Walking beneath a green shelter formed from bushy leaves, branches,and vines of a miriad trees,were a group of three young lads,the weather was so,that the suns rays would cascade down allowing the green leaves to shine,and show off their utmost natural beauty.
Within the natural shelter of a miriad trees,the three young lads moved forward unrelentingly looking to exit this forest,one reason was due the fact the forests maws contained all sorts of dangers.
And for this reason in fear that it would consume them,the group of boys carved their way through it while bashing,and smashing all that came before them.
Or atleast that's how it would appear until one noticed something very perculiar.
One of the boys was a tall thin pale skinned,red eyed lad with black hair,and a long pointed nose,his Outfit was like that of a hunter built to prioritize speed,and mobility more than defense,beneath it was a white shirt ,and popped out collar.
Although that was not to say that it did not show off prominent metalic gaurds,these were clearly visible on the lads leg joints,and his shoulders.
His eyes gave off a calculated, cold yet charismatic persona,one that said he was above everyone,a persona of a con artist a swindler.
Infront of him acting as his pawns were two other males one with dark hair,and glasses the other one had light brown hair,their outfits were also quite light allowing them greater mobility,and speed.
The glasses wearing lad was named Clive in truth a long while ago he had been assigned the same room as Edmund the red eyed pale skinned lad,but they were no where near close, Edmund was the older twin brother of Eric his reputation was a disturbing one, so Clive had no interest in building a close relationship with him, his best hope was to not die or start any verbal arguments that could lead to a physical altercation.
But that had all changed when Edmund had showed sympathy on him,when Edmund gave him a hand after he had been so thoroughly humiliated,and pushed aside by Siegfried,clive was an opportunistic fellow,an ambitious one at that if he could not use Siegfried,maybe this Edmund who came from a prestigious family was usable afterall,atleast thats what he said as he snickered in his heart, that simple act of kindness he considered an exploitable weakness.
But infact what Clive did not know was that he was the prey that had fallen into the bats snare,Edmund,and Clive hit off soon enough the more they spoke the more clive was converted into just another stooge.
And right now Clive,and Sanders had pinkish red pupils,and deep eyebags beneath that as they were both being controled with magical mental cues the thing about this,is that it occured overtime so Edmund no longer required to exert much effort in manipulateing these puppets.
Edmund opened his palms as an array appeared forming a compus," My blood compus seems to be indicating an intense synergy of blood magic on the otherside",he thought to himself.
As they continued forward at times loud growls,and shaking of the Earth could be heard,and felt this caused great fear within Clive,and Sanders hearts.
He finally spoke verbally,"The suns going down but we should be arriving in about 20 minutes ,the creatures of this place have become scarce the closer we've gotten likely out of fear".
"Hmmmm"
"Taming some beasts as bait could factor well into capturing whatever,my blood compus is detecting".
Edmund crossed his arms behind his back as he observed his slaves do the work meanwhile they thought they were in control of their minds,and body the entire time.
Then out of knowhere Sanders asked,"Master what's your relationship with your younger brother,do you think he will do well,are you worried about him".
Edmund was stumpt by this question at first before regaining his composure," Well you see Sanders my brother is a pathetic one a disgrace to the family,he has no understanding of true strength,how can I have any expectations of feeble minded individuals ".
" Sometimes the power to regain the reins of your own destiny is not located in the straight,and narrow path but in a wall that must be broken into,and then vandalised".
Soon the trees became more scarce as the boys went on,as more bones stripped of all flesh,and blood began to show up,the grass thinned,while the amount of dead soil increased.
Soon they left the forest only to find a graveyard of bones some bones were almost the size of hills, the skulls of great behemoths scattered about,jysr as the bones from earlier these bones had been stripped of all flesh,and blood the air was darker as a thin mist covered most things,while the clouds were in a state of darkness.
Huge growls,and Roars could be heard in the background of graveyard as two large creatures clashed one was known as a rage bear,which could grow to the size of a small hill,unlike the one that was used to enter this place which was more a small mountain if not anything,and had a single gold horn to release powerful bolts of lightning it was mostly brown with thick fur,and a powerful roar.
