Blessing of the Seas

Bennett couldn’t open his eyes, but he could feel a pair of arms around him, trying to pull him closer. He could feel the cold body pressing against his, and lips whispering into his ear.

“Will you feed me? All the blood you can? Will you belong to me as I belong to you? Will you connect with me?”

Bennett could hardly answer, but he knew there was only one.

…Yes.

And they connected. His eyes opened and he saw hair the color of blood, and eyes, a deep red, staring into him, not judgingly, but with pleasure. With… hunger.

~~~

Bennett woke up, breathing heavily. He took a moment to gather himself, ignoring the notifications he had to look around.

Am I… in the infirmary again? He thought. Oh, come on-

Bennett felt a weight on top of him shift slightly, and he looked down at his sister, who had been laying on top of him, clearly not having moved in a while. She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes.

“Ben…?” she muttered, half asleep.

I should probably sit up, he thought. Or else she’ll suffocate me.

He sat up enough to look her in the eyes. “Yeah?”

She blinked a few times, staring at him, confused. Then realization struck her like a mallet to the head. “Ben!”

Yelena threw herself against her brother, hugging him and knocking onto his back.

So much for that plan.

“You’re awake! What happened? Are you okay? Where-”

She wrapped herself around him, clearly just trying to stay as close to him as possible. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. “I’m fine, don’t worry. 100% HP, no problems whatsoever. No Status effects, nothing different about my Status… actually, I haven’t checked my notifications so I don’t actually know if my Status has changed.”

His sister glared at him. “Then check, and you better tell me every little thing.”

He put his hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay. But you’re gonna have to-”

“I’m not moving,” she interrupted, poking his cheek with her nose.

He sighed. “Worth a shot.”

“No it wasn’t.”

___

You have inherited 3 new Skills.

NEW! Scythe Mastery (Limited) - Level 7

NEW! Blood Spike - Level 5

NEW! Blood Manipulation - Level 6

Scythe Mastery (Weapon) - Blood Reaving

As the most developed Scythe technique in history, created by the Blood Aracne, it is unparalleled in effectiveness, utilizing all of their limbs to quickly move their Scythe, and their massive physical strength to easily cut through all sorts of materials, including, but not limited to: flesh, bone, metal, Dragon Scale (Presuming Scythe is of good quality), and others. It was made to force as much blood to flow out of their opponents’ body as possible.

Every Level increases Damage dealt by Scythe by 30%, Increases opponent Blood Flow by 5%**, and Increases Movement Speed by 10%.

*Note: As you are not currently a Blood Aracne, you cannot use this Skill to it’s full potential.

**Increases Bleeding tick speed

Blood Spike (Damage/Utility)

Create a spike of near solid blood out of any body of spilt blood, dealing Moderate Blood Damage, as well as inflicting Bleeding, which deals additional damage every two seconds depending on wound severity from minor to massive. This also drains them of blood quicker. Universal Bleeding damaged is increased by (Skill Level * 8)%. This can also be used to create traps, or be used as foot/handholds in maneuverability. Can use MP or HP, HP increasing Damage by (Skill Level * 6)%. It will also decrease cooldown by (Skill Level * 10)%.

Cost : Moderate MP or 2% HP

Durations : 10 minutes or until dispelled/destroyed

Cooldown : 2 seconds

Blood Manipulation (Utility/Passive)

Manipulate any Blood that had been spilt, or that belongs to you, turning it into your own. You can morph blood into different forms, depending on your choice. Increases Blood Damage by (Skill Level * 9). You also replenish Blood (Skill Level * 60)% faster.

Free Form - Allows you to freely manipulate blood, moving it in any way you desire. You can solidify blood, liquify it, or clear your own bloodstreams. Can be used as crude weapons.

Cost - Low MP/s, any amount of blood

Blood Claw (Level 4) - Wreath your arm in blood and control it like your own, acting as a weapon or tool in the shape of a claw. All feats of strength are easier when using Blood Claw, as well as the Claw moving (Skill Level * 6)% faster. Physical Damage dealt with Blood Claw is converted to Blood Damage and has 25% Chance to inflict Bleeding. Increases Universal Bleeding Damage by (Skill Level * 3)%.

Cost - High MP, 3 Liters of Blood or Maya (Can cover both arms)

Duration - 5 min or until removed

Coagulate (Level 6) - When dealing Blood/Bleeding Damage, if opponent does not have blood, there is a (Skill Level * 6)% chance to apply Coagulate, which treats any opponent as if they have blood, and increases Bleeding Damage dealt to them by 20%

Locked (Level 8)

You have made a contract with Maya, the Red Scythe.

Contract Details:

Feed any type of blood to Maya on a regular basis, the rarer, the better in exchange for her obeying your orders… sometimes. Giving Maya more or rarer blood will unlock New weapon Abilities.

Maya, the Red Scythe

A Scythe made of Bloodsteel, a material rarely found after the disappearance of the Blood Aracne, which can bind to a person’s blood and liquify, entering their bloodstream and replacing some of their blood. Maya is special, holding the consciousness of Maya, .

