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Apocalyptica: Vector's Edge

Over 500 years ago, the world was submerged in Enigma. An energy that killed half the human race and gave the survivors unique abilities and changed the whole planet. Half of the survivors looked for refuge underground and made a life for themselves there. Juan Kim Louw, a young mercenary decides to ascend and see what the upper world is like. Instead of seeing the deserted and abandoned wastelands he had been told as a child were there, he saw a flourishing and technologically advanced society. With his own gifts, Juan decides live in the upper world, but ghosts from the hell below follow him...and bring chaos with them.

theonionjunktion · Sci-fi
Not enough ratings
5 Chs

The Wolf's Baptism

Legends state that Enigma was named so due to the fact that Mankind did not understand what it was. It completely overturned what the ancestors knew to be reality. Mankind stumbled upon a new reality. They realized that they had not been learning the laws of physics. They were learning their laws of physics. Mankind was taken from its high pedestal of being the masters of knowledge to struggling for survival.

Currently above ground, thanks to the efforts of their predecessor's mankind has finally regained its position as the apex predator of the world, but this position was always under threat. Thus Vector is always busy. Always fighting, always seeking for new blood to replace the old. Always seeking for new talents to become mankind's new light.

Thus the role of being an instructor at a Vector Academy was one filled with prestige, especially if that academy had a VE section. The VVA was no exception to this rule. Seated behind Wolfgang Voight on that stage was the backbone of the academy. The best instructors, teachers and professors in the art of combat for over a thousand miles. Three however stood head and shoulders above the rest, and currently they were facing a disaster of epic proportions.

"This is insane. Why did that old fool have to go so far?"

The one who had just spoken was Thomas Schmidt. Head of the Beta division at VVA. He was a tall man. Lanky arms and legs with a face that screamed intelligence. He was never one to be left behind in matters of the mind. He massaged his temples and nudged his glasses into position after speaking.

"Thomas, you are the smartest one here. You should have seen this coming. Didn't you have the roster of students in your hands a few days ago? You said there was no one of note, so if there is anyone to blame it's you." Scolded a young woman.

She was thin but well proportioned. She wore armour made out of metalloids and some other rare materials. A large broad sword was lying on top of her supple thighs, waiting for its chance to be unsheathed. Her long dark hair flowed down like a cascading water fall and her sharp brown eyes showed that there was more than meets the eye when it came to her. This was the Head of the Alpha Division. Laura Liechtensteiner.

"Kids these days talk too much. In such situations there is nothing one can do besides watch. Only three people can match the Head in strength. One is outside the city on official business. One is in secluded training on the outskirts of the city and one is having a lecture. Excluding the first two, we all know what happens if someone disturbs her lectures." Laura and Thomas shuddered at these words.

The Speaker was Joseph Kroos. An old man with a body to suit. He was one of the most respected members of the governing body of the school and was the oldest serving member of staff there. He was also the head of the Gamma Division.

Thomas nudged his glasses once again and spoke, "These are nobles Old Kroos. We need to do something about this."

"Do something? Do what?" Said the old codger defensively.

"Old Kroos you were one of the Head's teachers long back. Surely he would listen to you." Said Laura trying to come up with a solution. Thomas nodded, agreeing with Laura's idea.

The old man pinched his chin with his right hand, "Well that might work," Laura and Thomas were about to smile, when they were brought crashing down to earth by the old man's next words, "but this is far too amusing. This old man has been in need of entertainment for quite a while haha. Cheer up! The youngsters are supposed to be vibrant! Haha"

Laura and Thomas slumped in their chairs. They had some hope. They believed there was a chance of getting the nearly senile old man to be reasonable for once; alas fate was not with them.

"When the Vice Head gets back-" Thomas' words were cut of immediately by the cunning old fox.

"Don't worry about Özil. I will deal with him."

The duo sighed and looked on ahead at the damage that Wolfgang had done. A huge casing of diamond had covered the entire base of the stadium, making it impossible to see the freshmen, and almost all of the students in the stands were unconscious. Only some of the more experienced ones were awake. Looking on in expectation. For this was a rare event that happened every-time Wolfgang thought that there were freshmen with potential. Throughout the academy it was known as the Wolf's Baptism.

...

A few moments earlier Juan had been getting ready to receive Wolfgang's death stare. When the latter's eyes landed on the former, something odd happened.

This is!

A foreign body was entering Juan's body. And somehow this body or energy came from Wolfgang's eyes. Juan was no stranger to such a phenomenon. On the battlefield such a technique was not uncommon. Thus by reflex Juan immediately rejected the energy and booted it out of his body.

Wait! Oh no! I shouldn't have done that!

Juan knew exactly what Wolfgang was doing. He was using his enigma to check the bodies of all of the students here. Such an action was considered very rude amongst enigma users, but Juan had no doubt that few to none could tell what the Head was doing. Unfortunately for himself, Juan was one of the few.

