Erindor stood infront of the beautiful gates of the academy... The atmosphere was extremely warm...Individuals were clad mostly in white t shirts, and baggy pants, an attempt to attract as much ventilation towards their bodies as much as possible .. This was December after all... Summer had returned with it's hot temperatures ..(Yes... Summer... This is a fantasy world ... So don't compare seasonal cycles to that of the real world ..lol)
However... The young man was strangely wearing a hoodie ...
Call it habit... Or maybe a poor fashion sense... Who knows .
It has been a day in the real world since he returned from the time dilation artifact after breaking through to the SSS rank .. He had used his skills continually in the time dilation artifact for the remaining days left in the time dilation artifact after his breakthrough for training...
After his time was up in the time dilation artifact, he returned to the real world, and decided to later visit the awakening centre and have his rank updated...
Erindor wondered after he made this decision if the devices of the awakening centre would even be able to measure his level of talent and his new rank ..
Just as he had been in his musings, the Vice Principal of the academy called him, indicating that today was the opening ceremony of the global interschool tournament and that he had to represent Pristborne City academy...
Erindor had decided initially to not attend the competition since he was now even above the S rankers of this world. This was not pride, it was a matter of fact .. He would rather spend his time taking revenge on those diabolic beasts , rather than waste his time on the tournament..
Although majority of the S rankers would be present at the competition to be judges and also scout geniuses who prove themselves at the competition into their fold and these geniuses would be showered with large amounts of demonic beast cores and skill books that will help them soar in strength, this was Erindor, he had no need for any of those... He had the time dilation artifact... Heck, he was even stronger than the S rankers of this world...He was above them... He just had to find a stage to prove that ..
However, he strangely felt like having a last taste of academy life, and this competition was the best environment for that ..
This was what had led Erindor , who had initially decided to update his rank and quit the academy, at the gates of the academy...
" Hey isn't that the Viper... What's he doing here?... "
" Hey... I heard he disappeared ..."
" He's changed so much .. I can't even sense his rank anymore... "
" Are you kidding... Wasnt he an E ranker some few weeks ago..."
"Maybe he's just deciding to hide his E rank aura..."..
" This guy is a monster... See the way he trashed... Angelo Michaelson in that Ultra fighters platform..."
" I wanna have his babies.."
" Babe you said you loved me..."
" If you want me to love you, become a prodigy like Viper..."...
*****
Erindor ignored the conversations and headed towards the burning sands region... This was a large area in Pristborne City academy where the Global interschool tournament took place every year.....
****
"It looks like our representative is too scared to show up..." A man with a blonde hair spoke...He was Vincent Michelson, an S ranked awakened who had the lightning affinity, and the founder of the Michealson Guild.. He was also the father of Duke Michealson, the gentleman who used to bully Erindor ..
" Vincent ... He will show up... Don't tell me because he beat up your son and nephew ,you hold a grudge against him".... Aria ,the Vice Principal responded dismissively...
" And here I was expecting to see something new today... For the past few years, Xel Academy of South Africa has been winning the tournament... My representatives are so bored that they didn't even want to come for the competition ...They said they could just stay at the Xel academy, yawn and they would win.."..
A chocolate skinned man with a buff build and an Afro hair spoke mockingly... He was called Ngonzolo Flash , an S ranked awakened who specialized in speed and assassination ....
" Flash... Stop boasting...this kid might surprise us..." A woman with an Asian ascent spoke... radiating warmth with her few words..... She was an S ranked healer who was known for her roles in rescuing people from the brink of death with her healing abilities during disasters that occured around the world ..
" Always the optimistic one err Haruka...gosh... say... are you a monkess or something ".. Flash responded ....
" My father is a monk ...so .."...Haruka responded...
" Wait, are you freaking serious ..".. Flash responded....
" By the way any news from the others?...".... Just when Flash spoke, Aria's phone rung,followed by the ringing of the phones of all the other 3 S rankers... A solemn atmosphere replaced the lively environment ... Every one of the S rankers had a solemn expression on their face... One would have expected them to break down.... However they had to maintain a facade before the world ... They couldn't project any form of weakness... If they panicked and showed even the slightest form of weakness, people would lose hope,and when there is no hope, chaos ensues..
Aria glanced at the message. Like the other 3 S rankers, turmoil ,panick and sadness boiled within her after she read the message .. However she maintained a smile outwardly as her emotions boiled with chaos inwardly ... then she sighed...
