“You did well with your little speech brat, but just like the rest of these kids you're all talk. Obviously you've live in a small pond all your life and have no idea what horrors exist in the world, but you're about to learn. It will be the last lesson you ever learn. Your friends beat that white masked C rank wizard and you think you are a match for me, an A class?”

Lee River continued to walk slowly towards his opponent and started gathering wind magic in both hands. Lee said “I know exactly what I'm up against. For instance, I can tell you have used a lot of mana already. I'd guess you now only have about 1/3rd of your usual mana available. Probably not even that much.”

The Shame was taken aback “well not many wizards can sense mana so well. Few can feel how much an opponent has and even fewer how much they usually possess. Even if that is the case I don't need much mana to defeat an amateur like you.”

Feeling mana was one of his strongest points and now this gold masked man was thinking about his mana reserves. River reminding him how low he was caused him worry and may cause him to be too conservative and be defensive. Perhaps he would hesitate to use powerful mana consuming spells. This was what River wanted.

River started using his wind magic in both hands to move. He made a big display of it to demonstrate his relative abundance of mana. The gold masked man summoned water magic but he did not fire it. He held onto it almost jealously.

In reality it wouldn't consume all that much of his remaining mana but no longer experiencing the thrill of torturing his victim he became more clear minded and realized that his body was becoming tired.

River closed the distance and right before he got too close he shot a wind attack on the ground that kicked up dirt and dust. “Damn brat, you think a trick like that will work on me?” He tried to sense from which direction he would attack at. No attack came.

As the air cleared he looked around him to see River standing by Sky holding Mary Saint Cloud. He laid her on the ground slowly next to Sky. He took off his outer shirt and put it over her body to cover her.

As he did this she tensed but stayed silent still not risking to speak anymore unless more sobs would come out. She knew she needed to say something to thank him or encourage him to run before it was too late but she couldn't think of anything to say. She slightly turned her haed as best she could to speak to him. He had already turned and walked back towards the gold masked man.

'Why couldn't I say anything? Shouldn't I have at least thanked him as a proper house of Cloud member should and promise to return the favor 3 fold?' She thought to herself and again felt like she let her house down. First by crying and now by not acting in a dignified manor. She pushed those thoughts aside and continued to watch the fight.

“All that to get the girl away from me? So pointless, no matter what you try to do I will not let any of you escape.”

River said nothing and again began to use wind magic to move faster.

“Fool, the girl tried the same thing, that won't help you!” he decided he had been too passive and began to shoot at him with his water magic. He was sure he would hit him several times but he kept missing. Why was he missing now when he hit the girl so easily doing what seemed like the same thing?

He observed closely and noticed now that the pure freedom of movement was on an entirely different level. Most wizards cast with their hands stretched out in front of them or stretched out fully to the side. This young boy cast wind magic at odd angles.

He noticed the boy never stopped gathering energy even with casting. Usually the lag time between casting and gather new energy to make into mana to use made the movements more committal in nature. The speed at which he cast spells may even be a hair faster than the Cloud girl.

For someone to gather mana and cast spells so fast required an enormous amount of energy and mana control. He had never heard of anyone doing it so fast. Even with the elders of his old Sun house he never saw anything like this.

True these things were not seen as overly important after you reach a certain level. Most tend to worry about the power of their spells once they can gather mana as a fairly fast rate and focus on that. To continuously train mana gathering and control would be seen as wasted effort. What kind of training had this boy done to be able to do this?

“You're a fast little brat I'll give you that but all you can do is move well. You're magic is still 3rd rate at best!”

Lee said nothing back as he was observed his opponent and how he reacted to his movements. While it may seem like what Lee was doing was burning through a large amount of mana it wasn't the case. All the wind spells were short and compacted.

He remembered what his master once told him “In life and death situations people will usually act cautiously when they first attack. If you're opponent lets you observe him without attacking do so. However when you attack it is not longer time for caution. Trust your observations and use his own caution against him.”

He saw this wizard was favoring the ribs where he was struck by Lee's rock. He hadn't moved around too much since then if he could help it. Lee saw he was still unsure of Lee's movements and looking for an opening. Lee knew now was a time to attack and try to land a lethal strike if he could.

He kept doing his odd movement but was now closing in quickly. The gold masked man launched a water attack at him and barely missed. Lee closed fast and direct now that his opponent had just cast a spell. The gold masked man prepared another attack and launched it at point blank range. Lee took his hand which held wind and launched his own attack against it.

The power knocked both back slightly but neither was very powerful; Lee charged forward. The wizard tried to gather a spell but Lee didn't bother. He knew they were too close for it to be ready. The gold masked man never expected the young wizard to just charge at him without a spell and was caught off guard. Lee punched him in the mouth where the mask didn't cover. His head flew backward.

