It had been a resplendent weekend, as far as Cassius was concerned. He sat perched atop a lavishly cushioned seat, lounging about in one of the dormitory day-rooms which he had appropriated for his own personal use. Often the room would be full of his ‘friends and associates’, though calling them such was nothing more than stamping a polite term over how he truly considered them. Underlings. Entourage. Pets.

But today he sat by himself, not wanting his moment sullied by the crooning praises and other halfhearted preening the rabble usually threw his way. He knew full well that most of it was disingenuous and self-serving on their part anyway, after all, they were nothing but leeches seeking a taste of his blood and favour. Normally that sort of thing was warranted for the sake of appearances, but not now. Not today. He held his hand out, gleefully examining the pair of rings his father had gifted him. Rings he had used to restore his House’s honour, and set things back in their rightful place.

They were crafted of fine gold and ornately formed, each resembling the interlocked talons of a bird of prey clutched around a gemstone. One a pure, gleaming white, the other an intense red. Of course, these were not merely precious stones in the traditional sense. They were shaped and polished pieces of Argonite, and they were heavily enchanted with tremendous power. The boy fawned over them, rolling his wrist back to admire their gleam for a long moment before reaching acrost the armrest of his seat towards a tray of fruits. He was part way through lowering a handful of grapes into his mouth when a cold voice pulled his attention to the side.

“You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you Cassius.”

Cassius looked up as he was suddenly addressed, staring into the eyes of the wolven girl who had invaded his space. Clicking his tongue, he tried– albeit not very hard– to briefly disguise the annoyance on his features with a smile of hospitality.

“Ah, Naiara.. Good to see you’ve returned safe from your affairs.”

He said drolly, insincerity as plain in his voice as it was on his face.

This damned mutt.. Always appearing where she shouldn’t.. Someone really ought to put a bell on her.

Cassius grumbled in his thoughts, more than a little resentful of the way Naiara tended to manifest her presence without warning. Rolling his wrist tiredly towards the various trays of high-end hors d'oeuvre, he forced his sour expression into an amiable one.

“Come, sit, and do help yourself to what you please.”

“I will stand.”

“As you like, as you like. So, what business have you with Albore?”

Naiara stared down at him, her brows raised for a moment at the use of his family name. She had calmed herself since the report Shizuka had given, but beneath her outward stonewall, the beastkin was furious.

“You know why I’ve come. Don’t tell me you thought to assault one of our classmates without consequence?”

“Assault?”

Cassius scoffed, feigning injury.

“I faced her in nothing short of an Academy approved duel.”

“A duel you forced her into.”

“Forced? Please. That hotheaded lizard needed nothing more than a push and she was biting at the chains. I forced nothing, I merely.. Facilitated.”

“Save me the semantics.”

Naiara growled, leaning forward and slamming her right foot into the seat of the chair, just below Cassius’ groin. To his credit, the Son of House Albore successfully resisted flinching, and he met the eyes of the wolf before him without blinking.

“I hear you had some high quality equipment, this time.. A few things that, coincidentally, served to directly counter Seren’s arts.”

Her tail flicked dangerously behind her as she spoke the words. Cassius, however, laughed in her face.

“And is there anything wrong with that? Personal equipment is permitted in duels, unless explicitly agreed otherwise. I simply adjusted my accouterments to suit my opponent, as one would do with any other monster.”

Ignoring the low growl Naiara emitted upon the insinuation that Seren was ‘a monster’, Cassius pushed Naiara’s knee to remove her foot from his chair, crossing one leg over the other and leaning forward as he rested his chin on his left hand. The motion clearly putting his new rings on display.

“Dignified pieces, aren’t they? Of course, the warded and wind-resistant armour helped, too. But these-”

He lifted his other hand briefly, caressing the rings on his left.

“These masterful stones are suited to my station. And as such, they easily knocked that lizard from her ill-deserved high seat.”

Leaning back again, he gestured with the rings and grinned, curling his hand into a fist.

“The red enhances my physique substantially.. The white, well.. Let us call it judgment for those who’ve no real skill with arts.”

The two stared at one another in silence. Naiara unmoving, Cassius appearing to enjoy whatever pressure he believed himself to be exerting. Finally, the beastkin girl shifted her stance, folding her arms over her chest as she spoke.

