Muselpine. The country of all as it is often named. Every race is welcome and none are allowed to be discriminated against in this progressive country. Orcs, elves, humans, dwarves and draconians are prohibited from any racial attacks while in the borders of Muselpine. Even delegates from other countries are forbidden to bring slaves into the land as that too is seen as discrimination against a people. So while the country is openly ruled by the Brotlar royal family of dwarves, it still maintains equality amongst the citizens and minorities.
The Brotlar family was the most loved royal family in maybe the entire world by their citizens. The Brotlars never over taxed without cause, never cheated their people, always made sure the Trade was kept in line and also that warriors couldn't just kill civilians without severe repercussions. All would be held in accordance with the law that was set by the Senate. The Senate was installed by the Brotlars to make sure fairness and equality reigned over Muselpine, even where their eyes could not reach. What they truly controlled though was the army and the borders, while making foreign deals and agreements. This allowed for the Muselpine people to be taken care of by their own in the Senate and protected by their monarchs, the Brotlar family.
Every city of Muselpine was built quite well in comparison to some countries. But the capital, Az Citadel was a behemoth of stone and obscure ingenuity. 60 foot high walls that reached an astonishing 10 feet of width, surrounded the outer ring of the Citadel. The Citadel was entirely circular and possessed a mighty diameter of over 8 kilometers! Making the total circumference a staggering 25 kilometers around! If not for the amazing methodology of the Brotlars and the Senate, this giant fortress would be impossible to defend. But the two heads of state came together and created the Az Guardian initiative. A plan that gave the citizens of Az a way to become something bigger than what they were. It allowed all citizens of Muselpine to come to the capital and learn the ways of a warrior. This initiative, created a massive surplus of warriors for Az Citadel. And with so many warriors the Citadel could hire as many of them as needed for the task of guarding the jewel of the country.
But the true marvel of Az Citadel was the population. ¾ of the people were at least of the Brown Squire level, 17% of the population was of the Red Mana Purity and above. Showing the truly immense power that hid behind the impervious walls of Az Citadel. With a total population of 10 million people, the number of possible warriors that could be called upon reached 7.5 million. Az Citadel was perfectly defensible and next to impossible to be defeated in a siege, Beast or man.
Lucifer still marveled at the sheer greatness of the fortress even after 3 days of touring the long paved roads that were lined with what were called apartment complexes by the citizens. Large 4 story buildings that held over 10 families inside each of them. Lucifer was truly amazed by the craftsmanship and ingenuity that the Brotlars had shown through their building and planning of the massive city. Only the Az Guardian Institute and the Royal Palace, stood out from the large apartments.
The Guardian Institute, the most respected place in all of Muselpine. The school that trained their entire military, law enforcement and other warriors at absolutely no cost to the students or their families. Only tax money was used for the Institute's budget. Of course if one wanted to be trained for military or law enforcement, they would have to pay an extra fee to be accepted into the class. But everyone had to pay the fee, even royalty and Senate members. So the money that the Az Guardian Institute made was simply amazing despite giving free schooling.
The Royal Palace, well. It was truly a warrior's paradise. It looked more like a Coliseum than a palace, but it perfectly fit the strict marshal methodology of the Citadel. It was also the place where Lucifer was currently. The Palace held the largest venue for warriors to contest their might, and the Elemental Academy truly planned to capitalize on that. Installing dividers into the 800 square foot arena, the Academy began a tournament style examination to find the best of the best amongst the would be students. With rings of 40*40’ there were 200 individual rings made.
The tournament was knockout elimination or in other words a battle of endurance for the students participating. They would have to face as many challengers as possible before the end of the tournament. Only the last remaining 200 students would have a chance to enter into the Academy. So despite there being almost 300000 people taking the examination, only 200 would make it through.
With Muselpine having over 22 million citizens the total number of applicants were around 300000, while the success rate was under 0.67% chance of making it through. At least for the practical examination.
If one wanted to attend the Academy without the need for violence or for purely academic reasons they could also take the Element exam and essay which allowed for the more intellectual to shine. The top 3000 of that would be pardoned from the practical and given permission to attend the Academy.
