After he had dealt with those men the previous afternoon he hurried back home with Suzie to avoid running into more trouble, being the responsible citizen he was, he did of course call the police on their attackers although he left before their arrival.

  After that the rest of his night was pretty normal and in the morning arrived for his first class and met with Axel leading to the current conversation.

  Axel: “Ok but Demon Guy is clearly stronger right?”

  Xarus: “I’d like to say Brick is but… yea, Demon Guy has busted levels of strength”

  Axel: “I know! So this guy is clearly full of it” he exclaimed whilst enthusiastically thrusting his phone in front of Xarus’s face, he pointed at a user on a chat forum who was claiming Chief Brick was stronger than Demon guy, after Xarus read the comment he moved his eyes up the screen to read the title of the post.

  After reading the title of the post the commenters opinion made sense “their referring to the original games”

  Axel: “Huh?” he checked the post again “Ok… so?”

  Xarus: “Pre reboot Demon Guy is just a regular dude, he only gets his god levels of strength during the reboot, or I guess in the time period between the originals and reboot”

  Axel: “Yea I know but… oh”

  Xarus: “Yea, Chief Brick has body enhancements and stuff so he’s stronger than the average person by alot”

  Xarus: “So going off that logic, Chief Brick should be stronger than Demon Guy” noticing Axel’s disappointed expression he quickly clarified “But only during the original games, post reboot he stomps Chief Brick in all areas” he didn't exactly start jumping with joy but his disappointment seemed to fade slightly.

  Xarus: -Guess he likes Demon Guy more than Chief Brick- he thought to himself

  ???: “What are you guys even talking about?” a confused voice asked them

  Xarus was just about to answer when Axel beat him to it “oh hey Sarah, we’re complaining about a guy on a chat forum”

  Sarah: “uh… ok, well anyway did you guys bring any equipment?”

  Axel: “Hm? What for?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

  Sarah: “The next class is physical combat, and we’re allowed to bring our own weapons and gear”

  Axel: “Wait Really? You're kidding! I wish I knew I would have brought some stuff” he said dejectedly.

  Xarus: “I’ve brought my sword”

  Sarah: “You have a sword?’ she asked looking around “where is it?”

  Xarus: “Oh it’s not here, I dropped it off at one of the weapons storage already, I’ll just go grab it before the next class”

  Axel: “Hey I didn't know you used a sword too”

  Xarus: “oh? Does that mean you have one?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck “I don’t have my own sword yet, but I have been trained to use one since I was 10, but they’ll let us keep the weapons we choose during combat training so I guess I’ll get my own sword then”

  Xarus nodded his head with an “I see” and then turned to Sarah to ask “Did you bring anything then?”

  Sarah: “No, I’ve only been taught to use magic, I don’t have any skills with weapons, I was hoping to figure out what weapon would suit me best during the class and just go with that”

  Xarus: “ah right, do you have any ideas about which weapon would fit you?”

  Sarah smirked, puffed out her chest and proudly proclaimed “Not at all!”

  Xarus: “Ah… well good luck with finding one”

  changing the subject Axel asked “What magic can you use”

  Sarah: “oh, I can use the basics pretty well, I also have a few original spells but they are in the early stages so their not too reliable” she shrugged

  Axel: “That's pretty good though? I can use basic spells as well but I haven’t been able to get the projectiles right yet, so far the only basic spells I can get right are low tier weapon arts, My parent’s won’t even let me start working on original magic until I can blast off the head of a training dummy” he said in despair “You any good with magic Xarus?”

  Sarah: “Actually come to think of it I didn’t see you use magic the other day”

  Xarus: “my Hollow is kinda screwy so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage with magic, but despite that I can use magic fine”

  Axel: “Oh? What’s wrong with your Hollow?”

  Sarah placed her hand on her chin “Yea I’m curious about that too, I didn’t know a Hollow could have issues”

  Xarus: “Egh, I jus…” he suddenly stopped speaking as he noticed the teacher walk in “I’ll tell you guys another time” he finished.

  She gave him a curious look before sitting down in her seat. Axel stared at him for a moment longer, clearly he wanted to ask something else but he resisted the urge and rotated his position on his chair so that he was facing towards the teacher.

  And thus the lesson began.

