Lixarts Academy: First Year

The colosseum had risen out of the ground, shaking the entirety of the arena. Loud, audible gasp enveloped the arena.

Only a few people have seen a magic similar to mine or my magic.

In this domain alone, skill is what dictates who lives and who dies, who wins and who loses.

“IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED, BOY!” He took a deep breath.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Dugal. I already know who you are, Dominick,” his face contorted into an evil grin now. His teeth were pearly white and razor sharp.

“Are we just gonna talk over tea or are we gonna fight like men?” I asked.

“I like you,” he cackled and darted over to me.

A high kick. I put my arm above my head to take the brunt of the blow. His other leg was coming towards my stomach. I grabbed it and tossed him to the side. He rolled and hopped back up.

“Oh, you’re not like them. You’ve been in a battle for your life, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, your big friend from the shadows was the one who almost killed me,” I answered.

He stopped and stared.

“The Shadows? What the hell is that? That’s lame as hell.”

“So you just so happened to interrupt this event the same as the one girl did against Rose?”

“Yep, pretty much,” Dugal shrugged.

“Then how do you know who I am?”

“I have my sources.”

He ran towards me again. This time he came in close, he was in a boxing stance.

His jabs were lightning fast. Each one barely missed as I was able to dodge them before they hit me.

I began throwing punches of my own. He dodged my punches with ease as he swatted them away with cat-like reflexes. I dropped down and went for a leg sweep. He deftly avoided it and landed a kick to the face. His boots and pure power really made it sting as I gritted my teeth to try and fight through the pain.

We went right back to scrapping like animals. He was much more experienced in combat than I am. I’m faster than he is but he’s smarter and stronger.

He uses as little movement as possible in order to not waste energy that doesn’t need to be wasted. His breathing was maximized for fighting. He was a professional and it was abundantly clear.

That doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop.

“COME ON, BOY! SHOW ME SOMETHING! THIS IS JUST SAD!” He yelled, he began laughing maniacally after he finished talking.

He dashed, low to the ground. He was fast, faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. I thought I had the advantage but it turns out he was holding back.

He circled around me. Left. I blocked the left but he hit me on the right side of my abdomen. Left and right. He did a feint. His leg sweeped me off the ground.

He’s using my own moves against me.

I jumped back and began to control my breathing.

Slowly. In and out. My focus became slightly clearer.

“Come at me, Dugal,” I urged him to come forward.

“With pleasure,” he said while sprinting at me.

He threw haymakers, kicks, jabs, everything he could at me. Right hook, I landed one right to his jaw. He landed one right back. Everything I could do, he did twice.

“ALL THAT TALK FOR THIS?!” He swung left. I grabbed his left fist and twisted his arm until I heard a crunch.

“YES, THAT’S MORE LIKE IT.”

He jumped at me, head first, like a missile. His head made contact with my stomach. I reached my hands into my pocket and slipped my fingers into the cold metal slots. I backflipped backwards, before pulling my hands out of my pockets. The silver shined in his eyes. His eyes were filled with fire and excitement. He threw wild punches, less form but more power.

He landed punches on my throat.

I lost the ability to breathe for a good minute.

I landed a solid hit to his stomach. There was blood on the ground from both of us. We stood in the middle, hashing it out. At this point, defense didn’t exist. Both of our arms were growing tired. I couldn’t go on much longer so I was just left asking questions.

Where is Aaron Newsmith? Is he not going to show up?

“See, that’s your weakness. If someone knows how to fight, you’re in deep shit. You may be stronger than your average person when it comes to hand to hand but if it so happens that your enemy may have a certain advantage,” he pulled out a vial of green fluid. A healing potion.

“Then you’d be shit out of luck because,” he drank it in one gulp, his arm began untwisting itself, “now, I’m back to full strength and you’re not.”

I dashed at him, nothing on my mind except killing him. If he kills me right here, right now… what’s to stop him from getting my parents, from getting Aura and Rose.

I can’t.

I CAN’T!

I roared. The colosseum walls began closing in.

In order for more power, Dominick can shrink the size of the colosseum. However, that enables for some mana to slip in through the cracks; allowing his enemies to use basic spells.

He smirked, I’m assuming because he felt some mana seeping back into his body.

“I don’t need magic to beat YOU,” his face still in his signature twisted grin.

I darted side to side, all the way to right under his chin.

I brought my fist up to his chin. My knuckles felt like they had exploded on impact; this was more power than I can use safely.

A plume of wind erupted from the blow to his chin.

His head stayed upward for a moment before he looked down and smiled at me.

“I don’t like repeating myself but… IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?!” I backed away. He began chasing me.

I ran back.

I didn’t know what else to do.

I can’t run away.

I turned around and prepared an assault. He was already on me. I threw a quick jab. He swerved around it. He landed a heavy right haymaker to the left side of my face. I clenched my jaw and swung up with the brass knuckles into his stomach. It felt like punching a wall but he threw up some more blood. That was a last ditch effort to no avail.

My eyes had finally begun to flutter shut; the exhaustion catching up with my body.

Reality had begun to sink in. I was weak. I didn’t know how weak I was until now. My instincts were what led me this far but to think that there was a monster like this here. And he was looking for me. Well, more like Newsmith but he singled me out, out of the entirety of the students present. I’d like to say I did good. I know I did but that’s not good enough. I’m going to die.

I looked up. He was preparing an axe kick to my skull. This is it.

“I really do wish we could’ve fought when you were stronger,” he said.

Strangely enough, he started tearing up.

Time began to slow down as he brought his foot down. Closer and closer. Is this the end? Is this all I was meant for? I know I’m not supposed to be weak and hold onto regrets as I die but I don’t want to die. I’m not ready to die. Please. Mom, Dad, please save me. Aura, Rose, someone save me. All of the audiences’ eyes had landed on me. They were filled with fear.

With disgust.

Mom, Dad, Aura, even Rose's eyes settled on me. Mom couldn’t even stand from the anxiety and fear.

Aura was helping her stand. All of them had tears rolling down their cheeks except for my dad. Even when I’m about to die, I’ll never see him shed a tear. Not once. I closed my eyes.

BOOM! A giant dust cloud appeared out of nowhere where the impact was. I opened my eyes to see a hand grabbing his boot. A man in a suit, slicked back, middle part, his sunflower hair and a masquerade mask had appeared in the arena.

He was holding Dugal’s foot.

Dugal hopped backwards.

“Aaron Newsmith?” He asked, impatiently.

He simply nodded.

He looked down at me.

“You did well, now go, I’ll handle things from here,” he said. His voice was deep and cold yet comforting.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I hobbled away. My legs gave out on me right after I made it out of the arena. I collapsed as my legs were too weak to even let me stand. I dragged myself and propped myself up against the wall. I was slowly losing my vision as I laid my head against the cold steel.

“DOMINICK!” Aura and Rose yelled in unison as they approached me. They grabbed me and hugged me, crying.

“How could you be so stupid?” Rose muttered. I looked at them, groggily.

“If.. he had killed us all.. What’s to stop him from getting to you guys?” I lost consciousness in the middle of the sentence.

“You idiot,” Aura whispered. They both grabbed one of my arms and carried me to the infirmary.

“Aaron Newsmith, I’ve been waiting. It’s rude to keep a guest,” Dugal chimed.

“You are?” I asked.

“I’m Dugal, I’ve been wanting to fight you for years. Ever since you ruined my life anyway,” Dugal added.

“What are you talking about?”

“It all started when I was a boy…”