User:Idiffer/Sandbox

A middle-aged man sat at a black office desk, clearly the most important one in the room. Despite the grey tint to the man's hair, he still maintained a handsome face. Before him were several other desks, each equipped with a computer. Financial reports were tacked on the walls of this room, displaying economic growth trends and other major exports and imports.

However, this large room was empty at that moment and the man's countenance seemed nothing like that of a top executive. He stared blankly ahead, as if awaiting something. At that instant, the ornately carved, ebony wood doors slowly swung inwards. In the era of modern technology, automatic doors were seen as a basic commodity. Even working class households had no need to move their arms to open doors.

Therefore, these doors were amongst the man's most prized possessions. But at that moment, he would much rather have had an automatic door which slid open in an instant, than the agonizingly slow pace at which the doors creaked open, sending shivers down his spine. Even though he could guess who was behind it, he was still hoping he was wrong.

Devon^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/eclipse-hunter-chapter-1.html#devon">1</a>} Solaris strolled into the room with a grace that seemed to say that the whole world stood at his feet. He had an aura of complete superiority which could force even the toughest to yield even though there wasn't the slightest trace of hostility in his gaze. His perfect expression betrayed no emotion; his captivating looks, slender frame and overflowing charisma made people fall to their knees in worship. This had become especially apparent ever since he took over his father's position and became a key player in the financial world. As the influence of the Solaris Federation expanded, he garnered looks of awe and admiration from every member of the conglomerate.

Gazing at the striking figure before him, the older man could not help but feel a surge of pride, despite the current situation. This was his very own son, his own flesh and blood, the son he had brought up to become the perfect Solaris Emperor.

After having dominated the financial world for years and having the perfect son, this man had no regrets, at this moment he simply felt puzzled.

"Why would you wish to kill me? You should know that you are my one and only son. I may possess some of the shares of this conglomerate, but that will be left to you anyway."

"Your one and only son? Is that what you believed all along? Is that how it was?" the slender figure shook with anger he had never felt before. Even his eyes became bloodshot.

"So… you already know?" the man behind the desk realised what this was about and regained his composure.

"'You already know?' Father, is that all you are thinking? Why are you being so cruel to him?" Grief filled his voice.

"My whole life I have dearly loved your mother. But he killed her." There was nothing but indifference in his voice.

"Lies! Mother died of childbirth, how could you blame him?"

The older man did not reply, and simply looked at Devon silently without showing a hint of regret in his eyes. The sight only served to fuel the younger man's rage and anguish. His father loved his mother deeply and this love had never faded, even after her death. This would have made any child proud, but not when it hurt someone.
Was his father wrong? He found it difficult to blame him.

His father has always been very attentive to Devon. He never forgot his birthdays and whenever Devon wanted something, his father never disappointed him, that is, until that request he made on his eighteenth birthday.

"I want my little brother."

That was six years ago. Ever since then, Devon had made that exact request over and over again. It was different from the usual requests a child would make, he was not asking his parents to have another child, because Devon already had a little brother. A very cute one at that. When they were little, he used to love pinching the kid's cheeks until he started protesting. Somehow, he could never really comprehend how his father could come to hate such a cute kid.

Why did his father refuse to acknowledge his little brother's existence? It was not until he was older that Devon realised that the expression his father always wore in the child's presence was that of hatred. Even the nanny responsible for his care was there solely for monetary gain. So it was entirely up to Devon to give the child the love and care he needed.

Any other child would have been on bad terms with his siblings as they would vie for his parents' affections. But Devon's situation was different. It was obvious that his father hated his younger brother and even discouraged Devon from visiting him. He was taboo among the household and was never present in any of the family photos.

The nanny was well aware that the father loathed the child and never dared to bring him out of the room. And thus, Daren^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/eclipse-hunter-chapter-1.html#daren">2</a>} Solaris had lived in that attic as long as he could remember. Since his father was fond of antiques, he had his home designed in the image of a castle. So the attic was far removed from the main hall.

Devon could no longer remember why he had walked all the way there back then. His only vague recollection was that of a baby's loud wails leading him up a staircase, and through a wooden door. The room had been dark and the light switch was no where to be found. The cries coming from the room were unrelenting and Devon was very scared at the time. He felt something tugging his trousers and the noise suddenly stopped.

Alarmed, Devon kicked the thing away and the crying resumed. He hastily retreated to the wall behind him and bumped into the light switch. As the room became bright, he found himself looking at a baby crying loudly, with a huge bruise on his forehead.

Obviously, this kid was the one tugging on his trousers, and that bruise was the result of Devon's kick.

Devon fretted as he ran to the little baby to check if he was alright. From what he had learnt, babies are usually very fragile. The moment he extended his hands to the baby, it stopped crying. Big watery eyes stared back at him and the child cooed as two tiny hands grabbed his own.

Such small hands, Devon thought. His ten year old self had always found his father's hand to be quite big when compared to his own. And yet, compared to the infant in front of him, his own hand seemed large.

The baby suddenly shoved Devon's thumb to his tiny mouth and started sucking on it as hard as he could.

Hungry? Sadly you are not going to get any milk no matter how hard you try. He did not know if he should laugh or cry at this ridiculous situation.

He helplessly searched the room for milk powder and once he found it, he began preparing milk for the child. He failed several times. The milk was either too hot or he had not put enough milk powder in it, causing the baby to cry loudly. By the time he had succeeded, the baby was starving. He held onto the bottle with his small hands and drank hungrily while staring straight at the person holding him with his swollen eyes.

Finally, after two whole bottles of milk, the baby was satisfied and its big watery eyes slowly became heavy in Devon's warm embrace. He tried to place the baby on the bed, but once he let go the baby started crying its lungs out. With no other choice, he settled by the bed and sacrificed a finger for the baby's tiny hands to hold on to. And thus the baby finally fell asleep peacefully.

It was then that Devon started thinking that this baby should be his little brother. The one that his mother died to give birth to, and hated by father. Devon should have felt hate towards this child too.

However, gazing at the tiny baby in its peaceful sleep and feeling its firm grip on his finger, Devon could only think of the child as the most innocent being on earth. Even without anyone telling him to, Devon knew he should treasure his little brother.

"Didi<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/eclipse-hunter-chapter-1.html#didi">³</a>, you have to quickly learn how to call me 'gege<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/eclipse-hunter-chapter-1.html#gege">⁴</a>'."

Devon was very excited at the thought of the little creature calling him big brother. Sure enough, his wish came true. Some time in the future, the first word the baby would utter was not the usual "mama" or "papa", but "gege".

Ever since his discovery, Devon had frequented the attic almost every day to play with his little brother for at least one hour. His father had disapproved but there was little he could do against Devon's persistence.

And so he watched his little brother grow up. He was there when the child uttered his first words and when he took his first steps. Didi liked to read picture books, and loved ripping them. He liked to play ball games and loved to smash Devon's face with the ball. Soon didi started to learn how to write and because his father refused to find a tutor for him, it was Devon himself that taught his little brother how to read and write…

All was well until the year Devon turned seventeen and his little brother was only seven. Their father sent didi away, claiming that he was sending him to one of the best royal colleges for schooling. Devon had been reluctant and wondered why he was allowed to have home tutors while his little brother had to be sent to a place so far away. But he had not given it much thought, naively believing that his father would surely act in his little brother's best interests, after all Daren was his son too.

"No! I don't want to go!"

Didi was extremely frightened at that time and had tightly hung onto Devon's waist. The strength of the seven year old had nearly strangled him then. Devon had tried multiple times to convince his brother, knowing full well that he was afraid of their father. In the end, Devon had had to make a few promises in order to reassure him.

"Don't be scared, didi. You still have your older brother. I will protect you."

"Gege will protect me?" Didi pouted and extended his little finger. "Then let's make a deal, if gege lied then... you have eat a lot of bitter melon which gege hates."

Devon smiled in embarrassment as he hooked his little finger with didi's. "Alright, alright. If I am lying to you, I will have to eat a lot of bitter melon."

Just like that the little boy agreed to go with his father. As he walked away, he turned multiple times to look at his elder brother. He had been extremely frightened of their father who had held his hand so coldly…

That scene had always remained in Devon's mind. Every time he recalled it, he blamed himself for not noticing the coldness in his father's eyes and hated himself for neglecting his little brother because he was too busy playing around in his teenage years. When a whole six months went by and didi was still not home for summer vacation, Devon finally asked his father about him. His father had replied in an uninterested voice that the school Daren went to did not have holidays and students were not allowed to come home until they graduated

"Which school is this?"

Of course he had not believe it. Didi did not phone him at all during the last six months, even though Devon gave him his phone number. How could a child who is so attached to his older brother not call him up even once?

His father had not given him an answer, and it was then that comprehension dawned on him. There was no way that his little brother had been sent to such a school. It was all a part of his father's plan to get rid of an unwanted eyesore.

Devon did not dare to imagine what might have happened to his little brother. He went berserk searching for the boy. He went through the whole family, the whole city… the whole country…

Drowning in self-hate, he joined the Solaris Federation and took over most of the human resources within a year, just so he could search for his little brother. However, it was not enough. Just like that, didi disappeared from his world without a trace.

In the course of time, Devon managed to take over every part of the Solaris Federation. He garnered enough power and influence to buy up smaller trading organisations and turn Solaris into one of the five greatest trade cartels. He did all this just so he could get better access to the Census and other records regarding orphans, criminals, prisoners, and even unidentified corpses…

On every one of his birthdays, Devon had pleaded for the return of his little brother but his father had disappointed him each time. But on his most recent (24th) birthday, he had a different request. He demanded his father's permission to excavate the mansion and this time, his father agreed.

The castle-like mansion was enormous so Devon was forced to find a few hundred people to carry out the excavation. Complex feelings coursed through him as he waited day and night for something to be dug up. He refused to think about the initial suspicion that had compelled him to lead the excavation and what it would mean if something was actually dug up. The search had gone on for six years and Devon was weary.

If father has truly… then it would be best to begin the revenge for my little brother.

But nothing had turned up and although Devon sighed in relief, he now had to continue his fruitless search.

Seven years had passed since didi's disappearance and Devon could wait no longer. His little brother would have been fifteen by now. Between his father and little brother, he knew right from the start whom he would pick. The seven years worth of delay was only because of his love for his father.

"Where is my little brother?" Devon demanded. He held a hand gun in his hands, the very latest of its kind, and pointed it straight at his father. There was no trace of emotion left in his eyes. He had already betrayed his little brother's trust, his beloved didi was missing and he had no idea whether he was alive or not. The regret he carried for seven years had slowly worn away every bit of the love he had had for his father.

The elderly man at gun point now looked at him unwaveringly and even smiled a little, "Actually, I'm giving him to you for your 25th birthday!"

Devon was stunned. He did not think he would get a straight answer from father so easily. Or was it simply a ploy to avoid death at Devon's hands?

His father stood up. "Don't move!" Devon snapped, his voice sounding even colder than before. "I might not kill you before you tell me what happened to didi, but that doesn't mean I won't cripple you."

"Calm down, child. I only wanted you to see your beloved little brother." The elderly man slowly walked over to a door. Devon hesitated since he knew that door led to his father's restroom.

His father opened the door and gestured for him to follow him in. Devon hesitated again, but not because he was scared. Even if didi was all the way down in hell, he would not hesitate to jump in. It was just that he could not bear another wave of disappointment. Didi has been missing for 7 whole years and Devon had already searched through every territory occupied by the Solaris Federation. How could he bring himself to believe that his little brother would be in that rest room...?

Nevertheless, Devon entered. His father walked into the bathroom within the large rest room and stood before the simple bathtub, wash sink and toilet. His smile was spine-chilling. "Child, it no matter how smart you were, you were never able to guess that this very rest room which I frequently visited was the place you were searching for all this time."

Devon was dumbfounded, he stared at his father as the man turned the tap on the bath tub. No water came out, but instead the whole bath tub descended, leaving behind a flight of stairs. This unremarkable place with such simple functions managed to fool him for seven years. Devon suspected that there would be hidden pathways in the castle and had long since searched through them all. But he never suspected that there could be one here.

It was risky to have the tap act as the switch. If someone happened to come here and turn on the tap, the passage would have easily been discovered. But this faulty idea was surprisingly effective. When searching for hidden switches, no one would bother to investigate an exposed tap.

Like his father, Devon liked using things that belonged to him and him alone. And so, even though only Devon and his father was permitted to use this rest room, he had never stepped into the place since it belonged to his father.

Devon had spent all these years searching for his little brother, only to find him hidden right under his nose. It was such a cruel reality. Devon prayed that this was not his little brother's grave. If the boy was even barely alive, with current technology, he could find a way for him to return to the original health.

Perhaps his father knew that Devon would not be foolish enough to step in first, so he entered the hidden pathway without hesitation. Devon followed close behind, feeling eager to finally see his little brother.

He widened his eyes at the scene that unfolded before him. It was not the dank, dungeon-like place he had imagined, but a brightly lit laboratory with high-tech machinery crowding the room. Several people in lab coat were excitedly looking at a screen.

When they noticed their entry, they all filed in and stood by respectfully. Only one of them, Devon noted, was looking at them coldly instead of smiling.

"How is it progressing?" his father asked.

"Very smoothly, Mr Solaris. It's like a miracle." said one of the scientists excitedly, "I am sure you understand. Filling every bone of his body with molten steel; employing medical techniques to make his skin and muscle ten times more resilient than normal people; even the microchip in his brain utilises the latest technology. This was the most dangerous experiment ever carried out. We didn't even expect our candidate to survive, let alone make such excellent progress."

"Very good." Devon's father replied.

"W-what are you saying?" Devon did not understand, he did not want to understand. He was only praying for his little brother to stay alive. Although he knew that some things could be much worse than death itself, he was unable to believe that his own father could be capable of doing such things to his own son.

The man who had been looking at them coldly suddenly spoke up in a sarcastic tone. "Meaning, the experiment was very successful. Not only did we managed to turn a weak youth into something even stronger than the most elite members of the Delta Force, his body is tougher than stone and there is a microchip implanted in his brain that would make him obey any command you chose to issue. Congratulations, you now have the perfect bodyguard."

Devon staggered. He moved in trance towards to the screen, that the scientists had been crowded around. A voice inside him screamed, I don't want to see this! I don't want to see!

His feet moved on their own and stood before the screen. It did not actually show a clear picture of what was going on inside. The figure inside was moving so fast that Devon could only see a blur.

He was looking into a combat simulator, a very common machine used in this era. There are several types of simulators. The low grade ones are used for entertainment in amusements parks. The highest grade machines are used for training in the army. The one in front of him now was certainty one of the best. It displayed all the possible statistics such as the speed the figure was moving, the strength he was exerting, the combat styles, etc.

The figure inside was clearly human; this notion made Devon sigh in relief. From the scientist's report, he had assumed that his little brother had become a robot.

