Vol. 5 Prologue

As awakened monsters, these beings took pride in themselves for being the best out of all the monsters.

Not only did they survive the harsh world where it was a norm to be devoured by your kin, they stood atop and were able to gain enlightenment.

That is why they pride themselves as both unique and powerful; Often less aggressive yet very domineering nonetheless.

Awakened monsters could even go so far as establishing their own territories, acts far more advanced than their mindless low rank counterparts.

Yet all of those awakened monsters were easily crushed and disheartened by the fact that they could still be controlled.

It was as if they were merely ordinary monsters, as a one of a kind tamer was able to bind them into a contract just by his words alone.

Frustration, anger and broken pride had made them all stronger, yet those shackles were firm and were a thing they could never unlock.

Which was why upon their tamer's words, claiming that if they do well in that invasion, they could be free, all their pent up anger was released onto the poor people of EDSD. Well, most did.

Unlike the others, the poor awakened undead flame knight drew the short end of the stick.

His opponents, a fat owl who at first glance should not be able to fly due to his obesity, and a pale looking boy who he thought he could one-slash away, were giving him a frustrating time.

He had even watched as multitudes of his weaker kind were frozen in spot, leaving him to face the two powerful beings before him.

Adding insult to injury, not only were they disrespecting him by arguing to his face (an action that indicated they were not threatened by him at all), his flame was no match for the boy's ice magic.

"This shouldn't be!!! My flames should melt your ice!" Shouted the Flame undead angrily, yet neither the bird nor the boy even gave a glance.

Both seemed to be occupied as they quarreled with no sign of stopping.

"It'll scare away the small fry while we walk!" Naell shouted.

"It may also lure the biggest ones, HOOT!" The owl retorted.

For a moment the undead knight watched them in frustration, until finally he had enough.

It was then when half of his disheveled body set ablaze, emitting a deathly color that was akin to his rotting skin.

"You dare demean me?!" His unsightly mouth snarled as his body shifted and jerked. The growing flames of his body then flickering even quicker.

In an instant, the flames combusted and shot at every direction, finally earning the undead knight an irritated gaze from both his opponents. Yet a dark shield had halted the flames from even reaching far.

"Can't you see we're talking?!"

It was then easily extinguished by a mere flick of the boy's finger whose eyes were so cold upon looking at him.

It was at that moment the monster questioned which was colder; the massive and harsh crystalline wave that suddenly spewed out from the boy's location, or his eyes that seemed to bear no hint of fear towards his strongest flames.

As he stopped dead in his tracks, watching the cold approach him in unfathomable force, he, the so-called Flame Knight, master of Alvallah, was frozen and fainted on the spot.

"..."

"Hey..."

"You killed him, HOOT."

"... No he's just unconscious."

"..."

"Will you unlock my seal now?"

"Still no, HOOT."

*******

Far from that silly situation, Andrew and the rest of his friends found themselves in a tight spot.

Out of nowhere, three beings that appeared from the shadows started attacking them with power that rivaled their own.

It was bad enough that they stood with barely any energy left, but now they had to fight even harder than they did against the monsters.

"Good job dodging kids." Said the burly man whose muscles were bulging from the joy of the incoming battle.

The two who were with him were both sighing. Truth be told, it was that guy's fault why their attempted ambush failed.

The burly guy's bloodlust leaked out before they could leap out entirely from the shadows.

Because of that, Andrew and the rest felt their auras and magic which had enabled them to escape the harm.

"Well, doesn't really matter, it's better to kill them this way." Said the lady who donned the garments of a mage.

If the burly guy's instincts were filled with intense joy for battle, the lady oozed out a murderous intent that was far too suffocating.

The protagonist's party figured out right away that those people were the ones responsible for the destruction, just from the power gap between them and the monsters.

What filled their minds was rage but calmly they chose to assess them. Afterall, none of them could make any rash decisions, especially when only Note was the one who could truly fight.

It was not to say that they were unprepared, as had they faced any other opponents, Andrew and the rest would not feel threatened at all.

Yet in that moment, they could somehow feel that the trio was, if not on equal footing, far better than them in both experience and their arsenal of aura and mana.

Their thoughts began to question whether or not it was really the right decision to head there.

In truth, they all sensed the intentions of the monsters, thus they knew fully well they were being led into a trap.

Yet perhaps their naivety had caused them to underestimate their enemy; as the outcome of their immaturity and sense of justice combined, were now before them in the form of three powerful beings.

"What's the purpose of causing this much tragedy?"

Andrew bravely spoke, all the while his sword, Gaviarau radiated a calm yet blustering power. In a way, even the trio were in awe of his weapon.

However, their fascination only lasted for a while as the lady's mana began leaking out, revealing to the protagonist's party a far more sinister look at her prowess.

