The Foundation member in charge of the Task between Fen and Edmond had a problem. An extremely bad problem, one which she had absolutely no idea how to solve.
It shouldn't have even happened. And, as far as her knowledge went, across all 537 Rifts full with Guardian candidates, the Task she was assigned with was the only one with this massive problem. Now, was the problem caused by something she did? Did she somehow screw up?
No, she did not. In fact, the problem would've arguable occurred no matter who was assigned to this specific Task, an idea which terrified the poor girl.
The issue was standing right in front of her. With clothes- no, she couldn't call them clothes. With scraps of the black uniform he was given, Fen stood up straight while covered in blood. His skin was red, his pale skin almost entirely covered up by dried blood which she had no idea where it came from.
The Opfer had come back from the Task, the obvious winner between the conflict between an Opfer and a Chosen. But... this was never supposed to happen. This wasn't scheduled to occur until at least the third month of the Guardian Program.
What was she supposed to do?! The role that she was assigned to play was to formally congratulate the Chosen, Edmond, after his assured victory in his Task but now that Edmond was dead what the hell was she supposed to do? Like a broken record, the Foundation member's mind continued playing that single thought over and over again.
Fen Altairus, the older brother in a family of four with a younger sister of fourteen years in age. Using the algorithm created by the Foundation's members, he was unlucky enough to be the opponent of a Chosen, a person gifted with magic from some of the most powerful Magical Arts from an extremely young age. Fen should've died. And yet. The tall youth stood right in front of her, a direct contradiction to her firm belief in the power of a Chosen.
No, wait. She was perfectly aware of how powerful a Chosen was, so did Fen simply get lucky or was he somehow more powerful than one of those...
Her mind struggled to find a word to aptly describe one of those youths, before she finally settled on one. Monsters.
The Chosen were all monsters. Seeing the Opfer in front of her was like living an entire life in fear of Lesser Dragons, believing them to be the apex predator, only for her to see one of those seemingly indestructible beings being eaten alive by what she thought was a simple wolf. Something that was still dangerous, but nowhere near as dangerous as a Lesser Dragon. At least, that was what she had thought, but now her belief was shattered.
When Fen took a step towards her, it took all of her willpower to remain in place and not show the flood of fear surging through her body, her instincts screaming at her to run away as fast as she could. Her efforts barely stamped down her instincts, but her fear had already overrun through her body and locked her joints making her freeze in place.
"What happens now?" asked Fen, uncaring why the Foundation member seemed to be afraid of him.
He could hear her swallow her saliva before she gestured for him to wait, frantically using her fingers to type away on her mobile interface. His question seemed to have knocked the sense back into her.
"Pl-please come with me, sir." After getting confirmation from her supervisor, she started walking out the room, too nervous to see if Fen was following and too scared to talk informally. Shrugging his shoulders, Fen followed, rearranging the cloth left around him to cover his precious parts before leaving the room.
The pair went through several corridors until Fen was certain that he was in the opposite side of the facility than he was supposed to be and nearing the area where the Chosen were staying for the Program. An apprehensive feeling rose in his chest, but he pushed it down, although he unconsciously rested his hand on the familiar handle of his (now damaged) short sword.
Wherever he was going, he should be safe for now. The Foundation wasn't allowed to interfere in a candidate's training or harm them unless they were granted permission from an unbiased authority higher within the Foundation's line of authority. So, unless he had committed some kind of atrocity recently that he didn't know about, he should be fine.
His logic didn't help calm his firing nerves and twitching muscles however. It was if his body hadn't fully recognized that his fight with Edmond was over. Almost on instinct, Fen was circulating his Vital energy around his body to be ready for an ambush from Mana knights that would never come.
Finally, they reached an imposing doorway, with inlayed golden material that screamed 'figure of authority,' like a sign wouldn't be just as sufficient.
"Come inside," said a familiar feminine voice inside the office.
Nodding anxiously by the side, the Foundation member who guided him here looked almost happy to finish leading him. Relief spread across her face and loosened her tense facial muscles.
Fen pushed open the door to see, much to his surprise and shock, Archon Ellora. Unlike his previous impression of her, the powerful Mage seemed much more tired, with dark bags apparent on her face. An executioner with cracked armor stood guard next to her desk, who looked oddly familiar to him.
