A Story Of How He Became The Man I Will Always Love [Part 2]

Adem moved forward, getting ready to punch me. I could feel the power in his arms, and I knew that it was wise for me to try avoiding the fight. Usually, society sides with the powerful because society as a whole does not care about the details.

I quickly pushed back my chair. Levitating desks and chairs were only recently added to the school furniture. Right when I had pushed myself back, a heavy punch flew across me, right across my face. The force of Adem's punch sent a light wave of air to push against my nose. Air, however, was my property. It was no use trying to fight him in the material arts. I was mad at Adem for picking on me, and I too had pride in being the heir to the third most powerful family of radioactives on Earth. As much as I hated Adem, I hated even more his family, the House of Bodies.

Although magi-code was not restricted to anyone, some people had an affinity for certain types of magi-code. The House of Bodies was best known for its strong earth-related magic. They had always dominated the number-one spot. Next came the Minds Family of Water. They used to be third and my Souls family the second; however, we had lost our position for a few generations now. My family was third, and the Hearts family of fire came last, as the weakest of the radioactives. The power level of a family was measured every decade, and each family would send their most powerful family member, who would represent their honour and power. The tournament also allowed any other competitor to compete for a position as the radioactive; however, those who did dare to compete would be too weak to survive the first few minutes of the hours-long competition, so people stopped bothering to try.

I drew my power from Jupiter and activated a basic body lightning magicode. This made my body lighter. Quickly, I used Adem's fist as a base to push against and jumped past him to the front of the classroom.

"Don't get too cocky now, Adem. Let's call it a day."

"I'm afraid my day has just begun, Princess."

Adam did something to manipulate the ground, and my feet got stuck into the ground momentarily. I quickly created a high-pressure area around my leg to prevent the ground from crushing my feet, and then sent a few minor concentrated wind blasts towards Adem, who took them head-on without dodging. Maybe he was arrogant, but whatever reason had motivated him to take damage gave me the window to escape outside. Close spaces were not the best place to fight.

As I ran outside, I heard some voices cheering for Adem.

"Get her this time, King Adem."

"King? What is wrong with the kids of the lesser nobles?"

I made a run towards the principal's office, but before I could make it to the elevator, something heavy hit me on the head. I fell to the ground and looked behind me.

"Did you think I would just count to one hundred and then play hide and seek with you? These rocks are created from dust in the atmosphere. They're not going to hurt too much, but I'll do that too eventually."

He laughed, and multiple small rocks came flying towards me. I quickly countered with my own concentrated air blasts. I still did not know why he hated me with such intensity or what I ever did to make him want to hurt me.

"Why are you trying to hurt me?"

"Didn't I tell you that when we were kids? I think you're really ugly. That reason is enough."

Although the Souls family of air did inherit green eyes, we stood out because of our broad forehead and pointed chin the most.

"Who cares about that? You're pretty shallow if you respect people based on looks."

I was lecturing him, but he seemed to be reflecting on his actions. He smiled slyly and raised his hands menacingly towards me. Suddenly, the glass in the hallway broke as a huge boulder smashed towards me.

"You idiot!"

I screamed and activated my most powerful defence.

"Armour of Neptune: Activate!"

Neptune and Jupiter were my family's go-to planets for magic. The most basic and most complex magi codes that were passed down by our ancestors all relied on the combined energy of Jupiter, famous for its windstorms, and Neptune, known for its supersonic winds. A fine combination for attack and defense. On the other hand, we also had magi-codes that could deal a blow to frequencies and telecommunications. However, these magi-codes were still an impossible feat for me to accomplish.

As the large boulder pushed into my air defence wall and small, razor-sharp blades of wind cut the boulder right in front of me, I was still thrown across the hall and brutally smashed into the wall. Since the defence wall in front of me was so energy-consuming, I didn't even think about creating an air cushion behind me. On the other hand, something didn't feel right. My entire body had been shaken to the core, with bursts of pain spreading in all corners of my skeleton. 

"Was it supposed to hurt this much?"

I turned to look at the wall I had hit and was disappointed to see that Adam had changed the structure of the wall, making its surface rough and pointed. Anger burst in me because Adem had been able to think at a deeper level in this fight. Had I been able to fight like him, I would have created an air cushion to prevent this outcome.

"You'll pay for this, Adem."

I had decided not to stop fighting until I had cut a limb or two as payback. I got up, limping to my left side, my body bleeding, and my neck hurting.

"Wind scythe: activate."

