Cyrn's sword stood mere millimeters away from Virelya's skull, a robed man was stopping Cyrn's sword with just two fingers.
"Contestant Cyrn, it should've been clear that killing blows are not allowed during a duel; for this, you shall lose this match, and are disqualified from further participation."
"Disqualified? I wasn't even aiming for her head!" Cyrn said in defiance, but the robed man didn't respond. Only the contempt in his eyes spoke. Right. This was personal.
Cyrn looked up, eyes tired, body shaking in pain, and held eyes with the robed man, who could barely hide the underlying disdain he had towards Cyrn.
Fuck did I do to this guy?
Cyrn relaxed his body, and the robed man, a professor Cyrn assumed, released his sword and allowed Cyrn to return to the viewing box.
He collapsed onto the same chair he had left a few minutes ago. Elyon stared at Cyrn in surprise.
"How did you do that?"
Cyrn didn't turn his head. "Do what?"
"Tank 4 hits of Veilfire and come out relatively unscathed?"
"Is it that surprising?"
"For someone with no SoulCurrent, yes, it is incredibly surprising. Veilfire attacks one's soul directly; SoulCurrent acts as a natural defense. The more you have, and the purer it is, the less it affects you. You should've been incapacitated the second it touched you, yet you tanked more hits than anybody on her level could."
Cyrn shrugged his shoulders. "I'm durable."
Elyon shook his head, realizing he wasn't going to get an answer out of him.
"Either way, that was a pretty good performance. You pushed her pretty hard, and if not for the professor's appearance, you could've killed her. If this were a real battle, with killing intent from both sides at the start, I'd say you have a 50/50 shot now, especially with all that durability."
Cyrn smiled, feeling good that he's caught up a bit, but Elyon rained on his parade quickly.
"Don't get too excited now, everybody you'll see today will grow leagues stronger because of their SoulCurrent, especially in the academy. They'll learn new spells, combat techniques, and gain a deeper understanding of how SoulCurrent works. You, on the other hand, only have some increased durability and the best sword technique. It's good, but you'll need more to compete with true powerhouses at their full potential."
Cyrn's smile quickly froze. "Just as I was feeling good about myself, asshat."
"Can't let you have too much fun now, hehe" Elyon snickered.
Cyrn quickly changed the degrading subject to something else. "Since I lost the first match, what's next? We're stuck in class 5?"
Elyon chuckled, "Nah, there's a losers bracket, and from now on I'll just plow through everything, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the slaughter."
And what a slaughter it was. As the entire day passed, Cyrn watched Elyon massacre anybody who ended up dueling him, with half outright forfeiting before the match even started.
Elyon never even ended up using any of his SoulCurrent abilities, just rampaging through every contestant with pure swordplay.
Soon, the final duel had ended. It was Virelya vs. Elyon, where Virelya instantly forfeited the match as soon as it started.
Soon, the robed professor who had been watching over each duel floated above the center of the stage.
"And the winner of this tournament is Sir Elyon DeBeaumont.. With Ms. Virelya Ravenswood coming in second, and Sir Thalen Fimblewinter coming in third. The rest of the rankings shall be posted by the exit. Orientation starts tomorrow, and classes are a week after that. I'll see you all soon, and good luck at Faraam Academy."
The robed man suddenly disappeared from where he was floating. Elyon returned to the viewing box where Cyrn was patiently waiting.
"Damn, El. That was a massacre. You almost looked like you were enjoying yourself."
Elyon chuckled, "Key word almost. Come, let's get our shit and move into our dorms. Someone will escort us to them once we officially enter the academy grounds."
Cyrn nodded and followed Elyon to their carriage, where they left their luggage. And a little over an hour later, they were standing in front of their dorm building.
