The air visibly whipped their cloaks and Azaroth felt warm air ruffle his hair, but his eyes were trained hard on the two captains.

Fight, Azaroth thought, his red eyes gleaming. Fight and let me see the power between captains! Let me see a true battle between high-rank Awakeners.

Azaroth didn’t know the punishments or if there were any for captains fighting but he didn’t care anyway. Azaroth glanced around, marking buildings with windows where he could hide when they fought and still enjoy the fight.

Or maybe the roof?

"Do you want to fight me, Kael Hound?" Zephyra asked, her hair starting to rise as if it was charged with lightning. Her right hand rested on her hip, on her whip.

"I should ask you that question, Zephyra Hound. You are the one that started this after all," Kael said.

"I did? Because I pointed out the weaklings you called students? I said nothing but the truth! And you were weak for allowing them to go this long without putting pressure on their core. It’s not like they are high in the advancement rank...." Zephyra was cut off by Kael taking a step forward.

"Did you just call me weak?" Kael’s voice was like the desert wind at night. Cold and harsh.

Energy flared around Zephyra as she took two steps back, her hand on the whip tightening and she looked on the verge of drawing it.

Even Azaroth and the rest took several steps away from Kael Hound. This wasn’t like the training they did where he fought them, if Kael fought here, he would go all out.

Azaroth smiled wolf-like. Yes. This is it. His heart started beating and his eyes never left the two captains. Fight. Let me see. Let me see what raw power is.

Azaroth realized his hand was on his sword as the air tightened between the two captains.

"So these are the weaklings you mentioned, Captain?" A robust voice cut through the tension. The voice carried a hint of arrogance.

As one, the two captains turned. Everyone turned.

Azaroth blinked. Yanked away from his excitement so fast it was like being doused with cold water. He had forgotten everyone existed except the two captains, he had even forgotten about his group.

And Zephyra’s own.

A boy. Tall and muscled strolled forward with a spring in his feet. He was the same age as Azaroth and the rest but he was already on his way to becoming a giant of a man.

His words had killed the tension between the captains, diverting their attention from each other and looking at the two groups instead. As one, both captains moved away from the two groups.

Their intention was clear. This was now between students.

Whatever this is, Azaroth thought. He gazed up at the boy with a blank face. This boy, whoever he was, had just killed the fun that Azaroth was expecting. He killed his excitement where he hadn’t felt any in months.

Behind the boy were three other people, the twins from the first test and the short girl with pink hair. This was the other group they would be fighting.

The boy stopped before them and gazed at them with green eyes. "Oh? Don’t you hear? Are you the weaklings?"

"And who are you?" Stallus demanded.

"Ah! Are you the leader of this group?" The boy laughed and then turned to Catena, Alex, and Azaroth. "What a shame, you allow a girl to be your leader? How weak can you get?"

Azaroth stared at him blankly. This boy had killed his fun and it had been building up nicely, why did he do it? Why had he cut between the captains?

Stallus rolled her eyes and sighed.

Alex snorted. "And who are you, glorious leader? We didn’t see you during the first test. Did you sneak in or..." Alex whispered. "You are too weak to be given a test."

Immediately the boy’s face turned red and he took a step forward, his green eyes flashing with cruel light.

"Don’t, Darian. He is intentionally provoking you," the pink-haired girl said as she stepped forward beside the boy...Darian. "Darian, as our leader you should always be calm. This is our group leader. The Hounds transferred him from another outpost."

The two twins rolled their eyes at each other.

"Don’t you think so, Luke?" The girl asked in a hard voice. The twins nodded, their hands clutching onto each other as they did during the test.

"So you are Darian? Well nice to meet you, I’m Stallus, and...I’m not the leader," Stallus said, but she wasn’t looking at Darian when she said it. She was looking at the pink-haired girl.

It was clear to Azaroth. The real power of the other group belonged to that short girl, Darian was nothing but muscle and the girl knew how to use that.

"Oh? Who’s the leader then?" the girl asked.

"Why do we need a leader? And you haven’t introduced yourself!" Alex said.

"Really? I didn’t notice," the girl said and Stallus sighed gently. "I am Bella, this is Darian, and the twins... just call both of them Luke."

"This is Stallus, the red one is Azaroth. I am Alex and the sleeping one is Catena," Alex pointed at each person.

Bella looked at them. "Such....uniqueness." Her gaze was on Azaroth.

Azaroth stared back. Who had stopped the captains? Was it Darian or Bella? Was it Bella who told Darian to butt in? Azaroth wanted to know. He needed to know.

"More like weaklings," Darian snorted. "And they don’t have a group leader because none of them is powerful. They are all weaklings."

Stallus ignored the boy and faced Bella. "How do you choose your group leader?"

"We all fought," Bella said as if it was the most obvious answer.

"So who won?" Stallus asked.

"Darian of course," Bella said. Darian huffed and stuck out his chin. "He’s the strongest in our group."

"Really." Stallus said flatly as she looked from Darian to Bella.

Bella giggled and Darian stared at the short girl with wide-eyed adoration. "Of course, he’s our leader and...."

"Hey," Azaroth said, his eyes hard and his voice chilly. "Whose idea was it to stop the captains?"