave the bubble I was currently in. They campus had a massive barrier around it and since I was still inside of it, I couldn''t sense anything outside.


    I made it to the staircase and as soon as I took my first couple steps, I felt an enormous wave of mana m into my body.


    I stood my ground firmly and recognized who the mana belonged to immediately.


    It was Azrail.


    ''The amount of mana he''s releasing is purely absurd, I need to get to him now!''


    I wasted no time and started to enhance my body with Ki then started sprinting down the stairs. The amount of push back I was getting was increasing with each step, the stone stairs even started to crack a little from the pressure.


    I finally made it to where Azrail was standing and was shocked at what I had saw.


    Electrical wires were dancing around his body violently, they were even changing colors from blue to white showing Azrail''s control over them. The amount of Ki in his body was fully being utilized as well, not only that but his levels were increasing forcefully.


    That should only be possible in times of crisis when the human body is forced to remove the safety limiter, but Azrail didn''t look to be in any danger.


    The wires around him kept multiplying and the mana he was putting off also kept increasing. Some trees couldn''t withstand such pressure and were getting ripped off from the ground.


    I knew I had to stop whatever he was doing before he went too far.


    "AZRAIL STOP IT! AZRAIL LISTEN TO ME YOU HAVE TO STOP WHAT YOU''RE DOING NOW!" I screamed at the top of my lungs hoping my words would reach him.


    The sounds of high wind pressure and electricity were extremely high, my ear drums were already hurting quite badly from them even with the enhancement.


    It did seem however that Azrail heard me as he slowly turned his head to look at me.


    I saw his eyes lock on to mine, then I felt his bloodlust lock on to me as well. The way he looked at me I knew that he wanted to kill me, I could feel the hatred he was also giving off.


    ''This is bad.... he''s not in the right state of mind. I have to subdue him quickly before this gets out of hand than it already is.''


    Before I could even take my stance Azrail was already in front of me while throwing a right punch right towards my nose. I wasted no time and immediately jumped up a few stairs to widen the gap.


    Luckily for me Azrail wasn''t tall and didn''t have a long reach, so I had a few advantages in hand to handbat.


    However, Azrail seemed to not care about such things as he was already in front of me again. I tried to move away from him, but felt his foot right behind mine which stopped mepletely.


    ''Shit.''


    Without wasting any time, he started to treat my stomach like a punching bag. When I had reflexively guarded my face, I left my stomach wide open. Since his body is not only increased by Ki but electricity as well his overall speed was quite high.


    This allowed him to hit my stomach 10 times before I widened the gap again.


    Every single one of them hurt like hell.

 Chapter 49: The Executioner (2)

    <h4>Chapter 49: The Executioner (2)</h4>


    POV: Alexander Rivington


    I kept swiftly dodging Azrail''s constant barrage of punches and foot trips he attempted. Luckily my eyes have been able to keep up with his movement so far making me able to dodge swiftly instead of irrationally.


    One small mistake would lead to him getting many hits on me which I couldn''t afford to let happen.


    His style is extremely aggressive, it was like every single punch he threw was an attempt to kill me. Veins were bulging all over his hands and head, he was looking at me like I killed his entire family. That was how much rage I felt from him.


    I noticed his electrical wires multiply again which wasn''t a good sign for me. He didn''t give me enough time to control any element in my arsenal, I simply had to rely on my Ki.


    I barely dodged another punch, it seemed like his speed had increased even further.


    I felt his hand grab onto my corbone, after I felt the connection I started to spazz out from getting electrocuted. I couldn''t move my body at all and my muscles felt like they were about to burst.


    With my vision still clear I tried to see what his next move would be, but when I tried to look, I felt a connection on my lower jaw.


    The connection was so hard that it made me look up at the sky dazed, my vision had turned slightly blurry. The static noises had finally vanished meaning he wasn''t in that form anymore.


    I felt a palm m into my sternum but withstood my ground and lowered my head to see Azrail''s full body again.


    His stance was weird, his body was at a 45 degree angle with his legs decently far apart. His left hand was forward opened while his right hand was by his chin closed. To be honest it looked stupid, but for some reason he made it work so well.


    ''I can''t just fight defensively anymore, I really don''t want to attack and hurt him. I have no choice but to though, I have to finish this quickly. So many things can go wrong with him in this mind state, I have to end this.''


    Azrailunched himself at me, both of his hands were open this time. I shot forward as well grabbing both of his hands and squeezing tightly.


    Our hands were locked together, neither of us budging an inch. Azrail quickly cocked his head bag and then threw it forward into my head. Our foreheads were now pushing back against one another with mine on the losing side.


    ''Light control, Ki prison.'' I said in my head as Azrail''s body had started to glow a golden color.


    Azrail had gotten a lot weaker, I took advantage of this opportunity and quickly threw both of his hands down as hard as I could. Since he had suddenly lost his strength, he easily lost his bnce.


    With Azrail now almost to the ground I took his back and went for a rear naked choke. Azrail feeling this immediately dropped his chin as to defend the choke.


    However that wasn''t my goal, it was to actually scream in his ear. With him trying to defend himself against the choke I had full control over the fight, if he still didn''t listen, I was going to knock him out.


    "AZRAIL ITS ME ALEXANDER, STOP FIGHTING OR ELSE YOU MAY GET IN TROUBLE. YOU CAN''T GO AGAINST THE FALLEM EMPIRE SO CALM DOWN NOW!" I screamed directly into his ear which caused him to stop grabbing my arms.


    "Get off me." He said in a disgusted tone.


    "Are you back to your senses?"


    "Yes."


    "You''re not lying are you?"


    "No, now get off."


    I quickly got off of him, he just took a seat and started to look around.


    Although the staircase had some cracks in it the same couldn''t be said about the trees. A decent amount of them ended up being ripped out of the ground or were blown apart.


    Azrail taking in this sight finally looked back at me, I noticed that his veins were gone now. I decided to release my spell from his body as his prior emotional state appeared to be gone.


    "What the hell did you do to me?"


    "Oh that? It''s a light spell which seals your ability to use Ki. In hand to handbat I''m quite a bad match up for most people because of this. Let''s not focus on that though we need to leave this ce now."


    "Why?"


    "Simple, we hope someone else gets med for this or if we are really lucky they won''t care enough about it to find us so let''s goe on."


    Azrail slowly got up and started to walk down the stairs, I had followed while being right next to him. This n wasn''t foolproof at all, but it was better than nothing. The rule book was quite vague on fights and punishments, so hopefully they let this go.


    If they didn''t want damages to happen, they would have simply forbidden fighting unless it was a duel.


    Only our footsteps could be heard, Azrail kept his head down the entire time.


    Physically he looked fine, but who knows what was happening in his mind right now. I still don''t know what even caused him to react that way, still I was surprised on how strong he was.


    Seeing his fighting ability firsthand was apletely different story, if I didn''t know how to seal off Ki that fight would havested way longer.


    Not only that, but this guy was able to force to his Ki and mana reserves to grow with nothing but pure rage. This wasn''tpletely unheard of, but it was extremely rare.


    His control over electricity was also very impressive, it seemed that was the element he was mostfortable with.


    It isn''t considered to be one the strongest elements, but it is by no means weak. He seemed to be utilizing it properly, this guy was truly someone who deserved to be here. I just hope he performs his mission better because so far, he''s made two major mistakes.


    "Hey Azrail, how much time were you given to recover when you got back from Maru?"


    "Almost three weeks."


    ''No wonder, he has had barely any time to actually recover. Why didn''t the VIA wait to send him here next year? Could they find no one else suitable for the task or was it something else?''


    When I had read over Azrail''s files I was truly impressed with what he did, but everythinges at a cost.


    He wasn''t an adult when he made those aplishments, no he was a kid when he made them. He has already lived an adult life.


    War does unspeakable things to any living being. I once read a book that a soldier had written after the great war ended, that book had a major impact on my views about war. The book held such meaning to me that I asked my father if we could visit the author who had written it.


    I''ll never forget the day my father took me to see him, I was excited and had many questions to ask.


    However what I met was a gravestone, the author who was a war hero had died.


    The man who nobody could kill, he was feared by millions, a man who seemed invincible.


    Yet that same man had taken his own life.

 Chapter 50: Finding A Job

    <h4>Chapter 50: Finding A Job</h4>


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    I felt nothing but sheer disappointment at myself for the actions I''vemitted today. I was so dumb that I even tried to fight a damn ghost, something that wasn''t even real.


    I wanted to be alone by myself to think things over, to reassess myself. Weaknesses can easily be exploited and I already felt like mine were getting abused.


    Alexander and I have been walking down the stairs for quite a while, luckily nothing has happened during that time.


    I was d that he of all people was the one who found me in that state. Not only was he able to calm me down but did so without making me get even worse. Once I''ve lost all control, it''s very hard for me to get it back. If he hadn''t ended it quickly, who knows what I would have done.


    It''s like going on a rampage, I want nothing besides destruction and chaos all together. I thrived on them, they were what I wasfortable with.


    "I think I should stay besides you in the capital, I''m only exploring it today to see what such an Empire is like anyway."


    "No thanks, I''m fine now so there''s really no need for that."


    "...Alright then, what do you n on doing then?"


    "Finding a job."


    "Already huh? Well everyone needs money, honestly I''m not used to being so poor. Still though you can enjoy yourself here from time to time, rest is something everyone needs."


    I didn''t answer him back as I had nothing to say, I think the best thing for myself is keeping busy.


    If I notice things start to get worse I could perhaps see a doctor here. With such advanced technology I''m sure their medical field is the same, so maybe they have something for me.


    We finally made it to the end of the stairs; the capital was finally in view.


    An astonishing number of buildings could be seen, they all looked to be the exact same size as well. Each building was about 4 stories high, they also all had the same width and length.


    However, some buildings differed in color with the unusual part being the colors were quite different from any human made buildings. I saw quite a few red buildings, minimum blue buildings, a few purple buildings, and a couple of ck buildings here and there. Also they all looked to have no windows, not a single one.


    The streets were also quite busy, no vehicles could be seen as everyone seemed to be walking. I could spot human and Elves within the busy streets as they easily stood out from the rest of the Fallen Empires citizens.


    "Well, I''ll see you around Azrail hopefully you end up finding a job."


    Alexander had taken his leave and started walking towards the busy streets of the capital.


    I was still standing at the bottom of the staircase, I had no idea where I was supposed to go and I didn''t want to end up getting lost. I decided to walk on the path that looked to surround the entire capital.


    As I made my way to the path and started walking on it, I had noticed that each building had words ingrained on top of the ss doors.


    These words were written in humannguage, as least to my eyes that was. I assumed this was the work of the wristband. This thing was truly amazing, it did seem though that they have limited it capabilities since I couldn''t read the Fallem Empires runes.


    ''How the hell am I supposed to know whose hiring? Wait, how the fuck do I even apply to a job?''


    My disappointment at myself multiplied as I really wish I had known how to do these simple tasks. I didn''t really want to ask anyone for help, so I simply decided to keep looking at each building to see if there was a hiring sign or something of that nature.


    I walked and walked, I even started walking into the city and back out to the outskirts path yet still had no luck.


    I continued doing this for more than 3 hours and my blood was really starting to boil.


    ''How in the fuck do they expect us to find a damn job when no ce looks to be hiring? I mean what the fuck is this shit? Should I just suck it up and start asking random people?''


    I was currently walking on the outskirts with my head down, I really had no idea that finding a job would be this hard.


    I decided to shove my fear away and start asking random people if maybe they knew something. I would simply have to hope they weren''t racist to people who are not their own race.


    I did notice some people give me quite a dirty look, but they were in the minority. Most people simply nced at me and kept on with their day.


    I started looking around to see if anyone looked nice enough to help me out.


    I spotted quite a chubby man who had a big smile on his face while talking to what I assumed to be his wife. The clothes they had on were quite nice as well, the man had a nice white suit on while thedy had a white dress.


    After staring at them for a bit I did get anxious and didn''t want to talk to them, but I forced myself to make the move.


    "Ugh excuse me." I said to the couple, both of them quickly whipped their heads around to look at me.


    "What the hell boy, you scared the shit out of me. Wait, what the fuck are you?" The man said, his blue eyes seemed to be scanning my face. The man had short blue hair as well that was cleanly groomed.


    "Honey! Watch that dirty mouth of yours we are in public! Sorry about that dear my husband is quite slow; do you need help with something?" The wife said pping her husband in the back. Her eyes were pure white which matched her hair as well.


    "What? I mean have you ever seen someone that looked like him? Boy what race are you and what''s up with your face?" He said while defending himself from his wife.


    "I''m a human sir, also these are scars on my face."


    "Oh you''re a human, never heard of them but I know what scars are dummy, how''d you get them."


    "Honey." His wife said in quite a cold tone which ended up even scarring me. The husband had seemed to back up off his wife and put his head down.


    "Sorry about him, anyway as I was saying what do you need help with?"


    "It''s okay, I was looking for a job actually and I haven''t seen anyone hiring. Would you know anyone or any ce that is?"


    "Yes actually my dumb husband here owns a business and needs workers quite badly. Look honey it seems you can finally hire your first employee."


    "Dear, you know I can''t just hire anybody." As soon as those words left his mouth his wife gave him a quick nce.


    "Okay boy you can work with me."

 Chapter 51: Finding A Job (2)

    <h4>Chapter 51: Finding A Job (2)</h4>


    "Follow us boy, I''ll show you where the shop is. After that you can do whatever you want, just make sure to be there before sunrise."


    I started to follow the couple while keeping track of where we currently were.


    The path didn''t have many turns from where we were, there were only three turns and all of them were quite simple. The couple were chatting to themselves about my hiring as I was busy memorizing which route I would take.


    We arrived at a building which was made out of a red material. The building had the name ''Collectors Dream'' on the front which was written in a sky blue.


    "Okay boy this is my store, you''ll be here tomorrow before sunrise for your first day of work. Now then fuck off so I can enjoy my day off with my lovely wife."