"Release him!" Devon glared at the team coldly, unconsciously emitting the aura he uses to command his vast empire. The crowd immediately went pale. One of them turned to the microphone connected to the simulator and called out, "Dark Sun, cease the fight, come out immediately."

As the man turned around after issuing the order he found himself under the Devon's terrifying glare. He hurriedly explained, "Mr Solaris, don't worry. Even though we can all give him orders, everything has been prioritised for you and your safety. Your commands overtake ours. If you command him to, he will respond only to your will. Even if the person looks the same as you it won't work because Dark Sun has already memorised your DNA."

Devon shifted his gaze to the screen again. Even though he could not see the face, the figure inside seemed to have the normal silhouette of a slender youth. Devon started to feel a little relieved, there did not seem to be any visible difference. If no knew about it, no one would notice that his little brother had been modified…

He would ensure that this secret did not leave this room. There would be none left to command didi!

The exit to the combat simulator opened. Devon was overwhelmed with anxiety and longing as he looked towards his little brother. When his eyes found him, tears threatened to fall. This was his little brother!

There was no way he could mistake him. He even thought that there was not much difference from what he looked like seven years ago. The only changes were that his face was longer, he no longer had his baby cheeks, and he was much taller than before, about 172cm.

Daren used to complain about his height when he was young and tended to chug down many glasses milk in the hopes to grow taller. Looks like he doesn't need to do that anymore, Devon almost chuckled at the thought.

Didi came and stood before him. Beside Devon who was approximately 187cm tall, his younger brother looked quite short.

Didi emotionlessly walked over to the scientist who had commanded him to come out. His posture was better than any soldier as he stood perfectly straight without moving an inch of his body.

Seeing that his little brother had not reacted, Devon could not help but call out, "Didi, don't you recognise me? I am your older brother."

Dark Sun still displayed no reaction, on the other hand, this comment had shocked the man with the cold look. He could hardly believe it. Devon actually said that Dark Sun was his little brother. Then this means that the person who ordered this experiment was actually the father of the specimen.

"You have to call him 'Dark Sun'," another scientist politely reminded Devon. "That's the call sign we gave him. Of course, you could change it if you wish by giving him the order to do so."

"What are you talking about!?" Devon yelled. He started to panic, the calm he displayed so far rapidly disappearing. He finally realised that the situation was not as simple as he had imagined. This would not be solved simply by killing everyone who knew about the modification done to didi, because his little brother was totally abnormal right now…

"Didi? Didi!" Devon called to the silent and rigid figure over and over but he never got an answer.

The person with the cold look could not bear to watch any longer and issued an order to "Dark Sun". "Turn around and confirm your top priority master."

Dark Sun turned around to look at Devon and responded impassively, "Confirming top priority master. Appearance: matched. Pupils: matched. First stage of confirmation completed without error. Initiating second stage of confirmation, DNA comparison initiated..."

"Didi…" Devon clutched at his chest, feeling his heart constrict in pain and anguish.

"Does Master wish to change the call sign?" Dark Sun asked, seeming a little confused at being called "didi". He showed a confused expression but his eyes were blank like a robot who had judged the situation and showed an appropriate expression.

"Change the call sign?" Devon could not take the blow, he lost all control over his emotions and yelled, "Why on earth would you need to change your name? Your name has never been changed, you are not Dark Sun; you are Daren Solaris, my only brother!"

"Daren Solaris. Name change completed. Also accepting "didi" as a nickname."

Devon's head swam, his heart no longer able to take the pain. His face was deathly pale. He had never thought that after seven years of endless searching, he would find himself reunited with a robot that only looked like didi. This was even more painful than seeing his corpse.

Suddenly, Devon's father moved. Picked up something sharp from the desk near him and aimed it at Devon. Hearing the gasps from the people around him, Devon looked up. The sharp object in his father's hand never reach him. Because before Devon could even react, his father was stopped by Daren who had moved incredibly fast while monotonously saying. "Attempt to murder top priority master detected. Target set to be eliminated."

As he spoke, Daren's morphed his hands into a spike and pierced through his father's chest without hesitation. Devon was stunned, he could not believe that his father would try to kill him.

"Why?" asked the man with the cold look. "You knew that there was no way you would succeed. Dark Sun won't hesitate to kill anyone who holds a threat towards his top priority master."

Devon froze.

His father chuckled dryly, streams of blood now flowing freely from his mouth. "Haha, I won't let my most precious child kill me. You are the captivating and dazzling sun, the perfect Solaris. I won't let you commit patricide. I won't let my death contaminate your hands. Let all the darkness and sins be carried by Dark Sun, the dark seed of evil who killed his own mother… hahaha…"

Bang!

Devon coldly shot a bullet through his father's head.

The bullet echo left silence in its wake. None of the scientists knew what to do. Devon watched his little brother pull his hand out of the corpse, letting the body fall to the ground. It was clear that his father would have died even if Devon had not pulled the trigger. Devon had failed to protect his little brother. Once again he had made him suffer.

But did cyborg didi care right now? The thought made his heart ache once again.

"Ah! Tears… Dark Sun…" the man with the cold look had felt no sadness for the dead man, he only felt sorry for the two brothers. When he turned to look at Dark Sun, he found something extraordinary…

Hearing him mutter, Devon was shocked. He had forced himself to look away from Daren, but now he turned towards him. His little brother still had no expression but why could he see two streams of tears on his face? Is this another mechanism that makes him shed tears when the situation demands it?

Devon gently stroked didi's face and said tenderly. "You shouldn't be so expressionless. Even with the simplest character design, you should have at least been able to match it with a sad expression."

"You will always be my beloved little brother… not Dark Sun, and I swear that I will protect you."

Without warning, Devon whipped out his hand gun and shot one of the scientists. Before the rest could react, two more fell. Devon turned around and took aim another man. Despite his desperate pleas for mercy, Devon rewarded him with a bullet to the heart.

The accuracy was chilling.

He continued until there was only a single scientist left alive. It was the man with the cold look. Before he could shoot the man calm spoke up. "Please wait. I know that I have no chance of escape. So why don't you listen to me, I have something to say about your little brother's condition."

Devon did not respond but he did not pull the trigger either. The gun remained poised at the man; Devon was afraid the man might suddenly try to attack and his brother would have to kill again.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Theodore Avery, and I am a surgeon. In fact, I am responsible for all the surgeries that have taken place here." Theodore smiled. "Those guys were all on the theoretical side. They only have hypotheses and theories, none of them actually dared to do the actual work. So your father offered me quite a high salary to do it. My skills are of the highest calibre, but the people outside are offended by my work. So I ended up here."

Noticing Devon's impatience, Theodore changed the subject. "Since I accepted the high salary, I prepared myself to operate on something immoral. However, humans always manage to form bonds. Your little brother was a very good child. When he first arrived he used to cry a lot. But once he was told that he could return to his older brother after the experiment ends, he became very obedient. Operations which even adults couldn't bear, he managed to bear them all."

Theodore turned to look at Dark Sun and added, "Those theorists all thought that it was because he had high endurance. But I believe that it was actually his resolution that made him strong. It's his longing to see you that allowed him to survive."

As he listened to his little brother's past, Devon's expression softened and he was no longer impatient. He was eager to know how didi had lived during the past seven years, even though he aware that it must have been a terrible experience.

"The genetic and biological alterations to his body isn't that bad. He is still alive and gaining strength is no disadvantage either. Also his appearance is no different from a normal human"

"My brother is human!" said Devon, now enraged at the comment.

"Yes, of course. I am sorry." Theodore regretted this mistake and was relieved to see that Dark Sun had not reacted. "The actual problem the microchip in his brain, that what's making him act inhuman."

"And you are the one who put it there. You turned my little brother into a robot with your own two hands." Devon's face darkened, the hand holding the gun now shaking from anger.

"Yes, I did. If I didn't, they would find someone else to perform it instead." Theodore replied smoothly. Devon was at a loss for words.

The scientist sighed again, "If it was going to be done one way or another, then it might as well be me who did it. I was able to use my own theories to persuade those other scientists to make a little modification to the microchip."

"Modification?" Devon asked with curiousity.

"Yes… the actual function of the microchip is quite complex. I will simplify it for you. Just like the human brain there are different sections for each function. There's a certain section for emotions as well. I managed to persuade them to leave the emotion section intact but with a switch. I told them that perhaps you might prefer a bodyguard with feelings."

Devon's face lit up at the news. Theodore smiled and continued, "Those guys agreed but they insisted that the switch be controllable only by the top priority master. So issue the order to your didi now. Tell him to switch off the part that's controlling his emotions. Also, he hasn't forgotten you. He only followed orders that made him incapable of responding to you. Tell him to transfer his memory back from the hard disk and he will be able to remember you."

Devon did what he was told almost immediately. Dark Sun responded with a "Understood". There was a momentary silence before Dark Sun suddenly froze and fell forward. Devon used almost all his strength to turn him around. Dark Sun was not as normal as Theodore implied. His bones had been replaced with steel and the toughness of his muscles were far from ordinary. The small, fragile-looking body of his actually weighed 93 kg.

Seeing didi's reaction, Devon glared at Theodore, who shrugged again, "Perhaps the change was too major and he needed to restart?"

"Very good!" said Devon as he stood up slowly. In a chilling tone he continued, "Now I have no use for you."

Theodore raised his eyebrows. That Devon wished to erase all witnesses came as no surprise to the man. Calmly he replied, "I must warn you, that switching the emotion function off hasn't been tested yet. If any error occur and I am already dead because you shot me, your little brother won't have anyone to save him."

Devon hesitated, he did not know whether this was the truth. He did not want anyone to know about his little brother's secret nor did he wish to keep anyone who could command him alive.

"You should remember that your didi was made to protect you. Even if you order him not to protect you, he would still fight on your behalf. If there is any injury, no normal doctor can tend him." Theodore continued coldly. "Your little brother's muscle cannot be pierced even by the sharpest surgery knives. His body temperature and the frequency of his heartbeat do not match a normal human's. Not only will it be futile to go to normal doctors, but it will also reveal your brother's abnormality. Therefore, it is in your brother's interest to let me live."

Devon lowered his gun and looked at Theodore threateningly. "I won't kill you, but know this. If my brother's secret is leaked, your life will be forfeit. Don't even think about running away; with my power over the Solaris Federation, I can find you even if you hide away in the remotest of deserts."

Facing the man who has dominated most of the whole world's economy and had been a key player in the financial world since he was a teenager, even the nonchalant Theodore could not help but put on a serious face. "I understand, I won't tell anyone."

Devon walked back to didi and somehow managed to lift him up after exerting all the strength he could muster. Theodore wanted to help but gave up after receiving a fierce glare from Devon.

Devon walked with much difficulty, but he did not let go despite the enormous weight on his back and the long flight of stairs. No matter what happened, he would not let go.

I will protect you this time.

"Gege, don't go! Can't you stay and play with Dar for a little while? Just a little bit longer?" This was when little Daren was only three years old. At that time, Devon had already taken to calling his little brother by the nickname "Dar".

"I can't, Dar, I have to go to class now. Or else the horrible economics teacher will get angry and something terrible will happen to gege." At this, Devon stuck his tongue out and made a face at the little boy. Maybe this will keep didi from picking economics when he grows up.

Upon hearing his gege's refusal to stay, Dar lowered his head and pouted. He looked so innocent and pitiful.

Devon was instantly defeated. "Fine, ten more minutes…"

Dar looked up happily and ran to the toy chest. He took out the rubber ball gege had given him and shouted with joy, "Let's play ball!"

"Again? My face still hasn't recovered from last time. Evil Dar! You must be planning to ruin my beauty!" Devon made a face while Dar continued laughing and threw the rubber ball…

"Ah! My face! Stupid Dar…"

"Heehee!"

The two brothers continued playing happily until the door, which no one usually approached, opened. A man stood by the door. It was the man whom Dar feared the most. Behind him was the angry economics tutor.

Devon, on the other hand, was not afraid even after seeing his father's icy glare. He stuck his tongue out and made a face as usual. His father always spoiled him, so he knew he wasn't going to be reprimanded.

"Ah, I forgot to go to the lesson," said Devon, still in high spirits, as he patted didi's head fondly and headed out of the room.

The last person to leave was his father. The man glared at Dar, who cowered in fear. When the man left the room he switched off the lights. Dar did not react, since he was quite used to this gesture. He crawled back into his tiny bed and buried himself under the sheets.

"So dark… Dar is scared." The little boy curled up as tightly as he could and hid under sheets with his face only barely exposed. He started recalling all the scary things his nanny had told him.

The three-year-old did not understand much about ghosts and spirits. The nanny had wanted to scare the child, so she described these things as terrifyingly as possible. This made Dar hate the dark. Whoever visited his room, whether they meant to scare him or not, always switched off the lights when they left and with Dar's height, there was no way he could reach the light switch.

And so, gege's arrival felt like the arrival of light. Devon would always turn on the lights and then Dar would eagerly jump off the bed. He would see gege's smile and hear him laugh.

"Dar, come and play with me."

How long did these moments of happiness last? Dar had no knowledge of time. Even though gege had taught him how many months there are in a year, how many days there are in a week, for a child who had lived in a dark tower for as long as he could remember, the concept of time did not mean much.

In fact, to the boy, the passing of a day meant gege coming to play with him or teach him things. Dar liked everything as long as gege came to visit. It did not matter whether it was to play or to tutor him; everything was fine as long as Dar got to see gege.

He recalled receiving four gifts from gege when he turned three: wooden models, a toy car, a box of colour pencils, and a full collection of fairy tales. Dar still had not finished reading them. He was only halfway though reading Rapunzel and he wondered whether the girl with the long braids ever managed to escape the tower.

As he grew older, Daren was finally able to reach the light switch and no longer needed to live in the dark. But who was to know that true darkness was just about to arrive…

"Where are you taking me?" Even though this was his father, Dar looked fearfully at the man who had grabbed his hand without any intention of letting go.

"To the place you truly belong." replied his Father without even bothering to look at Daren.

"What about gege? Will he come?" Dar said in a small voice.

His father never answered him.

◇　　◇　　◇

Hurts… It hurts so much!

Dar cried out in pain. He was bound to a metal chair surrounded by many complex machinery. Several wires trailing from these machines were attached to him.

The people in the white lab coats around him seemed to ignore his cries as they discussed among themselves. "How stable is the body?" "He is too young of age… can he survive the operations?" "What type of steel should we use?" "We must seek a compromise between strength and flexibility."

"Gege… gege… Dar hurts, gege…"

A large hand stroked his forehead, it was so gentle... just like gege.

"Hello there. Are you Dar?"

A pair of dark green eyes appeared in front of him. Through his blurry and swollen eyes Dar also noticed the beautiful azure hair. It was the same colour as the sky that Daren had seen from the tiny window of the tower.

"My name is Theodore Avery^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/novel-eclipse-hunter-chapter-2.html#avery">1</a>}; I am your doctor." The man was wearing the same clothes as the rest of the people in the room. The only difference was that he smiled.

