-Hunter Association-

“Sir! There’s been a breach at the south side of the Kingdom near the outskirts of Border Town. Somehow, the beasts have begun to exit the portal before the cool down. How is this possible?”

“This is bad. We have an anomaly. How far is the portal from Border Town?” The Director of the Hunter Association asked.

“10 Km sir and the residents don’t seem to be aware of it yet.”

“Send 2 patrol teams right away and task them with scouting. We need to know how strong these monsters are. How many residents reside at Border Town?” The Director asked.

“About 2000 sir.” 

“We have to prepare for the worst. Do we have any S rankers available to be a part of the extermination team?” The director paced himself up and down in thought.

This type of phenomenon had never occurred before and if boss level beasts began to come out of the portal, it could cause havoc. Recently, the number of portals spawning had increased;  they were appearing all over the kingdom and nobody knew why. 

First, the number of portal spawns had suddenly jumped and now anomalies also had begun appearing. What was going on?

“No sir. Most are busy with the other portals that have suddenly opened up this week; Over 10 portals have opened up around the kingdom. This has never occurred before.” The psychic spoke, gulping.

“What about A rankers? How many are available?”

“Yes sir. There are 3 available, all unoccupied. 2 in the North and 1 in the East.” The psychic replied.

“Who’s the one in the East?”

“Zeref Amara sir.”

“Send someone and bring him here.”

“Right away sir.”

**

-Zeref’s POV-

“Pass to me!” Jace shouted running beside the kid with the ball. 

I watched and stood near the net as the kid with the ball dribbled past the defending players and approached me.

He did a couple stepovers and feints before jumping up into a fade away. I reacted a tad bit too slow and was unable to block his shot.

-Swish.

  The ball went in through the net perfectly, earning cheers from the girls and high fives from the benched spectators.

I was surprised at first too but sports like basketball, Soccer, Baseball, they all existed.

The scores were 37 – 18, my team was losing. For some reason the coach decided to put all the fat blobs on my team and all the athletic, skilled people in the other. Jace was an exception of course. 

The use of mana could not be used, only raw skill and athletic ability. The team we were opposing had the school’s basketball team ace (Danial – a 6 ft 4 basketball prodigy) and other good players excluding Jace. 

‘Play a bit more seriously. It’s getting boring. You still got 2 quarters left. Destroy them.’ Voad spoke in my head; I nodded, cracking my neck left and right. 

“Pass it.” I ordered.

“Y-Yes.”

The ball was passed over and I began dribbling. Strategically and skill wise they were better than us in every aspect but it didn’t matter. Basketball was my domain.

I was going to teach them what overpowering defeat felt like.

The kid from before got into a squat position and smiled. 

“Come on Zeref. Show me what you got. I may not be as strong as you but this is one thing I’ll Always be better than you at.” he smirked. 

“Okay then. Try and keep up.” I smiled. 

Getting low, I did a couple stepovers before driving to the right. His defence was good and he was able to keep up with my pace. Changing direction, I bounced the ball behind my back, spinning round him. 

My fingers gripped the ball tightly as I leapt up from the Free throw line until my head was about 5 inches above the rim. Throwing the ball with force towards the rim, it rocketed downwards passing through the net.

‘Meteor Jam. Things are getting interesting, what other moves can you copy?’ Voad snickered.

“What the f*ck was that?” Jace and the others froze in shock at the epic half dunk, half shot I had executed.

“Let’s go Zeref!!!” Naz cheered from the sidelines. I looked over to see Malia throwing me a thumbs up, standing next to the ecstatic Naz.

Danial, the basketball team’s ace, took it upon himself and walked over to mark me himself. Jace finally made it over to our half of the court with the ball and scanned for his options as the point guard.

“Fatty. Mark him!” I ordered, pointing at one of the opposing players.

All of my teammates looked at me, as if confused who I was ordering. 

Ah shit. That’s what I called all of them.

‘HAHAHahahahaha!!’ Voad laughed hysterically.

I cursed my luck.

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.” I muttered.

