A few fights had passed before it was Ryunosuke Sawada’s chance to compete in the tournament. Jin had been waiting to see what the young man was capable of, should it be the case that he or Hitomi needed to face the red-headed brat at some later leg of the tournament.

There was something elegant (and pompous) about the manner in which Sawada approached combat. He always stayed one step too far from his opponent, maintaining a small distance that left the other student with a perpetual need to close the gap. Sawada knew exactly how many paces to stand apart from his adversary; just enough to frustrate them when he fell outside of reach once again.

The young red-head clearly knew his magic, though even he didn’t reach the level of magical skill that Natsuno displayed. In fact, it seemed no student before or after her used such robust magic, save perhaps for Jin’s Kyoukai Kossetsu, which he himself considered to be just a stronger form of Mana Augmentation.

Sawada took his time defeating the student that faced him, but in his grace, behind his poised stance and his neutral, calm and unarguably handsome face, Jin could see the element of malice, the air of grandiosity and condescension.

While it looked like Sawada was maintaining a tactical distance, his aim was likely more to intentionally annoy and humiliate his enemy. He won his battle and gave an exaggerated, gentlemanly bow. A few hands gave their applause, and some students were clearly quite taken by Sawada’s aesthetic appeal, coupled with his graceful flair in battle, but Jin, and even Max, could see the snake in the grass, hissing behind a viper smile.

***

At the end of the preliminaries, the remaining competitors consisted of Jin, Hitomi, Natsuno, Ryunosuke, the axe-wielder, and three other students. Mashima called a recess before the semi-final leg of the tournament would begin. Strangely, the remaining students cautiously took their time to leave their seats and enter the faculty building. It was as if each one had been afraid that the battle would continue as soon as they made the mistake of getting too close to the others.

Hitomi seemed reluctant to approach Jin, and he definitely noticed, but pretended not to. Max didn’t know what it was that got between them, but it annoyed him quite bitterly that either one of the two were playing coy when they were getting along so well just hours before. When they reached the faculty foyer, Max turned to face Jin.

“So, where to? We’ve got about an hour to kill.”

“I wonder where the campus cafeteria is,” Jin suggested.

“Hey, blondie,” Max called out behind Jin. “You know a place on campus where we can get some food?”

“Uh…” Hitomi stopped her slow approach behind them, surprised by Max’s call. “No.”

“I know a place,” came a voice from the top of the staircase. The trio looked up to see a charming smile on a friendly face topped with spiky orange hair.

“There’s a student centre not too far from here that might have something to eat,” Shida Hiromitsu suggested, massaging the shoulder that Jin had hit earlier.

The group took their time walking to the student centre, Shida and Jin taking the lead with Hitomi and Max lagging behind them.

“I mean, who’d have thought I’d be taken out by the Akira style?” Shida laughed, making Jin feel embarrassed. Shida had a positive air about him that seemed to ooze into everything he said. It made Jin feel terrible, since he had never intentionally used his Kyoukai Kossetsu on an opponent, let alone had a conversation with the victim after the fact.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jin asked sheepishly. “You don’t have to go out of your way for us like this. You should be resting right now.”

“Are you kidding me?” Shida smiled boyishly. “And miss an opportunity to hang out with you three? You guys are way too interesting to pass up the chance.”

Jin laughed shyly. “I’m not really sure ‘interesting‘ is the right word.”

“Hanging out with you guys sounds like a lot of fun. And I asked you if we could be friends when the fight was over, remember?”

“Yes, but even so–”

“And the fight’s over! So c’mon, let's try to get along from now on,” Shida offered another charming grin.

Behind them, Hitomi was very obviously walking at a pace that would keep her a distance from the two in front.

“Is there a reason you’re acting so weird?” Max asked, walking casually alongside her.

“I don’t wanna hear that from you,” she forced a fierce expression. “You’re the weirdest one among us, alien.”

“Mm–hmm,” Max let her continue.

“Why are you here if you aren’t even fighting? I told you not to come. Did you come to gawk at your lessers? Are we too much beneath your magical genius to even be considered a challenge, oh great prodigy?”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” Max said calmly. “I’m nowhere near half as good a fighter as you guys are.”

“Like I’d believe that for even a second,” she said bitterly, though the fierceness in her facade slowly began to fade. She woefully looked ahead towards Jin, before slightly hanging her head.

“It was only for a moment, but… when I saw his face, his eyes… it was like he was like a completely different person,” she said suddenly, her gaze sullenly pressed into the floor. “Didn’t it frighten you?”

“What? Jin? Hell no!” Max responded instantly. “That shit was epic, no doubt about it. Besides, Jin is Jin, no matter what magic he uses. I can tell you that for a fact.”

“How would you know though?” Hitomi shifted her gaze to Max. “Didn’t you just meet him this week? You seem awfully trusting for someone so cynical.”

“Because… Man, even Goku had a terrifying look in his eyes when he went super saiyan for the first time, and he’s probably the sweetest guy in existence. People can have different sides to them. It doesn’t change who they are when it comes down to fundamentals.”

“Who on Earth is Goku?”

“I’m gonna forgive your ignorance. The only thing you should know right now is that the way you’re acting now must be a real kick in the nuts for him,” Max retorted. “It's not like he’s given you a single reason to doubt him.”

Hitomi remained quiet and kept up her slow pace.

“So, both of you are foreign students?” Shida called out behind him.

“What gave it away? Was it the fact that neither of us look or speak Japanese? Don’t make unnecessary small talk, Uzumaki,” Max responded, unnecessarily harshly. “If you have something to say, just come out and say it.”

Max didn’t like overly friendly people like Shida. It's not that he believed that Shida’s positivity wasn’t genuine, but his was a smile carried by charlatans and the broken, and it was unclear whether he was one or both. To Max, there was something disingenuous about someone who wanted to be everyone’s friend.

“Uzumaki?” Shida shot a puzzled glance in Jin’s direction, who shrugged in admittance that he too didn’t know what Max was talking about. “Uh… it’s Hiromitsu.”

“I’m from Britain,” Hitomi responded politely, and then added with a little more spunk, “this cretin is from outer space.”

“He’s not exactly a people’s person, huh?” Shida pointed his question at Jin.

“I guess you could say that, yes,” Jin responded tentatively, though even Max could tell from behind that Jin was likely more than a little sour that Hitomi responded so easily to Shida, while she was so actively avoiding him.

“You were really good out there,” Hitomi said passively, seemingly to no one at all.

“Aw, shucks! Thanks a lot. You weren’t too bad out there yourself. What style was that? It was so graceful!” Shida fired off rapidly. He was clearly quite excited to be ‘fitting in’ with the group.

“I was talking to Jin,” Hitomi said quietly, thinking no one could hear her. Max stole a glance at her down-trodden face.

“Hey, Jin,” Max caught the hero’s attention. “What did you think of blondie’s fight?”

“Huh?” Jin was thrown off by Max’s sudden question. “She… You were pretty amazing… Miss Brighton,” his gaze slowly pressed into the floor as well. This time, even Shida couldn’t help but notice the weird tension between the two.

“Your form was quite incredible,” she responded with blushing cheeks. Jin’s face warmed up significantly, and he kept his head looking forward to not show his embarrassed joy.

It seemed the group were nearing the student centre. It was almost afternoon and quite a few students were roaming around campus. There were students in groups in the fields surrounding the campus walkway. Some were already engrossed in studying, some eating together and others just relaxing on picnic blankets, soaking in the sun before their next class. Once again, this scene, and the air of familiarity that it conjured, was comforting to Max.

Some ways away, another group had started the coin passing ritual. There were half a dozen or so students. Max eyed them, realising that this must have been what those students were doing on his first day at the academy.

Found you, a voice passed through the crowd, stemming from a mind among the many faces looming around.

Max stopped and searched the faces around them. The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t quite figure out where he’d heard it before.

