Ding! Dong!
Ran was jolted awake, startled as the toll of a bell rang. It encompassed the entire Academy as it was the signal for an assembly. All of those attending will be, of course, those that will be participating in the horde. That included Ran.
He briefly contemplated yesterday's events, moved on, and quickly decided to wake up Ann who clearly hadn't heard the bell.
Without changing, he quickly ran to Ann's room with only his heart-printed undergarments on.
Knock knock. No response.
He opened the unlocked door and saw the room… in an extremely messy state!
He was shook! What kind of wild animal lived here, he asked himself. The blanket was on the floor, the pillows were strewn about the room and all the furniture was turned over. Ann was spread over the bed, spreading all of her limbs and embracing all of the beds comfy curves and edges. She was one of those who love to move and readjust their position a lot while sleeping; obviously since all the evidence was all on the floor.
And, of course, she was completely naked… again.
He ignored her unruly state and decided he would tidy up the room. He wasn't a clean freak, but coming into contact with such a dirty room set him off. He ended up cleaning the whole room until it was squeak clean, which took about ten minutes. Even after cleaning, Ann was still sleeping.
He walked up to her and noticed something. She seemed more… peaceful when sleeping than she did before. Her eyebrows were more relaxed and her bare chest heaved up and down, slowly and in rhythm.
Most importantly, while she was completely naked, she still wore her necklace. The one he had given her. It glowed dimly and quietly as the mist, although invisible because of the sheer lack of quantity, was absorbed into Ann's body.
He was glad to see her sleep so well and he was happy to see her appreciate his gift… well, that was until he slapped the s**t out of her! To wake her up that is.
Smack!
A red glow flashed on her face as the full-force slap caused no damage. Red embers sparked from the impact and even little wisps of steam arose from the sweat on his palm being vaporized. Then, a sizzle popped and crackled.
Ran frowned. He looked at his hand and found it burnt to a crisp. His body was sending messages to his brain:
Yo, what the f**k!? Gah, it hurts!
Brain: I know damn it! Ran, what the f**k man, you just gonna stand there!?
Ran paid no attention to the pain his brain was telling him about, however; he just frowned. Yet, that was not why he was frowning. No, my friends. You see, our boy Ran Ran here is a very complex being. Very very complex.
Growl.
His stomach growled as he looked at his hand, gulping some saliva in the process. It smelled quite nice indeed… but he decided to not eat his hand, so he healed himself and forgot about what just happened. And it just so happens that he was able to wake her up.
Her eyes twitched before they opened. What she saw was a face, a peculiar one, very close to her own, observing her.
His eyes were like a galaxy made of lapis that was encased within the warmest amber, as if to protect something so dear; something so incalculably invaluable. Yet the lapis didn't falter either and provided an inner strength to the amber-the both of them were in tune with each other-they were perfectly perfect the way they were… the way they are.
The way he is.
She stared at him for a few seconds, peering… listening… to his eyes.
She quickly came to a conclusion, it was "majestic in its purest sense." Ann, having liked the way he looked before was now enthralled, so much so that she whispered that last portion out loud. Not to mention the look of obsession on her face that quickly receded after a few seconds.
"Eh? Who's majestic?" Ran turned his head, confused. He looked around the room in search of this majestic character and found that Fluffy was groggily standing in front of the door, blinking slowly as she watched the current scene. He smiled.
"Fluffy!" He ran up to her and hugged her fluffy body. Actually, she was too fluffy, having her body squeezed by the sides of the door. Was she, perhaps, the majestic figure Ann was talking about? Her fluffiness definitely made the cut.
Ran being only 5'5 (165 centimeters) was actually shorter than Ann. And Fluffy was no slouch either as she stood comfortably at about four feet (122 centimeters) tall, so if she stood up she could definitely topple Ran over like the majestic figure she was… is.
And as Ann watched Rans bare back-the one that was almost completely covered by his waist-length hair-she remembered something. She remembered, but then quickly shook her head. There was no need to think about such things. She just smiled "innocently" as she watched this goofball hug an oversized cat.
Wait, did she say oversized!? Hmph, the nerve! The proper term is fluffy.
Except none of that matters because they have to get going! Well, not everyone.
Ran patted Fluffy's head as he spoke to her. "Fluffy, you're gonna have to stay here okay."
