Phantom - Chapter 04

Ajax thrust his spear at Paladin’s face, but the boy bent his body away from the strike and then swiped at Ajax’s stomach. Ajax spun around the sword, brought his spear back and smashed it into Paladin’s side, but the knight blocked it with his shield. Paladin pushed the spear away and sliced at Ajax’s neck, but Ajax ducked beneath it, dropped his spear, deployed both of his swords, and then slashed at Paladin’s chest piece, breaking the armour and cutting the flesh beneath.

Paladin growled and kicked Ajax away, before retreating several metres backwards. Paladin’s sword became encased in fire and he sliced through the air with it, sending a fire wave towards Ajax. Ajax leapt over it and threw both of his swords towards Paladin, before reclaiming his spear and then throwing that at Paladin. Paladin bashed one sword out of the air with his shield and cut the other one down with his sword, but the spear landed in his leg, dropping Paladin onto one knee.

Ajax reclaimed his swords and sliced at Paladin’s neck but Paladin blocked the attacks with his shield and sliced his blade through both of Ajax’s legs, lightly cutting in his flesh. Ajax yelled and stepped on Paladin’s blade and stabbed with both swords at the knight. Paladin blocked them once again with his shield, before pushing Ajax back with it and then sending a solid beam of fire towards Ajax.

Ajax was forced to retreat several metres, fighting through the pain in his shins, as Paladin forcefully removed Ajax’s spear and discarded it behind him. Paladin shifted back into his fighting stance, trying his best not to depend on his wounded leg and waited for Ajax to come to him.

Ajax slowly walked towards Paladin, trying his best to ignore the pain in his legs, and, when he was five metres away, he ran full speed at Paladin. Paladin swiped his blade through the air and sent another fire wave at Ajax, but Ajax slid beneath it, howling in agony as he did, and swung one of his swords at Paladin’s chest. Paladin blocked it with the shield as Ajax had expected and then he thrust his other sword into Paladin’s stomach, piercing through the gap between his armour and out of his back.

Paladin felt the blood pouring from him at an insane rate and thrust his own sword into Ajax’s back, piercing his spine, and the two of them soon shattered into glass.

Dead Eye’s team, five players remaining.

Team Diablo, seven players remaining.

***

Kaida’s dragon swiped its claws at Fayre, but a wall of black vines appeared and absorbed the blow.

The vines in the walls then whipped at the dragon, cutting through it and turning it into mist. Kaida frowned and summoned her dragon behind her, then swiped her arm across her front, summoning a wing in front of her, to block Fayre’s follow-up attack. Kiara flew around the vines that Fayre had shot at her, then fired six black balls at Fayre; they were all hit mid-air by vines.

Since the battle had begun, Kaida and Kiara had been trying to defeat Fayre and, no matter what attacks they threw at her or tactics they tried, they hadn’t managed to hit her once.

“Huh? Is this all you guys can do?” Fayre taunted with a sadistic giggle, cracking the vines like a whip.

Kaida bit her lip and thrust her hand towards Fayre, sending her dragon flying at her once more.

Fayre let out a low sigh and sent a dozen vines into the dragon, piercing through it and causing it to evaporate in an instant. Kiara flew down towards Fayre once more, firing black bolts constantly at the girl, but Fayre’s vines kept intercepting the shots, then contorting and launching at her. Kiara managed to dodge most of them, but two of them smashed into her sides, cutting her flesh and knocking her onto the ground.

Kiara leapt out of the way of Fayre’s follow-up attack and soared high into the air, shooting down at Fayre. With Fayre’s attention on Kiara, Kaida spawned her dragon once more and ran with it towards Fayre, hoping to draw her attention away from Kiara.

Kaida roared as loud as she could and her dragon dove at Fayre, breathing fire as it went, and snapping Fayre’s focus back to Kaida. Fayre spun on her heel, raised her hand high and a solid wall of dozens of vines emerged from the ground, blocking the dragon’s advance. The vines launched at the dragon but, as they were about to strike, the dragon’s body turned into mist and reformed once the vines had passed through it.

“What?” Fayre exclaimed.

Thank God that actually worked! Kaida cheered in her head, a sly grin on her lips.

One of the Aidan family’s greatest and most difficult techniques to master was the ability to make their dragon soul’s turn into mist and then have them reform moments later to avoid attacks. Her brother, her parents, and her grandparents had all mastered it by her age and Kaida had only ever managed to pull it off successfully a few times in her life.

Getting the timing right was insanely difficult and, on top of that, destroying your own dragon and then reforming it instantly in the same position was very difficult as well.

Perhaps it was the tension of the situation or her desire to defeat Fayre, but Kaida had been able to pull it off almost perfectly this time.

Fayre scowled and thrust both of her palms towards Kaida, sending fifty vines at the dragon, tearing it to shreds and the vines went for Kaida. Kaida skidded to a stop, threw both of her arms in front of her, spawning two large, fiery wings, and the vines smashed into them, easily breaking them and hitting her. She went flying backwards and cut deep into her skin, launching her onto the floor, blood pouring from her back and chest.

However, Kaida had done her job and distracted Fayre.

Kiara had flown around to Fayre’s back where she was vulnerable and wound her claws back, ready to rip through her back.

Kiara swung her arm with all of her might, but the attack didn’t land.

Fayre had thought Kiara would go behind her and had countered her attack.

