Ed and his friends had arrived at their combat class with Leonard present. Today was a particular day when something stirred among the students. A new student was supposed to join the class, and the youths were curious to wheather its a male or a female. At their age, this was not anything but abnormal.
"Ed, what do you think?" Raelith said, leaning on the pillar.
"About what?" Ed narrowed his eyes.
"What else is the new student. Do you think it'll girl?" Jin continued in Raelith's place.
"Well its fifty-fifty chance," Ed was blunt.
"Evan, I think Ed is...he has those fetishes," Jin said with a sarcastic smile as he eyed Raelith.
"W-what? Are you sure it's not a hunch, is it?" Raelith said the air around them was turning serious.
"Yeah, I thi—"
"Whatever you're thinking is completely wrong," Ed said as he let out a long sigh with annoyance.
"Ahem!" Leonard coughed and drew attention, and in response, the whole class turned to him.
"You might already know someone is joining this class..to say she was in some circumstances and— "
"I knew it, she was a girl!"
"No, it was me who said."
"So, it's not a hot boy~".
Before Leonard could finish talking, chatter erupted among the students.
"Silence!" Leonard took a breath and shouted.
Silence swallowed noise. The hall fell silent at once as if noise never existed in the first place.
"I was saying the new student will now attend this class, be good to her."
Tak tuk tak
Footsteps echoed in the hall.
It was a girl. She had pale blonde long hair, crimson red eyes, and she wore an azure blue gown with strange, elegant patterns.
She stood beside Leonard and scanned the room. Her eyes radiated with elegance. Her gaze landed on a particular boy. It was Ed. She saw a dark aura surround him.
'Path of Chaos and Blood,' She made a mental note.
"Introduce yourself," Leonard said with a smile.
A smile barely anyone saw, and a rare one.
"I'm Lucy Liliana from the main family."
Each big family has a branch section and a main one. The branch family is the one that doesn't have the superior hair like the main family. The main family treats the branch family as low-life. As for Liliana's family, the branch family has dark gray hair, and the main family has pale blonde hair.
But there are cases when from the branch a genius combatant is often born and even surpasses the main family.
Lucy was beautiful, so it was natural to draw attention. Both male and female were captivated by her beauty. But her powers were a mystery.
"Lucy, take a position among the students," Leonard pointed toward the students as he eyed Lucy.
She took a step forward, finding a proper area to stand. But, to everyone's surprise, he stopped before Ed's group and took her position among them.
From her perspective, this was the most suitable position. apart from that Ed's presence unsettled her and she wished to learn that strange power. No one had ever discovered Ed's powers' origin, not Raelith, who had the most spirit energy sensitivity—even then, he couldn't decipher the mystery behind Ed.
'He is dangerous,' She narrowed her eyes
"What?" Ed asked as he noticed Lucy staring at him intently.
"Ah, I-It's nothing," Lucy replied, stuttering with her words. Embracing herself in the first class. Her face bright red.
'Nice, very nice Lucy embrassing yourself in the first class!' Lucy inwardly spoke in a self-mocking way.
"Now that everything is ready, let's get ready for the class," Leonard said as a brown aura coiled around him.
"Today you will be learning Eternal flame arts and Abyss path, " He paused as he lifted his gaze to the sky.
"Many of you may know what these are. To put it simply, these are the channels for mage and physical fighters. Eternal flame arts are a path for physical artists like swordsman, spearman, tank, and so on."
A hand rose.
It was the same auburn-haired girl.
"Yes, you go ahead," Leonard replied.
"Are pathways different than the ordinary way we use Spirit Energy?" She laid out her question.
"Nice question,"
"Compared to pathways, we can only unleash only 40% spirit energy, but" Leonard smiled.
"The pathways let us unleash our full potential!"
The students were astonished, and who could blame they believed it was their true extent of strength, but the pathways let them unleash their strength, which they believed did not exist!
"The practical is the way," Leonard said as he took off his robes. Unveiling his attire. He wore a dark armor with thorns—spiky thorns. The armor itself was ade with soul essence, a rare material said to rival even mythril.
Leonard's eyes burned orange beneath the blindfolds.
"This is the strike without pathways."
A violent brown aura coiled around his fists. The energy was chaotic and enigmatic.
Leonard had his hands shaped like the maw of a serpent. Veins bulged from them.n
Swoshhh!
A red aura coiled around it, then Leonard threw a lightning-fast strike straight at the dummy.
In a instant it destroyed. Smokes rising from it. Red flames burned the air hissed against it.
"That's an ordinary way which you all are used to, but Spirit pathways are way different than this," Said Leonard as he extinguished the fire. Despite the damage the floor had taken, it wasn't broken and had no cracks on them.
"Elernal Flame: Leonard style Thousand howling Winds!" Leonard spoke calmly with a faint smile.