Manifest War: The Weapons Within

As the halls began to thin out, Carmen rounded a corner and saw a group of third year students walking with a first year student lagging behind them. The girl was carrying a mountain of books in her arms, struggling to keep them from falling over while the group continued to trot along. Her short brown pigtails bounced along as she quickened her pace and her fairly plain looking face clearly showed how much stress she was under.

Unfortunately, in her effort to speed up, the girl tripped on her own foot and dropped books all across the floor. The group of third year students quickly stopped and turned around, their expressions filled with great annoyance and irritation.

“Ugh, you literally had one job and you couldn’t do it. I hope all the first years aren’t as useless as you are.” One of the students said with a scowl as he bent over to pick up one of the books.

“I’m so sorry! I’ll do better next time, I swear!” The girl replied, frantically trying to gather up the loose papers and journals strewn about the marble floors.

“There won’t be a next time, so don’t even bother. If you can’t even do something as simple as this, then there’s no way you can learn anything from us. Just stay at the bottom with the rest of your Harpy classmates.”

Another student forcefully smacked her hand away, snatching up the remaining papers himself. As the third years began to walk away, the girl remained seated on the floor with her head down in a dejected manner. Carmen approached slowly and got down to the girls level.

“Hey, are you okay?” Carmen asked with a soft voice and smile. The girl looked up and nodded, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“Yeah, I’m fine… It just sucks that I blew my chance.”

“Blew your chance? What do you mean?”

Carmen grew more curious with each passing moment, not understanding why this girl would want to be associated with such rude people.

“Those third years promised to teach me some of their Vesta techniques if I proved myself to them. I could’ve learned so much from them if I wasn’t such a klutz…”

The girl angrily smacked her fist onto the ground, feeling frustrated by her recent failure.

“Why the heck would you need to prove yourself before learning something? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Carmen wasn't following this girl's line of thinking at all.

“Yeah I know, but if it helps me improve even just a little, it’ll be worth it. Plus, a lot of other Harpy students are doing the same thing, so it must be a pretty normal thing around here.” She said with a tired, half smile. Carmen was taken aback by this girl’s skewed stance.

“I get that, but still… You should have a bit more self respect than that. You guys shouldn’t have to be slaves to the third years.”

“Easy for you to say that when you’re in Wyvern class. I couldn’t even dream of being in a class that high right now. Pfft, my Resonance level is only 1200rlvl.” She said with a light chuckle.

“I got into this school because I’m pretty smart and my mother was able to get a recommendation for me.”

Carmen ultimately nodded her head, unable to argue against the girl’s logic. After Carmen helped her stand, the girl reached into her pocket and took out a small, purple pill. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed with a single gulp. Carmen’s brow raised with great intrigue, wondering what that was just now.

“Oh sorry, I almost forgot to take my daily supplement. It’s supposed to help me grow big and strong!”

She flexed her arm and smiled, gripping her muscle with her other hand.

“Every little bit counts!”

“Uhh, right… Anyways, I’ve got to get going. I hope things work out and you’re able to find your way at this school.” Carmen replied, realizing the amount of time that had passed.

“Alrighty! Oh and what’s your name? I’m Olivia.”

The girl's kind smile radiated brightly and despite her unfortunate situation, it was clear that her sour mood from earlier was now completely gone. Carmen introduced herself and shook Olivia’s hand, returning the smile.

“Cool! Well Carmen, I hope we can be friends. I’ll see you around!”

Olivia bowed her head and quickly rushed down the hall, waving as she got further away. Carmen waved back and began to ponder many thoughts.

‘Man, poor girl. I didn’t realize students in the lower classes had it so bad. It’s only the first day and she’s already having to go through something like that… Doesn’t sit right with me at all.’

Carmen continued down the hall, playing back the conversation with Olivia in her head again.

Multiple weeks went by and students were now used to their lives at LaVeda university. Daily routines had been established and the flow of the semester was in full swing, including Tiaran’s Phoenix level combat course.

As the classes start time inched closer, students entered the room and approached their assigned seats. At the front of the class was a fairly large, open arena illuminated by a large window at the back of the room. Tiaran was standing there with her arms crossed, waiting for all of her students to arrive. Everyone took their seat and Tiaran began the lesson.

