"What do you mean with what do I do, boss?"
The question came from Hakon, who along with the other members of Team D were in the testing room facing Kaito, who was sitting in a rolling chair with his notebook open on his legs.
"It's exactly what I asked, Hakon! What do you guys do when you fight? What weapons do you like? What skills do you have? How do you feel when you fight? How does your blood react? That's the kind of thing I want to know."
"Look, I'll be honest with you...(yawn)... I think this is an abuse... class is over and now you're doing extra training..." said Theo lying on the floor propping his head on his arms like a pillow...
"Come on, Theo! You've accepted to join the team and you'll have to do your best!" scolded Saphyra.
"Do I really have to do this, Saphy? It's so tiring..."
"Of course you do! You are strong and know many things that can help!"
Everyone seemed excited to speak, except Gilliard and Erika. The cleric kept herself observant and quiet looking at the generalist as if analyzing him from the bottom up. Such a look did not go unnoticed by Kaito.
"Do you want to say something Erika? Do you have any ideas to give?"
"Little brother... did you manage to see something we missed?"
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Let's find out today!"
"Yeah... I prefer you like that! Be always stuck up and smart you'll have the support of this big sister here!" said Erika pointing at herself with her thumb, "but if you get all weird and annoying like you did before, I'll kick your ass."
Kaito gave a laugh that was accompanied by the group, but one of them was not laughing. Gilliard was skeptical of Kaito. He looked down on the coach with superiority, and at one point he felt he had nothing left to hide.
"I don't want to train with you. I beat you and it was super easy, so I don't owe you anything! I'm going to train on my own and you guys can follow that Bloodless there." he said turning his back and walking away.
"What the fuck did you say?!" reacted Hakon turning to the warrior already with his fists closed "repeat it if you dare!"
"You heard what I said! I don't want to train with a trash like that! It makes no sense!"
Hakon was about to advance on the warrior, but before anything could be done, Kaito snapped his fingers with a brief bolt of lightning, which produced a mini thunder sound that stopped them both. Apparently learning that from his father and professor Caligan had not been a waste of time.
"Let's not get emotional here, okay? Why don't we do this the right way?" suggested Kaito with a smile in defiance facing the warrior "Why do you think I can't train you, Gilliard?"
"Isn't it obvious? You're an F rank! A fucking Bloodless! You lost to me and you didn't even give me a hard time! I think anyone who goes with you is going down!"
"Look here, you little shit, if you keep talking like that about boss-"
"Hakon, be quiet and let me handle this!" interrupted Kaito.
The generalist stood and walked over to Gilliard, who faced him head-on and without any fear.
"You're right, Gilliard. I lost to you. Whether I gave you a hard time or not doesn't matter. The fact is that I lost. I am indeed an F rank, a Bloodless...in all that you are right."
"I know I'm right. You don't have to tell me that!"
"But from what I remember, Gilliard, that wasn't our first fight. From what I remember you were one of the ones I knocked out in the fight against class D. As a matter of fact you were one of the first to fall." said Kaito with a smile on his lips.
Saphyra laughed quietly while Erika, Hakon and Theo laughed loudly and carelessly. Gilliard turned red with anger and shame, coming closer to Kaito and looking down on him like a threat.
"You caught me by surprise! It was luck! In the fair fight you lost, and lost badly!
"But I admit that I lost, Gilliard. I really lost to you, and because I lost I'll never lose again. I've learned from it. I understand why you defeated me," Kaito said, circling the warrior, "but you lost too, and you won't admit it. Worse, you lost when you had more than twenty allies with you. Defeat is defeat, my friend."
Gilliard grabbed the collar of Kaito's blouse and pulled him close with force. The rest of the team made mention of going at the warrior, but the generalist gestured for everyone to stay where they were.
"Then why don't we fight tomorrow? I'll beat you up in front of everyone! If I lose, I'm off the team! Better! I'll quit the damn academy! But if you lose you'll have to say goodbye to everybody! What do you say?"
"I would be honored to accept!"
"Great! Tomorrow I'll finish you off!"
The warrior released Kaito and left the testing room leaving everyone behind. Saphyra approached Kaito and seeing that his collar and shirt were messy, she tidied up casually.
"Are you okay? I wanted to interfere, but you made it so clear you weren't supposed to do that."
"I'm used to this kind of threat. It doesn't even get to me anymore."
Erika, Hakon and Theo looked at the two of them and looked at each other for a moment. A smart smile appeared on their lips at the same moment.
"Wow, who knew I would see a youthful infatuation like that so quickly! Look like newlyweds!" said Erika.
"That's it, Saphy! I approve this hottie for you!" said Theo.
"How proud I'm of the boss! Not only is he strong, but he also turned his enemy into his girlfriend.
Kaito and Saphyra didn't realize until that moment what they were doing, but before the generalist could try to pull away, the mage pulled him along and continued tidying his tie carefully.
"Let them talk! I still won't let you walk around like someone assaulted you!" Saphyra said with her face red with embarrassment.
"But they'll be talking things and gossiping..."
"And don't they already do that?"
The mage finished tidying Kaito's blazer, walked over to Theo and elbowed him. Kaito saw the group laughing, and even with the disagreement with Gilliard, everything still seemed to be fine. This made him smile. Somehow he felt that things would work out.
"Then let's get down to business!" .
"Oh, that's right, there's the thing about questions, isn't there? Why do we have to answer them?" asked Erika.
"Ah, that's very simple, Erika..." said Kaito facing everyone with a confident smile "I'll make the best of you manage to destroy the best of class B. For that I need to know what you're good at!"
* * *
The next day seemed to come faster, and somehow the whole class was aware of the duel between Gilliard and Kaito.
In the testing room everyone was gathered waiting for the F rank, who had not yet arrived. Saphyra, Theo and Erika could hear the students of the class doing what they did best, bad-mouthing Kaito and wishing him defeat.
"Let's hope Gilliard breaks his face again!"
"He's going to finish off the Bloodless. There's no way a weak guy like that could win without a dirty trick."
"I think I'll challenge Bloodless too. Without his tricks he's nothing."
Saphyra felt herself getting irritated at every comment and her urge was to get up and put each of them in their place, but before she could do so Erika interrupted her.
"It's no use, sweetie. You can show these assholes anything you want, they'll still think it was some kind of trick. All so they don't admit they were beaten." said the cleric leaning back against the wall.
"But still... what they do it's so ridiculous ! They're worse than lousy losers! They get stomped on just as much as Kaito, yet they use their little higher rank to say these things!"
"Girlfriend, keep it down. Your man will come and...(yawn)... fix everything. You know he will." said Theo sitting down on the floor and feeling sleep come on.
The door to the room opened and soon Kaito and Hakon entered. The barbarian walked ahead, staring one by one like an angry guard dog that could do anything to protect its master. Kaito, on the other hand, was coming right behind, and his expression caught everyone's attention.
"What the hell is that?"
"Is he finished like that already?"
"Looks like the fight will be quick..."
Kaito was looking totally tired. His dark circles under his eyes were huge. His eyes were as red as if he hadn't slept for a minute. His clothes were completely crumpled and his hair was completely messed up.
He entered yawning and scratching his head as if he couldn't place himself in the scene, but soon his gaze met Gilliard's, who was already in the arena holding his shield and spear, the same way he fought earlier.
"Looks like the Bloodless couldn't even sleep for fear," he said teasingly.
Much of the class laughed and jeered at Kaito, but he didn't seem to mind. The generalist walked calmly to the weapons table, picked up a dagger identical to the one he had used in his fight against Gilliard, and walked wearily to the center of the arena.
"Can we finish this soon? I'm really tired..." said Kaito, holding back a yawn.
"Let's finish this before that shit teacher arrives!" replied Gilliard getting into fighting position.
"Boy, are you already offending the professor? Apparently you like to trash talk others."
"Anyone who gives a chance to a Bloodless like you is an equal shit!"
The whole class felt the pressure of the battle. There was a huge animosity between the two, even if at that moment Kaito didn't show it.
The generalist did not assume a combat stance and Gilliard already started to make his blood weigh on his body, increasing his stamina and strength.
"If you can't even beat me with two daggers, what do you expect to do with one?"
"By the blood... it's true... I only took one..." said Kaito looking at the weapon in his hand "so I guess I'll have to finish this quickly."
The signal was not given by anyone. Only the atmosphere said it was time to start. Suddenly Gilliard jumped back to stand close to the wall, just as the first confrontation had been. Defense had always been his strong suit, and he would use it again to win.
However, before the warrior could get into position, Kaito sped up and stirred his blood, and with the skills of a thief and wizard he enchanted the weapon with ice and hurled it with speed and precision at the spot where Gilliard's foot would be.
As soon as the warrior's foot touched the ground, it slipped on the smooth layer of ice that was created by the freezing dagger. Gilliard fell backwards, seeing the ceiling just above. But to his surprise there was something above him.
Kaito took advantage of his opponent's fall and moved forward with rogue speed, leaping above the warrior and closing his fist with all his strength and weight of blood.
"Fulminating Impact!"
Gilliard had no way to defend himself, and soon the generalist's fist came to meet his face having added the speed of a rogue and the strength of a warrior. The power of the blow was so great that Gilliard bounced in to the ground, collapsing instantly as his broken nose gushed blood.
Kaito looked down at the fallen warrior under his feet and let out a weary sigh. What he said in a low voice was crystal clear heard by everyone there, who are in silence in the face of astonishment at what they had seen.
"I told you it would be quick..."
"Mister Kaito Arturis, I think we need to talk!"
The voice was Professor Caligan's, who faced Kaito with a stern look. Soon Hakon and Saphyra tried to say something, but before they could even open their mouths the professor was quick to cut them off.
"Anything you say can make Mr. Arturis' situation worse. I hope you know that!"
Kaito walked up to the professor feeling a little nervous. He knew he shouldn't have done that. He knew that this kind of problem should be reported to Professor Caligan, but at the moment he had so much on his mind and he was so angry at the way Gilliard had talked about his friends that he just acted.
"Yes, Professor...?"
"Come with me, we have something important to talk!" said the professor already turning around.
"And what would that something be, professor?" asked Saphyra worriedly.
Professor Caligan looked at the mage and then at everyone there, saying with a heavy seriousness in his gaze.
"We will discuss about Mr. Kaito's staying at the Phoenix Academy."