Fluffy was silent. He was saddened a little by her silence, but stood strong. Being as fluffy as she is, who wouldn't want a piece of her!? Let alone a bunch of wolf people. Heck, even Ran wanted a piece of her! Only to sleep on, of course.
She went back to his bed and slouched on it, causing it to squeak familiarly in discomfort, though it was actually pretty sturdy to be able to hold up the sheer fluffiness that is Fluffy, not to mention Ran as well.
He quickly put the remainder of the fish he stored in his pendant and transferred it over to Fluffy's. With how bored she gets, God knows she'll end up eating all of the fish. That was a couple dozen of them at least! And they weren't small guppies either, being around a foot each in size.
...
After they got ready, they walked out of their door only to be pushed back inside by the rows and rows of humans running past their door. They looked at each other before pushing and entering the horde of humans; all of which were heading to the same place.
Soon, they reached the entrance of the Academy where rows and rows, columns and columns of humans stood silently. They waited. Most chatted happily and in excitement for what's to come, while some others remained quiet and nervous.
In total, they're three thousand people from the Academy who will be joining the horde. One thousand were the teachers and the like while the rest were students of all grades.
Most were from grade two and three, meaning they were at about Queenie's strength or close to Ann's. The minority were from grade one which, by rank, would be at about Rans level.
The teachers were starting off at Ann's strength by rank, meaning peak rank-6, or reaching all the way to peak rank-5. The King, as a reference, was at beginner rank-3. And it could be said that once rank-5 is reached, every single progress forward in rank-be it beginner, mid, or peak-is exponentially more difficult than the last. Yet such difficulty is not without its rewards.
Soon, a servant of the king arrived and began escorting everyone to the site. They marched through the streets and used all the available space, leaving ordinary citizens to be pushed to the side as they watched in awe.
The city has four entrances (four exits) corresponding to north, west, east and south.
The northern exit led to the river as well as the Yellow mountains.
The western exit led to the forest and the Thousand mountain range.
But both the eastern and southern led to the desert, the Only desert.
Yep, I'm not even kidding. It's literally called Only desert! And as for why, it's quite simple really. Basically, it's the only desert… in the whole world! It's also called the Great desert because of its sheer size! It's really, really big.
So big, in fact, that besides the Thousand mountains, the river, and some oasis' scattered about, this whole zone was entirely desert!
Well, enough world building.
Once they reached the southern exit, they found a familiar looking servant. It was another one of the escorts the King had sent. And this one was escorting the hunters of society to the site.
In total, there were about one and a half thousand hunters who were in between grades one and two, in terms of strength. Most of them were close to or at peak rank-8 while some outliers had reached rank-7.
Both rallies were then filed into two single-file lines as how else would they fit into the exit?
...
After passing through some scattered trees and ordinary flora, abruptly, the ground transitioned from dirt to sand. It was like some sort of boundary had formed.
The sandy wind hit everyone's eyes as they began crossing the barren desert and walking over vast dunes. Occasionally some rogue beasts such as big*ss scorpions or long*ss centipedes (not their real names) would decide the hairless monkeys were going to be their dinner; only to be bombarded by said monkeys, killed off and cooked as a snack as they continued on their journey.
After several hours of leisurely walking, they rested for an hour before continuing. Another half an hour possessed by until they finally reached their destination. They had already crossed through dozens of miles of pure and unadulterated desert by that point.
What laid in front of them, the battle site, was truly a special sight to behold. It was a… clearing. Basically there were no dunes, just flat desert land.
Okay-fine-you caught me. It's not just a clearing.
Indeed, it was, in actual fact, a crater! A big one! A big big one! A big big big-okay you get the point.
Seriously, though, it was big. It was at least a dozen miles across and easily a hundred feet deep.
You want to know what's even worse? Oh, I don't know, how about the fact that it was actually the Desert Lions territory?! Or about the fact that there was no sign of them whatsoever?!
Yep, just a big*ss crater and no cat.
And when both teams got there, they already found the Kings army ready, willing, and able. Over nine thousand of the buggers! All lined up and fancy-looking in their plated leather armor.
The whole army was composed mostly of peak rank-7 fighters all the way to peak rank-6. Of course, it goes even further than that as the overwhelming minority (about a single percent, or over ninety individuals) were at the varying stages of rank-5.
The army was currently off to the side of the crater where several tens of tents were established, everyone was leisurely talking while waiting for the next two groups to arrive.
Once everyone was together, they waited for the opponents to make their appearance.
Ran, however, wasn't feeling so well.