Lucian walked with grace and pose, the girls in the class all stopped. Their blushing faces and blatant stare's were obvious to all those around them. He flicked his hand as if something was in it then smoothed out his sleeves. He wore a neutral smile as he walked up to the board and erased his opponents name.
His eyes shifted over to the seats and as if he didn't just smile at Aether a moment ago he said, "Oh, Aether I didn't know you were joining this class." HIs voice was calm and gentle.
Leon went stiff. He sat up straight and moved his body forward to block Aether from Lucian's view, but that didn't stop Lucian.
"I heard that Professor Rondell had requested for you to be moved up to advance classes, but I didn't think they would permit you to join this one." He walked right by Leon and stopped in front of him. "If you need help in changing classes, I would be more than happy to talk with my father." He shot Aether a charming smile.
The girls around him swooned, but Aether only gave a half hearted smile back.
'What does this guy take me as? A fool? No way I would fall for his little Princely act.' Aether locked eyes with Lucian, 'Lucian doesn't do things without a purpose. Why is he going out of his way to put on his Prince Charming act?'
In the novel, Lucian would often put on an act when he was outside or at a ball. At first, Aether thought it was because of his personality, but as the novel went on Aether had found that Lucian only acted nice in certain types of scenarios. Ones where he could achieve something and ones where he wanted something. It could have been people or objects, to him they were one in the same thing.
It was a characteristic that Aether despised, but one that was needed in order to gain sympathy from the commoner girl and help Lucian sit on the throne. He had turned a blind eye to it while reading, but even when the story reached its end it never sat well with him.
"There's no need for that." Aether replied. His smile softened, but his eyes stayed firm.
Lucian's smile faltered. His eyes widened and his Adam apple moved up and down as if he were swallowing something. Aether noticed the small actions and made a mental note of it.
"I see. The Professor must be treating you well then." Lucian turned his attention to Leon ,"Leon, I see you won once again. Doesn't surprise me." He muttered the last part.
Leon scoffed. "Same goes for you. Must have been so hard to win when your fighting partner's ability was shadow on the light training field."
Lucian frowned, "You know that has nothing to do with whether I win or not." Lucian's eyes landed on Aether, "Don't believe in everything your bother spouts Aether." He placed a hand on his chest, "Believe it or not, I train everyday in the mornings and evenings in order to hone my skills."
Aether was at a loss for words. "I see." He muttered with a tense smile. 'Why does it seem like Lucian is trying to show off?'
Leon rolled his eyes, "Of course, the proud Prince refuses to admit that he only won because of his abilities."
"That is not the only reason I win." Lucian snapped.
Leon stood up, "Oh yeah, then why have we never been paired, huh? Because the Professor knows that if we fought against one another then I would win." He poked Lucian's chest, "Think about it. The Professor was trying to save his ass. He knew that if he put you against me, you would lose, but the Prince can't lose that's not an option." He roughly pushed Lucian back, "He couldn't go around hurting the little Prince's feelings.mThat would put The Professor in a tight position, so he openly chooses to never put us against one another. Isn't that funny."
Lucian and Leon were in each other's faces. Their eyes were dark and seething with pure hatred. Lucian's face was as calm as ever, but his fist was clenched and his jaw was clenched. Leon on the other hand showed no control and let his emotions show on his face.
"You couldn't even win the bet set by our fathers." Leon whispered.
Lucians eye twitched. "Professor!" He barked.
The Professor at the side was busy going over what the losers could have done better. He wasn't expecting the sudden noise and flinched, dropping his notebook.
"Leon and I will be going against each other in the next round." Lucian boldly stated.
The Professors picked up the notebook. His face paled at Lucian's words,"But-"
"Put us on the shadow training field." He sneered at Leon, "Give him a fair chance."
Leon's face darkened, "Professor! Set it up, now!"
The Professor flinched again. His eyes were shifting between the two, an internal conflict obviously happening inside his head. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He was trying his hardest to accept what was about to happen. With shaky fingers he put Leon and Lucian's name across from one another.
Leon grabbed his sword and headed onto the field, "We'll see who is more powerful." Aether frowned as Leon left.
Lucian fixed his shirt before turning to face him.
He shot Aether a smile, "Wish me luck."
