Olivia breathed in deeply and twisted her wrists to put her blade in the path of Alec Dius’ as the two of them were forced to spar once more. In a surprise even to the young Kio, Olivia was in a rather good mood today that even sparring with Alec once more didn’t seem to dent.

Her sleep had been restful and uninterrupted, the temperature was nearly perfect, and she’d had three days to unwind without the other newbie of Dragon-Scale stuck to her side. All of these situations combined ended up in a rather pleasant combination that left her far less tense than she usually held herself.

Which, of course, meant that even her performance in their regularly scheduled spar was at an all-time high.

Both teens danced back and forth as they swapped between defense and offense on a looped cycle to get used to the timing and rhythm of the change. Their blades clacking against each other in a repeating rhythm almost metronomic in nature.

“You’re staring.” Olivia suddenly spoke, punishing Alec’s surprised jolt by burying her blade in his ribs, getting a deep inhale before he fell back into his stance as he was meant to.

“Sorry, just thinking.” He replied, clipped and curt.

“About?”

Her opponent’s eyebrow raised in curiosity as the two traded a few more blows, only speaking after nine seconds of silence had passed between them.

“It’s not like you to make small talk.”

Olivia’s tongue clicked at his observation, putting a bit more force into her next offensive strike and getting met with an equal force in opposing measure.

“Humour me.”

“Hmmm, alright.” Alec muttered, as if he didn’t trust her intentions but still saw no reason to deny her. “Do you have any siblings?”

“…Three.” She answered, her usual tenseness beginning to return as the two of them continued sparring. “Why, pray tell, do you ask?”

“I…think I met one of them at the Adventurer’s Guild? She knew my name even though I never said it…”

Alec had said those words in the tone of a man mildly concerned, where his worry was enough to make him bring it up and think over it, but not enough to freak out in any measure. Olivia’s reaction, on the other hand, was that of a woman that had just uncovered an assassination plot of a royal. Her eyes widened as, paradoxically, her pupils shrunk, and goosebumps shot from her fingers to her neck in an instant.

A single bead of sweat, though small, formed on her forehead.

“Mid-length hair, lazy demeanour and very frumpy clothing?”

“Not sure frumpy is the word I’d use but sounds about right.” Alec said, beginning to get more worried as he saw the way she’d reacted to his statement.

“…I see.”

The two of them kept sparring for a few moments before their instructor finally called for an end, telling all the students to wind down and get some water before the class ‘officially’ ended.

“So…Do I get to know why you’re so worried?” Alec questioned hesitantly, taking a big drink of water right after he asked.

“No.” Olivia near-snapped, clamming up completely as she marched away from him, almost as if she was going to be burned just by standing near him.

“…What the hell did I do this time? I didn’t overstep anywhere did I…?” Alec asked himself, thinking over the conversation while sighing and ruffling his fingers through his hair.

XXXxxxXXX

The Next Day, Dragon-Scale training grounds.

“I haven’t seen Olivia around today!” Callum exclaimed cheerfully, backing up to avoid a strong overhead strike from his junior as the two of them sparred in the training grounds once more.

“So?” Alec crouched low and burst forward, purposefully overshooting to stop behind Callum and try to-

A wooden blade tugged at Alec’s shirt as Callum swung down on his position, a slight gasping sound leaving the teen’s mouth on pure instinct as he tried to bring his blade up to block a follow-up swing. Only for his body to jerk and stumble to the side as the wooden pommel of Callum’s blade was jammed into his cheek instead of the return swing that the blue-haired teen had been expecting.

‘He grabbed the actual blade of his sword with his other hand to speed it up and hit harder- and throw me off too. Who does something like that in a sword fight!?’

“I thought you two were pretty close y’know? Not like dating or anything but at least like ‘Hey I’m going to be gone, but don’t expect to get ahead of me while I’m gone’ type thing.” Callum replied simply, following the advantage he’d given himself with his pommel-bash to put the pressure on Alec and force him onto the backfoot.

