The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  Marcus was stunned when he heard the angry voice. He froze for a moment but when he felt the strange air current flowing next to his feet, he quickly reacted and jumped back to avoid it.

  "Who is it!?" exclaimed Marcus. Who was the person trying to ruin his moment with Aila? The twister was harmless but as it spun, it inevitably splashed the water. The wet sand underneath flew all over the place and dirtied Marcus' clothes. Furthermore, in his hurry, he inevitably let go of the bouquet that fell into the sea.

  Marcus was furious; his big moment had been completely ruined. He turned toward the newcomer. His eyes narrowed as he instantly recognized that person. It was the fresher that ruined the Flemming Organization's plan to share their resources. The members of the organization had already discussed the issue among themselves and chose to drop the matter. It was evident that that person came from another organization and before they had enough information about it, it was better to lay low.

  However, the situation was different now. Marcus could see the flames burning in Alexander's eyes and he saw him as his rival! Marcus did not need to ask anything, he could guess that Alexander had a crush on Aila. The shout and the twister were both his doing. Alexander had completely ruined his proposal.

  A fire was burning in Marcus' heart. Just like that, a conflict was born between the two.

  Today was supposed to be the day, he would officially be in a relationship with Aila. However, not only did his plan fail, it all failed because of this new rival. How could Marcus tolerate that? He was the king of his cohort, the champion of the second-year students and now, his prestige was being challenged by a mere fresher?

  In his rage, thoughts of getting rid of Alexander flashed through Marcus' mind. Not only would he get rid of one of his rivals for Aila, but he would also weaken whatever organization he came from!

  Marcus had a perfect knowledge of the rules of the academy. Magic was only allowed to be used in specific areas of the island. The exceptions to this rule were if the mage ever encountered a danger that he could not escape from or is he was attacked, he was allowed to retaliate! Clearly, from this situation, Alexander was the first to cast a spell! It could be recognized as an attack. If Marcus were to use a spell now, with the push from the Flemming Organization, it could be regarded as an act of self-defense!

  Alexander felt the changes in Marcus' expression. It started with surprise and changed to frustration. Then, there was anger and now, Alexander could feel a murderous intent directed at him. And as Alexander expected, Marcus soon activated his spirit circuits.

  Alexander instantly determined which spell was being cast. He shifted his body and faced the sea.

  [Besmoth, the Shieldbearer]

  The water of the ocean shook. Several water spears emerged from the sea, flying toward Alexander but just as they were about to hit Alexander, the spears suddenly exploded on an invisible wall.

  Marcus frowned. His opponent had an impressive reaction time but it did not matter. He did not have much time left; as a spell had been activated out of the regulated zone, the instructors should already be on their way here!

  At worst, Alexander would receive severe punishments from the academy but it was not what Marcus wanted. The latter wanted to completely get rid of the potential threat as soon as possible.

  Mana flowed into Marcus' spirit circuits and the rocks around him started to float. They stuck to each other and soon, a four-meter tall golem was formed. It was the advanced spell: [Golem Creation].

  "Attack him, now!" bellowed Marcus. The instructors would soon be here. He did not have any time to lose.

  "Boom Boom!" The Golem rushed toward Alexander, each of his step resonated through the beach. Now, there was no way the academy would not detect that something wrong was taking place.

  Alexander calmly looked at the golem. "Impressive, he is able to use an advanced spell already but it is not complete yet. He clearly did not master the spell yet. The joints are a bit shaky; the Golem should only be able to last for a minute," said Alexander to himself.

  He jumped and activated his own spirit circuits.

  [Dark Impact]

  It was a powerful intermediate spell that drained the large majority of Alexander's mana reservoir. Had Marcus mastered the Golem Creation spell, Alexander would have had no choice but to use his stargazer power but since the joints were still shaky, as Alexander punched the Golem, the massive rock Golem trembled. Its main body fell from its two legs and at the same time, its arms were sent flying.

  "You... How?" exclaimed Marcus.

  "Idiot!" Alexander glared at Marcus. He stepped forward with a menacing expression but at that moment, a bright light suddenly appeared between the two.

  Alexander's eyes shone, it was the spell, [Shield of light], an intermediate spell. Without even looking, Alexander knew the instructors had arrived. When he turned to his right, he saw three instructors rushing toward them accompanied by four mechanical robots. In the sky, three drones were already pointing at Alexander and Marcus.

  "Halt! What is happening here? Explain to me! Why did you start using spells? You know very well it is forbidden to do so!" The leading instructor furiously shouted. In his right hand, the instructor was holding a pistol, ready to take out any threat.

