"This time, we must because he didn't just see Lucifer's return. He also saw more. And if what he saw is true, then we can't ignore this prediction!" Raia answered gravely.
….
The Academy for Gifted Variants was occupied by thousands of young Variants who came here to learn and get a bright future.
Lucifer was one of the students. He was already in his third year of the Academy. Three more years to spend here, and he was going to graduate.
The classes for the third year began on time as all the students started their courses again.
Lucifer and his classmates were attending the class of Martial Arts where they weren't allowed to use their powers.
This time, however, something was different.
It was decided that a mock battle will take place. All six of the students will fight one person of their class in the mock battle, without using their gifts.
As for the pairing, the Teacher had already decided that already.
"Ren, you'll fight Dray. Cassius, your opponent will be Rune, and you can't use your sword at all! As for Alex, you'll fight Dash."
As the pairs were decided, everyone took their positions in different parts of the arena, prepared for the battle.
The teacher himself stood in the center, watching all the battles that were about to begin.
Dash stood before Lucifer, cracking his knuckles.
' Perfect opportunity. The only way to get him expelled is to make him break the rules two more times.' Dash thought as he observed Lucifer.
'This can be one of those times. All I need is to make him use more strength than he normally does and viola.'
"You may begin!" the teacher declared.
As the battle began, Lucifer and Dash ran to each other, prepared for a hard battle.
The battle had only just begun, but it was already over as Cassius had defeated Rune already.
As for Ren, he also had the edge over Dray.
The battle of Lucifer and Dash seemed to be going a bit different, though.
As Lucifer was careful about not exerting any strength that could put him at risk, he was fighting a bit differently. Fighting Dash was different than fighting humans, after all.
He used the Martial Arts that required the least amount of strength to be used as he kept dodging all the attacks of Dash while also managing to hit him a few times.
"Fight properly!" Dash told Lucifer, upset at not being able to hit him.
"This is a proper fight. A fight doesn't only involve hitting but dodging too," Lucifer replied as he again took his body down to use a spinning kick when Dash was distracted.
The kick managed to land, hitting the legs of Dash.
Dash was about to fall down, but that's when he started screaming in pain, "Aaaargh!"
Lucifer stood, confused. What was happening? That's when he understood. A red light had lit up on Dash's bracelet as he lost his consciousness.
"This idiot, it looks like he subconsciously tried to use his gift of wind to save him from the fall. Don't worry; I'll take him to the nurse. He's just unconscious, though. He'll wake up in an hour," the Martial Arts teacher said as he ran to Dash.
"You all may go to your class," he further said before he left with Dash.
The five students started leaving. Cassius and Lucifer walked behind the others.
Cassius suddenly looked at Lucifer as he opened his lips, "I don't agree."
Throughout the years, Cassius hadn't talked much, so Lucifer found it a bit surprising. He still had a much more positive feeling for Cassius than he had for others.
"What don't you agree with?" Lucifer asked, curious.
"That a fight doesn't only involve hitting but dodging too. If you're dodging, that means you're weak. And you don't deserve to be in that fight in the first place," Cassius said.
"A proper fight is attacking. I believe that attack is the best defense. If you're on the offensive, you don't have to worry about defense," he further explained.
It was the first time he had spoken so many words in all the years Lucifer had known him.
"That's the thing. You're strong, so you don't understand. But in the outside world, most people don't have a choice but to fight," Lucifer answered. "It's not that they want to fight a strong opponent. I heard many stories from my grandfather like that,"
"For example, the last great war. When the Dungeon Dwellers came out of the Dungeon and started attacking the cities, You think the Variants could've said, 'We're weaker, we don't deserve to be in a fight?' That's the thing."
"Even the weak have to fight sometimes, and adopting a defensive yet offensive art of fighting is important. So a battle can be of many types, but it's always better to adopt as much defense as an attack," he further said. "Because you won't always fight a weak opponent."
"I mean, only an idiot would fight like a brute, letting all attacks hit him. None of us are immortal after all," he finished up as he smiled. He didn't know he was the brute that he was talking about before he lost his memories.
"What do you think?" Lucifer asked Cassius as he finished.
"Interesting approach. I didn't think like that before. Maybe because I never needed to use defense," Cassius muttered as he nodded. "What you said does make sense as well."
" By the way, you did well. If I were, to be honest, it was good to see Dash get electrocuted," he continued as a hint of a smile appeared on his face.
"You're welcome, I suppose," Lucifer replied, smiling wryly. " Anyway, it's really good to talk to you. I don't have any friends in Class A. Can we be friends?"
He extended his hands towards Cassius to shake hands.
Seeing the hand of Lucifer, Cassius was stunned. This was something new for him since not many people offered to be his friends. Everyone kept their distance from him, which forced him into more isolation.
"Are you sure you want me to be your friend?" Cassius asked Lucifer, still not believing.
"Of course. Why won't I?" Lucifer asked, smiling.
"Did you not ask anyone the reason why the entire auditorium went silent when I entered during the Orientation?" Cassius asked, frowning.
"I tried asking, but no one answered. In the end, I gave up. How about you answer that? What happened?" Lucifer inquired.
"It's because I killed someone before. My friend in school," Cassius answered as he looked at Lucifer to observe his expressions.
He wondered if Lucifer was going to be disgusted or something but what he saw on Lucifer's face wasn't disgust or hate.