Chapter 320 - My OC Stash #20 - A Boxer in A Strange New World by Vexin98 (???)

-The feminist paradise? With all the roles reversed, at least the roles they believe that exist. Can't wait for the MC to start some sort of Meninist movement to complete the cycle/

Synopsis: ???

Rated: M

Words: 9.3K

Posted on: forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/a-boxer-in-a-strange-new-world.12201/page-2#post-3415531 (Vexin98)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 0-1

In most stories like this, there's some kind of accident that sets everything off. A car accident either in isolation or caused by the protagonist jumping out to save someone else. Maybe a cliff collapses under them. Or a storm sends them into the sea. If I remembered correctly one or two of them had the protagonist killed by some kind of murderer while saving others.

That wasn't me though. I was a fighter through and through, and that's how I met my end. I started boxing early, moved onto kickboxing, and went pro as soon as I could. I was good at it, really good.

But it just wasn't enough for me. I moved onto MMA to chase after the thrill, bit even there the rules were too restrictive. No soccer kicks, eye gouging, headbutts, hair grabbing, and so on. I mean, what's the point of fighting if you can't even go all out?

So, I dropped out and went underground. That was where I found my Garden of Eden. Almost every martial art was represented from boxing to wrestling, from silat to lethwei. It was in this place that warriors of the modern day could truly shine. There was only one rule: No Weapons, and to my knowledge, it had never actually been broken.

As I fought there against more varied opponents than I ever could have dreamed of, my skill rapidly increased due to the experience I gained. I learned new ways to move, to kick, to punch, to grapple, to strike, to throw, and so on and so forth. But, I never actually stopped using kickboxing.

It was a kind of challenge, or maybe just pride. Despite having other skills, I just wouldn't use them. Sure it led to a fair amount of losses, but I figured it was worth it. Sometimes winning the fight doesn't mean winning the match.

In the end, that phrase ended up being more relevant than I'd ever thought it would. Rather than dying when I was fighting against some master of martial arts or anything like that, it was just a spar.

I was doing a favor for a friend that owned a gym. He was offering boxing courses and asked me to come in as a guest, to knock around a couple of the c.o.c.kier guys and show them that just because they could f.u.c.k up a schoolmate didn't necessarily mean they'd make it in the real world.

And honestly? I did. I absolutely thrashed them, within reason of course. I had a decade on the little shits and six inches at minimum on all of them, so I wasn't really going all out. Hell, only one of them even managed to land a hit on me.

Unfortunately, that one lucky hit was what did me in. Burst a blood vessel in my head and half an hour later that was it. I'd taken a seat to watch the amateurs go at it, and then nothing.

In the end, I won the match but lost the fight. Hope me dying didn't mess up the kid too much. He may have only landed a lucky punch, but if he wasn't skilled enough to get into that position in the first place, then all the luck in the world wouldn't have done a god damn thing.

So yeah, I died to an amateur. Laugh it up. Believe me though, I was just as surprised as anyone when I woke up after I died, and I was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g baby.

I wasn't even a baby in our world, I got sent to some kind of medieval fantasy world with dragons and magic and knights and all that fun bullshit. Something though, was off.

At first, I didn't really notice it. After all, man or woman, basically everyone acts the same when there's a cute baby around unless they just don't like kids. And, to be honest, can you blame me for being distracted when I was a grown-ass man in a baby's body?!

I constantly had tits shoved in my face and couldn't even enjoy it!

No, what made me realize how weird things were was probably when I was about... five. We went to war and the head of the household had to go to fight.

So, you can probably understand my surprise when my mother suited up in armor, picked up a f.u.c.k.i.n.g axe, and went out to kill people in the name of the queen.

F.u.c.k.i.n.g surreal.

