The hum of magic finally came to a stop with Arthur lying down with his back on the ground, trying to get his bearings.
Towards the end of the usually peaceful spell, Arthur had gotten a severe case of dizziness, the world had begun spinning and before he knew it, he was once again in a similar unceremonious position to that morning when his brother had woken him up.
"What teleportation circle dumps someone on the ground instead of standing upright?" he mumbled, dusting himself off as he stood.
His eyes still throbbed with a gentle pain from the furious light of the magical runes from the Teleportation Circle.
The prince rubbed them lightly, taking his time to recover from the sudden fall. His instincts did not pick up on any immediate threats the likes of Dark Beasts…
And as a habit, he relaxed.
"Look what we have here," a male voice called out, breaking Arthur's misconceived deduction of safety, "It's that idiot from the train that couldn't use a Gravity Emulator."
'And of all places it could have put me, it had to be here. Why did the spell have to place me with people who seem to have it out for me?' the prince groaned.
Arthur made a move to stand only to have himself ruthlessly raised from the ground by the collar, "Hey, listen here, White! You will stay away from Lady Lucy if you know what's good for you."
"Lady-who now?" Arthur asked, his eyes still half-closed.
"Lady Lucy. Haven't you heard of the Hawks family? Look at me when you're talking to me," the boy yelled at him getting frustrated.
Slowly, the prince lowered the hand that was rubbing his eyes, doing his best to shield the light that assaulted them, "Teleportation Circles can really do a number on the eyes."
"What are you, some kind of cave bat?" the boy holding him growled.
Just then, Arthur remembered his eyesight was much sharper than that of a human. There was the possibility they didn't even suffer from the brightness that came with the runes as he did, "Yeah, something like that."
Arthur's eyes finally opened to meet one of the most agitated faces he'd ever had the pleasure of witnessing. The boy before him had blonde hair and green eyes. There was a gentle scar that went across his right eye giving him an even more intimidating presence.
"My eyes are better now," Arthur took control of his feet and stood up straight unfortunately failing to reach the boy's eyes. The boy was taller than him. When Arthur tugged at his collar, his adversary didn't let go, "Do you mind?"
"You're a cocky one! I think you're in need of a lesson."
This was when Arthur noticed they were not alone. There were others around the brutish scarred boy, each brandishing weapons of their own.
'Oh, so that's is what this is.'
When Arthur thought about it, he realised this couldn't be a part of the Sorting. None of this screamed 'Hunter' at all. This was bullying, plain and simple.
'And to think bullies were only among the phoenixes,' Arthur sighed.
"So you decided it was better for you to just gang up on me during the Sorting. Don't you think the professors are watching this?" Arthur raised a brow at the boy.
The boy snickered before allowing his laughter to rumble out, "And what of it? You're even dumber than I thought. Let me enlighten you. One can only become a hunter if they have what it takes.
There is nothing wrong with me helping a Civilian go where they belong. Defeating you here and now only proves that you're not meant to be here."
"That's some twisted way of thinking," Arthur grunted, "Now let go of me."
This was getting frustrating. The spear in his hand responded to his emotions and began to glow a faint red.
The blonde holding him looked down at the weapon his foe had chosen and smirked, "Very well… So you accept my challenge."
'Not like I have a choice,' the prince kept his thoughts to himself. On the bright side, now he could get to know the level of skill his soon-to-be classmates were on.
When Arthur had moved a fair distance from them, the three boys surrounded him and took a triangle formation around him, brandishing their different weapons. They were moving faster than the normal eye could follow.
'I don't remember humans being that fast.'
While he could still follow them, he could tell they were moving a tad bit faster than humans should have been capable of.
"Someone like you doesn't deserve to be here. You don't even know how to read the most basic of runes to pick the best weapon that suits you."
Arthur lifted his spear into the air and studied the runes once more. They didn't make sense to him but he had an idea about what his spear was capable of doing.
He'd used a weapon similar to it and when he'd chosen this spear, it was that same instinct that he'd used to choose the spear. It was fire-related… That's all he really needed to know.
"Can you read the runes?" the prince asked curiously.
There was a short silence.
"Well… N—No, but I can memorize the ones I need when I'm going to fight a powerful opponent," the boy stuttered, "What kind of question is that? Rune theory is one of the hardest subjects here at Barthlorn."
His friends snickered.
Arthur had heard a bit of the subject from Darius before but not enough to grasp anything meaningful.
Then again, Darius was a genius…
"Oh… okay. We are not so different then," Arthur replied, "I know what my weapon does. I'm guessing your weapons enhance your physical abilities. That's a good weapon to have if you trust your raw strength and how much mana you possess. Some monsters have really strong hides.
Even the strongest of men wouldn't be able to cut through them unless their weapons possessed some kind of enchantment," the prince explained.
"I'm not taking lessons from you. Let's get him back on the right track to the Civilian course boys," the brutish blonde was done talking.
'And just when I thought I could avoid a fight against him,' the prince sighed as he took a defensive stance.
The blonde held a long two-handed sword in his hands. The blade was double-edged with runes running along the flat of its blade.
To Arthur's right, one of his companions was holding a steel maze with spikes all over its heavy metal head.
'How does someone even use that thing?'
The other one was holding a pair of daggers.
While the others attacked with murderous intent, unrefined skill overdosed with the thrill of cornering a weaker opponent, this one held his blades in front of him, paying all his attention to his prey and surroundings as he moved in for the kill.
'Impressive…' the prince thought to himself.
Right before they could close in on him, Arthur spun the spear in his hand, allowing it to blur with the ferocity of sheer speed and power. The runes within it activated at once, unleashing a wave of heat on the clearing they were standing in.
A look of fear appeared on the blonde's face from the sudden movement, right before the prince struck his side with the flat of his immolating spear. The boy violently shot to the side and crashed hard into a tree.
Arthur was not done and didn't break his rhythm.
The initial shockwave of flame had thrown them all off their balance, creating a short window for the prince to act. A few seconds was all he would need.
The flame spear flashed through the air once more. This time, he used the blunt end of the handle to strike the mace-wielder right beneath the chin with enough force to launch him into the air, flying backwards several metres.
Arthur pivoted on the ball of his foot to strike the third boy but there was nothing behind him. The dual-blade wielder had long given him space, raising his knives up in surrender, "You're skilled with that weapon of yours. And those flames…"
"Wise... I like you. Try getting through the Sorting the right way. I'd like it if I didn't have to keep fighting your friend over there," Arthur told the boy.
He had raven black hair and didn't make too many expressions. Sheathing his blades, the raven-haired boy walked up to his blonde friend, slung one hand over his shoulders and lifted him to his feet, holding his sword in his other hand.
The blonde 'scarface' was knocked out cold.
The mace-wielder stood up behind Arthur, rubbing his chin with fury burning in his eyes, "Ace, where do you think you're going?"
"Calm down, Donnie. Sullivan is out cold. We'll challenge White when he wakes up," Ace calmly told his friend.
"Hey, didn't I just say I didn't want to fight you guys?" Arthur yelled.
"We heard you loud and clear… but Sully's not the kind of person to give up so quickly. For whatever reason, he's singled you out and he'll keep coming after you and so will we," Ace sighed.
"That's crazy. Try to…"
"We don't listen to you. We listen to Sullivan. He's our Leader and always will be. Now be a good boy and be the greatest rival you can, okay?" Ace cut him off and walked off.
Donnie chuckled at the knife-wielder's words, "See you later, White. The next time we meet, you'll be the one ending up on the ground."
Just like that, the three of them were gone, ghosting under the cover of the trees with the help of their weapon enchantments.
'My name's not… White,' Arthur had wanted to say.
'What an odd bunch of friends!'
Arthur would have liked to tour his surroundings. From what he could tell, he'd been dumped in a clearing in the middle of a forest.
Unfortunately for him, there was no time for sightseeing as a ferocious growl made its way to his ears.
He wasn't alone.
'Ugh, Sour Apples!'