Villain With A Side Quest

The moment Kael vanished, Selene's fingers twitched—an old instinct, a muscle memory born from years of battle rather than the sterile halls of the Academy. She didn't flinch, didn't move beyond a slow inhale, but her senses sharpened instantly. The shift in the air, the way the surrounding essence wavered, it all screamed of something unnatural.

Not just advanced wind magic. Something more. Something hidden.

Not just advanced wind magic. Something more. Something hidden.

Selene's amber eyes flickered with understanding, though she schooled her expression into something unreadable. Around her, the class reacted with varying degrees of shock and confusion. Gasps echoed through the room as students whispered amongst themselves, eyes darting around, trying to locate where Kael had gone.

"Did he just—"

"How is that even possible?"

"That's not normal wind magic!"

Selene ignored the noise. Her mind had already begun fitting the pieces together.

'So, they still exist,' she thought grimly. 'And the boy's one of them.'

It had been years since she'd last encountered a survivor of that bloodline. The so-called aristocrats of magic—the Council and the Academy alike—had gone to great lengths to erase their history, to pretend they had never existed. The tragedy of the Aerius line had been swept under the rug, their techniques classified as nothing more than myths and lost arts.

But Selene knew better.

Kael wasn't just a student with a powerful wind affinity. He was using something deeper, something far more dangerous—the Vanishing Step.

A lost technique, one that blurred the line between movement and existence itself. True speed wasn't just about moving fast—it was about bending the very concept of space, slipping between the moments before reality had time to catch up. Only those of the Aerius bloodline could do it properly, and even among them, it was rare. It wasn't teleportation, not in the way people understood it. It was a perfect deception—an ability that made it seem like one had disappeared while simply existing just beyond perception.

But that wasn't the most concerning part.

For Kael to use it so effortlessly, so instinctively… it meant he had been trained. Not self-taught, not experimenting like a prodigy stumbling upon hidden talent. Someone had taught him, and that meant there were still remnants of the Aerius techniques out there, surviving in secret.

Selene clenched her jaw. That should have been impossible.

'So… who trained you, Kael?'

Her gaze flickered to Kieran. He was no less intriguing. Unlike the rest of the class, he hadn't reacted with shock. No gasping, no widened eyes. He had stilled, his golden gaze sharp, calculating. Analyzing. Unshaken.

'What do you see, boy?'

She had her suspicions about Kieran as well. She heard about his fight against Alexander Vale, studied the subtle inconsistencies in his supposed weaknesses. His essence control, the way he wielded different elements with an ease that defied his supposed dark affinity—it was all wrong. Or rather, too right. Like a puzzle too perfectly arranged to be real.

Now, watching him scan the space where Kael had vanished, she knew with certainty: Kieran wasn't surprised because he had expected something like this.

Selene folded her arms, masking her growing interest with a casual stance. "Quiet," she said, her voice carrying a subtle force that silenced the room. The students fell into uneasy silence, waiting, watching. "Panicking won't help you find him."

Several heads turned toward her, as if expecting an explanation, but she offered none. Let them stew. Let them wonder. Instead, she turned her focus to the battlefield again, watching for the inevitable.

Because Kael would reappear.

The Vanishing Step was a technique built for offense, not retreat. The Aerius were predators, not prey. Their battle philosophy was built on deception, on eliminating hesitation. If Kael had chosen to use it, it wasn't to run—it was to strike.

And right on cue—

A ripple in the air.

Selene caught the faintest flicker of displaced wind essence a second before Kael rematerialized—above Kieran, descending like a blade cutting through the sky.

The class barely had time to react before Kael struck.

A focused air burst, condensed to a fraction of its usual size, aimed directly at Kieran's exposed flank. It wasn't an ordinary wind blast. No, Kael had compressed it into something far more dangerous—a slicing force, a surgical strike meant to cripple, not simply knock back.

Kieran moved.

Selene's lips twitched, barely suppressing a smile.

So, you were ready for this after all.

Rather than trying to dodge outright, Kieran twisted his wrist, summoning an eruption of stone to meet the attack. But he didn't just raise a wall. He let the force of Kael's wind carve through it, directing the pressure away from himself in a carefully controlled collapse. Dust exploded around them, momentarily blinding the other students, but Selene saw everything.

'Clever boy. You didn't just block—you redirected. Less resistance, less wasted essence.'

Even Kael seemed momentarily caught off guard, forced to adjust as Kieran retaliated with a swift counterattack. He stomped the ground, sending a jagged spear of rock toward Kael's landing position. But Kael, even midair, was not easy prey. A flick of his fingers and a concentrated air pulse propelled him sideways, avoiding the strike by mere inches.

Kieran didn't relent. The moment Kael's feet touched the ground, lightning cracked through the dust cloud. A sudden shift—Kieran had abandoned raw elements for something more precise. Electricity arced between his fingertips, and for the first time, Selene saw Kael hesitate.

Selene narrowed her eyes. 'So, you're cautious about lightning magic, are you?'

It made sense. Wind conducted electricity. If Kieran was skilled enough, he could use that against Kael, force his wind techniques to betray him. The battle had just reached an entirely new level.

Kael knew it too. His stance changed, shifting from fluid motion to something more defensive. Not retreating. Calculating.

Selene felt something stir in her chest. A rare feeling, one she hadn't experienced in a long time. Excitement.

'These two… they aren't normal students.'

The rest of the class had fallen completely silent. No more whispered rumors, no more speculations. They were witnessing something far beyond the expected level of first-year students. Even the Academy's top-ranked upperclassmen would struggle to display this level of control in a duel.

Selene's eyes narrowed as she studied Kieran's movements. Each spell he cast was precise, deliberate—there was no wasted essence, no flashy displays of power. Just careful manipulation of basic techniques that most students overlooked.

When he raised the earth barrier, it wasn't the towering wall that advanced users could summon. Instead, his Shifting Earth Shield rose just high enough to redirect Kael's attack, its structure intentionally layered to guide the wind's force away from him. Simple, efficient, and far less draining than trying to block the attack outright.

Lightning crackled between his fingers—not the devastating bolts that could split the sky, but controlled arcs that danced across the battlefield. The Electric Arc technique wasn't meant to overwhelm; it was a deterrent, forcing Kael to reconsider his approach. In the dust-filled air, even these basic lightning strikes posed a real threat to a wind user.

'He's fighting smarter, not harder,' Selene thought, watching as Kieran maintained his ground.

The strain of cross-element casting showed in subtle ways—a slight tension in his shoulders, the measured pace of his breathing. Using magic outside one's affinity always took a toll, but Kieran seemed to have found a balance, never pushing beyond what his essence reserves could handle.

Then came the moment that truly caught Selene's attention. As Kael prepared another assault, Kieran's hands moved in a fluid sequence. He sent a pulse of earth essence through the ground—Tremor Touch, a technique usually used for detection. But instead of just sensing movement, he threaded Electric Current through the stone beneath their feet.

When Kael stepped forward, the combined spells sent a jolt through his stance. Not enough to harm, but enough to break his rhythm, to make him hesitate for just a fraction of a second.

'Now that's interesting,' Selene mused. 'Using basic techniques in ways they weren't meant to be used.'

But as she watched him prepare his next move, one question lingered: how long could he maintain this delicate balance?

The other students might have expected grand displays of power, but Selene saw the real battle unfolding—a contest of control, timing, and resourcefulness. Kieran was proving that even with the limitations of his dark affinity, he could hold his own against a skilled opponent.

Kieran exhaled slowly, his golden eyes locked onto Kael with unwavering focus.

Kael tensed, waiting, watching.