Remington Leywin

"Alright, I know you likely are Tess, but Lucas are you any good in close combat?" He shook his head as he leaned back slightly.

"Unfortunately, I am heavily reliant on ranged spells. Though my mana reserves more than make up for my lack of close combat." He stated, without a hint of arrogance or pride.

I just about choked on my words. I had expected something along the lines of, 'I'll just blast them all where they stand, they're weak commoners anyway!' What happened to that smug look he had carried while waiting for class to start? Or was that just a front to show his confidence?

Shaking my head I continued, "I'll be pairing you with Arthur. Wind and Earth attribute augmenter, excellent swordsman, favors his right hand but has no hindrance with his left."

Lucas covered his mouth with his right hand, the other crossed his chest. "That is good information. Alright, I have my plan. Would I assume you'd be against your girlfriend?" My face went hot, coughing into my fist I tried to redirect the conversation back on course.

"Are you not dating yet, Remi?" Tess chimed in. "You gotta be thinking about it right? I mean you're always together and are quick to take each other's side regardless of right or wrong."

"Right. Let's focus on the task at hand please. Tess we'll talk later." I stated taking a deep breath.

"Okay! Just know I'm rooting for you two." She slipped in before I explained the rest of the plan.

"I'll be supporting Tessia against Claire. Lucas buy us time with Art or if possible defeat him."

Lucas nodded as he equipped his staff.

"Tess you're going to act as the vanguard. Quick and decisive."

———

Vanesy Glory
Present

With the mock battle now in full swing, I must say some of these children are monsters in the making. Lucas, while he seemingly arrogant and narrow minded, was casting with caution as if trying to gauge the ability of his opponent. I expected him to use all the spells he could to decisively strike at Arthur Leywin.

Arthur, on the other hand possessed an eerie aura to him, even if he hadn't defeated an academy professor. At the start of the match he exuded an almost strangling pressure. However, his reserved movements, well timed deflections and counters, all but confirmed a long life of conflict and training.

Refocusing on Tessia vs Claire, sparks flew as the two exchanged blows. Tessia seemed to have the upper hand with swifter movements. Likely due to her tutorage from the former king of Elenoir.

Remington conjured orbs of fire directed towards Claire as Sylvie matched his spells with pure mana. Judging by the way she spoke of their history it seemed as if even now, they were training. Using this match as a game of rock-paper-scissors. It was most interesting when they would move to support their Vanguard. Tessia would receive a tail wind and Claire would receive an augmentation boost.

Claire receives covering pure mana fire as Tessia barrier spells. It was a sight to behold. Although, it almost seemed like they wanted to let the leaders of the DC and SC decide who would come on top. Focusing back onto the boys, Lucas chanted the domain Inferno Cage as he began to bombard Arthur. Brilliant Yellow flames flew around inside the domain spell.

"A domain spell and with such control."

I noticed that Art had tired from dodging all of Lucas' previous spells. But even with the disadvantage of the cage, Arthur was now steadily walking towards Lucas as no fire touched him. Lucas continually backed up until he reached the edge of his domain, mana reserves thin due to the domain and prolonged magic spells. He tripped backwards as Art reached the poor fire attribute mage. Lucas lifted his arms and conceded as Art raised his fist to strike, stopping due to a yell from Sylvie.

Turning back towards Sylvie, Tessia had managed to back-pedal Claire into a mud patch created by Remington. Loosing her footing and getting stuck she had conceded, leaving Tessia and Remington in a great position to checkmate Sylvie due to Art's distance.

Tessia rushed towards Sylvie, but her movements slowed. Her body lost its strength as she fell to one knee. Art suddenly appeared, seemingly asking her if she was alright and to concede to which she did. Tessia conceded mouthing a sorry to Remington.

'How in the world did he cover that distance?'

———

Arthur Leywin

"Sorry Tess," I said apologetically as I knew her beast will assimilation was hindering her from continuing. "We both know it was going to end up like this. Remi being competitive as he is, it's going to be fun knocking him down a peg, again."

"No, no it's alright," Tess said as a medic helped her away. "It just shows that I have more work to do. Also Sylv, we need to chat later, girl to girl."

Dismissing her we refocused onto Remi.

"So what's the plan Sylv?" I asked, "Overwhelm and drain his mana? Pin him? Lose?"

She laughed at the last one.

"I don't plan to lose. I've been reserving mana as much as I can by mirroring his spells." She began to make that face she would when speaking with Remi. "He says not to hold back and he won't either. Blood arts are not going to be used, for obvious reasons."

She smiled eagerly, Remi mirroring the smile.

