Book 2: Intermission 4


    <strong>Terran Worldwide News Station #1</strong>


    Henry Cooper looks around nervously at the five chairs seated in a semicircle in front of him, with a ss table between him and the tables. He doesnt show his nerves though, as that would be unprofessional and  in the case of these four individuals, one of the five seats being empty  career suicide.


    Of the four individuals, Blue can be seen wearing a blue and ck suit and tie as he stares at Henry without a single hint of emotion on his face, making him look almost dead inside. Meanwhile Red has a bored expression on his face showcasing just how little the two care about being here.


    <em>Red probably just wants to go back to the front lines and fight, doesnt he?</em>


    Looking at ck, Henry cant help but feel nervous. Mostly because the man keeps fading in and out of existence with a mischievous grin on his face. One that makes him look very much like hes up to something. And Purple is the opposite, her eyes glowing purple without any sorts of pupil, iris, or sclera to tell where she is looking, simply making her impossible to read as she sits perfectly still.


    <em>Ever the seer</em>


    Henry looksst at the empty chair and sighs.


    <em>No White again. Just like thest year. And the year before that. And basically every year before that the woman just refuses to go out in public.</em>


    After seeing the light sh on, Henry immediately begins his spiel, keeping his eye on the camera and not on the Knights watching him, And the time has finally arrived! The time for this years Interschool Tournaments! A time that everyone on the entire can never get enough of!


    As for the four sitting across from me, Im sure you dont need an introduction to humanities greatest heroes of all time, he says, indicating the four Knights. Now this year is going to be just like the others in a lot of ways, but Im sure youre all very interested in some of the new up anding Guardians! The screen next to the five people turns on, bringing the attention of the four Knights to it as it immediately shows a man with long hair wearing striking red armor akin to what one would see on a diator from the old world. And to start things off, lets introduce Thomas Carter!


    On the screen, the man can be seen rushing through hordes of ss III demons with cat-like ws made out of shadows coating his arms.


    Thomas has a special magic called Shadow Beast, which lets him control shadows and create animal-like vestiges of shadow that can either attach to his own body or be used separately, Henry exins, very few of the Knights actually paying attention, Blue simply staring at him with that dead expression on his face, ck still ying around, Purple being just as unreadable as before, and Red beginning to re at Henry out of his likely desire for him to finish this quickly. So Henry hurries up a little, moving on to the next Guardian as the screen changes to show a woman wearing a simple set of high-tech looking magi-tech armor with purple ting covering all of her important areas and cloth covering the rest. She also has a few noticeable items thrown into the mix such as a sword and a hairband to tie the girls hair back out of her face as she twirls the de around, cutting apart demon after demon in a ss III Fracture at a park. Next up is Caroline Winters! The number one ranked student at the also number one ranked Guardians University, Lions Heart! This beauty has the power to cut space itself! Which includes even Gates!


    Thisment finally gets a reaction out of some of the Knights, particrly Red and ck, who stop what they were doing to look at the screen finally. And Henry takes that as his cue to continue speaking, She is the current number one student suspected to win the entire ss III Solo Primary Tournament this year, and the daughter to Astra, the Guardian of the Stars!


    Henry takes a moment to nce at thements on the livestream thats running concurrently with the tv broadcast, only to let out a mental sigh of relief at seeing them all positive. So he moves onto the ss II Guardians that are suspected toe out on top. But since the current generation of ss II Guardians arent as impressive as the new generation of ss Is, or the current ss III generation, he moves on rather quickly, only introducing a single name  that of a student from Lions Heart, of course.


    Now, this year weve had plenty of new ss I Guardians who have been making quiiite the name for themselves, Henry continues, smiling slightly despite the looks hes getting from the Knights while wishing he didnt have to take this job. But someone had to, since its an annual thing, and hes proven himself to be able to deal with the Knights  all of whom have psychological conditions that built up over the centuries theyve lived along with their time on Tartarus.


