Chapter 9:

Arrival - Chapter 9

Guardians - Those Who Stand Against the World's End


After some of the longest weeks of his life, Eric and his team finally started their first day of classes.

Their classroom, 1-G, had sixty-four desks sat on raised platforms facing a gigantic screen, with ramps on either side for access for those less able. The room was located on the bottom floor on the largest building on the site and Eric’s team was in the same class.

I thought that everyone was studying different courses, so why are we all in the same classroom? He wondered.

“Looks like we’ve been assigned the back row of seats,” Evony said, looking at the seating plan displayed on the screen.

All of their classmates had already arrived, but most of them weren’t sat at their desks. Most were in small groups scattered around the room. Eric and his team walked to the back of the class, earning a few curious looks and whispers at Eric, and took their seats.

The night before, Eric and the others had received an email telling them to bring everything that they would need for a tournament battle on top of their notepads and pens. While Eric, Connor and a few of the others didn’t have anything to bring with them, Evony had had to haul her bow and quiver with her, and Jasmine had a suit of clockwork-style armour and guns with her.

“Are they planning on having us do practical training on the first day of classes?” Jasmine complained, slinging her bag beneath the desk.

“I imagine so.”

“I wish they wouldn’t, though,” Eric groaned. “I haven’t gotten much chance to practice with my Armour yet.”

“Same.” Connor sighed heavily. “I barely got by on the induction day.”

All the first year students had been forbidden from using any magical abilities, powers, Dragons or Armours after the induction day, meaning that neither Eric nor Connor got the chance to equip their Armour again.

Had Eric been caught transforming into his Armour when he met Jasmine, he could’ve been punished or even expelled.

Eric dreaded the idea of doing combat training so early in their first semester, and not just because of his inexperience.

Everyone seemed to have high expectations for him and all were eager to see what he could do.

Even now, as Eric was sat at his desk, he could see more than twenty people looking at him. Some looked on in anticipation, others in fear.

Eric let out a small sigh, resigning himself to his new life once again, and decided to check out his other classmates.

Immediately, a few caught his eye.

Sat on the front row was someone covered from head to toe in clothes, including a scarf, a baseball cap, and a pair of gloves. Two rows behind that person was Ace, who was frowning and tapping his fingers on the table angrily. On the row behind him was someone covered in a black mist wearing armour which looked like it was made of tree branches. On the far side of the classroom was a boy wearing gloves engraved with runes, his eyes fixated upon them with a scowl.

Eric’s face lit up a little when he saw Dead Eye and his team gathered on the second row.

Dead Eye spotted Eric and the two waved at each other.

“Ajax!” A girl screamed, happily running up the ramp towards them.

“Alexis? I didn’t know you were in the same class as us.”

“Well, you never texted me like you said you would.”

“Ah.”

The girl frowned and folded her arms. “You forgot about me, didn’t you?”

“Forgot is such a strong word.”

“What’s this? There’s a girl who can tolerate Ajax?” Jasmine asked, shocked beyond belief. “No way! His girlfriend?”

Ajax and the girl looked at one another, then burst out laughing.

“Girlfriend?” The girl wiped a tear from her eye. “That’s a good one.”

“Hey, don’t you think that’s a bit harsh?” Ajax asked, downtrodden. “Guys, let me introduce you; this is Alexis, my little sister.”

Alexis Amory was quite a short girl with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, and she had green eyes like her brother; she was dressed lightly in a hoodie and blue shorts.

“Wait, you have a sister?” Kiara chimed in, floating above Jasmine’s head.

“Ajax.” Alexis shot daggers at her brother. “Did you not tell your teammates about me?”

“He told me,” Eric said.

“And Eric told me,” Connor added.

“Wait, did I really not tell the rest of you guys?” Ajax asked; everyone else nodded. “Seriously?” They nodded again. “Huh.”

“Dude, you’re the worst,” Connor chuckled.

“Ignoring that, it’s nice to meet you, Alexis. I’m Eric Agrim, Ajax’s team leader.”

She beamed and eagerly shook his hand. “It’s great to meet you, too. I know that my brother’s an idiot, a pervert and he’ll make you regret ever knowing him, but I hope you can become his friend despite all of that.”

