"Your entire existence is a massive middle finger to the concept of 'Rules and Regulations'. What possibly made you go through with this?"
"I can't help it, buddy. Sometimes, even I, the greatest Defined of all time, have to throw away my ego and uselessly inflated title when she tells me to."
The man slammed his fist onto the table. The room was dark and was subtly covered in red drapes. The thud echoed in no one's ears.
"A fucking academy? Out of everything ℵ could've prophesized." He threw his hands up in frustration.
The other man, seemingly much shorter than him, was sitting across the table, disconnected with the conversation.
"Lye.
We are enough.
This makes no sense.
Instead of getting stronger, you'd want to waste more time training little kids, preparing them for a war. A war we have been fighting and losing for decades?"
The child got up and grabbed the tower of a man by his collar. His expression was playful, yet the man knew it was far from it.
"You sit here, saying all of this, but what is it that you've done?" He practically spat.
The expression of the bear-like man would've caused a normal person to run away in fear, but Lye pushed it, unphased and genuinely angry.
"Tell me.
Nicht.
What have you done?"
Rays of sunshine pranced into the room, as a woman opened the door.
"Are you guys done making out?"
She walked towards Nicht, ignoring Lye's attempt to hug her.
She threw a hollow punch at him, which caused the saturated Nicht to fritz out and disappear, revealing an orange stain from the wall behind him.
"Stupid hologram." She said under her breath.
Lye smiled at her cheekily.
"Heya. I missed you too."
"Couldn't you have done something to him? You can casually defy the laws of the universe."
He shrugged.
"You beat me to it."
The room slowly transformed into a wooden cottage. The room they were in currently was the basement of something even bigger. Oak planks filled the floor, as the previous red highlights transformed into jumping embers of a fireplace. The room smelled of musty smoke and the relaxing odor of the woodwork. The glossy table sat right next to the fireplace, where Lye was sitting next to. The woman was around 5 foot 8. She had pink hair whose color slowly faded into purple along the roots. She wore silver lean armor that clanked every step she took.
Lye fastened the belts of his overalls and faced her, with his arms extended.
"Feed me, mommy!"
Lye found himself in an unnatural position, knocked out next to the fireplace.
"Heal up and come upstairs. They're waiting for us."
Lye flaunted his black eye as he made his way up the stairs. The living room was filled with massive glass panels. Posters of various gibberish covered the walls of the room. A massive circle table was placed. dead center. Sitting there were 5 other people.
"Ladies, don't blush, don't blush, just because I'm here." He said, fist bumping someone across his seat.
"Sit down, you womanizer." The woman from before said.
"I'm not a womanizer-" Lye wagged his finger at her, objecting.
"No wonder Stella rejected you."
"No wonder I rejected you." She stated, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.
Lye sighed.
"Fall, support me here. I even gave you a fist bump..."
"She's my sister, you pretentious douchebag. What do you mean 'support you'?" He said, as he accepted the high-5 from Stella.
"Are we done here?" The one sitting on the big chair asked everyone, as he unleashed his Domain.
It made the entire house shake furiously , and the terrain surrounding the mountain it was mounted upon.
"Look at Mr. Stuck up his ass here! You think that scares us?" Another person said, while belly laughing.
"Can we just please focus?"
"Awwwww. You look so adorable when you're frustrated." Stella laughed.
.
.
.
The surroundings suddenly transformed again.
"Memory replayed 43,343 times, sir.
Domain reserves are at 0.01%.
Replaying it would-"
"LYDA.
Just do it again." He said with a raspy voice. His eyes, dead of emotions. His clothes were completely rugged, his hair unkept, his skin dried out.
"Please.."
"As you wish."
>>
"Wakey Wakey!"
Decey groaned as he slowly became conscious. He scanned around and realized he was in the nurse's office. He had sustained no injuries. There was only a weird contraption connected to his forehead- loose wires with patches that stuck to it. Decey couldn't care less what they were meant for.
He noticed Heet was next to his bed, waking her up. His vision was still very blurry.
"Hello, paralysis demon. You look kinda cute." The words slurred as they came out of his mouth.
The demon laughed.
"I'm the demon? Did you look at how you left your opponent?" She replied with a tone that was both calm yet cautious.
" Oh.."
The memories all began to flood in.
Decey remembered how the Domain surrounding Zil was very similar to the entity that killed Aunt Oris.
"God. My head doesn't let me rest, does it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Listen. What I'm gonna say might sound weird, but please believe me."
Decey leaned in closer to Heet, who looked worried.
"Remember the day in the hill?"
Heet pushed him and slowly backed up.
"No. You asshole. Stop talking about it. I don't want to think about it, and you shouldn't too.."
"Please, Heet.." He begged.
Heet leaned in closer, wondering what was on his mind to make him relive those horrible days/
"The 'person' who did that. I feel like they are related to Zil."
