Neru was waiting for 9E in the courtyard on ground level. When they appeared they were surprised by a rain of Light arrows that hailed from all directions. Many were caught in this barrage, including Akeno, but Gapuko, Oliver and a couple other students were able to react quickly enough and jump out of the way. However, even when they evaded that trap, there were bear traps waiting all over the floor. Even more students were held in those traps, but Gapuko and Oliver managed to escape in time.
From there, Neru shouted, 'First one to knock the other over, wins!'
Reacting the quickest, Oliver turned towards Gapuko and grounded him in a simple backwards choke-hold. Panting heavily, all the classmates shuffled over to Neru, groaning.
'Welcome to speed and reflexes class, 9E! Today you will be running a 6 km track with 20Kg backpacks, swimming 10 laps in a 50m pool and cycling 25km around this school! No exceptions. When you get back, you will immediately try to dodge the balls I will throw at you. Then, you will strap on a parachute, climb the Watchtower 1km away and jump off, landing in the pool that will, by that time, have piranhas in it. You will get out as soon as possible then run back here and touch my hand'.
The whole class, save for Oliver was wide-eyed, in disbelief. Some complained of headaches, but Neru wasn't buying any of it. She continued.
'If you cannot touch my hand by recess time, fail! If you give up, fail! You will have to do it again! If you break your bicycle in the 25km track, you will run it! If you are hit by the balls I throw at you, fail!'
Then, as everyone was sitting, warming up for the course, Neru shouted, 'Start!'
Surprised, students scrambled to run to the running track. Oliver was already on it, jogging at a fast pace, with Gapuko not far behind. Neru smiled and headed indoors, grabbing something to eat. Soon enough, she heard splashing, as students got their running gear soggy in the pool. She headed outside to watch the swimming, and wasn't surprised to see Oliver in 1st place. Behind him were 4 other students, with Gapuko being one of them.
As time passed, Neru heard rings of bicycle bells as Oliver snatched a bike and started pedalling to the school gates. Time was almost up, and it was 20 minutes until recess started. Out the corner of her eye, she was surprised to see Gapuko in the lead, on his bicycle, Oliver just behind.
I see, Neru thought. When Oliver had started the bike track, Gapuko was still swimming, but now Neru saw that Gapuko was quite fast on the bike. Gapuko got off the bike, and headed towards me. I had a bag of balls ready, and threw them one after the other at him, for 30 seconds. He dodged every one, and ran to grab a parachute from the shed.
Oliver dodged the balls after Gapuko and caught up with him on the Watchtower. Gapuko was having trouble figuring out the straps and climbing the tower at the same time, while Oliver raced up the tower with ease, parachute already on. The Watchtower was 30 metres high, and Oliver didn't hesitate to jump right off and pull on his parachute.
10 minutes till recess.
Gapuko came right after, and they both landed in the pool at the same time, Gapuko pulling his parachute at the last second to save time. Interesting. Neru watch as both got out of the pool and sprinted towards her.
Wet and soggy, Oliver's hand slapped hers first, then came Gapuko's. 5 minutes till recess. Neru laughed and told them to get changed, allowing them to get to recess early.
Sam, Rin, Lenka, Kaito and Neru all headed outside in recess time to look over the school. The school was protected by multiple players of magical barriers and physical obstructions, the main physical defence being it was on a mountain deep in a forest. There were around 600 students in this action school and almost every class of creature.
Rin, Sam and Neru were having a quiet chat while Kaito and Lenka were further away, talking about Oliver. Suddenly, Neru sensed a strong magical presence coming towards the barrier, and used Air, to amplify her voice. She shouted across the whole school, 'All students evacuate into the lower levels of the schools. Code Red. Panic rooms are to be activated. Teachers meet outside in the courtyard!'
Everyone, including Kaito and Lenka turned to look at her, and instantly obeyed. Neru rushed forwards, through the panicking students and reached the edge of the barrier. She touched it and looked into its state. I knew it. The barrier had started eroding, falling apart. But this barrier was enchanted Stage 8 magic level, it would be near impossible to break through this defence. Unless…World-Class magic.
Making a hard decision, she activated its self-destruct mechanism, instantly destroying the barrier, but also the user eroding it. The barrier blinked away and the rest of the teachers caught up to her. Knowing what had happened, Kaito turned towards the teachers and ordered them to get into defensive positions around the whole school. Werewolves, demi-gods, a few vampires and the like all surrounded the school in well-practised positions.
Sam and Lenka, as well as Kaito were in the front, while Rin and Neru stayed a few metres back for magical support. They saw a dark cloud swarm towards them from the sky and red eyes gaze at them from the dense forest. Sam used his Air vision to sight the oncoming swarm and found it was bats. Vampires. Sam glanced briefly at Kaito, and realised he knew as well.
The staff all went into defensive positions while the bats and animals all stopped about 100 metres from the destroyed barrier. They surrounded the whole school, in huge numbers. Then the vampires followed, massive amounts of them, hundreds. Most of them, Kaito guessed were only a couple years old. Newly-turned. But some of them, perhaps just over 30, were over 100 years old.
Then his heart skipped a beat, and Kaito kneeled, closing his eyes, feeling the presence of the oldest, alive vampire. The First Victim, or the Vampire Lord. He thought he would never have to feel his presence again, but as he looked upon the horde with vampire vision, he found the strong magical and ancient power of the First Victim.
The vampires touched down only 20 metres from the school, facing the group, and from the middle, emerged a familiar looking face. The rumoured First Victim – the first person to get turned by Vlad, but rumoured stronger than his master. With a cheery smile on his face, wielding two small, but powerful hand-guns, was the First Victim – Kei.