Multiple blades of invisible air rushed towards Adem, but he dodged them, as if they were all visible to him.

"Tch."

I growled in frustration.

"Don't stop trying now; I'm enjoying this show of bravery you're putting in."

I threw even more invisible blades at him until my chest began to hurt, as I was losing stamina. It felt to me as if I were an inflated object losing air, and soon my anger turned into desperation.

"Why can't I hit you?!"

"Because unlike you, who treat your strong element like a weapon, I treat my earth like my own body. The skin cells I have left in the air encounter any danger first, before I have to encounter it myself. That is how I can see the unseen. Everything else is just a product of my superior reflexes."

Adem leaped towards me before I could react. I was only able to see his shoes covered in a hard rock, and the next moment, a sharp pain in my stomach numbed everything else, and I screamed in pain.

I clenched my stomach in pain and could hear the faint sounds of cheering. 

"It must be the other students."

Then, to my horror, I heard Aarin's voice.

"You stop that, Adem!"

"Aarin, run away."

I warned her in a weak voice, but her blurred image through my watery eyes stood firm in front of me, as an unmovable sheild. I cried as I saw Adem beat her into a pulp without even using any magic. That made it even more painful. Aarin was a bright student and was far better than anyone at her level in theory; however, she lacked strong genes. She was a commoner's daughter, after all. Every time Adem would punch her, the hatred for the world would grow more and more in me, and I found myself losing my humanity and nobility.

"Stop it, Adem. That's enough. You win."

For a nobel to say this was considered a plea to spare their lives because nobles had huge egos. Amongst the four radioactive families, the Soul family of Air was considered to have the biggest ego. We were very proud of our magician, and then I understood Adem's goal. It was to crush that ego.

"Say that again, princess. I can't hear you over the whimpering of your maid."

He screamed, and to my disgust, I heard cheers from other students. It must be the lesser nobles in the Hearts family. The Souls family and the Hearts family have had animosity since generations past, and none of us would ever spare a chance to make fun of the other. I had asked my father why our families didn't even allow their young ones to dance together in ballroom events, and he had told me to simply stay away from them because they were weak fools who dealt in bad businesses on the lower levels. I soon found out that amongst things like casinos and clubs, the Hearts family was also the mafia dealing with pleasure workers. Meanwhile, Aarin had told me that the Hearts family also didn't like the Souls family because they thought of themselves as superior to us. Fire is air as well, only more lethal. The Fires family had similar magicodes, like blazing blades of fire, which was technically an improvement in my own invisible wind scythe, and it hurt them to see themselves in fourth place.

I had to choose: to completely give up my pride and forever live with the memory of begging Adem to stop, or to watch him beat Aarin mercilessly. Then I decided.

"Adem. You w-"

Before I could say the whole sentence, however, a blaze of fire covered Adem, and everyone gasped in surprise, including Adem himself.

As the blaze of flames cleared out, a boy stood in front of me, his arms stretched towards Aarin. He grabbed her out of Adem's grip and ushered her next to me. As he turned around, I recognised him. His red, crimson hair covered most of his forehead, and the pupils in his eyes were red, filled with anger and justice. He had burn marks on his hands, a side effect I had heard from Aarin, the Hearts family had to bear, of their magi-code.

Adem laughed out of disbelief.

"Well, well, this is surely interesting. What are you doing here, prince of the flames?"

"I have come here to stop this cruelty. You need to be told to stop, because you don't seem able to judge when to do so for yourself."

"Oh? You think your cold flames are enough to tell me when to stop? I too will have to tell you then that you are going to burn yourself before you can tell me anything."

Why was the Prince of Flames here? Was he saving me from Adem, and if so, why? This development was even more unbelievable for me, but I quickly crawled towards Aarin and cried as I hugged her. Both of us fell to the ground and were covered in dust and scratches.

"Do not cry, heiress of the soul. You are a Nobel. Stand firm, for you are still in the middle of battle. Defend your honour until you cannot stay alive."

As I heard those words from the prince of flames, a feeling of awe and determination filled me.

"Blanket your body with air."

Why was the Prince of Flames ordering me around? Although it pissed me off, I did as he said. Suddenly, the air blanket around me got warm, as if it were heated up to just the right temperature. My wounds and the pain in my limbs began to ease.

"Can you fight?"

"Yes."

I slowly got up, still limping, and stood next to the prince of flames. Adem laughed hysterically and locked both of his arms towards us.

"Very well, then. Today, I will destroy the honour of two families instead of one!"

And with this, the fight for breaking and defending one's honour began.