ONIPEDE (The Intercessor)

To the central Market

Karli stood by the training room looking at the two students having a spar with a smile on his face. He has always anticipated the day Dele will finally let go of his lazy behavior and begin to train, and that day has finally come. Although he can’t estimate the level he’ll get to yet but it’s certain he will go very far.

Inside the training room. Tomi is finally getting serious with Dele, and there have been occasional slips that she was able to use to her advantage. Knowing that his stamina is at its limits , Tomi made a feint with her left leg making Dele to stagger a bit before finally sweeping him off his feet.

Dele fell down with a light thud before finally giving up on the spar.

“Alright I yield!”. Dele let out an exasperated sigh before struggling to get up to his feet.

Tomi made a light snort before moving forward to help him up.

“You are such a bully “. Dele muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?”. Tomi gave him a side glance before turning back to taking off her protective gear.

“Nothing, I’m sure it must have felt good beating me up like this “ Dele replied with an upset voice.

Tomi giggled and turned back to face him, “you are quite good yourself, it’s just that you haven’t trained your body properly “

“I guess I now know what to focus on in my training “ Dele said while rubbing his sour hands.

Noticing that the spar is over, Karli decided to come into the training room also.

“Nice, nice “.Karli was beaming from ear to ear . “This is it. This is the proper way of Bavaria students “.

“Teacher, you won’t believe it. Dele has been practicing secretly all this while, while pretending to be a lazy student to everyone “. Tomi folded her arms as she began reporting Dele righteously.

The teacher looked at Dele meaningfully and said “really?, there’s something like that?”

“Something like that “ Dele did not bother clearing the misunderstanding and just accept it the way Tomi says it.

“Good, very. Now I have another student to count on. Keep up the good work “. Karli said with a broad smile before leaving the training room .

“What did he mean by ‘another student to count on “? Dele looked at Tomi confused.

“I don’t know “ Tomi shrugged and continued packing up her stuff

“Are you done with training?”

“Yea” Tomi replied carelessly

“Where are you going to now?” Dele asked further making Tomi look up at him with a confused look.

“Why do you care?”

“Nothing, can’t I ask?”. Tomi gazed at him for a while before answering him.

“To the central market “.

“Can I come?” He also had plans of visiting the market and see if there are any valuable things he could get his hands on. Tomi kept staring at him for a moment before asking honestly. “Did you got swapped with someone else?. Yesterday was sudden interest in training, today you want to go out to the market, who knows maybe tomorrow you’ll want to visit the palace”. Tomi was right in her suspicions. The former Dele will always stay cooped up in his room no matter what. Never goes out to train with others, doesn’t like participating in school competitions or activities, and when he was asked why, he’ll always say “ what if I get hurt?”. The only person he moves around with is Tomi giving her the nickname of “Dele’s bodyguard “ at some point.

“I do want to visit the palace” Dele replied instantly not minding the suspicion at all. Unless you dig into his soul, there’s no way you can verify that he’s not the original Dele.

“Shut up “ Tomi snapped at him and rolled her eyes before heading out of the room.

“Make sure you are ready in thirty minutes and meet me at the academy entrance “

“Sure” Dele answered with a smile on his face. He has been friends with Tomi or rather the former owner of this body has been friends for a long time now and he knows her character very much. Although she may act mean and sometimes more masculine than most guys, she is someone that appreciates company, and she never treat her friends badly.

Since the spar is already over, Dele decided to train his energy for a few more minutes before heading out to meet up with Tomi who was already waiting at the school entrance for him.

********** ********** **********

At the market….after walking aimlessly for sometime, they got to a weapon master shop. Tomi paused and asked if he would like to get a weapon before he mastered using energy to form elements to which he refused. Although Tomi tried persuading him to get one but after seeing the determined look on his face to not buy one, she gave up on the matter.

“Why do you not want a prep weapon?” Tomi asked after they’ve left the weapon master shop.

“Nothing much really. I just felt like in order to advance quickly and get to the next level faster I need to be constantly exposed to danger, so for now I don’t think I need anything like support or prep weapon for my self “. Dele replied after a few minutes of deep thinking.

Tomi took another good look at this friend of hers before shaking her head and laughing.” I don’t think I know you anymore “.

Dele shrugged his shoulders before saying “ let’s just say I got tired of being safe and secure. It can be boring sometimes you know?”

“Of course it’s boring!, what kind of life is that without adventure and dangers. Tsk, now you are sounding like a man”. Tomi smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Dele looked at her before shaking his head and sighed in his heart.” Only God knows the kind of man that will have the ability to soften your heart “.

“Probably the crown prince “ Tomi said with a giggle in a ladylike manner.

“Oh I see”.

“That aside, do you mind using an energy stabilizer then?”. Tomi asked with a smile, Dele now seems truly worthy of being her friend in her eyes since he has decided to change his mentality towards life.

“Doesn’t sound bad”

“Alright then, let’s go “.