All Damage dealt with Maya is converted to Blood Damage and Blood/Bleeding Damage is increased by 100%. When dealing Damage with Maya and below 100% HP, restore 1% HP. When dealing Blood Damage at, or above, 100% HP, increase Overheal amount by 1%. When Spending Overheal or HP, increase damage of Skill or attack using it by 3% per Overheal% and 5% per HP%.

Weapon Skill : Reave - Level 1

When Dealing Damage to Bleeding opponent, there is a (Weapon Skill Level * 5)% chance to trigger the Bleed, dealing (Weapon Skill Damage * 10)% more Bleed damage this instance and increasing Blood Damage dealt to opponent by 4% and On-hit Bleed chance by 0.5%, no cap.

Extra Effect - Locked (Level 2)

Extra Effect - Locked (Level 4)

Extra Effect - Locked (Level 7)

Extra Effect - Locked (Level MAX)

Progress to next Level - 16%

To progress Level, feed Maya vast quantities of blood, or rarer types of blood.

New Class options have opened to you! Reach Level 10 to choose Class.

Due to the amount of Skills earned before getting a Class, You will only be able to choose one Class Skill when gaining Class. To compensate, the Skill will be set to Level 4 to start.

___

After reading the paragraphs of text, Bennett looked at his sister, who had gotten off of him at some point to sit next to him, who frowned.

“That means… do you have two Alignments? That’s…” she started.

“Weird,” Bennett supplied.

She nodded. After a moment, she sighed and leaned against her brother. “I need to catch up to you. I’m so much weaker in comparison.”

Bennett shook his head. “No… you just aren’t the one getting beat up constantly.”

His sister laughed slightly before closing her eyes. “Oh, yeah… Check next to you.”

Bennett looked to his left and frowned as he lifted the blanket slightly. Then he simply shook his head. Luna was dead asleep next to him, somehow not having woken up, which he could tell because he hadn’t gotten much from their strange Bond.

“Of course,” he said, smiling a bit. “Luna’s gonna be Luna. And I also feel like I need to sleep.”

His sister sighed. “Get some good sleep. We still have classes tomorrow.”

“How much did I miss?”

“Just the third day. You’ve been asleep an entire day now. I think you had History? I had it the first day, but we really did nothing but get textbooks and a mild understanding of the history of this school and magic. We also read the first few pages, which were about the establishment of the Academy. I put it in your room, don’t worry. The Dragon girl, Ulayla, I think, went with Luna to her Water Focus, otherwise, she’s just been here. I didn’t expect her to skip History though, she seemed really intrigued about it, especially after Mia gave her her textbook.”

Bennett nodded, already half asleep, pulling Luna slightly closer.

“G’night, Bennett,” his sister muttered, pressing her forehead against his. “Love you.”

“Yeah… same…”

***

Luna opened her eyes, still a bit groggy, feeling Bennett’s arms wrapped around her, surrounding her in warmth.

I don’t feel like moving, she thought, pressing herself closer to him and relaxing. This is nice. I mean, he feels slightly different, but I don’t think it’s all too different… hopefully. He’s still doing this, so he’s the same person.

(Hmph. You were correct ‘Luna’,) Cthulhu said, sounding a bit disappointed.

Luna frowned. Cthulhu’s voice had been in her head for the past day now, but now she was starting to speak less, which was a welcome change from the constant yapping from the day before. She seemed to just have to speak about any minor inconsistency and at some point Luna had tuned her out, annoyed.

He’s Bennett. Of course I was, she thought.

(That explains literally nothing,) Cthulhu interjected. (How does one develop feelings this strong for a person that they’re completely confident in that they do?)

Luna frowned. I’m you. Ask yourself.

(No. You are not. You are a completely separate entity that exists within me and has all of my memories. It’s infuriating, really.)

To you. It’s helpful to me, so I know how to do things I wouldn’t normally be able to.

(Sure. Just take my knowledge. Have fun.)

Luna felt Bennett stir and she unintentionally let out a sigh. He opened his eyes slowly and then frowned down at her. “Hi. It’s 5 in the morning again. At least you didn’t wake up screaming again-”

Luna smacked him in the cheek as he sat up, shaking his head. He put his hand on her head before sighing.

“Man… I’m hungry,” he mumbled.

“Oh, of course you are,” the familiar voice of the… nurse, Luna guessed, snapped, appearing out of nowhere. “I knew I’d see you here again. I said it myself. You just can’t stop getting yourself nearly killed, can you? Then you have your own sister worrying about you, and someone else skipping classes because they don’t want to leave you alone-”

“I get it, mom,” Bennett said, rolling his eyes. “I see where my mother learned to scold people, since I’m sure she was the same as me.”

“Oh you wouldn’t believe the trouble that idiot girl got herself into. She’s worse than my own daughter-”

As the woman kept going on and on, Bennett looked at Luna, who tilted her head at him. He smiled at her, amusement and contentment both settled his emotions. She blinked before shaking her head, knowing he’d get into more trouble.

