Rai stared at Hiron. What... what happens now?

In an unexpected move, Hiron redirected his attention to the empty field in front of him and his posse. Rai... didn’t expect that reaction. He thought that Hiron would’ve come up to him and started some kind of trouble.

Maya tapped his shoulder.

“Who’s that?”

“He’s Hiron, son of the Arbiter. I thought he hated me but now... he’s just ignoring me.”

“If he’s the son of the Arbiter then he’s probably strong so why would he be holding back?”

“I don’t know about that, but I have a bad feeling about this lesson.”

“Oh well. I’ve missed this lesson all the other weeks because I’ve overslept, and the others aren’t here either, so we’re both in this together! I’ll support you all the way.” She grinned widely at him.

“Thanks.”

Rai turned his attention back to Hiron. He’s just standing there. Those nobles keep trying to talk to him, but he keeps ignoring them as well. What on Zenith is up with him?

As much as Rai wanted to figure out what was going on with Hiron, he wouldn’t get an opportunity to do so.

A man formed out of the sand in the middle of the field. The students that were waiting for the lesson to start quickly turned their attentions to him.

Rai and Maya did the same.

He had long straggly blonde hair and sunken brown eyes. Considering that he was a teacher at Aether Academy, his frame was relatively frail compared to the other teachers.

Rai found him interesting. Even Miss Lillia has a more balanced body than this guy... what’s his story? It wasn’t often that Rai got to see people that completely defied his expectations. His aunt was one such person.

In another twist that opposed Rai’s expectations, the scrawny looking man spoke in a deep voice. Atop his deep voice, his tone was so very solemn.

“Welcome to your Magical Techniques lesson, I’m your teacher for today. For those of you that weren’t here in previous lessons, your previous teacher, Mr. Klein, is away today on personal business. I am James.”

“Hi James! It’s nice to meet you!” Rai waved at him.

Everyone turned to the voice. They realised that the one piping up for no reason was Rai. The whole class decided to ignore Rai.

Except for James.

“Who are you?”

“Rai.”

“Rai. Okay. Nice to meet you.”

Maya stared at Rai, dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe that Sindyl was into Rai. For all she’d seen, Rai kept doing silly things.

“I’ll be taking this lesson and maybe some more, who really knows? Not me, that’s for sure. Anyway, can someone tell me what you guys normally do in this class? This was a last minute substitution so I’m dreadfully uninformed.”

The students turned to each other and started mumbling amongst themselves. No one really wanted to answer.

Hiron answered.

“We learn new magical techniques from the teacher, and practice them against each other. Every now and then we’ll do a display of magical techniques against one another in mock battles where weapons aren’t allowed.”

James nodded thoroughly in acknowledgement of Hiron’s words.

“That makes sense. Well, I know a few techniques. But I don’t really like fighting.”

“Then don’t fight. We’ll fight.” Rai said.

James nodded even more thoroughly.

“Woah. That’s a great idea Rain!”

“It’s Rai, sir.”

“Oh. Rai. Right.”

“They’re not even close to the same word when you say them so how did he...” Maya whispered to Rai.

“No clue.”

James smiled but his tone remained the same, which was rather jarring to witness.

“Then you guys fight. I’ll sit over there, and we can all watch. We’ll start with the two people who spoke to me. Rai and wavy black hair dude.”

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Rai stared at Hiron. Hiron stared at Rai.

Maya did a spooky hand motion by waggling her fingers in Rai’s face, “Ooooooo. Looks like your bad feeling was right!”

Rai and Hiron held their gazes against one another.

James noticed the tension between the two.

“Bad blood? Oh well, just don’t use weapons and... try not to kill each other. I don’t think the headmaster will be very happy if one of you dies.”

“Can you win?” Maya asked Rai.

Rai nodded.

“Then it’ll be a good show.”

James walked over to the seating stands on the outside of the field. He sat down and yawned, before shouting out at the two of them.

“Start whenever you want!”

The rest of the students joined James in the stands. They took their seats as Rai and Hiron took the centre of the field. Maya was excited. She wished that she had a cup of iced tea right now to enjoy this battle with. Another thing she wished for was more company. She didn’t know anyone here except for Rai. Still, being able to support her friend was more than fulfilling for her.

“You’ll lose.” Hiron barked.

“You have such little faith in me.”

“You’re a commoner with no name. I bet you don’t even have parents that love you. What a sad little farm boy you are.”

“All you do is look down on people. Even when they’re stronger than you. Maybe you should throw away that noble pride and focus on yourself instead of other people.”

One of the students in the crowd whispered to another that was sitting next to them, “What are they talking about? I can’t hear it from here.”

The other student shook their head, “I can’t hear them either.”

The teacher, James, could hear them. He grinned. I doubt this will be boring.

Hiron gently held his own head with one hand, covering an eye. He pointed with the other hand towards Rai, “I don’t want to hear you talk anymore. Come at me, you can have the first hit.”

Rai grabbed Hiron’s face, causing Hiron’s eyes to widen in surprise.

