"Are you two ready?"
"Yes, Teacher."
"Julian?"
"Yes, sir."
Before them stood something best described by the word 'peculiar.' A deformed creature, as tall as an adult male, towered over them. Its lower part was that of a hairy spider with long legs, while its upper body was that of a human.
On the humanoid portion, the head was devoid of any faces or sockets. It looked as if it were made by plastering chunks of clay together. Black lines ran through the ashy gray skin of the creature, forming what appeared to be veins.
The reason they were pairing was to take on that spider. The same scenarios took place in the other three classes, where a pair was standing facing their own spiders.
"It is a replica of a Moonwhisper. They are designed from the description of knights that made it back alive. However, they are only equivalent to the first gate Arcanist," teacher Hatta explained calmly.
The teacher looked over his students. Some were nervous, while some were unconcerned as it gets. Letting out a sigh, he turned back to the first pair.
"No need to worry, you can defeat it without a problem if you have trained yourself properly. Even defeating it alone was possible."
"Teacher, I heard we may only go out of the city when we become adults. Is it not too early to think about Moonwhisper now?"
"...You are right. But, we never know."
'That expression...'
He had thought that Julian and his classmates ended up outside by mistake or accident. But, looking at the guilt-laced face, it seemed to be a fully intentional and planned move.
'Just what are they thinking?'
"Teacher Hatta, do we get anything if we win?"
"You may head back for the day if you do."
Julian looked back at the replica. There were many kinds of Moonwhisper that he had encountered in his previous life. He attested to what the surviving knights described to be true. He had seen that kind of Moonhisper before.
'It should be a stone golem...'
Taking his eyes away from what he expected to be a golem, he faced Xideon, who appeared somewhat scared.
"Xedion, why don't you lead the way?" He said as he turned to face Xideon.
"...I don't take orders from anyone."
"Are you all right? Don't tell me you are scared... It's just a golem."
Shaking his head, Xideon stepped forward.
"Match my attacks," Xideon said confidently.
Tap.
Not even waiting for a reply, Xideon charged toward the spider directly.
As if it sensed the movement of the boy, the spider's joints popped and rattled as it also started moving. Dashing forward, the spider slashed its front, long legs like they were whips.
Swish.
Xideon avoided its stabbing legs by rolling close to the ground. Planting his feet firmly on the red dirt, he then shot upward, stabbing at the face of the spider. With a loud cracking sound, his sword found the chin of the spider.
Rattle.
The spider trembled as its legs rattled, but was seemingly unaffected by his attacks. Those long legs that missed Xideon suddenly bent and tried to grab Xideon.
Ktag.
But before the legs could reach the blue-haired boy, another wooden sword blocked their path. Julian's sword snapped one of the legs away, giving Xideon time to roll away safely.
Tap.
Xideon, however, had no intention of letting that chance to back off. He bent forward before jumping once again, slashing the spider's head horizontally.
Ktak!
The wood and stone met, both chipped as splinters flew. Seeing his attack did nothing, he clicked his tongue and was ready to launch himself again. However, just as he was about to leap, a figure shot passed him.
Tap.
Julian jumped towards the spider, his sword pointing straight at the center of its head. With a faint snap, he struck the spider, stumbling it back a little. However, that was it. The head was only left with a white mark.
Ktak!
Not breaking the rhythm, Xideon followed up after Julian and struck the moment the other boy landed on his feet.
Tap.
Ktak!
They repeated the same motion several times, and with each rotation, the cracks on the spider's head became larger.
Hup!
Xedion put more strength on his leg, readying himself to leap and deal the finishing blow. He could see that the spider was already vulnerable.
"Wha-"
But, just as his feet rose above the ground, he felt a hand holding him by the collar and tripping him back.
Crash.
Thud.
His back dragged across the dirt as he fell heavily.
"What the hell are yo-"
Fhoshh.
Just as Xideon wanted to yell at his pair, gray smoke burst from the humanoid part of the spider. The smoke rolled high and far, covering even the platform to their sides.
Those two, crouching close to the ground, barely grazed the smoke.
"Don't inhale the smoke," Julian warned.
"...Thank you," swallowing back his curse, Xideon apologized.
