CHAPTER 45: ENEMIES ON ALL SIDES

Isaac shook his head. "No one really tried fighting me after I dealt with the class bully. I never knew your training would make me so strong. Thank you!"

Isaac bowed deeply.

"Where are you from?" Godfrey asked, pausing at his door. Kowtowing and now such a deep bow? Weren’t those some Asian customs?

"Oh, my mum is Asian and she has a restaurant. Her food is really good and I ca—!"

"Don’t bother." Godfrey interjected flatly. "Finish your training."

He walked into his room, arranged the clothes in his bag neatly inside the wardrobe, took a shower, and collapsed on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

After that beach night, he and Isolde kept chatting as normal, but there was this itch he felt in his palm each time he saw her. He just wanted to hold her hand.

Sighing, he closed his eyes. In the next moment, Godfrey appeared in Ballista’s chambers and strolled to the end where he faced a door. Half of it had turned into wood while the other half was petrified stone.

At the point where the double doors met, a carving of a great sword gleamed faintly.

He had refused to come here often because it always stirred an excitement in him, an excitement about the abilities and power of the knight that might lie beyond. He had ignored it for so long, but tonight he lingered.

Without being told, he knew this Great Sword Knight would possess an equally unique Black-Out power.

Summoners usually had a skill few spoke about but that was permanently active and could never be deactivated: Symbiosis. It was a summoner skill that allowed them to gain a maximum of fifty percent of their summon’s physical strength.

Godfrey had already gained fifty percent from Mountain and a bit over forty percent from Ballista, granting him the strength of a top-level elite tier.

The more knights he obtained, it didn’t matter if the percentage lessened with each, he would still eventually be more powerful.

And that was the true perk of having more than one summon.

Yet, creases formed on his forehead as he wondered. ’I’ve not heard about an inanimate summon before, and the school only knows about the individual tiers of the golden Knight-Captains... does the palace itself have a tier?’

He vanished and reappeared on the grand staircase, gazing up at the majestic white palace with its towering golden pillars. Turning slightly, he looked around at his soul space.

What he had heard about soul spaces was that they were usually like a dark void, with only the summon floating within. His own was different. Previously, it seemed endlessly bright, rays of a massive sun shining over the palace and spilling everywhere. But now that he looked more closely, he noticed it wasn’t infinite, there was a boundary.

The same boundary his mother had once spoken of in every soul: the divide between the known and the unknown. As he peered beyond the shimmering aurora of light forming that boundary, he caught the faintest glimpse of the void beyond.

***

The next morning, Godfrey, his backpack slung casually, walked side by side with Isolde, an earbud in one ear while scrolling through his phone.

As he turned into the entrance of his classroom, a jade fist slammed into his face with enough force to split his lips and send him staggering.

"I’m back!" Siegfried cackled. Laughter erupted from those who already held grudges against Godfrey. Siegfried’s eyes gleamed as he stared at him, who barely caught himself before crashing into the wall at the opposite corridor wall.

But then Siegfried noticed Isolde’s glare. He hadn’t expected her to be right beside Godfrey.

Before he could even form a thought, Isolde’s leg lashed out like a whip, striking his chest with such force that the air itself exploded.

The impact launched him so violently that by the time the students could react, Siegfried had already smashed through the window and tumbled out of the building, leaving behind shattered glass and broken wood.

Leaving an afterimage in the same kicking stance, Isolde blurred, snatched Maldred by the head, and slammed his face against the classroom board. The blow was so brutal it punched a hole clean through the wall, his head protruding into the next class, shocking the sophomore music students who suddenly found a groaning face among them.

She recognized him as one of those laughing.

"She’s lost it." Dale’s eyes widened as he rose to his feet, Orwen following. Both were prepared to act as her furious glare swept the horrified classroom.

Snow, in the music class, couldn’t believe his eyes.

Isolde took a single step toward the students when Godfrey grabbed her shoulder. His eyes narrowed instantly as he noticed a tiny violet ball hovering above her palm.

The entire class went pale. This was no different from a nuke being pulled out in a fistfight.

"Isolde!" Edwin’s voice bellowed from the corridor, more shocked than angry. "To the headmaster’s office."

"Wait, so they’re allowed to fight but she isn’t?!" Godfrey snapped, furious.

"I’ll be back." She squeezed his palm tightly and left, while Edwin’s glare swept across the others. Staff scrambled to heal the badly injured students as Isolde made her way to the headmaster’s office.

She sat facing Sebastian, who entwined his fingers.

"Edwin has reported what happened. I’d like to hear from you as well."

"I was attacked, so I responded." Isolde replied firmly.

Sebastian raised a brow. "Wasn’t Godfrey the one attacked?"

"I said I was attacked," Isolde insisted, her tone sharp.

"You look tense. I would like you to return to your family and spend five days there. Take a breather, the fighting during the trip must have taken its toll on you." Sebastian began to write when Isolde retorted.

"What if I don’t want to go?"

"You have no choice. It’s an order from your parents. Going against it isn’t ideal, especially for you."

Isolde bit her lower lip.

***

During break time, Godfrey’s thoughts lingered heavier than his gaze. He could vividly recall Edwin telling them that Isolde would not be attending class for the next five days and would only return before their test.

It puzzled him. Why were others allowed to fight but not Isolde? From the look of things, it might not even be the school’s doing, because their laws were already clear and in place.

It had to be her family.

The moment he walked into the cafeteria, his thoughts scattered as his eyes landed on Dale seated at Isaac’s table, Orwen beside him. From the whispers reaching his ears, Snow had been called away by Manhattan’s King.

"I had no idea you had a lackey. You think you’re some big shot." Dale chuckled, rising from the table. He slammed his fist into Isaac’s face at lightning speed, launching the trembling freshman into another table. Blood dripped from Isaac’s nose as he fell to his knees, groaning.

"Isolde’s gone, so you’re all alone!" Dale snickered before pointing toward the warning board near the entrance which stated that summoning beasts in the cafeteria was prohibited.

"Let’s see how strong you are without your summon." Orwen smiled as ten students, sophomores and freshmen alike, rose to their feet, eyes gleaming maliciously.

Godfrey ignored them all and locked eyes with Isaac.

"Stand up."