It was the morning of Lance’s departure. No matter how sad it made the kids, there was no way around it. The rules were explicit, once you lost, you’re out.

The children had gathered at the main entrance of the academy, the place where Ragnar and Ymil had departed with Max and Mia. It was the perfect place for goodbyes, the marble road and vibrant flowers made the otherwise solemn occasion a tab more tolerable.

“I-I g-guess this i-is g-goodbye…” Lance was standing at the Academy’s front, one more step and he’d be standing on the dirt roads of the Capital. On his back was a small leather bag that contained all his stuff. Compared to Ragnar and Ymil’s bags when they arrived, this bag looked like it had anorexia. Apparently he didn’t have a lot of possessions.

The rest of the gang as standing around him, they each wanted to say goodbye to their friend.

Ariel was the first to walk up. “Well, seeing as I don’t know you very well, I’ll go first. You’re a swell guy, I like you. Hope you’ll do alright in gardening school.” He took Lance by the hand and shook it. Lance’s hand was weakly going up and down and Ariel felt how sad this boy actually was. Ariel released Lance and made way for the next person to say goodbye.

“Then allow me to be next,” said Ymil as he stepped forward. He grabbed Lance’s hand and looked him straight in the eyes. “You were the first friend I made other than Ragnar and I really appreciate it. I’m sad to see you go, but I’m sure gardening school will suit you better.”

“T-thanks Ymil,” said Lance with a soft voice, surprised by Ymil’s straight forward goodbye.

“Same goes for me,” said Ragnar, “You were the first friend I made other than this doofus over here. I can’t tell you how much of an improvement you are.” Ragnar pointed at Ymil as he said that.

“Hey, I’m standing right here, you know!”

Ragnar ignored Ymil’s reaction. “Don’t let it bother you, Lance. The world doesn’t only consist of warriors. Farmers are the ones that keep us alive!”

This made Lance chuckle slightly. It seemed like it lifted his sadness just a little.

“Y-yeah, thanks R-Ragnar.”

Ragnar then tugged Ymil by the shoulder and he pulled him along as he stepped away again.

“I guess it’s my turn next,” said Rena. “We never really talked much, but I can tell you’re a sweet guy. Come visit us some time!”

Amalia stepped up besides her. “I guess I didn’t know you very well either, but you were a very welcome addition to the group.” She leaned closer and whispered in Lance’s ear. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only respectable boy among them.”

Lance blushed at these words. He quietly shied away as the two girls made space for the last person.

Theo was just standing there, staring at his brother. It was painfully obvious that he was trying really hard to keep his tears in but everyone knew how he must truly feel. Everyone here’d only known Lance for a few days, but this was Theo’s brother. They’d known each other since birth, and gone through so much together ever since. Theo was completely immobilized by his attempt to stay strong.

“I-I think you’ll be fine,” said Theo. “You’re a grown up now, so go out and be free. Now go on, I don’t want to see your sorry mug around here!”

Lance understood what his brother was trying to say. Instead of walking away, Lance gave Theo the tightest hug he could muster. His brother, completely tense from trying to hold everything in, immediately fumbled in his arms. Theo’s entire body went limp and clung onto Lance. Tears started to roll uncontrollably from the boy’s eyes, his body shaking is his brother’s arms.

“I don’t want to let you go!” Theo cried. “I want to go with you! I want us to be together forever!”

Lance, also on the verge of tears, said:

“N-no, brother. Y-you know j-just as well a-as I do that y-you need t-to stay here. W-we promised, r-right?”

“But whyyyyy!” wailed Theo. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. We were supposed to work together, kill that bastard Ben and destroy Kolimpri. How am I supposed to do that without you?!”

Lance padded his brother on the back. “Y-you’ll have t-to be s-strong in o-order to get s-strong. I-it should only t-take one o-of us.”

“But but but waaaaaaaaah!” The salty streams of water flowed endlessly, drenching Lance’s shoulders. Theo was not ready for this.

And the two boys just stood there for a few minutes, one of them wailing as if there was no tomorrow, the other gently patting him on the back. The others were standing by the side, they all felt terrible for Theo. Being separated from your sibling was heart wrenching, they all knew that. Yet there was no other way, Lance hadn’t made the first cut.

“T-this isn’t g-goodbye, you k-know. I-I’ll probably go t-to the Kipos G-Gardening School. R-remember? W-we talked a-about it as our s-second option.”

Upon hearing that, Theo gave Lance one last squeeze and then took a step back. He raised his hand and pointed at his brother:

“I swear, on our mother’s grave, that I will take revenge for the both of us, or die trying. Now go, I don’t want to see your sorry face ever again!”

And with those words Theo ran off as fast as he could. Within a few seconds he was already out of sight.

“Theo…,” mumbled Lance, but he knew this was for the best. His brother had some difficulty coping with these kinds of things.