    The man had received a hard back p for hisments, I didn''t mind it much though as he was now my boss. I bowed to the couple and started to make my way back to the academy.


    I was d that I received a job on my first day here, I was simply hoping that I would be good enough for it.


    I still had plenty of worries, but my worry about finding a job was now gone. The main now was the damage I had caused on the stairway. I hoped that the Fallen Empire would simply not have cared about it. After all, the rules did state you were allowed to fight outside of campus, you simply just have to stop when you are told to.


    I started walking the route I had nned back to the academy. I was rather slow in my steps as there was no need to rush. With the sun nowing down it seemed everyone else from the academy had the same idea.


    Once I had finally reached the staircase, I saw many Elves and humans in groups speaking to one another. A few knights were also on the staircase, I tried not to make eye contact with any of them and made my way up the stairs.


    Although the Elves and humans didn''t speak to each other, that didn''t stop them from ncing at one another.


    ''Where are the other two races though? I haven''t seen them today, are theying tomorrow?''


    "Oh hey isn''t that Azrail?" A familiar voice had entered my ears as I felt a chill go down my spine.


    ''Fuck my life.'' I thought to myself while staring at the stone stairs. I tried keeping my head down while ignoring them to make them think that they got the wrong guy.


    "Yeah that is him, let''s see what he''s been up to."


    ''Fuck my life.''


    I heard the group stop moving, it seemed like they were waiting until I made my way up to them. I decided to raise my head and of course it was the princess and her friends.


    As soon as I raised my head the whole group decided to wave at me. It was the exact same group that Alexander and I had spoken to.


    "Hey Azrail! How was your trip to the capital!" The princess asked in quite a loud tone which caused every living being around us to look at me. I truly did not want to answer, I was put in yet another dogshit situation I didn''t want to be in.


    Once I made it up to them the group decided to follow at my pace, they all decided to walk in a horizonal line alongside me. The princess was to my right with the two guys and the girl who was in front of me during the meeting was to my left with her two female friends.


    "Good, how about you guys." I said in a low tone while trying to sound as friendly as I could.


    "You guys? Azrail aren''t you quite rude, I''m the one who asked the question. Why would you ask only them?"


    "It''s a human saying that''s inclusive, so I''m actually asking how all of your trips went."


    "You are just no fun. I was obviously joking there''s no need to be so serious and tense. We did have a lot of fun though, this Empire is truly amazing and the citizens were so nice to us as well. My kingdoms capital looks nothing like theirs, I sometimes forget how big our world truly is."


    "Yeah, it really is something."


    ''That should be enough for them to leave me alone, talking to me like this is basically the same as talking to a wall. Now fuck off princess, I see right through your damn nice acting facade.''


    "So tell me what you had to do today? I hope you don''t mind me asking it''s just that you left so suddenly which really surprised me. I didn''t know you already had ns for your first day."


    ''....This bit... just calm down Azrail, breathe. They can sense emotions, calm it down. Just answer her stupid questions.''


    "I went to look for a job, I had no luck though."


    "Wow already looking for a job on your first day here? You sure are quite a hard worker, tell you what if I happen to find something I''ll let you know. Who knows we might end up being coworkers." The princess said with a massive grin on her stupid face.


    "Wouldn''t that be great."


    I noticed that where we currently were was where the fight had taken ce. The odd part was it looked like nothing had happened.


    I was stunned, I had many questions floating around in my head on how this was possible in such a short time and what kind of consequences I''d be facing. I didn''t know what they were going to do, this is what I hated the most.


    I heavily fear the unknown, not knowing what will happen causes me to overthink possibilities.


    "What''s wrong Azrail?"


    ''Damn it just leave me the hell alone already! I don''t have time to deal with this amount of bullshit!''


    "I''m just tired."


    "Are you sure it''s just that?"


    ''I feel like I''m about to snap again already.. Why can''t she just leave me alone. I know she senses my damn emotions. Wait....Is she trying to get me to snap? That has to be it, maybe our first meeting and what I did to her brother have made me her target..''


    "Yeah, I had a pretty long day so."


    I had managed to keep my anger down after picking up on the princess''s goals. I couldn''t afford to y into her hand after so many mistakes I''ve made, I had to switch the situation around and use her.


    "Alright if you say so, make sure to get some proper rest. When we go job searching tomorrow I''ll make sure to let you know if I find anything, so don''t stress yourself too much."


    "Thank you."


    ''I need to figure out a way to make use of her, maybe her friends are a better target. She is a princess of a kingdom, so I''m sure she''s been taught to keep her lips sealed. However, her friends are a different story.''


    We had finally reached the top of the staircase with the gate already opened.


    We had entered the campuses ground and I started to walk to towards my dorm. The Elves dorms was the same way, so the group had followed me. Once I reached my dorm the group had started to wave me off.


    "Bye Azrail, we''ll see you tomorrow!" The princess said with a smile beaming on her face.


    ''Just you wait.....''

 Chapter 52: Collectors Dream

    <h4>Chapter 52: Collectors Dream</h4>


    I was waiting in front of my boss''s shop waiting for him to arrive. When I had gotten here the doors were still locked so I had assumed I was early.


    The sun had just begun to rise, I''ve been standing here for over 10 minutes now.


    I didn''t mind waiting at all since there was not a single person walking in the streets, it was like a ghost town. When I was walking through the campus grounds, I had seen only knights making their rounds.


    My trip ended up being very peaceful, unlike yesterday''s walk.


    I started to hear footstepsing from my right, I turned my head to see it was my boss walking towards me. The man had the same look that he had yesterday, it seemed he really liked that suit.


    "Good you''re already here which is something I like, tell me boy what''s your name again?"


    "Azrail."


    "Last name as well boy unless you don''t have one."


    "Myst name is Diggory sir."


    "Oooo Diggory huh? I''ll be calling you that then, honestly Diggory is quite a fun thing to say. Diggory..... man that is funny. Tell me you like digging Diggory?"


    "Not really sir." It seemed my boss was quite the jokester.


    "Anyone ever tell you that you''re kind of boring? Well anyway let''s head inside, we don''t want to disturb anyone."


    My boss had walked up to the ss door and simply opened it. This did confuse quite a lot since it didn''t open for me, I just assumed the door used the same technology as the academy''s front gate.


    As we entered the shop, I was quite amazed by the amount of space it had. Although the building didn''t look big on the outside, the interior was a different story.


    The ce was massive, against the walls were shelves that were all spaced out and had objects on them. The shelves went all the up to the ceiling, some shelves were empty, but most had at least one item on them.


    The floor waspletely red, as were the walls just like the outside. I didn''t notice any windows, yet the room was bright.


    My boss had walked over to hisrge desk and took a seat behind it.


    There were no chairs for me to sit on, so I just decided to stand in front of him instead of looking around. Afterall I was an employee, not a customer.


    "So what do you think of my little shop, it''s quite nice right."


    "Yeah I do, I''ve never seen anything like this before."


    "Well I''m d you like it, but let me cut to the chase Diggory. I was not joking when I said I can''t just hire anybody. You see my job is extremely dangerous, I''ve started this business more than twenty years ago and yet I''ve never had a single employee. Why do you think that is?"


    "Considering your job is dangerous I would assume its trust and ability."


    "You''re absolutely right, you see I have a family that I love with my entire being. I cannot afford to die, my family needs me and I need them. I can''t focus on someone else''s survival when I have my own priorities. Still there is another problem which is no one wants to work a dangerous job anymore that doesn''t give honor.


    You know Diggory this Empire has gone through many changes, but the change we are on now is something that I despise. I mean you''ve probably noticed it as well, everyone looks the damn same. It''s like we are all a bunch of animals that follow our damn masters."


    I did notice that every citizens clothes were the same color, they were all wearing white.


    "I simply noticed everyone wearing the same color, I don''t know how that would corote into them being an animal."


    "You''ll start to notice what I mean with time, but let''s get back to the main topic. I''ll be honest, I don''t trust you at all. You are probably the same as well, trust is a hard thing to build. So I''ll will put down conditions, if you don''t like them then you do not have to work this job. Sound good to you?"


    "Fine with me."


    "Alright then, first let me exin what the job would be. You see how all these shelves are full of items? They are all items that hold great value, they are called relics. I venture out into uncontrolled areas where many great battles have happened, they are like ghost towns yet other Empires still try to seize them. I will also get personal requests from individuals for certain items, these are usually dangerous requests.


    The reason why my job is so dangerous is because I''m going into an uncontrolled area, meaning someone or something could easily kill me. With the other surrounding Empires trying to secure thesends it leads to constant battles being waged. Although it recent times its calmed down, still anything can happen. My only condition would be, simply look out for your own life. I won''t save you and you won''t save me, we will still help each other but never sacrifice ourselves for one another."


    While listening the man''s exnation and conditions it did seem like this job would be quite the task for myself. I had no problem with his condition, after all I had the same idea as him.


    "You said someone or something, who are our enemies?"


    "Soldiers from other Empires and their relic hunters, alongside that there will be mutated creatures roaming around. For the most part we will be going in quietly, if we are spotted though then we have no choice but to fight."


    "In your honest opinion do you think I am strong enough for this job."


    "Yes, you should be fine for the most part. Telling by just your energy levels you''ll be okay in most cases. However, there is always a chance your life may be taken."


    ''I should be fine huh...Well you really never know when you''re in an environment like that. Still, this job fits my experience probably better than any other job. It will also give me a chance to improve, there are far too many people here that are stronger than me.''


    "Will I at least be getting paid decently?"


    "Oh trust me money won''t be an issue for you, you''ll have a hard time finding a job that beats me in that department."


    Although the job did have a risk of me dying, I still decided there were more pros than cons.


    I was far too weak, not only that but war might be waged in a couple of years'' time. Comcently will get you nowhere, I needed to take advantage of every opportunity given to me.


    Regret was something I had a lot of, I didn''t need to add more to that feeling.


    "I''ll do it." I said to my boss with nothing but resolve.


    "I figured you would, now tell me how you ended up getting those scars. Why does a child your age have these?"


    "There just something I got from the neighborhood I grew up in, you could say I''m use tobat."


    "Is this a normal thing for your race? If someone evenid a hand on my kid, I would kill them. How is this allowed to happen? Do your people simply not care about their children?"


    "It''s justplicated, I don''t think about it that much as it doesn''t do me any good. I just have to improve myself."


    I truly did not want to tell him anything else, I preferred to be vague as he isn''t a human.


    Just like he said, I don''t trust him at all.

 Chapter 53: Collectors Dream (2)

    <h4>Chapter 53: Collectors Dream (2)</h4>


    "Well then let''s have you sign this contract, after that I will give you your gear and we can get this day started."


    My boss had handed me a single piece of paper and a pen. I took the paper and started to read it.


    Most of the page was simply going over how my boss was not liable for my death or any injuries I sustain during working hours. My pay was also included in the document, I would be receiving a base weekly pay of 5,000 dors. I would also receive 15 percent of the earnings of any relic I find which seemed very reasonable to me.


    He wasn''t lying though when he said this job would be paying well. To actually enter a ss you''ll have to pay a fee of 50 dors, if I wanted to take 4 sses per day that would only be 200 dors.


    ''I would only be spending one grand per week for school, I would still have four grand left over. I''m d I decided to stick with this job.''


    I signed my name at the bottom of the paper and slid it back to my boss.


    He then proceeded to put the paper away and opened a drawer to pull out a white backpack. It had looked the same as the one the academy gave us, so I knew it was high quality.


    "This will have all of your gear, but you''ll have to wait to put it on. When you''re in public areas, only wearing white citizen clothing is allowed unless you are given permission from the government. We will have to stop by a weapons store as well, you can pick out what you want from there and I will be paying for it."


    I put on the backpack while my boss had gotten up from his chair. He had opened another drawer and pulled out yet another backpack and put it on himself.


    "Let''s get going."


    My boss and I had left the store, I simply followed him through the city until we had arrived at yet another building. This building was ck and had no name engraved on it.


    We entered the building and the first thing I had noticed was the teleportation array on the floor. It looked exactly like the one I used, but a whole lot bigger.


    The room only had the teleportation array and nothing else. We are also the only two inside, my boss had walked over and stood on the middle of array. I walked over as well, once I reached him the array had started to glow immediately.


    A loud static noise was the only thing that I heard and my vision started turning white.


    I closed my eyes and withstood the loud noise the array was giving off, after a few seconds the noise had finally came to an end.


    I opened my eyes to see that we were in a room that appeared to look the exact same as the one we were just in.


    My boss turned around and started walking to the doors, I followed behind him once again.


    When I stepped outside, I was greeted by pure darkness. I started to enhance my vision with Ki and I could finally start to see. It had looked like we were in the middle of nowhere, only a few one story buildings could be seen and it appeared to me that we were in a dense forest.


    ''How far did we teleport? Shit I can still barely see anything even with my vision enhanced.''


    "How''s your sight?"


    "I can only see up to a couple hundred feet."


    "Okay that will be enough for now, don''t worry darkness works in our favor here. The mist here in this forest makes it hard to see, your sensing ability is also affected quite heavily as well. Don''t let this scare you though, our enemies have the same disadvantage."


    "Will it be like this the entire time?"


    "No, only for half of the day. Once the sun startsing up the mist usually tends to disappear. However, there have been times where it stays. Let''s get moving though we need to get your weapons and start our search."


    We started our walk again over to one of the small buildings that was close from the one we had just left.


    When we had arrived in front of the building, I noticed cracks were all over it. It seemed like the building was quite old, the doors weren''t even made out of ss either instead they were made out of wood.


    The inside was no different, cracks were all over the floor with grass and roots peeking through them. The tables that held different type of weapons seemed like they would break any second.


    I looked around and saw that there wasn''t any employee in this store, it seemed like we were the only ones inside.


    "Alright pick a weapon already we can''t stand here all day."


    I started looking over my options and to be frank I didn''t have many.


    There were a few axes, spears,nces, and longswords. All seemed to be made out of the same ck material, I had walked over to the longswords and unsheathed one.


