The World We Do Not Know 99 Elemental Stones

"But you told us that you cannot use any spiritual power! So how is this now?" Tsumugi asks him with a poker face.

"Oh! I don't know. This stone chose me when I took the awakening.

"Most of the people don't know about the black stone. But long back, a black stone user used to live in this house. Did any of you ever heard about it?" The expressions of Tsumugi changes as she talks. An unwanted past is running in her head.

"We all know that there used to be a black stone user back in the day. That's all we know." Rachel hesitantly mutters in a low voice, unsure of what is happening.

"His name is Ares.!"

The atmosphere around Faust changes as soon as he hears the name. His breathing gets harder and his hair falls over his eyes as he tilted his head down.

"I have never heard that name." Rachel wonders, antic.i.p.ating the next words from Tsumugi's mouth.

"They say that when a person uses black stone, he is taken over by an ent.i.ty and his soul sinks deep into dark pits." Tsumugi explains to her kids.

Everyone in the room other than Faust gets shocked by what they heard.  Do these elemental stones even have such properties? Aren't they just stones that are filled with energy? Thoughts of everyone js going wild.

Faust on the other side clenched his fists so tightly that his right thumb pierced into his palm, making his hand bleed that goes unnoticed by everyone.

"I never thought the elemental stones to have a mind or personality of their own! Now that I think of the possibility, it is creeping me out." Rachel says while looking at the green stone that is on her sniper rifle.

"It is said that 'Elemental Stones' are not to fall in the hands of humans. They are present in every other dimension than ours. There should be a reason for it as well. It is connected with our spirits." Tsumugi utters with her emotionless face.

"Well, that is for another day to think about! We are getting late for training. Let's go do that first than talking about something that is out of our reach." Faust says with a carefree smile.

"Yes yes! Think about ourselves now! Something like that is the concern for the research people." Fab too helps Faust in easing up the atmosphere and all of them heads towards the training grounds.

They all go into a building. Where people are working on virtual screens. "You guys are late." As soon as Faust enters, Thorik lashes out in a strict voice.

"Being pa.s.sionate only is not enough. Tons of hard work with pa.s.sion is what helps you achieve your dreams." Thorik behaves like a proper general. He is dressed in a long black coat with a skull badge on one side of his collar.

Behind him is the same female that acted c.o.c.ky in the morning, when Faust approached Thorik. He noticed that the girl is wearing a strange outfit.  She is wearing a black miniskirt with a black suit. Her suit has the name 'Yuki' printed on it. Same as Faust's cloak.

Faust realised that she is a captain like him. "Ok" Thorik gathers Faust's squad to explain a few things.

He attaches a small coin-sized tool onto their armours. "Channel your spiritual energy into the tool before going into the training grounds." He explains about the tool.

"And an important rule! This is a duel between two houses at a time! Depending on your present house rank, either the opponent team or your team gets to go inside the training grounds to take their positions." Thorik tells them about the rules.

The two houses which are going to battle against each other, the key thing, that decides which team gets to go inside the battlefield to take positions is the team that is currently leading in the house rankings.

"Oh! Which rank are we on? 4 or 5? It's okay I'm ready! Drop us in." Jonathan claps his hands and stretches his arms being excited to go in and kill.

"Your house is currently last in the rankings of each branch." Thorik elaborates.

"Oh it's okay, I will let you guys go in first. I don't mind." Jonathan holds himself back, without letting the humiliation getting to him.

"Let me tell you in brief about what you need to do. You will be teleported into a different s.p.a.ce. You will be given a small City, where both sides of yours will be holding three main buildings in which treasures are stored."

"You will be given a virtual contacts to one of your eyes, where you can see the whole map virtually. Plunder those treasures of opponent teams or protect yours from them. Or importantly, eliminate all four of the other side, which will also work well." Thorik explains the rules.

"Heh! For your info on the team, I will be a sniper, so look out for your heads." A guy wearing gla.s.ses from Yuki's squad advice to Faust. All of Yuki's squad are grinning at Faust and his squad, not being able to wait to hunt their prey, they go inside.

The first round of the purge is a four vs four of two houses. Each side will be put into a city in between a number of buildings. In the far corners of the map, each team is given three buildings with a treasure box, one in each of the three buildings. 

The treasure boxes here are huge rocks. The opposite team needs to attack and break the rocks. And inside the rocks are elemental stones, the real treasure. A team needs to break all three rocks exposing the elemental stones of the opponent to win the match or kill all four of the opposite team.

The players are given two virtual s.h.i.+elds. One of the s.h.i.+elds is body s.h.i.+eld which, when broken, the player is eliminated. The other is defensive s.h.i.+eld which is around the players at all times.

The coin-sized metal tool is attached to all of the players before entering the field, in which a small amount of Yellowstone is present. When the spiritual power is released into the tool, no matter what attributes one person has, the Yellowstone is automatically activated producing an invisible s.h.i.+eld around their bodies.

And after Thorik's team entered the training grounds. Faust and his squad are sent in to fight.

"Dead! Faust, eliminated!" A computerized voice resonates.