Chapter 11
Once they returned back to the Dragon Academy Flora informed David that they had one more class to go to, combat class, the class every student from the different schools of the Dragon Academy had to attend.
David upon hearing that there was a class where all the students of the Dragon Academy were allowed to attend together became excited as it meant he would be able to see Susan again.
Flora took David to combat class, once there David saw that all students in the academy had gathered there.
The students there were participating in different forms of combat practice, whether it was in the form of light sparring, weapon training, or practicing their combat skills on a fighting dummy.
David looked at the students as they practiced their combat training and couldn’t help but wonder why the academy would want to train their students in the art of combat.
David did not understand the concept of violence and it was because of this lack of understanding that drove his curiosity towards Dark Dragon Lord as he wanted to know and understand what could drive a person mad with rage and a thirst for vengeance to the point that he would want to hurt those around him.
David came out of his train of deep thought when his eyes caught a glance of Susan firing jets of water out of her hand, hitting a fighting dummy.
“Hey, Susan,” said Flora upon seeing Susan.
Susan, upon hearing Flora’s voice turned around and saw Flora and David.
“Hey Flora, David,” said Susan, greeting them with a warm smile.
“Hello again Susan,” said David softly with a small smile on his face.
They all then felt the ground underneath their feet quake and shake.
David, upon feeling the ground underneath him shake as though a small earthquake had come out of nowhere wondered what could have caused it to shake so much.
Even though David was confused by the ground suddenly shaking, Flora, Susan and the rest of the students of the academy weren’t, almost as though they were used to it.
“Why did the ground shake like that?” asked David.
“Earth dragon warriors,” said Flora pointing at a group of earth dragon warriors who were busy training.
David’s attention then turned to the earth dragon warriors and how they created massive boulders before crashing them all with a single strike so great it caused the ground to quake and shake.
One of the earth dragon warriors then created a boulder far bigger and greater than any other boulder the other earth dragon warriors created.
He then challenged them all to break the boulder if they could.
The earth dragon warriors took turns striking the boulder but no matter how hard they struck the boulder it refused to break.
All the earth dragon warriors then bowed their heads down defeated, all except one.
The earth dragon warrior slowly approached the boulder, upon reaching the boulder he placed his hand upon it and then closed his eyes before taking a breath in and letting go.
The earth dragon warrior then struck the boulder with so much force and strength that it caused the boulder to crack, crumble and then break apart.
David upon seeing what the earth dragon felt his jaw drop out of shock and astonishment.
The earth dragon warrior that had succeeded to crush the boulder with a single strike when the other earth dragon warrior students couldn’t was none other than the spectacle-wearing boy that sat with David and Flora, along with Susan, and her brother Steven.
The boy then turned around and saw David, Flora, and Susan.
“Oh, hey guys,” said the boy as he went to them.
David could stop staring at the boy, unable to believe how strong was.
“Er…why is he looking at me like that,” said the boy noticing the way David was staring at him.
“Oh, sorry about that, it’s just that I can’t believe you were strong enough to crush that boulder with a single blow,” said David.
“Oh, you mean that little thing; it wasn’t that hard, all I had to do is find its weakest point and strike. It didn’t really matter how hard or big the boulder was once I found its weakest point” said the boy casually; not really thinking much about the fact that he just broke a boulder none of the other earth dragon warriors could manage to break.
“My name is Akiri, sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier,” asked the boy with spectacle, extending his hand to David.
David, with a smile on his face, received Akiri’s hand, shaking it and upon doing so he noticed how firm Akiri’s grip on his hand was before saying, “You have quite a strong grip”.
“I’m an earth dragon warrior, everything about us is strong,” said Akiri causing David to laugh.
A fireball then flew out of nowhere, straight for David but luckily he noticed it in time and managed to move out of the way before it could reach him.
David jumped out of the way of the fireball, falling to the ground and dodging the fireball that flew his way.
“David,” said Susan before she, Flora, and Akiri went to him and helped him.
“Are you alright?” asked Akiri.
“I’m fine, thankfully I saw the fireball in time before it could hit him,” said David.
“Who would dare to do such a thing,” asked Akiri, wondering who would want to harm David with a fireball.
“I have some ideas,” said Flora knowing exactly who threw the fireball.
“Impressive,” said a familiar voice.
They all then turned around and saw none other than Steven standing before them with smoke sipping out from one of his hands.
“STEVEN!!!” said Susan with rage in her voice as she spoke.
“Did you do this?” asked Susan.
