The Over-Break System

Selene, Headmaster Rivia, and Professor Dennis didn’t know how to respond to Cynrik’s remark, and they had different opinions. For Selene, she indeed chalked it up to Cynrik’s training and automatically assumed it was just one of the patterns he may have taught her.

But for Professor Dennis and Headmaster Rivia, it was a different story; no amount of training would allow someone to predict such a wild move with that level of accuracy. The two adults narrowed their eyes and gave Cynrik a stern look.

“I see; it seems you not only gave the other members of your party such extensive training but also instilled in them how to think and act unpredictably.” Headmaster Rivia watched the formerly sturdy Redwood Trees wither and recede as he spoke.

“It’s nothing; as we told you, Gabby is brilliant; even without our assistance, I am sure she would have come to the same conclusion and followed her design plan.” Then, giving the two adults a smile that wasn’t really a smile, Cynrik’s eyes darted between Benny and Selene, making them speak up and give some credence to Cynrik’s story.

“I haven’t been around that long, but Ivar is pretty strict.” Pushing up against Cynrik’s arm, Selene was the first to add to the conversation under the suspicious look of Professor Dennis.

“Big Bro Ivar constantly lectures us whenever we are just sitting around. One of his favorite things is building near-impossible scenarios and having us compete to see who makes it out alive in the hypothetical. But, of course, the winner usually gets a reward too. In my case, it’s always a new strategy book.” Over the years, Benny had amassed quite the collection of handwritten combat strat notebooks from Cynrik. Even for birthdays or holidays. Unlike Gabby, who would always choose desserts or candy, Benny was more than satisfied by the different war and military campaigns listed in the notebooks received from both Cynrik and Brance.

While the conversation about how Cynrik figured out the precise timing and method of Gabby’s victory continued, Brance stood patiently waiting for Gabby’s return from the battlefield; unfortunately, she had to regress all the trees and retrieve her seeds; so it took a few minutes.

[Man, I goofed back there, I shouldn’t have said anything. So now Geralt and Dennis are on to me.] Leaving Dennis to Benny, Cynrik walked over and joined Brance in watching Gabby wave her hands to retrieve the Chloro Mana used to make the trees grow.

[What do you expect, that foresight of yours is already scary enough when planning, and yet, you somehow made it even creepier by calling out Gabby’s exact plan seconds before she made a move.] Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Brance gave his older brother a sideglance.

[I mean, is it really that difficult, I think what you do is more challenging to be honest, like im ok at reading people’s muscle reactions for predicting their attacks, but you can almost see the future as well. At least my insight revolves around knowledge. Do you even realize how many of those fucking War tactics books I’ve written for Benny over the years? Do you think I pulled it outta thin air? No, that is all memory power, little brother.] Cynrik snorted his reply and subconsciously went to cross his arms over his chest, but when his hands scraped on the pockets of his trousers, it felt like he was being electrocuted, so he stuffed them back in place.

[Well, you were the one who was so determined not to take the martial arts heavy in striking seriously. Look at you now, how much of that grappling training do you regularly use, if you are lucky, 20%, yet I see you out there throwing kicks and wheeling around in the air.] Brance scoffed while thinking back to being kids on Earth. While he was working on Boxing or Muay Thai, Cynrik was training Judo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

[Tsk, not this fucking argument again. At least I know more about joint manipulation, and which body parts cause the most pain to my opponent, unlike a caveman who can only throw hands.] Licking his bottom lip with his mouth closed, Cynrik took another verbal jab at his brother.

[[Are you two going at it again, for crying out loud, give it a rest already.]] Selene had noticed the brothers standing together in silence, watching Gabby run around grabbing her seeds. Picking up on the subtle facial muscle twitches Brance was making allowed her to figure out the two were probably arguing like usual in their separate mind link channel.

[[What are you on about, who’s arguing, I am simply educating my little brother on the intricacies of BJJ, Judo, Wrestling, Sambo, and all the other fun grappling sports.]] Cynrik whipped his head toward Selene and gave her a lazy smile with a flirty wink.

[[Which sounds to me like you are trying to annoy him, Cynrik, leave your brother alone, can’t you see that he is clearly antsy that his little Gabby is taking too long to return to his side.]] The wink from her beloved was enough for Selene to join in on teasing Brance alongside Cynrik.

Swaying her hips provocatively, Selene approached Cynrik and tenderly wrapped her arm around his waist.

[[He was all nervous during her whole fight, did you see how he cringed every time she was in danger.]] Now, with Selene aiding him, Cynrik increased his teasing.

[[Yesss~ I totally did, and he was all serious the whole time. He had that “im no fun” look during the entire fight.]]

