The Reborn Magus and His Prince

Chapter 7: Combat Class

At a corner of the room, upfront and a few walk away from the board, a lone hourglass stood at a table. Its sand prickling down ever slows making a certain someone flutter his eyes as the fairy of dreams almost pointed its wand at him.

That certain someone had his chin resting on his palm. His head hanged dangerously low, there's a magnetic force between the surface of the table and his face. A rap on his table had saved him from kissing the shiny wood.

Yulian startled awake, looked around him. A face with round eyes was looking down at him over his rectangular glasses. The class of Orphys had finished hours ago and there were other two before this man who teaches history.

"Professor,"

"Hmm, tell me, Albertine, why did the mad magus Yulan kill the thirty-fourth principal of our academy when he did nothing but offer peace?"

By the thirty-fourth, he means that sleazy old guy who attempted to steal the pure orb from him by offering him a false treaty. Not only did his faction try to steal but also had aimed for his life. Of course, he had to act first and take the roots before they could grow uncontrollable.

"Well... professor..." He could not tell them the ugly truth to their distorted history.

"Tsk, tsk..." A hint of ridicule can be seen in the professor's eyes. "This is why I'm opposed to this charity program. All they ever bring here are ignorant fools."

The man muttered under his breath but loud enough that the class heard him. A roar of laughter echoed especially loud at his left side.

Yulian put both of his hands on the desk and sat straighter. The mean catcalls and meetings directed at him went in and out. These true ignorant fools only know what was black and white. They eat whatever is being fed to them and never try to see the rest of the image.

"And you," the professor loomed over him with his ever wide eyes. "You better pay attention to my class or else you will be sitting for the rest of the year outside."

"Yes, professor." He didn't meet his eyes. His eyes were cast downward, creating a perfect image of an obedient boy.

The professor's gaze lingered for a second, inspecting for a fault in him that he could insult on again. He gave up at the end when Yulian persisted and resumed his sleep-inducing class.

The rest of his classes went on smoothly. After he got scolded, he tried to keep his attention steady and smoothly. A high tension had been building up inside him. His gaze never strayed from the hourglass. His visions almost became microscopic as he watches the last grain of sand to join its brothers. Simultaneously, everyone stood up including him when the hourglass turned to repeat the process. Turns out he's not the only one anticipating the next class.

The professor at the front exhaled, already used at this scene. "All of you may go."

The sounds of steps loudly echoed throughout the hallway, dozens of students swarmed in one direction. The back of the building is where another facility resides. A special facility for a special class where most had the freedom to let loose. The combat class.

And Yulian's favorite class from then till now.

The only thing he like at Caereus was the gymnasium. Majestic and screamed of power. Different kinds of weapons were displayed on every corner. He could almost feel the vibration of their thirstiness for blood. However, the age of wars had long been gone, these weapons would be forever shed from the light and never be used again to take lives. And as much as he loves them, he also wishes for them to never be awake so that no rivers of blood and mountain of corpses would appear on this continent again.

A different group of students and two professors were already inside. Yulian's class had changed to their gym uniform and when they came back, these people had already taken their seats on the benches.

Orphys motioned her class to take their seats.

"Oh shucks, it's class A again." A girl whispered at her friend as the whole class made their way to the benches.

"Yeah, well I guess we'll be losers for the rest of the year again," the friend whispered back. "But it's okay if it means we could see them." Then the both of them let out a silent squeal like chickens being put under the knife.

Yulian was walking behind them so he heard everything and he immediately knew who's 'them'. Those three stood out from the rest even they were sitting and the girls' attention had locked in on them. They seemed oblivious to the attention or did not care and were used to it. Leo appeared to be telling something funny or perverted the way his hands moves in the air. His hands formed two circles and even made the motion of squeezing. He laughed while his twins made a disgusted look.

Truly shameless.

His eyes then moved to Alex. And he almost retracted his gaze when his eyes meet his. However, he held his ground. He refuses to back down.

Ever since the day they encountered each other under the balcony. This guy had been hostile to him like he owed him a thousand of golds.

"What are you two doing? Staring contest is not on the list for you to compete!" The loud voice of Orphys made Yulian withdraw his gaze. And only realized that he unconsciously had taken the seat beside Alex.

