Chapter 5

Rize Academy Arc

Episode 7: Meeting Ren Sato, An Aquatic Visit

Date: February 27th, NE567

Months until the freshman tournament, our heroes and heroine are now studying high class magic to understand such a property of unnatural power. Students confidence drained when they had to do a test on doing high class magic spells, including Yin who has less magic than everyone. He looked down at a book that focus on studying enhancement magic to see if they was any weaknesses, his eyes almost looked like they was close to closing.

Amani, sitting right behind Yin and has now transferred to short glasses that only cover around 3/4s of her eye. "Hey how you doing over there," she said while peering over his shoulder into the book. "Counter studying? A fine practice, but I'd rather you focus on something a little more important. Like the freshman tournament I heard is coming up. I don't know the rules, but it sounds like it could be fun!"

The red hair boy was busy reading that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings, he was focusing on countering magic users with his techniques he managed to master the last few days.

Amani stares blankly at the back of his head before saying, "Ignoring me again? Just like old times hehe. Well then I'll leave you to your work, I got something to do too!" She pouts and gets back to twirling her hair on the pencil with no motivation for studying.

He closed his eyes to increase his aura sensory, he wanted to be able to fight better if he could sense all the opponents around him. 'If I'm correct then I will be able to fully master my senses.' he thought looking up from the book wiping his eyes as he opened them to enhanced his sight. The bell then ring alerting the students to move to their next class, Yin was confident that he was going to pass with success.

As they all sit down for magic class Amani loudly exclaims, "Alright let's get this over with." The teacher, Mr. Sakto, raises an eyebrow at her comment, "I wouldn't be so carefree about this test Miss Bauer, this test generally has a low passing rate, I hope you all studied." Amani reeled back at this statement, seeing as how she didn't do any extra studying. Mr. Sakto started speaking again, "You all have one hour to complete this test that will assess you on your ability to not on distinguish different types of magic and aura from just a sense; but also use this to create higher complex levels of spells." He passes out the tests and finally says, "Good luck everyone."

Yin giggles as he was ready to pass this test with flying colors, he had the aura part already memorize but. The young boy couldn't help but glare at Mr. Sakto with full intent to kill testing his reaction. 'Something is definitely off with him.'

Wander...was asleep "....." He didn't hear a single thing that the teacher said or what yin and Amani was talking about and do you know why he is sleeping...because he didn't eat anything yet.

As the test starts Amani feels have if she is breezing through it, finishing pretty early despite not practicing at all. She went to turn it in to the teacher, and unlike all the other people who finished before her, he deeply investigated her answers. After a few moments he nods and puts it in the tray everyone else who finished and will finish will put their test into. On her way back Amani pokes Wander a few times in the ear as a wake up call to say, "Psst, you have to at least turn in the test Wander, than we can go buy you some food."

Yin walked up to the teacher handing over his test, he felt great about his test but knowing his reputation here at this school he might fail. "That test was so easy." The boy said stretching his arms happily.

"....." He opened his eyes a bit looking around with a tad bit confusion "Hm?...oh yeah I'm in a academy now....!!!!" He looked down seeing the test as he quickly just put random answers and walked to the teacher turning it in with a smile "..." he walked back over to Yin and Amani with that same smile "I failed it..."

"They probably won't hold it against you don't worry, and who knows you may have not." Amani stated reassuringly. As time passed on the bell rang, prompting them to go to their next class. In the hallways Amani quickly waves to Yin as her class is in a different area of the school. This causes Yin and Wander to start to walk by themselves in the hallway. At this point in the year students have learned to mostly stay away from Yin and Wander together due to Yin's brash nature. So most of the students would curve away from the duo. However in this case, Wander also is not going to the same classroom for this period.

Battle tactics a class where all three of them are split from each other due to the difference in fighting style. This class is to teach students how to use their techniques to their advantage instead of strengthening them, meaning this class is the only class in which non-dangerous sparring is possible. As Wander starts to veer away from Yin he says, "See ya after class." Wander said walking off as he waved his hand  "Hopefully he doesn't kill someone." he said to himself as his stomach rumbled a bit "Hm...better go eat something first don't wanna do poorly in class." He stopped walking and looked around for a canteen.

