Eternal Slumber: Part 1

"So, aside from the outburst earlier, why are we all here?" I asked as I looked up to Cens and then around the large table in the Student Council room.

The outburst from Jaeger and the fight Senta started are pretty valid reasons for us all to be here, but I can't shake the feeling that we're here for another reason besides that. Is it because some of us were supposed to be appointed to our Student Council positions today? That's the only logical thing I can think of right now.

"What I want to know is how you were able to absorb AND redirect the flow of all of the Sacred Energy from Silva's Heaven-Piercing Arrow. It should be impossible for something like that to happen," Dante said with an annoyed tone. He quickly brushed his hand through his head for a moment and followed up by sliding what looked to be a thin pipe across the table to me with his free hand. "That's a pipe made from Sacred Energy, by the way. I want you to show me what you did to absorb that same energy from Silva's attack with such high proficiency."

"Sacred Energy is made from the leftover mana and elemental energy left in an area, so combining my own seven elements to create a form of Sacred Energy and blindly hoping it'd help me was all it was. I doubt I'll be able to do it again," I replied, lifting the thin pipe and observing it. If I try I have no idea what the outcome would be but given what happened earlier, I can't risk anything right now.

"Instead of potentially blowing up this building on accident, how about we all take a moment to just relax and not insult each other every four seconds?" a voice said from behind me as it came closer. Once the person was close enough, they grabbed the pipe from my hand and tucked it into the pocket of their pants without even stopping as they walked. The voice was feminine and when they walked past me I could confirm it was a girl who'd been speaking. She looked to be around 5'6 or 5'7, so just a few inches shorter than me at 5'9. Her voice had a calming tone as she spoke and she looked almost like a goddess. Her hair was long and the same blue you would see as you passed by an ocean. When she sat down and looked over at me, I couldn't help but feel as if I was staring straight into the sky during a windy day. "None of you new members have met me before today and I do apologize since I haven't been around recently due to..... certain issues that required my attention, but I'm finally here," she said as Cens walked over to her and handed her a holo-tablet he pulled out. "I am the president of the Aya Academy Student Council: Ayla Fornten. It's a pleasure to meet the new members of my council for the next eight years. I hope we can all work well together."

"Understood," the rest of us said in unison. She looks to be around 15 or 16 but she seems to act like a grown and mature adult in their hundreds. It's strange.

"If I may," I spoke up, loosening my tie and speaking in a calm tone. "your approach to being the president seems as if you've been doing this for years, but based on how you look, you don't seem to be at any higher year than a first or second. Mind explaining that?"

Almost everyone in the room but Lisa and Shiro had a look of surprise on their faces, though Ayla's look showed that she was more impressed than anything else. Before anyone could say anything, she raised her hand and smiled. "Your observation skills are some of the best I've seen. I do have experience being on a council and leading teams since I've been doing it since the age of 10, but this is my first year at Aya Academy and being the Student Council President. So from that, you could guess my age accurately, couldn't you?" Ayla asked in response, a look of excitement on her face. She's certainly a strange one.

"16. That's my guess. I couldn't think of you being younger than 16 but definitely not older than 17," I replied. I'm almost positive about that and I'm usually not wrong about my assumptions of others' ages.

"You're..... correct. You're certainly smarter and more observant than you look. The report I read on you said you were smart but that was an understatement," she said, trying to hide a laugh. I don't see what's so funny about it.

"I'm not all that smart. You're giving me too much credit," I replied as closed my eyes for a minute. When I opened them I noticed Arthur had a grin on his face and the rest of the room hadn't said anything.

