Chapter 8: A New Home

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"Ouch"

Dean was getting healed by the healing staff in a room within the colosseum after his fight, with Serena having a stern stance and scorning behaviour "This is what happens when you fight so recklessly! Don't you care about yourself at all?!" she said while keeping scolding him, with Dean having a poker face and wishing deep inside for that scolding to end.

"It's okay Serena. He just wanted to have a passionate b-" tried Helen to calm her down with a smiling face, only to have Serena's wrath falling upon her too much to her shock and dismay

"Grr" growled Serena "Don't try to-" she tried to say, only to be interrupted by the staff.

"You are ready to return to the arena." said one of the men.

"Thank you very much." said the trio while bowing thankful and then headed out.

"Ah, good as new!" commented Dean excited while rotating his left hand.

"Yeah, same here." commented a happy Helen and then, Serena touched her on the shoulder, with both stopping and being further away from Dean who was late on noticing it.

"Dean, please go ahead and we will soon come after we finish our talk, ok?" asked Serena, with Dean then nodding and walking away.

"Alright, but don't be late." he said as he was walking, leaving the two of them alone and then Serena looked Helen in the eye.

"I will ask you something and you better be honest." demanded Serena serious while looking at her "Are you in love with Dean?" she asked without hesitation, with Helen's eyes widening for a moment and then looked at Serena determined.

"Yes, I love Dean! I have fallen for him at the first second I saw him fight back there. You love him too, right? Know this though; I will fight for his love and won't back down! If you love him too, let's see who will make it in the end, fair and square!" declared Helen passionately, with Serena then walking for the arena.

"I accept the challenge. I still consider you a friend but also a rival, even though you have zero chances." she said while turning her head and smiling cockily, with Helen giving a fired up smile as an answer.

Afternoon came

All the participants were at the arena as the announcer came "The Magic Knight Entrance Exams are now over. Now, the participants will be announced by their registered number and both the present and absent captains will decide if they want you or not." said the referee, with Dean and the girls being anxious "Participant 1" shouted the referee, with Kek stepping up to the center of the arena. "Do we have any hands?" the announcer ask the captains. After a moment of pause the Captains of the Golden Dawn, Crimson Lions and Silver Eagles all raised their hands to the shock of most participants and he then took a breath.

"I choose Golden Dawn!" he declared, with the captain grinning in satisfaction.

After a while "Next, participant 13" shouted the referee. Kaens stepped up for his turn. "Do we have any hands?" He asked the captains.

After a momentary pause, the Captain of the Violet Orca raised her hand, despite Dean and the girls being in the back of the arena they still couldn't see what she looked liked with them only able to see her raised palm appearing barely above the stand "I go to...Violet Orca?" he asked confused, with the hand trembling for some reason.

Then came Chitsuki's turn, with her being high and mighty in her belief that she will go to one of the top squads and then, she saw only the Captain of the Green Mantis squad raising her hand "Are you kidding me?!" she thought disappointed. After three rejected participants, it was Eos' turn to appear and for her, the top three squad captains raised their hands, with her choosing the Crimson Lions to the Captain's satisfaction.

A lot of hour passed, with many being those that didn't make it and then another number was heard "Next, participant 137" said the announcer, with Dean's hair standing up from anxiety and then stepped up "Do we have any hands?" and much to his own and most people's suprise, the captains of Black Bulls, Coral Peacocks and Violet Orcas raised their hands, with most participants being amazed as it was the majority of the present Captains.

Dean then looked at the Black Bulls captain "I want to join the Black Bulls!" he announced, with the captain then smiling in excitement, with Dean smiling too along with the girls that were happy too and the rest of participants being unable to comprehend that decision.

Next, Serena stepped up "Do we have any hands?" and the captain of the Crimson Lion, Azure Deer and Black Bulls raised their hands "I want to join the Black Bulls." she said too, with her too causing confusion over her choice.

Then came Helen's turn, "Do we have any hands?" asked the announcer. After a momentary pause she received several raise hands belonging to the captain of Blue Rose, Green Mantis, Golden Dawn, Violet Orca and the Black Bull. The most number of captains to raise their hands for a participant.

She then looked at Dean and Serena for a moment "I choose the Black Bulls!" she said smiling, earning the shock of everyone present and then went to the others, with the three of them high-fiving happy.

The exams were over.