Steven just smirked before saying, “Maybe I did”.
Susan enraged and disgusted by her brother and his actions asked, “Why would you do that, what if he had gotten hurt”.
“Relax Susan, it was only a little fireball beside his still in the piece,” said Steven.
“What’s your problem, were you hit in the head as a child,” asked Flora with anger voice as she spoke.
“What’s wrong Flora, can’t take a joke,” said Steven with a wicked smile.
“That’s it, I’ve had enough of this,” said Flora as her eyes turned into white dragon eyes, and driven by rage the wind blew violently around them. Steven smiled upon seeing the rage in Flora’s eyes.
“What are you going to do Flora, send a gentle breeze my way,” said Steven mockingly, enraging Flora even more.
Flora had had enough of Steven, wanting nothing more than to make him pay for everything bad he had said and done.
David and the others could see that tension between Flora and Steven was getting dangerously high.
David wanted to intervene and stop Flora from doing something she may regret in her rage-filled state. Steven, upon seeing Flora mad with rage smiled as he was pleased to see Flora filled with so much anger and rage.
Steven’s eyes then turn into red dragon eyes as he readied himself to battle Flora. Steven’s body then began to heat up, and his two fists lit up with red-hot flames. He looked at Flora with his red dragon eyes before saying, “Come on Flora, I’m getting seriously hot blow a little breeze to cool me down will you”.
Steven’s comment infuriates Flora even more causing the wind to begin to blow more intensely around her.
“Flora” David yelled trying to get her attention but Flora was too blinded by her blind rage to hear David.
The other students then stopped their combat training, focusing only on Flora and Steven as they could tell, from the rage-filled look on Flora’s face and the sinister smile on Steven’s that a battle between the two of them was about to begin and they were more eager to watch the battle than the train.
David tried his best to reach Flora in her rage-filled state, calling out to her and pleading she stops before she does something stupid but Flora kept ignoring him not even taking a moment to glance in his direction as she was focused mainly on Steven with a look that would give the devil nightmares.
Flora, mad with rage and anger was about to attack Steven with a powerful gust of wind that would send him flying through the academy walls but before she could a wall of falls formed between her and Steven, seemly out of nowhere.
“Enough,” said the loud voice of a woman echoing throughout the class.
David, upon hearing the woman’s voice immediately recognized her; it was Flani, the caretaker of the academy.
The other students turned to look at Flani and upon seeing her face their hearts became filled with fear and terror.
Flora upon seeing Flani came back to her sense and lost interest in fighting Steven, knowing that Flani was a woman who found creative ways to discipline students that disrupt the peace of the academy.
Steven lost interest in the fight as well, partly due to his fear for Flani but mainly due to his terrible history in the academy.
Flani then, with a simple snap of her fingers made the flaming wall between Steven and Flora disappear.
“I hope you two weren’t planning on causing any trouble,” said Flani, looking mostly in Steven’s direction as she spoke.
“No ma’am,” said Flora.
“Then why did it look like for a moment there you were about to kill him,” said Flani pointing at Steven.
“It’s not a bad idea” Flora whispered softly so Flani would not hear her.
“No Mrs. Flani, it’s not like that, we were just planning on doing some light sparring,” said Steven.
“Sparring with you? Tell me wasn’t the last student you ‘sparred’ with sent to the infirmary because of you” said Flani.
“It wasn’t my fault; the earth dragon warrior was asking for it,” said Steven.
“He was already down and defeated but you continued to attack him like a mindless mad fiery bull,” said Flani with a look that sent shivers down Steven’s spine.
Flora upon seeing the frightened look on Steven’s face due to the way Flani stared at him could help but smile a little which turned Flani’s attention away from Steven and onto her.
“What are you smiling for Flora, I expected better from you Flora. You are one of the most brilliant students in the academy and you fell prey to his tactics, I’m deeply disappointed in you Flora” said Flani.
“But Mrs.…” Flani raised her hand to Flora, stopping her from completing her sentence.
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, Flora, what would your father say if he had seen what he was about to do,” said Flani with a strict look on her face.
Flora then bowed her head down in shame and disappointment upon hearing what Flani said about her father.
Akiri and Susan then went to Flora to console David while just David watched, feeling bad for and wanting to help her.
“Mrs. Flani” David spoke softly.
Flani then turned to David, not really noticing at all him all the while she was there.
“You, David right. I see you’ve made yourself at home here in the academy, how is your first day going” said Flani.
