Wrath's Virtue

After finishing his work in the Beast Taming section, Aurelion walked through the main courtyard. His eyes scanned the scattered groups of students, finally locking onto his target. He changed his course and began to walk towards them with a calm pace.

One of the boys in the group nudged Merric. "He's coming."

Merric, who was talking with a now recovered Emil and a few other members of the Giant Bone clan, straightened up. The whole group turned to face the approaching elf.

Aurelion stopped a few feet in front of them, his gaze settling on the group's clear leader. "I assume you're the one in charge here. Merric, isn't it?"

"That's right," Merric replied.

"Why have you come to us?" He glanced at Emil, then gestured with his chin towards the finely crafted spear resting in the boy's hands.

"Or are you here for that?"

"Some things came to my attention today," Aurelion said, his tone was almost bored.

"It seems your weakling friend here didn't get a good night's sleep."

A muscle in Merric's jaw twitched. "I was wondering about that myself too. You know it's forbidden for students of different years to enter other dormitories. I can't imagine how a shattered spear found its way in there."

Aurelion shrugged, a picture of innocence. "I wouldn't know. It has nothing to do with me."

"Don't play dumb," Merric snapped. "It's as clear as day that it was your doing."

"Is it?" Aurelion replied with a faint smile on his lips.

"Do you have a witness? After all, it would be impossible for me to sneak into the thirdyear dormitory and plant something without seen, wouldn't it?"

Merric said nothing. He just stared at the smirking elf.

"If there really is someone sneaking around," Aurelion continued, his voice dropped slightly.

"I think you should be careful, Merric. They might visit your room next."

"Are you threatening us?" Merric's voice rose.

"After everything you've done? After you shattered a weapon belonging to our clan?"

"You can interpret my words however you wish, Merric. Believe me, what you think holds zero value in my eyes," Aurelion said while his voice turning cold.

"The thoughts of the weak are meaningless. I came here for something else."

At that, Emil took a step forward. With a defiant glare, he slammed the Aurelion's spear into the ground, gripping the shaft with both hands and leaning on it for support.

The hate in his eyes was palpable. "Then say it. We're listening."

Aurelion's focus snapped to Emil. His gaze locked onto the sight of his own spear being used as a crutch by the boy he had utterly defeated. A vein on his temple began to throb, and his nose started twitched.

Aurelion forcibly reined in the cold fury sparked by Emil's defiance. He tore his gaze away from the boy and turned back to Merric,

His voice deceptively calm. "I made a deal with your Clan Leaders. There is something else you owe me. You know that, don't you?"

Merric's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you joking? You still have the audacity to demand a prize from us?"

Aurelion took a step closer to Merric. "I'm not demanding anything from you," he said.

His voice suddenly rising, carrying across the courtyard for the other watching students to hear. He jabbed a thumb towards Emil. "I crushed this idiot. This fool made the challenge, and I won. I am not asking for anything. I am telling you to pay the debt you owe me. You owe me a technique from your clan."

"You fought that girl, Lyra too," Merric shot back, trying to find an escape.

"Did you demand a technique from the Frozen-Axe clan?"

"My business with the other clans is none of your concern," Aurelion retorted.

"You will give me a technique from your clan, right now. Or are you going to ignore the word of your Clan Leader, Merric? Or does your clan simply have no honor?"

Merric gritted his teeth, his gaze flicking to the other students who were now murmuring amongst themselves. He saw Lars, the big Ursine, watching him with a grin.

He turned back to Aurelion, his face a mask of constrained rage.

"The clan will decide which technique is taught to you. We will honor our agreement, and I will see to it that you are taught a technique. Our clan keeps its words."

"Good," Aurelion said coolly. "But when? Now, isn't it?"

"I need to speak with some people first," Merric insisted. "You will get your technique after that."

"No. It will be now. You should have thought of this before you challenged me. If I am to accept your challenge instantly, I will receive my technique instantly."

"I don't have the authority to teach you a technique!" Merric finally snapped, his composure breaking.

"Don't push your luck any further."

"You don't you push your luck, Merric," Aurelion replied.

His voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I want the technique that fool used where he grows bone spines from his fists. Right now. What I ask for is perfectly fair. It is a technique that was used against me. You cannot refuse it, and you cannot delay it. I want it now."

Merric looked around, his gaze darting from one expectant face to the next. Everyone was watching him, waiting. He could feel the weight of his clan's honor teetering on the edge of a blade.

"Fine," he hissed through clenched jaws.

