No Magic, huh?

Sura pushed open the oaken doors, and entered the classroom.

So this is the Literature Class.

The vast majority of the theory lessons at Elysium took place in semi-circular lecture halls. The teacher’s desk was located at the front, and from there, each row of students’ seats was located on a progressively higher level of elevation as one went from the front of the class to the back, much like a stadium. In contrast to that, the Literature Class’ room was rectangular, with small desks arranged in a gri: a traditional classroom. All of these details were absorbed only unconsciously by Sura. His attention was focused entirely on one fact. In front of the teacher’s desk, clad as ever in a black two-piece suit, was Ms. Muramasa.

Wait, she teaches Literature?

This was news to Sura, who had never actually stopped to wonder what exactly the gigantic woman did teach. Martial Arts weren’t a subject of study at Elysium, so it couldn’t have been that. Sura couldn’t really imagine her doing anything other than beating the absolute hell out of people using a range of techniques, each more impressive and effective than the last. He shook his head. Seeing her in a classroom, actually about to teach a subject that didn’t have anything to do with breaking limbs or shattering skulls was certainly a jarring sight. But not an unpleasant one.

You can’t fight all the time.

No matter how much he thought of her as some kind of invincible super woman, she did have a life outside of combat.

I’d never thought of that.

Now that he was seeing it though, he felt slightly stupid for not having done so. As her eyes met his, he pushed the thought out of his head. She didn’t seem at all surprised to see him here. It took Sura a second to realise that she had already known, from the moment he had handed in the form, with his chosen Specialization on it.

“Don’t just stand there. Take your seat,” she said, strict as usual.

Sura nodded and began to make his way towards the seats, when he noticed the other fact about this class.

Every single student in it, aside from him, was a girl.

At the moment, all 20 of them were staring at him. He blinked a few times, not quite understanding what the reason was for this.

Do they want to fight or something?

He frowned slightly, straining his senses. But no: he couldn’t detect any violent intent from any of them. Were they just curious about a Flawed picking this subject? It was possible. Paying it no further mind, he looked around till he spotted an empty seat that was just right. It was next to the window and near the back. It was almost perfect. He quickly walked over and claimed it before it was lost. Sitting down, he put his bag in his desk and leaned back.

“We are all here,” said Ms. Muramasa. “So it is time to begin this lesson. Before we start, I’ll make a few things clear. You are expected to arrive in time for this class, and not disrupt it while it is in progress. Any violation of these rules will be met with swift punishment.”

A palpable chill went through the class, as all the girls nodded. Sura only smiled slightly. Having experienced her formidable fighting spirit a few times already, he was accustomed to it. These girls, on the other hand, were probably feeling it for the first time, so this was the natural response. Looking around, however, he noted that none of them seemed unhappy to be in the class. On the contrary, they were looking at Ms. Muramasa eagerly, excitement glinting in their eyes.

Are they that excited to be studying Literature? No, that’s not it.

He realised what it actually was: they were excited to be in her class.

It was a strange feeling to see the woman he had idolized for so long also being admired by Mages. But now that he thought about it, it shouldn’t be surprising. She was an incredibly powerful Mage, and carried herself with dignity, commanding respect. It was quite normal for young girls to look up to a woman like that. In fact, it might be entirely possible that she was secretly very popular among the students. On top of everything else, there was also the fact that she was stunningly beautiful. Given all this, it was actually strange that more people hadn’t signed up for this class.

That question was answered right away. A piece of chalk had fallen to the ground, and instead of using Magic, she simply picked the teacher’s desk, which was made of thick, solid wood, off the ground with one hand, while she bent and retrieved the chalk with the other.

Ah. Of course. It’s because they’re scared shitless.

The lesson began soon after, and Sura pulled out the coursebook, along with a notebook, a pencil and an eraser. Opening the coursebook to the chapter they were on, he put the notebook over it and began to draw. He was still listening to the lecture as he sketched. This was why he had picked Literature: unlike an advanced Magic theory class or anything of the sort, he wouldn’t need to rack his brain over it as much, and he could follow the lesson while doing something he enjoyed. For today, his art subject of choice was, fittingly enough, a Martial Artist. With the figure of the fighter drawn, he proceeded to draw shadowy figures surrounding it, representing Mages.