“Are you having an episode right now?” Hitomi asked as Max’s eyes darted around the area. It was the first time he’d unintentionally heard someone’s thoughts in a day or two. He wasn’t actively listening, so the thought must have been imposed on him. Someone was trying to rattle him. He thought he saw someone watching them, but the face was unfamiliar, and as soon as Max gave a second glance, the face had disappeared.

“Max,” Jin had stopped and turned to see what was keeping them back. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh… Nothing,” Max said, in a tone that he wouldn’t have bought had someone else said it. “I guess I’m just being paranoid.”

It seemed to be enough for Shida and Hitomi, though Jin eyed him with an expression of concern. He didn’t say anything, choosing rather to wait for Max to speak up when it suited him.

Behind the crowd, moving amongst the many young faces, a jaded pair of eyes watched them walk on in their ignorance, frothing with malice at the opportunity to exact vengeance.

***

Mashima had barely called out ‘begin’ before Natsuno had flung her opponent out of the ring. Like many others in the class, she seemed to have a go-to element, and that was Ice. Max noted how well it complimented the white glow of her irises when she performed spells. He wondered if the colour was a by-product of her use of the element, or if it was just a coincidence.

“I’m not really sure,” Jin admitted when Max inquired. “In fact, it's quite rare to see visible aura manifest in any way. Though it seems the Scions all give some kind of sign of their aura. From what I can see, it's not necessarily reflective of the magic they use. They’d likely be at a disadvantage in a fight if that were the case.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked.

They sat in the same spots they had during the previous leg of the tournament. They had managed to find the student centre, which had a number of cafeteria options. Max ate nothing, as he had no money to spend and refused both Jin and Hitomi’s offers to pay for his meal. Jin had a small bowl of udon, while Shida ordered the most food and ate the most heartily.

Hitomi had spent most of the time sipping on a smoothie she bought. Max wondered why she came along if she had no intention of talking, but realised that when he’d called her, it was probably too awkward for her to walk away once Shida had offered to lead them. When they returned, Shida decided to go back to the infirmary. The walk to the student centre seemed to take more out of him than he had expected.

“I expect to hear some good news from one of you,” he said to the three when he made his way back upstairs. No one bothered to correct him that Max wasn’t taking part, and no one in the audience during the fights seemed to care whether he participated or not. They were all much too swept up in their own trepidation.

The tournament roster had been updated and the interval was long enough for some students to return from the infirmary to watch the rest of the fights. Natsuno’s battle was the first to happen in the new leg of the tournament, and she had already won.

“Well,” Jin answered Max, “if people were to see what kind of magic you were casting based on the colour of your eyes, they’d easily be able to counter your magic with its natural opposite.”

“Oh, so you’d be able to cast Fire to Natsuno’s Ice if you had enough warning?”

“I would actually go with Light. Like Shida said, it’s very hot when used properly. Much hotter than Fire if you feed it enough mana. But yes, something like that.”

“Guess you can never go wrong with a little Pokémon knowledge,” Max said absentmindedly, wishing he’d paid more attention to the way elements worked when he played, rather than the mindless attack-until-someone-loses strategy he went with.

“Poke-what?” Jin turned to look up at Max curiously.

“Nothing, nothing,” Max quickly cut off any further questions.

Jin looked to be feeling somewhat better after their meal, or perhaps after Hitomi’s comment about his fight. She was still reserved and kept her distance for their walk back, but it seemed her having said anything positive at all was enough for Jin.

“Can our next competitors please make their way to the platform?” Mashima called out after declaring Natsuno’s second victory.

Jin got to his feet.

“Hey,” Max said before he made his way to the platform. “You got this.”

Jin nodded solemnly. His opponent was the axe-wielder. A tall, burly student who put quite a lot of effort into his physical shape. It was clear that barehanded martial arts wouldn’t be enough.

The two made their way to opposing sides from the centre of the platform, each staring at the other quietly for a moment before Mashima called out, “Begin!”

“I saw ya last fight. I’m impressed, but I ain’t afraid of yer parlour tricks,” the axe-wielder smiled tauntingly. He spoke in a dialect that reflected his upbringing in the more rural parts of Japan. “So come at me with everything ya got.”

He stretched out his hand. In his grip formed the large, silver, ethereal axe he had used in his previous fight. He closed his eyes, and enhanced the physical constitution of his body, his muscles somewhat tightening up and bulging through his blazer as his strength increased.

“That’s one big motherfucker,” Max said quietly. One big motherfucker he was glad he didn’t need to fight himself. Despite his faith in Jin, he knew that the young man was likely in for some pain.

Jin stood quietly, unfazed and focused. He decided he would level the playing field. He stretched out a hand, and in his own grip, a sleek, blood-red, ethereal katana formed. A dark, crimson smoke emanated from the sharp light of the blade, contrasting the silver smoke emanating from the opponent’s axe.

“What? Not gonna use yer fancy Augmentation spell?” the axe-wielder laughed mockingly.

“I doubt it’ll be necessary for this battle,” Jin said sternly, the cold tone of his voice nearly matching that of Natsuno’s. He lifted the blade up to his other hand and held it as if he was making an offering. Silently, he sent mana coursing through both his body and his blade, imbuing him and the katana with increased strength and speed. He brought the blade down in a defensive position and faced his opponent with a steely-eyed expression.

Infuriated, the axeman lifted his weapon and brought it down to the ground in front of Jin, shattering the platform down the middle, exposing grass and earth beneath the white-tiled ring. The destruction kicked up a large cloud of dust. He stood there for a moment, waiting for the dust to clear to assess Jin’s reaction.

“Who’s performing parlour tricks now?” Jin asked wryly. He swung his sword, clearing the dust cloud instantly. He hadn’t moved at all from the spot he had been earlier, fully aware that the axeman was attempting to scare him into making a frantic mistake.

Max raised an eyebrow, and almost burst out laughing at the scene. It was kind of amusing to him that Jin fought so hard against the idea that he was an anime character, yet as he stood in the ring, he practically oozed anime energy. Even the lines he delivered, including the way he delivered them, was unmistakably anime-like. It was ironic, yet incredibly exciting at the same time.

“Ya tougher than yer look, skinny,” the student raised his axe and hung it over his shoulder. The act seemed to dim the light of the weapon, as if the fatal element that it held just a moment before had dissipated.

“The name’s Daichi Kazuhiro.”

Jin smiled and pierced his sword into the platform, freeing up his hands. Interestingly enough, his blade never lost its deep red glow.

“Jin Akira,” he bowed. “A pleasure to be your opponent.”

Daichi laughed. His voice was deep and bellowing.

“As interesting in battle as ya are in the classroom.”

Jin’s head sank instantly in embarrassment. Yet another student had entirely the wrong impression of him.

“Ya better not hold back on me, Jin Akira,” Daichi readied his weapon, restoring the bright light into its otherworldly glow.

With a confident smile, Jin retrieved his sword.

“I wouldn’t dare insult you like that,” he retorted.

Without warning, the two clashed weapons in a torrent of slashes at breakneck speed. Jin relied on Augmentation to keep up with Daichi’s heavy blows. He was quite fast for someone his size, though this was likely a product of his own enhancement, which seemed to imbue him with a level of strength and speed equal to that of Jin’s.

The axeman bore down his weapon so fast it slammed Jin’s katana out of his hands. Jin quickly spun evasively out of Daichi’s range and grabbed the sword in mid-air before it could fall to the ground and dissipate. Before either side could strike, Jin waved his hand over the katana, reinforcing its strength, deepening its shine, as well as adding a surge of electric current frenzying around the blade.

“Yer gonna need a lot more than that to bring me down, Akira!” Daichi flexed his ripe and powerful muscles. Jin assessed the warrior’s body for openings, but the axeman was surprisingly nimble, and defended practically every attack that Jin threw at him. Remembering the tactic used by Daichi’s previous opponent, Jin had an idea.

Hastily, with incredible speed, he closed the gap between himself and Daichi, the two once again fiercely clashing blades. Jin made a speedy jump back and opened a small portal behind Daichi, sending a bolt of electric energy through it that surged through the warrior’s body. The axeman took the shock easily, tensing up his muscles in a flex and ignoring the current as if it meant nothing.

