Beckoning Fates, page 10
Some students had arrived before me, and I immediately noticed some familiar figures talking to each other.
“Ah! I didn’t expect to see you in an upper division class, Arthur.” Curtis Glayder waved at me as soon as he realized who I was. Grawder, Curtis’s bond, was lying right next to him with his eyes closed.
“Yeah, I didn’t think I’d have a class with you. I’m excited to work with you.” I grasped his hand.
“Good to see you again, Arthur!” Claire Bladeheart put her arm around my neck and smiled brightly. “We have to try not to embarrass the disciplinary committee, right?”
“I’ll do my best. Is this the whole class?” I replied, turning back to Curtis. I’d heard that this was one of the most popular classes, but there was only room for a fairly small number of students.
“There should be a few—ah, there they come!” Looking back, I saw several more students approaching. I recognized one of them, and gave a resigned smile.
“Princess Tessia is as beautiful as always,” I heard one of the students murmur.
Tessia was walking toward us with a small group of students, chatting with Clive Graves, the student council vice president.
She noticed me and seemed about to greet me, but then she noticed Claire’s arm around my neck. She narrowed her eyes, then turned her head slightly and looked away.
Clive, oblivious to Tess’s mood, gave me a death glare, his narrow eyes becoming even sharper.
“Good afternoon, Princess Tessia!” Not bothering to remove her arm from around my neck, Claire smiled and waved at Tess.
“Pleasure,” she responded, her expression fierce. As she walked past us, she secretly snuck in a pinch to my side, and I jolted upright in surprise.
“I wonder if she’s in a bad mood today,” Claire pondered.
It’s because of you!
Claire removed her arm from my neck, and I turned to see who was in the back of the group. As soon as I recognized him, my face started burning in anger and I clenched my fists hard enough to turn them white. It was Lucas Wykes.
54
Match Start
I trembled with suppressed anger at the thought of being in the same class as Lucas—and of all classes, it had to be a team-fighting class! The sick irony of having that traitor in a class focused on learning teamwork and cohesion in battle was almost enough to make me laugh.
Our eyes met but he looked at me disinterestedly, as if I were an insect on the ground.
“Good, everyone’s here!” a loud voice suddenly boomed over the field. All the students started turning their heads to see where the voice had come from, but I looked straight up at the massive hawk-like mana beast hovering over the field.
This beast was at least four yards long, and its wingspan was well over eight yards. With its sharp talons tucked underneath it, the hawk slowly descended, revealing a well-toned woman standing on its back, a giant sword strapped to her back.
“Welcome! My name is Professor Glory, and I will be your instructor. This flare hawk is Torch, my precious bond.”
The first thing I attempted to do was measure the stage of our professor’s mana core, but when I tried to inspect Professor Glory’s level, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my head and she whipped around to look at me. Giving me a confident smile, she hopped off her flare hawk and made her way around the group of students in her class. She studied each student as she passed, taking a closer look at some of them, before making her way toward me.
It wasn’t unusual for mages to build defenses around their cores, especially the higher level ones, but it was very difficult for a mage to hide which element they used, since the mana particles of their element naturally surrounded them. Most didn’t find the need to hide their elemental attribute, so it was surprising to see how strong Professor Glory’s defenses were.
I couldn’t tell what her core stage was, or even her elemental attribute. While I had gotten the hang of masking my core stage level, I needed to use seals to completely hide my elemental attributes. I wasn’t sure whether she used seals too, but one thing was for sure: She knew I was the one inspecting her.
“I have to say, you have set the bar pretty high for all of the other classes,” she announced after inspecting Lucas. She took quite a bit longer to inspect the disciplinary committee and student council members, nodding every once in a while.
“Well, if it isn’t my newest colleague, Arthur Leywin. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Professor Glory gave me a playful grin, as if she was itching to tease me.
The other students started murmuring in confusion.
One of the upperclassmen raised his hand. “Professor Glory, is that true?”
“Well, for those of you who didn’t see him at the commencement this morning, Arthur is a freshman disciplinary committee officer. A real prodigy if I do say so myself. And yes, he’s also the newly appointed professor for the Practical Mana Manipulation class you all took during your underclassman years.” She gave me a firm pat on the back.
“What?!”
“You can’t be serious, Professor!”
“If that brat is a professor then I’m the king!”
“What has this academy turned into? Accepting a freshman as a professor?”
“How is that even possible? Even the best upperclassmen these days don’t get picked to be professors, but that first-year did?”
I tried to tune out the various noises of protests, and stifled a sigh. I had known there would be unrest once word got out, especially from the upperclassmen.
Sylvie’s fur stood on end as she growled a warning at the group of students. ‘Papa is stronger than all of you combined!’
Everyone had seen Sylvie by now, whether while passing through the academy or at the opening ceremony earlier today, so no one really cared much about the tiny mana beast on my head. I suppressed a smile at the thought of her taking her true form, becoming big enough to swallow them whole.
“Now, now! Before we jump straight into complaints, we should have more faith in the director’s decision. Arthur has proven himself, to some degree, by beating the professor who taught the class previously.”
