Hero's Return 43 Setting The Hierarchy Part 1

Xi: "You all can grow much stronger than you are now, but the work you put in is what you will get out, don't expect the school to notice and give you free recognition. Only by working hard can you get the ones at the top to notice you."

Xion kept speaking about general things all the students should have kept in mind.

Xi: "Now..."

Xion clapped her hands together. The sound that came from it woke up any of the students lost in their own thoughts, all of them immediately looked to the front.

Xi: "Because this cla.s.s has been set by the higher ups themselves, you will most likely be travelling together as a collective everywhere you go, whether that be with me or with someone else."

Sora looked around and saw maybe 150 students in the lecture hall, the surprise only kicked in when he confirmed just how much people were in here.

So: "All of us are one cla.s.s?"

Indy looked towards him with a more calm but equally surprised expression.

In: "I guess, seems like it'll be an interesting year."

Their conversation was cut short by Xion, who was still speaking at the front.

Xi: "Because of this we may as well spend all of today with introductions, cause of how many of you there are we may not even finish today..."

The students were confused. Shouldn't each introduction really only take a couple of seconds? What does she mean by 'spend all day'.?

Xi: "It's extremely important to set the heirarchy early, so that those above can act as role models for those below, and those below can strive to reach the levels of those above. Therefore, you will be showing off your skills with your set element as well as any specific things that you have learned about said element."

Immediately the students began talking to each other, all of the discussions mixed together to make an indistinct noise. Xion expected this reaction and let it continue for about a minute, before once more clapping her hands, silencing the entire room.

With her hands still together, Xion looked at the 150 students in front of her.

Xi: "So..."

Her neutral expression slowly turned into a smile.

Xi: "Who would like to go first?"

For the first time since they got here, a long silence filled the room. Not a single person spoke, this was the first time there was such a long silence in the room, only increasing the pressure on who would put their hand up, but, seemingly unaffected by the pressure, a red-haired boy put his hand up.

Xi: "Oh? Seems like someone finally put their hand up."

The red-haired human boy walked to the front and stood directly next to Xion, staring at the students in front of him, he wasn't nervous or anxious at all. He stood with a confident stance, as he held his hand out, an enormous flame roared from it, almost reaching the ceiling.

?: "The name's Terrin, and as it stands, I'm definitely stronger than any of you!"

The students all looked at him with some laughing to themselves. Xion looked at him with no set feelings, she had met plenty of arrogant people in her life so seeing another one here didn't surprise her, it would probably have surprised her more if she didn't meet one here.

Xi: "Oh? Stronger than the boy that fought me do you think?"

Terrin put his flame out and looked at her with no fear.

Te: "Of course, I'll fight you and get way more hits than he did to prove it"

Terrin didn't seem to be someone who use brute force and was confident because of that fact alone only, whilst he was definitely rude he wasn't blinded by his arrogance enough to believe that he could win against Xion.

Terrin got into a fighting stance with Xion laughing it off.

Xi: "If you all were to fight me now this would last way longer than today, I'd rather not fight all who come up, I only used that first boy as an example of what kind of teacher I was."

Sora sighed and slumped.

So: "I got used..."

Terrin returned to a neutral stance.

Xi: "But I do want to see what you can do, what else do you have other than a large flame? If that's the only thing you have then it's really not all that impressive."

Terrin knew this fact.

Te: "Of course that's not the only thing I have."

Terrin walked to a faraway portion of the stage and began showing what he was capable off, demonstrating flight through forceful expulsion of flames on his feet, extreme destructive power through his large fiery explosions and finally making his body itself hold the properties of flame, allowing himself to pa.s.s through the wind and if in a true fight, probably physical attacks.

After finishing off his presentation with a destructive explosion of flame that was larger than his previous ones, he looked towards the students watching him and, not needing recognition, walked back to his place with a confident aura about him.

Before long someone else began walking towards the stage, it was a female slightly red-skinned student who had demonic traits about her, she had small horns that adorned her head like a crown, a darkened orange tint to her long hair, small red wings on her back and small fangs on the corners of her mouth. Even with this demonic appearance she carried herself with the elegance of royalty.

Sora was sceptical of her either way, as well as any other demonic looking people in this school, he had been told of the Demonic King and he took the story seriously - it was essentially his past now after all.

As he looked at her with suspicion a voice came from inside his head, a familiar one.

Az: "Hey, stop that. Not all demons are bad."