“That chump earlier tried this too,” Daichi gave a malicious and confident grin. “Yer tryna play games with me, skinny?”

He ran for Jin, and instead of swinging his axe, he used his large hulking arm to slam Jin into the floor. Capitalising on the opportunity, Daichi brought down his massive hand, which could undeniably crush a person’s face even without Augmentation, attempting to slam it down onto his opponent.

Jin’s body disappeared through a portal he made on the ground beneath him, and a new portal appeared above the axeman. Jin, falling down, swung his blade in an offensive arc. Daichi raised his axe to meet the blade. With what looked like relative ease, he kept his opponent suspended in the air for a moment. Jin stretched out his hand to create several more small portals with bolts of lightning shooting through them.

Daichi once again withstood the onslaught of the current, though with visibly more strained effort. Jin, landing on his feet, put a bare hand on the ground, creating a sudden rumble in the earth. Next to Daichi’s arms, two pillars of rock broke up through the tiled platform and took hold of the axeman’s hands. Straining from the pain of the current, the opponent attempted to free his arms from the earthen cuffs that held them suspended at his sides.

No sooner than Daichi had broken free had Jin thrown out a leg sweep, sending Daichi’s body crashing into the ground. The axe fell from his grip and dissipated into nothing as soon as it hit the ground.

Jin held his blade to Daichi’s throat.

“Yield,” Jin offered.

“Ya’d hafta kill me first,” Daichi said defiantly through pain-clenched teeth.

“I figured as much,” Jin smiled, hovering a hand over Daichi’s body, creating a portal under the burly warrior which spat him out of another that was suspended in the air outside of the ring. Daichi slammed onto the grass, causing him to arch his back in pain.

“Fuck yeah!” Max yelled, jumping up to his feet excitedly. “That was sick!”

Mashima threw a disdainful glance over at him, which he was too excited to notice.

“That’s another brilliant victory for Mr Akira,” she called out. “And with that, we have another competitor for the finals. Very well done.”

Jin, once again piercing his sword into the ground, bowed at Daichi on the floor. He picked up his weapon and dispersed it into a puff of crimson vapour. He then walked up to his opponent and offered a helping hand. Daichi eyed his hand for a moment, and decided to allow the victor to aid him to his feet. Jin, as strong and fast as he seemed in the ring, still required considerable effort to help the large warrior up.

“Can you walk okay? Would you like me to help you up to the infirmary?” Jin asked.

“Nah,” Daichi held a hand to his aching back. “That was a good fight, and ya should save yer strength for the finals.”

He chuckled slightly.

“Besides, what kinda man would I be if I couldn’t do this much on my own after such a humiliating defeat?”

Jin wanted to assure him that there would be no humiliation in accepting aid, but knew better than to impose his own beliefs onto anyone else. Daichi clearly had his pride, and Jin was in no position to further tarnish it.

Sullenly, the burly young man gave a cautious look up at Natsuno, who was eyeing them in return.

“Watch out fer that one,” Daichi suggested gravely. “Even I was worried about takin’ her on. I hate to admit it, but I’m kinda glad I won’t need to.”

Jin met Natsuno’s gaze, as she surveyed the two with clear disapproval. He nodded at Daichi, who limped his way back into the faculty building and up to the infirmary.

Jin returned to his seat in front of Max who, once again, vigorously shook his shoulder in congratulatory approval. He looked at his cell and eyed the names of the students who would be facing off in the last fight of the semi-final leg of the tournament. It was a battle Hitomi looked forward to, but one that made Jin apprehensive. Her opponent was Ryunosuke. The snake who was no doubt ravenous to bare his fangs at such a notable opponent.

***

The proceeding fight was an oddity. The two students went head-to-head harshly, and it was quite clear to everyone that they were extending themselves severely. They made more use of Elemancy than any other pair before them. There were flashes of Fire, storms of Lighting, streams of Water, and chunks of Earth strewn all over the place. Yet the fight ended with both parties losing. Comically, before either party could land a final strike, both students passed out from overexertion.

“Well, that was stupid,” Max said listlessly.

“Don’t be so harsh. They’re likely not used to combat,” Jin pacified.

He knew that this would cause issues for the final lineup, but he had no time to dwell on the question of what would happen in the last leg, as he saw Ryunosuke rise from his seat and haughtily take his place in the ring. Hitomi, very shortly afterwards, made her way down to the platform as well. Slowly and steadily, more students were returning from the infirmary and the number of students in the audience was starting to rise back up to what it had been in the beginning of the tournament.

There was a murmur among those who had just returned. Some of them hadn’t seen Sawada’s fight, but many of them saw what Hitomi was capable of. Thus, the tension of a 50/50 victory loomed in the air among those present as much as it hung over the two competitors.

|“That boy is fiiiiine…”|

|“I bet he’s no match for her.”|

|“Are you kidding? Do you know who that is?”|

|“He’s not my queen! That’s enough for me.”|

|“I bet he’s a monster…”|

Ryunosuke had a confident yet, simultaneously, ugly smile on his face. It seemed to infuriate Hitomi, which was only reflected by the look in her eyes. Her face, however, gave nothing away. Her calm expression showed no fear or anger.

Jin felt uncomfortable in his seat. He knew that Sawada was a tough opponent, and while he knew what Hitomi was capable of, he couldn’t help but worry that the outcome might not be in her favour. The thought angered him, and he wanted to trust that the time they had put into working on their abilities would pay off. Despite this, he felt a bitter annoyance at Sawada, and couldn’t shake the desire to get Hitomi out of the ring and take her place instead.

Max, feeling Jin’s strain, gritted his teeth in worry. He didn’t like the look on Sawada’s face, and he most certainly didn’t like the way Sawada fought. A pit started to form in his stomach. He couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going to get out of hand.

“Begin!” came the command.

“Are you certain that this is a battle that you wish to undertake?” Sawada asked smugly. “You can still choose to walk away now. No one would think less of you for it.”

Hitomi’s calm exterior broke, and it seemed to please Sawada to see her irises flare up in gold, as she raised her hands and broke apart the ground around the ring. A series of different shaped rocks and chunks of earth floated into the air behind her. She clenched her open palms into fists, and the projectiles flew towards Sawada at bullet speed.

He was well prepared, raising his hands in response and conjuring an invisible force that held the projectiles in mid-air right before him. When the last of the rocks were in his hold, he too clenched his fists, and sent them back at Hitomi. She propelled herself into the air with a graceful flip, above the reach of the storm of earth flying at her.

Despite her speed, she didn’t see the ones he had aimed at her airborne position, which hit her with incredible force, knocking the air out of her and sending her toppling to the floor.

She raised herself to her hands and knees, panting heavily. Sawada chuckled mockingly, and while his voice may have been a pleasure to the ears of others, to Jin it sounded rather repulsive.

“I made you an offer, and now look at the price you pay for rejecting it. Don’t you understand, Brighton? We are not in the same league. You’re so far beneath me, it's downright pitiful.”

Jin put his hand to his knee and squeezed tightly, forcing himself to stay in his seat. Max put a hand on his shoulder. Jin looked up to see Max staring intently at the ring.

“I think she has to deal with this asshole by herself,” Max said, eyeing Hitomi with a pensive air. “Let’s try to have a little faith in her.”

Jin looked down at the platform and said nothing.

“Will you stow it already?” Hitomi coughed and slowly rose to her feet. “I’ve had enough of your pompous scorn.”

“Then show me what you can do!” he laughed as he spoke.

She raised her hands to her sides.

“Rend the earth with your piercing Winds, Howling Gale!”

Hitomi’s eyes shone once more as the wind began to circulate on either side of her, rapidly forming into small, twin tornadoes. They caused shards of ground-up dirt and loose stones on the platform to get sucked into their force as they grew larger. Luckily, there was no force outside of the shield that Mashima had put up, or the gust would likely have carried off half the wooden material that made up the seating arrangements.

