Wrath's Virtue

Aurelion left the Beast Taming section. As he walked away, Nyx, with her hawk Eris now circling above her, called out, "I could have shown you more of the grounds, Aurelion."

Aurelion just raised a hand "Later, Nyx. See you tomorrow."

As he walked, his mind was already processing. "It seems I won't be getting rid of Flint and Gunnar anytime soon, but that's not a problem. If they're going to continue with this task, I will just make them work harder to the bone."

He then clenched his fist, and a wisp of steam hissed from between his fingers.

"This is next. I could go to the library and learn techniques with tokens, but that would just be copying others. I need to grasp wind and shadow manipulation myself. I also have to work on my unseen flow techniques, and most importantly, I need to test them on different people."

A smile then touched his lips. "It's a good thing I have so much to do. It means I will get even stronger."

He lifted his head and looked toward the distant arena. "And the best part is," he thought,

"I don't need to spend tokens to learn new techniques."

Then Aurelion turned toward the dormitory and he saw three familiar figures approaching, and they met in the middle of the path.

Lyra smiled faintly. "I didn't know you loved beasts, Aurelion."

"He doesn't love them," Kael corrected.

"He cuts them up."

"How did you know I was here?" Aurelion asked, then paused.

"Was it those two idiots?"

Elara spoke up, her voice was quiet. "We heard you were getting along well with another forest elf."

Aurelion turned his gaze to Elara. "Yes."

Elara froze for a moment at his simple confirmation.

Aurelion turned from Elara to Kael. "I recall it was forbidden for you to enter this dormitory."

"You know how loud Lyra can be," Kael said.

"We just called out to a few of the other kids."

Lyra elbowed Kael in the ribs, but the broad shouldered boy didn't even flinch.

Aurelion looked at the three of them. "It's good that I ran into you. There's something we need to do."

Lyra crossed her arms. "You've already started asking for things."

"Of course I am," Aurelion replied with a smirk.

Elsewhere in the courtyard, a slender but tall Northern boy was talking with a few others. Two of them were the same boys who had been feeding Kasian.

The boy looked at the two of them. "So this Aurelion and Kasian growled at each other, and then they became friends?"

"Yes, Emil!" one of the boys said. "We told the elf to get down, but he didn't listen. Kasian got angry, but the elf wasn't affected by his pressure, and then he just said we met and walked away."

Emil frowned and turned to a black-haired boy standing behind him.

"You see, Merric? This is why I didn't want to challenge him. Erik is a stupid pig, but he was defeated too easily. If I challenge this Aurelion without learning more about him, I could lose."

Merric smiled, then let out a soft laugh. "Emil, you still don't understand what we're asking of you."

"I understand, Merric," Emil insisted. "I have to challenge this elf, but it's not certain I can win right now."

"Emil, do you know why this task was given to you?" Merric asked.

"To recruit the elf into our clan, right?"

Merric's smile grew wider. "Clan Leader Silas wants to be entertained, Emil. You are eleven years old, yet you still have a Rank 1 Core. Yes, you can fight well when you need to, but you are talentless."

"I... I will advance my core soon," Emil stammered.

"Yes, you will do it soon, but you should have already done it, Emil," Merric said with a cold voice.

"And yes, we need to learn more about this elf, and that is precisely your task. No one expects you to win. With the information learned from your fight, this elf will be challenged again, this time to be defeated. And that person will not be you. You will challenge this elf to force him to reveal his skills. The reason you were chosen is because you are a talentless eleven year old. At least it is thought you can do something thanks to your age. So stop stalling, Emil."

Merric stepped closer and put a hand on Emil's shoulder. Emil looked up at him in shock.

"I don't even think you're talented enough for this task," Merric continued.

"But at least with this mission, you can be useful to the clan, Emil. Go challenge that elf and be useful for something, alright?"

Emil just stared at Merric, speechless, when another boy came running up to them.

"Merric, Merric!"

Merric turned to look at the boy. "What is it?"

"The arena... the elf was challenged in the arena!" the boy panted.

"Challenged? Which clan?"

"The Frozen-Axe, Merric."

