Tension

The assembly was held in the great hall. It was called regarding the championship. The headmaster was standing centre stage, calling names that were listed on the delicate-looking, translucent tablet.  Krystal was suprised to hear Tao and Sehun's names when she was walking down the isle. Tao paused by the staircase as soon as he saw Krystal heading towards him. He glared at her with aggravation. However, he was pushed forward by Sehun shortly afterwards, who was quite keen to greet her and walk her up the stairs. Sehun flashed his flirtatious smile when Krystal was turning right and about to walk up the grand staircase. Krystal frowned at the milky white-skinned boy, shaking her head slightly and then letting out a small chuckle. The boy was fond of himself - he his luxurious, ochre hair and skipped up the steps cheerfully. He was followed by another figure who's body was much more masculine and mature. He had healthy, golden-brown skin, kissable plump lips and a defined jawline, meaning that he had many admirers or people who were jealous of his perfection. Despite the fact that he was a hybrid, he still got a great deal of love confessions from both Dellavians and Humans. The trainees all ambled up the staircase and lined up consecutively after declaration. There were two remenants in the junior team, and five in the senior team.

The first row was seated by the professors and governors. Each of them would only be allowed one vote, and would elect the most suitable and capable candidates. However, the discussions were already secretly made beforehand in the meeting room, and they now just needed to simply type the names into their tablets. The light started to dim down.

The spotlights shone down upon the two hybrids - a charcoal haired boy and a platinum haired girl. She tried to overshadow her exposed eye and he scrunched up his eyes as the light was extremely bright. The screen displayed both of their names at the same time - presented in splendor. The audience cheered, yet in some ways it sounded like they were decrying and jeering at them. Krystal her bottom lip. Her eyes whirled to the left, checking on her other teammate, Kai. As usual, he looked deadpan and impassive.

Momentarily, the drum starts rolling, the footfalls starts stomping as the last pair of nominees were about to be informed. The bright beam of lights finally landed on two females, one looking a lot younger than the other. The older one had a plum shade of hair. Krystal thought that if her eyeliner was reflecting her personality then she would probably be an aggressive person. On the other hand, the younger one looked the complete opposite of her. She was rather deficient and weaker looking. Her facial expression when the light hit it showed that she was a nervous and timid girl. Krystal gazed at her sympathetically, feeling sorry for her as she was simply too young and fragile to be nominated for this brutal game.

"I oppose." A hand was suddenly raised up in the air as he took a step forward.

Everyone shifted their gaze at the young man, who slowly put his hands back down by his side.

"What is it?" The headmaster looked slightly troubled and concerned of what the trainee was going to say.

"One of the nominees is underage." He spoke resolutely.

Everyone gasped and started whispering in the background. The head of the governors stood up from his seat and shouted, "Nonsense, we never make mistakes. You have no idea what you're talking about. Get back into postion." His face was as red as a tomato, and his gestures showed that he was very uncomfortable and indignant about the situation.

"No, I do know what I'm talking about. This girl is twelve until April, but the minimum age requirement for Championship is thirteen. The event starts at the beginning of next month which is March, exactly a week after today." He pointed at the young girl, who nodded slightly and pursed her lips together nervously. The murmuring in the audience had now taken place at a louder degree. The governors and professors looked troubled - some lowered their heads as they felt guilty of their behavior, yet some looked persistent or shameless.

"Yeah!" Sehun said, right next to Krystal. He raised both of his hands up whilst cheering along as well. Everyone in the audience "booed", throwing thumbs upside down and causing a disarray. However, the first row of people didn`t. They kept quiet, glaring and whispering words in each others' ears whilst using their hands to cover the cacophony. One of the governors cleared her voice in an irritated manner. She stood up and spoke, regardless of the noise in the background.

