Chapter 13 - Size vs Strength

*CREEEAAK*

Sounded the principal's door as Rafaela entered his office.

" You wanted to see me, sir?", she asked.

" Ah, yes.", Sebastian put his pen down and looked at her. " I have something to ask of you."

" What is it?", she gently closed the door.

" The new student that I've told you yesterday should've arrived this morning. Right now, she should be taking a look around campus.", he took out a brown envelope and took out a picture.

" This is what she looks like. Please tell her to come here when she's finished with her sight-seeing."

Rafaela looked at the photo and saw a little girl with twin buns and clear black eyes, same as Wade's.

" This is the new student? She looks very young."

" Pftttt. I knew you'd say that.", He said while holding back his laughter. " But please, for your safety, please don't mention her size in front of her. She's sensitive about it."

" Really? Why-",

*BANGG!*

Both of them were surprised with the loud noise that the door made as someone harshly pushed it open.

" Mr. Principal- *pant* - someone is causing trouble- *pant*- in the boxing club's clubroom.", said a student while breathing heavily.

" What do you mean trouble?", Rafaela asked. " If it's the boxing club, no one in the academy would dare pick a fight with Alex."

" She's a new student!!"

" A new student? You mean this girl?"

Rafaela showed Puff's picture to the student.

" Yes! that's her! "

Sebastian immediately stood up from his seat.

" Rafaela, head over there right now.", he said with a trembling voice.

" Why do you look so nervous? There's no way Alex's club couldn't stop one single kid.", she arrogantly said.

" Everyone from the boxing club, except their president is defeated already! And she didn't even break a sweat! She's a monster!!", said the student.

" Seriously!?" , she was clearly shocked.

" We don't have time to waste. Go there and stop the fight. I'll follow you after I'm finished with my work.", Sebastian ordered her.

" Roger that!", Rafaela quickly ran out along with the student.

---------

"Gahh!", Alex panted as her back slammed against the corner of the ring.

" Alex!", Wade shouted as he was halfway across the crowd. But the crowd's shouting and cheering was very loud that his voice couldn't reach the ring.

" Impressive!", Puff proudly shouted. " You took a direct hit on your left forearm, and it didn't broke. You're quite sturdy. I like you!"

" Ugh.", Alex casually wiped the blood on her mouth. " Thanks for the compliment."

" Are my eyes fooling me, or is Alex really getting beat by a little girl?", Melissa rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

" Let's try how sturdy you really are.", Puff cracked her knuckles and stared at Alex. " Boulder Breaker series : Right Straight."

Puff suddenly threw a lightning quick straight punch towards Alex. And in a blink of an eye, a strong shockwave grazed Alex's cheek and hit her left shoulder. The force made her lose her footing . She lost her balance and she leaned against the ropes.

" What was that!?"

" She's at the opposite side of the ring!"

" A shockwave?"

" Good reaction. I was aiming for your face. That split second decision you made prolonged your defeat.", Puff said while proudly looking at her.

" Gah!", Alex groaned as she held her left shoulder that was almost dislocated by the impact. " W-who are you??"

" He-he-he! I am Puff! One of the four generals of the kingdom of Helen! Buha-ha-ha!", she proudly replied.

" General? Helen?", Alex said while holding in the pain.

" Yep! Now! It's time to end this! Grit your teeth!", Puff clenched her fists. " Boulder Breaker Series: Left Hook."

Puff threw a left hook and it made a cleave-like shockwave towards Alex.

----

" What's going on here!?", Rafaela arrived at the entrance of the Boxing Club's clubroom.

" Hey, Raven!", Melissa called out to her.

" Melissa! What's the situation here?", she went to Melissa and saw a ton of students cheering and shouting.

" We got to help Alex!", Melissa said with a worried tone. " That girl is insanely strong! If her next attack connects, Alex could get badly hurt!"

----

Alex looked at Puff as she released her attack. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain from her left shoulder and charged towards Puff. And as she was about to make contact with the shockwave, she quickly slid down and dodged it. She then clenched her fists and dashed towards Puff.

" Right Glove Energize!", she quickly equipped her iron gloves and threw her strongest punch without her aura armor at Puff.

" YAHHHH!!!"

*BANGGGG*

The punch made a loud banging sound. And everyone was speechless, even Alex couldn't believe it.

Her strongest punch was stopped with just a single hand.

" Your speed, endurance and power is clearly above those people that I've fought before you. But-", Puff clenched her hand and easily broke Alex's iron glove. She then held on to Alex's hand and clenched her other fist.

" – you aren't there yet. You have much room for improvement though. I hope I could fight you again in your best shape."

Puff raised her fist preparing to strike while Alex was doing her best in pulling out of her grip.

" Mountain Smasher!", Puff began to swing her fist.