~~~

“So the guy’s alive,” Tyreese state after Bennett and Luna arrived back at the dorms at around 0630, according to Bennett, after escaping the nurse. “That’s actually crazy to me-”

There was a thud as Tyreese instinctively raised his sheild above his head, blocking the spear that nearly smashed into his head. He smirked at Mia, who looked at him for a moment before slamming the side of the spear into his side, causing him to double over and drop the shield onto his head.

“Hmph. Welcome back. Seeing you absorb that… thing was a bit surprising. I should have expected it though,” she said, putting the spear on her lap.

Jennifer stood behind the couch, looking a bit out of her element (To be fair, she doesn’t really have an element, Luna thought), but still nodded. “Yeah… welcome back. I’m glad you’re not hurt too badly.”

Bennett nodded. “Thanks… I still don’t really know what happened though… all I remember is wrangling with a big piece of liquid metal and it trying to kill me.”

Tyreese, seeming to recover, looked up at him. “Oh yeah. Where is it; I wanna see!”

Mia, albeit reluctantly, nodded in agreement. “Same. I want to see exactly what you were fighting with.”

Bennett frowned. “Well… she’s kinda inside of me.”

Inside of him? What does that mean? How- wait… Luna had a bad feeling. She?

Jennifer seemed to have the same thought process as Luna. “W-what does that mean? She? Isn’t it a Scythe?”

Bennett nodded. “Yeah… it’s a bit complicated, probably just to me though. I’m not known for being smart and all… How do I call her out though-”

He then seemed to freeze. “Wait, let me…”

Bennett set Luna onto the ground and unsheathed one of his daggers and placed it to his arm. Tyreese stood up at this, grabbing Bennett’s wrist.

“Woah, calm down, man, what’re you-?”

Bennett, obviously a bit stronger than Tyreese, dragged the dagger across his arm and Luna dashed forward, but realized he hadn’t felt any pain and stopped, confused. Then a mass of red jumped from his cut, shocking Tyreese back, who jumped behind the couch and put his shield over his head, ready to… do something, Luna wasn’t sure.

