Chains Of Pride

"Okay, guys listen I'm going to head back alright? See you tomorrow" Kia bid farewell to Lanzo and Gero before heading out of the room. The remaining two both left the room shortly after, heading home to get some rest and again absorb what happened today.

This wasn't the first time they did something like this, but it didn't happen a lot either. Just the first time they did it without any other help or instructions. So the whole fighting monsters was still a bit new to them all the same. "Man how long has it been since we started doing this?" Kia thought to himself on his way home while staring at the sky with a slightly carefree look.

"A couple of weeks, maybe? So I have powers now, hehe damn I feel like the protagonist a badly written novel or something" he jokingly thought to himself while continuing on his way.

"Hmph, I wonder what my little brother's up to, he told me about that new project of his, hopefully it goes well. Heh, I bet our parents wi-." His fists involuntarily tightened when he said this.

Kia was the oldest of two siblings, who received less than enough attention and emotions on a whole from his parents.

His younger brother Haru received the most attention. Being only 11 years of age yet able to attend Cendo Academy just like his older brother saw to that. A prodigy if ever there was one, the rank he held there was quite impressive as well.

Cendo Academy is a novare institution, a place where young ones could go to make their names known, and to further their path in their own field. The attendees for these institutions were not referred to as students like the archaic schools of old, but instead known as Digiums

The Digiums within the academy were placed in different ranks according to their breakthroughs and their contributions both on a global scale and to the Academy itself.

Cendo Academy was built on the artificial island Anctum and modified so it could only be accessed through the use of a teleportation hub.

These institutions were unique in their operations in that they provided very little teachings to their Digiums.

Though novare institutions might not provide that many teachings to their Digiums, they would instead provide specialised access to their cutting edge technology so that their Digiums could create or even pave the way for mankind to move forward in technological, theoretical or even medicinal attainments.

Kia had taken the teleportation hub to head back to the mainland and was doing something not done a lot these days. He was walking of all things! Getting his thoughts in order, thinking back when this all started.

"We've certainly gotten closer that's for sure, I wonder if I'd still be working on things like the Armis and stuff if I never agreed to that demon's request? Pfft, who am I kidding? Forced to is more like it. Still, a lot has changed these last few months."

3-months ago …

Cendo Academy, one of, if not, the most prestigious novare academy in the world. To show it's stance and displayed position as a neutral superpower, it was built out at sea in a part that touched no national border. The academy was built on Anctum an artificial island.

It featured its own international teleportation hub, something that major countries only had a limited number of. It was easy to see from this alone just how high the name Cendo stood in the minds of many people. This was owed in massive part to the fact that teleportation hubs were something created by Cendo Academy in the first place!

However, it was not only because of this that all major countries offered their consent regarding access to their country. No one wanted to be exempt from the beneficial advancements it could provide; thus, they all granted to the academy, the Cryptic Ingress Key or CIK for short.

It is here that we find Hokori Kia, stepping out of the teleportation hub and into Cendo Academy. He was on his way to his team's novre room. Novre rooms were where the Digiums could work and come up with ideas that made Cendo remain on top. His novre room was located within the Engineering dept in the Eastern District.

"I swear, no matter how long I'm here I'll still never get used to how big this damn place is. 'Sigh.' One of these days, I'm gonna take a walk through one of the forests here and just get lost, and relax" Kia stated, with a casual look while his eyes scanned the Academy.

"Ah, there we go, the bike station" Since Cendo Academy was so big easily housing 90,000 + Digiums, vehicles were used to get to the various locations.

The 'bike' was a popular form of transport here. It was a unique hover-based vehicle in the style of the motorbikes of old. They could reach speeds in excess of 380 mph; however, no accidents took place since they were all operated on autopilot via the Academy's island-wide AI, the Omni -Purpose Managerial Navigation Interface also known as OMNI.

He had just taken a bike from the hub when he noticed other digiums staring at him, they turned their heads away when he looked in their direction. Their eyes were filled with disdain and a bit of scorn.

"I guess the eyes of everyone here will never change" 'sighs' "It's not like I mind anyway. Engineering dept's bike hub, terminal velocity." The minute he spoke, the handles of the bike scanned his fingerprints to verify his identity. It then encased where he sat to protect him from the G-force and sped away.

Kia arrived at the engineering dept after exiting the bike hub. Quickly making his way to building C where his novre room was located. When he came, he saw his two other partners inspecting the modifications he had made to a battle suit. They quickly glanced in his direction with the same look as everyone else before turning back to the suit.

"Heh Red Creep! I gotta say you might be one weird guy, but the mods you've done on this thing are something else!" A B-Class Digium, Tiel, one of his teammates couldn't help but comment when he scanned the increased specs of the suit.

'Red Creep' was a nickname Kia acquired for himself. His unpredictable mannerism and detached demeanour became a poison to his social life, coupled with the fact that he is also a part of the prodigious A-Class Digiums, skyrocketed his fame and his unlikeable qualities in tandem.

This caused him to be ostracised in turn, yet you could say that he didn't particularly mind either. He simply went about his days without batting an eye and paid no heed to anyone or anything. An act that those around found nearly as annoying as his venomous tongue.

Tiel staring at the blade, continued saying, "Is this a blade? Kinda old school ain't it? Oh, I get it, it's a plasma blade, okay that's nice. Man, you got a thing for swords you know that?"

Kia expressionlessly stared at them before commenting "Tiel when's the last time you and Miyata added anything to the prototype?" Kia expressionlessly asked.

"Why the hell would you compare us to a freak like you?" Miyata indignantly replied. Miyata was another B-Rank Digium and the remaining team member.

However, his cries weren't wholly baseless, though Kia was a bit anti-social, his achievements in mechatronics were astounding with very few peers. Managing to reach A-Class in this field was indeed worthy of praise.

However, this doesn't mean his partners were without merit, as they were quite exemplary in this field as well, both reaching B Class, which is why they were recommended to work with Kia by the Academy.

They were paired up with Kia by a Shepherd, Shepherds held a unique position at Cendo Academy, they were not exactly teachers (as novare institutions didn't have those). Still, they could impart some guidance, and they wielded massive authority and influence within the academy.

Kia glared at Miyata for a moment before asking, "who the hell are you calling a freak you box midget?" Miyata was short and fat; however, his fat didn't give him a rounded appearance like one would expect, but a more squarish one instead. Because of this, Kia would call him box midget from time to time, enraging him. "Box midget your face you anti-social back wart!"

Even Tiel was slightly shocked by that last line "Anti-social back wart? What the hell does that even mean?!"

"It's the only thing I could come up with at the time!" Miyata replied, who stared angrily in Kia's direction, who gazed back at him with no changes in his expression.

However, Kia soon ignored him and replied to their earlier statement "Still I'm glad you like the changes I made, this should allow for greater dexterity without much loss in strength."

Hearing his reply the duo's expression changed as they couldn't help but think, "this guys mannerisms changes too quick! One minute he's spouting non-caring insults and the next he's delving into the research?" Still, they came to understand him somewhat, apart from his sharp tongue he wasn't that hard to work with as well, so they soon forgot about it and promptly went back to their work.