Struggling to breathe and covered in his own vomit, Dennis, who had thought of himself as an immovable object, crumbled under the pressure of a person who he didn't know. And what stung worse than that was that it was all because of the pathetic bug he liked to toy with.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO MY FATHER IS?" Dennis shouted, his actions reminiscent of a cornered rat.
"Do I look like I give a shit?" Danny replied brazenly.
"I can make your entire lineage jobless with one word. Don't mess with me." Dennis continued, his pathetic attempt at intimidation being met with utter disregard.
"Oh how did I not think of that? Your father must be pretty influential huh?" Danny spoke in a condescending tone.
Danny yanked Dennis by the hair. Pulled him closer to stare into his eyes and spat on his face.
He then grabbed Dennis's head from the back and rammed it right into a knee strike. Dennis stumbled black. He was clearly outmatched but the sheer durability of his body was enough to keep him standing.
"You'll regret th-" Dennis attempted to say but was cut short by a punch to the nose.
"YOU SPEAK WHEN I TELL YOU TO. GOT IT?" Danny barked.
Danny did not wait for an answer from Dennis but instead started to repeatedly strike Dennis's head. His only goal being dealing as much damage as possible. He repeatedly rammed Dennis's face with haymakers and elbow strikes while all Dennis could do was desperately attempt to grab onto him. But it wasn't long until Dennis lost his consciousness in the midst of the vicious barrage.
"Danny. That's enough." Jack ordered.
Danny turned his head, shrugged and let Dennis crumble into the ground covered in his own blood. He then diverted his attention to Valentine, offering a hand to help him up which Valentine accepted.
"Hey new guy. Are you okay?" Danny said with a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the help. My name is Valentine. " Valentine replied. Patting the dust off his clothes.
Valentine turned to Jack. He was a a short distance behind Danny and seemed to be walking toward them.
"Hey! Valentine!" Danny shouted, grabbing onto Valentine's shoulder.
"Oh don't worry. I heard your names before. You're Danny and he's Jack. I'm just going there to say hi. We need to leave anyway, don't we?" Valentine said.
Valentine walked towards Jack, extending his hand for a handshake. But a few steps in he was hit with a sudden wave of dizziness. Valentine lost his footing. He took desperate steps to keep himself upright as he felt the overwhelming taste of metal in his mouth.
Valentine turned his gaze to the ground, seeing droplets of blood splattered all around with a pool right under him. Seeing that the blood kept on dripping down, he ran his hand over his face and put it in front of his face, being met with a large amount of fresh blood.
"So that was what happened." Valentine mumbled and turned his head to Danny.
"Got something for healing? I think I'm about to pass out." Valentine requested, his vision getting blurry.
Danny looked at Jack and then back at Valentine. He just sat there, not knowing what he should do. He had been told that the guy would die from a spell that's too strong for his body to handle. And if heal was too strong.
"Just use it man. I'll manage. I've fainted twice yesterday and I'm probably also fainting at least once today. I'll just take the pain." Valentine whispered.
"What?" Danny uttered in confusion.
"Heal" Jack said, his hand resting on Valentine's shoulder. He had made his way there in the midst of the confusion.
Valentine hunched over, screaming in pain as his wounds closed up and his bruises disappeared.
"Dude what the fuck?" Danny shouted.
"He asked us to do it, didn't he?" Jack replied nonchalantly.
"He could have died." Danny continued.
"It's not like he's an official member. What's the issue with that?" Jack said.
"Dude, can you not be a cinical bitch for once?" Danny shouted in frustration.
"You are just an oblivious child. Fucking moron." Jack retaliated.
The argument between the two mages devolved into a shouting match with empty insults being thrown around. Meanwhile Valentine was barely containing screams of pain.
But despite the unrest the screaming mages, Valentine and the bloodied unconscious body of Dennis should have caused, the students simply passed by without paying them any mind.
"Bitch"
"Moron"
"Ah FUCK. Phew. Worth it. Thanks man. Sorry for taking a while" Valentine said, getting a weird look from both Danny and Jack due to his obliviousness to the argument that happened right next to him.
"What? Are we going or not?" Valentine asked in response to their looks.
