Before everyone knew it, the welcome assembly was over and it was lunch time. Shiro grabs a tray and his food but after everything that happened during the assembly, as soon as Shiro came into the room, everyone stared at him excessively. Shiro lets out an exhorted sigh. Then Adora appears behind him. "Hey, Shiro" she said. "Oh, hi, Adora" Shiro responded. "Do you want to join me and my friends?" Adora asked. "Oh, no, I don't want to intrude–" Shiro began saying, but Adora then grabs his arm and gently pulls him to her table, saying "Oh, come on, it'll be fun."
When they got to the table, Shiro sees the different people at the table and was surprised by the diversity of the group. "Everyone, I want you to meet our new student, Shiro" said Adora. "Hello" everyone at the table said. "Uh, hi" said Shiro. "Shiro, let me introduce you to everyone" Adora said "This is Max Somni, from the Fairy Race." "Hey, there" Max said. "That's Gright Earthbeard, from the race of Dwarfs" Adora said. "Hi" said Gright. "This is Dinah Metron, from the Giant Race" said Adora. "Hello" Dinah said. "And that's Silvy Sono, from the Human Race" said Adora. "Nice to meet you" Slivy said. "And as you already know, I'm Adora Greentree of the Elves" she said. "Nice to meet you all" Shiro said "So, uh, Dinah, don't take this the wrong way but aren't you a little short for a giant? No offence" Dinah chuckles. "None taken. I get that a lot" she said "When Giants come and attend school here, we use magic to shrink ourselves down to human size." "Oh, that makes sense" Shiro said. "What you did and said at the assembly was awesome" said Silvy. "Aw, thanks" said Shiro. "And what makes it even crazier is you didn't even use magic, just brute strength" said Adora. "I try not show people my hand. I was told that's magic 1-0-1" said Shiro. "What you said before, it was really inspiring," said Dinah. "Yeah, and everyone really needed to hear it" said Max. "Yeah, I wanted to ask someone about that. Not many people throw their names around, so what was their problem?" asked Shiro. Everyone at the table exchanges looks. "Well, pretty much everyone in country knows about this, so I guess it's not a problem" said Adora. "Knows what?" asked Shiro. "Cindrill has always been a pro-nobility place, but Areon Academy was founded to be a place to stop that, if only for a bit, was different" said Max "But…" "But what?" said Shiro. "But that didn't sit too well with a group of nobles, and it still doesn't. These days, the families more supportive of total noble superiority have made a faction in the kingdom. And among them are the Von Bertre, Bernard and Anthony families" said Gright. "The top six students Areon Academy are from families of that noble faction. They plan to change the school so nobles like them have all the power," said Dinah. "And we've all thought they could because they always seemed so strong" said Silvy "At least until you showed up." Shiro groans. "If the top fighters here are on the same level as that chump, I'm not going to be able to have a good fight the whole time I'm here" Shiro said in a disappointed voice. Everyone in the room then turns to look at Shiro with a shocked face. "Are you sure you should be saying stuff like that?" said Adora "If the top students hear you say stuff like that, they might think you're antagonizing them." "Well, maybe I am" Shiro said with a divisas smile on his face, leaning back on his chair "I mean, those guys were sizing up my power, so I guess they're asking for it." "Wait, do you think that was what their challenge was about?" asked Silvy. "Well, yeah. I mean, they backed off when I finished off Kurt, so I think they were trying to gauge my strength" said Shiro. "And you don't care about that?" asked Gright. "Nah" Shiro said "I grew up as a worrier who loves a good challenge in a fight. If those guys are a challenge, I say bring them on." Everyone looks at Shiro with a surprised face. "You really don't hold back, do you?" said Dinah. "I know who I am. And I just refuse to change" Shiro said "I'm stubborn that way." Adora gives a slight smile that only Silvy happened to catch. Max's eyes wonder and the catch the large bandage covering Shiro's right arm. "Was it that attitude that got you that bandage?" asked Max. "Oh, no, that's… complicated" Shiro said. Everyone in the room then heard the bell ringing. "Is that the start of class?" asked Shiro. Everyone at the table exchanges smiles. "Yeah, and I think you're going to like it," said Max. Everyone then leaves the lunchroom.
