The enemy?

Elder Roberts class was the final one he had for the day, finishing up sometime around noon. All in all, he had around four hours of classes per day. Light work in any context, but considering one of them was basically sexual education, but instead of telling you to wait for marriage, they teach you how to please a woman. SJ could hardly believe how easy this seemed to be. 

'They pay for my housing, food, and schooling and mentioned no debt to be paid after the fact. For that, I only need to go to a couple of classes per day? Sounds great… too great. When has anyone ever done good by others without expecting anything in return?'

SJ couldn't keep from feeling suspicious about the whole thing. Regardless of his fears, he planned on taking advantage of the situation so long as it was to his benefit. One advantage being his access to beautiful women looking for action.

From eavesdropping on other students' conversations, he learned a lot of people joined up in the practice field after classes to practice martial arts. To SJ, that sounded like a golden opportunity to find a hook up… a cultivation partner. 

As he approached the field, he noticed most of the guys he didn't recognize from his first class were out and about. Many were training, but there were quite a few flirting with the girls. He hoped to talk to one and figure out what they were doing here, but that was just a side quest. The main goal was finding some tail. 

Ahead he saw a brunette with her back to him talking to a couple of the new guys. Her shorts were the ones distributed by the Sect. They looked like the shorts the girl from tomb raider wore, very short, and very tight. Her shape from the back had him wanting more.

As he approached the three, from the corner of his eye, he saw a girl and a guy sparing intensely. He couldn't help but stop and watch. They were full swinging like they were trying to knock each other out. 

They swapped between striking and defending, dancing around each other in a dance of death. SJ noticed the guy was starting to flag. His guard was getting lazy, and his strikes were losing control. 

Apparently the blonde girl also noticed, as she shifted to a more defensive position. 'Shouldn't she be going for a kill shot now that he is tired? Why not press the advantage?'

Other than the occasional party with the guys, he never followed professional fighting. The farthest he ever pursued martial arts was a boxing class he took in college once a week for a semester. He felt out of his wheel house watching these two go at it. 

It didn't take long for him to realize she had made the smarter play. Even with his striking losing its accuracy, he was still hitting plenty hard enough to knock her out if she slipped up. Instead, she waited, deflecting or dodging all of his frantic punches.

Finally he over extended too far, and she made him pay for it. With a controlled burst, she landed three shots to his jaw. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, and that was that. 

"Damn!" Both of the new guys said at the same time. Apparently, they were also watching. 

With a flick of her hair, the girl turned around, causing SJ to audibly gasp. It was Abigail Bridges, the girl who sat next to him in his first class. 

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and headed their way. A gloating grin spread on her face as she approached the three. The two guys had unexplainable expressions on their face and the other girl looked excited, at least from what he could tell from the back.

"Just to be clear, he was the strongest in your group, right?"

They grumbled, but didn't respond to her goading. One just left, saying he needed to get the poor guy to a healer. 

The other girl congratulated abigail. SJ thought that if she had a tail, it would be wagging. As she turned, he saw her face and realized she faintly resembled a dog. Large eyes, and a large nose on a pointy face. She was still cute, but in comparison to the beauty around, she wasn't being given any favors. 

Standing next to Abigail made it even harder on her. Now that SJ saw her fully awake, he felt shocked at just how beautiful she was. Her body was on the petite side, but the front of her sweater showed she had quite the bust. He was practically salivating looking at her long, firm legs. Wondering what they would look like wrapped around him…

He had to shoot his shot. As he approached, the other guy noticed him first and shot him a warning glance. SJ almost laughed out loud seeing that. 

"Hell of a right hook you got there," SJ said once he was close enough. 

She looked over and her big beautiful eyes shot open even more. "Samuel! You're not intimidated are you?" Her smirk morphed into a full smile. 

"Intimidated? I'm thinking about hiring you for security. What if that crazy guy shows up in the middle of the night again?" he closed into their circle, standing next to abigail and across from the other girl, effectively distancing the other guy from Abigail. 

She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the guy. "Who are you?"

"I'm SJ." he was short, quickly dismissing him. 

He shoved SJ with one hand. "She might be able to beat me, but you damn sure can't. I suggest you show me some respect." The look in his eye was more eager than anything else. He wanted to ascert his dominance. Unfortunately for him, SJ was well versed in battle. Just his battleground was with words. 

He took a good look at the guy, and decided he was better off letting this one go. He would win in the end, no shame in taking a brief loss. "What was your name?"

"Tarik Vielder." He didn't put enough emphasis on his family name, so either family names weren't a big deal here, or this guy wasn't from one that was powerful. 

"Nice to meet you." SJ glanced over and saw the dog face girl staring at him. She seemed to be waiting for something.

"... and what was your name?" he put on a somewhat fake smile. 

"Bella Thalassi. Nice to meet you!" 

He notice Abigail hadn't said anything through all of that, choosing to watch instead. SJ decided to bring her back in. "I meant to ask you this morning Abs, but I don't recognize any of you from the orientation?"