Yin yawns quietly, he felt tired just from test all of a sudden. "I still can't get that damn image out of my head." he held his head to try ignore those deadly images. He made his way to his next class, Weapon training, a class where students focus on more more weapons than one to be more efficient in battle. The rumors of him being ranked to the lowest of all of the school history, he couldn't help it but feel anxious about what his classmates were ready to do to him.

When Yin walked into the classroom he was met with hostile gazes from most of the students. The more Yin started walking down the room to his seat the harder their eyes burned into his back. A few seconds later the students started whispering to each other, "Worst in the class right?"

"Magic-less and skill-less? Pick a poison dude." One of these students, actually the same student from before the entrance exams with newfound confidence due to how large his friend group has gotten, started to speak straight to Yin and asked, "If all you can do is power than why'd you even come to this school? Maybe going to school for barbarians would be a better career choice." Most if the kids snickered at his comment.

Yin felt like his entire existence was being threatened by everyone around him. He did his best to ignore the whispers and students trying to spread rumors or talk about him as if he was a parasite to this world. He looked up at the group with a bright smile, he knew his anger would only make things worse for not just himself but for his family as well. "My reason has nothing to do with you.!" He said before going to sit down at his own table.

The boy frowned at Yin's response, but before he could say anything the door swung open to reveal a man... no a student, with white hair and crimson eyes. The room fell silent as this person went in the room and sat down near the back. Shortly after the teacher walked in to announce the day's routine. "Welcome students! As stated yesterday, today will be the day we out our skills we learned this week to the test by having right rules practice with each other. To remind you the rules are:

1. Foreign weapons only, no weapon you are used to using.

2. No hurting others, only disarm them.

3. Only technical moves, no swinging wildly.

4.. Have fun!"

After this the teacher divided the students into two lines opposite from each other on a platform with 50 x 80 x 20 meters for its dimensions. (Length, width, volume). The first one Yin seems to be going against is sadly the same boy who made fun of him before. This is bad for multiple reasons. The first was it was already hard to suppress his hatred, and two, he was very good with all weapons. As a child he was forcibly taught every possible weapon so that his dad would be proud of him. This made him a tough opponent for our one-trick hero.

Yin was called up to the platform with his katana in his right hand, sheathed so he wouldn't kill anyone. "I'm ready when you are!" he had to stay confident in his abilities to win this battle, looking out for any openings he find. He then took a deep breath and got into a idai sword stance. The boy nodded his head with a mischievous grin, "You better not die so easily!" He seemed cocky for someone his age. The moment he unsheathed his katana, he saw a lance almost pierce his head everything then stopped for a moment allowing him to quickly side step and land a roundhouse kick to the head sending him a few meters away.

The boy got up as he coughed up blood, he was a human and nothing more. Yin, who was 20 meter away from the boy and dashed right in front of him. "I'm ending this here and now!" he said brightly knocking the lance out of his hand, he left a cut on his cheek to remind of him of who's superior.

"Hey!" The teacher exclaimed as Yin sliced the boy's cheek. "Did you remember what I said?! No hurting others!" The students around the class started to murmur about the events, some teasing, however most... scared. "If he's gonna do that to us in just sparring..." what is he gonna do to people at the tourney? What if he goes against them? Thoughts and whispered like these spread like wildfire around the classroom. The teacher, after scolding him for half a minute, said, "Now go back to your seat, this is your only warning. I want nothing like this to happen again."

Yin sheathed his katana and made his way back to the his seat, he couldn't help but feel like the whole world is against him. "Very well then." He remained calm with a happy expression. He couldn't help but remember the feeling of anger, it felt good to put people in their place if they know nothing about him.

Yin sheathed his katana and made his way back to the his seat, he couldn't help but feel like the whole world is against him. "Very well then." He remained calm with a happy expression. He couldn't help but remember the feeling of anger, it felt good to put people in their place if they know nothing about him.

