By 16:00 the last cadet stepped up to demonstrate her skills. Raven, who now had chosen a total of 8 Cadets to join his house had grown tired. He wasn't interested anymore in what would happen next so, by the time she took out her sword he already raised his hand. "Stop, I've seen all I have to. You qualify to be a member of my house." He said. He didn't know yet, but the 9 children he had chosen were all set to play a major role in the future of the Empire. Some children of high noble families couldn't understand what just happened, they were the best if the class. But, they all got sidelined for 3 commoners, 2 children of counts and 4 children of Barons. This was the biggest insult they had ever received in their life, buy the one who insulted them was no ther than Raven Kincaid, so who were they to complain?
Raven stood up from his throne to go give the final speech to thank all those who had came from close and far to witness this beautiful moment. However as he grabbed the Crystal that's when it happened.
[Notice, Rank 2 bloodlust directed. All stats will be raised to rank 2 until the threat is delt with]
With that, Raven quickly drew out his sword and blocked the attack. Everyone in the Arena got In panic at the sudden attack. "Protect the Emperor." Duchess Helia shouted.
"To think you actually blocked my attack. Maybe the rumors that you're strong isn't just made believe." Said a voice from above. It was the attacker said, his voice cold and slightly muffled by the mask.
Raven looked up to were the voice was coming from and spoke. "Your bloodlust is uninspired," he said, his voice an intentional low growl that carried an unnatural weight across the now-silent arena. "And your attire... far too gaudy for a professional job."
The attacker sneered, ignoring the insult. "My name is Cain, and I am here for the Emperor's head. But, I'm also here to expose you for the fraud you are." He said pointing his sword at Raven.
Before Raven could reply with another practiced, vague threat, the Emperor, who had been safely pulled behind the massive stone throne by a panicked Duke Valerius spoke up, his voice cracking with terrified awe. "Cain... the Blade of the Northern Wastes! The man who assassinated three kings in the last year! He is a Rank 2 Calamity, Kincaid! Be careful!"
Raven(thinking): "Three kings?! Oh, great. This guy is actually a big deal. And he's a Rank 2 Calamity, which means my power-up is exactly what I need to survive but not necessarily win! Why couldn't I have just stayed home, sent a docters note and said im sick?"
Cain, who felt disrespected by the mere fact that Raven spaced out in his presence charged at him. Ravens body, as if it was on auto pilot moved on its own and blocked the attack. "You dare space out in my presence, Swift Judgement?" Cain said in anger. The fight continued for about five minutes with just Raven dodging and blocking cains attacks, Cain grew more and more furious by those movements. "You dare look down on me? Am I not good enough for you to go all out?...you know what, if you won't come take me serious I'll just force you to." Cain said as he fires a red flare up in the sky.
"Hey. What was that just now?" Raven said in confusion.
"Oh that? It's a signal to let my companions know that I failed in taking you out and they should proceed with plan b." He said with a smile.
"Plan B?" Raven asked, then it happened.
[Notice, multiple Rank 2&3 presence located. As a result, all stats will increase to level one]
Noir, one of Ravens Shadows sent a message to Raven. "My lord, we see signs of multiple people moving in from the west and east gates. Shall we engage?" She asked
Cain, now furious spoke."Take a good look, Kincaid. This is 100 elite undead. Can you take on this much Rank 2 and 3's by yourself?
Raven took a deep sigh and finally spoke. "Shadows 3 to 9, engage in battle. Shadows 1&2, go find the necromancers." Without even a single word Said, 9 people emerge from Ravens shadow due to Noirs darkness element manipulation. They all differ in size and the weapons they held, but they had one thing in common. They were all wearing a black cloak with a subtle pattern of swirling lines and shapes embossed or printed in a darker shade of black across the fabric. The main pattern was a large, stylized white outline of a swirling pattern was prominently displayed on the back of the cloak. It had a hood at the top and appears to have a zipper or closure at the back of the neck area.
