"I want you to kill someone for me." Black Devil said. For the past six months, regardless of not seeing Hayden's progress, he observed him enough to notice that Hayden was growing stronger, faster than what a Level 1 wielder should. "I want you to kill this guy as soon as possible. You're already a Level 2 wielder, if you kill him tomorrow, you will perhaps get 2,000,000 credits from me."

"Deal." At the mention of the money offering, the other party's soulless eyes lit up. "I'll kill this guy tomorrow, and you give me that 2,000,000 creds."

"Good, I trust that you'll be able to accomplish this, Blade Dancer." Black Devil smirked underneath his mask. Blade Dancer is a wielder he recruited a long time ago, and has evolved to Level 2 recently.

His Ability allowed him to create any type of sword out of thin air and manipulate it within a 20-meter radius. Blade Dancer was also an incredible psychopath, who liked to kill for the sole purpose of its enjoyment, and, well, when he joined Kamay ng Lagim, money. The maximum amount of swords Blade Dancer could create was 10, and the sharpness of each were nothing to laugh at, being able to slice down cement as if it was thin paper.

"Boss, are you really sending me against a Level 1 wielder?" Reading the information of his target, Blade Dancer's face became peculiar. "Isn't this too much of an overestimation? Or are you underestimating me?"

"No, as you know, I'm a cautious man." Black Devil calmly explained. "I see this kid as a detriment to our organization in the future, and I want to ensure his death. You're a skilled a.s.sa.s.sin, that's why I decided to hire you."

Resting his arms on the table, and his head on his hands that were crossed, Black Devil emitted the aura of a Level 4 wielder, scaring Blade Dancer out of his wits.

"Boss surely has an eye for skills!" Blade Dancer exclaimed, recovering his wits. "I'll kill that kid as soon as possible!"

"Okay, dismissed." Black Devil nodded and conjured a portal beside Blade Dancer. Entering the portal, Blade Dancer bid Black Devil goodbye prior to rea.s.suring that he would finish the mission.

…..

"Sir," a bespectacled woman in a white secretary attire walked into Anthony's office. "Tikbalang was found dead at Pasig City, 2:03 AM, by a patrolling agent. His Origin Crystal was taken, his ribs are broken, his teeth are all over the place, and his internal organs are badly damaged. The cause of death, however, was that he was pierced in the eye and into the brain."

"What?" Anthony was shocked. He couldn't help his mind wander off to Hayden. "Was there anybody who saw this? Were there any witnesses? DNA in the scene?"

"That's the problem, sir," the woman said, dropping the report she had at hand. "There was n.o.body, the cement pavement cracked in various spots, clearly signs of battle. Our suspect is that Tikbalang's opponent was of the same Level as him, perhaps stronger. Other than that, there was nothing else, no witnesses, except for a select people who heard a horse neigh and were too scared to check out noises as per the rumor of Tikbalang's previous endeavors. That leaves us with nothing at all."

Opening the file his secretary gave him, Anthony's face twitched. Tikbalang was really tortured, huh? Well, he deserved it anyways. The pictures were of Tikbalang's internal organs and his skull. The teeth were removed due to an external force beating the living daylights out of Tikbalang. His organs were deduced to have been damaged due to an excessive use of force. Whoever killed Tikbalang used their entire body as a weapon.

Atop Tikbalang's skull were a few holes, which didn't penetrate Tikbalang's thick horse skin. It was apparently tampered with, yet was still found to be coming from Black Piercers.

"A Black Piercer, huh?" Hayden's smug face crossed Anthony's mind. Quickly, Anthony dropped suspecting Hayden as he remembered his cowardice yesterday. "Are there really no DNA, or something?"

"Nope, and without DNA, Jillian's Ability does not have any effect," the secretary shook her head. "Also, the cameras were unexpectedly turned off. The last thing it caught was Tikbalang smas.h.i.+ng it to bits, so, I guess even in death, Tikbalang haunted us."