“I can’t even talk to her without her trying to light me on fire with her eyes, I don’t ever know what she’s doing.” Alec grumbled, fending off four more strikes before bracing his blade with both hands and sliding back a meter from a heavy blow.

“Wow, seriously? Damn that sucks. I had a heap of guys join alongside me, so we were almost like a proper class in school, cliques and all!” Callum revealed excitedly as his pace began to increase even further, only putting Alec in a worse and worse situation with every second.

‘How can you still afford to speed up!? What kind of stamina monster are you!?’

“Oh, good for you.” Alec tried to jump over the teen with a bit of mana-infusion, only to flail halfway through his arc as the wooden blade of Callum struck his ankle and threw his entire center of gravity off.

The teen hit the ground with a hard thump and a painful looking roll until finally reaching a resting point, face down in the dirt.

“Sorry sorry! But jumping over someone in a fight without proper training is like…so dumb!” Callum grinned, giggling to himself as he placed his blade tip-down on the ground and rested his forearms on the handguard.

Said giggles only growing louder at the half-second glare the blue-haired teen shot in his direction before beginning to push himself to his feet.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Alec muttered, staring dryly at Callum as he worked his way through his giggle fit.

“Alright alright. Ready to keep going?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

So busy with getting his ass handed to him, Alec never noticed the laser-focused gaze of Olivia as she walked through the front gate of the academy, coming back in from outside, with a large backpack over her shoulder. Her red eyes focused on him and only him as she walked, all the way until her gaze disappeared behind the safety of stone and mortar.

‘Huh. That was a pretty intense gaze. Is there actually something going on between her and Alec?’

“How about we take five and grab something to eat, huh?”

“Go…..die.” Alec gasped at Callum’s feet, drenched in sweat and panting as he lay on his back in a position not that dissimilar to a starfish.

“Alright, more food for me then!”

XXXxxxXXX

Three Days Later, Dragon-Scale Academy.

“Come on Alec! That last block was super good!” Callum encouraged his new friend as the two of them sparred in the open-air training ground yet again.

The green-haired young man seemed to have an almost prophetic sense of when Alec was free from classes and quests since the moment he had even a lick of free time Callum was at his side wanting to spar.

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Of course, Alec was improving slowly but steadily with the current status quo but even so he wouldn’t say no to a day or two of peace from the constant sparring.

‘Though I have to wonder why he’s always sparring with me, wouldn’t everyone else from his starting group be actual challenges?’ Alec mused internally, trying to suppress a full-body shiver as he was a second too late to put his blade in the proper blocking position and a jolt went up his arms from the following impact.

Of course, as usual, Callum never let a mistake like that get past him. Piling on the pressure even further to abuse the lack of strength and speed his arms would have in the following few seconds after absorbing such an impact. His blade slipping closer and closer to Alec’s body with each rapid block and hasty deflection.

The freckled young man’s expression never changed from his happy, exuberant one as he pushed his lead over Alec further and further. The stamina-monster known as Callum pressed into Alec’s personal space with one strong step forward, forcing the junior fighter back on pure instinct- just as Callum had expected and wanted.

Quicker than Alec could defend against, the blunt edge of Callum’s blade swung down towards his chest; sure to create a nasty bruise along the teen’s torso until he healed it.

“Hey Royal-Boy!”

Callum’s swing faltered as a flinch overcame his entire body, his pupils dilating slightly before a the tip of Alec’s blade slammed into the bottom of his jaw.

The clack of Callum’s top and bottom teeth was almost deafening to Alec as the freckled young man stumbled back, finally losing the fight with gravity and falling on his ass. His breath leaving in a single, almost forced, exhale as he stared blankly in Alec’s direction.

Laughter rang out, dragging Alec’s attention over to the small group of young men approaching the two of them, their almost cruel gazes locked on Callum entirely.