Holding both her hands up to her opponent, she pushed forward with some effort, hurtling the tornadoes towards Sawada. In response, he put his hands on the floor beneath him. Pressing his hands firmly onto the tiles, his irises glowed a rosy pink, as he sent a frost through the platform which slowly trickled up the ripping winds.

The frost seemed to halt the tornadoes in their place, and the ice travelled with the twist of the wind right up to its peak. Slowly, the tornadoes froze into two statuesque, twisted ice pillars. This defence left Sawada exposed, and Hitomi propelled herself at him in speedy retaliation.

He seemed to have prepared for this as well. He rose up from his position and jumped back in what looked like a prolonged, low glide across the tiled ring. Hitomi kept up with his movement, attempting to jab at his face. He easily swayed to the side, causing her to miss her mark and leaving her exposed to a sudden blast of Air from him, sending her flying off to the right.

Her fall didn’t afford her a moment’s rest however, as, before she reached the ground, a second burst of wind took her back up into the air, allowing Sawada time to conjure a misty, pink, spectral polearm. With some clearly embellished style, he used his weapon to violently knock her back onto the tiled floor.

Hitomi’s body slammed into the ground, crushing the tiles beneath her, and for a moment Jin was sure she’d be out cold, but she coughed and rolled onto her stomach. There was a slight groan from the audience.

“Your form, despite its eloquence, lacks both ferocity and conviction,” Sawada mocked, snapping his fingers to dissipate both the polearm as well as the frozen tornadoes. They crumbled down into thin ice particles, spilling all over the ring and the grass outside of it. Some pieces were already starting to melt in the early April sun.

“You’ll never amount to me with such half-hearted attacks,” Sawada bent down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to arch her head up. “How can you expect to beat me when you don’t even believe in yourself?”

Mashima perked up in her seat, feeling somewhat discomforted by the sight before her, but she decided to stay seated, and to only make a move should things begin to spiral.

“I’ll tell you what though,” Sawada added, bringing Hitomi’s angered face close to his, grinning maliciously. “Yield to me, and I may consider helping you refine those skills of yours.”

|“My queen…”|

|“This is… kind of creepy.”|

|“He doesn’t need to be so touchy.”|

Jin dug his fingers deeper into his knees, feeling as though he might pierce his skin in anger. Max didn’t hold himself back, shooting up to his feet.

“Why don’t you dial it down a bit, you fucking creep?” he called from the pavilion.

Sawada ignored him, as well as the uncomfortable murmuring stirring up amongst the slowly rising number of students. Some were seated, while two or more were standing at the entrance to the courtyard, a short distance outside Mashima’s barrier.

“Mr Tenebri, please control yourself or, as I’ve said before, I will have no choice but to ask you to leave,” Mashima chided Max.

“Are you not seeing this? Is this really how things go down at this academy?” he argued.

“Max,” Jin looked back and shook his head.

“We can’t just let this–”

“Let’s just trust Mashima-sensei for now,” Jin tried to reassure his companion. “I have faith in Hitomi.”

He decided that if things got any worse, he would do something about it if Mashima would not.

Max sat back down reluctantly.

“Listen to the other foreign dog barking from his seat,” Sawada’s eyes started to trail down Hitomi’s body, making her wince in disgust at the clear lechery in his eyes.

“I don’t blame the coward for taking an interest. There’s a lot to protect. Even more to… covet,” his eyes came to a momentary stand still on her well-endowed chest. “Why don’t you stop wasting time with Akira and his new mutt, and spend some time with a real gentleman? I can teach you how to be a real woman. In combat…” his lips curled into a coarse smile, “and in other ways.”

|“Ew, ew, ew!”|

|“I don’t think I can watch this…”|

Sawada’s eyes trailed across the vocal audience, and it seemed a look was enough to silence the protestors.

Mashima was about to call an end to the fight to stop Sawada from going any further. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she didn’t like the way it looked. She had opened her mouth, when Hitomi suddenly pursed her lips and spat directly in Sawada’s face. At this, he dropped her from his grasp, his eyes widened in disgusted shock.

“You… YOU FILTHY, BARBARIC BITCH!” Sawada’s anger started to boil, the elegant facade he had held up falling apart altogether. “You contaminated me, YOU WHORE!”

There was a clear aura of disdain among the audience at his sudden change.

|“This guy is sick!”|

|“What the hell?”|

“BE QUIET! None of you rats are worth the shit under my shoe!” he spilled his anger onto the crowd.

His hands were shaking as he reached into his blazer pocket to retrieve a handkerchief – her handkerchief – and wiped off her spit, not seeing her fist rising from the floor and slamming into his face, causing him to topple back onto the floor foolishly. Hitomi groggily got to her feet while Sawada shot up, enraged.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“You will regret–” Sawada stopped his threat midway, noticing a trickle of warm liquid run down his lips. He put his hands to his face and saw the fresh blood on his fingers. Hitomi smiled bitterly as his anger turned to narcissistic horror.

“My face! MY FACE IS BLEEDING, YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Sawada screamed hysterically. His voice was so high-pitched and shrill that listening to him lose his mind was almost amusing.

“Hitomi!” Max called out. She looked up at him, somewhat dazed and feeling immense pain in her stomach and chest. The students all looked at him as well, their eyes a mix of fear at what was happening in the ring, and annoyance that Max always had something to say.

“What did we do all that practise for if you’re not even gonna use what you learned?” he yelled from the stands.

You make it sound so simple, she thought, smiling at the realisation that the alien had finally used her name.

“You’ve got this!” Max gave her a thumbs up.

“Tenebri!” Mashima chided once more.

|“Kick his face in, Miss Brighton!”|

|“Yeah, shut that creep up!”|

Mashima looked around in surprise. She narrowed her eyes at Max, but couldn’t hold back a subtle smile.

“We believe in you, Hitomi,” Jin added, with more confidence in his voice than he ever had before when speaking to her.

Hitomi heard his voice cut through the crowd, and she smiled weakly. The cheers made her embarrassed, but somehow, those two made her feel more embarrassed than anything else.

“You will pay for this!” Ryunosuke fumed savagely.

“Will you stop flapping your gums, pretty boy?” Hitomi retorted defiantly, her body slumping a little. “Show me some backbone! You become a spineless wank at the sight of just a little blood?”

Ryunosuke conjured another polearm and dashed towards her furiously. She crouched and, taking advantage of his mindless anger, swept his leg, sending him flying face-first towards the floor and causing his weapon to disappear. He quickly pushed himself into the air before he landed, somersaulting to regain his balance.

To his surprise, she met him where he stood, and conjured up an ethereal polearm of her own, which shone in brilliant gold, and swiftly struck at him. He prepared another polearm to defend, causing a lock between the two.

“What is it that you are not understanding?” Sawada sneered desperately. “You don’t stand a chance!”

They clashed weapons fiercely. The matter-less, almost see-through material sending out loud pangs wherever his polearm met hers, as if made of real steel. Their speed was incredible and Max felt his face grimace in fear every time it looked like Hitomi was about to get hit.

Another strike met by a strong defence and she jumped back, throwing her weapon at him in a straight trajectory that he swatted away with his own. In her free moment, she made up her mind. As he made another dash, she stomped the ground causing rocks to float up behind her once more, which she threw his way with a violent force.

He whacked away each clump of earth and didn’t see her raise her arms to psychokinectally grab hold of him, paralysing him and raising him into the air. He tried to resist with his own psychokinetic push, but nothing came of it.

She had absolute control of him.

Her eyes closed as she concentrated on maintaining her grasp. She attempted to muster up the idea of what it might be like to pick up a man, but this caused her control to wane slightly. Instead, she imagined what it felt like simply touching someone else. Her hands on their shoulders, or on their arms. This notion of physical touch, of thinking of the mana inside her as an extension of herself, became more clear than ever. It was simple, just as Max had said. And thinking about how much that actually annoyed her once again caused her control to wane, until she decided to focus on what her initial goal was.

“Is this it? Is this how you plan to win? Paralysing your enemy like a coward?” Ryunosuke fretted in her grasp.

