"Ha! I can't believe that worked" Jade exclaimed, looking confused by her own ability.
"There you two are!"
Zen and Jade turned to their side to look at the female instructor that Zen had met before, looking at them with a small smile on her face
"You two have a lot of nerve to run off like that"
Jade was prepared to explain for them both as she was sure, Zen was just going to ignore her but the instructor simply waved it off
"Forget it. Did you get the tokens?"
Jade smiled widely as she brought out the two tokens from her pocket and showed it to the instructor.
The instructor nodded and spoke
"Good job you two. You certainly came back in better shape than the other guy"
Jade was confused. What other guy?
Knowing Jade would ask, the instructor simply pointed to a large group of people, gathered,who seemed to be looking at something
"Hey,Z. Let's go check it out"
Zen saw no reason to and was about to go when the instructor left a comment
"Well would you look at this. Matching hoodies, matching gloves, nicknames, and you're already giving each other piggy back rides,looks like you two became pretty good friends in there"
Jade smiled and scratched the back of her head,a bit embarrassed, but Zen didn't care much and just kept going
A few seconds later, they arrived at where the crowd was and slowly moved towards the front, trying to see what was going on.
After a while they managed to reach the front of the crowd and the moment Zen saw what he saw, Freya couldn't help but comment
"Ouch, that'll leave a mark....or a couple hundred"
In front of them,on a stretcher behind an ambulance was the pitiful Clyde who looked like he was experiencing unimaginable agony and pain.
His body was riddled with an obscene amount of marks and cuts, and on his arm and chest was a horribly grotesque burn mark that was still glowing slightly due to the heat
Zen looked at the hundreds if not thousands of cut marks. It was, at least to him, obvious who did this for two reasons
The first was simple he knew this hunting style
Thousands of small slashes and cuts,all meant to deal as much suffering as possible to its prey. Like the relentless assault of the talons of a ravenous bird of prey,diving down to strike and retreating from its prey. The entire process was both physically and psychological torture for the defenseless prey who had fallen into the talons of this hunter. A hunter just as dangerous physically as she was psychologically, and one of the most skilled people Zen knew. Raven.
Zen looked at the burn mark on Clyde's chest. By now, Freya had realized who did this and couldn't help but laugh as she looked at the burn mark, thinking
"Well at least she's still got personality"
Jade was looking at the sorry figure and recognized it as one of her teammates. She was initially repulsed by the grotesque sight but managed to push through.
Although she didn't have much fondness for Clyde who had joined Gary and Darryl in bullying her, she still thought of him as her teammate and felt sorry for him
She was still looking at him when her gaze suddenly fell on something next to him,in a small transparent box.
"Hey,Z. What's that tiny thing inside the clear box?"
Zen was still in his thoughts and didn't know what she was pointing to so he asked her to show him again
"That thing, the really small tiny,red and yellow...ish thing in the box"
Everyone around them suddenly burst out laughing hysterically as they cackled, pointing at it and speaking mockingly.
"Hmmm? Z? What did I do wrong? I just wanted to know what it was. What is it anyway?"
Meanwhile, inside Zen's head, Freya was using all her mental willpower to stiffle her laughter"
"Zen,do something.... she's gonna kill me"
Zen honestly just stayed quiet when everyone burst out laughing. At this point, it wasn't even certain if he knew how to smile,much less laugh.
Eventually Zen replied her
"That would be his reproductive organ" he said calmly and concisely
Jade's face suddenly went red as she realized what she said. Embarrassed, she quickly buried her face in Zen's back ,as if that would somehow stop her from being seen.
She listened to the mocking comments and couldn't help but wish the ground would open up and swallow her
"Bro got his weiner cut off" said a boy, laughing
"I mean she's right!" Replied another
"Yeah, not like he was using it for much anyway "
Clyde seemed to hear all the shouting and throughout all the agony, he managed to force his head up, and his pain filled, bloodshot eyes landed squarely on Zen.
His mind was suddenly overcome with unimaginable rage
Zen's cold soulless eye linked with Clyde's and he could already tell that although there was no visible relationship between him and this occurrence, Clyde would want his "vengeance" on Zen. "Vengeance" meaning he would simply unload all his anger and frustration on Zen who he already had beef with.
Zen's eyes suddenly glowed, his mind seemed to enter a strange state as a single thought passed through his mind as he looked into Clyde's eyes.
The system seemed to agree with him as a new quest suddenly popped up in front of him
Looking at it, he noticed it was the exact same thing that he had thought,word for word .
[New quest received]
[Eliminate the threat]
[Quest objective: Eliminate the threat known as Clyde Lincoln]
[Time limit: Two weeks]
[Quest reward: 500 exp]
Zen looked at the system screen and then back at Clyde. He suddenly dipped his hand into his pocket where he still had the dagger, Maximilian gave him.
After a few seconds though he dropped it and removed his hand. Now was just not the right time.
Even if he managed to throw it and finish Clyde in his current state, many people had seen Maximilian give him the blade and it wouldn't take long before he was found .