-' How do we tell the world that 6 S rankers including my father , the Principal died at sea, trying to fend off those fucking ! demonic beasts! trying to invade the coast of Japan ... We decided to hide the news of these beasts trying to invade the coast of Japan from the world until the situation was taken care of in order to avoid panic and chaos in the world.... We sent our strongest S rankers to deal with the situation since demonic beasts from the sea are very tough to handle... However , they all died... Will humanity really come to an end... According to the intelligence report sent by my father before he died, it will take about 2 weeks for the demonic beasts from the sea to invade the coast of Japan... If they do so, yet another country will perish at the hands of those beasts "
Similar thoughts were playing in the minds of the S rankers, the beings on whose shoulders the fate of the world rested ... It was obvious a meeting that would determine the fate of the world would take place amongst the remaining four S rankers very soon....
Had it not been because the whole world was watching the competition and they did not want to do anything that would raise questions amongst the general public, they would have cancelled the competition there and then and held an emergency meeting...
The four S rankers forced themselves to focus on the ongoing match below ...
The crowds, oblivious to severity of humanity's situation, cheered in ignorance, drowning in the nostalgia of battles ...
*****
" Finally here ...It seems I may as well have been disqualified ..I'm late after all.. " Erindor finally arrived at the competition grounds...
The arena was roaring with deafening cheers , a camaradie of blood pumping battles causing people from different academies to roar for their champions till their voice boxes almost fell apart...
Erindor took out his phone, then sent a test message to the vice principal that he had arrived.. However she didnt respond...
Erindor's perception had greatly increased after he crossed into the ' SSS rank' so it was easy for him to see her and the other S class awakened even though they were very far from his position in the arena..
" What's up with these people... It's like they are maintaining some sort of facade... Are they trying to act okay when they are rather sad?.".. Erindor's intelligence was now off the charts after he had crossed into the SSS rank... It was easy for him to know when these individuals below him at the S rank level were faking emotional expressions....
" Well, since I'm here ... I might as well end this tournament as fast as possible..I owe the vice principal a favor after all..."... Just when Erindor was thinking of leaving the bleachers to step into the large battle field where the current battle was ongoing to demand to the referee that all the geniuses from the various academies fight him together , so that he can beat the hell out of them and bail out of here ,something terrifying happened ....
The whole completion grounds shook... A creature so large that it's shadow covered half of the stadium stood high up in the air.... It had 3 ridiculously large heads and two wings.... It had no legs, yet boasted a black scaled and extremely enormous serpentine body...
The creature's mocking , detached voice then rung out...
" You humans have always thought you were smart ... Hehe .... To think you'd still underestimate our intelligence... Have you forgotten that we S rank demonic beasts can reason ,think and make decisions like you humans ..
Michealson.... Her highness said to tell you that your service will be remembered when we claim the world for ourselves...As for the humans here today... They are all gonna die,."...
As people froze from fear due to the pressure emitted by the creature , the unexpected happened... Vincent Michealson , a well known Philanthropist and charismatic figure in Pristborne city and the world, with a detached expression, bolted with lightning beneath his feat towards the battle area that was now devoid of any sounds and movements, then bowed down " I'm grateful for your generosity , my Lord "....
The serpentine creature floating in the air nodded in approval...
Apart from Erindor who was completely unaffected by the pressure emitted by the demonic beast,
Only the S rankers who could withstand the pressure of the serpentine being to some point were able to logically piece things together...
" You bastard....how could you betray humanity?..."... Aria lost her cool... Especially after the news of the loss of her father, her hatred for the demonic beasts had reached an unimaginable level...
Before the other S rankers could chime in... Vincent Michealson replied " How could I?... I'm just trying to survive... It's obvious that trying to fight against the demonic beasts in this war is futile... Why not just join the winning side... After all.... In this world... strength is everything, and if they are stronger than us, why should I not bend the knee, rather than fight an unnecessary battle against the inevitable...."..
Looks of hatred appeared on the faces of all the S rankers.... Everyone in the stadium, everyone watching the broadcast around the world had realized now that Vincent had in a way betrayed humanity and joined the side of the demonic beasts .. .
Flash retorted " How could you... Vincent. ...I "...
" Enough ..master Astarion... Please are you really gonna entertain these puny humans... Allow us to tear them apart ....." Another gigantic demonic beast that looked like Astarion, the one Michealson had bowed to, appeared .. Followed by 8 other ridiculously similar beasts...
" We Greet master Astarion ....."...The S rank demonic beasts performed a gesture of respect towards Astarion...
Everyone in the arena was shocked... The whole world was shocked ....
...
Before humanity had the chance to register the shock of what occured... Something unexpected happened..
People realized that ethereally dark shadowy substances from all over the arena had begun to move towards a particular direction of the arena ...