Augustus stretched his arm upward as his tasks were done recently. Papers and books are scattered across his table while the cup of coffee that he got from the kitchen recently remains untouched. He got one of the books from his desk and turned its pages. His tired eyes blinked for a second before he closed the book and placed it on his desk. He looked at his alarm clock beside him.
2:30 P.M. He's been up since three in the morning and continued to work without taking lunch. He yawned, tiredness began to overwhelm him and decided to hit the hay when his communicator rang suddenly.
He answered the communicator despite not having the strength to get it. "Hello?" His voice is as tired as his entire being.
'Finally, you've answered!' Rina said in a frantic tone. 'The president tried to contact you many times but to no avail.'
Augustus opened the communication history, and his eyes went wide with shock as he saw numerous missed calls from Zirconia. "Can you tell him that I was about to go to sleep right now?"
'No can do.' A different voice answered him as Augustus frowned. 'This is an urgent matter right now and your presence here is required.'
"What is it that you want that you need my presence so badly?" He was annoyed to the point of raising his voice in anger. He woke up early and did his task and now he was about to get rest he was needed for something?
*
The plateaus at night are considered to have a breathtaking view. The bright moon reflected in the crystal-clear waters, the rustle of the trees dancing to the tune of the wind, and the grass on the ground swaying forth to the wind's direction. All in all, it is a perfect place to relax and rewind all the reminiscences of bygone days.
Unfortunately, this scenery is only a virtual scene, for it is only camouflage formed in the Training Room.
"The heck!" Marcus exclaimed as he reloaded another round of his pistol in panic. He and his companions are inside one of the abandoned houses, exhausted due to the hoards of vampires in front of them. In the upper corner of said hoard is the number of vampires they slain. Luckily for them, the house they chose is one with a second-floor balcony so that they can attack the virtual vampires in a long-range with ease.
[Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Alpha: 350]
"Whoever told Classes Beta and Charlie about the subjugation mission will be electrocuted by my thunder if I see them," Krishna calmly said but judging by the tone of his voice, he was pissed.
"This is ridiculous!" Misty stomped her foot and almost threw her weapon on the ground angrily. Even she was annoyed by the situation right now. "What the heck are our instructors thinking? Competing six students in each class to compete whoever class with the highest kill will be getting the subjugation mission?"
-Flashback-
"All right, listen up." Axiom looked at the three teams with enthusiasm as they ended up in the virtual training room. This room is entirely different from the ones they usually use: the room has three doors and the staff outside are doing their daily tasks. "The task that you three teams do today is to subjugate some virtual vampires in two hours."
"Two hours? Are you insane, prof?" One of the students from Class Charlie complained.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" A student from Class Beta rebuked him. "You were afraid that your class would not take this mission?"
"Why you-"
"Enough!" Westeria roared at the arguing students. "Whoever the class who has the most kills will be taken the subjugation mission. After this, we will explain this situation to the president."
"We have called the rest of your classmates and they are now on the other side of the room," Claus said in a calm voice. "They will be your support team for this task as they will give up updates on the other team."
"Now enter one of these rooms and once you are done, we will start the training. May the best class win."
-End Flashback-
"I know all of us here are very angry right now but," Sephiram tries to reassure his classmates who were now pissed at the situation in front of them. "We need to focus on the task at hand. (Opens the communication device on his right arm) Sasha, what's the situation of the other classes?"
A small screen popped out of the communication and device and Sasha appeared, wearing a headset with a microphone attached to it. "So far, Class Charlie killed 330 vampires, but we keep an eye on Class Beta. They have killed 355 vampires as of now."
"Great, now we've left behind in numbers." Sephiram was not amused at the numbers given to him by Sasha. Ever since the mass dropout of the original Classes Beta and Charlie and the subsequent events following it, the new Class Beta and Charlie became more aggressive as they caught up with Class Alpha in terms of raw strength and abilities, and now that they knew about the subjugation mission that will be given exclusively to them, they have no other choice but to compete with them.
In Sephiram's conclusion: they will have a hard time dealing with them.
Ryan peeked behind Sephiram's back and looked at the numbers on the small screen. "Oh, dear, we are leaving behind."
Sephiram was jolted as he looked at Ryan in shock. "Ryan, don't scare me like that."
"Sorry," he apologized to him. "This is because of Ciro's magic. He can freeze an entire hoard of them in an instant."
"Great," Sephiram stood up and clapped his hand to get his classmate's attention "Everyone listens up!" The entire team looked at him. "As of today, Class Beta has outnumbered us by five points and Class Charlie has been catching up to us." He looked at Krishna. "Krishna, do you have an area of effect spell with you?"
"My thunder spells are in your command," Krishna answered. "Give me a signal and I shall unleash it."
"Good." He looks at Ryan. "Ryan?"
"I can cast Meteor, but it will take some time."
"Good. Here's the plan: Those with melee weapons will attack the vampires and scatter them in groups while Ryan, Krishna, and I will cast an AOE spell to blast them to smithereens." They could hear the vampires banging on the door on the first floor. "If any of you have any ideas to share, say it now! If none, let's go!"
The melee team composed of Misty, Lena, Ciel, and Ingrid charged at the vampires on the first floor and took them outside, destroying the door in the process while the rest of the team ran out of the balcony and proceeded to cast their area of effect spells.