Lucifer was given recommendation by Kain Talcott, a powerful and eccentric warrior/Alchemist. And had plenty of swing in the Academy but even without Talcott’s recommendation, Lucifer would have been easily able to enter the Academy solely on his royal lineage. Lucifer however wanted to fight his way in by relying on his own strength. So while taking advantage of Talcott's recommendation to skip the Element exam and essay, Lucifer directly entered the practical combat examination. Skipping the boring essay and possible chance of his dual Element body becoming common knowledge, he stood bored in one of the rings made for the tournament.
“This is hopeless. I wanted to meet that Natasha here but she may not even enter my ring!” Lucifer bitterly sulked about the unfortunate proceedings. Even Luna herself wanted the two to fight, as she thought that Natasha may be able to elicit some struggle from Lucifer.
“Brother, I am not so sure you won't meet her in a match. The Academy should want to know who the strongest amongst you is, that way they will have the last 200 fight it out to find the absolute victor.” Luna consoled from his shadow. She had never left it since waking up from Beel’s sleeping spell. Maybe the trauma of being beaten by the Prime Infernal Ape or the fear of losing Lucifer again was subconsciously holding her inside his shadow, but the wolf truly felt at peace in the shadow of her brother.
“Ai, they better. I'd like to fight her and Bael. Those two should at least bring out something from me.” Lucifer mumbled as he continued to meditate and condense his Mana.
He had begun meditating at every possible moment after he experienced the almighty power of Blue Mana from Beel. A deep desire to never allow that kind of helpless situation occur again filled his bones. He knew that his Core would grow naturally and without his prodding, inversely he knew that if he rushed his Core he would end up stagnating and halting his growth permanently. So he opted to work on his Mana Purity.
After almost 2 solid hours of meditation in the early morning sun, Lucifer's challenger had finally arrived. The open air arena made the stark features of the elf before him all too clear. Sharp pointed ears, narrow and angular facial features, even thin half closed eyes made the pale green haired elf all too recognizable. The elf was a male but even that did little to change his almost petite physique when put next to Lucifer. He was an entire foot shorter than Lucifer and did not possess the same powerful lean muscles but rather stick thin arms that seemed almost fragile. Lucifer snorted as the elf extended two foot long curved daggers from his dainty hands.
With a yawn Lucifer flicked Messor out at the elf with almost no care at all for his opponent. With no change in his facial expression the elf dropped to his knees and avoided the flying slash of Messor. With a quick chant, the elf summoned [Vine Serpent], an incredibly annoying spell made for entanglement and restriction of enemies. Dozens of arm thick vines shot out from the ground and began to coil themselves around Lucifer.
Without much shock Lucifer only flapped his wings and leapt away from the incoming storm of vines. Irritation soon flashed through his eyes as the vines began to follow him despite his airborne state, it was then that Lucifer realized that although he looked much like a Spellblade with his close combat weapons, the elf was in fact a Brown Apprentice. With a dismissive snort Lucifer only flapped his wings with greater power and rocketed himself towards the chanting elf.
As Lucifer came flying towards the elf like a hawk going in for the kill, a pillar of wood shot upwards from underneath him slamming his left wing and almost breaking it. Showing that the next spell [Tree Pillar] had been cast. Lucifer was completely taken aback by the spell and was instantly caught by the [Vine Serpent] following him. Bound and thrown to the ground Lucifer let out a savage growl, as his aura began to release itself. Wrath soon came forth as he began to curse the elf he faced. Mana powering his body, Lucifer instantly snapped the confines of [Vine Serpent]. It was then he realised that he had forgotten everything he learned about fighting two-legs. He had fought Beasts for so long that he never really considered two-legs as opponents to be fought. Brute force wasn't the answer for something that could think and react as adeptly and as sly as man could, he was lucky that Ragslav was a brute like him and also that [Vita Messorem Telum] had eliminated all of his enemies from a distance.
With a terrible roar that echoed in the giant stadium of the Palace, Lucifer let out his aura in all of its brutal nature. The elf who had been preparing to send in the final blow was blasted into the thick earthen wall of the ring by the sheer force of Lucifer's roar. Lucifer stalked slowly towards the elf that was struggling to stand up, the inner predator of Lucifer was free and it wanted blood. Killing wasn't against the rules for the tournament, while somewhat frowned upon giving the public nature of the examination it was still condoned. Warriors must temper themselves in blood if they are to succeed in their martial way.