"Wait here."

He turned on his heel and strode towards the his dormitory. He returned a few minutes later.He was holding an old, yellowed parchment scroll.

He threw it at Aurelion as if it were a venomous snake.

"Take it," he spat.

"These are the basic principles of the Bone Shard technique. Our debt is paid now."

Aurelion snatched the scroll from the air with casual ease. He unfurled it, his eye scanning the text for a brief moment before rolling it back up and tucking it under his arm.He turned back to Merric.

"Thanks for the parchment," he said, his voice laced with a cheerfulness.

"But you still owe me the practical lesson."

A stunned silence fell over the group.

"What?!" Merric roared.

"Didn't you hear me? According to our deal, I was to be taught a technique from your clan. A scroll is just theory," Aurelion explained patiently, as if talking to a particularly slow child.

"Now, Merric, you will show me, personally, how this technique is used."

Merric's fists clenched at his sides. "And what if I teach it to you by tearing you apart with it? Would that be a sufficient practical lesson?"

Aurelion let out a short, sharp laugh, his single eye glinting with genuine excitement. "We can certainly do that too, Merric. Right after you've taught me how."

Merric flinched at Aurelion's manic response.

"This elf... he's insane," he thought.

He spun around, not wanting to look at the triumphant boy any longer. "Follow me. We'll go somewhere quiet."

"Of course," Aurelion said, holding the scroll.

"Lead the way."

As a few of the other students started to follow, Merric snapped at them over his shoulder. "You're not needed."

He then started walking, and Aurelion followed, but not before casting one last, lingering glance back at Emil.

The two child walked towards one of the training buildings. At the entrance, Merric tossed a few tokens to an instructor on duty, who grunted and unlocked the door to a private training room.

Inside, they were met with a wide, empty chamber of stone and wood.

"We won't be bothered by curious eyes here," Merric said, the bitterness evident in his voice.

"Every hour we spend in here costs me tokens. So, if we stay longer than two hours, you'll be covering the rest."

"No need to be so stingy," Aurelion replied. "And don't worry. This won't take two hours."

Merric began to explain the technique, his words clipped and reluctant.

"The secret to this technique... it involves influencing one's own life force. The power of the technique is drawn from our blood." He hesitated, trying to reveal as little as possible.

"If the secret is life force," Aurelion deduced internally, "then they must be using blood as the medium."

Merric continued. "You cannot use it without sacrificing your own blood."

He explained the process of channeling energy from the Core, mixing it with the essence of one's blood, and then projecting it outward. While Merric tried his best to keep the deeper secrets of his clan hidden, he was forced to leak fragments of information to make the explanation coherent.

As he spoke, something clicked in Aurelion's mind. Vespera's words about the nature of energy and harmony echoed in his memory. He realized with sudden clarity what Merric was truly describing.

This wasn't just about creating bone. It was about weaponizing his own life essence.

Merric continued. But Aurelion was no longer listening.

He closed his eye descended into the familiar Void Focusing.

"These brutes use blood because they're inept. They treat their own life force like a mysterious river, drawing from it blindly. But I... I can see my own."

He directed his focus inward, not to his Core, but deeper, to the very structure of his own body. He channeled his energy directly to the knuckles of his closed fist, to the bone beneath.

At the same time, he reached out with his will to his life force.

"Bone is not a mystical substance, It is a composite material. Primarily a matrix of collagen and calcium phosphate. A structure designed for strength and resilience. It doesn't need a blood offering. It needs a catalyst for rapid, controlled growth. A directive."

Instead of blindly sacrificing his life force, he used it as a precise blueprint.

His destructive, chaotic energy, which should have been antithetical to creation, was guided by this blueprint. Tempered by the directive of life, the gold and black energy didn't annihilate but constructed.

It became the hammer and the forge, shaping his life force. A perfect, startling harmony between creation and destruction.

He opened his eye.

He looked down at his fist. From each knuckle, a small, perfectly formed spike of pristine white bone protruded.

He turned his hand over, examining the result. Then he looked up at Merric, who was staring at his hand, his mouth agape in utter disbelief.

"Weaponizing your life force... sacrificing your blood... it's all so wasteful," Aurelion said, his voice was a murmur.

"Why would you bleed yourself dry... when there are other, more efficient, ways?"

With a thought, the bone spikes disintegrated into a fine white dust that sifted through his fingers.

"Thank you, Merric," Aurelion said, the corner of his lip twitching into a smirk.

"Your clan's... primitive technique has taught me a great."