Something To Prove

At the very moment Gemini had gotten too confident, the fight had already ended. 

Equan wasn't sure that many other students would have been able to see what he had seen.

Michael had completely dropped his guard during the fearsome clash, and thrown himself underneath the mighty war-hammer, sending himself sliding underneath it.

With a terrifying strike to Gemini's back, Michael had won the fight that very instant.

It was all intimidating to the young boy, in fact Equan was the youngest ever student to attend any of the major academies. Being only twelve years old in his first year.

He tried his best to blend in on his first day, but a lot of people had already tried to cause problems.

'Sorry mom.'

He thought, with a shaky breath as he realized that there were very few students left in the class to fight.

Time had gone by incredibly fast, and a lot of unexpected outcomes had happened in the last forty minutes or so.

The boy who Equan had thought was secretly some sort of reincarnated god had turned out to lose to the princess of the capitol.

Gemini, the prince of dwarves, had been completely overwhelmed by a mere noble of the Everfrost house.

Which the Everfrosts just so happened to be a rival house of his own family.

The house of lightning was not a very demanding one, as many of its descendants already carried enough natural talent to aid them for life. 

However, Equan was very different, being the first archer based lightning user, since the founding father of the entire clan.

Many of his family members had held very high expectations for him, and have favored him over many of his siblings and cousins as well. 

He never liked the treatment, nor would he.

That wasn't going to stop him from showing his true potential though.

"Next fight will be- Gabriel of the House of Envixity, versus..."

Barren's voice trailed off as he spoke.

With a swift clearing of his throat he spoke even louder, in an almost proud-ish voice.

"Equan of the House of Lightning."

Looking at his new friend, who had remained in a sour mood since his loss to the beautiful princess- he took a shaky breath, as he stood up.

Chase was covering his mouth, his knuckles still white from the raw power of the princess, in his duel. 

His gaze was distant, yet Equan couldn't help but feel pity for him. 

'Sorry Chase, I know pity is the last thing you want right now.'

Equan turned his head toward the training grounds, that had been cracked and beaten. 

'I'm going to try my best.'

It was true, his expression was hardened, and his lips curled into a frown as he brushed his locks out of his eyes.

Walking down the bleachers, he finally spotted his opponent. 

A skinny and frail boy with raven-black hair, and an azure-blue Trident resting in his right hand.

They both slowly made their ways down, and to the training grounds on opposite sides of the rows of seating, simultaneously.

'Something is incredibly wrong...'

The boy had an almost mesmerizing feeling radiating off of his very being.

It was strange, as if he had the Primis reserves to completely overpower that Panda kid, and maybe even Neo as well.

A sense of dread engulfed Equan as he stopped onto the cracked arena floor.

The well-balanced sword that Chase had given him, was being tightly held within the grip of both of his hands.

Swords were never his thing, his family had tried many times to train him in the art of melee combat, yet never once came close to forcing the skills into him.

A bow was truly the only reason that he was considered a prodigy.

Equan had deadly aim, and precision. His body was light and nimble, allowing for swift maneuverability, while firing off arrow after arrow- each infused with powerful bolts of lightning.

However, as he stood on the opposite side of the training grounds from this mysterious Gabriel of house Envixity, he had nothing but one of the weapons he had failed to succeed at.

With a shaky breath, and a swift glance at the upper seating of the bleachers, he steadied himself, lifting his blade up evenly in front of his nimble body.

Professor Barren raised his hand, and patiently waited a second before finally...

"Start!"

With that, Equan began to run forward to meet the boy with small glasses resting on his frail face. 

Reaching back, he let his sword fly in the direction of the boy's neck.

Nothing...

The blade had met nothing, as Gabriel had entirely dodged the swing, and was now positioned to Equan's side.

Gabriel brought his beautiful trident down on Equan.

Just in time, he was able to lift his blade to deflect the attack; however, that was not without a cost, as the sword nearly flew from his hands.

Now reeling back, Gabriel had decided to put pressure on the smaller, and younger boy.

That was one of Equan's many flaws. He could not handle physical pressure nearly as well as most first years.

Perhaps it was his age, or maybe it was his fear of combat itself.

In all honesty, Equan was young, far too young to be engaged in combat with another person, let alone monsters and beasts.

So, why in the hell was he even here?

'Oh, that's right...'

He had something to prove...

With a powerful upward swing, Equan had decided to not let the pressure affect him.

Gabriel easily deflected the attack, but his eyes seemed to show that he was quite shocked by the new-found courage.

Equan immediately, switched to an offensive stance, as he brought forth a horizontal slash with the blade, aimed at the older boy's lower body.

A loud smack echoed throughout the room as the blade made contact.

Gabriel made a slight wince, as he flipped his hands on his long trident, and swung it in a similar manner.

The trident narrowly missed him, leading to the wielder of the great trident to be thrown slightly off-balance.

With a swift dodge, Equan went for another quick strike to Gabriel's lower body.

This time, he had seen it coming. With a powerful downward slash, the trident smacked down on the younger boy's shoulder.

Pain radiated throughout his body, causing him to grit his teeth.

That didn't stop him in the slightest though...

Equan continued to keep his side of the pressure on.

Another swift jab was thrown, his sword just barely grazing against the chest of the sideways Gabriel.

However, with a spin- Gabriel swung his trident with full force.

