Chapter 3: Caution!
The sun glared into the room through the little gap between the blue curtains. The alarm was starting to annoy Jack, he just wanted five more minutes. "Ugh" Nico groaned as he laid on the bed opposite to Jacks. "Jack... I think we should get up." Nico spoke in a tired voice. Jack and Nico sighed simultaneously, "Yeah, I think you're right." Suddenly, Jack got out of bed and prepared himself for the day within seconds, putting on his unique yellow hoodie and blue jeans. Nico sat up and looked at Jack with a face that seemed like something was confirmed for him, he knew what to expect from Jack. Nico got out of bed and readied himself, a few minutes passed and Emilia knocked at the door, now all three of them were ready for the new day of School. "Let's go!" Emilia shouted with excitement. Jack smiled and they all went their way to class. Although Jack had high hopes for a good day, everyone seemed to be staring at him. Jack did not want attention. Whilst walking down each hallway and stairway just to get to class, he heard people around him muttering. They may have been extremely quiet, but Jack could hear them. "So that's him? Wow he's so cool. I wonder what type of girl he likes?" Those were just a few of the things people were talking about. It seemed everyone had already heard about who he was related to, and Jack was not happy about it. As Jack, Nico and Emilia arrived at their classroom, Jack had a face of pure exhaustion and disappointment. Why did I have to wake up so early? Why does everyone already know me? Those were the questions he was asking himself at the time. Nico pushed Jack into the classroom with a smug grin on his face, "Don't be so grumpy. Now go!" Jack let out a long, long sigh as he walked over to his desk, that was when he noticed Rei. "H-Hey?" All Jack was trying to do was be nice, but Rei rejected his greeting by looking out at the window just like a tsundere. Jack again let out a long sigh, well, more like a groan of a dead man. Now the entire class was sat down at their desks, it was time for the class to officially start again.
"Okay class, today we are going to start your training." Lui stood firm in front of the class with a warm smile as the class sat silently and patiently as they waited for Lui to tell them what they were going to be doing, "You came here to become a warrior, so you should already know the basics of a demon. But first, let us go through the rankings from that game of tag!" Lui tapped a button on his computer and the projector at the center of the class displayed a leader board at the front of the classroom. Everyone looked for their name out of the twenty five people in the class. Jack came first and Marcus came second, that was obvious. Jack looked down the leader board to see where the others came: Emilia was seventh, Rei was ninth and Nico was third. Jack knew this was going to be an interesting year as Lui explained a new idea that had been introduced to Willstone Academy that year, "If you look to the far right of the leader board, you'll see some numbers next to your name." Jack looked over to where Lui told him to look, and surely enough there were some numbers, "These numbers represent the total amount of points you have received this year. You can gain points depending on how well you do in lessons, and a lot of the lessons will be practical." Jacks eyes widened in excitement when he heard that most of the lessons will be practical. "Whoever gets the most points at the end of the year will get a reward and have a personal request granted. Whoever comes second or third will just get the same reward that first place got, minus the personal request." After Lui's announcement, everyone became just as excited as Jack.
"Now, speaking of practical lessons: Today we will be patrolling the city! This is a great way to test you observation skills and will serve as a tour for people who have just moved into the dorms!" The already excited Jack tried his best not to scream out of excitement. Lui guided the class out to the front gate after he finished the student check-up. "Okay, you will be exploring in your groups at the south end of the city, a two mile radius. Come back to the school by four." Jack, Nico, Emilia, Marcus and eventually Rei all stood together. Finally. Because it was a nice sunny day, they all headed straight for the beach. They were all sociable throughout the travel, all but Rei that is. Jack, Nico, Emilia and Marcus all laughed as they talked about funny moments that happened to them in the past, but Rei walked in silence. After some time, they arrived at the beach. The ocean was as clear as the blue sky, almost like a mirror. The sand seemed smoother than a babies skin as its faded yellow color almost shined beneath the sun. "This has the be the best beach Ii have ever seen in my life!" Jack shouted out in joy as he had lived in Leicesterfield his whole life, a city that was not on the coast of the island. Nico laughed at Jack's excitement, because he had lived in a pretty coastal town in Germany known as Lubmin with an ocean that was almost as pretty as the one in front of him. "It sure does remind me of home, don't you think, Rei?" Nico turned to look over at Rei, who was silently standing at the back of the group. "You know what I think?" Her soft voice was quiet, but strong. The others turned to look at her as she stood with eyes that showed slight anger. "I think we should be doing what we are meant to do instead of messing around!" It was obvious that she had been holding her anger in since they first left the school. Jack looked a bit confused as he questioned her anger, "This is also meant to be a tour, right? So it's fine to have a little fun." Jack tried to reason with her, but it did not make the situation any better.