That wasn't anywhere near the weirdest thing for me though, but I'll get to that in a bit.

~~~~~

To be honest, I kind of just floated through life until I hit about 13. Before that, it was kind of just a blur. I ran around, played with my siblings, an older sister and twin brother actually, generally just raised hell around the household while the servants, we had servants by the way, tried to keep us under control.

Another kind of odd thing, everyone related to me through my mother had white hair. They weren't albinos or anything, it was just our hair color. Though, judging by my red eyes, I may have had some form of actual albinism.

Getting back to what I'd said earlier though, yeah, it seemed that there was some kind of mix up in history, or cultures or society, or whatever, but men and women? Their places in society and even their attitudes were essentially swapped!

Guys were the blushing maidens that were traded via marriage, expected to stay pure, and all that fun bullshit, while girls were making crude jokes about what they'd love to do with the hot guys they saw, they'd make cat calls and whistle when guys walked down the street, and so on. This also meant that women were the ones doing traditionally masculine jobs like cutting wood or construction. That left most of them pretty muscular, but strangely not in a way that actually outright detracted from their feminine beauty either.

To be honest it was, erm, my fetish. Yeah, this place.is pretty great, I can admit it.

Well, except for the fact that while my older sister Rina was being trained with weapons and armor, I was stuck inside learning etiquette. F.u.c.k.i.n.g rip off is what it was.

This world can bite me.

Though it did lead to something that I admit is kind of interesting. It turned out that while it was generally the women that went out to war, men did fight too. They just mostly fought using magic, and if they used a weapon at all it was generally a thin blade that they just channeled magic through.

In essence, swing blade = blade of wind, or whatever the equivalent was, based on their affinity. The more they could swing, the more spells cast, hence using a lighter weapon. Men were also generally better at magic than women by default. That didn't mean women couldn't use magic though, it just meant that where a man would laugh a fireball at you but probably be pretty defenseless at close range, a woman would enhance her body and try to gut you with a weapon that was also on fire.

So, while Rina was learning the sword, I was getting magic lessons. While she was getting her own magic lessons, I was being taught to sew. As you can probably tell, I skipped lessons like that pretty often. It wasn't just sewing of course, actually that specific lesson I tended to lay attention to due to the sheet utility of knowing how to sew, it was also stuff like poetry, courtly manners, etiquette, and so on.

So, I skipped that useless shit and did something actually important. I trained my body. I couldn't just start the second I could walk though, that could cause permanent damage. No, I had to take that slow until I hit the right age. That age being about six years.

So, from the day I turned six I started to train my body back into the shape that it used to be in. I wouldn't say that I forced myself into doing it. It just came naturally. It was simple, really.

I wanted to fight for my life and put everything on the line, so how the hell would I do that if I was a noddle armed, little bitch, like my twin brother Georgios? Answer: I wasn't. So, I worked my ass off. It helped that I had a secret weapon due to my family's assets and my own personal knowledge.

Cheese and Wine.

I-it was just the cheese though, that was the weapon. I only really mentioned the wine because my family had essentially bought their way into nobility in the first place due to the quality of both their cheese and wi- actually, I'm just going to move on.

Anyway, the cheese. Specifically? What was largely considered to be a waste byproduct of cheese making until relatively recently was going to be my secret weapon in terms of building this body of mine up. What am I talking about? Whey.

On top of the exercise and generally eating healthy, healthier than the rest of my family in fact, I had the kitchen staff add whey to my meals. To be perfectly honest, for the first couple of years it was unappetizing and made my stomach turn, because none of them actually knew how to properly add it to meals outside of making sure it was actually safe to be eaten. After a certain point, I just kind of stopped noticing it.

Around 14 was where things really started mattering though.

~~~~

"Please, Young Master, try again." The tutor in charge of teaching us magic pleaded. "Just focus, and I'm sure you can do it."

"It's not going to work." I complained. "I can't do elemental magic, so my affinity must be something non elemental, right?"

"While that's perfectly possible, you must keep in mind that nobility have access to elemental magic because it shows our divine right to rule over the land." She explained, sounding a bit too proud if I do say so. "If you cannot command the land, the elements, through magic then what right have you to command it as nobility?"

"In that case, what's the point of even teaching me and Gio anything? We're going to be in charge of the lands of Jack and Shit in the future after all." I pointed out, not for the first time.

"Hector..." my demure brother protested, his blue eyes practically shining, "you shouldn't speak like that. You know it's improper..."

"You should listen to your brother, Young Master, he will grow up to be an exemplary man while you... well, you might pass as a woman if you hid your face and body?" She suggested sarcastically.