Lance then turned around, looked at the entrance and sighed. He tightened the straps of his backpack and took one big step over the gate’s threshold. He looked at his friends and said:

“I-I guess I-I’ll be g-going now.”

“Are you sure you want to leave like that?” Amalia was saying what everyone else was thinking. Leaving Theo in such a state?

“I-It’s fine. H-he’s always b-been like that.”

And with those words he started to walk. He walked with his head up high and looking at the horizon, barely registering the continuous wave of goodbyes his friends were yelling at him. He walked towards the horizon where a new future awaited him, away from his friends, away from his brother.

************************************

It was time for Ymil to start his battle. The fight had been set to take place in a secluded area so that both fighters could fight in relative secrecy. All fights were done like that, it gives both parties the same handicap of not knowing the fighting style of your opponent. If you’re not from the same class, that is.

The place was somewhere in the furthest corner of the Academy’s grounds, behind a large white building that Ymil didn’t recognize. The place was so remote that nobody would be able to hear it if anyone screamed.

‘That only works in my favor,’ thought Ymil as he realized this. He was sitting cross legged underneath a tree, waiting for Luke Bellua. Next to him stood a large pot that he’d brought along, the lid was concealing the chemical smell of the contents.

Luke arrived right on time, he cautiously looked around the building and saw Ymil sitting there. Ymil stood up and extended his hand to Luke.

“Hello Luke,” said Ymil. “I think we never had the pleasure to meet before. I’m Ymil Adagni.”

Luke took the hand and shook it. “Luke,” he said in a low voice. “Bellua.”

The two released each other and then walked 10 meters away from each other, the standard starting distance for any fair duel. The two stood still for a moment and looked each other in the eyes.

“Adagni. Not Idagni?” asked Luke as he realized how much it sounded like a name he knew.

“I think my uncle uses that name from time to time, but no. How do we decided when to start?”

Luke reached for his pocket and drew out a coin. He then said with his low grumbling voice.

“I throw, coin fall ground, we start.” He mimicked the movements of a coin falling to the ground as he said this.

“Sounds fair,” said Ymil, understanding Luke’s meaning. “Toss it whenever you want.”

Luke nodded and threw the coin into the air. They both stared intensely at each other, the coin falling only in the edges of their sight.

*ping*

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Two flashes of spiritual energy occurred the moment the coin hit the pavement. Neither combatants summoned their soul in a weapon shape though. Luke had fused with his soul and his nails had hardened exponentially. His face was covered in stripes and one could almost see whiskers coming from his nose. Ymil’s soul, on the other hand, was completely untraceable, there were no physical changes to him, nor was he holding onto a weapon.

When he looked at Ymil he was surprised to see that his opponents hadn’t summoned anything. He’d clearly felt the sudden wave of energy coming from the boy, or was that just his imagination.

He didn’t have much time to think about this though, Ymil came charging at him right away.

Ymil’s first strike was a uppercut punch, aiming right for Luke’s face. It didn’t hit though, as Luke had moved back ever so slightly. It was what Ymil expected though, and followed his initial attack with an open palm strike at the boy’s stomach. This blow was blocked by Luke’s clawed hands, and Ymil dropped his raised hand down on the defending boy. This too, was blocked and Ymil took a step back.

But Luke didn’t like fighting defensively. He immediately started his counter offensive and thrust one of his clawed hands at Ymil’s ribcage but it was deflected by one of Ymil’s hands. His second attack was a sideways slash with his nails and Ymil dropped to the floor in order to avoid the hit. Ymil miscalculated though, and Luke’s clawed hand cut him on the cheek.

Ymil, now on the ground, used his entire body to deliver a kick at his opponent and hit him squarely in the stomach. Luke flew back a few steps, far enough for Ymil to come back up to his feet.

They stood in front of each other for a moment and then Luke charged at Ymil again. First a thrust, then a swipe, he wasn’t very original in his attacking pattern. Ymil was able to deflect both attacks this time and responded with a few open palm strikes directed at Luke’s body, which he then tried to block.

This went on for quite a while, the two each took turns on being offensive and defensive. Sometimes Luke’s claws would hit Ymil, scratching his skin, and other times Ymil would land a strike, hitting his opponent in various places.

After a few minutes, the two boys jumped backwards and stared at each other while panting heavily.

“You’re…good,” said Ymil in between breaths.

“Yourself…not bad,” responded Luke.

“So… tell me, why’d you come to Halram Kingdom?”

That wasn’t a question Luke had expected to hear. His face revealed his surprise quite splendidly. It wasn’t something he wanted to hide, it’s just something he wasn’t too proud of.

“I…ehm… Xenth no good place…,” started Luke. “Halram better. Future…here….”

“So you’re not going to hide the fact that you’re from Xenth?”

