Rising Suspicions

Spells, predefined magical incantations that range from a small fireball to flash freezing an entire coastline. But whoever said you couldn't make more?

Fayden Eralith had been working on this spell for a few weeks, and he was determined to finish it in the few hours he had now.

As the door closed behind him, he stopped suppressing his wind and fire magic, inhaling deeply as the dam which restrained his elements opened.

The earth mana in the room rushed towards him, heeding his call as a palpable, brown glow settled over him.

Wind mana leaked from his core, mixing with the massive amounts of earth mana in an ethereal mixture of brown and green.

Accumulating all that mana in his hand, he slammed down. Yet, the ground remained undisturbed as shockwaves of the mix of mana pulsed throughout the academy grounds.

Thousands of voices assaulted Fayden at once, it almost overwhelmed him. With a bit of effort, Fayden filtered out the unnecessary chatter.

The stability of the spell had greatly increased since his ascension to a white core mage. He could hear Arthur sighing at Elijah's shenanigans, Theodore still grumbling about his defeat, Nathan talking with Claire almost revealing Fayden's white core status, but caught himself before he could. The phrase 'the walls have ears' had never been more true.

'Looks like you've almost perfected it.'

Fayden grinned, 'Of course, it's me we're talking about.'

His grin disappeared as he furrowed his brows, something was resisting his magic, a barrier of some kind. Judging by the direction and how far it was, it wasn't the professor's building.

Applying just a bit more force, the barrier shattered like glass and new voices filled Fayden's head.

"Damn those filthy elves and dwarves! They think they can just walk in like they own the place." Fayden could practically taste the contempt from the boy's voice.

"Especially the prince, that arrogant son of a bitch, I swear if I get the chance I'm gonna rip his arms off and beat him to death with them!"

Now Fayden recognized that voice, Charles Ravenpoor; the insignificant noble he had scared off earlier.

"It's all the Director's fault, why did she have to allow those freaks in? They have their own academies, why couldn't they violate those grounds?!'

Fayden's eyebrow twitched, he swore to pummell them to the ground when he found them.

'Racist little shits.'

"Relax, remember what Kai said, 'they' will fix Xyrus, we just need to wait until the V-"

"The barrier's broken!" a feminine voice panted out. "Someone's listening."

"Hmm. Mister Interloper, if you can hear me, know that I've memorized your signature. If you think you can hide from us, think again."

Fayden smirked dangerously, time to try out the second part of the spell.

"Interesting choice of conversation. Also, I'd like to see you try, asswipe."

"What?!"

"How did he-?!"

"Let's move, we'll continue our conversation later. And Mister Interloper, you'd be surprised by how capable we are."

And then there was silence.

Fayden narrowed his eyes, deactivating the spell, "I knew there was something suspicious about Kai."

"Should we let the others know?" Zeke had taken his wolf form unnoticed by Fayden.

"They have no reason to believe us." Fayden stayed firm in his decision.

"What about Aunt Tessia and Nathan?"

"Tess will worry too much and spread the information, and Nathan has known Kai for longer than me. We tell Arthur and Cynthia, no one else."

"Tell me what?" The unmistakable elderly voice of Cynthia surprised Fayden; was he so out of it that he failed to notice her?

Fayden sighed, he was getting careless. Turning to face her he noticed Arthur standing right behind her, it was strange he had to strain to notice him, but he didn't let it bother him much, Arthur was peak mid-silver after all and he had only broken into white core a few days ago.

Regardless, he informed them of what he had just learned.

Arthur cursed under his breath, "I knew something was off about him as soon as I met him."

Cynthia was deep in thought, a troubled expression on her face.

'She knows something.'

'I noticed.'

Fayden stared at her, his acquire phase activating.

'...already begun? Darn it. I thought we had more time!'

Fayden narrowed his eyes, 'She knows who it is.'

'Father, I sense some foreign mana in her, right around her core. It feels hostile; binding even.'

'A failsafe perhaps, we'll need to confront her about it later.'

'Definitely.'

"I must ask you to keep this among yourselves, if word gets out, it could get chaotic." She finally spoke.

"Got it." Arthur nodded, he understood the seriousness of the situation.

Fayden only nodded silently; his trust in the director faltered.

As she left Arthur turned to him, "So, shall we?"

Fayden smiled coyly, "At least take me to dinner first."

"I meant a duel." Arthur deadpanned at him. "And I'm pretty sure I'm heterosexual."

"Who knows, my dazzling good looks might make you switch teams."

"In your dreams."

'Father, stop being weird.'

'Now Zeke, that's one thing I'll never be able to do.'

"Something makes me think your sister wouldn't appreciate this." Sylvie jumped down from Arthur's head.

"..." Fayden's smile faded, "Right so, what are the rules?"

Arthur chuckled, "Anything goes."

"That's what I like to hear."

Zeke and Sylvie moved away as the two battle junkies created distance between themselves.

Arthur flicked his finger, Dawn's Ballad jumping out of his dimension ring, as he unsheathed it, the ring sucked up the sheath, leaving him free to use both arms.

"That's cute." Fayden commented, black and gold light flowed down his right arm as Void Edge began materializing in his hand.

Arthur gaped at the sword. That was the most magical weapon he had seen since coming to this world.