This is the problem that must be solved. I’m at the centre. They’ll surround me, and keep their distance. I have to find a way to get close, while avoiding their Magic.

He sketched rough lines on the paper, extending from the Mages’ hands towards the Martial Artist.

I can’t sense Magic at all. But whenever the Magic in a Mage’s body is shaped into a Skill, it releases a sonic pulse. They don’t mention this in any of the books. Heh. Of course. No way they’ll talk about an obvious weakness like that. Mages have to be perfect in their own eyes, right?

As a young teen, while Sura had been building up his physical abilities and learning how to fight, he had searched for a reliable way to avoid Magic attacks. He got into plenty of encounters with Mages: either people at school, or thugs on the streets. Sometimes they came after him, other times, he went after them. These encounters went both ways. He won a fair number of them, but lost just as often, being forced to escape in order to survive. It was quite simple: if he managed to get in close, the fight ended in his favour. Those who had their Barriers up had them broken, others had their ribs shattered or their limbs destroyed. Mages who tried using Enhancement Magic to brawl with him physically were outmatched in power and skill, and beaten down. However, if the fight failed to come to close quarters, Sura was at a disadvantage. Mages would use all kinds of Skills against him, and he would find himself barely avoiding blasts of flame, shards of ice, bolts of lightning, and a myriad of other Skills. Sometimes, he couldn’t avoid them, and on these occasions, he focused on guarding his vitals, using his arms and legs to shield himself, and fighting through the pain. Over time, his body adjusted to the trauma by becoming tougher. But the fights continued to be fifty-fifty. As he strained himself to react to the Mages’ attacks, his senses were honed and sharpened, pushed to the maximum. His natural instincts were awakened, as his body did everything it could to survive, and overcome his enemies. And one day, he heard it.

A faint sound, barely audible. Reacting on instinct, he had leapt in and struck, and his blow had encountered no opposition. Not fully understanding what had happened, he listened for the same sound in subsequent fights. Each time, he used it as a cue to attack, and each time, it worked. He soon realized what the sonic pulse was: for some reason, it preceded the moment a Skill was about to be unleashed. Armed with this knowledge, Sura’s game plan changed. Offence was now defence. He didn’t need to avoid any attacks: he would smash their heads before they got the chance to even hurl their Magic.

But now, that game plan had come up short.

That blond bastard… he can attack without the sonic pulse giving away his moves. Is his Magic different somehow? No, I can’t just assume that. But he’s a so-called elite, isn’t he? Maybe higher level Mages know about that pulse. Yeah, that’s likely.

And if that’s the case, then they’d devise ways around it.

Sura tapped his pencil against his head, thinking.

Let’s see: if I’m throwing out a jab, and I have a habit of lowering my hands right before, then it becomes a tell. Any fighter worth a damn’s going to take that chance, and jab first. Let’s say, for whatever reason, I can’t get rid of my habit. What do I do then?

Sura had modified the problem, and put himself in the Mages’ shoes. And sure enough, solutions presented themselves.

I’d know my opponent’s going to react. So I’d start lowering my hands even when I’m not going to attack. They’d see this as an opening, and throw a punch. But I’d know this is coming. I’d slip and throw a counter-punch, hit him clean when he isn’t expecting it.

Yeah, that’s it!

A high level Mage would probably gather Magic for a Skill he doesn’t intend to Cast at all, just to bait out a pre-emptive strike so that he can counter it.

That was one solution.

But it wasn’t what that blond had used.

No, in his case, he had somehow been able to attack without giving off the pulse.

If I’m in stance, and I tend to lower my hands when punching… what if I start fighting with my hands low?

This was indeed something fighters from several different Martial Arts did: fighting out of a lowered-hands stance made their moves harder to see coming, added unpredictable attacks and angles to their arsenals. Sura himself fought most of the time out of a lowered-hands stance.

And what if Mages did the same thing with their Magic?

The invariable lowering of hands before a punch was the pulse, in this analogy. Keeping the hands low throughout was being in a position from which you could attack without warning. The tell was still there: but it was masked by the rest of the body movements and language. If a pulse was inevitable when Casting Magic, then the only way a Mage would be able to take a position from which he could attack without warning…

What if he prepared some Magic for later use? Like lowering the hands, he’s preparing to attack.

