Pou was surrounded. He would need a miracle to escape the predicament.
The chains that brought him to a dog stand are clenched tightly on his limbs, almost impossible to break free.
Not only that, the seven other men are a group of A-ranks. Escaping from Bryce restraints alone is a stretch, how about seven more.
To make matters worse, they weren't just standing there to corner Pou. They were casting a high-level spell from the moment they revealed themselves. It was a restricting spell.
The reason Pou felt obnoxiously feeble was because of this trick. This restricting spell is a spell that renders one's blessing dysfunctional. In short, Pou can't use his blessing under the spell.
Despite being unable to utilize his blessing, Pou used his raw strength to try and lift his palm up the floor.
Slowly and shakingly, he managed to raise one palm an inch off the ground.
Struggling further, he tried to lift his body. He was slowly improving his position, when suddenly, the chains tightened even more and pulled him down harder.
"It's no use. The more you go against my chains, the harsher it will get," Bryce explained, watching Pou crumble back into a helpless dog stand.
"What are your business with our instructor?!" Jea yelled, confused about the unannounced event unfolding before her. "Why are you subduing him?!"
It's not only her who was protesting, the entire class 1-A backed Jea up, unable to withstand the sight of their favorite instructor being restrained.
"Yea, leave him alone!"
"He's done nothing wrong!"
"Those uniforms are from the Moonlit Siren, this is downright trespassing."
"Leave now or we'll report you to the academy!"
The room erupted in chaos. The students rose on their seats and rebelled against the intruders, still innocent about what was actually happening. But regardless, the students were certain that they must help their instructor.
Amidst their retaliation, Bryce said something that silenced their roars. Something that puts a lump on their throats.
"You all have been deceived," Bryce turned to the students, disclosing a truth that they could never even imagine. "This person… No. This animal is a murderer… He is the infamous third leg of the Headhunter, Cat."
The chaotic room fell silent, the students shrinking back in disbelief.
As the students plummet in the pit of contemplation, one strong-willed female refuses to digest that information.
"Liar!" Aubrey fumed. "You're falsely accusing him merely for the bounty. This is disgustingly unprofessional! DHs like you are the one that should suffer in the purgatory."
"Hmm…? It appears that Esperanza's daughter has been brainwashed," Bryce recognized Aubrey. After all, not a single person on Earth didn't know about Froilan. "Denial is utterly naive."
"Shut up and leave! It's so unruly to assume someone is a murderer."
"We'll sue your guild if you don't withdraw."
"Release our instructor from your restraints, now!"
Thanks to Aubrey, the students regained their courage to retort. Though unfortunately, it didn't last very long.
"I've had enough of this." Bryce took a step to his side, as if he was welcoming the students to watch the show with Pou in the spotlight. "Since you refute the legitimacy of our claims, why not ask your instructor himself?... If he's truly the honorable person that you defend, he would admit the truth."
All eyes locked onto Pou, the students dreading to know the answer.
The room went silent with Pou remaining still. He's not giving an answer.
Pou's gaze was fixed on the floor. His head wasn't chained, but for obvious reasons, he can't look up. Facing his students was harder than breaking free from the chains.
"Instructor?" Jea mumbled, her voice softly trembling.
Pou bit his lips and closed his eyes, feeling the weight of everyone's gaze. He was embarrassed. It felt like his voice had involuntarily cracked on the high note of the song, or like stumbling on the floor during a dance. His heart raced, and his palms were sweating against the floor. At that very moment, Pou felt the most ashamed he had ever been.re sweating against the floor. At that very moment, Pou felt the most ashamed he had ever been.
"Have you finally grasped the situation? This animal can't admit that he's a psychopathic maniac," Bryce said, suggesting Pou is guilty which the student can no longer deny.
Bryce then added, "Do not interfere. We'll be taking Cat into custo-"
*MEOW~*
Suddenly, a cat howling echoed in the room. Bryce paused and ran his eyes around the room, seeing nothing that created the sound.
*Meoow~*
It howled once again, Bryce looked at Pou, but he wasn't the one making the sound. The students, however, distinguished the lazy howling familiar. It sounded similar to the indolent black cat Pou used to carry around.
