Academia: The House of Lionheart

III

Roiru and the others sat a couple dozen feet away from the final duel. The terrain had already been terraformed over the last few weeks compared to when they first arrived with Zerakiel. Eliona's earth affinity practically created new cliffs deep into the plains, and Roiru's affinity made a pseudo forest.

Raiden's flames burnt up the grass along the hills, but Sebastian would try to revive the flowers so the nearby bees had something to live off of. None of the changes were bad for the Lionhearts, though — it gave them new ground to fight in.

They watched as Serenity and Luna faced off. Serenity was in a rush, but she had always tried to finish her exercises as soon as possible. She never wanted to work with them much; she always wanted to get back to her books and experiments. It seemed it was the same with the duel.

"Go!" yelled Zerakiel. Luna swung her arm and grabbed a bow she made of water. She had become a lot more willing to fight with the Lionhearts — in the beginning, she hesitated, initially refusing to hurt anyone. Maybe she realized it hurt them more than not to refuse to practice with them.

Water arrows then whizzed through the air, but Serenity's affinity was for air. They splashed against her walls, and she charged at Luna. It was her chance to finally put to the test all the theories of celestial martial arts she committed herself to learning.

They exchanged blow after blow, water and air following every move they made. Finally, after a solid minute of missing and dodging, Luna jumped back. She shot all the water that fell into the ground at Serenity, and they turned into ice. It trapped her, immobilizing every part of her body.

"What a pain," muttered Serenity, dropping her wrist and pulling it back. She knew the easiest way to win, the quickest too, so she opted for it. Luna flew through the air, falling to the ground before Serenity on all fours. They stood there for a moment in silence, staring at one another. Tears fell from Luna's eyes with the air sucked out of her lungs.

Luna shook her head, Serenity suffocating her. Zerakiel shot a wall of fire between the two, blasting them away from one another.

"Serenity!" he yelled, "What do you think you're doing? Do you mean to kill your comrade?" Luna was left gasping for air behind him.

"What? No, I meant to make her faint," said Serenity. The Lionhearts didn't notice what was happening between them until Zerakiel mentioned it. He'd seen enough on the battlefield to recognize it on sight. There was only one way to stop an air celestial from suffocating their enemy once they were in range — breaking their line of sight.

"What if it didn't go as you planned? Your mind mustn't be so linear simply because you're desperate to get it over with. Make rational decisions even in fights, not impulsive ones based on your emotion."

Serenity looked at Luna, who was still in tears. Remembering Luna's eyes, she realized she had feared for her life.

"Luna, I'm sorry," said Serenity, but Luna ran back to the portal, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Eliona and Reign gave chase to her, and Zerakiel continued his lecture, "Save the worst of your wrath for your true enemies. Think about their pain, at the very least."

It must've been scary for Luna to be deprived of oxygen by someone she trusted. The thought couldn't escape Serenity — she forgot to take human emotion into account before making her decisions. What was left was for her to make it up to her. How could she get Luna to forgive her?

They both loved to read. Should she take her out to get books when they have time? She didn't know, but she'd figure something out.