…

Another piece of intel he managed to pick up, was the exact number count of Mercenaries that showed up today; Twenty thousand and six hundred hired killers! Furthermore, Six of the best Mercenary organizations came together in order to form an even greater force of power. And this scout captain, Calabria, seems to have learned from the man known as ‘Dawan’ that there was a seventh big fish working in the shadows!

Seven Powerful mercenary groups…

Among them, two were even touted to be highly-ranked organizations that have each murdered heroes on the double digits ranking list: This is a highly renowned accomplishment, considering there are over five hundred million recognized Heroes in Herotopia! An incredible accomplishment to be sure… but also a very dastardly one – making either one of them an extremely deadly organization to have as your enemy. Killing such powerhouse heroes is nothing short of terrifying.

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Silver Shackles were the first to agree with the coalition. The upper - medium ranking mercenary group ranks slightly below the Numbers, but their specialty is just as deadly, if not even more so, than the Numbers’ boss, Zero, killing the Tenth strongest criminal in all of Villain Haven. Their 30 upper rank members and their Leader all have the ability to nigh-permanently enslave those weaker than them, or they can come together to enslave somebody greater than them in strength. Adding on to this, these special few hold the capability to summon creatures and beings from completely separate realms, and seal their souls into powerful artifacts!

...Either that or bind them forever with contracts.

In fact, most of the men and women apart of Silver shackles either grew infatuated with this ‘enslavement’ power, or were actually enslaved by the Silver Shackles elite. Surprisingly however, they’ve never once used their powers to kill or commit crimes against Herotopians.

That is, not until today.

The group name ‘Silver Shackles’ being apart of the coalition would definitely come as a surprise to just about anyone else in Herotopia, except for Mr. Abrams and the other 9 Heroes that make up the top ten. After all, leaving Herotopians alone doesn’t exempt them from any crimes they may have committed elsewhere, such as along the Spes Novean borders where the new countries privately fought with each other. Furthermore, there have been constant rumors about quite a few prominent and influential people going missing, right as members of Silver Shackles were spotted nearby. One did not have to be a genius to figure out how the leading men and women or their most trusted aides disappeared on each of those days. In his eyes, it was only a matter of time before the immoral creeps that lead Silver Shackle Mercenaries left their hiding spot in Villain Haven’s territory, setting their greedy, piggish sights on the Land of Heroes itself.

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The Second group to join were the Ghastly Seal-Breakers Mercenary Corps. As their name implies, they love to break into highly guarded locations and test their might, so they only take jobs on the condition the place has a tough enough security. Magical seals and protection Barriers are some of their favorite types of defensive powers to confront. If the chosen location is underwhelming and has a weak defense, then count yourself a corpse, because they’ll be quitting the job right then and there in order to focus all their power on hunting down whoever hired them. Regardless of what was previously planned and/or promised, they would immediately turn their wrath on their contractor if they feel they were lied to and deceived, just so the client can eliminate a personal threat. Well, they once stayed their hand after such an incident, but that was only because the client had actually been injured trying to break in herself, and didn’t know about Ghastly Seal-Breakers’ standards. Whoever was responsible for referring them conveniently forgot such an important detail. After completing that single unqualified mission, their group released info about the standards they hold and what they would do to those found guilty of dishonoring this iron-clad rule. Obviously, they broke into this school since its defenses are supposed to be extremely tight.

Up until Mr. Abrams’s ruse-like retaliation, the very few members of this corp who joined Team 4 as special anti-magic members were feeling severely underwhelmed.

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Third on the list of daring Mercenary Companies willing to work for an overwhelmingly large sum of money is…

Well, the Living Devils Mercenary Corps. Not only are they actual daredevils as a group, but they routinely commit countless atrocities across the entire world. From human trafficking, rape and innumerable kidnappings, to torture, theft, arson and murder. They’ve committed every crime imaginable in every COUNTRY established!

