Rei's sentence was cut off by a loud 'bang' as Ilise took off from where she was standing, leaving two shoe-shaped divots in the concrete ground. Though she was speaking and moving too fast for anyone on the scene to hear, she muttered under her breath. "Impact Amplification. Concussive Force. Hyperkinetic."
Three layers of glyphs slid down her fist. Roza barely had time to react as it slammed into her stomach. The other girl was caught off-guard by the blinding speeds at which Ilise was moving. All she could muster up was a choked 'oof'. Roza keeled over, falling to her knees and coughing up spit and blood.
Ilise re-appeared behind her. She looked at her still-glowing fist with shock. Had she really punched someone? With magic, no less? Roza was rolling on the floor, screeching in agony.
"BEAT HER UP, BRO! SHE- SHE HIT ME!"
Rei gave Ilise an exasperated look. He hefted his sister up by her collar, patting her gently on the back. Roza coughed a few more times.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, Miss Rossweisse. Please forgive us. My sister didn't mean to offend you. She thinks that just because she has a power rating in the five hundreds she's allowed to lord over everyone. Please, accept my sincerest apologies." Rei knelt before Ilise, bowing profusely and quite literally worshipping the ground she walked on. His sister looked at him with something like disgust.
Ilise, still shaken, managed to speak up. "I-it's not me you should be apologising to. It's Siegfried. And Rei, you've done enough. It's Roza that has to apologise."
The pink-haired girl glared at Ilise, affronted. "You want me to apologise to dirt like him? He's not even worthy of being in my presence."
Something in Ilise snapped at that statement. She remembered Siegfried's words: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
He'd lied.
Siegfried had gone stationary, his entire face pale and his fingers trembling. Ilise knew that look - it was the look of someone who was more affected than they were pretending to be. Ilise had done that multiple times - after her medical examinations at Yggdrasil, which always hurt. She'd come out with a smile on her face and a burning soreness in her limbs, and tell Bianca that everything had been fine. But Bianca had been there to call her out on it every single time. She would take Ilise out for a parfait at one of Alpheim's fancy skyscraper restaurants.
He hadn't exactly had that luxury, had he?
She thought back to what he'd said about her 'rich girl tastes' and how they were too refined for him. How even horrendously artificial orange-flavoured juice tasted like ambrosia to him. How his entire arm was decorated by a sleeve of scars that he'd never asked for.
When she spoke again, her voice was cool, collected and emitting waves of icy anger. At that moment, Ilise was channelling every bit of what she'd learned from watching Bianca. Her posture, her tone - everything was reminiscent of the older Rossweisse. If anyone present had had any doubts about Ilise's status as a Rossweisse, they were dispelled on the spot.
"If," Ilise began, "You measure worth by power, then you should remove yourself from my presence. You're tainting it. What, you think having a rating in the five hundreds makes you a goddess amongst men? No. You're just pond scum" Ilise laughed a cold, empty laugh. She tapped Roza on the cheek. "I rank in the three thousands. And that's without this."
Ilise's eyes flashed blue, and the lightning-bolt scars on her hands lit up. Cracks slowly formed under her eyes.
Roza stumbled onto the ground again. "Y-you're a Kaiser?"
"The Kaiserin of Motion, to be specific. I possess the power to rob you of the will to move. I can freeze you where you stand. Cut off your air supply. Or," Ilise looked at Rei, who was still prostrated before her, "I can do what your brother's been fearing all this time and have your parents sacked."
"Ilise, you don't have to do this for me. She's right. I'm not worth the trouble." Siegfried said, his voice shaky. "I-I should go first. I'll wait for you at the examination venue." He slung his bag over his shoulder and hurried off.
The fading remnants of Ilise's Kaiserforce showed her that there were tears running down Siegfried's cheeks. Ilise looked around frantically. People were starting to notice. She couldn't let news of this get out to Bianca. Her sister had already done enough for her. Now it was her turn to do something for someone else.
