Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Bruno
"Match over," Vasilev said. "Grimaud wins."
Shū Yán lay on the mat, hand over her face, breathing hard. Not seriously injured, but stunned. Embarrassed. A Late Neophyte beaten by someone who looked like he couldn’t fight.
Lucian walked over and offered his hand.
She stared at it for a long moment. Then she took it, and he pulled her to her feet.
"Good fight," Lucian said.
Shū Yán touched her jaw, wincing. "You hit hard for a Late Neophyte."
"You move fast for a Late Neophyte."
"I’ve had good teachers."
"Who trained you?"
"Nobody important."
"Next. Bruno Remmos versus—"
"Me."
The voice came from the back of the room. A massive figure stood up from the back row, shoving past smaller students, his sheer size parting the crowd like a bulldozer through wet paper.
Bruno Remmos was built like a brick wall given legs. Enormous. Bulky. His uniform was two sizes too small, straining at the seams. His fists were the size of hams.
He pulled his shirt over his head and threw it at a trembling boy near the platform — a thin, nervous boy who had been ranked fifteenth in the combat exam. The boy caught the shirt, confused.
Bruno cracked his knuckles and climbed onto the platform. His buddies — six of them — big, meatheaded, mean — gathered around the platform edge, whooping and hollering.
Bruno looked at the trembling boy and grinned.
"Oi. Hope you prepared your medical fee," Bruno said, rolling his shoulders, "because this is going to be a fucking mess."
The boy — pale, shaking, clearly outmatched — swallowed hard and got into a boxing stance.
Bruno cracked his neck side to side. "Come on then."
The boy rushed forward, throwing mirage punches — feints within feints, a chaotic barrage designed to overwhelm through sheer volume.
Bruno didn’t flinch.
He stood in front of the boy, hands open, hands raised, and blocked every single punch with his palms. The mirage punches shattered against his palms like waves breaking against a cliff face.
PAM. PAM. PAM. PAM. PAM.
"Is that all?" Bruno said. "My grandmother hits harder."
He threw a fast punch straight at the boy’s face.
PAM!
The boy’s nose exploded in a spray of blood. He staggered backward, hands over his face, blood pouring through his fingers. His knees buckled.
Bruno smirked.
"Get up. I’m not done."
"Please—"
"I said get up."
The boy didn’t get up.
"Pathetic." Bruno looked at the boy writhing on the ground, clutching his face. "I asked for a challenge and I got this."
He looked at Vasilev. "I yield. He can’t continue."
"Match over," Vasilev said flatly. "Remmos, disqualified for excessive force."
Bruno shrugged. "His nose shouldn’t have been so fragile."
He walked off the platform, his six buddies falling into step behind him, laughing, shoving other students out of their way.
The medical team rushed to the platform to collect the unconscious boy.
Professor Vasilev watched Bruno leave with an expression that promised consequences.
Bruno didn’t care. He walked through the combat hall like he owned it. Students scrambled out of his path. His friends cheered.
Lucian slipped out the side door.
He had what he needed.
Havenford’s streets were busy. Midday crowds, midday noise, midday chaos. Lucian moved through the crowds with the ease.
Suddenly he stopped as he sensed two people following him.
He turned into an alley.
The alley was narrow, flanked by brick walls covered in peeling posters.
The two men entered the alley and stopped. They looked around, confused, their heads swiveling, searching.
Lucian stood at the far end, leaning against the dead end wall, invisible.
Light Prism made him transparent to normal sight. Not truly invisible, but the light bending around his body made him blend perfectly with the background. As long as he stayed still, he was invisible.
The two men stood in the alley, looking bewildered.
"Where the fuck did he go?"
"I don’t know. He was right here—"
"Maybe he went over the wall."
"He couldn’t have. The walls are twelve feet high."
"Check the rooftops—"
Lucian moved.
He was behind the first man before the man’s partner could turn around.
PAM!
His fist connected with the back of the the man’s skull. The man dropped like a sack of wet cement.
The second man spun around, eyes wild. "What the—"
Blood Threads erupted from Lucian’s palms and wrapped around the second man’s body — arms, legs, torso — binding him like a mummy. He struggled, screaming against the threads, but S-rank blood manipulation didn’t budge.
Lucian pulled the first man up by his hoodie collar and punched him in the stomach.
PAM!
The man doubled over, gasping.
Lucian looked down at him with a cold expression. His crimson eyes were flat.
"Who sent you?"
The man looked up, blood pouring from his nose, and spat at Lucian’s feet.
Lucian smiled as he punched the guy again until the guy finally said,
"Stop please. It was Bruno."
Lucian smiled as he says, "Was that so hard."
He released the threads binding the second man, who collapsed, gasping. He straightened his hoodie and looked at both of them with the indifference of a man watching insects fight.
"Tell Bruno to meet me on the rooftop of the Combat Department at evening."
He walked past them without looking back.
Evening.
The rooftop of the Combat Department building was cold and windy, overlooking the training grounds below. The sun was setting behind the walls of Havenford, casting long shadows across the academy grounds.
Bruno sat on the rooftop edge, legs dangling over the edge, a cigarette dangling from his lips. His six friends were scattered across the rooftop at various distances, positioned at stairwells and access points, making sure no one interrupted.
Lucian stepped out of the stairwell doorway.
Bruno’s eyes found him. He took the cigarette from his lips and exhaled a long plume of smoke.
"I see you’ve taken on a new appearance," Bruno said, eyes tracing Lucian’s silver hair, his crimson eyes, his pale skin. "How’s that sweet vampire pussy? Still ripe for the taking."
Lucian walked toward him, hands in his hoodie pocket. He reached Bruno’s cigarette, took a long drag, and exhaled slowly.
"It’s just been two years, Bruno Remmos. And you still haven’t changed."
Bruno laughed. "I see you haven’t lost that edge of yours, fucker."
Lucian took another drag.
"At this point, all those are irrelevant. Bruno. Let’s grow strong together and I promise you Louisa’s head. And who knows, you can even get that bitch’s daughter."
Bruno laughed again, smoke curling from his lips. "Wooo, that bitch must have really done a number on you. You’re radiating a lot of killing intent right now."
