The Poleman

But what the book said was true.

Sine had become a Magepunk. And this opened a lot of new options for him. He could work under someone stronger, such as a union, or work for the government as a knight. 

But Sine had a different idea. He wanted to go back to that hole and get down it. He wanted to explore the 'Netherworlds'.

And to do that, he had to make it back to the Sin of Envy zone where it was located. He didn't know if there were other holes, or if other people knew about the Netherworlds, but it was likely that it wasn't public knowledge, since he never heard of anything like it.

There are various ways he could get there, but he wanted to try one specifically...

**

"I need money." Sine was sitting parallel to Kael, who had his arms crossed and feet up on his desk.

"No." He brushed his hair back, wadding up a paper ball and throwing it into a nearby trash can.

He missed.

"Whyyyyy" Sine pleaded.

"I simply don't have the cash on me." He waved his hand before stopping. "But I do have a proposal..." He stood up and smiled. He walked to a nearby file cabinet and opened the top drawer, sliding his fingers atop ledgers until he found the right ones.

"In the academy, there are three seniors I want you to put into their places." He said, his tone grave. "These misfits rule the school and without some... physical... treatment, they won't listen to us, and well, by law we can't do anything. We can't expel them either due to them covering up their tracks to well with no evidence left behind."

"With all due respect sir, I'm not strong in the slightest. Actually, I don't think it's been 24 hours since I picked up a weapon for the first time." Sine said, and he wasn't exaggerating.

"Haha, enough with the jokes. If you can do what you did to those monsters in the Pride zone, then you'll be just fine. You just need to enroll for a day, pummel them to the ground, without killing or disabling them, and dip. I'll get you all the money you need." He smiled and held his hand out. "Do we have a deal?"

Honestly, Sine had never fought another human before. It was a scary thought, and his adrenaline was pumping a little even thinking about it. "S-Sure. I need the money." 

He shook his hand.

"Alright, what are you in clothing size, a medium?" Kael asked, rummaging through a closet of spare uniforms. 

"Uh, sure that might work." Sine glanced into the closet.

"Alright here we go." Kael pulled out a close-hanger with a navy-blue uniform hanging from it, its collar laced with red crosses and a badge on its left breast area. The pants were simply black dress pants. 

"Uh, do I have somewhere to change?" Sine took hold of the uniform and looked around.

"Oh uh, walk out of my office and take a left, there's a bathroom there." Kael responded.

Sine took hold of the polished doorknob and opened the door, leaving the professor behind. He walked down a pristine hallway lined with paintings and marble columns. A bathroom sign hung from atop a doorway, and sign headed into the one without the long hair. 

In it, he found polished copper stalls, and three boys that looked like they were skipping class.

He ignored them and went into a nearby stall. Taking off his torn clothes, he put on the used uniform, (a massive upgrade to his previous clothes), and headed back out into the hallways.

'To be honest, I'm probably gonna lose.'

Think about it, these kids have likely gone under training for their whole lives always had time to practice with their Aether Engines. Sine had gotten his what, 12 hours ago? 

Sine was scared. But he wasn't going to back down. The little hobgoblin needed his money.

As coins flashed in his eyes, he marched back into the office. 

"Okay, so where do I find these kids?" 

**

A yawn escaped Ariet's lips. He wiped his eyes and looked over to the nearest person. "Yo." 

With a jump, the boy with a brown-haired side part jumped up and looked at him. "Y-Yes?"

'Man why is everyone scared of me? I'm nothing like those other douchebags.' 

"You wanna do a quick spar after class? I heard your top 10 right?"

'He's gonna beat me upppp' - (brown side-part boy)

'A light spar won't scare him right?' - (Ariet)

Suddenly, someone burst into the classroom. The professor looked up and saw a short, lean kid with curly brown hair standing their with a slightly baggy Uniform as he said, "A-Ariet?"

'Is that his name? Am I reading it right?'

"Ariet I challenge you to a duel!" Sine proclaimed.

A smile crept up on Ariet's face. "Finally, someone who isn't a pussy!"

Instead of a regular gymnasium, there were three giant stone plates using resin to hold them to the ground. On one side of the middle stone plate, a short, brown curly-haired kid stood with a pole in his hand. 

On the other side, a tall (6 foot), more masculine teenager with white hair with blue streaks in it stood with a claymore in his hand.

"Use of Aether Engine!?" Ariet yelled.

"Sure, whatever!" Sine responded.

Kael was unsurprisingly watching over the duel. 

"Begin!" Kael yelled.

Before Sine could blink, a shine in the shape of a glint below him shone only for a fraction of a second before a column of blue flames arose from where he stood. Sine simply stood, devoured by the flame of Ariet.

"Oh yeah that burns." A shadow appeared in the blue starlight of the gluttonous fire pillar, and a figure emerged from it, only slightly burnt.

The Pole dispersed the flames, becoming a pillar of blue flame, then smoke. "Come on! Pick up the pace!"

Sine's leg extended, then extended into another step. 

"Haha! Who are you!" Ariet leaned forward and dashed towards Sine, and they both turned into a blur.

A series of clangs and clashes followed like a rhyming beat, a loud engine roared and Ariet erupted in flames, a spinning blue halo appeared above his head.

"Why don't you show your transformation now!" A wicked grin crossed his face as his pace quickened.

"Transformation?" Sine smiled. "What transformation?"

"Haha! Playing dumb!" His smile was ear to ear. "I see how it is! Time to turn up the heat!" 

The air started to shimmer, and Sine's vision became hazy as the room became boiling hot. Massive snakes of azure fire sprouted from sparks that randomly appeared in the air. Sine's first thought was that he could pass right through them and attack him, but the flames were indeed hotter.

He might be charred if not careful.

Like a windmill, he used The Pole to redirect a series of flames to the side of him, dashing forward with a frontal assault.

The claymore met his Pole, and a resounding shockwave shook the building. 

But Sine wasn't done.

Bouncing The Pole off the claymore, Sine swept upwards and hit Ariet in the forearm, cracking a bone, then, hit him in the chin.

Flames erupted around him to hopefully get Sine off of him, but it was no use. Sine used The Pole as a fan and extinguished them, then hit him in the ribs.

Ariet was close to being finished off, but he wouldn't go down this easily. A condensed ball of fire formed, then, he molded it into the shape of an arrow, and sent it hurdling at Sine.

Sine barely dodged it, a hole appearing on his shoulder and the wound instantly being cauterized. 

A grimaced look appeared on his face as he struck down another arrow that had formed. A flurry of arrows pushed Sine back as his Pole bounced off one only to have to meet another.

Sine was getting tired, but he knew Ariet was injured, and he had to take advantage of that. Sine struck The Pole downwards, and a net of cracks appeared in the concrete platform.

As Kael's face despaired, Sine dodged an arrow and stomped the ground, sending rubble into the air, and launched a particularly large piece at Ariet.

He missed the first one, and immediately sent another after dodging a flame arrow. 

This time, it struck on the target, knocking him out immediately.

Sine stood huffing and puffing, he looked at Kael who gave him a half-thumbs up half glare for breaking the arena.

'How did I beat him? ...And why am I upset that it was even close?'

Of course Sine would be confused, he went against the best of the best against his peers, and managed to win with only about 6 hours of combat experience. So how did he win?

Well, the role of him fighting for his life in the Pride zone played a part in it. But that wasn't the biggest part.

Sine was simply a genius.

At well... everything.

Except for being tall.