The hot and blinding rays of the sun sat atop Avures face. For some hours, he was motionless, unaffected, but eventually he was awoken by said sunlight. He groaned as he slowly rose up. Of course, the window was open with the sun shining through, just the way Rael always liked it… Avures tilted his head and looked to his left. His side of the room was over there. It came back to him. He must have fallen asleep while talking with Rael. He was in her bed, beside her window. Rael, however, was nowhere to be seen. Judging from where he was on the bed, it seemed that Rael took the effort to move him and cover him with the blanket before she left. All that without waking him up either. Avures's face turned red just thinking about it. He stepped out of bed.
With how far in the day it seemed to be, she was probably at class. Avures figured he could take this day for himself like the last, but tomorrow would be back to work. Slowly creeping over to his desk, Avures sat down and was about to continue his training when he noticed a note.
"I threw out the lunch from yesterday. Since you slept past breakfast again, I'll bring you lunch. And this time, you better eat it. -Your best friend, Rael."
Avures almost felt himself smile. He sat down and got to his practice. Still, it would be pretty boring. He wondered how the others were doing...
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"Alright… I feel a little less guilty now about what happened to Avures and I'm ready to evaluate a couple of your abilities." Zen gave a big thumbs up to the other students.
"Zen! If you hurt another one of our students again!..." Grula cracked her knuckles, making them echo throughout the arena.
"Hey hey! Relax! I'm sure it was just a bad reaction to Flow. It happens… Anyways… How about… Rael!" Zen pointed over to the red-haired girl.
"Huh? Me?" Rael pointed to herself while tilting her head.
"Yep. We're gonna figure you out."
"Zen! If you do anything to my favorite student..."
"She'll be fine I swear!" Zen put his hands up defensively.
"Wait. She's Miss Grula's favorite… Not me?" Bif pointed towards himself with a slight whine.
"Ha! Oh man. You look like a sad puppy, dude." Lylas put his hand on Bif's shoulder, but Bif quickly rolled it off.
"Aight. You've pissed me off. C'mon." Bif pushed Lylas as he started walking over to the other side of the arena. Lylas chuckled loudly as he followed suit.
With those two walking off, Olicia and Ventrix shrugged and started their own session as well. Grula opted to go and watch both pairs fight, leaving Rael and Zen.
"Okay, Mister Zen! What are we doing?" Rael stood at attention.
"I'm just gonna evaluate your progress, give you tips, boring stuff." Zen rotated his hand in a circle.
"Oh… Okay. You're not gonna...ya know, knock me out like you did Avures, right?" Rael scratched the back of her head.
"No no… Well, are you aware of any sort of Inherent Abilities you might have?"
"None that I know of. Are you able to like, check that?" Rael tilted her head and walked closer to Zen.
"I can… It's just kind of a pain." Zen pulled his right hand up to his face. The hand began to glow a light blue. He walked over and plopped his hand on Rael's shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"To put it simply, using a small fragment of mana to travel through you, I can search for irregularities within you. Very useful trick in its own right so remember that… Wow! That's enormous!"
"Huh? Is it something cool!" Rael clapped her hands together and stood on her tip-toes.
"Yeah!... Kinda. This has to be some sort of Inherent Ability..." Zen took his hand off of Rael's shoulder and dusted it off. "You have an entire second pool of mana within you, and it's… Bigger than any I've ever seen… But uh..."
"But what?..."
"It's not connected to any of your focal points, Ley-lines, or even your main pool of mana. As far as I can tell, there's no way for you to access it. And because of the nature of it, pumping Flow into you won't bring it out." Zen shrugged and shook his head.
"Oh. Well, that's… Kind of a disappointment..." Rael lost all life in her face.
"Well, anyways… From what Miss Grula tells me, you've improved a lot. You're swinging that hefty thing around like it's nothing." Zen pointed to the battleax on Rael's back.
