I'll upload 4 chapters at once this time round. Sorry if it seemed too much for you guys but I really, really can't remember to upload them here. T.T
And introducing Aisha in this chapter! She's currently a HM, and no I'm not shipping her with Elboy this time round. They'll be two brats who literally argues over everything. And she's also a secret fujoshi, for your information. (will suffice in later chapters after PT appears officially)
"Alright, class!" a young lady with a formidable bust size said loudly.
"The year-end project is here, so I want you to listen up closely, because this will be graded."
The students in the class groaned upon hearing the word 'graded'. It looks like they won't be able to slack off now.
"Each of you will be assigned a topic to do research on, and you'll have to submit a report by the end of the month. Get it clear?" The female teacher said strictly. "And definitely, no late submissions, or I will personally deduct marks from your overall grade." She walked left and right, as all the students listened attentively.
"ELSWORD!" she suddenly screamed. "Wake up now and listen! You'll fail if you don't listen carefully now!" She shot a glare at the sleeping red-head at the back, who got up all groggy.
"Huh?" Elsword looked at her sleepily, as the rest of the class looked at him and snickered amongst themselves softly.
"Repeat what I've just said." The teacher said sternly.
"Um… You said there was a graded project?" Elsword sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his head.
"And?"
"Isn't that it?" He laughed awkwardly, causing the teacher to facepalm.
"Elsword, if you don't pass this project," the teacher paused for a while to let things sink in. "It means you will fail your academics for this year."
"But I get straight As for combat classes!" Elsword protested. "Doesn't that make up for that?"
"Well yes, I know you're strong in combat, like your sister, but you still have to pass all your academic subjects in order to get promoted!" The teacher argued.
"What? But I failed my academics last year and I still managed to get promoted!"
"That's because your sister stomped into the principal's office and demanded for you to get promoted."
"Oh, ehehe…" Elsword scratched the back of his head. Elesis can get really protective over him at times like this. "Moving on," the teacher shrugged off the topic. "I've assigned you into pairs for this project, and I'll place the group list on the board now."
The students instantly rushed to the front to see who they're paired with. There were some groans, while there were also some cheers.
"Man, I really hope I don't get paired up with you." A purple-haired girl shot a glare at Elsword.
"Not like I want to be with you too!" Elsword returned back the glare. The two of them stood side by side to check their names, and right after that, both screamed in unison.
"WHAT?!" the two students screamed. They rushed to the teacher, and started protesting.
"Teacher! You can't put me together with him!" the purple-haired girl pointed at Elsword.
"I don't want to be with a geek!" Elsword shouted as he glared at the girl.
The teacher just stared at them arguing with each other, and said,"Well, I put the two of you together because Elsword has the lowest grades in the class, while Aisha has the top grades here. I've already balanced all the groups in terms of academic strength, so don't question me about the groupings and work together."
"But-" Aisha protested, but was interrupted by the teacher.
"The groups are already set, you can't switch partners, Miss Aisha." The purple-haired girl looked down.
"Great, now I'm stuck with a bossy nerd." Elsword pouted as he walked off, with a furious Aisha yelling at him, but he didn't care.
"ARC!" Elsword dashed into the house and shouted.
"What? Stop shouting in my ears, brat. It hurts a lot, you know?" Arc twitched his ears and glared at the red head.
"Hide your ears and tail now!" He pleaded. "Aisha's coming over in 10 minutes!" "Huh?" Arc blinked at him. "Why? And who's Aisha?"
"Forget about all that! We have a project to discuss, and I need you to hide yourself now!"
"Aisha?" Elesis walked out of her room. "You mean, that magician who has trained directly under the Ice Princess Noah?"
"Ugh, yes, that's the one!" Elsword said as he shoved Arc into the room.
"Hey, stop pushing me!" Arc hissed, but the door shut before him.
"Hey, you know, you two actually make a really good pair!" Elesis suggested.
"NO!" Elsword screamed, but the doorbell rang just when he was about to deny it. "I'll go get the door." he sighed.
"Can you at least say something more intelligent and stop letting me do all the talking?" Aisha glared at her partner.
"What?" Elsword rebutted. "Don't expect everyone to be as smart as you, nerd." He stuck out his tongue.
"Take that back!" Aisha shouted as she smacked her partner with her staff.
"Hey, your sister told me to deliver these to you." Arc opened the door, carrying two mugs of hot chocolate.
"Hey, who's that? And why is he wearing a hood?" Aisha pointed at Arc.
"Nah, he's just a housemate." Elsword shrugged it off. "He just wears that hood because it's cool."
"I like those cat ears though." Aisha said.
Just when Arc was about to leave, he tripped over something, and fell flat onto the ground.
"Hey, at least bother cleaning your room up, brat!" He got up and glared at the red-head, who stared at him worriedly.
"Oh crap…" Elsword sweatdropped as he saw Aisha gasp when she saw the ears and tail.
"What?" Arc tilted his head, and then touched his head to feel his ears.
"Are those…" Aisha was shocked. "Real ears?" She touched the ears, which twitched when she touched it.
"Umm, we have a lot of explaining to do now, Aisha…" Elsword broke into cold sweat.
Ara sat alone in the cafeteria. After Arc has arrived, Elesis didn't seem to spend as much time with her as she used to. She sipped her drink sadly.