She wrapped her arms around herself and pushed her palms out behind her, unleashing two dozen vines through Kiara’s body, impaling her in her torso and her limbs.

Fayre grinned and let out a low laugh. “Not bad, but you’ve got a long way to go.” She retracted her vines and Kiara shattered into glass behind her.

Team Diablo, six players remaining.

“So, Kaida, what will you do now?”

***

Mystical’s lightning bolts smashed into Eric’s Armour and sent the boy spiralling through the air.

Eric recovered and flew above the next wave of bolts, before flying as quickly as he could towards her, his right arm drawn back. He thrust it forward and sent a bolt of red energy towards Mystical who skilfully swerved around it, before sending more lightning bolts at him. Eric swerved to the side of them and his wings beat harder and faster, launching him towards her.

Mystical clicked her tongue and thrust both of her palms towards him, unleashing a series of powerful bolts at him, but Eric narrowly flew between them and came right up to her. Before she could defend herself, Eric had deployed his wrist blade and stabbed it through her chest, killing her and she shattered on his blade.

Dead Eye’s Team; four players remaining.

The storm that had covered the roof of the arena slowly began to vanish and Eric turned his attention to the fights raging below.

He spotted Connor and Elthia fighting on equal terms with two of the Mech trio and immediately flew as quickly as he could to their side, completely missing the imminent danger that Evony was in.

***

Another of Dead Eye’s arrows smashed into Evony’s side, destroying a large chunk of her Armour and Evony rolled back ten metres, screaming as she went.

She came to a stop and leapt back onto her feet, narrowly avoiding Dead Eye’s next set of arrows and drew back on her own bow, not firing her arrow immediately.

Evony’s God Weapon was a golden bow which created arrows simply by drawing back on its string and the longer an arrow was held on the bow, the more powerful the shot became. As long as the shot was strong enough and hit its mark, she had a chance to defeat Dead Eye.

However, he wasn’t going to let her fire her arrow.

Dead Eye drew back on his bow and fired, loosing nine blue arrows from it and they flew at Evony.

If she didn’t intercept or block them, they would hit her and she would die.

If she did intercept them, she’d survive, but her attacks would never become powerful enough to break Dead Eye’s Armour.

Evony slid underneath the arrows which then spun mid-air to pursue her and she ran straight towards Dead Eye. She held onto her arrow right up until the moment Dead Eye’s arrows were about to hit her and then loosed her arrow at him, aiming for his heart.

His arrows pierced her back and knocked her onto the floor; he dodged hers.

Evony fell face first onto the floor and soon turned into glass.

Team Diablo, five players remaining.

***

Kaida’s vision was beginning to dark as blood slowly trickled down her body.

It took all of her effort just to keep herself standing.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Fayre taunted, cracking her vines like a whip once again. “Surely you’re not done already.”

Kaida frowned and her dragon slowly reformed behind her.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then glared at Fayre, carefully watching the other girl’s movements.

While Kaida’s body was broken and bloody, Fayre’s body was completely fine

She hadn’t taken a single hit.

However, she was sweating a lot.

Kaida paused.

She’s barely moved, so why is she sweating so much? She thought. Then, it hit her.

Elthia was also someone with tattoos and she always became exhausted and sweaty whenever she would use her powers too much, even if she hadn’t moved around a lot, so that meant that Fayre’s powers must work on a similar, if not identical, basis.

Why the hell didn’t I think of this sooner? She bit her lip hard. If I had, Kiara and I could’ve tried making her waste her energy trying to kill us and then, when her movements became more sluggish, we could’ve easily defeated her. If her movements are slower now than they were at the beginning, then I might just have a chance of winning this.

Still, even if it’s a slim chance. Kaida twisted her body and got ready to run towards Fayre. It’s the only one I’ve got!

Kaida kicked off the ground hard and ran towards Fayre, her dragon flying directly over her head and keeping pace with her.

Fayre’s vines swept at Kaida, but Kaida made the dragon disappear and then reappear once the vines had passed, and then it flew towards Fayre, its claws drawn back. Fayre hissed and brought her other hand up, launching five vines into the dragon, but, once again, it let them slip through it.

With Fayre’s attention and vines all focused on her dragon, Kaida slide tackled the girl, taking out her legs and causing her to hit the ground, hard. Then, she wrapped her arms tightly around Fayre’s neck and began to squeeze it, slowly twisting it, hoping to break it.

Fayre panicked and instinctively grabbed Kaida’s arms with her hands and shot vines through her back and arms into Kaida, killing her.

Though not before Kaida’s dragon struck.

Just as Fayre’s vines pierced Kaida, Kaida’s dragon’s claws cut through Fayre’s skull and the two of them turned into glass.

Kaida had needed Fayre to panic and shift all of her attention to her and away from her dragon once she was up close, or else her plan wouldn’t have worked. Once she had tackled Fayre, her dragon had spun around and flown straight for Fayre, now that it had a chance to kill Fayre without having to worry about her vines.

Team Diablo, four remaining.

Dead Eye’s Team, three remaining.

***

Connor launched his chains at Beta, but a blue barrier appeared between them, bouncing the chains lifelessly onto the ground.

Beta swung around the barrier and fired several shots at Connor, but Elthia ran in front of him, raising her barrier before him, absorbing the impact.

“Drop it!” Connor yelled, putting energy into his axe.

