Jovi points to the board behind him,
"I'm gonna need everybody here to follow these rules, no exceptions, no thinking twice."
Saint steals glances at Jane, who's listening to Jovi intently.
"First off, there's two people that you have to avoid at all costs if present… Even you Prince."
Prince pouts and looks away,
Jovi sets up two pictures on the board,
"These two are the most powerful fighters that aren't on our side."
Renai and an additional individual are depicted in the two photographs.
Jane puts her hand up to ask a question,
"Yes, Jane?"
"How can we be sure Mr. Vino won't be present?"
Prince crosses his arms and leans on a wall,
"Because Vino is at the top of the food chain. He stays in his mansion and operates from above."
Jane nods,
"Anyway, if any of these two are present at the auction, we abort immediately. They are too powerful, and they will kill us." Jovi continues,
Saint glances at Prince, then Mari.
'Those two can beat us? They must be on another level… I haven't seen any weaknesses in Prince or Mari…'
"Rule number two, we are prepared to lose people, but we stand by each other til' the end. If a sacrifice is made by one of us, you have to be prepared to take it."
Saint looks around and everyone is calmly listening,
"Rule number three, no innocents can be harmed. Though there won't be many innocent civilians there, you get the gist. Prince and Mari, inform the group of what the priest told you."
Mari steps forward and says, "They're selling slaves and bodies with rare Mana implanted in them."
Saint frowns while Mari continues,
"We're gonna have to crash the party, dispose the bodies and free the slaves. Simple, get in, get out."
Suddenly, "Why are they doing this? And who's buying them?" Saint inquires, perplexed,
"To acquire strength and coerce the world into adhering to their religion, which is essentially the same as what they are doing to the children in Sangre De Reyes, which is also owned by Mr. Vino." Jovi answers,
"Sorry, kid, but this is the world we live in." Prince says with a weak smile,
Saint looks down,
"Alright…" he says uneagerly,
Jovi looks at Saint with empathy, he straightens up,
"Alright, we'll continue this meeting at the end of the week, disperse."
As everyone is leaving, Prince walks up to Saint,
"Tomorrow we start training, you got potential kid, and there's nobody better for that job than me." Prince flashes a charming smile, while offering Saint a handshake.
Saint looks up at Prince, and shakes his hand firmly.
…
Back in Sangre De Reyes, after choosing instructors, Ari is walking back to his dorm room alone, when suddenly his vision starts to get distorted. He stops walking, he rubs his eyes,
'What the- what the hell is going on?!'
When suddenly Ari finds himself in a prison cell, he's wearing an inmate suit.
'What the fuck?'
Ari gets up from the prison bed, he has no roommate. He tries to open the cell, but it's locked.
"Fuck…" He whispers,
Ari glances at his hand and sees something written on his palm,
'TAIHO INSTRUCTOR TEST'
Ari's eyes widen,
'The test… it's starting already?'
Ari looks around the cell to find clues, he manages to find a note underneath his pillow.
It writes, 'During these seven days, you have to eliminate fellow rivals to clear the test.
Targets,'
'AYCE'
'CLAIRE'
'LOTUS'
'TLEN'
'MONITA'
Ari's eyes widen at the last name, Monita.He facepalms and scrunches up the paper note.
'Just my luck to get Monita…'
He gets up and stares at the other cells, it appears it is filled with other first years from Sangre De Reyes, perhaps everyone that chose Taiho as their mentor…
'I'm probably one of those guys target too. I'll have to move quick…'
Ari picks up the crumpled paper and looks at his list,
'I don't know Lotus or Tlen, I should start with one of them… but how would I know where to start?'
'I assume everyone is gonna have to eliminate each other until only one of us is left standing…'
Ari sits on the bed and brainstorms ideas,
'I wonder if I'm on any of my target's list…'
Suddenly, a loud voice from outside the cells starts speaking,
"Lights out in 10 minutes. Starting countdown."
Ari clenches his jaw,
'Cell doors will probably unlock by then, I have to think, fuck…'
Ari spends the next 10 minutes brainstorming ideas on how to figure out his targets, but manages to get nowhere, the radio speaker continues counting down.
"3, 2, 1, commencing blackout."
The lights die out, and every cell is opens up simultaneously,
Ari walks out, chaos is already starting to erupt, powerful Mana clashes and fighting already begun.
Ari looks to his left, he was the last cell on that block, he looks to his right and his cell neighbor is already fighting someone.
'Better find a safe space…'
He jumps and lunges over the metal fence, but just as he vaults it, he catches a glimpse of the top of his cell, his name is there!
Ari's eyes widen,
'This is it, this is how I find my targets!'
Ari lands on the bottom floor, the battlefield is heavy and bodies are flying around.
He keeps out of sight and sneaks past everyone while they're preoccupied battling each other,
He looks at the top of every cell quickly, determined to find his targets,
'Not you, not you, not you… damn, there's a lot of people here…' He says as he continues to run,
"Gotcha!" A rough voice says,
Then suddenly a giant hand catches Ari off-guard, punching him, sending him flying through some walls, landing outside in the courtyard,
"Oh, you didn't die?" The rough voice asks as he steps out,
It's raining heavy, thunder in the skies with aggressive wind haunting the prison.
Ari laughs as he gets up,
"My grandma hits harder than you," He says smugly
The rough voice steps out of the wall in the prison, revealing a big, tall and buff bald male
Ari wipes some blood off his lip
"Dude, how old are you…?" Ari asks sarcastically,
The bald man frowns aggressively,
"Same as you, shithead."
…