Sévir Is A Pariah!

Sévir furrowed his brows, deep in thought.

His eyes were stuck on the paper sticked to the wall, which read out:

"ALARUS 10

500 AMD

DUNKRON

ACADEMIES

TOURNAMENT"

(For those who don't know, Alarus is the SIAP equivalent of December.)

It didn't look like he had a problem with the content of the paper, so what was it?

He rubbed his chin, his brows still furrowed and his eyes still fixated on the paper.

How will I tell Minerva? 

I don't know, Sévir. I don't know. But will swiping your feet on the snow help you figure it out, as you're doing right now?

He averted his gaze elsewhere, glancing at his whole surroundings.

There wasn't much to see other than the white graupel slowly dropping to the ground. From a distance, were the myriad of stadiums used yesterday, and of course, the stadium right behind him.

Sévir opened his hand, allowing some graupel from the sky to land on it.

Zephyr loves snow, doesn't she? Compared to Sanguinex.

A vivid image of Sanguinex appeared in his mind; It's so cold! Can't it just be spring already!? he can already imagine Sanguinex saying that.

He walked further away from the stadium behind him, the more he looked, the more he noticed there was not a single sign of any buildings other than the stadiums.

This place is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, but still under Magiaville's jurisdiction.. That's what I've heard.

He shut his eyes and rubbed it. Magiaville holds a peaceful image for itself, I guess it makes sense they'd make these combat stadiums literally 50 minutes away.. We had to wake up quite early just to prepare to leave.

Speaking of waking up early. he folded his arms. I wonder if Minerva was even able to sleep after the discovery we made recently.

The image of Minerva on her knees appeared in his mind, her calm look shifted to a pained and upset one, her misty eyes getting mistier as the tears escaped its prison one by one. Her light-skinned face was just as red though.

That was quite.. The sight. he admitted. I guess Magiaville really, really meant a lot to her if she reacted that way.

The guy shrugged, ending at where he reached his conclusion.

Whatever. I still have to talk to her about tomorrow though. 

…

A red-haired girl and a silver-haired girl walked beside each other, they didn't have much distance to each other, and the air was more laid back than expected.

"It'll be Sévir's birthday in 21 days."

"Yours too, Nex.

"Right. I wonder what Sévir would want this year."

She shrugged, not knowing either. "I don't know, he usually says 'nothing'."

Nothing. You being here is enough. he replied after Zephyr asked what he wanted, 7 years ago.

Nothing. 6 years ago.

Nothing. 5 years ago.

Nothing. 4 years ago.

Nothing. 3 years ago.

Nothing. 2 years ago.

Nothing. 1 year ago.

"I mean, he's not the type to want something, materialistic, that is." Sanguinex folded her arms, resolute with her conclusion.

"What about you, Nex? What do you want for your birthday?"

Sanguinex paused, thinking about what she could want. "I want new hair ties, the ones I'm wearing right now are about to break soon. As for what I want from Sévir, I want many, many kisses!" she perked up to the thought of receiving such a gift from the love of her life.

Zephyr chuckled awkwardly. ..I didn't ask… 

"That aside, why'd you suddenly approach me?"

Zephyr nudged her arm. "Can't I approach my best friend for no reason at all? If I couldn't then I'd barely be approaching you."

"Am I really your best friend though?"

Suffice to say, Zephyr was surprised when Sanguinex asked sheepishly, which was so unlike her.

Zephyr punched her arm, Sanguinex shrieked from the sudden surge of pain.

"Oi, what was that for!?" Sanguinex glared at Zephyr's narrowed eyes.

"Why would you ask me that? It's obvious you're my best friend. Aside from Brother, you've really been my only friend, even when we still lived at the palace." her fist was still clenched and she showed it–a sign that she could do it again if Sanguinex said something "stupid" one more time.

Sanguinex sighed in resignation. "You love being rowdy towards me, don't you?"

She smiled back. "I'm not being rowdy, I'm just showing you my purest form of 'Sanguinex Love'!" she swung her fist to punch her arm again, Sanguinex dodged it.

"Whatever that means, child." she snickered.

Zephyr pouted almost instantly. "I am NOT a child! Sword!" she retorted, smiling smugly the moment she heard Sanguinex click her tongue.

"Whatever. Moving on, how are you feeling? After your defeat and all." Sanguinex put a hand on Zephyr's shoulder.

Zephyr's smug smile quickly faded, transforming to a frown as quick as how Sanguinex changed the topic. "I feel trash, but that's just how it is when you lose. After all.."

