"Dumas?" the voice called out.
The people throughout the room lifted their heads and quickly surveyed their surroundings.
The voice repeated themself, "Dumas?" clearly already annoyed.
The room stayed silent once again, before-
"Leon Dumas!" the voice yelled, and a figure jumped from his chair in the waiting room. He had clearly been asleep, as his blue eyes were just narrowly open and his golden blond hair was very much a mess. The assistant was slightly underwhelmed by his appearance for an interview, yet she gave him some benefit since it was early in the morning and she didn't know when he had arrived.
"Sorry, my bad" he called out, then he rushed over to her with a suitcase in hand.
"Follow me please," the assistant told him.
"Of course" Leon replied, and he sheepishly looked at all the others in the room, he had absolutely caused a small scene. Then, he decided to get back on track and followed the woman down a hallway.
Leon looked at the walls, upon them were multiple posters, signs and trophies of hunters that came out of the region. Underneath each one was the organization's name and slogan.
ARIADNE
They are real, but so are we.
Leon wasn't the biggest fan of the slogan, but he would admit it got across the point they wanted.
The woman eventually led him into a room in the back of the building. It was mostly barren save for a table in the middle with two chairs, and a large flatscreen opposite of him.
"Please sit and someone will be with you shortly to conduct the interview." the assistant said, to which Leon nodded.
He sat down in the chair facing the tv and the woman left, leaving him to his thoughts, alone. Leon sat with his thoughts for a few minutes alone, then the tv blared on. Out popped a blue haired cartoon mascot, in fact she reminded Leon of one of those Japanese vocaloid characters.
"Hi, my name's Aria, and this is an introduction video to get you refreshed and up to date before your interview to join…" Aria paused.
" The. Ariadne. Foundation." Aria lifted and moved her hands and the spoken words appeared above them, creating an arch around her when she finished the sentence.
Leon was already familiar with what she was about to say. For the past ten years informational videos and other reports have been shown in the news and even schools using her as Ariadne's mascot.
"In 2004, there was a massive earthquake that shook the coast of Kuwait. Hundreds of lives were lost in the initial calamity, yet no one knew the horror that would show her face in the days after."
Leon had learned this in school year after year. There was a cloud of dust that erupted from the impacted region and started making its way inland. The American military that was nearby in Saudi Arabia were asked to check it out by their government due to odd readings military scientists were receiving. None of the pilots that went to check out the scene survived.
"It was a massive dragon," Aria continued as Leon clued back in, "Whose horns reached even the heavens. And her name?" Aria said in programmed anticipation.
"Tiamat." Leon whispered.
"It was Tiamat, an ancient monster from thousands of years ago in Sumer former-myth. The American military fought bravely yet they were no match against her, and many lives were lost. Eventually she arrived at the city once known as Uruk, and she buried herself under the sands, going into a hibernation that persists to this day."
"From then, Ariadne revealed themselves from the shadows. An ancient organization dedicated to protecting humanity from the monsters that built our legends, dubbed Phantasms."
Leon nodded along, while he knew everything that Aria was stating, he thought it would look better should someone be watching him.
"And now, here you are, wanting to forge your own legend and protect humanity as well. Congratulations, and I wish you luck on your interview." The television shut off almost immediately.
Just as suddenly, the door behind Leon opened, and a woman in a black suit walked in. Leon could barely see the white undershirt as she wore the outer piece tight. Yet he was also taken aback by her stunningly beautiful, crimson red hair and eyes, they seemed to draw him in like a black hole.
"Mr Dumas I presume?" the woman asked.
"Y-yes, that's me." Leon stumbled out.
The woman nodded and let out a small huff of air. "My name is Vesper Scarlet, I shall be conducting your interview today."
Leon nodded and Vesper took a seat opposite him. She had a clipboard in her hands and analyzed Leon through a glare.
"Tell me, why is it that you want to join Ariadne? Is it that you want to be famous? You want to go on talk shows and brag about the monsters you've killed?"
"No, of course not."
"Oh, then maybe some naive ideals of being a hero? To save others and fight for what you believe."
"Well, I guess some part of it could be chalked up to that."
Vesper leaned forward, "So then tell me Leon. Why do you want to fight monsters?"
Leon went quiet.
"Mr Dumas?" Vesper asked.
"Leon."
"I'm sorry?"
"Please, drop the Mr, just call me Leon."
"Alright then, tell me Leon. Why do you want to fight monsters?"
"I'm not sure if you know him, but I have a brother who's an official Ariadne hunter."
"Yes, Elliot Dumas, he has quite the record."
Of course she knows about him, Leon thought. His brother had quite the list of achievements under his belt, and asking the question was merely his way of getting confirmation of being compared towards his brother in the future.
"So, is your application out of a case of wanting to prove yourself? Is that it?" Vesper said, her voice dropping in tone. Leon couldn't deny that it was at least partially the reason.
Vesper continued, "Are you here to prove that you are just as good as Elliot, a family of those seeking glory?"
"No," Leon quickly responded. He took a second to compose himself, combing his messy hair with his hand. "With all respect to my brother, I could care less if he were a part of this organization."
Vesper's eyebrow twitched, "Excuse me?"
"You're partially correct, he is someone who seeks glory above all else, as much as I love him. I'm here for a better reason."
"Go on?"
"We had a sister." Leon started. "Her name was Ashley. We all lived comfortably with our parents. However, around eight years ago I think it was-"
Leon didn't think it was eight years ago, he knew it was, he just didn't want the person facing him to judge him for keeping track.
"There was an attack on our town, many died, it was horrible. Our sister and parents were among the casualties, worse is that the Phantasm escaped. As far as I know it's never been tracked down." He concluded.
"So revenge? Is that it?"