“I will not tolerate you mongering for revenge amongst our class.”

“Revenge? Does a man avenge himself of a thorn he steps on? Of dust in his boots? This was not ‘revenge’. This was a House setting its affairs in order, after a problem was brought to their attention. As is only honourable.”

“Honour?”

Naiara spat the word with incredulity.

“The very concept sours in your mouth, Cassius. You would speak of it after poisoning her with deathsap?”

For the briefest moment, Cassius’ expression twitched. He sat up straighter, collecting himself, before casually gesturing his arms to either side.

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

“Cassius.”

“Have you any proof?”

“Perhaps I should split your skull and siphon it from whatever sludge you have in place of a mind.”

The atmosphere in the room grew in intensity. Stiff, unbridled hostility seeping over the thin veneer of niceties which had been entertained so far. Cassius narrowed his eyes, finally standing from his chair.

“Fine. You know, I believe this has been a long time coming. I never did understand why a degenerate mutt like yourself was placed in charge, to begin with.”

He spoke cruelly, the usual disdain in his voice coming back to full as he tugged the corner of his sleeves, adjusting his robe as he stepped forward.

“Simply because you have some level of passing skill? A connection to the Academy? Neither make you anything more than you are. A low-born nuisance.”

He stepped straight up to Naiara, pulling the fingertips of a glove from an inside pocket. The girl clearly saw what was coming, but stood firm, allowing it to occur. Cassius struck her acrost the face with the empty accessory before throwing it upon the ground at her feet.

“You wish to accuse me? Prove it before Gods and witnesses, then, and if I win– you concede your position to me, and leave.”

“Leave. As in, depart the Academy.”

Naiara clarified, as though it were ridiculous.

“Naturally.”

“You would have me wager both my position and attendance? Are you willing to match such stakes?”

Cassius smirked coldly.

“Go on then, state your terms.”

***

“I’ll murder him.”

Gauge said flatly, his voice filled with malice as he sat alongside Seren’s hospital bed. Argent was seated at the other side, Shizuka standing behind him. All eyes were on the unmoving form of their dragonkin classmate, Shizu’s ears giving off the slightest twitch as Gauge reached for Seren’s hand.

“Be careful…”

Argent warned, though his voice was heavy with the same frustration.

“..Disliking someone and being able to fight them are two different things.”

Gauge huffed.

“I’m not afraid of him. So what if he’s got skills and money? He’s a dirtbag, rotten to his core.”

“That just means he won’t hesitate to hurt you, or anyone else, clearly.”

Argent retorted, looking down at Seren pointedly. Gauge clicked his tongue and scowled, sitting back up and folding his arms acrost his chest.

“Not if he catches a soul arrow to that smug face.”

“Gauge..”

“You don’t think I could win?”

“You watched the last fight, same as me, and it sounds like this time he was even better equipped.”

“And? You remember what we just lived through?”

“I’m not denying we’ve gotten stronger, but.. Be realistic about it. Cassius has been groomed by elites since his childhood. His combat skills are better polished, his arts capacity is far beyond average, and even if you did manifest [Soul Weapon]—it’s not like you’re allowed to kill him in a duel.”

“Fine. So I don’t duel him.”

“What?”

“I don’t duel him. I just pick a nice vantage point, and-“

The rogue mimicked taking a shot with his bow, making a popping noise. Argent stared at him aghast, mouth partway open. Shizuka’s ears perked in alarm.

“You can’t assassinate a member of the Great Houses, Gauge.”

“Can’t? Or shouldn’t.”

“Gauge!”

Gauge waved the shout away, sighing heavily as he leaned back in his chair. Before that line of conversation escalated into anything more serious, a blaring noise could be heard all around campus as the voice system spun up for an announcement. Even inside the room it was clearly audible, though dampened to a reasonable volume.

-- ATTENTION ALL. AN OFFICIAL CONTRACT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL PARTIES NAIARA AND CASSIUS ALBORE. INDIVIDUALS WILL ENGAGE IN TRIAL BY COMBAT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PERSONAL WAGER. --

The two boys shot to their feet the same way Shizuka’s ears stood to attention, all three of them looking at one another in shock. There were no words that needed to be said. They filed out of the room as quickly as possible, bursting into a run once they were clear of the doorway and practically bowling over a passing nurse as they made a break for the Arena. The woman paused after regaining her footing, looking back at the rushing students with a shake of her head, before slowly making her way to the door they had emerged from. She stared inside for a long time, her pink eyes saddened, but after a while she sighed and closed the door.

