[i]The previous night…[/i]

[h1][color=ed1c24]Cain End’rana[/color][/h1]

[hider=Battle]A cold night with a burning evil. To say that his entire life had been driven by mere adrenaline was an understatement. His sole purpose in life was to be a criminal, yet he broke himself away from the fate of being a scum. And even then, his new purpose to the world of Espers and Magicians remained unclear. He was destined with the slim chance of living an undesirable battle against temptation and the control of his own morals.

Never did his life change. It never gave him a chance to relax for more than a day, and it never permitted him to strive on towards living as a Hybrid who graduated from Hybrid Academy or any other school. He learned how to survive thanks to a man who intended on using him. Ironic, considering how he never used his teacher to his own advantage until he plunged a sword through the man.

Cain. A name without a family, a name without meaning.

Cain “End’rana” was labeled as a murderer, and he had every right to carry the title to wave it around and threaten his enemies. He lost countless of battles and pressed on to the point where his will to tear through odds grew greater than his own strength. Every night, he would seek a darkness that he never saw again after facing his mentor. No one other than his brother and his brother’s friends were his allies, for no one ever gave him a chance to seek help after all. Alas, none of his trusted friends were specifically skilled in combat.

He fought alone, risking his life every night. To him, it was common sense to send people to death’s heartless embrace if they planned on ending him.

Standing at the front of an old building, Cain sat with a knee resting on the ground. An arm was raised to hold onto the handle of his blade, the End’rana Gauge, which remained pierced through the ground.

Again, he would have to endure another night of risks and lethal foes.

The dark-haired man stood up as he forcefully pulled the sword out of the ground. One o’ clock. Exactly the time he would comply by to face one of the many organizations related to the one he belonged in as a child. Every day was tiring, especially with the fact that he usually got nothing out of killing officers, murderers and rapists alike in the first place.

Cain walked into the abandoned building. He felt the presence of several people within the building through his Plasma Manipulation. Though he usually did not feel the presence of people that easily, depending on their relation to heat or blood, he had enough experience to begin sensing lifeforms without having to see or hear them. He was no expert in detecting people, but it was enough to bring out the skills he specialized in.

A few steps into the building cut his senses off from the people he sensed within the building.

He had been detected. As of recent days, however, he found it unsurprising to be caught without being able to see who noticed his presence. The organization had interesting people…

Pillars of concrete stood deathly still and rusty pieces of metal lay around him. Moving up to the second floor, Cain cracked his neck as his right hand, which remained clutching on the End’rana Gauge, tightened. His free hand slowly formed a red energy around it; the energy known as Red Mana, which he used to survive for so long.

With precise timing, Cain generated an explosion of Red Mana around him as six men armed with Esper abilities prepared to launch a variety of elemental attacks at him. Raising his sword with a reverse grip, the dark-haired Red Mana user threw his free hand up in the air, firing six tendrils of red energy to pierce through the men who were dazed at the blunt force of the Red Mana. Gritting his teeth with a slightly ticked expression, Cain pulled all of the tendrils towards him, propelling the men towards his direction, as the limbs of red energy flew out of their bodies. Taking a step back, Red Mana formed around Cain’s feet before he slid towards a single direction.

Right as six men collided against each other, he swung his sword as he charged forward, decapitating all of them in one strike as he slid through the bodies. He knocked the limp corpses away like bowling pins due to the speed generated thanks to his Red Mana.

The End’rana Gauge in hand, he saw ten men in dark suits carry blades of elemental energy soar through the gaps of the abandoned construction site from the upper floor.

[i]The Elements of Conner,[/i] he thought, remembering four encounters with its members. [i]One of the most useless organizations to ever try capturing people for their stupid little experiments.[/i]

[i]They all deserve death more for their stupidity than their violence.[/i]

Without a word, the men charged towards Cain, one of them firing electricity from afar. The electricity user missed as Cain utilized the Red Mana formed around his feet to slide away from the channel of energy. Raising his blade up to in a hostile stance, Cain ran up to a man who attempted to slice him apart with a naginata composed of fire. The End’rana slammed his blade against the naginata, entering a brief blade clash with the enemy.

