Chapter Text
A mangled beast who once resembled a human trudged through the alley, the poor teen trying to run away, finding himself blocked in.
The prey could only press into the wall hoping it could take him away from the fate of being torn apart bit by bit.
The beast slurped drool from its broken mouth. It’s mutilated and sickly limbs lumbering closer.
“Picking on someone who can’t fight back? Archons, you’re pathetic, Holmes,” said a voice from above.
Both the teen and the monster looked up.
On the roof of the building stood a tall man, looking down.
The beast drew his attention back to the teen. Hunger ached the monster, encouraging it to move closer to the child.
“Come on Lumine,” the man commanded. With that, squatting next to him, a tiny figure stood up stretching her back. “Make sure to make it a challenging weapon.”
“Right, right,” she groaned while her back popped.
She hopped off the ledge, dropping her heel into Holmes’ head, forcing it into the ground. When the dust cleared, the teen could see a woman standing there, a blue jacket and a black bunny bow ribbon in her blonde hair.
Name: Lumine
Race: Demon Weapon
Speciality: Mixed Weapon Type
Age: 22
Partner: Ajax
“Get out of here kid,” she said, turning around to give the kid a reassuring smile. The teen quickly yet cautiously slipped between Holmes and the wall, beginning to run once he was past Holmes.
With that, the man from the building roof jumped down. Grabbing Lumine’s hand, he found a box cutter now in his hand, while Holmes stumbled back up.
Name: Ajax
Race: Human Meister
Speciality: Matching Soul Wavelinks to almost anyone
Age: 21
Partner: Lumine
“I said challenging , Lumine,” he chuckled.
“Would you prefer a paper clip at this point?” Lumine, the weapon, asked.
The spindly arms of Holmes reached for him now.
“Yeah--” He slid the boxcutter into Holmes’ hand, pushing his weight into his attack. The box cutter slid through the hand and arm like a hot knife through butter. “I’ll unbend you with my teeth,”
“Ew, Ajax.”
Bringing himself closer, he managed to slit Holmes’ throat cleanly and swiftly. Holmes unravelled into a red soul. Lumine came out of her box cutter form.
“How about a cow prodder then?” she skipped a bit on her way over to the red egg.
“We should probably just stick to a bow.” He showed a cheerful grin, blood smeared on the left side of his face.
Lumine kept the Kishin egg close to her chest. “You don’t have much room to use me as a bow here.”
He sighed. “I’m just saying it’s getting too easy, we need to amp it up!” He walked up to Lumine. His eyes wandered to her and the egg.
The little bunny bow sitting on her head twitched. “Quit staring.”
“I’m not staring,” he whistled.
“Yes you are,” she whined quietly. “You’re waiting for me to eat the Kishin egg.”
He laughed. “You look cute when you unhinge your jaw and eat it like a goblin shark.”
Lumine momentarily looked distressed before pulling out a phone with many charms on it. Her fingers slid across it. “Ae, I need you to pick me up. Ajax is a pervert.”
“H-Hey! There’s no reason to involve Aether.”
“Yeah, yeah. I think it’s a vore thing,” she whispered into the phone.
“Fine! I won’t look, Lumine,” he begged. “Just tell him it’s a misunderstanding, I want to be in his good graces.”
She showed him the phone’s screen. She was actually entering a new text, not calling her brother.
He laughed a little. “You got me,” he said, lifting his hands in the air.
He walked ahead while she took in her snack of the delicious Kishin egg. He turned around trying to get a quick sneak at Lumine eating the egg, but she had already covered her mouth and let out a dainty burp.
“What should we do for dinner?” Lumine asked, still with her hand over her mouth.
He should have expected something like that to come from her. “Well, we could eat out or eat in.”
Lumine made a slight motion to hop over to him. “I want crab,” she said, the two of them walking down the alleyways coming up on home.
“So out?”
“No way, what about Aether? Plus it’s Friday, any place that’ll have crab will be booked.”
“I could buy crab,” he leaned in her direction.
Pointing her finger upward, she said, “I can feed Paimon while you do that.”
