Saturday October 7th, 2018.

  It isn’t much longer before the rest of the first years show up. After Rohan, came Da Chen. He came with his cousin that tends to have anger issues and his friend Bo Haoran. Due to his familial issues and his culture, as soon as he arrived, he excused himself and went with his cousin and friend to stand out of the way.

  After he arrived Maria and Isla came at almost the same time. “Welcome!” Hinata and Alli shout at the same time. The front door to their mansion swings open, sending a small gust of wind out due to the speed that Alli whipped the door open.

  Before Maria can answer, Alli lunges forward and wraps her in a hug. “I am so glad you came! Maybe you should just move in. We have the room. Ohhhhh! How about you come have a sleep over!” Alli starts to ramble while her arms are wrapped around Maria.

  Maria’s party looks on with amusement. If it was anyone else, they might be worried that their leader and friend is in danger. At the same time Maria is standing awkwardly with one hand hugging Alli and the other frozen at her side. “Ahhh. Hello to you as well.” She says rather stiffly.

  At her awkward tone, Alli grabs both her arms and holds Maria at arm’s length. Staring into Maria’s dark eyes with her own blue ones, she laughs. “Loosen up Maria. This isn’t some boring Great Clan Meeting where everyone must act all proper.” Alli scans the rest of Maria’s party and can see that everyone else is just looking on with amusement.

  They are all wearing casual, but incredibly nice Brazilian styled clothing. Their clothes are colorful and bright. Maria is wearing a crop top yellow shirt with a long flowing yellow skirt. Both have blue woven flower patterns on them. The rest of her party are all dressed similarly. They are all showing off their tan skin and wearing an assortment of bright colors.

  “Hahhhh.” Comes a muffled laugh from behind the group. Walking up the path to the front door is Isla. She has a ceremonial fan covering her mouth, but her eyes are twinkling with amusement. “She is right Maria. Just have fun.” Isla walks up with a beautiful smile.

  Hinata slightly glares as Isla walks up the path. Looking behind her and not finding Kenneth causes her to relax slightly. Alli on the other hand has no issue showing off how she truly feels.

  “Hmph.” She quickly turns around and starts to pull Maria through the door. “Ignore her.” She says to Maria. “Let me tell you what that bitch did…”

  “Kuh.” Hinata snorts and chuckles to herself. Looking back, she can see Isla is unaffected by what Alli said. On the other hand, the man standing behind her is glaring at Alli like she kicked his mother.

  “Do calm down George.” Isla casually holds out her hand to stop George from doing something dumb. “It’s okay for her to have her own opinions.” Isla opens her mouth to keep speaking. She is about to mention how her animal instincts make her act out, but she stops herself before she can.

  “Isla. It is...” Hinata pauses and cocks her head to the side. With a casual shrug she turns around. Under her breather she mutters. “Huh. Whatever.” Gesturing over her shoulder she says. “Do come in.”

  As Isla steps in she thinks to herself. Either Alli is really starting to rub off on Hinata, or she is more upset with me than I expected.

  As everyone gets comfortable, they start to spread out over the living area. The room is large and directly connected to the kitchen. There is a large window in the wall that doubles as a countertop. On the window into the kitchen there is a large assortment of food and drinks.

  After a few minutes Alli shouts. “Layla is on!” Everyone stops what they are doing and looks toward the screen. Three of the screens have non-noble students. They are at the peak of tier 1 or very early tier 2. The only first year interested in their fights is Rohan. Everyone else did better or the same as the second-year students.

  But on one of the screens Layla steps onto the platform with her own party. She looks like a goddess with golden armor that reflects light onto her dark skin. Her hair is intricately braided and every article of clothing she is wearing is glowing with dense runes.

  The rest of her party looks similarly impressive. Directly behind her and to her left and right there are two incredibly large men. They both are wearing thick black armor. One is carrying a large shield, while the other has a massive sword.

