Balere Angelo
I walked into the school, my entire body sore. "I'm glad I was able to help that girl yesterday, but damn am I sore..."
I walked into the classroom and sat down next to Celesse. "Hi, Balere!" She said with a smile. "Hey. I'm so tired..." I groaned before my head landed on the desk. "You're telling me. A royal person came to my house and cured my little sist, how well do you think I slept?" I laughed. "Not very well, I imagine."
Magister walked in and his head landed on his desk exactly as mine did. "Tough night?" I asked, my face smushed by the table. "Yesh..." He was wearing sunglasses, so I could tell he had a hangover.
The door opened and Celesse's brother stood next to us. "What's this I hear about Alba being better?" I turned to the girl. "That got out fast."
"She's getting better, yes. Why, did Mom ask?" I realized then that their parents were divorced. What a shame. My parents had divorced close to the time I had finished high school, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but that wasn't the case for these guys.
"She did. Who helped her?" He asked. I raised my hand slowly. "What? How did you manage that?" I shrugged. "Good luck, I suppose."
He seemed to be enraged by my words. "Mr. Magister, I would like to have a duel with Balere?" I raised my head slowly and raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you an idiot? He's royalty, you know!" Celesse cut in. "You could be beheaded for even the thought."
"It's fine. I won't have him killed. I was actually yearning for a fight recently. Wanna head outside?" He smiled confidently and led me outside.
Everyone in our class and some people from other classes were outside as we got ready. I put on my gloves with my training sword resting at my side.
"This is going to be a real duel, and the loser is whoever surrenders first!" I finished tightening my gloves when I picked up my sword. "If this is a real duel, then would you like to use real swords?" He seemed surprised. "I bet you couldn't even hold one up! Fine! Mr. Magister, if you would."
"I'm not sure if I can—" He was cut off by a loud voice. "It's allowed!" We all turned to see Headmaster Acuzio standing there with two swords. He handed one to him first, and then he gave me mine. "Make sure not to kill him, please."
"No promises."
Acuzio stood to the side with Ailuros. "Since the council has been pushing me, I think I'll use this duel as an opportunity. Whoever wins this duel will be chosen by me." Everyone around began whispering. "The duel will end whenever someone is either knocked unconscious or someone surrenders."
I swung my sword a few times. "Is magic permitted?" I asked. "Of course! It is a real duel, after all." I saw the kid begin to sweat. "What you saw yesterday," I whispered so only he could hear me, "Was only a fraction of what I can do."
"The duel will begin in three, two, one! Let the duel commence!"
He tried to move, but I already moved the ground to shackle him to the ground. I released [Aura Pressure] before cracking my neck. I raised my sword and poured mana into my legs and sword arm, propelling myself toward him and swinging downward as fast as I could. He barely was able to block the hit.
"Oh, I guess I should do this, too." I raised my hand, and a black pocket of air covered him. He tried to yell, but nothing came out. "Could you say that again? I didn't hear you correctly." He tried to say it again. but to no avail.
"Righty-o, then. Let me end it quickly by doing... this." I raised my right hand, and a ball of ice appeared in it about the size of a baseball. "Hey, batter, batter, swing!" I threw like a baseball player straight at his head. He tried to bat it away, but he was too slow and it hit him straight in the dome, knocking him out.
"The winner is Balere!" Everyone cheered for me, and I went up to the kid, releasing all of my spells. I picked him up and woke him up. "Wha..?"
"He's alive! Do I get a lollypop now?" I laughed at myself before walking to Acuzio, handing him both of our swords. "It seems you've earned the right to be my pick." I shrugged. "I thought I was guaranteed the spot," I whispered to him in a hushed voice. "We had to give you a reason, even if it is so trivial."
I sighed and walked over to the boy. "Why were you so enraged at me, anyway?" He stood up and brushed the dust off of him. "Doctors, my father included, have spent years trying to cure my sister. Then, one day, you come in and cure her? How did you even manage to do it?"
"You want the truth?" I whispered so only we could hear. He nodded. "A voice in my head taught me how to. She told me exactly what was wrong and moved my hands to fix it."
He seemed confused, but he appeared to believe me. I stood up and cracked my neck. "I believe we have a class, no?"
I walked back to the field after Magister's class, and I grabbed a training sword. "You're just coteaching now, aren't you?" Ailuros asked. "Might as well since they don't know jack. I mean, seriously?" He smiled before turning back.
"Balere! What you did this morning was so cool!" I turned to see Lucille running up to me. "You were out there?" She nodded, eyes lit with a flame. "It was awesome!" I smiled.
"Balere, you can teach her how t do the sets correctly while I teach the rest," Ailuros told me. "Can he help me, too?" Adrian asked. "Sure. You're twins, so I think it'd be better, anyway."
I brought the two away, and I summoned two dummies for them. "Show me set three, and I'll critique you from there."
They both began the set and I saw some flaws immediately. Lucille's slashes and thrusts were precise, but they didn't have much power behind them. I looked down and saw her feet were in the wrong position, limiting her overall power. I used the butt of my sword to push her feet into the right position.
As for Adrian, his strikes had power behind them, but he wasn't accurate in the slightest bit. Sure he hit the thing, but I could tell by the way he was grunting that he wasn't hitting where he was aiming. I got behind him and talked to him. "You're thinking of your sword as a tool. Think of it as an extension of your arm, and use it that way," I tried to explain. He seemed to understand and began to work on it.
They both seemed to grow in front of my eyes. Adrian took my advice and used it more elegantly. He got happier as he hit what he was aiming for, and a smile began to appear on his face.
Lucille's footing was much stronger, and her attacks could show it. Her attacks could almost clave through the dummy entirely. If you looked at them, you would think that Adrian is trying his hardest to be as good as possible and that Lucille was just there for the ride. In reality, Lucille is trying as hard, or maybe even harder, than her twin.
I was about to instruct them to do set four when the boy who challenged me earlier approached me. "Coming to apologize?" He nodded. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what came over me..." I put my hand on his shoulder. "it's OK... I'm now realizing I don't know your name."
"Cassius is my name." I felt my lips get sucked into my mouth as I tried to stop myself from laughing. I turned away and laughed like a crazy man. "Is my name funny or something?" He asked the twins.
"Sorry, sorry," I said while wiping away a tear. "There was a story I was told as a kid with a character named Cassius. It was the story of an emperor who was betrayed by his best friend, who was manipulated by a man named Cassius." The three of them looked at me weirdly.
"Anyway... I wanted to know how you had such good control over the earth. Is that your specialty? No, then why would you also be able to use ice?" I sighed. "I have to keep that a secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
"Stop threatening other students and do what I'm not paying you to do!" Ailuros yelled across the field. "Sir, yes, sir!" I turned back to the twins.
"That's enough for today!" The twins dropped like a rock. "Jeez, and we barely started doing anything..." I dropped my sword into its place before walking back to them. "Still want me to train you?" They looked up at me drenched in sweat. However, I could see the fire of determination in their eyes when they nodded triumphantly. "Alright, but it's only going to get worse from here on out."
Cassius walked toward me, his elder sister in tow. "Can you teach me, too?" I raised an eyebrow. "This isn't Make-A-Wish, I'm not going to train you just because you asked me to. I was planning on training Celesse, but I'm not sure about you."
"Wow, you sure are a joy to be around," Ailuros said before taking a drink of his water. "By the way, I'm fine with you taking a few kids away to train them since you didn't ask for permission already..." I smiled at him. "Aww, aren't you such a sweetie? How many am I allowed to steal?" He looked at the group around me. "I'll allow you those four, and if you do a good job, I might allow you to teach the class yourself." I chuckled at his joke.
"Well, Cassius, it seems like you're in luck this time. I'll teach you three most of what I know. And with that..." I raised my finger, and the bell rang. "Fare thee well, plebians!" I grabbed my bag and turned to leave.