  Axel: “ouch, all that writing really messed up my wrist” he complained while they walked, shaking his hand in an attempt to lessen the pain.

  Xarus: “that’s pretty unfortunate, especially since we’ve got combat training now”

  Axel: “I’ll tough it out, and as long as I’m using a sword it should be fine” he rubbed his wrist a bit before dropping his hands to his side.

  Xarus: "Using a sword will mess it up more though?"

  Axel shrugged his shoulders "eh"

  Xarus: “oh here” he said stopping at a door “this is where I left my sword” he grabbed the handle and opened the door, it was only a small storage room and it was packed with old weapons, armour and safety gear.

  Axel: “This is where you put your sword?”

  Xarus: “My mum said it would be fine if I put it here since it’s where they store the old stuff”

  Axel: “Oh fair… wait your mum?”

  Xarus: “Yea, she's a teacher here” he told him as he entered the room and started looking around.

  Axel: “Oh for real? wait Is that cool or not?” he questioned, placing his hand on his chin as he thought it over.

  Xarus: “I like it, it’s convenient for me”

  Axel: “Yea I guess it would be, makes it easier to get here for one thing”

  Xarus: “yea when she doesn't leave early anyway, Where did I leave it?”

  Axel: “Is that it?” he asked, pointing to a standard longsword that looked newer than the other weapons in the room.

  He looked over to where Axel was pointing and shook his head “Mine is a great sword”

  Axel: “A great sword? Really?” he asked in surprise “Aren’t those really heavy?” he looked over at Xarus, studying his body “I feel like a great sword wouldn’t suit you…”

  Xarus shrugged and answered “weight isn’t really relevant for me” he picked up a weapon rack that had fallen over and placed it back upright “Found it!” he said enthusiastically, he picked up a weapon off the ground and stood up from his crouched position.

  Holding the sword by the blade he held it up like a phone and presented it to Axel “that was the rack I put it on, the extra weight probably caused it to fall”

  Axel: “oh sure, Hey wait that looks pretty cool actually, I’ve never seen a sword like that before” the sword was a pitch black colour, from the point of the sword to the bottom of the pommel, the entire weapon was made out of one material that vaguely resembled Obsidian, the only part of the weapon that wasn’t black was the white bindings that had been wrapped around the grip.

  Axel: “But… isn’t it a little short to be a great sword?” he asked awkwardly.

  The sword was by no means small, but it was only slightly longer than the longsword he had seen earlier.

  Xarus: “there’s actually not much of a size difference between most longswords and great swords, but you’re not wrong about it being a bit short for a great sword”

  Axel: “Really? Most great swords I’ve seen are way bigger than longswords”

  Xarus: “those are probably more modern swords then, this sword is pretty old, back when it was made it was probably the right length for a great sword” he said, resting the weapon over his shoulder “but regardless it should still be considered a great sword by modern standards thanks to its width and weight”

  Axel: “So it’s only a great sword because it’s fat?”

  Xarus: “...” he stared at him in annoyance and without saying anything walked past him and out the room, leaving Axel alone.

  Axel quickly chased after him and tried to apologise “Hey! Sorry! It was just a joke! A joke!” Xarus ignored him and continued walking “Xarus! Come on don’t pout”

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  Xarus: “I’m not pouting”

  Axel: “You definitely are”

  Xarus: “Nope”

  Axel: “well fine whatever, we should get to class though, it starts in 5 minutes”

  Xarus: “yea, I think the combat grounds are this way right?” he asked, pointing down towards the left corridor.

  Axel: “Uhhhhhh yea? Yes that’s right” he said confidently.

  They continued to talk as they made their way outside.

  Axel: “So is your sword a family heirloom or something?”

  Xarus: “Hm? What makes you think that?”

  Axel: “Well you said it was an old sword right?”

  Xarus: “That’s true but it’s no family heirloom, the previous owner wasn’t related to me in any way”

  Axel: “Oh so did you buy it then?”

  Xarus: “No, I just kinda grabbed it and then I kept it”

  Axel: “Wait? Did you steal it?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

  Xarus thought it over before replying “More like I claimed it”

  Axel: “Isn’t that sorta the same thing”

  Xarus: “not in this context”

  Axel: “Ok then, I’ll believe it, oh! It looks like we’re here” he said as he opened the door and exited the building “The combat grounds should be over there” he raised his right arm and pointed towards a wide grassy area, there was a group of people waiting there for something.