“It’s going great but may I please make a small request? Could you not please take any strict action towards Flora, it wasn’t her, she was just blinded by rage” said David, hoping that Flani would listen to him and not punish Flora.
Flani upon hearing what David said remained silent for a moment, thinking of what to do.
Flora and Steven technically didn’t do anything wrong as she had managed to intervene and stop an out-of-control battle between the two of them and since Flora was an excellent student she didn’t have anything more in mind for her than to give her a stern warning but upon seeing how David defended Flora Flani had an idea.
The Headmaster had told Flani early to keep an eye on David to know whether or not he was worthy to be enrolled in the academy, she didn’t take the task given to her seriously as she couldn’t see any worthy attributes David purposed until she heard the teacher who taught the power training class David attended.
The teacher spoke highly of David, saying he had never seen anyone do what David did, creating a ball of air that consumed the entire mountain peak that was a feat no ordinary air dragon warrior could accomplish.
Flani was still a bit skeptical about what the teacher said and so she decided to use the opportunity presented before her to test David’s abilities.
“Alright, I won’t punish Flora,” said Flani.
“Really,” said David his eyes lighting up with excitement.
“If you can defeat a student of my choice in combat,” said Flani.
“What?” said David upon hearing what Flani said.
David then turned to Flora, seeing the worry and fear in her eyes upon hearing what Flani said.
“And if I don’t agree to fight” asked David.
"I will personally see to it that Flora and Steven get expelled,” said Flani.
Upon hearing what Flani said everyone in the room gasped out of shock as Flora didn’t really do anything to be given such a harsh punishment, even Steven taught expulsion was too much.
“That’s not fair and you know it, she and I didn’t do anything wrong” Steven spoke angrily, feeling that it was unfair for Flora to get such a harsh punishment.
“Have you forgotten where you are Steven? This is the Dragon Academy, not some backwater, an undisciplined school where students can do whatever they like. Students of the Dragon Academy are expected to meet a certain standard and if they can’t, they can’t be a student of the academy” said Flani looking David directly in the eyes as she spoke.
David upon hearing what Flani understood, she was threatening to expel Flora just to test him to see if he was worthy of being a student in the academy.
David turned to Flora and saw the look of fear and hopelessness in her eyes; it looked like her entire world was falling apart.
David could not bear to see her that way and if fighting was the only way he could save Flora he would, even though he didn’t want to fine.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” said David.
Flani smiled upon hearing what David said before turning to the crowd of students that surrounded them and saying, “Jack, could you please step out”.
A fire dragon warrior student upon hearing what Flani said stepped out of the crowd of students.
David gasped upon seeing him saying as he looked even more scary and intimidating than Steven.
David swallowed his saliva nervously as he looked at the student.
“David, please don’t do this. Jack is one the most skilled fighter, he has never lost a fight and even Steven thinks twice before messing with him, you’ll lose if you fight him” Flora begged him not to fight as she didn’t want to see him get hurt because of her.
“It’s alright Flora,” said David with a playful smile on his face, trying to mask the fear on his face.
Flani then used her powers to create a ring of fire around David and Jack.
As the flames surrounded them David looked at Jack who looked back at him with a look that resembled a beast that was about to devour its prey.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make this quick” said Jack with a sinister look on his face, wicked and vile, so much so that David felt his heart pound within his chest. Flani smiled upon seeing the fearful look on David’s face and the sinister confident look on Jack’s, seeing that made her eager to see more of what David was capable of.
Flani then snapped her fingers and the flames of the ring of fire that surrounded David and Jack died down leaving behind the thick black scorch marks on the ground in the place of the flames.
“The rules are simple, all one of you has to do to win is get the other passing out of the black circle,” said Flani pointing at the black ring that surrounds David and Jack, created by the flames of the ring of fire.
David upon hearing what Flani said felt relieved, all he had to do was get Jack to leave the scorched circle and he wins, and because he could control the wind all he needed to do was push him away using the wind, he didn’t even need to lay a finger on him.
"And just to keep things interesting, you two are not allowed to use your elemental powers in this fight,” said Flani, upon hearing what Flani said David lost any hope he had of winning the battle as he knew nothing about combat, he didn’t even understand the concept behind violence.
David couldn’t help but feel that Flani made the rule preventing him from using his powers purposely just to make things difficult for him.
“BEGIN!!!” Flani screamed and immediately she did so the battle began with Jack attacking first, not even giving David the chance to fire back or defend himself.
Jack attacked David ruthlessly, holding nothing back, delivering every blow with the aim sole aim of putting David down.