After seeing the smaller young man in his range he tried to grab him but was kneed in his hurt ribs. He doubled over in the pain “you little br-” he was elbowed in the face and rolled with it as best he could. He mask broke and stopped some of the impact but it still hurt. He began to gather magic to attack him. Lee simply grabbed a rock and threw it at his knee. It hurt the that knee badly.

The masked man then began firing large amounts of water magic as quick as he could. Lee used his wind magic to back up while avoiding them. It was not as decisive as he hoped. Lee wanted to blow a hole threw his chest with that wind attack but the masked man he was able to gather his water magic too fast and blocked it. Lee did damage but he doubted he would get so close again as easily.

Lee saw in the wizard's eye he was done conserving energy. He now wanted to kill Lee above all and damn the consequences. He assumed he had help coming anyway if need be.

The wizard gathered lighting magic and began to cast it over and over trying to kill Lee but Lee managed to avoid the attacks. “Damn you, I will not rest till you are dead. I don't care about this job anymore. You are all a bunch of damn brats I am going to put you all in the ground for mocking me like this”.

He was preparing a large attack but pointed his hand at Mary and Tom. “Are you going to block it or let them die?”

Lee knew it was a trap but he had no choice. He used wind magic to close the distance quickly. This was going to be a strong attack and he would have no choice but to face it head on. He used one hand to help him close the distance and with the other he built a massive wind attack that started to take shape as a tornado.

Just as he was about to close the distance entirely, as expected, the attack was turned away from Mary and Sky and on him. He met it with his wind tornado but it wasn't enough to fully block the powerful lightning magic.

Both were knocked back and the wind kicked up dirt and dust in the air making it hard to see anything again. When the dust settled Lee River was on the ground and banged up. Lee saw the man walking towards him lightning magic in hard.

“You don't look like you can move so well now brat. Without that mobility you probably aren't much are you? You should have focused on stronger attacks. Your weak attacks are what will cost you. Now I plan to make you suffer”.

Lee said to him “the power of an attack isn't everything. It is how well and wisely you use the attacks you have that matters, your ploy was obvious. I knew you were trying to lure me in”.

“Obvious or not it worked! Enough talk, time for you to suffer just like I made that girl suf-” Lee waited for this moment when he was most focused and committed to his attack.

Back when the dirt was in the air Lee set up a wind arrow and slowly directed it to the forest. Doing his best to not make it use too much power so it would stay unnoticed. Now with the wizard distracted and totally focused on Lee he let it loose.

It was much like the attack Lee used on David Rain in the academy examine but this time meant to kill and set up more carefully.

This wizard was not as inexperienced as Rain. Right before it was about to hit him from behind he felt the magic and tried to move out of the way. The injuries on his body slowed him down and what he usually would have avoided instead went cleanly through his right arm.

He screamed in pain and his magic dissipated in the air. He stared at River “You, you will die for this!” he tried to build up magic in his other hand but to make an entirely new attack would take much too long. River had already started building his next magic attack the instant he let loose the wind arrow. He shot a powerful wind magic at the wizard and knocked him on his back.

The wizard tried to gather magic but Lee shot him with wind magic again and again. He didn't go for a large finishing attack. He kept using quick spell after quick spell giving him no window or chance to respond. Lee walked over him as he did this.

Wind spell after wind spell broke the wizard's body until he was spitting up blood and not able to move. “You-you damn brat, I s-swear I will kill you”. Lee River looked down on him with merciless eyes. He was not going to give him a chance to do so.

Suddenly fear was on his face “You can't kill me, t-take me back to face trial.” Lee ignored him continuing to build the attack “you are a commoner, why do this for those despicable noble houses? What have they ever given you but disdain?”

Mary spoke behind him “Lee, you don't need to dirty your hands. Take him back to face trial, they will no doubt execute him anyway. I doubt he will admit to being beaten by a student”

Sky spoke “River, show him mercy. A mercy he would never show us. Be the better man and let him live to face trail”.

Hope shown on the wizards face. Surely the boy would listen to his friends! “Please. I won't come back for you, I swear it! I will never-”

Lee shot him through the heart with his spell. Lee walked towards them to check on them more closely. “I can't believe you did that Lee.”

Mary spoke up in his defense and for the first time in a while sounded more like her old self. “He executed evil, there is nothing wrong with that. My Cloud house has done the same in the past. There was no wrong in it”.

Sky spoke up “didn't you just a moment ago implore him not to do it?”

Mary paused and then said “what's done is done. He was evil and was going to die anyway. I say good riddance. Also, didn't your attack kill that white masked wizard? Why are you so worried about the trash being desposed of all the sudden?”

Sky yelled “That was in self defense; a life or death situation. This was an opponent who could no longer fight!”

River softly said “I apologize to both of you for that, I just didn't want to make the same mistake again”.

Sky asked “what mistake?”

River looked thoughtful for a moment like he may answer, but then said nothing.

Just as the silence hung in the air Peter Leaf walked out from the woods in hasty searching around “Are you all okay? Did the shame of the house of sun come her yet?”

