"Who are you looking at?" Sarah's voice sounds curious and slightly annoyed behind Theo, making him turn around and meet her sharp gaze. "No one special," he comments casually.
"Sure," Lorien comments sarcastically. "Big brother was totally not staring at a weird barbarian girl, who, by the way, was staring back at him. Not at a chance!"
Theo cannot help but give Sarah a sorry smile, as she looks like she is about to pout, but then someone appears to save him from that awkward situation. "Theo?" That's Luke, handing him a parchment. "Here, the result of your test. Vera did me the favor of filling most of it out…"
Theo takes the parchment and notices it is filled with the same word on every line: 'perfection.' He lifts his gaze back to Luke, who smiles friendly. "Well, I can't really disagree with her. You demonstrated an impressive level of physical potential in every sense. Except for your fighting style, which is quite rudimentary, but of course, that's why you're here at the Academy, right?"
"Yeah," Theo nods, and Luke pulls him a few meters away from Sarah and Lorien, lowering his voice as well. "I also added my personal recommendation here," Luke points to the symbol of an L in the lower corner of the parchment, making Theo curious. "What does that mean?"
"Well," Luke smiles confidently. "It will help you enter with the highest honor into any school of Warriors in the Academy. Or, as I suppose, if you want to become a Rider, it will prevent you from being barred because of low scores in the magical aptitude test."
"Oh?" Theo is happy to hear that, but also doubtful. "I thought that without a good score on the magic test, I couldn't enter the Dragon Rider classes. Isn't that special favoritism?"
"Ah, no, no... not really." Luke laughs. "I'm not favoring you for personal reasons. It's true that Dragons are very rare and powerful creatures, so we don't want just anyone forming a Dragon Pact, but you are clearly a young man with great potential, even if you end up not being skilled in magic. So the Academy certainly wants you."
"I see," Theo nods with a grateful expression while holding the parchment. "Well, I'll be going then…" He tries to head back toward his friends, but Luke still seems to want to say something. "One more thing, Mr… Theo."
Theo waits, and Luke begins to speak. "First, I wanted to tell you that your opponent, the half-giant, was sent to an infirmary to finish healing, but he is out of danger. I would recommend the same to you, but…" Luke starts staring at Theo's face with a perplexed expression.
"I wasn't hurt as badly as it looked," Theo tries to avoid letting people know the fact that most of his wounds have already closed, and Luke simply nods. "Good, good. We all saw how violent your opponent was during the fight… yet, I must warn you that despite the rumors that may circulate about nobles getting away with breaking Academy rules, things are not like that."
Luke still tries to look friendly, but there is a stern expression on his face. "You fought well, but in the end, you seemed… close to losing control and causing an irreparable incident. And make no mistake, Duke Lyskarra punishes everyone who breaks the Academy's rules, especially serious transgressions such as attempting to take another person's life within Academy territory."
Theo is glad that there is order in the Academy, but he doubts things are that simple when influential nobles are involved. Yet, he nods. "Don't worry, professor, I didn't come here to kill anyone. I just want to learn about Dragons and magic like any normal student." In the end, a dark red glint flashes in Theo's brown eyes. "But still, I'm not the type to do nothing when my friends are threatened."
"Your friends?" Luke looks confused for a second, then smiles. "Oh, so you're the protective type? That's good, I feel more relieved. Also, let me offer you one more piece of advice. Do you know about the Academy's internal House system?"
"Houses?" Theo has heard a little about that from Eruina, but he is quite interested in it. Seeing his expression, Luke smiles enthusiastically. "Yeah, once you officially enter the Academy, you'll be able to choose one of the four Academic Houses. I won't go into details now, but I think you should consider joining the Blazebearers of Ignivar."
Theo likes how that name sounds, and Luke seems proud as he speaks of them. "No matter what people say, the greatest Dragon Riders of all time were Blazebearers at the Academy. Among them, you will find others like you, brave individuals willing to do anything to protect their friends and companions. It's not for nothing that they are called the House of Valor."
"House of Valor?" Theo is sure he would get along well with the Blazebearer students, but he cannot help thinking about the deal he made with Eruina, so he only nods politely to Luke. "Thanks, Professor, I'll consider the offer."
"Good!" Luke smiles and gives Theo a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Now let me continue the tests, Vera must have already prepared the next opponent…" Both of them look to the side and see Professor Vera with another member of the Dalemmar family ready to fight, an arrogant young man who is staring at Theo with a hostile look.
Theo returns the hostile look, but Luke starts pushing him away from the arena. "No, no, no! You already fought, and there are still hundreds of people in line waiting for a chance to show their talent, so get out."