“Why doesn’t anyone ever say nice things about me?” Ajax mumbled, looking like he was about to cry.

Eric then realised that, standing at the front of the classroom in a corner, looking absolutely miserable, was his ‘babysitter’; Spike.

Just how much does he hate this?

As soon as the clock struck nine, their teacher burst into the classroom.

She was dressed in a blue jacket over a red shirt and she had dark navy shorts on. She had knives strapped in sheathes on her thighs, and two pistols in holsters at her hips. In her hands, she was carrying to identical suitcases which she placed carefully beside the podium at the front.

Everyone sat down in their seats as their teacher looked over each of them, slowly, carefully, like she was trying to analyse everything about them just from a first glance.

“Everyone came then?” She mumbled, before clearing her throat and began speaking into the microphone. “Welcome, new students, to Ferris Academy. I am your group’s personal tutor for the year and I will be personally responsible for your health, wellbeing and making sure that you have no issues with your courses and classes. I will be teaching you during these joint sessions here and I shall also be leading your combat training sessions.

“As for your own personal studies and degrees that you’ve chosen, they’ll work like any other university, so you’ll be in different classes for that. Before we get started, I suppose it’s best that I introduce myself first.

“I am Aria Yuuko, a normal human gunslinger who was active in the field member of the Guardians for the past eleven years. I was called off duty for…”

A few of the students began to whisper and snicker to one another.

“A normal human? Seriously?”

“She was probably called back because she’s only good with guns.”

“What can she teach us?”

Eric frowned at them. Then, he saw one person in front of him snort, an arrogant smile on his face. “This gunslinger’s going to be teaching us? What a joke. She’s probably-”

Before the boy could finish his sentence, a red paintball smashed into his forehead. The paint rolled down his face and the boy grasped his head, hissing in pain through gritted teeth.

Everyone in the classroom began to murmur and, still in shock, all eyes turned towards the front of the room.

In a fraction of a second, Aria had drawn one of her pistols and fired a single shot at the boy’s forehead.

“Allow me to repeat for those of you who weren’t listening before,” she said, slowly. “I am Aria Yuuko, a specialist in hunting and killing Mages. Oh, and if you’re wondering what my qualifications are for teaching you lot, well.” She holstered her gun, then said, “I’ve killed twelve Mages in less than a minute with just my pistol.”

She’s dangerous! Eric screamed in his head.

“At this class’s level, I might be able to take down half of you before you’d be able to kill me,” Aria mused. “And that’s without me using my full equipment. Though, if any of you doubt that.” She smiled thinly. “I’ll be more than willing to take you on.”

When no one took her offer, she lost her smile and returned to speaking like nothing had happened.

“Now, for the first part of today’s lecture, I will explain how you’ll be spending your time studying here at Ferris.

“First; you have two main courses that you will be studying: one is the course that you picked for your degree which I have nothing to do with; the other is to do with your training to become future Guardians. During the latter classes like this, each year group is divided into classes of sixty-four which, in theory, should be six teams. You lot, however, have a couple of mismatched teams in here, but that won’t affect the course, so don’t worry about that.

“Second; every week, we will be taking part in practical training on the school grounds and I will outline the rules of engagement for those when we go out to practice later.”

Dozens of people began to buzz at that, but Aria silenced them all with a tap of the mic.

“As I was saying. We will also have lectures in this room where we will go over some of the basic concepts of different powers and abilities that people possess.” Someone towards the front raised their hand. “Yes?”

“Why are we doing that?”

Aria looked at him like he’d asked the dumbest question in the world.

“While you lot probably know a lot about your own powers, abilities, skills, limitations, strengths, and weaknesses, I can guarantee that you don’t know anywhere near as much about those in this room and, more to the point, you’ll have no idea who or what you could end up facing on the job. If you guys went up against someone like me or Spike over there without knowing what people like us were capable off, then, more often than not, you’ll lose. Or worse.

“However, that’s not all we’ll be doing in this class. We will also spend time going over what it is that makes a Guardian, and we will also be studying major incidents where Guardians have been involved where I will be testing your instincts and decision-making abilities, so look forward to that.”

