Chapter 1- The Ten Rings

Time; Night

Location; Keshnia - Deep in the rain forest

The meeting of the ten rings.

Time; Night

Location; Keshnia - Deep in the rain forest

The meeting of the ten rings.

"What can we do?, the hexi have spread throughout the forest and are closing in on us as we speak" a voice spoke with a very concerned tone as they were approaching their doom or rather their doom was approaching them.

"Then we fight back" another voice spoke, "this is our home; our ancestors kept it, and we will too" Delius Agamemnon aka the' barrier ring 'said with an aggressive tone which momentarily silenced the other rings.

"No; we do not wage war, enough of our lands have already been destroyed, the village can't take any more of this, have we not lost enough rings, no more" Kamido Asake - leader of the ten rings and also the' flame ring 'barked at one of his commanders with visible rage in his eyes.

"Asake, Agamemnon is right, if things continue the way they are, our whole village will be wiped out within a month" Akila Cain said, drawing attention to her as she spoke."but if we fight all at once we can defeat the lot of them by the hour seeing there aren't any omegas on the battlefield" she wasn't at the top ranks of the rings but her sword mastery and blinding footwork alone could beat all the tip ranks of the order, known for her agility, speed, and sorcerer level reflexes the' light ring 'Akila Cain was by no means a push over.

"Even if we do wipe them out, in less than a week they'll all be back with higher ranked monsters and if we undoubtedly wipe this out then dregbane will come" Elrin Bane aka' smoke ring 'said in support of Asake's idea, since he was the village watcher, he had a deeper understanding of what the terrain looked like, and their chances of survival. Also, he had been the one to inform them of the hexi's advancements towards them earlier on.

" But still, we could do more to ---" the' mecha ring 'Zelius Kaylin tried to say, but he was cut short by an even domineering voice.

" You're young and naive Zelius, no matter what we do they'll keep coming, so there isn't any hope of victory, do you think we could handle dregbane if he came, one of the few king hexi, No because it would require us to unleash out demon scourges which we are all yet to manifest so that leaves our transformations which in itself is a joke when compared to dregbane' s might" the harsh but sensible tone could only have cone from Tsumi Rengen aka the' space ring '.

The uproar of voiced continued with either side throwing their arguments at each other while the others just sat there watching the clash before them, out of those seated was the 'soul ring 'Kings Inake who just sat there with an expressionless face as he looked up to the stars since he was getting bored with the scene In front of him.

" Nothing to say? … Inake, you seem awfully quiet "Asake asked, silencing the others with a fist in the air.

Although seemingly void of emotion, Inake was the smartest ring in their midst, and they often left critical decisions in his caress he had a gift for solving problems without attaching even a shred of emotion, so once again they turned to him for a solution.

" And what pray tell do you want me to say, when the two options presented before me will surely lead to our deaths" Inake said with a low tone, yet he was still heard by everyone.

" You are the best person to make a general decision as you have proven time and time again that your maid power is of the mind in which case you are superior to us" Belmont Sinbad, their resident' blood ring ', also a descendant of the great Belmont clan spoke inan understanding voice while the others nodded in agreement.

" Do you all think we can survive?"Inake said once again, causing silence to reign.

" yes" they said in unison, although there wasn't a shred of doubt in their minds, it would only be possible if they went all out.

" Then there are three options we can take; the first being to fight, which, in my point of view has a very slim success rate, the second will be to flee like Asake said, but even that does not guarantee our survival, and we can't consider leaving the land of Keshnia as our Runic connection would dwindle to nothing overtime" Inake paused building the tension in their minds.

" And the last option which had the highest chance of success is to retreat to the academy, they still attack beasts and for now, that may be the best place to take asylum, so it's a sort of mixture of the two previous options".

Inake ended and he began walking around as once again they had their loud vocal exchange of words.

" We can't take assylum in the academy, that is unheard of" Ember Reid aka the' void ring 'totally rejecting the idea.

" And what of our Runic energies, are we negating that for sanctuary" Zelius commented.