'Hmm, isn't this the same guy I saw get beat up earlier in the video?' Now it started to make sense why the executioner had such damaged equipment, although Fen was confused why he still wore the armor if it was damaged.
"You curious?" said the executioner who noticed his gaze, pointing at his cracked equipment. At the same time, a wide grin appeared on his face, full of mirth.
"Oh, come on! Not this again..." The Archon slammed her head onto the desk, making a dull thud. "I thought I already apologized! Wasn't that enough for you??"
"Of course not, my dear!" The executioner put a helpless expression on his face, spreading his arms wide. "I don't want to do this either, but your face is just so-" A bolt of lightning cut off the man's words and sent him flying into the stone wall.
The man groaned, but his smile remained as another crack formed on his armor. He weakly raised his finger, gesturing 'one more'.
The Archon snickered and looked back at Fen, who had been looking on with discomfort. He was starting to get an understanding of their relationship, and from what he saw, he decided that he didn't like it. It frightened him.
The amused look dropped from her expression before she started speaking.
"Anyways. You're wondering why you're here, and I have an answer to your question. But, because that answer is a bit too complex for you to understand, I'll have to explain a little bit. You're gonna be here a while, so take a seat." With a wave of her hand, a chair materialized from golden particles that came from the nearby interface. Nodding his appreciation for the chance to rest his aching body, Fen sat down on the chair.
"So. First off, I want you to understand that I'm on your side." Ellora grasped her hands together in front of her, her eyes looking somewhere very far away. "That's my job, and my passion. I happen to love kids, especially teenagers."
A little creepy, but sure, fine. It's fine. Totally fine. All of a sudden Fen remembered how joyful the Archon was when she electrocuted the teenagers after the start of the Program, and his eyes glanced all around the room to check for all accessible exits.
"This Program was created to produce Guardians to protect the Earth. After the Succession succeeds the Earth is going to need powerful individuals to guard against the threats that might appear, be they monsters, or other hostile civilizations." Fen frowned at her words.
"What do you mean 'hostile civilizations'? Wait, was the Narrator actually telling the truth?" Something clicked inside Fen's mind, as he recalled what the annoying figure had written in his stories. Alien vampires, otherworldly women of races that he was positive didn't exist on Earth. He had dismissed them as fairy tales, but now...
The Archon guffawed.
"Don't tell me you don't even know the origin of the sword on your back?" She gestured and the weapon flew towards her hand, to which she grasped tightly and started flipping it around the light.
"This isn't from us. Er, rather, it didn't come from Earth. Have you ever heard of the 'Iberian Empire'? Didn't think so. They're one of the many civilizations that exist in the universe. We made this specific weapon ourselves, but the blueprint is foreign in origin. The same goes for almost all the items in the Shop that you buy using your points.
"Heaven is one of these civilizations. Sure, they're more powerful than almost everyone else, with their leader being the Creation God, but they're not all that.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, Yor. You know that just as much as I do." The Archon fired back at the worried look the executioner was giving her."
He sighed. "I know, but you can't just say that here, in the middle of the biggest operation the Foundation has ever had. The walls might have ears, you know?" She waved his concerns away. "Even if they did, I'm a damn sixth-" Yor rushed to cut her off before she could continue, the two of them glancing in Fen's direction to make sure he didn't hear them spill the Foundation's secrets.
"Ahem. As I was saying, the Foundation has support from several different civilizations. In exchange for their 'help'," For some reason an expression of distaste found its way on her face, "the Foundation was placed in a position where we must let representatives of their civilizations hold positions of authority within our organization."
Yor stepped up. "We didn't really get along together, but after a few years it's gotten better."
"We still don't." snorted Ellora.
"The problem isn't really them, but it's the people here within the Foundation. The representatives sent by those civilizations picked sides, giving families that they favored gifts of magic spellworks and other magnificent techniques; their goal in doing so was to bring about the changes that they preferred within our organization."
"Over time, those families got arrogant. I don't blame them, having access to magic that powerful without properly preparing their minds is more than enough to corrupt their morals."
Fen got tired of listening to their explaining.
"So where do I fit into all this?"
"You pissed those families off, fuckwad." Ellora leaned back in her chair. "Now stop talking and start listening to us explain."
