"What?!" Saint says in shock,
Viola giggles in the distance,
Shinsei takes a step forward slowly, with his hands in the air,
"We can explain everything, just give us 5 minutes."
Saint frowns and lunges forward, sending a punch that Shinsei quickly blocks, Viola's eyes widen,
'That speed!' She thinks in awe,
Shinsei's arms crack, then Saint quickly follows his punch up with a roundhouse kick midair, connecting with Shinsei's head.
Shinsei gets sent flying some distance, Viola covers her mouth while Saint stands tall and serious, he focuses his attention on Shinsei and walks towards him slowly,
"W-wait! We can help you! You're looking for the guy that hurt your friend, right? We can find him!"
Shinsei says, while struggling on the ground,
'That kick he gave me made my brain bounce around! As expected by a descendant from the main family branch! Lord Nibiru will soon awake once again…'
Saint stops in his tracks,
"You do? Where is he?"
Shinsei looks at Viola, "Viola!"
Viola nods with a smile and holds Saint's shoulder,
"If we tell you, you have to join us, be our boss. Our leader." Shinsei says,
"Sure." Saint says, 'I'll lie. I'll get the information, then abandon them.'
Shinsei stands up weakly,
"Well then... Viola, set the vow."
"Yes sir!" Viola says sarcastically,
Saint's eyes widen as he jumps back from the two,
"Vow?" What do you mean?"
"We're not taking your word for it. Since we don't trust you yet, a mana infused vow set by us to ensure you'll keep your promise, break it, and you will either lose your mana, or die." Shinsei says,
Viola smiles innocently as she signals Saint to come close
'Guess I'll have to… It's for the better.' Saint thinks,
"Okay. I understand."
Saint walks up slowly and takes his sweater off, leaving his torso with a tank top, he sits himself down on a nearby log,
"Can I set a rule, though?" Saint asks,
Shinsei's eyes widen slightly,
"A rule? Sure…"
'Crap, this kid already knows about pacts and vows?'
Viola puts both of her hands on Saint's right shoulder,
"I want to be able to abandon our vow whenever I choose to."
Shinsei shakes his head,
"Nonsense, you would just abandon the vow as soon as you get the information you want-"
Saint interrupts him and holds three fingers up,
"Then let me set 3 minor rules." In a serious tone,
Shinsei's eyes widen, 'This kid… He knew I'd reject his initial rule so he's forcing my hand to give him three…'
Shinsei clenches his jaw, then nods at Viola, "Fine."
Saint holds a finger up, "As soon as the vow has been set, everything I say goes. If you break this promise, our original vow disbands as well."
Shinsei bows his head, "I understan-"
He gets interrupted by Saint once again, "Two, you are not to lie to me at any moment, if you do, our original promise will disband."
Shinsei clenches his jaw,
"Three, if I refuse any of your requests, you are not to bring it up to me again, if you do, our original promise will disband."
Saint stares at Shinsei intently,
"If you refuse any of these, I'm not taking your offer."
'This kid totally outmatched us!' Shinsei sighs,
"You drive a hard bargain… set it, Viola."
Viola giggles and starts forming a tribal tattoo on the upper arm and shoulder of Saint,
"So, where can I find Nas?" Saint asks,
Shinsei's voice shakes a little,
"Actually, Viola and I will have to do some research… maybe pick up some recruits… Nas is a strong guy, you know?"
Saint closes his eyes while Viola works on his arm,
"Hmm…"
"But we do know he resides in Entoria, the continent up the northwest."
"Okay." Saint responds,
…
Ari, Hazu and Tanya are defeated by Taiho in group training,
"Come on, you need to be faster, stronger, read your opponents, anticipate, come on!"
Taiho says, fired up.
Ari wipes some sweat off his forehead, Hazu stands up from his crouched position, ready to strike again, Ari grabs his shoulder to stop him,
"No point, we won't be able to defeat him. He's not even breathing hard."
Hazu clenches his jaw then sits down forcefully,
"Aw man, I thought we were getting close… maybe if those two helped out, we could've dealt some damage…"
He points at Monita, who's playing with Dori Dori distractedly nearby, and Tlen, who's laying down, relaxing.
Tanya walks up to Ari and Hazu and hands them each one water bottle,
"Let's rest up, and try again, yeah?"
Taiho grabs his jacket and throws it over his shoulder,
"Saint's hand-to-hand combat is tiers above… just saying…" He starts whistling and walks out,
Tanya turns to Ari and Hazu,
"Saint? Who's that?"
Hazu and Ari speak up at the same time,
"A traitor."
"My classmate."
Tanya raises an eyebrow,
"Um… okay…"
Hazu gets in Ari's face,
"Your classmate? He betrayed you, matter of fact, he betrayed EVERYONE in this school." Hazu says,
Ari's mind recalls that he and Monita are the only ones who know what truly happened to Brugger.
"But he was in my class, was he not?" Ari responds with a frown,
Tanya gets in between them both,
"Let's calm down, okay?"
She says, trying to calm both of them down,
Hazu laughs, "Classmate… what a joke," He says, stepping away,
Ari tilts his heads, "Weren't you with him the day he got taken away? I heard you got beat up pretty quickly."
Tanya's eyes widen as she looks up at Ari,
"Hey, no, stop!" She tries pushing him away,
Hazu turns around aggressively,
"What was that? That's ironic coming from the dude that got hospitalized for a week that same day."
Ari manages to get past Tanya and Hazu grabs Ari by his collar,
"If you wanna take this somewhere else, I'm down." Hazu says,
Ari smiles cockily,
…