Chapter 155: Chapter 155

“You can’t just leave it at that!” Damien complained. “What is it? Can I see?”

“I don’t know how to summon it yet,” Sylph said, crossing her arms. “Not everybody can bind with someone like Henry.”

“Can you at least tell me what plane it’s from?” Damien pleaded.

“The Plane of Immortals,” Sylph replied. “And thank the stars it isn’t anything stronger. Things are feeling a bit more than cramped. I think I can feel my thoughts shuffling around as my head tries to make room for everything.”

“Come on,” Damien said. “You should sit down.”

“Everything looks fine here,” Henry decided as Damien helped Sylph out of the training room. “I’m going to head back and remove my anti-detection spell. Have fun with your new companion, Sylph.”

Henry flitted back into Damien’s shadow and the faint energy that he’d summoned blinked out. They got back to the main room and Damien helped Sylph onto her bed. She didn’t unwrap his arm from her shoulder, so he remained on the bed beside her.

“Well, now all we have to do is help you get a good enough bond with your companion to summon it within a few weeks,” Damien said with an optimistic grin. “Compared to everything else we’ve done, it doesn’t even feel all that difficult.”

“I can’t argue there,” Sylph admitted with a weary chuckle. Damien started to open his mouth, but a flash of movement behind the bathroom curtain caught his eye. He froze, squinting at the bathroom. There was no more motion within it.

Henry? Did you see that?

“I wasn’t paying attention,” Henry replied. “Getting settled back in your head has a bit of a delay. I’m reviewing the memory, though. There was something there.”

Damien tightened his grip on Sylph’s shoulder. She blinked, then her gaze grew cold as he nodded towards the bathroom. Damien carefully stood up, leaving Sylph on the bed, and drew Ether into his hands.

He stalked forward, then threw the bathroom curtain open with a gravity sphere readied. There was nobody there. Damien frowned, lowering his hand and stepping inside. There weren’t exactly many things to hide behind.

Can you tell if anyone is here?

“It feels completely empty,” Henry said, sounding disgruntled. “The only energy I can feel is yours and a little bit of Sylph’s.”

Damien clicked his tongue. He turned, scanning the walls. That flash of motion had been too real. It didn’t feel like something his mind had just made up, but there was clearly nobody in the bathroom. It was possible someone had teleported, but who could it have been? Delph and Dredd already knew their secret, so there was no point for them to be there.

Something caught his eye near the top of the door. There, in tiny letters written with still drying ink, were the words “Well done”.

Ah… Henry?

“I’m already trying to see if I can figure out who put this here,” Henry said. “So far, nothing. Either my senses have been corrupted by your human spark more than I thought, or nobody was here. Again, you and Sylph seem to be the only ones who have been here for any amount of time.”

Damien pressed his lips together. The words didn’t exactly seem like a threat. If anything, it suggested that the person leaving them was on their side. But, if that was the case, why wouldn’t they just show themselves?

He sighed, reaching up and gingerly touching the edge of a letter with the tip of a nail. The ink came away easily and he peered at it.

“Looks like normal ink to me,” Henry said. “Neat writing too. Whoever did this has a steady hand.”

Wow, that really narrows it down.

“Better that than nothing,” Henry said. “I could go check to see if I can hunt down anyone in the area that doesn’t belong, but something tells me I’ll never find them.”

You’re probably right. Just keep an eye out for now. I don’t think this person is going to get caught that easily. And hey, if they’re on our side, maybe they’ve got a good reason for not revealing themselves.

“Sure,” Henry muttered.

Damien headed back out and sat down beside Sylph. He quickly explained what happened and she came to much the same conclusion that he had.

“If we can’t find them, there’s no point losing sleep over it,” Sylph decided. “We’ll keep an eye out, but if this person can trick Henry’s senses that easily, we don’t have a chance of catching them.”

She let out a yawn and shifted, lying out flat across her bed. “I’m completely exhausted. I don’t think I’ve got enough energy to do anything else today.”