The mass of red… metal(?) jumped into Bennett’s hand and formed the shape of a Scythe, about as long as Bennett was tall, if not a bit taller. The “wound” closed and the large Scythe settled in his hand, looking as if it was lighter than it would be for anything else of it’s size, as Bennett held expertly in one hand, looking at it in bafflement.

“Woah. You’re way bigger than I thought…” He muttered, looking up and down the Scythe, sheathing his dagger and holding it in both hands.

Tyreese poked his head from behind the couch warily, but when he saw the Scythe, he seemed to forget his previous fear and jumped over the couch to look closer. “Holy crap, that’s actually it! I didn’t think-”

“You called it… she?” Jennifer interrupted, clearly wanting to get a closer look, but not wanting to get too close. “Why?”

Bennett frowned. “Cause… She's Maya. A female?”

“I’d say that explains nothing,” Tyreese said, all of a sudden curious. “What does that even mean?”

Bennett looked into the air, seemingly reading something. “Honestly, I don’t understand. Her description just says she’s holding the consciousness of someone named Maya. And her name is Maya, so I’m assuming they’re the same person.”

Luna, both a bit intrigued and bored, yawned, wiping her eyes as she sent him a mental dismissal, going over to her room, where her now clean dress was on her bed that she hadn’t slept in… ever, really. He sent back affirmation and she could hear him continue talking to the other three.

I… really don’t want to be near that Scythe. It makes me uncomfortable, but Bennett makes me feel far more comfortable, so I’m slightly torn…

She shook her head, clearing her mind and deciding to take a bath instead of worrying about a Scythe that didn’t really matter much to her. That’s how she found herself arguing with herself.

(I don’t get your sense of priorities? You don’t care about getting back to your full power and would rather travel a world with a worthless boy-)

He’s not worthless! You’re just jealous that you don’t get to do it, Luna interjected.

(By the-! You really are just a child, aren’t you? Even though you have billions of years, if not around a trillion, of memories, you sure act like you’re a twelve year old child,) Cthulhu muttered.

How can a twelve year old be anything but a child?

(You should know, if you have all my memories.)

I feel like you’re just spouting random nonsense. I’m ignoring you now to think about more important things, like if Bennett’s going to make me some food. I like his food.

(You imbecile. That’s the least important thing to ever think of.)

Exactly my point… I’m sure he’s influenced me in some ways.

(SOME WAYS?!)

Now who’s acting like a child? Also, why are you still in my head? Why can't you go back to sleep so I’m not constantly being annoyed?)

(I’m not the one who wanted to wake up now. The presence of the Red Scythe woke me fully. I’m slowly falling back to rest, which, unless you do something dumb, I should stay asleep. Which I sincerely doubt won’t happen with a child like you.)

I’m not a child, Luna insisted.

