Nine days have already passed since Shou and Yuki's defeat. Shou was fine after resting one day while Yuki was taking care of him. There were remaining matches at that time. But in their case, that was the last battle.

Rank 1 were Scarlett and Maddison;
Rank 2 were Shin and Ren;
Rank 3 were Shou and Yuki;
Rank 4 were Matthew and Jason;
Rank 5 were Sun-woo and Seoknim;

This past week, Seoknim always intentionally bumped his shoulder with Yuki, glaring at her and then, grinning. Also, there were times where he threatened her. He even tried to strangle her however, he wasn't able to continue when Shou pointed the gun at him. The situation happened too fast. It was actually a surprised when Seoknim only threatened her and didn't fight back anymore.

Rank 6 were Van and Louis.

Louis was the one who called Yuki as 'missy'. But whenever they met each other, Louis changed her nickname as 'Sis'. He always gave her a wide smile and Yuki thought that as cute.

Louis once mentioned to her that, he wanted to fight with her again after watching her last two matches. He said that with a grin while Yuki just shook her head at him. While Van stayed quiet whenever Louis was with Van, talking to her.

Rank 7 were Risa Ashbridge and her partner Liliana Claire Harley.

Since the incident with Risa, they never brought another incident. However, Risa kept glaring at Yuki whenever they accidentally met up. While her partner stayed quiet beside her. Liliana still never talked to Yuki.

The participants passed in remaining ranks were personally unknown to Yuki. They were transferred back to the human world. And Yuki only knew their names.

Rank 8 were Lance Harrington and Randy Denver;
Rank 9 were Joceline Ashbridge and Leila Hammilton;
Rank 10 were Jacqueline Ashbridge and Laila Hammilton.

Joceline and Jacqueline noticeably have the same surname as Risa. However, their relationship was unknown to Yuki. 

The matches officially ended one week ago. With the ranks finalized, there was a preparation for the said mission. The seven pairs were gathered in a single room to discuss the plan for infiltration.

Yes, infiltration. So they have their own fake identities and they should memorize all the information prepared. For Yuki, it seemed like she was studying for school.

Not only were they informed about the mission but also the basic things about this world and the pairs.

At the moment, all seven pairs were inside a dark room. The only light was coming from the big screen. The seats were resembling a stadium style arrangement however, it was only positioned in the front of the screen and the levels were only limited to three; bottom, middle and top.

All seats have corresponding tables and were divided into three. Shou and Yuki were sitting at the bottom center. While Louis was sitting beside Yuki and of course, along with Van beside him.

The information on the screen was also included in the bundle of papers placed on their tables.

The person nearest on the screen was their professor, Sir Arthur. He was like a soldier. Apart from his physique, his voice and his actions were like one. His voice was deep and loud. His facial expression was always serious and his actions were always formal.

If there was something not soldier-like about him, it would be how he was serious but not strict. For example, Louis was almost not listening, yawning or sleeping. Or chatting with Yuki. However, Sir Arthur wasn't scolding him. Instead, his serious face never wavered in front of the participants. And that perhaps the reason why all of them were obediently quiet. He was also mentioning things that will piqued them except Louis.

Nevertheless, Yuki was still scared of him because he resembled a professor in her school, which is quite strict.

"The mission will start tomorrow. Be prepared! Or you will die. There are no back ups if you failed. You already know the plan and that's it!" Arthur glanced at all of them before speaking again.

"Don't disapppoint me, hunters." And Arthur's attention was put last on Yuki. "Dismiss!"

Sir Arthur left.

Before Yuki decided to move, Louis appeared in her sight with a big smile. "See you tomorrow, sis'!"

When she realized Louis' farewell, she looked up at him who was already standing up beside her.

"Yeah. You too, Louis." Yuki smiled at him. She didn't really know what to say back to him. She was always quiet so it was not strange if she was not good at socializing. Anyway, she didn't really know if Louis can sense that or it was fine for him.

Louis left along with Van. Afterwards, Shou and Yuki also left the room.

"Yashien's group are back from the hospital!"

Jason came out from the canteen with Matthew when he saw Shou and Yuki together and it was not something new.

Shou and Yuki were always like that, always about to go somewhere. Their figures were blocked for a moment by group of guys, running towards the entrance and shouting.