"Who feels happy by losing?" they both said in unison, Sanguinex grinned from ear to ear, as if she was proud of Zephyr.

Sanguinex had been saying that line over and over, perhaps it was when Zephyr lost her training duels back then in the WCO, and didn't feel really upset about it, or maybe she didn't even care about it.

"But how's Ms. Minerva? You were beside her when you guys were watching me." she lowered her voice with hints of fear, as though she didn't want to hear what Minerva thought, but at the same time, she wanted to hear about it.

"She didn't say anything, but the vibe around her made it clear she was disappointed."

Zephyr sighed. She knew it all along, but even so, she still wished that wasn't the case. "That figures."

Sanguinex slapped her in the back. "Don't be so down about it! Were you seriously planning to waste chapters of your life just because of that?"

She shook her head. "That's why I'll talk to her once all of this is done."

"Good, you're growing up."

…

A ball of fire surged forth with the intention of hitting Keahi, but he dodged it way before it could get close.

"Woah, this one's aggressive! It's already attacking Keahi before it could show itself!"

The beast stepped forward, revealing itself to Keahi and the sea of spectators. It resembled a komodo dragon, though bigger than one in contrast, and it had an unusual bony frill on the top of its head with three horns, much like that of a triceratops. The long body was coated with black stripes, but the tail was even longer.

"Ah, no wonder why!–it's the beast of the thick Danesian jungles; the Draconiceratops!"

Keahi glared at the commenter, before glaring back at the grey beast. It doesn't matter what beast this is.

You don't just suddenly attack me, you worthless piece of trash! his face flushed in rage, as if he was insulted so hard.

He pulled the knife out of his pocket, pointing it at the beast.  Come at me.

It wasted no time and charged forward, emanating a ball of fire between its three horns.

The way it crawled was enough to send the chills to anybody, but not Keahi, he only stood still, waiting for it to get closer.

He snapped his fingers, the beast stopped and its fireball dissipated right after.

He walked closer to the beast, who didn't even try attacking him like earlier.

The spectators shared confused glances, but only the Stepan students–well, at least most of them knew.

"There there.." Keahi caressed the nose of the Draconiceratops, it stepped closer and snuggled up to him, enjoying what he was doing.

He looked straight in its eyes, a soft smile creeping up his face. "Roll over."

The beast rolled over with ease, as though it was a trained pet.

Keahi got on top of the beast's belly, slowly raising his knife. "Now, stay still and die for me."

The beast did not move a single inch–it listened to every single word Keahi said ever since it stopped showing aggression.

He stabbed the Draconiceratops on its throat, its legs flapping around in response, desperately trying to move around; he pulled the knife down as hard as he could, further slicing down the defenseless beast until blood gushed out.

His knife stopped going down at some point, blocked by something hard. "Ah, there it is."

He pulled the knife out, and stabbed it underneath where his knife stopped. A loud crack resonated in his ears.. The beast ceased to move.

Keahi stood up, raising his knife up in the air.

"VICTORY FOR KEAHI SAMPSON!!" the commenter announced with such surprise and thrill in his voice. "Ms. Phoebe, what happened there!? The beast suddenly stopped its attack and let itself die!"

"Attraction." Ms. Phoebe blurted.

"What?"

"Keahi Sampson, you may now leave the arena."

Keahi wore a big, self-satisfied smile, not even bothering to look around the crowd and wave as he left the arena.

Noelle sighed in disappointment. "That guy.. He has a loooot of fangirls, I too, would've been enthralled if he just wasn't so confident."

Minerva nodded in understanding. "I mean.. Have you seen the way he talks when it's about him?"

"Oh tell me about it."

…

"How did you do that, Keahi!?" one of the girls around him asked in surprise.

Keahi let go of the beast nestled in his arms. "I'm just amazing, that's why!" he exclaimed with such pride in his voice, it was too hard to ignore.

His soft gaze contrasted his sharp eyes, and that was one of many things that made him so attractive–according to his fangirls.

He perked up as Noelle entered his sight, hurriedly walking past the girl to get to the princess. "Princess Trysta!" he called her excitedly.

Noelle stopped and turned around, looking at Keahi. The latter stopped in front of her and smiled. "Princess Trysta, how are you doing?"

"Uh, I'm doing fine, thank you."

"Would you like to eat lunch with me? My treat!" he winked.

She shook her head in response rather quickly. "I'm sorry, but I have other things to attend to."

He opened his mouth, but no words got out.

"Maybe next time." she turned around and walked away in a hurry.