“At least it seems you’ve made good friends..”

***

The seats were chock full of people, nothing like the halfhearted attendance the initial duel between Cassius and Seren had drawn. Argent could not speak to how many might have spectated the second duel between the two, but at this point it was clear that Cassius had set enough of a precedent for himself that people were drawn to the event. Students from all classes and years filled the stadium, talking and jeering amongst themselves energetically… It was only the class members of X13 who carried with them a heavy, solemn air.

Even their homeroom pixie, Instructor Liamra, was present with her class. Her small, adorable face was filled with worry as she flitted about, eventually coming to a stop on Remelia’s shoulder.

“Oh.. dear.. Oohh.. She’s going to murder him.”

She muttered, holding her hands to her face. Gauge perked up at that, looking over at their instructor with a serious expression.

“Good.”

Most of the class nodded their heads in agreement, and the pixie let out a disheartened wail.

“Nooo! No, my little lovies, don’t be like that! Not my sweet students! Oh, lords and ladies, how did I let it come to this?”

“The responsibility is his alone.”

Matthias spoke up, a rare resolution in his gentle tone. It was enough to make the tiny woman slump down in defeat, as if the priestly young man deciding to speak out against Cassius was the absolute final sign of condemnation. Remelia tilted her mane of white floof sidelong, looking at the tiny fae with her pure black eyes.

“Don’t worry-”

She started softly, her voice as expressionlessly monotone as ever.

“-Gramps won’t let her kill him.”

Instructor Liamra all but fainted, a shudder running through her body at the mere idea that the Grandmaster would have to intercede on behalf of her students. Mortified, she gripped her cheeks and stared out at the Arena as the two competitors appeared within the combat zones. Naiara looked as she always did. Cassius, on the other hand, was outfitted far more aggressively.

While still dressed in what looked to be the same gold and white pants and half-robe from the first duel, he had replaced his sandals with finely fitted boots layered in plates of white steel. He wore bracers to match, though his hands remained ungloved, adorned only with rings. His house signet remained on his right-side ring finger as it always had, but two additional pieces of jewelry occupied his index and middle fingers on the left. It also appeared upon closer examination that his robe had been altered and enchanted, emblazoned with the golden heraldry of his house upon the back. Various pleats and pieces had been reinforced with small segments of chainmail or banded metal, turning the otherwise lightweight garments into legitimate defensive gear.

True to form, Cassius seemed entirely sure of himself as he stood straight and proud, grinning at Naiara in a condescending way. He even went so far as to rouse the crowd, raising his arms on either side and motioning upwards, drawing a calamitous roar from the stadium occupants. Argent was certain now that Cassius’ behaviour was not simply a matter of confidence. It was downright vainglorious narcissism. A genuine belief that he was superior to others around him, as though he couldn’t be touched. Argent wondered how such an attitude was even possible after an initial loss to Seren– and yet even now, as Naiara glared at him unmoving, unflinching, unconcerned; it did not seem to even occur to the noble boy that he might have had cause to fear her. It was an oversight he was about to regret.

The initiatory buzzer sounded, and Cassius’ body shone with physical enhancement. His equipment siphoned raw power into his frame as he immediately raised his left hand upwards and outwards, rings shining with light as he gleefully spoke the power words bound to them. Beneath their effects, he drew the shamshir at his waist with a charge of electricity, a bolt leaping from the blade. Naiara sidestepped it neatly, the shift in her movements just enough to reveal her hands beneath her cloak. They were covered in blackness- perhaps gloves or gauntlets- but otherwise she appeared unarmed, her crossbow absent from her back and nothing upon her belt. Despite this, Argent knew full well not to discount the wolven girl, remembering the way she had soundly trounced him time and time again whilst open-handed.

