Crimson Phoenix Guardian- Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage 4

Episode 45: The Honors Course

I jumped back. "You're Obi's grandson?" Wait, does that mean that Lucette was his granddaughter? I had heard that she lived with him.

He glanced at Nyima as she walked in the distance. "Not the one I'm looking for."

"Huh?" I asked.

He smiled at me. "Nothing to concern yourself with. Oh, but please tell your other female companion what I told you. She's the one I'm looking for."

I leered at him. "What do you want with Adela?"

He blinked. "To enter the Honors course, what else?"

I averted my gaze. "Oh, that?"

He laughed. "What? Thought that I was looking for a girlfriend? Like I would. Girls are a distraction. I have to focus on my dream."

"And what's that?" I asked, looking back at him.

He raised his head toward the sky. "The same as yours, to become the strongest mage."

I chuckled. What was up with blonds becoming my rivals these days?

"So, that makes you my rival!"

Burai smiled slightly. "Just what I wanted to hear. Glad that you're not back away at the prospect of facing an honors student, unlike so many others."

I crossed my arms. The only honor students I'd seen the power of were Etsuko and Hitoshi. They were very strong, but they were also third-years at the time. Where had they gone to college? It would've been nice if I could've fought them.

"What year are you in?" I asked.

"I'm a second-year like you."

"I see. Say..."

Burai turned around fully. "Yeah?"

"Would you have considered asking Iah to join your honor class. I mean, if he were here?"

Burai closed his eyes. "Prior to what happened over Winter Vacation, yes, I would've. Iah is talented like Adela and a hard worker like you." He opened his eyes, giving me a cold look. "But not after what he pulled. He ruined all that by taking the easy way out. Look where it brought him, hosting an abysmal that seeks to take control of him."

My eyes widened. "W-where did you hear that from?"

He turned around. "I got my sources. I also know that you have one too, but you don't appear to rely on it." He smiled. "You seek to climb to the top with your own power, isn't that right?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah!"

The boy snickered. "That's what I like about you. That unwavering spirit of yours will take you far." He smirked. "I'm looking forward to when you'll be a challenge for me."

I grumbled. "What makes you think I'm not already capable?"

He sighed and turned around. "Do you want a test?"

I raised my arms in front of me and covered my hands in wind. "Of course! Not sure if you know, but I never back away from a challenge."

Burai placed a hand on Koichii's shoulder and grinned. "There's that spirit I was talking about. Koichii, mind doing the honors?"

I lowered my arms. "Huh? You aren't fighting me?"

Burai shook his head and patted his friend's shoulder. "Koichii here is enough to gauge your strength."

What? Was he claiming he was stronger than the guy twice his size?

The tattooed young man covered his hands in roots and rushed at me.

I coughed out blood and vomit as his fist struck me in the stomach, sending me falling on my butt.

How could he have moved that fast?

Burai sighed and walked toward me but before he could speak, I jumped up and sent razor wind at Koichii.

Koichii side stepped the attack and vanished.

This guy has to be as fast as Aria...

I held my right arm up and smiled as Koichii's punch struck it. His eyes were as wide as mine were when he first hit me.

"Surprised? Attacking from behind is rather predictable if you ask me," I said, smirking. "After I'm done with you, I'm coming after your boss."

Koichii scoffed. "That won't happen." He jumped back and vanished again. I spun around and formed wind blades behind me.

Once he reappeared, my blades swung outward. Three of them sliced him in half at the abdomen.

"Huh?" I said as I saw him vanish. So, it was an afterimage. Great, I didn't accidentally kill the guy.

I spun back around and caught his root-covered fist with both hands. Wind came out of my finger tips and ripped the woody roots apart as if they were thrown into a wood chipper.

"Didn't know honor students could be so predictable," I said, chuckling.

Koichii slipped out of my grasp by abandoning his roots as if they were gloves. His foot met my stomach, launching me into a tree. I curled into a fetal position, unleashing fierce winds. A spherical barrier had formed around me.

The sphere of wind narrowly avoided hitting the tree as I spun around its trunk. It might've been a single tree, but it didn't deserve to die.

My eyes scanned my surrounding but the other ones nearby were Burai and his gang. The former simply smiled while the others cheered on their fellow member.

"Finish him, Kochi!" one of them yelled.

Kochi? Thought his name was Koichii according to Burai. Or was that a nickname?

Burai closed his eyes and pointed upward.

I jumped away as something broke through my airfield, the area where I could sense objects around me. It was moving faster than I could even register. Kochi's movements were akin to lightning.

The ground shattered as the snake-tattooed guy's fist hit the grass.

A loud thud echoed behind me. The tree I had narrowly missed had been uprooted.

"It's over," Kochi said with a slight smirk as he raised his hands.

The roots of the fallen tree curled around me. Soon, I was covered in a wooden cocoon with nothing but my wind barrier serving as a thin shield.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. The roots moved quickly and grew thicker on the outside. He must've planned to finish me off by having them crush my barrier and maiming me enough that I could no longer fight. But the was no way that I was going to allow him the delight of victory!

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**