CHPT 175: Ronin, a Mystery Wrapped Inside a Mystery.

Anxiety. Fear.

It was everywhere. It filled the room and hung on the cold air so thickly that Claude had to fight the need to follow his Lupine urges. The urge to transform and follow the enthralling scents to every student in the large Mess Hall.

They all sat at their tables, unearthly silent with their heads lowered and bodies tense, like they were trying to indirectly curl up inside themselves. Aside from the scents being incredibly intoxicating to Claude, the overwhelming and abrupt reaction they all were having reminded him of H.M Alaric's words when he first spoke to them all.

He had a similar aura of power that silenced the students and sucked the air out of the room— saying they'd all adopt a similar air of violence after killing enough Monsters. Like it was simply inescapable.

It all made Claude even more anxious. If H.M Alaric could silence the room with his power, how much stronger was Marshall Leon to do so while not even being in the area yet?

"The difference between being strong…and being the best." Claude thought as his ears moved in response to the sound of footsteps heading down the hall outside of the Mess Hall.

The room reached a secondary level of silence, allowing Claude to hear the cooks behind the window on the right side wall of the Mess Hall moving around in their rooms and the Professors on the platform shifting their thick leather combat boots nervously.

He took one last look at his friends as the ominous footsteps echoed into the spacious silent room.

Warren sat closely to Isaac, holding his fork in a shaking grip while shinning beads of sweat trailed down his cocoa- colored skin around his forehead and cheeks. The sight immediately reminded Claude of their time at the C.S Academy when Prof. Raizen would get angry at them and circle their table like a wrathful bird of prey watching a group of bunnies from above. Even if he didn't have his sense of smell, he could tell Warren was the most afraid.

Isaac broke out into a sweat as well, but other than that he was fine while he nervously tapped the polished wooden surface of their table.

Across from him, Maris continued to eat her food— only ever looking up in between spoonfuls of eggs to curiously eye the silent students. She repeated the motion a few times before leaning in and looking over to find Claude staring at her, causing her to hold his gaze for a moment before speaking.

"What's wrong with you all?" She asked, loud enough to echo across the large silent Mess Hall.

Claude smiled to himself before running a hand through his midnight black hair, "Of course you don't feel it. Erhm…..someone very strong is making their way here."

"One of the strongest." Ursula added, looking almost as unfazed as Maris, leading Claude to believe one of her parents was someone more important than he thought in the Legrand family. Possibly the most important. He'd have to ask her sometime.

"Wait….you guys don't feel that? Must be nice. I think I'm gonna shit myself." Warren whispered as he scooted closer to Isaac who tried not to laugh out loud.

"Does this asshole really have to flaunt his strength like this?….can't stand these pretentious bastards." Ursula said— grumbling the last segment through icy bluish white eyes as a thin film of frost enveloped her fork before being crushed by her strong grip.

"I mean….Nobles have to keep a perception of power. Even in a University full of teenagers.." Isaac offered, losing the confidence in his words towards the end.

"Someone as strong as Ronin doesn't have to remind a soul of their strength level. But, he's angry. Any parent who hears their kids are missing is going to be a little more intense than usual….hopefully we don't have to see that intensity first hand." Claude told the group.

Ursula's eyes flashed back to their warm honey brown color and the patch of frost spreading across the table from where her palm was faded as she leaned over and whispered to Claude.

"Speaking of that. You do plan to tell H.M Alaric about what happened right? I mean those smug dirtbags tried to kill you. They're not missing. They ran away….because they're Were—"

Clck

Ursula's questions were cut short by the door into the Mess Hall clicking open, followed by the doors opening to reveal the man that had been slowly making his way here, slowly chipping away at everyone's collective calm, step by step.

Everything ceased movement. It felt like time itself shrunk in fear, allowing the movement of his stiff clean clothing, expensive shoes and people behind him to be the only sounds in the Mess Hall.

Marshall Leon. A man able to intimidate people into a catatonic like state without even showing his power firsthand.

He wore formal wear— not exactly what Claude expected to see one of New Gloria's strongest for the first time in. The expensive jet black suit stretched over his lean and hard muscles while also starkly contrasting against his surprisingly pale— scar riddled skin. He looked like Claude in that way— a way none of the other first years could relate.

His own scars shared similarities with the man that exuded pure combat prowess walking to the front of the room. The markings dealt by Monsters.

One thin yet deep scar ran over his left eye— including the very pupil itself, causing a red line to run across the white of his eye and disappear in his cobalt irises. A color similar to his twin children— only darker, to an almost eerie degree.

He brandished more unsettling scars along his clean shaven sharp jawline, portions of his hollow cheeks, neck and one in particular across his thin yet slightly misshapen aquiline nose that looked exactly like Claude's.

A shining object suddenly fell out of the man's opened pocket, causing him to quickly lean over to catch it— an incredibly mundane movement that hinted at the unnatural level of fluidity and eased speed to his movements. They were the movements of someone who'd trained every inch of their bodies to be weapons. Even if the man was simply wearing an expensive suit, he could probably complete any high ranked Tangent in the area unarmed, and alone.

