Combat and Complications

"SINCE THIS IS YOUR FIRST COMBAT CLASS, WE'LL START SIMPLE!" the instructor announced, his voice somehow even louder in the enclosed training stadium. "FIND A SPARRING PARTNER! DUEL FOR POINTS OR JUST PRACTICE—I DON'T CARE! BUT IF YOU'RE PARTNERLESS IN TEN MINUTES, YOU'LL RUN FIFTY LAPS! AND YES, YOU WILL COMPLETE EVERY SINGLE ONE!"

Chaos erupted instantly. Students scattered like roaches when the lights came on, desperately seeking partners. The threat of fifty laps around this massive stadium was apparently sufficient motivation for everyone.

I spotted Selena across the room and felt a flicker of hope. Maybe we could finally talk through whatever had her so pissed off.

That hope died when she turned her glare on me. If looks could kill, I'd be a smoking crater.

"Selena!" I called out, approaching carefully.

She didn't look away, but her expression could have frozen hell over.

"What's wrong? I already apologized for not showing up earlier. Why are you still mad?"

I reached for her shoulder, but she grabbed my wrist instead, her grip surprisingly strong as she locked eyes with me.

"Are you seriously telling me you don't know what you did?" Her voice carried the kind of quiet fury that made me very nervous.

Her expression screamed betrayal, like she'd caught me cheating or something equally relationship-ending. The problem was, I genuinely had no idea what I'd supposedly done.

"Just tell me already," I said, frustration bleeding into my voice.

"You..." Her voice cracked slightly, and I saw tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. "Don't talk to me."

She yanked her hand away and stalked off, leaving me standing there like an idiot trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing.

'Are you seriously that dense?' Nelia's voice echoed in my head, dripping with disdain.

'Do you know what her problem is?'

'It's painfully obvious. You're just too blind to see it.'

'Stop being cryptic and just tell me. I don't have time for riddles.'

'The earring, you moron. Purple diamonds on jewelry symbolize a lover's bond in this world. Wearing one means someone else has the matching piece.'

I felt the blood drain from my face. The earring—Lucas's earring that I'd been wearing without thinking. When he wore it, the stone was golden. Now it was purple.

Shit.

I turned to find Selena in the crowd, but she was already glaring at me from across the room. When our eyes met, her expression promised violence before she disappeared into the mass of bodies.

"Hey, you're Ryan, right?"

I turned to find a brown-haired guy with green eyes and a friendly smile approaching me.

"Yeah?"

"Want to spar?"

Before I could answer, another voice cut in: "No, fight me instead! I'll even give you points if you win."

"What?" I blinked, confused by the sudden attention.

"Fight me! Don't I look like easy pickings?" someone else chimed in.

What the hell was happening? Since when was I popular?

'Your level display,' Nelia explained with obvious amusement.

Right. Level 1 probably looked like easy points to everyone here.

"You can all back off," a familiar voice interrupted. "I want to spar with him."

I turned and felt my stomach sink. Molten Feinal—"Molly" from my pre-academy days. The guy had been a fat, privileged brat who thought his family name made him tough. Apparently, he'd been hitting the gym since then, because the pudgy face I remembered was now attached to someone who actually looked like they could throw a punch.

"Molly," I said with a grin that made his face contort with rage.

"Good, you still remember me," he said, flexing muscles that definitely hadn't existed a year ago. "Let's settle this."

The crowd of potential sparring partners scattered. Apparently, Molly had a reputation as a bully with connections to upperclassmen. Great.

"N—" I started to decline when a silky voice interrupted.

"That won't work. I already asked the instructor specifically for a duel with him."

I closed my eyes and counted to three. "Ariana."

The platinum-haired girl with blue-tipped ends stood there with piercing blue eyes fixed on me. Her expression was polite, but something darker lurked underneath.

'That's probably a lie,' I thought.

"That won't work... I have a duel with Molly here,"

"Is that true, Molten?" she asked sweetly, though her tone carried an undercurrent that made even me nervous.

"N-No," Molly stammered, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"Bro, don't tell me you're chickening out because of a girl," I taunted. "What happened to all that muscle?"

He looked genuinely terrified. What the hell had she done to him?

"Molten~" Ariana's voice became sickeningly sweet. "I heard the Feinal family has been having some... troubles lately. It would be such a shame if things got worse."

Her smile was pure poison wrapped in silk. Even I felt a chill, and I wasn't even the target.

When had little Ariana become this... terrifying?

'Seems like you've made quite a few enemies,' Nelia observed.

'So?'

'Just saying, your life expectancy might be shorter than average.'

"Molly—" I tried to call him back, but he was already fleeing like his ass was on fire.

Fucking coward. Typical bully behavior—tough with the weak, weak with the strong.

"I knew you were a bitch," I said to Ariana, "but I never took you for a hypocrite."

"Oh, that?" She laughed, the sound surprisingly pleasant despite the circumstances. "I realized that to get revenge on someone like you, I had to become shameless too."

"Well, good for you, but here's the thing..." I grinned. "My girlfriend and I already made plans. Sorry, but I don't entertain side pieces."

I tried to walk away, but her hand clamped around my wrist with surprising strength.

"We. Will. Fight." Each word was ice-cold, and the murderous glint in her eyes made my blood freeze.

Apparently, she really did want to kill me today.