I just clicked my tongue in annoyance and focused on the task at hand. I knew it wouldn't work, but anything to not have to listen to the, oh so esteemed, Lady Marche Eibenvuld's bullshit.

So in theory, magic was actually pretty simple. You just focused on moving your inner energy to the outside of your body, and then commanded it to manifest its specific trait. If you were aligned to fire you would essentially create a ball of fire, aligned to water you'd get water, and so on.

I say easy and if you're born with the ability to use magic it legitimately is, that's how you get magic by the way you're born with it or you're not, and even for me, that aspect was genuinely easy. The issue with mine was...

I focused, bringing a "handful' of energy out of my body and into the palm of my hand. Then I commanded it to manifest and express itself, and...

Nothing.

The mana was there, so I wasn't just a freak born without magic. That wasn't unheard of, it wasn't even necessarily rare, just uncommon enough that you could probably go your whole life without ever meeting someone like that. My mana just essentially didn't want to do as it was told.

"You can feel it, right teach?" I asked her.

"Yes, and you're commanding it to express itself?"

"Yup."

"... I didn't want to admit it, but it seems you really do have a non elemental magic." She admitted with a grimace. "You're lucky you were born a boy, or else this could cause problems with your inheritance."

I just scoffed.

"In that case, there is another way to test for it." She told me.

"I should probably do that then, what is it?" I immediately asked.

"That is... manifesting your mana while it still resides within your body." I immediately started going through the steps again. "However, it can be incredibly dangerous as there's no guarantee that the traits of your magic aren't harmful in some way-"

"Doing it." I told her, commanding the mana within my hand to manifest.

"After all, it could be something like poison or- wait what?!" She shrieked. "Are you insane?"

I ignored her, concentrating. I needed to be careful. I could feel it wanting to manifest all at once, and that would probably result in me exploding or something equally painful. As it rose to the surface my mana...

"Huh."

Looking at my hand, I saw a difference. There were white feathers growing out the back of it.

Lady Marche's eyes widened, before immediately snapping at my brother. "Georgios, I need to speak to your brother privately. Your lessons are over for the day."

"Are... are you sure?"

"Go!" She shouted, causing the demure boy to immediately run off.

"Hector, do you know what that is?" She asked, sounding deadly serious.

"Not a clue."

"You..." she took a breath, seemingly to steady herself, "you're using Chimera Magic. Something that allows you to alter the bodies of yourself and others. It isn't exactly the stuff of legends, but it is well known enough that if it came out then you, and by extension your family, would immediately gain enemies based on the deeds of past holders of that magic."

"I..." I swallowed, "okay, I admit. That's actually pretty dangerous. I should've been taking this more seriously."

Though, being able to alter my own body? Man, I'd be able to increase my physicals so much, it isn't even funny! If I keep it on the down low, I could basically be the best hand to hand fighter the world has ever seen.

"Exactly." Lady Marche agreed, before... a smile slowly spread across her lips. "Which is why you're going to convince me to keep quiet about this."

I blinked. "I... what?"

"Right now, I hold very important information." She said, almost at a whisper. "Information that could hurt you and your family quite badly if it got into the wrong hands."

"You're actually doing this." I said, more to myself than her. "You're actually doing this, my God."

"Me? I'm not doing anything." She shook her head. "No, you're going to be the one doing everything." She said, running her finger down the front of my thin shirt, no doubt feeling my chest underneath. "You're a bit too hard for my tastes right now, but don't worry. We can fix that."

In most other situations, I'd just attack the second she let her guard down. But as it was?

She was fully grown, trained, a master Lightning mage, and had a good five inches on me. While I was a 14 year old boy. Sure I was a little ball of muscles, but I was only a 14 year old ball of muscles.

"I see." I told her, looking down. "I guess I don't have any choice, do I?"

She leaned in to whisper to me. "Now you're getting it."

So, I did what I had to. Moving my hands up, I grabbed hold tight... and immediately ripped my shirt open, before taking a deep breath and screaming as loud as I absolutely could. This had the immediate effect of causing Marche to immediately reel back, clutching at her ears.

However, it had the much more desired effect of causing the tutoring room's door to be practically blown to splinters as my mother, axe in hand, kicked it open.

