"He's a non-awakened esper that entered as a student of Knox Academy," continued the man.
"What's his point count?" asked Delta
"He has currently collected 2100 points, and has defeated a class B thirio," the man said surprised while reading the information on his computer.
"I see… What about the four participants that have already collected 10k points?" asked Delta.
"We've already sent HSA operators to monitor them. For the moment 3 of them are just staying in a secluded place, seemingly waiting for the week to pass, while one of them seems to have engaged in fights against other participants and disqualified them," answered a woman.
"What're their stages?" asked Delta.
"Step 5 Integration stage, Step 4 Integration stage, Step 1 Manipulation stage, and Step 5 Integration stage. The Step 1 Manipulation stage participant was the first to reach to 10k points mark," answered the same woman.
"Tell your operators to retreat from the test area," said Delta before turning around and walking toward the door.
"What should we do about the non-awakened participant, sir?" asked the man from before, stopping Delta in its tracks.
"You are not to do anything else. I'm going myself," Delta said before leaving the room. His response shocked everyone but they didn't dare to say anything else.
'A non-awakened esper defeating a class B thirio…' he thought as he walked down the hallway, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Delta," a woman suddenly said from behind him in a severe tone. At the same time, he felt immense pressure that didn't let him breathe.
As he turned around he saw a tall woman standing woman behind him. He quickly recognized the blindfold and the logo of the Executioners on the woman's uniform.
"Executioner Leywin," he said while bowing his head.
"What's the status of the first phase?" asked the woman.
"Everything is going as expected with no unforeseen events so far," he answered with his head still bowed.
"Is that so?" Miss Leywin asked as the pressure suddenly increased. "If everything is as expected then why were you heading out in such a rush, Delta?"
"I was just informed of a strange non-awakened esper and I was heading to the test area to confirm the information. My apologies Executioner Leywin, I didn't deem this information worthy of bothering you," Delta answered unwillingly.
"It's not important enough to tell me, and yet, it's important enough that you have to go to confirm it yourself…" Miss Leywin said in a cold tone while she channeled a piece of her ability and let it wrap around Delta. He felt as if one of his limbs had been cut off, and the feeling disgusted him.
"Please excuse my lapse in judgment."
"Delta, would you be so kind as to remind me, what the four principles followed by Black Guard operators are?"
"No ties. No feelings. No doubts. No weaknesses."
"I hope this is the last time you make this mistake, am I clear?" Miss Leywin said in a cold tone.
"Yes, Executioner Leywin," Delta answered.
"Very well. Now come with me, I have an assignment for you," she said before turning around and walking away. Delta finally rose his head and followed her from behind.
"What do you need me to do, Executioner Leywin?"
"You'll be helping me with the training of the new Black Guard recruits. They need someone to spar against."
Delta greeted his teeth in frustration. 'Is she really going to use me to train the new cadets?!' he thought, feeling insulted. Hopefully for him, his expression couldn't be seen behind his mask.
After walking for a while they arrived at a stadium that was inside the building where two boys and one girl were waiting.
"Sorry to keep you waiting; I had to take care of some things. However, I brought a sparring partner for the three of you," she said, as Delta entered the room behind her.
"This is Delta; he is the current supervisor of the tournament's first phase," Executioner Leywin introduced Delta.
"Nice to meet you, sir," said the three recruits in unison while bowing.
"Today he will be helping you with your training," Executioner Leywin explained.
********
[Adding points…]
[Points added]
[Current points: 2350]
'At this pace, I should be able to get to the point mark just in time,' Seth thought while wiping off thirio's blood from his katana. In front of him, the corpses of two thirios could be seen.
'8:30 pm… it's not very safe to go hunting in the dark. Luckily I saw a good spot a couple of blocks away, I think I'll sleep there tonight,' he thought before heading for the building he had in mind.
As he walked down the street he was especially careful not to be surprised by any thirio coming out of the darkness. After a couple of minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the building and quickly found a safe room in which he decided to stay the night.
'*sigh*I was hoping to kill another thirio on the way here,' he thought, a little disappointed.
While he laid on the ground he started thinking about the best course of action to take the next day. It was very unlikely that he would find thirios in the places he had already been to, so he had to search the areas he hadn't explored yet. He had also noticed that the closer he got to the city center, the more thirios he found, he just had to be careful not to bump into a too-powerful one.
He couldn't think about this too long before he fell asleep.