It was then Luna noticed that she hadn’t been hiding her emotions from Bennett and the sheer confusion she could feel from him made her start to giggle uncontrollably.

~~~

After breakfast, which Bennett had made for her, to her enjoyment, she was in Healing class once again, slightly bored.

Huh… I’m realizing that I’m bored a lot, Luna thought. It’s a bit familiar, now that I think about it; it was quite often when I was bored and alone.

She played around with her hair, staring into space as her Professor kept going on about the theory of Healing and other useless stuff that she either knew already or was just simply wrong.

She sighed, trying not to fall asleep. She could sense triumph from Bennett as he managed to do something, probably succeeding in the Shield spell he’d told her about earlier.

I wonder if I can get him to teach me about those Skills. I’m sure they’re just like Mana Bolt and Mana Shield, but just a bit different. Hm… I should pay attention in class, shouldn’t I? I’m sure there’s exams that I need to pass.

Luna looked down at the notebook that Yelena had gotten her, insisting she needed it, before sighing.

Do you remember what she said? She asked Cthulhu.

(You- I’m not your personal information bank. Figure it out.)

But you were listening. I’m sure you would’ve complained about it later.

(...Fine. She started-)

***

Bennett read the description of his new Spell with a smug expression on his face, as it was him this time who got the Spell first, and his sister was still struggling to form it.

___

New Spell Learned!

NEW! Shield (Spell) - Level 1

Shield (Utility) - Spell

Condense MP into a construct that has 25% your HP to block or deplete the damage of ranged attacks or Spells. By infusing Alignment(s), can create different effects:

Lightning: Has only 15% HP but half the cooldown, with two being able to be summoned at once. When attacked, launches a 10% charged Lightning Strike at the attacking opponent. When broken, it will launch a 30% charged Lightning Strike. Every Level increases the charge of the retaliation Lightning Strike by 4% and the break Lightning strike by 7%.

Blood: Can block 30% worth of your HP and will restore 5% HP when broken. Every percent of damage above the blocking HP will additionally restore 2% HP. If at 100% HP, will give 1% Overheal for every 2% HP over cap. Every Level instead increases healing by 4%. (Additional Effect : Maya can act as Blood Shield, with double the stats. When broken, she will return to Scythe or Blood Claw state.)

Every Level increases HP of construct by 2%.

Cost : Moderate MP

Duration : Until broken or dismissed

Cooldown : 8 seconds

___

Bennett had noticed that most of his Blood based Skills had been enhanced by the mere existence of Maya, which he found slightly off putting. It’s not like he wouldn’t accept it, but he wasn’t sure why she’d be able to do that.

Ever since… claiming, he guessed- Maya, he’d felt a bit uncertain. Firstly, he had no clue who she was, which was fine in of itself, but when he asked around from the third years, who’d been a bit wary of him, since they weren’t used to people asking random questions, they’d said they’d never heard of her. He was going to check the library, but he had the feeling he wouldn’t find anything much on Blood Alignments or Maya. From context clues, he knew that she had been a Blood Aracne, but when she lived was still a mystery to him.

She, interestingly enough, hadn’t spoken a word ever since he got her, which he found a bit strange, since she seemed to yap a lot when he was effectively bargaining with her. Though, she’d probably calmed down and had settled somewhere in his mind. He could tell she was content for the moment, getting used to his blood.

Speaking of voices in his head, Bennett could feel Luna’s frustration at something she was doing.

Hm… Sis did tell me earlier she got Luna a note scroll… she’s probably taking notes and isn’t happy about how some things are going with them. Sounds a bit like her.

He sent her encouragement, to which she responded with thankfulness, before immediately being frustrated with something again, which he couldn’t help but nearly roll his eyes.

He looked at his sister, whose shield flickered out of existence again. She cursed before looking at her brother.

“I can’t do this!” she whined, sulking as she sat on the floor next to him. “How do you do this so easily?!”

Bennett shrugged. “Want to hear about my oh so interesting Spell?”

She nodded, but he was already sitting down, pulling up the screen for her to read. Yelena leaned on his shoulder, her face growing more and more worried with every line she read. After she finished, she waved it away. “That’s…”

“Crazy? I know. Maya is already pushing it, but this is a bit over the top,” Bennett muttered.

“You’re like a one man army… of Level 2’s.”

“Oh, shut it already-”

“Hey, Bennett, can you smack this thing?” Tyreese called, brandishing his flaming Shield.

Bennett looked at his sister before shrugging and standing up. “Do you want me to punch it or something?”

“Punch a shield of flames? Be my guest,” Tyreese snickered, before slightly flinching as Bennett involuntarily cut open his arm and, instead of the giant scythe he expected, Bennett’s arms were covered in blood, ending in five large, claw-like fingers. “What the hell-?”

Bennett looked at his arms, shrugged, then punched the shield, immediately shattering it with next to no effort, almost smashing the fist into Tyreese’s face, but stopping himself just in time. They both then took a step back and stared at the claws, in both wonder and terror.

For a few moments, they were stunned into silence. Then finally-

“Holy shit, those are insane! Tyreese yelled. “Punch another one.”

Then, the loop of Bennett smashing through shield after shield commenced.

***

For a long while, Luna seriously debated whether or not she should heal Bennett’s burnt arms and Tyreese’s broken nose and arm. Based on what she could tell, Bennett and Tyreese had been testing out a new Skill of Bennett’s that he strangely did not tell her about, which she wasn’t exactly pleased to hear.

After a few more moments of debate, she smacked Bennett in the head with Overheal and simply healed Tyreese’s arm, leaving his nose as it was, just to spite him. However, when her Professor gave her a suspicious look, she reluctantly healed it. Afterwards, she poked Bennet in the cheek and basically demanded him to explain as she sat on his lap, keeping him from moving. After he sighed, he gave in and a System screen popped up in front of her face and she looked at it for a few moments, reading the information that it displayed.

It was… concerning…

He has his own Overheal? And can heal himself? What’s the point of me being here at this point?! Luna thought, completely overtaken by despair and currently was sulking.

(...You are hopeless as a person,) Cthulhu sighed.

Bennett, clearly exasperated, explained, “Luna, it’s not a replacement for you; don’t think that way.”

She looked at him with confusion and Yelena snorted. “It’s so obvious you’re thinking, since it’s basically written on your expression.”

Really?

(Don’t ask me, I can’t see your face, though it’s probably very likely-)

Would you be quiet? I’m thinking to myself, not to you.

She got a mental sigh in response before Cthulhu’s presence disappeared. Mildly annoyed that the voice in her head could have just left at any moment, she huffed.

“Anyways, I haven’t actually gotten to test my shield yet, so it’d be nice to actually-”

Luna glared at him and he cringed slightly. “I was just going to use the lightning shield!”

