The morning air was cold enough that Zell and his three companions could see their breath as they approached the Whiterock Arena. It was a colossal structure that dwarfed even the arena in Axis City. Built on a natural island in the Vine River, it could hold eighty thousand spectators. The arena itself was large enough to accommodate theatrical reenactments of famous large scale battles. The island was reached via another engineering marvel. A series of stone arches supported five massive wooden draw bridges that were raised and lowered using an ingenious system of waterwheels and pulleys. The arena was built to function as a final refuge in the event of an invasion.

Zell had viewed the place from a distance plenty of times but had never been close enough to appreciate the sheer scale and beauty of it. It was constructed of white granite slabs that must have weighed tens of thousands of pounds each, even the road leading to the arena was made from the same glittering stone. Hedges trimmed in the shapes of various beasts lined the path, which was currently populated by a long line of students.

Zell noticed that it wasn’t just students though. Many older people in fancy attire were also in line with sour faces and tapping feet.

At the front of the line, a commotion seemed to be unfolding at the ticket window where students were supposed to be checking in.

“I demand to see this so called director that has the audacity to suggest that a great noble from the Appleman family should be treated the same as a mere commoner! It’s an insult to the kingdom itself, and cruel to the commoners for all know that nobles are fighters gifted strength by the gods themselves!” The fat, ranting, red faced man was pounding a ham like fist on the counter to emphasize his outrage.

The young woman behind the counter looked afraid but held her ground. “I’m very sorry lord Appleman, but director Agitha gave me very clear orders.”

“You would defy us too?!” The noble’s stringy black hair flew down over his face as his anger exploded. He started to reach forward as if he would grab the young lady.

An exploding crash made the man flinch. A few yards down the wall, a heavy door flew off of its hinges and was sent tumbling end over end until it disappeared over the edge of the island. The director herself walked calmly out into the dawn light. Agitha had listened to the entire rant from inside, and had finally heard enough.

The noble of course knew of Agitha, and had seen her at several award ceremonies over the years. Those times though her expression had been bored and her body language relaxed. Now she was angry. One of the most dangerous people in history was angry... at him. She had always seemed a mere curiosity, a caged tiger to gawk at. Now the tiger was loose, and death was in its eyes.

“G-good you’re here, lady Agitha. I was just hoping to have a discuss-.” Lord Appleman was suddenly interrupted.

“Appleman, was it?” Agitha asked coldly to the rapidly shrinking noble’s nod. “Expelled. Your child has your arrogance to thank for that. They may try again next year as a first year student if your family can behave.” Agitha then turned away from the now fully deflated man and addressed the rest of the line. “Anyone else who objects to this tournament is welcome to leave. Participation in MY academy has always been voluntary. If anyone else decides to give this nice girl here any more trouble, I won’t be so kind a second time.” Agitha took a moment to meet the eyes of each disgruntled noble parent and turned satisfied as they broke before her.

Zell watched the many remaining noble parents slink away toward the spectator entrance, muttering angrily among themselves.

“Teacher sure knows how to make friends.” He chuckled.

“What she has done is a direct challenge to the kingdom’s nobility. The precedent is much bigger than a simple school reform.” Rin remarked, also watching the nobles in small groups. “They aren’t only complaining, they’re scheming.”

“Alot of good it’ll do them.” Nin shook her head as she said. “Gnats scheming against a mountain.”

Cora remained silent, but followed the situation closely. She hadn’t spoken much that morning, but Zell thought she did look a little better. She hadn’t even refused breakfast, and in Zell’s simple mind appetite equaled health. Zell had no way of knowing that the struggle in Cora’s mind had never been more precarious.

With the noble parents gone, the line progressed quickly, and all four of them were checked in within an hour. They were given the first round schedules, and Zell didn’t recognize any names aside from their own. Nin and Rin on the other hand were looking at each other with beaming wicked grins.

“What’s with those looks?” Zell asked.

“The director granted my sister’s wish.” Rin said happily.

“The two kids that insulted us yesterday are our first opponents. I jokingly asked Agitha when she came in for a mead last night and she really did it!” Nin clenched her fists and wore a happy look that Zell found a bit scary.

