Chapter 7:

 I was just smiling as I happily talked to Lexi while we were walking towards the gym, but the second we pushed through the heavy doors, I fell silent as I caught a pair of sharp emerald eyes as they instantly locked on mine. He was an assistant, so why was I so shocked to see him? Especially here, of course, he would be assisting in combat. I mean, just look at him. He's a weapon all on his own.

As much as I hated it, I still couldn't stop my eyes from wandering over him; he was just far too easy to look at. I honestly don't think there's another person in the realm that could make black look so damn good. The short-sleeved undershirt he wore clung to him like a second skin, leaving very little of the toned muscle of his chest to the imagination. He wasn't armed at the moment, but with Bane draped over his wide shoulders, he looked every bit of a weapon himself.

Nova was giggling at me, and I just gave her a slight shake of my head before she got distracted by how Bane was watching her. I was just about to make a comment to Nova when Lexi grabbed my arm, pulling me over to lean beside her against the back wall of the gym.

"Is there a reason that guy, you know, the one that looks like he could actually fight the huge lizard on his shoulders, and win, glaring at you like you just killed his favorite pet?" Lexi asked, and I couldn't hold in the snort of laughter that bubbled up at her description of Xavier. Covering my mouth with my hand, I had to take a few breaths to keep from bursting out laughing at her. "Like, don't get me wrong, he's hot and all, but he looks like he could murder you with a glare alone."

"Honestly, that's nothing. I actually think that's one of the nicest looks I've gotten from him." I couldn't help but to giggle this time as she just raised her eyebrows at me. "Take another look at the dragon on his shoulders, and you'll understand."

"Oh," she whispered as she looked between Bane and Nova. 

"Yeah... remember when I told you that Bane had nothing on his human? Well, now you know why. Trust me. You haven't even seen a glare from him yet, and believe me when I tell you that you don't ever want to be on the receiving end of one.” She just nodded, raising her eyebrows at me as she glanced between Xavier and me one more time.

"Alright, class, listen up." A man called over the crowd of students as he entered through one of the back doors of the gym. It was almost comical as he came up beside Xavier. The two of them couldn't be more different. Where Xavier was tall, lean, and lethal, the other man was all bulky muscle on a short, stocky frame. "You may call me Professor Brawn."

"Well, that definitely suits him," Lexi whispered to me under her breath, causing me to have to cover my grin with my hand as I listened to the professor. 

"In this class, you will learn hand-to-hand combat and weapons skills. Once a week, you will be placed into sparring matches against the other students. During these matches, you will fight until someone either taps out or is incapacitated. These will generally happen directly before your arena challenges, although for this first week, they will be held towards the middle of next week, after the first round of arena challenges, and after you are healed enough to participate in them. In this class, it is absolutely prohibited to use any of your magical talents or abilities. I, along with my assistant, will have the right to waive this rule if we think it is applicable, but I strongly don't suggest trying it. In order to ensure your cooperation and safety during this class, there will always be an assistant here with me." He pointed towards Xavier, who just simply crossed his arms over his chest, not even bothering to soften his expression in the slightest as he looked over the crowd of students, pointedly skipping over me. "This is Xavier Knight. He is currently the top fighter in every category at this academy, and has just as much standing in this class as I do. You will treat him with the utmost respect as you would any other professor. However, just in case you get any ideas otherwise, due to him being an assistant, along with a high-ranking officer of the Alliance, he has every right to step in at any point if he believes things are being taken too far, and also has the right to challenge any student on the grounds. This being said, all of you also have the right to challenge him at any point, if you have the guts. I will warn you, though. He's never lost a single challenge in his whole career at this academy, on the mats or off them."

My eyes flew to Xavier's, and he just raised an eyebrow at me. I mean, I knew he had to be good, but I had no clue he was that good. Suddenly, his words from the other day made a lot more sense. 'Well, at least we know you've got a good teacher.' Nova said, and I just nodded to her.

"Alright, for today, break off into pairs. If I have to do it for you, I guarantee that you won't like my pairings. So I suggest you pick for yourselves, quickly." Everyone quickly shifted into pairs as Lexi and I just stayed put where we were. "Good, now in a moment, find yourselves a bit of space and start practicing the basics, punches, kicks, and open-hand strikes." He went over proper form and techniques before allowing us to move off into our pairs to practice.

I let Lexi go first because I knew she would have it down far better than me, but I didn't expect her to have absolutely perfect form in all the moves they wanted us to go through. Looking around, almost everyone in the room had practically perfect form. Nova cocked her head at me from the side of where we were practicing, and I sighed as I looked down at her. 'I'm about to make an absolute fool out of myself, aren't I?' I asked, and she glanced around the room before looking back up at me.

'In here? Yeah, absolutely.' Great. Lexi gave me a smile before motioning with her hand for me to practice against her, and I tried my best to steady myself and mimic the posture everyone else was using, but to say I failed was an understatement. I almost fell on my face just trying to throw a punch... Lexi's eyebrows shot to her hairline as she looked me over before placing her hands on my shoulders, steadying me as she looked down at me.

"You've never even thrown a punch before, have you?" She asked quietly, and I shook my head. "Okay then... let's just tone it down for a bit and start from the top then." She moved from in front of me and completely readjusted my stance, helping me steady myself before showing me step by step how to do each different strike.

I thought I was finally getting it before we moved onto kicks, and I accidentally kicked up too high, causing me to fall backward directly onto my ass. I felt the searing slice of his eyes on me the second I hit the mats before Lexi helped me up, and I didn't need to look up to know Xavier had just watched me fail miserably.