" Those are two plausible arguments, to the second we all know or rather you would know since you recently joined us Zelius, but we rings are also certified teachers of the dark arts from the sci-mage society and as such we possess two energies, first us our Runic energy and the other is our ki energies, even with the decrease in power of our Runic energy over our migration from the forest we should still be well-off provided we use our ki as well so it isn't a major problem for us to defend ourselves if the sci-mage society chooses to lay out an ambush and as for the first, I must remind you all that the existence of every organism depends on its ability to adapt, we must compromise in order to fight another day" Inake voiced out ending his long lecture.

" There is truth in his words, with their help we have a better chance of stopping the hexi even more so of surviving" the final member of the order of the ten rings, Kenjiro Kintaro aka the' gale ring 'spoke after what seemed like years of silence.

" You would throw away your pride as a ring leader to beg for asylum" Agamemnon spat with a scowl on his face.

" Keeping your head is far better than shattering your pride, although it is a shameful thing to do, Inake is right, we must compromise" Rengen spoke weighing the odds stacked against them.

" Then we take it to a vote; all in favor of fighting to the death, raise your hand" only three hands were raised and these were the hands of Zelius, Akila and Agamemnon as the others who initially supported the idea began to see its many flaws.

" You're all a bunch of cowards" Agamemnon shouted at them with sheer frustration in his tone.

" Better to be called cowards with a head than without one" Ember said as she too had also seen the numerous disadvantages in her earlier disposition of the academy.

" We are not strangers to the academyin fact, we taught there once upon a time, so you urge you all to see reason in the decision" Asake said, not wanting any further argument on the matter.

With no other opposing voice he continued" It's settled then we leave for the academy after the rites of passage, Inake you've proved yourself once again, this idea is just perfect "he finished with an air of joy around him.

" I did not say that this was a ye perfect plan, as it also has its drawbacks" Inake replied, prompting the others to express shock over this realization.

" For instance, our authority as ring leaders will be expunged, and we may be humiliated time and time again fo this decision, but in this line of strategy, taking all factors into account, this is the only option that can keep us alive long enough to see the extermination of the hexi, which is an event I'll give anything to spectate" he finished and at once all of them nodes as they too believed the same.

" Seeing as the rites begin tomorrow, I would like to ask a favor from you all" Asake said while relaxing in his seat.

" I would like you all to prepare Arthur ad he will soon be joining our ranks".

what their leader said greatly surprised them as they never thought that Arthur — his son, could rise up so fast.

Kamido Arthur Pendragon who was known by all as the ring leader's son was thought to only possess a single ring and since the conditions for participants are that they must have up to four rings or a transformation ring which in itself is not a small feat.

" Is he ready?; you know tradition dictates that we can't go eat in him" Akila said concerned for Arthur whom she thought of as a son, not wanting to dash his dreams by beating him.

" It may cone as a shock to you all but as of right now, I think Arthur is stronger than I am, that is of course when I am not using any rings"

This caught everyone by surprise because Asake was their leader. They weren't shocked about Arthur bearing him as it was only when Asake wasn't using any rings, it could be said that Asake was merely toying with him as the power difference between a rings release and normal teke combat was too huge.

No….they were surprised that this was the recommendation that Asake had brought, his son….with his level of powers right he would even be able to stand as a mage let alone succeed in the rites.

" Ha! Ha! Ha!" Agamemnon laughed half-heartedly, not convinced by Asake's words.

" I guess you all will see his true power by dawn as the rites begin at first light" Asake said before getting up to leave.

" Hey! are you serious Asake" Agamemnon asked as he still thought he was joking, but he got startled because Asake hadn't changed his stand.

" I won't make any comments as to not spoil the fun, but I'm confident that he will come out on top" he replied then proceeded to leave the meeting ground.

" Ah!, before I forget, the first test is that of speed right, so Akila you best get ready" he shouted from a distance as he was now a bit far from their stronghold thanks to his tree parkour.

Akila gasped as she had completely forgotten, she now began wondering how she was meant to mercilessly beat a boy who saw her as his mother.

Although not literally, as Arthur's mother had been eaten by a hexi soon after his birth, ever since then she had made it her priority to make the little boy smile, which led others to think that she was actually his mother.

" Don't go easy on your boy tomorrow, Akila" Inake said as he too began his departure.

" I won't" she replied and by all means she meant it.