"Too bad it wasn't Raven Blackheart and Claire Victoria. But Amy Ashfield is a good catch."
"Yeah, good job, Seth."
From the entrance, the words of two of the figures reached Amy's ears, a man and a woman.
Seeing that they had no weapons, they seemed to be mages.
Seth and Red fixed a battle stance, swords out forward, facing Brandon and Amy.
Tszzzzzz–!
Instantly, Brandon flashed forward, abruptly stopping in front of the two, as blue sparks left his trail.
The two wore shocked expressions, while Brandon just stared at them closely. He was too close.
"Fast... But is that all?"
Swoosh–!
Seth swung down his sword to cut Brandon horizontally.
However…
Tszzzzzz–!
Brandon disappeared, leaving a spark of lightning from where he stood.
"...!"
"Kughhh…! H-Help…"
Brandon instantly appeared beside him, gripping Red's throat. He lifted him up.
"Raghhhhh!"
With a battle cry, Seth tried to help him out, swinging his sword at Brandon.
Tszzzzzz–!
"Wha–"
Once again, Brandon disappeared, leaving trails of blue sparks.
He'd thought he had land a hit on Brandon, forcibly swinging his sword.
But…
"S-Seth–"
Kszzz–
Seth's sword struck Red instead, as Red instantly dematerialized. White particles fluttered from his figure.
"Fuck…"
Fast.
Brandon was too fast.
It seemed like he was playing with them.
Even Amy stood frozen, shocked at what Brandon just did.
'He doesn't even need me…'
Brandon stood behind Seth, facing the crowd from the entrance, as he coldly muttered to Seth,
"I pose no threat to you. So you can deal with Amy instead."
"Bastard!"
Swoosh–!
Tszzzzzzz-
As Seth swung his sword behind him, Brandon had already blinked away.
'What can I even do in this situation?'
Brandon was doing everything.
But…
"Amy, I'll take four and you take three, including Seth."
"...Got it."
Amy immediately nodded at his words, conjuring a bubble of water.
'At least he knows how to share…'
In front of Amy, Seth locked his gaze with her. His eyes mixed with terror and rage.
He must've been terrified.
After all, he had only seen Amy as a threat, completely disregarding Brandon.
And that was his mistake.
Amy could tell that Brandon would easily surpass her in the rankings.
'He's stronger than me…'
She clenched her teeth.
'I don't like this.'
Annoyed.
If Brandon was that strong in the first place, then what was the point of being his partner?
"Ah."
She remembered.
'Because of that night.'
She'd forgotten the reason why she approached Brandon in the first place.
To assess whether he had any connections to Moriarty.
Or whether he was the man himself.
'He's strong, but…'
Not as strong as Moriarty.
Of course, she'd never actually seen him fight. But she could tell with a glance.
Moriarty's strength was unparalleled.
Thus, she concluded.
Brandon isn't Moriarty.
But did he have any connections to him?
Unsure.
She clenched her teeth once again.
Frustrated.
'I just can't connect the dots together.'
Just where did Brandon go that night?
If he isn't Moriarty, and the ashes belonged to Felix, then where the hell was Brandon?
"Ah."
Moriarty must've let him go, just like he did with her.
Finally it was all starting to make sense.
'So Moriarty saved him from Felix.'
She had finally reached a conclusion.
Indeed.
If that was the case, then Moriarty must be a righteous person.
A really strong one at that.
A Deviant.
Thinking back to the night, seeing Moriarty's figure, something warm welled up within Amy.
Whatever it was, she didn't know.
Maybe idolization?
Regardless, she wasn't afraid of Moriarty anymore.
In fact…
'I want to see him.'
She then dismissed her thoughts, focusing on Seth in front of her.
A ranked 4th and a ranked 1,590th.
The results were obvious.
As if comparing night and day.
At that, Seth charged towards her, aiming to swing his sword.
An admirable attempt.
But…
With the bubble behind her, Amy instantly contoured it into small myriads of water droplets.
Then…
Drip– Drip–
Swshh– Swshh— Swshh—!
The droplets cut through the air towards Seth in a manner of rapid bullets.
Water bullets.
Fast enough to pierce through flesh.
"AGHH—"
A myriad of water bullets continued to mercilessly pierce through Seth.
