Meanwhile, other fights in the colosseum continued,
“Where’s your other instructor?” Asked Ashgrave to Shiji.
“Where’s Banko?” Shiji to Aira.
“He’s not here,” Aira.
“Where is he?” Asked Shiji to her.
“I think I saw him walk out.”
“Here I am sitting, and you can’t even keep your staff complete. I doubt you are even fit to be raising soldiers for us,” said Ashgrave to Shiji.
“I am not fit to be running what? If you think I’m not fit, then you’re up against THE FATHERS.”
Ashgrave narrowed his eyes, “So now you’re a law abiding citizen now.”
“I was a law abiding citizen forever and ever.”
“Hmph. Make them know the hide-and-seek method. Soldiers being raised for THE CASTLE must know this basic thing,” Ashgrave.
“I know what I need to teach them. THEY entrusted me to raise future generations for THEM.”
“THEY?!” Ashgrave began laughing loudly.
While still laughing he continued, “Do you think you’re important to THEM? Do you?”
“It’s not me who determines whether I’m important or not, it’s THEM who marked me with a title.”
“You’re 3rd strongest title? Do you really think that cute little title of yours matters?”
“It’s not a title given to me by any useless means. I proved my loyalty to THEM and earned this title for myself.”
“Earned?” Ashgrave laughed more loudly, “You didn’t earn it. In fact, you can never earn it. That little title of yours just shows how useful you are to THE CASTLE as an asset.”
“So be it. An asset I am.”
Ashgrave lowered his voice, his voice deep as the ocean, “Don’t think of yourself as something big, and don’t try to act like someone smart. You’re just a pawn. Act like a pawn.”
“Pawn? I’m a Halbern. From the House of Zadachi.”
“A peasant calls himself an elite. An elite whose elite statues depends on his wife.”
“She was from the elite clans. That makes me an elite. And squirrelling with an elite is no small deal.”
Ashgrave placed his hand on Shiji’s shoulder while he chuckled, “Look, even the king is controlled by the one who plays it. And by the way, you’re no elite. Elite hood can only be achieved by blood. That makes you still a peasant,” and began laughing hard and mockingly at him again.
Upon hearing this, Shiji clenched his fist. His body clearly showed frustration and anger.
Miranda jumped into the conversation, “But still, even though he isn’t an elite, he did represent extreme loyalty towards THEM.”
Ashgrave lift his hand from Shiji’s shoulder and turned over to her, “You mean his meaningless contribution in the Blood War 2? Let me reveal a secret to you then.”
And Ashgrave began circling around her as he talked while she rotated with him where he walked.
“Keep this before your eyes forever. He wasn’t granted this title because he was just STRONG or loyal enough to be called that. This title is just a way to call these people a great asset to THE CASTLE. Those who demonstrated remarkable feats during the War of Havoc and were not linked to THE CASTLE, but fought for THEM.”
Shiji clenched his fist looking angrily at him.
Ashgrave meanwhile continued, “You didn’t knew the meaning of those titles, but now you do. So don’t go bragging about it every once in a while.”
Miranda shocked upon hearing this, “Wha...?”
“Don’t get confused. Ask his wife, she knew about this.”
Shiji clenched his fists hard, his body shaking with power, his face filled with anger, “That’s ENOUGH,” he said to himself.
“Oh… Big boy’s getting angry.”
“Okay stop Shiji, it’s alright.”
“Ask her. She who her own clan killed.”
Black fiery aura beginning to grow around Shiji.
“You know what. Your wife was killed for false accusations. And do you know who executed her,” Ashgrave whispered slowly, “Me…”
THUD!!! A weight dropped down from above. Every student present in the colosseum being pressed down, all of them pinned to the ground.
“Ugh!!! What’s this pressure?!” Itsuki.
“Where’s this pressure coming from?! It’s so devastating!!” Hikaru.
Neiji tried to resist and stand up, but overwhelmed by the presence, fell to the ground.
Aira and Miranda being pressed down, like a 1000 hammers smashing downwards from above.
The black fiery aura grew more and more around Shiji, combined with black lightning.
“SHIJI STOP!!! YOU’RE GOING TO CRUSH THE STUDENTS!!! WHO TOLD YOU TO USE TENJINRYU?!!! LOWER IT DOWN!!!” Said Miranda shouting at him.
Ashgrave grinned broad, small bursts of Reigyoku appearing around him. Everyone’s throat dried up with Shiji’s presence.
“I SAID LOWER IT DOWN. NOW!!!”
Shiji increased the pressure even more. His immense pressure made Ashgrave drop to his knees as Ashgrave continued to stand against the pressure.
“SHIJI I SAID STOP!!”
Shiji walked forward towards Ashgrave, who was pinned down on his knees due to the immense pressure, saw Shiji standing before him about to bring the hammer down on him and throw a punch at his face.
“SHIJI THE CASTLE WILL KILL THESE STUDENTS IF YOU HIT HIM!”