“That’s the thing,” Hitomi said, opening her eyes and smiling confidently at her new level of control. “I didn’t want to win. I just wanted a chance to throw you around.”

His eyes widened in horror as she slammed him into the floor. He lay there for a moment before she picked him up and threw him onto his stomach. This happened repeatedly, her picking him up and flinging him across the platform, though keeping him inside the ring’s radius. Once or twice he tried to stand up before she harnessed his body and tossed him once again.

Finally, she gave him one last slam into the ground and slumped down to her knees. She was exhausted, and Max and Jin sat at the edge of their seats, each feeling a unique dread of their own at her potentially passing out.

Ryunosuke pushed himself to his knees and shakily got to his feet.

“Is that…” he heaved for a moment. “Is that really all you’ve got?”

“Shit…” Max uttered under his breath.

Suddenly the red-head grimaced and put his hand to his stomach.

“What did you…” he started to question before dropping to his hands and knees once again, and feeling the rise of nausea in his body. Finally, he retched and let out a disgusting fluid onto the tiled platform.

|“Oh my god, GROSS!”|

|“Oh god! I can’t look away”|

|“Oh man, this is going on NippoNippo for sure!”|

Some students turned away, some were laughing at the sight. Hitomi herself smiled, as Sawada looked up at her defiantly, wiping his face, and making another attempt to get to his feet. Instead, his body gave in and he collapsed into the puddle of his own vomit, completely passed out.

“That's another victory for Miss Brighton!” Mashima called out, a little more cheerily than she intended. There was a unanimous applause and cheer among the crowd, and Hitomi looked up and around at the students celebrating her victory. Jin stood up and applauded as well. Her gaze came to a standstill on him, and his charming smile which she had seen so often since her first day at the academy.

Max slumped back in his seat, feeling relieved at her victory. She stumbled her way out of the ring, parts of her body bruised, her stomach in clear agony and parts of her uniform torn where the stone and earth had hit her.

“You need to go to the infirmary, Miss Brighton,” Mashima got up and caught her as she stumbled. “You did very well.”

“I won’t argue there,” she smiled, looking up at her two friends, both wearing new expressions of concern.

She gave them a feeble thumbs up.

“For the time being, I think it's only right to put the tournament on hold until you recover,” Mashima suggested.

“No,” Hitomi shook her head slowly. “That won’t be necessary. I really never had any interest in the position of Class Rep.”

“Are you certain? This is a very good opportunity to show what you’re capable of. I know your father expects great things from you,” Mashima said sombrely.

Hitomi looked up at the lecturer curiously, before giving a conceding smile.

“My father will have to wait. There’s still a lot of time to prove him wrong.”

“Very well,” Mashima said after a pause. “I sincerely hope you do.”

She called down another female student and asked her to help Hitomi up to the infirmary. Jin and Max came down to her side, Jin insisting that he help her instead, but Mashima held them back.

“It's fine, you two. I’m sure Miss Hitsugaya can handle it.”

The eponymous ‘Miss Hitsugaya’, a petite and skinny girl with short blue hair cut in a bob with a fringe that covered her forehead, took Hitomi in her arms and helped her slowly make her way to the infirmary. Max couldn’t help but take note of the ridiculously natural blue shade that sprouted directly from the roots of Miss Hitsugaya’s head. By anime logic, she was undoubtedly someone to look out for.

“Besides, Mr Akira, you and Miss Haruki are the last contestants left. The final fight will be between the two of you.”

“What about Hitomi? Won’t she be competing?” Jin argued. “Surely we can wait for her to recover.”

“She insists that the tournament continue while she heals,” Mashima reassured him. “She will have ample time to challenge the winner throughout the rest of the academic year.”

Jin looked at Max, and sent his gaze up to Natsuno, who was eyeing the two of them contemptuously. At the back entrance to the faculty, Hitomi came to a standstill.

“We need to get you to the doctor, Miss,” Hitsugaya insisted.

“Wait… please,” Hitomi said. “Can you do me a favour instead?”

Miss Hitsugaya looked reluctant, but listened to Hitomi’s request.

“Jin… I mean, Hitomi’s looking real bad. We can stop this here. Let Natsuno have the title. It doesn’t matter anymore, right?” Max said.

“No, it doesn’t,” Jin said with a nervous smile. “But I owe it to Miss Haruki to give her a fair fight. Besides, you heard Mashima-sensei. Hitomi wants the tournament to continue, so I should respect her sacrifice.”

“You gotta learn to cut yourself some slack, man,” Max replied. “But fine, go win this thing. You’re more than capable of beating her. Just don’t expect me to act any differently when you become the Class Rep.”

Jin nodded his head with a smile after a moment. As they spoke, Max started to sniff the air heavily.

“What the fuck is that smel– HOLY SHIT!” Max cowered slightly at the sight of Ryunosuke dragging himself across the floor past them. His face and hair were covered in the disgusting yellow fluid he had thrown up.

“How has this man not been sent to heal yet!” Max cried, revolted at the sight. Jin couldn’t help but laugh at the state of Ryunosuke and at Max’s reaction.

“Oh goodness,” Mashima gasped sharply, only just realising she had forgotten to send Sawada to the infirmary. “Mr Sawada, where are you going?”

“I’m done with this place. I’m returning to my family’s physician,” Sawada paused his movement and looked up at the group. “Send me there, now!”

Mashima closed her eyes and shook her head in disapproval. Perhaps he needed to be tossed around a bit more before he learned some real manners. She hovered her hands above the young man, and sent him on his way to the infirmary upstairs. If he wanted to go to his own doctor, he could give Shouta a hard time about it.

***

Mashima put her hands down on the platform, performing a spell that made the broken pieces of tile and earth float into the air and snap themselves back into place like malformed puzzle pieces. The fluid that Ryunosuke had thrown up, as well as other debris that had been strewn all over the tiles slowly fade into bright green embers, restoring the tiles to their pristine state.

It was quite bizarre to look at, but more than anything, Max wanted to try whatever spell it was that she was doing at some point.

Natsuno got up from her seat and started to make her way down to the ring. Mashima nodded her head at Max, who took his cue and went back to his seat. He gave Jin a little thumbs up as he walked away, and Jin took his place on the platform to wait for his opponent.

“Hey, you’re Akira’s friend,” Shida said to Hitomi as he came from the faculty’s back entrance.

“Shh!” Hitomi quieted him. The two looked out onto the platform to see Natsuno take her position opposite Jin.

“Woah!” Shida exclaimed. “I saw her fight. She’s pretty badass,” he chuckled cheerily. “Now there’s someone who ought to give Akira a run for his money.”

Hitomi said nothing, looking worryingly through the small group of students standing outside the entrance, a distance from the ring. Shida took note of the concern on her face and awkwardly dropped his smile, watching the scene quietly.

Jin could see the anger and anticipation in Natsuno’s eyes, though he still couldn’t understand why she was this angry with him.

“There’s nothing I hate more in this world than liars and frauds,” Natsuno seethed, responding to the thought as if he had asked her out loud. “You and that thing in the audience are shining examples of both.”

Jin turned his head slightly, realising that nearly all issues that seemed to have arisen for him recently were because of Max. His head sunk at the thought because, despite it all, he couldn’t bring himself to genuinely blame the visitor. While Max had a sour attitude, and an incorrigible manner which didn’t seem to bend to any situation, save perhaps for his interactions with Akiko, there was just something about him that made Jin believe his heart was in the right place when it counted.

“So it’s true then? You know,” Jin said, speaking quite firmly to Natsuno for the first time, “you need to stop doing that.”

“Excuse me?” she asked coldly.

“Reading all our thoughts, as if we’re your enemies,” he looked her in the eyes. “You’re awfully sanctimonious for someone so guilty of violation.”

Natsuno’s eyes widened. She looked at Mashima, whose expression didn’t hide the disappointment.

|“Wait, is he saying she was reading our minds?”|

|“Eh? Shouldn’t she be expelled for that? That’s so violating…”|

|“Who does she think she is?”|

“But as for my friend,” Jin made a sudden bow, “I am very sorry for his poor attitude.”