Misty whipped a group of vampires in one fell swoop while casting a fire spell in the process. She slapped her whip to the ground and turned around and she proceeded to whip another group that was approaching her.
[Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Alpha: 360]
Lena slams her mace to the ground, creating a massive earthquake and the vampires lose their balance, then she proceeds to spin around, creating a mini hurricane hitting those within her range with the mace. Those who are down turned into ash immediately after being hit.
[Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Alpha: 380]
Ciel and Ingrid decide to team up. Ingrid creates a powerful slash of wind, and the vampires are sliced in half while Ciel casts an enchantment on his long sword. Flames burst out on the sword and released a powerful slash toward the ongoing vampires. Both directions are turned into ash immediately.
[Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Alpha: 420]
"Meteor!" Ryan finished chanting and a magic circle appeared in the sky. A hail of fireballs emerged on the magic circle, and it rained upon the group of vampires who were approaching the four students.
"Halberd Lightning!" Krishna does the same as lightning dances on the ground and electrocutes the vampires who are struggling to stand up thanks to Meteor.
"Inferno!" Sephiram casts as a pillar of flames engulfed the enemy group in each direction, leaving none of their remains. "Holy Judgement!" Those who survived three consecutive spells earlier are engulfed by the pillar of light.
Finally, Sephiram raised his hand and cast his third and last spell. "Abyss." The moon and the sky suddenly covered in pitch-black darkness. Both teams were in a state of panic and confusion as the dark mist enveloped them. The vampires began to choke themselves. The mist itself is a poisonous mist that when inhaled, will cause immediate death. The four students were standing in shock as they saw the vampires being knocked down due to the poison. After a few minutes, the mist disappears and the sky goes back to normal, serving its purpose.
The four students looked at their surroundings and saw that they were alone: the vampires had all but turned into dust, disappearing completely.
The four gathered themselves up. "What was that spell?" Ciel asked them. No one answers him. They were silent for a few minutes, thinking of the spell when the rest of the group approached them.
"Hey, guys!" Marcus called to them as they approached the other group. "Seems like we did it."
"But we are thinking about the spell earlier," Ingrid said, then looked to the four boys. "Did any of you cast that spell?"
Sephiram raised his hand. "It was me."
"Whoa! That spell caused insta death!" Lena said childishly. "Say, how many did we kill now and how many did the other class kill?"
"Let me see," Sephiram opened the communication device and a small screen popped up in front of him.
[Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Alpha: 20000]
"We don't know about the score of the other classes, and we have three seconds left in the simulation," Sephiram said. "Let's wait and see."
The scenery reverted to the gray walls of the training room as the timer hit zero. The training ground itself is in a complete mess and it is beyond repair.
"All right, that concludes our task for today!" Axiom speaks throughout the speaker. "Kindly go outside the training room while the staff will call the maintenance to fix everything up."
*
The three groups are sitting in the break area, anxious at the result of the task they were given. Sephiram looked at the surroundings as he looked at the other class talking to each other, talking about their skills being improved.
"Nervous?" Krishna asked him.
He nodded in response. "I wonder what if I didn't cast that spell earlier? It will make our task easier if I say so."
"You mean 'Abyss'?" Krishna looked at him in the eye. "You did the right thing. Abyss is an SS-rank dark spell that cannot be cast easily. Your body is supposed to be fatigued right now since it needs a massive amount of mana, but you looked fine."
"You're correct." He looked at his opened palm and tried to form it into a fist. "I don't feel tired at all."
"But you need some rest too."
Just then, the three instructors entered the room, tablets in one of their hands. "Thank you for waiting," Claus spoke to the entire group. "I know that you are excited at the result of your task." He puts down the tablet on the desk and a big screen pops out so that the students can see what was written. The students gathered up and looked at the result:
[Final Result:
Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Alpha: 20000
Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Beta: 19900
Number of Vampires Defeated - Class Charlie:18000]
"Yey!" Lena jumped into her seat in joy as she saw the result. "We've won!"
"Phew!" Ciel sighs in relief. "I thought we were lost in that challenge."
"Seems the spell worked in our favor, we say," Krishna smirked.
"Yeah," Sephiram nodded in response.
"I CAN'T ACCEPT THIS!" A student from Class Beta exploded in anger as she saw the result. "Ciro's magic is the strongest! There is no way that Class Alpha would kill a number of those vampires easily." Then she points her finger accusingly at Krishna. "This is all the sub-human's fault! If you didn't transfer here in our school, we should be in Class Alpha now!"
"Yeah! She's right!" Another student from the same class agreed with her. "You belong to the West District! Just stay in there and behave like an animal as you are!"
Krishna angrily glared at them, making the students frozen in fear. "Don't blame me for your shortcomings. Judging by the way you speak; you've entitled yourselves to be greater than anyone else here and you blame it on others when things don't get in your way." He stands up and looks at the female student face to face, eyes brimming with anger. "Talk back to our race again and you will never see the light of day."
"And he means it, I tell you," Lena warned the students.
"Tsk!" The students turned around and walked out of the room. Krishna calmed down after the commotion.
"Now this is settled," Westeria took a deep breath, "I hereby declare that Class Alpha won the challenge, and they will be the ones taking the subjugation mission." He looked at the remaining students. "Do you have any questions?"
Silence was the answer. "Then, class dismiss!"