Dorothy woke up by the sound of her alarm clock, she prepared herself for the first day of class and headed to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. Before entering to class, she was told to go to the registrar's office for her class schedule.
The feeling she had when she was standing outside the gates came back when she was now standing behind the door of her new classroom. Above the door swung a signboard with 'CLASS 2-A' written. She's used to risky missions but again and again, she couldn't hide the fear. Dorothy was mumbling under her breath, more likely talking to herself. She even wished she had Genevieve with her.
"I can do this." she encouraged herself as she opened the door.
She walked slowly towards the center of the room, in front, but she had not expected the inattention her new classmates had given to her. Not that she was expecting them to welcome her with open arms, she couldn't cared less about getting warm welcomes. Everyone in the room were on their own little world as they paid no attention or even noticed that an unknown girl had entered their class. Everyone's so loud and noisy doing their own businesses.
She shrugged. She looked around to find Genevieve but she was nowhere, instead she found an empty seat.
"HEY! ARE YOU THE NEW STUDENT?" a shout from a far.
Dorothy shifted her gaze towards the voice. Everyone came to a silence, everyone was looking puzzled.
Dorothy composed herself, cleared her throat and introduced herself in a hearty manner, "Hi, I'm Dorothy Oliver. Nice to meet you!"
But no one greeted her back. It was the total opposite of what happened yesterday.
The man who shouted earlier hurtled towards where Dorothy stood. With a loud thud, the man slammed his left hand on the desk near to Dorothy which stunned her. Even so, Dorothy remained her smile. Dorothy looked up and met his eyes. Despite being tall, Dorothy was still a foot smaller and the man towered over her.
"What power do you possess?" He asked. Dorothy's smile faded away, she didn't liked it. So, he's the bully? Dorothy asked herself in her mind. "Hey! Answer me!" Impatience! She also hated that.
She smirked and answered plainly, "Power of Strength."
Most of the students awed in unison.
"Wow! The power of strength, that's very rare! Can you show us?" a girl screeched in front of Dorothy. The compliment made Dorothy flushed a scarlet face, she didn't knew that having the possession of strength is special. The rest of the students urged her to show her strength prowess. Everyone was cheering.
"Okay." An evil grin twisted in her lips she walked pass the man. The other students made room. She stopped and flexed her knuckles, then, immediately turned around.
A loud bang echoed in the room and everyone gasped. There was a loud crash in front of the classroom as she punched one of her classmates, it was the guy she spoke with earlier. The man was lying on the floor, coughing and his mouth's bleeding. Everyone in the classroom were silent but her classmates exchanged glances from her to the guy.
The man stumbled while getting up. The others tried to help him but he refused the offer. He managed to stand up and yelled at her. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" he coughed and spitted blood.
Dorothy's realization striked in. Fuck! What have I done? What am I thinking? Dorothy cursed as she shamed herself in her mind. She looked at him with a feeling of great remorse but a sudden thought popped in her mind. Why would I punch the guy? Of course, it's because he annoyed me a while ago! He deserves it! She hit herself in the head. She was going crazy, she's arguing at her own thoughts.
Dorothy wanted to amend for what she had done and asked for forgiveness but it was too late since the guy was already infuriated. The man took his stance and prepared his attack whereas Dorothy, who couldn't stop him, geared up for the defense, she didn't want to cause anymore damage even if it endangered her.
The man put both of his hands at his sides with his palms facing upward. He hissed and all of a sudden, flames flared up in his hands.
A fire magus, Dorothy noted. "But, oh yeah, so much for not wanting to cause more damage." Dorothy mumbled. The guy would probably go all out.
"DEX! DON'T DO IT!" a girl shouted. It was the girl who approached Dorothy earlier. But the man— Dex, refused to listen to any of the girl's words. "DEX! THAT'S DANGEROUS!" The girl kept shouting. "ANYONE STOP HIM!"
Dex was well-known for possessing the fire power. His skills were top-notch as he can manipulate the fire into number of forms at his will.
Dex manipulated the flames and turned it into balls of fire. The round shaped fire in his hands resembled a rasengan (Naruto reference), but in red. He threw one straight to Dorothy in a flash but Dorothy was sharp enough to avoid the attack. The first ball hit the walls and caused a loud explosion. Dex could not only shape his fire, he could also solidify it. Dorothy knew a lot of fire magi in the agency, but it was her first time to see a user who can manipulate the fire's form and turn it into something solid. The attack just now was the evidence, the fireball was but a gaseous state in appearance, it was solid that resembled a bomb. Dex threw his balls of fire again and again whilst Dorothy only did was dodge, duck and avoid.
Dorothy was used to this kind of situation. She knew how dangerous fire was, and above all was the black fire. She was at least thankful that it wasn't the black beast she had a fight today.
Dex was getting impatient. He attacked simultaneously with a dash, Dorothy, on the other hand, stuck around with dodging and keeping herself alive. She was weakening. If this fight would last longer, she might be in great danger.
"Aarrgh!" Dorothy let out a faint sound of cry. One of Dex's fireballs grazed her left arm. Dorothy wasn't yet done checking her injury and another fireball slightly hit her leg.
Dex couldn't cared less about attacking Dorothy who already had multiple burns. He was in rage.
