Chapter III

Vale Police Department, 24 hours later:

-Wake up.

Simon regains consciousness in a room that looked like some sort of interrogation room. A tall man was looking at him. He could swear there was some sort of weapon on his back. He was wearing a grey coat which has a hood on the back of the head.

-Where…where am I? , asked Simon.

-You are at the Vale Police Department, kid. , replied the mysterious man.

-The…Police Department? Why am I- Argh! , said Simon when he was trying to get up.

-Slow down. You fell unconscious on the ground yesterday in front of the city gates. You also appeared rather exhausted when you arrived there. Can you tell me…what happened, exactly? We also saw some smoke coming from the forest when you arrived. Was it you?

This information strokes him like a punch in the stomach. Torchiwck burned down his house. The life he had from now was now gone. He couldn't believe it.

-No…no it was not. My father and I were attacked this morning by some kind of assassins and I barely escaped alive from there. So, I ran to Vale without even being exhausted or anything. And when I arrived, I suppose all the fatigue I was supposed to have stroked me out.

-And where is your father? , questioned the man.

-He…

Tears began to appear by his eyes.

-''sobs'' HE DIED! , shouted Simon, in desperation.

Suddenly, a bright glyph appeared and a fireball morphed in the room, floating in the center. Simon noticed that he used a Dust spell by accident and made it disappear.

-I'm….I'm sorry, I didn't want to do this. , apologised Simon.

-It's alright. At least you didn't make everything burn. , replied the man.

The man knew exactly what the situation Simon was put in. He didn't mention his mother, so that means he is now all alone. Judging by the fact there was smoke from the forest; it means his family was living in the forest and his home was completely burned by now. He saw a lot of kids like Simon that had the same thing happened to them, but they were slowly going insane or they had nothing special and were transported to the Adoption Center. But this one is different; first, he has Dust and Aura capabilities which are tremendously rare on children because it needs a lot of training and second, he was sad, but he was not suffering from any psychological problem, meaning that he has a strong mind and that he maybe wants to sworn revenge on his dad's murderers. In short, he could become a great student for the Signal Academy and a great Hunter.

-I'm terribly sorry for your loss, kid. Do you know who was behind this attack? , questioned the man

-Some weirdo called Roman Torchwick. Well, at least, that's how my father called him anyway. , answered Simon.

-Roman Torchwich….Looks like a new criminal is getting on our way. Don't worry, we will stop him. , said the men.

The man, then, took a seat.

-We didn't actually present ourselves. My name is Grey Burns; I am one of the high-ranking Dust teachers at the Signal Academy. I am also in charge of recruiting students that are capable of using Dust. Can you tell me what your name is? , said Grey.

-My name is...Simon Seablue. , lied Simon.

-Would you like to join the Signal Academy? I understand that you are young, so I'll leave you the choice. , propositioned Grey.

-But, I don't have my inscription certification anymore. , replied Simon.

-No matter, I take you under my wing and I will try to put you in an Aura class too. You have the potential to be a great Huntsman, Simon and, I assure you, you will become one. Welcome to Signal. , said Grey.

And this is where Simon will learn new Dust abilities and becoming able to control his Aura. Like his now deceased father said, after 2 years studying in the school, he began to try different weapon models, going from sniper-incorporated scythes to shotgun incorporated staffs. But his favourite schemes were the modified swords he had in mind.

He wanted to incorporate at least two things in his weapon: a Dust container for his spells like crystals or a ball that could contain all the energies of the Dust crystals, since being a Dust user gives also dependence to Dust crystals (Dust crystals cannot be replenished, so Dust users have to have access to a storage for best of use) and a firearm which he can use for weapon transformation. His favorite firearms were mainly the shotgun and the sniper rifles. Basically high recoil guns.

The day the students were sent to the Forge, he knew what he wanted to craft and when he was finally done, he was proud of him. The result was astonishing: what was in front of him was a sword made of dark blue painted metal where there was a crystal ball floating in the hilt with the use of gravity modifier devices with a magnetic shield to protect the container. The sword can also transform itself into a highly accurate shotgun containing magical bullets, making ammunition shortage not a problem. The sword contains a hand print recognition, making the weapon impossible to use in other hands than those of Simon because it locks itself into a metal armor, doing no damage at all. Simon decided to call the sword ''Marine''.

He changed is clothes style a bit too. Instead of the usual blue shirt and jeans he was always wearing, he now wears a dark blue cape covering his left shoulder, a dark blue hood, a blue shirt showing its logo that he imagined itself (A bright blue lightning bolt ) mixed with shoulder armor and black jeans. This style is supposed to show his Dust user and warrior style of combat. He also putted an electronic screen device to his left gauntlet, so he can know the hour, weather, location and ''Marine's condition with the use of the chip installed in the sword.

Two years later, it's finally time for the final exam. Four years of training, with only 10 students per class that will go to Beacon. Problem is that there are 30 students per class. When all the students of Signal entered the arena, Grey Burns began his speech.

-Fellow students of Signal Academy, today, you will have to test your might, your agility, your skills and your capabilities to prove that you are worthy to continue your studies to become true Huntsman and Huntresses. I, Grey Burns, will present this event. So, to do this, you will have to fight between yourselves and win at least 3 duels to pass. The students will be divided in class sets in which they will be divided in 2 sections and will fight in another similar room and each time a student win 3 matches, he will go the entrance of the Academy to enter the ship that will lead them to Beacon. Well then, let the duels begin.

A hologram screen appeared on the wall showing the names of the students that are in the class. By referring to the screen, each student has six matches where they can fight, meaning that there is, by rooms, 90 duels. Since a student will go each time they win, this number will gradually drop.

Simon had to fight 6 students, but the number dropped to 4 when there were only 10 students left in the duels because he was the last to fight. He won them easily though, since he was trained by Grey in secret after the classes and had a lot of powerful spells that could put down his enemies quickly if they didn't knew that he was casting a spell. So he got the victory pretty easily and was waiting in the airship while seeing Signal Academy for the last time of his life.

The people that lost the battles were told that they will have to survive 3 nights in the Emerald Forest alone with only their skills at their disposition, most of them were unfortunately never heard again, but those who survived had a airship that transported them to Beacon too.

The ship that transported Simon departed shortly after he won. It's already been 4 years that he began his combat career and he was finally commencing it for real.

-Beacon Academy, here I come! , whispered Simon.