"Mika..." Gerard muttered in shock while trying to crack a smile.

However, the reunion between those two was interrupted by someone else.

"You bastard!"

Bakil jumped in between them, glaring intensely at Mika.

"Ah."

Mika remembered his face. After all, before he managed to sneak himself into the student body, Mika encountered Bakil who was apparently running late for the ceremony. And because he saw the resemblance in their faces, Mika stealthily got behind him and knocked him out gently.

He hid Bakil in some bushes and then, changed his appearance temporarily to how he looked back then. In addition to that, he wore his old uniform, making his camouflage almost perfect.

But it was only a matter of time until Bakil would wake up and chase after Mika.

"Bakil! Is that really you?" Vasilya asked desperately after getting fooled by Mika who coincidentally sat beside her during the ceremony.

"Of course, I am!" Bakil yelled agitatedly.

"That piece of shit ambushed me before the ceremony!" he added.

"..."

Mika now had the chance to take a better look at those two. Especially, when he saw Vasilya his gaze narrowed.

"Get lost." Mika murmured

His words were mainly directed at Vasilya.

"..."

"B-Bakil...?"

Bakil reflexively stretched his hand to the side, protecting her from Mika.

"He’s dangerous, Vasilya..." Bakil admitted sternly.

In his mind, he compared Mika to Lily but he came to no real conclusion. He just knew that both of them were levels above himself.

Bakil engulfed his body in lightning magic and leaped to Mika.

"!"

But he was the most surprised out of everyone on the field when he actually landed a punch in Mika’s face.

"..."

When Mika was about to lose his balance, he took a step back.

"I... I hit him...?" Bakil muttered dumbfoundedly.

Until now, almost no one was able to land a clear hit on Mika, making him seem like an invincible being. But Bakil, out of all people, did it.

However, it was not the time to feel proud or surprised after one hit. He bundled his fist once more and threw a punch at Mika.

And again, Bakil’s punch connected with Mika’s face.

But this time, Mika did not budge from the spot nor was his back bent from the punch. He simply took it in the face unfazedly.

"Bakil, get away now!" Vasilya shouted frantically as she ran toward him.

"?"

Bakil looked up and saw the shining silver sword of Mika raised in the air.

"Shi-"

With a self-deprecating smile, Bakil received a slash across his body.

"..."

Emptily, Mika cut him down deeply, splattering blood everywhere.

Then, large icicles emerged from the ground, chasing after Mika who was jumping to the back.

"Bakil...!"

While attacking Mika, Vasilya held Bakil in her other arm and tried to stop the bleeding by freezing his wound.

"!"

Her eyes widened when Mika shattered the ice with his sword strikes.

"You...!" she grumbled as she glared at Mika.

"Don’t..."

"Huh?"

"Don’t look at me like that...!" Mika muttered bitterly.

He was certainly not the first one who thought that Vasylia was resembling Sylvia that much.

That was also why he was currently struggling.

He faced someone who looked like him and now, his opponent was a girl who looked like an old friend, whom he let die in vain.

"Get lost already...!" Mika murmured again, holding his head in pain.

Whenever he looked at her, he remembered how he let Sylvia die just because he wanted to cling to the hope of eventually still being able to save his village. But in the end, everyone was already dead and it was too late to save Sylvia.

He made the wrong choice.

"..."

Mika widened his eyes when he he charged at Vasilya who was protecting Bakil.

He retracted his arm, ready to swing his sword.

’It’s not her. It’s not her. It’s not her. It’s not her.’

As if he lost his mind, he kept repeating those words in his head.

However, it was futile.

His sword stopped again before making contact.

"I can’t kill you again..." Mika muttered regretfully.

"..."

Open-mouthed, Vasilya stared at the petrified Mika.

She hesitated at first but unlike him, she only viewed him as an enemy currently. And because he was far stronger than anyone else here, their only way of winning was by fighting smart.

Or dirty.

"...!"