Keahi clicked his tongue and clenched his fists in irritation. Did she actually just reject my offer? right after, he let out a long sigh as he quickly calmed down, the smug smile returning to his face.

She's just busy. She said "Maybe next time", didn't she? There's obviously no way you can reject me under normal circumstances.

He folded his arms and nodded in agreement. That's right! I'll just ask again tomorrow, she won't reject me this time!

…

"Gee, if you want entertainment from me, you've gotta give beasts worth fighting!" Keahi's complains echoed through the hallway, nobody but himself heard it.

…

Sévir rested by the leafless tree, an apple in hand.

He stared off the grey, cloudy sky, biting and munching the apple with an empty mind.

After a while, he stood up, waking from his conscious slumber as he finished the apple. "There's nothing to do."

You're right. said a familiar voice in his head.

"I woke you up for a reason, Blue." he knelt down, picking up a stick. "To give me an idea on what to do."

I mean, you can do whatever.

He rolled his eyes. "Wow, how useful." 

He took his word though, and drew on the snow with the stick.

Is that you?

The drawing was the head of a stickman's, and a face as blank as Sévir's–":I".

"I'm not the only guy with a blank face, idiot."

You're the only guy I know with one.

"Oi!" Sévir turned around to the voice behind him–it was from a Stepan student he didn't know.

The student stood at the same height as Sévir, the short bangs of his short chestnut brown hair swept to the side.

Who is this guy, Sévir? Do you know him?

"May I help you?" asked Sévir, tossing the stick away.

"Yeah, you could."

"Really? What can I help with?"

"So you see, I saw you talking to yourself, and I'd very much appreciate it if you stop that.. It's creepy." he hugged himself, shrinking with exaggeration.

Sévir glanced at the flying birds, minding their own business, then back at the student. 

The latter turned his heels and marched away.

Uh.. That was random.

Sévir crouched, grabbing the stick again. "It's your fault," he whispered.

He went back to drawing on the snow, talking to Blue, undeterred by whoever that student was from earlier.

Sévir turned around once again to the sound of snow crunching. It was not the student from earlier, but a woman whose uncommon purple hair travelled down to her waist, and her red eyes watched him.

It clicked the moment she grew a sly smile. "Aunt..–er.. Witch."

"Aw, you nearly said it! Why do you have to be so terrible towards me?" Ms. Ardell hooked her arms around his, she looked up to his face, only seeing a grimace

"You're a witch, I'll appreciate it if you keep your distance from me." he retorted.

"You know, you'll drive everyone away with that attitude." her voice steered away from the usual playful tone; concerned like that of a mother to their kid.

Sévir noticed it, and looked away when his ears burned up. At that moment, embarrassment chewed him up.

"I–I'm completely fine with that." he pulled his arm away. "They'll definitely be of no use to me."

"Friends are great, they'll always have your back." she patted his back. "When will you realize that?"

Her words fell on deaf ears; Sévir was unwilling to listen. "Moving on, I saw a girl talking to you earlier."

"She's a friend of mine, around your age..-" She gasped, as if she just realized something.

She nudged Sévir's arm, grinning from ear to ear. "Are you interested~? I can definitely help you with her! She's kind of a handful though."

He scowled. "What's with all of you thinking I have a thing for the girls I ask about?"

"Oh, was I wrong?"

"You were way off the mark. Are you aging that much-"

Ms. Ardell slapped his nape, the sting spreading all around his head. "OW! What was that for!?" he gripped his nape and clenched his teeth.

"You're walking the thorny path if you constantly challenge a woman, whose hands have perfected the art of slapping."

He rolled his eyes and didn't bother listening, all she said was just yapping to him. "So, why are you here?"

"I just so happened to see you, drawing.." She was delightfully caught off-guard as her gaze fell upon the drawing etched into the snow. "You're still a child after all."

"What do you mean!? It's not easy at all to etch a god-like drawing in the snow–with a stick!" Sévir protested, handing her the stick. "Prove me wrong and draw something detailed."

She took the stick with enthusiasm, walking over to a nearby place with completely flat snow-filled ground. "Challenge accepted."

What followed was an etch of consistent lines, making a mouth, eyes, nose and hair with haste.

"Sévir."

"What?"

"What did that student tell you?"

So she saw. "He said nothing, why?"

"He was with a group, I overheard them earlier."

"Ah, really? Okay." The disinterest in his reply hung high.

"Yes really, and what they were talking about was very displeasing."

"Then don't mention it."

"Doesn't it bother you that they're using you as a sort of test of courage?"

"Test of courage? How come?"

