(chapter 4) Transfer assassin

It's been about three weeks since the incident with Carrion and everyone had to leave the area while the city and G.E. High was rebuilt since there were very few people who had any kind of restoration ability that was similar to Vana Skyline's Unique Skill. Although most Students of the school did not live in the city and temporarily returned to their parents' homes, some students like the residents of the city temporarily lived in a small pocket dimension that was created by Kara Cosmos. Her younger brother, Diablo, let her know what had happened and not long after, using the 10th Tier Skill: Realm, created a small temporary Pocket dimension that the residents and some of the students could live in while the city was rebuilt. Now that that city and school has finished rebuilding it's time for the students to return to school.

And I can't tell if I'm looking forward to that.

I looked at the hundreds and hundreds of students coming off the numerous buses and enter the now rebuilt school complex of G.E. High, many of them laughing and catching up with friends. Shion wasn't on the bus that I was on leading me to assume that she had either taken another mode of transport or she had left early and was already inside.

I am not looking forward to explaining to her why I disappeared when Diablo appeared.

She's too smart, I gotta be more careful. I thought.

As I stepped out the bus, I noticed someone leaning on the school walls looking like they were waiting for someone by the school gates. As I went to enter the complex our eyes made contact and I realised it was Lazuli.

"Hey Nova, how y-you been?" She said coming up to me acting a little shy.

I paused, trying to assess if she was setting me up for something.

This… isn't how I expected you to react when seeing you again. I thought.

"Doing alright, what about you?" I said as I started walking with Lazuli next to me.

"I've doing fine just a little bored." She said as we entered the building labelled Upper.

Ok this is too weird.

"Alright." I said stopping grabbing her and pushing ourselves through a door which led to what looked like a store room.

"Nova what a-are you d-doing?" She said very startled as she fell onto a chain.

"Ok what's going on?" I said locking the door behind me. "When Diablo Cosmos arrived, I ditched you and Shion and before that I killed a classmate in a very brutal fashion."

Lazuli looked at me and tilted her head in confusion.

"You're acting like I didn't do any of that so what's going on?" I said narrowing my eyes.

"Nova," She said. "First off I don't believe you're the turn tail and run type and second, you're acting like I haven't seen someone or killed someone before as well."

Lazuli, surprising me, got up and looked me dead in the eyes. I looked into those eyes and I did not see the shy girl I thought I knew.

Those were the eyes of someone who's been through many battles and has killed before.

"We're Ethereals Nova. It's extremely rare that one does not go without killing throughout their entire lives." She said walking past me and opened the door.

She looked back at me, the serious look in her eyes fading away.

"So, I'm not afraid of you as we aren't enemies, let's just go to class now."

I followed her outside as we continued walking through the corridor making small talk like what we might have for class and such.

When I opened the class door someone was being thrown straight through the air and I quickly grabbed Lazuli moving out the way as I dodged. The student, who was a guy, smashed straight into the concrete wall, cracking it as he collapsed onto the floor unconscious.

Looks like the building has been infused with Ethos now to stop it from being destroyed by non - Ethereal threats now.

"What a nice welcome back." I muttered entering the room, Lazuli hurrying to her seat leading me to find Shion already in her seat looking incredibly bored.

The whole class was a mess with paper and books scattered all over the floor with most of the desks at the front broken. In the centre of it all was another student. A guy with short black hair, grey eyes with a scar running from his right eyebrow down to his chin. I quickly noticed the dragon symbol on his badge along with the look of a very experienced killer in his eyes as well as his fighting stance telling me he was an Assassin Class.

"Quite the mess you've caused." I said as I went to walk over to my desk, my eyes never breaking his.

"You looking for trouble as well?" He said not breaking eye contact either.

"Not if you give me a reason to." I said sitting down, Shion watching me with a curious expression wondering if I was going to kill this guy like Byron from my duel.

Gusts of wind suddenly consumed the classroom but instead of creating more mess, all the desks, books and pieces of paper were returned to presumably they once were before this mess.

"Nova please don't slice Kuni into three meat slices like you did with Byron," Miss Skyline said entering the classroom. "It's Kuni's first day after all and I'd rather he lives long enough to at least complete it."

