Search Team 1 led by Cedric arrived in front of their destination.
Royal Platinum Elementary School.
A huge sign in front of the gate revealed the name of this building. This was the place where the Olman children were studying.
After the incident happened, the school announced a day off under the pretense of renovation and closed all its gates at the order of the bureau, so the school ground was now empty.
The school was a four-story building with a large soccer field in the center. Searching a place this huge while they were in a race against time was a disadvantage for them, that's why a B-Rank esper specialized in locating people was placed in this team.
"What do you get?" Cedric asked.
"So far I haven't detected any presence, I need to get in further to make sure…"
"Haa… Right, we're only at the gate, what do I even expect? Let's go in."
He could hear his teammate mutter under his breath, "So impatient."
'This is why I never wanted to be a captain, leading was never my forte.'
Cedric sighed as he stepped further inside. He took the role of captain because he wanted to finish this mission quickly, and to do that, he had to at least hold the authority to control the people around him so he could do as he pleased.
Watching his own captain stake his esper license to take on responsibility made Cedric antsy. The fear that Ethan might be replaced pushed Cedric to do the best that he could.
'That idiot and his righteous sense of living, he could just deny it and let the bureau do the damage control, but he chose the hard way instead.'
Another sigh escaped Cedric's lips. No matter what he said, Ethan would choose this path anyway. They had worked together long enough for him to know how stubborn that idiotic captain could be.
'Always taking on the burden himself, who does he think he is?'
But that's what made Cedric fall in love with him to begin with.
"Captain! I detected a presence on the second floor!"
The shout of his team pulled Cedric out of his thoughts. Turning his gaze up, he spotted a flash of silhouette dashing down the second floor's hallway. The morning sunlight shining through the transparent window unveiled the intruder's appearance.
Judging by its speed, if they chased it by stairs, they would already lost sight of it.
"The bureau will cover it up if I made a little mess right?"
"H-Huh?"
A smirk formed on his face. Cedric raised his hand and ice path formed in the air.
Without any hesitation, he jumped on it and climbed up to the second floor.
"Captain! Wait for us!"
'Ah right, I forgot to relay my plans to them.'
Unlike Team Zero, where he fought to his heart's content with only one cue from Ethan or Xain, these people were still foreign to his battle habits.
But as expected from experienced espers, after composing themselves, the left behind team members quickly followed after Cedric.
CLANG!
The second floor's window was shattered by Cedric's ice lances. He landed directly in front of his wanted target, halting its advance.
"There you are."
The hideous look of the monster came into view. As soon as he locked gaze with it, Cedric froze the windows around them, preventing it from escaping outside. He then launched his ice lances.
The girl mimic agilely dodged the ice lances – but it wasn't for long.
With the volume that Cedric attacked with, combined with how narrow the hallway was, the mimic had no chance of dodging all of the flying ice lances.
STAB!
One ice lance hit its shoulder.
STAB!
Then another one on the leg.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
"RAAGGHH!!"
The attacks didn't stop until all its vital spot was hit by ice lances.
BANG!
In its last attempt to run away, it slammed its body against the classroom door. Because the door didn't break from one push, it backed away and tried to slam it open again.
"As if I'll let you."
Sharp spikes formed on the edge of the door, causing the girl mimic – who tried to slam into the door again – to be stabbed into it, but even then, it still persistently clung into life.
"RAAGGHHH!!"
"How pathetic."
Its struggle wasn't even worth watching.
"Captain Cedric!"
"Great timing, finish it off."
"Y-Yes? Ah, yes sir!"
SLASH!
The clean cut from his teammate's attack severed its head from its body.
Marking the end of one out of three subjugation targets.
He looked at the ice spectacle he had just created. It was still in a considerable amount of damage you would expect from someone with wide range attack skills. It's just the right amount to not get him or worse, Ethan, into trouble.
'But one shouldn't be too cautious.'
"Hey, you guys! Help me clean up the broken window's shards and melt the ice-"
BZZTT!
[Cedric! Where are you?! Have you arrived at the location yet?! I told you to report once you arrived and contact me if you find anything!]
Shelly's scolding was coming from his earpiece, piercing his eardrum.
"Ah yeah, I forgot about it. Anyway, we have arrived and eliminated the girl, nothing unusual after that I guess."
[You-! Haah… Alright, great job, team 2 has eliminated the boy too, so move to the neighboring house once you're done.]
'Team 2…. That's Ethan's team.'
Cedric wasn't that worried if it was a team led by Ethan. Although Ethan might look reckless by others' standards, in actuality, he calculated things thoroughly based on his and his teammates' limits.
CLACK!
"Why do we have to do this..."
"Shh! Just do what you are told! Do you want to make an S-Rank mad?"
His team was melting the ice using a lighter while slowly chipping the chunks away using their sword.
While he could freeze the water vapor in the air to create ice, he couldn't revert it back. This resulted in people having to clean his mess for him.
'Now that I think about it, when I froze District 2's bridge to contain a gate outbreak, Ethan was the one evacuating the citizens… There was even an on-site interview about it.'
In short, their history as workers working in the same field goes way back in the past.
'We rarely interact though.'
S-Rank espers were always assigned different missions in different districts as they usually acted as an ace card to turn tables around. But because of the difference in power, once the S-Ranks were deployed in a team, the other A-Rank espers couldn't keep up with them.
Adding to the fact that the more S-Rank espers used their ability the more dangerous it would be for both the esper and their team because of the risk of rampage, deploying them often took a lot of consideration, as there's no immediate cure for S-Rank espers' impurities.
But with the appearance of S-Rank guide, finally a proper team could be formed.
"Once this is over, we will assemble as Team Zero again."