The Guardian Spirit (The Guardians of Nine Heavens #2)

Chapter 13: Final Registration

Lily's family drove Lucy to the Spirit High School of Shadow Masters, the high school she had enrolled in. Lucy went out of Lily's RV, thanked her for hospitality, and went into the building, leaving Sam at Lily's disposal.

The building was huge, with dark walls and floor. Lucy advanced forward and stood in a line of a wide range of students who had also been enrolled, just like her, and now wished to complete the final registration - present their guardian spirit and the Bond Item, as well as demonstrate the maximal spiritual energy they held within before they would start the courses. What's more, this examination was also used to determine who was capable of becoming a Warrior Spirit Host, and later participate in Spirit Battle Tournaments, as well as have an opportunity to reach high administrative positions throughout the whole East Land, such as the ministers or the mayors of the cities. 

The line before Lucy was fast shortening. Many students would walk out of the administration office with gloomy faces, meaning they were deemed unsuitable to become Warrior Spirit Hosts and were rejected for the advanced class. Lucy eagerly waited for her turn. She wished to become a Warrior Spirit Host too, like the other students, but her reason wasn't only to show off her skills. She had a clearer and more important goal - she wanted to become a skilled warrior in order to avenge her parents. However, deep down, she still felt fearful of her guardian spirit who had turned out to be destructive not only for her enemies but her own self.

Soon there was only one boy left before Lucy and he too entered the administration office. Lucy was now standing before the door which would lead to her new, exciting future. As she was close to the door, she could hear the voices of two men, a woman, and a young boy:

"Please, present yourself," the strict voice of the woman spoke. 

"Wang Tang".

"Wang is your last name, right?" now one of the men took up.

"Correct".

"Alright, Mr. Wang, please, show us your Bond Item!"

Shortly afterwards, astonished cries came out:

"A Yin-and-Yang ring?!"

"Amazing!"

Lucy widened eyes - they said, 'Yin-and-Yang ring'?! So, not only Huli Yuehong, her guardian spirit, was the wielder of the Yin-and-Yang symbol? 

Interesting...

She lent ear more carefully to the conversation.

"Please show us your guardian spirit," she heard the second man's voice speak in a calm, grim tone. She didn't know why, but shivers ran down her spine once she heard this voice. The young boy's exclamation followed:

"Wake up Xiongmao Meili!"

She gasped - Xiongmao?! As far as she knew, Xiongmao was a panda spirit family, the sub-branch of the large bear clan, Xiong, and these latter ones were man-eater spirits! So she was not the only one with a vile spirit? That guy too, was doomed like her? Or had he... had he actually befriended the man-eater spirit?! She could hear the administrators' frightful exclamations too. It seemed they were as startled as she by this unexpected outcome:

"Oh, my!"

"A Xiong Clan representative!"

"Is it safe?"

Then a serious, deep, but female voice spoke:

"Do not worry. I only attack those whom Tang commands me to".

Lucy widened eyes - yes, indeed, that panda spirit was a friend of the boy, not his enemy... It was she speaking, there was no doubt, and if she said she completely obeyed her host, then it meant she was a bonded friend of his, because whenever she begged or yelled at Yuehong not to hurt some people, he still went on fulfilling his selfish desires, not giving a pin for her words. This panda spirit was not the same. Instead of feeling excited that it was possible to tame even the man-eater spirits, she felt down:

If young people like me can manage to tame these man-eater spirits, how come I am the only one getting threatened and persecuted by mine?

Then, even worse came:

"Well, Tang Wang, congratulations! You are officially enrolled in our advanced class of Warrior Spirit Hosts, under the guidance of our best Warrior Spirit Host teacher, Seiji Yamada!"

So he got enrolled right away. What a pain... and there she was standing, waiting for her days to pass and the time to come when her spirit would appear and devour her, while these Tang Wang guys would spend time training with their man-eater friends, and become cool Spirit Hosts...

The door opened and Tang Wang - a short-black-haired blue-eyed young man with two golden ear-rings and a Yin-and-Yang ring on his right ring-finger - walked out, not even looking at Lucy, and headed up the stairs, apparently to his dormitory. Lucy pouted - he didn't even look at her?! Who the heck he thought he was? That wimp... She had already gotten irritated, but then she heard how they called 'next' from the administrative office, and recalled it was actually her turn, so she stepped forward, entered the room, and closed the door behind. She glanced at the three people in front of her - two men and a woman. One of the men was exactly the black-haired man from the train before, the one who wore sunglasses and got interested in Lucy's powers. However, as Lucy paid no attention to him back then, she hadn't recognized him. He instead recognized her perfectly, and his eyes widened, staying hidden behind his sunglasses:

It is that girl from the train before. Just as I expected, she was coming here to Shadow Masters High School, after all. Very good... Let's see how much she can do.

The woman looked up at Lucy with a cold face:

"Present yourself, please".

Lucy felt uneasy. She had never been on interviews before. She nervously murmured:

"Um, Lucy Caldwell..."

The woman shot her a stern gaze, making her even more nervous. She then wrote something in her notebook. Apparently, she counted her nervousness a weakness. Sweat poured off Lucy's forehead:

At this rate, I'm not going to make it into the warriors' group...

"So what's your Bond Item, Miss Caldwell?" another man, a short fat fellow, asked.

"Um, this one..." Lucy showed them the Yin-and-Yang golden-chained necklace she wore.

All the three administrators gasped in shock - the Yin-and-Yang necklace?! Just how many Yin-and-Yang symbol possessors had enrolled this year at their school?

"H... How did you obtain it?" the woman couldn't hide her stupor.

"Um, long story..." sweat poured off Lucy's forehead again as she recalled the encounter with that vile fox spirit.

"So, who's your guardian? Please show us," the man with sunglasses demanded, strict and cold at one glance, but excited deep at heart. Let's see just how much power her tailed fox has... He knew tailed foxes were quite powerful, but this girl's fox, as he remembered, had only five tails out of the maximal amount of nine, so he shouldn't be all that mighty. However, he would soon understand he shouldn't judge a book by its cover...

"Okay," Lucy put a hand on her locket: "Yang - Huli Yuehong".

The administrators' jaws dropped - she said what?! The man with sunglasses widened eyes. Shudders ran down his spine:

No way...

When he noticed the red light come out of the girl's locket had begun to take a tailed fox shape, he understood it was truly him - the eternal king of all spirits, Huli Yuehong!