New student (3)

"I don't see how I am supposed to be one."

"Seems like you're blind then."

Instead of a physical fight, a quarrel between siblings broke out.

"Big words for somebody who can't even cook for herself."

"How am I supposed to do it? I never had the time to learn it before!"

"You certainly had more time than me."

"You know what I me—ARGH! Who cares?!"

Interrupting herself, Ophelia released a stuffed scream of irritation.

Stomp—!

Stomping on her feet, she unleashed her ether into the atmosphere, slowly creating an invisible ether barrier around the ether center.

"I'll beat you up, you little shit!"

"I am taller than you."

In mere seconds, the environment surrounding them changed into a snowy landscape.

"What the-"

The watching students could only stare at the siblings in admiration and disbelief.

However, it wasn't because of the dimension that was created.

No, rather their disbelief was because of an entirely other reason. It was the way their professor was acting toward Ophelia.

"Is that really our professor?"

"I've never seen him so expressive before..."

While the creation of the dimension was impressive, they were more surprised by the sudden expression of emotions on Zenith's face, as they had never expected to see such a sight before.

To them, Zenith was a calm and collected person.

One that would always keep their cool and make the right judgment.

As such, a Zenith who suddenly showed emotions was something they weren't prepared for.

"They really are siblings," Ellen whispered toward Seraphir, who was sitting in the snow right next to her. "Don't they remind you of you and your sister?"

"A little..."

Meanwhile, in the place where the arena had stood, a full-scale battle between the Voidwalker siblings broke out.

Ophelia was throwing her full arsenal at Zenith, while Zenith skillfully redirected each of her attacks.

Cling—! Clang—! Cling—!

"Try something new, sweetie."

Zenith spoke in a sweet tone that a parent would use to speak to their baby, provoking Ophelia, as he parried each of her attacks with utmost ease.

"If that's what you want..." Ophelia narrowed her eyes, smiling ominously in response. "Don't complain about it, brother."

Materializing an immeasurable amount of swords behind her back, she shot each one of them at Zenith simultaneously, forcing him to either parry each individual, use his dimensional manipulation to fight against it, or dodge the attack.

As expected of Zenith, he rather chose to dodge than needlessly confront the barrage of swords.

"Void step."

Vanishing, Zenith reappeared right behind her, extending his arm to slash at her.

Clang—!

However, instead of his hit connecting, Ophelia blocked it with a newly generated sword, predicting his attack.

In the current spar, there was one thing that she could utilize to her advantage.

Zenith wasn't trying to hurt her.

While this wasn't a heads-up for many people, as they still didn't see any way of winning despite bearing the little risk of getting hurt, Ophelia had another advantage.

She had already fought him before.

Zenith's fighting style consists of quick strikes to break one's defense down and create an opening for a decisive hit.

That in turn means that he had an eye for openings in the guards of his opponent, which leads to-

Cling—!

- his predictability.

Zenith widened his eyes, momentarily retreating, as another one of his attacks was blocked by Ophelia.

No, rather than only blocking it, it seemed like she perfectly predicted where he would strike, blocking the attack before he even struck.

"Not so tough, are we?" Ophelia flashed him a smug smile, proud that her plan had worked.

However, behind that smile, she hid a feeling of relief, trying to calm down her racing heart.

What she just did was something that she could only do because Zenith wasn't trying to hurt her.

As Zenith was a tactical fighter, Ophelia risked it and created some intentional openings in her stance, which led Zenith to attack them.

She used that to predict his attacks and block them.

In a normal fight, that fighting style would be suicidal, as a single slip-up would mean death to the user of that fighting style, but in a spar, something like that could be freely utilized.

Especially against skillful tactical fighters like Zenith, the dangers of getting actually hurt were pretty slim, as such fighters usually know when to pull back their attacks.

Narrowing his eyes, Zenith went through the whole situation again in his head, simulating the scene and trying to understand what Ophelia just did."

"I see..." He muttered, a small smile forming on his face, as a feeling of pride welled up inside of him. "What a bold plan you used. I must admit...it was certainly quite a smart one."

"Thank you."

Ophelia's face hardened.

While she expected that Zenith would find out about her tactic soon, she didn't expect him to almost instantly figure it out.

"However..."

Dashing forward, Zenith pulled his arm back, preparing to strike her.

Seeing that, Ophelia readied her sword, preparing to block another one of his strikes.

Instead of him striking, he just disappeared in front of her eyes in a blur.

