"Enrico, why are you disappearing?"
Caelan was confused because he was having a good fight with Enrico. He never thought he would reach this level, so he wanted to spend a little more time like this.
"I don't want this to end, so... let's keep going for a bit longer."
It wasn't just Enrico who was disappearing—he himself saw that his arm was starting to fade, which made him wonder if it was a dream.
"Even if this is a dream, I want to go all the way."
Running toward Enrico, he created two seven-layer barriers around his body. Fusing both, they combined into an aura surrounding him, increasing his resistance and defense significantly.
'How long has he been in this state? Has it already passed the seven minutes?'
[It's been five, but still, I—]
'Then there's still time to try and wake this idiot up.'
Catching Caelan's punch with his palm, Enrico threw him over his shoulder, slamming him hard into the ground.
"Caelan, it's me! You have to remember the three stooges and your leader!"
Taking a step back, he dodged a kick attempt from Caelan. Being grabbed by the shirt, he was lifted into the air and thrown to the ground, just as he had done to Caelan before.
'Maybe if I manage to defeat him before this minute passes...'
Focusing on the fight, he used Charged Impulse to send Caelan rolling on the ground after striking his chest. Planting his hand on the ground mid-roll, Caelan forced himself to stop and stood up, creating two water spheres in his hands.
Throwing both at him, Enrico managed to deliver two circular kicks, deflecting them by channeling water magic through his feet to redirect Caelan's water elsewhere.
'Since it was only a bit of water magic, I can hide it, but honestly, I don't care right now.'
[Enrico, only one minute left now.]
'Don't rush me.'
This was bad, because while he fought, he was thinking of a way to somehow save Caelan—but it seemed impossible, since this magic didn't appear to have any weakness.
'Maybe light magic could do something, but I don't know where Kai or Alenya are.'
He'd have to try to bring Caelan to them somehow, but there was only one minute left, and to make things worse, he still had to find them. Grabbing Caelan's fist, Enrico threw him upward, sending him flying over several houses just like before. Pressing his legs, he jumped after him, trying to spot them from the air.
'I'll try to do the same thing Elian did.'
Ignoring Caelan for a second, he released a spell upward, sure that they would recognize his mana. Turning his attention back to Caelan, he took a strong punch to the face, crashing through three houses as he hit the ground below.
'This idiot, how long is he going to stay controlled?'
Returning to the fight, both traded blows where Enrico managed to defend well while landing strikes to Caelan's stomach and face. Taking a punch to his own face, he retaliated with a kick to Caelan's chest. Breathing deeply, he tried to reach him somehow.
"CAELAN, WAKE UP!"
"That's weird… was that a shout?"
Caelan looked back as the fight with Enrico was suddenly replaced by the four of them in the same classroom. Realizing where he was, he remembered this was the day they first met.
'Why am I here?'
"Hey, you bunch of commoners and nobles, know that from today on, you're all my subordinates! Hohohoho!"
Hearing that sentence again, he saw their proud leader standing confidently at the front of the room. Everyone around looked afraid, and for good reason—the family she came from was without a doubt the most powerful in the class.
'Looks like they're scared and don't want to be her subordinates... though I can't blame them, she is quite loud.'
That day, even though the students didn't say anything about becoming her subordinates, they just pretended, which Serenya immediately noticed.
"I don't need fake subordinates, so get out of my sight!"
Everyone she saw following her falsely, she sent away, spending many minutes without finding a single subordinate—until a chubby boy with golden hair approached her and knelt down.
"Please let me be your subordinate, Miss Serenya."
"You? What could someone like you possibly do for me?"
Serenya had a look of disdain on her face. Everyone there could see that the boy named Enrico, besides being unpleasant toward weaker people, didn't seem strong enough for the rank he had achieved.
"Everything."
"What?"
"I said I'll give you everything of me. You'll be the leader I'll follow forever."