Sura thought back to the fight.

The turning point had been when the blond had jumped away from him. Sura hadn’t been able to interrupt his Casting. A sonic pulse had gone off. It was right after that that the ceaseless rain of attacks began.

That’s it. He must have prepared quite a bit of Magic for use.

Sura had been able to tank or dodge most of those Skills. However, when the blond brought out the violin, his blows became more potent.

That must be quite a powerful Skill. Another sonic pulse had gone off right before he summoned it.

Sura grinned.

Already, his defeat had given him information.

He moved on to the next sketch, a piece that depicted the Martial Artist standing over the bodies of fallen Mages.

As he worked, he wasn’t aware that one person’s gaze was fixed on him.

A few seats away sat a girl with a slender yet athletic frame. Her skin was smooth, and pale as snow; she looked almost ethereal. Her long dark hair was neatly tied to the side. Though her features were delicate, they had an underlying strength to them. Her icy blue eyes seemed to shine slightly. Despite it being summer, she wore a blue scarf around her neck.

She continued to watch him curiously, shooting glances at him in between listening to the lecture and taking notes. From where she was, she couldn’t quite see what he was doing on his desk, but he seemed to be quite focused on it. Perhaps he was actually a diligent student. The rumours said he was a delinquent, but she had learned long ago not to put much stock in hearsay. She had indeed seen the footage of his fight against the four Second Years. But that had shown him to be exactly the opposite of a delinquent. The ones who had started it all were molesters and scum, nothing more. Had she been there, she would have done the exact same thing he had done. She had indeed appealed to have the culprits expelled and arrested, but as always, it had come to nothing. She wasn’t surprised: while the laws explicitly gave the Flawed the same rights as Mages, in actual practice, Mages went largely unpunished for crimes against Flawed. Her complaint had been officially recorded, but she knew the Board would see to it that it went nowhere.

It enraged her. And so, it was a relief to see that there were others who could fight when needed, and do the right thing. Anybody who stood up for others and fought against scum couldn’t be written off as a delinquent. And so, she became curious about the only boy in 3F. Shortly afterwards, she heard that he had fought Alphonse, and lost. The result didn’t surprise her. What did was the fact that the Flawed fighter had not given up, even in the end. Her curiosity was heightened. In the first place, it was unheard of for one such as him to even be able to fight Mages at all, much less defeat three at the same time. In the second, it was clear he was not some mindless thug.

When she had first learnt that Alphonse had challenged him, she had been angry. As one of only four Flawed students in the school, his life was hard enough as it was. She knew quite well that they were here as an experiment. The Board had ulterior motives: this wasn’t being done for the good of Flawed in society. At the very least, she had planned to use whatever power she had as a member of the Student Council to ensure they could live safely, with their dignity intact. But how was she supposed to do that when other members were going out of their way to attack them? She’d gone to visit the boy in the Infirmary afterwards, but the Nurse had been in the middle of treating him, so she hadn’t been allowed inside.

Since then, she’d been looking for an opportunity to approach him.

But what do I even want to say to him?

I know Mages have been unfair to you, but not all of us are like that?

Even if she said that to him, what reason was there for him to believe her, when all his life, the world had shown him the exact opposite?

She certainly hadn’t thought that he would choose Literature as a Specialization. But maybe it wasn’t so strange: after all, a course in practical Magic wouldn’t be any use to him. He had probably wanted to choose something he could study. Yet, this wasn’t a place where she could talk to him. She nervously glanced at Ms. Muramasa.

I like my head still attached to my body.

In the Noble circles, the Muramasas were known as the house of war, and it was whispered that the current successor was the strongest it had had in centuries. Talking during her class ranked high among the unwise decisions one could make in life.

She would just have to approach the boy later.

The class went by soon enough, and they were given an assignment for the next day. As everyone packed up and prepared to leave, Sura made his way over to the teacher.

“I didn’t know you teach Literature,” he said.

“We all have things we don’t know. For example, I don’t know why anyone would take a class they have no interest in”, she replied.

“I needed a subject I could pass.”

“The decision was yours to make. So long as you don’t break the rules, it is no concern of mine.”

He watched in silence for a while as she picked up her books, each of them somehow vanishing as soon as they were in her hands.