"I'm guessing you don't often give yourself enough credit, but that topic is for another time," Ayla said as she looked back at the holo-tablet she'd been handed earlier. "Onto the different positions each of you shall be taking on the council. There's another thing I'll address but that'll be at the end. Now, Rin Enshino will be the head of the Disciplinary Committee. Elizabeth Forne will be the Vice-head of the Disciplinary Committee," She began to say. I couldn't say I was surprised by my position since the chances of fights consistently breaking out between the students of the combat course are extremely likely and Jaeger joining me makes sense as well. "Dante Senta will be the Student Council's Treasurer. Shiro Enshino will be the Council Secretary," She continued, sending documents to the watches of each person she called out afterward. I received a file containing everything I needed to know about the Disciplinary Committee and so did Jaeger. Shiro and Dante received documents likely related to their own positions as well, which they quickly opened and reviewed. "Now, Arthur Pendragon, you have the choice of joining the Disciplinary Committee or becoming the council's Historian. You're required to tell me your choice by the end of tomorrow. Now, Rin and Elizabeth, as the heads of the Disciplinary Committee and the combat course, I can think you'll have an understanding of what your daily lives will be like. You'll also need more members on the committee so feel free to recruit anyone you wish, but make sure you both agree on appointing them. Your badges will be in the Disciplinary Committee room in the combat course dorms, on the fifth floor. Your schedules and dorm room locations will also be there waiting for you," she said as she looked at the both of us. "Shiro and Dante, your similar items will be handed to you by me personally later, for now, just wait until we're done with this meeting. Now that all of the formal things are out of the way, Dante, your actions were inexcusable as a student and a representative for your course," she said as she turned to Dante.

Looks like she's finally getting into the important part of the meeting. But now that I think about it, what course does Dante represent? I never heard anything about it and I doubt the Exorcists have their own special course in the academy.

"I understand why you're upset but I am an Exorcist, and the First Master Exorcist at that, so exterminating a foul devil like him is in my nature. Just look at what it did at the entrance ceremony when we were attacked. It slaughtered and destroyed the attackers with no hesitation nor mercy. Only a devil could take pleasure in something that vile," Dante replied. It's as if he's trying to get Shiro to kill him with a comment like that. Then again, I wouldn't be opposed to killing him myself.

"Need I remind you that my very purpose for existing is to protect innocent life and kill those who unjustly take it. I'm no different from any other Assassin," I said with my eyes closed and arms crossed. "And don't forget this: I love combat, not mass slaughter. I don't want to hear criticisms from a human who's never even stepped onto a warzone in his life," I opened my eyes and looked straight at him as I finished speaking.

"Dante, you attacked a fellow student without just cause on school grounds and caused not only physical injury but damage to school property. Forget this obsession with your title and take responsibility for your actions," Ayla interjected. She'd been speaking calmly, but she didn't have that calming and relaxing tone her voice had before.

"President, I hope you also realize that I did also cause some damage to school property. If I need to pay anything I'll do it in a heartbeat," I said with a serious tone of voice. I don't care how much I have to pay, I did cause damage so I should play some part in rebuilding the damaged part of the school. Just because I have an unlimited balance doesn't mean I won't work myself to whatever extent I have to if it means settling the debt I owe. Shiro says I'm too stubborn for my own good but it'd be unfair for me to have been raised to take responsibility for the things I did and not actually follow through on it.

"I did plan to mention that but you at least recognized where you did something wrong. The school will send a fee to you soon. But my point still stands Dante, the last thing anyone in the Exorcist course nor Exorcist Order is to make an enemy out of thousands of young children and young adults. Your people have already suffered through that once and the outcome was the worst possible one. Do not ever try that again here. Am I understood?" Ayla asked Dante with a small hint of concern in her voice.

There actually is an Exorcist course.... but more importantly, what the hell did she mean by "your people have already suffered through that once" and about the worst possible outcome? I need to investigate that later on.

Dante sighed before coming to terms with the situation. "You're right, President. I formally apologize and will pay whatever I must," he replied with what sounded like hidden pain in his voice. That was satisfying as hell to hear.

"Thank you, everyone, I believe this concludes our first meeting. Our job as the Aya Academy Student Council goes far above just the regular council duties of other schools in the New World, as we also hold the duties of running the academy on the same level as our headmaster, so remember that the positions we all have here are vital to our academy," Ayla said with a smile before standing up and walking over to leave the room. "You all have maps of the entire academy that have been sent to you. Now, classes should be starting within three hours. That should be long enough for everyone to head over to their dorms and properly set up anything they need to within them. I'll be seeing you after classes are over later today!"

"Well then, I don't see the point in wasting time here, so I'll be heading out to my dorm. I suppose we'll see each other soon, Rin Enshino," Dante said as he stood up and left. No one said a word, but I could tell Shiro was trying her hardest to not kill him. She wasn't the only one.

