Chapter 15

Apparently I was wrong. They will make some special pairings for the fights.

After the verifications of our elements and time of awakening, we learned that Eliza will have to face all kind of combattants. Be it mages, warriors or rogues. Maybe archers too.

I'm not sure I agree with that.

Let's take note of whoever injure her and get back at them. Either pranks or beating.

As I imagine what I could do my tail swish playfully behind me, attracting glances from around us.

"Jane? What are you thinking of?" Anna's voice rings right next to my ear.

When I turn my head toward her, I see her face very close. So much that our noses almost touch. I bend backward with a start, my cheeks burning.

"Wao! Anna. My dear twin. Don't try to kill me with a heart attack please." I ask with my hand on my chest.

She giggle at that but comes even closer to wrap her arms around my neck, nuzzling my cheek.

"No can do! Too fun!"

I sigh with a fond smile and bring my gaze back toward the arena. We're both currently sitting on the seats of one of the many arenas prepared for the exams. There's only the two of us right now, Eliza has gone to the waiting room for her match.

The academy decided to make the 'oldest' awakened fight first. I think it's to show us new ways to use our powers. And evaluate if we can extract them and use it.

While waiting I feel gazes on us. Turning toward the source I see some boys looking at us, greed in their eyes toward Anna in particular. I can kind of understand. Based on what I've seen, there's not many 'noble' vampires. They must think of her as a prize to get. It doesn't help that she's her gorgeous self.

I lock my gaze to them and frown. Even when looking at me they still show that greed in their eyes. They must think they are sneaky and hid it well. I release a little of my killing intent toward them. They stiffen on the spot and most advert their eyes. But some have their eyes shining.

Anna follow my gaze when she feel my killing intent. For a reason I don't understand, a smile spread on her lips. She gets up and settle immediately on my lap, wrapping her arms around my waist. She buries her face in my neck and look at them with a smile. I don't know what she did exactly but their eyes widen and they hurriedly look away. The only thing I managed to catch was her eyes flickering to an intense red for a brief second.

Hey, am I not scary enough?!

I pout slightly as a glare at Anna. She just looked back at me innocently.

"Eliza Havenflow versus Jean Reigs!"

A voice brought back my attention toward the center of the arena. A few seconds later two figures walked in from side doors. One of them is Eliza, on the other side a frail boy clutching a dagger between his hands. He seems very nervous and keep looking left and right, like something will jump from the shadows and ambush him.

Eliza in the meantime is still, waiting calmly the start of the fight. Her foci hovering above her shoulder.

Indeed. That's my, uh, best friend? Right here.

I nod in appreciation. That's how I've always known her: calm and unruffled. Soon the judge announced the start of the fight and the boy disappeared. It's not speed. It's stealth. His body seemed to just fade and the next instant he's not here anymore.

Eliza stayed calm, paying close attention to her surroundings. On her right the air seemed to shimmer slightly. Reacting instantly, she made a shield less than ten centimeter. The next moment a crisp sound rang in the arena. The boy's dagger just truck Eliza's shield. I whistled. She really predicted where he would strike after noticing the air shifting.

She used the moment he struck to retreat rapidly. Her shield disappeared at the same time, right when he finished pouring his strength in his strike. When the resistance suddenly disappeared he stumbled forward before straightening after a few steps.

Since stealth didn't seems to work, he decided to attack Eliza directly. His speed is quite decent and for a while we can only hear ding sounds.

But Eliza must have thought that just waiting for him to tire himself would be too boring.

So she made one of her barriers slanted to make him slip instead of clashing head-on. As he got carried forward by his inertia she created a shield horizontally and made it slash his whole arm.

When he saw that he decidedly surrendered.

At that moment Anna got up from my lap and bent toward me with a smile. I looked at her, confused, and she kisses the tip of my nose before leisurely going to the waiting room, leaving me stunned.

What was that for?

I shake my head and touch my nose where there's still lingering warmth. I shake my head but freeze when I hear the whispers around me. 'Isn't it her sister', 'felt more like lovers' 'damn that's hot'.

Okay who said that last thing?!

I narrow my eyes and look around, but nobody meet my eyes. I sigh and jump a little when Eliza plop down next to me. She instantly grabbed my arm and tugged on it to make me fall on her lap, eliciting startled gasp around us. Confused, I looked up at her. She's just smiling at me, my hair with her hand.

"Did you watch? Did I do good? If yes I want a reward." She says, her face practically screaming 'praise me' all the while still looking calm.

"Yeah that was great. But... If you want a reward, shouldn't I get up? Feels like I'm the one getting a reward?" I answer, still confused.

