Osho sighed and looked down at Gale. The bird was still out cold. Luckily, he didn’t seem to be suffering from any ailments from what he could tell, mostly due to their bond.
He gently stroked his feathers, his hands tracing across the markings he’d simply deemed as an aesthetic change after Gale evolved.
He was keenly aware that the attention of the students was split between him and Mrs Jane, with Ellie and the members of his squad staring at him worriedly, but he couldn’t be bothered at the moment.
Instead, his mind spun with all sorts of thoughts. More specifically, about his ability and the implications it held.
’Would Gale have awakened his bloodline if I hadn’t evolved him? Im fairly certain he had the Sky Affinity immediately after he hatched, just that he didn’t know how to use it. Did the bloodline come with that as well? Or was it only awakened after I evolved him again? Moreover, if I evolve a beast enough, do they always develop a bloodline? What about that guy from the black market? Has his beast awakened its bloodline as well? What if I evolved a beast that already has a bloodline? Does it get evolved as well?’ Osho had many questions, but few answers to any of them.
It’s at that moment that the vague sound of helicopters reached their ears. Osho finally perked up, and soon enough, the three black helicopters could be seen flying toward them.
They resembled Black Hawk helicopters, but with the added influence of Mana. Their sides were fitted with glowing turrets, and each one had plated armor that seemed durable even from a distance. What’s more is that the tail rudder wasn’t made up of blades, but a blue device that looked like a Gyro Stabilizer.
The Convoy slowed to a stop as the helicopters broke the canopy of trees to land in front of them. Surprisingly, there was no large gusts of wind blowing dust everywhere, and they landed in surprising silence.
’Did they allow the helicopter blades to make noise so that we’d know they were there?’ Osho wondered.
"Is that the rescue team?" Someone asked.
"Yes." Mrs Jane answered simply and stood up. By now, they had managed to stem the bleeding from her wound, with special bandages wrapping around her torso firmly.
As soon as the helicopters landed, several individuals with black armor that looked significantly more advanced than anything the students had seen before disembarked and summoned their beasts.
The armor was sleek and covered their bodies completely without interfering with their mobility at all, and their helmets had an opaque glass visor that most likely had an in-built visual system that worked like the Student’s goggles but better.
Their beasts also had armor, and what was surprising was the fact that all of them were at the Adept rank.
They immediately spread out and surrounded the convoy, watching for any potential threats. Meanwhile, another person stepped out of one of the helicopters.
"Osho, get up." Mrs Jane said calmly and Osho immediately nodded. He spared a glance at his classmates, specifically Ellie, and she just nodded at him and he nodded back.
The Teacher and Student stepped out of the bus to meet the approaching man, one Osho immediately recognized who he was.
There were 11 Expert Ranked Beast Tamers in their Citadel. There was no official ranking for it, it was numbered based on first to last, with Mrs Jane being the last.
This man in front of them was the 5th. We was tall, even taller than Osho, he was decently built, and he was wearing his Tamer gear which consisted of heavy military gear.
His eyes were narrowed, but not out of irritation as apparently that was just his default expression. His name was Simon Harus, and he was one of the Expeter Beast Tamers who worked solely for the military.
As soon as they were close to each other, Simon gave Osho a one over and Osho gave a short bow.
The man nodded and turned to Mrs Jane who stared at him with her usual stern expression.
"You’re hurt." He said, not out of care, he was simply stating a fact.
"Regardless, the two of you are to be taken back to the Citadel. You for recovery and the boy for protection and briefing. The remaining will be escorted by one of the helicopters." He explained without beating around the bush.
Without waiting for their replies, he turned and walked back to the helicooter he came from.
"Let’s go." Mrs Jane said dryly, and Osho got the feeling that she didn’t like the guy. Regardless, they followed.
He ignored the looked he got from the students on the other buses as he walked past. Some of them were giving praises, while others just looked.
Once they reached the helicopter, they got in and the doors were slid shut. The inside wasn’t anything special. There were seats and supplies as well as some other things.
Once they were on, Osho received a headset which he promptly put on, not once fully letting go of Gale. Simon gave the pilot the signal and soon, the helicopter rose into the sky along with one of the other ones.
For the first time since entering this world, Osho got to observe his surroundings from the sky. He was certain once Gale got bigger and was capable of carrying him, he’d be flying to his destinations a lot more. But that didn’t make it any less interesting to do it now.
Sadly, he couldn’t appreciate the scene much due to the dense thunder clouds in the distance. It was like a blanket of darkness that threatened to consume everything in its path, and the Citadel was in its path.
Osho was keenly aware that both the creature and Mrs Jane had been holding back during their fight. Expert rank beasts and beast Tamers were capable of widespread, and Elite ranks even more so, with their Bestial Dominance, as Osho was observing at the moment.
To be frank, the only reason their convoy hadn’t gotten deleted immediately was due to Mrs Jane’s influence. Otherwise, the aftershocks alone woukd have screwed them over.
So it only served to Make Gale’s feat all the more impressive.
"May I ask what is going to happen to me?" Osho asked, his voice traveling quite well as the wind wasn’t causing as much noise as he thought.
’What’s the point of the headset then?’ He wondered as Simon spared him a glance.
"After you Beast’s performance, the two of you have been deemed to be Assets. The creature, as you’ve already noticed, is a problem. It has a set of abilities that defy logic... well, more than most beasts do already. So the fact your beast can suppress it, even for such a short time, is simply too valuable of an ability for us to ignore." He stared at Osho directly.
"As such, you will be placed under protection, and when the time comes, you are going to be briefed and given an idea of what your task is going to be. Your importance has increased significantly due to this event, and it isn’t an exaggeration to say that a good bit of our success in handling this Beast Tide falls on your shoulders." Mrs Jane wasn’t facing them as they spoke, but she observed the interaction through her Mana sense. She was curious to see how Osho would react to such a heavy responsibility suddenly being placed on his shoulders.
Osho was silent for a moment, then he asked.
"What if I refuse?" His lack of fear was surprising, still, Simon answered without hesitation.
"No one will stop you, but if the beast tide is unable to be stopped due to that thing, you’re gonna die." He said flatly and Osho nodded.
"Alright then. I’m still a student, so if I do this and survive, will I be compensated?" He asked again and Mrs Jane’s lip quirked up slightly.
"Naturally." Simon nodded, the man was surprisingly not overbearing.
Osho nodded as well and looked at the ground below, they were already about to reach the Citadel, and from what he could see, the walls were being armed quite heavily.
Many of the hidden turrets nests on its surface had opened up, revealing hundreds of armed turrets aiming in the direction of the beast tide. Beast Tamers could be seen gathering in front of the wall, well, Beast Tamers whose beasts needed to close the distance to hit their target. The walls were manned by those Tamers who had beasts that excelled at ranged combat.
Osho also imagined that the remote-controlled mines in front of the walls had ben armed. All in all, the defenses were coming along nicely.
’They kinda have to. Otherwise we’re screwed.’ Osho noted as the helicopters eventually passed over the wall.
As for inside the Citadel, well, unsurprisingly, the streets were devoid of any civilian activity, and instead, military vehicles were moving to and from, and directly behind the wall, military installations were being placed. Tents, medical facilities, ammunition tents, lots of those, and so on. It seemed beast tide was calculated to last for a while.