CHAPTER 5-Diamond Queen

“Begin!” Rutkins shouted.

After just one look at her, I knew Alma wasn’t someone I could take lightly. From her calloused hands to her menacing aura, I could tell she was both experienced and extremely talented. No wonder she rose to the top of her class.

I took a defensive stance, not leaving any openings. She dashed toward me and swung her sword at my left shoulder. I tried blocking, but it turns out it was just a feint, and I fell to the ground after she kicked my legs out from under me. As she held her sword up above me, ready to deal the finishing blow, all I could think about was how pretty she was. With her light brown hair that bounced when she moved, her emerald green eyes that looked like they were piercing through me, her olive skin that almost looked like it was glowing. Why I was thinking this during a battle, I had no idea.

So naturally, I had to get rid of the distraction. I mixed some earth and water magic in my hand, and threw it at her head. That did the trick. She looked like some kind of swamp monster now.

Using this distraction, I rolled out from under her sword and conjured an army of dirt golems to buy some time. Well, it wasn’t exactly an army, more like five, but it worked anyway. I recovered some of my aura from the atmosphere while formulating a plan. She was obviously better than me at melee combat, so I had to try to keep the fight long range. Hopefully she isn’t as adept at that as she is with a sword.

While she was still cleaning the mud off of her face with water, I launched a volley of elemental spells at her. She didn’t even flinch when they hit her. How is that possible? Those should’ve at least pushed her back, if not knocked her out. But she just kept cleaning her face like nothing happened. Finally, she got the last piece of gunk off. So much for that plan.

I knew I had to try something big here, and I knew exactly how to do it. I had never tried this before, but I know it’s possible. I formed a compact ball of fire, water, earth, and air in my right hand, and a shield made of metal in my left. Running at her, I sincerely hoped this didn’t hurt her too badly.

It didn’t. As soon as my spell got within a couple inches of her, it collided with something, causing me to tumble backwards. What the hell? That was one of the most powerful spells I know, and it couldn’t even touch her?

Suddenly, I realized something. So that’s the reason she looked like she was glowing. She was using Life aura to form a barrier around her body! ‘I should learn that’ I thought.

But even if I figured out her strategy, what could I do about it? Her defence was too strong for me to break, and she was far more skilled with a sword than me. The only thing I have her beat at is… hey, that’s it!

Ever since I was young, I had an unnatural amount of aura. Nobody knows why, but I can keep casting spells for hours upon end as long as no one interrupts me.

I could use this to my advantage. Additionally, using life aura takes way more out of you than the four basic elements, so much so that if you use it for too long, it takes away from your actual lifespan. She can’t use it for long, unless she wants to cut her own lifespan just for a friendly match.

I started rapid-firing spells at her, trying to chip away at her shield. I kept at it for a few minutes, before realizing it was having almost no effect on her. She started slowly walking towards me. I don’t know why this caught me so off guard, since it was supposed to be a battle where both sides attacked, but I had kind of started thinking of her as some kind of invincible training dummy, instead of my opponent.

She was a mere six feet away from me now, still walking...menacingly. I was desperately trying to come up with another plan, but I got nothing.

Use it

I flinched in surprise. I don’t know where that voice came from, but it was projecting itself into my very thoughts. What did it want me to use?

You know what. You have power that she could only dream of controlling.

Does it mean the power that blew up the school? I still have no idea where that power came from.

‘I can help you.’ It offered.

‘No. I don’t want your help.’ I thought in response. Communicating through thoughts is kind of weird.

Suddenly, I felt the same wave of...something, that I felt back at the school, right before it blew up.

‘No! Go away! Get out of my head!’

The unknown force seized control of my body and rushed towards Alma, now only three feet away. I don’t know what it intended to do to her, but I didn’t want to find out.

I fought it with every ounce of strength left in my body. It lunged toward Alma’s stomach. I desperately tried to push it out, but it just wouldn’t budge. It made a fist. GET...OUT...OF...MY BODY! I screamed internally, now using every last drop of aura I had.