" ALEX!", Rafaela shouted at them. She looked around and saw the fire alarm across the room.

" Raven's Bow!", Rafaela took out her purple bow and aimed for the alarm's switch.

Alex closed her eyes and prepared for impact. And before Puff's fist could reach Alex, a loud alarm blared in the entire room. Everyone was shocked and was confused on what was happening.

Puff was stunned for a second, but ignored the alarm and started to swing her fist again. Then, out of nowhere, Wade jumped in the ring and pulled Puff away by the ear.

" Ow! Ow! Ow!", Puff cried as if she was treated as a kid.

" What are you doing here!?", Wade angrily asked her as he lifter her by the ear.

" OKAY! OKAY! I'll tell you! Just please stop pulling on my ear!", she pleaded.

" Look! There's someone else on the ring!"

" Isn't that the freshman who beat Raven!?"

Wade suddenly dropped her " Ouch!-"

and walked towards Alex to check on her.

" Are you alright?", he asked her while walking her towards the corner.

" I'm fine. My left shoulder is a bit swollen, that's all.", Alex replied.

*SWIIISHHHH!!!* * BANNGGG!!!*

Suddenly, a bird-like person flew towards the ring and jumped down in the center of the ring.

" Everyone back to you clubs right now!!", the person was Rafaela. " The match is over! Please leave the clubroom immediately or I'll force you out!"

" Seriously!?"

" What a kill-joy."

" We better go if we don't want any trouble with the student council."

The students slowly dispersed and eventually the people left in the clubroom were only Puff, Wade, Alex, Rafaela and Melissa.

Rafaela immediately ran towards Alex and assessed her situation.

" Are you okay?", she worriedly asked.

" I'm alright, don't worry about it.", Alex replied with a weak voice.

" We should take her to the school clinic.", Wade calmly said.

" She's fine! That's just a scratch! She'll heal after a good rest.", Puff proudly shouted.

Rafaela sharply glared at her. And without a second thought, Rafaela took out her sword and leaped towards Puff.

Wade instantly grabbed Rafaela's wrist and pulled her towards him.

" Calm down, Raf."

" Let go of me!", she shouted. But she couldn't break away from Wade's grip. " I won't forgive anyone who hurts my friends!"

" I don't think you could do any better, missy.", Puff teased her.

" Shut your trap, Puff!", Wade angrily said.

Puff just smiled and raised both her hands. " Fine, fine."

" It's okay Raf, She's right, I'm not strong enough.", Alex tapped Rafaela on the back.

" It's not okay Alex! She's got no business-",

" That's enough Rafaela.", Sebastian loudly said as he entered the clubroom with Melissa.

Rafaela bit her lip and looked away so that Sebastian won't see the irritated look on her face.

" Yo! Seb! Long time no see! Sorry about the mess." Puff said to Sebastian as he walked towards them.

" I knew somehow, you will cause some kind of trouble when you arrive. But I didn't expect it to escalate like this.", he replied.

" I was trying to test your students, but I got carried away. Tee-hee.", Puff smiled with a peace sign on her hands.

" Testing us?", Alex looked confused.

Wade clamped his hand into Puff's cheeks and lifted her small body up.

" Hiy! Whatsa big de-el??", Puff asked with her lips squeezed.

" Why are you here!? Weren't you assigned tasks in helping the country? Don't tell me you've ditched your duties and came here for fun?", Wade angrily asked her.

" Powt me down nd al etssplain.", she said.

" Fine." , Wade loosen his grip and dropped her.

Puff landed on her feet and stood proudly with her arms crossed.

Melissa watched them talk and noticed something, " Wait-, Wade, you know her?"

" Um- ",

" Yes!", Puff abruptly answered before Wade could talk. " WE ARE FAMILY!"

" Family? ", Melissa was confused. " But you don't look even a little bit similar."

" Yep! It's because he and I are not blood related!", she replied.

" Wait-, if you are not related and you are family with him. Does that mean-, you're married?!!"

" YES!!", she confidently answered.

*SMACK!!!!*

Wade mercilessly smacked Puff on the head.

" Ow! Ow!", she held her head .

Wade then grabbed her head by the hand and lifted her up.

" She is my adopted sister. Her name is Puff. Please forgive her."

" Nice to meet ya!", Puff waved at them.

" That explains why you two don't look alike, except your eyes. They're both plain and dark.", Melissa said.

" *Sigh* Well, I'm just glad that no one is severely hurt.", Sebastian said with a relieved tone. " Rafaela, please take Alex to the our clinic and get her injuries checked."

" No need!", Puff jumped high and landed behind Alex. " Take this and you'll feel better!"

Puff handed a small bottle with a sparkling blue water.

" What is that?", Rafaela curiously asked.