“But Professor Glory, the underclassmen professors aren’t all that great anyway. I bet any of the upperclassmen could beat most of them!” Another round of complaints broke out, but I was growing sleepy. Must be a food coma setting in from lunch.
“To be honest, I’m itching to test how strong you really are, boy. Unfortunately, Director Goodsky has made it clear that we are not to do that. So your classmates here will test you in my place!” She put her hands on her hips, grinning in anticipation.
I could see a sudden fire raging in some of the students’ eyes as they looked at me. Their thoughts were etched across their faces, almost clear enough to read the words.
‘I’m going to kill this bastard.’
‘Who does this brat think he is?’
‘Murder, murder, murder, murder…’
‘I’m jealous. Why is he getting all the attention? He needs to die.’
I glanced at Tess, who had a surprised look on her face. Her lips curled slightly, but when she noticed that I was looking at her she quickly glanced away, her ears turning red.
I sighed, thinking, You know, it’s not weird for you to talk to me.
Clive scowled in contempt, meanwhile, and Lucas looked at me with his brow raised in renewed interest, as if I had been promoted from an insect to a mammal.
“Director Goodsky asked me to take it easy on my upper division classes until I adjusted to school. This is my first day, after all.” I tried to ease my way out of this. Fighting against a bunch of teenagers wasn’t going to end well.
“Oh, come on—that’s no fun, now is it? For us to show you the proper respect, you must demonstrate a certain amount of skill, you know? Just to prove that you’re actually qualified to be at the upper-division level. Isn’t that right, class?” she shouted.
“Yeah!”
Was this a military boot camp or something? Why did I always have to prove myself in whatever situation came up?
“What did you have in mind, Professor Glory?” I said with a defeated sigh. This wasn’t going to go away, and I didn’t want to waste my breath arguing with people who refused to hear logic.
“Fear not—I am a just and fair woman,” she said sweetly.
Just and fair, my ass.
It seemed like she had read my mind—she wrapped one strong arm around my neck and squeezed, the muscles choking me.
“We will begin this semester with a little game. Aren’t I so nice?” By the look on her face, she was more excited than anyone about this. She continued, “So! What kind of game should we play… a mock team battle? War?”
Curtis raised his hand. “How about having the three disciplinary committee officers on the same team, Professor? That could be a good way for us to work on teamwork as well.” Claire nodded in agreement next to him.
“Hmmm, not a bad idea,” she responded, rubbing her chin.
“But Professor, Curtis and Claire have had more training than the rest of us. It wouldn’t be fair to have them both on the same team as him,” a tall, black-haired teen argued.
“That’s true…. Aha! I know—the DC team will have Arthur playing the role of king, and the team will take an immediate loss if he gets put out of battle. I think that should be fair. Now, what about the other team?” She was muttering about possible candidates, as if talking to herself, when a hand rose.
“Professor. How about having Princess Tessia and me as their opponents?” Clive suggested.
“What?” Tess turned her head to Clive in surprise, but before she had the chance to object, Professor Glory clasped her hands.
“Oh, now things are getting interesting! But it would be unfair to have two against three.” She looked around at the group of students.
“I think Tessia and I can manage, considering the sudden-death rule regarding Arthur Leywin,” Clive said seriously.
“I’ll volunteer to be on the student council team,” Lucas Wykes said, leaning on his staff.
“Ah—Mr. Wykes, our other genius freshman. Very well. It will be a good chance to assess your abilities as well.” I could tell she was having a twinge of doubt. Maybe she’d heard rumors about him.
Several students groaned with disappointment that they wouldn’t get the chance to beat me up and be on the same team as the student council president, but everyone was clearly excited to see the match.
“The match will have a time limit of thirty minutes, after which we will have a short discussion and analysis of what we’ve seen. Gear up!” With that, a pile of what looked like exercise gear dropped to the ground out of Professor Glory’s dimension ring.
Becoming serious, she said, “This is special equipment designed by artificers to measure the amount of damage being dealt. If it takes damage past the threshold that’s encrypted into it, it will activate and release a shrill noise. Anyone who chooses to ignore this warning and continues to fight or cast spells will be immediately expelled from my class, and may face other consequences regarding your enrollment. This rule applies to all upper-division fighting classes in this academy, so engrave it into your brains. All of you are advanced enough that protecting yourselves with mana shouldn’t be a problem. And let me be clear: This equipment will not protect you. You can be injured while wearing it. I’d prefer not to make our healers do any work this afternoon.” Clearing her throat, Professor Glory shouted, “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes!”
“Good! Now, you six gear up.” She got back on her bond, and the rest of the students headed toward the viewing platform.
Curtis patted my back before picking up his gear. “Well, it seems we’re going to have an early practice session. Let’s do our best, Arthur. I remember you wanting a sword back then—let’s see how good you are.”
“We can’t embarrass the DC name now, can we? I’ll make practice extra hard for anyone who doesn’t meet standards!” Claire grinned wickedly.
Clive and Lucas just ignored me as they gathered their equipment.
