Blade Over Magic

Lock In

When Xander and Mary arrived in the training field, which seemed to be where the squad spent most of its time at this point, he was, once again, greeted by an interesting sight. Mostly in regards to Curtis and Keir.

The former was just sitting there, mostly unperturbed, while Curtis continued to send out beams of frost at his side.

But surprisingly, the same frost that brought anything it touched down to absolute zero and made it into a unified structure did nothing against Keir’s scales. It simply bounced off harmlessly.

"... What’s happening?" Xander wondered aloud.

"Curtis is attempting to figure out how to make his frost affect things on a conceptual level. The reason his magic is doing nothing against Keir’s scales is because his higher plane of existence which can only be truly affected with attacks on that same plane, which is conceptual. At current, Curtis shows quite a high potential in reaching that level, or at least making his spells affect things at that level, now that he has accepted his true nature and can use it at will." Xander nodded in understanding, at the same time, he couldn’t help but be amazed by just how insane dragons were.

Keir was still a child by dragon terms, yet his existence alone could passively resist the horrors of absolute zero. It made sense now that when Falael had unleashed her burst of radiation, he’d been wholly unaffected despite not being protected by Mary’s wind barrier.

No wonder dragons were just a myth among common people. They had no reason to reveal themselves in any capacity.

It didn’t take long for the others to notice his presence, though. Especially Aubrey and Falael, and they quickly stopped what they were doing and came over.

"... Xander..." Upon seeing his still slightly puffy eyes, Aubrey exhaled slightly, and Xander gave a wry smile.

"Hey." There was a moment of silence that bordered on awkward, then Curtis scratched behind one of his ears. It seemed like one of his new tells.

"I... did I go overboard with what I said?" He said, not meeting Xander’s gaze. "I just... wanted you to understand, you know?" At this, Xander took a deep breath, then he exhaled slowly.

"No, you’re fine. You just used my own logic against me. Quite cleanly, too." He turned his smile to him. "You’re so quiet. Who’d have thought that you were so observant?" Curtis blinked at the smile, surprised that it didn’t seem forced, and he reciprocated it tentatively.

"You tend to notice things more when you don’t talk much." Xander nodded, then he turned to Aubrey and Falael again. The former was adjusting her glasses every few seconds, while the latter folded her arms under her chest. Falael seemed to have, to a degree, gotten her own emotions under control, so she more or less returned to her previous demeanor. Still, seeing the female body was still a bit jarring.

Xander closed his eyes for a few seconds to organize his thoughts, then he spoke.

"Like I said previously, I don’t know how to do this. The whole love thing. The way I feel about myself aside, I’m very inexperienced. Well, obviously you guys would be too, but like, prior to meeting you all, I barely interacted with people, save for Mary. So emotions, affection, all of that, it’s still a bit new to me." He looked at his hand, calloused from constant practice with his sword.

"Honestly, I still have no confidence when it comes to doing this. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be readily available emotionally, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll say the right things all the time. Nor can I guarantee that my use of the sword won’t cause any conflict. That last one especially. That said..." He looked up at them, his face showing a softness it never had before.

"I suppose... you guys would have thought about this already. And yet, your feelings have remained unchanged. To be clear, I really, really don’t think I’ve earned the right to be loved by either of you, let alone both of you. But I suppose that’s how unconditional love works. Even if I don’t think I’ve earned it, you’re still gonna give it to me regardless. So I’m just going to have to accept it." Then, shockingly, Xander started to fidget!

And for the first time since they met him, a hint of color dusted his cheeks as he seemed... bashful.

"That said... I can’t deny my own feelings towards both of you... My own ability exposed me. I-I like both of you... and I don’t want to have to choose between you two. But I also know that choosing b-both of you might make things messy, and you guys might not want to... share, so..." Seeing his stuttering like this was oddly... humanizing.

Xander was by no means as cold or unperturbed as someone like Mia. But he always seemed to collected. Yet in the same day, they’d seen him retreat to his room to cry, and now they saw him stuttering and blushing.

