[Fireball]

A sphere of fire shot towards them, leaving a trail of fire behind, although it was quickly extinguished, with the strength of the spell being disgustingly weak.

Caine held his hand out, pushing all the air away from him - although leaving a pocket of it around Luna - and created a vacuum, extinguishing the spell before it even reached them.

Heavy footsteps followed the extinguished fire, and three men walked confidently towards them. They were all tall, wearing simply trousers and chainmail, with swords adorning their waists.

Caine sighed recognising them as the men who had tried to intimidate him in the bar, not even an hour ago. Caine lamented his choice to barely use his Authority at the time and felt disappointed in himself.

‘This damned Kingdom… at least in the others, they leave me alone.’

“Look who do we have here?” one of them shouted, unsheating his sword.

“You don’t know who you are messing with. We’re the Silverlight pa-”

Before he could even finish speaking, Caine guided as much mana as he could augmenting his legs, and at the same time, guided part of the mana into his left hand. He disappeared from the man’s sight, and reappeared in front of him, placing his hand on his stomach.

[Air Cannon]

Caine released the condensed sphere of air from his hand, hitting the man at a close range, sending him flying against a tree and throwing up blood. He fell to the ground - unconscious - and Caine turned to his companions, glaring at them the same way he glared at the beasts in The Forest.

He walked toward them, each step more menacing than the previous as he started to exert his Authority over them. When he finally stood in front of them, they had their hands on the hilt of their swords but did not dare unsheath them, as they trembled in front of the monster before them.

“The woman I am with could have gotten hurt. I will let this go this one time, on the basis that you are intoxicated.” Caine’s voice was devoid of any emotion, and a primal fear grew within the two men.

“Leave.” Caine said through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to beat to a bloody pulp, but refusing to do so as he did not want Luna to witness such a scene.

The pressure that was overwhelming them disappeared as Caine released his Authority, and the two of them fell to their knees, but before they did anything, they ran away, grabbing their friend and dragging him away.

Caine turned around and looked at Luna, who was still sitting on the bench, still shocked. Augmenting his legs once more, he propelled him towards her, and squatted down, looking up to her.

“Hi.” He said with a bright smile.

“Hi.” She replied sheepishly.

Someone began clapping their hands behind Caine, and he spun around, making sure that Luna remained behind him, countless curses running through his mind.

Three men walked towards them, one of those faces being one that Caine instantly recognised.

Aragon Saintsworth.

He was walking alongside two more men, dressed in plain clothing, although clearly of high-quality leather, with their jackets perfectly fitting them.

“Professor.” Aragon spoke first, hesitantly. “That was impressive. The speed of your movements as well as the speed you cast spells… it’s incredible.”

As the three approached, Caine allowed himself to relax slightly at the sight of a familiar face.

“You must be Professor Caine.” One of Aragon’s companions said. “Our little junior here told us a lot about you. A pleasure to meet you… Leonidas.”

He extended his hand, and Caine gladly shook it; the man’s grip tightened, as he reinforced himself with mana, in some futile and childish attempt to establish some meaningless superiority over Caine.

Caine did the same, strengthening himself to match the young man’s strength perfectly, not feeling the need to prove his superiority to a child.

‘If only that damned Master of mine ever thought about it like this.’ Caine cursed Oliver.

The young man let go of his hand and smiled cockily at Caine, his expression bringing an indescribable irritation within Caine. He turned to Aragon who looked away from his Professor, nervously avoiding his gaze.

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“I don’t really get it.” The young man in front of Caine said. “You’re Leonidas, right? Why is the great adventurer hanging around with that failure.”

He pointed at Luna, and Caine just sighed. His mocking tone, the arrogance in his voice, his mere posture, everything about him irritated Caine, abnormally so. He looked over his shoulders, and Luna seemed beaten down, the recent events seemed to have shaken her a lot and these people weren’t helping.

He sighed and walked closer to the young man, squaring up to him. Aragon tried to put himself between the two, but was effortlessly pushed aside by Caine; the young man stepped back, but Caine took one step forward, maintaining that uncomfortable close distance.

Despite being covered in many layers of clothing, he was clearly muscular, but Caine did not care about that, he only wanted to teach the man a lesson.

“You will do nothing to me.” He stuttered. “I am of House Gren-”

Before he could finish speaking, Caine grabbed his throat, squeezing his hand and the air out of his lungs as he looked at the fear creeping into his eyes. He moved his lips, no words escaped his mouth, and silence befell them.

Aragon and his other companion stood frozen for a moment, but quickly regained their bearing, and rushed to their side, trying to release the grip Caine had on their friend.

