The Azra-El Series Ch. 12

"How can you swing it like that?" she asked with exasperation.

"How can you fly like that?" he returned.

The two of them were starting to have fun and they had long forgotten their audience. Blaze's fight with Priscilla had been exhilarating, but he had been too angry to enjoy it. With Siofra, it was pure fun. He didn't care about winning and the only thing that mattered was that he had finally found someone who could keep up with him. Elyssa didn't count as she was stronger, older and had a lot more combat experience.

Siofra paused a moment to muse over her next move but Blaze decided to not give her the chance. He rushed forward and slashed the glaive diagonally at her head.

"aeeee," she yelped as she hastily dodged back in surprise.

"Oi! Let me think," she complained, but the downward slash suddenly turned into a thrust at her neck.

She raised her shield and deflected the glaive upwards, but the side blade caught the edge of the shield and threw her hand backwards. Blaze yanked his glaive back, hoping to catch her shoulder with the side blade. But Siofra's reflexes were quick enough to once again catch it with her shield's edge.

The force sent her and her shield rolling forward, the weightless and low friction in air allowing for easy movement. She curled up into a ball, rolled once, and stretched out just in time to thrust her rapier towards Blaze; almost like super girl flying with a rapier in her hand.

Blaze only had a moment to push up his grip on the glaive's shaft and used the lower end of his glaive to deflect the rapier upwards.

With her rapier deflected, Siofra pushed her shield towards his face, trying to rattle him. But Blaze's instinct had kicked in and he had already flapped his wings to fly upwards. He met the shield with his foot and managed to push her away. He tried to follow it up with a sweep of his glaive, but Siofra recovered quicker than he could anticipate, flitting away from the blade of the weapon.

Grinning at her opponent, she rushed in again to try her luck, bidding her agility against his ingenuity, as that was the only thing that could stop her attacks.

Soon, Siofra was flitting around him like an electron around a nucleus, constantly probing him with random attacks from all directions. Blaze kept managing to hold her off, but each time he tried to counter, Siofra darted out of his reach. It really annoyed him, but it annoyed her too.

Class 4f watched the duel in wonder. Blaze's strength was apparent in the speed of his swings and the steadiness of his flight, but what amazed them the most was the way the pixie moved. Were all pixie's like that? They couldn't even imagine how they would defend against her. One counter was all she required to defeat most of them.

Slowly, however, Siofra started feeling the dip in her energy reserves. The rapid beat of pixie wings consumed more energy than that of angels. It was one of the reasons why they couldn't show their true potential in wars. Angels and demons could simply keep them at range with their superior soaring speeds and lower energy consumption.

But the pixies are very dangerous over short distances, very dangerous, Blaze thought as he imagined Siofra with a bushy red beard and moustache covering her face instead of bushy red hair covering her head. He had to quickly shake his head to get rid of that image and it caused a lapse in concentration, which didn't go unnoticed by the pixie.

Realizing that she needed to quickly end the match, she decided to risk it all in her next attack. What she failed to notice was that swinging a heavy glaive was no walk in the park for Blaze either. His hands were already starting to feel heavy, and each swing and thrust was a tiny bit slower than the last. And when she decided to end the match, it was a blessing in disguise for him.

She shot towards him like usual and he tried to ward her off with a wide sweep. She darted upwards, almost in a ninety-degree angle, to avoid the sweep and taking a leaf out of Blaze's book, she coiled her arm and chucked the shield at his face. She could always retrieve it from the ground, later.

Despite being his own move, Blaze was nonetheless surprised by it and instinctually raised a hand to stop it. This meant that he couldn't immediately use his glaive and that moment was all Siofra required to close in.

Anticipating victory, she dashed at him with her rapier. However, to her surprise, he let go of his glaive, which plummeted to the ground, and caught the shield with both hands. Holding it in front of him, he rushed forwards to meet her.

She tried to thrust her rapier into his face, but he deflected it with his shield, while continuing to move in on her. The pixie tried to get away but her downward speed was too high for any drastic change in angle. Blaze let go of his shield and blitzed into her, catching her in his arms and wrapping her in a bear hug.

