Shit, shit. She defeated four people while keeping a smile on her face, I was sure she was going to finish me off. I looked away from her to my friends, who were just pretending to be busy whistling with their hands in their pockets, and I swallowed hard. The yellow haired girl grabbed my wrist tightly and pulled me.

“Yeah…well…I don't know if I want to fight.

"You looked like you were having fun."

Riler and Aria burst out laughing. The people around were invited to the duel, as they were ceasing their activities to approach the ring. This worried me a lot, after all, I wanted everyone's attention when my body was at least fifty kilos of muscle. We climbed into the ring and my legs were already giving way. Asked me if I was lucky that a very beautiful girl touched me or unlucky that I had to be beaten by her.

She said her name was Kashi, and after I said my name, we shook hands with one another rough enough to throw me off balance. The gym was silent, all eyes were on this ring except for one person: Ellie Higasa. It seemed impossible to get her attention.

Kashi positioned himself and released a gust of hot air through his arms, soon a white aura appeared bringing fire. I closed my mouth to prevent any insects from entering and covered my body as best I could, my mana could at least defend me from direct hits. I took a quick step and punched the girl in the chin. But my punch fueled the air, all eyes were on someone behind me. She was fast. I tried to turn using my bend, my clenched teeth ached and my spine felt like it had been contorted by the speed of the movement. All this led me to hit the air again; only this time, Kashi's fist was covered in fire, big as a bear's hand.

Holy crap.

Her hand went into my stomach. I spat saliva and blood as I got off the ground. All I saw afterward was her walking away and the people around her blurring. I woke up with Bruno holding my legs and Kashi's face close to mine. I blushed, pulled away, bumped my head. She took my face in her hands and told me to be quiet. What a dream.

"I liked you"

"You are incredible"

"Are you going to stay in our little group?" asked Aria.

"I go"

The five of us gathered in a corner to get on with the forgotten activity, by which time the students were more focused on physical combat than magical practice. No one had the courage to challenge Ellie or Alice, so their strength remained a mystery. Kashi showed how she was able to cover her arm with fire and condense mana into a single point, she said that the elemental affinity ran in the family and that this explained the yellow eyes with red streaks.

The door was flung open and a familiar figure stepped into the ring. Lumi was on her feet pointing at Bentley. Oh no. Murmurs arose nonstop, referring to him as “the collector” or “the incapable one”. Lumi ignored it and kept her eyes focused on Bentley, who remained silent.

"I want to retake the test. Allow me to fight again!"

At that very moment, everyone looked at Bentley. I took one look at Ellie, she was still.

"You already lost. We are not doing auditions today. Therefore, denied"

Attention turned to my friend, who appeared to have tears in his eyes. Bruno tapped his foot on the ground, but exchanging glances we realized that he was going to stay out. Zelforne flinches with a sneer, his confident gaze, like that of a superior, sending shivers through the surrounding students. He was by far a guy to hate, but it's undeniable that with his talent in magic, he ranks among the best.

"Worms, get out of the way." A corridor opened up for him to pass. "Don't waste your time, Bentley, let me hit that garbage… again."

Zelforne shot a ball of fire from the tip of his staff, his rage making the magic come out stronger. Or he just intended to hurt Lumi, which is more likely. My heart sped up, my hands shook. It could kill him. My eyes refused to close, it seemed the closer the spell was the slower it got. Maybe it was just for me. I hoped it would go away, take another path, cancel itself out. Lumi smiled, but a different one. The world was accelerating, my friend was dodging.

Taking a step out of the attack area, with small sparks of fire falling on his clothing, he managed to dodge. The spell soon broke, even before it hit the living room wall. Everyone was perplexed. Me for having my whole friend. Most were saying they expected less from a collector, but their reactions left it all at the table. I sighed, allowed myself the luxury of a huge smile. That idiot did it.

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"He got stronger," commented Bruno.

"Do you know him too?" asked Aria.

"Have you guys…?" I said with my jaw dropped, the son of mother trained and was friends with this beautiful girl?

Lumi tossed her blouse to the corner and craned her neck just enough to look down at Zelforne. Some students around shouted in support of him. They clapped their hands, whistled. This seemed to irritate our dear noble. He told everyone to shut up. Veins on his face were already visible. At that instant, I realized that a peculiar person was looking at the fight. Without getting emotional like the others, Ellie looked at Lumi a little curious.

"It offends me that you think a collector can't dodge such a direct attack."

“You'll pay for dodging"

Zelforne closed the distance and punched Lumi in the belly. My friend managed to defend, but then took a direct hit to the ear. Lumi spat blood and took two steps back. His vision was unfocused, he was staggering. Zelforne covered his hand with white aura and launched a rain of punches. Lumi covered her body with her arms, but it was impossible. He was going to lose, Zelforne was beating him. The screams and hissing reactions went to hand over mouth and deep looks. This was getting out of hand.