Under the effects of his crimson ring, Cassius closed the gap on Naiara swiftly and struck at her with the long curve of his weapon. He was fast, impressively so, enough that he appeared to be pressuring the wolven girl with his complex strikes. Satisfaction covered his face as she stepped back the first few times, neatly evading him, before his combination attacks caused her to raise an arm in defense. The expression lessened as the impact was accented with the sound of metal on metal. Cassius quickly stepped back and circled to her side, eyes working to assess what had happened as Naiara stood her ground. There were cheers and murmurs from the crowd as the girl's cloak shifted past her shoulders, revealing her arms to be fully covered in a complex weave of dark, pleated metal. The full-cover gauntlets rose all the way up her arms, turning them into shields and weapons in equal measure.

Regaining his aggressive drive, Cassius lunged at the girl again. He struck high, fading into a duo of low cuts that transitioned into an upwards slash. Naiara maneuvered through his attacks as if they were in slow motion, making no effort to block as she brought herself out of the measure of his strikes with precision. Only when Cassius charged his weapon with arts did she take direct action, stepping in to re-direct his strikes or stop them short at the arm. At first she did not touch his weapon, instead directly manipulating his biomechanics in ways that disallowed any effective movement from the boy.

She continued to outpace him with her evades and counters, Cassius growing more and more frustrated as the small hits and grapples wore on him. Each time she struck his joints he became increasingly sloppy, falling into the raw physical power provided him by his equipment as he swung and cut with malice. Once he was all but hacking at her in a furor, Naiara finally made her move. Reacting to a strong downwards cut she caught the blade between her palms with a resounding clang, twisting the weapon out of Cassius hands and sending it flying. Before he could backstep, she caught a hold of his left wrist and threw him over her shoulder like a doll. The sheer force of impact winded Cassius, and he lay flat on his back in the sand whilst Naiara walked away from him.

Rising to a knee, he glared at the wolven girl in a mixture of hate and confusion as she moved to where his weapon had fallen, flipping the sword up onto her boot and kicking it back to him. He hissed at the provocative gesture she made afterwards, snatching up the blade.

"Do you think to patronize me?"

Naiara barely shrugged.

"Does one 'patronize' the dust in their boots?"

Cassius' face contorted in anger as she turned his words against him, his knuckles whitening as his grip flexed to its limit upon the hilt of his shamshir.

"You bitch.. Don't toy with me."

"If I didn't, you would never stand a chance."

Naiara said darkly, her voice as threatening as Argent had ever heard it. Even from his position safely in the stands, it sent a chill down his spine. For the briefest moment Cassius seemed to falter in his bravado, before snapping back.

"Enough! Do not insult the pride of my House! We end this, now."

He brought his left arm to attention, and a field of world energy burst forth from the white-stoned jewelry. It hung in the air like a graying fog before Cassius as it spread over the arena, distorting the visual properties of everything it touched. Murmurs broke out in the crowd as more experienced students recognized it as [Disruption], a mid-tier art which served to cloud out any other abilities below tier III. It seeped outward like living static, engulfing the platform upon which Naiara had started… But the wolf was already gone.

In a single step she faded from reality and emerged behind her target, circumventing the area of stasis entirely. Argent had seen her use [Shadowdance] in this way before; she had employed the technique against him in their training session during which she knocked him unconscious for the better part of a day, and he somewhat understood the nature of the art after having been pulled through one… Even still, although he all but knew it would be coming, it occurred so quickly that he could not perceive it. Nor, it would seem, could Cassius.

"As you wish."

Her words sounded in his ears, and before the Son of the Great House Albore could turn his head Naiara’s attack was upon him. With a simultaneous motion she kicked his legs to one side while striking his neck with her forearm in the opposite direction, twisting him to the ground so quickly that his head bounced off the sand. The defensive arts around his robe glimmered to life as the impacts came, forming translucent shields, but Naiara’s hands displaced them like an opposing magnet and slid effortlessly beneath their guard.

“You lowlife mutt.. How..?”

Cassius insulted her through a mouthful of grit. Naiara did not react, pacing around him like a predator as he wallowed in the sand. No sooner than he began to push himself up, she ended the attempt by mercilessly breaking his left arm at the elbow, kicking the joint inwards on itself. The boy cursed in agony as his arm crumpled, Naiara gripping him by the shattered limb and hefting him upwards as she stripped the rings from his fingers and threw them across the arena. There was a hateful obscenity fresh on Cassius’ lips before all the air was abruptly forced from his lungs. Naiara’s powerful strike hammered into his stomach, sending him rolling haphazardly across the arena in a mess of sand and blood.