  Xarus: “that looks like our class” he said as the two of them began walking towards the group.

  Axel: “Yea although it doesn't look like everyone has arrived yet”

  Xarus: “still got a minute or two before the start of the class”

  Sarah noticed them approaching and waved to them.

  Sarah: “oh hey guys, you ready?”

  Axel: “Pretty much, although my wrist hurts from English” he complained, once again rubbing his sore wrist.

  Sarah: “Really? It wasn’t that much writing though?”

  Axel: “It was like 3 pages!”

  Sarah: “I wrote 6”

  Axel: “...oh…”

  Deciding it would be a wise idea to change the subject Xarus asked Sarah a question “Did you think about what weapon you were going to choose?”

  Sarah: “I did a little bit, but it’s hard without trying out the weapons myself” her eyes drifted towards Xarus’s sword and she immediately became curious “Oh! Is that your sword?”

  Xarus: “Oh yea” he said, holding it out in front of her.

  Sarah: “No scabbard?” she asked

  He shook his head “No, I used to have something similar but I lost it a while ago”

  Sarah: “And you haven’t gotten a new one? Isn’t it unsafe to carry around an unsheathed sword?”

  Xarus: “I haven’t needed to carry it around for a while now, and getting a new scabbard for it is kinda impossible” he sighed

  Axel: “Why’s that?”

  Xarus: “That’s too annoying to explain”

  Axel: “Oh… ok” he looked disappointed by that

  Sarah, still examining the sword, asked “It’s completely black… is the whole sword made out of the same material?”

  Xarus: “as far as I know it is”

  Sarah: “Man that's cool, What is it ma-Briiingg!” She tried to ask something but she was interrupted by the school bell.

  Axel: “Looks like class is starting now

  Sarah: “Yea… and Ranni isn’t here?”

  Xarus: “Oh, she’s not is she? Oh wait, no, there she is” he pointed towards a running figure, her long red hair awkwardly swaying in the wind “She doesn't need to run though…” she soon came to a stop right in front of them.

  Ranni: “Hah –– made it –– on time” she managed to speak out in between gasps.

  Sarah: “It would of been fine to walk, we haven’t started yet”

  Ranni: “but I didn’t know that when I was running!” she argued

  Sarah: "I feel like you would of been able to see the class not doing anything"

  Ranni refused to respond to that.

  ???: “Ranni -- how do you -- run so fast --” a boy that Xarus didn't know who had been tailing behind Ranni finally managed to catch up now that she had stopped moving.

  Axel: “Hey Hayden, you ok?” he asked, slightly concerned by his condition

  Hayden: “Yep -- fine -- just tired, because of her!” he angrily pointed at Ranni

  Ranni: “I didn’t force you to run! You made that decision on your own”

  He glared at her but kept his mouth shut, although Xarus wasn’t sure if that was because he had nothing he could say to rebut her or if he was too exhausted to speak.

  Slung over Ranni's right shoulder was a black cylinder shaped case that was around 4 feet long, that she was holding in place with her hand.

  he noticed the new boy glancing at his sword but ignored it because he was more curious about the case Ranni was carrying.

  Xarus: “What’s that?” he asked, indicating towards the case.

  Ranni: “oh this? It’s my weapon”

  Sarah: “You already have one too? It looks like you and Xarus are the only ones here with their own weapons”

  Axel: “Yea looks like everyone else will be choosing their first weapons today, I thought more people would have brought their own”

  Hayden: “It’s not that surprising is it? There’s no real need to buy weapons since the academy provides them, the only reason to bring your own would be for better quality weapons, but Solarius provides top of the line standard weapons so getting something better would be expensive and tricky” he shrugged, finishing his explanation.

  Ranni: “yea, at least not without getting something custom made like mine”

  Xarus: “It’s custom made?”

  Ranni: “Yup? It was a gift from my sister for starting Grade 11, since this is the year we start being trained to be sorcerers”

  Axel: “Damn that’s cool, a custom weapon! I really wanna see it!” he said excitedly, leaning in close to Ranni, causing her to flinch back in surprise whilst a blush appeared on her face, for some reason Hayden looked annoyed by her reaction.