“Sounds like a deal then.”
Before entering the shared dorm, Lumine opened up their mailbox, sliding a bent envelope in and closing it.
Ajax
Teyvat Weapon Meister Academy
Dorm #D11
Entering the house, Lumine kicked off her shoes and looked around. She was in the living room, with stairs leading to the four rooms. The twin demon weapons, Lumine and Aether, had their seperate rooms, while their meisters’ had their own.
Then there was the guest who stayed home, seemingly nowhere to be found.
“Paimon! It’s only me who’s home,” Lumine called.
Out of nowhere, a cute little fairy appeared. “Paimon knew you two could do it!” She beamed.
Name: Paimon
Race: Fairy
Age: Baby
Occupation: Mascot
Lumine pulled out a pizza from the fridge. “Yeah, but Ajax is getting pretty bored of these types of missions,” she said, closing the fridge with her hip.
Paimon fiddled with her dress. “He’s not going to get reckless, is he?”
“I won’t let him,” she smiled, showing off the last three pieces of pizza left.
Paimon picked up a slice and nibbled on it. “That’s my Lumi!” Paimon cheered.
“Anything fun happened while we were away?” Lumine asked while ripping off the crust of the pizza.
Paimon sighed. “I will never understand how you can just eat the crust without dipping sauce.”
Lumine bit into the crust without taking eye contact off Paimon. “Yeah, and Ajax can eat pineapple and sardines on his pizza.”
Paimon pulled a face, trying to forget that awful night. She whispered, “Are we sure his soul isn’t rotten? I’m not sure any normal human could survive that.”
Lumine shifted uncomfortably. “He’s just as bad as you sometimes, you know. And plus, you never answered what you did all day. You didn’t get into trouble, did you?”
Paimon began to sweat. “O-Of course not! Paimon would never dream of it!” Paimon lied.
She had spent the day reading Aether’s diary. Lumine’s had a lock, and Ajax acted as lock itself when it came to his feelings. When it came to Albedo on the other hand, while he had not personally kept a diary, all of his writings were far too complicated for Paimon to understand. His sketchbook was far more fascinating to her.
“Good, good,” Lumine nodded.
Paimon also wore Aether’s crop top as a regular shirt. She also wore Ajax’s shoes as Paimon sized thigh highs. She may or may not have had a fashion show in Lumine’s room too.
“Uh-huh!” Paimon said, finishing the last of the pizza, that of which had no crust. “Where’s Ajax anyway?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.
“He’s getting crab right now,” Lumine answered.
Paimon’s tummy began to rumble. “Mmmm…crab,” she drooled.
Lumine moved to the couch with her book, munching on pizza crust. Halfway through her book, she could hear the phone ring.
Getting up, she walked to the bright candy red phone. The rotary phone was a gift from Albedo’s little sister. Picking up the phone, she leaned it against her shoulder.
“Lumine Viatrix speaking.”
“Good evening, Lumine,” a soft and familiar voice spoke softly to her.
“Oh hello, Mr. Pulcinella. Ajax is out getting groceries right now.”
Paimon floated over to Lumine, listening in on the conversation. She leaned her head against Lumine’s to hear Pulcinella talk as well.
“I see, well how has he been doing? We both know he would say he’s fine when he’s not.”
Lumine chuckled softly. “Well, he's the same ol’ Ajax. Though I found out how to make him take studying more seriously.”
“Oh? How did you do that?”
“All I gotta do is tell him if he can score higher than me and my brother, he can use both of us at the same time.”
“Really? And your brother agreed to that?”
“Of course not, but Ajax won’t be able to beat either of us, so no problem.”
His sigh was long and drawn out. He clearly sounded tired. “It’s only been a month since school began. Has he made any friends yet?”
Lumine shifted. “I don’t think you’ve seen him around other kids. He’s pretty popular. Plus he still has friends from last year.”
“Thomas and....” Pulcinella’s voice trailed off.
“Thoma and Itto.”
“That’s right, that’s right...are they good kids?”
Lumine sighed heavily.
“I’ll take your sigh as a no, then?”