“Thanks for giving me a place to train,” he said. He meant it. It was very likely the training hall was actually for her own use. But even if that were the case, she was allowing him to use it. Besides, some things were oddly specific: he was sure she had set them up that way for his benefit.

“... Make sure you make good use of it,” she answered, in her usual stern voice. “A good place to start is to see your own errors, and correct them.”

He grinned.

“Already on it.”

A moment went by in silence before he spoke again.

“You don’t remember me at all, do you?”

His words made her pause and look at him. Her eyes widened just a fraction.

“I can’t say that I do,” she answered.

He laughed.

“I figured as much. Well, it doesn’t matter. Thanks anyway.”

He was about to leave, when she spoke, making him stop and listen.

“You fight with your eyes closed,” she said. “Open them, before it’s too late.”

Sura started, not understanding her words.

Open my eyes?

What did she mean? Was there something obvious he was missing? Something he wasn’t seeing, though it was right in front of him? His mind was running a million miles a second as he tried to think what it might be. Even so, he couldn’t find any answers. He clenched his jaw: this would need more thought later.

This is how it always is, isn’t it? The moment I’m feeling good about myself, reality kicks me in the face. But that’s all right: I chose this. I’ll deal with all of it.

He nodded slightly to her in acknowledgement and gratitude. Though her words stung, he knew they were invaluable. As he walked away from the class, he took deep, slow breaths, drawing the air all the way to his base. With several repetitions of this, he felt himself calm down, felt the agitation and the uncontrolled thoughts in his mind fade away. This was one of the breathing exercises he had learnt from Martial Arts. It had become a staple of his life ever since, a way of keeping him grounded.

Feeling considerably better, he decided to make his way to the Library. He still hadn’t checked the place out, and he’d heard great things about it. Maybe the fiction section would have something amazing. Or maybe, here in Elysium, there would be books detailing the practical aspects of Magical combat. It was unlikely: he knew by now that Mages were extremely secretive about the actual use of Magic, what it was like as a Mage to channel the power through oneself. As a Flawed trying to fight them, the reason behind it was obvious: because giving away such information was the equivalent of telling the enemy how to defeat them. It was very likely most Mages figured out the proper use of Magic instinctively, through trial and error. It was possible some had access to private tutors, but in those cases, such knowledge would be passed on through word of mouth.

Well, the fiction section was still worth checking out.

With this in mind, Sura proceeded on his way.

The Library was located on the 20th Floor of the Primary Building. For whatever reason, students weren’t allowed past the 25th Floor, which was where the Student Council’s room was located. There were elevators for those who preferred them, but Sura generally took the stairs, and today was no exception. People stared and pointed at him as he passed by, many of them not-whispering things about him. As usual, he ignored them. A lifetime of this had given him stone skin.

As he approached the Library, however, he found his way blocked.

A group of boys who looked younger than him had been muttering about him for a while now, and they had circled around to stand in his way.

“Library’s off-limits to you”, one of them said. He had dyed red hair that was spiked up in front, and wore a thin chain around his neck. The acquaintances of this particular youth referred to him as Li.

“It’s for human beings. People who want to learn,” elaborated the boy next to him. This one was tall, over six feet, putting him above Sura. He was also a little brawnier than was usual for Mages. Seventeen years ago, his parents had bestowed on him the name of Cartman.

“And that means dogs aren’t allowed,” completed the third of the trio, a wiry youth with blond hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He had on his face the self-satisfied smirk of someone who liked himself quite a bit. The compliments and praise of his peers had contributed to this. Adam, as he was known, was a bit of a popular lad in his class.

Standing further away, behind the trio, were another two boys, twins by the looks of things. They both had light green hair, combed back in the same style. They were very rarely seen apart, Tristan and Ethan.

Sura, whose posture remained relaxed, adjusted his stance subtly. He widened his feet, making a more stable base, and angled himself slightly, so that he was now diagonal to the group in front of him, his left side closer to them. As he did this, he observed them carefully.

Open my eyes, that’s what she told me to do.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to be seeing.

No, don’t think. Feel.

He pushed the thought out of his head. He didn’t need to think about things he didn’t understand. Right now, it was time to fight. His breathing became steady, his heart beat the steady pumping of a machine, as he entered a familiar state of deadly calm. He was a being of instinct now. Thought was a tool, limited to the discernment of openings, the analysis of the enemy.

