[You have successfully defeated all enemies!]
[You have activated a Soul-Core!]
[You have gained a new ability!]
[You have gained a new shadow ability!]
The chaos done to the forest was unimaginable, the forest which once bloomed with life and beauty was now reduced to nothing more than a barren land.
By the time one of the 14 Soul-Squads were dispatched, the damage had already been done. The Captain of the 12th Squad — Alaric Thorne, came along with five of his members to investigate the incident.
He wore a sleek black suit with polished shoes to match. His black, curly hair fell across his eyes, and a pair of glasses rested neatly on the bridge of his nose.
By the time they arrived, they found two boys on the ground.
One was injured, burn marks all over his body, and the other was in a much better condition, but he had passed out.
"Good lord, what happened here?" One of his subordinates spoke, covering his mouth with one of his hands as the sights were devastating.
"Captain!" Another one called the captain attention to where he stood, and when he got there, his eyes wavered to the absolute limit.
"What is this..." They couldn't believe it, the corpse of the beast on the barren grounds, it was unlike anything they had ever seen.
"Captain... Is that... A Soul-Beast?"
The captain remained composed, silent, almost as if it was a normal thing for him. Throughout his reign as the captain of the 12th Soul-Squad, he came across Soul-Beasts of different sizes, different shapes, so it was normal.
But this time, it was different.
"Does that look like a Soul-Beast to you?" He asked calmly, almost unbothered by the mysterious beast.
"N-no sir."
"That's right, in all my years of defending mankind from dungeon breaks, I've never come across such a thing before. Well, no use thinking about it now. Pack it up, we are taking it back to the Soul-Hunter's association for further investigation."
"Yes sir!"
As his men got to work, he had other thoughts in mind, especially the moment his sights drifted towards the two unconscious boys.
'Did they beat this thing?' He didn't know what to think, given the large scale battle and the scars and burns on the second boy, they were definitely involved in the battle.
"Take them back as well, we'll have to question them on what happened after a Support Soul-Hunter attends to them."
"Yes Captain!"
Without any time to waste, his squad of Soul-Hunters took the two boys, as well as the corpse of the beast back to the Soul-Hunter's association for treatment and further investigation.
A group of Support Soul-Hunters were called in, with injuries that severe, it would take more than one healer to restore Kirito back to the way he used to look. Kazuki on the other hand was merely diagnosed with a mild concussion.
..
Later that Night
Soul-Hunter's Association
Intelligence Unit
The Intelligence unit division of the Soul-Hunter's association was where data where stored, where Soul-Beasts were examined and experimented on to create suitable weapons for raiding dungeons and combating these Soul-Beasts.
"Well?" Commander Arthur, as well as the captain of the 12th squad waited behind for the results of the beast's examination, if beasts like this really existed in numbers, it would be a big problem for the association.
"I've analysed it like you asked, and based off the densile strength and it's essence core. It is definitely a Soul-Beast, but that's not all, from the level of energy I calculated. It is might be stronger than all the Soul-Beasts we've encountered so far." The leader of the intelligence unit — Yui Freecs began.
Their eyebrows jerked.
"Stronger than all the Soul-Beast we've encountered so far!?"
"Who knows? But the real mystery isn't how strong it is, it's how it got killed. It'll take at least an A-rank Soul-Hunter to kill it."
"Right." The 12th captain cleared his throat. "We have identified the two boys found on the battle grounds, one of those two might have been able to defeat. Their names, Kirito Horigami and Kazuki Matasuragi."
"What?" The Head commander couldn't believe his ears.
"Is there a problem head commander?"
"Those two boys you just called now, they were candidates of the Awakening ceremony." He couldn't forget those names, especially since the two were known candidates from the Awakening Ceremony. "Kirito awakened as a C-rank Soul-Hunter, and the other boy's Soul-Energy wasn't enough to activate a Soul-Core."
