‘She can’t be that dumb!’

I ran towards the entrance.

‘She won’t start a fight, would she?’

I ran harder.

‘No, she wouldn’t. She’s not that dumb.’

I ran harder and harder. I didn’t care to breathe. But what if she was?

‘But why would she need to fight?’ 

More importantly, why was she here? Why was Elsa here?

Maybe I was assuming way too much. Maybe I was being irrational. But I couldn’t help but think it was Elsa. And I also couldn’t help but hope it wasn’t her.

“Get outta the way!” I shoved past the crowd. The streets were filled and as I approached the entrance the crowd got denser and denser.

My heartbeat rose high. I was going through a lot of emotions but maybe fear of the unknown was the most prevalent.

There was a round crowd just meters away from the actual entrance of the school. I shoved past the crowd with a lot of force. 

“Hey, watch it.” Of course, there were all sorts of unhappy people around me.

But I didn’t care. I just shoved past them. “Get OUTT!” And once I reached the end, my heart almost stopped. “ELSA!”

Elsa was on her knees, panting heavily. She had a small wound on her head, blood dripping through her cheeks and one eye closed. But the glare in her eye was proof of her conviction.

It took her a second to notice me.

“Helio!” She almost jumped at me and hugged me without a second of delay. She smiled but then averted her eyes. “Sorry.”

But my eyes weren’t on her. My eyes were on someone else. There was a guy in front of me. A guy who smirked at me. 

“I’d assume you’re the reason behind her wounds?” My voice was calm, too calm. But it was safe to say, I was going crazy. The thought of Elsa being in my arms kept me calm. But I was definitely trembling.

“Well.” The guy still had the smirk. “It would appear that way, yes.” His hair was black and he looked like a lunatic: pretty sane for a lunatic. 

“I kind of messed up?” Elsa managed. She was still smiling. But it wasn’t like her. My sister wasn’t like this and she wasn’t someone who’d pick fights either.

Okay, maybe not.

“What happened? Keep it short.” I didn’t have time to worry too much about the past. But I still needed to know what happened before I did something rash. And boy oh boy was about to do something rash.

“He said bad… bad things about you…” Elsa didn’t look me in the eye and I didn’t look in hers either. 

“Alright. Stay back.” I got all I needed to know.                                       

Honestly, I didn’t need a reason. Even if she was in the wrong, I’d still have been on her side anyway. Maybe I was overprotective, maybe I was naïve, but I didn’t care. 

Elsa stood behind me. 

I still had the two swords from the club. They’d told me to keep these two as souvenirs. I turned both of them on. I wasn’t planning on fighting with swords. Actually, I didn’t have a plan at all. But I couldn’t use my powers either. There were a lot of bystanders and as much as I hated them, I still couldn’t blast all of them with radiation, and besides, my little sister was here too.

Whenever my rage was on max throttle, my powers kind of got leaky, so tended to not use them as frequently. 

“You’re her brother? Oh, looks like you’ve already been to the club too… hmm, but just beginners sabers?” He carefully observed me and unsheathed his own sword. One thing was for certain, he was also in the club. “Fighting with sabers outside of the court is forbidden but we shouldn’t let that stop us, right?” 

The captain had mentioned something about there being troublemakers in the club before. This one must have been one.

“I don’t know what happened here, but would you mind groveling at her feet? I might even consider forgiving you?” Yet again my voice came out flat and calm. I didn’t want to let this guy go, but I wasn’t totally irrational either. 

The guy chuckled. “You’re funny junior. For a guy who’s just a beginner, you sure talk big.” He pointed his sword at me: it glowed with a pale black aura. 

I pointed mines at him, both white with a tint of blue. 

I could have blown that sword of his to bits the moment he brought it out. But I didn’t. I didn’t have anything to prove to him. And If I just happened to blow that sword up, it was safe to say; that this city would have also went along with him. I was not in a mood to hold anything back: I couldn’t have even if I wanted to.

Rage had overtaken me.

I swung my sword. He swung his. Our swords collided. Sparks flew. He was good but not good enough. 

“HAH!” I swung harder and I had two swords. 

He was taking steps back. Maybe training with my grandfather all that much on that snowy mountain wasn’t a total waste after all.

A vertical swing! He jumped back to dodge.

“Not bad.” He fixed his stance. “Not bad for a newbie at all. Maybe I should get a little more serious too.” The dark aura near his sword intensified.

My body felt heavier. But I hadn’t exerted myself even a little. So it couldn’t have been fatigue. Then what?

“Argh!” Even taking a swing took my all and I had to scream for power. 

‘Lets-Kill him.’  A faint whisper. 

‘Who said that!’ I looked around frantically but there was no one. 

In the heat of the moment, I might have let down my guard a bit more than necessary. 

“Surprised?” The guy still smirked. “Basic swords are just basic. But personalized swords have much more power. I guess a newbie like you don’t know.” His smirk widened. “So as a responsible senior, I’ll give you a practical lesson.”

For a second there was a red tint in his eyes: murderous intent. And then he was gone. I looked around. The crowd looked around too. But nothing. He wasn’t here. 

“Behind you!” Elsa’s voice prompted me to look back. 

But I didn’t have enough time. The sword was already at my neck, barely touching my skin, of course, it was stopped by one of my sabers. Damn, this guy was strong. Was he that fast before though? He couldn’t have teleported. So was his speed that much out of my league that I couldn’t even see him with my eyes? 

No, it was probably something else. 

