“…That was a weird ending…” Tey remarked. “And she sure had it out for me.”

He had suspected that the events of the first night were not unseen. It had been far too lax of the Institute. Leading him to believe that they in fact wanted situations like this to happen, at least without it getting too far.

Parth observed the wrecked surroundings. Cracks, flattened and destroyed hedges. A statue was slightly off in angle. It was easy to understand why Framers were trained to control their powers in such enclosed environments.

“We should get out of here before we get roped into some other troublesome situation.”

He noticed a coupe of spectators, a man and woman had gone to retrieve Legias, they both looked very worried.

“His friends?” He wondered out loud.

“His group.” She scoffed. “Idiots for signing with such a battle crazy maniac, he would likely get himself killed before the year is over.”

Parth suspected they were forced, and it was likely in the same way he tried to recruit the swordsman.

Speaking of…

The man was getting up from his crouched position, putting his sword in the sheathe. He took a moment to calm himself closing his eyes, before turning to leave.

“What did you think about him?” She asked.

“Was willing to let a slight go as to not get into more trouble than necessary. Pretty strong as well, though we never got to see his full ability. He had clearly been trained with a blade at a young age and has been incorporating it in ways as to fight Framers and use his Framer enhanced body. Honestly, I would not be able to stand against him physically. I would have to be more creative in my approach.”

She glanced at him.

“I never asked about how you would do though?”

“It’s easier for me to compare our strength.” He shrugged.

“You scared I would replace you?” She asked smugly as she leaned to the side.

“Honestly I wish you would.” He deadpanned.

“It was a joke, a joke. Is working with me that repulsive?” She pouted.

“It’s not you, it’s me.” He replied with some amusement.

“…Anyway, I do think it would be nice to recruit him.” She huffed.

He figured that he like teasing her, her reactions were entertaining.

“Well things just got interesting, I would say I feel bad for the big guy…but I would be lying.” She remarked.

“Least he isn’t dead.” Parth nodded as they walked down the path. “Alright, I am heading to my room now. I have had enough excitement for the day.”

With that they split up.

***

 

Parth and Tey were exploring the gym building the next day after a quick workout. He was in a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants while she wore a standard black tracksuit top and pants. The gym was massive from the outside and so they wanted to know what else the large facility held.

It didn’t take them long to find out as they went a little deeper inside. A very large room opened up to multiple arenas in a grid pattern. The arenas were surrounded by a multitude of seats in an ascending pattern just like a large sports stadium. He counted twenty of these arena’s each about sixty by twenty meters, length to width. He even saw a couple of students sparring in one. The space was mostly empty, interestingly though the masked swordsman was sitting off to the side watching the spar with clear boredom in his eyes.

As they watched, the door they just came through was thrown open. Turning to observe the newcomers, Parth couldn’t help but groan.

“Well well well. If it isn’t the resident slut and her white knight.” It was Everleigh and her twin followers.

Tey was about to respond but stopped to Parth’s hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, seeing his head shake to discourage her from causing a scene.

“I always knew he was a bitch, sneak attacking us like that.” Everleigh smirked with superiority.

“What?” That word was almost too quiet.

“Its not worth a fight.” He shook his head again. Parth as always prioritized calm over conflict, unless required. He wasn’t one to start a fight. And did not mind the childish insults to him he was also sure that Tey did not mind the one towards her either. So, he was shocked to see the icy cold look in her eyes.

Even Everleigh looked taken aback by her behavior.

“S-So, your previous personality really was an act, j-just as I suspected.” She shamelessly pretended to have been aware from the start.

“…What do you propose then?” Tey asked the tension was high.

“We have a fair fight without being blindsided by your boytoy over there.” The anger in her voice was palpable.

The masked man leaned forwards in interest, his previous boredom seemed to have disappeared.

It looked like there was no way out of this.

“How do we go about this then?” Well, he already knew considering where they were at the moment.

“Are you as stupid as you look?” She scoffed before pointing at the arenas. “We will fight there and I would show you what happens if you mess with me.”

That was incredibly vague, what was the victory condition? He was worried. Not of the fight but about how far he would have to go before being considered the victor. He did not want to go far enough that the lady from before would give them a beating. Even if she did not beat him up, he might end up on her bad side.

“Okay but I propose that we don’t use HLE, unless you want that faculty member to show up.” He suggested. He would have included the use of their abilities in general, but that might be unfair on whoever was not a martial artist or physical fighter. The fight being fair truly did not matter to him, but he suspected that he had to make it at least look fair for both his opponents and any possible watchers.

“S-Sure.” She nodded almost too hastily. So, she was in fact scared of the lady. To be honest anyone would be after her display.

As they walked towards the closest arena he glanced to the side. Tey had been silent for a while and uncharacteristically of him, he had to pick up on the chatting. She looked truly angry.

“You really want to do this huh?” Parth sighed.

After the events of the previous day most would think that fighting amongst themselves would be discouraged. But it was in fact the opposite. It simply confirmed that the faculty did not mind if there were fights, as long as they did not cross lethal territory. Or else that lady would have stopped the fight earlier.

“It’s one thing if they insult me, but not a member of my crew.”

“Really? Just because I am a member of our barely created group?” He questioned, voice full of suspicion.

“Look, I’m just saying. Its about time we dealt with her now or we might have her on our backs forever.”

That was true, sometimes he did have to step into trouble preemptively when he could only see things getting worse.

They reached the arena and stepped into it on opposing sides.

“So, you three versus us two? Doesn’t seem very fair.” He commented, he had expected that of course.

“You didn’t seem to mind when you interrupted before.” She shot back.

Not a great comeback but he let it go with a quick shrug.

“I would grind you into the dirt so hard that you wouldn’t show yourself in this Institute again and your white knight would experience pain worse than torture if he stuck around too.”

He really hoped for her own sake that she did not forget their discussion from a few seconds ago. Or did he?

The twins, shorter than even Tey in height mirrored Everleigh’s facial expression.

A chill went down Parth’s spine. In fact the entire arena seemed to be covered in this mysterious feeling. He recognized it too. Tey was reaching her boiling point.

“Tey, you okay?”

“Parth, you can take on the twins, just keep them busy. I will deal with her before joining you.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Don’t worry I will be fine.”

“I’m not, just remember not to go too far.”

“Again, don’t worry. I will obliterate her.” He groaned helplessly. Was she even listening at this point? Why was she so angry anyway?

“You two are starting to piss me off, you think this would be easy!?” Everleigh shouted.

“Let’s just get this over with.” He said turning to the twins.