Dean along with the girls were waiting outside the arena "It's good to be the three of us together in the same squad!" said a happy Helen, with the others smiling but then, Dean had a thoughtful and curious face.

"By the way Helen, why did you join the Black Bulls? You could enter any other squad." said a realized Dean, with her becoming nervous.

"Well, the other squads that wanted me seemed terrifying and since we became friends, I decided to tag along? Isn't it great though? For the three-" she tried to say, but a boy with blonde hair and amber eyes that was wearing wearing a black or grey suit with white pinstripes and a white undershirt with a black tie and on top, he had a black tunic with gold trimmings and a bull symbol that was approaching them with a friendly aura.

"Now, Itake it you are the new recruits?" The young man asked the trio. "It's nice to meet you three. I'm Kai Elio, one of the two Vice Captains of the Black Bulls." His voice was calm, warm yet casual and friendly.

"Yes, we are Dean, Serena and Helen. Nice to meet you too, sir Kai!" said Dean while introducing everybody and then had a curious look while looking around "Um, excuse me, but where is the captain? We were told to wait for him here." said Dean a little bit confused by the captain's absence.

"Knowing him, he's probably grabbing something to drink or gambling." replied Kai with a 'meh' tone to his voice, giving the feeling its a regular occurrence for the captain. "You three give off a good amount of magic power, I'm curious to what i missed while handling some matters. Of course, captain doesn't recruit just anyone."

"I hope we won't disappoint you sir, but you are a vice captain, and you show such a warm and yet fierce aura that I highly doubt we will seem impressive to you at all." replied Helen politely with a tone of uncertainty "shouldn't we try to find the captain though? If he is still as drunk as he was at the exams, then maybe something happened to him!" she said concerned, with the others sharing that feeling.

Kai let out a small chuckle after hearing the new recruit's concern. "Well, thank you for the compliments. As for the Captain, as drunk as he was, eh, he's most likely okay so don't worry too much. If you think I'm strong, he's a whole other class." Kai said before turning around and facing another direction. "His magic power is radiating from this direction, so he's not too far."

"T-This is his magic power?!" wondered Serena who became shocked upon sensing it, sweating in fear and trembling "If this is it with him being casual, how monstrous it can become when fighting?" she wondered in woe and despair, with Dean touching her on the shoulder to calm her down somewhat, even though he sweated too upon sensing it.

"This is how it should be though." said Dean "From what you say, he seems way too carefree for a captain, but if we want to become stronger as Magic Knights, having such a powerful captain can be inspirational." he said while looking at the captain's direction and then looked at Kai in the eyes "Sir Kai, I want to know, how it feels to be in Black Bulls? I heard many times that you are a squad of failures that only mess things up, but judging from you, there must be something good in all that darkness, whether it really exists or not." he asked dead serious to the suprise of the girls.

"Well, we are what we are. Just a bunch of wild idiots who no one can stand except for each other. We're indeed all failures. But, in defeat and failure comes experience and strength." Kai responded kindly as he was used to hearing such claims. It was no secret how the kingdom viewed the bulls, but he didn't seem to mind it in the slightest. "Frankly, no one else, Crimson Lions, Silver Eagles, not even the Golden Dawn can compete with what we are." He then looked at all three of them. "Let's find the Captain, shall we?"

The four of them were walking, with their direction having a lot of people roaming despite the exams being over and then, Dean began talking "I'm thinking what you said and I don't care much about public appearances. If the Black Bulls is a place we can call a new home and family, then I don't care if it is seen as a gathering of delinquents, even though we will try hard to not soil it's name further." he said while ending up having a warm smile and then, the four of them stopped at their destination.

It was a local bar, bustling with loud noises as if they were throwing a party, with many coming out heavily drunk, barely able to stand on their feet. Waiting outside of the building was a tall, slim and attractive woman with gold eyes and black shoulder length hair wearing pink lipstick and has smooth skin that could be considered attractive or even beautiful with a rather luscious curve with an almost hourglass figure body wearing a highly revealing and open fur collared long coat that mostly covers over her breasts and reaches down to her legs with the bottom part cut in half, with heart shaped buttons, very short shorts with a heart on it, and thigh high boots while also wearing signature robe of the black bulls. The woman turned over to their direction and noticed Kai.

