Stars and Swords

Maroon Omen

Days pass, and classes returned to their usual pace. Students were waiting hotly for their exam results to come that day, where their instructors told them will come. Holos and his friends however, have their anticipation dampened after the very turbulent events of the first day.

The results for History came in, and to Holos' surprise, he still passes despite the 10-point penalty. It didn't look too good for the rest of his friends however, descending to borderline fails after the penalty. Seeing their results soured their mood a bit for the rest of the class, where their instructor outlined the coursework for the Midterms.

Combat Basics was next, and Oren and his cronies all shot Holos and his group dagger stares as the results were being announced. To the class' surprise, both Oren and Holos still scored high despite the penalty due to the commotion.

"You're lucky those two knights intervened, ashen chump." snarled Oren.

"I can tell Sir Wilson to set up again a duel." said Holos cooly. "Let's see what happens then." he smirked, remembering how it went last time. Baz and Beran then shot their own pointed look at Holos, to no avail.

To further de-escalate the situation, Sir Wilson glared at the potential conflict, which indeed put a stop to it before things got heated. The class resumed its flow, with Sir Wilson demonstrating lance techniques this time. After telling that and it was on to the next class soon enough, which was Arithmetic.

Already, most of the class' faces were sour as they expected low scores, and sadly, they did expect right, as most of the class bordered on Fs, with a few beyond D and even fewer with Bs and higher, like Alec. The guy himself was very much happy with his results, however muted it may be due to the 10-point penalty served on him and everyone involved in the first-day incident.

Results talk continued until the last class' instructor, who went by Mrs. Yenfer, announced a different matter altogether. Visitors from Blancopolis were coming to the Academy next week, accompanied by officials from Castle Crystale. Aftr classes were done, recruits of all year levels talked about the impending visit, with some even bringing up the recent edict enforcedby the new Grand Pontifex.

Later...

"A visit from Blancopolis huh?" Art opened up.

"Hmm, yeah." said Holos, clearly uninterested with the visitors.

"I did hear about that new edict..." Franz said, shuddering at what he remembers.

"It's...a bit too much, I'd say..." Alec opined.

"It is." Holos said with venom in his tone. "Absurd, even!" he blurted out. "What for?" he ranted, "so that they could have the women to themselves?" he speculated hotly.

"Hey, let's not get into trouble with those conclusions, yeah?" suggested Franz.

"While I agree with Holos' sentiment, I also agree with Franz's warning there." Art said simply, while attempting a magic trick.

Holos just sighed exasperatedly at Art's statement, but didn't try to counter it. Alec then offered to shift the topic, and thankfully, the rest agreed to. The quartet chatted idly all the way to the dinner table.

Dinner went as usual, aside from a few incidents of the studentsecruits spilling either their drink or food. Most cases were very minor cases though and a few more hours later, silence befell the Academy as the curfew bell rang and the studentecruits went to sleep to rest up for another day at the Academy.

The next day came, and it was as any day so far in the academy. Notices of the Blanc visit were propped up all over the Academy, occupying every notice board. Today's History class saw nothing too eventful, while lance lessons continued on in Combat Basics. Today's lesson had Sir Wilson demonstrating the basic attack and defend maneuvers to the class.

"Listen close, whelps." the adult knight began, "Lances are versatile weapons. They have reach, they are light enough to be wielded properly most of the time, and most soldiers prefer this for its balanced power-to-weight ratio." he stated in a voice loud enough to reverberate through the whole training field. He then proceeded to demonstrate several basic swings and thrusts, then explained a few ways to defend from such strikes.

By the end of the class, Sir Wilson told his wards to practice what he demonstrated. He also had somehing to say about the impending Blancopolis visit.

"The Academy has tasked me to select representatives for the demonstration next week." he began, "Tomorrow, we will have a tournament of sorts for lances and swords. Whoever places high enough will go on to a shootout the next day, which will then explain who we select for the demonstrations come next week." he instructed. "Now then, put your best effort and practice hard!" he closed. He then called the dismissal, and at his command, the students dispersed.

On the way to the next class, Oren can be heard talking to Baz ,Beran and a boy with messy dark brown hair that went just on top of his upper ears, Baz and Beran laughing at what Oren was talking about.

"This time, that ashen prick wouldn't be so lucky. I will show those Blancs how strong a Polarian knight should be!" Oren boasted,

"And while we at it, we'll embarass his pathetic friends." Baz smirked.

"I do suggest we train later/" Beran told the other three.

"Brother, we don't need to train for these ninnies!" the boy with the messy short dark brown hair exclaimed.

"That's more like it, Groz!" encouraged Oren. "Us four are more than a match than the rest of the class, even!" he boasted.

"I swear, if those ninnies ever get into the Knights, I'd defect to Negazion." Baz drawled.

"Bold idea, Baz." Beran chuckled.

"If Polaria couldn't appreciate our skill and strength, someone else will." Groz said. The four walked on to the next class discussing grand plans on how to top the whole class andget the spot Sir Wilson told the class about. The rest of the day went on as usual, with nothing too eventful going on. That quickly changed however once Linguistics for Holos' class ended, as most recruits, himself included, made a beeline for the training center...only to find out that the older recruits had the same idea and were already midway into their training exercise.

Fortunately, there were more accomodating seniors that were willing to train the younger recruits. Holos went first, picking a wooden sword, while Franz, Alec and Art sat the side to wait for their turn. The exercise began with the senior attacking first, providing tips to Holos as they went on with the exercise.

"Your angle leaves you open to an overhead, block that angle." the elder recruit instructed, as he switched strikes midway. The match continued until the elder recruit scored a strike that compels one to yield. The other took on their turn, and soon it was time for dinner. This time, the group of seniors and Holos' groups waled together and shared a big table together.

The two groups got into small talk as they ate.

"So, all that training, and I haven't got even to ask your name--" Holos began

"Seth." the older recruit answered his interrupted question. "My friends are Marcus, Titania, and Jeralt." he enumerated them, waving as he mentioned their names. They continued to chatter together until it was time to go their separate ways to retire to their quarters.

Morning came, and Holos woke up with adrenaline running through his veins. Today was the day of the tournament's first round. As soon as his conciousness was fully awake, he was practicing his sword slashes and strikes.

As he was making his way to the mess hall to meet his friends, he came across Baz and Oren, on their way to their own table too.

"You won't be so lucky this time, daddy's boy" Baz jeered at him.

"Prepare to be shamed, you weakling!" Oren yelled at him.

Holos walked by them a little, then turned back.

"You gonna make an ambush or what?" he scoffed. He then went on to the mess hall to eat with his waiting friends.