Chapter 15
Potions took two class slots that day. Working on the recipes for that the entire morning was actually pretty soothing. Once he was done Levi had the rest of the afternoon free. He hit up the cafeteria, but none of his friends were around. After he finished his food, he set out to the training field. Levi had his cane in hand and he wanted to try improving his offensive abilities. Nox had tried to show him how to trigger the blasts he had used on the Horrors, though she hadn’t succeeded. Levi considered that a failure on his part. He felt the power there, lurking under the surface. Around Nox, the power felt easier to access. It was like his attraction to her brought it up from wherever it rested.
He stopped outside the large gothic stadium and frowned, his head turning to look at Zuzan and Flix. “What do you two think, are we going to get it this time?” he asked his companions. Zuzan chittered and threw a paw into the air, her tiny clawed fingers split into a V. Flix just shifted her wings against her sides and yawned to show her sharp little fangs. “Good to have your support,” he said with a snort. He reached up and scratched Flix on the back of her head, then he repeated it with Zuzan.
He stopped inside the door leading out onto the arena floor. He scooped Zuzan up and set her down on a small shelf. His uniform jacket and satchel went onto the same shelf and Flix growled complaints as she was forced to climb down. Levi gave his cane a spin between his fingers to settle it in a comfortable grip, then walked onto the training field. The burning town was back, and he couldn’t help his frown at the sight of it. He wasn’t fond of this scenario; he still held a grudge against the illusion that had tried to eat Zuzan. Just thinking about it made his blood boil. Red energy swelled around his cane and produced a crackling sound. Levi looked down and saw it, blinking in shock.
When his shock finally overrode his anger, the energy winked out. His jaw dropped and his scarlet eyes widened as he stared at the cane. Levi snapped his mouth shut and tried to summon the energy back, tightening his fist around the engraved cane. While he was able to call a light-blue power, he could feel how weak it was compared to the other energy. The howl of a wolf gave him the warning he needed to twist that energy into a sphere and launch it at the dire wolf, which was leaping over a flaming pile of debris. The spell struck the furred beast and sent it tumbling. The goblin on its back tumbled off and fell. Levi took three steps forward and swung his cane to lash the goblin across its torso. The small being’s torso crunched, sending the goblin rolling back into the flames where it began screaming.
The wolf was back—Levi’s blow had failed to do any serious damage, so he dug down to draw more energy up through his cane. The pale energy swelled and the creature raced around the flames, its fangs exposed in killing intent. Levi paced backwards, stepping quickly to keep space open between them. When the wolf jumped with open jaws, Levi acted. Energy flared up from his cane and he rammed the knob into the wolf’s jaw. The animal let out a loud yelp as its lower jaw dislocated, and the shift in its trajectory allowed Levi to step under it as it flew past. His grip on the cane reversed, and the blue energy raced toward the tip like a sheath of flames. The tamer jumped forward to bring his cane around and down on the wolf’s spine. A snap sounded as the animal collapsed, its back broken.
Levi breathed hard as he came to a stop just past the crippled wolf. His energy levels felt low, but he didn’t feel the exhaustion that came whenever he used the red power. He did feel a mental strain from trying to force his magic to work as a combat skill though. He shook his head and cursed. “Why? What am I missing? The power was there, I had it… then I lost it,” he grumbled to himself. Frustration filled him at his inability to access whatever this magic was. As his temper frayed, red-and-black lines of power hissed along his cane’s engravings—he swore, staring. “No, there’s no way it’s that simple,” he muttered. Once again, the distraction from his anger caused the power to vanish—Levi took that as confirmation.
“It is… it’s anger based. Why would I have a secondary power connected to my temper?” he asked himself. Levi closed his eyes and began to breathe slowly, but he wasn’t trying to calm down. This time, Levi was intentionally calling up memories of the things that had pissed him off in his old life. Waiting in line at the DMV, teachers who graded personal opinion as fact, his old roommate… He recalled a memory of that shithead and the last things he had said to Levi and the young man felt his power surge up. He kept his eyes closed as he focused on the sensation of that power rising. He could hear the crackle of that secondary power, the hiss and pop as it spun around his focus. His cane trembled as the power grew, and Levi almost felt like it was building on itself. The more power he gathered, the angrier he felt—with that anger, came more power. It was a cycle that burned inside him. The roar of energy became intense, almost deafening. Levi pictured the Horrors that had attacked them in the cavern and his cane began to vibrate. His eyes opened and a red light reflected off the inside of his glasses, yet he could see fine. The swell of black-and-scarlet power shaking his cane demanded he grasp his wrist to keep the cane on target. The energy spun wildly and Levi heard a howl—the training field had reset. He twisted in the direction the wolf was coming from and bared his teeth as he thrust his arm out. The attack exploded away from him and burned the ground it streaked over. When the ball hit the wolf, it exploded in a blaze that sent Levi flying backwards to slam into a wall of the training field.
His head hit the wall with a thud and everything went black… again.
Once more Levi found himself waking up in a daze with pain in every joint. He opened his mouth to let out a groan, and as he inhaled he heard voices speaking in hushed tones around him.
“That young man is dangerous! Do you have any idea the kind of power it takes to crack a training field stone?” a voice growled. Levi thought the speaker was male.
“It has been done before; it will be done again. Homo draconic are known for having strange elemental affinities,” the other protested. That one seemed female, though their voice was muffled and indistinct.
“Elemental? What kind of elemental affinity chars stone meant to absorb mana and cracks a block on impact?” the male demanded.
“If you spent more time studying, you would be aware that there are numerous types of energy that can crack the suppression stones. A faculty member should know more than their students, Vardis,” another voice said, sounding scathing.
