Chapter 02: Welcome to the Nightfall

-"So you guys met an authorized Sirius from another academy?"

- " according to Yami's deductions that is, yes."

- "Hmm?"

- "From what we saw it's safe to assume that he was a class 3. As for the question of his ability, he does possess a rare blood manipulation ability, and when we got there he was alone so he's probably a lorn."

It was the next day after the w/guard street Emory incident, the students were at the teachers office and reporting to their beloved homeroom teacher, Lisa Sensei. However, Lisa seemed a bit dissatisfied with the report.

- "Did you check his ID?"

The trio looked at each other at this question, a bit embarrassed, since they clearly didn't bother to do it.

- "Well, you see, Sensei, the guy was so badly injured that we panicked and thought-"

- "Although we are rivals as academies, there are still common rules and regulations every Sirius must follow. A Sirius absolutely must confirm another's identity while going on a hunt, be they from the same academy or a different one", Lisa sighed. "All three of you have already become second year seniors now, and still you guys lack so much. Specially when you three are supposed to be our pride students, MY pride possessions, I'm very disappointed in you guys."

Although Lisa Akane is known to be one of the most strict teachers in the academy, she is also well known for caring for her students as her own family. She joined this academy as teacher 8 years ago, when she was 20. She was and still to this day is considered a Prodigy who is known to be the youngest master enhancer in this region. Because of her extremely caring yet strict nature to most of the students at the academy she is more of an elder sister figure rather than a teacher, and very much respected and loved by her students.

To get scolded like this by someone whom they all love, the student trio became very upset.

- "We are truly sorry, Sensei, but it's a very small mistake. Is it worth getting that upset about this trivial matter? I'll try my best not to repeat this mistake ever again, so please-"

- "No, no. You got it wrong, Nine. I'm not upset, not at all. I'm worried. And whatever happened last night is not the only reason behind it. Tell me, have you guys finished your assignments yet?"

Nine's face turned a bit pale.

- "Well, I'm almost finished, maybe a few hours of cataloguing and I'm done. But these two....."- Yami casually said, only to get punched in the ribs by Mirai.

- "We're doing our best, but it's hard to track down the Emory hunting grounds in search of shards. Give us some time, please? It's not like we're slacking off or something."- Mirai requested as she tried to buy some additional time.

- "I think of my students all as equals. As a teacher, I cannot favour any individual students, so I cannot extend your deadlines regardless of whether I want it or not. That gives you three more days to complete and submit your assignments. Yami, as he claims, is almost done. So it's you two who'll be in trouble if you don't do it right. As your teacher I can give you some additional information regarding different kinds of shards, but I can only do so much." She took a slim file out of her cabinet and handed it to Mirai, "And with this, I wish you all good luck."

"To fight the enemies, the humans sought the dark arts, which allowed them to borrow powers from the creatures of the dark. But there were drawbacks. To use the power to its fullest extent some sort of sacrifice was necessary. Without any sacrifice, the borrowed abilities weren't powerful enough to fend off the enemies. For example, one of the most basic abilities of the dark arts is Conjuration, which allows oneself to summon a familiar of any kind, the basic form of necromancy. It isn't easy to learn the method, and without a sacrifice the summoned familiars will be unstable and very fragile with extremely low offensive and defensive abilities, which is not effective in practical battlefields. Simply put, the risk outweighed the benefits. So the elder leaders and the ancient Mages forbade the usage of dark arts and created a pact with the gods instead, which allowed them to now freely use abilities gifted by the gods. The ability users were divided into two categories, the blessed and the worshippers. The blessed were the ones who were born with extraordinary powers to freely manipulate their natural attributes at will, while the worshippers were born with lesser mana and had to learn spells. It is said that the blessed naturally wield more power than the worshippers, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the worshippers can not be on equal footing with the blessed. Among the last three generations of knights there were 9 members in total who were not born with the power, they were worshippers. One of them, sir William Hunter, was the leader of the second generation knights."

- "At least try to pretend that I'm here, will ya?" There's visible disappointment on Nine's face.