Max shook his head slowly.

“Simp,” he said flatly.

Jin turned around and raised his fist.

“What? You be quiet! This is your fault!” he cried out.

He turned back to see Natsuno glaring, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

“Do not pretend that you know me. You don’t!” Her words carried more passion than she seemed capable of. “Your apologies are meaningless when your words carry no weight. I don’t want an apology. I want you… both of you, gone.”

“What?”

“When I beat you, I want you to leave this academy.”

The disdain in her voice was clear and Jin realised there was nothing he could say that would help mend things with her. She was much too angry at Max. Jin was certain that, had it been Max standing in the ring, there might have been a murder committed that day.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna go see the doctor?” Shida asked Hitomi, only just taking note of her pained expression and posture. “You looked pretty banged up.”

Hitomi shook her head as Miss Hitsugaya came down with what she asked for, handing her a small vial.

“It's the most the doctor can give without getting into trouble,” Miss Hitsugaya said. She spoke in a monotonous manner, very matter-of-factly, and without much enthusiasm or expression. “You’ll still need to go see him later.”

Hitomi nodded and downed the sour liquid in the vial in one gulp.

“Thank you very much, Miss Hitsugaya,” Hitomi smiled, feeling the elixir heat up her body, starting to steadily heal her wounds.

“I just hope that your boyfriend wins so that this was all worthwhile,” Miss Hitsugaya said, watching Jin and Natsuno stare at each other tensely.

“Woah!” Shida exclaimed. “You two are dating?!”

“No,” Hitomi answered irritatedly. “He’s just my friend and I wanna support him. Is there something wrong with that?”

She shook her head at the assumptive nature of her seemingly juvenile peers.

No matter what dark place his power comes from… she thought.

“Whatever you say, Mrs Akira,” Miss Hitsugaya added sardonically, before walking out to stand among the people who were watching the tournament from a distance. The blush blazing up Hitomi’s cheeks was hard to miss, but even Shida knew better than to show his amusement.

“Hey, what the hell is she talking about?” Max yelled at the ring.

“Mr Tenebri, for goodness sake!” Mashima, who had returned to her seat, reprimanded him with a deep sigh.

“I’m afraid I can’t agree to that, Miss Haruki,” Jin shook his head. “There are things I have yet to understand about all of this. Leaving is not an option.”

“I’m sorry Miss Haruki, but Akira is right,” Mashima called from the stands. “This tournament is an assessment. Not a gamble for who gets to stay and who has to leave.”

Natsuno winced in anger.

“You tell her!” Max chimed in from his side of the pavilion.

Natsuno trained her eyes on the noisy visitor.

“Other wagers between students are not forbidden though, right?” Natsuno asked Mashima.

The lecturer sighed. These kids were super dramatic.

“As long as it doesn’t involve academy staff, I don’t see why it should be a problem.”

“Perfect.” Natsuno pointed at Max. “If I win, that creature of yours will become mine to control for the rest of the year.”

Max sat up in his seat.

|“Hmmmmm?”|

|“So she like it like that, huh?”|

|“What is this girl’s deal?”|

“Max?” Jin turned to look back. “I don’t see how it's fair to bring him into our fight.”

“You yourself acknowledged that he was the cause of our quarrel. Just because he won’t fight, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t suffer the consequences of his actions.”

“He’s not a slave to just give away!” Jin argued. “People are not just things you can use, Miss Haruki!”

|“Does she just objectify whoever she wants?”|

|“She wouldn’t need to win a fight for me to be her slave…”|

“Do it,” Max accepted.

|“HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?!”|

|“So he like it like that too, huh?”|

There was a growing murmur in the audience from all sides as the stakes of the final battle seemed to be raised.

“I’ll be her slave if you lose,” Max continued. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

Natsuno’s eyes narrowed up towards him.

“That is what you want, isn’t it? Answers. I don’t have to read your mind to know.”

She didn’t say anything in response.

“Max, no,” Jin chided him. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Just don’t lose then.”

“Easier said than done!”

“I’ve seen you beat her be– I mean… I’ve seen you fight, like… the other… people… yeah,” Max awkwardly caught himself before he said anything conspicuous, but all eyes were intensely trained on him. He may have already given too much away.

|“Okay, what is this guy’s deal?”|

|“ESPER?!”|

|“MAGICIAN!?”|

|“Uh… we’re all mages though…”|

|“I’m feeling another bet coming along…”|

“I… have faith in you, buddy...” Max added with an unconvincing thumbs up.

Mashima had a curious eye trained on Max. He was on the verge of saying something very interesting. Something she would definitely pull out of him at some point.

“Seriously,” Max regained his composure. “I trust you.”

Jin gave a silent nod. He knew what Max was about to say. However, it didn’t mean victory was certain, so Jin tried to push any sense of overconfidence out of his head.

“Fine,” Jin turned to answer Natsuno. “We have a deal. If I lose, Max becomes your slave.”

“And your terms? Not that it’ll amount to anything, but surely there’s something you must want if you win.”

“Not really,” Jin scratched his head, smiling. “I guess, instead of being angry at us like this, maybe it would be nice if you could just... be our friend? Maybe that way, we can find some way to solve whatever our issues are.”

Natsuno clenched her fist tightly, almost harshly enough for her fingernails to pierce the flesh of her palms.

“That’s what I want if I win.”

“Fine,” she accepted. “But that is never going to happen.”

Max looked down at the ring with an unintentionally worried expression. There was an almost electric energy that permeated the glare between Jin and Natsuno. Though, looking at it as he did, everything about the final fight felt strangely surreal. Was there a reason Mashima was holding off so long from yelling ’begin’? Was there some force that brought these injured students out to watch the fight? This was one of the first climactic moments in Mahō No Gakusei that he remembered, and despite the new circumstances that led to the scene that lay before him, he hoped it would end the same way that he had already seen it. Though he knew that it was better to be wary of such dubious certainty.

“Since, against my better judgement, all sides have agreed, I believe we have a deal,” Mashima called out. “The final leg of our tournament begins now. Jin Akira, Natsuno Haruki, begin!”

“I’ll show you why you don’t belong here,” Natsuno interjected bitterly.

Jin readied himself for her attack, bracing for one of her frost projectiles, but she didn’t prepare any such attack. Instead, she came right at him, using some form of martial arts he didn’t recognise.

She made several strikes for his head, which he dodged with some difficulty. Her speed was the same as his, but her attacks were ferocious, boosted by the conviction behind them. He quickly swayed out of her attack range and put some ground between them, not sensing the ice shard that came hurtling at him from behind.

“Jin, look out!” Max cried.

“Mr Tenebri,” Mashima warned him once more. “Do not force me to disqualify Mr Akira.”

Jin leaped to the edge of the ring and landed on his backside, his hands nearly touching the grass outside it. Before he had time to catch his breath, his body was propelled to its feet by a psychokinetic push.

“No ring-outs,” Natsuno said bitterly. “I’ll finish this with my own hands.”

Jin looked at her in surprise. Somehow, he thought their deal would abate some of her anger, but it seemed to spur her on instead. Her vendetta against Max seemed to bleed into a vendetta against him.

Jin readied himself once more for her assault. He hesitated, but decided to fight back instead, dashing towards her, attempting to get her off her feet to pacify her on the ground. She, however, dodged all his attacks nimbly, sending out a single strike at his head, which he managed to evade.

Before he could counter, her outstretched fist transitioned into an open palm. A sudden, raging burst of fire shot out from it that flew off into the ether. The blast was close enough that it may have singed some of the hair on Jin’s head. It took him a moment to realise she was teleporting the attack, seeing the blazing ball come in from the opposite direction towards him.

Unable to dodge, Jin blocked her attack with a weak and hastily conjured barrier. The flames subsided instantly, and he looked up to see her leg crashing through his barrier in a powerful and violent kick, slamming into his arms and forcing him to the floor.

She looked down at him with a fatal gaze.

“I admit, even I expected more from you,” she uttered coldly.