"You know, as far as I can tell, you are just a spoilt brat." Rei's harsh words attacked Jacks heart, but he did not let it show. "All I have seen you do is mess around, not once have I seen any power worthy of the Gottfree name nor worthy of being the first high-priority recommendation in Willstone Academy history!" It was obvious that this was how Rei felt, her words were not only filled with anger or disappointment, but enthusiasm as well. Nico was about to walk over to Rei to calm her down, but Jack stopped him from doing so. "I can see where you are coming from. Yeah, maybe I am not worthy, but I want to be a warrior just as much as you do, and I am completely serious about achieving my dream." Jack let out a short sigh as he spoke with a warm smile and a calming voice. Rei clearly felt defeated, but she did not want to admit it, "I'm done with dealing with you! I will do this on my own if I have to!" Rei walked off in anger and Nico ran, repeatedly asking her to wait as he attempted to catch up with her. Now Jack, Emilia and Marcus were the only ones left from their group at the beach. Jack sighed again, but this time in relief that the argument didn't escalate, "Why didn't you shout back at her?" Emilia asked. "You had every right to shout back and show her that she is wrong." Jack tuned and looked at the confused Emilia, his face filled with determination. "Actions speak more than words, and if I just showed that I could fly or whatever, that doesn't mean I can fight a demon." Although it sounded like some cliche words of wisdom, Jack only spoke how he felt. What does it mean to be strong or be worthy of what he has if he can't even fight a simple demon?
Jack and Emilia continued their travels as Marcus acted as their tour guide. Willstone city was truly a beautiful city, and so were the people within it. Everyone seemed nice, but that was when Jack remembered something: one out of every twelve and a half people are demons. Although there are many high level demons that cause mass destruction, almost half of the population were low level demons in disguise, hunting for their next pray. The murder cases on the news would more than likely be a demon killing its prey, a human killing a human was about as common finding a snake in space. A demon could have been training in Willstone Academy as far as Jack was aware, though there were some rare occasions of demons being born from a human and demon parents and not wanting to be evil, but it was very hard to come by. However, one man was known as the demon king, the most feared one of them all, his name is Malum. It took ten warriors that would become legends to send him back to hell, one of them who died in the fight but played a crucial role was Jacks grandfather, Isaac Gottfree. It must have been because of the argument with Rei that all of these memories came flushing back to Jack as they walked across the coastal front.
"Oh Jack! I forgot to ask, but why did the principle call you yesterday?" Emilia got closer to Jack as she became more and more eager for an answer. Jack laughed at Emilia's eagerness as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "He just asked if I wanted to skip the tournament." Jacks face went from joyful to annoyed as all the emotions he had in that conversation ran through him, "And what did you say?" Emilia looked slightly worried, awaiting Jacks response. "I said no, of course. I came to this school to train, I can't improve if I leave out the most important part of my first year, right?" Jack let out a determined smile as Emilia seemed relived, though Jack was disappointed that Emilia didn't believe in him. Before Jack moved on from that topic, there was something he ached to tell them that he had only just remembered, "There is something I need to talk about though..." Jack finished his sentence with a drawn breathe. Was he scared? He didn't know what he felt, he just knew that he had to tell them about it. Emilia and Marcus stopped walking and looked over at Jack, who stood behind them, with a face of concern. "When I entered the room, I was attacked by a warrior known as Lilith." Jacks eyes trembled as he slowly remembered the fear he hid when the world turned grey, "You met Lilith!? THE Lilith!?" Emilia screamed with excitement but quickly stopped as a cold sweat ran down Jacks face.
Jack looked down at his hands as his voice trembled, "I don't know why I am so scared, but.." Emilia walked over to Jack and put her hand on his right shoulder, trying her best to calm him down. "When she attacked me, everything but me and her turned grey. The world lost its color, and time stopped." Jack explained exactly what he experienced, but he could tell that they thought he meant it as emotion instead of action when he looked up and saw their faced, "I'm not saying that's how I felt... I-It really happened. Time actually, literally stopped!" Jack stumbled on his words in confusion and fear. Emilia wrapped her arms around Jack to comfort him, "It's okay, we'll find out what happened. You must be confused over what happened, but I believe you when you say time stopped." Emilia spoke in a soft, calm voice, like a smooth river in a peaceful forest. Jack calmed down and closed his eyes to collect his thoughts, "Thank you. I'm fine now." Why was Jack so scared? Not even he knew, but he did know that whatever happened was not normal.