- "Hm?" Yami lifted his head and closed the book which he held in his hand, "Anything you need?"

- "We're supposed to discuss how will we be finishing our assignment by today, remember?"

- "Stop right there. How is there a "We" and how did this become a "Our" assignment?" Yami looks genuinely shocked.

- "Mirai managed to convince Sensei that it'd be easier for us to do this as a group assignment. That way she doesn't have to give us extra time and we can finish our assignment perfectly. And group assignment is totally within the rules so Sensei doesn't have to bend any rules either. It's a win win for all of us."

- "She....Mirai, did all of that?" Yami looked a bit skeptical. "That's all good and stuff but why did you guys include me in all this?"

- "Oh c'mon now, you still haven't finished your assignment, why not do it together? After all, that was the original plan now wasn't it?" Nine replied with a grin on his face.

- "Tch....you guys just want more people to help you with your work. Where is she anyway?"

- "she went to get some sleep. Tonight's surely going be a busy night. I'll be heading back now, you should get some rest too."

After this, Yami was pretty much free for the day. Which could also be translated into: he had a whole day Infront of him with nothing important to do.

Having a free day Yami decided to roam around in the academy campus. He likes to do that whenever he has the time....well, besides reading books. Nightfall has the second biggest campus in the whole city. And it's considered one of the most beautiful places in the region. Outsiders aren't allowed in on the workdays, but the campus is open to the public twice every year, firstly in the training season to visit for a month, the regular students are usually on vacation on that time of the year and the Sirius are either on special training or on practical hunting campaigns. Then there is the inter school competition, where the five academy's best Students compete for the top place and to get selected for the next gen knight nomination.

Yami walked towards the library hall, his actual goal isn't the library itself, but the tall clocktower beside it. The centuries old clocktower needs to be renovated, so it isn't used anymore. But it's a beautiful and very peaceful place, an ideal location for Yami to read books or just enjoy the campus sceneries from up high.

Reaching the desired location, Yami started climbing up the tower. His objective for now is to finish at least half of the book he bought yesterday. For some reason he is very much interested in this book, or rather, the history behind the whole twelve knight project and the five academies. What makes this different from the other history books published by the central library is this book contains various little details and information that Yami couldn't find in any other typical history books. Some of the information contained in this book are known to be local legends and rumours, some info can't be found elsewhere. Even the writer is someone he's never heard of. Overall, the book managed to catch his interest.

Yami opened the book. But before he could start reading from where he left off, a sound distracted him.

Suddenly Yami felt something was wrong. Within a fraction of a second Yami instinctively moved his head on the left. At the same time, a knife flew out of nowhere and lodged in the wooden pillar behind Yami. A cold chill ran down his spine as he turned to the direction where the knife came from and prepared himself for any further assault, but nothing else happened. Yami rushed inside the turret clock mechanisms, but there was no one there. Yami took a moment to realize what was going on. He looked outside from the tower balcony. If there was someone hiding in the tower he must've escaped, it's probably too late to chase after them in which case Yami should be able to at least see someone if they get out of the tower. And if Yami can locate the culprit, catching them would be a piece of cake for him. But to his disappointment, even after staring out for quite some times, he was unable to detect anyone in the library district.

*"I can think of three possibilities, either there was no one here to begin with, it was a trap I accidentally activated, or the person behind the attack used spatial spell to escape, or, the person got out of the tower and to avoid being detected he got into the library. The third option can be omitted, because the whole incident took about half a minute after which I looked outside to confirm anyone getting out. It'd be impossible for someone to climb down 15 stories and escape from the whole area within that time limit. As for the first option,* Yami again walked towards the turret clock to inspect the place. After a few minutes of research he concluded that there wasn't any trap set around here, *"well, seems like that's also not the case. Which means that there was someone here capable of casting spatial spell and he escaped through a portal. The question is, why? And what was he after? I can't possibly be the target, although this is a very favourite place of mine I haven't come here in last few weeks, so waiting here specifically for me doesn't seem believable. Was it just a prank played by some student? This can be a punishable crime if caught."* Yami took the blade out of the wall. Something feels a little odd. *"Mana infused blade? Even as a prank this'll be considered as going too far.*" Yami took out his handkerchief and carefully covered the knife. *"I'll have to report this later I guess."*

