Boom!

Headmaster Myrlus Kain looked around as the ground suddenly shook, he shook his head remembering that Hathaway had reported him earlier that he had allowed Kyle and Petra to spar with their younger half-siblings Thomas and Lissa so the explosion was likely from that, eventually he returned his attention to the box on the table.

It was a small and intricate box containing two Nephilite shards from Crimson Edge and Azure Blade, unlike the others that were dormant at most. These two shards were very much ‘alive’ in a sense, the only reason that Myrlus hasn’t gone insane is that he was present during their creation.

He slumped in his seat as he ran a hand through his face as he eventually reached out to the two shards and transferred a significant amount of Ki and Mana into them. This caused the already dark room to be illuminated as two faint figures of light, one was red and black while the other was blue and white, appeared within the room, both of them seemed to have taken a seat on the sofa and were facing him.

“Forgive me, my dear students,” Myrlus said almost on the verge of tears looking at the two figures. “I swore to protect your family and prevent them from following the same path as you two did and yet here they are.”

In life, both Andras and Arios were not just Myrlus’ close friends. But were his students even bordering on the closest thing he had for sons, as a result, he promised that he would do whatever he can to not only preserve their legacy but also protect their lovers and their children, not just the Clones. Making sure that such bloodshed like the Axis Conflict would never occur.

“You did everything you can to ensure that they could at least live a peaceful life before this.” The Blue one said. “There are some things that you cannot prevent, and eventually they’ll learn the truth one way or another.” The Red one continued.

“But they cannot carry the burden that is the Legacy that you two left behind once they find out about the fact that you two are their fathers,” Myrlus argued looking down. “If I had known…I never should have accepted them here.”

“But they seem to have chosen to enroll there themselves. And if they were to find out about the truth behind them then you must make sure that they learn the truth.” The Blue one pointed out as he proceeded to stand up and fly past him eventually disappearing in a stream of blue and white light.

“Besides just because they’re our children doesn’t mean they’re going inherit our legacy, it’s their choice if they want to continue what we left behind or not. As for us, we simply wish for them to grow into the fine young adults they would become.” The Red one said as vanished in a stream of red and black light as well.

As soon as they were gone, Myrlus let go of the shards and let out a sigh as the room darkened again.

“The Kingdoms of Jorouse and Exavis would like to disagree on that,” Myrlus said removing the curtains and found both Lissa and Thomas, face planted on the ground after being defeated by Petra and Kyle. Since the years from the Axis Conflict, both kingdoms have begun to gain a much stronger influence within the region over the last few years to the point where not even the actual government of Axis could barely do anything but accept orders from both ambassadors.

It was because of their interference that many resistance movements began to crop up, all of which were aimed at the liberation of Axis from both powers. For a time, Myrlus and the Academy could have intervened, but he chose not to. It wasn’t until an incident involving several of his best students were caught working together with several Resistance factions leading to their expulsion. He had hoped that through their expulsion, they might consider living peaceful lives but instead, it only intensified his fears as it resulted in most of the Factions banding together and forming what is known as the Axis Liberation Coalition.

All of which is because of his actions. Had he done better as a mentor he might have prevented all of this, and now that both Lissa and Thomas had exposure with the ALC then it’s only a matter of time before they get involved.

“I am a failure as a Mentor…” Myrlus lamented looking at the shards once more.

[Axis:Legacy]

“…We just got stomped…” Lissa commented as she stood up her hair slightly smelled of smoke after accidentally getting burned a few times by Petra from her Magic, she turned around to find Thomas lying on a small crater as a result from getting slugged on the face by Kyle.

“That’s an understatement…” Thomas said as she helped him get up, the two of them faced to find Kyle squatting on the ground with an amused look on his face while Petra leaned on her cane with a smug smile.

“I take it that you two surrender?” Kyle stood up helping the two of them up. “Yes.” Both of them answered in unison earning an amused laugh from Petra while Professor Mills walked towards them.

“Smart move.” She commented with an amused smile, something that both Thomas and Lissa found a rare thing to see. “I hope you four learned from that entire ordeal because I managed to see several errors throughout the fight between the four of you.” Professor Mills explained as he snapped his fingers causing four illusionary clones of Kyle, Lissa, Petra, and Thomas.

“Let’s start with Miss Ikross, you’re all over the place you keep rushing impulsively and even ignoring your combat partner as a result leaving him to deal with Mister Hoffman throughout the ordeal.” Professor Mills continued as Illusionary Clones began to repeat the sparring session before them.” He shot a pointed look at Lissa who looked down and shifted awkwardly.

“Next we have Mister Orphen, you on the other hand, are too much on the defensive, your sword-mace can handle much of the damage sent to you and if you do try to land a blow on them it would be wide and at times even nearly hitting Miss Ikross if not for her agility.” Professor Mills said as he shifted his attention towards Thomas who gave an awkward smile.

“We then follow to Mister Hoffman, you’re in general, too destructive. When you’re not actively breaking the bones of Miss Ikross and Mister Orphen you’re actively creating craters.” He pointed out nodding to the craters throughout the Training room with a visible cringe on his face.