Merric turned back to Emil and shook him. "You had better pray that the elf doesn't lose that challenge. You will challenge him next. Go!"

In the arena, Aurelion stood relaxed, spear in hand, facing off against the fox eared girl.

Lyra attacked with a series of blows from the two short swords in her hands.

Aurelion avoided her with short backward steps, while at the same time looking at the spectators.

In a short time, the number of spectators increased greatly, and Aurelion spotted figures like Fendrel among them.

"If you take your eyes off me, I'll cut you in two!" Lyra shouted, swinging her sword down vertically.

Aurelion stepped to the side, avoiding the attack, and focused on Lyra again. "If you keep shouting like that before you attack, I can dodge you even with my eyes closed."

Meanwhile he thought to himself, "Actually, I don't need her to shout to dodge her with my eyes closed."

"Take this seriously, okay? You are the one who told us to come at you with all our strength," Lyra said, swinging her sword from the side.

Aurelion met the blow with the tip of his spear and hit Lyra in the stomach with the shaft. Lyra grimaced in pain.

"I have a few more fights to get through. Let's see what the Frozen-Axe clan has taught you," Aurelion said.

"Fine, so be it, Aurelion," Lyra replied and crouched down.

Her claws start extended, and her hair began to bristle.

As Ylva's energy grew wilder, Aurelion waited calmly, his eyes were watchful. Flames began to lick at Lyra's twin swords.

"Fire manipulation, then," Aurelion noted.

"Yes," Lyra hissed through gritted teeth.

As her energy surged even higher, she added, "And Wild Instinct."

"So she's learned both a manipulation technique and a skill unique to her race," Aurelion thought.

A smile formed on his face as he settled into a low stance, holding his spear at an low angle. "Let's see if you have a decent fighting technique to go with it."

"I've always hated that confident smile on your face, Aurelion," Lyra snarled.

"A lot has changed in two years. As for my technique... you're about to see it."

Aurelion's smirk widened. "Show me, Lyra! Come on show me!"

The fire on Lyra's swords flared, and she leaped toward Aurelion.

Aurelion watched the airborne Lyra with a hint of surprise.

"She should have learned not to expose herself like that two years ago," he thought, and thrust his spear forward to intercept her.

But just as the spear was about to connect, Lyra swung one of her swords.A blast of fire erupted from the blade, pushing her sideways in mid air.

She shot past the tip of Aurelion's spear, and as she did, she swung her other sword at him.

With a flames from her sword, Aurelion left amidst the flames.

As she landed, she looked back at him immediately.

Lyra's smile was venomous. "Did it work?"

Sparks flew from within the flames, and Aurelion emerged, his clothes were partially scorched. "That… was impressive, Lyra."

Lyra studied him, seeing that he was mostly unharmed besides his clothes. "How did you get away without being hurt?"

Aurelion smirked. "Don't you see? My armor is burnt."

"I'm going to wipe that smile off your face, Aurelion," she said and started running towards him.

As she ran, she increased her momentum with bursts of flame from her sword, zigzagging from side to side.

Sparks started to fly from Aurelion's spear as he strengthened his stance, and as Lyra entered his range, he lunged.

Meanwhile, Merric and Emil were watching the fight from a distance.

As they watched, Merric speak, "It's obvious that Lyra is more talented than you, but it looks like she's going to tire out the elf. You're lucky, Emil."

Emil clenched his teeth, then turned to Merric. "Will the elf even accept my challenge? He has the right to rest for a day before my challenge."

This time, Merric frowned. "This elf is brave to the point of foolishness, Emil. He has already declared in front of the clan leaders that he will accept any challenge, no matter what. If you challenge him, he has to fight now."

Emil turned and began to watch the clashing spear and swords again.

In the crowd of spectators, Kael and Elara were overhearing this conversation.

Kael murmured, "Aurelion said the Giant Bone clan would make the first move. I don't know how he knew, but it seems his plan is working."

"Yes, it is, but..." Elara look on the fight. "Aren't they fighting too seriously?"

"Lyra is," Kael replied, "but I'm not so sure about Aurelion."