***Midhold***

***Angrod***

“I can't believe this! Didn't we have enough trouble already?” Celes complains after I gave her an update regarding my mother's warning.

Rose steers the car through a roundabout and I hold onto one of the car's handles, promising myself to introduce the wide-spread use of traffic lights at the next opportunity. It would make our way to school so much easier on my stomach.

I understand that traffic lights are not cost-effective in the current economic environment, so the city planners did a great job at planning the city when they placed roundabouts at every opportunity. Still, one roundabout every few hundred metres is just too much.

“I hope that the little masters are careful today. I have heard some disturbing things about the new student. Yesterday, after he was registered to school, he went to the fighting class and picked a fight with a whole group of students. He beat them up badly,” Rose warns us.

“So we will have to deal with him in Special Class for sure. That's great!” Celes complains, clearly not amused by the situation. “If he tries anything, I'll break his face!”

“Is that even possible?” I ask Celes, wondering about the mechanics of breaking a person's face. Wouldn't that require breaking the skull? In that case, wouldn't the act of breaking a face be lethal?

“Sure, you would be surprised at the many ways in which a person can be broken.” Celes starts counting on her fingers. “You could fold them over backwards, or forwards-”

I frown. “How do you break someone forwards?”

“Just have his legs outstretched and have him bend over until the knees touch the shoulders. Done. Many people can't even do that much without snapping some tendons,” Celes explains casually.

I shudder. “I wouldn't be able to do that.”

Narrowing her eyes, she turns and looks at me, studying my body like a piece of meat. “We have to change that.”

“No thanks.” I look out of the window.

“You have no choice in the matter. Keeping your body fit is your first duty as my husband. I won't do the tango with you if you develop a beer-belly,” she huffs.

I consciously touch my belly. I was never someone who did anything like body-shaping and training. Although I am always trying to stay in shape, I end up developing at least a small belly once a few decades pass and I become lax. While I was a god, I dealt with the problem by visiting an advanced world and having the problem taken care of for me.

“What does a beer-belly have to do with being elastic?”

“Let's just say that I want to try some interesting positions in the future.”

Slowly, I edge away from her.

Which position would require me to bend over like... nope. I quickly wipe the image from my mind, deciding that I would never go there.

After a few minutes, we arrive at the school and silently make our way to the first class.

The entire time, Celes shows her obvious displeasure at the most recent development.

I for my part decide to be silent and nod to everything she says. If I contradict her, I will probably just become the target of her morning issues. A few years of living with her retaught me that that's how she works. Right after getting up, she is a real fury. It's better for me to hide somewhere and keep out of sight until the storm is over. Once the clock hits eight, she gets more agreeable until the storming sea of her emotions calms down around ten.

Even if I give her a present or try to cheer her up, I have a fifty-fifty chance of becoming the target of her bad mood.

Thankfully, the school day passes in relative normalcy until, some hours later, the dreaded Special Class is on the list.

When we arrive at the meeting place, we find Stephen and Iris. Gabriel, Sven, Tanja, and Sandra are also present. There are a few more students, but I know none of them personally.

What really surprises me is Stephen's presence. He never visited this class up until now.

Stephen and Iris are holding hands, looking like the happiest pair in the world. I can practically see the pink aura around them and the little red hearts floating up from their heads. I catch myself feeling envious of their happiness since I suspect that they have something that I'll never truly feel again.

“Hi, Stephen. Long time no see. Do you intend to join us?” I try to strike a conversation because I am curious what he is doing here.

“Oh, Angrod and Celes! No, I am not much of a fighter. My talents lie somewhere else.” He gestures at the wolfgirl next to him. “I just escorted Iris. And now I have to run. My class is about to start.” He bows and leaves, whistling a happy tune.

I throw a curious look at Iris who starts fiddling with her hands upon noticing my attention. Grinning, I decide to pry a little bit. “I've noticed that you became very good 'friends' with Stephen.”

Iris turns red like a tomato from head to toe.“Well... you see. I live inside the Cygnus mansion and as a result, I spend a lot of time with Stephen and... ah... at some point... he... he proposed I guess?”

I hear a gasp from next to me and Celes gestures wildly at Iris. “You can't! You are too young for that!”

Iris blinks, clearly not comprehending my companion's problem. “We are a couple now. No need to look at me like some rare animal. And it's not like you and Angrod are any different; you are practically married. Compared to that, Stephen and I are only dating.”

Celes opens her mouth, but pauses, clearly trying hard to come up with a proper reply.

I understand where Celes's ideas are coming from. In another world, in another society, people would look down on Iris and Stephen for having a serious relationship. But that's not the case in this world.

Sandra and Tanja interrupt before Celes can continue her protests. “Ohohoho. How far did you go already?” Tanja pokes at Iris.

Sighing, I decide that this is not my kind of topic, so I back away from the forming group of girls around Iris.

I turn to Gabriel and Sven who are now the only ones I can have a halfway decent conversation with. “So what's up with Harald?” I ask them. The lesson should have already started, but Tongord's replacement is nowhere to be seen.

“He went to get the new student,” Gabriel informs me and Sven nods. “The rumours say that yesterday, he went against the whole Fighting Class and won,” Sven adds.

“I see.” Well, besting the students of the normal Fighting Class individually shouldn't be a problem for anyone who attends the Special Class. We were taken out of the normal class exactly for that reason. Anyone who is here somehow outperforms the normal students on some level.

Turning my attention to Sven, I smile at the smaller boy. He managed to overcome his shyness over the years. Now he is talking to me properly, instead of stuttering his way through every sentence. Sadly, he is only like that with people who he knows very well.

Nonetheless, facing down the whole fighting class would force even me to go all out. “Don't you think that the rumours might be blown just a little bit out of proportion?”

I can't help but remember the rumours about Celes and me subduing the whole fighting class. In fact, we just fought each other and everyone else was just too impressed and backed off. Essentially, we were shunned because of our exceptional skills, but we didn't truly fight anyone.

The guys in the normal class are all spineless weaklings. They could attack anyone from Special Class by the dozen and mangled bodies would be the only result. Still, there are about sixty students in that class and fighting all of them at once would be taxing even for me.

Our conversation is interrupted when Harald arrives with a guy who is about my age. He has horns and slit pupils, just like someone with a strong royal bloodline should have. His hair is dark like mine and I can see the strong family resemblance. The difference is that he is sturdier and maybe a little larger.

I guess he really is my cousin?

“So, here we have the other students of the Special Class. Everyone line up here!” Harald gestures for the rest of the class to line up for a meet and greet.

Of course, we do as ordered and Harald continues with the introduction.

Harald gestures at each of us in turn, introducing all students by name and their speciality. When he is done, he introduces the new student. “Everyone, this is Markorn of Tirna.”

Markorn smiles and bows to us. “I am happy to join your class.”

Markorn walks up to the beginning of the line and shakes hands with everyone. Reaching Celes, he bows down in an attempt to kiss the back of her hand.

'Whack!' Markorn's head is rocked to the side and he stumbles, but he doesn't fall. Moving his jaw, he tests it for injuries and smiles at the princess.

Celes had pulled her hand away from Markorn's gripping paws with incredible speed and gave the offender a resounding slap with the back of her hand. Everything happened so fast that the motion was just a blur to the naked eye.

“Celes!” The only one who dares to question the interaction is Harald. As the teacher, he is responsible for the actions of his students.

“Hahaha! It's okay, Teacher.” Markorn defuses the situation, making himself look like the generous one.

Though, honestly, there wouldn't have been much Harald could have said or done about Celes's reaction. Despite his lineage, Markorn's status is equal to a random noble of Tirna. When he tried to kiss the Princess of Stricc he was clearly playing outside his league. It would fall to me to either reprimand him, or defend him against Celes.

I wouldn't ever do that, so when Harald looks at me, I just shrug smile. Markorn will learn soon enough that Celes isn't the average pretty puppet.

Seeing that there is no more attention to be gathered, Markorn shrugs. “I like them spicy. It's no fun without a little challenge. The people in this class are sure to be worth my time.”

The corpse talks!

Markorn straightens himself and tests the movement of his head, making me wonder if Celes intentionally held back from killing him. Normally, I would have expected his head to pop off and sail over the training field. With Tongord, Celes proved that she is capable of that on numerous occasions.

Something cracks in Markorn's neck, like something snapping back into place, but otherwise he seems to be fine.

Unimpeded, he continues further down the line until he reaches me. “I am pleased to meet you, cousin. It was overdue for a long time now.”

“The pleasure is on my side,” I answer and offer him my hand.

He takes my hand and puts his whole strength into squeezing it.

I try my best to hold against it with everything I have, but I didn't expect him to be this strong! There is a grinding feeling in my palm and a cracking noise, combined with uncomfortable pain.

But I don't even flinch. As soon as I realized that I won't win this fight of strength, I used my telekinesis to sever the nerves for pain in my hand. All I feel is a nasty itch as I keep smiling at Markorn, promising myself to return the favour a hundredfold at the next opportunity.

My lack of reaction or discomfort obviously disturbs Markorn and he lets go a little too hastily. Pulling his hand away so quickly makes him seem like someone who just realized that he was touching something dangerous.

The other kids chuckle, ruining Markorn's supposedly kingly entrance.

He must have felt the bones in my palm break, so he keeps his eyes on my hand as he continues towards Sven.

Flexing my hand, I can feel the bones rearrange themselves and fuse back together. He got two fingers and one of the metacarpals! By the time Markorn is done shaking hands with Sven, my hand is healed and whole, so I make a show of studying my fingernails, wanting him to know that his childish display of power didn't have the slightest effect on me.

A long time ago, I came up with the idea of organic enchantments. Flesh Magic! In other words, placing permanent effects on a living body. It's something that's widely considered as impossible, or at least, not worth the effort.

But seeing the potential, I started my own research on the topic a long time ago.

The process was tedious and slow, additionally hampered by the fact that I am utterly clueless in the fields of medicine and biology. I know some of the basics, but I would never consider myself a doctor or a healer.

Nonetheless, there is much to be learned if you aren't bound by moral restrictions.

Through success and failure, I learned the hard way how to place enchantments on a living test-subject without the enchantment deteriorating because of the natural electric field any living creature generates. Or in turn, without the enchantment messing with the body's nerve-signals.

At first, I went down a completely wrong path, trying to utilize tattoos. But having my test-subjects pay the price for knowledge, I found a way with satisfactory results.

The organic enchantment which I placed on myself with Celes's help kept growing over the years, spreading and taking over my whole body. The seed I placed on the bones of my hand is now a template that increases my physical properties slightly.

Sadly, it is clearly not enough to keep up with whatever Markorn did to himself, though, that was never the intention of why I went through the pain of enchanting my body.

On some worlds, there is a natural material that's called dragonbone. Naturally grown carbon fibre, combined with strengthening silicon deposits and other minerals, it's almost as easy to enchant as many metals. With the right enchantments and enough power, dragonbone can become almost indestructible.

As long as I place the right enchantments on it and activate them.

By now, I should be able to imbue my body with almost any effect I wish for, combined with increased control over my mana, which was the main point of the organic enchantment. Just like with dragonbone, all I need is enough power and I can reshape the structure of my bones, reconfiguring the effects according to the situation.

Markorn returns to Harald's side and Gabriel and Sven look at me with worried faces.

“You okay?”

“I could hear them break!”

“No worries. I am fine!” I smile and show them my hand while moving it as proof. I allowed Markorn to break my hand, hoping that by seeing my weakness he would make the mistake of revealing his hand.

Sadly, that wasn't the case. If there hadn't been an audience, I would have screamed and whimpered, but just as Markorn is trying to build up a reputation, as the Prince of Tirna, I have to think of my own public persona.

Seeing my obvious display of health, Markorn's eyes go round with disbelief.

Harald claps his hands together. “Okay! After we are now all somewhat introduced to each other, we can start our training fights again. Markorn, you as a newcomer can choose your opponent if you want. I have to get a feeling for your strength.”

“I would like to test myself against my cousin!” Markorn answers with a devilish smile, pointing at me.

“That's fine then. Everyone else, team up and start training.” Our green-skinned teacher gestures for us to get going and claps to spur us on. “We have wasted enough time with introductions!”

While the others team up for training and spread out, I am left alone with Markorn.

My opponent takes a quick look around, ensuring that Harald and the others aren't close enough to overhear a casual conversation.

No longer bothering with appearances without an audience, Markorn crosses his arms and looks at my hand. “That's strange. I thought that I broke it for sure. You are rather weak for someone of the royal bloodline, dear cousin.”

I tilt my head. “What do you know of the royal bloodline? I just find it strange that you aren't hiding your hostility at all. Are you, by any chance, aspiring for the throne?”

“There is no need to play games between us. I am pretty sure that I can take Celes from you and get the throne for myself. A weakling like you isn't cut out for a position of power,” Markorn proclaims confidently, assured that he has the upper hand.

“A proper royal should have the physical features of the horns, slit pupils and a tail. While almost everyone gets the horns, the women mostly lack the eyes and get the tail in turn, while the men mostly lack the tail.” He taps his chin. “Coming along with those merely cosmetic traits comes physical strength and speed, combined with raw magical power. I can sense that you got the magical side of our bloodline, but you are utterly lacking in strength. Our ancestors would turn in their graves if they knew how diluted their bloodline became.”

I put my hands into my pockets and channel mana into a shield. “We will see about that. Will you talk for the rest of the day, or can we start training?”

“I will start the beating then...”

Suddenly, Markorn is at my side.

Did he teleport? I didn't see him move at all!

I pull my head back by pure reflex when I see his hand move. The instinctive reaction was burned into me by training with Celes every day.

An open palm crushes my shield and drives forward, right through the space where my head was just a moment ago.

Reaching out with my mind, I lift a small stone from the ground and shoot it straight at Markorn. Seeming bored, he sweeps it aside with a casual movement of his hand.

Not fair! That should have killed him! That trick always worked on Tongord and my grandfather.

I jump backwards to increase the distance, but Markorn follows in close range and continues to throw his punches and kicks at me.

Seeing that his style of fighting relies heavily on physical combat, I try to avoid challenging his strength and dodge instead. Each time, I manage to evade by a hair's breadth. We are locked in a dance with him as the cat and me as the mouse. I don't even get the chance to cast a spell.

After repeatedly missing his chance at a good blow, he suddenly abandons his tactics and teleports yet again. Closing the distance further, he grabs my left arm with both hands and brings his legs up in a scissor-kick.

But instead of delivering a blow, he locks his thighs around my arm and pulls while pressing his calves against my neck and chest.

Roaring from having my arm bent backwards, I go down to the ground together with him as the damned bastard tries his best to pull off my arm with his incredible strength.

Though, this time I don't allow him to break me. Channelling mana, I rely on the reinforcement effect of my organic enchantment.

Feeling the already sharp canines in my mouth lengthening, I open wide and chomp down on the calf of his lower leg. Hot blood enters my mouth, and strangely enough, I find it quite tasty.

Screaming hilariously, Markorn tries even harder to break my arm or at least dislocate it, but that only means bringing his calf closer to my mouth where I can bite even harder and saw my teeth back and forth. He has no choice but to do so. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the needed leverage to apply pressure to my arm.

Quite honestly, without revealing my own improvements, Markorn would have ripped my arm off. He is incredibly strong and I can feel the magic coming off of him in waves. Just like me, he is far beyond our age class.

On average, the people of this world are far stronger than the normal mortal. It's not too strange. There are worlds and dimensions which are saturated with energy. The mortals who live and survive there either become strong or die. The Infernal Planes are the perfect example.

There are things and people there, mortal – without the innate ability to reincarnate or walk the pathways through the multiverse, who even the gods have to fear in a fight.

But that's not the case here, which makes me wonder how Markorn got this powerful. It doesn't seem like he has access to a hoard of knowledge like Celes and me. He is skilled at fighting, but his technique is raw and screams of inexperience, giving me the impression that he never was in a true struggle of life and death.

“Fuck!”

Having enough, Markorn lets go of me and rips his calf out of my mouth. Rolling over backwards, he gets to his feet and puts some distance between us.

I sit up and shift over to a kneeling position. Then I stand up.

“Fuck! Bastard!” Markorn hobbles left and right a few feet away from me like some wounded animal. “Harald! That bastard bit me!”

He screams for the teacher, giving yet another indication that this boy-child was never in a proper battle. If my observation is true, then how did Markorn get so powerful?

Mr. Orc came over as soon as the screaming started, but didn't interfere. The green-skinned muscle-man crosses his arms and huffs at his newest student. “What's the problem? Is Angrod poisonous? Do we need the medics?”

“What!? No!” Markorn gestures at his bleeding calf. “He bit me! That's not proper fighting! You have to punish him!”

Harald rolls his eyes. “This is Special Class, boy. Here, you learn how to fight, not how to dance. If you are afraid of using everything you have, then you should go back to normal Fighting Class. I don't need any ninnies here.”

Glancing at me, the teacher does a double take, his expression aghast. “Are you chewing!?”

Harald and Markorn and now a large part of the rest of the class look at me, horrified.

Reaching up, I pull a piece of annoying fabric from between my lips and swallow, ignoring the fact that there is blood all over my chin and my chest. “Doesn't taste half bad, though it could use a little bit of pepper for seasoning.”

Then I grin at Markorn, revealing my sharp fangs in all their glory. “You were moping about our bloodline earlier? I think you are missing the bite it takes to become a king.” For emphasis, I clack my teeth together, enjoying the horrified look on his face. “Let me show you who is the one with the diluted bloodline.”

Activating the organic enchantment, I can feel my obsidian horns shift position, two of the protrutions bending forward and flattening out. They cover my face as a black, featureless mask and my vision changes, the sensory enchantments giving me an overlay of the situation.

My fingers hurt as my fingernails grow, covering my hands like medieval armoured gloves up to my elbows.

That's the extent of my current change. The intention is that once the enchantment has fully settled into my whole skeleton, I will be able to create a full exoskeleton. But right now I am unable to support the full change with my limited mana pool.

Laughing crazily, I charge Markorn, using force magic to propel my body forward.

It's only thanks to his freakish speed that he manages to avoid a blow at his face.

With one hand on the ground, he twists, delivering a kick to my side which I endure with a grunt, my ribs holding up to the punishment.

Counting on the psychological effect, I scream and gather energy in my palm. The spell-matrix forms and twists the spell into a new shape as I point it at Markorn. The blue hue of the orb of light in my palm turns chaotic and red.

A mere moment before I can get rid of the pest who dares to call himself my cousin, a large hand lands on the back of my head, forcing me down. The spell fires off as I raise my hand in surprise and miss Markorn. The red sphere flies off at an upwards angle into the distance.

Harald shoves me down, slamming my face into the dirt.

“What did I-” Lifting my head up, he slams me down again, leaving me dazed. “-tell you about-”

Seeing the teacher's interference, Markorn's confidence soars. “Hahahaha! Silly little spells! Ain't worth shit if you can't hit!” he mocks with glee as Harald presses my face down into the dusty ground of the training field.

“-using spells which level buildings!?” Out teacher lifts me up, just as the distant thunderclap of an explosion startles everyone. A low and ominous rumble follows it.

Markorn jumps at the unexpected sound and turns around, seeing that the peak of a distant mountain disappeared in an explosion. As the cloud settles, it becomes clear that a noticeable piece of the peak is missing.

Finally, Markorn shuts up, realizing only now that I almost blew him to tiny, little smithereens.

Harald grunts. “That's enough. I think there isn't much value in continuing this duel. I wouldn't have pitted you against each other if I had known that you are out for blood.”

“He was tasty,” I comment, hoping to throw off Markorn even further.

Markorn turns back to face me. “I will get you back for this! You-”

“You will do nothing!” Harald points at Markorn. “If I hadn't just interfered, you would be toast. You have power, but no idea how to use it. I have some extra lessons for you.”

Finally, Harald lets go of me. “And you, you are going to clean up the training field after school. Punishment for using excessive force!”

He looks down at my hand, where I already have a second spell ready, another red orb, twice as large as the previous one.

Crossing his arms, he looks at me and taps his foot on the ground. “Dispel that thing at once! You will not blow up the school!” he screams at me like a drill-sergeant.

I huff. “Fine.” I close my hand around the orb and reabsorb the energy, cancelling the spell.

Harald turns to the other students. “What are you looking for!? Continue your training!”

Using the chance, I smirk at Markorn and pull my thumb across my neck, making sure that he knows what will happen the next time he challenges me.

Markorn glares at me, but he stays silent.

Harald turns back and glares at me, apparently knowing very well what I just did. “I think it's best if we switch training partners.”

Seeing no sense in wasting my energy further, I cut the flow of mana and my horns automatically return to their former state, while the exoskeleton on my arms crumbles and falls off. I will have to replace the lost mass later since my enchantment isn't fully grown yet. In its final stage, the transition between both states should be smooth, but that's a long way off.

҉҉

Running late because of my punishment, Celes and I are inside Rose's car and on our way home. I take a curious look outside the window and ogle the new look of the distant mountain. Luckily, it's a nature preserve over there, so there should be nobody to complain.

“You took a bite out of him,” Celes comments. Since Rose decided to get both of us at once, Celes had to wait for an hour while I did overtime.

“Do you think he will remember it?” I look at her.

“For sure. Though, you had me worried there.” Celes sounds a little apprehensive.

“Hm. Am I not allowed to experiment on a bastard who broke my fingers?” I ask, chuckling. “Considering that he tried to kiss you, it's too bad that it was just a bite.” Wait! That came across the wrong way! Didn't that sound like I am jealous?

“I actually tried to kill him myself.” Celes sounds very serious.

Good! She didn't notice my slip-up! Wait, what? “You tried to kill him!? When you bitch-slapped him?”

“I actually tried to take his head off. The plan was to claim that I overreacted after the fact. An unfortunate accident.” She shrugs. “But I underestimated him. There was an unbelievable amount of mana inside him. So much that, even though he has no clue about inner mana manipulation, he is strong enough to challenge me.”

“I noticed that he has a lot of power,” I grumble. “He also didn't seem to have a lot of fighting experience. And now you are saying that he actually has no idea how to control his inner mana manipulation?”

“Let me clarify that.” Celes tilts her head and plays with a strain of her hair. “Someone taught him the utter basics of moving mana through his channels, which shouldn't amount to much. That's also why he isn't a leaking fireworks like Iris. It's obvious to a practitioner of my level. The issue is that the guy has so much power that even with what little skill he has, it enhances him enormously. It's like someone supercharged him! I think we have a problem.”

She turns to look at me. “Which makes me wonder how you managed to bite him without breaking your teeth.”

I actually know the answer to that. “Dragonbone. The enchantment I placed on my hand some time ago slowly turns my entire skeleton into the stuff. Very easy to shape with magic, a great base material for enchantments. It also has some unique qualities which allow it to penetrate magical defences.”

Celes's eyes light up. “Now I remember. Maybe I should have taken you up on that offer back then.” She scratches her cheek. “But it doesn't matter. The next time I 'bitch slap' Markorn, I just have to get serious about it. Do you think he could have gotten that strong on his own? Is he a genius?”

I tilt my upper body first left, then right as I consider the situation. “Maybe, though I suspect foul play. You might be onto something. You mentioned that he was supercharged? There are ways to increase someone's mana pool by channelling excessive amounts of energy through his system. I experimented along those lines once upon a time.” Unfortunately, I fried my test-subjects more often than not.

Celes gapes. “You can't do that! It's a health risk, even for a magically attuned body! You would have to be very careful and heal the patient constantly while he or she gets used to handling so much power.”

I momentarily forgot that she is good with biology stuff. “Well, let's just assume that a certain somebody knows how to do it. I only wanted to point out that we know people who sucked whole cities dry to gain magical power.”

She closes her mouth, considering it. “We have to kill that fellow at the first opportunity.”