The silence that spread amongst the group of students was deafening.
They came here, weapons drawn, ready to save more students but this wasn't a battlefield.
It was a massacre.
Bodies lay strewn across the abandoned camp in grotesque stillness. Thirty students, lifeless and cold, their uniforms soaked in dry rust-brown. No torn limbs. No scorch marks from magical discharge. Just clean surgical-slashes.
Not the work of a Hollow.
Zeke's jaw tensed. His fingers curled into fists. Around him, the others were slowly fanning out checking the bodies for any clue or sign to help them figure out who did this.
Darius looked up from the tent he walked into, his voice too quiet for someone his size.
"Were some of these guys killed in their sleep?"
Kaito was pale, his breathing shallow. Rian turned his face away, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth. Even the ones used to bloodshed and battles had nothing to say.
The worst part was that they had no idea who did it. Minutes passed as they searched nearby for anything. Signs of struggle. Splashes of blood. But nothing was found, everyone died without getting to fight back. Liana, the girl who is good with archery, was perched on a tree watching the surroundings when she saw something.
"Yo, Zeke, there's a trail of blood here leading off into the distance."
Zeke jumped to his feet, eyes full of hope " Quick lets go, there might be a survivor."
He ran off before anyone could object. Not that they would anyways.
After running for more than 5 minutes, flowing the drops of blood that lined the path, the group slowed down and silence fell.
They found two more students. One girl lay on her back, her eyes wide open. A single slit ran down her neck through to her back , straight as a ruler. The boy beside her looked like he tried to fight. His sword was raised, still gripped tight even after death, chest was pierced, blood still flowing.
Zeke crouched beside them, eyes scanning, mind racing. He exhaled slowly.
"Come on... give me something. Anything..."
Nothing.
"Shit, if we were a little faster we would've made it, look the blood hasn't even dried"
Only the cold, thick scent of blood and old trees.
The mood fell like a shadow. Every step deeper into the forest seemed to bury them in dread. No one spoke unless they had to. Even Rian had grown quiet, his usual sarcasm hollow.
Until he finally muttered, voice low, directed at Zeke.
"We can't be sure its a student, right?"
Zeke didn't answer immediately. He was crouched, running two fingers through the dirt beside another faint blood trail. His eyes were cold.
"It has to be a student, that crazy, weird guy put a barrier up so outsiders can't come in, and I doubt that the academy would let other people near their students."
Darius spoke next. "But why? These people are supposed to be class mates. These deaths were..."
"To send a message?" Rian asked, then scoffed bitterly. "Hell of a way to do it."
"It could be a test," Zeke said quietly.
They all looked at him.
"A test?"
"Or a purge. Someone wanted to thin the competition."
Kaito's hand clenched. He was pacing now. Back and forth. Back and forth. A twitch in his eye. His blade was still strapped to the stub of his injured arm. Bandages had bled through. He hadn't let anyone change them.
He finally broke.
"This is fucked up," Kaito muttered, walking faster. "This is all wrong. Tala... Tala should've been found by now, we've been searching for days."
Zeke watched him out of the corner of his eye. "Kaito, calm do-."
"She said she'd always be with me. I told her the day we left out home, I would protect her. There was hope, I really wanted to believe she was out there. That was before we found... before all this."
He stopped, looking around wildly.
"She has to be out there, she wouldn't have died here, she's out there. Alone. Maybe hurt. Maybe worse."
Zeke stepped forward. "Kaito. Calm down."
"Calm down?!" Kaito turned slowly. His face was pale but flushed at the cheeks. His breath came in sharp bursts. "My sister is missing in a forest full of monsters! And now we have a killer on the loose too?!"
His voice cracked. He took a step closer.
"You don't know what it's like. You don't know what I've lost. My home? Gone. My parents? Gone. My friends? Dead. All I have left is her."
Another step. His voice was rising, eyes blood shot.
"ZEKE, TELL ME. Tell me she is still out there, give me hope!"
He shouted the words, spitting them out like curses. His entire body was trembling. His shoulders shook, teeth clenched. Tears welled but didn't fall.
"TELL ME, ZEKE! DO YOU DARE?!"
Rian stepped forward instinctively.
"Kaito-"
But Zeke raised a hand without turning his head.
"Don't."
The group was dead silent. Even the forest seemed to hold its breath.
Zeke walked toward Kaito. He looked into his eyes. Not with pity. Not with sympathy.
"You've been wanting to fight me for a while now."
Kaito blinked, confused. Still heaving.
Zeke tilted his head.
"What's stopping you? Your hand?"
He stepped back and raised his left arm.
"Fine. I'll only use one too. Come at me."
The group gasped quietly, even Rian took half a step forward.
Darius frowned. "Zeke"
"Stay out of it."
Zeke stood still.
He stared at Kaito with that strange calm. Not mocking. Not challenging. Just present.
"Come on, Kaito."
" its not like Tala is here to hold you back this time."
Kaito stopped pacing. His breaths came quicker. Shallow. Ribs rising and falling. His mouth parted as if to speak, but no words came. Then...
BOOOOOOM.
Kaito's battle intent exploded outward in a violent burst. White-hot, jagged with pain, fury. Sharp. Leaves scattered. Dust whipped through the air.
Zeke didn't flinch. But his eyes lit up in surprise.
Then he grinned.
"There it is."
A clash of mana lit up the surrounding forest as Kaito's battle intent tried to supress Zeke's, the nearby trees exploding in on themselves as if being compressed by two unstoppable forces.
...
"Hmm. Zeke is not using his full power." A professor observed high above.
"Ofcourse not idiot, thats his friend, geezer you might be getting a little bit too old, maybe you should resign."
...
The other students backed up. Weapons half-raised. Unsure what was happening.
Zeke stepped forward, one arm behind his back as he waved towards Kaito with the other hand.
Kaito let out a crazed scream as he burst forward, fast, reckless and broken.
And Zeke, moved to meet him, calm and deadly.