Bruno covered his arm with water and took a step towards the ring. When he raised his arm to attack, Zelforne hit the air and Lumi had appeared behind him; standing, covered in blood and breathing heavily. How is this guy alive?

Zelforne turned and looked at his shaking hands, no good was going to come of it.

“Fuck the rules, I'll kill you"

The instructor quickly get up to it, but it was too late. The noble had hurled a concentrated blast of fire at Lumi's chest as he created a spear behind my friend. Damn it. Deviate, Lumi!

He closed his eyes. Is this idiot not even going to try? I picked up my legs and ran, it didn't matter if I was about to intervene, I had to. I felt an energy beside me running. Bruno was here, but he was stopping. I turned forward. Lumi laid his neck to the side and the blast of fire passed without even touching him. Zelforne fell to his knees in disbelief at what had just occurred. But even so, he smiled. With a wave of his fingers, the other spear went towards Lumi's back.

What no one expected is that he would dodge this one too.

Lumi kept her feet on the ground and bent her body enough for the attack to graze her chest. Zelforne canceled the fire before his own attack reached him and rose without a word, all his arrogant manner seemed to have been annulled in that instant. We were all standing there not knowing what to do, our instructor was wide-eyed just like the students. Lumi let out a smirk as he spun his body around analyzing every inch of the room, he slammed his fist against his palm and said:

"Interesting attack. If his character was a little less rotten, I would praise him"

Zelforne screamed and punched Lumi in the stomach, which sent my friend flying off the platform and away near the door. He spat up blood and vomit, got to his feet with the help of a paramedic, and glared at Zelf. The noble had a hideous face, it looked like the victory he wanted was fraught with humiliation, but all he got was a good fight. He raised his staff and a soldier stepped forward as fast as the Lumi flew.

“That shit is incapable of using magic, save your energy"

"I'm going to kill him Kairy" Zelf puffed out his chest and gave a guttural scream "Mark my words Kai! I'm going to kill you!"

The aura emanating from him was dark and cold, far from comfortable. I was one of the few students who managed to resist the temptation of decay, this lunatic monster was really talented.

Aria grabbed my arm and I just remembered something.

I quickly averted my gaze to make sure it was true. Ellie was looking at my friend. That was indeed a curious fact.

“I'm fine, I'm fine" Lumi said.

The rest of the day at the academy was calmer due to the excitement at the beginning, which gave us more time to come to the fountain. It's been a while since the last meeting, the day to day has sucked everyone's time in a grotesque way. Bruno insisted on running to see his friend. I admitted my legs wanted a rest, but all I could do was try to keep up.

The water soared to the heavens, causing a drizzle effect on the surroundings. The place was busy with some children playing, merchants, people… The moment of peace that I longed for. I looked at Lumi and remembered what I needed to tell, but Bruno interrupted me first.

"How was your first fight with the Goblin? Details."

“I just get beat up. I don't know how to fight, Bruno. He came out of nowhere and attacked me, I just closed my eyes and we fell. For the last month I have been deviating because of emergencies, but I am still unable to fight like others."

“His dodges were far superior to anyone there. How did you do that?"

"I just didn't want to die, and… be humiliated as everyone expected."

I put a hand on his shoulder and decided to tell him about our new group, about how Aria and Kashi suddenly appeared. Lumi said that she had seen Aria once while she was going to make a delivery, but that was it. A nearby adventurer gathered green energy in his hands and soon assigned different colors. He raised his arms and the sky filled with brightness, it was like a spectacle that everyone stopped to look at.

The quiet moment ended as Aria reached my side and shook my shoulder like she wanted to kill me, which made me cry out and grab her warm, soft hands.

"João… I thought you were shy."

"No, wait-" I said as I let go of her hands, I turned my face to the side feeling it burn.

“Hi, Aria. João spoke about you."

"And to think you'd be better off fighting than making deliveries." How did you do that? You know, dodging an attack that came from behind? Do you feel or something?"

"How did a dodge like that look so cool?"

“Well, if you're training, we're going to need to talk about some little mistakes."

“Yes, indeed." Bruno joined the conversation.

Lumi opened her mouth to respond, but something behind me caught her attention. It was none other than Ellie HIgasa looking absently at the fireworks, it made my friend's jaw drop. I let out a laugh, until he was submerged in the water. Bruno pulled him. All soaked, distracted and embarrassed: That was Lumi at that time. He caught the attention of everyone who was here, including hers. A guard came to check that everything was ok. She watched him and now he fell at the sight of her...

Do they have a relationship that I don't know about?

"She…" uttered my friend, his expression as confused as mine.

“Ellie is pretty…and a little taller than you." Aria commented with a smirk.

"No way, I can't talk to her after this!"

"And how do you intend to meet a woman like that?"

It took a while before something was decided between them. I just let myself laugh and think about tomorrow's tough workout.