Shattered Sanity

For a while, Riven remained standing at the centre of the battleground with his bloodied fist raised high towards the sky, proudly displaying the victory he had fought so desperately to achieve.

Yet despite so many eyes being fixed upon him, there was not a single person amongst the crowd willing to meet his gaze for longer than a few seconds.

Some stared towards the blood dripping from his clenched fist, others towards Gary’s unconscious body being examined by the Academy staff, while several simply looked away whenever Riven’s eyes happened to drift in their direction.

There was something deeply uncomfortable about the sight of him standing there.

The students attending the Imperial Academy had grown up around violence, with many of them beginning martial training before they were old enough to properly understand what death even meant, yet what they had witnessed from Riven today felt completely different from the combat they knew.

Riven Dawnriver dressed like a noble, carried himself like a noble and spoke with the refined mannerisms expected from the heir of one of the Four Great Ducal Houses, yet the way he fought carried none of that grace.

He fought like a savage, going as far as catching a sword with his bare hand and allowing the blade to pierce straight through his palm just so he could bend the weapon and prevent Gary from pulling it free.

He then drove Sky-Cleaver straight through Gary’s shoulder before willingly throwing the halberd aside and finishing the fight with his bare hands.

This was not how nobles fought for honor, but rather how gladiators fought within death rings, where victory mattered far more than the manner in which it was achieved.

And as the students looked towards the blood-covered Riven standing before them, many felt goosebumps rise across their skin while an uncomfortable chill ran down their spines.

”BOOOOO!”

The first cry suddenly erupted from somewhere within the House Aureate stands, breaking the oppressive silence that had settled across the arena.

”BOOOOO! Get the fuck out of there, Dawnriver!”

”Fucking savage!”

”You call that an exhibition match?”

”Someone needs to teach that bastard a lesson!”

”You honorless rat! I dare you to face me in combat next. I swear I’ll break every bone in your body!”

The hostility spread rapidly throughout the stands, as Aureate students who had watched their representative get beaten unconscious immediately seized upon the opportunity to condemn Riven, while members of House Sable and House Viridian soon began joining them.

House Argent alone remained silent.

Yet somehow, their silence appeared even less supportive than the boos raining down from the other three Houses, as several Argent students lowered their heads while others stared towards their victorious first-round selection with expressions of visible discomfort.

There was no applause.

No celebration.

Not even a single congratulatory shout came from the House whose reputation Riven had supposedly just defended, as the students who should have celebrated his victory seemed almost ashamed that the blood-covered savage standing in the battleground belonged to them.

Riven saw all of it.

He saw the disgust written across their faces, heard the insults being hurled towards him and understood perfectly well that almost everyone inside the arena disapproved of the manner in which he had achieved his victory.

Yet none of it fazed him.

Because amongst the hundreds of expressions surrounding him, Riven could no longer find what he had seen upon those same faces when Gary drove him helplessly backwards during the opening stages of the fight.

There was no mockery anymore.

Nobody was laughing at him.

Nobody looked towards Riven Dawnriver as though he were weak, incapable or undeserving of carrying the surname that had been given to him.

They could hate him.

They could despise the way he fought and swear that they would someday teach him a lesson themselves.

But nobody inside that arena dared look down upon him anymore.

And for Riven, that distinction mattered far more than their applause ever could.

”Come on, Dawnriver. We’re leaving,” Cedric said, as he entered the battleground and grabbed Riven by the arm before the increasingly hostile crowd decided to start throwing something more substantial than insults.

Riven offered no resistance as he finally lowered his bloodied fist and allowed Cedric to guide him towards the exit, although he had barely taken several steps before something caused him to stop.

Professor Jude was staring directly at him.

The playful expression worn by the Dueling Instructor before the bout had completely disappeared, with the same man who had joked about protecting their family jewels now glaring towards Riven as though he were looking at a criminal rather than the victor of an Academy exhibition match.

For several seconds, neither of them said anything.

They did not need to.

The hostility within Professor Jude’s expression communicated everything clearly enough, as Riven could tell that although he had technically broken none of the rules established before the fight, the professor deeply disapproved of what he had done within them.

Riven returned his gaze without speaking, before eventually turning his head away and continuing towards the exit alongside Cedric.

Whatever Professor Jude thought of him no longer mattered.

He had won.

And although he walked away without receiving a single cheer from the House he represented, there was no longer anyone inside that arena who could mistake him for someone weak.

Still, as he disappeared through the passage leading away from the battleground, his composure started to crack, as although he did not let it show before, the truth of the matter was that his fucking hand hurt.

The adrenaline of the fight had allowed him to ignore the wound throughout the final moments, but it was already beginning to fade, leaving every movement of his fingers accompanied by an increasingly vicious pulse of pain from the hole torn through his palm.

Gary was already being rushed towards the medical bay behind him, and Riven knew that he had to follow him for a check-up just the same.