Chapter 17 - A dark side steamed from circumstances 

The moment I declared the challenge, I knew I was in for a wild ride. That night... that boy... after his little stunt with me, he went back to being a total infront of his hyungs. Not even one of them picked up the tension in the air or the cunning ways of their little man when he succeeded in getting Namjoon to leave early. 

I was furious but I tried not to show it. No need to alert my warriors about the challenge. One way or another, I’m going to get them both as my warriors. Whole heartily and willingly. I’m not that low to force them into this. 

Looking at the bright, scorching sun, I groaned at the heat around me. Why isn’t their any wind flowing?  

Grumbling to myself, I looked at the date in my phone. It has been two days since that night. My anger has calmed down a bit. Namjoon has been consistently visiting me at night for dinner and sometimes during the day when the evil professor is not looking. And to my delight, he kept bringing Jungkook along with him. The young boy would always glare in my direction, mouthing foul words that only I could understand. He would act like a total submissive infront of others and an angry, bratty teenager when left alone with me. 

I would usually shut him up with food or trick him into playing games by attacking his bratty ego. I don’t care how much hatred I was getting, I only cared that the boy was atleast being civil and was being healthy under my care. He might not realise it, but the dark circles under his eyes I saw on him that day, had reduced. He also looked a bit puffed out by all the food he’s getting from Kyungsoo. All in all, he was getting better in terms of health. 

As for other things in my life, I finally came clean with my warriors about the card I saw with Krystal. I told them I could get it for them but they were pretty adamant at not letting me claim it. Something about being it too dangerous and that they don’t need anymore of their brothers taking up the space in the house. I was honestly puzzled by their words. Weren’t they the ones who wanted their beloved brothers back in their lives? Then why the sudden change of mind? I ignored it just as I have been ignoring everything strange about them. They will tell me when it’s time. I trust them. 

Classes were alright. There were few arguments here and there about my status but nothing too major yet. We touched the topic about warrior’s powers. Going a bit deeper into the five specialities. We learnt how we could identify, differentiate and classify any power we come across. That includes warriors with ‘psychic’ as their speciality. Infact, while the other four categories are elements themselves, psychic is the only category that has many elements assigned to it. Whether it’s mind, time, emotions, darkness, empathy, control... basically anything that is spiritually related, which brings me back to Jungkook. His powers are definitely related to emotions. Maybe he can manipulate them? Isn’t that what he did when he grabbed me? The emotions I felt were definitely his. Maybe he can transfer them too? 

Aish... my brain is hurting from thinking a lot. I shook my head to clear away the thoughts. 

Looking at my earth warrior beside me, I rested my head against his shoulders. It’s his first time coming out with me to the classes. The boy was pretty nervous since he knows that both Song Mina and Jung Krystal are in this class with me. They would instantly recognize him. He was afraid that he might be taken away from me. But I assured him that they will have to go through my dead body if they want to get to him. I even brought chanyeol and baekhyun with me. Unfortunately, they were in their cards playing snap. Cards playing cards. How ironic. 

“Relax, Soo.” I said, using the new nickname I made up for him. “Be strong. They won’t be able to hurt you.” 

I heard him hum but didn’t say anything else. 

It wasn't long before Daniel appeared and called everyone in. I looked around for my enemies but thankfully they were a bit late. 

“Pull out one of your best cards today. We will be focusing on your warrior’s powers.” He yelled, as he kissed a card of his own. The same warrior from the first day appeared next to him. “When you fight in an arena, you need to be aware of what your warriors can do. There’s no point in pushing a warrior to do something that is not within their skill set. Every warrior you see here or every warrior you own have their own set of skills. Just because you have four fire warriors or three wind warriors, that doesn’t mean they share the same power. Yes, they share the same element but not the same skills. Each and every one of them will have a slightly different turn to their core specialty. A very unique power or set of skills that a wielder should know about. And it is a wielder’s responsibility that they exploit their warrior’s powers from every angle. Because in the end, it’s the wielder who’s giving out the orders, not the warriors.” 