    The de was jet ck and sharp on both sides, the de was thin as well which made the sword feel as light as a feather.


    The des length however was about 25 inches, I have never used a sword thing long before. The rest of the des were all the same size, so I just decided to pick one of them.


    I did however get upset when I didn''t find any firearms, using them was second nature to me.


    The reason they are so important is because if you run out of energy you are leftpletely defenseless. When you have nothing left in the tank and your opponent does, you are done for. Firearms are what make humanity special, it allows us to conserve energy and fight longer battles.


    "A longde is a good choice, now then go into your backpack and equip your gear. I waited as well so you don''t feel lonely while changing." I looked over to my boss and saw he had a massive smile on his face while saying that.


    ''What a weird guy.''


    I took off my backpack and opened it up to see my gear. When looking inside I saw all obsidian ck clothing and a pair of boots. There were also 2 bay knifes and there were a couple of packaged meals.


    I took out the trench coat and pants then started to undress myself.


    As I was putting on my gear I felt it''s mana enter my body, the clothes then started to get smaller to fit my body perfectly.


    "Damn boy you are jacked, you should be proud to have such a body. Here look at mine, if you stop working out you might look like this HAHAHAHAHA!"


    During hisugh I also heard him pping his stomach behind me, but I did not dare to turn around as I didn''t want to see such a sight.


    "Look Diggory, look at this sexy body HAHAHAHAA!"


    I finished putting on all of my gear while my boss was busy feeling himself up.


    The trench coat also had a hood on it, so I decided to put it to use. Now I simply had to figure out where I was going to ce my weapons.

 Chapter 54: Collectors Dream (3)

    <h4>Chapter 54: Collectors Dream (3)</h4>


    I ended up putting the longsword on my back between the backpack with the two bay knifes on both of my sides. The trench coat was able to create straps to hold everything in ce which was an amazing perk.


    I did debate putting my longsword inside of the coat at first, but it felt very weird on my bare skin.


    I looked over to my boss to see that he was ready as well. We did have the same outfit on, but his stomach was sticking out quite a bit.


    "Where are your weapons?" I asked him as I didn''t notice him carrying any.


    "Come on Diggory, how did you miss these two bad boys?" He said as he started raising his two fists.


    "I''m guessing you specialize in closebat then right?"


    "Sort of, I''m actually quite good with mana so I prefer to fight at a distance. How about you?"


    "I excel at closebat."


    "How about long range?"


    ".....Not so much."


    "Not a problem, I think we will match up quite well. Now then let''s get moving and make sure your hood stays up the entire time."


    "Wait aren''t you going to pay for the sword? We can''t just rob this ce."


    "I know the owner of this run down shithole so don''t worry, once he needs money he will find me. Now shut up and lets move, we will be running through the forest with you following my exact path. No talking, be as silent as possible and always be on guard no matter what. If you spot or think you''ve spotted an enemy, then are you allowed to say something. Let''s get started now."


    My boss walked over to me and put his hand on my bag, the bag had started turning the same color as my clothing. He then did the same thing to his own bad and put it back on.


    In the next moment he took off sprinting out of the building, my instincts had kicked in and I immediately starting shadowing him from behind.


    I made sure to keep our distance extremely close, I wouldn''t feelfortable with a lot of distance in between us. I assumed he knew this area like the back of his hand, I couldn''t allow myself to lose sight of him.


    We had started sprinting through the woods which was something I wasn''t used to.


    The bumpy ground and obstacles in the way made running silently extremely difficult. With a forest this dense it would be mostly impossible, but it seems a path has already been made.


    I didn''t have any difficulty keeping up with him as his speed wasn''t high at all. If I was being honest this was more of hard jog for myself.


    I took the time to send mana through my trench coat to make the hood on my head squeeze a bit tighter. I then started to enhance my ears and nose to make sure my senses were at their peak.


    I never stopped enhancing my eyes since I didn''t feelfortable the moment we got here.


    For the next 2 hours we had traveled through the forest, in that time almost nothing had happened. I never let my guard down either, being in such a dense forest where I could barely see was terrifying.


    Never once did my boss widen the gap or change his pace so I was easily able to keep the distance very close.


    My boss had started to slow down and came to aplete stop. I looked ahead of us and saw what looked to be a giant wall blocking our way.


    "We have to climb this wall to get to the other side, it''s quite a hard climb and its extremely tall. It''ll take at least thirty minutes for us to reach the top. Just follow my exact route, if you need help or a break just say something. So, are you ready?"


    I had tried taken a closer look at the wall and noticed there were cracks all over it. The cracks wererge enough for us to jam our hands in there, still this is an extremely hard way of climbing.


    With the mist so dense here I couldn''t fully see up the wall, I just had to assume it would be this way the entire way up.


    This climb would be difficult, but it was by no means impossible.


    "I''m ready."


    My boss showed me a smile and proceeded to start climbing the wall.


    As I thought he started jamming his hands into the cracks and started going up the wall. I followed suit on his exact path not much longer.


    I started going up the wall and matched my boss''s pace, this time it was quite hard to keep up as I kept miscing my feet making me squeeze really tight on the cracks.


    This wasn''t my first time climbing, I was used to climbing mountains but I have never climbed a mountain that had only cracks.


    The wall was t as well which made climbing it quite awkward, after a few minutes though I started getting used to it. My arms were feeling quite sore though, my mistakes had led to me using a bit more energy than I would have liked.


    I didn''t dare to enhance my arms with Ki because I was afraid I would break the crack which would send me plummeting to the ground.


    When were about 20 minutes into climbing though I started to feel an extreme amount of fear inside of me. It was so bad that I had stopped all my movement.


    "Sir." I said a low whispered tone which caused my boss to stop climbing.


    I was looking up at him and noticed his eyes were locked onto mine, yet he didn''t seem to look scared at all.


    ''No, something is definitely wrong I can feel it. It''s just like that time in training, but this is way worse than that. Where.... Wheres the thing giving me this feeling. WHERE IS IT!''


    I tried looking all around but couldn''t find a single thing, only my boss and this wall were what I could see.


    "What''s wrong Diggory?" My boss said in a whispered tone as well.


    I looked up at him, but felt my throat started to dry up. It felt like something was trying to get me to stop talking.


    "Dan...ger...." Was all I was able to get out of my mouth.


    "Danger? Are you positive? I''m not sensing anything near us though..."


    I didn''t bother responding back, I couldn''t get another word out and I waspletely frozen. My legs were shaking violently, it felt like they were about to give out.


    ''What the hell is this... what is this thing..... I''ve never felt anything close to this.... Where damn it, where the hell are you...''


    My mind was going through absolute chaos, it had gotten to such absurdity I started doubting that this wasn''t even real. It felt like I was in one of my nightmares, that dream like feeling where you can almost believe that it happened.


    The sounds of my heartbeat were starting to be heard, my chest was pounding and I started breathing uncontrobly.


    "Diggory what are you...."


    "<strong>WWWWWWRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH</strong>" The sounds of a monstruous scream went through my entire body.

 Chapter 55: Anomalies

    <h4>Chapter 55: Anomalies</h4>


    The monsters scream came from above, I managed to look up to see that my boss was as terrified as I was.


    His entire body was shaking and it seemed like he wouldn''t be able to move. I honestly didn''t know what to do, I knew this monster was in a different world. I knew that I stood no chance, my life was in its hands.


    I had no clue on where the monster was exactly, all I knew was that it was above. I didn''t know if I even wanted to see the thing, I honestly believed it was best to simply wait here.


    That was what we ended up doing, we were hanging off the wall for a full 10 minutes until the sounds of wings pping were heard.


    They sounded extremely distant, I assumed the monster was high in the air. My question was if it was the same monster who screamed or another.


    My body felt exhausted and weak, I didn''t know how much longer this could go on.


    After 20 hard minutes of just waiting, I heard boss sigh in relief. I looked up at him to see he was already looking at me with a smile on his face.


    "That thing is finally gone, that was pretty scary though huh? We could have both died if it had caught sight of us." By boss said in a whispered tone while looking at me.


    "How do you know that things gone?"


    "After it screamed I was able to track it down using mana, I''m shocked you were able to feel its presence before me though. Now let''s going go my arms are killing me."


    He started to climb while I followed suit. I really didn''t want to move, but I had to force myself as staying here forever wasn''t an option either.


    My fear had calmed down quite a lot, although some still did linger it wasn''t enough to stop my movements. My body did however feel heavy, the climb became much more difficult with all of this added fatigue.


    I still never stopped; I kept climbing until we finally reached the top of the wall.


    I climbed up onto the t surface, it was a couple a feet thick so there was plenty of room. My boss was sitting down and started stretching his arms while I stood next to him.


    I decided to stop enhancing my body so that my Ki levels could start regenerating.


    With my eyes going back to normal I could barely see, it was like I was surrounded byplete darkness. This did start to scare me, but with what I just went through before this was nothing.


    "How are you feeling?" My boss asked me.


    "Fine now, but tell me are creatures like that normal around here?"


    "No they aren''t, if they were I would have died long ago. Monsters like those are basically anomalies, they are outside of the realm of what''s considered normal. That is the fifth one I''ve seen in my career, so you can tell just how rare they are luckily."


    "I see...."


    "Well anyway below this wall is where we begin our search. This was a famous city years ago, now it''s nothing but a thing of the past. This wallpletely surrounds it which led to barely any monsters getting inside. I would say our main worry is other living beings, if we find any that is."


    "How would you usually handle them?"


    "I usually leave them be for the most part, but if a threat is posed than I usually kill them. I prefer to not fight at all honestly, whenever that happens I call it a good day."


    "Okay, well do you want to have hand signals then? Talking may alert enemies nearby who we cannot sense, so it might be a good idea to have some."


    "You know that''s actually a good idea, here how about I raise a certain number of fingers for situations? That way we can easily remember them."


    "That works with me."


    "Okay one finger will be for breaks, two will be for if I sense danger, three if danger is close, four if fighting will happen, and finally my full hand would be that we run. Wherever I point my hand will be the direction we run as well, so will those be good enough?"


    "Yeah they are fine, if we ever need more we can just add some."


    "Alright then, now we will have to climb down this wall which is going to be a lot harder. Once we are finally on the ground again, we will start our search. I will look for the relics while you watch my back and our surroundings. I will help in the sensing part, but it never hurts to have a second pair of eyes. Also, if you do see something that picks your interest just tap my back and raise one finger. We will count finding something as breaks."


    I was hoping there was some sort of easier way to go down this wall, but it would appear I was wrong. Climbing down is a lot more difficult than going up for many reasons.


    The first being finding the holds, there much more of a pain in the ass to find especially when trying to find ones for your feet. The second being reaching downwards to the holds, there is a mental reluctance when you''re reaching that far down. The third and most dangerous is the physical strain on the body, especially the knees and legs.


    My boss had gotten up and started walking to the edge of the wall, I followed behind him and started to mentally get prepared for the climb.


    My Ki was fully restored and my body felt fine for the most part. There was still soreness, but it was nothing major.


    My boss started to descend the wall very slowly while looking down, I took this time to enhance my ears, nose, and eyes once again. With my vision getting better I started to look around, however only some of the walle into view. The rest was the same misty darkness.


    I started to go down the wall as well, I was looking down and following my boss''s exact route.


    It was grueling, not even 5 minutes in and I already wanted to stop. Even though my boss was slow in the decent, he was still going faster than me. I started to have a lot of trouble with reaching the cracks because of my short arms.


    I would have to have one hand jammed in a crack while my other hand was down as far as it could go trying to reach a crack. My feet were also up smeared against the wall making my position awkward since I wasn''t that flexible.


    I was having an extremely hard time, the cracks on this side of the wall weren''t the best either. Instead of jamming a fist which is a much more solid hold, I could only jam my fingers which hurt like hell.


    I didn''t want to enhance myself because it would only increase the risk, but my natural ability was really getting put to the test.


    After 20 minutes I was really starting to hit my limit, I was looking down the entire time and still couldn''t see the ground. Luckily my pace wasn''tpletely terrible, so my boss was still quite close to me.


    ''Fucking shit did this damn wall get fucking taller? How can I still not see the ground when we''ve been climbing for so damn long!'' I was extremely irritated; my fingers were hurting like hell and I was feeling exhausted.


    Luckily after a couple of minutes the ground was finally in view, however my boss stopped moving.


    He had looked up at me and raised his right hand which had 3 of his fingers up.


    ''Shit.....''

 Chapter 56: Danger Close

    <h4>Chapter 56: Danger Close</h4>


    I tried to look around to see if I could spot the enemies, but it was simply too dark. The mist seemed to have gotten a lot thicker inside of these walls which wasn''t a good thing for my eyes.


    I couldn''t send a mana pulse either since I was still hanging off of the wall, I needed to be on the ground for the pulse to actually matter.


    This left me to simply rely on my boss until we made it to the ground.


    He and I were both looking at each other, I nodded my head to confirm I saw the signal as he still was holding it up.


    I could only reply with my head as both my hands were upied with holding onto a crack and I was too weak to let one of them go. I didn''t even know if I could hang here much longer, it was getting that bad.


    While we were still looking at each other I tried saying words silently, hoping he could perhaps read my lips.


    "How close are they?" I said slowly and silently hoping that he would be able to see what I was saying. However, he only gave me a confused look.


    ''Shit I forget he doesn''t speak the humannguage, how the hell would he be able to read my lips.'' I wanted to hit myself for forgetting such an important thing, but the trantor was so good it made me forget he spoke a differentnguage.


    He started climbing up the wall slowly making his way over to me. He positioned himself to directly to my left, he was hanging on quite a small crack but looked to be fine with it.


    "There are two energy signatures I''m picking up on the outskirts of the city. They are about three hundred feet away from us." He whispered into my ear.


    "I can''t hang here much longer sir, my body is about to give out. If we have to fight that''s fine with me, but being here puts us at a major disadvantage." I whispered into his ear.


