The morning finally comes and light is beginning to stream through the window.
Nyx, who dozed off while resting on my arm, wakes up and wipes her eyes. Her pale face slowly flushes crimson as she realizes what she had been using as a pillow all night. She quickly looks away from me and her gaze turns to the table.
I smile and stand up.
"Do you think you're ready?" I look over at her while reaching over to grab the armor we built.
"Hmm," She puts a finger to her cheek in thought, "I suppose since you helped me, there's no way I could lose.
She tilts her head and smiles brightly as she speaks and for a moment, my heart flutters. She stands up from her seat and walks over to me. I hand her the armor and she smiles as she takes it.
The sheet of paper had given more than just details about the dorm rooms, it also gave information on where boys and girls will be going to prepare for the fight.
There are two locker rooms, one for the men and one for the women. Today's fighters would each go to the locker room and change into their battlesuit and vest. The action would be continuously broadcast from a crystal mirror within, letting the fighters know when their turn will be.
"Let me get ready first." Nyx places the armor on the bed as she takes the undersuit with her into the bathroom.
After she closes the door, I can hear the sounds of the shower turning on and her taking off her clothes.
I went over to the side of the bed and started doing push-ups to clear my mind. I did rep after rep until I heard the sound of humming from the bathroom. It was a beautiful humming that rang out through my ears.
I lay down and started vigorously doing sit-ups next.
Nyx steps out of the bathroom after finishing her shower wearing the light black undersuit I had made.
It is a tight, form fitting suit that completely covered her entire body.
For a moment, I wonder just how powerful a spell was cast over her, as any normal person seeing her would assume she's female.
She approaches the suit of armor after putting on the gloves I gave her. I stand up and use restoration magic to remove my exhaustion and sweat and walk over to the desk to get my gear and slip it on. Nyx straps the suit onto her body and, together, we walk to the door of the room.
"Be careful in the lockers, Nyx." I warn her before we left, "If your opponent is a guy, he may try to sabotage you. Don't let your guard down."
"Mhmm!" Nyx nods in reply.
At the same time that we left the dorm, a few other people from the dorms did as well.
Aaron had been partnered with Nathan, while Jackson and Reginald had shared a dorm room.
We run into each other as we head to the locker rooms. Jackson is dressed in the typical black and blue magi robes, while Reginald was wearing a lightly armored suit with purple and black accents that showed his joints. Aaron was dressed in his everyday clothing, but Nathan was wearing a long green coat over some light armor.
"You all have fights as well?" Nathan is the one to speak first.
"Yeah! I can't wait to fuck some shit up!" Reginald responds enthusiastically, "Ah, but we won't be fighting each other, will we?"
"No," I reply while walking, "they will likely have us compete against other kingdoms first. It's more logical to accurately assess the student's strengths against other kingdoms than each other."
I tighten my vambraces. I had noticed this belatedly, but noble males in this world seem to develop slightly faster than the ones from my original world.
I look around at the people walking behind me. While they were technically speaking age twelve, both their bodies and minds have developed closer to that of a teen. This phenomenon was due to this world's evolution process.
Being born in constant battle, children were forced to evolve faster and faster. For males, the average age they began puberty was seven, while for females, it remained the same. This means that both genders develop at around the same rate.
Decades ago, the average ten-year-old used to have the same appearance and strength as a fifteen-year-old. However, there was a clear issue, and that's how aging faster would affect the average person's lifespan.
Fortunately, this problem was handled by evolution, which forces aging to slow considerably when a person is in their late twenties or early thirties. This would explain why, despite their ages, my parents, Everett, and Liara all appear so youthful.
Obviously, since this world's population is no longer at war, the youth has slowly started developing normally recently. However, males still grow somewhat quickly, especially noble males, even in this day and age.
This would explain a few things that have happened to me in the past couple years…
Nobility used to take on a whole different meaning long ago. The aristocracy used to be greedy, and hold power over the common people. 'Noblesse Oblige' was not a phrase in their vocabulary as most acted purely out of self-pleasure and greed.
Thankfully, this changed. Unfortunately, it took the destruction of multiple different kingdoms by demons to realize that nobles are meant to use their power to protect.
Within a decade, nobility changed from being spoiled individuals to raising their own offspring to become formidable warriors. To stop the population decline, many kingdoms significantly lowered the legal consent age.
While all of this assisted in driving the demonic race and their creatures back, it also significantly impacted the evolution process of other races, especially humans, for all time.
We move through the halls and walk down the stairs together until we finally make it to the locker room. It's going to be a long day of watching battles since mine is one of the last, but at least I will be able to see Aaron's fight.
When we open the locker room door, we discover a large white room with benches and rows of lockers arranged vertically next to one another.
A sizable crystal screen showing the arena's footage had been installed on the wall in the front of the changing room. A few others from different kingdoms are there, including that Azure prince shithead, but we pay them no mind as we walk in together.
A short while later, a loud bell rings throughout the entire school. Boys begin pouring into the lockers shortly after and before we know it, the entire boy's dormitory was in the locker room.
I look around to see if anyone notices something off about Nyx in the locker room, but there aren't many people taking note of her other than those affiliated with the Azure kingdom. For a moment, I wonder about the strength of the spell again.
It isn't cramped at all, instead, there was still a substantial amount of room available within. While some had brought bags inside and began changing, others had already done so and were simply waiting in silence. However, others decided to take this opportunity to mess with other competitors, specifically, the Azurans.
"Hey guys, check this out! This demon lover brought a pointy-eared freak with them!" The orange-haired prince speaks with a belittling tone.
Is he talking about Nyx? This time, I'll actually kill him if he is.
I turn around to see who he was speaking to, but it seems he is talking to a different group. It looks like he's a bit too scared to pick with my group again, but he still has the confidence to pick on others.
I look over to Nyx, who is considerably angry.
I begin to walk over to the group, Aaron deciding to walk with me, steps out in front.
That's right, Aaron was someone who hated bullying with a passion. He is originally from Japan in his previous life, where he had been bullied into committing suicide. When he first arrived here, he made a commitment not to tolerate bullying
"Hey, carrot-headed shit!" Aaron bursts out in anger, "Just what do you think you're doing with them?"
"Who the fuck are you?" The orange bastard replies.
"Ah," I poke my head out from behind him, "he's with me."
The orange's face goes red with anger at the sight of me, "You! Go the fuck away! I'm not even bothering you!"
"Oh, but you are." I step out in front of Aaron, "You see, I don't really like bullies and neither does my friend here. As a matter of fact, do you know what he likes to do to bullies?"
He shakes his head in concern and I get close to his ear. I begin whispering a list of various atrocities Aaron committed in the novels and he backs away in fear.
He looks back and forth between me and him with a disgusted expression on his face.
"You heathens are all sick!" He begins backing up and starts walking away.
Did you see that Aaron? I punked that little bitch, heh. I watched as he retreated away with his tail between his legs and turned around. Aaron stares at me with an astonished expression.
"What did you say to him?" He asks incredulously.
"Oh, you know," I say, putting a finger to my cheek, "I just listed off some things you'd do to him."
He tilts his head in confusion and I shrug my shoulders. In any case, I should have made a really good impression on Aaron, so I don't need to worry about getting on his bad side.
I look back at the elf boy that the orange was picking on.
He had a tall body with decently sized arms. He had a boyish face and short blonde hair that covered his eyes. He looks away from me after our eyes meet. I sigh and turn back to Aaron.
"Let's go," I say to Aaron as I walk past the elf.
"Ah, okay." He quickly catches up to my side.
When we arrive back at the group, we notice everyone's eyes are glued to the wall-mounted screen. There, it shows the progress of a conflict inside the arena.
I take a closer look and see that it was a fight between two female students.
One is dressed in a heavy, black outer suit with armored plates protecting vital areas, her vest on top of it all. She is gracefully blocking her opponent's blows with a long, double-sided spear that resembles a xyston.
The other girl has long black hair tied back into a ponytail. She has a lean, muscular body and wears a bulky vest over a massive suit of silver and gold armor. She is attempting strikes with a longsword to no avail.
The longsword user, let's call her Knight, steps forward and raises her arms for a downward slash at her opponent. The spear user, let's call her Vanguard, simply steps to the side and twists her spear to deflect the slash.
Knight has her side wide open, and Vanguard takes full advantage of the opportunity, gripping her spear from the bottom and swinging it for a long slash toward Knight's abdomen. Knight made an attempt to block with her sword, but it was too late and the spear struck her in the side. The Knight's stomach is sliced open by the spear as it passes straight through her armor.
Knight stumbles to the ground as the vest bursts into bits. She chokes up blood and tightens her hold on her stomach. And with one final twitch, Knight finally dies bleeding out.
Making noble children fight to the death? I suppose that's one way to prepare us for war.
The both of them then begin glowing with a white light and all of the blood on their bodies disappears and their wounds close up.
Vanguard twirls her spear around in the air and stabs it hard into the ground and strikes a victory pose, spreading her arms out. There's nobody in the bleachers, so who the fuck is she posing for?
A lot of the guys around me start cheering loudly, "Yeah! That's our Nina!"
"Fuck you Shepard Kingdom! Our Nina is better!"
A few of the other guys are pissed at the results and look away in defeat. So, there must be beef between those two kingdoms, it would be funny if I start instigating.
"Hey! Are you Shepard guys actually sheep instead? You're just gonna allow disrespect like that?" I don't even have to say anything because Reginald does instead.
"Yeah! You're right! Fuck those Stafford fuckers! You think you're better than us?"
The boys start charging toward each other, but Jackson gets in between them and casts a magic barrier between them. The guys who run into the barrier get sent flying backward, and the ones who didn't back off while scoffing.
"Reginald," Jackson turns to Reginald, "you shouldn't go around starting fights."
"Aww, you're no fun." Reginald sighs, "Fine if you say so."
He shrugs as he goes to sit down on a bench. Jackson moves to sit beside him and the crystal screen announces the next competitors fighting in the arena.
[Nyx Aurora vs Sophia Azure]
Nyx looks up at the screen and lets out a nervous laugh as she turns to meet my face, "Well then, wish me luck, Raine."
I smile as I walk up to Nyx. I place my hand on her shoulder and give a thumbs up, "Kick her ass Nyx."