Paladin's Path

Theon remembered the teasing grin on the face of Juniper Fay as she had seen Mr. Adams reaction to the duo to go last. She clearly rigged the spin somehow for Corbin and Lugh to duke it out.

Some people believe that after two people with animosity for each other fight it out then they'll be perfectly fine after.

'I wonder if she'll regret that.'

Theon again was in a fake city, seems the school has can just spit these out with no loss on their part. This city was different though, it was more grim in feeling. The broken down buildings and rubble and debris of shattered roads and glass on apartment buildings added to that also.

Instead of standing face to face with each other both Theon and Bell were allowed to wander and wait for the buzzer to go off for them to start. They were not allowed to use their powers until the buzzer.

And so Theon was glad to have the freedom to move on his own, only he wasn't alone. Bell had the entire miniature city to move through but instead stuck right close to Theon.

It was like she was a younger sibling he never had holding onto his pocket and not letting him out of her sight.

Bell Wyatt was an uptight person who was extremely dedicated, probably the most dedicated within the class of students within the school. She was what Theon assumed would be the most normal of a student if put in a normal school breeding normal people to do normal things in society.

She didn't want to play around and mingle with people, she wanted to successfully do whatever task she was given with swift execution.

Theon didn't know what to do or say to her before the start, she held her gaze at his back and was hastily anticipating the buzzer to commence her attack.

'She already knows my power from the last failure of a trial and she was one of the people who still has not revealed a thing about what she can do.'

Theon thought that his best course of action would plainly be to sprint away from her as the buzzer rang and use his dragons as a distraction and then attack her from a distance before closing in on her.

His insight was actually the one pulling him in a clear direction. He couldn't tell what was so special about the are he was in other than increased amounts of debris than what they were both introduced to as they first walked into the city.

Theon stopped at the railings of a bridge and leaned against it without giving Bell any indication that he was going to move anymore. She continued to stare at him and her stare grew surprised at his spike in Od flowing out of him.

He knew what he was doing, he was giving her a scare and maybe even a slight indication that - !

The buzzer went off and instead of a mad dash Theon leant backwards and turned upside down and fell off the bridge caught by one of his dragons and flew underneath it not expecting Bell to be able to follow.

What followed though was not what he was expecting. Instead of his ears picking thumping footsteps above trying to follow the Od signature of him and his dragon, Bell jumped down and landed on a construction created by her own Od.

A silver metal block that had steel poles around its sides manifested and allowed her to stand mid-air.

'It looks like an object for containment.'

Like a prison cell created to fit something as big as a single shoe. It only gave a slight hover instead of proper movement but still allowed her to stand mid-air with one foot dangling off in the air.

Theon's dragon carried him away from her and she just kept dropping similar slabs to step on above the little stream of water under the bridge.

It was weird. Most people had some type of apprehension before sticking themselves in the air, even people with powers like Theon's, but Bell already seemed accustomed.

Theon glided as Bell stepped until they eventually reached the level of the railing that they had both dropped off.

And as soon as the light of the morning sun flashed in Theon's eye his senses brought him out of the way of a flying... 'Key?'

Yes it was a key. A bigger than normal key flew past his head and hit at a fallen building behind him causing a massive dent on its broken down structure.

'So she can manifest things from metal, or silver.' Theon thought on it for a moment and realized he was wrong. His insight hinted at it being wrong and he realized that if that were true she could have created something better for flight to keep up with him as well as to attack him.

'Then she's just limited to certain objects.'

A cool power. Like any, any power can be dangerous depending on the user as well as their opponent.

Three more this time, three keys in sizes of a standard litre bottle of water were flying at great speeds toward Theon so he thought he should do something of similar value.

'No need to show more than necessary.'

So Theon just copied her and three dragons the same sizes of her keys manifested and were fired off to stop the incoming objects advance.

The dragons he manifested were not like the typical ones he uses for transport, they didn't even look like full manifestations. They held onto their golden glow and fired off in straight lines like a bullet and shot straight through the keys dismantling them and continued forth in her direction.

'Maybe their stronger than I thought.' Theon just loaded them with what he thought was enough Od to disintegrate upon impact with keys but now they had actually continued on their straight path toward their new target.

Bell was quick to act, she gave a short look of displeasure but then brought up her right hand showing the her four fingers which then resulted in a big slab of shinning silver that was tough and dense enough to stop the oncoming miniature beasts that met it new target and disintegrated upon impact.

'She's quick to react and has good enough control of her power-'

Theon was then forced to act even quicker as the slab of metal was pushed in his direction, 'summoning another one may be dumb if its not durable enough.'

Theon ran to the edge of his dragon and jumped off of it gracefully and flipped over the slab of metal and grabbed a hold of it mid flip and pushed himself off of it using the momentum to fly off in her direction before summoning two more of his dragons and landing on the one behind the first.

She sent more attacks that were pushed away by the beast in the front.

'Faster!'

The dragon chasing the tail of the one in front quickly started swaying until it burst off in missile like speed past what was in front of it moving past the silver haired girl in surprise.