"It won't work against opponents who are vastly faster than you."

The smooth voice of Zenith appeared right behind her, giving her chills.

Widening her eyes, Ophelia reactively turned around, spotting Zenith in the corner of her view.

BANG—!

Feeling her consciousness fading, she was knocked out by a pommel strike to her head.

***

***

After all her classes had ended, Ophelia instantly went to Zenith's apartment, throwing herself onto her bed.

For a while, she buried her face in her pillow, rolling around in embarrassment as she recalled how the combat class of Zenith had ended.

*

After Ophelia woke up, she was greeted by a cold water bottle pressing against her cheek.

Suddenly feeling the coldness of the water bottle, she jumped up in surprise, turning her head toward the culprit.

It was Zenith who offered her something to drink with a faint smile on his face.

"What the-"

Ophelia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, needing a few seconds to fully comprehend the situation.

As far as she could remember, she sparred against Zenith and then suddenly lost consciousness.

'Ah.' Her eyes widened in understanding as her memories fully assembled. 'I lost.'

"Took you long enough to wake up, princess."

Zenith joked, cracking an amused smile toward her.

"Hmph." she grumbled while grabbing the bottle, slightly frustrated by the outcome of the battle.

While she had expected that she would lose, it was somehow still frustrating to actually lose.

After all, knowing and experiencing were two different things.

And she should be the one who knows it the best.

"You did well." He laughed,, before taking a sip of the bottle.

Seeing that, Ophelia also took a sip, which turned into her finishing the whole bottle.

She hadn't drunk or eaten something for hundreds of years, so every time she actually did eat or drink something, she usually savored the taste and feel of it until the very last drop or crumble.

It was pure heaven to her.

"A little bit thirsty, aren't you?"

"Didn't you say to yourself that being hydrated is healthy?"

Zenith chuckled, following her example and finishing the bottle, too.

"You're right. It is."

For a while, nobody of them said anything, just sitting amidst the arena in silence.

However, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but a comforting one.

"Before I forget..." Zenith started speaking, pointing with his fingers at the students, who sat in their seats again, waiting for Zenith to continue the class. "You haven't introduced yourself yet."

As she didn't have to do it in her first class, she didn't see any reason why she should've done it in the second one.

Sighing, she turned her head to the students, facing them.

Still, just ignoring her brother's — no, her professor's orders weren't something that she wanted to do.

"Alright then..."

Ophelia whispered to herself, taking a deep breath.

"My name is Ophelia. It's nice to meet you all."

Her voice echoed through the room, reaching every student.

"It's nice to meet you, too!"

"You were amazing!"

From the other side of the room, the student's cheers began to erupt, praising Ophelia.

Not knowing how to react, Ophelia adverted her gaze, releasing awkward laughter, as she turned red.

"No, no."

Zenith shook his head disapprovingly, massaging the bridge of his nose as he sighed.

"Can't you even say your name right?"

"Huh?" Ophelia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Not responding, Zenith just grabbed her by her shoulder, pulling her toward him as he wrapped his arms around her neck.

With a loud voice, he then declared.

"This is Ophelia Voidwalker. My sister."

His usually stoic face then turned into a proud smile.

"Isn't she amazing?"

"What the—?!"

Ophelia's face instantly heated up as she turned around, fidgeting in his arms.

Overwhelmed by the sudden embarrassment of the situation, Ophelia bit Zenith's arm, releasing a stuffed scream of embarrassment.

*

"Haaah..."

Releasing a deep sigh, Ophelia closed her eyes, wanting to just forget those memories.

Click—!

Only a few minutes later, the door to Zenith's apartment opened once again.

The perpetrator of her embarrassment returned home.

Instantly approaching her room as he returned home, he knocked at her door.

"So, how was your first day?"

Not bothering to knock on her door, Zenith just asked from the other side of the door.

srizzle— sratch—

She could hear him writing something inside of his notebook, seemingly either preparing notes for his next lesson or noting something else.

"Embarrassing." She grumbled.

"Really? Was that it? You don't have to go to the classes if you don't want to, you know?"

Rolling her eyes, Ophelia sighed, knowing exactly what Zenith's intention was.

Releasing a deep breath, Ophelia adverted her gaze, looking to one of her walls, as she started to think about the day.

"Well..."

A small smile formed on her face, recalling the warm feeling that she had felt multiple times throughout the day when she interacted with all the new people she met.

"...I guess it was a little fun too."