They were walking on a paved road surrounded by tall trees, while Yule could see some fireflies flying around the area, making the place more magical.
The group passed a giant white stadium with lights on glowing on the second and third floors. Further ahead, they arrived at a five-story building with long corridors.
"This is the students' dorm," Professor Fields introduced to Yule. "We will have to say goodbye to Ranger and Sanna for the meantime. Yule will stay temporarily at the Teacher's Dormitory where he will stay at my guest bedroom."
The three students nodded at the Professor, then Ranger and Sanna waved goodbye to them. Yule and Professor Fields walked more and arrived at a western-style mansion. The mansion was surrounded long brick walls, and in the middle was a metallic gate.
Professor Fields pulled a card from his lab coat and flashed it at the gate. The gate automatically swung open, and the two entered the premises.
Upon entering the mansion, they were greeted by a chubby man at the desk. He tried to comb his unkempt hair when he saw the two. Professor Fields explained to him that he was with his nephew, and he will stay for a night while his transfer papers were being processed by the administration. The chubby man looked at Yule, then waved them off.
They climbed the staircase and went to Professor Fields' room. The room was very cozy, plastered with sky blue paper walls. There were two couches in front of a painting depicting the fall of angels in the bible. At the side of the room, two bookshelves stood with books filling it. Opposite of it, two doors erected on the side leading to the bedrooms.
Professor Fields opened the left door and led Yule inside. The guest bedroom had a single bed and own bathroom.
"I think you had a very long day. You may rest here, Yule. We will talk in the morning." Then Professor Fields closed the door.
Yule went first into the bathroom and washed his face. After that, he leaped on the bed and released a long sigh. He agreed on Professor Fields he had a very long day. He could not believe that he was lying on the bed after the aswang they fought earlier almost killed him.
Yule was also thinking about tomorrow when he would start faking himself as the nephew of Professor Fields. Many thoughts and images entered in his mind until sleep arrived.
*****
A knock woke up Yule. He stretched his shoulders and rose from the bed.
Someone pushed open the door, and Professor Fields's head popped up. "I brought clothes."
Yule grabbed the clothes and told him how grateful he was. After cleaning and changing his clothes, he met the professor.
The professor was sitting on one of the couches and reading a book.
"I forgot to say last night that how cozy the room is for a teacher," Yule said.
Professor Fields closed the book and smiled at Yule. "I'm glad you like the room also. This is the least that the Academy could do to us since most licensed slayers preferred to be on the field."
"So you mean to say, all the teachers of this academy are licensed slayers?"
Professor Fields nodded at him. He rose from the couch and returned the book he was holding to the bookshelf. "We should go to the dining area. Breakfast is being served now."
The professor led the way to the dining area located on the ground floor of the mansion.
*****
After their breakfast, Professor Fields and Yule went out and headed to another facility located in the southern part of the academy.
"We will meet with my colleague who we can trust about your situation. This colleague of mine will do an examination of your body and the shard embedded on your chest."
Yule nodded at him. He was actually nervous about what they would find on his body.
They arrived at a seven-story building and went to the third floor. The floor had a long hallway where they passed some Engkanto wearing long white coats.
Professor Fields went to the end of the hallway and knocked. When no one answered, the professor slide the door open and found a female Engkanto typing rapidly on the hologram keyboard while her glamoured eyes were glued to the hologram screen.
Yule and Professor Fields entered the room, but the female Engkanto was deeply engrossed in her work. Professor Fields coughed louder, and the female Engkanto finally noticed them. She quickly jumped on her feet and faced them.
The female Engkanto had deep blue colored hair with pink color covering the tail of her hair. She was about the same height as Professor Fields. Yule also observed that she was stunningly beautiful like the other Engkanto he had met. But Yule felt some gentle presence coming from her.
"Matteo," the female Engkanto started.
"Avatara," Professor Fields curtly replied.
"I assume that he's the guy you've mentioned from your email late last night?," Avatar inquired while eyeing Yule.
Professor Fields faced Yule and introduced her. "Yule, I would like you to meet Avatara. She's the colleague I've mentioned to you. She will try to help us."
Avatara nodded at him then she clicked on the hologram keyboard. Automatically, the screen and the keyboard winked out.
