Moon and Raven sat next to each other, diligently paying attention to Slyens's lecture. "How long have we been listening to him for?" Moon whispered. "Feel like it's been hours." Raven checked her watch. "It's been three minutes." Both of them groaned dropping their heads down onto the table. Zeke was with Coach Obsidian, who nervously kept his distance. "Alright kids, we're gonna be learning weapons. Pick one from the rack and I'll go through your forms." The students rushed over to the weapons absolutely giddy. Pushing and shoving each other to get their weapon of choice. Zeke scanned the rack, carefully walking past each one. The students stopped watching him carefully. He cupped his chin, inspecting the weapon quality. 'Hmm, never had a chance to learn weapons. Never had weapons. I could learn the spears and polearms. Upsides are that it's a versatile weapon and range advantage. Downsides, no bludgeoning or wide slashing capabilities.' He took a mace off the shelf, the weight pulled him to the ground immediately. "Alright...too damn heavy!" He groaned hoisting the steel mace onto the rack. 'Axes and mace, are redundant with Moon having Soul-Taker. The best weapon to learn would be an all rounder, which means a sword. Now which one to pick?' A sly smirk stretched across his face. 'Oh Moon's gonna hate me for this.'
The others watched him take a simple katana from the barrel. He spun around, realizing everyone was staring at him. The others without a sword quickly swapped their weapons for a sword. He paid them no mind. Copying him wouldn't be beneficial for them anyway. "Alright, made my life easier! The first step in using any weapon, is inspection! Make sure you have a good weapon. Now I want you all to tell me, what you should be looking for. The test here, is that I won't tell you the answers." "That's a fucking dumb thing to do as a teacher." Zeke said. "What was that!?" He snapped. Zeke glared up at him. Obsidian backed down.
"A teacher's goal is to help the student along the same path, and help them reach a destination further along. You putting the same road blocks that you faced, as a way of teaching them, is just retarded. It makes your position redundant, if life will give them the same lessons. Just my opinion though. So need to fight me. Not in the mood to lose another shirt." The others looked at him starstruck, before turning back to Coach Obsidian. He cleared his throat. "Uh well....ensure the handle of your-" He froze seeing all the students gather around Zeke. "What should we be looking for?" One asked, holding out his arming sword. "Handle construction, you want to make sure it's comfortable and isn't rounded. Don't want your weapon slipping in your hand." They nodded some of them taking notes. "No one ever takes notes during my lectures..." Obsidian whimpered. "Make sure the weapon's balance is correct for the design. Check for any loose bits, that may come off. They may affect your attacks." He said checking the guard and pommel. "Then you want to check, if the weapon has flexibility." "Flexibility? Why would we need that sir?" A girl asked. "Don't call me sir." Zeke said. She bowed her head in shame.
"We still follow some laws of physics. One of them being transfer of energy. If your weapon has no flexibility, it won't absorb any of the shock and break." "How can we test that?" She asked. He shrugged. "I guess you just hit things really hard and see if it breaks." He said sticking out his arm, and striking it with the sword. They winced and let out a startled yelp as the blade wobbled and flexed, before returning true. "There you go. A working sword." He smiled at them. "Hey coach, what's the next lesson?" 'What the hell is wrong with this kid?' He cleared his throat composing himself. "Proper stances. Remember that-eh?" He stopped seeing Zeke walk off. "Where are you going?" "To learn properly. You're clearly just repeating shit you saw online." "I am not!" "Buddy, I've seen the exact same videos. Let me guess the next thing after that is breathing?" "I-" Zeke rolled his eyes. "Come on." He groaned. "Who's going to teach you then, if not me? Anyone who trains alone, will never see their mistakes." "I'm just gonna get Headmaster Jaeger to replace you, because I doubt she wants a basic bitch like you, teaching at her prestigious school." "Hey no wait!"