The gear consisted of a tight jacket and a series of straps that wrapped around the legs and arms. I was having trouble putting on the arm wraps, and Tess came up silently to help me bind the straps around my right arm.
“Should Princess Tessia be helping me like this?” I smirked as she assisted me.
Shooting me a glare, she tightened the straps, jerking my arm toward her. “Can it, Mr. Genius. You don’t have to act so formal; they can’t hear us from over there anyway.” She yanked another strap and said, “I hate having to act like I don’t know you.”
“You know, they’re going to find out eventually. Why work so hard at hiding it?” I shrugged.
“You mean—you don’t care? Grandma Cynthia told me you wanted to keep a low profile so I thought…” Her face lost its composure as trailed off.
“Well, I haven’t been doing a very good job of that, now have I?” I laughed, confusing Tess even more.
“It’s okay. There are just a few things I really want to hide. As long as those stay secret, the rest doesn’t really matter. For one, do you notice anything?” I stuck out my chest to let her analyze me.
“I don’t know what—ah! I can’t sense your wat—mmphh!”
I covered her mouth just in time. Leaning closer to her, I whispered, “Yup, that, and Sylvie’s true identity as well. I’m keeping most of my abilities a secret for now, so you have to do your part as well. Maybe it’s a good idea to keep my visit to your kingdom a secret, but you don’t have to ignore me, Tess.” I let go of her.
She flushed and pushed me away from her. “You’re too close,” she muttered under her breath, her head tilted down.
“Are you two done flirting over there?” Professor Glory’s voice from above surprised us both, and I quickly finished adjusting the straps.
“Arthur, I suggest you leave your bond in a safer place if she’s not capable of assisting you during the battle like Curtis’s bond.” She pointed toward the viewing platform.
“Kyu!” Sylvie cried in protest.
“I think it’ll be better for you to sit this one out, Sylv,” I said, patting her small head.
‘Aww… Okay.’ She jumped off my head and scurried off the field.
As Tess finished putting on her gear, I said, “Let’s both do our best. I want to see how much you’ve improved.”
She gave me a confident smile and said, “You’d better watch out then,” before running off to the other side of the field to join Clive and Lucas.
I headed toward Curtis and Claire. Claire was stretching, and Curtis was mounted on his world lion, Grawder.
“Even with Grawder, we’re still at a disadvantage because they have two conjurers, and Clive is a long-range augmenter. It’s an instant loss for us if your gear activates, so that seriously limits our options.” Claire leaned on her unsheathed sword while stretching her leg back.
“She’s right. Claire and I don’t really know anything about your fighting style, so we’ll match your pace. Our priority will be protecting you while we get in range to do some damage,” Curtis said, petting Grawder.
Tess, Clive, and Lucas were only a few dozen yards away. It seemed like we were going to be target practice for them until we got in range. This would be fun.
I grinned and my blood raced. I would enjoy giving Lucas a few good blows during the match, although I was sure both Lucas and Clive were thinking the same thing about me.
I took out Dawn’s Ballad, making sure to leave its sheath in the dimension ring. Curtis and Claire readied their weapons as well.
“That’s a beautiful sword you have there, Arthur.” Claire whistled as she stared at my blade. Then she released a fierce battle aura, infusing both wind- and fire-attribute mana into her body.
Curtis also looked pretty damn impressive wielding his dual double-edged swords from atop his bond. “You ready for this?” he asked.
Claire glanced at me as well, her face showing a bit of worry. I gave them both a silent nod, and she turned to focus on our opponents
I turned toward our opponents as well, imbuing my body and sword with wind and earth mana. My hair and clothes fluttered as the ground beneath me pulsed at my command.
Professor Glory’s powerful voice echoed through the battlefield. “Let the match commence!”
55
This is Going to Hurt
At Professor Glory’s signal, the three of us dashed forward. Mounted on Grawder, Curtis was on my left and Claire was to my right, both a bit ahead of me.
Tess, Clive, and Lucas all split up as soon as we charged. Tess circled around the left side as she prepared to take on Curtis, while Clive dashed around the right side to confront Claire before she reached him.
Straight ahead, Lucas was calmly waiting for me, his face twisted into a haughty sneer that seemed to say, “I don’t need to get ready for you.” Now, as at the Dire Tombs, Lucas’s arrogance had no limit. I felt a flash of fury, remembering how he had betrayed us by using us as live bait so he could escape. He’d worn the same sneer then that he had now.
Tess was probably going to beat Curtis. I wasn’t sure who was stronger, Claire or Clive, but I would have to worry about that later. Wind and earth bent to my will as I infused more mana, activating mana rotation as well. Lucas wasn’t weak, and his mana pool was bigger than mine, but that didn’t mean he was stronger than me.
I purposely let out a bit of my killing intent to shock Lucas off of his pedestal. He sensed it and began quietly chanting a spell as he dashed backward to put more distance between us.
As I closed the gap, I felt Professor Glory’s keen eyes studying me from where she soared high above. I took a deep breath and blocked out everything else. As far as I was concerned, this was a fight between Lucas and me. I narrowed my eyes in utmost concentration; each step I took created small craters in the ground as the wind whistled around me.
