Chapter 262: Understanding [1]

"What did you say!?" An accident occurred the moment that I greeted Professor Hollowe. With just one glance in the direction of where the noise seemed to come from, I already had an idea of what had happened.

"What's going on?" Professor Hollowe stared in the general direction with squinted eyes. He appeared to be trying to understand what was happening.

"There's no need to think so much." I said, staring in Kiera's direction.

There were two sides, and the other side was glaring at Kiera. Raising my hand, I pointed at her.

"...She probably is the culprit for the situation." This wasn't the first time she had provoked them.

The first time was during the interview, and now was the second time.

'I wonder what she said to them...' Surely it wasn't the same as what she said to them the first time, right? Something along the lines of suck... "What's going on here?" Approaching the group, I found that several people had already made their way toward the scene.

Usually, they wouldn't interfere in matters like this, but seeing how heated things were getting, they had no choice but to step in.

"Cadets, calm down and explain what's going on."

Professor Hollowe held the two sides back as he turned to face a green-haired girl. I also noticed her, and as I looked at her my eyes squinted.

'Her name was something along the lines of Aurora Blackstone...?' She seemed to have come to the Bremmer Central Academy and was quite a famous individual in her own right. With just a glance, I could tell that her rank was higher than mine.

With hazel eyes that contrasted her green hair, she glared at Kiera who stood crookedly on the spot.

"She doesn't want to cooperate with us, and she deliberately injured someone during our spar. That's what's going on."

"...Nah, not really."

"What do you mean, not really?" Aurora stepped to the side to display the injured cadet.

"He's injured, can't you see?"

"Is he dead?"

"...No?"

"So what's the problem?" Kiera scratched her ears as if she couldn't be bothered to argue. She didn't seem at all interested in arguing.

On the other hand, Aoife seemed to be trying her best to talk things with the other instructors who had come but I couldn't quite hear their conversations. But with just a glance, I could tell that she was probably feeling a massive headache.

"Do you see what we're dealing with? She's unhinged, and just before you came here, she... she..." Aurora's mouth twitched as she hesitated to speak.

"What's so difficult about saying what I said?" Giving a frown to the troubled look she was wearing, Kiera heaved out a sigh.

"I said lick my balls. It's not really hard to say it, is it?"

"..." Aurora turned to look at Professor Hollowe whose face froze.

Then, out of nowhere, he mumbled in a tone that only I could hear, 'It must be hard to bounce back from that.'

"...!" I bit my tongue.

The sharp pain made its way into my mind as my left eye twitched due to the pain.

At the same time, I stared at Kiera in wonder as she met my gaze and glared at me with a look that seemed to say, 'What do you want?' '...She really did end up saying the same thing.

' At least she was consistent.

"Professor, do you see what I'm dealing with? I don't think we can work with someone like that."

"Oh please, we both know why you're doing what you're trying to do."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? It's not my fault you have little to no self-confidence in your own skills that you'd have to resort to such a cheap method in order to get a starting position, but I'm not that stupid."

"What?"

"In any case, fuck off.

If you want the spot, beat me. Otherwise..." Kiera flipped her off.

"...You know where to lick." Kiera suddenly began taking off her protective equipment.

From the shoulder pads to the stomach pads, she removed everything and seemed to be getting ready to leave, until Professor Hollowe stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm leaving."

Kiera looked up.

"I doubt this shit will get resolved anytime soon so I might as well just get changed now and deal with it in more comfortable clothes. The sweat is kind of bugging me, and shit."

"Wait, stop."

Professor Hollowe held her arm and stopped her from changing further.

"Uh?"

"Don't change, give me a second."

Letting go of her arm, the Professor approached the other delegates and talked to them. I stood from my spot, staring at him and wondering what he was planning on doing before he eventually came back.

"Alright." He clapped once, gathering the attention of everyone present.

"I need all attention on me for a second." His words were effective as everyone turned to look at him.

Taking in all the gazes, the Professor began to speak.

"I see that there's been a small conflict.

I understand what has happened, and..." With a meaningful look, Professor Hollowe looked at both sides.

"...I know what you're trying to do, so I won't interfere too much.

If you want to resolve this matter, then I have a solution." He pointed at the Haven side.

"We will have a match between the two groups. Whoever wins gets the last say, how about it?" Professor Hollowe looked at both sides expectantly.

To make matters worse, he turned to look at me and then the injured person from the other group.

