"I might not possess a fire blessing," Hayden said, pulling a glowing red-orange rune out of his pocket. "But we're in luck. I've got a spare fire rune."
Fire runes are crystals, resembling colorful, shiny stones that can be harvested from gates. These runes are essentially the hearts of demons, typically found in their cores and released upon their demise. Runes have various uses, but fire runes, in particular, can produce fire elements that can be manipulated by the caster.
"How do you even have a fire rune sitting casually in your pocket?" a student questioned as those types of rune are rare and costly.
"I always have one on me," Hayden lied. In reality, the penny-sized fire rune was merely a rock from a necklace he had stolen earlier that morning. How he turned an ordinary stone to glow with such a fiery aura was a secret he can't divulge yet.
Hayden tread down the aisle, heading towards the podium. As he made his way down the staircase, Aubrey tried to prevent the mess about to unfold. "Are you really in on this experiment? If so, take your quarrel outside where no one gets hurt."
Hayden glanced over his shoulder, giving Aubrey a teasing look. "If you know the basics of blessing, then why are you scared?"
Hayden then continued to the front, standing confidently on the platform with one hand casually tucked into his pocket. His gaze slithered up the seats, finding Klyne. "Shoot me," Hayden exclaimed. "And give it all you've got."
Klyne smirked. "Huh. Don't expect me to take the fall for this arson once the room is ablaze," he said, rising up his seat to launch an attack.
The students seated in the middle hurried to the furthest corner of the room, running as if a bomb was just thrown at them. Some are even begging Pou to release his guard on the door, but he refuses and just replies to the crying students, "Trust me, this is going to be fun!"
"Klyne is on the caliber of a B-ranker, he has explosive fire power! We're getting roasted in here!" a student pleaded.
"Oh, fret not, my student," Pou reassured with a sly smile no one can trust. "Nothing wrong will happen as long as I'm on watch. In case things went south, I'll be everyone's guardian angel."
Once the students clamped on the side, leaving the middle seats empty, Hayden extended his arm forward, holding the fire rune in the center of his palm, and aiming up the seats towards Klyne. In response, Klyne made a sweeping gesture, inhaling a large amount of smoke from his vape and puffing it out gently to flow in a graceful motion along his arms, and gathering on his open palm. With the smoke hovering over his palm, it instantaneously ignited, creating a floating flame on his palm.
Klyne slightly lifted his hand, enraging the fire to grow larger. The seething flames danced along his palm, casting a brilliant light that outshone the room's lightbulb. The audience felt the heat radiating from the blaze, their skin prickling as the temperature intensified.
Using the fire rune, Hayden conjured a flame that matched the intensity of Klyne's. "Ready when you are," he said.
Ravenous for chaos, Klyne pulled his arm back, gathering his power for an explosive release. With a swift, fluid motion, he hurled the ball at 100 mph, like a professional baseball pitcher. The ball of flame streaked towards the podium, leaving a trail of embers in its wake, as if a blazing comet had passed through.
In quick reaction, Hayden propelled his own fireball forward, meeting Klyne's attack at the center of the room. The potency of each magic is equal, and upon the collision, the flames embraced one another, sending shockwaves rippling through the air and causing the walls to shudder.
Some students gasped and others screamed, fearing it was about to erupt and everyone would explode to their demise. However, opposite to their expectation, the enormous flames locking together devoured one another, vanishing from thin air as the little embers elegantly crackled down as the only remains. The aftermath presented a mesmerizing spectacle, captivating the students as they watched in awe. The spectacular clash between two fiery flames unfolded, resembling a breathtaking fireworks display.
"Now that's what I call magic," Hayden remarked.
As the entire room fell in a silent amazement, an applaud broke out from a single person, "Whooo!!! Do it again!" Pou thrillingly exclaimed.
"How is that possible? That display completely defies the laws of physics!" Aubrey refuses to believe what she had witnessed.
"Isn't summoning fire out of nothing already defies the laws of physics?" Hayden briefly replied.
Aubrey processed her thoughts for a moment, making sense of Hayden's response. As the initial shock began to fade, she slowly came to terms with the fact that what she had seen was indeed real, no matter how impossible it seemed.
Hayden shifted his gaze back towards Klyne who seemed annoyed by the outcome. "You have mastered your blessing, you say?" Hayden smirked, getting the sense of redemption on Vash's behalf. "Seems like y'all have a long way to go."
Klyne's hand shot out to snatch his cap from the seat, swiftly settling it atop his head before responding with furrowed brows, "You're making us stay for overtime class. I'm out." With a heavy sigh, he turned and walked out of the room, pulling his cap down in a mix of frustration and shame.
Once Klyne is out, the students come running to Hayden, their voices buzzing with excitement and intrigue, bombarding him with questions. The instructor, who they thought was a scum, turned out to be actually a genius in the student's eyes, and they now believed that Hayden could flourish their capabilities in Demon Hunting. From that moment, he became the favorite professor of 1A.
With the students forming a circle around him, one student asked, "How does that happen, really?"
"Look at it this way, similar blessings hate each other, and they repel just like similar charges magnet. I call that phenomenon 'Magic Repulsion', something you'll never learn in school."
The students are all ears, fascinated by everything that comes out of Hayden's mouth.
"I haven't heard that before," another student chimed. "You must be an expert on the battlefield."
"Of course, you are all unfamiliar with Magic Repulsion, that is because I just invented that term," he blabbered. "There's more crazy stuff about blessing, you just gotta explore."
"Is that also why Wolf's gun can kill a DH? Is he also pulling some tricks that we don't know?" a student asked, completely unaware that he's talking to Wolf.
"Perhaps," he replied.
Hayden's gaze passed through the crowd around him, trying to locate Pou among the sea of faces. As he was surveying his surroundings, his eyes unexpectedly landed on Aubrey, her eyes fixed on her shoes while her countenance was gloomy. Moments ago, it's hard to tell whether she's bewildered or awestruck, but that fleeting mood lasted only until the mention of Wolf's name.
Her grim expression hinted at a scent of vengeance, stinging Hayden's nose. It was a gut feeling, an instinct that even Hayden couldn't fully decipher or understand, but for the least, he could sense that something was off.