Chapter 4

It was just a series of speeches from different seniors at the beginning.

Hades was seated with Tyr, Gaia, Kali, Jupiter, and Guanyin. These six were ranked higher than the rest of their class in training earning them lead positions in the team.

Hades was looking around, turning his head in every direction.

Jupiter started to feel dizzy just looking at his movements.

"Hey, Hades, will you please stop moving so much? You're about to give me motion sickness." Jupiter said, his face with traces of annoyance.

Kali also noticed Hades' bizarre actions. She was thankful for Jupiter reprimanding him. She didn't care what caused it, she just wanted him to stop.

Hades stopped and pouted in disappointment. He didn't get to see her anywhere.

Unlike the others, Gaia was amused.

She smiled mischievously and said, "Don't worry, I saw her coming here earlier. She's probably around just hiding."

"I didn't say I was looking for her. Shut up." Hades immediately retorted. Kali was with him on the hate-on-the-not-so-newbie train. They've been close since the first day. He felt guilty; it felt like he was betraying Kali.

Kali's interest was finally aroused. She looked suspiciously at Gaia and Hades.

"Who's the ‘her’ you two are talking about?" Kali asked with her gaze on Gaia. She knew she wouldn't be able to get a straight answer from Hades and Gaia was out to tease him so she asked Gaia instead.

Gaia smiled at Hades' darkening face as she said, "Neith."

Kali eyed Hades dubiously again, but didn't ask. She already had an idea and she didn't need to as the next second, Gaia spoke again.

"Our Hades here fell in love at first sight when he saw Neith."

Jupiter, Kali, and Guanyin immediately turned their heads to Hades as soon as they heard Gaia's words. Hades glared at Gaia. If he could kill Gaia with his look, he would have already done so. The four people on the table just kept looking at Hades while he lowered his head in slight shame as well as to hide his blushing face.

Tyr wasn't interested in whatever the other people on the table were discussing. He was looking around with his eyes, looking for an unfamiliar face. His movements with much more subtlety than Hades' earlier. His search was in vain, after all Neith was still hiding near the restroom.

After a couple more speakers, the host of the ceremony came on to the stage again with the widest smile everyone there has ever seen.

He tapped the mic a few times to get everyone's attention.

"Finally, the time has come."

Tyr observed the place and saw the seniors grinning to each other in excitement. He searched for Elāhā, the current head of the organization, and saw that he was smiling with pride.

Tyr found it odd. Just who is this woman? He knows everyone on their team down to the smallest details as they were tasked to learn everything about each other during the first month of their training. They thought they would see Neith's file, but it was classified. Their masters and lecturers also kept a tight lid about her. He looked around at his teammates to see if they also noticed the preferential treatment towards Neith, but none of them seem bothered.

Tyr was a bit disappointed. He thought they'd be more observant, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

His reverie was disrupted when the host spoke again.

"Let us all welcome, the Egyptian Goddess of Creation, Wisdom, and War... Neith!"

The host then started to clap and everyone followed. The whole team looked toward the stage eagerly, looking forward to finally seeing the mysterious figure that hovered around their class.

They saw movement from the area near the way to the restroom close to the stage, but the figure was covered by some people.

Finally, they saw the side profile of a woman in the same uniform as theirs with her hair in a neat bun climbing the stairs. It was still too far to see what she looked like though and she was still not within the camera's coverage so her face couldn't be displayed on the huge LED screen behind the host.

When her face was finally shown on the screen, the entire team was awestruck.

She smiled shyly and everyone was even more mesmerized.

Elāhā looked around the room with a hint of smugness. As if saying 'I made that.' Fortunately, no one noticed this. Neith was very adamant about not revealing her identity to her teammates. The seniors knew about it, but she can trust them.

The host was practically beaming. He shook hands with Neith then turned to the crowd again.

"Neith, why don't you say a few words."

He then gave, practically pushed toward, the microphone to Neith. She had no choice but to accept it even though she didn't prepare anything.

The whole crowd was just looking at her, almost like they didn't want to miss any of her movements or lose sight of the woman.

Hades was just staring at her with love in his eyes.

Tyr's eyes were glued to her face. He almost couldn't believe he's seeing such a majestic human. Yes, he now agreed with Hades. It didn't seem so ridiculous now that he saw her.

Her movements were very refined and graceful, even when she was slightly uncomfortable.

Neith finally put the mic near her perfectly full, red lips.

Her calming and alluring voice echoed in the closed hall.

"Good day, everyone. I'm Neith and I am looking forward to being friends and working with everyone here. I hope for your warm welcome. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the gathering."

She then flashed that shy but perfect smile again. Elāhā immediately started clapping and everyone followed.

Neith glared at Elāhā for a split second that no one would notice it if they weren't looking so closely at her.

Unfortunately, Tyr was indeed observing her intently. He noticed the look Neith gave to Elāhā as well as the slightly apologetic glance that the latter gave to the woman when he sensed it.