“You’ll regret that.”

He threw Hiron to the far end of the field. Hiron flopped and tumbled in the sand as he flew across the field.

Rai was already in Stormflow.

James watched on in anticipation. A strong opening, with a very powerful technique at that. What will the son of the Arbiter counter with?

On Hiron’s face, residue lightning crackled away. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and spat blood onto the sand. Fuck. Do I really have to use it now?

Rai replicated a technique he’d used in the Eye of the Phoenix, but on a slightly smaller scale.

Tens of fireballs spawned mid-air.

Hiron looked up at them.

Rai flew forward.

Hiron realised too late. It was a distraction.

Rai’s fist met Hiron’s gut with the force of a small boulder.

Hiron had managed to summon a shield of mana. It slowed the impact of Rai’s fist, but Rai broke through it with the insane amount of force he was able to generate. A horrific guttural sound escaped from Hiron’s mouth. He involuntarily spat out bile. Shit...

Rai felt the air shift.

He zoomed back to the middle of the field.

The fireballs rained down upon Hiron, causing a ton of dust to cover the area where Hiron stood.

Rai didn’t feel them connect.

The dust cleared instantly.

Rai’s eyes widened. Hiron was unscathed. He had bright gold lines flowing along his skin, making a pattern that Rai couldn’t fully understand since Hiron’s body was mostly covered by his uniform. His eyes were now a cool gold that differed greatly from his standard plain brown eyes. Beyond that, Rai could tell... Hiron was powerful right now.

The heaviness in the air screamed that there was a huge change in Hiron, and the rest of the class could feel it just as much as Rai.

Hiron rubbed his craned neck.

“I really do hate nameless pests in my garden.”

James’s gloomy expression turned into a wry grin as he watched. Justice. A legendary technique. Hiron’s imbued holy light into his body, increasing his explosive power, speed and agility, as well as durability. It also enhances any light based spells, which Hiron should have aplenty. Now this fight will get really interesting.

James pondered a little further, and his excitement became a bit more tempered. It burns mana like crazy though, so let’s see if that lightning child can hold on long enough to outlast Hiron’s mana reserves.

Hiron could feel it. His mana reserves were emptying. Fast. Fuck. Maybe a minute until I’m completely out of mana. I’ll have to deal with this prick before I’m out of juice.

There was no hesitation. Hiron thought that Justice would have bought him a few seconds of surprise, but Rai was on him instantly. Hiron was on the back foot. He was being pushed around the edge of the field. He’s good at hand-to-hand combat too? What the fuck man? Just die!

A scorching ray of light shot down from above Rai. It burned into the ground for a few seconds. Hiron felt no contact.

He kissed his teeth and whispered under his breath, “Tch. Missed.”

Rai dodged the ray of light, and decided to change tactics.

“You want a real fight? We’ll have a real fight!” He shouted.

Rai recreated an old technique. The inferno cage.

A ring of flames that shot up high formed around Rai and Hiron.

James frowned. He was very much enjoying the fight and wished that this wall of flaming obfuscation wasn’t a thing.

The other students shared his dismay.

“You idiot.” Hiron said.

He made it to Rai in an instant.

“Don’t get too close!”

Hiron’s fist hit nothing. Huh? He was right th-

“You’re too slow. That form of yours is strong, but you’re too slow!” Rai flew towards Hiron. He imbued his leg with ice magic, just like Kallad did to him not too long ago. As Rai’s leg was about to collide with Hiron’s head, Hiron summoned a barrier.

Of pure light. Rai’s kick was repelled by the barrier, and he bounced backwards.

Hiron laughed. His laugh soon became just a little unhinged.

“Fucking idiot commoner. You locked yourself in. Now... die without a name, fool.” Hiron could feel his mana channels aching. By now, he had hardly any mana left. Only a few more seconds... please.

He wanted to win.

A spell circle the span of the inferno cage appeared above them.

Rai’s eyes widened. Another light ray... but this time it’s guaranteed to hit.

He looked back at Hiron. He’s... struggling. Almost out of mana, definitely. Then...

Rai looked up at the spell circle. Antithesis.

A wave of cold mana rushed to Rai’s eyes and head. The spell circle cracked. It shattered. The motes of mana that it was once formed of spread into the atmosphere.

Hiron was watching the spell circle as it shattered. His eyes were wide, and there was a lot of sweat across his face. The light of the flames shone brightly against his glistening skin.

Did... did I run out of mana...

His barrier dissipated. The glowing golden lines in Hiron’s skin quickly retreated. Justice disappeared.

Hiron’s mana channels burned from the backlash. He’d maintained the spell far past his comfort zone.

Rai grabbed Hiron’s collar, “What was that about being nameless?” He lifted Hiron up and stared him in the eyes.

Hiron groaned in pain. The inferno ring died down.

Rai’s voice crackled as the lightning in his eyes shone bright, “My name is Rai, of bloodline Eld. Remember that!” He tossed Hiron aside.