“Mrs Yuuko?”

“Yes?”

“Um, why are we in teams of nine?”

“Ah, that, huh? To put it simply, there are two main reasons why we have you work in such large teams both here and when you’re active Guardians. First; nine people can easily take control of and dominate a situation involving a single criminal and it’s better to have more people to control a dangerous situation. For example, say you’re up against a strong Pyromancer terrorist in the suburbs. Three of you could engage the hostile, three of you could evacuate civilians from the nearby area and the rest of you could do search and rescue in the affected area.

“Second; there people in this world who can hold their own or even win against several Guardians at once, so we have you train and work together as teams to counter such individuals. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Good. Any other questions?” No one raised their hands. “Well, with all of that sorted, we will be heading out to one of the training fields for the rest of the hour. If you’re not already ready to fight, please get changed as quickly as possible.”

***

Once everyone had changed into their combat gear, they assembled in a wide-open field, talking to one another, and was Aria standing before them, her cases by her side.

“Right, listen up!” She yelled and everyone went silent. “Before we get started, I’d like a volunteer.” No one stepped forward at first. “If not, I’ll pick someone-”

Ace stepped through the crowd, his usual arrogant smile on his lips. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie with a bowler’s hat and white gloves. Eric could see several decks of Tarot cards on his belt and he imagined that Ace had countless more hidden in his jacket and up his sleeves.

“I’ll do it.”

“A willing victim?” Aria mused but Ace’s smile didn’t fade. She narrowed her eyes and sighed. “Fine. Let’s get this over with. Stand over there.”

Ace walked to where Aria pointed which was ten metres away from her, and everyone watched on excitedly.

“That’s Ace, right? The kid with the Tarot cards?”

“What are they going to do? Fight?”

“But will she be able to beat him?”

As everyone began whispering to one another, Aria took out the magazine from her gun filled with paintballs and inserted in another one, before holstering it again.

“Did she just switch in live ammunition?” Jasmine whispered.

“What? Isn’t that dangerous?” Ajax asked.

She glared at him. “No shit sherlock.”

“Listen carefully, everyone!” Aria commanded and they stopped talking. “Here, we will be fighting as if it was a real battle, meaning that you can fight as hard as you want, as long as you do not aim to seriously injure or kill your opponent. All other attacks are allowed. Do you still want to continue, Fiddah?”

Ace grinned. “Of course.”

“Very well. Kellan, call it.”

Dead Eye nodded and walked to the front of the crowd. “Are you both ready?” Ace’s grin grew and Aria’s eyes narrowed.

“Three.”

Ace flexed his fingers.

“Two.”

Aria remained as indifferent as ever.

“One. Fight.”

In less than a second, Aria had drawn her pistol and unloaded two shots into Ace’s forehead whereas Ace had only just reached one of his decks.

The class were left speechless.

Ace, one of the most well-known and powerful members of their year, had been defeated before anyone there could process what had happened.

“H-Huh?” Ace whispered, collapsing onto his knees. “How did-?”

Aria grunted and slotted her gun back into its holster, before throwing Ace a towel to wipe off the paint from his face.

“How many of you here awakened to your powers for the first time just a few weeks ago?” Aria asked. Eric, Connor and two others raised their hands. “Only a few? Now, how many of you do you think would be able to defeat a gunslinger or another normal human in a fight?”

About half of the class raised their hands nervously, now unsure of themselves.

“If that’s the case, then you’re all greatly mistaken,” Aria bluntly told them. “While you have Magic and powers that people like me can only dream to possess or have to use technology to match, what you need to get through your minds is that you are not strong fighters or Guardians yet. You are, all of you, weak.

“It doesn’t matter how strong your magic or powers are if I can kill you before you can use them. Take Fiddah here.” She glanced over her shoulder and found Ace still kneeling on the grass in shock. “His powers are strong but he himself is weak. Most professional magic-capable members of the Guardians or trained Mages can have a natural aura surround their body at all times, acting as a shield of sorts. Spike.”

Spike, who had been leaning against a railing disinterested, looked up and begrudgingly walked over. “What?”