"We should. The illusion is going to stop working soon" Jack said coldly.
Danny nodded in reply and the group made their way to an identical car as the one of the day before. The only thing different being the driver.
"Valentine. I'll have to blindfold you. You're not an official member yet so you can't know where the facility is located." Danny said and pulled a blindfold from his back pocket.
Valentine looked at Danny with suspicion. He wasn't told anything about being blindfolded.
"Oh don't be worried. I blindfolded you yesterday too. I guess you wouldn't remember that though. Whatever, wear this and get in the car." Danny said, throwing the blindfold to Valentine
Valentine caught the blindfold and put it over his eyes. Wearing it stung so it had to be enchanted with some sort of magic. At least now he knew his kidnapper.
-
The car ride was silent due to the argument between the two mages but as soon as they got off, Valentine decided to break the ice.
"Danny. What spell did you use to take down Dennis this easily?" Valentine asked.
"Spell? I didn't need to use magic to beat up that clown. He didn't know how to fight so I just beat him up." Danny replied.
"What? You need to teach me how to fight dude." Valentine said.
"Sure, but John is better at it than I am. But I do have to ask. How the fuck did you not realize your nose was broken?" Danny said.
"Since yesterday I have been in constant pain. And the pain I'm in is much worse than that so I just didn't feel it." Valentine replied.
"Wait what? How can you be so nonchalant about it?" Danny asked.
"Well, it's just pain. But it does jamble my thoughts sometimes. It dulls my decision-making big time." Valentine said as they entered the building.
"Welcome back. You can take off that blindfold." John's voice was heard next to the group.
"We arrived? Cool." Valentine said.
When he took off his blindfold, Valentine found himself back in the familiar basement training room. He looked around in confusion, not remembering going through any stairs or hallways.
"How did we even get here?" Valentine asked.
"That we can't say." Danny replied.
John walked up in front of Valentine and looked him in the eyes.
"You can just continue what we started yesterday. You need to hit 10 in a row. After you master 'magic missile' I'll teach you other spells as well." John said.
"Jack, Danny. Follow me." He continued and made his way to his office, the two mages following behind.
Valentine found himself alone in that room. No help. No guidance. It was just him and the targets. He assumed position as he had done before. He took a deep breath. Felt the mana that resided in him and bended it to his will.
"MAGIC MISSILE"
"ONE"
"MAGIC MISSILE"
"TWO"
"MAGIC MISSILE"
"ZERO"
[...]
-
In John's office, Jack and Danny were discussing about Valentine with John.
"Now that we cleared that up. Do you think he is one of Merlin?" John asked.
"I don't think he is. But he does act a bit odd." Danny replied.
"That's to be expected. Not only is he in constant pain but his life was just turned upside down. What do you think Jack?" John said.
"He's clean. If he was with Merlin he wouldn't have gotten his nose turned upside down by some guy." Jack answered.
"Very well. Glad we are on the same page. Let's go do the trick shall we?" John said with a smile.
As soon as John mentioned the trick both Jack's and Danny's faces lit up with a devilish grin.
"It was about time we got to do it" Danny replied.
The group made their way back into the basement, John holding a small key. But upon entering the training room the saw a bloodied Valentine, standing above a pool of blood and vomit.
"MAGIC MISSILE"
"THIRTY FIVE"
"MAGIC MISSILE"
"THIRTY SIX"
Valentine looked as if he was in a trance. His eyes were glued to the target. His mouth moved only to call the spell and his arms moved only to switch the shooting hand.
John rushed at Valentine, swatting his arms away and grabbing him by the face.
"STOP!" he screamed, Valentine snapping out of his trance.
"It doesn't hurt as much as it looks" Valentine replied.
Jack and Danny did not move an inch. They just stared at the carnage, allowing John to handle the situation.
"That's impossible. A first circle magic missile shouldn't have caused any internal damage, even to you. Don't tell me. There's no way." John mumbled.
John put his hand on Valentine's back. He slowly released some of his mana into Valentine. John's expression changed from one of concern to one fear and then one of shock.
"You madman. You managed to break through to the second circle by only using Magic missile." John said.