Elthia did and Connor threw his axe with all of his might towards Gamma, forcing the support mech to raise a barrier before himself. The axe planted itself into the barrier and it began to shatter, but it didn’t break. Connor threw one of his chains towards it and manipulated it so that it wrapped around the axe’s handle, then he pulled it back towards him and spun it around his head.

Beta realised quickly what he was doing and launched a continuous barrage at Connor, but Elthia was quick enough to raise a barrier before them. Connor roared and whipped his axe at Gamma once more, but Beta shot through the chain, releasing the axe and Gamma ducked beneath the axe. The ground behind him exploded in a black explosion and Connor clicked his tongue.

“Elthia, follow me!” Connor ordered and the two of them ran towards the mechs.

Beta aimed and began to fire several bolts at them, but Connor used his chains to intercept them mid-air, rendering them useless. Gamma raised a barrier in front of Connor and he ran full speed into it, bouncing him backwards onto the floor. The barrier dropped and Beta opened fire, but Elthia managed to raise her wall just in time to protect him.

“You’re annoying!” Beta cried.

Gamma spawned a barrier between Elthia and Connor, then pushed it into Elthia, sending her stumbling onto the ground and Beta lined up his scope with her head.

However, he didn’t get the chance to fire.

Oblivion flew through the air and smashed into his chest, breaking through his armour and cutting into his stomach. Eric flew in after it, pushed his palms out together at Beta and fired a powerful blast at Beta. Gamma tried to spawn a barrier between them, but he then quickly saw someone teleporting towards him through his partner’s shadows, drawing his attention and leaving Beta vulnerable to Eric’s attack.

In the next moment, Laila had leapt out of Gamma’s shadow and had cut through the back of his leg, severing the cables allowing it to move. He lashed out and tried to kick at Laila, but she disappeared, then reappeared before him and sliced through the front of his other leg, immobilising it as well.

“Beta!” Gamma cried, just as he saw Eric finished off the heavily damaged Beta.

Dead Eye’s team, two players remaining.

Gamma hissed and threw a punch which managed to hit Laila, sending her sprawling across the ground, coughing blood as she went. Connor, Eric and Elthia all ran at Gamma as he desperately tried to retreat.

Connor threw a chain to his axe; it wrapped around it and he pulled it back to him, before swinging it at Gamma. Gamma spawned a barrier and blocked it, as Eric moved around his unprotected side and cut off his mech’s arm. Gamma roared and threw his remaining fist at Eric, but Elthia ran between them and raised her barrier, blocking his fist. With Gamma’s focus elsewhere, Connor came back around for a second swing and removed Gamma’s head.

Team Dead Eye, one player remaining.

As the announcement played, several thin blue arrows flew towards all of their heads.

Two struck Laila in the back of the head, turning her into glass, and the rest soared towards Eric and the others. Elthia waited until the last possible moment before creating a barrier to block the arrows.

Team Diablo, three players remaining.

Dead Eye flew closer to the ground and drew back on his bow again, grunting a little.

“Three against one, huh?” His mechanical voice mused, drawing back on his bow. “This should be interesting.”

He fired an arrow and it split into nine, three going to each of Eric’s team. Eric flew between them and Elthia raised a smaller barrier to block them, but Connor took the brunt force of the arrows head on. They pierced his armour and he flew through the air, landing roughly on the ground, blood seeping through the cracks in his Armour.

“Those things are tougher than they look!” Connor yelled.

“Eric, behind you!” Elthia cried.

Eric turned around at the last minute and narrowly avoided Dead Eye’s arrows which were still flying towards his head. He cut through them with Oblivion and they vanished into thin air, before he soared back towards Dead Eye. Dead Eye easily dodged Eric’s first swipe, then punched Eric with his right fist, firing twenty crossbow bolts into his stomach. Eric fell through the air, the impact of the bolts knocking the wind out of him and he only just recovered before he hit the floor.

Dead Eye fired more bolts at Eric, forcing Eric to flee through the air to dodge them, while Dead Eye also kept a close eye on Connor and Elthia.

Connor threw his axe towards Dead Eye, not expecting it to do much more than temporarily distract him, and then spawned several chains around each of his hands. He then thrust his palms towards Dead Eye, launching the chains towards Dead Eye, just as he had spun around Connor’s axe.

Dead Eye spun around the chains casually, drew back on the bow on his left arm and fired all nine arrows towards Connor. They split up and went straight towards him from every side, making it almost impossible to dodge all of them. Elthia ran to Connor, pushed her back against his, screamed and thrust her palms out to the sides in a T pose. A green woodland wall rose around the two of them, perfectly surrounding them as the arrows hit.

When they did, Elthia collapsed onto one knee, grinding her teeth together to stop her from screaming due to the pain. Once the arrows had hit, she collapsed the barrier and fell onto all fours, breathing heavily.

It had taken all of her remaining energy to block them.

“Dead Eye!” Eric roared, firing two solid beams at him.

Dead Eye spun between them and fired his crossbow at Eric, forcing the boy to fly high into the air.

“If you’re going to do a surprise attack, it works better if you don’t scream as you attack,” Dead Eye bluntly stated.

“I know.”

Dead Eye felt something pull him downwards and he stopped firing.

“That’s why I did it.”

