Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento

by Sai Prapanch A

  Or so it seemed. In the city bank, a gun suddenly fired. Screams erupted as six masked men fired at the guards inside. They tied up the civilians and staff. It was a bank heist.

  The leader of the pack shouted, “Everyone stay quiet! If no one causes any trouble, there will be no unnecessary casualties. We’ll take the money, which will kindly be given to us by one of the staff, and leave.”

  “Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” Everyone’s eyes fell on a fifteen-year-old girl. Many gestured her to stay quiet. The heist leader took one look at her and roared with laughter. “Maybe you don’t understand, kid. I told you to stay quiet and sit down.” He stretched out his arm.

  It happened in a flash. A hard punch in the gut left the man groaning in pain. The other five stared at her, not knowing what had happened. One of them recovered from the shock and raised his gun. But just as he pulled the trigger, she raised her hand and released a strange purple smoke. The bullets suddenly dissolved. The civilians were in awe and the robbers were flabbergasted.

  Without a moment of hesitation, the mysterious girl charged at the remaining villains. Her hands were purple in colour. She drew first blood with an uppercut straight into the first assailant’s chin. He didn’t fly back or seem to feel the punch. But his eyes, which wore a confused expression, suddenly became dazed and he fell to the floor.

  The second and third raised their guns. But the girl, being too fast for them, released purple smoke around them again. When it cleared, the two of them were lying face down on the ground.

  She turned to face the last one. The unfortunate individual was rooted to the spot. He was sweating uncontrollably and trembling with fear. Mercilessly, she kicked deep into his stomach. He spat out blood and asked, “Who… are you?”

  “Katie Smith, guild contractor of Lucifer’s Fall,” she replied, showing the official badge of a guild contractor, bearing the Lucifer’s Fall symbol on it.

  The civilians rose out and started cheering. The bank manager came up to her and said, “That was brilliant! This is just what we would expect from a guild contractor. How can we ever thank you?”

  “It was my duty to help in that situation,” she said smiling. “I don’t need any thanks, sir.”

  While Katie was preoccupied with the civilian’s appreciations, the leader of the robbers was coming around. He caught sight of her and slowly brought out a dagger. Then, without warning, he charged at her from behind. Katie realized the danger too late. She whirled around to try to face her attacker. But he was already within striking distance. She braced herself and expected to be stabbed.

  But out of the corner of her eye, she saw something being hurled at the assailant. And faster than a blink of an eye, he sprawled onto the floor with a fresh wound on his head.

  The civilians who were present gasped and said, “That was so fast!”

  “I couldn’t even see that punch.”

  “That girl is one skilled contractor. And she’s so young.”

  “And she’s cute too!”

  Katie was still staring at the unconscious man in front of her. At her feet, there was a small stone covered in blood. She picked it up and examined it. Someone had thrown that stone to knock the assailant down. It was thrown too fast for a normal human. She looked around and spotted a boy around her age walking out. She was about to follow him when the police arrived and asked her to fill in a report.

  Katie came out of the bank as fast as she could to search for the boy. She was sure that she could feel some strange aura from him. She looked around the busy street but could not spot him. Disappointed, she turned to leave.

  “Katie, what’s up?”

  She turned to see the ice emperor walk towards her. “Kai!” she said in surprise. “What brings you here? You don’t usually stay too long in Gildartz City.”

  Kai replied, “Oh, no particular reason. Today happens to be the day the new recruits for the guild will be tested. So I came to see whether there’ll be anyone strong this year.”

  Katie said, “I don’t think there’ll be anyone who would catch your interest.”

  “You never know,” said Kai with a wink.

  They made their way to the famed headquarters of Lucifer’s Fall’s Guild. It stood at the centre of the city and was one of its greatest landmarks as well. The majestic fifty-storied building bore the symbol of Lucifer’s Fall (a man stabbing a demon) fixed in the middle. Katie and Kai entered through the main door, which opened up to a big lounge with a reception where people could assign jobs for the guild members. On seeing Kai, the two women there squealed and blushed. Kai just grinned and Katie followed him trying to contain her laughter.