"Who is this mysterious wielder," Anthony muttered before turning his head back to the secretary. "Okay, dismiss. I'll personally handle this case."

"Yes, sir." The secretary walked out of the office.

"What a headache," the second his secretary walked off the office, Anthony rubbed his glabella. Taking out his phone, he dialed in a number. "We have another wielder on the loose. The mission about Tikbalang was unaccepted, and Tikbalang was killed last night."

"Really?" A calm voice sounded out of the other line. It was Engkanto, the calmest and easiest to get along to of the bunch in Walong Sinag ng Araw, compared to his other seven eccentric co-members. "Do tell."

"Whoever this person was, he was clean. They used their bare fists, yet, there's no DNA around Tikbalang's body at all." Anthony said.

"How do you know the person didn't use a blunt object?" Engkanto a.n.a.lyzed the situation with tranquility. "Is there really any evidence that Tikbalang was pummeled using fists?"

"Makes sense…" As Anthony was getting a headache, he didn't think of that matter. On that note, the two talked of this mysterious figure who killed Tikbalang last night.

As Hayden expected, he was removed from Anthony's suspects. n.o.body would suspect a 'cowardly' person to fight against a Level 2 wielder. In addition, Anthony would never expect that Hayden actually snuck out to kill Tikbalang because the entire process merely took about 30 minutes! From eating at Gourmand's Tongue, getting out of it, running around, fighting Tikbalang, and going back to the restaurant to change clothes, it was all a mere 30 minutes!

It was a perfect cover-up story for Hayden as his plan consolidated and showed its effectiveness. Meanwhile, the true killer of Tikbalang was sleeping peacefully inside his cla.s.sroom, listening to music.

…..

The following day, on Thursday, it was the much awaited occasion, the School Festival. During the School Festival of the Scholar Academy, there were numerous booths all around the school, with many colorful events.

During the School Festival, the food in the cafeteria was incredibly delightful, they gave out free ice cream, and served delicious food cheaply, at 80% off, for the students. Of course, the School Festival had a much more compelling reason as to why it was described to be 'long awaited,' and the reason is that, all day, the students just party.

Students go to school as early as 6:00 AM, even when the true start of the School Festival was at 9:00. Some played games, some socialized, some hung out with people. When it was 9:00, all people got to watch the Battle of the Bands of various groups, setting up the mood for the entire day. The Battle of the Bands lasted for 4 hours because of the sheer amount of teams that joined it.

The following event was the Dance Offs, groups of people showing those grooves. The Dance Offs lasted for a whole two hours. Subsequent to that is the free time that all students wanted for two more hours, people going to the Karaoke Booths, fight in the Wrestling Booth, the Escape Rooms in the school, and a bunch more.

When that finished, all people are requested to go to the gym for the cleaning up of the school's a.s.sembly hall, and the setting up of its dance floor. It was basically a dance party for the rest of the evening, from 5:30 PM till 12:00 midnight. Moreover, during the party, the winner of the Battle of the Bands will perform at some point in the night, while the dance floor was open for dance battles, and an event called Beat The Champion will, where the partic.i.p.ants of the Dance Offs try to battle against the champions of the Dance Offs. Naturally, the Beat The Champion was also open for the regular students, yet, n.o.body has ever dared to as they would simply embarra.s.s themselves.

…..

Going inside the school, a sea of people could already be seen. Hayden shook his head at the thought of hos his fellow students get up early at times like this, but not when it was a regular school day. Well, he really can't blame anyone, can he? Ever since the old era, most students hated the school system of their respective countries, Hayden couldn't see why not now? Plus, it was human nature to be lazy, even he, a person who is considered the model student, sometimes get lazy.

As Hayden had the inclination to avoid huge crowds the past two years of his high school life, Hayden didn't attend any of the School Festival. Meaning to say, this was Hayden's first ever School Festival.

In actuality, if not for his best friend, Daniel, bugging him to go, he would not even be thinking to go here and would rather do missions in Puting Araw. At least that had some true excitement there.