“Fair enough,” Damien said. “Summoning takes a lot of energy. Don’t push yourself.”

Sylph nodded and closed her eyes. Damien watched her for a moment, then headed out the door to get some food. He brought some extra back for Sylph, placing it within the icebox before getting onto training.

Damien spent most of the day practicing his magic. Henry commandeered the second training room, walling it off with a barrier of purple energy as he presumably practiced for hiding his true nature from everyone.

Thankfully, the rest of the day passed without any major events. Sylph slept through it all and awoke the following morning almost entirely back at full strength. Over the course of the next few days, she spent most of her time in meditation, attempting to commune with her companion.

Both Delph and Dredd summoned them for training at various times. Delph focused on making sure everyone was still in good physical shape by making them run laps around the arena until they collapsed.

Dredd was much more reasonable, and seemed content to allow both Damien and Sylph to practice on their own for the time being. Before they knew it, the school year was in full swing and the time to begin trying to manifest their companions was upon them.

“Now, I know a few of you have gotten ahead of the curve,” Delph said, looking out over the class. As usual, he’d gathered everyone in such early hours of the morning that it was nearly still night. “Those of you who checked out a book from the library for the purposes of figuring out how to manifest your companion, please raise your hand.”

There was a short pause. Every single student’s hand rose into the air. A grin cracked Delph’s face and he gave them a nod. “Well done. That’s exactly what I expect out of you. As a reward, no running today.”

A cheer rose up from the students, but it quickly silenced as Delph gave them a sharp look.

“You don’t have to be so happy about it,” Delph complained. “But here’s the real question. Who here has actually managed to achieve a combat mode manifestation of their companion?”

Almost every single hand dropped. The only ones that remained in the air were Mark, Cody, Loretta, and shockingly, Reena. Delph gave them all a critical once over.

“Impressive. More than I thought. Then again, I suppose this year is one to put the extra effort in. After all, many people have made names for themselves during the Intraschool Tournament. It’s a great chance to show off your talents. Many adventuring companies look for new members at them as well, so if you don’t have any desire to fight on the frontlines, this is a great opportunity for you.”

A few murmurs rose up amongst the class. Delph raised his hand to silence everyone. “That all being said, there are only a few students that can compete in the tournament. Our class is allowed to put forth four candidates due to our performance in the last ranking battle. I will be choosing them based on your current abilities, not how you scored a year ago. So make sure you don’t slack off if you want to represent us.”

He paused for a few moments to make sure everyone had absorbed his words before continuing. “You’ve got three weeks before the tournament begins, so spend them well. There are multiple aspects, but I presume that most of you will be interested in the combat. The first half of the tournament will be just like the ranking battles – which are quite soon after the Intramural, actually. The second half will be… unique. I can’t say any more than that.”

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“Are there rewards for doing well?” Cody asked.

“Of course,” Delph replied. “Money and fame are the big ones, but the latter half of the tournament offers opportunities to get quite the interesting rewards. I actually got my hands on something nice back when I was your age.”

“Did you win?” Loretta asked.

Delph snorted. “No. Damn near did, but the Dean beat me.”

“So Blackmist actually beat Kingsfront?” Nolan asked, his disbelief more than apparent.

“We had quite the class during my year,” Delph said. “We haven’t won since, but I’d like to hope that some of you can change that.”

“Don’t worry,” Reena promised the professor with a confident grin. “We’ll win and earn honor for the school.”

“Honor?” Delph asked, raising an eyebrow. “I couldn’t care less about that. I’ve got money riding on some of you gremlins winning, and a lot of it. I expect to buy myself a nice little summer home after this.”

His deadpan delivery made it completely impossible to tell if the man was joking. Shortly afterwards, Delph dismissed them to personal training. He caught Damien and Sylph before they could head off.

“How are the two of you doing on your progress with manifesting your companions? Your abilities will get you far in the tournament, even without them, but you won’t be able to win without giving away something you don’t want to at your current strength.”

“I’ve solved the biggest issue,” Sylph said. “I just need to form a better bond with my companion.”

