Fritz Lazrik

The sun was high, and those who had prepared their whole lives to enter the Academy today knelt.

On the floor in front of each of the newly initiated child soldiers were the weapons issued to them.

All of them were different shapes and sizes.

Some had their guns, others had their swords, but one stood out among the rest for its strangeness.

Even though this was a place where fledgling Dragoons earned their Rank, someone who brought a mere 'Pen' to the battlefield. It made some fellow classmates chuckle at the sight.

They held in their laughter. Now wasn't the time to break the somber moment. The teacher spoke up:

"Congratulations for entering the Anti-Martial Academy. Many of you have achieved so much.

You shall use your Limiter Inverters to protect the peace, just as competent a Magus should.

If you want to change its shape, then earn enough money to pay for such an alteration. Remember that your lives will be connected to your weapon from now on." Her eyes stayed on the one youth.

That student was the only one that didn't get issued a proper 'weapon'. Just a writing utensil.

When her eyes made contact with him, she could see a deep arrogance and hubris in his green eyes.

That, as well as a fiery will and burning resolve.

One could say that this was a pretty rare of an attitude to have among the new Cadet Ranks.

"Time to attach your Macro Converters." The class nodded and picked up another piece before them.

Most attached these micro-computers that did magical calculations for them on their weapons. It was only a rare few who wore their mini-computers as accessories. It was clear what they prepared for.

"Now fight. Show what you're worth." The moment she spoke this, the class turned on each other.

Her cold voice was the only starting signal…

Magic Bullets were sequenced, loaded, and shot, while MagiBlade's condensed high density Mana.

A mixture of the 'Wave' and 'Shaping' aspects were fused to create what amounted to… lightsabers!

It was a chaotic battlefield where those who got hit were knocked unconscious. Within the large class of around 50 students, the examiners held high hopes for a few talented recruits this year.

...Only to be devastated when the battle royale between students was ending within 10 minutes.

The youth with a pen, Fritz Lazrik, had been showing off his skill as the only 'Charm Caster' to be enrolled in history. He laughed and defeated multiple classmates with ease using Paper Charms.

His body turned illusionary one moment, and changed positions with another in the next.

The green-eyed youth was a monster…!

He specialised in crowd-fighting, so there wasn't much for the fanged tiger to do… but to hunt!

To him, the rest of them were just fresh meat to consume and grow stronger. He was an animal!

One that revelled in the delight of victory…

The teachers agreed his inclusion was a misstep.

Could such a kid fit into a 'team' properly?

Who would be willing to be his teammates?

They sighed, seeing how the boy wielding his MagiPen fought demonically; in a clear frenzy.

["I'll show you Charms are a legit sorcery!"]

He drew on many papers and threw them...

["I'm infallible! Guns and swords are useless."]

He had unbridled confidence in himself. A glowing blade of energy was 'Shaped' in his hand to fight.

His breath was illuminating the darkness a blue hue. His sword creating hurricanes of flying cuts.

He truly lived up to his clan monicker of 'Demons'.

Not a single person was left alone.

All until was just a single girl was standing...

["Even if you're a girl, I won't hold back!"]

Despite his prior confidence, a look of emptiness appeared in the youth's eyes moments later.

He hit the floor powerlessly in mere moments...

There was no way he'd believe he lost to a girl…

And that wasn't all.

She didn't use a weapon.

Not a gun, not a sword, but a fist was hanging above his face. Fresh blood dripped from his lips.

"But... but...!" He couldn't accept the outcome.

His pride, his dreams, his everything… was crushed by one girl. She defeated the entire class easily!

Everything he'd once had the ambition to do after climbing to the top of the Ranks vanished. The youth was forced to realise that in this world, there existed monsters who defied common sense.

In front of them, all his hard work was useless...

As the scarlet-haired Cadet looked down on Fritz emotionlessly, he averted his eyes in pure dread.

The MagiPen in his hand could no longer function anymore. The Macro Converter was broken...

There was only two words the beauty- No, the War Goddess… spoke after seeing his last struggle:

"Accept defeat." The beauty's words were so cold that his face turned white, and his body shivered.

The winner was already decided...

The 'Tooth Extractor' in middle school had his fangs broken at his high school entrance ceremony. That name would fade along with his reputation after having his arrogance broken.

This incident happened a year ago, and to this very day, he never forgot it, even is it's a year later...

His Charms lost their strength that day...

The entrance ceremony ended, and had left many students in disarray. However, they recovered fast.

There was nothing bad about losing once.

The students didn't remember how they lost due to the chaotic situation, but it had proved their worth.

Many of them had garnered good attention.

The only type of people who would lose more than others were those with an inherently large ego.

Those too full of themselves…

Fritz Lazrik was one of those people.

