"Are you seriously doing this?" Bruno asked, letting out a wince.
Olivia nodded her head and looked down at her wand as she followed Ash and his posse. Her wand was old and worn down, made out of a nasty red wood that had dozens of cracks all along it from years of use. "I am." She finally said. "I'm going to show him up."
"Bro, no offense, Ash is really good at magic." Bruno gave her an awkward look. "And you're… Well, you know."
Olivia fought back a growl and shook her head. "I can do this." She had to.
The Arcane Knights were the peak of the peak: mighty physical warriors and masters of magic. Many kids dreamed of one day becoming one. She was one such kid. Seeing the Knights in person only caused her resolve to double. That was why she now followed Ash as he led her through the city.
The parade was over, and the Arcane Knights had quickly left. With the Knights gone, the people were starting to head to bed, so it didn't take their group long to find an empty square lot, outside of some old blacksmith store, where the duel could begin. Olivia forced her heart to steady, and she made her way over to one side of the lot, while Ash stood on the other.
Trent and Nev both stood near Ash, cheering him on, while Bruno stood in the center, biting his lip. Trent also used an electric-based spell to cause the street lamps around them to go out in order to hide their duel a bit easier.
"Alright." Bruno pulled his wand out and lifted it above his head, letting out a sigh. "On my mark, the duel can begin. If it gets too out of hand, though, I'm getting involved."
"Just start already," Ash demanded. He had a sly smirk on his face as he stared at Olivia, sensing her nervousness. Like a shark that smelled blood, he was ready.
Many mages often dueled, especially younger kids. There was something almost primal about clashing magic that always drew attention and heightened emotion. In some ways, dueling could be seen as a beautiful thing. That was, if both people knew what they were doing and it was fair.
This was not a fair duel.
"Begin." Bruno sliced his arm down and jumped out of the center of the square so the battle could begin.
Olivia tensed up, lifting her wand, readying for an attack, but it never came. Ash instead stayed put and simply watched her. His own wand was drawn, but he kept it lazily at his side, not even bothering to up his defense or cast a spell. "What gives?" She demanded.
Ash's smirk only grew. "What? Shocked that I'm not bothering to defend myself? Why would I bother when you're the one attacking me? I can just wait till you drop dead or vomit all over yourself. Oh, but do remember, this isn't a simulation, so when you do spew your guts, you'll actually be covered in your own filth."
Olivia felt her rage surge, and she had to fight back the urge to lash out. Ash was trying to get into her head, and she knew that. "Let's see if you can still remain cocky after I blast your ass." She announced, lifting her wand. "Row—"
"Row Wind Blade!" Ash didn't even let her finish and sliced his arm out, the tip of his wand glowing. The wind obeyed his command and twisted, launching toward her, and Olivia barely dodged the attack at the last second as it sliced into the wall behind her, leaving a large cut across it. Trent and Nev cheered Ash on, and Bruno looked away, unable to bring himself to watch the fight. Already, Ash was waving his wand again, the wind spinning in front of him as it twisted into a drill. "Row Wind Spike!"
Just as he was doing that, Olivia was getting her own spell ready. She brought her wand up and focused. Pain flooded her senses. It always hurt when she used her magic. Blood began to pour from her fingernails and danced across her wand. "Row Blood Bolt!" Her blood flowed out and launched like an arrow, blasting out of the tip of her wand.
Ash's drill spun through the air and clashed with her attack! Both of them canceled each other out. However, there was one issue: she felt light-headed, whereas Ash was just getting started.
"Kick her ass!" Nev cheered.
"I can't wait to upload this," Trent smirked, recording the entire fight on his phone. "This is like the fifth or sixth time she's fought Ash. The comments love watching her fail."
"Row Wind Barrier!" Ash twisted his arm, and a barrier of wind formed around him, creating a bubble that sprang up just in time to block Olivia's next attack.
"Row Blood Cube!" Her blood took on the shape of a cube this time, and she launched it out as hard as she could, but it smacked into Ash's barrier, exploding against it uselessly. Her body was even paler now, and the world around her blurred. "Row Blood Shield!" Her blood flowed out of her bleeding palm and became a round red shield at the tip of her wand, which blocked Ash's next wind slash, but that was it. That was all she could do.
"And that's three." Ash laughed as her shield dropped and turned into a red puddle. Olivia was on her knees, breathing heavily, her vision fading in and out, and her body felt sick. It was taking everything she had to not lose her lunch. "Do you see why I said you were useless now? Seriously? Three spells? Three! That's all you can manage before you become totally useless! I mean, I guess you could cast a fourth, but you'd die of blood loss. Come on! Did you really think you could win?"
"Shut up." Olivia groaned and tried to stand back up, but she couldn't. She was tired. Exhausted even. The human body only has so much blood in it, and if it loses too much, then it would simply die.
That was part of the irony that was her life. She lived in a world where magic existed and was so bountiful that every person could cast a spell or simply buy an enchanted item, yet she was born with a type of magic that was deemed utterly useless. If her magic was a blade, then it was one that was dull and blunt, lacking an edge, and would never amount to anything significant. The more spells she would cast, the more blood she would lose, which would throw her into a terrible dizzy spell that made it hard to focus and recover.
