Chapter 3. The Battle Begins.
Cedrion laughed as the RPG round struck the front of the main arena. A cloud of smoke and ash went up as the explosive round impacted against the front doors. This place, with the statues of the gods of ancient times was too gaudy. How dare these mongrels' pay homage to the most powerful beings. They are my gods, not the animals.
Cheers went up from his men beside him as the doors were blasted apart by the explosive round. Cedrion set aside the spent RPG base as he looked at his men gathered around.
Several dozen men, armed to the teeth in tactical gear, including body armor, weaponry and ammo. They all came prepared to slaughter as many of the mangy shifters that attended this academy as they could get their hands on. Their inside source provided a list of students that were reported to be shifters.
They were only first-year students, so it shouldn't be much trouble at all, right? After all, how much of a fight could a bunch of first-year students, barely learning any magical skills, be able to do? The only real threat was the number of staff inside the arena. Cedrion flashed a wide grin as he anticipated the carnage.
"The auxiliary units will continue their assault against the dorms and administration buildings. Our targets are the first year students inside. Let us wipe out an entire generation of shifters in one single strike!" Cedrion's voice boomed throughout the gathered soldiers.
Cheers went up as the soldiers checked their weapons, chambered the first rounds, and formed their squads.
"All right you apes, move in!" Cedrion called out, his voice loud and bubbling with excitement as his force of several dozen men lined up in formation as they stormed the main entrance. Gunfire could be heard as the front members engaged with staff at the entrance of the arena. Cries of pain, horror, battle and gunfire rang out in the entry.
A middle-aged man with skin dark as night stepped up next to Cedrion. "Sir, it would seem the enemy forces are putting up more of a fight than we originally anticipated," he said, his voice deep and commanding as he addressed his leader.
An explosion followed by several large stone walls appeared in front of them. Several of his men cried out in pain as they were blasted back in response.
Cedrion glanced at the man, "Malachai, relax my friend. We will be victorious today. Of that I have no doubt," Cedrion responded nonchalantly as he unholstered a pair of sleek silver and black large caliber pistols from his chest holsters. He thumbed the safeties off and grinned. "I think it's time to get bloody Malachai old boy," Cedrion said with a sadistic laugh as he followed the soldiers inside the entranceway.
Cedrion formed a ball of concentrated flame in his hand, blue in color as he stood in front of the stone walls. "These animals are nothing to us!" He shouted and threw the fireball at the erected barrier. The flame exploded and the wall crumbled to the ground in tiny pieces.
Malachai said nothing as he shouldered his rifle and followed his boss inside the building. The sounds of gunfire and magical blasts were going off all around them as the battle began. There were already a few bodies strewn about the area as the first casualties were taken.
Malachai noticed so far, none of the dead belonged to their side as he went by. He made sure they were dead and double tapped the head of each body they passed. The last thing he wanted was an ambush from behind by someone they thought was out of the fight.
Eventually, they made their way through the hallway and into the grand arena area itself. So far, they had lost only a handful of soldiers to make it this far. Nothing Malachai was overly worried about as they continued their slaughter of the students they could find.
Malachai rushed into the opening, expecting to find a few hundred students terrified and hiding behind the staff as they entered the arena. But there was nothing of the sort. By the time they reached the grand arena itself, not a single person was left inside the area.
"Damn it!" Cedrion cursed in frustration. "My prey has run away. This just means the hunt continues," Cedrion said angrily as he looked around. He hadn't killed nearly enough shifters yet to satisfy his bloodlust. His squadron commanders approached him as the others remained on the lookout until orders were given.
"What are your orders, sir?" the man asked. He was young but determined to see the cause succeed.
"Move through the facility, at this point, slaughter everyone you come across," Cedrion gave the cruel order. He was done playing around. They would slaughter everyone under the pretense of being shifters and an affront to Ares, their god and lord. He grinned as he gave the order to his commanders and watched as the men took off, sweeping through the hallway, searching for anyone left behind.
Suddenly, multiple screams from the men at the front of the formation filled the room and reached Cedrion's ears as he looked up to see what the cause was. Several large explosions forced the men at the front to be pushed back and some were blown off their feet, slamming back down against the walls and pillars that lined the sides of the arena.