He inhaled, drawing air all the way to his base, then exhaled powerfully. As he did so, he focused on his energy; the innate energy flowing through his body. Every living being had it. Ki, Chi, it was called by various names. But it was the life energy that flowed through all creatures. And he knew how to draw on it. The concentration of Ki in his core grounded him. From there, he sent the energy to his feet. As it reached, he pushed with his legs. The life energy amplified the force generated by his superhuman muscles manifold, and he shot forward as though blasted from a cannon.

As he sailed through the air, he twisted, turning his hips and sending his left fist forward. At the right timing, he focused his Ki to his fist, and tightened his body, locking his bones and muscles in place, feet firmly on the ground, at the exact moment of contact.

The left jab, meant to be a probing attack, had become a deadly spear.

He felt his fist connect with the Barrier of the redhead. The invisible force resisting him rippled wildly: the move had almost smashed the Magic shield right away. But it had held, and the result was that the boy was sent flying backwards, tumbling head over heels, out of control.

Sura was already transitioning into the next attack. Stepping forward and across, he spun, whipping his leg as he did so.

The spinning heel kick was aimed at the biggest of his opponents, and the large youth did not see it coming at all. It struck his barrier with the kind of force hammers dreamed of, breaking his Barrier immediately, then crashing into his rib cage, shattering three ribs.The boy was sent hurtling; the impact had been like a car accident. He rolled to a stop against the wall of the Library, unconscious.

The Flawed fighter sensed movement next to him, though he had heard no pulse.

Already aware that Mages could have Skill prepared beforehand, he moved quickly. The enemy was behind him, to the right. Taking a quick backward step, he thrust his elbow backwards, at the midsection of the boy. The strike encountered a barrier, but Sura immediately followed up by swinging his hand into a backfisted blow. However, the Barrier managed to endure.

The boy, the blond one with the ponytail, swung his fist at Sura, but the Flawed youth ducked the blow, and used his arm to sweep his opponent’s legs. He had hit enough Barriers to understand their physics to an extent. While they repelled force directed at the user, they did not keep the user planted on the ground. Thus, the sweeping blow flipped the Mage into the air like a ninepin.

The blond’s eyes widened in the sudden horror of losing his footing. Even with Enhancement Magic, the Flawed monster’s strength and speed were miles beyond anything he could reach. And while the Mage didn’t know what Martial Arts were, he knew enough about brawling that he had learned something from the exchange of blows: the Flawed boy’s fighting skills were leagues above his own.

Before he had time to react in any way, a silhouette flashed above him, and the fighter’s face came into view. His face had no anger on it: it was frightening in its sheer calmness.

Before Sura could deliver the downward punch and put him out of commission, though, a blast of fire shot through the air towards him. The sound of burning gases and the searing heat warned him, and he leaned to the side, avoiding being scorched.

“Stick to the plan, Adam!” shouted one of the green-haired twins, Ethan. “We’re Mages. We don’t brawl.”

Adam grunted. It burned to admit it, but they were right. He rolled backwards and jumped away, out of Sura’s reach. Looking around, he took stock of the situation. Cartman was out for the count: he was coughing up blood, and something about his torso didn’t look right.

He glared at Sura.

What the hell kind of monster is he?

A few feet away, Li was getting to his feet. His Barrier had managed to hold, and he wasn’t out of it yet. Behind them, the twins were still unharmed.

Li roared in anger.

“You’ve fucking done it now.” He turned to his companions. “We’re sticking to the plan! Alphonse showed he’s not so tough. Let’s remind this bitch who runs this place.”

Sura straightened, carefully eyeing them all.

I couldn’t take them all out.

He couldn’t quite keep the smile off his face, though.

“Now it gets interesting. Show me a good time, you lot.”

He focused his Ki to his forearms and hands. If it came down to it, he’d use them to guard against attacks he couldn’t avoid.

“Don’t get so cocky, you little piece of shit”, shouted Li.

He rushed forward, throwing out a kick, which Sura sidestepped easily. From this position, breaking the Barrier would be easy, but he chose not to attack. This fight was a learning opportunity. He was now glad that they’d managed to survive his initial blitz.

