Both Ray and Stelle were standing in front of Professor Hector's desk.
After the short reprimand they had received in class, they were ordered to not spar again for the day and were asked to go to his office at the end of class.
And so, they were now missing the afternoon classes to be here.
"Do you know why you two are here?"
They both stayed silent.
After their spar, they had indeed thought about what they had done wrong.
"We disobeyed your orders, professor."
"We didn't listen to your orders."
They both answered similarly, it seemed they had arrived at the same conclusion. Well, Professor Hector's words during class were revealing enough.
"As I said before, what I expect from Special Class is not just an incredible performance but also discipline and focus. However, it seems for the two of you the most important thing is merely swinging your swords at one another."
He looked at them straight in the eyes.
"What would happen if someone sneaked on you while you were oh so focused on your spar? What if your superior ordered you to stop and prepare for an enemy attack? Will you have to be ordered thrice to finally hear it as well?"
Stelle buried her head in shame.
Ray merely looked away out of politeness.
'I can understand the concern. Still, isn't this too much? If it was just for this, the reprimand we received in class would be enough, so what is all this?'
"Why were you so focused on this spar anyway? If I learn you are bringing personal grudges to my classes-"
"Not at all, professor. We are just greatly interested in each other's strength, as you might know, Stelle was my opponent during the Combat Test, and so we were very curious to see which one would come out on top."
Ray explained as best as he could. At the very least, this was his reasoning.
Stelle looked at him for a moment, her eyes not betraying any emotion, however there was something else in there.
'Is something wrong with what I said?'
"That is the truth, professor. After the fight in the Combat Test, I've wanted to test my strength against Ray once again. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
Professor Hector was silent for a few moments and then sighed.
"I understand. For circumstances like this, you should use the training rooms in the dorms, either one is fine, to do these things."
He stood up and walked around the desk, slowly reaching its front and leaning into it, his arms crossed.
"Normally, for something like this, the reprimand that I gave in class along with a small punishment like restricting your use of academy facilities for a week or less would be enough punishment. However..."
'Like I thought, we are going to be an exception of sorts.'
"I would rather this doesn't happen again in my class, or any other classes really. So, I will make an example out of you two."
It was just as Ray thought, they were going to be made examples of what not to do.
"What will our punishment be, professor?"
He looked at them for a second and then reached for a document on his desk.
"Recently, there was an incident in the Research Department, no students or staff were injured, but there was a lot of chaos that was thrown around."
He handed them the document.
"Experimental Beasts, untested substances, and highly dangerous equipment—all of that is in absolute chaos in there. Your punishment will be to clean it up."
They both stared at him for a few moments.
"You want us to clean?"
"Like I said, it's not as simple as just cleaning. There are beasts there that have been mutated by experiments conducted both by staff and third-year students, some of the substances are either highly toxic or have strange side effects. What you will be doing there is a hunting and retrieval mission."
Ray decided to look into the documents and read them properly.
'I see.'
It seemed that their job was to go into the research department and kill some of those experimental beasts, actually clean some of those substances, and destroy some of those machines.
As for the retrieval part of the mission, it referred to certain beasts, substances, and machines that were too precious to be discarded and therefore needed to be brought back as soon as possible.
Once their mission was up, the clean up crew would show up and arrange everything back to normal.
"I see... When does this punishment start?"
Ray asked.
"Today, it was already a surprise that so much time was delayed."
"Wait, how long ago was the incident?"
"Three days ago."
"Three days? How come there is not a single experimental beast roaming around the campus?"
Stelle was the one who asked it. Ray couldn't help but agree, it might not seem like it, but in a situation like this, three days was already a long time.
"The academy's security has been preventing anything from leaving the department building as well as monitoring the conditions outside. Normally, it would be these teams along with some third-years who would actually enter the building to make it safe for the cleanup crew. However, I believe you are fitting for it."
Well, that made something clearer. Still, Ray was curious about something.
"If something like this hadn't happened, how were you planning to make an example out of us?"
"Oh, I would simply challenge you two to a two-on-one duel and record it. Then I would share it with everyone on campus and beyond, a video of you two being brutally beaten without a chance of victory."
'How confident.'
Ray looked at Stelle, who was frowning.
'I wonder how well we would work together. I suppose I will find out later today.'
"Professor Amon will get you for the mission later, now you should go to your next class that you have been missing while in here. If you go now, you might not lose too much of the class."
"I understand, professor, goodbye."
"Bye."
They both said their goodbyes and headed out of his office.
***************
Stelle was feeling weird.
Ever since they came back from Professor Hector's office, she had started to feel, impatient.
Why was it?
The only thing she could tell was that it was related to her punishment with Ray.
'Am I excited to work with him? Or rather, have another opportunity to witness his power?'
That must be it, otherwise why would she feel that a normal second was beginning to feel longer than five?
She could barely register anything that the teacher was saying anymore.
Stelle looked at Ray, perhaps hoping to see an equally impatient look on his face, and yet he just seemed bored out of his mind.
'But he looks like that most of the time in class anyway, so he is just like always.'
Still, there was something else that their spar had taught her.
Ray was a genius, not only that, he was having the same thoughts as her.
Of making one another their rival.
It was the first time that a label she placed on someone was reciprocated, normally, she would be dismissed and called untalented.
She could not see her brothers as siblings, and so she began to see them as rivals, but they never reciprocated that feeling, because to them she was unworthy, her talent was simply not enough to compete with their brilliance.
She knew it, with Ray, she would achieve a greater strength than ever.
'Today, during the mission, I am going to ask him about what happened in the Combat Test. And convince him to teach it to me.'
***************
Author's Note: Well, this was a shorter chapter, my apologies, and well we are in the last stretch of this volume, I know, this volume is slightly disapointing, I have only myself to blame for that, still I hope you like this last few chapter, after that I will take a break of a month before starting to write Volume 3.
Check out my other novels and leave your opinion on them in reviews and comments, please.
QUESTION: Should I make a Q&A for the end of Volume 2?
YES
NO