A golden Lance sliced through the air; the speed of the weapon was matched only by the person holding the lance behind it.
Celer's body stopped moving instantly as Ember ascended into the sky.
"Fascinating. Usually, a bird can fly due to its hollow bone structure and slim body mass, yet he is able to fly without any problems, while his wings even resemble a bat's, which are typically..."
Ember looked down at Celer, who seemed to be mumbling to himself.
Ember took a moment to assess the situation and then pointed out his left index finger.
A bright ball of fire floated before his finger, then, with a flash, a beam of light and fire shot out at Celer.
With time to spare celers body slid back and then curved to the right, dodging the attack easily.
Momentum seems not to play a role for him, or friction... Then...
Celer looked at the beam as he dodged it.
"Wow, simply remarkable. You condensed your own fire into a singular point, then, like a funnel, let it out at only one specific point. Incredible!"
Ember's eyes widened slightly as Celer accurately deduced how Ember's attack worked.
Shit...That's fine.
Ember moved his left hand into a flicking motion, and the orb of light shot down towards the ground, seemingly nowhere near Celer.
Yet as Celer was weaving the countless beams of light, he positioned himself within the trajectory of the orb.
"Smart... but..."
Celer moved his Lance into a position where the hilt was in front of his chest, then, with a flash, his lance and, by extension, his arm shot forward into the growing orb.
Celer's purple eyes examined the entire Orb for a split second, then mumbled something under his breath.
A split second later, the orb dissipated into nothing but a few Floating embers.
Celer's Lance was where the Orb had once been.
"Thank you, Ember. I wasn't even sure if I could do that!! Thank you for letting me test it."
Yet when Celer glanced up at where Ember had been flying, he was no longer there.
"Oh, I see..."
Celer turned his entire body around, moving his lance into a guarded position.
Ember flew at Celer, his wings tucked; his left arm was ignited with a blazing fire.
Turning his body slightly, he threw a punch that pushed Celer back slightly.
But the Lance blocked the attack.
"incredible ive never..."
Yet Celer's gloating was cut short by a back mace flying at his head.
Celer's eyes widened.
"Oh shit."
Celer had no time to think; he had no way to block it and no way to dodge it.
Or at least that's what Ember thought.
Celer's body soon accelerated rapidly backwards. The momentum was instant, and he was soon out of reach of the deadly attack.
"Well, I'll be, I would've never expected that..."
Celer soon broke out into laughter.
"That was simply remarkable! There is so much I still have to learn!"
Ember looked at the laughing man; he had landed, placing both feet on the ground since the start of the battle.
Reaching his left arm back into his pocket, he retrieved a loose cigarette. Placing it to his lips, he waved a finger over it and ignited it.
While he did this, his eyes never wavered from the laughing scientist.
"Mad scientist."
***
Solaris sat in the stands, his eyes glued to the arena; it was the first time he had seen two Extramicy users battle it out.
Yet he had a question about the way Ember and Celer were introduced.
Looking to his left, he saw Lucian chatting with Ania, his smile a little less pale.
Choosing not to interrupt them, he turned to Selen.
Yet she had left a moment before to prepare for her battle.
Seeing Sami instead, Solaris smiled and asked politely. She was his teacher after all, so hopefully she'd have the answer.
"Sami, why did the announcer introduce Ember as "Executioner Ember? Is that a nickname?"
If it is, that's a pretty cool nickname, much better than "eclipse"
Sami looked confused for a moment, then smacked her head.
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry, Solaris; that's my bad. I never really taught you much about the demon-hunting world. Ember has a few nicknames; the current one is Supernova, but no, Executioner isn't one of them; it's simply his class. Or, I suppose, position or even title works a bit better; all three are used interchangeably."
Sami smiled at Solaris with her finger pointed out matter-of-factly.
"I see... so how do they determine the classes, and what's the difference?"
Sami placed a finger to her chin while in thought, then spoke.
"Well, it kind of depends on two things: number one, their performance. and two, their abilities. If someone does well, they can be placed in higher parts of each class. For example, a hunter, of which Lucian and Selen are, is typically a newer recruit with a few kills under their belt, while a researcher would be someone like that girl, Celma, and a few ranks higher would be a head researcher, like the man Celer down there."
Sami pointed to Celer.
"Does that make sense so far?"
Solaris recited the information from memory, then spoke.
"Yeah, that makes sense, but what did you mean by abilities? And I noticed you didn't say I was a hunter; have I not been around long enough or something?"
Sami nodded, then spoke.
"Yes, I will get to the abilities, but first I'd like to explain Hunters specifically, as they are a bit different than the other classes and titles. For starters, every single hunter is a combatant, and all of them have some form of Micy or Extramicy; there are no hunters without one. All recruits are brought into the Crimson Cross as either a hunter or a worker. Those who are hunters are typically placed into classes faster, but others find themselves more fond of hunting and stick with it. As such, the hunter title can change but still be classified as a hunter. A hunter, as I've said before, is a newer hunter with a couple of kills under their belt, mostly as a team. An assassin is typically one with a few dozen to a hundred kills, as well as someone who can kill a demon on their own. Then there is a slayer, someone who can dispatch multiple demons on their own with a kill count of at least two hundred, and finally there is an Executioner, someone who can kill higher-ranking demons as well as mass amounts of demons in a short time. They are the highest-ranked hunters, only below two people in raw power, those two being Jon Smit and Singulus."
Solaris felt a ton of new information enter his mind, taking a few moments to digest it. Solaris asked moments before the fight began.
"So am I a slayer? Slayer Solaris?"
Sami looked at Solaris, then giggled before placing a hand to her mouth and shaking her head.
"Gods no."
Solaris shook his head for thinking so highly of himself.
"You're an executioner."
Solaris felt his heart stop.
"FIGHT!!!"