"You lose," he said flippantly, even planting a provocative kiss on her forehead. Siofra tried to struggle free and stab him with the rapier, but his grip was too strong and left her arm no room to move the sword. She almost felt that he could crush her to death if he wanted to.

"That was so erratic," Siofra whined from his bosom. Despite her complaint, she felt wonderful. Neither had known who would win until the last moment. A mistake on either side would've completely changed the result. Blaze won this time, but the result may not be the same the next fight, which added to the excitement.

"That's enough for today. You can come down now," Yulia called out to them. Not letting go of the pixie in his arms, Blaze gently descended before their teacher. The girl and her hair were too cuddly to let go.

"Miss Blaze, Miss Siofra, the two of you are very talented," Yulia started with a contemplative look.

"Just Blaze or Blaze Er, please," Blaze interjected, finally letting Siofra out of his grasp However, the pixie seemed content in his hands.

She nodded.

"Blaze, can I ask you if you are trying to diversify your weapons instead of specializing in one?" she asked him thoughtfully. Her assumption based on the analysis of their duel and the little she heard about his fight with Priscilla.

"Yes. My aunt thinks that it's the best way to counter angels with more practice than I have," Blaze answered.

"I understand. It's a good idea, but keep in mind that specialization is better in the long term. I've also noticed a couple of issues with the way you fight. Can you guess one?" Yulia asked candidly.

"ummm. My choice of weapons against her?" he made the obvious guess. In hindsight, picking a rapier against her seemed quite stupid.

"No. You will learn that with experience. However, there's a more immediate issue you need to address. You're reckless, although not completely. Acting on instincts is important in any fight, but you place too much trust on them, putting yourself in unnecessary danger. Your method may work more than it fails, but in a real battle one mistake is enough to kill you. We don't want our righteous fury to succumb to her own recklessness, do we? You need to develop temperance in your battles," she told him, softening her words.

"The second one?" Blaze asked dryly. The teacher had just put down his entire fighting style and he couldn't help but feel a little irritated. However, he realized that she was probably right. All his previous experience had been through non-fatal fights.

"There is a serious issue with your movements while swinging your weapons. It seems like you're used to fighting on the ground and you're using the same movements in air. This is what I intend to make you work on in the foreseeable future," she finished, with an awkward little pat on his shoulder. It seemed like interacting with students wasn't her strong suit.

Blaze sighed and nodded in acceptance. She was spot on.

"And you, Miss Siofra," Yulia said, turning her attention to the pixie. "Do you know your weakness?

"My lack of physical strength?" Siofra instantly offered.

"Yes. But it doesn't have to be. You are more than agile enough to make up for your physical strength. It will matter even less when your manifested weapons become stronger than material weapons. I anticipate you will at least attain the power of an archangel in your lifetime.

"However, you focus too much on landing a weak hit and getting out of reach. You fear a prolonged exchange and even dodge when a parry is more suitable. You will need to learn how and when to tangle with an opponent and when to make it a feint and back out.

"In this regard, I believe you two are the perfect sparring partners for each other. You can teach Miss Blaze a thing or two about patience, while learning from her instinctual ability of knowing when to attack or defend. You two may have other issues as well, but we will discuss them later. For now, I want you to think about how you could've fought better. Continue the exercises for the rest of the class."

The duo returned to their dorms satisfied and reflective over their spar. Blaze finally found the true purpose in him attending the academy. Jie Er was an amazing teacher but nothing could replace learning through hands on practice. Jie Er and Rebecca were too strong to have meaningful fights with him.

With his mind going over the fight, he had trouble falling asleep and woke up late the next morning. Thus, he didn't have enough time to visit the stables. At least, that's what he told himself.

oOo

When Blaze and Siofra returned to his dorm on Tirdas evening, they immediately noticed a sense of gloom that pervaded the living room. It was in stark contrast to their own moods.

Yulia had given all her students a personalized training sheet, which though rigorous, filled each of them with anticipation of becoming stronger. His training mostly focused on relearning arm and leg movements while airborne, while Siofra's mainly focused on spars and shadow fighting.