Casting a quick [Bark Bolt] the elf tried to force Lucifer back. But the spell was instantly sliced in twain by Messor’s blade. And with a simple thrust of the giant warglaive, Lucifer ended the life of his first victim.
“Kain what the devil is wrong with that draconian you found? He acts more like a Beast than a Spellblade. If the old man knew he weld a glaive like that he would die of embarrassment.” Spoke a middle-aged draconian that stood adorned with a plain set of leather and steel armour. Two scimitars lay on the man's back as he leaned on the railing looking over the stadium. Next to him was the form of Kain Talcott, dressed in similar armour while he carried a bident spear over his shoulder.
“He has only fought Beasts. This would be his first true battle against people, trained warriors and not highway brigands. Give him some slack he will be the top of the final 200 in the end.” Kain spoke calmly to the draconian man to his right as they both looked at the match between Lucifer and the elf.
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“Kain, you wanna make a little bet?” The draconian asked with a wry smile.
“And what bet would that be you old freak?”
“He will only make the same mistake once more and that is when he faces that girl in ring 46.” The man replied while he had a cheshire grin on his face.
“Hahaha you think he will be dumbstruck by her beauty eh? Alright I bet that he will instantly go all out on her when they meet. Now what would an old man like you have to bet eh, Jas?” Kain answered with a hearty laugh.
Jas looked down at the girl in ring 46, and he had to admit that she was most definitely the strongest contender for top place among the participants in his mind. Regardless of what Kain said about the royal draconian, this human seemed like a complete monster. Instant casting of medium level Lightning spells like they were simple Mana bolts. And the destruction her spells caused were way more than any other Lightning spell Jas had seen from a low tier warrior. Her spell burned her opponent more than it shocked them, the voltage had to be ridiculously high for such a phenomenon.
“You make her a weapon that can handle the insane voltage of her Lightning magic if I win the bet.”
“And if I do?”
“Then I will give the boy my father's martial manual to keep.” Jas answered with a slight smile. He knew the value of the wager seemed unfair for Kain, but the value of that manual alone was worth millions to draconian warriors. And Kain knew that better than most, seeing as the human witnessed his father using the art firsthand.
While the two men gambled, Lucifer had continued to battle different warriors. His ring; ring 66, was the most bloody of all 200 rings. He had begun a butchering spree as he preyed on every warrior that dared to enter. After he experienced the humiliation of getting hurt from the elf in his first match, Lucifer treated every single contender afterwards as if they were prey more than warriors. His predatory instincts were running full throttle as he analysed the subtle muscle changes in the gaits of the warriors. He broke down the way the moved into either preferences or internal injuries.
Whenever a warrior entered ring 66 with a dominant left hand, Messor would come crashing down on their right shoulder. If they had a dominant right, then Messor would sweep through their left flank like a tidal wave of unstoppable might.
Lucifer focused and honed his draconic eye onto the warriors as he saw their almost imperceptible limps, drooped muscles, overly tensed back and even their varying degrees of perspiration were all within his sight. And he brutally played with their bodies as he aimed each strike into their weak areas, as Messor savagely bathed in their blood.
It was over 88 matches before the flow of would be victims came to a halt as the Academy’s supervisors had to give forewarning to all challengers. The entirety of ring 66, was crimson red. Lucifer used no spells not even body enhancement, while he dismantled his opponents in a systematic and methodical pattern. At match 89 of Lucifer's win streak he was met with an unlikely figure. An orc pugilist. It was the first time he had seen the giant green race.
6’7” of solid muscle and brute strength, was the figure of the pale green orc. His short sharp ears, with his large square jaw and deep set sea blue eyes the orc was a figurative poster boy for his race. He was even considered very handsome by society's standards, too bad his handsome looks did nothing to aid him against the predator he was about to face.
Lucifer was only slightly taken aback by the strange new appearance of the orc before he let loose a brutal overhand chop towards the orc's head. With diligent resolve the orc raised his katars into a cross block over his head and took the full brunt of Lucifer's blow. Yet to the surprise of the orc and even more to the surprise of Lucifer, the two were held in deadlock as they steadily pushed their weapons together! Messor angrily buzzed as she had suffered her first block! There had never been any warrior that could handle the might of her strikes till the orc under her blade.
