Arc 1 Chapter 8: Lessons We Learn From Our Fists

"So, what's up with you two? You guys have been at each other's throats since Adeo transferred here." Yukina asked the anguished duo seated before her.

"This ass-hat keeps talking about how he's so much better than everyone else just because he's a Draconian!" Akko replied.

"I'm only saying that because it's fakual!" Adeo retorted, trying to appear more dominant in the conversation by sitting taller than Akko and speaking in a louder tone.

"First off, it's 'factual.' Second, I'm pretty sure that Akko could hold her own against you." Yukina corrected, crossing her arms. Her gaze was set on the blabbering Draconian, awaiting his reply.

"Oh, and what makes you say that, huh?!" Adeo exclaimed, not wholly grasping what Yukina was getting at.

"Donums or gifted capabilities, if you will; are abilities that certain people have transcribed into their very soul, whether through training in that particular field or they are born with it as a sort of talent," Yukina explained to the man that sat before him while sipping Pullum pulmenti, a soup with Pullum broth, from her spoon.

"Oh, I know about those, but what does that have to do with her?" Adeo asked, albeit a question that he should know the answer to, at least if he was paying attention to the flow of the conversation.

"A-are you serious? I'm bringing this up because, obviously, Akko's donum is one that's well suited for combat along with various other tasks that require heavy lifting." Yukina said, surprised by how ignorant Adeo was in understanding context clues.

She shook her head in disappointment before Adeo stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

"Well then, once they have taught us some spells, then we should see who is truly stronger." He declared with a grin of self-assuring confidence. Yukina dug into the pockets of her long coat, feeling the cold, adamantine sensation of metal in the shape of an oblate ellipsoid before pulling it out. The object in question was revealed to be a golden pocket watch with an emblem of a fox with an eight-pointed star on its forehead.

She opened the pocket watch, the hour hand pointed at the 'XII' and the minute hand pointed: 'VI.'

"It's twelve-thirty. We should head back to our class. I think we have combative spells basics." Yukina said after returning her pocket watch into her coat, now sporting a finger on her chin.

"Basics? We should be in the advanced class, or more pacifically, I should be in the advanced class." Adeo replied, connecting his palm with his fist, accompanied by a self-satisfied grin. The Vulpian girls both turned towards each other and sighed at the realization of Adeo's hopelessness of ever having half a brain.

The trio made their way to the courtyard of the school, which looked more like a miniature forest with paths made of stone leading to a glade. Yukina was the last to arrive at the glade out of the trio; she looked at all the students and surveyed the surrounding area.

"Where's the instructor?" Yukina asked before realizing she was a couple of feet off the ground. She turned her head behind her; she was being lifted by the back of her long coat by a tall and muscular silhouette. Though unlike most of the other instructors at this academy, this one had...horns?

"Okay, I think that's everyone! Bwahaha!" The silhouette bellowed before walking closer to the lot of students.

"Oh, there he is," Yukina said as her eyes narrowed in annoyance. She was allowed a respite from the manhandling when she was let back onto the ground before turning towards the instructor in accordance with the rest of the class.

"I go by the name: Tiberius Moltius." the lofty draconian man spoke. His face was chiseled with a scar from his left eye down to the corner of his lips, with a beard that accompanied the fiery red scales on his chin and black horns and hair; spiked back rugged to complete his 'battle-worn' appearance. Yukina surveyed him from head to toe. The instructor wore a dark brown overcoat with silver armor underneath and a battleax strapped to his back; the edges chipped as it had seen its fair share of usage.

"I'll be your instructor for the basics of spelling casting. Oh, and before you ask, this class has been integrated with the basics of combat, so you will have to learn hand-to-hand combat." Moltius said. It now made sense to Yukina why a rugged man such as Moltius was overseeing this course.

"So let us begin; can anyone tell me the basics of arcane energy?" Moltius asked while pacing slowly from left to right in front of the students. A few of the students raised their hands, wanting to answer the question, one of which was Adeo.

"It's energy that makes us get stronger and fight things?" Adeo said. Albeit, while technically correct, it wasn't the answer Moltius was looking for.

"In a sense. Yeah, but it's also our life force that allows us to manipulate our world in many ways. The purpose of this class is to educate you on self-defense," Tiberius explained before continuing his lecture on the spellcasting process, which consisted of pulling your Arcana through your porta, the gateway between soul and body, which determined your affinity; and then chant the incantation. Moments later, the class was instructed to pick their partners for their sparring exercises; unfortunately for Yukina, Akko was paired up with Adeo so they could finally come to a conclusion on who was more potent in combat.

"I see that no one had decided to pick you. So I'll be your adversary this time." the silhouette had returned, towering over the achromatic-haired Vulpian.

"Okay." She said with a blank expression on her face, her eyes locked onto the brute before her.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Tiberius questioned in a booming voice, causing most of the class to turn towards the two of them. Murmurs about how the fight would play out and conclude were spreading like a plague; Yukina paid them no attention as her mind had already drowned them out. She muttered only two words.

"Fulgur...Corpus..." Yukina's body surged with an abundance of dormant magical energy as her body was enveloped in an aura of sky-blue lightning. The jaws of her classmates dropped since they could barely cast anything during their fight, but it would seem that Yukina had experience already, but to her, this came as a surprise as she had never used any magicks in her life. It was as if her mind and body already knew how to manipulate her Arcana.

"Impressive, you seem to learn fast...this should be interesting." The bulking Draconian stated; he prepared himself. His stance was similar to that of a boxer, or at least one would assume if it weren't for the Axe making him appear more of a brutish musclehead. Yukina inhaled before taking a single step, and with the first approach, she vanished. Tiberius' eyes widened before he reacted and turned around, thrusting his fist toward the space behind him. The white-haired Vulpian ducked under Tiberius' fist, which left a shockwave in its wake. She retaliated by sweeping his legs, causing Tiberius to get swept off his feet since he was still recovering from his last attack. Yukina used this opportunity for a strike aimed at his pectorals. Her adversary was able to interrupt the assault to his breast using his forearm, but the sheer speed added extra force to the attack causing him to be knocked back.

"You're a fast little one. I can barely keep up with you, however..." He paused midsentence before catching himself with wings that sprouted from his back from underneath the slits in his overcoat. Yukina gasped for air after that onslaught as she fell to one knee, and the lightning dissipated. Her spell had concluded.

"Clearly, you have talent, but your stamina is holding you back. Overall I'm impressed; as for those two..." He trailed off midsentence as his gaze turned toward Adeo and Akko, who were still in the midst of their 'competition.'

"Damn, I'm surprised a Vulpian could keep up with me," Adeo said while flying a couple of feet off the ground; he was equipped with the same overconfident grin as usual.

"By the Caelestis, do you ever shut up!" Akko retorted before squatting as her donum: 'Dei Manus,' activated. Within an instant, not only had she left the ground, but she was in front of Adeo, and the two began exchanging blow for blow, causing shockwaves throughout the forest. After an hour, the lesson had concluded, and it was time for everyone to return home for the day. The trio began making their way home while walking on the beach. The two redheads were riddled with bruises and cuts from their show off of a battle.

"You two are idiots..." were the only words Yukina spoke to them that night.