“Today, my lesson will be about anticipation. I want to go over how to best anticipate your opponent’s movements so you can strike effectively. Anticipation is incredibly important in a combat scenario because it allows you to properly react in any situation.” Tiaran loudly said with a serious tone. She continued to speak until she was interrupted by a student raising their hand.

Tiaran stopped her lesson and looked at the blonde girl holding her hand up.

“Yes, Bridgette. What is it?” She asked with a curious cadence.

“Don’t you think this lesson is a waste of time? Surely everyone in this class knows about this stuff already. Learning how to anticipate your opponent is way too basic of a lesson for students like us.”

Bridgette cocked her head to the side, showing a rather annoyed and bored expression. The classroom was silent as Tiaran smirked slightly.

“Is that so? Hmmm, ok Bridgette, how about we have a little sparring match? Since this lesson is so basic, show me what an elite student such as yourself can do in a combat situation.”

Tiaran's voice was filled with heavy amounts of sarcasm, while her tone was still as calm and stoic as ever. Bridgette stood from her seat and smiled.

“Gladly!”

Bridgette began walking down the stairs towards the arena, oozing infinite amounts of confidence with each step.

‘If I’m not mistaken, Instructor Belouis has a lower Resonance level than me. I should have the advantage in this fight and if she’s anything like Carmen, this’ll be a cakewalk.’

Bridgette hopped onto the arena and approached the side opposite to Tiaran. To her surprise, Tiaran stood by with no expression on her face.

‘She’s full of openings, is this a joke to her?’

Bridgette glared at Tiaran and quickly summoned her Manifest, exerting an impressive amount of Core Energy in the process. A timer appeared above the arena and started to count down.

“Are you not going to summon your Manifest?” Bridgette asked with a surprised tone, finding it odd that Tiaran made no effort to arm or prepare herself.

“…”

Tiaran gave no reply as she continued to stare, showing not an ounce of emotion as the timer ticked down.

‘What the hell is her deal?’

Bridgette felt a little unsettled by the empty stare coming from Tiaran. She braced herself and patiently waited for the buzzer to go off.

“3… 2…1… GO!”

The buzzer blared and Bridgette immediately broke the ground underneath Tiaran. The arena cracked and buckled as her earth manipulation made short work of the floor. However, in an absolute instant, Tiaran appeared in front of Bridgette assuming a low posture with her fist reared back. The speed of her dash was completely silent and otherworldly, not leaving behind even a trace of her presence.

‘What!? When did she move? I didn’t see her at all.’

Bridgette was in complete shock, having never witnessed movement even remotely similar to this. As she looked down in that moment, Tiaran’s red eyes stared back at her as though she were saying “I told you so.” Then, with tremendous force, Tiaran punched Bridgette in the stomach and sent her flying back in spectacular fashion.

Bridgette careened off of the arena floor and crashed into the wall, destroying it completely in the process. All of the air exited her chest as blood spewed out of her mouth. She bounced off of the wall like an inflatable ball and as she came forward, she landed on the ground face first.

The room looked on in absolute shock and amazement at how quickly their supposed “strongest” first year student was dispatched. Bridgette gasped for air and gripped her stomach as she grimaced from the immense pain welling up. Tiaran slowly approached and stood over her, looking down with a red eyed glare.

“You have a lot of power, but your casting speed is slow, making it incredibly easy for me to close the gap. Secondly, you really shouldn’t look down on your opponents. It clouds your judgment and causes you to not anticipate the enemy properly.” Tiaran said with her usual serious tone.

“This one little exchange proves to me how little you actually know. So no, my lessons aren’t useless because you apparently have yet to learn this basic stuff.”

Bridgette slowly looked up and nodded her head, signaling that she understood and regretted her decision to spar.

‘Is she nuts!? If my Manifest’s sand hadn’t absorbed some of that hit, I’d probably be dead right now. What the hell!’

Bridgette continued to grip her stomach as she struggled to catch her breath. Tiaran noticed her labored breathing and looked over towards the class, pointing at a couple of students on the first row.

“You two, take her to the infirmary. I think she broke a few ribs.” She commanded with a cold tone.

They quickly got up from their seats and rushed over, helping Bridgette to her feet and walking her out of the room. Tiaran returned to the front of the class and proceeded to ask a question.