~~~

The moment Bennett and Luna had finished their classes, in which Luna had to go to each of the Mage classes like before, Bennett had to immediately dodge a bundle of scaled wings, which crashed down in front of him while he carried Luna, who frowned at Ulayla.

Ulayla immediately jumped up and flapped her wings wildly.

“You’re alive, Bennett!” she exclaimed. “But-”

“Do not tell me you actually thought I was dead,” Bennett said, giving her an exasperated look. “I already have to deal with Luna being depressed with me being able to heal myself. I do not need you thinking I was actually dead.”

Yelena poked her head from behind Bennett looking as if she had just realized something. “Ohh! That explains why she’s been looking so depressed. I dunno why she’s so attached to you all of a sudden. A bit weird, but Luna exists.”

“I wouldn’t say that much,” Bennett corrected. “Knowing what little I know about her, she’d probably worry about anyone if they were suddenly mutilated by a liquid Scythe that had a hunger for blood. I know I would, even if the person was an asshole.”

“What he said!”

“That’s literally Bennett’s personality, summed up… mostly. He still does get pissed when I take his bacon.”

Bennett gave her a frown, but Ulayla responded, “Bacon is the culmination of all foods. That’s a completely fair reaction.”

“Agreed!” Tyreese and Bennett said in sync, Luna unsure when Tyreese had appeared.

“Don’t mess with bacon, I’d say!” Tyreese exclaimed, high-fiving Bennett, who moved Luna slightly as she watched curiously at the unnecessarily loud slap their hands made against one another.

She raised her hand to Bennett and he did the same to her, albeit with much less force.

(You watch more than you interact,) Cthulhu said, sounding far more tired than before. (Understandable.)

It’s better when I’m not being narrated.