“Not bad Scaleborn. Aye, you are yeltrude for such a scrawny attarval.” The orc spoke in broken common tongue. He seemed to barely grasp the most basic language of Gaies, but his usage of orkin words did not befuddle his meaning.
“If I am anything it would be yeltrudor, peerless.” Lucifer said with a chuckle as he swiped Messor out of the cross block, and began to let out a barrage of heavy slashes.
“Hahaha Scaleborn speak orkin well! Flospal wiltok attarval!” Yelled the orc as he too began fighting in earnest!
“The battle has already started silly orc!” Lucifer laughed as he got lost in the thrill of the battle.
The two brutish warriors began their dance of death, as they traded blows like lovers do kisses. A diagonal slash to the orc's left shoulder from Lucifer would be exchanged with a savage punch towards his own midsection. A left hook from the orc would be met with the shaft of Messor as Lucifer's tail came striking out of nowhere towards his legs.
50 blows exchanged and still they could not find a victor.
200 blows, and the orc finally had to use his magic and Mana to continue the brawl.
300 blows, Lucifer had received his first serious injury. A long vicious cut along his forearm. Heavy bleeding and serious pressure from the orc prevented him from using [Light Reconstruction] to heal himself.
It wasn't until 489 different exchanges did they finally come to the climax of their battle. Lucifer flapped his wings and avoided a wicked jab to the flank. With a horizontal slash of Messor, Lucifer unleashed 3 different Light [Elemental Spear]s at the rapidly approaching orc. Nimbly dodging the incoming spells the orc dove to the side. Right into the path of Lucifer's Mana charged tackle! Suffering the concussive blast from Lucifer's insanely primitive attack, the orc staggered backwards as he tried to regain his wits. But alas he had no chance to, Messor came flying into his stomach as Lucifer released a momentus swing of the massive weapon. Knocked away like a cannonball the orc smashed into the wall of the ring and lay completely unconscious.
“Lucifer he has passed the final 200 as well. Do not kill him!” Kain's voice echoed in Lucifer's head as began to walk forward and finish his opponent. Surprise and soon understanding flashed across Lucifer's face. He remembered the Academy stating that so long as they could survive against him then the student would be accepted. The orc however had been the only one to come forward knowing of the low survival chance. Thus he had been accepted as one of the 200, well 201 to pass the Academy's practical examination.
“Congratulations to all of the remaining warriors in the arena!” A deafening voice bellowed throughout the massive expanse of the stadium and into the ears of all the finalists.
“You have all been given entry into the Elemental Academy's War School!” The voice continued to bellow.
“But we must know who the final champion of the new students is if we are to maintain the tradition of the Academy Practical Examination! So you as the finalists will be put into a progressive style battle royale! Each ring will conjoin with the adjacent one next to it. So ring 1 will pair with ring 2, ring 3 with ring 4, and so on. You will have as much time as it takes for your next opponent to finish their match before your next one begins. So finish quickly if you want a chance to rest before fighting again. Only when a victor is clear will the match be over. However there will be absolutely no killing! Killing is strictly prohibited for this part of the examination as you are all students of the Academy and inter-student killing is forbidden!” Finally the voice gave out the rules of the top 200 competition.
Lucifer sighed as he listened to the overbearing voice of what he assumed was the tournament supervisor.
“Lucifer maybe the other finalists are all as good as that orc!” Luna excitedly exclaimed as she noticed his mood after the orc was taken away by Kain's magic.
“If that is the case then there is no one capable of beating me. Only if they are vastly better than me in skill would they have a chance, that being only if I do not use primal magic.” Lucifer huffed as he began to meditate and replenish the little bit of Mana he had used against the orc warrior.
“You knows if I'll even meet Natasha or Bael. The chances of them falling from exhaustion are high.” Little did Lucifer know that all the other finalists were using precious Mana Fruits to replenish their Mana and strength.
“Brother the spell that made the walls of the ring is changing. Brace yourself the final round is starting!” Luna cried with a mixture of worry and excitement.