The group of people were a bit far from Jason, so he couldn't really hear what they were saying. However, it seemed like news passing to the crowd and the hallway started to be noisy.

"Yashien is already here!!! I wanna see him!" One of the girl passed by him, shouted.

Yashien?

"I thought they really died! Let's welcome them!"

It seemed like everyone were hurrying to the entrance however, that was not what Jason found unusual. He saw how Shou and Yuki shortly stopped walking. Because the two of them always acted like they were unaware of their surroundings. They always didn't really care about other incidents.

"Hey Matthew." Jason looked at him however, Matthew was not here. Where was he? Did he just left him?

After sinking in what just happened, Jason complained in the back of his mind.

Tingnan mo ang lokong yun! Iniwan ako! Nauna na maglakad! Kanina pa pala akong walang kasama!

Matthew was already in front of the room, and was about to open the door.

Yashien? Hindi ko akalain na may kapangalan pala siya dito.

Hearing his name made Yuki accidentally smiled.

Paano kaya kapag siya 'yon?

Yuki lightly shook her head. He will probably stop her from doing these things because he was too protective.

Thinking that made her giggled.

Suddenly, Yuki found herself in a dark place. All she can see was her body and the familiar figure in front of her... Shou.

When she made a slight movement, she realized that she was stepping on shallow water which created light ripples.

Anong ginagawa niya?

Shou was holding a light orb while staring at Yuki. More like, staring below her.

She found a deep black orb yet she can see it glowing like it was emitting a different shade of dark aura. She was holding it as if it was floating on her hands.

Then, something was pushing her to bring the dark orb to the light orb. Shou was cooperating as well.

The orbs were slowly merging until she woke up.

The first thing she noticed was the lampshade beside her and then, on Shou who was currently sleeping.

She stared at the ceiling. Her heart was beating so fast. She can hear and feel it clearly in this quiet room.

"Are you okay?" Shou asked Yuki.

At the moment, they were outside the dormitory.  All seven ranks were gathered here to be transferred back to human world. So that, they can bring personal things with them. And afterwards, they will be sent to the location of mission.

"I just don't have enough sleep last night." Yuki answered at him. He nodded then, he looked back at the aermis, the small black fur ball with wings.

Aermis was the term used for the living soul of creatures. While gwynzei (gwinze) was the term used for the living soul of humans.

All the seven pairs were gathered here except for Louis. And it was nothing new. Louis was always late in gatherings.

"I'm here!" Louis finally arrived, came here running. He stood beside Van and smiled at Yuki.

"Good morning sis!" He waved at her and she smiled at him. It was obvious that Van didn't really bother to wait for Louis even though they were roommates and instead, went here early alone.

"You're late again, Louis." Sir Arthur said while glaring at Louis (Maybe?). However, Louis only chuckled.

"Anyway, don't forget the plan. Grab your things and do your mission. Remember, the enemy is completely unknown except for the name of their organization and suspicious activities."

"Focus on your goal, acquire as much as information as you can and uncover their purpose! You have two months. Survive within the time limit. Don't let them know your real identity until the mission is executed. All of you are in the enemy's den and no one is going to rescue anyone. Get caught and you're dead! Understand?!" Arthur straightened his back and glance at all of them

Shou held Yuki's hand.

"Yes Sir!" All pairs answered and then, the surrounding started to illuminate.

All the participants disappeared while Arthur was left standing.

They are still young but they're already in this stage. It depends on them now.

At the same time, a group of four people were approaching the same location whereas the rest disappeared.

"Man! They never forget me, don't they? Didn't you see their excitement when they saw me?"

A man placed his arm on the shoulder of another guy. While there were two women behind them.

"Here we go again, Mia."

The woman said while rolling her eyes and clinging to the arm of another woman named Mia, who was currently reading a book she was single-handledly holding since her other hand was occupied by Olivia.

"Just ignore his conceitedness, Olivia. He's just a no good egostistic fugly varmint."

Mia said with her eyes glued on the book like she never said something bad.

"Okay! A varmint-- a fugly varmint!" Olivia repeated and clinged to Mia tighter like she was satisfied calling him as that.