She crossed the distance nigh on instantly and was immediately at my side. "Hector, what happened, why is your shirt torn, what..?"

Immediately taking the two ripped parts of my shirt, I pulled them together to get rid of the straight view to my chest, and pointed a shaking finger at Marche. "S-she..." I stuttered, admittedly imitating my brother a bit in tone and mannerism, before immediately bolting from the room.

As I ran, I heard Marche try to explain the situation. "H-hold on, please, Lady Tempust, this is just a misunderstanding."

Only to be interrupted by my mother. "THE ONLY MISUNDERSTANDING HERE IS WHY YOURE STILL ALIVE AFTER TOUCHING MY SON!"

Followed by an actual explosion.

It didn't take me long to reach my bedroom, where I immediately locked the door, sat on my bed, and laid back.

"Didnt expect things to go like that." I admitted to myself. Marche was a trusted family friend after all, to suddenly make that kind of demand...

Wait.

No.

Reframe it based in the context.

Male family friend that is constantly in contact with young daughters. Learns threatening information about it, and uses it to his advantage. In fact, was Marche ever really a friend...?

Continuing on with that line of thought actually...

A scream tears through the house, father arrives to see tomboy daughter, previously acted like she was invincible no matter the situation, with her blouse ripped open and seemingly on the verge of tears, while pointing an accusatory finger at the family friend. She immediately leaves the scene in a panic.

...

Yup, I probably just got someone killed. At best, definitely prison.

I didn't feel nearly as bad about that as I should have.