Just like gege, Dar thought. Actually, Devon and Dr. Avery were very different; the only thing they had in common was that they both smiled at Daren.

"Does Dar have a gege?" Theodore asked, forcing himself to speak gently.

Dar nodded.

"Does Dar like gege?"

"Yes, Dar likes gege the best!" He nodded again with certainty.

"Then be a good boy. Dar is sick right now and can't go see gege. If you are brave and let your illness be treated, you can go and see gege." Theodore smiled.

"Really?" Dar sniffed, his face once more filled with hope.

Theodore forced himself from turning away as he shakily answered, "Yes… it's true…"

"Okay, Dar will be a good boy. Dar won't cry anymore." He forced himself to stop crying and his tears no longer fell.

"Such a good kid..." Theodore could not take it any longer and turned his face away. His heart beat fast and the hand that held his cigarette shook in a way that a surgeon's never should.

◇　　◇　　◇

"I would never have guessed that I, the immoral doctor who only treats people for money… would be the nicest person in here." Theodore laughed cynically to himself. If this got out to the family members of those patients he had left to die, none of them would believe it.

Theodore took a long drag from the cigarette and swore, "What the hell is this place? That's only a seven-year-old!"

◇　　◇　　◇

ARRRGHHHHHHH!

Dar forced himself from screaming in pain and did his best to stay silent. After the operation, every single cell in his body cried out in pain. He was only given a short time to recover before came the next dose of pain. Even adults could not bear the amount of pain that was being inflicted on a child who had not even turned ten…

Daren fell so many times, and all he could do was stand up just to fall back down again. Daren did not need the others to force him to get up. He himself forced his body to carry on. Soon his limbs no longer felt familiar; his every movement required much strength and resolution. There were a few times when he felt as if he was on the verge of giving up…

I have to heal faster so I can see gege! Daren would fill his mind with thoughts of gege. In fact, had nothing left in his memories except gege's smile.

But that image itself was enough give him the strength he needed to stand up once more.

◇　　◇　　◇

"Dr. Theodore, how many more operations will there be before Dar can heal completely and go see gege?"

How long has it been since the last time he saw gege?

Dar's awareness of time was even foggier than before. Before, he could measure the days through gege's daily visits and the years through the gifts gege gave him for his birthday. But right now, he did not even know how old he was.

Theodore's hand shook as he forced himself to smile. "It's the last time, truly."

"Really?" Dar's voice was filled with excitement. He never spoke much. It was a habit he developed over the years. He did not speak unless the people in the white lab coats questioned him about the experiments. No one really spoke to him except Theodore.

This is really his last operation, Theodore took another drag of the cigarette. The last operation involved implanting the microchip in his brain. After this operation, Daren would no longer be human; the only thing left would be a mindless robot. Dar will disappear forever, and only Dark Sun will remain.

"Dr. Avery?" Dar turned to face the surgeon.

"Hmm?" Theodore was a little distracted. What the child says doesn't matter; after all, he is going to disappear after a few more minutes. It is no longer necessary to comfort the boy, he no longer needs…

"Thank you, Doctor," Dar said while giving him a strange look. The boy did not understand why Theodore stopped smiling. But he was not going to start hating him just because of that. After all, if Theodore had not been there in the past few months to comfort and talk to him, Dar would likely have gone crazy. Thinking of this, Dar said, "Doctor, when Dar is healthy again and goes back to gege, you must come and visit Dar! I'm sure you'll like gege!"

Tears suddenly welled up in the pair of dark green eyes and Theodore was forced to turn away.

"Doctor, are you crying?" Dar was taken aback by the sudden tears.

"You idiot! It's only dust. I got dust in my eyes. It hurts! Damn it! The operation is cancelled!" Theodore left quickly; his hand never left his eyes.

As Theodore walked away, his mind echoed with the thoughts, Damn, I have a sudden idea. Now I have to find those theorists and talk some sense into them. How troublesome…

◇　　◇　　◇

Top priority master confirmed.

Didi… I am your older brother!

You are not Dark Sun, you are Daren Solaris, my only brother!

Attempt to murder top priority master detected. Target set to be eliminated.

This dark seed of evil who killed his own mother.

Tears flowing out. System Check: Error. Scanning Tears Section… Facial Expression Section…

You will always be my beloved little brother… and I swear that I will protect you.

Accepting Command. Activating Emotion Section. Transferring Memories...System Overheating… Danger… System Shutting Down…

Gege, you finally came.

Open eyes, assess surrounding environment. Normal bedroom, Size 10m². Currently resting on foreign bed. Presence of living being next to bed.

Confirming living being. Blond hair. Red eyes. Appearance matches the top priority master. Top priority master… that's… gege!

Gege… no, it's master. But master is gege. What about me? Who am I? Dark Sun, no! It's Daren, Dar… Daren's hand moved to his head and squeezed hard. His mind was a mess. Somehow Daren ended up winning the struggle and no longer cared about the throbbing pain in his head. As he extended his hand, he found it shaking. What was happening? Was it the muscle or the steel bones that was reacting in such an odd way?

Daren did not bother to think about his hand anymore. Instead, he slowly extended it towards gege who was sleeping right next to his bed. When Daren's shaky hand made contact he once again felt gege's familiar hair.

"Gege--" Daren said softly despite the warnings in his brain telling him not to wake up the top priority master or refer to him that way.

The figure next to the bed shifted slightly and complained in a sleepy voice. "Okay, okay… Dar, be nice. Let me sleep for a little longer… I will play with you later."

Daren immediately became silent. The top priority master had issued an order. He wants to sleep and Daren is not to wake him. He became still and did not even move the hand that was poised above Devon's head. He only gazed at gege's sleeping figure. That was enough for him.

When Daren did not complain or make any noise, the figure next to the bed looked up in shock. A pair of ruby red eyes were looking at him. Seeing that the boy had already woken up, Devon became momentarily speechless.

"Ah… Dar…" Devon finally said with much difficulty. He was both apprehensive but excited at the same time. If any enemies saw the Solaris Emperor right now, they would not believe him to be the same person. After all, the Solaris Emperor is as brilliant as the sun, dominating the world while smiling his confident smile.

Daren was having an internal struggle. He was unsure about what to call Devon. Should it be master or gege? At the same time he did not know whether he was Dark Sun or Dar…

"Dar, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Devon asked anxiously. Actually, the question he really wanted to ask was: Have you recovered yet? Was it the robot Dark Sun or his beloved little brother that he was talking to right now?

"Nothing is wrong, master…" Daren frowned.

After hearing the word "master", Devon's eyes widened in grief. That word cut through him like a knife to the heart. He felt numb with the pain coursing through his body. Has he lost Daren forever? Devon clenched his fists at that thought. Anger overwhelmed him and he needed an outlet. He suddenly stood up intending to finish the job he had started, Theodore…

He won't like his fate. Devon's expression was cold and hateful.

"… ge, Master gege."

Devon stopped, his previous expression disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was immediately replaced by a look of concern for his little brother. He spun around and landed back on his spot next to the bed. His eyes sparkled with happiness as he looked up at Daren.

"What did you just call me? Say it again," said Devon eagerly.

"Master gege." Daren had finally figured out what to call him. Since he's both my master and gege, then I'll just call him that... even though it sounds awfully strange.

Gege! Dar finally called me gege! thought Devon with a foolish grin on his face. He impulsively muted the "master" part and pretended not to hear it.

"Dar, can you call me again?"

"Master gege."

"Once more."

"Master gege."

"Again…"

This was the scene that greeted Theodore Avery when he made his way into the room. The legendary tycoon with an idiotic smile on his face, lapsing into a fantasy upon hearing the word "gege" and when he comes to his senses, he gets his little brother to call him gege again and begins his daydream anew…

This is the… Solaris Emperor?

Theodore's balked at the scene in front of him. If he wasn't afraid of the crowd of the bodyguards outside the room, he really would chuck the vase beside him and yell, "Shut up! Stop getting him to call you gege, you brother fanatic!"

Unfortunately, this brother fanatic was the most prominent figure in the world and Theodore was only an insignificant doctor. Theodore's temple twitched as he cleared his throat to get the fanatic's attention.

However, the first to notice him was Daren, who looked up and said, "Dr. Avery."

Theodore slowly walked over to the bed and proceeded to jot down notes as he casually asked, "Report the condition of your body and the microchip."

"Understood." Daren assumed his emotionless face as he continued. "No changes have been made to the body. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened to the microchip either."

Theodore nodded and continued to write on his record book. "During the process of switching on the emotion section and retrieving your past memories, did anything unusual occur?"

"No errors during memory recovery. After switching on the emotion section, however, there has been a few conflicts with the orders that was previously issued."

Daren stopped speaking and stared intensely at a spot behind Theodore's back. Dr. Avery had not noticed and kept on writing. Not knowing how to describe this latest information, he looked up again. "What kind of conflict, Dark Sun? Please explain or give an example."

Daren blinked. "For example, currently, Master gege is emitting a murderous aura behind Dr. Theodore. Previous orders specify that Dark Sun must obey Master gege and ask him whether he wishes for your death. But after the activation of the Emotion Section, Dar really wishes to warn Dr. Theodore to look behind him…"

Theodore suddenly stopped writing, he finally felt the killing intent coming from behind. A cold sweat ran down his forehead.

"What do you think you are doing?" asked Devon with a smile.

"Checking Dark Sun's condition." Theodore carefully replied as he stiffly raised both hands in the air. He could already picture the cute but deadly BHP 9mm, which killed the whole research team, pointed at his back.

"What did you just call my little brother?"

"Oh…" Theodore finally realised his mistake. "Oh… Um… Dar!"

Devon snorted, clearly not pleased.

"Master gege, do you wish for me to kill him?"

Daren pushed aside the bed sheets as the nails on his right hand suddenly extended and glinted ominously. This deadly hand was positioned right above Theodore's neck, who, at that point did not even dare to gulp. After all, he had been Dark Sun's main surgeon. No one knew better than him how deadly Dark Sun was. If Devon only said "yes" or "kill", Theodore was certain that he would go straight to hell.

"But Dar doesn't want to kill Dr. Theodore; there is another conflict between the previous orders and the Emotion Section," Daren said with some distress. His expression softened as he looked at Theodore.

"Don't kill him, Dar!" Devon said anxiously. He was now afraid that he might accidentally order didi to do something that would make Daren sad.

Upon hearing this Daren retracted his nails and returned his right hand to its original position. He no longer displayed any intention to kill.

Theodore sighed in relief. He would rather have Devon shoot him than Dark Sun kill him with his nails. The first option at least gave him the chance of recovery; the second option would simply leave him dead on the spot.

"Didi!" Devon couldn't be bothered with Theodore anymore and dived at his little brother. He picked up his hand and turned it so he could study it at different angles. It looked exactly like a normal human hand from every angle. So how did it manage to produce such long and deadly nails?

"Don't extend your nails in the future, okay?" said Devon, going into his nagging mother mode. "What if someone found out that you are different from a normal human? No, if anyone finds out, I will shoot him myself!"

Daren nodded. He copied the command - Don't extend your nails - into his microchip.

"......" Theodore remained silent, he did not know how to tell Devon that those nails were actually the most human part of his little brother…

Never mind that, unless he had a death wish, he was better off staying put. Theodore wisely chose not to agitate the man holding the small-but-deadly hand gun again. "Looks like Dark… I mean Dar's condition is quite good. Even though there are some conflicts, Mr. Solaris can solve the problem by commanding him to prioritise his emotions."

Devon immediately repeated this order and also added, "Call me gege from now on and get rid of the master part."

"Yes, gege." Daren nodded and obeyed the order.

Gege… Devon returned to his "Gege and Didi" fantasy world with the foolish grin on his face, leaving an exasperated Theodore beside them. Dr. Avery pushed up his glasses and sighed. He was being ignored once again.

"Mr. Solaris, what are your future plans for Dark-"

Devon glared at him with his intense red eyes. Theodore ignored the cold sweat running down his forehead and his heart quickening in fear. He continued nonchalantly. "What are your future plans for Dar? I am his surgeon and know quite a lot about him. If you tell me, I can make certain estimations for him."

Devon found Theodore's courage interesting. His fearsome glare and his aura were the result of many treacherous battles in the financial world; they were not something normal people could handle. It was not unusual for people to even wet themselves in fear when they confronted him.

"I want didi to go to school. He's already fifteen and yet he's never been to school. That's just not right."

Devon had already made up his mind. He wanted didi to have a normal life, and a normal fifteen year old should go to school.

Theodore's lips twitched as he carefully said, "But you do realise that Dar's microchip contains large amounts of information already. He doesn't need to go to school."

"Does that include social interactions? Does that include the experiences of a normal teenager?" Devon raised his voice without realising. He was angry, at least not at Theodore, but at his father. He hated him for not even allowing didi to have a normal school life.

Theodore stayed silent. Due to the demands of their previous employer, Dark Sun was designed to be the perfect bodyguard with superhuman abilities. That was exactly the opposite of what Devon wanted.

"I want Dar to experience the life of a normal teenager, Dr. Theodore. If you help me with this and succeed in turning Dar back into a normal teenager, I will grant any wish you may have."

Devon had a confident smile on his face, he was well aware of how much he possessed. If he could use 30% of the world's human resources to find didi, he could just as easily use them to investigate an insignificant doctor who lost his certificate. Meaning that he already knew Theodore's soft spot. This man was simply a mad scientist and thus needed money. Quite a lot of money, in fact, to complete all his experiments.

Theodore's eyes gleamed as he answered without hesitation, "A perfect standard science lab with unlimited supply, money and resources."

"That's easy, I will give it to you now," Devon answered readily. "But if I find that you don't have the ability to help my little brother, then I will limit or even stop the flow of money, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand." Theodore's lips twitched as he accepted the offer.

"Then…" Devon turned to didi and instantly assumed his "good brother with a gentle smile" image. "Dar, what type of school would you like to go? Gege will organise everything for you."

Daren opened his mouth but did not know what to say. After thinking for a while, he delved into his microchip and retrieved information on every possible school. He looked up and judged the school that would help him best with his job as a bodyguard.

After a few minutes he spoke to Devon. "YeLan Academy, in the combat section."

Devon's smile faltered; he felt a little troubled. Didi was already a cyborg; if he went to the combat section, there would be a high chance that he might be discovered… meaning Devon should do something about this.

But, he really did not want to deny didi's request. The last time he did, the boy had to suffer pain and agony for seven whole years. Devon made up his mind; no matter what didi requested, he would never refuse it.

"Alright!" Devon answered with conviction. This alarmed Theodore.

"You can't! Dar is really strong! Really, insanely strong. You don't understand how strong he is… if you let him attend a school like this, he'll easily be discovered. Didn't you want him to have the normal life of a teenager…"

Theodore paused, letting his words trail off. It looked as if he suddenly realised something or had become absentminded halfway through the sentence.

"What is it?" Devon scowled angrily. No one had ever dared to stop him and be absentminded while speaking to him.

Theodore had a strange expression on his face as he hesitantly said, "The normal teenager experience you were talking about… it's not possible. You are the Solaris Emperor, the most prominent person on earth. Your brother… there's no way he could have a normal life. If you think about it, the cyborg part of him is nowhere as catchy as the brother of the Solaris Emperor."

Devon blinked. He had completely overlooked that. He suddenly sat down and buried his face in his hands. If didi could not have a normal life because of him, that would be so cruel.

"Keep it secret then…"

"Huh?" Theodore did not hear it clearly.

Devon looked up and his eyes shone with certainty. "I said, we will keep that a secret then. No one will know that he's my brother except you and me." repeated Devon with a threatening look.

How many times have I been threatened? Theodore wondered as he smiled helplessly. "I won't say a word, don't worry about that. I have no intention of playing around with my own life. Besides his relation to you isn't the only problem here. I know how strong he is; that's something you don't even understand yet. You have no idea about the kind of weapon you have at your disposal."

Devon frowned, he did not like how Theodore described his little brother. But he could tell from Theodore's expression that the man was not exaggerating. Devon would never use didi as a weapon. He was also certain that with the power he held, he would not need didi to do any killing for him.

"Dar…" Devon spoke slowly, Daren turned to his gege, waiting for him to speak. "Gege will give you another name and you can't tell anyone else that you are my brother, is that alright?

Daren nodded. He would not refuse any request from gege anyway, be it due to the microchip in his brain. or his own emotions. He would never disobey his brother. Even though they did not look alike, their personalities were very similar.

"Okay then, there's a lot to do. For example, I need to get a headquarters that will connect my house to my brother's house with a hidden passageway so that I can go between the two houses without been discovered. Mmm… should I buy that YeLan Academy under some random name?" Devon stroked his chin in thought.

Are you crazy? Do you really need to go that far? Theodore's mouth twitched again. Are all rich people like this?

"Oh, yeah! I need to get clothes for didi. I'll just hire a fashion designer then," said Devon as he continued to voice his thoughts.

Hire a fashion designer… Theodore was stupefied.

"Mmm… does he need tutoring? Maybe I should hire a tutor for him." Devon frowned, looking just like a parent worrying about his child's education.

No need! Theodore reigned in the urge to point a finger at him and shout - No need for tutoring in the combat section, your didi's combat skills are better than the actual teachers.

Devon picked up his cell phone and dialled some numbers before speaking. "Secretary? I want a fashion designer who specialises in designing clothes for the upper-class. And I want a new headquarters and a house located somewhat far from my current location… Yes, yes... I want a normal house… Also, get the Covert Base Construction Engineers to dig a tunnel that connects the two infrastructures… Oh and find out if the YeLan Academy is up for sale… and buy a school student's certificate…"

"Hey! Dar! Get your brother to stop wasting money!" Theodore called out to Daren, unable to take it anymore.

"I can't order gege," said Daren as he shook his head and also added, "Gege, can I get a room for training? I would like a lot of weapons in it."

Devon paused on the phone and then continued, "Hey! Wait! Also construct a perfectly soundproof basement under that normal house. Yes, it needs to be very big. And start a weapons specialist team, they must be capable of coming up with new weaponry immediately and produce them quickly enough to send it to me… I want all types of weapons."

"You two are brothers…" Theodore buried his face in his hands, finally giving up on trying to reason with them.

************************CHAPTER 2 END************************

"In that case didi, you have to remember, you must absolutely not reveal your strength in front of your schoolmates."

Devon Solaris adjusted didi's tie, stepped back and took a good look at him. The boy was wearing a navy blue high school uniform, carrying a proper school bag and, in addition to a pair of large spectacles, his hair was styled neatly by Devon. Daren Solaris looked just like an ordinary high school student.

"..."

A very nerdy high school student. Theodore Avery very wisely decided not to comment from the back as he continued drinking his coffee. He felt that Devon's concept of a high school student stagnated in the previous century.

Devon nodded with satisfaction and reminded once more, "Remember not to let your schoolmates discover your strength..." after some consideration, he worriedly added, "But if there is any danger, you still have to protect yourself, understand?"

Daren obediently nodded in affirmation.

It was the 28th reminder of the day. Theodore silently added another stroke of ketchup on his breakfast dish. So far his plate had five sets of completed chicken scratches and the sixth was two ketchup strokes short to completion.

"Also, your current identity is Theodore Avery's son, Daren Avery. Can you remember that?"

"Yes, I remember." Daren nodded, in fact, he had been nodding the whole morning.

"You'll be late if you don't leave now," Theodore blandly reminded, emptying his cup of coffee in one gulp. If he had to listen to more of this, he would have a break down.

"In that case, Dar, follow the doctor, he will take you to school."

At this point, Devon became dejected; he really wanted to walk didi to school hand in hand. Alas, if he were to do so, Daren's identity would instantly be exposed and henceforth he would be unable to live the life of an ordinary high school student..

Theodore simply unfolded his newspaper with a frown upon hearing Devon, and casually replied, "He can go by himself."

"No! What if he loses his way?" Devon protested loudly.

"He's got GPS implanted in his brain."

"What if he gets mugged by delinquents en route?"

"Half his finger nail is enough to throw a dozen delinquents."

"What if he gets kidnapped by a weird uncle?"

"Don't worry, you, as his master, have ordered him to go to school. Even if it was the end of the world, he would get there in time."

Theodore remained buried in his newspaper, not showing the slightest inclination of getting up to taking Daren to school. Meanwhile, Devon clenched his jaw and his face took on a dark and ominous hue.

BANG!

A hole appeared in the newspaper

Theodore jumped.

Devon narrowed his blood red eyes, his BHP 9mm glinting beautifully in his hands.

"Sigh! Why does an unmarried man like me need to bring a kid to school?" Theodore grumbled as he held Daren's hand, stalking briskly forward as if propelled by a jet of flaming anger.

"If someone were to see this, how am I ever going to get a girlfriend?!"

Theodore sighed again. Originally, he was an eligible bachelor, but who would have known that, in order to hide Dar's identity, Devon would forcefully register Dar as his son! Bastard! He had initially protested vigorously to have Daren registered as his younger brother, but a resounding crack from the BHP 9mm dispelled any lingering complaints.

Theodore unconsciously quickened his steps, afraid to be seen by a passing beauty and then lose the chance at a wholesome relationship. Suddenly, the object he was dragging along stopped in its tracks. Unfortunately, this object had the strength to tow a truck, and under the threat of the BHP 9mm, Theodore was forbidden to release this object's hand until they arrived at school. Therefore, with one stalking forward while the other stood stock still, Theodore's momentum caused his feet to slip, and the ground promptly met his head.

"D... Dar, what's the matter?" Theodore asked from below, his face now pale.

Daren seemed not to have heard Theodore. He tilted his head, looking at the blue sky, the streets, the trees... he couldn't stop looking. Various emotions flashed through his eyes... curiosity, excitement, happiness... like a kid on his very first excursion.

So that's how it is, a caged bird seeing the blue sky for the first time. Theodore sat up, silently observing for awhile before saying, "Dar... if we don't get move on, you'll be late for school."

"Yes doctor."

Daren gripped the doctor's hand firmly and poised himself to run. This action gave the still semi-reclined Theodore a feeling of great unease. He stammered, "W-wait a second, what are you doing... AAaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!"

A human tow truck was towing a wailing doctor, leaving a cloud of dust in their trail. This magnificent trail of dust meandered all the way to a spot near YeLan Academy before screeching to a halt with emergency brakes.

Once the human tow truck halted, Theodore hastily flung Daren's arm away and sat himself on the ground panting. After panting for some time, the echo of the school bell roused him. He lifted his head to find Daren still standing at the same spot. He hurriedly reminded, "Dar, go quickly, the bell has rung."

Daren nodded, raised his leg to go... hesitating for a second, he turned around to ask with some apprehension, "Doctor, when emotions and orders clash, I should follow my feelings right?"

Theodore nodded imperatively.

"Gege ordered me to go to school, but... I just want to go home and spend time with gege, can I go home?"

Theodore was momentarily dumbfounded. He stood up, and patted Daren on the head saying, "Your brother didn't order you, Dar, he has your best interests in mind; that's why he hopes you will go to school, hopes you will be like an ordinary youth, hopes you will be happy. Dar, if you requested not to attend school, to stay by his side, I believe he will not turn you down, but Dar, he will be very worried about you."

"So Dar, for the sake of your brother and for yourself, why don't you give school a try?" Theodore gently asked.

Daren nodded, Theodore rewarded him with another pat on the head before turning to leave, "Your brother placed a mobile phone in your bag, call home when school's over, I will come pick you up. If you want to hang out with your friends, give your brother a call to inform him, he will be very pleased that you made new friends."

Daren nodded once again, watching Theodore's departing figure until he rounded a corner and went out of sight.

Daren was a little afraid; he did not like watching someone he trusts leave. It made him recall the scene of being separated from gege. However, he also did not want gege to worry. Quelling his discomfort, Daren tightly grabbed his school bag to his side and walked towards the school...

◇　　◇　　◇

"Alright, alright, everyone quiet down. I have an important news for everyone."

A shinai flew across the room.

"Stop playing! the bell rang ages ago."

A broom flew across the room.

"Today, our class will have a new student..."

The teacher stopped mid sentence and hid under the lectern, the very next second, two sturdy wooden tables collided in the air, sending table legs and splinters everywhere. Everyone hurriedly hid and dodged.

The teacher emerged from beneath the lectern and wiped the sweat on his brow before continuing, "This is our new transfer student, Daren Avery. Everyone please welcome him."

The teacher clapped his hands while dodging rolls of toilet paper, pencil boxes, books and other projectiles.

Daren Solaris slowly walked in, feeling a little astonished. School was very different from what he had envisioned.

"Daren Avery, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone." the teacher crouched low, dodging a lunch box while speaking to Daren.

"Uh... hello everyone, my name is Daren Avery." Daren blinked as he witnessed the airspace of the classroom filled with flying projectiles, feeling even more shocked.

A piercing feminine laughter derisively remarked, "What the hell! So nerdy! Where did this nerd come from? Hahaha."

"...erm, I just transferred schools today, I hope I can get along well with everyone." he lowered his head, as for whether they could get along or not... he already knew how well that would pan out.

The teacher looked around the classroom with a troubled expression, mumbling under his breath, "What to do? There are no more seats."

Daren looked at the teacher in confusion, and then back at the furthest row of tables where a student was sleeping flopped over on the table. His surroundings were clearly unoccupied, yet the teacher said that there were no more seats. Daren, not reading between the lines, simply pointed to the seat next to the sleeping student saying, "Teacher, there's a seat there. Can I sit there?"

Silence. For a second the whole classroom was devoid of sound, even the person about to hurl another desk remained stock still with the desk held high, his line of vision following Daren's pointed finger.

Everyone was staring at the seat Daren pointed to. The seat to the right of the sleeping student, among a group of unoccupied table and chairs, standing empty as if they were the executioner's electric chairs. A fair few gulped nervously.

"Student Avery, that, that seat... is not ideal..." the teacher's sleeve was no longer sufficient. He took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, his expression clearly unwilling to allow Daren to occupy that seat, and yet there was no other place for the boy to sit. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place and revealed an anxious expression.

"It's okay, any seat is fine."

Daren considerately replied, not wanting the teacher to be troubled. But he had obviously misunderstood the situation because those words turned the teacher's face pale, while frightened expressions emerged from the crowd of students.

Daren felt increasingly strange. He could not find the answer to what he should do even with the help of his microchip, and even the teacher, standing on the lectern, was withholding the answer. Being stared at was so uncomfortable. Daren unconsciously lowered his head, slowly inching forward towards the seat he had pointed at earlier.

With every step he took, a student would suck in a breath. The closer he got to the seat, the more uneasy everyone became.

"Hey! Quick! Advise him not to commit suicide!"

His classmates whispered among themselves, but all of their conversations were picked up by Daren's super hearing system.

"He's so pitiful, he just transferred here and now he's going to die..."

Daren was puzzled. He was going to die? After listening to this, Daren's imperative for self protection became activated. He rapidly analyzed his surroundings, trying to identify the possible source of his demise. However, whichever way he analyzed it, Daren was unable to detect any threat to his life.

So he continued walking, all the way to the seat and pulled out the chair.

Scores of people in the classroom held their collective breaths.

Daren looked around, gingerly lowering the bag from his shoulder.

Girls started screaming, boys gaping.

Daren sat down impassively.

"Oh my god! Manslaughter! There's gonna be manslaughter!"

The crowd fled screaming, throwing objects, creating a scene of utter chaos... though it had initially been chaotic enough already.

The crowd paused for a moment. Daren too, was momentarily dumbfounded. In the end... nothing happened. Only the school bell rang, signalling the end of class. The crowd dashed from the classroom as if escaping from a disaster, eyeing it from a distance. A few of the braver ones dared to walk closer to the window to peep inside.

Daren remained seated unaware. Looking at his watch, he realised it was noon. Gege once instructed him to eat well, so he stood up in search of the canteen to eat a good meal.

Daren glanced to his side and realised that the sleeping student was still flopped over unmoving. He recalled that gege had also told him to get along well with his classmates; best to make a few friends...

"Classmate, hey classmate, it's noon already, do you want to eat with me?"

Daren gently pushed the sleeping student's shoulder, not noticing that this move of his made tens of people outside drop their jaws.

"Who is it?!"

A loud boom destroyed the table, a roar shook the dust from the ceiling as the sleeping student gradually raised his head. Eye-catching orange hair, spiked like a porcupine; a fierce gaze unsoftened by the blue of his eyes; bronze skin with the tattoo of a dragon, with its fangs and claws bared, stretched from the forehead to the jaw. The boy's image was one that brought fear upon those who looked upon him.

In fact, his classmates outside the window had all said a prayer. Though they didn't have a good impression of this nerd, he had still been a classmate for 10 minutes; it was only proper to pray for his early reincarnation.

"It's me. It's time for lunch; are you going to eat?" Daren blinked and continued asking, seemingly unaware of how different this person standing before him was from his other classmates.

"Duh!" the porcupine head bellowed once again. Once he was done, he cast his eyes on Daren, eyeing him up and down and realized that he didn't know him. Porcupine head impatiently asked, "Who are you?"

Finally, a classmate is speaking to me! With happiness in his heart, Daren answered with a smile, "I am the new transfer student, my name is Daren Avery, nice to meet you."

Porcupine head was at first dumbfounded, evidently taken aback by Daren's behaviour. He then raised an eyebrow and sneered, "What are you doing? Trying to find a mountain to lean on since you're new? Get lost, don't bother me!"

Daren revealed a puzzled expression. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. What does 'mountain to lean on' mean?"

"Finding a mountain to lean on is to find someone to depend on... Fuck! Why am I explaining this to you?!"