As the sparring went on the gazes started to avoid contact with him now, however Yin could help but feel the glare of on student. When he looked around he couldn't find anyone looking at him, but he could sense them studying his movements even more intently since his fight with the bratty noble.

"I should think more about how to suppress myself.." he muttered to himself, he was trying to act normal but obviously it wasn't working. He pulled out his note book and began his new ideas to enhance his techniques to help in every battle. Meanwhile with Amani she was had her hands full with so many books of battle tactics.

Amani was flooded with tests, assignments, and overall too much studying for her tastes, "Aaa, why do I have to do this!" The Roya was never exactly book smart. She was smart enough to make instantly quick mathematical calculations in a blink of an eye, but telling her to remember the exact date of a historical event was impossible. She was fairly popular in her class due to her magical standing, but she can't help but question her current teacher's reliability...

He never seemed to know what he was going, always staring off into space... or maybe distracted by something? In any case she hardly was able to learn anything in this class making her marks lower than she expected. She did make a friend in her class, the same one she met at the exams, Sabito. Sabito was constantly asking her how to do things in this class because of his passion to become more tactical. "Soooo Amani, if my opponent is a ranged fighter with a gravitational barrier that doesn't allow me to get close, what do I do?" Amani thinks for a moment replying, "Hard match up, attempt to subdue your location and vision from them so that they can't hurt you."

"So ice walls will work?"

"Yes they'll do fine."

"Is it possible to surpass the speed of light?"

"Not without warping space time."

These questions went on and on for the whole class, eventually Amani got annoyed and said, "Look, fight someone in this class like that and you can figure out it works by yourself. I'm trying to concentrate."

Ever since the final exam she's been having doubts about her power being a positive. It let her down in the last fight, damaging her eyes for a large period of time. She's been getting more into meditation to leave more space for her mind to comprehend the limits of her power. Is she succeeding? Well...

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With Wander, he was....surprisingly quiet the entire time as again he was not use to this kind of attention from others in fact he was kinda embarrassed by the situation as he prayed for the class to start "......" he looked seeing the teacher finally come in as everyone sat down.

Back with Yin, he was writing down in his book analyzing all of his classmates move and he have to say, they was sloppy especially with the weapon they currently have on them making him snicker. The students glared at him wondering why he was snickering, they wanted to teach him a lesson but they would probably be expelled.

"So, what are you up to?" A young man approached him, he sure can tell that a cocky one was approaching the stage. He seemed to be a noble from the beast kingdom, if this is how the a noble acted from that kingdom then he has to show him why the dragons are feared and respected the most.

"As long as you worry about your life, then nothing dangerous will come to it." Yin said it so proudly that he was itching for a fight. The boy laughed hysterically, his body language screaming to humiliate him in front of everyone. "Is that a threat?" he asked, Yin finally knew who he was, he was a from a noble family of the beast Kingdom, Herald Kougyoku from the bear kin clan.

"Take it however you see it." He grinned perfectly until he saw a right hook coming at him, it was non other than the bastard who he defeated not long ago. "Take this!" he let out a huge battle cry, hitting Yin right at the center of his check but he never flenched

...

"Was that all you had?" Yin asked, he sounded so cocky after taking a punch head on, he lifted up his hand, closing his fists as if he was doing a fist bump. "What? Are you done?!" he then opened that fist full forced, letting the wind pressure push the all the students to the ground.

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Annoyed. All I felt was annoyance all the time. The people in my classroom were nothing but sheep following the Shepard. They have some personality differences on the inside, but they all act the same towards teachers, all act the same towards students, and all act the same towards me. Ever since I went into this school last year I've felt the hard glares of passerby, I've felt the pain of everyone ignoring me. I can see why though, I'm, not human. I'm not dragon. I'm not a mermaid, some fairy or good willed magical creature. I am a demon, a cold blooded monster, or at least, that's what they say. It seems more like they are the ones making me this cold blooded. They refuse to talk to me? Fine I won't talk to them. They want to fight me? Fine I'll fight them, not problem. This is just who I am, Ren Sato.

