With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
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"Again."
Soraya and her friends thrust their blade forward. Marlot blocked the blow with the expertise of a highly skilled soldier, but let out a grunt of discomfort.
As a fusion, Soraya, Rhys, Ujuu, Moiya, Jacquelle and Zaruna had combined strength and speed. Together, they were faster at swinging their sword, their aim more precise with each lesson, their hits stronger and deadlier.
Even as individuals, their muscles remembered how to block, parry, and jab. Their agility, hearing and vision were all as good as the Shadelkin twins, their photographic memories as accurate as Soraya's, and their musical abilities now equal with one another.
"Again," Jonathan repeated, his blessed rapier raised.
The students circled him, searching for an opening.
Marlot swiveled on his feet, following their movements.
"We could turn into a shadow," Soraya suggested, an image of them throwing Marlot popping into their head.
"Or, blind him with Air Magic," Ujuu chimed in, the thought of creating a whirlwind of sand and blowing it into Marlot's eyes filling their mind.
"Wait," Rhys scolded them internally. "No cheating, he said no more demonic spells this fight, and we don't have a lot of Air Magic left, we need to save it for when we really need it-"
"I wanna win!" Jacquelle interrupted, adrenaline pumping through their veins. "Let's go already!"
They lunged at the man, despite Rhys and Moiya disagreeing with the blond's judgement call. With their mind out of sync, the fusion moved slower than normal. Marlot crashed his sword down onto theirs, pinning it close to the ground before twisting his body and kicking them in the stomach.
The fusion gasped when the wind was knocked from their lungs. They flew backwards, crashing into the soft sand and landing on their back, their sword no longer in their grasp.
In a flash, Marlot appeared above them, pointing both his rapier and their weapon at their throat.
Just as quick, the fusion unsheathed their claws, smacked the swords away, and hopped back onto their feet, backing away from Marlot's steadfast approach.
"Don't hold back!" Jon taunted while dual wielding the two blades. "Those claws are sharp, use them!"
Both Rhys and Ujuu pulled up the same memory of their father within the fusion's mind. Myrl Leyo's rose-colored eyes and mahogany skin glowed in the sunlit sky, his long, midnight colored ponytail and neatly shaven beard rustling in the breeze.
"I know you boys are struggling with being bullied," he said while leading them outside. "So I've set up a training studio to teach you both self-defense."