Dead Eye looked down at his boot and saw that Connor’s chains had wrapped themselves around it, an intense amount of energy overflowing from them, anchoring him in place. He tried to fly in every direction, but was unable to. He increased the thrust on his boots but, once again, he couldn’t move, not even an inch.

Eric distracts me and then Connor traps me, Dead Eye thought. Not a bad plan, Eric and. He sighed in resignation. It’s one that I can’t beat. My Armour isn’t strong enough.

Even as Eric soared towards him and his defeat drew closer, Dead Eye couldn’t help but smile.

“Congratulations,” He whispered as Eric stabbed him through the chest.

Team Dead Eye, no players remaining.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have our winner! Kasmine roared through the microphone, the arena collapsing around them. I am pleased to present to you the 2178 Ferris Team Tournament’s winners: Team Diablo!

***

“Um, if I could have everyone’s attention please,” Eric said, tapping loudly on his glass. Both his and Dead Eye’s teams all focused on him. “I thought it’d be appropriate to say a few words before we began…” He couldn’t find the right words and ended up laughing nervously. “Good work and…go us?”

A few people laughed, whereas Connor began a slow, sarcastic clap, making even more of them laugh.

“Great speech, Eric,” Connor taunted.

“Truly, some of your best work,” Ajax followed up.

“Can we get an encore?” Kiara mused.

“…I don’t think that’s how speeches work,” Elthia said with a small smile.

Eric’s face went red and he downed his entire drink at once. “Who cares? Anyway, it was you who suggested at the last second that I should say something, Connor.”

“I know, and that phenomenal display was the exact reason why,” Connor replied.

Eric let out a low sigh and rubbed his brow.

Shortly after the final match, the awards and closing ceremonies had taken place.

They were quite short and mainly consisted of Kasmine giving a speech about how amazing the tournament had been, followed by her putting medals around Eric and his team’s necks, and then they all watched in the stadium a ten minute highlight of the best moments from the tournament. Then, with the Ferris Tournaments for the year over, the public were sent back to Imperial and preparations for the celebrations at Ferris to mark the end of the tournament had gotten rapidly underway.

Eric, his team, Alexis, Ace, Dead Eye and his team, and Alexa, who had been given permission to visit them by the Headmistress, had all gathered at their house for a big party. Before going into the final, Connor and Dead Eye had made a bet that the losing team would buy all of the food and drinks for the party, an agreement that they were both fine with, and, after a few hours of setting it all up, they had begun their end of tournament celebrations.

After Eric and Connor’s small back and forth, the party had officially begun.

“Eric,” Dead Eye said, walking over to him, extending his hand. “Congratulations on winning.”

“Thank you, Dead Eye,” Eric replied with a smile, shaking his hand firmly. “You and your team were really strong.”

“Not strong enough, it would seem.”

“You guys had us on the ropes for a lot of the fight. I also never expected you to have a God Armour, too.”

“That was the idea. If I kept quiet about it, I could use it as a potential trump card.” He let out a small sigh. “Still wasn’t enough, unfortunately.”

“Speaking of,” Alexa interjected, jumping into the conversation. “Since when did Evony have a God Armour?”

“That’s…” Eric stared towards her; she was smiling like she normally did and was speaking with Connor.

“How comes she never told you guys about it?” Alexa wondered.

“I never told my team that I had one either,” Dead Eye admitted.

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to reveal all of my cards at once.”

“Even to your team?”

He nodded. “It might be something like that.”

“No, it’s not that…” Eric began, but he stopped from saying anymore. “She just…has her reasons.”

Dead Eye let out a low hum and sipped from his drink.

“Hey, Alexa!” Ajax yelled, butting into the conversation, making her and Eric jump a little. “Did you see me in the fight today?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah,” She said, stepping back a little. “Were you always this intense?”

“No, but can you blame me? Not only did I get to fight in both Tournaments, not only did I make it to both finals, I also won one of them! How cool is that?”

“I must admit, that is pretty amazing. Good work, Ajax.”

He laughed and puffed out his chest. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“You didn’t do much in the Team finale though,” Connor taunted.

“Yeah, out of everyone on our team, you were the least useful,” Evony followed up.

“I took down one of their guys!”

“Heh.” Connor snorted. “One.”

“Oi!”

Ajax stormed off and he and Connor started taunting one another.

“That’s not going to end in bloodshed, right?” Alexa asked nervously.

“I’ll stop it before it does,” Dead Eye said, marching towards the two boys.

“I want to see how this’ll end,” Alexa said, stepping away.

Lucifer chuckled inside Eric’s mind. It seems like everyone is in good spirits, especially after all that’s happened.

Yeah, seems that way, Eric thought, smiling a little to himself.

You also seem to be doing a lot better than the incident with Bunny.

Eric lost his smile and closed his eyes. Well, I was unconscious for a lot of it this time. And. His smile returned. I managed to help someone else this time.

Hmm, I see. Well, I suppose that’s better than you shutting down completely.

Was that meant to be your way of saying ‘I’m glad you’re okay’?

Lucifer let out a low laugh. Would it be bad if it was?

“Eric?” Someone called to him, snapping him back.

“Hey, Kaida,” Eric said. “Did you need something?”

“No, it’s just…you were spacing out, so I was wondering if you were okay.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine. I was just talking to Lucifer…” He laughed. “Never thought I’d say that.”

Kaida giggled. “Neither did I. Still, I didn’t expect Jasmine and Ajax to ever be on friendly terms with one another, either.”

