Parasyte System

While the three esper were spending time at the training center, a meeting of utmost importance for the Eitsirc academy was taking place in a tall skyscraper in a certain unknown city.

It had already been several days since the incident with the 4th grade students, which also meant that the search party that the academy's vice-principal Dur had organized should have already come across the culprit, or at the very least, some key clue.

And these expectations were not only because Dur had almost blind trust over his employees, but because with the level of supers sent out, even finding the ringleader of a large criminal organization would not be impossible.

"...This is...unexpected." Said Dur, a small giant of a man sitting at the head of the boardroom table as he looked at the current report of the search party.

The reaction was to be expected, after all, the paper in front of him indicated that not only had they not found the culprit, but they had also not come across any kind of key clue.

Whether it was a monster that met the physical characteristics described by Elaina, the one in charge of protecting the training grounds, or a monster that had the ability to escape from a rank (B) pugilist, they could find none.

Instead, what the search party was able to confirm was that what the group of 4th grade students involved in this incident had said, that the training ground was devoid of monsters, was completely true.

This intrigued not only the entire executive board of the academy, but also the vice principal, Dur.

The reason for this was clear, and it was because this event involved much more than what it seemed at first glance.

First of all, it should be known that not every piece of land in the academy was monitored at all times like the island where the entrance exam was held, and there was a reason for this.

Because it was not necessary.

In fact, that island was only monitored because of the exam and because it was a relatively new terrain of the academy.

However, for all the other grounds of the academy, which had been in the possession of the academy for centuries, the level of protection that each of them had, while varying depending on the specific ground, was not something that could be broken even by dozens of rank (B) supers, not even the weakest protection.

It was for this very reason that although the academy's secrets were coveted by countless criminal organizations, none of them resorted to forcible entry, because they were simply incapable of it.

Secondly, the fact that the disappearance of the monsters in the training camp happened completely unnoticed.

And the hardest point to believe was that such a massive event as moving thousands and thousands of monsters was carried out without a single person or magic circuit of the academy detecting it.

With only these two points, Dur came to the obvious conclusion that the culprit behind this, whoever it was, could only belong to a certain group of people.

"At the very least, it has to have been a rank (A-) super..." Dur said with a serious look on his face.

"!"

Immediately, the other academy executives were shocked by what the vice principal said, almost as if not wanting to believe his words.

However, they knew very well that their vice principal was not the type to joke around, so they had no choice but to accept his words as true, as troubling as they were.

At this point, the most worrying thing for them ceased to be the incident of the disappearing monsters and the attack towards a certain group of students, and this place became occupied by the supposed rank (A) super.

And this, of course, was not an unfounded decision, but was actually the most sensible one.

Normally, although there was a big difference between the different grades of supers, reaching a point where a rank (C) super was more than twice as strong as a rank (D) super, there was still a way to overcome that gap.

It would require a large number of rank (D+) supers and one would have to be prepared for losses, but it was possible to achieve a victory.

However, the same could not be said with a rank (B) super, since no matter how many rank (C) supers there were, the only final result of that would be a massacre.

Forget about just destroying buildings, even wiping out a city would not be a problem for a rank (B) super.

There was even a time, after the great catastrophe and the appearance of the founders of the three classes, when mankind was ruled by only rank (B) supers, a time when the law of the jungle shone at its best.

It was not for nothing that rank (B) supers were considered the pinnacle of power for average people, thanks to the fact that the power they possessed was incomparable to that of a mere rank (C).

Then, what happened?

Why was it that such powerful individuals stopped behaving in such a dominant way and now preferred to adhere to the rules of society?

The answer is very simple, because each and every one of them discovered... that they were not the strongest by far.

They discovered the hard way, that their bodies were not indestructible, their spells were not omnipotent, and their abilities did not always work.

The appearance of the rank (A) supers woke them from their slumber, but more importantly, it etched a reminder in their blood that would remain for all generations of rank (B) supers to come.

That at the top... there is another top.

Thanks to this bloody but perhaps necessary chapter of history, although countless years had passed since then, even today's rank (B) supers were well aware that although they were the pinnacle of power for the average person, the pinnacle actually lay elsewhere.

Beings capable not only of destroying cities, but of being able to put entire regions in danger and bring small countries to ruin, those were rank (A) supers.

