Izumi felt a surge of panic. He sweated profusely. He couldn't find his or Ren's name. He double-checked, triple-checked and read again, but he couldn't find their names. Another weird squad assignment he read was that Akane was assigned alone. He then quickly realised that all of the squads were wrong. A squad usually consisted of about 3-4 soldiers of around the same rank. But he saw a squad where there was a Purple ranked veteran who was already in a squad matched with a White-ranked rookie. The crowd soon caught on to the same confusion, many people yelled that their names weren't there, or their squads were mismatched.
"Where's my name?'
"Why am I alone?"
"Isn't this guy already in a squad?"
Izumi then quickly looked at Jin with a panicked look on his face. The scary part was that both Jin and Isahi looked very confused. Isahi then shouted
"SILENCE"
Everyone quieted down.
"We will look into this matter; it looks like the work of those damn demons. They are delaying the recruitment process of the soldiers."
Right after Isahi said that the tension in the Colosseum skyrocketed. There was no record of any demon nearby, strong enough to go through the barriers of the city unnoticed. This meant that this was an inside job. Every rival family looked at each other, they didn't say anything, but in case their icy stares at each other were enough to convey what they were thinking about each other. The Colosseum had gone from a recruitment ceremony to a very dangerous place, where if you weren't careful with what you were speaking, you might break the tension– like fragile glass.
Jin snapped back into reality after realising what happened and took the reins.
"Thank you, Mr. Isahi, but before we put the blame on demons or anyone we first have to figure out if this was a malfunction by the people in charge of engraving on the wood, since last night was glamorous party."
Jin smiled warmly at everyone and said,
"Fear not everyone! You will have squad assignments in the coming week, the ceremony is postponed!"
There were a lot of jeers from the crowd. A couple of people even threw their belts in frustration, but the tension was cleared. Isahi looked enraged at Ren, like he was responsible and started muttering something under his breath and then left doing whatever he was doing earlier before the ceremony. Jin sighed and climbed down the stage and stood beside Izumi and Ren looking at them apologetically.
"I am sorry kids; I wanted this to be a smooth ceremony but now this has happened."
"If a demon is truly responsible for this, then what are we going to do?"
Asked Ren
Jin was about to say something, but then a sharp voice echoed across the now empty Colosseum.
"JIN"
Isahi shouted looking enraged.
Jin looked at Isahi, slightly annoyed.
"You know who's responsible for this don't you?"
Isahi said, still staring daggers at Jin.
"Isahi, it's a legend, it's not actually true."
"With all due respect sir, I still firmly believe that the devil of despair was behind this, now if you only let me investigate who I-"
Isahi's words were cut short by Jin's aura, burning red, just like his eyes. The air around him smelt of ozone. His aura rippled, creating a crimson effect.
"Choose your next words carefully, Isahi."
Isahi looked brave, like a cub pretending to be a fully-grown lion, not ready to fight yet, but certainly ready to pounce. Still, he was no match to Jin.
"Y-yes sir."
For the first time ever, Izumi felt sorry for Isahi, despite his hate for Isahi, it must be exhausting they could turn you into rubble if they wanted to. Jin turns back to the two Izumi and Ren and says,
"Kids, you can go back to the inn, me and General Isahi will investigate this matter."
Jin voice now felt serious as if a demon had actually broken in, but if that was the case then it was a sign that Cloud City's barriers were weakening. Izumi found himself sweating, his heart rate heightening and his sudden flashbacks of his past. Voices start appearing in his head, he glances nervously at Ren's side. He was looking at Izumi, flashing a confused and worried look.
"Izumi? You don't look so good. Everything alright?"
"Yeah I'm fin-"
Before Izumi finishes his last word of the sentence, he slips into a coma, feeling the icy cold grasp of unconsciousness, his body falls on the cold hard concrete floor.
"Izumi?"
"IZUMI"