Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy! For those of you that submitted OCs, I plan to introduce them the chapter after this next story arc. This is so you guys won't have to wait for chapter updates, but also so I can have more time for more OC submissions and plan to introduce them. Just would like to offer that as a warning. Also from now on, I will provide a date at the beginning of certain chapters.
September 1, X790
At the Phoenix Dawn guild hall, the young wizards were all waiting for more jobs to be posted. After a few minutes of waiting, Blaise came out of her office holding a small stack of papers.
"Before you all try to take a job, I have a special announcement to make!" Blaise said loud enough for the few guild members there were. "There is one S-Class quest among them. Since we do not have any S-Class wizards at this moment, this time only will I allow you to take on a request like this. However, should you take on this request come see me in my office before you leave. On a side note, this guild will hold its first S-Class Examination on March 23 and the candidates will be announced one week before that. Now that all of that has been addressed, I'll take my leave."
Blaise placed all of the requests on the request board while keeping the S-Class request separate. Once she had left, the group went to the request board to look at the S-Class request.
"What's the S-Class quest?" Aura asked.
Jason looked closer at the request flier and read it out loud. "'Powerful wizards wanted for training seminar. Reward… Ho. Ly. Shit."
"What?" Spiral asked. "What's the reward?"
Spiral and Sakura both looked closer at the reward money for the job. "… 200 million J?!"
"Just for a training seminar?!" Aqua asked.
"Why would a job like that have a reward that large?" Static questioned.
"Who cares?!" Spiral shouted. "I'm going to see if Master Blaise can approve me for this?"
"No, you don't!" Sakura leapt on Spiral and pinned him to the ground. "I'm going on this job!"
"What do you need the money for?" Spiral argued.
"I could ask you the same thing." Sakura argued back. "I'm pretty sure you're going to blow it all on comic books!"
"Shut up!" Spiral shouted.
"Why not take on the job together?" Jason suggested.
Flora stood with a painted map behind her.
"… And then…" She said.
Spiral, Sakura, Flora, Jason and Hikari were all walking together toward a mountain range surrounded by dark clouds.
"How come the Master insisted on a group of us going?" Sakura whined.
"She said it was best if we went in a group for an S-Class quest." Jason answered. "Considering we haven't really proven that yet, I'm not surprised."
"I'm just glad I get to come along." Hikari said, walking very closely to Spiral.
"I'm wondering what kind of person would put such a request." Spiral said as he looked at the path ahead of them. "I can sense a mansion in these mountains, so I wouldn't expect them to be, quote-on-quote, 'normal'."
The group continued walking until they arrived at the mansion Spiral had mentioned where a butler was waiting for them. Jason held up the request flier to him.
"We're wizards from the Phoenix Dawn guild." Jason said as he showed him his guild mark. "We're here for the request you put up."
"Please, come in." The butler said as he opened the door and led them to the mansion's basement, which was just an arena with a few benches. "The Master will be with you shortly. Would you care for any refreshments?"
"I could use a head of lettuce, if you don't mind." Sakura said. "Don't cut it up though; I can eat the whole thing."
The butler had a sweat drop on the back of his head. "Er, right."
After the butler left, the wizards looked around at the arena.
"Why would someone build a mansion in a place like this?" Jason wondered. "Aren't they afraid of the ground giving way?"
After a few minutes of waiting, the butler arrived with a head of lettuce, which Sakura took gleefully and chomped it down. Just as she had finished, someone else had entered the basement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to my master." The butler said, bowing to the new arrival. "Xanders Nosferatu."
"Thank you, Wilson." Xanders said, then turning to the wizards. "So, you're the wizards that accepted my request? I was expecting people much… older. More experienced."
"Don't underestimate us." Sakura said, somewhat glaring at Xanders.
"My apologies, I didn't mean any offense by it." Xanders said.
"Your request said you needed wizards for a training seminar." Jason said.
"Yes, let me fill you in on that." Xanders said. "You see, I've been sparring with my elite guards for years now and I no longer feel like I'm any getting stronger. That is why I put out that request; so that I have the opportunity to train with powerful wizards."
Spiral was lost in thought for a bit before speaking. "What exactly are you training for?"
"Well… I guess it would be all right if I told you." Xanders smirked. "The Nosferatu Clan isn't one massive family like most clans. It is instead different families with different bloodlines that specialize in one particular magic. With so many families, we didn't know how to decide which family would act as clan leader. So every 20 years, there's an event in which each family's heirs fight for the crown and the next one happens to be in three days."
"And in order to assure your victory, you want us to spar with you so you can get stronger?" Spiral guessed.
"Correct." Xanders replied before standing up. "So, which of you shall challenge me first?"
"… I will!" Sakura shouted as she stood up triumphantly. "You don't look so tough!"
"Hmph, very well then." Xanders said before jumping to one side of the arena.
Sakura took the other side and readied herself for battle.
"Don't hold back, okay?" Xanders asked.
"Take him down, Sakura!" Flora cheered.
"… Go!" Xanders shouted before charging at Sakura with his fist glowing orange. "Drain Palm!"
Xanders smashed his right palm into Sakura and sent her flying into the wall.
"You have just witnessed the signature spell of the Nosferatu Clan: Drain Magic." Xanders said. "Once any of my attacks strike you, I replenish my magic energy by stealing yours."
"Really?" Sakura asked as she got up like nothing happened. "I don't feel any different from before."
