"Are you ok?"
"Y..yeah, just hurry and placed the co..." Abby said but her body soon gave out to its exhaustion as her vision blurred before she passed out.
Damain placed her head gently on the ground , took her crystal, his own and Ren's crystal he had snatched earlier and placed all of them in the machine that was not far from where Abby and Clark had fought. With cold precision, he moved Clark's and inserted his own, ensuring the outcome of this test.
When the forest's artificial timer chimes it's end, Clark, Duke, and Luke were still unconscious. The forest shimmered, the test ending in their defeat.
Everybody returned, those who were injured were taken to the school's hospital.
Back at the academy, Abby was rushed into the school's medical wing. A healer, a middle - aged woman with calm eyes, placed glowing hands over Abby's wound, mending torn flesh with practiced ease. Damian stood by silently leaning against the wall, his expression unreadable.
The healer smiled softly as Abby's breathing steadied, she slowly began regaining consciousness. "You'll be fine now, just rest"
Abby turned her head slightly, her eyes finding Damian's. He gave a small smile of gratitude to her. She responded with a smile of her own and then closed her eyes to get more rest. He simply watched, his gaze scanning her closing wounds but then something shifted.
As he looked at her, his vision flickered. A faint green orb shimmered above Abby's head, pulsing gently like a lantern in the dark. He's brows furrowed. He blinked, but the orb remained, glowing with a strange energy he couldn't understand.
His eyes narrowed. He turned towards the healer and saw the same thing. Another green orb, hovering faintly with above her head.
"What ... Is this?" Damian muttered under his breath. The healer glanced at him puzzled. "Did you say something?"
"N..no" Damian stood there, confused, his mind racing.
He then tilted his head slightly, studying the subtle difference. He watched other patience as they slept and recovered, a green glow above their heads and that of the healers attending to them. However some green orbs were dim while others had a stronger glow.
Something about this pattern nagged at him, a whisper of clarity he couldn't grasp yet. He could feel a flicker inside him all this while, his glass affinity was active and he could feel it.
"Is this like a passive from th glass affinity?, why did I not feel this when I moved up in my shade rank?, could it be that the passive was awakened when I activated my glass affinity in that fight, if so do my other affinity have a passive?, and what does this passive even mean?"
He had a lot of question on his mind.
"Wait a minute, the healers orb are bright green while the patience a dim green, could this green orb signify ones health?"
He wondered as he stared at the green orb that seem to be floating on everyone's head. Yet, even as the green orb drew his attention, his vision flickered once and for the briefest moment, a pale blue shimmer appeared on a patients chest. He blinked, startled, but it vanished before he could focus on it.
What was that? Is that the space affinity passive? No, he could still feel the glass affinity active. He didn't try too hard to understand though, some mysteries, he reminded himself, had to wait.
With a final glance at Abby's dim orbs, Damian turned and left the hospital.
>>>>>>>>>>
"I can't believe I lost to that bastard!" Clark screamed, his voice echoing off the walls as he slammed his fist against the table.
"How… how did he do that? He appeared right behind me… and that glass—what the hell was that?" His mind raced, disbelief turning into fury. Was he using multiple affinities? No, impossible. He's just a commoner. It must've been an artifact. How did he get an artifact though'. But then a bitter thought cut deeper 'Abby… that witch must have given him one.
"I swear, I'll destroy him! I already have the perfect plan… I'll..."
"There will be no revenge event."
Clark froze. The calm, cold voice of his father, Lord Harry, cut through his rage like a blade.
"Huh? Dad, what are you saying? We need to host another event....until he's expelled!"
"The only person getting expelled… is you, son."
Clark's face went pale. "W..what…? Dad, I'm a noble! I can't be expelled!"
"You made the rules," Lord Harry replied, his tone sharp, unwavering.
"Dad, you can always bend the rules! You did it in the first test!"
"That was a different case. The nobles are furious...they insist on your expulsion."
Clark's heart pounded. "What? Dad, there must still be something you can do…"
"If you had upset only the nobles, I might have intervened. But you offended two families of the Three Noble Dragons."
Clark's stomach sank. "What? Levi…? I knew he was upset, but I didn't think he'd..."
"Did I not warn you about offending a noble of the Aurel family? Levi is from that family, and you knew it. Not only him, but you also enraged the Solvane family."
"What? I didn't..."
"Do you know a girl called Abby, from the first year?"
Clark shook his head. "Abby? No… Abby can't—"
"Her full name is Abby Solvane. You've angered two families of the Three Noble Dragons. Consider yourself lucky they only demand your expulsion, and not your head. Otherwise… I would have given it to them in a heartbeat."
Clark's knees weakened, tears burning his eyes. "D…Dad…"
"Prepare for your expulsion tomorrow," Lord Harry said, turning on his heel and leaving Clark trembling in the silent, suffocating room.
"Thi… This is all that bastard's fault," Clark muttered through clenched teeth, his fury rekindled. "I'll kill him… if it's the last thing I do."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Returning to his dorm room, he was greeted by the familiar sight of Sky and Elias leaning casually against the wall while seated on his bed.
"Hey, Damian" Sky called, his tone mixture of curiosity and excitement. "Heard you guys had a special event, how was is? Did anything happen?"
Damian raised a brow but said nothing at first. He merely gave a vague shrug. "Nothing worth mentioning"
Sky frowned. "Come on, don't brush it off. You..." He cut him off with the faintest shake of his head.
"I'll say it again, nothing worth mentioning"
"So you're not even going to tell me what was in that paper the other day"
Damian just kept quiet, shaking his head playfully as he went to his bed. Sky fell silent, and Damian allowed his thoughts to drift. His mind replayed the images from the hospital, looking at sky, and Elias who was just reading a book at his corner, he noticed something weird.
They both had orbs above their head but sky's orb was a bright green which in Damian's theory means his in full health while Elias orb was a dim green meaning he was not. Strange but...
He didn't think too much though since this was just a theory and he honestly does not know what the orb actually represents or mean.