Swshh– Swshh— Swshh—!
Clank–!
Seth continued to twitch spontaneously at each bullet, dropping his sword.
The bullets were long and extremely thin. And due to the darkness of the cave, it was barely visible.
Swshh– Swshh— Swshh—!
Seth couldn't even react at how fast each bullet was going him.
Kszzz–
Seth dispersed into white fluttering particles. Blood splattered everywhere on the ground, the walls, the ceiling.
A gruesome sight.
Redirecting her attention in front of her, three more figures became visible, walking towards her.
But…
As she scanned each and every one of their expressions, all of their eyes were wide open, seemingly terrified.
Was it because of what she did?
Or…
Was it because of Brandon?
Her question was then answered as one of the figures spoke up, a woman.
"P-Please kill us instead, anyone but him."
"What?"
Amy was puzzled, tilting her head.
Him?
Brandon?
Just what did Brandon do for them to be so terrified?
Thud–
It was then when the three of them slumped down on the ground, kneeling.
They clasped their hands together and pleaded,
"Please, I don't care if I get expelled. I don't want to be in the same Academy as that… monster."
"Kill us, I want to go home already… Please!"
'What the fu–'
It was then when Amy noticed one of the mages only had one arm left.
"..."
What the hell did Brandon do?
She then redirected her gaze at the cave's entrance, trying to look for Brandon.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Haa…"
She breathed out a heavy sigh, conjuring a line of water in front of her.
Step–
As she stepped forward, one of the figures spoke up,
"T-Thank y–"
Slash–!
***
"Maybe I'll take Amy Ashfield as my protégé."
"Mhm."
Vanessa's words barely reached Evelyn's ears as she blankly stared at her.
It had been quite a while since the Battle Royale started, and the whole time, Vanessa didn't stop stuffing pastry in her mouth.
She was eating way too much.
"You'll get fat with all the sweets you're eating…"
"Nope, I try to maintain my figure as much as I can."
Vanessa then stood up, placing her hands on her waist and flashed Evelyn a sly smirk.
"See?"
Scanning her figure, she adorned the Astrea Academy's uniform for women.
A sleek sleeveless black dress that accentuated her curves.
Her long flowing brown hair cascaded down her back, just stopping just right on her butt.
She was fairly slim, and her figure was well proportionate.
She was a model through and through.
Vanessa turned to look at Evelyn as well–who was seated, as she spoke,
"Still… Your figure is way better than mine. Maybe I should stop eating this much…"
It wasn't a lie.
They were the same height, and their figure was almost the same.
Only that…
Evelyn's sleeveless dress seemed to wrap tighter around her, compared to Vanessa.
Vanessa seemed to notice something as she placed her hand on her chin, pondering.
She bent forward, leaning close to Evelyn as she thoroughly scanned her.
Evelyn could see Vanessa's face up close.
"What are you doing?"
"Your chest."
"Hm…?"
"Did they get bigger?"
"..."
What is this woman talking about?
"No, no. They definitely did get bigger."
"..."
No response.
What was the point of this conversation?
"If you sign with my agency, you'll definitely rake in more money than me."
"Ah."
So it was to market her modeling agency.
"Not interested."
"Eh… Come on! Lots of guys would buy a magazine with you on the cover."
"Nope."
Despite her refusal, there was a tinge of truth in Vanessa's words.
Ever since Evelyn started her Professor career, there were countless of male Professors who tried to court her.
But in the end, she refused all of them. She had no time for such nonsense.
She had one goal in mind.
To reach the top.
To become the pinnacle of all mages.
But if she were to settle down, then she wanted a man who didn't see her for her beauty.
A man that could see her for who she really was.
She may seem cold and stern, but it was mostly because she was introverted.
Because of her introversion, she severely lacked in the communication skill department.
To avoid a blunder, she'd put on a stern demeanor so people would avoid approaching her.
Glancing at Vanessa, who had already sat back down, she reached out for the remote.
Switch– Switch–
As she redirected her attention back to the screen, the boy with the pale-white hair was displayed.
Brandon Locke, the boy she set her sights on as a potential protégé.
"What...?"
"This–"
"So? Which of you wants to deal with me? Only four volunteers."
Brandon stood at the cave's entrance as he coldly locked eyes with each of the six people in front of him.