"Now, as for you." He said looking at Cain. "Try not to die in one hit."He said coldly as he positioned himself for his ultimate move. The Void Thrust, amplified by his temporary Rank 1 stats, struck Cain in the stomach, although he tried to spot it, it was no use. The power was just too much for him. The Thrust blew a whole straight through his stomach and sending the assassin flying. Raven sheathed his sword, signaling the end of his involvement.
"Phew, that was close." He thought. "Now, to do like any aura farmer would do in this situation." Raven slowly turned around d and made his was back to his throne, ironically it was the only one e remain along with the Emprors. As he sits down he stats to drift off in his thoughts again. "Those cloaks the Shadows wore, they looked really cool. Man, thank you Akatsuki for showing me the power of aura farming through your drip."
Meanwhile. Kyle, Tiana, Morris and Noirwent to the west gate. While Carlos, Elliot and Jacey west to the east.
At the West gate.
Noir, being the brains of the group spoke. "Okay, there's 50 of them, that means we each get to take out 12 of them. And first one to kill their 12 can go for the bonus 2 left. Any objections?"
The other 3 who were with her just nodded as they charged.
Morris , wielding a heavy, two-handed axe, met the first line of skeletons head-on. His strength was immense, and each swing turned a cluster of bones into dust, creating a momentary, bone-white cloud. He relied on brute force, clearing his assigned twelve by sheer destructive power.
Tiana moved differently. She used twin, wickedly curved blades, moving with acrobatic speed. She was a whirlwind of precision, targeting the joints and weak points of the undead. Her movements were beautiful but lethal; she wasn't destroying the undead so much as dismantling them, reducing the zombies to twitching, ineffective piles of flesh.
Kyle, the giant of the group, was already finished with his twelve. He had simply formed a massive, mobile obsidian shield and pushed forward, crushing and dissolving the undead with the pressure of his amplified shadow aura. He glanced at the remaining two, but then looked toward Noir. Who was focused entirely on efficiency. She wasn't using brute force or acrobatics; she was using the undead's own existence against them. She weaved her hands, and deep, unnatural shadows coalesced around her assigned targets. The shadows didn't just hide the undead; they consumed the light and the life energy animating them. Her undead targets simply stopped moving, crumbling instantly into dry, inert dust without a single sound. She was terrifyingly fast. "Bonus two are mine," Noir stated quietly, not even waiting for a challenge. She dispatched the last two with a flick of her hand. "West Gate clear. Proceed to standard security formation."
EAST GATE
Carlos, Elliot and Jacy had arrived.
Carlos looked at the undead and spoke. "50 divided by 3...we each get 16 and two more on the side. Let's move out." Unlike the divided techniques of the lower level shadows, the middle level ones prioritized team work and efficiency. The trio moved with the synchronized control of a practiced formation. "Containment is priority. No residual contamination."
Jacy was the first to engage. Instead of charging, she raised her hand. The ambient moisture in the air instantly froze around the lead wave of shambling zombies. She didn't waste time on detailed construction; she created massive, rough columns of solid ice that shot from the ground, trapping the first dozen undead in place like horrifying statues. "Target locked in," Jacy murmured, before whipping her hand again. A razor-sharp wind blade emerged, carving neat, precise lines through the exposed, unarmored necks of the skeletal warriors behind the ice.
Next, Ellio stepped forward. He wasn't focused on the undead near Jacy, but on those rushing the gate itself. His hands glowed with a sickly orange-red light. He slammed his palms onto the ground, not using the raw, overwhelming power of fire, but the contained, destructive force of his combined element. The earth beneath the charging ghouls instantly became molten. A river of incandescent magma erupted, trapping the undead below the waist. The intense heat instantly negated any necromantic taint, turning the lower halves of the ghouls into ash and leaving the upper bodies suspended, screaming in silent, molten agony.
