BLOOD CURSE ACADEMIA - PREVIOUS DRAFT EDITION -

Chapter LXIV (64)- Return to the Arena

Kizu practically skipped back to the ship. He wanted to dance and let out all the giddiness stored up inside him. He was so overwhelmed that he almost ran straight into a monstrous carnivorous plant as he traveled through the jungle. Just as it tried to snap close on him, he jumped past it. And then he bowed, as if an actor exiting the stage, and continued on his way, completely unphased.

Instead of going to sleep after arriving at the ship, he gathered up Mort and the two of them went to explore the surrounding forest. While it was far from the dense jungle of the Hon Basin, it still energized him to be back, leaping through the trees alongside Mort. He scavenged up local ingredients for potions and established a better idea of the surrounding forest’s terrain.

However, all good things came to an end. As the sun rose, he and Mort retired back to the ship. Or they were about to, but a dark figure stood in the cave’s entryway behind the falls. Kizu froze in place and Mort stiffened on his shoulder, prepared to leap into action. Kizu lit up his fist with flames.

The figure turned and Kizu let his flames splutter out. Roba stood in front of him, back bent and looking irritable. Despite standing so close to the waterfall, she looked completely dry. Having his thoughts go from Emilia, a gorgeous girl his age, to Roba, a crotchety old woman gave him a mental whiplash.

“There you are, boy,” she said.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“Were you hiding?” she asked, frowning.

“Well, not exactly.”

“Good. So, you’ve simply forgotten all sense of propriety. Not intentionally avoiding responsibilities.”

It took Kizu a second to figure out what she was talking about. Then it hit him. He hadn’t shown up to his weekly appointments with Roba. And, more than that, he’d neglected to retake the biweekly entry tests yesterday.

He apologized profusely, but Roba didn’t appear appeased. “You have not only gone back on a commitment, but you also wasted my time and resources. When I decided to track you, I worried something might have happened. But no, you simply found a new club house.”

It made sense now how she found him. The scrying orbs could be tracked by the academy at any time. It begged the question of why Aoi hadn’t been tracked instead of having a notice put on the quest board, but that was for another time.

“I’m sorry,” Kizu apologized again, head bowed.

“Hm. First, you allowed an underworld denizen to escape from the World Dungeon. And now you abstained from my tutelage two weeks in a row. I will ask once; do you wish for the sessions to cease?”

“No,” Kizu said quickly. Losing Roba’s expertise would be a massive blow to his education. Especially since he was quickly outpacing his peers in most classes. And he still had a lot to learn about jumping and spacial magic in general.

“Then I expect to see you next week. On time. And as compensation for your boorish and inconsiderate behavior, I need a few errands run. I expect you to complete them without complaint.”

Kizu agreed without hesitation.

“Good. Now, onto other matters.” She hobbled down the path along the edge of the underground lake and pointed at the half sunken ship. “Are you planning to stay on that pile of wood?”

“Yes, sometimes at least,” Kizu admitted. He desperately hoped she wasn’t about to ask for a tour. He wasn’t ready for others to discover Anata just yet.

“Hm. I will make a note of it in your file. Make certain this does not impede your punctuality.”

“Would it be possible to learn long distance jumping next?” Kizu asked. “I’ve improved a lot since our last lesson. And being able to jump to the academy’s beacon would ensure I’m never late.”

She squinted and eyed him while frowning. “Two weeks' improvement won’t have you ready for that. But I will evaluate your progress next week. Perhaps at the end of the semester you will be ready.”

Kizu bit his tongue. Of course, his progress surpassed that of anything he could have reasonably accomplished in two weeks. Especially so with Anata’s blood fueling his blood recoveries. His rapid improvement would be suspicious. But there wasn’t anything to be done to hide it. Next week, his blood sample would make any improvements clear as day to Roba. At least he still had a week to come up with an explanation.

Roba dismissed him and then jumped away, leaving behind only a slightly acrid musty scent.

Kizu also jumped, but towards the ship. As soon as his feet hit the deck, Aoi popped her head out from under the hull.

“Is that old lady gone now?” she asked.

“You mean Roba? Yes. She went back to the academy.” Or so he assumed at least. She hadn’t actually told him. He wondered if it was possible to track someone’s jump.

“Good. I don’t think she spotted me. That hag is the last thing I need right now.”

“She tracked me through my scrying orb,” Kizu said. “She could just as easily do the same for you.”

“They didn’t bother when I went missing,” Aoi grumbled. “I doubt they care enough now. Not unless I show a sign of advancing my necromancy. So long as I keep my studies hidden, I should be fine. The only thing that old woman is good for is impeding academic breakthroughs.”

“You have a history with her?”

“Unfortunately. My parents told her about my personal studies, and she’s made a habit of showing up at the worst possible times. She is so closed minded when it comes to soul magic. Her disdain almost equaled the degree of a priest. Which is surprising, since she looks halfway to undeath herself.”

