As a perplexed Cora’s hand was raised in victory by an equally confused officiating third year student, Hyugo Crane charged at Zell with surprising speed.
Zell parried the strike easily and pivoted to find a vulnerable angle. Fighting at a quarter of his normal speed and power was a surprising effort, and his countering strike was met with a spinning war hammer handle. Given the angle of the block, Zell predicted Hyugo’s next attack would be a horizontal swing from the right. As predicted the heavy hammer head came hard from that direction and Zell moved his weapon to intercept. At the last moment, the hammer changed course downward, and Zell dipped his weapon lower as well. Hyugo’s attack swooshed straight down toward the ground and was never intended to hit, instead the swing continued all the way around as Hyugo twisted his whole body to aid the momentum and the hammer was suddenly screaming in from overhead with devastating power. Zell hopped back and avoided it but the wind from the passing attack told him that would have seriously hurt even through his mana barrier.
“Are you going to try now?” Hyugo growled, his earlier friendly attitude was long gone. “I really don’t like being toyed with.”
Zell looked over at Agitha. She rolled her eyes and gave him a nod.
“I apologize for that.” Zell said, standing up straight and letting his mana flow freely to his limbs. “And for this.”
Hyugo smiled and hefted his hammer, ready for an epic battle. The next moment he was opening his eyes, and then he widened them in panic. He was now seated, and there was a dull ache in his back and chest. He looked around, and saw Zell standing alone on a platform more than thirty feet away. Hyugo was sitting against the arena wall with the stands behind him. Was that first year actually a mage? Was it some type of cheap teleportation magic? No, he had hit this wall. That much was clear from the pain. But how? Hyugo began to lose consciousness from the bleeding in his body. Suddenly his head was tilted back and a bitter liquid was being poured down his throat. He quickly regained consciousness and the pain faded.
“Damn Bait that nod meant turn it up a little, not go all out.” It was the director, holding an empty vial and extending a hand to help Hyugo to his feet.
“What happened?” Hyugo asked.
“Oh. Well you lost. Don’t worry you made my apprentice go hard on you so I won’t send you back to being a first year.” Agitha said, swiping the dirt off his leather armor and then patting him on the back.
Hyugo wasn’t alone in his confusion. Nearly all of the spectators only saw Hyugo suddenly fly off of the platform to crack with a loud boom into the arena wall. Nin and Rin had barely been able to follow the hit, and looked at each other with disbelief.
“He’s like a monster.” Nin whispered.
“Worse. He’s like dad when dad gets really serious.” Rin corrected.
The two foreign exchange students from Red Isle exchanged looks from their seats higher up in the stands. Their attendant sat directly behind them, coldly surveying the arena with rapidly shifting eyes. Misazel, the platinum haired boy was smiling sincerely for the the first time since they had arrived in this boring city and spoke first.
“That looked pretty good! Kinda slow but the power was wild for a human.” He turned behind him to the black suited elf attendant. “Yo Pokey B was that Giant Strength and Greater Acceleration?” He asked.
“Amended designation: Po-Khan Beta.” The attendant corrected in the same tone he always used. “No spells detected.”
“No spells? Now that is interesting.” Misazel narrowed his eyes and said no more.
“The boy’s strength wasn’t the most remarkable thing that just happened.” The elven girl next to Misazel had her eyes fixed on the confused looking brown haired girl that was now looking around like she was lost. Her opponent had mysteriously fainted as the match began and she was given a default win. “Po-Khan Beta. Report.”
“Flash Cast, Mute Cast, Soul Corridor, Dargan’s Psychic Calamity.” The elf’s mechanical voice reported obediently without a hint of emotion.
“What the hell!?” Misazel blurted, switching his stare to the distant Cora. “I thought people couldn’t do flash and mute together because they’re incompatible. Sikuna, is this thing broken?” He asked the elf girl while pointing at Po-Khan Beta.
“Beta’s spell observation sensors are infallible. It’s only considered impossible because the difficulty level is so high that success has only been hypothetical until now.” She answered. “Also, you know better than to use my name in public.”
“Lighten up, not like anyone’s even paying attention.” Misazel retorted. “Anyways I’m up. Don’t worry I won’t kill anyone.” Misazel added before Sikuna could remind him.
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With that, Misazel appeared next to the official even as he loudly read the names of the next round of students. The sudden appearance caused the official to stutter and flinch. Misazel’s smile faded and he sighed audibly as his opponent took halting steps up the stairs. It was nothing more than a terrified commoner girl wearing patchy armor and wielding a longsword that she could barely even lift.
Her name was Copita, a fourteen year old wisp of a girl from the wheat farming land southwest of Vinia City. She was barely five feet tall with brown hair that was nearly blonde on top from spending so many hours toiling in the sun.
Her family had sent her to the academy for no better reason than to remove one mouth from the dinner table and take advantage of the first year room and board sponsored by the school to poor students who qualified and were willing to work.
She was scared of the exotic and dangerous looking Misazel for many reasons. First and foremost was the obvious physical danger he represented. Worse than that was the fact that she was absolutely captivated by him. Even now as he rubbed his head in frustration and looked at her with open disdain, her heart was fluttering with a mixture of desire and terror.
“Yo, little girl. Shouldn’t you forfeit or whatever?” Misazel finally called over to her.
“I-if I did that then I could lose my room and board and would end up homeless.” Copita shook her head as she spoke and put a determined look on her tanned and freckled face.
Something about her reply seemed to strike a chord in Misazel. For a fraction of a second he seemed taken aback, but then he smiled at Copita warmly and nodded. His tone when he next spoke was wildly different from his usual crass sarcasm.
