The world is silent and almost everyone is asleep, everyone except those in class 1A from the neighborhood training core. In a world full of wonders and horrors, the hierarchy made a very important decision, and that decision was to take those who have the natural talent for combat and magic and turn them into hunters that keep the royals and nobles safe.
As always, there is a downside to this decision. Unlike nobles and royalty, those of the lower class have no choice but to become hunters. This is the reason Hikari is even up to this early. Hikari runs around the hunter training facility as commanded by Berlin, the main training instructor. A strong man with broad shoulders and muscles that could rip all his clothes off just by flexing. He stands at six foot seven inches tall, his bald head, beard, deep voice, height, and dark skin make him extremely intimidating which keeps all of the student hunters in line.
As Hikari ran around the building, he thought about his childhood for a little. As a child, even though the crystal test said he said he had little combat potential Alduin, his father, felt that his son was special and so he took to training him at a very young age. He made Hikari train his body hard and push it to its limits every day. Alduin made sure to instill a disciplined mindset into his son, often telling Hikari that "It doesn't matter if you have crazy amounts of talent, in the end, it's the one who works the hardest who wins" while pointing at the scars on his body. This quote was held close to Hikari's heart, it inspired him, so he lived by it. No matter what he was always pushed forward. As they were on their fifteenth lap around the building Hikari's friend and official redhead of the town Rona caught up with him and decided to make small talk.
"Hey, Hikari, what's up" Rona exclaims as she runs up to him, pushing forward with effort as her legs begin to burn. Unlike most of the people in class 1A, Rona uses magic and daggers. Anyone could tell just by looking at her body frame. Her slightly developed muscles and just barely toned body gave it away. The reason she was even there in the first place was that she had already finished studying the basics of magic early. However, instead of going to war early, she decided to join the other hunter's group as a way to be a better huntress on the battlefield. Unfortunately, she joined during the latter half of hunter training, and unlike most of the students, she lacked the stamina to keep up with the others, but she kept pushing forward and worked harder than everyone else.
"Hey, Rona now isn't the time to bother me, as you can see I'm trying to concentrate," Hikari says with a small pant. Hikari looks to the left of him and sees Berlin and concentrates on running so he can make it down the final stretch of the path to rest. Rona punches Hikari's arm gently to grab his attention but he is quite focused on his task. She looks away slightly flustered when she is unable to grab his attention but gets a wonderful idea. "Hikari, how about a little race? Down the final stretch to the bench. What do you think about that?" Hikari's eyes shot over to the right and a smile appeared on his face. The thing about Hikari is that he loves competition and is a great way to gain his attention. It doesn't matter to him whether he wins or loses, all that matters to him is the adrenaline pumping through him and the honor of the sport. Even talking about any form of competition gets his blood pumping, be it a simple thing as racing or something serious as a battle, and Rona knew that. She got his attention just like she wanted, she had played him like a fiddle.
"Fine," Hikari said excitedly as he began to prep himself with a deep breath "You got yourself a race. First, one to the bench wins right?" Rona gets into a better running position and agrees. Rona still running counts down from three, then two. She prepares every muscle in her body as she says one and shoots forward, no longer conserving energy. Hikari takes off like a madman, his speed is surprisingly fast for someone so tired and Rona is right behind him. The world seems to slow down as they feel the wind flow around them. Rona, however, has not forgotten that this was a race and put it into high gear. When she looks up she sees that Hikari is leaving her behind, she realizes that she can't win without using magic. She goes to say an enhancement spell when she remembers the first rule set for her when she transferred over to this group. No enhancement magic. It was a rule that if broken would get her one hundred lashes while soaked in water. Instead, she watched him run, the way the muscles moved in his body, every movement deliberate and graceful. It was like watching an angel but not being able to touch its wings.
As he finished and went to sit down she looked away and focused on finishing. She arrived at the bench fifteen seconds later out of breath and sweaty. She wipes the sweat away with her sleeve and sits down next to Hikari, just content with the way things are. "So Rona, it must be a big surprise that you lost. It's not like you just challenged the fastest person here in our group or anything" Hikari says with a smile and out of breath. Rona laughs at this remark and says " I just wanted your attention, that's all. So, in the end, I got what I wanted, so technically, I win." she says with a smug look. Rona then proceeds to stand up and stick out her tongue at Hikari. Hikari laughs it off while both he and Rona rest.
After the running exercise was over and everyone sat down, Berlin decided to drop a bombshell of information on the training group. Something that they weren't supposed to hear or even due until next month. "Listen now." The courtyard goes quiet. "You have all grown up into fine warriors. I know I'm hard on you, but only because I want you all to survive when you leave this place to become hunters and huntress. I appreciate the time you've put in and I love you all, I truly do. Which is why I must warn you. Tomorrow will be your final day in training."
