"Do?" Xavier chuckled. "Why would I do something about it when I don't have to? Didn't you hear me when I said you were a small fish in a small pond?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't put much stock in lies," Miss Rose shot back. She was trying to regain some ground, and it was working, somewhat. That meant it was time to pull out the rug again.
"And how exactly do you count that as a lie?" asked, his tone genuinely curious, as though he could hardly fathom something like that. And truly, she was quite resilient, to still be kicking after all this. He would enjoy having her under his command.
"I count it as a lie because my travel isn't restricted at all," she said proudly, rising up to her full height again. Still shorter than him.
"And?" he prompted, waiting for the response he wanted.
"And so, it isn't a small pond if it's the entire continent," she said. Her stance was now back to normal, and she was preparing to attack him again.
Better act fast.
Luckily, she had just stepped right into his web.
"I disagree."
She froze, and the smirk that had reappeared dripped off her face.
"What are you talking about?" she snarled.
"The continent, of course. Or isn't that what you meant?" he drawled.
"Of course it's what I meant, it's what I said." she pulled out a small, round object from a pouch at her waist. That must have been the thing that she had thrown at Hashim.
That, or it was something entirely new. Either way, he didn't intend to find out, at least not now. Perhaps if he discovered his own Intent he could investigate her combat techniques more fully, but that was a possibility for later, not now.
So right now he was focused on completely destroying her pride.
"Then I disagree," he repeated. "The continent is a small pond. And in the larger ocean, you're just a tiny fish. did you really think that you had grown out of your inclinations? You are, and will always be, just a little girl, Samantha. You were useless then, and you're useless now."
"I'm going to kill you," she seethed. Her teeth were clenched, and she was brimming with hatred.
Now was the time to strike. While the iron was hot.
"Why would you kill me, when that would be getting rid of the wonderful opportunity that I'm presenting?"
"I don't care," she said, pulling out another two pellets, one made of twisting vines and the other, at least the shell, of leaves. So they were different.
"Why do you think that I'm in this class, Samantha?" he asked. She narrowed her eyes at him. Naturally, she didn't know of his nature. She only knew that the other classes he had were all very different from this one.
"I don't respond to that name," she said obstinately, throwing the pellets at him.
Oh, well. Time to count on my luck again.
Xavier reached out and grabbed hold of the pellets with his ability, compressing the air around them until they were still.
Then he reached further.
Following the trail of energy, he grasped at the first solid thing he found on the other end, and squeezed.
Power left him rapidly, and soon he was holding a small, green, glowing ball in his hand.
"Well, well," he murmured. "What a troublesome little thing."
Miss Rose collapsed to her knees, looking shaken. She reached for the ground, her fingernails scrabbling briefly against the stones as though searching to plant themselves like a tree's roots.
Then she looked up at him. Her eyes were wild, swirling with hatred, confusion, anger, pain, and loss. But she also lusted for the power he had just displayed.
"What did you just do?" she asked. Her tone was low and hollow, as though everything on the other end of her throat had simply been sucked out, leaving an empty void inside her body for her voice to bounce around in before it came out to him.
"I don't respond to that name," he said darkly, looking down at her. "Do I, Samantha?"
She continued looking up at him. The war in her eyes was clear, but as she spoke, not a single emotion showed through her voice.
"No, you don't. My lord."
Xavier smirked.
"That's better," he said patronizingly, crouching in front of her.
He held out the green orb to her, and she looked up at him, waiting.
She was waiting for permission, Xavier realized. She had more discipline than he had thought. That could be a problem. It meant that she was more likely to wait for the opportune moment to betray him if she intended to, and therefore was less likely to be weeded out with conventional tactics for detecting traitors.
Xavier wasn't afraid of dying. He didn't think that that was possible.
He was more afraid of Corpse's words. Or rather, Corpse's word.
It still stuck in his head to this day.
Void. What did he mean when he said Void?
That could be the eventuality where they all lost control, and the body became a simple conduit for power and destruction, obliterating everything in its way, with only a rudimentary consciousness guiding it.
At least, as far as anyone else knew.
But that wasn't the reason why Xavier was afraid.
No, it had stuck with him because of one very distinct possibility.
What if Void was another personality? One who meant to consume them all, and become the only one?
When Xavier had almost been kicked out of the main brain for good, into the Deep Consciousness, he had seen someone. They were cloaked and indistinct, but he knew enough to tell that it hadn't been Bunny, like Hashim had assumed.
The figure had given him something. A small object.
It had called it a chance, but that wasn't what it really was. It was a choice.
A choice that he was supposed to make.
There was no face beneath the hood, none at all. It was just... empty.
A void.
If Corpse was worried about it, then it was a massive problem. And the name didn't just sound like a problem. It sounded like annihilation. And how had it even gotten a name without being granted one?
Every personality needed the main Named personalities to name it, and once it was Named it chose what it would be called. That was how it had worked with Bunny, anyway. Xavier didn't know if this Void had somehow gotten them to Name it, or worse, Named itself, and if it had, then could it also Name others?
It was bad news. Very, very bad news. That meant that if it ever got control, it would be practically impossible to kick it back out into the Deep Consciousness, and even once they did, if they managed to, it would be powerful enough to come forward.
Outside, in the Deep Consciousness, Xavier had sensed more than the mindlessly confused voices that they heard from inside. He had sensed a great, deep-running hatred towards them.
The Named were shunned, even Bunny. Especially Bunny. He had had to put on a limp and wear tattered clothes to get by, and still he was easily distinguishable from the others. Xavier knew because he had seen him, in the distance. Felt him.
The limp and the clothing weren't a conscious fashion choice or an attempt to blend in. It was because he didn't have enough power. After being suppressed, Bunny was a Named with no control. His strength was sapped like he was leaking blood, and he lost motor functions, causing the limp, and his clothing decayed with nothing keeping it together. It didn't just fray or pill, it decayed, like a piece of bread left out in the sun would soon be overtaken by mold, growing like rust on iron.
Everywhere he went, his presence alone was like nails on a chalkboard to the denizen's ears. They hated him, but they couldn't do anything about it. They couldn't even create a human body, much less move one. Their best was using themselves like a weapon, leaping, or, more often, sliming, at him to attempt to get in even a hit.
Bunny wasn't a fighter by any means. But his ability was powerful enough that he shrugged off their advances.
Hashim had never insisted on getting Bunny rated. Xavier didn't know just how strong Bunny would have turned out to be, but he was fairly certain that he hadn't yet reached the level of desperation where it was a worthwhile endeavor to let him out, just for a chance that he would be useless.
Xavier stood up, curling the glowing green marble in his hand, then he tucked it into his pocket, enjoying the flash of desperation that crossed Miss Rose's face as he did.
"I think I'll hold onto it a bit longer, he said, pretending to be thoughtful. "Maybe I'll give back before the tournament starts. But only if you start behaving.
She pouted at him, but he ignored her, and then walked out of the classroom.