“Good, let's see if the other warriors are half as good as orc boy.” Lucifer chuckled darkly as the wall between him and his opponent slowly fell, revealing a short human girl.
Black hair and thin eyes denoted her Ves heritage. Her creamy skin was tanned giving her an exotic look. Lucifer noticed her clothing seemed to be a mixture of leather and Beast furs, while obviously offered little protection with its sparse and skimpy design. Only a brazier and very short trousers covered her body, revealing her attractive yet muscular form to Lucifer. Who could see how well toned and defined she was with just a glance. And while the girl was not overly beautiful like Natasha she still possessed a certain charm, that drew Lucifer in.
“If you're done staring, shall we begin lizard boy?” The 5’4” human snapped irritably. She didn't even wait for a reply before casting a short spell: [Water Bolt]. Instantly Water Element began gathering before her and shaping into a spinning orb of clear blue water, as the orb rotated it launched directly at Lucifer.
“Ugh, another hairless monkey to deal with.” Lucifer muttered as he twisted his body out of the [Water Bolt]’s path. With a swipe of Messor, he sent a Light [Elemental Spear] hurtling towards the still chanting girl. Not one to leave things to chance, he darted across the ring trailing his spell while he prepared to begin close combat.
“Dammit!” The girl cursed as she saw her initial spell miss badly. She was trying to finish the match as quickly and conservatively as possible but the draconian she faced had no intention to go down easy. With a deep breath she finished her second spell and released it! The advanced spell [Aqua Pulse] let loose a wicked torrent of high pressurized water like a cannon.
As the torrent of water came roaring towards Lucifer, he gently flapped his wings and leapt into the air. With agility and primal grace, Lucifer landed gently on the ground directly next to the girl with Messor leveled at her throat.
“Dead.” Was all he needed to say for the match to be over. The girl had no chance to avoid nor counter him as he held Messor against the tanned skin of her throat.
With his foe defeated Lucifer sat down on a part of the new bigger ring that wasn’t covered in blood and proceeded to meditate. He had only used a couple of spells during the match against the orc and now against the human so he took the time to diligently make sure he stayed in peak form. He had at least 11 fights before he made it to the top 5.
The tournament was set up so that the first 2 rounds would bring the finalists down to the top 50, with each round being a knockout elimination. Once there was 50 warriors left then each warrior would draw numbered lots. The warriors in the 1-10 range would each face each other once and the warrior with the best win ratio would proceed to the final 5. While the second best win rates would fill up the rest of the top 10. The third best win rates would fill up the top 15, and so on and so forth. This was to make sure that the tournament maintained fairness and also to ensure only the best of the best made it through. If one was knocked out in the first two rounds however, then at least they were eliminated by top contenders and once at the Academy could challenge once again for a better ranking.
Lucifer reasoned that although a number grouping could have 2 very strong warriors, the best win rates would still see them placed in a fair location. Even if it wasn’t a direct representation of their strength it would at least give them an idea of the overall strength levels of their fellow peers.
After only a 20 minute meditation session, Lucifer’s 2nd opponent had finally revealed himself. It was a fellow draconian, only this one possessed facial scales unlike himself. The draconian stood at 5’9” and had a large bull like build, obviously a warrior that relied on strength more than speed. Lucifer’s theory was proven true as the draconian drew a giant double bladed war axe from his back. With a shout the axe wielding warrior came charging towards Lucifer like a mad bull. Lucifer could only shake his head as he casually dodged the incoming swing of the axe. With sidesteps, deft turns and the occasional duck Lucifer danced just out of the berserking warrior’s mad strikes. Lucifer dodged around like a leaf in a storm around the brutal axe, burning away the draconian’s strength as he struggled to maintain himself while he began using Mana to strengthen his swings. Noticing the surge of Mana, Lucifer finally released Messor who was humming in anger at the halt in her bloody feast. He aimed a well timed thrust of the warglaive’s blade into the thigh of the draconian who just finished another sweeping swing of his axe. Messor’s blade; of Heracles Ravager and blacksteel, easily tore through the light armour that the draconian wore and ripped into the quadriceps and pierced into the femur of the warrior before she finally stopped. Thus ending the draconian’s time in the tournament and sealing Lucifer’s place in the final 50.