“What about Ace and Alexis going out?”

“Oh, I saw that coming from a mile away. Didn’t you?”

“I did, but, well…” He smiled sadly. “It was one of the only things I did expect to happen this year.”

Kaida lost her smile and looked down at the ground. “Same. Still.” She looked at him and smiled brightly. “I’m glad that we’re all together.”

“Likewise.”

“Now, if you really are okay, then I’ll leave you to it.” She looked directly into his eyes. “You are okay, right?”

“I am,” He replied.

Satisfied, Kaida nodded and walked away. Just as she did, Eric felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He spun around and found an anxious looking Jasmine behind him, looking down at the floor.

“Can we…talk…for a bit?” She whispered, her gaze shifting constantly around the room.

“Sure,” Eric said.

They went up to Eric’s room and he quickly locked the door behind him.

“What’s up?” He asked.

“Um, I…I,” Jasmine whispered, her body trembling.

“Is it about your past?” She tensed and he let out a small sigh. “I thought so.”

“Is it me or did you sound a little bit pissed off?”

“It’s you. Does it still bother you?” She nodded. “Even after everyone else said they were fine with it?”

Jasmine’s expression twisted and she hugged herself tightly.

The day after she and the rest of the team had been discharged from the hospital, Eric had urged Jasmine to tell the rest of the team about what had happened, her past and her history with Elthia. Jasmine had been reluctant about it at first, but, when Elthia had said that she was okay with it, Jasmine had steeled her resolve.

While surprised, no one hated her for keeping her past from them and everything seemed to have continued as normal afterwards.

I guess it’s no surprise that she’s still troubled by it, Eric thought, his expression twisting a little in pain.

“Even though I know everyone said that they didn’t care and that they’d stay my friends, I can’t help but think it’s a lie,” Jasmine whimpered. “The last person I ever trusted someone wholeheartedly was T and well.” She sniffed. “We both know how that turned out. Even though everyone said that they’re my friend, I feel like something has changed. It feels like their stares will crush me and…” She dug her nails into her arms. “I can’t take it. Eric, I’m scared.” She turned to face him, a few tears forming in her eyes and she smiled weakly. “I’m so scared that everyone hates me now.”

“Come here,” Eric whispered, extending his arms to her. She moved into his chest and brought her into a warm embrace. “It’s okay.” He stroked her head softly. “It’s okay.”

“Hey, Eric, did you mean what you said at the hospital?” She whispered, nuzzling into his shoulder.

“Yeah,” He replied.

“Do you hate me?”

“No.”

“Will you always be there for me?”

“Of course. Even if everyone else in the world hates you or won’t be there for you, I will be.”

Her cheeks flushed and she smiled, anxiously putting her arms around him. “Thank you.”

The two of them stayed that way for a few long, peaceful moments.

“Feel better?” Eric asked and she nodded. “Good. Do you want to head back down-?”

Jasmine shook her head. “Can we just stay up here for a bit longer please?”

“Of course.”

She smiled wryly. “I’m sorry that I’m keeping you from enjoying the party.”

“Don’t be. As long as you’re okay, that’s enough for me.”

***

After spending a few minutes in Eric’s room talking to one another, Eric and Jasmine came back downstairs to the party where Kiara enthusiastically flew over to him.

“Well, weren’t you two gone for a long time?” She purred, a gigantic smirk on her face. “Did something good happen?”

Eric sighed and gently pushed her away by her head. “It’s far away from what you’re thinking.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, I do.”

She grinned. “Yeah, you do.”

Eric sighed a little and said, “I’m going to take a bit of a break.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just want to take a bit of a breather is all.”

“Okay. See you later.”

“See you.”

Eric took his leave, closed the door behind him and let out a weary sigh.

“Exhausted from being Mr Popular?” Lucifer mocked, appearing from his arm.

“I don’t need to hear that from you too,” Eric muttered, before sighing again, but heavier this time.

Lucifer returned to Eric’s arm and Eric walked away from the house.

***

It had always amazed Eric how beautiful the lake area in Ferris was with a sky full of hundreds of stars and a full moon all reflecting off the surface of the water.

Even with all of the parties and celebrations going on across the campus, the lake remained as tranquil and quiet as ever, and, much to Eric’s surprise, there didn’t seem to be anyone else around, meaning he had the entire thing to himself. He walked to one of the wooden gazebos and leant against the railing, staring across the surface of the water.

As Eric’s mind relaxed, he smiled and found himself entranced by the lake, but, as he did, the memories of just a few weeks ago resurfaced in his mind.

Not a month ago, he had almost been killed again for the fourth time in his life and, like before, he had come moments away from death. It felt unnatural for him to return to the way his life was before and, whenever he had a moment to himself, Eric couldn’t help but feel like he was both the luckiest and unluckiest person in the world.

When he remembered the splitting and burning pain of the bullets as their pierced his flesh, Eric’s hands began to reflexively shake.

Eric shook his head a little and tried to focus himself on the water before him; then, he noticed something strange happening on the surface of the lake.

Tiny blue orbs were rising from the water, twisting together and merging into a shape which resemble a young woman. Confused, Eric rubbed his eyes and looked back to where he had seen the figure appear and, sure enough, the woman was still standing there, on the surface of the water, looking around the edges of the lake for something. From where Eric was, he couldn’t make out any distinct features about her, except for the fact that the shape looked like a woman.