Kizu rolled his eyes, then climbed down the hatch into the crew’s quarters. Anata still slept, curled up into a ball in her hammock. And four of Aoi’s skeletons sat around the table, playing cards.

Not yet completely exhausted, Kizu decided to take an empty seat and study the game they played. It took him a while, but, once he thought he understood the pattern of their plays, he drew a hand for himself and joined. Despite being near mindless thralls, they thoroughly trounced him. Kizu gritted his teeth after the game and drew a new hand for the next match.

It continued like that for a while. He came in last place every single match. Every time Kizu thought he had an advantage, he was taken by surprise. It wasn’t until a dozen games that Kizu realized what he was missing. The skeletons cheated. They always dropped their hands behind the table at the end of their play. Kizu had first assumed that to be a result of their undead nature. But he discovered that, carved into the edge of each side of the table was a tiny slit. Just wide enough to fit cards.

After making the discovery. Kizu went from consistently being in last place, to only being in last three out of every four games. Not that he had won any of them.

When he finally pulled off a second place, he took his victory and went to sleep, still highly irritated.

The next day Kizu decided to take a break from his studies and head to the university to watch the weekly fighting competitions. His own lack of skill when fighting the skeletons agitated him. The thought of studying how others fought held some appeal.

He hadn’t attended one of the competitions since his own participation, which was months ago for him. Time let the memory’s wound begin to scab over, even if the physical wound still remained as broken as ever.

Anata tagged along behind him, with her usual illusionary overlay and his enchanted necklace both working to keep her hidden from detection. He found a seat in the row back of a less attended section of the amphitheater.

Arclight called out the names and he was surprised to hear Sene and Weston would again be competing against one another. The same two fighters who competed at his first viewing.

While Sene looked the same as ever, an annoyed glower plastered on her face, Weston looked even larger than Kizu remembered. Kizu scanned him with his spellsense and noticed an overlay of spells on him. He speculated that the boy was using a body enhancement spell or a potion to temporarily age himself. That would explain the beard stumbling his face.

“And begin!” Arclight called out. Her booming amplified voice rattled the stadium. He felt Anata beside him move to cover her ears.

The two fighters began to circle one another, like prowling tigers. It continued like that for a long minute. Despite being made to wait, Kizu could sense the palpable tension in the crowd building. Nobody spoke and all eyes remained glued to the two students below.

Quick as a cobra, Weston lunged for Sene with an open palm aimed for the neck. But as he made contact, she dissolved into steam. As her image dissipated, steam filled the arena’s floor.

Weston reeled back, actively searching for his opponent. He cast a dome of air, centered on himself, that repelled the steam while he scanned the obscured area. Mirror images of Sene appeared in the steam but dissolved whenever he struck with blades of air and fire. Analyzing the fake Senes with his spellsense, Kizu deduced that they were a complex combination of elemental magic tied to illusions. It likely required a high level of mastery with both to accomplish.

While Weston remained vigilantly destroying the illusions, he also kept a watchful eye above him, in case Sene descended on him from the sky. Unfortunately, he lacked the foresight to look down. A pair of hands ripped through the dirt floor and gripped his ankles. Then they dragged him down, causing him to sink down to his knees, as if caught in quicksand.

Sene emerged from the dirt beside him, stepping up as if using unseen stairs while dusting off her clothing. She approached him with a look of disdain. Just as she had done in the first contest, Sene unsheathed her wand and slashed it across Weston’s cheek before turning around and starting away.

Weston reached out and grabbed the back collar of her uniform, jerking her back toward him and smashed his fist into her face. Sene flew backward at the contact, tumbling into the dirt.

The audience audibly gasped as one, as shocked as Sene. Kizu realized simultaneously with the rest of them that, unlike the previous battle, Sene’s wand hadn’t drawn blood. The fight hadn’t ended.

Beside him, Anata gripped at his sleeve.

“It’s fine,” Kizu reassured her. “It’s only a competition. Nobody will be hurt.” Though, his past experience contradicted his words.

The punch lacked power due to Weston’s footing, but it still should have been more than enough to break Sene’s nose and crack some teeth. But not a speck of blood touched Sene’s face. Only raw fury showed there as she gathered herself up and used gusts of wind to rise back to her feet.

Meanwhile, Weston wrenched his feet out of her trap and stepped toward her, grinning maniacally. He picked up Sene’s wand from where it had fallen, then waved it. A ball of blue flames the size of a hippopotamus hurled toward Sene.

Just before they hit his target, Sene fell backwards and sank back into the ground. The fire scorched the ground and left behind a trail of soot as it slammed into the walls of the arena. Students on that side of the amphitheater scattered in every direction, attempting to escape the heat.

This time, instead of rising up from the dirt herself, Sene sent spires of hardened earth up to skewer her opponent. Weston dodged between them while using an elemental spell of his own to toss aside heaps of dirt as he searched underground for where Sene hid.

From there, it became an endurance test. Each testing the other to see who would break first. Weston above ground and Sene under it.