Well, maybe not.

As I was zoning out in class, I tend to do that because I know the material, I noticed a strong presence entering the classroom. When I looked down I saw a black haired male with markings on his face. Strong, I thought to myself. Well, better stay out of his way. Before long though, a couple of students did something I never thought they would do in my time staying at Rize, they talked to me.

"Hey... Ren. I just wanted to let you know that kid over there, with the markings all over his body, is bad news."

I don't know if I'm more excited I'm being talked to genuinely or that they came to me with a problem, wait but I have to respond fast. "How so?"

"Well he scored the highest in magical power exams and he's flaunting his power around the school, even hurting people. The teachers can't do anything about it because they aren't strong enough."

What? That kid? No way! He's as quiet as a snowman right now, I don't believe he would do that... but now that I think about it, it's always the people who look like this that are bad.

The second someone tapped his shoulder he stiffened up a bit calming down as he looked over to whoever touched him as he saw a new face "....." as he realized that he wasn't in a large crowd and now he was with someone 1 on 1.

"Yo....do you need anything?" He asked. It's true wander has beaten up others however they where causing trouble for others and his friends so of course he had to put them in their place.

But he isn't really the violent type he was kinda new to this whole school thing.

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Ren remembered the advice from the kid before telling him that reason wasn't an option. Because of this he acted first. This "act" wasn't really an act, it was more of a switch that turned on due to the thought of acting. When wanting to fight, the area within 10 meters of Ren instantaneously grows an outwards destructive pressure. This pressure presses on with the force to crush demon bones, a structure 10x the durability of human ones. It is a great ability to have, especially when fighting people such as Wander. With this active he then throws a hook at Wander with his gauntlets.

"..." everything went slow motion for wander as he saw the  new kids fist fly towards him as one thing went through his mind: "Oh...I'm guessing he is with them?"

The second the punch struck his face wanders arm instantly turned black like coal and his first glowed like magma it flew and punched the new kid at the same time Making them both fly from each other a bit and now because of wanders guess he wasn't gonna talk this out.

Ren was sent back a good amount from Wander's counter. Damn that shit hurt! He can move in my space? Just great, we have a speedster here- he rubbed his face -who can hit pretty hard too! "Wander Nozu, for unforgivable acts against the people of this school, you shall be punished... [Destructive Art: Null] BEGONE"

The floor tiles and constructions in the area between Ren and Wander were rapidly fragmentizing at a fast rate, and it was traveling directly to our blacksmith friend.

"[Metal Knight Arts: ERUPTION]" He yelled throwing a punch as lava shot out in the form of the snake destroying the construction and as it went further it was gonna strike the new kid "Hm!" Wander pulled his hand up making the ova shoot up purposely missing.

"I don't know who you are but I'm guessing your with those fools?" He asked pointing to the bully students hiding watching the fight as he cracked his neck "After I take you down ima go give them a piece of my damn mind!"

Ren was startled by Wander's attack suddenly going off course as he took his words into consideration. "Fools? You were the one flaunting your power around trying to rule them were you not?!" He reaches out his hand, destroying the base of one of the pillars with his atom splicing magic, causing it to start to fall on Wander.

"?.....Ohhhhhh, now I see what's happening." He said calmly as he put his hand up waiting for the pillar "First stop destroying the academy." He said shooting some lava up destroying the pillar.

"Now mind telling me their exact words?" He said as it seem like any hostility he shown before was now gone.

Ren's field started to power down after Wander seemed to have completely calmed down. He was still very confused as he thought about Wander's realization and question. Ren answered promptly, " They said something along the lines of, 'He scored the highest in magical power exams and he's flaunting his power around the school, even hurting people. The teachers can't do anything about it because they aren't strong enough.' I personally can not have someone like that roaming around this school. I understand that verbal abuse happens a lot, but disobeying teachers and students while harming them is unforgivable. Are you saying I was lied to?"