Aether froze. 'The audacity this guy has!'
Students wasted no time in gathering around the shadow training field. They were once again either eyeing Lucian like a piece of candy or were making bets on who was going to win. The Professor on the other hand had sat down with his back facing away from the training field, focusing intently on the notebook in his hand. Aether laughed.
Aether underestimated how many students were in the class. When they were fighting and walking around it seemed as if there were few students, but now that they were huddled together in one spot…Aether sighed. His view of the training field had all been but obscured.
Not many people were in the seating area, so Aether stood up on his seat. He raised his hand to cover his eyes so he could get a better view without the sun blinding him.
Leon and Lucian were staring at one another as they stood opposite of each other on the field. The shadows that were once calm, flicked at both their feet, morphing around them like pet vines. They twirled and danced like cats running around their owners until the ends sharpened like knives, pointing at the enemy while waiting for their master to give the order.
Aether observed the two, but his eyes were drawn to a small detail he had missed. Lucian didn't have a weapon. In fact, he wasn't holding a weapon even when he came off the light training field. So, how did he plan to fight?
Aether squinted his eyes, then turned his focus on the surrounding students. Their faces were otherwise calm, except for the obvious hype that was developing as the fight got closer and closer to actually starting. There were no hints of surprise or worry on their faces. 'Assuming that they have watched Lucian fight before, then this was normal.' Aether pursed his lips and thought back to the novel.
The novel had stated that each of the Princes had all six abilities plus a unique ability, but the unique abilities were never explained explicitly, except for Sean's due to his ability being a huge part of his character.
'Could his unique ability have something to do with weapons?'
Leon gripped his sword, a deep blackness enveloped it as he raised it in front of him. Lucian stood across from him perfectly still with his head raised. Both of their eyes narrowed and in a split second the two were launching at one another. The sounds of swords clashing against each other resounded throughout the air.
Leon's sword had met mid air with a pure white sword with a single gold crystal on its hilt.
Aether frowned. The sword looked familiar, but he knows that he had never seen it before. He crossed his arms, his eyebrows furrowed just slightly. He pushed the odd feeling aside and tried to focus on the more important question. 'Where did that sword come from?'
The two jumped back. The moment their feet touched the ground they were leaping into a different attack, this time from the side. The shadows danced like living soldiers, they were sharp and attacked Leon and Lucian with ruthless accuracy. The shadows left scratches on their clothes and in some cases hitting the skin. Lines of deep red began to appear on both sides.
They attacked one another with pure rage, but the smiles on their faces only proved that they were enjoying this.
Aether sighed at the two and sat down. He placed his head on his hand and waited for the pointless fight to end.
"Ah! I can't believe they are actually fighting one another!" A girl cheered to the side. She was with a small group of girls that were all blushing as they watched the fight.
"I know. We were lucky enough to be placed in the same class as the two, but I never expected to actually get the chance to witness the two fighting!"
"Ahh." One girl swooned, "I heard about the sword, but I didn't think it would be that beautiful."
'That sword?' His eyes shifted to the sword once more. A slight pain radiated in his head. He gently touched his forehead, 'Where have I seen it before?' Aether pondered as the feeling of familiarity kept growing.
Lucian sneered as he landed on the ground only mere inches away from the border. He narrowed his eyes and with a flick of his wrist, the sword in his hand disappeared and was replaced by a pure white spear. With one hand he lifted the spear in front of him. With his other hand he made a subtle circular motion.
The ground creaked and groaned. The other training fields trembled, pieces of water, earth, and fire rose from them and headed straight for Leon.
Leon's eyes narrowed and held his sword out in front of him. His feet dug into the shadows bracing him for the oncoming attack. With one hand he maneuvered the fire that was coming towards him and launched it towards Lucian, but by then Lucian had moved.
Leon grunted as a pure white spear sped past his face. He didn't have time to react as the pure white sword slammed against his sword. His feet were pushed back a couple of inches.
"Ready to give up yet." Lucian spat. Both their hands were trembling.
"Ha, never." Leon grinned.
Lucian's eyes narrowed and a wicked smile bloomed on his face, "Then, how about we make a bet? To make things more interesting." He laughed.
