On the way to class we met up with the rest of our teams, Sam looked dead on the inside while Illia rode on his shoulders humming to herself. Alex and Arya were quietly whispering to each other and Val was to no one’s surprise reading a book.
“Where'd you go?” Noah asked and walked up to her, her eyes flicked up from her book, “Got a different book.”
“Illia, please get off me.” Sam pleaded and looked up slightly. “You’re really freaking heavy.”
Heavy? The elf was like four feet tall, there was no way she weighed more than eighty pounds. She huffed and shook her head, “No!”
“You’ve been sitting on my shoulders all day!” he complained, “I can’t feel my arms.”
“Deal with it.”
“But you could just teleport to class.” he said, “In fact, you could teleport all of us to class and we wouldn’t even have to walk.”
“But I don’t want to, I want you to carry me.” she pouted and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Cassie watched this with a frown, “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“About what?” I asked and she gestured at them with a nod. “Ahh those two, seems pretty cute to me.”
“Seems more like harassment to me.”
“Should we do something about it?”
“I couldn’t care less.”
We walked through the double doors that lead into a large chamber. It was more like an arena. One large pit was in the middle, with eight-foot-tall metal walls surrounding it on all sides. Steps led up to benches and locker rooms.
“Woah,” I said and heard Ms. Mallory’s heels click on the ground. Me, Sam, and Alex all instinctively winced and turned around.
“Students, you shall need to don your armor for this class.” she said, “go to the locker rooms and find your assigned locker. If you paid attention to your pad, then your gear should be in them.”
I gulped and looked at the rest of my team, hoping they understood what Mallory was talking about. And by the looks on their faces, I knew that not a single one of us had bothered to read the directions.
“I see you four failed to follow directions.” she noted and shook her head, “very well, Vivian transport their weapons to the locker room.”
Val looked up from her book with a scowl, “why don’t you do it yourself.”
The rest of us exchanged looks of surprise and fear, Ms. Mallory hit her over the head with her wand and snatched the book out of her hands. “Do not talk back to your sister!”
“Sister?!” we shouted in unison, the two magic users looked at us and for the first time, I noticed how similar they appeared. They both had the same facial structure, brown hair, green eyes, and body shape.
“I can see that,” Alex said nodding his head, and Cassie facepalmed.
“Ms. Mallory? Mallory Valentine?” she asked, “don’t tell me none of you realized.”
“Ow! Why’d you hit me?” Val complained, rubbing her head.
“Because I am your teacher and I told you to do something and you didn’t do it.”
“I’m telling dad.”
“Bah, that old geezer got nothing on me.” she grinned and ruffled Val’s hair. Then she remembered the rest of us were watching and her scowl returned. Her wand hand shot up and with blinding speed, she hit the four of us on the head. Illia hopped off at the last second before the wand came crashing onto Sam’s head. A curse started to form in his mouth and I clamped a hand over it before he could let it out.
“That was for not paying attention.” she said, “now Vivian, do as your sister says.”
Val huffed and flicked her wrist, we watched as absolutely nothing happened. She stared back for a moment before returning to her book.
“Did she do it?” Alex asked and received a cuff on the head from Arya.
“No she just flicked her wrist because she felt like it, you absolute vegetable.” She snarked.
“What kind of insult is that?” he scoffed and rubbed the back of his head, “and that hurt you know.”
“Oh cry me a river, you didn’t hear me complaining last night when you pulled on m-”
“OK! LET’S NOT GO THERE IN PUBLIC!” I interrupted loudly. “Anyways we probably need to go and get our stuff.”
“I'm just saying, don’t touch my hair,” she said pointing at her lush white hair.
We walked into the locker room, it was apparently a co-ed affair as only the showers were separated.
“Huh, that’s weird,” I said and pulled out my pad and looked for my locker number. I walked over and punched in the combination code.
It opened and I was greeted by the familiar sight of my red katana and scale armor. I pulled everything out and started to change, as I was putting on my armor I saw out of the corner of my eye Cassie pulling the top of her dress shirt off and immediately started blushing. Sam, whose locker was right next to mine noticed and shook his head.
“I swear to God Ryze.” He said and pointed a finger at me, “If you do anything to my sister, I will shove this boot so far up your ass, you’ll be shitting out leather for the next month.”
“I don’t know what you're talking about,” I said stiffly and turned around.
