A Scholarly Week (6)

The first to walk in through the door was Caliban, who looked completely recovered. Such a look would no doubt cause any normal onlooker to perceive nothing wrong with him, but of course Cyrus knew otherwise as he was even more resilient than Caliban and even he was feeling the pain.

"I have to give praise to his acting ability though, no one will see him as in a weak spot due to it. A habit born from being alone for so long most likely" thought Cyrus, feeling thankful for the two at his side currently.

Noticing Cyrus looking at him, Caliban nodded in acknowledgement before walking past and taking his own seat alone in a corner.

"When did you become close with Quattuor Caliban? He is quite infamous you know, he singlehandedly defeated half of his class and then the other half with someone equally as infamous" said Imran, who noticed the gesture shared between the two.

"We share a similar homeland as well as both being at the top of the Academy, it is not too unusual for us to at least be on familiar terms. You also brought up that we cooperated before, as that infamous person is of course none other than me. I only beat up a few of them though…not sure why I would be regarded so highly" remarked Cyrus.

"Did you not go on a murder spree when you went to get a new robe for me?" brought up Minerva.

"Oh…that. Hey, it was not a murder spree I made sure to heal them all if I recall. I do admit it was a bit extreme and I personally would have gone about it in a different manner but at the end of the day they asked for it by aggressing and their lives were guaranteed even so" said Cyrus, glossing over the fact that his other half had in fact been perfectly prepared to kill at one point.

"I can stop him from doing that in the future though" thought Cyrus in defense of his white lie.

"Yeah their lives were guaranteed but I am sure you left more than a few traumatized. Having your limbs separated from your body is most likely not the best thing to experience…��� said Imran as he shivered a bit towards the end.

Luckily Cyrus did not have to defend his questionable actions for any longer, as yet another newcomer entered the café. This one was someone that neither of the three knew or even met before, but the gold badge on his chest revealed his identity to all immediately.

"II, Segundo. If I recall his name was Sephtis" whispered Imran as the man himself walked by them.

He was a stout young man, with a yellowish red hair that looked like it was outright burned towards the root. Donning a form fitting red robe, in stark contrast to his black as night eyes, he did not even acknowledge anyone else in the room except for the one who he had been focused on since the start.

"Cornelius, rank third with the title of Tertius. I have been wanting to meet you for a while, alas, my schedule has been extremely busy so I have not been able to make the time" said Sephtis as he walked up next to Cornelius and extended his hand in greeting.

"He appears to be nice enough on the surface…but something is off about his expression. Its…contrived or perhaps a construct would be a more apt word. Just like the fakeness of the wasteland merchants, who would happily sell you information just to turn around and resell it to others which would no doubt spell the doom of the ill-informed" remarked Cyrus inwardly as the two shook hands.

At once signs of extreme pressure from the side of Sephtis was made apparent, as his muscles sprang to action in an apparent attempt to crush the hand of Cornelius.

"Nice to meet you as well, Sephtis. It is always a pleasure to meet new people" said Cornelius, his face still containing a serene and jovial smile as if nothing was wrong.

"It is a custom from my place of origin to impart teachings to anyone who requires it, assuming there is time to do so. Seeing as the situation allows for it, allow me to teach you the lesson of humility" began Cornelius, after which his own grip turned rock solid easily matching the amount of strength that was used by Sephtis.

"HAHAA" laughed Sephtis as he raised the pressure to his limit, which was matched in turn by Cornelius. "I am not one for lessons from those beneath me, perhaps if you can best me then I will be more receptive."

A bead of sweat could be seen forming on his forehead, however, as Cornelius had raised his grip strength far more than Sephtis could ever manage. Such a bead of sweat was immediately evaporated by Sephtis with an expert usage of his domain, followed up by yet another activation of it that caused smoke to erupt from the 'handshake' the two were undergoing.

It was obvious to everyone that he had done such an underhanded thing, since he made no move to hide his tracks.

"Perhaps that is his arrogance, that there is no need to even attempt to hide it" thought Cyrus while he continued to watch, knowing for a fact that Cornelius was no push over.

As expected, Cornelius did not even so much as flinch even though his flesh was quite literally boiling from the intense heat that it was being subjected to. Instead he activated his own domain, choosing to heal his hand as fast as it was burned.

"It stops any permanent damage, a good move indeed. Yet the pain must be immense…" thought all who watched, no doubt all having some level of awe at the extreme pain that Cornelius was bearing without any change to his expression.

The standoff between the two continued, with each putting more will into their domains but all this did was perpetuate the standoff. In fact the one on the losing end could be seen to be Sephtis, as he is the one who had to bear the immense grip strength of Cornelius while the man himself seemed to have no problem with the intense heat.

Perhaps noticing that he would not win in this type of confrontation, Sephtis was the first to break the 'handshake'.

"I will admit, I had marked you down wrong. You at least have the bare minimum requirement to compete with me, although do know that I am far more capable in a setting that does not limit what I can do" said Sephtis, backing down slightly, in reference to the no fighting rule that the entire mess hall had.

"I look forward to seeing what you are capable of in the future, I always have time to guide lost sheep onto the proper path" replied Cornelius, clasping both of his hands together and giving a slight bow.

Septhis simply scoffed at this, before grabbing a jug of wine from the refreshment stand and leaving the café as quick as he had come.

"What an aggressive fellow. It seems he wanted to beat down the one below him so as to dissuade him from challenging his position, most likely out of a warped sense of pride" analyzed Imran once Sephtis had left.

"An unpleasant individual" concluded Minerva, a look of hatred flashing across her eyes.

"Agreed. Regardless, he is not someone easy to confront. He is ranked second out of the entire Academy after all. I trust that Glacies did not randomly assign us, there is a reason the ranks are such that they are. In fact, this coming weekend…perhaps we will finally see what we are all up against" concluded Cyrus aloud, before returning to finish his meal quickly while it was still warm.