“No, no. I mean, yes--” Lumine sighed again. “Ajax and Itto are the ones dragging Thoma into trouble. Itto is dumb but has a good heart, and feeds into Ajax’s competitive side.” Lumine sat down at the dining table. “Oh, and Ajax adopted a couple of first years under his wing--he’s dragging them into trouble, too.”
She could hear his delighted chuckle. “Oh, that’s my boy.”
“They seem to like him...” she added.
As Lumine finished speaking, the dorm’s front door opened. Ajax came in with brown bags of groceries and mail.
“Hey, speak of the devil. Guess who just walked in.”
“Who’s on the other line?” Ajax asked, setting down the groceries on the counter. Paimon instantly dove in, trying to find something that did not have to be cooked.
“Pulcinella,” Lumine answered. “Here, I’m passing the phone to Ajax.” She put the bright red handle into his hand, shooting Paimon away all the while.
Lumine put the groceries away while Ajax spoke. “Hey Nella, what’s up? Usually you call on Sundays.”
“I can’t just check up on my junior?”
“I guess, but how’s work going?”
“It’s fine, Ajax. It’s not bad that things are peaceful. But how’s school? Getting good grades?”
“Trying. It’s hard to feel passionate because we had a pretty boring mission today.”
“That’s a shame.” Pulcinella’s voice was drawn out. “So you haven’t been practicing soul resonance?”
“Nobody has been worthy to even practice with.” Ajax leaned against the wall. Whether it meant that no enemies were worth trying it against or teaming up with other meisters, Pulcinella wasn’t sure.
“And you and Lumine are going to participate in Teyvat’s Ultimate Battlethon, correct?”
“Of course!” Ajax’s demeanor changed from relaxed to excited. “I’m so ready!”
Lumine, finished putting away the groceries, threw the bags under the sink. Ajax played with the phone’s cord while Lumine began filling a pot with hot water.
Paimon tugged gently on Ajax’s jacket.
“Hold on Nella,” said Ajax. “What’s wrong shorty?”
“Even if you guys lose, are we still going to eat at the most expensive restaurant?” Paimon asked in her sweetest most innocent voice.
“Of course. We’re going to have a biiiiiig party, win or lose,” Ajax answered.
“Is anyone looking like good competition?” Pulcinella asked.
Ajax hummed. “I’m always looking for a good fight, so I got my eyes on a few. Lumine’s brother and meister are just one--”
“Don’t forget the Kamisato siblings,” Lumine sang softly over the pouring water. She stopped it and put it on the stove, heating it up before moving to the couch.
“The Kamisato siblings,” Ajax parroted back to Pulcinella. “I got a battle diary, I’ve been studying classmates.”
“But have you been studying for class?”
“Class-smash,” Ajax sighed, leaning back against the wall. “None of it is fun.”
“School isn’t meant to be fun, punk.”
Ajax rolled his eyes. He tugged playfully at the cord. “Are you going to watch me at the Battlethon?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, kid.”
Ajax smiled softly. It was not a completely happy smile. He knew his parents wouldn’t be able to make it, but at least Pulcinella would be there. Ajax gave a bittersweet smile.
“I’m going to go maybe, maybe-- do some studying or something.”
“Remember--”
“Do good recklessly.”
“Attaboy. See you.”
When Ajax hung up, he set his sights on finishing dinner. Halfway through, the door opened up, and Albedo and Aether walked through.
Name: Aether
Race: Demon Weapon
Speciality: Mixed Weapon Type
Age: 22
Partner: Albedo
Name: Albedo
Race: Homunculus Meister
Speciality: Perceiving Souls and Soul Types
Age: 21
Partner: Aether
“Took you guys long enough!” Lumine yelled from the couch.
Albedo had a sparkle in his eyes. He shuffled over to her.
“Yeah, well someone had his sights on a beautiful landscape,” Aether said with a slight smirk.
Albedo pulled out his sketchbook and showed Lumine a beautiful mountain side. Ajax peeked at it from the kitchen.
“It was absolutely stunning, I had to capture the moment.”