"Are you ready, Art?" Sylv placed a hand on my back she pushed, imbuing a large amount of pure mana to reinforce me. Following close behind as we ran towards Remi. "Quick and Decisive!"

Remi stood waiting for us to close the distance. Taking two large breaths he began to launch flame orbs at us. I slashed through some, Sylv blocked the others and we dodged the rest.

To obscure my movement Sylv launched two waves of pure mana while I accelerated towards Remi's left side. Catching him off guard I struck at his knee as he intercepted it with condensed ice. He cast a gust of wind, pivoting on my left foot, I forced my palm against his jaw. His head cocked back, spell launching into the sky, before he was launched backwards by a beam of pure mana. 

He skipped across the ground once before landing on his feet as he dug up the dirt beneath him. Another two beams of mana flew past me directed at Remi. But the beams dispersed as two barriers surrounded him. He seemed to check his jaw as he stood back up.

"First off, not the face. Second, he getting frustrated." Sylv commented behind me her voice strained, quickly motioning for her to elaborate she continued. "I've been suppressing and canceling a majority of his spells. But since I usually use Remi as a battery even I'm starting to run low. But I think he'll be low as well, he's been putting extra mana behind each spell he's tried to conjure."

"Come on, Remi! I made a bet on you winning!" Lucas commented. Remi took a low stance as he seemed to ignore Lucas. He grinned, bursting forward with a gust of wind. The floor beneath him froze as he feigned a right hook in favor of a leg sweep. Caught off guard I braced myself as he launched me towards Sylv with a blast of fire. Sylv catching my arm, dug her feet into the ground and used my momentum to launch me back at Remi in a sprint.

"That jaw shot hurt Art!" He said, manifesting his Scythe, the blade burned a brilliant whiteish blue. "But class time is running short! We should make this quick."

Could I use it again? I should be able to without any repercussions, especially with the boost from Sylv. Alright, it's settled then. Remi seemed to be hyper focusing as the world went gray. Sylv was the only person able to move as we closed onto Gray. My sword's flat placed onto his neck so that his momentum wouldn't carve out his throat. Sylv readied 6 beams of mana in succession between Remi and herself. The world returned to normal colors as I spoke.

"Check-" I was cut off as my sword shot towards the ground. Gravity forcing me to my knees as my body protested.

"-Mate!" Remi said, his crimson eyes seemingly glowing with concentration, as an overwhelming bloodlust filled the air. I was stunned to say the least. Never before had he unleashed his pressure, but I never imagined this. He rushed past me, Sylv was also paralyzed but managed to fire off the pure mana she had prepared. In a spiral of blue flames he and his scythe sliced through and absorbed the beams. Allowing the bloodlust to strengthen, to ensure paralysis, as he arrived at Sylv's side. Remi lightly wrapped his left arm around her midsection while the blade of his scythe, no longer blazing, rested inches from her throat. Sylv conceded our defeat.

"Thats game!" Professor Glory yelled. "Good job everyone! Go rest up for classes tomorrow."

Remi stored his Scythe and released Sylv. He fell back, taking several deep breaths as he calmed himself down. Sylv wore a worried expression on her face but simply knelt next to Remi cupping his hand as they conversed mentally. Tessia, Curtis, Claire and surprisingly Lucas gathered next to us, oh and Clive was there too.

"Arthur if you don't mind me asking." Lucas started. "How did you control your mana like that? I mean it seemed as if you had just come up with the idea in the heat of the moment."

I considered his question and whether or not I should respond when Sylv interrupted my thoughts. "We'll be heading back to our dorms." A hint of disgust underlined her words as she disapprovingly looked at Lucas. "Tess come see us in the DC room if you want to talk."

———

Remington Leywin

Oh boy.

What was that.

My throat and chest constricted as I searched internally, a recently developed light silver core shone brightly, but that wasn't the cause of my discomfort. My heart ached not an actual pain but a pain akin to regret or sadness.

[What's wrong? You seem upset.] Sylv was still recovering from the match by absorbing ambient mana and whatever mana I could spare from my own recovery.

Everything was going normal up until I captured Sylv. A feeling of dread washed over me and I received a brief image of Colt, my past life according to Sylv. He stood behind a red haired girl around a head shorter than him. He pressed a knife at her jugular, the scene had faded as the sound of gurgles filled my mind. It wasn't like I haven't seen people die but something about that girl just didn't sit well with me.

We arrived at the DC dorms as we made our way into her room. She had kept the room relatively plain, only decorating with items and cores we acquired during our time as adventurers. I sat down at her desk as she sprawled onto the bed. "Come on tel-" I motioned with my hand to speak mentally.

[So what's wrong, Remi? You're not usually like this.]

