June 21, 4024 AA
Coridny, capital of Monderia.
1:26 AM
As the jet landed at the Association's airport in Coridny, Yosa adjusted his phone's time zone. He had slept through most of the ten-hour flight, so he was worried about his sleep schedule.
The personnel of the airport led him to a car that drove him to the training grounds where he would be meeting his new team.
The training grounds is an area where hunters are allowed to use their powers and hone their skills. Normally, a hunter would require a special permit to use their powers but in there, there was no need for one. The building was usually a huge dome made of reinforced titanium. On the inside there were several platforms surrounding a stone floor, on the platforms were seats for the occasional event when hunters would duel for fun.
Yosa entered the central arena where he met his first new teammate. The first thing he noticed was the man's bright red pointy hair. Otherwise, his features were average, he was 185cm tall and had sharp brown eyes. He was wearing the typical hunter's black tracksuit with a badge that displayed his information. When Yosa got closer he could see that the person in front of him was an A rank hunter.
"Hey, my name is Yosa, I assume we're going to be teammates from now on!"
"I'm Zavier, don't get in my way." Said the other hunter in an annoyed tone after noticing Yosa's rank on his badge.
Yosa was about to reply when two female hunters entered the arena talking to each other. One of them was very energetic, she was about 180cm tall and had medium to short length blonde hair. Her green eyes and wide smile could light up the room, thought Yosa. The other one looked a lot more reserved and shy, she was about 160cm tall, had long black hair that reached all the way to her hips and a pair of deep blue eyes.
"You know I am glad; I am not the only woman again. On my last team I was the only one among 5 guys, can you believe that? Ha ha ha." said the energetic woman.
The reserved one nodded in agreement but didn't seem too interested in the conversation.
As the two women walked in Yosa noticed that none of them had a katana with them. The taller energetic one had a small dagger on her side while the other one had nothing.
"I guess it's time to meet the guys, hey everyone, my name's Amanda but you can call me Mandy, pleased to work with you!" loudly exclaimed the energetic hunter.
"My name is Sona" added the reserved one.
After Yosa and Zavier introduced themselves the four started talking about who their teacher could be. After a short discussion they realized that all of them were 19 years old and that all were sent here by vice-president Ray.
At that point a fifth person entered the room, it was an older dark-skinned man who looked to be in his thirties, he was bald and really muscular, almost like a body builder. His eyes were brown and he had sharp facial features. He was 195cm tall and also didn't have a Rokkukaijo on him. Yosa and the others all thought this was their new teacher, which wasn't the case.
"Hey everyone, my name's Max and I am also here to be a part of this special unit," said the man with the smile, "You guys look pretty young, I'm 33 but I can be fun, don't worry ha ha ha."
Yosa couldn't help but notice Zavier who was getting even more annoyed.
The newly formed team chatted for a bit, until their teacher finally arrived.
The gray-haired man wearing a black robe entered the room.
"Hello everyone, I guess I'll be your teacher from now on, my name is Kenjo. Oh, by the way, call me sensei, I like how it sounds, heh heh. Ehm, I guess that's all, you guys can go sleep, we can talk tomorrow."
"Are you serious?!?" shouted Zavier angrily.
"What is this team, one of us is a C rank, the others, even though they're A rank, are all idiots, and our teacher thinks we're in some short of anime or something… Seriously, sensei?"
"I am strong enough to be an S rank already, I don't even get why I need even more training. Especially with a C rank."
Kenjo thought for a few seconds before speaking.
"You must be Zavier, I read your file. You aren't half bad but you still lack the awareness of an S rank. S rank hunters usually have to deal with portals on their own. If I send you to an A rank portal right now, you'd die."
Zavier unsheathed his Rokkukaijo and pointed it at Kenjo. Yosa looked at the elegant silver blade. It was of a much better quality than the one he'd been using on the past.
"Fight me then, I'll show you how good I am. If I beat you, you will promote me to S rank and let me be on my way."
Kenjo chuckled as he walked towards the group of hunters.
"Interesting proposal. Sure. Let's do this. I'll be using a training sword against you."
"Don't underestimate me!" Replied Zavier in the same annoyed tone.
"As I said I've read your file, I know what your magic is and how it works. Think of it as a way to balance this battle. I won't tell you how my magic works because no opponent would willingly tell you. If by any chance you're ready to be an S rank, fighting opponents without knowing their abilities is one of the most important skills you should have."
Zavier nodded in agreement while keeping the same attitude.
Yosa and the others made their way to the seats to watch the battle. The two hunters stood opposite each other in the middle of the arena. Kenjo took a training sword from a nearby box.
A training sword is a wooden katana with small fragments of high-quality infused iron in it, allowing hunters to still use magic.
Zavier's eyes started glowing red as his blade started steaming. He waved his Rokkukaijo in the air forming a red slash aimed at Kenjo. The slash moved at tremendous speeds. Kenjo completely focused moved to the left with very precise and fluid movements. It felt nothing like the goofy and bored person he seemed earlier.