From beside him, someone spoke out loud. A man's voice.
"Don't be so cocky, you nobod–"
Tszzzzzz–!
Before the man could finish, a spark of blue lightning shaped like a spear flashed from behind him.
It mercilessly pierced him, as he spontaneously twitched due to the electrocution.
Kszzz–
The man instantly dispersed, dematerializing into white fluttering particles.
"Wha–"
Swoosh- Swoosh- Swoosh- Swoosh- Swoosh-
All the figures turned to look behind them, only to find an innumerable amount of lightning spears ready to erase them as it did with the man.
It was as if they were being held hostages.
And due to the nature of lightning, it would be way too fast for them to react to it.
At that, Brandon spoke up once again, his voice detached of any mercy.
"My mistake, three volunteers. Let's take this outside, okay?"
All the mages in front of him seemed to be terrified.
There was no room to retort as they immediately followed Brandon's instructions.
Step- Step–
They beckoned outside. The vast expanse of tundra had become visible.
In front of him, the woman in the middle of the group broke the silence as she turned to look at her comrades.
"G-Guys… Do as he says, we can take him out once we're in a better position."
Brandon raised his brow, amused.
"Oh? You think I'd let you do that?"
"Y-Yes… You would've killed us already if you wouldn't."
She had a point.
Brandon didn't want to end the fight fast.
He wanted to try out everything he learned from the books.
Brandon then curled his lips to a smirk, he said,
"Right. Whoever wants to fight Amy can proceed. Everyone else, stay."
As he emphasized the last word, his eyes narrowed and his voice deepened. Trying to put immense pressure on the group of parties.
While he waited, the woman spoke up once again.
"C-Could you let us discuss first?"
Brandon tilted his head in amusement.
There was no harm in letting them do that, and if they tried to escape he could just kill them.
"Sure. But stay within my line of sight."
The woman nodded, there was no room for negotiation.
At that, the group huddled together, forming a circle.
Brandon couldn't help but try to eavesdrop.
However…
He couldn't.
The woman had conjured up a sound barrier.
"Interesting…"
A mage with the sound affinity was quite rare.
From what Brandon knew, there were seven basic elements.
[Fire] [Water] [Earth] [Wind] [Nature] [Lightning] [Ice]
But there were special forms of affinity as well, such as:
[Light] [Shadow] [Time] [Space] [Life] [Fauna] [Psionic] [Gravity] [Morphic] [Celestial] [Quantum] [Mirror] [Sound] and so much more.
But it was too much for him to remember at the moment.
Mages could evolve their basic element into the next stage with training.
While some were born with the innate talent to use the special affinities without training.
From what he knew, Vanessa and Evelyn were good examples for it.
Vanessa had evolved her [Earth] affinity into the [Gravity] affinity.
While Evelyn was born to already harness the [Celestial] affinity.
Either the woman had evolved her [Wind] affinity to the [Sound] affinity or she was born with it.
He didn't know, but it was definitely interesting.
As he was lost in his thoughts, the group seemed to have finished their discussion, as the sound barrier was lifted.
At that, Brandon spoke up while the group turned to look at him.
"Have you decided?"
"Yes."
Two of the mages then strode forward as they passed by Brandon.
"....!"
—---------------------------
[Quests]
[Survive.]
[Rewards:]
[EXP: +50]
[Stat Points: +3]
[System Coins: +50]
[Penalty:]
[Failure to accomplish this task will get all your attributes locked for 7 days.]
—---------------------------
Brandon then turned to sneak a glance at the two behind him.
They stopped walking.
'Predictable.'
Tszzzz–
Brandon instantly blinked back without turning his body around, directly facing the two. Grabbing both of their necks.
"Kughhh–"
Vooosh–!
One of the mages engulfed themselves in flames, burning Brandon as well.
An attempt to take their own life just to burn Brandon.
"Aghhhhhh!"
Since he'd never increased his [DEF] stat, Brandon felt the burning sensation on his hand.
He immediately let go of the two, rubbing his hand, only to find it etched with burn marks.
The blue lightning spears dispersed as well as he lost control over them.
A blunder.
Kszzz–
The mage who burned himself had dispersed into white fluttering particles.
After transmigrating into the world, Brandon had never felt pain before.
