Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

Winter break was over and the last month of the academic year’s first semester was finally upon us. Unlike the previous four months of the semester though, the last month would hold no classes.

Amazing? Not entirely.

Instead of having lectures in classrooms, the next few weeks would be solely for independent and discovery learning, as well as applying everything we’ve learned in the classrooms during the days we had lectures.

In the next three weeks, we would need to integrate the theories, techniques and spells we have learned and we would be evaluated by the end of the month. It was apparently a tradition in the Imperial Academy that final exams would have no written exams, but were sole practical exams. But the downside was that, the students were not told how the exam would be carried out or what methods would be used for the students to be tested, until two days before the exam.

So... it was a whole other deal of difficult student life.

“Last year the Military Arts Department held a race around the city walls.” said Charles as we asked him about the final exams. “The Alchemy Department looked for herbs in Kawayan Island, the Magic Arts Department had hide-and-seek with their teachers, the Engineering Department refined raw mineral ores from the source, and the General Studies Department were asked to formulate a plan on the organization of the public market.”

“So… it’s pretty random?” Andrea asked in disbelief and we couldn’t help but agree with her.

“Pretty much yeah.” Charles answered. “But if you somehow hit a wall, you can ask the teachers or some free senior students for guidance in the next couple of weeks.”

I could only sigh at Charles’ answer. I think the others were also as dejected as I was. We were hoping to extract some ideas about the final exams form Charles since he was a second year, if that was how the academy made it then we did not have any other choice. His last sentence was a reassurance though so not really everything was a lost cause

On my part, the only thing I could do was to train. My friends and I decided to practice individually but still try to keep in touch with each other during our trainings. Since we belonged to different departments, it wasn’t like we could help with each other’s application of theories and skills.

I spent most of my trainings in western forest’s clearing, the same place where I found Freya in a daze but was actually in a heated argument with her other personalities inside her head. Nobody seemed to come in the area and I even heard a few rumors that students deliberately stayed away from there because of me.

I wondered why but I never really got an immediate answer.

-Am I… an unlikable person?

I just shook my head and continued with my swordplay routines. The swordplay I was practicing was called <Nine Sword Stances>, something I learned when I was still fox deity. I had committed it to memory and I was very surprised when Aunt Zaira gave me a manual about it.

I asked her how she ended up owning such a manual but back then she just said a friend gave it to her.

-Now that I think about it, maybe she knows about the foreign gods too?

The <Nine Sword Stances> is swordplay with nine independent sword stances created to overpower all sorts of weapons. I was taught by a foreign god who crossed over to Afasia almost a thousand years ago and became fond of it. This swordplay was also perfect for the condition of my mortal abilities. It can also be integrated quite nicely with <Mystic Arts>.

One time, when I was in the middle of practice, I suddenly felt the presence of someone else within my vicinity. I immediately summoned sturdy needles from my inventory and threw it to the direction where I sensed the presence. I watched as the figure evaded it at high speed. I continued throwing needles, then put ice needles and daggers in the mix, but whoever it was, he was really fast.

The dark blue blur suddenly stopped on front of me. It was revealed to be a tall man wearing the badge of the Military Arts Department and if I looked even closely, the badge of the third years was pinned to his uniform collar.

-A third year? He seems powerful.

I coated my eyes with energy, activating a special sight, and I saw dark blue energy wrapped around him. Not to mention I saw the cackling of lightning as he evaded my needles a while ago which made him a magus knight with affinity to lightning magic.

“Who are you?” I asked but I was already in a stance with my two swords in my hands.

“I was wondering about the rumors spreading among the students of the lower-years. I came here to verify. Apparently, they’re lying.”

“Excuse me?”

“There’s a rumor among the first years and second years that a monstrous energy level can be felt in the training area within the western forest. They tried to check it out but apparently the closer they get the more they get crushed by the pressure of the energy.” he smiled which showed off his white teeth. “The rumors said it was an unchecked monster. Others say it’s a guardian spirit, but apparently it’s a first year student from the Magic Arts Department.”

-Was I releasing that much energy in the first place? But then again, my energy levels have jumped a lot higher ever since I got my spiritual core back.

My hand went instinctively to the badges on my uniform’s collar in an attempt to cover it. “Who are you?”

“Right, where are my manners. My name is Trent Kidlat, a third year magus knight student.”

“So, are you really just here to confirm the rumors?” I asked again, getting my guard up even more. The guy in front me, felt very dangerous. Plus, his name seemed very familiar.

“Yes and no. I came here for two things, one of them was to check it out due to the rumors, while the other…” Senior Trent suddenly smiled devilishly and suddenly pulled something from behind him. “I want to fight whoever was hogging the western forest for himself. Or herself in this instance.”

He produced a thin short spear from behind him, but all of a sudden, it transformed into a full-length halberd with a wicked looking black blade on top of it. The entire thing was as tall as him and Trent was a very tall person.

I swallowed the nonexistent lump on my throat and my grip on my swords tightened.

-This guy is dangerous.

It was my instinct speaking and it repeated in my head like a mantra but I knew I somehow couldn’t back out. Even if I did, I could already tell that he would run after me and engage me into an unwilling fight.

“So? What do you think? Do you accept my challenge, Luna Hysi?” he asked.

-How did he know my name?

“Don’t you think it’s beneath a third year to challenge a first year?” I joked. “I’m technically still wet behind the ears.”

“Is that a joke?” my jaw tightened at this remark. “I always see your name on top of your year and you’re different from most of the students of this school.”

“Different?”

“Yes. As someone who grew up in the Celestine Territory, you have experience in dealing with monsters and have probably been in a life-and-death situation. You know the terror of to kill or be killed. You know how important it is to survive, something the students of this institution definitely lacks.”

“Saying something like that to a girl... that’s not nice you know?”

He only scoffed and immediately got into stance. “Ready or not, here I come!”

***

Note:

The <Nine Sword Stances> in this story is based on the Nine Swords of Dugu from The Legend of Condor Heroes.