His face laid against the dirt. His hand jittered as it reached for the pool that spewed from it. It shook as if carried by the blood surrounding it, or perhaps it had the vice versa effect.

His hazy vision could see the path that laid ahead. Because all it saw was the mess that he would leave in his wake. But it was called a mess for a reason. It was a reckless act of impulse, one he was sure to regret. Because he didn’t like lacking that control. He was not the same suicidal individuals after all.

He closed his eyes, his wrath remained. But he clutched the blood in the palm of his hand, his grip as firm as his mind, as he attempted to compose himself. The lingering pain served to counter such intentions, but he regulated his breathing as he ordered through the conflicting thoughts that turmoil in his head. Such an act was something only a single of his halves were competent in, yet the action struggled to soothe him all the same.

While he felt the blood tremble in his hand, he willed for anything nearby to gravitate towards it. The erratic movements from the pool of blood was sure to draw attention had he left it for long enough. Though with his hazy vision it would be near impossible to get a grasp of the people that surrounded him who noticed. So he kept his eyes closed and listened with his ears instead.

“Mmm, I expect to see more of that and less of this”, he heard Kiyah speak.

“I’m just doing the same you normally do”

“You don’t need the… Protection”

“If I’m disturbed less, it just means I can give you even more of that”

“Hmhm, sure”, she didn’t sound convinced.

Silas felt the mass in his hand grow bigger as a sense of dryness returned to his cheeks that only seconds ago were bathed in his own fluids. He made sure not to take too much, brushing the remnants with his hand while slowly moving it underneath him. He then rolled to his side before allowing himself vision once more.

He glanced down at a pair of blurred pillars. But while the silhouette remained vague, he knew what the pillars were attached to. After all, he was taken by these pillars to endure all that he felt here. So it was only fair they received treatment in kind.

Though he felt weak, that didn’t stop him summoning a dagger in the palm of his hand, before allowing the blood to dribble the way to its tip. He was perhaps too weak, so he didn’t feel ashamed trying to even out such odds.

Silas gracefully reached his hand out, there was barely any force applied as his blade made contact with the muscular boy's leg. The tip would have only prickled him had he not shot the blood forward from the converging point, into the leg; which made way for the dagger to seamlessly enter after.

“Argh, fuck”

The boy stumbled, ensuring to kick Silas’s exposed arm for good measure. Silas recoiled by rolling over, writhing in pain. His injured arm didn’t crack further, but applying any amount of pressure gave it a sting that an angry hive of hornets could only dream of competing with. But his stinger remained with him, his grasp firmly applied to the hilt as the blade forcefully ejected from the leg.

The boy tensed as the action drew the gaze of the others. He grimaced while leaning down to inspect his new wound, only to wince as he tapped at the hole embedded into his flesh.

“Fuuuck”, he moaned, as if his senses were suddenly dawning upon him.

“Ah, what? Oh, wow, where did he get that from? Don’t tell me… He hid it down there?”, Adrian piped up as he kicked Silas on the back of the head.

“Damn, you’re one heck of a guy. Did I encourage you to do that? Or do you always walk around with a shing to your thing? Woh~”, he dodged backwards as Silas cleaved the dagger at him.

While his head still ringed, Silas took the time to make his way to his feet, standing slouched as he smeared remnants of blood from his face with his free hand. He pointed his dagger to his assailants.

Kiyah was opposite him with her friend, while he was sandwiched, adjacent to both groups. He held both sides in his peripherals while his dagger aimed for Adrian. Though he only smirked in response and took a step towards Silas; only for the standoff to be interrupted as a screech permeated their ears.

“Fuuuuuck”, the boy moaned again, rimming his hole as he knelt.

“Oh don’t be a wimp, have you not endured worse by Professor Grimes? I heard he got mad at your group yesterday, I’m surprised he didn’t beat you all with a stick”, then Adrian turned his attention to Kiyah.

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“Are you not going to do something about this? He’s your man”

Though when he examined her face he only found a trace of a smile bloom as she observed her own subordinate squirm in agony. Such that Adrian couldn’t help but sigh and reach idly behind him.

“I should have expected as much. Chainkes”, he called someone's name.