Sora was momentarily surprised by the sudden voice but it had happened to him too much at this point that he was used to it, regaining his composure.

So: "Yeah, but I should be suspicious of her either way right?"

Az: "You should be suspicious of anyone, but you're only treating this girl differently because of her demonic traits, you don't have access to all of my memories but I met good demons, shared drinks with them and fought with them. The Demonic King is definitely a demon, both literally and mentally, but that doesn't mean all of his people are behind him... Just like the human empires, the subjects can oppose the beliefs of their ruler."

Sora paused for a moment, he was usually optimistic on everyone he saw so he asked himself why should this girl be any different?

So: "You're right, sorry..."

Azu's consciousness seemed to fade back inside of him as his voice went silent, he seemed to be murmuring something as his voice faded away.

Az: "Besides... she's not even..."

His voice disappeared.

So: "Wait what? Azu?"

Azu did not return.

The girl stepped up onto the stage, her furled, red wings slowly opening - they weren't large and overbearing but when stretched out to their furthest points the wings could just about cover the front of her body.

?: "h.e.l.lo all, my name is Phi."

Phi bowed to the students with respect.

Ph: "I look forward to working with you."

Xion looked towards her and her interest grew and grew.

Xi: "A rare race being here... interesting..."

Phi looked towards Xion with surprise.

Ph: "What? You know what I am?"

Xi: "Of course I do, I've travelled to very far places you know..."

The students grew confused, whilst the war between the demons and celestials was outside of the human plane and few people knew or cared about it. They still knew what demons and celestials were, some would come to the human plane every now and again for their own reasons and whilst seeing them was uncommon, it wasn't an extremely low chance.

Xi: "A Draconian here... I wonder why you decided to travel so far away from your homeland..."

Some of the students were immediately shocked and began speaking to themselves, lost in the confusion Sora turned towards Emphillia who was vigorously writing things down in her notebook.

So: "Um..."

Sora raised his hand to tap her shoulder but the glint in her eyes reflected her excitement, and Sora decided against it. Looking towards Indy he saw a similar reaction but Indy was just looking at her.

So: "Are Draconians rare?"

Indy looked towards him with surprise.

In: "You don't know about Draconians?! They're the rarest race in all of Eldia!!!"
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So: "What?!"

Indy looked back towards the girl.

In: "But... she looks so much like a Demon... Draconians are half-dragon half-demihuman hybrids, they should have humanoid figures but the scales and fangs of a dragon. She only has red skin and barely visible fangs..."

Not being able to hold his curiosity in Indy put his hand up.

Xion looked towards him and signalled him to ask his question. As she did so the students who were also confused about Phi looked towards him.

Indy stood up and looked towards Sora.

In: "Might as well introduce myself while I'm at it."

Disappearing from his seat he appeared right next to Phi, before even talking to her he turned to the students and introduced himself.

In: "My name is Indy, I practice in Time and s.p.a.ce magic and I'm an aura user - my fighting style consists of close range martial arts whilst utilising teleportation to get the upper hand."

Indy quickly demonstrated a combo on stage using his teleportation.

After finishing he didn't even pause and looked straight towards Phi.

In: "I don't mean to be disrespectful here but you don't have the characteristics everyone here thought a Draconian would have, if you don't mind explaining, are the facts about your race just wrong or are you just different? This is my and probably a lot of people's first time seeing a Draconian after all."

Phi looked towards the boy in front of her and was about to speak, but hesitated for a second. This slight second of hesitation gave Indy all the information he needed and as she was about to speak he stopped her.

In: "Stop, if you don't want to then don't tell us. It sounds like you'll be uncomfortable talking about it..."

Indy looked towards his seat and was about to teleport away, only after seeing the girl's uncomfort did he realise he rushed in way too quickly and was ashamed of himself.

Xion looked at him with surprise.

Xi: "Surprising that he picked up on something like that so quickly. We truly do have some promising students, his attacks could use some work but that ability to pick up on small things will be useful for him in the future..."

Just before he teleported away his hand was grabbed, looking behind him he saw the girl had stopped him. The strength of a Draconian was no joke, even though she seemed to not be putting that much strength in, he felt the firm force grappling onto his wrist, it wasn't painful but it was definitely uncomfortable.

The girl noticed this and immediately let go, embarra.s.sed at herself. After taking a deep breath she looked towards the students.