Caine let him go, and slapped him with the back of his hand, making him fall to the ground, his cheek reddening and his lips quivering.

“Professor!” Aragon shouted while tending to his friend.

His other friend looked at Caine but averted his gaze seeing the pressure within Caine’s eyes. Aragon, on the other hand, was much braver as he stood in front of Caine, looking into Caine’s emotionless eyes.

“Professor.” He said, a hint of fear in his tone. “They did nothing to you, there is no reason for you to strike them, let alone be angry.”

“No reason?” Caine retorted. “They insulted Luna here. She is a very dear friend of mine, they referred to her as a ‘failure’ and dishonored her. You expect me to do nothing? Let me tell you something, Aragon. I don’t care who it is, let it be a student or some random noble. No one will insult Luna. Do you understand?”

Aragon stood silent, nervousness trickling down his face as he tried to think of any response, but resigned himself and just looked down.

“Aragon, my boy, let me tell you something. You and these people may be someone in the Academy, but outside, in the real world, your lives are fickle. They can be extinguished so easily. Had you been anyone else other than my student, and had Luna not been here, I would have ripped your arms out of your torso.”

As he said those words, Caine felt something tug the back of his coat and turned to see Luna stare at him, her eyes full of concern.

“I’m alright, Caine, thank you.” She said, her voice soft. “Let’s just go, there is no reason to fight anymore.”

Her lips curved upwards, and Caine felt relieved, his annoyance slowly seeping away.

The two left the three young men there, and walked away, leaving the park. They walked in silence, with Luna humming a pleasant melody as they reached the plaza once more, standing in front of Arthur’s statue.

“Thank you. It was nice having someone stand up for me.” Luna said softly, with an almost imperceptible cheer in her voice.

“Anytime.”

…

A silence lingered between the two, a comfortable and relaxing silence, only broken by Luna’s question.

“How did you become so strong? Stories of Leonidas spread throughout all the kingdoms.”

“I had a… Master. After my parents passed away, he looked after me and taught me everything I know. Every day we would spar, and every day he would beat me senseless.” Caine smiled as he reminisced about his younger years.

“He sounds… strict.”

Caine stopped upon hearing those words, looking at Luna with disbelief, and then started laughing uncontrollably, making Luna redden with embarrassment with how hard he was laughing.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at you.” He managed to say in between fits of laughter. “It’s just that you are the first person to ever call him strict. He was an idiot, a drunk, and potentially crazy. But he was a good person, one of the best I ever knew. He gave me the freedom to choose who to become.” Caine smiled bitterly as he thought about Oliver and all the times they spent together.

“And who did you choose to become?” Luna asked.

Caine thought about it for a moment and then smiled. “An idiot, a drunk, and potentially crazy.”

The two laughed together and continued walking and talking until they reached the Academy. The closer they got, the slower they walked, enjoying the sight of the setting suns, the few rays of crimson light slipping through the gaps of the perennial clouds of the Great Fall.

Finally, they reached the gates of the Academy., and the two stopped by the entrance.

“So… funny story… Headmistress Zeraphyn told me to tell you about the lodgings, I didn’t expect us to stay out this late, and I was supposed to show you your office, where you can find the key to the Faculty lodgings. Let me just take you now.”

“It’s not necessary, I am staying at an acquaintance’s house for tonight; it’s late, you should rest.” Caine told her with a charming smile.

“Yes, in that case, good night. Today was fun… a bit hectic, but fun.” Luna smiled back at him.

“Yes, it was. But next time, let’s try and spend the day without any fighting.”

Luna laughed, and after exchanging an intimate hug, the two parted ways, with Luna walking towards the Academy, and Caine walking away from it.

Caine started retracting his steps, expertly walking in the streets of the once-foreign city, until he reached the plaza again. He stood in front of Arthur’s colossal statue, his hate towards Demigods’ growing anew.

Despite what people believed about him, Caine knew he would be exactly like all the other Demigods that existed today.

Arrogant. Cruel. Selfish.

And Caine had spent the majority of his life perfecting the hate he felt towards them. The hate that was born the day he met Ranork Saintsworth.

He started walking around, looking at all the stores around the plaza, trying to ascertain where the gaze he felt on him since he left the Academy came from. Suddenly he stopped in front of an antique store, staring his reflection in the glass window.

He ran his hand through his jet-black hair, the colour identical to that of his mother, whereas his eyes were green, just like his father’s, and when he looked at himself, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly as he realized how much he looked like them.

‘I guess I am their son.’

And then he looked at the scar, the slit at the edge of his mouth he earned all those years ago, and his bitter smile turned slightly nostalgic.

‘I guess I am also Master’s student.’