    "Okay we can head down, but we will try not to engage them. Getting into a battle this early is never a good sign."


    My boss started making his way down the wall and I did as well. When I finally reached the ground I started to rub my fingers to help relieve some of the soreness.


    I was physically tired as well, but I never let my breathing get out of control. The whole area was dead silent as well, even with my hearing enhanced I couldn''t hear a single sound.


    "Let''s wait here until they start moving, fighting now will really be a worst case scenario. You can also take this time to recover, it seems that climb has taken a toll on you." My boss whispered into my ear, we were both on one knee while our backs where to the wall.


    "Why a worst case scenario?"


    "Fighting produces a lot of noise, everything in this city will probably hear it. That means we will get a whole lot of unwanted attention. One fight can turn into a major battle which will take not only a lot of time, but energy as well. There are too many risks, until we are forced then we will make a move."


    I tried to look into the city but multiple trees were in my way, not only that but the mist had gotten a lot thicker.


    My visions had been suppressed quite a lot by this mist, it was bing quite annoying. It also seemed like the mist was disrupting me from using natural mana.


    Mana that doesn''te from one''s body is called natural mana, this mist was stopping me from controlling it.


    When I had tried sending a mana pulse through the ground almost nothing came back, the mist had basically blocked the pulse. Since the pulse heavily relies on natural mana it was basically deemed useless until the mist went away.


    ''So far, my ability is really being put to the test. This area is truly making me feel quite useless, I need to start adapting or I may end up being killed.''


    This environment was quite brutal, it hasn''t even been that long and I can already start seeing some of my weaknesses start to show.


    "MOVE NOW!" My boss yelled while I felt a hard push on the side of my arm.


    I took the momentum jumped as far as I could to the right, the next moment a spearnded right where my head was. The spear was made out of stone and was able to slightly prate the wall behind me.


    I got into a sprinter position while one of my hands grabbing the hilt of my sword. I then started to enhance my entire body while waiting for my opponents to make their next move.


    I still could not tell where they were and I had no idea what the terrain would look like. I was in the dark and fully unprepared for a surprise assault.


    "Diggory you will have to rush in and engage in closebat, I will support from behind. They are 200 feet directly in front of us, you have to go now!"


    I felt reluctant to simply rush in, but I was nothing but a sitting duck this far out.


    I decided I had no other choice and had to take the attack to them, if I decided to only stay here I would be the only one getting attacked. I had to even out the ying field.


    I started sprinting through the trees and made sure to not follow one straight line. I had to make I was a hard target to hit, I kept my eyes forward as well to see any attacksing in.


    I did still keep my guard up against my boss, but these two were the main priority. If he tried to attack me, I only had my instincts to rely on to doge it.


    I started to see another stone spearing my way, it was easily dodged as its speed wasn''t all that impressive. With the object being big in size as well it was easy to see.


    After 100 feet I finally saw the two attackers, they wore the same ck gear as me but had masks covering their faces. Their identities were apletely mystery, I couldn''t even see their hair because of their hoods.


    One was holding arge two handed axe while the other was casting spells. I decided to engage the one with the axe as he would be the main threat this close.


    I unsheathed my longsword and increased my speed further by shifting more ki to my legs. I cut the distance in a matter of seconds and swung my sword directly towards the man''s neck.


    My eyes were analyzing every movement the man would make, he slightly shifted his axe to block my swing. As soon as I felt the connection, I raised my leg and kicked him in the abdominal area.


    This moved back only a tiny bit, but it had confirmed my thoughts on his physical strength.


    ''He''s physically stronger than me...''

 Chapter 57: Danger Close (2)

    <h4>Chapter 57: Danger Close (2)</h4>


    I looked slightly to my right to see the other man was not facing me at all. He wasunching spears in the direction of where I assumed my boss was.


    I knew I needed to take our skirmish somewhere else as I preferred not to fight 2 on 1. However, moving this guy might be a huge problem.


    He swung his axe directly downwards towards my skull, I jumped backwards which avoided the axe and opened our distance.


    ''I need to starting at him at weird angles to make sure he can''t get a proper swing with that axe of his. I still don''t know the proper way to use my longsword though, the length of the de is throwing me off more than I expected...''


    I opened up my stance and held my de forward as to see the actual distance. By doing this I was able to get a better read on what the perfect distance would be to strike.


    The man noticed this and charged forward, for such a big guy his speed was not to be underestimated.


    I moved to my left and used my momentum to perform a horizontal sh. The man easily blocked it, but now hisrade wouldn''t be able to help him since he was in the line of fire.


    Positioning was extremely important in battles which involve multiple people. At first they had an advantage, but now that advantage was gone.


    I continued to swing faster and faster at the man, some swings would be high and others would be low to keep the man guessing where the next would be. My style revolved around pure aggression, I could keep this onught on for hours.


    *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*


    The sounds of metal shing were ringing out in the silent city, the man had no opportunity to swing back at me.


    I was still holding back, I decided to assume he was as well since being overconfident was deadly.


    "What''s wrong pussy, having trouble over there?" I said while still swinging my sword in every direction possible.


    I decided to use trash talk to see if he would start revealing his true strength.


    Even though I was staring at him I couldn''t tell what his emotions were because a mask had blocked his entire face. I could only go off of his energy levels, but I couldn''t get a read on them.


    While I was in the middle of another swing the man had taken arge step back which caused me topletely miss.


    I wasted no time and dropped the sword then charged at the man while pulling out both of the knifes on my sides. During my charge the man suddenly ducked and I saw a speare flying at my face at high speeds.


    My reaction time was faster though as I was able to slightly crouch down making the spear graze my hair.


    This didn''t cause my charge to stop, I kept moving forward and swung both knifes down which entered my opponent''s skull. This caused his body to m down on the ground in a crouched position, I made sure to dig the knifes deeper to ensure the kill.


    After that I quickly removed the knifes and started enhancing my body with electricity.


    I looked over to the other man and saw that he was trying to run away.


    However, I would never allow such a thing. With my body now fully enhanced I blitzed right behind him. I swung both knifes into the man''s back which also caused him to fall.


    "PLEASE DON''T KILL ME! PLEASE STOP!" The man begged while having two knifes lodged into his back. I was on top of him ready to kill him any second.


    "Diggory stop, don''t kill him." I looked over to see my boss standing over me.


    "You, why should I listen to you when you didn''t help at all. I never once heard an attacke from you sir." I said to him while staring dead into his eyes.


    "LISTEN TO HIM, YOU NE." The man''s words had started echoing throughout the city, so I decided to grab his head and m it down.


    "Zip it."


    I looked over to my boss again and waited for his answer.


    .....


    POV: Yuki Burope


    I had really mixed feelings about my employee. The business side of me liked the kid and his capability, I knew he was a great fit for the job. Yet the fatherly side of me didn''t like it all.


    After having my beautiful daughter, I started to look at life and this Empire in a different way.


    I didn''t like that someone this young could be so ruthless and efficient in killing. No kid should be able to do such a thing, it wasn''t right. How could we adults allow such a thing to happen.


    Looking at his scars made me angry, I couldn''t believe his race could let such a thing happen. If my daughter had even one of those scars, I would flip this entire world on its head.


    Now this kid was looking at me like I was his enemy, those cold grey eyes of his were locked onto mine.


    I truly didn''t know what to say, you could never show mercy in this work but for some reason I felt like he needed to show it. My fatherly instincts told me that he was going down a wrong path and I wanted to correct it.


    "The man is begging for his life Diggory, these are mere relic hunters not soldiers." I said to the boy, it was true that these two weren''t soldiers instead they were pure relic hunters, sobat wasn''t their strong suit.


    A relic hunter simply loves finding relics and exploration, it was one of the reasons I was so shocked when they started attacking.


    "I don''t care what he is, the moment he attacked us he forfeited his life. You''re the one who said no mercy, why are you suddenly changing your mind sir.."


    The kid was absolutely right, however hearing it out of his mouth made me quite sad. This was why I preferred to work alone, I get attached to things far too easily.


    I raised my hand and started forming a needle out of ice. Once the needle was made, I fired it towards the relic hunters head which killed him immediately.


    Diggory never once took his eyes off of me, he was still staring at me. Expect now we were face to face as he had gotten off the dead body. He was much shorter than me, so I had to look down on him which didn''t feel right.


    "Diggory tell me something, just how many lives have you taken?" I asked in a serious tone, this was something on my mind that I had to know.


    ".....A lot."


    His answer pained me, for the first time in a while I had felt pity.


    "What age was your first?"


    "Nine."


    I had looked up and started to stare into the darkness.


    When my daughter was nine, she was crying to me how all the kids in school were bullying her. Yet when Diggory was nine he had taken his first life, I couldn''t imagine the gap being so big for a nine year old.


    ''All are humans like him? Just what sort of race are they.... No there''s no way, I had seen other''s that looked simr to him just minus the scars. Maybe he''s a special case, then who''s at fault for letting this happen to him?''

 Chapter 58: Danger Close (3)

    <h4>Chapter 58: Danger Close (3)</h4>


    POV: Yuki Burope


    "Now let me ask you a question sir, why didn''t you help me."


    I didn''t know if I should lie or tell him the honest truth. Honestly, I only wanted to see his ability to deal with the situation. I didn''t expect for him to handle it so effortlessly, that led to me not really helping even though I said I would.


    "I wanted to see if you were capable enough to handle the situation, that''s all. You exceeded my expectations." I decided to tell him the truth, if we were going to continue working together than I would rather have him not despise me.


    "Whatever."


    He walked over to his longsword and started to put it back into its scabbard. I breathed out a sigh of relief and started to send my mana through the mist again.


    ''Since that hunter screamed everything in this ce must have heard it. Today has already been terrible, hopefully luck starts to get on our side.''


    We have had quite the number of setbacks today, especially with that anomaly flying over our heads. Then with the hunter screaming everything in this ce has been alerted of our presence.


    I started to have the thought of calling today early, it wasn''t good to force things in this hellscape. Sometimes you just need to learn when to take your losses.


    I was alert and spread my mana as far as it could possibly go. When Diggory came back I decided to finally enter the city as nothing was close to us at this moment.


    "We are going to enter the city now since there''s no one around us. We need to be fast and efficient though as the city is an extremely dangerous ce. Most of the buildings are destroyed and tons of rubble will be scattered across the ground. These make for great hiding spots, so don''t trust anything you see here and never let your guard down."


    "Okay."


    I took the lead and started to enter the city, I decided to start off at a walking pace since I thought Diggory would need a small break.


    The journey to get here was rough even for a veteran like me, so I could only imagine how he was feeling. He was another race as well and I didn''t know anything about them. On top of the he hides his emotions and physical state quite well, during the climb I had no idea his arms were about to give out.


    He was a mystery to me, a mystery that I wanted to figure out and fix.


    We entered the city and what I saw still pained me even though I have seen this sight countless times.


    A wastnd, nothing but torn apart building and rubble and debrie all over the streets. Large sinkholes were also scattered around, some were massive in size while others were quite small.


    The sinkholes were quite dangerous as the water within them is heavily contaminated, I never even go near them.


    Unlike the current capital, the buildings here were all different in size and shape. Some were extremely tall while others were short and wide, but all of them were in different shapes which showed our architectural level.


    The shapes of theserge buildings were unique and special, the ones in view were arge spiral that looked to be cut in half and another was a quarter of a globe.


    I knew what these buildings looked like in their prime, when citizens would celebrate such creations. The prior beauty which the city had was unimaginable and now it is just something that''s forgotten.


    This city was where I was born, when our Empire was in its glory days.


    I loved my Empire, I fought for my Empire, I lived for my Empire, I killed for my Empire, I sacrificed for my Empire, I did everything in my body and mind for this Empire.


    Yet my Empire gave me only sadness and anger back. The direction we went made my prior loyalty vanish into thin air.


    We have gone so low to the point that these other races call us the Fallen Empire. If I had heard this years ago I would have been outraged, but now I couldn''t agree more.


    The only thing I care about is my family now, without them I am nothing but a relic of the past.


    "Do you sense something?" Diggory whispered behind me which startled me.


    I usually stare at this city since it is such a nostalgic ce for me, but with Diggory here it seems I wouldn''t be able to do that.


    "No, I was just thinking about which route we should take." I whispered back, I looked around and saw a small alley then started to walk towards it.


    Alleys were the safest ce to walk through as you could only get attacked in limited ways. Unlike being out in the open or on a main street, with those types of areas you could get attacked from anywhere.


    Since I know this city''syout, I am able to use theseplicated alleyways to myplete advantage.


    Over thest 3 years I''ve been able to scavenge at least 30 percent of the city. Out of all the locations I have scavenged this one has reaped the most rewards. However, it has also been the most dangerous.


    No location has almost taken my life the number of times as this one has. Even if I were to add up all of the others together, they still didn''te close.


    The reason being is because battles are still being waged here, the Empires surrounding us also wanted to scavenge this ce. After all we were by far the strongest with gap being massive, now though it is up for debate on who holds that tittle.


    We were basically in a war zone, although only small groups fight instead of an actual war where armies are being led.


    Today was quiet though on that front, usually you hear at least one battle happening. The anomaly that flew over earlier must be the reason, no one would dare cause a sound when that thing is around.


    We traversed though the alleys for over 30 minutes, nothing had happened in that time span.


    I looked at the end of the alleyway which led to a main street, luckily I sensed that no one was around. We would have to cross the street in order to scavenge buildings I haven''t done already.


    I have never crossed this street before, it was a bit nerve wracking as many things could go wrong.


    I looked behind me and saw Diggory wearing the same usual face. It was stone cold, his eyes were scanning everything around us. As if noticing my gaze, the kid turned his head and looked at me.


    We looked at each other for a little, but as I was about to turn my head I noticed he squinted his eyes quickly.


    He looked over to his left and was now staring at a wall which was connected to a medium sized building. He slowly leaned in and ced his ear against the wall, I didn''t disturb him and only watched.