Fayden smirked, "Neat, right?"

The auburn-haired boy rolled his eyes, "If your ego got any bigger. It'd explode."

Fayden chuckled, turning to his bond, "Zeke, get us started."

Ezekiel nodded, "I'll count from three."

"Three."

Wind coalesced around Dawn's Ballad, thunder wreathed Arthur's body. The ground underneath him cracked and shattered like paper.

"Two."

Fayden's smile grew, lightning crackled through Void Edge, the smell of ozone filling the air.

"One."

The two teenagers tensed, the mana hung suspensefully in the air.

"Go!"

Not a moment had passed when Arthur zoomed ahead, a tornado surrounding his blade as it dug into the ground, ripping it apart. The auburn-haired boy's azure eyes widened in surprise.

Fayden floated behind him, his sword held for a diagonal slash, something that even the two bonds could barely see him do.

The world's color inverted, golden runes glowed below Arthur's eyes as time stopped. The arc of black and golden energy crackling with lightning mana was an inch away from slicing his back. Arthur sighed in relief, he had made it in time.

He grimaced, the strain had begun. Swiftly moving out of the way, he positioned himself right under Fayden, his sword arm already moving when he dispelled his beast willl.

The energy arc from Fayden's sword cut deep into the ground, destroying a large portion of it. And as Dawn's Ballad neared Fayden, he moved, blocking the galeblade with Void Edge.

"Time stop huh, impressive." Fayden noted.

"What makes you think that?" Arthur asked innocently as he strained against his sword.

"You basically teleported here, so it's either a teleportation spell or time travel, and I didn't see anything indicating a teleportation, you just appeared here." Fayden explained, pushing Arthur away.

'Of course, your deduction skills increase in combat.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

Arthur circled around Fayden, the gale wind around his blade bursting in sapphire flames, a resounding boom filled the air as Arthur broke the sound barrier, the sheer heat of his sword raising the temperature in the room.

Fire met thunder as the two blades clashed, scorching and shattering the ground underneath them. Taking the opportunity given, Arthur countered, a condensed sphere of ice blue flames erupting from his free hand as he stabbed forward.

He never saw Fayden hit his wrist, redirecting his attack to miss him as the nature behind him flash froze.

His arm throbbed and he clenched his teeth in pain, a simple strike couldn't hurt this much. His best guess was earth magic.

Arthur moved, the separating of their blades resulting in an explosion of flame and thunder. The hair in his neck rose, his mind screamed at him to move, a presence made itself known behind him, black smoke emanating from his body. As silver runes faded, fire and frost arose a mixture of metal shaping heat and bone chilling cold.

He could only open his mouth to scream, his back felt like it had been burnt to a crisp and frozen solid at the same time. If he wasn't in agonizing pain he would've been intrigued by how it was possible.

He was given no time to rest, an earth coated fist slammed on his gut, a shockwave resonated through his body, blood filled his mouth.

Fayden moved again, and in a moment of clarity Arthur activated his beast will.

Like earlier, time froze once more, the colors in the world inverting. Arthur wheezed vomiting out what he felt was a gallon of blood. He was still reeling from the earlier hit.

"Haaaah, you're really strong you know that?"

Of course, Fayden didn't respond to that.

Staring at his opponent, Arthur calculated the trajectory he would be moving at. He grinned, it was very difficult to dodge mid air.

Positioning his now ice coated sword so that it would pierce through his abdomen, Arthur resumed time. He felt a strange sort of satisfaction when he felt the blade lodge in Fayden's stomach.

Fayden's eyes widened, and before he could be pierced through he activated his own acquire phase, disappearing in a flash of black.

Once he was on his feet, he immediately went to check his wound, yet when he placed his palm over the rather clean cut he felt no blood pour. He winced, moving even the slightest felt like he was being stabbed from the inside. He realized what Arthur had done.

As if he was a madman, he laughed.

"Wha…?" Arthur stared at Fayden, had he finally gone senile, being around Virion so much?

Fayden's laughter eventually calmed down, "Time stop eh, that's one broken ability."

Greenish black flames exploded from Faydens torso, "Unfortunately for you, I have my own share of broken abilities."

Arthur watched in surprise as the only wound he had inflicted was regenerated in a matter of seconds. For the second time since coming to this world, Arthur felt despair.

'Papa! Are you alright?'

Sylvie's voice was like a catalyst that pulled Arthur back into reality, the despair he felt was, but a drop in an ocean of past trauma.

'I'm fine Sylv, I didn't expect the difference in our strength to be this much.'

'...Papa is an idiot.'

Arthur chose not to respond to that.

He furrowed his brows when Fayden 'sheathed his blade,' was it his way of showing just how much stronger he needed to be?

"What say we turn things up a notch, eh?"

"What?"

"Use your integrate phase, Arthur." Silver runes appeared below Fayden's eyes, his turquoise and red pupils glowing eerily.

Arthur knew he wouldn't stand a chance without his beast will, but he was not certain if it would allow him to fight on an even playing field. His opponent was strong, the strongest he had faced in this world.

He inhaled deeply, hoping Sylvia's power would be enough. And in a crisp breath he muttered.

"Dragon's Awakening."