5 The Ambush At Demon's Clearing

Jack sighed as he had his back pressed up against a tree. he briefly wondered about taking a nap but decided against it. "Look out!" Brave yelled just barely managing to dodge a strike from a Demon. The Demon itself looked like a cross between a horse, deer and, lion.

"Should we help them?" Van asked Jack. They were in the woods now after gathering supplies and came across low-level Demon that Jack allowed Brave and Fate to fight on there own.

"Nah," Jack said yawning. "No point in doing it. They can handle it. They're mostly goofing off at this point." He said. Indeed he was correct as neither one of them bothered to use Mantra or throw an attack. Instead, they just dodged an attack at the last second. "The things a total small fry. Maybe high F-Class at most. A normal person could fight it without much trouble as long as they didn't get hit. I mean they couldn't kill it since you would still need Mantra but anyone of you guys could do it easily." Jack shook his head slightly. "Honestly this is a bit boring."

"I didn't even know Fate could goof off?" Finn said lifting an eyebrow. "She's normally completely serious at all times?"

"It's probably Brave's fault," Jack admitted. "She has a way to make people be better." He shook his head again trying to stay awake. He briefly remembered something Mr. Colin told him.

(Flashback. Four days ago.)

"So how are they?" Mr. Colin asked Jack while they watched the kids repeat a training course. Jack shrugged slightly. "An answer would be great Mr. Nine."

Jack chuckled slightly. "Ahh. They certainly aren't bad. Though they could be better. I say that they could all pass the Spirit test after a few missions." He said smiling slightly.

"I see... And you aren't treating any of them differently are you?" Mr. Colin asked raising an eyebrow. "One of them is the sister to your old friend after all?"

"No," Jack said shaking his head. "I'm not treating them differently. I think they can all do good. Including Fate. I'm really concerned with Van though. The kid has a serious anger problem. He'll definitely be a Fire element." Jack said. "Brave too will likely be one. The two are hot-headed after all." He held up his hand as his Mantra flashed black instead of white. For a brief second the outline of a wolf could be seen and a tiny black and red cube appeared in his open hand before going out as his Mantra faded. "Then again we never truly know what the Element will be until they gain a Spirit," Jack said turning back to look at the kids.

"I seem to recall you guessing what your element would be before you got your Spirit?" Mr. Colin said chuckling lightly. "You even guess the element of your second Spirit. The one everyone cares about." The old man said reaching for a cup of tea that he had next to him.

"Right well I do have a pretty good idea of Brave's element," Jack said leaning back and looking up towards the roof. "She'll probably be a Postive Element." He said causing Mr. Colin to choke on his drink. "Surprising right? It's been a while since we have seen one of those!"

"Speaking of Brave I have a message for you. It involves Fate and Brave." Mr. Colin said opening his book slowly. He turned through it. "Ahh, here it is. Jason Argonauts have left a formal request to you. He requested that you keep Brave away from his sister." He turned through his book more. "It's up to you though. Even if Jason complains he can not do anything to affect the way you teach. Though he did threaten you if you didn't listen."

"An odd request?" Jack said raising an eyebrow. "I'm going to need a better reason than that. Besides Van and Finn, Brave and Fate make the best combo." He said. "If I am not given a good reason I'll have to decline this request. To break up teamwork on this scale would be bad in the field." He said all this while shaking his head.

"Well..." Mr. Colin shrugged seeming uncomfortable. This interested Jack greatly since he had never seen the old man distressed. "Well according to Mr. Argonauts young Fate is a Shiner." He said.

Jack shrugged at that. "I won't break up an amazing combo because of Jason. If he has a problem with it he can talk to Fate himself." Jack said. "Although I don't know why it matters. The only person Fate talks to on this team are Brave and, sometimes me, so I don't think her being a Shiner is a problem right now? I also don't see why it matters?"

"Well, that's the thing. He doesn't seem to care too much. He more worried about what it would mean for Brave?" Mr. Colin said shaking his head. "Kids the days." He grumbled as he stood up leaving.

"Wait but why would he be concerned with it affecting Br-" Jack stopped mid-sentence as it clicked. "

"There you go, lad." Mr. Colin said as he walked off. "Be sure not to treat them differently." He said. "Also don't bring it up. You know how this can look to other people after all." He said leaving.