“Is there anyone else that finds my lessons boring or useless? Anyone that wants to show me a better way?” She calmly asked as she crossed her arms.

“NO MA’AM!” The class collectively erupted, wanting no part of the beat down that just occurred.

“Good, let’s continue shall we?”

Tiaran resumed her lesson as though nothing happened.

The cool, Fall afternoon trickled into Castle de Belouis as an orange colored leaf floated through the window of Azhane’s bedroom. She sat at her desk going through paperwork when suddenly her chest and arm began to feel hot.

She gripped her chest and panted heavily, wondering what was happening. Moments later, dark purple colored chains appeared on her body and they began to squeeze tightly. After a couple agonizing seconds, the chains broke and shattered, disappearing in the process.

Azhane began to feel an incredible surge of energy start to flow throughout her body. The feeling was very warm and almost orgasmic in a way. After a moment, she started to feel normal again and she slowly held out her arm. The Grasp of Nihility materialized itself, in all its black and purple glory. Azhane smiled as she caressed it gently.

“Good afternoon to you too, did you sleep well?” She whispered tenderly.

Her Manifest glowed intensely as though responding to her gentle words. She sent her weapon away and held out her palm. A dark purple, orb-like void appeared in her hand, not losing its shape like before.

“Looks like I finally got my powers back. Only took me eight months this time. I should tell Graymoor about this, though he may be saddened that he doesn’t have to follow me around 24/7 anymore.”

Azhane chuckled as she thought about Graymoor’s potential reaction to this news. Within that same moment, Nadine walked in with some tea and snacks, placing them on the desk.

“Nadine, bring Graymoor here please. I have an important matter to discuss with him.”

“Oh, you didn’t know, My Lady? Graymoor seems to have fallen ill and is currently resting in the infirmary. Shall I try to fetch him regardless?” Nadine responded with concern. Azhane looked surprised to hear this news, feeling quite awful about it.

“Oh no, I had no idea. He never gets sick, so this might be serious. Take me to him.”

Nadine agreed and they swiftly left the room, making their way to the infirmary.

As soon as they arrived, Azhane saw Graymoor sitting up in a bed, slightly slumped over. He had no shirt on but you could see that his face was very flush and red. He began to cough loudly as sweat trickled down his face.

Azhane rushed over to his bed causing him to look over. Graymoor squinted and saw that it was the Queen who was before him.

“Oh! Your Majesty.” He said, attempting to get off the bed so could bow to her. Azhane pushed him back down, preventing him from getting up.

“Idiot, stay in bed. You’re clearly sick, don’t make it worse.” She said with an annoyed expression.

He slowly nodded, but to his surprise, Azhane pushed his hair away from his forehead. She proceeded to place her forehead onto his, trying to gauge his temperature. Graymoor felt her breath and closely saw her soft lips in front of his face.

“Oh my, you’re burning up Graymoor! Nadine, fetch me a cold towel and some water.”

Nadine bowed and retrieved the requested items as quickly as she could. Once she returned, she posed a question to Her Majesty.

“My Lady, we can get another maid or nurse to do this. You needn’t dirty your hands with such a task.” She said as she handed Azhane the towel.

“No. I’ll take care of him for now. I will call for you if I need anything else, thank you Nadine.”

The Head Maid bowed her head humbly before taking her leave from the room, closing the door gently. Azhane began to wipe the sweat from his body and tended to Graymoor, trying to help alleviate his symptoms.

“Your Majesty, why are you doing all of this? I’ll be fine with enough time.” He said, not wanting to be a burden to her.

“Ohh hush, you’ve been waiting on me hand and foot for years. Let me return the favor every once in a while.” She responded with a light laugh and smile. Graymoor looked over and smiled as well, feeling great comfort in her words.

“I already feel better after seeing that smile…”

His voice was incredibly soft as he drifted off to sleep, getting much needed rest. Azhane looked stunned by Graymoor’s sudden break in character, feeling butterflies in her stomach from his words.

'What did he just say?'

She was taken aback as she wiped his arm with the towel. She then took closer notice of Graymoor’s incredibly toned and muscular build, fully realizing just how manly and attractive he was.

Azhane blushed before rapidly shaking her head, trying to clear her suggestive thoughts as much as she could. She continued to sit by his side as he slept deeply.