The creature it fought against was a 30 feet tall blood wolf with 9 heads, it's fur was red,and Orange,and it had two goat like horns protruding backwards,while sections of its entire body were covered in a pinkish crimson flame, due to the size difference between it,and its foe the blood wolf required the assistance of its pack to even stand a chance against this enraged,rage bear.
Rage bears had powerful claws but what made them special was their electric ability they could use it to make themselves think faster or react significantly faster,their electric ability was so refined that they could even carry electric signals through their Roars allowing them the ability to disable opponents by directly targeting their nerves,or they could coat themselves in pure lightning.
Blood wolves had a mostly crimson color with some orange patches,and highlights their fur ripled like the ocean,or the natural art of the grand canyon.
They were famous for three things,one is that when they saw blood they went berserk gaining glowing pinkish red eyes,two their fur was like sharp steel wires once it makes contact with a living organism,and enters the skin it becomes a living parasite that sucks the blood out of the host or leads to many other illnesses,the other thing about them was their powerful regeneration,they regrew limbs easily,and when their heads were cut off it was not uncommon to see them adopt two to three more heads becoming a three headed blood wolf,infact the wolves had a habit of exploiting this advantage as they grew bigger they began attacking each other targeting each others necks ,and heads ripping them off to gain such a benefit.
And finally they possesed the ability to form,and cover themselves in red flames,these red flames were the flames of the decay born from the consumption of corpses,it was more accurate to describe it as a highly flammable gase that burnt,and caused the body to rapidly break down.
Luckily this was east to defend against by coating ones body with mana and holding in their breath.
Now that Edmond saw the back,and forth territorial battle between these beasts he thought he finally understood the source,his compus was attracted to but at the same time he was a bit surprised.
Who wouldnt be,these two behemoths had no direct correlation to blood magic,although the name blood wolves made it seem that the two were strongly connected.
So at the very beginning Edmund had his reservations on the outcome as he watched his compus once more,immediately his expression changed subtly without a word but a devious smile.
" let's continue ",he said in an eerie tone,the two boys were afraid and for the first time questioned their leaders thoughts," Dont worry you won't die remember Arnon that beast Iron claws words,these pests can't lay a finger on us if they tried".
The two boys calmed down as they headed in deeper,while the territorial battle hidden behind the bones of great behemoths waged on.
Unexpectedly they eventually found themselves confronting a pack of blood wolves,Sanders drew his blade as burning flames completely engulfed the blade,Clive was terrified but immediately pulled his blue spear as the two of them went about dodging,and cutting the blood wolves in two.
Meanwhile Edmund sat with a smile on his face as he observed the battle going on,the two were defending a frontal assault while the other members of this pack slipped through the defenseless defense to attack in Sanders,and clives blind spot at this point they were being led on their noses each attack from the blood wolves were coordinated in order to push them in a certain direction.
Edmund began mumbling to himself," if this was the real world the two of you would be torn to shreds,but since we're in chrokus death is not an option, I wonder,how far does this protection of ours truly go",That's right Edmund had never trusted in Iron claws words after all to him,true experience could only come from experiencing a near death encounter,using this logic what Iron Claw said was incompatible with what he had been taught to believe his entire life surely the wizards would know this.
And in moments the answer to his question would be revealed,Edmund observed the scene as he sat down in a tall pile of bones,his hands clasped in a prayer motion while leaving his legs wide,his elbows using his legs as support.
Clive spun his spear rapped in a blue cloth,as it generated a powerful stream of pressurized water,then followed it up by unleashing powerful jabs in one minute he could unleash about 50 full powered thrusts these were death blows,so the wolves stayed away avoiding them.
Sanders conjured multiple slashes of burning flames but the result remained the same infact the more pressing matter,were not the physical attacks of the blood wolves themselves but the balls of fire they unleashed,eventually the two were cornered close to tall mounds of gray bones.
In his final acts of desperation Clive unleashed multiple horizontal attacks kicking the wolves away with his raw physicality.
In truth Edmunds hypnosis had weakened the two lads,making them unable to think properly they would have stood a better chance if his hypnosis had not effected their mental psychies.
Soon they were ambushed then engulfed by a plague of wolves the moment they were bitten,the pain started weakening the hypnosis a bit.