  Directly by her side, there are two beautiful women. They are wearing flowing golden robes. The robes are thin and show off their figures while enhancing their magic. One woman is holding a long staff, the other has a collection of talismans on a belt along her waist.

  The final member of her party is draped along Layla’s shoulders. Like how Alli’s family can turn into wolves, or their guard Hawk can shapeshift into a hawk. This is a white furred and black spotted Mau cat. The cat is actually her strongest member with a bloodline and class on par with heirs like Alli, Hinata and Layla.

  Alli stares at the screen with stars in her eyes. Beside her Maria is also looking at the screen with awe. “She looks so cool!” Alli shouts. She is standing next to the food and almost dumps her plate as she abruptly turns.

  She looks back at her party. “Why don’t we look that cool!”

  On the other side of the room Hinata laughs. “This summer we can look into upgrading our gear.” She smiles at Alli. “Layla has had a year to design and create matching gear.”

  Alli grins. Turning to Maria, she grabs the much shier girl. “Come on! Let’s go watch.”

  Everyone does similarly. Most of the student’s head toward the large central sofa. The couch is a semicircle and there is a coffee table on the ground in front of it. Almost twenty-five people find a place to sit. Da Chen stays off to the side. He found a seat that isn’t too far away to be rude but isn’t so close as to be in the way.

  The only other people that aren’t sitting on the central sofa are Helo and Rohan. Rohan is far too nervous and jumpy to get so close to all the nobles. While Helo is still sleeping in the corner on the circular couch from earlier.

  Lelai is awake and watching the screen. She is laying next to Helo and using his leg as a head rest. In Helo’s arms Inka is squirming and trying to get free from his grasp.

  Everyone is watching in awe as Layla and her party easily sweep through the monsters. They work with a coordination that seems almost preordained. For Alli and Hinata, they all act and react to one another’s actions. They do it in a way that benefits and compounds together. But Layla and her party all move at the same time but never get in one another’s way.

  On the screen Layla rushes in with her Khopesh in hand. Beside her the large shield bearing man blocks a heavy swipe from the massive monster. Layla doesn’t even react to the blow, she has complete trust in her teammate. At the same time two talismans sail over her shoulders.

  Both land on the monster’s body and start to glow with a light. One explodes in a smokescreen so thick that the school’s recording device can barely see through. Even though it is a high tier enchanted artifact. A second later the next talisman erupts with golden lighting that binds the monster.

  As the monster is stunned Layla and the great sword wielding man attack. Layla is a flurry of slashing blows, while the man is attacking with large heavy strikes. The only person who has yet to move is the woman wielding the long staff. Well, and the cat that is now lounging on the mages shoulders.

  Her staff is glowing with a white light, and she is prepared to step in if there is a need.

  “They look so cool!” Alli says with a massive grin. She is grabbing Gabi’s arm and shaking her as she watches the screen.

  Gabi glares at Alli, but she can’t help but look up at the screen with admiration. Alli isn’t wrong, they look amazing with their flawless coordination and matching outfits. “Your right.” Gabi says to Alli.

  “We need to coordinate out gear.” She looks around at their split party. “Alli should have silver and blue, Hinata will have green and blue.”

  “Ohhh!” Alli nods. “Yes! And we can all wear dresses!”

  Rocco and Rurgrim level confused looks at Alli. “Well not you guys, you will be in armor.”

  Arisah seems happy with Alli’s idea. But Gabi and Hinata look at Alli with similar expressions as Rocco and Rurgrim. “Um… No…” Hinata says in a slightly confused tone. “Light armor. Sure. Leather armor with metal plates over our vitals would be the best.”

  Alli looks slightly defeated, but she still seems happy. Then Gabi ruins the mood. “How are we going to convince Helo to wear anything but a sweatshirt and joggers?”

  Alli opens her mouth to respond, but she quickly closes it and frowns. “I… don’t know…”

  “Well. He prefers dark colors, but in the set he has a few that are silver, blue and green.” Hinata says with a considering look. “We could add some metal plates to the outside and chemically change them to blue?”