“Bullshit! I’ve seen the way you look at her.” he accused, I raised a brow at him.
“Oh? I assume it’s the same way you look at Illia.”
“Fuck off Varus.”
“Feisty today aren’t we.”
Ten minutes later we walked out of the locker rooms in full gear, I wore my blood-red scale and had my sword, knife, and pistol strapped to my belt. Sam stomped around in his heavy plate. His glowing blue eyes shone behind the thick steel visor. Noah quietly walked beside Val in his leather trench coat while she wore a mix of red and gold. She had a dark red cape, a lighter red strapless short dress that went to her thighs, and a thick brown belt with a silver buckle. White thigh highs, boots the color of burnished bronze and to top it all of a large floppy wizards hat.
Next came Arya in her white leather jacket with its flared-out bottom that looked like a dress and inside was a black tank top. She wore short black shorts and long knee-high riding boots.
Lastly, Cassie walked out, she wore a gorgeous suit of armor that fit her form perfectly. Silver and blue, the colors of the royal family. My jaw dropped as she walked up to me.
“What?” she irritatedly asked, “Did you not expect for me to wear armor?”
Well, seeing as the other two hadn’t I assumed that she wouldn’t as well. “I mean, they aren’t,” I said and pointed at Arya and Val. “Why is that?”
“Val doesn’t need any, and it would get in the way of her spells so she just doesn’t wear it and Arya’s trait keeps her alive.”
“That doesn’t seem very wise.”
“Tell that to her, not me.”
“Hey, where’s Alex?” Arya asked and looked around, “Right here.” he said and walked out of the locker room. He wore half plate and brown pants.
“Sorry, it took forever to strap the swords on.”
We sat down on the benches and waited for class to start.
“Welcome to Combat class,” Ms. Mallory started, “The life of a guardian is filled with combat. Here you shall hone your fighting edge against your peers and classmates. You will fight them as teams and as individuals. Each victory will be counted and a leaderboard will be posted every day.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“So this is some sort of competition?” Alex leaned over and whispered, I shrugged and she continued speaking.
“You will fight with your personal weapons, to make sure no one is maimed or killed, I will personally put a ward on your weapons so that while they are in this room, no killing blows may be dealt. However, that does not mean, you will not be injured in this class. Therefore, professional surgeons will be on hand. Any questions?”
I blinked, this was not what I had been expecting at all. I thought we would be sparing against one another with wooden swords or against machines. It seemed that the rest of the class was equally stunned as not a single person raised their hand.
“Very well, our first two contestants shall be,” She said and faced one of the walls, it had two large boards. She flicked her wand at it and both sides started spinning, each whirling photos of different faces before slowing down on two students. “Roran Hale! Vs. Arya Arcturus!”
We all turned to look at Arya, she paled for a heartbeat before a smirk appeared on her face. She slammed her fist together, “Fuck yeah! Time to knock some heads.”
“Go get ‘em, Arya!” I shouted as she made her way down the steps. On the other side of the arena, a red-headed man was walking his way down as well. He was of average height but had arms thicker than my legs. In a loop on his belt was a large hammer and strapped to his left arm was a round shield. He wore half plate and a great helm.
“Hell yeah! Kick his ass babe!” Alex yelled.
“Show him how it’s done!” Sam joined in.
“You got this!” Noah called out, Arya frowned noticing that none of her own teammates had given her any words of encouragement. We stared at them as well, Cassie stood straight-backed on the bench eyes forwards, not saying a word. Val thumbed through her book, too methodical to actually be reading and Illia was…. licking the side of Sam’s helmet as if it was made out of candy. Now Cassie’s refusal to look in that direction made some more sense. Still, I nudged her, she turned to look at me before rolling her eyes.
“Teach him respect Arya!” she shouted and the two combatants met in the center of the ring. Arya remained empty-handed as they readied themselves for a fight. I leaned over to Alex, “where’s her weapon?”
“She’s got them on,” he said, eyes not leaving the arena. It was an incredibly vague replay that didn’t answer my question at all but I guess I was about to find out anyways.
“Three, two, one, BEGIN!”
Right off the bat, both fighters ran at each other without even a smidge of strategy. Roran raised his hammer and put his shield out. Arya sprinted at him and leaped up to deliver an overhead punch. In mid-air, her fist was encased in some sort of metal. Roran raised his shield to block the blow but her fist had so much momentum to it that it dented the shield. He grunted as pain shot up his arm but he pushed it aside and swung his hammer at her.