That's why people called her Useless Olivia.
"I'm glad I don't have a useless limit like you do. There's wind all around us." Ash stood before her, and once more, he sneered. "You're playing with a limited resource. You still think you can join the Arcane Knights? Even after you failed all your tests in the magic academy?"
"I do." Olivia clenched her eyes shut and tried to stop the pounding that was going off in her chest. Her heart was working overtime and felt like it was about to explode. "I will become an Arcane Knight!"
"You're pathetic." Ash sneered. "We all know what's going to happen to you the moment you enter a dungeon. You'll push yourself too far and become another freak, like the rest of the Magical Mutants."
"Hey!" Bruno called out. "That's not cool, bro."
Ash only scoffed and didn't stop staring down at Olivia. "Why? We all know it's true."
Olivia glared up at him, and her eyes met his. Then she decided to stop holding herself back. It came pouring out of her as she opened her mouth and threw up all over his legs and his expensive shoes.
"Oh, what the hell!" Ash let out a yelp and made a gross gagging sound as it got into his socks. "You little bitch! You did that on purpose!"
Absolutely, she did.
Ash's eyes filled with fury, and he lifted his arm, about to cast another spell. "No!" Bruno yelled, but he wasn't quick enough to react.
"Row Wind Bullet—" Ash never had time to bring his arm down. His spell launched, but it went flying into the air. Trent's and Nev's smiles disappeared, and Bruno's own eyes widened.
Olivia looked up weakly, her mind trying to process what she was seeing. Ash looked shocked and tried to move his arm but couldn't. Something was gripping onto his wrist. A tight hold that wasn't letting go.
"Do you mind being quieter? You've been yelling pretty loudly." Standing next to Ash was a young man, who looked about nineteen or twenty years old, that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. "It's late, and I'm sure some people are trying to sleep." He had messy black hair and a scar across his face.
"You?" Olivia said in shock, once she processed who it was. The stranger in the hoodie, the one she had bumped into after running out of the academy, was now back, and he had just stopped Ash from blasting her with a powerful spell.
"Who the hell is that guy?" Trent asked in confusion.
"You okay?" The man asked, and it took Olivia a few moments to realize the question was directed at her. The way the man spoke was mostly blunt and quiet. He sounded more tired than concerned.
Ash tore his arm from the other man's grasp and turned away. "Let go of me. We were just dueling. Ask the girl. It's not my fault she sucks and that I kicked her ass."
The man raised an eyebrow. "You were dueling?"
Olivia looked away, not able to meet his gaze. "Yeah. I lost." It was kind of embarrassing being saved by a stranger. In the shows she watched, the 'hero' would be some handsome knight who sweeps the girl off her feet and rescues her, but this guy sounded bored and uninterested.
The man nodded slowly and then pointed to the building near where the 'duel' was taking place. It was the blacksmith store, which they had all thought was empty. "I dropped by to get something fixed up here when I noticed what you guys were doing. You were both yelling a lot, you know."
Ash scoffed. "I don't have to cater to your needs. Besides, it's over with. I've already taught useless Olivia her place."
"Wow, you're a dick."
"How dare you!" Ash glared at the new guy, who had said it in the same emotionless tone he had been using. "What did you just say?"
The man ignored the glare and glanced back down at Olivia before meeting Ash's eyes with his own. "I said you were a dick." Slowly, the man pulled out a pair of headphones from his pockets and slipped them on. A wire connected them to a cassette player he had hanging off his belt, and some loud rock song blasted out of them.
"Um, we can hear your music, bro?" Bruno said awkwardly. "It's, like, mega loud. Good song choice, though."
"Duel me." The man stated in his bored tone, and his eyes remained locked on Ash.
"Excuse me?" Ash stepped away in shock, and everyone turned to look back at the stranger as if he were crazy. "I don't even know who you are."
The man rubbed the back of his neck and nodded after a few moments. "Dueling must be pretty fun if you decided to do it this late at night and pick on a little girl."
"I'm not little!" Olivia said, even more embarrassed now. "I'm a grown-ass woman!"
The man's face remained mostly blank, but he did squeeze his hand into a fist. "So, what do you say? Want to keep dueling?"
Ash's eyes narrowed, and he sneered. "You can't be serious?" The man just looked more apathetic, causing Ash to growl. "Sure. We can duel. Your funeral, you stupid bastard! Draw your wand and—" Red flowed down Ash's face as the mysterious stranger launched forward and rammed a fist directly into Ash's face. The punch was so strong that Ash was lifted off the ground and crashed down at the other end of the lot, sporting a broken nose.
Nev and Trent were both in utter shock, both boys gasping. "What kind of spell was that?" Trent growled. "That's not how a magical duel works!"
The man cocked his head to the side. "Are you two stupid or something?" His words shocked both Trent and Nev, who gawked at him. "If I'm in a fight, why wouldn't I do everything I can to win? He left himself open, so I punched him as hard as I could. It was faster than whatever he was going to do."