"Abs, huh?" She lifted her sweater, showing off her flat stomach and the outline of her abs, patting it for effect. "Guess that fits... and yeah, that's because we aren't technically a part of this Sect. We are here as some kind of peace deal between the Gomans and us." That nearly made his jaw drop. He had to confirm one thing.

"By us, do you mean Florians?"

"Yes, we are from the 'enemy'. Is that a problem?" She looked disappointed. 

"Wait, you aren't a part of the blooming rose sect?" Tarik asked Abigail. She just shook her head in response. Now he looked disappointed. 

"Your from the sect then?" Bella asked SJ. He nodded.

"So cool." she lowered her head and looked at the ground. 

SJ chose to ignore her and looked back to Abigail. "No it's not a problem. Just caught me off guard. I'm glad you're here." He made sure to look her in the eyes as he said that. 

"So, are you from a different dual cultivation Sect in Floria?"

"There are no dual cultivation sects in Floria," Tarik answered. "Speaking of that, shouldn't you be sacrificing your cultivation for a sect member right now? That's the only reason you get action anyway." he laughed and looked at the girls but neither were laughing with him.

SJ thought about commenting on the projection, but from the look on Abbie's face, he felt that it was unnecessary. 

"What was your second class? We had to choose an elective to practice for the year," Bella asked SJ.

"It is an instructional class on the man's side of dual cultivation. Today they just measured some… parameters to get a baseline on how we will perform."

"Oh wow! I bet you are really good…" her cheeks grew red as her voice trailed off. He guessed she realized she was commenting on his prowess in the bed.

"Yeah, you must know a thing or two," Abigail said cheekily.

He returned the cheekiness. "You're more than welcome to find out."

*****

A massive man sat on a chair made entirely of ice. It was so clear, at the right angle, one would assume the man was floating. Below him, a table extended nearly one hundred feet. Men and woman sat shoulder to shoulder the entire length. Their outfits were classy yet subtle. One would assume they were of some importance based purely on their looks. 

The man on the throne was the only one wearing jewelry in the entire room. Gaudy gold with encrusted gems covered him. A sword nearly his height rested on his armrest. 

He spoke words of victory to the group. Congratulating them and instructing them of his future expectations. It was a classic meeting between a King and his subordinates. King Fauna, ruler of Floria. 

As he worked his way along the table, he painted a picture of the battles across the battlefield, making sure the actions of each were known and commented on.

"Now… the western front." The happy attitude of the room left like it were under a vacuum. "Does anyone care to elaborate on the happenings there?" His voice was deep; commanding.

A woman rose on shaky legs and bowed to the king before responding. "Yes, my Lord. The assault on the city of Parish appeared to be going perfectly to plan, but…"

The King's voice rose in anger. "DO NOT MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF."

She gulped, her legs could barely hold her up. "It was going well until that woman showed up. We have confirmed she is not a Goman."

The king erupted. "Those bastards hired sovereigns? They dare?!"

"We haven't confirmed if she was hire-" her words were cut off as the king waved his hand. Slowly, her left and right side separated from each other, causing her halves to fall on her neighbor. Not a drop of blood fell from her lifeless corpse. 

"To think, they would be the ones to break a rule first. Peeta!"

A man at the front of the table rose and kneeled to the king. "My Lord."

"I want this sovereign cultivators head by the end of the week."

Peeta bowed his head and headed straight for the door. As he neared, it opened before him. A man stumbled through shaking throughout his body. "Forgive me my King."

Peeta had his blade unsheathed and at his neck before the strange man could say another word, ready to kill him at the kings signal.

"Hold, Peeta. Who are you and why do you interrupt your king during a meeting?" 

"I come from the western front with urgent news, My Lord." A collective gasp spread through the room. Urgent news had never been good news.

"Speak."

"A sovereign has wiped out the 12th platoon down to the last man. Several from the 86th have also been killed."

"The 12th is dead?" One of the men in the crowd mumbled out loud. That was the 12th strongest platoon in the mortal army. Every single one of them had unlocked their soul cards, and many had even gained a second one. That group was wiped out… and to the last man.

No other sound was made as the information settled in the minds of the observers. 

"That woman needs to die tonight!" The king shouted.

"Yes, my Lord!" The group said in unison. They all looked ready to head out at that moment.

"My lord…" the intruder said. Without even looking up, he felt the King's gaze on him and dared not make him wait.

"The sovereign who attacked us was a man, my Lord."

Another round of gasps followed.

"They truly did hire outside help," The king said to himself. He turned silent as he appeared to be strategizing.

"Sven." He spoke softly, yet from over 100 feet a man rose and knelt.

"Yes, my Lord." His voice was monotonous and slow.

"Take it to Parish. Show them the strength of Floria!" A cheer followed as Sven dipped his head and rose to his feet.

His hand fiddled with his keys nervously, thinking about the actions he was just tasked with. 

The king called out to him one more time before he left the hall.

"Sven. Leave no survivors."