" Ah~, the Elixir of Helen. One of Miss Grey's amazing potions.", Sebastian said after recognizing the potion on Alex's hands.

" Elixir of Helen?", Melissa walked closer to the ring to have a clearer look.

Alex removed the cover and slowly drank the potion. It's slimy texture slowly and easily flowed into Alex's throat. Seconds after drinking the potion, Alex's skin began to glow with a neon blue color for a few seconds. Her bruises were quickly healing and her dislocated shoulder returned to it's place. Her body stopped glowing and all her injuries were suddenly gone.

" What happened?", Rafaela was not able to hide the shock on her face.

" I don't know, but I feel so light. And all the stress and injuries in my body are gone.", Alex stood up feeling revitalized. " What was that liquid?"

" It's a secret, hahaha.", Puff laughed as he walked towards Wade.

" Now that everything is settled, let's go to my office. We have something to talk about.", Sebastian said as he calmly walked towards the door. " You could come miss Melissa. I'm sure it would be worth your time."

" Okay, sir.", Melissa answered feeling a bit off about what the principal said.

-----------------

*****KNOCK*****KNOCK*****KNOCK*****

" Sorry we're a bit late, sir.", Shin said as he and entered the principal's office. " We got held up because of the sudden extra lesson added in our curriculum."

" Well, it's understandable after what happened during the monster festival, the school had to include the " Underground World" in our subjects." Soru said as he looked around the room. " Oh! Is this the new student!?"

Soru walked towards her with a grin on his face.

" She's is the reason why the student council gathered here? Haha! She's so cute!", he laughed loudly as he held his stomach.

Puff's irritated face was easy to read.

" What's so funn-"

" Please refrain from calling her that, she doesn't like to be called that way.", Wade smilingly said to him.

Soru suddenly became silent.

" Why are you here anyway?", he sharply glared at Wade. " I don't see any reason for you to be here."

" Soru-", Shin tried to interrupt him.

" The principal seems to hold you in high regard, but I can't see any reason for that at all.", he continued. " And I'm really itching to ask this-, where were you when the school was attacked!?"

" Soru!", Shin shouted his name.

The room was dead silent. Everyone was confused because of Soru's sudden change in behavior and at the same time, they were a bit curious about his statements.

Shin angrily walked in front of Soru and grabbed him by the shirt.

" Stop it before you say something stupid-", he angrily whispered to him.

" Tch!", Soru looked down trying to keep his cool. " I got it."

" I'm sorry about that.", Shin faced them calmly. " Can I ask why you've called us here, sir?"

Sebastian decided to let what happened go and slowly pulled the drawer on his table. He picked up an orange box and placed it on his table.

" What I have here is Puff's aura bracelet.", Sebastian opened the box and took out a pair of orange aura bracelets.

" Woowwww! That's mine!??", Puff's eyes were clearly in awe.

" Tch-, this again. Why are we wasting our time for a tiny girl's first transformation?", Soru complained.

" Of course we have to watch over it. " , Rafaela stood up. " We have to see what aura armor the first person who beat Alex has."

" Wait-,what did you say?", Soru was surprised of what e heard.

" Alex, is it true?", Shin directly asked Alex.

" Yes, it's true.", Alex replied. " I was no match for her. It's as though, she had experienced countless of battles that I think even if I was stronger than her, I would still lose."

Both Shin and Soru were shocked. The thought of someone stronger than the strongest brute strength in the academy left them speechless.

" Can I try it? Can i? Can I? Can i?", Puff excitedly begged Sebastian.

" Of course, it's yours after all.", he handed the bracelet to her.

Puff immediately fitted the bracelets on her wrists.

" Slow down, you might end up breaking them.", Wade told her.

After fitting it on. Puff raised her left wrist. " Here I go."

Everyone were on the edge of their seat as they await her transformation.

" AURA ARMOR, ENERGIZE!!!!", Puff shouted.

The room was filled with a quiet air for a few seconds. Then her bracelet began glowing in bright orange.

" Whoohoho! What's happening!?", Puff held both her wrists out.

And from the bracelet, a strong beam of orange light suddenly bursted out. The light had covered her whole body. The beam of light became so concentrated that it made a hole through the roof and pierced the clouds. The whole building began shaking and everyone was overwhelmed.

" What is happening!?", Melissa covered her face while taking out her short sword and plunged it to the floor to prevent her from being blown away.

" Such an immense surge of power.", Rafaela used her weapon orb to make long spear plunged horizontally in the room to give them something to hold into.

Sebastian and Wade were just standing calmly and were not the least bit surprised.

The light suddenly broke out giving out a strong shockwave that broke all the window glass of the room.

As the light slowly faded away, they saw her sparkling light orange armor with a silk robe and a pair of shining white whings. She held her hand out and a orange energy hammer suddenly appeared.

