Demons & Slayers

Serene meets Xander

The weekend ended quickly. Serene and Erika spent the weekends exploring the town with Freed, one of their classmates that they are closer to. Freed has a very distinguished look as compared to the others. With his neon green short ponytail and a claw scar across his right eye, Freed gives a fierce look. However, his happy-go-lucky personality makes him more approachable. 

The trio reaches the classroom half an hour before the lesson begins. As soon as they started to get comfortable, Elizabeth Mortney and Galwin Scott greets them. 
"The Queen of the school is early as per usual," Elizabeth remarks with a smirk.
"Better get ready, Velvet. Elizabeth and I will be leaving you in the dust today. You won't be queen forever," Galwin scoffs.
"Hey, hey, hey... Starting a fight so early in the morning?" Freed steps into the conversation. 
"Big talk for a small fry like you. Don't worry, I'll make sure we take care of you when we become the King and Queen of the school." Galwin threatens. 
Just when the fight is about to break out, a fellow classmate rushes in excitement. "Guys, y'all gotta come see this. The Omega Lab trio is drawing alot of attention."

The group rushes towards the courtyard. There is commotion gathering at the gates of the school. Most of the female students are getting excited as the trio walks into the academy. The trio are no longer dressed in their tattered robes. Rakan's navy blue trousers are being held by suspenders. His maroon colored tie stands out against his light blue long-sleeved shirt. With his blazer jacket hanged over his right shoulder with his right hand, he is reading a book in his left hand while steadily following Xayah. Xayah is dressed completely opposite to Rakan's goody-two-shoes look; a total black outlook with a black leather jacket and black boots. She has a hair tied back and black sunglasses on. Girls are falling in love with her outlook while the boys are head over heels for her cool look. With her hands in her pockets, she strides with confidence while chewing on a bubble gum. The duo leaves the crowd wishing they were close to them. But what left Serene in amazement was Xander in his new outlook. No longer in the disheveled look, his hair is crew cut. In his light blue denim skinny jeans, he wears a light pink shirt and a denim jacket. The sleeves are rolled up to his forearm. A silver ring on his right index finger matches his silver dangling cross earrings. Xander leads the trio through the school gates. Many of the surrounding females are just as amazed as Serene after seeing an unexpected difference in Xander's outlook. 

The trio split ways in the corridor to their respective classrooms. Xander walks into the classroom without a single care of the attention that is on him. He has his ears plugged into wireless earphones and his mind starts to wander away into the distance through the window that he is looking at. No one is daring enough to approach the newcomer. Serene was about to get out from her seat to approach him when Ms Veron enters the class.

Ms Veron has a stack of paper in her hands.  She asks the class to hand it out their respective owners. She goes on to explain the results of their magic affinity.
There are 7 different types of affinity, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Air, Light and Void. Each of them have a primary type and a secondary, based on what they are stronger in. She explains that understanding their affinity types will assist them in creating special abilities through their course. Serene looks at her results and is puzzled. She raises her hand to ask a question.
"Ms Veron, why does mine have only type called Specialist?"
"Well, it means that you are a unique ability user. The circle of five elements are more common as they are closest to what we are more adapted to naturally. For users with affinity of light and void, they are more apt in their abilities and may create unconventional magic.  A specialist is one that is able to connect to all elements. However, there is a 0.01% chance of being a specialist. So I'd say it is rather befitting of you as Queen of the school."
"But I have only been able to use lightning at best. I haven't been able to cultivate any other elemental magic."
"That is where we will come in to help you unleash that potential power in you. Knowing your affinity will help you in choosing your partner for your missions. Though it will be hard to find, having another specialist as your partner would make things easier for you,"

Ms Veron reassures Serene that she will find a suitable partner. "Oh by the way, Xander, would you like please step forward for your affinity assessment?" Ms Veron takes a crystal ball and places it on the table. "All you need to do is concentrate magic energy into this crystal ball and it will show us what affinity you are."
"That won't be neccessary." Ms Veron is taken aback with Xander's reply. Feeling annoyed, she questions him. "And what makes you an exception from having your magic be assessed?"
"I'm a specialist. Just so we are clear, I think it's a waste of time for me to here. Most of the things that you will be teaching, I have already mastered it." As soon as Xander made that statement, the entire class started to glare at him for his arrogance. "What do you know what is about to be taught? And how do I know you aren't lying about your affinity?"

Xander lets out a sigh of disbelief. He stands up and points at the crystal ball with his right index finger. In an instance, he generates a small ball of concentrated magic energy. Not many in the class knew how concentrated the energy is, but for Ms Veron and a few others including Serene knew that it was highly concentrated. It was even possible that it was pure magic energy. Xander then flings the ball of magic energy towards the crystal ball. It travels steadily towards it. As the energy ball floats toward the crystal ball, everyone remain in their seat with anticipation. As soon as it hits the crystal ball, the energy ball explodes to form a burst of rainbow glittering energy field. The entire class are stunned by the beauty of the energy field. Like a glitter ball in a ballroom, it shifts ever so slightly, making anyone who stares at it frozen with amazement. The energy field then shrinks rapidly back into the crystal ball and a rainbow colored energy flows within the crystal ball, signifying that Xander is indeed a specialist.

Ms Veron clears her throat, feeling a little lost after Xander has proven his point. She proceeds to explain the way each affinity works with each other and how one can use their primary and secondary to create new elements such as how Water and Air can be used to make Ice. "Magic Energy flows however the user wants it to flow. Two ice users will have different signature of magic energy, thus creating different versions of Ice magic, such as Blizzard and Ice Spears."
As time passes, Ms Veron continues on to explain more about cultivating their affiliated magic and what they should focus on. Serene is distracted by the fact that Xander is the only other specialist and decides to approach him as soon as the class has ended.

The bell rings, signifying that it was lunch time. While the students head out to the cafeteria, Serene stands up and approaches Xander. "Hi, my name is Serene Velvet. I'm a specialist, just like you. Would you..." Serene couldn't finish her question as Xander refuses any request from her immediately. "Sorry, I'm not interested in anyone that is weak." Xander walks away but is stopped by Elizabeth and Galwin. "Excuse me, but who are you to call us weak?" Galwin steps forward ferociously. "Pfft, please. All of you are just a bunch of naive people that are nothing but pawns for the Slayer Organization. None of you actually have what it takes, considering how you spend on your days doing useless stuff."

Right after Xander had spoken those words, a book was flung at him, hitting the back of his head. He turns around to see a furious Serene glaring at him with rage. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT US? WE HAVE SPENT THE LAST 6 MONTHS WORKING HARD TO BE HERE! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT WE DID?!" "It doesn't matter what you guys have been doing for the past 6 months. Understanding what you are doing and just doing as you are told are two different things. None of you are strong enough, so you might as well just quit here." Before Xander could walk away, Serene utter a sentence that would bring about a second commotion for the day.

"BY THE SLAYER'S DECREE, I, SERENE VELVET, CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"