“Aunty Theo, I’m almost finished packing.”

Aunty Theo glanced sideways from the stack of financial documents sitting in front of her. Most were rejections from various lending institutions, but the few cautious ‘let us consider’ responses were enough for her. At the moment, she was content to revel in the present.

Seeing the eleven-year-old boy trying to drag a suitcase just as big as him behind him as he walked into the living room, her lips twitched. The whole process painted an adorable picture. She first moved to stand and help him, but then stopped herself and shook her head in self-mockery. With the System… it might look ridiculous, but he really does have the Strength to handle a suitcase full of clothes… I cannot underestimate how much the world is changing these days…

Heh, will there someday be a tiny bodybuilder competition, grunting and throwing around Olympic grade barbells…?

Instead of heading over to provide unnecessary assistance, she waved her hand and sat back down. “Great, great. That means we will be leaving shortly. Are you excited to go to a new place?”

The boy nodded so quickly that his head blurred and placed his suitcase next to Aunty Theo’s desk. Then he turned away and hurried back to his room, leaving the older woman to touch the suitcase and store it away in her interspatial watch.

As she did so, she noticed the time. She bit her lip; for several seconds she was torn. But despite the fact she knew that it would only further inflame her toothless fury, she walked to the television and switched it to the press conference.

Aunty Theo had tuned in right after the reporter finished asking some question. The new President Kurt Henry of Zone 1, a tall, tanned, broadly smiling man with black hair barely fading to grey at the edges, flashed his chemically bleached teeth at the cameras. “This isn’t any sort of political pressure on Kharon; it’s simple social responsibility. If the new Kharon Academy is unwilling to develop any sort of logical curriculum and instead focuses on weaknesses, Zone 1 has no plans to legitimize their degrees.”

The camera quickly switched to a female reporter. “Kharon Academy is the personal project of Randidly Ghosthound. Although he hasn’t been publicly seen in weeks, this school is definitely his brainchild. If he believes that this is the best way to educate our children, isn’t Zone 1 willing to listen? After everything else he has accomplished?”

“Now look,” President Henry said with another shy smile, as though he was almost embarrassed by what he was about to say. “Randidly Ghosthound is undoubtedly the most powerful fighter in the world. But he is still just a man. This is humanity’s future that we are talking about; education is planting the seeds of tomorrow. Maybe we might miss out on some immediate benefits… but we believe a more conservative and cautious approach to be the best. There’s no need to make hasty judgments.”

Empty, vapid, optimistically banal, Aunty Theo thought, listing off the obvious traits of this new president. Her lip curled upward as she looked at him, smiling confidently on the television. Just as reassuring and midwestern as though they had cut down a stalk of corn and set it up to lead the Zone.

A new reporter pressed forward through the assembled media members and raised his recording device. Instantly, Aunty Theo recognized his type by the determined set of his lips. Her eyes glittered. Although this was a press conference scheduled to speak on the issue of Kharon Academy, this was exactly the sort of reporter that would ignore that and ask a substantive question.

“Do you have any comment on the protests over the tightened citizenship measures of Zone 1? Many believe this is a naked attempt to discriminate against immigrants from Danger Zones.” The reporter said.

For a split second, President Henry froze and tilted his head to the side.

Aunty Theo’s lip curled up even further. Inevitably, when you ask an empty robot to be your mouthpiece, there are some moments when his dead machinery shows through…

President Henry then defaulted to the two very successful moves that had won him his election. First, he smiled. It was just a simple change of expression, but Kurt Henry was truly a handsome man. His unnaturally white teeth gleamed reassuringly.

Then, he thorough shit on the previous regime, his other tried and true tactic. “Look, we’ve tried to although these beings free entry; my predecessor President Greyman appeared to completely ignore this issue during her term. And look at the result; so many lives lost-”

Theodora Greyman decisively switched off the television. And although she was furious, she also felt a growing sense of schadenfreude after listening to the current President’s words.

After all, no one knew better than she the price of underestimating Randidly Ghosthound. She certainly wasn’t going to miss this chance to invest in this new academy, no matter what it cost her.

*****

Commander Shilling cleared his throat slightly as the group continued to march across the dusty plains. The slug-like being waved its two black antennae in the air as it considered the situation in front of them. “Is there… a problem with your… allies?”

Charlotte Wick’s expression was awkward. The conflict between Commandant Wick and the Nether King raged above them in long blasts of black lightning that set the air buzzing. But most soldiers could ignore that atmospheric interference at this point, after laboring under it for so long. What currently had their attention was the actions of the Ghosthound’s Riders.

