Thanatos System

Right after eating their late dinner, the other half of the Six Blades consisting of Yin, Zach, and Gavin were all fast asleep.

Kai joined them and forced Zach to sleep on the ground with Yin.

Zachary Lancaster was not happy about it.

Morning soon came faster than expected.

As the sunlight beat down on the windows, they knew it was time to wake up.

[ Greetings, Thanatos. ]

Yin heard the familiar voice of the female within the System greeting him in his head.

[ Starting today, your missions will now be tied to your quests. ]

"Err. Can you elaborate further on that? How long has it been since I heard your voice? It really has been awhile."

Yin responded.

[ You will see when you are faced with your mission later. For now, do not forget to warm up and stretch before deploying to the conquest. That would be all. Good morning. ]

Yin nodded.

"Still the same old monotonous voice, huh?"

There was no reply from the System.

Yin saw Gavin already sitting by the windows, watching over. Was he trying to find someone?

"Good morning, Gavin."

Yin said to the Serpent Summoner.

"A pleasant morning to you as well, Yin. By the way, I am not going to have to bring you over now, you have Kai with you. I should take this opportunity to sleep more…"

Gavin said to the rookies. Zach was already awake as well.

Kai was missing but he immediately burst through the door, was he waiting for his cue or something? Yin asked himself.

"Well, kids, it seems like Captain Kai is going to be steering the wheel for now!"

The three of them bid farewell to Gavin, who was catching up on his sleep.

"Yo, Zach, are you mad at me or something?"

Kai asked him.

"No. I just do not see the reason why someone just crashed for the night had the opportunity to sleep on the bed, meanwhile I had to make do with the floor."

Zach said with a scary expression.

"Come on! You had Yin with you, you were not alone. Besides, there are multiple upsides for sleeping on the floor."

Kai said.

"Such as?"

He looked around nervously and steered the conversation away from it.

"There's our girl!"

He exclaimed as he pointed out towards someone far ways away from them.

It was someone familiar as well.

"C-Cosette?"

Yin asked Kai.

"Wait, you know her?"

Kai asked back.

"Yeah, we were the survivors of the fifty Slayers sent by the High Council back then."

"Hm. That incident, huh? Alright, it seems like a good thing that you already know her. She can be pretty difficult at times."

Kai said.

He sprinted forwards to get Cosette Akim's attention.

"Yin, you know that woman over there?"

Zach was curious.

"Yeah. Her name is Cosette Akim. She is an A Rank Earth Slayer."

"I see. It is definitely assuring that we have high ranking Slayers on our team…"

Zach said as he exhaled afterwards.

"Not really."

Yin said.

"How so?"

"It's pretty common that you send high ranking Slayers in one mission and clump them up in a single squad if the mission or conquest itself is going to be hard. This is just a hunch, but I do not think it is going to be an easy one."

"Are you scared already?"

"Heh. Right back at you, this is your first mission, so just stand by me if you feel afraid or something."

Yin grinned as he said that.

Zach just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

The Grand Castle was always as shiny as ever.

Cosette Akim and Kai Xin were slowly walking back towards the group.

As Cosette saw Yin, she waved at him.

Yin gave a modest wave back.

"I did not know you were going to be here!"

She said.

"Yeah. The same goes for me as well."

"How is Suna?"

"She's doing well, honestly. Suna's currently training with the Commander in preparation for the Slayer Tournament."

Yin told her.

"I see. I can see that she's taking this seriously, that's good. It is her first Slayer tournament after all."

Kai immediately interrupted their conversation by introducing Zachary to Cosette.

"This here is a rookie Fire Slayer, Zachary Lancaster."

"H-Hello."

Cosette's eyebrows went up.

"Woah, you're pretty tall aren't you?" She said as she tried to compare her height to his. "Wait, Lancaster? I have heard about what happened to your father. My condolences."

Zach just nodded.

The squad sat around and ate breakfast in a café nearby.