[[Fuck off, don’t act like you wouldn’t be affected the exact same way if it was Selene out there, Cyn.]] Tapping his foot agitatedly, Brance snapped his head towards Cynrik and growled.

[[OH, OH CYN DARLING, is what he says true? Would you be all worried about my well-being like a good boyfriend?]] Selene said with the sparkling eyes of a woman in love.

[[Che, hardly, this wasn’t even a life-threatening battle, why would I be worried about your safety. At the most, I would be critiquing your every move, just like I’ve done with the kids. Also, who’s your boyfriend? I don’t remember getting that title?]] Sucking his teeth before rolling his eyes, Cynrik dismissed Selene’s claims and shuffled uncomfortably.

The truth was, if it were Selene out there instead of Gabby, while he wouldn’t have been as nervous, he definitely would have been hypercritical of the girl’s every action. Then, later on, he would break down every mistake she made so that it didn’t happen in live combat later on.

Cynrik’s initial response made sense to Selene, but the follow-up caused the loving twinkle in her eyes to fade.

[[OH, WHAT? AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO CALL YOU MY BOYFRIEND? LET ME GUESS, AND YOU WON’T CALL ME YOUR GIRLFRIEND EITHER HUH, IS THAT HOW IT IS?]]

[You goofed again.] Not willing to let the change of topic go, Brance got the last word in and walked off toward Gabby, who had finished stowing all her seeds away in the little drawstring pouch on her hip.

Ignoring the annoying screeches of Selene and the grunting one-word responses from Cynrik playing in his head, Brance met Gabby halfway with a big, warm smile and hug, much to her surprise.

Gabby had taken so long to uproot all the seeds because she was highly anxious about what kind of reaction she would get from the brothers once they found out about her new Affinity. However, the moment Brance flashed his welcoming smile and wrapped her in his arms; Gabby melted along with her anxiety.

“You did great out there; I am so proud of you,” Brance said as he planted a kiss on the much shorter girl’s head.

“You and Big Bro Ivar aren’t mad? I know it was wrong for me to go behind your backs, but I wanted you two to be surprised when I used it for the first time.” Then, speaking in a small and meek tone, Gabby buried her head into Brance’s chest and inhaled his unique fragrance.

“Nah, Big Brother was pretty peeved, but he got over it after seeing you execute that crazy final attack. Wanna know something cool?” Rubbing his hand up and down Gabby’s back, Brance went on to tell her about how Cynrik literally called her final shots and from what direction they were coming.

“What? Seriously, ughhh, I thought for sure he wouldn’t be able to predict it; gosh, why does he have to be so smart.” Gabby mumbled while clenching her hands on Brance’s blazer, wrinkling it slightly.

“He may have been able to figure it out, but it wasn’t until just before. In fact, both he and Benny were talking about two different strategies during the end there and were surprised when you broke away from their ideas and did your own thing. Their faces were priceless; see, look, I even took a picture for you.” Then, holding up his Watcet, a still image of an amazed Benny and a squinty-eyed Cynrik appeared as holographic proof.

Several meters away, a still panting Alistar was in the middle of being helped to his feet by Garrison when Gabby’s melodious laughter reached his ears.

“Huff, that little girl’s stamina is nuts,” Alistar said as he allowed Garrison to toss his arm over his shoulder to help him stand.

“Well, in your defense, she wasn’t running around like a Chickoos without a head for most of the fight. Now you know my pain; those four kids are all stupid powerful, way too powerful for their age.” Smirking at his misfortune, Garrison was just happy he didn’t have to face the brothers in the end.

“I think we got the good end of the stick; if we had to conduct the test for either of those brothers, the odds are we would be leaving on a stretcher unless we increased our strength from Tier-2 to Tier-3. Although, im sure Headmaster Rivia would have allowed it if not to see how far the limits of those two go.” Casting a glance from Cynrik and Selene, who were being held apart by Benny, and the lovey-dovey Gabby and Brance, all Alistar could do was shake his head.

“We both need to get back to training, and harder than ever if we want to be able to handle those kids once they reach our classes. I don’t want to even think about how unscientific their abilities will be in 3-5 years.” Garrison said uncomfortably.

Headmaster Rivia and Professor Dennis stood beside each other, observing all the students back by the bleachers.

“It looks like you have your work cut out for you, Callan, we haven’t seen how well Selene handles herself alone, but knowing what family she was born into, it’s a safe bet to say she will fight like an Assassin. Still, I suspect that Student Ivar Ragnarsson, who already acts as the parties Rogue, will find a spot for her in the line-up.”

“Alright, it’s time for me to head back to my office, keep up the good work, Callan, and keep your eye on those five. I don’t want to hear about them blowing anything up during practice.” Headmaster Rivia slashed his right hand out and opened another Spatial crack before stepping in and disappearing when he finished speaking.

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