A bunch of confused whats and shrugs go up from the crowd of youth before Berlin. "Aren't we supposed to leave next month in Junithe? It's only June." says the unknown student. A wave of agreement comes from the students as they look to Berlin for answers. " Listen, from what I've heard the war has gotten worse. The monsters have gotten stronger and are more tactical in their strikes against the towns in west Nephela. At this rate, they will need to pull a lot of students early. So tomorrow there is one last lesson I plan on teaching you. One that I wanted to teach you next month."
He paused so that the students could soak in the news about the war. Hikari was numb, his whole body felt as if it had been dunked in water at random. If they were pulling them early it could mean only one thing, they were losing the war and needed backup quickly. Berlin gave out a loud grunt from his throat to catch the attention of the students who were speaking to each other about the situation at hand. "Now that you know what is going on I suggest that after you go home you tell your parents and prepare a bag so you can leave directly after class tomorrow. Now to finish out today's lesson, as usual, sparing." You can hear a couple of groans come from the crowd.
They were still tired and didn't feel up to the challenge of facing each other. Berlin sensed this and added one more thing to the qualifications of these matches. "You all will be fighting in teams of four. Hunters tend to fight in squads of four anyway so consider this career practice." Berlin walks away to set the time medallion to five minutes. "Rona, you wanna partner up as usual?" says Hikari wiping the sweat from his forehead. "You already know the answer is yes moron. We always fight together, whether it be in the streets or in class." Hikari smirks slightly at that remark. It brought back a lot of good memories. "Well, Rona we still need two other people on our team so we can qualify. We both know that the rule is to qualify or face punishment and I don't need one hundred lashings from Berlin from his big meaty arms so let's find someone quickly. We only have about two and a half minutes left."
Almost as if on cue the two of the most battle-hungry members of their class jog over to Hikari and Rona. These two people are Maria and Marco Aeron. What makes them so dangerous? It isn't their strength, which they do have a lot of, it is that they love the rush of battle so much that they are the definition of battle junkies. The rush of battle gets their blood boiling and they are almost like beasts. The only thing stopping them from outright murdering others randomly and taking part in "glorious battle" is the belief in honorable combat. They believe in fighting until the foe is incapacitated or the opponent gives up...most of the time.
"I hear you guys are looking for two other members and as you can see we are available," says Maria. Her smile is so bright and innocent that you would never think that her favorite pastime is beating the daylights out of her opponents until they beg for mercy, only to be met with another fist to the face and her laughter echoing in your ears as you pass out. "Hikari, we don't have much of a choice. We need two more members." Rona says. Hikari sighs and looks around the area for others to hopefully take Maria and Marco's place before finally deciding to let them join. After seeing no one else he lets them join reluctantly.
"Thank you, Hikari." She gives a dirty smile while blushing a little and says "I'll make it worth your time later." Marco perks up at this and glares at his sister almost with disgust. "What Marco? I can't joke around sometimes?" Marco rolls his eyes and gives a slight grunt as he turns to go to the arena for their sparing. Rona follows Marco and gives Maria a foul look with a message as she passes her by. Stay away from Hikari or else. "Come on Maria, before we end up late to our sparing lesson." As Hikari jogs to catch up with the others, Maria takes one more look at that sweet slab of meat called Hikari's rear end. She then catches up to her group as they make it to the "Arena" where they hold their matches. "Ok, students you know the drill. It's time to fight and if I call your team then you have come up and beat each other senseless."
Berlin takes a deep breath and randomly summons a team. "First up is Hikari, Rona, Maria, and Marco." The group of students walks up to Berlin in the middle of the arena. They stand beside him like a soldier. Berlin takes in a deep breath and summons another team by random. "Today your opponent will be Mako, Dai, Mimi, and Joseph." The opposite team walks to the middle of the arena and stands on the other side of Berlin. Berlin showing a small percentage of his strength jumps thirty feet into the air and lands in the show box on the right side of the arena. The show box is a room specially made for watching duels when fighting is a big part of this city's history.
Berlin in a loud and commanding voice says "Both teams take your positions on the sands and prepare for combat." Hikari and Mila's team both walk away from each other and enter their battle stances as they place their hands on their weapons. Hikari places a firm grip on his katana and readies himself to strike first. As Hikari looks at his teammates he is disturbed by the sound Marco is making and the look on his face. It is almost like looking at a Dangool before it tears into its prey, and Maria looks no better. She looked less like an animal and more like a mentally unstable human(She was). Berlin raises his hand and everyone falls silent. He brings down his hand and yells "Begin!". Both teams in the arena rush forward and the battle begins.