For some reason though, Hayden was being pulled into attending this School Festival. Which was also the reason why he agreed to Daniel's request for Hayden to make an appearance in this School Festival.

Also, Daniel spouted some of the words, "Come on, you're the school's most popular student, and you're not going to attend? What a dunce!"

Stemming from his premonition, Hayden brought a plain black mask, another mask he prepared in case that he needed to hide his ident.i.ty to the public but not to Puting Araw. As he has never removed his Puting Araw Uniform inside his s.p.a.ce Ring, he still had it with him.

All he was carrying for now was a duffel bag with a change of clothes, while he was wearing a white polo, a plain black vest, blue jeans, and sneakers. During School Festivals, wearing uniforms were forbidden, thus, Hayden wore what he wanted to wear, which was this.

Despite Hayden's get up being nothing special, people were staring in his direction every now and then due to the bulging muscles of his polo, and his unbelievably toned body figure. To put it simply, many people would, without a doubt, mistake him for a celebrity if he didn't have a reputation of being the 'Filipino Idol' of their school.

Walking in, Hayden was able to find Daniel, waving at him, looking like an idiot. Hayden face slapped himself at the sight of Daniel. Rolling his eyes, Hayden waved at Daniel with a smile, causing a stir amongst the girls, putting them in a star-struck daze. Why? They found him 'cute!'

Naturally, Hayden had no way of knowing this, nor did he actually care at all. He was here as he was forced and compelled by a premonition, that was all there is to it. He doubted that he would have any fun at all.

…..

Settling on one place, Hayden, Daniel, Daniel's friends were going to watch the Battle of the Bands in the a.s.sembly hall. Daniel introduced Hayden to his friends group consisting of five women and six men, who were all amazed that Daniel was friends with the star of the school.

Hayden threw an annoyed glare at Daniel, who in turn smiled at him, shrugged, looked towards another direction, put his hands in his pockets, and whistled. Hayden knew he had no way of escaping this, hence, he simply went along with it, shook hands with them, and obliged in doing small talk with them.

That was when the Battle of the Bands started. Hayden enjoyed the music, bobbing his head up and down, albeit, not cheering. After all, he didn't like it as much as the music from anime and k-pop.

All throughout the show, Hayden was asked to take pictures with him, people who he didn't know, his cla.s.smates, men, women, and anyone. As a person who didn't want to be a killjoy, Hayden agreed, smiling here and there, posing to how people wanted him to.

Hayden also engaged in small talks to his 'countless fans,' hugging girls here and there. Later, he noticed that there were so much girls wanting to take pictures of him. He was unable to enjoy the next parts of the show for this reason.

The next few hours were horrible for Hayden. He vowed never to attend any social gatherings anymore unless it was absolutely necessary. He kind of blamed his gut feeling and Daniel for the mess he was in.

"Let's wait and see, maybe there's something interesting," Hayden muttered, yawning while watching the Dance Offs. "It's impossible for my gut feeling to be wrong."

…..

December 14, 2057, 8:00 PM, three hours into the dance party inside Makati City Scholar Academy. Blade Dancer was hanging around the Makati City Scholar Academy, wearing a black hoodie. Walking around the school, he was waiting and looking for an opportunity to strike.

He was quietly scouting the place around, when suddenly, a person b.u.mped into him. It was not Blade Dancer who b.u.mped into the guy, but it was obviously a deliberate attempt to b.u.mp him.

"You, watch your way, look, my shoulder is injured!" Staring towards the guy with a solemn face, Blade Dancer was enraged when this person claimed he was injured. We simply brushed shoulders, what the f.u.c.k are you talking about? "Hey, are you going to pay, or not?"

On that note, three people carrying bats appeared and was dressed up to be menacing. This time, Blade Dancer was truly p.i.s.sed off. Eyeing the surroundings, Blade Dancer saw that there was no one around the gloomy streets.

With this, his psychotic nature took over. Blade Dancer walked to the buff guy he 'b.u.mped' into, put his hand above the buff guy's right shoulder, conjured a sharp blade, and… Sliced the arm! Blood spurted out everywhere!

