Part 1

By the time I dealt with the mage, very few of our assailants were still standing. Through the thick mist I could see, with my eyes clad in mana, some of them who were swinging their sword randomly, hitting nothing but air. They were clearly panicking, jumping at the first slightest sound. Those guys weren’t a threat to us, rather they were a threat to their own companions who were trying to remain calm and figure a way out. Only one group posed a real threat. A group of roughly seven people catanied by one of the two armor clad fighters. In order to defend themselves, they gathered in a circle with their backs against each other. A smart choice. Unless their formation wasn’t broken, they would only receive attacks from the front, leading to a safer way to approach the enemy.

Lucas wasn’t stupid either. Even though he was usually hot blooded, when faced with circumstances such as these, where brute force won’t lead anywhere, he became surprisingly inventive. His strategy was to slowly chip away at their defences. He was always aiming for their weak spot, whether it was a weak-looking guy or a badly positioned one, he would aim at that opportunity and injure them as much as possible. Of course the damage he inflicted to the circle formation was not that great, but due to the continuous back and forth of hits and retreats, the adventurers’ mental state was starting to crumble.

It was to be expected though. Not being able to see below your waist due to the mist, hearing the shouts full of pain of your comrades and to add to that, being continuously hit without being able to retaliate. It was bound to happen. And at that time I was pleasantly happy with my expectations being achieved.

My brother looked happy...thrilled to be more precise. In light of that I decided to leave him to take care of those in the formation, as such, I devoted myself to cleaning up those who were still swinging around aimlessly. I wasn’t particularly worried about Legis since I had carried him in a far away corner of the barrier, distant from the heart of the battle, but still the idea that while staggering one could find himself in front of him didn’t really sit right with me.

I ran around, hitting the ones left with either the hilt of my sword or my bare punches. It was tough work, for me at the very least. Unlike my older brother, using magic felt a whole lot easier to me than swinging a sword. Though I didn’t have much choice at that time if not resorting to swinging my sword. As I swung and little drops of pearly sweat fell from my forehead, I recalled a conversation I had with my brother about three weeks prior.

It was around wednesday evening, maybe thursday, and as always I was sitting at the table scribbling on a notebook I brought from home. In that brick-coloured book I used to write the spells I either created or modified, other than various combinations of spells to use in battle. Basically that book held my current and possibly future repertoire of spells.

“Soo, what’cha studying tonight Raph?” Asked Lucas in a purposely slow and curious tone as he placed his chin on top of my head.

“You really are bored to come ask me about spells!”

“Oh come ooon, can’t I get interested in my little brother’s work?”

“...And the real reason?” I asked, giving him a sharp sarcastic look from my shoulder.

“*sigh* I was supposed to meet with a classmate who’d introduce me to a girl...BUT, he changed his plans this morning and got out drinking with a couple friends from his hometown. Not that I don’t understand him tho, just…-”

“Yeah, yeah...you just wanted to get to know a girl!”

“Oh come on! Don’t say it like I’m some kind of freak! We aren’t all lucky to be engaged to a beauty like Sora-chan!”

“Ugh, I get it, I get it…*sigh* sit down. I’ll try to explain it in simple words”

“Hahaha yees! I’m all ears, dear brother!”

“Ugh I already know this is gonna be a pain...What I’m working on is a, let’s say...crowd controlling spell. Do you understand what it means?”

“I guess it’s neither offensive or defensive so it must be something that creates an opportunity...maybe?”

“Well yeah, kind of. Think of this: I’m outnumbered and cornered. Brute force fighting my way out of the situation is impossible, just as running is. This means I’ll have to use the head and to help me with that I created a spell that distracts the enemy and causes confusion, giving me the possibility to either retaliate or escape. Clear up until now?”