  "Sir, you are finally here. I was enjoying the sea here with my girlfriend when that guy suddenly started attacking us! I could only fight back to protect my girl," said Marcus. His expression changed quickly, hiding his previous intentions. He wore a worried expression as he turned toward Aila, hoping that she would confirm his statement. Deep inside, Marcus was brightly smiling, even if he failed to kill Alexander, the attempted murder might even result in the expulsion of his rival!

  Aila did not say anything. Her eyes were constantly shifting between Marcus and Alexander. It was not the first time two men fought to gain her favors but this situation was indeed quite unique. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed the innocent figure of Lyana observing the situation from a reasonable distance.

  The instructor looked at Aila for a moment. Seeing that she did not answer, he instead turned toward Alexander. "And you? What do you have to say for your defense!?"

  Chapter 19: Punishment

  "Me? I am being framed. He was the first to attack me and I only defended myself! If I did not use magic, I would most probably be dead by now. He is the thief calling others thief!"

  By now, the instructors had all arrived and surrounded Alexander and Marcus. Another instructor went to Lyana and brought her next to Aila.

  "What? Lies! You are the thief calling others thief! You know very well what you have done! Confess now and you might get a more lenient sentence!" exclaimed Marcus angrily.

  Alexander turned toward the instructors. They did not say anything yet. It was clear that they were waiting for the instructions of the higher-ups.

  "This thing is very easy to prove," said Alexander while smiling. He took out his X-Driver from his short's pocket. "You just need to check this, right?"

  The instructors' eyes widened in surprise. Not many people knew about the functions of the X-Driver. The rules of the academy stated that the students needed to keep their X-Driver on them at all time. Naturally, there were some instances where it was impossible but in normal times, if they did not have their X-Driver, the students could be fined a few Earth Credits.

  The stated reason was that the X-Driver was used to monitor the students' location, making sure that they did not do anything shady. However, the X-Driver could also detect the flow of Mana and would immediately know if the students used magic outside of the regulated zones!

  Not many people knew of this system as the majority of students thought that the entire island was being monitored. They did not know that it was all done by the small harmless X-Drivers.

  By showing his X-Driver, Alexander was indirectly saying, "Here, you can check it. I know I am innocent. You just have to ask your superiors for the logs of the X-Drivers."

  The instructo
rs stared at Alexander for a moment and eventually, the lead instructor spoke, "If you are confident, then give me your X-Driver. I'll send the data to be analyzed. And you too young man."

  "Sure." Alexander did not hesitate and watched as the instructor briefly connected his X-Driver to a device.

  Marcus was confused but he nevertheless complied with the instructions. He knew the men of the academy would investigate the matter but in the end, he would not be blamed! Alexander was the first one to use magic, he only used his own in self-defense!

  A few minutes went by as the instructors waited for an answer from the security directors. When they observed Alexander and Marcus, they found that both of them were relaxed as if they were really innocent.

  Eventually, the lead instructor's X-Driver flashed; he had obtained the results.

  Marcus smiled, "You can no longer lie now!" He watched as the lead instructor signaled the others to move. He could not wait to watch Alexander be arrested but to his surprise, the burly instructors did not aim at Alexander but instead grabbed his arms and forcefully cuffed his hands with specials cuffs made of Aimantite.

  "What is it? Why are you arresting me? I am clearly innocent!" exclaimed Marcus. He was stunned, it was the exact opposite of the scene he imagined.

  Marcus was not the only one who was confused. Both Aila and Lyana were also astonished by the results. They had both witnessed the scene and saw the twister appear in front of Marcus but Alexander was not being arrested!

  "Shut up. The logs are clear. You are the one who used your mana first and the amount of mana used is equivalent to that of an intermediate spell!"

  "Impossible! I clearly saw it! He used the wind spell [Twister]! I am innocent. He used his mana first. Ask those girls. Aila, tell them what you saw," Marcus pleaded. He expectantly looked at Aila; she was his only hope.

  "Miss?"

  "He is not lying. We indeed saw a small twister appear but it was really small and harmless..." replied Lyana with a fearful expression.

  Marcus was relieved. "See? I am innocent!"

  The lead instructor frowned. "Then follow me to the office. Even if you are innocent, we still need you to give a statement."

  ***

  Carmen Ashmore stormed out of her office and rushed toward the discipline hall. As per her orders, there was a list of students whose actions were closely monitored and she needed to be alerted whenever a conflict would arise involving one of those students.

  Carmen had been having a relatively good day. She was sipping her coffee, enjoying the few moments of peace she could have when her a red-flagged email suddenly appeared on her screen. The instructors reported an event that just took place that involved the students on that special list. Furthermore, it did not involve just one student or two; it involved four of them! The two girls from the Sacred Mountain, the son of Frederik Lombardi from the Flemming Organization and the unknown rising star Alexander!

  All these four individuals had been flagged by Carmen as being potential troublemakers and she was not wrong!

