Chapter 49 - Infiltration

-- Aaris - POV -- 

'Crown who?' 

"What an audacity, I can't waste my time & energy on someone like you. I need a good rest for tomorrow, so don't make any fuss and go to sleep." 

A young boy laid in the bed facing his back said to me.

Crown Prince Niran Ormer Azeihik? The fuck is he doing in my room? Is he my roommate? Are you kidding me? If his security personnel get their eyes on me they might find out there is no Rise Kier in existence!

'Good night, his majesty,' it's probably for the best to sleep while covering my head till he goes out when the first stage starts.

"Seriously? Now?" The annoyance Niran let out with the two words made me cringe at myself so bad that I would prefer to sleep on thorns in a lonely room than be in the same room as him.

Enough talk, let's sleep now! 

***

After Aaris dozed off the silence again ruled the room, the comfortable and fluffy blanket that he had thrown in the side in the sleep was snatched by someone without his knowledge.

"It's getting cold!" Half asleep he realized this in his dream, "mmm- where is my blanket? Sir. Horses are my blanket!" Screaming he jumped out of his bed and knocked his head on the floor.

"Ayo, where did the soft hay go?" A bump came out on his head, and now he was wide awake, crawling back to his bed,

"Well that hit hard, hope I didn't disturb anyone-"

"You did, you bumpkin!!" A boy grabbed his wrist and pushed him on the floor again.

"Who are you!" Aaris felt an incredible strength pushing him down, he wasn't a normal candidate who came for selection.

"Me? My name is Fivion,  I am a Beastkin! Who you humans used as tools and fodder, exploited and massacred for your greed! And tonight we'll make sure to even the score with you with the death of your country's precious prince!" He tightened his grip and pressed Aaris further.

Aaris glanced around and realized the situation was worse than he thought. There were 2 other Beastkin, and 1 dwarf was standing in the room, all of them had hideous smiles on their faces.

But the spectacle in front of him was horrendous, 2 of his roommates were dead on the blood-drenched floor, though it wasn't just this the sword they've been stabbed with, was still intact in his torso but soon after pulled another human.

"Aren't you human? Do you know what this could lead to! And you still helped them! Where will the crown prince save him now or else!-" a strong kick mopped his face.

"Why should I care? They are paying me more than I got as an imperial guard!" He kneeled & grabbed Aaris's hair while Fivion was pinning Aaris down, and punched him on the nose.

"Imperial guard? I see you were the one who helped them, where is the prince?" Blood spurted out of Aaris nose and his face was bruised.

"Oh him? He is sleeping there" he pointed his finger to the left corner where the crown prince was wrapped in chains and Chant Locks. Beside him, another boy who looked human was standing with his arms crossed looking at Aaris.

"Hurry up Peros! We don't have much time. Soon the anti-mana barrier will go down and the prince will wake up. Just kill this brat already so we can finish our business and get out of here as soon as possible. If the prince wakes up we don't stand a chance against him." The boy who stood beside the prince stepped on him.

"Oye Terry! Don't tell me what to do, I'll finish everything once I am done with him!" He again thrashed Aaris on his face and stood up.

"His majesty! Are you okay? Speak to me!" Aaris yelled his guts out while they mocked him.

***

--- Aaris - POV --

Are you kidding me? The selection didn't even begin and troubles flooded this Academy, let's see we have two humans, 3 Beastkin and 1 dwarf, the Beastkins are still in their human form which makes things more complicated if only they use their Beast-blood first form I can get a better idea how should I fight back, but the problem is these two humans.

If they are imperial guards they don't need mana to kill someone though they are wearing a Counting amulet which allows them to use mana even if they are in the anti-mana barrier.

Since the barrier was made in a Structure void the room has also been cut off from outside, no one can enter nor leave unless the barrier is taken down from inside.

"Well, then don't you tell me your name?" Fivion released me and Peros kicked me on my shoulder and I slammed my back on the wall.

'Rise! And I guess I can't waste time anymore. I don't need to hold back on you guys' blood dripping down my lips and I stood up pressing my knees.

"Oh ho what are you going to do? Cast a spell?" Peros giggled.

'That's where you make a mistake if you ever make a plan, then consider the most unusual way to fail too if you can't, your plan is as good as failed.'

***

"What did you say?" Peros cracked his fingers and tightened his fist.

"Oh ho let me help too!" "I want to pummel his cute face too!" "Me too! Me too!" The other Fivion & other Beastkin along with dwarf surrounded Aaris, 

"So what are you going to do now?" Peros grabbed Aaris' collar and prepared a punch.

[ ROUGE CIRCULATION ] 

Aaris uttered and punched Peros in the guts and he crashed into the room's wall.

"What the fuck!" Fivion was astounded and tried to step back, "Oye Terry hurry kill that bastard- ''his stunned eyes saw Terry face half-buried on the floor & Aaris easing chains.

"How are you doing this? Your moments are way too fast, how can you use mana here? Whoever you are, you made a big mistake!" Fivion & other Beastkin crossed his wrists and morphed into the first-level beast form.

[ BEASTKIN BLOOD ART]

[ FIRST SKIN-FORM  ]

Scales appeared partially on their body and their physique evolved larger, they were Vipermen perfect for assassination and attacked Aaris, 

"You are Dead!" Fivion screamed & three of them attacked from sides.

"Assumptions should be made with sand mind you idiot" Aaris swung an uppercut on Fivion's jaw and crashed to the ceiling and kicked the other two who crashed onto the opposite beds and knocked out.

The Dwarf hopped at Aaris from behind with a hammer & yelled, 

[ HEAVY STONE POUND ]

Aaris stopped and clasped the hammer and crushed the hammer.

"You know that it had the density of steel & weighed a ton! How are you doing this?" The Dwarf fell on the floor with disbelief.

"You wanna hear a lullaby?" Aaris cracked his fingers with an evil smile looking down on the Dwarf.

"What kind of lullaby?" Dwarf's shaking voice was a melody to Aaris's ears.

"A good one! Where you'll see some stars in a dream after you fall asleep!" Aaris pulled his punch.

"What?"

A hard punch landed on the dwarf's face, unlike other species, dwarfs have a very tough build so knocking them with just a punch is impossible for a normal person though this doesn't bother Aaris.

"It's impossible to land a strike & possess such agility like that without mana! But you shouldn't be able to use it under an anti- barrier. So How are you doing this? Who are you?" Peros crawled on the floor and screamed.

"Yes you are right no one can use mana under the anti-mana barrier, also I am a normal human to some extent I guess, what I possess isn't mana but something that resembles it following its basic nature but breaks its fundamental laws of spells." 

Aaris smiled at him and picked up the crown price and threw him on the bed.

"Huff! Well, that took a toll on me! My body hurts!"  Aaris walked up to Peros and grabbed his hair and heaved his head upwards.

"So tell me who is behind all this? Why did you do this? Oh yes and before that undo the Barrier!"

"The barrier is undone already & you tell me first who you really are!" Peros eyes went red.

"I am Rise Kier, didn't I tell you already, now say your prayers! Oh yes, how can I forget!" Aaris pulled out his Grand Selection Candidate card, 

"Please inform the Wardens that there are infiltrators and assassins in the crown prince room, please come here as soon as possible!" When Aaris finished reporting, words appeared on the back of the card.

"Report submitted successfully, team dispatched!"

"Sigh, now what should I do with you? Should I break a bone or two of yours? A joint? Or squash your skull? Oh, I have an idea how about I pummel you until all of your teeth fall out!" Aaris never looked so sinister.

"Wait! You idiot!" A familiar voice came from behind.

"Miss Tara?"