"Is that so?... Do you have anything else to report?" The clan leader asked
"The vampires in the north have been more active and bolder while the humans have been attempting to assassinate our top officials."
In a dark room, Jack was kneeled down and doing his daily reports to the clan leader.
"I'll send the 'hounds' there but I want you to tell me about Sebastian."
"Hmm, he's gotten stronger but he has hit that limit so he can't ascend. He also got in a big fight with the royalty kid."
"Why ain't I surprised about that? That kid is strong but his personality isn't the best… Why don't you train him to be like a 'hound?' That sounds good, right?"
"Isn't it too late to start training him to be one? The minimum age to be a hound is five months after their birth and maximum age is two to become one while Sebastian is six."
"Exactly! Have you ever seen a kid like him before! His strength is very impressive for a mere kid! Even the 'hounds' struggle to reach Peak F ranked by the time they're six years old! Honestly, it probably has to do with him not having mana at all… "
"That's probably true… He probably converts mana into strength or something."
"Dismissed"
…
"Give it back, Sebastian!" Lycaon yelled.
"Ha, if you want it back then come at me." Sebastian replied.
After a week of being in the Forest of Death, everyone came back changed and with a big realization. That realization was on how easily they could be killed.
Most of them had experienced five to six near death experiences during their stay at the Forest of Strengthening.
With the difference of power between each rank known, the kids finally realized that getting stronger wasn't gonna be as easy as they thought it would be.
"I have missions for you all! You'll be going in groups of five." Jack entered the room.
"Mission?" Lycaon asked.
"It's a beast extermination mission. I separated you guys into four groups and it should be enough as the highest ranked beast you could find would be Peak F- Ranked beasts but I trust in your abilities to live."
"Four groups of five? What about Sebastian and whoever the other extra is?" Baron asked.
"The extra will be going with the group that has two weakest members out of you all while Sebastian will be coming with me."
"You're giving him more special training?" Lycaon asked.
"Yes."
"That's unfair!"
"He's different from the rest of you."
Lycaon tried to think of a logical argument but couldn't refute Jack's words.
Appearing from the shadows, four people kneeled in front of Jack and awaited his orders.
"These people will be your protector in case something goes wrong. You may refer to them as 'hounds' or Foxtrot, Echo, Juliet and Kilo."
After the children created their groups, the 'hounds' took them and left the mansion while Sebastian stayed back.
"So, what's this extra training?" Sebastian asked, smiling.
"I'll be sending you to the 'hounds' training ground."
"Hell yeah!"
"I wouldn't be too happy about it."
Jack activated a rune on the ground, causing a portal to open up to a different location. Walking through the portal, Sebastian arrived at a dark forest with dead trees.
"Seraph! Take this child through the process! And good luck, Sebastian."
"Wait!"
Before Sebastian could reach the closing portal, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
"Tch! Let go!" Sebastian threw his other fist out.
Catching the fist, the woman used Sebastian's momentum and slammed his body into the ground, creating a small dent into the ground.
"A young boy like you needs to be taught a lesson! Delta, throw this kid with the rest of wolves! We'll see if he can still act cocky after the experience!"
With a swing, Sebastian found himself above a self made crater and saw multiple people inside the crater.
Thump!
Upon falling onto the ground, Sebastian felt multiple killing intents targeted at him.
"Great, you survived the fall. This pit contains our strongest contenders to become one of us numbered. Killing is optional but not recommended as we need our overall numbers to increase." The man spoke.
"When I get out of this pit, I'm going to ki-"
In an instant, multiple people appeared in front of Sebastian and pointed their weapon toward him. Behind them were others casting their magic and some were already launched at him.
Bang!
Clouds of dust rose from the ground as it signified to everyone that their attacks had landed against him.
"He's dead!" A boy shouted.
Moments after the smoke went away, Sebastian reappeared with his arm covered in his red aura. The boy couldn't react in time and Sebastian's arm went through the boy's throat.
"D-45!" A girl cried.
Before Delta could comprehend what Sebastian did, four children lunged to attack Sebastian but all failed to reach as they began to cough up blood.
"W-What?" The girl spoke, confused.
None of the children saw Sebastian move, which even confused Delta as he couldn't comprehend.
"Curse magic? But didn't this kid have no magical powers or mana?"
"Unbelievable speed! You can't detect him because he doesn't have mana at all… You didn't expect him to have such speed that you even lost track of him within seconds!" A man walked closer to the pit and spoke enthusiastically.
"Bravo? What are you doing here?"
"Seraph asked me to rate the newcomer! Look at him!"
Every child ran toward Sebastian and expected to beat him with their numbers but they were wrong. With a single punch, Sebastian released a wide and strong wave of aura that pushed them all away.
Bang!
"HAHA!" Sebastian laughed like a maniac.
Bang!
Sebastian's strength surprised Delta and Bravo as they didn't think he had the strength to send people flying. Sebastian continued to send more children flying until a child with metal magic managed to stop his rampage.
"Keke! I knew someone had to be strong!" Sebastian spoke.
Another child moved with unbelievable speed while augmented with their lightning magic. This kid slammed his leg onto Sebastian's neck causing him to kneel and get punched by another kid.
The punch was so strong that it sent Sebastian flying while coughing up blood.
"That spirit isn't gonna be enough to win!" The boy shouted.
"Barbaric, sloppy and too wide attacks… Are you even serious?" Another boy asked.
