brother's retry (the beginning after the end)

the fall begins

SHIROU VON EINZBERN POV:

"AAAAAH!" I roared as I slashed down, my flame covered blade tearing through the mana beast in front of me. DAMMIT! Why isn't he answering the bracelet? Is it jammed?

"ATTENTION RENOWNED STUDENTS OF XYRUS ACADEMY!" a rather high-pitched grating voice echoed throughout the campus. "AS YOU MAY ALL BE AWARE, YOUR INSTITUTION IS CURRENTLY UNDER ATTACK BY MY LITTLE PETS. NO NEED TO FEAR FOR I AM BOTH JUST AND MERCIFUL!" the voice taunted as I watched an elf be used as a tug of war toy by two discolored black-fanged wolves, a B class mana beast.

[flame darts]

I called as I sent three flame darts to try and save him. When they didn't pierce I raised my slightly dull sword as I got ready to fight them. They dropped the elf's corpse and started to stalk me. A yellow streak flashed by them and their heads rolled onto the ground.

"HUMAN STUDENTS, AS LONG AS YOU RAISE BOTH YOUR HANDS AND SWEAR YOUR ALLEGIANCE TO ME, THE MANA BEASTS WILL NOT ATTACK YOU! ELVES AND DWARVES, DO NOT STRUGGLE AND ALLOW MY PETS TO DESTROY YOUR MANA CORE AND YOU WILL BE FREE TO LEAVE!" The voice let out a deranged laugh that sent a shiver down my spine. It was enjoying the carnage that was going on in this school that had been so peaceful just hours before.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I heard Eriks voice shout behind me.

"I-I was trying to save-" I didn't get to finish my sentence as I felt his fist collide with my face. "What the!?"

"You can't save everyone! That elf was dead, you should have used his body as a chance to run by them, but no! You needed us to save you!" He growled at me as I stared wide eyed back.

"He's right. I'm shocked you didn't throw up seeing this though. Erik and I were only able to handle it due to hunting in elshire forest when we were growing up." I heard Levian say as she walked over to us, wiping a bit of blood off her face she shivered and gagged.

"I can't just leave them to di-"

"there's no hope dammit!" Erik growled as he stormed by grabbing my shirt by the collar and dragged me with him. Looking up I stared at the now red barrier that used to be nearly see through and was a symbol of protection, now simply showing us that this was a cage and most of us were going to die...

I didn't know who the voice belonged to, but his motives were clear. He was willing to take human captives, but wanted all nonhuman mages either dead or incapacitated. I could see pillars of smoke from different buildings of the academy where fights were happening. From time to time, our group met with some of the Disciplinary Committee members as they were fighting off several mana beasts, acknowledging each other since we had no time to brief each other on the situation elsewhere.

There were obviously traitors in the academy, because some of the professors were now being held off by other professors while cloaked figures, as well as the mana beasts, were taking care of the students.

Even with my time wandering with my father in the beast glades I couldn't remember seeing mana beast like these. They were drained of color, except their red eyes. They seemed to work together like they had genuine coordination.

I couldn't tell how many hours had passed since the invasion started, but there were no signs of help arriving for some reason, like we were closed off from the rest of Xyrus.

"Screw off!" I heard Elijah grunt as simultaneously a pillar from the ground launched the two-meter long mana beast in the air before it flipped agilely to regain its ground.

Before I had the chance to do anything more, a sword flew down from the sky, skewering the thorned growler's head to the ground. The mana beast squirmed helplessly for a couple of seconds before its body also sank to the ground lifelessly.