“No, I Halram now.” Luke spat on the floor. “Screw Xenth.”

This surprised Ymil, he hadn’t expected the boy to be so open about it. This would make his next actions a lot more harder for him.

“But why Military Academy? You’ll be forced to fight your own country some day.”

“Exactly why,” answered the whiskered boy and then he leapt up at Ymil.

Ymil blocked that first attack, and the blow that followed, but instead of initiating a counter attack he took a step backwards.

‘I think I should finish this,’ thought Ymil, ‘before I start to actually like this guy.’

Ymil didn’t dash at his opponent to strike again but instead, he ran towards the tree he was sitting under earlier. He ran around it and hid behind the trunk.

Puzzled at the boy’s sudden cowardice, Luke tried to figure out just why Ymil would do that. He looked at the tree and noticed the closed pot sitting at its roots and couldn’t help but be wary of the thing. What could this pot mean?

But Ymil wasn’t going to give him time to think. He’d finally finished his preparations and was going to execute the trick he’d been building up to. He reached both his hands in front of him and grabbed onto his soul manifestation and pulled really hard at it. Althoughto the untrained eye, it would seem as though he was pulling empty space.

Luke’s body, caught completely off guard, was pulled into the air, right at where Ymil was. Ymil repeated the motion a few times and Luke came flying at the boy.

*wham*

Luke hit his head hard as he collided with the tree Ymil was hiding behind. He noticed that something was pulling him towards the tree and that he could barely move. He flailed around frantically and tried to pry himself away from the tree. He could hear soft snapping noises as his hand tore whatever was holding him.

As Luke was trying to get loose, Ymil was running circles around the tree. After he’d completed three full circles around the boy and the tree, he stopped and looked as he saw that Luke had almost broken free.

‘Now then,’ thought Ymil, ‘for the final act….’

Ymil grabbed the seemingly empty air again and tugged at it. Luke could immediately feel his entire body get restrained and found that he was unable to move his limbs any more. Something was tightly binding him to the tree.

Completely immobile, Luke had no choice but to resign.

“I…give…” he said. He was unable to see Ymil anymore but he knew the boy was still behind him. He’d soon release these strange ropes and then….

“Don’t take this personally,” said a Ymil.

*Swish*

The first thing Luke felt was a sudden wave of liquid slipping down his throat. This warm substance started to slither down and filled up his lungs. Hot blood started to ooze out of his neck and soaked the clothes he was wearing. The clean cut had been so precise that it had barely ripped any unnecessary tissue and Luke only felt it moments after he’d been cut. His sight started to fog up and his thought became a jumble. He started to desperately wheeze for air but his lungs were already filled with blood. He was drowning in his own blood.

In his last moments, he turned his head to look at his killer and was able to see Ymil standing behind him with a bloodied knife. It was the last thing he ever saw.

Ymil stood there, trembling as he watched the life drain out of this boy. This is what he was tasked to do, this is what the Night Courses required of him. Kill a Xenth citizen and bring its head. It was all okay in theory, he hadn’t really thought about it too much. Killing had seemed more like a game than anything, really. It had just seemed natural. But to actually do it was something entirely different. He hadn’t expected it to feel so…real, so…disturbing. This was going to haunt him the rest of his life.

Ymil couldn’t hold it any longer and he dropped to the ground and threw up. His entire breakfast spilled to the ground underneath Luke’s corpse.

“Damn it!” shouted Ymil. “I wasn’t ready for this!” He slammed his fist onto the ground. “Why is this so hard?!”

It took Ymil a few moments to gather himself, for the shaking to subside enough so that Ymil could continue. He looked at the lifeless boy and analyzed his handiwork. During that fight he had indeed called onto his soul, but not in the traditional form. He’d summoned it as the endless number of threads he used to use in the Bookstore. Every time he’d hit Luke with an open palm strike he’d attached one end of the threads to Luke’s body and, in the end, he’d attached enough for him to be able to pull Luke’s entire body. Once Luke was stuck to the tree, the used those same threads to bind his opponent entirely, leaving him completely immobile.

Ymil stood up and grabbed the pot he’d brought with him. He opened it and the strong chemical smell flew into his face. He placed it on the ground and approached Luke’s body. He placed the knife in the boy’s neck.

“Well, here goes nothing,” said Ymil meekly and he started to cut into the corpse’s neck. Every time the knife went deeper Ymil’s resolve became stronger and stronger. By the time he got to Luke’s bones, he’d hardened himself so much that he was able to hack into it with all of his might. It took a few swings but the head eventually came off.

Ymil took the head and quickly put it in the jar and closed the lid. The chemical smell lingered for quite a bit and Ymil fell down to the ground again. He sat against the tree’s trunk and closed his eyes for just a moment.

‘This is what it means to take a life,’ Ymil thought, ‘I can never take this back.’