Still floating a few feet off the ground, there was nothing that she could do, and the hammer connected with her shoulder. She tucked in and braced herself as she was flung into the ground. I winced thinking that she was down for the count. Roran grinned and twirled the hammer in his hand.
Arya got up on unsteady feet, a moment too late to dodge his next blow. She twisted around and put her arms up and blocked the blow. Metal met metal as the hammerhead hit her bracers. The force of the attack made her stumble and Roran pressed his advantage. He slammed the hammer at her, time and time again, each getting closer to breaking her guard and sending her to the floor. Finally, he raised the hammer for an overhead strike, then as Arya raised her arms to block it, he punched her with his shield. The edge took her in the ribs and knocked the breath out of her. She wobbled before being knocked to the ground by Roran’s hammer.
She laid there for a second before her eyes shot open and she pounded her fist on the floor, creating a small shockwave. Arya kip-upped, her eyes blazing with purple flames. Her hair burned an unearthly white and she let out a scream of rage. Roran took a few steps back not sure about what he should do as Arya stormed towards him.
“I’m going to tear your head off!” She roared and tackled him, they hit the ground hard. He lost his grip on the hammer and it dangled by the strap connected to his wrist for a moment before she grabbed the hammer and flung it so hard it embedded itself in the wall. Roran punched her with his shield again but it looked like that had only pissed her off even further. She slammed her arm into his left shoulder, denting the steel plate and blasting the bone inside to dust. He screamed as his arm went limp and the shield dropped to the side. Arya grabbed the shield and raised it over her head, she brought it down with awesome force and I was about to turn away when the shield stopped less than a centimeter from his face.
The look of rage turned into confusion in an instant and she looked up as Ms. Mallory calmly walked over. Beside her were two women dressed in white surgeons uniforms. They knelt by Roran and one of them placed a hand on his shoulder. A few seconds later, he started screaming in pain and we turned our attention back to Ms. Mallory.
“Very good Ms. Arcturus, you may return to your seat now,” she said as if we hadn’t just witnessed her nearly bludgeon a man to death. Alex looked rather pale and he turned to us with an unreadable expression.
“I don’t know if I should be extremely scared or extremely turned on,” he said flatly and I slapped him over the head.
“That’s gross, but as my uncle always put it, ‘don’t stick your dick in crazy.’”
“But she’s so hot.” he muttered and shook his head, “it’s worth it, I might get my head crushed between those sweet sweet thighs, but that’s just a risk I’m willing to take.”
Arya walked up and sat down right in Alex’s lap. She stared him in the eyes, “locker room, right now.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said, and quickly the two of them left in a hurry. I looked at the others and Noah shook his head, “I don’t even want to know.”
“Lucky bastard.” Sam grunted and turned to look at Illia, “Can you stop licking my helmet you crazy elf twink?!”
“I will if you take it off,” she said happily, he shrugged and unlatched the massive helm.
“Happy n-” he started, “What the hell are you doing!!!”
I turned to them and watched in horror and fascination as she started licking his cheek.
“Nyya!”
“AHhhHHHHHHh!!!!”
“That is disgusting!” Noah exclaimed, stood up, and moved over to Val. Cassie took one glance and made a sign to ward off evil. Sam tried to pull her off him but she had latched on like a drop bear. Mallory called for attention and called two more names. Their bout was rather uneventful, two ranged fighters shooting and dodging. They seemed to be evenly matched and my attention slowly drifted away. Several more rounds went by and I sighed, leaning my back against the wall.
“Vivian Valentine! Vs. Olivia Luna!” Ms. Mallory called, my attention shifted back towards the arena. Val sighed slamming her book shut and handed it to Noah. She leaned over and whispered something into his ear and walked down the stairs. Once again we cheered for her as she calmly walked down the stairs and onto the arena. Olivia leaped off the side of the wall and landed with a flourish, she dusted off her knees and cracked her knuckles.
“Do you know her trait?” Cassie leaned over and asked. I racked my memory, thinking about the dozens of events and feasts I had attended with her. I knew she was a party animal, quite the opposite of her twin. She lived for fame and loved being the center of attention. Which she almost always was, seeing as she was by unilateral agreement of boys all across the south, the prettiest girl in the southern fiefs. But that told me nothing about her trait as I had never watched her fight in a tournament.