"Yeah. It's pretty fun too! I get a lotta feedback… Or whatever that word Miss Grula uses means." Rael took out the ax and did a quick swing, then inspected it afterwards.
"It means you can really feel when you hurt someone or if a hit really hurts. She's kind of a psychopath, so she uses that word a lot." Zen glanced at Grula and let out a sigh of relief that she didn't hear him.
"I think I already know my problem though..." Rael did a couple more swings before stopping. "For just about every attack, I have to use both of my hands to swing this thing around… So I don't have a lot of times where I can use magic."
"Hmm. Right, because most reliable casting involves somatic movements… Rael, what type of magic have you been practicing?"
"Destruction and Enchantment. They seemed like the easiest to learn."
"Also very fitting for the Fire element. Quick lesson time. Precise movements with somatic casting tend to lead to better results than loose movements. True or false?"
"Hmm… True?"
"For a beginner… Yes. However, Rael, techniques are a matter of knowledge and manipulating your Mana to create it. The movements are for the execution, and precise ones are typically practiced and taught for practicality. The truth is, you could train yourself to use any sort of movement to cast it."
"So you're saying… If rather than doing hand stuff, if I kicked, and kept kicking to do it, I'd eventually get better at doing it that way, and be just as good?"
"Precisely."
"Still… It's kinda hard to swing this and kick at the same time." Rael did a swing and then tried to do a kick, losing her balance and falling over with her ax landing beside her. "See?..."
"Well. While I don't want to spell everything out all the time… People have been fighting for a long time using both weapons and magic, huh?" Zen scratched his chin as he turned away from Rael. Rael still lay on the ground, thinking about what he said… Then it clicked.
"Are you saying, Mister Zen, that I can intertwine my ax and casting?"
"Take a look at Lylas over there." Zen pointed over to the skirmish that Bif and Lylas were having. Rael stood herself up, leaving her ax on the ground, and peaked in as well. "While Lylas is at an intermediate level right now, he uses very advanced skills and tricks."
Bif wildly swung both clubs at the boy. As Lylas was bent at his knees, a swing from overtop of him was coming down at him. With the way Bif was positioned, it was clear the second club would also be hitting at the same spot. As Bif's swing worked with gravity to come down hard, Lylas swiftly jumped out of the way. After his first swing, Bif then tried to follow Lylas's movement with that same club while the other still followed in pursuit.
"Here's the thing. Bif is a fantastic fighter. Despite his heavy weapons, and using both one-handed, he moves with great speed and still packs a punch. Bif's martial skills partially make up for his refusal to use magic in a fight." Zen observed the two go at it and commented to Rael.
Lylas rolled under the first swing, but it was back towards the other club which was now following up on the first. He had no way to dodge it, but Lylas quickly took two throwing knives out and threw them both into the ground beside him. As the second club came to follow up, and Bif swung the first one back in on him, they were both suddenly stopped. A strange looking wall of flowing bolts of electricity had sprung up. Bif's attacks both bounced off of the walls as his arms went outward. Lylas seized the moment, balling up his fist and charging it with mana. With a large windup, Lylas struck Bif straight in the chest while he was defenseless. With a flashy electrical explosion, the force of the attack sent Bif rolling backwards on the ground. Bif laid there for a few seconds as he recovered. The training gear with the protectiveness mitigated the hit as well as it could, but Lylas had struck hard.
"See that?"
"See what?"
"Those electric walls… Are you noticing anything?" Zen turned to face Rael with his arms crossed. Rael studied them from afar, but couldn't seem to come up with anything.
"He had to have cast them… But I didn't see him do any motions that would put them right there..." Rael shook her head.
"The knives."
"What about-... Wait! That was the origin point of the walls. But… How?" Rael turned to Zen with a confused look in her eye.