"Well, I guess I should head over to my dorm too since I have a bunch of stuff to set up and take care of as the head of R&D here at the academy and all of that stuff. Soo..... see ya!" Shiro suddenly said as she began to walk out.

Before she could reach the door to leave, I stood up and went over to her. "Hold on a second Shiro. I'll go with you. There's something important we should talk about anyway," I said, to which she just nodded.

As we walked out, I could hear Jaeger about to say something, but she stopped herself once we'd been out the door. Shiro had the map she'd been sent out in a window generated from her watch to guide her as we walked. I didn't need to use mine since we were heading to the same place. "If you're going to hand off Percy to me, don't do it. I don't wanna bore or confuse him with my 'nerd talk' or anything. And besides, I'm positive I'll have a dorm mate or mates to help me out while I'm there," she said as we walked. I hadn't even spoken a word yet and she already knew what I was going to say. Either I'm that predictable or she'd been planning to talk about this since before I even thought about it.

"How'd you know that was what I wanted to talk about?"

"I knew you wanted to talk about it anyway and you probably wanted to take my mind off of killing that asshole Exorcist," she said looking up at me with a smile. "You're just that kind of an amazing brother!" That made me smile as we walked.

I wanted to say something about her choice to her, but it'd just fall on deaf ears. There's just no winning against her when she starts getting like this. "I guess I can't argue against you. No point in fighting a battle I'll lose," I replied with a smile. Shiro didn't say anything for the rest of the trip until we got to her dorm, and neither did I. The two of us just enjoyed the silence of our walk since we tend to get straight to the point and then take pleasure in the silence of the moment. We might be weird for that, but it's something we like about ourselves.

"We're here," Shiro said as she stopped and looked up to the massive dormitory that gave away this feeling of excitement. From the outside, it looked similar to an older style of dormitory from the 2000's era. I'd seen them before in images, but never in person. On the inside, it seemed to be bright and booming with excitement. The way I could hear people speaking and how excited their heartbeats were told me they'd been extremely immersed in their perfect world. "Well, this is going to be something new, fun, and a little scary!" Shiro said, taking a deep breath afterward and shooting me a smile. Before I could reply, she hugged me and tightly.

"You know, I have nothing but complete faith in you. You're smart enough to create a power source strong enough to power an entire country in your sleep, so I know you'll lead a few students just fine," I said with a smile as I hugged her back closed my eyes. She's the smartest person I know and has the strongest soul I've ever seen. Shiro Enshino, the scholar of the Enshino family, and my great sister. There isn't any other person I trust as much in the world as Shiro. "Though, am I still allowed to come by for gear maintenance?" I asked as I pulled back to look her in the eyes with a smile.

Her eyes had tears in them, and I knew they were tears of happiness. "Anytime!" she replied with a smile. She always cries whenever I give her compliments like that. I don't understand why, but I'll keep it up if it makes her happy.

Once I'd let go of her, I kept my smile as I walked away, but before I continued, I turned back and waved to Shiro. She hadn't said anything, but only waved back with the same smile

Shiro, you have it extremely easy now. Leading those turbo nerds won't be an issue for you, but I have to take care of a bunch of morons who'll only think with their fists 90% of the time. At least I'm not alone since I have Jae-.... Lisa. Right. I need to get used to saying that instead of Jaeger since we'll be seeing each other as peers instead of enemies..... I guess? But maybe not actually.

I followed my map to the Combat Course Dorm until I'd reached it and once I entered, I was met with a massive hall that seemed to be either a dining area, combat area, or both in one. The room's walls were bright and beautiful black and white, while the floor was a simple white. Every student in the entire course had been lined up on each side of the room with Jaeger having just stood right in front of me with a look of confusion.

"Um, Rin, do you know what's going on?" She asked

"WELCOME TO THE COMBAT COURSE DORM REPRESENTATIVES ENSHINO AND FORNE! WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR LEADERSHIP AND GUIDANCE FOR THE UPCOMING YEARS!" Shouted every student with an upright posture and their eyes looking directly at the ceiling.

"What the fuck just happened?" I said under my breath. Practically every student in the combat course just loudly welcomed some girl they've never met and a guy with his uniform looking like it had a close-quarters fight with a wild bear. Is this normal?