"Well, better get to messing around with this apparently dangerous magic I have. Worst case? I melt myself."

~~~~~~

16 years old.

It was an important age. For you see, it was when all the young, rich, and incredibly important nobles, and their debutante brothers, were sent to attend the most prestigious school on the continent; Our Lord of Eternal Peace Academy.

Get it? Our Lord, instead of Our Lady? Because things are swapped here?

I absolutely hated the place before I even got there. It was the name. The name set me off. I fully admit that I'm petty, sue me.

My elder sister had actually started her own time at the academy the year before, so it wouldn't actually surprise me if people were absolutely terrified of interacting with me the instant I got there, purely because of her. She was, admittedly, a terrifying person. Because she could use fire magic.

Lots of fire magic.

She had literally almost burned a forest down before. On purpose. There was a time that she could have been reigned in, and this was clearly the timeline where we failed.

The day before I, and Georgios, were set to leave, I was packing the things I would need. Clothes, for obvious reasons, clothes I would actually wear, because the first set looked absolutely ridiculous and the only reason I packed them was so I wouldn't get complained at, books, and so on. Anything that was strictly a personal effect, I could likely buy in the city near the school, so I was packing pretty light.

That was when my brother burst into the room, looking more excited than a dog with a opossum in its mouth. "Brother, have you heard? Have you, have you have you?!"

"Given I'm not jumping up and down for joy like you, probably not." I shot back. "What is it?"

"Oh, well, uh, there's going to be two special guests at the Academy as students! Twins like us." He explained.

"What makes them so special?" I asked, trying to fit some hemp rope into my bag. "They both girls? Are you trying to set me up for a double date?"

"B-Brother!" He whined, to which I just laughed, making him pout and ouff out his cheeks with a blush. That... that's really not an expression a guy should be able to make so easily. "It's nothing like that, it's because of their magic!"

"What, can they use fire so they're going to work with Rina to torch the school?"

"I... please stop making me worry about such things."

"I make no promises."

"Anyway, no, it's because one of them is the reincarnation of the Great Saint, Alcanol!" Ah yes, the Great Saint that makes me think of Alcohol.

"Remind me please..." I requested.

"The- the person who helped found the empire we live in! She could commune with Spirits, letting her essentially use more than one kind of magic!"

Ah yes, the Great Alcohol Saint that could commune with Spirits.

...

Kinda made me want to drink.

"Hector, how can you not remember something this important?" He asked, exasperated.

"Does it help me punch things gooder?"

"W-well, not directly... but-"

"Don't care then!" I cut him off. "So, these twins are super duper special than?"

"Yeah!" Georgios nodded enthusiastically. "They're a Brother and Sister pair."

"In that case," I mused to myself, "wouldn't the best possible match to make a child be to have then marry each other?"

"L... lewd! How can you be this lewd?! Elder sister has been corrupting you with her letters!" Georgios declared, his face a deep red.

"She doesn't even write me. Now get out of my room short stuff, I have to fi ish packing." I ordered him, despite already having finished.

"Oh, okay." He easily agreed. "I'll leave you to it then."

With that he left, leaving me to think about the new information.

"So, a male/female pair of twins with a connection to some kind of Heroic figure in history? Neat." If this was a story or a game, they'd probably be the heroes or something.

...wait hold on just a second.

"I'm an albino twin, red eyes and all, have a somewhat rare magic that only has horror stories told about it, and my family isn't necessarily powerful meaning if I wanted power in this world, I'd have to be ambitious and take it for myself." I sat there and thought about it for a bit, before coming to the only conclusion that made sense.

"Oh f.u.c.k, I'm the villain of a Visual Novel."

Chapter 1

Here I was in Our Gentle- nope. F.u.c.k that name, I refuse it.

I was at the super duper important school where my official objective was essentially to flaunt my body and status around to find a proper wife, who will likely pin me down in the future and put me in a reverse mating press to force me to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e her. Yes, that is definitely the kind of life I wanted to live. Totally. One hundred f.u.c.k.i.n.g percent.

I was sitting in the carriage that had brought Georgios and I to the school. Apparently it was some kind of common courtesy for demure young lads to wait a bit before leaving the carriage, so they could be properly escorted at first. This led to me being incredibly board, while my brother was just amazed at everything he saw, along with occasionally ducking back with a blush whenever one of the girls caught his eye.

Sixteen years. Sixteen f.u.c.k.i.n.g years in this messed up world, and I still wasn't used to how things were. Boys blushed and tittered when they were complimented, while girls gave cheeky grins. I had been lucky up until now. I'd been essentially isolated from my peers, so even if I was a "tomgirl", that phrase made me f.u.c.k.i.n.g shudder, I could essentially act as I pleased. Partially due to my mother and father thinking I'd just outgrow it, and partially as a result of Marche's blackmail attempt.

Now though? I could end up getting ridiculed just because I didn't act sainty enough, or whatever the f.u.c.k, and of course that could reflect poorly on my family. To be honest, I didn't really care all that much for reputation, but it could end up inconveniencing me if everyone started complaining.

"Hey," I called my brother, catching his attention, "help me with my hair."

"You still can't do it yourself?" He asked me, sounding almost like he pitied me.

"Shut up, it looks sloppy when I do it and you're better at braiding hair." I shot back at him with a scowl as I turned my back to him. "So get to it."

He sighed, but he didn't necessarily sound displeased. So, my brother started braiding my longer than average hair.

Even in this world, longer hair was considered feminine while short hair was masculine. Though in terms of context, despite my hair going past my shoulders, it was seen as the equivalent of being a tomboy with short cut hair.

Honestly, this topsy turvy bushit pissed me off. Though, there was an actual reason I'd grown my hair out. You see, there was an interesting trend I noticed. Better fighters tended to have longer hair. It was a kind of status thing, like saying that you were such a great warrior that you didn't need to worry about your opponent using your hair against you.