It was pretty damn extravagant for a bunch of kids. It looked more like a mansion than a dorm building, but Elyon had said that "We're class 1, so we get a few extra special privileges. Better dorms, more food variety, class schedule construction, etc. And since I'm 1 currently, I get the nicest dorm out of everybody, a separate living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Nothing compared to the DeBeaumont mansion, but still better than everybody else. Anyways, let's head to our room. I'd like to see yours first."
As it so happened, Cyrn's room was right next to Elyon's. Elyon looked confused; his neighbor should've been Virelya, second place, but Cyrn was there instead.
Cyrn chimed in, "Probably because the number 1 position was labeled as ElyonDeBeaumont/Cyrn. They still gave you the better room, but considered me second for all intents and purposes."
Elyon nodded, and Cyrn opened his room. Inside was a full bed, a couch against the wall, a coffee table, a bookshelf, and a door that presumably led to the bathroom. Basic, efficient, but still nicer than most places I've lived in, besides Elyon's mansion, of course.
Cyrn opened the door to his dorm — and froze. She was standing right there. Eyes colder than the Veilfire that nearly burned his soul to death. Virelya Ravenswood. His new neighbor.
He turned his head and was met with an intense look of disgust. Virelya was staring at him, disdain barely hidden. She looked towards Elyon, her gaze softening a fraction. "Why do you hang out with this pig? He seems no different than any other man I've met."
Elyon laughed, "Hahahaha, give him a chance, Virelya, I promise this guy will always find a way to surprise you. Who knows, you may even come to like him if you let it happen."
Virelya's face was now fully twisted, as if she had just smelled rotting garbage. "I'd rather be tortured by royal interrogators than allow that to happen."
Cyrn got pissed now. She may be traumatized, but this is unnecessary. "Hey fuck off, princess. I never asked to be your friend, so stop with the scrutiny and keep your opinions to yourself."
Virelya's gaze snapped to him, anger cold and underlying in her gaze, "Gladly, and keep that leering gaze off my body."
Cyrn flinched when he heard that, sincerely regretting his earlier ogling. She stormed into her room and slammed the door shut.
Elyon chuckled before he said, "Hey, you have a chance."
Cyrn looked at him, confused, "Chance? That exchange made you think I have a chance?"
Elyon nodded, "Oh yeah, she responded to you. She never does that. She's used to ignoring people's comments, but she actually cared enough to respond to you. Haven't seen her do that…well ever".
Cyrn shook his head, thinking That's ridiculous. If that's considered a chance, then I feel sorry for anyone who wants to pursue that open door.
"Whatever, by the way, I have a question."
Elyon looked at him, "Shoot".
"During my match, the professor stared at me with an overwhelming amount of hatred, but I've never even met the fucker. Any idea what's up with that?"
"Ahh, I forgot you were a hermit until recently."
Cyrn looked at him, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Elyon shook his head. "Around 20 years ago, there were several peasant uprisings across the country. Several Baronies, Earls, and even a Ducal house were mobbed by peasants, and several nobles were either killed or accosted during the attacks. The king eventually gave in to a few demands of the peasants, the most notable being not calling them peasants anymore, we've instead moved to commoners, and marginally better working conditions".
"Ahh, so our dear old professor probably saw peasants do some horrible shit, and now he hates all of them."
Elyon nodded, "And the cycle of hatred continues."
"Lovely. Anyways, it's getting late, I think I'm gonna hit the sack, what about you?"
"Me, I'm not sure, maybe pick out my class schedule, we should try to aim for the same ones, though I'm not sure how useful SoulCurrent classes will be for you, but it's still worth considering."
Cyrn nodded, his eyes getting heavier by the minute. "Alright ill check them out tomorrow. See ya later, goodnight."
"'Night"
Cyrn closed his door and fell face-first into the bed.
Alright, I'm in a magical academy, the most beautiful girl in the world hates me, and so does most of the noble population. Surely nothing else could go wrong, or I've just doomed myself to a life of misery. Let's hope for the former.
Cyrn soon drifted to sleep, unaware of the tragedies he would soon face in these academy walls.