She sighed. "You know there's all sorts of rumors about you, right?"

"Yes."

"Have you heard of them?"

"No."

"There's rumors going on that you're some dark wizard, if they talk to you, they get cursed."

That childish?

"So, the guy that approached you was dared to do so by his group. They're so baseless and random, I don't get how people at a prestigious academy like Stepan believe in them."

Sévir walked over beside where she stood, his face showing slight surprise when he saw the drawing. "Is that me?"

"Are you not concerned about the rumors?"

"Just a little."

She gave him a confused look. "Why?" She just couldn't understand; why? Why isn't he concerned? Any person would react by now–but he didn't.

"Life is like tea–it tastes good at the top, but at the bottom, it tastes terrible..

At least, that's what Zephyr says."

…

From beside, a small child tugged Sévir's sleeve. "Brother, why are you so gloomy all the time?" you could say she was straightforward, but at the top of it all was her unwavering curiosity.

"..I'm not gloomy." said Sévir with perhaps the gloomiest voice ever.

"Yes you are! You always talk with a gloomy voice, you never look enthusiastic, you're always serious, it makes me wonder if we really are siblings!" she yapped, puffing her cheeks right after. "I always hear you saying bad stuff about life, it's very annoying!"

Sévir couldn't reply with the same energy, for he was the edgelo–err… He was exhausted. "Okay." he took his black coat off and tossed it to the bed.

"You know, life is like tea!"

"Tea?"

"It tastes good at the top, but at the bottom, it tastes terrible!"

"Where did you learn that?" he asked, surprised by her line.

"I always see bad things happen in novels, and Auntie Demeter gives me tea whenever I read." she stuck out a finger by her mouth, whispering. "Don't tell her I said this.. But it tastes like garbage!"

I agree. he smiled as he found common ground with his little sister. "Oh! That's right, are there any books you want to buy?"

He took his coin pouch and shook it, his smile turning to a grin as the coins jingled. "Brother's got a little extra from work."

Zephyr beamed instantly, her cheeks flushed in excitement. "R-Really!?"

He nodded. "You'll just have to go with Ms. Sword, I'm quite beat."

Zephyr nodded back at him and turned to Sanguinex–who wasn't named Sanguinex yet.

Sanguinex smiled at her and walked over to them. "Okay, just give me time to prepare."

Zephyr wasted no time putting her shoes on, leaving the room to wait in the dining room downstairs.

Sévir's heartfelt smile faded when Zephyr left the room, he turned to Sanguinex and handed her the coin pouch. "Don't go over five Zinarius." he said in a cold tone, which was his usual during this time.

"F-Five!?" she exclaimed in surprise. "You gained that much in just one mission!?"

He nodded. "Old man challenged me to take out two gang leaders within two hours. I took out five." he tossed himself to the bed. "Get out of my face, don't leave Zephyr waiting."

"Y-yes sir." she put on her shoes and left in a hurry.

…

"I beg to differ though. I also think life is like tea, except; it's bitter at the top, and even more at the bottom. If I already know life is that bad, I can't be thrown off-guard by anything it throws against me." he took the stick from Ms. Ardell's hand, drawing 2 lines that carved the image of an angry face. "If there's anything me and this world have in common, that would be hating each other."

...

"AND THE BEAST SLAMMED EVERYONE BUT THE SIXTH UNDEFEATED OFF! HOW IS GERTRUDE SEGERSON STILL STANDING!?"

Gertrude's feet buried itself as he tanked the outstanding force of the beast's humongous tail with his shield. His legs shook violently, but it didn't give up.

It all became futile as he too, got swept away, only catching himself with pillars of earth in the nick of time.

He turned to everyone behind him, yelling. "EVERYONE! STAND UP!" he didn't plead them; he commanded them, though it was needless, as they stood up on their own volition.

They all kept their gaze at the dragon in the center of the arena, surrounded by piles of green-skinned giants who had their own tools, a number of them were crushed and bathed in their own blood with deep marks of giant claws.

We have 1 earth, 5 water, 4 fire and 2 light users against 1 dragon.. The odds would be completely against it if it was weaker! 

He punched the ground, it responded by completely engulfing his hand, constructing a big, fist-shaped glove that was colored brown.

All their heartbeats quickened, the dragon before them was a force to be reckoned with, and it showed just that with its sheer strength, it's bone-chilling roar, its dark skin and its ferociously brilliant red eyes that stared them down without break.

Its chest rose, faintly glowing red, a great surge of fire rushed forth, so great that it could swallow up an entire house–make it two.

