Ryoto’s keen eyes soon allowed him to distinguish the four figures sprinting his way. But something was off, they seemed to be running away from something and in panic.

Now that he knew it was fellow students, he let his fire wings disperse; Them seeing his purple fire would entail more questions than he would like to answer.

He could hear footsteps behind him, five sets. The others would be here soon.

He walked forward confidently, sheathing one of his daggers in favor of using a fireball for light.

"What's got you guys so spooked."

One of them screamed in fright, and Ryoto winced from the loudness.

"I'm not a ghost, idiot. Calm your nerves." he scoffed.

"Oh, Ryan…" another one, the black haired dragonkin, stated.

"That's my name, yeah." 

"Ryan, did you find anyth-” Zach burst into the clearing, his four other companions following him, “Oh what are you guys doing here?"

"The scream was probably them.” Ryoto answered him as he turned towards the suspects, “what scared you guys so much?"

"No no no no, t-that scream wasn’t us, it was from some sort of monster. It struck in the middle of the night and destroyed our camp, forcing us to flee without taking a good look at it. We barely made it out alive." Azemption blurted out hastily.

"That's rough buddy." Ryoto muttered under his breath.

"What?" Ashy asked.

"Nothing."

"Ahem, we can’t just leave you guys alone here, so you can spend the night at our camp. ." Ryla suggested.

The black-haired dragon beastkin bowed, “Thank you.”.

_______________________

"So let me get this straight: Something attacked your camp and razed it to the ground, forcing you to flee?" Ryoto repeated their explanation. That would explain the scream they heard before.

Azemption nodded, "Yeah, while I didn't get a good look at it, I can say for certain it had jagged horns and a very buff, humanoid body." 

Zach nodded, "That doesn’t sound like a normal beast."

"It wasn't," Frank agreed. "From what I could sense, it was at least upper B-class."

"Upper B huh? That shouldn't be an issue with all of us here." Ryoto pointed out. "But we can't know for sure if it will attack again, and we can't stay awake all night on guard. If all of us are exhausted tomorrow, we wouldn’t be able to hold off a C-Class, much less a B-Class." 

"We could have two people stand on guard while the others rest, shifting every 2 hours." Zach suggested.

"Works for me." Ryoto shrugged.

"So, who takes the first shift then?” Alaya spoke up.

“I’ll do it, Zaiden can keep me company.” Ryoto suggested. 

Hazel narrowed her eyes. Why did he suddenly want to take the first shift? Suspicion bells were ringing one after the other in her head, but she caught the meaningful glance he shared with Regulus and realized it wasn’t her place to pry.

“Good. wake us up if anything happens.” Zach seemed to have no issues with this idea.

“We will.” Regulus nodded in confirmation.

“Wait a minute, are you sure about this?” Azemption blurted out, uncertain of their decision.

“Sure about what?” Zach asked innocently.

“Letting us stay here.”

“As Ryla said back then, leaving you alone in the middle of the forest is a bit too much, don’t you think?” Ryoto retorted snidely.

“Well, what about the rule about there being a limit to the amount of students in a team?” he still seemed doubtful.

“They will probably make an exception for this,” Ryla reassured them. “If it’s only for one night that is.”

Ashy nodded, “We will be out of your hair by tomorrow.”

.

.

.

“So, Regulus,” Ryoto began once the others had fallen asleep, “about our conversation before the trip.”

“Huh?”

“The one about your stutter,” he clarified.

“Oh that…I do that because I don’t want to sound rude.” Regulus admitted with a nervous smile.

“I thought I was supposed to be the rude one here.” Ryoto said with an amused smile framing his face.

“Not that kind of rude, yours is more…mocking. I would be…I don’t know how to explain it,” he struggled to find a word.

“Huh…” Ryoto exhaled, glancing at him. “Well, I say screw their feelings, don’t consider what others might think, be who you are.”

“It’s easier said than done,” he looked down and muttered, but raised his head again when Ryoto’s hand fell on his shoulder.

“You’ll get through it one day.” 

He sighed, “Yeah, I hope so.”

“Anyways, it seems the beast is on a rampage, killing smaller beasts. We have to be careful not to lure it here.” Ryoto changed the subject.

“How about we kill it? That means less danger for everyone sleeping.” Regulus suggested. He was confident they would beat it.

“If it’s an upper B-Class beast it will certainly be tough, but we can do it I guess.” Ryoto shrugged, “I’ll have to be careful while using my magic though, wouldn't want to start a forest fire.”

Regulus nodded, “As long as you use it in moderation, it should be fine. But what do we do about the others? We can’t just leave them alone here.” 

“Our masters are here no? They can handle it if something goes wrong. Besides, the four of them are strong enough to hold off anything short of an A-Class.”

Zach chose that moment to stir, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Go back to sleep, Zach." Ryoto ordered, making him nod in reply before dropping unconscious again.

"..." Regulus glanced between them, "That just happened…"

Ryoto shrugged, "As I said, don't question it."

"You didn't add something in their food did you?" Regulus asked suspiciously.

"Hey, what do you take me for?" He placed a hand over his chest, "I'm hurt…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." Regulus panicked, trying to salvage the situation.

"Pfft-hahaha!!" Ryoto burst out laughing, holding his stomach in pain.

Regulus halted, "Did...did you just-?"

"I most definitely did," Ryoto grinned at him.

Regulus sighed, "Why are you like this?"

"Hehe."

Regulus facepalmed, groaning in exasperation.