Why are you hesitating? Max willed his thought into Jin’s head.

What? Jin looked around confusedly. Max? Is that you?

Are you really asking– No, Jin. This is voice of the Dark Lord. Why are you hesitating!?

Jin was dumbstruck for a moment. He could almost feel Max rolling his eyes.

I told you, that's the last time I’m using Kyoukai Kossetsu, he responded.

That’s not what I’m talking about. Even I can tell that you’re holding back.

Max was right. Jin was holding back. Perhaps it was unconscious, but he couldn’t deny it. There was something he sensed in Natsuno’s anger, something about her rage that seemed to stem from somewhere deep beneath her cold and bitter exterior, that was now being projected onto him and Max. It made him feel like he couldn’t go all out. Whatever it was that he sensed, he knew fighting was only making it worse. A part of him wanted to help her. A part of him knew that right beneath the shelter of her anger was a clear and obvious pain.

He shot to his feet and took a fighting stance.

“I don’t need to read your thoughts to see your hesitation.” Natsuno’s voice only reflected more rage. “If you don’t take this seriously, I might kill you.”

“I’m sorry,” Jin said calmly. “I suppose I have been wasting your time. Forgive my hesitation.”

Her fists tightened up where she stood.

“I already told you, I don’t need an apology from you!”

She glided over to him so fast that a gust of wind trailed behind her. Jin enhanced his body further, making dodging much easier for himself, despite her newfound passion.

She aimed for his body, and he nimbly fought off her attacks with blocks and counters, dodging those that came too close. She aimed another kick his way, which he evaded and capitalised on with a wide sweep to her standing leg.

Her reflexes were excellent, as she used the leg he aimed for to jump, spinning in the air athletically, nearly bringing her free leg down on him. Quickly, he summoned a gust to propel himself out of the way as her leg came crashing down.

When he got to his feet, he saw her holding out an open palm.

“Come forth, Snow of the divine, Harbinger of cold death. Frost Wall!”

The familiar wall of perpetual ice orbs materialised behind her. As the projectiles came speeding towards him, he raised his hands in front of him, his palms facing outward and his arms pushed together to face the oncoming attack. He had seen her use this spell, and knew exactly what would work against it.

“Divine Womb!” Jin cried out.

A sphere of blinding white light formed from his palms and slowly enveloped a small radius around him as the orbs came in for their assault. The shine of the large barrier made it hard to see what was happening in the ring from the pavilions, and many of the students raised their hands to cover their eyes. The burn of the white light melted the ice into less than spurts of vapour.

“Ah,” Shida exclaimed. “Now there’s a man who knows his stuff!”

Natsuno clenched her fist tighter than she had for any previous fight, causing the orbs to rain down still more rapidly.

Shida watched intently and came to an alarming realisation.

“That’s not gonna work.”

His tone echoed with enough fear that Hitomi snapped to look at him in concern.

“He’s not feeding it enough mana.”

It was true; as the ice began to rain down with horrid ferocity, the light from Jin’s spell began to dim from blinding, to bearable. Eventually, the sphere dissipated entirely, leaving him exposed to multiple shots of projectile frost.

He was thrown back hard enough to skid just about to the end of the platform behind him, though he didn’t fall off. It was uncertain among the crowd whether that was a good thing or not. Perhaps there was relief in disqualification, as opposed to the punishment that Natsuno seemed to have in mind.

What the hell is going on? Max thought to himself. He beat her so much easier than this in the show.

Jin strained his way back onto his feet.

“Why do you refuse to make use of your real magic?” Natsuno asked. Her eyes surveyed him in disapproval. “Are you scared you might hurt me?”

“No,” Jin gave a feeble smile. “I just prefer to get by on my own strength, if I’m being honest.”

Natsuno raised a curious eyebrow.

“You consider your mana to be a separate entity from yourself?”

“It's a little more complicated than that,” Jin responded with a weak chuckle.

“If you are so weak-minded that you reject the gift of the mana you possess, then you are more lost than I thought,” she closed her eyes impatiently.

“Maybe you’re right,” Jin put his hands together and conjured up a trickle of electric energy between them. “But this is all you’re gonna get from me.”

He sent a single, large beam of lighting in her direction and she captured it with a single hand, holding it up like a sign of triumph.

“It's little wonder your control is meagre at best.” She hurtled the lighting back at him with tenfold the energy. It seemed that even with enhanced abilities, defensive or otherwise, if the bolt hit Jin, it would kill him. Hitomi gasped as the wave missed Jin by a miraculous inch. An intentionally ‘miraculous’ inch.

“What good is a fight if you can’t even accept your identity as a Scion? You should have accepted my initial offer,” her eyes narrowed in disgust. “I could have given you the freedom you so desperately seek.”

Jin’s eyes widened at her. She clearly saw as much of him as he believed he’d seen of her.

“You kick her ass, Jin!” Hitomi abruptly yelled. Jin shot a glance at her, having not realised that she was standing there the entire time. “You show that arrogant tosser what you’re made of. Don’t you dare hold back!”

Jin smiled, giving her a sheepish thumbs up.

At this, Natsuno couldn’t hold back her fury.

“Don’t smile at her. You lied to her, just like the rest of us!”

Jin’s smile quickly faded, as a whisper came from Natsuno’s lips.

“Ascend from your darkened tomb, Free from the flames that bind you. Frost Tower!”

A sudden surge of numerous large, deadly ice pillars broke through the tiled platform in a diagonal slant, shooting up from the ground and rushing towards Jin.

Without any time to defend, a pillar hit him directly in the stomach with a horrid velocity. His body was limply launched onto the ground outside the ring. He skidded across the ground like a corpse being wrenched by a speeding train.

Hitomi screamed at the sight, as Max quickly jumped off the pavilions. There were numerous winces and gasps among the crowd, who were now dead silent for fear of their injured peer’s fate.

“JIN!” Max screamed, running towards the ring and unwittingly shattering Mashima’s barrier. Her eyes widened at the ease with which he broke through. He didn’t even make a conscious effort. He ran through as if it weren’t there.

Hitomi came running closer with some effort, as Max lifted Jin, turning him up to face the sky. Jin lurched up, and coughed up blood. Shida was walking closer, but stopped some distance away.

“Didn’t Mashima… Did he just do that unconsciously?” Shida asked, throwing a knowing look at Mashima, who shook her head to show her own uncertainty.

“Christ Almighty!” Max exclaimed as Hitomi came to assess Jin, who was now unconscious. Max raised his hand to show her that it was covered in blood. Looking down at Jin’s abdomen, the blood from the fresh puncture where he was struck started to seep through his uniform.

“We need to get him to the infirmary,” Hitomi said, wiping Jin’s hair off his face. “Now!”

“Forget that!” Max said. “We’ve gotta do something right now.”

“Max, this is not the time to be stubborn!” Hitomi cried.

Mashima cleared her throat.

“That’s a victory for Miss Haruki,” she said. “Everyone please congratulate your new Class Representative.”

There was a silence amid the class. It didn’t feel like a victory worth celebrating, and despite what little each student knew about the other, there seemed to be a shared trepidation at the notion of Natsuno being the representative of their class. She didn’t seem to notice as she walked closer to the group on the floor.

“I believe you now belong to me, creature,” she hissed coldly.

Max stood up, gently passing Jin to Hitomi, who put his head on her lap.

“That’s enough! You’ve made your point,” Max said, stretching his arms out to protect Jin from any more of her attacks.

“Stop speaking like you know what I want!” Natsuno seethed at him. “You know nothing about me!”

“You got your win,” Hitomi cut her off. “What more do you want?”

Max turned back to face his friends.

“I’ll do what you want me to do,” he knelt beside Hitomi. “I’ll be your slave. That should be enough. The fight is over.”

“It's enough when you answer to me!” Natsuno shot a lightning bolt at Max, who unconsciously raised a hand in defence, causing the bolt to instantly evaporate upon touching his skin.