She doesn't answer and simply bring her hand to my ears to scratch them behind. Well, I see what she meant then. Even if it's still kind of a reward for me right now. I just give up and let myself purr softly so only her can hear me. Eliza's lips form a soft smile at that sounds and redouble in her effort to scratch so that I purr louder.

I can feel the stares on us and my cheeks slowly turns red.

Thankfully since the seats are a little elevated I can still see the arena if I turn my head. So I just let her be. A match between two sword was going on. They supposedly had their awakening very early. So I thought I would learn more about sword fighting. But they were sloppy. At least in my eyes.

I don't know if it's because I got more basics out of my awakening... But I'm sure I could beat them both without my Katana. As I was bored I occupied myself by poking Eliza's cheek with my tail, making her giggle softly.

Of course the gazes around us grew even more heated. I could even feel jealousy in the air. For some reason it made me quite smug.

After the pathetic fight, I don't even know who won and I don't care, it was time for Anna's fight.

"Anna Denki versus Philips Ihn!"

The two figures entering the field were my dear twin and a noble-looking boy. He seemed to say 'I look down on you and everyone' from his whole body. When he saw Anna his eyes lit up instantly.

"My. You are quite the beauty. I'll allow you to be my wife. Be honoured." He says, his voice sickingly sweet and arrogant.

All of my fur bristle instantly once I hear that and a low but loud growl starts to rise from my chest. Even Eliza's scratching nail stops and I see her eyes narrowing from the corner of my vision.

Anna's reaction is almost the same, she lift an eyebrow but suddenly smile mischievously.

"Oh is that so? But what if I have someone I like? You know what? If you defeat me I'll reconsider it." Anna says, her voice tinged with amusement.

"Hmpf! So what? Nobody is better than Philips Ihn! You will be better off with me than with whoever you like!" He answer as he bristle, his ego having taken a blow.

I snicker at that but an inexplicable wave of anxiety makes me fold my ears backward.

So... My twin has someone she likes... Why am I so upset?

My brow furrow a bit as my tail start to trash behind me. Eliza notices and start to scratch behind my ears again.

"Don't worry Jane. You won't get rid of her or me so easily" She bends down as she whisper in my ear, making my cheeks burn when I feel her breath.

She takes my hand in her free one and pry open my fingers I didn't even notice I was clenching. She brings it to her face and gently kisses my palm before putting it on her cheek.

I feel mine burning so intensely I'm sure the heat could burn someone. I try to get my hand back but she's holding it tightly against her cheek with a smile.

"E-Eliza! Don't do that!" I stutter but that only make her giggle as she gesture toward the field where they started their match.

I sigh and turn my gaze back to the field.

Anna is still smiling and I almost feel bad for that man. Almost. I actually hope she destroy him, or I'll be the one to do it. I hope to be paired against him.

He seems to be a mage too with the wand he's carrying in his right hand. As he wave it around metal spikes appear one after the other in front of him. I raise an eyebrow at that display. I heard having Metal as your element is pretty rare. No wonder he got an invitation.

Those spikes flew in a straight line toward Anna. She doesn't move and when they get near her a strong wind pick up, sending the attacks askew to the side.

She yawn like she's bored, and it's most likely the truth, then with a wave of her staff a dozen of miniature ice foxes materialize and burst forth toward Philips. I shake my head at that.

Dear twin... What the fuck? At least make something pointy no?

But my doubts are wiped clean when the foxes explodes near him, lightning bolts flying free of their icy containers. Philips doesn't even understand what just happened as his whole body gets shocked and paralysed, falling on the ground. Anna approach him slowly, step by step, and stop when she's in front of him. She crouches slowly and shows her fangs as she smiles.

"Nobody disses her, understood?" Her voice is sweet, but behind that sweetness is a murder promise, making him shiver despite the paralysis. "Oh right, can't answer! I'll take that as a yes then."

She gets up and look toward us, sending a wink as she looks at me. I shake my head on Eliza's lap with exasperation.

As she disappear from the field I also get up. Eliza doesn't let go of my hand though and I look at her, tilting my head. She just smile mischievously and lightly bite the tip of my fingers before letting go. A jolt goes through my body at that gesture and my heart starts to beat even faster than before. My tail stand up straight in embarrassment and I decide to do the only thing I can think of: scrambling down the stairs fleeing. I can hear Eliza's giggle behind me at my flustered escape.

Once at the waiting room I breathe a sigh of relief.

Jeez. Are they trying to kill me of embarrassment ?

The waiting room was quite big, with a few people in it. When I entered they only glanced at me for a second before setting their eyes back to the screen showing the on-going fights. You could even watch what was happening in the other arenas. Since I'm not interested in that I just find a corner to sit until it's my turn.