Currently, they were engaging in a massive melee. Lance and mounts smashed into each other, with the various Riders raising their weapons to the sky and shaking them in the background. When one Rider was knocked down, another charged forward to take their place in a bloody conflict with the victor.

They are obviously avoiding fatal blows, but still...

Charlotte could only scratch her cheek. There had been a lot of discussion regarding these Riders by the elite group after they had joined the fight against the first Nether Pinion. Luckily, it seemed that DiOrtho Vant had some experience with them. He had explained that they were a rather standoffish but unified army. There were different varieties that appeared to be constantly competing against one another, but they always joined together whenever faced with an external threat. So the current situation was a bit… unexpected.

Even if you say they compete with one another… Charlotte gritted her teeth. This looks just like warfare...

Commander Shilling was the leader of the troops that the Ghosthound had sent the elite troops to reinforce. In addition to one hundred fifty elites, they had come with almost a thousand Riders. Initially, the Commander had been delighted when the group arrived; it had been in contact with other task forces and realized how difficult a problem the Nether Pinions were.

Sensing the strength of the elite group and the numbers of the Riders, a lot of the Commander’s stress disappeared. The frantic twitching of its antenna had ceased.

But with the sudden infighting of the Riders, it appeared that if anything, the Commander’s twitches had intensified.

Inwardly, she was cursing the Ghosthound for how helpful his ‘gifts’ were. The Ghosthound was undoubtedly powerful, but he often seemed to purposefully made things difficult for his recruits. Perhaps this was just some sort of sadistic and lingering training method, now that they were no longer just his recruits…?

But outwardly, Charlotte released a breath and tried to put a positive spin on the situation. “The Riders… are simply psyching themselves up for the upcoming battle. As you can see, there are no casualties; this is just sparring. But meanwhile, by the time that we arrive at our destination, their morale-”

Even Charlotte’s meandering ‘explanation’ of the situation had to pause as a sudden change spread quickly through the assembled Riders. Even those locked in a furious struggle with each other were abruptly frozen. The sudden commotion immediately died, causing an awkward silence to spread outward.

Then the Riders began to transform.

Both the Riders and the Mounts twitched and collapsed. Their muscles bulged and flexed as they writhed in obvious agony on the ground. Strange growths of flesh exploded outward from various limbs only to shrink back within their person as though nothing had happened. Beside her, the Commander’s own twitches had become an almost constant vibration. “This… boosts morale?”

Charlotte couldn’t bring herself to claim anything further about the Riders actions. But very quickly, her attention was drawn to a few spots of golden light that appeared amongst the various Riders. It was as though a bunch of tiny stars appeared above a few dozen of the Riders and dropped slowly down to condense into a necklace around the necks of the Riders in question.

With a quick count, Charlotte spotted 47 such drops of golden light. And to her surprise, when the light faded, the energy had become… a sharp tooth, like the fang of a wolf.

Still, much more reassuring was what happened next. Gradually, the Riders got back to their feet and looked at their own hands in wonder. In the next second, a powerful aura wafted off of the Riders; whatever had happened, it had clearly increased their strength.

Was I… actually not wrong…?

Sensing the opportunity, Charlotte did her best to reveal a winning smile toward the Commander. “As you can see, the process is a bit… violent, but now-”

As though they had waited until this moment to allow Charlotte Wick to feel confident in her relief, the Riders launched once more into a series of battles. This time the clashes were much smaller scale, focusing on a series of duels by the Riders who held these suddenly appearing fangs. But no matter that the fights were much smaller in scale, all the reassurance Charlotte had been attempting become useless.

“This… perhaps it is just better if we attack alone…” Commander Shilling whispered. “It appears that your group is still… too green for a real battlefield.”

Charlotte’s mouth twitched as a strange fury emerged in her heart. Certainly, this behavior from the Riders was… unfortunate, but that didn’t completely mean this Commander could dismiss their newly named Vulpis Squad. After all, Charlotte could sense that her own personal power might be less than the Commander… but it wasn’t a decisive difference.

So she narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth. “At least the Vulpis Squad-”

“Wouldn’t your energy be better spent… assisting your… allies?” The Commander responded blandly.

Just as Charlotte was about to retort, another change went through the Riders. Or rather, the same changes that happened previously repeated themselves. They froze. They collapsed. Their bodies warped and mutated. Then another fifty or so golden lights condensed down amongst them.

Some went to individuals who had managed to accumulate a few fangs already, but most went to completely new individuals. Then, to complete the repetition, all of the Riders stood and released an even more domineering aura of power.

Charlotte felt a headache coming on. At the very least… them being more powerful… is a good thing, right?