“And finally for Miss Lowell. You weren’t even taking the fight seriously and were just playing around with the two of them with your spells.” Professor Mills said with a mildly amused tone who simply shrugged.

“In general all four of you are destructive and lacked coordination despite the skills and potentials that you four had, as such reflect on this once you leave the Training Room. Now then all four of you are dismissed.” Professor Mills concluded as he looked at his watched as the four leave the Training Room, with the winning pair discussing having lunch while the other pair limped their way towards the Nurse’s Office.

Upon entering they were then greeted by Nurse Slate who was having lunch and gave them a surprised look.

“Oh hello, I see you two had a rough sparring session today.” He said standing up and helping them sit on two of the beds while he went to tend to their injuries. Ever since the two had made it a daily basis for them to spar, it had also become a daily basis for him to tend on their wounds during the aftermath of their sparring sessions.

“Not this time,” Thomas laughed which was followed by a pained groan recalling the sensation of Kyle’s fist breaking a rib. “It was two versus two sessions this time.” Lissa continued as she sniffed her hair and winced as the faint scent of smoke was still present.

“Who were you two up against then?” Nurse Slate asked as he tended on Thomas’s injuries first. “Kyle and Petra,” Lissa answered, this immediately took Nurse Slate by surprise causing him to look at Lissa.

“H-How did it go?” He asked her trying his best to regain his composure.

“They’re insanely powerful, I expected no less from someone who shares the DNA of both Arios and Andras,” Lissa said unaware of his sudden change of tone, though Thomas did manage to notice it.

“You two seemed to have managed to hold on your own though.” Nurse Slate commented with an amused smile.

“Badly though. We lacked coordination and we’re pretty all over the place, to be honest.” Thomas muttered as he lay down on the bed and Nurse Slate and focused on Lissa.

“I mean we spent most of the time fighting against one another than work together.” Lissa glanced at Thomas who rested for a moment which resulted in a chuckle from him.

“Though there was that one time.” Lissa smiled at him, she immediately regretted that comment remembering that the entire Embassy incident had been a landmine of a topic for Thomas, which instead caused him to frown and stand up despite Nurse Slate’s protests.

“That didn’t count on account that we were more fixated on two separate people.” Thomas simply said as he walked out of the Nurse’s Office.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Lissa said as soon as he was gone.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Nurse Slate said worriedly. “Your Teams were involved with the Embassy incident, which resulted in two deaths and several injured.”

“That two deaths were from his teammates, and I guess he blames himself for their deaths till this day,” Lissa said worriedly as she Nurse Slate finished the treatment.

“Should I…should I go talk to him? I mean he probably needs someone to talk to about it and all.” Lissa asked worriedly, despite their bantering and rivalry Lissa did care for him. Truth be told she was hoping that he moved on from their deaths but it turns out that.

“Yes, you should.” Nurse Slate answered giving her a look saying ‘Are you an idiot?’ which prompted Lissa to immediately hurry out of the room while Nurse Slate shook his head in amusement.

“Hathaway is right, they sure have a weird way of flirting.” Nurse Slate chuckled but then frowned as he looked on a message on his phone from Myrlus which reads: ‘Tell their mothers.’ “But still though, she sure takes a lot from her father, Impulsive and dense.”

Meanwhile, Lissa managed to catch up with Thomas in the hallway.

“There you are, sorry about reminding you about what happened in the Embassy I thought you’ve moved on from the whole thing.” She gave him a sad smile as she began walking towards him.

“It's fine you didn’t know about it anyway, besides I should have moved on from their deaths but I just can’t. The more I think about it, for all of my skills I’m a pretty incompetent leader.” Thomas said shaking his head as he looking down devoid of any of his usual lax personality. Something that strangely fills Lissa with worry as she walked towards him suddenly hugged him which lasted for a few seconds and then pulled away.

“I would be devastated as well if I were in your position,” Lissa said awkwardly shifting her feet once more. “But you can’t blame yourself for that, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I understand…” Thomas nodded turning around to walk away. “I should get going then—”

“Wait…I’m not done yet,” Lissa said nearly yanking his arm but pulled away awkwardly as he faced her again. “I well I want to tell me if you need someone to talk to or to listen to your problems…basically I’m telling you that if you have a problem then I’m here for you.”

For a brief moment, Thomas was genuinely surprised. Despite everything he had taken her words of him nothing more than a rival to heart, it’s quite a surprise to hear from her that she’s genuinely worried about him. But then again if he didn’t go all out then that’s an insult to her pride for viewing him as a Rival and expects him to be in peak condition so that it remains a challenge between them.

“I’ll—”

Sniff, Sniff

“Observation: Interesting, both of your pheromones have reached a level that indicates romantic attraction. Furthermore, it would seem that Lissa has taken a sudden rise in body temperature and heart rate.”

Both of them moved away in surprise to find Nina squatting nearby looking at both of them in mild curiosity.

For god’s sake don’t just eavesdrop on someone like that!” Lissa said blushing furiously from her remark while Thomas kept a confused look and backed away.