Ryoto inhaled deeply and sighed, “Come on, let's get going Regulus.” He stood up, still chuckling under his breath.

“Alright, do you have everything?” Regulus asked.

“I always keep the bare minimum on me. We never know when I might need to run off again.”

Regulus nodded, “That’s good, I have everything needed on me too.” 

He didn’t seem to question Ryoto’s logic, after all that’s what he did when he was wandering around.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Ryoto called behind his shoulder as he began walking away. “Get that spear of yours and follow me.”

Regulus nodded, walking over to his flat, polearm-looking spear, well it looked more like a polearm until he imbued some mana into it. A blade of pure sand shot out from one end, and Regulus twirled it around him masterfully. 

“That’s some spear you’ve got there, never would have thought to use sand as a weapon.” Ryoto commented upon seeing the spear. He hadn’t had a chance to talk about it during their training sessions.

“It was Zach’s idea,” Regulus explained. “He thought it would be useful because I can change the shape of the blade any time.”

“Of course it was his idea,” Ryoto shook his head, that boy was way too ingenious. “That, in turn, gives me an idea.”

“Hmm?” Regulus hummed in interest, venturing further into the forest.

Ryoto’s disguise burned away, revealing the black-and-purple-haired kitsune boy underneath “What happens when you heat sand?”

Regulus furrowed his eyebrows, what he was getting at. The answer hit him with the force of a freight train. “Glass…” he murmured.

Ryoto grinned, “Exactly.”

“But how exactly do we weaponize that?” Regulus asked in confusion.

“Leave that to me, cuz.” Ryoto patted his back, his mind already working on multiple ways they could use glass in.

.

.

.

“Ryoto, look here.” Regulus called for his companion, looking down at something.

“What?” Ryoto walked over, following his cousin's eyes towards the indentation in the ground.

“Well I’ll be damned, that’s one big hoof print.”

“What do you think it is?” Regulus rubbed his chin in thought.

“By the looks of it, it seems like a minotaur. They have hoofs, and are prone to this area.” Ryoto deduced, narrowing his eyes at the footprints, the monster seemed to be incapacited in some way as if it was drunk. But their metabolism would keep alcohol from affecting their brains… maybe it has an injured leg?

“Keep your eyes and ears open, Regulus,” an injured beast is more dangerous than a healthy one.

.

.

.

“Okay, do you get it?” Ryoto asked after whispering the plan to Regulus as they followed the trail left behind by the monster.

“How can we be sure that it will work?” 

“It’s still made from your sand, no?” Ryoto said coyly. “Relax, it will work.”

Regulus reluctantly handed over his weapon, “We need a backup plan in case this fails.”

“Eh, I’ll just wing it if that happens,” Ryoto shrugged, latching the spear behind his back.

Regulus sighed, they could only hope this didn’t wake the others up.

.

.

.

Crouching, Ryoto quietly followed the trails, being able to sense a strangely familiar mana signature nearby. But he couldn’t quite place it.

As he got closer, he could not hear it stomping and breathing heavily. Whatever this thing was, it was undoubtedly larger than the average beast. He sure hoped this plan worked.

Once the monster came into view, Ryoto was visibly disturbed. Not because of disgust, but because he finally realized why it felt familiar. 

It had the same kind of mana signature as those assassins all those years ago, the same corrupted and decaying sense. 

Its skin, which was supposed to be a blood red in color, had become a sickly gray, and it’s horns had been forcefully broken, resulting in jagged splinters. 

He felt an inkling of pity for the animal, but did not let it overcome him. It hadn’t heard him yet, and he was going to use it to his advantage.

He reached behind his back, unlatching the lance strapped across it, and with the compact blade of sand he stabbed. The blade tore into its flesh, right below it’s curved back. Ryoto’s eyes flashed purple, and a surge of amethyst flowed through the spear and into the beast’s body.

It immediately reacted, jerking its back and almost sending Ryoto flying away. Thankfully, he maintained his grip on the spear, adding more heat by the second.

The beast's back started stiffening as hot sand spread across it, and with a final surge of fire, the brown grains melted and fused into translucent glass, stabbing into its muscles.

Regulus had both arms raised, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he focused on moving the glass. Miraculously, it answered his call, and dug deeper into the beast's back.

Ryoto realizing that it would not be enough to kill it, inched his hand towards his boot where a single small knife was kept sheathed. A yellow liquid rolled off of its edges when he drew it out, and in one swift movement, while being careful not to touch the blade, he stabbed deep into the creature's thrashing hand.

A poison as potent as that would kill it within seconds, but it did not go out quietly. In a desperate attempt, it stomped backwards, with Ryoto still holding on to its back.

The minotaur crashed with a nearby tree, smashing through it. The air was ripped out of Ryoto’s lungs, and in a sick twist of fate his own knife nicked his wrist, and a single drop of the liquid made its way into his bloodstream.

.

.

.

Regulus panicked when he saw Ryoto get smashed between the minotaur and a tree, and in a moment of impulsive behavior, he rushed forward. The minotaur’s dying eyes caught his figure running towards it, and he swung with all its force. In his nervousness and fear, Regulus failed to evade the minotaur in time, and was sent flying when its fist hit his jaw.

A sickening crack resounded around the area, a few teeth came loose and blood spattered down his ruined jaw. His brain shook from the blow. A concussion would be the least of his worries.

Seconds later, the beast stopped moving and Ryoto slumped down from it’s back.

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