Chapter twenty-four:

The field had morphed to a very rocky terrain with small bodies of water everywhere, dotting the otherwise desert-like landscape. There were large boulders thrown about the landscape as well and it already looked rough to traverse; Yoomi couldn’t imagine what other obstacles the scene provided since this was a match of uneven terrain, after all.

“Start!”

No sooner had the word blasted through the speakers did everything turn into a blur that was almost too fast for Yoomi to catch on to. From what she could tell, Luhan had attacked first when he charged straight to his opponent, Lee Sunwoo, the other unmoving thanks to Luhan’s power of telekinesis. However, it did nothing more to deter the guy in motion. The next thing Yoomi realized was that she had unconsciously covered her ears with her two arms. Sunwoo had opened his mouth wide to release what sounded like a scream, resulting in almost the entire population of the spectator seats to flinch in their seats and cover their ears from the horrible sound.

“That’s a sonic scream-- Lee Sunwoo’s power.” She heard Yixing tell her over all the groans the other students were making.

Trying her best to keep her eyes on the arena, she caught sight of Luhan stumbling from Sunwoo’s attack, his two arms coming up to cover his ears firmly. Recovering faster than she had expected, Luhan was already working on pulling nearby boulders, upon boulders in front of him to act as a shield against the power of the sonic scream that was not only loud, but had so much force that, when directed at Luhan, it had sent him skidding back a few small feet while he was stumbling at the shock of the noise. Lee Sunwoo was unrelenting in his attack and kept up the screaming, causing Luhan’s protective boulders to crack and fall apart one by one. As the last one in front of him went splitting apart, Luhan called upon his wings to help him dodge the small pieces of the destroyed boulder that were coming his way, all the while focusing his telekinesis on keeping Sunwoo unmoving. He didn’t fly very high, one of the boys next to her explaining that there was a barrier above the arena that prevented students from relying solely on their ability to fly in order to gain unfair advantages in fights, but that they were allowed to still use their wings, as that was a part of being a Vaeli, so that they could gain speed or dodge to their full capability.

“Lee Sunwoo!” To Yoomi’s surprise, what seemed to be Luhan’s voice resounded in the arena. It was unmistakable. Although he doesn’t speak much, his voice had a certain smooth, velvety texture to it that always left Yoomi yearning to hear more. “I’ve been looking forward to the day we would battle again. But I’ve got to say, I’m a little disappointed. Is this all you’ve got? You know I like my matches to last as long as possible; how can that happen if you are barely putting up a fight?” His tone was still a little flat and just as biting as usual with his cutting commentary, but the excitement that laid underneath it was unmistakable, as well as the fact that he was clearly feeling more confident right now since his voice had way more volume. No longer was this the emotionless Luhan she was used to seeing.

“Annnd, the real fight has started!” Chanyeol whooped, Baekhyun and Jongdae joining in on his cheering. Some of the older boys were shaking their heads as if they had expected this, but still had small smiles on their faces at the others’ excitement. Jongin and Tao were surprisingly joining in the beagle trio and encouraging their hyung to go all out, both the type to enjoy a good fight. Even Sehun had a wide smile on his face that Yoomi wasn’t used to seeing and Kyungsoo seemed to be paying attention to the match closely, like he was taking notes or something, when usually he would boredly stare out in nothing, saying that most matches weren’t worth watching.

Yoomi, on the other hand, had hung open in astonishment. So this… was the surprise her friends told her to be prepared for? The surprise being Luhan’s sudden speaking skills that apparently only make an appearance during such battles? Yoomi was dumbfounded. On more than just a few occasions had she tried to get him to talk to her, all of them resulting in the same curt, blunt, manner that he talks to everyone with.

Back to the battle on hand, Luhan was now once again advancing fast on his opponent, who seemed to need to take a breather after two consecutive powerful screams. All of a sudden, the ground beneath them trembled and waves started to form in the bodies of water surrounding them. No later than a second after, a full earthquake seemed to have hit the area, causing both boys to stumble and lose their balance. The spot Luhan stood in just a moment ago had broken apart and risen so high that it caused a downwards slope, leaving him to slide down the rocky terrain.

Yoomi held her breath, wondering what he would do next in this situation. The boy quickly slowed in his descent though, and Yixing tapped her gently on the shoulder to once again explain. “It’s not gravity manipulation,” he nodded his head to Yifan that was sitting a few spots away, “but Luhan’s using his powers to push down on himself to mimic gravity. His telekinesis is exerting a lot of pressure to keep him in place and counteract the earthquake.” Yoomi was amazed that Luhan had even thought about doing something like that, the idea so simple yet ingenious as she was sure it wouldn’t have even occurred to her if she had his powers.

Luhan’s opponent, Sunwoo, was having less luck. He had fallen to the ground when the tremors first began and roughly rolled around for a couple of seconds before being thrown into a rock. The impact was harsh and had Yoomi and many others wincing, but he grabbed onto the rock and held on after that to hold himself steady on the shaking ground.

Only after a whole minute — Yoomi counted — did the earthquake subside into the uneven but unmoving terrain the battle started out with. Luhan was quick to get up on his feet once again, casually running a hand through his messed up locks to get the little pieces of rocks in it out.

“Oooh, that must’ve hurt like a , Sunwoo-ah,” Luhan commented impassively, all the while brushing the minimal amount of dirt off his body in a fashion that was no doubt to mock the other. “You could’ve handled it better.”

“Did Luhan oppa just curse?” Yoomi wondered aloud in shock, not quite believing what she just witnessed.

Tao, who heard her, turned around with a smirk. “Oh, there’s more to come, Princess. That was nothing.”

