Lyria walked a few steps ahead of him, her pace steady. Khaine followed, eyes moving everywhere at once.
The academy looked different when you weren't being dragged through it or stared down by masters. Towers rose high above them, carved with old symbols that faintly shimmered. Students passed by in groups, some laughing, some training, some silent and sharp-eyed.
"So," Khaine said, breaking the quiet, "everyone here can use magic?"
Lyria nodded. "To some degree."
"Even the weak ones?" he asked.
She glanced back at him briefly. "There are no weak ones here. Only untrained ones."
Khaine scoffed. "Sounds like something people say to feel better." She didn't react.
Instead, she kept walking. "Magic here isn't about talent alone. It's control. Understanding. Some are born with it. Others awaken it."
"And me?" he asked bluntly. "Am I still going to awaken my own powers?" Lyria stopped, she turned to face him fully now.
"Yes," she said simply. "That's why you're here to awaken the gear, so you can know how to control it."
Khaine frowned. "That wasn't an answer."
"It was," she replied. They continued walking.
"Why didn't the other masters choose me?" He asked in curiosity.
"The others didn't choose you because you were too dangerous to predict, our master chose you because that danger could be shaped, our master just believes even the unshaped can be reshaped." she sighed, "I still don't know why the other lower ranks didn't choose you, since you don't have magic, you are not supposed to be in A-rank." She implied but it angered him.
"Is that an insult, because am an ordinary human." He frowned noticeably.
"No it's a fact, people like you are supposed to be in either E-rank or D-rank." She shrugged and he narrowed his eyes at her.
She pointed toward a wide circular field below them where students trained. Some summoned flames. Others bent air, stone, or light. A few fought with weapons infused with magic.
"Magic flows through everything," Lyria explained. "Your body learns to guide it, if you don't control it you die it takes over, your case is similar to those who can't wield dark magic, when you die you can't get control over your body again."
He snorted. "Comforting." Before she could respond, the air changed, it became heavier and colder.
Students nearby began to step aside, khaine felt it before he saw them.
A group of five approached from the opposite path, their presence oppressive. S-rank.
The one in front walked like the world owed him space. Tall, broad, jis hair was jet black, falling loosely around his shoulders. His eyes were brown and hollow, those eyes flicked to Lyria and lingered.
Khaine felt something twist in his chest. "Well," the leader said, voice was smooth and amused. "If it isn't Lyria."
"Came to disturb my peace again Damon." She answered abruptly and he grinned at her.
Then one of them noticed Khaine. "…What's that?" a guy behind the leader asked, squinting.
The leader followed his gaze, his eyes swept over Khaine once. Then he smiled. "Oh," he said softly. "So this is the ordinary human."
Khaine bristled. "I have a name."
"A normal human," another said. "Dragged in because he has something shiny inside him." The leader took a step closer.
"And yet," he said, "I don't see anything special."
Khaine clenched his fists. "Funny. I don't see anything impressive either." he scowled at them with rage burning inside him.
The air went dead silent. Lyria stepped forward immediately. "Enough. This isn't—" The leader raised a hand, and some of his friends pulled her abruptly.
"Do you know who you're talking to, I could destroy you and anything related to you with just a snap of my fingers," he mocked.
Khaine met his gaze. His voice shook, but he didn't back down. "I don't care to know who you are and I just got here," he said. "But I won't kneel just because you want me to."
The leader's smile widened, he stepped closer with a deafening Aura erupting from him. "Say that again," he murmured.
Khaine didn't move, then unexpectedly his face was in contact with his fist. Pain exploded through his chest instead of his face.
The world spun, Khaine flew backward and slammed into a stone wall hard enough to crack it. His breath left him in a broken gasp as he collapsed to the ground.
Lyria shouted his name, she thrashed her arms eager to break free from the strong arms. "Let him go you fool!" she yelled, struggling.
Damon raised his hand at her and a translucent orb formed around her, sealing her inside. She slammed her palms against it, furious.
"Stop this!" she shouted. "You're crossing—" Damon ignored her. He walked toward Khaine slowly.
"You see?" he said calmly. "This is the difference between us, since you don't want to include yourself in the normal humans categories."
Khaine forced himself up, blood running from his mouth. The leader lifted his hand.
Invisible blows slammed into Khaine's body, throwing him across the ground. He rolled, barely managing to move before another strike shattered against him.
His bones screamed, then khaine felt something grip him forcefully on his neck. His body lifted off the ground violently.
"So weak," he said. "This is what you amount to." Khaine's vision blurred, his neck gripped hard by the five of the magic. Blood filled his eyes, pain drowned everything else.
"You...fuck...in fool.." he stuttered, finding it hard to breathe, "Ahhhhhh!" He then felt a surge of unknown energy rise from his body, it felt very powerful.
Heat flooded his veins, the pain disappeared. Khaine dropped back to the ground on his feet. The Damon eyes widened. "How did that happen!" He questioned in disbelief, now realizing he wasn't an ordinary human.
"It's taking over" Lyria said, hitting the orb so she can try to stop him, before he kills them.
Black smoke erupted from damon palm, forming thick ropes that shot toward Khaine.
They stopped midair only reaching few inches away from his face. Khaine slowly lifted his head. His eyes were no longer normal. They were blood-red, the S-rank students eyes widened, this wasn't normal magic.
Khaine raised his hand. And with a simple motion, the smoke vanished. The leader stared at him now, something unfamiliar crossing his face, he was beyond shock.
Lyria, then focused her energy and the orb started to crack, she spread her arms wide and the orb broke her out and it vanished, before she could reach where Damon stood, Khaine jabbed his arm forward his palm wide.
An unknown energy erupted from his palm that sent everyone close to him flying on the air, it was like a hard and forceful wind that brushed them away, he wasn't in control anymore, "So anger and pain makes him lose control," Lyria muttered to herself, calculating on how to stop Khaine.