"Besides the part about me scoring higher then everyone else They Lied straight though their teeth." He said glaring at the students as they quickly ran off. "Those idiots have been trying to cause trouble for others so I dealt with them properly." He said looking back at the new kid "Hell they even tried to pick a fight with my friends..and now they had you doing their dirty work."

Ren put his hands into his face after realizing he had been tricked, "Damnit... I really though they needed my help. Turns out they just wanted to use me..." After sulking a bit Ren spoke again, "Sorry for the damaged, I can't fix them. I also apologize for my rash behavior, it was unbecoming of me to attack you without warning." He walked up to Wander with his hand stretched out, "Would you please allow me to start over? I am Ren Sato, a sophomore here at Rize Academy. I come from a demon race so I may be a little weird sometimes and I apologize if it happens to be that way in the future."

"The name is Wander." He said taking Sato's hand shaking it as he gave a smile, "A demon huh?...I guess we are somewhat alike since we both aren't human." He said letting go of his hand "And don't worry about to damages I'm good with fixing and fortifying stuff." He said as he turned around and began to walk "I need to go knock some sense into them so I'll see you around."

"Good luck! I'll see you around!" This was Ren's last reply before dashing to his next class, on his way he gave a look of pity on the students hiding and watching the fight.

___________________________

Yesterday

"Have we found her yet?"

"Yes sire, it seems she was residing at Rize Academy. It's an academic location for magic and other concepts of that sort."

"An academy?! Are our teachings not better than there's? Why the hell would he randomly leave a superior source of information for a school?! That girl really is a a headache... Fine, retrieve my daughter at once Cyprus, the leader of my guard!"

"Yes sir!"

Well there goes my plans for the evening. I really can't believe Miss Amani ran away, can't she think of the stress it will put on me? Damn girl was always trouble, can't believe the duke hasn't just kept her locked up. Her powers are gleaming with potential and she has the IQ to boot. We cannot let someone like that get out of our hands, so I'm gonna take measures to make sure she doesn't leave EVER again.

I packed up my signature weapon without the servants noticing, and then left for Rize.

______________________________

Amani sneezed, someone must be thinking about me haha. The end of the school day was near, she took her last class and quickly ran out of the school to meet up with Yin

"I'm giving you all one last chance...leave me alone."

Yin stood outside by the courtyard, he was surrounded by ten bullies and believe what he said was the last thing they heard. He was beating all the bullies to a pulp not caring when they was begging for him to stop."Give in to your rage~." Yin heard a feminine voice in his head, holding his head in pain, it was like he hit his head on a hard mountain. He realized he what he had done — of course he saw the mess he made which almost caused a mental breakdown. His knuckles bruised and bloody, without his dragon scales he was basically like a human who could bleed after a fight. "I-I...didn't mean to do this..." he unconsciously raised his arm up, a black portal opened up underneath the unconscious bullies teleporting them to who knows where..

"Y- Yin?" Amani stared in absolute horror at the events the just unfolded. She wasn't really surprised about him beating the hateful students, she was frightened from the fact Yin beat them beyond recovery. Not only that, but even transporting their bodies to hide evidence. She finally noticed all the injuries he had, injuries he put on himself without care in the world for his own well being. That was not Yin! For the first time in her life she felt scared from her closest friend.

Yin eyes widened, his heart almost stopped once he saw the pure fear in her eyes. "I didn't mean too..c'mon Amani you know me better than that." He knew that he could never go back to stop himself from fighting. He walked up to her slowly not trying to put any more fear into, this was the first time in his life that Yin put fear into his own best friend heart. Why was his life meant to hurt him and others around him?

As Yin reached arm distance from her she placed her hand in his shoulder. She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them, calmer than ever. "Look, I understand what just happened, wasn't you. But, no one is safe from... not you. Could you just, take a break from-" Before she could finish she heard a familiar horn from the entrance of the school. An all too familiar carriage with an too familiar person inside. The man inside the carriage spoke loudly, "Guardians of Rize Academy! I command you to bring the Oceania duke's daughter Amani Roya to us immediately!" As he finished, murmurs at the front of the school started to spread, no one knew someone on that level went to this school. "Worst timing." Amani whispered. She looked back at Yin and finished out her speech, "Take a break, you aren't yourself right now. This leaves you in danger and I can't have that happen" She touched his head making him feel drowsy, however he still stayed up due to his dragon philology. Finally, she walked away from him towards the commotion.

