New Transfer Student

A few days had passed since Alice's birthday. Alice and Noah walked out from the car parked outside of school. They both held their bags as they walked through the school gate. Their hands interlocked.

Alice's wrist now had a watch and bracelet around it. Noah's wrist had a similar watch on his. Before coming to school, Noah had said that it wasn't necessary to wear the watch anymore since its purpose was complete. Alice was however adamant about wearing it around with Noah.

Noah didn't mind, he had worn the watch till it had practically become part of his body, similar to the bronze locket.

Walking beside Noah, Alice looked completely different from normal. She put effort into making her hair today and even wore light make-up she had lying around. Her face held a perpetual smile instead of the usual gloom, she wore new exquisite glasses extenuating her beauty.

She was done hiding behind her messy hair, walking confidently with Noah they entered the school building.

All the students noticed them pass by. Noah was already eye-catching enough, now Alice was even more so. The two were back to being the centre of attention.

Looking at the guys having their mouths drop, Noah glared back at them. Sending shivers down their spines.

They sat in the back of the class where they normally sat. The class felt the whole room get brighter after the two entered.

The gloomy Alice, who nearly said anything, was dazzling as she smiled and laughed. Noah as if reflecting off from her was even happier. A few students asked about the makeover from the watch, glasses to hair and makeup. Alice was happy to answer.

The teacher walked in, as the class settled.

"Hello class, we will be having a new student joining us, please come in."

A girl with a slim physique, with reddish eyes and short auburn hair, she walked to stand next to the teacher. Her expression was cold as she said, "I'm Kira Lancer."

The class was silenced. If they hadn't seen Alice today, Kira would be the prettiest girl they had seen. Her looks and body had this attractive fierceness. The presence she gave off was like that of a valiant heroine. Eyes sparkled ruby, with straight shoulder-length hair. Each step she took gave off grace and strength.

Kira ignoring everyone, walked to the seat in front of Alice looked at the seat. Putting her hand she looked at the girl sitting there, "I'll be sitting here." Kira said with a smile that wasn't a smile.

The girl got up scared and found another place to sit.

Kira then looked at Alice and smiled. "Suprise!"

Alice was surprised. Kira hadn't told her about this. She looked at Noah for answers only to see that he was surprised as well.

"Noah can transfer to your school, why can't I?" Kira said knowing what Alice was thinking.

Alice was happy about Kira's transfer but was sure Kira's parents weren't. Kira's situation was different from Noah. A prestigious family like hers wouldn't allow her to go to a normal school.

"Did your parents approve?" Alice asked with concern.

Kira thought about it, "Kind of."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"I convinced them. Do you not like that I transferred here?" Kira asked.

"No, I'm happy, but you don't need to inconvenience yourself doing this."

"It's fine, I didn't like my old school."

The rest of the day, Kira and Alice were stuck together. They both waked with their arms interlocked as they continued catching up. The best friends united, chattered unceasingly.

...

The last class ended and Alice dragged Kira with them to building D. Inside Kira saw the mats set up and all the training equipment around.

"What's all of this for?" Kira asked, Alice wasn't that into martial arts and exercising.

"Noah has been using this place to teach me martial arts, how about you start joining us as well?" Alice said excitedly.

"When did you start liking martial arts?" Kira said as she took off her shoes.

Mid conversation Alice paused and looked at Noah. She hadn't talked to Noah about telling Kira about the Eternal Battlefield yet. The access point was something they both found together so she needed his opinion before telling Kira anything. "There is a reason for this, but Noah probably won't let me tell you."

"You can tell her if you think she will believe you," Noah responded. He had already thought through when he spoke to Kira in the cafe. Similar to him Kira had trained in martial arts since young. Having her enter the Eternal Battlefield early, would give her an advantage then entering a month or two later.

He felt safer having someone as strong as Kira join the Rose Foxes as well. In the Eternal Battlefield, he was close to finishing all B Class dungeons soon and was getting ready for A Class dungeons. Like he had expected the Rose Foxes weren't as strong enough yet. Clearing dungeons with them wasn't productive for him anymore. Instead, holding him back now.

The four Including Alice, all had good equipment and skills, but they weren't up to par in utilising everything in a battle. Even in C Class dungeons without his support, they would only be able to clear them after getting severely injured.

His support decreased the difficulty of the battles, this led to them not being able to make as much progress. The battles were easy as all their mistakes were covered up by Noah. He would keep them uninjured and in a buffed up state. At the same time, he couldn't suddenly decrease the amount of support he gave since then the battles could become life-threatening. It took one hit on the head, and you were dead.

The final solution was having someone else, who was strong and could help them grow join the group, then slowly replace him. The answer was Kira. She had a strong foundation in combat and would be able to teach the girls in whatever they lacked.

Alice especially needed to start fighting without his support, since the moment they had entered the Eternal Battlefield he had supported her from behind so she had grown dependant on it now. He thought it was fine at the time, but started regretting it. She needed to see his support as a boost, not a must in battle.

She had formed a fighting style with his support as a factor. If he removed it, it would heavily affect her performance in a battle. So it needed to be a gradual change. Then eventually completely remove himself for a while. This would let Alice build her personal strength.

Alice saw the flaw, the existence of the Eternal Battlefield was unbelievable without experiencing it, "Scratch that, You won't believe me if I tell you. How about we take you somewhere tomorrow?"

"Where do you want to take me? Why won't I believe you?" Kira asked curiously. Alice kept on hiding it and just made her more confused.