He had come to the Academy with big dreams, but he couldn't live up to his own high expectations.

Such a reality crushed him…

After being assigned a base of operations his team could manage, he was left to his own devices.

His downtrodden eyes couldn't meet his teammates. Only until a familiar voice asked him:

"What's with that look?"

His eyes lifted to see a girl with long black hair and an oversized chest. She was quite the looker.

To the point Fritz felt a little embarrassed and shy…

His upbringing was at fault for this.

"…" Just as he was about to retort, he noticed a particular ring on her hand that he recognised.

It made him blink twice, but he didn't bring it up.

"Don't you remember me?" Her words suddenly made him remember the certain girl he once met.

Perhaps the only 'girl' he'd met in his youth.

Though the memories were quite vague.

Was he five or three years old at the time?

She'd grown up a lot since then.

"Betty, right?" The 'womanly' teenager wearing a white lab coat looked up. Her eyes were glistening.

"You remember my name~?" A smile curved slyly.

"Yeah…"

"Then you also remember where I'm from. Maybe that's why you aren't talking about this ring."

"…Yeah." He looked at the iron ring on her hand. It was strange that she was pointing this out herself.

From what he could remember, iron rings had an association with a subtype of 'Jinn' known as 'Divs'.

"What do you think? Want to have it?" She took the ring off her finger and did an exaggerated gesture.

She dropped it into the nape of her dress and let it slide between her melons, then flicked it from beneath to launch it out of her bosom and into her hand. His eyes widened at this sensual showcase.

Was this her way of flirting with him?

If so, he decided to ignore it.

There was so much on his mind right now. Even now, he didn't want to get involved with girls.

His eyes secretly glanced at her big chest…

"Oh my~ You want something more?" Fritz felt shaken by the overt sexuality of this 'big' girl.

"No. I want nothing to do with Divs."

"Oh yeah…! You're religious. Anyway, you got it all wrong~! There's no 'Demon' inside of this ring."

"How can I trust you?"

"Hah…" Betty sighed after seeing his sharp gaze. It looked like she now needed to change the subject:

"Anyway, didn't you get a high ranking in the entrance ceremony? I saw the clip of your fight."

"…" The youth found his mood dropping again when she mentioned his loss by that beauty's fist.

It felt like he'd lost everything in that fight.

"Don't look so down. Your messy style was good!"

"What?" An annoyed gaze looked up. How could she dare say that he had a 'messy' fighting style?

The fire ignited in her eyes made her happy, but it didn't seem like she was going to back down.

She started to remember their past together.

It was only a brief meeting, but she remembered many things about this soft-hearted and kind 'kid'.

"Didn't your parents correct you? You have a lot of skills, but your style looks like it only gets stronger if there are more people around you. Without many others to bait and confuse, you're a sitting duck."

"My parents are dead." His reply stopped her from talking further. Betty's pupils trembled a little.

"…What did you say?"

"They're dead. Everyone… My parents, my cousins, my aunts, my neighbours… Everyone is gone now."

"What about your little sister?"

"Alive… unfortunately." Seeing the seething hatred in his eyes, the lab coat girl made a conjecture.

She didn't want to pry, so she kept it to herself.

"Then… depending on the timing. I'm guessing they hadn't been able to teach you everything."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"Huh?" She tilted her head.

"Your mum came over and bargained for everything I couldn't take with me when I left."

"You mean… the Logic Industry now has all the materials related to Jinn? She took it all away?"

"Why are you acting like they're not with you…?"

"I ran away from home not too long ago."

"Oh… My bad." He avoided her gaze. There was an air of awkwardness around him after what he said.

"No. I'm just glad you're alright." Seeing him avoid her gaze only certified who had taken everything.

The 'Logic Industry' was a scientific organisation that worked to blend the natural and artificial… with the supernatural. If she had stayed, maybe she could have became an 'Heiress' of that business.

But her life now wasn't bad either…

Seeing that she wasn't trying to annoy him, Fritz decided to go back to asking about her theory.

"So… you want to 'fix' my fighting style?"

"Pretty much."

"How much do you know about it?"

"Only as much as I can see." She pulled up her laptop and showed an image taken from his fight.

Even the lens found it hard keeping up with him.

"You were using an unfamiliar 'Step Method' as a base for your style. What do you call it anyway?"

"Illusionary Stride. It's good for confusing people and has sub-techniques to let me trick their eyes."

"You're using 'Redwind Qi' to support it, aren't you?" These words made him look at her deeply.

"Yeah…"

"In other words, you're using 'demonic energy'."

"This isn't the same as that ring of yours."

"You're right~ Redwind is so much worse than other energies. It's the power of desires, right?"