"My arm!" The man's face contorted in horror. His arm was cut off! "What are you all doing standing there, get the guy!"

Trying to stop the bleeding of his cut-off arm, the buff guy shouted at his members. His arm can be replaced with enough money so he didn't really worry about it, however, this guy should pay for this! Those were his last thoughts as his head rolled on the ground. Blade Dancer beheaded him!

"You sons of b.i.t.c.hes!" Blade Dancer howled crazily, completely losing his sanity. The other three people almost wet their pants as they saw this scene. They merely wanted money, what the h.e.l.l did they put their foot into!? "You think intimidating people is enough? Think again!"

Conjuring three blades, Blade Dancer made it move at an extreme pace, stabbing the three people accurately in the heart. Before he could feel satisfied, two people in white approached him.

"Heads down, on the ground, now!" The man on the right spoke, a tranquilizer gun pointed at Blade Dancer. They were Puting Araw agents! "I will not hesitate to shoot if you don't surrender!"

Precipitously, a huge boar the size of a truck appeared behind the man on the left. "Stand down, or we will not hesitate to use our Abilities!"

"f.u.c.k off!" Blade Dancer shouted as he laughed manically. Disappearing from his place, he beheaded the man on the right. Being provoked, Blade Dancer finally lost his sense of self to his psychotic self.

Immediately, he was sent flying by the boar behind the man on the left. The remaining agent retreated behind a car as his face was filled with rage and reported the matter to HQ. "HQ, HQ. Come in. Requesting back-up. Behind Makati City Scholar Academy, there is a Level 2 wielder wreaking havoc. He has killed an agent of Puting Araw and four g"

Not being able to finish reporting, a blade pierced his head through the gla.s.ses of the car. As a result, the huge boar vanished in thin air.

"s.h.i.+t, I've been found out!" Annoyed, Blade Dancer decided to rush inside the school through the front gate and did not care anymore. While running towards the front gate of the school, a black-masked man intercepted him midway in another street without people. "f.u.c.king get out of the way, I still have to an a.s.sa.s.sination target to kill!"

"h.e.l.l no!" The black-masked man pointed the barrel of the sniper rifle towards Blade Dancer and fired without hesitation. The second the black-masked man fired, he rolled sideways, narrowly dodging a hovering saber slas.h.i.+ng at him.

Blade Dancer similarly dodged sideways, avoiding the bullet. Thinking that he was safe, he was going to rush towards the mysterious man to kill him, but saw the barrel of the sniper rifle pointed at him once more while the masked man was mid-roll.

Squinting his eyes, he stepped sideways again. This time, the bullet didn't miss its mark, hitting his left shoulder blade. Groaning in pain, Blade Dancer knew this was all or nothing. Conjuring ten blades above the black-masked man at once, he made it rain towards his interceptor.

...

5:00 PM, 3 hours prior to Blade Dancer was going to kill the gangsters, all students were asked to go to the gymnasium. Hayden was getting increasingly bored while changing into a black long sleeve, and jeans. He wanted to go home. After changing, he attempted to escape. In his attempt to go out of the gymnasium, his shoulder was grabbed by Daniel, whom he saw was shaking his head.

"You're not going home. The evening is young." Daniel smiled. "No, no, no, you will dance with us!"

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Groaning, Hayden accepted his fate and let it happen. He was going to attend the dance party. "Fine."

Going back, he saw an addition to the group, it was Faye, wearing blue pants, and a red off-shoulder. Congratulating Faye on her win of the Dance Offs, Hayden proceeded to sit beside Daniel, disappointing Faye a little.

20 minutes pa.s.sed, Hayden just fiddled on his phone, responding here and there. In spite of this, Faye could tell that Hayden was being consumed by boredom. Ignoring Hayden, she chatted with Daniel's friends for 10 minutes. With 30 minutes pa.s.sing, they were, at last, allowed back inside the a.s.sembly hall, and they were asked to leave their bags inside the gymnasium.