    <em>One of the many reasons I never ask the Knights any questions until the very end. Because all the people really want to see is their heroes in the flesh and not on the battlefield for once. They dont want to hear them talk. Especially not Blue. Although I think some might want to see ck talk, but only one of his personalities.</em>


    The screen changes to show a young man seemingly in his early twenties wearing a simple set of magi-tech armor that looks like a regr old T-shirt and shorts as he clearly uses death magic to fight a horde of demons inside of a park.


    First up for the ss Is most likely to make it ces in the tournaments is the frightening Necro! A user of death magic and <em>something </em>else, Henry says, smirking slightly as he sees the Knights turning to look at the screen, only for their eyes to widen at the sight of the man using void rted powers. This young man is currently being sponsored by the city lord of a Tier 3 city on the outskirts of the North-Eastern Continent of Ter called Non, and Im sure he has some very interesting tricks to show you all. The screen then changes again to show another student from Lions Heart that Henry quickly introduces as Sentinel. Following which he goes through a few more students from other universities before dering, Okay, we have two more students remaining on our list. Both of these two are the current top runners for the betting rings on the victors of the entire ss I Solo Primaries, one being the candidate from Lions Heart and a character Im sure many of you recognize, and the other a student from Aquatic Pride, the number two Guardians University.


    The Knights  including Blue, who seems to show a modicum of interest at the mention of Lions Hearts Solo Primary Candidate  nce over at the screen right when it changes to show a man in a set of full ck leather armor with glowing red eyes and various markings streaking across his skin as he charges forward, shapeshifting his arm into that of a ck bears paw to sh straight into a demon captain, killing it after what looks to have been a long battle.


    This is Lucas Walsh, the ss I Primary candidate from the Aquatic Pride Guardians University designated the number two Guardians University and located in the Middle-East continent of Uras! Henry exims, the interest of the Knights slowly beginning to lower after seeing him, but not enough for them to look away. He has Shapeshifting magic that lets him turn into different animals and beasts, other people, and even demons!


    Thatment peaks the interest of the Knights a little bit more. But despite that, Red begins to turn away.


    Henry briefly nces at the chat only to almost do a double take at the realization that the Scarlet Wolfs fans have basically taken it over and are rushing him to finish talking about Lucas and move on to her.


    <em>Poor Lucas.</em>


    But he does what they desire, making the screen change to show a beautiful girl with ck hair streaked with crimson, glowing red eyes, and  most importantly, ording to the viewers  wolf ears, before he immediately states, And here we have the ss I Solo Primary candidate from <em>the </em>Lions Heart Guardians University for this year, Scarlet Asger!


    Out of the corner of his eye, Henry notices each and every one of the Knights stiffen up slightly at both the sight of the girl and the mention of her name. And one of them  Blue  even stands up from his chair while staring at the screen with his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.


    Henry stiffens up, not knowing what hes going to do. But all he does is walk up to the screen to the bewilderment of both Henry, the set crew in the room, and the viewers, before staring at it for a few seconds and then going back to his seat without saying a word.


    No one says anything for a few seconds with even the chat pausing for a moment before immediately blowing up with debate over what that was about. But then Blue focuses his dead eyes directly on Henry, prompting him to continue, Scarlet Asger has shown herself time and time again to be a Guardian who enjoys battling the demons, fighting over and over again in every single Fracture she can find and alwaysing out on top, even in the most ridiculous situations that would normally never happen!


    Henry continues throwing praise on the girl for a bit, making sure to keep an eye on the Knights only to find all of them seemingly focused solely on the girl while listening to his words.


    <em>Just what is it about her that has them so entranced?</em>


    However, after taking a nce at Blue, Henry blinks in surprise, suddenly stopping his spiel for a moment. But he picks it up again soon enough.


    <em>Is it just me or does Scarlet share a few simrities to Blue in appearance? Not many, and not enough to be his daughter or something, but some, thats for sure</em>


    He shakes his head at the thought while ying it off as a nod instead to go along with his words.


    <em>This session is going so much differently than I expected it to</em>