"Hey! I heard you!" The man they insulted, complained and glanced behind. However, Olivia and Mia ignored him.

Olivia saw a familiar figure standing alone, which made her stop walking, followed by Mia. "Is that Sir Arthur?"

The two men and Mia looked at the direction where Olivia was also looking at.

"Arthur? Where?!" The man that was unstoppably loud, asked with clear excitement on his eyes.

"Yes, he is."

The other man finally spoke.

"Oh! He's still serious as ever!" The man said after confirming that the professor was in deep thought. Then, Mia put her attention back to her book.

"What is he doing there though?" Olivia wondered. Then, Mia closed her book and holded it down as if she was expecting something to happen.

"Let's go to him!" Maybe this was what Mia was expecting?

"Arthuuuuuuur!!!" The man waved at the professor as the group approached him. Or maybe this?

"Ugh. He's really loud." Olivia complained. While Mia and the other man were already used to their noisy companion.

"I heard that new hunters are sent on a mission today." Mia said as she suddenly remembered it.

"Ohhh, is your apprentice included?" Olivia asked. "Yeah."

"So all of you are still alive." Arthur greeted when he noticed them.

"Of course Arthur! Girls will cry if someone handsome died!" The man grinned.

"You're still rude. I told you to call me Sir Arthur, Raven." Arthur shook his head at boisterous man named Raven.

"But I don't like formalities!" Raven laughed.

Then, Arthur looked at the quiet man beside Raven. "Is it too difficult for you to handle this brat, Yashien? You can always kicked him out." For the first time, Arthur smiled.

"Ash will never do that, Arthur! We're the best buddies! Right?" Raven proudly said.

Yashien smiled. "Yes..."

After hearing that, Raven grinned. "I told you--"

"I'm currently thinking about it, Sir Arthur."

Raven immediately removed his arm off him. "I thought you're my comrade, Ash!!!" Raven reacted as if he was betrayed.

Then, Olivia and Mia stood beside the two men.

"Heh! I can't waaaaaait for it!" Olivia snickered.

"No wonder, even Yashien can't do it." Mia added, shook her head.

"All of you are ganging up on me! This is unfair!!!" Raven complained.

And all them including Arthur, laughed.

"What are you doing here, Sir Arthur?" Yashien questioned. "Yeah Arthur! I forgot to ask you!" Raven added.

"I was seeing my students departing for a mission." All of them became quiet.

"May I ask what kind of mission is it?" Yashien asked and Arthur nodded.

"We found a demon organization named Elixiretta. They built an academy for those demon gwynzeis who want to join the organization."

"Academy? For recruiting? Why?" Olivia asked in confusion. Arthur shook his head.

"We don't know. Their identities are too secretive. We only found out the organization is spreading news in hell. And the one doing those works are all aermis being manipulated. So they remained hidden. We tried to interrogate one but the aermis suddenly turned aggressive. No matter what we do, we can't talk to them."

"Then, they aren't just any weak organization nor new. " Mia said.

"You're correct, Mia. Many gwynzei are interested. The moment they saw the flyers, their eyes lightened as if they are waiting for so long. We are currently investigating from the flyers and aermis. But the date for the event is today." Arthur said with troubled expression. 

"They are bad news." Raven said after realizing the danger.

"So the only solution left is to intrude the academy by pretending to be one of the applicants and gather information." Yashien concluded and the instructor nodded.

"I hope they can face whatever they encounter."

October 26, 2017

Upon their arrival at home, Cerby welcomed them and jumped on Yuki. She didn't fall however, his paw remained on her chest.

"Kamusta ka na, Cerby? Haaah?" She asked as if the dog would talk and patted his head. She grabbed his paws and they moved a bit as if they were dancing.

"3 hours are allotted for preparation, Ms. Yuki and Sir Shou." The aermis reminded them. So they decided to move.

They ate first before preparing their things since they weren't able to eat breakfast due to early aasembly awhile ago.

Yuki was the one who provided suitcase for Shou so he could pick the things he would like to carry while conducting the mission.

While the aermis pretending to be them have transformed back to their original appearance and transferred the memories to Shou and Yuki. The information from her lessons was clearer than the actual her sitting in the class. She can fully remember all the things happened when she was away. 10 days. 10 days have already passed since they disappeared. However, she felt that she spent more than 10 days in heaven.

