After I had embarrassed and arguably tarnished that student's reputation or any hope of them having a good time at the school, I was swarmed with students who expressed their sympathy for me. Once again, they were mostly girls, however this time, a couple of boys genuinely approached me and tried to make sure I was okay. This was a pleasant and welcome surprise… Not because I was gay, ok! Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about that, but I just don't swing that way! Anyway, I was glad because I had finally had some contact with people who weren't looking at neither my looks nor my popularity. I was truly moved by the boys chivalrous and heartfelt worries.
Since I had finally managed to get away from that large swarm of people, I strolled further around the school. It was truly a beautiful place. Rather spacious as well. I thought it would be a good idea to look around before I go to the opening ceremony. However, after the commotion that surrounded me and that student, I'd rather skip the opening ceremony. I didn't think it'd be more worthwhile, than scouting the school grounds for quiet places that I could use to relax in… or skip lessons in.
But there was one more prominent reason why I thought to abandon the thought of going to the ceremony. Whilst that student was confronting me, I felt a weird gaze on me. It didn't feel like the persons intent was anything harmful or negative, but rather curious. But that in itself, made me shiver. The gaze was too uncomftarble and seemingly overbearing. As if it noticed someone similar to them. Someone close to their strength. During the altercation with that student, I didn't try to look around or move suspiciously as to not alert the person watching me, but after the scuffle was resolved, I could no longer feel that gaze slowly sliding their finger down my back. That chilling sensation was gone. So even when I tried to search for the source of that gaze whilst scouting the school grounds, I came to draw a conclusive blank. However, that didn't stop me from theorising on who it could've been. And I'm fairly certain I narrowed it down to a single collective group of people. The faculty.
You might be wondering how I got to that conclusion, but if I'm completely honest, I'm not a 100% sure about my theory either. I drew this conclusion because of three points.
1. The gaze was far too overbearing for any student to have been able to produce. It was a gaze that exuded command, power, and ferocity. Few students would hold that kind of gaze, and even if they did, I doubt it would be enough to make me shiver. What I'm saying is in simple terms is, no student at this school could hope to beat me in terms of strength/threaten me, they would be simply be overwhelmed by me.
2. Most of the students at the time of my argument would have been either in the hall, waiting for the opening ceremony to start, or be at the front gate, were my argument happened. Yet, I didn't see a single student in the group that surrounded me and that boy, who stood out in any way. Of course, is a possibility that I glanced over them, or they concealed themselves well enough that I wouldn't be able to match their gaze to their outward appearance, but that seemed unlikely, because it was me. This might sound arrogant to some, but I am completely confident in my skills. I wouldn't make such a mistake. There was also a chance that the student wasn't at either of the places I mentioned, and instead somewhere else, and from there they had spied on me. But I deemed that, at least for now, far too fragile of a statement to make me influence my conclusion.
3. There was no faculty around the front gate. Now, you may be thinking, but doesn't that go against my theory? Well, no. No, it doesn't. The fact that such a prestigious school, would leave their students this unkempt, seemingly not caring about them, seemed highly unlikely. The likely scenario was that the faculty could observe the front gate without being there. They probably watched on from the five towers that loomed over every over building on school campus. One was placed in each of the four corners of school grounds and the final one being placed in the middle of the school, likely disguised as a clock tower. At least, I think that the fifth one is also a watch tower. Since, you know, Five Grand Pillars. Five watch towers. It would only make sense. Anyway, even if it did just turn out to be a clock tower, that still didn't exclude the other four from being watch towers. And all four had a clear view of the area of the grounds.
With that, I had drawn my conclusion that the creeper who was serving on me was certainly an unruly faculty member, Disssgusting~. Stick to your own age range.
Once I had established my theory, by that point, all of my will to got to the ceremony had been drained from me. Instead, I headed past the main hall, where the ceremony was being held, around the edges of school as to not get noticed and made my way to the only place in the school I have yet to explore. That being, the forest that was at the very back of the school. The forest laid shrouded in deep greenery and was mostly sheltered by the looming shadow that covered most of the forest. Though it wasn't entirely shaded, due to glimpses of light slipping through the canopy, illuminating small parts of the thick, mossy forest. I strolled around taking in a breather from the commotion that had transpired today.
The capital and the school sure are a lot more chaotic than the forest.
The switch from the scenario of living in isolation to now living in a crowded city, certainly took a larger toll on my mental state than I had expected it to. I made my way slightly further into the forest, before sitting down against one of the thicker based trees. I tucked my hands behind my head and let out a sigh.
"This is much better."
I closed my eyes, with the intent to sleep through the opening ceremony and relax my strained self.
At least I tried to. BUT! Because this is the capital, no has any fucking chill or respect for other people's wishes! The moment I closed my eyes, was the moment the peace of the forest was interrupted by two IMBECILES SHOUTING!
Oh my God, what is it now?! Why is everyone so obnoxious in the capital?!
"RADENCE FANG, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A FIGHT!"
The shorter of the two shouted.
Typical. The shorter they are, the louder they have to be. How cliché.
"Tone it dowwwn, would you? And to answer your request, I'm happy to oblige."
"Perfec-"
"But! I'm not fighting unless we have someone to oversee are battle. As you know rankings are important at this school, therefore, I'm not going to fight you if there is not benefit involved in it for me. We need a witness that will be able to confirm my victory."
"Tch. Cocky bastard. Fine, that's all well and good -- IF WE WEREN'T IN THE FUCKING MIDDLE OF NOWHERE AND WE HAD PEOPLE ON STANDBY TO ASK, BUT YOU BEING THE DUMBASS THAT YOU ARE, DON'T REALISE THAT ALL OTHER STUDENTS ARE AT THE FUCKING OPENEING CEREMONY."
The shorty shot back even louder than the first time.
He really is fucking loud. Annoying as well.
"OI DON'T SHOUT AT ME YOU FUCKING MIDGET!"
Guess both of them are as hot headed as each over. Though it definitely suited red head one. He was the taller of the two. He didn't try to be intimidating unlike shorty over there, but instead oozed confidence that started an incense of curiosity inside me.
Maybe he's the right one...
I decided to step out of the natural cover that were the trees and stepped closer to the clearing that they stood in. With my hands in my pockets, I gave a light smile with my head down and spoke up, "I'm willing to ref your guys' match. Of course, only if it's all right with you."
They strangely backed off and looked at me with a nervous expression. The tension between them two was gone and the only thing I sensed from them now was fear. I think I let a bit of my intent slip freely. I tried correcting it and offered them an even bigger smiler, with my head now fully up facing them and with my hands raised up. They looked back at each over, before finally turning back to me.
"I-if it's alright with you, then please."
There tone had eased itself and they seemed to start regaining their composure.
The red-haired boy then fully turned himself towards me and asked with a smile, "Why are you offering to do this for us?"
I simply smiled and turned around before speaking up.
"I'm not particularly busy, plus...", I decided to cut myself off and instead muttered it to myself so they wouldn't be able to hear me, "Plus, I'm gaining a lot more from this than you two will."
With that, I had instructed them to take some distance between them and take their positions. I also distanced myself from there, and then proceeded to make my announcement.
"Okay, state your name and get ready to fight!"
Both boys took their blazers off, but whilst the boy named Lancelot placed his aside, the red haired one simply grinned and allowed his to fly off with the wind.
Looks like he's made of money.
"Radence Fang. I'm ready!"
"Lancelot Cawr! Also, ready!"
"Ok then, begin!"
With that the duel had started and already the battle's aggressor and manipulator were the boy named Radence. They clashed in a fierce fury of exchanged attacks. Radence's attacks were fluent, strong, and sculpted and he quickly swayed the direction of the fight in his favour, with his superior combat and martial arts ability, landing a powerful right uppercut to Lancelot's ribs. Lancelot definitely felt that hit and decided to make some distance. In that moment when he retreated, he scowled, and his arm began to shine a steel blue colour that became visible through his white top. Its pattern was unclear due to the shirt covering it, but the glow that radiated from his emblem shone brightly, bright steel blue, which was clear enough to see through his white shirt.
"COME ON, SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT!"
He shouted with a hint of annoyance and discomfort in his voice, yet Radence didn't respond and simply walked towards him.
"NOT GONNA DO IT?! WELL, HAVE A TASTE OF MY EMBLEMS ABILITY AND POWER!"
After screaming that, he made sure to make some more distance, with no struggle coming from Radence, and began unleashing his ability.
Hmmm. So that's it. Has potential, but at his level, it's an awful ability to have.
His ability that I was referring to, was called ghost box. It was a fairly common ability that managed to make an impressive name for itself. Not for its strength, but for the people who used the ability. The ability has potential, but that potential can only be tapped into with countless of battles, experience as well as strategy and calm thinking. Looking at Lancelot, it was clear to see that he possessed none of these desired qualities. Ghost box was a simple ability that allowed the user to create almost invisible boxes and scatter them around the field. These boxes had the ability to trap a person's limbs in a different space. Almost as if storing them. However, to do this, you would have to run into the box or even graze it slightly. For example, let's say your arm brushed past one of these boxes. Your arm would disappear and would be held in a dimensional storage created by the ability. Though once the user deactivates his ability, your limbs will return. Or, if you inflict enough damage on the user of the ability for them to lose concentration, the ability would be immediately withdrawn.
Nonetheless, Radence continued to ignore his words and now began running towards him as he built up from walking to sprinting. In a panic, Lancelot scattered his ghost boxes around the field, but to no avail as Radence expertly avoided all his traps as if they were easily visible to even a blind person. Lancelot couldn't even get his words out and before he knew it, Radence was right in front of him, in a crouched position generating power from his legs into his core and through his arm and eventually into his fist that burst alight in a wild, deep crimson. A bloody red light that impaired my vision and the next thing I saw was Lancelot's body firmly imprinted in a deep crater.
I wasted no further time and called the duel, "Winner, Radence Fang!"
He didn't even listen to announcement and went straight towards Lancelot and hoisted him over his back and carried him.
"Need help getting him to the infirmary?" I asked.
"Sure."
After that we spoke no words to each over and simply carried Lancelot to the infirmary and left him to be patched up. The silence was kind of uncomftarble, but I didn't particularly mind it. He finally mustered up his courage and spoke out to me.
"Thanks for overseeing our match. I owe you one…"
"Gryph. Gryph Note."
"Ah, I see. Gryph it is. Anyway, I owe you one Gryph." He spoke in a confident and cheery manner whilst scratching the back of his head.
"No probs Ray. I enjoyed your performance and managed to get what I wanted out of it."
He stopped and looked at me confused. "Ray?"
"Ye. Ray. I decided to shorten your name as it would be a hassle to constantly say Radence." He simply just stared at me and smiled.
"Ok, if you insist, you can call me that."
"Anyway, about that favour, could you tell me what ability your emblem has?"
"…"
Silence once again, filled the room. I took it as indication that he didn't want to.
"No?" I asked
"No. I was just wondering why you want to know."
"Let's just say my curiosity got the best of me."
He smiled at me, but this time mischievously and he exuded and an aura of a wild animal challenging another one of its kind for territory.
"Why don't you find out?"