[Thank you Tyler_Hotker for your generous gifts]
"What happened to your daughter is a tragedy, but at least thank the gods that she's still alive. Half of her teammates died, and the rest are either also in a coma or deeply damaged..." A man lizard man spoke, his voice as calm as a spring lake.
"What about the boy?" A woman with bunny ears asked, making everyone look at her.
"you know, the boy in the report? He survived despite being the weakest among them by a lot. He's also the only one we can locate among the ones that have survived." The woman explained.
"Are you saying that he might have had something to do with this?" A man with bright red hair and eyes asked. He looked completely human, yet there was something about him that unsettled everyone in the room.
However, that was normal since he was by far the strongest person in the room, sitting on the main chair of the council hall and leading the meeting itself.
The council hall looked like a normal hall. The seats and tables were arranged circularly, allowing everyone to see everyone.
Each person had a banner in front of their table representing their faction, tribe, or race.
And the red-haired man's banner had similarities to the banners of the other humans in the room; his was a little redder and had the feeling of dragon hood.
While the table had been extended to add seats for the victim's families, the average commandment in the room remained high, everyone in there being in the 4th commandment or higher, except a few of the victim's families who were between the second and third commandment.
The average commandment throughout all of humanity was between the first to second commandments, making everyone in the room elite, even those who were only in higher second commandment or low third commandment.
"I think you are wrong to assume that had something to do with it." A man with blue hair stood up. Grief could be seen on his face, but the man stood strong as his wife beside him simply looked down.
"Lachlan might have died, but I wouldn't dare think that the boy had to do anything with it.
First off, he had awakened barely a few months before the dungeon appeared and only reached the initial stage of the first commandment despite being there for three months.
No matter how you look at it, he is far too weak to cause so much havoc on his own. However, don't you think it's right for us to listen to what he said?
Even Rex Talon, a respected soldier, said the same thing. According to their testimonies, Veronica Everdale was responsible for what happened, and the girl known as Tina Albert could barely save her comrades despite using a final spell..." Lachlan's father spoke, his voice seething with anger as he stared at the Everdales.
"How dare you! We are grieving just like you! Our girl hasn't returned home, and is possibly even dead, yet you point the finger at her just becuase she's the only one who hasn't been found!" a man with black hair and red eyes roared out while pointing at the blue-haired man.
"I am simply telling you what has been said in the testimonies. Which brings me to my second point. I cannot point the finger at Lloyd Elrod not only because the facts are against such a point, but because I know his parents, and his close family friends too.
You know them too, correct?" He asked while looking at the Everdale family.
"Of course, I don't believe Lloyd has anything to do with it. His father is a hero who even saved us at times of need, and his close family friends are the Glades, and well know how powerful yet honorable they are. Their founder cared for humanity more than any other higher family, and I'm more than certain that his teaching have been left to Benjamin Glade too." The vampire snarled.
Due to vampires living much longer than humans, Mr. Everdale was old enough to have known the founder of the glade family personally, and they had even fought together during the war against the void walker.
"Enough of this squabbling! We will come back next week to have a vote whether or not we want to bring Lloyd Elrod to the stand. This meeting is ajourned." The red-haired man announced before snapping his fingers and opening the portal behind him by using the runes embedded into the building itself.
Everyone left the room quickly and didn't look back.
"How did it go, master?" A woman in a maid's outfit asked while walking behind the Everdales.
The maid had beautiful emerald hair that glistened in the hallway lights they were walking down.
Her emerald eyes were also beyond beautiful. She was a natural seductress that was considered beautiful even among vampires.
"Not as well as I hoped..." Veronica's father sighed.
"Will you be needing my services?" She tilted her head.
"Yes, please." He smiled while they both entered his room.
His son, who was with him during the council meeting, hadn't spoken a single word and had left to god knows where, so on top of the stress and grief he had from losing his daughter, he had to also deal with his son that would simply not listen to reason.
Due to all of it piling up, Veronica's father had taken his maid as his lover. It was technically cheating by human standards, but for vampires who lived much longer lives, it was a normal act.
Once they entered their room, they both went close to the bed. The maid sat down, and he leaned forward to kiss her the same way he had done for the last month... But this time, it was different.
His kiss didn't land. Well, that was the least of his problems...
As he looked down, his eyes widened when he saw his lover's hand stabbed into his chest and tightly gripped around his heart.
"I must say, you are quite dumb." The girl grinned, causing his stomach to churn.
She spoke while leaning in and giving him a peck on his lips.
Her hair began to morph, becoming much straighter and darker, while her eyes went from emerald to a bright red. Her body morphed, too, becoming taller and less petite by the second, morphing back to a figure resembling an hourglass.
"You have disappointed me for the last time..."
She smirked as blood ran down her fangs.
"Father."
***
Planet Keplar 452b - Military Academy
Lloyd found himself laying on his back and looking at the sky with a pained expression.
No one told him that using a staff would be this hard... And no one told him that everyone else in that class would be a master!
"You sure you don't want to leave this class? You're really bad at this. It feels like you have absolutely no talent in using the staff." The boy he was sparring lent his hand to help Lloyd get up.
At first, Lloyd was certain that the boy would have been a pain in the ass and a kid from a higher family with a silver spoon in his mouth from the moment he was born.
The boy was not only the most powerful in the room and possibly in all of A group, but he was also really skilled with the staff, completely destroying Lloyd in every spar despite going easy on him.
And to top it off, he wasn't even from a higher family! He was a from a lower middle class, making him not only not an asshole, but also super nice!
His words were quite ruthless, though...
"Thanks for the supportive words." Lloyd chuckled while taking his hand.
"You keep using your staff like you would use a katana. Sure, you have the right stance, and you're holding it from the middle instead of its end, yet mastering the staff is much more than that. Several martial styles are dedicated to using the staff, yet you are trying to make your own." The boy, Derek Cellar, explained.
"You try to move the staff at a speed that it can cut or damage, but it is much more than that.
The staff is primarily a defense weapon. It can defend you from your enemy's attacks, parry attacks, redirect spells, control and corner your enemy and his movements, attack with precise accuracy, and, as you've seen, you can also immobilize or neutralize an enemy to knock them down or out the say way I did to you." He continued.
Lloyd recalled back to how Derek had cornered his movements by using the staff's long and short reach of the staff, using them as if they were one. And due to the amount of movement that was happening, Lloyd found himself unable to see the pattern of his movements, allowing Derek to sweep the staff under his feet before hitting him in the forehead and knocking him to the ground.
"Alright... That will be all for today." Instructor Yung clasped his hands and created a clap to gain their attention.
He quickly have feedback to everyone before landing on Lloyd.
"And you, Lloyd, have a very long way to go. For tomorrow's lesson, I want you to read up on a few martial styles for the staff. Understood?" He asked.
"Yes sir!" Lloyd placed his arms to his sides in a soldier's stance.
After that, everyone quickly morphed their suits back to their uniforms before leaving.
While some were simply going home since it was the end of the day, others went to bars, and the rest went to their elemental classes.
Lloyd was lucky to have all of his classes in a row, but at the same time, it didn't give him much time to rest.
Other people, on the other hand, didn't pick as many classes as Lloyd, so they had an hour or two between the compulsory classes and the evening ones.
Walking into one of the classes, Lloyd looked around momentarily with an aloof expression. But that's when he saw her... Luna was standing before their rogue combat class instructor with a scythe in one hand and a ball of dark energy in the other.
Looking down at his watch, Lloyd widened his eyes slightly.
"Shit... I'm late."
