The Academy’s Rejected Mage

Winners

Kai’s POV

We step onto our own arena where five creatures are already waiting in cages. The instructor raises his hand—a sign that we should be ready. .

“Stay behind me,” I say to her before I can stop myself.

“Absolutely not.” Her reply catches me off guard.

I throw her a look. “I’m only looking out for you.”

“And I don’t remember asking.”

I scoff and look away. “Fine. Do whatever you want.” I draw my weapon.

“Yeah, you too. And try not to die.”

“Maybe you should tell that to the monster. I don’t know if you missed it, but it’s me whoever everyone is scared of, not the monster.” I tighten my grip on my sword.

She rolls her eyes. “Proud much.”

The bell rings and we charge at the release creature. I barely blink before she gets to him and slash through him swiftly. A flash of blue magic shoots into its chest and It stumbles backward.

I’m so surprised that I take a moment to marvel at her, but she doesn’t stop. “Are you planning to fight,” she looks over her shoulder, “or just stand there…princess?”

How dare she? She throws me a clipped smile, getting distracted. I rush forward quickly, striking down the second creature as it tries to grab her from the side.

“Oh my goodness, I didn’t see that.”

“Yeah, because you talk too much.”

She lunges at me, climbing my chest and shoving a sword from behind. “What are you doing?”

She smirks. “Now, we’re even.” She jumps down and I see the creature dropping to the ground. How did I not see that?

One blind creature finds its way into our middle. I grit my teeth and slash. She spins as slash. It staggers but doesn’t drop.

“Full force!” I yell. We rush to each edge of the arena and rush back with higher speed, slashing against its neck.

The creature disappears into smoke.

“One point for the fifth team!” The instructor yells. We were the last to partner up so we are the last team but from the corner of my eyes, I can see we are the first to score a point.

She throws me a look. “What do you say now? Am I still too weak for you?”

I don’t answer.

“And you’re welcome.”

I shoot her a look. “For what?”

“Are you kidding? I saved you.”

I scoff. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I did.” She smiles. I look away, frowning. Why is she so irritating?

The second creature attacks. We look at each other and without talking, we come to an agreement. Working together was good and efficient so we decide to continue it. We move together, circling the creature.

“Now!” She draws its attention. I turn around with a sharp spin and strike from behind. I spin my sword stylishly and stop, watching as it staggers until it falls.

“Show off,” she teases and I just ignore her. What is her problem with me anyway? How come other people are scared of me because of my power but she doesn’t even seem to fear me? Always teasing and being annoying.

We do more rounds until four of our enemies disappear into smoke. “Enough!” The instructor raises his hand and the arena goes quiet. I look at the board. Four points. Highest. The closest is a two which leaves us as the winners.

I look at her and brushes a strand of hair from her face.

“Admit it, we’re not terrible together.”

I lock my jaw and look away. “I would still prefer to walk alone.”

“And unfortunately for you, that is not a choice. So why not hold the hand of a perfect partner?”

I scoff. And she calls me the show off? Talk about a proud peacock. However, I can decide not to tell her, but I cannot deny it. She is good.

“Team five managed to take down four of the creatures. An impressive number,” the instructor says, and a round of applause grows from the students while they stay at us, most faces filled with regret. They had been scared that I would pose a threat to them, now they wish they took the risk.

But I can say I blame them. Any normal person would be scared. However, I would never pose a threat to my partner. Never.

As we start walking back toward the others, Aelia quickly joins me. “So… I guess you’re still angry with me even after all this?”

I don’t look at her. “I didn’t know picking me as a partner was supposed to change that.”

“While I won’t deny it, I was hoping it would.”

Now, I look at her and pause. “What do you want for me, Aelia? What? You want to be my friend like the others?”

“And will that be such a bad thing?”

“How about a thing I’m not interested in?”

“Come on, I already apologized.”

“Which you didn’t need to. You don’t owe me any apology.”

“Don’t do that, Kai.”

Before I can respond, I notice someone standing beyond the arena. It’s Orin and he’s staring at us with a very angry expression.

Interesting. A childish idea quickly forms in my head.its petty and probably beneath me but I like it and he deserves it.

“Don’t do what?” I ask and start walking towards her which makes her start taking steps backwards.

“You know what I’m talking about,” she says just as we get to the edge of the arena. She doesn’t see it, but I do. Her feet slide and the moment she’s about to fall, “careful!”

I yell loudly and rush forward, grabbing her by the waist. Her eyes widen. “What—.”

I pull her toward my chest, wrapping my arms around her. “You almost fell.” Every eye focuses on us, while some lips start moving silently. They must be yapping about Orin.

“Oh my goodness, thank you so much,” she mumbles into my chest. For me, it is all fake. Or so I tell myself. At that moment, I find myself thinking about the very first day I met her, when she tried to stop Orin from bothering me.

Even though she later ignored it, she did try at first. Better than a lot of other people. I mean, not even my own brother cared enough to do anything, even though he could’ve done something very simple to put a stop to it.

I look up slowly and sure enough, Orin is still there, face burning in anger. Perfect. For me, that is really what I want to get from all these. His anger. Aelia doesn’t notice, not even when he turns and storms away angrily which makes it all the more better.

This is just the beginning, Orin and I’m looking forward to what you can do.