Ph: "This may sound self-centered but... I'm not seen as a Draconian by my race... I was kicked out by my tribe due to my inability to manifest scales, or any intimidating traits held by all other Draconians..."

The girl's confident and elegant way of carrying herself had slowly began to crumble, as she grew more and more sad.

Indy was about to stop her but she kept going with her story.

In: "Hey it's fine, I rushe-"

Ph: "After I got left on the roads at the time of only 4 years, I tried my hardest to survive, eventually being taken in by a kind fighters guild. After taking care of me for so long I felt that my debt to them was only rising, so I learnt how to fight there and after learning everything, I rose through the ranks to come here... please do not see me as a Draconian... as... even I do not believe I hold the right..."

Xion watched the girl tell her hard story, to think she had survived from such a young age. She was furious but kept her calm, outside demeanour.

Xi: "Draconians are one of the most prideful races in all of the Planes... But this is too much..."

Xion walked towards the girl, who was staring towards the ground in what seemed like shame and put her hand on her shoulder, Phi looking up at her.

Xi: "Prove them wrong."

Ph: "Huh?"

Xi: "Make them regret their decision. Get strong enough so that your lack of Draconic traits won't matter."

After a short pause Phi nodded.

Indy was still on the stage. He regretted asking the question now due to how hard it seemed to be for her to tell the story.

In: "You know, for what it's worth."

Phi looked towards Indy.

In: "I think you look better as you are."

With a smile, Indy teleported back to his seat, leaving the girl stunned on stage.

Em: "Real smooth."

Emphillia said in a whisper from across Sora.

In: "What? I just said the truth."

Indy seemed to be indifferent. Sora laughed.

Phi was still on the stage, realising that she still hadn't actually displayed what she was profficient in.

Ph: "Oh! Sorry I haven't presented my ability."

Phi walked up to the front of the stage and closed her eyes, laying her hands on her chest in what looked to be a prayer.

Before long blue flames burst from her hands, edges of her wings and the horns on her head had small pillars of flame that finished off the 'crown' that she wore on her head, a blue flame appeared at her heel too.

Ph: "I, too am an aura user, and whilst I cannot fully freely control these blue flames I can apply them to my self in order to strengthen my own attacks."

She displayed a fighting style that seemed to prioritise free-flowing hits that seemed more like an elegant dance than an actual fighting style, most students were entranced by this 'dance-like' way of fighting. Her movements were slower than most but they were still quick enough to threaten the defense of most of those in the lecture hall.

As she danced Phi was reaching the end of her display, but as she was about to stop a student jumped from their seat, reaching a height almost close to the ceiling. It happened so fast that Phi was still recovering from her stance, readying their fist in midair, they dove onto the stage where Phi was finishing - a gigantic cloud of dust appeared where he had landed, leaving the students worried for Phi's safety. From within the cloud of dust they could hear...

?: "That isn't a way of fighting!!! How could anyone fight like that?! I don't care what kind of past you've had, if you can't fight properly then don't mock the people that can!!!"

Phi, inside the cloud of dust was on the floor, a slight wound on her shoulder. She had managed to dodge out of the way of that attack but couldn't keep her balance after, she saw a sillhouette in the cloud that disappeared and immediately appeared above her, with a kick coming towards her.

Just as she thought she was done for a separate kick came from the cloud and sent the one attacking her flying into the wall, creating another cloud.

?: "That's disrespectful man! Everyone fight's in their own w"

Before the new stranger could finish he was. .h.i.t by the attacker, who recovered from the hit he just took almost instantly. The impact from this. .h.i.t cleared the cloud, revealing two boys, one with jet-black hair with similarly coloured attire and blue eyes as well as dark skin and the other with a rough, leather tunic that seemed almost primal, this boy had yellow eyes and caramel skin. Phi was on the ground.

?: "I'll never accept that way of thinking!"

The black-haired boy readied his fists, with what seemed like a strong wind appearing around him.

?: "Accept what?! That I'm right?!"

The primal boy also readied his fists, with a similar strong wind appearing around him.

Both jumped to attack the other, the shockwaves from their fists colliding created strong slices of wind that jumped in all directions. Phi, who was still close to the two was trying to crawl away but the fight was so fast that she had been sliced in the leg and was impaired.

Xion was about to jump in but was immediately stopped by a voice in her head.

?: "Stop, he's got this."

The voice sounded overly familiar, stood in shock she looked around hastily.

Xi: "Leader?!"