Ilise trusted that Rei was mature enough to not seek another fight.
"Rei, tell your sister I want a truce until this exam is over and done with. I'm going after Siegfried." She said.
"I understand. I cannot guarantee that Roza will agree, but-"
"No. Buts. Get it done, Rei."
"Yes, Miss Rossweisse. I will tend to her at once."
"Good."
--
1336
ALPHEIM
MISTILTEINN ACADEMY
COMBAT GROUND EPSILON.
Ilise found Siegfried in the bleachers of Ground Epsilon with another boy. He was a redhead like Marten, except his har was shaggier and much brighter. When he saw Ilise approaching, he waved at her.
"Heya! You must be Ilise. It's nice to meet you. I'm Tobias. You can call me Toby if you like. Siegfried's told me a lot about you. Or, well, as much as he could've told me in about six minutes. But it's still nice to meet you!"
Cold, aggressive Ilise melted away at Tobias's sincerity. He'd been talking to Siegfried when she first showed up, unlike Roza, who hadn't even deigned to acknowledge Siegfried's presence. He actually seemed eager to work with her. Rei, while he was willing to listen to her, did it out of fear - Toby had no such concerns. He looked like he was here to have the time of his life, with his big, toothy grin.
"H-hi. Yeah, I'm Ilise. I don't really have a nickname, so I guess you can just call me Ilise. It's nice to meet you as well, Toby."
Siegfried chuckled. The events that had transpired mere minutes ago were seemingly forgotten, with Siegfried having nothing to show for it but his slightly swollen eyes.
"What happened to the scary Ilise? You sound more like the one I know. The one that doesn't like orange juice and sounds like she wouldn't hurt a fly. That's not to say scary Ilise is bad and all - wh-what I was trying to say is she is cool, but she's scary as hell. Like her sister - oh, I'm just digging a grave for myself at this point, aren't I?" Siegfried said. This elicited a round of laughter from both Tobias and Ilise.
"Hey! I do like orange juice! Just not the overly artificial kind. And I'm not that scary. I just get angry sometimes. Haven't you gotten angry before?" Ilise said defensively.
"Yeah. Judging by the look on her face, you're not the only one. Look who's here." Toby whistled.
Rei and Roza were slowly climbing up the stairs towards the three of them. Roza looked worse for wear, with a band-aid on her cheek and relying on Rei for support.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Ilise, but maybe you should've waited until the exam was over to beat one of our teammates up." Toby said nonchalantly. Roza glared at the two of them. She looked like she wanted to open her mouth to say something, but one piercing ice-cold glare from Ilise put an end to that.
Ilise laughed internally. It looked like she had more Rossweisse in her than she'd initially thought.
"Roza. Are you all right?" Ilise said. She didn't betray any trace of emotion in her words. Roza nodded sullenly. "I can still fight. Won't have any trouble against low-tiers- Ow! What was that for?" Rei had just shocked his sister with a small lightning bolt.
"She's fine." Ilise said to Tobias. Siegfried shied away from the two. Ilise sat down beside him.
"Hey. Kallen. Cheer up, won't you? If we both make it out today as Mistilteinn students, I'll bring you out for parfait." Ilise offered.
The ghost of a smile appeared on Siegfried's face. "What, first you take my first kiss and now you're asking me out on a date? What's next? A June wedding?" On noting Ilise's horrified expression, Siegfried positively cackled. "Hey, hey! I didn't mean that. I wouldn't complain though." He said, waggling his eyebrows. "Anyway, I'd be up for it. Pass or fail. It'd be nice to try what little miss rich girl here thinks constitutes as not 'overly artificial'."
"If you're done flirting, the exam's about to start. I'm not sure about the two of you lovebirds, but I want to get into Mistilteinn, thank you very much." Tobias said, snapping a picture of the two of them with his phone.
"WE ARE NOT LOVEBIRDS!" Ilise and Siegfried shouted in unison.
"Are too." Tobias said, and even Rei and Roza couldn't help but suppress a smile.
--