Chapter 4: Fear of unknown

Masato zoomed past a scene he was quite familiar with. It had already been 10 mins and he had just crossed the half the distance towards the warp point. His generous estimation of being able to reach the warp point in 10 min was quite far fetched it seems.

The roads of the city were now jammed after many people refused to turn around from their vehicles which caused a lot of problems for those who wanted to. But Masato could see from the ground that those who owned a Hovercraft didn't have such concerns and just continued to fly or turn away from the chaos down below.

However, the crowded roads slowing being abandoned; common people were being led to the bunkers for safety by soldiers with coercion or force if necessary, even the hovercraft were being stopped by the authorities, while the combatants were rallying at the four massive gates of the city.

Masato wasn't stopped by anyone though as he had already donned his academy badge after getting stopped by a guard before. It surprisingly gave him quite a bit of leeway.

Many had no idea about what was going on at all, if someone had told them there was a dragon attacking their city then they would simply react with fear, but with no knowledge of what they were even facing they could only panic.

Even when the sun was going to set soon, its merciless rays of sun continued to bathe the world with it's radiance reaching many corners of city, but there were still places were light didn't reach and these were the home for scumbags, and homeless with everyone living for themselves.

In one such place a young boy was collecting garbage when he heard alarms all over the city with reddish glow, with various drones flying across the skies of the city now with warnings. With holographs displaying red color, and as instead of panic his face was filled with elation But he didn't notice the odd glow in the sky formed due to the barrier and picked up a tattered bag filled with garbage, and rushed out of the alley he was, and navigated between the confusing alleyways. Soon he reached a dilapidated warehouse. The boy went to the side of the ware house and climbed inside through a window. 

The boy then squinted his eyes and pinched his nose.

"Ugh, who the fuck shat here again?" shouted the boy, took out a round object from his pocket which glowed after the boy poured some mana in it lighting up the area near him.

Then the boy weaved through piles of scarp metals, some rusted mechanical devices, and all the while pinching his nose with a frown. 

"Hey, some guards chased ya or what? Why back so early?" a rough voice said from one of the dark corner.

The boy the pointed the light at the corner and he peered into eyes of a bald person with reddish skin and black beady eyes sitting down on the garbage littered littered floor.

"Ah, seth it was you. it's time for that again! I have to inform pa about it, and you can go and tell others." The boy replied with a excitement after sighing.

"Hah? Time for what? Explain ya rat." The reddish man said.

"For us to see the sun again. Do you understand now?" The boy said with a grin.

"Ya mean…?" seth said with a glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, it's gonna be chaotic out there. You didn't hear the alarms? Now go and tell others."

The boy then rushed to a room at the end of the warehouse and he came across a man with a tattoo running down his arms sleeping on a sofa which probably had seen better days and the room was only illuminated by an ancient tv with out any signal.

"Pa! It's for it again." The boy shouted while shaking the tattooed man.

"Ugh…what do ya want ya rat? Why are ya shoutin' my ears off?" The tattooed man said in a gruff voice.

"It's time for us to go outside pa. I've already told seth to inform others." Said the boy.

"Hah…? It's not night yet ya rat. Do ya want to get gutted or caught by those creepy ass motherfuckers?!!" the tattooed man snapped.

"Hah…the alarms went off, with those drones flying over the skies."

"Oh, what color?" the man asked back.

"Uh…like blood?" the boy answered hesitantly.

"Red huh? Then we've hit the jackpot!"

"What are ya doin', rat? Go and help seth and inform everyone." Shouted the man.

Then the boy rushed out of the room while the man took out a communicator from one of corners of the sofa and a face of a man in his thirties with countless scars appeared.

"Haha, ugly as always huh scarface. Ya heard the alarms, didn't ya? You ready to roll again?" The man said with a smirk.

"Ah, Eligor. Thought you would remain clueless, and you don't need to ask. Haha." Scarface replied with a mad grin.

"Good then same place as always. Imma get ready with my boys." Said Eligor.

"'Kay, you better not have gotten rusty." Scarface said then the call ended.

"Heh, I can still chew ya alive, ya brat." Eligor said while cracking his knuckles.