Porcupine head jumped off his chair and kicked the table by the side, which subsequently crashed into the ceiling and shattered into tiny pieces

Force of 300 Newtons, using this attack as a point of reference, he has the ability to generate an estimated maximum of 1500 Newtons, belonging to the class possessing a high explosive power. Daren rapidly analyzed porcupine head's capabilities.

Porcupine head saw him staring at the splinters, thinking that Daren must have been scared witless. He would not even get pleasure from bullying this kind of a country bumpkin. He shoved his hands into his pockets and sauntered out of the classroom.

"Wait, wait a second, you haven't told me your name." Daren was a little surprised, usually after introducing oneself, shouldn't the other party reciprocate? This was the information he received from his microchip regarding human interactions.

Porcupine head paused in his stride, looking at Daren from the corner of his eyes and said coldly, "Ezart^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/eclipse-hunter-chapter-3.html#izatte">1</a>}. Remember it well! Don't mess with this name!"

Daren nodded with what seemed to be understanding. As Ezart turned to walk away...

"So are you actually willing to eat with me?" Daren asked with puzzlement.

The floor slipped beneath Ezart's feet, he almost did a dog-eat-shit tumble in front of an audience. Barely regaining his balance in time, he turned back to glare at Daren, suspecting that the latter was infuriating him on purpose. Yet Daren was a face of unawareness, which, coupled with his nerdy outfit, was undeniably transmitting the signal that said --- "I am nerdy, what can you do about it?"

Nerd! It was the only word reverberating within Ezart's mind, there was no way he could use his fists against such a nerdy person, he could only scowl as he bellowed, "Are you stupid? I am not willing! No! Do you understand? If you do then get lost, if you say one more word I'll beat you so that you'll be hospitalised till the end of term!"

Daren was startled, he nodded somewhat dejectedly, "I understand."

Ezart snorted loudly as he departed the classroom, leaving Daren alone. Dar lowered his head and stood still for a while before remembering his brother's instruction to eat well. Looking at his watch, lunch break was almost half over, therefore, he hurriedly fished out his wallet and rushed towards the cafeteria.

◇　　◇　　◇

Due to gege's instruction to have a full meal, Daren's frightening stomach capacity, and the massive energy requirements for supporting his 90kg frame, he ended up with 2 mountainous plates of food, one filled with meat and rice and the other with vegetables.

(Gege's reminder: Have a balanced diet.)

With his food in hand, Daren looked around in search of a seat, but the cafeteria was fully occupied, he therefore had to stand impassively in a spot, waiting for someone to vacate a seat. However, everyone had eaten their fill and were leisurely watching the foolish sight of "someone" holding two large mountains of food. No one was leaving.

Daren had no choice but to walk towards the eye-catching orange porcupine head, apologising, "Sorry, I know that you're not willing to eat with me, but because there are no more empty places, may I sit here?"

Ezart's food was fairly simple, consisting of a few buns. He aggressively looked up at Daren, then asked threateningly, "Are you an idiot? Can't you see that no one dares to come near me? Are you tired of living or what?"

"No, I'm not tired of living, it's because there are no more seats and it just so happens that there are empty seats here, so I came over," Daren answered seriously.

"You!"

The surrounding people started getting anxious, suspecting that Ezart will blow up this time. Ezart helplessly buried his face in his large hands, an action that made the cafeteria descend into deathly silence...

"Hahahahaha!!!" A booming laughter erupted, Ezart grabbed his abdomen, intermittently pounding his fists on the table to express his belly full of laughter. After howling for a good while, he saw Daren with his "I am just nerdy" look, still standing foolishly to one side, not knowing how to proceed.

Unable to contain it, Ezart burst out into another laughing fit. "You, you really, really have a screw loose! Haha!"

"Huh? Do I really have a screw loose?" Daren immediately activated his microchip to scan for any loose screws.

"Sit down!"

Ezart patted the empty seat beside him, motioning for Daren to sit down. Daren obediently sat down and turned to say, "I don't have a loose screw, you must be mistaken."

Ezart was momentarily dumbfounded, before hugging his abdomen sniggering, "You, you are just too great... god! My stomach... it hurts."

"Stomachache?" Daren was chowing on a chicken wing when he immediately became anxious. He put down his chicken wing asking with concern, "Are you ok? Do you want me to accompany you to the sick bay?"

Another bout of booming laughter.

Having laughed too much, his stomach was really starting to hurt, so Ezart was a little exasperated, "No need for that! Just quickly eat your food; if you stop talking with that nerdy look, I'll be fine."

Daren blinked, wanting to say that he does not have a nerdy look, but since Ezart was asking him to eat, then he had better finish it quickly since lunch break was ending soon. At that point, Daren began shoving food into his mouth, chewing at a rate of 10 bites per second, rapidly clearing his mountainous pile of food.

(Gege's instruction: Chew more when you eat to prevent indigestion.)

Ezart was dumbstruck by this method of eating; never had he seen someone eat with this speed, like a movie in fast forward. In addition, where the hell was this puny fellow keeping his food? As the peaks of the twin mountains crumbled, the uncontrollable twitching of Ezart's mouth increased.

"I'm done." Daren took out his handkerchief to wipe his mouth after finishing the last mouthful while simultaneously looking at his watch. Good, there was still time for a nap. He immediately flopped onto the table announcing, "I'm going to take a nap."

(Gege's instruction: It's a must to take a nap in the afternoon.)

"We're starting class in 3 minutes."

Ezart casually reminded, although he himself wasn't mindful of such things. He pulled out a martial arts novel and began reading. After a few pages, the person next to him suddenly raised his head saying, "30 seconds to the bell."

He actually grabbed Ezart's hand and dragged him towards the direction of the classroom. Ezart was initially shocked and therefore allowed himself to be dragged along. But as he regained his senses and tried shaking off Daren's hand, he realised that he couldn't...

This kid is strong! A trace of caution flashed past Ezart's eyes.

"Hurry up! There's only 5 seconds before we're late. We definitely can't be late for class," Daren yelled.

At the completion of his sentence, both the "tow truck" and the one being towed appeared at the door to the classroom with a "woosh", then into their respective seats with another burst of speed. Daren heaved a sigh of relief, feeling lucky that they weren't late; he happily took out his textbooks and stationary. As long as he did not violate gege's instructions, all was good.

T-that speed, wasn't it a little too fast... Ezart was stunned, belatedly realising that he was at his own seat. How was he already in his chair when he was last being dragged into the classroom?

Ezart looked at Daren suspiciously, the latter also realising that Ezart was looking at him, looked up immediately and flashed a brilliant smile. He realised that his glasses were knocked sideways from the "vigorous exercise" just now. He adjusted his glasses while he smiled, it slanted again, he adjusted it once more.

Really nerdy... Ezart turned his head back. Forget it! It's impossible for this kind of nerd.

"Battle has a long history... from the era of the existence of countries... there are Chinese martial arts, Japanese kendo, Western fencing, etc. From the formation of the trade groups till recent times, the world had been engulfed in disputes, with the people's emphasis on keeping whole... battle had became the generalised standard, irregardless of location or weapon, the last survivor was the victor; this has become Battle's cruel identity..."

Daren speedily jotted down the teacher's words while highlighting the important points in his textbook, his pen flying across the page. Although highlighting for revision was pretty useless as the microchip in his brain gave him a photographic memory, meaning it was impossible for him to forget something once he laid eyes on it.

His hands moved on their own accord, his eyes not required to follow the line of letters. He turned around and found Ezart still sleeping... He whispered harshly, "Ezart, Ezart?"

Ezart's sleeping skill was originally impressive - he could not be woken even if the whole class was in riot - but when faced with his name, he still possessed the reflexive response of all normal people. After ignoring Daren for a few times, Ezart finally went berserk; he ripped the table apart in one move, furiously yelling, "Ezart, Ezart, Ezart! What are you calling me for?"

Within the classroom, silence once again reigned, Daren blinked in explanation, "You shouldn't sleep in class, you must be serious in your studies!"

A vein popped on Ezart's forehead, this guy indeed had a screw loose... He prodded Daren's forehead with his index finger, "I'm warning you! I haven't pummelled you because you are a little interesting, but if you annoy me again, I will definitely let you lie unconscious in a hospital tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that!"

Facing this threat, Daren gaped and with a confused expression said, "I didn't bother you, I was just telling you that you shouldn't sleep when you're in class."

"You!"

Ezart slumped back onto his chair. Who was rearing this heavenly soldier? He was so nerdy that he deserved a beating, yet so nerdy that others can't bear to hit him.

(Devon Solaris and Theodore Avery in their respective locations let out a big sneeze.)

"Here! I'll let you read the notes I made while you were sleeping."

Daren happily pushed his notebook over, sharing generously with his friend. No matter what Ezart may have been thinking, Daren had taken the fellow whom he had lunch with and attended class with as a friend. Now he was sharing notes.

Ezart's brain was engulfed in a maelstrom. He rubbed his face in defeat, tiredly replying, "For god's sake, no one pays attention to battle history lessons, okay?"

"Huh?" Daren blinked uncomprehending.

"Only physical fitness type of class is the true battle curriculum, the rest of them are for sleeping in, understand?"

Ezart impatiently explained while looking at Daren who was still exhibiting his nerdy expression. One look and anyone could tell that he definitely did not understand!

He stamped in fury as he roared, "Anyway, you listen to your class, don't disturb me - I will take practical lessons seriously when we come to it."

"Okay." Daren nodded, then as Ezart started thinking that he was finally free to once again slump over the desk and sleep, Daren shook him again saying, "So, do you want to copy my notes?"

"..."

"The so called practical curriculum is..." Ezart smashed his fists together forcefully, the lazy and sleepy attitude now totally gone, his whole body enlivened like a tiger preparing to hunt. "Smashing-your-fist-into-someone's-face class!"

Saying that, Ezart walked straight into the massive gymnasium. While Daren was still mulling over the meaning of that phrase, Ezart had already walked away. He hurried to catch up but suddenly heard "Ezart" uttered by the classmate beside him. He slowed his pace out of curiosity and widened his zone of reception and realised that half of his classmates were talking about Ezart.

"Ezart sent 3 students from class A to the hospital last time."

"Are you for real? It's class A! Isn't that the class that's known for having the guy^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/eclipse-hunter-chapter-3.html#guy">2</a>} who can single-handedly take out our whole class?

"Didn't you know, if it wasn't because he got close to zero for all his other subjects, he wouldn't be in our class."

Daren carefully analyzed these information. In that case, Ezart must be very strong. The microchip in Daren instinctively wanted to analyze strong individuals, because becoming strong in order to protect gege is his primary function.

Daren unwaveringly walked towards the gymnasium. Even the classmates calling from behind did not make it in time to stop him. His figure disappeared into the gymnasium...

"Oh my god! He just walked in there like that. Does he know what's inside the gymnasium?"

"This gym is a massive battle simulator..."

******************** Chapter 3 END ********************

Notes:
^{<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1752037227950728211&postID=4903856686016297887#" name="izatte"></a>1}Ezart: (or Izatte) his chinese name is 伊萨特, pronounced Yi Sa Te. We named him Izatte before, but the author just published his official English name (Ezart)
^{<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1752037227950728211&postID=4903856686016297887#" name="guy"></a>2}The guy: refers to a student in class A, different from Ezart's class. Previously this was mistranslated to refer to Ezart.

<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/04/novel-eclipse-hunter-chapter-2.html"><< Previous Chapter</a> - <a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html"> Next Chapter >></a>

In truth, Daren Solaris knew that it was a massive battle simulator - one of YeLan Academy’s highlights. It was rumoured to have been specially developed by the headmaster and had been a deciding factor in Daren’s decision to attend YeLan Academy.

Upon entering the simulator, a large screen appeared before Daren. On-screen was a sagely old man, whose face was covered with so many wrinkles that mosquitoes dared not land on it for fear of being squashed in the drooping facial folds. But this “virtuous” old man revealed a slightly cheeky smile and said flippantly,

“Hello my little friend, I am the headmaster of YeLan Academy, Antonias^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#antonias">1</a>}. Please enter your account name and password, then you may battle to your heart’s content.”

“I don’t have an account or a password,” Daren honestly replied.

“I see, you’re a new friend. Not to worry, come create an account and we’ll be good to go. Pick any alias you like,” the irreverent old man said smilingly.

Daren thought for a second and said, “Dark Sun, password is xxxx.”

“I see, my little friend Dark Sun, choose a battle suit and weapon that you prefer.” As soon as Antonias finished speaking, rows of battle suits stacked as high as the sky appeared by his side. There were suits ranging from Pikachu-themed suspenders and blue-white slippers, to Mazinger’s^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#mazinger">2</a>} suits; even weapons ranging from blackboard dusters and chalk to tanks and cannons were available.

Daren playfully looked through the arsenal of options; initially he had wanted to decline any weapons because Dark Sun was a weapon in itself, but gege’s instruction arose again.

(Do not let others discover your abilities!)

If that’s the case, then I can’t go into battle... Daren thought. From the corner of his eyes, Daren suddenly spied a simple suit with virtually no defensive capabilities. It was a pink shirt with matching jeans and knee-high boots. Its most important aspect was the protective visor.

Daren’s plan was simple; as long as others could not recognise him, he could fulfill Dark Sun’s basic functions without violating Gege’s instructions.

“I want that suit.” said Daren gesturing towards the simple outfit.

“No problem!”

Instantly, the outfit was superimposed on Daren. He then messed up his hair in order to prevent himself from being discovered. While admiring his reflection, he noticed that his lean frame had become more pronounced by his shirt and his height was well emphasized by his jeans and high boots. Even his messy hair served to make him look more suave.

Wiping off his faint smile, Daren strengthened his disguise further by retrieving the serious unsmiling facade of Dark Sun from his microchip. In a flash, all traces of a smile vanished from his face, and his nerdy demeanor turned sinister.

“As for the weapon?”

Dark Sun frowned; he knew he could not refrain from using a weapon. It would inevitably take lives if he were to fight live participants with real weapons, therefore, he could only rely on virtual weapons to avoid hurting anyone. Though, his laboratory simulations had all been with live weapons.

“Give me a dagger and a handgun.”

The holster was clipped onto Dark Sun’s right thigh and the dagger attached to the inside of his boot.

“Since it’s your first time entering, I, Antonias, will give you a brief explanation. Your opponents can be anything from bizarre species and robots to little girls and even pregnant women. Some of them might be virtual, others your classmates. You can form alliances, or treat everyone as your enemy. In any case, the last survivor is the victor. Have a happy battle, Dark Sun.”

The doors to the simulator gradually opened and a ray of light emerged from within. Dark Sun turned towards it slowly and waited to enter.

Battle simulator, activated.

When it came to battle simulators, Daren could not be more familiar. Ever since he was seven, his entire life had revolved around check ups, operations, non stop battles and helping researchers accumulate data for further improvement.