Sunwoo gritted his teeth at Luahn’s mocking, knowing how much he liked to draw out fights, unlike most of the other S-class boys that tried to finish their matches as quickly as possible, since he had fought him before. He held his side that he had hit on the rock as he stood up again to face Luhan properly. He took a deep breath despite his injury hurting at the motion and released a more pressurized scream directed exactly at Luhan. It seemed that Sunwoo could only hope to beam him while keeping a distance now, since he had gotten injured and all the S-ranks were known to have incredible hand-to-hand combat skills, Luhan included. This new beam had a smaller radius, but was far stronger and exploded the boulder Luhan had quickly tried to duck behind, showering him in smaller pebbles and dust.

Using the dust to his advantage, Luhan appeared to have used his telekinesis to stir it all around and make a quick, improvised smoke screen. From their spot in the stands, Yoomi and the others could still see Luhan through the cloud, but it was obvious by the way Sunwoo stopped his attack and hesitantly looked around that he could no longer see him from on the ground in the arena.

Using this moment of blindness, Luhan approached his opponent once again, this time fast enough to reach him without the distraction of the sonic scream, and lands a powerful kick to his head, causing the boy to land in a heap on the ground.

At this moment, the earthquake starts again.

Now that Luhan knows to expect the earthquake, he wasn’t caught off guard like the first time and immediately jumped up onto one of the big, sturdier boulders and held on. From his spot, he looked down at Sunwoo, who was already dizzy from Luhan’s attack to his head earlier, struggling to not get crushed by the moving ground. The boy let out whimpers of pain, both from his earlier injury and from Luhan’s hit, all the while having to exert strength to survive the earthquake.

“Oh no, maybe I shouldn’t have done that to you, Sunwoo-ah. You were already hurt, and you always have been a little when it came to dealing with pain. I’ll try to be more careful next time so that you can give me a match worth fighting. It’d be a damn shame if it ended too early, right?”

Hearing the S-rank’s mocking remarks must’ve angered Sunwoo, for, in the next split second, he flew straight into Luhan, knocking him off the boulder he was perched on. Luhan let out a strangled “!” when they both toppled off, only to break his fall by pulling another boulder closer to himself to take purchase on. His opponent followed suit, meaning to tackle him down once again, but Luhan used his power to fling him away with a powerful psychic push.

Taking advantage of the distance that was now between them and their more stable footing, a little more used to the earth’s tremors now since they had already experienced it once before, they both threw attacks at one another. Sunwoo directed his pressurized sonic scream at Luhan’s feet and the ground beneath him, trying to break it apart and add to the instability the earthquake was causing in hopes that he would fall in the cracked earth and be rendered trapped. He was having difficulties aiming his blast properfly though, since he had to dodge the small, fist-sized rocks Luhan was hurling at him with his telekinesis, all while simultaneously still trying to keep his own balance.

Luckily for the both of them, the terrain stopped moving just in time. Luhan, however, was faster and reacted right away. With his renewed focus, he could finally throw his opponent far away enough to land in one of the water pools in the terrain. Wasting no time, Luhan followed suit. This time, he physically used his hands to submerge Sunwoo’s head underwater and keep it there, effectively muffling the other’s voice and rendering his power useless.

“Ahhh, my ing ears,” Luhan muttered to himself, a grimace appearing on his pretty face. “How do you live with having such an annoying power?”

The boy held underneath water thrashed hard, causing splashes and gurgles from the water surface, though Luhan looked to be undeterred by it.

“Ahh, that’s right,” the S-rank spoke up again, answering his own question, “you put earmuffs on when you train.” This time he released a jeering chuckle at the struggling boy held firmly underneath him.

Since Luhan was too busy laughing by himself, his hold on Sunwoo loosened and the other emerged from the water with an outraged scream after a particularly hard struggle.

“That idiot,” Yoomi heard their eldest member’s voice grumbling from somewhere behind her in his seat. “It’s nearing ten minutes already, and he knows he should’ve stopped playing and ended it by now.”

“He’s worse than the kids sometimes,” Yifan agreed with an exasperated sigh.

“Hey!” Jongin protested at the look being sent his way after Yifan finished that sentence. Like Luhan, he also liked to mess around during his fights; with a power as fun as teleportation though, how was he expected not to take advantage and abuse it a little though?

Back in the arena, Luhan had slipped and fallen into the water as well as a result of Sunwoo’s power. He didn’t let that faze him, though, as he emerged from the surface not even a second later.

“Alright loser, play time’s over. Let’s keep that horrendous voice of yours under control now, hm?”

“You ing bas-” before Lee Sunwoo could get his fist anywhere near the other’s face nor finish his insult, Luhan had mentally dunked the kid underwater once again. This time he did not play around leisurely like he did a while ago and went on to using his power to wrap the water around Sunwoo in a compressed ball while the other struggled.

As if on command, the ground started rumbling again the moment Luhan got himself out of the little crater of water. “,” he cursed, but his gaze was narrowed and focused. He was using his powers now to stay steady, hold Sunwoo down, and keep the water shaped in a bubble around his head. Feeling the strain, he reached out manually to give his powers a boost by using hand gestures and began dragging boulders closer to surround the pool and trap Sunwoo inside so that was one less thing he had to worry about. Once his trap was secure, he released his hold on the water and went back to holding his opponent down physically, one hand going to hold his head that was splitting from Sunwoo’s screams and his overexertion of his powers by trying to do too many things at once.

“That idiot,” Minseok repeated, noticing his pain. “If he just ended the match earlier, then his head wouldn’t hurt so bad.”