Way of the Knights

Chapter 258 - Emergency

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It has been a week since the start of the school year. 

Raven was currently observing his class train by themselves and would give out some advices where it's needed. Everything was going fine until all of a sudden, the entrance of the field opened and caught the attention of him and his students.

Someone entered with a distressed look on his face, Raven recognized his person as one of the Instructors in the Academy, a colleague of his. Raven frowned and stood up, he then excused himself and met up with the distressed Instructor.

"What's the problem?" Raven asked.

"Pardon my intrusion, Instructor Raven. There's an emergency situation for one of my student's cultivation and something strange happened. Could you please spare me a bit of your time so that we could inspect his condition?" The Instructor said hurriedly while paying respects towards Raven. 

Raven patted his shoulders, he looked back at his class and said: "You guys continue training, something came up that needs my attention. If I don't come back before the period ends, then you may dismiss yourselves." 

He then looked at the Instructor and asked: "Where is this student that you mentioned?" 

The Instructor thanked him and then told him where his class was being held on. Raven placed a hand on his shoulders and together they hurried towards the class of this Instructor. 

On the way there, Raven asked the Instructor about the details of what happened. Basically, this instructor also handles the Conditioning Class. As they were doing some regular body conditioning task when suddenly one of his male students suddenly felt extremely terrible, so much to the point where he was screaming in pain and an unusual energy fluctuations started emanating out of his body. 

The Instructor tried coming close but the energy surrounding the child suddenly turned hostile and pushed him back, hurting the child in the process as well. Out of his fear to hurt the child even more, the Instructor decided to look for help, and who else would be the best helper aside from Raven himself.

As soon as they arrived in the training field, Raven saw that the class was all grouped up in corner of the field, cowering over an extremely foul presence that permeated their surroundings. 

In the middle of the training field, one male student was writhing in pain and gritting his teeth. Surrounding his petite body was a silhouette of an entity that has an alarming red eyes and an ethereal body which exudes an intense malice that is nearly materializing in the air. 

Raven's face turned slightly solemn, he let out a shallow breath and said: "To think that someone would actually awaken this kind of Spirit Entity."

"You mean, his Spirit Entity is already awakening?" The Instructor of the student asked in a bewildered tone. "But how is that possible? Didn't he need to undergo the Awakening Ritual first before that happens?"

"Experiencing the Spiritual Awakening Ritual isn't the only way to fully Awaken one's Spirit Entity. It is the most preferred way to do so since it's the safest way. The other methods are just way too painful. What your student is experiencing right now is probably the most painful one cause he didn't have a choice."

"This method is called the Forced Spiritual Awakening. This happens when one's natural compatibility towards their Spirit Entity is extremely high."

"But enough explaining, stand back and let me handle this." Raven ordered which caused the Instructor to step back, "Protect the students, this might get a little rowdy." He reminded before walking towards the writhing student.

The Instructor erected a solid barrier that encased him and the students inside. Once the barrier was erected, the students inside breathed a sigh of relief since they were also shielded from the menacing malice that was permeating in the air. These students lived a sheltered life so far and was never exposed to that kind of feeling. Fear and trepidation still lingered in their hearts as they watched Raven deal with trouble.

As Raven slowly made his way over, the entity which was close to manifestation, growled towards his direction. Clearly signifying that it didn't want Raven to interfere. 

Raven's response to this was a simple snort which is laced with his Chaos Force. As his Chaos Force made contact with the entity, it visibly shuddered and felt an incredible sense of suppression coming off of Raven. It's momentum clearly halted as it carefully inspected the human in front of him. 

Under everyone's gaze, Raven raised his hand and out of nowhere, dark clouds suddenly manifested and covered the entire training field. Everyone looked up in wonder and under their dumbstruck gazes, the dark clouds parted and revealed a vast starry space after Raven closed his fist. 

The shimmer of countless stars flooded the entire field. Everyone's mouth was gaping at the sight. Out of nowhere, one particular set of stars emitted an intense brilliance and suddenly started coming down. 

The entity in front of Raven started to shiver visibly. Other's might not feel it but this entity could literally feel dread in the deepest core of it's existence. 

"You one naughty fox. Are you in that much of a hurry to find a descendant?" Raven asked coldly as the set of stars above started forming behind him. 

"Reveal yourself or else I will pummel you to death." Raven threatened as he coldly gazed ahead. 

The entity roared at him and instantly, the manifestation hastened to a point where everyone could now see it's exact appearance. 

Just like what Raven said earlier, this Spirit Entity is a fox. It has a milky white fur with menacing red eyes and it's pupils formed black slits. It stood for about 10 feet but this is not it's actual size, it had set of sharp fangs protruding out of it's mouth, sharp claws and nine long tails that are moving on their own. 

"A Nine-tailed Fox!" One the students exclaimed out of shock. 

"To be more precise, it's a Demonized Nine-tailed Fox." Raven's voice echoed inside their heads, "Compared to a regular Nine-tailed Fox. A Demonized one is stronger since it lives off of feeding from it's own kind. In simpler terms, a Demonized Nine-tailed Fox is a Cannibal."

Raven's explanation sent shivers to the students and even the Instructor. No one doubted his words at all. After all, Raven was the one who revealed the existence of Spirit Entities in the Kingdom.

"No one in the Fox Race is born Demonized. It is a process. In their race, it is a taboo to eat one's kind since everyone in there is afraid of Demonized Fox's existence. Even so, there are some that don't adhere to this rule. Once a fox consumed it's own kind, it will experienced a different kind of empowerment that would make it stand above the rest. But since it is considered as a forbidden act, it is heavily punished by the Heavenly Laws."

"Those who consumed their own kind, will forever bear the mental burden of their victim's malice and hatred that it will never fade. And just like a drug, once they consumed one, their bodies will naturally crave for more and more until an insatiable hunger forms and their minds are forever consumed by malice and hatred."

"Your classmate must be experiencing some nightmares right now due to the influence of this little fox. Don't worry, I'll handle this."

As soon as Raven finished explaining the circumstances of the Spirit Entity in front of them, the stars behind him were neatly arranged according to their constellation. They then emitted that brilliant flash of light that blinded almost everyone in the field. 

Once their vision adjusted, they could now see a tall statue standing tall and proud behind Raven. 

It's appearance was shocking. It is a figure that has three faces, it's current face expressed a neutral face, the face on it's left expressed an annoyed expression and the face on the right was smiling in a benevolent manner. What's even more shocking is that this statue had at least a thousand arms, blooming like a pristine lotus around it. 

The size of the statue dwarfed the fox. It looked up in terror as it could see the eyes of the statue looking down on it, much like how Raven was gazing at it as well. 

And because these are both spirit entities, the fox could definitely feel the deadly air emanating out of that statue. Even in it's maddened state, that fox could still recognize those that should be attacked and those that shouldn't be attacked. Unfortunately, it became a little arrogant and provoked someone who fell on the latter category.

The statue's hands moved in sync with Raven's movements. The face of the statue switched and changed into a benevolent smile. All of it's arms reached forward with an incredible speed that the fox failed to react to. The statue's encased the fox in a ball, Raven supplied Chaos Force on each arms which caused the fox to writhe in agony. 

Clasping his hands together, Raven closed his eyes and said: "Thousand Arms Affection."