"The process of the discussion is time consuming. Besides, the forms- "

"Then may I volunteer myself to be the last nominee?" He cut in halfway through. It could be judged that he was being rude and disrespectful towards her, though he asked politely at the same time. He smiled at the governor who widened her eyes. In fact, she wasn't the only who was shocked. Sehun dropped his jaw, and so did Tao. Krystal snapped her head over to D.O who was still looking ahead, as if he wasn't going to regret what he had said in front of the hundreds watching. Kai wouldn't have expected him to neither participate nor volunteer for it, because he knew that he was the son of the Head governor. None of the parents in the whole world would send their children to take this hazardous risk, no one. From his knowledge, he knew that D.O was the only son in the family, and the only one who could pass down the family roots. However, the issue that was bothering him was why D.O volunteered. What was he aiming for? Was it just for show, or was he irritating his father deliberately? Kai pondered on these questions in his mind, analyzing his thoughts. He came up with no conclusion.

"This is ridiculous." Said the other governor who was seated next to the head governor. He twitched his nose with exasperation and shot death stares to his son.

On the other hand, the headmaster was calm and no one actually knew what he was thinking for the whole time, and whether he had perceived the mischievous plan by the governors and professors. Soohyuk's motionless facial expression whilst he stood as still as a sculpture was encouraging the tension to increase rapidly. Everyone was waiting for his reaction towards D.O's volunteering, he was now the one who was going to make the final decision in which no one could oppose after him after that. It was not difficult to tell that the head governor looked awfully desperate for mercy, he kept eye contact with the headmaster.

"Hm, we couldn't possibly be able to send the only heir of the head governor to the Championship because...Oh. It wouldn't be good, wouldn't it?" Soohyuk looked directly into the old man's eyes, who`s own were scornfully glaring back at him. He shifted his position, and started to walk towards the little girl, continuing his unfinished sentence," However, what if they found out that this one-" He spoke gently and stopped behind her, nearly folding himself in half to be in the same level of height as her. He clasped both of her shoulders which made the girl jump slightly, her eyes filled with tears." I wonder what it is going to happen to this little girl and her family." He paused again, making the tension to hover. He lifted up his hand slowly from one of her shoulders, and folded his fifth and fourth finger to make a gun shape. He pressed it against her scalp. His eyes widened a little to his eyebrows quirked, and he mouthed the word, "Dead." Soohyuk clicked his tongue and with his face still emotionless. He then slowly pulled away his hand from the little girl, who had broken into tears.

The hall went completely silent. It was possible to hear a pin to drop on the carpet, besides the fact that it was filled with the girl's painful sobs. Krystal's heart clenched as soon as she heard the girl crying. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, forcing herself not to recall her bad memories again. Shortly afterwards, the loudness of the crying started to decrease as Soohyuk handed the girl his handkerchief and her head. “This is surely not a decision that I could make all by myself, is it? "He smirked at his last words. After the girl had calmed down, Soohyuk decided to throw a question at her." So, do you think that young man-" He pointed his finger at D.O, making sure that the girl was looking too,"-should go to the Championship? Or you? The one who did nothing wrong." The girls eyes shifted away from D.O, holding the handkerchief tightly across her cheeks. “This is not rocket science. Answer me. Who are you going to pick?" He put more strength into his voice this time which made the girl startled. She bit her nails nervously as she shook her head. Soohyuk stood up and asked a question to the head governor which was fairly similar to the one he asked the girls. "What would you do? Save this young girl who has got nothing to do with you? Or send your only son to the Championship and bet with the grim reaper?" Both questions were laid full of traps as Soohyuk had already made the decision in the first place but he was just trying to force one of them to say the answer that he wanted to hear. "If you aren't going to say a word then I'd send both of them and take one of the nominees here." The head governor’s eyes widened with shock and the girl looked up from her nails.

The headmaster spoke reluctantly, "Krystal, this means you might have a chance to stay." He eyed Krystal who opened her eyes slowly, her forehead furrowing in confusion. Soohyuk then looked at the remaining two nominees. "You two would have the chances as well." Kai scoffed and turned his head away, but the other girl just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"So, what is your final answer? I'm getting a little impatient now." He stretched his neck in a circular motion, and then stared at the head governor with his piercing eyes.

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