Surprise attack

A few minutes after the end of the last group's exit from the training room, Smith had announced the end of the class.

Everyone had changed back into their school uniforms and were leaving one by one.

One person remaining was Hector who had taken a few steps towards Sylvia.

"Lady Sylvia, why don't we go and get a meal together? We have much to catch u-"

At that moment, Sylvia's eyes fell upon a figure exiting the combat center. Baring her teeth, she rushed towards the shadow of the person.

"Goddamn Soren! Wait!"

Hector's mouth twitched as he watched Sylvia rush out.

He stayed still for a long moment before exiting the area himself, a sharp glint in his eyes.

…

I was walking towards the dorms for a hot shower, when Sylvia caught up to me in the next moment.

Her face looked a little angry to me for some reason.

"Soren, tell me… How did you get such a high score?!"

I rubbed my chin for a moment. Sylvia was surprisingly much nosier than I thought.

"It was all due to luck generated by my handsomeness…"

"Don't spout rubbish!"

"You don't believe I am handsome?!"

With a "Hmph," Sylvia looked the other way with a pout.

Her anger looked really cute to me though.

"You know Sylvia, you should really loos-"

Swoosh…!

All of a sudden, both Sylvia and my face distorted. A projectile in the shape of large crystal boulder was speeding towards us.

We both instantly reacted to it and summoned ice barriers of our own.

Soon the projectile hit Sylvia's barrier and shattered into pieces. The pieces were made of ice with properties shockingly similar to both our abilities.

I bit my tongue and focused my gaze on the source of the attack.

"Hahahaha! How're you doing little sister…?"

From the end of the hallway, three girls were walking towards us. They were each wearing a military academy uniform with a black badge which was unique to second year students.

The one leading them had silver hair and a striking resemblance to Sylvia herself. Though she wasn't as pretty, she could also be regarded as fairly attractive if not for the sinister expression on her face right now.

What forced me to be more serious was that the girl was an A-rank with 4-star combat power, while the two girls following her were B-ranks with 3-and-a-half-star combat potentials.

They were a small forced to be reckoned with if they attacked us in the earnest.

While both Sylvia and I were still on guard, the group of second year students surrounded the two of us.

"Diana…!"

Sylvia's face turned a little pale as she got a closer look at the second-year girl.

I observed Sylvia with a slight frown. It became evident to me that her state of mind had been mildly disturbed.

"Lister sister… you're finally at the academy huh! Oh, and this guy…" Diana's glance came over me for a short moment, and then an evil grin formed on her face.

"As expected of a daughter of a slut…! You're hanging out with a mere C-rank boy on the first week of school! Bahahaha! It's sad that we share the same father!"

Diana spoke malicious words to her sister without any restrain. She didn't seem to fear triggering a reaction from a dangerous S-ranker too.

And what's worse….? Sylvia was thoroughly enraged.

'Oh, shit…!'

Very quickly, I leapt away from Sylvia's position in a flash.

She had already activated the full extent of her powers.

As temperature were plummeting in the entire hallway, Diana still didn't seem fazed.

All she did was activate the cold manipulation powers of her own and signaled the other two girls on her side.

"Great...! Now that you're finally away from the protection of your aunt, I don't mind doing big brother a favor and disciplining a hassle like you!"

Boom…!

A clash of icicle missiles immediately occurred across the hallway.

It looked like both combatants had mutually agreed to go all out right from the start.

I could tell that Sylvia was absolutely provoked. With an extremely icy stare, she sent her second wave of projectiles towards Diana, causing her to be slightly pushed back.

'Not good…!'

Just when Sylvia was about to engage Diana once again, the two girls who had entered Sylvia's rear smiled.

In the very next instant, heated flames entered the equation of the battle. One of the girls breathed out fire, while the other one spewed out a flame from her hands.

While the abilities of the two girls were weaker and far less versatile compared to ice manipulation, their coordinated attacked forced Sylvia to pay serious attention.

With no choice, Sylvia had to focus part of her energy into summoning ice barriers to block the incoming flames.

This gave breathing space to Diana who began to coordinate with the other two girls into further pushing Sylvia into the back-foot.

In the meantime, as the fight progressed in Diana's favor, my presence was being treated like air.

'This was clearly a planned provocation…!'

I analyzed the fight carefully from a slight distance.

It was evident to me that Diana had probably taken some amount of effort to gather two B-rankers with incendiary abilities.

With her own powers and the help of these flame users, who helped counter cold manipulation powers, Diana must have schemed this from the start.

