"Did you complete your assassination mission already?" Ragnar asked.
"Yes, sir!" A group of eight answered in unison.
A few weeks had passed and Sebastian, and his several followers had complete mission after mission. They had gone up in ranking as well as they were all in between Beginner and Mid E-Rank.
During each mission, Sebastian equipped a different weapon to get used to them and learn what skill each of them had. Each weapon had two skills while the rest of the skills were locked behind the limiter that was placed on them.
"Even though they're low rank assassination missions, the eight of you are completing them faster than I can find more of them."
Walking over to a large board, a big picture of an academy was on it. A few years ago, an academy was founded and accepted every race, regardless of the conflict between them. Ragnar, on the other hand, found it strange that such a thing was still standing.
From the intel he gathered, he learned that the people backing the academy were strong enough to push back an entire army of Vampires and Dwarves. Their presence defied the hierarchy of power and and met with each faction leaders. Just recently, they began to influence the Vampires and Werewolves to have a peace talk between each other.
The new Werewolf emperor was open to the talk as he wanted peace but the Vampires still declined. Saying there was a greater enemy they had to get rid and they were in the Werewolf Empire.
"I'll be sending all of you to this academy. I want you to investigate who the leaders are and their armies." Ragnar stated.
Bastian came walking in and in his hands were academy uniforms. He gave each of them their uniforms and a textbook before walking away.
"These are the uniforms that are used at the academy. The textbook contains your classes and useful information about the academy. The situation with Sebastian is already explained to them and his new name will be Antares there.
Go put on the uniform and gather all of your necessary equipment. You'll be starting in ten minutes."
Listening to his instructions, each of them left and went to their rooms while Sebastian stayed. When he was sent on each mission, he noticed that his emotions were slowly disappearing. The only time they would show is when he found a worthy opponent to go against and then his real personality would show.
"What did you do to me? After you said the Founder's blood was finally setting in, my emotions were slowly disappearing."
"So you've noticed. Well, that's the side effects of his blood. Try to resist if you can but you're slowly gonna become like him. He didn't care if they were friend or foe, he slaughtered them like animals and continued without a care in the world until he was laid to rest."
Angered, Sebastian left in a rush and exited the realm. He wanted to throw up the Founder's blood but he couldn't. He didn't want to become a ruthless killing machine. He only joined the Dark Guild to protect his friends but he might end up killing them instead if he became more like the Founder.
'I must find a way to remove his blood from the veins.'
Roar!
Although Sebastian was listed between Beginner E-Rank and Mid E-Rank. Most would think he was classified that on the people ranking but no, he was classified that on the beast ranking system. This system was always thought to be the same but they were different.
Sensing an incoming beast, Sebastian pulled his staff out and took a defensive stance. From the bushes, a beast lunged forward and swiped its claws toward his head. Sliding his body out of the way of the attack, he swung his staff toward the beast's ribs.
Bang!
Flying through multiple trees, the beast finally stopped and was dead. Its rib cage was shattered and some bones even pierced through its body.
'Pathetic.'
He looked at the beast and didn't even bother to go eat. He noticed he didn't get any more strength from eating weak beasts anymore. In the past, E-Rank beasts gave him strength but now they don't.
'The Welcoming Ceremony will begin soon. Return now or I'll hunt you down myself.' Bastian's voice froze Sebastian still.
Another thing Sebastian learned while doing missions was the power of Bastian. During a mission, an A-Rank guard appeared and nearly wiped Sebastian and his followers off the plane of life.
_______
One Week Ago…
"Lilith, fall back!" Sebastian shouted.
Currently, a man in golden armor stood in front of Sebastian. After witnessing Ayame and Kate get taken out, Sebastian figured he was out of their rank. Appearing beside the man, he swung his halberd towards the man's head, thinking it was gonna kill him.
Clank!
Upon hearing the noise, he saw his Halberd being held by the man's hand. His strength far surpassed a lot of people so he knew that this person in front of them was dangerous. He then appeared beside Lilith and decided to finally gauge the man's rank and felt his heart stop.
'How long has it been since I felt this type of power? Since the cathedral?' Sebastian questioned himself.
The man then disappeared from their sight without noise. Sebastian, noticing what was gonna happen, pushed Lilith over and lowered his head.
In an instant, the trees behind Sebastian and Lilith were cut in half. He knew this skill as it wasn't his first encounter but this time, the skill was on a larger scale.
'This is impossible! We can't possibly beat an A-Rank person!'
The man disappeared again without a noise. A strong presence appeared behind Sebastian and taking a strong step back, he dodged the man's cleaving attack.
'Intel was correct, an A-Rank guard would appear after the assassination.' Bastian's voice was heard in Sebastian's head.
The man appeared in front of Sebastian and was ready to cleave him in half but the unexpected happened.
Stab!
Unable to comprehend what happened, Sebastian stood still looking forward. Just a second ago, the man was about to kill him and the next, the man was gone.
Looking toward his right, he noticed multiple trees were destroyed and looking further, the man was pinned on the ground with a spear.