The two class' attention was on them, expecting something. Class A positioned on the right side, B on the left with Yulian and Alex seated on the boundary of their class.

"I...I lost." He conceded through gritted teeth. The right side erupted in loud cheers while the left slumped in defeat. Orphys rolled her eyes and her colleague chuckled.

"Great! The start of our streak losses."

"He dared to compete with Prince Alex. How embarrassing!"

"So useless!"

These comments from his classmates hit Yulian one after another. Mohawk's voice was especially louder than the rest.

Sorry, okay? He also hates to lose, it's all the professor's fault. He wanted to mourn in silence but a smug Alex on the side made him stop. He scooted over to Tim who's sitting on his other side to create more distance from the bipolar man.

"Alright, ladies and men, this is the time you've been waiting for all day!"

Class A and B alike cheered, the energy of teenagers filled the gym.

The professor had been introduced as Professor Desmond. He had a bulked body and shaved head. A scar-cutting cross from his left ear creeping up towards his cheek will make a child cry but contrary to his appearance. The guy had a sunny personality and seemed close with the students.

According to Tim, which he did know here, he got from. Desmond was used to be a knight specializing in expeditions to discover dungeons. But an injury made him apply for early retirement and was offered a teaching position in the academy.

"Alright, settled down. You already learned how to utilize and strengthen your skills. This year we'll see how you fare in one on one fight." Both he and Orphys walked to the students' side.

The ground rumbled, the center of the gym was slowly sinking, leaving only the benches where the students were sitting. Now, the inside of the gym looked like a large pit had been dug. Two staircases appeared at the other end of the benches leading downward.

"When your name's called, you have to get in there," Orphys pointed at the pit."And fight to the death."

"She's joking, right?" Tim whimpered. The only one was probably not enthusiastic about the whole combat class. He's shrinking in his seat.

"Of course, she's... not." Yulian joked and slapped Tim on his back. "Come on, man up! This is the most exciting part of this school!"

He too was shaking but not with fright. It's been too long since he had a proper fight. The encounter with the summoner at Ruke did not count. Blood was pumping on his veins, ready to release some adrenalin.

Desmond rubbed his two hands, getting infected by the kids' energy. "First off, let's start with a rematch!"

The crowd grew puzzled. "Rematch? Who?" While some already was looking at Yulian's and Alex's direction.

"Who else, those two from earlier, Prince Alex and whatshisname boy!"

This time the class A did not shout in cheers but they still clapped in honor of the prince.

While B had dark clouds gathered over their heads. Though they were used to being in the losing team every time, they still get depressed over it. Especially when an outsider would mix in their group. But hey, what are the odds? The peasant's enemy is the prince, maybe he could win. Though that would still be unacceptable to them. A peasant beating their prince? Unforgivable!

"Loser! Hope you get beaten up badly!" Mohawk again started the barrage of insults. "You'll be in your -"

He didn't much pay attention to that guy as he descended the stairs but he glanced back when his shoutings had stopped. Only his visions were blocked by a wide chest dressed in their standard long sleeve leather armor. Yulian caught the dangerous glint in Alex's eyes when he stared at the Mohawk's location.

There's no room for understanding Alex's action. The professors led them to the very center of the pit. They stood facing each other.

"Remember this is only a practice match, okay? There's no need to get bloody, okay." Desmond kept on reminding them.

If he's that nervous that someone's going to get hurt, why bother hyping this class? -_-

"On my count. One, two, three... Fight!" He then ran to the inner field.

"..."

"..."

"Oh, come on! Fight!" Orphys yelled when the students stood still at the center.

Unbothered by the shouting, Yulian rolled his shoulders and even did some stretching in front of the composed Alex.

"This kind of bothering me for a while but what's your type of ability? I mean, you saw mine but I don't know yours."

Alex did not answer. He walked to the side where different weapons were displayed. He chose a shield and a wooden spear with a blunt head.

"Huh, so you're a knight. Why did you have to be secretive -"

The head of the spear coming fast on his face was all he could see before creating a fire barrier. He volume up the amount of fire and as the weapon made contact with his fire, it immediately turned to ashes.