Aria pulled out her other pistol and fired all twelve shots, each of which crackled and sparked with his aura upon impact.

“Don’t just shoot people without warning,” Spike complained.

“If you’d paid attention, you would’ve known,” Aria retorted. “Spike’s natural aura is incredibly strong, so strong in fact that it defended him against my enchanted bullets designed to pierce through auras. He didn’t raise that aura; it’s his natural one. Spike, explain.”

He sighed, mumbling, “Why do I have to?” He cleared his throat loudly. “The point Aria’s trying to make is that the more experienced you are at maintaining your aura around your body, you will eventually just start doing it without even thinking about it. Think of it like trying to walk for the first time as a baby. At first, it’s difficult but, years later, you know how to do it without even thinking about it. Aura’s aren’t all that different.”

“Thank you for your enthusiastic explanation, Assistant Professor,” Aria chided. Spike glared at her, his aura spiking. “Also, bear in mind, as future members of the Guardians, it is critical that everything that you need to fight should be carried on your person whenever possible. For the God Armour users and Mages among you, that’s easy enough, but, for Mech pilots, gunslingers or any other type of fighting who needs a lot of equipment, try to find ways of carrying your gear with you. For instance.”

Aria picked up one of her suitcases, held it before the students, and then pressed down on a button on the handle.

Instantly, the suitcase began to distort and transform, slowly turning into small molecules and encasing Aria from head to toe in a pitch-black-coloured tactical suit of armour, complete with something that looked night vision googles over her eyes that glowed a light green.

“This is my combat gear I wear when I’m on active-duty as a member of the Guardians,” Aria said, picking up her other case. “And this.” She pressed the button on the handle and the suitcase fell open, revealing a semi-automatic rifle on the inside. “Is my weapon. It takes 50. calibre enchanted bullets and has minimal recoil due to various runes and enchantments applied to it. Spare ammunition packs are in the case and I can slot them in the belts and holsters of my suit.”

The students spoke enthusiastically with one another, continuing to become more and more impressed with Aria.

“In less than thirty seconds, I’m ready to fight. All of you will need to be able to get geared up for a fight within that time frame, or even less when possible. If you don’t, then it is highly likely that you will die during a real fight.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to have a God Armour than I am right now. Eric let out a small sigh of relief.

“Now, with the introduction out of the way-”

“Is that what that was?” Connor whispered to Eric and they both laughed quietly.

“We will start practical training now. For this first week, you will all pair off with one another and have small sparring matches against each other. For now, try testing each other’s abilities out on one another but try to do so in a way that doesn’t injure either of you.

“Before that, are there any Light Mages or support types among you who have no attacks whatsoever?” Only Elthia raised her hand. “Hmm, how rare. Well, for the combat training, it’s probably best if you just sat out for the time being. When we start practicing team engagements, then you can join in but, for now, just practice your magic by yourself. Okay?” Elthia nodded. “Good.”

“Any questions?” Everyone shook their heads or said nothing. “Good. Pair off and begin.”

***

“Hmm, this is stupid.”

Whilst everyone else had already paired off, Ace was stood off to the side by himself, his arms crossed and a smug grin on his face.

However, it was all a façade to hide his frustration.

How did I lose to someone who doesn’t even have any magic or special abilities?

Before coming to Ferris, Ace had never lost a fight.

Every opponent he’d ever fought, regardless of their age, powers or talents, Ace had defeated them all.

Yet, in just the last two weeks, Ace had been beaten up by Dead Eye and now he’d been defeated by Aria.

Ace had never felt so frustrated before.

Did I let my power get to my head and make a rookie mistake?

Weak.

You are, all of you, weak.

Ace frowned as Aria’s words repeated themselves in his mind.

“I’m not weak,” he muttered.

“Hey, don’t you have anyone to spar with?”

Ace looked up and found a girl with a ponytail standing in front of him, smiling. She had metal greaves and braces on, with curved blades running from her elbows to just past the tips of her fingers.

“What do you want?”

“If you haven’t partnered up with anyone, do you want to pair off and spar with me?”

“Huh? Why would I bother doing that?”

“You don’t want to?” She asked, putting on a cute face.

What the hell’s with this girl?!