  Ranni: “W-well you c-can see it when I use it” she said whilst trying to compose herself.

  Sarah: “he has no tact” she mumbled quietly, the only person who was able to hear it was Xarus, although he was confused by her words because from his perspective it looked like Ranni was overreacting.

  Axel: “Is yours custom made too Xarus?” he suddenly asked, directing his attention to Xarus instead of Ranni.

  Xarus: “I already told you before that I looted it”

  Axel: “yea, but it might have been custom made for the previous owner right? Wait, didn't you say you claimed it?”

  Xarus: “Same thing” he said casually waving off the question “as far as I’m aware wasn’t made for any person in particular, so I don’t think it can be considered ‘Custom made’”

  Axel: “Oh I see… wait” it seemed like he was confused by something Xarus had said but before he could ask for clarification Sarah asked instead.

  Sarah: “? What do you mean by that?”

  Xarus: “Hm? Oh” he held out his sword “the swords name is , or at least that’s the closest English translation”

  Hayden: “You named your sword?”

  Ranni cringed “I’m fully onboard with naming weapons but isn’t ‘’ a bit too edgy?”

  Xarus shrugged “I didn’t name it, the guy who made it did”

  Hayden fidgeted on the spot “hey so… can I see the sword?” he suddenly became weirdly timid.

  Xarus: “Uh... sure?” he griped the handle and held so that the blade was pointing down towards the ground and presented it to Hayden.

  Hayden: “oh man that looks beautiful”

  Xarus: “eh?”

  Ranni: “There we go, he’s such a sword nerd, I’m proud of you for resisting for so long though”

  Her words didn’t seem to reach him as he thoroughly examined Xarus’s sword.

  Hayden: “The whole sword is black and made out of a really weird material, it looks like stone as well which is weird, is it made of obsidian or something like that?” he asked Xarus.

  Xarus: “No dude, Obsidian would break far too easily to use for a weapon”

  Hayden: “That’s true, that's true” he looked at Xarus anxiously “So… can I hold it?”

  Xarus: “...I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”

  Hayden: “Come on! Please! It’s not like I’d break it!”

  Ranni: “knowing you, you might” she remarked

  He ignored her and continued pleading with Xarus.

  Xarus: “Uh… i’m not worried about it breaking, but it’s really sharp”

  Hayden: “That’s fine! I’ll be careful!”

  Xarus: “it’s uh, it’s also really heavy” he said

  Hayden: “That should be fine, I’m stronger than I look” he smirked pointing at his chest with his thumb.

  Axel: “he looks pretty determined to hold it Xarus”

  Sarah: “Yea, I think it would be easier to give him what he wants than try to deny it”

  Ranni: “I’ve known him for a while, He’s a push over usually but is unnaturally stubborn when it comes to swords, he’s a sword fanatic” she sighed

  Hayden looked displeased with her words but didn’t refute it, instead he continued to stare intently back and fourth between Xarus and .

  Overwhelmed by all the sudden attention he caved and allowed him to hold the sword.

  Xarus moved his hand from the handle of the sword to the blade so that Hayden could hold the sword from the handle, He eagerly extended out his arm and gripped the sword by its handle. Once Xarus confirmed that Hayden had a good grip he asked “you got it?” to which Hayden excitedly replied with “Yep!” Xarus let go of the sword and it immediately shot straight towards the ground.

  Hayden: “Woah!” he yelled as the weight of the sword dragged him towards the ground.

  Xarus quickly jumped back so wouldn’t slice off his foot, landed on the ground with a heavy thud, with Hayden along with it.

  Ranni Burst out laughing “HAHAHAHAHA!” Sarah was more polite but couldn’t completely contain her giggles “Pffft” Axel face palmed and Xarus stared at Hayden unsurprised

  Hayden: “What the hell!” he said in disbelief as he tried to lift the sword “It won’t even budge?!”

  Xarus: “I told you it was heavy…”

  Hayden: “How the hell were you carrying this around? Stop laughing! This is really heavy, Axel! Help me out!”

  Axel: “Uh, ok” he bent down to help carry the sword “oof, what the hell?”

  Hayden: “I know!”

  Axel: “It’s so heavy!”

