Syllis had been waiting to spar against Ansel since her first interaction with him. She had assumed that he would approach her one of the many times that they were both in ritualism class. However, he never did. It was almost like their first interaction never happened.

This stoic attitude was the reason that she wanted to beat some sense in him. In a way, she did not even want to spar, she wanted to fight him. To beat him down to a shell of his former self, to make him plead, and to make him change.

Several students studied the motionless Syllis, fixated on the star beside both her and Ansel’s name.

“Look at that! Her shoulder’s quaking!”

“Hah! Maybe she will be the one to forfeit this time?”

These students chirped, if only they could see the excitement that played within her. This sensation, she felt the adrenaline rush, the hair on her body standing up.

Syllis had seen Ansel spar before, only one time. This sole spar was against Aura, she seemed to be the only kindred he thought worth his time. Ansel won, crushingly. Aura had only been able to last for ten minutes before she had her abdomen cut open.

Of course, Syllis had sparred against Aura as well, and dragged her against the bloodstained dirt. The difference was that she had not won so crushingly. There was more than a little resistance in their battle, Syllis had fallen not even five minutes after she had defeated Aura.

Syllis had long admitted to herself that Ansel was indeed a formidable force. What was more terrifying than his sheer dominion was his twisted bond and ruthless attacks.

He was not afraid to slash deep into Aura’s face and even completely fine with cutting off an arm.

Syllis still remembered watching Ansel do that very act to Aura. Her face was one of horror. After their spar, Aura had become more tolerant of Syllis. It was like another, more terrifying monster had grabbed hold of her heart.

‘I guess if I needed to walk shamefully to the anathemic doctor to have my arm reattached then that would probably be a lot scarier than being dragged, unconscious.’

A part of it stinged Syllis. While she was glad that Aura had grown slightly closer, and that they would have better chances within their rift, she was still sad that Ansel was so much more formidable to Aura.

“Alright everybody!” Professor Ruvhernim called out, garnering the collective attention of the class. “I think that today, we will begin with the D tiers.”

The tier that sparred first alternated daily. Whatever letter that the professor called out would go first and then the group to the right would spar next, and so on. If group A was chosen first, it would then rotate to D, C, and lastly B.

It was a nice system, always keeping the students on guard. While other professors wanted to make their students feel welcome, Mr. Ruhvernim was the opposite. He always wanted to make the students fear, that is the most essential element of battle after all.

This was one of the reasons why Syllis was more fond of him than the other professors she encountered.

‘Kindred should be pushed, not coddled!’ Syllis had adopted his mindset recently.

Not entirely of course, she did not know if she was even going to enter another fable rift after her first. If she did not, then she would certainly be coddling herself!

The students dispersed, taking groups of seats, reserving them for friends that were late. It was a pleasant sight, everybody gathered to watch two kindred cut into each other.

‘Wait, isn’t this a little psychopathic? Oh well, normalcy is overrated. I am probably the only kindred from the outer ring attending this school and I am in the upper echelon.

‘If I was normal, then I would be scraping by in the C or D tier. No, a normal person would not have a transfigured anathema within. That wouldn't be very interesting. It is only in embracing the strange and unique that our lives are fulfilling.’

Syllis sat beside Clyde, Korman and Aura, in that order. Aura sat the furthest away of course.

The first couple spars would always be entirely boring. They would last long, only because the bonds used had little combat potential. The sole means of damage was a wooden weapon they could choose from, so these battles were incredibly boring with little variations.

The odd C tier spar could be mildly interesting, some C tiers had truly commendable weapon mastery.

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Syllis found herself slightly envious of their use of swords. She wished that it was possible for her to form a sword of ice. The spear had gotten somewhat dull in the last couple months.

The B tier fights are where it got somewhat interesting. Their bonds complimented their fighting style. Variation was key in this tier, and this was where the greatest weapon mastery was displayed.

A tier fights were of course much more entertaining but lacked the certain tact that the B tier had. However, A tier fights mostly relied on their bonds with a slight bit of close combat sword exchanges. This made them lack the variety that made the B tier interesting. Although they had the leg up in visuals. There were some truly beautiful bonds in the A tier.

They watched as the first three matches unfolded. The first and second were wholly uneventful.