"What happened?" Blaze asked the trio of Aahna, Bi and Rachel.

"We had our first combat training class," Rachel replied glumly.

"And?"

"We train together with class 1B and our teacher made us spar against them. We had ten bouts and we lost, badly. Only Bi and Kida won their matches. Everyone else, including me, lost," Aahna answered, shaking her head in disappointment.

"How? And Rach lost?" he asked her as Rachel looked away. Aahna didn't seem like a fighter, but Rachel was another story.

"She fought against one of the strongest in their class. She also just happened to be her counter. Every one of us who went first was countered. It was almost as if they knew our strengths," Aahna replied, looking at a group of seven angels whom Blaze had noticed during Siofra's first introduction into their dorm.

Siofra lowered her head guiltily and Aahna immediately responded. "It's not your fault Siofra. They betrayed us, not you," she said vehemently, as Blaze patted Siofra's shoulder.

"You think they gave them information? Why?" he asked, though he had an inclination.

"All their mothers are in the Malakim. I don't think they like us getting chummy with Siofra. Despite having a couple of strong angels amongst them, they didn't even participate in the bouts," Aahna explained angrily.

Blaze sighed. He couldn't really intervene, but he had to uphold his role as their leader. "It's alright guys!" he raised his voice for the rest of the room to hear; "It was only a friendly spar and you were also countered. What you learn over the year matters the most.

"I am sure you guys will kick their pretty little butts in the end of the year test. I will help you all in making sure it happens," he finished, glancing at the Malakim group.

He couldn't fight alongside his minions, but maybe he could help them grow stronger.

oOo

"Today, we shall talk about the demographics of Azra El and the Heavenly Union. Please take notes as some of the information is constantly changing," their geography teacher began, drawing Blaze's attention. She was a lanky older brunette named Circadia Clime. She wore a pair of thin rimmed glasses and a comfortable pony tail that hung high on her head.

"Can anyone tell me the population of the Heavenly Union?" she asked in a bland voice. Though Blaze felt that she was very passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, she was usually a boring teacher and always seemed to have a faraway look.

"42 million!" Aahna voice echoed almost instantaneously as her mouth shot off before her hand went up.

"Correct. That is the accurate figure from the census data published in Lucius Era 580. It includes the sum total of the angels, pixies, fairies, sylphs, nymphs, Kami, and other minor populations of beings with pure energy. The population of Aranya was counted to be around 3.6 million. Though the census data can be considered a bit old, the population growth rate of Heavenly Union has stagnated, and we can safely assume not to see any massive diff-"

"What is the population of the Hela Empire, Mon Clime?" Blaze interjected her. Despite her lean and almost ageless look, the teacher was around three hundred years old.

"Patience Miss Blaze. I know you like to get ahead in the subject matter, but you need to let me finish everything I need to convey in today's lecture. We will get to your question, eventually," Circadia replied with an unchanging expression. Only her words showed any indication of annoyance.

A round of chuckles went around the class. Blaze was unsure whether they were laughing at him interjecting the monotonous teacher, or at him being told off.

The next half hour dragged on as their teacher droned on about the peoples of the Heavenly Union; listing statistics and bland information that most of them wouldn't remember after the class.

Blaze felt Rachel's head fall on his shoulder at some point during the lecture and a light snore escaped her lips. She wasn't the only one to have fallen asleep.

The class was immediately after lunch and Circadia's intonation combined with the comfortable warmth of the classroom did not help in keeping the students awake.

Those that weren't asleep seemed to be lost in thought or were barely paying attention, jotting down seemingly important information based on the almost imperceptible changes in Circadia's voice. Aahna was the only one who seemed immersed in the lecture.

"Coming to your earlier question, Miss Blaze. The population of the Hela empire is very interesting," Circadia said, her voice suddenly gaining a slight pitch. She looked at him, but he couldn't tell if she noticed Rachel napping on his shoulder. Perhaps she simply didn't care.

Blaze perked up and Rachel stirred on his shoulder without waking up.

