Chrites quietly slipped into his seat next to Rivb just as the teacher turned back toward the chalkboard.
Rivb leaned over and whispered, “Where the hell were you?
You were gone for almost thirty minutes.
I thought you fell asleep in the bathroom.”
“I was late because one of the teachers stopped me in the hallway,” Chrites lied smoothly.
“He asked for my name and wanted to check my evaluation rank on his clipboard.
It took forever.”
Rivb nodded, completely believing the excuse.
“That makes sense.
They are probably double-checking all the new students after the attack yesterday.”
They sat quietly and attended the whole lecture.
When the final bell of the day rang, the school ended and the thousands of students began to pour out of the main buildings.
Chrites, Rivb, Chrono, and Shevy walked together toward the front gate of the academy.
As they were walking out of the gate, a boy stepped directly into their path.
He was a large, angry-looking student wearing the standard G.M.W.U.
uniform.
“Hey, stop right here!” the guy yelled, pointing a finger directly at Chrono’s chest.
“Stop here, bro.
I want to have a duel with you right now.”
Chrono stopped walking and stared at him in complete confusion.
“What the hell are you saying?
What are you speaking about?
We are not even fully enrolled in the academy yet, and you are asking for a duel this early?”
The angry guy stepped forward and violently pulled the collar of Chrono’s shirt.
“Hey, I know you got a higher rank than me on the evaluation test!
But do you really think you are so special?
Do you think you can just walk around acting like you are better than everyone else?”
Chrono grabbed the guy’s wrist and tried to push him away.
“Who the hell are you?
How do I even know you got a lower rank than me?
I do not even know who you are!”
“Shut up, you arrogant bastard!” the guy screamed.
He pulled his fist back, getting ready to punch Chrono right in the face.
Before the guy could throw the punch, Rivb stepped in.
In a single millisecond, Rivb threw a hard, fast punch that slammed right into the guy’s jaw.
The angry guy fell backward, crashing hard onto the concrete path.
His nose was bleeding, and his face twisted with absolute fury.
Getting punched in front of a huge crowd of students made him very, very furious.
“You are going to die for that!” the guy screamed.
He reached to his hip and pulled out his standard-issue magical sidearm.
He aimed the gun directly at Rivb.
“Fire Blast!”
He pulled the trigger, shooting a highly compressed magical blast of pure fire right at Rivb’s chest.
At that exact moment, Chrites stepped in between them.
Chrites did not even think.
His body moved on pure instinct.
He drew his simple black sword from his hip.
Moving faster than a millisecond, he swung the blade forward.
The heavy steel of his sword cut straight through the incoming blast of magical fire, splitting the attack completely in half.
The two halves of the fire blast shot harmlessly past Rivb and hit the stone wall behind them.
Chrites did not stop there.
In the same impossibly fast motion, he flicked his wrist.
The tip of his sword sliced right through the metal barrel of the angry guy’s gun.
He moved so fast that nobody in the crowd could even see what really happened.
It was less than a millisecond.
To the other students, it just looked like the fire blast vanished into thin air, and the guy’s gun suddenly fell apart.
Nobody knew that Chrites had stopped the attack.
Nobody knew that Chrites had cut the gun in half.
Chrites sheathed his sword perfectly, acting like he had just been standing there the whole time in total shock.
His weapon was completely destroyed, and he could not fight anymore without it.
He scrambled to his feet, terrified of what just happened.
“I will come back again to fight!” he screamed as he ran away down the street.
“I will get my revenge, you fucking bastards!”
Rivb let out a heavy breath and rubbed his knuckles.
“What a complete psycho.
Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, we are fine,” Chrono said, fixing his collar.
“Thanks for the help, Rivb.”
“No problem,” Rivb smiled.
“Let’s just go home before someone else tries to fight us.”
The four friends walked away from the academy.
When they reached the central transit station, they all got separated so they could go home in their different directions.
Chrites was walking completely alone down the busy street.
His mind was spinning.
He was thinking about what the hell happened with that crazy guy at the gate, and he was thinking about what Linease wanted with his secret organization.
He was not paying attention to where he was walking.
Suddenly, he bumped hard into another guy walking on the road.
The guy fell down onto the hard pavement.
He scrambled up, his face red with anger.
“Are you blind?!” he yelled loudly.
“Are you not able to see where you are walking?
Do you not know who I am?!”
“Sorry, sorry,” Chrites said quickly, holding his hands up.
“It is my fault.
I am really sorry.”
The angry guy did not care.
He stepped forward and punched Chrites right in the chest.
Chrites barely had time to react, but he purposefully did not dodge.
He took the hit.
The punch was hard, but Chrites easily balanced his body so he did not fall on the ground.
