The teacher hadn't called anyone by their names yet—she called Sarah by her actual name, which showed the girl was no joke.
But both Riven and Luka weren't scared for Skye. They knew the girl was strong, especially after her stat boost increased. But it wasn't just that.
The thing Riven was looking forward to… he wanted to see Skye use her abilities—the ones she gained from the skill trees. Riven split all the skill points evenly between everyone. He didn't use them on just one ability. He made sure to give everyone another ability before unlocking their skill tree, meaning all of the bonded party members had more than one evolution. But Riven made it apparent: do not show off these new evolutions—not yet.
Skye was already in a battle stance, but it looked sloppy.
"What type of stance is that?" Sarah questioned.
"Give me a break, this is my first time with these things," Skye complained, shaking her daggers. "But I'll improvise."
Sarah was clutching a bo staff, ready for Skye to make a move. Then a sound was heard—something similar to a guitar. When Sarah turned, she saw a sound wave floating and striking her in the gut. But the girl was quick to recover. She rushed straight at Skye, but Skye looked calm. Then, out of nowhere, the girl let out a scream.
Sarah sidestepped it, getting out of the way, but when she did, she saw what looked like words in midair—like a comic.
"Wall," the word said.
And when she ran into the word, it felt like she ran head-first into a hardened wall. Sarah fell down but quickly recovered after the collision. When Sarah looked at Skye, she saw a word hovering around her, with the word saying
Shield
"Okay, I think I'm getting a good understanding of this ability of yours," Sarah said with a confident grin. "You can make words of sound, but you have to say them, and you can make one at a time."
"What's she talking about?" a student asked.
"Yeah, I didn't see—or hear—her say a single word," another commented.
But Riven, Luka, and the teacher knew what she was talking about. Not only did Awakening increase their physical abilities, but also their hearing as well. This told them that Sarah was, in fact, Awakened.
Skye still didn't seem worried. She stomped her leg on the ground. When she did that, Sarah's legs felt numb and wouldn't move.
"Frequency's a funny thing, isn't it? So funny it can even stop you in place," Skye called out.
"What? How can she do this? It must take a lot out of her just to subdue a person like me… but she barely shows any struggle. It's aggravating."
Skye then tried to rush in and end it like the last matches—no, the girl wanted to end it even quicker. She knew Sarah wasn't normal, so Skye wanted to finish the fight fast. When Skye tried to put the dagger to her throat and end the match, she had confidence… until a little pluck sound. Then the back of Sarah's hand smacked Skye across the face, sending the girl flying back.
But she was able to stand up after the attack. She looked at Sarah with a shocked expression.
"How?"
"Turns out your little frequency lock has some gaping holes. One being—I can still use my ability a bit while still in it. And I can still do the smallest of movements. And with my evolution, this really isn't a good matchup for you."
When Sarah said these words, Skye could see her hands lighting up a dim purple, which showed she had a gravity evolution.
Riven was shocked by how creative Sarah was with her gravity evolution. He saw what the girl did, and it amazed him—because he'd never thought of something like that.
Sarah was able to put the purple dim light around her fingertips and do something like the Weightless ability, but on a singular part of the body. Thanks to that, she could do a powerful pluck in the air with no gravity, sending her hand rocketing upward—which is why the contact was so great.
"Aww, what's wrong? No more tricks?" Sarah taunted.
"Push."
Another word of sound once again appeared out of thin air—but this time behind Sarah, launching her toward Skye. But Sarah was able to completely cover herself with the purple light and stop her own movement.
"You know, you can't really keep using the same moves twice."
Sarah then charged on her own accord, with her speed outmatching Skye's by a large margin. When she got in range, she thrust her bo staff toward her. But Skye herself was quick on her feet, having another word ready.
"Shield."
When the bo staff went up against the word, the two forces collided—neither getting the upper hand. But the big difference was Skye's hands were empty. She was then able to kick Sarah, making her stagger back a little. Sarah then tried the same trick as last time, but Skye was prepared this time—having her dagger pointed exactly where Sarah's hand would go up—stabbing the second-year student in the back of her hand.
"Ahhhhh!" Sarah yelled out.
"You need to practice what you preach," Skye smirked.
The teacher was ready to call the match, but was stopped by Sarah.
"Don't call the match yet. It's not over."
Sarah then did something that shocked both Luka and Riven—she made a purple spear. The two boys and Skye knew what this was.
"The Lawless Space," Riven called out.
"So you heard of it too, huh? Wait, what am I saying? You're a first-year—you most likely saw the student do it himself."
"So the rumors are true. Some of the first-years were able to unlock a true Awakening," a student called.
"Yeah, but that first-year was able to do this—and look at me. I was able to do the same thing after just a week," Sarah called, wanting the attention back on her.