Neither could last forever. After ten minutes, Weston’s movements slowed and his leg grazed one of Sene’s spires, knocking him off balance. And Sene instantly moved on that weakness, ascending from the dirt with a stone spear which she jammed upwards into his calf. This time, blood dripped down her weapon.

Satisfied, Sene unsheathed the spear from his leg with a squelch and tossed it to the side. Weston clutched at the new hole in his leg, still grinning but now with more teeth.

Arclight called out an end to the match and one of the Rejuvenation and Restoration students hurried out to attend to the contestants. Sene waved away hers, but Weston readily accepted the one who came to him.

Kizu found himself lost in thought as the next opponents faced off. Almost everything used in that fight had been elemental magic and the same trend continued in the next three fights. He wondered if elemental was the most useful school of magic for combat, or just the flashiest. While he was steadily progressing in the field, he doubted he’d ever be a true master. The amount of control Sene exhibited showcased how far off his elemental skills remained. His aptitude still lay more in illusions and spacial magic. But he wondered if he might be able to combine the magics like Sene used at the start with her steam clones.

Arclight’s announcement jerked him out of his pondering. He thought he had just heard her say Harvey’s name. And, sure enough, his past friend stood on one side of the field facing down a Hon girl. She looked familiar to Kizu and it took him a minute to realize they had worked on the Brewing S midterm together.

Harvey’s once shaggy hair had been cut short, and for the fight he had removed his uniform’s top, leaving him in a sleeveless undershirt. On his arms, glyphs had been etched into his skin. They glowed brighter and brighter as Arclight finished their introductions. He clenched his fists and set his jaw as he examined his opponent.

She fidgeted, looking extremely nervous as she glanced around the amphitheater. When Arclight gave the signal to begin, the girl immediately pulled a vial out from a uniform pocket and downed it.

Harvey was already on her, likely attempting to end the fight before the effects of the potion set in. A mere moment before his fist connected with the Hon girl’s face, the potion activated, and the girl began to transform. The sudden growth knocked Harvey backwards and he tumbled in the dirt.

When the dust settled, an elephant stood Harvey down. It waved its tusks in the air, threatening him.

Kizu examined the potion’s results. The girl showcased skill, at least by the academy’s low brewing standard. But he couldn’t help but note that she chose the largest non-magical land mammal. He decided to keep watching before forming any conclusions, but her strategy seemed a bit flawed.

Harvey scrambled back to his feet and charged the beast. It swung a tusk at him, attempting to gouge him in the side, but he raised one of his glyphed arms and parried the point of the tusk. Then, using his other hand, he gripped the blocked tusk and squeezed it with his grip. The elephant cried out in pain as its tusk cracked and broke. It retreated backward with a shattered tusk.

Holding the tip of the tusk, Harvey tossed it in the air and caught it, grinning with his sharpened teeth. Then he spun, building momentum, and threw the tusk’s tip.

It returned to its originator at an untraceable speed. Kizu barely saw a blur in the air at the same moment he heard the beast cry out in pain. The impact physically lifted the elephant off its feet and its side slammed into the dirt, sending up a plume of dust. The usually external bone of the tusk now embedded itself deep in the flesh of the elephant. Blood gushed from the wound.

Arclight stepped in and ended the fight. After declaring Harvey the winner, she used a spell to dismiss the effects of potion, leaving a girl huddled on the ground crying.

Kizu felt Anata clutch at his uniform’s sleeve beside him. She shivered, as if cold.

“It was a silly decision on the girl’s part,” Kizu explained to her. “She’ll be fine. But transforming into a large creature like an elephant is incredibly disorientating. And, unless you’ve spent actual days, weeks, or months in the form, you’ll never be as coordinated as a native creature. I barely learned how to swim as a frog, and that was after a dozen different attempts. And just because a creature is big, doesn’t make it the most dangerous. There is a reason humanoid races rule the surface world, not elephants.”

Anata seemed to relax as he spoke, her grip loosened slightly on his arm. Kizu took that as a good sign and continued to speak. Speaking to her also helped him sort through his thoughts.

“I don’t know what Harvey did to his arms. It looks like a tattoo or a brand. But he made the choice to physically counter the elephant’s attack, when he could have easily side-stepped to get in closer. I think he wanted to test out the glyphs’ strength.”

Kizu continued to ponder on Harvey’s fight, barely even noticing the new combatants down below who summoned ghouls and hawks to fight for them. And he remained caught up in his thoughts until the very end of the competitions.

Arclight thanked all the participants and the audience before she launched into the new standings and rankings. No change at the top ranks. Sene and Weston remained in the first and second places respectively. But Kizu was caught off guard when Arclight announced Harvey’s rank. 372. That meant that Harvey had nearly shot up five hundred rankings in the last few weeks. Today’s fight was far from his first since the disastrous one alongside Kizu.

A resolve formed in Kizu.

“I’m going to sign up again,” Kizu told Anata. “And I’ll surpass Harvey.”