Analysis: Battle scenario no different from reality. 26 enemies nearby, 20 of which expressing hostility, 10 with intent to attack, 2 within danger zone.

“Where did this idiot come from? Choosing a suit with no defenses. He must thinks he’s some sort of celebrity, trying to play cool like that.”

“Ha! So ridiculous! Look at him. He’s actually carrying a hand gun. He’s just asking to be killed.”

Daren turned around and saw two people dressed in light battle armour. One had a sub-machine gun and the other had a shotgun.

“Alright, kill him quick - there are still lots of people to blast. Hahaha!”

The person holding the sub-machine gun took aim, revealing a frenzied smile at the thought of the kill...

Tratatatatata ------

The sound of gunshots filled the air as empty shells rapidly hit the ground forming clouds of dust. Under this intense fire, no one would’ve been able to escape......

“Where is he!?” shouted the two gun toting boys, but... only shells littered the floor, with nobody in sight.....

“Urgh!”

The boy with the sub-machine gun looked around frantically. A sudden gurgling sound made him spin around only to have blood splatter his face. He stared in shock at the large gash on his friend’s throat, gushing an endless stream of blood. In a few seconds, he was relegated to the “dead” category by the system, and his limp body crumpled to the ground with malcontent evident in his eyes.

“Bastard! Where are you!” Snarled the boy with the sub-machine gun. He was angry but also afraid enough to shower the perimeter with bullets. But before he could finish his ammunition, he had already collapsed, still unaware of the reason. Just as he was about to protest that it was a system error, that he was not dead, he heard a voice...

“So fast.” An eye catching boy in a Mazinger’s suit, with porcupine-like hair and a dragon tattoo on his face, walked over and flipped the “carcass” onto his back.

“Stupid! You were attacked even before the guy whose throat was slit.”

Seeing that the carcass was staring at him with an unyielding expression, Ezart^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#ezart">3</a>} snorted, “The dagger moved so fast that you were killed before you could even feel it entering and leaving your guts.”

The carcass gasped and looked towards his abdomen. Indeed there was a wound there. Although it wasn’t big, blood was pouring out of it like water from a tap, reflecting the accuracy and lethality of the strike.

“Where did such a strong guy come from? From the looks of it, it can’t be Shain Baylian.”

Ezart revealed an intrigued smile. He slammed his fists together with a clamour of steel and an immense battle fervour as he strode in the direction of the person in question.

Dark Sun walked alone. Though he detected several people tracking him, he didn’t pay them any attention unless they were intent on attacking. His primary objective was to find Ezart. Whether it was just for observation or personally engaging in battle, Dark Sun just wanted to record a strong opponent’s battle for storage in his microchip. This was a way for him to become stronger and achieve the goal of protecting Gege.

However, Dark Sun did not manage to locate Ezart nor discover any other strong opponents even after searching for some time. He watched a few battles but none measured up to his standards.

In that case, if the others were to be eliminated, the remaining survivors would contain Ezart. Dark Sun made up his mind and reached towards his holster.

“He’s starting to attack...” As the notion floated into the consciousness of the crowd tracking him, they prepared to defend. Dark Sun took a step forward and vaulted off the wall into the air, letting out a volley of rapid shots. Several muffled cries and the thuds of collapsing bodies could be heard in response.

None of them were Ezart, nor were they skillful enough. Dark Sun holstered his gun, drew his dagger and skillfully sought out his opponents. Before they were able to catch a glimpse of him, they were killed with a single blow to the brain-stem and collapsed inexplicably to the ground while cursing the system for malfunctioning. And these were only his milder kills.

“He appeared so suddenly - I froze for a second before firing, but he evaded my shots easily. Then like a leopard on the hunt, he effortlessly left, searching for his next prey. It was then that I realised that my throat was spewing blood and the system was grounding my body, telling me that I had been killed by Dark Sun... Dark Sun - I’ll never forget that name,” said one of Dark Sun’s victims.

Still not him. Dark Sun’s blade was dripping with blood, yet he still could not locate Ezart or any other equally strong opponent. He could only continue wandering aimlessly.

Suddenly, the sounds of intense battle drifted to his ears, Dark Sun spent a millisecond analysing before deciding to head towards the sound. With his enhanced speed, he was able to quickly reach the location.

Dark Sun surveyed the surrounding area. The houses and streets had been left half destroyed, with gaping holes in sections of walls, broken street lights, uprooted trees and shattered windows visible in the area.

Upon seeing this, Dark Sun knew that he had finally found a strong opponent. He nimbly jumped onto the remaining wall of a building and stealthily made his way forward. After ten metres, the scenery changed from half to complete destruction. At the very end, only a large rocky formation was left, its original form now indeterminable. It was then that he finally saw the battleground.

Two people were engaged in battle: one was the well-built boy with spiked, orange hair - the ellusive Ezart. The other boy stood in stark contrast to Ezart. He was very lean, yet significantly taller than the gangly Dark Sun. He was approximately 180cm, and wore an ancient Chinese garb while wielding dual sai^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#sai">4</a>}.

Dark Sun stood on a derelict wall with his eyes fixed intently on the battle. He watched Ezart’s massive Mazinger gloves deal heavy and crushing blows that created craters on the ground. It was evident that he was to blame for roughly 80% of the surrounding destruction.

His opponent, though physically weak, appeared to be one of the high agility types. He was like a cunning and unpredictable snake, effortlessly dodging Ezart’s punches. However, it was impossible for someone as weak as him to severely injure the fully armoured Ezart with one strike. Hence, he was reduced to slicing a little here and there to slowly sap away his opponent’s strength.

This was extremely dangerous; if Ezart were to land a blow, the slender boy would probably be unable to get back onto his feet. But, that was if Ezart could land a blow. In truth, compared to the monstrous yet sluggish punches, the flying rock debris was more problematic, causing cuts and scratches time and again.

Although both had good fighting abilities, Ezart’s colossal strength was of no help to Dark Sun, whereas the unpredictability of the boy in the Chinese garb was beneficial for improving Dark Sun’s ability to dodge.

As the aces faced off, the agile boy suddenly turned his hips in a seemingly impossible angle to evade Ezart’s fists, and simultaneously closed the gap between himself and Ezart. The dual sai snuck its way through a gap in the armour, into Ezart's throat and emerged out the back of his head.

Surprisingly, the impaled Ezart was still stubbornly crushing the tiny waist of his opponent. The boy, unable to break free, forcefully tore his sai free. Torrents of blood spewed in all directions, causing the system to gradually ground Ezart, who was finally forced to release his opponent.

“You just don’t give up, do you? You‘ve already lost, yet you continue to strangle me” the boy in the Chinese garb remarked coldly.

Ezart slowly lifted his gaze towards him, battle fervour still visible in his eyes.

“If you want to fight, you’ll have to wait for the next practice session,” the boy wearing the Chinese garb turned around, speaking to the desolate area of destruction.

Daren frowned, he had thought that he wouldn’t be discovered; had he somehow carelessly revealed himself? Nevertheless, Daren had no intention of hiding. Engaging in battle had always been the only way to become stronger.

“Don’t think that I didn’t notice because I was battling Ezart. You were all throwing daggers at our backs!” The boy continued, with a contemptuous look.

Daren paused, realising that the boy wasn’t referring to him. After a split second's consideration, he decided to let the boy resolve all matters before engaging him in a satisfying heart thumping battle.

However, something strange happened; after the loud declaration by the boy, all the people lurking in the surrounding area were so frightened that they hastily fled regardless of whether they were the back stabbing person in question or not. Who knew who that was? It was simply best not to be the scapegoat...

Daren sensed that the players who had been lying in ambush were being pursued by a group, consisting of members whose fighting potential were greater than his earlier opponents. Within moments, the escaping players had all been dealt with.

Three of the pursuers returned to the boy in the Chinese garb. From the looks of respect on their faces, it was easy to tell that they were his subordinates or minions. Amongst them was a man wielding dual hand guns, an ice queen^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#ice">5</a>} with long claws and an unreadable dwarfish guy.

“All taken care of?” the boy in the Chinese garb asked woodenly.

“We were unable to locate one,” the girl said as she looked at the him, her icy expression melting slightly.

“There’s still one left?” asked the boy, revealing a displeased expression.

His subordinates became slightly flustered, but they simply could not locate the last remaining person.

Suddenly, a sliver of doubt flashed across the boy’s eyes; he turned towards a nearby crumbling wall and scanned the shadows suspiciously. Was it simply an illusion? He was somewhat uncertain. Yet, he was unable to detect any human presence. Besides, if someone had been hiding there, there should have been some movement when he had scanned the area.

After staring for some time and being unable to discern any anomalies, the boy gradually turned around, dismissing it as paranoia. He had not heard of any specialists from the participating classes having the skills to elude him.

Daren silently observed the boy. Just as he turned away, Daren leapt out, felling the man with the dual hand guns with a single strike. He simultaneously kicked the ice queen aside and after regaining his balance, punched the dwarfish man away.

Although the boy in the Chinese garb was taken by surprise, it was obvious that he had received specialised martial arts training and had to be an expert to have defeated Ezart. The dual sai reflexively parried a blow and the air resounded with the crisp clash of metal. Sai and dagger met repeatedly at speeds that surpassed both the wielders’ expectations.

Daren was astonished. Although this was not his greatest speed, he should have already exceeded the range of human comprehension and reflex. To think that there was someone who could keep up with his attacks.

The boy in question, however, was having overwhelming amounts of trouble. At first glance, he seemed to have the upper hand, but upon further analysis, it was apparent that the usage of his dual sai required great coordination and thought. Yet, the speed of the incoming blows were not giving him the opportunity to think. He was relying completely on his body’s reflexes for every attack and parry. How long could he sustain this? His expression was grim.

This person was strong, very strong. He had already reached his limit, but it seemed as if his opponent still had further room to manoeuvre...... The boy in the Chinese clothes easily understood these facts.

“Who are you?” He finally could not resist asking. The result of his momentary distraction was a long gash to his forearm.

“Dark Sun.”

In the past, Dark Sun would never be distracted during a battle with such a pointless thing as giving his name to an opponent. But he was no longer just an emotionless fighting machine. He was also Daren Solaris, and Daren Solaris felt that since the other party had asked, and he had the resources to answer, there could be no harm in doing so. In addition, gege had allowed him to make decisions that pandered more to his emotions, therefore Daren answered.

“Your name?” He was even slightly curious about his opponent’s name.

“Shain Baylian^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#shain">6</a>}!”

Growled the boy through clenched teeth. The movements of his arms had slowed because of his wound, further compromising his situation. Damn it! How can he execute such complex attacks with such an ordinary dagger?

Although Daren knew that once he increased his speed, Shain would immediately be defeated, he was in no hurry to do so. Shain Baylian’s snake-like contortions were well worth referencing. Daren was happy to observe, even reducing his speed so that the battle would not conclude too quickly.

He decreased his speed? Although it was strange, Shain did not put too much thought into it and instead increased the rate of his attacks. His body struck and stilled like a rattle snake in battle. Unless they were a powerful cyborg, most people would not have been able to withstand his attacks.

This was why Ezart repeatedly lost to Shain and treated him as his greatest rival. Ezart’s naturally gifted monstrous strength coupled with his specialised training made him almost universally undefeatable. This was also one of the reasons he was feared in the academy. Despite all that, whenever he battled Shain Baylian, another freak with snake-like dexterity, he was continuously defeated.

Daren was savouring the moment like precious rain in a drought. Although there had been various battle machines in the laboratory, they had all been modeled after average people. There had never been an opponent with such unique abilities to fight against. Of course, Dark Sun, whose primary objective was to become stronger, studiously recorded the battle data.

But unbeknownst to Dark Sun, while he was recording others, he was also revealing his battle strategies. A massive screen for public viewing in front of an empty plaza had been installed outside the YeLan Academy Battledome. It had begun as a multitude of small screens displaying individual battles.

As the participants began to die off, the divisions of the screen decreased, with each display gradually increasing in size. Only at this point did it become a spectacle to behold. Every student on the outside avidly watched every battle. Some watched purely for entertainment, others to watch and learn, and of course, a sizable portion was there to support their favourite idols.

At that moment, there was only one battle on screen. Although two of Shain Baylian’s subordinates had yet to die, they did not dare to act rashly. They were both aware that when Shain was engaged in battle, he detested being interrupted by others. Therefore, the screen was focused solely on the two boys fighting.

Everyone was dumbstruck, eyes riveted on the battle on-screen. This was a rare sight. In the past, this audience would be gossiping, analysing battles, cheering for their idols and being as noisy as a market place. But at that moment, a blanket of silence had descended over the crowd.

“Has Shain Baylian finally met his match? The guy, who can’t be defeated, has met his match?” someone mumbled after a prolonged silence.

“Is he at a disadvantage?” another muttered with an unbelieving expression.

“Who the hell is Dark Sun? He’s quick, his movements are even faster than Shain Baylian... how can he be so fast?”

When faced with that question, the crowd looked at each other, breaking out in a chorus of questions: “Is he from your class?” “Or is he someone from outside the academy who applied to participate in this battle?” “Does anyone know Dark Sun?”

Even though the scene was like the explosion of a wok^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-4.html#wok">7</a>} that had been left to boil for too long, Ezart was unaffected by the ruckus. He already knew that Dark Sun was strong, and had been trailing him when he unexpectedly met Shain Baylian; the two of them aggravated each other as per normal, and Ezart lost as per normal...

But he was not disappointed in the slightest, because another strong opponent had emerged from the Academy, one who was stronger than Shain Baylian! That’s right! Ezart saw right from the start, that this Dark Sun’s ability was greater than Shain’s...... No, his ability greatly exceeded Shain’s!

“Shain Baylian will definitely lose.”

Ezart’s words resounded in the noisy plaza and captured everyone’s attention, a ripple of silence fanned out from Ezart.

Then, as if to verify Ezart’s words, Dark Sun launched his attacks fiercely. Shain, who had long been worn out, sustained more injuries to his arms. A few more clashes sent his dual sai flying, which then lodged all the way to their hilts in the ground and a derelict wall respectively.

Shain knew that his defeat was imminent. He was neither surprised, nor did he continue to struggle, but instead revealed a sinister smile, saying “Dark Sun, I will remember you.”

The dagger pierced Shain just below his smile, causing vibrant blood to blossom down his throat.

“Yes, Shain Baylian, I will remember you too.” Dark Sun said matter-of-factly; he would definitely create a file in his microchip for Shain Baylian and his martial art techniques.

Shain Baylian revealed a smile that seemed oddly content as he slowly collapsed...

******************** Chapter 4 END ********************

“I was wondering where you’d run off too; so you went off to get food!” said Ezart as he roughly gifted Daren with a punch to the head. The latter was found gorging on a pile of food, large enough that he seemed buried in it.

“Ahm ooo unhgre......” Daren tried to talk while chewing.