It appealed to me, so I took it for myself. That didn't mean I was any good at actually working with it though, which meant I relied on my brother to style it for me, so it kept out of my eyes.

"Almost done." Said brother mentioned.

"What kind of braid is it?" I asked disinterested.

"Fishtail." He replied with a smile in his voice. "You like to keep things practical, so I thought you'd appreciate something that wasn't overly fancy."

"... thanks Gio." I mumbled. I hadn't really had any siblings before, so it was kind of weird having someone my age that cared about me so much.

I didn't dislike it.

"Of course, any time Hector." He replied, finishing up the braid. "I'll be there whenever you need me, no matter what. Promise."

I just nodded and turned back around, sitting properly in my seat again.

"When the hell are they going to let us leave the carriage?" I complained. "My ass is falling asleep."

Tender moment or no, I was admittedly an impatient bastard. And my ass was literally falling asleep. It was like a million needles shoved in each cheek, truly torturous.

"Hector!" Georgios gasped, scandalized. "You need to watch your language here." He scolded me. "Such crude language won't gain you any friends."

"Yeah yeah." I waved off his concern. "I just want to get out of here already and get into some clothes that are actually comfortable."

"What?" He gasped. "But you look great!"

Just like Georgios, I was dressed in very elegant, incredibly colorful, super flowy clothes that were thin as hell. Hard to move in, always felt like I would trip over some part that I didn't notice, or accidentally tear it all open.

Thankfully an official from the school finally arrived, also a man in ridiculous clothes, and we were permitted to leave the carriage. Without any kind of prompting or signal, servant women immediately began taking our luggage and taking it to our rooms, leaving us to only need to worry about the man before us.

"Welcome to the academy, sirs, I am Joseph Gauntwhiler and it is my absolute pleasure to make your acquaintances." He said with a bow.

"Uh huh." I offered lamely.

"The pleasure is all ours, Mister Gauntwhiler." Georgios returned the bow.

"Oh, please do call me Joseph. Mister and Sir just make me feel old." He requested. "Now, come along your rooms are nearby!"

As the foppish man led us away, Georgios turned towards me with a smile. "The officials here are so friendly, wouldn't you say brother?"

"Just wait until you see the women." I let out unenthusiastically.

"Why do you say...?" He asked, before widening his eyes and bringing his hands up to his mouth. "Oh, oh gods, I'm so sorry Hector. After your experience with..."

"There's nothing to apologize for, dork." I told him, rapping him on the forehead with a knuckle. "Just focus on yourself while you're here. I'll be fine."

"If... if you say so." He replied uncertainly, rubbing the spot that I hit him.

"We're here!" Joseph crooned. "I hope neither of you mind, but we took the liberty of giving you rooms next door to each other. It wouldn't do to separate a pair of brothers after all. Now, if either of you need absolutely anything, I will always be available."

"Thank you very much, Joseph!" My brother called out as Joseph left, while I just went into my room. It was pretty standard, I supposed. Pretty big room with a comfy looking bed. Attached bathroom with hot and cold water that operated via magic. Nice sized closet. Even a full sized mirror. Past that stuff, it was pretty barren. Given we would be here for about 5 years, marriages notwithstanding, it made sense that the students would be the ones to decorate.

Georgios followed me in, while I immediately went to check on my luggage. Haphazardly tossing my "acceptable" clothes out of it, I pulled my practicle clothes out.

"Would you kind closing the door?" I asked him.

"Hmm? Why?" He asked, to which I answered by immediately pulling my shirt off and tossing it away. By the time I started working on my pants, I heard the door slam shut. "C-c-c-couldn't you be more considerate?!" He nearly shrieked.

I finished stripping before turning around to answer him. "What's wrong? You look all fl.u.s.tered, Georgios. Do I need to worry about you falling for me?"

"Of course not!" He instantly responded, somewhat more heated than I'd expected. "What if some girl sees you like that and decides that you're l-l-loose! She could try to take advantage of you and...!"

Ah, that was it.

"Gio, calm down." I told him. "What did I say? Focus on yourself here. I'll be fine. What happened before is never going to happen again. I promise."

"If... if I hadn't left you then-"

I crossed the distance between us and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Then what? You would have saved me? When you're physically weaker than me? No, you just feel guilty. Stop it." I pushed him away and let go. "It was my fault that it happened, and my fault for trusting Marche in the first place. If you say anything different then I'm going to punch you. Got it?"

"... yeah. I understand..." He nodded sullenly.

"Good." I walked back to my clothes and started pulling them on. Unlike the clothes I was expected to wear, these could be pulled on on under a minute. Rather than the extravagant bright colors I was expected to wear, these clothes were made up of muted browns and blacks, along with a little crest that represented my family's colors.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I smiled. The shirt, jacket, and trousers weren't anything fancy, at least by the standards of those around me, but that suited me just fine. Add in a pair of padded shoes for more comfort, and it left me looking positively plebeian. Thinking of it, given the clothes fit tight to me but not uncomfortably so, was I dressed conservatively or not?

What a strange world I lived in now.

"What do you think, Georgios?" I asked my far more, in my opinion, feminine brother.

"In my opinion, you'll never find a wife dressed like that." He told me. "But if dressing like that makes you happy, I'll support you wholeheartedly."

I approached my brother once more not saying anything. I didn't grab him though, instead I put my hand on the top of his head.

"Brother..?" He asked. I smiled down at him. He smiled back up at me.

I proceeded to ruffle his hair mercilessly.

"Brother!" He cried out, face flushed. Stoooop!"

"I promise to stop, the instant you stop looking so defenseless." I told him. "Deal?"

He just muttered something and retreated out of my room and into his own. Well, now that that was out of the way, I should probably get going and do something.

Do what?

No clue, but at least I won't be bored.