Two of the boys, trailing behind who seemed to be the leader of their group, looked to be identical twins with matching X scars on their left and right cheeks respectively. Their hair in matching silver mohawks with each spike dyed a separate colour at the tips.

The leader of the small group, however, was drastically different to the two taller but more lithe boys behind him. His build far stockier and muscle-bound than anyone in the vicinity, even Callum or Alec. His jaw far more squared than even Callum’s, who didn’t have the sharpest jawline in the world, and his lips spread in a mocking grin.

His black eyes seemed to alight with a malignant fire and his short-cropped black hair shifted ever so slightly in the wind as he squared his feet and placed his hands on his hips.

“You really think you’ll be able to get towards her when you can’t even beat a wet behind the ears newbie?” The new man scoffed, getting a genuine scowl from Callum as his eyes seemed to lose some of their spark and tilt down a few degrees.

“Can I help you?” Alec asked, his expression clearly unimpressed with the blatant mocking that was going on in front of him.

“Yeah yeah, whatever newbie, buzz off. Me and Royal Boy here are talking, not you.” The stocky man snorted, waving a dismissive hand in the teen’s direction.

In response to his dismissal of Alec, both the twins stepped forward, forming a human wall between Alec, Callum and the bully’s leader.

The teen was well aware that, by simple deduction and logic, if he started a fight the two twins would overwhelm and beat him. So, he was in no rush to start an open conflict, especially out in the open like this.

At the same time, though, he didn’t really find himself too worried by either of the twins. He could tell they were a bit more experienced than him, that was already a given considering they’d been learning Dragon-Scale longer than him, but they seemed more like the kinds of guys that needed the other around to fight properly.

Alec would bet a couple silvers that if he managed to separate the two twins from each other, they’d probably fall apart if he started to really push one of them in a fight.

“Yeah, runt, stay here and don’t interfere. This is big kid stuff that’s happening right now. Not something you need to get involved with.” The twin with the scar on his left cheek, dubbed Lex in Alec’s mind, spoke snidely while leaning into Alec’s personal space.

“Awww look at him, he’s frozen with fear.” The other twin with the scar on his right cheek, dubbed Ryx by Alec yet again, cooed mockingly while crossing his arms.

Alec just let the taunts and snide words float straight past him as he stared at Callum and the leader as they had a conversation that he couldn’t quite hear over the twin’s unending barrage of drivel. The teen able to tell that while Callum was arguing back with the fire the teen was used to seeing in him, the words of the leader –whatever they were– were a lot more effective at shaking his resolve than the fiery words he shot back.

“Hey! We’re speaking to you ru-“

One of the twins reached out for Alec’s shoulder, having noticed that he was ignoring them, only to flinch back when the stocky boy appeared between the two of them in a shockwave of mana. His palm pressed against the pommel of Alec’s blade that was now stuck halfway through a swing at Lex’s clavicle.

“Shit, newbie. That’s a pretty drastic reaction.” The leader spoke, his eyes wide and his lips stretched into a grin slightly less malicious than he had shown Callum earlier but with an element Alec couldn’t quite discern.

“…” Alec pulled his blade back and rested its tip on the ground at his side, staring impassively at the muscled young man.

“You got potential, that reaction proves it. Word of advice, from one of your seniors. If you ever want to actually grow, you should probably stop hanging around this loser. Dude has his head too high in the clouds to actually see reality and improve.” The leader, now dubbed Brick, snorted while tilting his head in Callum’s direction.

Before Lex could say anything, Brick just placed his hand on his shoulder and basically forced him to keep walking alongside him, Ryx not too far behind them.

And by the time that they left, and Alec felt safe turning his eyes away and back to Callum, the green-haired young man was already gone. Not a hide nor hair of him to be found.

XXXxxxXXX

“Well well well.”

Olivia rolled her eyes as she turned to face the leader of the three boys that had terrorized Callum only an hour earlier. The two of them standing in one of the many hallways of the academy dormitory with no one else in sight.

