Back in their shared room, the candles had long burned low, casting a soft golden hue over the walls. Aresando leaned against the window frame, arms crossed, staring out at the moonlit campus. Jade sat cross-legged on the bed behind him, tail swaying lazily, but her eyes were sharp.
"That girl tonight," Jade murmured, "she knew something. And she wasn't afraid of you."
Aresando didn't look back. "Yeah. That makes two of you."
She grinned slightly. "I'm not afraid because I know you wouldn't hurt me."
There was a pause. The air felt heavy—not in a bad way, but like it carried meaning. Like one wrong move could send something unspoken tumbling into the light.
"I don't know what I am here, Jade," Aresando said, finally turning. "First the beast. Then the way the teachers are watching me. And now… her. Saying I'm the key to something I don't understand."
She stood and crossed the room slowly. "You're you. And that's enough for me."
He looked at her. "Even if I turn out to be dangerous?"
Her ears twitched. "Then I'll be the one to tame you."
There was no smirk this time. Just sincerity. And something deeper—something glowing faintly in her golden eyes. Possessive. Fierce. Loyal. Hers.
The tension snapped like a drawn bowstring.
Jade reached out and gently touched his arm. Her fingers curled slightly, like she wanted to pull him closer… but was waiting for him to move first.
But before he could answer, a sharp knock came at the door.
Both of them froze.
"…Who knocks at 1 a.m.?" Aresando asked.
Jade's ears perked, alert. She stepped to the door, sniffed once—and hissed softly. "Blood magic. Someone tampered with the ward on the door."
Aresando moved instantly, hand glowing faintly with the blue-gold light he used in training. Jade flung the door open—
And no one was there.
Just a scroll, glowing with crimson runes.
He bent down slowly, examining it. It wasn't dangerous. It was… a message.
A challenge.
> You're not the only one who's awakened, 'hero.' But you'll be the first to fall. Duel at dawn. The Coliseum. Alone. Or we come for the wolf.
Jade let out a low growl, fangs flashing. "They threatened me."
Aresando's jaw tightened. "Then I'll show them what happens when they mess with what's mine."
Jade blinked.
Aresando froze.
"…Uh. I mean—"
She stepped forward, grinning wide, cheeks burning but eyes dancing with mischief. "What's yours, huh?"
He looked away. "…Figure of speech."
"Mm-hm." She leaned in. "Say it again and maybe I'll let you win our next sparring match."
"…No promises."
The scroll burst into flames in his hand as the runes completed. He crushed the ash in his palm.
"Tomorrow," he said, "we show them I'm not the key, or a weapon, or a king."
"If they wanted a pawn, they should've picked someone else."
Said Aresando whit a Deep and angry voice.
Jade's tail swished, a fang peeking through her smile. "u-u-u you are amazing" She said with a hint of blushing.
———
The sun hadn't fully risen, but Aresando was already awake. Or rather... his muscles were. The rest of him would've happily bartered for ten more minutes under the covers—especially with a warm, sleepy Jade curled around his side like a cuddly wolf blanket.
"Mmm… five more minutes," she mumbled, ears low and one hand—paw?—still resting on his chest. "Kill someone after breakfast, come on…"
"It's a duel, not a deadly brunch," Aresando sighed, trying to slip out of bed with the grace of a midnight thief. He failed. Jade huffed and yanked him back down with a strength that clashed hilariously with her drowsy voice.
"You're too warm to let go to war."
"It's a duel, not a war."
"Tsk. It's war if they touch you."
With a half-laugh and an expression balanced somewhere between resignation and real affection, Aresando finally stood. He dressed in silence, pulling on the light combat tunic he hadn't worn since special training. The symbol stitched on the chest—a wolf and a star intertwined—reminded him that he wasn't alone anymore.
Jade stretched languidly—no, lupinely—and watched him from the bed like a queen sending her knight to battle.
"You look good even messy, you know?" she teased, a hint of mischief in her smile. "Very 'tormented hero with a dark past' vibe."
"Thanks. It's the 'slept three hours with a snoring wolf girl on top of me' aesthetic," he shot back, buckling his magic bracers.
She hit him with a pillow. Soft, but full of love.
