"We'll start with a spar today," Astra said, "if any of you tries to kill the other, I'll kill you myself."

The students felt a shiver run down their spine since they knew she rarely, if ever, jokes.

"I am not joking," she added calmly. "This is a spar, not a battlefield. If I sense killing intent beyond what is necessary, I will intervene."

No one doubted what "intervene" meant and silence instantly fell in the training room.

"Good," Astra said, clapping her hands once. "Pair up."

Students hurried to find partners, some confident, some visibly anxious. Those who had climbed the internal rankings were immediately surrounded, while others tried their best to avoid eye contact.

Devon cracked his neck and looked around. "Aight, who tryna get embarrassed today?"

"Stop being cocky," Nox said with a smile on his face.

Devon looked at him, before immediately grabbed him by the shoulder. "C'mon them, you and me, I'll show you how much I've improved."

Nox hesitated for a bit.

It wasn't like he was scared of sparring with Devon, but he doubted his friend would enjoy the spar much.

After all, it was either he held back too much or too little, which would make the spar boring for both parties.

Before he could respond, Astra's voice cut in again.

"Nox."

He looked up at her as she added, "you will spar with me."

Everyone in the room immediately froze.

Even the red haired boy that had intentions to challenge Nox again, froze.

In the past month he had been reevaluating his opinion of Nox, especially after he came out of a rift, alive.

Even if Nox had all the connections in the world, there was no way that would help him in a rift.

That meant he at least had a bit of skill...no scratch that, according to the reports, the rift had extended to at least tier 4.

There was no way someone who relied on their connections to get into the academy would survive that for a month, even if they somehow sacrificed their teammates for their safety.

So he planned on using the sparring session as a way to apologize, since he went too far the last time.

But turns out, the demoness was going to spar with the kid instead.

Nox stared at her for a few seconds before nodding, this wouldn't be the first time they sparred....well, he wouldn't exactly call their past sessions sparring.

It was more like a one sided beat down disguised as training.

But Nox was curious about how much he had improved. Though, he couldn't go all out because his identity as the Grey Warden.

Damn it, he still hated that name.

"Alright then," Astra said, "pair up."

"Good luck man," Devon said placing a hand on Nox's shoulder, "you had a good run."

He had witness Nox's and Astra's training session, and pity was the best he could do for Nox.

"Don't say that, like I'm about to die," Nox said.

"You ain't?"

"No!"

"Aight then," Devon muttered, "good luck anyway."

***

A few minutes after Astra instructed them to pair up, each student had found a sparring partner.

Devon was the first to be called up, and opposite him stood a skinny boy who seemed too excited for this.

The boy seemed allergic to staying still, or even shutting up, as he had been speaking from the moment they stepped up the platform.

"By the way," the boy continued, "my name is Alex, but my friends call me speedy, why? You'll find out soon enough."

Devon wasn't one to be easily annoyed, but he was getting dangerously close right now. Being talkative was one thing, but being annoying was another.

And Alex was really annoying.

Especially given the fact that he wouldn't shut up.

"Yo, Speedy," Devon said, rolling his shoulders as his solar tech, two gauntlets, activated. "You ever heard the phrase actions speak louder than words?"

Alex grinned wide. "Oh, don't worry, you'll understand what I'm talking about in a sec but you probably won't see my actions coming tho."

Astra raised a hand. "Begin."

The moment her hand dropped, Alex vanished.

Literally vanished

.

A sharp gust of wind tore across the platform as Alex reappeared behind Devon, leg already swinging in a sweeping kick aimed at the back of his knees.

Too bad Devon had been expecting that.

"Uh-uh."

He immediately activated his boots which tightly anchored him to the floor just before Alex's attack landed.

Instead of being toppled over, Alex was the one who felt like he just slammed into a brick wall.

"Damn it,"

Devon twisted at the waist and swung his elbow back. Alex barely managed to dodge, skidding away with a laugh.

"Aight," Devon cracked his neck. "So you fast."

Instead of a reply, Alex just dashed again, circling and attacking Devon in erratic patterns, strikes coming from every direction, punches, kicks, feints, all layered together.

Devon took a few hits, his jacket tearing at the shoulder, but his grin only widened.

He raised his foot high and stomped it, pouring a bit more SE into the boots upon contact with the floor.

This caused the floor to shake a little and Alex's footing slipped for just a fraction of a second.

That was all Devon needed.

He lunged forward, faster than Alex expected, grabbed him by the collar mid-dash, and slammed him flat onto the platform.

BOOM.

Alex bounced a bit as he vision went white and visible stars appeared in his eyes.

All the other students froze in surprise as he had the breath knocked out of him.

The spar hadn't even lasted a minute and Astra raised her hand again, "Winner, Devon Zuberi."

"Man," Alex muttered, "that wasn't in the brochure…"

Even though his body was currently screaming in pain, his mouth wouldn't stop yapping.

Devon laughed. "Get some rest, Speedy."

Alex was dragged off by the med team shortly after.

The spars continued, one after another, with some students completely destroying their opponents, while others were evenly matched.

But everyone was undeniably waiting in anticipation for the spar between the crazy demoness and the boy who had survived a tier 4 rift for a whole month.

Though they knew Nox had no chance of winning, they still wanted to see what he really was capable of.

And soon enough, the time arrived, as both he and Astra walked up the platform and stood opposite each other.

"Begin."

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