KoL

Hikari Academy

HIKARI RYODAN ACADEMY

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The week that followed the beginning of the new school year, as well as the unfortunate incident that occurred during said day, went by in a blink. It was on occasions such as this one that anyone could see the true relative nature of time at work. Whether any of Hikari Academy's staff and students spent their time lost in work, study, or their own personal pursuits, the reality that seven days of their lives had gone to never return would become evident when no one but the Vice Principal called for another general assembly to announce a much-unexpected change in the school's proceedings...

VICE PRINCIPAL REIKO ASAMIYA

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"During the course of the past week, it came to our knowledge that some of you, students, are still intent on acting against the Academy's decisions regarding your well-being," Reiko said, opening her discourse by cutting right to the chase. "Some of you are discontent with the imposed curfew and—I'm aware of at least one or two of you that still want to chase after the mysterious murderer, despite knowing that it's a most certainly out of your league."

Reiko didn't even need to quote names; declarations such as this one always brought about looks of uncertainty in the eyes of those who found themselves guilty. All she needed to do was observe the reactions of the students to confirm or deny her suspicions.

"Just a quick update on that issue before I get to the actual reason why you are here listening to me, first thing in the morning," she said, cutting the unavoidable hubbub. "The creature hasn't been sighted within the Academy premises after the incident. We received reports of sightings as well as other murders in the city that match our suspect but they are yet to be confirmed. All members of the staff and faculty are aware of the creature's true nature and will do everything in their power t bring it to justice. This, however, does not excuse any reckless attitude from the student body.

Heroic sacrifices may sound noble in a novel's page but, in reality, it only makes others' lives harder," Reiko made another pause to gauge the reactions up to now. The cynicism in her voice was so thick that one couldn't even cut it with a knife. If those kids couldn't accept reality without being broken by its weight, they weren't cut for the job of a Slayer.

"Thanks to the unusual circumstances of this school year, we decided to try a new experiment. Some of you students who had their promising potential gauged by the faculty during this week have been selected to engage in early access field missions. This will ensure that you know the reality of a Slayer's life through hands-on experience from early in your education.

The teams' compositions and mission resumes are listed on the entrance hall's bulletin board along with the teachers that will accompany each group. You have until the end of this week to complete your assignments. If there are any questions or need for support during the missions, you are free to contact the Academy at any time. That's all."

Missions!? How come the students be getting missions barely a week before classes began?

As soon as Reiko dismissed the assembly and slid behind the auditorium's curtains there was no need to say that the majority of the student body broke into chaos...

ACADEMY HALLS

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Among the names of other teams and assorted messages pinned to the board, the students who went to check if their names had been chosen would find—to many people's surprise— the names of a few first years students among them.

Team U: Roland, Lumen, Circe, and Ceiran.
Teachers: Yurius and Mako.
Mission: Recently, unknown beings reported to hide in the City's abandoned Industrial Zone have been raiding stores and causing widespread damage. Investigate and correct the cause for such activities.

Team V: Duncan, Trey, Sonia, assisted by Lotte.
Teachers: Tholl and Kromric.
Mission: Unknown beings procreating on the City's sewers forbid the maintenance workers from fixing a number of defective valves. If left unchecked, the streets are going to be flooded with wastewater. Deal with the creatures and close the valves before it's too late.

KoL's Test Thread

Lotte Chaubert

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Lotte followed the group silently. It wasn't as if she was trying to avoid socialization but the smallish fox was never a conversationalist either. If someone had talked to her she would have replied, naturally, but she didn't feel the need to break the silence when no one else did.

Once they arrived in the sewers, she was one of the last ones to get into the underground gallery. Lotte waited for both Sonia and Duncan to fit their larger frames through the entrance, in case they would need any assistance, before descending the ladder. As soon as she arrived at the bottom, Lotte produced a waterproof tablet from her backpack and began to draw a rough map of their surroundings while she listened to the instructions being handled by Tholl and Sonia.

"Understood, Young Mistress," Lotte replied with her typical deadpan voice once the briefing had been made. She walked to the front of the group lighting the way for those who didn't see in the darkness—which would likely be Trey and Duncan.