"Are you ready?" The black fur ball aermis asked them. They have to go now. So for one last time, Yuki crouched to see Cerby properly.

"Aalis kami ulit ha. Dito ka lang." She patted his head again when the dog lowered his ears and groaned.

"Babalik kami." She said not only to the dog, but also to herself. They have to survive.

"Time check: 12:59 PM."

Shou and Yuki arrived. Currently, they were inside an airport and surrounded by busy crowds. There were no familiar faces. All people seemed young. A lot of people have their own companions they were chatting with happily while holding their luggage beside them.

"Time check: 12:59 PM." The speaker above, repeated. Shou and Yuki were still holding hands due to the requirement for teleportation. However, right now there was no need to. Nevertheless, it was fine for Yuki so she let it be.

"Time check: 1:00 PM."

A wide door opened beyond the crowd which allowed the sunlight to enter. There were guards patrolling the place and they were also guiding the crowd to the direction of the opened door.

A runaway welcomed them and an airplane. It has '10'  largely written near the tail with a red paint. Yuki was confused. So demons also used vehicles like airplanes? And not by teleportation like what the black fur ball aermis did?

Then, the guards asked them for their luggages. So they followed by their rules and entered the airplane. The vehicle was very spacious. When they finally sitted, Shou released her hand from his.

Yuki was sitting on the window side, when she noticed it was blocked. All of the windows here were all blocked. The scenery cannot be seen. But why?

Since she arrived here, she felt something was strange. But she cannot pinpoint it.

She felt the vehicle landed and the passengers began to disembark. The exit was crowded so she held tightly onto her sling bag she was wearing. Accidentally, Shou and Yuki got separated. However, first things first, she has to leave from the sea of crowd.

Then, the passengers were welcomed by tall white painted walls with a black tall gates on the center. There were speakers attached on the highest point of the wall, each on both ends of the gate. Then, a banner hanging on the wall, rolled down saying:

Welcome to Elite High!

Then, the gate slowly opened by itself. The crowd was amazed by the excellent hospitality.

"This school is really sophisticated, Trisha! I'm so so so soooo excited!"

"They even let us ride in an airplane! This school is riiiiich, boy!"

"I only enrolled here because of the uniform and the payment is cheap! My mom is really happy for it!"

Suddenly, a hand tapped Yuki's shoulder from behind. When she turned around, it was Shou.

"Ms. Domingo and Sir Suzuki?" The guards appeared in front of them with their luggage. Shou removed his hand on her and grabbed their luggage. The same with Yuki. Then, she thanked the guards before they left.

To avoid misunderstandings, the participants were educated about heaven and hell. It was cleared that, these two mythical places after death were like the human world with magical entities and very advanced system. Being an angel and demon were not about morality.

Those humans who died will turn into gwynzei and will be given options to be a resident either of heaven and hell.

Because the human world was the trialed world, whereas they were getting prepared to face the true reality.

"Once you are sent to either of the two worlds, you are all alone. Based on what you experienced and learned on the human world, how will you survive?"  Arthur said to his students while calmly walking back and forth, occassionally glancing at them.

"These two worlds are dangerous to survive alone. There are aermis and gwynzei that might harm you and get an advantage of you. However, there are also aermis, gwynzei and organizations willing to help others. There are cities, provinces and countries that are civilized and not civilized. There are residences where single species only lived. There are areas where other species lived in harmony. There are species that are always in dispute. And there are various activities and events held for different purposes like what all of you encountered in the human world such as school, works, charity, scams, gangs. The only difference is that, this is your last chance." Then, Arthur stood at the middle of the platform, with his sight straight in front of him.

"Afterlife is a battle of wills and beliefs."

And their mission was to intrude the academy being advertised in hell. Why the demons that were obviously looked rough and bloodlust, be suddenly interested to schooling? What were the things in this academy that piqued their interest? However so far, Yuki couldn't see anyone rough looking. All of them seemed like, normal teenagers who only wanted to get into a school and graduate.

Shou stood beside Yuki and watched the crowd entering the gate. He said something that made her confusion cleared away.

"They are humans. Normal humans."

~'Larger scale than expected' ends~

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