“What?” Danial turned around to look for me but I had already disappeared. “How did he-“

Intercepting Jace’s pass, the possession of the ball had been overturned and was in my hands finally. 

I leaped up into a jump shot.

“Is this guy for real? He’s gonna shoot from there?! That’s almost a full court shot!” 

People from the benches stood up in shock as the ball left my hand. It travelled high up and into a beautiful curved arc, before passing through the centre of the rim with a satisfying Swoosh.

I exhaled and a moment of silence had occupied the whole area as no one could comprehend what just happened, before bursts of cheers engulfed the area.

Danial was the first to snap out of it, “What are you guys standing there gasping at?! Hurry up.” 

His order came out with aggression and the enemy team immediately backed up to their end of the court.

Now the tables would turn.

I cracked my neck left and right, exhaling deeply…

**

“Did you see that?! That guy is off the charts. How did he make 3 consecutive full court shorts?” 

“He just dunked over two guys! What a monster!”

“Look at that dribbling! Is Zeref a pro? Was he holding back in the first quarter?”

The crowd had grown twice the size as more and more students joined the crowd to see what the hype was about. Even some of the disciplinary committee members came over to cheer for me. My elegant show of skills had gathered everyone’s attention.

Discussions had begun booming as the final quarter of the game was coming to an end.

The scores were now 69 – 68, we were 1 point behind. This last play would determine the team that would be playing for the school this year.

I ended up scoring all of our points, the whole game. My teammates were of no use, by the time they made it to one end of the court, the ball had already been overturned and was on the other side. They were pretty much useless, so I told them to just focus on defending.

During one of our time outs I devised a defensive strategy: Box and 1. The other 4 would focus on defending around the free throw line compactly, whilst I handled the rest. Their stamina wasn’t that great and they were tired by the 3rd quarter so I made them stay in those positions. 

The Attack was all me… and maybe the defence too a little.

I was starting to feel a little tired as it had been an intense  5 v 1, with constant shuttle runs and high pace plays. I had to overexert myself to make steals and score all by myself at the same time.

‘Last play of the game. Let’s make this one count.’

“You’re not getting past me Zeref. I’m putting my role as the captain of the basketball team on this wager! Come!” Danial shouted, crouching and getting into a flow state. His expression had changed to a poker face.

Crossover. Drive right. Between the legs. Spin. Crossover.

That was the combination that broke Danial’s ankles.

“Danial got crossed!!!” The crowd went wild and all stood up from their seats in angst. 

I leapt up to dunk it but Jace and the other kid Jumped up with their arms up to block the dunk.

“We won’t let yo-“

I smiled, leaning back mid air into a fadeaway shot.

“Impossible!”

-Swoosh!

The crowd burst into an uproar of gasps and cheers as the end of the game had been reached and the amazing show had come to an end.

Students swarmed the court and began cheering and celebrating.

“Zeref, you were amazing! Where’d you learn to play like that? You were dancing across the court like a pro!” Naz said overzealously, tugging Malia along.

“I watched Jace play and learnt from him.” I smiled, winking at Jace.

Jace wrapped his arm around my neck, “Of course, I taught him everything he knows.”

Danial walked over with a glum expression and everyone’s attention switched to him.

“You won fair and square. Good Game.” He let out his hand for me to shake.

“GG.” I shook his hand.

-Crack! 

-Pzzt!

Suddenly, a blue portal appeared in the middle of the court with no warning.

The coach jumped in front of it immediately, following safety protocols and ordered the students to step back.

What could it be now?

I still had energy for another fight but I really needed a break.

2 men in black suits and dark sunglasses exited the portal and showed an ID card to the coach, making him drop his guard.

They walked over to me immediately, moving Danial aside.

“Mr Amara. We are messengers sent by the Director from the Hunter Association. He needs you at the Hunter bureau as soon as possible. An anomalous portal has opened up and we need your help. Will you come with us?” The man on the right spoke, showing me his ID card too.

I nodded, following them. The students watched as I walked towards the portal. 

“Zeref come back safe.” Malia’s voice was filled with worry.

Giving her a smile I tried to assure everything would be fine, before entering the portal…

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