Alan POV
1 Month after Kim Yong entered seclusion training
"Alan, move your ass over here!"
His annoying smooth voice is entering my ears. Demon hounds chasing me, wanting to rip me in small bites for them to chew on.
'Kiro really is an annoying, strong person'
One month passed since we got the news of Kim Yong starting his training in seclusion, we all got a lot stronger mentally and physically. The demon hounds of this dungeon on the demon domain are immune to simple fire, resulting in the current situation.
My wings of fire spread apart on my back, four wings in the colours azure blue, gold, blood-red, and bright yellow with a hint of gold in it. Meanwhile, my hands move to the right, holding my greatsword.
^Splash^ ^sizzle^
The sword cut them in two, the blood-red fire started to consume the remaining bodies.
^swoosh^ ^crack^
Benjamin is clad in white, bright lightning, dashing past me. Killing the demon pigeons, I read and memorize their specs for this small mission. Demon pigeons, who are about 5 metres tall and have a wing span of 2.5 metres, they have rotten and deformed pigeon faces. One needs to be careful to not get hit by their toxin breath.
My wings pushed me back at the speed of sound, hovering a bit over the ground to not get slowed down by the red and soft ground. Benjamin vanishes, only leaving a spark of lightning behind... the next moment all demon pigeons heads are rolling on the ground.
'He is the one who grew the most from all of us in power'
My thoughts continued at a fast pace, my blood-red phoenix eyes couldn't keep up with his speed. So I put my attention on the growth of every member of my group...
'It is weird that it really is my group now... and everybody accepted it too fast'
Kim Yong wrote a letter that Jette, my master, read to our group. There wasn't much written on the letter, except that he appoints me as the leader of the group, and he steps out of the group since he has his mercenary group.
Which is all fine, but... it feels weird. How can someone so strong and competent like him fail? He easily can handle two groups. So why does he give me one? Not to mention that this group has the future of mankind on its back, we are a force to be reckoned with.
... yet he gave it up easily, it doesn't sit right with me. His actions are more than a mystery to me, it is obvious that he wants to sacrifice himself, on the other hand it is the only thing we know about his plan.
"You think too much, you should know that an important event is on the way"
Casein, his golden fire, shoots out of my wings, burning everything it touches. Demon hounds and demon pigeons are howling, Underdeveloped demons and devils let out a disgusting and awful to listen screech.
'But this is the problem... there is no event at the end of the first year, this should be a stage of comedy and slice of life... with a hint of foreboding to the war'
Casein his emotions are flowing in my brain, surprise and hope are surfacing... along with worry. Casein is talking for two weeks without showing his form, but our connection deepened, letting me feel a bit of his emotions.
"Pierce of the sky"
Kiro his smooth voice echoed through the air, a huge hole appeared in the countless demonic creatures. These with some senses of danger ran away immediately after this.
"Come on, you two, let's get out of this dungeon and complete the school's preparations for your graduation of the first year!"
A rough hand touched my shoulder, the speed far outclassed Benjamin's speed. Benjamin emerged next to me, already groaning by the sheer pain of his grip.
^swoosh^ ^whoosh^
My reaction speed is a lot slower than it was in the tournament, despite that, it is a good thing. I train my own fire now, walking my own path as a phoenix. The Blood-red fire is special, it can consume the darkness as well as dominate other powers.
Oh, right, we are out of the dungeon and are on the modern plane to Nexus. Kiro is pretty fast, so we were in it at the same time, I stopped my thought about the special fire.
"We have enough cores of demons to artificially produce them, captured enough monsters and beasts for the arena, bought enough mana conducting material."
Kiro is going through the list of things we need to do. Which isn't a huge list, but it takes a lot of time to prepare.
1. Catch beasts and monsters for the hunting games.
2. clear the field and leave the F rank on the field
3. Buy enough resources and build the entire festival (year 2 and year 3)
We first years have simple jobs, hunt and capture monsters and beasts... nonetheless my group, John's group as well as our remaining friends are hunting beasts stronger than them.
Of course, we are also preparing for any incident that could happen, since Kim Yong has a plan we need to stop. Kiro and Benjamin converse with each other while I am silent thinking.
We arrive at Nexus, the training field below us. Nadine and Violett are there, training small monsters to be tame to the children. Next to them are John, Leopold and Lu Gao, training their skills next to them... with their t-shirts off, showing their good build muscles.
"Why do they have their T-shirts off?"
Benjamin is even more perplexed as I am. These three started out of nowhere to stick close to Nadine, annoying her all the time. Nadine herself is near her limit, the veins on her fist clearly visible.
"Kiro we jump out here... or else we are going to witness a crime scene"
I lampooned, jumping out of the plane right after what I said. Benjamin is even faster than me, using Lightning travel to reach the ground.
"Hey Nadine, how is it going?"
I hear Benjamin's nervous voice, pointing at the small beasts and monsters. Through my Phoenix eyes, I see, Nadine calming herself a bit by sighing out loud.
"Can you get rid of these three annoying bugs?"
Nadine points with her finger to the trio, glancing at them with a scornful expression. Violett didn't escape my phoenix eyes, also fixing her eyes with pure annoyance in them.
... to bring Violett to this point, is almost impossible, but these three succeeded in doing that.
'Her eyes are scary'
I fix my eyes on Nadine, not because I fear Violett nonetheless I landed on the ground, immediately blurting out.
"Nadine, please don't risk it and let Kina point her head towards a different direction!"
Kina, her pure dragon, already huge compared to us, the light died out in her mouth and she snorted in annoyance, putting her attention to the monsters.
'Phew, avoided a crisis'
Nadine and Violett slowly put their swords back in their sheaths. The trio moves towards us, putting their t-shirts back on as well as... John trying to wipe his sweat attractively away.
"Disgusting"
Nadine has a lot of work as the most competent tamer in all Nexus... yet these three idiots annoy her, John being the person who does it persistently over this month.
"If you don't teach them a lesson-"
Violett unsheathed her sword, Aura raging around her and taking shape in my eyes... of a demoness.
"I will teach them a lesson"
She suggested, her smile scaring the shit out of me, taking a step towards the trio.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, we teach them a lesson!"
Benjamin barked out loud, bolting towards the trio. I did the same, while covering their view with my fire.
"Hey, you said we-"
"This doesn't matter if you anger the girl that will beat us up in the worst way possible"
I retorted before he could finish what he wanted to say. The 2 Bens and me will die if she finds out our deal with them.
"Let's leave from here, and you better explain why"
Lightning covered us all, the next second we are in Benjamin's room. Oil lamps are put on a shelf on the right to his training room, everything else is the normal decoration of nexus.
"John explain, I won't say it to anyone else except to the people here in the room"
I promised, he is fidgeting with his finger and acting like a shy child. Leopold grin is turning to a mischievous smirk... and Lu Gao is Lu Gao, standing there without any attachment to reality.
John's face is slightly red, indicating something I hope isn't true. Benjamin and I glance at each other, fearing the worst possible thing imaginable.
"Come on, tell them your little secret... or should I say-hm"
Lu Gao covers, with his hand, Leopold's mouth and drags him back, whispering something in his ear that made Leopold not move a single muscle.
'Please don't tell me what I fear you want to tell me'
John's face is turning as red as a tomato, his mouth closes and opens many times before he told us the truth... which turned my worst fears true.
"I... I think I like-no have a crush on Nadine"
Benjamin stares in my eyes along with his face turning pale. It feels like my life is sucked out of my face... I probably look as pale as he is right now, white as snow.
We both thought at the same time, flawlessly communicating with our eyes.
'We're f*cked'