“I don’t need your attitude, Goldenrod! This random reincarnation shows a bizarrely unbalanced form of magic and I want it studied and explained!” Vardis demanded. Levi remembered that the man was the house master that had been suspicious of Glint and himself when they’d come back from taming Flix.
With how much his entire body hurt, Levi felt relieved Tawny was there to defend him from accusations. The whole point of his experiments had been to learn a way to access his magic so he could defend these assholes—he didn’t need a glorified gas plumber giving him a hard time. As his temper rose, the pain in Levi’s body started to fade. His hands curled into fists and the urge to get up and teach them all a lesson rose up in him. He heard a faint crackling, and then a sharp pain pinched his ear.
“Ow!” he yelped in surprise. His hand rose and he found Zuzan curled against his neck, where she had just bitten his ear. His anger drained away, though he noticed his pain had faded as she chittered at him. His fingers curled to scratch along the back of the squirrel’s neck and he let out a sigh. “Thank you, Zuzan, I guess that anger kind of… seeps in, huh?” he whispered.
She chittered several times and he felt another weight moving over his body. The gentle trill told him it was Flix before his other hand found the back of her head. As he scratched the dragonet, he realized he wasn’t feeling so weak anymore. He carefully swung his legs to the side and bent his knees to set them on the floor, then he sat up with a grunt. Despite the dizziness, he was able to look around from his seated position. He was in the common room of Raven House, the fire crackling merrily near him. A turn of his head showed him that the faculty had to be outside the main room and in the stairwell.
He spotted a pot of tea and sniffed to make sure it wasn’t that strange pickled crap Regina Applebottom had tried to serve him. He smelled mint, so he poured himself a cup. The lemon bars on the tray were welcome; the tart flavor gave him a small burst of energy and the tea soothed his head. He let out a sigh of relief and looked at his companions. “Hey girls, how bad did I step in it?” he asked them quietly.
Flix snapped her tail from side to side and fluttered her wings in a manner that registered as laughter. The dragonet seemed to find whatever he had done funny, and she opened her mouth to mime spitting her attack at the fireplace. Zuzan squeaked and waved her front limbs around as she scampered down his arm to claim her own lemon bar. Her chittering was interrupted by the need to stuff as much lemon pastry into her mouth as she could—Levi rolled his eyes.
“That good? Great,” he said. Then he raised a hand to adjust his glasses with his middle finger. Once that was settled, he looked at the common room door, expecting the staff to burst in on him and start yelling at any moment. He couldn’t hear anymore conversing outside, and Levi wasn’t sure if it was because he had woken, or if they had moved away. He finished his lemon bar, then his tea, and when nobody came in to talk to him, he got up and went to his room. He didn’t see a reason to just sit in the common room like it was the principal’s office.
He found his satchel on his desk, and Zuzan and Flix abandoned him for the shelves hanging over it. He had added padded leather tops to those so his companions could use them as nests. His uniform jacket was hanging up in his wardrobe, though he didn’t feel the need to put it back on. He did take the pouches of snacks from his satchel and set them on the desk. Both his beasts seemed happy when he filled up small bowls for them and placed them on their shelf. Flix let out a trill and started swallowing her meat, clearly intending to empty the bowl. Zuzan took her time. The greedy squirrel started to organize the nuts, apparently so she could eat them in order of how nice they looked to her. Then she took her time to wash her claws before she started nibbling on the first. The chewing sound was oddly comforting after having her at his side for so many months.
Before Levi could sit, someone knocked on his door. He stepped up to it and cautiously opened it to find Tawny standing behind it. The dark elf stared at him for a moment before she put a hand on his chest and started to push into his room. He caught her wrist without thinking. The house mistress froze and stared up at him in surprise. Levi found frustration welling up in him. “House mistress Goldenrod, this is still my room,” he said with a quiet grunt. The red shine on the inside of his glasses was back, and for the first time, Levi consciously realized his eyes were glowing.
Instead of being afraid, Tawny took a deep breath and bit her lower lip. That was when Levi noticed her shirt had been unbuttoned to the belt holding up her skirt. Her dark skin looked oiled, and it shone in his room’s dim light. She had a cream-colored bra, lacy and almost transparent, holding her breasts up. Her cleavage was clearly visible as the shirt hung open. Levi narrowed his eyes; this was a stark departure from her normal flirting.
“Levi, I’ve told you to call me Tawny,” she whispered in a sultry voice.
“Yes, you have, but you’ve never pushed your way into my room with your shirt half open before. Not that I don’t appreciate the view, but I would like an idea of what is going on—before I decide how familiar to get,” he said, though he let her into the room and released her forearm.
She closed the door behind herself with a click, then lit the enchantment that would ensure they had privacy. Once that was done, Tawny looked at him like he was her next meal. She licked her lips and her eyes were half closed as she stared. “Levi, I am not completely sure, but I think perhaps there is more to you than being homo draconic,” she began, holding up a hand to keep him from interrupting. “There is a type of reincarnation that blends in with another species, and it has hidden magical abilities and powers that work differently from normal. A reincarnation that is prone to coming from worlds where mana is almost missing. Their appearances are why the Reincarnation Network was built in the first place: to prevent them from arriving.”
He took off his glasses and picked up a cloth to polish the lenses, squinting to look at her more carefully as he reviewed the conversations he’d had regarding the Reincarnation Network. “Yeah, I am not going to be some kind of great hero or anything,” he said finally, replacing his glasses as he looked at her. She was breathing excitedly and she nearly bounced out of her shirt as she clasped both his hands between hers.
She yanked his hands between her soft, warm breasts, then stared up into his eyes with a fervent passion.
“No, Levi, you’re destined to be a Demon Lord!” she announced proudly.
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