“Didn’t you just have a meal?” Ezart grumbled as he unceremoniously ripped open a packet of chips, stuffing handfuls into his mouth as he sat down. He then offhandedly asked, “Hey, where did you run off to just now? I didn’t see you at all. Don’t tell me you’ve been eating here all this time.”

“Noo wey, ah deed goh in!” Daren protested through a mouthful of food.

Ezart eyed Daren. He suspected that Daren was Dark Sun. It seemed too much of a coincidence that the day Daren transferred to the school just happens to be the day Dark Sun appeared. But looking at him now, with his hair parted and combed down the sides, his nerdy pair of glasses, neatly pressed school uniform and an endless vibe of nerdiness, he seemed nerdy no matter which way one looked at him.

Ezart smacked his head, It was impossible. Daren couldn’t be Dark Sun - they were just too different. Their auras were like night and day. Dark Sun had a chilly, menacing aura, which totally contrasted Daren’s nerdiness.

Ezart sighed and laid down with his arms behind his head, “Who’s this Dark Sun guy? If he isn’t someone from the Academy, then there’s no way to know if he’ll continue to participate in the mock battles. What if he doesn’t participate anymore?”

Daren blinked and said, “So what if he doesn’t participate, does it matter?”

Ezart bolted upright, exclaiming, “Of course it matters! If he doesn’t participate then I can’t fight him. To think that I actually put so much effort into tailing him just to let that Shain Baylian reap the rewards!”

Daren lowered his head and continued stuffing his face. Because of his unique body composition, he had no choice but to replenish significant amounts of energy used up after every battle for him to continue functioning. He pondered as he ate. Originally, he had no intention to continue fighting, since he had already seen Ezart and Shain battle. However, if he did not fight it out with Ezart, it looked as if he would be greatly disappointed.

“Then again, he could be from the Elite Combat Section. Maybe in a moment of blood-rush he decided to enter the battle simulator for fun.” Ezart considered, now believing it to be more and more likely.

“Elite Combat Section?” Daren immediately raised his head to ask.

“Oh yeah, you’re new here, so you still don’t know.” Ezart laid down again, and lazily began to explain, “Since YeLan Academy is a combat school, classes are allocated A to D, based on fighting prowess. Baylain, from before, is from Class A, we’re in class D, also known as “Let the cows graze”^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-5.html#cow" class="vt-p">1</a>} class. We’re just borderline passers. Shouldn’t you already know this?”

He had no idea. He absentmindedly stuffed another bun into his mouth, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Surely his gege would not place him in Class D just to keep him from attracting attention... right?

Ezart’s gaze suddenly darkened. “Elite Combat Section, shortened to ECS; it is said that there are no more than twenty people in that class and every single one of them is a monster.”

“Monster?” Daren spun his head towards Ezart in shock, “Monsters can attend human schools too? “

Ezart slowly turned to look at Daren as if he were an idiot. But this kid, with a foolish and shocked expression that made people want to hit him, seemed hopelessly unaware of his own mistakes.

Ezart exasperatedly explained, “Monster is a metaphor... meaning, the people in that class are so strong that they no longer seem human.”

“Oh,” Daren nodded, showing that he understood. Strong fighters … Dark Sun’s personality awoke, his dull eyes sharpened. He asked, “Where are the members of ECS?”

“Who knows? It is said that they’re so strong that they don’t even need to attend classes... usually they help the principal with high level missions... but that’s just a rumour! No one knows the truth of the matter; the other students are still speculating whether the ECS actually exists or not.

“Even you and Baylian can’t join the Elite Combat Section?”

Ezart stared at Daren. This kid really doesn’t care about other people’s self esteem...

“I don’t know about Baylian, but the headmaster asked me before; I refused though.”

Daren looked curiously at Ezart, he had assessed Ezart to be someone who just wanted to fight strong people no matter what. Why would he refuse?

“It’s not like there aren’t benefits to joining that class, but…“ Ezart grimaced, “before graduation, you‘d have to complete twenty of the headmaster’s assignments. That didn’t sit well with me, so I didn’t bother.”

“Oh.” Upon hearing this, Daren also dismissed the idea of entering the Elite Combat Section. He only needed to listen to gege instructions; no one else’s mattered.

“Alright kiddo, I’ve got something to do, so I gotta go. I’ll walk you to the school gate, or else someone as daft as you will get pummeled by the seasoned dudes as a warning.” Ezart himself had no idea how it happened. He was the type to always get into fights at school, so this was actually the first time he had thought of protecting someone else.

“I’m not Kiddo, my name is Daren Avery.” Daren protested with wide eyes.

“Daren Avery … that’s so hard to pronounce.”

“Then just call me Dar, that’s what my gege calls me.”

“Okay, Dar, let’s go. If you don’t hurry up, I won’t care anymore and just let you take a beating. Maybe then you’ll wisen up.” Ezart raised an eyebrow, thinking it a good idea.

“D-don’t be like that!”

Daren stood up hurriedly; if someone wanted to shake him up, he wouldn’t know how to stick to his brother’s instructions. To protect himself, but not reveal his strength - he felt as if he stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Daren hurriedly cleared up his leftovers, while stealing glances at Ezart, as if afraid that he would be left behind. Watching this scene, Ezart could not help thinking how hopeless Daren was. He had no idea why he was going this far to protect this guy. Worse still, he had actually thought this kid was Dark Sun. He must be going crazy!

“Are you done?”

Ezart impatiently urged, to which Daren hurriedly responded, “Okay, okay, let’s go.”

Ezart place his hands in his pockets and went ahead on his own, leaving Daren to catch up.

“Ezart, where are you off to in such a hurry? Dinner?”

Daren pestered Ezart with questions as he walked, the latter raised his eyebrows in response, not bothering to open his mouth to explain. Daren asked some more questions, and as long as they were not about Ezart, they were all answered. When it came to questions about Ezart himself, they were completely ignored.

“Don’t ask about me anymore,” Ezart eventually said.

“Oh, okay,” Daren obediently replied.

The two of them walked in silence until they were at the school gate. Ezart believed that if Daren was seen walking with him, other students would not dare to bother Daren due to Ezart’s notoriety. However, as Ezart turned to bid goodbye to him...

He found Daren foolishly staring ahead. Despite being prodded by Ezart a few times, Daren did not respond and instead blankly raised his finger to point in the direction he was facing...

Ezart gazed in the direction of Daren’s finger. In the shade of a tree next to the school gate, Shain Baylian lazed on a chair. Next to him was the ice queen carrying drinks, the man wielding dual hand guns, and the dwarfish man from before.

“Ezart.” Shain leisurely watched Ezart, as he sat there sipping his drink.

“Shain Baylian.” Ezart raised an eyebrow, a look of disdain on his face.

Shain Baylian’s attire was even more exaggerated than in the simulation. He was still wearing Chinese-styled clothes, but the difference was that this had a pair of dragons intricately embroidered in gold thread, and decorated with gemstones. He was rotating a black diamond ring on his right thumb out of habit, when he nonchalantly asked, “I heard your class had a new transfer student today.”

“So what?” Ezart was evidently repulsed by Shain. He let it go in the battle simulator because Shain’s fighting ability satisfied his lust for battle. But when it came to reality, Shain was just a slovenly rich kid, the type Ezart utterly detested.

“A transfer student arrives on the same day that Dark Sun appears; what say you?” Shain had a brief glimpse of Daren from the corner of his eyes and was a little surprised to find Ezart walking with someone who looked like he was up for a beating.

When Ezart heard this, he began to laugh, and kept laughing for a long time... Shain Baylian narrowed his eyes dangerously.

“Here he is! The new transfer student is this guy beside me,” Ezart blurted, unable to contain it any longer. He wanted to see the expression on Shain Baylian’s face after he realised how far fetched his deductions were.

Shain was indeed dumbfounded, he had originally believed that Dark Sun would definitely be the new transfer student who had been mysteriously banished to class D. That was not much of an issue, since Ezart had also been banished to that class. However, this fellow......

Shain pursed his lips. He did not like being wrong, but not to the extent that he would insist that Dark Sun was this nerdy fellow. This was somewhat of insult, an insult to a pro.

“Seems like it’s a mistake. This kind of person... could never become Dark Sun, even if allowed to be reincarnated.” Shain stood up, a haughty expression on his face, as if Daren was a lowly organism that would emerge from the kitchen or the sewers.

But he was Dark Sun. Daren remained silent even though he felt like laughing inside.

Ezart sneered, “What did you say? Watch yourself, he’s also from an influential family, don’t go pissing off people you shouldn’t mess with.”

Shain Baylian paused in his steps. Instead of being angered by the stinging comments, he held a strange smile, “People I shouldn’t mess with? Ha, I’ll tell you this, there will be no one that I can’t mess with after today!”

“What a joke! The Solaris Emperor is someone you can never afford to mess with.”

Ezart might not be an expert on the trading conglomerates, but even someone with no knowledge about such matters, could glean from newspapers, magazines, and roadside conversations, that the most powerful man, otherwise known as the uncrowned king, was the Solaris Emperor of the Solaris Federation.

“Solaris Emperor? I’m not sure if such a person will exist after today.” Shain remarked, revealing a mirthless, arrogant smile.

“What do you mean by that?” Daren shouted all of a sudden.

Shain was slightly infuriated, to think that an insignificant transfer student would dare to raise his voice at him. If it wasn’t for Ezart’s abnormal strength, he would not have allowed him to speak like that.

“Hmph!”

Shain harrumphed snidely, his expression cold. Noticing his displeasure, the three people beside him became hostile; they unsheathed their weapons and advanced menacingly towards Daren...

Ezart’s raised his muscular arm before Daren and glared maliciously at the encroaching trio, his frown making his tattooed face appear even more sinister.

“Forget it, today is an important day. I don’t have the time to play with peasants such as these,” Shain spoke, abruptly becoming unconcerned.

The trio immediately stopped in their tracks and obediently returned to Shain’s side. Shain Baylian gave a haughty laugh and left with a flick of his long garb.

“Who is he?” Daren... no, Dark Sun asked, his gaze exceptionally chilly behind the thick frames. He was rapidly analysing Shain’s words to determine whether they were based purely on ego or on actual fact.

“Shain Baylian, Yue Baylian’s son. I hear his father’s economic power is second only to the Solaris Emperor’s Solaris Federation,” Ezart replied matter-of-factly.

In reality, he only knew the gist of it and wasn’t too familiar with the truth of the matter. In any case, Baylian was very rich and powerful; even YeLan Academy, which requires equality among students, had to allow the admittance of Shain’s three attendants.

Yue Baylian? Dark Sun instantly retrieved this person’s information. He was the leader of the Lunaris Alliance. The might of the Lunaris Alliance was not to be underestimated; It was ranked second among the other organisations. Yue Baylian’s character evaluation showed him to be an unpredictable, malevolent snake. Once his wrath was incurred, there was no telling when the fatal fangs would be at one’s throat.

Upon learning this, Dark Sun’s face became sullen, “Ezart...”

“What do you want?” Ezart looked at the kid beside him strangely. Is he shocked by Shain Baylians’ family influence? Why is he acting so strange?

“I’m leaving, there’s something I have to do, so I’m leaving.” Dark Sun dashed out of the school gates, departing like a gust of wind.

“Woah, this kid runs pretty fast! Is it because he’s been chased by bullies often?” Ezart narrowed his eyes at Daren’s departing silhouette.

Daren whipped out his mobile phone as he ran, dialing Devon Solaris’ number. The phone rang again and again, yet no one answered. No, it was impossible. Daren knew gege’s personality well. Even if he was in a conference with the leaders of the world, he would still answer his didi’s call.

Daren dialled another number, and once it was connected, he asked, “Dr. Avery, where is my brother?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, “Isn’t he at the office... Wait! Dark Sun, the news is receiving a live feed...”

“My god! Dark Sun, your brother’s company building has been seized by terrorists - they’ve installed enough explosives to wipe out the entire building. They’re holding everyone hostage and demanding that your brother come out from his specialised office or they’ll send everyone in the building to their graves!”

“Dark Sun, what are you up to?” Theodore Avery was unsettled, knowing it was impossible for Daren to stay uninvolved.

“Of course I’m going to save gege!” Daren yelled.

“Your identity will be revealed. Why don’t we wait for a moment longer? Your brother is the Solaris Emperor, not a mild-mannered monk forbidden to harm others, perhaps he will find a way out of this situation...”

“No! We can’t risk it!” Daren rejected outright.

“Dar, if your brother knew that you would expose your identity because of him and therefore become unable to live a normal life... he would be guilt ridden and upset,” Theodore Avery earnestly advised. He fully understood how Devon Solaris wished for his brother to live the life of an ordinary teenager.

Daren was silent for a moment. He too knew of gege’s well-meaning intentions, but he felt that gege’s safety was a hundred times more important. If there was a way to save gege without revealing his identity... keeping his identity a secret? Wasn’t he able to do that in the battle simulator?

Daren hastily said to Theodore, “Visor, clothes...”

“I see, that’s a good idea. I will prepare them for you immediately, come back right away!”

“Yes!” Daren hung up, revving up his speed.

Gege! No matter if I’m Dark Sun or Daren Solaris, I won’t let anyone harm you!

******************** Chapter 5 END ********************

<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1752037227950728211&postID=1438673362141799797#" name="cow" class="vt-p"></a>Notes:
Let the cows graze: meaning slacker. So the Ezart and Devon are in the "slacker class"

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"Should I buy Japanese or Greek cuisine?"

"This is not the most pressing issue at the moment, Solaris Emperor."

"Oh?" Devon Solaris perused the long menu in his hand, wondering which of the two his little brother would prefer for dinner. "What is the most pressing issue at the moment then, Bill^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-6.html#katara">1</a>}?"

The solemn secretary flipped through his events list and reported evenly, "Solaris Emperor, my name is Kyle^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-6.html#katara">2</a>}, and the most pressing issue now is to reply to the terrorist's demands. Although an explosion would not affect this special office, many of our staff would be hurt; the company would then descend into stagnation and our reputation would be severely damaged."

"Oh? Isn't this something that the security personnel should sort out?" Devon raised an eyebrow, slightly displeased, "What are the security guards doing? First they lock me in here, not allowing me to go home, and now they can't even handle the situation? Tell the highest security executive to come see me!"

"The highest security executive was shot dead when he was activating the emergency lock down button for your office. I'm afraid he is unable to see you," Kyle said calmly as he typed "Searching for a Security Executive" in the vacancy section on his iPad.

"Oh?" Devon's eyes never left the menu. He then thought of something and said, "Remember to publicise it when we compensate the executive's family. Don't let the media run a story calling me a bloodless, tearless vampire."

Kyle paused in his typing, and threw a strange glance at Devon. Cold-blooded, heartless Solaris Emperor..... this is already well known to the public. As his personal assistant, Kyle could definitely attest to the claim that the Solaris Emperor was irrefutably cold-blooded and heartless. Losing an employee only meant the delay of a work process, not the loss of a life.