"Wrong. Hmmm… How do I explain this?" He spoke before going into deeper detail about his life.

Memories of the past started to resurface…

Fritz Lazrik was of a family once known for their particular exorcist techniques, but were also known as a cult that had branched off from Islam. It was because they practiced a sort of 'Witchcraft'.

Also known as the 'Ruqya Methods'.

What these exorcists did was simple. Rather than using prayers and holy water, they summoned and controlled supernatural beings, Jinns, to fight on their behalf. A practice that was frowned upon.

Besides prayers, Islam didn't look kindly upon those who believed they could exercise 'Magic'.

Controlling Jinns went against their beliefs…

However, the world eventually learned the reason the Lazrik Clan used this method was seal the origin of Divs. Their whole clan was tasked with sealing the weapon containing the spirit of Shaitaan. The devil who was above all Jinns.

"Hold up! I didn't hear anything about a 'Devil Sword'…!" Betty interrupted him halfway through.

"Not a 'Devil Sword'. It's a 'Cursed Weapon'. The blade was sealed away because it had a hundred percent certainty of corrupting its holder. Even the people nearby had to stay clear of the 'Redwind Miasma' surrounding it." Fritz shook his head.

Then continued his explanation…

The records of the past were damaged, but one thing to note was that the Lazrik Clan had started to harness the power of 'Demon' within them. The corruption of the sword spread to many bloodlines.

If it wasn't for one of his ancestors sealing away the 'taint' in their bodies, they'd also become Divs.

Thus, they called it the 'Sealed Demon Cursed Physique'. This name reminded them of their goal.

To keep 'Shaitaan' sealed forever.

In the recent years, the Lazrik Clan had finally regained their honour by unifying with another clan of Musalmán that practiced 'Orthodox Exorcism'. A family that practiced 'Dua Cultivation' to breathe.

"Is that what the blue breath is?" She interrupted him again, but Fritz seemed used to this by now.

On her screen was a scene of the earlier fight.

Her finger pointed to the azure yet white glowing air that was puffed from his mouth momentarily.

The image on her computer showed it in high detail. So it wasn't something he could brush off.

"Yeah. That glowing horn is a Secret Art my mother passed down. Only a few of my family can use it."

"How? So your using Bluewind Qi?"

"You deaf? I said it was a SECRET Art." He glared at her rudely. Her question was really disrespectful.

Asking about a Martial Artists breathing method was already against etiquette. Never mind his 'Art'.

"So one of your parents passed you the method of using Bluewind Qi, Aka 'Holy Energy', and the other taught Redwind Qi, Aka 'Demonic Energy'…" She found his family to have been really interesting.

"Don't ask any further. The two clans were destroyed and 'Shaitaan' was stolen with its seal."

"What happens if someone takes it off?"

"Anima will be least of this world's problems." His apathetic tone felt like it was indifferent to death.

Cold sweat ran down her back…

Anima had already been increasing their amount over the years. Who knew if Executioners would be enough to handle them in a few decades. If there was an outbreak of Jinns too, then humanity…

"Don't bother looking for it. I already got an idea where it is anyway." Fritz carelessly rolled his eyes.

The end of the world didn't seem too bad to him.

His eyes only contained a burning fire for revenge.

"So… you still don't want this ring of mine?"

"It's not that I don't want to. The thing is… my body is having a hard time balancing my internal energy."

"Is it because of the two breathing techniques?"

"Yeah. My Redwind Qi is so much more potent than my Bluewind Qi. That ring could cause imbalance."

"What happens if after an 'imbalance'?"

"Have you never read Eastern novels before? Since I started with Bluewind Qi first, and Redwind Qi s-"

"You'll get a 'Qi Deviation' and die?"

"Exactly."

"Isn't your 'Qi Centre' in your Limiter Inverter? And most of all, why learn the Ruqya Methods second?"

"…I wasn't planning to. Just happened that way. It might seem like a Limiter Inverter holding my Life Seal would fix things, but that only changes where the damage goes to. My MagiPen will break."

"And you'll die right after."

"Exactly." He kept on nodding his head whenever she was on the right track. It made sense now.

The information she knew filled in the gaps.

Betty heard from her mother that the mercenaries of the Lazrik Clan used to use a Martial Art called the 'Gaiasayer Style' to use spells. Someone had passed them a unique set of 'Spell Circles' for use.

As there were a lot of engineers in the Logic Industry, what they'd probably took from him was the data on those Spell Circles. Doing so would let them improve the quality of their Enchanted Items.

So his fighting style consisted of a few elements:

Unknown swordsmanship, drawing 'Charms' from Spell Circles with his MagiPen, and his illusions.

"I understand. So you NEED this." She put the ring in front of his face, which twisted his expression.