Falael and Aubrey thought it was kinda...

Cute?

Aubrey paused her adjusting, while Falael’s ears twitched. They shared a glance and seemed to see that they had the same thought.

Looking at Xander standing there, waiting to see if they would accept being in a relationship with him at the same time, very obviously nervous and embarrassed, they indeed thought he looked cute then.

"... Phew." Falael exhaled and stepped forward, her face unreadable.

Falael didn’t dare read her intent as he waited. But then...

He felt a set of lips press on his cheek. His brain went blank, and he looked up to look at Falael, only for him to feel another set of lips press on his other cheek, and his head snapped to look at Aubrey.

He looked between both of them, his expression comical as he looked on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"You talk to much. You’ve accepted our feelings, right? That’s all I need to hear. We’ll deal with what comes after." Falael snorted, but the redness in her ears was telling.

Aubrey adjusted her glasses, but even she looked a bit pink.

"Indeed. Also, considering how it’s not wholly uncommon for someone to have multiple partners. This isn’t that strange. Besides, Falael and I talked it over... We don’t mind. Especially after knowing how we feel about you, too." Xander looked between the two of them, and he felt his heart swell.

His lips curled into a tentative smile.

"... Thank you. Both of you." By the side, Curtis went to walk behind Keir, then he began silently celebrating. Mary smiled faintly, but it vanished as soon as it appeared.

It was then that Mia appeared among them, causing everyone to jump at the abrupt appearance.

She turned her impassive gaze on all of them, snapped her fingers to bring Curtis back to them, then spoke.

"Alright, since you lot have settled that, I think it’s about time we start your real training. As things stand, you’ve all made huge leaps in your various abilities. What stands now is to make your foundations firmer, then build up from there." She looked up.

"You may not be aware, but that Xavier guy put a large Time Dilation field over this place. So time passes faster while we are inside. We have a few weeks until the ball, but in reality, you guys have far longer than that." No one was really surprised by this. When they learned that Mary and Keir got the same treatment, they sort of guessed that something similar would happen to them.

"How much faster?" Xander asked curiously, and Mia just looked at him.

"He said you’d know when it ended." Hearing this, Keir, who had been calm previously started wailing, his large body rolling over as he flailed his limbs.

"Aaaah! No! Not again! He said I wouldn’t need to go through this again! Why is it always me?!?!?" They all glanced at him before promptly ignoring the dragon throwing a tantrum.

"So... what exactly does this training entail?" Curtis asked.

"I’m glad you asked." Everyone flinched again as Xavier just materialized next to them. He first looked at Xander, then at the two girls, then at Xander again, a knowing smile appearing on his face.

Xander’s eye twitched.

’Don’t you dare compare me with you, you unfaithful swine.’ Ignoring his glare, Xavier snapped his fingers, and a large blackboard with a lot of information on it appeared.

"Having observed you lot for a while and your recent improvements, I’ve created a comprehensive training guide to help you all further improve within the time granted within this area. Taking into account your different ogysiques, personal goals you want to reach, abilities, teamwork, and so on. Even your diet is going to be altered accordingly." At the sound of that, Keir just wailed louder, and was once again ignored.

Aubrey looked at the board and frowned a bit.

"This is... a lot." She mumbled, and Xavier just smiled shrewdly.

"Most people would jump at the chance to make use of something like Time Dilation. Rather than worrying about how much you need to do, think about how much you’d have improved after. Isn’t that exciting?" Xander’s eyes lit up at that.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Xavier laughed.

"See? Now you’re getting it." He looked at Xander. "By the way, this extends to the retinue, so within your schedule, you will still be training them. I look forward to see how they turn out by the end of it all." Then he looked at the rest of them.

"Alright, all of you. Starting from now, things are gonna get intense. But we’re gonna make sure that when you debut at that ball, it’s going to be nothing short of spectacular." Looks of determination flitted across all of their faces.

It was clear that after this period of training, the people who came out on the other side would be far more different than the ones there.