"He didn't enchant those knives. Nor did he spend time casting both of them with his hands. He cast that through the knives using them as a make-shift focal point for his mana while they were in his hand. Most, if not all, weapons are made with the ability to store mana and expend it. Your ax is no exception… Get it now?" Zen uncrossed his arm and walked over to Rael's ax, picking it up. He took a stance with the ax, and swung downwards. A bolt of electricity shot out from the ax in the shape of the blade. It traveled on and on until it dispersed at the wall of the arena.
"I get it now. Techniques are here..." Rael tapped her head. "But execution is however I want it."
"Good job..." Zen handed the battleax back to Rael. "Once you get the hang of swinging and casting at the same time, you'll be a real hard-hitter."
"Thank you, Mister Zen!" Rael's eyes beamed as she took hold of the ax. "I'm gonna go practice with Miss Grula, 'kay?
"Go on..." Zen waived as Rael sprinted over to Grula. He watched as the two of them started sparring.
Though, he rubbed his chin in thought. Four of the six students he and Grula had were practically already Lancer ready… At least in thought. Bif and Lylas already knew what they were doing to some degree, and didn't need his direction. Avures and Rael were beginners of the truest sense, but both might as well be prodigies with how fast they learn. Though, he could say for sure that Rael was the better of the two. Avures was a magic genius, but struggled with a weapon, even with a Felsta helping him. Not to mention those two either. Olicia and Ventrix were definitely the best of all six of them.
Zen turned, watching the two of them go at it. They had only sparred with each other so far these past two days. Sure, it was only two days of full sparring, but it was all they were doing thus far. Olicia was a mastermind. Throughout his observation, Avures and Olicia were most definitely the smartest, but her sense of everything going on was so much more… Refined. And then there was Ventrix. As soon as the name Felsta was heard, Zen and Grula knew that he wouldn't need any training besides being out in the field along with real battle experience. The Felsta family tree were renowned for being incredible swordsmen along with great elemental magic prowess depending on which branch of the tree. There was a lot of pedigree, and Ventrix most certainly carried that air of confidence with him everywhere.
Stolen novel; please report.
Still, one thing bothered him and Grula. With Avures and Rael, it was a non-issue. The other four students never once showed their real power. One of the main reasons they were brought here was the inherent potential. It's something that most people don't have. Magic was one thing, but a lot of them had powerful inner abilities. Sure, there was nothing stopping them from hiding it, but the key to cultivation in power is practice. Perhaps… The students weren't being pushed hard enough. He'd have to talk to Grula about it later, but in the meantime, he kept watching the Olicia and Ventrix sparring match.
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The area of the arena where Olicia and Ventrix sparred was a mess of chains and stains against the arena walls. Of course, they couldn't use the whole arena, so Olicia had to limit herself. And, Ventrix's attacks of light would smack against the arena wall, imprinting themselves against the darkened stone. But, the chains themselves connected from the ground to the ceiling, and to a portion of the arena wall to the other. The chains both had the color of the purple and silver one, while Olicia held the gold one in her hand. Though, the chains that sprouted forth from the ground and walls were much longer than they were when she held them in her hand. Also much less numerous. However, the intent was clear, they all surrounded Ventrix.
Still, Ventrix felt no pressure. His mind was clear. The path to Olicia was blocked by several chains, most sprouting up from his previous attempts at striking at her. In yesterday's sparring match, he had bested her without the chains impeding him. But now, it seemed like he couldn't even get close. The two of them had a stare down. Ventrix was completely still. Olicia swung her golden chain around in a circle, practically taunting him. Ventrix pointed his sword straight at her… Took a deep breath, and...
"I concede." Ventrix sheathed his sword.
"Eh?!" The chain in Olicia's hand fell limp. "Why? You can't just..."
"You win… Good job." Ventrix shrugged.
"Now hold on! I know that's not all you have!" Olicia's chains all returned to her hands as she yelled.