"You heard what I said?"

"Clearly."

"Then what this situation?"

"What if I told you this is the 'Ring of Solomon'?"

"You mean that ring that can summon 72 jinns of high class; Divs who are either royal or noble?"

"I guess you're not falling for it."

"Obviously."

"Fine." She opened up his hand and insisted that he hold onto the ring. He looked up at her…

…and was perplexed beyond words.

"I call this ring 'Ars Nova'. It's the starting point to becoming a 'Magician' I created by myself."

"I'm already a Charm Caster. On top of it, what you said explains nothing about the residue on this."

"Trust me. This was made similar to Divine Weapons and has many prayers recorded inside. If you wear it and comprehend all the prayers, you'll gain better memory and a faster ability to learn."

"That's…! Why not use it yourself?"

"I'm already a genius. Duh!" She started to talk in a way similar to him. That rudeness was real familiar.

"Can I give it to someone else?"

"It's one use only. You'd have to verbally pass it on if you want someone else to get similar effects."

"Why give this to me…?" Seeing those suspicious eyes, Betty sighed before becoming more honest.

She got off her seat and circled around his back. A chill ran down his neck when she breathed on him.

"I hope we can become much, MUCH closer." Her end of the deal wasn't too appealing to him.

A beauty with maturity unbefitting her age was a dream of many men, but a nightmare to him.

He had his reasons to avoid girls in general…

However, the 'deal' was such a steal for him.

"Alright." Without hesitation, he accepted her seemingly 'small' condition with a heavy heart.

"Thanks~ Here's a complementary gift." She handed him a notebook. A written piece of data.

On the cover was the words: {Ars Almadel}

"What's this?"

"Something that I managed to swipe before I ran from home. It's what that ring is based off."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Fine. Don't be too impatient. This is actually something my mother was researching. It's a method of summoning 'Perri', Aka Angels. She was trying to control them like how the Lazrik use Divs."

These words struck his heart. He looked up on to her face crouched beside him and felt her sincerity.

She was truly trying to help him.

Maybe this notebook won't have a technique of controlling Jinns like the Ruqya Methofs, but just being able to summon angels was enough. Perri were a lot more friendly than Divs, anyway.

"Thank you…" For the first time in a while, he gave words of gratitude straight from his steel heart.

She leaned on his cold shoulder and responded:

"You're welcome."

Betty was such an attractive girl. What guy would be able to resist someone both smart and caring?

But he had to be honest too:

"Don't get too close." He turned his eyes away from her, but she circled around to look into them.

"Why not?"

"Just… I'm an unlucky guy."

"I haven't lived a life of 'fortune' since now either."

"It's not the same."

"Isn't it?"

"You know… It feels like everyone I care about get hurt the most. Stay away. Look at someone else."

"Is that a threat? Wow~ I can feel the chill in your voice from here~ But jokes on you. I'm liking it~!"

"I'm just giving a clear warning beforehand."

"Don't. I'm a real good judge of character."

"…" She gently put her hands on his cheeks to keep him from retorting, then continued with warmth:

"And my eyes are telling me you're pure-hearted."

"Get that dirty look out of your eyes." He slapped her hand away and left. His steps were loud.

However, Betty didn't feel she was wrong.

Maybe it was because of what happened to his family, but he seemed to be giving a cold shoulder.

One that, paradoxically, would always be there for her to cry on if she ever felt like saying anything.

Fritz was like a porcupine to her…

His prickly exterior was to protect himself. The gap between them was a mechanism to keep him safe.

'So cute…' Of course, knowing this didn't deter her from wanting to embrace him make him her own.

Breaking those outer spikes and warming those cold shoulders of his… Helping him to move on.

What eyes would he show her when that happened? Curiosity pushed her to the offence.

And Fritz rebelliousness to change put him on the back foot. He had no choice but to retreat.

'Sorry…' He apologised for his rough attitude in his heart, but couldn't help rejecting her advances.

He'd take the blame for any resentment born from his attitude. That was the least he could do.

Never would he beg for Betty's forgiveness out loud. She could curse at him all she wanted.

The wall he'd built wasn't easy to tear down…

Thus, Fritz decided to go straight to his room.

After locking his door, he sat down on his bed and looked at the ring. Then put it onto his index finger.

*Clamp!*

Oddly enough, there was a frightening sound of the iron tethering to his flesh. It became unremovable.

Was this technology from the Logic Industry?

He'd heard that they'd focused on biotechnology…

Regardless, the youth focused on the scriptures and prayers that were sent directly to his brain.

The team's base became quiet ever since then…

He hadn't left it ever since that day, and his teammates were forced to wait for him ever since.

That's until Anya Orchid entered to fix up his room.

A chaotic element had arrived!