Suddenly, Pou lifted his chin and wistfully faced his students, hoping to have a proper closure to end it all and not make it hard for his lovely students.
"What this guy said is all true…" Pou admitted, witnessing the doleful shock rippling across the students' faces. "...and to tell you the truth, I've despised every single one of you," he feigned a smile to look villainous before continuing, "Becoming your instructor was my greatest misfortune."
Suddenly, he puffed up. Every part of his body became disfigured, as if evolving to a horrific state. Then, each part of his body transfigured to a cat, each varying different fur colors.
His head, arms, forearms, legs, feet, neck, belly, and chest turned into a normal cat, scrambling in different directions. He was freed from the chains and tried to escape as a cat.
One of the cats is the real Pou, but with twelve cats scattering in all directions and about to jump out the window, Bryce only had one chance to guess which cat is disguised.
The left and right wall of the room both had several windows for ventilation. The left leads to the hallway and the other was a 11-storey nosedive to the ground.
Thinking sharply, Bryce tugged his chains out of the floor and hurled it towards the gray cat leaping out the left side window.
"I'm not falling for petty tricks."
Although Bryce had 1 out of 12 chances of hitting the right target, he is perceptive to raise that odds into a guaranteed catch.
Cats don't possess a blessing, and by that knowledge alone, Bryce distinguished which to target.
At the fleeting moment when the cats fanned out, Bryce keenly glanced at every cat, sensing which one had the most mana.
He caught a glimpse of a cat with gray fur darting to the left. It emitted a faint aura, unlike the others who had none.
Without moving from his position, he used his chain and caught that specific cat, binding it in a chain that gently fastens.
However, the gray cat was crushed to death. Its blood dripped into the rusted chain, making Bryce realize something.
Feeling the blood staining his chain, he muttered to himself, 'This is not human blood.'
The other seven DHs tried their guesses, but had no luck.
Bryce once again glanced at the remaining cats, realizing a peculiar black cat already outside the window to the right, about to fall down from the building.
This black cat has no mana. However, Bryce knew by intuition that it was Pou.
Bryce reacted quickly, bolting to the right and jumping out of the window, falling 110 feet.
Utilizing his chains once again, he hurled it downwards, trying to reach the falling black cat.
As the chain caught up, the black cat transformed back into Pou, agilely shifting his body to kick the chain away. The chains flung Bryce out of balance, disrupting his composure only for a second, which is enough for Pou to land safely and run with a head start.
Bryce, lacking the feline 'righting reflex', plummeted headfirst towards the ground. With impeccable timing, however, he managed to break his fall by catching himself with his palm and skillfully flipping his position upright.
Pou was sprinting for his life and he must lead his pursuer away from Euna, Vash, and Kayne. He decided to himself that he won't let anyone get involved.
Although Pou had left the seven DHs in the dust, Bryce was still hot on his tail.
"You suppressed your blessing and imbued mana to a decoy… You're clever, I must say," Bryce said while chasing Pou down the brick pathway.
The direction Pou was taking was towards the exit, alerting Bryce that he must catch Pou inside the academy before Pou could lose him in the circuitous city.
With passers-by looking at them in confusion, Bryce shoots his chains underground.
Pou felt the trembling beneath.
Aware of what's coming, he leaped as the worm-like chain protruded from the bricks.
The chain was quick, and it was an inch away from touching Pou's feet. However, at a certain height, the chain stopped ascending.
Pou noticed this detail. The chain from the ground could only reach roughly 6 feet. This gave him an idea to fully counter this technique.
On his way back to the ground, Pou thumped on the chain, sending it back underground.
Out of nowhere, Pou redirected his route, heading to a covered pathway with a corrugated iron roof.
He leaped up the roof and ran onto it. This route might cover a further distance to the exit gate, but at least, it limits Bryce from using his chain from underground.
Bryce followed suit, hopping onto the roof, not allowing Pou to get away.
With their pace getting faster, Bryce was 20 meters behind. Once more, he hurled his chain forward like a cowboy catching a horse.
Pou was undeniably faster than Bryce, and even if he can't catch Pou with the chain, it would definitely slow him down.
Five chains launched forward.