From the stands, the class watched in absolute fixation. It seemed to have been the common assumption that Naiara would claim the role of victor, but none save perhaps their pixie instructor had anticipated the divide would be this pronounced. Gauge stared in satisfaction and awe, his eyes lit with a deeper sight as he utilized [Awakening] to help him perceive the battle before them. Though he did not understand what was happening, he watched as swaths of arts matrices danced in the air around Naiara, forming and activating, surging and stalling, hovering upon the boundary of reality until the moment she needed them.

It was something he had never seen before, and something he assumed few people could see at all. There was no commentary made of it by anyone else within earshot, nor had he ever heard it discussed. Yet there in front of him he watched as all around her, Naiara held arts in reserve. The runes and sigils of cardinal commands manifested themselves in pure aether, suspended in time and space to be bound at will to her attacks; not only providing her a vast array of options to employ at a moments notice, but ensuring that her arts were faster, stronger, and more precise as the inscriptions grew longer and more stable over time.

At some points it became difficult for him to view the energy, as though it stuttered and parsed. At other times he swore he saw multiple command sequences combine with one another, forming something entirely new, but there was an aspect of it that was incomprehensible. Unperceivable, even with [Awakening].

Cassius was thrown acrost the arena as the defensive effects on his equipment proved utterly futile against Naiara’s abilities, and before anyone could so much as blink she was on top of him again. She struck repeatedly and without hesitation, blow after blow, and the beating she measured out was so intense that soon all cheering from the crowd went mute. Even the smirk on Gauge’s face faded into a blank, expressionless stare as they watched her kick the ever living shit out of Cassius. It was fast, efficient, violent, and above all; it was without a shred of mercy. There was not a single hint of remorse to be found in her pure green eyes.

After the third or fourth broken bone Cassius began to scream wildly, his voice peaking as though he might verbally concede the duel; but before any tangible words could emerge Naiara targeted his throat with a suppression art. The world energy bound around his neck and cloaked him in silence, making the scene all the more haunting as he was brutalized without sound other than the impacts of Naiara’s attacks and the breaking of his body. After what seemed like an eternity, she stopped, her boots and knuckles smeared with blood. Crouching low, she rested one hand on her knee and used the other to grab Cassius by his hair, lifting his barely recognizable face upwards. Gurgling moans and labored, distorted breathing became audible as she released the effects of her art.

“… Anything to say?”

Cassius sputtered around the difficulty of his swollen and broken face. It was a strenuous garble of incomprehensible sounds, but somewhere mixed in, Naiara caught at least two words.

“Your father?”

She dropped his face unceremoniously back into the sand, Cassius unable to support himself as she let go of his hair. Rising to a stand, she threw her cloak off to the side as her gauntlets morphed and melded; the shadowsteel reducing down to two simple bands around her biceps. Reaching up, she gripped the upper sleeve on the right side of her garment, tearing it away. Argent could not see clearly from his place in the stands, but her actions revealed something on her outer shoulder. A tattoo or a mark.

“If you wish to invoke fathers, then—“

--COMBAT BETWEEN NAIARA AND CASSIUS ALBORE HAS CONCLUDED. WINNER BY INCAPACITATION; NAIARA.--

The wolven girl looked up, the first hints of anger appearing on her face until she identified the cause. The Grandmaster stood at the top of the arena, in a special box designated specifically for himself and other VIPs. No one had noticed him there before, and Argent was certain he had not been there at the beginning of the duel. His stormy eyes stared down at Naiara with finality. His expression was not disapproving, but seemed to clearly convey that things were over.

“..See?”

Remelia said blankly in her characteristic way, though her expression suggested she was pleased with her correct prediction. Instructor Liamra only stared out at the scene before her in horror, saying nothing. Naiara stared at the Grandmaster for some time, and he stared in return. Finally the wolven beastkin bowed her head in acknowledgement before turning on her heel, taking two small steps and stopping. Without looking back, she growled a final statement to the battered lump of flesh laying on the arena sands.

“Touch another member of my class, at any time, for any reason… And this will come to seem like a pleasant memory.”

With that, she vanished into shadow.