While looking backwards to see the way behind them being locked, there was motion to the side. The Discipline Keeper was already in motion, but a metal grate slammed closed in front of his face. On the other side of this cage door was a man with a well built and strong looking body, yet with wrinkled yet also vein covered skin. His short white hair was balding on the top, creating the impression of an old man combined with a young warrior. Most shockingly, the man’s hands were covered in scars, which was quite obvious as his palm was still pressed up against the cage door after slamming it shut.

They were in one of the beast chambers that Sage had helped put the Sunset Rain Snake into earlier. It was sectioned into two parts, separated by a floor to ceiling set of metal bars so the caretaker could enter through a separate human sized door and feed the beasts without being at their mercy. The group, including the Discipline Keeper were within the beast’s portion of the enclosure. In front of them was a huge heavy door locked from the outside and behind them was a cage that had just dropped to stop them from going back through the secret passage they used to get here.

The old man was Keeper Deng, the same person who had given Sage the job to catch the Sunset Rain Snake and also the clearance to enter the restricted section of the library. Now, this Keeper Deng had used the moment when everyone was distracted by the gate closing behind them to rush to the side and slip through the cage door. The Discipline Keeper had been watching them all carefully, but the distraction helped Keeper Deng to get the slight advantage he needed to unlock, open, and then close the door before the Discipline Keeper could catch up.

The old man had an infuriated look on his face as he glared at Sage, “You Lang bastard! Why couldn’t you just accept your fate as the scapegoat! Now all these other people have to die because you couldn’t just keep your nose out of it. It’s going to be such a pain to try and hide the death of a Discipline Keeper, so many favors down the drain. You’ve caused me many months worth of trouble and years of work!”

Hearing this admission, the Discipline Keeper was even more furious than Keeper Deng, but his fury was cold. The man was a dignified Discipline Keeper of the Clear Sky Academy, and if he wasn’t an utter expert at keeping his cool under stress there’s no way he could have got the job. He had to be trusted to properly handle even the childish insults of children without losing control, this level of provocation was small to him. This Beast Keeper was looking so down upon him and nonchalantly talking of killing him, but that wasn’t enough to change his demeanor.

Sage had been a moment slower to react than the Discipline Keeper so he had been too far behind. He hadn’t moved from his position when the other two rushed towards the cage door. Instead his eyes narrowed as he looked around the room for any immediate threats. Then he blinked slowly and the field of stars shifted from one eye to the other. The main drawback of Hindsight was merely that it could not be used at the same time as Foresight. When he was busy tracking the past, he couldn’t be aware of threats in the future. Thankfully, the ambush had only served to trap them.

Keeper Deng was angrily scolding Sage, yet Sage didn’t care at all. He was busy examining the cage wall as well as the three exits that were all blocked to try and determine which was the weakest. Meanwhile, the Discipline Keeper was staring daggers at Keeper Deng and lifted up the club in his hand. The club flickered with light and then… nothing happened. Unlike in the library, there was no motion of a formation around them and all the others trapped in there with them looked at each other in confusion. Wouldn’t the great Discipline Keeper solve this?

The same golden haired student that had spoken earlier in the library was bold enough to open her mouth, “A Discipline Keeper can control all the arrays of the Clear Sky Academy, right? Why are we still trapped here?”

Shaking his club in the air, the Discipline Keeper tried a few more times before looking carefully at the club in his hand and then over to Keeper Deng. Ignored by Sage, Keeper Deng stopped staring angrily at him and instead met the Discipline Keeper’s stare, “I’m sorry it had to go this way. It is a shame anytime we lose the valuable staff and students of the Clear Sky Academy. I’ll do my best to keep your bodies in one piece afterwards. If you would like to head to the afterlife without disfigurement please try not to resist. The more you fight, the more your bodies will be damaged. I cannot control them that carefully.”

Instead of answering the questions brimming in the Discipline Keeper’s eyes, Keeper Deng apologized and threatened them. Then he squatted down and reached just the tips of his fingers through the cage. The Discipline Keeper watched closely, ready to dart forward to grab Keeper Deng, but before the fingers extended too far, they were drawn backwards. At the same time, a large creature suddenly appeared in the space between the Discipline Keeper and the cage wall.

The creature was the size of a standing piano or a large boulder. The top of its back reached shoulder height and it was wide enough not to fit through a doorway. Its hide was slate gray and with a texture similar to stone. The four legged beast had a hunched back and resembled a boar. Aside from its stone-like hide, the most glaring difference was actually the pair of tusks on its face. They didn’t just jut out a few inches, but were actually many feet long and curved backwards to either of its sides. These huge tusks looked back in a spiral shape and wrapped around its sides. As it arrived it spun around and kicked backwards, sending a spray of dirt and debris from the ground shooting backwards. It ran away from the group and rushed towards the large door. Then it spun around and faced towards the large group that was trapped inside with it.

At this time, the Discipline Keeper stepped forward to face off with the huge hog while Teacher Zhou and the Librarian put themselves in front of the four students. It snorted a few times and then it slightly leaned its head back and shook its head from side to side. This tilt of the head made its tusks, which curled around to its ribs, hit against the stony plates that covered its flanks. When each tusk struck a stone plate it let out a loud chime sound. The first few strikes of tusk to stone were somewhat pleasant, but the beast didn’t let up and after a moment the constant ringing of these stone chimes filled the whole room with a strange energy.

“It’s a sound attack!”

Sage dashed over to the group of students and the two teachers, getting near the center of them and then using the Soundshield technique he’d adapted from the Little Birdy’s Windscreen technique. He’d figured the Discipline Keeper could deflect the boar’s charge, but a sound technique was indiscriminate in its area of effect. He couldn’t just let the students and teachers get killed that simply when he could stop it so he lost the initiative in the conflict in order to play defense.

With the sound attack, the Discipline Keeper recognized their enemy, “Charming Slate Boar.”