Many weeks ealier, the day of the attack on the Allario academy.
Xenon was furious as he screamed into his phone. "What do you mean my brother is dead?" he demanded as he had just received news of the assault failing rather spectacularly. He screamed into the phone at one of the leaders who somehow survived the unprecedented battle.
Malachai let out an exhausted sigh as he dealt with his boss. "We underestimated the strength of the enemy magi in the academy," Malachai began to explain as they drove away from the academy. Over eighty percent of their forces were lost. All because of those damned wolves. "Sir, we arrived, and everything was going well. We were slaughtering all the Magi as instructed by Cedrion. We arrived at the grand arena itself and were stopped there," Malachai explained.
"What do you mean, stopped there? Who stopped you?" Xenon asked, his voice low and menacing as he listened to Malacahi's report.
"Sir, I don't know. It were two students. Both were wolf-shifters," Malachai said as he relived the nightmare of that assault. They were told there wouldn't be any students of worthwhile strength attending this year. The staff would be too busy trying to evacuate as many students as possible during the operation, so there wouldn't be anyone of worthwhile skill or strength to oppose them.
Xenon almost dropped his phone as he heard those words. "That's impossible. Cedrion wiped out the last of the wolf shifter clans nearly eighteen years ago," Xenon protested. It wasn't possible that there still existed two young adult shifters with that cursed bloodline in them.
Malachai grimaced at the reminder, he had been apart of that operation back in the day as well. "I remember sir, I was there as well. But I promise you. There were two student wolf shifters that stalled the forces for time. They alone were responsible for over half of our forces that died." Malachai went to explain in detail the rest of what happened that day. How it looked like the shifters were on the ropes, almost killed by Cedrion when the old wolf appeared.
"This old wolf, killed my brother?" Xenon asked for confirmation. He needed a target for whom to hunt down personally. This wolf would not live for long.
Malachai nodded, even though Xenon couldn't see him through the phone. "Yes sir. The wolf ripped his head clean off," Malachai swallowed hard at the memory. His boss did not deserve such a brutal and horrible death. Not that of a warrior, but screaming in fear and pain. Malachai swore that he would get vengeance for his boss when he next met that damned wolf.
Xenon rubbed his eyes. This was the last thing he expected to deal with. How could his powerful and skilled brother lose so easily? They had the secret intel, and man power. There should have been minimal losses with the plan he had come up with, Cedrion.
"When you report back to base, I want you to do a deep dive on that cursed academy. Find out everything about the staff and the students there. Then compile the list down further into the top three targets. That old wolf and the two student shifters. I will get in contact with our sister agencies, and we will prepare for an all-out assault on that damned academy. He would personally see to it that it burns down to the ground.
Malachai heard the venom and hatred in his boss's voice. The staff at the academy may have thought they had a victory in killing Cedrion. But, they just awakened a far more horrible beast in Xenon. Xenon was the cold, calculating, brutal monster that all good folk fear. He wouldn't simply just go after the academy. But the families and loved ones of everyone involved were now a target. There would be a full-scale war coming for those at the Allario Academy. He felt goosebumps on his arms and a chill ran up his spine at the knowledge of what was to come.
"Yes sir, I will compile a list of names and information for our agents to move on. I will reach out to the sister agencies in other nations to coordinate when the time arrives," Malachai said, confirming the orders he was given. This would time some time to ge set up, but once everything was in place, unholy hell would descend on that academy.
"According to the information our source gave us, they will be hosting the students from Daedalus academy for their inter-academy tournament. We must have everything in place by then to unleash hell upon them all and take out two government-supported academies at the same time," Xenon declared, his intentions being made crystal clear.
"We need to assemble the largest force possible that we can to do this," Malachai said, his deep voice rumbling through the receiver. He had a grin spread wide on his face as the drive took another sharp turn. They would get vengeance for master Cedrion's death, and the death of their forces today. It won't be today, it won't be tomorrow. But soon, soon they will get vengeance and the world will burn.
"That is the plan, dear Malachai. I will assemble every last member and launch untold devastation down from the heavens to punish the infidel shifters and those that support them. This is a holy mission from God, my dear Malachai. Soon we will continue the mission given to us by Ares himself. To bathe this world in war and death!" Xenon declared with zealot fervor. They would continue the mission given to them generations ago by the god Ares.
"Return to base and begin research, we will need to plan things accordingly," Xenon said before he hung up the phone. He sat at his desk and his fury was immense. He lost his brother on this day, his freaking twin. He must have gotten careless in dealing with those wolves. But he, he would avenge him and burn that damned school to the ground. He grabbed the phone and started dialing a number for a certain agency in the south.
"Da" the voice responded as it answered the other end. It was deep and thickly accented.
"We need to talk," Xenon said without any introduction. It was time to get this party started.