Aether Lightning

Chapter Three

Florian and Jasper turned to face the young man who just appeared.

"The name is Tassos!" he said, pointing to himself. "I see you guys want to apply here?"

"Yeah…?" Florian said slowly.

"And who might you be?" Jasper asked.

"I'm the head of security," Tassos said with a smile. "I'll give you guys a shot. After all, you were strong enough to defeat my men. It's late now, so come back tomorrow, alright?"

The boys agree and head back to the inn to meet Stella and Renee.

Back at the inn, Jasper and Florian explained to the girls who Tassos was.

"Apparently," Jasper said. "The leader of the private security group seems to be a guy named Tassos."

"Alright," Stella said. "Now you guys can get close to him and find out who the mayor is. When is this happening?"

"Jasper and I have a meeting with him tomorrow," Florian said. "We'll ask him who his client is then."

"Make sure you don't mess up anything." Renee said.

Florian frowns. "What makes you think we'll mess up?"

Renee glares at Florian.

"Anyways," Stella said. "Renee and I have to wake up early, so we can catch Charis when she goes to work."

"So that means you guys can leave now!" Renee said and started to guide the boys toward the door. She closes it as soon as the boys are outside and then smiles at Stella. "We can sleep now."

Stella smiles back and changes into her sleeping clothes. It consists of a loose black shirt and short lightweight shorts. With that said, the girls went to sleep.

The following morning, Stella was the first to wake up. Renee woke up herself while Stella was dressing. Once they were both dressed and ready to go, they went outside.

The walk to Charis is quieter than yesterday because it is still early in the morning. Stella and Renee arrive at their destination before eight o'clock.

They stand outside Charis's house from across the street. After several minutes of waiting, the door opens and Charis comes outside.

"There she is," Stella said. "We should approach her and ask her where she is going. Then we'll direct the conversation."

Renee is confused. "We? As in we will both go?"

"It'll be better if only one of us goes." Stella thought to herself for a second. "I'll go and you'll follow along in case anything happens."

Once Charis starts to come their way, Stella walks near Charis and accidentally bumps into her. Well, not accidentally bumped, it was a purposeful bump meant to look like an accident.

"Oh, sorry!" Charis said.

"No, I'm sorry." Stella said. "I wasn't paying attention. It was my fault."

"No, no, I don't know what happened."

"I was going to my friend's house, but didn't remember where she lives. Where are you going this early in the morning?" Stella asked.

"Oh, I'm going to work." Charis replied.

"Oh, yeah? You look like a secretary. Do you work for a bank or something?" Stella said.

"Oh, no." Charis smiled. "I work for the mayor as his assistant."

"Really? I'm new here. Who's the mayor?"

"His name is Adonis. He's been the mayor for a long time now."

Stella is surprised that the mayor's name is not Orphea. "Oh, that's cool. Might if I join you on your walk? I want to meet him if he's available."

"I don't know if he'll have time, but you can come. I'm Charis by the way."

Florian and Jasper woke up around seven o'clock. They ate breakfast at a restaurant on their way to the mayor's office.

The same security guard from yesterday is walking around the front of the building. He allows the boys to walk past him and towards the front door.

Jasper knocks on the door and a few seconds later, one of the guards opens the door.

"You guys must be Jasper and Florian?" asked the guard.

"Yeah, that's us." Jasper answered.

"Tassos has been expecting you guys. Come this way." The guard leads the boys down the hall and into an empty room. "Tassos will be right with you guys." The guard leaves and closes the door behind him.

A few minutes later, the door opens and Tassos walks in. He either has a smile or a smirk on his face. "Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Tassos." Florian and Jasper both said at the same time.

"Well! Let's get down to business, shall we?"

"Sure!" Jasper said. "How does this process work? Do we have an interview and then a physical test?"

Tassos locks the door behind him. "There won't be an interview." He throws a punch at Jasper. The punch is coated with Wood Midrash. The move is called Wood Punch and the color of his Midrash was a light shade of grey.

Jasper takes much damage from the attack. Florian quickly moves in to punch Tassos, but is kicked in his private part. Tassos upgrades his punches to Branch Punch and throws them at Florian.

Blood comes out of Florian's mouth from the two Branch Punches. Jasper activates his Sura to bring forth his Dagger. He coats it with his Earth Midrash and tries to stab Tassos, but the latter dodges.

Tassos backsteps a few times. As he is backstepping, he gathers Midrash energy with his right hand which was hidden out of Jasper's sight. With enough energy, Tassos throws a Branch Spellbomb at Jasper who took the attack headon

At this point, Florian had wiped the blood off his face and stood up. Using this opportunity, Florian throws two Sludge Spellbombs at Tassos who just dodges.

Jasper sees this and runs behind Tassos and holds both his arms behind his back. With Tassos's arms being held back by Jasper, Florian immediately runs up to Tassos and starts attacking with multiple Sludge Punches.

Tassos struggles to fight back, but Jasper holds on too tightly. After about ten or so punches, Tassos is finally knocked out. The battle is over.