Everyone gained a moral boost by the two brave boys that challenged Sebastian and started to glow in color. Everyone, who was glowing, received an increase in strength and speed.
"You know, I've never met someone as strong as you around my age… It's been awhile since I used my strength to the max."
The ground started to shake as a massive amount of bloodlust was rising from the ground. White, black, blue, gold and red auras bursted out of the ground as Sebastian finally released his true strength.
Everyone was astonished by Sebastian's auras as they never saw a person with more than one aura with the exception of a few people.
"Five auras!? Is that dark purple mass his bloodlust?" Bravo said, astonished.
A woman appeared besides Delta and Bravo, which surprised the two.
"Seraph? I take it that you noticed the boy?"
"Yes… We might have to stop the fight, "she replied.
The participants released their aura and rivaled Sebastian's aura. Though they moved forward fearlessly, they still had an uneasy feeling in their chest and minds.
Sebastian stood still as the children surrounding him came closer and closer to him.
"Something is not right!" The boy with metal magic stated his concern but not in time.
Sebastian's arm moved instantly and came in contact with a participant's throat. The participant was teleported away and the rest continued to move forward.
The next participant to get in Sebastian's way was cut in half and disappeared again. Sebastian could care less about the participants and continued to chop every participant down without a care in the world.
Out of the hundred of children, only half of them remained while Sebastian was covered in scars and bleeding through wounds.
"Me and D-1 will lead the charge against this monster."
The duo went by the code names: 'D-1 and D-2' while the others were named the same with different numbers and letters.
The duo charged and were prepared to face Sebastian's power. Quickly throwing a punch, Sebastian expected D-2 to be sent flying but they disappeared.
'Fast' Sebastian thought
Bang!
D-2's leg slammed into Sebastian's body and another kick was delivered to his calves.
"Oraa!!!" D-1's fist came into contact with Sebastian's face and sent him flying again.
"Yeah!" Everyone celebrated.
Sebastian slowly stood up and tore off his shirt, revealing his well built body and multiple battle scars from his past fights. The auras and bloodlust around Sebastian began to become more concentrated and caused some of the children to tremble.
"I have never been this tired out and beaten before… But I can't stop this urge!!! My violent urges want to be let loose!!!" Sebastian shouted with vigor.
Sebastian's body was covered in his black, red and gold auras. The black aura formed a tail, the red aura was more violent and focused on damage while the golden aura boosted some of his talents.
Before anyone could comprehend, Sebastian appeared in front of D-1 and slammed his fist into his face. This caused D-1 to be sent flying ten meters while D-2 had yet to comprehend Sebastian's speed.
"Forte!!!"
Sebastian used more strength in his punch to cause more damage to D-2 and sent him flying twenty meters away. The sudden increase in strength and speed caused confusion amongst the participants as they started to panic.
Many participants started to launch different types of magical attacks and created an even bigger crater. Sebastian, on the other hand, kept flash stepping and getting closer to the participants while Bravo, Delta, and Seraph watched in amazement.
They never saw or met a kid at Sebastian's level and were constantly being amazed by his feats. His strength and speed didn't match his ranking at all .
Bang!
Another participant was sent flying while others were panicking. D-1 and D-2 struggled to stand as Sebastian's strength caused both of them to experience damages to their nerves.
'H-How? We're two years older than this kid and he's still stronger than us!' D-2 began to berate himself.
"D-2, we need to help them!" D-1 told D-2.
"How? He managed to beat me in strength and you in speed."
"We can't just watch him kill the others! This fight is to determine the strongest amongst us and only 25 can only remain."
D-1 was speaking the truth as only 25 of them can live while the rest of the participants had to die. Normally, they would have fought each other but Sebastian appeared and his presence alerted everyone to him so all of the participants chose to team up to get rid of him.
"He even killed D-45 and D-78!" D-1 didn't bother to hide his hatred but he knew that regardless they had to kill each other.
D-1 and D-2 were late entries into the 'Hounds' training program. They were friends with each other along with D-45 and D-78 though they were nameless when they met.
D-1 tried to help D-2 stand up but his injuries were worse compared to D-1's injuries.
While D-1 and D-2 were trying to recover, Sebastian had killed over sixty participants since arriving at the pit and almost all of them were running in fear. The 'hounds' training program wasn't for the weak so elimination pits were normal but mostly every participant attending the program were mostly emotionless but that didn't mean their natural instincts were gone.
"Let's just sit this one out." D-2 said.
"What!"
"If we try to kill that kid then we'll be getting ourselves killed. Besides, at least we'll be able to live and that's better than dying."
D-1 couldn't refute D-2's words as they were correct. As mentally strong as D-1 was, he didn't want to die yet and wanted to see the rest of the world.
A random boy came behind D-2 and stabbed him in the back, surprising the duo. D-1 reacted quickly and slammed the boy's head into the ground, shattering his skull.
"D-2! You alright?!" D-1 said, worried,
D-2 was unresponsive as the sword had penetrated one of his lungs and caused internal bleeding. The pain D-2 experienced had caused him to pass out and go into shock.
"D-2! Stay with me!" D-2's body was slowly fading away.
D-1 kept trying to keep D-2 from fully disappearing as he tried to prevent the bleeding with his metal magic. Luckily enough, Sebastian had finished eliminating everyone; only 25 of them remained with himself excluded from the count.
"Bravo, heal D-2 and take him to the healing tent while I have a word with Sebastian." Seraph said.