Sure enough, Adam followed up on the attack. He was significantly faster than Li, zipping around the hallway. Sura could have tagged him, but once again, chose not to. He knew where this was going, and he wanted to see what exactly they could do with their strategy.

Adam zoomed up behind him, throwing a punch to the back of his head, but he sidestepped easily. At that level of Enhancement, Mages were like children to him.

No, the real challenge lay in the two slender twins, who hung back.

You’re Mages, aren’t you? Fight like it. Show me that magecraft.

And right on cue, balls of flame roared towards him.

Sura dodged them by stepping to the side, knowing he was entering a trap, and fully prepared for it.

As he expected, Li was waiting for him, and threw a wild haymaker as Sura entered his range. Sura parried the blow as it came, but didn’t counter. Instead, he took a small step backwards, senses alert. From behind, he heard the sound of running footsteps, and leapt high into the air to avoid the tackle.

And now, the twins would attack.

Sura was amazed how easy he was finding it to deal with them. Before coming to Elysium, he had never been able to dominate multiple Mages without relying on the sonic pulse as a surefire tell.

I’ve been handicapping myself.

The realization was like being doused in cold water.

As a younger teen, he had needed the sonic pulse to fight Mages and win consistently. But he was not the same fighter as he had been then. He’d faced countless battles since then. Strength, speed, toughness, stamina, technique and skill, he had grown in all these aspects.

I don’t need to rely on the pulse anymore. That’s what she was trying to tell me.

As the understanding hit him, he felt a confidence he had not known before.

I’m not inferior. I don’t need anything to level the playing field.

I’m a warrior.

As the newfound self-belief filled him, his movements quickened.

Multiple fireballs were racing towards him, as the twins held nothing back in their assault.

Moving on instinct, Sura trusted in his Ki, and met fire with fist.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She had followed him from the Literature Class, hoping to get a chance to speak to him. But as she discovered, actually approaching the boy was much more difficult than she had imagined. It wasn’t that she was intimidated by him. But for some reason, she felt nervous at the thought of speaking to him. How would he react? Would he think it was weird? What if he found it annoying?

Before she knew it, she’d followed him all the way to the 20th Floor, and they were in front of the Library. And then, a group of Second Years barred his way, throwing insults at him. It was clear they intended to attack him. She was about to intervene, when he took matters into his own hands.

It was everything that happened next which had her in shock.

Though she had seen it in the video, seeing it in person was a completely different experience.

How is he this strong without Enhancement Magic?

The Flawed youth moved like a demon, often too fast even for her eyes to follow. When he struck, he did so with overwhelming power. And he didn’t fight like a high-schooler: his movements were those of a trained warrior, smooth, efficient and effective.

All of a sudden, Alphonse having challenged him did not seem like an act of bullying.

He was fighting four Mages at once, Level Threes each of them, and winning.

And then it happened. When they began attacking him together, as a group, she thought he was done for. She could see what their strategy was.

The two physical fighters would harass him constantly, forcing him to move into the line of fire of the two long-distance Casters. This would continue in a loop, giving him no opportunity to counter. When she saw him move exactly where they intended him to, she all but shouted a warning to him in dismay.

He had leapt into the air, where he couldn’t dodge, and they’d taken the chance to launch an all-out assault on him.

And that was when her jaw dropped.

He’s… punching Fire Spheres out of the air?

It was insane. Unbelievable.

But it was happening right in front of her.

Following up a flurry of punches, he spun in mid-air and kicked the last fireball, causing it to disperse.

The force of his blows disrupts the gases, throws them out of the sphere of Magic Energy. With nothing to burn, the Skill fails, and the Magic is dispersed.

Sura landed gracefully, completely unharmed.

“Lesson successfully learnt,” he said! “Thank you.”

She blinked.

Who is he thanking?

She didn’t have time to think about it though: the next moment, he blurred out of view again. She spotted him right next to the blond and redhead, neither of whom had even realized yet. Two quick blows, and she saw their Inner Barriers shatter like glass. Two more blows followed, and the two boys fell to the ground, clutching their stomach and shoulder respectively. Sura had already dashed on, heading towards the twins.

So far, he had been silent as he fought.

When he finally spoke, his words sent a chill down her spine.

“Let’s talk now.”