Mirai, although she told nine that she needed some sleep, she's actually at Lisa Akane's home, helping her with filing documents. She sometimes comes around to help her Sensei with her work however she can. She does this voluntarily, and likes to think of this as more of a younger sisterly act. Lisa Sensei doesn't really mind, she enjoys the company of her students. Moreover, Lisa Akane's home is very close to the academy campus, so students often come to visit her on free days or on weekends, if she's at home, which she always is.

-"I thought you said you're going to quit smoking, sensei", Mirai said with a disappointed and disapproving face while gathering all the sheets of paper scattered throughout the table.

Lisa Sensei looked a bit embarrassed, "It's hard for a chain smoker to suddenly just stop. I'm trying to reduce the smoking habit as much as I can."

- "Keep telling yourself that and you'll die early".

- "You don't need to worry about sensei's health. Keep working hard and I'll live long enough to see all of you becoming knights one day."

Mirai sighed. She wondered what Nine and Yami could be doing right about now. Yami, probably reading a book at a café perhaps? And Nine is probably spending time with his sister. She's about 10 years old now, such a cutie, Mirai thought.

- "Say, Mirai, did you know we're having a few transfer students with us this year too? Some of them are second years, they'll be joining you guys. A surprise, right?"

- "transfer students? You mean from other academies?"

- "Uh-huh. What are your thoughts on this?"

- "On what? This whole student exchange thing? I don't know, never thought about it. What do YOU think?"

- "Well, I don't mind new students coming here, but I dislike the idea of sending students I raised to some other academy, no matter how great that place may be. I mean, home is home, right?"

*"Uh-huh, home is home."*- Mirai thought.

The student exchange is a process of exchanging students among the five academies. Students who are interested in or willing to change campus or transfer to another academy are the ones who receive this facility. In a way, the academies are basically exchanging of their own teaching methods and the results of it, and the students do this on their own accord so what Lisa Sensei said about "sending students to some other academy" isn't entirely true, but sensei feels that to a student their campus is like their own home and home is the sweetest place on earth, so changing that home can't possibly be good for a student.

- "Sensei, I'm going to leave for now. Let me know if you need help with anything else, Okay?" Mirai said with a polite smile.

- "Oh? Sensei is also going out for dinner tonight. Would you care to join?"

- "Some other day. We'll be finishing our assignments tonight by any means necessary. Can't be late for that."

- "Alright then. Sensei will see you tomorrow at class." Sensei said without taking her eyes off the paperwork. "Oh, and," she looked at Mirai, "Go easy on Yami. It's unfair to make him work for your assignment. Take care, okayyyyy? And don't skip out meals because of the works", she said with a childish voice.

- "Yeah."

A few hours after Mirai left, Lisa Sensei felt hungry. She's a hardworking teacher, so she prefers to finish her work before doing anything else, but that led her to skip today's lunch.

*"At least the work's finally done. I guess I'll have to thank Mirai for that."*- She got up and went to the bathroom. After washing her face and changing her clothes she got out of her home, locked the door and started walking. Lisa Akane can cook, and she does cook when she can afford the time, but every once in awhile she just visits a café owned by a friend of her. The café is about a couple kilometres from her place, but Lisa usually takes a longer route because she loves her nightly walks. Tonight's a bit chilly, Lisa thought as she enjoys the starry sky. After about half an hour of walking, just when she reached the back alley of the café, she suddenly stopped. Right now Lisa Akane is sensing a very faint aura coming from somewhere near her. It was very faint, but as experienced as she is she could tell that the ones responsible for that aura weren't weak, they were simply suppressing their mana field in order to hide their murderous intent. The target is most likely Lisa Akane herself. Lisa looked around quickly and examined her surrounding. There isn't anything in the alley except a few empty beer bottles, a vending machine on the left side of the street about 20 steps away and two parked bicycles on the right.