"Well, it looks like someone has some fight left in them," Cedrion said. Malachai swallowed hard and didn't like the look on his boss's face. He had seen it many times before, and it never bode well for the ones that caused it. It usually ends in torture and pain for the recipient.
Cedrion gave some orders to change the formation of the men, and he stepped forward to see who was brave enough to stand before so many armed and dangerous men.
A single young student stood confidently in front of the men assembled before him in the grand arena. He wore a simple black shirt and jeans as he glared at the attackers with hatred twisting his features.
"I don't know who you are, or why you are here. But you will go no further," the kid called out in warning as he raised his hands. They were ignited with fiery magical energy as he launched several explosive fireballs at the soldiers in the front. More explosions and screams filled the room as the blasts connected, and men were sent flying. Gunshots were fired back at the boy by others as they attempted to bring the student down.
Suddenly, a large earthen wall appeared in front of the boy that blocked the bullets from connecting with him as he laughed. He heard the dull thud of the bullets impacting the stone. "You have no idea just who you are messing with," he shouted as his eyes began to glow red with energy and power. The energy of the arena began to shift in response to the mana he was summoning.
The air felt heavy and shimmered around the young boy. The lights from the ceiling dimmed in response to the power that was being summoned before Cedrion's eyes.
Cedrion froze as he took note of the glowing red eyes. There was only one shifter clan with that telltale sign, and he was positive that he had wiped them out nearly two decades ago. The feeling in the arena grew more ominous from the amount of mana the student was harnessing. The very ground began to tremble under their feet.
"That's not possible. Malachai, target that student with extreme prejudice!" Cedrion commanded as he realized exactly what was in front of them. His body was shaking with excitement as he imagined another battle with a were-wolf shifter.
Malachai ran forward as he heeded his boss's command. If his boss was acting like this, then the boy must be truly dangerous. He shouldered his rifle, took aim and fired a few bursts of bullets down range towards the boy with the glowing red eyes. The soft burb of his rifle echoed in his ears as each burst went downrange.
The boy glanced up to see a new challenger approaching with a burst of gun fire and he raised another earth wall to block the stream of bullets heading his way. He jumped to the side as his arms were ignited with fire, and he launched several large bursts of fire magic towards the black man that came at him.
Malachai stopped and used his momentum to jump to the side, barely dodging the fire blasts that were aimed at him as he raised his rifle after he landed and fired a few more bursts. He quickly reloaded his weapon as he watched the boy throw up another earth wall to block the rounds.
Some of the other men quickly joined in, sending a hail of bullets at him from the side, which was met by another earth wall as a female with short, spiked, blue-colored hair ran up behind him. She must be the one that summoned the additional earth walls for protection. Malachai glared in her direction.
"I'll play defensive, while you go on the attack," she told the boy as she focused her magic on defensive measures.
The boy grinned as he jumped over the earth walls. His speed and agility showcased his nonhuman abilities. He ran forward, throwing out multiple fireballs from his hands as he charged the men. The young girl by his side easily kept pace with him as he ran.
More of their men were going down under the combined onslaught of the two students. Malachai gritted his teeth in frustration. His men were trained, armed killers. How could they be having such difficulties against two simple freshman students? He didn't understand how their entire operation was coming to a standstill because of these two students. It made no sense in his mind.
"Helena behind you!" the boy called out in warning to his comrade as she barely had time to throw up a wall of stone as the bullets pelted the barrier. She was panting and huffing slightly from the constant use of mana but was keeping up with the boy as he slowly took out more and more of the attacking men.
He held his hands close together as he focused on a powerful wind between his palms and gave a shout as he threw the condensed air blast in a wide cone in front of him. The air blast hit the men hiding behind the tables and benches and shoved them against the wall as they landed and crumpled to the ground. Debris and damaged pieces of equipment rained down on them from the spell.
Cedrion growled low in frustration as he watched the two students make a mockery of his army. His plan, his vision of destroying the academy, was going up in flames because of two lousy students. He took aim and fired his pistols at the boy. He was the bigger threat than the girl now and needed to be taken care of first. The boy was struck by one of the rounds as he tumbled to the ground. The girl gasped in alarm as she threw up another stone barrier between them.
Cedrion grinned as he gave a command to the others to surround the pair as three more walls rose from the ground to circle the two kids behind a protective barrier.
Now was the time to end this and slaughter these two. Then Cedrion could move on to the rest of the students hiding in the back.