Bell turned to where the beast had landed with her hand up ready to strike at her opponent who was not atop it as she suspected.

Quickly she turned and blocked a kick with her forearm that had hurt badly with a growing feeling that it may bruise.

Theon was well trained in a few forms of martial arts and had enough experience. So after his initial kick was blocked, instead of letting his foot rest on the ground he pulled it back and aimed higher, for her head.

Bell ducked it in time and in her crouch touched the ground and was ready to bounce forth to swipe at Theon. Theon didn't let that happen as he swung his foot downwards causing her to sway backwards and spin out of the way of a claw of his only dragon still up now.

As Bell spun Theon could feel the quiet build up of her Od that told him she was planning on creating something again, probably to pin the beast down and fight Theon in what she believed would be an easier showing.

'I won't let that happen.'

Theon took off in speeds that Bell had not expected with his showing the other day, her eyes shone in surprise which Theon caught as he was on her in an instant with a fist dense in Od pulled back ready to slam into her face.

With enough time she was able to pull out a smaller piece of metal to block the punch but Theon knew it was coming and pulled his punch.

It was a feint.

His left hand covered in a smaller amount of Od to stay camouflaged by the larger amount in his right hand. His left hand swung upwards to her solar plexus and connected causing her to blow out a breathe and spit as she burrowed down in pain.

Her creation fizzled out of existence as she held the part of her body in pain.

'She was coated in enough Od.'

When two awakened people are fighting they are constantly using their Od so obviously parts of that Od are used to protect the persons body, if a person had slipped up on that then the solid hit Theon gave her would have done a lot more damage.

The voice of Mr. Adams was clear could be heard in both ears instead of the one that the object was placed in. 'Cool.'

"First match over. Theon Abara is the winner. Now both students make their way to the starting point."

He then went on to say that if a student is unable to move they can wait to be collected and brought to the medical station.

Theon quickly went over to Bell to assist her.

"Did I hit you too hard?" he stretched out his hand to allow her to latch on to it if necessary.

Bell looked up at him like she was going to grab hold of it but then slapped it away and showed a more aggressive look before answering.

"I'm fine thank you."

It was spat at Theon as he held a more confused look.

"That doesn't sound very thankful."

She glowered at him before getting up and stepping past him and keeping her usual distant look.

'Everybody thinks they're the best until they meet their match.'

_____

"Controlling dragons looks so cool!" dull brown dreads were swinging on the head of Corey Anton as he was the first to greet Theon.

Cole was not too far behind him to reiterate the same thing. Theon came in on his own as Bell went was forced to be looked over by the medical staff on standby.

The class stared at him with some slowly walking up to him to congratulate him as well as ask him more of his power now.

'I wish I was second or last to go.' Theon didn't think he would be going through this if he had went at a later time.

Theon wasn't able to find Jon and stick to a corner with him since he was getting ready for his round so he was forced to entertain his other classmates.

'Well I haven't really spoken to them all too much so got to start somewhere.'

"You moved a lot better than our first trials Theo." The one who spoke was Ava, she had walked through the crowd with Chloe at her side who also shared the same sentiment.

"I've been told I perform better under pressure."

Theon could never do something just because he was told to whenever it came to training drills. It was always simpler for him to be told what he was supposed to do and then be put in a situation where it would be brought up.

"This is getting me excited for what the other matches will be like." Corey sputtered out cutting off any response from Ava.

"Yeah man I really wish I got one of those dumb tags." Cole said back as the two then brought up the fact that Corbin found two and gave one to Lugh even though they had both asked.

Theon noticed that some people stayed off to the back away from the group. The figure he paid most attention to though was the short girl with short brown hair standing timidly at the side of Robin. It was Elena Howard.

She was the one that seemed to have some sort of problem with Jon.

'I know I said I wasn't interested.'

But Theon wanted to at least know the type of character she had. And while looking at Robin he had just recalled the desperate and emotional look she had on her face as she ran past him.

As he was thinking of making his way over there hands clapped and got the attention of the students.

Looking above to the railing that was above them, there stood the overseer of the program. Bright golden locks and sharp and piercing yellow eyes stood in casual clothing as she looked down at the students with a mischievous smile.

"The next match is starting."

Theon looked over to see Jon and Aaliyah spread apart in different parts of the city remembering his own experience with Bell sticking to him like glue.

'Forget Elena for now. I want to see what Jon can do.'

________

*Controlling your own blood looks to be incredibly powerful.*

Theon remembered Jon briefly telling him that his power is related to blood. And from what Theon could see Jon was good. He had good reactions, fine control of his power and was patient.

'He's strong.'

But Theon noticed something that he didn't expect other of his classmates to notice. It was about his moves, his attacks... 'They're kill moves.'

Even the constructs he creates with his blood are designed to puncture with precision. Jon doesn't really go for long range attacks, he snuck in close using simple distractions and sometimes threw dangerous objects that would cause his opponent to deflect them away before he gets in range.

*What that all talent?

And on the other end, Aaliyah certainly wasn't a slouch. She would dodge Jon's attacks by the hair and when she couldn't dodge she used her power which seemed to act on force.