When Miss walked upped to, the now named student, Kuni, she paused for second as he stood up straight before punching him in the nose breaking it. Kuni let out a little groan of pain while holding his nose before Miss Skyline waved her hand seemingly healing/restoring it.

"I deserve that." He said pinching his nose.

"Knock out one of my students and cause a mess like this one more time and your nose won't be the only thing I'll break." She said.

"Now sit down."

Kuni sat down somewhere in the middle row.

"Right class I might as well introduce him." Miss Skyline said sighing. "This is Kuni Saber and he is the newest transfer student at this school. He was meant to transfer on the same day as Nova, but complications and the Carrion incident led to him arriving today."

That makes sense I remember hearing about another student I was transferring with.

"Also, I should mention I probably wouldn't start a fight with him. He's the strongest Dragon Ranked Assassin as well as he the Incarnation of The Grim Reaper. You do with that info as you will."

I glanced over at Kuni as I had a very clear view of him from where I was sitting. He wiped away the last bit of blood from his nose before settling down and focusing on Miss Skyline's latest lecture.

"Now everyone there's something very important that I need to tell you all." She said as she began to write on the board. "Though I'm guessing a few of you already know what I'm talking about."

"So, it's that time of the year already huh?" Kuni said leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head.

Oh god damn it please don't tell me- I moaned in my head as Miss Skyline finished my thought.

"If you're talking about The Divine Tournament that's happening in two weeks Kuni, then yes your correct." She said writing the name down.

"Fantastic." I muttered sarcastically under my breath although I shouldn't as I caught Shion giving me an odd look out of the corner of my eye.

"Although you all definitely know" She said sighing. "Protocol says I have to explain what it is every year."

She fumbled around in her pocket for a moment before pulling a note out of her pocket and said in very tired voice.

"The Divine Tournament is a battle royal that happens once a year. It involves taking the top 5 strongest students from every Ethation School across this world and Valhalla placing them in a pocket dimension that holds a battle arena which can be as large as 4x the size of the universe. All the students will then have to eliminate each other by the ways of either of forcing the opponent to admit defeat or by taking the opponent's life. This tournament is to crown the winner of battle royal as the Champion Ethereal who will live a life of luxury once they graduate from Ethation School."

Shion raised her hand and Miss Skyline nodded giving her the ok to ask a question.

"Miss how will it be decided on which students are the top 5 strongest in the school." She asked putting her hand down.

"The staff at the school will go through a multitude of things like checking the students Rank, what their Skills are like, how many duels they've won and who they won against as well as their general activity in the school."

"When will we know the results?" AskedKuni.

"You'll know by the end of the week, although the staff and I began the process a month ago we still need to finish up on a couple more things before we can confirm who will enter the competition."

As she looked around at the class, I could have sworn that yet again she her eyes hovered over me for a few moments longer.

"Any questions? No? Ok let's get on with the lesson."

"So do you think you'll enter the tournament?" Lazuli asked popping a chip into her mouth. "What do you think Shion?"

Shion and Lazuli were eating their fish and chip next to me on the opposite side of the table. We were in the school cafeteria.

"I think you got a chance to enter Lazuli." Shion said drinking some water. "Even though you're not a Dragon Rank you've got serious skill when it comes to fighting."

Shion then looked at me in the eyes as I took a bite out of my sandwich. From the outside looking it probably looked like she was either in love with me or about to kill me.

"Nova not so much even though he's strong."

I opened my mouth to protest but Shion interrupted me.

"Don't bother Lion Rank. No matter how much you try hide it or say otherwise we both know your strong considering you turned Byron the 2nd strongest Dragon Rank here into the human equivalent of sliced bread."

I shut my mouth and went back to eating my sandwich.

"Exactly." Lazuli said nodding. "That's why I think he could enter why don't you oh Phantom Mage."

Shion gave Lazuli the side eye while narrowing them startling her and forcing her to look down. Shion sighed as looked up at the ceiling.

"Even though it's meant to be the for the strongest Ethereals, so primarily Dragon Rank or above, but it wouldn't be the first time they'd make exceptions and let in Hydra Ranks however they will never let in a Lion Rank Ethereal that's just out of the question."

Lazuli was about to say something stopped herself.

