A Life-Threatening Attack (1)

Onvima. He was someone I could only describe as "mild". He wasn't particularly argumentative, nor did he carry too much arrogance. He could talk for hours on end if it was about someone he was passionate about, but he also could listen. He was a man who thirsted for knowledge more than anything else, and as I've tested him over the past months, I've yet to see his bottom line for what he would do for knowledge. But he is limited by his cowardice. His fear of risking it all for a chance at something better dragged him into the swamp of the ordinary.

Culdia. She was seen by the public as a psychopath, and they may be right about that. She was willing to do things others wouldn't for reasons that felt lacking. But I have been able to see through her and learn what triggers what. She is a fan of the phrase, "A tooth for a tooth. An eye for an eye." It is this philosophy that she lives her life under, though her conception of what is "good" and what is "bad" is what is twisted. If I were to murder one of her friends, for example, she would have no problem with torturing me to death. But when I almost killed her, she for some reason gained a liking for me. Normally I would try and stay away from someone who has a twisted mindset like her, but I've come to learn her wayward personality has patterns to it I can exploit.

Paxium. A low-life degenerate who only lives to eat and sit around sodden in her desires for sloth, right? Correct, but it does go deeper than that. She, without a doubt, does want to live life lavishly without worry, but most do. That's one of the main reasons people desire power. But the difference is that she will give 110% for that lavish life. Another interesting thing about this girl is her split personality. Her split personality is a person of her own, one that Paxium wished to know better and become more than just codependent on. It is that aspect of her that makes her both desirable and controllable.

Fragitus. The secret sixth Elder that I have to capture. She is Paxium's split personality, but that shouldn't take away from her independence personality-wise. She is her own person, in more ways than one. She believes fighting to be the only way to solve problems, which is something I disagree with, but she is completely stuck in this idea of hers. I've lived long enough to know that someone as stubborn as that isn't worth dealing with. But it is that philosophy that gives me the chance of conquering her. On top of that, she has a constant desire to protect Paxium. Whether she wants to admit it or not, that is her true purpose for living.

Iraspisit. He is a man I classify under the clause of "The Arrogant and Proud Man." He is so hopelessly arrogant of himself and his achievements that no sense of reason can penetrate through his wall of pride. It's that pride that sends him into spirals of rage that only work against him. If he takes offense to something, he makes it known and will do something reckless because of it. He indeed has a fuse, but the bottom of that fuse is akin to a Gold Class Explosion Spell. He might be able to change eventually, but the resources and time it would take just wouldn't be worth it. The only reason I waste time on him now is to keep up with appearances. He is someone not worth coercing into my faction. He is a lost cause.

These, minus Vernam, are the five Elders I've been tasked with tutoring over the past few months. And over those past few months, I've only kept one thing in mind: "How do I go about placing them under my control?" That is why I've been so closely observing them and also placing myself in their lives as something more than a teacher. And now only three weeks remained until the midterms commenced, which was my deadline. But only two of those weeks could be used for the Elders because I needed to spend a week in preparation for the midterms.

I originally had an entire month left to get this done after capturing all the keys that I needed, but I had to spend a week doing nothing out of the normal, otherwise Convir could begin growing suspicious. So now I was left with an inadequate amount of time to get to job done. That is of course, if I only did what I did with the keys. In fact, I could actually get all of this done in one day, but it would cause quite to commotion if done on a normal day. I needed a day when Convir wouldn't be on campus for a long amount of time.

Ordinarily, that would seem horribly improbable, but luckily he recently merged his faction with Medisma's. This created a lot of chaos within the sect, and if the two of them didn't do something quickly, their Sect Faction would only be a faction in name. What they needed to do was simple. They needed to hold a conference with the higher-ups of their original factions and get them merged before giving a speech to the rest of their new faction. This way they could bond them together with the common goal of keeping the sect a sect.

Of course, I passed this idea to Convir and once he approved of it, I wrote him a speech that would rile up a crowd. And thanks to the old man being practically the second in command in the original faction, I was able to get a date out of him. In two days time, Convir and Medisma would hold the speech. It would all be released a day before to maximize attendance, so I could have just waited until they released the information to the public, but then I wouldn't have enough time for preparation. I was also sure that Medisma wouldn't take any of the Elders with her due to them being in the middle of rehab, and even if she tried, I would just say they were in a very critical period where outside interference would destroy their progress. I had done nothing to betray her trust yet, so she would have no reason to betray mine.

But I couldn't do this all alone. I needed someone else's help, and they needed to be stealthy along with fast. The best person for the job was obvious. I would use Vernam.

These were my thoughts as I chewed on the piece of meat in my mouth. I swallowed it and took a look to my right. Sitting on the chair next to me was Vernam. Although I already placed her back into the cycle of learning, she insisted we ate dinner at the research facility every night. She said she made a good excuse for the other Elders, and considering her experience, I believed her. This was my opportunity to both confirm and give her the role I've designed for her.

