Sleeper's Troubles

(A/n: Took me longer to write this chapter because spring sports started and I play Lacross after school every day.

This trend will probably continue but I don't plan on dropping the fic.)

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Sunny fell to his knees as he gasped for breath. Sweat trickled down his face as he felt a sense of discomfort seep into his being. 

'What was that?'

As soon as his spar with Nephis had begun, he was suddenly overcome with the urge to completely overwhelm and kill his opponent. But with this endless bloodlust came an unparalleled clarity. Every counter Nephis had tried to make throughout the fight seemed readable at a glance, allowing him to completely suppress her attacks with ease.

But as the fight continued, he noticed that something was wrong.

'Why was it so hard to stop?'

For some reason as soon as he realized that Nephis wouldn't be able to block his attack, it became almost impossible to slow the course of his blade. The bloodlust that he was barely suppressing spiked and it became blindly clear to him that she was going to die if he didn't stop.

But even knowing this, stopping himself took almost all of his mental and physical strength, leaving him in a weakened state where he was almost defenseless.

With a thought, his runes appeared in front of him. He quickly went through them in an attempt to find the cause of this loss of control.

Suddenly, he stopped.

'Could it have been this?'

Attribute: [War]

Attribute Description: [Having outperformed the followers of wars in their domain, you have taken the last inheritance they received before their God passed.]

Out of all his attributes and abilities, his [War] attribute seemed to be the most likely cause of his outburst. Not only because of its nature but also because it was born from a god's divinity, and it affecting him mentally wasn't out of the realm of possibility. 

'If I'm the cause that is…'

He also took into account that it could have been one of Nephis's abilities that made him lose control. But he quickly scrapped the theory because it didn't explain the boost of combat potential he experienced while the ability was in effect.

'I'll experiment with this later.'

Sunny sighed, turning his gaze towards his unconscious opponent.

He felt a headache coming on.

"How am I supposed to explain this?"

***

| Nephis POV |

Nephis woke up with a start. 

Before she even gained clarity of her surroundings, her hands immediately reached her neck and searched it for injuries.

'I'm alive.'

She was overcome with relief, her body relaxed and fell back on the bed.

'He didn't kill me.'

He could have, but he didn't.

The very nature of that statement confused her.

Ever since she was young she had always been the target of others. She'd had dozens of brushes with death but had always– through skill or luck, survived.

And now, there was a situation where she had no chance of survival.

She was going to die.

But she didn't

She lived simply because he didn't have any intent to kill her.

The prospect terrified her but was also at some point— also comforting.

'He's not my enemy.'

Sighing, she sat up on her bed and examined her surroundings.

She was surrounded by white walls illuminated with fluorescent light. The one window in the entire room looked out a raging blizzard outside, not giving much visibility. To her left were a few medical apparatuses meant to monitor a patient's condition, but thankfully they weren't in use.

She immediately recognized this place as the medical wing of the sleeper's compound. A place she frequented because of the intensity of her training and her inclination to get hurt.

Looking out the window, she took note of the dim but still present light and was relieved to find that it still wasn't dusk. 

'It seems only a few hours have passed.'

Standing up, she performed a few stretches before leaving her room and checking out of the medical wing. 

'What do I do now.'

| End POV |

***

After finishing up his class with Teacher Julius Sunny stopped by his dorm to change and wash up before making his way down to the cafeteria for dinner. Along the way, he couldn't help but notice the amount of people gossiping about Nephis's injury while also speculating how she was injured.

Of course, because of these discussions and the fact that he was seen being challenged to a duel by her. He was easily pinned as the person responsible, causing him to receive a few icy glares from people, largely boys, who had been pursuing the princess throughout their time in the academy.

And, to top it all off. Most of the sleepers who heard the rumors believed that he used some sort of underhanded tactic to win the duel. Not accepting that someone who didn't even take a combat course could beat the most skill-oriented fighter among them. 

'Well, at least now she'll leave me alone.'

Sunny reassured himself as he neared the cafeteria.

Entering the cafeteria, Sunny immediately frowned at the number of accusing stares he received. 

If not for the fact that he was used to all sorts of negative attention he might have even just skipped dinner, hoping that the attention would die down by morning.

But of course, he didn't care.

Sighing, Sunny quickly loaded his plate with a sizable amount of food before making his way to his usual spot across from Cassie.

The girl in question was silently eating while in deep thought, only nodding slightly at him as he sat down before focusing back on her own thoughts.

A few minutes passed in silence before Cassie finally turned her attention back to him. Her pale blue eyes bore holes into him despite the fact that she couldn't see.

"Sunny, can I ask you something?"

Sunny felt slightly uncomfortable at the girl's guarded attitude but replied with affirmation.

"Is it true that you used a high-class memory to injure Changing Star?"

Sunny almost choked on air at the girl's absurd question and quickly denied her claim.

"No. No, I didn't– in fact, she just fainted as soon as the spar ended."

The girl's empty eyes glowed with doubt.

"It's true. If you don't believe me you can ask her-"

A voice interrupted him.

"Ask who?"

Sunny froze. 

'She wouldn't, right?'

Turning his head, he saw an annoying beautiful girl standing just a few meters away from him. Her snow-white hair was tied up into a ponytail and her causal clothes made her look like a princess failing to blend in as a civilian.

In her hands was a plate full of food and she made her way over to him with an impassive expression on her face. 

And then, before he could even get out a word.

She sat down next to him and looked at him with curiosity.

"So…"

Sunny felt his body tensed and he felt the urge to hurt her.

"Who were you talking about?"

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End of Chapter.

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