“I thought so. That was you I could see watching our little lesson in the training ground, wasn’t it?” The young man grinned smarmily, his hands on his hips as he leant forward at the waist.

“I don’t care what you think you saw or not.” Olivia scoffed, crossing her arms while giving him the same, unchanging, flat look.

“Oh, I’m just curious what the Black Sheep of the Kio family was doing watching a loser like Royal Boy out there.” The young man’s grin sharpened ever so slightly, taking on a crueler tint that only got the slightest crinkle of Olivia’s eyelids in response.

“I heard you were on your way and wanted to see if daddy dearest had actually given you that pat on your shoulder you’ve been wishing for, for so long, Glenn.” Olivia bit back.

The young woman’s lips stretched into a smirk to match his own, her eyes widened slightly, and her pupils dilated almost predatorily as she lifted her chin and tilted her head a little. The younger girl somehow managing to make herself feel as though she were towering over Glenn despite his far larger stature and slight height advantage.

Before he even realized it, a scowl had overtaken his features and his hands had tightened into fists, his black eyes blazing with a heat of anger to match Olivia’s own.

The two of them, within seconds of meeting once more –even within the academy’s halls– had immediately gone for each other’s throats and now both of them wanted blood.

“My name is Larstud.”

“Your family’s name is Larstud. You are just little old Glenn.” Olivia spoke, her hair beginning to softly wave as her mana began to flow through her body, just as Glenn’s flowed through his in response to her words.

“I’m just warning you, Black Sheep. You want to actually improve at this school, stay away from Royal Boy. 10 months at this place and he’s moved at a snail’s pace the whole time, fucking disgrace.”

“You sure that’s the case? Or are you just pissy because there’s something about him that has to do with that ‘precious’ Princess of yours?” She taunted, blinking only on reflex as his left arm seemed to jerk involuntarily towards her for a few centimeters before stopping just as involuntarily.

“Believe whatever you want, Failure. The fact is that he joined at the top of the pack and now sits all the way at the bottom of that very same pack. Everyone has improved except him.” Glenn scoffed, realizing that his battle of wits was going nowhere but his own defeat with Olivia.

“Is that so? Interesting.” Olivia hummed monotonously, buffing her nails on her shirt while deliberately refusing to look in his direction.

“Have fun stalking that loser, I guess. How the Kio name has fallen.” Glenn scoffed as he began to walk away.

Never seeing the way the young woman froze completely, her eyes staring unseeingly at the floor ahead of her as his words registered in her mind. Only for them to snap to him as words that likely weren’t meant for her ears drifted through the hallway.

“-inks he’ll get close to my Princess. Fat chance. I’ll be the one at her side, not you.”

Olivia’s eyebrow raised in intrigue, her mind jumping on the chance to analyze anything except the parting comment that had been so callously thrown in her direction.

‘Given what I know of his Qualification and dream for the future…Could it be?’ Her index finger tapped on her chin a couple of times as she watched him disappear down one of the side-corridors of the hallway.

‘Glenn Larstud…Have you found a rival?’ Olivia snorted to herself, folding her arm back into a comfortable position with her other one, closing her eyes and shaking her head as if in disbelief.

“Oh, who cares what that guy does. Neither him nor that green-haired guy matter in the slightest. They weren’t the ones that caught the interest of Noelle after all.” She sighed, uncrossing her arms and finally walking away.

Her pearlescent hair swayed behind her and her footsteps covered their chosen distance with purpose, her red eyes locked firmly on the hallway ahead of her.

She’d spent enough time watching and thinking about other people. Now it was time to work on herself and take some genuine steps towards improvement.

‘Improve or Die’, that was the Kio clan’s motto, and she wasn’t about to fail in the one, singular, dictation passed down since the early generations of their bloodline. Not now, nor ever.

‘Black Sheep.’ Glenn’s words flittered through her mind, getting a dark scowl and a brief flash of red from her eyes as her mana spiked.

“Shut up. You don’t know a damn thing about what you talk, Larstud…”