  All the girls start to consider what Hinata said. Before they can go down the rabbit hole of fashion, Luna pulls them back. “We have a year to decide. Let’s just enjoy the show.”

  The girls turn back toward the screen. Beside them Isla, Maria and a few members of her party look slightly disappointed. They are getting excited to talk about their own ideas.

  On the screen Layla and her party are facing off against a snake with massive wings. The serpent is flying through the skies at an incredible speed. “Does anyone know what level they are on?” Rocco asks the group.

  The man that came with Isla, George answers. “Level seventy five.”

  Everyone gains more interest in the fight. This was the level that Adan beat, it is also the level that Hinata failed against. They all watch as Layla and her party easily dismantle the creature. It is far faster than they are, but working together they can down and bind the creature.

  It manages to escape, but they repeat to process multiple times. Each time they do more and more damage, until finally it stops moving. “Wow, they made that look easy.” Maria’s healer Jorden says with some awe.

  A mix of nods and “Yeah.” Go around the room. They are all impressed by the skill that was shown.

  Almost an hour later the groups have all shifted. Now the living area of the Twin Heiress mansion looks like an awkward middle school dance. All the boys are on one side, and the girls are on the other. Rocco, Rurgrim, George, Rohan and the others are all watching the challenges while snacking on some food.

  Toward the back of the living area the girls are all congregated around a small coffee table. Laura, Maria’s archer, is showing off her ability to draw, by making rough drafts of the matching outfits that they all want to make for their parties.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Standing up Isla looks to her left. She can see Helo still sleeping with Lelai laying on him. She glares at anyone that tries to get close. Inka on the other hand is now with Luna. Being the other person that Inka feels most comfortable with means that after finally getting free, she took some time sniffing around the room. Then she crawled onto Luna’s lap and has been the center of attention for a while now.

  “So, is he ever going to wake up?” Isla asks.

  “I’ll get him up.” Hinata gracefully stands to her feet and walks away from the group of girls. They all went from looking between the drawings and Inka, to now watching Hinata wake up Helo.

  Lelai gives Hinata the stink eye, but she doesn’t stop her from sitting down next to Helo. He is completely covered by a blanket and sleeping peacefully. Not for the first time, and definitely not the last, Hinata starts to wonder why Helo is sleeping so much lately.

  Reaching out Hinata lightly shakes Helo’s shoulder. His eyes flutter open. He doesn’t react in any way. He trusts his senses enough to alert him to any danger. This is a big step up from when he while naked, held Aiko up against his bathroom wall. “Helo-Kun. Everyone has been here for a while now.”

  Turning his head slightly, his red eyes meet Hinata’s dark green ones. Closing his eyes, he focuses on his aura. The room all shivers, then freezes as Helo’s aura blankets the area. “Mrow!” Inka shouts at Helo in a very cat like manner. She knows what his presence feels like, and she has no issue with telling him that he is making her uncomfortable.

  “Mhmmm.” Helo stretches as his aura recedes into the background. It is still covering the area, but nobody else can feel it. Reaching up and extends his body in a big stretch. His blankets get pulled down and his toned stomach is reveled.

  All the girls that were watching Hinata now study Helo. “Stupid Helo-Kun.” Hinata mutters. She reaches for his sweatshirt and pulls it back down from where it was bunched on his chest.

  “Tch.” Hinata hears from behind her. Turning back, she glares at everyone watching her and Helo.

  Sitting up Helo ignores his bed head and his sleepy appearance. He doesn’t even acknowledge everyone in the room that he slightly pressured with his aura. He already got a feel for everyone in the room. It only took a few seconds for his prodigious will to scan and dismess everyone around him.

  “Smmm. Smmm.” Helo sniffs twice and his head turns toward the group of girls that were designing their parties’ outfits. He ignores all the incredibly attractive women and looks directly at the food that is arrayed on the counter.