---
Outside, the Coliseum was already buzzing.
The stands were filled with sleepy students, professors sipping steaming cups of arcane coffee, and a few curious spirits hovering in midair. Tension hung like a plucked string, vibrating across the crowd. Everyone knew this duel wasn't just a duel.
His challenger stood at the center of the arena: a figure in crimson robes, eyes like embers, smile of someone who never had a Plan B. Behind him, blood runes glowed faintly on the floor, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Aresando stepped into the arena, footsteps steady. Beside him, just for a moment, Jade squeezed his arm.
"Show them who you are. But hey… if you explode him, try not to splatter me with guts. I just washed my hair."
He chuckled quietly. Then turned to face his opponent—and the air shifted.
His gaze hardened. That light beneath his skin began to glow, like a sun refusing to rise quietly.
"You wanted a hero?" he said, voice sharp as glass. "Too bad. Today you get me".
The crimson-cloaked challenger smiled, spreading his arms wide like he was welcoming a friend to a particularly unpleasant funeral.
"So dramatic," he said. "You sure you're not the hero type?"
Aresando rolled his shoulders, the faint blue-gold aura crackling along his fingertips. "No capes. No speeches. No destiny. Just me… and a very short temper."
Around them, the runes lit up brighter—reacting to the challenger's blood magic. The crowd leaned forward as the barrier rose with a hum, sealing them inside the dueling arena.
"Let's see what happens," the challenger whispered, "when the beast inside you wakes up."
"Careful," Aresando replied. "He's not a morning person."
Then everything exploded into motion.
The challenger struck first—sickles of blood arcing through the air like crimson boomerangs. Aresando dodged left, then right, then dropped low, sliding across the sand with ridiculous grace, kicking up dust. His palm flared with light as he launched a blast of kinetic force, sending the challenger skidding back.
"Oh, he is fun," Jade muttered from the stands, her tail flicking with excitement. She ignored the professor beside her who was nervously clutching a charm for protection.
Down in the arena, Aresando gritted his teeth. The runes were shifting. Every attack from the challenger left a mark—small, but building. A trap? A ritual? Probably both.
"Cliché villain move number twelve," he muttered. "Distract with flashy spells while charging the big stupid final one."
He ducked another whip of blood, then blinked behind the challenger with a burst of speed, landing a sharp elbow to his ribs. The challenger grunted but didn't fall. Instead, he laughed.
"You're strong," he said. "But you haven't awakened. Not fully."
Aresando's eyes narrowed.
And then he heard it.
Jade's voice. Sharp. Protective. "Aresando! The runes—they're feeding off you!"
He froze for a fraction of a second—and that was enough.
The challenger slammed his palm into the center of the arena. The ground cracked open in a red pulse, and tendrils of energy surged upward, wrapping around Aresando like chains of heat and memory.
Pain. Fire. Visions of himself in places he'd never been, doing things he couldn't remember.
The beast stirred.
But not like before.
This time… it listened.
Aresando's aura flared—not wildly, but with focus. His eyes burned blue and gold, and the chains snapped like brittle glass.
"I am awake," he said, voice low and thunderous. "And I'm done holding back."
With a wave of his hand, he redirected the energy around him, turning it inward, compressing it, until it sparked like a miniature sun in his palm.
"Let's end this."
The final blow wasn't explosive—it was elegant. A single pulse of power, precisely aimed. It hit the challenger square in the chest, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the barrier with a sound like thunder trapped in a bell jar.
The runes fizzled. The arena dimmed.
Silence.
Then, cheers.
The barrier dropped. Professors rushed forward. Healers moved in.
But Aresando didn't look at them.
He looked for her.
Jade was already running toward him.
She didn't even slow down—she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, practically knocking him backward. "You absolute idiot!" she whispered fiercely, tail wagging like mad. "You scared me."
"I'm fine," he murmured into her hair. "I think."
She pulled back just enough to look at him, golden eyes blazing.
"You did it."
"Yeah," he said, breathless and grinning. "Turns out the beast is a morning person… if you're the one who wakes him up."
She snorted. "Smooth. Still not letting you off sparring tomorrow."
"That's fair," he said. "Just… let me sleep first." Aresando said just before fainting.