Moving swiftly, Pou dances around the chains, agilely evading it.
None of them are getting tired.
As the pursuit above the cover pathway pressed on, the students passing below were rattled by the noise on the roof.
Eventually, Pou was nearing the exit. He could see the humongous steel gate, but he was still 500 meters away from it and the covered pathway ended.
Pou was forced to get on the trimmed lawn and face the unpredictable chains from beneath.
The chase on the lawn continues, and surprisingly, Bryce did not utilize his advantage.
However, Pou noticed something in front, causing him to stop.
"Barrier?"
Bryce also paused, wondering why Pou stopped. He took a second to gasp for air before slowly walking towards him.
Then, Bryce noticed it too.
Pou pressed his palms against the reddish, half-translucent barrier in front of him. Just the feel of it told him that it was indestructible.
Pou glanced up, noticing the barrier extending high and curving slightly. The width was also long, seeming to encompass 90% of the campus.
Although, the farther he looked, the less visible the barrier became.
"Did those accomplices of yours cast this?" Pou asked as he examined the barrier.
Looking at Pou's open back, Bryce calmly replied, "Correct. You're trapped here."
That was a lie. Bryce did not know where this barrier came from, let alone who cast it. But regardless, his top priority was to subdue Cat; and Bryce would tell any lie as long as it worked in his favor.
"Me?... Trapped?..."
Pou's gentle and half-pitched voice had become serious.
"I was only running because I didn't want to kill anyone."
Pou slowly turned around, murderous intent brimming in his eyes.
"You're leaving me with no option~" Pou added.
"Nice bluff," Bryce said confidently. "No matter how many cats you summon, your blessing is not suited for combat."
"Who said I can only summon cats?" Pou glared, his voice dripping with menace. "I'll show you what my real blessing can do. You're dead..."
~~~~~~~~~~
8:14am.
Vash was on Building 1, having a typical lecturing session with class-1A as Kayne sat curled in the front corner.
"As we all know, there are two ways to use blessing: Magic manipulation and Magic creation," Vash stated. "Newbies often use whatever method is available, but do you know that there's a way to effectively use your blessing by juggling through both of these methods."
An awe of wonder sounded from the students. They were all ears, sitting earnestly on the edge of their seats.
Vash was passionate about teaching. Despite his rugged appearance that made him look more like a convict than an instructor, the students leaning on their desks and gawking at him at the podium just illustrates how good he is at teaching.
After all, Vash is the one who taught Hayden.
"Magic creation demands high mana, and it will get you exhausted faster than Euna rejecting all my candid courting."
"Ooooh~ Who's Euna?" The students wittily asked.
"Back on the topic. To avoid depleting your mana like hell, you can utilize magic creation to craft a spell with a defined duration, then employ magic manipulation to sustain it. It's simple yet very effecti—."
Suddenly, the door slid open.
"Is the Lustt vial here…?"
The man by the door spoke in a blood-curdling tone. His countenance resembled that of a dull statue, and he was clad in a trench coat with a beret perched atop his head. He was so unnaturally tall that his beret was nearly touching the top frame of the doorway. It seemed as if two people were stacked within his coat. Furthermore, his shoulders are terrifyingly broad.
Vash is jacked, but this man is on another level. Intimidating appearance is not enough to get into Vash, though.
"You're interrupting my class," Vash growled.
The man scanned the students seat, searching for a specific person.
Disappointed that he didn't find what he was looking for, the man's eyes flickered bright red.
"Lust vial?... What's that?"
The students mumbled, exchanging glances with their seat mates as they wondered what was the problem of this ominous man.
The students might've not realized it, but something is off about the man.
Vash and Kayne are the only ones that noticed it. The man's dark energy was overly noticeable, alarming Kayne to get up from slumping in the corner.
That person… is not a human.
Slowly, the man raised his right arm to a striking position, offsetting his elbow backwards to gather momentum.
"Kill," he chanted, hurling his fist in the air.
Instinctively, Vash dove in front, intercepting the punch squarely on his chest. The impact shook the entire room, echoing with the sound of a detonating dynamite. A powerful gust of wind followed, rippling across the students' skins and sending papers scattering from their desks.