"Well..... it's nice to meet you all too!" Jaeger shouted back with a nervous smile on her face. Nice going.

Without saying a word after that, Jaeger and I went up to the dorm's fifth floor and found that the entire floor apparently belonged to the Disciplinary Committee. The office was the first place we entered, with mere shock at how... utterly boring the entire room felt. Don't get me wrong, it looked extremely nice, with the walls being a warm ocean blue and floor being a darker shade of blue, the massive table to the left of the entrance having a nice white glow on it, the main desk which reminds you of what the headmaster's desk would look like in the early 2000s to 2200s. I was born in 2213, though I never saw one of those desks until I was around two or 300 years old. It was when I fought an abnormal demon and it threw me into a school that I first saw one. That one was old and corroded as hell, so this is the first clean and strong desk I've ever seen.

Before I could say anything, a black rectangular box had come out of the desk. It didn't do anything afterward, just sat there. Likely it was just a box that required someone to open it with no special features.

"I think our badges and other things might be in there. I'll check it out," I said as I walked towards it. Jaeger only nodded in response, but I could tell she was already prepared to fight if she had to. Not surprising though. She is a God Challenger.

Once I had gotten right in front of the box, I opened it as if normal, and the reaction was the same. Nothing rigged in it or anything of the sort. There was a note above everything else in the box, which I quickly picked up to read. Once Jaeger noticed the note as well, she quickly came over to see what it had written on it.

"Rin and Lisa, sorry about the sudden note but it slipped my mind to tell you earlier. Instead of giving you badges or the Course Representative Uniforms, the academy decided to give the Combat Course Representatives their own unique uniforms! It's a mix of the Course Representative Uniform and Disciplinary Committee badges. You'll also find something nice within the rest of the package. See you soon! -Ayla," the note read.

"Woah! Check out these cool ass uniforms!" Jaeger shouted. While I was reading the note aloud, she'd already taken out the uniforms and was holding them.

I sighed and quickly took the male uniform she was holding from her left hand. "Great, but I'll change into mine now since I can't exactly be going around the school with my bare arms, chest, and count exposed. Do you mind leaving?" I asked as I set the uniform down and inspected my own attire.

"You know your lower half is just fine right? You can show me your chest you know. It's nothing awful!" Jaeger replied. What the hell is with this girl? "Or are you scared of showing your scars?" She said with an evil grin on her face as I looked back at her.

"I'm just a private person. And I'd rather not show you my bare chest and scars, thanks,"

"What's wrong with showing me your scars? You know I have some too! Or wait! Is it because I gave you some embarrassing scar you don't want me to see?" Jaeger had the same evil grin again.

"No, I'd just rather not show off my scars as if they're some trophy you pest!" I replied back.

"Alright then, I'll show you mine then!" She said, suddenly removing her clothes. "I need to change into the new uniform anyway."

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled as I turned my back to her. I have absolutely zero interest in seeing Jaeger's bare chest, even if she's wearing a bra or other clothes!

With that, Jaeger chuckled took the chance to use my shock against me, and jump onto me. I tried shaking her off to no success, to which I followed up by attempting to freeze Jaeger's body in place and kick her right off of me. Yet again, it didn't work since she just instantly melted the ice.

"Did you forget how people called me the Flame Princess in the past?" she asked as she swept me off the ground and onto the floor with lightning speed, just to pin me down. She used my disgust and embarrassment against me to catch me completely off my guard and took me down as quickly as possible. DAMN HER! She didn't say anything for a few seconds but instead decided to burn my entire shirt to ash.

"Get the hell off!" I said, struggling. I've never been in this situation in my entire life, so what the hell am I supposed to do?!

"Woah," Jaeger said as she stared at my bare chest, and I could only stare at hers back.

We were both looking at each other's scar filled bodies for a while before a tear quickly fell down Jaeger's right eye. She realized that the reason I didn't want her to see my bare chest... was because I didn't want her to see just how badly the Disgraceful Baths had affected my soul. Scars we gain that never heal are caused by injuries so terrible our souls can't forget the pain they carry. Because of this, no matter how many times our bodies are destroyed or limbs are cut off, they'll look the same and keep the scars we've gained when they regenerate. That is probably the worst curse we Assassins have to face, right next to our immortality.