He grunted. “Why would I bother fighting against such a weakling?”

“I’m not a weakling.”

“Please. I could defeat a weakling like you in no time at all.”

The girl smiled slyly at him. “Are you really sure you could?”

Ace glared daggers at her and she smiled happily back.

God, this bitch is annoying, Ace cursed. Then, a brilliant idea hit him, making him grin. If I fight her, I can let out my stress and regain my reputation from my loss against Aria.

“Fine, I’ll take you on.”

Alexis, however, kept smiling.

***

“So, what do you think of my Armour?” Connor asked. “It’s cool, right?”

“Mine’s cooler,” Eric said, pouting a little.

Eric had to admit, in his head at least, that Connor’s God Armour did look awesome.

It had the appearance of ebony plate armour which made Connor look more muscular than he really was, and he had brown eyes glowing from his full-face helmet. There was a thin black mist flowing over his Armour as well, seeping from the gaps in it.

“Heh, you’re just jealous because mine’s better than yours.”

“I’m wearing the Armour that belonged to Lucifer himself, and I don’t think that you can get much more awesome than that,” Eric retorted.

“Well, looks aren’t everything.”

“You brought them up in the first place.”

“What matters most, as we all know-”

“Don’t dismiss the point you raised.”

“What really matters is what you can do with your Armour and, after doing some CQC with Ajax and Evony for a bit, I think I can take you on.”

Eric smiled. “I can’t just ignore that now, can I?”

Connor shifted into a fighting stance, smiling and beckoning Eric to attack him.

Eric was about to charge at Connor when he noticed that everyone else had begun to gather around one pair in particular.

“What’s going on?”

***

Even though their fight hadn’t begun, the entire class gathered around Ace and Alexis, all eager to see what would happen.

“I won’t hold back,” Ace warned.

Alexis grinned and moved into a crouched position. “I wouldn’t have expected you to.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Alexis leapt at Ace from her location, covering the distance between them in an instant.

Ace was caught off guard and barely had enough time to raise his Moon shield in front of him, blocking her blow.

Alexis, however, didn’t let up and began madly slashing at his shield.

Ace clicked his tongue and leapt into the air, throwing a dozen Death Tarot cards in the air, each sending a black beam at her. Alexis swiftly dodged under the beams and jumped up at Ace, but Ace’s shield blocked her lunge. Alexis kicked off the floating moon before Ace’s sent two dozen black bolts flying at her face.

She landed gracefully on her feet and moved back into a crouched position. Ace landed back on the ground and she charged at him, aiming to pierce his heart. Ace threw up his Moon again and two Devil cards, which sent fireballs at Alexis. She ducked under them, but the balls of fire turned around and pursued her.

Alexis saw them and dashed as far away from them as she could but they still followed her. Ace threw another dozen Death cards into the air and the bolts zoomed at Alexis who narrowly avoided them and the fireballs. She spun around and fired her wrist-mounted machine guns at the fireballs, causing them to explode.

Ace hissed and threw a Chariot card into the air, spawning a large bull-driven chariot driven by a warrior wielding a spear. It snapped the reins and charged at Alexis, accompanied by another two dozen Death bolts from Ace.

Had Ace timed the cards better, Alexis wouldn’t have been able to dodge his attack.

Instead, the black bolts arrived ahead of the chariot, allowing Alexis to dance through them and, when the chariot arrived, she simply leapt over it.

Ace, however, had expected as much.

Four fireballs flew at Alexis who spun in mid-air, twisting her body over the flames and she landed awkwardly in a crouched position. The fireballs turned to follow her and Ace summoned more black bolts to intercept her. Alexis ran towards Ace, swerving through the bolts and jumped over him, putting him between her and the fireballs.

She swung wildly at Ace but his shield appeared again, deflecting her blows. Ace roared, dropped the Moon shield in front of him and landed a strong kick on Alexis’s chest, sending her back a few feet. Ace quickly shifted the shield to his back, blocking the fireballs and tried to get it back in front of him.

Alexis, though, was faster.

She drop-kicked Ace, slamming the soles of her feet into his ribs, and sent him flying backwards. He landed on his side and rolled for about thirty feet, cutting and bruising him all over. He quickly stood back up and raised his shield in time to stop Alexis’s follow up kick.