“Yes...though it sounds overly complicated if you ask me. I’ve never heard of a spell this useful and apparently flawless”

“Nah you got it wrong. This spell is the complete opposite of flawless. There are certain conditions for this spell to work. First of all, being a mist-like spell, it needs to be casted in a closed place so that the mist can stagnate and deliver the best effect. Then, in order to maintain the mist even if an enemy mage is trying to get rid of it, I need to constantly fuel it with mana. Know what it means?”

“You...can’t use magic while the mist is active?”

“Bingo!”

“But then...it’s an awful spell”

“Yeah, it’s a tricky one rather than awful. If I were to learn double casting then it would be perfect but since then the best I could do is probably a self-boost since I only need to circulate the mana once”

“So basically, while the mist is active you have to resort to swordsmanship uh...by the way, how’d you call this one?”

“Mhhh how about “Stray mist”?”

As the last enemy fell under my hilt, so did the memory. The only sound left inside the mist was the sound of screams and clashing from Lucas’ direction. My body was getting tired. The continued usage of my mana and all the unusual movement inside the mist really took a toll on my body. It was probably for that reason that I didn’t notice what was coming.

Suddenly I felt the air shifting and a faint trace of mana. Instinctively I dodged on the side, not knowing what was the range of the spell that was coming from behind me. I put extra strength on my legs, leading to a clumsy fall on my side. A stingy and hot sensation started on my right cheek. I touched it with my hand and looked.

[Blood!?]

I had been cut. It was neither a deep nor long cut yet it still hurt. “Wind magic- wind scythe I suppose” I thought to myself as I cleaned the blood out of my hand. The direction which it came from was where I last left the green haired girl. A loud voice suddenly rose from behind the mist.

“HAHAHA I HIT YOU DIDN’T I? Come out Bluescale, show yourself! Only a coward fights with petty tricks like this mist!”

Her voice was getting on my nerves and for a moment I thought of ceasing the mist and barraging her with spells just to shut her mouth. I soon snapped out of that idea, Lucas was still fighting with the group. I picked up my sword and slowly walked towards her, making sure to make as little noise as possible yet dashing from time to time as I spoke in order to make her lose track of my position.

“Petty tricks? Coward? Are you perhaps referring to yourself? It wasn’t I who sent six adventurers to kill two targets. It wasn’t I who came with a group of twenty to kill two targets and you call this mist a petty trick? You’ve got to get your brains checked girl”

“Shut your mouth you fucking peasent!-” Shouted the angry girl as she threw a new spell in the wrong direction, completely missing me.

“-Clear this mist and fight me, a noblewoman, with what little shreds of honor remains in you!”

“...Your blabbering is really getting on my nerves…”

My words were delivered in synchro with a heavy punch in her stomach. I didn’t feel like using the sword…”too boring” I thought. I’ve been one hitting all those small fries inside the mist, now I felt like having fun.

She was right in front of me, not even further than a meter. I could see her clothes wet with piss, her body covered in cold sweat, her panicked face that was unsuccessfully tried to hide with a proud and brave expression. I had her right in front of me. I could have ended the fight right there, right in that moment. Yet...I stood motionless.

“I’ll break you” I uttered more to myself than towards her.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!-” The girl screamed as she crawled backwards “-F-F-FIREBALL FIREBALL FIREBALL FIREBALL”

A series of fiery hot spheres flew towards me, slow. They were different from my fireballs or Youm one’s. They held less power and speed, even the colour seemed more bland. I didn’t cast any spell. I wanted to break her, show her the difference in our skills. Magic was not needed for that. The gap was already wide enough. I simply ducked and did a side dash almost at the same time. In her eyes, beauce of the mist, it probably looked as if I just teleported.

“You are the one who went against me,-”

“STOP!”

“-you all chose me as a target for Gallher’s vengeance,-”

“STAY AWAY!”

“-you blindly followed the orders of a self proclaimed “strong” with nothing but some mana and his father’s title behind him-”

“DON’T COME CLOSER!”

“-You all made the mistake to think that commoners are weak and nobles are strong...yet here you are,-”

“NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“-screaming and shouting with your pants wet with piss and tears on your face. Are you that scared of a commoner?”