“Cora even got the stable lord’s kid that called her creepy...” Rin added. “And Zell’s fighting Hyugo Crane, his family owns the western iron mines. He’s a second year and supposedly one of the top fighters in his class.”

They continued to chat as they headed into the arena. The inside was if anything more awe inspiring. The scale couldn’t be fully appreciated from the outside, and Zell found his mouth agape just trying to imagine the massive place filled with screaming fans. Four platforms had been erected in the arena below so that four matches could be completed at a time.

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For now, the arena was mostly empty save for the participants and some parents. Zell’s father was supposed to arrive after his meetings with some various merchants and financial professionals. Zell and the three girls with him took seats on the ground level to watch the matches preceding theirs.

After roughly half an hour of chatting and waiting for the rest of the line to filter in, the first set of matches was set to begin. Zell watched attentively as six students took their respective platforms (two students didn’t show up and their opponents were paired against one another instead). They were all first year students, and looked uncomfortable wielding their blunted swords and wooden shields. The first thing that stood out was their speed, or rather the lack of it. Sword thumped against shield, a few curses rang out, and a stuttered mana bolt spell shattered prematurely, bloodying the poor caster’s own hand. Zell’s expression went numb with disbelief.

“Look familiar?” Nin snickered as she leaned back to look past her sister at Zell.

It did indeed look familiar. If Zell hadn’t been taken in by Agitha and so mercilessly trained by her and Nin, Zell would have fit right in with those poor bumbling students on those platforms. Not for the first or the last time, Zell silently thanked all of his teachers wholeheartedly.

The matches slowly, and with many a cringe ended one by one with one student proudly raising their hand before their defeated opponents. Two students had quit from exhaustion and one defeated himself with another misfired mana bolt.

“I’m in the next group.” Nin stood and stretched her long, toned arms before hopping over the wall and down six feet to the soft dirt of the arena. She was on an entirely different level than the other students so far and it was plain to anyone watching her confident body language.

“Don’t forget to say a cool line before and after!” Rin yelled after her. Nin responded with a thumbs up over her shoulder.

“I feel a little sorry for him.” Zell said, knowing all too well how merciless Nin could be with a sword.

Dunkun Lowshire was the middle son of a lesser noble. His family was distantly related to the much more prosperous Appleman family and oversaw a small mixed orchard to the southwest. He didn’t have many regrets thus far in his short life, but there was one. He had thoughtlessly insulted this tall, beautiful, terrifying girl the day before. He gulped hard and wiped the sweat from under his bowl cut hair. He steadied himself as he took the platform across from the smiling Nin Corso.

He steadied himself internally. He could win. He had been trained by his level two hunter big brother for a whole summer, and had earned plenty of praise for his progress. He could do it. He was a second year, and she was only a first year. The signal to begin rang. He could...

“Are you waiting for something?” Her voice came from next to him, right next to him.

He tried to leap away but a long leg had swept behind him, connecting hard on the back of Dunkun’s knee. A bolt of pain shot up his leg as the blunted blade of a gladius smashed into his belly, accelerating his fall back wards. His skull was sure to crack on the hard platform and Dunkun wondered if he would survive the impact. He never hit the platform, a long fingered and impossibly strong hand caught him by the tunic, ripping out some of his precious newly grown chest hairs in the process. The yelp he let out involuntarily was so utterly pathetic that even Nin groaned. Still, she wasn’t letting him off easily. She yanked him upright onto his tip toes and stared through him with her ice blue eyes.

“Do you have something to say?” She asked menacingly.

“Yieeeld! Yield! Yield! I’m sorry about what I said!” He practically screamed before going limp, sobbing pitifully.

“Match! Winner, Nin Corso.” The third year student officiating on their platform called. Nin smirked and walked to the edge of the platform without even sparing a glance to the defeated boy who was now begging for a potion for his wounded knee as the third year helped him limp off the platform. The other three matches were still playing out slowly when Nin rejoined her sister and friends.

“You made him sing the yield song in soprano!” Rin clapped happily for her sister. “Ten points!”

“Does this mean Cora and I are both in the next set?” Zell asked Rin, holding up his entry form.

“Umm yeah it looks that way. Nervous dear?” She asked playfully leaning into him.