“And I’m – well, I think we should be fine,” Damien said after a brief consultation with Henry.

“You’ve gotten yourself a companion?” Delph asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I didn’t hear any requests about using the school’s summoning circles. That was wise, as it certainly would have raised a few eyebrows. Well, I don’t want to know how you did it. Don’t care, really. You’ve got a week until I expect to see some results. Feel free to seek out Dredd or myself if you need extra assistance.”

“Will do,” Damien said, giving the professor a nod. “And… what about the other issue? The one we dealt with over summer.”

“Dredd has been extra busy,” Delph replied. “Lots of little piles of rubble showing up. He hasn’t had any difficulty so far, and we aren’t getting reports of anything major. Just focus on getting stronger for school. This sort of problem should be left to your teachers.”

“So long as they don’t release any more ancient monsters,” Sylph said with a snort.

“Don’t remind me,” Delph said with a groan. “Just get out of here. I’ll let you know if anything of interest shows up.”

Damien and Sylph bid him farewell and started out of the arena. As they walked, Reena broke away from Nolan and jogged to catch up with them.

“Hi Damien,” she said, giving them a small nod that shook her long, curled hair. “Did you have a fun break?”

“Sylph and I got a lot of training done,” Damien replied. He reluctantly stopped walking and Sylph did the same.

Reena made a face. “More training? Did you even get any rest?”

Damien gave a noncommittal shrug. “Enough, I suppose. I take it your break was more fun?”

“I spent some of it training too,” Reena said, almost defensively. “But I also visited my parent’s beach estate. It’s right on the shoreline, so nobody can block your view. It’s really quite beautiful.”

“Sounds fun,” Damien said, giving her a polite smile. “You went with Nolan, I guess?”

“No, he didn’t want to come,” Reena said with a scoff. “Nolan studied and worked all summer, just like you.”

“Maybe you should take a page out of your brother’s book,” Sylph suggested. “Training is vital to success, and getting caught unprepared might mean you won’t have time to train in the future.”

Reena’s nose curled in distaste. “Thanks for the advice, but I prefer to find some level of meaning in life instead of working it all away. You said it yourself, Damien. The beach is a lot more interesting than a training room.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly what I said,” Damien pointed out.

“Whatever,” Reena said. “Look, Nolan and I are going to The Dancing Dragon this weekend. It’s one of the best restaurants in the kingdom, but it’s owned by my family, so we were able to get a table on short notice. It’ll be a good change of pace from all this training. You should come with us. We can get you a seat.”

“Thanks for the offer,” Damien said, inclining his head. “But that sounds a bit too expensive for me.”

“Nonsense. I can cover your meal.”

Damien pressed his lips together. He spotted Nolan heading towards them out of the corner of his eye. “That’s very kind of you, Reena. However, I still can’t make it.”

“What?” Reena asked, crossing her arms. “Why not?”

“Because you didn’t invite Sylph,” Nolan said, shaking his head as he reached them. Reena glared at Nolan, but he ignored her as he continued on. “And, on that note, you’re invited as well, Sylph. There’s a portal to Seaview, the city it’s located in, right on campus. It will only take a few hours, so it shouldn’t mess up your training too much.”

Damien and Sylph exchanged a glance. After a moment, Sylph gave him a very small nod.

“I think that’s fine, then,” Damien allowed. “Thank you.”

“Brilliant,” Nolan said, putting a firm hand on Reena’s shoulders. “We won’t keep you, then. I’m sure both you and Sylph are busy.”

“Thanks again for the invite,” Damien said as they set back off towards the exit of the arena. He could feel Reena’s gaze burning into his back as they left.

“She gives me the creeps,” Damien muttered once they were well out of earshot and on their way back to their room. “What does she want from me?”

“No idea,” Sylph said. “But something gives me the feeling she’s not a huge fan of me.”

“Can’t imagine what,” Damien said. They both laughed as they reached their room and headed inside. Their plans for the weekend had evidently been decided, but there was still a lot of training left to be done through the week before that day could arrive.

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