Seeing that all of his fellow students were leaving one by one, Cyrus decided to follow suit due to the time. Walking out of the room he saw a ring of people standing motionless in the middle of the hall, all staring at something that was blocked from his sight.
Walking up behind them, he politely coughed to make his presence known. At first he was ignored, so he tapped on the back of one of the students that was directly in front of him.
"Hey, find your own spot you-" said the student with an annoyed tone, before he shut himself up immediately and fled on the spot.
The same scene played out again and again, with any girl he chanced upon being cautious and retreating but the men all strangely running away with their hands protectively over their crotch with panic and fear written all over their faces.
Eventually word spread of Cyrus' arrival, and all the men ran away at once with the words
"Ball crusher" being said in fear all the while.
Witnessing the fleeing students, looking like a bunch of helpless prey fleeing from an apex predator, Cyrus was left with an odd feeling and sense of disbelief.
"The actions of my counterpart sure spread quickly, a bit too quickly actually. There should be someone or something pulling the strings, making my reputation plummet far faster than it should have. Whoever is spreading the news is doing so extremely quickly and efficiently, but I bet my other half would see this as a plus for him since his actions were for this very outcome" thought Cyrus.
With the hall now clear, he was able to see what all the commotion was about. Leaning against the wall with her eyes closed was none other than Minerva, the apparent center of attention. Shaking his head at the silliness of it all, he approached his peer.
"Good afternoon" greeted Cyrus.
Opening her eyes slowly, her eyes lit up upon his arrival but after one quick scan of his face she clammed up completely once again.
"You finally finished with that class of yours. You made me wait for almost a full hour, the class must have been exceedingly interesting" said the stone-cold Minerva.
"I was not aware that you would be waiting, pardon me for that. In the future I do recommend communicating with me beforehand as there may even be times that I do not even leave at all."
Not getting any response, he just shrugged it off and continued.
"While I am most pleased to have you in my presence, what might be the occasion? Is there something you wish to discuss?" asked Cyrus, his tone light and airy.
"Nothing in particular, I just want to make use of your astoundingly horrible reputation to have an easy time while travelling. After what was revealed this morning…that certain people would stoop so low to do filthy and vile acts in public…I have no wish to allow that to happen anymore, so I will be making good use of you. Allies should rely on one another, right?" said Minerva, ending with a question that left no room for any other answer than agreement.
"Of course. I also find 'that' behavior to be unfortunate myself, that they would be so desperate to do such a thing. That behavior will only lead to worse outcomes, however. Especially when considering the way the Academy is set up, it is only a matter of time before people learn how free they actually are. If we are not careful chaos will ensue. Many students will suffer, stress and neigh absolute freedom will not mix well together" explained Cyrus.
The two continued their walk for a short while before Minerva spoke up once more,
"You could be right, but I have little interest in caring for others. My own problems are enough, let alone worrying about all the other students."
Cyrus took careful note of the rigid and cold tone and posture that Minerva spoke and walked with, exasperated as he began to see certain parallels.
"My counterpart is definitely a bad influence on her, but I have no solution to her core problems while *he* does. I need to know more on imperial law and perhaps take visit a Judicar, there must be a better way" thought Cyrus inwardly.
Outwardly, he responded to Minerva's last statement:
"I do not fault you for that, I also know what ordeals you have gone through. I will just say that we differ in how far our care reaches, for mine care extends to all while yours is similar to the masked me. Though I think you underestimate what humans can do when they are not bound by a structure of law and order but instead one mired in chaos. Not only that, but if something were to happen to you…I imagine my other half would take that personally, as a direct challenge to him. Blood would rain, sparing no one. Those who have done no wrong should not be dragged into the conflict of others, do you not agree to that?"
Minerva frowned in contemplation, finally answering after a while.
"Perhaps not. But I will have to leave the troublesome affairs to you, although if you require my blade then just give me a call" said Minerva, ending the conversation.
"The treatment between me and my other half is like night and day. I suppose only with time will she warm up to me, as I reject the questionable methods that my counterpart has been using to close the distance as quick as lightning" thought Cyrus, in reference to the overly formal speech and rigid tone of Minerva.
Feeling somewhat stifled by the silence, Cyrus moved his attention to the world at large as they walked through the empty halls.
"Strange, even if my reputation is the absolute worst how could we have not seen a single other student?" wondered Cyrus, raising his caution and preparing some spells.
Such preparation, however, did not go without notice as six arrows were shot in quick succession from the shadows above.
Reacting completely on instinct, Cyrus stepped behind Minerva to avoid the three that were shot at him and blocked the last three with his left arm.
Each arrow pierced clean through his arm but was unable to pass fully through allowing his ally to be completely protected.
Minerva reacted in the very next second, drawing her sabre and scanning her surroundings.
"Who dares" spat a fury filled Minerva, as the elements all around were rearranged to suit her needs.
The next volley of arrows came, narrowly avoided by the two.
The third was different than its predecessors as twelve arrows were fired, this time from multiple directions making dodging impossible.
Drawing his sword, calculating how he would get out of the current situation, Cyrus was about to act but two walls of ice were created abruptly. All twelve of the arrows were caught by the walls, with the few that made it through easily swatted out of the air by Minerva.
Meanwhile Cyrus pulled the arrows out of his arm, quickly repairing the damage just enough so that he could use it with some difficulty.
While he was doing so he was paying close attention to the defenses that Minerva had constructed, noting that they would not hold for very long.
Pulling out several hidden knives, so much so that it looked as if he were holding two fans, he gave a quick order:
"Take the walls down."
To which the two walls were immediately taken down without question, allowing Cyrus to retaliate against all the enemies he had identified with his Life Pulse spell.
Their aim true, thrown by expert hands, each knife separated from the cluster midair and aimed exactly for a non-lethal but still incapacitating area. Except all the knives were stopped dead in their tracks, knocked aside with a loud crack by something invisible but extremely familiar.
"The Aero domain again, is this the same group as the last?" wondered Cyrus, who signaled Minerva to follow him.
Activating the two Vita Coils he had finished constructing, he propelled himself forward with two giant leaps. Now standing directly under one half of the ambushers, he tensed his legs and bent down slightly in order to launch himself up and see who was fighting him face to face.
Before he could do so, two falling figures put that idea to rest quickly. Landing on the ground in front of Cyrus, they silently drew their swords from under heavy black cloaks expressionlessly for their faces were covered in a full on face mask that hid even the color of the eyes. Blades moved in and out in complete synchronization, leaving no room for Cyrus to counter and was even quickly placed on the defensive by the two new foes.
Using the Coils in his legs once more, he retreated with a powerful step back so as to regain his rhythm in the fight.
"One more charge left in my leg Coils" noted Cyrus inwardly, using his left hand to unleash the last few of his knives as a distraction.
Making use of the single second he had gained; he observed the entire battlefield to plan out his next move.
He spotted Minerva not too far behind him, taking on three opponents on her own. With masterful and perfectly timed blocks and parries she was in no immediate danger, even using her ice magic to gain the upper hand despite outnumbered.
"The archers are the crux of the problem, how can I get out of this mess?" thought Cyrus as he was re-engaged by the two skillful sword fighters in front of him.
"Simple, just kill the two in front of you. Together they can match you in sword play, but we are not swordsmen. End them before they end you" said sinister voice from within, the dark half of Cyrus.
"I will do things my way" retorted the bright half, parrying two attacks one after the other.
His sword and attention was fully occupied on the fight in front of him, almost causing him to miss the next volley of arrows that was expertly timed for the exact moment Cyrus lost focus.