"You don't get it, do you? You did something that nobody was supposed to do, and you think you get an award for that? For killing a Chosen? Years of planning, all put on hold because of something YOU did." She paused, clutching her eyes between her palms. "It's my job to look over you, but fuck... we never expected that you'd actually kill one of them..."
'Fucking Death Mark...' Fen was starting to get extremely annoyed with this reality-altering bullshit. Even if he did get past whatever it threw at him, there was always another danger right behind it; in this case, it was these 'powerful families'.
"Was I just supposed to let that bastard kill me?" Fen raised his eyebrow.
"Yes."
He was speechless. Was she actually being serious?
"You dying to a Chosen is probably preferable to what the families have in mind for you," she finished.
"Is there anything else, other than you scolding me for being alive?"
Yor put four fingers up. "Edmond had ties to four different families. The Wolves, the Eraticans, Terics, and Rivers. Among them, the Wolves are the ones you need to be most careful of. They can't do much to you here inside the Program, but that doesn't mean that they won't try. Even there is even the slightest chance of success to kill you, they'll try it." Ellora pulled up a list of names, all of whom had connections with the Wolves. "The Foundation isn't perfect. While me and my... acquaintance here don't take shit from them, other members, like instructors, might be pushed to remove you."
"So, kill me?"
"No, they want to gently approach you and take you to a magical fairy palac- yes, they want to kill you."
The young candidate scratched his head. "Well, thanks I guess. I'll prepare myself in case of an attack. Should I contact you if I need help?"
"Yes. If you can't reach us, find an executioner. The majority of them are under my control, so they'll be able to help you. Despite my appearance, I'm a very capable Knight." said Yor.
"Okay. But, why help me? I'm sure you didn't have to give me a warning. It would have been very easy for you to just overlook this."
Ellora reached into her uniform and pulled out a photograph, setting it down on the table. One it were two women, her, and another who resembled her with the same black hair and attractive features. Unlike her though, the other woman looked much less scary.
"My sister got killed in a conflict between two of those families. While it might not be worth the effort, being an annoyance to them is always worth it, and it doesn't really cost me anything anyways. Think of it as an investment. In a single month, you proved capable of killing a Chosen. I'm curious to see what other damage you can cause by the end of the Program.
"Now get out of here. I've got lots of stuff to do."
Nodding, Fen stepped back out of the office, closing the massive doors behind him. The second they closed, a blurry figure rocketed towards him and slammed his body into the floor. Two paws digging into his chest, the furry monster snapped its jaws shut around his neck.
With a roar, Fen wrapped his hands around the beast's legs and crushed the joints, making it whimper in pain. With it's jaws loosened from the pain, Fen created a Flaming Spear and pierced it through it's head, only for it to burst into shadows and escape through the many corridors.
Rocketing to his feet, Fen swept his head around him looking for more attackers. Luckily, the beast seemed like the only one. Gingerly touching his neck, Fen checked himself for any major injuries. Whatever it was, it managed to slice his skin a bit, and his chest felt bruised from the lack of protection, but otherwise he was fine. There was nothing that a little burst of Vital energy and some rest wouldn't fix.
Stepping backwards while never letting his eyes look too long in one corridor, Fen knocked loudly on the office doors.
"Who the fuc- Oh. It's you. Back so soon?" A flash of surprise appeared on Ellora's face as she opened the doors only to see Fen, who looked a lot rougher than he was when he left the room two minutes ago.
Cutting to the chase, Fen explained how a monster attacked him in the Foundation hallway, just outside the office.
"A beast, huh... Sounds like the Wolves. Guess they worked pretty fast after they heard the news." She sighed. "Start heading back to your room. I'll have Yor send a trustable executioner."
Looking him over, the Archon noticed the visible rate at which Fen's wounds were healing, the skin knitting together and rapidly closing over the wounds the monster created.
"No wonder you killed a Chosen. That regeneration... It's spectacular." Without warning she poked two fingers into the wound, making him groan in pain. "There's not many who can do the same thing with less than a month of training. Matter of fact, it's a little monstrous."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a freak. Stop poking around my body." Slapping her hands away, Fen stepped back into the hallway. While she was admiring his healing, she kept sticking her hands all over him, presumably checking for any other wounds. Finding none, she still continued, which creeped him out a little.