Leon let out a soft chuckle, "Maybe? Honestly I'm not really sure myself, but I feel like this is the best course of action for my life."
Vesper looked Leon in the eye, analyzing to see if there were any lies within his words. They sat there for a minute, no words exchanged, until Vesper started giggling.
Leon was confused at the sight before him, she seemed very professional and stern.
Vesper then moved to a full laugh, and Leon couldn't help but feel slightly insulted. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Vesper eventually calmed herself down.
"Must say, not the answer I was expecting." She said, having stopped her barrage of laughs.
"Very well, I think that's all I need." Vesper said.
Leon was confused, "Wait what? That was like one question."
"I'm aware, but the interview phase is complete, trust me this is common. Anyways, take this and fill it out before I get back." Vesper handed Leon a small packet of paper, then she stood up and left the room. Leon opened the paper and took a pen that Vesper had left.
Is this a test? He asked himself, and the answer was seemingly yes when he looked at the contents inside. There were multiple photos of different phantasms, and underneath were portions that led him to classify and name the different creatures.
Kraken, a Leviathan class.
Naga, a Serpent class
Nue, Bestial
Ogopogo, Leviathan
Orthrus, Bestial
Leon sat there for a few minutes, filling out the packet, occasionally he would glance in the top corner of the room, staring into a camera that was focused on him. He was clearly being watched. Leon thought nothing of it, he had learned by this point in the world that Aridne was nothing if not cautious, the amount of active groups and people who resent them and/or use phantasms for their own gain was an astronomical number.
Leon kept writing in the packet, and finished the paper in record time. Once done, he gave himself a stretch, pulling his arms behind his head. At almost that exact moment, the screen before him blared on, and Aria appeared.
"Congratulations," she started, to which out of amusement Leon replied "Thank you."
"You have now completed the interview and written exam portions of your initiation. Please prepare for the physical examination Leon."
"Oh? Alright wait-"
The information blared through Leon's mind, how did she know his name?
"Aren't you-" the floor opened up below him and the chair and person went tumbling down a dark shaft. He fell for what seemed like forever, yet he knew it was for less than ten seconds before he landed onto a soft crash pad.
Struggling for a moment, Leon crawled out of the pad that would sink and engulf each movement of his. However Leon persisted and crawled out onto the solid floor.
Leon looked upon his surroundings, to his sides were racks that held many different types of weapons, and a table with a pair of glasses on them. Beside those glasses there was a plaque that told him to put them on, he begrudgingly did so.
They seemed like normal glasses to Leon, yet after he adorned them they came to life, showing a high tech HUD that analyzed his surroundings. In the corner, revealing herself was Aria.
Her mouth was moving, but Leon heard nothing, the Aria within his sight seemed to get angered by the fact, and then made some dramatic movements, trying to signal Leon to do something. Leon had no idea what she could possibly be miming, however when large letters spelling out "TURN AROUND" filled his view, he got the gist.
Back on the table, was an earpiece that he had missed. The HUD on his vision then put out the words "PUT IT ON" and Leon did as he was told.
"There we go, finally." the Aria said.
"Wait, are you like an actual AI?"
Aria chuckled, "You know it, of course using one AI for such a global operation is beyond comprehension so I'm more akin to an aspect of the whole Aria which has been dedicated to the help of Unit Perseus. My full title is Aria-Perseus but for simplicity you can just call me Aria." Aria introduced herself.
Leon was taken aback, up until this point, it was mostly assumed by the general public that Aria was merely a mascot who was animated by a team and had a voice actor or voice bank. This was beyond his own understanding.
"Well, I'll just think about that revelation later, so why am I here?"
"I thought I made it clear before you dropped, this is the physical portion of your examination before joining Ariadne. Go pick a weapon."
Leon sighed, and looked at the racks. The weapon diversity was absurd, greatswords, spears, hammers, the whole shebang.
"If you use guns I apologize, but creating such a large amount of Anti-Phantasm bullets for examinations would be too expensive." Aria said.
It made sense to Leon, Phantasms could only be hurt in one of two ways; firstly was the easiest, and that was to use tactics that had been engraved as their weaknesses in legend. Silver against werewolves, sunlight for vampires and the likes.
The second however was the most effective, yet also the most dangerous and expensive. That was weapons created from the parts of other Phantasms. This gave the benefit of also allowing the weapons to harness some of the abilities of the Phantasm they held the parts of, yet gave the famously disadvantageous result of making bullets and arrows for ranged weapons very expensive, having them deemed unreliable for most hunters.
Well, bows were less of an annoyance as after a hunt one could collect the arrows and reuse them, yet guns being unviable for the fight against monsters was a major cripple towards humanity.
"That's fine, I don't rely on them anyways." Leon said, then he looked upon the weapon ahead of him.
"This'll do just fine."
"Oh my, you don't see many who use this weapon." Aria said.
Leon grabbed the weapon and twirled it in his hands, getting a feel for the weight of it. It was a little too heavy on the bladed side for Leon's liking, yet he could make do.
"Are you sure this is the weapon you'll choose?" Aria asked.
"Affirmative."
"Very well then, let the physical examination commence." Aria said, and the wall opened up, showing Leon a pathway into a small arena. Within the arena's center was a tall, theropod-esque figure. It had long, skinny chicken-like legs with backwards knees, and its snout was shaped more like a tube that it could shoot out of. The creature had no arms to speak of, and its long, large tail was the only reason it could stand upright. Its structure and figure was akin to that of a seahorse save for the legs.
A Bestial class, Tripodero Leon surmised. I'll need to target its legs and tail to set it off balance. That's my win condition.
Leon spun his glaive and got into a battle stance, the blade faced forward and his posture leaned towards the ground.
"Showtime."