An irregular? Thought Yosa, seeing Zavier's magic for the first time.
There are three categories of magical powers out there.
Elemental: the magic that stems from the four basic elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. Elemental magic also consists of mutations and combinations of said elements such as Steam magic and Lightning magic, although that's far rarer.
Irregular: the magic that has no clear origin. Users of irregular magic usually awaken it later on in their life and their powers are heavily influenced by their personality. Laplace's Claw magic would be considered an irregular type, although it's more common in humanoid demons.
Arcane: a category consisting of only two magical powers. Light and Darkness. This category is separate because there can only exist one user of each magic alive at once. Clans of hunters were formed thousands of years ago in order to pass those powers to their offspring and prevent them from ever being obtained by evil doers.
Unphased by Kenjo's movements, Zavier continued throwing slashes of crimson red at him but to no avail. Kenjo moved in between the slashes with no unnecessary movements, closing in on his opponent.
"That's nothing!" shouted Zavier as he swiped his blade harder.
"Crimson magic: five-fold cut!"
Five crimson slashes unleashed much closer to each other and faster than his earlier attacks aimed at Kenjo.
Kenjo, still staying focused, used his training sword to block the attack. His eyes turned black as the attack vanished the moment it collided with the training sword.
"Impossible!" said Zavier, momentarily at a loss.
Before he could regain his focus, Kenjo dashed at him at a speed much greater than what he showcased before. In a blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between them and his training blade had touched the neck of Zavier.
"And that's about it." exclaimed Kenjo in a relaxed tone as he lowered his training blade.
Zavier was at a loss; in just a few seconds the battle was over, he hadn't even had the chance to use all his abilities.
Kenjo looked at his annoyed and shocked opponent and put the training sword back to its container as he gestured to the rest of the group to come down and meet him.
Once everyone was down, he started lecturing.
"Can anybody tell me what mistakes did Zavier make in this battle?"
Yosa answered.
"He underestimated his opponent?"
"Wrong!" exclaimed Kenjo.
"Anybody else?"
Mandy, still smiling, spoke this time.
"He used too many ranged attacks?"
"Wrong again!" said Kenjo in the same lecturing yet relaxed tone.
"Anybody else?"
When no one spoke, he kept speaking.
"Zavier didn't underestimate me as he not only used strong attacks from the get-go but also respected my movements and didn't close in on me for no reason. That's also why attacking me from afar was the best course of action, he knew he was outmatched in speed and technique from the beginning so staying away was the right choice. What he did wrong was that he was unprepared for my magic. There are all sort of bizarre magical powers out there. The moment his attack was nullified he got flustered and was unable to react to the fast move I used at the end when I used my full speed. In a real fight, you should not only be prepared for your attack to fail to injure your enemy, but you should also be prepared for your attack to be completely ignored by your enemy. That's what's needed of an S rank hunter. Awareness of the outcomes is what makes you truly strong, never forget that!" remarked Kenjo as he finished lecturing his students.
Zavier, annoyed as ever, said loudly, "But how did you do it, huh? My attacks are strong enough to harm S rank demons, how did you stop it completely?"
Kenjo looked at him with a faint smile, "Let me officially introduce myself: My name is Kenjo Kage former S+ hunter and current heir to the darkness magic."
Everyone was at a loss of words.
Yosa trying to remember his old textbooks realized what that meant: Darkness magic was one of the two arcane type magical powers, it was controlled by the Yami clan but in the past 40 or so years, the new heir had shifted for some reason to one of the side clans supporting the Yami clan, it was very controversial but that person ended up becoming one of the strongest hunters in the world.
The Yami clan didn't like that and forcibly concealed a lot of the information on Kenjo, hiding as much as possible from the general public and the lower ranked members of the association. That's why his name isn't as wide spread as the rest of the S+ rank hunters.
The darkness magic was very special. In terms of abilities, it was similar to sand magic, a mutation of earth magic, but its true potential lay elsewhere. This arcane-type magical power had the core ability of magic nullification. Basically, any magical ability that came into contact with it would be instantly nullified leaving no trace of damage or force behind.
Cough
Everyone snapped to their senses as their teacher coughed.
"That's it for today, we'll talk more tomorrow, I'll assess different training schedules to each of you so rest for now, they will be hard. Head to the quarters and ask them about your rooms, I don't know where you are to stay..."
In an unknown location,
"Mr. Mask, a new Sword of the Devil user has immerged." said a hooded man kneeling down in front of a masked figure.
The masked figure stood up from his chair and looked out of the window of the skyscraper to the lit city. He was wearing a white suit and a white mask with an exaggerated smile on it. All ten of his fingers had silver rings on them, engraved with peculiar patterns.
"I guess the Laplace fiasco wasn't for nothing after all... Make arrangements, find out who the new user is and get him to me. A new era is coming and I shall be the one to pave the way for it."
"Yes sir!"