Extra's Descent

"Cadet, Brandon Locke."

"Huh?"

Rachel was petrified.

There was no way.

It had to be a joke.

The suffocating feeling seemed to have faded, and Rachel scanned the man who claimed to be Brandon's features.

He looked nothing like him.

His hair was longer, and the color was different as well. Ink–black. The same went for his eyes.

Now that she took a good look, his gaze was even colder than Brandon's.

In fact, he seemed even taller than him, and his body looked more refined.

However, it was at that moment when the ink–black color suddenly drained, replaced by a pale–white color. He blinked his eyes, and that was when Rachel saw it.

It was ice–blue.

The same as Brandon's.

It really was him.

Brandon brushed his bangs back and turned to look at Raven.

Step—

Unknowingly, Rachel stepped forward.

"Ah, hey, Rachel!"

Amy called out for her. But it all went to deaf ears.

Rachel needed answers.

Step—

The next step she took had caught Brandon's attention as he met her gaze.

".....Is it really you?"

"Yeah, I'm back—"

Immediately, Rachel rushed and embraced him. Brandon seemed startled, unsure of what to do.

".....Uh, this isn't the place for this, Rachel."

"Be quiet. You don't know how much I've missed you."

She had become bold.

After all, she was now a CEO of Asami company. It was a trait she had come to learn after dealing with all the other businessmen.

"Uh….."

Brandon was quite stunned as he looked around.

"Cadet, Rachel! Please move back!"

Delton's voice rang out and Rachel moved back before she got reprimanded.

"Sorry."

All eyes fell on Rachel, but she paid no heed to them as she returned to the row.

She was too emotional to care about them in the first place.

She had visited his grave. All of her friends did.

And now that he was standing before her, before everyone…..

It was unbelievable.

Although she was unsure if her feelings were still there, regardless, Brandon was still a friend.

No one would blame her for such a reason.

And besides, this entire class…..

They were all Astrea Academy students.

Rachel looked around. There, she could see Claire, Sarah, Cyrus, and even Julie, staring at Brandon intently.

"You okay?"

Amy suddenly spoke, and Rachel flicked her head in her direction.

"Yeah."

"Good, I was worried for a second. We can't overwhelm him too much, he just got back after all."

"Right."

And so, they returned their attention at the front.

It seemed like the fight was about to start.

—Start!

And it did, as Delton's voice echoed throughout the entire combat hall.

***

Brandon stared at Rachel's departing back, unsure of how to approach her.

Seeing how bold she was earlier, it seemed like she had changed.

She was always bold, she had the trait with her the entire time, but she would only show it to people she was comfortable with.

"Ready?"

But now was not the time to ponder on those thoughts as Delton asked them.

"Yes."

"Yes."

Brandon and Raven nodded their heads and distanced themselves from each other.

As soon as they were ready, Delton's voice echoed.

"Start!"

This was one of Bellion's ideas.

The two had thought up a plan to cement Brandon's return in the minds of every cadet present.

After all, Brandon was known as the strongest in his batch, during his time in Astrea.

For that reason, Bellion had high hopes for him, and hopefully would motivate the other cadets in their training.

It had to be said that the text message was Brandon's idea.

It was funny.

'I'm back.'

He imagined if a dead person suddenly sent that text. It might've been creepy to the recipients, but it was without a doubt, funny to him.

After several plans, they decided to go with Brandon's proposal.

A duel with Class B's strongest.

And that was Raven Blackheart.

There were two objectives to this.

To see how strong Raven had gotten in the past year.

And the second reason…..

It was personal.

But Bellion didn't need to know that.

It had to be said,

This was a military academy.

And so, real weapons were used.

Brandon immediately unsheathed the blade on his waist, and as he gazed ahead, Raven's brows widened for a brief second.

It seemed like his usage of a real sword was quite a surprise to him.

Even the others were surprised. Brandon could see familiar faces.

No, all their faces looked familiar.

It seemed like strings were pulled to place him in this class.

Though not all of them were his previous classmates, he knew most of them anyway.

Clank—!

All of a sudden, Raven appeared before him. Immediately reacting, his sword and his dagger clashed.

But what Brandon didn't expect was another dagger, as Raven quickly slashed.

Brandon immediately flicked his head to the side and dodged the dagger.

Seems like Raven was pulling no punches.

But Brandon didn't want to show all his cards.

Not out of pride, but to see how he fared against a duelist like Raven with his raw skills.

No, not even a duelist like Raven.

But Raven himself.

The current one.

Thump!

Brandon twisted his body, trying to land his knee on Raven. But Raven caught it and skidded back.

A distance was fixed between them once again.

Tempering his body with mana, Brandon kicked the ground and rushed towards Raven.

Raven braced for impact, guarding himself.

Swinging his sword to the side, Raven seemed to have predicted the sword's trajectory as his dagger was ready to block.

However, bursting mana into his sword, the speed of Brandon's swing abruptly changed.

That, and the trajectory.

Bang!

Caught off guard, Raven was sent hurling away. Giving him no time to catch his breath, Brandon rushed him.

Impaling his dagger on the guard, Raven raised his head and was just about to block, when he noticed chains heading towards him.

However, he had a hidden card up his sleeve.

[Reflection.]

But just as he was about to reflect the chains back, Brandon was already upon him.

Clank—!

With no other choice, Raven repelled Brandon's sword with his dagger, and the onrush of chains struck his body.

"Kh…!"

Brandon was strong.

Even stronger than before.

Raven couldn't deny that.

Raven's body started aching all over as he was hurled back once again.

Supporting his body with his hand, Raven pursed his lips.

".....Where are your elements?"

"Gone."

Brandon's figure suddenly blurred, and the light reflecting on his blade entered Raven's peripheral vision.

No, it wasn't a blade.

"Haak!"

It was threads.

Threads wrapped themselves around his body, and Raven was pulled towards him.

Gritting his teeth, Raven activated [Shadow Step] to try and get away.

However,

"....."

He lacked the mana for it.

How….

Ah.

It was the chains and the threads.

Brandon used them to convert the mana into his own.

Crazy ability…..

However, it had to be noted that Raven's mana capacity wasn't all that surprising.

He was a duelist after all.

Raven tried to budge, but it was to no avail. He was heading straight to Brandon.

Bang!

He felt his abdomen crushed by Brandon's fist.

"Akh….!"

The hell.

This was supposed to be a friendly spar.

Bang!

And another fist straight to his jaw.

The threads faded, and Raven was down on his knees.

"Enough! Brandon Locke wins!"

Raven hadn't even scratched him once.

In fact, he hadn't been able to retaliate even once.

Brandon had ended the fight in under a minute.

Way too strong.