“Ehhh...you could have just taken a picture with your phone and drew it later,” Ajax remarked. “It’s fine, I guess. Any more time and me and Lumine would have had to eat without you.”
“I don’t have a fancy phone like you. The Quality would not come out well” Albedo said. His phone was what many would call a “brick.”
“Well, dinner is almost ready. Go wash up, all three of you.”
“Yeah, yeah, mother hen,” Aether snidely remarked.
“Yo, yo, yo! It’s ya booooiiii, the one, the
only
, Arataki Itto here to hit you up with the latest school news. Reminder, applications for the Bat-tle-thon are due by the end of this month.”
Itto’s voice blared from Lumi’s headphones. She turned the volume down. She glanced up from her laptop to see Ajax slumping his bag onto the modern-style chair next to her. She frowned while Ajax scrambled and pulled out his papers, trying to make sure none of it got any wetter.
“I’m really sorry, I didn’t think going to the gas station would get your bag wet!” Bennett explained.
Name: Bennett
Race: Human Meister
Speciality: Unknown
Age: 18
Partner: N/A
“It’s fine, it was that asshole driving like a dumbass.”
Despite the damp weather, large puddles pooled in corners and asshole drivers carelessly caused waves to splash onto innocent passersbys.
During their walk to get gas station coffee, Bennett innocently took the inner side of the sidewalk. He also put Ajax’s extra snacks in his backpack, but did not zip it all the way. In the end, Ajax’s paper on the deaths of mighty yakshas weapons got soaked.
Lumine watched. Ajax brought her coffee too, but now it was no longer suited for consumption.
“Sorry ‘bout your coffee, Lumine,” Bennett said, giving a wary smile.
“It’s fine. I don’t need coffee to live or anything,” Lumine said. She dug into her purse, finding a crumbled wad of napkins. She placed a layer of napkin onto Ajax’s forehead. It stuck. Then she let a napkin flutter down into his bag.
“Ha, ha,” he replied sarcastically, using the napkin to dab at his face.
Bennett apologized again to Lumine.
“It’s fine Bennett, shit happens,” she shrugged.
Aether brought his coffee over with his partner. Lumine took his coffee, which he got from the long line at the school’s cafe. Aether waited almost 20 minutes for it.
“I got to ask, why did you two sign up for morning classes?” Bennett asked the group of four.
“Morning classes test your ability to react quickly,” Ajax answered.
“I don’t sleep much at night, so having morning classes tires me out so I can sleep in the afternoon,” Albedo answered as well.
As weapons, Lumine and Aether did not object to their meister’s decisions, since it kept the twins close.
Bennett, on the other hand, had not been lucky when signing up for classes. The only ones available were morning classes.
Even though some were separated by age and skill, most miesters and weapons were in the same class, while others had not been so lucky.
Itto, for example, had to retake classes many first years had to take. There he met his current partner and even Bennett, to which he adopted into his gang of hooligans.
Itto, Ajax, Ayato, Thoma; and they now included Xinyan and Bennett.
Aether sat next to Lumine, taking his cup of coffee back from her. “What’s that? Itto?” Aether motioned to the video on Lumine’s laptop.
“Yeah, he’s giving announcements, part of his video production class or something,” Lumine answered. “Which reminds me, Ajax--”
“Hmm?” Ajax looked up from his wet bag.
“You turned in everyone’s papers for the Battlethon, right?”
He smugly leaned back in his chair. “Turned it in the same day.”
A surprised expression crossed Albedo’s face. “Oh… I wonder…” Albedo’s voice trailed off. He got a notebook from his bag. “Did you hear the transfer student will be arriving in physical practice today?”
Ajax peered past Lumine and Aether to Albedo. “Yeah, it’s one of Miss Retainer’s kids?”
Lumine stretched. “Ajax would not stop bothering Xiao about it during instrumental music.”
“Why music as an elective, Lumine? You don’t really practice your lyre,” Aether said bluntly.
“Yeah, but , I got to choose the elective and I figured it’d be fun to watch Ajax squirm,” Lumine smirked.