Somewhere else close by, Maximilian was in the crowd, looking at the Clyde or rather the burn mark on his chest
He was currently trying his hardest to convince himself that Zen didn't do this, but deep down, he felt like this had Zen written all over it.
Why else would the only person who messed with Zen,end up this way and have a giant Z burned into his chest
Looking at the red burn mark in the shape of a Z that was still slightly glowing due to the heat, Maximilian wasn't repulsed at all, infact he seemed to quite accustomed to such a gory scene.
It was at this point that he heard someone yelling out, asking what the thing in the box was.
Looking up, Maximilian was surprised to see Zen, and with a girl on his back too.
Zen had just let go of the blade in his pocket when he heard a voice calling his name
"Psst , Zen. Hey, Zen"
He turned around and saw Maximilian who had a strange smile on his face as he looked at him
"Please tell me you didn't do this" Maximilian asked.
Zen looked at him and was pretty sure his eyes twitched a few times.
He thought for a while on how to answer and eventually replied
"I didn't do this"
Freya sneered, hearing his answer
"Yeah but you damn sure caused it"
Zen ignored her and focused back on Maximilian.
Maximilian looked at Jade, who was on Zen's back, and looked like he was about to ask something when out of nowhere, the female instructor from before spoke from behind Zen
"Alright kids,scatter. Don't you all have somewhere to be?"
She spoke trying to disperse the crowd
She suddenly put her hand on Zen's shoulder, stopping him when she saw he was about to leave
"Nope, you two come with me, and hurry were late"
Zen nodded and walked behind the instructor, while Maximilian who was next to him had no choice but to leave
"So....is there an actual reason she's still on your back?or.."
Jade obviously thought Zen wouldn't answer and was about to speak up but this time he surprised her
"Is it important?" He asked bluntly
"No... just saying though. I'm just asking if this is how you plan to meet your teammates, considering you ditched them"
Zen obviously didn't care about any of that,If he did, he wouldn't have left
He was about to keep going when Jade stopped him
"Wait,Z..... let me down"
Zen raised a brow. Was that really such a good idea?
Zen decided to comply, putting her down,but only after he used his read skill on her
Gently, Zen crouched down and slowly set her feet down on the ground. Slowly Jade stepped onto the ground. She managed to wobble for a few seconds but eventually started falling face first.
Not exactly surprised, Zen quickly grabbed her shoulders, helping her regain her balance
The instructor looked at the two, a little bit confused about what was going on but didn't really bother asking questions. The girl couldn't walk, the boy was helping her out, that was enough for her.
After a few seconds of wobbling, Jade could finally take a few steps, the instructor however recommended she still find something to support her, and as there was nothing or no one else here,Jade simply thought for a second and linked arms with Zen as she leaned on him. It wasn't exactly shamelessness ,in all honesty, she had spent enough time with him to know Zen honestly wouldn't care much or even give a reaction.
And just like that, the two followed behind the instructor for about five minutes until they eventually found themselves in front of a large building . By now Jade could already walk properly, so the two had already separated.
The three walked into the building,passing through a reception and into another room where the other two members of their "team" were standing
"Alright, you four stand side by side and hold out your academy tokens.
Jade brought out the two tokens and handed one to Zen as she stood by his side with the other two.
"Good, now put your tokens directly above your watches and activate the scan feature "
As she saw them comply, she tapped an icon on her own watch and a mechanical voice suddenly came out of it
"Scanning... students identified. Commencing admission protocol"
The screens on the new students watches suddenly flickered as the academy insignia appeared over it like a sort of.... screensaver,or perhaps the background of the device, however, no one noticed that unlike the others, the symbol on Zen's watch,for only a moment, flickered and changed into two different symbols that flickered in and out like it was glitching, before it eventually settled on the academy symbol.
A few seconds later, the watch on the instructors wrist once again spoke in a mechanical tone
"Admission protocol complete"
"Greetings,new students Zen,Jade Callisto, Gary storm and Darryl Van "
The instructor looked at the four and explained what just happened
"You four have officially been registered in the academy database and are now considered students. Congratulations, and welcome"
Zen looked at the academy symbol on his watch
"Well, I'm here" he thought, and although he didn't say it, Zen was a bit confused about what to do now. He had achieved his goal but what now?
"Normally I'd have to explain some other basic stuff but seeing how late we are, doesn't seem like i can, but don't worry much. We'll deal with that later, for now, come with me "
The instructor went to an inconspicuous corner of the room and placed her hand on the wall. A few seconds later a numeric keypad opened up. The instructor discreetly typed in the multiple digit code and the keypad closed up to reveal another panel. Calmly, the instructor placed her watch which also had the academy symbol on it in front of the sensor so it could get scanned. A few seconds later it also closed .
The next second, the wall opened up to reveal a small portal behind it
"Oh yeah,if anyone asks, you kids never saw this"
With those few words she yelled,"see you on the other side" before she jumped into the portal