I sighed as I strengthened our link to show Sylv what I saw.

{This is the first thing on my mind, it's fairly gruesome. The second I'll tell you after.}

She nodded closing her eyes to perceive the vision. Her eye brows raised at the beginning of the vision. Her expression forming into one of contemplation as she finished viewing it, shivering ever so slightly.

[You're right that is gruesome. But that position was the same you had me in. Maybe you had a panic attack of sort.]

After a long pause her voice filled my mind once more.

[Her name is Emma. Remember? That time we watched the first vision.] I only nodded in response as our time in Elenoir came to mind. Not long after that day, Sylv opted to not look into my past without me present or my permission.

I had contemplated telling Sylv about the novel of tbate for years. After all she was the only person who has access to my memories. After all these years, I had come to the conclusion that it was best to tell her no matter the outcome.

{Hey, Sylv.}

She let out an audible hum in acknowledgment.

{I trust, you'll believe what I'm about to say. The two of us shouldn't be in our current state right now. More importantly, I shouldn't even be in this world. As we both know I have no recollection of who I was prior to now. But I have knowledge of this world and its events due to this world having been a novel from my old world.}

'Should I have left out that last part? More importantly, would she believe me? I knew she likely would but deep down there was that fear that should wouldn't.'

[So this world was a story created by someone? But they never wrote you into that story correct?]

I nodded my head as I sat up now looking at my palms.

{We've been through a lot Sylv.} I said smiling warmly as I recalled all our little excursions in training, as adventurers, and within the safety of friends and family. Proceeding to show her images as I explained the events. {But we're going to go through so much more. In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of change. For starters, Alea is going to die fighting a powerful opponent from the other continent and shortly after Xyrus academy is going to be attacked.}

[Is there anything else?]

{You and Art, will be going to the home of the Asura to train for the impending war, and I've bought you two an extended amount of time. There's no telling how long you'll be gone for but it'll be anywhere above 2 years. I have no idea if I'll be able to go with you two, but-}

[Then I won't go?]

{What?}

[I just won't go. You said it yourself, you bought us extra time. Since you have knowledge of events yet to happen let's move to change them.]

I contemplated what she said. Of course, I've had similar thoughts, even actions, but what would happen as a result? Lucas seemingly being more humble is a great change, hopefully he'll be protecting students against Draneeve, Kai and now Circe. I taught Alea, a new magic form, in hope that she'd survive the fight against Uto. Delayed the Dicatheus from launching. But would that all be enough? Sylvie needs to learn her Aether arts to combat the other Asura. Without going to Epheotus would she able to? How much would stay the same in the future?

Sylvie now stood in front of me as she took both my hands into hers.

[Let's save the people we care about Remi. We don't need to follow everything you know will happen down to the little details. We're in charge of our own lives. We may not have been able to as kids, Remi-] She was practically yelling into my mind as tears formed in her eyes, her words being constricted by her throat.

'She must've reopened the wall she built around the death of Sylvia.'

Panicking, I stood pulling her into an embrace. After a few moments she began again. [Maybe not as kids, but we're strong now aren't we? Please. I don't want to lose anyone. Especially, not you Remi.]

She sobbed quietly below my chin. I came to find myself agreeing with her. It won't be easy, and we may lose more than we gain. It just meant more studying, training and learning, to obtain the power we need. I closed my eyes pressing my face into Sylv's head as time seemed to stop.

'But I'll be damned if I ever don't try to protect the ones I love'

Unfortunately, the door to Sylv's room creaked open.

"Hey Sylv! I couldn't find Remi and you wouldn't answer your door but Cynt-" Tess let out a surprised squeal as she froze in the doorway. "I see I may be interrupting lovebirds, I'll see my way out."

Sylv quick on her feet, pushed free from the embrace as she conjured a mana rope to drag Tess back into the room. I shut the door with a gust of wind. Sylv was a shade of red that was only rivaled by the crimson of my eyes. She shook Tess by the shoulders, as Tess laughed.

"Look at you two you even blush the same color! Tell me you two are official, please tell me!" She exclaimed as Sylv reeled back with a closed fist. I grabbed her arm preventing the swings as I looked at Tess my face still burning.

"Tess, how can we help you?" I asked.

"Well, I came around to check on you and wanted to talk to Sylv about some things but it looks like most of my conversation was taken care of." She teased. Sylv covered her head with a pillow as she laid face down on her bed. Tess whispered into my ear next to me. "So, are you two a thing now?"

I opened my mouth to answer but paused as I processed my thoughts.

"Not yet," I whispered back. "I'll need your help with that Tess."

She nodded vigorously as Sylv continued her 'hiding.'