25 Exchanged Blows

Rai and Nova stood there stretching.

「Yo, partner. Don't rely on me for a fight between kids, alright?」[Reischneid]

「Alright, I'll try!」[Nova]

『So, we got a game plan?』[Rai]

『Yeah. We clown the living life out of Bayron, then beat Jack normally.』[Nova]

『Hahaha! Sounds fun. Let's do it.』[Rai]

『It's been a while since we've fought together, huh?』[Nova]

『At least a month or two.』[Rai]

『Let's do it.』[Nova]

『Then, let's show them why we were the "Two Kings" of middle school!』[Rai]

Thean pulled out his student ID, then pressed a few inputs before a voice rang out.

『2 Versus 2 duel initiating.. Nova and Rai versus Thean Bayron and Jack Rayber. Mana shield will be deployed at critical damage.』

『3.』

They all began to circulate their mana.

『2.』

Their student IDs all started glowing a bright blue.

『1.』

When the count reached one, everyone nearby held their breath.

『BEGIN!』

The beginning of the duel started off with Thean's shout.

『Null Domain!』[Thean]

And with that, Nova became helpless suddenly.

Suddenly everything around him disappeared and he heard nothing.

Everything was dark, he couldn't feel his feet on the ground, nor could he hear.

『What?!』[Nova]

Nova looked around, and he saw nothing.

『This mus-』[Nova]

He suddenly felt an impact from in front of him.

『GAH! What the?!』[Nova]

Nova was beginning to panic and swing blindly.

「Reischneid?!」[Nova]

No response was heard.

Reischneid's words rang out in his head.

「No...I can't rely on him all the time! Then.. let's take a breath.」[Nova]

Nova closed his eyes to try and feel something.

He took a few hits from several directions.

「There's.. A pattern!」[Nova]

He made a wide swing at a place in front of him and suddenly felt something connect.

「A direct hit!」[Nova]

The world suddenly flickered for a moment, which let Nova perceive something.

「I.. I think I can feel mana covering my body!」[Nova]

Thean's ability made a coat of mana all around Nova's body and caused him to not see anything.

『If that's how you want to play it, then.. Blessed Rebirth Flame!』[Nova]

The blue flame enveloped Nova's body, burning away the mana.

『..Huh?! How did he?!』[Thean]

『Nova! You're fine now?!』[Rai]

Rai was dodging large earth projectiles from Jack while trying to get close to him.

『Yeah! He has an illusion seed ability! It coats your body in his mana and makes you disconnected from reality!』[Nova]

『Then, you hit him while you were blind?』[Rai]

『Not as good as you, but I think it's good enough!』[Nova]

『Haha! Damn straight! 』[Rai]

『Damn it!』[Thean]

He held his gut and got off the floor.

『If I can't use my seed abilities..then.. I'll use my spells!』[Thean]

『I'd like to see you try!』[Nova]

『Fireball!』[Thean]

『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]

The flames clashed together, before Nova's flames consumed Thean's.

『Area.』[Nova]

A portal appeared below Thean and dropped him from 50 feet above Nova.

『GAAAH!』[Thean]

Moments from hitting the ground, he stopped falling.

『Mana shield activated. Thean Bayron is disqualified.』

『Alright! Now let's move on to Jack!』[Nova]

Rai was waiting for Nova to finish up, and held his hand up to tell Nova to stop.

『Let me show you me and Zhulong's true power!』[Rai]

『..Then, the stage is yours.』[Nova]

The tattoo glowed red before a small phantom dragon flowed out of it.

『Unleash, Zhulong!』[Rai]

The dragon completely dodged Jack's barrage of rocks and wrapped itself around Jack's body.

『Urgh..! I can't cast my spells!』[Jack]

Before he knew it, Rai was in front of him about to swing.

『Take this!』[Rai]

Rai's fist had dragon scales appear on it before punching into a translucent film.

『Mana shield activated. Jack Rayber is disqualified.』

『...Haah.』[Jack]

『Hey man, good match.』[Rai]

Rai offered his hand to Jack.

『..Thanks.』[Jack]

Jack took Rai's hand, then Rai pulled him up.

He dusted his uniform off.

『Man, you guys really are crazy strong, huh?』[Jack]

『Well, we train nonstop. What do you expect?』[Rai]

『Why would you train nonstop?! Don't you just want to get your Noblesse Oblige over with then live a safe life?』[Jack]

『Why would we want that? We have things we need to do. This just gives us the power to do it..』[Nova]

Jack looked at them with a complicated look.

『...I envy you.』[Jack]

『For what? Having stuff to do?』[Rai]

『No. It's nothing. Don't worry about it.』[Jack]

『..Alright. So, what do we do with Thean?』[Nova]

Over where Nova had teleported him, Thean fainted from fear with a pair of wet pants.

『..I'm not responsible for him. I think I'm just going to leave him here as revenge for forcing me to come here.』[Jack]

『Man.. You're kind of a mean guy, Jack.』[Rai]

『If I was a nice guy, I'd have let him have the room on the first day.』[Jack]

『Hey, you're welcome to our friend group if you want!』[Nova]

『..Really?』[Jack]

『Sure. Why not. You're not that bad of a guy.』[Rai]

『Well then. I've caused trouble for you all. Allow me to introduce myself again. My name is Jack Rayber, my seed's expertise deals with support.』[Jack]

『Sure. I'm Nova. My seed… doesn't really have a speciality? I'm not sure what it really does.』[Nova]

『And I'm Rai. My seed is a uh.. Deific.. something.』[Rai]

『Manifestation.』[Nova]

『Yeah! That.』[Rai]

『..What the heck is a Deific Manifestation?』[Jack]

『We don't know. Classes start tomorrow. How would we know if the nobles don't?』[Rai]

『Nobles? I'm just a civilian house member like you.』[Jack]

『We aren't a part of a house.』[Rai]

『No.. The civilian part. Not all house members are nobles you know?』[Jack]

『Wait, really?』[Nova]

『Well. Everyone has the right to make a house. House Rayber is a house of blacksmiths you know.』[Jack]

『Woah! That's cool! Does that mean you can give me some cool gauntlets or something?!』[Rai]

『I suppose so… if you've got the cash.』[Jack]

He made an okay sign, that may or may not have represented some money.

『...I'm broke.』[Rai]

『Well then, sucks for you!』[Jack]

He started laughing uncontrollably.

『...You're a really mean guy aren't you..』[Rai]