A terrible pain shot through Equan's right arm, causing him to drop the sword, as he was sent flying at least ten meters or so.

'No!'

Equan quickly pushed himself off the ground, as Gabriel had gone entirely air-born, and now held his trident above his head, ready to slam it down onto the now disarmed boy.

Pressing off of his back foot, he shot himself underneath the area of attack. 

In a full sprint, Equan grabbed his sword by the handle, with his left hand.

The best part about being from a high ranking noble family, was now showing as to why it was. 

From birth, Nobles, and Royals alike- raise their children to be neither left or right handed, allowing for much more versatile, and flexible combat masteries. 

Holding his sword with his left hand, Equan stared down the opposing force.

Drops of liquid could be heard on the hard floor of the training grounds, near him.

Wiping the blood off of his face, with the hand that was unusable in combat now- Equan let himself breathe, as a simple smirk appeared on his face.

Yeah, he probably wasn't going to win this fight, but he sure wasn't going down without one hell of a fight.

Gabriel and Equan ran toward each other, both reaching back with their weapons. 

The trident, and the simple silver sword met at frightening speeds.

Both fighters brought down their blades with incredible precision, blocking and attacking simultaneously.

Sparks from the colliding metals, flew in every direction, as the ringing of blades filled the room.

Until finally, Equan had grown tired, and somehow Gabriel hadn't. One fatal mistake had nearly ended the fight.

He had been far too late in the deflection of a straight jab from the trident.

As the blue triple-bladed weapon flew straight into his chest, Equan shot across the room, his blade flying in a completely different direction.

'I can't lose like this...'

He thought, as his body slammed into the ground.

His vision was blurry, and his thoughts were growing scattered, as he tried to push himself off of the ground with his good arm.

However, his once good arm must have been completely broken.

Complete despair filled his mind, as he tried his hardest to get up. No matter what he did, he just couldn't find a way to force himself back into the fight.

As his vision was able to barely return, he seen Chase, standing behind several other students.

Suddenly, a sense of hope was all he needed.

Putting all of his strength into his legs, Equan was able to stand, albeit not very efficiently. 

Barren hadn't called the match yet, as Gabriel was spotted with a tired expression, as he gripped his trident once again.

It was impossible to hear what was going on outside of his own thoughts, but with the many motions in the stands, it seemed that the students were... Cheering.

With the uselessness of his arms, Equan began to slowly walk toward Gabriel, his very will keeping him standing.

"I, Am, The, Prodigy of Lightning!"

He spat out, between gasps, as the taste of blood had completely overwhelmed the inside of his mouth.

With his battered right arm, Equan pulled a small dagger, with beautiful topaz gems encrusted into it.

A gift Chase had let him borrow, as they were walking up to the circle of students before the mock duels had begun.

"Just make sure you give it back, and keep it sheathed so you don't get disqualified for having a sharpened weapon."

Remembering the words that Chase had told him, Equan grit his teeth letting blood spill from his parted lips.

'Thank you.'

Little did he know just how much he would need the small dagger.

Rushing forward, Equan twisted around the already in-motion trident, as he sent a quick slash at Gabriel's abdomen. 

Without even knowing if it hit or not, too consumed by the pain in his body- he maneuvered around the older boy, and swung the sheathed-dagger once more, this time at the boy's back.

After that strike, he moved with swiftness once again, and swung the dagger at Gabriel's leg this time.

Once, he struck the leg, he had already moved and was directly in front of the older boy.

Their eyes met for a brief second, all Equan could see in the eyes of the descendent of House Envixity, were two things...

Sheer determination, and raw shock.

Suddenly, just as Equan was starting to gain momentum, his leg buckled, and in the split second of time he had lost, the trident slammed into him once again.

This time, the impact was not nearly as bad as the previous ones, but the worst part about it was that it was directed at the back of his knee.

A stifled scream escaped Equan's bloodied lips, as he fell to the ground.

With a silent smack, his body hit the ground, and his vision went partially black.

It was over, his body was completely broken, and his consciousness was slowly fading.

'I'm sorry, I couldn't win...'

He managed to at least organize some of his thoughts, which could only form multiple apologies, and scattered phrases.

"I... Surrender..."

He managed, to spit out, as he somehow lifted himself up, with just his one good limb, which just so happened to be his left leg.

Kneeling on one knee, and breathing heavily, he noticed that an arm had been put around his torse, and was lifting him up.

Heavy panting could be heard, as he was being helped to one of the first-row bleacher seats.

Someone had walked into the room, as the distant closing of a door could be heard.

A muffled voice echoed through his scattered thoughts.

"It was a good fight, you were strong."

He had not heard Gabriel of House Envixity speak, yet he knew it was his voice. 

Looking up, as his vision somewhat returned, an injured boy with raven-black hair stood behind an elder woman who was glowing a faint dark-green color. 

He had an exhausted smile on his face, and wore a stupid pair of small glasses above his small nose.

Behind him, the rest of the students were crowded around. Including Chase who's familiar, and usually quiet voice, erupted- causing Equan to be brought back to reality nearly immediately. 

"You're a damn psychopath."

He exclaimed, behind what had seemed like a laugh.

While Equan didn't win, he had gained something that was vitally as important. 

He was not going to be looked down upon, he was going to prove that the title he had been given, truly meant something.