Soon I took a pronounced sigh.

Even if I genuinely didn't want to help Sylvia, it would surely be no laughing matter if I was targeted right after.

'Do I really have to involve myself with such a messy family affair?'

Just when the fight was about to turn dangerous, I sprinted in the direction of the girl who breathed out flames.

"Annoying bug! Do you want to die?!"

The girl only gave me an annoyed glance before sending out a singular flame breath. She redirected her firepower on Sylvia right after, expecting me to back off.

This was her first and last mistake…

With a slight wave of my hand, a dark-icy mist swept over the flame sent to target me. The puny flame stood no chance, as it was easily absorbed by the darkness attribute of the mist.

"Damn wha…"

By the time she realized I was a threat, it was too late. An icy blade had already been plunged on the back of her thigh.

[Pain inflicted to enemy… You have gained 350 XP!]

"Ahhh!" The girl screamed in pain from the dark-ice blade slowly draining all her energy. In due time, her consciousness left her as well.

Almost immediately, Sylvia's eyes flashed dangerously.

No longer being heckled from one end, it was finally time for Sylvia to go on the offensive.

Both Diana and the other girl grimaced upon witnessing the tides of battle having turned. As if having come to prior agreement, they rushed away from the scene of battle.

Both Sylvia and I wanted to chase them; however, they were second years alright…

They skillfully dodged our attacks and swiftly got away from our reach. Before leaving, Diana grinded her teeth together and gave one last look of hostility towards me.

In her mind, she was certain to have taught a satisfying lesson to Sylvia if not for my interference.

I snorted at their leaving figures and turned to face Sylvia. She was now glaring at me for some reason too.

"Why did you interfere?!"

Sylvia was breathing roughly, more so from her emotional state rather than exhaustion.

She took strides towards me as she yelled, "I would have defeated them on my own… without giving them a single opportunity to escape! Huff… Huff…"

'Bullshit' was what I wanted to yell…

Instead, I suddenly grabbed Sylvia's arm and pulled her into my embrace.

"I know you could have easily defeated them…" I whispered, my voice soothing.

Sylvia struggled in my embrace, but I held her even more tightly at that moment.

"L-Let me go! You already ruined my fight…! Huff… Huff…"

'Rubbish… I did nothing wrong!'

"I would have taught that bitch Diana a lesson!'

'No, you would have made a joke of yourself!'

Sylvia vented a few more times, her breathing slowly stabilizing.

While I did still have to handle some of the unnecessary jabs, I focused on enjoying the soft body in my embrace. I gently stroked her hair and occasionally rubbed Sylvia's waist as compensation.

It was slight pity Sylvia was flat there though…

Shortly, Sylvia's nerves had finally calmed. I let Sylvia leave my embrace whose petite face had now turned red from embarrassment.

She hadn't thanked me or apologized, but I felt like she knew in her heart that she shouldn't have taken it out on me.

"Kuhum… You're heading to the dorms?" She asked after a few moments.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yes."

"It would be my pleasure to walk with you then, lady Sylvia!"

I did my best impression of Hector, but all it did was cause Sylvia to chuckle and mockingly look at me. "Compare to him, you look really vulgar!"

…

Like this, we lightly bantered on our way back to the dorms.

Fortunately, Sylvia had already regained her lost composure.

She hadn't bothered talking about her family circumstances though, and I hadn't bothered asking.

I didn't think it was a matter concerning me anyway.

Not too far away from the entrance of the male dorm building, I bid my farewell to Sylvia.

Before I was a few steps away though, I heard a cautionary voice travel to my ears.

"Be wary of Mika!"

With my head tilting to the side, I glanced back at Sylvia.

She only gritted her teeth and walked away. The only words that had left her were, "If you can, completely avoid hanging out with Mika!"

I gazed at Sylvia's leaving figure with dilated pupils.

'Hmm… What exactly do you mean, Sylvia?'

**

Thud…!

Diana punched the wall of a secluded hallway, her face displaying an ugly scowl.

"Fuck…! How did this happen?!"

She blurted, thinking back to the moment her hired help had been injured.

It was all due to that boy who Diana had thought to be a mere servant of Sylvia's.

Not only had she had failed to injure Sylvia according to her brother's instructions, she now had to provide suitable compensations for her injured help.

"Tsk… You failed pretty badly, huh!"

Just when Diana was thinking with her head down, a man's voice resounded in Diana's ears from the shadows.

"You…! "

Diana's lips pressed together into a slight frown.