“FIREBALL! WIND SCHYTE! GALE BALL! WATER WAVE! WIND’S DUST!”

Another barrage of spells was fired towards me, or better, in my last position. As soon as she started her desperate spell shouting, I dashed behind her without being noticed once again. As such, her spell only hit the mist, creating a small tunnel of clear air that was rapidly filled by mist soon after. I stood in silence behind her, waiting for her reaction.

“HAHAHAHA I DID IT! THAT’S WHAT YOU GET YOU SHITTY PEASEANT! HAHAHA I BET YOU ARE SO DISFIGURED THAT EVEN YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER WON'T BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE YOU! HAHAHA GALLHER-SAMA I DID IT!” The girl screamed with her face facing the sky and tears falling down from her cheeks. Her hands, clenched in a fist were also raised in a winning-like esultation. Yet soon came the realization.

As she was esulting, her victorious face started to slowly devolve into that panicked mug she had just a minute before. She swung her arms, trying to get rid of the grey mist. Yet nothing happened. The more she swung, the more the mist came back to its position. Only then I spoke.

“What about my mother not being able to recognize me?” I purposely placed my face right beside hers. The words I whispered in her ears gave her a cold shiver all over her body. Even without touching her I could feel it.

“M-m-monster...MONSTER! Y-you are a monster!”

“Oh am I now? Still, I wasn’t the one who was about to drench his hands in blood...in that regard, you are the monster. As an adventurer I’m tasked with getting this world rid of monsters, don’t you think?” The more I spoke, the more pale her face became. I couldn’t notice if she wet herself once again since there was already a stain, yet the stench of piss was itching my nose. In the past twelve years I started to act more and more my current age, my way of speaking, the need to be recognized by my family. In those moments I felt like I was truly a twelve years old boy. But in that moment, with the one who tried to kill me twice in front of me, I found no trace of the kid inside me. Was I Keichiro? Raphael? Neither or both? I only felt a huge anger dwelling deep inside of me, buried in the depths of my chest.

“S-s-spare m-me! Please...y-you can kill my men j-just spare me! I'm a n-noble, I can’t d-die like this! N-not by your hands!”

I snapped out of it. I didn’t feel pity for that sobbing mess in front of me just...disgust. “Who’d beg the one she insulted and tried to kill?” I though. I think she was around fifteen years old which means that she was basically an adult in this world. Yet she was there, with her head touching the ground and tears and snot covering her face. Furthermore she was even offering to trade the life of twenty people for hers?

[Where did all the proudness she showed before? Where did all that noble this, noble that bullshit she was spouting? Where did the peasant crap go?...Such a disgusting scene]

“Nah I won’t kill you. I don’t wanna stain my hands with blood-” Her face brightened for a moment as she heard those words. But it only last a moment “-That said, I can’t let you go without a fitting punishment. Soo...you’ll be carrying a little message for that shitty group of yours”

“Yes, yes! I-I’ll carry the message directly to Ghaller! I-I’ll do it personally!”

At the same time as I was talking to her, Lucas approached me and so did Legis. With a quick look and a nod I realized that the situation on his side had been cleared. The barrier around us dropped and so did the mist that I created.

For the first time since the battle started, the green haired girl was able to look around her. Another wave of panic and dread shook her entire body. Two students against twenty adventurers. The result should have been clear. Yet in front of her eyes the only thing that laid on the ground where our bodies should have been, were the unconscious bodies of the adventurers. Even without the barrier she had no way to escape. I could tell by the look on her face that she completely surrendered. We won.

“Yes, you'll carry a message but I believe words are not so efficient with Gallher, am I right?”

“Uh? W-what do you mean?”

“Actions speak louder than words so following that reasoning, any action I take will be received more clearly than you simply telling what happened today. As such, this will be more effective.-” I said as I extracted a knife out of a small pocket attached to her thigh “-Lucas, please hold her”

“NO NO! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T KILL ME!”

