The teacher Tod had stopped in his tracks. He could hear the slight vibration in Raze's voice, one that would only appear when one was truly angry.
Immediately, Tod turned around, his eyes bulging as he looked at Raze. "These items are yours? You think this is deserved by someone like you, a no-name who shouldn't even be in the academy in the first place?"
Tod started to walk back toward Raze, and seeing this, Dame didn't think it was a good idea, and neither did Simyon. The two of them were on the move, shifting from the line and heading toward where Raze was.
"Even if I'm a no-name, so what? What if I was to beat those clan members that you grovel at their feet for just for a chance to wipe their backside?"
"I would much rather live doing what I wanted as a no-name than live a life like yours."
Instantly, Tod moved his hand and swung it, slapping Raze right across the face. His cheek had turned bright red at that moment. The attack was fast.
Unlike the other students' attacks that he could still follow and see, this one wasn't the same. Gritting his teeth, Raze had enough.
'I hate people , I hate it. They are blind, they're in the same position as me, but because they can't get out of their situation, they take it out on those that they even believe are lower than them. People shouldn't exist!'
A flicker of dark magic started to travel around Raze's finger.
'One hit, that's all I want, just one hit!'
When Raze went to move his hand, he felt a strong grasp around his wrist, followed by a whisper into his ear.
"It's not worth it, trust me. When the time is right, you can prove to everyone here. Prove him wrong through your achievements and not your actions. If you killed him, then he wouldn't even be able to see what you will achieve." Dame whispered.
Flinging Dame's hand off his wrist, Raze took in a deep breath. With that, rather than staying there with everyone present, he had decided just to walk off. He pushed open the heavy double doors and headed back to his room.
Walking away from a situation rather than acting, at times, was the harder thing to do. Thankfully, Dame did have a way with words that would calm Raze down. In anything, he knew the right way to talk to him.
Thankfully, unlike a stroppy teenager who would just think their way was the right way, Dame realized that he was easier to reason with than expected, as long as you pushed him in the right direction and made him see the overall picture.
Tod and the other teacher continued to count the power stones the others had received, somewhat ignoring what had happened. While the others were waiting for everything to be counted up, Liam had gone to the large double doors.
He then pressed it hard with his strength, and he managed to nudge it only slightly open before stopping it and allowing it to close.
'I thought so, this door is freaking heavy; the teachers are the ones that make this thing look easy to open. And Raze just went through the door with no trouble right now. Is he really so far ahead of the rest of us?' Liam thought.
For the rest of the day, the students were relatively silent. Self-training continued, but Raze wasn't seen out on the courtyard running. It was the first time this had happened.
It was odd; some of them never really noticed his presence before or thought that they didn't really look at him, yet without him just there working hard, their motivation for working hard had disappeared.
This was true even for Liam, who half-heartedly shoved his sword through the straw puppet right in the crotch again.
"I just can't get into it," Liam said to himself, looking at the sky. "Crap, why do I feel like such crap? Is it because I didn't say anything back then? I mean, even if I did say something, what would it have changed? The teacher seems to have had a thing for him since day one."
It wasn't the time for them to be thinking about this, not now, not when they were so close to the big event.
The during next few days, things had returned back to normal. The teachers were out in the courtyard making markings in their books. Raze was outside again, but he seemed to stay close to Simyon and Dame more and had stopped his running around the field.
"Hey, are you alright Raze?" Simyon asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Raze replied. "Things will all work out in the end. I have time to do what I need to do."
"Do you want to get a paddle and hit Simyon?" Dame asked. "It's part of his training, and it's pretty fun."
Raze didn't say anything and just went ahead to pick up the paddle from the ground.
"What... please Raze go easy on me, please," Simyon said, lifting his hands up. "Oh well, I promised that I would do whatever you asked of me, and if this makes you feel better, then go ahead."
Raze was ready to swing the paddle, but before he did, he had a few words to say.
"Simyon, when you feel you're in trouble, then firmly push on your earring. It will work out well for you," Raze said, and swung the paddle before Simyon could say anything else.
The days continued on, and finally, Safa had returned along with Teacher Lee. It was the final day, the day before the event was to take place. Before the announcement was made, Safa had joined the others in the main room.
She had done her fake air hug once again when seeing Raze, which made everyone look at her with an odd look, but she didn't care; she wanted to express her feelings.
"Did you manage to learn a lot?" Raze asked.
Safa nodded her head and had a big smile on her face.
"That's good; if you take part in the assessment, you shouldn't go out without a fight," Raze stated.
He was still debating internally whether or not he should teach her Light Magic or if it was possible. For some reason, though, in the back of his head, he trusted Simyon more than he did Safa, even after everything he had done for her.
Whenever this feeling would arise at the back of his mind, his chest would ache. Raze thought this was a sign from the original body. It was clear that the original body trusted her and didn't like the fact that Raze didn't fully trust her.
'Since it would be her core magic, there's no need to find a light attribute crystal as well. I wonder what Alter would think about this, about me teaching someone,' Raze thought.
All of the students had eventually been called to the courtyard, and it was time for the announcements to be made. Teacher Lee had received the results from Tod and the other assessor.
He had gone through everything, and now the final twenty to take part had been decided.
"I want you to remember that you twenty are the hope. The hope that things can change, that you can improve and bring glory to your clan within the Dark Faction, as well as out of it!"
Opening the book, Lee proceeded to call the following names.
This was a given since Lee had been teaching her personally. When the two were together, Safa had also made it clear to Lee that she had a family name, and she brought over a book and pointed to the letters to explain her name.
It was a long process, but something she absolutely wanted and what she felt was necessary.
This was a name that also didn't surprise the others because Liam was excelling at everything compared to the rest. From there, the names continued to get called one after the other, and as it got closer to the final five, the students were starting to talk among themselves, in whispers.
"Hey, is Raze going to get selected?"
"He has to, right? I mean, although all he did was run, he has more stamina than everyone else."
"He's also quite good with his techniques even though they're basic."
"He's probably got the most chance of winning a fight against a yellow band, right?"
These were all said in whispers, though, and it hadn't reached Teacher Lee. He had continued to call out the names, and had finally reached the last name.
Hearing the last name, Simyon wasn't pleased, and instead, he turned to look at Raze to see how he reacted to all of this. Safa was greatly confused as she looked at her brother. She had no clue what had gone on while they were away either.
"You knew this would happen, right?" Dame said. "You're not disappointed."
"I am a little," Raze replied. "But as you said, I expected this much at least. Don't worry, I'll find another way to get back at the main disciples. Heck, if you can, Safa, Simyon, you two are just going to have to do it for me."
It wasn't just the three of them that were shocked, but it was also the other students, but just like the last time, they didn't know what to say. If they spoke up, would they then be treated as an outcast?
If Raze took someone else's place, would the rest of the group hate them for speaking up, and what about that student in particular that would be swapped out?
Little did they know, all of those that had been selected, in that moment, would have also given up their place for Raze to take part.
The next day had arrived, and it was time for the grand event.