The figure turned to look at him and Eric felt it look into his eyes. The figure titled its head in curiosity and smiled, before evaporating into a thin mist.

“What the hell was that?” Eric mumbled.

“What was what?” Connor asked, making Eric jump a little to which Connor snickered at. “Here.” He offered him a fizzy drink can and smiled. “My treat.”

“Thanks,” Eric said, taking it.

“So, what was what?” Connor repeated. “Ah.” His face lit up and his smile turned into a grin. “Did you realise that you were in love?”

“That’s not it. Didn’t you see that girl over there?”

Connor’s body tensed a little. “What girl?”

“The one on the lake.”

Upon hearing that, Connor relaxed a little and smiled. “Did you see a ghost or something?”

“No, but I thought I saw a girl on the lake.” He looked back at where the girl had been standing and frowned a little. “Maybe I just imagined it.”

“Stress, fatigue and all sorts take a hefty toll on people’s brains, so I wouldn’t be surprised,” Connor said before drinking from his can. “How comes you’re out here? The party too much to handle?”

“A little.” Eric smiled weakly. “It’s more…I’m still not sure that this is all real, if that makes sense.”

“Not in the slightest.”

Eric laughed a little. “I thought as much.” He held the can tightly in his hands and went back to staring at the lake. “It hasn’t even been a year since we were thrust into this world and yet it feels like a whole lifetime has passed. Eight months ago, I never imagined that I’d be in this position and yet, here I am, leader of a team of Guardians and with the strongest God Armour in the world. Fate really hates me, doesn’t it?”

“…I wouldn’t say that,” Connor whispered. “I know that we’ve both been through a lot since joining, you especially, but I don’t know if I’d say that fate hates you. I mean, I know that the stuff with Bunny and T were hard for you to deal with, hell, it was for all of us, but it’s not like everything that’s happened to us has been terrible, has it?

“It might sound a little strange to say this but, even after everything, I’m glad we joined Ferris. I mean, we not only get to see Kaida every day and the three of us are together again, but we met so many great people and we’ve made a lot of good, and bad, memories, although I don’t think even bad memories are terrible to have.”

“I…I think I get what you mean,” Eric said. “Connor, can I ask you something? Have I actually been a good leader of our team?”

“Hmm, I don’t really know,” Connor admitted. “Mainly because I don’t know what makes a good leader of Guardians. If it was strategy and planning, then I’d say you’re doing okay but we need to improve our team fighting abilities more. If it was on inspiration and ability to spur us into action, I’d say you’ve done a good job of inspiring us to fight on and help one another. If it was on combat ability, then you’re more than okay in that department; you’re the strongest member of our team.”

“Is this a roundabout way of saying I’m shit?”

Connor chuckled. “No, if it was, I’d just come out straight and say it. I’m saying…I don’t know what other Guardians would call a good leader, but I think you’re a good leader for our team with a lot of room to improve and be even better.”

“You really are just sugar coating it!”

“Now, now, let me finish,” Connor said. “You’re a first year and, until September, you’d never had an interest in anything to do with the superhumans and the Guardians, so of course you won’t be the best leader right away. For me and the guys though, I think you’ve done a great job. You help keep us together, got us to help one another with our own problems and we’re all good friends with one another and, for a team, I think it’s important to have all of that.

“I’m not saying you’re shit; I’m saying you’re a good leader, but you could become a great one by the time we graduate,” Connor told him, putting his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “So, I look forward to seeing how wonderful of a leader you become in the future, boss.”

“…You heard Kiara say that, didn’t you?” Eric asked and Connor laughed.

“I was thinking it might be good if we all called you that, boss. Or would you prefer it if we called you Gov instead?”

“No thank you.”

“You’re no fun tonight.”

“That’s because you said I was shit.”

“I didn’t say you were. Your mood right now is though.”

“Well, that’s rude.”

“Well, it’s true.”

Connor and Eric both laughed with one another and he began to relax once again.

“Thanks, Connor,” Eric said, turning to face him, a bright smile on his face.

“Anytime, mate,” Connor replied.

Eric took out his phone and checked the time. “I think we’d best start to head back. I don’t want to worry the others and I feel like partying for a bit longer.”

“Sounds like a plan. You go on ahead, I want to stay here a bit longer.”

“Is something up?”

“No, it’s not that,” Connor said. “I’ve just got a bit of a headache from the music and want to cool down before jumping back into the fray.”

“Okay, well, I’ll see you back home.”

“See you later.”

***

After Eric had left, Connor had a look over the lake’s surface, curious to see if he could spot the woman that Eric had been talking about. No matter how much he looked or focused on one area, Connor couldn’t see any signs of someone standing on the lake.

“Hmm, I can’t see her,” he muttered. “I wonder if he was really just seeing things.”

Connor finished his drink, threw the can into a nearby bin and started to walk home. He stopped in the middle of the path when he felt someone’s gaze piercing into his back.

Even though he couldn’t see anyone over his shoulder, he knew who was watching him and he let out a small sigh.

“How long has she been there, I wonder?” Connor whispered.

“How long has who been there?” A sinister voice asked.

Connor turned back to the path and found Spike standing in front of him, a scowl on his face and his aura flowing over his body.

