"Yes?" Ezra shook John out of his daze.
"Which of you are Mages, which are Knights, and which are Shifters?"
John gave a small laugh.
"Sir Ezra, you need to worry, they are perfectly capable"
"I know" Ezra nodded.
"That's why I want to place them in the appropriate positions to make things go smoothly"
They were clearly uncomfortable with the proposal, but Ezra paid them no mind, staring at John instead.
"Ok" John approved.
"Where would you have them placed?"
"The mages and the archers should take high positions to allow for long range attacks. Knights and Shifters will array themselves around the palisades, while you-"
Ezra pointed to John.
"-and your best four will follow me into battle"
John nods without much expression.
Ezra left, and as he did, the members started blowing a fuss.
"Sir, I don't like this arrangement. Why does he think he can order us around?!" one spouted disdainfully.
The others nodded at his words. Having a child - as they saw it - giving orders didn't sit well with them.
John calmed them down.
"Remember, we're here to help. Causing trouble from the moment of our arrival won't do us any good"
Their shoulders slumped, but perked back up when they heard his next words.
"But, there are still a few things we can do, because I don't like this either" he raised his hand.
"The second tide is arriving soon, but don't attack very much, so when their defenses fall, we can 'save' them. Then, we'll easily take charge"
"Let's do that"
"Yes"
"Yes"
They agreed and then split up to hold positions.
Even though it was still dawn, they killed many beasts while coming here. Few of them were without bloodstains.
Black Jaws had a branch here, built in the slums, but the members left for Traxford after the call was issued.
That's why they were not there initially.
As for the missionaries and the Admiral, they didn't bother coming to help defend.
From what Ezra heard, they were packing all their items to make a hasty escape once the city was invaded, which they thought was inevitable.
Not one to bother about such, Ezra returned to his tent to get a few minutes of sleep.
After the first battle, the students used the mana converging pill they'd been given.
When he saw how much of the pill's essence they wasted, Ezra helped the top hundred and fifty students properly circulate it, which in turn helped many advance.
Once he was done with the top brass, he instructed them to help others as well, after all, he couldn't attend to four thousand students on his own.
Just one hundred and fifty drained him, as it ate up into his sleeping time.
Closing his eyes, he slept for two more hours before waking at the sound of running feet, far more than the first time.
Once outside, he saw the beasts approaching, and like he speculated, their numbers had doubled, if not tripled.
Moreover, rather than yesterday's weak bunch, these ones radiated power.
In minutes, the soldiers wore armor and rushed to their positions.
Time trickled by as the soldiers awaited the beasts to come near before attacking.
But Ezra was concerned about something else.
From two years ago, a strange feeling welled up within him without warning, a feeling that was there but not there. Ezra attributed it as a sort of sixth sense, but vastly different.
He was sure he hadn't developed it through training, because he could distinguish it from sixth sense all too clearly.
He'd tried and failed to get rid of it, so he accepted it since he didn't feel any harm from it.
But as time went by, the feeling intensified and Ezra found himself fearful, later becoming extremely fearful - as the feeling grew - of something that he couldn't even articulate. It was of course a source of frustration and irritation.
Call it instinct or whatnot, Ezra knew the feeling was telling him something.
After a few experiments, he discovered that every time he increased in strength, the feeling would decrease.
Ever since stepping into Master-rank, it seemed inexistent. Ezra thought it had gone away completely, only for it to rear its head soon after. This time, it came onto him while they were being driven to Guavedra, when Ezra discovered the assassins sent to kill him.
After dealing with them, the feeling receded for a long time, only for it to come again a month after entering the academy, and not long after that, it intensified, killing any plans Ezra had of taking things easy.
It was an unbearably irritating feeling, yet you couldn't just 'unfeel' it. The only way to reduce it was to grow in strength.
With every bit he grew, either physically, mentally, or even in element or weapon mastery, the feeling decreased, which Ezra was glad for.
This was one of the primary reasons he took Bard's potions so hurriedly, the feeling was just unbearable. It was like your soul was growing cold, and the only way to heat it up was to train yourself.
Bard's potion reduced the feeling, as did the Un-limiting Dew, and since he'd been training since then, the feeling had only gone down…until a few days ago…where it intensified greatly!
It was the day the Beast Tide began!
He'd originally come to Gattiste with the thought of killing Marcus and then heading off to places facing greater beasts, as he planned to use battles to temper his technique and thought Gattiste would have a lot of strong warriors who would be competitors.
Arriving to meet the opposite of what he'd predicted, Ezra modified his plans and made himself the commander.