“Hey! This is suddenly an unfair argument to me!” Yelena complained, glaring at her brother.

~~~

Lunch was pretty much normal, except for Yelena still pouting from being suddenly turned against earlier, though after Bennett gave her a bowl of pudding, she was suddenly quite pleased.

After a long while of simply eating and bantering, Luna noticed something peculiar. When she noticed, she patted Bennett’s cheek and, as he looked at her, she pointed to the large chair where, during lunch and dinner, the Headmaster was.

Or where he should be, as he was nowhere to be seen, just a very annoyed looking woman, who Luna recognised through the glamor, as the twin’s mother. Their mother stared at the seat with a scowl that Luna realized was somewhat similar to Bennett’s annoyed expression before looking to another Professor, their Beast Studies one, to be exact, before suddenly disappearing in a puff of frost.

“Huh… the Headmaster isn’t here,” Bennett muttered.

Mia, who sat across from him, shrugged. “When you were out, he made a speech about something pretty concerning, at least to anyone who has a mind,” she muttered, scowling at Tyreese, who shoveled food into his mouth. “He said he was investigating something about a ‘Rogue God’. Not exactly sure what that meant. However, he also called them a danger and, more specifically, a ‘Breakout’.”

“Really? An escaped God? That implies this so-called ‘God’ was imprisoned,” He said, brows furrowing. “Why though? Why would a God be a danger?”

Oh. Oh no, Luna thought, both panicking and hiding it from Bennett. This is about me, isn’t it? I perfectly fit the description, with context, of course.

(Huh. Now that’s something. You…) Cthulhu yawned in Luna’s head, something that neither of them knew could even happen. (Oh. I’m about to go dormant again. You’ll have to deal with this yourself. Not that I care, but don’t get yourself killed over something… idiotic…)

A few moments later, the presence of Cthulhu receded further than before then disappeared entirely, which caused a large amount of worry to start consuming Luna, which she forgot to hide, as her hair decided to turn nearly black, which, in combination with Bennett most likely feeling her emotions, caused him to tighten his grip on her, which she blinked at while trying to press herself closer to him.

After fighting a moment, she shrugged and went back to her food.

Anyways, that was probably the most anticlimactic falling asleep I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen some pretty anticlimactic things in my life.

Twenty minutes later, the entire… party, she guessed, along with Yelena, Juli (who Luna had forgotten about at some point), and Ulayla were entering the arena that Combat was held in and were mildly surprised when they found that the arena had completely changed, this time being an even larger grass field. Luna then frowned when she didn’t see any walls nearby.

Ah. Warping. It’s really not my area of expertise, so I didn’t notice it. I’m more of… a rip a hole in the universe type of Goddess, Luna thought.

At the same time, Ulayla seemed to notice the same thing, but voiced it. “We’re not anywhere near the Academy anymore.”

Bennett and Yelena nodded.

“Yeah,” Bennett said. “This is a few miles north of our city; we’ve been here a few times. I wonder…”

“Really?” Tyreese said, baffled. “You live nearby? Wait, how did we even get here?”

“There was a Portal Arch in front of the usual one. We went through that,” Juli said, pointing back. As Bennett turned around, Luna saw the arch that they had gone through, which, now that she was paying attention, she could see was rippling the inert Void around them. “It’s weird when you go through a portal made by someone other than yourself. It’s like they’re baring their Soul to you.”

Luna looked at her strangely, trying to gauge what she meant. However, Tyreese was more concerned about something else.

“Wait, you can make portals?” he inquired.

“Of course I can, I’m a Voidborn-” She cut herself off, looking a bit annoyed.

A Voidborn Abyssal, huh? The offspring of a Voidling and an Abyssal. Or they can happen naturally in the Abyss, since they’re basically right on top of the Void. It’s literally part of their ocean. From what I remember, the Abyssals frequently visited the Abyss. Abyssals, despite their nature, are pretty nice, and all their Queens and Empresses have been positive for their growth as a race, despite the fact they live for so long. They don’t have as much of the petty greed and desire for power many of the other Races have. They were also known as the peacemakers for many of the wars that sprang up, completely obliterating their opposition. Only then, do they show their true strength. Blood Aracne and them got along well… before the Blood Aracne nearly went extinct.

Still, the question still stands: why are there no other Abyssals here than Juli? They used to be so common. I mean, it was usually Aurora and the many systems around them that they stayed in most of the time, seeing as anywhere further was basically empty, due to the Ancient Goddess of War, the asshole. Speaking of Ancient Gods, I still don’t know what exactly happened to the Goddess of the Abyss and her husband, The Void. I searched for them for a while, but never found them.