“The girl at the lake Eric saw,” Connor answered. “I saw her just now. Regardless, what are you doing here, Spike? Shouldn’t you be with the Headmistress and the Guardians at their party?”

“I was on my way there, then I spotted you and the kid.”

“Protecting us? Or peeping on us?”

“Observing, actually,” Spike coldly stated.

Connor’s face stiffened a little.

“You know, since the night of the Awakening, something’s been bothering me about you,” Spike said, glaring at him. “That night, I thought that I’d found a right old steal by finding two budding God Armours in the same place. I was shocked to say the least, two identical energy signatures sitting side by side and two identical scars. Quite the coincidence, huh?”

Connor smiled and laughed nervously. “Yeah, I mean, what are the chances-?”

“Except that wasn’t the case.”

Connor’s expression went blank.

“The scar was identical to the kid’s, that much’s true, but there was something off about the energy that your scar was releasing,” Spike continued. “It wasn’t naturally spawned energy from a freshly awakened piece of God Armour like the kid’s; rather, the energy was being purposefully released to look like a God Armour being freshly awakened. However, there’s a slight difference in the way that the energy was released.

“I’ve been to several Awakening’s in my lifetime and there’s always been something strange about the energy released; rather than travelling along the person’s circuits, it’s more like it just leaks out of them, like water from a burst pipe. At first, I thought you and the kid were the same, given how the amount of energy was released but yours wasn’t being released unintentionally; it was deliberate.”

Connor lowered his head.

“The Waste Walker God Armour doesn’t exist, does it?” Spike demanded.

Connor’s head shot back up, his usual cheerful smile on his lips and he rubbed the back of his head. “Spike, do you have any idea how crazy you sound right now? Obviously, it’s a God Armour, otherwise.” He rolled up his left sleeve. “I wouldn’t have this scar and my powers.”

“Wrong.”

Connor raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“When I noticed something was off about your ‘Armour’ that day, I asked my Master about it as he was scolding me and he told me not to do a thing to you,” Spike explained. “Then, when I asked Kas about it, she adamantly told me that you had a God Armour and wouldn’t say anything else about it. Hell, she even lied to Eric about who you really are. So, I decided to do some digging on my own.”

Connor lost his smile.

“It took me a while, admittedly, given how there aren’t that many records on the Waste Walker himself in existence but I found a few surviving records in the Necronomicon’s library,” Spike said. “While it’s widely known that the Waste Walker was one of, if not, the strongest Demons to have walked on the Earth during the Age of Demons, he was also one of the only ones to ever try breeding with humans.”

Connor’s expression became deadly serious.

“Weird thing, that record,” Spike continued. “It was a language not many know to this day outside of a few remote places, but I managed to translate it and, guess what family name appeared when I began to decipher who the Waste Walker bred with.

“Owen.”

Connor glared at him.

“Then, I looked into the Owen family name a bit more and found out that they’ve been the ruling family of the Demi-humans for centuries in England and reside in a hidden city in the north of the country. Even more than that, I found out the real name of the heir of the current head of the Owen family.”

Connor let out a long sigh and looked down at the ground. “Spike, this is ridiculous. I’m not this ‘Demon Prince’ or whoever you think I am, so if that’s all-”

“Give it up, Azrael.”

Upon hearing that name, Connor froze.

“I knew it,” Spike hissed, forming two spirits behind him.

Connor turned back to look at Spike and he had a sly smile on his lips.

“You’ve done your research,” Connor told him. “I imagine that there was something more fundamental that spurred on your investigation than you let on, yes? Tell me what that was.”

Spike grimaced. “It was something you were unconscious for. After I’d knocked you out and batted Kaida away, I went to kill Eric and masked goons attacked me. They weren’t Guardians, that much I knew right away, but then I wondered who they could’ve been there protecting. Eric weren’t a part of this world until that night, Kaida sure as hell doesn’t have an army of armed guards following her, meaning it could only be you.”

Connor frowned and snapped his fingers. “I know you’re there, so there’s no point in hiding yourselves any longer.”

Spike shot him a confused look but, he saw two black mists appeared behind Connor and he heard two more spawn behind him.

From the mists stood four people dressed in black butler and maid uniforms, each of them with different types of obsidian masks on their faces and different weapons in their hands. There was one with a blank expression face mask holding two swords in his hands, a gunslinger with a hawk helmet, another one wearing a creepy grin mask and holding knives between each of his fingers, and one gigantic muscular one with a bull’s head helmet.

“They really were there for you then,” Spike mumbled.

“The Headmistress didn’t as just Kaida to protect Eric that night,” Connor revealed, smiling. “She also contacted the head of the Owen household and, naturally, I asked that my personal guards watch over us. After all, they’d be perfect for it and it meant that we didn’t have to feel like we were being watched, even though we were.”

“Have they been here since the start of the school year?”

“Oh no, I sent them away for a time because I didn’t want Eric to find out, though they sometimes paid a brief visit to the campus without my permission. However, after what happened with T, I ordered them back and to stay in the shadows. Rest easy, Spike, I won’t order them to hurt you or Eric and the Headmistress knows that they’re here and has allowed it.”

“Kas did?” Spike asked. “Then, why didn’t she tell me?”

Connor smile grew a bit. “Spike, you aren’t trusted with much information, are you?”

“What?”