“No it doesn’t feel like it.” Zell answered thoughtfully. It was true, he really didn’t feel any nerves at all after what he had seen so far. “How about you Cora?” He asked. She seemed to not hear him and so he repeated it louder.

She started slightly then nodded. “I don’t think I’ll lose, I mean even without trying any magic I think I could beat most of these kids but I’m still nervous. It’ll be my first actual fight.”

“Save your mana in the first round as much as possible.” Rin advised. “If you can just get by with your sword and a bit of channeling that would be best. It’s easy to recover stamina and heal a few bruises with a potion but we can’t recover our mana without real rest.” Rin’s advice came from years of actual arena experience, and was entirely in Cora’s best interest but the ugly voice that had been hounding Cora suddenly flared up.

“Just how condescending and superior can someone be? This barely off the tit brat would presume to advise US?” Cora caught something that she couldn’t ignore in the thoughts she assumed to be hers. “Us...?” She kept all of this inside and merely nodded a brief thanks to Rin.

The remaining matches finally ended in the same anticlimactic fashion as the others, and it was time for Zell and Cora to take their platforms.

Agitha turned from where she was standing next to the platforms and waved Zell over.

“Go quarter speed, flat of the blade. These kids are even softer than I expected.” She ordered before waving him on.

Zell nodded and hopped on to the five foot tall platform without even thinking about it, ignoring the stairs. A deep voice that could have belonged to a middle aged adult greeted him.

“Lucky for me it’s not a jumping contest, eh?” The jovial voice from across the stage caught Zell off guard. He had expected anything but a friendly voice.

Zell’s opponent Hyugo Crane certainly looked the part of a fighter. He was taller than Zell at around six feet, and clearly outweighed him by at least fifty pounds. He held a heavy, leather wrapped warhammer over his broad shoulders. His small ears were rounded with cauliflower ear, and his reddish brown hair was cropped short like a professional soldier’s. Fearsome looks aside, he also seemed quite likable. The question had been friendly banter, and his expression held no disdain or malice that Zell could see. All in all this guy reminded Zell of a young Kel Corso.

Hyugo had a small cheering section. Shouts of his name and whistles carried through the chill arena air.

“My family and my fiance’s family...” Hyugo blushed slightly. “Pay ‘em no mind.”

“Right. Pleasure to meet you, let’s have a good match.” Zell said flashing his own easy going smile to match his opponent’s.

On another platform adjacent to Zell’s, Cora was experiencing a very different introduction. The cocky, insufferable only son of the kingdom’s biggest stable owner and horse breeder stood before her with a lewd smirk on his powdered face. Coltan Silvershod II was a self proclaimed master of fencing and mounted combat.

“My beautiful haunted bride has returned to me! We mustn’t quarrel my pet. Simply forfeit and move into my stable with the rest of my mares!” Coltan’s comment enraged Cora for just a moment before she lost all sense of herself, and something happened.

A subtle green light flared in Cora’s eyes, and a vacant sickly smile that no one close to her would ever recognize twisted her pouting lips.

“Such an ugly boy, but don’t despair. Vira can make you pretty...” The voice seemed to be coming from someplace other than Cora’s smiling mouth. In fact her mouth hadn’t moved at all. The voice was in Coltan’s head and grated there like a thousand rusty nails.

An overwhelming sense of danger erupted from every nerve in the boy’s body and he tried to scream out in forfeit. No words would come forth, but the voice continued to speak in his mind even as the girl he once found so alluring continued to smile mockingly from across the platform.

“I can’t have you spoil my fun so soon. This body has so much delicious mana to play with, and you are a perfect dummy! Don’t you love it? Aren’t you simply titillated!? Am I still the spooky type you like!?” The voice echoed from a million places, flooding his mind with terrifying images of his own slow torture and dismemberment. “AHAHA spooky things for the boy that loves spooky things! Isn’t it what you wanted? How about some more!?”

Coltan’s sheltered mind was pried open violently. The pompous noble boy was introduced to a type of horror that had once long ago crushed the minds of even brave paladins. Before the signal to begin even sounded, Coltan Silvershod II collapsed unconscious but with his eyes wide open.