Ajax mumbled, “Fucking trumpets.”
“I’m guessing Xiao wouldn’t talk about his adoptive sibling then,” Albedo asked, confirming.
“Nope. Can’t ask him about anything. It took so long to write a dumb paper on his biological siblings. His partner seemed more than happy to talk about anything but Xiao and his family.” Ajax folded his arms on the table and rested his chin there.
“You were bugging the poor guy,” Lumine added. Lumine glanced at the clock on her laptop. “Hey, we should start walking to class,”
“You’ll be okay by yourself, Benny?” Ajax asked, gathering his stuff.
He smiled and with a laugh, “Yep!”
“See you, kid,” Ajax said while ruffling his hair.
Physical practice was the class where the students of Teyvat’s weapons and meisters practiced head on against other students.
The class was run by Miss Guizhong. It was an outside class, taking place on the bleachers.
Ajax was anxious to meet the new transfer student, his leg bouncing much to Lumine’s annoyance. Pretty much the only time he was studious was when it came to fighting the unknown.
“You know, if you keep bouncing your leg like that, you won’t be able to write down your important facts,” Lumine stated.
“I’m just anxious is all,” he waved her off.
With Miss Guizhong coming in and taking attendance, Ajax’s agitation only grew. There was no sign of the mystery transfer student.
“Hey, you checked the mail yesterday, right?” Lumine asked, trying to distract him in a quiet voice.
For a second he stood up straight, turning towards her. “Yeah, got a letter from my family,” he whispered back. With just a glance, he could see that her body tensed. Without much perception of other’s souls, he had gotten to know hers quite well, so when she clammed up, he had to ask, “What’s up, waiting for a package?”
“Yeah, I bought a pair of shoes online, and the tracking has been impossible,” she answered. Her body did not relax, she still seemed stiff.
He nodded softly. “I see.” While his attention went back to the other students on the bleachers, he kept it in the back of his mind to prod her about it later. His eyes scanned his surroundings, looking for any unfamiliar faces.
His nervous energy only grew when they began to pair up against each other. Lumine watched him limber up as he prepared to face a unique pair.
It was a mixed class, so the pair of first years were going up against them, a pair of second years.
There was a tiny blonde girl in white, and a taller girl in all black. The smaller one helped the red-haired woman stretch.
“Bow?” Lumine asked Ajax.
“Paperclip?”
“It was a joke!”
“Rosaria, I think that’s the girl who can be any weapon...” The small girl whispered to her partner.
Rosaria, on the other hand, replied with a simple, “Is that so?”
“Still popular as ever, huh?” Ajax smirked.
She rolled her eyes.
The blonde girl came over to the pair. “H-Hello, Rosaria and I are testing each other out as partners, so would it be alright if you guys played more defensive?”
“Alright,” Lumine said.
“Not a chance,” Ajax said at the same time, his voice overlapping Lumine’s.
“Lumine, in battle you can’t just ask your opponent to go easy.”
“Don’t listen to him, we’ll help you guys get stronger.”
Now Ajax rolled his eyes, getting up from stretching his hamstrings . “I mean, once you and your meister get more acquainted, we won’t play easy. Make sure to properly stretch, one of you might get hurt otherwise.”
The blonde girl beamed. “Thank you.”
He recalled seeing her with a star pinned to her shirt the first day of class. The start said “weapon,” written in glitter pen.
“Rosaria, I’m ready!” she called the woman.
In Rosaria’s hands, a glow showed as her partner turned into her weapon. Twirling the long white weapon in her hands, she finally settled with a stance-like pose. The weapon, an all white scythe with blades on both sides appeared, almost like a curved cross. “Let’s go, Barbara.”
Name: Rosaria
Race: Human Meister
Speciality: Unknown
Age: 19
Partner: Barbara
Name: Barbara
Race: Demon Weapon
Weapon Type: Scythe
Age: 18
Partner: Rosaria
“Being flashy gets you nowhere,” Ajax smirked, opening his hand as if to extend a handshake.
Rosaria, not moving, waited for him to make his move.