"Sorry for using you as bait but some of our guys have been dying after assassination missions and we just began to notice the pattern." Bastian said, appearing in front of Sebastian.
Swoosh!
Blood could be seen leaking from the man's helmet as he closed the distance between him and Bastian's neck. Dread entered the man's heart as he saw Bastian predict his move and glare at him.
"Can't you see I'm talking to someone!"
Spinning out of the way, Bastian did a reverse hook kick and sent the man flying again. He then appeared above the man and did an axe kick to finish him off.
Splat!
In front of Sebastian's eyes. he witnessed Bastian slam the man's head into his body without much resistance.
'Fatality!'
______
Back To The Present…
Arriving at HQ, a portal was already open and on the other side was the academy and students arriving for orientation. Beside the portal were the seven girls waiting for him. The seven girls didn't have their horns anymore as they had to disguise themselves.
"Remind me why we need to wear these uniforms?" Sebastian asked, but only was met with silence.
Sighing, he walked through the portal and a strong killing intent descended upon him. He quickly took a defensive stance and looked all around him. The girls, following him, looked at him in confusion.
'Am I being targeted?' Sebastian thought.
The sudden killing intent then disappeared and those, who saw Sebastian's action, couldn't help but giggle at him.
High up on the academy's top floor, stood three men. Out of all the students, they decided to test the strongest out of the crowd and noticed he was ready to kill.
"We have a tiger cub among the students." One of the men said.
"Indeed. I wonder if he'll lay low or reveal his strength straight out the gate." Another man stated his curiosity.
"Don't expect much out of him. I read his file over and over, and it seems like that specific student doesn't have mana." The leader of the three said.
Ding!
"May all students head toward the auditorium for the welcoming ceremony!"
Looking back toward his friends, Sebastian nodded and they left his side. His plan was to avoid attention. If the girls were with him, then he would attract a lot of attention and his mission to investigate would be hard.
Upon arrival, hundreds of strong presence surrounded Sebastian. These presences were coming from a large section of the academy. This section was the higher grade academy students.
The highest rank Sebastian was able to feel was a Mid A-Rank. As if they knew he was staring at them, they looked back toward Sebastian and waved.
'I got a long road ahead of me.'
Staring toward the stage, three men walked onto it and one pulled out a device.
"Welcome to the academy. Here we'll be teaching you the more advanced techniques compared to those at your own empires or kingdoms. You want to become an S-Rank adventure? We'll help you by any means necessary to achieve that goal.
Although I want to explain more to you. I have an upcoming meeting with your faction leaders. You should be able to find out more information with the textbook provided by the academy." The man quickly finished his speech before disappearing in thin air with the two other men.
'They're really trying to create peace. Dwarves, vampires, werewolves, elves, and humans are all here.' Sebastian noticed.
Exiting the auditorium, Sebastian noticed there was a fight going on between a vampire and a werewolf. He wasn't surprised that there was a fight happening since it was probably their first time.
As he watched their fight continue, two students from the high grade section stepped up and stopped their fight. The moment the fight ended, everyone noticed the ones to stop the fight were a vampire and a werewolf.
'Our races can get along with each other... It's weird to see our races get along, even with the ongoing war between us.'
The two younger students decided to fight back against the older students but found out it wouldn't work as easy as they had thought.
Bang!
The werewolf then slammed his foot on the ground, shattering it and shaking the younger students. The vampire was the next to step up as their eyes glowed red and hypnotized them.
'He looks strong.'
Deciding to test the werewolf, Sebastian focused his killing intent on him and the surrounding atmosphere turned serious. Before he knew it, the werewolf was in front of him with a dagger against his throat.
"I'd rather you not do that, little kid." The werewolf stated.
'Werewolf Evolution: Hunter' Sebastian thought.
The werewolf proceeded to walk away and continue his conversation with the vampire. After a certain distance, everybody continued on moving.
"What did you do?" A dwarf came up to him.
Ignoring the dwarf, he walked away while expanding his energy. Right now, he was attempting to gauge the strength of every nearby student and employees of the academy.
He then walked past a door and felt an immense strength radiating from the inside. His curiosity got the better of him as he entered the room and saw a single man in a lotus position in the darkened room.
Taking a single step, he felt an immense dark force surround his body. After a few seconds, he noticed two ghostly figures of humanoid beasts come out of the man's body. As if they protecting him, they approached Sebastian and stood a few inches away from him.
"Class doesn't start until tomorrow so who decided to enter my room?" The man asked in a deep, stern, and menacing voice.
Unable to move, Sebastian watched as the man slowly approach him with two blades by his side. The man stood a few meters from him as he stared him deep in the eyes.
The man himself stood six foot, four with red hair that went down to his waist and red eyes. His facial structure and jawline were perfect and physique was like that of a Greek god.
Once Sebastian saw the man's red eyes, he assumed he was a vampire since his body couldn't move but with a sniff, he noticed he was a human. He then assumed that the man in front of him had to be S-Rank or higher.
"My name is Slade and I'm the combat instructor. And you are?" The man revealed.