Zeke glanced over his shoulder. "You really want to do this again?" Obsidian froze in place. He shook his head walking away with the classroom completely silent. "Stop gawking and copy what I do!" Zeke entered into Adrianna's office. "Mr. Chen, to what do I owe this pleasure? Or are you looking for a friendly duel with me?" "Huh?" He looked down realizing he had forgotten to leave the katana behind. "Ah, forgot I took this. I'll return it after." He bowed. "That's a shame, I haven't had a challenge in a while." "You think, I'd be a challenge?" "I'd think you be entertaining to fight." She said with a smile. "Think you're better off fighting Moon for that." "You have a lot of faith in that girl's abilities. Yet, you've clearly shown to hold your own. So why do you choose to not fight?" "I only fight when it's necessary." "You are an oddity. That being said, how can I help?" "Your instructors are very...well to put it bluntly. They're kinda fucking stupid. They're teaching things that these super prestigious kids, should already know...well I think they should at least know it."
Adrianna rose from her seat pacing around him. "Do you know what the difference between you and them is?" "Uhh...is that a rhetorical question?" "You and Miss Kim, may have had a rough childhood, but that gave your character. More than any of these spoiled brats could ever have." She poured herself a glass of brandy. "Would you like some?" "It's not even 10am yet." "Didn't answer my question." He shook his head. "Obsidian and Sylens they're not good teachers." "Would you like to take over?" "What!? No! I couldn't teach." "Why not? You're clearly a better teacher." "I just feel like those two are shitty teachers." "What would you have me do? Replace them? Fire them?" "Look, I really don't give a fuck what they do. I want to make sure Moon is taught properly, and those two aren't gonna cut it." "I suppose I could move you to the advance classes, and out of the special needs class." He shook his head confused. "Wait...special needs class?"
"You both scored C's in your final examinations. Australian benchmark for passing, compared to our grades here. You two fit into the retarded class." "I don't think you're meant to call them retarded." "Retarded means slow. Are they slow learners?" Zeke begrudgingly nodded. "Then they're retarded." "What about Moon? Can you move her out as well?" Adrianna handed Zeke the tablet. He glumly checked the footage of her and Raven playing tic-tac-toe with each other. He let out a low frustrated growl, dragging his face. "Fine, just move me out. I'll teach what I can to her." "Very well, I hope you can handle it. Since you're already holding a sword, go and meet the Sword Master, follow the map on there." He nodded. "Before you go, a word of advice." Zeke stopped looking at her concerned. "These kids are spoiled beyond belief. Taken on illegal trips through Rifts since birth. Tutored by the greatest Hunters for weapons and magic training. Given relics and weapons that even some A grade Hunters could never possess." "I'm the poor retarded weirdo from Australia. Keep in line and don't make trouble. Got it." He said waving her goodbye. "Have a good day Mr Chen. Let's see how you handle this."
Zeke stood speechless with bulging eyes in front of the Sword Master. In a large grassy field. Several students with sharpened swords and leather outfits. They encircled a tall slender woman with flowing white hair. She wore worn leather boots a simple white blouse and black breeches. Attacked from every angle at lightning fast speed, she parried, evaded and countered them all, with a wooden sword. He watched as each one was knocked to the ground with one clean swift strike. She paced in front of each one scolding them. "Poor foot work. Reckless attacks. Too slow. You're not controlling your breathing. Follow through with your attacks, stop being scared to be cut. This is a sword fight." She shook her head waving them off. The class of thirty were all bruised and covered in welts. Heaving and dripping sweat they glanced up to Zeke gawking at the sight. Constantine with a spear in hand, smirked at the sight of him. "Sword Master. We have a new student." She glared up at him, with piercing crimson eyes. "Who are you boy?" She snapped. "I-uh..." Well I-uh. Line up and let's begin." "Uh, wait-" "Do you insist on saying your first name, before every sentence." "No, I'm just not-
She dashed in, the dirt beneath her feet shattering into pieces, and struck Zeke down with a powerful downward slash. He crashed into the ground. Zeke stared up at the blue sky, completely stunned. 'Holy crap...she's fast.' "Get Uh a healer and-" Zeke sat up, making her turn around. "Zeke. My name is Zeke Chen, and I wasn't ready." "Oh, so you do have a normal name. Shall I continue with the lesson." "Please do so." "Good, draw your weapon and show me, what I am working with." "But this thing is actually sharp." She and the class chuckled. "Draw your weapon. You won't hurt me child." He shrugged drawing the katana, and tossed the scabbard aside. Zeke took the weapon with two hands, keeping a firm grip and in front of his face. She approached him, tucking her wooden sword behind her back. 'She's right handed. Which means she would dodge right and counter. Which means I should-" He felt her sword bounce off his forehead. "Stop over thinking. You won't have that time to get lost in thought during a real fight." Zeke nodded, and lunged in for a thrust attack. She kicked his foot out before it landed. Constantine chuckled watching Zeke trip.