“That’s right I'm not gonna kill you. “Flame”...I’m simply going to write a message to Gallher”

With the use of the spell “Flame”, which generates a small flame the size of my fist, I heated up the knife until it became of a glowing red. The girl started kicking around, desperately trying to get out of Lucas’ hold.

“NO NO NO NONONONONONNO….AAAAAHHHHHH!”

Her loud screams travelled around the clearing, almost covering the sound of the flowing river and the skin being burned. That’s what I was doing, carving the letter “R” on her cheek. By the time I had finished carving, she had collapsed and Legis looked the other way, clearly disturbed by the sight of blood. Lucas was also looking at me in a doubtful way.

“Are you sure this was the way, brother?” Asked him in a low voice, almost whispering. He was probably trying not to show this doubtful side of him to the already shocked Legis.

“Don’t worry, she was a noble who was able to sit side by side with Gallher. She must be filthy rich. With enough money she can get an advanced healer to treat her. In less than a month she should be all good. I didn’t cut that deep”

“I’m just glad this whole thing ended up without the need to spill blood”

Part 2

The next five minutes after the girl fainted, we proceeded to tie to some nearby trees the other adventurers, treating those who had the heaviest wounds. While doing so, me and Lucas briefly explained our situation to the still shocked Legis and the reason why they attacked us. It was unfortunate that he was brought inside of all this mess, so we agreed that an explanation was the least we could do.

“So just let me *cough* summarize all this. Gallher, the one who is trying to create a group strong enough to rule the school in the future, that Gallher, is trying to get rid of you two, especially Raphael-san, just because of an offense?”

“Mhh yeah, that pretty much describes it” Answered Lucas in a joking tone as if it was the most normal thing in this world.

“B-but it’s *cough* complete bullshit!”

“Haa tell me about it!” I replied.

“T-then what are you gonna do? Drop out of school? Talk to the headmaster? Or-”

“No no nothing of the sort-” I interrupted the now stammering Legis “-You know what’s the true purpose of carving my initial on the face of one of Gallher’s subordinates?”

“Ehmm...uhh….I don’t know?”

“A declaration of war” Answered Lucas before I could even do it.

“Wha-wha-whaaat? *cough* You are declaring war on him?”

“Yes brother, I’m a little concerned too about that”

“A LITTLE?!-” Incurred Legis “-how can you be just a LITTLE concerned about it?! He’s that Gallher! The son of the duke!”

“Thanks but I know exactly what I’m doing. I know who he is and what I’m going against...plus I don’t feel like leaving the academy so that’s basically the only choice, right?”

“E-E-Even if you say so-” His words got interrupted by a sudden groan coming from one of the trees where people were tied. Precisely the one where their boss where tied. The green haired girl. She slowly started opening her eyes and looking around. She soon found out that she was tied to a tree when she tried to stand up. Only then her eyes started frantically looking for the culprits.

“Good morning little flower” I said as I approached her.

She gave me no response. Even better, she didn’t even have the guts to look me in the eyes. She simply looked at her feet, probably already accepting whatever fate was waiting for her as she was the loser. But I had no such things in mind and, as I had already discussed with the two others, I had other plans for her.

“I’m now going to free you” I said, now squatting right in front of her.

“Eh? What?”

“Yes, you understood correctly. I’m going to let you free, you are no threat to me since I believe you understood that you are no match for me...right?”

“Y-yes I-I don’t have a-any chance o-of winning!”

“Correct...now I warn you. You can do whatever you feel like doing. Go back to working with Gallher, leave him and behave as the perfect student or even leave the academy completely. I really don’t care in the slightest what you chose to do...that is if you do not bother me or anyone related to me again. Because if that were the case...you’d not be so lucky to end up with just a scar. Clear?” I delivered every word supported by the maximum output of presence I could muster up. I wasn’t used to doing it, letting my mana leak out of me. It was something master taught me to avoid doing as much as possible, but in those cases where I needed to look menacing, I guess I could make an exception.