Then he went outside and saw the lights had been turned on, and he could see all of his group in-front of a vehicle, waiting for him.

The people gathered were a weird bunch with seth the reddish man leaning on a pillar, a tall fellow with glasses and a short guy who was juggling silver orbs with blue glow.

The vechile was around 10m long with 3 meters of width, and illuminated by the pale yellow crystals from the ceiling it looked like a beast in it's slumber with it's plates of armor and spikes in various places. It had turret installed on the roof with a wedged ram at the front, right below the windshield. 

Eligor whistled after seeing it.

"Ain't she a beauty boss?" A tall man leaning on the vehicle said to Eligor while tinkering with his communicator. 

Eligor could see the holographic image of the vehicle in it. 

"Ralph, how's Hedgehog's condition?" Eligor said to the tall man while caressing the front ram of the vehicle.

"Hah…It's called an ATV boss, don't give it some weird names. And yep, it's ready as the day we got it." Ralph said while putting away the communicator.

"So it's means we're good to go?" Seth who was lazily leaning on a crate asked.

"Hehe, Imma itching to blow some stuff up boss." The shorty finally said while still playing with the orbs.

"Yep, just need the order from boss." Ralph said with a shrug.

 "And Imma skin you myself if you don't keep those grenade away." Ralph then shouted to imp who didn't reply nor kept those grenades away.

"We need ta wait until scarface calls us. Tell me the ATV's specs for now." 

"Okay boss.But it's better If I show you. Follow me" Ralph said with a chuckle, and went to the back of the ATV and the opened the ATV's hatch.

Eligor and the group then looked at the inside of the ATV which was quite a lot bigger than what it was supposed to which made.

"Heh, it's interior is expanded with magic tech." Said Ralph after seeing the reaction of the group.

And Ralph started to explain many functions of the ATV in detail while some shouts and curses were heard .

" that control board is for the EMP field."

"No! Don't touch that! Do ya want to blow us up you motherfucker." 

"Yes yes…'hedgehog' can scale cliffs, float above the ocean, and it can go underneath the ocean. The ATV stands for 'All terrain Vehicle' for a reason." Ralph said tiredly.

-ping!

Then Eligor's communicator got a ping.

"We've the go boys. Time to take this baby to a ride." Eligor then said with a grin after checking his communicator.

"Haha, lmma man the turret." Said the imp and climbed to the roof of the ATV and manned the turret.

"I think I'm gonna catch up on my sleep." Said Seth while yawing and then went to sleep…

"What the fuck are you doing Seth? Start getting ready right now. Got no time to sleep." Eligor shouted and dragged Seth to a room in the ATV. The doors had sign that read: Armory.

"Well, I'm gonna pilot hedgehog then." Ralph then went to the cockpit with a shrug.

"Wait, where did the rat go?"

"Hah…now I've gotta pick him up as well."

 Ralph said to himself after remembering the boy.

                              ********

While Masato was riding the flash he contemplated about what the old man Ozzy had said to him.

The old man probably hinted at something by telling him about the vulnerability of the warp gates.

'But what was he on about?'

Masato didn't know but he had an inkling that he would know soon.

Following the map in his communicator Masato swiftly navigated the streets, though he came across many problems; he had to once kick a thug who was performing breaking and entering on a shop, while the owner was probably on some bunker. Then he had been stopped again even with badge on.

After stopping many times along the way, he reached a one story house with a well maintained garden. There was simple symbol of sun carved in the door and it opened automatically when he took out a badge with the same symbol of sun carved in it but the badge however, was currently glowing in a ethereal yellow color. When Masato entered the house he noticed that he was in small hall heading straight towards the door at the very back of the house, which following the common home design of Azeas was supposed to be a bathroom, and the marker was placed on it…that meant the warp point was the bathroom door.

"Why place it there...? what if someone wanted to go to the bathroom?" Masato wondered...

while moving towards the door Masato stayed vigilant and passed by a living room and a kitchen at his right without any door, and there were two more rooms at his right with locked doors... reaching the bathroom now converted to warp gate, Masato carefully grabbed the knob of the door which seemed to made from some rare wood and if looked carefully there were tons of fractals carved into the doors...which were quite

complicated but he still deduced one or two and copied them...of course he wouldn't be able to use them unless he awakened, for carving them required more than being able to use mana... With the words from the old man at the back of his mind Masato entered the door.

