LIGHTNOVELONLINE Ch 1.14: Results
As Waine fell to ground clutching his windpipe, his sword careened off towards the crowd, momentum still carrying it from Elaina’s final gambit. Her stomach dropped for a moment as she imagined the heavy metal object crashing into someone’s skull, but it instead gently arced over to Tira, who caught the grip with her free hand. “Elaina has dealt a would-be lethal blow. I declare her the victor.”
The crowd of students broke their silence, cheering as Elaina pushed herself up into a sitting situation. “Fuck you, Ferris!” she heard from one, “Yeah, get him, Panties!” she heard from another.” Panties?
“Shit!” she said, covering herself with her hands and closing her legs. The duel was won, but it still wasn’t a flawless victory. She looked over to where she’d dropped her skirt, but saw a figure running to her with the discarded garment in hand.
For a brief moment she saw the girl’s uniform and thought it was Prisma. But no, Prisma was over by Waine, who was writhing on the ground clutching his throat. The new girl that Waine had declared part of of his crew was the one running to Elaina with her skirt. “Here,” she said, draping the fabric over Elaina’s legs. It was the first time Elaina had been up close with her, but the girl refused to meet Elaina’s gaze, instead staring off to side with an apple red face.
“Thanks,” Elaina said, wrapping the skirt around her as best she could, though there was no way to put it on without standing. The girl looked familiar, in very faint way, but Elaina couldn’t remember from where. She really was cute, a mess of black hair framing her round face, a longer skirt than most girls at the school being both endearing and intriguing, only making what was underneath that much more enticing. But what really drew Elaina’s eyes was the girl’s chest, struggling to be contained by her shirt and completely filling out the uniform jacket in a way even Elaina herself couldn’t match.
“I— I really should go help Waine; he might be seriously hurt.” The girl bit her lip before turning around and running off, waving. “Sorry, I’ll— I’ll see you later!”
“No pictures, you shits!” Elaina heard Tira shouting as she walked up behind her. “Here,” Tira said as she opened up Elaina’s jacket and used it to cover her backside. “Stand up and cover yourself.”
Elaina did so, managing a decent enough job of keeping what modesty she had left intact. “The portraits,” she said as she finished, looking back at Tira.
Tira put Elaina’s jacket on for her, nodding. “Ya, we deal with that now. Alright everyone, duel’s over, class actually dismissed!”
The crowd started to trickle away as Tira strode forward, Elaina following behind. “Can’t breathe,” she heard Waine croaking out. He was still laying on the ground, his group surrounding him, the original group at least, the new girl already gone. “Can’t breathe!”
“You’re fine, Waine.” Prisma said, arms crossed. “Carline said so. Get on your feet.”
“The Forsythe girl?” Waine coughed out as he stood up, legs wobbling. “Where is she?”
“Ran off,” Ivis said, pointing back to the castle. “Said she needed to shower or something.”
Nyla laughed. “Probably can’t stand outside for two hours without soaking through her uniform in sweat.”
“Ya,” Daly said. “Not even sure why you grabbed her for the team.”
“It’s because-”
“Enough,” Tira said, stopping behind the group. “You lost, Ferris.”
Waine glanced back, eyes narrowing. “Fuck you. The duel should have been called a tie and you know it. You’re just a biased referee.”
Tira closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She pulled her coiled whip of of her waist, letting the length of it unwind and fall to the ground, her voice quavering with suppressed rage. “You. Lost. You were right to refuse to duel me outright, but this was a fair fight. Pay up, or I’ll let you experience first-hand what you already know I’m capable of.”
Waine stared up at her, eyes shaking. “Fine, I’ll delete the portraits of her from my crystal.”
“No,” Tira said. “Your cronies too. We agreed all of them.”
Waine gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, taking a step forward and flaring his nostrils. Tira cocked her head. “Fine,” Waine said. “You four, delete the pictures.”
“But—” Ivis went to protest.
“I said delete them,” Waine said, pulling his device out of his jacket. Elaina stood by while Ivis, Daly, and Nyla took there's out as well, observing them tap and swipe across the crystal displays. One by one the portraits of Elaina appeared and disappeared from the screens, until Tira took each one for a final inspection.
“What about you,” Tira asked Prisma as she hand back Nyla’s portrait crystal. “And what about that other girl you mentioned?”
Prisma turned from the forest to Tira. “Carline wasn’t there, so she never had any pictures. I had some, but I deleted them already.” She took her crystal out and handed it over to Tira for inspection.
Tira went through the device, swiping for far longer, going through a swath of landscape pictures and images of Prisma and what Elaina presumed was an older sister. “If you’re lying about this, I’ll have your head, Fireguard. Why would you have already deleted them?”
Prisma pursed her lips and snatched the crystal back. “I’m not lying!” She tucked it back into her jacket, turning back to the forest. “I just… I just deleted them, okay?”
“I believe her,” Elaina said. Prisma jerked her head, locking eyes with Elaina for just a moment before looking down.
“Fine,” Tira said, walking back towards the school. “This is officially over. If any of those portraits ever make it out, you’re all going to regret it.”