"I'm assuming the Captain is in there?" Kai asked the woman not all that surprise of their Captain's whereabouts. "Guys, this is Alana, she's a fellow member of the Black Bulls. Alana these are our newest recruits."

Helen then stepped up "I'm Helen, and this is Dean and Serena, thank you for having us, ma'am!" she exclaimed while bowing after introducing herself and the others, with the others also bowing in respect towards their senior.

Alana looked over to the new recruits and bowed her head towards them. "A pleasure, I'm the captain's aid and assistant." She included in her introduction. She then looked over to Kai. "Yes, I'm afraid he is. He got thirsty and came for a drink, Itried to pull him away to meet the recruits, but he insisted there's plenty of time for that. Now, he's drinking more and flirting with the waitresses while he's at it. Honestly, I think that's the most multitasking I've seen him do." She said while turning over to the building.

"He sure knows how to enjoy his life, it seems..." replied a nervous Helen who couldn't believe how easygoing and carefree the captain was. "However, since we are finally here, can't we finally meet him? Since he can multitask, I believe he can meet us while enjoying these...hobbies?" asked Helen.

"Ahhh." Kai groaned as waled forward. "I'll go get him, Alana watch the kids." Kai ordered before walking into the bar.

Dean and the girls were anxious to finally meet the captain up close, with their anxiety growing as they were hearing the footsteps of three people coming "this is it" said Dean prepared for anything.

Kai came out of the building, struggling to drag the Black Bull Captain out by the arm as a tall muscular man with red messy shoulder-length hair which appears wavy and slicked back and has sharp, narrow black eyes with three scars across his left eye and a stubbly beard. His clothing is all torn and rugged lacking any grandeur of high class which includes a long, black, high-collared and tattered cape over his shoulders, a white colored shirt which is only half buttoned, leaving part of his chest exposed. As the captain of the Black Bull squad, he wears his banner differently as his own banner with the Black Bull insignia placed on the center of his cape, is dragged out of the building. "Hahaha, don't go wandering too far, I'll be back another time, unless you want to finish this at my place, hahahaha! hick." He said to the waitress that followed them out heavily drunk as he chugged more from the cup he had in his spare hand. The waitress giggled at his comment and walks away to return to work. "Geez Kai, why'd...hick, why'du pull me out like that? I was this close to scoring with a real hottie!" He whined to his vice captain barely able to stand on his feet.

"For one, it's her job to find what you say entertaining so you spend more. Secondly, we still have all the new recruits still wanting to meet you old man." Kai replied as he continued to pull the drunk captain out from the bar. "You recruited them, time to actually get to know them."

The captain looked over at the new recruits "Hmm?" and squinted his eyes trying to see them accurately through his dull vision. "Hahahaha, ah, I get it." He said after bursting out from laughter and quickly gulped down the rest of his booze. "Gahhh!" Once he finished he tossed the mug away and stood up straight to face his new recruits. "Sorry about that, I get carried away when I see women like these. Hahaha! Anyways, nice to meet ya newbies, my name's Korag Gildamesh and from here on out, I will be your captain." He informed them in a serious yet confident mood, completely opposite from the drunken state he was in seconds ago.

Dean and the girls were tense when they saw him up close and personal, only to smile and having a serious stance "Thank you for having us,Captain!" they shouted full of  honest enthusiasm.

"I think I've kept you waiting long enough. Let's take you to the base." He insisted and looked over to Alana "Alana." He signaled to her. Alana pulled out her grimore and flipped over a few pages until it stopped at a certain page. The book glowed and opened up a spatial gate. "Alright, let's head in." He said as he went through the gate followed by everyone else. On the other side was a dark forest with an old castle. The castle consists of multiple stories made entirely out of stone bricks that appear to have been worn out for centuries. It has a large number of windows and a single wooden gate for an entrance. "Welcome to the headquarters of the Black Bulls."

"So this...is the Black Bulls Base"  murmured Serena amazed at the castle's view "It's quite a sight."

"Not that bad for a new home, right Dean?" asked a smiling Helen while ending up looking at Dean whose gaze was fixated on the base.

"Are you kidding me? It's so cool!" he exclaimed with an unusual for him level of excitement "It has a feel of epicness as it is a castle but at the same time, this visible on it age has a mix of coolness and romance. Now this..." he said while raising his hands wide in the air "...is a new home!" he declared happy, with the girls smiling.