Erik stared down at his opponent. It was a girl, the same age as him. There was nothing too weird about her, her skin was tanned but that didn’t seem to be unusual around these parts. Her dark hair behind her back also wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
She seemed like every other girl, perhaps only being prettier than most, but he still felt something he never did with anyone before. There was some kind of warmth and comfort that seemed to seep out from her.
Erik couldn’t help but gulp. She was different, almost not human.
That’s when their eyes crossed, making him frown and squint. Golden bright. Now hazel, not amber, her pupils were of a pure golden hue.
“Staring much?” she asked with a bright smile.
Erik chuckled, noticing how he had been too focused. “Maybe… you seem different…” he said honestly. The professor of the Physical Combat had already gone through explaining bodily enhancement and this class was for sparring. Erik thought whoever his opponent would be would be of no importance—someone much weaker who just now was learning to become stronger through magic—but she gave a different feeling.
Besides the weird aura coming from her, it was easy to sense she was powerful as she felt somewhat similar to Arthur in terms of pure pressure coming from her body. That’s the way Erik could feel the strong once they got too close to him, after all—although it wasn’t 100% reliable as he didn’t feel anything out of the usual from people stronger than him in the past.
“Really?” she said in an enthusiastic tone before bringing her fists to her waistline. “Why not go all out then and see for yourself what I am?!” a grin peered through her face as her fists clenched and a golden aura wobbled around her fist, almost looking like she had litters of honey around them.
A smile of his own grew on Erik’s lips. He liked her way of thinking.
Erik glanced around, making sure all the other people sparring were far enough before they could start. Once that was done, he nodded.
She was already moving. Erik barely twisted his head as her glowing fist shot past, the golden aura grazing his cheek with a sharp sting. Her left fist was next—fast. He dropped his elbow just in time to shield his ribs, but the impact shook his bones and made him grimace.
He tried to step back, to find his rhythm, expecting her to strike again but instead, she spun.
‘What—’
Her heel slammed into his gut before the thought could form.
The air left his lungs in a violent rush. Erik stumbled, his back slamming into the wall with a dull thud.
“What… was that…” he said, holding his stomach. The urge to throw up was excruciating, with a simple move he had been outdone. He never even had a chance to defend as he never saw that attack before.
“Awh,” she exasperated, throwing her hands behind her back. “I expected you to be stronger, you know? I heard you defeated a big-shot bully around here but I guess people from this nation are weak,” as she uttered those words, her eyes glanced to the sides. It was as if this wasn’t even a warm up and she was now looking for the next opponent.
“Hey,” Erik groaned, making her look at him again. They locked eyes and he brought his fists up. “Don’t underestimate me.”
Her eyes grew before a full-on grin curled on her face. “That’s what I like!” she said in excitement, dashing at him once again.
Erik did his best but what followed was an onslaught. Each punch he threw was blocked and countered, whenever he blocked one attack, she struck again. Each dodge was followed by a move he had never seen and even though he could avoid the most powerful attacks by pure instinct, she was skilled enough to hammer down his defenses until he laid on the ground once again.
She was relentless, restless, and above all seemed to be skilled enough to completely beat him. If Erik until now could be considered around the peak of D rank, she was certainly in the C rank.
The world was big. Bigger than Erik had ever thought so until today as for the first time since he started training properly, he lost to someone on the one thing he practiced the most—hand-to-hand combat.
“I’ll admit,” she said from above as his back lay on the ground, his busted lip reminding him of how badly he had lost. “You’re fast and you don’t give up,” her voice was soft, not the kind meant to hurt you. “If you had good combat training, this would have been a tough spar. Well, I suppose this is what this class is all about!” she said, glancing a smile before leaving.
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She praised him, said he was good, and he proved his tenacity to her. And yet, only one thing was in his mind.
‘Why does it hurt so bad…’ he brought his arm to his eyes, covering them as tears started running down his cheeks. How long had it been since he last did it? He couldn’t even remember anymore, as someone who had gone through tragedy, having his ego broken was the only thing capable of making him cry.
----------------------------------------
“So that’s how you lost? It's hard to imagine honestly,” Colin said, crossing his arms after hearing Erik’s telling of the events.
“Yeah…” Clara said, her hand over her mouth, “After you defeated Colin I never expected to see you lose to someone younger,” Her surprise was warranted as during the academy’s yearly combat events, he had consistently scored in the top 5 for his grade.
There was a moment of silence in the group as neither spoke nor at their lunch.
“Well,” Emilia was the one to break it, sipping on her tea. “What about that? It just means you’re not as strong as you thought,” Emilia's words were blunt and sharp, yet they were somehow what he needed in a moment like this.
