"Oh shut up." Tessa said as she squeezed Fae tightly. "I barely survived, please don't finish the job." Fae said quietly trying to breathe while being crushed by Tessa's bear hug. "Sorry." Tessa said quietly as a nervous smile flashed across her face and she let go of Fae.
"Yo Joseph." Fae said as he began to walk towards him. "Good fight, you did great." Fae said as he reached his hand out to Joseph. "We're gonna have to do it again sometime." Joseph said with an awkward smile as he shook Fae's hand. "You look like you've never smiled before." Fae said as he let out a deep laugh. Joseph's smile seemed anything but natural, it was as if he was a baby being taught how to control his face. Suddenly a scythe was against Fae's neck as Joseph stared coldly at Fae.
"BAHAHAHA" Fae burst out laughing even more at this display of embarrassment. "Whatever." Joseph said as he began to walk away from the arena, leaving the fight.
Arthur suddenly appeared in the arena with an embarrassed expression and walked toward Fae, giving Tessa an angry look for less than a second as it quickly went away. Tessa knew this was likely because of something her mother had done to them up there. "Congratulations 'Effy' I don't know how you managed to overcome the odds and win this, but you did. You're the winner of this tournament."
As soon as the words left Arthurs mouth another system notification hit Fae.
{Quest Complete: SHOW THEM TRUE PRESSURE}
{Rewards: +2 bloodline points, Mythic rank up, 500 XP}
The bloodline energy in the air suddenly rushed into Fae again pushing him through to Human rank 5. Arthur paused as he stared at Fae in astonishment. He had met Fae at the start of the tournament and he was only a Human rank 1, but in the span of twenty four hours, Fae had somehow made it all the way to Human rank 5. 'Maybe Red was right.' Arthur thought to himself as he continued to speak. "Rest up, in an hour everyone will be called to the field for the announcements of who passed." Arthur left the arena after that and all that remained were Tessa and Fae.
"Tess I just wanted to sa-" Fae's words were cut off as a shadow appeared in front of him shutting him up. Fae immediately brought his head down to a bow as he knew exactly who was soon to appear. "Hello Ms. Phantom!" Fae said as the shadow dissipated leaving Ms. Phantom in its place.
"Hello Fae." Ms. Phantom said as if she couldn't be bothered to speak to him. She than turned to Tessa and told her it was time for them to leave. "No." Tessa said back to her mother with a serious and firm tone, throwing her mother off guard. "What do you mean no? We're leaving." Ms. Phantom said as she reached her hand towards Tessa who slid back to avoid her mother. "How dare you disobey me!" Ms. Phantom said as a crazy expression appeared on her face, shadows began to dance around her as if a manifestation of her anger. "Is it cause of this boy?" Ms. Phantom said as shadows began to form into a sharp blade in her hand. "I'll kill him!" She jumped at Fae faster than he could ever dream of reacting to.
Suddenly a red wave passed over Ms. Phantom, freezing her in place. Fae remembered when this happened to him and knew exactly who had just stopped her. "Let's not meddle in the younger generations affair, we're better than that, right Clarissa?" Red said as he walked towards a frozen Ms. Phantom. "Clarissa?" Fae said in confusion. "Yeah her right there." Red said as he pointed at Ms. Phantom. "Me and her go wayyy back, isn't that right Clarissa." Red said as he tapped Ms. Phantom on the back, unfreezing her.
"Come on Tessa, we're leaving. Enough of this stupid game." Clarissa said grabbing Tessa. Her and Red had fought a few times in the past, and she knew he could easily best her in a fight, if Red planned on protecting Fae there was nothing she could do to him.
"The girl said she doesn't want to go." Red said stopping Clarissa. "She's MY daughter, I know what's best for her, and it's to come with me." Clarissa said snapping back at Red, but suddenly Red was no longer where he was before and was crouching down to reach Tessa's level. "What do you want to do?" Red asked Tessa.
"I want to stay." Tessa said quickly and confidently. "Why's that?" Red asked her. "For him." Tessa said as she pointed at Fae. "Oh? Young love?" Red laughed out causing Tessa to blush. "NO! It's not like that." Tessa said shyly as she looked down "I've just been around him my whole life, I've always been there to protect and defend him. It hasn't felt right without him." Tessa said trying to wash away the embarrassment from Red's prior banter. "I leave him alone for just a few days and he almost dies in a tournament. I want to be here for him."
"So you're abandoning me for a boy?" Tessa's mother snapped angrily trying to twist the narrative in her favor. "No mom, this is a school, a place I can grow and learn, while also making friends and having fun." Tessa said as she went to hug her mom. "I love you mom, and I would never abandon you, but I'm going to stay." "You're no-" Clarissa's rebuttable was cut short as Red cut her off. "Than you can stay." Red said as he glared nefariously at Clarissa. "You're only sixteen and are already Spirit rank 2, so you qualify for automatic acceptance, but you'll start as a year two and therefore wont be in the same classes or have the same schedule as Fae, but you'll still be able to see him occasionally." Red said as he began to walk away, telling Clarissa to follow him. "It's better than nothing." Tessa said as her and Fae began to talk and catch up.
***
An hour had passed and it was finally time for announcements. Here they would announce who had passed and was officially a student of the esteemed Levings Academy.
"This has been a wonderful exam, it's truly been a pleasure seeing all of you, and I can confidently say I have hope for the future." Arthur took a moment of pause, and put on a bright smile. "Sadly not all of you will make it this year. This doesn't mean give up though. Train hard, and become a pillar of this community... OF THIS KINGDOM!" An uproar sounded throughout the crowd as Arthurs natural leadership grabbed everyone's attention with every word.
"Those who passed are as follows...." Arthur began to read of dozens of names Ling Xao, Peter, Logan Orion, and more. "Coming up as second in the class is Joseph Limpervil." There was less cheers for Joseph, as many people had seen his mean and cruel attitude towards his opponents throughout his fights. Arthur continued "And finally, coming in first place is Effy Limpervil!" The claps and cheers were overwhelming as Fae walked towards Arthur on the platform.
Staring out at the crowd Fae didn't know what to say, he didn't feel like some number one winner. He didn't know how to inspire or how to hype people up with his words. Instead he did the one thing he could do. He crossed his arms into an X shape as two ice blades hovered above him he than raised his right fist high into the air as the two blades slammed into each other causing icy particles to rain down around Fae as if he was some amazing being. With all the courage and vigor Fae could muster into his voice he shouted, a shout that nobody knew at the time, but would soon change life in all the realms.
"FOR VICTORY!"