George was timid in his initial reaction to Joey’s provocation. The shock that he felt when Joey dismissed all of his noble pride was palpable. Yet, he found himself gaining confidence as the stipulations for the fight were laid out.

“Without magic, you can’t beat me!” George shouted.

“Watch me!”

He looked down on Tullian, the one who accepted the battle offer.

George felt like it was a given. He was going to win this match.

The two students shook hands before choosing their weapons. George smirked at Tullian, while Tullian simply grunted in response.

George picked a short sword and shield. His House prided themselves on their exceptional performance when combining offence and defence. George's older brothers would harshly scold him if he lost here.

Tullian picked out a shortbow, then gathered some fitting arrows. He noticed something. Hmm. I didn’t think they’d have these kinds of arrows as well. This will give me a huge advantage.

“Don’t cry when an arrow pierces your leg.”

“As if your arrow could even reach me when you can’t use magic. Even if you were a noble you wouldn’t stand a chance, but you’re a petty commoner. Pathetic.”

“Is that truly how you see the world?” Tullian asked. He smirked in the same fashion that George did when they shook hands. “Then I’ll make sure to shatter your perceptions.”

George's eyebrow twitched again. He’s making fun of me! I won’t let that stand, I won’t! Right here, right now! I have to prove myself, or father will beat me! George’s pride had been attacked. His noble status mocked. Worst of all, it was by a commoner who he had to fight with a favourable handicap.

He was being looked down on by someone below him.

And that was unacceptable in his family.

The two stood at opposite ends of the ring.

Joey gave his final words before the spar began.

“Any and all injuries will be healed at the nearby infirmary. If I see anything life-threatening then I will stop it, you both have my word as an instructor at Aether Academy.”

He counted them down.

“Three... Two... One... Begin!”

There was a soft whistle that came from Tullian’s side, and ended on George’s side. A satisfying thud came from where the sound ended, then there was a flash of light.

The students watching from the group weren’t blinded, however. It seemed like Joey created a barrier of some sort to stop them from being affected by whatever went on in the fight.

George could see double. Triple. Quadruple. His senses were on the fritz. There was no way he could concentrate enough to generate mana for a spell, let alone fix his balance to stand straight. He’d been completely discombobulated. There was another whistling sound that originated from the other side of the ring. George covered his body in as much mana he could muster as a form of armour.

It wasn’t enough.

The sensation of his skin being pierced didn’t quite hit him initially. He had so much adrenaline pumping through his body that he didn’t even realise the arrow sticking out of his leg. George tried to take a step, then felt the tremor in his nervous system.

He screamed in pain.

Tullian was somehow stood next to him with an arrow nocked, the bowstring drawn back. It was aimed at his throat.

In the distance, George heard Joey’s voice through all of the ringing in his ears. “Stop! The fight is over, Tullian is the victor.”

George struggled to look at Tullian, who was smiling at him. He saw Tullian’s lips move, but couldn’t hear him over the ringing.

The noble boy’s anger reached its tipping point, before suddenly burning out. Or it’s probably more apt to say that he fainted from the overwhelming combination of sensations he was feeling, thereby removing his ability to seethe.

In the end, he was proven wrong.

Joey wouldn’t voice his thoughts, but he was clearly disappointed. He’d hoped for more of a showing from the noble who was allowed to use magic against someone who couldn’t use it themselves.

However much he was disappointed couldn’t quite compare to how impressed he was with Tullian though. The boy was resourceful enough to find a concussion arrow, then had the wherewithal to act as soon as the fight started. Such attributes could only be found in seasoned fighters. But the one thing that stood out to Joey had little to do with how Tullian played out the fight. It was his attitude. Tullian was calculating. There was a desirability amongst the most well-known mercenaries to be cold blooded, to be calculating. Tullian had displayed that right here in this spar.

Tullian broke Joey’s concentration by running over to Rai and Sindyl.

“Did you guys see that?! I won without breaking a sweat!” He was clearly excited.

“That was awesome Tullian!” Rai said.

“Wow. I didn’t know the Academy had such well-made weapons for us to use in lesson.” Sin said.

George was still screaming in pain. Joey’d forgotten to deal with the aftermath. He was so very glad that Rodrick wasn’t here to see it, otherwise Joey would never hear the end of it.

Joey snapped his fingers. Relief washed over George, then he started floating. A ball of wind formed beside Joey, and out came an owl. Joey faced the owl, and his voice flowed like music.

