Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Frey’s pov: As I felt the backlash of yesterday’s group practice, I knew I had to warm-up to beat the building fatigue. The time was almost 2am, the morning was still far and the gym was empty, that’s all I needed to know. I grabbed my bag that held my water and some meds, I hadn’t eaten and I wasn’t going to, not until I pushed my body to its absolute limits. The moment I walked in I saw a few guys, probably a few years older, just sitting and I immediately got an eerie feeling. But I’m not one to back away from danger, so I walked straight to the section with the barbells to start bench presses. After what felt like an hour of torturing my upper body, I decided to work on my core, something our instructors always emphasised on. Thirty minutes passed and someone walked up to me, as I stood up getting ready to enter a fighting stance, I heard a familiar voice. “Since when did you start strengthening your core?” Axel asked as he tilted his head. I smiled and explained how it was important for duelists to have strong cores so some manoeuvres don’t waste valuable time and energy. “Since when did you start waking up early for a workout?” I asked as I realized he wasn’t meant to be here for a few more hours. “Err…I couldn’t sleep, tomorrow is our first official mission. You’re a duelist and Zephy is a grand mage, both are excellent classes for battles, I’m just a tank…” then I cut him off. “Don’t say that, you aren’t just a tank, at least not for very long anyway. Remember at the end of graduation we are going to evolve our classes. Look forward to that, you might become a gladiator or berserker.” I said. Then Axel went quiet as he thought of classes he could evolve into. “You are right, I could be an iron bastion or a steel juggernaut.” He said as he started getting excited for the final mission, which was years away. “I’m always right but see the bigger picture, with your skill and potential titanium colossus isn’t far off or the adamant sentinel?” I said as I felt my friend could be greater than what he expected. “Now I feel you’re making fun of me. How do you expect me to invoke adamant sentinel, that’s an S rank class” he said as he got ready to start his work out. “You never know” I said as I wondered how classes above A were gotten. After almost 20 minutes of Axel begging me to take a break, I finally decided we deserved to rest, after almost an hour of doing different reps, nonstop. “Let’s rest for…..massive killing intent, your six” My demeanor changed almost instantly as Axel felt a surreal wave of aura. It gave off a different feeling, almost intoxicating. Before he could react…. `BOOM` I blocked the punch with my forearm, giving Axel time to blitz back and assess the situation. “Who’s The Bozo Trying to Knock Me out Frey?!!” he screamed as he tried to understand what was going on. “You remember Tharion riight? he’s the bozo.” I replied as i jumped back, giving space to the young man who bore a grin wider than his lips could carry. The tension shifted in almost an instant, and Tharion stood there with a smile on his face. Then it happened, like he snapped, Tharion burst into hysterical laughter, which unnerved Axel. “Oh Frey, did you think I would let you make more freinds?... Did you think I would give you a chance to grow stronger…” he said as he walked forward, getting uncomfortably close to me. “I’m sorry old friend, that wasn’t how we were raised….” As he turned to the individuals that seemed unaffected by the happenings, his tone shifted, almost like something had inhabited his body. “Do not kill him, just make him understand what’s coming.” And with that I understood if we didn’t fight, we wouldn’t leave unscathed. “Err Frey… I’m having a little issue here” Axel said as he punched one of the attackers, before getting a direct hit to his lower back. “kinda busy here” I was a pro at hand to hand combat, but fending off 3 enemies at a time was something I hadn’t tried before. Axel and I may have had more potential but we lacked the experience, making this battle supposedly one-sided. My defense was strong but the barrage of attacks was too much for me to process at the same time. In a last ditch effort to gain some leverage, I released a burst of aura that caught two of the attackers by surprise, giving me space for a proper counter. With the opening I went the one closest to me, delivering a devastating right hook to the chest, which destabilized the attacker exposing him to a few more blows to the head and torso. Within a split second I caught a glimpse of Axel struggling to fight back as he wasn’t as versed in hand to hand. “HEADS UP”I yelled as I flung my attacker at Axel, giving the him enough time to deflect him to his pals, knocking them to the ground. Axel and I stood back to back as we realized this wasn’t going anywhere, right before noticing the attackers drawing weapons around them, which made me give a content smile. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked as I reached for a B rank sabre. “Get me the battle axe and it just might work” Axel replied, instinctively knowing I wanted to test out battle formations. “On my count, launch me.” I said as the aggressors got up, positioning themselves in a high risk, high reward formation, making me doubt the integrity of this plan. Their formation consisted of 2 swordsmen, one in front, and one from behind. A spearman that assisted the swordsman from behind and a rouge class assisted the swordsman in the front. One of the guys had given distance to prep his position as an archer. On paper this was the model offensive for any ambush. “1….” I muttered. “2….” Axel responded as he swiftly backed his enemies, prepping me for the launch. And then we yelled in unison. “3” As he lifted me for a flip that gave him a quick advantage, I saw it. We never planned to use this formation without Zephy, and she was the one to patch up all the flaws of the plan. `SWOOSH` A sharp pain hit me as I hit the floor hard, holding the arrow that was launched into my shoulder midair. Blood seeped through my fingers as I clenched my shoulder, realizing how careless it was to carry out a plan without all the members of the team. “He’s down, push him,” the rogue said as he lunged at me. For a split second it seemed like everything was over, like I had lost. `WHOOSH` A massive burst of aura shook the gym, another wave of grey aura spread, freezing all 5 of them. I was dumbfounded but wasted no time looking at the injured Axel who just managed to push back his aggressors. “A battle cry?” I asked as I threw a mace at Axel. “War cry backed by my affinity, seems you never pay attention in class” he replied trying to hide his pain with a smile. “Why a mace though, I’m an axe guy” he criticized as his war cry started wearing off. “And that’s the only one I could carry, that shit is bloody heavy.” They were injured but could stand their ground. As the spearman tried to close the distance, Axel bashed his mace with enough force to carve a 2 meter hole in the obsidian tiles. Swordman1 rushed and launched an overhead flame strike. `CLANK` The sword connected with Axel’s shoulder, but he already saw through the formation. He released a quick rush of aura to break the momentum of the attack, just enough to launch his counter. Right before swordman1 could brace himself, he felt everything flip as his lower half overloaded with pain from a punch he didn’t anticipate. With the momentum of that punch, Axel threw swordman1 at the spearman and followed right behind with his mace. He swung his mace and they thought he missed, forgetting how far battle IQ could carry a fight. `BANG` `UURGH` The swing wasn’t meant for the spear wielder, it was for the archer that was focused on me, pushing the momentum of the swing, Axel made a full 360 turn forcing his fist through the shaft of the spear, surprising its wielder as the item was infused with aura to better circulate the affinities of its user. The disruption caused the spearman to be knocked away by the sheer force of the blast, the same force that pushed him back as he feels his internal organs scream in pain. Trying to force his aura to block severe injuries he looked at me fending of swordman2 and the rouge. I saw as Axel laid on the cold floor, safe, that’s all he needed to know. “Time to let loose a bit” I whispered as I got into a more offensive stance. Releasing a faint transparent aura, my weight shifted. My speed was something they never accounted for, well swordman2 anyway. Rouge sidestepped at the last moment, dodging a fatal strike. The same couldn’t be said for his partner. “You’re fast kid, too bad you lack experience” he snared. He then released a surge of green aura into his dagger while giving off killing intent. “You might be experienced..” I said as I dashed forward clashing blades, pushing rouge back as he tried to avoid me, “but, I have the high ground.” acknowledging the difference in weapons, rouge was out matched but it wasn’t a battle raw strength. “Let’s see who has the last stand, my venom or your translucent flame.” With a smirk I launched myself at rouge, knowing how potent venom is, even if it came from a newly awakened. With a diagonal slash I missed him by an inch, displaying the mobility of an elite class rouge, granting him space to land his first slash, right across my chest. As I felt a wave of pain wash over me, I realized it wasn’t meant to kill, just stun me long enough to send a message. “Nonlethal?” “I’m not getting paid enough to kill the kid of a high ranking lord” he replied as he dashed for another strike. My regeneration was fast, but not perfect. It helped negate most of the effects but the number of attacks I couldn’t deflect was becoming alarming. I had to act quickly if I wanted to walk out of this with my pride intact. “You look tired boy, why not give up” he continued to taunt. ‘I need to land one strike with 2nd degree to end this’ I thought as I looked at my opponent who had taken his fair share of my translucent technique. One look was all it took to know we were both pushing the limits of aura regeneration. Both of us readied for one last strike as we lunged at each other. I swung first, knowing my opponent would counter, I channeled all my aura to my torso, creating a layer of protection from the incoming slash. /BANG / The defence formed was enough to throw rouge off, something I took advantage of immediately. “Translucent flame: 2nd degree” it was a horizontal slash, it didn’t have enough force to fatally injure rouge, but enough to weaken all attacks. As the rogue stood up and looked at his comrades regaining the ability to move, he smiled and gestured for them to leave as it wasn’t over. “This isn’t over kid, watch your back, Tharion has deeper connections than you think” he said as he gripped his chest, trying to stop the pain from spreading. “I know what he can do, sorry if we went overboard” I said as I looked at the archer that Axel almost killed with one swing. “Cute but I mean the school is set to pick sides and right now the odds are against you, that’s all I can tell you, till next time kid” he said as his team finally regrouped and prepared to leave. “Before you leave, what’s your name?” “Alex bloodborne, class 2A.” he said with a grin. “And what squad?” Axel inquired as he got the strength to bear the pain and walk. “The best one of course, reaper squad.” He said as they left, leaving Axel and I alone with the damaged equipment and ravaged parts of the gym. Minutes turned to an hour as I pondered on the excuse we would have to give on the destruction that occurred, then Zephy walked in.