  Kai asked Katie, “They’re holding the test for new members in the underground arena, aren’t they?”

  Katie answered, “Yes, it seems like the whole guild might turn up. For some strange reason, many of the elite contractors have turned up today.”

  “You’ll know why soon enough,” said Kai hiding a smirk. Using the elevator, they went down and stepped into the stands of the arena. A number of contractors were present and seated. At the sight of Kai, they sprang up and welcomed him. Greeting them quickly, Kai headed to the front row of seats overlooking the circular arena. Katie took a seat behind him. She saw all the new contestants who were standing inside the arena. There was around fifty or so contractors, each trying to look more intimidating than the other. A cloaked figure stood leaning against the wall of the arena that aroused her suspicion.

  Katie realized that a well-built man and a young, beautiful lady had taken the two seats next to Kai, catching her unaware. She recognized them as the ‘Iron Lord’, Steve Hancock and the ‘Lucifer’s Angel’, Sara Lightshield. They were as famous as Kai, who showed no surprise at the sudden appearance of the two.

  Steve turned his crude, scarred face and asked Kai, “Been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been itching to get back to sparring with you.”

  “That’s why you don’t see me too many times,” said Kai with a grin. He then turned to Sara and said, “But I’m always ready to see you again, dear Sara.”

  “Keep your hands to yourself, you womanizer,” said Sara with no expression.

  Steve went on, “But I really want to see this test. There’s a rumour that a very interesting person has applied for this test.”

  “What do you mean?” Katie asked.

  “Apparently, some amazingly strong mystery boy would be taking part,” Sara said. “But if I remember correctly, Kai was the one who started that rumour.”

  Kai smiled and said, “Now why would I do something like that?”

  A few minutes later, an old man’s voice was heard around the arena, “Welcome, members of Lucifer’s Fall. Good to see that no one has died in the past few years.”

  “Good to know that your head is as twisted as ever for the past few years as well, old man!” Steve shouted and there were murmurs of agreement in the audience.

  An old man, who was short and bald, but with a fierce white moustache to compensate, stepped into the arena.

  “I know all of you are hoping for a good show here as you watch the selection of new guild members. Now, as the guild master of Lucifer’s Fall, I, Gary Lightshield, will now pronounce the examiner of this year’s test. Please welcome Zack Titania!”

  The whole arena (except those in the fighting area), went nuts. There were gasps of amazement, squealing of girls, and uproar from the rest. Steve got up and said, “Zack! Why him? Your Grandpa has totally lost it Sara. What’s the old man playing at? He should have chosen a C rank contractor at the most! Zack is an A rank!”

  Amidst the chaos, Zack, a young boy jumped into the fighting area. All eyes fell on him. His face revealed under the arena lights gleamed with a blank, almost bored expression. He had quite a reputation to his name, backed by a fervent fan following of excited young female members.

  Sara said, “He may be only fifteen but his looks and strength are way beyond. I agree that it was an unfair choice.”
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  Kai sighed and said, “Maybe he’ll hold back. They might have a chance even if he doesn’t though. I know that he’ll tell them to attack him all together, right Katie?”

  There was no answer. Kai turned around to see her blushing badly. He sighed again as he had forgotten that she also had a crush on Zack.

  Zack spoke out, “Rules are simple. All of you come at me with everything you’ve got. Any type of attack is allowed. Based on your skill, your result will be decided. Now come at me, you second rate contractors.”

  That touched the nerve of some of them. They rushed at him together. They summoned their contracts and were about to strike him. There was a sudden flash and screams erupted.

  Zack had drawn out a sword so fast that many didn’t even get a glimpse of the blade cutting through his numerous opponents. He charged at the others before the first group had fallen to the ground.