She could push things away with a hand brought forth and that was all she had shown. Theon knew she was still hiding more and believed that it wouldn't take Jon too long to bring out whatever it was.

"Jon's kind of scary ain't he?" Robin who Theon had forgot he was standing so close to spoke out quietly with a look of curiosity and a glint in her eye that Theon couldn't figure out.

Before he could give an answer he noticed the slight shudder coming from Elena who was beside the orange haired class angel.

Her eyes were wide and shaky with a soft glistening look in them that, her right hand went up to her chin while her fingers were touching her lips and her left hand lay touching her back.

*She seems so frightened.*

It was obvious now that Jon and her had a past, not a past like whatever bad relationship Corbin and Lugh have. A past of someone deeply traumatized of the loss of a piece of herself.

"Theo...?" Robin looked at him wondering where his eyes were since they may have seemed like they were stuck on her.

"Oh yeah you're right, he does seem really tough. And I thought I made a good showing out there."

She giggled while stepping closer to him.

"You did do well. While you were out there everyone was cheering and talking, but now..." she looked around the room and Theon followed her line of sight to see that everyone had a similar look.

Everyone in the room had their eyes glued to the screen at the almost deadly precision Jon was using to take down the girl barely evading him.

"...The class seem so lost now."

That's what Robin could see. Theon understood it though.

Some of the looks on faces of people like Chloe looked like she was shocked that people within her same age range are this strong. Art had a look on his face that showed a tired interest while looking at Jon on the screen like he was someone to watch out for.

Eventually Jon took down Aaliyah and the match was called off with him as the winner.

"Holy shit. That guys much stronger than I thought." Cole shouted out for the class to hear breaking them out of their silence along with Corey.

"Yeah, why did he never show anything before. And why's he so quiet."

"Almost all the boys in the class are quiet."

'Except for Corbin.' That sentence went on unsaid but swam around in the heads of everyone in the room.

But most of the boys struggled to ignore the idiot duo calling them silent weirdos. Not everyone thought it right to just yell out whatever they were thinking.

"He's quick, silent and has a sick power." Corey took the reins of the conversation. "He could be an assassin." he shouted out making it seem like the coolest profession in the world.

And it was then that Theon seen the slight stutter in movement of Elena Howard. Her body stood rigid and her breath was quickening.

Theon wasn't one to act on suspicion or even call out someone in such a large crowds but there was a stressless calm in his heart as he begun to repeat the thought in his own head.

'He could be an assassin huh?'

________

Theon noticed Jon walk in the room, it took much longer than when he had finished his match so he like everyone else were staring at the screen to see what the room could probably agree they were mostly anticipating even though a few believed it shouldn't happen.

"Ms Fay!" Robin called out to the principal stood above at the far back above them leaning over some railing. "I don't know what is going on between those two but I don't think they should be fighting together."

It wasn't only her. Chloe, Ava and oddly enough Eli Sazaki had all made a slow march with Robin at the front.

Art Graham then walked up behind them to voice his opinion.

"I agree with them Ms.; since the day of our first trial Corbin's been unnaturally aggressive to Lugh for what seems like no reason and I think he may go..."

Ms Fay put her hand out to quiet him before turning back to look at the screen to see that the match had started.

"If it ends up going too far Mr. Adams will get involved. That is his job, you guys have nothing to worry about."

________

"No where to run now Cry Baby!" Corbin didn't follow Lugh who had made his entrance into the fake city instantly not out of fear but in search for something.

Corbin didn't care as he knew he would get to him eventually.

Corbin may act loud, obnoxious and rude as some others may say but he was not dumb. He knew that and everybody who has had even a small conversation knew that too.

During the little scuffle Corbin knew that no one had gotten a clue as to what his power is, on the other hand he figured out Lugh's ice almost instantly.

Elemental powers were common and incredibly powerful in this world and a lot of them worked in similar ways. And that is what made Corbin come up with the idea that Lugh's ice worked by freezing the moisture in the air around him.

Easily powerful and versatile.

That led Corbin to know exactly where Lugh was heading. *That bridge that the dragon bastard dropped off.* There was more water around that space leading to more moisture in the air there.

"Lugh would be running there if he still doesn't have the best control of his power." Corbin knew he was going to win. He was happy to allow his annoying childhood nuisance think he can grab an upper hand only to then break him down to the stub.

He just needs to make sure that the match isn't called off before he's done. He's noticed Mr. Adams on his ass recently.

"I'll graduate from this damn course as the strongest paladin in the year."

The starting signal fired off and Corbin continued walking in his slow pace until he felt rumbling.

A guttural rumbling was heard before multiple large spikes of ice speared through the cities buildings leaving a slow glistening and sparkling trail in its wake.

Corbin's Od flowed calmly around him and as soon as the oncoming ice had stopped right in front of him, he raised his right hand and gave a short flick with his middle finger...

The affects were instantaneous and left the people watching through the holographic screen in amazement.

Like glass shattering the ice in front of Corbin cracked under pressure and the beautiful glistening ice was now sparkling and shimmering in the air.

"I'll put you back in your place shit stain."