Killer of Stars

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I'm so bored, Megumi thought to herself as she looked over the Edge Walker's Forest from the top balcony. Joel had told her that this was the place where the Journeymen and Masters were looking over the Apprentices during the entrance exams, and from what Kiku had told her, the Apprentices would gather up here for a secret reason. But she neglected to tell Megumi just how boring it would be to wait for them. Of course, she had her Nintendo 3DS to play, but she accidentally left it in her locker, as well as her fighting uniform and her extendable spear. She looked out at the forest, where Toney was stretching about a hundred and fifty yards away from the Peacekeeper. Tiffany stood patiently beside him, occasionally looking at her watch. If there was a trait she wanted to pick up from Tiffany, it was her patience.

The balcony stretched around the perimeter of the forest, giving the watchers ample amount of room to scope the majority of the forest. Megumi figured that the only way to actually check for any life inside was to be a spirit Amian, but what did she know?

Moments later, the doors behind her swung open, and both Ichi and Kiku came in, holding hands like a grade school couple. Kiku was slightly taller than her husband, and while Ichi mostly wore a conniving smile, Kiku often had a more relaxed, cheerful face. Her dark brown braid dangled slightly above her shoulders. "You look like you're having fun," she said to Megumi.

"I'm having a blast watching complete nothingness for-" she checked her watch, "twenty minutes. By the way, is it possible to actually die from boredom? Because I think I'll be the first victim."

"Technically, no," Ichi said with a smile. "But I'd love to see it."

"Shows how much you love your family, Ichi dear," Kiku said with masked indignation.

"What? You thought I meant I'd love to see Megumi die of boredom?" He glanced to Megumi, who was leaning against the balcony window, her arms crossed over her chest. "It was a joke ladies. Honest," he added with an uncomfortable smile.

After a long and awkward silence, the door slid open behind Kiku and Ichi, who sidestep just in the nick of time as the eager Apprentices flooded in. McManus appeared behind the group, looking completely winded. "Mention something that will blow people's mind and they act like coffee addicted ADD children," he sighed as he slumped to the side with the other two Masters.

"That's where you messed up," Megumi barely heard Ichi say above the excited chatter of the students. "I told my students that it would be something threatening to them if they get out of line. They didn't seem too thrilled to come after that."

Teacher of the year material there.

The group of Apprentices stood in front of the balcony windows, looking out at the forest whilst talking with each other. "They're acting more like children at Disney Land rather than at teenagers at an academy," she said to herself.

Soon after, she heard Dre call her name from among the students. "Dude, where have you guys been?" she asked as Dre and Kim made their way out of the group.

"We went to the Hall of Legends museum at the end of Wayward Marketplace," Kim had said. "Have you been there yet?"

"Nope. I don't plan on going."

"Why not?" Dre asked, astonished.

"My daddy. Beside my uncles and him being basically rock stars when they went here, he's mentioned in the museum after the last King died. Once people make the connection that I'm his daughter, I'll never have any peace of mind." She sighed as she looked out at the forest, resting her head on her hand. "If you two aren't popular, be glad. It's a real pain in the ass to have people want to be your friends for ulterior motives." Both Dre and Kim gave each other a quizzical look. "You two might want to look out here. Looks like daddy's ready."

"What is he doing, anyways?" Kim asked as she and Dre stood on opposite sides of Megumi.

"Something he calls the Killer of Stars. He said it's some kind of new attack that he'd been working on. I've never seen it myself, but I can't imagine it being as spectacular as what people try to make it out to be."

Toney nodded to Tiffany, who placed a hand on the blade of the sword. Megumi imagined that she would be singing the same song Kiku had sang yesterday at the entrance exams, and once she would finish, a group of Edge Walkers would come out and attack them.

The crowd of Apprentices all watched in complete silence. She could barely hear anyone breathe, save the few people who asked, "What is Mrs. Gladestone doing?"

Tiffany took her hand off the blade and dashed behind Toney, who held his hands out in front of him as he waited for the Edge Walkers to attack. "This is how we ensure that the sword doesn't become over flooded with Edge Walkers," McManus said behind the group, who didn't seem to pay any attention to him. He chuckled, which grabbed Dre's attention as he pulled out a pair of thick sunglasses. "Nevermind. You all will see what I mean soon."

Seconds later, the screeching of Edge Walkers could be heard from the forest, as a large wave of blackness rushed for Toney. Hundreds of them dashed towards him, dripping a thick, green ooze from their mouths. A cloud of dirt followed them as their extended claws carved indents in the ground. Toney stood still as a statue, his hands unwavering as he continued to hold them in front of him. Dre watched on in horror, hoping that Toney does something, anything, to defend himself.

"I can't look!" Kim called out, covering her eyes with her hands.

"Would you calm down?" Megumi said. "Look closely at the group of Edge Walkers. Daddy is releasing embers to latch onto their skin."

"That's all well and good, but how exactly is a few embers going to kill those things?"

"Just watch."

The Edge Walkers drew closer and closer to Toney. Within seconds, they would be close enough to hack away at him. If he's going to do anything, he needs to do it now.

"He's really making this a bit too overly dramatic, isn't he?" Ichi asked, sounding bemused.

The Edge Walkers looked to be about a few yards from Toney now. He finally slid his right leg behind him and clinched his fists. A blinding light erupted from the room, bright enough to hurt Megumi's eyes even with them closed. She covered her eyes with her forearm, wishing that he had given her some kind of warning. She had watched him practice before they moved to Prescott, but the flames were nowhere near as bright as this. She figured that she could walk to the very end of the forest and still see the massive light, which would be a feat considering that her Amian history teacher told her that the forest was about the size of the city.

The light had died down, and every eye in the room had been uncovered and was now looking back at the entrance. The dark wave of Edge Walkers were eradicated, yet there was no burn marks around him and Tiffany. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the smoldering ash. The balcony had erupted in cheering as Toney raised a victorious hand in the air.

"Showoff," McManus tsked.

"Told you. Nothing to worry about, Kim," Megumi said as she turned back to Dre and Kim.

"That was amazing!" Kim said as the group filed out of the balcony. "He was able to handle that many Edge Walkers in more than half the time it took us to fight them."

"No joke. It's no wonder that Mr. Toney is the headmaster. Right, Megumi?" Dre said.

"Yeah, he's pretty strong," she said as she threw her arms behind her head. "By the way, Uncle Ichi told me to remind you to see daddy before you leave. He said that this presentation would be a warning for you."

Dre gulped.

"No need to worry, man. You'll be in and out before you know it."

"Yeah, out in an urn," he said as he stuffed his hands in his pocket.


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