David, upon receiving all of Jack’s blows, fell down to the ground, seemly defeated much to Flani’s disappointment as she hoped that fight would have lasted a bit longer even though she didn’t believe David would be able to win the battle she hoped that he would have at least lasted longer.
Flora looked at David with tears falling down from her eyes. David was someone she just met and knew next to nothing about had just fought to protect her and as a result of that he was now badly hurt.
Susan, Akiri, and even Steven could not stomach seeing David in the state he was in, Susan and Akiri didn’t like seeing David in the beaten state he was in while Steven didn’t like the fact that the situation he was put in was against him, it was unfair to put David, a seemly ordinary air dragon warrior with no combat experience in a fight with one of the most skilled fighters in the academy.
Jack smiled triumphantly, turning away from David and raising his hand victoriously; then he heard a sound that shocked both him and everyone there.
“Is that the best you can do?” said David before he slowly got up to face Jack once again.
Flani was shocked to see that David could still stand after receiving so many blows from Jack, a fierce fire dragon warrior and student of the academy who was known to hold nothing back when he fights.
Blood dripped down David's mouth, caused by one of the many wounds inflicted upon him by Jack.
Jack, though shocked that David could still stand, was still confident that he could win the battle as David could barely stand on his own two feet.
Jack thought that a single blow would be enough to put David down, so he charged straight for David and attempted to deliver the final blow but much to everyone’s surprise, including David’s, he caught Jack’s fist before it could reach him.
Jack, along with everyone that surrounded them watching the fight, looked at David with a shocked look, even Flani was speechless upon seeing that David caught Jack’s fist.
Jack then attempted to hit David once again with his other arm but David simply block it and then hit him with a blow so powerful it sent Jack stumbling before falling down hard to the ground.
Jack, now greatly enraged, feeling humiliated by David, charged straight for David, delivering blows and kicks straight for him but David simply just dodged and blocked every single attack Jack sent his way before delivering blows of his own, blows that were too quick and strong for Jack block or dodge.
David wasn’t even sure of what he was doing; he didn’t even know he could fight as well as he was as he, at least to his knowledge, had never ever fought before.
To David, the battle between him and Jack was his first. Jack, weakened and immensely beaten by David, barely able to stand on his feet attempted to strike David with the little strength he had left but his fist was once again could by David before the blow could reach.
David then delivered a powerful blow to Jack, sending them flying out of the scorched circle and into the wall. Jack, then fell down to the ground defeated.
Flora, Susan, Akiri, Steven, Flani, every other student in the academy, and even David himself could believe he won. All the students in the academy then went to David, cheering and chanting his name.
Flora, feeling grateful to David for defending her, hugged and kissed him on his cheek before saying with a genuine smile on her, “Thank you”.
David, though feeling a bit strange as that was the first time a girl she kissed him granted it was just on the cheek, didn’t think much about Flora’s show of affection towards him, he simply rubbed part of his cheek where kissed him before saying, “it was nothing Flora”.Flani then went to David an impressed smile on her face.
“You fight well David,” said Flani.
“Thank you Mrs. Flani, but to be honest I didn’t really know what I was doing, in fact, while I was fighting it felt as though I was doing it more on instinct than actually knowing how to fight,” said David.
“Hmmmm,” said Flani, taking a moment to think about what David said, wondering how he could fight so well despite appearing like someone who couldn’t hurt a fly.
The bell then rang and then all the students began to leave the classFlani then picked Jack’s unconscious body up from the floor.
“I’ll take him to the infirmary,” said Flani.
“And what about Flora?” asked David.
“What about her?” asked Flani?“You aren’t going to expel her, are you?” asked David.
Flani upon hearing what David said just smiled before saying, “I was never going to expel her. I just wanted to see what you could do in a fight” said Flani.
“So you threatened to get Flora expelled just to watch me fight,” said David upon hearing that the only reason Flani threaten to expel Flora was because she wanted to see him fight.
“Yes,” said Flani.
“Why?” asked David.
“As I said before, students of the Dragon Academy are expected to meet up to a certain standard and if they can’t, well they don’t deserve to be students of the academy,” said Flani.David upon hearing what Flani said bowed down his head, understanding what Flani meant.
“Don’t bow down you head boy, you fought well and came out victorious. You have the strength and instincts of a true warrior, and a true warrior should never bow down his head when victorious” Flani with a smile on her face before leaving with Jack’s unconscious body.
“David” said Flora, calling out for David to join her while she, Akiri and Susan leave the class.David just smiled a little before joining them.
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