He quickly stood up composing himself. "Telegraphed footwork. Makes it easy to displace. Again." Zeke cautiously choose his foot placement, and went for a wide slash. She countered by thrusting her sword between his eyes, and out reaching his attack. "Too focused on the safety of your foot placement. Leads to improper spacing of attacks. Again." Zeke frowned shrugging his shoulders frustrated. Constantine wore a smug smile. Zeke raised the katana high up. Stepping in for a downward slash, he brought it down with all his might. With a graceful sidestep she parried his attack, redirecting it to the side, and placed her boot on top of it. Zeke felt the edge of her weapon against his throat. "Too much strength, not enough technique. Results in an easy parry and then death. Again." She said walking away. Zeke shrugged frustrated. He waited for her to turn around and face him.
"No sneak attack? I had my back turned." "Not very honourable to do." "Honour will not keep you alive in a fight." "Having it, means I'll get taught properly." She smiled at him. "I like your answer. Now again. If you land a strike on me, I'll give you a reward of your choice." The others scoffed at the impossible notion. He shrugged gripping the weapon tightly, holding it close to his face. 'She's better than me in every way. There's only one way to land a strike on her.' Zeke dashed in throwing a slow wide arching slash. She brought her down on his shoulder. "Too slow!" His legs broke through the ground. Her eyes bulged concerned as he didn't flinch or move, and instead grabbed her weapon. He followed through with his swing. 'GOT HER!' She caught his wrist and spun into him, throwing Zeke over her shoulder, and disarming him. He bounced off the ground and landed with a thud flat on his back. 'Damn it...Should have expected she could do that.' With her back turned to the students, she smirked at Zeke. 'Clever boy. Used his durability to bait an attack.' Zeke rolled over and groaned, sitting on his knees and bowed. "Well, I'm out of options." "You give up so easily?"
"I know when to accept defeat. You're not someone I'm beating any time soon." She gently gave him back the katana, baffling the other students. "Keep that humility. It's a refreshing sight." She smiled at him. Constantine sucked on his teeth. "Alright, line up you worthless idiots. You're all improving, but as it stands. None of you would survive relying on what you have. Go take your showers. Dismissed!" "Well, guess I missed most of that class." Zeke muttered. "Mr. Chen. Is that the weapon of choice, you would like to master?" "Oh this? I guess so...I know these are fairly well rounded, and aren't the greatest, but they're easy to carry." "Then I suggest you look into finding the accompanying weapon to that pair." "Right, samurai's had a little one of those as well." "A Wakizashi." "I'll try and find it, Sword Master..." He trailed off realizing he never caught her name. "Pendragon." "God damn everyone here has a cooler name than I do." He groaned, then bowed to her.
Night fell with Moon glaring at Zeke during dinner. He pursed his lips to a line, eating his steak, and kept the katana over his lap. Moon crossed her arms. "I do not approve." "Of what?" "Everything. I don't want to be in the retard class, and I don't want you learning that." "Why not?" "You know god damn why. I'll never hear the end of your weeb shit. Now go and pick another weapon, and get me out of the retard class." "Mmmm...no." He shook his head. "No to getting me out of the retard class or no to swapping your weapon." "Both." "Damn it Zeke, I don't want to be in that class! I want to learn swords as well." "Well, you're stuck there till you can, prove you know what you're doing. I don't have any control over that." "This is bullshit! I'm way stronger than you." She pouted, sitting in a huff. "Well there's a way to fix that." "Without having to study." "Well, tough titties. Either you study, and join me. Or you're stuck in the retard class." "Ahem." Raven cleared her throat. The two turned around cringing. "I'd appreciate if you called it something else." She pouted with teary eyes. "Ahhh, see what you did!?" "What did I do?" Zeke asked confused. "You just had to go and be an overachiever and make us realize, we were in the retard class." She cringed finishing her sentence. "How is that my fault? You two shouldn't be in there any way, but you're both busy playing tic-tac-toe with each other."