"Cause I wouldn't have believed you if you had told me what I'm about to tell you, so how can I expect you to believe me? I'll have to show it to you for you to believe me. You'll need to take a week off, can you do that?"

"Are we going to another country by ship or something?" Taking a week off wasn't a problem but needing this much time to reach a place made her suspicious, she then looked at Noah and remembered that his grandparents didn't live on earth and it hit her, "Are we going to the moon?"

Seeing Kira's excited expression Alice, felt a bit bad, "Well... it's similar, you'll see when we get there. In a way, it's more exciting than the moon. So tell your parents you'll be staying with me for a week or something."

"Sure, they won't mind, but why don't you just tell me where we are going?"

"I told you wouldn't believe me," Alice said exhausted.

"Try me," Kira said confidently.

Alice was about to say something when Noah intervened, "You'll see tomorrow, it isn't anything like what you're expecting. We need to start now."

Ending the conversation the three got on the mat and looked at each other.

"So what are we doing?" Kira said getting ready.

"Today is for sparring." Noah gave everyone the protective gear they had bought around the time they started.

"I'll spar with Kira first," Alice said readily. She had already sparred enough times with Noah, she wanted to spar with someone else now.

Noah moved back as the two girls faced off.

The two clashed, Alice started off with a kick, Kira blocked with her arm but was taken back by the strength in it. Alice continued her combo, Kira was at defence in the flurry of attacks. Alice's attacks were a lot stronger than she was expecting. Her movements were refined and she acted as if she had done this a million times.

Kira pushed back at Alice and started her attack, the first punch was blocked. Alice felt the strong force behind it. Kira's strength seemed stronger than Noah's. Seeing Alice wasn't some beginner she moved forward and tried to grab her. Alice pulled her hands away, retreating. Kira tried again this time leaving an opening for Alice. Taking the bait, Alice tried to throw her to the ground. Kira expecting it reacted in time and flipped Alice.

Alice got up rubbing the back of her head, she thought she had gotten pretty good, but looks like she wasn't close to Kira's level.

"My turn now," Noah said as he walked in between two. He wanted to spar with Kira as well.

Kira nodded and got in position. She looked at Noah standing opposite to her and thought about her fight with Alice. With how roughly she treated Alice, Noah would show no mercy. She got ready to go all out.

Noah was a tough opponent, no one knew that better than her. Till now she had never once won against him in a proper match, so having a spar after so long excited her. Her strength had improved leaps bounds over the last half a decade, unlike her Noah hadn't focused on hand to hand combat and was more into using weapons. She was confident she would be able to take him out now.

Feeling the adrenaline, the two started.

Activating Cold Mind, Noah felt the world slow with all the training he was doing, here and in the Eternal Battlefield he had gotten much better at using it. He stepped forward and hooked Kira's right foot unbalancing her, he then grabbed her and twisted her as he pushed her to the ground in a smooth movement.

Kira didn't even have time to react. All she saw was the blue mat under her fill her view as she was locked into a hold.

Noah then released her and stood up. He had it ended quickly using Cold Mind. They had called it a spar, but between Kira and Noah, all fights were serious. They had been rivals since young, just like Kira wanted to defeat Noah, Noah never wanted Kira to win. So they would take any opportunity to win.

Naturally, Noah wasn't going to let a quick defeat go. Taking Kira out using Cold Mind was the fastest way to do it. After seeing Kira's spar with Alice he could tell, that she was not only stronger than him, she was now as fast as him.

Her being stronger than him wasn't much of a surprise. Kira had always been stronger than him. Noah didn't understand how but Kira seemed to have been born with a godly combination of genes that gave her slim body immense strength. To combat strength he would beat have her beat in speed and technique. Now he didn't have those either.

Training for so long, she had technique greater and speed on par with him. Having been busy with acting and fencing he still practised martial arts but not as much. So having Kira be better than him in hand to hand combat was natural.

It was a matter of pride between rivals, that he couldn't give her a chance to win, so he ended it quickly using Cold Mind. Feeling her out, to see how much better she got would only increase the chances of his defeat.

He had gotten stronger these past few months, from increasing his daily workout routine and the battle experience he gained in the Eternal Battlefield. That still wasn't enough to help him against Kira, someone who had been refining her body into a weapon every day for the last 4 years. She worked out daily and sparred regularly with other people as well.

His few months of effort, wouldn't help him get stronger than her especially in hand to hand combat, which he didn't use in the Eternal Battlefield. If anything he had gotten much better at using weapons, exploiting weaknesses and killing opponents quickly.

Kira sat up, "Other than my teacher, you are still the only person that can throw me around so easily." Whenever she felt like she was stronger Noah would think of a way to outdo her.

Standing up Kira looked at both Alice and Noah, "The way you both fight is off." Their movements were sharp and deadly, unlike proper martial artists. She then turned to Noah and glared, "And you Noah, what have you been teaching Alice?! The way she fought was so wild! No proper form, random movements and all her hits were at my vitals. You haven't been teaching her martial arts, you've been teaching her how to kill someone!"

Alice looked at Noah, she would just learn what Noah taught her without question, she didn't know this was what her fighting style was like.

Feeling embarrassed to have been caught, Noah looked away. Rather than teach Alice martial arts, he focused on teaching her how to kill someone quickly. This wasn't only for dealing with monsters, it was also so she could kill another human if she needed to.

Crime rates had already slightly increased during the last month, he was worried about what would happen by the next month.

Alice answered for Noah, "I asked to learn how, you'll see why tomorrow, for now, teach me how you were able to flip me so easily." Alice ran to Kira pacifying her.