But people were still willing to work for the Solaris Emperor because of a few perks: his generous salary and bonuses, comprehensive welfare benefits, and a fair reward and punishment system. The executive who had selflessly activated the emergency lock down button probably knew that even if he died, the compensation would be enough to feed his family for a few generations, especially since he was protecting the life of the Solaris Emperor himself. Kyle made a few calculations. The compensation will at least be in the tens of millions.

"Kyle?" Devon asked impatiently after not having received a reply.

"Yes, I understand," Kyle responded promptly as he realised he was spacing out. But he was still baffled. Solaris Emperor had never been concerned about his own reputation. Even when he was painted as a bloodless, tearless vampire, he never had any inclination to dispel any misconceptions, so why was he now......?

Mm, didi must be hearing a lot of rumours outside. I can't be a bad example to didi. Devon put serious thought into building his image as a good person.

Kyle's attention was drawn to the news report on his iPad. After watching it for awhile, he heaved a sigh. Looks like today's matter won't be settled without a few thousand deaths. Kyle felt pity for these people. The reporter said, "Solaris Emperor, the terrorists are giving you an hour. If you aren't out by then, the entire building will be destroyed."

"Is that so?"

Devon Solaris frowned. A difficult situation had emerged, just when he had made up his mind to be a good example. Logically, he should not care about it and just stay in the specially constructed office where he would remain unharmed. Besides, if he were to really die, the resulting global financial crisis would be the real disaster......

However, thousands of lives were currently hanging in the balance. Devon massaged his temples saying, "Alright, I'll go out."

As expected, he cares only for his own life... Kyle thought absentmindedly. Wait a second, what did he just say? He hastily mumbled, "Begging your pardon, Solaris Emperor, but could you perhaps repeat what your decision was?"

Devon raised an eyebrow. "I said, I will go out."

Kyle gaped. Although he reserved some criticism for the Solaris Emperor's indifference, he didn't really wish for him to head out. If the Solaris Emperor were to lose his life... It would be no joke, the entire world's economy would be in turmoil - the extent of the aftermath would be truly devastating.

"No Sir, you can't go out there! It's too dangerous! If anything were to happen to you, the entire economy would collapse!" Kyle loudly protested as he hastily stood up.

Devon was already standing and waved dismissively. "Don't worry, aren't they just terrorists? Just give them all the money they want. Even if they were hired by my enemies, I am confident I can give them ten times the amount and change their loyalties at the last moment."

"But, but..." Kyle protested, still worried.

"Kyle..." Devon abruptly turned around to ask, "Do you have a younger brother?"

"Eh? No, I don't..." Kyle stared with wide eyes. Today, it seemed as if something was not quite right with the Solaris Emperor. Not only was his behaviour completely out of character, he was also asking about irrelevant things at this crucial moment.

"Sometimes, for the sake of the younger brother, the older brother has no choice but to commit foolish acts." Devon smiled briefly. "Just stay here. When I'm not around, the Solaris Federation will depend on you to keep it functioning."

"I understand," Kyle said, feeling moved for the first time. This was the leader of the Solaris Federation, his leader.

Devon pressed the release button to the office and slowly stepped out...

On the streets, a hovercraft bike was racing past, weaving in and out between cars. The rider was heading straight for the nearby skyscraper. In truth, this was the tallest building in Asia, one of five head quarters belonging to the Solaris Federation.

The rider stopped before he neared the building; there were too many civilians and too much media coverage. If he were to charge into the skyscraper in front of the media, the terrorists would be the first to realise. Even the the most dim-witted, third-rate thief knew to use the seamless media coverage to monitor police movements and the situation outside.

"Oh! My god! Dark Sun, your stupid idiot brother actually walked out of the office. Get up there quick - they look like they are planning to abduct him from the roof."

Theodore Avery's agitated voice sounded from the ear piece which he had prepared specially for Dark Sun. Theodore was in charge of monitoring the current situation and relaying it to Daren so that he could make the optimal judgement.

Dark Sun briefly noted his surroundings. Since the skyscraper in question was the tallest among the surrounding structures, he would be unable to gain direct access to the roof via a neighbouring building. In that case, he would have to resort to a different method.

Dark Sun swerved his hoverbike to a halt beside a building closest in height to his target and swiftly entered the building, ascending via the elevator to the top floor. It was a couple of levels below the roof, but this slight difference in height was hardly an obstacle for what he was about to attempt.

"Did you make a reservation, Sir?"

The waiter approached dutifully. This was a high class restaurant, but the customer before him was wearing an exceptionally unusual yet simple, fitted top, with trousers tucked into his long boots. He was also disregarding basic etiquette by wearing his shades indoor. However, the waiter noticed that although this patron's clothes looked casual, the workmanship was intricate, the material of fine quality, and the boots handmade from a renowned brand.

"Is there a big window from which you can see that building over there?" Dark Sun asked.

The waiter, assuming that Dark Sun only wanted a window seat, replied courteously, "Of course, this way please."

The waiter led Dark Sun before a full length window. A simple square table was placed before it. The waiter gracefully pulled out the seat for Dark Sun, but the latter seemed to have no intention of sitting down. The smile froze on the waiter's face, unsure of this patron's intentions.

Dark Sun looked out the window, this was certainly a good position. The building was tall enough, and coincidentally was in the shadow cast by his target. This would hide his silhouette from the spectators below.

Steel wings. Activate!

The malleable steel seeped from his bone marrows, forming the frame of his wings. Two pieces of feather-like steel pierced through his shirt bilaterally. Like a fledgling spreading its wings in fast forward, the steel feathers fanned out. In hardly a minute, wings spanning 6 metres had emerged from Daren's back.

"A... an... angel!" The waiter stumbled and fell backwards in shock, staring blankly at the winged patron.

Dark Sun turned around and gave an emotionless smile. "Wrong. I'm a demon."

The waiter continued to stare witlessly at those wings and realised that the seemingly soft feathers had become razor sharp. Is he really a demon?

Dark Sun lunged towards the window and smashed through the full length glass panel... Waiters and others rushed towards the commotion...

All they saw was a demon flying in the pale blue sky with an ethereal beauty.

"Interesting...... you're really not accepting my suggestion?"

Devon was slightly perturbed, but he still maintained his carefree appearance. To think that these people were completely unmoved despite the numerous lucrative conditions he had offered to undermine their relationship with their employers. Nothing seemed to be working, a fact that greatly surprised Devon.

Traversing the business world from a tender age had earned Devon quite a few achievements. Debating, compromising, undermining were akin to breathing for him. Even a seasoned old hand could not escape from his grasp, so why was this small group of terrorists so persistent?

"Move!" A few hoodlums roughly dragged Devon along.

"Don't touch me!" Devon roared in fury, the majesty of the Solaris Emperor flaring up. He laughed coldly, " You don't have the qualifications to touch me. I can walk by myself."

He shook off the terrorist's arm and walked with regal grace towards the helicopter.

"What's that?" asked one of the terrorists when he noticed a suspicious object in the sky. It was hard to tell what it was. It seemed like a bird but was too big to be one.

He didn't need to think much further since the flying object in question seemingly withdrew its wings and plunged vertically downwards, landing heavily on the roof. Daren Solaris left a deep footprint on the concrete where he landed.

Devon was a little surprised. He turned around to see what could have "fallen" onto the rooftop of the country's tallest skyscraper... A human? He blinked. Isn't that silhouette somewhat familiar?

The terrorists were struck dumb. They were unable to comprehend how a human could just fall from the sky.

"Who are you? Get away from that man!" The terrorist shouted, his massive machine gun already raised.

The other terrorists, sensing the situation, raised their weapons as well.

"Get on the helicopter," Dark Sun muttered to Devon.

"D-"

Dar!? Devon abruptly stopped himself from completing the name, as he recognised his little brother. Why is Dar here?

"Hurry up!" Dark Sun growled, turning his head slightly.

Devon frowned but climbed into the helicopter as instructed. But isn't this the terrorists' helicopter?

The terrorists were probably thinking the same thing and hence did not bother stopping Devon from getting in. But the moment Devon climbed inside, Dark Sun slammed the door shut, and broke the handle. He then whipped out his gun from the holster and killed the pilot to prevent the helicopter from taking off.

But the show was just starting. Dark Sun had asked his brother to enter the helicopter because its bullet proof material and could protect him from stray bullets. He had also destroyed the handle to prevent the terrorists from seizing Devon, and last but not least...

Dar!? Devon pounded the bullet proof glass of the helicopter and pulled on the door with all his might, but it had been jammed shut by Dark Sun and was impossible to release.

…to prevent gege from rushing out to protect him... Dark Sun silently laughed at the thought.

Excluding Devon Solaris, there were twenty odd terrorists and Dark Sun remaining on the roof. Watching Dark Sun execute the pilot infuriated the gang and since their target was somewhere safe, they no longer had any restrictions. The nearest muscular terrorist roared as he sprayed bullets at Dark Sun from his heavy machine gun.

Dark Sun revealed a mirthless smile as he rapidly dodged the onslaught. The ground was pockmarked from the gunfire, but not a single bullet had touched Dark Sun.

Dark Sun was aware that the ultimate strategy for fighting a mass of people was to create confusion. He dashed speedily among the terrorists, causing a few to fire reflexively. The shots missed Dark Sun and instead hit their own. Soon enough quite a few people were lying on the ground groaning.

"Stop! Stop!" one of them yelled, recognising the unfavourable situation.

Realizing that they were harming their own, they quickly ceased fire. It was a pointless move because Dark Sun did not allow them any time to strategise. He immediately protracted razor sharp steel claws and with only a few swipes, people soundlessly crumpled to the floor.

Everyone was shocked. Some started shooting at Dark Sun again, but he dodged behind one of the terrorists, directing all fire at the unsuspecting human shield. Once his human shield was riddled with holes, Dark Sun would dodge behind another person. If the terrorists ceased fire, Dark Sun simply went on the offensive; the flash of his steel claws became the stuff of nightmares. Within moments, there were only ten left standing.

The terrorists ceased fire once again, but this time when Dark Sun made a swiped at a throat all he cut was air.

This was the first time he had made a mistake since leaving the laboratory. If he were the emotionless android that he had been before, he would not have had any reaction other than to follow up with another attack. However, now that his emotional switch was activated, he was slightly taken aback. During this brief period of hesitation, the terrorist had turned around and with a swift slash, which Dark Sun was unable to avoid completely, opened a gash on his arm.

Dark Sun paid no attention to his wound, but instead fixed his gaze on his attacker. The opponent was wielding a kris. It's blade was curved like a snake in motion and created a larger wound than a regular dagger.

Among the ten remaining, five of the terrorists discarded their guns in favour of various exotic weapons. There was a pair of ancient katara^{<a href="http://novel.oddsquad.org/2011/05/eclipse-hunter-chapter-6.html#katara">3</a>}, a massive morning star, a flail with an extremely long chain, a scythe and a double-headed battle axe.

It was just like a weapon exhibit. Dark Sun became grim. There was something amiss. In normal circumstances, modern hoodlums were only armed with guns and maybe an additional dagger. Yet here were five people wielding weapons which could only be found in exhibitions.

In addition, the vibe that these people were emitting was different from the garden variety of hoodlums. However, Dark Sun was unable to pinpoint exactly what it meant. While he was contemplating these oddities, the five lunged forwards. The foremost was the double-headed axe wielder with bulging muscles.

The steel claws were too fine to block heavy weapons of this kind. Dark Sun decided to dodge the blows of the axe and opted to target his opponent's weaknesses instead.

Dark Sun nimbly spun on his leg, avoiding the swing of the axe while moving close to the attacker. The fatal claws were mere millimeters from the terrorist's throat when the kris arced towards Dark Sun's hand forcing him to withdraw rapidly. Sensing the danger approaching from behind, he hastily turned in time to narrowly avoid the morning star brushing against his arm.

He realized that the three people surrounding him had skills above par. Their coordination and team work were admirable and put him at a great disadvantage. He retreated a few steps, as he considered using his gun to resolve the situation. Before he could act upon it, he felt a strong killing intent from behind. He reflexively spun on his leg as the katara almost stabbed his chest. In a flash, Dark Sun grabbed the blade of the katara with both hands. His strength kept the terrorist stock still.

Although, both his hands were occupied with grasping the weapon, Dark Sun was not troubled. He raised his right leg and solidly kicked the terrorist, sending him flying five metres away. Most people would immediately go unconscious after receiving such a kick.

"Agh!"

Dark Sun's right arm was suddenly clobbered. He remembered then that there was another long range flail wielder. His thirst for blood unquenched by the successful sneak attack, the man struck again. However, this time Dark Sun was prepared. There was no way he was going to let this terrorist get away with it a second time. He latched onto the flail with unerring accuracy, and began rotating it in order to fling the terrorist away.

By then, the other three terrorists had reappeared. Brandishing their weapons, they launched intense attacks. The steel claws alone were insufficient for fending off these weapons. In addition, it was difficult to win with speed alone when surrounded by four opponents. Dark Sun felt pressured for the first time.

No! Dark Sun felt something was off kilter. Even at a battle school like Yelan Academy he could defeat so many with his speed, there was no reason for him to feel pressured in a fight with only five people.

While he was blocking the blows, he began analysing with his microchip. Within the exchanges of a few blows, he analysed that the speed and strength of these five people were three times that of a normal person.

Strength can indeed be increased exponentially with intense training. But increasing speed was no simple matter. It was possible to increase one's speed by 50%. However, to be three times faster than normal… one would require a talent found in only one in million. How could there be five of them together at the same place?

The present circumstances did not permit Dark Sun further rumination. He could only note down his suspicions and continue battling the five curious individuals.

Soon enough the assassin that had been kicked aside stood up and rejoined the fray, causing Dark Sun's position to become even more unfavourable.

Although he was inflicting damage on his opponents, wounds gradually accumulated on Dark Sun's body. The worst injury was the initial wound inflicted by the flail which was impeding the movements of his right arm. For someone who relied on intricate movements and superhuman speed like Dark Sun, it was a severe problem.

"Didi! Didi!" Seeing his little brother injured, Devon picked up a small fire extinguisher and repeatedly bashed it against the bullet proof window with all his might. However, the helicopter window was so thick that it could not be shattered. But even then Devon refused to give up, and continued bashing it violently...

Ring ring...

Devon paused and looked towards his mobile phone. He originally wanted to ignore the ringing, but the ring tone indicated that it was from home. The only person who would call from home would be Theodore Avery. Devon paused and answered the phone.

"Devon?" It was indeed Theodore's voice.

"You!" Devon roared in anger, "Why did you let Dar come? Do you know he's hurt?"

"Eh… I know. But that's not the crux. Dark Sun wanted me to deliver weapons. I am already in the building, but was stopped by the policemen. Think of a solution quickly, or Dark Sun will receive even more severe injuries."

Upon hearing that, Devon dialed Secretary Kyle's number without hesitation.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Chapter 6 END ********************