    After a few moments his eyes opened up widely and quickly raised three of his fingers.


    I reacted instantaneously and put my palm against the wall then started to shift my mana throughout the entire building. I noticed there were 8 people inside of the building, they were all grouped up together.


    ''How didn''t I notice this? There are eight of them as well this is bad, we extremely close to them as well. There most likely soldiers too since there in such arge group. Do they sense as well?''


    The situation was bad and Diggory already had one of his hands ced on the hilt of his sword.

 Chapter 59: Danger Close (4)

    <h4>Chapter 59: Danger Close (4)</h4>


    POV: Luki Burope


    Diggory''s Ki was ring up, it seemed he was ready for battle. His eyes were sharp, it was like they were looking directly through the wall. Being so close I could sense his extreme amount of bloodlust, it was like killing was his only thought.


    I didn''t share that thought, it was far too dangerous and the cons heavily outweighed the pros.


    I put my hand on his shoulder which caused him to instantly shift his gaze to me. The weight of his bloodlust also shifted, it was now being pointed at me.


    "Calm down, we shouldn''t fight. We will wait here and only react." I whispered, hoping that he would listen to my order.


    He did follow my order as his bloodlust had gone down significantly, his Ki was still red up but that was fine. I made sure to keep my mana locked onto the group to make sure no surprise assault would happen.


    He pped my hand off of his shoulder and proceeded to lock eyes with wall again.


    We were standing here on edge; minutes had started to go by and not one person from the group moved. We are at aplete standstill, this act confirmed my prior suspicions.


    They know we''re here, the question is will we fight.


    *BOOOOOOM* *BOOOOOOOOOM*


    Loud explosions sounded out through the city, I could tell they were distant.


    *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*


    Metal shing soon followed in another direction, the prior silent city was now filled with noises of battle.


    I looked over to Diggory and saw his eyes were still locked onto the wall, not once have they moved. With multiple battles happening around us I thought the group would react, but they didn''t.


    They all kept still, I believed they were trying to force my hand.


    ''What should we do.... Maybe falling back would be a good option, it doesn''t seem like they want confrontation. I don''t like that option though, they could easily track us. Moving forward is also dangerous, I know the exact spot they are hiding in and it has a perfect view of the street. Is our only option to fight? We are heavily outnumbered though, I also can''t tell how strong they are.''


    My head was racing with thoughts, I was extremely indecisive on what to do.


    Adding just one employee changed my ns a lot, I could no longer act in my own way. I had to make sure Diggory was involved in these ns, this changed my way of thinking more than I thought it would.


    "Make a decision sir." Diggory whispered, he was still in his stance and didn''t take his eyes off of the wall.


    I truly wanted to make a decision, but all of them were bad options which held me back from choosing one. I decided to ask Diggory on what he thought, his opinion might help me in making a decision.


    "What do you think we should do?"


    "Can you tell how many are inside the building?"


    "Yes I can, there are eight of them in total. They also hold a perfect position which views over the street we have to cross."


    "I would suggest blowing up this entire building or retreating to use a different route to avoid a confrontation with them. If they follow us we could try to lose them or bring the fight to them. With your knowledge of this city''syout you could put us in a better position to attack them as well which makes that option the safest."


    I thought over his suggestions yet was very puzzled by his first choice. The second however did make the most sense because I shared the same thought.


    "Do you have the capabilities for your first choice?"


    Diggory put his palm on the wall and started to move it all over the ce.


    "Yeah I should be able to, the downside is that it would drain a lot of my mana and I don''t think it will kill all of them."


    *BOOOM* *BOOOOM*


    More explosions were sounding out, battles were starting to be more rampant. I started to feel like I was getting pulled towards the decision of fighting.


    With all the noises filling the city my body was itching for violence. This was something quitemon to happen, however my experience started to take control.


    "Well good to know you can do that, but we will be retreating and taking a different route. Make sure you don''t lose sight of me."


    I immediately took off and started sprinting through the alleyways making sure to take as many turns as possible. I made sure my mana never left their bodies, it was risky but I could not afford to lose sight of them.


    Instead of sensing things around me I decided to only keep my senses on them until they showed their true colors.


    Not long after I felt the group start to move, sadly they were moving in our direction. Now they left me no choice, their lives had to be taken.


    "Diggory they are following us, there''s an open area close by and that''s where our fight will take ce. I''m sure I don''t have to tell you this, but you must kill them."


    "Okay." Was all that he said back, he sounded close by as well which didn''t surprise me as the kid was extremely fast.


    After 5 minutes of sprinting, we had made it to the open area. With most buildings beingpletely destroyed the city had arge number of open sections like these.


    Buildings did surround us, however they were so destroyed that you could not hide in them or even take cover.


    Diggory and I turned around with him now in front of me, our enemies were already close enough for me to see them. They didn''t hide their faces, so they were definitely soldiers.


    "Diggory, you see them right."


    "I do, I see three of themgging behind as well. Those three are long range, attack them first." He said while looking back at me, making sure we locked eyes.


    I knew my prior mistake has led his trust in me to be at rock bottom.


    I didn''t let that bother me and started to raise my right hand while channeling my own mana as well as natural mana.


    Ice started to form in front of me in the shape of small needles, they were a total number of 50. I started controlling the air around them as well to increase the shot speed and make their movement silent.


    Diggory saw this and turned his head to look ahead of him while unsheathing his long sword. He took an offensive stance and seemed to be waiting for my attack tounch.


    The group had stopped moving and attempted to take their formation, but I didn''t allow it to happen.


    I shot all 50 needles at once, I made sure 20 were shot between the 5 standing at the front. As my needles were shot Diggory ripped off the ground which caused a small tremor to be felt under my feet.


    In less than a second my needles reached the group, they were only 200 feet away which was a very close distance for my needles.


    The soldiers were able to defend themselves quite well by creating a wall of fire.


    That wall was able to destroy a couple of my needles, however a majority of them broke through. In the next instant I felt one mana source disappearpletely, they were killed.


    Now there were seven left to go.

 Chapter 60: Point Blank

    <h4>Chapter 60: Point nk</h4>


    POV: Luki Burope


    The wall of fire started to disperse, our enemies came into view with Diggory already in range.


    He swung his sword fast and violently aiming for one of his opponents neck. In real time I saw his sword go through and behead the fellow who was in range of the swing.


    The group looked confused at first by the speed of our sudden assault, however that confusion turned into a burning rage.


    "YOU FILTHY ANIMAL!" A man screamed as hisrade''s body and head copsed to the ground.


    The soldiers close to Diggory started to surround him while the long range fighters started channeling their mana for an attack. All eyes were on him, which was a fatal error.


    Diggory''s body started have electrical wires forming around him, then he suddenly vanished from his ce.


    I quickly remade 30 of my ice needles and repeated the wind process to enhance their deadliness. Diggory then reappeared and already beheaded one of the long ranged soldiers leaving only one of them left.


    A soldier that carried ance was able to react to Diggory''s attack and managed to thrust his spread directly to his stomach.


    *CLANG*


    Metal shing was heard bursting through the air, Diggory had managed to block the attack.


    I proceeded to fire my needles at the group with my main target being thest long ranged fighter. The needles reached the group yet all of them dodged perfectly, it seemed they never lost focus on me.


    Fire started to light the darkness as I felt a massive amount of mana being used.


    Arge ball of fire was being formed with its target looking to be Diggory who was still fighting four opponents all at once.


    He was borderline taking on the entire group by himself, however he was getting quite a beating. I decided to take a more aggressive stance to ease his load.


    ''Ice control, Lords Tears ''


    The temperature started decreasing at a rapid rate whilerge boulders made out of ice started forming 200 feet up in the air.


    While the fireball wasunched, I dropped my 10 boulders at the exact same time. They fell right on top of the group while I saw Diggory get engulfed by the fireball.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    ....


    POV: Azrail Diggory


    After I enhanced myself with electricity I blitzed behind the group and managed to behead one of the long ranged fighters. Mages were a pain to deal with, I wanted take care of them first.


    Once I made the kill, I saw a speare aiming for my stomach.


    I quickly lowered my sword and managed to stop the spear from piercing me, however the pushback I felt was enormous.


    *CLANG*


    As I was pushed backwards, I saw a swording for my neck to my left.


    I went underneath the sword and swung back aiming for the man''s arm. The man was grabbed and pulled back while my sword connected with a shield. The connection rang through my hands, I then received a hard kick to my stomach which caused me to yet again get pushed back.


    While looking for the next attack I saw a bright ball of fire appear in front of me. I was toote to react and didn''t manage to stop my electrical wires in time.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    When I was engulfed by the ball it exploded because of my wires causing me to get sent flying.


    While in the air I tried to brace myself for impact by balling up then I smashed into a building. The pain I felt on my back was immense, but I was able to survive.


    ''Fuck I''m rocked to all hell, I need to recover quickly.''


    I controlled my breathing and started to slowly get up making sure not to rush.


    After managing to stand I looked around me to see that I was inside a building and there was a giant hole in the wall. I knew that''s the wall I smashed through and decided to peak through it at an angle.


    The darkness seemed to have gotten worse with all the dust kicked up, I couldn''t see anyone, but the odd part was I couldn''t hear anything either.


    "Diggory are you alive?" My boss said in a normal tone which shocked me.


    "Where are they?" I responded back hurriedly.


    "They are dead, wait didn''t you see myst attack?"


    "Didn''t you see me eat an explosion point nk, obviously I didn''t see it."


    I left the building and started walking towards my boss''s voice, after 100 feet I managed to see giant boulders of ice embedded into the ground. Blood was all over the ground, it was a gruesome sight to behold.


    My boss shortly came into view, from what I could see he had no wounds while I knew I did.


    "You look terrible Diggory, I think we should call today off."


    I didn''t want to be the reason we stopped today, but after that explosion my body was in a lot of pain. I also noticed my gear was basically torn apart and I had also lost my sword.


    "Yeah probably... It''s my fault, sorry about the gear as well I didn''t see the fireballing at all."


    "Don''t worry for a first timer you did well and don''t worry about the gear. I will get you brand new ones tomorrow for work. We can start to head back now, are you able to run?"


    "Yeah."


    We started to run through the city making our way back to the giant wall.


    Noises of multiple battles were still heard, most were extremely distant with a few sounding close by.


    There was one particr sound that stood out, it was one I was very familiar with as well.


    *VOOOOOM* *VOOOOOOM *BOOOM* *BOOOM*


    Those voom sounds shook me to my core, they were the sounds artillery made. The terrifying part was you could only hear that specific noise if they flew over your head.


    My boss noticed this as well, we started taking many more turns and started heading a different direction.


    After that I could no longer hear those specific sounds which put my mind at ease.


    *BOOOM*


    A bright light filled my vision, I felt myself being lifted from the ground and go crashing into multiple walls.


    Each wall mming into my back was vivid, I started losing count for how many I went through. My back hit another wall, but it didn''t break it which caused me to m into the ground.


    My ears were ringing violently while my vision was so blurry I couldn''t see a thing.


    I wasn''t able to move, it was like a had no control over my body. My senses were numb as well, I wasn''t able to feel anything. My mind was the only thing that was able to function properly.


    I started flushing Ki out in waves to help my body, after a full minute I felt a foreign mana force enter my body as well.


    I was repulsed at first, but after I noticed my body was healing I figured it was my boss. I let him finish his own process while I did my own and I finally was back to my senses.


    I looked up to see my boss was sitting next to me, he looked to bepletely fine which stunned me.


    "How the hell are you not injured?" I asked, the man looked to bepletely fine after getting hit by an artillery round which was unheard of.


    "I''m not that physically weak, my people were a race made for war. That explosion was nothing."


    "Fair enough." Was all I could say back.


    I knew we were two different races, the differences were made clear to me after today.


    I forget sometimes that my race is said to be the weakest of them all. I thought the gap would finally be closed, but that thought was smashed.

 Chapter 61: Mediocracy

    <h4>Chapter 61: Mediocracy</h4>


    My boss took off his backpack then took out two ck containers. He handed one over to me, the container was a small square and looked to have a lid on it.


    "It''s a water container, drink up. Since we are in this building, we can take some time for you to recover more. Good news is we are almost to the wall, while the bad news is the sun wille up soon. We need to get over that wall before the sunes up or else we will easily be spotted while climbing."


    I nodded my head while drinking the water out of the small container. The water was ice cold and didn''t seem to end. I took a few big gulps and closed the container then handed it back to my boss.


    While handing back the container I noticed my coat had gotten even more tattered. I knew I had a lot of wounds as well, luckily they all felt to be closed for now.


    This city has really taken its toll on me, I''ve almost lost my life twice now in the same day.


    ''I''m too damn weak, I will die if I don''t improve quickly. My sensing ability needs to be the first to improve. I have to learn how to control natural mana here.''


    I felt like death was close to me, ready to get me at any time. When that artillery round hit the ground without me even noticing, I knew change had to happen immediately.


    My natural senses weren''t good enough, even when they were enhanced.


    I needed to control mana like a proper senser, to always know what''s around you especially in this ce.


    I looked over to my boss to see he was still gulping down water, I''ve never seen anyone drink so much in one sitting. He finally stopped and started putting the containers away while I myself started to stand.


    I felt a lot of aching muscles and pain all over my body, but I had to keep going.


    I fully enhanced my body once again and was ready for the final push to the wall. Adrenaline was pumping making the pain start to go away, I looked over to my boss to see he was ready to go.


    He looked over at me and smiled, then started running.


    We ran and ran through the dark alleys of the city, the noises of battle had not calmed down and only became more rampant.


    The prior lonely and dead city seemed to being to life, when there is life there is also death.


    We made it out of the city and started running through the trees, our pace had never slowed down once.


    As we were running through the trees, I started to see the walle into view. We made it out and finally reached the giant wall with the sun still down.


    My boss wasted no time and started to climb, I followed suit and began following his exact route.


    We were climbing at fast pace, way faster than our first climb. We able to reach the top in less than 20 minutes. My boss immediately started descending the wall, this was the part I dreaded the most and what made me give up early.


