POV: Rai Shinsei
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" A young girl shrieked, her voice reverberating through the air as the shrill sound of my alarm abruptly jolted me awake from my nightmarish slumber.
In a daze, I looked around anxiously, struggling to separate reality from the horrors of my nightmare as my heart pounded restlessly against my chest.
"You really don't sleep well, do you?" Arthur asked with concern as he brushed his teeth while I slowly regained my composure.
"I can't even imagine what kind of nightmares you experience for your body to be drenched in cold sweat every night." Arthur added as he walked into the bathroom to rinse out his mouth while I placed my face into my palm.
Another nightmare.
After regaining my composure, I took a deep breath before stretching my arms as I stood from my bed and carried out my morning routine before leaving my dorm.
Two weeks quickly passed as the day of our mission came.
As my horrifying nightmare lingered within my mind, I eventually arrived outside of Ryan's office as I opened the doors to find Ryan conversing with Jennifer of frivolous matters until they both noticed my presence.
"Ah, Rai! Don't you look happy this morning! Excited to go on your first mission?!" Ryan asked sarcastically with an annoying grin as I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
One of these days, I'm going to make sure he can't run his mouth anymore.
"Good response! Anyways, I called you here because I went ahead and ordered you an outfit for your mission since I knew you wouldn't order one. I asked the tailor to use the same design as your old outfit with some minor adjustments." Ryan said, placing a medium-sized black box with a smooth intricate white design around the edges as the academy's symbol rested in the middle.
So he forgot about my key again.
With a sigh, I stepped forward and opened the box as I examined my outfit, which consisted of a black collared hooded jacket with a black undershirt folded beneath it.
The bottom wear consisted of black cargo joggers with belt straps attached on each pant leg as they were complemented with black slip-on shoes that were nearly as light as a feather.
Not bad.
"And lastly, your weapon." Ryan said as he tossed me a katana sheathed in a black scabbard.
"I know it doesn't compare to your previous sword, but I'd be at ease if you had a weapon for this mission." Ryan added as I placed my outfit back inside the box, however, his comment raised several questions within my mind.
"I know there won't be anyone supervising my team, but why would I need a weapon?" I asked with concern as Ryan's expression became grim.
"Rylie will explain the rest once you see her. With Arthur there, you all should be fine, but if the worst possible scenario arises, then I need you to make sure everyone comes back alive." Ryan said as he stood from his desk and placed his hand on my shoulder, creating a moment of silence as our eyes locked until I sighed deeply.
"There's no need to worry. I won't die until I fulfill my promise." I replied as I left his office, however, his words echoed inside my mind as I resolved myself for the unexpected.
~
After changing into my outfit, I headed towards my classroom and as I approached it, I took a deep breath before entering inside as everyone's eyes focused on me, but despite their gazes, I quickly observed everyone's outfit as I approached them.
Aria was adorned in a black sweater with a white polo shirt underneath it and as for her bottom wear, she wore a short pleated black skirt with two black belts wrapped around her waist and black lightweight running shoes that were complemented with long, thin black socks which ended just below her skirt line.
Arthur's outfit was similar to my own with the exception of his jacket being unzipped and an extra belt for his katanas.
Everett's outfit was somewhat casual as it consisted of a gray long-sleeved shirt, black cargo shorts with a black belt that held a dagger on the back of his waist and gray running shoes.
As for Sarah, I never looked at her clearly, but despite her bratty attitude, her looks were fairly decent as she stood around the same height as Aria with a pale complexion, sharp purple eyes and long, wavy olive hair that was kept in a ponytail, although, her outfit was very simple, consisting of an oversized olive hoodie with a similar skirt as Aria's and olive slip-on shoes that were designed for casual wear instead of running.
She didn't come prepared at all.
"Could you take any longer?" Sarah asked with an insolent tone, however, I ignored her remark as Rylie sighed.
"Alright, now that Rai is here, I'll explain the mission now." Rylie said grimly as she pulled out several papers from a yellow envelope.
"There's been a change in your mission due to unforeseen circumstances. You all will now be on a rescue mission with several heroes supervising you." Rylie added as Aria raised her hand in confusion.
"May I ask why there was a sudden change?" Aria asked with concern, but I was also curious to know why our mission was suddenly changed.
"There have been reports of children being kidnapped from the countryside and the villains who we assume to be the perpetrators are classified as a Level 3 Threat. We are currently lacking heroes at the moment and because the Hero Association initially wanted to test Arthur, common interest aligned and brought us here today. You all will now be supervised by several A-Class heroes." Rylie replied as I noticed Everett fidgeting with his fingers anxiously.
Villains are categorized differently than heroes as their power is evaluated by what we call a Threat Level Chart.
The Threat Level Chart ranges from Level 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, but for villains who exceed the power of an S-Class hero, they are either deemed as an Executive Level Threat, Supreme Level Threat or the worst case scenario, a World Ending Threat.
From what I heard, there was only one case of a World Ending Threat, but our mission is only a Level 3 Threat, meaning it should only require a few C-Class heroes, but since we have Arthur, we should be overqualified for the supervision of heroes, so what kind of mission could this possibly be?
"You all must be confused, so let me explain the mission."
"The villains you all will be encountering consist of seven criminals that have committed heinous crimes such as robbery, vandalism, kidnapping and even manslaughter. They are cold hearted murderers who are responsible for the "Hero Massacre" incident that took place a few years ago."
"They are the Seven Sins." Rylie said gravely as Everett, Sarah and Aria broke out a cold sweat while Arthur and myself remained unfazed.
That's odd.
Why would the Hero Association potentially sacrifice the lives of students for the sake of seeing Arthur's potential?
It would only require a single S-Class hero to complete this mission.
Although I despise the Hero Association, they don't usually make irrational decisions regarding student missions.
Something isn't right.