Story arc: Vanguard Academy Arc
No POV:
After Adam left, Drex turned to the hunter that was getting bullied earlier
"Hey you ok?"
"Y... yes..... Th.. thank you so much for helping me"
The hunter was trembling because Drex still had those yellow eyes, red skin and sharp teeth. The young boy didn't understand what was going on anymore so he bolted after saying those words.
With a sigh Drex squatted trying to collect himself. His skin slowly reverted back to the normal human skin color....
"Hey... Are you okay?"
Amy spoke up
" you....
Yuri"
Yuri stood there with a serious stare as it was rare a devil as strong as Nightmare came for help. He adjusted his stance showing how pronounced the spikes that ran down his spine was.
He was often regarded as the "Hunter of Hunters" because he had a reputation of hunting hunters.. his white eyes scanning Nightmare to access the seriousness of the situation.
For a devil with that reputation Yuri was rather young and aggressive as it was told that he mutilated the bodies of the hunters he caught.
Strangely, he wasn't as strong as Nightmare but he had a better chance at catching Drex than Nightmare did and so his reason for coming here...
"There is someone I need you to hunt down for me"
With the mention of that word Yuri's eyes widened in excitement. He brought Nightmares deeper in the cave as the continued to speak
"This isn't any ordinary devil the devil possessed a human boy and instantly went wild.
I wanted that devil on our side but it seems interested in that boy instead. The devil is very powerful. It ripped my arm off when we fought. I learnt the hard way that this devil isn't going to be easy to catch so I need your help"
Yuri thought for a moment... A devil summoning that went wrong was a really rare thing as not much devils are strong enough to defy the will of those that summon them.
He smiled realizing how challenging this Job would be.
"So what's in it for me"
"All the dead bodies of every human I ever killed all that and more if we succeed"
Yuri grinned widely showing every teeth in his mouth.. he needed dead bodies to remain alive that's why he always hunted humans and hunters. He could survive anything if he ate enough dead bodies; even death. That's why he was able to stay alive all these years. He didn't know why but that was just his nature. He instantly agreed
"That's more like it. But bear in mind this is a temporary partnership. If things go sideways I'm leaving you"
That may have sounded cowardly buy he didn't know anything about this devil boy... he thought of it as 'playing safe'
"Fine by me. I just need you to track him down anyway"
Nightmare didn't mind the words Yuri left behind he just needed to extract the devil from Drex and that was enough for him..
Back at the academy, Drex and Amy just finished their tour and they were headed back. Amy couldn't stop thinking about what Drex did to help that B-rank earlier and it kind of made her feel safe around him. She always admired people who could protect others and Drex showed a good illustration of that belief. As she approached Squad 5 barracks, she turned to Drex.
"Uhhm I guess this is it.... I had fun but this is where we part hehehe hope you won't get lost around here"
She said the last part teasingly as she nudged Drex lightly on his arm. She secretly wished that she could spend more time with him he wasn't in a squad yet so she could only hope he would be in her squad.
"Yeah I hope so this school is hella big hope I'll fit in" Drex blurted out, knowing exactly what he meant
"Oh you'll be fine.. let's see each other again sometime"
After Amy said that an awkward silence fell on them both not knowing what to say next
"Well see ya I gotta meet commander Vaden for some important things "
"Y.. yeah bye "
Amy gave a wave and watched Drex walk away towards the squad 7 barracks. She sighed and walked into her own barracks with all of that day's event on her mind. She only thought of that day's event as a tour but she realised that she enjoyed herself and before she knew it, she was hoping to bump into Drex another time.
As Drex was walking towards the barracks, his only thoughts were why he was called. He didn't know that being a hunter had so many protocols and he didn't like it either..He remembered the amount of tests he had to run and how many times he was scanned and sighed in frustration
'Maybe i should have chosen the execution option instead'
He thought to himself as he approached the barracks. With a sigh he walked in and walked towards Vaden who was already waiting for him
"Oh good you're here"
"I...guess so"
"So I'm guessing you don't know why you're here"
"Not really"
"Well you're here because it's time to determine your rank"
At this point Drex was confused. He tilted his head a bit
"I'm sorry what?"
Vaden understood his confusion and chucked
"Oh yes you're still new... You see, here there is a certain way to rank hunters that a present in this school and that is through ranking. There are several ranks and this is measured with the amount of devil energy each hunter possess. The ranking one of the ways in which one can be put into a squad and that would help technicians to better monitor your powers hence the tests and scans we put you through in this vane, not just hunters but devils can also be ranked based on the level of their strength"
Drex's eyes widen a bit in understanding as he rembered Amy mentioning ranking a few times. Even during the run in with that hunter earlier
Vaden continued
"There are various ranks in which one can find themselves namely the C rank, the B rank, the A rank, the S rank and the Special rank with C rankers being the lowest hunters and Special rankers the highest"
But as Vaden was about to continue, his expression turned slightly silent.
"However in your case I find it hard to believe your rank because based on what I was told you were able to take on an A rank devil I'm suspecting that your devil energy on its own is far lower than the that of the devil that possess you and since the devil isn't completely fused with you, we decided to use yours which is significantly low"
Drex was curious
"Ok.... So what rank am i"
"A B rank "
Drex thought for a moment. He didn't really hate the sound of that. As a matter of fact he really didnt care because to him it meant he would have less attention. Then a question crossed his mind
"Uhmmmm is it possible to rank up?"
"Yes there are two...
One: either you are able to defeat a devil in a higher ranking or
Two: through testing and it is shown that your power had grown; but i personally prefer the formal"
Drex listened careful as he just nodded right after Vaden finished talking
Vaden stretched.
"Well I guess that's all for now you can head back to the room we provided. Tomorrow we will assign you to a squad"
Drex shrugged and turned to leave closing the door behind him..
Meanwhile Yuri had spent the whole day searching for Drex after Nightmare told him about it and to be honest even he admitted to have some difficulty because for starters he didn't know what his devil energy felt like hell, he didn't even know what he looked like.
Yuri ran across the buildings with frustration building up within him when he spotted someone. He immediately recognized the hunter aura and went closer thinking it might be the person he's looking for.
But opon getting close enough to see, he noticed the hunter had a helmet on and a girl body. As far as he knew the one he was looking for was male and if he remembered correctly, he had scar on his face.
The reason Yuri didn't attack was simple: he didn't want to cause extra trouble by attracting other hunters. As far as he was concerned, he only needed to kill one so any other goal came after that. That goes to show how seriously he took this task.
Yuri took one last look at the hunter and left promising to come back and kill her.
After that the hunter that was spotted seemed to be going towards the direction of a school which turned out to be the school she went to evacuate a few days back. As she approached the school she first went around to the windows. It seemed she was looking for someone but when she couldn't find him she decided to go inside the school directly.
It turns out that there was always someone she came to see almost every day and when she asked around she would hear them say things like.
'we haven't seen him after the incident'
Or
'he disappeared after the incident'
Hearing that her heart sunk as she just wanted to see him even though he never knew she came. She didn't know what to say or if to keep questioning further so she concluded that the person in question must've died during the Pentagram incident.
She left the school feeling heavy in her chest constantly asking herself why she left him. She obviously would have stayed and kept her awakening a secret but he persuaded her to go promising to join her soon but here she was, sad and alone.
When she arrived at the academy, she didn't know when she started to sob crying in grief as she lost the only other person that meant so much to her. She was sad, broken and ridden with guilt but she managed to get some sleep still feeling that pain in her chest.
The following day arrived and Drex seemed to just wake up preparing himself for another hell of a day.
He sighed and left the rooms after changing and headed toward the academy expecting something crazy to happen as it always did.