Before they could answer him he saw the body dead body of him on the ground. Who could have possibly done this? Certainly not the students. Even Mary Saint Cloud would be no match for him.

Mary shocked asked “he was the Shame of the House of Sun? One of the most famous rogue wizards?”

Sky was shocked as well but managed to gather his wits “A powerful wizard came out from the forest seeing the commotion and defeated him”.

Peter Leaf asked “Who was he?”

Mary spoke up “We don't know, he didn't tell us his name and said not too look for him. That he didn't want his identity to be known”.

Peter wanted to know more but he needed to be sure the students were okay first. “Where are the rest of the students? Are they all okay?”

Sky said “they are all alive and will recover. We dragged most of the class away from the fight in the woods back there” he motioned the direction.

“Rain, Clover and Hill are close to the direction you came in. They are on the ground but should be okay” River said.

Peter was silent and looked over the body of another wizard he assumed was the other white masked wizard. “We need to go get help from the school as soon as possible to carry them back and treat injuries as well as security”

River said “I'll go, I won't be long”. It was agreed upon quickly. He could still move fairly quickly.

When he came back he brought several teachers and guards with medical equipment. They healed and gathered all the students. Mary was unable to walk back under her own power due to the attack used on her but was able to use her body perfectly fine a few hours after getting back.

That night River and Sky went to see her. Once they got privacy they were sure to go over their story of exactly what happened to the Shame of the house of Sun. What the wizard who killed him looked like and what exactly happened in the meantime. Both Sky and Cloud kept their word to tell no one; even Hill, Clover or Rain of the truth.

The Cloud and Rain houses caused a huge uproar over the events, enraged that their heirs were put in such danger and called for the school to fire Peter Leaf and the headmaster who authorized the trip as well as demanded to find who tipped off these rogue wizards.

In the end due to the insistence of their children they decided to not not pursue any firings of teachers but still wanted to know who at that school contacted them and why. Was it on purpose or just a mistake? No information came forward but everyone in the school was now looking closely into the matter.

Normal classes for class 5 resumed 2 days after the events. David Rain was still fairly arrogant but did talk to Hill and particularly Amanda Clover on occasion. He still didn't care much for River but with what happened he saw their old differences as less important.

Amanda Clover was still very shy but she no longer stuttered over the first letter of every sentence when speaking with her classmates.

Derrick Hill and Tom Sky still were good friends and better than ever now. Both were still the closest friends to Lee River. Derrick felt Tom in some ways was closer to Lee than him but in other way more distant. Tom had a great opinion of and admiration for Lee, but he still felt odd about hanging out with a student who he saw execute a man no matter how evil the man was.

As for River he felt relieved and confused. He let part of the cat out of the bag with having Tom and Mary see him fight like that. He knew soon questions would come about how and where he learned such magic from? Especially with him being a commoner.

As class ended Mary waited for him outside and to talk with him alone. Once they were alone she said “I wanted to tell you thank you. I didn't say it before but I wanted to say it now. The house of Cloud repays its debts 3 times over and I will pay you back for this!”

Lee was surprised, “You don't need to pay me back; keeping my secret is enough.”

“I will pay you back! Pride demands it”. She paused and blushed “but you did see me without a shirt on so that is already at least 1/3rd of the payment!”

Lee didn't know what to say so he made a joke “I thought you'd say that is at least 2/3rds of the payment.”

Mary was annoyed by his comment. “Well how much did you look you pervert?”

“I didn't look I swear!”

Mary retorted “So you're saying I'm not attractive?”

Lee couldn't handle this woman. To start with he didn't see many young people his age near were he grew up and even less young girls. Lee said “sorry, I'll go”.

“Wait, don't go” Mary then turned shy but steeled herself. “I am Mary Saint Cloud and I will become the greatest wizard who has ever existed.”

She paused “to make up for looking at me I demand you teach me some of the magic you did. If you do we will be even for you looking at me. It will be easier to pay you back once I'm stronger. That's why I want to do it. That is the only reason!” She said this with unnecessary conviction.

Lee still didn't see a way he could refuse. What if he refused and she told people what she saw? He sighed and said “very well Ms. Saint Cloud. I'll teach you what I can.”

“Good, We'll start our training tonight, I'll see you then i suppose." She turned to leave but paused “by the way, you may call me Mary from now on.”

“Okay then Mary, see you tonight.”

Mary blushed “Goodbye!” she said in a far too forceful manner then walked away quickly.

River thought this would be such a bother. He hadn't been told to not teach some of the things he knew but also knew his master would not want him to teach too much without his permission. He decided to write to him about it to see what he should do.

On the way back to his room he started to think about the first time he ever met his master. Those old memories from years ago filled his mind as he recalled the past.

*****

River woke up in bed. It was his 8th birthday today. He didn't know then today was the day his life would be changed forever.