The sun shines brightly, a fine morning, all the freshmen gathered in the Assembly grounds, murmuring and gossiping. A stage was in front of them, with a transponder orb floating in air, and large Alchemical speakers beside the stage.

  A charismatic figure, dressed in pristine white, went up the stage and approached the orb, he stood in front of it and exclaimed

  “Slience!”

  He didn’t whisper, nor did he scream, but the voice was loud enough to gather the attention of all the students present, all the attention was onto him, his face was stern, his voice a little deep, and he exclaimed in a serious tone.

  “I am Rasmond Ross, the president of the student council, and I would like all of you to keep your mouths shut, this is an assembly not a fish market.”

  Air swept through the grounds, not a single student uttered anything, as if their mouths were sealed, seeing the silence, Rasmond said.

  “Good, I hope this silence is maintained throughout the rest of the assembly, Now I humbly ask sir Reinhardt to enlighten us.”

  Reinhardt went up the stage, and Rasmond respectfully bowed as he moved away, then Reinhard began to speak

  “Today is a new start for all of you, as from now on you are officially a student of the Kyrus Academy, from now on you are not permitted to go outside the academy, unless granted access by me, you will eat, sleep, and live here until you graduate.”

  The freshmen were confused, and started murmuring among themselves, one said

  “What about vacation? Wont we get any holidays?”

  Another one inquired

  “I heard it wasn’t like this before, did they change the rules?”

  Like this, many questions arose, and the chattering increased, but Reinhardt silenced them all by saying

  “The Demonic Tower has been making moves.”

  As soon as he said it, everyone was shocked, including Rasmond and other senior students,silence swept through the air, allowing Reinhardt to continue

  “As you all know, the demonic tower has been quiet for the past decade, they shut themselves up after the war, and were hiding till now. But recently, the black miasma has been increasing, and many mutated beasts have been spurring out of it lately. Many dungeons are also appearing across all the nations, and the Demon hunters and Adventurers are keeping most of them in check, but we do not know how long that will last. Thus I urge all of you to become strong enough to at least protect yourself and not become a burden for others.”

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  The atmosphere became tense, and all the students became worrisome, except for Yota and Ric. Yota was all excited

  “Hey Ric! Does this mean we can fight more demons?!”

  But Ric was serious

  “Yes, but it also means that its just that dangerous.”

  To which Yota replied

  “Yeah, but fighting danger is part of a demon hunter’s duty!”

  Ric let out a sigh as he stated

  “You don’t understand Yota.”

  Yota was confused

  “Huh?”

  And Ric looked directly at Yota’s eyes as he continued.

  “The danger is not to us, but the people around us, think about the place where our orphanage is”

  Then it hit him, Yota understood what Ric was trying to say, as he continued

  “You get it now? Our orphanage is on the outskirts of the village, very near to the black miasma, if a single beast attacks, what do you think will happen? Gramps is a healer not a demon hunter or even a fighter.”

  Ric stepped forward, advancing towards Yota with deliberate steps, as Yota exclaimed

  “Yeah… But healing magic is the natural counter for demons and beasts…”

  Ric grabbed Yota’s collar and glared at him and stated

  “Gramps is old you idiot! he cant use it without burdening his body, so don’t you dare slack off like you used to!”

  Ric’s eyes faintly turned red, as he continued

  “I want to get out of here as soon as possible, and I will push myself to the brink to do that, but if your clumsiness holds me back, I won’t hesitate to abandon you Yota.”

  Yota silently listened to Ric, as Ric released his grip, and after a moment Yota said with a determined expression

  “I am sorry, I didn’t think of that, You’re right Ric, I wont slack off anymore! We will go back together!”

  His face serious, and his eyes ablaze with a newfound determination. Ric looked at him, and a sigh of relief escaped from his mouth, “That would be good” he exclaimed as he turned around to the chaos before them.

  Except for a few, most of the students were panicking, the fear of Demonic tower was far too great for them, not knowing what to do they were stuck, engulfed by the fear. Looking at it all, Ric thought

  “Well, I guess this a natural reaction, from what I read, humanity incurred many losses due to the Demonic tower. They were a bunch of mad lunatics, who would publicly torture civilians, and it said in the book that ‘if you meet them, escape, but if you can’t, then kill yourself. Since its better than getting taken by them.’ But… why were they quiet till now?”

  As Ric was immersed in his thoughts, Reinhardt yelled.

  “Silence!”

  His voice reverberated across the assembly grounds, getting the attention of all the students, he continued.

  “I understand that you might be afraid of the demons, they are scary and its normal to be afraid,as fear is essential for survival. But… will you still be afraid when there is a demon standing infront of your loved ones? Will you still be afraid when a demon is ready to devour your family? Will you still be afraid when those Demonic human scum humiliate you?!”

  Reinhardt’s words hit, and they hit hard, the students expressions started to change, from fear to anger, and after a moment of silence, Reinhardt Yelled out

  “Answer me!”

  The students morale spiked, and all of them scrreamed

  “No Sir!!”

  And Reinhardt continued.

  “Will you hide like a coward, when they kill your loved ones?!”

  As students answered in sync

  “No!!”

  The voices echoed, reaching even outside.

  “Will you let those Demonic Tower scum walk all over you without fighting back?!”

  “No!!”

  “What will you do?!”

  “We will fight!!”

  “Louder!!”

  “We will fight!!!”

  “Say that again!”

  “We will fight!!!”

  Reinhardt smiled, and exclaimed

  “That’s good enough, I look forward to your accomplishments, future Demon Hunters.”

  He walked away from the stage, signaling Rasmond to take over.