The two looked at him askance. "How do you know that...?" "There's cameras everywhere! You think they can't see that you two are slacking off?" The two of them shied away. "Now, you two need to focus and study...." He trailed off, grabbing his katana. "What is it?" "Someone's watching us." Raven ducked under the kitchen table scared. Moon readied her left palm. Zeke drew his weapon, heading outside. "How can you tell someone's watching us?" Raven whispered. "He has a weird sixth sense. Almost like he has eyes in the back of his head." Moon said carefully scanning outside into the darkness. "Can you see anything?" Raven asked trembling. "No, it's all clear." Moon said concerned. "How can you tell he's right then?" "He's always been right, when he gets that feeling." Zeke crashed through the wall. Raven let out a scream ducking for cover.
Moon stood in front of the destruction raising her left palm. Her body trembled and skin bumped from the frigid air. A pair of crimson eyes stared at her through the darkness. "Move aside little girl. I have no interest in you." A deep voice growled. She fell to her knees, shivering and terrified. A primal instinct blaring in her mind. To never bare her fangs against the creature before her. Zeke pulled himself out of the rubble, rushing in front of Moon, standing firm. She looked up at him shocked. 'How was he not scared? How was he standing in front of her right now?' "You got five seconds to apologise and fuck off!" He yelled. "Ze....Zeke..." She eked out. A giant scaled monstrous claw clasped over Zeke, and flung him outside. Red sprinted in pulling on Moon's hand. 'Run' She wrote. Zeke was thrown high into the mountain side. He ripped himself free of the stone, scanning the darkness, holding his broken katana. 'Fucker's too fast for that size.' "Are you angry?" The voice growled, echoing around him. He panned around, trying to trace its voice. "Yeah. Yeah, you could say I'm pretty fucking pissed off right now." He felt a icy breath on his nape. "Then show me your rage." Zeke spun around slicing at the air. "Hold still, and I'll show you plenty." Zeke growled.
Raven's phone blared a screeching alarm. "RIFT INCURSION DETECTED. RIFT INCURSION DETECTED. HIDE OR RUN IMMEDIATELY!" The three of them hid in Zeke's room. Trembling in the corner. Moon was in a cold sweat. Raven held Red tightly. 'Have to help...have to help...' She repeated, trying to move her body. "Give me your heart." The voice hissed. "Come and fucking take it!" Zeke roared. Pinned face first into the ground, he felt the monster's claw on his back. It threw him high into the air, and chomped down on him, with rows of jagged and serrated fangs. He felt the creature struggle to bite him in half, and it's barbed, cat like tongue. He smirked grabbing the bristles and rammed the broken katana through its tongue. Raven screamed covering her ears, hearing the monster's roar of anguish. Zeke was tossed violently inside, but clung on with all his might, repeatedly stabbing the creature.
He felt cold blood touch his skin. Zeke let out a savage roar, stabbing it repeatedly. He was pulled out by a long black claw, and thrown to the ground. The creature reeled back covering its mouth letting out muffled screams. "You're not going anywhere!" He screamed sprinting in. He drove the jagged metal into its thick hide. The monster swatted him into the ground, repeatedly slamming its claw onto him, letting out a frustrated grunt with each one. Zeke spun around, holding his fingers out. The monster slammed him again. Zeke's fingers pierced through the thick hide like a needle. He gnashed his teeth together, grabbing every throbbing and undulating thing he could feel and yanked with all his might. Raven and Moon could hear the creature scream in agony. Zeke tore out several tubes filled with cold blood. The monster stumbled back into the darkness. 'Quadrupedal creature. Demonic in origin. Which means I need to remove its heart to kill it.' He sprinted on top of the creature, taking a deep breath and leapt into its mouth. It gurgled and chocked as Zeke wormed his way down its throat. He clawed his way inside, ripping every through its throat, and begun wildly clawing for its heart.