The group arrives in their next classroom: a large, indoor space with four makeshift arenas on the floor; each roughly 6 by 10 meters, with a large number of seats surrounding the arenas. "Whoa! What is this place?" Shiro said in surprise. "I'm surprised you didn't know about it" said Adora "Welcome to Battle Class." Everyone continues walking through the room and begins explaining the basics of Battle Class. "Basically, it's exactly how it sounds: you pair up with opponent, go to your assigned battlefield, and spar to practise your fighting skills" said Dinah "You keep going until one of you conceives or becomes unable to continue." "Now this sounds like fun" said Shiro. A teacher stands on a small podium in front of the class. "Attention, everyone! Please gather round" he said. All the students then gather round the teacher. "Alright, as you all probably know, we have a new student with us now. Say hello, kid," said the teacher. Everyone then turns to face Shiro. "Uh, hi" he said awkwardly. "Now, you may have caused some commotion at the assembly but I'm going to need more than that," said the teacher. "Mr. Arnald may come off as kind of a jerk but he means well" Silvy whispered to Shiro. "New kid, in the ring" Mr. Arnald said, gesturing to an arena. "Okay" Shiro said nonchalantly.
Shiro moves over to one side of the arena and casually stands with his hands in his pockets. "So, who am I fighting, anyway?" Shiro said over to the teacher. Mr. Arnald clears his throat and gestures to other side of court, and Shiro sees Adora, Max, Gright, Dinah and Silvy armed with a bow, a spear, a hammer, a battle axe and two handfuls of shurikens. "Five on one on day one?" Shiro said "I mean, I like a challenge but that's just harsh." "Sorry, Shiro. But, you know, teachers' orders" said Adora. "Doing this while trying to avoid using my magic is going to be tough" Shiro said quietly. But Shiro then smiles. "But that's never stopped me before!" Shiro said taking a fighting stance. People in the crowd begin saying things like "Seriously?" and "He's crazy" after hearing Shiro. Mr. Arnald then gives a slightly impressed smile. "And, begin!" he then shouts. Adora shoots an arrow at Shiro but he jumps to the right and dodges. But then there was a sudden gust of strong wind and arrow curved towards Shiro. "What?!" Shiro goes in surprise. Shiro jumps again and does a downward chop, shattering the arrow. "Wind Magic?" Shiro said. Suddenly, half a dozen 2-inch-wide rocks then come shooting at Shiro. "Giant's Earth Magic" Shiro thought. Shiro quickly throws a series of punches and kicks, shattering five of the rocks, but then the last comes hurrying towards Shiro, and Shiro headbutts it, smashing his way through and charges at Dinah. When Shiro gets close enough, Dinah swings her battle axe, but Shiro bashes the flat side and the axe crashes into the ground. "How did you-?!" Dinah began saying. "Even the sharpest weapon is nothing but a chunk of steel at the right angle" Shiro said. He goes to hit Dinah but is stopped by a sudden wall of sand. "Sand Magic too, huh?" he said. Shiro looks and sees Gright aiming his hands at Shiro, showing he was casting this newest magic. Shiro then hears a yell from behind him, quickly spins, and sees Max coming down from the air at Shiro. Shiro jumps back and the two begin exchanging and parrying each other's attacks; Max with his spear, and Shiro with his fists. Shiro later senses a new coming attack and instinctively jumps back, out of the way of Silvy's shurikens, and to the other side of the arena. Shiro lands and takes a deep breath. "I have to admit I'm really impressed; you're a really diverse group. More so than I thought" he said. Shiro then gives a light grin. "Maybe I do need to stop holding back." There was then a slight red glow under the bandages on Shiro's right shoulder. Everyone gives a curious reaction to Shiro. But then suddenly the bell rings, and everyone gasps slightly at the sound. "What's that mean?" asked Shiro. "Battle Class is over. Time for your next class" said Mr. Arnald. "Aw, man. That was an anti-climax" Shiro in a disappointed voice. "But it may be for the best. I almost showed my hand" he then thought. He walks over to Adora and her friends. "Wow, that was great, guys. Let's do this again sometime" Shiro said, holding out his hand to the group. Everyone looks at Shiro's hand with a slightly surprised look. "Yeah, sounds like fun" Adora said with a sweet smile. She and Shiro then shake hands and Shiro then goes around the group, shaking hands with his new friends. Adora's group then begins exiting the classroom. A few other students begin gathering around Shiro. They praise him for matching Adora's whole group on his own, and without using magic. And one of them then says "You fought all the Humanitarians without magic. That was awesome!" "Wait, Humanitarians?" Shiro responded. "Oh, you didn't know? Adora, Max, Gright, Dinah, and Silvy are all the heads of the Humanitarian group; an organization focused on changing Cindrill's bias system and making it better for more common people" the student said "They're still fairly small but their movement has been growing." Shiro hums in interest.