As Claude continued to look at him, he noticed behind the scaring, black and grey tipped hair and pale skin, he looked very much like his kids. In fact, Claude felt like he was looking at a futuristic image of Tai— only if he'd been through hell itself and come out as a man capable of unimaginable feats. Samuel, being more muscular in build and pretty in the face didn't look as close to the man— but he could see them both behind Marshall Leon's misty dark blue eyes. The realization caused a surge of anger to flood Claude as the man approached the platform.

All of the Professors behind him found their eyes focused on their shoes much like the rest of the students, aside from Prof. Brennan, H.M Alaric, Prof. Raizen and Prof. Callista. All Professors who must've functioned at a high level as Heroes and were used to encountering people similar to Marshall Leon.

It still didn't change that strong wave of fear that rushed his senses as the man cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Thank you for having me." Marshall Leon said to the Professors before bowing to them and turning to face the students. "Hello everyone, for those of you that don't know who I am; my name is Marshall Leon. If that doesn't ring a bell, I also go by, Ronin…."

Claude expected a voice that was deep, hard and crackly— earned through a life of yelling on the battlefield. He was only right about one thing. The man's voice was deep but also soft. It was powerful and stern— yet sounding undamaged. The oddest part was he had a slight accent that leaned towards an Asian language.

It reminded him of the large muscular Raider that worked as Rikah's second in command before he ripped into the large brute's face and smashed the back of the man's skull. He had an odd yet strong accent, like he spent much more time speaking another language, possibly not even having English as his first language.

At first, Claude's facial reaction matched the rest of the students in response to the accent, but then Claude heard him say his Hero name out loud. "Ronin. Maybe that simply isn't a name he chose, but what he is…"

His thoughts were cut short as Ronin continued speaking, "....I'm the founder and leader of the Onslaught Guild, as well as a member of The 9 which refers to the nine Platinum ranked Heroes in New Gloria."

The reference to The 9 caused Claude to remember the days and nights he'd spend with Frosty and a torch lamp nearby, reading about the legendary Heroes that made up The 9.

Ronin, the Hero shrouded in mystery that suddenly appeared in New Gloria dual wielding two Ancient Hallowed Swords, Excalibur and one of the Yoto— Cursed Muramasa Blades.

The 9 was filled with fabled legendary figures— that he loved reading about and being motivated by. Ronin was one of the strongest . Claude vividly remembered how let down he was after meeting the kids of one of his idols. He could only hope the man that stood over them all like a God of War was different from the twins, but how could he be if he was after their father?

Claude dropped the thought and continued listening to what Marshall Leon had to say.

"After all I've said, if some of you still don't know me that's fine. You'll get the chance to soon enough." Marshall Leon said, startling the students and causing them to wonder what he meant.

Claude looked around at the students and his friends, wondering what he meant. All he found were lowered heads and shivering bodies. Oddly enough a few students were unfazed. Among them, was Chase.

He found Claude looking at him, prompting him to coolly nod at the scowling Beast Tamer before clumsily dropping his fork and scaring the life out of the students at his table. As he tried to recollect himself and pick up his fork, Claude had a thought.

Chase, in many ways the exact opposite of Claude, was unfazed. Much like himself to a certain degree and he had an idea why.

"[I think the fact that you've both stood in the face of Gods has heightened your tolerance to withstanding power.]" Arne said, as if he responded to his train of thought.

But, if he and Arne were right, then a lot more students than he thought stood in the face of Gods. One of which being Isaac..

***

"So what brings me here today along with my associates working on behalf of the The Detection Corps, is the disappearance of my children, Tai and Samuel. As you all have heard, they haven't been seen since the night of the Halloween Festival. I'm here to find them— or any clue of where they may have gone. I plan to do this by examining every Tangent and stretch of land surrounding this University. I also plan to speak to you all….." As he continued, the upcoming scenarios dawned on the students.

Hitting Claude and his friends the hardest in response to Ronin's haunting dark blue eyes falling on them.

"….I plan to speak to those of you that didn't know my sons, those of you that were closest to him and those of you who didn't exactly see eye to eye with my boys. One on one, alongside my associates. It was a pleasure meeting you all, and I can't wait to get to know you in person." He said, finishing the sentence with a deadly edge added to his voice as he stared at Claude seeming to try and suffocate him with his power.

He was beginning to look more like the twins by the second.

The students continued shrinking in fear, while others remained unaffected. Those who simply didn't feel, those who came from Noble stock and those who have felt true power. Those like Claude and Chase who had the chance of achieving similar power since they stood in the face of true strength and dominance when they abandoned this world and entered the Astral Realm.

All of their minds raced as the reality of the situation hit them.

They were all going to be interrogated by one of the The 9. One of the strongest Heroes in New Gloria.

"[Lets hope he's nothing like Det. Cyrene..]"