Shiji whose punch was loaded and about to be thrown looked down at the students and saw them all pinned down to the ground, gasping hard for air.
“LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO THEM! STOP NOW!”
He looked at the students. Then turned back at Ashgrave. Then he looked back at the students, before looking back at him, and lowering his presence.
Miranda yelled at him, “What the hell were you thinking?!”
All students trying to get up, finding it hard to stand up after that monstrous pressure.
“Look at what you’ve done! Aira take him to the other side.”
Aira took Shiji a little away to let him cool down.
“You! Don’t you bring his wife into your own propaganda!” Miranda to Ashgrave.
Ashgrave leaned towards, “Listen, neither you, nor he, nor his wife is comparable to me. His wife was a traitor, I’m a Kagetsune soldier. I don’t even consider a traitor to stand beside me. He’s just alive because of his value to THEM.”
“Look, she was his wife. Even if you don’t consider her loyalty, she was his wife.”
“She can go to hell.”
Miranda stood stunned, trying to process what he had just said. Meanwhile Ashgrave continued, “For now, I’m going. This act of his can be considered an act of defiance. Remember to open that letter and read it carefully.”
Miranda hesitant to speak, felt a little uneasy.
Ashgrave spoke, “Oh, so you’ve read it, huh? Then be prepared to face what’s in that letter,” and SWIF, he vanished.
“???… He’s… gone?” Miranda stood confused.
“Where’d he go?” Shiji asked her.
“He just… vanished.”
“I SAID WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO?!”
“Shiji stop. There’s no good in shouting at her. She taught you everything. Pay her some respect,” said Aira to Shiji.
He silenced, “Tch.”
“No need for that. He’s still a little young man inside,” spoke Miranda to her.
Shiji replied to Miranda, “Look, I’m sorry. I was just furious.”
“We’re all furious. But for now. Let’s hold a meeting and discuss what happened.”
Meanwhile Ashgrave who was walking outside and away from The Academy, “Shit! I would’ve succeeded. Why the hell did THEY send me if THEY don’t wanted an attack? THEY perfectly knew I would try to fight him. Were THEY trying to teach me something? Damn that Shiji! If he would’ve snapped and attacked me, I would’ve made it a state matter. Damn him!”
Later that day. Inside teacher’s dorm room,
All of the teachers gathered around a table. Shiji sat on a chair. Miranda and Aira sat on a couch, and Banko besides the window, facing outwards.
“So what now?” Miranda to other teachers, “He clearly threatened us. The letter clearly threatens us. The attack’s going to happen soon.”
Aira, “More of a fact. We cannot maintain a relaxed, brutal demeanor now in front of these students. They’ll see through us, now or later, and figure out for themselves that something’s going on.”
“A solution. We need a solution to this mess,” Shiji.
“What solution can we possibly opt for? We’ve fastened the training already. What else can we do?” Aira.
Banko replied to her, “Well we’ve corrupted ourselves, why not corrupt ourselves even more to prevent this, huh? This is what you all like the most, isn’t it?”
“Shut up, Banko. You keep spewing nonsense when we’re all stressed out,” said Aira trying to shut him down.
“No you shut up. This is all because of all of you and your nonsense Truth chasing.”
“Banko—!”
Shiji, “Silence! We can’t have arguments like this right now.”
He silenced and leaned his head forward in stress and sat still.
“You’re no better then them. You lost your temper too,” said Miranda to him.
“So what do you want me to? Sit still while he mocked my wife?”
“You still should’ve kept your demeanor upright.”
“Upright? That shithead told me he killed my wife. What else do you expect me to do? I knew her clan killed her, but telling me he executed her while he stands in front of me. What the hell is my power for?!”
“You endangered our tools in that.”
“I stopped because of that.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. It’s not your strength. It’s their weakness.”
Shiji placed his hand on his forehead, “SIGH… I’ve already stained myself, put these children in danger, committed to fasten their training in exchange for breaking them down, and have seen them as tools for my own obsession. I can’t let myself fall even more.”
“Why break them all, when we can break just a few?” Said Miranda.
“A few?” Shiji questioned her.
“We can pick some students who look promising and train them more rigorously than others. Students like Neiji, Itsuki, or Jack.”
“You want me to burden breaking them all down and breaking a few chosen ones even more?”
“This is the only path left. Ashgrave, Cedric, not a threat on their own, but Kurotaka or Godwin, those are difficult for us to handle without those two.”
Miranda continued, “You can choose to train Itsuki, I’ll train Neiji, and Aira or Banko can focus on Jack.”
Shiji remained silent for a moment, then began saying, “Kagetsune, THE CASTLE, THE FATHERS, The Angels, Ashgrave, Godwin, Kurotaka, Cedric, The Truth, I’m stuck. I’m stuck between all of this. I don’t know what to do?”
“You don’t need to do anything. You just have to stick to this strategy, and let things unfold on their own.”
All remained silent, while Miranda announced, “Starting tomorrow, we all will work on this, and hope for the best. Meeting dismissed.”