"What?" Both the 12th captain and the head of the intelligence unit couldn't believe it.
"If that's the case head commander, then who killed this beast?" It could have been Kirito, but he was far too injured to have done so, and he was just a C-rank Soul-Hunter.
"I don't know, bu-"
"Head Commander!" A voice shouted as a man dressed in a brown suit burst into the room, breathing raggedly almost as if he ran across the entire building searching for the commander.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked with concern, the man's ragged breathing like he had seen a ghost, and it only made his concerns grew.
"You have to come with me Head Commander!" The man shouted again almost immediately.
"Calm yourself down." The captain of the 12th Soul-Squad spoke calmly as he usually would. "You're in the presence of the Head commander, show some respect."
"Breathe slowly and tell me what's wrong." The head commander tried to persuade him.
"Okay... Okay. It's the Soul Sphere! It just started glowing!"
"What!?" They all stood to their feet, most especially Yui.
"I don't understand what you're saying, explain in full details." The Head commander urged.
"We were transporting the Soul Sphere back to the storage room after the ceremony was over, but before we could put it back, it started glowing, nonstop!"
"Glowing? Even after the ceremony was concluded? Does that happen frequently?"
Yui's eyes went wide with joy, as if she had found a treasure she'd been seeking for years. She dashed out of the room and ran straight for the storage room of the Soul-Hunter's association.
"Yui!" They followed behind her immediately, and by the time they arrived at the storage room, they found Yui staring hard at the sphere.
"What's wrong Yui?" The 12th captain asked.
"Kazuki Matasuragi? That is the name of the boy you said couldn't activate a Soul-Core?" She asked with a voice so calm, they couldn't help but think something was definitely wrong.
"Yes, what about him?" The head commander asked, he was intrigued, was Kazuki related to the sphere's glowing?
Yui burst out laughing, unable to stop herself.
"What is it Yui?" The head commander demanded.
"Head Commander, since the beginning, the Sphere has never shone when not touched in the awakening ceremony. We thought the sphere didn't perform the light ritual because he didn't have enough Soul-Energy. But it appears that isn't the case, my guess is, he had a re-awakening."
..
At the same time they gathered in the storage room, Kazuki's eyes blinked open slowly, and by the time he regained his vision. He found himself on the bed of a hospital, with an ER machine besides him.
He felt a sharp piercing pain in his head, and he could also feel how weakened he was, as though his body was drained of all the energy he had left.
'Urgh, my head... What happened?' As he raised his head slowly, his eyes glanced at the clear, translucent blue screen that hovered in front of his eyes.
"Huh?"
..
"Yui... What are you trying to tell us?" The 12th captain asked as they all stood frozen. What she implied was simply absurd. A re-awakening?
"When I got here, after the light died down, the sphere revealed an alphabet. An alphabet that I've only seen 2 times in my years of analyzing Soul-Hunters." Yui was horrified, yet excited at this newfound discovery.
"What Soul-Core did Kazuki Matasuragi activate?" The 12th captain asked, feeling drowned by the intensity of the suspense.
..
______________Status_________________
[Name: Kazuki Matasuragi]
[Age: 18]
[Occupation: Soul-Hunter]
[Level: 5]
[Experience: 4]
[Dexterity: D]
[Stamina: D+]
[Agility: C-]
[Strength: C-]
[Intelligence: C+]
[Soul-Energy: 10/200]
[Soul-Core: Shadow Soul-Core]
[Rank: X- Rank]
[Abilities:
• Primordial Shadow Beast — Kuriyami]
- Skills: Raisen (Level 1)]
[Stats point: 2]
_____________________________________
"Huh!?"
..
"In all my years of measuring the Soul-Energy of every Soul-Hunter in this country, I've never been this thrilled!" She was beyond excited, with this development, she had something new to measure indefinitely.
Yui chuckled, grinning softly as she revealed, "Kazuki Matasuragi— X-rank Soul-Hunter."