Surprisingly it doesn't take much time before I'm called. I reach the arena's field before long and I'm stunned when I see my opponents. Yes. Opponents with a big fucking S. Why is there four people in front of me? I glance at the judge and he just shrug while discretely pointing in a corner of the seats. When I look in the direction I can see Virina. Seems like she noticed me looking because she just waved at me with a little smile. I rub my nose with a sigh. Why me? Is it the elemental test? That would be quite petty.

Even as exasperated as I am, my tail is still swaying excitedly behind me, ears straight on my head. I still look forward to fight without having to kill someone for once.

I'll have to hold back. At least no fatal attacks.

It will still be harder than usual. This time Eliza isn't here to shield me from strikes I can't dodge or block. And Anna isn't here to support me or take down some of them.

I let out a heavy breath and summon my weapons. Dagger in my left hand, Katana in my right. I can hear the audience whisper a little when they see that. Virina did tell us it's pretty rare to have two different weapons. I crouch slightly, taking the same stance as in the train attack and focus my eyes on the four people in front of me. They seems a little angry. I can understand that, they thought they would fight one on one. Instead they got put together against a single enemy. Any prideful individual invited by one of the best Academy would be angered.

But I don't care. I just want to have fun. These four aren't giving me any sign of danger at all. They must not know each other. If they did maybe that fight would be a bit harder. But I shouldn't underestimate them still. Even when hunting a rabbit a lion uses his full strength.

I take a few seconds to observe their weapons. Two of them were archers, but one with a bow, the other with a crossbow.

Hm. Depending on the strength of that bow user... The crossbow may be more dangerous. Depends on how it works too.

If that crossbow is like a classic one it'll take a bit of time between each shots. My eyes go to the last two. One of them wield an enormous axe. It goes well with his physic, I think one of his arms are the size of my thighs, combined.

The other one has a rapier in his hand, something a little easier to deal with. I'm not sure I'll be able to compete in strength with that axe guy.

"Begin!"

I don't plan to let them prepare or anything. The instant the judge's voice end I already shot forward. My speed is way less than when I use my lightning. But it should be enough to at least startle them. And I'm right. That rapier wielder's eyes widen when I'm only a blur in his perception. He still instinctively react to my sudden arrival in front of him with a stab aimed at my waist. I twist my body to the side to dodge and use the hilt of my dagger to strike his wrist. He immediately let go of his rapier. Sloppy.

As he clutch his reddening hand I kick him on the ribs, sending him tumbling a few meters away.

I duck suddenly when I sense the air around me stir strangely. The head of an enormous axe misses my ears by just a breath. I put strength in my feet and jump low sideways to put the body of that axe wielder between the archers and me. Just in time to hear two thunk on the ground, indicating an arrow and a bolt sinking where I was just a second ago.

The axe came again from above. I use my dagger in a slanted angle to parry, making the axe land on the ground with a miniature explosion. It sink almost halfway through.

Hey. It's a sparring match, not a fight to the death. Don't try to kill me?

The strength put behind that strike quite anger me. No holding barrels anymore then.

Lightning appear over my body. It's not my transformation, just simply adding some thunder to my speed and hits.

As he's trying to dislodge his axe from the ground I slip between his legs and while passing through I cut both of his ankles. It makes him fall on his knees. He tries to turn his body to punch me but this time it's his armpit I cut, making his arms fall limply on his sides.

I turn around, flicking the blood of my blades, and look at the two archers. Their faces pales visibly and both suddenly throw their hands up to surrender.

My whole body relaxes and I withdraw the lightning around me. I realize I might have gotten to far when multiple healers rushes toward that axe guy on the ground to help him. As I let out a breath I just shrug and make my way toward the seats to join back with Eliza and Anna.

"That seemed easy right?" Anna ask me when I sit beside her. She immediately latches on my right arm.

"Still weird they made you fight four people at once." Eliza add as she grab my free arm.

"It's Virina's fault. I'm not sure why, but she waved and smiled at me after the judge pointed her to me." I answer with a indifferent smile. "Whatever, it's not like it was difficult. I may have been a bit harsh though."

Both girls just shrugged. They noticed the strength put behind that last axe strike. It's not something I could have survived. At least I would be crippled. I have no idea why he did that though.

The rest of the day passes without much excitement. The fights are kind of boring. But we still stay, even if they aren't good it's always useful to see more of the elements and weapons. When the sun starts to lower in the sky is the moment everyone go back to their various sleeping arrangements. We do the same, going back to the hotel we were in this morning.