"Come, follow me."
They were behind her when she started guiding them on another hallway inside the room.
They stopped in front of a sliding door room. Avatara opened the door and led them inside.
The room was pure white. Yule also noticed a circular-shaped metal platform in the middle of the room.
"B719, initiate the examination," Avatara ordered to no one. Then hologram screens started appearing around her. Words and charts appeared on the screens. She quickly typed something on the screen in front of her, then a word 'Standby' displayed on the screen.
"Yule please stand on the platform, so we can start scanning you," Avatara instructed Yule.
Yule went to the platform and felt uncomfortable, standing in front of Professor Fields and Avatara.
Then a hole appeared on the ceiling, and a ball drone flew downwards and levitating in front of Yule. The ball drone had the same appearance as the drone of Manu.
"Shall we start the scanning?" The ball drone asked in a monotonous voice.
"Yes, please. Initiate Overall Scanning and Shard Examination," Avatara replied.
Professor Fields went behind Avatara looking also at the screens surrounding her.
The ball drone released a red light from its eye. The red light scanned his head first, then went all the way to the bottom. Data started appearing on hologram screens which made Avatara nodded. Then, the red light started going upwards and stopped on his chest. It stayed there for a few minutes. Then the red light disappeared. The ball drone stayed levitating in front of Yule.
"Done scanning," the ball drone announced. Afterward, it flew back to the ceiling.
Additional data started appearing on the hologram screens, but this time, it made Avatara frowned.
Suddenly, they heard a knock from the door. Professor Fields and Yule looked at it and found Sanna opening the door. She nodded at the professor and waved at Yule.
"This might take a while," Avatara announced.
"Yule may step down from the platform. Sanna will escort you out. The two of you may roam around the academy while we wait for the result. I'll stay here with Avatara." Professor Fields said to the two.
*****
When the two exited the room, Avatara furiously typed on the holograms and it generated more data and graph on the screens. Professor Feilds was just observing the whole process, letting her do her expertise.
After a few minutes, Professor Fields sensed that she was about to conclude her work. Avatara displayed some images on the screens and faced the professor.
"As expected the boy is in good health. He has the same DNA structure with humans on this Earth. Same body functions, nothing different. What surprised me is this," Avatara slid the screen in front of her and a shard appeared on it. "A common shard usually have spirit energy readings around it." She held the image of the shard and put a throwing action towards Professor Fields.
The shard appeared outside the screen via holographic imaging. It was floating in the air, and the two crowded around it. Avatara and Professor Fields were looking at close up version of Yule's shard.
"But the boy's shard doesn't have any spirit readings I could trace. It supposed to have a spiritual reading. It's usually emitted by the contracted mythical being, and I've never encountered this kind of shard." Avatara said in a tired voice.
"But they recounted that a weapon came out of it," Professor Fields insisted at her.
"I know, and I believe them. You know why?" Avatara touched the holographic image of Yule's shard, and a holographic screen appeared beside the shard. "The scan read there's a spiritual weapon inside it. And I'm dumbfounded where's the power coming from. I'm thinking his shard might be different because he came from another world which made it special."
Professor Fields looked at the holographic image of the shard, then sighed.
"I guess it's my job now to figure it now," he said to Avatara.
"Oh please, keep me updated. I'm intrigued by the boy's shard. Let me know if you need anything else."
"I trust, you will not say a word to anyone," Professor said carefully at the Engkanto.
Avatara nodded at him in reply.
"I guess, we're done here for the meantime. I'll go now and work on Yule's papers for his admittance on the academy."
"Do you think it's a good idea to let him in?"
"Like I always say to others, we need more slayers regardless of where he or she came from."
Professor Fields waved farewell to Avatara and exited the room.
*****
Sanna was busy looking at the mobile device she was holding. Yule could peek some videos on the glass screen of the device. Every now and then, some notifications popped on the screen, while the two were walking outside.
Then Sanna stopped halted her movement still engrossed on her mobile device.
"I didn't know it was today," she mumbled to herself. Sanna faced Yule and smiled at him. "Since it's so boring just to roam around the academy, I have this better idea," she said in a playful tone.
The two went to the stadium. This is the same stadium that Yule saw last night before going to Ranger and Sanna's dormitory.
The lobby area of the stadium was huge, and many students roamed around the area, while some were hanging out on the couches. There was also a holographic screen floating in the air, displaying various announcements.
Sanna hurriedly climbed the escalator while Yule was tailing her. After riding another escalator, they arrived at the third floor. The hallway was empty. Sanna ran towards the end of the hallway and pushed open the door.
They were greeted with students casually seating in a gallery. The students were all looking down on the ground floor. Sanna led them on the front, and Yule could see below that there was a queue of students. They were patiently standing while a single student stood on an elevated platform.
"They are all 12 years old. Some of them hope to be a slayer one day." Sanna explained.
"But why are they here? Is this some kind of welcoming ceremony?" Yule asked.
"Just watch."
"Ram Park!" Somebody announced on the ground.
The boy in front of the line stepped forward to the elevated platform. Yule thought that the boy looks nervous.
Then a green-haired male Engkanto marched toward the boy. Yule couldn't identify if he was wearing a glamour or not. But this Engkanto was also wearing a white military-like uniform. He shouted some inaudible orders and holographic screens started appearing around him.
The Engkanto placed his palm on the screen in front of him. Then, a small light emerged out of thin air. The light subsided and a floating shard floating in the was left.
"You may summon it now," the Engkanto ordered to the boy.
Ram Park nodded at him, then cleared his throat."I-I, Ram Park, summon you!"
The shard started glowing, and the crowd above were all on the edge of their seat, waiting for the shard and the boy to bond.
Then, the shard broke.
It broke into tiny pieces falling to the ground.
The crowd shook their heads in disappointment, while Sanna just clicked her tongue.
The boy was shocked and a look of disappointment drawn on his face. He was escorted out by two male high school students.
"This is a summoning and recruitment ceremony," Yule announced to Sanna. She just nodded at him and waited for the next candidate in line.
The next candidate failed to summon and bonded with the shard. And the next one failed also. The crowd started to express their disappointment with the turnaround of this ceremony after ten candidates failed to summon from the shard.
The male Engkanto supervising the ceremony was also getting bothered with the outcome. Then a small girl with brown pony-tailed hair stepped on the platform. This made Yule froze.
The girl had some resemblance to her younger sister. Her sister loves to arrange her hair in a ponytail style. This made him homesick also. Are they worried sick about me? he thought.
"Candice Rodriguez, you may start the summoning," the male Engkanto announced. This made Yule returned his focus to the young girl below.
The girl swallowed a deep breath and shouted, "I, Candice Rodriguez, summon you!"
The shard in front of her started glowing brightly and a huge wave of air was released around it. Candice and the people on the ground covered their faces. Then, a magic circle appeared on the ground where Candice was standing.
The crowd started rising from their seats, eagerly waiting for the next turn of events.
Candice didn't know what to do next. She looked at the male Engkanto about to ask him what she should do next when someone shouted. That person was pointing his finger above.
People immediately looked above, and all of them gasped on what they saw.
Another magic circle appeared.
It was floating in the air near the ceiling.
"This shouldn't happen," Sanna said. "When a candidate summoned a mythical being, it just materialized in front of that person. I never encountered this kind of materialization."
Yule looked at the helpless girl on the ground. Her mouth was hanging open and staring above at the magic circle she summoned.
The magic circle started spinning, and something was coming out from it. A creature covered by a light jumped in the air and landed on the ground facing Candice.
The light started to disperse and a black feline creature appeared. It had the same size and physique as a black panther. The feline creature was looking at Candice with its glowing yellow eyes. The creature started prowling around the girl. Candice noticed that the black feline creature was wearing a golden necklace around its neck.
The male Engkanto almost fell on his back when a word appeared on his screen.
"It's Bastet!" He revealed.
The crowd gasped at the revelation of the Engkanto. Bastet roamed her yellow eyes around the room and looked back again at Candice. The feline goddess leaped looking like she was about to attack the girl, but when the feline goddess was on the air, it changed to a small light and dived to Candice's chest.
The room was filled with utter silence. Everyone was still shocked that a goddess was summoned in this room.
"So Yule, this is the part that you skipped as a slayer," Sanna said jokingly.