At a point while battling yesterday, Ezra placed mana stones in his mouth, removing it only after all the beasts were dead.
Now at Mid Master-rank, Ezra placed two mana stones instead of one. His mana pool had expanded that much and was very pure.
The night before, the feeling intensified, now greater than ever before. It took a while for Ezra to adjust to it. Before that, he was unable to sleep, thus helping students with their mana converging pill.
He was feeling uncomfortable all over, but it didn't interfere with his cognitive or physical abilities.
With reference to the past events, Ezra summarized that someone or something was aiming for his life, and with how intense the feeling was, it didn't take long for Ezra to guess the category of the enemy.
'Grandmaster'
That was the only explanation as he could go toe to toe with a Late Master while he was in Early Master Rank. At mid rank, even Great Masters couldn't touch him.
Great Master isn't an official rank, but rather, a name for those unable to advance to Grandmaster level but who have enough skill to distinguish themselves from other Masters.
Basically, a veteran Master, who polished their element and sword skills to the extreme.
As for the Black Jaws members that arrived, so long as they didn't get in his way he couldn't care less.
With the beasts approaching, Benjamin called to arms.
"Soldiers! Steady yourselves"
They arrayed themselves at planned positions, regulating their breathing to calm nervousness.
"Let's go" Ezra led five soldiers outside the gate.
John was surprised, but didn't say anything. If Ezra died, all the better!
The incoming wave of beasts was nothing to joke with.
After yesterday's battle, Ezra had changed positions and also fixed some broken war machines, and with more Expert and Advanced ranks - thanks to the mana converging pill - they had a better fighting chance the day before…or did they?
Right now, thousands of beasts approached. Hyenas and black jaguars took the lead, and also took the first strike the moment they entered the designated perimeter.
The battle began.
This time, flying beasts came to play as well.
The increased difficulty made Ezra smile, because now, he could use greater attacks.
"Hey Boss" called Ashton.
"Leave some for us, will you?"
The others smiled.
They weren't able to fight as many beasts as they wished because Ezra had killed them all.
"No worries, there's plenty for everyone" Ezra responded.
"If you say so" Ashton leaped and landed a punch into the arriving beasts.
Unlike last time, they stayed together, because the rest of the place was flooded with beasts and was being showered in mage attacks and magic arrows. You wouldn't want to be in the middle of that.
Like a shower of colors, all sorts of arrows rained down to give nasty effects, from freeze to burn and even deafen.
Ezra's attacks were less flashy as he changed tactics.
With such a large force behind him, he didn't need to stretch himself by trying to overwhelm the tide on his own. Instead, he made the jobs of the main attackers easier by dominating the battle with his blood control and poison.
With his mana rich blood, very little was needed to inflict fatal damage so long his aim was precise.
Rather than fighting with his sword, he suddenly jumped into the palisades.
The soldiers were shocked, but Ezra paid them no mind.
"Get me a quiver" he said, taking out a bow from his space ring.
Right then, he felt anger through a particular connection.
'You want to come out and feast?'
It was Severus, hauling at Ezra for keeping him inside the ring since forever ago.
Ezra was doubtful, but didn't think much of it. Severus dying wouldn't affect him that much.
The cold feeling was still there, but Severus couldn't grow fast enough to be useful against a Grandmaster.
He headed into the commander's tent, drawing doubtful gazes, especially from those from Black Jaws.
"Is he running away?" someone muttered, though with the power he'd shown, it didn't seem logical.
Their stops were put to a stop as Ezra came out soon after.
This time, a black snake with white markings was coiled around his neck.
"Huh?"
"Where did he get that?"
The soldiers freaked, and of course, when you jump out of battle to get a snake, one's imagination would be provoked.
Without asking, Ezra dropped the snake from the edge of the palisade into the horde of beasts.
None could comprehend the meaning behind his actions and Ezra was not interested in explaining.
No sooner, a quiver was delivered and Ezra slung it onto his back.
His archery mastery was of the lowest proficiency, but he knew the basics.
With the bow of a rank he'd forgotten, though he was sure it wasn't less than Dark Gold-rank, Ezra fired the first arrow after lacing its edge with his blood.
To test the durability of the string, Ezra pulled back, carefully adding strength until he reached a point where it would not budge.
Pulling it farther by force would break the string.
*Siiiin!*
The arrow pierced six beasts before stopping.
Others were surprised, but Ezra was calm.
'I guess I'm not too rusty'
If he couldn't do that at Master-rank, he might as well give up on living.
Now, it was time to try out an idea of his.