“Yeah, I guess I just need to learn how to properly fight like she did,” he said with a light smile.
“That’s the way!” Clara shouted before realizing what she had done. She blushed profusely and covered her mouth. “L-Learning is the reason we are at this academy,” she muttered.
Erik exhaled through his nose, still feeling the sting. There was something off about her, however, she wasn’t normal. “Yeah, but it wasn’t just a normal loss. She’s different. That golden aura around her fists… It was warm and comforting… inviting, it didn’t feel like usual body enhancement. I didn’t feel any kind of oppressive power coming from her and yet she destroyed me in a fistfight,” he chuckled in the end, tightening his bruised fist.
Colin perked up at that, leaning forward. “It sounds like she has been blessed, honestly. I’ve never seen anyone blessed before but heard their magic is different, feeling nonhuman.”
Blessed. The word hung in the air, heavier than Erik expected. His gaze shifted to his hands, still trembling slightly from the earlier fight. Blessed individuals were rare—one in tens of thousands, if not more. Loved by the world, they called them. The thought sent a strange chill down his spine. How could he even hope to beat that?
The group seemed to agree with his conclusion as Clara and Emilia nodded.
“Great,” Erik muttered, crossing his arms and looking at the ceiling. “I got knocked out by someone touched by divinity. That doesn’t exactly help me figure out how to beat her next time.”
“Well,” Emilia said lazily, setting her teacup down with a soft clink, “if she’s blessed, it doesn’t mean she’s unbeatable. Blessings aren’t some kind of ‘win all fights’ ticket. Training and strategy still matter.”
Erik blinked a few times, surprised by her interjection. Emilia wasn’t one to talk much until now but it seemed like she had eased up around them—she better have anyway since she kept hanging out with them without ever being invited. He raised an eyebrow, however. “How can you be so sure?”
Emilia shrugged, her eyes half closed like usual. “Because I have a blessing, obviously.”
The table went silent, and Colin was the first to break it with a laugh. “Ha! Good one, you’re not that great though so just stop.”
Emilia’s pout was immediate, her cheeks puffing slightly in mock offense. Without a word, she stood up, grabbed the pillow she’d been using as a seat, and set it in front of her. “Fine,” she said, her tone shifting to a sly playfulness. With a single touch, the pillow expanded, swelling until it was larger than her.
Erik blinked, but Emilia wasn’t done. She casually flicked the now-massive pillow upward, and it floated gently into the air, hovering as though weightless. She crossed her arms triumphantly, her lips curling into a smug grin. “See? Not magic. That’s a divine artifact blessed by the god of pillows.”
Erik stared, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to process what he was seeing. “Wait… you weren’t joking before? About the pillow being from a god?”
“Duh,” Emilia replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. She gestured at the floating pillow with an air of self-satisfaction. “I’ve told you that.”
“I thought you were messing with me…” Erik trailed off, his confusion deepening. “But that’s actually… real?”
“Of course it’s real.” Emilia plopped back into her seat, the now-normal-sized pillow neatly landing beneath her. She sipped her tea like nothing unusual had happened. “I mean, how else would I have something this cool?”
Colin crossed his arms, still skeptical. “Okay, so maybe you have a fancy artifact. That doesn’t make you blessed.”
Emilia raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh, I can show you the power of a blessing right now, alright.”
Colin kept his smug but it was clear the words got to him as his lips trembled. “H-Hey, let’s not go to that route so quickly.”
“Wait,” Erik interjected, his mind catching up. “You’re a princess too, aren’t you?”
Emilia gave him a flat look. “Uh, yeah. I’ve told you that too.”
Erik leaned back, utterly dumbfounded. “You say these things so casually… and you don’t even look like one so I just assumed you were joking or messed up in the head.”
“Hey, who is the messed up here,” she reached forward at the table and chomped her hand on his head. Truly an action unbecoming of a princess. “Besides…” she said, looking down at her clothes. “If I wasn’t one, then how would I be able to wear these clothes?”
Instead of the normal academy uniform, she wore an oversized sweater that hung off one shoulder, paired with baggy trousers and plain slip-on instead of formal shoes. It was honestly quite envying as it seemed much more comfortable than the formal clothing he had to put up with every day.
Soon though, the conversation drifted to discussing her artifact, and Erik couldn’t help but shake his head. ‘Blessings, gods, floating pillows… He sighed internally. This place just keeps getting weirder,’ still, it felt good. In a moment like this, happy around people he could call friends, he could feel grateful for coming here.