The third was between the first B tier that Syllis had fought, coincidentally, it was Lerane. He had impressed Syllis, by a moderate amount. His bond was nothing extraordinary, only allowing him to speed up in bursts, this gave him a unique weapon technique. He could speed up to increase the impact of his weapon, or he could use it to evade. He could fake using it on his weapon, wait for his opponent to move before using it to move and swing.

This slight trick had worked against Syllis once, she had been ashamed when it happened. It was the only time that a B tier had nearly managed to hit her.

Lerane and another B tier fought, they clashed their longsword and rapier. They danced, flowing with their swords. This was the type of fight that Syllis enjoyed watching from the B tiers.

In the end, the girl with the rapier won, taking her victory in stride. From the murmurs, Syllis figured out that she is a couple of wins away from being promoted to the A tier.

‘Unfortunate, if that girl gets promoted, she will only face hardship. Her bond isn’t suited to the A tier.’ Syllis hated to admit it, but bonds were a sort of lottery.

Syllis would have loved to be regarded solely as a result of hard work or talent. Unfortunately, this is not how fate operates. Fate favors certain people and it operates cruelty. It favors irony and will laugh in your face. This was the reality of the world.

Still, Syllis could not say anything about the B tier’s ambitions. She was truly striving for what she wanted. Whether she maintained it or not was a different story.

‘There’s always a chance I guess.’ Syllis sighed before jolting up in her chair. It was almost time to face Ansel.

Syllis could not hold her excitement in, she bit her lip in a sort of euphoria. This moment, the possibility of putting Ansel in his place might have been the only reason that Syllis could stand rising through the lower three tiers. It was all for this moment.

There were other kindred in the A tier which Syllis also wanted to spar with, but none compared to the red haired derelict.

After congratulating the girl, professor Ruvhernim rose.

“Next up! Syllis and Ansel!” Mr. Ruvhernim said, almost as a cheer. He was always engrossed in his students’ spars.

Syllis rose and made her way down the stairs and towards the large, stone square.

The arena was smaller than the one on the Boorne estate. That was to be expected though, space was tight within schools. The government was often stingy with handing out quartz, even to the top magnet school for kindred.

Syllis knew this all too well from their neglect of the outer ring. So many people could have been saved if they only extended the slightest bit of help.

Then again, maybe they did not warrant the help. Jyrid had always been a bit sadistic in that regard, claiming that the citizens in the outer ring did not deserve help. The horrific part was that Syllis found herself agreeing after a while. They had tried to steal from her dozens upon dozens of times over the years. She could only imagine what would have happened if she did not have her bond.

Syllis let out a sigh as she reached the stone arena that measured twenty-five meters in any direction.

‘They really don’t deserve saving, but what about people like me? The abandoned, those left behind. Can you really leave them behind with the addicts and other criminals? Surely there is a better way to handle it.’

Syllis let out another sigh before invoking her bond.

Ansel had not made an effort to step towards the arena. In fact, he was heading the opposite way. It seemed he did not consider Syllis to be an adequate opponent.

Syllis did not yell, she did not scream. Instead, she would make him turn around.

The secare nymph invoked a javelin of ice, attracting the attention of her classmates. They had not seen her manifest such a weapon before. The only application of her bond that Syllis used were her crags to shield herself.

They marveled as the nymph crouched and pulled her arm back. Syllis then spun and used a crag to accelerate, pushing off of it with extreme speed.

In the same manner she had used to try and pierce the false sun, Syllis threw the javelin towards Ansel.

The red haired derelict quickly turned and jumped to the side.

This ice javelin slammed into one of the school’s sturdy stone walls. It shattered, creating a bellowing sound, akin to a hammer against an anvil.

The world almost seemed to slow down as Ansel’s crimson eyes locked with Syllis’ own seafoam eyes. They scrutinized each other under the others’ gaze.

His pupils dilated, he had not been able to entirely comprehend what had just happened. He thrived off logic and Syllis was an anomaly in that regard. He had heard she was from the outer ring, she was lesser than him.

Ansel shook slightly before walking, emotionlessly towards the arena.

It seemed that he acknowledged Syllis as someone even slightly formidable.

As they both approached the center of the stone arena, the students watched, silently. Syllis’ stunt would have gotten her expelled, had Ansel not dodged it, and he only barely managed to.

Ansel and Syllis had both reached the center.

The secare nymph loomed over the short, human man. Her wavy, cerulean hair cascaded down and nearly grazed the side of Ansel’s face as they stood mere inches away.