[Conquer yourself and you will conquer the world]

Rai’d never actually seen the slogan of the Academy before, but now that he had time to wander around the Academy grounds, he’d noticed multiple plaques with that line etched into them. Conquering the world wasn’t a concept that he found himself fond of, but the general message of self-improvement was something Rai resonated with.

Since he’d left class early, the Academy was pretty much barren. Not a single student in sight. Though, Rai’d seen a few teachers here and there running to different places. One even stopped him and asked why he wasn’t in class. After he explained his situation, the teacher gave him a pitying look and told him to try find something productive to do.

From the pitying look the teacher gave him, Rai figured that even the other teachers found Miss Lillia to be somewhat... disagreeable. Still, she wasn’t awful. Sin had an even worse experience with teachers than Rai had. She mentioned that one of the teachers had it out for her, trying to catch her out and punish her for absurd reasons. He was glad that he hadn’t personally seen or had to deal with a teacher like that yet. Though, he'd technically only been to a couple classes since he started at the Academy, so there was still time.

Rai really liked the Academy grounds. The outdoor grounds were well maintained, and offered a serene area for students to rest in. He found himself in the grounds after aimlessly walking around for a while. It was probably because he was fond of outdoor areas like these. Even though the Academy was far more pristine and well maintained, the general feeling of simply walking around them was nostalgic.

It reminded him, in a subtle way, of home.

Rai was about to turn a corner when he heard a voice from the other side.

“What do you want from me?”

It wasn’t a voice he recognised, but Rai thought it sounded like a man. He seemed distraught.

Another group of voices pierced the silence with their laughter.

“Look! He’s about to piss himself!” One of them said.

The voices laughed even louder.

Then, Rai heard the ignition of a magical flame.

The laughter stopped. One of the voices from the group sounded excited.

“Oh shit! Hey, dumb-fuck! You’d better keep your eyes open, or you’ll miss Loken’s fire burning your jewels to bits!!” There was a hysterical venom in the boy’s voice.

A deeper voice boomed, echoing around the corner.

“Keep ‘em open. You’ll only lose an eye, it’s better than losing your balls.” The group giggled again. “Hold him, Malford.”

“No! No no please don’t- it’s not fair, I’ll give you whatever you want!” The distraught boy sounded even more panicked now than before.

“What could a shitty bottom-feeder like you possibly give me? It’s simple, you lose an eye or your balls! You can choose!!” He laughed maniacally, prompting the group of boys to laugh along with him.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP M-”

Smack!

“Who the fuck said you could call for help! We’ve obviously got a silenced field around here, no one will hear you!" This time, the distinct voice of the boy called Malford came around the corner. The venom Rai initially sensed in his voice was still present. It reminded him a bit of Pico.

Rai had to make a decision. He didn’t want to get into more trouble, and he definitely didn’t want to make any more enemies. Still... he couldn’t just leave that kid to get beat up. Rai steeled himself. He wouldn’t gravely injure the bullies, but he’d at least try to save the kid. Only if he had to, would he defend himself.

"... Stupid fuck-”

“Hey, who’s that?” One of the unknown boys yelled out. He pointed at the corner that Rai walked around.

The group of boys turned their heads to the corner that Rai stood at.

Rai raised his hand to greet them.

“Hello there.” He said with a smile.

“Who are you?!” Malford yelled.

Rai pointed to the boy with blood, sweat, and tears all over his face and uniform.

“I need him for a minute. Can I borrow him?”

“Oh? What for, obsidian haired princess? Is he your boy toy?”

The boys all cackled.

“Well, not really. I just need him for something right now.”

Rai couldn’t come up with any better excuses.

“And if I said no?”

“Not sure really. Didn’t think that far.”

The group of boys stared at him in silence. A moment passed. Malford burst out in laughter, prompting the others to do the same.

“Bahahah! Look at this guy! Ain’t he funny?!” His smile disappeared. “Loken, get him.”

Nothing happened.

Malford popped a vein.

“Loken!”

Still, nothing.

He turned his head around to the brute. Malford’s anger went up a notch.

“The fuck is wrong with you! You’re giving us a bad name!”

Loken was shaking. Sweat dripped off of his face, and the flame that was once so bright that Rai could see its light on the floor was nowhere to be seen.

“Him.” His lips were quivering. “He’s the one... Pico!”

Malford whipped his head back around to Rai.

“You’re the one who killed Pico?”

Rai, for once, had a serious expression on his face. “I’m sorry for that, but I had to defend myself.”

“Defend yourself?! He was our friend! And the rumours were that... a kid with long black hair and blue eyes killed him...” There were multiple veins popping out of his forehead.

“I truly am sorry, but when I have to choose between living and dying I’m going to choose to live.” He looked at the boy that was being beaten up. Rai gave up the charade. “Besides, I just want you guys to stop beating up that kid.” He pointed at the boy who shivered heavily.

Malford wasn’t having any of it.

“You lot,” He looked at the other boys in the group. “go return the favour.”

The other boys smiled. They pulled weapons out of their spatial runes.

“Please. We can sort this out without fighting!” Rai pleaded.

The first one flew at Rai with a grin on his face. He brandished a greatsword.

He's slow.

The boy went for an overhead slice aimed straight at Rai’s head. He sidestepped, then waited until the blade hit the ground. Rai took the downtime to pivot and kick the guy in the balls.

The boy keeled over and clutched his groin.

Everyone present collectively winced.

“You fighting dirty?!” Malford shouted.

“No! I don’t want to fight at all! Also, you were about to burn that poor kid’s balls so why can’t I kick that guy’s balls all the same?”

For fucks’ sake. They’re so stupid that I can’t even avoid fighting. Do I have to fight? Fighting for something like this isn’t even worth it...

Rai looked at the battered kid. He’s so pitiful... I’m not going to get hurt if I fight them, but they’ll get hurt if they fight me. Okay, I’ll hurt them enough to get them to leave, that should be fine.

“What the fuck! You bitch!” One of the boys yelled. He flew towards Rai, just like the first one. The other two followed after him.

“He can’t get all three of us!” Another yelled out.

Rai analysed the boys quickly. They all had different weapon types. One had a greatsword, just like the first boy, while the other two had a greataxe and a warhammer, respectively. Even though they were different weapons, the way that one would fight with them often overlapped. After thinking for a second, Rai quickly used telekinesis on the warhammer, slamming it into the boy’s chest. He was instantly knocked unconscious. Rai winced as a jolt of pain passed through him. Still, he pushed himself to do this.

Mana problems or not, Rai wasn't going to lose.

Rai spared a second to see that the boy’s chest was still rising up and down. He’d made sure that the impact wasn’t that hard, and was just enough to wind the raging boy.

The other two continued charging at him. It only took a couple seconds, but they reached him and swung wildly. Neither of them had any kind of strategy in mind, they simply tried to hit him.

Rai grinned. Well, that makes this a bit easier.

Rai imbued wind magic into his feet, then jumped. He flew up high. Rai looked down to see the greatsword and greataxe clang against each other, forming a satisfying reverberating sound.

“Hey! We’re not aiming at each other!” One of the boys shouted at the othe.

“Where’d he go?”

“LOOK UP, YOU IDIOTS!” Malford yelled.

Rai’d already formulated his next spell. The two looked up. A harsh wind bombarded them.

It was over in seconds.

“Tch! Shit!”

Rai floated back down to the ground, wind magic still enveloping his feet.

“Phew. Can you guys leave him alone now?” Rai asked Malford. He’d noticed Loken had fallen to the ground now as well.

Malford couldn’t believe his eyes. Two of them were squashed against the ground. One was still reeling from being kicked in the balls while the other slammed his own warhammer into his chest. This scene was absurd. Four of his closest friends were wiped out just like that, by a complete no-name.

“FUCK!” Malford’s pride in his friends was resolute, but seeing these fools give them all a bad name was infuriating. “Fine. I’ll fight you.”

Rai tilted his head, then aimed his thumb back over his shoulder.

“Shouldn’t you take care of those guys first?”

Malford blinked. He stared blankly at his four incapacitated friends, “Fine! You win this time... Gather them Loken, we're leaving.” He was seething, but now wasn’t the time to pick a fight. Soldiers had fallen on the battlefield; it was time to tend to them.

Even if they were awful soldiers.

Rai waited for them to leave.

After watching to see them go, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why do they always have to fight?” He shook his head; with the irony completely lost on him. Another jolt of pain passed through his body. This time, it lingered. "What... what the fuck is happening?" Rai whispered to himself. As much as he wanted to figure out what was going on with his body, there was something more important to worry about right now. Rai forced himself to walk over to the quivering boy who was still laying on the ground.

Rai reached his hand out.

The boy winced, and pulled himself further away from Rai.

“Hey. Ouch. I’m not trying to hurt you. Stand up, we’ll go get you checked up at the other infirmary.” There were multiple smaller infirmaries at the Academy since the grounds were so big. Rai knew this because he took his mother’s words to heart. If he was to hurt people in spars or fights, or if he was to get hurt himself, then he’d have to know where all of the infirmaries were.

“Leave me alone! I don’t want your pity!” The boy screamed.

“... Alright then. Take care of yourself, I guess.” Rai left around the corner that he came from.

He didn’t look back.