But something strange happened as suddenly the wolves began retreating as one by one a bright light from above tore them to shreds evisceration them or a strong gravity forced their bodies to collapse into mince paste.
The two lads on the floor had almost half their faces destroyed bitten,and eaten burn marks covering each wound,both had missing legs,beg a bright light shined covering them immediately restoring them.
Edmund stood up bending one knee,looking down on his teammates as he gave off a sinister smile as held his double edged Jian over his shoulder.
The two of them moaned,and grumbled as they staired at the true cause of their almost demise,the hypnosis had been lifted but instead of pleading Edmund laughed in their faces.
" Hahahaha,hahahaha"
The hatred in Clive,and Sanders eyes was easy to detect,the bloodlust was palpitable," you asshole!, how could you manipulate us like that"," you demon!,vulgar creature",Sanders yelled without hesitation.
" You'll regret that you were ever born!, after we're done with you,you just wait till we report this matter to the institution you evil wretch".
Sanders anger had not stopped as he continued to pile on insults," you son of a bitch!,that whore of a mother wishes you were never bo...rn".
Just as he was about to finish that sentence Sanders saw a dark murderous look in Edmunds eyes he then kicked under Clives stomach with enough force to launch in the air making him appear to temporarily physically levitate from the ground.
Sanders eyes were edged with fear as he attempted to run but only mustering enough strength to crawl on the ground using his arms to push himself forward.
Soon Edmund came infront of him," where are you...running to",he said,then seconds later he used his boot to stomp on Sanders face continuesly until his face was bruised,and bloody.
Clive staired in shock," It seems if a fellow human badly wounds you to near death,their won't be any consequences,what about if I kill the lot of you will I be attacked,no that would upend the spells directive to protect the students,or not ".
"Hahahaha,who cares",Edmund said as he laughed maniacly,using one hand to stretch back his hair," why don't I test this theory of mine,after all even if I do kill you unlike you I'm from a prestigious family its name alone would wave off this incident,so insignificant is your current lives compared to it ".
Sanders chuckled,Clive raised his voice in anger," you half breed twit!,the vampire blood in you has always been a stain!,on humanity your entire family deserve death!".
" Dammit!",Clive said in protest," I can't believe this,you work for nothing but somehow you have everything".
" Aren't you a hypocrite",Edmund replied kicking under clives stomach with the same force once again.
" Compared to others you were given the more favorable straw,and you enjoyed its benefits while looking down on those below you,you then so arrogantly desired more by thinking yourself wiser than those above you,you apluad the system yet cry when you are at the recieving end,strength,and influence the nature of all things living is to look up at higher cieling,until one becomes or meets a cielingless cieling,and that you would then rightfully describe as a true God".
Clive was left stumpt,as Edmund continued," I'm doing the both of you a favor,don't you know the two of you need me to survive",Sanders scoffed," Its true despite my family name I have no let's just say".
"Visible"
" Backing of my own,hence I was placed with the likes of you,at the end of the day this means one thing the two of you are pathetic rejects".
" And that makes sense Sanders your family is currently being investigated,and this could lead to bankruptcy,and your titles being removed,I can help speed that up as the heir of my family I have access to a large spy force that could simply expose deals your family made with certain well unfavorable organizations".
Immediately Sanders eyes opened wide," How does he know it hasn't been released to the nobility let alone the public that the investigation is due to possible cohersion,and treason,does he really have something on us",Sanders thought in his head.
"Simply put your family has sent you to make a name for yourself,to decrease the penalty of their actions,and I'm currently your only hope your only real backing,all your families allies have left you in your time of greatest need".
Sanders gritted his teeth knowing he was helpless to Edmunds words," Same for you Clive without my family,without the help of a large noble house how can you hope to actually reach a higher standing,and reap more benefits".
"I initially thought higher of the two of you,I th9ught you would give your lives to achieve higher strength a higher calling a higher standard,but its sad to think the two you would throw away your ambitions over this,I overestimated your mentalities".
Hearing this both Clive,and Sanders gritted their teeth,and clutched the soil beneath them,Edmund smiled," from now on let me make this clear our relationship is simply Master,and slaves"
" And you will obey".