"Purpose you say?"

Upon sensing her, the remaining monsters left in a hurry all whilst shrieking.

"You're all naive brats."

With every word, their surroundings grew dim; Even Andrew and his friends felt their chests tighten from the pain caused by her mana.

"From the golden apples, to the dungeon you destroyed---" She then raised her voice.

"You have the guts to ask us the reason for all this?!" She yelled, hissing every syllable and expressing her hatred.

Hearing her, it was as if Loknar's foreboding words came crashing down on the protagonist's party.

"Be careful, if our intel is correct, the enemies we made are not as simple as we think."

Yet barely a second passed when the lady called forth a spell, firing at them with the sudden and pure force of her mana.

Viola and Andrew quickly reacted, casting light mana shields that managed to safeguard them from her attack.

Yet just from the collision alone, they were able to estimate how their entire party was at a disadvantage.

"Enough, Awthra."

The man with bright blond eyes said, raising a hand and somehow effectively subduing the lady.

Beside him, the man with bulging muscles then grinned and said,

"Nice going Awthra, now the prey are wary."

His words earned him a scoff

"Shut up, Sult." The feisty mage said before folding her arms in disdain.

Upon calming down, her eyes gazed at Andrew and the rest, all of whom had faces that were now painted with alertness. Even their battle stances and positions had changed.

A softer look then formed on the mage's face as she turned to the other man next to her.

"Forgive me, Pierd." She managed to utter as her eyes met with gold.

The hooded man only sighed and proceeded to say,

"I suppose it's better off this way."

For the trio, the situation would have taken a turn for the worse, had Awthra's spell not missed.

Andrew and his friends would have met an untimely demise without witnessing their greater plan of destruction.

'With them acting cautiously, our battle won't be fleeting.'

Pierd thought as he turned to his two companions with a hood still covering his hair. When all of a sudden, sharp rays of light magic shot towards all three of them.

Its source was Viola, who took the opportunity to attack their distracted foes.

The magic was as fast as light itself, and was densely compact with the potential to disseminate whoever it hit.

Supposedly it was fool-proof as none of them would have the time to react to the spell.

Yet in an odd turn of events the rays stopped mid-air, just a foot away from the targeted beings.

Pierd sighed, feigning a disappointed gaze.

"The youth are quite impatient now, aren't they?" He said as the brightest light began to emit from his eyes.

In that instant, Viola watched and shivered, recognizing the hue of magic seemingly coming from the man. She then thought to herself, now knowing their opponent wielded the same element as her,

"...But light can't crush light-"

As if to answer her confusion, the three crackling rays of powerful magic that she casted, were with no warning, halted mid-air before ultimately shattering.

The shards then broke further into glistening dusts of light, and with a wave of Pierd's hand the powder rose to the air, creating what would otherwise be a beautiful scene amid the dorm's hall.

"...He broke it with the same element...?" Viola muttered meekly as a look of fear was plastered across her face. To her, a principle of magic she lived to understand, had just been broken in front of her very eyes.

Andrew, a fellow wielder of light magic, also carefully watched the magic dust.

"Young light mage, you must be confused." Pierd said with a dignified tone.

"Afterall, only dark magic can destroy light." He continued, with a calm voice amid all the tension from the students.

Turning to the ceiling that was now littered with light-magic dust, he smiled and waved his hand, causing the dust to hover above the students' heads.

Rizaul took note of this and preemptively prepared himself. He discreetly coated his strings with aura and unnoticeably attached them to the walls around them

The hooded man took no notice and continued.

"You see, your magic was not destroyed. It simply changed shape."

Gracefully he moved his hands as his eyes lit up once more. The dust followed his movements and began to turn into hundreds of small light shards, all of which were aimed at the protagonist party.

In an instant, he forced them to rain down with speed.

Viola casted a large barrier to protect them, yet to no avail as it also turned into dust.

Yet just before the rain of attacks could severely wound the party, many of the shards landed on a translucent surface, and reflected back into the sky.

"Hmm?" The fierce lady squinted at the adventurers before her, and only then saw the thin layer of strings above their heads.

Earlier upon seeing the hooded man raise his hands to the air, Rizaul had immediately formed a web of reflective aura coated strings to protect them.

Yet some shards were still small enough to pass through the web, and had managed to graze their shoulders.

"I'm sorry, everyone!" Viola called out, knowing her attack had just backfired against her friends.

Nezothecat

Hey everyone! Check out what the students of Esuela Dio sa De look like in our patreon post, "Character Portraits" Under the "Arts" tag at  patreon.com/nezothecat

It's free for public viewing and is a work in progress that will soon have every character we've introduced in TNBS thus far! We hope you all liked the chapter ^^