In less than a fraction of a second, a massive wave of killing intent billowed from Wolfgang's body. As each student was hit they immediately fell unconscious. Juan was not expecting this, and his body immediately fought back the intent that was trying to enter his consciousness.

Damn it I fell for it again!

Juan cursed in his heart at the current turn of events. Wolfgang had no doubt done this to make sure that what Juan had done before was not a fluke. And he used his famous 'Baptism' to check. And the result?

Juan, just like all of the freshmen around him, 'collapsed' to the ground unconscious.

Hoh! This kid is very sneaky. Not bad. Not bad at all. But if you want to pretend in front of me you have to do better than that.

Immediately Wolfgang activated an ability of his and covered the entire base of the stadium in diamond. It was a simple skill for his. Next he opened a hole and jumped in. After landing on the ground he closed the hole. The whole process took only a few moments. Such was the skill of an expert of the highest order.

Juan was well aware of what was happening, despite the fact that he was lying on the ground with his eyes closed. Every freshman was doing the same thing. Except unlike Juan they were truly unconscious. A simple wisp of killing intent from a powerful warrior like Wolfgang was more than enough to put them to sleep.

Juan's instincts told him not to stand out, so he immediately pretended to also fall unconscious as well. His instinct had saved his life countless times so Juan did not hesitate to listen to it.

Shoo!

Suddenly things took a turn for the worse. Juan's body was now encased in a diamond room with four walls. The walls materialized out of thin air. Due to his abilities Juan could tell what was occurring outside despite his current situation. Yet despite his best efforts, he was still caught, for he was not the only person in the room.

Juan opened his eyes, and saw the giant visage of Wolfgang Voight staring down at him, like a beast that had found its prey.

"Brat, what's your name?"

"Juan Kim Louw."

Juan stood up while dusting himself. Wolfgang marveled at how confident Juan was. Even veteran fighters found it hard to maintain their composure around him.

"Well Juan, we need to talk...I know what you are."

Juan's eyes narrowed at what Wolfgang said.

Man this will be a pain.

...

In a restaurant within the academy sat a young man. He had a small frame and had a small freckled face. He had a head of messy brown hair and wore glasses. He was wearing a black uniform with bronze markings. He was Johann di Valdios Jaeger. It was his second year at the academy now. And he was without a doubt even more miserable than last year.

"Sigh." After finishing his meal the little Johann paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant. Many thoughts filled his mind as he stared blankly at the space ahead of him.

Jaeger was a common name in Valdios. However there was one family that stood above them all within the city. The House of Jaeger. It was not just powerful within the city; it was also one of the most powerful families in the world.

There were many reasons why this was so, but the main reason was quite simple. The House of Jaeger was the Noble clan with the greatest population in world. Their clan had over a million members, which was rare among the noble clans who valued the purity of their blood.

Due to its size there were even divisions within the clan itself. There was the head family, the major families, and the minor families. Johann was born within the head family, but due to certain circumstances was raised by the Valdios Branch, which was a major family.

Valdios was within Jaeger territory thus Johann should have grown up without a single worry. Unfortunately, fate was not so kind. He, a child from the Head family, with only a bronze enigma origin, was treated with scorn his whole life. The name Jaeger to him was not a blessing but a curse.

As Johann reminisced about his past he finally reached his dorm room. He was a noble, yet he still had to share a room with someone. This was an unpleasant feeling but like he usually did Johann bore with it. The academy was like a city, with a multitude of buildings. The House of Jaeger naturally had its own quarters for its members, but Johann chose to live like a normal student. The life of a noble had been far too stressful for him, even if he hated the fact that he would be sharing a room.

His previous roommate had graduated last year, thus Johann was expecting a new roommate. There was still the possibility of him not having to share the room after the entire academy was quite spacious. Simon was a shy boy and an introvert thus he loved being by himself. As he neared his dorm room on the second floor of the dorms he stayed in, he silently prayed for his wishes to be granted, he hoped than when the freshmen were brought to their dorms later on in the day he would have his way for once, fate however had other plans.

As he reached for the door, Johann saw that it was already partly open. At first he was surprised because the freshmen should still have been at the head offices registering for courses and so on. Then Johann remembered that some exceptional students already had their courses planned out for them before they came to the school.

Why would such a person be living in a crappy dorm like this? Oh dear, I wonder what he is like. I hope he doesn't have dirty habits. Cleaning up after John was very unpleasant.

After thinking about his previous roommate Johann shuddered a bit and opened the door.

To his surprise his roommate was already standing with his hand out. "Hi! My name is Juan Kim Louw. I'm your new roommate. Nice to meet you!"

Johann was spooked by Juan's sudden greeting and flinched a little. This resulted in his glasses falling from his head. Before he could even register what had happened, Juan was holding the glasses in his left hand.

"Woah you should be careful...um..."

"Johann. M-my name is Johann. Johann di Valdios Jaeger."

Juan smiled and shook Johann's right hand forcefully. Johann forcefully smiled and received his glasses. Johann didn't know why, but something about Juan's smile made him want to crawl into a hole and hide…