18 Chapter 18: The Warrior Spirit Host Class
In the morning, the girls got up early, prepared themselves, and went directly to their new classroom.
“I can’t wait for new challenges to start!” Lola was excited, “I bet the boys in our class are going to be lame!”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. Yesterday there was a boy in the line before me who got in the Warrior Spirit Host Class like us, and he had a Yin-and-Yang ring as a Bond Item and a Xiongmao representative, a panda spirit, as a guardian,” Lucy answered.
“Wow, a Xiongmao? You mean the Panda Clan branch of man-eater Xiong Clan of bears?” Rose adjusted her glasses in stupefaction, “So, how many man-eater tamers are there in our class, anyway?”
“For now I only know two – me and that guy. He seemed quite strong. That Xiongmao woman was completely obedient to him, and I befriended Yuehong only many months after our bond. I think that guy should be even stronger than me.”
“Hmph, you always talked like a weakling, Lucy!” Lola rolled her eyes, “Be more self-confident! After all, no matter how I despise this fact, you know too well there is no one stronger than Huli Yuehong. Even our spirits confirmed that he is like a god to spirits – the core of Natural Energy. It is not easy to tame him. Even Evilia caused me problems at first! And how do you know that guy wouldn’t have problems with his spirit in the beginning too? You haven’t met him up until now. If you hadn’t said that you couldn’t get along with your spirit so well before, based on our yesterday’s encounter, I too would believe he and you had been friends forever, so quit whining and kick that guy hard if needed!”
She crossed her arms in a sulking manner, realising that she had just now encouraged her classmate when she wanted to prove that she didn’t even bother for those two. At her gestures, Rose and Lucy laughed.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, I do worry too much…”
Thus talking, they soon arrived at the classroom, opened the door, and entered. There, they saw two boys – Tang Wang, whom Lucy had earlier mentioned, and a strange, ominous boy with green hair covering both of his eyes. He wore a silver bracelet with a bunny symbol on his left arm. Lucy didn’t know why, but when she caught a glimpse of this bracelet, goose-bumps ran down her spine. She got a bad feeling about the guy and his probable Bond Item, but she tried not to show her sudden weird emotions.
She sat down at a desk along with her two friends. Tang Wang shot her an unwelcoming gaze. It seemed that he had recognized her from yesterday, and looked at her the same way he did when they first caught each other’s eyes. Lucy felt irritated and got her eyes off him as if showing she didn’t even care about the likes of him.
Soon, their new teacher, the man with sunglasses, Seiji Yamada, entered the room and made them all sit still and pay attention to him:
“Hello, students. Welcome to Shadow Masters High School. You are hereby enrolled in an advanced class of Warrior Spirit Hosts. I congratulate you on this grand achievement of yours!” he paused. The youngsters clapped. When the applause subsided, he continued: “From now on, I shall be your teacher. You will face far greater challenges than all the other students from this school, for you have proved to be on an advanced level, thus, capable of withstanding the severe challenges that we are going to throw at you. While I remain your teacher, you are to call me Yamada Sensei, or Master Yamada. No familiar and colloquial appeal will be accepted. This is a rule to let you respect your elders. You will need it gravely when you encounter hostile spirits on your paths of life. Now, let us start with the lesson. Before that, I’d like you all to summon your spirits, because, while you study in the advanced class, your spirits too should hear what you are taught, so it wouldn’t cause any distrust between you in the future.”
The students got surprised – distrust? What sort of things could they learn here that had the potential to cause distrust between them and their guardian spirits? Nevertheless, as every youngster in the East Land, they too were taught to obey their elders, so, all of them touched their Bond Items and summoned their spirits:
“Brill and dazzle, Long Xiao-Hong!” Rose touched her golden plates on her hair-tie, making Xiao-Hong, the red-haired dragon boy, appear.
“Flap your wings, Evilia Hoot!” Lola touched her owl necklace and called forth her spirit.
“Wake up, Xiongmao Meili!” Tang touched his Yin-and-Yang ring.