"Stand up. Attack it just like before, just remember to get down when you want to breathe. It's fine to touch the smoke."
Julian stood up and looked at his sword. Just from a few exchanges from earlier, its edges and tip had already chipped away. Glancing at the Xideon, Julian saw that fear had started to surface on his face again.
Not wanting to wait for too long, Julian took the charge before that spider took the offensive.
Step.
Sprinting through the smoke, he held his sword to his side. The stones in the spider joints rattled in response. It raised its two legs again, slashing them like scythes towards the boy.
Shkrtt.
Julian sidestepped, evading awkwardly, though successfully. Gripping both his hands on the sword's hilt, he struck down on the folded leg.
Ktak!
'Damn, I am weak.'
The legs flailed from his strike, but not even a scratch appeared on the stone leg. Instead, his sword was chipped further and his wrists numbed immediately. Nonetheless, his strike was not to hurt.It was just to hold that leg down for a bit.
"Duck!"
Hearing that spirited call from behind, Julian unhesitatingly bent down, and he immediately felt a leg stepping on his back.
PANG!
Julian felt rubble rain down behind his back and head. Holding his head up, he saw a hole, larger than his fist, punctured through the spider's head.
The spider convulsed before crumbling down. Standing proud with his sword raised up on top of those stones was none other than Xideon.
'That's it?'
Ignoring the high-pitched cheers coming from the platform, Julian swiped his sweats as he inspected the shattered spider. Confirming the spider had stopped moving, he lowered his sword.
"Sigh..."
Julian crouched down and held himself up with his sword. It was a short fight, but his heart was already pounding so viciously. He was reminded to train his physical health before anything else.
"Good work."
Xideon came up to him and extended his hand. Julian gazed at the scarred hand before grabbing it.
[+30 Fate]
"Using arcane is too much, don't you think?" Julian whispered, his tone playful.
"What...?"
The slight smile on Xideon's face vanished. His eyes opened wide in disbelief.
'...Is it supposed to be a secret?'
"Forget what I said."
Feeling it may cause unnecessary trouble by standing longer before the petrified boy, Julian turned around and walked away.
"Julian."
"Yes, teacher."
Before he could climb the platform where his other classmates were, teacher Hattta yelled out his name.
"Have you not been training all this time?"
"...I may have slacked off a little, sir."
"This is a reminder for everybody, too. Today is the first and only time you will be fighting as a pair. After this, you are going in alone...," Hatta announced loudly to the rest of the class. With a calmer tone, he continued, "So please do not expect your friend to carry your weight in this class."
"Yes, teacher," the class answered together.
"Julian?"
"I will keep that in mind, sir," Julian muttered under the gaze of his teacher.
Well, he fully understood where Hatta was coming from. While he did his best with the cards in his possession, he also knew he barely did anything in that fight. His presence just then could be described as unnecessary.
'This weak heart will be a problem in the future...'
He could not understand how Julian lived before, for his heart and body were screaming at him to run away just by looking at that spider. In that short fight, he came to an understanding that it will take time for his soul to truly be molded together with his new body.
"You'd better be... That aside, you did well for stepping up."
True to his teacher's word, the pair was allowed to leave the class after that. While Xideon returned to his room, Julian chose to stay and see those other students with 'Decent' and even 'Low' importance in their cards.
Unsurprisingly, they were all amazing. Their foundations were far better grounded than their peers, and it was clear that they put effort on top of their talents.
He went return to his dorm around evening. While he needed to ask around for directions to find his room, he still managed to locate it in the end. Opening the locked door using the key that had been resting on his pants, he welcomed himself in.
The first thing he had noticed was the two double-decker beds stuffed on the left and right sides of the room. Slapped on the wall to his front, four desks were arranged side by side, barely having any space between each other.
In the middle of the room, a round carpet had been unfurled, giving some life to the otherwise colorless room. He let out a sigh, trying to calm his churning stomach. At first, he was clueless as to why his heart was beating so loudly when he was heading back to his room.
But, he quickly understood the reasoning.
Julian's eyes locked on the top of the carpet, where two pairs of eyes were looking at him in a mocking manner. Lying lazily on the floor, there were two boys, both with red hair and golden eyes. In their hands were playing cards.
'So these were my bullies. How cute.'