'It sure feels lonely without your best friend,' she thought. Elesis has denied most of her invitations to hang out after school, all because she wanted to look after Arc. She wasn't how she felt about that. Is it jealousy?
Or anger? She didn't know. Or was she happy that Elesis has gotten another friend? She felt neglected for the first time. She looked down, as she was about to cry.
"Hey." A voice broke her thoughts as she looked up.
"Eve?" she said in surprise.
"May I sit here?" She asked.
"U-um, yeah, s-sure!" she stuttered a bit as she wasn't really comfortable with the rich girl.
"Shouldn't you be hanging out with your friend?" Eve asked again.
"Well, she went to take care of her summon."
"Are you sad about it?" Eve tilted her head.
"U-um, n-no, not at all!" Ara immediately replied.
"There's no need to hide from me. I know exactly how you feel."
"You… Do?" Ara sighed.
"I understand about loneliness better than you." Eve started. "When I was young, I never had any friends." She said, with a hint of sadness.
"You mean… Not a single friend?" Ara asked in disbelief.
"Yes." She nodded. "Everyone ostracized me because I was rich. No one wanted to talk to me because they just feel that I'm… different. They disliked me. They think I'm just a pampered spoilt girl with everything in the world. I'm already used to it now, being alone and everything, and only my servants by my side."
"Oh…" Ara was speechless. "I'm sorry… For what you have been through."
"It's okay." Eve smiled a little. "Now that I've gotten Chung, I feel… Much more happy and loved than usual."
Ara didn't know what to say. At first, she despised Eve, because she thought she was all that spoilt girl who can only boss people around. Now, her impression of her changed. Maybe she should be nicer to her.
"Elesis probably didn't have the time to make it. I'm sure she'll still find time for you." Eve reassured. "Why don't you get your own summon, if you're that lonely?"
"Eh? N-no! It's against my family's rules to obtain a summon through illegal means!" Ara immediately said.
Eve laughed a bit. "So you're really an obedient girl huh?" Then, her face turned serious. "Have you seen the latest news?" She asked.
"Um, no, why?" Ara wondered.
"About a mysterious person lurking around at night and attacking people." "Why would he do that?"
"No one knows, eight people have been attacked already, all in the dark, and three have died from the attacks."
"That's horrible…" Ara gasped.
"I just wanted to tell you to be careful. I know you have training until very late. Be careful when you walk home." Eve warned.
" Okay…" Ara replied slowly. It sure seemed dangerous, that people are getting attacked increasingly often at night. Could it be the same person?
"I need to leave now. See you in school tomorrow." Eve grabbed her backpack and walked off, leaving Ara sitting at the table alone.
'Maybe I should get my own summon…' she thought as she looked out of the window.
"Master!" Chung followed Eve closely behind. "Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you outside? It's already nine, and it's dangerous if you walk outside alone!"
"I don't need your protection for now. I have Oberon to keep a lookout for me." Eve replied. "Now go guard the house when I'm gone for my night walk."
"Yes, Master!"
Walking around in the park at night is something Eve enjoyed. Not only were there no one around and she should enjoy the peaceful silence, the breeze also calmed her and she loved it a lot. Just as she was standing there enjoying the breeze, she heard a faint laughter from behind.
"Who's there?" she turned back immediately.
"Kekeke… So that strong energy was radiating from you… Great, a worthy opponent, finally, kahahaha!" The voice said.
"Show yourself!" Eve commanded. No one came out, but she sword she saw a shadow, with a bright, glowing magenta eye staring back at her. Out of the blue, serveral pulse bullets were shot at her.
"Oberon, guard!" she ordered the faceless servant to stand in front of her and form a shield. It deflected the pulse bullets.
"Oh? Is that a nasod? Interesting, kekeke…" she heard the voice say.
"Slice up anyone in the way." Eve ordered as Oberon, armed with his blades, dashed towards her assailant and slashed at him, causing him to fly back a few metres. She couldn't see his face, just the eyes itself.
"Tch! How annoying! How would you like this!" The mysterious shadow said as he launched an electron quake towards her.
"Oberon, block the attack!" Eve ordered, but the quake was too strong to be blocked, causing her to fall back, injured from the attack.
"Now, to finish things up, kekeke…" She swore she saw the figure grin as he approached her. Suddenly, flashlights shone towards the shadow, causing him to retreat back.
"Whoever you are, I won't allow you to hurt this girl." A female voice said, standing in front of Eve with her guards.
"Tch! More assholes now! How troublesome!" the figure growled as he leapt off and escaped.
The lady turned towards Eve. "Take her to the hospital for treatment now." She ordered the guards.
"But Miss Apple, the assailant just escaped!" One of the guards said.
"It's okay. Now that I've confirmed his existence, I'll make a report to the headquarters tomorrow. And we'll track him down, for sure." Apple said as she and the guards walked off with an injured Eve carried in their arms.
'I swear, I felt… something similar to Elesis' summon…' Eve thought before she blacked out.
Did you feel it? Add's coming in soon haha. Probably in the next one or two chapters he'll officially appear. As I've hinted in previous chapters, Add is PT and is Arc's older twin brother, and the concept behind their relationship is about two brothers who grew up together and stuck to each other for everything when they're young, but they slowly grew apart due to having different beliefs and ended up being rivals. (Not enemies, Rivals.)
R&R if you like it!:D