Although Lisa Akane is now a full time teacher, in her first 3 years at Nightfall she was know as a very fearsome Sirius. She was so good at her work that she became one of the top five best Sirius the academy could offer. In fact she got selected for the knight nomination, but she turned the offer down because she thought it was too much of a drag to run around the world hunting down monsters. For a Sirius of her calibre, a stalker isn't a threat. It's actually the other way around.

Lisa Sensei simply ignored the whole thing and started walking again. The moment she passed the vending machine a shadowy figure jumped out at her from behind the vending machine. The vending machine had its lights on, so in that dark alley anyone would be stunned because of the bright light of the machine and would be unable to block the attacker. However, Lisa Akane knew exactly what was waiting for her and she reacted at an unbelievable speed. She moved a step to the right, lowered her head a bit to avoid any direct hit from the attacker and grabbed their throat with her right hand with inhuman speed and strength. This is what an enhancers ability is. They can enhance their physical abilities beyond human limits and can obtain monstrous strength, and that's only one way of using enhancement ability.

The person is wearing somekind of a Cherokee wolf mask. Lisa smashed the person on the ground, pieces of broken asphalt flew away at rapid speed. Just before she could take of the mask and ask the person who he was, the mask cracked and broke apart by itself and the person turned to dust. Lisa was shocked and jumped a few steps away from there.

*"Conjuration spell?"* She examined the dust. Then she took out a Chapstick out of her bag, took all the ointment out of the tube and cleaned it with a tissue paper. Then she collected the Conjuration dust in the tube and put it in her bag again.

Lisa looked around, she got up and again started walking towards her destination. That's when she realised that she wasn't alone in that alleyway. About 50 meters away, where the street met up with the main road, a figure stood, watching her from the distance. Even when she stared back at the figure, it didn't look away or try to escape.

*"The Spellcaster himself? Or is it another Sirius?"* Lisa thought as she carefully walked towards it. The figure appears to be of a boy, maybe a highschool student. Lisa frowned.

"Need anything?" She asked from a distance.

At this question, the boy first looked around him, trying to confirm if she was asking him the question. Then he walked closer to her and casually replied, "Um, well, you looked like you could use some help"- he paused, "that was until you beat the guy to dust."

Lisa's glare softened at this.

- "Are you a Sirius? Do you have a license?" Lisa asked, taking her own license out of her bag and showing it to him.

- "Oh? Lisa Akane from Nightfall? What luck" The boy looked somewhat intrigued looking at her license, "this makes things easier."

The boy pulled his right hand out of his windbreakers pocket, holding an envelope. He handed it to her. The envelope had two raven wings drawn on it.

- "A special course student from Nightfall? Wait, so you're Elric, the one who applied to change study course?" Lisa was genuinely surprised. She never thought of encountering one of her students in a situation like this.

- "You were heading towards The Cloverleaf café, right? Let's talk inside, sensei", the boy smiled, a very friendly, yet somehow unnerving smile.

Lisa Sensei always puts her students before herself, so she was about to offer him to join her for dinner. However, she didn't ask him how he knew where she was going, because she suddenly remembered seeing him several times before at the same café.

- "Yeah, let's go inside", Lisa Sensei smiled.

- "Okay, so everyone is here. Who has the area access permit?"

Nine took out what seems to be a card from his bag, "Here."

They're currently in one of the reserved area owned by the Emory research facility. They had to collect a permit to enter the area so that they can complete their assignments as fast as they can. This doesn't require collecting any shard so it doesn't take as much time as hunting down Emories, but without the shards the data is only enough to get them the bare minimum pass marks. But with the time limit they have left they don't have any choice but to do it this way.

Yami examined the card. "Well, there's nothing to do here, we just need to observe the various generations and species of the Emories and take notes. This is possibly the easiest way to complete the assignment, so hurry up. I wanna go home and get some sleep." Mirai and Nine nodded. "Hopefully, this is going to be easy", Mirai muttered.

Little did they know what fate awaited them.