"I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!" Jaeger said as more tears rolled down her face. She let go of her pin on me and just cried on my chest. I couldn't help but just pat her head.

"It's alright. Don't worry about it. Besides, I can see and feel the pain you went through too. We've gone through a lot in the Baths. But they're over now. So no one else has to go through what we did. We've both seen the pain of the Baths and made it out. So don't apologize," I replied in a calm and low voice.

We both stayed there for a solid five to six minutes before Jaeger and I stood up and got dressed. Because we wear thin pants and shirts under our regular clothes (except that Jaeger took hers off when she removed her shirt), neither of us saw what we had below the waist so to speak. It was extremely awkward, I can't lie, but we quickly got over it.

When we finished getting dressed, we looked over our clothes and they looked pretty amazing. The pants were black with green lining on the sides going up from the ends to the pockets, red lining going from the ends all the way up to the end of the waist, with the upper half being a black shirt with a red tie, including green lining on it, and a coat with a similar color scheme. The red on the coats actually directly continued going upward from the waist with the pants. The scheme of the uniform also worked well with the black color of my gloves and the black and green of Jaeger's. Overall, the designs were solid to me.

"I'm in love with these uniforms! Look! I can even invert the positioning of the red and green!" Jaeger said ecstatically as she pulled on her sleeve's red lining to change it to green. In that instant, the places of all red and green on her uniform had swapped, and it still looked amazing on her. I think she's just really beautiful in anything she wears, to be honest.

"Take the time to fawn over your uniform in class. Right now getting to class should be our priority," I replied as I braided my hair. It's 7:00 right now, so we've missed about an hour's worth of class. How can I be the representative for the combat course and be an ENTIRE FUCKING HOUR LATE to class on the first day?! Living as a student is probably more deadly than the gods themselves.

"Oh..... yeah. We HAVE missed a whole hour of class at this point....," Jaeger said in a nervous tone as she scratched her head. I guess she's feeling the same shame I am right now.

"Let's go now. I don't think our status exempts us from being chewed by instructors." I replied as I continued to braid my hair

With those words, we headed out of the office and to the Combat Course Halls. I braided my hair on the way while Jaeger couldn't shut up for five seconds about her amazing her new uniform is. Is this normal for girls to fawn over nice clothes for an unlimited amount of time?

Once we arrived outside of the Combat Course Halls, Jaeger and I stood in front of the entrance dead silent. It was like there was this terrifying aura just oozing from the doors as if we were about to stare down the 7 Gods themselves. Without the intent of delaying ourselves any longer, Jaeger and I looked at each other, nodded, and went to open the double doors simultaneously.

"Apologies for being late, but we were held up by urgent matters at the-" we both said once the doors had been fully opened and we'd been inside, but we were cut off by what looked to be two pillars of solid iron coming toward us.

We both responded by pulling out our Sacred Weapons to slice the iron or block. I summoned Seiya in its scabbard with my right to draw it and slice through, while Jaeger responded by summoning her lance, Ramial, to do the same. All Jaeger did was aim its tip directly at the center of the pillar, while I aimed Seiya at the pillar launching at me and angle the blade's tip to face the ground. Once the pillars made contact, they split into two as we remained unscathed. Immediately after, we were charged by two lightning-fast students. They sprang kicks at us, which we caught and responded to by sending them flying to where they came from. We entered the room but didn't get any farther than a meter from the doors, since we stopped at hearing a voice from somewhere out of sight

"Oh you're definitely good with how fast you reacted to the iron and kicks....," the voice said.

"But let's see just how you react to something like this!" a second voice yelled as I felt a powerful kick go straight into my back, sending me flying.

Once I landed, I was paralyzed for a good 70 seconds. That kick managed to actually shatter my entire spine into pieces and the rolling around as I flew only served to make the pain multiply by at least 100 times. Jaeger seemed to be in utter shock when I landed, though she couldn't really react better than I did, since a person who looked to be a woman landed behind her the second she turned her back to completely shatter her right leg and throw her over to me by grabbing her by the arm. However, the throw had been so strong that Jaeger's arm was ripped right off. When she landed, she immediately went to freeze the area where she lost her arm to stop any bleeding as fast as she could, though it took some time for her.