"Oh, right.

Since one of your members is injured, how about you join their side? It will make things more interesting." The sudden suggestion made everyone's gaze fall on me.

Feeling their gazes, I kept my face straight while staring back at the Professor. Really...? But still, looking around and seeing how the situation was turning out, this was probably the fastest method to get things done quickly.

"That's fine."

"...We can do that."

The foreign side seemed to be okay with the suggestion. On the other hand, the Haven side wasn't too sure...That was until Leon whispered something to Aoife who found herself reluctantly nodding her head and agreeing as well.

"We are fine with it too."

"Great!" Professor Hollowe clapped his hands.

"I'll give you both ten minutes to get ready. I'll let you know when the time comes."

With a happy smile, the Professor went on to leave the area. Staring at him, I didn't know how to feel and turned to face my group.

They all seemed to be staring at me with peculiar gazes before asking, "Tell us everything that you know about them. Don't leave anything out."

Their tone was quite aggressive, but I didn't mind it. Turning to look at the other group for a brief moment, I looked back at my group and joined them.

"Gladly." *** "Why did you tell me to agree?" Aoife looked at Leon in confusion.

The two of them, or pretty much all of them knew how annoying it could be to deal with Julien. If not for Leon telling her to agree to it, she would've thought for long before deciding.

At the same time, she glared at Kiera.

"Why?"

"What?"

"...Do you always have to antagonize everyone like that?"

"Nah, stop. You already know what they were trying to pull. I get that you're a pushover, but I'm not."

"That's not it."

Aoife ruffled the back of her head. While it was true that she understood that the situation had all been fabricated by them, she also knew where they were coming from.

This was an important stage for everyone, one that would help decide their futures.

Everyone wanted to have a firm grasp of the starting spot, and given that all other groups came from different backgrounds, they didn't have the same synergy as those coming from the same Academy.

It was for that reason that some practices were unfair...This was the reason why some acted the way that they did. Aoife understood this and was planning on giving them some leeway before Kiera went ahead and ruined everything.

'Whatever, what's done is already done.' With a heavy sigh, Aoife looked at her group.

"Since the situation has turned out like this, we have no choice but to do as we are asked. Most of you should already be somewhat familiar with how they work, but you should still be on guard for some skills that they have yet to reveal.

In fact..." Just briefly, Aoife tried to glance in Julien's direction, and the moment she did, her face froze as she noticed him talking with them while pointing in their general direction.

"Wait, is this fucker really telling them everything?"

"That..." Aoife didn't know how to respond as she stared at Julien with open eyes.

"That traitor."

"We are in different groups."

Leon suddenly interjected, looking completely unperturbed by the sight. Kiera and Aoife looked at each other.

Just as they were about to say something, Professor Hollowe appeared again.

"Ten minutes have passed, please get both sides ready."

"What? Already!?" Kiera looked at the Professor dumbstruck.

"That was too fast. I think your watch is broken.

Check again. There's no way ten minutes have already passed!" The only thing she received in response was a helpless shrug from the Professor.

"Tsk." In the end, with a click of her tongue, she had no choice but to get in position as they stared at the opposing team.

Aoife took a deep breath and set her eyes on Julien who stood at the very back. Their plan was actually fairly simple.

Take Julien out first before taking out the others. He was currently the biggest problem for them.

It wasn't just his emotive magic that was annoying to deal with, but his threads. Those were especially annoying to deal with.

This was what everyone agreed on, and as all eyes turned to look at the Professor who had his arm raised, a sudden silence took over the space. A strange tension lingered over the surroundings as both sides turned to stare at each other.

And then, "Start." The Professor waved down his hand, commencing the start of the fight.

Immediately, both sides sprang into action. Or at least, tried to.

Snap—

A sudden snapping sound echoed, spreading throughout every inch of the surroundings. It wasn't loud, but it gave the effect that it was as both sides stood frozen on the spot.

Lifting her head, Aoife looked towards the figure that stood at the back. His hazel eyes, deep as they were, seemed even deeper than they had ever been, and as his gaze lingered over his hand, the members of his group suddenly took several steps back as their faces turned pale.

"Ukh...!" They all seemed to be looking at Professor Hollowe, but he stood still without so much as a change in his expression. And that was when Aoife heard it.

"Snake." It was Leon who stared at Julien from beside her.

"...He's a snake."