"Arthur, it's time to wake up."
Poking him in the side, Mira stood at his bedside in her full maid uniform, patient as ever.
"Five more minutes." Arthur rolled over, ignoring her.
Mira crossed her arms. "Master, if you don't get up right now you are going to be late for class. I know you had a late night, but you've had plenty of those before, so get up or I'll write a letter to your mother telling her you're skipping."
"I'm up, I'm up --- ma'am!" Arthur threw himself out of bed like a man set on fire, because even at eighteen years old, his mother's wrath was one thing he still feared.
"Good." Mira held out his folded clothes. "Here."
Arthur took them and dressed without complaint.
"There." She stepped forward and straightened his collar, smoothing the front of his uniform with both hands until it sat right. "Now you look like a real student."
"Thank you, Mira."
"Of course, Master." She held his gaze a half-beat longer than necessary. "And if you need anything else before you go..." She shifted her weight and pressed her fine assets forward for Athur to see.
"I would, but I'll be late, so---" He put his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back, which may have been the hardest thing he'd done all week.
Mira blinked.
He had never done that.
"Of course, Master..."
"Don't look at me like that." He was already moving toward the door. "You know I want to but I have to go. Look, I'll make it up to you later, and besides I have a feeling today's going to help your situation." He glanced back leaving words of comfort.
Then he was gone.
Mira stood in the empty room, her eye twitched.
She stomped her foot once and the sound echoed off the floor with more emotion than she intended.
'So that's how it is.' She stared at the doorway. 'You don't want to play with me because you spent the night with that damn wolf girl and now I'm something you can just throw away?'
She smoothed her apron with sharp, practiced motions, her jaw set.
'Fine. You want to play it that way, Master?'
'I don't need you.'
She turned and walked out, head high, each step carrying the very specific energy of a woman who absolutely needed him and was determined to prove otherwise.
—----------
Combat Fundamentals a pillar of Aureolion Academy as every student regardless of skill or level are required to take. Making it the only class to have over 200 students at a time.
The class was taken outside as before when it was inside the school spent too much money fixing all the damage the class creates so since then they've been outside at an arena.
In the Clearing a large mesh like trap is connected to a bunch of poles creating a shaded area. Rows of seating going down into the ground creating an outdoor amphitheater.
No section was marked, but you would never have guessed it. The houses had divided themselves as cleanly as if someone had painted the lines.
Sitting himself along the Watchers he looks around to those near, noting those from his dorm and others he has yet to meet.
As the stands fill up the bell rings out singling the start of class.
And from behind the board at the bottom of the amphitheater she steps out.
Her steps drown out the noise of the students as her steps seem to fill the minds of everyone. Her presence spreads out like a fan of air suffocating everyone. Sweating starts to drip down Arthur brow as the feeling crawls up warning him.
'It's like father's.'
Around him, some of the students begin to falter, a few buckle at the knees. With even two going down entirely, hitting the stone floor without a sound.
The ones still standing were from House Thrones, Seraphim and most from Virtues. Those that held the pressure had their shoulders locked, jaws set, handling the pressure. The rest of the 1st year were scattered somewhere between struggling and gone.
Standing at the center of the amphitheater was the source of it.
She was tall, had dark skin, gold eyes, and purple hair pulled into a high ponytail with a few loose strands falling across her face. The kind of woman who looked like she belonged in a throne room.
From the way she stood you could tell she was made for nobility. But the pressure she gave off was that of a warrior like his father. So what is she a warrior or noble or perhaps…
'Both.'
She wore black leather fitted pants that left nothing about her figure to the imagination. A sleeveless button-up left open enough to show her large assets all while forgetting to cover her back. Giving Arthur a great view of her side boobs.
Since the shirt did nothing for her back it was the jacket's job to cover her up. Draped over her shoulders like an afterthought color in Navy gold trim it added to her figure. Her arms were bare, lean and toned, with a faded burn scar running the length of her left forearm catching the light.
"Listen up kiddos I don't care if your House Seraphim Thrones or even Virtues in my class I'll treat each and every one of you the exact same. Kids that are nothing but potential."
She walks forward her presence becoming even ghastlier.
"Listen up kiddos, I don't care if your daddy's a Duke or if you crawled out of a ditch to get here. In my class that means nothing."
She let that sit.
"Combat Fundamentals exist for one reason only. We are at war, and this kingdom needs people capable of fighting in it." Her gold eyes swept the stands without warmth. "I don't care if you're a Duke's son or if your bloodline is from the gods themselves. What I care about is whether you'll make a good soldier."
"And most of you—" She tilted her head. "—are worthless."
A few students shifted in their seats. Someone from Thrones scoffed quietly.
She ignore it.
"In this class you will learn to fight in squads. As many will always be greater than the few. That is how every conflict this kingdom has ever survived worked. Not one hero. Not one bloodline. But the collective might of many against the hordes of chaos." She held up a finger.
"But first."
She rolled her neck once, slowly, and something in the air changed.
Arthur noticed it before he understood it.
Blood.
The smell hit the back of his throat like copper and rust, faint enough that you might have imagined it. But Arthur's body didn't care for imagination as all alarms sing off in his body he stands in fright solid frozen.
She took one step forward.
The smell deepened.
A few students near the front straightened in their seats, suddenly uncomfortable. Someone in the Watchers section whispered something. The weight in Arthur's chest told him to be quiet.
She took another step.
The pressure came with it this time, not a smell anymore but something physical. Like the air had become denser it pressed on top of him squeezing him.
'It's like father's.'
He's only felt an aura like this once before back when his father left in a storm of rage seeing what they did to Arthur's oldest brother. The wounds he carried set his father off into a rage he has never seen before.
'She is just like father , her rage and anger like that of a volcano waiting to interrupt.'
Around him, the stands were changing.
The Iron-ranks went first. No fanfare, their knees simply stopped collapsing. A boy two rows down from Arthur went forward onto his palms without a sound. A girl at the far end of the Watchers section sat down hard, then didn't get back up. One by one the floor started collecting people.
She took another step.
The weight doubled.
Arthur's jaw tightened sweat had gathered at his temple streaking down. The students still standing were thinning fast. He could see whole sections of the amphitheater folding like paper. Most of the Watchers were down on their knees or hands. A scattering of Virtues students held, shoulders locked and faces tight. A solid cluster from Thrones stayed on their feet, expressions grim, handling it the way people handle something they've trained for.
Most of Seraphim were still standing.
And then she took another step.
The last push hit like a door slamming. Arthur felt it travel up through the stone and into his knees and for one second his body made the decision before he could argue with it —
His knee hit the ground.
One knee. Stone cold under his palm but he held his head high.
'No. This is nothing like father!' Screaming out in his mind Arthur with all his might pushes against the pressure stirring his mana in body coating his skiing to push back.
'Father's much stronger, this is NOTHING!' and with a roar he pushes against the pressure stopping his body from collapsing on the ground.
Author Note: Hey sorry about now dropping a chapter yesterday I got busy with life and couldn't finish the chapter in time so yeah. But I might be able to complete the next chapter here in like I don't know like 4 hours or so no promises.
Anyway, you know the drill 20 chapters you can up to advance on the patreon.com/Lord_Cuckles or search up TabooQuill either should work. I also just uploaded some spicy images of the characters so if you're interested ;) Your welcome.