Shadow Slave | School Days

Warm hands placed themselves on Nephis shoulders as she turned around to see Sunny staring at her with a blank expression. It was clear what he wanted, yet he didn't want to say it. Orion stared at her with a wide smile, eagerly awaiting her arrival on the battlefield as Kai and Effie also stared at her in silence.

"But before I do. I need to talk to Sunny, alone." A teasing smile arrived on Effie's face as she made the declaration, yet before she could speak Kai slapped his hand over her mouth, hurrying her out of the room with Cassie in tow. The small blonde girl turned around and gave Sunny a slight smile, almost knowing where he was instinctively.

"I'm happy for you Sunny." Only a small smile which she would never gain the opportunity of seeing as she walked out the room briskly. Orion offered Sunny a wide smile before pulling him into a deep hug "You've been through a fuck tonne you bastard and this princess looks like she suits you perfectly. All that's left is for her to prove her strength, I'm eager to see what you two can do."

Releasing Sunny from his hold, he turned to Nephis and gave her a curt nod, yet the unspoken message was clear. 'Hurt him and I'll kill you.' Nephis found it quite odd how protective he was of Sunny, especially seeing as typically it was the girl in the relationship who received all this attention, yet she didn't, particularly mind. Orion was odd, but weren't they all?

Finally, the two were left alone in the room as Sunny walked over to his chair and collapsed, placing a hand on his chest as Nephis shot to his side. "Sunny!? What's wrong?" Words didn't flow from Sunny's mouth as short, sharp breathes escaped his lips. He held onto Nephis like she'd run if he let her go for a few moments before slowly calming himself.

"I… think that's because of stress." Sunny panted out, Nephis pulled him toward her and laid his head onto her thighs with a worried expression on her face as Sunny continued. "My body can take it, but it's getting hard for my mind to. There's so many people I need to worry about, and there's the matter of sending you money for this month I haven't even had the chance to relax. I thought fighting would help but it's only increasing my worries."

Running her hand through his hair, Nephis smiled sadly at Sunny's dishevelled features as she placed a hand on his chest. His heart was beating so quickly she feared it might burst out his chest as she watched him stare emptily at the ceiling. "Is that why you want everyone to get stronger so badly? So, you can rest?" Sunny's nodded gently, burying his head into her stomach as Nephis laughed at the contact.

"But you need to understand, not everyone is like you. We all learn at different rates and different paces, so it's unfair to place your expectations onto them especially when they haven't been through half of the things you have."

Sunny grumbled slightly, attempting to sit up only for Nephis hand to gently guide his chest downward back onto her thigh once more with a stern expression. "I just don't understand, every time I see you and the rest of them fall and make mistakes it just doesn't register with me, I don't understand it and it makes me feel like I'm not normal."

There was some truth to his statement, he wasn't normal. Nothing about Sunny so far had been normal or typical for people his age. The matter of his age also raised another issue with Nephis, she had no idea when his birthday was and highly doubted, he knew either. But that was a matter that could be tended to after Valor had been brought to its knees.

"Do you… have to be normal? There's no need for you to conform to whatever arbitrary standards people set, their expectations should mean nothing to you. People always thought I was weird because of my hair, but who cares? Follow your own path."

Sunny offered her a small smile as he sat up slowly, before Nephis could act he grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed his lips against her own with fiery passion that knew no restraint. Their kiss lasted for ten minutes or even more if anyone bothered to count as the two only separated due to lack of oxygen.

Before Nephis could say anything, Sunny pulled her into a tight hug burying his head into the crook of her neck as he dug his fingers into her hair. "Don't leave me again." He mumbled, Nephis returned the hug with full force as she ran her hand through his silky locks with a small smile. "I won't Sunny, never again. But I have to go fight now and I need a name."

Pulling backward slightly, Sunny placed a hand on his chin contemplating what her ring name would be before a triumphant expression settled on his features. He studied her form as she continued to catch her breath from their intense moment of intimacy as her ring name finally exited his mouth.

"Changing Star. It'd suit you perfectly."

With a smile, Nephis typed in the name in her applicants form and separated from Sunny, switching their positions as master and combatant temporarily as she stepped of the management booth and walked slowly into the arena.

The fights that had been taking place so far didn't gain as much of an impression as Sunny had left on them, yet still the screams of the people were nearly deafening as Nephis felt her eyes twitch at the volume.