  Isla was the first to look over toward him, and she is still staring. She is skilled in reading people. It is one of the lessons she was trained in by her tutors growing up. Because of this she is the only person, other than the two girls that know him best, that realizes what he might be thinking.

  He just categorized us all as unimportant and looked directly at the food. Isla pouts slightly. She hoped that at least the aura that she naturally emits would get a second look, instead she is subconsciously deemed ‘not a threat’.

  Helo is still tired, and not fully thinking everything through. He is like a newly awoken college student, almost like a zombie as he goes through the motions of being awake. Only, instead of stumbling around he smoothly stands to his feet, Helo’s training and natrualy instincts shows itself as he gracefully walks though the girls while barely paying them any mind.

  He scoops up Inka from an annoyed Luna. Then continues on his way to snag some food. The guys don’t even realize he is awake; they are all focused on the battles. But the girls are staring at him as he slowly and methodically starts to eat.

  Alli and Hinata smile at him, they are used to him and his antics. This overly sleeping attitude is new. But they are used to him having quirks. First was his bloodlust, then he had some slight apathy from his high dark affinity. Now he seems to constantly want to nap.

  If anything, they find this new quirk to be incredibly adorable. They don’t even care that other nobles are around. Everyone is dressed nicely. Not in formal ware, except for an extremely uncomfortable Rohan. But they all look nice, while Helo is wearing a wrinkled sweatshirt and joggers. He also has bed head and is barely paying any attention to anyone.

  Instead, he is sitting on a stool at the counter to the kitchen while sharing bits of his food with Inka and Lelai.

  “Damn.” Helena says. She is the Amazonian in Maria’s party. “I might be gay, but I’d fuck him.”

  Maria abruptly turns to her friend with shock written in her features. “Helena!” She shouts. In a hiss she says. “Watch your language!”

  Everyone watches their interaction with amusement. Helena, instead of being chastised, just laughs. “Haha! What? We all were thinking it.”

  Maria turns away from Helena, and her gaze passes over everyone else. Some of them meet her gaze, but most of the girls look away. Maria blushes furiously and covers her face with her hands while bending forward into her knees.

  “Hey!” Alli stands and points at everyone. “You can look, but not touch!” She says. The only person who still looks interested is Isla. Alli can see her still watching Helo and she glares at the girl.

  Before she can start a brawl. Hinata grabs Alli’s arm and pulls her down. Isla can feel Alli’s glare. She turns away from Helo and smirks at the excitable heiress.

  It is a few more minutes before Helo has eaten his fill and finally takes in the room. He is no longer being stared at and everyone has gone back to what they were initially doing. Scanning the room he finally takes in some details that he missed. Like, everyone is dressed nicely and there are people here that he isn’t used to.

  Looking down at his own close, Helo just shrugs. They look fine, plus the enchantments on them make sure that they are clean, sized, and repaired. So, they might have been wrinkled when he got up, but while he was eating, they ironed themselves out.

  Taking in the room Helo doesn’t really feel much interest in either of the groups. That is, until he finds a face that doesn’t belong. Not in a ‘commoners shouldn’t be near nobles’ kind of way. But a ‘he looks incredibly uncomfortable’ way. It is Rohan.

  He is with the group of teenage boys as they watch the challenges, eat, and chat. But instead of taking part, he looks more like Bibbin. He is actually sitting next to the anxious Halfling. Both teenagers are staring at the screens or their cups, while avoiding making eye contact with anyone.

  Helo can’t help but roll his eyes and sigh at the duo. Why is it that the two people he vouchs for happen to be extremely anxious and awkward. Ignoring this fact, Helo starts to make his way toward the duo.

  Before he gets more than a few steps away from the food counter, Helo is stopped by a slender and beautiful woman. “Hello Helo.” Isla says in a tone that is more of a purr than words.