Cold sweat dripped from my forehead. ‘Shit.’

Just a second later and I’d have been toast. But I still had this. I started gathering power in my left hand, dropping the saber. He wasn’t going to get out of this, unscathed. 

Gramps did always say, rage was my greatest enemy. But how could I let this happen now of all times? After so long?

Well, it was too late to check it now. 

The bastard came near my ears. “You see, I have special powers and my sword complements those powers. So just because you have a little bit of skill, doesn’t mean you can do anything.” I couldn’t move: the small wonder in my left hand wasn’t complete yet. 

‘Keep on talking.’ Because once I was done charging, he was about to lose half of his limbs. 30 seconds to go. I’d swore not to use this power but heck, I wasn’t going to stop now. If he was prepared to kill me, it meant he was also prepared to die too. 

“Isn’t that far enough, Blaze?” The voice came from above. It was more of a suggestion than a question. 

I’d seen those wings before. This girl had shown up that night too when I fought Eve. 

‘Blaze? HIS name’s Blaze?’

“Oh Rose, you didn’t have to come all the way here.” He removed the sword from my neck and walked to the other side. 

‘Tch.’ I defused the heat gathered in the palm. 

“Enough!” The girl descended. I’d seen her before at the opening ceremony. The blonde with the wings. “You’ve already got an outsider involved. Not to mention you were hurting one of your juniors. Lady Sylvia would like to have a word with you.”

He sighed. “Fine. Fine… but they started it, you know.” He whined, he wasn’t the least sorry.

The winged girl glared furiously at the guy. “I’m pretty sure I know you and your hobbies.” She squinted her eyes and glared at me next. “And you two, head to the nurse’s office. As for the curfew, I’ll give the dorm manager a call.” She turned around without another word. 

The Blaze guy glared at me as he walked by. “Looking forward to playing with you some more.” His glare turned to a grin halfway through. I hated him. I hated him with all my guts. But I had to admit it: he had more experienced than me. 

And it was my folly for letting him have his way. 

“You okay?” Elsa grabbed my arm and stared with tears in her eyes. 

The crowd started to shallow. I really hated people like this. I hated people who always just watched. But more importantly, they weren’t shocked. Meaning, were fights like this common?

“Yeah, I’m fine. You?”

She smiled. “I’m fine too.” She didn’t look fine. 

I sighed. “Let’s head to the nurse’s. Anyway, what were you doing here?”

She looked at me with dull eyes and almost pouted. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed them and just looked the other way. She wasn’t going to tell me anything; there was no doubt about it.

Without another sigh, I lead her to the nurse’s office. 

***

“So what happened?” I asked as the nurse rubbed some gel on my neck. 

“When I first came in, that guy was by the entrance.” Elsa was already treated. She only had minor wounds but the one on her forehead might have been a bit deep, hence the bleeding: the bandage would take care of it though. It wasn’t anything severe and now she was in a fairly better mood. “He was flirting and all but when I said I was just here to see my brother, he started his rants like he’d be more fun. Of course, I just said no and eventually, one word led to another and he was badmouthing you.” Elsa got all quiet. 

“All done.” The nurse looked at me as if to say, ‘don’t come at her too hard.’

“So what did you do next?” I tried to be as casual as possible. 

“I kind of drowned him in smelly water.” She giggled. “Though maybe, acid would have been better.” She wondered.

Yeah, I agreed. 

I sighed an exasperated sigh. “No wonder.” But she’d done that for my sake. “Don’t do stuff like that again. If someone badmouths me, just look the other way. It’s not like words can hurt me.”

“But they can hurt me!” She lashed out. “I can’t stand you being insulted!” 

Honestly, I didn’t understand this girl.

Did I really understand anyone in particular?

I had doubts. 

“Alright, alright, I get it.” I tried to calm her down. “Did you come alone?”

“Yes?” She looked a bit flustered. And was she answering me or asking questions?

“Where are you gonna stay? You do realize I live in the boys’ dorm right?” My eyes twitched a little as the realization finally hit me, my sister might not have had a place to sleep tonight. 

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I can’t stay with you?” That was probably her intention all along.

The nurse looked at me with anticipation too. 

They had me cornered. “I’ll talk to the dorm manager. One night shouldn’t be a problem.” Of course, I didn’t know jack shit about the actual dorm rules, so I might have needed to head to the girls’ dorm at this hour too. Hopefully, Marg would help out. After all, she still owed me.

“Yes!” Elsa turned around and made a victory pose. This really was her true intention after all. 

  I so, so much, wanted to smack that pretty head of hers, but I refrained. 

“Let’s go I guess.” But that reminded me of something. The nurse was packing up so I had to ask her. “Say, didn’t you say you were supposed to close the office after five?” At least that’s what the nurse had told me yesterday.

“Rose told me to head over here. Saying it was an emergency and all.” The nurse began. “But I’ll give you an advice. Don’t go fighting with Blaze. He has a very bad reputation in our school. And he’s also one of the most troublesome and from that family. “

So this Rose girl really helped me out. I’d have to thank her later.

“Noted.” I had no intention of fighting with that Blaze guy. I did have all sorts of other intentions though. And one of them included making him sterile through a lot of small radiation doses. Another was, if he came near me, blasting him with enough radiation to make him lose all his hair and puke all over the ground. The possibilities were unlimited.

I could almost see the despair on his face when he realizes that his Excalibur had lost its light.

“You look evil,” Elsa said, but I just ignored her.