Natsuno stumbled back, aghast. She had put more force into that attack than intended, and if it had hit any one of them, it could very well have been fatal. Her anger got the best of her. And yet, he so flatly put a stop to it. Which only served to further anger her.

Hitomi, having seen the attack that Max had wiped away like writing from a chalkboard, snapped back to the situation, though with some awe at the outsider kneeling next to her. And more so, annoyance. If he could so easily defend such a blatant attack, he should have fought in the ring. Perhaps then, Jin could have avoided such serious damage.

“Max, help me pick him up,” she demanded.

“He needs to be sent to the infirmary.” Mashima was on the ground next to them, only just seeing how serious Jin’s wound was.

“How fast can they heal him?” Max asked the lecturer.

“It’ll take some time. Wounds like that don’t heal quite so easily,” Mashima stated sternly.

“Then screw that! We can help him now. Just… Just give me a second.”

Max closed his eyes. He recalled the magic he had performed when he tried to fix the egg that had fallen to the floor in the seminar room. He knew that whatever sort of time travel spell he had trapped himself and Jin in back in the dojo wouldn’t help to solve anything. So, what was the spell Mashima used on the egg, if it wasn’t some kind of time reversal spell? Was it the same spell she used to fix the ring? It was uncertain whether spells that fixed abiotic material would work on living things.

“Max, we need to go!” Hitomi screeched in panic.

Max shut her out. What was it that Jin said he did wrong?

“Those eggs are made of mana. They’re a conjuration! She can restore them to whatever state she pleases.”

“That’s it!” Max abruptly cried out. “But… will that work?”

“What are you talking about?” Hitomi asked, annoyed and puzzled.

“If I feed him some of my mana, can I use it to restore him back to the state he was in before? Like… reversing time for just him, or something like that?”

“Max, you’re not making any bloody sense!”

“Just… let me try something,” Max said with clear uncertainty.

He held his hands above Jin, looking questioningly at Hitomi as though asking if that’s the right way to do whatever it was he planned to do. She shook her head in confusion, and he shook his own in response. Instead, he put his hands on Jin’s shoulder, closing his eyes for a moment, seeming to concentrate deeply, then opening them to show her the dark, shadowy violet glow of his irises. She nearly dropped Jin in her desire to recoil at the sight. The colour was misty and seemed almost tainted, or poisonous. Something about it made her feel extremely unpleasant.

She looked down at Jin as Mashima and Shida drew closer. It seemed, in fact, that everyone who was there, save for Natsuno, was getting closer to see what was happening.

|“Is he okay?”|

|“Woah, did she kill him?”|

| “I can’t look… there’s so much blood!”|

“Everyone, give them some space!” Shida yelled.

Some people stepped back, but many couldn’t stave off their curiosity.

|“What is he doing?”|

|“Why isn’t he being sent to the infirmary?”|

On the grass, Jin’s entire body started emitting a faintly visible glow. It was a calmer violet than the colour in Max’s eyes.

The scorch marks on Jin’s clothes from his fight with Shida were the first parts to repair themselves in a backward trend. The blood from the side of his mouth began to trickle back inside, and the puncture wound, as well as the bruises he sustained began to clear away, the skin and material repairing themselves as if they were being drawn back into an earlier state.

|”Eeeh? It's working!”|

|“No way…”|

|”How’s he doing this?”|

|“Maybe he’s a senior…”|

“Fascinating…” Mashima looked down at the scene, wide eyed. “This shouldn’t be possible.”

Hitomi looked up at her, puzzled.

“Restoration magic only works on inanimate objects. It doesn’t work on living things,” she explained. “Whatever he’s doing is something else.”

“You couldn’t say that a second ago?” Hitomi exclaimed.

“I didn’t want to discourage him.” Mashima watched the colour flow back into Jin’s skin. “After all, Tenebri is just full of surprises.”

Max couldn’t hear their exchange. He kept his focus and his hands clamped onto Jin. He heard a sharp breath, and released his grip. The faint purple glow started to slowly become more dim. It looked as if Jin’s body was soaking it up.

“Max?” Jin asked confusedly. “Miss Brighton?”

“Jin!” Hitomi hugged his head to her chest tightly, tears streaming from her eyes.

“What just happened?” he asked when she finally let him go. His cheeks were bright red.

“This ice queen knocked the guts out of you, literally,” Max responded, looking angrily at the new Class Representative. “I tried to put you back together.”

“How did you do that? Why didn’t you just take me to the infirmary?” Jin asked, more annoyed than relieved.

“It was this idiot's idea,” Hitomi looked up at Max.

“Why aren’t you at the infirmary?” Jin asked her in a scolding tone.

“Oh, just shush it,” she replied, hugging his head again with a relieved smile spreading across her face.

|“Wish someone would hug me like that…”|

|“There are way too many losers in this class!”|

“Woah, you’re like... completely healed,” Shida said, standing among the rest of the crowd, awestruck.

Jin assessed his own body.

“What did Max do?” he asked with cautious concern.

“I don’t know, but it was some serious magic. Like, senior-student-of-the-medical-faculty serious,” Shida enthused.

Max remained silent. He was much too focused on making sure Natsuno didn’t make any sudden moves.

“I’m not done with you two,” Natsuno interrupted.

“Will you come off it already?” Max asked, annoyed, standing up and walking towards the ring, causing Natsuno to instinctively step back. “I just told you, you’ve already won. You’ve made your point. The fight is over.”

“Max,” Jin raised up a longing hand towards the ring.

“Let me just deal with this, dude,” Max cut him off and returned his attention to Natsuno. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance, okay?”

Natsuno eyed him curiously.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I’m sorry I didn’t try to understand why you felt the need to read the minds of those around you.”

“Max,” Hitomi called out.

“Guys, stop interrupting me,” he turned to shake his head at his friends, before continuing forward.

“It was stupid and insensitive of me to assume you were just being an invasive asshole. You’re right. Jin shouldn’t have apologised. I should be the one taking the blame. And I am sorry. I projected the feelings I had for someone else onto you, and that was really unfair.”

For a moment Natsuno widened her eyes. There was a surprising amount of sincerity and honesty in Max’s voice and, for a second, she blushed in frustration at herself for getting so carried away in her anger. She couldn’t deny that no part of her intended to so harshly wound Jin. Though she maintained her steely expression.

“But that doesn’t mean you get to take your bullshit out on other people,” Max continued coldly. “You could have fucking killed Jin, and for what? Because of me? You have to know how messed up that is.”

This brought her annoyance at his attitude back in a nauseating wave.

“So climb off that high horse you came strolling in on. You’ve won the battle. You got your slave. The fight is over.”

“Mr Tenebri!” Mashima called out this time. Max looked at her with visible annoyance, but he followed her eyes down to his feet. He was standing on the torn-apart ring. Though he didn’t quite understand what it meant.

“Hmm… High horse, huh? Mashima-sensei, you said anyone could challenge the Class Representative, right?” Natsuno asked her eagerly.

Mashima nodded her head with a conceding smile.

“And does someone approaching the Class Representative in the ring count as a challenge?”

“In this case, I suppose we can see it that way,” Mashima accepted the request.

“Wait,” Max interjected frantically, coming to realise what situation he was in. “Wait, no, t-this wasn’t a challenge.”

“Even if it's not,” Natsuno gave an ugly smile, “as my new slave, I order you to accept the challenge.”

Max looked back at Jin, who put his palm to his face, while Hitomi shook her head in defeat and despair at Max’s apparent fate.

|“The new guy’s about to get killed.”|

|“He was fun to have around while it lasted.”|

|“I will remember you. Not fondly. It’ll just be hard to forget you.”|

|“Hitomi, my queen! I’m sorry for your loss!”|

“He sure talked himself into a corner,” Shida said with an amused smile.

“I can’t fight this crazy bitch,” Max said in a loud whisper to his companions.

“I’m sorry, Mr Tenebri,” Mashima said with a grave smile. “You agreed to the deal, and you’ve made your stand. You’re unfortunately just gonna have to stick with it.”

Max turned to Natsuno with a surprised expression.

“Well, shit!” he whimpered to himself.