Sura had closed the distance to the two long-range Casters. He saw the panic on their faces.

They’ve run out of stored Skills. They were really counting on that flurry to finish me off, huh?

And sure enough, the sonic pulse went off. He no longer needed it, but it confirmed that his read had been right on point.

He swung his right leg in a roundhouse kick, and his shin smashed into the one of the twins.

The Barrier gave way, and his leg went through, hitting with the force of a mace. The green-haired Mage was driven into his brother, breaking his Barrier too. Both twins sailed through the air, landing roughly.

Ethan was unconscious, and Tristan was struggling to sit up. His pace paled as he saw the Flawed youth walking towards him. Without a Magic Barrier, he felt awfully vulnerable. Fear was in his eyes as he tried to crawl backwards.

“Stay away! Don’t come any closer!”

Sura’s eyes, which had been calm so far, now flashed with anger. His lip curled in disgust.

“If you so much as touch me, I’ll sue!” Tristan shouted. “My father’s on the City Council. You won’t just be expelled, you’ll starve! You and your family! You’ll starve on the streets.”

Even in the midst of falling back on the one thing he had learnt to believe in since childhood, his family, and the power it wielded as elite Mages, the power it wielded from its influence, Tristan realized he had just made a mistake. At the mention of his family, Sura’s face went stone blank, his eyes colder than ice.

Tristan knew for certain: in that moment, Sura was about to end his life.

His heart stopped for a second.

Before anything could happen, however, a figure stepped forward.

“You’ll do no such thing,” she said.

Tristan turned his head, and his relief at avoiding death was greatly minimized by the sight of a dark-haired maiden whom every student at Elysium knew.

“V-Vice President,” he managed to croak out.

“Absolutely despicable. First, you attack a lone fighter as a group. Then you proceed to threaten him? Unworthy scum, forget being a Mage, you aren’t even human.”

He gulped, but dared not utter a word against her. While it was true that his father was on the City Council, the true power in Paradise City lay in the hands of the Nobles… among whom were the Vice President’s family. As if that wasn’t enough, the girl herself was obscenely powerful. Even the teachers at Elysium openly said she was a once in a generation prodigy. Making an enemy out of her was the equivalent of signing a death warrant.

He looked at Sura.

On the other hand, he already had signed a death warrant, and someone was very ready to enforce it.

“Fights are within the school rules. You challenged him, and lost. If you bring up the matter to the School Board, I will be more than happy to testify that his actions were in self-defence. On the other hand, if you choose to bring the Councilman into this…”

The temperature dropped several degrees.

“Then you might find yours is the family that suffers. Am I clear?”

Tristan nodded.

He crawled away to his brother, trying to see if he could carry him to the Infirmary.

Sura sighed.

I was close to snapping.

He looked at his own hands. A part of him was scared. Had he really been ready to cross the line? He thought once more about his parents, and he realized he had been.

He turned to the girl standing next to him.

She really saved me there.

Not only had she stopped him from doing something that would have him branded a criminal, she had also scared off that Mage from going after his parents.

He bowed his head.

“I owe you one,” he said.

She blinked, taken aback by his sudden gesture, and her cheeks burned red. She shook her head.

“N-no, not at all, I was simply doing what was right. Think nothing of it.”

“I can’t do that,” he said. “You helped me out there. Most people wouldn’t have done that… and I appreciate it. I won’t forget.”

Sura was always straightforward, so when he spoke, his words came from the heart, and they got through to her.

She smiled slightly.

“Then you can repay me by telling me your name. I am Yuki Matsudaira, a Third Year student of this school. We actually happen to share a class.”

Sura blinked, but found himself smiling as well.

“Sura Shen,” he said. “What class are we in together?”

“Literature,” she replied. “Wait, you didn’t see me?”

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“To be honest, I was just trying not to lose the window seat,” he said.

She laughed lightly.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that. Ms. Muramasa is extremely popular. Most people will aim for the front seats.”

“She is popular, isn’t she? I knew it!”

“Well, of course. Many of us look up to her.”

“Because she’s cool?”

“We’re not so shallow.”

“Admit it.”

“No. Besides, you’re the one who just said she’s cool.”

The two exchanged quips back and forth.

Neither of them realized that they didn’t see each other as Mage and Flawed at all.