“Hey, Lu, what’s up?” a voice said, and a finger poked her cheek.

Luna blinked and her hair shifted to a bright blue of surprise as she looked up at Bennett. He gave her a small smile. “See, I knew that would get her attention,” he said, giving his sister a smug look. He then looked at her again. “You were just staring into space for like three minutes like you were trying to remember something.”

She shook her head before looking at Ulayla, who gave her a strange look. Ulayla shook her head. “Just how much Elemental energy are you made out of for your hair to react to your emotions that violently? It’s so weird.”

“Your irises literally change shape,” Bennett muttered. “You have no right to say it’s weird.”

Ulayla huffed, spreading her wings and smacking Mia in the face, who moved out of the way. “Firstly, it’s completely normal for me. I’m just made of slightly more Elemental energy than most Dragonborn, since I’m a pureborn. Secondly, she’s, if I’m right, mostly Elemental energy. I’m sure that if she wanted, she could turn her body into water or something. Wait, isn’t she related to squid, in a way-”

Luna, not liking the direction the conversation was going, slapped Ulayla on the head with a tentacle, glaring at her. She fell flat on her face, as Luna had forgotten that she was far lighter than she looked. However, she could feel that Bennett was thinking about it as well, which was definitely not ideal. Before she could glare at him though, there was the sound of more people filing into the arch and she lost her chance.

A few minutes later, everyone was spread out and in their groups, looking a bit more than confused, as the Professor was seemingly nowhere nearby. Bennett kept Luna close, unsure of what was supposed to happen. After a moment, she sensed a gathering of Mana- no, MP (Great, Cthulhu had ruined her sense of MP and Mana again) above them and she realized what was about to happen.

There was an explosive sound of their Combat Professor crashing into the ground nearly a hundred yards away. A cloud of dust flew in their direction and she put up a sheet of water until it passed, covering her and Bennett.

As she dropped it, she thought, Is this just normal for him? It’s a bit obnoxious… though I’d probably do it too, if I were in his position.

As he began to walk over to the rest of the class, he seemed to kick a bit of dirt off his feet, which Luna found a bit funny for some reason unknown to even her, and, when feeling her amusement, Bennett was a bit confused.

However, there wasn’t much time for that since the man suddenly stopped and stared directly at Bennett for a few seconds, gauging him for a few moments, brows furrowing. Then he looked away to address the rest of the class.

“Since none of you are remotely close to death, I might as well get this over with: You all will be participating in mock battles with each other’s teams, however, we will have to treat Mr. Yasmine as his own team, since he’s able to blitz all of you with no problem whatsoever. Of course, there will be a limit I will be imposing on him to stop that… temporarily of course. Then there’s the case of the Legendary Red Scythe he holds… actually, where the hell is that thing?”

Bennett, surprised he was called out, instinctively put Luna onto his back before cutting his wrist before the Professor could say anything, his Scythe forming immediately, strangely enough. He then glared at it as a burst of excitement nearly caused Luna to flinch.

“We are not killing anyone, Maya,” he snapped.

***

The feeling of excitement retreated from his mind, concern emanating from Luna. Bennett sent back the equivalent to a mental shrug before glaring again.

When he’d summoned Maya, she’d already been trying to get out and would have probably cut his skin from the inside if he hadn’t done it himself. Bennett frowned at the Scythe, wondering why she’d suddenly reacted.

Then-

“Hungry.”

His frown deepened. Have you not been in my blood long enough to get something? Just wait. This isn’t the time for this-

“Hungry. Feed me.”

He held back a sigh, shook his head, and simply let her rest in a ready position at his side, which, to be honest, didn’t feel quite right to him.

“She’s here,” he said, ignoring the look the Professor gave him when he’d snapped at Maya, instead getting a different look of mild curiosity.

“Hmph. As I said, you will be your own party, since even I don’t know the capabilities of the Red Scythe. Do not kill anybody, accidentally or not.”

Bennett nodded and the Professor looked away. “As there is now an odd amount of groups, one group will have to sit out for some rounds, though it will not be the same group, for anyone thinking of volunteering. Yasmine’s original group will sit out while he will go against…” The Professor scanned the nine other groups of five for a few moments before pointing at the group with Ulayla in it. “This group. Now, the rest of you will choose the teams you go against, starting now.”