  Hayden: “I Know!” He seemed happier now that someone else understood.

  Ranni Continued to laugh and Sarah stared at them in disappointment.

  Sarah: "It's just one sword..."

  Their failing attempts to lift the sword was starting to attract the attention of the other students so Xarus flicked the weapon up with his foot and caught it, leaving the two boys in shock.

  Axel: “What!? How?!” he looked utterly perplexed

  Hayden: “we couldn't lift that with the both of us trying! How come you can just casually do that? Is there some spell that makes it so only you can lift it or something?”

  Xarus: “uh… no… It’s just really heavy…” he said awkwardly

  Sarah: “well that was fun to watch but I need to know how heavy is heavy”

  Xarus was hesitant to answer but with a sigh he answered her “around 500 kilograms”

  that statement made All 4 of them silent, Ranni finally stopped laughing and Axel and Hayden were so surprised they hadn’t even stood up yet.

  Eventually Sarah broke the silence “huh? 500… Is that a joke?”

  Ranni: “That must be a joke! There's no way you could swing that if it weighed that much!”

  Xarus: “Uh w-well I-” he tried to stutter out an explanation but was interrupted by Sarah presenting her own theories.

  Sarah: “There’s no way you can be that strong, I mean I suppose it’s not impossible but you’re way too scrawny” -“Hey!”- “and you said there’s no spell linking it to you only, so… you must be using enhancement magic to carry it around right!” her eyes sparkled upon reaching that conclusion”

  She suddenly leaned in close to his face which startled him.

  Axel: “Wait for real? But that’s advanced magic? Are you really using enhancement magic, Xarus?”

  Xarus: “W-well I know how to use enhancement but-”

  Sarah: “I knew it!” she somehow managed to lean in even closer “Can you show me how to do it?”

  Becoming fed up with Sarah shoving her face so close to his he placed his hand on her forehead and forcibly pushed her back “Stop doing that! And why do you want me to show you? The teachers will get around to it eventually”

  Sarah: “but that won’t be for awhile” she said dejectedly “So show me! I’m a quick learner!” she said excitedly.

  Axel: “If you're teaching her, teach me too!” he said, joining in on Sarah’s excitement.

  A faint blush from embarrassment began to rise on his face “I’m not teaching her, and I’m not teaching you, or anyone” he said, directing that last part towards Hayden who had looked as if he was going to ask to be involved as well.

  The 3 of them deflated, their excitement being replaced with despair.

  Ranni: “jeez, their so hopeless”

  Xarus: “I’m not teaching you either”

  Ranni: “I wasn’t gonna ask you to! Learning from an Idiot would hurt my pride too much” she said, turning her head to the side with a dismissive huff.

  Xarus: “???” -Idiot? Why am I an Idiot?-

  Ranni: “The class started a few minutes ago, right? Where’s the teacher” she asked no one in particular, the entire class had all gathered but they were still lacking a teacher, most of the other students seemed to be curious about the teachers whereabouts judging by the fact that they were looking around in impatience.

  ???: “I’m here” said a tired voice from behind Ranni.

  Ranni: “Woah!” she yelped, clumsily jumping away from the man who had just appeared from thin air and into Xarus, she would’ve fallen over if Xarus hadn’t caught her.

  Her reaction did not go unnoticed by the other students but besides Xarus, Sarah, Hayden, Axel and the mysterious man no one seemed to see her nearly fall over, saving her from embarrassment.

  Ranni: “hasn’t anyone told you it’s rude to sneak up on a lady!” she said furiously.

  ???: “With such a loud voice it’s hard to consider you a lady” he retorted irritated

  Ranni: “What was that!” she yelled

  Ranni reached behind her back to pull out the weapon that was slung over her shoulder, but she was quickly stopped by Sarah, although she had to use both her hands to keep Ranni from taking it out and she still seemed to be struggling, and she wasn’t able to stop Ranni from yelling.

  ???: “So noisy” the man grumbled, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand.

  While Xarus and Axel watched the spectacle in amusement, Hayden, being quite used to Ranni’s personality, asked the man a question.

  Hayden: “Are you our teacher sir?”

  ???: “hm?” the man glanced at him before turning to face him “Oh yes, that's right, my name is Damian Garris, I’ll be your teacher for physical combat” he yawned.