                             ******

Inside a room bathed by the eerie glow of luminous crystals a spark of bright light suddenly manifested out of a magic circle drawn on the ground and all the mana in the surrounding area was sucked by the magic circle like a whirlpool at the bottom of the ocean... The latent magic circle was soon glowing with a blue light and pulsing with mana, and l the mana burst and formed a oval mirror like structure from which a foot wearing a leather boot stepped followed by the person wearing that boot appeared. The person was a young boy, wearing common clothes.

 He had a light gray with a dirty gray hair bordering on platinum. 

He looked all over the room but didn't find anyone and no door leading outside. 

 Then he fiddled with his communicator strapped in his hand which looked like a normal bracelet from outside. The he waited for something and a face appeared in a holograph.

It was Ryoko who had silver hair tied, which was a unusual sight and she was probably outside.

| Oh, you're there huh? Fufu, I hope you're not claustrophobic. Hehe| Ryoko said with a smile tugged at her cherry lips.

"Huh? You know what this place is?" Masato asked with raised brows.

|Yep, my classmates who had returned from outside had to stay in similar rooms before a professor led them outside. Someone may also come to where you are and lead you towards your class."|

"Why are you guys doing this though?"

| Don't know. We were ordered by the professors to do this. They didn't told us why they're doing it though. But they did tell us other things.|

"Oh, then did you learn anything about what is going on?"

|"Well, I heard it's gotten even more chaotic outside, and the monster horde this time is quite big and other boring stuffs. You'll probably learn thorough a professor.| Ryoko said with a shrug.

Then a indistinct shout was heard from Ryoko's side and she looked away with a frown.

|hah…we're being called by miss Maria. I have to go, Masato. Come here soon.|

Then the video feed ended before Masato could say anything.

"Miss maria? Wasn't she the combat instructor…?" 

"Are they on a training field or what?" Masato wondered.

After, getting in touch Ryoko, Masato looked around the place and noticed the magic circle drawn in the ground.

He was intrigued by the circle and began studying it.

While he was deep in thought a door directly appeared on a wall behind masato and it slowly opened.

Masato didn't even hear the door opening and someone appearing inside the room.

This person had frown etched on their face at first but it got replaced by a mischievous smile.

The person then got close to Masato and conjured a ball of water and slipped inside his shirt.

"what the...?!!"

Masato leaped in surprise, and finally noticed the other person in the room beside him with a luminous orb floating beside her, lightly illuminating the room.

It was a woman who looked be in her twenties, her short ocean blue hair had their own luster and Masato could swear that they were glowing, and big hazel eyes had hint of mischief on them. She was wearing midnight green blazer over white shirt . Masato couldn't fathom how she hadn't produced any sound while still wearing heels though.

"Miss Cordelia!" Masato looked at her accusingly.

But the only thing she did was laugh at him until tears appeared at the corner of her eyes.

"haha, you're always like this Masato. I say, one day you'll definitely get jumped by someone evil."

Masato looked at her and rebuked.

"Yeah, like you're not the most evil person I know already..."

"And why do you always have to show off your elemental control like this...hah..."

Then miss cordelia just stuck out her tongue and changed the subject.

"Masato, I'm glad you've arrived early. I know you have questions, but I'll brief you on the situation later. Follow me for now."

Masato also noticed that miss Cordelia was probably anxious and troubled about but didn't say anything for now and quietly followed her for now.

Masato was led a completely different room illuminated by sunlight and the door that they had come from was quite different from the previous place.

They had just warped to a completely different place.

Then he looked at his surroundings. There were some paintings on the wall, a wooden table and a place to sit with 4 single person sofa facing a glass table at the middle. 

This was miss Cordelia's office, and every professor were assigned their own office, but there was a place for all the professors to gather as well.

Miss cordelia sat on a sofa facing the door, and Masato seated himself opposite to her.

Miss cordelia then drank a glass of water that magically appeared on the table and leaned back on the sofa with a exhausted sigh and didn't say anything lost in her thoughts.