Lumine transformed into a beautiful white and blue bow in his hands. Ajax’s hand gripped around her.
Pulling from his soul, his second hand produced a quiver. He drew the string back.
Rosaria was the first to make a move. Rushing towards him, she pulled back her weapon to attack.
Ajax smoothly moved back in small hops. Aiming carefully he hit the ground, predicting her steps, the arrows landing before each one.
“Remember, go easy on them,” Lumine reminded him.
“Yes, yes. I have no intentions of hurting them.”
He slowed his movements, letting them get a good swing in, before blocking it with Lumine.
Too easy.
Growing frustrated with making no contact, Rosaria tried pivoting on her heel and turning in a 360.
Predicting it, Ajax stepped back.
Calmly, Barbara tried to reinforce Rosaria’s confidence. Lumine and Ajax were second years, after all.
Pulling his focus out of the fight, he saw Cloud Retainer walking to Guizhong, and following her was a very mature looking woman with white hair.
Bringing his attention back, he blocked Rosaria’s next attack.
“Stay focused, we wouldn’t want to lose because you got distracted,” Lumine’s voice sounded vexxed.
“What’s wrong? Jealous?” He teased.
“Why would I be?” Trying to mask her defiance, she added, “I’d have to look for a new partner if a bunch of first years beat you.”
“I’m only kidding,” he chuckled. He pulled more arrows back, aiming at non-lethal spots on Rosaria’s body. “I’m not letting anyone beat me.”
She blocked all of Ajax’s shots using Barbara.
“Besides, I’m the best around!” He aimed, shot, and smirked at Rosaria. Strands of Rosaria’s hair were caught in the arrow.
Barbara popped out from her scythe form. “H-Hey, we surrender!”
“Valid option,” he winked.
“What are you doing, Barbara?” Rosaria hissed.
“I felt your fear--mmph?” Barbara protested softly before Rosaria’s hand found her mouth.
“We need to get more practice in,” Rosaria said firmly.
Lumine, coming out of her weapon form, glanced back at them as she followed Ajax. He had forgotten about the first years as he walked to size up the new student. She was not sure if Barbara and Rosaria would work out, after all.
“Miss Guizhong, our opponent surrendered,” he announced in normal volume.
“Good. We have 15 minutes left, so I’d like to gather the students together. Can I trust you not to get hurt while informing the others to meet on the bleachers?”
“Of course, Miss Guizhong,” Ajax turned on his heel and looked at Lumine. He whispered only so Lumine could hear him. “Weapon or meister?”
Lumine glanced at the woman. “Dunno?”
The two brought students out of combat simply by calling their names. Once people noticed that class was ending early, many followed.
Once he was seated next to his sister, Aether leaned on her. She smiled warmly at him. Past Aether, Ajax and Albedo mumbled to each other while preparing notes, though Ajax’s eyes were not on his paper.
“So, facing the goth girl and her partner, I’d say she has the potential to be an 8,” Ajax whispered to Albedo, who noted what Ajax said down. His eyes did not leave that of the transfer student’s direction.
Perhaps Lumine was jealous. Like hell she would admit it though.
“Nerds,” Aether whispered.
Ajax opened his mouth aghast at this accusation, but before defending himself, Guizhong brought the class’ attention to the forefront of the battleground.
“Class, today we will be having a new student joining us a little late in the semester. This is Shenhe. She may be a little shy, but I expect you to help her with anything she does not understand.”
Shenhe blinked at the other students with long, elegant white lashes.
The class waited in anticipation, though Ajax looked ready to explode.
Finally, someone raised their hand. “Does she need a partner?”
There were still a few people in the class who had not found an official partner yet. Some preferred to test out every possible choice, while others had met earlier in life, like Lumine and Ajax.
“No.” Guizhong answered simply, giving no further explanation.
The students clammored amongst themselves. Except Ajax, who reminded Lumine of the meme of the kid whose veins were ready to pop.
“Perhaps it would be easier to show you. I need a set of volunteers.”
Ajax’s hand shot up.
“Hmmm...”
Ajax raised Lumine’s limp hand in the air.