Fortunately, having such an enormous amount of power also meant that every move was monitored either by certain organizations or by other people of the same class.

Although undoubtedly, the biggest stroke of luck was that the number of rank (A) supers in the world was so low that the fact that an organization had one of them, either as a founder or as a member, made the level of this organization automatically enter the list of global organizations.

But of course, hand in hand with getting on that list also came several benefits, the biggest of which being how incredibly attractive each global organization was to the average super.

It was also thanks to this list that organizations that started small ended up becoming giants, with the most well-known examples being the Heroes Association, the Hunters Guild, and of course... the Eitsirc Academy.

"I wonder who actually decided to move... and on top of that do it against our academy...?" Dur said as he stood up from his seat and his eyes began to release a dangerous gleam.

*SWOOSH!*

No sooner had he finished speaking, a dense stream of qi flooded the boardroom, causing the executives present to choke for a moment.

"Ah, sorry." He quickly apologized, though he did not sit down, but began walking towards the exit of the room.

"V-Vice principal, we ask you to please reconsider, if you leave to confront this stranger, then who will be left in charge of the academy?!" Said one of the table members, a woman of average height and black hair who recovered relatively quickly from the wave of qi.

Although it might seem that the executives were worried about this supposed rank (A) super, that was only part of it, as in reality their concern was focused elsewhere, and that was because they knew that their vice principal would definitely want to take him on.

Thanks to the fact that normally the big shots, i.e. rank (A) supers were under enormous surveillance by other powers, plus the vast majority of them were in positions where they couldn't act too much on their own, confrontations between members of this class were incredibly rare.

Even until now, the last confrontation between rank (A) supers had happened several decades ago, and this was entirely due to the fact that the protagonist of this fight was a villain named Bloodlust, who did not care at all about how many eyes were watching him or that he belonged to an organization.

As for fights between rank (A) supers who were on the "same side"... they just didn't happen.

Taking that into account, one could already get an idea of what this meant for a rank (A) pugilist like the vice-director.

Although as vice-principal he was a competent man and had performed his job impeccably thanks to the love and affection he had for the academy, his fighting spirit had never disappeared, and this incident had only served to fuel that spirit even more.

Normally one would think about whether it was worth getting into trouble with a super (A) rank either because of his power or the organization behind it, even for the founder of a global organization, but for Dur, the vice principal of Eitsirc Academy, neither of these were a problem.

And of course, the biggest reason why Dur wanted to take this matter into his own hands was because it was his job to protect the academy and see to the safety of the students, it definitely wasn't because he wanted to take on someone strong!

Anyway, for him, this was an opportunity that he absolutely couldn't pass up, even if the executives didn't want to, he would force his way through!

It was all for the safety of the academy!

"I... will go out to punish the person who dared to mess with our academy. For any questions, consult the head teachers!"

"Wait, vice principal!"

"Stop him!!!"

*Swoosh!

However, even though the executives moved to block the exit, the vice principal had already disappeared, only leaving behind a residual image.

"..."

A silence then filled the boardroom, with all the executives present having a grim expression on their faces.

"Ahem, I wouldn't want to make the situation worse... but I'll be leaving too, I have to accompany him... since, you know, I'm his secretary..." Said the thin man with glasses who was always standing next to the vice principal.

Without another word, and thanks to the fact that the executives were depressed, the secretary smoothly left the boardroom, though not before sending a message to the three head teachers.

"I wish you luck, dear executives." Said the secretary to himself, a small look of sadness hidden in his eyes.

Just like that, the person in charge of seeing to the good of the academy... temporarily left.

***

Back at the training center, the three esper who had been cleaning yards had finished their task quite a while ago, and were instead busy with another activity.

Inside a much larger yard than the one Jay was originally cleaning, Vedran was in the middle, and a few meters away, to the right and left, surrounding him, stood Jay and Vilda, both in a fighting stance.

As for Vedran, he had a serious expression on his face, though judging by the bulging of his muscles, it was clear that he was prepared to intercept any attack.

'...How did I end up in this situation?' Thought Vedran, seeing that perhaps conflict was inevitable.

The next moment, before he could think of anything else, both Jay and Vilda moved towards him, activating their abilities.

Unexpectedly, the night's work had taken an unexpected turn, the main victim being none other than Vedran!