Ace threw a Suit of Swords Arcana into the air, spawning a floating sword which attacked Alexis. Alexis caught the blade between her own and snapped it in half but Ace had thrown a Sun card into the air. He covered his eyes just as a bright light exploded from it, blinding several of the students for a few seconds.

Ace grinned and placed a Strength card on his neck and he felt a great amount of power flow through his veins. He spawned two swords in his hands and ran at Alexis. Alexis dodged Ace’s first swipe and disarmed him of one of his blades when he attacked again. Ace grunted and grabbed his remaining sword with both hands and lunged at Alexis. She caught the blade in between her own, cut it in half and then threw a kick into the side of Ace’s head, smashing her heel into his cheek.

Normally, Ace would have been sent flying but, thanks to his Strength card, he was strong enough to take her attacks now.

Realising what Ace must have done, Alexis leapt backwards as Ace threw a punch, missing her and destroying the ground where she had been standing. She stared at him, narrowing her eyes, and adopting her crouched position once more, blades pointed at him. Ace smiled sinisterly at her and spawned another chariot.

This time, Ace ran alongside it at Alexis.

Alexis quickly unleashed a hail of bullets upon the chariot, destroying it, just about giving her enough time to slide under Ace’s fist. She swung her legs around and took out Ace’s legs, sending him face first onto the floor but he rolled to the side to avoid her thrusts. He jumped up onto his feet and caught Alexis’s foot as she tried to kick him again.

Ace began to pull her towards him, but Alexis’s metal legs deployed blades which spun around her shins, forcing Ace to let go of her. He jumped back a few feet and tried to hit Alexis as she began her assault again.

***

“Miss Yuuko? Shouldn’t we stop them?” Evony asked.

“Why?”

“Won’t they end up being seriously injured at this rate? Alexis is firing live ammunition, isn’t she?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to worry about that. Over there.” Aria flicked her chin over her shoulder at a man watching the fight. “As long as he’s here, they won’t endure any real damage.”

The man that Aria had pointed out was another one of the teachers at Ferris. He was dressed in a smart grey suit and wore glasses with thin black frames around them, resting on his rather large nose. The man was quite tall and was staring intently at the fight, a thick aura generated around him.

“Is that Teeq?”

“Yes, that’s why we don’t need to worry,” Aria said.

Just like Aria said, when the dust had settled and the fight was over, neither Alexis or Ace had any injuries on them and the parts of the field they had destroyed in their skirmish had been repaired the moment they stopped.

***

Why? Ace thought.

After a thirty-minute skirmish, Ace and Alexis’s match ended in a draw.

Their class’s group lecture was the only lesson they had for the day, so everyone else had gone home, leaving Ace by himself on the field.

“Why?” He clenched his hands into fists. “Why can’t I win?”

Alexis was a skilled fighter, but Ace should’ve been able to overwhelm her with his Tarot cards; yet, he hadn’t landed a single clean hit on her. Ace’s defences had been strong enough to hold her back, but he was angry that he couldn’t damage her even a little.

“Am I weak?”

A cold can was placed against his cheek and Ace flinched. He looked over his shoulder and found Alexis standing behind him, smiling and holding two cans of soda.

“Want one?”

With a defeated sigh, Ace took one as Alexis sat beside him.

“Are you planning to stay here forever?”

“It’s none of your business,” he grumbled.

She smiled a little and the two of them sat together in silence for a long time.

“What’s wrong?” Alexis asked.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“Woman’s intuition?”

“That’s it?”

She laughed a little. “You’d be surprised at how often I’m right. So, what’s wrong?” Ace turned away from her. “You don’t feel comfortable talking to a girl about it? Or just someone you don’t know in general?”

“Wouldn’t most people say something like ‘If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine’ or ask if the upset person wanted some time alone?”

“I mean, you’re on a team by yourself. Aren’t you lonely?”

“No, not at all,” Ace said.

“You’re not a good liar, Ace.”

“What makes you-?”

“Because it’s usually the loneliest people who want someone to talk to the most.”

Ace’s eyes widened as Alexis smiled.