"Well, of course I'm holding back. It's a sparring match, not a battle to the death." Ventrix shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Well-Well-You should treat it like one!" Olicia's voice raised as her face grew red. "Treat it like I'm going to kill you!"
"Can you even take yourself seriously like that?"
"I-... I-... Pf. Yeah. Of course." Olicia giggled as her tone of voice lowered. "Still, you're frustrating the hell out of me."
"Look, I'm no fool. I'm not sure if you really believe I don't know, or if you don't even know yourself… But this whole Demon Sigil thing you made a big deal out of… I know what it's about."
"Oh… I get it. You're trying to save yourself by not going all out...because you're afraid of killing me accidentally." Olicia closed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead. She began with her best sarcastic voice. "You don't want to implicate yourself because… You're simply too powerful..."
"You're annoying in the worst way. Clueless, and confident. It only tells me that even you're not privy to what I'm about to say." Ventrix sighed and walked past Olicia a few steps before stopping.
"Eh? Spill it." Olicia didn't move either.
"Bearers of a Demon Sigil… Adapt. Not like a hunter who's prey escaped their trap, and so they build an improved one… But rather, like the feral beast who escaped the first time. Whereas, the hunter has to spend time in improving and improvising, the beast leaves with the immediate experience and knowledge, never again falling victim to the same trap, and even bolstering their intellect in the future from another trap. Get it? If I show you everything, you'll eventually beat me no matter what. And that's not even counting the abilities you have when activating the sigil. So, just remember all that any time you think I'm trying to kill you." Ventrix walked away from Olicia, not indulging any further.
"Huh?..." Olicia's eyes went wide. She hadn't thought of it like that. Though, his voice did sound extremely disingenuous to her. She turned to where he was. "Why do you sound so… Bored?"
"Because, I didn't choose to play this game. That's why." Ventrix didn't stop walking away.
Olicia watched Ventrix walk off and over to Zen. She couldn't help but shake her head in disapproval. It was hard to tell if he was actually trying to kill her or not. Or maybe he was just being super melodramatic. Was it a super-common thing for noble kids to be like this?..
"Oy! Lunchtime everyone! Go take your hour!" Zen clapped loudly grabbing everyone's attention. The students all dropped their bouts and left the arena.
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Walking through the corridors and hallways, everyone was mostly quiet. Though, not really liking the silence, Olicia spoke up.
"Hey, Rael, want to be my partner when we go back?" Olicia walked up beside Rael.
"Oh… Uh, sure. Since Avures isn't around, I guess I do need someone." Rael shrugged. "What about Ventrix then?"
"I'll spar with blue-blood! Beat him into a pulp, ya know." Bif pounded his fists together as he gave off a smile showing his fang-like teeth.
"Careful he doesn't get all prude and dramatic on you." Olicia scoffed. She looked back at Ventrix and gave a sly smirk. Ventrix stared daggers back at her in a rare display of visual anger that was uncharacteristic of him..
"Shit. I guess that leaves me with Miss Grula..." Lylas aimed his words toward Bif as he grinned and stretched his arms out.
"Hang on. Uh..." Bif rested his hand over his mouth. "Yeah, actually, Lylas will spar with ya fancy pants."
"Yep." Lylas strode to Ventrix's side and bumped him with his elbow. This seemed to ease Ventrix’s apparent temper, but he remained silent nonetheless. "I'll go easy on ya, don't worry."
"And that leaves me with...-" Bif was stopped.
"Avures!" Rael rushed over to their usual table as she saw the black-haired boy there in his training fit.
"Damn it." Olicia and Bif clenched their fists and frowned in unison. Everyone else went over to the table as well. Avures was just enjoying his lunch as they all crowded him.
"Weren't you gonna rest today, bud?" Lylas was about to put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, but stopped short of doing so.
"I was… But it was pretty boring. I feel fine enough to at least go to class." Avures didn't look up from his food.