    I began to start climbing down and the pain in my body started to resurface.


    Adrenaline wasn''t enough to numb it, a burning sensation started to spread and took control. I wanted to stop climbing, I wanted to just stop but I never did.


    I kept climbing.


    ''Fingers jammed repeat, fingers jammed repeat, foot in ce repeat, fingers jammed repeat, foot in ce repeat.'' I said it in my head over and over again to remember the process.


    While I was looking down I saw blood start to drip, it was my own.


    One of my wounds reopened, a worst case scenario was starting to unfold. If all my wounds started to open, I would lose strength and fall. Not only that but I could lose enough to die or pass out.


    I started to increase my speed by taking risker holds which led further down the wall.


    The pain increased further which drove me insane, but it had to be done.


    ''FINGERS JAMMED REPEAT! FOOT PLACED REPEAT! FINGERS JAMMED REPEAT!'' I screamed in my mind.


    I started to see the ground, I climbed even faster and when the ground was 50 feet away I decided to let go of the wall and free fall.


    I mmed into the ground which hurt my legs, but that didn''t matter because I finally reached the ground.


    I slowly stood up and my boss reached the ground shortly after, he once again took off his backpack and pulled out another ck container. He put two of his fingers inside of the container then pulled them out which had some type of blue material on them.


    He walked over to me and put the material on my opened wound which stopped the bleeding.


    I looked over to my right arm to see the material sinking inside my skin and actually start closing the wound. There wasn''t any medicine I knew of that had this effect.


    The hardest part was now over, the sun also was starting its rise which gave the woods in front of me horrifying sight.


    The trees had no color, they were all torn apart and looked to be barely holding on. The grass was a dark murky ck that looked like a horrible disease. The sun only amplified these horrible features, only chemical weapons could cause such things to happen.


    I heard my boss start to run and I followed suit reluctantly.


    We ran for over three hours to make it back to the teleportation array. Nothing had happened during the run, I did notice though the forest started to look better the further we had gotten from the city.


    We had reached the weapons shop building and went inside. I looked around to see the shop owner still was not here.


    "Change back into your normal clothing now and leave all your gear here as well. Also check your body to see if you have any more open wounds so that we can get them closed before you put on your clothes."


    I started taking off my gear and noticed that there were more wounds than I had thought.


    Most were burns from the two explosions, luckily no wounds were opened making me sigh in relief. I decided I would have to visit the infirmary when I reached the campus grounds.


    I looked at my backpack and saw it was still in perfect condition which was quite a shock.


    I had taken out my clothing and started putting them on, after that I put all of my gear on an empty table. My boss had finished changing as well and walked over to me and turned my bag white again.


    "Oh by the way did the academy give you students any money?"


    "No, when I checked the card there was nothing inside of it."


    "Are you kidding me? Huh what a bunch of idiots, okay when we get back follow me to the shop I''ll pay you for today. Do you have to pay for medical fees or does the school take care of them?"


    "I know that we don''t have to pay when we use the schools infirmary, however they never said anything about the hospitals located inside of the capital."


    "They really are morons, the reason why the terms are so vague is because the number of disputes happening over the entire program. The head dean of the program is brand new, that''s why they were so many changes to the entire thing."


    "Was that why they made us came a week early?"


    "I would assume so, all business owners were given a paper that went over the program since our taxes are funding it. A majority of us supported it, but there was a minority that went against it. The new head dean changed the program to meet in the middle of both sides. One of the major changes was having all of you work and pay for most things. The minority of the owners didn''t like that all of you would be learning and enjoying privileges for free when our people work hard to earn them."


    "I see, well which side did you end up taking?"


    "I supported the program from the beginning, this empire needs change before it''s toote..."

 Chapter 62: His Smile

    <h4>Chapter 62: His Smile</h4>


    My boss and I finished changing then started walking over to the teleportation array.


    We entered the building and stood in the middle of the array, the array started to glow while a static noise was heard screaming. I closed my eyes once again and waited till the sounds finally stopped.


    Once the noise came to an end I reopened my eyes to see we were inside quite a small room. I looked around and saw multiple knights surrounding us, four were on each side with weapons in hand.


    They looked to be the same knights seen around campus as well. I looked over to my boss to see he was already leaving the building.


    I quickly followed suit as I didn''t wish to be left alone with them.


    We exited the building and was met with a bright sun beaming on my face as many citizens were walking the streets.


    Smiles were seen all around while everyone was wearing their usual white attire.


    It was truly a bizarre sight to witness aftering back from such a shithole. I believed that the city belonged to these people, yet they act as if nothing is happening over there.


    I couldn''t help but think back to when my boss called his people animals, I started to see why.


    We started walking back to the shop and I noticed that we had been teleported to a different building rather than returning to original one. I was curious as to the reason but didn''t bother asking.


    I was exhausted and in a lot of pain which I wanted to take care of immediately.


    While walking I managed to spot a few humans mixed in therge crowds of people. It seemed many were looking for jobs and talking to the local citizens.


    I looked harder to see if I could spot any other races, but only humans came into view.


    "Hey isn''t that Azrail?!" A voice that sent chills down my spine sounded out from behind me.


    It seemed my boss heard the women''s voice as well, he looked down on me with a massive smile on his face. I looked back at him with a in expression on my own.


    ''Don''t you fucking dare....'' I said in my mind hoping my boss would be able to hear my thoughts.


    I felt like he did read my mind as his smile started to disappear.


    "Oh Azrail you did such an amazing job today!" The man said in a very loud tone.


    The smile reappeared and had gotten a lotrger. My boss was a jokester, but I seriously did not find this one funny.


    ''Just you wait douchebag, I''ll remember this...'' I was a grudge holder and a petty one at that. I was going to make sure I got my revenge, once I had this thought I started smiling back at my boss.


    I heard many footstepse rushing from behind me and slowly started to turn around to face the group.


    "Azrail I knew it was you! Oh my what happened to you are you okay?" Lucy asked, while her group of friends were standing next to her.


    ''How the hell does she know I''m injured? All of my wounds should be hidden and I didn''t feel anything on face...''


    "Diggory got hurt during work today, I will say though I didn''t think he had any friends! All of you seem to be a different race as well, tell me what all of you are?" My boss asked in an over friendly manner, in our first meeting he was nothing like this.


    "During work? Wow Azrail you already found a job I''m impressed! By the way sir we are Elves, I wouldn''t call us friends just yet considering we only met yesterday, but Azrail seems like a great guy." Lucy said in a sweet voice while having a smile on her face.


    "Elves? How interesting, but here why don''t you follow us to my shop, I still need to give him his pay. After that all of you could take him to the hospital to get his wounds healed. Will that work for you?"


    ''You fucking bastard..... You are pushing this too far.''


    "What do all of you think? I can apany Azrail while everyone does their own thing." Lucy said to her group which seemed to always follow her around.


    They all started looking at one another then each gave their response.


    "Okay, I''m going to keep looking for a job."


    "Same here."


    "I need to go eat something I''m starving."


    Each one of her friends gave their reason and started walking away leaving only my boss, her, and myself.


    "I guess it''s just us now, let''s get going." My boss said as we continued walking back to the shop.


    Lucy was on my right and my boss was ahead of us, I was truly angered by the current situation. I had many questions about what her goals were, but I was too weak to confront her about these things.


    We made our way to my boss''s shop, no one talked during the entire time making everything feel more awkward.


    "Here you two wait out here while I go get the money, I''ll be quick." My boss said and entered his store.


    "You know Azrail I didn''t think you would end up getting a job before I did."


    "Me either, I got lucky finding the man and he ended up hiring me."


    "I suppose that is luck, well maybe I could start working here alongside you. Tell me what does he have you doing?"


    "I don''t think so, also I don''t think I''m allowed to answer that."


    Lucy and I were looking at one another which had me on edge, I kept my guard up and made sure to calm my nerves.


    My boss had came out before she was about to respond, he handed me ten white paper bills which had the number 100 written in the middle with blue coloring. The bills looked simple in design with an ocean seeming to be drawn in its background.


    "We will meet at the same time tomorrow, make sure to get proper rest Diggory." My boss said and went to go back inside the store.


    "Wait sir, are you still hiring? I''m still looking for a job and can assure I will be capable for the job."


    I was staring at my boss making sure my eyes were like daggers, I couldn''t allow him to hire her.


    "Hmmmmm, I don''t think so sadly. I really only had room for Diggory, I apologize." My boss responded and made his way back inside of the shop.


    I looked over to Lucy and saw that she looked quite upset for some odd reason.


    "Told you." I said while trying to maintain a in expression even though I wanted to smile.


    ''Really dumbass... Ie back to see this sorry sight.'' My friends dead voice forcibly entered my thoughts while I saw him start to appear behind Lucy.


    My mood instantly got darker, I tried to get rid of the pest by forgetting what he looked like.


    ''It won''t work, you can''t get me to leave that big head of yours. I will mention that I''m shocked that you are so afraid of someone. Why is that? She''s an elf as well, this is my first time seeing one. Damn I won''t lie, this girl is fucking hooooottttttt.'' He said while eyeing up Lucy from top to bottom.


    I could feel my rage start building up, it was starting to slip from my control.


    ''So she controls the space element huh, although that''s impressive I believe my element surpasses hers. Why are you scared then? I know you were never scared of me, was it because you knew I couldn''t control it?''

 Chapter 63: His Smile (2)

    <h4>Chapter 63: His Smile (2)</h4>


    "Azrail? Azrail what''s wrong?"


    ''I always thought that you knew I couldn''t control my element. After all you never relied on me like the others, I only had my natural ability to work with. It scares you doesn''t it, when others are above you.'' He said while walking around Lucy then came to stand in front of me.


    He was quite short, so I had to look down at him. When we were younger, I would always have to look up to him.


    ''You''re correct, I wasn''t dumb enough like the others to believe you had control over your element. Your body was weak, it''s why your rich family never sent anyone to get your ass. Am I right douchebag?''


    A frown started to form on his face, he never liked talking about his family. They abandoned him just like the others who ended up getting shipped to Maru.


    ''Oh you want to talk about families now huh? Don''t forget dumbass I''m in your head, you don''t even know who your daddy is while your mother basically fucked over your entire childhood. Now look at you, someone who can''t even look at his own face. Broken is what you are... I should have been the one to be set free not you.''


    ''You had hope didn''t you, hope that your family woulde to your rescue. This is why you didn''t make it out, you were always too naive. The only reason you talk like this is because of me, caged birdy...''


    ''Look at you hot shot, you will die one day just like everyone else. The difference between the rest and you is that you will be all alone. You have nothing and no one. You crave love, yet you believe you will never find the real version of it. Even with the girl you once loved.... Isn''t that right Azrail..''


    The area around me started to slowly fade away as my friend had my full attention. All I could hear and see was him, everything else was gone.


    ''Shut your mouth, you know nothing Allen.''


    ''How many times do I need to tell you this, I''m in your head. You did love her.... However, you knew she did not feel the same way about you. She loved me, someone who was there for her while you only focused on yourself. This cycle will repeat itself; you will never get what you want in this lifetime. I will make sure of that.''


    ''Please, what are you going to do huh? Matter of fact let me remind you...''


    "AZRAIL!" Lucy yelled while I felt a hand grabbing my arm and shaking it violently.


    I lifted my head and looked at Lucy who had looked to be quite angry. Noises of the city had reentered my ears and I was slowly being brought back to reality.


    I looked all around to see many citizens still wandering around and Allen was nowhere to be found. The conversation felt like itsted for hours and even the pain in my body wasing back.


    ''....Did he just control his element? No that isn''t possible, if he did Lucy wouldn''t be able to affect me.''


    "What is wrong with you! You know what just shut your mouth and follow me. We need to get you to doctor already."


    I felt an iron grip on my arm and started being dragged by her, I was too weak to really give any resistance. I started walking alongside her which caused her to let go of me.


    While walking back to the campus I noticed that my mana pool was lower than it was before.


    ''What the hell? I didn''t use any mana when we got back to the capital so how did it get lower? The bastard isn''t even real so it couldn''t have him been him, maybe I did subconsciously during our conversation?''


    There were many possibles as to what could have happened, but the one that worried me the most was Allen using his element somehow.


    Allen wasn''t bluffing when he said his element was stronger than Lucy''s. The only problem with it is how much mana it consumes and the strain it puts on the wielder.


    Not only do you have to be a genius in theory, but also have the body of a freak to wield it.


    Allen''s body was weak, the bacsh he received would borderline kill him. Luckily when we met we were only children, this made him kible. If he was my age now, I don''t think anyone our age could even touch him.


    He would make even Alexander and Lucy look like a joke; he was truly on another level.


    "Now tell me what happened back there? Why did you suddenly freak out like that?"


    Lucy and I were on the stairs of the academy while no one was around us, not even knights. It was only us, this was extremely dangerous as she could attack me at any time.


    "What?" I asked trying to sound as confused as possible because I didn''t have an excuse prepared.


    "Drop the act Azrail Diggory, I know you all of people aren''t stupid. Why did you suddenly have all of those dark emotions and what were you looking at?" She asked while saying my full name which really irked me.


    "Oh that? I have a medical disorder that acts up sometimes."


    "What''s a medical disorder?"


    "It''s when there''s a change in a human that is not normal, that''s all I can say."


    I decided to give a vague truth because I couldn''t think of any solid lie on the spot. I also wanted to end this conversation to get my treatment over with.


    "I''m so sorry, I didn''t know you had such a thing. Let''s get you to the infirmary, maybe they will have something for that as well."


    We continued our walk to the infirmary, well I more just followed Lucy as I didn''t know where anything in campus was besides the dorms.


    I did consider having my mental issues delt with here, but the risk was holding me back. Dealing with a brain is aplex matter, I also don''t know the way they would approach it. I don''t trust the Empire enough to allow them to mess with such an important thing.


    My boss also added more issues to the trust I have for them, it seems like there are a lot of moving parts.