“I know that struggle myself, I was once driven from my own beloved lair. You stand before me, afraid, yet resolved to fight for yours. Forgive my earlier disrespect.” Misazel put one strong hand over his chest and gave a slight bow. Copita noticed he had a thick gold band on each finger and they were all linked together by a delicate looking silver chain.
Before Copita could even finish swooning on the inside over the heart piercing smile and kind words, the signal to begin was given. He was approaching her at a walk, and she cleared her racing mind and steadied her too big weapon. He seemed to be whispering something, and a very subtle gesture made his rings glint in the sun as it broke over the open arena wall. All of the sudden, Copita felt lighter and the heavy sword suddenly felt like a feather.
“What is your name, girl?” Misazel asked as he nearly closed the distance.
“Girl...? I mean C-Copita!” She answered, still not believing the new strength she felt welling up in her body.
“Do your best Copita. Fight for your lair with everything you have!” Misazel shouted as he suddenly launched toward her.
Amazingly, she moved the blade of her weapon to intercept the blow that should have shattered her into pieces. She attacked back with a sweeping slash that felt somewhat familiar, like the many days she had spent swinging a thresher during wheat harvests. Misazel attacked several more times, and defended each returned strike over the next moment. The students watching in the stands were suddenly on their feet cheering for the girl they had never paid any mind to before. She was fighting so bravely, and so surprisingly well that they couldn’t help but shout and clap over every flashy exchange.
Only a few minutes later and yet what felt like a lifetime to Copita, Misazel ended the game. She swung her weapon and he caught it with a single bare hand. A simple squeeze snapped the blade in two and he pulled her close, as though she were a dance partner. The broken blade and then the hilt clattered to the stone platform. Misazel then gracefully walked to the edge of the platform with her in his arms and let her down gently on the ground next to the arena.
“O-out of bounds!” The official finally stuttered after a moment of disbelief. “Match! Winner Misazel of Red Isle!”
Misazel waved over his shoulder and walked casually over to the elevated stage where Agitha was observing the tournament.
“Director chick!” He yelled up to her. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer. “You better not kick that little girl out! She did her best.” Misazel then turned away but spoke over his shoulder. “Also I want to fight you so get ready for that.”
“Copita is safe, but if you want to fight me you need to defeat my apprentice first. You’ll have your chance in the next round.” Agitha didn’t take the challenge personally at all, in fact she desired the same exact thing but also saw a good opportunity for Bait to have some extra training.
“Yeah yeah, that’s fair.” Misazel said, his voice fading as he moved away with his hands on his hips. “Mini boss before big boss and all that...”
Misazel passed Sikuna as she made her way in the opposite direction for her own match.
“Greater Acceleration and Titan Strength.” She said with a strange grin on her face. “Beta’s sensors are infallible. You’re so bored that you even need to strengthen your opponents?” Sikuna teased.
“Maybe so.” Misazel shrugged “Then again, maybe not.” He spared a glance in the direction of Copita who was still staring at him. She flushed all the way to the tips of her ears and quickly looked away as his eyes met hers.
“Humph. Such bewildering beasts.” Sikuna chuckled and continued her graceful walk to the platform.
As Misazel returned to his seat and Sikuna made her way to the platform, Zell and Cora were wilting underneath the intense stares of the twins.
“Spill it Zell.” Nin said with narrowed eyes. “How’d you get that much stronger?”
“Well it’s because everything is about a thousand times harder to do where we were training so I guess it made me improve faster.” He answered with a helpless shrug.
“Also did you do something to scare that kid so bad he fainted?” Rin asked Cora suspiciously. “He looked cocky one moment then bam down he went.”
“I honestly have no clue. I remember he said something disgusting and I got really angry.” Cora was clearly upset and didn’t understand it herself. “Then the next thing I knew he was on the ground. I didn’t even see him fall...”
The twins looked at each other at a loss. A sudden commotion around them pulled their attention to the platforms below. A very small child wearing all black except for a long red scarf wrapping around and obscuring his face was about to face off against a hulking second year student with a battle axe who must have been thirty years old. On another platform, the foreign elven girl was about to fight none other than the noble Hurb Shepard. The look on his face made it clear he had yet to recover from his magically forced and violent prostration the day before. In spite of the obvious fear on his face, he arrogantly addressed Sikuna.
“Your cheap magics won’t work on me anymore elf witch!” He declared. “This amulet from the most expensive mage shop in town protects me against every kind of magic. My father spared no expense so now I’ll teach you what happens when you mess with a Shepard!” He pointed to a flashy purple medallion hanging from around his neck.
“I see.” Sikuna said, the corner of her mouth was twitching as though she were suppressing laughter.
“That’s right!” Hurb misinterpreted her expression as fear. “If you prostrate yourself the way you made me right now then I might let you off with just a light beating an-.”
“Setris Fracta.” Sikuna interrupted Hurb as she traced an elegant rune. The moment she finished the symbol, the medallion on Hurb’s chest shattered into a fine mist of broken shards.
“W-w-what the hell!?” Hurb cried in dismay. He then began coughing violently as he inhaled the now powdered cloud of amethyst shards. He looked through his tears and saw the awful woman weaving another rune. Without another word, Hurb turned, leaped from the platform, and ran for his life.
“I’ve met smarter lab rats. To spend all that gold on an amulet of Persistent Spell Shield and not even bother with any countermeasures against Break Artifact...” Sikuna sighed, rolling her eyes. She didn’t wait for the official to declare her victory as she touched a ring on her left hand and levitated away toward her seat, still muttering to herself.