The Dawn of the New World

"How dare you show yourself here?!" a blaring voice got everyone's attention.

Clearly it was intended for the new arrivals so the rest of the people distanced themselves from them and watched on with interest while discussing amongst themselves.

"Do you know those people?" a bald teenage boy in golden robes asked a girl next to him. The girl wore a frilly white dress that made her look like a fairy. She nodded as a matter-of-factly.

"Not personally but I have heard of them. How do you not know the Biric and the Wu clan's younger generation??"

The boy shrugged, "They don't come up very often."

The girl took a sip from her glass and spoke lightly.

"Well, that pretty one at the front is Henrik Biric, the most famous playboy from the Biric clan. The shorty is Wu Jin. He's pretty famous in a few nerdy circles in the academy. I don't know the last one," she explained one by one.

"Ah, no wonder Stasa is acting out like this!" the boy smacked his head upon realizing.

"What? You know something?" the girl asked with a raised eyebrow.

The boy nodded, "You'll see."

**

Hao Xuan's head pounded as soon as he heard the yell.

'We haven't even been here for a minute and someone's already picking a fight? Seriously?'

He looked to the front at the man in white robes walking towards them with large strides. He had extremely sharp features, almost as if they were chiseled with a sword. His eyes made it hard to meet his gaze for any extended period of time.

One foot in front of the other, within four steps he covered the distance of more than 200 meters and stood in front of them with a loathful expression.

"Who is that person?"

"You don't know? That's Stasa! An up and coming genius from the Hall. He is the sole disciple of that old elder...you know...THAT one...."

"Ohh, really? Wow, this will be interesting then..."

The man named Stasa stared at Henrik with gritted teeth and clenched fists.

"I went to your clan and officially placed a challenge as soon as I found out. But not only did you not accept my challenge, you even refused to acknowledge it. Today it is different. Today, you will not escape," he grinned before continuing, "Henrik Biric, I challenge you to a life and death duel!"

"WHAT?!"

"Holy shit!! Is that allowed?"

"Don't you have to get permission from the clans first??"

A commotion erupted in the hall. Among all the strong powers of the continent, no the entire beast world, a life and death duel was a legally recognized method of 'eliminating' someone that had offended any party. The duel could, of course, be denied but that would destroy their reputation.

Who would want to work with a power that was afraid to accept a simple challenge?

While the spectators were busy chatting, Henrik, on the other hand, was standing there with a deep frown. He looked at the man with a suspicious gaze.

"Have we met before?"

"....."

"...."

"He....he doesn't even remember him..." the bald boy whispered, astonished, not wanting to believe it himself.

Stasa's eyes opened so wide that they almost popped out. A pulsating vein appeared on his forehead.

"You...son of a bitch! You fucking trash! I'll kill you!" Stasa shouted and opened his right hand in which a silver katana appeared.

Henrik took one step back, as calm as he could be.

"Stop, before you can challenge me, you must fight these two first!" he said gesturing behind him.

Stasa's fist was clenched so tightly that people could hear popping noises.

"WHAT PEOPLE!?" he shouted exasperatedly.

"What do you mean? These two of co-" Henrik his head around halfway and realized there was no one there. He was standing at the entrance all alone.

"What the hell...where..?" he looked left and right and saw two individuals standing in a corner nearby, conversing with one another in low voices.

'You assholes! Why are you over there?!?' Henrik shouted inwardly looking at them.

Wu Jin looked over cooly, his expression as distant as it could be. He then looked over at Hao Xuan who was standing in front of him.

"Do you know this person?"

Hao Xuan shook his head once without even looking towards Henrik, "Never met him before in my life."

"Ah, right, let's go talk over there then. It's too loud here," Wu Jin commented with an annoyed face before walking deeper into the hall with Hao Xuan, leaving a speechless audience behind.

Everyone present saw the three of them come in together and knew they were acquaintances, to say the least. Yet with Wu Jin and Hao Xuan's complete refusal to even accept Henrik's existence, some of them were even starting to doubt their own eyes.

Did those three really come together? Maybe it was just a coincidence?

Stasa's lips arched into a derisive smile as he looked back at Henrik like a wolf sizing up its dinner.

"Looks like they don't know you..."

Henrik's expression turned ugly at once. He backed up several steps.

"Listen man, I don't even know you. Why are you picking a fight with me? Huh? Why ruin a great evening with such barbaric methods? Let's just stop here and I'll forget this ever happened. What do you say?"

Stasa faltered upon hearing Henrik's proposal, which boosted his confidence greatly.

"Yeah, no one needs to get hurt.." Henrik urged him on.

The girl in the white dress leaned in towards the bald boy and whispered, "What did he do to him?"

The bald boy sighed, "Apparently, this Henrik fellow 'had relations' with Stasa's fiance just a few days before their wedding day. Since then Stasa has been a laughing stock among his peers. And that guy doesn't even remember him. This isn't going to end well..."

Stasa peered down at his blade for a few seconds before looking back at Henrik.

"Even if its the last thing I do, I will make sure you won't live to see another day!"

He pulled the blade back with the tip pointed straight ahead, "Dismemberment!"