“Y-Y-Y-Yes I-I completely u-u-understand!”

“Good...now, it would be nice if you were to go to Gallher and tell him directly the whole story but I guess even if you weren’t he would search for you sooner or later. Ah by the way, about that scar on your cheek. It’s nothing too serious, you can heal it just fine with a month of treatment with an advanced healer. I bet with your money you can get one”

With those words, her previous stiff and cold sweating expression softened a bit. Knowing that her face could be healed was that important for her? I remembered the scar I had on my left eye. The scar I grew proud and fond of, so I couldn’t really understand her until I recalled the endless time that my girlfriend in my past life took to apply makeup. Whenever I asked her the reason for that, she always replied with “A woman’s face means everything”. I started to feel bad about scarring her face.

With her knife now in my possession I cut the rope tying her, letting her arms and legs finally free to move. She seemed reluctant, almost as if she was expecting me to retaliate as soon as she moved. She really looked like a beaten dog, walking around with it’s tail between its legs. I walked back a couple of steps and gestured her with the head to leave. She looked around a couple more times, suspicious of something, and then started sprinting like a runner out of the woods.

“*Pheww* I guess that’s it then. Should we start leaving too?” Asked a relaxed Lucas. His hands behind the back of his head with a peaceful look on his face.

“Yeah we’ve done all necessary we should go home before it’s lat-”

A sudden sound broke the silence of the woods. A steady sound of a single note, a high pitched one. It’s sound was similar to that of a flute but what concerned me was something else. Following the sound was a frail trail of mana. I had never heard of instruments that worked with mana, nor sounds that were accompanied by it. I simply had a bad feeling about it.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

A sudden shout brought me back to the present. The strange sound stopped and, in its place, were my brother’s shouts. They came from the same direction from where the sound came from.

Lucas had his fist buried in the face of one of the previously armor-clad men. Beside him was a reddish ocarina-like instrument the size of a punch made out of a material that looked like terracotta. The man was smiling and laughing even though Lucas was storming him with punches.

“He he he-” Laughed the man now spitting little drops of blood “- you are all deadth! He knew shhe would fail...thish ish just a precaushion he shaid. He he he you are all dea-”

Without even letting him finish, Lucas hit him with one last strong punch that made him faint on the spot. He then suddenly turned his focus on the ocarina and with a single stomp he crushed it under his boot, twisting it a couple of times to make sure it was broken.

“What the fuck was that sound?” He asked, turning his attention to me all of a sudden.

“I have no clue-” I answered perplexed. I had no idea of what it was as much as he had. The only thing I knew was that mana was infused in it “-but either way I don’t like it! Let’s just leave as fast as we can. His words didn’t sound too promising!”

“Yes...yes you are right. Let’s leave right no-”

A bone chilling roar resonated throughout the whole forest, cutting my brother’s words before they were spoken. It was nothing like any sounds I had ever heard. It sounded as if a badly-oiled machine and a loud screeching bird fused together. The result was far from pleasant to the ears, rather the opposite.

None moved. Even as the sound started fading, the best we could do was look in each other's eyes. Desperately trying to find an answer to that sound, some kind of reassurance that it was nothing dangerous. Yet we all knew well that it couldn’t be further from the truth. When the sound finally ceased, our mental stability started to pick itself up a little. Just enough for us to realize that another sound had started propagating through the trees.Loud stomping sounds and falling trees were what our ears were being filled with now. Something was coming.

“RAPHAEL LET’S RUN FROM HERE!” Screamed a panicking Lucas, forcefully taking both my wrist and Legis’. For just a moment I let myself get pulled by my brother. It was only a moment before I saw the top of a tree falling about five hundred meters from us. Even if we were to run with everything we’ve had, there was no way we could escape that crazed charge.