~~~~~~~~~

Walking around the campus was neat, I guess. There wasn't really anything being done that caught my attention, so I was essentially left wandering around.

At least, I was until I heard laughter. Malicious laughter.

My favorite kind!

Quickly following the sound to the source of one of my favorite sounds in the world, I found a small group of girls crowded around a guy, pressing him against the wall. Hey, were they bullying him? Or s.e.x.u.a.lly assaulting him?

Nah, didn't matter.

I walked right up to the lot of them with a smile.

"Hi there!" I greeted them.

One turned around, probably the leader given she was the only one actually touching the guy, and looked me up and down. I did the same. Long red hair, somewhat tanned skin, and she was almost as tall as I was.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name's Hector Tempust, just arrived at the academy today." I easily explained. "Say, are you bullying him or doing more?"

One of the other girls approached me, a blonde, and put her hand on my shoulder. "You don't need to worry Hector," she said with a clearly malicious smile, my favorite kind, "we were just going to show Layne here a good time. You should join in too."

I looked at the guy, Layne, and he just looked down. Either afraid or ashamed. I could see why they went after him. Soft features, short and curly black hair, along with icy blue eyes. He was objectively good looking in a feminine way.

Looking down at the hand on my shoulder, my smile didn't drop but I did end up having to force it somewhat. "Hey, could you stop touching me? I never said you could."

"Huh? Do you know who I am you stuck up bitch?" She asked me, her grip getting harder. She was probably enhancing her body. "I'm the heir to the Montalvan family, you think you can just tell me what to do?"

Well, what to do? I'd been in a situation like this before, when I was 14, but this is a lot more obviously threatening. What would I...

"Oh, wait." I chuckled, making her flinch just a little. "I'm not 14 anymore."

"The f.u.c.k is that supposed to me-?!" My fist slammed into her chin in an uppercut while she was in the middle of talking, smashing her teeth together.

The shock must of jiggled her brain at least a little, as she started to drop and let go of me. I could just let her fall and let that be that...

But what kind of idiot just lets an opportunity to capitalize go without taking advantage of it?! Gripping her by the hair, I dragged her head down while raising my leg, smashing my knee into her face. Then I let her fall.

The others stared in shock, allowing me to reach past and grab Layne by his arm and drag him away from the remaining girls.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" The lead girl roared

"Eh?" I asked. "I'm just f.u.c.k.i.n.g up some weakling's face for thinking she could do whatever she wanted to. Isn't it just natural?"

"You-!"

I didn't let her talk, cutting her off.

"Are you saying you have a problem with that? How sad!" I crowed. "It takes you ganging up just to pick on a guy? What, are you just a gang of weaklings? Go cut your hair!"

She immediately stepped up, grabbing me by the collar and dragging me down to her level. "You just don't know when to quit, do you bitch? Fine, I'll show you just how strong I am!" Pulling back her arm, she swung her fist towards my face.

"Duel me." Before stopping it about an inch before it hit.

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

"Duel me." I repeated. "In public, everyone watching. You can use whatver you want. Weapons, magic, hell I'll even let all of you come at me at once if you're so weak that you need numbers."

"Ha!" She barked out. "And why should I do that?"

"Oh? Could it be... performance anxiety?" I asked faux innocently. "I understand if you just get too worked up if people are watching. It's just something that can't be helped, right?"

She blinked, seemingly taking a moment to process what I had said, before...

"Three hours." She growled, murder in her eyes. "We'll have the duel in three hours. In the main square. Everyone will see me strip you and humiliate you like the worthless bitch you are."

"Oh, sounds like fun~!"