I nodded. The guy was good. Over the past few days, he hasn’t disappointed me in terms of training. 

“I like him. He knows what he’s doing.” Kyungsoo agreed beside me. I smiled. 

“Yeah, he’s good.” 

“So, for today, your task is to study your warrior. Make notes on what his powers are, what skill set they have? Are they any hidden abilities? Any advantages or disadvantages you could use against your opponent? Basically anything that will give you an upper hand in the arena. Now, you might think, you know everything about your warriors but you don’t. Trust me on this when I say that wielders who are much older than you guys have had their cards for years, maybe centuries and they still don’t know the true abilities of their own warriors.” 

I can agree on that. These little are not even aware that their warriors can hear them or that they can leave their cards without being summoned or called for. I kind of understand why the warriors would want to keep this to themselves. It’s their only freedom they have. 

“Aren’t you going a bit overboard with this warrior thing?” A voice called out. We all looked at the back too see Song Mina. She was standing in the middle with her lackeys. When did she get here? I felt Kyungsoo stiffen. I quickly held his arm and hid him behind me. “I mean, we’ve had our warriors for years. Of course, we would know all of their secret abilities. They tell us everything. It’s their duty,” 

“But you see, Mina, that’s where you’re wrong. It is not their duty to tell you everything. They would follow you, they would be loyal to you, they will listen to you, they will do anything you order them to do but they will never willingly reveal secrets that is theirs to keep. We live in a society where we think that we own the warriors. True, we own them. But like every servant, like every maid, they are entitled to have their own secrets and this is what brings their master’s downfall. Only a true wielder with a clear mind can see the true potential of a warrior.” 

“That’s bull.” She scoffed, flicking her head to the side. 

“Let me prove it to you then. Pull out your best card that you know everything about.” Daniel ordered, moving into the middle of the crowd. We all unconsciously made a circle around the duo. 

I watched with interest as Mina pulled out a blue card and kissed it. A short boy with a buzz cut appeared with a puff of wispy blue smoke. Wait, blue smoke? Wasn’t it supposed to be white?

Daniel’s eyes glistened in the sun. 

“Tell me what you know about him.” 

“He’s a water warrior. I have had him for nearly ten years. He can control water like the back of his hand. He can do pretty cool tricks with it too.” 

“Can he control any forms of liquid?” 

“No?” 

“Can he solidify the water molecules?” 

“No.” 

“Can he—“ 

“Okay, whats the point? What’s with all the questions.” 

“Jay. Circle him.” In an instant, daniel’s warrior put his arms up, shooting out a massive amount of fire onto the water boy. The fire was red but not as violent or bright as chanyeol’s. This one seemed a bit more tamed compared to my warrior’s wild and uncontrollable fire. 

“Stop! What are you doing?” Mina screeched, looking in horror at the fire circling around her warrior. The water boy tried to fight back with his own water powers but the fire was too big for him. It came onto him so suddenly that he didn’t get much time to defend himself. 

I looked at Daniel who started to address the crowd, ignoring Mina’s protest. 

“Now, in order for you to exploit your warrior’s powers, you need to test them. It will show you what they are capable of doing. And Who knows? They might surprise you.” He said before motioning his warrior to crush the water boy. With one flick of the warrior’s hand, the circling fire instantly pushed in, trapping the water warrior in a vortex of fire. The fire circle then started to compress, hiding the warrior from him. In an instant, it closed up in a ball, crushing the water warrior with it. 

“NO!” Mina screamed. The whole place went quiet, even Daniel who looked at the water boy’s disappearing spot intensely. It went on for few seconds, before a giant pop was heard and the water boy popped out of thin air. He was sweaty from all angles and his clothes seemed to be moving in a very water-like motion. 

“Now, would you like to tell everyone what you just did there or you want me to do the honours?” Daniel said sweetly, crouching to the boy’s sitting position. 

The warrior looked scared for his life. Daniel gave him a smirk before turning to the shocked Mina. 

“Your warrior is a vapour traveller. He can us