As the undead horde hesitated, caught between the frozen and the burning dead. This small moment of confusion was all Carlos needed. Carlos, the master of pure flame, had waited for his teammates to create the perfect openings. He wasn't aiming for the middle of the pack; he was aiming for the gaps. He launched a barrage of highly concentrated, focused fire lances, the flames so hot they appeared white. These lances zipped through the precise, narrow pathways between Jacy's ice pillars and Elliot's magma field, targeting the most agile and fastest of the undead.
The lances didn't simply burn, they incinerated. The undead struck by the fire were instantly reduced to fine, white ash that dissipated before it could touch the ground. He was eliminating the threat with zero chance. Thier teamwork was flawless. And just like, they had won the fight.
"East Gate clear," Jacy reported, her breath condensing in a small puff of white fog despite the heat. "Perimeter secured."
Carlos nodded, his elemental fire receding to a faint warmth in his hands. The 7 Shadows had achieved their mission with minimal effort and maximum, terrifying proficiency.
Meanwhile. About 10 KM to the south west forest, the remaing two Shadows made their way to a cave. This was were the necromancers were hiding. As they walked in they found 10 death Knights keeping guard to a door. "Hey, Stigma. Why don't you go on a head. I'll take care of these guys." One of the Shadows, a female said.
"Are you sure, their all Rank 3 death knights. You could get hurt, Omega." He said
"Dont worry. This is lightwork compared to the training master puts us through." She said as she charges at the Death knights. Her first move was gale wind, a foot art that Raven thought her. It allowed her to move softly on her, almost like she was dancing. After that she used multi casting to use earth and water to create her element " forest" that Raven thought her to create giant vines of wood to hold the death knights as she sliced them up in no time.
"See, what I tell you. No worries at all. She said, looking at X.
Now, with that out the way, X entered the room to square off against the necromancers. But, what he found there was nothing he had ever scene. A supreme Lich, although it wasn't as strong as a Elder Lich that could control 500-2000 undeads or a Overlord who could control thousands, it was still deemed a Rank 2 threat. "Mortal, you dare come to my domain? Bow down as you're in the presence of death it self." The litch said.
Stigma, who couldn't hold in his laugh in let it burst. "Death? You?. Buddy, I've stared death in the eyes countless times and I can tell you that you're nowhere near his level."
The lich who delt slightly embarrassed by those words let out a big wave of death Prana, hoping that it'll corrupted Stigmas energy. However with just a flick of his finger all the death Prana got sucked in and disappeared.
"You, what did you do to my Prana? You should be deaf by now."
Stigma,who was still laughing finally spoke. "Oh, this little trick? This is a little something I learned from my master. Apparently, when you take the wind element, fire and mix it with the dark element you create something known as a 'black whole'. "
The lich who was shocked by this discovery spoke. "Combining of elemental attributes it's something only in fairytales. It shouldn't be possible."
"Yeah, I thought so too, but then I met him five years ago. The person I surve is beyond human nature, nit only is he strong physically but he is mentally. He found a way to combine two elemental nature's and create a whole sub element." He stops before continuing. "Hack, I think he even knew that you guys would attack tonight, why else would he stop what he was doing and just volunteer to play security. My master is omniscient and absolute. This is his world we're all nothing but pieces he moves when he is born, you included. Now, be gone." Said stigma as he threw a blackwhole twords the lich that was sucked in and burned out instantly.
With that being said, tge mission was now complete.
A moment later.
Raven who had gotten tired of posing on the throne suddenly decided to stand up. Ironically, by some mere coincidence, that's when the nine shadows returned and they all stood on their knees bowing at him.
"Oh yeah, this is it. My cool moment. Okay, let me not screw this up." He thought to himself.
He slowly raised his head and looked at them. "Noir, mission report?" He asked softly by with authority.
Noir, who goy scared by the mere mention of her own name spoke. "All enemies have been delt with, sir."
With a simple nod, the shows returned back to his shadow. He then grabs the Crystal and speaks. "People of Emor, the threat has passed. You're now safe."