Vade. Illum adhibe ad sanandum.

The owl fluttered its wings, flying beside the floating boy. They moved through the arced gateway back into the Academy, with the owl taking George to the infirmary.

Joey turned to see the rest of the class discussing what just happened. Some were in shock, since they believed that magic would trump all. It was a typical view of anyone who grew up in the capital cities of any of the clans; magic was something that almost everybody used, and many used it multiple times a day. Those who grew up using magic to fight would be blown away by something like this.

Still, a small handful of the students acted as if this was the expected outcome. Joey’s attention drifted towards Rai, Sin, and Tullian stood talking to each other. The fourth of the four monsters in this class was nowhere to be seen. He probably left because of boredom... Where does Rodrick find all of these monstrous misfits? Joey pondered to himself.

Rai was surprised when Tullian flew over to him and Sin, but it was a nice feeling that he could happily get used to. He knew that other than Sin, he hadn’t actually made any friends his age, so to have found a friend in Tullian was a blessing to him. However, Tullian was very loud. This was something that Rai wasn’t used to.

“Gosh, that felt so GOOD!” Tullian yelled.

Tullian roared in laughter. The boisterous young man couldn’t contain his glee. That was, until Joey’s voice from behind him captured everyone’s attention.

“A good fight. Congratulations on your victory Tullian. Now comes the question for the rest of the class. Do you still believe that magic will always win against physical prowess?” His tone was calm, without an inclination of emotional investment in the question. This was in spite of the fact that he hated the suggestion that magic was always stronger than everything else.

The class was silent. Most didn’t want to admit it, but none could refute it. In this case, Tullian proved that being able to use magic wouldn’t always mean that you could win every fight.

Joey walked over to the wooden armaments on the weapon racks.

“Good. Now you’ll all pick out a weapon that suits you best, and pick a sparring partner. You will spar in the ring without using magic, one pair at a time. I want all of you to do this, except for you three who have already fought. I have another task for you lot.” He pointed at Rai, Sin, and Tullian. He then turned to the larger group to shoo them off to pick their weapons.

Joey walked over to the group of three and laid out their tasks for them.

“Your goal for the rest of this lesson is to help the others improve. I want you to point out what you believe to be their weaknesses after each spar. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that then don’t worry about it, but I’d still want you to think about it at least.”

Rai nodded; it wasn’t a hassle for him, so he was fine to do so. It would also make his lesson more peaceful than he expected which was a nice bonus. Sin and Tullian both agreed to help as well.

The students gathered their weapons and stood next to their partners. Joey called for them to go into the ring and spar one by one.

Most of the fights were at a level below amateur, and there were far too many weaknesses to point out for each one. After the first few, Joey limited the three to give only one point of feedback each per person.

Rai couldn’t bring himself to care about the fights. Everyone was too slow, and none of them seemed able to fight competently without magic. There was one fight that ended quickly though, with the winner fist-fighting like a mad brawler. The brawler was a cute looking elf girl with light blue-silvery hair, and amber eyes. Her cuteness was quite jarring to Rai since she fought like a rabid beast. She seemed accustomed to fighting. Rai didn’t have that much advice for her other than to work on her footwork. He wanted to see more of her unusual fighting style.

That was what he wanted, but the end of the lesson came faster than normal. It was time to go home. Before he could talk to the blue haired elf brawler, Sin called him over to leave so they could go home. Guess I’ll talk to that brawler another time then.

Sin grabbed his hand and gently pulled him as they were about to leave.

“Let’s go home!”

Tullian somehow flew in front of them.

“Hey! Do you two live near each other?”

Sin rapidly blinked, wondering how this boy managed to get in front of them so fast.

“Well...” She blushed a tinge, “We live together.”

Tullian’s jaw dropped.

“WHAT?!”

He gathered some attention from the students that were passing by, but they continued on their way once they saw that it was Tullian. Everyone was already used to his boisterous nature.

“Yep. It’s a place in the-hmph” Sin placed her hand over Rai’s mouth.

“It’s a place my dad owns, you wouldn’t know it, haha!”

“Hmm. Yes, of course. Hmm hmm, wouldn’t know it, mhmm. Can I come hang out?”

Rai and Sin stared blankly at him.

“Huh?” Sin blurted out.

Rai made a muffled questioning sound. His mouth was still covered.