Before the children, appeared a beautiful tall black woman with snowy white hair, bamboo green eyes, black-to-white robes, and panda ears. All of the girls gasped – such a beautiful spirit woman, and she looked so strong and self-confident!
“Amazing…” Lola muttered.
“I didn’t think she was so gorgeous…” Lucy was dumbfounded.
“Yeah, she truly is awesome…” Xiao-Hong watched the woman with reddened cheeks.
“Hey! Quit staring at her chest, you pervert!” Rose frowned and softly hit him on the head.
“Ouch!” Xiao-Hong chuckled and rubbed his head, “It’s painful!” he made a lollipop appear and put it into his mouth as before.
The mysterious green-haired boy’s turn came. He touched his silver bracelet, just as Lucy had predicted, and called:
“Jump, Gretchen von Kaninchen!”
A white light came out of his silver bracelet, to give way to a pale young bunny woman with long white hair, white ears, a fluffy white tail, and a white fur dress. She charmingly blinked with her red eyes. Many youngsters, including Lucy’s friends, got surprised and disappointed. Lola, who knew that Evilia Hoot could devour bunnies for a single lunch, was especially upset:
“How come a bunny owner got into the Warrior Spirit Host Class?”
“Silence!” Master Yamada raised his voice, “Gretchen von Kaninchen is the princess of the Kaninchen Clan of rabbits, and the legendary white rabbit that possesses amazing powers of speed, hearing, and strength, after the extinct De Lapin Clan!”
Hearing the surname ‘De Lapin’, Gretchen, the white bunny woman, slightly frowned, but it remained unnoticed by the people in the room.
After all of the children had summoned their spirits, Lucy’s turn came. Everyone watched her. She felt nervous again, with so many eyes fixed on her, but then, finally, she mustered her courage and touched her necklace:
“Yang – Huli Yuehong!”
When the infamous red-tailed fox appeared, the two boys, who didn’t yet know of Lucy’s guardian, widened their eyes in shock. Even the green-haired guy’s blue eyes emerged from under his hair, so stupefied he was. While Yuehong proudly fanned his face, his and Gretchen’s eyes met each other, to exchange a rather hostile gaze, which both of them quickly hid.
“Great spirits, thank you for coming!” Seiji Yamada spoke, “As you already know, your hosts and hostesses have enrolled in our advanced class to become future Warrior Hosts. I kindly ask you to help them in this process. Now, the final announcement before we start our lesson: please meet my guardian.” he touched his sunglasses.
“Eh? Your sunglasses are your Bond Item, Sensei?” Lola raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. Why else do you think I would wear them everywhere, even in buildings?”
While Lola was lost for words, the green-haired guy suggested with a shrug:
“Maybe because you’re blind?”
Everyone widened their eyes in indignation – such an insulting remark! However, Master Yamada only chuckled instead:
“Fine, that’s a fair point… Howl, Ulfrik Wolfe!”
“Wow, so he too possesses a man-eater spirit!” Lucy whispered to Lola and Rose.
“That is why he’s called a genius…” Rose whispered back.
Indeed, out of the black sphere that had emerged, a tall wolf-man appeared, with long black hair, black wolf ears and tail, clawed hands, sunglasses, and two fangs which could be seen even when he held his mouth shut. It implied his strong craving for human or weak spirit blood.
Seeing a predator wolf spirit before her, Gretchen shuddered and stepped back. Yuehong chuckled at her cowardliness, and turned to Ulfrik, who eyed him with his sunglasses:
“Greetings, King of Wolves! I wouldn’t imagine that, after so many years, you’d accept a human’s bond.”
“Right back at ya, Lord Huli!” Ulfrik chuckled, with his sharp fangs blazing under the lights.
“It’s nice to see an old friend.”
“As I said, right back at ya, my man!”
Lucy was wonderstruck – so many different royal spirits, like the dragon prince Xiao-Hong, or even this king of wolves, Ulfrik Wolfe, and Yuehong was always referred to as ‘Lord Huli’ by all of them! Her spirit was truly something… She retained her composure on the outside, but on the inside, her heart jumped with happiness and pride – she had the coolest spirit of all!