Zachary ordered coffee and some bread.

While the other three were stuffing their mouths with all sorts of food.

Zach's judgmental gaze moved on from Yin, to Cosette, to Kai Xin.

"You have to eat more than that, Zach! You are still a growing boy!"

Kai said as he handed out a piece of porkchop and let Zach smell it.

"Can you not?"

The Fire Slayer said.

"Your loss, then."

After an hour or so, they finished eating finally.

"Shouldn't we be leaving, Kai?"

Yin asked.

"Aren't we a bit excited? We're still waiting for another member of the squad, you know."

"Who is it?"

Cosette was curious.

"Another rookie." Kai answered while wiping his mouth. "You know, I am a bit surprised that this squad has a varying degree of members."

"Varying? Would you mind elaborating on that?"

Zach asked him.

"What I mean is that we are going to have two rookies, two experienced Slayers, and another one who is not quite a rookie but is still someone who has not really gotten his feet wet yet. It is an odd group, honestly."

Kai responded back.

They waited for a few minutes more.

A young boy walked up to them.

"A-Are you Kai Xin?"

He asked with a soft manner and tone.

"I believe that's me, boy. What's up?"

"I-I was told to meet you here. I am a member of the squad to be deployed this morning."

This boy had golden hair and brown eyes. He was definitely short. Quite obviously younger than Yin and Cosette. 

Kai stood up from his seat and hit his head on the pole above.

"Ouch!" He scratched his head. "So, you're the rookie, right?"

The young boy nodded.

"Uhm. Let us see here…"

Kai took out his notebook, it had a list of the squadron's members and their affinities as well as ranks.

"June Alcindor, correct?"

Kai wanted to verify if this was really the kid.

"Yes, sir. That is me."

This kid was definitely nervous to the bone.

His words were delivered with a clear stutter and shakiness to it.

"That white haired dude over there is Yin Sohaya, a C Rank Lightning Slayer."

"Hey."

Yin smiled.

"The tall gentleman right there is Zachary Lancaster, he is a rookie like yourself. Don't worry, he's plenty strong already! Yin and Zach are both members of the Six Blades."

Zach just waved.

"Lastly, this girl right here is Cosette Akim. She is an A Rank Earth Slayer."

Kai had finally finished with the introductions.

"T-The Six Blades?!"

June was amazed.

"Yep. I, on the other hand, am the second in command of the Inferno Garden myself! Kai Xin!"

He exclaimed.

"Would you stop tooting your own horn?"

Cosette asked Kai.

June was starting to sweat despite the cold temperature that this morning had.

"You alright?"

Yin checked up on him.

"Y-Yeah. I just did not expect to be deployed with some Slayers as strong as you guys…"

The kid responded.

The group began to walk towards the Outer Gates now.

"Don't worry about it. I am not that strong myself. Besides, you are not the only rookie here, Zach is also a rookie."

Yin wanted to assure the kid that it was going to be alright.

"R-Right…"

"What's your affinity, by the way? Kai forgot to ask you, I bet."

Cosette asked the kid.

"I-I'm a Wind Slayer. I specialize in long range spell casting and spell support."

June answered back.

"June, the fact that you're here with us, in this group, is reason enough that you are strong and capable. Keep your head up, we trust you, okay?"

Cosette said.

"O-Okay, ma'am."

June looked around and noticed that Yin was the only one who did not have his weapon around his hips or on his back.

"What type of weapon do you use, mister Yin?"

"I use gauntlets. They're in my backpack right now. I wear these ones instead."

Yin said as he showed the repressive gauntlets that the Commander gave to him.

"I-I do not have any offers for organizations right now."

"Really? That's fine. Once this mission is over, it will be a success, you'll have multiple suitors vying for you to apply to their org soon enough!"

Kai said to the young boy.

"You do not need to have an organization to be touted as strong, though. Take a look at me for example."

Cosette said proudly.

The group continued to walk towards the Outer Gates.