“Hmmmmm...”
He started waving both hands around, trying to get Miss Guizhong’s attention.
“Albedo and Aether, if you could...”
“Of course Miss Guizhong,” Albedo said, getting up.
Aether followed him up with a, “Yep, yep.”
With a smooth motion, Aether transformed into a sword in Albedo’s hands.
Shenhe readied her stance, standing tall. From Lumine and Ajax’s position, it looked like Shenhe split into two separate beings, a white haired Shenhe and a black haired Shenhe. The white haired Shenhe grabbed the black haired one, turning her into a spear.
From Albedo’s view, he saw a soul bound by red ropes. It looked ready to burst out of its barrier.
“What do you see?” Aether asked.
“A soul ready to rupture.”
The spear in her hands clattered against Aether. Holding tension, they were locked together with neither backing down. Albedo had been so absorbed with Shehne’s soul, he did not even notice the curious students watching the battle. Having never seen this himself, Aether assumed his sister was amazed at such a strange meister.
Miss Retainer stood taller, proud of her adoptive daughter.
Albedo pushed forward with more force in his arm, neither sweating nor gritting his teeth. Shenhe’s spear slid downward and pierced the ground.
Albedo took small steps back to give himself some breathing room.
“How do you suppose we should take her on?” Aether asked.
Albedo thought quietly, not responding to his partner. It was not uncommon for him to do this. Aether would let him think. Thinking would take time however; it was time for Aether to transform into a shield and play defensive.
“Thank you, Aether,” Albedo calmly whispered as Shenhe struck once more.
The shield Aether became had a pattern on it. It resembled either that of a sun or a flower, or a sunflower. Either way, it matched Albedo well.
The clanging of metal clashed against each other as each hit was blocked.
Finally, Albedo came to a decision. “We need to perform a soul resonance.”
Transforming back into a sword, Aether’s voice was more than delighted. “Right!”
With their souls coming together, the sword glowed a brilliant bright light. It seared the sun’s impression into everyone’s eyes.
“Soul Resonance! Sun Meets Earth!” They both shouted.
Albedo stabbed the ground they were standing on. The force from both of them tore the ground. Jagged chunks of debris flew towards Shenhe, finally landing a hit on her. The power was so mighty that it even tore up the stands where the students were seated.
With a few wounds on her from the impact of the scattered chunks, Shenhe zipped between more columns coming her way. With her coming closer, Albedo pulled the sword from the ground and raised it to make a devastating slash. Shenhe dodged, yet the force of their soul resonance broke the fence of chains behind Shenhe.
With one swift move, Shenhe was behind Albedo, the blade of her spear mere centimeters from his neck.
Miss Guizong clapped, ending the battle. Her cheeriness was clear in both her face and her voice. “So as you can see, Shenhe does not need a partner!”
Shenhe, who had not lowered her weapon, nodded and finally said, “That’s right.”
“Shenhe, you can lower your spear now. The fighting is over,” Miss Retainer said with a firmness in her voice that was like that of a mother.
Lowering her spear, Aether shifted into a human form next to Albedo, who was looking over his shoulder at Shenhe.
“You three did super!” Guizhong smiled brightly. If she actually had papers to grade, Lumine was sure Guizhong would put happy face stickers on them.
Able to leave, Ajax was first to talk to Shenhe, presumably to ask her to duel. Lumine watched from the fence door, while Aether and Albedo talked among themselves behind her.
Ajax was beaming ear to ear after finishing his talk with Shenhe. “Look Lumine,” Ajax grabbed Lumine’s arm and dragged her to the next class. “I got Shenhe to agree to spar at one.”
“Oh,” is all Lumine responded to acknowledge that he had even spoken.
“Come on, Lumine!” Ajax’s fist shot into the air. “This is our chance to really practice our soul resonance.”
Lumine felt her stomach drop, but kept her stride. “Can’t, I’m helping Amber and Eula with some class work.”
Ajax frowned, “Come on Lumine, it’ll be great.”
Lumine kept a neutral face, but she was scared of what he might find if their souls connected deeper than they normally did.