Witch Hunter Academy

Chapter 12- Capture

Arai didn't even realize she'd been speaking, the words weren't hers, she wasn't consciously saying any of this, but as the words came out, images flashed in her vision. Doom. Destruction. Chaos. It was all too much to process.

She didn't want this.

She didn't want any of it, but she knew she had no choice in the matter. If she failed to stop the witches' plan to free Hell, the whole world would die.

"Arai? Arai?!" Ren's voice sounded so distant, but it was enough to pull her out of the hazy, foggy state she'd been in.

She looked up at him, she could see the confusion and fear mixing across his face, too powerful to be smothered by his usual cocky demeanor. She knew she looked just as terrified as he did, if not more so.

Silas had his thinking face on, Emilie and Myra shared a concerned look, nobody wanted to say anything, nobody wanted to believe the words that came from Arai's mouth, and she herself was no exception.

"Alright. The next activity will be a game of Capture the Flag." Called Mr. Fernis's voice.

"We'll talk about this later. Focus on training hard for now." Came Silas's reassuring whisper, but she could tell he was just as confused and scared as everyone else.

He's right. I can't get distracted. I have to focus. I can't let this get the better of me. I've had so many nightmares about it, I should be used to it by now. There's no need for me to be afraid, because that future won't come to pass.

I WILL stop it.

No.

WE will stop it.

Together.

I can't think about it now, I'm too confused and panicked. I have to stop thinking about it until I can think about it rationally, not fearfully.

Just.

Stay.

Calm.

After lunch, everyone was brought to a clearing in the middle of the woods, the walk taking up almost two hours of time, and by the time they got there, everyone sat down and drank some water. Hiking through the woods on a scorchingly hot day, constantly jumping over random pits, roots and other weird obstacles after having an all-out battle against people who were older and more experienced than them, really took a lot of energy out of them.

"Alright. So, Ms. Kibi and I have noticed that your performances as individual classes are unbalanced." Began Mr. Fernis.

"No duh, they're first-years."

"We've got this in the bag."

"Jeez. I bet we'll win even with our handicap."

"I wonder what it'll be."

"Dumb first-years."

"Haha."

Mr. Fernis let the second-years talk, while Arai's class remained silent, already feeling the weight of disappointment from their teacher on their backs.

"Jumping to conclusions is a bad habit you know, because it was really my class with the best performance so far." Said Mr. Fernis.

"HAH! WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!" Shouted Ren triumphantly.

"That's quite enough, Renard O'Barren.

Now, for the evaluation as of now, I will explain to you the reasons behind this unbalance. While you second-years have been striving for the top, you often ignore those in need.

"For instance, when James Reid fell into that hole that opened beneath his feet, you second-years kept walking, while Asriel Cunning and Lillianna Billard helped him out. Or when Arai was unable to swim back, Renard, Silas, Emilie and Myra all stayed back to help her, working as a team to make sure she wasn't left behind.