“The fact that you haven’t just gotten up and left yet makes me think that you really want someone to talk to,” she whispered.

“Is that also your women’s intuition?”

Alexis giggled. “That one was just my own personal intuition.”

“…How is that any different?”

She titled her head a little. “Am I wrong?”

Ace wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t.

He couldn’t maintain his façade any longer.

“…You’re right.” Ace took a few moments to steel himself before he began again. “Honestly, for the last few weeks, I’ve been frustrated. Ever since I was a child, everyone around me told me I was amazing, that I was strong, that I was going to be someone truly special when I grew up.

“You know, before I came to Ferris, I’d never lost a fight to anyone before. After defeating the teacher on the first day, I felt happier than I ever have before. I thought that I must be strong, that I had become someone special and that if I could defeat a trained member of the Guardians in single combat, then I must be stronger than everyone else.

“Then, Dead Eye beat me up, Aria took me down before I could even pull out a card and I couldn’t land a good hit on you either…I’ve started to think that I wasn’t strong…that I might be weak.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if I’d ever call you weak,” Alexis said. “It took everything I had to just dodge your attacks and you are strong, there’s no doubt about that. I think though you just don’t have enough experience yet, that’s all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dead Eye’s been training for the last twelve years to become a Guardian capable of fighting in all forms of combat, and Miss Yuuko is an experienced mage hunter who is incredibly quick on the draw. Ace, I might be wrong about this, but I don’t think you’ve ever properly trained with your powers.”

“I have trained!” He snapped.

“How?”

“I…” Ace trailed off, looking back at the ground. “I’ve tried using the different cards in my decks, tested what powers work well with others, pushed the limits of how many cards I can use at once, and-”

“Have you actually fought against other people before?”

“What are you talking about? I told you before that I-”

“You said that you’d never lost before, but that might be because you did to your opponents what Aria did to you; wiped you out before the fight could even begin. Ace, what you and I did earlier was a fight; what Aria did to you was not. Be honest, how many of your fights ended as quickly as Aria’s attack on you?”

“…Most of them.”

“I thought so,” Alexis said, letting out a small sigh. “I think I understand now why this has been such a shock to you.” She stood up and faced away from him. “All your life, everyone you’ve ever known has told you how amazing you are and, because everyone around you told you that and couldn’t best you, you thought that you were strong.

“However.” She spun around to face him. “Wouldn’t it make more sense that you were all just weak to begin with?”

“W…What?”

That single statement shattered Ace’s entire being and understanding.

All of his life, Ace had believed himself to be strong because everyone else around him couldn’t compete with his abilities. He had been so sure of himself that he was invincible, that he was a child prodigy and the next living legend among the Guardians, as strong as the Achlys Twins.

I…I’m strong…I was strong, he told himself, but those words were beginning to drift from his mind. No, I was never strong to begin with.

Before Ace became consumed by the shock and horror of his realisation, Alexis spoke up again.

“However, like I said early, you are strong but not as strong as you thought you were or as strong as you’d like to be, and therefore you’re weak. At least, that’s how I see it,” Alexis explained. “I imagine that if you had met and lost to people like Dead Eye when you were younger, then you might actually be as strong as you think that you are.”

I…I’m weak… Ace thought, the colour draining from his face. I really am weak…

Alexis patted him on his shoulders and the two of them looked into each other’s eyes.

“Ace, I know that this is a shock for you, probably the biggest shock of your life,” Alexis said, smiling slightly. “But I want you to believe me when I say this; you can become strong, stronger than you ever thought you could be. If you let me, I’ll help you become that strong.”

“R-Really?” Ace whimpered and she nodded. “I can become strong?” Alexis nodded again. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”

Alexis shook her head. “I hate liars.”

Ace smiled a little and leant his head onto one of her hands, his chest began to feel warm.

I wonder what this is, he thought, letting that feeling flow through his body.

Weak.

You are, all of you, weak.

I’m not weak, he told himself. I can become strong. I will become strong.

“Alexis, would you please help me become strong?” Ace asked, looking up at her.

“Of course,” she said, smiling brightly.

Chowrites
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He'snotevenconscious
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