Jas sprinted through the corridors with all his might. Being a hunter specialising in agility, it was easy for him to breeze through the building. But he found it difficult to control his raging heartbeat.
’Two S-rankers in one day,’ Jas thought, rushing past another agent. ’Things are about to get heated here. By now, those guilds are probably already hovering outside like the vultures they are. I should tighten the security around here-’
As he sprinted, his phone buzzed in his pocket, and without breaking his stride, he fished it out and answered.
"Hello?"
"Jas, it’s ," his superior’s voice crackled through the phone. "We need to talk about the situation with the new hunters."
"Yes, sir, I’m aware of the situation with the S-rankers. I should be there in twenty seconds-" Jas said, thinking his boss was, as usual, trying to take credit for it. Hence, he had yet to inform the association heads about it.
"I’m not talking about the S-Rankers. There’s sothing more important than that!"
’Has this idiot gone senile?’ Jas thought but kept it to himself. "What’s that, sir-"
"We’ve received reports of not just two S-rank hunters but also a Beyond S-rank hunter having been identified there," his superior explained urgently. "Do you not know what’s happening right under your nose?"
"I... I wasn’t aware, sir," he stamred.
Jas took a deep breath. Was his boss pranking him? There were barely any S-ranks on earth. How could they suggest soone above the known limits had appeared there out of nowhere?
But instead of acting up, Jas’s phone pinged again. It was another ssage from Rico, the intern working under him. Jas had left him to monitor things in the auditorium and inform him about Adrian and his subordinates’ results.
Rico had told him about Seraphina and A’mila’s grades and had been pinging him continuously. Jas had chalked it up as the kid panicking under pressure, but now that he saw his ssages, Jas was taken aback.
Jas skidded to a halt, his mind reeling with the new information.
"Beyond S-Rank?" he repeated. "What the hell is this about?"
"That’s what I’m asking you!" the boss roared through the phone. "You’re there, so tell about it-"
However, instead of replying to the superior, Jas disconnected the call and imdiately dialled soone else.
"Heighten security around the DRA building," he instructed the person on the other side. "No one enters or leaves without my permission. I don’t care if it’s a superior or not! If anyone has problems, send them my way!"
With that, Jas was about to sprint again when the junior pinged him again. This ti, it was a news article that stated: Incident at the DRA Regional Headquarters, Miami! A new ranker was identified: Adrian Fenrir - the first ever Beyond S-Ranker."
’These bastards sure are quick...’
***
anwhile, inside the auditorium...
"Beyond S-rank...?"
"Is that even possible?"
The entire auditorium was thrown into chaos. People didn’t know how to react to the news of a Beyond S-Rank hunter among them. The staff tried to keep the public from approaching Adrian but in vain.
To their surprise, the DRA realised that so Scouters from famous guilds had disguised themselves as examinees to take advantage of low security and competition.
But that all changed when i Ling stepped back inside the auditorium. Being an S-ranker herself, no one wanted to face her, and even the Scouters begrudgingly backed down.
"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" i Ling’s thunderous voice roared over the chaos, silencing everyone. "Everyone empty the halls except the S-Rankers, and that’s an order!"
The protests erupted once again, but one look from i Ling put an end to that as well. No one wanted to face the anger of the Crimson Siren. But soone still tried.
"You can’t keep the Rankers away from other guilds," one burly-looking scouter yelled. "It can be considered malpractice under section 69 B-"
"If you’re going to push the rules in soone’s face, make sure you understand them fully," i replied, getting into the man’s face as her red hair turned even brighter. "You’re only allowed to talk to the hunters after their records are out for everyone to see."
She continued, "And last ti I checked, that’s yet to happen. Plus, sneaking in here with a fake identity? That’s a serious cri, even for a hunter.
And as far as I know, that’s a felony with a maximum term of 15 years imprisonnt. Do you want to report it?"
The Scouters backed up after that with no exceptions. All they could do was glare at i’s back. Soon, the agents went to work, but as they were about to ask Sophia and Alia to leave, Adrian stepped in.
"They are with -"
"Doesn’t matter," i interrupted. "I’ve been instructed to make everyone leave."
"Kick them out, and I’ll leave with them," Adrian replied, getting into her. "The choice is yours. But I have a feeling your superiors don’t want that."
i stared back at him, but when Adrian didn’t back down, she smiled and stepped back.
"You got a lot of guts for a freshie," i smirked before turning towards the agent. "Leave them be. I would hate to be demoted because of this."
***
anwhile, being kicked out wasn’t going to stop people from talking. In fact, it only made it worse, as the Scouters waiting outside were craving any information about the Beyond S-Ranker because the DRA was busy striking down any article that ntioned it.
However, no one had any substantial information about Adrian. It wasn’t unexpected, as he had kept to himself throughout the trials. But that didn’t stop them from making up random details and feeding them to the Scouters.
"He has DRA in his pockets."
"The results were manipulated."
"He’s handso, being surrounded by won."
Soone even went as far as saying that Adrian and i were in a hidden relationship!
All sorts of rumours flooded the internet, and by the ti Adrian learned about them, he had already been branded a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist.
But not all attention was positive, as countless rankers felt their positions were in danger and wanted to do sothing about it—preferably sothing to put an end to Adrian Fenrir’s unexpected rise.
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