Everyone seemed satisfied enough with that answer as they went to go grab lunch as well. Sitting down, there was a moment of silence again… There was an awkward, unshakeable feeling that no one wanted to acknowledge.
"So, what happened to you, Avures?" Olicia finished chewing her food and pointed her fork at him.
"I think it was just a bad reaction to the Flow." Avures lifted up his right hand to show the rest of them. They all cringed immediately.
"A bad reaction huh?..." Lylas was almost in disbelief at how Avures's hand looked.
"It looks like you got bit by a rot-beast." Olicia raised an eyebrow.
"What the fuck is a rot-beast?" Bif tilted his head with his mouth agape.
"It's like a dog that's really weak… But its bite makes you start to rot from wherever it bit you. It waits until you can't fight back or move anymore to eat you. I've seen someone's hand get real black like that before from it." Olicia pointed to Avures's hand.
"That's… Horrifying." Avures stared coldly at Olicia in reply.
"They used to be a huge problem around Mudstow until recently. My dad used to go on expeditions to take out hundreds of nests of them at a time." Olicia lifted her full fork to her mouth and took a bite of her food.
"Yuck. That's gross." Rael shook her head. Naturally, Rael looked to where the least amount of noise had originated so far. "You've been quiet, Ventrix. Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, is there something wrong, Ventrix?" Olicia tilted her head towards him.
"... Nope..." Ventrix took a while to answer, but reaffirmed his response by continuing his meal.
This did not sit right with any of them. Still, the rest of them finished up their meal in peace and made it back to the arena. Neither Grula or Zen were to be found there. In the end, Lylas and Ventrix still sparred, leaving the other four to decide on how they wanted to do things. While they talked it out, Lylas and Ventrix got to fighting.
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Since the other four were nearby the entrance talking, Lylas and Ventrix got nearly the whole arena for themselves. Setting up at the center, Lylas started to do some stretches. Ventrix unsheathed his sword and inspected it.
"So, I am gonna be going easy on ya..." Lylas kicked his right leg out and leaned into it.
"Is that so?" Ventrix dully flipped his sword in his hand.
"Yep. But… I do wanna talk some. Something isn't sitting right with me." Lylas reversed his stretch to the other side.
"Hmm? Like walking and talking?" Ventrix looked up from his sword.
"Exactly, buddy." Lylas cracked his knuckles after finishing his stretch. "Ready?"
"Let's begin..." Ventrix pointed his sword at Lylas.
An immediate clash broke out. Ventrix closed the gap between them and delivered a lunging stab. Pulling out one of his knives with his left hand, Lylas deflected the hit upward with a rising swipe. Ventrix was about to repose, but noticed another knife in Lylas's right hand pointed right at his throat.
"I knew it. What's goin' on? Why are ya holding yourself back so much?" Lylas pulled the daggers away and stepped back, allowing both of them to reset.
"It's just a fluke. Don't worry about it." Ventrix took up Lylas on the pull away, resetting himself.
The two of them readied again… This time, Ventrix decided to let Lylas take the first move. Seeing that as it was, Lylas pulled out five knives in each hand. Ventrix didn't move or budge an inch. Lylas smirked, throwing all of the daggers in the air, pulling out one in each hand after, and going on an all out assault on Ventrix. Lylas came in with a quick lunge, much like Ventrix had done, and Ventrix mimicked Lylas's counter from last time. A quick upward slice, and Lylas's attack was deflected… But Ventrix's own decision was not calculated. Lylas still had the knife in his other hand, and with a quick stab, the knife was planted in Ventrix's lower right abdomen area. Though, thanks to the training gear, there was no pain or blood. This left Ventrix in a better position.
With a heavier blade and more leverage, Ventrix brought his swing down onto Lylas. But, before it had reached, the knife sticking out of Ventrix released a shockwave, sending Ventrix backwards into a solid surface. In Ventrix's mind, there was no way he had hit the arena walls, and he was right. Looking behind and below him, the knives stuck out of the ground. They served as an origin point for walls of electricity that surrounded the two of them. All ten of them did this, forming a decagon of which both of them were locked inside.