By the way everyone reacted, it made the three realize—they didn't know it was Riven they were talking about. And that some—maybe most—of the students in the Academy didn't know who really unlocked their True Awakening during the first outing.
Sarah then flicked her hand, making Skye's body shoot up into the air. This caught the girl off guard, almost making her throw up from the sudden movement, but she was able to recollect herself. A word then manifested out of thin air:
Grounded
She then pressed the word on herself, making her fall back to the platform surface, then rushed in toward Sarah.
"And here's another big difference from me and that idiot from—"
Riven flinched hearing those words. He wouldn't classify himself as an idiot. Sarah then held both of her arms out and turned them counterclockwise. The dome turned from light purple to more of a darker shade—but that wasn't the only thing that changed. The inside of it went from no weight to feeling like tons were being thrown on top of her.
"Whoa, can you do that?" Luka whispered to Riven, who shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe if I experiment with it more. Probably."
"Ahhh!" Skye yelled out, removing the Grounded word and making the word "Weight Lifted", allowing her to stand up.
"Weight Lifted? I could've sworn I heard you say Weightless, which means you must also have a verbal limit as well," Sarah grinned ear to ear.
Sarah was unaffected by her own dome, thanks to making herself weightless. She then rushed toward Skye, smacking her in the face with the bo staff and started attacking the girl repeatedly.
Leo and Riven were both ready to jump in. It was brutal and unfair—one of them couldn't even go all out because of their choices. But they were stopped when they heard—
"That's enough," the teacher called out. She wanted to give the first-years a lesson, not a senseless beatdown.
Sarah stopped bashing Skye with her bo staff and then fell to her knees, breathing hard. Skye's hair was down to her neck—during the onslaught, both of her ponytails had come out.
The teacher then hit the button on her wrist, making one of the hooded figures approach. Before they could disappear, Skye heard:
"You really are a bastard child, huh?" Sarah said, then started walking away.
But then—a big thud was heard. A shift in the air was felt. Sarah turned toward Skye, whose hair was floating in the air, an aura of rippling sound waves flowing all across her body, and the hooded figure was on the ground with a huge dent under it.
Skye unconsciously activated her True Awakening form out of rage.
"A True Awakening… is this out of rage, or because of your bloodline?" Sarah asked with a nervous smirk.
Skye's eyes lit up with even more rage. Her hands started shaking—but not from anger—from volume, as sound waves came out of her hands. Sarah put up her guard, but the sound wave was stopped by the teacher.
"Mrs. Vire," Sarah called out.
"Wait—Mrs.? You telling me someone married that monster?" a student called out in shock.
As the waves died down, Skye could see Sarah uninjured—which made her clench her fist.
Mrs. Vire stood there, the arms of her sleeves torn off. She looked back to check, a sigh of relief on her face—but that look quickly turned into annoyance.
"Don't bark if you don't expect to get bit."
She could see the rage in Skye's eyes. With her being out of blood and in a True Awakening form, Vire knew this was bad for Sarah.
"I won't let any more students die for a dumb cause."
Skye wasn't playing around anymore. Not caring who saw her True Awakening form, she wanted blood—and started using the true extent of her new skill tree. Words appeared out of nowhere, all of them different colors, all blasting toward Sarah and Mrs. Vire. But the older woman lifted her guard, trying to protect Sarah. Different words came toward them:
Freeze
Burn
Blast Away
Fall
Grounded
Skye tried her best to move, but the older woman wouldn't budge. Skye then started charging up an almighty blast in her mouth, not caring who got hit.
Some of the students were almost hit by Skye's initial blast, and seeing the way the girl was charging this up, it would most likely be stronger and bigger than before. Everyone jumped out of the way—except for Luka and Riven. The two boys just stood there, dumbfounded. They didn't know Skye had such emotions inside of her, building up.
"Do you know what this is about?" Riven questioned Luka, since he knew Skye longer than him.
"No, I don't. She never showed this side to any of us," Luka replied.
They both knew what they had to do.
Riven then made his Lawless Space, and imitating Sarah, he flicked his hand—making Skye's head lift up. She let a scream out into the air, hitting the roof. But when the dust cleared—nothing about the roof was damaged. She was then about to whisper more words until Luka held her mouth shut using vines and tied up her whole body. Then he got in front of her.
"Skye, calm down. You're out of control, and we don't want to hu—"
But before Luka could continue, Mrs. Vire came from behind and knocked Skye out with a chop to the neck.
"Good distraction, kid."
Skye's eyes were bloodshot red, still staring at Sarah until she lost consciousness.
"Okay, now that's the end of today's class," Mrs. Vire called out.