The man punched like a bullet train. If Vash hadn't caught the strike, the room would've been obliterated and the students would have flown out the building along with the debris.
Vash absorbed that immense power in his chest, the impact so intense it felt like his guts were trying to force their way out of his mouth.
As Vash coughed through the pain, the next punch came from the left. He caught it with his palm, but the weight felt as heavy as a whale. Before he could recover, a barrage of fists came hurling at him, each one ramming into his defenses. The relentless onslaught pushed through his palms, forcing Vash to use his entire body to absorb blows.
The repetitive blows exploded like cannons in a battlefield. Each punch sent sharper gusts of wind through the room, and the students' screams grew more desperate. Vash knew that if even a single punch got past him, the screams would be silenced because the students would be dead.
"Should I help you?" Kayne asked nonchalantly.
Finding an opening, Vash retaliated with a powerful punch of his own. The pressure was nearly equal to the man's, forcing his firm stance to skid back a meter, his feet scraping and gouging the floor.
"Remember about the mission?" Vash wiped the blood on the corner of his lips. "If what Euna said was true, then we must prioritize the student's safety. This dude is a small fry, go ahead and secure the other buildings… Leave this one to me."
Kayne nodded and then casually jumped out the window. It's as if he's used to jumping off a building.
It wasn't clear how a demon had suddenly barged into Vash's class, unleashing havoc out of nowhere. However, the fact that this demon took on human form indicated it was an archdemon.
The level of threat posed by this archdemon was uncertain, but it compelled Vash to invoke the one and only spell his blessing provides.
Vash clasped his hands together, chanting, "Dimensional warp: Prairie!"
To cast this spell, three conditions must be met.
First, the target must be within a 10 meter radius. Second, the caster must set a timer for how long the spell will last.
"Duration: 1 minute," Vash added, completing the second condition.
Lastly, the spell can only have one target.
Just as Vash finished chanting, the ground beneath vanished into pixels, turning into a void of black. Everything, except Vash and the man, was swallowed in the darkness. Once the surrounding had dimmed, a different setting pixelated.
From the depths of the darkness above, a gentle light pierced through, unveiling a clear blue sky tinged with a subtle violet hue. As the darkness receded, the soft light bathed their feet, revealing an entirely new world—a vast, flat grassland stretching endlessly to the horizon. Even with the abundance of soft, fluffy ankle-high grass, there was neither a single tree nor flowers blooming in the tranquil dimension.
The only thing in the prairie, except the land and sky, is the gigantic analog clock.
The clock was hovering in the air and it was intangible. It has a single hand, rotating clockwise at the speed of the established time duration. Once it completes a full rotation, the living beings will return to the real world.
Supposedly, this dimension was Vash's sanctuary, his go-to place whenever he sought peace. But since becoming a Headhunter, this dimension had transformed into a makeshift boxing ring.
"Welcome to my turf," Vash grinned, his eyes gleaming with confidence. "Here, my strength is amplified tenfold. Anyone who steps into this arena faces a one-sided battle. It's like a human trying to box against a male kangaroo."
With no liabilities holding him back, Vash could unleash his full capacity.
"Dehumanize," the archdemon pronounced, then his body began contorting.
*Dash*
Before the man could complete transforming into his demon form, Vash lunged forward, his fist delivering a powerful blow.
If the man hits like a bullet train, Vash hits like a meteor.
It wasn't a metaphor, it is literally the case.
As his fist hurled forward, it stirred a tidal wave of storm, destroying an enormous chunk of land behind the man, also pulverizing the man.
When the trembling ground settled, Vash stood at the tip of the teardrop-shaped crater, as if a meteor had descended on his prairie.
Gazing at the aftermath of a single punch, Vash scanned his eyes but was unable to find his enemy.
"Huh? Don't tell me you're dead already?"
It's either he crumbles into dust like how demons usually perish, or the immense thermal energy reduces him into nothing.
With dissatisfaction painted on Vash's face, he muttered, "I was expecting that I'm matched with a tough one."
Vash looked up at the clock, sighing in dismay as he saw the hand pointing to the bottom middle.
"Perhaps 1 minute is an overestimation."
He groaned, waiting for the timer to ran out.