“You know, I’m not entirely sure.” I said and leaned in to watch, “But we’re about to find out.”
Val grumbled quietly to herself as she clomped to the middle and leaned against her staff. The golden gemstone on top seemed to breathe with light. Olivia jumped around hyping the crowd up and gave Val a rude gesture. She sighed and stood up straight, “Are we going to get this over with now?”
“What? Afraid you're going to embarrass yourself in front of your boyfriend?” Olivia teased, resting her hand on her scythe. A large silver and blue thing with a wicked curved blade on one side and spike on the other. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long.”
Val ignored her and thumped her staff twice against the ground, creating a green glyph that hovered over her head. “Good, I’ve got better things to be doing.”
“Three, two, one, Begin!”
Val lazily pointed her finger at Olivia and the glyph shot towards her, changing from green to red as it closed the distance. Then it exploded and cast the entire arena in harsh red light. As the smoke cleared Olivia shot through it, creating a vortex behind her. The scythe in her hands appeared as a blur in front of her. She swung at Val but the scythe’s blue blade stopped several inches from her head. Another glyph materialized above Val as Olivia swung again, and again. Each time the scythe’s killing blow stopped a few inches away from her body.
Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Olivia backed off and decided to take a new approach. She started running around Val in a circle, moving at inhuman speeds. Then she ran right in front of Val and sliced at her, the blade seemed to make it a little bit further into her defenses and I could see Val’s eye twitch. Olivia zoomed past her and leaped sideways onto the wall. She started running alongside the wall, seemingly defying gravity and slowly becoming a blur of blue and white.
Val sent the glyph at Olivia right as the speeding girl jumped off the wall and at Val. The glyph turned red and just before it hit her, she cut it in half and sped right between the two halves. It exploded behind her, boosting her speed even more. Val sent several fireballs as well but they splashed against Olivia's scythe doing little to no damage. Olivia let out a triumphant shout as her scythe connected with Val.
The weapon slowed slightly before there was a sound like glass shattering and she was flung like a doll. Val hit the side of the arena before landing back on her feet. Blood poured onto the ground and she put a hand to the wound and the bleeding seceded immediately, her hand glowing yellow.
Pressing her advantage, Olivia ran at her again. She spun the scythe in her hands, behind her back, and over her head as she got closer. Val noticed her and put both hands on the staff, it’s golden gem flashed four times in rapid succession before unleashing a tidal wave of fire that engulfed the entire arena. I winced at the heat and quickly covered my face with my hands.
After a few seconds the torrent of fire cut off, there was no smoke but the afterimage had left most of the spectators momentarily blind. I blinked and looked back down at the arena. Val stood against the wall, her face contorted in shock and pain as Olivia’s scythe stuck out of her stomach. Olivia lay on the ground a few feet away, her skin burned away by the heat of the fire. Quickly the surgeons ran up to the two of them and the symphony of screaming began.
As neither contestant would have survived the bout, it was considered a draw. I turned to look at my team in amazement, they looked at me then at each other.
“What just happened?”
“That was fucking crazy.”
“Huh, so that’s what her trait is.”
“Stop licking me you weirdo!”
“NYAAAA!”
Noah looked on with concern as the surgeons removed the scythe from Val’s diminutive frame and set her down on a stretcher. They brought her to the surgeons' corner where she would be given some more privacy while she healed.
“She’ll be fine, she’s a tough girl,” I said and patted him on the shoulder. On our left, I could see Will clench and unclench his fist looking down with a similarly concerned expression. He glanced over at me and noticed my gaze, then he flipped me off and faced the other direction. I sighed and looked around, Alex and Arya still hadn’t returned and class was almost over.
About ten more matches went on, they were all between people I had never met or heard about. Most of them were relatively even and there were some rather gruesome endings. On one hand, I wanted to go for a match myself but on the other, after what I had witnessed I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to subject myself to that.
“Our final match will be between,” Ms. Mallory said as if she hadn’t just watched her little sister fry a woman to a crisp. “Sarah Summers! Vs. Samuel Bright!”
“Oh shit,” I said, I looked at Sam and he had a very similar expression.
“I gotta fight the fucking Invicivble Girl?”