(End flashback.)

"I can see why Jason was so worried," Jack said out loud confusing the three kids with him. "I can't believe I didn't see it sooner either..." Jack said watching as Brave and Fate continued to dance around the Demon. Jack sighed stepping forward and in a flash punched the Demons head straight off.

"Why!" Brave said. "We were just about to beat it!" She whined. "Right Fate!" She said turning to the normally silent girl.

"Well?" Fate said shrugging in a half-gesture. "You weren't really taking it to seriously Brave!"

"But Fate!" Brave yelled clinging on to the girl and faking sadness. "I tried my best."

"That's enough," Jack said snapping them all back to reality. He pinched the brink of his nose and began to mutter about children. "Alright!" He said clapping. "We set off in-" He looked around before pointing randomly. "That way!" He said.

"That's the way back to the village." Van pointed out.

"That way!" Jack said pointing at a different direction. He set off in that direction as the kids followed him. "Hang on!" He said suddenly. He held his hand up causing the kids to stop. "Do any of you feel that?" He asked.

"Feel what?" Sera questioned confused.

Jack turned to them all slightly. "Everyone close your eyes." He said. The kids did as they were told quickly closing their eyes. "Now have a layer of Mantra come out slowly but make sure it is a thin layer." He could feel a bit of warmth coming off of the kids as they began to glow a light blue. "Now imagine a sonar or a ping coming from it. After you have done this tell me what you see." Jack said.

"I see? I see seven people? Five of them are huddled together. One of them if off to the side and the other is approaching?" Brave said out loud. The others nodded agreeing with her.

"Good," Jack said. "Now open your eyes. What you did was sensing the energy of nearby life forms. You'll eventually be able to do it much quicker but, it is a way to track. That doesn't mean you should use it all the time though. When you use it you let off a faint energy so anyone else using it will be able to sense you as well."

"And you wanted us to be able to spot that seventh life form?" Van asked rasing an eyebrow.

"Precisely," Jack said nodding. "You aren't able to yet but, eventually you will also be able to get a rough idea of a person's power scale looking at them with that. It is only a rough estimate though. Luckily the Demon up ahead is another small fry. Van and Finn are up now. Fate, Brave, and Sera I want you three to try and estimate its power while they fight it." Jack said walking forward.

"Wait but if anything can do this then won't the Demon know we are stronger then it," Brave questioned.

"Normally you would be right," Jack admitted. "But low-level Demons lack even basic instinct. They will sometimes stand around for hours doing nothing until a higher rank gives them a command. Even if it could sense us it wouldn't do anything." He said as they stepped out into a clearing.

The clearing was big. Extremely big. For a second it nearly confused Jack. They had been in a forest and now there were practically no trees around save for the ones behind them. The only other thing of note was the cave at the very end of the clearing.

"How- Wait what?" Van said looking around just as confused.

"Keep your guard up," Jack ordered. "This is a barrier. Think of it as a pocket world some Demons use to change the battlefield. I had been casual about this up until now but I might need to step in. No C-Class could have down this." He bit his lip as he looked around worriedly. This smelt like a trap.

"Umm so I'm doing that life search thing and I can see multiple people all around us?" Sera said stepping away. "Is that bad?" She said in a nervous manner.

Jack looked around frowning. "I'm not that great at finding multiple targets. I can find one easily but multiple is out of my league." He looked around. "I would say that the strongest is a High B-Class?" He said. "How many do you see Sera?"

"Umm? Six I think?" She said unsure. She looked left then right ahead of them. "They are all up on that cliff side!" She said point upwards. They followed her gaze finding several figures stood up top. "And that one-" She froze shaking slightly. "They're the strongest." She looked scared but calmed down when Jack placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You did well. Just take it easy and calm down." He said. "All I need you to do is calm down." He understood why she was like this. It was like when a Prey was cornered by a Predator. Right now they were being stalked. "We have a chance," Jack said nodding. A she talked the figures began to move closer. "These ones have intelligence clearly. We have a chance that they might be honorable and try to show off in combat and beat us down slowly."

"And if you're wrong?" Van questioned.

Jack turned away looking towards the approaching figures as they walked towards them. They all walked slowly not close enough to make out anything yet. "We're dead then." He said simply.