A person behind him reached into the air where a purplish vortex appeared, enveloping his arm. The boy's eyes dulled for a moment before he pulled it out, the vortex vanishing into thin air. In its place he held a glimmering red vial. Though it switched owners as Adrian held it before the injured boy.

“Here”, he curved his arm to sit in front of his eye level.

“Uck… Thanks”, the boy immediately bit off the cork before slathering the liquid across his wound.

While Silas watched the exchange he couldn’t help but notice Kiyahs smile turned upside down. Which was a reflection of his own face when he realised Adrian made a point of ignoring him.

‘They could have used the wound as grounds to indicate I attacked them. Blunt marks are common in training but we aren’t allowed edged weapons… Though if they're just going to continue and heal it, could I get away with more?”, with enough time on the sidelines, he started thinking more rationally.

He looked to Kiyah, ‘does she understand this or is she just…’, he didn’t finish his train of thought.

It was difficult to get a read on someone that freely switched between extreme delight and an apathetic attitude. It was as if she operated by the flick of a switch, to which emotion she conveyed. The trigger hidden too deep within the depths of her memories, which ostensibly shared with his own made for a confounding experience. It was a wonder he still couldn’t hold a grasp of her thoughts in moments like these.

‘There’s no point in thinking about her’, so while her own view met his, he moved on to the other that finally reciprocated his attention.

Naturally as Adrians gaze affirmed itself on him, all the others that crowded around him did the same. All but the boy he injured previously, as he leaned back on the ground, the blood leaking down his leg as the source slowly mended itself. Though soon even he glared daggers back at him.

“You know I do find it strange. You’d normally be grovelling on the ground by now, so that we could all move on with more important things”

“Are you incapable of fighting by yourself?”, Silas spoke while grimacing, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Haaa, you know it’s a blessing to have subordinates that wish to protect me”

“...”

“Well, though… I do kinda like the confidence. You really should start staying the hell away from Kiyah”

“...”, Silas only nudged his blade forward as if emphasising his point.

“Chainkes”, Adrian beckoned with his finger this time, such that a portal appeared in front of himself.

“Let’s not play with baby weapons here”, he reached inside before pulling out a wooden sword that he promptly threw to Silas.

“I’ve heard your family is particularly skilled with this type of sword”

He caught the wooden heft under his armpit, figuring it best to hide the dagger in his pants behind him before banishing it. By the time he held the sword in both hands, his opponent was already armed with one of his own, the portal disappearing from in front of him.

“If you’re so intent on doing something, show me”, he dashed towards Silas, this time there was no complacency held within his eyes.

Silas grit his teeth as Adrian arrived before him in a blur. It didn’t help that his sight had yet to recover fully, though it was clearer than before with the blood obscuring his sight.

Adrian cleaved downward with the sword, there was no fancy technique applied to it. Silas knew it wasn’t a weapon he was practised in, yet despite that the weight it carried when making contact with Silas drove him backwards immediately.

Against Cyanide he felt he had a chance, that he could plot and find a way and use his aggro against him. But Adrian was a whole nother beast. Faster and stronger, while equal in size to boot. He didn’t even continue engaging SIlas in the deadlock, instead kicking his stomach as he immediately hit from the side.

Silas could only block it with his already damaged arm, throwing his sword to his left as he used the opportunity to attack Adrians side, but other than a grunt he only grabbed Silas’s hand in a swift manner before smirking at him.

Bam.

He headbutted him, Silas’s vision unfocusing on contact, disorientating him immediately.

Bam.

The sword struck his head next. He had tried to dodge it, but combined with his locked movements and the fact he was seeing double, it just wasn’t a possible feat.

Bam.

His vision darkened as the sword smacked his cheeks once more. Blood sprayed from his loosened orifices as the new force sought to extract what hadn't been explored earlier.

Bam.

Adrian finally let go of his arm as he fell to the ground, his consciousness on the verge of collapse. But the blood that left him stagnated in the air a bit. Perhaps someone would have taken it for a sign had the sword not come down again.

Bam.

Gravity carried the blood downwards as per normal, while Silas’s body limpened as it gave in to the sword's brisk encouragement of sleep.

“Ah… That was really quite pathetic weren’t it? Here I thought you were worth something now”

Adrian received another potion before throwing it on Silas’s face. He turned to Kiyah before shrugging.

“Yeah, nah. At least we’re done here, but I still really don’t know what you see in the guy”