Ash's face flushed with even more rage as he felt how much blood was leaking out of his nose. The boy stood up and hissed. "Y-You! What gives you the right to hit me like that?"
"We're dueling?" The man gave Ash a puzzling look. "You're kind of slow, aren't you?"
Ash roared in rage and sliced his arm down, dragging the tip of his wand through the air. "Row Wind Blade!" The wind compressed into a thin blade, able to slice a normal person in two. Ash's spell launched out toward the man, who countered with his own spell.
"Row Shadow Vault." The shadow beneath the man bubbled up and twisted. Silently, it shifted and formed into a circular shape, looking like the surface of a pond. Something came roaring out of it and flew into the man's hand, which he grasped and swung.
It was a sword. A simple iron longsword, which the stranger used to slice through Ash's spell, canceling it. The very wind was cut in two, the mana fading away as if it hadn't ever been an attack in the first place.
"What the hell!" Enraged, Ash glared at the other boy and screamed. "How did you do that?"
"Magic." Was the man's flat remark.
Olivia stared at her savior in shock. She had been a little happy seeing Ash get mad, but now she was worried. Wands were something most mages had. It helped regulate the flow of mana and made casting a spell cheaper and easier than normal. Most rich people would use a staff, which was like a wand but much better. This guy, though, hadn't used either. With his bare hand, he had cast a spell. It was possible to do without a wand, but for your average mage, they'd struggle and be exhausted by it, yet here this man was, not even looking tired.
Not to mention, she could tell he knew how to use a sword. Most mages relied entirely on magic to get the work done, but there was one group of people who blended steel and sorcery together.
The Arcane Knights.
Ash looked like he just popped a blood vessel, drool practically dripping down his face. "I won't stand for you mocking me! Row Wind—" Ash didn't even get to finish his spell as the man lunged forward, moving across the cobblestone floor faster than Ash could speak.
The stranger's hand shot out and grabbed Ash by the mouth. Ash was a powerful wind mage, but it didn't matter how skilled in magic he might have been if his mouth was covered. He couldn't say a spell, leaving him utterly powerless, just like a normal human.
The dark-haired stranger casually lifted Ash with one arm, his fingers digging into the boy's cheeks while his other hand gripped his sword. It was a dirty tactic. Mages were proud of their ability to cast spells, and to prevent that was considered quite rude.
The loud music kept blaring out of the man's headphones, and his eyes bore into Ash's. "Dueling is kind of fun after all." The man still spoke in a flat tone. "Still, I personally think you shouldn't use this as a form of picking on people. Anytime you do stuff like that, you're just asking for some guy to show up and beat your ass. After all, you're just a big fish in a small pond. Now. Allow me to introduce you to the ocean."
The man lifted his arm up even further and let go of Ash, tossing the other boy into the air. Ash yelled as he dropped, and right as he came down, the man swung out with his sword, using the flat part of the blade, which he rammed straight across Ash's face. Ash was slammed into the stone floor hard enough to crack it, and his eye rolled into the back of his head as he fell unconscious.
The only reason he survived was because he was a mage, who were more sturdy than typical humans. Despite his skill, though, he had lost after being hit with only two attacks from a total stranger who had cast just a single spell.
"Oh?" The man placed his sword on the ground, and his shadow swallowed it back up, the blade vanishing. "I guess you can't swim." He clicked a button on his tape player, and the blaring rock music finally stopped.
For the first time in his life, Ash Anderson lost.
"You can't do that!" Nev whimpered, pointing his wand at the new guy with a shaking hand.
"Yeah!" Trent nodded. "You're supposed to cast spells and stuff, not punch people! What kind of jerk beats up kids!"
The man lazily shrugged his shoulders. "My bad. I guess I did get carried away. Come to think of it, I'm an adult and he's a kid, so I guess this situation looks bad. Next time I'll try real hard not to challenge a child to a life-or-death battle." The tone in which he spoke made it hard to tell if he was being serious or trying to crack a joke.
Bruno snorted and stepped past the boy, holding a hand out to Olivia. Olivia took the hand and nodded to her friend. She was about to say something but was cut off when they heard a whistle.
They all turned to find a police officer standing nearby. "Hey! You damn kids better not be getting into a fight back there! It's way past curfew!"
"Scram!" Bruno yelled. "Row Ice Wall!" He fired a wave of ice in front of the guards, giving them time to run. Olivia leaned on him as they ran, and Trent picked up Ash. The new guy also ran with them as they exited the lot, but he turned about to head down a different part of the street they were all running on.
"Wait!" Olivia yelled out, and the man stopped and turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "What's your name?"
Her savior turned to look back at her, and she found herself carefully studying his face, from the way his eyes glowed to the nasty scar that clung to it. "Me?" The man sounded almost surprised, and he pointed his thumb at himself. "Davi Hawker."
"Davi Hawker?" Olivia muttered the name quietly under her breath and stared at the other teen.
Bruno tugged on her arm and let out a laugh. "We gotta go!"
"Right." She nodded and shot Davi one last look before she and Bruno escaped.