With a crashing and rumble. Adrianna appeared in front of Moon and Raven, holding her rapier. "Are you two okay?" Red nodded. "Good. Where's Zeke?" She asked. Red pointed outside, and she disappeared in a blink. Adrianna teleported closer to the disturbance, unable to see anything except darkness. She sucked on her teeth, and held her hand into the sky. "I call upon the god of light. Accept my offering, accept me as your vessel. HOLY LIGHT!" A bright white sphere illuminated the mountain side. The monster was a scaly grotesque perversion of a lion, with mangy black main, and four yellow eyes. Standing over ten metres on its hind legs. Adrianna watched as it fell back dead, and its chest throbbing and protruding violently. Zeke's arm burst forth from its chest cavity, and he ripped himself free, gasping for air. 'He killed a Night Creature by himself without a weapon?' She sprinted towards him, helping him out.
"Mother....fucker..." He wheezed, ripping the monster's heart out. A black mass encased in a thick scale. She sheathed her rapier, standing over him as he laid against the dead monster. "Are Moon and Raven okay?" "They're fine. A little shaken up." He reeled back letting out a sigh of relief. "Wooo...that's good. God, I need a shower." "Why weren't you afraid to fight this Night Creature?" "Is that what this thing is? Ehhh...It wasn't gonna kill me. Definitely tried to eat me like a dick!" He yelled punching the dead corpse. Constantine and several other students sprinted over the hill holding powerful torches. All of them heaving and huffing, wielding their weapons. "Go home children. The threat has been dealt with." "By who!?" Constantine demanded. "Our resident Immortal." She said standing aside to reveal the weary and blood covered Zeke. He gave a tired wave and smile. The students screamed in terror seeing the grotesque Night Creature. Constantine gulped at the sight. "Clean yourself up. I'll ensure the four of you are given proper quarters. "Too much effort. Besides, I like our little home." He said forcing himself up.
Zeke stumbled and trudged away. "Mr. Chen." She called out. "What will you do with that heart?" "Huh?" "A Night Creature's heart is filled with Mana, and one of this calibre will be overflowing with it." "Are you telling me to eat it?" "It can be prepared in other ways, but absorbing it, will greatly increase your powers." "Oh! Didn't know that." He said smiling at her. "What's the easiest way to absorb it?" "Crushing a Black Heart in your hands. The Mana will realize who defeated it, and flow into victor." "That's pretty fucking metal." "Zeke?" Moon asked stunned, looking at him up and down. "Oh, I'm fine. Are you okay?" She nodded silently. "There's a heart of there. Go break it in your hands, and you'll get more Mana." "I can't...It's yours..." He shrugged. "Eh, it's fine. I don't want it. All I want right now is to take a shower." He said walking past her. Constantine snuck closer to the Black Heart. He felt the cold steel of Adrianna's rapier press against his cheek. "Touch what you haven't earned, and I'll kill you myself." She growled.
Zeke checked up on Raven, still trembling and shivering, squeezing Red tightly. "You all good?" She nodded terrified at the sight of him. "Is it gone?" "Yeah, it's dead. I'm gonna go take a shower. Red make sure she gets some sleep." She nodded nuzzling Raven. Adrianna watched as Moon crushed the Black Heart. 'He really didn't want its power?' Moon fell to her knees, frothing and drooling from the intense rush of Mana filling her body. "Holy fuck! That was amazing!" "It's quite an addictive sensation." She reeled back flustered and short of breath. "Like a hundred orgasms at once isn't it?" "Try a thousand! Woo! Feel like I could run laps around the entire island." "If you have so much spare energy. You could catch up with your studies." Moon let out a yawn. "Oh god. Look at the time. Better get some sleep." Adrianna snickered. "Go home children. I'll deal with the body." She looked over to the Night Creature, with concern. 'If it was after a Demon's heart to devour. Why would it attack him, and not Alistair?'