    There was her as well, the damn princess. I couldn''t understand her, getting a read on her with my current capability wasn''t going to happen. Getting intel on the Elves with her around was also going to be a major issue.


    We arrived at the infirmary which was inside of the main building of the academy.


    We entered the room together to see arge room filled with white beds. The right side of the room looked to have all the medical equipment with the nurses desk being located there as well.


    There was only one nurse behind the desk, it was a man who had rough pink hair and pink eyes that matched it. He had a nice clean white suit on but looked to be very tired.


    "Take a seat at the nearest bed human, the Elf can leave." He said in quite a rude tone.


    I looked over to Lucy to see her staring daggers at the nurse, but eventually turned around to leave.


    "I''ll be waiting outside for you Azrail." She said and proceeded to m the door.


    *BANG*


    I was embarrassed by her actions, but just moved on and took a seat on a white bed.


    "What a bitch, anyway human what brings your ass in today." The man said while still sitting behind his desk.


    "I have a few cuts, burn marks, and flesh wounds all over my body."


    "Who kicked your ass?"


    "Ugh a couple of guys did I guess."


    "Oh really? WELL TELL THEM TO CUT THAT SHIT OUT! I''M SICK AND TIRED OF HEALING SO MANY OF YOU EVERY DAMN DAY! SERIOULY HAVE YOU IDOITS FORGOTTEN WHAT WORDS ARE? NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A FIGHT! ALL YOU''RE DOING IS GIVING ME MORE WORK!" The main screamed while mming his hand on his desk over and over again.

 Chapter 64: Ideologies

    <h4>Chapter 64: Ideologies</h4>


    The nurse continued to scream at me for a couple of minutes until he was out of breath. His desk was ruined as well, the poor thing was taking a beating from him the entire time.


    I waspletely silent and didn''t know what to say to him, his tantrum really threw me off.


    "Ugh sir I got hurt at work...." I told the man the truth and wanted to see his reaction to it.


    The man looked at me and stopped fixing his desk, his face was a real dark blue now instead of the prior light blue.


    "Work?"


    "Yes sir, it wasn''t a school fight."


    There was a long silence, the nurse simply stared at me while his skin was starting to return to its natural color.


    "What''s the name of the ce you work at?"


    "Collectors Dream."


    "Wait you work for Loki? I can''t believe that lonely guy actually hired someone. Alright then start taking your clothes off so I can heal the wounds."


    I got off the bed then started taking off my clothes leaving me with only my underwear on. I really started to dislike how many times I undressed in front of others.


    The man walked over to me then put his hand on one the burn marks. The contact caused the pain to spike, but soon I felt it suddenly vanish. I looked at the mark and it was already gone.


    The nurse repeated this process until all of the wounds were gone, I was no longer in any pain.


    "Alright I''m all done now, you can get dressed and leave. I will see you tomorrow."


    "Yeah, I''ll see you tomorrow probably.... sorry." I said while I was putting my clothes back on.


    "It''s alright, I know how dangerous that job is since I''m Loki''s personal doctor. Just try not lose any limbs and if you do try to bring it back in decent condition."


    Hearing hisst sentence really didn''t sit well with me, but at least I knew he was capable of doing that. After I finished putting on my clothes on, I left the room to see Lucy waiting for me.


    "What was that guy''s problem? He was so rude to me for no reason!" She still looked to be upset at the nurse''sments, luckily it seemed she didn''t hear him call her a bitch.


    "I think he had a long day..." Was all I could really say to excuse his behavior.


    "Yeah well what if I also had a long day, would that give me the right to scream at him? No it wouldn''t, that behavior of his needs to be checked."


    I did agree with her, but after I told him where I worked the guy was nice to me, so I didn''t really care.


    "Well did he at least manage to heal all of your wounds? If he didn''t one of my friends is a good healer that would be willing to help."


    "He healed all of them, I''m just tired now so you can go back to your friends now."


    "Well that''s good, but I want to have a conversation with you in private. I think it''s time for you and me to talk about what happened that day..."


    Lucy''s attitude seemed to hit a switch as her real intentions toward me had started to reveal themselves. I felt a small proportion of her bloodlust start to show, I knew these were her true feelings.


    "You say talk, but I can feel your bloodlust princess."


    We were still near the nurse''s room and I was able to sense knights close by. This allowed me to be a little bolder and more honest with my words.


    "How could I not resent you a little? You killed an Elf in front of my own very eyes. You call me a princess yet have no idea the responsibilities that go along with it."


    "Then what''s there to talk about, I already stated my reasons so what more do you want. You know we disagree on ideologies, whatever you say won''t change that."


    "You''re wrong, anything is possible and I wish to understand your actions more. I must know everything before I go through with my own future actions."


    "You know what fine, we can talk but it''ll be under my rules. If you don''t want to do that then this is over." Iid down a line for her, I decided to settle this now so it couldn''t bother me in the future.


    "What are your rules then?"


    "The first is you can''t attack me at all during or after the conversation. The second is you will leave me alone after you get what you want. The final rule is working towards mending rtions between the Elves and humans no matter the oue of our own personal dispute."


    Lucy paused and looked to be thinking over the rules I stated. Tensions were high as I felt the fear in me slowly start to grow.


    "We have a deal, now follow me, we will be talking in my room."


    These were only verbal terms meaning if she really wished she could break them, but it was better than nothing. My mana and Ki had recovered as well, I had the capability to run away if I needed to.


    We walked through the campus and arrived at the Elves dorms. The campus was empty with only knights making their rounds.


    Lucy led me through the dorm and we arrived at her room which was on the 5th floor. We walked inside and I had looked around to see it had the same interior as my own room.


    I took a seat at the table and she sat across from me, both of us were staring at each other to see who would lead this conversation.


    "I want you to be honest with your answers, there''s no need to hold back during the conversation. Now then, why did you kill that man?" Lucy took the lead and asked the same stupid question when we first met.


    "As I said, he was a threat. No Elf should be on human soil, that is against thew and your leaders know this. I don''t care if he didn''t attack me first, the fact is he shouldn''t have been there in the first ce. The same goes for you as well princess, tell me did your father know of your trip."


    "You keep saying he was a threat, but you are not saying why he was. Also you humans need to be watched after all the stunts you pulled. Your race is dangerous, we can''t afford another repeat of what happened so many years ago. Also, I don''t see what my father has to do with this conversation, why does his knowledge of where I''m going matter?"


    Her bloodlust was increasing slowly, her eyes also never left my own. I could tell her vision was starting to tunnel in on me.


    "Just as you said, his mere presence was a threat just as you deem humans a threat. No other major race besides yours send their people to spy on us. Your actions show that you want another war, you keep pushing your limits with us. Your father who is a king would never allow a princess to step foot on enemynd and you know this. Notice how I say enemynd, this is why I brought him up."


    "No! He wasn''t a threat just because he was near you, I know there was an ulterior motive behind it so just tell me! Tell me honestly do you hate us? Do you hold a grudge against us perhaps? Your emotions, right now they are screaming at me. Never in my life have I seen someone with so much rage and hatred, so please just please tell me the truth..."


    "There was no damn ulterior motive, I deemed him a threat and killed him that''s literally all that fucking happened. I don''t hate your fucking race either, I hate individuals from certain races. Just like I hate your stupid fucking brother, I also hate some fucking humans. This wasn''t some grand operation; your people were somewhere they shouldn''t be and felt the consequences. That''s all there is to it."


    The fear I had was starting to fade as my anger was starting to take control. I started to lose control of my words leading me to curse profusely at Lucy.


    I couldn''t help it though, to me she is just an idiot that was brainwashed by her father. A King, someone who leads and also misleads his people to ensure their loyalty.


    An idiot who couldn''t see the real world, she only viewed it from her own perspective like a child. My people this, my people that, never once did she talk about what her race did.


    Both races were wrong with what they did, both humans and Elves. The fact that she couldn''t see this simple fact showed how brainwashed she was.

 Chapter 65: Young Love

    <h4>Chapter 65: Young Love</h4>


    "Azrail Diggory.... You killed one of my own people and are basically saying he deserved it.... Why don''t I just kill you then, because right now I deem you a threat."


    Her bloodlust was now fully being released, however this act only enraged me even further.


    "Try it." I said with a cold tone while also releasing my own bloodlust.


    Our auras started to crash against one another causing the entire room to shake violently. I wasn''t going to back down, she had gone too far.


    "Leave." She said in a demanding tone.


    I slowly got up then started walking over to the door, once I reached the door I looked back to see she was still staring at me.


    "Don''t forget the deal." I said and finally left her room.


    I exited the dorm and looked up at the sky to see the sun was still hanging overhead. There was still a few more hours left before it fully came down.


    I couldn''t go to sleep because of how early I had to wake up for work, so I had to find something to do. The problems with that were I was exhausted and pissed off.


    I also couldn''t do anything to make me happy either or else Allen would shit on it which angered me even further.


    ''FUCKING PEICE OF SHIT!''


    My hands started to turn into fists since I was squeezing them so hard. My body was itching for violence as a way to relieve the anger. It was a copping mechanism developed in Maura and was a habit I grew to despise.


    I tried to clear my thoughts and started to takerge breathes to calm my nerves.


    I felt my anger slowly start to dissipate, the craving for violence went away which was a good sign. With my emotions back in check I thought about how I should spend my free time.


    ''I really can''t train or study on theory with how tired I''m feeling, well maybe finding books forter would be a good idea. I guess I should start looking around campus for a library.''


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    I heard an explosion which seemingly came from out of nowhere. The bizarre part was that I believed I heard ite from inside the academy building.


    ''A duel? That''s most likely the case, I have to go see this.''


    I started running towards the academy as fast as I could, I entered the building and immediately was met with many halls leading different directions.


    I didn''t know theyout of the building, I only recently discovered where the infirmary was, so I was lost on where to go. I enhanced my hearing to see if I could hear the battle.


    *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*


    I hear small thuds and sprinted off towards there direction, with each step I could hear the thuds bing louder and louder. I came to the end of the hallway to see two massive doors shut. I quickly pushed them opened to see a raging battle happening on a stage.


    I walked inside to see I was inside a massive arena, there were stands which had thousands of seats all around, none were taken. The stage itself was pure marble white which seemed to glow, not a single crack could be seen even with the ensuing battle.


    I looked on stage and saw our guide watching the battle while two blurs were shing together.


    My eyes couldn''t keep up with their movements, I enhanced them with Ki yet still wasn''t able to make out anything. Their movements were too fast for my eyes, however vision isn''t the only way to judge a fight.


    I could sense one of their energy levels, while the other one was like aplete ghost.


    With the one I was able to sense I could tell they were getting a beating. With their Ki and mana being so chaotic it gave the impression of not being in control.


    Sound ques were also another source, I could hear the sound of a de cutting skin instead of it being blocked.


    *SHING* *SHING*


    They were brutal, with how loud the noise was I knew those were deep cuts.


    ''Neither of them are human that''s for sure, one of them isn''t an Elf either with how high their Ki level is. Hmm maybe their a Demon, but what the hell is that other one.''


    *CLING*


    One of the blurred figures was sent flying back but was able to stop themselves from falling off the stage.


    *St* *Drip* *Drip*


    Their figure entered my view as I saw arge amount of blood being spilled from theirrge body. It was a Demon, their stature was absurdlyrge with muscles bulging from their uniform.


    The Demon had 4 arms with two on each side, they were the size of tree chunks and were long in length.


    They also had three eyes that were all dark red in color which matched their skin tone. I looked at the Demons hands to see they all were badly cut. I guessed this Demon used his fists to fight.


    ''So this is what a Demon really looks like...''


    I looked onto the other side of the stage to see a woman standing with a longsword in hand. Her stance was elegant alongside her unbelievable beauty.


    The woman had majestic hair that contained two colors being pink and silver. Her facial features were extremely sharp just like her white eyes. She was looked to be 5 feet and 8 inches tall with an extremely fit body.


    I didn''t notice any distinct race features. She looked to human, but I knew this wasn''t the case.


    I took a closer inspection and started noticing her skin color was different in a few areas. Her hands were a little orange but were starting to turn back to white.


    ''.... Is she a Nordian?''


    Nordian''s were the most recent addition to the major races, we only recently found about their existence during thest great war.


    There is barely any information about them, but the only thing that is said was that they were by far the strongest race. The reason for these ims were unknown, but since the government issued them, I believed it.


    "HAHAHAHAHA LOOK MY WIFE WE HAVE OUR SECOND GUEST! DOESN''T THIS MAKE YOU HAPPY, OUR LOVE SHOULD BE SHOWN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD HAHAHAHAHA!" The Demon screamed, his voice was booming with it being deep in tone.


    "Your ignorance knows no bounds." She said with a cold tone, but I had to admit her voice was beautiful just like Lucys.


    ''What the hell is going on here?''


    "Your words are like knifes my love. HUMAN STATE YOUR NAME SO I KNOW THE WITNESS OF WHO WITNESSED THIS BEAUFTUL CEREMONY!" He yelled once more while turning his head to face me.


    The Nordian took advantage of this and appeared in front of the Demon in an instant. Her next move was a blur as I only saw the Demons body get flung into the stands.


    *BOOOOOM*


    The Demon went crashing into the stand while she started to walk off the stage.


    Once she made it off the stage she started walking towards my direction, I was staring at her the entire time.


    ''She''s another one that''s in a whole other league. I can''t even tell how strong she actually is either.''


    "Don''t listen to that disgusting creature." She said and proceeded to walk past me to leave the arena.


    She seemed cold and distant, her voice also carried a natural authority to it as well. I couldn''t me the Demon for trying to get someone so capable to be his wife.


    "MY LOVE WHERE ARE YOU GOING!"


    I looked over to the Demon to see he could barely stand. He was holding himself up with the help of the chairs around him. I started walking over to the Demon to give him a hand until he reached the infirmary.


    "She left, anyway let''s get you to the infirmary." I said to the Demon while his eyes never left the door.