"That may be true, but I do think it would be cool." She said pouting.

"Honestly that's fine by me." I said with a mouth full of ham sandwich. "Remember I want to keep a low profile and entering a tournament that is meant for some of the strongest Ethereals out there will draw its fair amount of unwanted attention especially because I'm a Lion Rank."

Shion nodded before getting out a book out while Lazuli reluctantly agreed.

I didn't say anything wrong. This tournament, or more correctly this battle royal, is usually where the next possible future Demon Ranks will be meaning they'll be some of the strongest Ethereals out there. If a Lion Rank like myself enters, I will be the centre of verycurious and unpleasant/jealous attention. Both of which are very unwanted.

"Yo, mind scooching over."

I was quickly pushed across the seat as Kuni sat down next to me.

Oh, this isn't good.

He was met with a slightly startled and confused look from Lazuli and a sigh along with an eye roll from Shion. I activated one of my Class Specific Skills: Ultra Stealth, to try and erase my presence from the scene.

"What are you doing here oh bringer of death?" Shion muttered sarcastically.

"Ha, it's funny cuz I'm the incarnation of the Grim Reaper. Ok first off" Kuni said. "That is rude you might want to think about my feelings. You'll never get a boyfriend with that attitude you little she - devil with all that Solar Magic you throw around."

Shion's book suddenly set ablaze as she stared daggers at grinning face sitting next to me.

"Second, I know you're there Nova, surely you already know, as an Assassin Class yourself, that Ultra Stealth won't hide you from fellow Assassin Class Ehereals."

Why is he so annoying?

I sighed and deactivated Ultra Stealth with Lazuli faking surprise.

"Oh, my gosh Nova, you're here?" She said placing her hands on her cheeks.

"Don't bother Lazuli although the sentiment is taken." I said taking sip of water.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," Shion said sounding irritated. "What are you doing here bothering us."

"Oh that's easy, I just wanna have a duel with this man here." He said grabbing my shoulder and shaking me slightly.

I'm beginning to consider turning him into the human equivalent of sliced bread as Shion put it.

"You've been here for two days Kuni and you've already fought and beaten every Dragon Rank at G.E. High minus Shion here." I said.

"I'm still finding more burns." He said jokingly but even Lazuli looked like she was beginning to get irritated.

"So why do you want to fight a Lion Rank like myself." I continued.

I noticed Kuni's eyes sparkle as if he had wanted me to ask that question.

"Well, that's because I've heard so much about you." He said getting way too close to me. "I heard that you sliced up the second strongest Dragon Rank here before me."

And this is why I didn't want to enter those duels.

"Well, Kuni I hate to disappoint you, but I don't accept your duel proposition." I said finishing off my sandwich.

"So could you please move along." Shion muttered pulling out another book.

"I have to agree with Shion on this one Kuni." Lazuli said shyly.

Kuni looked at the two of them before looking at me for a few seconds.

"I hear you don't like to be provoked Nova."

Ok. That's odd.

"I don't remember saying that." I said before Kuni slapped my glass of water out of my hands as I was drinking it. My blood boiled as I processed what just happened.

I'm going to-

"Kill this man. Am I right?" Kuni said staring into my eyes.

Ok so Kuni has the 10th Tier Skill Second Sight. The Skill that allows the user to read people's minds. I'll use my own Skill, Specific Cancel to disable that Skill when he's around me.

Kuni raised an eyebrow, probably confused that he suddenly couldn't read my mind.

Specific Cancel allows me to disable one Skill belonging to an Ethereal. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on Unique and Incarnation Skills.

I was currently fuming now as I was soaked with water.

"You know," I said slowly turning round before looking him dead in the eyes. "I know you did that to get me to duel you, but I don't care. Congratulations I accept."

I realised a lot of people were watching us now with Lazuli looking both shocked and excited, like a child at a theme park, and Shion watching us with interest.

"Perfect." Kuni said grinning. "Since this is an official duel, I'll meet you in let's say Clash Dimension 13 in five minutes. Can't wait for this."

Everyone watched him go as he exited the cafeteria before turning their attention back to me, their eyes watching and waiting for my next move.

