Just as the principal had stated, after the fight between Ricktor and Raze, the event had been called off. The Yellow headband wearers, along with the other Red headband wearers, were told that there would be another time where they were able to show their skills. 𝞸𝓋𝑙xt.𝒸𝗈𝑚
Those that were invited were fine with this. They had heard the rumors that the most talented student of them all was Ricktor Dockthron, and it was proven for a moment when they had seen he was a stage 3 Pagna warrior; they just never expected to see a talent above that.
Whatever they would witness after it would just dull their excitement and takeaway from what they had seen, so the visitors were happy to leave. As they went back to their towns and homes, they weren’t quiet about the events either.
Word had quickly spread about the no-name that had managed to best the top student, and a nickname for him was given among the people. The White Dragon of the Dark Faction.
Nicknames were often given to strong and talented individuals as it allowed for their name to be spread far and wide, even outside of their faction and into others. Since they only had a name to go by, the image of the said person would build in their heads.
Inside the main building of the academy, in a private room, Ricktor was lying on the floor wrapped in several bandages with pots of different herbs by his side. He had been fed a number of things to get him back on his feet and recovering as quickly as possible, but according to the physician, his body had small fractures in nearly every part, and it would take a while until he was back up and running.
“I lost,” Ricktor said out loud, and he immediately started to laugh after it. “Ow!” He screamed, reaching below. “I need to be careful; even if my chicken gets excited, it hurts. Oh, I wonder what will happen now.”
—
Slowly, Raze was starting to open his eyes. His sight was blurry for a few seconds, and he noticed that he was staring at a relatively dark ceiling above him. Seeing the sight, a few words came out of his mouth.
“Well, at least this time, no one is strangling me to death,” Raze said, and before he knew it, a pair of big eyes blocked the light from above, and tears were streaming down her face, falling onto his.
“Hey Safa, not too close; he’s still going to be hurt,” Simyon said as he gently held her shoulder and pulled her away.
Raze wanted to raise his hand to wipe away the tears that had landed on his face, but just moving slightly caused a great shock to his muscles. He had suffered from mana sickness before, and had been blasted by a few spells here and there, but had never suffered quite like this.
Eventually, though, his hand did move, but he just had to bear through the pain as he wiped his face.
“You know, if you just let people do that for you, it would be much easier,” a voice to his side said.
Turning his eyes rather than his head, he noticed that the one speaking was Dame.
Raze was in a room as well that was used for the treatment of others. He was lying on a thin mattress, but in his room, his mattress wasn’t the only one, as there were four more laid out by the side.
Each of them had pots of herbs and such that had been mashed, making some type of green paste. Inside the room were Liam, Safa, Simyon, and Dame. All of those that had taken part in the group fight during the event.
Simyon and Liam looked the worst, being wrapped in most of the bandages over their body. Raze had his fair share, but it was directed around his stomach where the wound was made. Most of the damage his body was feeling was actually from the use of his own powers.
“Wait, the sword!” Raze called out, looking fairly panicked. “Where is the wooden sword?”
“Don’t worry,” Dame replied as he pointed with his head to the wooden sword leaning up against part of the wall. “I thought you might have wanted to keep it as a souvenir to show your battle, so I kept it for you.”
It was a stroke of luck for sure, as Raze let out a sigh of relief. During the fight, he had been gathering the blood of the main disciples and placing it on the statue one by one. He had gathered four during the fight and had managed to make Ricktor spill blood as well.
He was sure there would be some left on the sword, but before he could place it on the statue, he had passed out.
‘The blood, it’s dried up on the sword, but if I mix it with some water and place it on the statue, it should still work, right?’ Raze thought. ‘Either way, even if it doesn’t, I can always get the blood of someone else; it’s not too much of a big deal.’
What was a big deal was what was to happen to them next. Speaking to Dame and the others, it appeared that they had been getting treatment for the last two days. Nearly all of them had woken up yesterday, with Raze waking up today.
They had tried to ask questions, wondering why they were being kept here, but the physicians that were treating them didn’t know anything.
‘I wonder, are they keeping us here because of the techniques I used? They might have noticed they were from the Demonic Faction.’
“Damn it!” Liam said, his body shaking. “I’m so scared; are they going to get rid of us just because you beat up all of their disciples? I didn’t think the Dark Faction would do such a thing, but maybe their relatives are plotting revenge or something.”
The door to the room had slid open at that moment, and entering the room was none other than the Vice-Principal, Amir.
“Don’t be so foolish; we at the academy would never allow such a thing,” Amir claimed. “Although treatment between our clans may seem a bit rough at times, you have to remember that we are all part of the same Faction; we would never do such a thing.”
Raze didn’t bring up the fact that they had tried to kill him during the assessment, which was what had started this whole thing in the first place.
“We wanted to wait until all of you were healed up to give you the news together,” Amir stated. “Due to your performance at the event today, it is clear that every single one of you carries something special that the Dark Faction needs, which is why we have come to the decision to promote all of you to Red headband users.”
Liam went to grab his chest, as it started to hurt.
“Is this the pain of love… no, I mean, the pain, it’s shooting down my chest, am I having a heart attack?”
All of them were quite stunned by the results. Perhaps a promotion to the Yellow headbands and maybe Raze to the Red, but why all of them to the Red headbands?
Not saying anything, Simyon was going to take it. The Red headbands had better access to certain areas in the academy, and that included the library of skills, which they should be able to go in soon to obtain a new skill.
“The academy is taking a week break. Students are free to leave to visit their homes, visit their relatives, or just continue to rest in the academy. After which, you will receive your Red headbands. You will visit the library of skills, and your next assessment will be explained then.”
The next assessment would be different from the first, which was simply just learning a skill. Hearing this, Raze was hoping they would finally have access to the school’s teleporters, which would allow them to see beasts, and in turn, he could increase his magical powers even further.
“With this, you may all leave the room,” Amir said, as he slid the door open, but on the other side of the door, there were also two people waiting. “Ah yes, Raze, it appears that these two wish to speak to you as well.”
Amir stepped to the side and allowed a large man with a brown trench coat and a woman with orange hair and a beret hat to enter.
‘It’s them, the two from Alter. I thought when I saw them they would want to see me. I wonder… what this is all about?’ Raze thought.
“Please, if the rest of you could give them some privacy,” Amir explained.
All of them started to leave the room one by one, but Dame stood there for a while, looking at the two strangers. He made eye contact, and as he walked away, he moved his head still looking at them.
‘These people, they don’t look like Pagna warriors, yet the Vice-Principal treated them with respect. Who are these people, and what do they want with Raze?’
Just by the fact that Raze didn’t exactly look too concerned, Dame didn’t think that he would need his help, but it still made him wonder. As Himmy flapped his trench coat, that’s when Dame noticed something small by his side. It was placed in a leather compartment and had somewhat of a wooden handle and was made of a type of metal, but it didn’t look like it would be effective as a sword or anything like that. So why would one keep it on them?
‘Where have I seen that before?’