"UDO SCIANA!" the water mages of differing academies exclaimed the same spell, giving rise to an even greater wall of water in a desperate attempt to nullify the incoming fire,

Fire and water met, birthing a thick wall of steam that blocked the sight of the dragon and students from each other.

"TERRAE RESURGENS!" an ascending pillar of earth poked out of the ground, Gertrude, with all his might, sprinted up the ever elongating pillar.

The others saw his intention, and got to work.

"LUX VERRE!" a slash of light blindly rushed towards the wall of steam in hopes of hitting the dragon.

"LUX CAECUS!" a ball of light that was as tall as Sévir followed through.

As if it was the most natural thing to do, the dispersed fire mages yelled: "RADIUM AHI!" four huge rays of fire joined the fray, it was at this time the steam wall started to dissipate, and at the same time, the ball of light exploded like a bomb, forcing the dragon to shut its eyes,

"WATER MAGES! CONTAIN HIM!" Gertrude yelled at the top of his lungs–fortunately, he was heard.

"UDO RIBAT!" one water mage exclaimed, conjuring a leash of water from his sword that wrapped around the dragon's right hand.

The other water mages dispersed and did the same with extreme haste–fighting a tug of war against the dragon for control, which the dragon made sure to make harder as it moved around with its eyes closed.

Gertrude leaped with all his might, landing on its nose the moment it opened its eyes.

Its roar was deafening to him, but he didn't let it get to him. He climbed up his nose and crawled up to his forehead, clinging onto its horn.

With the bottom tip of his shield, he lunged it towards the dragon's right eye, it forced the eye closed and shook its head around, attempting to throw Gertrude off, but he kept clinging on.

It exhaled fire and raised its hands, winning its tug of war against two of the water magicians, sending them to the wall across the arena.

The fire and light mages launched attack after attack; attacks so massive, it was draining their mana at unforeseen speeds.

Gertrude stood up with caution, one hand still holding the horn. "SPINAE TELLURIS!" yelled Gertrude as he raised his free hand, the ground shook for a brief moment, giving way to open and let thick spikes rise from underneath the dragon.

It may have not impaled the belly, but the acceleration was fast enough to make it drop, as though it was punched in the liver.

The dragon whimpered and dropped to its knees..

"BEKUALLWA!"

Crackles echoed through the ears of the dragon, followed by a myriad of frosting spikes impaling its neck.. An intense chill engulfed its whole neck; it could no longer roar, nor could it move its body.

With how much it was impaled, its head could literally fall off by now, but it didn't just yet, only when the dragon shut its eyes, did the head fall off, Gertrude landed safely.

It rained blood from the neck, dripping down and showering its severed head.

"...VICTORY FOR THE ACADEMIES!" the crowd rose to an uproar; fascinated by the sequence of events that unfolded right before their very eyes.

Gertrude dropped to his knees, his stone glove broke off, and he sighed in pure relief. "It.. It worked out…"

"The twelve academies may be natural enemies, but deep inside, they know just when to set aside their differences and work together against a threat! Today's example is literally perfect!"

All twelve students grouped up near the head of the dragon, battered and exhausted on the outside, but healed and raring on the inside.

"Great work, all of you." Gertrude congratulated them–they returned the gesture.

...

"That was a pretty epic fight, don't you guys think?" said Percival, he looked at Sévir and Kalvin.

"Why didn't they just impale the dragon from the get-go?" Kalvin asked, bothered by their decision.

"Since Percival's a dumbass that can't get things right, I'll explain on his behalf."

Percival stared at Sévir, dumbfounded.

"So, with how tall the dragon was and how specific the location had to be to impale the neck, their spell simply wouldn't reach."

Percival nudged his shoulder, frowning. "I could've explained that by myself, thanks."

...

"FOR THE FINAL STEPAN MAN AGAINST BEAST; MAY WE INTRODUCE THE FIFTH AND FOURTH UNDEFEATED–LAZARUS HENDRIX AND DAMON GALENAAA!!" the announcer sounded much more enthusiastic as he mentioned Damon.

Sévir's brows furrowed as the two entered the arena, though it wasn't them that he was looking at..

A staff with a red handle, on top of it was a small sphere of reinforced yellow mana sapphires, trapped by an intricate spherical cage of gold..

…

Sévir followed up with a punch to his face, "Aprins Tura!" then a powerful blow to the guts in quick succession. His fist glowed red and fire spewed, sending "Staff Guy" flying across.

Out of all places, he hit the back of his head in a metal bar, rendering him unconscious.

…

It's him.