“Sorry,” Chrites said again, keeping his head down.
The angry guy cursed under his breath and stormed away down the street.
Chrites let out a tired sigh.
He thought to himself, “What kind of day is today?
This day is really messy and very, very bad.”
He finally made it back to his home.
The house was quiet.
He walked into his bedroom, kept his heavy school bag down on the floor, and sat in the chair by his desk.
His phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out and opened the Blake app.
There was a new message from a contact named simply with a dot.
It was from Linease.
*Meet me at the park near your house at 6:30 PM.
I am ready.*
Chrites checked the time.
It was almost 6:00 PM.
He did not change into his dark formal suit or his demon mask.
He just kept on his normal home clothes—a simple grey t-shirt and dark trousers.
He walked out of his house and headed toward the park.
He arrived exactly at 6:30 PM.
The park was mostly empty, but he saw that no one was waiting for him at the benches.
He sat down and waited patiently.
Ten to twenty minutes passed.
Finally, he saw Linease running up the path toward him, looking totally out of breath.
“Why the hell are you late?” Chrites asked, crossing his arms.
“Sorry,” Linease panted, resting her hands on her knees.
My mom is running late today, so due to that, I had to do all the house chores myself before I could leave.”
“Okay, whatever,” Chrites said, standing up.
“Let’s go to the base.”
They started walking out of the park.
Before they got too far, Linease looked at his completely uncovered face.
“Is wearing a mask compulsory in your group?” she asked curiously.
“During the actual operations and missions, you have to wear a mask,” Chrites explained as they walked down the quiet street.
“But in the offices or the headquarters, you do not need to wear them.
In the main base, you can show your face.
But wearing it in an operation is compulsory so that your identity does not reveal itself.
It protects you and your family from the enemy.”
They walked for a few blocks until they reached the abandoned industrial warehouse.
Chrites led her inside.
They stood in front of the heavy steel vault door.
“Wait one second,” Chrites said.
He did not want to walk into his own headquarters looking like a teenager in a t-shirt.
He quietly channeled his dark magic.
He used a quick teleportation spell to pull his formal clothes from his emergency stash.
In a flash of dark energy, his normal clothes vanished, and he was suddenly wearing the sharp, tailored black suit and long coat of the syndicate leader.
Linease watched the magic happen with wide eyes.
“Why the hell are you changing your clothes right now?”
“Because I am the leader of this organization,” Chrites replied smoothly.
“Wearing a casual t-shirt does not suit me when I am giving orders to my soldiers.”
He placed his hand on the biometric scanner.
The heavy steel door hissed open, and they walked down into the underground bunker.
When they stepped inside, Linease gasped.
She was really shocked to see the real thing.
The bunker was absolutely awesome.
It was incredibly large, brightly lit, and equipped with heavy magical technology.
There were not just simple guns, but all types of highly advanced magical equipment used for massive battles.
It was a really powerful, professional military base.
Silas, the tall lieutenant, came running over immediately.
“Sir!” Silas said, saluting Chrites.
Then he looked at Linease, his eyes narrowing with intense suspicion.
“Sir, is that the girl?
The same girl from the subway last night?
What the hell is she doing here with you in our secure headquarters?”
“Stand down, Silas,” Chrites ordered.
He quickly explained all the things that had happened at the school today, and how Linease had agreed to join their fight against the DTN.
Silas did not look happy about it, but he followed his orders.
Chrites took Linease on a quick tour of the massive facility.
He showed her the cafeteria where the soldiers were eating food.
He walked her through the main radar zones covered in glowing digital maps, and finally showed her the heavy equipment zone where the weapons were stored.
After the tour, one of the female syndicate members walked up to Linease.
The woman handed her a folded black uniform, a long coat, and a plain black mask.
“You have to sign these documents just to work with us,” the female member said, handing her a digital datapad.
Linease nodded quickly and signed the digital documents, officially joining The Obsidian Syndicate.
While Linease was looking at her new uniform, Silas pulled Chrites into a dark corner of the equipment room, far away from the others.
“Sir, are you absolutely sure she is trustable?” Silas asked in a serious whisper.
“She found out your secret identity in less than twenty-four hours.”
“I am just testing her right now,” Chrites replied, his voice dropping to a cold, dangerous tone.
“I am watching her every move.
If she dares to mess around and do anything funny, kill her immediately.
There is no reason to leave her alive if she betrays us.
She could easily be an assassin or a secret agent for the DTN, so we should prepare our security according to that.”
“Understood, sir,” Silas nodded grimly.
“And Silas,” Chrites added, his blue eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.
“I want one of our best stealth members to spy on her constantly when she leaves this base.
Make absolutely sure she is not going to tell any of our secrets to others.”