I looked at my brother’s desperate expression. His face was as pale as a corpse with his eyes frightenedly opened. I could see the white of his eyes and the red of his capillaries. From his lower lip, a little string of blood was gracefully painting his chin, drawing a perfect line in the middle. He had probably bitten his lip to snap out of his frightened state. Then, I looked over to Legis. It was a miracle that his legs were moving. His whole body looked more like that of a mannequin. His stiffness went all the way up to his eyes, glued to the direction from where the stomping sound was coming from. About a couple kilometers before we could reach the exit of the woods. I had to do something.

With a sharp movement I broke out of my brother’s grip on my wrist and reached the hilt of the sword I was carrying on my hip. A curtain of cold sweat was covering my eyes as little pearls of liquid started to profusely fall from all over my body. My knees were trembling, my muscles stiff. My whole body was screaming at me to run, begging me to run. As fast as I could, without looking back, as far as I could. Even so, what tiny bit of conscience I had left forced me to steel myself and point my iron towards the direction of the sound.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? RUN YOU IDIOT!” Screamed Lucas. His voice was cracking, his speech fast. For someone who loved to alway look composed and cool, it was a sign of the threat I was about to face.

“WE CAN’T RUN AND YOU KNOW IT!-” I screamed back at him, trying my best to keep my voice in check “- WHATEVER THAT THING IS, IT WOULD REACH US BEFORE WE COULD EXIT THE WOODS! I’LL STAY HERE AND STALL IT...GAIN SOME TIME FOR YOU TO ESCAPE!”

“ARE YOU A FOOL?! YOU CAN’T BEAT THAT THING! YOU’LL DI-”

“DON’T WORRY BROTHER...I’LL NOT DIE. Not today. Just run full speed until you reach a safe place, I’ll buy you as much time as I can before retreating. IF I don’t come back before tomorrow lunch, gather whoever you came and come search me. I might be hiding somewhere. NOW GO YOU FUCKER! WE GOT A CLIENT TO PROTECT, RIGHT?” Those last words were delivered with the most reassuring smile I could think of. I tried to imitate father, his smile always put me at ease whenever I felt down. Lucas seemed to try and say something before shutting himself up. His next words were almost inaudible due his distance and the increasing loudness of the sound.

“Don’t you dare die brother...I’ll fucking kill you myself if you so much lose a drop of blood!”

He didn’t even look back. If he did, he would have probably stopped to help me but then Legis would have been in danger. WIth his back turned, he ran faster than before towards the opposite side I was facing. Close to there, right outside of the forest, we had our horses, if they were not stolen or killed by Gallher’s men. It would take them three hours, two and a half at best if they made their horses run at full speed, to reach the academy.

But I had no time to worry about them. The...thing approaching me was coming very close at a dangerously high speed. The sound of trees cracking and falling, followed by the scared screeching of the birds nesting on those trees gave me once again the shivers. My whole spine was tingling as I made mana run through my whole body, casting “medium speed boost”, “medium strength boost” and “medium defence boost”.

I untied the string of tiger fur I was carrying on my wrist, my father’s gift when I left home for the academy. I gripped my now slightly wet hair in a loose bun on the top back of my head, letting the shorter hairs fall down on my forehead and sides. The thing was coming close to the last row of trees that separated us.

“Uh stupid brother, I’m not gonna die today...-”

My breath was cut short when the creature finally made its appearance in front of me. It’s sheer size made my knees weak. That huge mass of pitch black fur looked around itself until it’s eyes finally met mine. Wide white eyes, pale like that of a blind man yet very much alive and working. The creature stretched its neck to the sky and roared once again. I felt like my ears could bleed if I were exposed to that chilling sound soo up close.

The creature then swung it’s huge tail around restlessly, as if it was quivering with excitement. The cat and the mouse. I was nothing but that creature’s small prey. I tried gulping yet nothing but air fell down my throat, my mouth was as dry as a desert. With all the guts I had left I pointed my sword towards that creature, forcing myself not to run away.

“-...or at least I hope so!”

A devilish grin started forming on that monster’s face.