"Before the rise of Hela, estimates of the demon population never crossed ten million. The current population of the Hela empire is estimated to be around 25-28 million. This includes the demons, siren, huldra, yaksha, and the pixies of the western Mesa basin. It means that the population of the demons has more than doubled since the war, while the Heavenly Union's has remained the same. What do you think is the significance of this fact, Ms. Blaze?" she suddenly asked him.

Blaze couldn't remember another instance when Circadia had singled out a student for her questions.

"umm... that they are more likely to invade our lands?" he offered back.

"And why is that?"

"Because they will need more resources?"

"Only partially. While it is true that the demons before the war had a stark scarcity in resources, the land they now possess can easily sustain three times their current population, if not more. The increase in population will increase the likelihood of another large-scale war for territory and there are multiple reasons for why this is so.

"I want you to think over the reasons and write me an essay on the motivations for, and potential consequences of such a war. I expect it by next Morndas," Circadia replied expressionlessly, looking straight at him.

"Just me?"

"Yes." she answered without beating an eye. Blaze couldn't tell if it was meant to be a punishment for interrupting her or her way of appreciating his inquisitiveness. However, there was a definite glint in her eye.

The class continued for another fifteen minutes as she explained the various reasons behind the demons' seemingly sudden growth in population. The end of the session bell woke the students out of their stupor.

"Please share your notes with your more somnolent classmates," Circadia announced before leaving the class. A dozy eyed Rachel lazily got up from Blaze's shoulder and looked hopefully at Aahna and Bi.

Blaze never took notes. Notes were for plebs.

oOo

Blaze went to meet Siofra after their lectures the next day. He had once again avoided going to the stables that morning. He wanted to make amends with Claudis, but he wasn't sure how.

Siofra finally didn't strike the solitary figure that he had become accustomed to. Though she didn't seem chummy with anyone in particular, her classmates were sitting around her as if she was just another angel.

"Hello, Blazing Fury," a brunette angel on her right greeted him and scooted aside to give him room.

He raised a curious eyebrow at her and she just smiled at him before continuing her conversation with her friend.

"Blazing Fury?" he questioned Siofra, sitting down beside her.

"That's your new epithet. Someone mentioned yesterday that your wings look like a white-hot flame and your name is Blaze. Since then they've been calling you the Blazing Fury. I think I like it," Siofra answered.

"More like Breastless Fury!" he heard a voice proclaim from the table to their right. Priscilla and her entourage were sitting close by, and Blaze couldn't figure out why they chose to sit there. Most likely, it was just to make that comment. He once more looked to Siofra for an explanation.

"She's been spreading a rumor that you are an unnatural. Something about how you have a bigger room and that you don't appear in the common showers. Since the only thing that's strikingly different about your body is the lack of breasts... you know..." Siofra murmured, waving her hands and rolling her eyes.

"THANK YOU!" Blaze shouted back to Priscilla.

"It's an insult, idiot," one of Priscilla's minions replied in her stead. Probably the same one to call him breastless.

"Not to me. I think big breasts can get in the way while fighting. If that is the best insult you can throw at me, I will gladly take it as a compliment," Blaze retorted back, silencing the girl and making the rest of them fume. The other angels who heard their conversation began to laugh.

Priscilla maintained her holier than thou expression but she internally cursed. Blaze's nonchalance meant that his breasts weren't really the issue.

"You know... You are a little flat," Siofra said softly, poking him in the chest. She propped up her shoulders, seemingly proud of her own assets. Though lackluster, she was thought she was definitely better than Blaze in that department.

"Hey! That's sexual harassment!" Blaze exclaimed in mock anger.

"Section what?"

"Never mind," he brushed it off, snickering at his own ridiculous joke. "But you know, there are plenty of first years with flat chests. Why would she pick that of all things?" Blaze voiced his doubt pensively. There was definitely someone who was leaking information from the dorm.

"I think she is just grasping for krila. Do you really think that breasts get in the way? Don't they say they help as pivoting weights while flying?" she asked interestedly. Krila were a type of floating river weed.

"I've no idea. I've never had them" he replied seriously, stirring a giggle from her and the girl beside him.