I placed the sloth leg onto the plate before turning to Vernam. My sudden movements engaged her attention and she did the same as me before asking me, "Is there something wrong with me dad?"

I smiled at her to take away her sense of worry before answering her, "No, there is nothing wrong with you Vernam. But I do have a question for you. I wanted to make sure you had a fresh stock of those Lightning Step and Lightning Cloak Fruits."

She raised her head proudly and crossed her arms with a smug smile and said, "Yup, in fact, I do. I made sure to keep my Fruits replenished just like you asked me to."

I nodded my head and congratulated her, "That's great to hear, good job Vernam. Now, I have something I'm going to need you to do tomorrow. You know about the Bamboo Vine Tree, right?"

She nodded her head, showing that she was following along, after which I continued talking, "Good, I'm also sure you know what lives in that area. I'm gonna need for you to go over there at night and make sure that it's still there. Once you do, you're going to need to wait until I give you a signal in the form of a little wood bird. When you get the signal, I'm going to need you to get the thing's attention and lure it to the sect, along with its comrades. Make sure the main one goes through the campus, and the smaller ones end up in the living area. Once you finish, you'll come back to the campus and continue your role. You think you can do all of that?"

She raised her hands in the air and gave a confident smile before reassuring me, "I can do that easily. Leave it to me dad!"

I smiled and placed my hand on Vernam's head before slowly rubbing it and comforting her, "Good, that's amazing to hear Vernam. I can't wait to see you impress me with your skills."

Now I only had to wait for the day of the conference. What I was doing was risky in a way, but I honestly wasn't very afraid of the outcome. Either I succeed and add more people to my faction, or I fail and all of the elders die. But without taking this risk, I wouldn't have the time to rope them into my faction when I needed them to, in fact, they might work against me. So even if they died I wouldn't care because they would already be dead to me. It would only end up giving me more free time.

___________________________________________________________________________

Today was the day the Medisma and Convir were going to give a speech to their new combined forces. Which also meant it would be the day that their attention is divided. It was the perfect time to do something without Convir interfering.

Just like I thought, the two Grand Elders released the announcement the day before, and the entire sect was talking about it. It was abnormal for the two of them to suddenly merge alliances, so everyone wanted to hear what they had to say. But I bet no one else wanted to hear it more than the L'Amour Family. I'm sure they were extremely angry when they heard the news that the two other Grand Elders were teaming up against them.

And now not only was Convir gone, but Hasrem, the old man, Telferr, and most of the other people you would see around the campus were gone. It wasn't that I didn't trust the keys to a certain degree, it was just that they followed me for reasons differing from Vernam's. If I pitched this idea to one of them, it would probably come off as if I were joking because of how much it went against the image I built for myself in their minds. That was also why I didn't want them to catch wind of what I was doing.

Plus it made it easier for Vernam to go unnoticed during her job, and speaking of which, the sun was almost in the middle of the sky. This meant that the speech would be starting soon, so it was the right time for me to give Vernam that signal. I used the Wooden Spy Fruit that I asked for from the old man and activated it. As soon as I did, the bird-shaped doll in my hand grew more detailed and life-like until it was done. Once it finished, I could feel my head ache. It was not enjoying the fact that I was trying to control both my body and the bird at the same time. But I soon got over it and found myself able to move the bird around.

I gave it a few test runs before sending it into the sky toward the Bamboo Vine Tree. It took the bird 30 minutes to get there while going as fast as possible. Once it was in the area, I sent it down and moved it around for a bit before chirping loudly. This not only got the attention of Vernam, but I'm sure it also gained the attention of the tree's inhabitants. I then severed the connection between me and the doll before it was destroyed as the old man warned me that could seriously injure my head.

Now I just had to wait, if I had to guess it would take around ten to twenty minutes before Vernam reached the sect. In the meantime, I'll set myself in a good position where I can watch from a safe distance.

I needed a place that was as high up and as secure as possible. That way I can see others and time my entrance perfectly, while they are distracted with defending themselves. There was one place that immediately came to mind: the World Tree. The World Tree was massive and very tall as well. It towered above the other trees, which would normally make it the only thing you could see. But due to the intense foliage, you weren't able to see it too well all the time.

I ran over to the World Tree and made sure that I was out of Paxium's vision before using some of my saved-up Genesis Orbs to jump up the tree. Once I leaped into the air, she looked around wondering where the gust of wind came from, but I was already out of sight by the time she looked at where I jumped from. I wasn't able to get to the top in one jump, but after jumping from the branches twice, I reached to top and took a seat, waiting for the show to begin.

Suddenly as I was making myself comfortable, I saw the tall fences on the East side of the Campus, which faced the plains, fall over into a giant cloud of dust, and a couple of seconds after, the resulting boom reached my ears. But the boom wasn't the only thing I heard. Coming soon after the boom were the soundwaves belonging to a Wild Beat.

ROARRR!!!

It was the legendary beast that lived in the Bamboo Vine Tree. The 2nd Half Coal Class Wild Beast: The Bamboo Bear.