The wall behind him emitted a powerful force, sending Ventrix forward, right into Lylas. Out of control of his own current movement, there was nothing he could do as Lylas threw a wild haymaker right at his rapidly approaching face. The absolute force of this punch offset the movement, sending Ventrix rolling onto the ground past him. After he thought he had been stopped, the same force suddenly fell upon him again, bloodying his nose and the rest of his face. Though the training gear did wonders for protecting them, the uncovered face only had so much protection from the enchantment. Ventrix was practically writhing in pain. Clutching his face with his free hand, Ventrix slowly stood back on his two feet.
"See what I mean? There's no way this works on a guy like you. Bif? Sure. You? No way. Now what's up?" Lylas lowered his guard, though not the walls.
"Maybe… You've just improved..." Ventrix slowly pulled the knife out of the armor and tossed it on the ground near Lylas.
"Does this have something to do with Olicia?" Lylas bent down and picked the knife up. "I think since our first day, ya two have been at odds with each other. What gives?"
"... She thinks I'm trying to kill her. For the past couple of months, she's been accusing me and she's been incredibly distant. I can't even tell you the half of it really. If you've ever been told about how the Felsta family deals with bearers of the Demon Sigil… Then you know why." Ventrix still clutched at his nose, slowly approaching Lylas.
"I have no clue about any of that. But from the way ya phrased it… It sounds like it ain't too pretty. So, are ya trying to kill her?" Lylas tilted his head with a silly grin on his face.
"Absolutely not. I don't know why, but she seems to think I hate her and only want to kill her. But the truth is, I only hate the way she's treated me thus far. She knows nothing about me besides my name." Ventrix's hand gripped his sword tightly.
"And so, is this why you're holding back so much?" Lylas's grin faded as he walked closer to Ventrix.
"It's because of that Demon Sigil. She adapts faster than any known creature. If I show her what I have, she'll overcome it..." Ventrix glared off to the side.
"Well I hate to point this sort of stuff out… But doesn't it sound like… She has the same problem as you?..."
Ventrix slowly looked back at Lylas. His face almost frozen in time, his eyes glanced over to Olicia who was still talking with Avures, Rael, and Bif. Though she tended to speak more, she was about as reserved as he was at times.
"Just like it seems she only knows ya by her name… It also kinda sounds like ya only know her by the Demon Sigil."
"But, she was the one who started this debacle. I never wanted this sort of label on me, or her distrust."
"And ya let it fester anyways, now didn't ya?" Lylas smacked Ventrix upside the head with his palm. Ventrix didn't fight back. "Regardless of he or she starting what… Ya be the bigger person… And ya clear the air."
"...I see… Is this the Lylas method?" Ventrix let out a weak laugh, realizing that he did make this out to be a bigger deal than it needed to be. And, that if he didn't fix it now it would only get worse.
"Yep. Patented. Anyways, sorry about your nose." Lylas released the spell on his knives, dropping the wall.
"What was that anyways? I've never been hit by something so… Hard." Ventrix gazed upon his broken nose, blood still lightly dripping out.
"As long as you don't tell Bif… I can repeat the force of any impact I make, magic or not. It's a lil' something I've always been able to do." Lylas put away his knives and made a balled fist, lightly swinging it to exaggerate.
"I see. That's...-"
"Dirty? A lil' bit." Lylas shrugged.
"No no… Clever for sure." Ventrix walked to the side of Lylas. "Thank you for pushing me… I'm going to fix things."
"Anything… For a friend." Lylas looked over to Ventrix and winked. Ventrix stared back, and though Lylas couldn't see it under his hand, Ventrix smiled.
"All right boys and girls! We're doing something special for the rest of today!" The voice of Zen boomed throughout the arena as he and Grula walked in...