Currently, Sunny's twenty wins and the speed in which he had managed to accomplish them had earned him a position in the top fifty, meanwhile, Nephis was all the way at the bottom with only room to move upward. "You can do this; you've fought Morgan of Valor for God's sake how could these guys compare."

Upon making her way out, she was greeted by the sight of a slender woman standing in the middle of the arena. She was clad in a purple bodysuit making her figure readily apparent and matched her purple choice of clothing with purple hair. Her eyes were sharp and focused, never straying from Nephis's own for even a second.

Suddenly, Orion's voice rang out through the arena, his prideful tone still streaking into every word he uttered regardless of if he was the topic of discussion as Nephis turned her attention upward. The young man was staring down at her from a booth at the very top of the gigantic colosseum, his voice rousing cheers and looks of admiration from the people.

"Please welcome Mongrel's very own spouse Changing Star!" Roars of admiration rang out through the crowd, shaking the floor beneath her as Nephis face burned red at her sudden outing. The women within the crowd roared furiously, yelling curses of jealousy at her as Nephis levelled a glare at the crowd.

"And it's only fair to make our newest rising star's spouse, fight the highest ranked woman in the arena, no? So how about it, do you all want to see Changing Star and Samara spill some blood?"

A large smile came across the newly identified Samara as she prepared herself for combat. "Who knows, maybe if I win Mongrel will consider taking a new woman. Nobody likes dead weight after all." She taunted, Nephis eyebrow twitched in response as she took her own stance.

As the two prepared to fight, a deafening silence permeated throughout the battlefield, each and every member of the Colosseum awaiting for who would make the first move and how their opponent would respond. None dared to interrupt the furious face off.

Sunny, who had made his way into Orion's booth unseen appeared beside him before wrapping his arm around the taller man's shoulder. "What type of monster's have you been cultivating here? Really, you took one look at Neph and gave her the worst possible opponent a grappler could have." Orion turned his head to him with a smirk.

"Adaptability is everything, and I can see Revel taught her too. Speaking of which, can you give me her number?" His ability to casually talk about Sunny's mother in a romantic fashion never ceased to amuse Sunny, initially he was infuriated but eventually he gave up on forcing his friend to stop flirting.

"She's never going to receive your feelings, being the prideful bastard you are I can only help but wonder why you haven't just given up already." Sunny replied, Orion smiled at him wistfully, staring down at the battlefield which had already erupted into a cloud of violence.

"There is nothing in this world that is out of my reach, and even if there is, so be it. Only one woman and one woman alone is worthy of me chasing after, only one woman is worth taking up my mind. And should I fail? So be it! At least I'd have failed striving to achieve that which is worthy of my undivided attention. The unattainable."

Surging forward, Nephis kept her footwork tight, her muscles coiled like a set of steel springs. Samara on the other hand, barely seemed to move—her stance was loose, almost lazy—but when Nephis fired a sharp jab towards her chin, Samara melted away, her torso bending impossibly to the side as she slipped past the punch.

Sharp pain tore through her body as a heel slammed itself into Nephis ribs from an impossible angle. The crowd's roars only added to the feeling of panic she felt as she barely managed to twist her body, catching the brunt of the force with her forearm.

Samara sent her skidding back with only one blow, mockingly beckoning her to come face her again as Nephis obeyed with pleasure. This time, Nephis feinted high and swung low, driving a brutal kick toward Samara's leg. Instead of blocking, Samara flipped backward, hands hitting the ground as she kicked up with both legs, slamming her shin into Nephis's shoulder.

The impact staggered Nephis, but she rolled with it, twisting mid-fall to land on her hands. Before she could stand, Samara was already above her, her knee slicing through the air toward Nephis's head. Reacting instantly, Nephis grabbed Samara's shin with a single arm, pulling backward roughly and sending Samara colliding with the floor.

Before she could build up on her success, like liquid Samara slipped from her grip, a kick soared past Nephis's head once more as she leaned back on instinct, jumping away to avoid the continued onslaught.

'I don't get it, she isn't faster than Morgan and nor does she hit as hard, yet every attack she lands stings like I'm getting stabbed. And even worse, grappling doesn't seem to be working either. Something needs to change.'

And Nephis was exactly right, something needed to change. And fast.