The General Romania that walked into the control room of Building Four of the Academy was not as emotional as the Romania of the carriage ride. Here, she had to be professional.
Yet, with each blow dealt to the monsters, her hands twitched. She couldn't stop it, and it did not go unnoticed in a room full of analysts.
Luckily for her, the myth had permeated even to the upper reaches of the Academy.
"She can hardly stand to watch."
"She wishes she could be the one down there, killing those monsters."
"See how her hands twitch? She wants to help."
And on it went.
At least, for the first thirty minutes. And then something different happened.
Building Four had a ringed structure, with a hallway around the outside and then the ten rooms within that, and the control center she was currently standing in in the very center, where one needed only to turn to see into each room through the large windows. For the past half an hour, she had been walking around and looking through the glass as different members of the Academy's staff would call to her, pointing out their favorite students or how certain people utilized their abilities.
It might have been interesting, if she wasn't inside, out of the sun.
But there was something that caught her attention. After watching Group Five barely defeat an ice-type creature, the observers called her over to watch Group Fourteen enter.
As they did, her breath caught.
No, no, no. This wasn't right. These were students, yes, but they were organized.
Romania frowned.
"Excuse me, general, is something the matter?" one of her escorts asked.
"Why aren't they all like this?" Romania asked in a cold tone, her eyes fixed on the ranks of students forming up inside the fourth room. "Are even your veterans so pathetic that they can't manage a single formation in their scramble to impress you? The rest are not soldier material. This is right."
The observers stared at her, speechless, but she didn't care. She was looking for something more important.
There, she saw it. A straight head, a slightly shifted posture, confident steps. She had found the instigator, the snake's head.
Even without being near him, she could see it. Romania took a step forward, closer to the glass, her focus tightening. He commanded with all the authority of a lifelong general. Who was he?
"I want the profiles of every student in that room," she ordered without moving from her spot. Her eyes were fixed on the incredible maneuvers made by Group Fourteen, surprise and interest in their coordination whirling in her mind. Who was the boy who could guide this troop with such ease and authority?
The group didn't exactly work well together, like they were a set of mismatched gears thrown together. But in reality, they were. And the very fact that they worked so well, that this boy could make them survive for this long and still appear composed...
She almost thought that they might win like this. Almost.
Then she saw it. The tipping point.
One person pushed too far, out of formation. The beast reared, and the carefully orchestrated symphony fell to shambles. Instead of being able to beat the creature down with their combined power, the students suddenly found previously covered angles open, and they were quickly and efficiently taken apart by the spider-like monster they were facing.
But he did not break.
That one boy stood out front, with two others, a strange half-cloaked boy and a girl. The girl held a bow, and the boy had nothing. Both were undeniably powerful, but her focus was on the boy in the center, the leader.
"Where are those files?" she asked in that flat, cold voice. But inside, her heart was churning. This must be what that letter was about. This boy... Could it be possible? No, it was not. But that didn't stop her from hoping.
The spider-like monster rushed forward, and the one in the center, raised a hand. To the shock of the watching analysts, the creature reared back, staying away from the central boy and striking instead at the girl.
She stood her ground and drew back her bow, and the crack that sounded as the arrow smashed through the beast's outer carapace echoed through the control booth Romania was standing in. The monster's leg was torn off by the brutal force, and it howled, this sound also emerging, but slightly tinny, not as well aligned to the microphones.
The operator room she was in had small speakers from each of the rooms, so she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in the room with them.
Or, at least, she wouldn't be able to, had she not fought many beasts in the past. Very few had required a bow, though. Most creatures could be taken down by a melee weapon, and she had only used a bow on the toughest.
Contrary to popular belief, the bow was one of the most strength-based weapons there was, so she only used one when she wanted to obliterate some defensive monster. Media brushed it off as being because she could find a weak point in any monster with something as accuracy-based as a bow, but in reality, it just applied force more directly without her having to worry about the chain of the body, so she could use her entire power to draw and fire it with no questions asked.
This girl really was amazing. But not quite as amazing as the half-cloaked boy. Some of the higher-ups were nervous about him being there, she could tell. There was something off about that one as well.
It seemed the little mastermind drew more and more curious people to his bower.
Would she be one of them? Perhaps. It all depended on how-
Romania's thoughts cut out as she dashed forward. Analysts shouted, and teachers and staff followed with their voice, but she didn't care. She was running on instinct.
In her racing nerves pounded one single thought, one phrase driving her entire body.
If I don't help, those children are going to die.
They weren't exactly children anymore, but if she was here, they were her responsibility. The mastermind had flown too close to the sun. These two thoughts came later, though.
Right now, she was just moving.
It was simple, sometimes. She couldn't overthink during battle. She just rushed the window and jumped through. Her idle mind remarked on the beauty of the broken glass as it glinted in the light of the faux sun that was formed by a bright light on the ceiling, helping to simulate actual conditions for the desert landscape.
The feel of her power welling up inside her as she sent a controlled burst throughout her body so she could crash through the window was wonderful, intoxicating, that next fix that she had been craving while watching the students fight. Fighting, always fighting, using her ability, it demanded more of her mind, and she had become addicted to the power. She reveled in the feeling of liquid power flowing through her veins, in the burn of pain as it pierced her skin and flowed out into a mold the shape of a massive axe. Combat was feeling, raw emotion taking place.
She landed on the ground and whirled to face the spider-like monster, noting that it had already regrown the lost limb. Something like an axe wouldn't do if it had regeneration like that, even for the armor. She hadn't fought a creature with regenerating armor, ever. Her mind chose a bow, because she had been thinking about them recently, and she didn't protest. There wasn't time.
With the added flair of a swirling spined pattern down the limbs, created by her subconscious, she drew back the string just as an arrow appeared on it.
Then she paused for half a second. Breathed out.
And released.
But as she did, a massive surge of power flooded into her from behind.
The arrow, as it leapt off of the string, became a beam of energy, engulfing the spider beast in a flood of her purple light as it screeched in agony, then suddenly cut off.
Romania frowned. It should have had more endurance than that, even with her losing control...
She trailed off, frowning. General Romania did not lose control.
She turned to look at the students, and was confronted by a smirking face.
Just who was this boy? And what was his ability?
She would find out.
Romania exhaled again, and the bow dissolved into the air. That rush faded just as quickly, but this time the need was more intense instead of less after a release.
What was that power? It had been him, right? It had to have been. This boy, she needed to know more about him. Needed to know more about his power. That rush he had given her just now...
Her eyes went dull, holding back emotions as she noticed the wisps of power floating off of him, still dissolving in the air between the two of them.
The General and the boy.
Who owed who, and who had saved who?