It was a new feeling for him.
And it hurt.
A lot.
Even the sensation was accurately portrayed by the Virtual Simulation.
'This is crazy.'
He knitted his brows and contoured a smirk.
The mages then threw a barrage of skills his way.
An earthen spike contoured from the ground, trying to pierce him.
While crystalline of ice protruded from the ground, headed towards him.
Gusts of winds shaped like discs pierced through the air.
While water seemingly formed from his feet, trying to tangle him.
[Mana Disruption] was out of the question as the spells had already formed.
He couldn't disperse the mana that had already formed an elemental shape.
Despite beating Alpha–who was a Professional Killer, six mages from an elite Academy at once was still too much for him.
'Should I do it?'
He was severely handicapped by only using the lightning affinity only.
'Ah.'
As long as he didn't use fire, then it might be fine.
Crackle!
At that, he conjured an ice wall to block the crystalline of ice.
Then…
Woosh–
A gust of wind instantly dispersed the wind discs.
Tszzzz—
As the earthen spike was seemingly about to hit him, Brandon blinked back to dodge it.
"...!"
All the mages' eyes shot wide open, as their mouths were left agape.
At that moment, Brandon Locke had become a known Tri-Elemental Deviant throughout the entire Academy.
***
"Crazy…"
"I was suspicious he was a Deviant… But three elements…?"
Vanessa then turned to glance at Evelyn with a smirk as if saying, 'I'll take him before you can'.
"Nope, I've already decided."
"I know, but I've set my sights on him first."
"Doesn't matter."
Evelyn waved her off.
"Fine... But it still comes down to who he'll choose as his Personal Instructor."
"He'll choose me."
Evelyn was confident.
As they spoke, Evelyn had never peeled her eyes away from the screen.
Brandon Locke.
He was special.
Deviants were rare. But Tri-Elemental Deviants were an extremely rare case.
A once in a generation talent.
"How are you so sure?"
Vanessa snapped her out of her thoughts, trying to assess where her confidence stems from.
"I won't let him refuse."
"Eh…?"
She would pour in all her resources just to get Brandon Locke to accept being her protégé.
She couldn't let a talent like him slip away.
"Well, I won't back down."
Vanessa crossed her arms and leaned back on the circular couch, redirecting her attention to the screen.
"There's no point. Just get Amy Ashfield and be on your way."
Despite being introverted, Evelyn was extremely competitive.
She didn't want to lose to her best friend.
"Heh, we'll see about that."
"Mhm, still. The Academy's going to be crazy for a while."
"Haa… Yeah."
Unbeknownst to the students participating in the Battle Royale, the entire session was being live streamed for the entire Academy to see.
All the first years would have the same session. But Evelyn's class was the first one scheduled to take the Battle Royale.
As the Battle Royale was ongoing, classes were suspended for the week.
Hence, why Vanessa was there.
If anyone wanted to watch the session, they'd have to go to the Academy on their own accord.
Knock– Knock—
Someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
Vanessa inquired.
A muffled voice from behind the door then reached their ears.
"Is that Miss Vanessa?"
A woman's voice.
"Yes, it is."
"Ah, it's Belle Locke, may I come in?"
Evelyn then chimed in. The Locke surname was familiar to her.
"Who's that?"
"The Student Council President of the Academy."
"Ah."
Was that why it was familiar?
Vanessa then stood up, motioning towards the door and unlocked it.
Creak–
The door gradually opened, revealing a woman.
Long pale-white hair flowing down her shoulders.
Familiar ice-blue eyes, and perfectly symmetrical facial features, clear from all blemishes.
Soft succulent lips, moist, clear of any cracks.
In short, she was extremely beautiful.
She donned the Astrea Academy uniform, which accentuated her curves. Her sleek black skirt, just short enough to reveal her jade white thighs.
On her uniform was a golden pin that etched the Student Council logo.
Step–
She entered the room with regal, each step exuded confidence.
As Belle continued to walk towards her, Vanessa shut the door close and locked it.
She then turned towards Evelyn, locking eyes with her as she informed,
"She's also Brandon Locke's older sister."
"Ah."
So that's why the Locke surname was so familiar.
*
*
*
[AN]
Belle Locke makes her appearance...
I'm so motivated...
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