Fallen Dawn - 5

Dawn took the elevator toward the lobby to attend class the following morning.

As he got off, he saw Cakey walking from the right, leaving the girl's dormitory.

Cakey noticed Dawn exiting the elevator.

She sped faster to catch him. For some reason, today, she was more excited to see him than ever.

She asked if they could walk together to class.

Dawn obliged, and the two walked side-by-side together.

The two entered their first class of the day. Kyle was still asleep, but he had a half hour before the bell would ring, so Dawn wasn't too worried.

Strangely enough, excluding Kyle, everyone had arrived at class early.

The class had twelve students. This, Dr. Schritt's, class had the least amount of students among the school.

Dawn and Cakey sat down at their desks. Briar had already seated.

Briar had her textbook open along with her notebook. She was readily taking notes.

The class also had three more girls and three other boys.

The three girls sat at the front along with Wasser. The girls were Circe, Loki, and Rosabel.

Circe was short; her hair had a dark shade of brown that carried a butterfly ornament.

Loki towered the two. She had green, fluffy hair. She often carried a tote back to anywhere she went.

Then there was Rosabel. She and Cakey were similar in height. She had earrings shaped like roses. And her hair was magnificent, long and red.

The three always sat beside each other, often looking back and hissing at Briar. They never did talk to her, but they never bullied her.

The three other boys formed their own group. They sat at the far corner of the room.

The tallest among them was Harry.

Nacht was as tall as Dawn.

And there was Nett, who was slightly taller than Cakey.

The three were quite attractive; they all had a specific aura that seemed to garner everyone's eyes.

Harry wore glasses similar to what the teacher wore. Besides being tall, he also had quite a physique; anyone could tell if they looked at him.

The other two had similar characteristics, minus the glasses. Still, Nett was often called the cutest by the girls in the class.

As for their hair, they all shared the same color: black.

But Nacht had the fluffiest hair.

Harry wore a middle part.

And Nett had a perm with a clean low taper.

Thirty minutes quickly passed, with Kyle always arriving right before the bell.

The class went on as usual.

—

In the late afternoon, the second round of sparring began.

Coach Hera arranged the sparring differently this time around.

The fights would last ten minutes. After each fight, they would all rotate partners and fight for another ten more.

They would fight until class was over.

The students were lined up into two rows of six. The pairs of fighters put a great distance between them and the other parties to avoid any mix-ups.

The first rotation of fighters were

Miyuki vs. Circe

Dawn vs. Nacht

Wasser vs. Nett

Cakey vs. Rosabel

Harry vs. Loki

Kyle vs. Briar

Miyuki and Circe stood several feet apart.

Each eyed their opponent.

Cautiously waiting for one to move.

They waited for Coach Hera to give the signal for everyone to start.

"Begin!" The coach roared.

The two then sprinted toward each other, meeting in the middle.

The distance between them was now just several inches.

Miyuki had a much lower stance, so she found herself looking up.

Circe stood more upright and turned her head down, the two met eyes.

Then a gush of cold air blew past Circe; the ground beneath had frozen.

Miyuki then grabbed Circe's left leg then threw Circe to the floor. Miyuki pressed her leg and body into a submission hold.

But something was wrong.

Miyuki felt no weight behind her attack.

Circe felt weightless.

The scenery around Miyuki then faded away as if reality was tearing holes within the world.

A figure came walking forward from the distorted reality.

Miyuki let go of her hold and retreated into a guarded stance.

The figure that had walked out was none other than Circe herself. Her eyes were colored differently. Their fill was blue, dots circled the black, and narrowed pupils.

[An illusion…] Miyuki thought.

Summons of Circe then came crawling out from the ground.

They all pounced towards Miyuki.

Miyuki quickly bent down and placed both hands on the ground.

Increasing her power output, she froze a wide range of the ground around her that extended for several meters.

It exhausted her, but she didn't let up.

The illusionary summons dissipated.

Miyuki could inherently "feel" anything frozen over.