He, however, had already won when they clashed blades.

Using a sudden jolt of strength, Cain slammed the naginata upward before reaching out, grabbing the fiery weapon with a free hand. He quickly absorbed some plasma out of the weapon before raising his hand up to the man’s face. A blast of orange plasma tore through the teeth and the back of the naginata user’s head. Almost immediately after killing the enemy, Cain swung himself around, horizontally chopping a man’s torso in half as Red Mana coated itself around the End’rana Gauge.

Digging a hand into the gore-covered legs that were limply falling on its knees, Cain tore his now bloody hand out before throwing down a ball of Red Mana and blood plasma on the ground in front of him, breaking nearly everyone’s feet through powerful blunt force. The electricity user, however, caused Cain to remain very tense, as he continued to launch channels of energy at the dark-haired sword fighter.

Cain soon found a series of men recovering before throwing themselves towards him, prepared to end him with individual attacks and combinations of sword slashes. The End’rana, however, found it easy to read through the men and cut through them in a variety of ways. He chopped their torsos, sliced their arms, and cut them vertically in half before cutting another down with a diagonal strike from the skies.

With the electricity user left, Cain proceeded to dodge a series of far-ranged attacks as he slowly approached the Esper with caution. When the man raised his two hands to channel a powerful blast of energy, however, Cain noticed the gist of what he was going to do.

A mighty roar erupted from Cain as Red Mana surrounded his feet, allowing him to slide up to the electricity user before he utilized his energy blast attack. Colliding against the man powerfully with his shoulder, Cain raised his sword, coating in Red Mana, before hacking at the Esper with a series of swords strikes. Another, and another, and another slash through the man, and yet the Esper remained whole.

But not for any longer.

Raising his sword behind him, Red Mana gathered at the hand he lifted the large sword with, creating a magnificently dark and crimson limb of destruction. It was shaped like both a wing and a claw, with a bright light shining out of the center of the hand as if it were an eye of a heartless beast.

A final slash erased the Electricity Esper’s entire body from existence.

And soon, Cain himself disappeared when no one else was to be found. He cared little for what a useless organization had to offer, after all, for there was another group that he needed to face for information on the darkness that lingered within the cities.[/hider]


______________________________

[h1][color=82ca9d]Bang Constantine[/color][/h1]

Bang nodded.

He had received his schedule. O de le joy. Now what could he do with a schedule?

Think about it, of course.

But since thinking about schedules idly was unproductive, Bang decided to start moving as well. He actually thought about signing up for the Manga club, but of course, he had to make sure it did not get in the way of his free-time's training. There was also the fact that he needed to decide on a dormmate.

Needless to say, his eyes wandered off to a large man who reminded him of a height he saw mostly in boxing rings. Blinking at the large man, the boxer thought simply, [i]Wow. So tall. I wish I grew up.[/i]

...And indeed, Bang was around 175 centimeters tall. Although it was a bit higher than the average height, he was certainly not tall enough to visually qualify as a boxer. His situation seemed a bit similar to Michael Jordon; they both may be short for their respective sports, but they were skilled in their own professions.

Bang just hoped that he would not die earlier than Mr. Jordan.

Having no place to go, he stared at the book in the giant's hands before glancing at a woman talking at him.

[i]The Iron Giant,[/i] Bang thought, [i]with the addition of a feminine Hogarth Hughes. Interesting.[/i]

He had to admit, he wanted to see where the interaction went to. With that taken into context, Bang, with his awkward social skills, stood nearby the two, occasionally looking around as he stared off into space. The boxer apparently decided to stand still and remain nearby the two because he did not plan on getting lost in the school.