  “Ah. Hi.” He isn’t sure how to respond to this woman. He can feel her naked lust and desire through her aura. As the heiress to the Australian Clan, Isla has decent control over her aura. She is decent at masking her emotions. But Helo is more than skilled with his aura. He is a prodigy.

  Even through her training, he has always been able to sense her emotions. She has a decent wall built to contain her aura. She doesn’t have an aura skill, but she can retract what she naturally gives off, this also creates a dense wall that can mask her emotions.

  This is something that most people do naturally. Especially people like Alli, Hinata and Isla. Their strength means that even without the skill, their auras can pressure people. So, they learn how to contain it.

  For Alli and Hinata, Helo has to put in some effort to see past the spiritual wall they make to contain their aura. But for Isla, the sadistic glee she feels at controlling and manipulating people is so strong that it completely fills her aura. He doesn’t have to push any deeper than the surface to feel how much satisfaction she feels when she is able to manipulate someone.

  At the moment Helo can feel her satisfaction at his awkward answer. He doesn’t know why she feels that way, only that she does.

  For Isla she thinks that Helo is stunned by her appearance. So, the only words he was able to muster up was ‘Ah. Hi.’ Unfortunately for her, she quickly realizes that she is wrong.

  “Sorry, I have a conversation I need to have.” Helo says while gracefully sidestepping the heiress and walking past.

  Isla is left standing in shock as he completely ignores her. She stands there for a second before taking a quick look around. It is her hope that nobody saw that. Unfortunately, someone did.

  Isla makes eye contact with an extremely gleeful Alli. She knows that this is going to come up somehow. Then she is going to have to pretend that it doesn’t affect her. When the truth is, it did. Her class is based on her charm and the infatuation that people feel for her. She has spent her entire life building a posse of lesser nobles that worship the ground she walks on.

  She has done her best to bring the other two heiresses into her orbit. She was making great strides with Alli. But at the start of the year, she realized that something had changed.

  Helo, not realizing the existential crisis he just set off within Isla’s psyche. Walks past and up to Rohan. The anxious man is sitting with Bibbin. He looks confused as the Halfling that is sitting beside him freezes like a rabbit that is under the gaze of a tiger.

  Helo internally sighs as Bibbin completely freezes while Helo walks up. The Halfling seems to have some kind of ‘Helo-Dar’ as he sense Helo’s approach and locks up. Shaking his head Helo steps into the view of the two boys. While the others are sitting on the central couch. These two are at a small table directly to the sides.

  As he steps up and into view, Rohan copies Bibbin and freezes with his cup halfway to his mouth. His eyes go wide and he stares at Helo. Oh no, this is it. What does he want, to eat me, my first born, did I upset him. Maybe, with a single glance, he claimed the woman on my on and he is upset that I befriended them.

  While Rohan spirals down a rabbit hole of misery. Helo casually takes a seat. Wiggling around until he is comfortable, he slightly nods to himself and looks at Rohan. “It’s Rohan, right? What is your last name?”

  “YES!” Rohan is shocked out of his mental spiral by Helo’s voice. “Wait I mean. It’s Birdi sir.” Rohan bows to Helo.

  “There is no need to bow.” Helo says graciously. He is proud of himself for how he said that. He might not be the best at etiquette. But he learned a few things. “Birdi… I heard that name before.” Helo taps his chin in wonder.

  “It’s one of the names for the descendants of Garuda.” Rohan says with some pride in his voice.

  “What’s the other one? Taik? Taili?” Helo starts to say.

  “It’s Talika.” Rohan says with a slight frown.

  “Are they bad?” Helo asks. He has been given a brief overview of the other factions and their major families. The only ones that he got in depth briefs on where their allies or enemies.

  “Well… no. It’s just.” Rohan freezes that he was about to say that there are nobles. In the presence of a bunch of nobles.

  “What?” Helo tilts his head in question.