Seeing that, Caelan noticed the boy was probably just using her to keep being the annoying person he was and to survive in the academy—which Caelan didn't judge, since he was similar. But when he saw Serenya's thoughtful eyes, realizing Enrico truly meant to do everything for her, she made her decision.
"Since you insist so much, I'll let you be my first subordinate. But don't get arrogant—being first doesn't mean you're the most important."
"Thank you for accepting me, my lady."
'Following someone with a lot of money is nice.'
That same day, he also became her subordinate, and he and Enrico followed her everywhere for three days—until, on the third day, Elian joined them.
'At first, I thought Serenya was just someone looking for followers, but now that I think about it, seeing her expression, she seemed genuinely happy to have the three of us.'
She had a small smile on her face, trying to show she didn't care, but it was visible. In those first days, he didn't even care about Enrico getting closer to Elian, who had joined later, and when they all realized Enrico was rather weak, Caelan felt a certain superiority over him.
"Why didn't that fat guy come?"
"Looks like he got scared, since we're going to the haunted warehouse, hahaha."
While laughing, he thought it would be just the three of them going in, but Serenya changed her mind, saying they could only enter after asking why he hadn't come.
'I was really surprised.'
Maybe because he was her first subordinate, she seemed to care about him quite a bit. So the next day, they had to ask him directly—and they noticed something different about him.
'His eyes looked kind of…'
That look seemed thoughtful and bored? At first, he found it ridiculous, but as the days went by, Enrico changed more and more, to the point that even Serenya, when he wasn't around, seemed a little worried about him. Then came the day he said those words about being mature.
'What an idiot. What does he mean by being mature? I don't like him talking that way to us—he should only talk like that if he were stronger.'
He wanted to argue, but since Serenya seemed to feel embarrassed about her own behavior, he decided to stay quiet. He spent so much time without bothering others that he couldn't even imagine doing it again.
"Elian, isn't this weird?"
"What's weird?"
Lying on the grass of the training field, he looked up while Serenya trained against several attacks using items she controlled with her magic. The two of them were training too, which wouldn't be surprising if not for their reason for doing so.
"We used to spend time annoying others, but now it feels like we can't stop wanting to get stronger."
"Of course—would you really want to be surpassed by someone who used to be weaker than you?"
Looking up, he nodded slowly, since he felt the same way. Being surpassed by someone he once looked down on was infuriating.
"Besides, don't you think it's better this way?"
"What do you mean?"
Seeing Elian smile as he stood up to start training again, he realized that now, they weren't just subordinates—they had become friends too.
'Friends?'
That's right, they were friends. That's why he started wanting to be more useful, since he'd always been kept at home by his overprotective mother.
'If I think about it now, I'm the weakest one, right? And yet, Enrico doesn't look at me the way I used to look at him…'
He respected Enrico, liked him as a friend, saw him as someone he wanted to catch up to—and without a doubt, he wanted to fight alongside him as an equal, to make his leader proud, his friend Elian, and the person he admired.
"CAELAN, WAKE UP!"
Looking at the faceless image of Enrico, he noticed it had a tear running down its face. Not understanding, he looked at his own wounds and then realized he wasn't fighting Enrico—and remembered what had happened.
"I understand."
A light began to pull him in, but he didn't want to go. He wanted to stay with his friends. He wanted to fight alongside Enrico again—they hadn't even done their promised training yet.
"I don't want to go… but I have to, don't I?"
He knew what was happening, so he decided to do something for his companion, even if it hurt. Raising his hand, he clenched it into a fist toward the faceless Enrico as tears ran down his cheeks.
"Enrico..."
As Enrico prepared to launch himself toward Caelan to try to wake him again, he heard his name coming from him, making him smile in relief.
"Finally—"
"Please… kill me."
Opening his eyes, he saw Caelan's face with tears falling as the last drop of his life faded before him. Caelan's soul had vanished, and now all that remained was a shell of what he once was.