    "Human what are you doing?"


    "Helping you to the infirmary."


    His eyes were now looking at me, I was looking back at him to see if he even wanted my assistance.


    "You''re too tiny human, I think my body will crush you."


    "...You know what, you''re right." I said and started to leave the arena, I only wanted to help since I felt bad for the guy.

 Chapter 66: Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 66: Proposal</h4>


    "What do you mean you hate her? How did you expect me to know that?" My boss said while we were putting on our gear.


    "You know what I don''t even care anymore, just know that yes I hate her."


    My boss and I have been bickering back and forth with each other ever since work started. We were now in the weapons shop putting all of our gear on, with most of mine being brand new.


    After I left the arena yesterday, I tried looking for the library but never found the damn thing. I didn''t even know if it actually existed, but I did end up exploring a good portion of the academy.


    "Wait why do you hate her then? OOO I know, your actual girlfriend doesn''t like her which forces you to pretend you hate her. Come on Diggory you can be honest with me, you''re ady killer aren''t you."


    My bossed was finished changing into his full ck attire and looked like a real weirdo with that smile he had on.


    He looked like the type of guy to be banned from going near schools.


    "First of all, I''m single and have never dated anyone. Second, that girl is a naive idiot who can''t see the real world. She''s a danger to my race with her type of ideologies."


    "Diggory, you are still a child. Don''t you think it''s a bit arrogant of you to assume what the real world even is?" My boss asked in a serious tone.


    "It''s not arrogance, age is merely a number that defines how old we are, not how much we have gone through. There are thirty year olds that act like children and ten year olds that act like adults. What makes a person is their experiences, not their age." I said while I finished putting on all up gear.


    "Thats an intriguing viewpoint Diggory, I will have to disagree with you though. Although I agree that experiences make a person, age ys a big role in it as well. The reason I say this is because you still haven''t fully developed, no child has that''s why we call them children. In time your views on many things will change, that means you do not know what the real world truly is, you only have a guess."


    I thought over what he said and did agree with his views on the matter. I never really thought about my age in the first ce, I only ever viewed it as a number.


    I still believed in my reasoning, but I did think it came off as arrogance.


    "I agree that maybe I dide off arrogant, but I still believe the reasoning behind it. Still my main issue was with her ideologies, they are far too dangerous. Her ideologies stem from her world view, it''s too one sided."


    "That would make sense but remember not everyone is like you. I''m sure there are reasons behind them just like you have your own. Now let''s go."


    My boss and I took off for the city with my body in perfect condition.


    ....


    After five hours we sessfully made it into the city without encountering any real trouble.


    *Crunch* *Crunch*


    My feet were crushing the stones on the floor of the building were we in. The amount of rubble made it impossible to not step on them.


    We were on the 60th floor so it I wasn''t worried about the noise being produced, especially with the deafening sounds of battle happening throughout the entire city.


    The inside was aplete mess with everything being destroyed or in the process of decaying.


    It was honestly a sad sight.


    *Crunch* *Crunch*


    I looked behind me to see my boss was walking towards me, we decided to scavenge the floors separately to save more time. With how many floors there were and the sheer size of them this would be saving a lot of time.


    "This floor doesn''t have anything either, but I did find a hole leading to the next one though. How about you any luck?"


    "No not really."


    Not a single relic had been found so far, each floor was aplete bust. These relics are belongings from the citizens who use to live here long ago. For example, a watch would be considered a relic or any a piece of jewelry for that matter.


    My boss didn''t really specify the details of it, but he did say there was a massive market behind this.


    "Alright then let''s move on to the next one."


    I followed my boss to the hole he mentioned then stood directly underneath it.


    My boss used his mana to lift us both up through the hole then slowly put us down on solid flooring. This was the mostmon method we used to up each floor.


    The stairs would sometimes be used, but for the most part they werepletely destroyed or barely gave any cover from the outside.


    I looked around to see it looked the exact same as the floor below which became amon sight. I wondered if all the building were like this or maybe this one was an outlier.


    My boss started walking in one directing while I walked the opposite to start the scavenge.


    My eyes were scanning for anything that stood out from themon ck and grey color. Luckily most floors didn''t have many rooms since the walls were broken making it easy to see in.


    As I was walking, I noticed a red object that on was the ground in what looked to be a room.


    I lifted my legs to go over a pile of rubble that was blocking me then picked up the object. After a quick inspection I knew it was a picture frame, once I turned it around I saw a photo that was still in perfect condition.


    The photo was of a mother cradling her small infant child, at the bottom right corner the word ''Sorry'' was written.


    I looked around the entire room and wasn''t able to find anything else. I took off my backpack then ced the picture inside of it since it was the safest ce I could put it.


    I then left the room and continued to search the floor while two questions were guing my mind.


    ''Why would they write sorry and how''s that picture in such good condition?"


    I knew nothing good came from that specific word, but I still wanted to know the story behind it. The photo itself stirred my emotions a little, it made me think about my own mother.


    After a few minutes of scavenging I felt the floor start vibrate a little.


    *CCRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKKK*


    A sound I have never heard before exploded out causing my ear drums to ring from how loud it was.


    I turned around and started sprinting towards my boss''s direction. I managed to find him, but he didn''t look to be worried at all and was still scavenging.


    "Sir why the hell are you still scavenging? Didn''t you just hear that sound!"


    "Calm down Diggory, the sound you just heard was from a spell. Judging from how loud to was it seemed it was a destructive one, but it doesn''t concern us. Don''t worry, over time you will get use to them."


    I didn''t like how he was nonchnt about the situation. I wasn''t aplete rookie when it came to dangerous environments like these, after all they were what I grew up in.


    I would admit I haven''t experienced anything to this scale, but this ce shared the same ring issue that the others did.


    That ring issues was being killed, an issue that changes everything about you.


    "Sir it does concern us, that spell was able to shake this entire building which we are currently in. There are so many factors that could go wrong by being passive."


    He finally stopped his scavenging and turned around to face me.


    "You are overthinking it, you need to trust me on this Diggory. Things like this happen all the time, if we bothered to check every single thing then that''s all we would be doing. I know only being reactionary sucks, but this job is to find relics and make money."


    "Our lives are on the line here sir, being reactionary in a ce like this really doesn''t sit well with me. I understand we can''t react to everything, but I believe something on that level needs to be addressed."


    I wanted to make my case to him because of how serious I took the matter.


    My body couldn''t take damage like his, if that spell had hit me then I would have most likely died or been severely crippled. The spell''s impact was obviously close by, meaning the caster is as well.


    "Do you think I want to die here? As I said before I have a family that I love, my life is the highest priority. I will tell you when something needs to be addressed. It may be hard for you in the beginning but overtime you will see why. Don''t think for a second you aren''t in my ns Diggory, I don''t wish for you to die either."


    He was spoke with passion about his thoughts making me believe he wasn''t lying to me.


    It really is hard to just follow his orders, in thetter end on my time in Maru I spent most of itpletely solo. I was used to doing everything my own way, thisfort was being taken away.


    We have barely known each other as well, adding to the fact that we are also twopletely different races.


    ''At the end of day, it alles down to pure ability. Ick itpared to this ce, he on the other hand ispletely fine. I need to close this gap between us or else I''ll be nothing but a scared bitch here.''


    "I will follow your orders, but in order for that to happened I need you to train me. The gap between us if far too big and we barely trust each other. This can be a way to solve both problems at the same time."


    I gave my proposal hoping he would ept it. His knowledge was what I cared for, mostly his knowledge about mana control.


    This was something extremely important, I was able to see firsthand his wless control over it. If I was able to even grasp his control, my ability would be dramatically increased.


    His teaching alongside the academies makes for a greatbination. This is what I desperately needed if I wanted to survive here and catch up to those prodigies.

 Chapter 67: Doubts

    <h4>Chapter 67: Doubts</h4>


    "We have a deal, I can train you for a little after work each day and on our days off. Now go back to work, we already wasted enough time."


    "Thank you sir, I did end up finding something though. Here take a look"


    I took off my backpack then grabbed the relic and handed it to my boss.


    I noticed his expression change immediately, his prior upset emotions turned into pure excitement and happiness.


    "Diggory you bastard why didn''t you just start with this! This relic will sell for a fucking fortune! You know what I think we can call it here for today, we can train for awhile when we get out of here."


    I was worried that he was being far too loud. I know he was excited, but there might be an enemy close by.


    "Lower your voice we are still in the city, is this picture really worth that much?"


    He took his eyes off the picture then looked at me, he seemed to have a dumb founded face.


    "Of course Diggory look at it, the beauty and pristine condition it''s in. Not only that but the meaning behind the photo is outstanding, this makes the value immeasurable if you have the right buyer."


    I didn''t know a photo could be worth so much money, if someone from that family wanted to buy the photo then I could see the value being increased.


    It felt wrong though, charging money for something that technically didn''t even belong to us. If the child in that photo asked to have it back, then I would simply give it to them.


    ''I guess this is the actual business, I mean we do risk our lives for these things but still. Whatever it''s not like I''m one to judge, maybe this is normal here and I''m just overthinking it.''


    "Well I guess that''s good to know, anyway don''t you think we should finish scavenging this building first before we leave?"


    "No it would take too much time, we either leave right now or wait until the end of the day. The reason why is because of the sun, when ites up its much more difficult to leave this ce. We either leave now or wait until the end of the day and use the tunnel systems."


    "Tunnel systems? I thought climbing the wall was the only way to leave and enter this ce. Why don''t we use those? It sounds much better than having to climb that damn wall everyday."


    I assumed we were only able to use the wall to get in and out of this ce. It really looked like that was our only choice, the wall was very dangerous in itself and almost anything sounded better than it.


    "You would think that was true, but sadly it isn''t. The wall is actually the safest way, the rest are far more dangerous. The tunnels are a terrifying ce even for me. The main reasons are monsters make their dens inside of them, navigating them is borderline impossible with howplicated the routes are, and finally how condensed and dark everything is."


    I was shocked to hear his exnation, he made it seem like they were a nightmare.


    A nightmare I truly didn''t want to deal with, if he was scared of that ce then I definitely would be as well. It seemed impossible, if my boss struggled in there then I would definitely die.


    "Why didn''t you ever tell me this before? What would have happened if we stayed yesterday, there''s no chance I would have survived in that ce."


    "If I''m being honest, I would have to say that I really don''t know. This is my first time working with someone and I thought it was better not to know. The more you know the more you question everything, this ce ruins people''s minds including my own. Yes the tunnels are dangerous, but that doesn''t mean you would die. I am here with you, I would never throw us into deaths grace."


    It was hard to believe, in my eyes it looked like he was trying to throw his life away.


    For someone who has a family that they love so much why in the world would they work this job. It felt like he was looking for something that had the highest chance to take his life. Since he was the leader, it meant I was being brought into his wish.


    "Why do you work this job sir?" I asked, his answer was what could confirm or deny my suspicions.


    He looked down at the ground and seemed to be lost in thought.


    This was a personal question, but I needed to ask it to know if all of this was worth it. The reason had to be personal, there had to be a solid reason or else he was only a suicidal maniac in my eyes.


    If he truly was that type of maniac, I believed I would have to quit the job. Although there were a lot of benefits, I couldn''t use them if I was dead.


    While he was contemting his answer, I felt a sudden difort in my body.


    I enhanced my entire body and was trying to find the reason for the difort. The difort was growing rapidly causing me to panic a little. I attempted to send out my mana, but it was getting repelled by the mist making itpletely useless.


    "There''s a problem!" I said quickly hoping I was able to pull my boss out of his thoughts.


    My warning was toote as I felt the entire building start shaking violently.


    *RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*


    I lost my bnce and started to feel my weight shift awkwardly making me fall backwards.


    I tried to catch my bnce but couldn''t feel any body part even touching the ground. The panic I had increased drastically, I was hastily looking for anything to grab onto as that was the only thing that came to mind.


    While moving my eyes as fast as possible I noticed the ceiling was falling apart, the terrifying part was I couldn''t hear anything.


    It was dead silent, the building was copsing yet not a single sound was being produced. My mind was chaotic, millions of thoughts were tossed around in my head.


    A few second had gone by and I wasn''t able to grab onto anything.


    I fell through a hole and was now freefalling through the air. In real time I saw the building copsing right on top of me, if this path continued I would not only m into the ground but have the entire building crash on top of me.


    My boss wasn''t in view leading me to believe he was currently saving himself.


    I quickly swung my arms and legs to flip my body, after sessfully doing so I looked down to see only pure darkness which was a good thing.


    There was still time until I hit the ground, I shot my head up and saw there was another building close by. From the ideas shooting through my head one managed to stick out so I quickly started to execute it.


    I lowered my arms and connected both of my wrists together while my palms were faced downwards to the ground.


    I started to control the fire element inside my body which made a ball of fire start to form. The mist was heavily suppressing it, I decided to rotate the ball to not only condense the fire but also help fight of the mist''s suppression.


    I started to lean my body forward and once the ball was big and condensed enough, I started to wrap electricity around it.


    The ball exploded which flung my body forward at an incredible speed.


    I squinted my eyes and quickly balled up to prepare myself for the uing impact. I made sure to keep my eyes opened only a little to still see where I would be ending up.


    Shortly after I felt a hard impact against my arms and legs, I hade crashing into the building face first.


    I broke through the wall, but my pace didn''t slow down. My body quickly found its way to the second wall and smashed through it as well. I put too much firepower into the st and was not able to stop myself at all.


    I saw another walling into view and felt the impact shortly after which hurt way more than the first two.


    I quickly realized I didn''t go through the wall and was going downwards once again. I quickly cocked my right hand back then swung forward to punch the wall.


    I felt my hand break, but I had used enough force to get my full arm through which caused my body toe to abrupt stop.


    The quick momentum change caused my right shoulder to dislocate itself, but I was no longer falling.


    "EEERRRRHHHHHHHHHHHH" I moaned out since my body was in so much pain, I had heard myself though which meant I could finally be able to hear again.


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