Dorothy remembered her gadgets, she hadn't thought of it for a while, it slipped in her mind. She had put them in her bag but it was nowhere to be found. She didn't remember putting it off from her back, maybe, it slipped while rolling off the floor as she dodge one of Dex's attacks. She gazed around the classroom but the classroom was now unrecognizable, it was a total mess. None of their classmates were in site.
Dex's attacks stopped for a moment. "DON'T BE A COWARD! FIGHT WITH ME! DON'T JUST GO AND AVOID MY ATTACKS!" he shouted.
Dorothy, hiding behind a burned overturned desk while crouching, puffed and let out a heavy sigh. "I WILL NOT FIGHT YOU!" she yelled.
"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT?" Dex threw another attack.
Dorothy winced in pain. She was in no condition to even walk nor run. Anyhow, despite the pain, she managed to stand on her feet and faced Dex. She grimaced. "S-stop i-it! I-i wi-will n-not f-fi-fight." She stuttered as she begged for him to stop. Dorothy's pride was on the line but she chose to disregard it for the sake of not hurting anyone while she carry out her mission. And the fact that this didn't have to do with her mission but merely a school fight, the more reason to not fight. However, Dex could barely hear her frail voice.
"WHAT? SO YOU SURRENDER?!" Dex smugged.
Dorothy had enough of his stubborness. She wanted to smack him real hard and left him unconscious. If it weren't for her injuries, and for her rationality, he could've been knocked out but now.
Dorothy's nose flared and she glowered at Dex. "I said what I said, stop this."
Dex was beyond uncontrollable. What Dorothy said had only ignited his anger. With that, Dex geared up for his new attack, a swift and strong attack. Dex made sure that this would be the final blow to completely knock her out. However, Dorothy was keen, looking at the size of Dex's fireball and how it was more reddish in color, she knew that the attack would be more powerful and more dangerous than his previous attacks. She gulped as she realized that she had no powers to deflect it. Thus, she prepared herself for the jump.
Dex threw the fireball with all his strength with a rough urgh. Dorothy locked her eyes on the fireball as it swiftly flew horizontally toward her direction. Her heart skipped a beat, her sweat slid down from her temple. She braced herself for a long side jump, avoiding the attack. However, before the fireball got even close to her, it errupted in midair. Black ashes fell on the ground.
This made them stop the fight. Both of them were surprised, stunned on the floor. Dex's eyes widened, as if he saw something threathening. Dorothy understood.
Dorothy snapped back to her senses and was on the alert for danger. She immediately gazed everywhere. He's here. She thought to herself. But she wasn't sure. It was so sudden. During the last attack, her eyes were perfectly focused, and she saw it. The black fire. It was small compared to Dex's fireball, and the form, it looked like an arrow. When it strucked the fireball, the fireball exploded, the very same fireball that nearly killed her life.
Looking back when she was still preparing for the mission, Mr. Charles had said to her. "The black fire is a very dangerous and powerful possession because even fire powers which are not easy to defeat, could be vanquished in just a simple flick of the hand."
She paused for a moment and realized that she was indeed right. It was the Black Beast, since no one, other than the Black Beast, possessed the powers of the black fire. Her target was so close to her just a moment ago, and yet Black Beast remained a mystery to her.
A thought hit Dorothy like a rock. She grimaced. She didn't want to admit it, but, no matter how she denied it, the black fire had saved her life.
Dex, on the other hand, was utterly quiet. His eyes wandered in his surroundings with cautious interest.
Dorothy observed him with suspicion. In Dorothy's mind, Dex could probably knew something about the Black Beast. The way he reacted when his attack exploded was rather suspicious. He could be raging with anger right now, however, he was dead silent. It was not the reaction Dorothy was expecting. After all, they're both fire users who had great skills, they could be familiar with each other. Dorothy made a mental note about this speculation of hers.
Dorothy suddenly felt the world turning around and she collapsed to the floor with a thud. She nearly forgot that she was close to dying. She was panting and feeling exhausted. She looked up to Dex who was now staring at her.
Dex noticed Dorothy's injuries and looked down to himself being unscratched and unwounded. He somewhat felt guilty. He clenched his fists in anger, anger toward himself. He played dirty, he realized it. He wanted to punch himself. No, he rather have Dorothy punch him, he deserved it.
There were footsteps hurrying from afar and was getting nearer to where they stood. It was their classmates, who had been gone during their fight.
"OhMyGod! Where's Genevieve? Kathleen! Water!"
"Oh, yes yes."
The girl named Kathleen turned herself into a rain and in one second, raindrops started to pour down. The fire was distinguished in a matter of seconds, smokes emitted after.
Dorothy winced when the water touched her skin with burns. Her vision was dimmed and couldn't see cleary, mainly because of the rain streaming down to her face. Her breath was unstable, her face was also pale, in other words, she was fainting.
"DEX! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
"EVERYTHING'S RUINED!"
"WHERE'S THE TRANSFEREE? DOROTHY?"
"SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE!"
"OH MY GOD! SHE'S DEEPLY HURT"
"SOMEONE, BRING HER TO THE INFIRMARY! KENT, DO YOU MIND?"
Dorothy could barely hear the shouts of her classmates. She wanted to sit up but her body failed her. She started to feel drowsy and her sight was blackening. Slowly, she felt her body rose from the floor, she was floating in the air. That was the last thing she remembered before dozing off and went unconscious