"This'll be fun to watch, don't disappoint." Lazuli said surprising me with a quick hug before leaving.

"Keeping a low profile huh?" Shion said getting up. "You seem to have a funny way of executing that Nova."

She gave me a smug grin that was almost mocking before following after Lazuli.

I'm already regretting this. I thought.

Clash Dimensions are pocket dimensions inside the school, that are the size of a planet and are used for official duel matches and training between students. This is they don't cause damage or accidentally destroy the school when fighting especially when you have people who can destroy whole countries and planets single handily. Other Students and teachers can watch from outside the Clash Dimensions on screens similar to TV's that act like windows. The environment of each Clash Dimension varies although most fall into the category of post-apocalyptic looking city.

The Clash Dimension was currently in fell into this category.

This place sure is big.

As mentioned earlier a Clash Dimension is the size of a planet meaning this rundown, overcome by nature looking post –apocalyptic city is the size of planet. Cool huh?

What was not so cool was what was going to happen next. Standing in front of me by few hundred metres or so was Kuni bouncing up down just itching to go.

"You ready Nova." He called out. "If you're not this fight is gonna be quick as I'm going in for the kill shot."

For someone reason that made me smile slightly. I think it's because he reminded me of a family member in that moment.

"I'm ready Kuni but remember this." I said cracking my neck. "I'm not going to kill you but your gonna wish I had during this whole thing."

Kuni stopped bouncing and got into a stance with a big grin on his face making him look slightly battle crazed.

"Sounds like fun to me." He laughed.

For a few seconds there was silence before a noise that sounded like foghorn went off.

I immediately snapped my fingers but just milliseconds before, Kuni, presumably using the Assassin Class Skill: Flash, jumped back at a lightning quick pace. The dirt where he had been standing sprayed up a little as if something invisible and sharp had slammed into it.

Ok now this is good. I might actually enjoy myself.

"Kuni." I called out. "I'm going to give you 30 whole seconds to hit me and during that time you have my word that I won't attack."

"Your funeral." He said and rocketed straight towards me at speed faster than sound before throwing a massive punch. It connected with something and released a massive shockwave tearing up the ground beneath us and sending debris flying.

"Try again." I said calmly.

Kuni's fist had definitely connected with something however it was an inch away from my face as if there was an invisible wall between us.

"Tch." He muttered before going into deliver a kick that looked like it had enough power to cut a tower in half, but the same thing happened. It connected with something, releasing a massive a huge shockwave but it was once again an inch away from my arm like there was a barrier of some kind.

"Tik, tock, tik, tock." I mocked.

"This is getting annoying." Kuni said before going into a speed barrage like he was in a blood rage.

Throwing kicks after kicks and punches after punches at speeds faster than sound over and over again from the front, side and behind but not a single one connected with my body. Each attack stopping short by an inch. Kuni was getting angry now, I could see it in his face, he was throwing harder and faster attacks with every passing second.

6 seconds left Kuni. I thought beginning feel excited slightly.

Kuni threw five kicks at once aiming for my legs, chest and face all stopping short by aninch.

5 seconds

Kuni suddenly shot round behind me and threw a viscous combo of punches to no avail.

4 seconds.

He put both his hands together and threw an axe handle punch that could knock someone's head off, but it still stopped an inch away.

3 seconds.

He then tried to sweep away my legs but was stopped and I didn't move whatsoever.

2 seconds.

Kuni jumped over me and while in the air threw a barrage of attacks, none of which even moving a hair on my head.

1 second.

He tried to land a spinning kick to my chin but once again was met with no results.

Zero.

Kuni went in to throw a massive punch that looked like it had enough power to level a mountain, but I caught it as if I had caught a ball that had been thrown at me in a game of catch.

For the first time a look of fear spread across Kuni's face.

"Times up." I said with a blank look.

Then, at a speed 50x faster than the speed of sound, I threw a punch of my own landing square in the middle of Kuni's chest. The ground was blown away as if a bomb went off as Kuni bent into a C – Shape while I could feel the cracking of bones within his body. He was then sent flying leaving a trail of destruction behind him, smashing through building after building after building, for what seemed like 10 seconds before rolling across the ground and smacking into one of the walls of the Clash Dimension finally stopping.