As Theo leaves the arena and heads toward Sarah, Lorien passes by him with a confident expression on his face. "Watch me, Big brother, I'll show you that I'm impressive too and finish that guy very quickly."
"I don't doubt it," Theo nods to Lorien as he returns to the line and stands beside Sarah. She smiles proudly and hugs his arm, making him cast a warm look at her. The girl blushes a little and looks away, but keeps holding his arm. "Don't look at me like that, it's weird…"
"You are weird," Theo laughs, making Sarah even more flushed and shy, but she does not let go of his arm, and he does not try to pull away either. Then both of them watch as Lorien goes to the center of the arena along with the young Dalemmar, who, despite not being as tall as Theo, looks much bigger than the delicate white-haired boy.
Sarah notices Theo's concerned face and gives him a confident glance. "Don't worry, he's a Caelis. His family may be disgusting, but their bloodline is old and powerful; there may be something strange about that boy that I don't understand, but he's not weak."
Theo still cannot help but feel a little apprehensive about Lorien, after all, the guy looks as delicate as a little girl. He also notices Professor Vera looking directly at him with a provocative smile on her face, making him even more uneasy.
Luke makes both young men in the arena bow, and then the fight begins. Theo watches Lorien closely, yet the mysterious boy seems to turn into a pale blur, his movements so fast that almost no one around can truly follow them.
Whoosh! Like a white lightning bolt, Lorien advances toward his opponent, who tries to defend himself from the white-haired boy's attacks, but fails miserably. With punches and flying kicks, Lorien brutally overwhelms the young Dalemmar, aiming especially at his face.
PAH! PAH!! PAH!!! The sounds of slaps echo through the arena, and everyone sees Lorien repeatedly striking his opponent's face, which becomes red and disfigured. Everything happens under a minute, and everyone hears the loud scream of the young Dalemmar. "ENOUGH! I GIVE UP!!!"
Even hearing his opponent's words, Lorien still finishes him off with a strong kick to the face that sends the young Dalemmar rolling across the floor. Luke steps into the arena and ends the fight, casting an annoyed look at Lorien, who shrugs and flicks his long white hair before giving Theo a proud smile.
The fight causes all kinds of reactions among the watching nobles, and everyone who made nasty comments about Lorien's appearance is now silent and impressed by his strength. Yet, he ignores all the applause and goes straight to Theo. "Did you see that, Big Brother?"
"Great job, Lorien, you're so fast." Theo reaches out and pats the boy's head, making him close his eyes and smile like a happy kid, but Sarah shakes her head. "Why did it take you so long to finish that idiot?" Lorien throws her a challenging look. "Why don't you do it faster then?"
"Of course," Sarah puffs out her chest and then lets go of Theo's arm to walk toward the arena, but she turns back and winks at him. "Pay attention, it's going to be absolutely fast." Lorien rolls his eyes mockingly, but Theo is excited to see what she is capable of.
Since Lorien did not cause such serious injuries to the young Dalemmar, Luke does not waste much time with him and shows a friendly smile when he sees Sarah enter the arena. "Lady Malveryn, welcome."
"Professor Luke," Sarah bows lightly, and Luke quickly fills out her sheet while Vera prepares a Dalemmar girl to fight. When both of them stand at the center of the arena, Sarah shows grace and politeness, making her opponent wear an irritated and hostile face.
"Are all members of your family rabid dogs?" Sarah asks in a low tone while keeping a serene, smiling expression, making the Dalemmar girl even angrier. "I'm going to wipe that stupid smile off your pretty face!"
"You can try." Sarah gestures with her hand, provoking the Dalemmar girl, who takes a few steps back and then slightly lowers her body, preparing to attack. Luke raises his hand and starts his count. "One, two… three!"
When Luke finishes counting, the Dalemmar girl lunges toward Sarah like a tigress. Her speed is impressive, but Sarah stays there, calmly still, until her opponent gets very close, then she punches forward in a casual yet extremely fast motion.
BAM! Everyone sees Sarah hit the Dalemmar girl with a punch straight to the face. It is unbelievable that Sarah's delicate fist makes such a loud sound on impact, and even more insane that everyone hears a loud crack from the Dalemmar girl's skull as she immediately collapses to the floor.
"WHOAH!!!" Most of the nobles exclaim in shock while the Dalemmar girl lies motionless on the floor. Luke rushes over and checks on her. "She's alive, just unconscious…" He turns his gaze back to Sarah, both impressed and surprised, but the girl ignores everyone around her and throws a confident smile at Theo.
He is, obviously, just as impressed as everyone else and joins the other nobles applauding Sarah, making her smile shine even brighter. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful"