Gavin headed back to headquarters, the academic building in Nova Academy.
He walked straight into the building carrying a white coffin with the dying officer inside.
Upon his entry, one of the workers rushed to talk to him while the others paused their work seeing Gavin carrying the coffin.
"Mr. Gavin, what happened, where are the rest of the troop?" The attendant asked in a hurry while blocking Gavin's path.
"Dead. Now move out of the way so that I can take this one to the medical office so that he doesn't meet the same fate," Gavin cooly ordered.
Flustered, the attendant moved out of the way. As Gavin passed by, his words registered in everybody's heads there and a dreary mood gripped the room.
Opening the door to the nursing room, Gavin placed the ice coffin on the ground next to a bed. Soon after Ms. Sophia materialized next to him examining the condition of the officer.
"Who was it?" Sophia asked while using her gift to examine the officer through the block of ice. Pushing the blood through him, Sophia felt the extent of his injuries and shuddered.
'Multiple broken bones, torn muscles, and burns all over the body. Especially the one on his face,' Sophia noted with a grim mood.
"It was Bell," Gavin answered with a sigh.
Sophia nodded in understanding as she finished up her examination.
"Release the ice," Sophia ordered.
Gavin nodded and the ice disappeared instantly. The officer was barely breathing, his body still ice cold from being encased in ice.
Sophia used her gift to meticulously move the blood throughout his body while preventing it from flowing out from his wounds. She gave out orders to the nurses around her and the room burst into action.
Gavin left the nursing room and headed to the headmaster's office located at the top of the tower.
Knocking on the door, Gavin heard a boyish voice call out to him, "Enter."
Entering, Gavin found the headmaster seated at his desk scribbling something down.
Morin Esten, the headmaster of Nova Academy, and the Defender Supreme looked the same as he did 10 years ago. His silver hair reflected the light provided by the wall-mounted lamps in the room. His soft gray eyes were completely focused as he continued to write something despite Gavin's intrusion. He still looked like he was 10 years old, his mini gray suit matched his hair and eyes.
"Teacher," Gavin greeted with respect. His tone softened from its usual icy texture.
"Good to see that you are well Gavin," Morin responded gently. Despite greeting his student, Morin continued to write what he was doing. Not with a pen and paper or any other physical object.
Morin directly controlled the universal energy into fine strands and wrote down sentences upon sentences in some unknown language that each vanished after a set amount of time. Writing down the last sentence, Morin snapped his fingers, and a soft glow emitted from him.
"What was that for teacher?" Gavin asked curiously.
"I re-coded the barrier surrounding the city. It was damaged from the outside," Morin answered finally looking at his student.
Gavin nodded in understanding.
"So Gavin, what is it?" Morin asked looking at Gavin.
"There was an attack. It was Bell," Gavin reported, his voice turning sharp, the temperature in the room dipping with his statement.
'As I thought....it's them,' Morin thought to himself.
"I see. What were the results of the battle?" Morin asked after a slight pause.
"The squad was decimated," Gavin stated coldly. "Only one of them survived."
Morin heaved a heavy sigh, stress lines could be seen forming on his forehead completely contrasting with his young age.
"What was the damage to the city? Any civilian casualties?" Morin asked, rubbing his forehead.
"The squad managed to use the token you've supplied to erect a barrier before the fight started. All of the damage was contained," Gavin reported. "No civilian casualties," he added before his teacher could ask once more.
Morin nodded.
"Do you know what she was after?" Morin looked at Gavin.
Suddenly Gavin felt teleported back in time. Gazing at his teacher, an intense sense of deja-vu washed over him as the common occurrence of being asked questions to asses his capabilities resurfaced in his mind.
"I'm not sure. But her immediate goal was to kill the remaining officer," Gavin answered thoughtfully.
"Ok..and-" Morin started out before Gavin cut him off.
"And I'm sure that if Bell is here, then the rest of them are here," Gavin concluded looking at his teacher cooly.
Raising an eyebrow, Morin chuckled and complimented his student. "That's right. We have gotten reports that the Numbers are in the city."
"Then the barrier weakening must be related to them?" Gavin questioned.
"A high possibility yes. The timing is too coincidental," Morin agreed.
Taking a deep breath, Gavin exhaled heavily, and a gust of visible cold air exited his mouth. "I wonder what is their composition this time," Gavin uttered deep in thought.
Every time that the numbers appeared, they would've changed their ranks. Only a select few people survived for a long time in their ranks. The rest were exchanged because they were beaten by a newcomer or were dead...
"We must be very careful," Morin started. "Every time the numbers have appeared, only disaster has followed."
Gavin nodded in agreement and both of them fell into a comfortable silence.
Seeing that Gavin showed no indications of leaving, Morin cleared his throat and called out to his student.
"So what do you need?" Morin asked.
"About the Gluttonous wolves that I talked to you about," Gavin started.
"They have no anomalies so far. I've had them checked multiple times. The lack of universal energy is keeping them deprived of their gifts," Morin answered gently.
"..." Gavin stayed silent, pondering what he had confirmed that day. It was the small vestige of their gift developing in the Gluttonous Wolves.
"But that was certainly a gift," Gavin stated stubbornly.
"I trust your judgment. But there was simply no way that a gift could have developed in the wolves. I've made sure of that," Morin gazed at his unconvinced student and sighed.
"Maybe they were tampered with before they were sent to you. You should conduct an investigation," Morin suggested, trying to ease his student.
Gavin nodded in agreement. "But is there any way I can get a different batch of beasts for the students? I don't want to take risks," Gavin requested his teacher.
"I'm afraid there is no other set of beginner-friendly beasts," Morin apologized.
"What happened to the two-headed wolves?" Gavin asked in confusion.
"There has been something wrong with almost all the beasts around the city. I've been keeping an eye out, but it doesn't look like we will be able to capture them for training," Morin's answer only partially cleared up Gavin's confusion.
"Wrong?" Gavin questioned.
"Haah, something that I haven't seen in my life," Morin sighed heavily.
"Alright. I understand," Gavin nodded his head after a while.
"Thank you for understanding," Morin smiled wearily.
"Take care teacher," Gavin called out before leaving without waiting for a response.
"Little Gav is the same," Morin chuckled to himself. Gavin was grown up now, so Morin refrained from calling him that nickname unless he was all alone.
Slumping back into his chair, Morin rubbed his forehead with one hand.
The world was relatively peaceful about a decade ago. But now it was changing. And it was changing fast. Major upheavals were occurring all over the world and it seemed that Aster City would soon join the ranks of those places.