  “Well… They have a stronger connection to our ancestor and tend to look down on those whose bloodline have diluted.” Rohan says. He is a little proud of himself. He found a way to say what he wanted, without bringing up his personal distaste for nobles.

  “Mhmmm. That makes sense.” Helo nods. “Anyway, it was Aiko that asked you to come here…” Helo stops talking as Rohan flinches at Aiko’s name.

  When Rohan doesn’t say anything, he just moves on. “Did she tell you why I invited you?” Helo asks. Rohan just shakes his head, so Helo continues. “Well. From what I saw. Your class has a lot of potential. You didn’t create swords. They weren’t summoned either.”

  Rohan nods slowly. “So, they were ‘Called’.” Helo puts some emphasis on the word ‘call’.

  “Yes.” Rohan isn’t sure how much he should say. But his class’s name should be okay. “It’s Sword Caller.”

  “Do you know the difference between the three that I mentioned?” Helo asks.

  “Well.” Rohan wants to say yes. He doesn’t want to seem uneducated. But he really isn’t sure. As a commoner in India, he really doesn’t have great access to information. “No…” He deflates as he admits that.

  Helo notices Rohan’s reaction. His senses are far too powerful to miss something so obvious. But he doesn’t do anything. Truth is, he doesn’t really care.

  “Well. If you were creating a sword.” Helo holds out his hand. His shadow writhes and a black blade forms inside of it. Hele skillfully uses his aura in a way where nobody can even feel him doing it. He wraps the blade and lifts it into the air.

  “You would be forming it based on our own power, or the power of the skills you have.” Helo says. Waving his hand the blade dissipates.

  Rohan stares in awe as the small blade disappears. He lets out his breath, not even realizing he was holding it. He could feel the sense of weakness and danger that the blade represented.

  Continuing without caring about Rohan’s awe and fear he says. “If you were summoning the blades. You would be summoning an echo of an ancient weapon, or that weapon itself from across dimensions. This would again, be based on the class and potentially on what catalyst you had.”

  Rohan nods along at Helo’s words. To him that makes sense.

  “Now. Being a caller means that you have a sword that you marked. Then with your skill. You can essentially summon the blade. This is similar to a summoner. It is something that a skilled summoner could do. But your way potentially uses less mana.” The only reason that Helo knows this is that he looked into it after he met the constantly teleporting maid.

  After seeing her interaction with the Spacecallers, he got the impression that she used to be one of them.

  Roham starts to smile at the compliment. He is proud of his class.

  “Issue is. Your way costs a massive amount of money.” Rohan deflates at Helo’s words. He knows that Helo is right. But it doesn’t hurt any less to hear it.

  “The thing is. I can see the potential.” Helo’s eyes start to gleam as he starts to talk shop.

  “You see. I am an enchanter. Rurgrim is a smith. He is often making different kinds of weapons, and I am often trying new enchantments. Think about it. What if you had a blade for every situation. Or even an overpowered unstable blade that was made to be a Fuck Off weapon.” Helo excitedly starts to talk about his ideas.

  “Sooo…” Rohan is a little shocked. This is not what he was expecting. “You want me to become a retainer of the Kashiwagi and Brightmoon clans. You will help train me in Swordsmanship and Control. You will also give me any extra swords that the two of you make?” Rohan isn’t sure what to say at this point. This is a lot more than he expected when he came here. This is… what he wouldn’t allow himself to hope for.

  “You will have to talk to your party. If you accept you will officially be affiliated with these two clans. Your party will become affiliated as well. We will give them similar benefits. Or you will have to make a new one.” Helo states. This matter isn’t up for discussion.

  With the apocalypse so close, they can’t allow unaffiliated people to get too close. To Helo, Alli and Hinata it is just some kind of over arching idea. Beware of the Apocalypse. For Isla it is a little easier to understand. Her continent went through its own mini apocalypse when the beasts and monsters won and took over the central area.

  But none of them truly understand the death and destruction that is looming over the horizon.