The War of the Three: Exodus

THE 1ST PYRAMID

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The First Pyramid was a sight to behold, built at the edges of the oasis, beside a monumental waterfall. A bridge linking the margins of the margins of the Ma'at River could be seen on the opposite side of the dimly lit ritual plaza dominated by the Pyramid itself. The hieroglyphs etched in the dark obelisks that guarded each of the plaza's corners talked of a story of the god that dominates the waters with an iron grip of terror and the massive crocodilian statues guarding the Pyramid's entrance made the identity of the creature clear.

No traps or elaborated maze-like pathways waited for those who crossed the threshold of the God's domain; this was a challenge of power, a test of their nerves and cunning. Only those who were ready to claim the title of apex predators could hope to defeat...

SO'BEK, THE RAVAGER

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As soon as anyone stepped into the Pyramid they would find themselves transported to what must have been some kind of parallel dimension, or perhaps sent all the way back to the beginning of the Nightless Oasis. Otherwise, who what would explain the massive, lush marshland where they were threading now?

The interior of the Pyramid was, in fact, taken by wildlife, with vines and trees covering its walls, water at least to the height of the knee of an average height human covering most of the places not claimed by plants and occasional spots where the darker waters could reach untold depths. The cries of birds, crocodiles and other creatures that called these swamps their homes could be heard in the distance but all of them paled in comparison to the guttural voice that echoed through the ancient stones of the Pyramid.

"You have come to this place seeking to unleash a power you do not comprehend. Turn back now, or join the ranks of the countless ones who came before you," the voice said before the forest itself shook with a massive roar.

※ ※ ※

As the first one to enter the Pyramid, Nina would naturally become the first to be targeted by the Guardian's rage. The only warning she would have before being attacked was the unnatural stillness of the water around her before a loud snapping sound of jaws breaking out of the dark pond.

"You had your chance!" The two-and-a-half meters tall, crocodilian humanoid said as he swung his machete-like blade at the smallish dragon with impressive brute force and agility before following the combination attack with a tail-whip that splashed copious amounts of water in towards her face.

As if the attack alone wasn't enough, Nina would find that the vines and roots of the plants that covered the Pyramid's innards were trying to snare her, to make the Guardian's job easier.

Hikari Academy

Geez, I did that at random, but I guess that some things are up to fate.

It'll be interesting to see, given the mission I have in mind for Yurius and Mako's team.

Either way, everyone, if there are no conclusive opinions up to this weekend, we will decide whether or not to jump to the first set of missions or more class time.

Hikari Academy

By the way, we will be moving out of the Lunch break this weekend. We will go to the second half of the day's classes, before the night comes and then skip one week ahead to the beginning of the field missions.

Or, if you want to jump straight to the action, we can do the week skip already. The formations of the student/teacher temas will be as follows:

.
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Team 01 | Team 02
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Yurius | Tholl
Mako | Kromric
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Roland | Duncan
Lumen | Trey
Circe | Sonia
Ceiran | Lotte (if need be)
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I assigned this to try to ensure as much as possible that no one will have two characters in the same team, to make interactions more interesting. You can choose who will be the captain of the students' part of the teams and assign team names if you are feeling specially inspired.

In fact, it would be very appreciated if you did so.

Hikari Academy

Rejoice, people, knowing that we'll begin to have field missions soon enough. They'll have varied types of objectives and outcomes, to involve everyone more with the plot and or side plots.

Hikari Academy

<Snipped quote by Lonewolf685>

Huh. Could've sworn we needed more teachers just a week ago. Oh well, no complaints here.

@floodtalon

Times change.

Hikari Academy

@Awesomoman64

Your new character is ok, wait for @TheWindel's word.

For the time being, he'll be the last teacher and pure fantasy character that we will be admitting.

Discipline: Hide in the Fairytale

Oh, nice, we are back on business.

I'll have a post of my own some time up to this weekend.

Red Dragon Bone Guild

This looks like the kind of sweet fantasy that's right up my alley. Don't mind me if I drop a CS here.