This means that if anything, or anyone, stepped foot into her icy arena, she would immediately detect them.

Sadly, for Circe, she had no clue.

Without any regard to where she stepped, she entered Miyuki's arena.

Since Miyuki couldn't rely on her eyes, she closed them. She relied on her other senses.

[Behind me…]

She turned, then dashed to where she felt the faintest of steps within her ice.

[Here!]

Circe failed to put up her guard and then was caught within a throw.

Her back slammed onto the floor; it was freezing cold.

Circe's arm was then grabbed, legs pressed against her neck. She got caught in an armbar.

She tried to free herself, but the more she struggled, the more pain she felt.

She then let out a terrible scream.

Coach Hera then stepped in, calling the fight over.

"Miyuki, you could let go." She stared her down.

The two fighters got up, and Hera touched both their shoulders. "You did great."

Circe looked defeated. Miyuki turned to her and bowed, "that was a great fight."

Circe's eyes returned to normal. Her pupils were a beautiful shade of maple.

Circe also bowed, "That was amazing, Miyuk–." She bit her lip.

"It was a simple spar." Hera smiled at Circe. "In the tournament, you can pay her back in full."

With Circe and Miyuki's fight over, they watched the brawls beside them, waiting to rotate to their next fighter.

Hera returned back to the sidelines to watch.

—

After Hera called for the spars to start.

Nacht covered a small area around Dawn and him within a dark domain.

Dawn's first instinct within the darkness was to cover himself in a veil of fire.

He could now see his hands, legs, and body, but the darkness around him seemed endless.

But Dawn could hear footsteps. They started off slow but then gradually got faster,

And faster,

And faster!

Dawn braced his feet to the ground, raised his arms to defend his face, and locked himself in a stance.

[Behind!] Dawn reflexively ducked, but Nacht's foot brushed his cheek, leaving a cut.

Blood dripped down the cheek.

[I have to increase the heat…]

Dawn focused on his flames.

He made sure his breathing was steady, his mind was calm, and his body lax.

In his fight against Miyuki, he noticed that she could increase the range of her freezing ability.

Dawn tried to do the same, but he wasn't quick enough.

He couldn't see Nacht but could feel his fist bulldozing into his gut.

"Agh!" Dawn cried.

But Dawn was able to brace the impact. His feet didn't budge. He was standing as if he was an iron wall.

Dawn then tried again to concentrate on the power of his veil.

His only thought was to increase the output.

He needed a hotter, more vigorous, much brighter flame.

With as much energy as he could muster, flames exploded out like a sun. The fire reached through the endless darkness, grabbing Nacht to singe his skin.

The dark domain then came undone.

Dawn saw Nacht in his field of vision retreating back while holding his burnt left shoulder.

While keeping the guard up, Dawn rushed forward to deliver a right straight, but the punch missed.

Nacht had sunken into the ground only to appear a second later in Dawn's shadow to do a spin kick to his side.

Dawn got launched a meter away, and before he could touch the ground, Nacht charged and dealt a downward kick, hitting his heel against Dawn's stomach and propelling him to the ground.

Dawn gasped for air.

Nacht prepared to hurl another kick, but Dawn had to grit his teeth to grab Nacht's ankle to spin him upward into the sky.

[What strength!] Nacht cried in his mind.

And with Dawn's remaining strength, he engulfed his hand in a ball of flames to throw a shattering uppercut into Nacht.

The punch caused Nacht to instantly pass out. Dawn then doused his flame.

Coach Hera came immediately after.

She tossed Nacht up onto her shoulder with ease.

She commended them both for a fantastic fight but continued, "It's only a spar; you needn't do too much. HAHA!" She laughed.

While watching the remaining fights, she returned to the sidelines to tend to Nacht.

Miyuki, on the far left of Dawn, clapped and congratulated him on his great fight.

Dawn bowed, "Um.. thank you."

Dawn then turned to his right to see that everyone was still giving it their all.

In the not-so-distant future, Dawn would find himself staring at his bathroom mirror to see his bruises.

Four sparring matches still remained.