"You don't look well, my lady…What shall this knight do for you?" Masato asked after sometime.

Cordelia sighed again and answered him while still staring the ceiling.

"I'm alright. It's just stress, you don't need to worry about it." 

Masato then stood from the sofa and acted like he was heading outside.

"Then I shall bid you farewell, my lady… " Masato said drooped shoulders.

It did the job as miss Cordelia straightened up and gave a exhausted look.

"Hah…okay you win. Now, stop."

But Masato didn't gave up easily. 

"My lady. I rushed here as soon as possible to be at my my lady's side but my lady clearly don't want to be here...where am I suppose to go now, if I can't become my lady's knight?"

This was one of masato ways to cheer up miss Cordelia. He acted like a knight and she acted like a princess…which she didn't need to as miss Cordelia was actually princess who was a assistant professor in the academy after graduating from the academy.

                              ******

Cordelia's started smile again after seeing Masato doing his mock knight. Amused by his antics she decided to played along as usual.

"No, you misunderstand me sir knight! It fills my heart with elation at seeing my

heroic knight returning to my side safe and sound...oh, what would poor me do

without you?"

"Then fear not, my lady. This knight shall face every peril on your behalf!" 

Miss Cordelia scoffed and stopped the act.

"fufu, you're always such a charmer, Masato. Thank you for always doing this."

Saying that she returned to her previous state of being serious but still better than

before.

"While I would love to continue our act it's not time for that Masato."

"Well, is the situation dire? It feels like it's going to be the end of the world or

something..."

"Although the world is not ending, the situation is dire and I'm not supposed to reveal to this to you first years, you'll eventually know about it, won't you? fufu, but I will only reveal this you masato."

"it's a honor to receive such treatment from my lady.."

Cordelia chuckled and continued her explanation

"So you already know that the gates have been closed and the dome was been activated haven't you?"

Getting a nod from Masato she continued:

"Well, like you've already guessed the city is going to be invaded by monsters...and it's not going to be the regular bunch. These are 'real' monsters. The kind with powers beyond our comprehension but the truly fearful aspect of them is their intelligence...according to our teachers their intelligence are comparable to humans and other intelligent races."

"What the..."

Masato was thoroughly shocked to the core.

Intelligent monsters? he hadn't hear about them in his classes...okay... he was just a first year student but he should have known about this type monsters right?

"I know you're shocked...I was too when I learned about this. And i know what you're going ask. No, we hadn't learned about intelligent monsters before because they are probably new in this world. Or they came from uncharted places in the world."

The world was big, very big and no one had ever managed to map out the whole world again after the end of the old era..Yes they could do it in theory but there were places that no one could peer into to even with the advanced technology and traveling to those places was made impossible due to swarm of monsters.

Cordelia continued in an ominous tone:

"These monsters are now called abominations and this is the first time these abominations have appeared in the new era."

"And the worse part is that the effects of invasion has already reached the city..."

"Huh? That fast? Were we unable to even keep them outside?" Masato was flabbergasted after hearing that…

Then Cordelia swiped her finger on the table and a holographic map of the whole city appeared, it looked the usual map everyone had, but this map had places where it was highlighted by red color and Cordelia touched one such place and a new display appeared where he could see that people were fighting among themselves while the guards themselves seemed to arguing over something.

Then he noticed a particular vehicle which was massive with spikes coming out of it in many many places. This vehicle was currently being chased by some hovercrafts which were glowing purple, which was firing spells after spells at the vehicle without a single dent in the spiked vehicles' body. 

"Ebonice? What's that?" Masato asked after sometime.

"It's a very rare material, and it's got the highest resistance to mana. That's why the ATV is running rampant, and they've even gotten an awakened with them.I don't know how those scumbags were able even get the Ebonice... " Said Cordelia with frustration.

Then Masato watched other feeds on the map and it was pure chaos…The ATV wasn't the only thing running rampant as there was emergence of many rogues and criminals who were taking advantage of the chaos.

It had just been minutes since he had arrived at the academy and things had escalated quite fast…

Riots were starting all over the city. Instead of preparing for something to happen the people of the city were fighting among themselves. It was painful to watch this scene.

All of these things were happening even when it was the capital of the empire…