But by far, their favorite type of commissioned gigs are murder. That is because they don’t murder straight away, if they can help it. They’ll bring the victim to their headquarters, and directly sacrifice them to increase the connection their members hold with Hell. Their dark magical arts, slight resistance to psychic based skills and enhanced strength each grows the deeper their connection with hell becomes. And children are some of their favorite sacrifices to make. This is one group Adamantly protected by Villain Haven for the longest time, and so...Mr. Abrams holds mixed feelings for their current arrival at his school’s front doorstep.

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The fourth mercenary organization to accompany its predecessors in this Coalition of killers is the Killer-For-Hire mercenary division of the ‘For-Hire’ mercenaries. The ‘For-Hire’ Mercenary Corps are just a basic, run of the mill Mercenary organization that accepts EVERY job that comes its way, so long as the job fits one of their divisions. They have many different divisions, for many ‘types’ of mercenaries. Some examples are The ‘Bodyguard-For-Hire’ division, the ‘Assassin-For-Hire’ division, the ‘Tracker-For-Hire’ division, the ‘Hunter-For-Hire’ division, the ‘Rescuer-For-Hire’ division and even the ‘Killer-For-Hire’ division. Of course, having such a simplified and highly organized method of separating and assigning missions to each division allowed their numbers to grow sporadically – as they actually had room for just about every kind of Mercenary in need of a job. They are currently the largest Mercenary organization in the world. This special ‘division’ has been on Herotopia’s radar for a long time. Once again: Mr. Abrams is feeling a mixture of positive and negative emotions – with the thoughts of this group of murderers daring to strike at his son’s schoolmates, battling against his desire to round the arrogant organization division up, at long last.

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The Bright-Burn Mercenaries were originally a fun-loving Mercenary corporation of a smaller country named ‘Anatellei iii Auge’ or ‘Augeburn’ by English speakers; formed on Spes Nova’s outskirts. Having been dubbed partly after their home country, the Bright-Burn mercenaries protected the land peacefully and effectively for an entire generation’s worth of years. However, a few months after the older generation handed reign over to their daughters and sons so they could retire at long last – Augeburn was completely razed to the ground.

They say there were no survivors, except the Bright-Burn Mercenary Corps who were out on a mission to protect an aged businessman visiting Spes Nova’s borders in search of opportunities among the handful of sprouting nations. Those unfortunate teens and young adults lost everything overnight, except for what they were carrying on their backs.

This is the 5th Mercenary Organization attacking Hero High School. The Bright-Burn Mercenaries changed drastically, since then. They became more devout to themselves, more rigid, and definitely more unstable. They’re willing to do anything they have to in exchange for information. However, in order to receive that information, they constantly need money, and a whole lot of it. How they managed to soar in strength despite being few in number and without a proper base of operations to call home, is bewildering to their competitors. Yet, even so! Even when they’re still only seen on a similar scale to the ‘Numbers’ nobody dares to look down on this company of young Avengers.

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Dark Mercenaries; arguably one of the biggest forces around with the most ruthless of ideals and beliefs, they’re willing to take on all manner of enemies from both Villain Haven and Herotopia. Mostly from Herotopia though. Darz, its current leader AND this woman’s direct superior, secretly plans to use this mission to remove his family, and his loyal, most trusted subordinates’ families, out of the Villain Haven outskirts where their headquarters reside, and safely into the Herotopian Heroes’ protection.

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Spectral Daggers; A villainous Mercenary Organization primarily hunting Heroes as a trade. They’ve only made the choice to hunt both at the beginning of their organization’s formation… but after comparing the benefits from taking out a villain and hero of each country, opted for improving relations with Villain Haven’s Villainous Council instead. Of course, they still never reveal names of those that contract them, not even of past Herotopian employers. They ARE a professional group, after all. They were given a much higher pay than the other five Organizations who asked for money. It’s said they’ve never failed an assassination before, but Mr. Abrams plans to disprove that hearsay tonight.

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