" Woooow! What a rush!", Puff shouted. " I can feel my power being unconsciously pulled out."

" Sh-she's an-", Soru stuttered clearly shocked by what he saw.

" ANGEL CLASS !!!!", they shouted in unison.

" Ah, as expected.", Sebastian calmly said. " But-,we should've done this on an open area."

He looked around his wrecked room and at the big hole on his ceiling.

" Well, at least no one was injured.", he said.

" SO COOOOL!!!!", Wade's eyes were sparkling. He was genuinely amazed with Puff's armor.

" Fuhahaha! That's right! I'm the coolest!", Puff laughed as she made body builder poses.

She looked at them and everyone's jaw were hanging. " Hmm? What's wrong with you guys?"

" Her f-first transformation-", Melissa could barely finish her sentence from shock.

" I-impossible-, that small girl is an Angel class!?", Soru couldn't believe it.

" Not only that-", Shin held his hand out, " Her aura is so immense that you can feel the weight of her aura from across the room."

" Oh! You're right.", Puff could feel that her energy was being forcibly pulled out filling the entire room with her aura.

" Hey Seb, how do you turn this of-"

*Ssszzzzzzzzttt*

Before Puff could finish talking, she noticed her aura bracelets began to spark. She tried taking it off but the bracelets suddenly exploded.

" Puff!", Wade shouted.

Puff stood there calmly, unscathed and her aura armor was slowly disappearing.

" What happened??", Alex checked Puff's wrists. " Are you alright?"

" Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine!", Puff smiled at her with her thumbs up.

" What the heck happened, Sebastian?", Wade asked him.

" Hmm, it seems that the aura bracelets were overloaded with your aura and exploded.", Sebastian said while examining the broken pieces of the bracelet on the floor.

" No way?", Puff was bummed out. " So I'd never be able to transform again?"

" Don't worry. I'll make a new,more sturdier ones for you.", he replied. " Though, you have to wait for a couple of days, okay?"

" Okay.", Puff replied with a sad face.

Wade patted her head gently. " I'm glad you're alright. Don't worry, Seb make new ones for you. Cheer up."

Rafaela, Alex and Melissa were surprised by his behavior. He seemed like a kind and caring big brother to Puff.

" Let's need to clean up first.", Sebastian looked around his office. " This place is a mess."

Puff looked around and realized how she trashed the office. " Gah-, I'm sorry."

They cleaned the room together and immediately went home after.

Shin and Soru walked to the male's dorm together. Rafaela, Alex and Melissa walked to the female's dorm together. While Wade and Alex suddenly disappeared after they cleaned the room

----------------------------------------------------------------------

" Who are they?", Soru was thinking out loud as they were walking. " I have so many unanswered questions in my head that it's hurting my brain."

" They have no presence at all, but they are very unpredictable." Shin replied.

" And that little brat was ang Angel Class! How is that possible!?", Soru shouted.

" Calm down. Getting angry won't get us anywhere."

" You're right, sorry."

" For now, let's just observe them. We'll find out what they really are sooner or later." Shin calmly said.

-----------------------------------------------

The three girls were very quiet as they walk together. It seems like all the things that happened this day had everyone's mood very down.

" I wonder what really is Wade's relationship with Puff.", Melissa tried to break the ice.

" They looked pretty close. And they said they were family. I wonder if they're telling the truth." , Rafaela replied. " What do you think Alex?"

Alex did not answer. She was staring down while walking and wasn't paying attention to them at all.

" Alex? Hey, Alex?", Alex was startled and looked at the two of them.

" I'm sorry. What were you talking about?", she said with a gentle smile.

" Are you okay?", Rafaela look really worried. " Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure you can beat her next time.'

" Yeah, don't stress it. You're the strongest in the academy after all.", Melissa tried to cheer her up.

" Strongest in the academy, huh-", She raised her head and smiled at them. " Thanks Raf, Melissa. I'm glad that you're my friends."

-----------------------------------------------------------

" We need to make sure that this marriage will go smoothly or our country will be doomed." , said a main with a thick and long brown beard.

" Don't worry my king. We hired the best and most expensive mercenaries just to make sure that we have everything under control for that grand event.", said one of his advisers.

Suddenly, the giant doors of the throne room slowly opened. A woman wearing a black robe and a giant scythe on her back entered the room and walked slowly towards the king.

" Ah, I can rest in ease now that I know that you're here-", the king was delighted as he saw the woman. " Welcome to Orbsberg, " The Phantom". "

The king couldn't clearly see her face because of her hood, but her gleaming eyes sent chills into the king's spine.

" It's a pleasure to meet you, King Bertram.", As she spoke, everyone in the room including the advisers and the royal guards felt a strong bloodlust that made their knees shake.

" Now, who do I kill??"

--End of Chapter 13--