  It was a massacre. A great number of contestants were drenched in pools of blood. He was taking them out in a single blow. Now only ten contractors remained. Zack seemed to realize that they were different from the rest, as he seemed to grip the sword tighter. Two of them moved in at the same time. Both of them had beast class contracts. He evaded the beast’s strikes with ease but just barely dodged the contractors, who had drawn daggers. But their second assault ended as soon as it had started. He seemed to teleport from one spot to the other and ended up striking at them from behind.

  He then turned to face the rest. There was a burst of fire that missed Zack by a whisker. He closed in on one of them but jumped high into the air as a bolt of lightning struck the ground at the spot where he had been standing. When he landed on the ground, he was surrounded on all sides.

  Steve shouted, “Yeah! They’ve got him at last.”

  Kai said, “Idiot, he hasn’t even brought out his contracts yet.”

  “Oh, yeah. Of course.”

  There was a strange light emitting from Zack’s hand. Then there was a whirlwind of fire around it. It disappeared to reveal a long sword, almost five feet long. The blood red blade with its black hilt bore the face of a golden phoenix with gleaming blue eyes.

  “There it is,” said Kai, “The Z-grade contract of the Titania family, The Phoenix Fire Sword in its initial stage. Those guys are goners.”

  Zack jumped into the air again and slashed his sword. Instantly, balls of flame rained down on his opponents. They braced themselves in vain. The overwhelming power of a Z-grade contract proved to be too much for them. When the smoke cleared, each of his adversaries lay unconscious on the ground. Zack yawned as he dispelled his sword. There was a moment of silence till some girls started cheering and the whole arena was murmuring.

  Sara said, “I would hardly call that fair. He didn’t kill anyone but you can’t expect rookie contractors to handle him. I have to object to grandpa about this unreasonable test.”

  Kai smirked. “Please wait till Zack is finished with every contestant, dear.”

  Zack realized it as well. On the far side of the arena was the boy wearing the cloak. Zack looked at him and said, “Why haven’t you attacked me yet?”

  The boy started walking towards Zack and said, “Because you only asked the second rate contractors to come at you, right?”

  Zack smirked. “And you’re not second rate?”

  The boy replied, “Why don’t you decide after I beat you?”

  There were some laughs and cheers from the audience.

  Zack drew his normal sword and rushed at the cloaked boy. He used his speed again to suddenly appear behind. There was a clash of metals as the mysterious boy blocked Zack’s attack with a sword of his own without even looking behind. Zack jumped back and said, “Alright, you’re better than the others. You could follow my movements.”

  Steve sat up straight and said, “That block is your technique, Kai. And that attitude of his shows that he’s your student.”

  Kai just smiled. The boy got ready to counter Zack once again. Zack said, “What’s your name? Maybe I’ll remember it.”

  The boy took off his cloak and said, “The name is Sora. And you better remember.”

  Katie looked closely at Sora and muttered, “That’s the guy from the bank!”

  Kai grinned and said, “His whole physique has changed. And he’s gotten a good tan as well.”

  The Sora from seven years ago was merely a shadow of the one in the arena. His broad shoulders, rounded muscles and tanned body showed a boy seasoned in training. A nasty scar on his left cheek lay beneath his dark, brown eyes.

  Sora pushed his short, wild, spiky black hair and drew another sword now. Everyone present, except Kai, was startled. Zack said, “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you summon your contract?”

  “I’ll do it when you summon yours. I want a fair fight.”

  Zack smirked and said, “I don’t need a contract to defeat crap like you. You’re just–”

  Zack was cut off as he blocked a strike from Sora with his sword. The floor beneath Zack cracked a little. Then from the corner of his eye, Zack saw a glint of metal. He jumped back to avoid the second sword from slashing him from below. Despite his efforts, he got a small cut on his chest. He examined the cut and scowled at him.

  “That good enough to make you summon your Phoenix Fire Sword?” Sora asked.

  Zack said, “You’ll regret ever making me do so.”

  Not wasting another second, he summoned his Z-grade contract. The Phoenix Fire Sword started pouring out seas of flames and Zack lashed it at Sora. It struck Sora and smoke covered the scene. But from the smoke, a strange light was emitting. Then the smoke was blown away by a strong wind.