Then I got an idea. Quickly sending a bolt of electricity to my brain, I short circuited the neurons. I felt my body go limp, and I fell to the ground. As I was falling, I saw my fist, covered in blood, and a petrified Alma. I got scared for a second, thinking this thing had killed her, but then I realized. I made a silent prayer to thank every god I knew of.

My fist had shattered her armor, burned a hole in her shirt, and left a single scratch on her belly. I had stopped my body just in time. Another split second and she would’ve been dead.

***

The next time I woke up, I was in a familiar smelling room. I looked around and saw Celeste and Zephyr staring down at my body, their faces grave.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. They glanced at my arm, then back at my face.

I looked down to see my arm, and almost fainted again. It was a dark shade of grey, and it looked like it had been put in an oven with all the burn marks on it. I vaguely remembered my body being controlled and me barely stopping myself from putting a hole through Alma Frostore. I quickly checked around the room, and sighed in relief. She wasn’t in here, I didn’t hurt her that badly.

I then checked my arm out again. I tried moving it, but all I got was a jolt of pain when I tried to make even the slightest twitch of a finger. Something isn’t right, though…

Why didn’t I end up like this when I blew up the school? After what happened in my entrance exam, I was sure I caused the explosion, but why didn’t I have any marks back then? Maybe because I was trying to fight it with my own aura this time?

I didn’t even know who I could ask for help about this matter, since I still don’t know who or what is causing it to happen.

Oh well. At least I’ll have plenty of time to think while this arm heals. If it heals, that is.

But wait, what about the entrance exam! The whole reason I’m in this situation in the first place!

“Did I get the scholarship?” I asked them.

“You’re in this state and that’s what you’re asking? Of course you got the freaking scholarship, you took out ten students at once and made a hole in the top student’s armor.” Zeph answered.

“Is breaking her armor really that big of a deal? I mean, it’s not like I’m the first one to do it, right?”

They both looked at me with blank expressions on their faces.

“No...that can’t be… who has even tried breaking it? Just a bunch of students, right?” I asked.

“Students, teachers, even professional sorcerers have tried! Nobody has ever made so much as a dent in her armor. She’s famous around here, they call her the Diamond Queen because of how hard her armor is.”

I was in complete shock. How strong was this power inside me? How is it possible that it broke the armor that even professional sorcerers couldn’t break?

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. I must’ve been psychic or something, because the very person I was thinking about walked in.

“Alma! What are you doing here?” I asked, surprised.

“I just had some questions,” she said, “oh, and I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks for the concern. What did you want to ask about?”

I already knew the answer, but I asked anyway.

She looked at Zeph and Cel, conveying that she wanted to talk to me in private. They got the message immediately, almost running out of the room.

“How did you break my shield?” she asked.

Called it.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know? My armor has been deemed unbreakable by some of the most capable sorcerers in the world, and you made a hole right through it! And now you’re saying you don’t know how you did it?” she exclaimed.

“I’m sorry. I must’ve gotten lucky, I guess.” I mumbled.

“Lucky? Kid, that kind of thing doesn’t happen with just luck.”

Should I tell her the truth? Well, I already was, but the whole truth? I guess I felt like she had a right to know, so I gave in.

“Listen, what I’m about to tell you, I haven’t told anyone before.” I started.

She stared at me with her piercing green eyes. My heart thumped loudly.

“You might not believe me, but I promise I’m telling the truth. You have to swear not to tell anyone.” I said.

“Okay…” she said hesitantly.

“I think there's some kind of entity living in my head. It has only shown itself twice now, but I’m sure of it after fighting you. When you were walking towards me, I was desperately trying to think of what to do, right? And then this… this thing talks in my head, telling me to use some power I don’t know how to use. I refuse, obviously, because that same power is the reason my old school blew up…” she gave me a weird look, but didn’t say anything. “Anyway, that’s a different story. So I refused, and then it got mad or something, because next thing I know, it’s taking over my body. I tried to fight it, but it wasn’t budging until my final push, just after it put my fist through your armor.” I finished.

I couldn’t read her face. She had a vacant expression, like she was lost in thought.

Finally, she spoke.

“Kai, I know exactly what you’re talking about. In fact, that thing, whatever is living in your head, was the reason my family died.”