Chapter 46 - Conquest Report

As Suna and Luken walked back to where the others were, Zachary stood up, he seemed like he had something to say.

"W-Why did you not use any spells or skills? He was cornered! You had him already at that moment!"

Zachary asked Suna.

Suna just scratched her head and smiled.

"Well...I sort of can't."

She said.

"What does that mean? Also, Commander Luken, why is she allowed to fight without using her affinity element?"

"I do not have Anima cells, in fact, I have never awoken them!"

She said proudly.

"WHAT?!"

Zachary was dazed and confused.

"Did you go deaf or something?"

Yin made fun of Zachary.

Zach looked at Gavin, the latter just nodded.

"Y-You do not have Anima cells? B-But you are a Slayer, are you not?"

This time, he was truly perplexed.

"Well, it is kind of hard to explain, it would also take a long amount of time to explain. So, it is what it is!"

She said.

"You mean all those punches, even your physical prowess and capabilities, those come from only your strength alone?!"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Zach was disheartened, he even wanted to only use his physical strengths in battle, without the aid of his Fire affinity, but here Suna was, a person who does not even have Anima cells, going almost toe to toe with an SS Ranked Slayer.

"It is a cruel world we live in..."

He thought to himself.

"If we were to narrate the details, we would be here till the next morning, have Suna tell you some other time, alright?"

Luken said.

"You were legitimately scared for a second there, were you not, Luken?"

Gavin confronted him.

"N-No! I am the strongest there is! Why would I be scared?!"

Luken stammered while answering.

"I definitely saw sweat coming down from his head after the battle, I can tell you that much."

Yin said while laughing.

The sun was almost setting.

Their individual training was truly a success, the Six Blades sat across a bonfire which took Zachary one whole hour to ignite, despite being a Fire Slayer himself.

"See?! I told you I was bad at using my affinity."

He said.

"Confidence, boy, be confident. When the time comes, you will be exuding flames from every part of you!"

Luken said in a way that eased Zach's worries.

A messenger pigeon dropped a scroll on Gavin's lap.

"What's that, sir?"

Yin asked.

"Just some news about a successful conquest, it happened roughly 3 kilometers away from the one we were in."

Gavin answered Yin's question.

"How many Angels were there, Gavin?"

Asked Suna.

"There were Six Angels."

Yin and Suna stood up in bewilderment.

"S-Six? That's a lot! They must have expended hundreds of squads and troops, right?"

Suna exclaimed.

Luken finally broke his silence and asked Gavin something.

"Which organization led the conquest?"

He asked.

"It was the Inferno Garden."

"Tch. I should have expected so. How many members did they send?"

"Only two."

Gavin's answer made all of their jaws drop.

"T-Two Slayers versus Six Angels? How the hell did they win?"

Zachary said.

"Who were they, Gavin?"

Asked Luken.

"It was the Inferno Garden's de-facto leader, Ignis Silva, and the newly ranked rookie Slayer, Hector Incendium."

Gavin said.

"Jeez, Ignis still has no chill, what if the kid died or something in battle? What was he thinking?"

Luken answered.

"You know how Ignis is, it seems like this kid Hector is the real deal. Suna, if ever you come across him or get seeded against him in the Slayer Tournament, I want you to surrender or disqualify yourself immediately."

Gavin stared at Suna.

"Why would I do that? I am excited to fight this Hector guy, besides, we started to get our ranks roughly at the same time, right? So we are both rookies."

She said proudly.

Luken lit a cigarette and moved slightly away from them, as Gavin did not want to inhale cigarette smoke.

"Look, Suna, I am not telling you this in an attempt to scare you. I believe Gavin here has already told you the rules of the Slayer Tournament, right?"

She nodded.

"The Slayer Tournament's matches will not stop or be stopped by the officials unless someone admits they've already lost. And knowing you, I know you will never admit defeat. There have truly been some cases where participants actually died. Their pride and ego were far more important to them than their lives, even at death's door step, they never surrendered. Do not be that way, there is no honor in stupidity."

"What if I beat him?! I know I can! I just have to train as hard as I can!"

She responded.

"Are the Inferno Garden members really that strong, sir?"

Zach asked.

"They are the top 1 organization for a reason. And they only recruit Fire Slayers."

Gavin said.

"These guys seem scary, promise us you will not do anything rash in the tournament, Suna. The Commander is right, I am sure there is honor in bravery and fighting till the end, but not if it ends up in your death. I would not want that, even a simpleton like me understands that much."

Yin faced towards her direction.

"Woah, you actually said something decent for once, knucklehead."

Zach directed an insult towards Yin.

"What's that?!"

Yin asked.

"Did you not hear me? Aren't you the one who was asking me if I was going deaf earlier?"

Zachary answered with pure sass.

"Alright you two, break it up. I am far too exhausted to immobilize each one of you if you started to misbehave now, so cool yourselves off."

Luken said to the quarreling and bickering Six Blades newbies.

"Oh crap, it is almost night time! I have to do my daily quest!"

Yin exclaimed.

"Your daily what?"

Zach mocked him.

"M-My uh, my daily exercise ritual, yeah, t-that one! I will be back before dinner, guys! Don't start without me!"

With that, Yin started to run in order to fulfill his daily quest requirement.

He was not about to find out what would happen if he missed it.