Vasilya froze her hand, mimicking a short blade and rammed that hand into Mika’s stomach.

Or rather, she tried to.

"?!"

Mika managed to grab her wrist before she could pierce him.

He sheathed his sword as he pulled her closer to him, making her stumble. Then, he tried to chop her nape but Vasilya quickly turned around. Mika predicted her movement, too, and got behind her again.

And with his sheath, he knocked out Vasilya for the time being.

"Impressive... You’ve even beat those two..." Gerard remarked as he approached Mika.

"For your information, these two students were the strongest in their year." he added.

"Really?"

Mika looked down at the two with an apathetic expression.

"Whatever. What will you do now?" Mika asked Gerard sternly.

"I would be stupid if I would try to fight you. I would be no match to you after all." Gerard joked.

"But even if I was, I wouldn’t want to fight an old friend." he said afterward.

His gaze turned to his classmates.

"And I don’t think that the others think otherwise." he stated with a smile.

"Good to know." Mika replied as he also walked past Gerard.

While they talked, more students and teachers headed their way.

"Let us help you this time." Gerard suggested with a firm smile.

"Do what you wan-"

However, before they could dedicate themselves to their opponents, Mika suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The Holy Spear, which initially blocked off the way to the academy, disappeared as Mika had to summon Excalibur in order to nullify the blue flames that were thrown at him.

"..."

His eyes were wide open as he was surprised that someone in the academy was capable of using blue flames.

From what he knew, only a few people were capable of using such flames.

"Everyone! Go and help his Majesty. I will deal with him on my own." Lily commanded sternly as she emerged from her firewall.

At first, some hesitated to go but after realizing that they would be only in her way, they headed to the conference room like she ordered them to.

The area in front of the academy building’s entrance was quickly cleared.

"Get back." Mika ordered Gerard and the other third-years behind him.

Aside from them, Lily’s white class was also still present, making this battlefield consist of only third-years.

"Do they really have to continue...?" Rachel wondered saddenedly.

"..."

Harik just looked at them nervously.

"I’d like to stop them but I don’t have the strength to do so..." Lisa lamented.

Lily had reasons to fight him whereas Mika had reasons not to back down from Loogam. Therefore, it came to a clash between former friends.

The others still did not know what was the right thing to do. In the beginning, they trusted Lily but now they started to doubt her behavior, too.

"Is Mika in the right? Or is Lily in the right? Just like you, I don’t have the answer for that but I know for a fact that I want to hear them explain themselves even if I have to resort to violence." Belian stated slightly annoyedly.

While Lily had to keep her friends in the dark for their safety, Mika decided not to tell them on purpose.

Mika’s next battle, or rather next big enemy was the majority of the world. Whoever sided with him was also considered an enemy of the world. He did not want his friends to suffer from that. Instead, he wanted them to live a normal life, unrelated to the incoming war.

"Those two fools were always bad with words so it doesn’t wonder me that they created another misunderstanding." Belian remarked.

"..."

Despite being nervous and anxious, the other three white-class students walked alongside Belian.

"We will try our best to help...!" Lisa declared.

"I don’t want our reunion to be like this...!" Rachel said frustratedly.

"Let’s wrap this up quickly and have a nice long chat like always." Harik laughed lightly.

It was a five-versus-one.

Lily summoned 100 fire creatures.

Belian took up his stance with his sword, whose lethal side was now facing Mika.

Lisa also readied her lightning-enhanced body and rapier.

Rachel cast a spell that let gigantic roots emerge from the ground.

Harik clenched his big and strong fists which were engulfed in water.

"This is not what I wanted..." Mika muttered.

Mika made Excalibur disperse into fine light particles and instead, drew his silver sword once again.

He applied lightning and light on its blade and pointed it at his friends.

Meanwhile, Gerard and other third-years put up a barrier with their magic to protect themselves from their fight.

"Seeing them like that makes me wonder if they really were in the same year as us..." he laughed wryly.