  The whole arena was silenced with shock. Zack was staring at his adversary amazed. No one could doubt what he or she saw. Covered in soot, Sora was clutching the Wind Fangs, which no one mistook for anything other than a Z-grade contract. Steve’s stunned expression turned into a grin as he turned to Kai.

  “So that’s why you took interest in him. Though I never expected you to choose the kid you were in charge of protecting. Won’t you get in trouble?”

  Kai said, “The old man already knew. I made it clear to him that Sora was capable of handling his powers. We need that power to face the Dark Alliance in the future.”

  Meanwhile Zack, now far from jeering at Sora or baiting him, took a fighting stance. He sensed the ki emitted by Sora. It affected him similarly as the elites of the guild. He was palpitating, excited about fighting someone extremely strong. He wanted to fight Sora seriously, with all his strength.

  “Let’s do it!” Zack rushed at Sora with his contract forming a flaming whip. He lashed it at him as the air sizzled around it. Sora dodged with a quick back flip but the ground in front of him was cracked and burnt. He gave a low whistle as he narrowly dodged another crack from the flaming whip. This time Sora countered with his right sword. Zack lunged to the side as the ground was slashed apart. “Like my blind scythe attack?” Sora asked. But Zack replied with a torrent of flaming slashes.

  Sora launched himself high into the air as the ground sizzled beneath him. He raised both swords this time and slashed it. A gray ball launched itself from the swords. Zack had no space to dodge due to the ball’s abnormal size. So he took it head on with his own long sword. It crashed into him and the ground caved in. With a bang, Zack destroyed it but the sleeves of his clothes were torn in some places.

  Katie’s jaw had dropped, and she wasn’t the only one. She said, “Hang it! What the hell was that attack?” Steve muttered, “Highly compressed air, I think.”

  Kai said, “Yeah, the Wind Fangs is a contract which takes the air around it, compresses it with the user’s ki and sends out the attack. The blind scythe earlier used Sora’s ki to send slashes of wind towards the target. But that time, he aimed on making the air sharper rather than stronger. The air was compressed to a very thin and sharp form, making it seem invisible. But the last attack, the wind meteor, was all about strength. It was compressed so much that we could
see it. That high-pressure wind can cause great amounts of damage if not blocked. Hats off to Zack for taking it head on.”

  “You seem to know quite a lot about his fighting style,” said Sara as she watched the firework display caused by the gray and orange clash in the arena.

  “Well, obviously,” said Kai, as his hair was blown back due to the explosion caused by the two. “Who do you think sparred with him for five years? I know all his techniques.”

  Sora blocked Zack’s sword strike with his right sword and sent a crushing blow on his stomach using the left sword. But before he jumped back, Zack managed to cut Sora’s chest.

  Both of them were clutching wounds and were losing blood. But neither seemed ready to back down from the fight. They gritted their teeth and bore the pain as they continued.

  Katie asked in a worried tone, “Who do you think has the upper hand?”

  Kai thought for a moment, “It’s hard to say. Neither of them has used their trump cards yet.”

  “What?”

  “It’s true,” continued Steve. “Zack’s Phoenix Fire Sword is still in its initial stage. If he goes into the final stage, the fight might become one sided.”

  “So he’ll win, right?” asked Katie.

  Kai said, “Not if Sora uses his trump card. We’ve seen his reflexes, strength and technique. But he hasn’t shown his greatest attribute yet. In a year or so he might even surpass me in it. His greatest attribute is –”

  Sora suddenly vanished in a blink of an eye. The assault of flaming slashes sent by Zack only cut the air. Sora appeared right in front of him and Zack jumped back to avoid being slashed. But he was suddenly struck from behind. He fell to the floor and saw Sora standing behind him.

  “– his monstrous speed.”

  Many shrieked and gasped at the sudden turn of events. Others gaped at Sora. Steve laughed and said, “A split step! But it isn’t fast enough. There are plenty still faster than him, even in this guild. But Zack has faced faster opponents, and won too.”