  While walking, she read through the report on the X-Driver. The son of Frederik Lombardi claimed that Alexander was able to use magic that could be undetected by the system? How ridiculous was that?

  She quickly arrived at the discipline hall and called the instructors that were in charge of the incident. She looked at the four students through a one-way mirror; they had all just given their statements and were waiting to see the results. They did not speak at all under the strict watch of two instructors.

  "What do you have to report?"

  "It is like that, we suspect that the student named Alexander Vagras is able to hide his use of magic! the students Aila and Marcus Lombardi both claim to have seen a twister appear first. The latter attacked because he thought that Alexander was being hostile to him and so the conflict broke out."

  "What did Alexander say?"

  "He denied the accusation. He claimed that he did not see the twister as he was too far away. He only shouted at Marcus because he was going to give roses to the student Aila and apparently, she is allergic to those. This information has already been confirmed."

  "The situation is strange. What do you think about it?" asked Carmen as she looked at the person in charge of the discipline department.

  "Miss, I think that we need to investigate Alexander and see if he can really use magic without us knowing. It is very important to us as the entire system might collapse if it really is possible to do so. The charges against Marcus Lombardi should be dismissed. If Alexander really used his magic, then he could not be blamed and even if Alexander did not use his magic, it is all just a misunderstanding. When he saw a twister appear out of nowhere, it is normal to think of it as an attack," answered the discipline director.

  Carmen frowned. The temperature of the room suddenly dropped. The instructors felt an indescribable feeling of discomfort rising inside of them.

  "You... Isn't your brother a member of the Flemming Organization? What are you trying to do? According to the system, all the pieces of evidence point at Marcus Lombardi. No matter what, he won't escape punishment and I will ask the Flemming Organization for an answer! Do you think you can just push the blame on another student? Do you think I did not read the report? It is clear that he let his emotions take control of him. He just wanted to vent because his proposal had failed and he used the closest person as a punching bag!"

  The discipline director paled. He tried to answer but the headmistress cut him short. She looked furious; in her current state, arguing with her would just be looking for trouble.

  "Don't you see how ridiculous your claim of a student being able to use magic without being detected is? He is just eighteen years old and his past has been investigated. All his actions are being closely monitored. You have seen for yourself, the sensors did detect his use of magic when he destroyed the Golem. As for the twister, it might just be a weird climatic phenomenon. Since the rifts appeared, the weather had never been really stable."

  "Miss, this is unreasonable..." The discipline director tried to object.

  "Silence! One more word from you and I will immediately cut the slots of the Flemming Organization by half. The students are free to go but send Marcus Lombardi to the house arrest. I will personally write to the Flemming Organization! The current rule is very clear, whoever uses magic first is to be punished. The case is dismissed!"

  Carmen stared at the instructors waiting for them to act. No one dared to voice their opinion and most of them did not really care about the outcomes. Only the discipline director was unsatisfied by the headmistress' decision. Although he was unwilling he could only proceed with Carmen's instructions.

  "Alexander... Alexander Vagras... I will remember that name and inform the higher-ups," said the discipline director to himself.

  ***

  As Alexander expected, he was soon escorted out of the discipline hall with Aila and Lyana. "I was right! The star energy is different from mana. The sensors in the X-Driver are unable to detect it," said Alexander to himself.

  He absentmindedly started to walk back home when someone stopped him.

  "Hey, would you like to accompany us for a drink?"

  Alexander turned around when he heard Aila's sweet voice. He froze for a moment and inadvertently blurted out, "I would love to."

  The trio went to a nearby coffee shop and sat on the terrace. As the temperature was already quite high, they all ordered a couple of frappuccinos and were now quietly enjoying the light breeze.

  No one spoke. Alexander was quietly reminiscing his past; if Lyana was not here, the scene would have been very similar to the time he spent with his lover. Aila looked carefree but she was closely observing Alexander. As for Lyana, she was simply here for the free drink; her objective in approaching Alexander at the beach was just to bring him to Aila and now that her task was done, she just wanted to watch what would happen next.

  "Sorry for dragging you into this mess. Fortunately, it all end
ed well," Aila broke the awkward silence.

  "It was nothing. I was simply protecting myself. Don't think about it too much."

  "So... What do you think of the academy? You've been here for one week already." Aila was a true socialite. She could easily make one feel comfortable and shift the conversation to what she was interested in.

  The trio chatted for a while completely avoiding any sensitive subjects. When it started getting darker, Aila invited Alexander to a nearby restaurant and the trio once again moved location.

  The girls happily brought Alexander to a high-end restaurant near the main square. Even though the trio was only wearing casual clothes, the waiter bowed politely and brought them to a private room.

  Alexander was not surprised by this. Had it been anyone, they would have probably been denied entry but Alexander knew that they would be able to go through. That was simply because the owner of the restaurant was none other than the Sacred Mountain.