Meanwhile, high in the air, two boys had suddenly appeared.

"Yo Indy, help me out with this"

"Yeah, got it"

As the two figures jumped into the middle of the two fighters, the two fighters. .h.i.t each other with stronger strikes than before, creating yet another dust cloud. After it appeared the entire stage went silent, the students watched with more expectant eyes.

"Dark Property..."

The two fighters felt some kind of resistance on their fists.

"Corruption..."

From within the cloud an extremely fast black colour spread, and leaving nothing uncorrupted, Sora had frozen the very wind that hovered around the fighters into a solid state, leaving both of them trapped.

Indy had picked up Phi and teleported to a far side of the stage, he carried her in his arms which left Phi even more embarra.s.sed than before.

The dust cloud cleared revealing that Sora had completely corrupted even the wind the two fighters had subconsciously armoured themselves with.

So: "No matter what you believe, it's not cool to randomly attack someone."

Sora closed his eyes and focused for a short time, fully releasing the two.

So: "If you wanna fight then fight now, don't get someone else involved in your business."

Sora turned away from the two and began to walk towards Indy, but almost immediately the primal-looking boy called out to him.

?: "Hey!"

Sora turned to him.

?: "We already saw you but you're definitely pretty strong, huh? What's your name?"

So: "Sora, what about you?"

The primal boy answered first.

?: "The name's Dylan! From what I'm seeing that thing you just used exhausted you quite a bit huh?! In a real fight I'll win!"

Sora wanted to counter with something but couldn't, corruption did take a lot of energy out of him and left him fatigued more than any other magic he could use.

So: "We'll see about that..."

Sora looked towards the other boy.

So: "What about you?"

?: "Blaz, good to meet you."

Blaz saw that Sora jumped in to stop the fight in order to save someone, he respected it.

So: "Likewise."

As Sora turned around Blaz jumped down from the stage, dismissing any thoughts about resuming the fight with Dylan. With Phi being taken to a far distance Dylan no longer had any interest on the stage either, he still wanted to beat her in order to prove his own point right but with both Sora and Indy there he jumped down and also walked back to his seat.

Xion, still in shock looked towards Sora who was on his way to Indy and Phi, that voice in her head was definitely her leader, and it was also not just her imagination. Recovering from her shock she smiled and mumbled.

Xi: "Still the same as always..."

She held back her urge to cry, she felt like the small girl on the hill looking at the night sky with Azu all those years ago. This was her first interaction with her real leader after centuries. She chuckled to herself and watched Sora.

Sora walked towards Indy who was holding a very embarra.s.sed Phi. Looking towards this girl who he had been suspicious of at first he began to feel guilty of his thoughts, the look in her eyes were innocent and even through the past she suffered she wasn't a hateful person. Even though she wasn't a demon just the thought of him even thinking she was bad just because she looked like one made him feel shameful.

Indy let Phi down but supported her as she had an injured leg. Their faces were extremely close.

In: "Hey."

Ph: "H-H-Hi..."

Indy was completely calm but Phi's face reddened from the distance between them, whilst she was confident in her own ability in battle she wasn't so confident on many social aspects. From the side of the stage Sora looked towards where his seats were and shouted.

So: "EMPHILLIA!!!"

The sudden shout made her jump but from the situation she could easily tell what Sora and Indy wanted her there for, she had told Sora she was more of a support orientated magic user so healing spells should be something she was capable of, she was willing to heal Sora at first but Xion called for the other students so she just let them. She stood up and ran down.

Finally making it to the two boys and one injured girl she healed Phi's leg.

Em: "Should be better now."

Phi moved her leg back and forth, not feeling any pain. From her natural Draconian strength as well as her unnatural way of fighting, she most likely could have fought that boy alone, but the sudden surprise attack followed by the injury she received put her in a bad position. She still held doubts about her own strength compared to Sora's and Indy's though.

Dismissing these thoughts she looked towards the kind-looking girl who had just healed her.

Ph: "Thank you... Emphillia? Was it?"

Em: "Yes, thank you for remembering."

Emphillia smiled at her, and Phi smiled back. These 3 surrounding her were, in here eyes, genuinely nice people. After her past she treasured these kinds of people, after hesitating for a second.

Ph: "Can-"

The other's looked at her, with all the attention being placed on her so suddenly she stuttered, but quickly regained her confidence and spoke.

Ph: "Can we be friends?"

[Message From Art]

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