Emilia released Jack as he opened his eyes, only to widen when they saw a familiar face in the distance. James came out from an ally way, on his own. "James?" Jack called out to the white-haired boy, however, James ignored him. What was he doing all on his own? Last time Jack had saw him was outside the School with his group, but they were nowhere to be found. Before Jack could call out again, a mysterious girl appeared from the shadows of the ally way. The woman had dark red hair and grey eyes, almost soulless. James and the mysterious woman stood in front of the ally way with sinister grins as they spoke. Jack could not make out what they were saying from that distant. "What the hell?" Jack spoke under his breath and Emilia turned to see what he was looking at, Marcus followed out of curiosity. Now all of their faces were filled with visible shock and confusion. Jack begun walking over to James, but the woman disappeared into the shadows of the ally. James took a glance at Jack with his violent red eyes and followed the woman. Jack, Emilia and Marcus ran over to the front of the ally way, only to be greeted by its empty state. James and the mysterious woman had just disappeared. "What on earth was that?" Jack asked the question that they were all thinking, but before he could get an answer, the scream from a crowed echoed through the ally. The scream came from just a few streets away.
Without hesitation, Jack grabbed Emilia and Marcus by the wrist and jumped on top of the closest building. Sure enough, only a few streets away was a fire. The fire of a demon. Emilia and Marcus jumped down from the building they were on, their fall supported by Jacks magic, and ran as fast as they could to the location of the fire as Jack threw himself with his wind and landed on a building close enough to see what was happening. Jack stood on top of the building, ready to fight, but he looked down and noticed that Rei and Nico were already prepared to fight. "It looks like a mid level demon, they should be able to handle this." The demon stood with fire covering its body like an inferno. Jack tried to see who was behind the fire, but couldn't make out a body, "What is this, Fire Force?" Jack chuckled to himself with pride over the reference as Emilia and Marcus arrived next to him after climbing the pipes from the side of the building. "We should let them handle it, but stay here just in case something bad happens." Jack, Emilia and Marcus now sat on top of the building, watching Rei and Marcus fight the demon.
The fight seemed more strategy based than power based as Nico kept his distance. Rei pounced high into the air and grabbed two knives out from the belt that held her skirt, and threw them directly at the demon, piecing the air as she used her wind magic to make them travel. The knives ran around the burning demon and quickly returned to Rei's hand. The fire was too strong. Once Rei had landed on both feet, Nico took his sword out from his sheath with his left hand as it shone under the glaring sun. Nico ran towards towards the demon, using his available hand to create a path that was free from the fire all the way to the demon itself. He ran and he ran, but as the distance grew closer, Nico's feet began to trip. This was their first battle, they did not know how to handle it all yet, Lui only wanted them to walk around to see if they could tell the difference between a low level demon and a human, but he didn't expect nor did he know at the time that a mid level demon would show up. Nico stumbled and missed the demon as it easily dodged his attack. "Okay, maybe we should do something." Emilia was worried about what was to happen next, but Jack put his arm up, signaling to do nothing. "Give them one more chance."
Nico stayed on the ground in shame, but Rei still stood firm and ready to fight. She glanced over to her brother and her eyes filled with determination. Without a second thought, Rei paced as she leaped towards the demon who was still focused on Nico, but that was not enough. The demon dodged Rei's attempt at copying Nico, but Rei was still determined as she instantly turned and threw a knife in the opening. But it still was not enough. Again, the knife ran around the burning demon and quickly returned to Rei's hand. "Enough, enough, enough. You two are getting on my nerved!" The demon shouted in hated at the two siblings who now sat stood by each other in defeat. Their faces showed their nervousness, but there was no fear to be seen. Rei and Nico stood strong. "I've had enough!" The demon shouted as he prepared what seemed to be the iconic fireball. "Die!" The demon laughed its insanity as it released its fireball. Rei and Nico braced for impact, but nothing happened. "Huh?" The demon quickly became disappointed as his fireball disappeared.
"Did you miss me?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone