chapter 32. the battle begins.

Cedrion laughed as the RPG round struck the front of the main arena. The building was extremely gaudy in his opinion as the round exploded off the front doors and a cloud of smoke and ash filled the area. Cheers went up from his men beside him as the doors were blasted apart by the explosive round. Cedrion set aside the spent RPG base as he looked at his men gathered around. 

Several dozen men, armed to the teeth in tactical gear, including body armor, weaponry and ammo. They all came prepared to slaughter as many of the mangy shifters that attended this academy as they could get their hands on. Their inside source provided a list of students that were reported to be shifters. Their primary objective was to take the students that were in the arena and weed them out one by one. They were only first-year students, so it shouldn't be much trouble at all, right? After all, how much of a fight could a bunch of first-year students, barely learning any magical skills, be able to do? The only real threat was the number of staff inside the arena. 

To ensure they would't be disturbed, he sent various forces to attack the dormitory buildings as a distraction. "All right you apes, move in!" Cedrion called out as his force of several dozen men lined up in formation as they stormed the main entrance. Gunfire could be heard as the front members engaged with staff at the entrance of the arena. Cries of battle and gunfire rang out in the entry. 

A middle-aged man with skin dark as night stepped up next to Cedrion. "Sir, it would seem the enemy forces are putting up more of a fight than we originally anticipated," he said, his voice deep and commanding as he addressed his leader. 

Cedrion glanced at the man, "Malachai, relax my friend. We will be victorious today. Of that I have no doubt," Cedrion responded nonchalantly as he unholstered a pair of sleek silver and black fifty-caliber desert eagle pistols from his chest holsters. He thumbed the safeties off and grinned. "I think it's time to get bloody Malachai old boy," Cedrion said with a sadistic laugh as he followed the soldiers inside the entranceway. 

Malachai said nothing as he shouldered his rifle and followed his boss inside the building. The sounds of gunfire and magical blasts were going off all around them as the battle began. There were already a few bodies strewn about the area as the first casualties were taken. Malachai noticed so far, none of the dead belonged to their side so as he went by he made sure they were dead and double tapped the head of each body they passed. The last thing he wanted was an ambush from behind by someone they thought was out of the fight. 

Eventually, they made their way through the hallway and into the grand arena area itself. So far they had lost only a handful of soldiers to make it this far. Nothing Malachai was overly worried about as they continued their slaughter of the students they could find. Malachai rushed into the opening, expecting to find a few hundred students terrified and hiding behind the staff as they entered the arena. But there was nothing of the sort. By the time they reached the grand arena itself, not a single person was left inside the area. 

"Damn it!" Cedrion cursed in frustration. "The prey has run away. This just means the hunt continues," Cedrion said angrily as he looked around. He hadn't killed nearly enough shifters yet to satisfy his bloodlust. His squadron commanders approached him as the others remained on the lookout until orders were given. 

"What are your orders, sir?" the man asked. He was young but determined to see the cause succeed. 

"Move through the facility, at this point, slaughter everyone you come across," Cedrion gave the cruel order for everyone's death. He was done playing around. They would slaughter everyone under the pretense of being shifters and an affront to their god. Sounded good enough to him. 

He grinned as he gave the order to his commanders and watched as the men took off, sweeping through the hallway, searching for anyone left behind. 

Suddenly, multiple screams from the men at the front of the formation filled the room and reached Cedrion's ears as he looked up to see what was the cause. Several large explosions, likely caused by magical strikes, forced the men at the front to be pushed back and some were blown off their feet. 

"Well, it looks like someone has some fight left in them," Cedrion said. Malachai didn't like the look in his boss's face. He had seen it many times before, and it never bode well for the ones that caused it. It usually ends in torture and pain for the recipient. Cedrion gave some orders to change the formation of the men, and he stepped forward to see who was brave enough to attack several dozen armed and dangerous men. 

A single young student stood confidently in front of the men assembled before him in the grand arena. He wore a simple black shirt and jeans as he glared at the attackers with hatred, twisting his features. 

"I don't know who you are, or why you are here. But you will go no further," the kid called out in warning as he raised his hands. They were ignited with a fiery magical energy as he launched several explosive fireballs at the soldiers in the front. More explosions and screams filled the room as the blasts connected and men were sent flying. Gunshots were fired back at the boy by others as they attempted to bring the student down. 

Suddenly, a large earthen wall appeared in front of the boy that blocked the bullets from connecting with him as he laughed. "You have no idea just who you are messing with," he shouted as his eyes began to glow red with energy and power. The energy of the arena began to shift in response to the mana he was summoning. 

Cedrion froze as he took note of the glowing red eyes. There was only one shifter clan with that particular telltale sign, and he was positive that he had wiped them out nearly two decades ago. "That's not possible. Malachai, target that student with extreme prejudice!" Cedrion commanded as he realized exactly what was in front of them. His body was shaking with excitement as he imagined another battle with a werewolf shifter. 

Malachai ran forward as he heeded his boss's command. If his boss was acting like this, then the boy must be truly dangerous. He shouldered his rifle, took aim and fired a few bursts of bullets down range towards the boy with the glowing red eyes. 

The boy glanced up to see a new challenger approaching with a burst of gun fire and he raised another earth wall to block the stream of bullets heading his way. He jumped to the side as his arms were ignited with fire and he launched several large bursts of fire magic towards the black man that came at him. 

Malachai stopped and used his momentum to jump to the side, barely dodging the fire blasts that were aimed for him as he raised his rifle after he landed and fired a few more bursts. He quickly reloaded his weapon as he watched the boy throw up another earth wall to block the rounds. Some of the other men quickly joined in, sending a hail of bullets at him from the side, which was met by another earth wall as a female with short, spiked blue-colored hair ran up behind him. She was obviously the one that summoned the additional earth walls for protection.

"I'll play defensive, while you go on the attack," she told the boy as she focused her magic on defensive measures. 

The boy grinned as he jumped over the earth walls. His speed and agility were plainly evident that he was no ordinary human. He ran forward, throwing out multiple fireballs from his hands as he charged the men. The young girl by his side easily kept pace with him as he ran. More of their men were going down under the combined onslaught of the two students. Malachai gritted his teeth in frustration. His men were trained, armed killers. How could they be having such difficulties against two freaking students? He didn't understand how their entire operation was coming to a standstill because of two students. It made no sense in his mind. 

"Helena behind you!" the boy called out in warning to his comrade as she barely had time to throw up a wall of stone as the bullets pelted the barrier. She was panting and huffing slightly from the constant use of mana but was keeping up with the boy as he slowly took out more and more of the attacking men. He held his hands close together as he focused a powerful wind between his palms and gave a shout as he threw the condensed air blast in a wide cone in front of him. The air blast hit the men hiding behind the tables and benches and shoved them against the wall as they landed and crumpled to the ground. 

Cedrion growled low in frustration as he watched the two students make a mockery of his army. His plan, his vision of destroying the academy, was going up in flames because of two lousy students. He took aim and fired his pistols at the boy. He was the bigger threat than the girl at the moment and needed to be taken care of first. The boy was struck by one of the rounds as he tumbled to the ground. The girl gasped in alarm as she threw up another stone barrier between them. 

Cedrion grinned as he gave a command for the others to surround the pair as three more walls rose from the ground to circle the two kids behind a protective barrier. 

Now was the time to end this and slaughter these two. Then Cedrion could move on to the rest of the students hiding in the back.