“You didn’t think that after you’d attacked my best friend I wouldn’t have them follow you from a safe distance, did you?” Connor asked. “They’ve been taking it in turns to watch you, where you go, see who you talk to and learn what you know. It’s almost funny that I know more about Lich and the Headmistress’s Society of Immortal Blood than you do.”

Spike angrily threw a black bolt at Connor but his aura absorbed it.

His guards moved to attack, but Connor raised his hand and, the second he did, they stopped moving and relaxed.

“If Kas has really vouched for you, then I’ll trust her judgement,” Spike said angrily, dismissing his spirts and aura. “But I want to know why you’re hiding this from Eric.”

“What?”

“Like you said, he’s your best friend, right? Strange then that you’d keep this a-”

Connor’s aura expanded exponentially in an instant, his armour forming over his body, his rage filled eyes staring directly into Spike’s core.

“Say a word to Eric about this and I’ll kill you.”

Spike’s eyes narrowed and he stared back at Connor, refusing to submit to the boy’s deathly glare.

“Are you going to tell him?” Connor asked.

“Depends. You plan on harming him?” Spike demanded.

“He’s my best friend, why would I ever do that?”

“Then why hide this from him?”

“That’s none of your business, necromancer.”

The two continued to stare one another down for a few more moments, until Spike finally gave in, sighing and putting his hands in his pockets.

“Fine, I won’t say a word about it to him,” Spike said, walking away. “Kid, let me ask you this though.” He stopped moving. “What will happen if Eric finds out before you tell him?”

With those ominous words, Spike walked away from Connor and his guards.

“You’re dismissed,” Connor ordered and they disappeared into black smoke.

Connor had anticipated someone at Ferris, whether it be a teacher or student, would figure out his true identity and he’d have to take actions to ensure that Eric didn’t find out about it, but he hadn’t expected Spike to be the one to figure it out.

Initially, Connor had dismissed him as an annoyance and just an idiotic fanatic of Lich’s.

Then, why hide this from him?

Connor winced, before smiling sadly.

“Of course I can’t tell him about this,” Connor said.

***

Even though the celebrations of Ferris were to continue early into the morning of the next day, Kasmine had called the teaching staff and visiting members of the Guardians to a private meeting room.

In total, including Kasmine and Harbinger, there were over a hundred people in the meeting room, standing around and waiting for Kasmine to explain to them why she’d called them here.

“I’m sorry to have called you all here on such short notice,” Kasmine said, smiling apologetically at them.

“It’s fine, I was already pretty tired of the party,” Aria said dismissively.

“Agreed,” Takahiro said, folding his arms. “So, why did you summon us here, Headmistress.”

She smiled. “We’re finally launching our counter offensive against Phantom.”

Everyone in the room tensed up but, upon seeing Kasmine’s face, they immediately relaxed.

“It’s finally time, huh?” Aria asked, clicking her neck and stretching her arms.

“We’ve let them have their way for too long, after all,” Sapphire said. “It’s about time we paid them back for what they’ve done.”

“How comes it’s only now, though?” Another teacher inquired.

“Because we’ve finally identified every single one of their bases of operations across the world,” The Merchant explained, appearing out of the shadows in the corner of the room. “I’m afraid to say that it took me a while to find them all, but I informed Kasmine off their locations and she passed that onto the UN.”

“How many teams are going?” Sapphire asked.

“A dozen of handpicked teams from our forces will each hit one of their nine bases supported by the local country’s military forces,” Kasmine replied. “We were given the green light, but only if we cooperate with each country that we’re going into. Further, we’ve got to try and time it so that all of the attacks are simultaneous with one another, or else some of them could escape us.”

“When do we start?” Aria demanded.

“A week from now. However.” Kasmine’s expression turned deadly serious. “It’s not just professionals joining us.”

The teachers in the room instantly understood the meaning of Kasmine’s words and all of them looked at her, their jaws dropped and speechless.

“You can’t mean-?” Lares whispered.

“It’s already been decided that select students from Ferris will be taking part in this joint operation, as well as the Twins and several of our other allies, including the members of the Necronomicon,” Kasmine coldly stated.

“But Kas-!”

She shot him an icy stare, terrifying his very core. “This point is not up for negotiation. I’ve made this decision after consulting our allies and the Security Council, so, even if you’re against it, you’ll accept it because that’s your role as Guardians. Understood?”

Slightly shaken, all of the other teaches either remained completely silent or nodded in agreement, except for Lares because he knew exactly who would be sent to attack the bases.

Lich did this, didn’t he? Lares thought, gritting his teeth together. Why, Kasmine? Why?

“If anyone has any questions that don’t relate to the inclusion of students, speak now or contact me before our next meeting,” Kasmine said, standing up and smiling sadly at them. “If you’re that worried about the students, then make sure that they come home alive and in one piece.”

I’m sorry, Agrim, but, if we use Eric as bait, we can lure out and defeat Michael without anyone else dying, Kasmine told herself, trying to convince herself that she was doing the right thing.

For what it’s worth, Lares and Eric, I’m sorry, but this is necessary.

***

Michael couldn’t help but smile as he looked over the documents on the table before him.

After years of planning, building up Phantom, recruiting powerful allies and an army to serve him, he was finally ready.

All he needed to do now was make a single phone call.

He reached onto the table, picked up an old fashioned flip phone and dialled in the only number it had stored on it. It rang for several seconds before it clicked, connecting Michael with them.

“I want a wish granted,” Michael said.