"Oh shit, looks like I completely took off your arm. My bad!" The woman yelled out enthusiastically. What the actual hell is wrong with her?

"You took it a little too far with the throw Karla. I think you upset them," the first voice said, as the person jumped down from the ceiling. It was a man with short silver hair and a scar going from the top of the left side of his to his around his upper lip.

After my spine finished healing, I ran lightning through my entire body and dashed with Seiya over, ready to perform a downward slash. Once I reached them, I made sure I had the perfect angle to strike both the Karla woman and the strange guy at once. The shock on both of their faces proved to me they didn't know who I was.

"Seiya, burst," I said, and within less than one second, Seiya's blade exploded with water but immediately concentrated to protect the blade. In an instant, I slashed down at the two, and the blade went across the man's chest, not dealing any fatal damage, but enough to incapacitate him, and the water around the blade followed over in the same form to Karla, slashing her in an instant with the same result.

"RINTA! ANNIHILATE MY ENEMY!" Jaeger yelled from afar as she suddenly appeared behind Karla with a massive ax. I've only ever seen that ax once in the entire time I've known her, and that time she wasn't taking the fight lightly. No one was that day. So her using this thing won't end well.

"Jaeger, wait!" I yelled, but I was too late. She'd already slashed down, causing a massive amount of blood to erupt from Karla's back, as well as turning the blood into flames, only blasting her into the man I slashed. Before the two could make it anywhere, I stopped them in place and set them down on the ground. "You took it too far with that attack, idiot," I said to Jaeger with an annoyed tone.

I sheathed Seiya and let it fade before I knelt down to the two on the ground and lightly touched their faces.

"They're alive, and not too close to death," I said as I stood up. "You're lucky I'm here," I said as I summoned Reie in my left hand and drew it with my right. "Reie, expand," I ordered as the blade dissolved into a cloud of light green dust, forming a ring around me. I used Earth elements to form the cloud when the blade dissolved. I pointed the handle of Reie towards the man and Karla, and the cloud followed over to them. "Reie, heal them," I commanded, to which the cloud fell onto their bodies, entering them, and any physical signs of injury faded within seconds. Internal injuries took about a minute, but afterward, the cloud exited their bodies and returned to hovering around me.

"Since when can that blade of yours heal people?" Jaeger asked with a look of shock.

"Reie doesn't heal, the earth elements do. I can turn Reie's blade into any elemental energy I want to and use it however I wish to. Earth elements can heal, so using Reie as a delivery system works perfectly for me. There's nothing more to it," I replied as I sheathed Reie and the weapon faded.

"Huh. There really is always something new to learn about people, even when you thought you knew everything there is to know about them! Who knew?" Jaeger said, scratching her head. She says that but she's only known things that I've told her about me in our fights. Granted, we've had over 300 of them, but have I really told her everything there is to know about me?

Before anyone else said anything, Karla and the man began to stand up slowly, still feeling the pain of or attacks.

"The reports weren't kidding. Though, I can't say I was expecting that kind of power from the two of you in just one strike," the man said as he stood up. He'd still been struggling, but he eventually managed to fully stand.

"Tell us who you are and we'll consider not completely killing you," I replied.

"Right, right. The woman who Forne hit is Karla, and as for me, I'm Kane," he said. "And we'll be your instructors for your time in this course."

"Instructors? I didn't expect instructors to be able to take down two Assassins like us so easily," Jaeger replied, unable to grasp why the pair are as strong as they were

"That's uh... something we'll explain another time," Karla said with a laugh.

Before I could say anything, I noticed a purple mist. When I looked around to see where it came from, I quickly found that it was coming from my left arm.

"Rin, you having a little problem controlling your ice there?" Jaeger said with a small look of concern.

As I tried to calm down any ice coming from my hand, it only served to shoot a spike of ice into the ceiling, though this time, it was purple and seemed to be giving off a poisonous mist from it, given the students' reactions when it reached them, since some had passed out and others were slowly losing consciousness.

"Rin, what the hell did you just do?" Jaeger asked with concern.

"I have..... no clue," I replied with fear in my voice as the mist my arm had been creating increased. What the hell is happening to me?!