"Was his attack really that weak?" Spiral asked. "Or is Sakura just too strong?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Flora asked. "Sakura is a vegan AND a Forest Dragon Slayer."
"So?" Hikari asked.
"Figure it out on your own." Flora said.
"… Wait, so Sakura has a massive reservoir of magic energy?" Spiral asked.
Flora nodded. "Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner."
"Time to show you what I can do!" Sakura shouted before breathing in deep. "Forest Dragon Roar!"
Sakura shot her breath attack at Xanders, but he surrounded his hand in his magic and used it to part the breath while draining the magic from it.
"As long as my magic makes contact with anything containing magic energy, I can drain it." Xanders stated.
Sakura completely blindsided Xanders in a near instant and charged magic power in her hands.
"Forest Dragon… Thorn Claw!"
Sakura's hand was surrounded in cherry blossom petals which formed the shape of a giant dragon claw. Xanders didn't have enough time to counter it as Sakura brought the claw down on him. When the smoke cleared, Xanders was lying on the ground and Sakura was still standing.
"Amazing…" Xanders muttered. "Is that really the power of a Dragon Slayer?"
"Master Xanders!" Wilson shouted.
Xanders sat up. "I'm fine, Wilson. I made the right decision in requesting guild wizards. You're all worthy of your S-Class titles."
"Uh… we're not S-Class wizards." Jason said.
"… Huh?" Xanders asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Our guild doesn't have any S-Class wizards yet, but our master approved of our acceptance of this mission." Jason clarified.
*Incredible…* Xanders thought. *She's not even an S-Class wizard and yet she managed to defeat me with very little effort and very little of her magic drained. Just how strong are these wizards?*
"Hey, if you keep training with us, you'll get really strong by the time your little tournament comes along." Jason assured.
Xanders just stared at the wizards for a moment, but then smirked and gave a light chuckle. "Our next session will be in three hours. That should be enough time for me to recover. Wilson, please show our guests to their rooms."
"As you wish, Master Xanders." Wilson said, bowing to him.
Wilson guided them to one of the guest rooms within the large mansion.
"Gentlemen, this is your room." Wilson said as he opened the door.
The guest bedroom had two large beds with their own curtains, satin sheets and space large enough to keep a dozen hospital patients at once.
"Whoa…" Spiral and Jason looked at the room in awe.
"Ladies, I will show you your room next." Wilson said as he walked away and Sakura, Flora and Hikari followed.
"Good, 'cause I could really use a bath after that fight." Sakura said.
Three hours later, Jason was sparring with Xanders. Xanders was clearly giving it everything he's got, but Jason didn't seem to be getting tired at all.
"You're focused too much on winning this." Jason said.
"Huh?" Xanders asked.
"Don't use up so much magic at once. I know your magic can drain your opponent's magic power, but you still need to moderate your magic energy. Use up too much energy at the start of a fight and you'll regret it in the long run."
Xanders nodded and the two continued to spar.
Meanwhile in the mansion's bath, which was more like an indoor hot spring, Spiral was taking a soak in the hot water.
"Aaah…" Spiral sighed in satisfaction. "I've really come to like bathing over the last few weeks…"
Spiral was so relaxed that he couldn't even sense that there was another person in the bath. Hiding behind a rock was Hikari, who was trying to keep still and hidden so that Spiral wouldn't be privy to her presence.
*Oh my, gosh!* She thought. *I didn't think Spiral would want to come in here NOW! What am I going to do? I know I want to see his body and I also want him to see mine, but I don't think I'm ready yet!*
Hikari became tense and nervous while Spiral was ignoring everything else around him.
*I'm just lucky his magic hasn't caught onto me yet.* She continued thinking. *Okay, calm down. He'll have to leave eventually, so after he does I should head out, too.*
BRRRUMBLE!
The shockwave from Jason and Xanders battle shook the mansion a little causing Spiral's entire body to fall into the bath water and Hikari unconsciously shrieked and fell into the bath water as well.
"AH!"
"Huh?" Spiral picked up the sound and could sense the vibrations of someone in the water with him. "Who's there?"
Hikari kept herself quiet and hid behind the rock. *Oh no! He's onto me! Should I just let him know I'm in here? Wait… that would be the best idea. That way-*
"Gotcha!" Spiral shouted as he jumped on top of the rock.
Hikari turned around to him and the two just stared at each other with red faces. After a few seconds, Spiral eventually fell into the bath water and floated on the surface, completely unconscious.
"Ah, Spiral!" Hikari shouted.
She took Spiral to the stone floor of the bath room and lied him down.
"Oh, what if he swallowed some water while in there?" Hikari asked quietly to herself.
She pressed her hands against Spiral's chest to get any water out of his lungs.
*Should I try to give him mouth to mouth?* Hikari thought, blushing at the idea of getting close to Spiral's face.
She took a big gulp and slowly moved her face toward his. The moment their lips touched…
"Hey, Hikari, what's taking you so long?" Sakura opened the door to the bath room.
Hikari remained still with widened eyes as Sakura just stood where she was without any sort of response. Sakura simply closed the bath room door and let them be.
*… WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!* Sakura screamed in her own head.
In another large mansion in the shadowy mountains, a man with dark brown hair and the same attire as Xanders was walking down a hallway.
"Ah, I see you have arrived." The man said to four silhouetted figures. "I have a special mission for you to complete."
A/N: The chapter is done! I really hope you all enjoyed it! I'm still accepting OCs. If you want to submit a female character instead, I might consider it (emphasis on 'MIGHT'). Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter.