Opinions appreciated. The chapter has been edited.

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Both enter the ring, they meet in the middle to shake hands then back away to their respective corners. Neither are given wands. The teachers and the headmaster probably don't want any accidents to happen.

Black Hair doesn't seem to be very nervous. He's standing tall with his head held high. His opponent isn't nervous either. Abelard, an up and coming noble from a strong house. He has dirty blonde hair, a long nose, and is, as Iris says, taller than me but shorter than Black Hair.

The headmaster stands up. He holds a cane in his hand, probably to help him walk. I don't remember seeing him with that earlier when he was in the lobby.

"Do not worry about the other person. Hector here will step in if we deem it necessary so do not hold back. The time limit will be ten minutes, when that allotted amount passes, we will stop the match. At this time I would like to ask the teachers to leave the arena."

Glancing over to Miss Ein, our teacher, she exchanges confused looks with the other instructors. Another teacher, with a white beard and a large hat, nods and exits first. Following his example, all instructors leave without a word.

"Now, START!" the headmaster yells.

Abelard, eager to start, shoots his hand up into the air and starts to chant. Small, golden balls of light appear around him. Feet apart, his free hand hovers just a little bit before his stomach.

He's cautious.

Black Hair raises his hand, "[Fireball]!"

Abelard, creates a barrier around himself. A golden dome shields his body. He continues chanting, unnerved, while the fireball flies towards him.

The barrier isn’t needed.

The fireball falls to the ground halfway, dispersing into nothing. Did something happen? Is that the ability of Abelard? Can he stop spells?

A few students start to laugh, I look closer only to spot a dumbstruck Abelard. Black Hair launches another one, it hits but does no damage. The barrier stands without needing any mana to repair it. He tilts his head down to, I think, stare at his hands.

Maybe he just has a weak fire affinity. He could be a water magician like me.

Abelard smiles wryly, "Uh... Sorry about this. Prepare yourself, I'll try not to kill you."

Finished with his chanting, the barrier disperses and both arms fall to his side. One by one, lances of flames appear behind Abelard, numbering ten in all, they're aimed at Black Hair. If any of those hit him, whether he has the body protection spell on or not, they'll leave a hole in him. If he lives he might not be walking for a while. I, I'd prefer not to watch if that's going to happen.

Hopefully the Headmaster will step in before anything too horrible happens.

Flicking his arm, like someone trying to hit a fly, one fire lance leaves its position. Zooming across the room with air so hot that my vision of the ground it passes distorts.

Black hair does an impossible twist with his body. The lance lands with a resounding crash. The ground is charred with remnants of the ground scattered around. I look on in amazement. He, a magician, dodged the flame lance.

In my peripheral vision I notice Elis shake her head.

"That’s pretty lucky. He should've let it hit him though. It would've only pierced his side and the match would have been forced to stop. If one of those goes through his chest then he's done for."

"Hoooh." Abelard praises him. "Nice dodge first year. It wasn't going to be fatal you know. However, I can't promise anything with these next ones. I've gotta show my strength as an upperclassman and as a noble of the Boyat house."

This time three lances shoot out, his hands don’t move like last time. Black hair quickly creates a barrier to protect himself. It shatters instantly.

The one that broke the barrier flies straight towards his chest.

He's going to die… “At least it’s not by ice.” I found myself muttering.

In that moment he covers his chest with his arms. The first lance hits and the world is assaulted by a loud crash. I cover my ears and strain my eyes to see into the puff of smoke that just appeared.

A second later, Black Hair flies back. The audience is breathless.

No damage.

The sleeves of his robe have burned off, showing only a few burns on his forearms. Not even one of my barriers could've been able to block that much damage. The other two lances move while being controlled. They pop up from both sides of him and fly.

"N-no way," Iris says, awestruck. "I-I've got to ask him a few things after this."

Surely this is it I thought. A teacher would have to step in now. No way that he can dodge those two lances… He ducks while bending forward.

The one on his right goes over him, grazing his back.

The one on his left moves towards his legs.

He jumps forward transitioning into a roll.

The sound rings out again, giving me a reason to place my hands on my head while I try to process the situation. Inside of the smoke, Black Hair rises.

Elis's face is racked with disbelief, "I wanna fight him." she mutters.

"I guess I'll need to use the rest of these." Abelard says amused.

All six of the remaining lances stream across the room. A string of fire follows them.

All of them explode.

"D-did he hit him?" Iris looks forward, eyes wide.

"I can't see. Too much smoke." I reply.

The smoke slowly fades.

Inside is two people.

A teacher it seems.

Behind him is Black Hair.

"Alright. Good fight you two." The Headmaster stands up and claps.Many of the first and second years are slow to follow the Headmaster’s lead. "Now you two shake hands."

Abelard and Black Hair walk forward with their right hands outstretched.

"Good fight."

"Good fight."

They both walk to their respective doors. On the way Black Hair stops and bows his head to the man who I presume is Hector, the man that was standing beside the Headmaster.

"Thank you for saving me."

Hector responds with a bitter smile. When the two return to their seats I notice that black hair has a new uniform on.

the headmaster clears his voice.

"For the next battle..."

"Next battle?"

"Another one?"

"I hope it's less one sided than the first one."

The students murmur to each other once again.

"The two who will be partaking are..."

I grip the sturdy armrests.

"Leonard Hemming in first year and Malburk Gollak also in first year!"

This time it's two first years? I take a look around the room. From the other side, I see a green haired humanoid with scaly blueish skin. A lizard race huh? Must be Malburk. I hear someone behind me get up.

Ah… so it’s him. The rude noble boy from earlier. I nudge Iris. "Do you know uh... that, Leonard guy?"

She responds in a teasing voice, "Why? You like him?"

"H-huh? N-no!" I panick for a second as I think of ways to respond. “H-he bumped into me earlier.

Iris shrugs, leaning back in her seat, "He's a noble. His family wasn't very prominent until around five years ago. From the looks of him he's trying to become a magic knight/swordsman. He's not too fond of other races by the way."

Great answer but why the disappointed face!? Especially since you know that he doesn't like other races.

"The match will be a little different from before. There will be a ten minute time limit. Feel free to use your fists to fight this time if you want. Like before we will interrupt if we deem it necessary. Now, please shake hands!"

They both go to the middle.

Leonard reaches his hand out while mumbling something. He wears a sneer and Mulburk slaps away the hand. A quiet exchange goes on down there. It doesn't seem pleasant. I exchange a glance with Iris.

“I hope this doesn’t turn out too badly.” she says to me. “Just because Leonard doesn’t like other races doesn’t mean that every noble here doesn’t like other races.” it comes out awkwardly. She probably thinks I think they’re like him.

Iris nudges Elis with her elbow.

“Huh?” she breaks her gaze away from the arena. “What’s up?”

“We’re not like Leonard are we,” Iris says, glaring hard at her.

“Well of course we’re not!” she proclaims loudly. “He’s a guy and we’re girls.” she knits her brows while saying so. “But if in similar you mean we’re nobles then-”

Iris cuts her off. “The first part is fine you dummy.”

I’m left to watch the scene with an awkward smile. I’m not exactly sure how to respond to this. These two seem pretty comfortable around each other. I’m glad they have someone to rely on here.

I return my attention to the arena just in time to see Mulburk turn around to leave and Leonard standing there with a red face. He clutches his fists, shaking enough that even I can see it from up here in the stands.

"Begin the battle," the Headmaster says, seemingly ignoring the exchange down there.

Leonard quickly shoots a water balls while he rushes forward. Malburk puts up a barrier and launches a large fireball from within. On it's way it engulfs a few of the water balls.

Leonard puts both his hands up and yells, "[Earth wall!]" The earth wall shakes violently upon the fireball's impact. Leonard runs closer until only a few meters separate them. He turns the elements around and releases a fireball.

Malburk opens a hole in the barrier and absorbs it.

His special ability?

Malburk then puts up his hand and shoots a stream of water from it.

He has a water affinity.

A special ability is different for each person, but many of them share similarities. One may be able to absorb magic and turn it into mana while another may absorb it and turn it into energy. Special abilities usually have some kind of limit to how many times it can be used per day while some have drawbacks or certain conditions that need to be met.

Going over the uses per day puts strain on the body.

I don't know what ability I have yet. I never practiced my own magic much in my village.

Affinity for a certain magic like water, allows the body to use it without a spell. If one has water affinity they could shoot water out of their arms just by converting their mana.

Leonard leans forward and absorbs the water with his right shoulder. In his left hand a large water ball is being made. His ability I assume.

Mulburk stops shooting water and begins chanting.

Does he not notice the water ball?

Leonard rushes towards the barrier and his free hand glows bright with mana.

He's planning to break the barrier.

Barriers are weaker to highly concentrated mana strikes/spells to a small area.

He punches through and throws the water ball.

Mulburk doesn't respond to it at all.

The water ball connects and Malburk tumbles to the ground. Seems like he took a lot of damage from the hit. He lays facedown, hardly moving.

The noble boy has a nasty smile on his face. Words spew from his mouth, "You think you're better than me? I’m a noble! I gave you my hand but you slapped it away like nothing! Look at you! I wouldn’t have shown you the slightest bit of respect had the Headmaster not mention it!”

Leonard walks next to the downed lizardman and kicks him. My vision grows and I gasp. The kicking continues.

"Hey Iri-"

"GUK!"

I look at the arena again. Mulburk is now coughing out blood with each kick.

"How does that feel huh? Don’t you dare ever disrespect me or anyone higher than you again! You’re in a kingdom full of humans, for humans, by humans! Don’t think that they’re all as nice as me... Heh. I'll stop if you beg me to."

"I- plea- please sto-!"

A kick connects with his stomach before he can finish.

"Huh? What was that? I can't hear you. Speak up! I think you’re slipping into your little beast tongue again. Speak a HUMAN language."

"P-p-please sto- !!"

Another kick.

My hands are shaking.

The kicks continue.

"I-Iris wha-what should we do..."

I turn my head. Iris's hand is covering her mouth. Elis looks like she's about to throw up. My teeth start chattering and I lean further back into my chair, hoping that the scene before me will just go away.

The headmaster will stop it r-right?

I quickly look at the headmaster my eyes pleading for him to help. His hand is out. It blocks Hector from moving.

His eyes are looking over here. Not at me, but locked on someone else.

I follow his gaze. He's focused on black hair.

The battle against Abelard was tough, his magic is far superior to mine. I would've needed to get close to stop him. I was able to get a new uniform in the changing rooms.

I was interested in the next fight, that was until...

"GUK!"

My grip on the armrests tighten.

The noble boy yells as he kicks the lizardman, he's starting to cough up blood. My body shakes. I look at the headmaster. His arm prevents Hector from doing anything.

His eyes are focused on me.

Even here I can see his grin, but something else is mixed in there, pain? He saw my reactions and is purposely doing nothing.

I have to do something. No. That's what he wants me to do. But I can't just let him keep getting kicked around like that. I can feel something compelling me to go help. Watching a scene like this makes my blood boil, the ones with power picking on the weak.

*Kick*

I hear a loud single heartbeat. Will you stand idly by?

No no. Be calm. I can't let it loose, the damage It’ll cause will be too great.

*Kick*

Do something. I have to think of a plan or something, I have to leave. Why? Why is it showing itself now? It's been a whole year, an entire year since I've had to listen to it's bone chilling voice.

*Kick*

Will you only watch? My eye twitches.

*Kick*

Watch as he is beaten? My breathing is getting ragged. At this rate, at this rate... It'll get loose.

*Kick*

I can feel it. My body is getting hot. My hands are shaking, I can't remove the scene from my eyes.

*Kick*

The armrests break, memories are surfacing. The actors in the scene change from a lizard man to a little boy. The images flash, reality mixing in with the images of the boy holding his head. Will you let him continue? Doesn't he wish he could be saved?

*Kick*

I stand up. My vision is red. The flames are swirling around me. I still haven't done anything. I can't let myself lose to it.

*Kick*

My body no longer listens to me, something else is forcing my hand.

Kill Him it whispers.

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Landing in between Mulburk and Leonard was a young man surrounded by flames. They arced off his body as if he were some kind of lightning rod.

Leonard stared at the burning man, frozen in place. Never before had he, a noble, had felt such fear. Everything about the man before him set off alarms in his head. The way he stood, the empty look in his eyes, the tilt of his head as if deciding what to do with him… Leonard wanted to run.

His kicking stopped. “W-who are you? You’re not a teacher! You’re not allowed to interfere-”

In the next instant, his vision became obstructed by something, something hot which seemed to burn away his skin. It took him a moment to realize that it was a hand.

I’m going to die. He thought, as he felt his feet leave the ground.