"What..?" Heet was taken aback, her face speaking volumes of how much she disliked this conversation.
"You know how I can somehow look at the Domains of other people, right?
Yours is like an ocean.
Zil's was like a urchin.
Theirs were also like an urchin."
"An urchin? You mean the Domain surrounding them look similar, like spikes on an urchin?"
Decey smiled, although it was a half smile. It was all he could muster.
"You got it, chief."
Decey plumped back on his bed, stretching his body out.
"Gosh, show some manners." Heet said while cringing at his groans.
"What happened to the class?"
"Well..
You won the match.
Also, what the hell was that?"
Decey chuckled, unsure about what had happened himself.
"Don't worry about it."
"Zil was levitating you, and you were floating and I assume you were fighting back. Then you got flung towards the ceiling, and you suddenly landed down. It looked so weird.
I couldn't wrap my mind around that fight, but it seemed like that look of yours came out again."
"Oh-"
Decey felt slightly ashamed. He remembered how he had continuously chanted in his head, the words 'kill, kill, kill'.
His head was still buzzing from the adrenaline. He shook his head, trying to tell his thoughts to scram.
"Professor Ash was super pissed at Zil. He was severally injured though. His entire back was lacerated by something that looked like a long scythe. The Professor picked him up and took him to his room, and dismissed everyone else. I picked you up and brought you here, and here we are."
Decey held up a sign that read. "Nice summary. 10/10!"
"Am I strong enough for you now, Heet?"
She scoffed.
"You fucker. I guess the student has truly become the teacher.
And you were always strong enough for me, no doubt about it."
She held his hand and gripped it hard. Decey suddenly noticed someone in one of the beds.
"Is that you, Dean?" He tried his hardest not to laugh.
Dean groaned.
"No. I look horrible right now."
"You forgot to say you're welcome, Dean. That makeover do I did for you seems to do wonders. I wonder how one could get such natural dark eyes!" Heet sneered.
"Your girlfriend here is a bad winner." Dean tried to point at his head, the only thing not covered in bandages towards her.
"Deal with it, Dean. Just as I have for an unbearable amount of years."
"Roger that, roommate." He struggled to say as he slowly lied back down.
Heet rolled her eyes. She sighed, relieved that Decey was doing better. She didn't want to admit it but, she was scared when he collapsed. Now that he had told her new information, it only seemed right for her to tell Lye.
However, Lye had told her he was going to be off-grid for three days, and this was the last day. She wanted him to let him off for just another day.
She found it very suspicious, considering she heard rumors of his dome being active even during the nights. She waved it off and left the nurse's room.
"Bye guys!"
"Bye!" Decey exclaimed as he hugged her.
"I'll get you next time, Heet." Dean shouted back as she walked away.
"Oh I'm sorry. I don't feel like Cleopatra to be chased by mummies." She said without turning back.
>>
"LYDA. Who is it?" Lye asked, lying on his back and staring at the Dome which replicated a dense rainforest.
"It seems to be Professor Ash."
"Let him in."
The hexagons slowly faded away, creating a doorway for Ash to walk in.
"Headmaster, is this a good time to talk?" He asked, while breathing heavily.
As Lye got up, he wiped the drool off of his chin and wore his shirt.
"Let me guess, December went ahead and surprised you?"
Ash's expression spoke more clearly than what Lye's Augen Gottes told him.
"He defeated Zil, in a very scary manner on top of that."
"Oh your 'supposed strongest student'? Isn't that a shocker.
Don't tell me you gained interest for him already.."
"He predicted every single move. He didn't have exceptional Domain Boosting proficiency, but something felt off.
That kid stood there, fighting as if fate had already decided he'd win."
Either the rain had become real, or Lye's frown washed away and turned into a smile.
"I told you right? December Oris is going to change this world."
"He knows about Φ."
Lye slowly got up in Ash's face.
"I'm sorry. What?" He said, with a slight aggression in his tone.
"Seems like no one had told him about it. So it must mean he met Φ before."
His smile had slowly turned into something more hideous.
"Also, the Treaf girl. She used the Mobius. Did you teach her that?"
Lye scoffed.
"Are you crazy?
I didn't teach her jack shit.
She saw me use it once, during a private lesson.
Seems like she understood the whole concept of it.
December isn't the only one you have to look out for, child.
Heet Treaf is equally a monster."
"She takes after her brother." Ash said.
"Well, she might kill you if you say that." Lye said.
He winced at the emotions he had felt that day, when he saw through Heet, and the actions she takes to deal with it.
"Pardon?"
"Don't worry about it, Ash. Don't you got other classes? Goooo scram!!" He shouts.
"Fine. I shall see you again, Headmaster."
The hexagons close up again, leaving Lye alone with his thoughts.
Lye sat there, smiling at the sky, or maybe something behind that.
"So you've met him too, huh?"
>>