Later, after the last class of the day, with everyone packing up their things, Shiro's his new group of friends gathered around, looking at a note that Adora was holding. Shiro walks over. "Hey, everyone" he said, peeking over their shoulders; getting a slight look at the piece of paper "What's that?" Adora quickly puts the note in her bag and everyone turns around. "Oh, nothing, just junk mail" said Silvy. Shiro's eyes scan the group and no one looks him in the eye. "You sure? Nothing I can help you guys with?" he said. Again, everyone plays dumb and maintains that everything is normal. "Hey, guys, we should go. Our parents are probably waiting" said Gright. Everyone agrees and then leaves. Shiro watches the group leave with a serious expression.
An hour later, the Humanitarians arrive at an abandoned building of some kind. "Is this the place?" asked Dinah. "Yeah, it said to meet here" said Max. everyone enters the building and slowly makes their to the 5th floor. Adora and her friends enter a large area with roughly two dozen pillars around. Suddenly a chunk of ceiling cracks and begins falling down at the group. Adora quickly draws her bow, shoots her arrows and shatters it. "Is that really the best you have?" she said out to the room. Someone comes into view from behind a pillar. The figure slowly turns around, revealing himself to be Kurt Von Bertre. "After making friends with that new student, I thought you would appreciate the dramatic flair," said Kurt. "Seems like you took a liking to the guy, too" said Max "Why else would you be so eager to get a sense of how strong he was? Or so Shiro said." Kurt chuckles. "So, he knew we were trying to test his power, was he?" he said. "Yep. I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you" said Adora "Now, why'd you ask you to come here?" Adora holds up the note from her desk that read, "Humanitarians, come to the old building an hour from the academy. We have much to discuss." "Well, quite simply, I want you to stop with your humanitarian acts" said Kurt "You're seen as hope for the others, and the Von Bertre family are part of the noble faction, and we've come to realise that your continued actions are a large annoyance." "If we've annoyed them that much, we're clearly doing something right" said Gright. "Why would we stop just because you told us to?" said Dinah. "Let's bargain. I'm not unreasonable. In exchange for ceasing your campaigns, the noble faction with leave you be in the future," said Kurt. "No chance! We started the Humanitarians to make Cindrill better, so there's no way we'll stop for our own selfish reasons" said Adora. Kurt sighs. "I didn't think you'd go for it. Now I'll have to get rid that new kid as well as the rest of you" he said. Everyone growls and Adora fires an arrow at Kurt but the sudden appearance of a shield blocks her attack. Adora slightly gasps. Suddenly, people run out from behind the pillars and jump down from the holes in the ceiling, and draw weapons. Kurt chuckles wickedly. "You didn't really think I would come alone, did you?" he said "One of the many perks of being nobility is the authority you have over others. So now you get to deal with one hundred of my loyalists!" "Not good" said Silvy. Adora quickly fires her arrows into the enemies, while Gright shoots a stream of sand at them as well. The Humanitarians scatter. Max and Gright begin exchanging blows with enemy fighters. Adora begins shooting arrows into the crowd of foes and shoots a large gust of wind into the group as well, stuttering their assault. Adora, Max, and Dinah hear grunts behind them. They all quickly spin around and see Gright and Silvy pinned to the ground. "Guys!" Dinah shouted. The other three growl angrily. "Let them go!" Max shouted as he starts charging at enemies. But then three of Kurt's men stand in front of him, their hands start glowing and Max was suddenly trapped in a cage of stone. Dinah calls out Max's name but was then pinned down by a huge amount of air pressure. She painfully turns her head and sees three more people with a green glow on their hands. Adora growls and turns to yet another trio whose hands were glowing pale blue. Six shards of ice then shoot out from their hands. Adora gasps and draws her bow and four arrows from her quiver, and shoots them all together. Adora's four arrows shatter four ice bullets, but the other two grazes against Adora's leg and shoulder. Adora yells from the pain. Two other guys each then grab an arm and slam her against a pillar. Kurt begins chuckling wickedly. "Well, that was fun, but now it's time to get this over with" he said. Adora scowls at Kurt, full of range. But then suddenly there was a big gust of wind and suddenly Adora is gone and the guys that were pinning her down were unconscious. Everyone looks and sees Shiro holding up and steadying Adora.
"Sorry I got here so late" he said. Adora slowly tuns to Shiro's face. "Shiro" she said softly in surprise. Shiro braces her and jumps up to the next floor. "What are you doing here?" Adora said. "I came here to rescue you guys" said Shiro. "We didn't want to get you involved in our problems. This isn't you fight" said Adora. "Yeah, well, I have this habit of sticking my nose in stuff. Usually ends up being fun" Shiro chuckled. "This isn't a joke" snapped Adora. Shiro's exasperation suddenly turns more uncharacteristically serious. "You have a goal: to make Cindrill fairer for everyone, right?" he said. "Yes. So, what's you point" Adora responded. "Well, if you're busy protecting all the little people, who's going to protect you?" Shiro said. "Protect me?" she said. "For the longest time, I've had my own goal, but I never had the means to get there" said Shiro "And I think that helping you all change thing country for the better will be a big milestone in getting me there." "So, I've decided: the fight to change Cindrill for the better just got a new hero!" Adora gasps very quietly. The floor space behind them then booms and Kurt jumps out from it. "If you two are done chatting we have business to attend to" he said "So far, you power has defiantly been remarkable, and also a rather large pain. However, just because your surprise attack happened to work out, that doesn't mean you can expect the same results against so many of my fighters" "Oh, don't worry. I prefer the upfront style anyway." said Shiro. "Oh, you'll like this then!" Kurt shouted out. The ceiling above Shiro and Adora then crumbled and a dozen people in large robes shoot fire from their hands. All the fire joins together and it crashes down on the pair. Kurt disappears and reappears with the robed figures. "Good work" he said. But then the fire begins swirling around and the centre then opened up revealing a shocked Adora on the floor and a calm Shiro standing in the centre. "Who in the world are you?" Adora said. The bandage on Shiro's arm then begins to slowly burn away. "Well, look at that: I showed my hand" he said "Dad's going to give me an earful when I get home." The bandage then burns away completely, revealing a slightly scared, muscular arm with a large red, draconian tattoo. "Wait. That mark. That's the mark of the Dragonborn: humans that have the souls and magic of dragons!" Kurt said. "Oh, guess you're smarter than you look after all" said Shiro. Kurt growls. Streams of fire then peal of from the mass and move towards Shiro. The fire then starts disappearing after touching Shiro, leaving Shiro with only a red aura around him. "How are you doing that?" Adora said, sweat dripping from her forehead. "You see, I'm a Fire Dragonborn; heat and fire don't do anything against me, they only make me stronger" Shiro said out to the room. Kurt growls and yells out "Crush him!" Dozens of shards of ice and small boulders barrel towards Shiro and Adora. A large boom occurs and Kurt gives a deranged and dilutional smile, but he then heard Shiro's voice saying "Looking for me?" Everyone turns around and sees Shiro holding a stunned Adora in his arms. Adora looks at Shiro and softly goes "You're…," then realises the position she is in and goes "Hey, put me down! This is embarrassing!" while squirming and blushing. "Sorry, no can do" said Shiro "You'll just have to live with it for a minute." Shiro then moves Adora so she is now on her back and she then grabs hold. "Hold on tight, 'kay?" said Shiro. "Oh, ok" Adora said, blushing a little. Flames then envelop Shiro's feet. "Here I come!" Shiro yelled. The fire on Shiro's feet then shoot out and rockets him forward. Shiro crashes through a group of Kurt's men, leaving them scattered on the ground. A group of people then shoot a series of attacks, but Shiro does a quick backwards summersault, boosted by his rocket feet. Flames then appear on Shiro's hand. Shiro yells and thrusts his fist forward like he's throwing a punch and a beam of fire shoots towards the enemies. The ground around them explodes, sending them all flying. Four people with ornate swords then jump at Shiro; two on each side. But Shiro rases his arms so the swords hit his forearms. The four foes yell triumphantly, but then feel a strange heat coming from their swords. They look and see that the spots where they hit Shiro were red hot, and the blades of their swords were melting against him. Shiro scoffs and spins around, causing a small spiral of fire, knocking his opponents in the walls. At this point, half of Kurt's forces had been delt with, and half of what was left was down on the last floor, still restraining the rest of the Humanitarians. Everyone on said floor could hear the noises coming from above. "What could all that be?" said Max. "Well, it started after Shiro showed up" said Gright "So I'm thinking it's him." One of Kurt's goons hears this and goes "All that? Impossible!" But then a new part of the ceiling collapses, making the users of the magic that was keeping the Humanitarians down lose their focus, and their magic stopped. Now, everyone was free and quickly made their way away from the enemies. One of Kurt's soldiers growls and yells "What was that?!" Everyone looks and sees another group of Kurt's soldiers unconscious on the floor and Shiro then casually jumps down the hole, with Adora still on his back, and lands next to them. Shiro chuckles and goes "Lightweights." The Humanitarians run over to the pair. "Are you two ok?" said Max. "Yeah, these clowns are nothing" said Shiro. Shiro then turns to Adora on his back and says "I think you should get off now." "Oh, yeah, right" said Adora. The High-Elf then climes off Shiro's back and joins her friends. "You guys get out of here and find the authorities. I'll keep them docile" said Shiro. "We can't just leave you all by yourself" Gright said, but Adora then puts her hand on his shoulder and says "Don't worry, he'll be ok. Right?" "Totally. I'll meet up with you guys later" said Shiro. The Humanitarians then reluctantly leave. The battered and bruised remains of Kurt's army then gather, and could be seen through the holes in the floors. "You will not get away with this…you filthy commoner!" Kurt bellowed at Shiro. "That's my line; you won't get away with trying to hurt my friends" Shiro said, smiling casually. Kurt growls like a rabbit beast and yells out "Kill him! Take him down!" Kurt's entire force then began readying their attack spells, and Shiro signs. "I told them I'd keep you docile and I meant it" he said. Shiro then slides his leg 90 degrees and clenches his fists. Shiro then begins taking a massive breath in and then fiery sparks appear around his mouth. "What…? What are you doing?!" Kurt said. Shiro then stops and cries out "Fire Dragon Roar!" and a massive breath of fire shoots out from Shiro mouth, crashing through the floors of the building and then straight through the roof. The Humanitarians and the authorities they had found look and see then flames shooting out from the building, and all stair in shock. A few minutes later, the Humanitarians and the authorities arrive at the building and see Shiro walking out. "Are you ok?" Adora said, quickly checking Shiro for injuries. "Yeah, I'm good. Might've gone a little overboard, though" Shiro said, smiling awkwardly. "A little?" everyone said. Shiro chuckles and the Humanitarians then start laughing. "Oh, officers, the idiots are inside" Shiro said "They're all taking a little nap." The officers then run into the building and see Kurt and his entire force unconscious, and the officers exchange flabbergasted looks.