Leon's smile also widened at the thought, "Fine. If I win you will never approach Aether again."
Lucian's nose twitched, "Fine. Then if I win…" Lucian leaned in close and whispered into Leon's ear.
Leon's smile dropped. His eyes widened and a new found anger erupted within him. "AHHH!" He yelled out as he pushed Lucian backwards, his sword nicking him on the arm.
"Argh." Lucian cried out. He landed on his feet and sneered at the other, his face contorting into one of anger. He touched the small cut on his arm that was bleeding. He clicked his tongue. Taking his sword he cut along the cut, making it bigger than before.
"You think that just because you got a small cut on me that it would weaken me? Think again." Lucian flicked his wrist again, this time a pure white ax appeared in his hand. He twirled it in his hand like it was a pencil and took a step forward.
Leon clenched his teeth and took a deep breath.
Lucian laughed, "Thinking about using your unique ability?"
Leon's eyes narrowed.
"That wouldn't be possible, not right now at least." Lucian shot him a cocky grin, "After all your unique ability requires a set time before it could be used again and if I remember correctly, you just used it not too long ago."
Leon gulped and held up the sword in front of him. His hands were sweating, making it hard to grip the sword. His eyes roamed the surrounding training field, looking for a way to stall the fight. He only needed a couple of more minutes.
"Heeeyyyy!" A figure yelled as she jumped into the middle of the training field.
Kirtiya landed with her head up high and her hands on her hips as she exclaimed, "I refuse to allow this fight to continue!"
Leon: "…"
Lucian: "…"
"Get out of the way!" Lucian yelled after a moment.
Kirtiya shook her head and crossed her arms, "No."
Leon lowered his sword, confused by why she was suddenly interrupting their fight. "Why are yo-"
"Professor! Tell her to get off the training field." Lucian interrupted.
The Professor stood awkwardly in the stands. He was trying his best to avoid watching the fight and had made himself busy with talking to some students. He didn't realize that Kirtiya had interrupted the fight. "Kirtiya, get off." He simply said.
Kirtiya shook her head once more, "NO!" She turned her head away from the Professor.
The Professor sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Kirtiya, if you wanted to prove yourself in a fight, you could have waited your turn. There is no reason for you to interrupt theirs."
"Yes there is!" She stuck out her tongue at the Professor.
"Why you little-" The Professor's calm aura changed into one of complete anger. The students around him quickly scattered.
"You!" She pointed to Lucian, "Don't think that you can get whatever you want by simply making bets."
"Wha-"
"Just so you know, Aether has already promised to help me with my project, so he has no time to be spending any time with you." She said triumphantly.
"And you!" She pointed at Leon. "While you were busy fighting your little heart out because your ego was threatened, Aether has already left."
"Wha-" Leon's head snapped towards the direction of the stands. There were barely any students hanging out there due to them all rushing to get a view of the fight, but Aether had never moved. He should have been sitting in the front row, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Damn it!" Leon cursed out. "You!" He shouted to Kirtiya, "where did he go?" He grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Get your hands off me." She slapped his hands away and dusted off her shoulder with pursed lips, "If you weren't so busy fighting you would have seen him leave."
Leon's face paled. A million scenarios were playing through his mind.
"Wow. I didn't think it was true, but you truly are dense." Kirtiya rubbed her forehead. "Should I have even bothered to tell you?" She muttered to herself.
"Where did he go!" Leon yelled.
"I-"
"Class is almost over! Report back to the classroom and gather your things!" The Professor exclaimed, interrupting the two. Groans of disappointment resounded throughout the field as students gathered their things and began to head back to the classroom. Leon clicked his tongue.
"Where did he go?" He turned his attention back on Kirtiya.
Kirtiya sighed, "I don't know exactly where he is going, but for some reason he headed off into the forest." She pointed at the forest that was surrounding the training fields, the same forest that surrounded the Royal Academy.
Leon's face grew deathly pale.
"I'm not sure why he wanted to go in there. Nothing in there but a bunch of beasts and insec-Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Kirtiya was pushed roughly to the side by Leon.
Leon paid her no mind. His focus was solely on the dense forest that Aether had entered. Only one thought was running through his mind as he entered the forest.
'This forest was the border between the Soline and Gelani Empire.'