He knew that he was scared of her, until he heard noises from a familiar horn. "Crap! They found you...!" The poor red hair male felt drowsy before passing out — or so he thought as a strange marking appeared on his left shoulder, a strange marking that couldn't be translated. Only a voice inside his head said this, "Resistance to Mind Manipulation: 56% complete!" it was like his body was adapting to the mind manipulating ability.

As Amani came into view of the carriage, the man inside noticed her and carried a smug expression. "Well hello Miss Roya. What in the gods name are you doing here?" She responded almost instantly, "Lets not talk here Cyprus, strongest man in the country." She then pointed towards a small crevice in the school where they could talk lone. Cyprus let out a chuckle, "Fine, I can comply with your wish." As they entered the space Amani leaned on the wall, hood up to hide her face from anyone looking in. She spoke first, "I presume you are here to bring me back?"

"Thats exactly it Miss Amani. You're unannounced absence is leaving the duke angered. We can't have someone as valuable as you go off on your own to some riffraff school."

"Well you can go back to dad and tell him I'm not coming. I quite like it here and I'm old enough to leave via rules of our state."

"Tsk tsk. These rules don't and can't apply to possible... royalty. And I'm not going back to Sir Roya without you, willing to go or not." He said the last phrase with a threatening expression.

"Oh?" Her sigils begin to glow in preparation of a fight. "And what will you do about it if I don't want to?" Cyprus responded, "Are you serious? I'm Cyprus! Leader of the guard! Strongest man in Oceania! Due to me being of the Demi-shark race, I can produce power to level this campus with less than 1% of my strength. I could very easily kill you if I wanted, you may have potential, but you are simply not on my level."

Amani stayed silent, he was right. His strength completely surpassed hers, so does his speed. Hurting him physically seemed impossible...

"Well then Cyprus... come at me."

He gladly accepted her offer and blitzed her body, stabbing her in the stomach... or so he thought. She appeared behind him as if she was never in front of him. "What?!" He attacked her again, again, again, and again. No dice. He kept feeling as if he was hitting her, but one blink later and she wasn't there. "Aww what's the matter? Can't hit me? I guess it's my turn..." She walked towards him slowly, he tried to move out of the way but his body was frozen. "W- what's going on?!" She finally walked up right in front of him, brought up her finger, and pushed his chest gently. He then fell, and fell, and fell, and fell. Everything around him turned black as he fell towards infinity. Only now did he realize what happened. I'm in her mind trick?! Just then he felt an incomprehensible amount of pain. As if he was hit and stabbed by countless meteorites and spears. The feeling was unbearable as he yelled and yelled. Hoping that someone would save him from what felt like a hundred years of torture. The worst part? He couldn't do anything, no one would help. No matter how strong you are, no matter how fast you are, no matter how high you are, you can not defend against this attack. In your mind the dangerous girl can force your heart to stop, your lungs to freeze, your cells to explode. It was hell on earth. Finally the tortured stopped for a moment and she appeared in front of a whimpering Cyprus, "Listen here, you will tell dad I was never here, or even moved from here. You will tell the school it was all a misunderstanding, and you will NEVER come here again! Understood?" The shivering man could only nod his head before bolting out of the alley to comply with Amani's orders. She then walked out to see how Yin was fairing, wiping a drop of sweat from her head.

After a few minutes, Yin finally woke up, his head aching in pain but he felt much better than he did before. He sensed something off with Amani's Aura...then it hit him, someone from her country came to take her back home. "Ouch, my back..." he stretches out his back hearing a crack.

———

The women who was watching through Yin's eyes only grinned, she seems to enjoy making him feel so much depression than usual. "This will help reawakening your lost power." She said softly to the enormous dragon behind her. It seems Yin's negative emotions was being turned into magical power in order revive the dragon.

To be Continued➡️