Elaina stood for a second to watch Prisma’s blank stare at the ground, then for another to lock eyes with Waine. Waine stared her down for a moment before turning away and walking off himself, the others following him. They all made eye contact with Elaina as they walked by, save one. “Prisma!” Elaina called out. The girl continued walking, gaze straight ahead.
“Come on, Elaina,” Tira said. Elaina obeyed, running to catch up. “You did good, really good at the end. I was worried at the start though.”
“Yeah,” Elaina replied, catching her breath. “I kinda used too much mana in the beginning.”
“Your pool must be massive though. For someone with no training, you did quite a lot.”
Elaina blushed at the praise. “I guess it is large. I wouldn’t really know.” Though it probably has more to do with my class than natural ability.
“I’m gonna put you in the Advanced Manipulation course after all, with the Fireguard girl and me.”
“Wait, you’re in that course too?”
“Yup. These practical courses are about personal improvement more than anything, and the advanced ones have so few students that its not worth separating the years. I honestly didn’t think you were cut out for it, but the force you exerted at the end… You’re unrefined, but you have the potential and need the dedicated training. You’re also lucky I was there to catch that, or you might have hurt someone that actually mattered.” She smiled back at Elaina. “We’ll need to work on that performance anxiety for sure though. I can’t have my playmate getting nervous when it really counts, now can I?”
Elaina’s heart skipped, and her mouth gaped as Tira laughed and turned back facing ahead. “Playtime has to be later though; I’ve gotta meet Calivahn. You’re free the rest of the day, right?”
“Ya, only today though. My schedule’s pretty full the rest of the week too.”
“Yeah, you’ll get a modified one once I put in your course assignment. You’ll have aspect training today of course, and then another round of it on Third Day and Fourth Day. First Day will still be your day with the most free time, but it’s not going to be easy, I promise.”
“Right,” Elaina said. She needed it to not be easy. As happy as she was that the portraits weren’t going to be sold, that she’d actually beaten Waine Ferris in single combat, she knew she had a lot to learn. An external aspect was apparently a favored opponent for her, but against someone like Prisma, or even the boy that could conjure up three dogs there was no way she’d last even a moment with her current ability. “I need to go shower myself, then do lunch probably. Do you, uhm, want to eat together?”
Tira scrunched her face. “I would, but I’m doing a working lunch with the crone. Watch duty during dinner later too.” She smiled. “I’ll keep Third Day free for you though, and we can make plans then? Unless you’re busy.”
“Oh,” Elaina said. She thought she’d messed up for a moment, overstepped, but it didn’t seem that was the case. “Yeah, we can do Third Day. I’m, uh, not busy then.” She wasn’t busy any day, really.
“Great!’ Tira said, spinning and ruffling Elaina’s hair. “You get cleaned up and enjoy lunch.” She leaned over, whispering in Elaina’s ear. “On Third Day, wear something nice under your uniform, but try and let me be the only one to see this time, kay?”
Tira pulled back, winking at Elaina. “Later,” she said, stepping onto the cobblestone immediately surrounding the castle, boot heels clacking as she walked, a single finger running over a whip tied to a waist that swayed back and forth with each step.
Elaina realized she’d stopped walking and shook her head, rushing back into the academy proper. She made it back to her dorm room, locked her door, and examined her uniform. The jacket was fine of course, having been held by Tira during the duel, but her skirt and shirt were covered in sand. She sighed as she opened the dresser, looking at the scraps of the skirt she couldn’t change into. Winning the duel had been great for maintaining some of her dignity, but it wasn’t like everything was magically fixed. At least she still had a couple extra shirts, since the school expected her to change them every day anyway.
She stripped naked, placing her shirt and underwear next to the dresser while she laid her jacket and skirt on top of it. She wanted to beat the sand off the skirt, but the only way to do that would be to do it on the floor in her room or out on the grounds in her underwear. That could be fun though… No, bad idea. She needed to get to the showers.
Elaina looked over at her bed, thinking about actually cleaning her uniform in just underwear, about the number of people who’d already seen her in them. Her sheets looked so inviting too, and there was time, right? She had plans for the day, to go back to the orb she’d met, but that would have to be after lunch anyway, and lunch itself was over an hour away.
She gave in, diving onto the mattress and crawling under the covers. They’d get a little dirty, but she’d noticed her room was cleaned each day between lunch and dinner anyway. Automatons? Probably, but she didn’t care to think of that right now.
Elaina got to work and plunged straight into her own pussy, having neither the time nor the patience to build up slowly. There was enough foreplay earlier when she’d been frozen in place in front of her entire year, spread legged after having taken off her own skirt in front of them. There’s no way they’d know, right? That she did it on purpose, that she liked it? She wished they did. The sheets were thrown askew in seconds as she writhed in their luxuriousness. She needed to bare herself anyway, imagine someone was watching her, could see her. Tira? Prisma? It didn’t matter who; Elaina needed someone to see her like this, anyone.
The lock to her room clicked, and the door swung open.