"You thieving scum."
The moment the word reached him. Dean didn't stop at first even though he felt the approach from behind.
"Thief…!" the voice called again, alongside stomping sounds.
Dean's thoughts snapped into place quickly.
'Thief?'
'Who did I steal from?'
He was going through his mental gears, when it clicked.
"…Oh."
His body moved as the boy behind him was close enough. The hand that came for his head was now over his shoulders.
Dean had shifted instinctively. He didn't move back nor forward. But with just a slight turn of his torso, he made the hand miss his head woefully, as it slid past his right shoulder.
Dean easily caught the wrist mid-motion. He twisted and stepped in even as he pulled hard on the hand.
The attacker's balance broke instantly. His feet left the ground as Dean turned his hips and flipped him clean over his shoulder.
THUD.
The impact echoed across the clearing even as dust rose.
The crowd staggered back like a ripple. Eyes staring in shock.
Dean's lips curled into a smirk for a second, but he didn't follow up the throw. He just stood there, holding the black box in one hand.
His expression was calm and unbothered, as if nothing had happened.
Rogue groaned, pushing himself up quickly with shaking arms.
Dean had controlled the strength of his movements. It wasn't hard enough to set the boy up for immediate hip surgery. But it was just enough for him to understand how stupid it was to approach someone like him from behind.
Rogue snarled, face flushed red with humiliation, as if he were going to explode. "You thief! You stole my wallet!"
Dean squinted as he tilted his head slightly. Acting confused. He then spoke calmly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
His face was perfectly still and unreadable. The perfect poker face for someone who grew up facing this exact situation daily before he became a competitive fighter.
But..
From beneath the shade of a black umbrella. A girl watched closely.
Her red eyes glinting, but she didn't look at Dean. All she did was listen.
And his heartbeat skipped. Just once. Mid his denial.
Her lips curved. 'Liar'
Dean didn't notice her. He kept his poker face as he watched Rogue pick up what seemed like a pocket watch with a glowing crystal from the ground.
Instinctively, Dean looked at the black box in his hand as he recalled what he had heard earlier.
'So mine is for ranked candidates, but why only me?'
It didn't take long for him to conclude. He was actually the only one here with an invitation for re-evaluation.
The others were here for a different purpose. After all, the blond idiot who was now charging at him had been successful during their summoning ceremony.
Dean's eyes narrowed as he tracked Rogue's left hook. He stepped inside swiftly, even as his head weaved under the strike.
His arms were now brought closer to his body as his right hand balled into a fist that was aimed as a right hook towards Rogue's lower jaw.
"These idiots… they would wake her."
The man in the empty booth growled as his body blurred off.
He appeared between Rogue and Dean. His clawed hands clamped down on both their shoulders simultaneously.
Immediately, he touched them. A powerful verge pressure streamed down the bodies of the boys. Stopping them in their tracks.
Rogue had crashed down on his knees on the ground. His body looking like spaghetti.
[Sage Circuit Active]
[The effect has activated and eliminated the foreign verge from your body.]
Dean remained standing, as Dex felt his own energy recoil back into his hand instantly.
"What the—?"
The werewolf's yellow eyes narrowed as hard lines formed above his brow.
"Dex… be gentle," the voice of the woman who was directing the participants called from the side.
Dex was about to withdraw his hold on them when his nose caught something. He sniffed the air slightly.
"Rage?" he muttered as his eyes looked down to see Dean's already darkened expression, staring up at him.
But Dean's anger wasn't what bothered the werewolf right now.
'Stupid brats already woke her,' Dexter cursed, as he sensed it before everyone else.
It wasn't what he sensed from Dean, but something else entirely. Something he was familiar with and the others would soon.
Even while the rage that had been building in Dean's chest since Dex's hand came down on his shoulder built up, pending eruption.
An incredible pressure arrived. The pressure didn't need any build up. It simply fell on everyone there like a blanket.
It wasn't the type that hoped to crush your will like Dex's did to Rogue. Neither was it hostile. Just a presence that needed no introduction.
The kind that made you understand, without words, that you were an ant compared to them.
Dean felt his anger evaporate like it was never there.
Around him, nobody was moving. The participants who had been rubbernecking the skirmish between him and Rogue had gone completely still.
Even the vampires had lowered their umbrellas slightly like they forgot to hold them up.
Rogue, who was still on his knees in the dirt, had stopped cussing entirely.
Dex exhaled slowly beside him.
Then she walked out of the tree line. No fireworks, no dramatic entrance. Just a gap appearing in the dense brush at the edge of the clearing that nobody had been paying attention to.
The woman stepping through it looked like she'd been napping back there and the noise had finally gotten on her nerves.
She had short, silver hair. Braided across the top of her head. Her red eyes that didn't look angry, just barely awake.
She was wearing a white, slightly over sized, long-sleeved shirt and maroon pants. Looking as if she'd just rolled out of bed, grabbed whatever was closest, and decided it was fine.
She yawned.
'was she…'
"Dex." Her voice was melodious and unhurried. "My swords."
Dex was already moving before she finished saying it.
Dean watched the man who had casually almost suppressed a clearing full of summoners, sprint toward a wooden shack like he was late for an interview.
He returned in a matter of seconds, carrying a long wooden case that he opened and presented with both hands and a slight bow.
She took the twin swords from inside the box without looking at him.
Holding them loosely at her sides, one in each hand. The blades caught the warm light of the clearing as something glinted on the guard of each one.
There was an insignia etched into the metal that made Dean's eyes narrow softly.
'I've seen that before.'
He was still trying to place it when the tree line behind her started moving.
The tall trees that had been completely still since they arrived cracked apart, separating even as something enormous shifted between them and unfolded.
Massive crimson wings unfurled, causing the woods to groan as the canopies trembled, sending a simple message to everyone present in the clearing.
"Be afraid. Be very afraid"
They were standing before a familiar that would end them without breaking a sweat.
The crowd reacted immediately, and in different ways. Some gasped even as others stepped back as if they were dreaming, and Dean could have sworn he heard someone praying near-by.
Dean didn't really pay close attention to all of it. He just stared at her.
He watched her roll her shoulders once as she checked the grip on both swords casually and then looked up at the dragon that now towered over everything, casting a long, menacing shadow.
'If only i didn't look like a shrimp,' Dean thought sarcastically while staring at his seventeen year old hands.
A/N: C'mon don't be a ghost reader, if you're enjoying the story, add to Library and support with Powerstones. I need the P.Stones to gain more traction. Help a new Author. Thank you...